(Flame being lit)
(Light switches on)
Team Fortress 2.
Where do I begin?
This game means so much to so many people.
It actually makes me a little emotional.
But what makes it such a timeless game?
(Music)
(clank)
(party horn)
(applause and cheering)
Heavy: It is good day!
That's right! TF2 came out 10 years ago on October 10, 2007.
That's almost half of my life...
(sad music)
But how has TF2 lasted so long?
(In-game audio) "Prepare to compete in 10 seconds"
Inspired to find out, I hopped into a casual game.
Now, I hadn't played in a long time, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
With the game being 10 years old you'd think that the only people still playing it would be
seasoned diehard fans,
masters of the game,
pushing the limits of the game's design.
But what I saw instead, warmed my heart.
First of all, we have four spies-
Spies: Yes!
As always.
This devilish Gibus and badge spy is totally immersed
in his role as a handsome, rogue-ish,
master of disguise.
Spy: Well, off to visit your mother!
Meanwhile,
THIS guy is doing the spycrab!
This joke is from 2008,
and this guy is still keeping it alive!
(distant conga music)
But wait...
No...
What's that I hear?
Yeeep!
That's the conga.
This guy is trying t̴o̷ ̷s̷t̶a̸r̵t̶ ̸a̴ ̶c̶o̷n̵g̷a̴ ̸l̵i̸n̴e̵ ĭ̞ͬ̃͘n҉̥̙̘ ̛̬̜͆̅2͍͇ͣ̓͗͒͡0̸͒͒͊ͮ1͔͇͇̪̰̲ͪ̍̑͐̓͘7̶͎͔̟͓̈́̐̀̋͐͆ͧ,̨͕̘̜͙͙̻͂͑ͦͅ
f̺̲́̔͘͞o̴̞̬̦̒͑̎͆̆́̿̚͘͝r̨̳̪͓̼̉͊̽ͮ ̧̟̆͋ͯ͑ͮ̈́ẅ̴̴̗̼̬̳́͒ͣ̒̕ͅh̸̗̬͍̦͕̲̱̅͞ȧ̛͏̷̹̬̮t̖̙͎͎̣͚̹̰ͤ̒̉̽̀͟ ̺̖͇̹͖͎͕̺̿̌̚i̳̭̮̣̫̐̈ͤ͌̃ͣ̎́s̖̹̱͔ͨ̈ ͍̟̹̘̠ͦ͆̔ͫ̃ͨͪ͘p̨͔͓̗̥̗̽̾͛ŕ̸̡̩͉͎͎̹́̏̐̅o̧̱̣̮̣̤̟̾͑̿̆̿ͦ̀b̴̛̝͔̗ͫ̿̾ͮ͐̎a̢̼̪͇ͮ̕͟b͇͉̫̉̈̀̕l̢͎͈̬̬̝̪̼̟̩ͨ̄̅̄ͯ́ỹ̧͈̫͎ͥͭͬ̉͠ ̟̝̯̿̋̚ţ̛͖͕͚̒̂ͬͪͣ̚ͅh͖̰̖̻͈̹͈͔͐͊̃̓̿̅ͦ͒͒̀e̖̔ ̣͍̳͕͓̲̍̔͡ḩ̫̱͇̫̜̪̦̲͒̒̽u̵̮̜͓̰͓̩̤̖̇̇̓̕ņ̡̥̭̻̞̬̻̓ͯ͛ͤͨͤͤd̶̷̳̗͊̋͒ͮ̃̑ȑ̼̝͓͡e̸͙̜̍ͫ͋̊̎ͬͦ͠d̟͍͉̺̳̭͚͛͒̇̽ͪ͂t͙̝̱͇̱͇͇̋͒ͫͯ̏ͯͥ͊͆ḩ̶̖̩ͨ͞ ̸͍̖̲̤͓̇͘͠ţ͚̠͖̂͆́í̀̈͛̀̌ͧ҉̣̬͞m̜̮̫̱̐͘͜͡ẽ̗̮̻̳̜̬̻͊ͬ̾̇͜.ͩ̂̊҉̳̙̺̹̘̥́ͅͅ
ã̷̙̳̖͒n̴̢̢̨̥͈͈͔̞̦̱̬͚̩̫̲͕̙̖͎̝̜̹͎̖̦̹̲̬̝͔̤͖͔̟̩̞̭̙̞͈̪͈̥̱̟̺̦̦̱̼͎̞̩̯̞͓̟̳̭͎̠͕̮̞̒̆̉́͋͛̊͘͜͜ͅd̶̡̹̦͍̪̥̙̱̩̜̩̲͖̼̺̘̦̦͕̰̹̺̩̫̆̿̌͊͒̌͛̃̌̿̒̀̽͑͐̍̚͝ ̵̛̣̦̱̀͑̔͐̑̅͑̉̓̓͛̈́͒̓̓̐͗̉̀͒̈́̎̔̔̑̀̓̔̓̓̀̆̍͛̆̅̏̏̅̏̈̇̊́̅̾͛̔̌̈́͂̓̐̌͋̓͛̓̚͘̚̕͝͝͝͠͝͝͠y̵̧̧̡̧̡̧̞͍̱̤̱̯͓̯̤̟̘̰̫̰̠̭̣̭̖͎̟̹̯͙̰͈̰͎̗̫̬̠̆̂̓̂͂͛̒͒̈̕͘͜͜͜͠ͅͅớ̷̧̢̡̛̛͕̻̗͙̬͚͕͔̼͉̦͙̱̤̮̪̱̭͚̲̘̘̯͓̯̦͔̈́̒̀͌͛͗̓̆̿͛́̃̋͑̆̊̊͆̇́̏́̍̈́̈͆́͛̃̏̀̎̉̄̀͊͜͝͝ͅͅư̸̧̟̜̘̩͈̻̣̝͍̙͖̝̤͔̙̣̱̱̱͍̰̥͛̈̏̏̽̎̃̆̓͌̄̓̐̾̈́͐̉̓̎̋̔͂̏͋͒̇̿̊̏̊́̀̾̇́̒̿̽̀̍̍̕̕͘͜͜͠͝͠͝͠ͅ ̷̢̡̨̛̛͇̩̪̰̩̗̝̟̥̬͚̜̻̤͓͉̤̪̞̻̹̺̠̹̖̦̠̙͎͕̭̺̠͇͚̳̤̦̱͉͔̣͓̰̩̝̘̯̭͇̫̹̊̀̀͋́͋̓̋͗̽̆̍̌̂̒̑̉̎̈́̍̿̀̄̅͆̈́̋̏͑̓̄͒̈́̏̌̈͑̉̑̃͐̿̂͊̓͒̒̀̑̽̅͌̎͛̈́͂͐̀̍̒͘͘̕͜͜͠͝͝ͅk̶̨̨̡̢̛̛̺͍̩̮͕̗̖͖͇̳̳̬͍̟̠̗͎̘͇̳̣͈̦͓̲̖̣͉̦̖̦͖̳͇̝̙̱͇͆̀̓̂̄̂̒͌̀͒̒̃͆͐̓̌̑̊̀́̈́͋͐͗͒̚̚̕̚͜͜ͅͅṇ̴̡̢̨̧̡̪̖͉̼͇̠͇̥͉̞̫͉̪̭͇̩͚͇̮̦͖̠̦̞̥̩̳͍͉̘̪̯̠̱̤̜̰̜͓͚̰͔̩͕͍͉̩̝̆͜͜͜͜͝ͅͅͅơ̷̡̨̡̧̨̧̡̢̡̢̜̥̥̥̣̙͇͙̝̗̺̟̟̝̳͍̮͔̭̲̦̯̣̮̮͎̞̣̞̖͍̪̰̼̫̩̠͚̦̤̼̱̱̪̱̟͛͋̓̎̐͋̇̀͌̔̀̌̀̆͒̋͋̄̂̄̽͘͜͝͝͝ͅẇ̵̢̨̨̢̢̨̨̢̡̛̛͕͚̘͕̺͖̳̳̲̘̪̗̝̰̺̪͔̞͔̭͓̪̖̤̼̻̝͕̪̭͙͎̩̼̘̥̗͔͈̩̖͕̼͚͇̳̙̬̦̞̪̣̖̝̲͕̹̠͓̜̙̖̺̫̝̥̹̦̣̲̈́̌̎̈̈́͑́͗̓̈́̊͗̓̀̓͌͆̒̒̓̀̎͒̇͋̇̊͛̒̈́͊̃͌̌́̆̆̐͛͂̿̈͑̓̔̽͛̓̆̇̄̆̌͊͛͆͒̓̽̀̉̓͑̏͘͘̕̕̕̕͘͜͜͜͝͝͝͝ͅͅͅ ̶̧̢̨̢̢̛̠̗͕̻̬̙̝̠̯͉͉͖̹̫̟͙͈̼̼̭̖̳̦̘̣͇͉͔͉̩̜̗̭̻͖͉̰͈̬̦͙̘̖̭̗̙͙̠͈̦̩̪͕̠̤͎̣̣͎͖͇̣̞̟̳̖͇͇̪̠͔̒̓͋̃̈͆̃̓̊̈́͒̈́͆͆̌̊̾̐̒͛̈́̄̓̆̓̉͐̃̋̈́̆̇͐́̉̃̔̂̅̃̽͗̾̎̀͋̿̄̄̽̄̕̕͘͜͜͝͝͝ͅͅẅ̶̧̛̛̛͉́͌̌̍̏̂̅̏̓̈͂̉̍͒̀͑̉͛̐̇̀̓́̓̈́͊̌̋́̇̌̍͐͊̋̉̍̇̀͂̂͗̊̎̔̒̔̄́̍͂͆̈́̀̽̎̇͗̐͌̄̌̾̆̑̕̕̚͘͘̚̚͠͝͠ḩ̸̡̡̨̧̡̢͇̠͈͓̲̗̘̖̘̣͈͓͓̫̗̼̘̬͍͓̭͎̺̟̝̘̜͎̰̱͖̲̟̟͎̯͚̓́͑̌̇̄̅̀͋̈́͋̌̄̃͑͂̏̓̈́̊͋̈̓̒̓̽͋͌̃̂̓̉̾͘̕͘͜͜͠͠͝͝ͅͅͅà̸̢̧̧̡̞͙̟͍͈̬̞̹̥̦̭̪̯̞̼͙̝̖͙̞̰̩͕͖̱̥̜̫̦̗̬̺̗̭̳̰̻͕͙̹̘̮̯̺̗̮̹̦̝̝̻͕̰̘̗̙̱̥̣̞͓͍̞͉̗͋̊͂́̈́̈̐̎̐́͑͂̈́̈́̈́̀̍́̇̓̅͆̉͊̽̑̓̓͆̈́́͌̔͛̉̎͊̐̀̄̇̈́̐̉͊̄̅̉͋̋̔̕͘̚͘̕͜͜͜͝t̴̛̛̪͕̝͈̘̘͙͉̩͖̜͇̗̣̞̪͍̞̞̺̘̞̒̌̋́́̋̋̋̅̋̒̋̒̀̌̊͑̀͑͗̂̐̀̔͒̋̅͊̅̒͑͋͒͛̎͋͌̿̔͆̂̊̓̈́̃̀͋͌͂͗̾̔͘̕̕̕̚̚̚͝͝͝͠ͅ?̷̛̛̣̮̹̖̼̖̬̈́̓̐͌̍͊̊̈͌̋̀͐̏̊̈́̏͋̐̂̈́̾̆̔̓̃̃̊̆̓̓̿͋̈́̏̄̈́̊̽͂͛̈́̋̔̆̿̑̋̅̋̈́̇͐͒̀́̈́͋̉̾͘͝͝͠͠͠͝͝͠
This guy's loving it!
Spy: Magnificent!
You see,
I realized something.
That very next round, almost the entire team was doing the Kazotsky Kick
except this g̶̯͂͌͂ù̴̧̥͙y̸̪̿̓̇
S̶͕̼̈̓̃͌̎́͊̈́̆̚͘T̵̢̧̡͓͔̜̟̩̪̃̃I̵̤̯̫̻̯̻̺̕͜͜Ļ̶̘̰̙̬̼̠̼̝̰͍͋̀́̀́͘͠Ḻ̸̥͚̃̊͂̂̊ ̶͎̺̠̠̞̳̹̠͎̲̌͜T̶̡͈̩̟̺̲̹͑͑͑̀̈́̈́̕̚R̷̡̘̤̱̙̗̬̺̹̔̽̂̏̀͋̈͐̓̕Ý̸̯̆͊̃̓͝Į̶͖̺̼̬̣͋̐̆͑̓͠N̶̨̧̡̛͇̠͖̯̄́G̴̺̱͓̰̬̠̹͖͎͝ ̶̩̙̺̘̞̅T̵̯̻̖̰͐͂́̃͐̚͘͘ͅƠ̷̭̻͔̗̠͕̬̻͔̐̓̽̋̄̊̉̈͝ͅͅ ̴͚͍̥͚̭̗̫͚̩̿̒̏̀́̽̉̿̓Ḑ̴̞̻̲̣̩͕͓͗̂̽̓̂͝͝O̵̩͌̓̍͐̓͋̽͋͋̈́͘ ̶̧̘̞̱̖̓̀̀̓͆͠͝T̵̲͋̒̈͝͠H̵̞̲̬̀̂̉̏̀̈́͋E̶̝̊͂̈́͒͜ ̵̦͕̂͆̆͂͋Ç̸̞̯̰̦͓̭̣͕̌̆̓͜Ô̴̢͉̟̰̞͈͗̋̀̑̌̕͠N̸̛̥̫̰̓̚͝G̶̲̟̬̣͌͜A̴̟̪͍̖̗͕̜̣̒͑̏̂͠͝ͅ.̵̛̛̜̣̲̩̝̗̈́̄́͂͋͜͝͝͝͝
Anyway,
it was at this moment that I realized
we were all just a bunch of people sitting at our computers sharing a brief yet
silly moment together.
And this... is the soul of TF2.
It's a world of its own,
the character development,
the inside jokes,
the hats,
the art style.
It all helps to create an entirely unique universe that people want to be a part of...
(creaking)
(wood falls)
Spy: Ah!
Spy: Augh, merde. (shit)
You know what got me into TF2?
Spy: Imbecile!
It wasn't someone telling me how great rocket jumping is
or how satisfying it feels to land a backstab.
Spy: *snorting*
Spy: YES!
Nope!
It wasn't any of that.
It was the videos where we got to Meet the Team.
*flashback sound effect*
Heavy: I am Heavy Weapons guy.
Soldier: Godspeed, you magnificent bastard.
Heavy: And this...
Soldier: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Heavy: ...is my weapon.
Soldier: I am having a heart attack!
*flashforward sound effect*
I immediately fell in love with the characters that Valve had created.
I wanted to play as them,
but did you know that these characters almost never existed?
Interestingly enough,
Valve had initially planned on releasing TF2 with
a more "realistic" art style.
Let me tell you something...
This...
...does not last ten years.
Now this,
THIS...
...lasts 10 years,
and then some.
But TF2 is more going for it than just for it's humor.
See, funny animations and inside jokes can only carry a game so far...
What keeps players around is the solid gameplay.
I'll be honest with ya. I've really struggled to figure out what makes TF2 such a great game.
Is it the shooting? Is it the movement?
But that's when it struck me...
What if it's both?
It became apparent to me that TF2 was
caaaarefully designed so that
the guns and the movement worked together to form some of
the best combat ever crafted.
(explosions)
So let's talk about the first point,
the GUNS!
(cough)
The guns.
First of all, most weapons in TF2 do a lot of damage per shot.
(guns shoot)
Count Spy: One shot,
(guns shoot)
Count Spy: Two shots.
Count Spy: Ha ha ha!
Count Spy: Two shots to murder the Pyro-
Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's calm down...
Now if you look at some of the most used primary weapons for each class,
you'll see that seven out of nine of them are single fire rather than automatic.
Even Pyro has a single fire flamethrower now!
(scattergun cocks)
Scout: Woo, wha!
Scout: 'ey!
Single fire weapons feel great to use
When you shoot these guns
it's like "Bang!" you know!
Scout: That's what I'm talking about!
When you shoot these guns, it feels like, like...
BOOOOM!
Like,
BOOOOM!
Like,
BOOOOM!
Like,
BOOOOM!
Okay you get my point.
Thanks to the incredible sound design and heavy damage of these weapons,
I can literally hit a Scout with a pipe grenade,
die horribly, and still have had fun because of how great it feels to land a direct hit.
(tape rewinding)
There's something about the deep
(Fwomp)
of the gun and the sharp
(Ding!)
of the hit along with seeing that I did a whopping
100 damage that together makes me feel like:
"Nice. I hit him."
"Next time I'll hit him twice."
Compare this to shooting Sniper's SMG:
Scout is jumping around,
you're getting a couple of little shots in, and you inevitably die.
It's frustrating as heck!
Sniper: Stupid bloody spastic little gremlin-
Soldier: Sniper!
Sniper: Yeah?
Soldier: Get a real gun!
Sniper: Okay!
(Scout gets shot)
Sniper: Thanks, mate!
Soldier: Yes
The second reason shooting is so fun is that the character models are TF2 are
(slowing down) so...
(slow gunshot)
ㄒ卄丨匚匚
(echoes of ㄒ卄丨匚匚)
Just look at that absence of curves...
that beautiful, rectangular figure.
This, is a real man's hitbox!
Scout: Woo!
Scout: Wah!
Scout: 'ey! You'll never hit me!
Ｒｅｃｔａｎｇｕｌａｒ ｆｉｇｕｒｅ
Scout: Ah-
Engineer: Easy!
Scout (in distance): This sucks!
The guns feel powerful, and the hitboxes are rock solid.
Believe it or not, that makes it fun to shoot stuff!
Which is pretty important in a first-person shooter...
(ded)
Right?
Yeees...
Thank you!
Now. Let's talk about the second point
(clunk)
(woosh)
(remove kebab plays)
The movement.
(music still plays)
(music is muffled slightly)
Scout: AH-*faceplant*
Scout: What?
You put a new player into the game, and you tell them:
"Look kid, you move with WASD alright?
That's all they pay me to tell you.
Stupid job just cuz I'm two inches tall..."
Scout: Yeah!
And they go on to use their movement exclusively as a way to get from one place to another.
(deja vu)
Sniper: Thanks mate!
Soldier: Yes!
Then they die one too many times and think:
"Hmm...
Maybe I could use my movement to dodge things!"
(glass breaking)
Oh yeah, you can!
How wide do you strafe? Left, right, left, right! Oh gee!
You strafe from one direction more than the other one?
Man, I didn't expect that!
How do you incorporate diagonal movement? It's a 3D game man!
You gotta think about that!
You can even do a figure eight to get a figure eight out of WASD movement you have to press:
A-W-D-S-D-W-A-S-A-W-D-S-D-W-A-S-A-W-D-S-A (gibberish)
(gasping for air)
It's hard to keep doing it.
(slide whistle)
There's so much you can do with WASD
FUNKe: But LazyPurple! Other games have WASD controls! What's so special about TF2?!?
Grrreat question!
(begone T H O T)
There are two reasons that movement is so satisfying in TF2,
Reason one:
The weapons in TF2 are very "hit-or-miss".
You either get hit by a pipe grenade
Demo: See?
or you don't!
Soldier: Hello again!
Soldier: Screaming eagles!!!
(SCREAMING)
You're either engulfed in the flames of a flare gun,
ooor you're not...
Scout: What?
Scout: I'm a freaking blur here!
You can hit a fat meat shot,
or miss entirely.
Because so many weapons in TF2 are hit-or-miss,
dodging is heavily rewarded.
Which leads into reason 2:
movement matters in most interactions...
which you can think of as
"MMIMI"
which you can remember with:
"Damnit MMIMIgun! (my minigun)"
Why are you the only thing that doesn't fit into my argument?
(aggressive machine gun whirrs)
OKAY! OKAY! I'M SORRY!!
(A N G E R Y)
Huh! that was a close one!
Soldier: Hello again!
Against Soldiers you can sometimes entirely avoid splash damage
by moving diagonally instead of horizontally.
Demo: Ssssss-
Demo: See?
Against Pyros you can avoid dying horribly
by moving around the map in ways that put you outside of their effective range.
(Pyro is shot)
Soldier: If you know what's good for ya, you will run!
Against Demomen you can throw off their predictions
by jumping and then stopping your momentum.
Engi: Nope
Demo: I'm drunk!
Uh-oh
(RIP LazyPurple, 2012 - 2014)
But not all movement is defensive!
Spy: What?
Spies need to know all the variations of trickstabs...
Soldier: HA!
Soldiers need to know all the nuances of rocket jumping...
Scout: HA!
Scouts have to constantly take advantage of the terrain around them without even looking at it.
There's so much you have to know!! (screams of anguish)
Augh!
And yet,
It's all built on just
WASD and spacebar.
Alright, I'm about to unravel the main point of the video, so if you've made it this far,
try to keep up.
TF2's design philosophy is centered around fair movement and risky weapons.
The trend towards hit or miss weapons is no mistake.
In the pre-launch trailer for TF2 you can actually see that
Scout was equipped with
an automatic weapon,
which was then replaced with the now iconic scattergun.
Two of the classes that launched with automatic primary weapons have since received
game-changing single-fire sidegrades.
On the flip side,
no class that launched with a single fire primary weapon
has ever received a truly automatic side grade.
Single fire weapons heavily punish you for missing.
So how does TF2,
a game often described as the gateway to PC gaming,
avoid frustrating new players who might not be skilled enough to properly use these weapons?
By making the movement feel fair.
TF2's movement is designed to be intuitive
and I'm not just making this up.
The TF2 team made this intent clear in the recent Jungle Inferno update where they reworked
The Atomizer and Base Jumper due to them causing
"unpredictable movement".
At a foundational level,
it really helps that the characters in TF2
take time to switch directions,
which gives them a natural feeling of weight.
But why is this so important?
Scout: So painful!
I'll tell you!
Because the movement is so fair,
hit-or-miss weapons become rewarding
instead of frustrating.
And,
because so many weapons are hit-or-miss,
every little movement counts
and can be the difference between living or dying.
When I die in TF2, I think:
"Hmmm, I could have hit that shot."
or
"Darn. I could have dodged that!"
No other game has ever so consistently made me feel like every death is my own fault.
The combination of fair movement
and single fire weapons creates highly interactive
combat that rewards players for improving at the core actions of shooting and dodging.
Look,
there'll never be a game just like TF2.
If you look at the TF2 classes
you'll see that they're all conceptually very simple.
We've got fast boy with shotgun,
rocket launcher shotgun dude,
grenade man,
big dude with big gun,
But TF2 took these simple classes and fine tunes their interactions to perfection.
And because of this,
fast boy with shotgun,
grenade man,
all the classes take thousands of hours to master.
It's brilliant,
it's masterful,
and that's what makes it such a timeless game.
(lights shut off)
Thank you so much for watching!
Remember to subscribe if you want to see more videos like this in the future
and make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.
I'd like to take a moment to thank the moderators and admins who kept my TF2 servers
up and running during my years of absence.
I've put the server IPs in the video description, so drop on by next time you play TF2.
That's all for now, but expect more content soon.