James

By Pentadact


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Let Tom Francis tell you all what it's like, being male, middle-class and white.
 

 

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"Am I the only one who enjoys the mako combat? I found it nice to be in a pretty easy and fun situation after slogging through all the awesome, but tiring foot combat. I think I had..."

Weird Fish on 2008 In Games That Were Better Than Other Games
 

 

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Heroes Of Medicine

 
 

I usually play a class to whom Medics are little more than helpless witnesses to my crimes. But now that Valve have successfully bribed me to play more Heavy, I have a newfound appreciation for the power of a good physician. I’m not a talented Heavy, but any time one of these chaps stuck with me, it was over for the entire enemy team. We never lost.

So while it is not in a simple Heavy’s power to grant a medical degree, I can thank you by taking screenshots that make you look awesome. And with a hearty YOU DID WELL.

[PCG] Tim

Tim is a Kritzer, and responsible for my first proper Uberkritz combo. We only killed a few people during it, we three, but the sight so terrified the enemy that they huddled into their spawn room. A further five of them were cut down there after the charge wore off, thanks largely to the high crit chance our recent massacre had given Natascha.

hl2 2008-08-23 15-20-44-62 graham

[PCG] Graham

Graham and I stormed back and forth so rapidly on Badwater Basin one lunchtime that the 12-strong enemy team seemed to be immaterial. For one round we never left the cart or died, breaking my all-time points record and dominating many.

hl2 2008-08-23 15-45-11-41 roburky

roBurky

roBurky is a combat Medic, which means if he ever does run off to pursue some meandering foe, you can relax in the knowledge that he can work a dark magic with that Blutsauger and resolve the situation faster than if you gave waddling chase yourself.

hl2 2008-08-23 00-02-43-26 donkey for president

Donkey For President

I don’t know who this chap is, but he chose to stick with me for more than one round. This tends to be the secret to Heavy-Medic dominance - waiting for each other when you spawn. If your respawn cycles get out of sync, it’s rare to reunite because of the abundance of needy injured and juicy minigun targets scattered all over the map. WE MAKE GOOD TEAM.

hl2 2008-08-23 15-19-29-73 lack 26

Lack_26

James regular Lack is also ein Kritzkrieger, a profession that’s become markedly more potent since the charge time was significantly reduced. I was spewing sparkleslugs frequently enough that Supreme Soviet, for being Ubered 50 times, was one of the first Heavy achievements I earned.

hl2 2008-08-23 15-16-37-07 sandvich

My Sandvich

My chewy friend doesn’t really help me survive situations that would otherwise kill me, he just saves the time it takes to trundle over to a medkit or wait for a small one to respawn. It probably annoys Medics, but I’ve found it effective to chomp him while being healed if I’m seriously injured, since the restoration rate stacks with the relatively slow post-damage heal of the Medigun.

His main virtue, however, is that he replaces the shotgun. Technically this is a disadvantage, but it makes it so abundantly clear that the class should never have had one in the first place. Valve were so nearly fearless in making the classes utterly distinct, common shotguns were their only timid choice. The Heavy’s much more interesting to play when he has no instant-fire mid-range weaponry, and only his fists as a backup weapon.

gate

Post-script: I think I may have fixed the CPU overload errors that have been screwing with James intermittently recently, with a little help from Bluehost. If they’ve now stopped, the problem was the spectacular size of my comment spam folder. If you have a notion of how much disk space raw text takes up, you’ll understand my full meaning when I say that Spam Karma had caught seventy megabytes of robo-comments. I hadn’t told it to delete old ones entirely, so every time any php script queries the comments SQL table - well, my logs state that one query yesterday afternoon took 1,014 seconds to complete.

If they persist: fuck.

uberhead

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roburky: Best James post ever.

Dante: Clearly I haven't been playing Medic enough lately.

Not that I'd be on here if I did, as I rarely stick with one player through thick and thin. In fact my medic playstyle would be best described as 'cowardice'

Sam: I prefer ubering pyros, nothing is as scary as an ubered pyro right in the middle of your entire team.

dartt: I love playing medic, it's got a somewhat relaxing quality to the way it flows. Trotting along behind your big daddy and spotting the corners to stand behind, the angles of attack to defend yourself from. I've come to liken it to Geometry Wars in that you swoop from clear space to cover until your earn your screen bomb, the ubercharge/kritzkrieg, and wipe out everything in sight.

One of the future updates should definately include a buddy taunt so the medic and heavy can stand among the dead and give each other a high five.

roburky: That's what I thought, Sam. Then I turned around one day to see Pentadact charging over my medic's corpse with crackling glowing boxing gloves and a face of absolute rage.

spuzman00: dartt: That's a great idea, but it would totally screw me up whenever I play medic, because I would end up going around high-fiving everybody and not actually getting anything done.

Newt Pulsifer: You make good blog!
Damn, hope your overload errors have gone.

Arse: Worst James post ever.

Rosti: I've found a whole new love for the Kritz if only because it makes sense to defensively lay an Uber-equivalent on a heavy. Up 'til now I've had a bad habit of earning a charge with a heavy before finding a more fragile (preferably high scoring) player to make invulnerable for a breakthrough. Which is to say, on an individual level my medic style is mercenary but at least the whole team gets dem healz.

On the flip side, I can totally agree that being a heavy is so much easier with a medic in tow, and not just for the "I AM BULLET PROOF" sound bite. The whole game shifts from one of careful planning to rolling over anyone foolishly wanting to be in sight of you.

Newt Pulsifer: @Arse
Oh, come on!! This picture of the heavy+sandvich is 1337% leet!

Chijts: Awesome pictures man. I especially like Lack_26's.

Inferno: Good ol' Roburky.

Connor D: I had quite a good run with you the other day actually Tom. Nice tight round on Goldrush where at the second stage we timed an uber with another Heavy & Medic combo, which climaxed with us winning the round. Unfortunately though, not winning stage three, cause not enough people would PUSH LEETLE CART.

DoctorDisaster: I should find whatever server you play on. The people sound like fun!

Roburky, I love that comment. I nominate it for best comment ever.

Devenger: I have to disagree with the style this post encourages.

As Medic, loyalty should be based on situation. If your team has a low turnover rate and isn't suicidal (especially when playing defense), favour healing injured retreaters more (when there's enough of them) and pass buffs to classes who need them, like Soldiers, Demomen and Heavies, when there's no injured in range, whilst getting towards the injured. A team that spends no time hunting medkits is a confident, fast-moving team who is applying the most damage per player possible, and a team with high enough morale not to get broken and play Engineer if they lose a couple of points. Do multi-ubers on the attack to get everyone confident and surprise the enemy.

If you do get stuck with a team of suicidal Pyros, Heavies and Soldiers, yes, it's time to apply favouritism. Never miss a MEDIC! call, but never shy from combat either unless our heal target is dead. And tow a Kritz to give a faster, less team-requiring edge onto two-man attacks.

Ah damnit, I did the long part-post comment thing again. Forgive me. Medics who won't leave their Heavy make me angry. ;(

Lack_26: Woo, I got mentioned. Also you're right, I do love my Kritz. I still can't believe that time when we emerged round a corner on Badwater, perfect Kritz and then... BOOM! We both blew up, that made me sad. Still, that was a good game.

DoctorDisaster: I dunno Devenger, I think those two styles are perfectly compatible. I'll wait at spawn for hitters I know can and will protect me, but if they're buffed or not under fire I heal everyone around me. This turns the two of us into a flash point for a rolling offense; people quickly learn that if they follow us around, health and backup are always close at hand.

Heavy: Where is new post, sandvich?! MEEDDDIIIC!!

Lukasa: Stepping into the fray, I think Devenger kinda has a point here. As a long-time medic player, I find that I'm much more effective if I spread the heals around a lot. I always designate a 'main' heal target, as one to keep my gun on in an idle moment or to have the main heals on in a firefight.

But, if I ever see an injured player, I consider it my duty to, at the very least, heal them to the point where they can continue to fight. If I have time, I'll buff them as well. Furthermore, in a moment where there are several of my team around, but no enemies, you'll find me buffing everyone but my main heal target, as he will have my heal ray on him from the moment the dooky hits the fan.

This behaviour tends to worry the guy who I was healing, as I am actually often NOT healing him. But, if there are two heavies in front of me, and only one of them is getting hurt, I should be healing that guy, regardless of who my 'heal target' is. Any medic who could easily have helped someone live and lets them die should be furious with himself.

Also, while I'm on the topic: scouts need to stop jumping around if they want heals. Stand still so I can target you, foo's.

Pentadact: I'm with the Doc: sticking with one player doesn't have to prevent you from tending to the incandescent and badly wounded when he's not in immediate need of healbeams. But for the partnership to be truly devastating, it's best that the Medic not run off to oblige unseen Medic-callers, spend ubers elsewhere, or prioritise anyone else while the main patient is under fire. I think even when you're doing more healing and saving more lives that way, it's no substitute for the backbone that a loyal partnership provides the whole team. Even with a mediocre Heavy, a good Medic can turn that duo into something unstoppable.

Sam: Completely off-topic but FUCK, Badwater Basin on defense spy owns all.
Seriously, I was getting like 7 people in a row and living to get some more later. And I'm a shit spy.

Zig13: EVERYONE must watch 'Meet the Sandvich'

 
 

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    Previously, On James...

     
     

    2008 In Games That Were Better Than Other Games     GTA IV Shorts: Cut Off     PC Gamer Podcast: The Future’s Dim     Thoughts On The Team Fortress 2 Christmas Changes     Dear Sir     Extra Mirror’s Edge Levels Blocky, Unrealistic     Dead Space: The Right-Hand Side Of A Good Game     So My Vesper Became Your Chariot     Fallout Girl: The Road To Tenpenny Towers     Revenge Of The Psycho Graverobber     I’m Not Making The Plan Next Time     HERO CLOSET     The Gold Ribbon Goldberg Device     Fallout Girl: Anywhere But Megaton     Bethesda Ruin America     Fallout Girl     Left 4 De-     The American Public Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Right To Live     Far Cry 2: What I Do Like     Far Cry 2: What I’d Like     Far Cry 2: Impersonation Of A Buddy     New PC Gamer Podcast: Eau De Toilette Radioactifs     Far Cry 2 Released, Forest Fires Up 8000%     !     Deadly Toads Of Death     World Of Goo Is Coming To Steam, Gentlepersons     Trust Me With Your Ears: Volume Three     Plan B Is Complete     The Fate Of The Nation And, More Importantly, My £5     Multiwinia Mathematics     A Stab At Meet The Spy     Clear Screen     Trust Me With Your Ears: Volume Two     Retro Team Fortress 2     Sounds Like The Spy Update Is Next     Status Report     Field Studies 6: The PC Gamer Sporecast     I No Longer Feel I Have To Be James Dean     Plan B Chapter One Is Complete     Field Studies 5: My Spore Review     I Read A Thirty-Eight Page Comic About Google’s Browser     Heroes Of Medicine     Red Versus White     Soviet Power     Plan B Is Live     Trust Me With Your Ears: Volume One     He Looks Truly Mortified     Lumber Yard Wallpapers     Heavy Update Thoughts So Far     Relic Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Team Fortress 2 Goes To The Rockies     Steel Yourself     Vote Tom Francis In The Games Media Awards     Heavy Update: Sandwiches And Fresh Green Grass     Chris Livingston Stops Considering A TF2 Comic     Seriously, Buy Braid     Braid Is Out On Filthy Consoles     Film Catch-Up     Tweak Fortress     Field Studies 4: Vu To A Thorough Game Demonstration     The Middleman     What’s Happening In Kansas     Mirror’s Edge     Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog     Weltpolizei     The Prop Cigarettes You Smoke, They Show Who You Are     Cutting Verses Down To Size     The Sun Is Shining But We Stay Inside     Mrs D Mrs I Mrs F-F-I, Mrs C Mrs U-L-T     I Propose A Less Serious Vote     Valve Completely Out Of Weapon Ideas, Beg For Help     I Know The Commander Because He’s My Pal     Blizzard Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Regarding Matt’s Location     Oh My God What The Fuck Barbecue     Cube In Memoriam     Pyro Flare Pistol Thingy Shown In Meet The Sniper     Field Studies 3: My Pretties     Field Studies 2: I Will Save You From The Wangs     Field Studies 1: Sporegasm     Muxed Feelings     You Don’t Have To Be An Engy To Work Here But You Do     Someone Already Made An Ubersaw     Team Fortress 2 Unlockable Ideas     A Riposte To Valve’s Defense Of PC Gaming     Randy Smith Has The Worst Game Design Ideas Ever     Sire, My Regard For You Is This Big     Crysis Suit Modes Revisited     Fractal Hasselhoff And Football Management     What A Shame     The City That Rarely Enters Sleep Mode     The Most Needlessly Complex Terror Plots In Film History     No-One Drove In New York, There Was Too Much Traffic     In One Thousand Two Hundred And Ten New York Minutes     That Band You Like Has A New Thing Coming Out     A Slice Of Fried Gold Rush     Achievement Unlocked: Typed Achievement_Unlock     Bracing Oneself     It’s A Democratic Gaming Landscape, Bitches     Non-Problems Of The Obscenely Over-Privileged     Wanking ‘Not Inappropriate’ To Government Commerce     Dispensing Justice     Getting Owned     This Just In: Frogs Aren’t Morons     Der Uberdoktor     Jon Stewart On Presidential Elitism     I Actually Can’t Stop The Music     Offlyin’     The Life And Inevitable Death Of Bloopi     PC Gamer Blog: Five Years Of Foolishness     Anne Diamond Reviews Games     Fail Dogs     Review: Soulstorm (Fire Indeed Hot)     There Will Be Country For Old Men In Real Life, Baby     The Far Cry 2 Team     PC Gamer Tells Greg Costikyan To Shut The Fuck Up     Valve Decided Against The Overhealer     Austin Translation     Preview: World of Goo     ‘Meet The Scout’ Imminent     PC Gamer Blog: Greatest Videogame Weapon of All Time     Bill Hicks: Another Dead Hero     Vortessence Hangover     Nick Montfort On Portal Vs The Passage     I Eat What I Slaughter     Jonathan Blow On Making Enough Money For Food     Audiosurfing The Shipping News     Team Fortress 2 Badlands Exploit Patched     Lost, Season Four, Spoilers, Obviously     Badlands     James 2.5 Explained     PC Gamer Podcast: March     Chris Livingston Considering A TF2 Comic     Come In     Actors Out Of Context     Murder Incorporated     Books That Make You Dumb     Powered Down For Redesign     New TF2 Maps And Medic Change In Two Months     Molecular Gastronomy Blog     Team Fortress 2 Update Reactions     Things Round Here Have Changed     My Goatee     Things I Forgot To Talk About Round-Up     GalCiv2: Still Genius     Analysing Team Fortress 2     Gamespot Finally Do The Logical Thing     Deus Fucking Ex Fucking 3     Crysis Week: The Endingening     Episode Two Death Maps     Masq     SO… MUCH… CAKE…     On Rock     Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare     I’m Not Allowed To Do This     I Played Through The Crysis Demo Holding A Surprised Korean Guy     The Greatest Spy In Team Fortress 2     FEAR: Perseus Mandate Is The Best Game Ever     Hellgate London Thoughts     Beautiful Piano Rendition Of The Portal Song     I Played Through Episode Two Holding A Goddamn Gnome     Pushing Daisies Continues To Be Incredible     Ten Minutes To Go     The Best Three Things On TV     Life Complete     This Just In: The Scout Is A Dick     Not Being A Spy     SO… MUCH… BLOOD…     Weirdly, You’ve Been Tanned - Suspicious For The Winter     Structurally Superfluous     Top of GameTab: Wikipedia Edits From Sony IP     Heroes Season Two     My Favourite Disaster     Quick BioShock Warning     Rock, Paper, Shotgun     British Airwaves     BioShock Review Review     Gollum Beat Box Like You Never Seen     The Machine Of Death Winners     System Failure     The Order of the Phoenix     The Completist: Tribes: Vengeance     Quickly     Boston and Bioshock     Cloak And Tagger     Gamespot Finally Do The Logical Thing     The Completist: Far Cry     This Month In Terrible, Part 2: London Olympics Logo     This Month In Terrible, Part 1: Anti-DRM T-Shirts     The Finale Post     Not The Finale Post     Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-     Starcraft 2     Grrraaahahahahaa!     Mystery Trip     Access Denied     Invasion of the Body Snatchers     New-Album Deathmatch     Can I Just Say (3)     Back!     ‘Iv’     Desktop Tower Defense     Whoa     Noble Jedis     I Don’t Know About You Folks     Infinitely More Exciting 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First Night, Second Life     Disappointing Results     Maths Cop!     NaNoWriMo     Google Oozes Connectivity     Lost Season 2     Serenity     Oh Screw It, I’ll Mention The Revolution     Flying     Introducing: Brain Storm     Concerned     This Month In Awesome     Rain     SWAT 4: The Movie     On Bringing It     State Of Things     Quest Ideas     Quest Que C’est?     WordPress Wizard     Reasons To Freeze To Death     Phew     Futurama     The West Wing     Firefly     Lost     The Great     The Fantastic     The Top Few     Mulholland Drive     Adaptation     Grosse Pointe Blank     Memento     LA Confidential     Diablo 2     Battlefield 2     Half-Life 2: Deathmatch     Deus Ex 2     N     Morrowind     Half-Life 2     Deus Ex     Charles Darwin     Friedrich Nietzsche     Ludwig Wittgenstein     Tom Francis