Dystopia (HL2)

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-09-11 04:17pm

I just started playing this mod, and it's fun. It's really fun. Cyberpunk stuff, there is a nice helping of firepower to choose from, several different classes, and from there a variety of weapons, implants and stuff to better find and kill the other team. The missions are objective based, caputre spawn points, hack stuff, it's neat. Hacking is sorta crazy, the smaller classes can get implants that let them hack into places, and you get put into a Tron style 3d world where you have to run around and uhh, do stuff. I haven't really figured out what you do in there, but it's kinda cool, like Tron.

In short, play this mod, it's fun, and perhaps the first really orignal mod for HL2 that I've seen.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2005-09-11 04:48pm

I've been waiting for this mod for a loooong time. I'm kind of dissapointed that we only have a demo version, but it gives a little something to do.

Jacking into the computer system allows you to manipulate things connected to the system, including doors, turrets, and core shields. In most cases you take a risk while jacked in, because you don't know what is really going on in the real word. Getting someone to cover you is the safest bet.

The weapons are decent, except - contrary to what you may have heard from some people - the shotty is very underpowered. You have to get right on top of guys to kill them in under 5 shots. Meanwhile they can let loose with the katana, laser gun, and auto rifle to kill you within a very short period of time. The bolt gun is also seriously fucked up and I have never seen anyone die to it.

The demo map has a sorta crappy layout. Punks start on a seperate building and have to jump onto the lower one to get inside the corporate office. This leads to camping and other bullshit. Once things settle down outside the game boils down to camping the doors. Eventually corporate gets pushed back to their core and will probably lose before time runs out.

Visually, things are looking good for a 3rd party mod but it could be better. The skyboxes need worked on, there is a serious need for normal maps, and the architecture is too boxy. Texture work is great, as pretty much every other 3rd party source mod consists of 90% Valve media assets. Models are some of the best I've seen from any mod, ever, but would look even better with some normal mapping.

Despite the problems, alot of which I'm sure are due to this thing being a demo, it's fun and good to kill time with. I hope they don't take forever in releasing a beta.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-09-11 05:07pm

The bolt gun is wierd, it seems that when you hit, it does a good deal of damage (esp against unarmored targets), and when it misses you can have it discharge, which I've never acutually seen anyone close enough to take damage from it.
The shotgun is a great weapon, ya you need to be close, but that's the kind of loadout you chose. Unlike the Katana it can't be blocked, and has some range, it's a good weapon, double barrel hit to the face does a lot of damage. The laser sniper is good, it's got the charge up, but you've got to really know your target otherwise it'll fizzel after the third second, it's good, makes sniping more challenging.

I've acutally found that the assault rifle is a fairly weak weapon, though really, I don't know any of the medium suit's weapons, but that's me; it's a support class, and I think it's got good weapons for it.

Light is generally fun for me, fast, stealthy, good. I like it.

Heavy is a little slow, but has some fun weapons. Most of all, I like the power fist, get into a little room with a bunch of enemies and power jump. From what I've seen, it's a 1 hit kill against the smaller classes, 2 against heavy. No one really expects it from a big lumbering robot. The minigun is fun, the rocket launcher is a little difficult to use with some of the lag that I've seen (it comes and goes), and the ion cannon is an all around deadly weapon, if you can manage to hit someone with it

I would definatly call this an early release. Beta, demo, it's all the same, an early release so people can start playing the game. It's a damn fine release too. The map is pretty entertaining, the features seem to be in place. It's really the first quality, orignal, mod for HL2.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2005-09-11 07:52pm

I just downloaded it today and played for an hour or so... Visually, it's very nice (Although for some reason my comp seems to freeze up horrendously when grenades are thrown around). I played around with a variety of stuff - light, medium, heavy, shotgun, assault rifle, ion cannon, grenade launcher, assault rifle, regular rifle, etc. It's really a well-done mod, and I think it has the potential to be a great mod. Gameplay is kinda disappointing though - I didn't get the chance to go into cyberspace at all, since people were hogging the terminals. And the maps seem to be pretty much one-dimensional - a map with multiple routes would've been nice, instead of having two teams just faceoff in one hallway.

The assault rifle is a nice weapon - I ended up getting the awards for most kills and best accuracy for that weapon after joining late. Good damage and decent accuracy - my only gripe is that you don't start with enough ammo. After getting into a couple fights, I find myself having to rely on my pistol.

The regular rifle has decent accuracy and damage, but I found it unsuitable for heavy firefights.

Shotgun is kinda weak you really need to get upclose to use it, not to mention you only have 6 shells...

I like the ion cannon. Accurate and good damage, like a railgun.

Grenade launcher seems only useful against groups of enemies - for some reason, I couldn't get my alt-fire working.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2005-09-11 09:25pm

I played this for an hour or so today too. It's pretty neat, the Corps medium class reminds of of the Blueeyes armour from the Final Fantasy film. The character models are probably the best looking part of the mod. The weapons are ok, though the animations on the minigun are a bit juttery. Sounds for weapons are fairly good too. Hamel is right about the blocky nature of the terrain. The urban architecture is a bit bland too, but I'll withhold judgement on that until more maps are out.

The HUD is quite interesting, it's quite close to what I'd imagine a high tech powerarmour to have, though the friendly target boxes can get in the way if theres serveral in the area.

The implants are all quite balanced, and useful, but not dominating. I quite like the sound implant that allows you to see sound, sort of. Helps improve my situational awareness in a fight.

The maps are not as one dimensional as you think. There are at 2 backdoors after you jump out of the sewers, round the side of the lobby. Theres also a ladder + trapdoor that can be hacked to give you a side entrance just before the double doorway. There are quite a few choke points, but there needs to be heh.

As for the door camping, I used to play planetside, so it's second nature to me

. I've noticed a fair amount of Planetside influence in the mod. A dash of Tribes as well.

Still, it'll be interesting to see how the mod shapes out. I'd like to see a few more weapons maybe. Some nice clunky footstep noises for the heavies.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-09-11 11:47pm

After a little bit of work, I've found the bolt rifle to be a deadly and effective weapon. Best used as an indirect fire weapon, you fire it next to a target/group of targets, and set it off with secondary fire. It's got a good area of affect and does considerable damage.

I'm also warming up to the assault rifle.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2005-09-12 02:07am

Assault Rifle+Tac-Scanner+Medical Implant+SCS (Battery) make for a damn good supporting unit for any group of Heavies- as long as your energy holds out, they've got regenerating health and can see enemies waiting around corners and through walls.

Not sure why, but I always get the most satisfaction out of playing the support class.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-09-12 07:02am

Support is definatly fun, if you are the only guy in a big group with the med implant, however, you will run out of juice very fast, moreso if you use your sensors a lot. I find that sometimes it's best to just take the thermal vision and turn it on/off now and then to check for cloakers. As useful as the tac scan is, a lot of times half the team has it, so instead of wasting valuable heal juice, just pop on thermal vision for spotting/killing cloakers.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2005-09-12 10:34am

InnocentBystander wrote:*snip*

True; I find that it varies between servers, but last night every match I joined had an inordinate number of heavies and lights, with (in one case) only a single Corp Medium armed with a grenade launcher. In more Med-heavy games, the Tac-Scan's redundant unless no-one else on the team wants to expend that much energy.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2005-09-12 08:50pm

I played a bit more today, and I think teams were a little more organized this time around...

Still haven't tried the boltgun yet. But the grenade launcher now that I've figured out how to use secondary fire mode, rocks. I got the most kills and best ratio on the server with the weapon, while attaining an over 100% accuracy rating. Immense damage, fast reloads - I'm almost tempted to say it should be nerfed.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-09-12 08:55pm

care to elaborate on how it works, eah?

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2005-09-13 08:20pm

InnocentBystander wrote:care to elaborate on how it works, eah?

Alt fire? You have to hold down alt-fire then click primary fire. Keep in mind while you hold down alt-fire, it won't reload. The game registers one shot that damages two players as 200% accuracy and so forth, hence how it's possible to get over 100% accuracy.