[PS3] Killzone 2

[patsu]

There have been a few parts where you're split up and I've wondered if Sidekick was invincible at those times. When we're together he seems to drop really quick, usually stepping out from around a corner to fire at someone that's clearly behind cover. The best place I've found him dead was lying on top of a pile of fragments from exploded barrels.

He does take cover, but he doesn't seem to like to stay in it and he doesn't seem to like to blind fire.

Which level are you at now ?

In KZ2, I don't stay behind cover or at least the same cover too. I certainly can't blind fire. I move constantly to reset their AI states. I am usually in front of the friendly AI. When I stay behind them, it's because I'm recovering.

In Resistance 2, I stayed behind the AI instead (because they are invincible).

The AI hasn't really hindered me, but it hasn't helped either.

Yes, it certainly sounds like you're not able to exploit the friendly AI effectively because they are not invincible like many other games. Usually when Garza or Rico exposes himself, I'd snipe the enemies one by one, or flank them. When I played the first 3 Veteran levels, I distinctively remember Garza being a great help. e.g., When destroying the lightning gun, he informed me whenever the cannon was exposed. This allowed me to toggle between the gun sight view and the hip shot view quickly. He was also able to pick off the incoming enemies from behind cover when they charged towards the cannon. At that time, my aiming was still abyssal for targeting running enemies.

I also find them useful for identifying flanking units. When I stayed near them, they'd usually notice where the enemies were faster than me. In actual combat, I'm usually all over the place.

Never noticed. I'm pretty sure I killed Rico enough last night that I should have found out

There is a video on this. Let me find it. They may forget about attacking you if enemies are present.


EDIT:

You could make a whole meta game of Elite difficulty by trying to keep your partner alive. It's like they hate life and just want it over with.

Ha ha, yeah Elite would be different. I don't intend to play it unless I have a lot of time on hand.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Right now I'm at a mission where

Spoiler

you're escorting a tank across a bridge, and you have to lower a section of the bridge for it to cross, I think. You follow a path below which leads you to an AA gun that you have to destroy.

My general play style is to be aggressive against small groups, but very conservative when outnumbered. I identify a few spots that are easy to defend and relatively close together. I try to pick spots where I can see all of paths the enemy might take to get at me. A few at a time, I'll bait them in and mow them down quickly. If they hang back, I'll move until I can pot shot them one by one. Once their numbers are small, I rush and kill of the remainder. That's generally how I play on the higher difficulty levels of most shooters.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

You can be delusional and make up stories all you want. I was just trying to help you understand why you and others like you were facing opposition. You can take my advice and tone it down or do with it what you like.

I think people are getting the wrong gist. Scott_Arm isn't criticisng any living human. His post is far less offensive or antagonistic or poorly directed than Zero Punctuation's. He was venting his complaints about the AI as a personification, but there's no-one's feelings to get hurt here. Except maybe the game developer who was responsible for coding the chump's AI routines.

I can add my own vents. The Sidekick is a moron! In the last battle he won't turn around to face the badguy who is shooting him in the back, and will watch the psycho chase after me with a knife. "Look out Sev!" he warns. Ummm, why not point that big metal object your holding at him and pull the dangling bit so if makes a loud noise. Probably a bit more use to me than pointing out the blindingly obvious! Rico's behaviour is imbecilic. Now we can be all PC about it as if we were talking about a real person...

"Regards the game's comrade, I'm not sure about the life choices Rico is making. Much as I respect his freedom to choose his own path when addressing the problems of an escalated aggression, IMHO I'm not sure he is best served by turning his back on the source of his troubles, but rather he would do well to keep an eye on his assailant and perhaps seek cover in the face of persistent gunfire. Also, though I appreciate I may just be missing something here, I feel I would be better served with some physical support, perhaps in the form of firearm use by Rico, when I myself am being pursued by a dogged and very mobile aggressor. I have felt at times that I wasn't getting the support I needed. Rico's words of encouragement are appreciated, of course, and I certainly don't want to take that away from him. I would certainly prefer if he saw the world the same way I did though, and he would provide a more visceral and proactive form of aid. Still, that said, I value the company of a fellow virtual human-being in these trying times, and I do thank him for his contributions and trying his best, which, after all, is all we can ask of anyone."

...but at the end of the day, he's a numpty that deserves a couple of headshots every now and then from annoyed partners. KZ2 would have been much, much, much better with human coop.

 

[patsu]

My general play style is to be aggressive against small groups, but very conservative when outnumbered. I identify a few spots that are easy to defend and relatively close together. I try to pick spots where I can see all of paths the enemy might take to get at me. A few at a time, I'll bait them in and mow them down quickly. If they hang back, I'll move until I can pot shot them one by one. Once their numbers are small, I rush and kill of the remainder. That's generally how I play on the higher difficulty levels of most shooters.

Wise choice ! If you experiment with the knife more, you may be able to execute one more strategy i.e., charge to a covered spot next to the enemies and then move in to eradicate them quickly. When doing so, your friendly AI's fire or any grenade throw is helpful to distract them.

EDIT: Be careful of Helghasts with shotgun or knife though. ^_^

 

[patsu]

can add my own vents. The Sidekick is a moron! In the last battle he won't turn around to face the badguy who is shooting him in the back, and will watch the psycho chase after me with a knife. "Look out Sev!" he warns. Ummm, why not point that big metal object your holding at him and pull the dangling bit so if makes a loud noise. Probably a bit more use to me than pointing out the blindingly obvious! Rico's behaviour is imbecilic. Now we can be all PC about it as if we were talking about a real person...

If you see this behaviour, then there is probably a bug in the implementation (as betan pointed out in his post). Was this in the balcony ?

I remember reading in GAF that sometimes the friendly AI may get stucked. e.g., In one instance, Garza yelled for help -- without firing -- when attacked repeatedly by an electric spider.

 

[scificube]

You could make a whole meta game of Elite difficulty by trying to keep your partner alive. It's like they hate life and just want it over with.

This suggestion makes me lol because its more or less true. However, its not as if its easy to stay alive on Elite for human players either the first time you cross swords with that difficulty level.

I personally find it comical how badly the Helghast molest your ISA buddies. The only time I've had any misgivings though is considering by what manner of magic can the ISA ever possibly contend with the Helghast when the Helghast are seemingly so much more capable soldiers. If not for the ISA/UCA's vast resources the Helghast would utterly destroy them IMO.

 

[DrJay24]

If you're seeing this behaviour, then there is probably a bug in the implementation (as betan pointed out in his post). Was this in the balcony ?

It is a bug, I saw him kneel down and look away from Radec for some time. It's not AI it is a glitch.

 

[Cornsnake]

I think the buddy AI gets worse as you progress through the game, which might have been GG's intention. Garza isn't half bad at the start of the game, while Rico is pretty much useless. But then again, if you were expecting any sort of intelligent behaviour from Rico, you haven't been following the story very well.

 

[specwarGP2]

specwarGP2, you still have issues with the new control scheme ?

The new control scheme is a better, but that's not saying much since I thought the original scheme wasn't great to begin with. Instead of complaining about it though, I ended up trading it for RE5 which will keep me busy while I wait for COD6.

I'm a disappointed it turned out this way because I really wanted to like KZ2, and cant help but think that in the long run the unconventional aiming model will probably keep it from being the premier shooter on PS3.

 

[DrJay24]

I think the buddy AI gets worse as you progress through the game, which might have been GG's intention. Garza isn't half bad at the start of the game, while Rico is pretty much useless. But then again, if you were expecting any sort of intelligent behaviour from Rico, you haven't been following the story very well.

Natko kicks some butt in the cruiser level at the end. He was taking down Higs with his shotgun before I could get a shot off. I think the A.I. is dependent on the level geometry and placement of enemies. It as good as any other friendly A.I. if not better at the normal and easy difficulties.

 

[Kittonwy]

I'm on my first playthrough. I picked the highest difficulty available to me, whatever that is.

The AI seems to want me to play aggressively. He's always rushing out of cover. I don't want to rush. I have no problems playing a conservative tactical approach. If he stuck close to me and took cover more often, I'd be ok. There have been fights where I've revived him 10 times, if not more. So there isn't much use. I usually just wait for him to revive when the fight is over. The only reason I started killing him was for my own amusement. It didn't seem to hurt me any.

I haven't played with the knife much, because I don't like the location of the button. Maybe I'll have to get used to it.

You don't have to follow the AI actually, you can fight however way you want. On veteran and elite I basically played it safe. You don't have to expose yourself to enemy fire to heal him, it's not like the game will be over if you just let Rico or Garza lie there and bleed.

 

[Kittonwy]

The new control scheme is a better, but that's not saying much since I thought the original scheme wasn't great to begin with. Instead of complaining about it though, I ended up trading it for RE5 which will keep me busy while I wait for COD6.

I'm a disappointed it turned out this way because I really wanted to like KZ2, and cant help but think that in the long run the unconventional aiming model will probably keep it from being the premier shooter on PS3.

So you basically traded from KZ2 to completely shit aiming in RE5, that's like trading down from an acura to a broken-down hyundai. Good god.

 

[Kittonwy]

This suggestion makes me lol because its more or less true. However, its not as if its easy to stay alive on Elite for human players either the first time you cross swords with that difficulty level.

I personally find it comical how badly the Helghast molest your ISA buddies. The only time I've had any misgivings though is considering by what manner of magic can the ISA ever possibly contend with the Helghast when the Helghast are seemingly so much more capable soldiers. If not for the ISA/UCA's vast resources the Helghast would utterly destroy them IMO.

You have to take into account how it's just you and one other ISA soldier most of the time and you're facing wave after wave of helghasts.

 

[tha_con]

The new control scheme is a better, but that's not saying much since I thought the original scheme wasn't great to begin with. Instead of complaining about it though, I ended up trading it for RE5 which will keep me busy while I wait for COD6.

I'm a disappointed it turned out this way because I really wanted to like KZ2, and cant help but think that in the long run the unconventional aiming model will probably keep it from being the premier shooter on PS3.

It's not the control scheme, it absolutely is the acceleration. Please be more specific.

The button layout (aka control scheme) is fine, absolutely fine, it's just that the way the aiming is handled through acceleration is a little difficult.

I really enjoy the Single Player, it's very fun, especially since the AI is so commendable. The Multi-Player, however...is not so noteworthy, IMO.

Still, I hope you enjoy RE5. I really wanted to get into it, but I can't get past the fact that you cannot aim and move. In fact, I feel Dead Space is a much better game.

 

[Archgamer]

KZ2 multiplayer is horribly broken right now. I just played couple of rounds today and I'll have to said it was nothing more then rocket/grenade fest. I had this guy who ran in front of me and shot the ground with his rocket. It killed me and 3 others to go along with his own death.

 

[Arwin]

Well, I played a few sessions just now and had a really great time! I guess my advantage is that I'm still playing in the lower levels (made it up to Sergeant tonight, close to the 1st Sergeant actually). Got four ribbons in my last playsession, among which 10% of all kills or something. I'm getting really, really good at shooting people from long range with the standard rifle and there was a particular map that recommends sniper rifles (which noone had) so that helped with that too. I was racking up some serious headshots. My K/D rate is now up to and just over 1:1

 

[specwarGP2]

So you basically traded from KZ2 to completely shit aiming in RE5, that's like trading down from an acura to a broken-down hyundai. Good god.

First of all, the Resident Evil series has always had bad aiming - since the very first game. That's part of the game mechanic. Why do you think the zombies move so damn slow?

Second, are you (Killzone fanboy) really criticizing another game for having a bad aiming model? That's like a 300lb fatguy criticizing a 400lb fatguy for eating too much.

 

[vanquish]

KZ2 is much better than RE5, even the controls are in a different league (especially post patch).
RE5 is positively archaic, it plays like a decade old game given a facelift.
Capcom's own Dead Rising makes for a much more interesting zombie game (even with it's flaws)

BTW i'm on the last part of the Palace level, and I seem to have a problem with the checkpoints. I got the one where you have to run up the stairs and take over the 2nd floor balcony, but after that there doesn't seem to be any more checkpoints.

Which means if you die in one of the waves of enemies (or a stray grenade or Radec shooting your flank while taking cover), you have to restart the whole section again.

Is there a checkpoint?

PS: And the friendly AI is rather poor, I remember on the Salamun Bridge level, it kept standing out in the open and getting shot, forcing me to run out of cover and revive him and get back without dying, and often he would just again fail to take cover and get downed again, causing me to repeat the process.
I don't like it when the actions of the friendly AI increases the risk of you dying yourself, they should be more like Gears' AI, where they can revive each other so you don't have to run around reviving everyone (eg. the end of Visari Square).

 

[specwarGP2]

It's not the control scheme, it absolutely is the acceleration. Please be more specific.

The button layout (aka control scheme) is fine, absolutely fine, it's just that the way the aiming is handled through acceleration is a little difficult.

I'm sorry. I thought I clarified at the end of my post when I said I had issue with the aiming model.

I really enjoy the Single Player, it's very fun, especially since the AI is so commendable. The Multi-Player, however...is not so noteworthy, IMO.

Still, I hope you enjoy RE5. I really wanted to get into it, but I can't get past the fact that you cannot aim and move. In fact, I feel Dead Space is a much better game.

Single player was fun, but after one or two plays I was pretty much done with it. I tried playing multi but it seemed not fun, and the unconventional aiming model started to deteriorate my skill at COD4, so I decided to trade it.

You really should give RE5 a try. I thought not being able to move and shoot at the same time was weird too, but as your weapons get more powerful its much less of an issue. Dead Space and RE5 look similar but play very differently. I dont even consider RE5 a shooter.

 

[obonicus]

Is there a checkpoint?

When I played, there was a checkpoint right as Radec showed up to fight you himself.

As to allies helping each other I agree... except that you usually don't see more than one ally through most of the game. It'd make one or two sections better, but that's about it.


Tangentially-related, is anyone having trouble logging into the PSN?