I think the least I can do is entertain you with a diatribe on why I feel this way, then, if you'll tell me what you liked about it.
The original CS was novel because it allowed me to play with friends - yelling back and forth between friends while playing and the teamwork involved were all highly enjoyable. CS:Condition Zero removes that element. Furthermore, communication with the bots is pretttttty rudimentary. Half the time I don't know who's talking or what they actually MEAN when they say "affirmative" or "negative." Who are they replying to? Are they coming? Are they stuck on a wall or something stupid? Are they camping the hostage rescue as a CT?
Dying in the original CS was a downer, but was still acceptable - you could watch your team play and guess at what was going on in their heads. You could watch for interesting strategies. Because of the nature of AI, this is out - I've yet to learn a new strategy from a computer beyond "shoot faster" and "aim better."
The original CS had a semblance of balance - granted, the maps and weapons were different for each team, but each had their pros and cons. Players could pick and choose their loadout in a way that maximized their strengths and minimized their weaknesses. The CS:CZ challenges attempt to subvert this - now the enemy team has a healthy dose of advantage on you in the fact that you HAVE to complete three challenges to win (and these are challenges like "use some shitty weapon you've always disliked to kill two or three enemies and also survive"). I think they're trying to balance out the human element, but it really just seems like doing chores. If I wanted to do chores, I'd go outside and do chores.
Couple that on top of all the things I don't like about CS:S anymore, subtract out the twelve-year-old kid saying he slept with your mother (bots don't do that, at least), and you have an overall worse game.
I dunno. I just liked it. It was fun. It was like, I wanted more half-life but there was no more half-life so I played Condition Zero and it was sort of like playing half-life but with a story I didn't give a shit about. Just more running and gunning.
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is complete, along with Condition Zero Deleted Scenes.
The first one - well, you know how I felt about it. It was funny, when I switched to easy, the bots didn't even shoot back. So yeah, polished that off in an hour. I'll be happy to not play that again.
Deleted Scenes was actually kind of cool. Obviously you have to ignore that it was dated, but some of valve's creativity in level design showed through. It's neat seeing how far they've come with stuff like HL2 or L4D, compared to something like this - you can see the seeds of ideas that the company based itself around.
No more counter strike. On to dungeon defenders... and I think this game DOES have an ending, so I'm going to be having a hell of a time.
And thus completes Dungeon Defenders. I don't really want to say more than a few words for this one, because many Icrontians are already familiar and I am lazy - suffice it to say the game is quite enjoyable, the artwork is awfully cute, and it can be picked up and played by all skill levels. The only thing that bothers me is the initial bombardment of "NEW FUCKING DLC,", but hey, what are you gonna do? The game is popular enough they can still be making money off it, I suppose.
Looks like Eets is next. This should be fast... I hope.
Eets is worth playing for the sheer cuteness factor. And hearing super pigs yell "FREEDOM!" when they are forcefully ejected from a sneezy sow's rear.
Also... the 4 star levels are WAY easier than the 3 star levels. If you go to play the game, there's a gimmick in almost every 4-star level somewhere that will allow you to beat it without using 2 or 3 of the given items.
Slowed down on this quite a bit, mostly because Fable III isn't nearly as fun as I'd hoped. At first glance (eight hours in), it feels clunky and easy - even on the tougher difficulty levels. The storyline is way too forced to keep my interest and the pretty-pretty-princess aspect of it is more tedium than it's worth. I have been keeping my eye out, but haven't really found much reason to screenshot anything yet.
Hoping this picks up a little bit more, but as it stands I find myself being productive instead of playing. And fuck that. :/
0
TeramonaConsulting Tea Specialist Best Coast! Icrontian
I think out of every single thing about gaming that I've learned over the past 2 years... the term "pretty-pretty-princess" is my all time favorite.
There we go. Forgive the lack of screenshots - again. Fable III is hereby complete - along with the DLCs that came with my copy, 50 keys, all the non-evil sidquests, and 5/7 demon doors (you know, except for the one that requires me to have a friend and the one that would make me unattractive. So uncharacteristic, the both of them).
The game was HORRIFYINGLY easy. Pistols and the dodge functionality made combat impossibly simple - even on Challenging mode. As for the difficulties post-king... well, I guess I'd done too many sidequests and owned way too much property (namely: every damn property in Albion that was for sale at that point) to have the endgame be an issue. As such, I was able to complete all objectives and be as benevolent a ruler as possible.
Oh, you died? Resurrect immediately to full health. But, now you eternally suffer a SCAR upon your soft body! Ho-ho!
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TeramonaConsulting Tea Specialist Best Coast! Icrontian
edited June 2013
Keep on keeping on, Dan. You're our family's only hope that we'll be the first to the backlog completion badge. We've all seen what happens when I try to compete. I lose. Horribly.
Back up to speed, I suppose. Fallout: New Vegas is all done - sided with the NCR, since they allowed the Brotherhood of Steel to live. I have a soft spot for them steely types.
Thus far, Flora's Fruit Farm is about dis bitch that screams mercilessly at trees until they get bigger, then uses heart-shaped genetic modification to grossly bloat fruit into falling to its would-be death from the cradling boughs of its mother tree.
thus far, Flora's Fruit Farm seems particularly Diner Dash-y. You grow trees by screaming (singing) at them, sprinkle various dusts and shit on your trees to make them extra big or sparkly (or murder the defenseless flies that have become attracted to your sweet, sweet tree ovaries), then cut them down to feed the ever-demanding masses.
Also, I have discovered that upon use of an ability, a fruit becomes 'locked' for a set amount of time before another ability can be used on it. thus, I have developed a strict queue-roundabout method that ensures maximum fruit production with minimum downtime.
There I was, in the climatologically incorrect snowcapped region of the otherwise temperate state I lived in, growing fucking peaches. And blackberries and strawberries, but yeah. When suddenly... the game realized I'd been going TOO BOSS HOG. TOO FAST, EXECUTUS... and the graphics died. The sky turned to orange, flickered to purple, then orange again - all I could see were snowflakes. Where was the fruit? How grown was the tree? Were there bugs? Customers? I could see nothing - my entire screen, orange but for falling snowflakes.
I still finished the level with every customer loving me and made 150% of my goal.
Comments
The original CS was novel because it allowed me to play with friends - yelling back and forth between friends while playing and the teamwork involved were all highly enjoyable. CS:Condition Zero removes that element. Furthermore, communication with the bots is pretttttty rudimentary. Half the time I don't know who's talking or what they actually MEAN when they say "affirmative" or "negative." Who are they replying to? Are they coming? Are they stuck on a wall or something stupid? Are they camping the hostage rescue as a CT?
Dying in the original CS was a downer, but was still acceptable - you could watch your team play and guess at what was going on in their heads. You could watch for interesting strategies. Because of the nature of AI, this is out - I've yet to learn a new strategy from a computer beyond "shoot faster" and "aim better."
The original CS had a semblance of balance - granted, the maps and weapons were different for each team, but each had their pros and cons. Players could pick and choose their loadout in a way that maximized their strengths and minimized their weaknesses. The CS:CZ challenges attempt to subvert this - now the enemy team has a healthy dose of advantage on you in the fact that you HAVE to complete three challenges to win (and these are challenges like "use some shitty weapon you've always disliked to kill two or three enemies and also survive"). I think they're trying to balance out the human element, but it really just seems like doing chores. If I wanted to do chores, I'd go outside and do chores.
Couple that on top of all the things I don't like about CS:S anymore, subtract out the twelve-year-old kid saying he slept with your mother (bots don't do that, at least), and you have an overall worse game.
The first one - well, you know how I felt about it. It was funny, when I switched to easy, the bots didn't even shoot back. So yeah, polished that off in an hour. I'll be happy to not play that again.
Deleted Scenes was actually kind of cool. Obviously you have to ignore that it was dated, but some of valve's creativity in level design showed through. It's neat seeing how far they've come with stuff like HL2 or L4D, compared to something like this - you can see the seeds of ideas that the company based itself around.
No more counter strike. On to dungeon defenders... and I think this game DOES have an ending, so I'm going to be having a hell of a time.
Looks like Eets is next. This should be fast... I hope.
Also... the 4 star levels are WAY easier than the 3 star levels. If you go to play the game, there's a gimmick in almost every 4-star level somewhere that will allow you to beat it without using 2 or 3 of the given items.
IS THIS.
Enjoy it sir.
Hoping this picks up a little bit more, but as it stands I find myself being productive instead of playing. And fuck that. :/
The game was HORRIFYINGLY easy. Pistols and the dodge functionality made combat impossibly simple - even on Challenging mode. As for the difficulties post-king... well, I guess I'd done too many sidequests and owned way too much property (namely: every damn property in Albion that was for sale at that point) to have the endgame be an issue. As such, I was able to complete all objectives and be as benevolent a ruler as possible.
Long live the king. Bitches.
Time to finish Fallout: New Vegas.
Oh, you died? Resurrect immediately to full health. But, now you eternally suffer a SCAR upon your soft body! Ho-ho!
And now, on to Flora's Fruit Farm.
Edit: Except when you're lulzing me.
thus far, Flora's Fruit Farm seems particularly Diner Dash-y. You grow trees by screaming (singing) at them, sprinkle various dusts and shit on your trees to make them extra big or sparkly (or murder the defenseless flies that have become attracted to your sweet, sweet tree ovaries), then cut them down to feed the ever-demanding masses.
Also, I have discovered that upon use of an ability, a fruit becomes 'locked' for a set amount of time before another ability can be used on it. thus, I have developed a strict queue-roundabout method that ensures maximum fruit production with minimum downtime.
Min-maxing casual games. Aww yis.
I'm taking a chance at work to tell you that you have my heart.
There I was, in the climatologically incorrect snowcapped region of the otherwise temperate state I lived in, growing fucking peaches. And blackberries and strawberries, but yeah. When suddenly... the game realized I'd been going TOO BOSS HOG. TOO FAST, EXECUTUS... and the graphics died. The sky turned to orange, flickered to purple, then orange again - all I could see were snowflakes. Where was the fruit? How grown was the tree? Were there bugs? Customers? I could see nothing - my entire screen, orange but for falling snowflakes.
I still finished the level with every customer loving me and made 150% of my goal.
I play games without looking. Bitches.