Metro 2033 & Last Light... Years Later

[Music] for decades film industries went far beyond Hollywood in Japan with vibrant communities in Germany India Australia and Mexico but gaming's recent birth kept its creators in America England and Japan almost exclusively thanks to gaming's growth internet availability and international markets development in publishing has evolved over the last 20 years leading the companies being formed all over the globe one country that spawned multiple development studios was a Ukraine with the most influential being GSC game world the company was easily the country's most successful compared to the likes of Frogwares action forms and best way with its RTS franchise Kozak's earning millions in profit and 140 people working on an FPS oblivion lost that within one trip to share a noble's exclusion zone became stalker but after a tumultuous development cycle of 5 plus years with a comically low salary to all but the most vital members of staff the game we know today is shadow of Chernobyl left behind a story that discussed the man who told it to this day Andrew Prokhorov stalkers lead designer describes as hundred and forty plus staff company having just four vehicles in its parking lot a bmw x5 Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari f430 owned by the company's CEO and a second hand beater belonging to a single programmer tired of slaving to serve their leader Andrew and two co-workers left to form their own studio one where the priority would not be money but its people [Music] [Applause] [Music] for a games was founded in 2005 a year prior to stalkers completion in two years before THQ published it in the West while being the bug-ridden mess eastern games had the reputation of being at the time stalker was a cult hit earning many accolades and praised for its open-ended design and depth of gameplay but there was a little regret on the part of forays founders upon stalkers success being followed up with GSC firing its entire art department who subsequently joined for a game shortly after these early days were equal parts camaraderie and fear everyone was as experienced as they were passionate about creating immersive atmosphere games that push the boundaries of art and technology building a strong unity from its inception but being a self-funded company of less than a dozen people they needed a publisher in content presentable to said publisher the inspiration as it turned out would be a free novel on the internet since the age of 10 Dmitry Glukhovsky spent two hours of every day within Russia's metro network and having seen its architecture security and technology over the span of 3,000 hours he pieced together what the Metro truly was the world's largest nuclear bunker realising the deepest stations were nearly 300 feet underground with hermetic barriers and airlock sealed entrances that could keep its occupants safe for years having read novels like roadside picnic and played games like fallout Dmitry realized the perfect setting for a post-apocalyptic tale already existed within the very tunnels he traveled through having begun writing it during university he finished it at 18 years of age taking it to various publishers that repeatedly rejected but the most common criticism laid at the authors bold choice of killing the book's hero in act 2 frustrated and demoralized but wanting people to read his expressive novel Dmitry made a website and self-published chapters online for free in 2002 and somehow without any paid promotion his story quickly gained an audience eventually leading to six to seven thousand visitors per day and four million total reader certainly large enough to convince Dimitri that his hero should live to complete their mission changes like this created a relationship between the cough ski and his readers who felt they were building something together effectively being the largest and most passionate editors an author could receive having a crowd of thousands assisting the author in building this wonderful world he created he kept the story's final chapter offline while publishers were now knocking on his door desperate to print this local phenomena it was around this time that Dimitri was contacted by a certain game studio across the border Metro was the perfect setting for forays Talent but the team consisting almost entirely of ex stalker developers at this point most importantly its lead programmers and artists the former capable of crafting the tools the latter would use to bring this tunnel network to life and they did at a wicked pace announcing the game one year after collaborating with the book's author along with a pre-alpha trailer demonstrating a level that's remarkably similar to the final product for years prior to its release and even more sections can be seen in early screenshots and builds playable at the lept SiC games convention now I'm sure a lot of you had the same thought this looks a lot like stalker and the CEO of GSC thought so too in fact by 2009 he accused the company of stealing GSC's x-ray engine which being that two of fauré's founding members were the men responsible for said engine was possible for a quickly denied these allegations and not with a one-paragraph nope but explanations for how they had quote no relationship the major obstacles to the future of stalker engine were its inherent inability to be multi-threaded the weak and error-prone networking model and simply awful resource and memory management which prohibited any kind of streaming are simply keeping the working sets small enough for next gen consoles so in our pick a side world who is right well there hasn't been third-party confirmation with either side GSC never went beyond their accusations and for a have never commented on the matter since 2010 the only way someone could delve further into this story is if they had access to the pre-alpha Vince but that bills not available to the public so now that I have the build I can confirm that ollas is right Metro even in the pre-alpha has no relationship to the x-ray engine used in stocker it just uses the same weapon files meshes script sound shaders and textures head GSC game world made their accusations after this pre-alpha trailer dropped for a might have been in serious trouble as there's easily enough assets rip from stalker to make ole as a statement that the 4a engine merely began as a personal project questionable at best but GSC didn't instead making these claims by the times forays engine had enough middleware that it resembled x-ray as much as titanfall 2 resembles the source engine clearly if there was a lot of turmoil between the two studios and I think publishing also raises some questions after THQ published stalker Deep Silver picked up the following releases in THQ announced Metro 2033 in 2009 what caused the switch well shadow of Chernobyl development was such a dumpster fire after GSC uploaded an unprotected build to an FTP leaked by fans THQ sent producer Dean sharp over to manhandle the studio into getting the damn thing shipped Dean recalled with Eurogamer having to throw someone out of his office for trying to do the same to him yelling quote you can go [ __ ] yourself fix your [ __ ] game and calmly told the CEO quote you're not gonna get paid anymore unless you finish it it was a nightmare of cut content online death threats in mutual resentment but Dean ultimately one was stalker being ready for release by 2007 and with one last show to do before heading back home to California he heard about another game made by former developers of the studio he whipped across the finish line out of curiosity he checked their demo and immediately rushed back to the THQ booth telling his friend kelly flock what he saw the conversation that saved for a games from bankruptcy went as follows and I'm sure these words were repeated by Dean when he saw metros design doc because it's hardly modest originally titled metros nightmare world releasing for PC in the Xbox - it is the opposite of what for a demo Dan they're pre-alpha build it was written to have non-scripted AI RPG elements strongly playability a 20-hour campaign multiplayer third-person camera full day/night cycle add-ons and sequels taking place in Paris London or Prague with plans to expand Metro into an MMO I am NOT making this up it's really a fascinating read with my favorite cut feature being rat races where you'd supposedly control a rat through tunnel labyrinths to come out first just like how the original Mass Effect document sounds like a turbo take of Andromeda metros document makes Exodus look relatively reserved but considering THQ spore experience with stalker and the team's own influences consisting of linear experiences it's not surprising that the Metro eventually released in March 2010 dropped many concepts in the early 2000s foreign independence like GSC game world couldn't grab attention with sophisticated graphics high production value or celebrities in or outside the gaming industry effectively forcing the studio to willingly overhyped their projects for attention but for a games and Metro were meant to change that the developers were no longer made up of inexperienced dreamers but veteran developers who knew exactly what the issues with their technology were and what needed to be done in order to resolve them this was meant to be the moment when the East could make not a niche game only for the most hardcore players but a triple-a title that could rival the quality of the games that inspired it [Music] I've been making years later videos for a while now and have since developed an unintended constant that's going to change this year each game analyzed is one that I'm enjoyed some admittedly more than others but there hasn't been a title I genuinely disliked which is why it was apprehensive about covering the metro series because Metro 2033 was a game that I had problems what to say the least let it be written that the turbo linear bombastic campaigns of 2010 were right up my alley as a teenager even critically panned titles like Medal of Honor with its appallingly scripted levels weren't enough to stop me throwing out high review scores like candy but Metro was too much the environment lent itself to a linear campaign Anna wouldn't dare criticize its usage of cramped hallways considering the fiction but the amount of time spent behind lifeless NPCs is just appalling let's go be careful here this is a dangerous tunnel please concentrate let's go move aside opportunity let's go please follow me but to remain at my back let's go let's go don't move this was the level that made me quit over an hour into the game had passed and for only one stage that it leave me to my own devices the rest of the experience was spent trapped behind NBC's vapid scripted set pieces horrendous stealth and invisible walls in both recent playthroughs I did for this video cons introduction put me to sleep by the sheer lack of control tension interest or even need from my existence [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this was on hardcore Ranger difficulty but having mentioned two playthroughs it's clear I progress much further than the first two hours because even though my initial bias wait very much against this game's favor I powered through promising an open mind and now I'd like it but everything listed earlier is present and then some honestly the bulk of this games pacing issues in regards to its infuriating NPCs invisible walls in scripted moments wouldn't be so bad if they just allowed the player to perform basic tasks NPCs could still lead new players caught up in the tense atmosphere while letting those several steps ahead of companions progressed rather than forced to watch someone else move boxes I've said this before but NPCs are best as something for players to fall back on or assistance rather than leaders having 20 to 40 seconds may not sound like much but when these moments pile together it quickly adds up especially when the player has quite literally nothing to do there's no physics to play with no secrets to find no way to jump on a character's head until your ally shows up you can't progress and yes this was hardly an issue isolated to Metro but I'd argue even amongst the slew of mediocre shooter campaigns released at that time 2033 is one of the worst offenders and how it treats the player yet would add to the frustration is how much a respect said player in other areas the game's king kong inspiration can be seen not just in one cutscene but gameplay the design Doc's sites Ubisoft licensed gem from metros minimal display and one of the few things making its way to the final product there's crosshairs icons and displays on normal and in Ranger you can still bring up ammo counters but the commitment to immersion is overt right down to object as being on your notepad within the game's world rather than abstract screen I love this and while begins objective placement occasionally confuses and it's more open-ended sections they're hardly labyrinths and mostly come down to finding the one path whose purpose is to lead to the next checkpoint unfortunately these can also highlight the game's clunkiness for instance in my second playthrough I remember this hole in chapter 5 is where you're supposed to go but our team packed in too many calories to fit through leaving me chased by monsters not worth the ammo required to put them down losing my mind due to how much I could have sworn that broken wall was the correct laughs only for desperation to elicit another attempt where Artyom managed to sweat a pound off and squeeze through frankly that's the most dated thing about forays debut engine Artyom not only feels like a fridge on skis but one with magnets attached because he'll randomly get stuck on almost anything there's no collision or adjustment to your movement speed when brushing up against a wall or railing you just come to a halt and considering the game setting it's hardly a rarity this definitely isn't a game for those who want something jank-free and movement aiming or shooting but that's in function in appearance ignoring the engines upgrade three years later 2033 is still a great-looking game plan character models poor environment textures and stiff animations register but the weapons lighting and sheer attention to detail is staggering stalker might have been an atmospheric game but it's gritty textures and environment aren't exactly an artistic achievement after all Metro's pre-alpha managed to look almost exactly like it in a matter of months you can tell the art department formerly of GSC really stretched their muscles here the bastard in semi-auto shotgun alone gave Metro a distinct style not aligned with any other post-apocalyptic game for a new Glu cough sqeeze fiction had never been realized in a visual medium encouraging them to make the absolute most of it with distinct stations various factions in fiercely packed markets from people selling clothes food and weapons to musicians playing for crowds farmers raising pigs and children running around the world itself is without a doubt Metro 2033 strongest aspect where so many games forego details like what do people eat how do their governments function and what the exact layout is Metro uses all of those to give context to your adventure considering the setting natural linearity and repetition of its tunnels Metro with theoretically aged as poorly as the rest of the gritty pseudo realistic shooters of that time but the deep shadows and decorated subsections bathed the game's levels in light that can be as depressing as it is touching our team's journey through the Metro tunnels itself gives the player a vast array of cultures people governments and environments to experience steadily building atop each other per level our teams dark and desolate home makes polis station something to admire in its scale peace and beautiful architecture which is then contrasted with the highly technical and modern technology of d6 that forces are here to go from the lowest station to the highest tower and ow by the end you felt this journey as much as you've played it and this is something accomplished by many of the Great's in this artform and for a should be proud for having done it in their debut title I just wish the game itself was better executed the visual presentation in overall progression the campaign is great but sound design yeah as someone tilted by stock sound effects metros moments can often be quite difficult to take seriously the boss but of course too is a boss it is or else would you like to go okay part of me wants to give for a a break as they were made up of a couple dozen people working around the clock in an office that wouldn't look out of place in stalker when other independent studios like New World interactive are able to have some of the best weapon effects in an FPS I'm less forgiving in terms of level design the peaks are its most open and admissions and both the metro and outdoors though the former highlights the game's appalling stealth mechanics were one miss throwing that puts the entire system on high alert so exploring the wastelands just that bit more enjoyable if unremarkable though there's plenty of trash to wade through along the way I already mentioned Khan's dominance but there's rescuing a child who messes with your controls so poorly some thought their game was glitched obnoxious shooting galleries and an escort mission with kamikaze enemies because someone at 4a hates people and wants us to suffer in terms of voice acting it's kind of fascinating the translation is mostly forgettable and characters rarely show inflection in their voice yet last light has the same bulk of voice actors and that games dubbing is notably superior which will be discussed in greater detail for now I believe 2033 is bland performances come down to three key factors most notably the writing look Russian ain't a language that converts to English easily and translators basically need to be professional authors themselves if they want what's read to be engrossing but the result here is the only characters I liked were almond and Daniella because they're the ones that have more emotion than these videos which leads to the second point direction it can't be the actor's fault because nearly everyone's like this I heard you'll receive no help from Polish what's your next move Artyom himself as someone I'm conflicted about because on the one hand he's the blandest of them all only adjusting his tone after the most dramatic hun assured me that bull boons fate was not tied to my own but I regretted his death but I quite liked his youthful delivery it really sells the character is a young citizen rather than a warrior whereas his Russian counterpart sounds more like what you'd expect from Miller Boston Nashua boys voucher scheme Indonesian amia I'm Nam gazelle is love Billie Jean as a friend you should be she was thrashed on a ship don't get me wrong though the game's original performances are far superior to the dub even for those who are forced to read subtitles like me because while Russian and English are such different languages the subtitles aren't exactly in sync with the characters speech the actors Direction is good enough to carry you through that this I believe is the best example of how much a difference good direction makes it's hard to describe my feelings at that moment exhausted years but joyful I had made it yeah paddles naka to Stella still if those of living amongst the threat will appear yes producer yeah the stable path lania camper of Boris Ichi be rescued by my assistants a bull Avoca could abolish in a sham my obstinate you have the pommel sorry zo I may not be able to understand what he said but I can register his excitement and relief instinctively subtitles are more than worth it if it's easier to connect with the characters the only problem is Kahn's Russian voice actor eating the microphone and is Natalie's dish but a republic throw bomber its lavash the cleanest lorry Slifkin dona there's also an issue languages can't resolve in regards to storytelling those being the cutscenes mostly the game follows half-life's rule of keeping players firmly in the eyes of the character but on occasion it'll switch to a cinematic angle particularly in dialogue scenes and my last year's later Andromeda had an interesting error where frames were frozen for a moment with most cuts but today I've discovered something even more bizarre I immediately picked up on something being off about this game cuts almost like it's animating movement between takes and that's not far off when slowing down the footage you can see the camera being moved from one angle to the other in just a couple of frames attempting to be instantaneous but failing the only reason I could possibly see for why this would be is the game's engine can't have multiple cameras at once turns out there's other scenes that do cut immediately so until this is confirmed by the developers themselves the bizarre editing will remain a mystery but none of these things prevent the game from doing an absolutely phenomenal job of realizing the world the mitri put to the page though this raises the question of not just storytelling but the story itself concessions and changes were inevitable and for a were lucky to have a novelist who respected this artform and willingly assisted the team wherever possible even going as far as rewriting all the games Russian dialogue but I have a bit of beef with this game's plot and it's in many ways a repeat of my criticism with ODST Artyom doesn't really do a whole lot hear me out you kill lots of things navigate dangerous landscapes and communicate with important characters but why does our team do all of this the novel establishes his reason beyond mere survival instinct having left the exit Dark One's are coming through unsealed as a child it immediately shows our hero's personal involvement as he feels responsible for all of the death in his home and somewhat explains the Dark One's attempts to communicate with him but the game lacks this context only establishing Hunter's disappearance and Artyom promising to see his mission through in a novel giving the hero simple goal is easier because you have the benefit of reading exactly what the characters thinking feeling and doing on each page age developing who they are but because Artyom is a silent protagonist in the game except for loading screens and a good chunk is spent following cardboard cutouts the game doesn't share that development where there was due to cut content commitment to a silent protagonist or something else can only be speculated but the result is our team has too much character to serve as a vessel for the player but not enough to make him necessary as a protagonist there are absolutely memorable sequences in this game from our team's desperate search for the d6 codes crushing a giant biomass and what feels like for a tribute to Resident Evil there's just not a lot of depth to them which is disappointing in a world as rich and fascinating as metros similar to the game's opening its conclusion also has an alteration small and scale but grand in effect the tragedy of Metro's novel in the conclusion is that our team makes contact with the dark ones realizing his nightmares and visions where their attempts to communicate with him just as the missiles sent to destroy them are about to land but the game doesn't do this our team sets the target designator by default travels through a bizarre vision caused by the Dark One's and watches their world burn while pondering he perhaps made a mistake it lacks the power and catastrophe of Dimitri's message and for a reason I don't believe was worth it throughout the game there's an invisible karma meter that when filled grants the option of an alternate ending these moral points can be earned by talking to people lining up for the hospital giving a bullet to a beggar or playing the guitar in your room one of the contributions to saving an entire race from Total Annihilation is playing a guitar while it's something that's easy to mock the truth is even with more reasonable explanations it feels like Dimitri's originally tragic ending has been chopped up into two extremes absolute death and absolute understanding where the point of the novel is that our team understood when it was too late and that's what makes a conclusion devastating by attempting to utilize a unique medium of games for storytelling in this area it ultimately ends a game on a lukewarm note regardless of which ending is selected and in spite of the appreciation for our journey from the deepest tunnels to the highest views but while the credits rolled I felt that I finally understood this game for reasons you'll find out Metro 2033 seemed undesirable to me existing only as a testing ground for what for a was truly capable of but having given it the benefit of the doubt it's shown how much for a managed to accomplish in their first game few in history have managed to present a world as passionately and dedicated as this small team in Ukraine running off a purely their own technology almost most adaptations are made as a mutually profitable venture but it's immediately apparent that was in the case of Metro 2033 it was a creation made out of mutual respect between the author's creativity and the developers ability to realize it and while there's much of this game that I still find infuriating irrespective of the circumstances Metro 2033 absolutely paved the way for what this series could do and continued to THQ vice president Danny Bilson had greenlit a sequel before Metro 2033 was released when explaining his reasoning he simply stated I know what for a games is capable of I knew how cool it was the bulk of my criticisms wouldn't surprise the developers is from the outset of last night's reveal bow for a and THQ acknowledged them promising repeatedly that its sequel would be made much much better and while for a weren't going to repeat their original design Docs is ambition they set sights on enhancing and expanding every element with the confidence of for a being not just a team but a family bigger levels refined combat and stealth a more personal story triple-a presentation intense multiplayer matches and complete multi-platform releases including the Wii U even prior to the revealed trailer in May 2011 th gives VP was adamant about allocating more resources to the studio being the 2033 with the cheapest game that released in 2010 and should have received a bigger marketing push despite THQ struggles due in large part to another first-person shooter with the opposite budgetary issue they did exactly that producing trailers edited to the somber beats of portishead big III presentations and even a compelling short film as the game was greenlit in early 2010 Dmitry Glukhovsky got to work writing the story and dialogue his second novel Metro 2034 was successful but didn't lend itself as a video game following three separate characters in their own adventures while the developers wanted direct sequel and Dimitri granted their wish having increased fidelity tenfold tightened its gameplay and addressed the concerns of fans and detractors last light seem to be a textbook sequel with an equally smooth development but in May of 2013 just weeks after last site had launched th Q's former executive told a very different story Jason Rubens most famous for having founded Naughty Dog but after THQ zzz's Danny Bilson left the company during its implosion Jason attempted to repair the ship it proved to be futile and ultimately THQ spent its final days selling franchises to publishers but with the company in ruins and everyone being forced to move on it gave license for Jason to personally credit for a overcoming a maddening development cycle stating that for a was never given an equal playing field to the likes of EA and Activision with a budget 10% of what these companies traditionally fund with more engineers than forays entire staff and the developers 10-year history would THQ between stalker and Metro Jason was said by last night's creative director to be the first company president to ever visit the studio in Ukraine to which he was appalled by the studio's cramped state with office chairs that would be unacceptable in a doctors lounge upon leaving Jason wanted to give the studio at least office chairs considered a fundamental right in the West but with no outlets in Ukraine the only option was to pack a Polish delivery truck with an expediter to bribe their way to Kiev the best part is this wasn't even ultimately accomplished because larger chairs required bigger desks that couldn't fit into four Aizaz headquarters when for a needed dev kits or a high-end PC someone from the company would have to travel to the states and sneak the kid across borders in a backpack so it wouldn't be seized by thieving customs officials not even consistent power was something Ukrainians had access to lacking electricity for hours or days during development often forcing them to bring Construction generators in work weekends to hit their milestones luckily heating in Kiev is handled separately by the government so they don't have to freeze Pidge is kidding the central coal burning facility regularly broke down forcing employees to wear parkas in the office the only thing for which for a is getting more credit than I think they deserve is the creativity behind the ever frightening dark post-apocalyptic environment to the game I've been in Kiev to visit the team so I know that you stepped outside for reference hopes like these are emitted by Jason to be a humorous exaggeration but considering our old friend Dean sharp was kicked out of his apartment by an armed entourage it's not as slight as one may think its challenges like these that inevitably led to for a cutting features in order to focus their title already straining resources to port the game to PlayStation 3 which 2033 failed to make a Wii U port with its inferior CPU was scrapped as was multiplayer which never managed to progress beyond prototyping and co-op both features set by Rubin were demands by THQ x' original producers Jason compared 4a games to the Jamaican bobsled team in 1994 who hadn't achieved gold but beat the Americans that had far greater resources like winter coats and bobsleigh courses to practice on congratulating for a success as a quote stunning achievement admirably for A's creative director despite the difficulty of development said in response quote we deserve the ratings we get after all the final consumer doesn't care about our conditions and this is right we need no indulgence I honestly had no intentions of playing last night given my frustration with 2033 at the time but having acquired a gtx 660 it came with a code to try out where i immediately noted the difference in how the game felt pulling the trigger this wasn't stereotypical mid-market Eastern jank it felt as elegant as the most popular Western shooters with in one fell swoop the game no longer fell back on its authentic world but made it compelling whether I was walking through markets or mowing down enemies things seemed to get better upon realizing that when missing a throwing knife the entire metro wouldn't spontaneously discern our team's coordinates and a bulk of the adventure was spent cutting up guards now the story involved Artyom personally from the opening cutscene the second al I met had personality and the game's graphics went from being promising to an absolute technical marvel within a single game for a went from angering my younger self to keeping me glued to the screen from the prologue it never let go except for that romance and fever dream last night was one of those games I felt completely in love with and it's a moment I remember fondly today but that's the past and last sights come to contrast 2033 quite effectively don't worry the game's still good in my eyes great in some parts but having come to appreciate the original now gripe certain hardcore fans had with the sequel makes sense to me now firstly while the game feels much better to play coming directly off of 2033 it also immediately feels less authentic reloads are visibly sped up as our battery charges recoils minimal ammo is more plentiful hitmarkers confirm your kills and changes weren't just made to the player humans across all difficulties in factions now pause before detecting players are easily distracted and no longer pixel peek beyond diamonds and siege while these were all improvements for those who dislike twenty thirty threes cumbersome controls an enemy C song between stupid and savage now I look at it this way players were empowered at the same time enemies were disempowered and this has a profound effect on last night's gameplay positively and negatively depending on how played on normal when coasting through the campaign experiencing its mixture of indoor firefights outdoor survival and atmospheric trips last slights effortless compared to the original as in there aren't unpolished levels sporadic AI or the worst goddamn thing to ever be put to a disc it's become an accessible game as the franchise from its design dock was meant to be combats bloody and presentation but quite forgiving in practice our team can take tons of punishment and now carries an extra primary weapon meaning that while new players might be pushed to the breaking point they've got all the support needed to escape dire scenarios but hardcore Ranger is when quality of life changes are distinguished from those that genuinely dampen the game's ruthless atmosphere some are small like HUD informing you of when your battery's full others directly affect gameplay like stealth stealth and 2033 was woefully under design but intentionally or not the game was less about ghosting levels and more tilting the scales in your favor for when firefights inevitably broke out traps were commonplace shattered glass gave away your position and even one enemy would be capable of putting you down but last slide has fuse boxes that can be disabled a binary indicator for when your unseen and guards that have a slow response time a very slow response time was spotting you in the dark without a whisper infuriating resoundingly yes but what's just as bad are guards I can get close enough to inspect their helmet textures before detection and this is further exasperated by the level design human encounters are generally made up of levels using a grid layout as it helps players whether they're sneaking or fighting but with the former there's often gaps blocked by enemies that you have to wait for this red light green light trope merely waste people's time rather than build tension especially on repeat playthroughs because there's no decisions for the player to make and you have an indicator confirming you're not at risk just like waiting for NPCs there's no participation inevitably leading some to finally snap arousing suspicion or setting off alarms and what you'll quickly find is because last light breaks its own levels into sections actions from previous areas don't carry over not loading screens but one doorway being the difference between chaos and calm you can mow down everybody in one sector with alarms blaring and grenade shaking the metro walls only for the next room to reset everything this is baked into the games design Ranger can't resolve it if anything problems are made worse because damage is heightened for everyone but guards still retain their slow reaction times and detection has no consequences beyond the immediate battle you're fighting in what Metro 2033 set up for iteration was something like payday 2 worst else a viable option but difficult for most players to maintain throughout a level becoming more about easing the pressure of future firefights but lasts lights enemies aren't threatening enough nor are there enough consequences to make stealth effectively blend with the core gameplay and it's really a shame that Metro never got the mod ability of stalker as I believe this is something which could be tweaked Redux editions do have two modes survival and Spartan the latter is last lights core gameplay rudimentary stealth and action spectacle while the former attempts to recreate 2033 s brutality but enemy reaction times kill that idea I feel like metros best gameplay is a middle ground between these modes and really wish you could for instance disable HUD while showing ammo counts with a watch like in the original while there's plenty of ways to play both last site and 2033 today not all choices are equal results and found it was best to just play whatever the game's design seemed to be aiming for there's absolutely an appeal in making our team more of an underdog the best battles of 2033 required players to plan the most effective routes to environments desperately hugging the destroyed vehicles for cover in checking every corner last lights gameplay while more polished replaces that fight for survival apparent even on Normal difficulty and trades it for the mix of stealth and action that's become the standard since Far Cry 3 Wolfenstein use this formula as has battlefield and multiple third-person games where titles like half-life 2 for example have become retro actively unique time has unkindly made last night's mechanics more generic and because of them rangers modifiers don't resolve that which is why hardcore would be most advised for this game making enemies more of a threat while still emphasizing last night's pacing of an explosive rollercoaster though not at first while the story intrigues I honestly don't know how I enjoyed this game's opening hours because the hand-holding that crippled 2033 is even worse here after the third loading screen players are still locked to a pathway so can find it doesn't even allow you to move left or right and needlessly drags with an npc blocking your progress why does kaan step first why does an ax need to climb the ladder why does pavol need to pull on this fence so it can tutorial eyes mechanics like the game already does with hints on your screen the most effective way to strike fear in the hearts of players is to put them against something unknown not introduce them through a guide with sequences that are more difficult to fail than succeed because when the game takes off the leash and lets you confront dangers yourself it's [ __ ] great even your lighter previously used to make objectives easier to read now serves the extra purpose of burning cobwebs whose speed decrease might not be important if you weren't in caves with mutated spider scorpions these side sectors aren't even required to progress yet I play them every time because they're just so enjoyable just like 2033 there is a real sense of adventure visiting large varieties of locations in the underground and on the surface with multiple characters factions and moments that create this sense of place the developers didn't need to have multiple shows in a theater show kids being taught of the old world through hand puppets or have optional objectives but it's these things that make last sites so engrossing and this is only assisted by forays astonishing presentation it's been more than half a decade since this game was released and it's still state-of-the-art with multiple landscapes that are just awe-inspiring from its highly detailed textures environmental effects or blood and dirt on gas masks for a are proven masters of art and Technology use so effectively to convey metros universe what I absolutely adore and why I believe Metro has such maturity where most with the rating rely on access is how villainous people do exist in this world but they're not omnipresent you will see Nazis laughing over their supremacy but also one of their soldiers sobbing in a locker room alone there's members of the Reds believing in its propaganda of equality and order while others strive for domination within it even goes to show someone like pavel opposed to the reich and becomes an antagonist will still order an enemy to surrender and let them go heartless people aren't the default in order to make your objectives unquestionable despite a post-apocalyptic giving the perfect excuses for a writer to do so and that effort is at the core of what makes Metro a special universe the epic battle between Rangers and Reds would be level two or four in a traditional FPS but because the last light spends time developing the Reds showing the hopeful to the despicable the righteous to the reclusive there's hours of empathy disgust and conflict amongst the tanks and mini guns and shields with context narrative Lee and through gameplay it combines to make a wonderfully intense finale that deserves the label of epic until the ending itself was almost an exact repeat of twenty thirty threes arbitrary moral points being what earns you a good alternate ending in which our team survives instead of blown up which is going to make transitioning between last sight and exodus awkward for most then again last light already prepared us for that with a touching introduction that's beautifully edited written voiced and scored but retconned I was born in Moscow but I remember nothing at that time I remember how we exited the spacious glass pavilion in solid street very hungry I remember the smoke clouds moving across the limitless sky remember how in the novel our team admits the hunter he went to the Botanical Gardens as a kid and might be responsible for the Dark One's invading well now it's not only Ben reincorporated but expanded upon with our team and friends not only leaving their home but visiting the surface and the game goes on to reveal that Artyom met and spoke to a dark one some might believe a character forgetting something this significant but I can't and probably wouldn't have been as emotionally touched by this scene in 2013 had I played the original game I would refrain from bringing this up had Metro 2033 s redux incorporated this revelation but it doesn't I was born in Moscow but I remember nothing of that time although last light does heighten our teams role with a very personal tale the moment you start and only continues players fighting through the factions creatures in wasteland to redeem their character while not exactly complex is a rare tale in gaming yet lends itself to the medium quite effectively it's hard to hate someone when you've walked in their shoes and last sight uses this to its advantage from the introduction it helps that not only for a improved but also PCB productions where both games were recorded between our teams narration with superior translations and voice acting in English and personal notes within levels our hero has a much stronger identity despite being a silent protagonist in gameplay he's not purely a vessel for the player to imprint themselves on to he very clearly has his own thoughts feelings and perspective on the various faction stations people and what's best for the metro after finishing this game's chronicles pack where player characters speak during gameplay I wish our team got similar treatment as based on what's known he's capable of being a relatable protagonist he was calm he did what he could and now he is gone to meet his kin I can't judge him for that the remainders of humanity are finishing each other off in their final fight it is not his war I hope he was able to forgive us me for what we did to his brothers and sisters his mother and father it comes as no surprise then that the caste this time around is also more charismatic mostly it's odd to have Miller's voice-actor be an antagonist now but he's such a better fit for the likeable traitor Pavel and not merely for his three musketeers quote Pavel is one of the most memorable characters in the story because like our team's Redemption pavo's role of the antagonist is also relatively rare compared to the straight villain it's something only a few developers have really tapped into and only gets rarer in the shooter genre while working with a traitor is cliche having the same person regret fighting you hours after committing to the red line isn't and just like Metro swirl pavo's actions while wrong are perfectly understandable why would one man be able to convert someone who's loyal to their cause for years if not decades huh you get the sense that were there our lives a bit different our team and Pavel really would be the comrades they seem to be early on but the tragedy Metro isn't afraid to show is that the lives they've lived made that opportunity and impossibility and Pavel services easily the most empathetic of the antagonists but not the only general moskvin beats the snot out of you kills his brother rails against his son and has a goddamn Hitler stache all to reveal the penultimate chapter that he's being manipulated by general Corbett instead according to the game's fandom page this wasn't always the case with earlier versions lacking Corbett's manipulation and putting emphasis on mosque events envy of his brothers power in charisma not only does the finals adjustment turn this into a red herring it has the added effect of making Corbett the only antagonist who's completely despicable and I'd argue it serves to reinforce why our team's journey is so important general moskvin is someone who similarly made a cat traffic mistake that cannot be reversed left a drink himself into a depression might have been something our team would have done had he not meet the baby Dark One perhaps a cynic would argue making the last dark when a child is cheap but I think there's much more to the character that makes him so endearing when our team catches up with him by the game's second act and the Dark One's free to escape he's observing you while proceeding to the rail cars exit the whole time there's hesitation but also a curiosity that needs to be satisfied which is why I think the character is quick to forgive our team after saving his life both characters don't need to care for the other but they do anyways and that ignites their bond from there it's a combination of animations and actions some of which even connect in gameplay that make him much more than a simple plot device it's hard not to smile at him waving to guards while disguised by all logical means it's not something an infiltrator would do but being a child he's not thinking that way he just wants to belong and that's something anyone can relate to on some level while his gameplay assistance is light with thermal vision on occasions and retrieving filters something I had plenty of it helps characterize someone when you're both watching and playing as opposed to one or the other like some characters yeah we're gonna talk about Anna now I've not spoken to one man or woman that likes this character and it's not because of her design voice or skillset it's entirely in her writing while FPS has had notable companions by 2013 when it comes to romance only the darkness comes to mind and that was with a pre-established relationship aside from that it's been RPGs and third-person adventures taking up the duty of clickbait point being that Anna's concept has lots of potential portraying an evolving romance similar to Max Payne 2 or Metal Gear Solid 3 hasn't been done in a first-person shooter it build on top of our team's motivation to save the metro and combined with effect of gameplay assistance their partnership can be sold beyond bedroom scenes but that last part in our team's narration is about all that's done to tell you these to care for each other the pacing is just horrendous from the opening chapters she's using her only insult for our team per paragraph isn't seen for three hours apologizes gets kidnapped rescued banged the end some [ __ ] might argue for boobs is a metaphor to trigger pages of responses but I don't think there's a single redeeming factor of this subplot everything about it is off much like the other scene that got a lot of attention at launch and it stands out because the rest of Metro last sights universe is presented so authentically it acknowledges humanity's evil without being completely nihilistic it's a dark gritty and disturbing world yet beautiful and hopeful at the same time if last night's goal was to allow anyone to immerse themselves in this world then it more than succeeded while abandoning some of 2033 zintensity it's improved characterization of presentation make up for some of the losses and one thing was for certain last light ended the doubt of Eastern developers and their ability to create triple-a titles that appeal to a global audience last night's marketing presentation and craft didn't just meet the ability of the West it surpassed them [Music] as mentioned before THQ previously demanded that multiplayer and co-op be featured in last light and obviously that didn't happen but one 7 generation trend did slip through the cracks this season pass granted it was five dollars less than th Q's own pass for saints row the third but it certainly wasn't off to a good start when Deep Silver took over yep Ranger mode the fan favorite of 2030 threes hardcore players was made into a pre-order bonus Deep Silver caused a storm just weeks before the game had released and it wasn't long until the company had to explain that pre-order bonuses were required by retail and not wanting to exclude missions in the campaign Ranger mode seeing the most sensible thing as most new players wouldn't want to touch it anyways one thing worth mentioning that doesn't get brought up nearly enough is that Metro 2033 also charged money for the same mode on Xbox 360 it makes sense why the publisher thought this was the best case scenario and depressingly it kind of was there's no way that cutting levels from an exclusively single-player narrative driven FPS would be less controversial Deep Silver we're going to take a bullet and decide to lose a toe rather than a foot now I've played the DLC content before but only in the Redux pack for a review and to be honest it only got one mention in a paragraph no analysis was made of its contents and considering the rest of my coverage has been done with past experiences for reference for the sake of consistency it'd probably be best to do the same for the DLC but in order to do that I'd need someone else who's more familiar with the franchise than I am there yeah there we go I'm here to briefly talk about the DLC for Metro less light it's a very mixed bag so rather than going through them chronologically I'm going to go through them in an order of ascending personal interest that means I start with the bad one the tower is best described as being unfortunate it's unfortunate that resources were spent making in the first place unfortunate to look at and of course unfortunate to play the premise is that you're testing on a virtual combat simulator you fight through enemies and build up a score while doing so the tower makes me think of a bad pop song a song that's sampling the worst mass effect DLC ever made in the first level you fight waves of enemies who come out of two doorways they're right there when enemies make it into the level they open up more monster closets for their friends that come out of more men coming out the closet means you die faster so you camp the doorways if that sounds completely dull and mindless well it's because it is it's more difficult than it looks especially on range you're hardcore and there's very little room for strategy most of my creativity came from putting down claymores which make the more wind hit sound when promoting the DLC developers said they made it with the intention of showing off the combat in less light they felt the campaign didn't show it off enough since you could stealth for nearly every encounter the first impressions of this are just terrible you kill people coming out of a hallway and then wait for next wave then you do it again for something so simple it's surprisingly unpolished as well at one point I was in danger of being overwhelmed I panicked my caveman brain turned on and I began to span the G button for grenade and the metro games that just puts on your gas mask but something happened [Music] so it has an I win button huh when you beat a level you unlock new weapons and get to choose settings for the next level these are sometimes better than the first level since the mutants don't carry guns I found fighting them a lot easier than fighting the human beings they continue to spawn at only one side of the room and you can stop them from making new entrances rather than getting harder the game gets easier when you kill an enemy you get some military ammo in the first level you could well buy more ammo now you can buy allies and more weapons there's a small glimmer of what could have been having a metro Nazi Zombies kind of game-mode here it's not well thought-out not well balanced and not well polished when you finally beat pinnacle station they say good job honestly after playing it you shouldn't be expecting a lot by this point next DLC the developer pack is a two-parter it's pretty alright in fact I wouldn't call any DLC besides the tower downright bad there's a little Museum of the developers which is interesting there's also a gallery of NPCs and enemies so if you ever wanted a closer look at those now you can there's a shooting gallery that has a few challenges then you have the arena this also has combat challenges but you can also make the AI fight to a museum these are just some fun extras it feels like stuff you would unlock in other games but here it's a standalone DLC I get the impression the developers might have thought so too so they also included a standalone mission a spookier one enter the spider lair this one has you playing as a stalker off for a treasure hunt things don't go as planned you awaken to find yourself trapped in a nest of spider bugs you're completely unarmed and they're everywhere your objective is simple enough escape the spiders if you're in arachnophobia ssin is your personal hell you're trapped with thousands of spiders and have very little supplies initially the only thing that can drive them back is light whether it's from the environment or from a headlamp if you've played the main game you've encountered them already the twist is that since you aren't as well armed as before you have to rely on the light this is tricky with a lot of spiders relying only on light to fight enemies kind of like Alan Wake is a neat idea eventually though you do get some weapons which includes a flamethrower now I'm not against sending Charlotte and her children into the abyss in fact I encourage it however I do think the light mechanic had a lot of potential trying to find ways to get her on enemies by using pulses of lights or patterns could have been interesting even so they might not have had a lot of room to do something with it since the dlc is only around a half an hour or so long it's still a solid addition trying to survive and scavenge in a very oppressive area if you're playing in a ranger mode you'll still need to be conserving a lot to get out it's a decent challenge and definitely worth a small amount of time it takes to play it besides it's a cathartic flamethrower the chronicles pack is a three parter it includes three missions each one centered around a different character you've got Pavel Kahn and Donna each mission is perfectly appropriate for the character on his mission is a direct tie-in to less light it's the mission where Artyom goes to kill the dark one but now you plays her it plays out very similarly except now you kill about 10,000 more mutants you also go after Artyom fruitlessly trying to save him from the Nazis it's really gorgeous an atmospheric section but it is very short in fact I beat the entire mission in under 10 minutes and I wasn't trying to rush it it also goes from day to night in a few seconds which is very odd so it's very nice looking woefully underdeveloped and poorly paced much like on as a character as for Pavel he's escaping capture as usual the beginning is mainly focused on stealth and has some fun opportunities for little things you can ruin a dinner have a drink and at the stake and a Russian roulette game you do have the option of going loud but you'll miss out on a lot I think his mission offers more character insight than the other two it's not substantial but you understand why he does the things he does in the main game a little bit more once again this mission is very short he can probably beat it in under a half an hour the same length goes for the con mission this one is focused on the scary and mystical side of the Metro there are a few great set pieces and the visuals are really striking throughout the whole thing unfortunately like most of Metro john redcorn's vision quests you'll be stuck behind con for a lot of it ultimately these missions are just more of the main game condensed down into a sequence the issue is that it has maybe an hour and a half of content spread around three different characters technically four it's like once you start getting invested in what's happening then it's already over rather than really flushing out one character with a more substantial DLC they've instead made three so the further development of each character could be summed up in a loading screen fun fact these aren't striking new revelations just a bit more context context that I honestly don't think adds a lot focusing on one person for the DLC could have ended up with something a lot stronger as it is you're just playing for the sake of more game it's well polished and well thought-out there just isn't a lot of it so let's move on to our final DLC the faction pack it is yet again another three parter one of the missions has you playing as a red line sniper and the main game stealth is used to avoid harder combat this time around if the enemy raises an alarm then it's game over the map is a remix of the outpost level from 2033 except now the snow is melted and it's being hit with a powerful storm it's an incredibly atmospheric map and has some tension to it one wrong shot can ruin you I found this to be incredibly entertaining getting around the guards and traps and taking a shot when you can having a level being designed purely around self makes it interesting to play you end up being rewarded for planning carefully and paying attention to your surroundings unfortunately right when things are really getting good it's over this is a 15 minute mission alright so let's go on to the next one and this next one you play as a stalker you start in a bunker where you can buy equipment you can unlock different suits you get more money by going to the surface and bringing back valuable stuff the surface is great library that means they're back this mission by itself was my personal highlight unlike the other missions which were more of the same from the main game this had the feeling of being an experiment like for a was dipping a toe into where they might want the series to go in in the mission you travel up to the surface and find these rare and valuable objects to bring back down there's a catch that you can only hold five of these at a time so you need to make multiple trips there isn't just one way from the bunker to the surface the map is interconnected and you can find new shortcuts of getting up or down a great might be closed off from your side but after some exploration you find the way to open it up the Rangers have restored the power grids so you can also take light bulbs this gives the ability to mark your pathways and figure out where you've been it also gives you a feeling of helping to restore civilization sure it's just a light bulb and the stuff you're collecting is far more valuable but there's something about lighting up the dark corners of the runes that make you feel better about it you find a closed doorway find a new path then you open it up these shortcuts are always satisfying to find and it's due to the difficulty it's simple if you're on the surface you're not gonna save in fact there's only one way to save you go back to a safe station inside the bunker if anything happens to you you come back here so if you die in the surface you lose all the things you found and all the paths that you've made this makes the game incredibly tense there's not going to be an autosave if you enter some new grand area it makes you feel vulnerable for the whole trip there in back taking a risk and cost a lot of time you can't count on the underground being safe either what might seem like the end of a surface run it turns into your biggest challenge yet [Music] there's a lot more freedom to use your own play style if you have a bigger gun you can brave bigger bad boys you could buy a radiation suit to go through different shortcuts exploring a dangerous interconnected world like this is just fantastic a dangerous scavenger hunt is such a simple idea but it's executed so well it's not completely open world but it's more freedom than the series ever had at this point it's a miniature version of what an expanded game with this setup might look like add new areas to explore more player upgrades etc it's a damn good idea and most bizarrely of all this is the first DLC the game came out with they followed this up with the tower you can likely beat it and around 2 hours but it's a great time what's there oh right the third mission you play is a Nazi gunner you kill waves of pig dog Reds for about ten minutes and that's it so it's basically a turret section all the DLC is bundled in redux anyways so it's not like people can choose anything ok wait why did I do this I'm not ranking them anything or defying them in the pizza slices I don't know [Music] when editing Mass Effect years later I was building the series up to make the final point that the franchise had never truly peaked and that the universe always equipped the games themselves which shocked me about the making of this video is how much my preconceived notions were shattered to reach a similar conclusion Metro 2033 is a game I finally come to appreciate as a middle market darling it always was in spite of its myriad of issues and last light is no longer the textbook sequel I once believed it to be nor does the redux offer every possible experience the players but also just like Mass Effect neither entry excelling in gameplay isn't a disappointment because it's the world that makes them so compelling on its own that sounds like a dismissal of 4-8 games and putting the weight of this franchises success purely on dmitriy klokov ski and that's not my intent the author deserves credit for providing his blueprint to this small ukrainian studio but a plans only as good as the people acting on it the challenges of realizing a world people have never seen outside of their imagination has crippled creative people for centuries and will continue to do so yet in an art form that Ukraine didn't have an industry for just ten years prior to forays foundation came an adaptation powerful enough to captivate the local readers global players and the author himself and whatever challenges the games may face ba gameplay development or publishing it's that dedication which will always bring people back to this apocalypse one filled with disease disaster and despair but with a reason to keep going [Music] [Music] I thought covering both games in one video would make it easier to release this before exodus came out obviously that didn't happen I mishandled my schedule the project grew and I just hope the result was worth it for you the viewers this video is without a doubt the most collaborative I've made and it's important to highlight those who assisted firstly one of my dearest friends osage who kindly used their native tongue to translate the Russian interviews super bunnyhop who kindly narrated one of the developer quotes which has a fan of his content long before doing YouTube full-time was awesome Hayden who's appeared on my Twitter several times for his utterly hilarious content that's currently the best he's done if you enjoyed the dramatic recreations of Dean's GSC days you'll love his latest videos along with our mutual friend Nick who also voiced one of the developers quotes he's been writing narrating and filming for years and those were connections give him a ring and last but the opposite of least Mandalore not only did he take a huge way off my shoulders covering the DLC a far more charm than I ever could he was also instrumental in this videos pre-production process but this goes without saying check out his content he's one of the best on the platform and just made an excellent video about getting started on YouTube your current indie game obsession beat saber best Mass Effect class according to Andromeda engineer would you consider doing a years later series on the Gears of War or fallout games you've played definitely not gears as I've never been a big fan of the franchise I don't dislike it I own all the games except judgment and have enjoyed their multiplayer of friends but never really sank my teeth into them they served as a break from Halo and Call of Duty back in the day for me as for fallout the third games the only one I played for a decent amount of time I've been meaning to give New Vegas another shot this year so we'll see how that goes but if all that's covered it probably won't be a years later what's your new year's resolution make more content yeah I don't have much help either do you plan on reading the Metro novels already tried and the translated novel was so clunky in its writing I couldn't get past the opening chapters which after delving more into the game's plot is really a shame because there's some amazingly cool factions locations and set pieces do you plan on reading any of the stalker books including roadside picnic if it's got a good like Battle Royale does sure has anime ended yet it's only allowed to end when Black Lagoon does hero where's makan tense do you do parties my enthusiasm is infectious our games getting better I don't know I'm still having a blast dad when are you coming back from that milk run it's been 10 years I'm busy you

Channel: Raycevick

Views: 1,797,915

Keywords: Raycevick, CuHnadian, COG, connected, COGconnected, review, analysis, years, later, Metro 2033 Review, Metro Last Light Review, Metro, 2033, Last, Light, Exodus, STALKER Review, Clear Sky, Modding, Mods, Post, Apocalypse, moddb, Walkthrough, Playthrough, Stream, Development, Pre-Production, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Modders, THQ, Failure, Danny, Bilson, Jason, Rubin, Deep, Silver, Ukraine, Russia, Metro Tunnel, Nuclear, Bunker, Metro Exodus Review, stalker call of chernobyl, metro exodus, metro 2033, metro last light, Redux

Id: o3BmubIQklU

Length: 64min 1sec (3841 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/0451fan0451]

My biggest disagreement is with the difficulties and stealth changes. I think playing survival ranger hardcore is the sweet spot for Last Light and fixes the games too easy stealth while also being the sweet spot for 2033 redux as well.

[u/kidface]

I really really enjoyed playing these games some weeks ago, usually FPS single-player games are like "shoot to everything it moves" but i like the stealth gameplay from these games, playing with lights and dark places and that amazing setting, now i need to finish Last Light and maybe try 2033 with a different ending.
Now i'm curious to try STALKER games too if they are so similar.

[u/KiLlEr10312]

At last some new content from Racyevick. He tends to spend a lot of time between uploads but given what he's made the breakdowns really put these retrospectives on a whole new level.

[u/kidkolumbo]

I wish I could watch this, but I haven't finished one of the games and I can't remember which.

[u/_SleeZy_]

I feel like i've seen this exact one, but yet it's not.

I've seen a documentary on the stalker franchise and story. Very interesting. And is also one of my favorite games. Even tho i played them years later after their release. The atmosphere is amazing.

Then comes metro in the picture which i also loved, so immersive and amazing.

So i've watched couple documentaries regarding them both. And this documentary here feels like a compilation of them. I like it.

If you liked this then you'll probably also want to the watch the stalkers documentary, forgot it's name but shouln't be to hard to find.