The ANGST thread: Complain here!

[ShadowBrain]

I've finally tracked down who's responsible for all those crappy rip-offs of big-budget movies. Unfortunately, it's only because I watched the trailer for their latest piece of garbage under the assumption that it was a parody film.

[Glorb]

Dude, everyone's known about them. Besides, I Am Omage was better than the Will Smith version for the part when Robert Neville goes "I'M ****IN' ON YOU!!!!!!"

[ShadowBrain]

I wasn't implying no one else knew about them, rather that I had never really known (I mean, I kind of figured they were all by the same bunch, but I just didn't know their moniker).

[Chupperson Weird]

Man, the only one I even knew about was Snakes on a Train.

[Glorb]

SOAT was arguably better than the original. It had voodoo, and a giant snake eating the train whole.

EDIT: I just got done playing my first-ever game of TF2, and I can safely say I freaking hate it. For a game lauded for its straightforward map design, I find it weird that I was somehow able to get lost for a good minute in my own base. No matter what class I picked, my lifespan was reduced to circle-strafing around other dudes until a third dude from the other team picked me off. Either the only people who play the game are supergeniuses with catlike reflexes, or every single person who plays it has been playing since day one. Looks like I'm sticking to L4D.

[Toad]

I really want to bring some form of handheld entertainment to work for really slow days such as this. I haven't sold a single thing in at least an hour.

I would bring some handheld to work, but I'm afraid of getting it lost/stolen, dropping it in the sink, or getting cinnamon and frosting all over it. It's a pain in the butt to clean the place at night, and I don't want to have to go home and clean up my handhelds in a similar fashion.

[PaperLuigi]

Glorb, OF COURSE you're going to have a bad time if you get stuck inside your own base.

[Glorb]

The point is, it's a highly inaccessible game populated by almost nothing but mercilessly expert players. Valve keeps trying to reel in new players with their awesome Meet the Team videos and unlockable incentives, but the only way you're ever going to get anywhere is if you've already been playing since release, or at least for a long time. I don't want to join a game only to get gunned down by a sniper or backstabbed by a spy or mowed down by a sentry or circle-strafed to death by a scout within seconds of spawning. I want to hop in and shoot some dudes and shout meme catchphrases and feel some sense of satisfaction and achievement.

[PaperLuigi]

I guess I can sort of sympathize...I have my brother as a teammate (we switch off from time to time). He's an expert spy player and PRACTICALLY KNOWS when someone else is a disguised enemy spy.

So...yeah, I guess you have a point. I main with the soldier and I get most of my kills from disguised spys (thanks to my brother) and engineers stupid enough to stand by poorly placed sentries. Still, you'd have a better time if you'd...you know, train or something.

[Lizard Dude]

Out of curiosity, what competative games have you played online before TF2?

[PaperLuigi]

Me or Glorb?

[Glorb]

I was reasonably beast in Quake III on my old computer, played a buttload of all three Halos on my friend's Xbox, both Star Wars Battlefronts, HL2 Deathmatch, a few CS:S matches, and, of course, Left 4 Dead. I suppose I'm not that used to classes; I'm used to weapons-balancing, not class-balancing. Still, It was hard to find an all-around "general" class (which I suppose was entirely intentional); the closest is Pyro, and he's the also the closest I've gotten to having an enjoyable time in TF2.

I'm guessing the source of my frustration is that it's such a likeable game full of personality, that I want to like it, but can't. Oh well.

[TEM]

Dude, me and Suffix can train you. If you are able to be good at FPS in general you can do it with TF2.

[bobman37]

I felt the same way as a TF2 noob. Everyone killed me really really fast and I couldn't get any points and it sucked. Pyro was also my best one because I would just run around setting people on fire.

I won't lie to you: it is pretty frustrating when you start, as you've already experienced. But it's worth sticking it through, because it really is a good game.

How'd I do it? I mained the Spy. I played him for hours upon hours. I learned his tools and weapons and I died a lot. I hardly ever reached the enemy base before getting spy-checked and I rarely killed engineer buildings with my sappers (it's a tricky technique). And it was really frustrating. I don't think I even figured out I should cloak to cross the bridge in 2fort until a long time after having played. But the satisfaction I got from backstabbing an unsuspecting enemy was enormous. 10 deaths in a row are totally worth one really good backstab. I think I reached 14 hours played with the Spy before I got to like, 5 hours with anyone else. And, of course, I would die instantly after a backstab because 1) I didn't know that you should start with the Medics in the back of the group and 2) I didn't know how to run away after a successful backstab spree.

If you do like I did and play one character a ton, you can learn the best strategies to use with that character as well as the best overall strategies of Team Fortress 2. It will be pretty frustrating. But you'll get the hang of it, pretty soon you'll rack up 93 points in one half-hour-long life as Medic (oh yes I did).

Perhaps one thing that helped me was that I played to kill, not to cap points or intel. I think that helped me learn how to kill certain classes and how to survive an attack from certain others.

A game with a similar style of get-raped-a-ton-before-you-even-get-a-kill: Gears of War 2.

[Pt_Peach]

Earthquakes worry me.