#fan made gamemode | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

possibly-in-wonderland · 2 months

Text

Incorrect Creepypasta Quotes (The Bus Improv AU) (Mostly Offenderman & My Self-Insert)

"The Bus Improv AU" is essentially just what my friend and I made up in middle school to pass the time on the bus ride to and from school. Essentially, we played ourselves but as creepypastas. I was 400 something yr old demon that slept around with everyone and my friend went by the name Kat and was just...Kat.

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: In our AU, Offenderman acts like Asmodeus from Helluva Boss (Helluva Boss wasn't even out yet lmfao). Also, he really likes making green bean casserole???

~~~

Alice: *holding a bottle* Is this whiskey or perfume? Offenderman: *chugs entire bottle* Offenderman: It’s perfume.

~~~

Alice, watching the news: Someone tried to fight a squid at the aquarium today! Offenderman: *walks in covered with ink* Well, maybe the squid was being a dick.

~~~

Alice: *Screams* Offenderman: *Screams louder to assert dominance* Kat: Should we do something?! Slenderman, observing: No, I want to see who wins this.

~~~

Slenderman: How did none of you hear what I just said? Offenderman: I’ve been zoned out for the past two and a half hours. Kat: I got distracted about halfway through. Alice: Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

~~~

Brian: Tim, keep an eye on Toby today. He's going to say something to the wrong person and get punched. Tim: Sure, I’d love to see Toby get punched. Brian: Try again. Tim, sighing: I will stop Toby from getting punched.

~~~

Tim: What's a word thats a mix between 'sad' and 'mad'? Brian: Disgruntled, miserable, desolated- Toby: Smad.

~~~

Offenderman: In alcohol’s defense, I’ve done some pretty dumb shit while completely sober too.

~~~

Offenderman: When I get Doordash I order 20 Cheeseburgers at a time and heat them up throughout the week so that I don’t have to pay the delivery fee multiple times. Alice: I hope you understand how food poisoning works. Offenderman: I hope food poisoning understands how I work. I never met a burger i couldn’t eat.

~~~

Offenderman, watching Alice: Ah yes. The mysterious and beautiful Alice, so demure… Offenderman: …I wonder what sort of melodic sounds this wonderful being makes? Alice: *screaming*

~~~

Slenderman: You either buckle down and do your work or you’ll end up at McDonalds. Kat: We're going to McDonalds if I don't do my work? Slenderman: NO-

~~~

Offenderman: *on the phone with Alice* I can’t talk right now, I’m doing hot girl shit. Alice: You’re pulling Oreos apart and saving off the frosting to make a mega Oreo, aren’t you. Offenderman: Maybe.

~~~

Alice: Slash gamemode creative. Offenderman: Dude, this isn't Min- Alice: *starts levitating*

~~~

Alice: Are you reading fan fiction? Kat, reading an article about extremely rare diseases: Wh- No. Alice: Oh, is it on AO3? Kat: This is CNN.

~~~

Kat: *watching the squad's shenanigans with concern* Do you feel like this has gotten out of hand? Alice: I don't know. Feels normal enough for a group that's on 911's blocked callers list.

~~~

Alice: I'm gonna need a human skull but you can't ask why. Jeff: Only if you also don't ask why. Jeff: *pulls four pristine human skulls out of hisbag* Alice: ... Alice, grabbing a skull: This one will do.

~~~

Jeff, proudly: I slept. Ben: Is that so much of a rare thing that you have to say it?

~~~

Alice: Do you love me? Offenderman: We’re literally married. Alice: Yeah, but as friends or—

~~~

Alice: Hi, I'm Ben's emergency contact. Counter Woman: You're here to pick them up? Alice: I'm here to remove myself as their emergency contact.

~~~

Ben: Help! I’m drowning! Jeff: Calm down. We’re only in six feet of water! Ben: NOT ALL OF US ARE TALL!

~~~

Alice: We should get you to a doctor for a check up immediately. What if it happens again, and there isn’t anyone around to help you? What if it’s congenital? Oh my God! Was it me? Did I hurt you? Offenderman: …You realize any other person that made their partner pass out on bed would simply feel really proud of themselves, right?

~~~

Alice: When you said 'Magic in Bed', I wasn't expecting this... Offenderman: *pulls out card from deck* Now, was this your card? Alice: Holy moly-

~~~

Alice: I was going to suggest we do Marilyn Monroe and JFK roleplay, but I’d get way too into it. Offenderman: What- how? Alice: You’d be like “come to bed … Mr. President” and I’d be like, “I need to increase the amount of American military advisors in South Vietnam by a factor of 18.”

(random note: in the improv my self-insert temporarily lived with jeff, ben, and smile dog in an apartment and shared a brain cell...smile had the braincell most of the time)

#creepypasta #jeff the killer #ben drowned #oc #creepypasta oc

3 notes · View notes

lone-sk · 2 months

Text

I think Overwatch 2 is in a really interesting state right now, equal parts funny and depressing. It's obvious to everyone that played the original that the game is unbalanced and unfun, and the main cause of this is the switch from 6v6 to 5v5. It's not fun to play as a tank anymore. Each tank character now has to do twice as much work, which means they've all been buffed like crazy, but this also means they get focused harder. So even though they're the strongest characters in the game by far, they're not fun to play because you're constantly getting focused and stunned. And it's not fun to fight against them either, because they sponge up damage like crazy.

And Blizzard refuses to change it back, because it'll be admitting that the move to Overwatch 2 was just a cover to overhaul the micro transactions. Because they've delivered on zero of the other promises they made about Overwatch 2. The new gamemode (push) was disappointing, the new heroes were locked behind a battle pass, the PvE wasn't as robust as advertised, and it was locked behind another paywall. 5v5 is the only thing they can 100% say they did, so they have to pretend it was a success, and that people like it.

If you watch the developer streams, they'll say shit like "oh, we loved 6v6, but we have to listen to what the community wants, and have that inform the direction of the game!" The community where the loudest voices are streamers and YouTubers that financially benefit from the continued success of this game. If you seek out smaller channels, and actual professional players, they all say 5v5 is shit and they're right to do so.

This is one of the most extreme cases of square peg - round hole I've seen. Go back and read the patch notes from the last few years, and take a shot everytime a tank hero gets buffed. More HP, shorter cooldown, more armor, a different passive, reduced knockback. The next change will definitely fix 5v5 forever guys.

What really makes this so frustrating to me is that they had it. Overwatch was an absurdly successful game on basically every metric. People loved the lore, there was a thriving professional and casual scene, the cosplays, the fanart, the porn. When it came out, Overwatch was inescapable. They could have continued, adding new characters or maps every few months, and it would have been fine.

But then Fortnite and Apex came along. The default monetization model for online games changed, and of course Blizzard had to get in on that action. So, they cut off the head of their golden goose, and now they're left with a broken game that's hemorrhaging players. It's so pathetic. They're trying to bring people back by slowly adding back the things they liked in Overwatch 1. Hey guys, we added the fremium currency back! The new characters aren't locked behind the battle pass anymore! Please come back!

And what's sad is that Overwatch 1 is gone forever. We can't go back to it. It was a genuinely fantastic game, a true cultural phenomenon, that doesn't exist anymore. Overwatch 2 will keep shambling along until development isn't profitable, or Blizzard looses too many harassment lawsuits. Then, one day, maybe the source code will be leaked online, and some incredibly talented and dedicated fans will figure out a way to get custom servers running, like they did with Titanfall 2. And we can experience this game like when it was good. If they don't get hit with a cease-and-desist.

Does anyone else feel tired?

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #game criticism #lone talks

5 notes · View notes

lilyblackdrawside · 9 months

Note

The other day, I had a dream that Arknights introduced a new game mode, kind of a crossover between IS and that gamemode where you get module materials.

It was overall very poorly balanced and extremely difficult, but it was soon found out that using Mudrock would trivialize a certain type of stage, making the whole experience a lot more palatable. Still, people were mad at the devs for such poor balancing.

Following this discovery, Hypergrypth patched it very soon after by adding in a new enemy type made specifically to counter Mudrock. They looked like wooden or stone hammers floating above ground, and, if struck by Mudrock while one of her skills was active, would actually deal a wide-range 20 seconds stun on all operators around, thus more or less guaranteeing failure in the stage.

Following this, Hypergryph got a massive wave of hate for their terrible game design decisions (and from Mudrock fans), me included, but they ended up banning the accounts of everyone who complained, mine included :')

Not the Mudrock banhammers... Not like they never implicitely targeted certain operators through stage or enemy design before (Surtr, Ch'alter), but I think it would be very funny if they made an enemy that specifically said "Fuck you, Operator"

Knowing me, I'd probably love the mode. IS and SSS are both my favourite parts of Arknights, so nothing could go wrong combining them and I enjoy ramming my head into difficulty walls. Take the squad building of SSS and IS' floor and stage progression. SSS and IS both have some form of squad that you start with as well, so we take one of those. I'd probably prefer SSS' EC units - there's more you can do with them, design wise Keep the number of them kinda low - like a max of 4 to pick from, maybe have some as unlockables like the IS squads. Have like three points in the run where you pick one of two upgrades. Ideally, each upgrade goes into its own new branch, but just having three choices of A or B is fine too.

Then they could even bring back the old SSS bosses, those were nice and aren't accessible at all anymore. Would definitely need a type of node that lets you cut operators out of your deck and/or always give the option to not add one when you get a selection. Else it'd get way too messy in a longer type of game mode.

And then of course put Mudrock into your starting group always. When the Banhammers show up, just stack a Specialist over her to have her ready again when you've taken care of them. Leizi probably handles those just fine. Sounds good to me!

#arknights

5 notes · View notes

2xplusungood · 1 year

Text

I have a bunch of unorganized thoughts about TF2 and here they are

1. TF2 is in a weird spot where it feels “Abandoned” despite having been given more support for much longer than most games

2. It was absolutely not planned for it to have as many content updates as it did. It was released during an era before consistent content updates were really a thing unless your game had a subscription model. You’d release a multiplayer game, maybe do a couple updates here and there to keep people buying, then move onto the next game you’re working on, and the games community would keep it alive with custom maps, gamemodes and whatever the hell else. With the absolute explosion of popularity that TF2 had, Valve decided to continually update it and slowly transition to the Free to Play model (Was actually one of the first games to have microtransactions and loot boxes.) Which has slowly become the model for most multiplayer games nowadays where developers will add content updates while making money off of microtransactions.

3. There has been a gradual corrosion of the community’s involvement. Earlier in its life there were community servers, which could be moderated, but the introduction of Quickplay just about killed off most vanilla servers, as new players would be sent to big server farms that use advertisements in their MOTD and then roll the profits into buying more servers, which meant more revenue, and while the fanbase begged Valve to do something about this plugin so that they didn’t have an ad shoved in their face, Valve turned around and were publicly taken steps to support it. While this was happening, community servers without a specific draw to them like custom gamemodes were deprived of fresh players until they died out. I’ve had people tell me that quickplay was great, but I personally watched this happened. It absolutely boggles me, and my only possible explanation is that matchmaking is so bad that it made a button that would likely just put you in a skial server as its best case scenario seem good in comparison.

4. Most of TF2′s current big problems is caused by this, and I personally believe that abolishing any sort of matchmaking would fix this issue. Hackers? Moderators. Toxicity? Moderators. Lack of updates? Theres a whole world of community maps out there, and you can play more than just the 5 or so added twice, possibly three times a year.

5. I hate the loss of the experience that community servers have. I cannot stress enough how big of a deal it was to be able to play with a specific group of people just by hopping on a server. Im having trouble putting into words the loss I feel now having every game always filled with strangers that I’ll likely never see again, instead of hopping on my server of choice and chatting with people who weren’t outright friends but familiar faces, like having a bar you frequent. I feel more isolated than ever now that the usual state of multiplayer games is wrangling what friends you already have IF they have that game.

6. I can’t say for sure, but my guess is thats why people feel so disheartened about TF2 nowadays. Its a hollow experience compared to what it used to be and without the constant shot in the arm that updates serve to be, people are growing disillusioned. Even before CS:GO, CS 1.6 fans never complained about the lack of updates, and TF2 lost that foundation as it slowly changed into the modern games as a service model where if a game goes 1 month without an update its considered dead.

7. I used to love Valve, like to a ridiculous degree. But then I saw them introduce pay for cosmetics in a game that already had a price tag. Then I saw them add lootboxes, which even back then I knew were predatory. Then I saw them try to monetanize mods (People roast bethesda for that but Valve had their hands in the cookie jar just as much). Yes they are a company, yes their main focus is profit, but they outright pioneered so much bad that now has become the horrible standard in the current industry.

#team fortress 2 #tf2

10 notes · View notes

i-drew-artz · 1 year

Text

Im gonna start the polls for the Fic Locations Soon.

For Those Unaware, I'm planning on writing a TF2 Fic Series after I finish the lineart for the long overdue seal art.

The mercs will engage in slice of life activities across the various maps of tf2.

So Far, Coldfront, and Upward are the 2 locations that will be covered but this is gonna be a long-running deal! so I'm gonna decide on the next 10 Maps Via Poll

Each Poll will be based on a different Gamemode. The Selected Modes Are:

Payload

Capture The Flag

King Of The Hill

Control Point Linear

Control Point Attack/Defend

Maybe Ill Consider things like Arena or Player Attack in the future but thats the polls i will be running!

The Top 2 maps in the poll will be selected for the fic! the 2-3 runner-ups will be put into the polls for the next batch of chapters which will not be based on game mode, and more randomized. The 2nd wave of polls will also have new maps introduced to it (One of which will be Selbyen, DW).

One question guys... Should I Include some of the maps from the new summer update in the first wave, introduce them in the second wave, or make a new poll for them entirely in the second wave?

If you have liked any of my other TF2 Posts, Like TF2 Fanfiction, or Are a fan of the game, reblogs are heavily appreciated. I want a good amount of votes when the first wave of polls drops .

Thank u TF2 Community, you've made my experience on Tumblr really great so far! 💖

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #fancfiction #fanfic #tf2 fanfiction #tf2 fanfic ideas #tf2 poll #tf2 maps #thank u

5 notes · View notes

mariska · 1 year

Text

hi i would like to share a recent personal experience (with a surprisingly positive resolution) about challenging hate speech in online video games that have chat features as an extremely socially anxious autistic person + also some thoughts i've held for a very long time regarding the need for folks who are privileged enough to not be targets of constant harassment in video game social environments to use that privilege by speaking up when witnessing hate speech for those of us who can't safely do so

(this ended up being a super long post i'm sorry, i tried to split it into separated paragraphs to make it a bit more accessible to read but i needed to get this whole train of thought written outside of my brain before i unintentionally move on to some other point of focus and forget all of this)

i dont usually like posting about bad online video game interactions since thats a Bummer, but. i wanted to make a post to share a brief interaction i was a part of in the text chat of an online team game last night that actually had a positive resolution even just for the sake of being able to say that i've witnessed a bad video game interaction involving me as a target end up with a positive resolution. i'm gonna put the rest of this whole thing under a 'read more' so that it hopefully doesn't clog anyone's dash up with long-scrolling text wall:

i was playing 'versus' mode in Left 4 Dead 2 on my computer last night, which for anyone not familiar with that gamemode, is where one team of 4 people play as the human survivors and the other team of 4 people play as the game's 'Special Infected' zombies (Boomer, Hunter, Tank, etc. on a randomized respawn rotation). its very fun and chaotic but because of the chaotic rapid respawn nature of the zombie side and the fact that you don't usually play as the special infected zombies in the regular 'campaign', its not uncommon to be put in matches with ppl who have no patience for anyone who isnt super experienced or skilled or whatever as every special infected on the zombie team and people start arguments in the chat pretty often. im not a fan of ppl acting out like that but usually its just Annoying and i ignore it and carry on,

last night though, someone on the opposite team of mine (mine was currently the zombies; the game goes back and forth to let each team do their best at surviving the same levels on both sides; one team gets as far as they can as humans and then the other tries to match that score or do better if they can and so on) was getting increasingly frustrated that whenever their team was playing as the survivors they weren't quite making it as far towards the map end goals as my team was, because my team was doing slightly better at teaming up as the special infected zombies to get bigger scores and hold them away from their goal.

eventually he got so visibly upset in the text chat that he went "ok. r*tarded but ok', and then followed up quickly with something along the lines of "yall know you're a bunch of fkin r*tards right" (i censored it here, he did not originally) and that immediately crossed a boundary line for me because i'm autistic, and once was already too much, but twice in a row made me very uncomfortable. i didn't know or care if he was saying it to us (his enemy team), or his own team for having a slightly lower score as the survivors, but nobody else in the game had shown any text or voice chat signs of being unsafe people or angry people, so i felt safe enough to go in the text chat (i usually do not do this because i usually do not feel safe enough to do so in groups of strangers online)

i said something like "learn a new word to use, maybe?", just to kind of be like, 'hey, nobody else in this game is talking the way you are, don't be That Guy' you know? he said "why? its not like its a big deal", which was kinda sad to read 'cause it gave me the impression that this person probably spends a good amount of time (willingly or unwillingly) around people who commonly use slurs because its 'not a big deal'; again, nobody else in the match was getting involved verbally or textually, and we all continued to play the game while this happened, so i decided that i was going to stick up for myself since i don't often feel like i have the opportunity to do that in the text chat of games without feeling humiliated or thrown under the bus by my teammates or whatever.

while i was typing the guy added "i wasnt even saying it to you anyways" (does not matter to me, obviously). i finished the response i had been typing to his message about 'its not a big deal' and said "it is a big deal, actually!". by this point, his character had been eliminated entirely and his team had one or two human survivors running to their end goal map exit for the round, so he had more free time to type and he replied to me and said "whatever, you do you i guess". i said "well. i'm autistic, so." and meant to say 'i guess i will' in response to 'you do you', but the round ended after i sent that reply and the loading screen popped up for the survivor/zombie team switch

when it did, he wrote "fair 'nuff." in the chat like a minute or so into the very start of the round when both teams were getting set up and everything, and i was honestly fine with that as a general resolution to the whole thing, because the minute or so of time in between my last message and the non-aggressive bluntness of it made me feel like he probably felt at least a little guilty realizing that he was casually tossing around a slur that is very commonly used against autistic people to An Actual Autistic Person in the same game as him, and that worked for me.

the game went on as it regularly had been for like five or so more minutes, and then he suddenly sent another final and honestly unexpected message in the group chat that said, in no response to any other messages that had been typed by anyone since his last one, "alright i'm sorry i used that word in chat mariska" (my name/username). which was actually wild for me to see because i am very much not used to getting actual apologies from strangers who say bad stuff in game chats, and i genuinely appreciated that he either hadn't stopped thinking about it and felt bad about acting out, or maybe some of his own teammates had prompted him to apologize in their respective team chat or something; either way, i gave a genuine "thank you." in the chat to let him know the gesture was appreciated, and for the rest of the maybe 30 or so mins that the whole match lasted, there was no more aggressiveness or slurs or toxicity at all in the chat from either team's side. when the game ended all together, he was one of the first people to type "gg" (good game) in the chat, as did myself and almost all of the other folks in the match, and after that i stopped playing for the night.

sorry for the big long text post, but i wanted to share this somewhere other than just that isolated game match chat between 8 people, because i very often see a lot of people (on pretty much any social media but mostly on here tbh) make posts regarding this exact kind of video game or general online text chat community experience where the person writing the post encourages others who also commonly witness it, or are the target of slurs, harassment, threats etc, to speak up (if it is safe to do so, imo 'speaking up' or 'calling out' people you dont know especially in aggressive game communities should be the responsibility of allies/friends/non-targeted folks more often than those of us who are being harassed or threatened or talked down to ourselves since it is inherently more dangerous for us to defend ourselves unfortunately and it can take a very serious turn against us very fast, think 'swatting' or doxxing, as a few examples off the top of my head) against the language/slurs/bigotry/harassment that aggressive, angry, frustrated strangers commonly spew in text and/or voice game chats, and as someone who plays a lot of team based online games regularly and has played online games in general since the mid-2000's, i couldn't agree more with the people i've seen writing posts or game journalism articles encouraging people to refuse to allow that kind of behavior to be validated by others in an online match, or to only ignore it when there is a safe opportunity to make it known that at least one person refuses to tolerate whatever behavior the aggressor is displaying.

anyways, to make an accidentally way too long story short; more often than not, in online video game chat circles, it's unfortunately just not going to be super productive to call out casual hate speech & harassment because there are typically (in my personal experiences at least) more people in a group of strangers that either enjoy seeing targets of harassment get upset and will join in with the original aggressor to humiliate whoever speaks against it, or who behave the same way as the aggressor and validate their own patterns of hate speech as being acceptable and common by defending their behavior/siding with them in larger numbers.

but! in situations where you're watching that happen, to yourself or others, and everyone else is either silent or doesn't seem to agree/enjoy watching someone have a bigoted hissy fit in a video game chat, it absolutely can be worth it to be the person who makes it clear to that person that they are the problem. unless you personally know every individual person who is playing in the same match group as you, there is no 100% way to know exactly who all the other players are outside of their characters or personas they're represented by in-game. people who tend to be commonly perceived as pretty emotionally mature in general, in any part of online or offline life, can and do absolutely come across as temporary social role models/behavioral leaders to the other real human beings around them in the moment, regardless of whether that's intentional on their end or not.

i'm not quite sure if the term 'peer pressure' is exactly what i'm looking for as terminology right now since that term is typically applied in negative behavior patterns, but that concept is very real in any gathering of multiple people - it can (and again, in SAFE settings, should) be utilized in a positive, constructive way to prompt someone to think before they speak/type, and to make a point to everyone present in the moment that we are all allowed to openly bring attention to harassment and hate speech. that point is an especially important realization for people who may hold generally higher positions of privilege than those of us who speak against it, since they are the ones that really need to be doing this kind of thing more often and in larger majorities than those of us who are put in danger when we bring attention to hateful behavior simply by existing as oppressed people of any kind.

i guess the whole main train of thought i'm attempting to explain with all of this is, like. before that one person started typing out a slur two times in a row that has been used against me so many times in my life that my brain went into auto-pilot and refused to let him feel comfortable saying it again, nobody was typing anything like 'gg' or 'gr' (good round, when a game isn't totally finished yet) at all, which was fine that's not like a requirement, but when that next round ended after the guy apologized and i said thank you, everyone else started saying 'gr' until the match ended and there were a bunch of 'gg's instead, like i mentioned above.

in all honesty, if i hadn't been so exhausted last night from having a really difficult day earlier that involved a lot of unintentional trauma triggers, panic attacks and anti-anxiety medication, i probably would have just left the game or not said anything when that happened, because i am terrified of confrontation and i am very used to it resulting in bad outcomes for me so i try very hard to have self-control and not potentially feed into trolls online, but i had a really really bad day, and that was my late night comfort special interest activity, and it pissed me off that i couldn't avoid traumatic triggers even in that short distraction before attempting to get some sleep. i was acting totally on emotionally charged impulse which is something that i try so hard not to do with strangers in video games of all places.

but i mention that specifically because it still made a difference in that one match, and because of that we were all able to have fun playing a video game the way it was meant to be played for friendly competitive enjoyment. i will probably never interact or maybe even just run into any of those people in a game lobby again, so obviously there's no way for me to know if the person who typed the slur messages will just continue to do that in other games anyways or if getting called-out on hateful behavior had any kind of impact on how he might think a few seconds longer before saying something like that to strangers online again in the future, but like. i don't know. that's kind of the point, i think? he seemed at the very least pretty embarrassed that nobody wanted to defend him or feed into the whole 'its not a big deal' thing, to the point that he actually apologized appropriately to me directly in a social setting where 6 other people saw it, so maybe that was a feeling of temporary guilt or shame or just being humbled a bit that he needed to experience to learn something from.

some people really are just not worth the mental or emotional effort to respond to because they are so set and fixed in their ways, and they're a stranger, and it's not our responsibility to fix that, especially in video games, that's why i usually. Dont Bother. but also sometimes people are so self-centered or uncaring or maybe even projecting self-hatred of how they think of themselves onto strangers because they don't view those strangers as fully realized human beings that continue living their lives after exiting out of a video game, who knows, i don't and i really don't care to, but i truly think there are a large amount of people in this kind of situation that just repeat whatever they've learned and heard around them for however long, and think of it as 'no big deal', and they suddenly feel very embarrassed and ashamed and small when one of the usernames they view as just a username on a screen talks back and they are faced with the realization that they said something awful to a real person, not an npc, not a left 4 dead 2 zombie character, and the other 6 real people there say nothing to defend them, because what they said sucked, and we're all trying to have fun playing a silly game, and they deserved to be embarrassed about it.

i think that's maybe my Big Concluding Thought on this whole thing. not necessarily 'everyone join me in Bringing Peace And Harmony To Left 4 Dead 2 Online Text Chat', but like...your words mean things to people you don't know when you say things to them in a place like a video game chat, and the largest majority of people playing most games just wanna play the game, so like. maybe think for a second or two before you just say stuff that sucks. especially if it sucks because it is literal hate speech? but also in general when it just sucks because its just a mean unwanted and unhelpful comment. and maybe ask yourself, if you're someone who jokes about wishing you werent 'so toxic when i play but i cant help it' or if you say things just to say things because 'its no big deal', why? why are you like that? you literally do not have to be. you don't know the lives and experiences of the people you're spending a very small amount of time with together in a game online and when you do this kind of stuff, when you're mean and 'toxic' and you call people slurs when they don't get as many high little numbers next to your digital team's fake video game scoreboard as you want them to get, the only impression or memory they will ever have of you is that they don't like you and you made a lighthearted experience suck for 7 people. that is all you get to be to that person forever.

idk, maybe other people don't think that's sad and maybe it doesn't bother them, but if that was the most common impression i left on a bunch of different groups of strangers that i wont get to interact with again afterwards i would feel pretty sad and ashamed about it.

anyways. i need to partake in tasks that do not involve rambling on my phone now but if you read this that is cool thank you, if you didnt that is fine i understand this became a ridiculously long post out of nowhere i do not blame u, and. i hope you have a good day. ok goodbye

3 notes · View notes

jaythelay · 21 days

Text

concord getting taken down is genuinely sad and also why live service is terrible.

Do ya'll know how many games I have specifically to play some passionate fan mod, but I loathe the original game?

There's alot. Concord was never given such an opportunity. It couldn't have community servers which could change rules and plugins, it couldn't even be altered in anyway because of dumbass anti-cheat.

"It's a hero shooter?"

Yeah and we've done had that default bland as shit, scared of experimentation, no creativity experience like 6 times before concord in just under 4 years. Guess what Live Service does/means? That's right! People already had their second job, it was OW2, apex, siege, etc etc. Once ya got a "second job" game you're not interested in another.

Which is why it's completely insane to me that once again TF2 is dramatic proof of what happens when you:

A. Make a good product.

B. Make a unique product

C. Be a good company worth investing and trusting in.

D. Make your game not connected to a server 24/7 or it's dead dead Dead.

E. Allow the community to keep the game fresh for them.

F. Has more gamemodes than playable characters

G. Isn't a second job

H. Can be modded and has community servers

I. There's an inventory system that takes all credence from the dumbass but utterly frivilous level system that makes it fun to play instead of a timed event job.

J. The artistry is not only actually appealing, but timeless.

K. Can't stress this enough, it's a game ya bought and owned in 2010, became free in 2011/12, and yet everyone still owns and plays it. OW didn't and won't do that. Concord is unplayable entirely.

Really imagine working on a turd for 8 years and it comes out and fails immedietely. What a waste of artist's time to work on the CEO's dumbass cashgrab. All the art made for it is lost to time, and tbh, it doesn't even look all that great, but at the least you can say an artist made the models based off the designs that were scrutinized into generic slop by higher ups. It's still art to preserve, and we have no ability to do so.

Just sad. All around. The artists should be dictating what is being made. All publisher's should be focused on is getting the product out the door. Not one CEO could draw a line without demanding hundreds in payment. Why are they dictating the games to be made to the actual artists? You know? The people they hired to make art?

Wouldn't it be cool if the person making your game was in charge of it at any point? Instead of some investor or CEO?

I assure you we'll be hearing how most of the devs had no confidence or creativr passion for this soulless cashgrab. Some put efforts in because they respect their work enough to, but the fact is? They all knew they were polishing a turd of a product in the free market of bloat.

Stood absolutely no chance at any point in it's 8 years of development. Why the fuck spend that long on an OW clone, I genuinely will never fucking know. TF2 is right there guys. I'm not a fanboy and actively hate the game these days.

We're regressing hard with Second Job games, what TF2 brought was the future then, is now a twinkle of hope for the future we were promised. A game like Concord better set some examples. Let your artists make art, not the CEO"s latest cashgrab. Make a game that isn't tied to a server, allow mods and community servers, and you have a worthwhile product.

Til' then you're absolutely foolish to think being an OW clone was gonna sell. You chose the far more drug addicted brother who's success hinged on the success of TF2 and Blizzard's advertising. Concord had neither. OW was an exception and always will be. If ya don't got the marketing budget, you ain't beating OW. If you got the talent, you can beat TF2. Or you know. Make a better game all around.

What I want to stress is simply this: Concord is forever unplayable because nobody listens to the employees. If they did, Concord wouldn't be a Second Job title. It wouldn't be tied to a server. It wouldn't have nicro-transactions. And it certainly would've been artistically successful at the least. But when CEOs and investors are the one's deciding the artistic/creative angles, the artist will get significantly bored and the product will fail.

Notice that what worked for TF2 is that all the devs actually wanted to fucking make it. It wasn't dictated by Gabe the almighty to mandate TF2's work. Simply made a game they actually wanted to play. That, is how you get good products.

When the employee isn't a tool but an artist.

Valve is exemplatory of this and yet despite making infinite money by being the only pro-consumer store-front, having only fans because of their several genuinely timeless products, all of which were made because the artists wanted to make it, and not having a CEO leaking drool on twitter, significantly, goes to show that most of these companies are ran by absolutely dipshitted cunts who keep their artists from making real works people would be interested in.

Instead, trend chasing. Because god knows that works in the gaming industry hahaHHAHAHAHAHA fuck me. Fuck me sideways they took 8 years to copy OW and I can't stress enough by the second year there should've been a monocum of embarrassment. A moment of realization. A Second. of consideration. But no. They barrelled through for 8 fucking years to the point the game they were cloning got a fake sequel.

Nobody wants to work on a creative piece that lacks creativity and will innevitably fail. The best foot wasn't allowed forward and here we see what happens when you don't follow the Valve formula of making games the developers actually want to work on, that won't instantly crash and burn.

I'd like to say good riddance, or hey, maybe this'll be a message to the industry that if you can't match OW's marketing, that maybe you shouldn't fucking compete against them? And instead, make a unique or fun game. Idunno like make a Rayman inspired title or some shit, jesus.

#concord #gaming industry #rant #hope the addiction experts they hired to give you and children financial and mental problems for a fucking #video game #didn't get paid #hope they starve in the streets #unforgivable humanity is when you hire someone to give your fucking customers an addiction that benefits you #straight up like selling crack to kids

1 note · View note

realtoroffline · 2 years

Text

Operation flashpoint cold war crisis animation

Right off the bat I'll admit that Military Simulator shooters are not a genre I'm particularly a fan of, for a variety of reasons, their attempts to make things feel authentic typically render them slow and clunky, their approach to realistic physics are often difficult to predict or somewhat ambiguous, and their approach to difficulty means 1 hit kills while you pixel hunt for something that could be an enemy. weniger Interaktionsmöglichkeiten als im Vorgänger keine Hintergrundinfos zu Waffen & Ausrüstung plötzliche Verletzungen ohne Gegnerbeschuss schwieriges Zielen & Treffen mit dem Controller Ausrüstung lässt sich nicht manuell zusammenstellen Vehikel spielen in Kampagne kaum eine Rolle + extrem harter Schwierigkeitsgrad (einstellbar) + Waffen & Munition lassen sich von Gegnern übernehmen + man fühlt sich als Teil einer großen Militäroperation + verschiedene Trefferzonen und Auswirkungen + präzise Angaben zu Feind-Positionen & Zielen + KI-Kameraden setzen Anweisungen meist gut um Tough but I like games being tough on ya. It also had hit detection problems but regardless it was an awesome game to play through with a friend. We failed like 3 more times so that added a lot of anger and time but when we finally got through it the rest of the game ran more or less smooth. One mission took us like 30 minutes and then the pilots wouldn't follow us and we had to re-do the whole thing. The game had some issues with glitches and pilots not following to the extraction point, etc though so that's why I had to give it a 7. I sucked at it as I'm only good with reflexes, not fighting smart. Beating it single player I imagine would be a real struggle but in co-op if your partner survives 40 seconds you'll re-spawns unless you are out of spawns. Half the time I couldn't see who was shooting at me and half the time I'd blow up out of the blue. It was a lot more tactical a shooter than most these days and I think that's what set it apart.

Sanctuary and WW4 team - 2D, 3D art, animations, configs and soundsįormer developers and contributors (in no particular order): Grey, Christoph, Pawel Ryszka, MaRcin, Arika, Raddar, SeaDemon, Towarzysz Szumek, Offtime, Ofman, Devek, Smookie, Alderous, Panda, Hawk, Sejtan, TomiD, Ktos, Sigma-6, Turkish Union Mod.Game was awesome, me and a buddy played through the campaign co-op online and it was a great experience.

OFPL team - 2D, 3D art, configs and sounds.

Kenoxite - configs, scripting, sounds, 2D art.

Astrozhski – 2D and 3D art, configuration

Alex_Mercer_1479 - configuration and scripting.

Slavko – 2D art, configuration, scripting and sounds.

Krzychuzokecia – 2D and 3D art, configuration and scripting.

Gemenis – project leader, 2D and 3D art, configuration and scripting.

Silent War is currently developed by following people: However in February 2021, a Polish Light Infantry Teaser was released, making it our first release since 2006 beta! Development continues as evidenced by release of Polish Light Infantry Patch in August 2021.ĭownload Polish Light Infantry Teaser on ModDBĭownload Polish Light Infantry Patch on ModDB The mod is still under development, having gone through several revisions, transformations and even alleged collapse. Finally Silent War is going to bring new playable content in form of both singleplayer missions and campaign, and multiplayer gamemodes such as co-op, CTI and others.

Similiar attention is given to the new terrain developed for the mod, based on several places on the Polish-Belarusian border. Examples of those are Polish Beryl rifles, W-3 Sokol and SW-4 Puszczyk helicopters, Honker and Star transports and Belarusian Volat and MZKT trucks or Caiman amphibious vehicle. To achieve this developers made numbers of new, accurate models of equipment used by both sides – including well-known items and vehicles of Soviet manufacture, and indigenous armament, never seen before in Operation Flashpoint. Silent War aims to realistically portray armed forces and locales of Poland and Belarus. Without unnecessary moralizing, and arguing about right and wrong, Silent War tries to show how this hypothethical conflict would look like if it was to really erupt. The mod focuses on titular conflict between Poland and Belarus – a fictional scenario, yet one which occupies minds of military planners, since both countries are allied with opposing world powers. Silent War: Polish-Belarusian Conflict is a Operation Flashpoint mod developed since 2002. Poland stands alone as her allies are engaged in conflicts in other parts of the world. Belarus moves it's troops on Polish border.

#Operation flashpoint cold war crisis animation

0 notes

lastlifeforfans · 3 years

Text

Last Life: For Fans Server

I’m proud to announce I’m opening a Last Life server for fans!

Last Life: For Fans, or LLFF for short, will follow the same premise as the original server. It will implement the random lives system, the boogeyman mechanics, and /givelife commands.

I am looking for 10-20 applicants, 18 years or older, preferably North American residents (due to server ping), with a Minecraft: Java Edition account to join the server.

APPLY HERE.

I recommend reading this entire post before applying.

As a university student, with two jobs and a full class schedule, I rarely get the chance to engage with others about one of my favorite games, Minecraft. As a fan of Last Life and general MCYT, I thought it would be really cool to create and run a server for folks like me - those who may not have the time to play or watch Minecraft everyday, but want to connect with other fans and make new connections.

The server will be run similarly to how the OG Last Life server is run - it will only be open during a certain day and time, from 2-6 hours, and we will ask that all players hop on then to progress the game and have some fun. Once members are chosen, we will figure out a time that works best for everyone to play.

You do not need to be a diehard fan of the series to apply. However, I do ask that applicants are actual fans of Last Life and only apply that can dedicate 2-6 hours of their week to the server.

If you’re interested, please apply here: https://forms.gle/BhRKDcofBU5cfaaM8

Common Concerns/Questions

What are you looking for in applicants? Are there requirements to apply?

You must be 18 years or older.

You must own a Minecraft: Java Edition account.

You must have a decent* mic and be comfortable talking in VC. Communication is important and generally can make playing more fun and engaging. (*Decent means anyone listening should be able to hear your voice clearly and easily without background noises or buzzing.)

You must have a Discord account.

I am generally looking for people who have good sportsmanship, love Minecraft and want to have some fun. :)

Why do you have to be 18 years or older to apply?

Mainly because I want to connect with older fans of Last Life. I think it’s harder for those folks to connect with others with similar interests and backgrounds IRL. I’m hoping that this requirement can help garner the attention of the more mature fanbase, who are also passionate about Minecraft, but just don’t have the time to play it 24/7.

Do you have to be a content creator or be able to record footage to join?

NO! In fact, I recommend not creating video content from anything that happens on the server, due to the fact this is a very similar, if not a straight up copy of the OG Last Life server. Like previously stated, this is for the community to have fun and create connections. :)

Why create a fan server in the style of Last Life?

I really like Last Life in the sense that it’s not a traditional vanilla server. With a Last Life style gamemode, there’s no pressure in making giant or impressive builds, but rather focuses on camaraderie, partnerships, and communication. There is also a beginning and end to the server, whereas in vanilla smp’s, new players are often left behind until a new season or restart happens - some players cannot afford to play everyday and grind, and that’s the appealing point of LLFF. With a set schedule that works with everyone, I’m hoping LLFF can become a way for older fans to connect and have fun without being left behind like in larger public vanilla servers.

Who’s managing the server? What plugins are you using?

You can call me Yonbon (They/Them) - I’m the server owner and admin. :) I am running the server on Paper Spigot Java 1.17.1 and I am using the fan-made Last Life server plugin developed by Xcalibur8, along with general performance plugins as well as the Simple Voice Chat Mod (Proximity Chat).

You can find Xcalibur8’s plugin here. I highly recommend donating to them for creating it.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know in the asks!

Applications are due November 14th, 2021 at 11:59pm, PST.

Thank you, and goodluck!

#last life #last life smp #trafficblr #mcyt #mcyt fandom #hermitcraft #hermitblr #llsmp #i'm not sure what else i should tag this as but please help spread the word!#thank you for reading this far!#feeling a lot more confident about this and now the tags have changed!#minor updates and edits have happened as this post gained more traction #always feel free to ask questions!#last life for fans #last life for fans server #llffsmp #llff

373 notes · View notes

harcourtholmesii · 2 years

Photo

First Row: - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim; Primarily, I adore the open world and making it all your own. - Fallout 4; Much the same as above, just in a setting I can appreciate more (post-apocalyptic). - Among Us; When I am a crewmate, I am the most suspicious person in the group. When I am the murderer, I am the most innocent of beans. I enjoy the irony, I think is what I am saying. - Red Dead Redemption; Honestly, I haven't played this game in a loooong time, but I remember loving it all. The world and space, hog-tying criminals and leaving them on train tracks... Ah, the good times. - The Red Lantern; It is a game of beautiful puppy dogs and I love it. Puppy deaths are off, because I can't stand the thought of it as is, I don't need to bawl my eyes out over a Nintendo Switch game. Second Row: - Assassins' Creed II; What I felt was missing in the first game was massively improved upon and explored in this one. Not to mention, a very charismatic main cast and a gorgeous setting in Renaissance Italy. - Dungeons & Dragons (Fifth Edition); Whilst you didn't specify video games, I had to put this TTRPG here, simply because it rules my every waking moment. - Dead By Daylight; The community is a love/hate box of mad cats, and the game is a cruel mistress, but I am addicted to it! I love it far too much. Claudette and Zarina are my main survivors, and though I rarely play killer, both Trapper and Pyramid Head are my mains. - Cuphead: Don't Deal With The Devil; This game was tough, and there are still certain bosses I dread to face again, but I love it all the same. The lore is interesting, the style is beautiful and the soundtrack is such a bop. There is a reason I just have 'Don't Mess With King Dice' in my usual youtube playlist. - The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth II; I absolutely love this game, and I am so disappointed that I can't run it on my newer computer. I haven't played it in years, but it was my go to game 5+ years ago. Third Row: - Payday 2; My partner and I play this all the time. It is a game we both love to have, and whilst they are far better at it than I, there have been improvements made on my part. Sokol will forever be my main. - This War Of Mine; The addition of the expansion packs made this game work even better, at least for me. It is a hard game and a depressing one, but it is one I adore. For the life of me, I can't really fathom why, but every time I play it, I am immersed. - Sims 4; I only play this game to build. I have played some of the actual life simulation but it bores me pretty quick. Sims 2 was the only one of the Sims games that kept my interest in the actual gameplay. However, Sims 4 is my favourite for its style and the updating of the build/buy tools. - Infected; If no one has tried or played this TTRPG, I highly recommend it. It is a zombie game, but it is so much fun with a lot of character building options. It fuels my love of the genre so much! Fourth Row: - Team Fortress 2; Whilst I am more of a Mann vs Machine player, I do really enjoy most gamemodes for TF2. I haven't gone into many of the fan made works, though I really want to, simply because I am unfamiliar with how it works. My mains, in order of my frequency playing them, are; Medic, Sniper, Scout and Pyro. - Pokemon Sword; I'll admit, I don't have much to say about this game. I do genuinely enjoy it, but Pokemon games have never really been to my fancy. I love seeing them roam about the wild, though! - Until Dawn; The first game that I saw published by Supermassive Games, and my overall favourite. Yeah, the characters don't really behave all that realistic/aren't really relatable, but the game is fun with some really good jump-scares and storytelling. - Outlast and Outlast Whistleblower; There are a number of games on this list that deserve a viewer discretion warning. This, however, takes the cake. Probably the most violent and horrific of the horror genre on this list, both the main game and its DLC are brilliantly terrifying and with a very in-depth and well-crafted story (in my humble opinion). - Northgard; A game remarkably similar to Battle For Middle Earth II, and yet, with a lot more to it and a very harsh spike to its difficulty. Sometimes I just chill on normal mode, other times I am losing my mind as a blizzard rolls in for Winter. Goat clan all the way! I shall have all of the fluffy bois! Fifth Row: - Detroit: Become Human; This game gets a lot of well warranted critique, and understandably so, but it does not dampen my love for such an interesting concept and a wonderful cast of characters. Connor's storyline is, by far, my favourite, followed by Markus' revolution. - Telltale's The Walking Dead (Seasons 1 and 2); This game hurts me inside. It really does. I do not much appreciate how the story turned in the second season, but the first is fantastic and the second is a worthy, if harsh, follow up. As for the other two seasons and the DLC, I'm afraid I have not played them. - Minecraft; This is a game made for me to waste time. It is both stressful and stress-relieving. It might be childish, but it lets me whittle away the hours I have stewing in my own consciousness. - Telltale's The Wolf Among Us; Holy Hell, I love this game! Good guy Bigby all the way but I adore most everything about it. The style, the main character, the rest of the cast (especially Faith, Grendel and Bloody Mary), and just the story pulls me in, no matter how many times I play it. - Call Of Duty: Black Ops II (Zombies); This one is just fun. I used to play this all the time with a friend and we have been slowly getting back into it and getting better every time. If you want just straight action and a rising difficulty on horde mode, I would highly recommend!

A short list of honourable mentions below: - Warhammer End Times: Vermintide - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - Garry's Mod: Prop Hunt - GTA V - The Forest - Gartic Phone - Papa's Something-eria - Google's Internet-Is-Down Dinosaur Game

Whoo! And that should be most, if not all of it. This was a long and unnecessary answer, but I am an indecisive hooman being who felt the need to answer in detail.

Now is the time for me to return to my lair. See below:

Until I am awoken again, thank you @ur-typical-nerd for the lovely ask, and sorry for the unnecessarily long rant. Have a good one!

#Favourite Game Bingo #Not Sure If Tumblr Will Like Me Excessively Tagging This Post #So I Won't #Answering A Question #HarcourtHolmesII

6 notes · View notes

gronjon44 · 3 years

Text

Ok like... I gotta rant cause its just super annoying.

Overwatch is dying and Archives 2021 was the nail in the coffin.

Yes I'm aware the fan base is still alive and I'm also aware someone else probably beat me to this but just... Archives 2021 feels so lazy this year.

While yes you can argue the skins are great (which they I love Samurai Genji) that doesn't change the fact that these just feel so out of place in the event.

These are skins that SHOULD be in the game I will say that, but they better suited for different events. The Historical Skins are all great but here's the thing that sticks with me.

They said they weren't releasing anymore new events based around holidays (which I think is stupid as is)

But look me dead in the eye and tell me-

TELL ME THESE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN PERFECT FOR A 4TH OF JULY EVENT

We could have gotten a full Historical Event themed around just, history in general, and it could've been separate from Archives And besides its not like Jeff would complain about more people forking money over for the game and in game events

It always bugged me when they said "Oh we won't make anymore holiday events we're just sticking with what we have"

Y'all realize how much your limiting yourselves right? You could give us more 3 week Challenge events and add skins like these. Give us more mini events to fill the gaps with how LITTLE you actually give us nowadays.

And as far as the Genji and Zarya skins are concerned I think they're the two best skins by far this year, but they feel just as out of place (they'd be more at home in Anniversary or Lunar New Year I think)

And these aren't the only other skins I think that would've benefited from this (Mountain Man McCree and Conductor Reinhardt I think would've benefitted from this treatment as well)

And just...

This whole event just feels empty.

The skins are all great but nothing feels like Archives to me.

The Mutations are just kinda eh (they're not bad but compared to last year the only one I personally think is fun/challenging is Sympathy Gains (Retribution but killing enemies heals other enemies))

Impenetrable Barriers is more difficult when a Shield Unit is protecting a Bastion

Thunderstorm is just... Everyone is Winston thats it.

They don't compare to modes like Storm Raging, Blood Moon Rising, Surgical Strike, and Glass Canons

And if I'm gonna talk about the other skins let me just say that Corrador and Sub-Aquatic are really awesome and Camouflage is just... its a love it or hate it skins I think (kinda like Lightning Tracer)

Look me in the eye and tell me they're adding actual recurring content nowadays to the game that isn't related to the OWL or a standard event.

They don't add heroes anymore cause they're dumping so many resources into OW2

They don't update events anymore with actual new gamemodes (not including minor mutations to old events)

All they really give us is new skins, while fantastic, are becoming fewer in numbers and they don't actually match the events nearly as much as they used to (case and point this event)

I get they wanted to release a sequel and continue the story, but here's the thing.

You could have very easily just added a campaign mode to the main game and slowly updated it with new Missions/Campaigns. That's what Doom Eternal and GOW 5 have done so far.

And even if you made it so you have to buy each mission/campaign (like the Telltale games or Life is Strange) I don't think the player base would have had any issues (so long as the price was within reason)

But just... I feel like this year is a final straw for me (and I doubt I'm the only one who thinks this way)

I understand they wanted a sequel to profit off the success of the initial game but the problem with that is that it was too soon for the game to get a sequel.

Yes you can argue that alot of franchises have short gaps between new releases (like Borderlands, COD, and GOW) but those are all Solo Campaign games that focused more on the individual campaign and only had simple multi-player.

Overwatch is a Multi-player based game that built its storyline into the Multi-player with no actual solo campaign.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't add a campaign but I'm also saying that for a game like Overwatch the campaign should have been integrated into the original game and not crammed into an entirely separate project.

Archives was the ideal place to start off cause it told historical events in the games plot (all of which are fantasticly done)and the idea of a solo/4 person multiplayer campaign is an amazing idea.

Dropping everything to abandon your old game and shove viable new content into a second unnecessary game and leaving your player base dry for content... not an amazing idea.

This has turned into a massive rant so let me end it off on this:

Jeff Kaplan is a hack who doesn't know how to run a game and they just need to move OW2 onto the original OW platform

#overwatch #archives 2021 #gaming #video games #doom eternal #gears of war #rant #very long rant #overwatch 2021

10 notes · View notes

radramblog · 3 years

Text

Halo Through its Guns: Reach

The year is 2010. Bungie has one final game left on their contract with Microsoft before they can make something that isn’t Halo. They were going to make it count.

Reach is the last Halo game that Bungie developed, and the latest non-numbered entry in the series that’s still a First-Person Shooter (unless Infinite dropped the 6?). It came at a time where FPS games were at the height of their popularity, when they dominated living rooms and the fledgling days of e-sports, before the rise of MOBAs and mobile games and the like.

The game is a reflection of all of this. It’s a mirror to both the franchise past and those others that sprung up in its wake. It’s a deliberately different game in story, aesthetic, and play to the others around it. And it’s proof that Bungie’s developers as a whole really loved working on this series, seeing as they put so much into their final entry.

As per usual, I think you can use the weapons as a lens into the game. As such, this is Halo: Reach through its gun- the Grenade Launcher.

In order to talk about Halo: Reach, we have to talk about Call of Duty. I know, I don’t like it either.

2009 and 2010 were the height of what could be referred to as the Halo/Call of Duty rivalry. Halo 3 was still huge, ODST had just released, with the franchise arguably at its peak of popularity- but Call of Duty was faring similarly, with the incredibly popular Modern Warfare releasing the same year as Halo 3 and the series sill riding the high of Modern Warfare 2 in 2009. Moreover, Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops were set for release within the same few months of 2010. In effect, if you were, like me, a preteen middle class dude who had touched an Xbox controller before, you had to have an opinion about which one is better. Lines were drawn in the sand over which you preferred (with the other clearly being dirt), though CoD had the advantage of not being a console exclusive.

To those unfamiliar with shooty mans games, the two franchises look incredibly similar, but this isn’t especially true. Call of Duty is what many refer to as a “twitch shooter”, with an increased emphasis on reflexes and map awareness. Engagements between players are typically much shorter owing to their increased fragility, with much more weapons being able to kill in one or two hits. A melee is always a kill in CoD, whereas in Halo that’s only true if you catch someone from behind.

In place of the weapon sandbox from more classic shooters (like Halo), the CoD games of the era featured a huge range of customization options in the form of Loadouts. This kind of completely changes how weapons are treated in the series- since you can spawn in with any weapon in the game, the idea of a “power weapon” cannot exist for game balance, and so traditionally powerful weapons like sniper rifles and grenade launchers are significantly weaker than they’d be in other games. This, combined with the restriction that the guns have to be, you know, real actual guns that exist, makes the guns all kind of blend together. Most of the time, the differences are statistical rather than functional, and minor at that. I’m not saying this is an inherently worse way to go about things, but it’s very different, and something that will likely determine how much you enjoy either franchise.

This brings us to Reach. Bungie was very obviously aware of Call of Duty’s design at this point- they’d already been outsold by Activision twice- but I’m not sure anyone was expecting them to so deliberately change the way their own series works as a result. While obviously the game is still Halo, the way the gameplay has been facelifted in Reach is a clear reflection of the influence of the franchise’s primary competitors.

The biggest, most clear divide is in the massive complexity increases with weapons both old and new. Especially seeing as Reach heralded the final, permanent removal of dual wielding from the franchise, individual weapons were enabled to be more differentiated as a result. Looking at the new weapons from the game, only one of them could be argued as “basic”, and that’s the DMR- yet that’s also a major change, as it replaces the series’s now iconic Battle Rifle, having a longer range and scope to allow the Magnum to reclaim some of its former glory at medium/close range now that it’s been buffed and scoped once again.

I shit you not, every single one of these weapons is fucking odd. The Plasma Repeater’s fire rate slows as heats up, making it worse in an extended firefight, but you can press the reload button to vent it out it a pinch. The Needle Rifle features the Supercombine effect from the Needler on a longer range weapon, with the 3-bodyshot explosion making it much stronger in the hands of less experienced players. The Plasma Launcher echoes the Spartan Laser, but fires homing Plasma Grenades and allows versatility in how much you charge it up. The Beam Rifle has been replaced by the Focus Rifle, a long-range…Sentinel Beam? I dunno I’m not a huge fan of the Focus Rifle actually.

And then there’s the Grenade Launcher. The most obvious comparison to Call of Duty the game has. Modern Warfare 2 had an underbarrel Grenade Launcher available as an option for many primary weapons, with its quick switch option and instant-kill potential earning it the nickname of the “N00b Tube”. Bungie, on the other hand, nicknamed their Grenade Launcher the “Pro Pipe” and it shows in the gameplay. It has effectively two firing modes, requires very precise aim and timing to use most effectively, can shut down vehicles, and most importantly won’t be one-shotting anything anytime soon. It can be used to flush out enemies behind corners, as a trip-mine in objective-based gamemodes, and if you’re good, can even work very well against airborne opponents.

Speaking of airborne opponents, the Grenade Launcher interacts very interesting with most of the game’s new addition of Armor Abilities. Just about every gamemode has multiple available to spawn with, and they all work great in different situations. Unfortunately, just about all of them paled in usage compared to the Sprint ability and Jetpack- Halo not having an increased speed option was a deliberate choice, which Sprint really messes with, making it typically the best option. And Jetpack is so utterly insane for mobility, especially when you’re playing a game with powerful weapons in far-off spots. The Armor Abilities replaced the Equipment from 3, and I’m ultimately not sure how I feel about it. They did, however, contribute to something else, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Before that, I want to talk about factions. Much of Halo 2’s weaponry was dedicated to parallelising the UNSC and Covenant loadouts, to make going between Chief and the Arbiter easier, and 3 continued this with the Brute weapons. By contrast, Reach goes out of its way to deparallelise the two factions, deliberately making the two play slightly differently. You can still pair them up (though some of those are kinda a stretch), but there’s enough difference between each pairing that each weapon feels different, which especially makes playing as a Spartan or an Elite a subtly changed experience.

This is all (arguably) in service of what I’d call Reach’s crowing achievement- Invasion mode. It is the culmination of everything the game has to offer- an asymmetrical, objective-based gamemode with massive maps and incredibly complexity. The default loadouts are fairly basic, but as the game progresses, the power of each player’s equipment ramps up. The round-three loadouts are extremely cool, often letting you spawn with what would be considered a power weapon (albeit a more niche one like the Shotgun), each with a different Armor ability that suits its weaponry, and each forming a different role in an effective team. The Grenade Launcher gets to seriously shine as a part of the Grenadier loadout, particularly on Defense, as a tool to keep vehicles at bay, and the loadout’s Hologram ability lets you get an idea of enemy placement or movement so you can more effectively fire on out-of-sight targets.

Invasion is just such an incredible game mode. It perfectly suits the story and gameplay changes of Reach, and it is just really bloody fun. It has a scale that no other Halo Gamemode has managed to achieve, dwarfing even Big Team Battle. It lets you fully take advantage of everything the game has to offer, from weapons to abilities to vehicles to maps. As well, with Reach’s massively expanded gamemode customization and Forge map editor (with Forge World being a much greater canvas to work with than Sandbox ever was), it can and has been expanded and played with for years, being arguably the game-mode with the most potential for variety of all of them.

This complexity is what made Reach great. It’s what set it apart from its competitors, and what sets it apart from the other games within its own franchise. Sure, it doesn’t have dual wielding, but it really doesn’t need it. Bungie set out to make their last Halo game a memorable one, and its inarguable that with Reach, they succeeded.

Unfortunately, it’s also a level of complexity we’d never see again. While Reach was deliberately different from its contemporaries, the next games in the series would instead fall further in line with them. Join me next week, as we enter the 343 era of Halo.

…I’m going to need to find a way to play Halo 5 real quick, aren’t I?

#ramble #halo #halo reach #video games

2 notes · View notes