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Dead Space 2 |OT| The Marker Is Not A Sharpie

Replicant

Member
SamuraiX- said:
To me, this is a big "fuck you!" to anybody bashing on the final boss battle. Both the battle itself and even the concept behind it are just fuck awesome. :D

Yeah, unfortunately some people got confused when
'Nicole' zaps Isaac into a mind battle between his own brain versus the Marker's brain
. They don't know what is going on. Even though it's been clearly shown that:

* We know that the Marker influences people via telepathic imprinting, it drives them crazy.
* We know that it's been trying to do the same to Isaac with small degree of success. Isaac always manages to do his "You're not Nicole!!!", rendering the Marker's attempt near-futile.
* In a last ditch attempt to get rid of Isaac, the Marker (via Nicole's visage) leads Isaac to his own and Stross' experiment, claiming that it can help him get rid of the Marker. Well it can, but the Marker's real intention is to completely override Isaac's neural system and kill his own body from inside. Then convergence will be complete.
* This is why IF you die during the final battle, Isaac grabs his javelin weapon and spears his own brain with it. That means the Marker won the internal battle against Isaac's mind.
* Fortunately, the Marker is an overconfident douche who likes to boast during the final mind-meld, revealing its own intention ("Thanks Isaac, now, it's time to die"). Isaac is pissed off and delivers his "Fuck you, and fuck your Marker" line.
* IF you win, Isaac's consciousness is transported back to reality while the Marker is destroyed because Isaac fried its neural system via the mind fight they just had. It makes sense that the Marker is defeated by the very thing that it uses to influence people.

Nirolak said:
It strikes me as rather likely, but so far their job postings seem to be about heavily scaling up the competitive multiplayer.

http://jobs.gamasutra.com/JobSeekerX/ViewJob.asp?JobID=YKmfDl5bBixx70c7NFg9621p/17G
http://jobs.gamasutra.com/JobSeekerX/ViewJob.asp?JobID=krrOfY8L0BkBPvFrhe/Kn18twqYN

:/ First Mass Effect 3 and now this. I don't care for multiplayer just as long as they don't put MP-related trophies/achievements in Dead Space 3/Mass Effect 3.
 

Manp

Member
finished both Extraction and Severed in the last couple of days, really liked both.

now i'm doing a bit of trophy hunting in DS2 but there's no way i'm going for the platinum. Hard Core mode sounds like a major pita.

:)
 
Let them add MP. They added it for DS2, and its SP was fucking fantastic. They added it for Uncharted 2 and worked on it for Uncharted 3, and those are fucking fantastic. Same for ACB and ACR.

I wouldn't worry.
 
TenshiOni said:
All I want out of Dead Space multiplayer is a horde mode.

This could be amazing.

NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Let them add MP. They added it for DS2, and its SP was fucking fantastic. They added it for Uncharted 2 and worked on it for Uncharted 3, and those are fucking fantastic. Same for ACB and ACR.

I wouldn't worry.

I had a lot of fun with Bioshock 2's as well. But I went into that with extremely low expectations. As long the single player isn't lacking in DS3, and they don't put Achievements in for MP, I'd be OK with it.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
So, I updated my other thread, but thought I should note the update here too.

Nirolak: Grand Lord Of Screw-Ups said:
Okay so uh... maybe they did mislabel their job postings since Ian has just been promoted to Creative Director of the Dead Space franchise: http://twitter.com/#!/monkey_pants

Though, his other comment is now much more confusing, unless he's just helping hire for a new IP to make sure the right people get the job.

Looking again, the Executive Producer posting is a duplicate of the one they had for their new IP, so it seems whoever submitted that might have just made an error and flagged it Dead Space along with the other two that were actually for Dead Space.

Well, this is embarrassing. I should have waited one more day. :lol

Edit:

Oh hey, the Executive Producer one even mentions a new IP. *sigh*
 
This game is 7 bucks right now on D2D, but I can't download it myself due to not being in the US or Canada (though I am a US citizen with a US credit card). Is there a way to gift with D2D, and is anyone willing to help me out?
 
Just beat the game tonight. I guess I'd say it's better than the original. I loved the cave section and having more variety in locations. The new enemies were the best part. Those raptor-like necromorphs were soooooo cool. Visceral should make a dinosaur game!

At the same time, I can't help but wonder how much scarier the series would be with music. IMO, music is responsible for at least 70% of the scariness of the Resident Evil series, and it could be used here as well. They don't necessarily have to go in the direction of more scares, but I think I would prefer that.

I said this about the first game and it applies here as well: this game is flawless. The controls are great, the interface is amazing, sound effects (the necromorph with the bright yellow bomb attached to its hand in particular) are top notch, and the game is challenging without being frustrating. I love how many save stations and check points there are. They don't make the game easier, they just save you from having to do the same sections over and over again if you die in a difficult area. And the game play has a good balance of strategy and precision aiming. I like how I had to constantly change how I attacked different chapters as the game went on.

Great game. I can't wait to see what they do next.
 
FutureZombie said:
At the same time, I can't help but wonder how much scarier the series would be with music. IMO, music is responsible for at least 70% of the scariness of the Resident Evil series, and it could be used here as well. They don't necessarily have to go in the direction of more scares, but I think I would prefer that.

I found the opposite to be true in the first game. I turned the music off entirely to increase the tension. The music always signaled when you were about to be attacked, taking away most of the surprise.

I wouldn't be opposed to some Silent Hill-esque music though. That shit always creeps me out.
 

LEGGZZZZ

Member
TenshiOni said:
All I want out of Dead Space multiplayer is a horde mode.

That is what it should have been. I think Horde/Survival mode needs top become a standard among games now, as it works much better than tacked on multiplayer. Plus, who doesn't love Co-op?
 
Anyone here play Dead Space Extraction all the way through with a dual-shock? I'm enjoying it but I'm also finding it to be a bit difficult. I'm constantly missing items and often times enemies are kinda hard to dismember.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
So I reinstalled my game for another playthrough but I'm having some issues enabling external AA in the pc version.

What happens, as is well known by now, is that I lose the games dynamic shadows if I enable AA in nvidia inspector. People on other forums claim to use the following bits :

Dead Space 2 - 0x004030C0 (only with shadows on medium or lower) ( this one we can scratch )
Dead Space 2 - 0x00411245 (works with higher quality shadows, but has lower AA quality) ( this one doesn't work at all for me )
Dead Space 2 - SLI users: set 'Antialiasing - SLI AA' to 'AA_MODE_SELECTOR_SLIAA_ENABLED' (fix for lighting issues)" ( which lighting issue are they referring to? )

deadspace22011-08-15222kcp.png


That's how it looks no matter what I try to do :(
 

SamuraiX-

Member
eternaLightness said:
Anyone here play Dead Space Extraction all the way through with a dual-shock? I'm enjoying it but I'm also finding it to be a bit difficult. I'm constantly missing items and often times enemies are kinda hard to dismember.

Yup.

Finished it last week on Hard. It was tricky at first, but by the 3rd chapter I think I had it down.

Try adjusting the sensitivity to see what best suits you.

The only thing that really pissed me off was that it was always so difficult to accurately grab items before they disappeared off-screen while your character was walking.
 
There are some awesome covers being put together in the PS3 Redesign Cover Thread. Figured I'd re-post a couple of the Dead Space 2 one's that I've seen so far. Both are pretty amazing.

deadspace2ps39qv1.png


From Zazrx.

5A7u1.png


From Mithos.
 

SamuraiX-

Member
Hell yes. Loved those. Although I think the default cover is pretty cool too, so I probably won't use a new one. ;)

Btw, you should link the URLs for the full page printable versions.
 
ILOVEASIANS said:
There are some awesome covers being put together in the PS3 Redesign Cover Thread. Figured I'd re-post a couple of the Dead Space 2 one's that I've seen so far. Both are pretty amazing.

deadspace2ps39qv1.png


From Zazrx.

5A7u1.png


From Mithos.

Wonderful stuff.
 
Just finished this up tonight, definitely better than the original.

Positives
+ New enemies (raptors FTW)
+ More location variety (even though a good chunk still felt too samey)
+ Isaac actually being a person this time
+ Zero-G sections are a million times better with new controls
+ More power nodes to collect (upgrading stuff is my favorite part of the game, strangely enough)
+ No fucking turrets
+ Characters to interact with
+ Atmosphere and sound are still top-notch
+ Still love the everything-is-in-the-game style of the HUD and inventory

Negatives
- I bet some people liked it but going back to the Ishimura, even for only a chapter, was disappointing for me. The game isnt that long to begin with so recycling a huge area from the first game (but with black lights!) reeks of either padding or a lack of ideas. If the ship showed up in a later game, fine, but it was too early in my opinion.
- Felt like more of an extension of the first game rather than something properly new (not sure if that makes sense)
- Wish Benches and Stores were in the same location more
- I still have little idea what is actually going on (probably mostly my fault)
- Even though there are more enemies this time, there aren't many new ones once you hit the halfway point, they just become faster/more powerful
- An absence of boss battles
- I found very little reason to not just stick with Plasma Cutter/Pulse Rifle throughout the whole game
- 'Puzzles' are incredibly simple and only serve to slow you down
- Isaac is very good at getting someplace about a second too late to save people

I know this sounds negatives but some are just nitpicking as I had a very good experience playing the game. I enjoyed both Dead Spaces and look forward to another but something about them doesn't quite hit me. Maybe it is that I don't really find them scary and it is really only a couple of ideas spread across 8 hours or so. In reality, the games could easily be only around 4-5 hours long and be better for it (but not warrant a $60 price tag). So even though they are short, they still seem to wear out their welcome for me. This certainly isn't a 90 (Metacritic) for me but it is solid.
 

Luthos

Member
Seriously, no game's enemies left as big impression on me as the raptor enemies from DS2 did. One of my favorite enemy types... ever.
The way they peak over boxes, yet duck back down as soon as you look at them. The way they run from cover to cover, seemingly at the same time to confuse you. Their screeches. And then their sudden bum rush as they slide out from cover and come charging at you. Love it. I think I was more in awe at these enemies than scared.
 

Dyno

Member
Finished my Zealot run with a fully upgraded character. The fights and the set pieces towards the end were so bloody amazing. Just a beast of a game on all levels. Some of those final rooms where they attack you in waves is a horror story of violence. I got hammered with what was a wall of necromorphs in some places. I got through most of Chapter 14 in one go and when you're not scounging for supplies (because I bought a bunch) it plays out as a really intense ride. Definately one of my favourite games this gen. The story through the audio tapes is really good as well.
 

Monkey Pants

Outpost Games Creative Director
ILOVEASIANS said:
There are some awesome covers being put together in the PS3 Redesign Cover Thread. Figured I'd re-post a couple of the Dead Space 2 one's that I've seen so far. Both are pretty amazing.

Those are really nice. I wish we could've done that.
 

JJD

Member
Guys I've finally started playing the Severed DLC. Didn't Viceral announced 2 DLC expansions? Were is the other one? Is it canned?
 
JJD said:
Guys I've finally started playing the Severed DLC. Didn't Viceral announced 2 DLC expansions? Were is the other one? Is it canned?

I think they did, it was rumoured to be shown at a press event some months ago but nothing came of that and there's been no info about any more DLC. :(
 
Speedymanic said:
I think they did, it was rumoured to be shown at a press event some months ago but nothing came of that and there's been no info about any more DLC. :(

Sucks. It'd be awesome if they released a few DLC packs up till the announcement of DS3.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Sucks. It'd be awesome if they released a few DLC packs up till the announcement of DS3.
I'm going to guess the DLC didn't sell enough so they decided to stop.

I mean, I don't imagine they were originally planning to give multiplayer maps away for free.
 

JJD

Member
So I finished Severed. It's kinda short, but I didn't mind returning to the hospital, as I was too freaked out running away from monsters the first time to really admire the setting. As far as the story goes
I think it was OK. I should have played Extraction first to learn how Gabe and Lexine got to the Sprawl, but I'll play it now. There's a lot of possibilities regarding Lexine by the end of the DLC. Where is she now? Why did they want her to get pregnant? Who where those 2 medic dudes that tried to kidnap her, and who they work for? Why Gabe body needed to be recovered? I hope they address those issues in DS3.
And I hope we still get to see the other DLC that was planned. Maybe a set up to the next game like ME2 Arrival? I can't wait!!! ^.^
 

Returners

Member
Hard core mode for me = force gun + contact beam + javelin + plasma cutter only for those things that explode when you get close.

The javelin is amazing.
 
Finished this tonight.

I see a lot of very positive things written about the two Dead Space games but after completing both of them I don't really agree myself. Firstly, I think these games have far too much combat in them, pretty much every single room in the game has enemy encounters in it which is just ridiculous. The whole setting and feeling in the game is very much like Event Horizon (which DS is certainly nodding to) which is a creepy, scary movie with loads of tension and moments of pure terror from what could happen, or might not, but very rarely does. I really wish DS was more like this, with a severe feeling of loneliness and utter terror as you are walking around a creaking ship/space station etc. Instead its just action action action all of the way and it feels like a real missed opportunity. It's like they have missed the point about suspense somewhere along the line, perhaps looking at Resi 4 too much instead of the fixed camera originals. The best part of the game for me was
returning to the ship from DS1
purely because - for the first part at least - there were no enemies at all. It was amazingly atmospheric and so well done and was genuinely scary to play. Brilliant. Then you enter a corridor and a shit-ton of enemies appear. Tension lost, annoyance returned. I actually sighed.

One other issue I have with the game is difficulty. It's too hard. I almost always play games on Hard and rarely struggle, whether is be Resi 4 on Professional, God of War on Titan or getting all Golds on MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (to name a few). I played and hated DS1 on Normal difficulty and refused to face that again, so played DS2 on Casual (the easiest setting). It's still too hard with instant deaths and attacks from all sides. Indeed, enemies don't take many hits to kill and your health doesn't go down much, but there is still got instanta deaths through which is a bit silly really for a Casual mode.

In addition, I don't know why the devs feel like they have to have these additional sequences in the game such as the realigning mirrors in space and all other dull zero-gravity stuff. The controls are much better than they were in DS1, but its still unenjoyable to do. Why do VC feel they have to have things like this in the game? It just breaks the flow entirely, and even though the controls are better now, its still fiddly to play and the camera doesn't always behave. You should be able to skip these sections, perhaps there should be bots that require a Power Node to use and they'll do it for you. ANYTHING would do though so I don't have to do it. The worst was earlier in the game when you had to open a door with the use of the thruster rockets. After spending a good half-hour on this section I gave up and looked on youtube on how to do it - it shouldn't be like this! The explanation given in the game was in no way clear and it was just fiddly to do. I nearly gave up entirely at this point.

Good points? Well you can't really complain about visuals or audio, both are absolutely stunning and the game runs great too. Special mention has to go to the audio though, its just brilliant, especially through headphones. Everything from the creaking ship, to whispers and the enemy sfx are fantastic too, as is the music. Very high quality stuff, they clearly know the hardware extremely well.

I enjoy upgrading the weapons and suit too, it provides a nice additional mechanic and encourages exploration of every room possible. This is what I wanted it to be, a super creepy exploration game, I guess I am in the minority though because action-jackson seems to be what most people want. I feel the same about how Resi has gone now, it's lost what made it awesome in the first place, and despite RE4 being epic, I'd do anything for another "classic" RE title.

Dead Space, it's by no means a bad game, but fuck me has it got too much combat in it for me. Should be able to tone that shit down with a big dial.
 

Gvaz

Banned
Nirolak said:
I'm going to guess the DLC didn't sell enough so they decided to stop.

I mean, I don't imagine they were originally planning to give multiplayer maps away for free.
Multiplayer maps should always be free.
 

SamuraiX-

Member
KennyLinder said:
In addition, I don't know why the devs feel like they have to have these additional sequences in the game such as the realigning mirrors in space and all other dull zero-gravity stuff.

You shut your whore mouth!

That was easily one of the best sequences in the entire game!

After Dead Space 2, nobody does space controls like Visceral Games.

gotdayumsogoodgimmemoar
 
So I was wondering about something while playing through the game again today that I'm not sure was ever explained. What's the deal with
some of the dead people around having their heads covered. Like they all suffocated themselves or something. I tried to look at it closer and it looks like purple bags around their head.
I was just wondering if it had any sort of significance to the story or anything.
 

JJD

Member
eternaLightness said:
So I was wondering about something while playing through the game again today that I'm not sure was ever explained. What's the deal with
some of the dead people around having their heads covered. Like they all suffocated themselves or something. I tried to look at it closer and it looks like purple bags around their head.
I was just wondering if it had any sort of significance to the story or anything.

Well in DS 1, there was a part were you reach the housing quarters (I guess?).
Were everyone had a white plastic bag wrapped around their heads, with a bloodied hole in it. I think that's the way they were told to suicide according to Unitology beliefs, so they could be made whole.
 

Cudder

Member
Severed was really disappointing for me. I usually really love single player DLC and am thankful for whatever devs give me that aren't the usual maps/outfits/weapons/etc, but as soon as I beat Severed I uninstalled that shit quicker than you can say Cowabunga.
 
JJD said:
Well in DS 1, there was a part were you reach the housing quarters (I guess?).
Were everyone had a white plastic bag wrapped around their heads, with a bloodied hole in it. I think that's the way they were told to suicide according to Unitology beliefs, so they could be made whole.

Hmmm...okay I kinda remember that now. Figured it was Unitology related and not just a design decision.
 

Monkey Pants

Outpost Games Creative Director
eternaLightness said:
Hmmm...okay I kinda remember that now. Figured it was Unitology related and not just a design decision.

Yes, it has to do with Unitology suicide rituals. Basically making themselves more ready for convergence by pre-drilling holes in their heads for the infectors. In DS1 they used white bags, but in DS2, in their homes and church, they had more ritaualistic, purple ceremonial headdresses.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
While I'm sure the information is under NDA (and thus I don't expect developer to comment), Microsoft's policy allows a maximum of one free DLC pack, and they can decide on a case by case basis to prevent any given DLC from being free.

If you're a large enough game, you can probably strong arm them, but we're most likely talking about 5+ million unit games from giant ass publishers at that point.

I'm not sure about Sony's system, but they definitely don't allow all free DLC either as Monkey mentions above.
 
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