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Blood
Mar 11, 2016 19:14:55 GMT -5
Post by mikemacdee on Mar 11, 2016 19:14:55 GMT -5
Even with some great games here and there like No One Lives Forever, to me it wasn't really til F.E.A.R. and Shadow of Mordor that Monolith really redeemed themselves for inflicting LithTech upon the world. It took a few years but the engine finally became good. Yeah, the engine was good; too bad the content is another story. Nothing says "thrilling horror shooter" like yet-another-generic military FPS with yet another bullet time effect. Oh, and occasionally the chick from The Ring shows up for a popscare. I once gathered screenshots of every enemy character in the FEAR franchise, and threw the masked Point Man into the mix, and asked people who had never played the series to point out the hero. Not only could nobody do it, they also thought half of the pictures were repeats of the same character. I miss '97, too. Although I thought Powerslave was one of the first games to use the Build Engine.
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Blood
Mar 11, 2016 19:25:07 GMT -5
Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 11, 2016 19:25:07 GMT -5
I want to love the F.E.A.R. series because I loooove the guns in it and how they sound and stuff along with the cool little melee attacks the characters can do. It's impressive how bland they managed to make sci-fi with ghosts and psychic people. F.E.A.R. III is a step in the right direction but even it doesn't go far enough. F.E.A.R. 2 did impress me on a technical level though, it was one of the first of those multi-platform games that I felt looked straight up great on PS3. Condemned went in a similar direction. The first one's story is intriguing and dangerous feeling* even if it's bare bones and very obviously a launch title, but the second one is like, what happened? *Two episodes of that new X-Files season are cold straight up ripoffs of Condemned and F.E.A.R. (and also has a master of genetic therapy named Dr. ..... GOLDMAN!), though the why are homeless people crazy episode is my favorite one of that season. Disappointing run overall, wouldn't care if they never did more.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 0:38:52 GMT -5
Post by mikemacdee on Mar 12, 2016 0:38:52 GMT -5
If FEAR had the same guns and melee mechanics, but the setting was an unapologetically silly "steven seagal 80's action movie" motif, I'd absolutely be behind it.
But that would require creativity, which Monolith apparently sorely lacks without 3DRealms backing them up.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 4:04:51 GMT -5
Post by GamerL on Mar 12, 2016 4:04:51 GMT -5
I rented F.E.A.R. for the Xbox 360 once close to ten years ago, I don't remember hating it but I never finished it, which probably says a lot, I just remember the office building environments being pretty boring, the idea of combining a military shooter with The Ring is appealingly weird though.
So Monolith are crazily inconsistent, but NOLF, NOLF 2 and Condemned: Criminal Origins are all great games.
Monolith also seems to suffer from the same condition that affects Valve where they've never made a third sequel to anything (F.E.A.R. 3 was not developed by them) and like Valve they're both based in Washington state, weird.
By the way I bought Blood off GoG, I'm definitely gonna have to play that one soon.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 5:27:08 GMT -5
Post by TΛPETRVE on Mar 12, 2016 5:27:08 GMT -5
F.E.A.R. was cool when it was new, but just like id's anus opus DOOM³ it didn't age well at all.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 6:32:37 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 12, 2016 6:32:37 GMT -5
By the way I bought Blood off GoG, I'm definitely gonna have to play that one soon. I think you'll appreciate how the first level is the funeral home/cemetery from Phantasm.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 6:58:03 GMT -5
Post by GamerL on Mar 12, 2016 6:58:03 GMT -5
F.E.A.R. was cool when it was new, but just like id's anus opus DOOM³ it didn't age well at all. I remember definitely being impressed by the graphics in the footage I saw of the game on TV, comparing it to Doom 3 makes sense since it, like Doom 3, gave people a taste of what 7th gen graphics would be like with it's "slick" look to everything. By the way I bought Blood off GoG, I'm definitely gonna have to play that one soon. I think you'll appreciate how the first level is the funeral home/cemetery from Phantasm. Boyyyyyyyy!
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 7:19:05 GMT -5
Post by derboo on Mar 12, 2016 7:19:05 GMT -5
If FEAR had the same guns and melee mechanics, but the setting was an unapologetically silly "steven seagal 80's action movie" motif, I'd absolutely be behind it. But that would require creativity, which Monolith apparently sorely lacks without 3DRealms backing them up. Wait, in what way does require "80s action movie, but as an FPS" more creativity than "The Ring, but as an FPS"?
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 7:50:01 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 12, 2016 7:50:01 GMT -5
I agree, in the article you say Blood 2 is bad because it's focus tested for the "lowest common denominator."* I'm not a fan of the term but campy Seagal movies are much more made for mass production than anything Monolith has ever done. F.E.A.R. isn't visually memorable (though it had the coolest wall damage decals and lot of other cool details like that) but it came out at a time where its mix of ghost story and tacticool sci-fi FPS was unheard of and has an uncompromising atmosphere.
I understand where you're coming from, especially in the case of Blood 2 being so awful compared ro the first and F.E.A.R.'s setting being typical on the surface but I don't think the approach or settings of any of those three games are significantly more or less creative than the other. Blood stands out as the best because it borrows so much from awesome cult movies we like but that's not inherently better or worse an approach to aesthetic design.
*Did Blood 2 really go through extensive focus testing like it says in the article? The game is a rushed mess but that kind of process takes time and I have trouble believing they took the game from nothing to on store shelves so soon after the original if they did.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 12:44:09 GMT -5
Post by Elvin Atombender on Mar 12, 2016 12:44:09 GMT -5
By the way I bought Blood off GoG, I'm definitely gonna have to play that one soon. I think you'll appreciate how the first level is the funeral home/cemetery from Phantasm. And if you are a fan of Stephen King I'm pretty sure you'll get a kick out of the fourth level of the second episode.
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 13:53:05 GMT -5
Post by GamerL on Mar 12, 2016 13:53:05 GMT -5
I agree, in the article you say Blood 2 is bad because it's focus tested for the "lowest common denominator."* I'm not a fan of the term but campy Seagal movies are much more made for mass production than anything Monolith has ever done. F.E.A.R. isn't visually memorable (though it had the coolest wall damage decals and lot of other cool details like that) but it came out at a time where its mix of ghost story and tacticool sci-fi FPS was unheard of and has an uncompromising atmosphere. Like I said, the mix of military/sci fi shooter and J horror actually is pretty creative, it's a far weirder, more unique idea than anything Call of Duty has ever done, in fact now I'm wondering if F.E.A.R. started life as a more strictly horror game inspired by The Ring and The Grudge before turning it into a shooter after deciding that would sell better. By the way, isn't it weird how F.E.A.R. came out less than a decade after Blood? Graphics today definitely blow F.E.A.R. out of the water, but no way is it that much of a night and day difference. I think you'll appreciate how the first level is the funeral home/cemetery from Phantasm. And if you are a fan of Stephen King I'm pretty sure you'll get a kick out of the fourth level of the second episode. I'm a huge Stephen King fan, this game is sounding better and better!
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Blood
Mar 12, 2016 18:49:40 GMT -5
Post by mikemacdee on Mar 12, 2016 18:49:40 GMT -5
If FEAR had the same guns and melee mechanics, but the setting was an unapologetically silly "steven seagal 80's action movie" motif, I'd absolutely be behind it. But that would require creativity, which Monolith apparently sorely lacks without 3DRealms backing them up. Wait, in what way does require "80s action movie, but as an FPS" more creativity than "The Ring, but as an FPS"? Because the latter combination doesn't go together at all, like making The Bridges of Madison County an FPS. Certainly the way they managed it in FEAR, which was very tacked on -- the horror aspect of that plot really could've been anything, it was so inconsequential to the gameplay. People with creativity know how to effectively use the tools they're given: something like The Ring lends itself better to an adventure game, instead of the obligatory jumpscares of a shooter that keeps forgetting what genre it wants to be in. Maybe somebody with talent could make it work, but I doubt it, because the ultimate goal of something like The Ring is totally different than a typical first person shooter, atmospheric or not. The closest you might get is something like Mondo Agency, which is more of a puzzle game than anything, before the Ring aspect began stretching itself thin and becoming superficial. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth made the marriage of "cerebral, ambient horror" and "action shooter" work, but H. P. Lovecraft gives developers a hell of a lot more to work with. Essentially they did what Namco America did: they posted screenshots on fan forums, and they asked for fan input, which is sort of like using a focus group, though focus groups as the film industry uses them are usually a selection of random schmoes from every demographic, which makes them even less useful because A) nobody agrees on anything, and B) none of them are educated critics who know how to objectively critique anything or provide useful feedback. You might have a better chance of making a sequel or reboot true to the original if you do what Namco and Monolith did in this regard, sticking to the fans, but they still have to answer to the money men, who wouldn't know creativity if it gave them a handjob (forgiving the fact that, yeah, some of the fans will be unyielding purists, and others will have totally unrealistic expectations, so the fans won't be 100% helpful, either -- but still a better bet than marketing people). So even if they make the perfect sequel or reboot, the money men will veto half of their decisions on the grounds that they aren't marketable enough, and you'll probably end up with crap anyway. Unless you're really lucky, or have really good producers who let the creative people do their jobs (without getting totally out of hand, which has also happened -- see Bottle Rocket's part of the Splatterhouse reboot's development, or for film, Heaven's Gate). Ultimately if the project lead knows the source material inside and out, they shouldn't need to ask the fans anything. Granted, I can't be 100% sure of the full extent of their interaction with the fans -- not without interviewing absolutely everyone involved, which would have to be another article all its own -- but based on what I read, it was the same thing Namco did with Splatterhouse, which I was present for. I was a member of the Third Moon forums during that reboot's production, and they kept in touch with the forum webmaster to make sure things were up to snuff as far as the fans were concerned. The fans were surprisingly lenient with the final product being not actually very Splatterhouse at all, save for a couple key elements. Maybe they were just that desperate for a new Splatterhouse. tl;dr: The corporate people have the final say, regardless of how much work you put into perfecting a project, and they're also the ones dictating the schedule. Too many cooks in the kitchen will wreck any project.
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Blood
Mar 13, 2016 4:16:05 GMT -5
Post by magic89 on Mar 13, 2016 4:16:05 GMT -5
When in 2003 ive talked to my friends this game, they think this game not exist or just im played Horror movie mod for Duke Nukem 3D. So ive shoved him and they become mute for while , and shocked after they find out secret room with Duke Nukem dead body. still rymeber those freaks chatning something in latin but when burned to death they speak suddenly in english.
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Blood
Mar 13, 2016 5:04:49 GMT -5
Post by Gendo Ikari on Mar 13, 2016 5:04:49 GMT -5
The best game using 3D Realms' Build Engine Couldn't ask for a better opening. The first episode of Blood is one of the best things made with the old shareware model. Usually, while they put good content in opening episodes, they reserved the best for the paid ones, but here yu got the train and the carnival. The pitchfork is a great melee weapon to not waste ammo on zombies, and the flare gun is just too fun - once I noticed a small group of cultists waiting in a niche, so I used the alt-fire and they were all incinerated by the fireball in such enclosed space. Another enemy that was a pleasure to take down were the damn gargoyles. The level design was superb and I also recall with pleasure how the game was able to alternate between bloody hilarious and some genuinely scary and atmospheric moments. Shame just for the hideous FMV and some areas that suffer the engine limits (especially exteriors). Are some mods really that good? I'll have to try, one seems to be a reconstruction of Alone in the Dark within Blood. I didn't find the sequel that horrible but we can all agree it's much worse. One of the biggest disappointments was the lack of enemy reaction when struck by a flare. Shotgun was fun, if anything for the simple idea of it being a museum piece - possibly the same used by Caled a century earlier!
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Blood
Mar 13, 2016 18:26:48 GMT -5
Post by mikemacdee on Mar 13, 2016 18:26:48 GMT -5
Usually, while they put good content in opening episodes, they reserved the best for the paid ones. I dunno, there's a lotta gamers who would argue the opposite, especially with FPS games: that the shareware episode sells the game so well, the registered content can't hope to match it (or worse, that the game only had enough content for 1 episode, and the rest is filler). Episode 1 of Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and hell, even Nitemare 3D are considered the good parts by and large. I enjoyed Blood from beginning to end, myself (Doom, too). And I'd love to play that Alone in the Dark mod, but I don't know how to configure mods, and I can't be bothered presently -- go too much on my plate for much gaming these days.
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