Book Foo, and Video Game Foo,
Jul. 25th, 2010 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Finished: A Fire in the Sun, by George Alec Effinger (reread)
Started: The Year's Best SF 6 (short story collection (reread)
A Fire in the Sun was enjoyable, but not quite as good as When Gravity Fails. Still, it made me eager to find the third book in the series.
Finished: Excession, by Iain M. Banks (reread)
Don't have much to say to it. Even though it's my second reread I found I didn't really know or want to pay attention to what was going on in a lot of places. Fun despite it, but I think I have to be in a particular frame of mind (and hyper-attentive) to appreciate this, even though, oddly, it's one of my favorite of the Culture books.
Started and Finished: The Fabulous Riverboat, by Philip Jose Farmer (Riverworld book 2) (reread)
Started: The Exile Kiss, by George Alec Effinger
Yeah, I didn't intend to read more than the first volume again, but I ran out of new books. As usual, good idea, kinda iffy execution. A couple notes though (with an eye towards adaptations). Although it's called The Fabulous Riverboat, the story actually puts Sam OUT of that fantastic element for the whole book, because the book is about the CONSTRUCTION. Sam is landlocked, dealing with the struggles to build it and run an empire with allies he can't trust and neighbors who are difficult, and having to make devil's bargains to achieve his dream. THAT is almost a more interestign story to me than 'hum-de-dum, Sam Clemens travelling on a boat on the Riverworld'. THAT would make an interesting season or two of a TV series (alas, probably only to me). Again, specifics aren't the greatest, but the ideas are very good.
I did finally have an idea of how to do my own 'Everybody who ever lived is resurrected' type story in a way that wasn't just a Riverworld knock-off (instead I made it a knockoff of both Riverworld and an element of another book I always wanted to play with! ;)). I think the story's a bit too big for me, since I'm no expert historian and would be bound to get lots of the details wrong, but I might play around with it, it's something to write, anyway, and I haven't had a new idea I've been really excited about in a while.
Video-gamewise, I've been playing L4D2 of course. Some general thoughts...
maps are nice, and they do some real good work with set pieces and such. Like the addition of melee weapons (but wish there was a little more variety in terms of abilities, it feels like they're all exactly the same except the chainsaw). The new infected types are fun to be (hunters are no longer the boring types you have to be every other turn. On the other hand I tend to suck at Chargers).
I don't know, I get the impression I like L4D's versus mode a little better.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
occamsnailfile mentioned that in versus the infected side always has an advantage, and although in L4D1 it seemed like that was only a little advantage and a good team could easily overcome it, so far it seems like in L4D2 it's a much bigger one, since the maps are bigger and easier to get lost in, and there are so many more infected types. In L4D1, if the infected don't try to coordinate, they only really do well against sucky teams. Here, it's much harder to coordinate but the infected still tended to kill the survivors pretty early in in the few games I played. Maybe I just had bad luck. (It's worse that all the 'mutations', which I haven't played yet, seem to weight things even WORSE against the survivors. What I want to see is a 'Realism Versus' in which the infected DON'T know where the survivors are, unless they either shoot, yell, or are covered in boomer bile (maybe the boomer can sense them at all times). That said, Scavenge mode is surprisingly fun for a quick game (and earned my X-Box avatar a L4D t-shirt).
Oddly, one time I accidentally versused when I meant to pick Single player (because I realized I was only one fire-bullet away from an achievement). Decided I'd stick with it. Our team was behind, they were playing the Parish. Second last round, we were infected first. Tank killed the other side pretty quickly. Then when we switched to Survivors... I realize all my teammates were gone . I was the only one. And there were like 3 on the other team. So, I just ran through. We killed the tank and I got about halfway through the level before they killed me. Still behind, but I'd made up ground. I figured, only one infected, there was no way I'd stop them on the bridge. But, I did (one computer controlled infected at a time helped). But then it was my turn. Well, I'd been practicing for the Bridge over Trebled Slaughter achievement (Where yo uhave to cross the bridge in 3 minutes) for a while, so basically, I just decided to go for broke, used the same strategy, and sprinted across as fast as I could, using adrenaline when I could, not worrying about whether my team behind me caught up. Made it all the way to the first tank, who killed me... but as the scores came in, we managed to get farther than the others and when the final scores for the game were computed, I just barely won the match all on my own. ;) Anyway, that's probably of no interest to anyone but me, but I wanted to record it.
The achievements are kinda fun but tricky, particularly when playing solo and you can't tell your bots what to do. I did finally, just today, manage to succeed at the Bridge achievement (by killing one of my team in advance, and then, upon realizing I had a clear path to the helicopter and my other two teammates were way behind me, set the difficulty to expert so they died by the time I reached the helicopter... was pretty happy, especially since I was hit by a tank once on the way and usually that means you've lost too much time, but I was adrenalined up and just kept running while it went after my team).
What I want to see in L4D3 (eventually, aside from fixing a couple of the problems mentioned above):
1) TAKE IT TO CANADA, BABY. TRUE NORTH STRONG AND FREE. Well, perhaps not, but a wintery setting might be fun to play with, you can have ice effects making things slippery or snow, zombie hockey players, or "Kill a Tank with a Zamboni!" achievement. A survivor that says 'eh?' after everything. "Grabbing some pills, eh?" "There's the safehouse, eh!"
2) Yeah, it's always fun to come up with new infected types. So, "Gooper" (if infected, 'Icer', doing the same job with Ice). Basically it spits out a goo (or fast-freezing liquid), which does only a little damage, with its main attack, but the person hit can't move from where they're hit for a certain amount of time (shortened by fire and maybe help). And "Shaker".. a little like a charger, but instead of slamming them on the ground, it shakes them and makes all their 'collectable items' (weapons, healthpack, etc) scatter across the area, so even when you kill him you wind up having to make the decision of pressing on withotu it or spending more time gathering it.
3) A little variety in zombie looks. Every hunter looks the same, etc (although in this one they seem to have made both a male and female boomer, which was a nice twist... it doesn't look like any other model is like that). Likewise, a little more in the way of connective storyline and cut scenes... as long as they're skippable, I enjoy cut scenes.
4) Some limited playable vehicles might be nice. Like obviously you can't drive around like it's GTA, but it might be nice if there was like a motorbike that only one person could ride at a time or something.
5) And I know this is probably heresy given it's a team-cooperation game, but... I kinda wish there was a way to survive alone, even if much much harder. I'm not saying play the whole game that way, but just so it's not like "Oh, everyone else is dead? Well, I might as well throw myself off the bridge because I can't make it to the end on my own no matter how good I am one of the special infected will get me" Maybe, if you're the only member of your team left alive (not just up, but alive), you soldier on and don't need help to pick yourself up, just a lot more time without being attacked. Frankly, the idea that you're lying on the ground and you can shoot but you need a friend to help you to your feet or you just die there is one of the sillier aspects of the game. Or maybe a secondary use for adrenaline - you can use it while you're downed to pick yourself up, or break a smoker's grasp, or whatever, allowing you at least a little hope of survival if your compadres are gone.
6) Maybe you could play a little with having a survivor who's NOT immune, but, because technology has advanced some, has some medication that confers temporary immunity or suppresses the symptoms, and that be part of the plotline, gathering stuff needed. Maybe they even change into a new boss infected at the end of the game (or halfway through, and get replaced by a new guy in the subsequent missions)
And for an amusing link of the day, though you may have already seen it: "Jane Austen's Fight Club"
Started: The Year's Best SF 6 (short story collection (reread)
A Fire in the Sun was enjoyable, but not quite as good as When Gravity Fails. Still, it made me eager to find the third book in the series.
Finished: Excession, by Iain M. Banks (reread)
Don't have much to say to it. Even though it's my second reread I found I didn't really know or want to pay attention to what was going on in a lot of places. Fun despite it, but I think I have to be in a particular frame of mind (and hyper-attentive) to appreciate this, even though, oddly, it's one of my favorite of the Culture books.
Started and Finished: The Fabulous Riverboat, by Philip Jose Farmer (Riverworld book 2) (reread)
Started: The Exile Kiss, by George Alec Effinger
Yeah, I didn't intend to read more than the first volume again, but I ran out of new books. As usual, good idea, kinda iffy execution. A couple notes though (with an eye towards adaptations). Although it's called The Fabulous Riverboat, the story actually puts Sam OUT of that fantastic element for the whole book, because the book is about the CONSTRUCTION. Sam is landlocked, dealing with the struggles to build it and run an empire with allies he can't trust and neighbors who are difficult, and having to make devil's bargains to achieve his dream. THAT is almost a more interestign story to me than 'hum-de-dum, Sam Clemens travelling on a boat on the Riverworld'. THAT would make an interesting season or two of a TV series (alas, probably only to me). Again, specifics aren't the greatest, but the ideas are very good.
I did finally have an idea of how to do my own 'Everybody who ever lived is resurrected' type story in a way that wasn't just a Riverworld knock-off (instead I made it a knockoff of both Riverworld and an element of another book I always wanted to play with! ;)). I think the story's a bit too big for me, since I'm no expert historian and would be bound to get lots of the details wrong, but I might play around with it, it's something to write, anyway, and I haven't had a new idea I've been really excited about in a while.
Video-gamewise, I've been playing L4D2 of course. Some general thoughts...
maps are nice, and they do some real good work with set pieces and such. Like the addition of melee weapons (but wish there was a little more variety in terms of abilities, it feels like they're all exactly the same except the chainsaw). The new infected types are fun to be (hunters are no longer the boring types you have to be every other turn. On the other hand I tend to suck at Chargers).
I don't know, I get the impression I like L4D's versus mode a little better.
occamsnailfile mentioned that in versus the infected side always has an advantage, and although in L4D1 it seemed like that was only a little advantage and a good team could easily overcome it, so far it seems like in L4D2 it's a much bigger one, since the maps are bigger and easier to get lost in, and there are so many more infected types. In L4D1, if the infected don't try to coordinate, they only really do well against sucky teams. Here, it's much harder to coordinate but the infected still tended to kill the survivors pretty early in in the few games I played. Maybe I just had bad luck. (It's worse that all the 'mutations', which I haven't played yet, seem to weight things even WORSE against the survivors. What I want to see is a 'Realism Versus' in which the infected DON'T know where the survivors are, unless they either shoot, yell, or are covered in boomer bile (maybe the boomer can sense them at all times). That said, Scavenge mode is surprisingly fun for a quick game (and earned my X-Box avatar a L4D t-shirt).Oddly, one time I accidentally versused when I meant to pick Single player (because I realized I was only one fire-bullet away from an achievement). Decided I'd stick with it. Our team was behind, they were playing the Parish. Second last round, we were infected first. Tank killed the other side pretty quickly. Then when we switched to Survivors... I realize all my teammates were gone . I was the only one. And there were like 3 on the other team. So, I just ran through. We killed the tank and I got about halfway through the level before they killed me. Still behind, but I'd made up ground. I figured, only one infected, there was no way I'd stop them on the bridge. But, I did (one computer controlled infected at a time helped). But then it was my turn. Well, I'd been practicing for the Bridge over Trebled Slaughter achievement (Where yo uhave to cross the bridge in 3 minutes) for a while, so basically, I just decided to go for broke, used the same strategy, and sprinted across as fast as I could, using adrenaline when I could, not worrying about whether my team behind me caught up. Made it all the way to the first tank, who killed me... but as the scores came in, we managed to get farther than the others and when the final scores for the game were computed, I just barely won the match all on my own. ;) Anyway, that's probably of no interest to anyone but me, but I wanted to record it.
The achievements are kinda fun but tricky, particularly when playing solo and you can't tell your bots what to do. I did finally, just today, manage to succeed at the Bridge achievement (by killing one of my team in advance, and then, upon realizing I had a clear path to the helicopter and my other two teammates were way behind me, set the difficulty to expert so they died by the time I reached the helicopter... was pretty happy, especially since I was hit by a tank once on the way and usually that means you've lost too much time, but I was adrenalined up and just kept running while it went after my team).
What I want to see in L4D3 (eventually, aside from fixing a couple of the problems mentioned above):
1) TAKE IT TO CANADA, BABY. TRUE NORTH STRONG AND FREE. Well, perhaps not, but a wintery setting might be fun to play with, you can have ice effects making things slippery or snow, zombie hockey players, or "Kill a Tank with a Zamboni!" achievement. A survivor that says 'eh?' after everything. "Grabbing some pills, eh?" "There's the safehouse, eh!"
2) Yeah, it's always fun to come up with new infected types. So, "Gooper" (if infected, 'Icer', doing the same job with Ice). Basically it spits out a goo (or fast-freezing liquid), which does only a little damage, with its main attack, but the person hit can't move from where they're hit for a certain amount of time (shortened by fire and maybe help). And "Shaker".. a little like a charger, but instead of slamming them on the ground, it shakes them and makes all their 'collectable items' (weapons, healthpack, etc) scatter across the area, so even when you kill him you wind up having to make the decision of pressing on withotu it or spending more time gathering it.
3) A little variety in zombie looks. Every hunter looks the same, etc (although in this one they seem to have made both a male and female boomer, which was a nice twist... it doesn't look like any other model is like that). Likewise, a little more in the way of connective storyline and cut scenes... as long as they're skippable, I enjoy cut scenes.
4) Some limited playable vehicles might be nice. Like obviously you can't drive around like it's GTA, but it might be nice if there was like a motorbike that only one person could ride at a time or something.
5) And I know this is probably heresy given it's a team-cooperation game, but... I kinda wish there was a way to survive alone, even if much much harder. I'm not saying play the whole game that way, but just so it's not like "Oh, everyone else is dead? Well, I might as well throw myself off the bridge because I can't make it to the end on my own no matter how good I am one of the special infected will get me" Maybe, if you're the only member of your team left alive (not just up, but alive), you soldier on and don't need help to pick yourself up, just a lot more time without being attacked. Frankly, the idea that you're lying on the ground and you can shoot but you need a friend to help you to your feet or you just die there is one of the sillier aspects of the game. Or maybe a secondary use for adrenaline - you can use it while you're downed to pick yourself up, or break a smoker's grasp, or whatever, allowing you at least a little hope of survival if your compadres are gone.
6) Maybe you could play a little with having a survivor who's NOT immune, but, because technology has advanced some, has some medication that confers temporary immunity or suppresses the symptoms, and that be part of the plotline, gathering stuff needed. Maybe they even change into a new boss infected at the end of the game (or halfway through, and get replaced by a new guy in the subsequent missions)
And for an amusing link of the day, though you may have already seen it: "Jane Austen's Fight Club"
