Praise for the Metro!

0wing said:
Did anyone read the book itself? Don't you find it messy, like Fallout 3's lore messy?
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I've read Metro 2033. It was bit messy at times, yes, but I liked it nonetheless. Quite different from the games, of course, much less action-oriented and with huge focus on the lethality of the world.
 
Hassknecht said:
I've read Metro 2033. It was bit messy at times, yes, but I liked it nonetheless. Quite different from the games, of course, much less action-oriented and with huge focus on the lethality of the world.
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But the execution of it is terrible. Intellectual stalker sniffling on the existencial problems is both laughable and tedious for example. The game took the right course with 'show, not tell' approach, leaving all nonsensical pages of text description of life in metro and mutated lifeforms behind which makes it more believable. At first time really fascinating.
Hassknecht said:
much less action-oriented
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I could argue, the second half is action-packed to the balls. The fact that the game became first person shooter instead of RPG really shows the value of this cool story.
 
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0wing said:
But the execution of it is terrible. Intellectual stalker sniffling on the existencial problems is both laughable and tedious for example. The game took the right course with 'show, not tell' approach, leaving all nonsensical pages of text description of life in metro and mutated lifeforms behind which makes it more believable. At first time really fascinating.
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Well, can't really leave out the text in a book, now can you? But yeah, I get what you mean. It's overwritten at times.
 
Hassknecht said:
It's overwritten at times.
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It's no only about quanity. Let's look at small fact: the book takes place after 20 years after the war in bombed and irradiated Moscow. Alright, then. How much of new lifeforms could you expect to appear after 20 years? Something tells me not much. But Glukhovsky thinks otherwise. There are hybrids of scorpions and spiders, giant amoebas, shrimps, nosalises, GHOSTS and the final nail in the coffin - Dark Ones (they are Black Ones but whatever), Something Glukhoy took out of his nose, a 'next step in evolution.' All of it is purely because of radiation. In a mere 20 years. Right. Intense radiation exposure have higher chances to kill than trigger mutations, even in Fallout.
 
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0wing said:
It's no only about quanity. Let's look at small fact: the book takes place after 20 years after the war in bombed and irradiated Moscow. Alright, then. How much of new lifeforms could you expect to appear after 20 years? Something tells me not much. But Glukhovsky thinks otherwise. There are hybrids of scorpions and spiders, giant amoebas, shrimps, nosalises, GHOSTS and the final coffin - Dark Ones (they are Black Ones but whatever), Something Glukhoy took out of his nose, a 'next step in evolution.' All of it is purely because of radiation. In a mere 20 years. Right.
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Well, it's the debut novel by some russian dude who started writing it as a teenager. No surprise it's not exactly scientifically sound.
Yeah, it's full of holes, but I liked the overall plot and the atmosphere. It's by no means a perfect novel, but neither are meticulously researched Science Fiction powerhouses like Kim Stanley Robinson's novels (especially "2312". Now I love the attention to scientific and engineering detail, but by God does it stretch without actually getting on with the story [wait, story? Oh yeah, those small tidbits that appear every 200 pages between the environmental and social messages and scenery porn]).
Metro is entertaining in a similar way Stephen King's Dark Tower is. Many plot holes, massive handwaving, but decent and enthralling atmosphere and storylines, so to me the good outweighs the bad, unlike Fallout 3.
 
Hassknecht said:
Well, it's the debut novel by some russian dude who started writing it as a teenager. No surprise it's not exactly scientifically sound.
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The praise given to this novel is too overwhelming. He could concentrate on life underground instead of wiring mutants to the story. He never overgrew himself in later novels which means this nonsense should be taken seriously. Also, don't you find a novel written by former teenager too overwritten and too much philosophic mess?
Hassknecht said:
It's by no means a perfect novel, but neither are meticulously researched Science Fiction powerhouses like Kim Stanley Robinson's novels
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Who said this? No one demands scenery porn, only internal consistency and less of existencial sniffle. And, you can skip porn but you can't skip caricature commies, fascists, the endless war because it's all part of the story and atmoshpere built around them.
Hassknecht said:
Many plot holes, massive handwaving, but decent and enthralling atmosphere and storylines, so to me the good outweighs the bad, unlike Fallout 3.
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Funny, I found Fallout 3 and Metro 2033 equally wrong.
 
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Izak said:
Last Light's place is in the video game series, the books are an entirely separate canon.
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no, both are canon on their own. if you read 2035 you will know why.

2034 takes a separate setting within last light timeline. @Hassknecht the novel plot need to be adjusted since the books itself contain very rare of gunfight especially againts human. but the think that the video game do more better is that 4a really thicken the supernatural feel of the metro world. gluskovsky novel were nihilistic and critic of the concept of salvation and forgiveness
 
0wing said:
It's no only about quanity. Let's look at small fact: the book takes place after 20 years after the war in bombed and irradiated Moscow. Alright, then. How much of new lifeforms could you expect to appear after 20 years? Something tells me not much. But Glukhovsky thinks otherwise. There are hybrids of scorpions and spiders, giant amoebas, shrimps, nosalises, GHOSTS and the final nail in the coffin - Dark Ones (they are Black Ones but whatever), Something Glukhoy took out of his nose, a 'next step in evolution.' All of it is purely because of radiation. In a mere 20 years. Right. Intense radiation exposure have higher chances to kill than trigger mutations, even in Fallout.
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well 4a pulled of the nail from the coffin, with artyom theorize some of the creature were not even born out of radiation. they only came out from their hiding when they sense human are no longer the ruler of the earth. so are dark ones (they were theorized to be a genetically engineered human from D6).

sometimes, its abit of creepy when you cant be sure if the whole mess were caused solely by radiation or else....
 
anyway this was a pre-alpha build, it is was planned to be open world. its more uglier than final release or so. i think that might be the one of the reason to make linear level.




An unexpected find by the buildomaniacs at Gaminator. This build, containing two presentation levels and one test map, was likely the prototype shown at the 2006 Leipzig Games Convention. Despite the rudimentary game mechanics, representing a very early stage in Metro's development, recognizable parts of the final product's level design and mutant menagerie are already included.

the game at that time had the placeholder title "Metro: Nightmare's World" and lacked a publisher. A promotional document included with the build shows that the early concept was much closer to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s open world than the Metro 2033 which 4A delivered nearly four years later, offering a 15x15 kilometer playable area, a day-night cycle, the need to eat and sleep, and 32 client multiplayer.
 
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I consider the metro games as more as survival horror and exploration of that fictional universe than as shooters. I try to use my gun as least as possible, except during forced combat sequences which mostly happen in last light.

About scientific accuracy, you might need to look somewhere else. The metro world is part science, part pure magic. In games, you have the ghosts, in the books, you have much more. The metro itself seems to have a will of his own, not for human to understand.
 
naossano said:
The metro world is part science, part pure magic. In games, you have the ghosts, in the books, you have much more. The metro itself seems to have a will of his own, not for human to understand.
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One nice thing though is the narrative does not say it is magic outright at times.

The books especially from what I've read on the subject (like the Great Worm worshipped by a cult may be real based on what Artyom saw in a tunnel but that could just be an active tunnelling device).
 
CerberusGate said:
One nice thing though is the narrative does not say it is magic outright at times.

The books especially from what I've read on the subject (like the Great Worm worshipped by a cult may be real based on what Artyom saw in a tunnel but that could just be an active tunnelling device).
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All good science fiction can be made better with small bits of things that are seemingly magical, but which are never outright stated to be, and that have a "realistic" explanation by them.

STALKER, Metro, and even Fallout have used to to enhance their worlds.
 
Okay, E3 confirmed a new Metro sequel:


It looks like it's taking some ideas from the books i.e the surface beyond Moscow being safe based on the lack of a gas mask on the surface.
 
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