What is Reddit's opinion of
Left 4 Dead?
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53 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Basically, in Left 4 Dead, some people are born immune to the virus and some are carriers; People who have it but show no symptoms, and can still spread it to other people through bodily fluids. It's hinted that the military basically lines the carriers up and shoots them.
If you read The Sacrifice Comic (and you should, it's a good read!) there's a whole bunch of information.
Just in case anyone would be wondering what this is a reference to: Bill just before his knee operation and just before the outbreak, he ran all the way home from the clinic in something like this, as seen in the comic
Hi! 3D-animator here to give some visual pointers:
- The camera movements could be a lot slower. Especially the ones where it turns to face a different street. If the rotation would ease in and out of the turn, it'd look a lot classier.
- Consider adding atmospheric fog to enhance depth perception. Just a slight blue/orange glow based on the depth-buffer. You'll be surprised how much good this does ;)
- The moving traffic is a nice touch! Combined with slower camera movement, it might be a good idea to try emulating long exposure light streaks. I know this isn't the easiest thing to implement, but imagine it looking somewhat like this except 10x slower! Maybe generate lines, turn them to polygons and animate their texture coordinates to simulate motion?
Depth blur / tilt-shift. This should be optional, especially since it might affect performance quite a bit.
The overall look is quite detailed and I like it, but it has a certain old-videogame-feel to it. Mostly because of how the colors are very saturated and contrasty. The fog will help here too, but you could try adjusting the output's gamma a bit higher to simulate film response. Another, better option would be to implement a color grading lookup table.
Talking about film response, adding film grain is a very easy way to add imaginary detail where there is just black.
Lens flares. Everybody loves lens flares. Just don't overdo it! They should be invisible most of the time and only show up when the camera flies close to a bright light. A less resource intensive version would be a glint effect.
I'm not a programmer, but I know how to approach implementing these suggestions, so message me if you need help with that :)
But there is a story, though. It's an ongoing thing from the first campaign map to the last in both games. In L4D1's first campaign titled No Mercy, you start on a rooftop in the middle of the city and your objective is to get to Mercy Hospital (hence the campaign's name). At the end of No Mercy, you ride off the hospital's roof in a helicopter. But it turns out the helicopter pilot was infected, ~~Francis~~ Zoey has to shoot him, and you all crash. Fortunately, all four survivors live through the helicopter crash and start on a new map, titled Crash Course.
There's also this: http://www.l4d.com/comic/
It basically shows what happened to the four survivors before the infection fully spread, leading up to the events that will result in another campaign map titled The Sacrifice.
Edit: Not afraid to admit that when I finished reading Part Two of the L4D Comic (Zoey's part), I cried.
Edit 2: Wiki says Zoey shot the helicopter pilot, although I vaguely recall in-game dialogue at the start of the Crash Course campaign where Francis talks about having to shoot the pilot since he's turning anyway, or something about not knowing he was infected in the first place.
My friends and I have been avid players of L4D versus since the original game came out. It took a while, but eventually we realized if we're gonna have good games with people who play literally every night, you gotta go Realism Versus. You gotta have 8 people ready to play though, as the only pubs you'll find there are noobs (not trying to be a dick, I'm talking about people with less than 50 hours) that don't realize what they've gotten themselves into.
Interestingly enough, the L4D blog released these stats last month that show that less than 2 percent of the players even attempt Realism versus.
So much fun.
Read the free official comics. It actualy explains a lot of stuff. While opening new questions to ask.
Here's a link to the four comics.
The second comic opens up with a good bit of general opinion on carriers.
Happy to see this posted here. The BTA isn't so tempting on this one.
Guild - 3 issues.
Halo - 3 issues.
Valve - The Sacrifice is free to read online at http://www.l4d.com/comic/
Bioshock - Pretty big, over 150 pages.
High tier:
Mass Effect - 4 issues.
Dragon Age - 6 issues.
It's a canon comic put out by Valve themsleves. It's how the 'offcial' story is supposed to go, but they have said when you play the game it's your choice who gets to die because they want you to ultimately have control.
there is a fleshing out of the world out there on the internet
http://www.midnight-riders.com/
Interesting looking, haven't read most of this yet: http://www.l4d.com/comic/
But Yes, good point! I'd love to see Netflix make a miniseries or the lead-up to L4D. Season 2, of course, would be L4D*2*
EDIT: If you've got 10 minutes, this was kinda interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g85rD0N4bZ4
As of February 11, 2010:
28,981,249,043 zombies had been killed in L4D2.
http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=3441
They haven't updated the count since then, so I'm guessing it's a lot.
confirmed middle of October on the l4d2 blog.
http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=8913
"All of this will also be available not just on the PC and Mac, but also for Linux users as well starting in the middle of next month and rolling out from there. We will have more details as we get closer to launch."
That prop was created for the Orange Box launch. Hence the three levers (HL, Portal, TF). Here's a blog post about it being pulled out for the Left 4 Dead launch: > What does the Launch Box do? When its keys and levers are turned and pulled in sequence, it emits clouds of dry ice, fires off klaxon noises, and finally, when you press the red button, releases games. And, because it's kept in Gabe Newell's tool shed and nobody ever bothers to check it for bee hives, bees. (If there's one thing that makes those things angrier than klaxon noises, it's dry ice!) > > Like the release of the Orange Box this past October, the entire staff will be here tonight to celebrate. Unlike with the Orange Box release, we're hoping, the entire staff will not be attacked by as many bees.
How fresh is your information on this? I think this exploit was fixed few weeks ago. http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=27187
If it's still valid, give me the details and i can forward your message to someone who pays interest to it more than support does.
There are survivors that have immunity, such as the protagonists from the game. In one of the comics it is revealed that the protagonists are infecting people that rescue them, and that the disease is potentially airborne. I think it's safe to assume just from the context the game gives that this is the case; the hunter literally tears into you.
It's been a while since I read the comics, though, so I might be wrong about the details. Edit: http://www.l4d.com/comic/comic.php?page=62
The premise and setting are solid for a one shot, but as written it sounds like the session would take forever and could easily overstay its welcome. What I'd recommend is simple:
- Consider having any item shopping occur before the session.. For all intents and purposes it may as well be part of character creation, which you don't need to spend precious table time doing all together all at once. [Edit:] I just reread OP on the circumstances where this one shot would even be used, and this step doesn't necessarily apply. I'd still recommend finding some way to encourage arming selves efficiently. Maybe it affects how much time they get to search through and inspect the arena before the first wave starts?
- As DM, you should be scouring the internet for other games' design documents on horde and survival modes, such as http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2417 , and comparing / contrasting their handling of concepts such as lulls or progressively changing maps (so which areas are defensible or stocked with resupplies is non-static) to see what makes for the kind of fun, difficultly curve, or atmosphere you're trying to deliver.
Here's a cool article written by the Left 4 Dead developers about how they made their visuals "spookier".
My two cents: If you're going for atmosphere and not a gameplay mechanic, I feel like some sort of vignette effect would be simpler and more effective than a fog that covers up most of the level. Maybe, in your case, have the vignette look like subtly shifting shadows around the edge of the camera, which can be accomplished with a few animated textures. Try that in addition to film grain and contrast/color effects like those used by L4D.
> fixed several security issues
probably related to the recent exploit found in the source engine
My favorite intro is the Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War intro
It shows a variety of units that you will encounter in gameplay as well as detailing the basic mechanics (capturing flags = getting resources for reinforcements).
Additionally, the developers of Left 4 Dead have posted about how they designed the intro for that game: http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2081
But then again, the military could go psycho paranoid, as can be seen in the Left 4 Dead series, particularly in the web comic The Passing. But if not for that, I could see things going this way, if the zombies even manage to get close enough to the military.
Every argument about the military being over run that I've ever seen always seems to discount the military's air and naval power, as well as the fact that the military does have vehicles that I doubt any sort of zombie short of a L4D style tank, could get through.
>Most importantly, though, the screenshot fails from a gameplay standpoint. There are too many light sources to give the player any useful navigational clues. In other words: it's not telling you where you should be heading.
Adding onto what the other guy said about little hints left around the campaign, they also released a comic about it which adds in a lot of background plot and such. Its a really good read. I'll link you...
they do connect the stories (in DLC--free on the PC), but its not like it makes any difference if you played the first one before you play the second. I personally loved the first one as much as the second. They both have great characters. the gameplay in the second is a little different. For example, the second one has melee weapons. If you want to get some back story, there is a four-part comic series that is free: http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=4352
I've actually got a free copy of L4D2 left over from the golden potato reward.
PM me her Steam name and I'll add her/gift it.
Edit: It might take me a bit if you can't get back to me right away. It's 5AM and I haven't slept yet.
Edit2 (5:35 EST): Going to bed. I'll check back around 12:30-1 EST.
Been busy playing this fantastic custom L4D2 campaign.
Is that spoiler really a spoiler? I mean, it was literally mentioned in the patch notes when he was added to the game.
Oh, and it's in the L4D Comic, too... and is referenced in his perk names.
In the game you get to choose who sacrifices themselves in The Sacrifice campaign but the canon death is Bill. He died in The Sacrifice comic (jump to Part 4, page 165 if you want to get right to it) - http://www.l4d.com/comic/
Description:
OMG ZOMBIES! RUN! NO, LEAVE THE KIDS! WE DON'T NEED THEM! RUUUUUUUNNNNNNNAARAAARRRRRGGGGHGHHHHHHH!!!!!
Etc... :p
Twitter link! https://twitter.com/Dannerdcubed
Game link! http://www.l4d.com/blog/
Wasn't this on the frontpage? This was originally added to L4D as you can see here:
http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=7025
The community in l4d was to toxic they had to make a blocklist, I don't think any other Valve game had one so far.
I think it would work in dota2, in l4d2 when the game found a server but it had a blocked person on it, it would simply tell you and let you unblock them.
In the case of HL2, there's only been one or two updates that weren't just for SteamVR since June 2nd. Every other update since then has been only SteamVR stuff.
For L4D2, that hub operates Dota 2 style, where only blog posts are relayed. For stuff for that, use http://www.l4d.com/blog/ or watch the Steam store.
The Sacrifice comic is the only one I'm aware of. I ask because even though it is just bridging the gap between the two DLC campaigns, it gives some insight into what the military does with "carriers" of the infection.
The left4dead zombies are interesting because you can actually be immune to them. The green flu (zombie virus) is airborne and it infects people just by sneezing. So for that it's either be immune or hide in a spot where other people can't get to you.
Here is a great comic on it.
- The giveaway lasted for exactly one day, check the official site:
How can people speak bullshit with such confidence? The giveaway was from December 25 to December 26, exactly one day, and the server was down for a majority of the time so only a portion of the people actually got the free game.
- So by your logic, if one water company decides to give out free water for a single day, you will just continue to shit on any company that sells bottle water for the rest of your life? Just because something was free for a short duration of time the item will forever lose its every bit of value? And how is it immoral for someone to seek compensation for something he paid/work for, is it his fault that the other people did not get their free copy? And what if someone did miss the free giveaway and now wants the game, I suppose you would give them out for free? I don't see you buying copies and distributing them. Its easy to mock people when you are not the one losing value.
L4D2 did do a cross over with Minecraft. Also you can download a really well made Minecraft Campaign for l4d2 here
It brings them out of beta and fixes a few minor bugs (like the ability to get outside of gameplay area in some places. Other than that, the patch also brings a new campaign, Cold Steam out of beta.
Anyway, here are the patch notes and here's the official website for the patch
I recently read the Left 4 Dead comic The Sacrifice, and it's surprisingly good --- definitely worth a read. It's available for free (PDF, 4 parts) here: http://www.l4d.com/comic/
Thanks for doing this. I''ll go with 123 and 441. :)
Valve has this implemented with Left 4 Dead 2, as shown here, so I'm sure this is very much an intended feature down the line for Dota 2, possibly when you report someone.
I agree with you about Rochelle.
But to be fair, Zoey had some background story unravel in the comic: http://www.l4d.com/comic/
Still.. I think Rochelle is more fleshed out if we're talking of the game alone.
Heads up, you may not necessarily want L4D if you're getting L4D2. Squidthesid said valve was working on porting all L4D1 maps to L4D2. Although I don't know what his source is. It was suggested on the L4D blog that all map makers port their L4D1 maps to L4D2.
If i remember correctly the original artwork used the right hand. It was only after someone pointed out the obvious pun in using the left hand that they changed it.
Either way, cool painting.
edit: found the source for that. http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2353
back in the l4d2 days, if you blocked someone on steam, you wouldn't matchmake with them any more. I'm hearing that it hasn't been working lately in CS:GO though?
I believe the artist of this ‘Mario’s Sacrifice’ drew inspiration from the Left 4 Dead comic, The Sacrifice, which Valve released with their add-on campaign for L4D2.
A phenomenal comic, it’s only four chapters and worth the read. If you want to see the scene that’s similar you can skip to the end of chapter four.
While not my favorite(can't think clearly as to what my favorite is at the moment), I'd like to give a shout out to Bill and the associated comic for this moment.
Actually screw it, The Alamo is pretty good for a going down swinging moment. If you don't take the whole battle as an answer, then what happened with Jim Bowie hopefully suffices.
> In Left4Dead the survivors are immune to the deadly and reanimating effects of the virus,
The virus is essentially super rabies, it doesn't re-animate people, simply makes them feral and ignore tremendous amounts of pain.
>They never really go into detail about whether having the virus kills a non-immune or non-carrier person. But in the campaign in L4D2 (I can't remember the name off the top of my head) where they are on the bridge to get rescued, there's a lot of talk over the radios and written on the walls about survivors and if they are carriers and what containment measures are to be taken against them.
It's actually addressed in the L4D comics.
Specifically, starting on page 38.
Whenever my friends and I would play a Charger in Left 4 Dead 2 we'd quote that movie.
The Walking Dead survivors have a dormant virus within them that becomes active upon death (For whatever reason), or when an already active version is put directly into their bloodstream by a zombie bite, causing sickness followed by death.
This is not the same as the L4D2 survivors, who are immune to the effects of the virus, but still carry it inside of them. They cannot be around uninfected, non immune (Be they carrier or simply immune) individuals. Their virus is 'live' while the Walking Dead virus for survivors is 'dormant'.
What you're whinging about is gameplay mechanics that were put into place to keep the game rolling with the criteria set in place by Valve:
1) Replayability of campaigns
2) Near constant action
3) Quite frankly, easiness/convenience. (L4D ain't exactly a difficult game)
Not to mention you're comparing a game to a TV show/comic, which have dramatically different criteria. If you want a more 'accurate' portrayal of how the L4D universe plays out not following game logic (As much, at least!), read the comic. Bitching about how it's a circle jerk when you're making ridiculous and incredibly biased, not to mention misinformed, statements is 'more stupid' than anything L4D has done.
Left 4 Dead uses contrast between desaturation and color pretty well. The enemies and environments are grey and dingy while the player characters and pickups contrast sharply with their surroundings. Zoey's red jacket, Louis' white shirt and the red health packs are good examples.
This is from a different post on the L4D blog "To compliment the new access to maps, weapons, and items, we are also creating an expanded scripting tool to allow deeper and more varied experiences inside of Left 4 Dead 2". This, I think, is more important than the custom maps. While variety of locations and path is nice, the game really needs something to mix up the gameplay.
I might be reading too much into this, but given Valve's (rather the TF Team's) fondness for ARG's, I've noticed some "mistakes" around the place with regards to the MvM update.
Here's some I noticed:
In the FAQ in the Day 3 page of the update it has two "Q's" infront of the following question >Q: Q: Do the new items earned in Mann Up Mode affect gameplay? (source)
There is a post on the L4D blog about the MvM update, including a link to the update, but the "o" of teamfortress is replaced with a 6 (www.teamf6rtress.com/mvm/). That is how the text reads, but the actual link is correct. (source)
Have a look here. Zombie tux :D
Also, here. The Intel drivers are open source, and the Valve devs got together with them to work on both the game and the drivers at the same time. Usually game devs and driver devs have to guess what the other one wants, but for the first time game devs are adding features to drivers directly. :DDD
What do you think of Louis' depiction in the comics?
I know that broken-technology feel, bro. Why can't they stop messing with stuff?
Happy month-late-birthday.
And as usual: You've been teleported away from house and home, you find yourself in another part of the world, possibly even another universe. You are informed that you are to fight in a tournament. Contestants have been drawn from fictional realities, as well as this one. You are given a weapon of your choice, and told that if you get hit 5 times by another person's weapon (struck, cut, shot, etc...) you will go back home. If you die there, you just wake up in your home town as well, but if you are the last survivor, you get to keep your weapon, which now functions as an inter-dimensional portal creation device.
Pick a weapon:
Pick a start point in the tournament-city:
Do you fight, or forfeit immediately?
What is your strategy? (Note: Everyone else I've asked so far says they would camp.)
Fictional character you hope to run into/befriend?
Fictional character you want to fight?
Final battle. You vs. ???
What do you do if you win?
Actually, I don't think you need that anymore. I've played some 30+ custom campaigns without it, anyway.
The official L4D blog doesn't say anything about add-on support, and here's a thread from the Steam forums that says it's obsolete.
Edit: just did a little more digging. Valve says "Since 'The Sacrifice' update on October 5, 2010, The Left 4 Dead 2 Add-on Support Tool is no longer needed and can be safely removed. Assets from L4D1 are now included by default."
Technically, it was limited to players buying or owning L4D2 before October 7th 2010, according to this old blog post. But... they've still been showing up for lots of players, even far past that deadline.
If you own L4D2 but never got the promo items in TF2, you may want to contact Valve and see if they'll award them to you.
Not that I want to enter this debate, but someone stated elsewhere that in the Valve comics she mentions playing video games (i.e. resident evil). I have no idea whether this is true though.
Plus, there's no reason someone can't be a video game nerd and a movie nerd.
This is a great comic! I had no idea Oeming was a Valve employee. Apparently he also did Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 webcomics. I'm going to check those out next.