Back 4 Blood

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Snowy
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Snowy » Mon Oct 25, 2021 4:04 pm

Tomorrow I am in the office so won't be home until about 5:30-6pm but can do tomorrow or any other evening.
RCHD wrote:Snowy is my favourite. He's a metal God.
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Raid
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Raid » Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:57 pm

Tuesday at 7 then?

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Sly Boots
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Sly Boots » Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:01 pm

I think that should work for me

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Animalmother
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Animalmother » Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:03 pm

Played a bit yesterday and got right up to the end of Act 4 but wasn't able to finish. I think the whole last part of the game killed my interest in it if I'm honest. Even on rookie difficulty it just got ridiculous in places, the sheer amount of special enemies it throws at you was just soul crushing at times. Think I'm going to leave this for a while until they do some rebalancing and tweaking.

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Mantis
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Mantis » Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:16 pm

I got to the final act at the weekend and bounced off it too. The first time we accidentally didn't set the game to private and ended up with a random player who was worse than the bot and got us all killed, the second time the objective bugged out two thirds of the way into the level and we couldn't progress without a restart. I wasn't that keen on it as a finale at all.

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Snowy
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Snowy » Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:48 pm

I can't make this evening sorry. Any other night bar Friday looking good though.
RCHD wrote:Snowy is my favourite. He's a metal God.
08/10/2003 - 17/08/2018
10501 :-({|=

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Sly Boots
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Sly Boots » Tue Oct 26, 2021 5:00 pm

TBH I was questioning whether I was in the mood as well, so nae bother.

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Snowy
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Snowy » Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:48 am

If our enjoyment of B4B is on the wane, or at least experiencing a dip, might I suggest a playthrough of L4D's campaigns? Been a while since I experienced No Mercy :)
RCHD wrote:Snowy is my favourite. He's a metal God.
08/10/2003 - 17/08/2018
10501 :-({|=

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Raid
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Raid » Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:51 am

The Steam Halloween sale starts tomorrow, so I was planning on picking up L4D2 then.

To be honest B4B hasn't really blown me away, it feels like it needs a good balance patch. It varies between no real challenge and too much of one, as there seem to be too many ways to stack the odds against you which you stumble into when you're already under pressure. The level design isn't very inspiring either, and it feels quite repetitive. That's not to say I haven't been enjoying it, just having four people with the same goal is usually sufficient, but maybe it's one that'll be worth coming back to at a later date.

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Mantis
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Mantis » Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:00 am

I've mixed feelings about the level design. Whilst I do quite like revisiting areas from earlier acts and catching glimpses of past set pieces before being funneled down a new, previously unseen, path to a different area of the town; it doesn't make for very inspiring variation in the acts. Overall the levels are sorely lacking in any kind of verticality, everything is just a little too flat.

It's worth seeing through to the end and then maybe giving it a spin on a harder difficulty to force a little more cohesive teamwork. But other than that I don't see it having the same longevity that L4D had.

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Snowy
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Snowy » Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:38 pm

L4D I could not stop playing when it came out, and L4D2 more of the same. B4B has not had nearly the same impact, but whether it is due to it being a 'lesser' experience or just that L4D already blazed that trail I don't know.

Definitely up for playing it to conclusion, but also as we have some L4D virgins keen to see what they make of the patriarch (and still best game I feel).

L4D2 will be peanuts in the Halloween sale tomorrow I am sure.
RCHD wrote:Snowy is my favourite. He's a metal God.
08/10/2003 - 17/08/2018
10501 :-({|=

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Sly Boots
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:47 pm

I've wishlisted L4D2 so will no doubt pick it up when discounted.

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Raid
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Raid » Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:58 pm

I should have said that I'd still like to continue if the rest of you are up for it. It felt like we were finally getting to the point where the teamwork was a bit more involved, having to co-ordinate weapons and playstyles, and I'd like to see if that continues. The game has a few issues, but it's still a fun experience.

What I definitely need to do is put together a proper, cohesive deck, as the one I was using in the last session was thrown together in a few seconds after everybody joined as I didn't want everyone to wait around for me. I tend to like getting up close with plenty of mobility in shooters, but that's not a playstyle that seems easy to pull off in this because melee attacks drain your ability to run away afterwards - it's certainly doable, but you need to really balance that stamina gauge.

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Mantis
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Mantis » Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:33 pm

It's easier when you've got more cards. There are a couple of melee options you can take which restore stamina per kill so you essentially never run out when fighting a horde. It buffs attack speed too, so you can bash through stuff like you were mowing them down with a machine gun. I wish the hordes were a bit bigger though as you always run out of zombies to thwack right as you're getting your groove on with a fully stacked attack speed buff.

Your character choice can impact the strength of your deck too. Some characters are really a must have if you're playing a melee or healer.

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Raid
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Re: Back 4 Blood

Post by Raid » Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:54 pm

I completely failed to notice Holly (the character I played in Act 1) recharged her stamina with every kill, I think I'll go back to her. Stamina was the only real problem I had after I switched, as I could just swim through hordes with my bat regaining enough health to keep myself topped up, only really having issues with the exploding and vomiting specials. I liked pairing the melee with the M4 though - it's a weapon that eats ammo normally but I was able to use it quite sparingly in the between-fight bits as I was too busy playing baseball with zombie skulls.

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