Morning Discussion

Good morning! Or good afternoon, I should say. Perhaps even evening. If it's already Saturday, I am afraid this is not for the likes of you--shove off. While 97% of the population is incorrect for thinking Friday is named after frying, I think Frigg would be honoured if everyone were to celebrate the day with fried egg, fried bacon, fried bread, fried mushrooms, bubble and squeak, fried sausage, fried tomato, toast and beans.

And no "casual Friday" nonsense--a suit is needed to properly show off grease stains.

From The Chatty
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    July 31, 2009 7:04 AM

    [deleted]

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      July 31, 2009 7:06 AM

      [deleted]

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        July 31, 2009 7:41 AM

        What/how is the single player? Is it just various gametypes with bots and with a story tacked on, a la Unreal Tournament, or what?

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          July 31, 2009 7:45 AM

          [deleted]

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          July 31, 2009 7:51 AM

          Basically, and it's not very exciting either. Does anyone know if you get anything unlocked for beating it, or if it contributes to your rank or anything? I keep getting those "fabulous" unlocks after multiplayer games but I wasn't sure if I got any after playing some of the single player.

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            July 31, 2009 8:31 AM

            You get some "fabulous" unlocks for completing the SP

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      July 31, 2009 7:07 AM

      Favorite Class, GO!

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        July 31, 2009 7:07 AM

        Worker!

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          July 31, 2009 7:08 AM

          [deleted]

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            July 31, 2009 7:13 AM

            Mage I have no idea how to use. The Priest is great fun (and easy way to make points). The only problem is I keep jumping targets when I'm trying to heal just one.

            • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              July 31, 2009 7:18 AM

              Mages are all about the area effect. Single target damage isn't as good as Ranger but when enemies are grouped up you can slaughter them. Fire for killing, Frost for stopping runners(especially princess kidnappers).

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                July 31, 2009 7:26 AM

                Yeah, I don't think I've ever used anything but the area effect attacks for the Mage. I love running around with it charging up, and getting as many guys into the area as possible. Freezing people (while fucking annoying to them) is great fun, especially if you have a couple warriors/rangers to take advantage of it.

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                  July 31, 2009 12:32 PM

                  A combo mage freeze and dark priest life drain would be pretty devastating to a large group trying to attack

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              July 31, 2009 8:42 AM

              hold l1

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          July 31, 2009 7:44 AM

          I killed allot of warriors with my bombs last night. They are very useful in a huge melee.

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        July 31, 2009 7:08 AM

        Priest!

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        July 31, 2009 7:09 AM

        Upgraded Ranger or Dark Priest.

        Dark Priest with coupled an Upgraded ranger is the most ruthless duo ever.

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        July 31, 2009 7:14 AM

        priest and ranger

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          July 31, 2009 7:15 AM

          am I crazy, or does it seem like you cannot actually kill someone with the dark priests life drain? It knocks their health down pretty good, but doesnt appear to get that last little sliver.

          Maybe it said this in a tool tip and I just didnt see it

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            July 31, 2009 7:18 AM

            I think I remember hearing that, yeah.

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            July 31, 2009 7:26 AM

            Correct, just run up and hit them with your wand after you rape their health

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            July 31, 2009 7:30 AM

            Yup exactly.

            I killed many priests solo because they taught chasing after me was a good idea.

            The trick is to hit the guy with your wand by pressing L1 near him.

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        July 31, 2009 7:19 AM

        Priest or Worker.

        ps. ice mages are a pita.

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          July 31, 2009 7:26 AM

          Why are people saying this? Just rapid fire tap square and you get out of the ice in no time.

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            July 31, 2009 7:32 AM

            I think it really depends on how long the mage had the ice attack charged for

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              July 31, 2009 7:33 AM

              Possibly. There seem to be a lot of little mechanics that aren't really explained that have to be figured out. I am loving the game though.

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                July 31, 2009 7:34 AM

                Yeah, I'm enjoying fighting on the frontlines a lot more than I thought I would. Just had to find the class that suited me most I guess.

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                  July 31, 2009 7:38 AM

                  I am addicted to the priest/ranger. It's so easy to rape faces with each of these classes. I just like how each class can really be on the front lines and they can also stand back and be safe. I just love running in with a full charged shotgun and blast people away. It also helps because it blows you back for easier escape.

                  I have a feeling the ranger class is going to get nerfed to hell.

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                    July 31, 2009 8:48 AM

                    really? I suck at the ranger. that shotgun thing felt like it was already nerfed to me. maybe I'm not playing it right.

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                      July 31, 2009 8:51 AM

                      Just based on last night they all seemed pretty balanced, I think whatever character you happen to get good with will naturally feel a little overpowered. I thought the mage was a bit overpowered for a while too, his area effect attacks can be devastating if used right. He's not very good 1 on 1 though, and really requires the support of the other classes to really shine.

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                      July 31, 2009 8:56 AM

                      The ranger is a super stick and move class. Depending on the front lines and who is in front you can stand back and just use the arrow. If the front line is solid or you have a healer, charge in and FSU with the boomstick. I always fully charge the shotgun, run in, peg a healer and then follow up with a quick arrow shot. This usually kills them before they had any idea wtf. I then run back (or to a tower to launch arrows down) and repeat. It's easy to get top score as a ranger.

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                        July 31, 2009 9:05 AM

                        I guess the main issue is that I haven't been able to get the lock on system down. I quickly learnt to let go of L1 and click it again while facing a direction to get a bit of a contextual lock but when there are a bunch of characters together it's a bit of a clusterfuck to select anyone in there because that right stick thing to change selection is just so awkward. I think they really need some kind of button to cycle through. I'd feel a lot more in control of the game if I could get more precise selections.

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                          July 31, 2009 9:07 AM

                          Pretty sure the aiming mechanism just aims to the closest enemy. Also, line of sight is crucial in this game. They will also go out of target range as well. You will get used to how it works after a few games.

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                            July 31, 2009 9:24 AM

                            cool, I had been using line of sight to defend towers and what not but I didn't realize it prevented targetting

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                              July 31, 2009 9:26 AM

                              It's really good to get rid of the dark priest vampire leech. Jump off the side of the cliff to a lower one and it severs the line.

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            July 31, 2009 7:32 AM

            It's the spamming of it, especially when half the opposing team are ice mages. Yes, spam is part of the game but still...

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        July 31, 2009 7:24 AM

        bucking the trend: Warrior and Mage

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        July 31, 2009 7:25 AM

        Worker then Mage by far

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        July 31, 2009 7:28 AM

        I know nothing about this game, but as soon as I read there are classes I got excited.. I love class based shit. So, what is this game exactly?

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        July 31, 2009 9:30 AM

        ranger easily.

      • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        July 31, 2009 9:41 AM

        Warrior. >:)

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        July 31, 2009 9:46 AM

        I really like the archer. I can take down lots of dudes before I get noticed and caught.

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      July 31, 2009 7:15 AM

      We need to get a big shack battle going on. Every now and then I see a shacker or two, but it is mainly randoms and bots.

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        July 31, 2009 7:33 AM

        Yeah, it seems like a pain in the ass to do this. I see no way to invite friends to the games and so we end up just putting up a game and hoping people will join. We'll have to get something organized on here first I guess, have someone put it up and give everyone the name of the host. I played a number of games with Shackers last night but there were usually just a few of us mixed in with either full servers of players or full servers of bots.

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          July 31, 2009 7:46 AM

          This game REALLY needs a lobby. I can't believe they didn't do this for a fucking team based game. It's just insane.

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            July 31, 2009 7:54 AM

            Hopefully they'll fix it. You'd expect that by now PS3 developers would figure out why lobbies are wanted.

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              July 31, 2009 7:57 AM

              Is there even a way to put up a private game? I only tried putting up one game and either I missed the option or it wasn't there.

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                July 31, 2009 8:02 AM

                when creating a game, friend slots is at the bottom. Increase that until it equals the number of slots for the server. I think you'll still get bots and nobody else can join unless they are a friend. This should be the way to start a Shack server.

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          July 31, 2009 7:48 AM

          I had no idea bots were even in online matches. They really need to change the match-making process so you can have private games.

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            July 31, 2009 7:49 AM

            If you look at the scoresheet, anyone with a little dot next to their name instead of a kind of...player head silhouette or a crown, is a bot. Also when you're running around if a character doesn't have a name above their head they are a bot.

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              July 31, 2009 8:03 AM

              They should of added a feature to get rid of the bots. It is hard to formulate a strategy when the bots mess everything up by doing whatever they want.

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            July 31, 2009 8:03 AM

            ? you can create a private match. the option is "control freaks"

            create the match with all private slots and viola

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          July 31, 2009 8:00 AM

          You can join a game a friend is in, so as long as there's one person with all of the people in your team in his friends list, he can join/create a game and everyone else can follow. It's under Play With Others somewhere.

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            July 31, 2009 8:19 AM

            Yeah, this is what I did last night, but it sure would have been nice to just explicitly invite people.

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          July 31, 2009 9:34 AM

          Yeah, this game coupled with Xbox Live and being able to join a friend's game and/or party would kick ass. Cross game invites and perhaps make it easier to see which shackers are in the same game from the in game join a friend list.

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            July 31, 2009 9:39 AM

            You can join a friend's game. Just look two posts up.

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              July 31, 2009 3:07 PM

              Yeah I've done it, but it would be nice to see who's all in the same game together.

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            July 31, 2009 9:40 AM

            What I really want is the party system and for everyone to have a God damned working microphone.

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              July 31, 2009 2:51 PM

              Not gonna happen, too late for PS3

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      July 31, 2009 7:29 AM

      Is there a way to change the respawn timer? I think it's too short. If it were 10-12 seconds it'd be far more strategic.

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        July 31, 2009 9:36 AM

        Last night I must have ran into a bug where the spawn countdown timer took like 20 seconds before it started. But is spawn timers affected by the number of outposts you control?

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      July 31, 2009 7:55 AM

      [deleted]

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      July 31, 2009 8:40 AM

      All I want to do is go home and feed my princess!!! OMNOMNOM

      ill add tons more folks on psn today i was too busy playing all last night to add folks
      Psn:iwannaacura

      i played in some games with begawk,mrlobo and dianeofthemoon i remember.

      Anyone see soccer match online?? that is pure lol blood all over

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        July 31, 2009 8:40 AM

        I haven't come across that yet, what/when is it?

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          July 31, 2009 8:45 AM

          its a deathmatch of soccerfield you run around and occasionally fans throw out hats and logs so you are kicking around a ball and then other folks are killing you with their class hats

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      July 31, 2009 8:45 AM

      I spent like 6 hours playing it yesterday and was only able to connect to 4 games :( I was playing the SP thing and the gladiator arena mostly. I was also playing a few games "online" that I was hosting but no one showed up (I'm behind a NAT but other games have a man in the middle thing to allow some people to join but I guess this doesnt?)

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        July 31, 2009 8:53 AM

        yeah i had connection problems and then the game crashes or kicks me to the game selection screen

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        July 31, 2009 10:11 AM

        I got the same thing, the connection seems kinda dodgy, and I can run other online titles like resistance 2 and killzone with no problems. I wish there was some kind of server browser, it feels like whenever I hit 'jump in', it's a lucky dip whether i can connect.

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      July 31, 2009 9:19 AM

      Does anyone know what ports to open and all that?

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          July 31, 2009 9:26 AM

          just realized I was forwarding TCP instead of UDP for one of my ports, hopefully that fixes the issues I've had

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          July 31, 2009 9:34 AM

          I saw that, but it seems not right. If I forward port 80, isn't that going to jack up the browsers on all my other machines?

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            July 31, 2009 9:42 AM

            Forwarding a port to a specific device has no bearing on any other device on the network. That is why it asks for a specific IP when you forward it.

            What router are you using?

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              July 31, 2009 10:18 AM

              I understand what port forwarding is. But 80 is a weird port to have to forward to make a game work, in my experience. Forwarding port 80 will prevent me from being able to access my home server's web interface, which also listens on port 80.

              For that matter, it's 2009. Why do we need to forward ports 10 years into the broadband age?

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              July 31, 2009 10:19 AM

              Also, it's a DIR-655.

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      July 31, 2009 9:22 AM

      i wish the ps3 had an "arcade" version that was cheaper like the xbox. i really want to try this game out :[

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        July 31, 2009 10:39 AM

        can you buy XBLA games without a hard drive though?

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      July 31, 2009 9:29 AM

      [deleted]

    • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      July 31, 2009 9:45 AM

      I did a cool thing with the ice mage last night:

      On one of the lava levels where there are three routes into the enemy base the one with a outpost in the middle. There is a rise and fall of lava between the two castles. Most of the time you can see the other team on the other side of the lava pool and when the lava lowers, they all rush across.

      Well last night I got an ice mage and charged up the ice nova to max, and when the lava lowered I ran into the middle section and iced all the enemy team in place, it was a full charge so they were stuck until the lava came up and melted them all. ;D


      the end.

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        July 31, 2009 10:56 AM

        yeah i saw that happening a lot, but they kept trying to rush through and died again and again

        there are other bridges they could have taken and attacked from the sides/rear but they never seemed to get it

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          July 31, 2009 11:14 AM

          I wish there's a minimap of some kind, that's always stays on screen.

          Hitting select to see the bigass map is very cumbersome.

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      July 31, 2009 10:03 AM

      HIJACK: 1st try at gauging interest for Fat Princess shackbattle

      So, we have 58 people that replied to fry's thread yesterday. The full list is on reply. I guess it's more than enough to make a 32-player rumble of shackers carrying fat chicks from one place to another.

      What would be the best date to do that? This saturday 6pm EST? Sunday 2pm EST? What do you guys think?

      If this generates enough interest, I'll try to organize this match. If your name is not on the list, just reply with your id and I'll add it to a final list on an excel file at google docs.

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        July 31, 2009 10:04 AM

        LIST OF IDS SO FAR

        PSN id | Shack id
        Bamii | Bamii
        Begawkiness | Begawkiness
        BigCooter | matchu
        Boxelder | Boxelder
        brickmatt | brickmatt
        bunchafunk | lonepie
        ChibiJosh | ChibiJosh
        ClamClub | Borzoi
        Cookblaze | cookblaze
        Cornchak | cornchak
        cosmicspot | prime8
        Cosmos_Man | Cosmos_Man
        CountOnIt | dissembler
        CousinRocky | cousinrocky
        darkius006 | Darky_06
        DianeOfTheMoon | DianeOfTheMoon
        DM_7 | DM_7
        DollHands | [fry]
        ebu0 | ebu0
        Entity2 | Entity
        FISTBUMP | dopeman
        Fraggerock | bozer
        FreakyNipps | freakynipples69
        GameDreamer | Legolas5
        Grendel2 | grendel
        Grumbeld | Grumbeld
        H4KUJ1N | Haku-Jin
        Iazu | Iazu
        iwannaacura | Iwannaacura
        Jookieman | pigvomit
        jtucc | lakren
        kainen1 | kainen1
        kgargs | kgargs
        KoolAidMan | Serpico74
        leftshift | TPSReport
        LoioshdeTaltos | LoioshDwaggie
        Mansmells | Mansmells
        maulla | maulla
        MisterLobo | MrLobo
        mojorisen1117 | mojorisen1117
        MrFinK | Mr.Finkster
        Nandu666 | nandu666
        Nitrium | Nitrium
        OmahaMH | Omaha
        pancake_humper | pancake humper
        Pelt_Hunter | f1kt1t1ous
        PointlesS76 | PointlesS76
        ProtoKick | ProtoPunch
        Quickoats | Horseshorses
        Rahooo | Gojirah
        SaillorofFortune | Sailor of Fortune
        sharpie | sharpie
        stratedge | stratedge
        taronish | taronish
        TastyWheat | TastyWheat
        vege-zombie | Poooks
        VincentGrayon | Vincent Grayson
        Washburne | Washburne

      • reply
        July 31, 2009 10:07 AM

        Sunday sometime would be best for me, I don't really have anything going on that day but tonight and tomorrow I do. Maaaybe tomorrow night late could work too but I doubt it.

        I should be on that list but just in case: PSN = Begawkiness

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          July 31, 2009 10:20 AM

          Either date works for me. I am Cosmos_Man - manlyman BTW...

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            July 31, 2009 10:20 AM

            OOOoooo and I bought the PS3 headset today too!!!

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          July 31, 2009 10:20 AM

          PSN = eggshen; another vote for Sunday afternoon

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          July 31, 2009 10:23 AM

          Saturday is better for me.

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        July 31, 2009 10:39 AM

        add me : projectDAVE

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        July 31, 2009 10:40 AM

        Both

      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        July 31, 2009 10:47 AM

        I probably wouldn't be able to make either of those this week.

        Weeknights ~10pm central :/

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      July 31, 2009 10:10 AM

      My fucking sad admission............
      I haven't turned the PS3 on in 3 to 5 weeks, because I did my tax in the loungeroom and it was 4 years worth, it was a huge huge huge job and while I got it done, there's still boxes, paperwork, rubbish and fuck knows what EVERYWHERE in the lounge, computer equipment etc.
      I haven't sat in my couch in over a month, I can't be fucked cleaning it, I don't think I'll get to use the PS3 for another few weeks due to this.

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      July 31, 2009 10:24 AM

      Trying to finish the single-player story mode is an exercise in frustration. On the lava world, the guys are dying so fast that both castles are usually bristling with guards, and your AI teammates rarely assist carrying the princess. I just don't see how it's possible.

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        July 31, 2009 10:37 AM

        I did it by building the catapult, then getting 3 helpers to come with me to the enemy castle. Then you just grab the princess, jump over the battlements and jump into the pipe in the top middle of the map. You just gotta run her home and hope that there's not a bunch of enemies waiting next to the lava crossings.

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        July 31, 2009 12:10 PM

        Hit UP on the d-pad to have bots follow you to help you carry.

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      July 31, 2009 10:34 AM

      i still don't have any coherent strategy in this game, things just seem overall chaotic, and characters die pretty easily.

      Also not sure how aiming works exactly, does your character need to face an enemy to fire at him? What if you face multiple enemies, which one gets hit?

      Oh, also don't know the exact mechanics of the worker, and building upgrades. Guess I'll get gamefaqs later.

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        July 31, 2009 10:43 AM

        Hold L1 to aim. With the priest and ranger I'm pretty sure I didn't have to face the target to actually heal / shoot them.

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          July 31, 2009 11:12 AM

          The ranger is a bit of a hit and miss for me... for instance, if you're on a higher platform, and you shoot an arrow on a target below you, the arrow will actually miss and strike the ground instead.

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
            reply
            July 31, 2009 12:26 PM

            Yeah, your character need actual line of sight.

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              July 31, 2009 12:40 PM

              I have a hell of a time trying go aim my bombs as the worker. Have to be facing the perfect angle.

              I just had a flashback of the dwarf's satchel bombs from Myth: The Fallen Lords.

              Is Bungie ever gonna make a proper sequel to Myth III?

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        July 31, 2009 10:44 AM

        As a worker if you walk over to an item like the hat machines or doors or springs, you can see a little icon above it showing a brown number that is the amount of wood it needs to upgrade, and a gray number showing the amount of metal. You collect wood and metal by going out into the field, hitting it with your axe, and carrying it to the nearest tower or upgrade station. All collected wood goes into a common pool of resources for the team. Once there are enough resources to upgrade the item you wish to upgrade, you go over to it and it will have a green arrow pointing at it. You then hold L1 to target it and start hitting it with your axe/saw until the little dial that pops up is full.

        If you see little green saw markers in the level you can usually just build those too.

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          July 31, 2009 11:10 AM

          ok cool. I also saw some green icons near the double doors out in the level, does that mean the worker can build those too or something?

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            July 31, 2009 11:12 AM

            Yeah, sometimes they get destroyed and the green arrow means there is nothing left and so you can build them both again from scratch. You can also repair existing doors.

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            July 31, 2009 11:45 AM

            anything that has the icon with the green hammers on it means you can use it whether it's upgrading buildings, creating ladders or jump pads into an enemies base or repair/building base damage such as the gates or walls.

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        July 31, 2009 1:26 PM

        It's not as bad as it seems. I've started to notice distince phases in combat with better teams:
        Phase 1: Chaotic Build: Large number of workers grabbing wood and stone and trying to build level 2 buildings and get all the siege equipment made.
        Phase 2: Tower Attack/Defense: Groups of attackers move in steady swarms, working to take over towers and push the enemy back.
        Phase 3: Castle Attack: The more coordinated group begins making steady attacks upon the castle and its defenders. The princess gets picked up more and more frequently and may even get dragged out of the castle a few times.

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        July 31, 2009 2:57 PM

        Agreed. This game is cool but sucks at helping you learn what to do. Needs a better tutorial then just reading notes

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      July 31, 2009 10:40 AM

      Wonder if this will still be popular in 4 weeks or so.

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      July 31, 2009 10:41 AM

      Has anyone tried using the invite option ala Street Fighter 4?

      When you wanted to play a friend in SF4 ps3, you had to go back into the console (ps3 button) then go to their profile on the right, hit triangle, and it gave you the option to invite. I will test this later if I can. Be much easier to get shack games going.

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        July 31, 2009 11:06 AM

        there is no option like that its all in game

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          July 31, 2009 11:26 AM

          they should of spent less time coding the bot AI and more time on a simple multiplayer lobby

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            July 31, 2009 12:21 PM

            doesn't get much more simple than fat princess

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      July 31, 2009 11:23 AM

      So is this game worth picking up? The videos definitely had me interested but I haven't heard if it's actually fun or not. What say you shackers?

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        July 31, 2009 12:26 PM

        [deleted]

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          July 31, 2009 12:29 PM

          I sense that it will get old in a few weeks, but for now, and with shackers, it's fantastic... especially when you get good team games going.

          It's awesome to see groups of priests and DPS in this great back and forth melee.

        • reply
          July 31, 2009 1:31 PM

          We need to play sometime! Add me!

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      July 31, 2009 12:21 PM

      Is this game going to be available for PC? I am sure as hell not going to buy a ps3 for this game.

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      July 31, 2009 2:47 PM

      i can't decide which is better for the ranger, the gun or the bow

      the gun hits pretty hard but the spread means if they are far enough away they don't take as much damage, and the bow seems to fire faster. any point bothering with the gun?

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        July 31, 2009 3:50 PM

        I always charge the front line, let a fully charged shotgun shot off in someones face, then pull back firing arrows. both weapons are deadly in their own right.

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      July 31, 2009 3:48 PM

      ok the worker upgrade is by far the most important and should be done first. not only do the big bombs fuck shit up, but the worker becomes a viable offensive class.

      If you guys havent tried TDM yet, make sure you do. there is a fucking hilarious soccer level.

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