Left 4 Dead 2
SentrySteve
.txt Join Date: 2002-03-09 Member: 290Members, Constellation
.txt Join Date: 2002-03-09 Member: 290Members, Constellation
Left 4 Dead 2 was announced today. It's going to come with 5 co-op/versus campaigns, 4 new survivors, new melee weapons, new weapons, new infected, and current infected may act differently (like a witch walking instead of crouching).
Personally, I think this is bull###### and it actually kind of diminishes Valve in my eyes. I have a feeling they're going to try to sell this for a premium price when in reality it is nothing more than an expansion pack. Also, with this on the horizon it pretty much solidifies the fact that Left 4 Dead 1 will no longer receive content updates, but rather just generic balance changes. The fact that this is going to be released so soon, only 1 year after L4D released, gives it the impression of being rushed. I never would have thought that Valve would want a 'Madden-like' game where they could just constantly spam one out every year...
I really like L4D 1 but the announcement of L4D 2 doesn't sit well with me.
Personally, I think this is bull###### and it actually kind of diminishes Valve in my eyes. I have a feeling they're going to try to sell this for a premium price when in reality it is nothing more than an expansion pack. Also, with this on the horizon it pretty much solidifies the fact that Left 4 Dead 1 will no longer receive content updates, but rather just generic balance changes. The fact that this is going to be released so soon, only 1 year after L4D released, gives it the impression of being rushed. I never would have thought that Valve would want a 'Madden-like' game where they could just constantly spam one out every year...
I really like L4D 1 but the announcement of L4D 2 doesn't sit well with me.
Comments
*I actually sort of <i>do</i> like it, but not much more than CS:S zombies or something. It's a pretty bland game as far as I'm concerned. Fun but not better than all your other options like TF2 or BF2 or NS2 or DoD:S or something.
They say they might include the original L4D with the new one and still plan to update the original on it's own. If they include the original L4D with the new one, it better be a free download for anyone who bought the first is all I say.
Valve isn't EA, but what about Valve South, AKA Turtle Rock Studios? Because they're the L4D guys.
Sparing it another day living so close to someone who know so little about Star Wars that he causes other people pain.
..anyway:
Some gameplay videos:
<a href="http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14352245/left-4-dead-2/videos/l4d2_gmp_fireammo_052809.html" target="_blank">http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14352245/lef...mmo_052809.html</a> "Dock Start"
<a href="http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14352245/left-4-dead-2/videos/l4d2_gmp_alarm_052809.html" target="_blank">http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14352245/lef...arm_052809.html</a> "Stop the Alarm"
<a href="http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14352245/left-4-dead-2/videos/l4d2_gmp_axeownage_052809.html" target="_blank">http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14352245/lef...age_052809.html</a> "Axe Ownage"
Fairly in dept preview: <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/01/left-4-dead-2-exclusive-rps-preview/" target="_blank">http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/01...ve-rps-preview/</a>
My guess is that Ep3 is taking longer than expected and Valve needs to put something out there to A) make more money and B) be some sort of release from them for the lucrative winter/christmas period.
The only justification for it being a new game is if it's got engine changes that can't be updated on the console versions (i.e. discs) of the game. There's no real limit to DLC as Rockstar's 1.8GB <i>The Lost and the Damned</i> proved. Sounds like a sequel cash-in, smells like a sequel cash-in, and everything they've said about it makes it sound more like an expansion than justification for a new game (and a full game price tag).
Maybe swallowing Turtle Rock has turned out more expensive than Valve originally anticipated...
5 whole, new campaigns. 4 new characters, complete with new voice acting. A progressive storyline as opposed to four random campaigns that are not connected. Hints that the characters grow/change as they progress (in personality). Hints that we'll see the start of the infection (one of the campaigns/maps is set in a city before the infection starts, apparently). A new, unknown game mode, a few new special infected, only one of which we've seen. Basic gameplay changes that deal with some of the more annoying aspects of L4D (i.e. corner humping) and melee weapons etc etc.
L4D2 is a game. A new game. Probably more of a game than L4D was.
And it's *that* that is annoying me. My reasoning is confusing even to myself, so let me try and explain.
This new L4D is being released just under a year after the original L4D was released (literally one day less than a year). It is being released just a few months after the first large update for L4D. And yet, in that relatively short timespan, it's already looking to be a significantly better game than the original. This, to me, makes it feel like the original L4D is basically just a beta that we got conned into paying for. L4D2 is the game that L4D should've been. L4D is the beta / extended playtest for L4D2.
That's what it feels like to me. It's annoying.
Also is it me or does this one look way more colorful...
Cos then i shoulda waited for the second one.
This is a sequel by any definition. It's not just some extra maps that could've been added in free in an update. They've even structured the overall campaign differently.
All the campaigns have survival, versus and co-op. There's actually an overarching storyline for the campaigns this time, rather than just 4 (or in the case of L4D2, 5) campaigns with no relationship to each other. The character interaction, a favourite part of L4D, has been expanded upon and the characters grow as personalities as they progress through the game.
The AI director has been revamped and updated, so that rather than just throwing more zombies at you when you're doing good, it can change the layout of the map, forcing you to take longer routes.
New special infected change the way you play; the charger effectively breaks up groups, so no more corner camping since he'll charge into you and send you all flying. Even the witch now actively wanders around rather than sitting in a corner (on the day maps).
Seriously, did anyone actually read any of the previews, or did they just watch the videos? This isn't just new maps + new weapons models packaged as a sequel.
What I am trying to understand is why L4D2 is not an expansion pack. And I still don't understand why a game that is basically a hybridised multiplayer game and that will be played over and over again really needs to invest so much in a story. It's like L4D2 is going to be some sort of testing phase for 'HL2 Episode 3 co-op mode'. If it is then all well and good, but don't expect me to buy it.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->New special infected change the way you play; the charger effectively breaks up groups, so no more corner camping since he'll charge into you and send you all flying. Even the witch now actively wanders around rather than sitting in a corner (on the day maps).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Yes, I read all this, and I thought about how Valve added new content to TF2 to enhance the gameplay, such as new weapon unlocks giving copletely new abilities and faster teleporters to prevent the need for 5 engineers per round...
...and it was free.
I'm not trying to say 5 new campaigns should be free, but I haven't seen anything so far to convince me this isn't what <i>The Lost and the Damned</i> is to <i>Grand Theft Auto 4</i>. And I also wonder, like many, how many of these 5 campaigns should have been in L4D or could have been extra content for L4D.
Does one expect to get a whole new set of maps, characters, weapons planted for free into the game? That wouldn't make very good business sense.
I can't wait! I love Left 4 Dead. Is nobody excited?
Remember the times! More of them coming!
Brilliant.
Does one expect to get a whole new set of maps, characters, weapons planted for free into the game? That wouldn't make very good business sense.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
TF2 class patches? Anyway, I do not wan't to judge anything until it is released (IF I even want to get L4D2 <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />)
It seems to me that L4D2 is a new game. The mechanic is probably the same except for some tweaks, but everything else is new.
Pretty much analogous to a new game I'd say.
The new things in L4D2 (from what we've heard/read):
Just new weapons, maps and voiceovers (oh and achievements)
->
Add to this new player models (sounds similar to custom models, customisation section FTW)
And then the AI director doing different stuff, why can't that be patched? The AI director is a combined set of commands and triggers that responds to the player input (the AI director behavior can even be influenced with simple console commands or a *.cfg). Changing that can easily be done in a patch (would be bad design if it couldn't be done with patching). Same goes for Boss or infected AI parameters
Ah well, we'll see. And ofcourse Valve/Turtle rock are completly in their right to ask monah for the goodies (I just see it more as patch amount, not new game amount)
Darn I now have judged a game/upgrade without seeing it first hand. Blast you twoflow <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
I haven't even played survivor mode in L4D1 yet, and they are already planning to kill off the community. That sucks.
A game is more than the art assets, it's the people that play it. Valve isn't just releasing a "new" game, they are also killing the old one.
A game is more than the art assets, it's the people that play it. Valve isn't just releasing a "new" game, they are also killing the old one.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This too. They're splitting the community into those who buy L4D2 and those who don't. Nobody wins. Except Valve, sort of, but they've basically got an eternal spot in the winner's circle so everything from Half-Life up until today has just been varying degrees of them winning.