Join our Splinter Cell: Blacklist rampage*... today 12 July!

[david]

I'd be super-pleased if you would join Kwisatz and I for a 'Splinter Cell: Blacklist' session this Saturday, 12 July between 6 and 10 pm UTC.

All GOAT friends and visitors welcome!

PS. Ok, fair enough, I admit that 'rampage' does apply to 'Borderlands 2' but is somewhat of a misnomer as applied to SC:B, more like 'consider your approach options, have a getaway plan if things go wrong, sneak about, and quietly kill or k.o. (virtual) people from close range'.

[evilkinggumby]

haha does it have a spectator mode where I can watch? that would ROCK.

Sadly, as I mentioned before, I don't have the free cash to grab this game just yet. But I hope you guys have fun. If you grabbed that headset, I am sure it'll be hella good times.

[david]

haha does it have a spectator mode where I can watch?

Sorry EvilKing, no spectator mode... but hopefully you'll be able to join us soon

[KwisatzHaderach]

Sorry david that I can't make it earlier. 1 am is not exactly the best time to start playing games
I'm on child-watching duty today though, so I my hands are tied (we're playing cops and robbers and I'm writing this with my mouth. Get me outta heeeeeere!). I hope I'll be on time.

So how should this go down? I haven't ever used the abomination that is UPlay for playing with friends an I see that david uses Steam to launch Blacklist anyway. Will we use Steam chat (bad quality, high delay), Mumble, Teamspeak, Skype?

Seeing I've never played Blacklist (downloading it now) and haven't played a SC since Chaos Theory I'd prefer some co-op missions before entering spy vs. mercs.

[david]

no worries Kwisatz, I totally understand, kidz before gamez! Playtime with your kidz sounds fun, but I hope they release you sometime today

Yes, coop would probably be best to start with. Because you'll be the host (less lag for you), I don't think we'll get the option to play the Kobin missions until after you've rescued him early in the single player campaign.

...here are the three playstyles (I normally play panther, but I'm totally happy playing whatever style you favor):
Ghost - non-lethal stealth, I think with maximum points for totally avoiding everyone and being never seen
Panther - lethal stealth, killing or k.o. everyone without raising the alarm
Assault - open warfare. using grenades and loud weapons


...and here are the co-op missions
Grim - ghost or panther, no assault... we can't raise the alarm so these missions can be tricky if you are fresh to things
Charlie - horde mode, which means panther or assault to kill waves of enemies
Briggs - mix of all 3 styles
Kobin - panther or assault, must kill or k.o. everyone on the level.. but if we raise the alarm, the guards get a lot of reinforcements (they roughly double in number)

Before you join, I'll try the headset to see if there is a native comms option.

[KwisatzHaderach]

That was a neat session! David and I had a great time hacking our way through enemy lines and always finding new solutions for tackling our next objectives.

In plain text: we couldn't connect I'm talking about on a technological level you meanies Because, while we didn't even fire one shot or dodged into one shadow, we still had a great time fighting modern game's bugginess. Here are some pictures of david and me putting up a real show against these connectivity shenanigans:





But alas! Then uPlay showed up and we had to postbone our fight for transcontinental cooperative entertainment.

Meet uPlay:



So, unil next time we will try to figure something out. Maybe some portforwarding will do the trick. Or some magic. Do you like magic?



Alright, enough of the silly pics... I hope we'll find something to fix the issue. Otherwise I might just try B2 for next week.

[david]

As Kwisatz says, on Saturday night we tried for about one and a half hours to get things going... but we couldn't connect for co-op or Spies V Mercs. I was feeling guilty as heck, because I had recommended the game

Happily, the very next day, Sunday, Kwisatz managed to adjust his port forwarding settings and we had a co-op session: it was a blast!



Honestly, we weren't very stealthy. In fact, between both of us (and I'm also 100% responsible) we alerted just about EVERYONE and their cat. But with some frantic gunplay, and some nice bits of stealth here and there, we managed to scramble our way to a tight -but really, really fun- victory. Kwisatz rightly observed that ('cos we kept alerting people) our playstyle was a lot closer to a frantic BL2 assault than SC:B cool 'n controlled stealth.

Funniest moment award: me trying frantically to squeeze behind the same tiny of cover that Kwisatz is using while a guard is coming... there was only room for Kwisatz.. who laughs at me safely from cover as I'm stuck 100% visible out in the open.. busted!

[KwisatzHaderach]

Hoy,

I'll be having a NS2 reunion tomorrow night, so, unforunately I won't be able to play Blacklist with you. But if my schedule allows I might be on tomorrow from around 10:00 am to 12 am UTC. I'd be delighted to give our "panthering" a second try (although, going in guns ablaze was a lot of fun too).

[evilkinggumby]

I am away this weekend for our anniversary but I grabbed splinter cell blacklist off the humble store thanks to David's fyi so.. maybe next weekend?

[david]

@EvilKing... have an excellent weekend, and just let me know when your available for BL2 or SCB.

@Kwisatz... terrific, See you online at that time!