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TSL vs the Originals vs the VGA

Started by daventry, October 24, 2014, 02:58:45 PM

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Numbers

Well, I've already stated some reasons above, but to go more in-depth, Blood 2 simply doesn't have the lovably malicious spirit that the original had. The weapons got nerfed hard in between games, and the napalm cannon that was so useful for burning zombies in 1 is completely underwhelming in 2, to the point that there's really no use in using it.

Some enemies explode violently when they die, but you're given no warning that it's going to happen, and would have no idea to stay away from them until after you've already gotten blasted at least once. The most powerful weapons in the game have barely any ammo laying around for you to find. Some enemies take way too long to kill, and the satisfaction you get of destroying the opposition in 1 is lost in 2 where you realize you're better off just running past everything. Small enemies called Bone Leeches attack you by jumping on your face, and the manual that comes with the game never says how you're supposed to get them off, leaving you to die wondering what you did wrong.

In Blood 1, everything was made with 2D sprites, allowing more detailed and grisly death animations for enemies that get blown up. In Blood 2, the engine is a very early 3D engine, meaning that environments are mostly undetailed, most enemies look the same, and they all generally die the same, too--either just falling over or blowing up into undetailed chunks.

The antagonists are almost completely nonthreatening, especially by comparison to the creepy abominations you had to fight in 1. While Blood 1 didn't have the hardest final boss, Blood 2's final boss is downright pathetic by comparison. Blood 1's final boss is a giant skeletal minotaur that could kill you simply by looking at you. Blood 2's final boss is an immobile, nondescript blob with an eyeball sticking out. Gee, I wonder what its weak spot is?

And last, but not least, Caleb himself. You see this picture of him here? You see how he looks like a combination of my avatar and the Disturbed mascot?



This is a character that is supposed to be threatening. Vicious. Almost feral. In Blood 1, he sings "Ring Around the Rosie" while in a city that just came under a firebombing attack. He kills indiscriminately, whether it be his true enemies or just innocent people who get in the way. He throws dynamite at zombies and cackles when they explode into chunky kibbles. His favorite weapon is dual-wielding flare guns, which obviously burns up anyone who gets hit by one. He goes to a carnival and looks for any excuse possible to kill the mimes he finds there, and when he sees an attraction for JoJo, one of the carnival employees, he appears to forget why he's there in the first place and chants "I want JoJo! I want JoJo!" When he kills Cerberus, a two-headed dog monster, he says, "Good doggy. Play dead." In short, he's a sadistic, intimidating force of nature.

In Blood 2, though...he is easily outsmarted over and over again by the new (and very wussy) big bad, gets caught in multiple train crashes, whimpers "Make the hurting stop" whenever he gets attacked, and upon being told that he has the fate of the world on his hands, his reaction, rather than being "How exciting!" is more like "I don't care."

You starting to get the picture here?
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

stika

Ah I see. So they messed with the mood and themes.

Numbers

Not to mention the voice acting was atrocious. Only the person voicing Caleb himself put forth any effort into his acting.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

stika

Well that's a shame. This does make me wanna get the bigbox version of the original Blood. Of course, my main issue is, I'd have nowhere to put it. I own about 50-60 Big Box PC games

Numbers

I've long since ditched bigbox games. It's Steam and Origin for me all the way, baby. No hassle with CDs getting ruined or broken, no worries about there being too much space taken up on my PC thanks to being able to install and uninstall everything on a whim, and so on.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

stika

Oh, I'm too much of a show-off to ditch my dos games. I own over 300 games across various system, not counting digital games.

Jack Stryker

I remember back when I used to play Blood with my Queen's greatest hits CD in the computer and certain songs would be played on certain levels.  It would start with We Will Rock You on the title screen, then the first level of episode 1 would play Another One Bites the Dust, followed by Killer Queen on the next level, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love on the next.  The only other one I remember is We Are the Champions playing on the final boss level.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for me anymore, when playing the game on DosBox.  Plus, I actually had to use the "keymaster" code at one point because there was a key missing from its usual spot in a certain level of episode 3.  (I even watched a playthrough of the level to find out where the key was and checked that exact spot, but still couldn't find it.)

Lately though, I've been playing the old Die Hard dos game that I used to watch my brothers play when I was a kid.  They never could get very far though, since they didn't have the manual; which had the codes for disabling the security system and allowing you to get upstairs.  But I recently found a guide that had the controls and the security codes, and have gotten as far as dropping the computer bomb down the elevator shaft to blow up the guys shooting at the Police.  Ironically, my biggest problem is with the unarmed bad guys who can somehow punch as fast as the Flash.

stika

What Die Hard games are those? Die Hard Trilogy?

Jack Stryker

No, this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcPnf7JkOkI

Sadly, nobody's posted a full game playthrough as of yet though.  And as you can see, it's a bit complicated for those who don't understand its controls.

stika

Oh wow. I had never even heard of this game. The 3D graphics look pretty amazing considering the hardware. Interesting to think how many games based on Die Hard there are. Many of them are really good too.