Tuesday Night GR2 Poker Night (4/12)

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:40 am

Who's up for some good ol' GR-style shooting tonight?

10:30pEDT would be the time to get started for 90 mintues or so of squad play (I hope). Who is willing and able to host? I can't host well at all.

Who's in?

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:44 am

I'll be there. I can host if it's a small turnout but anything over 6 and somebody else will need to host.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:45 am

No go for me. Sold the game Sunday on eBay.

Shoot straight, boys! Have fun, and enjoy the peace and quiet without me.

Take care,
PK

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:58 am

Can't be more than a "maybe" tonight fellas. Heavy workload this week, so I may still be at the office

lsdean · Post by **lsdean** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:37 am

I will be there.

lsdean · Post by **lsdean** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:38 am

pk500 wrote:No go for me. Sold the game Sunday on eBay.

Shoot straight, boys! Have fun, and enjoy the peace and quiet without me.

Take care,
PK

I just had a feeling that you were going to do that soon.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:48 am

lsdean wrote:
pk500 wrote:No go for me. Sold the game Sunday on eBay.

Shoot straight, boys! Have fun, and enjoy the peace and quiet without me.

Take care,
PK
I just had a feeling that you were going to do that soon.

Why? Just curious.

Take care,
PK

Atxj · Post by **Atxj** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:51 am

Pk how much did you get for yours? Between Splinter Cell and WE I never play GR2 anymore and would love to get some cash together for a PSP game.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:53 am

AtXj wrote:Pk how much did you get for yours? Between Splinter Cell and WE I never play GR2 anymore and would love to get some cash together for a PSP game.

$25 in a Buy It Now sale. It was listed for about two hours before someone snapped it up at that price.

Take care,
PK

lsdean · Post by **lsdean** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:33 am

pk500 wrote:
lsdean wrote:
pk500 wrote:No go for me. Sold the game Sunday on eBay.

Shoot straight, boys! Have fun, and enjoy the peace and quiet without me.

Take care,
PK
I just had a feeling that you were going to do that soon.
Why? Just curious.

Take care,
PK

I don't know. Maybe it is the fact that we have had low numbers lately. Weather is getting nicer. Not sure but I just remember thinking that I wonder if PK is going to sell this game soon. I was thinking the same thing actually.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:46 am

Wow, I skip poker night to play some Splinter Cell and things fall apart.

Seriously though, is everyone about to give up on Ghost Recon? If we can only get a group of 3 or 4 I'm not sure it's worth it.

lsdean · Post by **lsdean** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:49 am

I keeping it for a little while.

OT - Mix, how are you guys liking Splinter Cell? Worth the purchase?

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:58 am

I love Splinter Cell but it's not for everyone. I don't consider it a shooter. It's more about being sneaky (as spies) or setting clever traps (as mercs) with a little shooting thown in especially as the mercs. Communication is very important in the game as well. Zeppo likes to joke that Fshguy and I have some kind of unholy alliance but it's really just that we're best friends and have known each other for years. Being totally comfortable with your teammate and having great communication makes a big difference. Well, that and we have mad skillz!

Seriously though, it's a great game as long as you like the unique style of gameplay.

Well, I don't want to turn this into a Splinter Cell thread (hopefully it's not too late) so back to your regularly scheduled Ghost Recon signups.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:59 am

mixdj1 wrote:I'll be there. I can host if it's a small turnout but anything over 6 and somebody else will need to host.

This seems to be an issue in co-op more than squad play. It's rare when any co-op game can hold more than 5 or 6 guys, but squad play has been pretty stable with larger numbers than we used to get with GR:IT.

I guess maybe you're right Mix. You skip Poker Night and it all goes to hell! You and I are among the few hold-outs, it seems. Had you and Fsh been there last week, we would have had a minimum squad group of four on four. As it was we explored some co-op HH games on the new maps with our group of 5 or 6, and it was not bad. I played in a bigger game on Saturday night with FIFAInspected and his crowd, and that was a lot of fun. Maybe we can get those guys to start to show on Tuesdays?

I for one like having GR2 around. I don't think we've found that magic game mode though, like what siege with spawns used to be for us. Still, we've had ebbs and flows with GR Poker Night turnouts in the past. Participation will be minimal for a while, and then suddenly we'll have a night where 16 sign up for 12 spots. I guess those days are over, with people ditching the game, huh?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:15 pm

lsdean wrote:
pk500 wrote:
lsdean wrote: I just had a feeling that you were going to do that soon.
Why? Just curious.

Take care,
PK
I don't know. Maybe it is the fact that we have had low numbers lately. Weather is getting nicer. Not sure but I just remember thinking that I wonder if PK is going to sell this game soon. I was thinking the same thing actually.

You're a good judge of my habits, ls.

Not to threadjack, but yeah, GR 2 was getting a bit stale for me. Hard to explain, but the last few Poker Nights haven't been as fun for me as in the past. I don't like the maps in GR 2 as much as GR or GRIT, and I think GR 2 is a bit more run-and-gun than the first two GR's. Certainly not Halo or Unreal, but a bit more run-and-gun.

The final epiphany came for me during last week's Poker Night. RobV was having trouble with his connection, and we were booted twice. No problem returning to the game after the boot, only a very minor inconvenience. But after the second boot, I just had a much stronger urge to race TOCA 2 than play GR 2. So I raced and had a f*cking blast, as I always do with TOCA 2.

Right then and there, I pretty much made up my mind that I was selling GR 2. If Poker Night with cool guys from DSP fails to thrill me anymore, especially over a period of a few weeks and not just one night, it's not the guys' fault. It's the game. GR 2 is a fine game that's just not working for me as much as it did when it was first released and doesn't have the staying power of GR or GRIT, for whatever reason.

And there's zero reason for me to keep GR 2 for offline play, as it's mediocre at best offline. Brothers In Arms is a much better offline game, in my opinion.

Have fun tonight, boys!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:22 pm

As far as the "big room" feel that Zeppo likes, Black Hawk Down could be a monster if it pulls off the goal of 32+ players shooting simultaneously in a room on XBL.

That would be incredible if you could get enough quality guys to play, rooting out the cheesers.

Whether that developer's fantasy becomes lag-free reality remains to be seen. The game will be released next month.

Take care,
PK

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:27 pm

pk500 wrote:
Not to threadjack, but yeah, GR 2 was getting a bit stale for me. Hard to explain, but the last few Poker Nights haven't been as fun for me as in the past. I don't like the maps in GR 2 as much as GR or GRIT, and I think GR 2 is a bit more run-and-gun than the first two GR's. Certainly not Halo or Unreal, but a bit more run-and-gun.

The final epiphany came for me during last week's Poker Night. RobV was having trouble with his connection, and we were booted twice. No problem returning to the game after the boot, only a very minor inconvenience. But after the second boot, I just had a much stronger urge to race TOCA 2 than play GR 2. So I raced and had a f*cking blast, as I always do with TOCA 2.

Right then and there, I pretty much made up my mind that I was selling GR 2. If Poker Night with cool guys from DSP fails to thrill me anymore, especially over a period of a few weeks and not just one night, it's not the guys' fault. It's the game. GR 2 is a fine game that's just not working for me as much as it did when it was first released and doesn't have the staying power of GR or GRIT, for whatever reason.

And there's zero reason for me to keep GR 2 for offline play, as it's mediocre at best offline. Brothers In Arms is a much better offline game, in my opinion.

Have fun tonight, boys!

Take care,
PK

I sold mine right around PSP release time for almost the same exact reasons. Just was not having fun with it this time around. Nothing will compare to my first weeks with GR1 for X-Box and online. It was mostly nostalgia after that.

ProvoAnC · Post by **ProvoAnC** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:27 pm

I'm in...

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:31 pm

mixdj1 wrote: Zeppo likes to joke that Fshguy and I have some kind of unholy alliance but it's really just that we're best friends and have known each other for years. Being totally comfortable with your teammate and having great communication makes a big difference. Well, that and we have mad skillz! Seriously though, it's a great game as long as you like the unique style of gameplay.

That's exactly right. Communication and trust are key on both sides. I absolutely love the versus gameplay. I am consistently amazed at the huge disparity in the experience between being a spy and being a merc. It really is like two completely different games that happen to intersect once in a while.

It can be maddeningly frustrating at times. Heck, sometimes as a spy I don't even get near the objectives before getting wiped out completely, but no other game gives me the thrill of anxiety and excitement when I'm making a move on an objective as a spy. Or that unique feeling when a merc has no idea you are right there, but you are shocking him and gassing him and generally making him run around in circles. And on the other hand, the sense of strength and firepower you get as a merc when you are beating down a spy, or like last night whe Rumble fired a grenade into an elevator after a spy- the door closed on the poor spy, and *pop*, man that was funny!

This new iteration of the versus gameplay is massively improved, even though the individual changes are relatively minor. Some new gear, new merc melee moves, co-op spy moves, merc weapon options, environmental effects, and the new maps all of which are brilliantly designed, have ended up tweaking the versus gameplay to an enormous degree.

I am having much more fun in the solo game than I did in the other two, by a wide margin. Save-anywhere makes a big difference, and the enemy AI is more interesting to me. It's still a little bit of the trial and error, but not nearly as much. In fact, most times you can work out of tough situations and move on rather than having to reload. And finally, co-op gameplay is a real blast. I wish there were more missions, but that said, Kruza and I am only at the start of the fourth and final mission, and we got through the first three with terrible scores and alarm level 4s (not nearly as much fun with an elevated alarm level, since they know you are coming- with a zero alarm level, you can really mess with their little AI heads), so there is lots of fun to be had going through the missions again and trying to beat the scores.

As to PKs abandonment of GR, I tend to agree about the stale feelings the last few poker nights. But I feel that the reason is not the game, but the group. We haven't had a good game of 5 on 5 or more for a long while, and like I said, we have yet to find that magic game mode in GR2. I wish spawn-enabled siege were in the game, that is the one mode I think has the best balance of careful gameplay (at times) and continuous play for all participants. No-spawn siege is great, but it can be pretty dry if you dont' discharge your weapon three or four rounds in a row, and often it just ends up being last-man. I think if we did more 'domination/zones,' that mode would really shine on a handful of maps.

Still, there is nothing like GR for getting a bigger room of guys together and having fun. I could play HH on bunkers for a long while before getting bored, as long as there are others in the game! I know RobV feels the same way about HH on the water fall map. I love the GR2 maps with their elevation changes, foliage, wind, lighting, etc. I also really like the 3rd person view.

Oh well. I certainly don't intend to get rid of the game anytime soon. Maybe when RS Lockdown comes out, NYJets will get those crazy games going again.

Black-Hawk down will most likely have a max of 16 or 24 players for regular hosters. What they are planning is to set up their own dedicated servers to hole the huge rooms of 50+ players. I don't think the huge rooms of 50+ players will be that much fun. Maybe it will feel a little like SW:Battlefront, but I doubt it. It's not so much having X-number of people running around in one game, it's about getting 10 to 14 DSPers and friends all together in the same game for a little while. That's what I dig about the 'big room' thing. Works in the racers, too like PGR2 and ToCA. But with B in A, or SC, or RS, it's usually 4-man games. Plenty of fun, but not the same thing.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:15 pm

Why have they not instituted Siege with re-spawns yet? Will they? That mode was the best.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:39 pm

Well, after having jacked the heck out of my own GR2 thread. . .

It's not looking good for a GR2 group tonight. With only myself, Mix and Lsdean, and then a 'maybe' RobVarak, perhaps we should start with a few co-op missions or something and see if we can attract some others to get some squad play.

If it's not happening after a couple co-op games, I would love to get in some more SC:CT versus or a get an SC co-op game going or something.

Sully · Post by **Sully** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:16 pm

I'll probably be playing SC.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:01 pm

Provo signed up as well. So that's four right with a possible fifth. So I guess I'll fire up a co-op session at 10:30 PM EDT and see who shows. I know fshguy will be up for some SC if the GR2 falls apart.

countzero2k5 · Post by **countzero2k5** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:55 pm

Sorry I won't be able to make it tonight. My wife's birthday party and all

. Maybe next week.

Mix, let me know when you want to play some SC. I'd be up for that this week

Later!

CZ