Uh oh...CSGO

RooksBailey · May 20, 2014, 10:12:00 PM

I don't know what it is, but for some reason I always HATE Valve shooters when I first try them. I hated Team Fortress 2 the first time I played it and immediately deleted it from my Steam account. A year later, I return in a fit of boredom and fall in love with the game. Now the same thing is happening with Counter Strike: Global Offensive. I tried it last year(?) when they had a F2P weekend and hated it. There was a second F2P weekend and I thought it was merely okay, even if I did eventually buy it. I shelved it again for months and months and never gave it a second thought. Now I reinstalled it out of boredom and I think I love it as much as I now love TF2!

I think what is winning me over are all the cool skins that are now available for the weaponry. When I originally tried it, everyone just had the drab gun-metal weapons that lacked any sort of customization that I could see. That was just a big letdown for me after played so many other shooters that made customizing your firearms part of the game. And while you can't add performance enhancers to your weapons (scopes and stuff...or can you?), there seem to be tons of skins you can win for free, or pay a buck or so to unlock. I just got a crate drop for this handgun, and then I won a "GG" decal for free. You can see the effect here:

I love this showcase view that Valve added, as if you are browsing the weapon in a gun store. ;D

Here is the gun in my hand:

Wracked up four more kills since the case screenshot. O0

Later, I also won this powerful rifle:

I think this is why I am not finally getting a kick out of this game. Winning stuff like this makes you feel like you are accomplishing something. Before, it just felt to me like I was playing a skirmish game with no real advancement of any type.

BTW: I love it when other people pick up your weapon after you get killed. I had a funny experience where I died and dropped my StatTrack handgun. Well, some other fella picked it up and as I watched him in spectator mode, he kept hitting the examine key to look it over. I guess he liked it! LOL! 8)

There are two things that are annoying me with CSGO, though. One, the community is toxic. It is a shame I can't find a way to turn off the chat because, as with CoD, it only seems to be used by foul-mouthed raging teenagers. I also dislike how so many players "rage quit" as soon as a game goes against them, or equally likely, try to kick better players or demand a reset of the match by scrambling the teams. I hate to say it, but only about 25% of the games I have been in seemed to have mature gamers. ::)

Lastly, what the heck is it with the DUST and DUST II maps?!? There are a number of great maps with this game, but almost every server I play on (besides the blessed Operation Phoenix servers with the limited time maps - just .99 cents! :) ) seems stuck on these two maps, and if they aren't, the players all demand the map is switched back to these two. I hate that because I think both are bland Middle Eastern maps.

Anyhoo, really enjoying my time with the game. That Valve PC-only polish is everywhere. I think I have the game maxed out on video setting and it runs like a dream - which is ironic seeing how Titanfall uses the same engine but runs like a pig despite looking only marginally better. ::)

GDS_Starfury · May 20, 2014, 11:59:57 PM

if youre looking for a great group of people to play with search for the ECG servers and tell them I sent ya. O0

RooksBailey · May 21, 2014, 01:39:40 AM

Quote from: GDS_Starfury on May 20, 2014, 11:59:57 PM
if youre looking for a great group of people to play with search for the ECG servers and tell them I sent ya. O0

Thanks for the info! I am still a newb so I want to practice some more on the casual servers before I start screwing up somebody else's game. :)

I have to say this is a surprisingly unforgiving game! One misstep and *boom!* your dead!

I got myself another unlockable weapon. I am horrible with sniper rifles, but the choice wasn't mine. :)

Got one kill so far with it:

Just noticed that bullet hole in the masonry. Guess it went straight through! I didn't think this game modeled ballistics like that.

I need lots of practice with this game. LOL!

RooksBailey · May 27, 2014, 02:00:59 PM

Not as good as Battlefield Friends, but it still hits all the right notes. :)

I confess to having chased the chicken myself. ;D

Also, I got a new gun! Sand Spray P90 for my terrorist loadout.

RooksBailey · May 28, 2014, 07:18:34 PM

This is an interesting look at the competitive scene of CSGO:

What I learned about CS:GO after watching the Twitch stream of someone I beat

It does make me sad to see the prevalence of hacking even in this carefully policed game. When Activision or some other game company refuses to implement some competitive feature for a shooter on the PC (such as that app for Black Ops 2), this is why. I just can't stand cheaters. It is an affront to my gaming values. And I also think it is indicative of a personality disorder.

Still, interesting stuff.

GDS_Starfury · May 28, 2014, 07:43:48 PM

Quote from: RooksBailey on May 21, 2014, 01:39:40 AM
Thanks for the info! I am still a newb so I want to practice some more on the casual servers before I start screwing up somebody else's game. :)

oh its about as casual and relaxed as youre going to find. the ECG people are gamers cut from our cloth and are very helpful. they even have a yearly summer camp out thats not game related but a great excuse to go jumping of rail bridges into rivers just because you can. very good people and I recommend the server and the group highly.