Metro: Last Light

[Raapys]

Frankly, I'd rather the whole thing be given to the Stalker devs.

They ARE the STALKER devs, those that are responsible for the good parts of STALKER (engine, underground levels, etc.) anyway.

After 4A guys left GSC, GSC had done nothing but recycling old stuff.

Well, they were part of that group. But, it's not as if the 4a guys have done differently; LastLight is also a recycling of 2033, in the same way the Stalker sequels were. And the 4a guys went with consoles, railroaded gameplay and cutscenes. They've made a good-looking game engine and they make excellent game art, but thats really all they've done. The story and setting is someone else's creation. Unlike the Stalker devs that continued on that game, these guys lack ambition.

 

[J_C]

Don't forget that Metro is playable, while the AMBITIOUS Stalker was a unplayable mess for months, while it was in development for 6 fucking years. This has nothing to do with ambition, the 4A devs wanted to make a story focused linear game based on a novell. Plus they are a smaller studio than GSC, making an open world game takes much more resources.

 

[anus_pounder]

Yay. Finished the game. Got the 'good' ending as well. Thought it was a decent game tbh. If they make a 3rd in the series or a similar game in general, I would definitely give it a try.

 

[toro]

Frankly, I'd rather the whole thing be given to the Stalker devs.

Meh, in shooters, I don't like open world games, Metro LL is better off being a linear game. Open world games are boring most of the time, because you can't make a tight story.

And somehow Fallout's story implementation bitch slaps this argument every time.

Umm...why is that exactly? I don't think Fallout's story implementation is so amazing.

Doesn't really matter anyway, the point is that Metro 2034 would work in a open-word setting. And it's a shame that the devs limited themselves to deliver a linear experience with almost zero-replayability instead of trying to spice up the things a little bit.

Adding 2-3 side-quests in each location would have made wonders. The overall story would have remained the same, but the player would had more time to learn things about each location instead of walking like a retard through some exposition.

And yes, this is lack of ambition from A4's part. The game is still good, but they missed this huge opportunity for no reason what-so-ever.

 

[Raapys]

Don't forget that Metro is playable, while the AMBITIOUS Stalker was a unplayable mess for months, while it was in development for 6 fucking years. This has nothing to do with ambition, the 4A devs wanted to make a story focused linear game based on a novell. Plus they are a smaller studio than GSC, making an open world game takes much more resources.

The latter part is certainly true, but I disagree about this not being a question of ambition. Well, maybe we instead should call it 'being realistic'. But I've no doubt they want(ed) to do much more with the game and setting.

If we see it as two scales, one being the ambition of the game's design and the other being how well that design was achieved, I'd say Metro scores around 5/10 or so on the first, and around 8/10 or maybe even 9 on the second. Stalker is more like 9 on the first and 7 on the second, varying with each of the three games. In that regard it reminds me a bit of Morrowind vs Daggerfall. And in my mind, though I like both Morrowind and Metro, Daggerfall and Stalker will always remain higher on my list. You can really feel the ambition that went into those games, and they're also good enough, execution-wise, that they don't need to be carried by the ambition alone.

 

[Berekän]

Been playing this, the hardcore ranger difficulty is now less lethal than in 2033

 

[anus_pounder]

Apparently military-grade ammo = incendiary rounds? Or is that just the Kalash 2012.

 

[Zewp]

I have no idea. I got an incendiary weapon early into the game, so I thought it was a weapon mod, then later when I swapped it out the new weapon was still incendiary. I kept switching to military rounds by accident when reloading, so I guess the rounds are incendiary.

 

[Surf Solar]

Apparently military-grade ammo = incendiary rounds? Or is that just the Kalash 2012.

Yeah I noticed that too and wondered why the monsters suddenly were put on fire.

Also, fuck those monsters. I am playing on the second to last difficulty setting and while I have no problem killing the human enemies (I don't like stealth) with quick headshots, those fucking Nosalis in the Catacombs rip me a new one. I never have any ammo left halfway through the level, it's just so many of them. Sneaking past them doesn't work either. That level is really a bitch..

Also, liking that the game hints at a new book soon to come (Metro 2035). Yay! Did you notice that the guy who frees you from captivity/interrogation in the first part of the game is a major character in Metro 2034 book?

 

[anus_pounder]

Apparently military-grade ammo = incendiary rounds? Or is that just the Kalash 2012.

Yeah I noticed that too and wondered why the monsters suddenly were put on fire.

Also, fuck those monsters. I am playing on the second to last difficulty setting and while I have no problem killing the human enemies (I don't like stealth) with quick headshots, those fucking Nosalis in the Catacombs rip me a new one. I never have any ammo left halfway through the level, it's just so many of them. Sneaking past them doesn't work either. That level is really a bitch..

Also, liking that the game hints at a new book soon to come (Metro 2035). Yay! Did you notice that the guy who frees you from captivity/interrogation in the first part of the game is a major character in Metro 2034 book?

Wait, who? Pavel? Can't believe I forgot the game's plot in less than 48 hours.

Yeah, those catacombs were annoying. First time in the game I had to resort to MGA. Admittedly it was my fault for not taking a shotgun along.

 

[Raapys]

I used those fire grenades in one area( while waiting for the 'elevator' ) in the catacombs, as it would just drain all my ammo trying to kill them. Just find a corner and keep one or two fires burning and let them walk into it. For the rest of it you can try to use throwing knives, unless there are too many around.

 

[Surf Solar]

Apparently military-grade ammo = incendiary rounds? Or is that just the Kalash 2012.

Yeah I noticed that too and wondered why the monsters suddenly were put on fire.

Also, fuck those monsters. I am playing on the second to last difficulty setting and while I have no problem killing the human enemies (I don't like stealth) with quick headshots, those fucking Nosalis in the Catacombs rip me a new one. I never have any ammo left halfway through the level, it's just so many of them. Sneaking past them doesn't work either. That level is really a bitch..

Also, liking that the game hints at a new book soon to come (Metro 2035). Yay! Did you notice that the guy who frees you from captivity/interrogation in the first part of the game is a major character in Metro 2034 book?

Wait, who? Pavel? Can't believe I forgot the game's plot in less than 48 hours.

Yeah, those catacombs were annoying. First time in the game I had to resort to MGA. Admittedly it was my fault for not taking a shotgun along.

No no, I meant Leonid, the son of the communist general. He is a very prominent character in the second book.

What do you mean with MGA ? And yeah, quite having some difficulties going through that level..

 

[Zed]

Also, fuck those monsters. I am playing on the second to last difficulty setting and while I have no problem killing the human enemies (I don't like stealth) with quick headshots, those fucking Nosalis in the Catacombs rip me a new one. I never have any ammo left halfway through the level, it's just so many of them. Sneaking past them doesn't work either. That level is really a bitch..

I very often just ran past shit. It's fun being chased.

The most annoying parts to me have been the "wait for x to happen while fighting off waves of monsters" scenarios.

 

[anus_pounder]

No no, I meant Leonid, the son of the communist general. He is a very prominent character in the second book.

What do you mean with MGA ? And yeah, quite having some difficulties going through that level..

Oh him. Haven't read either of the novels so thats interesting.

MGA = Military Grade Ammo.

 

[Surf Solar]

Thing is, I wasted all my ammo (plus military ammo -.-) in the boss fight right before the church/catacombs (Moscow at night was so creepy btw). So I literally don't have anything left. Will try to run past those monsters as Zed mentionend. The way that level looks, there will be another bossfight there, though. I can hear something big growling and stomping there already

 

[Zed]

Thing is, I wasted all my ammo (plus military ammo -.-) in the boss fight right before the church/catacombs (Moscow at night was so creepy btw). So I literally don't have anything left. Will try to run past those monsters as Zed mentionend. The way that level looks, there will be another bossfight there, though. I can hear something big growling and stomping there already

I ran out of ammo there too. That's when I discovered that I had granades, knives and shit to use. Mines apparently deal crazy damage.

 

[Sodafish]

The most annoying parts to me have been the "wait for x to happen while fighting off waves of monsters" scenarios.

This. It's such a fucking tired cliche, and usually incredibly frustrating to boot.

 

[Zed]

The most annoying parts to me have been the "wait for x to happen while fighting off waves of monsters" scenarios.

This. It's such a fucking tired cliche, and usually incredibly frustrating to boot.

It was kinda cool once though (and this was also one of the few times I thought the game was quite challenging).

Spoiler

holding off ratbears while waiting for the guy with the raft. very atmospheric environments, and it really had me go "shit shit fuck shit" because I only had just enough shotgun ammo.

 

[chestburster]

Also, fuck those monsters. I am playing on the second to last difficulty setting and while I have no problem killing the human enemies (I don't like stealth) with quick headshots, those fucking Nosalis in the Catacombs rip me a new one. I never have any ammo left halfway through the level, it's just so many of them. Sneaking past them doesn't work either. That level is really a bitch..

Stealth past the nosalis is possible if you use night vision and throwing knives. Just throw knives to kill them when they are feeding on the dead bodies.

 

[toro]

The sonic boom mob from the Catacombs was awesome.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Angry Joe's review is here if anyone's interested. It's OK in my opinion, except the part where he says that sometimes the game is inmature, because they show boobs (don't mind that it only happens in one area). More hilareious, that he says that there is a missed opportunity here, they could have made some real romantic stuff in here, with mature sexual stuff. Like Mass Effect. LIKE MASS EFFECT? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...

If showing boobies makes the game become automatically immature, what does he mean by romances with mature sexual stuff? Maybe

Spoiler

?

 

[Trash]

That vehicle section? I love it. Absolutely love it. Creepiest part of the game. Especially if you like to explore all those crannies and nooks there.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yeah these spider caves were very scary

 

[Trash]

The one issue I have with Metro Last Light is that they've really skimped on the player being able to explore a bit off the beaten path. Glad to see it make a return in that vehicle section. Loved that while Metro 2033 was utterly railroaded you could find lots and lots of extra stuff if you just looked around.

Anyway, having a blast. Been awhile since I've had so much fun with a fps.

 

[Surf Solar]

The outdoor levels in the middle of the game (the swamps, moscow at night) are actually pretty open. I replayed the night level because I wanted to take some screenshots and was surprised how much stuff I missed on the first run.