Another TF2 hat related post, for that I’m sorry. But it’s a hat that was actually earned. You see, I got it for making 1000 views on a video I made using the Replay system. By making those views, I got an achievement which in turn, got me the Frontline Field Recorder.
Said video of course, is here.
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The podcast in question is Kritzkast. If you’re a Team Fortress 2 fan, check them out.
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Two years ago, if you had of told me I’d be up before dawn to listen to a podcast about a specific game so I could participate in an annoying quiz just so I could win a virtual item in a game, I’d of told you to get fucked. However, being the fan of TF2 and Kritzkast that I am, I endured said quiz of five random obscure questions technically unrelated to actual Team Fortress 2 things, just so I could get the Lo-Fi Longwave. Results:
Basically, I have it but I don’t. I’ll be passing out again for an hour or so, and when I get up hopefully I have said item. I feel a little betrayed that as a fan of the podcast I had to jump through so many annoying hoops, but I guess it’s the only way such a public thing like Kritzkast can try to prevent hat-whores.
If you play TF2, even if just casually, they really are worth a listen. The website is down at this exact point in time, but that’s due to the aforementioned hat whores.
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I have a whole set of eight trailers that are my favourites1, all for the same game. Of course, there’s only one that stands out as the best of them, which I’ve included below.
Valve know how to do things.
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The Croc-o-Style set is one of those sets that everyone has mixed opinions of. Some people consider it to be massively overpowered as you can’t headshot someone who is using the set, and others consider it severely underpowered because you can’t headshot anyone if you’re using the set.
I’m part of a third party that proceeds to rain Jarate down on the other two.
The other thing people feel is a negative with this set is it requires you to use a passive secondary, thus losing your Jarate as a throwable object. These people feel that this makes the Bushwacka, which deals critical hits (instead of “mini-crits”) on players coated in Jarate, useless. The arguement is that while the Sydney Sleeper has the Jarate effect, it is no good in close combat like the normal Jarate bomb since it requires scoping in and charging, and thus means a Sleeper/Bushwacka combo rarely if ever works.
I find this not to be the case, as in the above video, it’s for enemies rushing at your team/base. Taking out the Heavy with a Sydney Sleeper and Bushwacka combo felt really good. The set isn’t meant for Snipers hiding away at the back of the map, it’s to get the Sniper out and being a bit more bold. He doesn’t have to worry about being killed with a headshot, and attacking an enemy with melee seems a bit more plausible.
I find Croc-o-Style Sniper gameplay to be amazingly fun, especially when enemy Snipers complain that the Sydney Sleeper is cheap because it can’t headshot. All I need is a name tag so I can call my rifle “The Headhunter”.
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Well that one should be obvious for anyone who knows me at all, or even just reads this here blog. I mean, I blog about it often, talk about it, now I’m uploading videos about it, I’ve even taken time off work just so I could be there for a major content update.
Team Fortress 2 is a class based first person shooter. It is multiplayer only and boasts an active community. The game works with traditional game types like Capture The Flag, but also has a variety of others including Control Point, Attack/Defend, Arena, and Territorial Control. Each game mode is completely different to the other and requires different play styles in order to win.
There are a variety of weapons for each class, increasing the number of strategies and play styles beyond a simple rock paper scissors scheme of play and creating a more dynamic changing game.
Team Fortress 2 has to be one of the best games I have ever played. There is just not enough I can say to express my love for the game. The cartoonish art style, the fucking hilarious jokes and overall light-hearted tone of the game, and just the balanced gameplay are enough. However, Valve see fit to constantly update the game, which is what has lead to it having a solid and growing community for the past three years. While games like Call of Duty release a new game almost yearly, and paid for DLC to add new features to the game, Team Fortress 2 has survived purely on FREE content updates and community mods.
Every so often, Valve implement new “official” maps and items, as well as completely new features (The replay feature that was just implemented, for example). This is probably the biggest reason the game has survived where so many others stop getting played; because there is always fresh exciting new things being added.
I could go on and on but I don’t think I would get much of a point across in anymore random ramblings. Just know that Team Fortress 2 is my favourite PC game, and if it weren’t for Wolfenstein 3D, it would be my favourite game ever in the history of the world. To finish up, here’s a video of me killing my mate Derek.
Addendum: It would be a crime not to mention who actually got me into this game, and as such is responsible for turning me into a Valve fanboy. As such, here is a video of me killing her in Portal 2.
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I’ve really been getting into editing and uploading videos using the Replay function, and enjoyed writing about my run through of Dustbowl as the Heavy. As such, I’ve decided to do it again.
I’ve long been a fan of Arena; the concept is amazing and it requires a bit more strategy if you want to survive, as opposed to other game modes in which it’s RUN GUN DIE REPEAT.
However, it’s apparently one of the least popular modes next to Territorial Control and this surprises me given it’s very similar to how CounterStrike is played, and that game happens to be one of the most played and most purchased on Steam all the time.
Anyway, the basic gist if you’ve never played Arena is that there are no respawns; if you die you’re dead for the whole round. The objective becomes needing to outplay your opponents and being the last team standing. It’s simple enough, and as mentioned means you have to use a bit of strategy, otherwise you become one of the first dead and are stuck spectating until the next round.
In this video, I’m a Vanilla1 Scout (I have the Lugermorph pistol equipped, but since it’s purely a cosmetic change you can consider it technically vanilla). As you’ll see, I manage to get the drop on a Sniper despite a Heavy and Scout taking a shot at me, and then managed to out melee a Scout in their spawn. We won the match shortly after, simple fun stuff.
I tried a few new camera angles and messed with stuff to try and make the video come together a bit better than just putting forward a minute of first person action. I’m hoping it came out alright.
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Who will be victorious?
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One of the big things to attract players to use the replay function is the rewards; upon the successful completion of certain achievements, the player is rewarded with an item. If one of your replayed videos hits 1000 views on YouTube you are given an achievement AND rewarded with a hat.
If you spend long enough editing your replays, the Star Of My Own Show achievement gets unlocked, and the Director’s Vision unlocks. This is a funny taunt you can equip to a class, and press the Action Key (Defaults to ‘O’) to activate the taunt, which you can see in action below.
My point, because I do have one.
Now this is neat, but it brings me to the big thought on my mind. One of the only things that separate the Mann Co. Store from the Robot Enrichment store in Portal 2 is that you can buy taunts for the co-op robots called “Gestures”. Team Fortress 2, up until now, has not had equipable taunts. With the introduction of the Director’s Vision, I can’t help but wonder if there will be more in the future. The most logical step is that Valve will start selling them in the store and maybe have them in the occasional crates.
I can see them being sold for maybe five or ten dollars. I think it’s a great idea, as it adds further optional customization, and if there’s a particularly good taunt in the store for say, the Pyro, I wouldn’t mind shelling out five dollars for it.
While it may be a good idea, the problem will be the community. Half of the Steam Powered User Forums will bitch and complain about how it should be free, forgetting that they don’t even matter. b00bies from KritzKast will adamantly cry “macro transactions”, and people like myself will stubbornly defend Valve’s decision.
However it may all pan out, this is the beginning of something new for Team Fortress 2, and while this is all speculation, it’s fair to say it is pretty likely we’ll see more “unlockable” taunts in the future.
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I’ve played with the Replay feature in the TF2 Beta before, but as of today the Replay Update officially went live on the official game, complete with new items, achievements and of course, a film making competition.
This is my first video fiddling with the official Replay feature, and I couldn’t help but notice that while in the Beta it seemed relatively polished and nice, in the official update I either experienced frequent jumps where the game would hang for me, or the replay just plain wouldn’t record/download. That being said, I expect these problems will be ironed out in the coming week, and everything will work well.
In this video, I play a Heavy on Dustbowl wielding the Iron Curtain, Fishcake and Fists. I felt I did rather well, capping the first point and clearing out the final control point. My only real regret was taking the risk of eating the Fishcake on the last point, when the Sniper comes over and penetrates my face with his…arrow.
Unlike my previous times with Replay, I took a little bit of time to fiddle with the different cameras you can use. While the game plays in first person perspective, you’re able to “record” from third person, and from “free camera” (the latter of which I do at the end to hover above my death.). Not only that, but you are able to record from the perspective of all teammates and enemies, allowing you to create some interesting build up to a final shot. While I haven’t done anything tremendous with it, you can see my exploring it towards the end, when the camera starts following the Red Sniper.
I noticed I was unable to record enemies from a first person perspective; when I tried the final result was a recording of myself in first person instead. I assume this is a bug that will get fixed in the follow up update1.
Unfortunately, as time goes on and I get used to this system, I’ll probably post more of these for you to put up with.
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