tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72157919790362298242012-06-27T18:48:43.205-05:00Dorf and DorfA blog on video game culture, community, and growth. Reviews, deep thoughts, and nerd rage.Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08082641471816550668noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7215791979036229824.post-35813130159824929142012-06-27T00:46:00.000-05:002012-06-27T13:38:15.924-05:002012-06-27T13:38:15.924-05:00DayZ: People are jerksThe internet is full of trolls. If you're reading this, you know this is just a fact of life. It applies to many video games as well, with players attacking teammates that get vehicles they wanted or the amazing con-jobs done on EVE Online. In general, with anonymity and the sheer masses on the internet, many people let the manners and etiquette they were taught (hopefully) and games can turn into bloody free-for-alls. DayZ is no exception, but rather than attempting to try and keep these trolls and jerks under control, DayZ feeds the trolls.<br />
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Because DayZ forces you to eat and drink, you have two options: scavenge or steal. Though stealing usually results in dead bodies. You could ask somebody for food and water, but there's nothing that will ensure they won't just shoot you as soon as your back is turned and vice versa. There's no police, there's no laws, it's the zombie apocalypse. Occasionally you might find people who are friendly, but this is a rare event and tenuous at best. Let me give you an example:<br />
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I was sneaking around a small airfield looking for military grade weapons and ammo when I heard a shootout in the air-traffic control tower. Sneaking over slowly, keeping my rifle trained on the front door I waited for the victors to emerge but nobody did. It was completely within the mechanics of the game for everyone involved to be wounded enough to fall unconscious and bleed out, so after what I decided was a long enough time, I went in to loot the bodies. As I went in and started up the stairs I heard movement and a few more gunshots: Somebody was still alive! I quickly found a place to cover the stairs and started yelling out in my most confident voice. Telling them I would blow them away if they pointed a gun at me, I told them to come down. I'd never had an encounter with other people that didn't involve getting popped at a long distance from a bandit with a scoped rifle, I was flying by the seat of my pants. Much to my surprise the two people shouted back: "FRIENDLY! WE'RE FRIENDLY!"<br />
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There's a sense of desperation in DayZ when it takes just a couple bullets to die, most people shoot first rather than talk it out. I was tense and paranoid but not equipped well enough to live out on my own in the wilderness, I had to check for more things. When I walked up into the upstairs, I found an absolute bloodbath. Five or six bodies lay on the ground, two players still standing, finishing off some of the other players still alive but unconscious. The survivors told me that they'd been betrayed by the people dead. I didn't believe them, but I didn't question it. I offered a blood transfusion using a blood bag to quickly get on their good side and show that I too was friendly. I made a quick check of the bodies on the ground and asked if the survivors needed medical supplies, which I had in abundance, and asked for ammo for my rifle.<br />
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I was outnumbered and paranoid, keeping my back to the wall, my rifle trained on one of them at all times, and they did the same. In conversation, we were friendly and polite, but all it would take is one of us making the first move and more bodies would be added to the pile on the ground. Everyone making friendly overtures, they suggested we travel together, safety in numbers and all. I agreed and walked with them out of the building but when more gunfire was heard in the distance, I crawled under a concrete wall and made a mad dash for the treeline. I could have stayed and fought off the invaders with my new friends but there was no guarantee we would have survived. Even if we fought off the newcomers, my 'friends' could have turned and killed me and taken my stuff as well.<br />
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That's just one example of how well a 'friendly' encounter can go. Most encounters involve people being shot at a distance and their still warm bodies being looted for any potential gear. There used to be a visual appearance difference between 'survivors' and 'bandits' with a humanity meter included, and a separate tracker for bandit kills as well as murders. That used to help keep some people friendly because they wanted to avoid being labelled a bandit but with that now gone, people shoot first and ask questions later. Hovering a crosshair over somebody with let you hear a heartbeat that helps signal how many murders they have, but taking the time to listen to that heartbeat and make a decision leaves you vulnerable. The line between 'bandit' and 'survivor' is now blurred.<br />
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Next time, we talk about the potential for teamwork and how sitting still for 30-45 minutes can get my heart racing.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7215791979036229824-3581313015982492914?l=lonrem.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08082641471816550668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7215791979036229824.post-90174222260186998482012-06-25T23:57:00.000-05:002012-06-27T13:38:45.472-05:002012-06-27T13:38:45.472-05:00DayZ: Nights of Terror<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Continuing my discussion on the DayZ mod of ARMA2 and its survival horror aspects, we're going to talk about things getting dark, but first I need to say this: ARMA2 is rather pretty all things considered. Released in 2009, with Operation Arrowhead (the expansion required for DayZ) released in 2010, it's had two to three years to fall behind in the graphics department but it still looks amazing. See for yourself:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ks31KWmhjFk/T-k7MAS_XqI/AAAAAAAAAME/6O5-w4WxZJQ/s1600/Daylight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ks31KWmhjFk/T-k7MAS_XqI/AAAAAAAAAME/6O5-w4WxZJQ/s640/Daylight.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He wears his sunglasses at night.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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That's my teammate and gamer buddy, Wamdoodle. He's helping show how good this game looks. The models are a little dated and I've turned off some of the post-processing and shadows to help improve how smoothly the game plays but as you can see, it's a long way from DOOM or the original Resident Evil. As Wamdoodle is nice enough to point out in the photo, it's 6:50 server time, so there's a good bit of daylight left.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4lAnA0SVvJ4/T-k7OUMtxFI/AAAAAAAAAMc/jAdlYhXTuTQ/s1600/So+Dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4lAnA0SVvJ4/T-k7OUMtxFI/AAAAAAAAAMc/jAdlYhXTuTQ/s640/So+Dark.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark means dark in DayZ.</td></tr>
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That image you see isn't a
glitch, that's just night time in DayZ. You can actually see a couple stars at the top of the image, as well as Wamdoodle's arm (if you squint). Time of day is set by the
server's local time (or at least the time that the admin has set) so
when the sun sets in the real world, the sun will soon set in the game
world. There's a couple ways around this: join local servers that have their
time set to a different timezone or join servers across the
world. Russian servers seem to have a decent ping and the sun rising
when the sun sets for me, for instance. Now, this isn't to say you can't
play at night.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WO6B-wFpwTA/T-k7NofDdGI/AAAAAAAAAMU/VyvrF5AXSeA/s1600/Flashlight+on+Wamdoodle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WO6B-wFpwTA/T-k7NofDdGI/AAAAAAAAAMU/VyvrF5AXSeA/s640/Flashlight+on+Wamdoodle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice how small a circle of light the flashlight makes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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See,
when you spawn, your survivor has a backpack, bandage, painkillers, and
a flashlight. Before the 1.7 patch, you got a pistol but not a flashlight. Personally,
I'd rather have the flashlight, it means I can play
in the evenings without having to jump to international servers. Now, you can't use a flashlight and a weapon at the same time, unless you luck out and find one of <u>3</u> weapons that has a flashlight attached to it. But
this is where the survival horror really sets in.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-veZj-Hml9lU/T-k7M2GxflI/AAAAAAAAAMM/LsbjRQr-bv8/s1600/Flashlight+in+the+trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-veZj-Hml9lU/T-k7M2GxflI/AAAAAAAAAMM/LsbjRQr-bv8/s640/Flashlight+in+the+trees.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even a lightly forested area can feel claustrophobic.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Turn the lights off
(if you're playing a survival horror game with the lights on, you're
doing it <b>wrong</b>), turn the music off, and turn your flashlight on
(sometimes). When you move, like most games, you can move at a walk or a run, and you have three postures, crawling, crouched,
and standing. If you attempt to move while using your flashlight at
anything faster than a walk, you'll not be able to see anything, because
the flashlight is held in hand and moves as you run. You have a very limited view of things lit ahead of you and it feels like it shrinks even more when you're forced into first-person by some servers.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sWtTrIKDZ44/T-k7PbPmnGI/AAAAAAAAAMk/WWY_iUmTGqM/s1600/Stars+and+Trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sWtTrIKDZ44/T-k7PbPmnGI/AAAAAAAAAMk/WWY_iUmTGqM/s640/Stars+and+Trees.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cycle of the moon will actually effect night visibility in the upcoming ARMA3.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So now you have to move slowly to be able to see. If you alert a zombie, you'll want to run or they'll beat you to death. Of course, if you try to run, you can't see. Want to fight back? Can't see. Only by using chemlights or flares, both of which alert nearby zombies in their own fashion, or a weapon with a flashlight, can you fight back and see at the same time. Moving and working as a team will help with that, enabling one of you to fire a weapon while another shines a flashlight at the bad guys. Speaking of bad guys, don't forget, other players can see your flashlight from quite a distance away, and they want your beans.<br />
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Next time, we talk about bandits and other survivors.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7215791979036229824-9017422226018699848?l=lonrem.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08082641471816550668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7215791979036229824.post-36701939683303792942012-06-25T23:02:00.000-05:002012-06-25T23:08:27.034-05:002012-06-25T23:08:27.034-05:00Will Bioware's Mass Effect 3 DLC Be Enough to Satisfy? We Hope So.So, tomorrow is the day! Are you prepped for Bioware’s DLC for Mass Effect 3?<br /><br />
You know, just two years ago if you had asked me what my favorite video game series was, I would have been able to tell you, hands down, Mass Effect. It offered a world where the plot felt tailored to your character and sported a supporting cast that was, let’s be honest, pretty amazing. But since Mass Effect 3’s release, the choice isn’t as clear.<br /><br />
I’ve wracked my brain since the game’s release trying to figure out why on earth they would take this series and offer such a lackluster ending. Why couldn’t they offer truly diverse endings? Why didn’t they really make our choices have a true and lasting impact other than, “Oh, you saved this particular group of people? Well, here. Have some more points on your score.”<br /><br />
Well, we’ve already be clued in that there will, in fact, be <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/29/commander-shepard-is-leaving-us-after-mass-effect-3/" target="_blank">other games</a> set in the Mass Effect universe. Considering this, it makes sense that the endings would be rather static and I know this, so why do I still feel so cheated? I think I attribute this to the fact that while I enjoyed the Mass Effect universe, I was far more attached to the growth of the characters that I encountered than the planets I visited. The cultures of the Asari and Salarians were undoubtedly interesting, but I would much rather see an ending that honors these past six years of gaming than get another, mediocre addition in two years.<br /><br />
Well, here’s to hoping that the DLC offers us a bit of what we’re longing for: Closure for one of today’s most iconic figures in gaming. Keep trucking, Shep.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7215791979036229824-3670193968330379294?l=lonrem.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04028934161642558925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7215791979036229824.post-2561919302358098012012-06-25T00:21:00.001-05:002012-06-27T18:48:43.223-05:002012-06-27T18:48:43.223-05:00DayZ: Survival Horror Done RightCreepy ambient sounds, darkness, a flashlight, and zombies. The mainstays of a survival horror game but so many of the mainstream games are moving away from that creeping terror to have a more action-oriented and 'engaging' game. Enter DayZ, a mod from the combat simulator ARMA2.<br />
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I say combat simulator because ARMA emphasizes realistic combat and tactics. One or two bullets and you're dead. Groups organize realistic scenarios with actual objectives rather than a flag to capture or bomb the objective situations. I've not played it personally though, I bought the game and it's expansion (together called Combined Arms) just to play the DayZ mod. I suggest you check out <a href="http://www.dayzmod.com/" target="_blank">DayZ Mod</a> for more information on the alpha of this fantastic total-conversion mod.<br />
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DayZ discourages you from running because the Zed spot you
easier the faster you move and the taller you're standing. And hear. See zombies only look forward in about a 60° arc,
but they can hear in all directions. So this emphasizes your desire to move stealthily and not attract zombies. Gunfire attracts nearby zombies, and the bigger the gun, the louder, the farther they can hear you. Also, these aren't Romero zombies,
they know how to run. In fact, they run at a full sprint, the same as if
you were standing up and sprinting. Of course, they aren't worried
about alerting nearby zombies, but you are. So if you alert a zombie, they come at you SCREAMING, they don't always run in a straight line (some of that may be pathing issues, but I like it) so you can't always line up an easy shot before they get to you. So you have a focus on avoiding zombies and to not just pop a cap in each one of the undead that you see. And that's if you have a gun.<br />
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See, when you start up in DayZ, you spawn on the shore of a 250 square-kilometer zone with a backpack, a bandage, painkillers, and a flashlight (We'll talk about that little bit of terror in the next post!) and anything you need or want beyond that, you'll have to scavenge. Sneak through towns and check inside sheds, some homes, even outhouses. Of course, all these places have zombies nearby. In fact, any place that spawns items also spawns zombies, the system is tied together that way. And this isn't to say every place has worthwhile loot. Often you'll find empty cans or whiskey bottles and some road flares. They have a use, but you can't eat or drink them and they sure won't let you kill any zombies or other players.<br />
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Tomorrow, we'll talk about the nighttime and flashlights!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7215791979036229824-256191930235809801?l=lonrem.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08082641471816550668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7215791979036229824.post-32109703682584545012012-06-21T16:06:00.002-05:002012-06-21T16:06:24.041-05:002012-06-21T16:06:24.041-05:00Oh dear...So no, it looks like I wasn't able to keep a running blog going, was I? School, work, family, the whole thing just getting all up in my business, the nerve of them. Anyhow, I'm back, sort of. Unemployed, looking for a job, with a loving wife working full time. Figure I can throw myself back into the blogging, see if I can make any progress. Going to try and talk about gaming news, the three running D&D campaigns I'm in (playing in 2, running the third). Love to hear your comments and such. Gonna see about posting on <a href="http://www.screwattack.com/" target="_blank">Screwattack</a> (a fave gaming community site, lots of love for those guys) that links back here or something. Also, the possibility of video blogs and gaming streams are possible, we'll see. Just a new experiment.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7215791979036229824-3210970368258454501?l=lonrem.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08082641471816550668noreply@blogger.com0