Comments on: The Witching 168 Hours: Left 4 Dead Demo

By: Conquests.of.

Conquests.of. — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:53:58 +0000

The game has its undeniable good aspects, tho honestly, It’s all on what we CAN’T see. The versus mode and the new maps. The first one especially will be a major cause of longevity for gamers.

Problem is gameplay is a little too plain for me… L4D turned out just how i feared it would… just zombie shooting survival. But problem is still another, that goes beyong my tastes and expectations: success or failure tend to be SLIGHTLY randomized… the factors that “decide” those outcomes are pretty volatile… they rely too much on random chance other than real merit.

I think It’s the only real problem with the game. Everything else is absolutely fantastic.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:48:28 +0000

@KG: I tend to switch between referring to the Director as “he” and “it”. I go for “it” not because I can’t imagine it being female but because I try to avoid he OR she, but when I do it’s definitely he. Because the Director is… you know… a bastard.

By: hydra9

hydra9 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:37:49 +0000

It’s really weird when people drop out and get replaced by bots. I didn’t realise what was happening for a while. I was low on health and politely asked one of my healthy companions to take the lead. When they refused I started thinking, “What’s wrong with you? Do you hate me? Do you want me to die? Or have you just lost all hope?”

By: Frans Coehoorn

Frans Coehoorn — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:40:19 +0000

Well, there aren’t that many female directors in the world. Last move I saw from a female director was Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation but she’s waaayyyy too sweet to do such cruel directing in Left 4 Dead. Anyway, I also think it’s a He.

Or… it’s GlaDOS like people here said earler. It would make sense actually. ;)

By: The Unshaven

The Unshaven — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:24:44 +0000

I think the game is brilliant, well-polished, and high quality. However, my *experience* of the game has had quite a high-amplitude of quality, mainly because many of the people I’ve played with have been Utter Fraggles.

a) Don’t heal yourself for your whopping 8% damage when a team-mate is only surviving on 20% painpills.
b) LEAVE THE WITCH ALONE. SERIOUSLY. HAVE YOU BEEN EATING RETARD-SANDWICHES AGAIN?
c) Stay with the group.
d) COMMUNICATE.

Unfortunately some connection problems have sometimes meant I’ve been playing with two AI and one other person, and that other person keeps changing.

I’ve had no problem connecting though, it’s staying connected together that’s the key.

The difference on Expert and Advanced is massive, and great fun. I also think that Versus mode will be a great change of pace, as the Specialist zombies being other people will change the dynamic hugely, along with giving you a chance to mix things up yourself as one of the walking dead.

Each time I play the game, the quality astounds me and I get more reasons to buy the preorder. I *also* get more reasons to hold off until I can sit down and play it with friends. It’s bizarre.

And the corroding value of the NZ dollar means that the concrete savings of buying the preorder at 10% off versus sourcing locally is getting less and less relevant over time.

By: Cradok

Cradok — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:05:38 +0000

I played this for two hours last night on the PC, enjoyed every minute of it. It was weird seeing four random people just sitting down and working together for the greater good. It’s gone from being a ‘maybe’ to ‘pre-ordered’.

I also played it on the 360 a bit, as a comparison to help me choose which version to get. I played six games, all six of which went rapidly south due to assholes and non-cooperation. Only reason I’d get it on the 360 is if I’m likely to be playing with three friends regularly, and right now, I’m not.

By: Calabi

Calabi — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:05:29 +0000

If I was just going by its behaviour though, I would think its a she, its just too cleverly sadistic, and calculating. I couldnt see a man being as cruel as the director sometimes is.

By: jackflash

jackflash — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:00:06 +0000

I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, but share some of the disappointment of some others here. Feels a lot more arcadey than I was expecting. Maybe I’ve been playing too much Insurgency lately. I guess I was hoping L4D would replicate the realism and intensity of that with hordes of zombies. Instead of creeping around trying not to get hit, using the comms to coordinate, and taking things out from a distance, it’s just a lot of holding the trigger down and trying not to TK. Feels a bit shallow to me. Ah well. Maybe someone will mod it up and give it a tighter feel.

By: Ixtab

Ixtab — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:56:29 +0000

There’s something in the way that it spawns the zombies and such that makes the director a He for me, I couldn’t tell you what it is but it’s one of those gender traits you subconsciously pick up on.

Of course it could just be me being chauvanist and assuming that it must be male.

Or the fact that I was already predisposed to think it male by all the previewers (such as yourselves) calling it He. Which is probably why most people see it as a He, it’s all your fault.

By: Mark-P

Mark-P — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:52:02 +0000

I find it fascinating that people keep personifying the director. I can only see a script making semi-random spawns at semi-random spawnpoints. A programmer’s curse?

It’s still awesome though and it makes HL2, and all other rail shooters, look painfully linear.

By: Gorgeras

Gorgeras — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:36:28 +0000

I’m going with the Director being a male based on the assumption that most Korean Starcraft players are male.

And because this thread is insufficiently mysoginistic; if the Director were female the zombies would be running away, scared by the loud gun noises. Then the whole point of the game would be to find some common ground with the Infected and learn to live together.

Bloody whooly-minded liberal nonsense like that.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:06:16 +0000

Calabi: I don’t think it’s that. I think he just seems like a bloke to me.