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Let's say I give out another kiriban. What would you prefer to receive if you caught it? 

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Left4Dead and Back4More!

Journal Entry: Fri Oct 30, 2009, 10:13 PM

SATURDAY
31 October 2009





The author is an unpredictable, disillusioned biologist who has long since quit hanging around supposedly sterile environments, processing icky bodily substances from humans, and turned to teaching students to release icky bodily substances from frogs. When not making a hell of a lot of noise on an oversized metal slide whistle with delusions of grandeur, the author entertains hallucinations of becoming Supremely Evil World Tyrant of Pink Bunnies (which is occurring on a disturbingly regular basis). The Surgeon General has determined that this post may be detrimental to your ocular and mental health. If you experience dizziness, migraines, shortness of breath or temporary insanity, please report to the nearest hospital for medical aid.

The author would also like to state for the record that the author is *not* a crazed, romantic serial killer who keeps the heads and body parts of victims on display in various rooms of the house.


NEXT KIRIBAN AT 88,888. Catch a screenie, get a picture. Or three-month sub, if you prefer.

AN UPDATE


Hi there, everyone. Sorry if I've been replying to your messages way, way late - I've been on a hiatus from dA for the past month. Haven't posted any pictures in that period, but absence of pictures doesn't mean I haven't been working, in fact, my production of full drawings has revved up to more than ten in October alone, which is the kind of productivity I haven't seen since my days at KFM. It's been almost nothing but pencils, which I'm learning to love again. So yeah, things are going pretty well here. How about you all?


FRYING PAN BRIGADE!


The Left4Dead 2 demo is already out for people who've preordered the game AHAHAHAHAHAHA EAT THIS.

:giggle:

Sorry, getting carried away here.

Anyway, :iconwraithten: and I have been spending the past couple of days running around swinging skillets at zombie heads and, in WraithTen's case, screaming at the sight of Chargers. Because seriously, this game is so much fun it's almost obscene. Let me tell you why.

NICE TOWN, BAD FOLKS


After all those night campaigns in L4D1, isn't it great to finally soak up the sunlight?

First impressions matter a great deal, and this one certainly does it for me. God, this game is pretty. The demo, which lets you play two chapters of The Parish, is set in New Orleans. Think, beautiful golden sunlight, parks, swinging potted plants, Southern architecture, patio furniture - and an awesome soundtrack (and a jukebox that plays five different songs, including the infamous Still Alive from Portal, and a hilarious zombie-oriented song called Re Your Brains). A game that's set in broad daylight can't possibly be scary? Oh yes, when there's a walking timebomb-on-legs loose in town. By which I mean the damn Wandering Witch. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

THE ZOMBIES ARE NOW WEARING ARMOUR?

The four-survivor formula still holds: there's Rochelle, the diminutive news reporter; Ellis, the mechanic (the TF2 Scout's redneck cousin, no doubt), Coach, the high school football coach with a weakness for candy,1 and Nick, the well-dressed gambler/conman who's probably less than happy to have fallen in with this menagerie.

As for the infected... Holy Moses, there's now twice as many of them. In addition to the original Hunter/Smoker/Boomer/Tank Special Infected from L4D, there's now also the Smoker's vicious girlfriend, the Spitter - a vile pig-tailed female Special who spews highly damaging green acid (capable of downing any Survivor stupid enough to stand around in it in seconds, the Spitter is the AI director's new weapon against Survivor Camping) -, the Jockey (a hideous, Hunchback of Notre Dam little son of a bitch with oversized hands), which mounts and rides you into the nearest hazard (be it off the edge or into a Tank) until you shake it off or somebody shoots it off you, and the Tank's little brother: the Charger, a dungarees-wearing hunk-a-muscle with one oversized arm, who can easily run you over before you realise it, or grab hold of you and repeatedly pound you into the dirt until somebody else kills it.2 (The one blessing is that they don't have much health - on Normal). No sign of the Mudmen yet, but since they're native to The Swamp, that's hardly surprising. Oh, and I don't know what's creepier: a Witch that wanders around, crying, or the obese, cutely-gurgling female Boomer-in-a-bikini. Brr.


You do NOT want to shoot the Spitter lady up close.

Oh, and there are now also Normal Infected zombies (once riot police officers) in bulletproof armour. Shoot 'em in the back, and enjoy the gaping holes.


They're wearing Kevlar now? You've got to be kidding me...

1 In an early scene in the introductory trailer, the Coach is snacking on a bar of chocolate as he reads the advisory notice; later, as they're struggling to run 30 stories up to the evacuation centre, Nick (himself breathing hard) tells the heavily panting Coach, "Maybe the helicopter... maybe it's made of chocolate!" ROFL.

2 Yes, WraithTen screams at the sight of him. She does this terrifically cute, hilarious, "eeeeEEEEEeeeeee!"


AND THE PAN GOES WHOOOONNNNNNNNNG

[nerdgasm commences]

I cannot believe how many new weapons and equipment they've endowed this game with. You still can carry only the one primary weapon and secondary, a tossable explosive/incendiary, a pack on your back and a medical power-up, but oh, the array. The pistol and Mossberg pump-action shotgun are still there (and there's now even a Magnum!), but in addition to the Uzi, there's now also a sound-suppressed Mac-11 submachine gun (the suppressor doesn't do squat for you, though), and new second-tier weapons include an AK-47 (a staple in action games, yes?), a FN SCAR and ohgodtheHeckler & KochG3SG/1sharpshooterrifle EEEEEEEEEEE.3


My new baby. Eat this, zombies!

Sorry.

Melee weapons and tossables are another treasure trove. Objects that you can use to dispatch of zombies (which range from "hilarious" to "very messy") now include nightsticks, baseball bats, katanas, machetes, electric guitars (I'm not making this up) and - my favourite - frying pans. (Which you can find at every other corner). Seriously. There is nothing as fun as running around hitting zombies with a frying pan. The trailer shows a chainsaw and axe in action, but I haven't found any; whether it's because this is only a demo, or they've just never spawned, I don't know. Of course, the only downside to melee weapons is, it's either them or your (unlimited ammo) pistols, but when you have a skillet that is not only deadly but goes whoooOOOoonnnnnng, who cares?


Grab a machete. Heads will fly.


Say hello to my frying pan.


Dude, that's gotta hurt.

[There's a nice touch of realism to using the frying pan: because you have to draw the weapon back before you can slam it into an oncoming zombie, there's a fraction of a second when you're vulnerable to attack, meaning that, if you let the zombie come too close before unleashing the Skillet of Doom, you're liable to take damage before wasting the zombie. A little disadvantageous to the player, but hey, it's little details like these that really do it for me.]

There are still pipe bombs and molotovs, but on my second playthrough, I came across the most peculiar object: Boomer bile in a tube. Seriously, amid all the chaos, who on earth managed to trap a live Boomer *and* bottle up bile for future use? Oh hell, I won't ask questions, since they proved to be excellent for luring out zombies for me to snipe at leisure. (~SydneyPrimal found an even better use for them: throw 'em at Witches, hilarity ensues). Medpacks and pills are to be found all over the map, along with the new adrenaline pens (which temporarily restore some health and/or speed you up) and - I foresee this will come in very handy when we graduate to Expert - a defibrillator pack to revive dead teammates. Nice.

3 With 30 rounds per magazine instead of the hunting rifle's 15, and a Zeiss telescopic sight. I am in deep smit. Mine! mine! all mine.

THE EVILNESS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

There are two things I've been hearing about for months: the new AI director, and "running the gauntlet". When you put the two together, it's a marriage made in hell.

On my first playthrough, things coasted pretty smoothly (although I found myself wading through two vile patches of Spitter acid) - until the gauntlet event in Chapter 2, where, in opening the trailer door, we set off an alarm that had to be deactivated - and the button for it was on a platform All The Way Over There, through a maze of wire fencing. Somehow, I never quite soaked it in, from all the articles, that HOLY SHIT WE'RE GOING TO BE RUNNING LIKE HELL THROUGH AN OCEAN OF ZOMBIES. ("Shoot or run?" asks Louis in the first game. Well, Louis, it's both in this one). Complicating this theoretically simple exercise were (1) simple technical ineptitude (somehow I managed to not spot the ladder leading up to the platform, and spent forever running around in circles), and (2) the evil AI director at work, which chose That Particular Moment to place a Wandering Witch right in our path.4 Seriously, there was just no way to run past her, with all the zombies surging in the opposite direction. In the end, I decided, in the good name of altruism, to shoot her - and wound up on my back for my effort. Good thing I wasn't playing on Expert...


The hazards of pissing a Witch off. Or maybe it's just Nick's ex-wife.5

Oh, and the first time around, we got No Tanks, which was pretty remarkable. Lest I get my hopes up, though, the AI director rewarded me with Two Tanks5 on my second playthrough. Obviously, even this was not punishment enough, because when I played it on Advanced, the AI director thought I had things far too easy, and dropped BOTH a CHARGER *AND* a TANK at me, at the same time. Fun times.

[I've heard of the AI director's ability to manipulate the weather, lighting, and even events (splitting up teams by sending FA-18 jets to destroy sections of a bridge is only one nightmare story I've come across); it'll be interesting to see these in action. Well, theoretically.]

The hordes are more numerous in this second game than the first, although in broad sunlight, there's no problem picking them off. The Smoker's getting sneaky: instead of catching you off-guard from the rooftops, he now gets you through bushes as well. And the female Boomers... oh god, the imagery alone is unsettling.

I wish I could say that the gaming experience was a wholly pleasant one, but the truth is that the endless game freezes made me want to put a fist through my monitor - particularly when a Special Infected is bearing down upon me. (And it's not even as if I dragged my rig out of the junkyard; I have a pretty sweet gaming computer with 2GB RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT card). I'll chalk it up to the fact that it's only a demo, and that the final version will run more smoothly.

4 I repeat: the AI director is evil. That was not the only time he placed Wandering Witches right in my path, with no way to dodge them.

5 One soundfile in Nick's folder reveals Nick as saying (upon seeing a Witch), "I think I just heard my ex-wife."

6 One whose crushing embrace I ran straight into, in the Chapter 1 kitchen.


ENDNOTE

While poking around the L4D2 folders, I came across the subfolder "Expressions", which contained, in addition to the survivor_(producer/gambler/coach/mechanic) folders, the following:

survivor_biker
survivor_manager
survivor_namvet
survivor_teenangst

Does this mean that the original four Survivors from the first game are unlockable characters? W00t!


STAMPAGE & COPYRIGHT NOTICE




I ALLOW my non-commissioned images to be used for the following purposes: avatar/signature combos at forums; display on blogs and journals; and personal use (the user's own desktop/mobile wallpaper or printed copy); as long as proper credit is given where it is due.

I DO NOT ALLOW any of my works to be used, under any circumstances, for the following purposes: distribution in the form of e-cards, mobile or desktop wallpaper; sale of said works as prints or other forms of merchandise; use of said works as stock images (unless labelled as "Stock/Resource"); or as references for direct copying or outright plagiarism. Cropping of my artwork, except in the case of use as signature combos, is also regarded as unauthorised use.

Any usage of my artwork without permission is considered a violation of my copyright, and violators will be dealt with accordingly.


  • Mood: Euphoric
  • Listening to: Re Your Brains
  • Reading: The Tyrannosaurus Prescription (Asimov)
  • Playing: The Godfather II

Twitter

deviantID

Disgruntled boffin and self-taught painter who abuses classical music and drives old aunts up the wall. Is downright bossy at zombie horror games and eats pseudoscience pushers for lunch. Damned handy with a rusty metal bucket.

Devious Info

  • Current Residence: Permanently wired to my computer
  • deviantWEAR sizing preference: Men/Unisex Size S
  • Print preference: 5x7"
  • Interests: Classical music | PC gaming | Reading | Science | Star Wars | Webmastering
  • Favourite movie: Dr Who | The Godfather | House MD | Quantum Leap | The Shawshank Redemption | Star Wars | 2001
  • Favourite band or musician: V Ashkenazy | Canadian Brass | B Joel | T Lehrer | C Lindberg | G Miller | Muse | Pet Shop Boys
  • Favourite genre of music: Brass band | Classical | Swing | Anything that challenges the intensity of nuclear testing
  • Favourite artist: J Bolton | M Busch | S Dali | MC Escher | S Hampton | Mahir Ates | J Warhola | S Youll
  • Favourite poet or writer: D Adams | I Asimov | AC Clarke | R Dawkins | S Hawking | C Sagan | PG Wodehouse
  • Favourite photographer: Benoit Aubry
  • Favourite style of art: Whatever happens to appeal to me, really
  • Operating System: Windows XP
  • MP3 player of choice: Creative Zen Vision:M (30GB) | Nokia 5800 Music Xpress (8GB)
  • Shell of choice: What do you take me for - a hermit crab?
  • Wallpaper of choice: White paint
  • Skin of choice: I will not disclose the identities of my skin donors. Oh wait, when you say "skin"...
  • Favourite game: Godfather | Hitman | KotOR | Left4Dead | Mafia | Portal | Text Twist
  • Favourite gaming platform: PC. My thumbs are useless
  • Favourite cartoon character: Peter Venkman | Strong Bad
  • Personal Quote: "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out." - GLaDOS
  • Tools of the Trade: Corel PhotoPaint | Ink | Pencils | Wacom Intuos 3 | Occasionally, chopsticks
http://www.farlander.co.nr

Comments


:iconminnieme064:
Hi, i found you through the nano dA thread. I really like your style!
:icondarthfar:
Thank you very much! :D

--
"I know you're not Garrity, but you're not exactly sane either." - Maquaii.
"You have a Dark Passenger of painting?!" - DragonWinter.


=DA-Networking | ~SDS-PAGE | *sw-KotOR
:iconmadman42q:
Just re-reading your entertaining review of L4D2. and I noticed just now (in my wonderful OCD manner) that your footnote for the two tanks is numbered at 5. Shouldn't it be 6?

--
No trees were killed in the making of this post, however a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
:icondragonfly22:
I don't know if one is supposed to keep the mystery in these cases, but I'm doing your drawing right now (and listening to Beethoven's Tempest while I'm at it). Just curious, do you play any of his piano sonatas? Lately I've been listening to them closely (the Apassionata, Tempest and Op.19) and I'm helplessly and irrevocably in love with their composer. But ho, are they hard! I have the emotion but I lack the technique. And the bad thing is I'm not taking classes anymore, so I'm on my own, like when I first started. Anyway, speaking of music, each time I hear Pet shop boys on the radio in the mornings I'm subconsciously reminded of you!
</end of random ramble> :laughing:

--
"A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation." - Joseph Addison
:icondarthfar:
Yes, Beethoven! :D I haven't played as many of his compositions of Mozart (whom I worshipped, worshipped), but I'm no stranger to his more famous sonatas (Appassionata, Moonlight and Pathetique are at the top of that list), and I love his Waldstein to bits (even though I can't do that last movement any kind of justice). If you're interested in hearing the rest of his sonatas, note me: I have his complete sonatas played by Anton Kuerti (whom I was personally introduced to, so that was a bonus). It's too bad you're no longer taking classes - that's one disadvantage of being away at college, isn't it? - but I hope you at least still have access to a piano to work on things in your own time.

And hooray for the Pet Shop Boys!

--
"I know you're not Garrity, but you're not exactly sane either." - Maquaii.
"You have a Dark Passenger of painting?!" - DragonWinter.


=DA-Networking | ~SDS-PAGE | *sw-KotOR
:icondragonfly22:
Oh really? How do you meet these extraordinary musicians? You're gonna have to reveal your tricks! Anyway, I don't actually know him, but that's cause I actually don't know that many modern pianists, so I definitely will not decline your generous offer. :nod:

Oh and Apassionata! My art professor asked me if I played it, almost as if asking "Do you know how to jump rope?" But oh well, he's a VERY good musician and a know-it-all wise guy, so I suppose he naturally has high expectations with everybody. He's such an awesome guy..because of him I'm taking French next semester. :D

--
"A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation." - Joseph Addison
:icondarthfar:
LOL! Back when I used to go for national philharmonic orchestra performances, they'd sometimes have autograph sessions. (Which was how I met Ashkenazy). Kuerti, however, I met through a friend who'd flown in for the concert. He told me, "I know him; c'mon, I'll introduce you" - and did. :D

And oh good, maybe I could get you to give *me* French lessons when you're done. :rofl:

--
"I know you're not Garrity, but you're not exactly sane either." - Maquaii.
"You have a Dark Passenger of painting?!" - DragonWinter.


=DA-Networking | ~SDS-PAGE | *sw-KotOR
:icondragonfly22:
How nice it is to have that sort of "shovels".

You know, the principal viola of our symphony orchestra is a friend of mine. One day I went to a concert with his father and he introduced me to half of the orchestra! And in the interlude I was among the musicians who were talking about "musical jokes" (something previously unknown to me). It was like having a VIP into their everyday tête à têtes. :D

And yes, I'd love to teach you French, remind me to that in a couple of months.

--
"A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation." - Joseph Addison
:iconfracturedreality:
-slinks in sithily- mmmaaassssttteeerrrr... I have done thy bidding...

[link]

--
My muse is a fickle little twit with the attention span of a two year-old!

==================
A great number of special effects in my stuff are brushes from [link]
Thank you, Stephanie, your brushes save my sanity!!!
:iconwomball:
What did you think of my Herbert West Sculpt? I open to crits on it.

--
Good Show!

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