Smackdown 190: You may dispense with the pleasantries

[Creole Ned]

Smackdown 190: You may dispense with the pleasantries
Date: Sunday, August 19th
Time: 6 p.m. PDT, 8 p.m. Central, 9 p.m. EDT
Game: Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
Gametype: Deathmatch
Map: Bespin Streets

Apologies for the late announcement. We will be playing Jedi Outcast tonight. Think of it as more of a try-out for the game than a full-fledged Smackdown. Be sure to grab the 1.04 patch to be up-to-date. We will be playing straight DM with weapons, force powers and lightsabers.

The 1.04 update may be found here (http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/jedioutcast2.html). Note you do not need to get the 1.03 update first, as 1.04 includes everything from the previous patch.

[samuelk]

I found my CD and installed the game. Wow, I remember it looking much better than it does. :)

[Creole Ned]

It's not bad if you crank everything up.

The map will be Bespin Streets. Enjoy!

[Circuit]

Ned, did you have the update when I connected to your server the other night?

[Creole Ned]

Yes.

[Circuit]

Hmm. I didn't and was still able to join. I wonder if the version of the game I have was already updated.

[Tick]

I was going to play but apparently I left my Outcast CDs in my mom's basement. I'm going home to pick up some stuff next weekend, so I'll bring it home then.

[Creole Ned]

Another small turnout. Congrats to Sam "Woohoo!" K for the win. Tai was actually leading for much of the game, fueled by the force power known as beer.

I had to manually add Circuit as he dropped out before I could get the shot of the score. The total is accurate, however.

http://martiancartel.com/smackdown/scores/sd190_score.jpg

[Circuit]

My ping was 119!! :mad:

[Q]

Sorry I couldn't make it, I actually fell asleep at 7:30 and didn't wake up until this morning.

[Tai]

I was ahead by 7 kills at one point. I hate myself for losing. Of course, hate leads to the Dark Side, so this will pay off in the long run.

PS. How do you tell if your light saber is actually hitting the other person?

[Circuit]

I have no idea, which is what keeps me from completely enjoying the game. Saber battles just seem to be completely random.

[Creole Ned]

They're not random but the saber swings so quickly it feels random. If you hear the other player make a pain sound you've hit them, otherwise they've successfully avoided the attack or absorbed the damage.

BTW, if you target another player and hit the K key and they do the same, you enter a duel with that player. In duel mode no other players can hurt you, you cannot use weapons nor recover health. You fight until one player dies. It can make the saber fights a little less chaotic because it's strictly one on one. Now, one thing you don't want to do is put out a duel challenge when you're at 44 health, like I did. :)

[Circuit]

One thing I think could make this more fun for future SDs is to restrict people to either lightsabers or guns. I really don't enjoy having both, to be honest. It's too easy to be fighting someone with lightsabers and have someone else come along and pick both people off with a rocket. I know because I did it. :) There are also a few weapons' secondary attacks that aren't blocked by the lightsaber and typically only take a few shots to kill with.

This is all IMO, of course. Everyone but me seemed to have fun.

[Creole Ned]

You may be thinking of the secondary fire on the repeater which lobs a big ball of electricity onto the player. The lightsaber probably just acts like a lightning rod for it. If you have Absorb (I think) or Heal, you can mitigate its damage, but there's generally little time to do that, especially if you have more than one person after you. And that's also only if you choose Light powers. And the heal actually kind of sucks (I know, I maxed it out and it didn't really help at all).

I am interested in feedback from Tai and Sam on this as well. The game is actually quite complex with everything turned on, very much rock-paper-scissors, which is not the norm for most run and gun DM-style shooters. We must play again, though, just so I can hear The Greatest Taunt Emote Ever.

Here's what can be configured:

Sabers on/off
Weapons on/off
Force powers on/off
Number of points available for force powers (we played with this setting on max)
Saber duels on/off

There is no way outside of mods to restrict specific force powers or weapons, however.

[Circuit]

But you can set it to lightsaber only as well as whether or not force powers are allowed.

[Q]

I think light sabers + force powers might be a fun combo.

[Snake]

Crap I should really read this section more, this is a game I would actually do a smackdown for. So if you give it another go count me in.

[Tai]

Feedback:

I liked the guns, as I mentioned.

The lightsaber duels were pretty but confusing.

I had my Force powers configured for max lightsaber, jump, lightning and push. I couldn't seem to fly like the rest of you, maybe that wasn't jump? Lightning seemd to suck when I used it on people, but sam's hurt me good.

I agree with circuit on one or the other but not both (guns vs sabers) - I kept getting shot in the back or having someone else take my kill towards the end there.

I need to find the control for deploying a turret.

I would certainly play again. :) I think Force Powers should always be on with force points at max, and then either guns or sabers.

I never tried a duel, but I like the concept, so lean towards on.

[Creole Ned]

If you have force jump maxed out, you can jump pretty high (with some air control) by holding down the space bar. It drains your energy accordingly.

I remember force jump in the original Jedi Knight. It shot you straight into the air at high speed with no control. It was...interesting.

[Tai]

If you have force jump maxed out, you can jump pretty high (with some air control) by holding down the space bar. It drains your energy accordingly.

Err, we had energy?

[Creole Ned]

Each time you use a force power you expend force energy and have to wait for it to recharge over time if you get too carried away. It's the blue bar in the little HUD dealie in the lower right (or left) corner of the screen. Think of it like the jetpack energy in Tribes.