Gears of War 2 V.2

[Strid]

Didn't feel like diggin' up the other thread from it's long sleep so here's a new one as we get ready for the big ol' DLC commin' our way.

I gotta say I was really excited so I got another copy of Gears 2 to get use to MP again. What did I come across? Very little has changed at all. Matchmakin' is extremely long, Bridgin' is still in style, and it's an overall awful game, online, still. You'd think 11 million copies sold could buy some servers and get the game runnin' as good as any other MP game out there, but then I remembered it is Epic we're talkin' about, the kings of half assed MP on -consoles-. I guess I was expectin' to much. It is fun though when you get a game that's not laggy, which is more than it use to be, but I've had so many games with bouncin' I can't remember if I've played more or less matches that are runnin' as intended. Normally I wouldn't bitch, no one likes a bitcher, but hell, there is a problem when you have one of the most popular games out and it STILL doesn't run as good as third rate games like F.E.A.R. 2, Turok, etc.

 

[Makelith]

Should have come play Blazblue!

 

[Strid]

Just haven't been in the mood to play BB this week, not really a fightin' fan to begin with. God knows I need to though, for the practice. I was givin' Paranois a run for his money every match before I stopped earlier in the week. I'd probably get destroyed for a while at this point, but that's no excuse to let my chops get out of shape.

I haven't done bad in Gears I just figured by now it would have changed, a lot. I'm beginnin' to think Gears fascination is like that of an abnormally large turd. It's cool because it looks cool, I mean, it's frickin' huge and different. It's not like some normal poop you just flush, even though it's the same shit. I know at least that's how it works for me. The fun factor I get out of the game is how cool it looks to be trollin' along messin' people up. Problem is most battles are not bouts of skill but just a craps shoot.

 

[TheOsyris]

Gears is the worst online game. Its 5 on 5... Small maps... And it still has the worst host advantage game to date.

Now that you can get xp in horde mode i wouldnt mind taking that on more often. I refuse to play the competitive multiplayer.

 

[Firestreak]

Yea if I gave a damn about Gears online I'd have bought it already. Waiting on a price drop to get it for the campaign. There's hope though for Gears 3 - because after Uncharted 2 hits Epic might feel the need to get their shit together.

 

[Strid]

Yea if I gave a damn about Gears online I'd have bought it already. Waiting on a price drop to get it for the campaign. There's hope though for Gears 3 - because after Uncharted 2 hits Epic might feel the need to get their shit together.

I doubt Uncharted 2 will help those of us lookin' for a better MP experience in Gears but here's to wishful thinkin'. More like, it's gonna take an act of congress for them to get with the times because, you know, makin' a good online service cost money.

 

[Skaw]

Fixing roadie/rolling melee to shotgun hipfire 1-2 kill is the best thing ever for Gears though. The shotgun is absoutely brutal when aiming now too. They toned down the aiming spread so it's useful in mid-range combat instead of only close range.

The only thing Gears 3 needs to fix match making is to somehow split the difference between Gears 1s game browser and Gears 2s lobby and random team builder. Since they added bots replacing dropped/rage quiting players in Gears 2, it'll probably move over to Gears 3 as a staple for multiplayer games so that it doesn't take forever to get a match together.

 

[Strid]

Fixing roadie/rolling melee to shotgun hipfire 1-2 kill is the best thing ever for Gears though. The shotgun is absoutely brutal when aiming now too. They toned down the aiming spread so it's useful in mid-range combat instead of only close range.

I still two piece like crazy. Hell, it's the only effective way, short of a Torque or Boomshot to kill someone. As for the aimin', I dunno about that. For mid-range, yeah, but up close it's still a coin toss. I can't count the number of times I've walked up behind someone, hard aimed, shot, and had to roll away and finish them in a dual.

The only thing Gears 3 needs to fix match making is to somehow split the difference between Gears 1s game browser and Gears 2s lobby and random team builder. Since they added bots replacing dropped/rage quiting players in Gears 2, it'll probably move over to Gears 3 as a staple for multiplayer games so that it doesn't take forever to get a match together.

What Gears 3 needs to fix, about online, is more than any one person could probably do/mention. Like I've already stated, how can a game as big as gears not even run as well as most crappy shooters? As long as people will play like we do, because of the turd factor, they wont spend anymore money than necessary to make a better MP experience. I'm bettin' lag switches, bridgin', and stand-by modems are just as effective in 3 as they've ever been despite them knowin' it happens, and often. I had to stop playin' Flashback map sets tonight because of that shit. The teams would both be bouncin' around the map like crazy all the while one prick on the other side racks up 49 kills and 8 deaths and scores all the Annex points.

Hell, just to make sure I wasn't bitchin' because I was just havin' some bad luck I tried it myself. Sure enough, modems with a stand-by button absolutely enable you to ship wreck the other team. I did it a second time to see if maybe it was luck, because word has it you need to be host or a leader of a full party (I was playin' solo), and after the long connectin' period the entire other team was dropped and my team played a team of all bots.

Still though, after all this bitchin' I'll still be playin' the hell out of the game :/

 

[bigbroon]

Fixing roadie/rolling melee to shotgun hipfire 1-2 kill is the best thing ever for Gears though. The shotgun is absoutely brutal when aiming now too. They toned down the aiming spread so it's useful in mid-range combat instead of only close range.

The only thing Gears 3 needs to fix match making is to somehow split the difference between Gears 1s game browser and Gears 2s lobby and random team builder. Since they added bots replacing dropped/rage quiting players in Gears 2, it'll probably move over to Gears 3 as a staple for multiplayer games so that it doesn't take forever to get a match together.

Gears does weird things to me (Gears 2, I should say). I 100% disagree with your first statement regarding the roadie run and rolling with regards to not being able to melee immediately after, as since said update, all I've found to happen is that the so-called "increased recoil" on chainsawers who get shot procs rarely, giving them an advantage people who hold down the B button should not be getting. Being a two-piecing bastard, I'm bound to have this biased opinion, so I make a pretty moot point. The idea behind that update was good, but in my opinion, they didn't execute the other ideas properly. I think they were trying to make their game more of a shooter (believe it or not) rather than a two-piece/chainsaw fest (yes, two-piecing involves shooting but you know what I mean, shooting from range.), and it worked. I just don't like how it worked.

Chainsawing is a pet-peeve annoyance for me, it's avoidable in most non-laggy games, but my MAJOR beef with gears is the host system. The advantage the host gets is ridiculous, assuming they have an ounce of skill in the game. If I'm host in, for example, an Annex game, I never fail to get less than 30 kills, sometimes getting 60+ kills, with anything from 2-15 deaths total. Even if the other person shoots first from point blank range with their shotgun out, they can still lose. How this can be so fataly flawed after 2 games I don't know, I just hope it isn't still the case after 3.

Despite being the most annoying game I own, it's also probably the game I play the most, as when it goes right, I adore it. If they get 3 right, I'll never be on FFXI, L4D, or any other MP game for that matter. Here's hoping...

 

[Strid]

I hear you on the Chainsaw. I'm a player that plays with the mindset of "whatever it takes to win so long as it is within' the rules". Two-piecin' is balanced, you can escape it, most every time, and most good players will do so. The Chainsaw is a different beast though. Sometimes stoppin' power will kick in and sometimes it wont. It's also terribly glitchy because of the latch on effect it has. You can be chainsawed just for bein' beside someone, sometimes, and also sucked in and killed by it from further than you should be.

I saw a good example of why the damn thing shouldn't be in MP tonight. A guy on my team I was spectating got hit with a sniper shot from up close and durin' the sniper's melee hit, which he landed (the guy I was watchin' should have been on the ground based on the health circle), yet he ate the chainsaw (the outcome was the sniper's death and my teammate, after the kill, was down). In this case instead of what comes first bein' the deciding outcome you have what fightin' games call "priority attacks". You can escape a melee attack by just holdin' the B button, works wonders while in the two-piece stun if the guy stands still for the recovery and shotgun+smoke chargers.

I'm all for the chainsaw bein' in MP, though I don't use it, but it needs its limits. Honestly I feel it should work like the flame thrower instead of the knife in CoD or Battlefield. You should have to chainsaw them to death, not get in range and cause an animation. Though one could argue the point of bein' defenseless durin' the animation, which is a decent point, to make up for the power. I don't agree with this though because in certain situations you bein' defenseless is totally okay, like in Sudden Death.

 

[bigbroon]

I hear you on the Chainsaw. I'm a player that plays with the mindset of "whatever it takes to win so long as it is within' the rules". Two-piecin' is balanced, you can escape it, most every time, and most good players will do so. The Chainsaw is a different beast though. Sometimes stoppin' power will kick in and sometimes it wont. It's also terribly glitchy because of the latch on effect it has. You can be chainsawed just for bein' beside someone, sometimes, and also sucked in and killed by it from further than you should be.

I saw a good example of why the damn thing shouldn't be in MP tonight. A guy on my team I was spectating got hit with a sniper shot from up close and durin' the sniper's melee hit, which he landed (the guy I was watchin' should have been on the ground based on the health circle), yet he ate the chainsaw (the outcome was the sniper's death and my teammate, after the kill, was down). In this case instead of what comes first bein' the deciding outcome you have what fightin' games call "priority attacks". You can escape a melee attack by just holdin' the B button, works wonders while in the two-piece stun if the guy stands still for the recovery and shotgun+smoke chargers.

I'm all for the chainsaw bein' in MP, though I don't use it, but it needs its limits. Honestly I feel it should work like the flame thrower instead of the knife in CoD or Battlefield. You should have to chainsaw them to death, not get in range and cause an animation. Though one could argue the point of bein' defenseless durin' the animation, which is a decent point, to make up for the power. I don't agree with this though because in certain situations you bein' defenseless is totally okay, like in Sudden Death.

Exactly; it's not like the chainsaw is an invalid weapon, I've seen people wall-bounce and totally out-move and out-think someone with a boomshot, then chainsaw them from behind; that kind of thing, I like to see, as it requires skill. The suck-in effect of the chainsaw is by far and away the most annoying thing for me, as they don't have to even be right next to you or facing you and you get sucked into the animation. I never thought about your idea of making chainsawing manual instead of an animation, but it's a great idea I think, there shouldn't be an instant kill from holding your B button in.

 

[Strid]

So the DLC is out. The two SP missions are extremely short and after playin' them I'm glad they left them out. There is one cool part where you find some dude to scoot along with you, always love the shit-talkin' Submission Meatflags.

The maps all have somethin' quirky about them so I'm not a fan, yet. War Machine, I dunno if it's a glitch or the intended change to the classic, is almost pitch black. Still the same map minus the Troika. Nowhere just doesn't fit in at all but it's a good map to play on, probably the best map of the DLC. The other maps are either too big or too small. One of them consist of nothin' more than two spawns, each with a balcony, and a middle area to fight over a power weapon, nothin' more. You fight right out of the shoot, it's really, really bad. The big maps are littered with things to get stuck on and have a crappy maze like organization to them. I really feel like Epic just pulled most of these maps out of their ass after finishin' the mornin' newspaper's maze.

As far as the playin' goes, have fun with bots. Every game I played it seemed like someone tried to bridge host or stand-by and either team has a massive boot fest durin' set-up because of it.

 

[TheOsyris]

To me these are the best maps in the game. I love them.

As far as the deleted mission goes.. Its really boring. There is a reason it was cut eh.

 

[Strid]

To me these are the best maps in the game. I love them.

As far as the deleted mission goes.. Its really boring. There is a reason it was cut eh.

Yeah, I think it was 10 min for the stealth and I never got caught and a little less to go guns a' blazin'. Havin' Franklin around was the best thing about the mission.

I think the maps could be fun, after gettin' use to them, but that's just how I see them now. I could easily see Highway and All Fathers Garden bein' my tops when I get use to them or actually play a game on them where I'm not teleportin' around the map like I'm in some kind of Star Trek game.

 

[bigbroon]

I was about to download the new deleted scene thing, which costs 1200 MS points with the 7 new maps included iirc, but only really because of the new gamerscore that comes along with completing it. Not particularly hopeful that the dark corners maps will be too fantastic, but you never know.

 

[CandyR27]

I love GoW2. The addition of Horde mode was a huge upgrade imo from the first game. As a person who is more into coop play than PvP, the addition of Horde made the game a must have for me. I can play with a group of my friends against AI instead of having to choose one person to play with or doing solo campaign.

My gun of choice is the sniper rifle. Nothing better than taking off a Locust head after having a really crappy day at work. Either that or the good old tag and frag. Lastly of course is the chainsaw gun. Anyone who sneaks up on me takes a chainsaw to the face! Man I feel like playing GoW now.

 

[darenn]

At least they got rid of the stun effect on smoke grenades.

 

[Chasym]

At least they got rid of the stun effect on smoke grenades.

see thats what they shouldnt of gotten rid of.
Im tired of the way gaming is today, if its a sequel and theres new stuff, people whine they dont like it because its different than the first installment, and if there isnt much new they whine because its the same old thing

So instead of tweaking the knock down grenades, they just make you stand still instead of fall down.
Dont like it one bit, to me its more annoying than being knocked down because when im on the ground i cant expect to be able to do much, but now i just stand still and watch someone shotty me. Much more aggrivating.


It would have been the opposite if those grenades were in part 1 and in part 2 they made them them do different things, but this is mid game, people are already used to playing it, worked with strategies and became a staple of the game that people got used to, then they go and change it. I dont play gears much, only to grind achivements, but still it annoyed me when i noticed the change.

 

[darenn]

Well i was a hardcore Gears of War1 fan and i loved the shotgun battles and the wall bouncing, it took alot of skill to kill someone who knew how to wall bounce because they could sort of dodge your shots. Then GoW2 came out and all people did was run at u with their smoke out and guess what? You're down for 2 seconds, sometimes 5, it wasnt consistent. If it happened when you were on stairs omg you had to slide all the way down to the bottom sometimes before you got up.

 

[Skaw]

It would have been the opposite if those grenades were in part 1 and in part 2 they made them them do different things, but this is mid game, people are already used to playing it, worked with strategies and became a staple of the game that people got used to, then they go and change it. I dont play gears much, only to grind achivements, but still it annoyed me when i noticed the change.

But.. Smoke Grenades were in the first game. And they were useless.