Left 4 Dead 2

The Game Room
1

We’ve got under a week until L4D2 is released.

I originally was not that enthusiastic about the game. Coming out a year after the original, especially when the original dropped the ball on release dates of content patches that should’ve been there in the first place, it felt like cashing in. It felt like L4D2 might be more like an expansion pack than a true sequel.

But it has several things going for it. The original game is technically a Valve game, but it was really developed by a (good but not great) Turtle Rock studios who were bought up by valve late in the process. The sequel was apparently designed by an actual Valve studio, so I’m putting some faith that the game will be improved. The AI director is supposed to be redesigned and a lot smarter and more challenging now.

It looks like it will be a more interesting versus game, with 3 new boss infected types and running events. The spitter (who spits acid onto an area and makes standing in it cause damage) was desperately needed from the start to give the infected a way to counter closet camping. That alone significantly changes the gameplay. There are also running events where instead of defending one spot, you actually have to make it to another area in a zombie swarm event, making it much more challenging.

The demo seemed cool. There’s a lot more detail in the zombie slaying physics… you can blow off limbs and the zombie deaths look cooler. There are a few new modes that I don’t know much about, a “realism” mode where the only change I’m aware of is that players won’t see each other’s outlines and hence teamwork requires more coordination - not sure what other changes there are… I saw a scavenger mode, and maybe another mode I can’t recall.

I noticed that the L4D (original) game just got an update that put in 4v4 competitive matchmaking. This is also something the game desperately needed from the start and they finally got around to patching it a year after release and a week before the sequel… this way if you have 3 friends, you can find an organized 4v4 match against another group of 4 friends instead of slaughtering pubs. I hope the sequel also features this.

So anyway… I said I’d be okay with the game if it was a $30 expansion… and I ended up going in on a 4 pack with friends. You can preorder 4 copies of the game for $135, which works out to under $34 per person. So that was enough to sway me. Well, that, and I haven’t played L4D in a few months and I miss you guys. We had quite an SDMB community going, with 12-15 regular players making full 8 man versus games every night for quite a while. I’m hoping to recapture that.

If you’re going to buy the game, try to get 3 friends in on it and go for the $135 package deal. Ask around the SDMB steam group to see if others are interested and pool your money together with paypal.

2

Maybe.

3

After the atrocious lack of support for L4D1 compared to what was promised there is no way I’m paying full price for a new game that’s basically what the original game was supposed to be.

They will have a half-off weekend eventually, if the reviews are good and it seems fun then I might pick i up then.

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, I think the stats say I have just a hair under 250 hours played :eek:

4

L4D2 is going to dominate my freetime.

5

I had pretty much the same attitude. I’ll bitch about L4D (and they really did screw a lot up, especially taking months to release HALF THE GAME as versus-playable), but I got way more than $50 out of enjoyment of the game anyway. It’ll probably be the same for the 2nd one.

Still, if L4D2 was a $30 expansion pack for L4D I’d feel fine about it… and with this 4 pack deal, that’s essentially what it is.

6

This has been corrected on some modified servers in L4D by making the smoker cloud toxic. If the survivors were corner camping, just have your smoker get killed next to them and watch them scatter. Works very well IMHO.

Apparently the zombies are a lot more durable except for head shots. I’ve also heard that the defibrillator would be the only way to revive someone. No more rescuing survivors from closets.

This is an especially good deal for Euro dopers. I bought the four pack with some fellow dopers and had them gift it to me. Because of the conversion rates, I ended up getting 50% off the price than if I’d have bought it myself.

Maybe try and organize a L4D2 event on the SDMB Steam group?

7

I was initially annoyed at the early release of a sequel. But I actually thought about it, and I payed…what $50? $45? for a game that I got several hundred (300? 400? more?) hours of enjoyment out of. And it was repetitive levels that played more or less the same every time. Even simple math puts that investment at dimes on the hour.

So, what are they saying for part 2? More variety across the undead, weapons and levels. And a AI director that can actually dynamically alter the path of the level to match the skill of the runners, or at least, so said the early press info.

I’m sold. Sounds like a good deal and I’ll hopefully be around to drown Beef in some Louisianian Bayou. But… as I’ve said numerous times… I’ve got Dragon Age, Borderlands and this all vying for portions of my time. It’s going to be some sort of round robin with what games I’m playing. BTW, have I mentioned how much I hate publishers all releasing before Christmas?

8

tygre and I downloaded the demo a few days ago. The demo only contains the first two episodes of “The Parish” campaign, but it’s probably a good indication of what the full game is going to be like.

I’ve only played the demo once, but my first impressions were:

[ul][li]L4D2 is grittier than its predecessor. tygre rightly said that “the first game felt like a polished Hollywood movie, this one feels like a documentary”. There’s a lot in that. It looks shot-on-film. The lighting feels a bit disorienting…everything feels a bit disorienting. That’s not a knock, though. There’s a sense of “realism” that L4D is lacking. [/li]
[li]L4D2 seems more unpredictable than L4D. Sometimes “The Director” in L4D fell into a rut of “Hunter, now Smoker, now Boomer, now back to Hunter” with the specials. In L4D2 with three new specials there is a lot more variety. And you might go an entire episode without seeing one of them–or see two of them on top of another. The rushes seem to come out of nowhere. Maybe after playing L4D2 for a while we’ll know when they’re coming, but they’re a surprise now.[/li]
[li]The L4D2 episode layout is more creative. In the second episode of The Parish you need to go into a (fortunately stocked) trailer, then rush through a gauntlet of zombies, climb up a set of ladders, and disable an alarm. Do you have one character take an adrenaline shot and run ahead? Do you have two take the shots, letting them run ahead while the other two protect them? Do you have all four go in a pack? There are choices that weren’t there in L4D, and I hope those are replicated in the other campaigns.[/li]
[li]The sniper rifle is OP. I always used it in L4D, and now it’s even more powerful.[/li]
[li]The melee weapons are a game-changer. L4D strategy often consisted of “punch-n-shoot” when the zombies were within arms’ reach. Now switching between gun and melee weapons, and knowing when to do so at a second’s notice, is going to play a major role. Melee weapons hurt other players, so (as I had earlier feared) swinging wildly at everything isn’t a viable option. And the machete is REALLY fun. Bits o’ zombie fly EVERYWHERE. Yeah, it’s a much bloodier game than L4D.[/li]
[li]I’ll miss the old characters. Ellis is a dumbass, and people will fight not to be him. Coach is amusing (when he’s hit by friendly fire he gripes that “You can’t shoot for shit”), but Rochelle could be a little sassier and Nick feels a little underdrawn. That’s a bit disappointing. But, again, that’s only from one run-through. [/ul][/li]
Overall, I’m happy putting down $50 for L4D2. tygre and I played L4D A LOT, and we still will go back to it, because it does feel like a markedly different game. There really is no equivalent co-op shooter out there like it, and you’ll get value for money from it.

9

Yeah this is going to be good.

I’m definitely in for a release day SDMB all you can kill zombie extravaganza the night of the 17th!

10

Yeah, I’m sure we’ll have lots of people from the SDMB steam group ready to spend way too much time playing L4D2 again. If it’s like how it was with L4D for the first few weeks, we’ll not only have 8 players in a versus game but 4+ waiting for their turn when people had to leave.

If you’re getting the PC version but you haven’t signed up for our SDMB group, you can sign up here. Your skill isn’t too important - we have a wide variety of experience and skill levels and we balance the teams to make even games. A microphone is preferred of course. We will almost certainly have all-SDMB versus games (as well as campaign games) on a daily basis.

11

I’ve pre-ordered it. I’ve had a lot of gameplay out of the original, and while I don’t see the sequel as much more than a revamp (based on the demo) I’ll enjoy working my way through the campaigns. As an FPS game that forces co-operation, it has a much lower ratio of idiots online than any other I’ve played. I just hope versus is balanced with the new additions.

12

Looking forward to 2 as well, already preordered and enjoyed the demo. What is the typical geographical spread in the smdb left group (Euroland for me)? I imagine it’s mostly US and hence playing on a US schedule with US ping :slight_smile: ? I might join up there, as most of the friends I played 1 with, are hesitant about getting part 2, and see how the schedule/pings work out…

13

The group is mostly Americans, but there’s a few of us Europeans playing too. When playing with Americans, on an American server, the ping is usually around 250-350. You get used to it, and eventually learn to compensate for it. Long hunter pounces are always going to be a bit finicky with high ping though. The ping is a lot less noticeable in campaign than in versus.

14

Same for the Xbox folk. I’m sure some people will hop all over it on release day, so there should be some Dopers up and playing it.

15

Having played the demo quite a bit, I agree with **Duke **about the lighting. You know what sucks really hard? Trying to take down a Smoker while staring directly into the setting sun behind him. Also it seems to me the AI is much more dastardly - it seems to coordinate much better than the L4D1 Director.

Maybe it’s just because I’ve been to NOLA, while I haven’t wandered around Pennsylvania and Ohio at all, but I’m blown away by the environments. It is just freaking gorgeous, and the soundtrack sets it off perfectly. Not to mention things like exquisitely rendered severed limbs, exposed spines and pelvises, and the fountain of ragdoll bodies when a pipe bomb goes off.

I do miss the old characters. Ellis doesn’t bother me too much, but Rochelle’s pseudo-swearing is already wearing thin (“Son of a bee sting” - really?). Hopefully we’ll see a lot more from Nick in the full game - he has potential.

16

Funny little flash where you can upload your picture and see your face get smashed by Nick.

http://www.gamestopl4d2.com/ly4d.html

Here’s one I made where zombie Tom Cruise gets his comeuppance.

ht tp://gamestopl4d2.com/ly4d.html?mId=31993311.3&doorId=544&clientId=219

17

I’ll be all over it on release day. Why do they release these games so long before Christmas, dang it? Can’t wait! Must play!

The demo was fun. There’s one thing about the game that bothers me, and it’s a crazy OCD thing that probably doesn’t bother anyone else: names. See, in the first L4D, all the character names are very dissimilar, so if someone on your team says, “Save Louis!”, even if you can’t hear very well, you can tell the name “Louis” easily from Bill, Zoey, or Francis.

But in the new game, you have Ellis, and you have Rochelle. That’s two very similar sounding "ell"s. I know, silly complaint and it’s probably just me. Still, I think it may cost valuable half-seconds of comprehension in the heat of battle. They should’ve called him “Pete” or “Zane” or “Buford” or something. Maybe “Max”…

18

I’ve read up on the game on the Left 4 Dead wiki and it really looks like this game is going to eclipse L4D in every aspect. More varied environments, new specials, new uncommon common infected (like the Hazmat, Riot and Worker zombies), an AI director that can alter the map, campaign finales that don’t involve hunkering in a closet, better graphics… The only thing I will miss are the original characters, but I’m warming up rapidly to the new crew – the intro movie to the demo did a lot toward that and as it looks like there will be a plot and lots of cutscenes to develop the characters even more. It’s rumored Louis, Frances, Zoey and Bill might be made playable in L4D2 – that would seal the deal.

Like was mentioned above, I did the math on how much time my friends and I spent playing the game versus how much we paid for it and boy howdy does it work out as a good investment. My friends and I pre-ordered it without hesitation.

One week to go and it’s splatter time!

19

I’ve never played the original version of this game. Anyone want to give me the poop? It sounds like a team-oriented zombie-killing FPS. Is that accurate?

Can I just download the demo and just jump right in and get my feet wet without having played the first game? Are there things I need to know first (controls, purpose of the game/missions, etc)?

Thanks.

Also: is it multiplayer only?

20

You’ve pretty much got it. No, it’s not multiplayer only, but it’s greatly improved with multiplayer gaming.