I'd gladly pay for more Story based DLC. I thought severed was a nice addition to the Extraction story just a bit short. I just wish it was on pc so I could enjoy it in glorious PC quality rather than on ps3.
I was really disappointed that there wasn't any big Dead Space 3 news at E3 but then again DS2 hasn't been out that long. Maybe we will get another iPad game to hold us Markerheads till then I thought the iPad game was pretty great and I liked the audio log nods to it in DS2.
Yeah, DS2 hasn't even been out 6 months yet, as crazy at that seems. There was a little over 2 year gap between the first game and DS2, so I'm guessing we have at least another 6 months before we start to hear anything.
Yeah, DS2 hasn't even been out 6 months yet, as crazy at that seems. There was a little over 2 year gap between the first game and DS2, so I'm guessing we have at least another 6 months before we start to hear anything.
Well, given that Visceral remodeled their production process after how Dead Space 2 was made, Dead Space 3 will presumably be in pre-production until around the end of this year, at which point they'll have their vertical slice done and can unveil that game.
The game likely won't enter full production until around the time of the reveal as well, allowing them to do a lot of experimentation without huge budgetary concerns since the majority of Visceral's staff will be working on Dante's Inferno 2 and Army of Four.
Of course, since this scenario is gleaned from interviews and statements, there may be some things wrong here, so if any Visceral staffers correct me, ignore what I said!
I didn't enjoy Dead Space 2 as much as the first one, but 2 is still most definitely a quality game. Game is getting a little stale for me, though, so I'm hoping they make some major changes to the third one. I'm probably in the minority, but I hate the zero gravity sequences. I hope they get rid of that for the third one. Maybe what they can do with the third one is have more outdoor levels, as I'd love to see more outdoor levels.
Just started playing this yesterday on the pc and that patch just makes the store situation confusing as hell. Their heart was on the right place but its a half assed solution.
I assume that if I want to play it properly I should only use weapons and suits I have to build and pay for?
Just started playing this yesterday on the pc and that patch just makes the store situation confusing as hell. Their heart was on the right place but its a half assed solution.
I assume that if I want to play it properly I should only use weapons and suits I have to build and pay for?
Yeah. Combat becomes irrelevant/too easy when you buy the latter game suits/weapons too early. But if you're having trouble difficulty wise, then by all means pick something up earlier.
I'm in the third chapter and I'm enjoying it, but so far it feels/plays exactly like the first game. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting it to be a little different. Am I just not far enough along? Or did they basically stick to the formula, with the addition of some new weapons?
Is multiplayer worth giving a shot (I'm on a PS3, by the way)? Unless it's really compelling, I think I'll pass since I don't want to pony up the $10.
I'm in the third chapter and I'm enjoying it, but so far it feels/plays exactly like the first game. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting it to be a little different. Am I just not far enough along? Or did they basically stick to the formula, with the addition of some new weapons?
Is multiplayer worth giving a shot (I'm on a PS3, by the way)? Unless it's really compelling, I think I'll pass since I don't want to pony up the $10.
I never bothered with multiplayer, so don't know. But yeah, I felt the same way as you also. For me, the game didn't get interesting until chapter 6 or so, if I recall. I thought the game was very meh also until the later chapters. That's when the game gets more interesting.
Yeah, it's real similar to the first game. For me that was an awesome thing, but if you're looking for something that strays wildly from the original, you're probably gonna be disappointed.
I hope for Dead Space 3, enemy encounters moreso resemble DS1 as opposed to DS2. DS1 enemy encounters were slower and gave the player an actual opportunity to create strategies. With DS2 I just shot necromorphs until they dropped. Those damn leapers even with stasis are insanely fast and can still swipe the shit out of you. They are by far the cheapest and most challenging enemies in groups. Hate them with such a passion. I don't even wanna do hardcore because of them
Also I hope Isaac doesn't die during the course of the series. The guys been through so much he deserves to live. Hope he learns the true origins of the marker
I hope for Dead Space 3, enemy encounters moreso resemble DS1 as opposed to DS2. DS1 enemy encounters were slower and gave the player an actual opportunity to create strategies. With DS2 I just shot necromorphs until they dropped. Those damn leapers even with stasis are insanely fast and can still swipe the shit out of you. They are by far the cheapest and most challenging enemies in groups. Hate them with such a passion. I don't even wanna do hardcore because of them
Yeah, I felt the enemies were both too strong and much too fast most of the time. That's a horrible combo for a game that shortchanges you as far as ammo is concerned. I barely used the plasma cutter in this game which blows as it was my favorite goto weapon in the first.
Also I hope Isaac doesn't die during the course of the series. The guys been through so much he deserves to live. Hope he learns the true origins of the marker and ultimately destroys them all but
knowing that he himself is a living marker in a way,
As for why I think there's a new Army of Two and Dante's Inferno in development, they've put up job postings for both series and list them on their recently revamped Twitter and Website.
As for why I think there's a new Army of Two and Dante's Inferno in development, they've put up job postings for both series and list them on their recently revamped Twitter and Website.
And as for leapers being too difficult, bust out a force gun, put your back up against a wall, wait til they get close and shoot. This served me well on my hardcore run. My 3 deaths were never enemy related.
This game has by far the best 4th wall break ever, it actually scared me...around the end of Chapter 9 you meet up with the crazy guy and the girl. The crazy guy goes on a rant about how people are watching him then he looks right into the camera and yells "STOP LOOKING AT ME" genuinely scared the crap outta me
Just finished this today on hardcore. What an intense and challenging mode. Props to Visceral as this is the best game I've played all year. I was worried after reading the previews where they mentioned Issac was going to speak and it was going to have more action than the previous game, but they exceeded my expectations and delivered. Day 1 for Dead Space 3.
I don't have much to say about it, really. It was a good game. The last little bit (very end of Chapter 14 after the zero-g)
where you have to run through three or four hallways and they just throw enemies at you
just felt like a lazy way to ramp up the difficulty at the end.
That was kind of a problem with the whole game, though, and a change for the worse from the first title. There was no way to strategize when the necromorphs attacked. I guess that's what they meant when they said it was more action-y than the first game.
Again, small nitpicks overall. Good game and I look forward to the third.
I don't have much to say about it, really. It was a good game. The last little bit (very end of Chapter 14 after the zero-g)
where you have to run through three or four hallways and they just throw enemies at you
just felt like a lazy way to ramp up the difficulty at the end.
That was kind of a problem with the whole game, though, and a change for the worse from the first title. There was no way to strategize when the necromorphs attacked. I guess that's what they meant when theysaid it was more action-y than the first game.
Yeah, that end sequence is really the only section that I dread going into. I still don't hate it as much as the asteroid segment in this first game though, lol.
The "Iron Man" sequences are a pretty big part of being more "action-y" too.
And here's some awesome art from "Video Game Artwork Worth Framing Thread" that people might have missed.
Yeah, that end sequence is really the only section that I dread going into. I still don't hate it as much as the asteroid segment in this first game though, lol.
The "Iron Man" sequences are a pretty big part of being more "action-y" too.
And here's some awesome art from "Video Game Artwork Worth Framing Thread" that people might have missed.
I caved and bought it at that price and beat it about 2 weeks ago.
All I can say is WTF at the end boss? Was the Marker inside Isaac's head or something? I'm confused and I was disappointed. I was expecting Visceral to top the Hivemind fight, but instead it was huge letdown And what was that last word that Isaac muttered to Ellie? The QTE with the Earth Government head dude should have been a boss battle instead of an over-the-top QTE
I sorely missed the shooting range and Zero G basketball. I was disappointed that it wasn't included this game even though it's kind of understandable as they wanted to make it more of an action game. But those mini games were a nice break from shooting necromorphs and solving puzzles. I haven't touched the MP but plan on doing so once we get new modem here because the internet connection is pretty iffy. Isaac's voice was solid, and my favorite new gun was definitely the Javelin gun, with the Detonator gun closely behind it. Next time I boot it up, I'm doing the Hardcore run, so that should be fun but I'm burned out by it so I'm not gonna play it for a month at least.
Yeah, that end sequence is really the only section that I dread going into. I still don't hate it as much as the asteroid segment in this first game though, lol.
The "Iron Man" sequences are a pretty big part of being more "action-y" too...
I must have been hearing things then. The game was full of head scratching moments and people died for the dumbest things in typical game design fashion. I honestly don't know how they're gonna keep the momentum going in the next game. I didn't like the fact that the plot was too cliché.
For example, heavy use of characters who betray the main character trope. In the beginning, the lady who was helping him escape who turned out to be a Unitologist, and Stross. In the end of the day, despite having a voice, Isaac is still a whipping boy for people similar to DS1.
I caved and bought it at that price and beat it about 2 weeks ago.
All I can say is WTF at the end boss? Was the Marker inside Isaac's head or something? I'm confused and I was disappointed. I was expecting Visceral to top the Hivemind fight, but instead it was huge letdown And what was that last word that Isaac muttered to Ellie? The QTE with the Earth Government head dude should have been a boss battle instead of an over-the-top QTE
that since Isaac was the one who created this particular marker with Stross and others, he had some kind of special tie to the marker. Once he went into his mind and destroyed that connection, that particular marker was destroyed as well.
The thing that bothers me is that in Martyr,
it's implied that the visions of dead people are coming from a separate entity and not the Marker itself. The Marker brings out these visions that were already in our mind, the Marker just makes them visible. In addition, the visions are said to be benevolent and a counter to the intentions of the Marker. Which doesn't make sense in the context of Dead Space 2 since Nicole is one such vision, who appears to be helping Isaac, setting him on the path to destroy the Marker after using the "Eye Poke" machine, but ultimately tries to kill him again in the final battle.
I don't know if I'm missing something or just reading too much into this.
I must have been hearing things then. The game was full of head scratching moments and people died for the dumbest things in typical game design fashion. I honestly don't know how they're gonna keep the momentum going in the next game. I didn't like the fact that the plot was too cliché.
For example, heavy use of characters who betray the main character trope. In the beginning, the lady who was helping him escape who turned out to be a Unitologist, and Stross. In the end of the day, despite having a voice, Isaac is still a whipping boy for people similar to DS1.
especially the whole Big Government/Big Business being evil thing. This is probably my least favorite cliche. I guess you can justify it though based on the idea that if alien technology did appear, they would definitely be doing whatever it takes to obtain it. And for Stross betraying Isaac, he wasn't really in control of his body/mind anymore because of the Marker, so I can accept that plot point. Isaac is meant to be alone so I don't expect any of the supporting characters to stick around for any extended period of time. I wouldn't be surprised if Ellie is out of the picture fairly early on in Dead Space 3.
If Nicole didnt accidentally the whole flashlight and wasnt played as some scary person by flashing the screen randomly with screams, this game's story would have been much better.
Yeah, that end sequence is really the only section that I dread going into. I still don't hate it as much as the asteroid segment in this first game though, lol.
The "Iron Man" sequences are a pretty big part of being more "action-y" too.
And here's some awesome art from "Video Game Artwork Worth Framing Thread" that people might have missed.
Just finished this last night. Good follow up, but I preferred the first game by a hair. The environments were certainly more diverse, but I thought the game environment in DS1 was more claustrophobic, in a good way.
On the plus side, the setpieces were fun and I thought they handled the zero G sequences a lot better in DS2. Also less tentacle dragging - that's a win right there. And I'll give the Visceral guys credit for keeping the tension super high in the follow up. I never felt like I was safe - not even in the elevators.
On the negative side, the story was largely a waste and really wasn't any more effective than the pared down version in DS1. The Daina and Stross character arcs really never went anywhere, although I was glad to see the Unitologist plotline didn't wear out its welcome.
And finally, the last level was a complete PITA. Getting attacked by those black leapers as soon as you walk through a door wasn't fun and the whole level felt cheap. Also, what was the deal with
that regenerating beasty with the four eyes? At least they explained away the existence of a similar creature in the first game. But this bastard just shows up out of nowhere and its unique talent for getting back up was never explained as far as I could tell.
Anyway, a very solid followup to the first game with some elements that genuinely improved on the first game and some that weren't quite as good. Hopefully they can tweak those elements for the third game.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play something far less bleak and tense.
Just finished this last night. Good follow up, but I preferred the first game by a hair. The environments were certainly more diverse, but I thought the game environment in DS1 was more claustrophobic, in a good way.
On the plus side, the setpieces were fun and I thought they handled the zero G sequences a lot better in DS2. Also less tentacle dragging - that's a win right there. And I'll give the Visceral guys credit for keeping the tension super high in the follow up. I never felt like I was safe - not even in the elevators.
On the negative side, the story was largely a waste and really wasn't any more effective than the pared down version in DS1. The Daina and Stross character arcs really never went anywhere, although I was glad to see the Unitologist plotline didn't wear out its welcome.
And finally, the last level was a complete PITA. Getting attacked by those black leapers as soon as you walk through a door wasn't fun and the whole level felt cheap. Also, what was the deal with
that regenerating beasty with the four eyes? At least they explained away the existence of a similar creature in the first game. But this bastard just shows up out of nowhere and its unique talent for getting back up was never explained as far as I could tell.
Anyway, a very solid followup to the first game with some elements that genuinely improved on the first game and some that weren't quite as good. Hopefully they can tweak those elements for the third game.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play something far less bleak and tense.
Just finished the game today, definitely agree with most of your points, especially about the last section of the game. I would have rather they just cut most of it up to the final encounter. It was unnecessary and completely frustrating to the point where it started to sour the experience for me. I just don't understand how you can design something like that and be like "wow this is so much fun. durrr."
A lot of the other encounters fell along those lines as well. About halfway through the game, the good ole walk into an area and have monsters spawn all around you shit definitely started to get tiresome as well. I don't really recall having an issue with the encounters like that in the first game. I really hope that if the series continues, they look at some better and more interesting combat scenarios that this.
On a positive side, I really enjoyed just about everything else. Still enjoyed the game for the most part, just feel there were definitely some bad design choices at the end, which is a shame.
that since Isaac was the one who created this particular marker with Stross and others, he had some kind of special tie to the marker. Once he went into his mind and destroyed that connection, that particular marker was destroyed as well.
The thing that bothers me is that in Martyr,
it's implied that the visions of dead people are coming from a separate entity and not the Marker itself. The Marker brings out these visions that were already in our mind, the Marker just makes them visible. In addition, the visions are said to be benevolent and a counter to the intentions of the Marker. Which doesn't make sense in the context of Dead Space 2 since Nicole is one such vision, who appears to be helping Isaac, setting him on the path to destroy the Marker after using the "Eye Poke" machine, but ultimately tries to kill him again in the final battle.
I don't know if I'm missing something or just reading too much into this.
I'm with you on the cliches,
especially the whole Big Government/Big Business being evil thing. This is probably my least favorite cliche. I guess you can justify it though based on the idea that if alien technology did appear, they would definitely be doing whatever it takes to obtain it. And for Stross betraying Isaac, he wasn't really in control of his body/mind anymore because of the Marker, so I can accept that plot point. Isaac is meant to be alone so I don't expect any of the supporting characters to stick around for any extended period of time. I wouldn't be surprised if Ellie is out of the picture fairly early on in Dead Space 3.
I don't think you're reading too much into it. There are probably a couple theories we could work into this:
The easiest theory is that Visceral simply changed the fiction to suit the story of DS2 with minor retcons of the Marker's purpose between DS1, DSM, and DS2.
The alternative theory (which I prefer) is that
the Marker's system of morality is just so alien to humanity that we don't understand why it does what it does, why it changes its purpose from one thing to another in whatever long term plan it's cooking up (or whatever created the Markers is cooking up). Either the Markers were designed to keep the Necromorph "virus" at bay, or the Necromorph virus is caused by the Markers and was kept at bay up until this point for some reason. Also, remember: to date, we have only dealt with artificial Markers created by people. Scientists on Aegis VII and the Titan Marker created by Isaac. It's more than possible that people, their flaws, their reasoning, methods of thinking, influence the Markers they create, whereas the original Black Marker functions on a plane above anything else. Also, recall, that there is a log stating that mankind is under the long-term influence of an alien entity. We don't know if it's the Marker, or the Marker's creators, or something else altogether. Plus, it's hard to impose morality on something meant to be completely different from humans. It stands to reason we wouldn't understand their system of morality anyway.
Regarding Nicole's switch from Evil to Good to Evil, I assumed it was simply to further its own agenda, when being Evil wasn't working on Isaac, it pretended to be Good to further its own cause until the time was right for Isaac to die and be absorbed by the Marker. It's possible that its ultimate goal, "Convergence" will only happen on its terms, which is why the Red Marker aided Isaac, where as the Titan Marker manipulated him. Same with Stross, except he wasn't strong enough to fight against the Marker's influence, which hastened his death. The creators must be killed in order to hasten Convergence, so his suicide run at Isaac makes sense in that way.
Dipswitch said:
And finally, the last level was a complete PITA. Getting attacked by those black leapers as soon as you walk through a door wasn't fun and the whole level felt cheap. Also, what was the deal with
that regenerating beasty with the four eyes? At least they explained away the existence of a similar creature in the first game. But this bastard just shows up out of nowhere and its unique talent for getting back up was never explained as far as I could tell.
I think the explanation that Steve Papoutsis gave for that particular enemy was that
it's a fully evolved Necromorph, ie: that's what Necromorphs eventually look like if you hadn't gotten around to dismembering them. Bit of guesswork here, but in the first game, Mercer accelerated the process by injecting Necro DNA into a live host, whereas this creature is a natural evolution leading to the same result. A creature that pretty much defies death (until you torch it with shuttle engines or blow up the Marker that generated it
I don't think you're reading too much into it. There are probably a couple theories we could work into this:
The easiest theory is that Visceral simply changed the fiction to suit the story of DS2 with minor retcons of the Marker's purpose between DS1, DSM, and DS2.
The alternative theory (which I prefer) is that
the Marker's system of morality is just so alien to humanity that we don't understand why it does what it does, why it changes its purpose from one thing to another in whatever long term plan it's cooking up (or whatever created the Markers is cooking up). Either the Markers were designed to keep the Necromorph "virus" at bay, or the Necromorph virus is caused by the Markers and was kept at bay up until this point for some reason. Also, remember: to date, we have only dealt with artificial Markers created by people. Scientists on Aegis VII and the Titan Marker created by Isaac. It's more than possible that people, their flaws, their reasoning, methods of thinking, influence the Markers they create, whereas the original Black Marker functions on a plane above anything else. Also, recall, that there is a log stating that mankind is under the long-term influence of an alien entity. We don't know if it's the Marker, or the Marker's creators, or something else altogether. Plus, it's hard to impose morality on something meant to be completely different from humans. It stands to reason we wouldn't understand their system of morality anyway.
Regarding Nicole's switch from Evil to Good to Evil, I assumed it was simply to further its own agenda, when being Evil wasn't working on Isaac, it pretended to be Good to further its own cause until the time was right for Isaac to die and be absorbed by the Marker. It's possible that its ultimate goal, "Convergence" will only happen on its terms, which is why the Red Marker aided Isaac, where as the Titan Marker manipulated him. Same with Stross, except he wasn't strong enough to fight against the Marker's influence, which hastened his death. The creators must be killed in order to hasten Convergence, so his suicide run at Isaac makes sense in that way.
Great points. I never really thought about the idea of humans imposing our own morality on an object that could by all accounts have none of its own.
A couple things though, in Martyr
we actually see the effect of the Black Marker on people, and it's pretty much the same thing as the two artificial ones. People see visions supposedly trying to help as well as becoming suicidal/homicidal in most cases, and turning into Necromorphs after death. The only one that was strong enough to survive the Marker's interference was Altman, who gets the "code" to make more Markers, which is then used to make the Red Marker.
Where I think this is going:
All of the Necromorphs we've seen to date are failures, which is essentially the belief of the Unitologists and EarthGOV. True immortality will eventually be reached when the right Marker is created, hence all the Markers mentioned at the end of DS2. I believe the key to achieving this is the Marker utilizing those that are somewhat immune to its effects, a la Isaac and Altman. Most humans aren't strong enough to undergo the true transformation. It's too bad we never got to see Altman transformed after he was killed at the end of Martyr, that could have cleared some things up for me at least.
As for Nicole,
the confusing part for me is that the visions of your dead loved ones aren't supposed to be helping the Marker, at all. Having Isaac killed so the Marker could begin Convergence would he helping it, which is where the contradictions comes in. The visions, according to Altman, are some human defense mechanism to the Marker's influence. People hear two voices, one from the Marker telling them to kill themselves, and another, usually of a dead loved one warning them to stay away from it.
The Dead Space Wiki can probably explain it better:
The Black Marker's influence is similar to the Red Marker's. It was revealed in Dead Space: Martyr that there is a different force surrounding the Black Marker than just the ability to cause madness in humans. There are other forces at play. Altman thought that there was something in the human mind that caused the hallucinations; a kind of defense mechanism that is activated when in the Marker's presence. Altman was not immune, but he was able to resist the madness caused by it. It is also possible and very likely that in all of these cases there are actually two forces working on people's minds. This is shown when many people in Dead Space: Martyr claim to hear two voices. One of these voices tell the people to kill themselves, presumably the necromorphs. The other appears to be the marker which tries to protect people from necromorphs by telling them to run, or in the case of Isaac and the Red Marker, manipulating them to help the marker stop the necromorphs.
I've been playing this game recently and having a lot of fun with it. I've made it to chapter 9 on Zealot difficulty. I've been needing to conserve my ammo a lot, and have just narrowly made it through a few sections with enough resources. I hope I don't screw myself later on with impossible odds.
A few questions:
- I got the refurbished plasma cutter from DS1 but it seems exactly like the one you start out with in DS2. Is there any difference?
- The javelin gun sometimes does not allow me to trigger the secondary electricity effect. Is this glitched or am I doing something wrong?
- When I start a new game +, will I be able to choose hardcore mode with all my resources from my Zealot play through?
I've been playing this game recently and having a lot of fun with it. I've made it to chapter 9 on Zealot difficulty. I've been needing to conserve my ammo a lot, and have just narrowly made it through a few sections with enough resources. I hope I don't screw myself later on with impossible odds.
A few questions:
- I got the refurbished plasma cutter from DS1 but it seems exactly like the one you start out with in DS2. Is there any difference?
- The javelin gun sometimes does not allow me to trigger the secondary electricity effect. Is this glitched or am I doing something wrong?
- When I start a new game +, will I be able to choose hardcore mode with all my resources from my Zealot play through?
-The only difference is cosmetic. The Refurb doesn't do any extra damage or anything.
-Not sure about the javelin gun as I never really played around with it that much, but I'm sure someone else will know.
-Nope. Hardcore is completely separate and you have to start fresh. It's not as intimidating as it sounds though. Just take your time and you should be fine. Plus, Replicant has a pretty great guide in this thread somewhere.
I've been playing this game recently and having a lot of fun with it. I've made it to chapter 9 on Zealot difficulty. I've been needing to conserve my ammo a lot, and have just narrowly made it through a few sections with enough resources. I hope I don't screw myself later on with impossible odds.
A few questions:
- I got the refurbished plasma cutter from DS1 but it seems exactly like the one you start out with in DS2. Is there any difference?
- The javelin gun sometimes does not allow me to trigger the secondary electricity effect. Is this glitched or am I doing something wrong?
- When I start a new game +, will I be able to choose hardcore mode with all my resources from my Zealot play through?
For the Javelin gun, I haven't played in a while, but doesn't it require a certain amount of ammo in the chamber? If you fire your last shot, you'd have to reload before you could do the secondary. It has been a few months since I played the game so forgive me if I'm wrong. lol
-Nope. Hardcore is completely separate and you have to start fresh. It's not as intimidating as it sounds though. Just take your time and you should be fine. Plus, Replicant has a pretty great guide in this thread somewhere.
Ok, thanks. I figured this would be the case. Now I have to decide if I want to have another low rations play through or reap the new game plus benefits.
For the Javelin gun, I haven't played in a while, but doesn't it require a certain amount of ammo in the chamber? If you fire your last shot, you'd have to reload before you could do the secondary. It has been a few months since I played the game so forgive me if I'm wrong. lol
Yeah, the auto reload has screwed me a few times in the thick of action. Now that I think of it, maybe the secondary fire requires additional ammo which is why it sometimes doesn't work. Will test it out later.
It has slightly more ammo capacity. And it looks better.
Cool beans. I've been upgrading this weapon almost exclusively besides stasis and my suit.
Something odd I've noticed about Stasis is that if I freeze an enemy in mid air that's charging at me, then I make contact with it by walking by, it can sometimes damage me as if it still had it's force behind it. Also, I need to remind myself that when the stasis effect ends, the enemy/object gains back it's momentum at that instant, instead of needing to build it back up, which is not very intuitive.
Ok, thanks. I figured this would be the case. Now I have to decide if I want to have another low rations play through or reap the new game plus benefits.
DLC weapons/suits work from the get go in Hardcore though which help quite a bit. I'm pretty sure a majority of us who have beaten it on Hardcore did it with these.
And you're right about the rationing in Hardcore. It's Zealot difficulty in terms of ammo drops but Survivalist difficulty in terms of Enemies if I recall. Strangely enough I had more trouble rationing ammo on my Hardcore run than Zealot. I was literally down to the last of my ammo in one stretch towards the end of the game.
The real new game + benefits come after you unlock the Hand Cannon, lol.
Great points. I never really thought about the idea of humans imposing our own morality on an object that could by all accounts have none of its own.
A couple things though, in Martyr
we actually see the effect of the Black Marker on people, and it's pretty much the same thing as the two artificial ones. People see visions supposedly trying to help as well as becoming suicidal/homicidal in most cases, and turning into Necromorphs after death. The only one that was strong enough to survive the Marker's interference was Altman, who gets the "code" to make more Markers, which is then used to make the Red Marker.
Where I think this is going:
All of the Necromorphs we've seen to date are failures, which is essentially the belief of the Unitologists and EarthGOV. True immortality will eventually be reached when the right Marker is created, hence all the Markers mentioned at the end of DS2. I believe the key to achieving this is the Marker utilizing those that are somewhat immune to its effects, a la Isaac and Altman. Most humans aren't strong enough to undergo the true transformation. It's too bad we never got to see Altman transformed after he was killed at the end of Martyr, that could have cleared some things up for me at least.
As for Nicole,
the confusing part for me is that the visions of your dead loved ones aren't supposed to be helping the Marker, at all. Having Isaac killed so the Marker could begin Convergence would he helping it, which is where the contradictions comes in. The visions, according to Altman, are some human defense mechanism to the Marker's influence. People hear two voices, one from the Marker telling them to kill themselves, and another, usually of a dead loved one warning them to stay away from it.
The Dead Space Wiki can probably explain it better:
The Black Marker's influence is similar to the Red Marker's. It was revealed in Dead Space: Martyr that there is a different force surrounding the Black Marker than just the ability to cause madness in humans. There are other forces at play. Altman thought that there was something in the human mind that caused the hallucinations; a kind of defense mechanism that is activated when in the Marker's presence. Altman was not immune, but he was able to resist the madness caused by it. It is also possible and very likely that in all of these cases there are actually two forces working on people's minds. This is shown when many people in Dead Space: Martyr claim to hear two voices. One of these voices tell the people to kill themselves, presumably the necromorphs. The other appears to be the marker which tries to protect people from necromorphs by telling them to run, or in the case of Isaac and the Red Marker, manipulating them to help the marker stop the necromorphs.
You raise some good points. I am hoping DS3 will clear some of that stuff up. Of course no one knows, but if I were a betting man, I'd say that the Black Marker will be key in DS3.
The more I think about it, the more I think Visceral missed the mark on Chapter 7. There's way too many enemies in it. I think it would've been creepier if they'd put no enemies in it asides from the AI and made it feel more desolate and have more puzzle and logic based. I love the game, but that's definitely a missed opportunity.
I'm a bit into the 2nd chapter so far. Holy shit. Does the game keep this momentum up throughout the entire experience? Or is it just very front-loaded?
This and Condemned are probably the two games, this gen, that have absolutely nailed in-your-face scares. Wow. Playing on the harder difficulties makes it a really tense experience.
The people in charge of the PC port of this game over at Visceral are goddamn wizards. Weird mouse issues with the first Dead Space aside (thank you, controller support), the PC versions of Dead Space always run so smoothly for me. Great optimization.
I got to play this a bit (survivalist) thanks to the Steam sale, and I'm really happy with my purchase. I agree with the guy above, it looks and runs amazingly on PC. I started with a pad but I found that I actually like the KB/M controls better, you can't beat that kind of lightning quick aiming. I almost bought it for PS3 when it was $30 so I'm glad I stayed strong.
The people in charge of the PC port of this game over at Visceral are goddamn wizards. Weird mouse issues with the first Dead Space aside (thank you, controller support), the PC versions of Dead Space always run so smoothly for me. Great optimization.
My computer isn't the greatest and when I played DS1 it had a bit of issues but wow. I'm surprised how much better DS2 runs on my computer than DS1 did.
Really enjoying this, although bummed out to find out that Served DLC never came to PC.
