ADG Episode 101 - Descent II

Channel:

Pixelmusement

Subscribers:

24,000

Published on April 6, 2015 6:25:05 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHpDUoRLLtk

Game:

Counter-Strike: Source (2004)

Category:

Show

Duration: 16:53

8,618 views

208

Originally Released: January 5th, 2013

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Marking the start of Season 3 of ADG, Descent II seemed like the perfect choice. It's everything a sequel should be: More of the same gameplay but with added new features and all new content.

Descent III actually followed this same line of logic too, but since it's a Windows game it's never shown up on the show. (Not against doing a filler of it someday though!)

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Additional Information and Corrections:

* The Descent games are back on GOG! Here's a link if you wanna pick up Descent II: https://www.gog.com/game/descent_2/?pp=91dfde1d6e005e422f64a59776234f1f4c80b5e4

* Here's the link to D2X-Rebirth, which is the best port to go with if you want one that's easy to configure: http://www.dxx-rebirth.com

* Here's the link to D2X-XL, which is much more difficult to configure than D2X-Rebirth, but has a wealth of additional features over the original game: http://www.descent2.de/d2x.html

* There's a D1X-Rebirth for the original Descent as well, plus D2X-XL is fully compatible with the original Descent. If I had known about Rebirth when I covered Descent back in Episode 7, I probably would've mentioned it.

* Something I find curious is that the Vertigo Series expansion for Descent 2, as well as the later repackaging Descent 2: Infinite Abyss, have a few remixed tunes from the original CD audio tracks and that they completely cut out a couple tunes that I really liked. The GOG release also uses the remixed tracks over the originals. It's also easier to get the music from the actual CDs working with the source ports over the music included with the GOG release. These are just a few points to keep in mind if you're debating whether to buy a digital download or physical copy of Descent 2.

* Don't be confused if you see old ad banners for GOG stating that Descent & Descent II cost $5.99. The price was increased to $9.99 at some point, I don't know when. Since a lot of Descent-related websites are old and/or infrequently updated it's easy to find these old ad banners still in circulation.

* Something I discovered for my very first time while playing through the game this time around is that proximity bombs and smart mines actually serve as decoys for homing weapons that are chasing you. No idea if they work the same in the original Descent or not but finding this out suddenly makes proximity bombs a bit less useless than they once were!

* Many of the cheat codes actually have some interesting meanings behind them. For instance, FREESPACE, the level select code, ended up becoming the name of the open-space Descent game made following Parallax's split into two companies, and GOWINGNUT, the code that turns the GuideBot into a hyperactive, flying death machine, actually came about from a contest that was held to name the GuideBot, and Wingnut was the winning choice.

* Back before there were ports that could rebalance everything, most people would outlaw use of the Omega Cannon in multiplayer because the amount of damage it could do was based on the framerate of the system firing the weapon. IE: Players with high framerates could incinerate other players much faster than they should've been able to. I imagine the source ports I mentioned have properly rebalanced this thing by now, though I haven't actually checked.

* One of the accessories I forgot to mention is the Ammo Rack, which basically just doubles your ammunition limits. :P

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