NIGHTBLADE'S PROFILE

147 MB? Where's the usual bitching about file size? Is 147MB acceptable now? :-X

Downloading now, I'm expecting a lot based on what I've heard.

author=Max McGee link=topic=3093.msg60618#msg60618 date=1233822977
What's sad is that I've played both and the Nazi Zombies bonus mode of Call of Duty: World At War is a much better zombie co-op game than Left 4 Dead.

AH HA HA HA.

No.

I actually don't like Valve games. I think they are really stupid and they feel cheap. The Half-Life series is particularly boring. It baffles me that Valve games are so expensive to make, because they aren't very tight. I don't understand why everyone likes them so much? I really have no interest in Left 4 Dead at all. The more people talk about it, the more stupid it seems.

I guess this would be a valid complaint for Half life 1, but half life 2 is anything but shoddily built. Think of it what you like, but the source engine not only scales incredibly well, but it is also very well made.

If you haven't tried half life 2 because you hated 1 (I couldn't get through 1 personally.) I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend you at least give half life 2 a try. From the great story telling to the well written characters; valve has their reputation for a reason. It's nice to see a female character(s) who isn't a half naked leather clad ninja (Alyx Vance and so on).

I'd be shocked if anyone actually thought this about Half Life 2, I just found everything about the game to be brilliant; I especially loved how the game's story unfolded before your eyes without the need for gratuitous cut scenes, and the amount of attention given to every single aspect of the valve games (listening to developer commentary is actually interesting, informative and inspirational).


Anyway, as far as L4D goes I'm pretty obsessed. I play pick up games and with some random guys who have somehow appeared on my friends list. With a decent group (as with anything) it's a lot of fun. My only gripes would be the match making system.

...And for no reason here's a youtube clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUy2DGg7Qkg

This inspired me to rethink the way I did battles back when I played it And also I stole all of the sound effects.

Well I got fairly far in Starless Umbra, and planned to write a full review when I noticed the announcement on the creator's home page, encouraging new players to wait until the new chapter is released to see the big changes.

SO I tossed chapter five into the recycle bin and Im going to wait until the improved version is released. While I don't have a full review of the game I do, however have this text file of random notes I took during my playthrough. Here it is.

Session 1:


Well, this is an interesting menu.

Wow, this dialogue lacks subtletly...

Running system, this could get slightly annoying.

Got stuck in the stairs, I'll just hit control and... Oh wait, I can't. Okay; I'll just restart

Got stuck in a different set of stairs, okay; so I shouldn't use the run command while going up diagonal stairs.

Message box is kind of overly complex.

Ah, windows lightning flash. That effect takes me back...


"The guard won't let us out! Let me distract him for you...
...

MY SON IS MISSING YOU CLOD!"

I stepped out from cartoony village to find myself in refmap land. That's a kind of an odd clash of styles.

My old nemesis : random battles has reared it's ugly head.

Optional dialog...?

I like the equipment implentation, I should really make mine that organized...

Yay, pointless running system turned off and no more random battles for this area!

Oh look, the rock wont go through the door way...

This magic circle thingie resets it, would have been nice if I knew this.

Oh look, the rock still won't go through the door way.

Well; I hit shift, something happened and the rock went through like it was supposed to. Hurray.

AHH THE LIGHT WHERE IS IT COMING FROM ~ Wut?

Boy: YAY YOU GUYS CAME. KTHNX

Annoying sidekick: OKAY LETS GO child who has somehow traversed passed lava traps and randomly appearing
monsters.


Surprisingly ineffectual boss fight that kills killed in one rage attack.

...

No dialog about just being attacked by a man bear pig? Okay...


Oh good, no random battles; maybe that quake scar... Oh there it is. -_-

Elders can shoot lazurs.

Well these credits are nicely... Rudra characters? Really?

"When the flashing light stopped We were..." line, wow; could that have sounded any less natural.

WELL it turns out the elder can't shoot lazers, maybe it was just random lightning that teleported you away from home.

ANYWAY lets find a village.

Andoru: :3 emote (Wtf?)

World map, pretty standard stuff...Except there are monsters chasing me! Interesting, this is what should be in
the dungeons.

More slimes...

Well; thats all for me for now. End of Session 1.

Hello strangers, please sit down and enjoy dinner with me.

Kthnx


Why is the thieve's den half a continent away from the town I just came from?


Character turns when I enter the presumed thief den. Rm2k3 has a teleport command that allows you to dictate what
direction the character faces when the screen fades in, FYI.

Emoticon battle... That sounds like; well no. I'd better just stop there.

That minecart minigame was quite good, slightly unforgiving; but fun. I found it a bit dumb that coins didn't
respawn after a failed attempt, so I just hit F12; and started over to try again after each attempt.


"Do not go off the path or you will die", okay; so I'll go off the path. I liked the impossible optional boss.

Okay, so the mayor can't shoot lazers, but this thief can.

Yay, new party member; unfortunately; she also has the personality of a brick. The bandit was also quite annoying,
and not in a good way.

World map! Okay so... Oh good, more random battles with salamanders... Or sentient oven mitts. Oh well.

End of Session 2.

Entered a nearby castle looking for information in the idiotic robber we just encountered. I forgot to save so I tried
to leave, but the game refuses to let me... Goodie.

I talk to the Innkeeper and the party proceeds to walk to bed without paying or even saying anything.

Now Im stuck in a dream sequence, Ive touched everything and have run all over.

Found a different butterfly, but I can't get there thanks to the invisible borders. Trying VERY hard not to give up
on this game.

End of Session 3.

Well, I was just going to call it quits and review as is, but I decided to give the dream another go. This time I
followed a different butterfly and actually found out where I was supposed to go.

Ok, so I have to choose the right sparkle or I have to fight an enemy, only I cant pause to heal myself because that
option is disabled. Well, good thing this section seems easy.


Well, the two leads finally talk a little bit. I still don't like either of them though!

Andoru: He had no chance to survive (make his time)!

AHH Demon Legacy title screen muzak.

Clydan: Woah! Someone torched the church of Dorin!

This is... BRAIN POISON.

Uh oh, Andoru has Cloud beeping redness syndrome, and Clydan still has the appeal of a filthy sponge.

Now he's in a forest; something happened and Renne is gone; Andoru decides to ignore what happened for no apparent
reason. Clydan also conveniently heard about a passage that goes east.

Oh look, an enemy that isn't a dyslexic slime, a purple... fish in a puddle, and a mentally disabled salamander.

Appearance of scarf man.

Those were shackles? I just thought his battle stance was really stupid looking.

"Lovely, another dungeon." My thoughts exactly Clydan! Maybe you aren't a wet sponge after all.

OH LOOK, REENE AGAIN FOR NO APPARANT REASON, HELLO WOMAN WHO PROBABLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH AN ENTIRE CHURCH BEING
DEMOLISHED.

Racing the boulder was fun, now what...

"YOU WROTE THE NOTE". Okay... This is getting dumb.

Man: "I'm a throw away villian, fear my generic motives. I'm going to destroy the world with my surprisingly
ineffectual powers!"

"..Rage mode on his ass." This game now rivals Sacred Moon for terrible dialogue.

Since travelling across that bridge, random battles have increased to about one per three steps. Urge to quit,
rising...

Third dungeon in a row without respite. At least the dungeons have been interesting.

End of Session 4.

Well needed weapons and items...

ITS A GUNDAM, that... shoots pumpkins?

Well, that was the first interesting battle in this game, figuring out how to kill the annoying healing arm actually
took a bit of thought! The boss falls and I have a flashback for no apparent reason. Whoop.

That cutscene would have been really great if the dialog wasn't so awful and robotic!

What? No boss battle where solo main character can't win? Booo.

...Wtf? wasn't he knocked out? He escaped "somehow"? Come on! Things were steadily improving when suddenly; someone
takes a dump in the punch bowl.

Backtracking is almost as fun as tomb raider; which in turn isn't very fun at all! Time to go see Falas on a whim or
something.

Falas cutscene and now MORE BACKTRACKING.

end of session 5


The above probably wont make sense to a lot of people. It's also loaded with spelling and grammar errors I'm too lazy to fix.

Starless Umbra... Despite getting stuck on the introduction stairs three times.