Session 4 - 2/4/10 - 8:00PM to 10:00PM

After playing both Mass Effect 1 and 2 within the past week (both games I highly recommend) I feel like I'd have had a LOT more to talk about with either game in terms of morality, character development, etc, but at the same time other people are playing those games, whereas nobody is playing mine but me. The Red Faction series features the unique world destruction elements which I've never seen elsewhere other than Garry's Mod, but that's a sandbox game and even then the destruction is limited to individual props, not dynamic bits and pieces.

Also, I've been doing 2-hour sessions with this game because I can find clear breaking points, whereas events in Mass Effect 1 and 2 just keep overlapping with each other (The "I'm not done with X or I could do some Y to get myself ready for Z" effect of involved video games). Not to knock them in any way, but they're the kind of games that turn a few minutes of gameplay into a few hours if you know what I mean.

The screenshot archive can be found at:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pastorek/RFG/Session 4/

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I'm in south Dust, relatively close to the EDF Free Fire Zone. I'll take a drive into the zone to see what happens.
I thought i was heading to the zone but I instead crashed into some kind of EDF base. There's a mission nearby so I'll put the FFZ "quest" on hold for now. It was likely a suicide mission anyway. Alex says he "picked up a signal from this vehicle" and Sam wants me to drive it to a safehouse. Simple enough, but I don't really know what the backstory is behind the signal. I'll check the Guerrilla Handbook when I get back to the safehouse.
There wasn't much EDF resistance so I took it upon myself to destroy some of their property and kill some of their soldiers along the way.
Oh hey there's Jenkins. In passing he mumbled "Everyone thinks I'm crazy. HAH! I'm the only sane one there is!" Character personas like that are what make games realistic.
After consorting the Handbook, I found out the reason for Sam wanting that truck. I don't understand the "drive it home as fast as you can" bit, but I suppose it'd be dull if it wasn't a challenge.
I'm close to a "Chemical Depot Supply Office" so I'm going to attack that.

In Mass Effect 2 I can press the shift key to pause the battle and switch weapons. In this game, however, weapon switching is done in real time so I have to make sure I'm holding the weapon I want to use when trouble strikes.

The Grinder is useless against buildings. Unexpected, but it makes sense that a saw blade won't be able to rip through steel-reinforced concrete (or whatever these buildings are made out of). Guerrillas outside are keeping the EDF busy while I bash my way through the building. Like I learned in one of the previous training missions I completed, if all else fails I can simply use my sledgehammer to bring down a structure. Office destroyed, time to escape.
Another vehicle to transport.
Now THIS is a challenge. That tank nearly took out the truck with one hit. As I tried to speed away another shell whizzed over the roof and hit the checkpoint structure to my right. Talk about close! I'm definitely much quicker and more agile than the tank so escape was easy, but I just started the mission and the EDF meter is buzzing and flashing red. The truck is billowing smoke and I hear a rattling metal sound.
I bounced off a rock and the vehicle's armor bar went into the red zone. At that point I couldn't accelerate, signifying that the vehicle was totaled. I'm literally 15 feet from the safehouse but I failed the mission. I'm mad but I'll try it again since I'm sure I didn't make it because of the tank and whatnot.
I was zerg rushed by two EDF transports and some civilian trying to drive away. As you can tell things went from zero to nuclear quite quickly.
This time I succeeded, but it was still really close. Five seconds to spare

I'm back in Parker again. Driving to Dust will be another long trip. Although it's realistic, some things in life aren't fun especially if they have to be done repeatedly. I'll try to make the best of it.
A three hostage mission. They're increasing the number of people I have to rescue, so I'll have to use larger vehicles which are slower and less maneuverable. Not sure why but the hostages are being held in the bowels of an open pit mine. Mining on Mars.....I can see that it gives the game a plot, but at the same time a geological sciences class I took last semester taught us that mineral formation occurs at fault lines, volcanoes, etc, where magma can move minerals to the surface. Since Mars is tectonically dead no such geological events could occur, and thus Mars should be devoid of significant mineral quantities. Buuuuuuuuuut again, sometime realism hinders rather than helps.
The EDF soldiers near the hostages hid in the shed they were holding them in, so of course one of the hostages died in the crossfire. I'm going to restart the mission the quickest way possible by letting myself get killed. I'll take a 3-unit hit to the sector's Red Faction rating (100 down to 97) but I can get it back quickly.
This'll be a test of my arc welder's IFF upgrade. Success, and the hostages took up arms once I untied them. There was an APC nearby which apparently carries 6 and is armored, so that's my vehicle of choice. One of the hostages even took control of the roof gun.
A news pylon nearby started a broadcast about "three guerrilla members escaped custody earlier today, but were later killed by EDF soldiers." Sure is facism around here.

There are two grinder upgrades I can buy. One gives the grinder explosive blades and the other decreases the time it takes to spin the blade to launching speed. I can't afford either so I'll continue to compete missions and gather salvage.

I've involved myself on a raid to a refinery. The infiltration team and a vehicle are nearby. How convenient.
A gun mounted on the roof of a small building was firing at the guerrillas on the ground. I threw a couple remote mines at the building and destroyed the gun and two soldiers.
Because it takes quite a bit of ammo to completely kill a soldier, I've been using a combination of the arc welder to stun the soldiers and melee to finish them off. When they're stunned they can't move or fire so melee is a viable option that saves ammo.

A guerrilla yelled "CLEAR THE AREA BOMB'S GOING OFF" and all the nearby guerrillas started booking it down the hill, so I followed. It reminded me of the "Bomb Squad: If you see me running try and keep up" shirt. I like the "high speed" effect captured by the image.
Things are getting kind of chaotic here. Time to disappear. Driving off a bridge probably isn't the best way to do this.
Because I was doing so much damage an icon in the upper right popped up and alerted me "Mayhem Started" with the amount of damage I was doing in millions of dollars. Four guerrillas orbit around me.
The EDF's control dropped enough that I'm offered to complete the last story mission of Dust. A nearby APC will be my ride.

The story mission is literally a matter of life and death. In response to the Red Faction's advancing control of Mars, the EDF has aimed their artillery cannons at the town of Dust. I'm supposed to travel to several locations to help people escape, gather important data, etc.
A truck I was about to enter was blown up in front of me. Another close call. Marauders are here. Why? Can't you guys see this place is getting carpet bombed?

No time to look for a parking spot or door...
...but at near dire consequences. The damage is from the hood of my truck bouncing up to the ceiling.
Beat it guys, I'm taking this. This particular Marauder vehicle has a heavy back end which makes parking brake slides easy to perform. With all the vehicles and obstacles scattered around here it's a necessary skill to have.
I can also bail out of vehicles moving at a sufficiently fast velocity. The vehicle continues on a straight path, gradually slowing until it either coasts to a stop or hits something with sufficient mass to stop it. Some Marauders got run over by the vehicle I bailed out of. Sorry Sam :(

Victory.
In a cutscene after the attack Alex was complaining about the obvious inadequacies of the Red Faction's forces, but the Commander and Sam believe that the artifact I found earlier is an answer to that problem. I unlocked the Nano Forge and something called "Guerrilla Express". The Guerrilla Express costs 50 salvage and allows me to teleport between safehouses using the map. This is exactly the answer to my problem of the increasing distances between safehouses. The Nano Forge needs 700 salvage but I only have 590. Time to go hunting.

I'm in The Badlands now. It's dark and dreary here. While looking sideways I accidentally fell off a cliff and landed in a ravine lined with abandoned, derelict vehicles. It's got a feeling like the Rossokha Machine Graveyard (+51° 9' 16.59", +29° 58' 55.20"). I heard a Marauder's yell echo in the distance. It's probably just an ambient world sound, but I'm not going to take the chance and stray from my vehicle. There's no music here. Just the background sound of wind blowing gently.Destroying a nearby vehicle netted me about 8 salvage. Not worth the effort so I'll go look elsewhere. Just as well, this place feels like a graveyard.

Another transporter mission. This vehicle looks like an ambulance and has pearlescent, holographic panels that switch between japanese text and "EMERGENCY"
It seems fail is following me tonight. Probably to tell me that I should be studying for my AOSS exam tomorrow instead of playing video games. I blame this one on the fence you can see in the picture above.
I saw a shortcut through a row of abandoned vehicles. By the time I get to the safehouse all the lights will be broken out, but that's the Marauders' fault.
Since I completed 18 guerrilla actions I unlocked something called a Quantum Multiplier which gives me "increased ammo in all EDF singularity bomb caches". I don't use singularity bombs so I don't expect to need this upgrade. I only need 7 salvage for the Nano Forge so I'll desecrate the graveyard.
Buying the Nano Forge took me to a cut scene where Sam showed me the its capabilities when attached to a sniper rifle. It's a nanite generator which, when activated, creates a cloud of nanites that disintegrate the material the rifle was fired at. Sam says that if the technology can be replicated, guerrillas all over the planet could be equipped with rifles like that one or, likewise, the EDF could if they got their hands on it.
The nanite rifle only has an ammo capacity of 15, but there's an upgrade that'll allow me to carry more ammo. Since I spent all my salvage on the rifle, I have nearly 0.

Another demolition mission. I'm only given my sledgehammer and one remote mine. Obviously I can't just toss the mine wherever. There are ladders leading to the top so I'll climb them to see if there's a weak spot on the roof.
Bingo. I was even able to jump off as it was exploding for that added effect, but of course I didn't get a picture of it.
I navigated to another safehouse and now I'm in Oasis, another sector. I didn't expect this since I've barely started in The Badlands and the previous two sectors didn't let me proceed until I'd finished their story missions. Unlike the other sectors there are plants growing on the ground and this place doesn't look unlike Earth, albeit somewhat arid. I'm taking on a hostage rescue mission in order to explore the area while accomplishing something.
There are new vehicles here with tires suited to the paved roads present in this sector. No wonder this placed is called Oasis.
I can't drive the vehicle to the hostages' exact location without jumping the curb, but I'll angle it so that I can escape easily.

I see a mounted gun. I'll use the nano rifle to destroy it before its wielder can open fire. The first shot missed slightly and the EDF weren't about to let me have a second chance. I'm a sitting duck out here. I'm making a run for it into the building.
Not good enough. One of the hostages died so I'm resetting the mission. I'll try driving a vehicle up to the front door this time.My truck broke a hole in the side of the building and a soldier was shooting at me with some kind of gun that fired bullets with blue tracers. I'm sure I'll encounter that weapon later in the game.
I lost a hostage again so I restarted the mission again. On the third attempt I couldn't find the last hostage, but when one died again I cut my losses and took off through the hole in the wall. I thought I could take a shortcut over the cliff to get to the safehouse but another hostage died in the attempt. One out of three.....
To end this session, a garbage truck with a rocket launcher on its head. Take out the trash or the trash'll take YOU out!