Vermintide

[Brother Glacius]

So yeah, no way I'm writing out the entire freaking title of that game. Sheesh. Anyways, I bought this yesterday and played the "beta" version. The full version is out today, so I'm not sure exactly how much was beta. Anyways, it isn't too bad. My friend called it the successor for L4D2. I'm not so sure I'd go that far. It is very similar though.

 

Zombies = skaven

Special Zombies = special skaven (choker/drag guy, hunter, spitter, and tank. You have a shooty guy instead of the blob though, and no charger.)

 

Anyways, you have five characters, and they are somewhat different...some in minor ways, others in major. Dwarf ranger, elf waywatcher, bright wizard, witch hunter, and rieksguard. Each has a melee and a ranged weapon, and then you can have a heal slot, a strength or speed slot, and then a grenade slot. You level up and you do get equipment at the successful end of a mission and by leveling.

 

So it has some RPG elements to it. The game is fairly hard. Harder than L4D2. And so far I haven't seen AI options in the game for other players. My whole one day of beta testing was always with other humans.

 

The skaven are a bit too sneaky. I'd like some more ques when they show up or are around. L4D2 did a great job with that. This game could use it.

 

Spent most of my time playing the bright wizard, and gave the dwarf a try. Both play very differently as opposed to just being a different skin.

 

It is fun, the levels are very challenging. They don't do a super job of letting you know where to go at times. The end stage fights can be really insane. So far the only thing I don't like is the elf. I haven't played it yet, but it seems when the elf is on the map, you will get to the various chests and gear after she does because she is so quick. It isn't very expensive as games go, and it is different enough that it will take over my L4D2 slot for a while.

 

 

[indytims]

The skaven are a bit too sneaky. I'd like some more ques when they show up or are around. L4D2 did a great job with that. This game could use it.

 

 

That is because Skaven > Zombies!  :)

 

Sounds interesting. I'd be far more interested if we could play AS Skaven (I am biased, though). But it still sounds cool enough to have a look at.

 

Thanks for the review, BG!

 

-Tim

[Ser Warwick]

I am having a lot of fun with this game. I might have a slight bias towards first person swordplay and the Warhammer lore, both of which I feel are well represented here. The atmosphere can be downright chilling or frantic and heavy depending on the scenarios. Only 4 levels were available pre-release, but they are all varied and repeatable, with multiple difficulties.

 

BG, I actually like the sneakiness of the Skaven, but have found that various audio cues help. Assassins whispering, Stormvermin marching cadences, or chittering clanrats, and of course the horn for the swarm. Headphones might help with that. I will agree on the difficulty though, you really have to work well as a team for the heavier areas. I have found that pressing T to alert your mates to a serious threat allows everyone to focus it down.

 

The loot mechanic is fun and addicting. If you finish a level, you roll dice for new equipment. You can get better dice if you find hidden tomes and grimoires which also make the game more difficult by decreasing health and carrying space.

 

Overall it's an excellent rat exterminator simulator.

[Don't Panic]

I do enjoy murdering skaven.. maybe I'll give it a shot if it's like lfd cause that's one of my fave games ever

[indytims]

I do enjoy murdering skaven.. maybe I'll give it a shot if it's like lfd cause that's one of my fave games ever

 

This message is *not-not* approved, pink-skin!

[JMGraham]

Can you play it solo, or do you pretty much have to have a group?

[Ser Warwick]

It leans pretty heavily on group play. If you don't have enough players, you get bots, who do their duty both admirably and soullessly. The game will keep the same 4 out of the 5 characters for the session, so the bots act as placeholders if someone drops, or until a new player joins. So you will always have a group, and (especially on harder difficulties) will need to work as a team to survive.

 

You could also play the Elf, run faster than everyone else, and steal all the potions, but...

 

Ramboing in this game, while ostensibly possible, is generally ill advised. If you range too far ahead, thinking that you're a strong, independent Dwarf Ranger, you will be targeted by a Gutter Runner or Packmaster, whose successful attacks pin or disable you until you are rescued by another player.

 

This also happens if you straggle behind too far.

[dvang]

I have been playing this since the pre-order Beta (a week before the launch).  It has a lot of similarities with L4D (which to me is a good thing).  It is heavily dependent on melee, with each character able to do both melee and ranged (you carry 1 of each weapon).  However, melee blocking and pushing is an important part of succeeding at the higher levels, and ranged does have significant ammo limits (barring the bright wizard, who has to manage her heat level).

 

You can play solo or with less than 4 players. Whichever hero is not filled with a human is an AI bot.  They are better than L4D bots, but still no match for most human players.  That said, they work fine for the lower difficulties if you dont want to play with anyone else.  You could play the game entirely by yourself with bots on lower difficulties if you really wanted.  You get lower tier items, so it will take you longer to 'build up' your heroes.

 

Loot can be a bit frustrating in its randomness.  For example, I don't play the elf ... and I've rolled and gotten 4 legendary bows for her so far.  Useless for me, and there is no trading (which is probably good). However, for every tier of item (other than legendary) you can either break it down to unlock special traits on other items, or fuse 5 of the same tier and create a random item a tier higher.  Rumor also has it that sometime in the near future you will be able to 'sell' or otherwise utilize/exchange legendary items and trinket items (which you currently cannot do anything with except wear up to 3).  

 

I'm having a lot of fun, although it can be frustrating if you end up in a group with morons.  Its also hard to tell newbies/morons, as level does not necessarily equal experience or ability.

[Brother Glacius]

So there are grey (basic), green (mid) and blue (high) level items. Is there anything beyond that?

[dvang]

Yes, orange (exotic) and then red (legendary?)

 

If you do runs on Hard, you should usually have an orange (sometimes 2) as the top prize you can roll.  Nightmare difficulty shifts the loot chart so there are a couple orange and sometimes a red as the top prize.

[Brother Glacius]

Right now I'm hitting 50% on freaking normal. I swear the last two days something has changed because the runs have gotten hard.

[Brother Glacius]

So revising my opinion on Vermintide. At this point I have stopped playing completely. There just is no point to it. The only mission that is even remotely worth running is the Horn. And if you have people that don't know what they are doing, then typically for your 30 minute commitment, it becomes a waste of time. You could run it on easy with bots and just grind loot...but still, 20 minute runs for crap loot over and over again. Wow. No thank you. Some of the missions they have added in are so incredibly hard, with no where near the reward level of horn, it quickly becomes a game to hate. The game should not be out of beta. The imbalance of "risk vs reward" ruins the game. It truly boggles me at times when I'm playing and I see the stuff they throw at you.