Let me know if I got anything wrong in the video, I'll add the corrections to this comment. Looks like tanks can break down safe room doors, which I didn't realize, so that's one. The boomer could be in the intro cinematic, it's the goo that Bill touches. With how many people are saying stuff about it, I'll just say the entirety of my valve history/games developed part is incorrect. Some games did get ports to consoles that I forgot about before Orange Box, some games weren't developed by Valve, but were mods by other teams that were acquired by Valve after, and etc. I kinda hate researching stuff that's so factual like that, since a quick Wikipedia search doesn't have all of those nuances that people very familiar with these things will know. Also Support me on patreon: www.patreon.com/dorkaxe Follow me on twitter for updates on the channel: twitter.com/darkaxe54 Support me on ko-fi: ko-fi.com/dorkaxe
To be fair during the first few months of release tanks couldn't break safe room doors down, it was patched out early on. My and my friends abused the hell out of it during Expert campaigns!
Somebody said that tanks could not break down safe room doors really quickly after release this actually isn't true. I think they patched it in Left 4 Dead 2 but I do remember there being glitches and things happening to where you could actually go back to the safe room and there was a trick to making the tank be unable to break it I'll do more digging on how this was possible but it was
@@SOLDIER1st_Class if you get a bot tank stuck against the door in the right way his swings will go through the door instead of hitting the door. It's finicky though and often fails lol
Me too, even I knew the tone difference when I was a kid, but I’m just glad l4d2 has the original campaigns and textures along with the new special infected it makes it great 👍
I've done some extensive research of my own on how the AI director works in Left 4 Dead. I've considered writing an essay on it or even making a video on it. But I always get in way too deep and think people will consider it boring. All of what I know is almost entirely based on a couple presentations by Valve, console variables, a few debug console commands and personal experience. The very basics of how the director works (what I can remember, idk if this is 100% accurate to my research): Upon starting a map, the director randomly picks boss spawn points along the "Escape path". The escape path is a pre-computed, "Fastest" path through the map to get from the start to the safe room. Upon a map (re)start, the director shuffles boss "cards". There are three cards it shuffles, tank, witch and nothing. These are shuffled for each boss spawn chosen previously by the director, and repeated for how ever many times is needed for the length of the map. ie: a map that is short is likely to only have a single boss spawn, while a very long one can have all three and sometimes more (but generally it's limited to three just because of the usual desired map length for the game). The director then spawns the bosses at these points. Notice that I didn't say it doesn't re-pick the boss spawn points on a map restart, it only moves them a few units each restart. But mostly the spawn points will be exactly the same from when the map was first loaded. This is evident from my own experience (and also stated in Valve's presentation) because you can start a map, find a tank, die, and then when you get to the same point on the map, there may be a witch there now, or nothing at all (the three cards were shuffled differently). Also on a map (re)start, the navmesh (which is a data structure both used for spawning infected and for pathfinding) is run through and each area in the mesh is given an N value based on the escape path. This N value is used to spawn wanderer zombies in that area. The director has a means of tracking each player's individual perceived stress level. This metric goes from 0 to 1, and is based on things like damage taken recently, how many zombies are near, and it is directly increased when a zombie is killed near a survivor, based on how close the zombie got. (this basically serves to measure how overwhelmed a player is getting) When the survivors leave the start area, the director will go into "build up". When it enters this state the director chooses a random number for the next horde spawn (usually between 90 seconds and 180 seconds), and this timer will count down during this build up state. (this timer can be seen with a director debug command) While the survivors are moving through the map in this state, the amount of zombies that will be in the next horde is incremented based on how stressed the survivors are. If it's high stress, it usually only increments this value by 1, if it's low, the horde counter will become much bigger. When the horde timer runs out in this state, it will spawn a horde, the number of zombies is based on the aforementioned counter. An important data structure the director makes use of is the "active area set". This is a bubble around the survivors that tracks all navmesh areas within the bubble, it also tracks what areas have just entered and exited. It also tracks what areas are potentially visible to the players and what areas are "in front" and "behind" the survivors based on a flow graph from the start area to the end area. In the build up state, when an area enters the AAS (active area set), the N value assigned to that area is used to spawn that number of wanderers on that area and then is zeroed. If wanderers are outside of this bubble when the area they're in exits the AAS, they are despawned and the N value is increased. So if the survivors go back, they'll roughly see the number of zombies that were in that area that didn't get alerted. (for this part I'm not sure if this is exclusive to l4d2, it's hard to tell, but they're likely the same in both games) The director has 3 slots for special infected. And each special type is given its own timer, on a map (re)start these are set to a random number ~30 seconds to ~45 seconds. These timers count down the whole time the game is going. When a timer of a special type hits zero, the director will look for an open spot and fill it with that infected, then spawn it (and then restart that special type's counter). If there is no open slot, it will just keep counting down until a slot opens up. When a special is killed, the slot they took up is cleared, but also made unavailable for a few seconds. Specials only spawn in build up phase. Each special infected has its own preferred spawn location based on the AAS and where the survivors are. The hunter prefers to spawn behind the survivors, the boomer prefers to spawn infront or very close to the survivors, and the smoker prefers to spawn high up. If a special infected successfully pins a survivor, that survivor's stress value will instantly max out. Through out the build up state, the survivors' average stress level is calculated, and if this goes over about 0.9, the director will go into the "peak sustain" state, where it will keep spawning zombies for a few seconds, and then go into the "peak fade" state, and this state will persist for how ever long the survivor's stress level stay above ~0.90. Once their stress levels start dropping, the director enters relax state. In this state the director will not spawn any zombies and no special infected. When relax state is entered, it starts a timer from 30 seconds to up to 45 seconds (can't remember if this is how it works in l4d1 or just l4d2). Once the timer counts down to 0, or the survivors have moved through the map enough, it will go back into build up. There's a few other states that aren't really worth mentioning, like I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly there are states for tank encounters and witch encounters that temporarily halt zombie spawning to give the survivors breathing room since the bosses are designed to break the typical cycle and give a bit more challenge. Also states for when the survivors enter a crescendo event area (you know those places where you have to start a generator, or a forklift that spawns its own horde), and for when the event is actually happening. There's also how the director goes about spawning items, which is pretty complicated on its own so I'll give the basics. Map designers place weapon caches and item caches where ever they want and the director practically randomly chooses which of these "clusters" (as the cvars call them) actually spawn and which ones get deleted. Their spawns are roughly based on how far apart each item cluster is. Just so it doesn't choose to spawn a bunch of items at the start of the map and none through out it. Also you shouldn't really trust the fandom wiki on L4D. There are many inaccuracies and assumptions that aren't true, many players I know steer away from it.
This is incredibly high-value fascinating stuff! I would absolutely watch anything up to like a 3 hour video essay about all of this & anything you want to expound on, maybe more if you spread it out lol. Never seen anyone cover anything like it about this game, that sounds awesome
I thought when I first heard the line that he said “I don’t hate THIS,” referring to them running around in the apocalypse and blasting zombies. I just heard it wrong but believed that’s what he said for years, and it works that Francis would say that.
56:32 The issue with the first game was specifically that the three special infected only synergized well outdoors. If the survivors huddled in a small building or room with one way in, they could very easily turtle there and trivialize any of the three specials simply by spam shoving. It's why versus always felt janky/unfair especially before they added shove exhaustion, there was nothing an infected team could do to survivors that were holding out in a room. The new specials specifically play into that and punish turtling up, trying to wait a horde out in a bathroom now means a charger can bowling ball through all of you while a spitter decimates your health bars. All six specials synergize just fine with each other for various scenarios, the additional three just evened the playing field in versus. The line later on when you talk about melee weapons trivializing hordes of zombies also seems ironic considering mass spamming shoves in said small rooms trivialized them to begin with in the first game. The first game also already gave you a ton of random weapons to restock ammo at, and going back to l4d1 recently I noticed several additional spots that had both tier 1 and 2 guns that aren't there in l4d2. My friend and I did every campaign on expert in both games and the first game was far and away the easier of the two. With no spitters, chargers or jockeys to split us up or punish camping, all we had to do was stroll through each map and occasionally duck in a room if we heard the horde musical cue. Smokers were no problem since they seem to delay their grab more in l4d1, boomers also seemed to have slightly longer delay in doing anything and the hunters acted roughly the same. Meanwhile in l4d2 experts both of us had to be on high alert at all times and be more careful how many times we'd shove so we didn't get hit during exhaustion.
28:52 “the director is being an asshole” is such a common thing I say and it’s very true once you understand that it’s an invisible artificial intelligence that’s essentially playing with you. The director has no feelings or personality obviously, but the fact that it’s personified makes it seem like it’s a living entity that finds enjoyment in toying with you. It’s kind of scary when you realize its existence, even if it is just rudimentary AI. Not many games have an AI that measures how well you’re doing and adjust the challenge accordingly. Most PvE games are fixed or randomized, it makes me wonder why the hell almost nobody else uses this feature.
Actually a lot of Open World games use "Director" AI's, they're just not as sophisticated or do different things in comparison to L4D. They usually handle "random events" like in the Bethesda games, or add in enemies and encounters like in Far Cry 3 and its sequels.
Rimworld has "storytellers" which are like different preset directors. Random, progressively harder or big breaks between huge swarms and others added by mods.
Honestly, I do love the world building, explaining the lore of this game. From official CEDA/Army boards, to survivors writing on the walls about their own theories/hypothesis, it gives it a rather realistic feel
I love it as well. I had about a 5 minute section talking about all of it, but it stemmed from me saying a few things I didn't necessarily feel confident with, and it all fizzled out in the end, so I just cut that section. I specifically love the amount of unique assets littered around every level, but especially the urban/apartment/city sections. The light sources usually being different than what we normally expect, such as red brake lights glowing the walls of the subway, fire from a tanker showering the nearby building from the bottom up with a soft orange hue. The presentation is just top notch.
The music is supposed to tell you what special infected are coming. The low footstep like tune signifies a Boomer has spawned in. However, a two note drawn out tune lets you know a smoker is in the vicinity. The high pitched 3 note sound tells you that a Hunter appeared. Every special infected has their own sound cues to tell you that they have entered the area and that you should prepare for them. The instrumentation is a slight gauge of distance. Strings means that the special has spawned far away, and the Piano means it’s nearby.
In Remnant From The Ashes, there's a jump scary enemy called DreamEater. When the DreamEater has spotted you, you hear a shrill instrument note that's designed to startle you and it works, especially because the damn thing teleports directly to you to immediately attack you. They are a dreaded sight to behold on the harder difficulties. If anyone is curious, Remnant is a 3rd person shooter/action rpg soulslike game. I can't recommend it enough.
Yeah, that's a super awesome detail. Honestly the polish and quality of these two games are immaculate, they might honestly be two of the best games ever made
There's actually a mutation you can turn on in L4D2 that changes all the infected and item spawns to exactly how they were in the first game (even on campaigns from 2) so 2 can still provide for you there if you so desire.
It's subjective. From a nostalgia point of view yeah it was fun doing couch coop with friends, but today it's just running the same levels with no variation
The first game is STILL a godsend to anyone who loves zombie and horror media. I'm 15 and discovered the game close to a year ago, I cannot tell you the way I immediately fell in love with everything. The atmosphere, the horror, the characters, the lore, the sound design, it's perfect. I remember debating whether or not to get the first or second game, even knowing that all the campaigns were in the second one, because something about the first one just drew me in. I eventually got the second game too, but I've never regretted buying the first one beforehand. It was exactly the game I wanted it to be, and I will always prefer it.
As a child I watched my two older sisters play L4D2 together all the time. It was a lot of screaming and laughing and I was a very skittish child but somehow I loved watching them play (even if I did have to leave the room to calm down anytime they started witch protocol). I've only played it a little myself, but it's a franchise that holds so much of my childhood.
I remember getting L4D and GTA4 one Christmas, and L4D was the first thing I played. I didn't have XBL at the time, so I had to play the game solo until I got my first PC. Man was that game something, it ran and looked so good even on something like the 360. It really must have been at the time the best team based multiplayer game of all time.
I feel like I will be playing L4D2 until the very day I die, simply because there won't be a better game made. I've tried other vs and co op games during the years since 2009, but I always come back to L4D2 in the end. 2 000 hours and counting and still the most fun I ever had gaming in my life.
@@HughAverageHomoMan i will track down all l4d2 lovers and reprimand then. The lucky ones will have a chance to convince me they have changed their ways, until then they shall be subjected to my harsh disagreement whether you like it or not!
As somebody who is a veteran Left 4 Dead player. To the point where we would have tournaments and exhibitions and our own Clan back in the day playing on expert mode running through military strategies to get through the hard freaking blood harvest, or crash course freaking campaign. No no what was it cold stream curse? Damn dude. You reminded me of a time when things were a lot easier. Online friends, gaming all night. This is without a doubt my type of video and I am grateful for the amount of effort that you put into it thank you very much for giving me a stroll down memory lane. Wonderful video and analysis. Despite everything you said in an hour I think there's still so much to talk about and I think that's the beauty of Left 4 dead. It was a great game for its time as you said many times. Damn I wish I could go back I really do I think I'm going to get some friends together and hopefully try to play this sucker.
Something I always disliked about versus mode was the community. It is very unforgiving and you will rarely see a team that is willing to help a new player to teach them the ropes. Most of the time they'll kick player's who they feel aren't good enough in the first 5 minutes of a match. When that's the rule and not the exception it's not hard to see why a lot of new players don't give versus mode a chance and quit straight away. What follows is many players from us in the veteran's community bitching about the lack of players when it's the community's fault for not having an open arms policy on newbies. That's why me and my friends usually go out of our way to help new guys/gals that want to get into L4D.
I agree for the most part. I saw a lot of mocking/kicking of players that were new, and some would even talk about "they only have 100 hours in the game" as if that was a low number, or asking if the game is on sale because the player was clearly struggling or w/e. Kinda annoying, but I guess when multiplayer games last as long as L4D, the remaining members will become the in-group and be, by nature of playing far more, way better than anyone just starting out.
awe i love this comment. im new to gaming, my boyfriend put me onto it, and left 4 dead(2) is my favorite game. but, i hate playing online because i always get put with aggressive, rude players, with a few exceptions because i have made a few friends from there. so i usually play solo with bot mods or with him and his friends. :)
Bro, your video essay skills make me realize how hard you have to find information for even the most insignificant fact about the subject of the video. Mad respect for this video. hope you can make more excellent videos like this. Keep up the RUclips grind. Hell before you will even know it, You're gonna have a million subscribers. Keep up the good work bro!
Great video! Hope you do get around to L4D2. Thanks to mutations and mods the sheer amount of content is insane. With the L4D1 Coop mutation and some mods you can basically turn it into L4D1 anyway. The custom campaigns are amazing as well, easily 60+ that are as good as if not better than the official ones.
Agree massively with the preference for L4D1's tone over the lighter nature of the second, although I have since recognized that l4d2 feels like how a sequel to an old school horror movie would be, where the ham is dialed up further and the situations get more extreme. Nowadays I feel like the two games are inseparable and each offer an equal level of enjoyment in their unique ways.
This is one of the only games you've done that i knew a good amount about before hand! I used to watch my friends play this game a ton back in the day! The fact that i watched them play for hours and hours and enjoyed it really shows how much like a movie this game feels! As always a great and in-depth review! Look forward to seeing the next :)
Another great thing about the voice lines in Left 4 Dead is you can hear a survivor do a voice line to indicate they're in black and white as an infected in Versus if you're listening out for it It also lets you know if a bot is black and white as well which is something there'd be no way to know until they drop dead otherwise, or if you're actively keeping track of downs and medkit uses the entire campaign but still
this might not matter at this point... but as a audio engineer i feel on the need to let you know that "sound glitch" thunder thing its actually how many pellets being shot inside a rusted metal interconnected ship will sound like bouncing the walls and the water making a echoe/delay chamber
See I thought it was a nice little addition thing as well, but something about the inconsistency with me hitting normal walls or zombies vs metal didn't feel right. I don't remember 100%, but if it was intentional, I get it.
Imo I find l4d1 to be far better than the second in terms of atmosphere, tension, area design and tone. Also there aren't unnecessary variants of each gun type
49:59 Death Abroad was a very good choice, though the other two first ones could've been substituted for _I Hate Mountains_ & _Suicide Blitz._ Those were the magnum opuses of the community prior to L4D2.
Dude, I've been playing Left 4 Dead campaigns solo for the last 7 years and I've rarely gotten bored. So addicting. In my humble opinion, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are the undisputed king's of Zombie Games.
I'm so excited for this! Will def comment after watching the vid. Very much enjoyed this video and look forward to your potential l4d2 video thou I have somethings to note. 1. Saferoom doors that you open at the start of any chapter after chapter 1 can be broken down by tanks if you run back to the saferooms and close the door. 2. The hunter's melee noises when attacking a door are leftover sounds since in the beta his sounds were that of a dog as he behaved more like an animal. 3. L4D2 Actually made a full campaign out of the Last Stand survival map and is considered non cannon but its fun!
Also worth noting that L4D2 added mutations, one of which is L4D1 Coop that removes all the new stuff and has just the weapons and SI from the first game. Even mods for the weapons and levels to be more like L4D1!
Do beware that the flash light also grabs the attention of the wandering common infected, making them highly likely to attack anyone with an open flashlight. It is great to use when you want to draw the infected towards you but its better to turn it off if your team dont want to draw the attention of the wandering common, specially if the team is sprinting towards one place to the other.
Coach is effing awesome. Literally the best gaming character ever. He’s so sweet and kind. He’s awesome. Left 4 dead 2 was an awesome experience and while the first was great the second was A MASTERPIECE.
Excellent video man. I feel like you not only cover unique games, but the gems that you cover as well you seem to have something to say I've not heard anyone else mention before. Keep it up!
I just realized the Boomer is in the intro... It's of course dead and hard to see due to the lighting. But you can see Bill kneel down and check it as he says ain't seen anything like this. And he proceeds to wipe the bile on his finger onto Francis's vest... Which is how the infected a moment later show up while Bill and Zoe are investigating the witch that they don't know about. I always wondered why did the zombies find them so quickly and then it hit me. Just like a boomer vomiting all over us...
Regarding Custom maps and the AI director: By default, any map made uses the same AI system as Valve’s maps. The only way to change it is to manually tell the game to do things. Stuff like “Spawn a tank here” or “during this event, allow up to 3 boomers” and “Give the player between 5 and 10 second breaks for this gauntlet”. While this customization can be a really useful tool, most custom campaigns do a really shit job at balancing their maps and just spam infected half the time.
I used to play this game a lot until I got diagnosed with anxiety and had this game added to my forbidden list. I think it's quite telling how good a game is if someone with anxiety can't play it. L4D is a constant anxiety inducing experience, it really shows how good the atmosphere and the enemies are. I remember always being in a constant state of panic and trying to play it on normal or easy because I was terrified of the witch and the tank. Such good times, would never go back to them but still good good times.
YESSSS finally someone that said this, everytime i shoot the witch by accident or the "tank music" starts playing i panic so hard but it is really funny after they die(or i die) i usually play it with a friend on call so i start screaming then laughing so much
its wild its the only AAA game i know of and also brought the zombie horde co-op genre, w/ AI director for replayability for a linear game, audio cues, and survival elements of resource management of offered weapons class system as gameplay variety and how heavily team oriented it is.
Another fun fact about the hunter in 1 is that they do more damage to survivors when on fire. You can also bounce of off walls as the hunter but only if you haven't had contact with a survivor.
Is that last part really true? I've never heard of that limitation on hunter wall jumps before, & I've seen a lot of content about it. But I'm also definitely not skilled enough to test this & can't rn anyway lol
If I recall, this also applies to 2 but they changed it to be that it only applies if the fire source came from a survivor, such as by molotov or fire bullets, to prevent versus player hunters setting themselves on fire with the environment and then pouncing a player to deal extra damage.
your review captures my feelings perfectly. left 4 dead came out when I was 18 or so and it absolutely blew my mind. I still play left 4 dead (2) today
My wife and I started playing L4D in '08 and put in thousands of hours playing it. Our first kid arrived in '14 so we put away gaming for 9 years digging out the old Xbox in '23. Guess what - we're back to playing L4D2 and it holds up well.
I love this game so much. I used to have Patton's sounds as ringtones and sound alerts and all that (some) people would walk back and check "where are these noise are coming from"
great video man! love left 4 dead 2 havent played too much of the original as i just view as a stripped down version of the sequel. also lol'd at 42:02 i was not expecting zombies without hats
18:56 There are indeed audio cues for each special infected, the short cues or jingles that play when a special infected spawn are called “bacteria” that have two versions depending on how far away the special has spawned, and then the full version that plays when the special infected lands a successful attack on a survivor have a name related to their type (ex: the Hunter’s full theme is called “Exenteration” which is a medical term for disembowelment, the Smoker’s is “Tongue Tied”, Boomer’s is “Pukricide” which means “to die by vomiting”).
The whole thing with the bots taking the long way is them being programmed to avoid damage whenever possible so they won’t drop off ledges and won’t walk through fire even if you need help
Didn't expect my favorite underrated video game essayist to talk about my favorite multiplayer game ❤️ I definitely felt that you aren't as into this game as some superfans (meee :3) are, but everything you said was on point. I enjoyed listening to your analysis while I was doing college work.
Nice look at the game. I still remember watching a developer walkthrough before the game came out, and blowing up the gas station by shooting the tanks (gas tanks heh) was the coolest thing I had seen. Every time I played that level I loved doing it. I liked your talk about why L4D2 feels different what with all its variety, and how the purity of the original has its own special place. 🙂
Looking back at this and it's sequel just bring me a load of memories from my youth. I could always go back and play it whenever I want to but it'll never be the same as before.
Hadn't played this game since 2011. Just picked both up on Steam for a whopping $1.50, and man, it is everything I remember and more. RIP my sleep schedule ☠
28:50 Similar mindset but for me personally its "We're breezing through the campaign and hardly used any items." "The director is going to fuck me for this."
Since you mentioned community content, I'd like to recommend two custom campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2. Day Break, and I Hate Mountains. Both campaigns are superb, just as good as the base game's campaigns, in my opinion.
Daybreak is amazing. Every level has a secret room that you have to have the gnome to open and each room has various drugs you can take, bongs, mushrooms, ect... (gnome is in the first level), there's even a Stargate to the kingdom of the gnome king.
Back to School is, in my opinión, the best custom i've played so far, but L4D2 have one of the greatest and most prolific gaming community ever seen. There are dozens of excellent campaigns available out there, like Warcelona, Suicide Blitz 2, Yama, Helms Deep, Chernobyl.....after so many years, the amount of content this game has to offer is simply overwhelming.
l4d was a very big part of my childhood to the point where me and my sister would force my friends to roleplay it on the playground as kids. we still play it with my mum and aunt and it never gets boring and even with my very subpar gaming skills. this video was very fun to watch and just very satisfying to hear someone talk about a game that i love a lot thanks for making it
The mutations in l4d2 are insane! I wanted to make a video essay on why Tank Run Expert is so great, but I just never thought anyone would care to listen, it's very niche and I think it's too difficult for most players anyways. what 1.3k hours in l4d does to ya lol.
One of the many things l love about this game is it's simplicity. You can come home shit faced from the pub and jump straight in with only 2 functioning brain cells.
something i've never seen mentioned but i found really cool when i figured it out, is that with some melee weapons you're able to hit hunters back midair when they jump for your face, but only with weapons like the cricket and baseball bat, but you cant do it with the katana. game had so many cool neat details to the weapon balancing
L4D and L4D2 was SUCH a huge impact on my childhood man. I had my major zombie apocalypse phase bc of it and the game sets my standards for the genre too.
Man I still play Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Absolute, bangers and always felt that the apocalypse in Left 4 Dead felt so surreal. It was eerie, creepy and tense. Would shit myself as a kid, when the hunter would pounce on you. Such a shame we didn’t get 3rd game with returning characters. They’re so iconic and they feel like real people, don’t stand out from the crowd. And the environmental story telling is just superb, mate.
When my cousins or friends and I would play this game, we RESPECTED the common infected. When we started playing on expert regularly, the Boomer was the scariest special infected. If it snuck up on you and got even one person vomited on, the horde could end the level right there if you didn't have a good spot to put your back to. Ahh, good times.
Just in case anyone wanted to know how that achievement chain went over the years: Dead Rising (2006) - Zombie Genocider 53,594 Left 4 Dead (2008) - Zombie Genocidest 53,595 Prototype (2009) - Trail of Corpses 53,596 Dead Nation (2010) - Genocidiary 53,597 Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package (2016) - Z-Genocider 4: The Return 53,598 Left 4 Dead 2: The Last Stand (2020) - Z-Genocider 2 Episode 2 53,599 Back 4 Blood (2021) - Good Riddence! 53,600
Valve is the embodiment of the phrase from Toy Story 2: “You can’t rush art” Valve may not deliver many games, but when they do, you know you have a qaulity product in your hands
I’m so glad I was a part of the couch gaming era. Now kids will never see that and it’s so tragic. It was the greatest time in gaming and We’ll never go back now we’re stuck in the hell scape of season games
27:10 I have this twisted love of this feature. It's so satisfying to see that one guy who decided to go fast and ditch the team get smacked by a Common they didn't see, opening the door for a Hunter or the likes to get the jump on them and fuck em' up as punishment for leaving their team.
a fun sideeffect of the many Archievment is, that as an veteran player, you can eyball the expeirence levels of your co-players simply by seeing what Archievemnt they get during your run with them.
Hmm, yea the fandom page says this as well, but it says the director will grow impatient if players hang out there and spawn one to break down the door. I wonder if that spawning tank has that power instead of a regular tank, or if the tank I showed in the video attacking the safe room door just didn't try hard enough? Interesting. Thanks for the correction!
@@Dorkaxe it's more in the design of the saferoom doors. The end of level ones are different than the start of level ones for whatever reason. You can get tanks stuck on the door if you do it right but their rocks or swings can bust it down to prevent hiding in the room. Just adding comments whenever it feels relevant to help the algorithm as well.
@@iraloS ahh yeah that would explain it, the end safe room doors are resistant but the opening ones aren't, at least after the metal bar gets removed. Thanks for the insight!
@@Dorkaxe The fan wikis are very inaccurate and often have straight up wrong information based purely off of rumors. Don’t rely on them as sources. Your best bet for accurate and reliable information is to ask the community directly, specifically I would recommend talking to the community update team as there’s lots of experienced players from all parts of the community (survival, versus, speedrunning, vscripting, etc.) there who are always down to help
@@Dorkaxe You still run slow as hell in the l4d1 mutation while traversing water and I believe ammo in shotguns is still lower. It does not capture the authentic feel from the first game.
@@trenchcoats4life891 There's also the fact that the animations for the survivors look worse and the loss of ragdolling on death, since that's the way L4D2's programmed.
Your the best man Dorkaxe for making this video, all of your videos are unique in their own way most retrospects or reviews bring up the same cliche points like their copying other reviewers work. A thought on a game that hasn’t really been covered you might like to play in future are the two Overlord games perhaps
Also gotta compliment your editing. It’s great and you always show the relevant clips matching what your narrating. It’s fantastic and it’s how I also try and edit videos. Great stuff all around 👍💪🙌🤘🙏💯🔥
@@Dorkaxe well my newest videos are the best so I’d say choose either of the Serious Sam videos I’ve made . The more ambitious one is the Sam4 half hour video and honestly bruv I’d be honoured for you to check out a video thank you ! I just finished your Rome games series and loved it 🤘💪🔥🔥🔥💯👍
I love the analysis in this video, little details like the car alarms on custom maps and talking about your experience with the game, nice little details :)
Resident Evil wasn't just the "big zombie" series, it's single handedly the reason zombies became so popular again in the 2000s. Anytime there is an infected zombie, that stems from Resident Evil.
Ths game was incredible when it first launched. I spent countless hours on this game as well as the second game playing either alone or with friends through couch coop on the Xbox 360. Some good nostalgia there for sure, I also put extra time in it a few years ago with my wife through coop zombie action :D.
Oh god, don't tell the others how bad I am at this game, only you and the others will know lmao. I'm sure you'll catch yourself in the video a few times, I feel like I saw a lot of the same people when I was recording.
If you ever do a video on Back 4 Blood, it's worth noting that the game was considerably better on its day 1 release - outside of bugfixes, the updates and DLC added: - Annoying enemies - Continuously nerfed all the popular and/or fun cards, forcing users into more boring picks - Horribly designed hives - Kept making the veteran and nightmare difficulties easier and easier - Removed the card progression through the campaign, instead giving players all cards from the very beginning Of course, there were some positive aspects of the updates and DLCs, but to this day I exclusively play B4B on the day 1 release version as it is simply more fun to me
Let me know if I got anything wrong in the video, I'll add the corrections to this comment. Looks like tanks can break down safe room doors, which I didn't realize, so that's one.
The boomer could be in the intro cinematic, it's the goo that Bill touches.
With how many people are saying stuff about it, I'll just say the entirety of my valve history/games developed part is incorrect. Some games did get ports to consoles that I forgot about before Orange Box, some games weren't developed by Valve, but were mods by other teams that were acquired by Valve after, and etc. I kinda hate researching stuff that's so factual like that, since a quick Wikipedia search doesn't have all of those nuances that people very familiar with these things will know.
Also Support me on patreon: www.patreon.com/dorkaxe
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To be fair during the first few months of release tanks couldn't break safe room doors down, it was patched out early on. My and my friends abused the hell out of it during Expert campaigns!
hd
Somebody said that tanks could not break down safe room doors really quickly after release this actually isn't true. I think they patched it in Left 4 Dead 2 but I do remember there being glitches and things happening to where you could actually go back to the safe room and there was a trick to making the tank be unable to break it I'll do more digging on how this was possible but it was
Legs
@@SOLDIER1st_Class if you get a bot tank stuck against the door in the right way his swings will go through the door instead of hitting the door. It's finicky though and often fails lol
I miss left4dead so much. The amount of hours on my 360. I still think the darker tone of the first game is the absolute best
The first game had a better feel and atmosphere which made it more scary than the second.
Yes I liked the first game much more than the sequel.
Me too, even I knew the tone difference when I was a kid, but I’m just glad l4d2 has the original campaigns and textures along with the new special infected it makes it great 👍
it's still there, you can still play it
Bro… just play it lmao people still play both but mostly l4d2
I've done some extensive research of my own on how the AI director works in Left 4 Dead. I've considered writing an essay on it or even making a video on it. But I always get in way too deep and think people will consider it boring.
All of what I know is almost entirely based on a couple presentations by Valve, console variables, a few debug console commands and personal experience.
The very basics of how the director works (what I can remember, idk if this is 100% accurate to my research):
Upon starting a map, the director randomly picks boss spawn points along the "Escape path". The escape path is a pre-computed, "Fastest" path through the map to get from the start to the safe room.
Upon a map (re)start, the director shuffles boss "cards". There are three cards it shuffles, tank, witch and nothing. These are shuffled for each boss spawn chosen previously by the director, and repeated for how ever many times is needed for the length of the map. ie: a map that is short is likely to only have a single boss spawn, while a very long one can have all three and sometimes more (but generally it's limited to three just because of the usual desired map length for the game).
The director then spawns the bosses at these points.
Notice that I didn't say it doesn't re-pick the boss spawn points on a map restart, it only moves them a few units each restart. But mostly the spawn points will be exactly the same from when the map was first loaded. This is evident from my own experience (and also stated in Valve's presentation) because you can start a map, find a tank, die, and then when you get to the same point on the map, there may be a witch there now, or nothing at all (the three cards were shuffled differently).
Also on a map (re)start, the navmesh (which is a data structure both used for spawning infected and for pathfinding) is run through and each area in the mesh is given an N value based on the escape path. This N value is used to spawn wanderer zombies in that area.
The director has a means of tracking each player's individual perceived stress level. This metric goes from 0 to 1, and is based on things like damage taken recently, how many zombies are near, and it is directly increased when a zombie is killed near a survivor, based on how close the zombie got. (this basically serves to measure how overwhelmed a player is getting)
When the survivors leave the start area, the director will go into "build up". When it enters this state the director chooses a random number for the next horde spawn (usually between 90 seconds and 180 seconds), and this timer will count down during this build up state. (this timer can be seen with a director debug command)
While the survivors are moving through the map in this state, the amount of zombies that will be in the next horde is incremented based on how stressed the survivors are. If it's high stress, it usually only increments this value by 1, if it's low, the horde counter will become much bigger.
When the horde timer runs out in this state, it will spawn a horde, the number of zombies is based on the aforementioned counter.
An important data structure the director makes use of is the "active area set". This is a bubble around the survivors that tracks all navmesh areas within the bubble, it also tracks what areas have just entered and exited. It also tracks what areas are potentially visible to the players and what areas are "in front" and "behind" the survivors based on a flow graph from the start area to the end area.
In the build up state, when an area enters the AAS (active area set), the N value assigned to that area is used to spawn that number of wanderers on that area and then is zeroed. If wanderers are outside of this bubble when the area they're in exits the AAS, they are despawned and the N value is increased. So if the survivors go back, they'll roughly see the number of zombies that were in that area that didn't get alerted.
(for this part I'm not sure if this is exclusive to l4d2, it's hard to tell, but they're likely the same in both games)
The director has 3 slots for special infected. And each special type is given its own timer, on a map (re)start these are set to a random number ~30 seconds to ~45 seconds. These timers count down the whole time the game is going. When a timer of a special type hits zero, the director will look for an open spot and fill it with that infected, then spawn it (and then restart that special type's counter). If there is no open slot, it will just keep counting down until a slot opens up. When a special is killed, the slot they took up is cleared, but also made unavailable for a few seconds.
Specials only spawn in build up phase.
Each special infected has its own preferred spawn location based on the AAS and where the survivors are. The hunter prefers to spawn behind the survivors, the boomer prefers to spawn infront or very close to the survivors, and the smoker prefers to spawn high up.
If a special infected successfully pins a survivor, that survivor's stress value will instantly max out.
Through out the build up state, the survivors' average stress level is calculated, and if this goes over about 0.9, the director will go into the "peak sustain" state, where it will keep spawning zombies for a few seconds, and then go into the "peak fade" state, and this state will persist for how ever long the survivor's stress level stay above ~0.90. Once their stress levels start dropping, the director enters relax state. In this state the director will not spawn any zombies and no special infected. When relax state is entered, it starts a timer from 30 seconds to up to 45 seconds (can't remember if this is how it works in l4d1 or just l4d2). Once the timer counts down to 0, or the survivors have moved through the map enough, it will go back into build up.
There's a few other states that aren't really worth mentioning, like I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly there are states for tank encounters and witch encounters that temporarily halt zombie spawning to give the survivors breathing room since the bosses are designed to break the typical cycle and give a bit more challenge. Also states for when the survivors enter a crescendo event area (you know those places where you have to start a generator, or a forklift that spawns its own horde), and for when the event is actually happening.
There's also how the director goes about spawning items, which is pretty complicated on its own so I'll give the basics. Map designers place weapon caches and item caches where ever they want and the director practically randomly chooses which of these "clusters" (as the cvars call them) actually spawn and which ones get deleted. Their spawns are roughly based on how far apart each item cluster is. Just so it doesn't choose to spawn a bunch of items at the start of the map and none through out it.
Also you shouldn't really trust the fandom wiki on L4D. There are many inaccuracies and assumptions that aren't true, many players I know steer away from it.
Holy shit, S tier comment. TOTALLY make that video about the director, it's honestly super interesting. Thanks for this wealth of knowledge!
you should make the video, i don't think its gonna be boring :)
That sounds awesome, do it! The Director is still a pretty impressive technical gimmick to this day
A video actually explaining what the director is and exactly how it works? I don’t think that’s ever been done before.
This is incredibly high-value fascinating stuff! I would absolutely watch anything up to like a 3 hour video essay about all of this & anything you want to expound on, maybe more if you spread it out lol. Never seen anyone cover anything like it about this game, that sounds awesome
Finally getting the “I don’t hate vests” line from Francis after playing the game for so long felt like an achievement in itself 😂
You don't know how many times I reloaded from that safe room to ride that elevator to get the lines for the video...oh my god it was brutal.
I thought when I first heard the line that he said “I don’t hate THIS,” referring to them running around in the apocalypse and blasting zombies. I just heard it wrong but believed that’s what he said for years, and it works that Francis would say that.
Pills Here!
56:32 The issue with the first game was specifically that the three special infected only synergized well outdoors. If the survivors huddled in a small building or room with one way in, they could very easily turtle there and trivialize any of the three specials simply by spam shoving. It's why versus always felt janky/unfair especially before they added shove exhaustion, there was nothing an infected team could do to survivors that were holding out in a room. The new specials specifically play into that and punish turtling up, trying to wait a horde out in a bathroom now means a charger can bowling ball through all of you while a spitter decimates your health bars. All six specials synergize just fine with each other for various scenarios, the additional three just evened the playing field in versus.
The line later on when you talk about melee weapons trivializing hordes of zombies also seems ironic considering mass spamming shoves in said small rooms trivialized them to begin with in the first game. The first game also already gave you a ton of random weapons to restock ammo at, and going back to l4d1 recently I noticed several additional spots that had both tier 1 and 2 guns that aren't there in l4d2.
My friend and I did every campaign on expert in both games and the first game was far and away the easier of the two. With no spitters, chargers or jockeys to split us up or punish camping, all we had to do was stroll through each map and occasionally duck in a room if we heard the horde musical cue. Smokers were no problem since they seem to delay their grab more in l4d1, boomers also seemed to have slightly longer delay in doing anything and the hunters acted roughly the same. Meanwhile in l4d2 experts both of us had to be on high alert at all times and be more careful how many times we'd shove so we didn't get hit during exhaustion.
Yeah I'd agree, the sequel definitely added ways to punish turtling up with the spitter and charger.
28:52 “the director is being an asshole” is such a common thing I say and it’s very true once you understand that it’s an invisible artificial intelligence that’s essentially playing with you. The director has no feelings or personality obviously, but the fact that it’s personified makes it seem like it’s a living entity that finds enjoyment in toying with you. It’s kind of scary when you realize its existence, even if it is just rudimentary AI. Not many games have an AI that measures how well you’re doing and adjust the challenge accordingly. Most PvE games are fixed or randomized, it makes me wonder why the hell almost nobody else uses this feature.
Actually a lot of Open World games use "Director" AI's, they're just not as sophisticated or do different things in comparison to L4D. They usually handle "random events" like in the Bethesda games, or add in enemies and encounters like in Far Cry 3 and its sequels.
Resident Evil 4 has a Director as well
Rimworld has "storytellers" which are like different preset directors. Random, progressively harder or big breaks between huge swarms and others added by mods.
Honestly, I do love the world building, explaining the lore of this game. From official CEDA/Army boards, to survivors writing on the walls about their own theories/hypothesis, it gives it a rather realistic feel
I love it as well. I had about a 5 minute section talking about all of it, but it stemmed from me saying a few things I didn't necessarily feel confident with, and it all fizzled out in the end, so I just cut that section. I specifically love the amount of unique assets littered around every level, but especially the urban/apartment/city sections. The light sources usually being different than what we normally expect, such as red brake lights glowing the walls of the subway, fire from a tanker showering the nearby building from the bottom up with a soft orange hue. The presentation is just top notch.
@@DorkaxeI know I'm late, but I'd love to hear you talk about the lore of this game and maybe the second game too!
The music is supposed to tell you what special infected are coming. The low footstep like tune signifies a Boomer has spawned in. However, a two note drawn out tune lets you know a smoker is in the vicinity. The high pitched 3 note sound tells you that a Hunter appeared. Every special infected has their own sound cues to tell you that they have entered the area and that you should prepare for them.
The instrumentation is a slight gauge of distance. Strings means that the special has spawned far away, and the Piano means it’s nearby.
In Remnant From The Ashes, there's a jump scary enemy called DreamEater. When the DreamEater has spotted you, you hear a shrill instrument note that's designed to startle you and it works, especially because the damn thing teleports directly to you to immediately attack you. They are a dreaded sight to behold on the harder difficulties.
If anyone is curious, Remnant is a 3rd person shooter/action rpg soulslike game. I can't recommend it enough.
Yeah, that's a super awesome detail. Honestly the polish and quality of these two games are immaculate, they might honestly be two of the best games ever made
yea cool audio cues
@@Xpwnxage love remnant take on streamlined masocore genre
There's actually a mutation you can turn on in L4D2 that changes all the infected and item spawns to exactly how they were in the first game (even on campaigns from 2) so 2 can still provide for you there if you so desire.
Great tip! I had no idea.. just what i wanted :) goes all the way, even removing the bash timer
L4D1 Co-op/Versus mutations
I always forget to play with mutations
L4D is a masterclass on how to make a great horror coop fps, the replay ability is unmatched
It's subjective. From a nostalgia point of view yeah it was fun doing couch coop with friends, but today it's just running the same levels with no variation
@@meestersecure9060 in retrospect, true. by the time it brought a genre and mechanics notably AI director, tema play, and audio cues
@@meestersecure9060 yet its still outplaying every game that try's to copy its mechanics.
The first game is STILL a godsend to anyone who loves zombie and horror media. I'm 15 and discovered the game close to a year ago, I cannot tell you the way I immediately fell in love with everything. The atmosphere, the horror, the characters, the lore, the sound design, it's perfect. I remember debating whether or not to get the first or second game, even knowing that all the campaigns were in the second one, because something about the first one just drew me in. I eventually got the second game too, but I've never regretted buying the first one beforehand. It was exactly the game I wanted it to be, and I will always prefer it.
I'm genuinely so happy for you. It's one of the best game ever created and I hope more people discover it as the years go by.
love how they banter with how dynamic the interactions are based in whats happening on screen, how in-depth voice lines are.
As a child I watched my two older sisters play L4D2 together all the time. It was a lot of screaming and laughing and I was a very skittish child but somehow I loved watching them play (even if I did have to leave the room to calm down anytime they started witch protocol). I've only played it a little myself, but it's a franchise that holds so much of my childhood.
Same here
Personally to this day
Still my favourite zombie apocalypse game of all time
Good design and good game play
It's a masterpiece for sure, you really outta do yourself the favor of playing the shit outta it tho
I remember getting L4D and GTA4 one Christmas, and L4D was the first thing I played. I didn't have XBL at the time, so I had to play the game solo until I got my first PC. Man was that game something, it ran and looked so good even on something like the 360. It really must have been at the time the best team based multiplayer game of all time.
Lies
legit "the best of both worlds"
And then l4d2 came out
Bro had the best Christmas gifts of all time
Bro whoever gifted you gta4 is evil 😭
I feel like I will be playing L4D2 until the very day I die, simply because there won't be a better game made. I've tried other vs and co op games during the years since 2009, but I always come back to L4D2 in the end. 2 000 hours and counting and still the most fun I ever had gaming in my life.
l4d2 is an abomination that killed the great l4d1 well before it's time! I got 4000 hours in l4d1
@@garnhamr if L4D1 is so good then go back to playing it instead of harassing people talking about the sequel.
@@HughAverageHomoMan i will track down all l4d2 lovers and reprimand then. The lucky ones will have a chance to convince me they have changed their ways, until then they shall be subjected to my harsh disagreement whether you like it or not!
@@garnhamryou are a discord mod
@@Leo.de99 wut?
As somebody who is a veteran Left 4 Dead player. To the point where we would have tournaments and exhibitions and our own Clan back in the day playing on expert mode running through military strategies to get through the hard freaking blood harvest, or crash course freaking campaign. No no what was it cold stream curse? Damn dude. You reminded me of a time when things were a lot easier. Online friends, gaming all night. This is without a doubt my type of video and I am grateful for the amount of effort that you put into it thank you very much for giving me a stroll down memory lane. Wonderful video and analysis. Despite everything you said in an hour I think there's still so much to talk about and I think that's the beauty of Left 4 dead. It was a great game for its time as you said many times. Damn I wish I could go back I really do I think I'm going to get some friends together and hopefully try to play this sucker.
Something I always disliked about versus mode was the community. It is very unforgiving and you will rarely see a team that is willing to help a new player to teach them the ropes. Most of the time they'll kick player's who they feel aren't good enough in the first 5 minutes of a match. When that's the rule and not the exception it's not hard to see why a lot of new players don't give versus mode a chance and quit straight away. What follows is many players from us in the veteran's community bitching about the lack of players when it's the community's fault for not having an open arms policy on newbies. That's why me and my friends usually go out of our way to help new guys/gals that want to get into L4D.
I agree for the most part. I saw a lot of mocking/kicking of players that were new, and some would even talk about "they only have 100 hours in the game" as if that was a low number, or asking if the game is on sale because the player was clearly struggling or w/e. Kinda annoying, but I guess when multiplayer games last as long as L4D, the remaining members will become the in-group and be, by nature of playing far more, way better than anyone just starting out.
awe i love this comment. im new to gaming, my boyfriend put me onto it, and left 4 dead(2) is my favorite game. but, i hate playing online because i always get put with aggressive, rude players, with a few exceptions because i have made a few friends from there. so i usually play solo with bot mods or with him and his friends.
:)
Bro, your video essay skills make me realize how hard you have to find information for even the most insignificant fact about the subject of the video. Mad respect for this video. hope you can make more excellent videos like this. Keep up the RUclips grind. Hell before you will even know it, You're gonna have a million subscribers. Keep up the good work bro!
In case any of you haven’t gone through that dialogue yet, Francis doesn’t hate steam.
Francis hates steam
Steam pipes he meant
Great video! Hope you do get around to L4D2. Thanks to mutations and mods the sheer amount of content is insane. With the L4D1 Coop mutation and some mods you can basically turn it into L4D1 anyway. The custom campaigns are amazing as well, easily 60+ that are as good as if not better than the official ones.
yeah left 4 dead 2 is straight up better than left 4 dead 1
Agree massively with the preference for L4D1's tone over the lighter nature of the second, although I have since recognized that l4d2 feels like how a sequel to an old school horror movie would be, where the ham is dialed up further and the situations get more extreme. Nowadays I feel like the two games are inseparable and each offer an equal level of enjoyment in their unique ways.
This is one of the only games you've done that i knew a good amount about before hand! I used to watch my friends play this game a ton back in the day!
The fact that i watched them play for hours and hours and enjoyed it really shows how much like a movie this game feels!
As always a great and in-depth review! Look forward to seeing the next :)
I love l4d2 and the variety it added but the atmosphere and especially the horde screams are just better in the original.
Ratio. First game scary. I'm a baby
yeah i get the cent of how the previous captures the theme and setting, while 2nd was a sequel as it best by improving the gameplay
The high difficulty with a reasonable amount of checkpoints is spot on. I much prefer very challenging over very punishing.
Another great thing about the voice lines in Left 4 Dead is you can hear a survivor do a voice line to indicate they're in black and white as an infected in Versus if you're listening out for it
It also lets you know if a bot is black and white as well which is something there'd be no way to know until they drop dead otherwise, or if you're actively keeping track of downs and medkit uses the entire campaign but still
this might not matter at this point... but as a audio engineer i feel on the need to let you know that "sound glitch" thunder thing its actually how many pellets being shot inside a rusted metal interconnected ship will sound like bouncing the walls and the water making a echoe/delay chamber
See I thought it was a nice little addition thing as well, but something about the inconsistency with me hitting normal walls or zombies vs metal didn't feel right. I don't remember 100%, but if it was intentional, I get it.
Imo I find l4d1 to be far better than the second in terms of atmosphere, tension, area design and tone. Also there aren't unnecessary variants of each gun type
I also thought the characters in L4D1 were a lot better.
@@redninelowdog same
49:59 Death Abroad was a very good choice, though the other two first ones could've been substituted for _I Hate Mountains_ & _Suicide Blitz._ Those were the magnum opuses of the community prior to L4D2.
Ooo ok I'll check those out, thanks!
Dude, I've been playing Left 4 Dead campaigns solo for the last 7 years and I've rarely gotten bored. So addicting. In my humble opinion, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are the undisputed king's of Zombie Games.
"Always stick together, and never let anyone lag behind."
**quickcuts to teammates abandoning me after I look away for a second**
hey dude, I just wanna say I love this video, it is really helping me out with my video on Left 4 Dead. I'm getting a ton more talking points.
I'm so excited for this! Will def comment after watching the vid.
Very much enjoyed this video and look forward to your potential l4d2 video thou I have somethings to note.
1. Saferoom doors that you open at the start of any chapter after chapter 1 can be broken down by tanks if you run back to the saferooms and close the door.
2. The hunter's melee noises when attacking a door are leftover sounds since in the beta his sounds were that of a dog as he behaved more like an animal.
3. L4D2 Actually made a full campaign out of the Last Stand survival map and is considered non cannon but its fun!
Also worth noting that L4D2 added mutations, one of which is L4D1 Coop that removes all the new stuff and has just the weapons and SI from the first game. Even mods for the weapons and levels to be more like L4D1!
Do beware that the flash light also grabs the attention of the wandering common infected, making them highly likely to attack anyone with an open flashlight. It is great to use when you want to draw the infected towards you but its better to turn it off if your team dont want to draw the attention of the wandering common, specially if the team is sprinting towards one place to the other.
Coach is effing awesome. Literally the best gaming character ever. He’s so sweet and kind. He’s awesome. Left 4 dead 2 was an awesome experience and while the first was great the second was A MASTERPIECE.
Excellent video man. I feel like you not only cover unique games, but the gems that you cover as well you seem to have something to say I've not heard anyone else mention before. Keep it up!
I just realized the Boomer is in the intro... It's of course dead and hard to see due to the lighting. But you can see Bill kneel down and check it as he says ain't seen anything like this. And he proceeds to wipe the bile on his finger onto Francis's vest... Which is how the infected a moment later show up while Bill and Zoe are investigating the witch that they don't know about. I always wondered why did the zombies find them so quickly and then it hit me. Just like a boomer vomiting all over us...
I never thought about that
thats a cool thought to digest. totally make sense
24:39
"witch and tank placements can be rough"
*walks right into a witch*
Regarding Custom maps and the AI director: By default, any map made uses the same AI system as Valve’s maps. The only way to change it is to manually tell the game to do things. Stuff like “Spawn a tank here” or “during this event, allow up to 3 boomers” and “Give the player between 5 and 10 second breaks for this gauntlet”. While this customization can be a really useful tool, most custom campaigns do a really shit job at balancing their maps and just spam infected half the time.
I used to play this game a lot until I got diagnosed with anxiety and had this game added to my forbidden list. I think it's quite telling how good a game is if someone with anxiety can't play it. L4D is a constant anxiety inducing experience, it really shows how good the atmosphere and the enemies are. I remember always being in a constant state of panic and trying to play it on normal or easy because I was terrified of the witch and the tank. Such good times, would never go back to them but still good good times.
YESSSS finally someone that said this, everytime i shoot the witch by accident or the "tank music" starts playing i panic so hard but it is really funny after they die(or i die) i usually play it with a friend on call so i start screaming then laughing so much
its wild its the only AAA game i know of and also brought the zombie horde co-op genre, w/ AI director for replayability for a linear game, audio cues, and survival elements of resource management of offered weapons class system as gameplay variety and how heavily team oriented it is.
Its a crime your videos don't get more views. Found your channel through this video and I've been binge watching everything else
Another fun fact about the hunter in 1 is that they do more damage to survivors when on fire. You can also bounce of off walls as the hunter but only if you haven't had contact with a survivor.
Is that last part really true? I've never heard of that limitation on hunter wall jumps before, & I've seen a lot of content about it. But I'm also definitely not skilled enough to test this & can't rn anyway lol
If I recall, this also applies to 2 but they changed it to be that it only applies if the fire source came from a survivor, such as by molotov or fire bullets, to prevent versus player hunters setting themselves on fire with the environment and then pouncing a player to deal extra damage.
I love this channel and I’m safe to say I believe in the success of you! Keep it up you’re amazing
Yessss, finally. After years here it is. Thank you Dorkaxe.
So what you're saying is, zombie games will quell the requests of Dead Rising 3 DLC? I cracked the code.
@@Dorkaxe No, Dead Rising 3 DLC still the best. You have to do it
your review captures my feelings perfectly. left 4 dead came out when I was 18 or so and it absolutely blew my mind. I still play left 4 dead (2) today
My wife and I started playing L4D in '08 and put in thousands of hours playing it. Our first kid arrived in '14 so we put away gaming for 9 years digging out the old Xbox in '23. Guess what - we're back to playing L4D2 and it holds up well.
Well made analysis. Just subscribed and can’t wait to see more content from you King.
Everyone’s like “I miss this game” then go play it yall fake fans I swear.
Game died off with the release of l4d2 - which is still going very strong
I love this game so much.
I used to have Patton's sounds as ringtones and sound alerts and all that
(some) people would walk back and check "where are these noise are coming from"
Love how observant your videos are!
great video man! love left 4 dead 2 havent played too much of the original as i just view as a stripped down version of the sequel. also lol'd at 42:02 i was not expecting zombies without hats
I thought I was the only one who caught it
18:56 There are indeed audio cues for each special infected, the short cues or jingles that play when a special infected spawn are called “bacteria” that have two versions depending on how far away the special has spawned, and then the full version that plays when the special infected lands a successful attack on a survivor have a name related to their type (ex: the Hunter’s full theme is called “Exenteration” which is a medical term for disembowelment, the Smoker’s is “Tongue Tied”, Boomer’s is “Pukricide” which means “to die by vomiting”).
This game is still kicking on Xbox. Hope Valve makes a third, since they still own the IP.
Well it's valve, theyre too lazy to make games, since Valve is their source of income. They dont care about making games anymore.
The whole thing with the bots taking the long way is them being programmed to avoid damage whenever possible so they won’t drop off ledges and won’t walk through fire even if you need help
Didn't expect my favorite underrated video game essayist to talk about my favorite multiplayer game ❤️ I definitely felt that you aren't as into this game as some superfans (meee :3) are, but everything you said was on point. I enjoyed listening to your analysis while I was doing college work.
Nice look at the game. I still remember watching a developer walkthrough before the game came out, and blowing up the gas station by shooting the tanks (gas tanks heh) was the coolest thing I had seen. Every time I played that level I loved doing it. I liked your talk about why L4D2 feels different what with all its variety, and how the purity of the original has its own special place. 🙂
Looking back at this and it's sequel just bring me a load of memories from my youth. I could always go back and play it whenever I want to but it'll never be the same as before.
Hadn't played this game since 2011. Just picked both up on Steam for a whopping $1.50, and man, it is everything I remember and more.
RIP my sleep schedule ☠
2008 was magic. Dead Space and L4D remain gaming GOATs
28:50 Similar mindset but for me personally its "We're breezing through the campaign and hardly used any items."
"The director is going to fuck me for this."
Since you mentioned community content, I'd like to recommend two custom campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2. Day Break, and I Hate Mountains. Both campaigns are superb, just as good as the base game's campaigns, in my opinion.
Daybreak is amazing. Every level has a secret room that you have to have the gnome to open and each room has various drugs you can take, bongs, mushrooms, ect... (gnome is in the first level), there's even a Stargate to the kingdom of the gnome king.
@@Kommencentz how do you get them ?
Back to School is, in my opinión, the best custom i've played so far, but L4D2 have one of the greatest and most prolific gaming community ever seen. There are dozens of excellent campaigns available out there, like Warcelona, Suicide Blitz 2, Yama, Helms Deep, Chernobyl.....after so many years, the amount of content this game has to offer is simply overwhelming.
ngl played vanilla, then replayed it it again as soon as i was welcomed to modding, its such a welcome one, great example to keep a game thriving.
l4d was a very big part of my childhood to the point where me and my sister would force my friends to roleplay it on the playground as kids. we still play it with my mum and aunt and it never gets boring and even with my very subpar gaming skills. this video was very fun to watch and just very satisfying to hear someone talk about a game that i love a lot thanks for making it
More zombie content from my favorite harsh but fair content creator. Can't wait to hear your views on one of my most played series.
this was great! you've really come into your own, DA
Great video, I enjoyed it very much :) L4D is truly a game of its century, at least to me.
The mutations in l4d2 are insane! I wanted to make a video essay on why Tank Run Expert is so great, but I just never thought anyone would care to listen, it's very niche and I think it's too difficult for most players anyways. what 1.3k hours in l4d does to ya lol.
One of the many things l love about this game is it's simplicity. You can come home shit faced from the pub and jump straight in with only 2 functioning brain cells.
something i've never seen mentioned but i found really cool when i figured it out, is that with some melee weapons you're able to hit hunters back midair when they jump for your face, but only with weapons like the cricket and baseball bat, but you cant do it with the katana. game had so many cool neat details to the weapon balancing
and for sharp weapons like the katana, machete, axe, or chainsaw you can cut the smokers tongue if you time it right before he pulls you
L4D and L4D2 was SUCH a huge impact on my childhood man. I had my major zombie apocalypse phase bc of it and the game sets my standards for the genre too.
Man I still play Left 4 Dead 1 and 2.
Absolute, bangers and always felt that the apocalypse in Left 4 Dead felt so surreal. It was eerie, creepy and tense.
Would shit myself as a kid, when the hunter would pounce on you.
Such a shame we didn’t get 3rd game with returning characters. They’re so iconic and they feel like real people, don’t stand out from the crowd.
And the environmental story telling is just superb, mate.
When my cousins or friends and I would play this game, we RESPECTED the common infected. When we started playing on expert regularly, the Boomer was the scariest special infected. If it snuck up on you and got even one person vomited on, the horde could end the level right there if you didn't have a good spot to put your back to. Ahh, good times.
Just in case anyone wanted to know how that achievement chain went over the years:
Dead Rising (2006)
- Zombie Genocider 53,594
Left 4 Dead (2008)
- Zombie Genocidest 53,595
Prototype (2009)
- Trail of Corpses 53,596
Dead Nation (2010)
- Genocidiary 53,597
Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package (2016)
- Z-Genocider 4: The Return 53,598
Left 4 Dead 2: The Last Stand (2020)
- Z-Genocider 2 Episode 2 53,599
Back 4 Blood (2021)
- Good Riddence! 53,600
I have played this game over 300+ hours and never knew you could crouch past the witch
God, the memories. This was the perfect game to play at a friend's house on a snow day.
Valve is the embodiment of the phrase from Toy Story 2: “You can’t rush art”
Valve may not deliver many games, but when they do, you know you have a qaulity product in your hands
I’m so glad I was a part of the couch gaming era. Now kids will never see that and it’s so tragic. It was the greatest time in gaming and We’ll never go back now we’re stuck in the hell scape of season games
I don't play l4d often anymore but I still go back to it from time to time and it hasn't aged a day. It's fun every time I play it. Such great games
Shut up
@@kobeeedunk8416 Shut up.
Coach got a red valve stuck in the back of his head and that’s how the Valve man was made
27:10
I have this twisted love of this feature. It's so satisfying to see that one guy who decided to go fast and ditch the team get smacked by a Common they didn't see, opening the door for a Hunter or the likes to get the jump on them and fuck em' up as punishment for leaving their team.
My anxiety always peaks whenever the witch's theme starts playing, then I proceed to startle her just for the lols.
I miss L4D and L4D2 SO MUCH. Such good fun and nostalgia watching your vid. What I wouldn't give to have a part 3.
a fun sideeffect of the many Archievment is, that as an veteran player, you can eyball the expeirence levels of your co-players simply by seeing what Archievemnt they get during your run with them.
1:58 *dramatically jumps out of the window* "Hello there"
Truly phenomenal.
The tank can break through the safe room doors at the beginning of levels*
Hmm, yea the fandom page says this as well, but it says the director will grow impatient if players hang out there and spawn one to break down the door. I wonder if that spawning tank has that power instead of a regular tank, or if the tank I showed in the video attacking the safe room door just didn't try hard enough? Interesting. Thanks for the correction!
@@Dorkaxe it's more in the design of the saferoom doors. The end of level ones are different than the start of level ones for whatever reason. You can get tanks stuck on the door if you do it right but their rocks or swings can bust it down to prevent hiding in the room. Just adding comments whenever it feels relevant to help the algorithm as well.
@@iraloS ahh yeah that would explain it, the end safe room doors are resistant but the opening ones aren't, at least after the metal bar gets removed. Thanks for the insight!
@@Dorkaxe The fan wikis are very inaccurate and often have straight up wrong information based purely off of rumors. Don’t rely on them as sources.
Your best bet for accurate and reliable information is to ask the community directly, specifically I would recommend talking to the community update team as there’s lots of experienced players from all parts of the community (survival, versus, speedrunning, vscripting, etc.) there who are always down to help
If u want L4D2 to play like L4D1, you can play the "Mutation" gamemode.
Theres a mutation for both L4D1 campaign and L4D1 versus.
Yeah I somehow hadn't heard of that until the comments of this video. Crazy! I'll definitely need to talk about that in the L4D2 video
@@Dorkaxe You still run slow as hell in the l4d1 mutation while traversing water and I believe ammo in shotguns is still lower. It does not capture the authentic feel from the first game.
@@trenchcoats4life891 There's also the fact that the animations for the survivors look worse and the loss of ragdolling on death, since that's the way L4D2's programmed.
I have the "No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted." Screenshot in my phone because it's so incredibly absurd and amazing. I find it endlessly hilarious.
Your the best man Dorkaxe for making this video, all of your videos are unique in their own way most retrospects or reviews bring up the same cliche points like their copying other reviewers work. A thought on a game that hasn’t really been covered you might like to play in future are the two Overlord games perhaps
Praise from Stank Face means a lot, thanks. Overlord 1 was fun when I was younger. I'll add those to the list.
Also gotta compliment your editing. It’s great and you always show the relevant clips matching what your narrating. It’s fantastic and it’s how I also try and edit videos. Great stuff all around 👍💪🙌🤘🙏💯🔥
Hey thanks man. If you had to pick one, which video of yours do you think is best/better represents your channel? I'll give one a watch!
@@Dorkaxe well my newest videos are the best so I’d say choose either of the Serious Sam videos I’ve made . The more ambitious one is the Sam4 half hour video and honestly bruv I’d be honoured for you to check out a video thank you ! I just finished your Rome games series and loved it 🤘💪🔥🔥🔥💯👍
You're underrated channel made my day, thanks for all the effort you put in.
So glad this showed up in my recommended videos. Liked, subscribed, commenting for the algorithm, added several videos to my watch later
I love the analysis in this video, little details like the car alarms on custom maps and talking about your experience with the game, nice little details :)
In 2022 I moved to playing these on PC with the Infinite custom campaigns there's no end to the fun!
Francis: you know what i dont hate? I Dont hate this ❤
Me: Aaaaaaw Francis you Sob 🤧 I dont hate you too
Resident Evil wasn't just the "big zombie" series, it's single handedly the reason zombies became so popular again in the 2000s. Anytime there is an infected zombie, that stems from Resident Evil.
Amazing review, bro!!
Ths game was incredible when it first launched. I spent countless hours on this game as well as the second game playing either alone or with friends through couch coop on the Xbox 360. Some good nostalgia there for sure, I also put extra time in it a few years ago with my wife through coop zombie action :D.
There's actually a boomer body in the intro, you can see it near the dead bodies that bill inspects
Imagine if the older consoles could show us the amount of hours we had on these type of games. Life was so much easier back then
5:47 I looked down at my phone, then looked back up and was not expecting to see MYSELF in the b-roll!! 😂
Oh god, don't tell the others how bad I am at this game, only you and the others will know lmao. I'm sure you'll catch yourself in the video a few times, I feel like I saw a lot of the same people when I was recording.
I miss this series so much. I still wish for a 3rd everyday and come back to play this series that I played when younger.
Actually, at the very beginning of the trailer, bill is investigating an exploded boomer.
If you ever do a video on Back 4 Blood, it's worth noting that the game was considerably better on its day 1 release - outside of bugfixes, the updates and DLC added:
- Annoying enemies
- Continuously nerfed all the popular and/or fun cards, forcing users into more boring picks
- Horribly designed hives
- Kept making the veteran and nightmare difficulties easier and easier
- Removed the card progression through the campaign, instead giving players all cards from the very beginning
Of course, there were some positive aspects of the updates and DLCs, but to this day I exclusively play B4B on the day 1 release version as it is simply more fun to me
imagine playing shit like back 4 blood when the far superior duology of L4D and L4D2 exist.