june gloom on 6/12/2010 at 08:39
That's exactly what happened when I played The Parish's finale. I was the only one who made it. Everyone else got swamped and eventually killed... except Coach, who kept screaming for help as the bridge blew up.
I was playing Nick though, so I figure it was at least in character...
nicked on 6/12/2010 at 08:45
Heh, same here actually! Although I always play as Nick, because my name's Nick, and otherwise I get really confused when they shout stuff like "Hunter on Nick!" :p
henke on 6/12/2010 at 09:55
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Hey, I'm not responsible for the meat packing regulations in your country.
Typical ZylonBane, always running away from responsibility. :nono:
addink on 6/12/2010 at 10:34
Aw, that's a bit harsh.
He takes the responsibility of never admitting he sometimes makes mistakes very seriously. And he perseveres no matter what. His mom must be very proud.
june gloom on 6/12/2010 at 10:45
He'd be perfectly willing to admit his mistakes, but he's never ever made a mistake. He's the pride of his Asperger's support group.
Briareos H on 6/12/2010 at 10:56
ladies.
Pyrian on 6/12/2010 at 21:03
Left4Dead is kind of its own thing, not quite like anything else I've ever played. Enjoyed that series a lot, and in some sense the fact that it's really fast paced makes the decisions different, but perhaps even more interesting. Only in Left4Dead and Last Night on Earth have I made "cinematic" decisions in full faith: "Save yourselves! Leave me behind!" Or fled a scene 'cause my mates got overrun. But it's episodic, you're all back in the next scene anyway... And between chapters I can't even keep that laser-guided AK I carefully horded.
june gloom on 6/12/2010 at 21:20
My guys have gone back to rescue someone 50 feet from the safe room door on a number of occasions. We know he'd just respawn, but dammit NO MAN LEFT BEHIND.
Phatose on 6/12/2010 at 21:57
It's not just L4D. Nearly any kind of multiplayer oriented game is going to have a similar effect simply because there is no option to reload. The other humans are incidental - the inability to quickly reload and fix a 'mistake' massively changes the "Hard, right path versus Safe, cowardly path" dynamic.
I suspect an awful lot of 'realistic' choices that would result in flawed characters are of the 'Right way versus Safe way' type. When you have infinite, instant do-overs, Safe loses it's value.
Pyrian on 6/12/2010 at 22:36
Quote Posted by Phatose
It's not just L4D. Nearly any kind of multiplayer oriented game is going to have a similar effect simply because there is no option to reload.
That's not true at all. I've played a lot more counter-strike than Left4Dead, and the dynamics are extremely different. And, while multi-player levels do not generally have saves, they are also generally short and easily repeated, undercutting the distinction. Reloading, respawning, and playing another round are not at all identical, but they serve similar purposes in practice.
Quote Posted by Phatose
The other humans are incidental - the inability to quickly reload and fix a 'mistake' massively changes the "Hard, right path versus Safe, cowardly path" dynamic.
It's not fundamental to games, it's not fundamental to quicksave, it's not fundamental to quick reloads. It's only fundamental to certain mindsets. The reality is that the vast majority of gamers would rather just keep on playing. If not forced to reload nor specifically trained to reload, most people do not reload.
There
is a continuum. Do you reload every time you take even a single point of damage? (Some people do this.) Everybody reloads if they're dead because the game doesn't give you any other option. But I'm telling you, that this severe hangup on reloading any time an even slightly suboptimal outcome occurs, is not normal, it's not necessary, and it's not even typical.
If some people want to reload after every missed shot, every point of damage, and so on, let 'em. If some people want to turn off the quicksave button, let 'em. It's like Papy's inability to deal with the concept of reloading in Bioshock until he could trigger an in-game option that turned off vita-chambers. Let 'em. It's okay. I don't think you can prevent people from ruining their own experience if they're determined to do so, nor do I think you can sit in an ivory tower and specify exactly what "ruining their own experience" is even going to entail. It's not going to be the same thing for every player, that's for sure.
Some people are going to read the walkthroughs and figure out the precise way to the precise ending they want, and
that's okay. For, as many others have put in, it's having a real choice with real consequences that makes them seem meaningful.
Quote Posted by Wormrat
Left 4 Dead is cool because the mechanics are set up in such a way that sharing items and covering each other's backs are intuitive behaviors that make sense and are useful the same way they would be in the real world.
It's not fundamentally different from any other game, though.
...Y'know, I disagree. It's
fundamentally different, because cooperation in basic co-op might be encouraged, in L4D, it's effectively
required, even at the basic level.
Quote Posted by Wormrat
In video games, you are always the protagonist. It's you, the player.
I think you might be mis-using "the protaganist" here, since it doesn't work with the rest of your paragraph (which I don't take issue with). People are much more willing to take on the role of a supporting character in co-op than they are in a single-player game. Consider VIP mode in old co-op games - the "protaganist" is the VIP, and the rest of the team is just supporting characters. It's harder to get that to work in single-player games, as anybody who's been frustrated with an escort mission probably understands.
Quote Posted by Wormrat
Responding to the reactions of your friends in multiplayer isn't fundamentally different from having scripted consequences for your single-player choices.
There's no way Valve can make Alyx take on as much personal significance as my High School buddies.
