The Left 4 Dead PC Thread [Archive]

Disgustipated

11-06-2008, 01:58 PM

First impressions: Wow. Just wow. Valve 'n company has outdone theyselves, fo shizzle.

First off, let's get it out of the way: the gameplay is fantastic. It's everything you wanted. The zombies are freaky as fuck and unpredictable, the random element factor is in as promised, and everything feels tight and exciting. It's not too fast but definitely not too slow. It is fast enough that you never feel completely in control, however. You are always teetering on the edge of chaos, and one fuck-up can send you sprawling on your back with a zombie tearing out your chest. Literally.

The graphics are gorgeous, too. Gritty, realistic, but with enough raw "ooh" and "aah" factor not to feel dated. Valve's trademark performance optimization is included, so you're going to get a great looking game no matter what kind of hardware you've got.

Don't forget the sound, though! Those of you with surround are in for a huge treat. Hearing zombies howling and screaming from around corners is freaky as fuck. Hearing them pounding down sidewalk and bursting out of vents is a shit-your-pants frightfest. You're going to love every moment of it.

While the demo is only two levels long, it's got a great amount of re playability. Zombie attack points are randomized, and boss zombies can pop up anywhere, which is scary as fuck and amazingly well done. Watching the 'roided out boss zombie tear apart other zombies in his attempt to get at you is frighteningly impressive.

A few nagging problems bring down the experience for me, however. The PC interface feels a bit consolized, and major points are deducted for the lack of a server browser. However, the Xbox Live-style "Play with Friends" lobby is very well done and fits in just right.

Overall, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Left 4 Dead is worth your money. This is based just on a 2 level demo, so the full game should resonate with what I'm saying.

Really, though, I think it'd be great to hear everyone else's impressions and tips. And hopefully we can get some groups plaiyng.

Loki

11-06-2008, 07:01 PM

Interesting...I don't know whether to wait for it to drop down to $30 or buy it tonight.

squirrelTactics

11-06-2008, 07:04 PM

Interesting...I don't know whether to wait for it to drop down to $30 or buy it tonight.

I would wait until the 11th, try the demo, then decide.

Loki

11-06-2008, 07:05 PM

Is that when the demo goes fully public?

National Kato

11-06-2008, 07:06 PM

Riley, I'm plaing on the 360 and I agree with every bit of your post. This game is going to be great and the replayability factor is HUGE.

Definite GoTY contender...Valve may have found their next IP.

Libuke

11-06-2008, 07:17 PM

One thing I noticed about the game is it loads really quick, especially for a source engine game. I also agree with Disgustipated that it is worth your money not only are the levels replayable I am sure valve will be releasing updates with more levels down the road.

Telefrog

11-06-2008, 07:55 PM

So damn fun. Source is a beast. I am constantly amazed at how well Source scales to older hardware and still looks good. My PC is no top of the line rig, but it still puts out rock steady framerates all at high settings.

http://i33.tinypic.com/2ntiuk5.jpg

Lance Uppercut

11-06-2008, 07:56 PM

Fuck you early adopter assholes.

I wanna play this already ;_;

Telefrog

11-06-2008, 08:05 PM

GigaFuzz

11-06-2008, 08:19 PM

By the way, where are screenshots stored under Steam? I got my last one by hitting PrintScreen and pasting into MSPaint after the session closed. Isn't there a place Steam stores all your in-game screenshots? Is it still PrintScreen to take them?

F5 is the usual Steam way to take screenshots. They should be stored in your Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead demo\left4dead\screenshots folder.

AbeLincoln

11-06-2008, 08:25 PM

I was able to play the demo early this morning (I'm in Japan) with my brother (in america) and a couple random people. IT WAS AWESOME. I really enjoyed it, and the fact that it was only two levels worked out really well for me cause I had to go to work :(

Again, lack of server browser is a little irksome. And the fact that after you've decided "ok, let's start" you have to wait while it finds a server and it provides no feedback about this process, at least not that I could see. But yeah once we were in it was great. We tried a really hard difficulty and got our asses handed to us, multiple times, which served to demonstrate the randomness of the gameplay experience as we restarted... multiple times. We thought it had started to take it easy on us, but really it was just waiting to pop the zombies out of a different place! Being able to switch the difficulty mid-game with a vote was also much appreciated.

Really good, looking forward to playing the full game.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-06-2008, 08:48 PM

I'm having to break some habits to play this properly.

Friendly fire has been a pretty big issue (exacerbated by lag) and you've really gotta be conscious of where others are at all times and move forward watching their line of site so you don't get caught in it.

Rushing out heroically into the hordes has been pretty fun at the right time though; someone in the final fight at the minigun got caught for whatever reason way out near the door and button early on in the fight, and I rushed out there blasting a path to him and got him on his feet and somehow made it back into the minigun corner. Then everyone died and I got vomited on by a boomer and somehow managed to kill the last few zombies while completely blind... Intense stuff.

Telefrog

11-06-2008, 09:05 PM

F5 is the usual Steam way to take screenshots. They should be stored in your Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead demo\left4dead\screenshots folder.

Cool. Thanks.

AbeLincoln

11-06-2008, 09:17 PM

Friendly fire has been a pretty big issue (exacerbated by lag) and you've really gotta be conscious of where others are at all times and move forward watching their line of site so you don't get caught in it.

YES, this! When you're in front of your group you need to remember to duck to give your teammates a clear shot. It's great, I like it. Also shaking the TF2 habit of just blasting away is hard...

Disgustipated

11-06-2008, 10:09 PM

Libuke

11-06-2008, 10:35 PM

Just played some more with Venom85, Lon Lon, and Warbadger and it just keeps getting better, even with the same little level.

Expert is so intense and difficult that it gives you a great sense of accomplishment from beating it. I am so pumped for the 18th. Versus play should be very interesting.

Inverno

11-06-2008, 10:42 PM

I gotta say I think I made the better choice out of this or gears 2. The replayability is awesome, I cant wait to play VS i so wanna jump around as a hunter. Oh and PC all the way ^^

biosc1

11-06-2008, 11:06 PM

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-07-2008, 02:37 AM

Expert is ridiculous, we had a boomer AND a smoker come at the same time right at the start; we went down the first set of stairs then they came in from the same way; they came FROM THE ROOF, the starting zone.

I've also had a witch followed immediately by a tank now, which was damn nasty.

Also, it's mandatory to shoot the car alarm when the area is clear and you're heading into the first safe zone, as well as to bring a petrol tank into the final safe room with you and shoot it just as the door is closing.

Wackman3000

11-07-2008, 03:38 AM

Played my first go through on advanced with a group of our tf2 crew. I must say that this will definitely be a game that I will sink lots of time into, especially if you can acquire a solid group of people to run with. While the NPC's can hold their own, nothing beats a group of 4 communicating and working as a team to get through the madness.

I will be playing much more all weekend, anyone who sees me on steam feel free to join or suggest a group run through. This game only gets better with more people.

Food Nipple

11-07-2008, 05:27 AM

It was posted in the other thread, but I think it bears repeating.

The 'openserverbrowser' console command will bring up the server browser you're all familiar with. We played a bunch of rounds last night on servers people had set up, which was much more enjoyable than trying to run a listen server.

I love the options in this game, the ability to call a vote to change the difficulty on the fly, as well as restart the campaign are fantastic. Plus, the fact that you can pop back to spectator mode if you need to run to the bathroom, and have the AI take over until you get back, is goddamn fantastic. Very intelligently done.

Lint of Death

11-07-2008, 05:31 AM

National Kato

11-07-2008, 07:48 AM

Plus, the fact that you can pop back to spectator mode if you need to run to the bathroom, and have the AI take over until you get back, is goddamn fantastic. Very intelligently done.

The vote mode is great. We didn't try it so I'm not sure if a vote to change difficulty results in a seamless transition?

However, the 'Take A Break' mode is genius. My AI controlled character was able to hold his own, revive fallen teammates, heal himself, etc. He almost plays better than I do. :D

squirrelTactics

11-07-2008, 07:57 AM

My AI controlled character was able to hold his own, revive fallen teammates, heal himself, etc. He almost plays better than I do. :D

Hahaha

"Kato, would you just push the god damn 'Take a Break' button? We're trying to win, here!"

:D

Telefrog

11-07-2008, 08:03 AM

I played a few rounds last night and another this morning. This demo is awesome. Quick impressions:

1. The Director AI is a sadistic bastard. It quite efficiently throws the zombie horrors at you in new and surprising ways. It knows when to ramp up the pace and push a boss or crowd at you, and it knows when to let your team catch a breather. I haven't seen two games play out the same way yet. I was getting complacent by my fifth time through the apartments when the Director decided to have a pack of undead barrel through a wall at my team! Just epic.

2. Source is hands down one of the most flexible and scalable engines I've seen. The visuals in L4D are impressive and butter-smooth even on my mid-range system. Valve obviously understands that a cohesive art style can trump pure technical horsepower when it's used with a purpose. This isn't UE3, in which everything is built to flex muscles and make players overload on visuals. The film grain, motion blur, particle effects, and washout are used in L4D to tell a compelling narrative and helps to instill tension.

3. The Infected are great. The zombies are the best combination of Romero's stumbling, shuffling undead and Snyder's hyper frenetic, jet-powered predators. Idle enemies busy themselves with aimless moaning, growling, and randomly limping around, (sometimes even breaking into maddened fights as one bumps into another) but once they are alerted to your presence, they become pure combat swarms. They climb over obstacles, jump onto ledges, and make a beeline for their prey. The Infected pump their arms and lean into corners as they run at you which is quite a sight the first time a crowd of them bursts through a wall or clambors over a wrecked car.

4. The AI of your friends is very good. In fact, it's a bit too good at times. I don't think I ever saw an AI controlled player make a mistake other than the odd bit of friendly fire, which is almost unavoidable at higher difficulties. They never run off willy-nilly, they help each other out, and they always focus on the proper threat when bosses show up. They are, in short, smarter than your friends. I'm sure that as people learn the nuances of the levels and get better at L4D, this intelligence gap will close. For now, your friends are better to play with only because the AI doesn't scream like a girl when a ravenous pack of zombies careens around a corner.

5. I don't know if L4D will be GotY when it finally ships, but if the full game is as mind-blowingly awesome as the demo, then it will certainly be a great contender. I dreamed about the game last night. That's how quickly it got into my brain.

Spectre-7

11-07-2008, 08:04 AM

The vote mode is great. We didn't try it so I'm not sure if a vote to change difficulty results in a seamless transition?

I've used it a couple times now and it's totally seamless. :)

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-07-2008, 08:21 AM

Finished expert a few times now but it was always VERY messy.

I had to do some cold hearted stuff, like shut the safe room door on my friends as they were lying on the floor right outside it, because they were just completely swarmed and I had no hp left, and also one time I threw a molotov onto a downed friend because all the zombies were concentrating on him (he had boomer bile), but I still firmly hold the opinion that that saved us as the rest of us were almost dead then too.

The AI has done one or two annoying things to me now though; one time a friend got grabbed by a smoker through a door and just as I got line of site on his head the AI decided the priority was to give me painkillers, which swapped my weapon out and made me fumble for another couple of seconds before I could shoot the smoker.

Another time I was racing for the first safe room (well limping along at no hp) as someone had set off the car alarm, and the AI didn't seem to realise I was running away from the huge zombie horde right behind us and kept trying to heal me, constantly stopping me in my tracks every two seconds, so that I got swarmed RIGHT outside the safe room door.

The first thing wasn't that big a deal, the second one caused a wipe as I'm certain I would have made it through the door had he not been pulling me back.

Expert mode did some truly nasty things to us, like put the witch sitting right in the door to the last train (which you have to go through), right amongst a huge horde of zombies so we inevitably woke her up and had no way to sneak around her, as well as put us up against a witch followed IMMEDIATELY by a tank, and also threw a hunter, boomer and smoker all at us in the SAME HALLWAY outside the respawn cupboard closest to the car alarm spot. We were down a man and heading into that building to free him and then the director in its infinite wisdom decided we needed a hunter from the far end of the corridoor, a boomer from the left and a smoker from behind us.

We got torn to pieces.

I just can't stop gushing about this game, it's too fun even playing this little taste over and over again.

Libuke

11-07-2008, 08:25 AM

Yah the Director is a sadistic bastard on expert.

biosc1

11-07-2008, 08:41 AM

Expert is ridiculous, we had a boomer AND a smoker come at the same time right at the start; we went down the first set of stairs then they came in from the same way; they came FROM THE ROOF, the starting zone.

Yah, I had that too, just into the living room after the kitchen, suddenly there's a hunter coming from the kitchen, then a boomer...Thankfully, I was playing with AI at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have thought to look at where we had just come from, not thinking stuff would come from where we started.

Another time I was racing for the first safe room (well limping along at no hp) as someone had set off the car alarm, and the AI didn't seem to realise I was running away from the huge zombie horde right behind us and kept trying to heal me, constantly stopping me in my tracks every two seconds, so that I got swarmed RIGHT outside the safe room door.

Too bad there wasn't a command under the 'z' menu to "bugger off"

National Kato

11-07-2008, 08:52 AM

My favorite moment thus far:

On what must've been my fourth playthrough of the subway tunnels, after we had slowly worked our way through the string of subway cars and were all standing on the tracks before heading back up to street level, we hear the horde coming and we're not sure from which direction.

One of the survivors calls out and we turn to see a literal swarm of undead coming through the subway cars. We all think, "No problem. Line up and take 'em out in the bottleneck of the subway car door." Except there were too many of them and they were coming too fast.

Someone threw a molotov into the door frame and a fire wall spread across the car door. Now, as we slowly pulled back away from the flames, zombies were running through the fire and streaming out in a fan, flames all over their bodies. It was like we'd struck a flaming pinata and all the rotten candy was falling out.

Then we hear a roar and a tank comes vaulting out of the stairwell to the right - our only escape route...and our flank. By now, we're spread out in a semi-circle in the room - some of us on the tracks and others trying to get up out of the gap. The burly tank makes a beeline for the survivor at the opposite end of the room - which means he has to run through the flaming pinata zombies. :D

All I saw from my vantage point was a large, muscular beastie plowing through flaming zombies, his arms flailing, sending flaming zombies flying left and right. It was so fucking great. Who would have thought my imminent death would be so entertaining.

I also saw a tank take out one of the cement pillars in that large, underground room. I love that the environment has destructibility. At one point we had barricaded ourselves into a room by closing both doors against the mob. Shooting the doors blows chunks out and allows the zombie arms to come through as pieces chip away. It's very cinematic.

I keep seeing things I wish I could record. I need to figure out a way to capture the output. In one quiet room, the shotgun wielding biker dude (I forget his name) was facing a large hole in the wall, the room beyond in complete darkness. He was slowly turning to his right, unloading shotgun blast after shotgun blast into the pitch - I swear I saw a lackadaisical grimace on his face as if he was merely exterminating pests. Classic.

crazyD

11-07-2008, 09:26 AM

I need more people to play with.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/crazyd

biosc1

11-07-2008, 10:53 AM

Jackel

11-07-2008, 12:00 PM

You know, this also brings up the great idea of their Steam integration into the main menu. Upon booting up, being able to see which of your friends is playing and where at the click of their name is such a great piece of usability :)

What would be a really great feature, would be if you could select/choose to have one of your Steam groups show up in that list (or maybe a side list) so that you can see everyone in the group who is playing Left4Dead even if they aren't on your friends list.

Spectre-7

11-07-2008, 12:19 PM

There's a lot of good in the interface right now, but also a lot of rough edges. For one, I think it's incredibly awkward having to open up the friends interface in order to invite people. They're already listed right there on screen; why can't I just click their name to shoot 'em an invite?

I also agree with Jackel about having some access to groups directly through the UI. It would do a lot to improve organization, and to expand on that idea, I think it'd be cool to have larger lobbies where we could have 10-20 people hanging out and chatting, then be able to break into groups of 4 from there.

Over all, I keep feeling like the game's an amusement park ride. You wait in line with your friends, then everybody takes a seat and it begins. You go up, you go down, there's a big finish and then everyone breathes a sigh of relief.. It's a great feeling, and somehow very different from the other co-op games I've played.

I'm really digging the entire product so far. The game itself is 100% gold, but I think the interface is only about 80% of the way there. If this is it, it'll still be a damn good game, but that missing 20% could turn it into something really special.

biosc1

11-07-2008, 12:19 PM

What would be a really great feature, would be if you could select/choose to have one of your Steam groups show up in that list (or maybe a side list) so that you can see everyone in the group who is playing Left4Dead even if they aren't on your friends list.

Yah, agreed. I was thinking that last night that there were a lot of COG'ers playing but I don't have a lot on my friends list.

BreakerX

11-07-2008, 08:38 PM

I just purchased this, so if you all find yourselves playing with a guy with no skills named BreakerX that's me. I'll try not to shoot too many of you while freaking out about the zombies!

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-07-2008, 08:41 PM

What would be a really great feature, would be if you could select/choose to have one of your Steam groups show up in that list (or maybe a side list) so that you can see everyone in the group who is playing Left4Dead even if they aren't on your friends list.

It doesn't work if they're just in the lobby, and it's not quick and intuitive like you're asking for, but if you go to your friends list and right click someone > view game info, you can see who the players in the server are.

Spectre-7

11-07-2008, 08:44 PM

It doesn't work if they're just in the lobby, and it's not quick and intuitive like you're asking for, but if you go to your friends list and right click someone > view game info, you can see who the players in the server are.

You've had luck with that? Every time I click Show Game Info, it shows server not responding. I can never seem to get anything more than an IP address out of it.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-07-2008, 10:08 PM

You've had luck with that? Every time I click Show Game Info, it shows server not responding. I can never seem to get anything more than an IP address out of it.

I think that's when they're in the lobby.

Mid game it always shows me server name and player name and play time fine.

Dukefrukem

11-07-2008, 10:08 PM

didnt they say they were releasing the steam cloud with this too? where is it?

Libuke

11-07-2008, 10:31 PM

Just had a great game with Lon Lon, until I crashed at the end. Played a game on normal and then advanced to get his friend who just bought the game accustomed to it. We got through the apartments good. Then we entered the subway which started out alright (after losing a round or two got a very early tank in one round). We snuck by a witch not wanting to disturber her. Then we got hit by a boomer/smoker/hunter combo which only left two of us alive. Then like 10 feet farther along we get hit by a boomer/smoker combo which we somehow manged to beat. Then we found survivors and proceeded to make good time. We finally get good weapons just before the pillar basement, before the last room. The pillar room was basically empty so we proceeded to the last room when a tank comes roaring out. We felled back and engaged the tank as we run around he destroys haft the pillars in the room and knocks me down and kills one of the other survivor. We took him down and then proceeded to the last room where I proceed to crash but they still manged to win.

Such a great game and can not wait for the full game and the awesome stories that will result.

BrassGecko

11-07-2008, 11:35 PM

I need to remember to keep L4D and TF2 firmly separated in my head. For example, when someone is repeatedly melee-attacking me in the starting room of Team Fortress, it is okay to fire my shotgun at them in return. In Left 4 Dead, it is somewhat less okay. :(

Oh, habits.

On the bright side, I have been having much less trouble in general connecting to servers today, with a few irritating exceptions.

Telefrog

11-07-2008, 11:57 PM

Hey, want to try Versus Mode? Well, now you can (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=745482) thanks to an intrepid gamer.

1. From the starting screen, click Options, then Mouse/Keyboard, and enable the developer console.

2. Start a single player game and open your console with the ~ key.

3. Type "sv_cheats 1" and press enter. This will enable cheat mode.

4. Type "ent_fire !self setteam 3" and press enter. When you close the console, you will "die" and join the Infected team!

You get to choose where to spawn as a baddie! Press E to cycle through some suggested spawn locations, or to teleport directly to the survivors if you get too far away before spawning. But the next problem is that the AI controlled survivors will not leave their starting room and the game will not start on its own.

5. Open the console and type "director_force_versus_start 1" and enter to begin the round.

The survivors will start hacking their way through the apartment building and you finally get to try your zombie character!

6. When you die (and you probably will), you will not respawn. Press space to cycle through different spectating modes till you are in in free flight mode. You must then use these commands in the console.

z_spawn tank
z_spawn boomer
z_spawn smoker
z_spawn hunter

These will spawn you as that infected at the spot you are currently "flying" while dead. (Bonus fun: If you use these commands while you are alive, it will spawn a computer-controlled boss of that type where you are aiming. z_add will spawn a regular infected regardless of whether you are alive or dead. z_spawn witch also works, but she is always computer controlled)

AbeLincoln

11-08-2008, 12:04 AM

Awesome, thanks telefrog I gotta try that!

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-08-2008, 01:45 AM

didnt they say they were releasing the steam cloud with this too? where is it?

I think it's only running for L4D, not other games.

It's in the options menu, you can enable or disable it, it'll save all your configs and spray.

Last night I also tried to shut down steam but it told me it was busy synching my steam cloud info.

jacob.armitage

11-08-2008, 02:22 AM

I have yet to finish a game on Advanced. Need to get a good group going and give it a good run tomorrow.

Had the game crash a few times today as well, hopefully my luck will change with stability.

Spectre-7

11-08-2008, 06:23 AM

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-08-2008, 08:05 AM

I had a hilarious game tonight on expert where two Japanese buddies and I tried to get through with 3 people only; Francis was the designated bitch who was TKed every time we got the chance to (he was the AI). Axion ruined it by showing up for 5 minutes but he left soon after and we resumed our Franciside.

We never made it all the way as the three of us would inevitably get pinned down at the same time by three different boss mobs but it never got old to hear "FRAAAANNCIIIISSSS" in a heavy Japanese accent over the microphone as my team mates called for help that was never going to come.

It also never got old to see the guy playing as Louis run head first into swarms of zombies wielding a pipe bomb yelling "OBAMA BOOOOOMB".

I guess now that we've finished this limited demo a fair few times on expert we were looking for new (childish) ways to amuse ourselves.

Dukefrukem

11-08-2008, 09:16 AM

I think it's only running for L4D, not other games.

It's in the options menu, you can enable or disable it, it'll save all your configs and spray.

Last night I also tried to shut down steam but it told me it was busy synching my steam cloud info.

Thats good to know. Thanks.

axion

11-08-2008, 09:38 AM

Just had some awesome games with Food, his bro, and Spectre, we made it to the final room a bunch of times on expert, but not without lots of death. Even when you are getting your ass handed to you this game still is amazing.

Spectre-7

11-08-2008, 09:45 AM

biosc1

11-08-2008, 09:55 AM

Sometimes I think it's actually better when it's kicking the snot out of you. :D

It's unfortunate that it is still difficult to join games, though I expect that to change with the retail release. I've noticed the past few patches are trying to resolve the issue.

Sorry for giving up on you yesterday, but I only had a little while to play and when I actually got into a game and you sent the invite, I didn't want to abandon those folks. (although, I'm sure the AI would have played better than I was :o)

Spectre-7

11-08-2008, 10:38 AM

No worries, biosc1. You're certainly not the only one that's been having trouble getting into games. :D

Food Nipple seems to have a super secret technique, so I've been making a habit of joining his games.

Disgustipated

11-08-2008, 12:23 PM

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g18/blindmanande/left4dead2008-11-0619-12-44-68.jpg

Wasson_

11-08-2008, 04:05 PM

Just say the word, and I'll be up for blasting some zombzors.

This game fucking rules BTW.

jpublic

11-08-2008, 10:20 PM

So, I am a solo player for the msot part. I'm also rather pathetic at this game, and can't even manage to finish on normal.

Stupid Things I Do:

1) I manage to startle EVERY single witch I see. I see zombie in the distance, make a pot shot with my pistols, and end up having to be assisted.

2) Somehow, despite my attempts to the contrary, I manage to hit that stupid car alarm three out of every four times I play.

3) I am a menace to my teammates, especially in a mass scrum.

Anyone noticing the game adapting dynamically to how well you do? I'm not doing well enough to see otherwise.

digitalErich

11-08-2008, 11:10 PM

Just had a great play session with Ink, Libuke, and Dark Hamlet...we made it to the last safe house on the harder difficulty but someone decided to throw a Molotov right before we closed the door. :)

digitalErich

11-08-2008, 11:13 PM

Anyone noticing the game adapting dynamically to how well you do? I'm not doing well enough to see otherwise.
I noticed it more when we were playing through on Hard and kept dying. It took us 4 or 5 tries on the second map and I noticed on our last run there was no Tanker. It does a really good job, in my opinion, on Hard of keeping every fight just almost winnable.

Also, I didn't know this until just now but the pipe bombs attract the zombies to them. I was trying to use them in anticipation of the waves and it's best to just lob one off into a corner once a wave starts.

Libuke

11-08-2008, 11:19 PM

Just had a great play session with Ink, Libuke, and Dark Hamlet...we made it to the last safe house on the harder difficulty but someone decided to throw a Molotov right before we closed the door. :)

Well we won so I figured I would shot the gas can in celebration.

digitalErich

11-08-2008, 11:27 PM

Surprisingly I've heard way less "Get to da choppa" quotes than I was expected.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-08-2008, 11:30 PM

Surprisingly I've heard way less "Get to da choppa" quotes than I was expected.

I want to play L4D with Wasson just cos I bet he'll be able to do that better than anyone.

BrassGecko

11-08-2008, 11:32 PM

Surprisingly I've heard way less "Get to da choppa" quotes than I was expected.

I prefer to wait until my team is getting ready to defend that last room with the machine gun and then run around yelling "Need a teleporter here! Need a teleporter here!"

Wasson_

11-09-2008, 12:52 AM

I want to play L4D with Wasson just cos I bet he'll be able to do that better than anyone.

That warms this cold heart of mine.

0fMkTaYGhPI
You have no idea how epic it is that someone put this short clip of such an awesome line on Youtube...jesus loves me.

jpublic

11-09-2008, 12:44 PM

Just tried on Normal level solo, and holy crap did I get my ass kicked. Took me 3 tries to get through the second half.

MagGnome

11-09-2008, 01:42 PM

Thanks to Valve's new "Shopping Cart" funtionality (it's about time), I bought Eets, Audiosurf, and LEFT 4 DEAD! I just couldn't hold back on getting all three for $50.

I decided to just pick it up instead of waiting, so now I can join all of you in some online zombie slaying. I can't wait!! :D

Feel free to add me as a Steam friend so I can join in with all of you guys - MagGnome on Steam, same as here.

Also, will I need a good headset to play this? I actually don't have one for my computer.

Everyone vs Dinosaurs

11-09-2008, 02:19 PM

Ten19

11-09-2008, 04:02 PM

Just bought it from Steam and gave the demo a whirl... this looks to be a helluva lot of fun in co-op :D

cp#

11-09-2008, 07:04 PM

I still need to play through the demo

National Kato

11-10-2008, 07:59 AM

2) Somehow, despite my attempts to the contrary, I manage to hit that stupid car alarm three out of every four times I play.

How To Be The Hit of a L4D Party:

1. When you get to the open street with the car alarm, climb up on the half-fallen streetlight post at the far end of the street (where it's barricaded). You can get pretty high above street level...and your teammates.

2. Shoot the car.

3. Laugh as hilarity ensues.

:D

nixpayn

11-10-2008, 08:02 AM

Jealousy, i haz it.

I cant wait to get this game, from what you guys are describing, this sounds like the perfect zombie game.

i'm gonna have to run home tonight and buy it on steam.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-10-2008, 08:13 AM

How To Be The Hit of a L4D Party:

1. When you get to the open street with the car alarm, climb up on the half-fallen streetlight post at the far end of the street (where it's barricaded). You can get pretty high above street level...and your teammates.

2. Shoot the car.

3. Laugh as hilarity ensues.

:D

I'm glad there's a tonne of us playing and I shouldn't often have to resort to pubs, as this game is SERIOUSLY easy to grief in.

It shouldn't be much of a problem if it's a single person due to the vote to kick command, but if you get two of them working in tandem you are basically at their mercy.

Although, end of the map seems to be turning into an impromptu free for all griefing period anyway (which is fun and I'm fine with), as no one wants to watch the advert anymore and starts killing each other then calls a campaign restart.

SilentScreams

11-10-2008, 08:15 AM

How To Be The Hit of a L4D Party:

1. When you get to the open street with the car alarm, climb up on the half-fallen streetlight post at the far end of the street (where it's barricaded). You can get pretty high above street level...and your teammates.

2. Shoot the car.

3. Laugh as hilarity ensues.

:D

Note to self: Never play L4D with Kato. :D

In the space of a week I've gone from zero interest in this game to actually planning to pick it up day one (funds permitting, as I have 3 other games and an XBL subscription to pay for in the next few weeks).
I think my lack of desire for it was more out of spite to the people labeling it game of the year before anybody but the devs and a few select journos had played it.

Ink Asylum

11-10-2008, 09:40 AM

This is the best co-op game ever. God bless Valve for building a game around co-op rather than just tacking it onto a normal game. So many of their design decisions were made to encourage teamwork that even among random pubbies you inevitably develop a team dynamic unless you're playing with total douchebags. After all, there's practically no way someone can solo through the levels. There are just too many zombies and they can come from any direction.

Plus the boss zombies are expertly designed so that you have to cooperate. I love it. Grabbed by a Smoker? Gotta get saved. Tackled by a Hunter? Gotta get saved. Spit on by a Boomer? Good luck holding off the ensuing swarm alone. Tanker? Yeah right, you can't beat that fucker alone. Then there's the Witch, and if everyone doesn't turn their damn lights off and sneak past, someone's fucked.

Speaking of the Witch, one of my favorite moments so far was encountering the Witch standing in the doorway into the final showdown room in the Subway level. No one wanted to sneak through the window and we were nearly all half-dead. So we developed a quick plan to have everyone spread out in the pillar room while Louis, the only one who could run, went up and threw a pipe bomb at her then ran down the stairs and to the far end of the basement. The Witch comes screaming out seconds later and we're pumping her with lead as she dives for Louis and gets dropped right at his feet. Awesome.

Another more hilarious moment was when a Tank attacked us down by the booths in the Subway. Everyone panicked and ran up to hide in the vent. The Tanker actually managed to squeeze into the vent, though was then stuck in a static frame of animation but jittered sloooowly moving towards the screaming survivors backed into the far end while they emptied their clips into him, finally bringing him down.

I plan on playing this a lot tonight so anyone here that isn't already my Steam friend please add me so I don't have to play with pubs!

Telefrog

11-10-2008, 10:31 AM

I plan on playing this a lot tonight so anyone here that isn't already my Steam friend please add me so I don't have to play with pubs!

Ink, where have you been?

Ink Asylum

11-10-2008, 10:35 AM

Ink, where have you been?

I lingered at EvAv, then hopped over to PiRi where I've been wallowing in the P&R forum. Now that the election's over I can get back to talking about games.

Ten19

11-10-2008, 10:39 AM

I plan on playing this a lot tonight so anyone here that isn't already my Steam friend please add me so I don't have to play with pubs!
What's your Steam ID? I don't think I have you on my list and would love to avoid pubs for L4D action.

Ink Asylum

11-10-2008, 10:40 AM

I am Ink Asylum wherever I can grab it, without the space if that's necessary. Is there a new Steam group or groups?

Ten19

11-10-2008, 10:42 AM

I am Ink Asylum wherever I can grab it, without the space if that's necessary. Is there a new Steam group or groups?

Sounds good. And yep, there's a CoG Steam Group. Details here:

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=98

MagGnome

11-10-2008, 11:04 AM

I am Ink Asylum wherever I can grab it, without the space if that's necessary. Is there a new Steam group or groups?

I'm not going to get home until later this evening, but feel free to add me to your Steam friends, if we aren't friends already:

MagGnome

Ink Asylum

11-10-2008, 06:14 PM

Sorry for triggering the end of game advertisement tonight, guys. I totally forgot about it when I shut the last guy out of the room.

Lance Uppercut

11-10-2008, 08:06 PM

When is the L4D demo going live tonight? I wanna download it as quickly as possible so I can spend all day on it tomorrow on my day off.

MagGnome

11-10-2008, 08:41 PM

End of Game advertisement?

I was going to play this with avakus tonight, but I ran into some major network issues. By the time everything was fixed he went to bed. Jerk. :(

Libuke

11-10-2008, 09:45 PM

End of Game advertisement?

I was going to play this with avakus tonight, but I ran into some major network issues. By the time everything was fixed he went to bed. Jerk. :(

It just advertise the game and tells you when it is out and where you can buy it. Pretty annoying to us early demo users as we have already bought the game but it makes sense for people who are trying out the demo to see if they want to but it.

Lance Uppercut

11-10-2008, 10:31 PM

From Steam news section:

The demo concludes on November 18, when Left 4 Dead will be made available at retail outlets across North America and worldwide via Steam.

Does this mean I won't be able to play the demo when the game is officially released? That would suck, hard.

SilentScreams

11-11-2008, 07:02 AM

I can't even afford to pre-order to get the demo at the moment.
I don't even mean that I can't part with the money...I mean I don't even have the money to part with. I think I should start managing my finances more wisely. :D

Oh well. Roll on payday.

Telefrog

11-11-2008, 07:49 AM

Does this mean I won't be able to play the demo when the game is officially released? That would suck, hard.

People have asked this on the official forum as well. So far, Valve hasn't clarified but it certainly reads that way.

Ink Asylum

11-11-2008, 08:02 AM

Telefrog

11-11-2008, 08:07 AM

Has anyone checked out the level after the generator room climax (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=746253&highlight=subway+secret) of the demo? I just found out about this. I'll have to check it out when I get home.

http://i36.tinypic.com/331hbo9.jpg

http://i33.tinypic.com/250ilmo.jpg

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-11-2008, 08:13 AM

I saw that when I was noclipping around and trying out playing as the infected.

I figured it was part of a subsequent level, and someone in that thread seems to suggest it's actually still part of the subway stage, and that the second safe room in the demo is not actually there in the full game, that you play this area before really finishing the level.

Ink Asylum

11-11-2008, 08:41 AM

Heh. Love the "Burger Tank" sign.

Telefrog

11-11-2008, 08:46 AM

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-11-2008, 08:49 AM

Why is the Apartment level so short in comparsion? :confused:

Dunno, was wondering that myself. I wonder if it used to expand a bit more in that big open, empty area behind the first truck.

As it stands that's just a back way around, now, but it always seemed suspiciously vacant to me.

If they really did add in an early safe house to shorten the demo length of the subway stage, maybe they've chopped off a part of the apartment stage too.

Heh. Love the "Burger Tank" sign.

There's a few cool ads littered around the place, I like "Orange Box Juice".

Libuke

11-11-2008, 09:21 AM

So has anyone come up with any solid strategies for dealing with the Tank? Most of the time people just spread out and unload everything they have into him, hoping they're not the one to draw his attention. A molotov seems like it's becoming standard operating strategy, too.

What I'm curious about is if anyone has a reliable way to deal with his aggro table, if there is one. If someone he is pursuing stops shooting while others continue to fire at him, will he get distracted? They seemed to imply that in the intro movie.

I've never tried not shooting the tank as he seem to keep beating on a target until that target is dead. If you stop shotting and he then goes after someone else that almost seems to easy as you could just set up at other sides of the room and pull him between the two sides.

As for the molotov I don't think it really helps much I would guess that it does about 100-200 max to him which is like 2-5% of his health, I am not sure it makes that much of difference in the fight I think you are better off using the molotov to kill a zombie rush, especially on expert.

Ink Asylum

11-11-2008, 09:23 AM

Dunno, was wondering that myself. I wonder if it used to expand a bit more in that big open, empty area behind the first truck.

If the Apartments are indeed the first level in the game I could understand it being as short as it is. A training level, basically.

Ink Asylum

11-11-2008, 09:43 AM

I know it's early and we still have the whole game to play through before we're clamoring for more, but since I've now gotten to experience first-hand how the zombies act, I'm even more excited for either Valve or a good modmaker to create a Zombie Assault mode. Rather than having the four Survivors working through a level to an endpoint, they instead have to barricade and defend a fixed location against an endless and increasingly aggressive zombie and boss zombie hoard. Kind of like the new mode they put into Gears 2.

Telefrog

11-11-2008, 10:51 AM

Exclusive details of the "Dead Air" episode (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/11/10/rps-exclusive-left-4-deads-dead-air-campaign/). It looks friggin' great.

Jim: Finally, with several hundred zombie corpses under our belts, we reach the airport itself. We bust our way inside the terminal building. Less Heathrow Terminal 5, more Luton Airport, this is a tiny regional airport, albeit with a decent number of commercial airliners burning in wreckage across the front parking lot.

John: This is something I love about Left 4 Dead: familiarity. This is an airport. And it’s such a drastically different location compared with, say, a farmhouse or a hospital. There’s an amazing sense of place.

Alec: Best game airport after Tony Hawk’s 2 (or 3, I forget). I yearned for a skateboard here.

Kieron: Yeah, was awesome. All the zombies modeled after the luggage handlers were splendid. It’s probably worth noting that there’s an impressive variety of infected, varying from zone to zone. The open-backed-gown hospital patients were a joy with their vile buttocks.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-11-2008, 11:08 AM

Exclusive details of the "Dead Air" episode (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/11/10/rps-exclusive-left-4-deads-dead-air-campaign/). It looks friggin' great.

This was hilarious (grafiti on wall spoilers I guess):

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/nov08/deadaircrops/ded-terminal1bg.jpg

EDIT: You can't fullsize the image out of a spoiler it seems, but follow the link for a large version so you can read the smallest text.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 11:19 AM

Wow, that Dead Air level sounds really great! I'm sitting here right now imagining all of the possibilities for this game.

Think of all the possible locations that they could use for levels! The possibilites are nearly endless.

crazyD

11-11-2008, 11:27 AM

That graffiti is fucking awesome.

brokenFUN

11-11-2008, 11:38 AM

Oh man that demo needs to come out already. I have NO school today.

Spectre-7

11-11-2008, 11:39 AM

Oh man that demo needs to come out already. I have NO school today.

Left 4 Dead Demo Available Now (http://store.steampowered.com/news/1998/)

Lance Uppercut

11-11-2008, 12:22 PM

Telefrog

11-11-2008, 12:32 PM

Splitscreen and Versus mode were turned off in the PC demo with the latest update, but splitscreen will be added back (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55841) in for the full release!

Splitscreen was always something we only wanted to officially support on the x360 due to the controller issues. However, we are planning on making some of the functionality work on the PC as an "unsupported" bonus feature. We turned it off for the demo because we didn't want to have to deal with any additional bug reports etc. about it interfering with the demo experience, but the current plan is to re-enable it after we launch the full product.

Hotcod

11-11-2008, 01:06 PM

oh oh oh! how did i forget about this?

Mastergeo7

11-11-2008, 01:23 PM

Don't know if this has been posted:

NyF5fZHhriY

Zombie Bukkake!!!!

Lint of Death

11-11-2008, 02:24 PM

oh oh oh! how did i forget about this?

I forgot, too! OHMIGODDDDD I am so playing this tonight despite my best interests.

Ten19

11-11-2008, 02:26 PM

I'm downloading the demo, and there's a notice in the game window under the "gifts" column that there are "6.5 days left." I'm assuming that's 6.5 days until they take away the demo.

That sucks, I was under the assumption that we get to keep the demo for as long as we want.

I was under the impression that the online multiplayer is what would be disabled when the game launched. I'm pretty sure single player will still be available. Must find a source for the info...

Ink Asylum

11-11-2008, 02:36 PM

I could see that, particularly because they'll want to free up dedicated servers for paying customers.

Lint of Death

11-11-2008, 02:50 PM

mastergeo7, that is a HILARIOUS video. I wonder if it's ever beneficial to sacrifice a team member like that? I mean assuming that member isn't trying to TK everyone.

Mastergeo7

11-11-2008, 03:12 PM

mastergeo7, that is a HILARIOUS video. I wonder if it's ever beneficial to sacrifice a team member like that? I mean assuming that member isn't trying to TK everyone.

Believe me, That's the beauty of L4D, it's pretty similar to a horror movie. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices... and Left someone behind:

This Sunday we were playing the demo in expert me thinks, when the only AI character got left behind, one of my friends decided that it was noble to rescue him... I told him 'Leave him, you're gonna get us in trouble!'

Well, he was taking it's time, so I decided to go and help him out, then the director sent the most epic swarm of zombies to us (including a Boomer who threw up on me!) and sadly we all died... a few meters away from the safe house.

Talk about epic!

Lutheran

11-11-2008, 03:18 PM

The game is awesome , just played it for an hour. I love Valve , played it on my pc with full detail , widescreen , 1920@1200 or whatever the heck it is and man it ran hiccup free..great game.

SilentScreams

11-11-2008, 03:22 PM

That video had me laughing so hard. Downloading the demo now at an epic 50kb/s. Fucking Steam.

Ravenlock

11-11-2008, 04:01 PM

I'm getting BARELY 40KB/sec transfer speeds on the demo, Valve's servers must be getting hammered pretty hard. Usually I get a reliable 250-300KB/sec from Steam on a download.

I hope I have it in time to play with coworkers tonight.

Lance Uppercut

11-11-2008, 04:08 PM

Good news, my meager PC can handle this game.

Bad news, I don't have the time or money for it at the moment. Next month, for sure...

Shjinta

11-11-2008, 04:11 PM

One of my favorite aspects of L4D is the pistols. Dual wielding feels bad ass, and unlimited ammo is perfect. It keeps the game balanced by giving you a decent back up weapon. Hell, dual wielded pistols are just fun in general to blast away with.

That's my only gripe with the game. On the Hardest Difficulty with my friend that's all I had to use to get through the Demo. Just spam them and Zombies and the other types drop easily. Oh and the hit box detection is weird.. head shots don't always register... Only gripes. Other than that. OWNAGE GAME!!!!

digitalErich

11-11-2008, 04:12 PM

I've left people behind plenty of times on Advanced/Expert. Sometimes when the zombie rush really comes, a downed player is the next best thing to a pipe bomb.

I've also been bait and taken one for the team on Expert so we could progress.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 04:45 PM

I got around 700KB/sec when I downloaded the demo. :p

Of course I haven't played it yet - but tonight it's on!

Ravenlock

11-11-2008, 05:04 PM

Bloody hell. I'm doing a reboot to see if something's just messed up on my PC in general, then.

Rogue_hunter

11-11-2008, 05:53 PM

I pulled down the demo at 700KB/s around noon today. Managed to play it, but since my pc is actually below the posted minimum reqs, lots of problems. All of the major boss zombies would magically appear in front of me, pretty much teleporting in front of me. I could see the havok they were wreaking without actually seeing them. Though, I managed to surprise attack a Hunter apparently. Turned a corner while jumping, landed on him, looked down and actually saw him, and unloaded my shotgun to his face.

Still, glad I'll be upgrading. My system was chugging hard, but never actually had a slowdown. I'm not entirely sure how it would have performed if I was actually playing with people, as TF2 has been slowing down more lately.

Lance Uppercut

11-11-2008, 06:07 PM

I fucking love this game already. It's gonna be pretty hard to wait until December when I'll have time for this.

Lutheran

11-11-2008, 06:31 PM

I was hitting around 1.2 mbps for most of my download at around 4pm EST.

Ink Asylum

11-11-2008, 06:44 PM

I really can't wait for the rest of the levels. Two just aren't enough.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 06:55 PM

Anyone know how many levels are in the final release?

Telefrog

11-11-2008, 07:14 PM

Anyone know how many levels are in the final release?

Twenty. Keep in mind that the second level in the demo has been cut in half by Valve. It's almost twice as long in the full game. You have to head out of the generator room and then across another street before it really ends.

SilentScreams

11-11-2008, 08:25 PM

BLeeP

11-11-2008, 08:26 PM

Anyone know how many levels are in the final release?

I clicked join to fill up your game, but I guess someone else beat me to it, as I got an error, and then it wouldn't let me try again. 8-(.

SilentScreams

11-11-2008, 08:29 PM

I tried to join some of you guys, but all the games were full.

BLeeP

11-11-2008, 08:32 PM

Well after fluctuating wildly, my download rate settled on a respectable 450kb/s and the game downloaded.
I've played one single player game to get the hang of things, and one multiplayer game with a bunch of randoms. The MP game went badly and I have no idea how we survived. The guy who played Bill seemed to be magnetically drawn to Boomers. The 4th time he literally ran straight into one, I just left him to it. There was only me (Zoe :p) and Francis that worked together. We had to revive each other more than once, and when I got pinned by a Hunter, he was the only one who made any kind of effort to get it off me.

Oh, and the game is all kinds of fun. I guess I can confirm that I'll be adding it to my list of games to buy...as if I needed even more.

I did a random group a few minutes ago. I saved this one guy's ass at least 5 times and then some dumb ass shot the car alarm. They all went down to the subway, leaving me to fend off the onslaught of undead. I'm doing really good until a smoker grabs me. I can see them all chilling in the safe room while I hit every help me command on the radial. I died and they finally came up to check on me and then just ran back to the safe room and closed the door 8-(.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 08:54 PM

I clicked join to fill up your game, but I guess someone else beat me to it, as I got an error, and then it wouldn't let me try again. 8-(.

It was just Avakus and I at first, but then Codicier hopped in followed by Wasson.

This game is a blast!! I had so much fun, and we only ran through it once. It looks nice on my machine, even though it made me play at some ridiculous resolution - I think it was 780x420. Still, the game looked pretty nice and ran perfectly. I figured I would see all kinds of slowdown, but even when there were dozens of zombies the game ran without a hitch.

We were almost done with the second level when we came upon a witch. She was sitting at the top of the stairs above the generator room. Avakus, Codicier, and Wasson all snuck past her, but I was injured and moving really slow. I came up the stairs just as she woke up, and her red eyes pierced my soul and filled me with terror. I started limping away as she screamed behind me, and luckily she decided to kill Avakus so I could escape. ;)

We all made it into the safe house except for poor Avakus.

BLeeP

11-11-2008, 08:56 PM

It was just Avakus and I at first, but then Codicier hopped in followed by Wasson.

This game is a blast!! I had so much fun, and we only ran through it once. It looks nice on my machine, even though it made me play at some ridiculous resolution - I think it was 780x420. Still, the game looked pretty nice and ran perfectly. I figured I would see all kinds of slowdown, but even when there were dozens of zombies the game ran without a hitch.

We were almost done with the second level when we came upon a witch. She was sitting at the top of the stairs above the generator room. Avakus, Codicier, and Wasson all snuck past her, but I was injured and moving really slow. I came up the stairs just as she woke up, and her red eyes pierced my soul and filled me with terror. I started limping away as she screamed behind me, and luckily she decided to kill Avakus so I could escape. ;)

We all made it into the safe house except for poor Avakus.

Es cool, some other time. I have yet to see a witch, but I've only played through a couple of times. I get the feeling that this game could break some friendships :p.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 09:03 PM

Es cool, some other time. I have yet to see a witch, but I've only played through a couple of times. I get the feeling that this game could break some friendships :p.

I've only played through that one time so far, and we saw every single boss zombie. We saw all of them multiple times except for the witch.

At one point I had a shotgun and the boomer puked on me. I couldn't see much, but I kept firing my shotgun, and when my vision cleared I was surrounded by a pile of dead zombies. :cool:

Hotcod

11-11-2008, 09:04 PM

i've only had the chance to play a little of the single player which was a blast even if i'm not really in the mood for it... i'll try and jump on a game with a few of you guys as i'm sure it's even better with people

BLeeP

11-11-2008, 09:05 PM

I've only played through that one time so far, and we saw every single boss zombie. We saw all of them multiple times except for the witch.

At one point I had a shotgun and the boomer puked on me. I couldn't see much, but I kept firing my shotgun, and when my vision cleared I was surrounded by a pile of dead zombies. :cool:

I saw mostly boomers, smokers, and hunters. Did see a tank once, though. I've yet to try any gun other than shotgun and pistols. I can't give up the stopping power 8-(. I also find myself meleeing the fuck out of some zombies. I've seen no reason to do so, but I feel as if I have to conserve ammo.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 09:13 PM

I saw mostly boomers, smokers, and hunters. Did see a tank once, though. I've yet to try any gun other than shotgun and pistols. I can't give up the stopping power 8-(. I also find myself meleeing the fuck out of some zombies. I've seen no reason to do so, but I feel as if I have to conserve ammo.

Ammo seems to be plentiful enough that I wasn't worried about it. I had the duel pistols which are just plain awesome, and they have unlimited ammo! I felt like such a badass with those things. The shotgun is great as well, probably my favorite weapon so far. I'm wondering if there are other weapons later on the game.

We didn't come across any tanks, luckily. I thought we had seen all of the bosses, but I forgot about the tank.

BLeeP

11-11-2008, 09:16 PM

Ammo seems to be plentiful enough that I wasn't worried about it. I had the duel pistols which are just plain awesome, and they have unlimited ammo! I felt like such a badass with those things. The shotgun is great as well, probably my favorite weapon so far. I'm wondering if there are other weapons later on the game.

We didn't come across any tanks, luckily. I thought we had seen all of the bosses, but I forgot about the tank.

On the subway level (the second part of the demo), in single player, I found a table that had upgrades for the different weapon types. I took an automatic shotgun that fired faster and held 10 shells as opposed to 8. There was also a hunting rifle, which (I assume) would let you snipe zombies from afar. The duel pistols are cool, but I feel they are really only effective when the zombies aren't actively coming towards you. I tear them up, though, when you come into a room where zombies are just mindlessly shuffling around.

MagGnome

11-11-2008, 09:27 PM

On the subway level (the second part of the demo), in single player, I found a table that had upgrades for the different weapon types. I took an automatic shotgun that fired faster and held 10 shells as opposed to 8. There was also a hunting rifle, which (I assume) would let you snipe zombies from afar. The duel pistols are cool, but I feel they are really only effective when the zombies aren't actively coming towards you. I tear them up, though, when you come into a room where zombies are just mindlessly shuffling around.

We found that table, and that's where I first picked up the shotty. Pretty slick weapon, especially when zombies are swarming you.

Lint of Death

11-11-2008, 09:32 PM

Secret Agent Dog is a murderer, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Wasson_

11-11-2008, 09:43 PM

Ravenlock

11-11-2008, 10:26 PM

Finally finished downloading and got about 3 or 4 multi matches in with coworkers, the first couple on Normal difficulty and then the next ones on Advanced.

Advanced is already pretty damn hard, I shudder to think of the highest difficulties.

Fantastic fun, I'll almost certainly be buying this. 20 levels, plus vs. mode? Yes please. I did see one tank when we played, but it was by far mostly boomers and smokers, with the occasional hunter. The tank is truly vicious, though.

And whatever PC connectivity issues there were when the preorder demo launched, they seem totally gone now. We had no problem getting 6 people rotated through our server, which switched hosts at least once. The fact that your playing friends show up right on the Title screen and you can hop into a match from there is perfect.

I also really love the character dialogue. Alerting each other to items, telling each other to heal, mourning the fallen when a character dies, and just bantering in general - all great, all tightly gameplay focused.

So far I have pretty much nothing bad to say. Bravo, Valve, it's clear you worked like hell on this one.

Mashidar

11-11-2008, 11:32 PM

I decided this title is a must now after playing it with some folks. With WoW being down all day the guildmates and I decided to give the demo a shot. Now i'm running full settings on a 1900x1200 screen and it's just amazing how well the look of the game is.

Heck we did expert after normal thinking it could not be that much harder. Man were we shocked how much more difficult things became. We had zombies breaking through walls and eating us before we knew what was happening. We had a hunter more or less hang one of our guys when we were walking down the alley and the hunter was on the roof so from my POV it looked like he was being hung.

We then knocked it down to Advanced, we loved expert but wanted to see how different things were on advanced and overall it was the best setting for those that were wanting to get more into the game.

I'm sold on the game, just need to figure out how to take screens that don't seem to stall and crash the client.

OrangePulp

11-12-2008, 02:18 AM

Secret Agent Dog is a murderer, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Yes; this should become common knowledge.

I desperately want an rpg mod for this game. Earn XP when you kill zombies (ideally, split up evenly between the team so people don't fight over it). Spend said xp on skills, like increased ammo and health, bigger flashlight, quicker reload, faster move, that sort of thing. Maybe have skills in trees, things like medic, support, assault, etc. It would be awesome, especially considering how long the full campaigns are.

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 06:10 AM

yeah that was a good run through, I've had alot of fun playing with various people several times with the demo alone, the full game is going to just own.

oh god it was so funny though when I was playin with Lint of Death with some other people, one of the guys disconnected apparently right after he respawned and Lint was yelling out something about the respawn, and then that players "disconnection bot" saved us and we won. :)

I somehow managed to enter spectator mode last night for a few seconds. I'm not sure what happened, but I must have hit a hotkey on accident. Suddenly I was floating behind my character, and the game was telling me to hit a key to go back into the game.

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 06:13 AM

Valve really has knocked one out of the park with this title. I remember back it was first announced, and it looked pretty rough. More like a mod than a real, stand-alone game. Now it's come together so well I can hardly believe it. I really can't wait for the full version.

I only wish that I had a better graphics card in my machine. I'll have to post some shots later so all of you can have a good laugh. :o

Disgustipated

11-12-2008, 06:20 AM

I somehow managed to enter spectator mode last night for a few seconds. I'm not sure what happened, but I must have hit a hotkey on accident. Suddenly I was floating behind my character, and the game was telling me to hit a key to go back into the game.

That's actually the "Go get a drink" button. The game plays for you in case you have to leave. It's a fucking genius thing, if you ask me. How many times has a game ground to a halt because some ding dong has to go take a shit?

SilentScreams

11-12-2008, 06:24 AM

I just played through with a bunch of friends.
We'd just cleared the final room of the 2nd stage, and were all outside the safe room. My 3 friends ran in and closed the door, presumably not noticing that I was still outside.
Just as I was heading to the door, a Smoker constricted me from across the room and effectively pinned me back against the safety rail. Then, just as I lost control of my gun, I saw a Boomer, which casually strolled up and vomited on me. I got ripped to shreds.

I don't remember the last time I've laughed so hard at a game.

Food Nipple

11-12-2008, 07:16 AM

In one round last night, we had made it all the way to the generator room on expert. We could hear a tank shuffling around, but he was nowhere to be seen. It turns out he had fallen down the hole behind the minigun, and didn't make his way back up until after we were limping to the safe room. I was ten feet away from the safe room when he crushed me with a slab of concrete. Poor Gerbs only had 1 hp left, he was limping as fast as he could, but the tank caught up to him when he was hobbling into the safe room. We lose.

Lint of Death

11-12-2008, 07:27 AM

yeah that was a good run through, I've had alot of fun playing with various people several times with the demo alone, the full game is going to just own.

oh god it was so funny though when I was playin with Lint of Death with some other people, one of the guys disconnected apparently right after he respawned and Lint was yelling out something about the respawn, and then that players "disconnection bot" saved us and we won. :)

Hahaha, I didn't realize he had idled so I tried to get his attention by calling him Mackie McRespawn. From there I rapidly descended into madness, as Louis is wont to do.

The actor in me gets a serious kick out of this game.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 07:32 AM

Louis is great. I love all his panicky voice clips. Valve did a great job with the characters once again, though they obviously couldn't get as ridiculous as in TF2. The context sensitive voice samples really put you into the game.

Karmakin

11-12-2008, 07:35 AM

I played the demo last night...I won't be getting it when it's released, because my money/time is tied up with the Lich King Expansion...

But if it wasn't I would have this game pre-ordered RIGHT NOW. That's the most impressive gaming experience that I've had this year. And I'm serious about this. The first time a boomer puked on me, and through the haze I could see a horde of zombies who all pounced on me, and I was shooting them off with my handgun...

It was simply insane. And I was just giggling with glee.

And the polish. My god the polish. How the characters talk to one another automatically to give status reports, how your performance degrades as you get injured. How well and natural the teamwork feels in this game. And the game runs and moves smooth as silk. Better than TF2 IMO in this regard (And I hold TF2 in the highest regard!!)

Left4Dead is the best zombie experience you can have. Period. Maybe the WWZ movie will be better...but it'll be VERY tough.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 07:54 AM

I am endlessly impressed by Valve and how they make games that scale so well. I fall slightly below the required specs for the game yet I can still run it without a hitch. I was even able to bump up the resolution and I still have no problem. When my new laptop comes in a couple weeks I can't wait to see the game run at near max.

So for those with magic PCs, do zombie corpses stay around longer? For me they vanish moments after they hit the ground, presumably to keep things running smooth.

Also, has anyone spent much time with the Hunting Rifle? Can you actually zoom with it? What are the benefits?

This really is the best zombie experience I've had in a video game. Better than any Resident Evil game for pure zombie mayhem. This game is exactly what the poorly executed Resident Evil: Outbreak should have been. I can't even begin to list the things Valve did right that Capcom did absolutely wrong.

Oh yeah, for those who downloaded the free demo instead of pre-purchasing, can you still play online with other people?

Everyone vs Dinosaurs

11-12-2008, 08:28 AM

I am endlessly impressed by Valve and how they make games that scale so well. I fall slightly below the required specs for the game yet I can still run it without a hitch. I was even able to bump up the resolution and I still have no problem. When my new laptop comes in a couple weeks I can't wait to see the game run at near max.

So for those with magic PCs, do zombie corpses stay around longer? For me they vanish moments after they hit the ground, presumably to keep things running smooth.

Define moments, but by the sounds of it, on mine they last longer.

Also, has anyone spent much time with the Hunting Rifle? Can you actually zoom with it? What are the benefits?
To scope in, you click in Mouse 3 [The scrollwheel] but it can be assigned elsewhere. The benefits of being scoped in? Or the benefits of having the scope? I'm not sure about either, other than accuracy from zooming in. I don't know if it is like the TF2 sniper rifle, which gains damage as you zoom in.

Oh yeah, for those who downloaded the free demo instead of pre-purchasing, can you still play online with other people?
I believe it is the exact same thing.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 08:33 AM

Define moments, but by the sounds of it, on mine they last longer.

For me they vanish practically as they hit the ground.

To scope in, you click in Mouse 3 [The scrollwheel] but it can be assigned elsewhere. The benefits of being scoped in? Or the benefits of having the scope? I'm not sure about either, other than accuracy from zooming in. I don't know if it is like the TF2 sniper rifle, which gains damage as you zoom in.

Ah. I never tried zooming any of the guns because alt-fire was melee and I never thought about clicking the mousewheel. Mainly I'm wondering if the rifle is a one-hit kill on regular zombies or if you need to headshot to kill that easily.

Telefrog

11-12-2008, 08:54 AM

Ah. I never tried zooming any of the guns because alt-fire was melee and I never thought about clicking the mousewheel. Mainly I'm wondering if the rifle is a one-hit kill on regular zombies or if you need to headshot to kill that easily.

The other benefit of the hunting rifle is that the rounds penetrate and pass through the target to hit zombies behind them. If you shoot the hunting rifle at a horde coming at you, you can easily down 3-4 zombies per shot because one happens to be right behind the other.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 08:55 AM

Ah. I'll have to try that next time.

Libuke

11-12-2008, 08:57 AM

For me they vanish practically as they hit the ground.

Ah. I never tried zooming any of the guns because alt-fire was melee and I never thought about clicking the mousewheel. Mainly I'm wondering if the rifle is a one-hit kill on regular zombies or if you need to headshot to kill that easily.

I have everything on high I believe and when it is just a view zombies they stay on the ground but if a large amount, like a large rush due to the boomer then the mostly just fade away as they die except the last few.

Edit: The hunting rifle is usually a one shot kill anywhere, and most off the weapons seem to have some penetrating power.

Lint of Death

11-12-2008, 09:48 AM

The hunting rifle is wicked against super zombies. It probably would've been more effective at that if OrangePulp, Secret Agent Dog, et al. didn't regularly insist on using me as Witchbait :p

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-12-2008, 10:50 AM

Thanks for the games Brass and Crittias (and a few others).

Sorry for startling the witch a bunch of times and also the TKing (well not the end of round TKing, I stand by that proudly).

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 10:57 AM

I hate when I TK accidentally. I feel like such an ass. Sometimes I get freaked out, though, when I swing my view around and see one of my teammates right behind me.

Also, it's very important for anyone who wants to rush ahead and take point to DUCK. Please! It's a very clear design decision that a ducking character is at the perfect height for teammates behind him to fire over their heads to hit zombies. You can set up a very devastating firing squad with two ducked players and two standing ones in a doorway or hall. If you're going to run in front of another player who is clearly firing at something you only have yourself to blame when you get shot.

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 11:45 AM

That's actually the "Go get a drink" button. The game plays for you in case you have to leave. It's a fucking genius thing, if you ask me. How many times has a game ground to a halt because some ding dong has to go take a shit?

Yeah, that is a great idea. I hate having to run to the bathroom in the middle of a game, and now it's handled seamlessly. The level of polish in this title is absurd.

I'm really psyched to run through the full game several times with the COGers. We'll have to keep Lon Lon and Avakus around as witch bait. :D

I did accidenly shoot my teammates quite a bit last night. It's tough not to at first, but once I get the hang of it I'm sure I'll improve. I kept running in front of Wasson as well...oops.

One other thing I learned is NOT to hang back. I was in the back of our group at first, because I thought I would be safe there. That's definitely not the case, and I got quite a surprise when I fell behind the team and was snatched up by a smoker.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 11:55 AM

Lint of Death

11-12-2008, 11:56 AM

One other thing I learned is NOT to hang back. I was in the back of our group at first, because I thought I would be safe there. That's definitely not the case, and I got quite a surprise when I fell behind the team and was snatched up by a smoker.

I hunt down Smokers more rabidly than anything else because they do that and because I hate finding out that someone in my group is hanging far back enough to be nearly impossible to save. Also because I get attacked by Smokers a lot, which, for me, tends to be immediately followed by a Hunter stuck to my face.

What can I say, I'm delicious.

PS I get the impression that the Director kicks your ass with Infected rushes if your group hangs around in one spot for too long.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 11:58 AM

I love how Smokers really sound like someone with a pack-a-day habit.

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 02:04 PM

You don't want to hang back, but it is important to have someone at least occasionally keeping an eye on where you just came from. Zombie rushes and boss zombies can and will come from areas you already cleared.

I did this during the game last night. I was constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure we weren't being snuck up on. It definitely paid off.

I got snagged by a Smoker just once, and I definitely learned to avoid that in the future.

biosc1

11-12-2008, 02:10 PM

I did this during the game last night. I was constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure we weren't being snuck up on. It definitely paid off.

I got snagged by a Smoker just once, and I definitely learned to avoid that in the future.

Don't forget to look up...they can be on top of buildings as well...

Lint of Death

11-12-2008, 02:11 PM

Can anyone confirm that shooting the Smoker's tongue frees the victim? I think it does.

I tend to find myself playing 'rear-guard' because I rarely trust anyone else to be doing it :p

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 02:26 PM

I don't know about shooting the tongue, though I've had people I'm in game with claim that's how they freed someone. You can melee the captive if you can't see the Smoker.

squirrelTactics

11-12-2008, 02:29 PM

Shooting the tongue frees the victim.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 02:34 PM

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 02:40 PM

Awesome. I wouldn't have expected that since the tongue seems to be a flat texture and not really a 3d object.

So, from people's experience, what startles the Witch? Shining the flashlights on her, obviously. Shooting, also obviously. Running footsteps also seem to trigger her, but how close can you safely walk near her? Will she always try to kill whoever startled her or does she pick a random target?

I didn't do anything to her last night and she came after me. Avakus, Codicier, and Wasson had already snuck past her. I was limping up the stairs, and just as she came into view she woke up, her eyes glowed red, and she screamed. I hobbled away towards the safe room, and luckily I made it since Avakus ending up taking out himself and her with a pipe bomb.

I have no idea what woke her up, but she was definitely pissed.

Don't forget to look up...they can be on top of buildings as well...

Yeah, I was looking up as well. I saw several of them jump down from rooftops, or climb up from lower floors. The first time one of them climbed up through a hole in the floor was freaky.

H.Bogard

11-12-2008, 02:42 PM

God friggin damn CTDs. First time Valve makes a co-op game and first time I encounter crashes in their game.

Fuck this.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 02:47 PM

Huh. I have yet to experience any kind of stability problem with L4D after about 8 hours of play.

I know some people have fooled around with it already, but I think I'm actually going to get a kick out of playing as the Infected. Before I played the game I hadn't thought I'd enjoy it, but seeing how they move and the kind of havoc they can cause makes it seem like a lot of fun.

It will be especially devious to spring some of the combos on players that you come across already. Smoker/Hunter could probably kill a straggler really quickly by pulling them far away then clawing him up.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-12-2008, 02:49 PM

So, from people's experience, what startles the Witch?

I found out that for some reason she doesn't like it when I throw a petrol can at her and shoot it.

I didn't do anything to her last night and she came after me. Avakus, Codicier, and Wasson had already snuck past her. I was limping up the stairs, and just as she came into view she woke up, her eyes glowed red, and she screamed. I hobbled away towards the safe room, and luckily I made it since Avakus ending up taking out himself and her with a pipe bomb.

I have no idea what woke her up, but she was definitely pissed.

You can wake her up just by proximity. Once she looks at you, you better move away or she'll be getting up soon.

Yeah, I was looking up as well. I saw several of them jump down from rooftops, or climb up from lower floors. The first time one of them climbed up through a hole in the floor was freaky.

Off the rooftops are nasty, but the one I really hate is through closed doors.

I heard a noise at a door I had shut behind us once, so I got ready to headshot some zeds through the door the hole they were about to make in it, then a hunter breaks through the whole door in a single jump and pins me down at the same time.

Smokers sticking their tongue through small holes in the door is nasty too, and also when they pull you back while JUST standing round a corner, so your team mates have to run way back to get line of site to rescue you.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 02:50 PM

That bitch.

Telefrog

11-12-2008, 02:51 PM

I found out that for some reason she doesn't like it when I throw a petrol can at her and shoot it.

Hitting her with your rifle butt doesn't seem to endear her to you either. :D

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 02:56 PM

Do you think she likes Molotov Cocktails?

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-12-2008, 02:59 PM

We tried to throw her a cocktail party but I guess she just doesn't like surprises.

Ink Asylum

11-12-2008, 03:02 PM

You know who do like cocktails, though? Teammates who haven't made it into the safe room quickly enough.

Lint of Death

11-12-2008, 03:04 PM

Hitting her with your rifle butt doesn't seem to endear her to you either. :D

I remember asking BrassGecko on day of release if a sneaky shove to the back kills the Witch instantly like it does with normal Infected. I didn't own the game at the time, but I found his acceptance of the plan quite entertaining.

To answer a question that was asked in another post, I figured out pretty much immediately (not through direct experience, fortunately) that the Witch's primary target is whoever pissed her off. This is why having the special-zed-killing Hunting Rifle also meant I became Witchbait a lot last night. And yet the one time I wasn't even around to help against the Witch my same group killed her with no casualties! :eek:

As for versus mode, smoker and hunter teaming up, they already do that when controlled by the AI! I suffered it quite a few times just in my first day of playing.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-12-2008, 03:04 PM

Snagging the last petrol tin and putting it outside the last safe house, shooting it and shutting the door is pretty much the best thing ever. If any team mate wants to get to safety they have to wait it out (normally just long enough for a boss mob to appear) or run through fire, which normally incapacitates them and exposes them to more fire.

Gecko has me figured out though and tries to TK me before I get in there, and other smart team mates have been shooting that petrol can before the roller door is even up and allowing access to the second floor 8(

EDIT:

I remember asking BrassGecko on day of release if a sneaky shove to the back kills the Witch instantly like it does with normal Infected. I didn't own the game at the time, but I found his acceptance of the plan quite entertaining.

I've not ever been presented with the opportunity to try it, but I heard someone in game say it doesn't kill her but knocks her over, giving you time to give her poor plain face the bullet make-over she needs as she slowly gets up.

Lint of Death

11-12-2008, 03:08 PM

I can imagine few (read: none) other reasons why that petrol can is there. See, THIS is the kind of thing that classic Night of the Living Dead warned us about!

EDIT: Also it can be really hard to TK the jerk because knocking them down gives them a massive hp bonus that's hard to overcome :p

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-12-2008, 03:09 PM

It's OBVIOUSLY a hint that the portal gun is in the full game.

Ravenlock

11-12-2008, 03:57 PM

Quick almost pointless question: I now definitely intend to buy this game. It's $45 on Steam, and also $45 on Amazon. I have a $20 Amazon certificate.

If I buy the Amazon box copy, do you think I'm safe in assuming that when it arrives, I can just register the key in Steam and unlock my download, like I did with HL2, and then put the box on the shelf never to look at again?

I assume this will be the case, since it has been for every other Valve title, but this one being EA published makes me a tiny bit wary.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like EA published The Orange Box too, and I just never noticed. That one worked fine. I feel pretty confident it'll be A-OK.

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 04:00 PM

Lon Lon, you sound like a real dick. :p

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-12-2008, 04:09 PM

Wackman3000

11-12-2008, 04:12 PM

Hey, I've gotta do SOMETHING to stop the advert from playing.

Stupid witch in it scares me every time.

I'm actually gonna miss the end of game TKing once the full game comes out, as I assume people will actually want to trigger the "official" end of the campaign for achievements and such.

That's my problem too. Between the "rape round" of TF2 and the TK slayings at the end of the L4D demo, I might have a real problem with distinguishing Lon Lon as Zoey from say.... a zombie or a BLU Demoman. :p

MagGnome

11-12-2008, 05:17 PM

Hey, I've gotta do SOMETHING to stop the advert from playing.

Stupid witch in it scares me every time.

I'm actually gonna miss the end of game TKing once the full game comes out, as I assume people will actually want to trigger the "official" end of the campaign for achievements and such.

That and no one wants a ton of deaths showing up on their Steam record. :p

BrassGecko

11-12-2008, 07:24 PM

I remember asking BrassGecko on day of release if a sneaky shove to the back kills the Witch instantly like it does with normal Infected. I didn't own the game at the time, but I found his acceptance of the plan quite entertaining.
I've not ever been presented with the opportunity to try it, but I heard someone in game say it doesn't kill her but knocks her over, giving you time to give her poor plain face the bullet make-over she needs as she slowly gets up.

When I tried it, I got up riiiight behind her, started to right click... and then I think one of the bots went, "It's the WITCH!" Almost exactly at the moment that the butt of my shotgun went forward, her head spun around, eyes went red, music went nasty, and that was the end of it until my teammates helped me back up.

Zrikz

11-12-2008, 10:02 PM

k so this game rocks. Just played for about 2 hours for the first time and yeah.. Play some co-op games and it was good times all around. Expert is pretty intense.

I did crash from game 2 times in that 2 hour span though which was quite annoying. Once the game locked up, the other time the game kicked to desktop without any error message.

LiquidRain

11-12-2008, 10:26 PM

I love playing with you guys.

OK, not so much you guys as my man-crush, Spectre-7. The rest of you suck. Learn how to duck. :|

(nah I'm kiddin I love you guys)

RandoM51

11-13-2008, 03:07 AM

Versus mode better save this game.

Ravenlock

11-13-2008, 05:53 AM

I suspect vs mode will be pretty awesome, but I'm also not sure why you would think the game as it stands needs saving.

I'm having a great time with these 2 levels, 18 more of them would make for a perfectly respectable game all by itself IMO.

Elaborate?

jpublic

11-13-2008, 06:35 AM

Things that bother me:

1) I've noticed that if you clear a room, like say, that final big room right before the end of Ch 2, the game throws smokers at you. Like one every 5 seconds.
2) Seriously, if a boomer is in the safe house, why are you assholes running into the safe house and CLOSING THE DOOR WITH THE BOOMER INSIDE?!
3) Has anyone found a use for the sniper rifle? if it did enough damage to one-shot lurking witches I'd love it forever, but nope.
4) I clearly don't know how to deal with a Tank. Tank+horde = dead team.

Hotcod

11-13-2008, 06:43 AM

why is there not a chainsaw in this game? or in fact any real melee weapons? i would like to lop some heads off with an axe

Telefrog

11-13-2008, 06:51 AM

3) Has anyone found a use for the sniper rifle? if it did enough damage to one-shot lurking witches I'd love it forever, but nope.

Hell yes, I've found a use! The hunting rifle has immense penetration. Use it on a crowd and you'll kill 3-4 Infected on each shot because each round goes through them.

Also, it's invaluable when you want to shoot a Hunter or Smoker to free your buddy without exposing yourself to the horde.

Lance Uppercut

11-13-2008, 06:59 AM

Hell yes, I've found a use! The hunting rifle has immense penetration. Use it on a crowd and you'll kill 3-4 Infected on each shot because each round goes through them.

This. I can do more damage to a stampeding horde with a hunting rifle than with any other of the weapons. It's also great against bosses. I'll pick the rifle up every time, and it's a lifesaver for the rest of my group.

Ink Asylum

11-13-2008, 07:03 AM

Yeah, I think one out of four players with the hunting rifle is an asset to the team. Personally, I love the auto-shotgun.

squirrelTactics

11-13-2008, 07:35 AM

I was grabbing the assault rifle, but the auto-shotty has been treating me well lately.

Lint of Death

11-13-2008, 07:36 AM

I've generally been that 1-of-4 with the hunting rifle because it's so useful. The trade-off is what happens when a player runs in front of you while you're shooting, and it's imperative not to forget just how much worse your aim is while moving.
I love playing with you guys.

OK, not so much you guys as my man-crush, Spectre-7. The rest of you suck. Learn how to duck. :|

(nah I'm kiddin I love you guys)
Hey, I was ducking a lot. I like to think I was useful once you let me join you. :o

Ink Asylum

11-13-2008, 07:45 AM

Telefrog

11-13-2008, 07:59 AM

So last night a bunch of us hopped into a new game and absolutely schooled the zeds. We made it through both levels all still in the green health range and only had one person fall down when we fought the Tank. We were total badasses. Or so we thought. Upon completing the game someone realized we were actually on Normal difficulty, not Expert as we believed.

After switching the difficulty back up to Expert we spent the next game getting overwhelmed repeatedly and barely beating the Subway.

I jumped into one pub game last night and three of us were completely working together. (I had to drop out after one game with CoG beforeheand because my mic got disconnected and I couldn't talk during the match.) The fourth player was a complete tool. He wouldn't duck. He kept running off by himself. He set off the car alarm. He pulled the generator room switch while everyone was trying to heal up and get ready.

It felt so awesome to set him on fire and run up the stairs while he got pounded by a Tank between the generators. Sweet justice was closing the saferoom door with him still outside. :D

RandoM51

11-13-2008, 10:05 AM

The trade-off is what happens when a player runs in front of you while you're shooting, and it's imperative not to forget just how much worse your aim is while moving.

Having a team that knows better than to cross each other's line of fire makes the game particularly easy as your teammates seem to be able to do far more damage to you in a much shorter time than most zombie attacks.

What would be cool would be a laser mod wherein you could visibly see the line of fire for each player.

Ink Asylum

11-13-2008, 10:14 AM

Yeah. Something like a big light attached to each character's gun....if only the game had that. :)

Heh. I know a laser sight mod would make the line of fire instantly clear, but the flashlight is a pretty good indicator, though harder to see in lighter areas.

Spectre-7

11-13-2008, 10:39 AM

I love playing with you guys.

OK, not so much you guys as my man-crush, Spectre-7. The rest of you suck. Learn how to duck. :|

(nah I'm kiddin I love you guys)

Awwww... I feel so touched (and ever so slightly creeped out). ;)

Remember folks: Don't shoot your friends. It's the right thing to do, and the right time to do it.

Oh... and a slight update on something I've been rather militant about. Apparently, as far as my testing shows, you cannot wound a teammate who is currently on the ground beneath a hunter. I think this is stupid as all hell, and I still hold that it's generally faster to melee the hunter instead (knocks hunter off instantly vs. possibly missing and needing to fire again), but shooting should be just fine. This is also true for the Smoker.

I haven't the foggiest idea why, in a game where you're #1 priority seems to be not shooting at your friends, they would then insert a situation where it's okay to do precisely that. I hope they change it for expert mode, at least.

Ink Asylum

11-13-2008, 10:45 AM

What about shooting a friend who has fallen normally? They still take damage, right?

axion

11-13-2008, 10:46 AM

Hehe, yes, yes they do. I mean that I have accidentally shot a person on the ground before...

Spectre-7

11-13-2008, 10:47 AM

Hehe, yes, yes they do. I mean that I have accidentally shot a person on the ground before...

Of course. I believe we've all accidentally shot someone on the ground at one time or another. Sometimes even in the safe room. Accidents happen.

Ink Asylum

11-13-2008, 10:52 AM

Accidents and wayward molotov cocktails happen.

Lint of Death

11-13-2008, 11:26 AM

LiquidRain

11-13-2008, 02:25 PM

I should NOT have explained to Secret Agent Dog that you can throw a molotov into the safe room from outside it. My only consolation is that he had already murdered us at the time.

"Knowledge is power, hide it well."
Oh my. HAhah, that garnered a good hearty laugh from me. :)

stuff about invincible people when smoked/pinned.
Possibly because it'd be really hard otherwise? I see your point but on the other hand I'm fairly grateful that the game is forgiving in that regard. I have a feeling the decision came from the 360 side of things - a mouse+keyboard can definitely be accurate enough to shoot a hunter or a smoker when there's another person, but no way would I trust anyone playing with a 360 pad to be that accurate with the kind of speed necessary. :)

SilentScreams

11-13-2008, 02:31 PM

Possibly because it'd be really hard otherwise? I see your point but on the other hand I'm fairly grateful that the game is forgiving in that regard. I have a feeling the decision came from the 360 side of things - a mouse+keyboard can definitely be accurate enough to shoot a hunter or a smoker when there's another person, but no way would I trust anyone playing with a 360 pad to be that accurate with the kind of speed necessary. :)

Another reason from my experience would be that sometimes you simply can't get a clear shot and can't get close enough to melee. I'm sure some people will say that something like that happening is just tough luck, but I know it would also frustrate the hell out of others.
An example is during the first stage, where you drop down the hole in the floor into that room with the annoying alarm clock in it. 3 of us dropped down, and Francis got himself pinned right on the edge above us. We couldn't back off enough to get a decent shot at the Hunter, and I'm sure Francis took 90% of the bullets that we sent his way.

Ink Asylum

11-13-2008, 02:40 PM

So I think someone implied it before, but does shooting someone who is wrapped in a Smoker's tongue damage them, free them, or both?

Lint of Death

11-13-2008, 03:09 PM

So I think someone implied it before, but does shooting someone who is wrapped in a Smoker's tongue damage them, free them, or both?

Hmm! That, actually, I don't know. I know shooting the tongue-rope that connects the strangled victim to the Smoker - in the space between the two - will free the victim, but, as for what you're saying, it would be a good idea to find out.

axion

11-13-2008, 03:10 PM

I think you can shove them and free them, shooting I'm not sure.

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-13-2008, 03:35 PM

Hmm! That, actually, I don't know. I know shooting the tongue-rope that connects the strangled victim to the Smoker - in the space between the two - will free the victim, but, as for what you're saying, it would be a good idea to find out.

Everyone always says this and I've tried it a bunch but it never seems to work.

Maybe I'm just REALLY unlucky with my shotgun buck spread.

Lint of Death

11-13-2008, 03:39 PM

Everyone always says this and I've tried it a bunch but it never seems to work.

Maybe I'm just REALLY unlucky with my shotgun buck spread.

I'm quite certain it works, because I've shot it and seen splashes of icky green spring forth from the tongue as the victim was released. I think the last time I did it was with the SMG.

iHap

11-13-2008, 03:45 PM

I have a dedicated server running right now. Because it's passworded it's a little tricky to play on it. You have to Enable the Console in the "Keyboard/Mouse Settings" open up the console type:

"connect magicpc.servegame.com" (no quotes)

then a window will pop up asking for the password, type:

"zombiejesus" (no quotes)

I'm running it in my house so tell me if there's any drops. I'll leave it on all day, I may turn it off at night. It'll be up till the full server files release, I want to tinker around with that when the time comes.

Telefrog

11-13-2008, 03:49 PM

"connect magicpc.servegame.com"

God, I love that.

iHap

11-13-2008, 03:56 PM

God, I love that.

I was trying to think of a clever, cool name to name the dns, and magicpc was the best name I could come up with.

Spectre-7

11-13-2008, 04:00 PM

Possibly because it'd be really hard otherwise?

Well, it is called Expert mode, isn't it?

Another reason from my experience would be that sometimes you simply can't get a clear shot and can't get close enough to melee. I'm sure some people will say that something like that happening is just tough luck, but I know it would also frustrate the hell out of others.

I wouldn't ever call it tough luck. I'd call it getting separated from your team, which I believe you should be severely penalized for, especially on higher difficulty settings.

:D

Secret Agent Dog

11-13-2008, 04:21 PM

I should NOT have explained to Secret Agent Dog that you can throw a molotov into the safe room from outside it. My only consolation is that he had already murdered us at the time.

Psh! I figured out the whole not burning your team to death in the safe house thing soon enough! Besides, if you guys were not only knocked down, but killed by me, you might have stopped me before I fulfilled my learning experience of where you can and cannot throw a molotov.

On a related note, molotovs at close range seem to bounce off zombies or team members if they are too close to you. There have been times that I have tried to burn a horde or team member that was too close and it bounces back closer to me taking us both down at the same time. Lint is also a big jerk and likes to hunting rifle us in the back of the head for fun so don't believe his flagrant lies about me killing teammates.

Along those lines, stat tracking also brings out the stat-padding and score-whoring activities in these team games. Having 104 zombie kills on the first level looks good until you see that it doesn't track the number of times you shot your friends while trying to steal more kills from zombies attacking them. There really needs to be a more concise results page that presents more data than the first 3 scores before the next level loads. Other than that the game is great, can't wait for the full version so I can Tk lint on more than 2 levels.... I mean play effectively as a great team player.

Wackman3000

11-13-2008, 04:27 PM

I really have to learn to watch my friendly fire and my circle strafing. Right now that seems to be my biggest issue, I unload a clip while strafing all over, usually resulting in my body being in the way of the rest of my team.

Honestly I think a better strategy would be that 2 are in front (crouched), and 2 behind providing cover... When the front people are out of ammo, they move to the back and reload while the other team moves up.

But this all comes down to communication and teamwork, something I am usually lacking.

biosc1

11-13-2008, 04:30 PM

But this all comes down to communication and teamwork, something I am usually lacking.

Yah, I'm usually a quiet player. I will note threats, but beyond that I think I focus too much on the game. I do listen to others though, so that's the main reason I wear a headset.

Libuke

11-13-2008, 04:50 PM

You can start preloading the full game now!

Why are you reading this? You should be starting the preload.

Disgustipated

11-13-2008, 04:54 PM

You can start preloading the full game now!

Why are you reading this? You should be starting the preload.

Oh fuck yeah. I'ma preload the hell out of it when I get home.

jacob.armitage

11-13-2008, 06:46 PM

i've just reached my bandwidth cap for the month. i can't remember when my billing cycle resumes. i'll have to call tomorrow. i hope its before the 18th or i will simply die. thats right, die.

Inspector Fowler

11-13-2008, 06:52 PM

i've just reached my bandwidth cap for the month. i can't remember when my billing cycle resumes. i'll have to call tomorrow. i hope its before the 18th or i will simply die. thats right, die.

I can't wait for Comcast to start this. Although it would be a pretty hard time for me to hit a bandwidth limit now, IPTV and similar services (like the upcoming Netflix/360 streaming could easily make me hit some upper limits.

I check the FioS site and the Qwest site monthly to see if fiber has hit my neighborhood yet so I can ditch Comcast.

jacob.armitage

11-13-2008, 06:55 PM

I can't wait for Comcast to start this. Although it would be a pretty hard time for me to hit a bandwidth limit now, IPTV and similar services (like the upcoming Netflix/360 streaming could easily make me hit some upper limits.

I check the FioS site and the Qwest site monthly to see if fiber has hit my neighborhood yet so I can ditch Comcast.

mine is a 200gb a month limit. but that is up & down which is where it gets me.

Hotcod

11-13-2008, 08:27 PM

Along those lines, stat tracking also brings out the stat-padding and score-whoring activities in these team games. Having 104 zombie kills on the first level looks good until you see that it doesn't track the number of times you shot your friends while trying to steal more kills from zombies attacking them. There really needs to be a more concise results page that presents more data than the first 3 scores before the next level loads. Other than that the game is great, can't wait for the full version so I can Tk lint on more than 2 levels.... I mean play effectively as a great team player.

As far as i know in the full game your TKs are tracked along with a tone of other stuff so it wouldn't surprise me if team damage will be tracked as well. So that you can view a persons stats and see if there's a tking player shooting whore or not

Telefrog

11-13-2008, 08:39 PM

You can start preloading the full game now!

Why are you reading this? You should be starting the preload.

Thanks for the heads up! Preloading now! Woo!

Lon Lon Rabbit

11-14-2008, 02:10 AM

http://i35.tinypic.com/2hceplj.jpg

Wasson_

11-14-2008, 02:27 AM

Francis is spy!

yeah, so what was Louis before, a fuckin' hobo? Current design is waaay better.

also...did anyone notice that Francis will spout "Groovy" sometimes when you pick up a new weapon? :)

H.Bogard

11-14-2008, 02:58 AM

I played with some stupid fucks recently who were dumb enough to lob a pipe bomb at a Witch's feet.

Ugh.

Telefrog

11-14-2008, 06:30 AM

I played with some stupid fucks recently who were dumb enough to lob a pipe bomb at a Witch's feet.

Ugh.

I keep getting people that run right up to the switch in the generator room and push it before anyone has had a chance to heal up or get situated. :(

Lint of Death

11-14-2008, 06:56 AM

I played with some stupid fucks recently who were dumb enough to lob a pipe bomb at a Witch's feet.

Ugh.

Thanks for letting me know that doesn't work before I ever tried.

Lint of Death

11-14-2008, 07:02 AM

Psh! I figured out the whole not burning your team to death in the safe house thing soon enough! Besides, if you guys were not only knocked down, but killed by me, you might have stopped me before I fulfilled my learning experience of where you can and cannot throw a molotov.

On a related note, molotovs at close range seem to bounce off zombies or team members if they are too close to you. There have been times that I have tried to burn a horde or team member that was too close and it bounces back closer to me taking us both down at the same time. Lint is also a big jerk and likes to hunting rifle us in the back of the head for fun so don't believe his flagrant lies about me killing teammates.

Along those lines, stat tracking also brings out the stat-padding and score-whoring activities in these team games. Having 104 zombie kills on the first level looks good until you see that it doesn't track the number of times you shot your friends while trying to steal more kills from zombies attacking them. There really needs to be a more concise results page that presents more data than the first 3 scores before the next level loads. Other than that the game is great, can't wait for the full version so I can Tk lint on more than 2 levels.... I mean play effectively as a great team player.
What do you mean "stop you" from your "learning experience"? I was the one telling you what to do!

I do not! OrangePulp just liked to walk in front of me while I was sniping faraway Infected. And the time I pwnd Happy Cat while I was Witchbaiting was because her head overlapped his. Oops :(

And yeah, when you tried to stop an Infected rush by burning myself and Happy Cat alive, I was impressed with your show of massive fail. I can't wait to murder you with the 10 new weapons.

EDIT: Woah! I just looked at the Wikipedia page for Left4Dead. Check this out: Louis is an assistant manager at a local retail electronics chain store.
If that's not a Shaun of the Dead reference, I don't know what is.

Ink Asylum

11-14-2008, 07:57 AM

I can't wait to murder you with the 10 new weapons.

Is that official? There are going to be 10 more weapons in the full game?

SilentScreams

11-14-2008, 08:02 AM

I can't honestly imagine how they would add 10 more weapons.
They've pretty much covered all the weapon types already. You have your close range shotguns, mid range uzi/assault rifle and long range hunting rifle.
Without getting silly and adding things like flamethrowers and rocket launchers, I can't see what they could possibly add. Unless they just add some different weapons with the same purpose as the ones they already have.

Telefrog

11-14-2008, 08:06 AM

I keep seeing this refernce to 10 new weapons in the full game all over the net except from an official source. Does anyone know how this started or if there's any confirmation?

Ink Asylum

11-14-2008, 08:09 AM

Just read through the wiki on Left 4 Dead and it made no reference to additional weapons. Not saying that's a confirmed negative, but those wiki-types usually scrounge up every little tidbit they can.

Can we think up ten weapons they could add that wouldn't be ridiculous? Offhand, a stronger pistol springs to mind, like a Desert Eagle or a revolver.

GigaFuzz

11-14-2008, 08:21 AM

I've heard people suggesting some kind of light machine gun. There's also the grenade launcher. Those are both possibly over-powered though.

The stronger pistol (with slower rate of fire, I'd assume) could be a good call.

Food Nipple

11-14-2008, 08:28 AM

I keep seeing this refernce to 10 new weapons in the full game all over the net except from an official source. Does anyone know how this started or if there's any confirmation?

They're getting it from the advertisement that runs after you reach the second safe house in the demo. There's some text on the screen that says:

1000's of Zombies
20 new maps and
10 new weapons

But, it seems like it's worded wrong. There's four campaigns each consisting of five maps, so there's 20 maps total, not 20 in addition to the two in the demo. Same thing with the weapons, there's 10 total and that includes both the mounted machine gun and the flammable fuel cans. You see the entirety of the arsenal in the demo, there's no notable additional weapons in the final game... yet.

Ink Asylum

11-14-2008, 08:36 AM

That helps clear things up, Food.

So 10 weapons = Pistol, Uzi, Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Auto-Shotgun, Hunting Rifle, Pipe Bomb, Molotov, Fuel Canister, Mounted Machine Gun.

I can't wait for the Louis Update!

GigaFuzz

11-14-2008, 08:41 AM

Get out of here with your logic and cold hard facts!

bapenguin

11-14-2008, 09:03 AM

Just posted a new video. Totally hot.

http://www.co-optimus.com/article/846/Left_4_Dead_-_Death_Toll_Gameplay_Trailer.html

biosc1

11-14-2008, 11:14 AM

Just posted a new video. Totally hot.

http://www.co-optimus.com/article/846/Left_4_Dead_-_Death_Toll_Gameplay_Trailer.html

Nice video...seems like the person playing the girl wasn't co-opting very well, kept running ahead and needing to be healed a couple of times...

Plays kind of like me ;)

squirrelTactics

11-14-2008, 12:01 PM

Nice video...seems like the person playing the girl wasn't co-opting very well, kept running ahead and needing to be healed a couple of times...

Plays kind of like me ;)

I think they were playing with bots, so its understandable why they would just run ahead.

Ink Asylum

11-14-2008, 12:34 PM

I hope there are more cut scenes akin to the one at the beginning of the Demo. One for the beginning and end of each "movie" would be awesome.

H.Bogard

11-14-2008, 04:55 PM

Thanks for letting me know that doesn't work before I ever tried.

Yeah. She fucked their shit up before they even knew what hit 'em.
Thankfully I'd seen their stupidity and stood aside in safe distance with a clear shot.

MagGnome

11-14-2008, 10:07 PM

I played with some stupid fucks recently who were dumb enough to lob a pipe bomb at a Witch's feet.

Ugh.

Avakus did that tonight. We were going through the subway car and the witch was right in the middle of the aisle. We were all very low on health, so we stood back while he threw the pipe bomb. I hid behind a wall. ;)

She came roaring out of the subway like a bat out of hell, and we took off in all directions. She killed Bill before running off, and I chased her down.

Unfortunately a short while later we were just entering the generator room when we were massacred. The horde poured in, and I heard a roar behind me. I turned to see a massive Tank come barreling up the stairs. I had never seen one before, and I instinctively began firing at it. Obviously that was a mistake, and before I knew it I was pinned to the ground. I popped off a few shots at his tiny head, but I was dead in about 10 seconds.

I fucking love this game!