FF:QLD The Gamers Gaming Thread About the Games they're Playing

Argh, damn Mirelurks. They're relentless and I discovered to my peril that those shells protect them way too well from flamethrowers (the best weapon I had at the time). Now it's all combat shotgun to the face. Hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya.

Magnus: if you're lacking in the Guns & Ammo department, frag grenades can be quite effective against Super Mutants. And try to aim to disarm wherever possible, so you can seize the moment to pummel them them while they fumble for their weapon.

I too found a peaceful and pragmatic solution to the conflict with The Family. Felt very good about it, playing the hero who rides into town and saves the day without needing to fire a shot.

 

My best experience in the game so far, was when I was given a quest to rescue a group of 3 mercenaries trapped on top of a hotel. To access the hotel, I had to fight my way through a hospital, which had a make shift bridge extended to the hotel. Both buildings, were full of Super Mutants. Angry Super Mutants. I got through the hospital, mostly because of the plentiful chems that were strewn about the building. Unfortunatly, by the time I had gotten over to the hotel, about mid way up, I had become addicted. This had sapped my strength, perception and intelligence. I kept on moving, because I didn't have time or ammo to get to a doctor. I kept ascending the building, while taking out the super mutants in the way. I had to go through every room that I could, hoping I could find stim packs or a chem so I could get a fix. Unfortunatly, all I could find were sinks and toilets to drink out of which were all drenched in radiation.

I eventually reached the top of the building. Low on health and ammunition. The mercs were all still alive, luckily. I spoke to their second in command, who decided that we were to decend to the lobby of the building, fight our way out of the hotel and traverse the metro so we could get to the mercs hideout. Good idea, I thought. We repaired the elevator and made our way down. As soon as we got out, we were swamped by super mutants. Fantastic. Running low on ammo, and health I had to be efficient. Take out of the mutants with as little shots as possible. Which is were V.A.T.S comes into its own. Brought up my pip-boy, queued up my shots and pressed go. Critical hits on the head of the strongest Super Mutant with the minigun. With his lower perception, this should give me some time to take out the others. I pulled up V.A.T.S again and killed the remaining Mutants. I looked around and I hadn't lost anybody. Pulled up VATS and checked mt stats.

- Buffout withdrawal
- Jet withdrawal
- Med-X withdrawal
- crippled let leg
- crippled right leg

Obviously, not the best state. I couldn't carry everything I needed, and my stats were awful. Fantastic. We left the hotel and the group split up, leaving me on my own. I crawled down to the metro. Deathly quiet. Hopefully, it'll be a smooth walk to the hide out. No such luck. More super mutants. I pulled up my assualt rifle. Only one clip left. I had to use it wisely. 4 Super Mutants ruched at me and I had no where near as much ammo as I needed. I pulled up VATS and used my points to disarm the first mutant. I dived for his ammo and reloaded. I disarmed the next two and stole their ammo. Unfortunatly, I didn't have enough health to make to much of a stand to them. Fortunately for me, a mutant pulled out a grenade. I hit VATS just as he pulled it out. It read

-GRENADE 30%

Well, this is going to be my best chance.

"HOT POTTTAAATO*BANG*"

The grenade exploded in his hand taking off his arm and his friends. Slowly I shambled the rest of the way to the HQ.

 

This is one of those games full of stories like that. I can't wait to hear more experiences people have been having.

 

This thread sells the game more than anything else I've seen or read to date. Fantastic.



I want my machine fixed now

 

I actually did go via the Metro Tunnels to get to the Family, if only to justify my investment in a radiation suit. The Mirelurks are tough critters, fortunately you shoot them enough times in the face with a shotgun and they'll go down. I decided to go that way as fighting through a bunch of Super Mutants at such a low skill level on the surface would probably have been suicide. I have since learned that grenades and mines are my friend.

I couldn't actually disable the mines; guess I didn't have enough points in the requisite stat or skill. Apparently I can disable a bear trap though

Shooting grenades I discovered quite by accident. A Raider hurled one at me and I screwed up in VATS, targeting the grenade in mid air. The explosion knocked the Raider back and injured him. Next time I saw a Raider pull a grenade, I aimed while it was still in his hand. Did an awful lot of damage and made another Raider run for it with shrapnel in uncomfortable places.

This is the first time I'm actually considering buying the official guide for a game, if only to sort out the information overload I feel like I'm experiencing for it.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

I've vaguely considered the strategy guide too. I had a look through the EBs in the city so I could flip through it to see if it was worth whatever crazy price they're likely to charge, but couldn't find it. We'll see. Even if I do get it, I want to play through without it the first time.

 

Tales from The Capital Wasteland

During a side trip where I found myself fighting my way through an underground metro station infested with flame-spewing ants (long story), I found a corpse detailing instructions about the location of a package and where to deliver it to. As I hadn't been that far west yet, I decided to deliver the package. Besides, people had died for it, so it might have been important.

I found the package, and the first oddity presented itself; it was lingerie.

Okaaay, probably NOT vital to the restoration of Humanity and Civilisation...but it could be. Either way, after a couple of side adventures, I headed west to the town of Girdershade.

It's almost to the far western edge of the Capital Wasteland, so it was a long hike. I avoided raiders, wild and irradiated beasts, and one or two super mutants. I did encounter a couple of old Military Robots as well. These things went down easily, but it was such a contrast to see such "advanced" war machines around the rubble.

Eventually, after midnight, I found myself nearing a ruined church. Given the last time I stumbled into such a place, I approached cautiously. I was nearing the entrance, silenced pistol drawn, when a man flailing his arms wildly rounded the corner, on fire!

I kicked VATS up, was this some kind of new mutation? No, it was a Wasteland Settler according to my targeting computer. He slumped at my feet, overcome by the flames, the source of which rounded the corner; a Raider with a flame thrower.

Immediate danger aside, she'd just killed someone in one of the more horrible ways imaginable, so I put her down hard.

I explored the church; some traps had been set up, but clearly it was the abode of the poor wretch dead outside. As I was exploring, it occurred to me that it was odd that only one raider had attacked this place.

It was odd; 3 of her buddies were walking up the shattered road. I hunkered down and loaded my rifle.

They came in guns blazing, but between the shotgun on a tripwire and the grenade bouquet covering the other end, I made short work of them.

As I patched myself up, I wondered who this settler was? There was a second bed here; was there someone else who'd run to safety while he'd died here?

The church had a small graveyard, the headstones still standing. I considered burying this man there, but that wasn't an option. The sun was rising over the Wasteland now; I had lingered too long. Checking my rifle, I started swiftly marching west; I still had a package to deliver; and left the church and the bodies as a mystery for another wanderer to stumble across someday.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

That's fantastic. I love the unanswered questions like that, like my mystery sniper in Minefield. It really feels like you've stumbled into someone else's life and have no way to know the details of it. It's little moments like that much more than the big ones that are making this my likely game of the year.


Though if we're talking GotY, I can't go past Left 4 Dead. I haven't been able to play it as much as I've wanted thanks to my modem troubles (which will probably be fixed by this afternoon if Optus is to be believed), but the demo is... well, it's everything they said it was. It's a tiny bit daunting at first, but as soon as you get to grips with the UI (which happens very quickly) and learn to mesh with your fellow survivors (which will probably happen quickly simply because you've got no other choice...) it's a revelation. You never know where the next attack is going to come from, and you quickly fall into the habits of sticking together, watching each other's health and covering every angle. It's the only way to survive. It's all over too quickly, alas, with the demo containing only a very (apparently) truncated section of just one of the game's 5 multi-level campaigns (called "Movies", and complete with their own posters, intros and climaxes). I seriously can't wait. If anything can pull me away from Fallout, it'll be this.

So who's in, come release day (or indeed come next Tuesday when the demo goes public)?
- Me
- Sammich
- ?
- ?

Your names here, kids. The only way to survive is to stick together.

 

Haven't pre-ordered L4D yet, was waiting to hear peoples oppinions on the actuall game play... But by the sounds of it, it's pretty good.

Should get my pre-order then.

 

Finally picked this up today, and currently listening to the little Soundtrack teaser CD that came with it.

I cant remember who mentioned it earlier, but I look forward to listening to Butcher Pete in-game



Farcry2:

Definitely enjoying this game, but it does get on my nerves, for the same reasons Mixo listed on the last page. AI could be a lot better, and the time it takes getting from A to B to C and back to B again takes it toll, and you dont get much out of it other than a history increase with your buddy.

 

I found the AI in FC2 to be fine, and I liked the traveling, since it made the world feel authentic. The things I don't like about it are the things that ruin that authenticity, like dudes in singlets taking 50 bullets before they'll go down, crappy "Find All The X" missions, and the simple fact that all there is to actually do in the game is take missions which all consist of:

a) Drive to some place.
b) Shoot some fools. (Macguffin collection may or may not be required afterwards.)
c) Drive back.


Maybe there's more variation in missions later on, I haven't played enough to know. I guess the problem is that it aims to give you the illusion of great freedom, but fails at even that. It's trying to decorate itself with the trappings of an RPG, but next to something like Fallout 3 it feels hopelessly restrictive and repetitive.

Again, I don't think it's BAD, I just find it tedious in spurts any longer than an hour or so. Fallout I was up till 1am last night playing. Which is the more engrossing game?

 

Considering the amount of hours that I've put into Fallout today, I think I know your answer

Just finished the minefield quest, wish I had heeded the warning of not using cars for cover. I severely underestimated that explosion. That, plus my numerous failed attempts at disarming the mines left me with everything on my body being crippled except the Head. Worst condition I've been left in so far.

Anyway, the trend in this thread is to tell a story, so here's my sorry-*** attempt at it.
ADDENDUM; I did type up a big story for you all, but I want everyone to experience it themselves without me ruining it for you. Go and find Vault 106, its roughly halfway between Megaton and Arefu (some you may have already been there) and is well worth your time. Science Bobble-Head inside.

Breathe the deep blue.

 

Heh, don't worry, Sabre, all stories are welcome here, regardless of wordiness.

Yesterday, Sammich suggested a brilliant idea to me: once all of us here have finished Fallout 3, we should all get together and go to the pub or something, and talk over it, book club style, because there's already so much to discuss.

 

Short and Sad:

It was a usual day in the wasteland for me, exploring, finding random trinkets to trade. The last thing on my mind at that moment was finding my deadbeat father... why should I waste my time looking for someone who has lied to me my entire life? I was happy - I'd just completed my research for Moira and she had gotten her little Wasteland Survival Guide published. I didn't want to spoil that feeling by searching for a deadbeat liar!

I rounded a low hill to see a small skirmish in the valley on the other side - I've become all too familiar with these random wasteland battles. I sat back and watched, it wasn't my fight... yet. It was a lone Wastelander/Scavenger who had run into some very bad luck in the shape of a couple of Mirelurks. I was surprised, he was doing alright... one was already dead.

I thought that too soon. Suddenly, the man's head just popped off and came flying toward me. The Mirelurk followed it's course, saw a new target and ran at me. A quick blast from my Laser Rifle and it was pile of ash. I'm a trained Gunslinger who shoots with Finesse - it's one of the perks of surviving the wasteland.

There was nothing I could have done for the Wastelander, I see now that he was dead before he even started this fight. Poor bastard!

I checked his corpse (what was left of it)... he didn't need his gear where he was going. The usual stuff; Hunting Rifle, 32mm ammo... some good trading gear. I flipped the man over and checked the bulge in his back pocket.

It was a copy of the Wasteland Survival Guide.

I laughed. It was a desperate kind of laugh - the type that's filled with guilt and embarrassment.

 

Alrighty then BBN, but dont say I didnt warn you



While I was on the quest to find Arefu, I stumbled upon the entrance to Vault 106. I figured the people inside, if there were indeed still people in there, would be civil and I might get some nice equipment out of it. So I venture in and open the vault's door. Stepping through it I notice the walls and floor are tinged in browns and yellows, and everything has begun to rust.

My thoughts at this point were that the inhabitants of Vault 106 were long gone, probably to form a settlement on the outside. I had read about the G.E.C.K. earlier on the Overseer?s terminal back in Vault 101, maybe Vault 106 were one of the lucky ones to receive the experimental new module. So I continue along to see if they left anything good behind.

The first oddity was, after turning a corner, the once rustic halls of the Vault turned a dark blue in an instant. I paused, then figured it must've been a lighting change, and continued on cautiously. I entered the room ahead and there stood 3 identical men wearing labcoats, seemingly unaware of my presence. I walk towards them and suddenly the walls change back to yellow and the scientists vanish. I check a nearby terminal but my science levels are too low to complete the hack. I choose to continue to see if I cant find out what happened here.

Further into the vault, I run into a survivor, driven insane somehow and take him down quickly with my sawn-off shotgun. Round the next corner and the walls go blue again, and the 3 labcoats reappear. I bring up VATS to find out what on earth is going on. The first target's name is Dad. Same with the other two. Am I hallucinating?

I reach the science labs and find a terminal with a single message from the Overseer on it, detailing that they will be testing a chemical through the Vault's ventilation, but that there should be no danger. Still, he adds that if anyone starts acting strangely they should be taken in for medical assistance. Delving deeper, more blue. A terminal nearby has a message on it, apparently addressed to 'Me'. It's telling me to stay in the Vault, and somehow has a conversation with my subconscious, using the phrase "Breathe the deep blue." The end of the hallway is just darkness; even the light from my Pip Boy is sucked into it like a black hole. Venturing into the dark, the hallway in front of me suddenly changes back to normal, with stairs heading downward at the end. At the bottom of the stairs I see a trail of blood rounding the corner. I check to see if my shotgun is loaded and continue. More stairs, and the trail of blood continues, almost like I?m being lead along by some sicko using blood as bread crumbs.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and open the door in front of me, which leads to a long hall. Cautiously moving along the hallway the door at the other end flies open and the blue comes back. Three figures at the end of the hall run toward me, but I don?t need VATS to recognise them. All three of them are Amata. I?m starting to wonder what exactly they were testing in this Vault. Is it making me hallucinate about the things I care about most? Perhaps, the terminal earlier urged me to stay in the Vault, maybe the chemical was an attempt to make the survivors want to stay inside, and they?d be none the wiser.
Up ahead I see what looks like the reactor room and I see another scientist. But I?ve never seen this man before, this is no hallucination. VATS says he?s a survivor, but that he hasn?t been driven insane. Still, he lunges at me with a baseball bat and I put 2 shells into his chest and arm, forcing him to drop the bat. At that instant, the Tunnel Snakes appear in front of me in all their bluey goodness and attack me. Given how this adventure had gone so far this didn?t surprise me, but the fact that their attacks did damage certainly did. It only took one shot each with the pistol to put each of them down, and a critical strike to the head later and the crazy scientist was down for the count too.

I inject myself with some Stimpaks

 

I'm all for the idea of sitting around over coffee talking Fallout 3. I know of at least three others who could join us, as I've been sitting around with them all on separate occasions discussing the game at length.

I also picked up the official guide. Very pretty; the Shogun's read more of it than I have at this point! I've been very good about not reading it until my first run through is done, but it was definitely worth the (surprisingly little) money I paid for it.

I finally, finally got into a session of Left 4 Dead in tonight. I've been crazy busy and double/triple booked all weekend so hadn't managed to get the time in to sit down with any of the other Funky Freshers to play a run through for my first time. Finally managed to get on late Sunday night with Sammich and Jester.

I loved the intro movie, really sets the tone. The characters are all fleshed out well with very little dialogue. The line that sold me was Bill the Vietnam Veteran's final line to Louis the Businessman as he light's up a cigarette after having escaped a zombie attack, "Son, we just crossed the street! Let's not throw a party until we're out of the city..." I suspect I'll be playing that character most often Though it really doesn't matter, they're all the same.

The game is fast paced, tense, and very, very fun. My only issue so far is friendly fire; I hit way too many of my buddies whilst getting spendy with the ammo. Though it really only became an issue when we hit the hardest difficulty level, which frankly, spanked us hard. I need to learn to pull my shots. Oddly, ammo conservation was not the issue I thought it'd be.

So I'll be along late Tuesday to get in on more demo action. I'll also be picking up a Zombie House Preparedness Kit so we can decorate come the next LAN.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

Glad you finally got a chance to play, Magnus. I told you it was good.

Friendly fire becomes less of a problem with practice, as you learn to more reflexively distinguish your allies from the zombie horde, and your teammates learn to do things like crouch if they're in front of you (something Sammich and I are getting better at). After a weekend of playing the demo a lot (even though it's been pure masochism with how fraked up my connection has been) I can really feel the muscle memory setting in and feel a great deal more confident working as a team and handling the weapons in the most effective way.

As for Impossible difficulty (or Epic Fail Mode, as I've come to call it), it's awesome. The absolute best way to play the game. The feeling of hopelessness accentuates the atmosphere so damn much. Probably won't be quite so good with the full-length campaigns, but I sure want to try it.

I'll probably not be online to play it over the next week or so while G and I get this internet sorted out (which at this rate will come down to telling Optus to shove it and taking our money elsewhere, a process which unfortunately may take a couple of weeks to come to fruitiion), but if we book a definite night for some Serious Business, Loz has said I can use her computer, which is very nice of her. Is Serious Business Tuesday still on? RSVP so I know what I'm doing... God I'll be glad when this mess is dealt with.

 

Not like I didn't believe you

Sorting out the friendly fire issues, though playing with a bunch of non-QFFers later in the evening meant I got shot in the ass quite a few times by my own teammates.

Things we learned today that will help us with the Zombie Apocalypse:

1. Don't stand behind the zombie one of your teammates is shooting at; the bullets will go through the zombie and probably through you as well.
2. We've yet been unable to kill a Tank without losing at least one teammate. Despite my and other peoples belief that these things couldn't get into enclosed spaces, they can. Molotoving plus running and gunning them seems to be the best plan, so fight them out in the open. Even so, one of these things took over 30 shotgun shells and unknown amounts of pistol rounds plus a molotov before it went down.
3. You can kill a Witch without losing anyone. Not as scary as we were initially lead to believe, however we took this thing down thanks to a solid Sammich Plan, so don't think you can just charge in and kill one of these things and get away with it. Avoid at all available opportunities; only provoke it if it's directly blocking your objective.

I'm sure we'll work out more strategies before the 18th and the 22nd And if others are in, I'll rush home Tuesday night to get some more L4D action in.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

1. Yeah, sorry about that.
2. Tanks can turn enclosed spaces into open ones, and then beat you to death with the level geometry. It's like fighting the Incredible Hulk, but angrier.
3. The only times I've ever taken witches down has been through teamwork, a solid plan, and a long stretch of distance to fire at her as she charges. And even then, I think I was the one she went for first. Ouchie.


Yeah, people, confirm your presence for tonight, so I know what I'm doing.

 

I intend to play tonight. DO YOU?

Serious Business Tuesday - A Time To (re)Kill

I think I'll be putting this on my sisters laptop as well, if she decides she wants to use Washington.

 

Alright, well I'll probably be on for a bit tonight, then, on a working machine. If I'm not, have fun without me.

 

I'll be there, space willing. My whispering will be not due to fear, but to not wake the Padawan.

 

...hearing a lot of good things about this game.

Some crazy cool things too. One said a Smoker had dragged them back, hitting the witch on the way, who went to town on them (as they were still restrained).

Ouch.

 

I once got vomited on by a Boomer, stumbled back and got hooked by a Smoker, then knocked out from the tongue by a Hunter pouncing on me. Needless to say, I didn't last long.

 

None of us lasted long that round Though seeing a buddy getting rend by a hunter in the garish red light as your life fades away gave me the heebee jeebees.

Witches aren't the horrors we thought they'd be; I've been forced to fight one three times now, and two times it's been a success. The third time the party survived, but I got snookered as I was with a green party who didn't understand the concept of "friendly fire", especially with a minigun! That was a fun game though; I pulled my old buddy Nick up after he'd been swarmed by zombies and a hunter during his very first round. His response to "Are you alright?" was "Yeah, but I need to change my underwear!"

But anyway, Witches are just landmines. Really dangerous landmines. The two worst placements for it were in the final train car leading to the stairwell that leads to the power station, and right in front of the Safe Room door at the end of the level.

Tank's are still The Fear. I've not taken one down clean yet, nor have I been last survivor standing either.

We managed to get everybody out in Expert last night, which was a first. We were a sorry bunch of walking wounded though, but we are getting better. I am playing this demo to death, amazingly.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider