Hi everyone! I finally got both games up and running, and I'm excited to play this game with people again! Wanted to do a little introduction so you all know kinda who you're playing with, even if there are seemingly only a handful who play anymore.
I love Outbreak, everything from its concept to actual gameplay. There was really no other game like it out there. It's the perfect blend of pure classic survival horror, and awkward, uncertain, team-based gameplay that has you constantly on your toes and not sure who to trust. There were so many mechanics at play, so many things to keep track of, especially for a new player. The difficulty levels were insane, and each one brought new challenges. It's one of the few games that, multiplayer or not, doesn't hold your hand through anything. It throws you into chaos, as a real outbreak would be, and lets you figure out how to survive on your own. It's not the most perfectly executed game, but it does so many things right, or at least has some great ideas, it's hard not to be fascinated by it.
Although I've played a lot of the scenarios countless times with bots, my only actual experiences with the games online was back in about '05 -- Before I had DSL, I had to wait to play games online when I could go to my grandma's house and bring my PS2 and Xbox. Even back then, I was obsessed with Outbreak. I was hyped for it when it was first announced, after watching the first trailers, and then after it came out I longed to play it with real humans (as we all know, the bots are frustrating at best :P). I finally got one chance to play, and I tried both games. At the time, the servers were already pretty bare. I never got into a game in Outbreak 1. The only game I could find in File #2 was a Very Hard on End of the Road. I played as David, and all I remember from it was us getting stuck on some part where none of us could find a key, and I was just running around with David yelling, "I NEED A GUN!" I think we all finally succumbed to the virus.
After that, I didn't get a chance to play again before the servers shut down. Over the years, I have searched the net periodically to see if anyone has tried a revival of some sort. I followed http://residenteviloutbreakserver.blogspot.com/ for a long time, until he stopped updating. There were others who tried and failed. Then, finally, I got wind of this last year, and although I was itching to try it, I was just too busy with life at the time. Now, I've MADE time for it, because these games are back in my head, and I need to play them again.
A few other quick things about me: My favorite game of all time is Resident Evil 2. I like a lot of different games, mostly anything with a good story, good atmosphere, or good survival/ survival horror games like Outbreak. I'm also a game developer myself, currently finishing up a fan project based on the Danganronpa series.
Hope to see you all online!