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

Just finished the game. Definitely a good game but as I posted earlier I found many of the combat scenarios to be annoying. Not because they were too "hard", I didn't die hardly at all, but because there's no "right" way to handle them. The game is just throwing tons of enemies at you, from all sides, directly on top of you, and you're taking damage. It's just not the way combat is supposed to play out.

As far as the story goes...
Why does Strauss know how to destroy the Marker? Is that ever explained? Additionally, Elle losing her eye was a little much for me. I don't like to see likable characters in games and movies get maimed like that. Same with the death scenes. In Dead Space they were entertaining because Isaac was basically just a mask. Now he's a full fledged character and I couldn't enjoy the death scenes because I like and feel connected to Isaac.

The other thing that bothered me is the game's sound. I couldn't understand half of what Nicole was saying because of the filter on her voice. Additionally, all the background noise makes it difficult to hear transmissions from other characters and to hear the audio logs.

Also, what is the big tease for Dead Space 3? I didn't catch it.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
ToyMachine228 said:
Also, what is the big tease for Dead Space 3? I didn't catch it.
The transmission after the credits that says that the Marker site you destroyed was number 12, meaning that there are at least 11 more out there.
 

dralla

Member
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, piece of shit glitch. i just lost my javelin gun and it appears in the store as "new" again. i havent hard saved in a long time, what the fuck
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I have a few minor complaints, but I have a major complaint. The QTE prompts. They're legitimately bad. They last way, way too long.
 
Y2Kev said:
I have a few minor complaints, but I have a major complaint. The QTE prompts. They're legitimately bad. They last way, way too long.


Noticed that too, I don't understand how I die half the time when I'm DESTROYING the X button.
 

Draft

Member
The QTEs are easy. They're barely even QTEs. You jam on X, you win. You don't need to react fast and you don't need to hit the button especially fast.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Draft said:
The QTEs are easy. They're barely even QTEs. You jam on X, you win. You don't need to react fast and you don't need to hit the button especially fast.
That's exactly the problem. They're not even QTEs. They're just button mash fests that go on too long. A timed button press would be a better implementation. It's just not a great idea-- I've noticed sometimes if you get caught against a wall, the camera won't rotate back around to Isaac's back, so you get turned around if you go into aiming mode.

I did not say the QTEs were difficult.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if gaf thought the QTE's were hard: after all, this is the same gaf that convinced me survivalist was too hard for the first run (complete and utter bullshit).
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Draft said:
Believe it or not there are other people posting ITT.
Hey, he said he agreed with me that they go on too long (with, I think, continuously draining health). Unless the discussion has already happened and I missed it.
 

mrpeabody

Member
ToyMachine228 said:
Just finished the game. Definitely a good game but as I posted earlier I found many of the combat scenarios to be annoying. Not because they were too "hard", I didn't die hardly at all, but because there's no "right" way to handle them. The game is just throwing tons of enemies at you, from all sides, directly on top of you, and you're taking damage. It's just not the way combat is supposed to play out.

I totally agree. If you make a game where getting hit matters, you can't also make it impossible to avoid.
 

LiK

Member
Just finished it, holy shit, awesome. LOVED it. Ending was great especially for guys like me who beat the first one. *THUMBS UP*
 

UFRA

Member
I'm on chapter 4. How soon do I have access to get a new suit and have more inventory slots?

I'm like THIS close to buying one of the add-on packs to have a better suit...
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
One pet peeve: I just started the game and while the voice acting is very good, there are some real dialogue problems. Rule of thumb when writing a scene with two characters engaged in a conversation: Don't have them repeat each other's names every single sentence.

"Isaac, Isaac...oh, I'm sorry, Isaac. I didn't know you were asleep, Isaac!"

Very hacky.
 
dreamer3kx said:
Chapter 9 is leaving me without meds or ammo, jeez, one part I had to go old school, kill a couple, run back to save.

Be careful with this. I did this on a room called "Thermal Conduit Access" in Chapter 13 (there's a save right outside) and I might've broken the room. I think every time I opened the door it was just re-setting, and spawning the original number of enemies. Eventually all I had was 15 Pulse rounds and one Energy Cutter shot. I found myself going down flailing about 1000 times and was stuck for an hour or so on that one room. At one point when I ran back to save, necros were coming through the door from the save room, and they were invincible, ignoring me and heading for the vents.

I only had one save, so all I could do was ratchet down from Survivalist, and that got me through.
 

Facism

Member
Great game so far. Just reached chapter 6. Genuinely a tense atmosphere. Not running short on ammo or medpacks as I'm playing on normal. Graphics and audio are tight and the devs still have that knack for making innocent mechanical sounds seem like they've come from a necro.
 

mrpeabody

Member
I'm playing on Survivalist. Honestly the last three chapters have not been fun at all. There's creating tension and then there's punishing the player.

Edit: Another six deaths in a row. OK game, I give up. You win.
 
ToyMachine228 said:
Just finished the game. Definitely a good game but as I posted earlier I found many of the combat scenarios to be annoying. Not because they were too "hard", I didn't die hardly at all, but because there's no "right" way to handle them. The game is just throwing tons of enemies at you, from all sides, directly on top of you, and you're taking damage. It's just not the way combat is supposed to play out.

I'm playing on Survivalist. Honestly the last three chapters have not been fun at all. There's creating tension and then there's punishing the player.

i don't know, i couldn't disagree more. i'm playing on survivalist and i'm LOVING the harder combat scenarios. they punish me, but i also feel like they're just pushing me to get better, and to fight *smarter*.

obviously you can get to a point where your health and ammo is so low that you're probably fucked, but honestly, any time you're fighting an isolated necro, if you're just shooting him you're wasting ammo. use stasis. a lot. any necro by themselves, cut off a stabby bit, grab it and shoot it back.

the three tentacly things, stasis them and then stomp them to death. anything that crawls, stasis and stomp. isolated enemies can be taken down relatively easily, but ammo is too precious for you to waste it on those guys. you need your ammo for when you're over whelmed.

examine what's attacking you. using the pulse against the kids is great for farming health and ammo. any time they spit something had kinesis it right over and grab it. use kinesis to reload. upgrade the shit out of kinesis and whatever your favourite weapon is (i had my plasma cutter maxed out by about chapter nine).

generally i try to take spitters out first. slow other stuff down and focus on the spitters cause if they hit you and there is reapers about, you're in trouble. if you kill something and it doesn't drop a power up, kinesis it. if you get a spiky bit, shoot it, if you get the body, stomp it and collect what it drops.

obviously if you have anything explody like a baby or those things with explody arms go for them first to try and maximise how much damage you do with each round. if there is a kinesis recharger nearby, take your time trying to seperate the enemies to kill as efficiently as possible, and recharge your kinesis as much as possible.

remember if you run from enemies they can use the airvents. if running is an option, only bother if you can get to a better area to fight in.

and always be aware of your surroundings. is there a window you can shoot out to depressurise and suck them out into space? is there something in the environment that will do a lot of damage for free, like metal spikes or fan blades or exploding tanks?

you can't just shoot your way through, there isn't enough ammo for that, so you've got to get strategic and you've got to get smart. any of the really hard spikes so far (i'm on chapter eleven now, playing on survivalist) have just required a clear head, and a good strategy to get through.

when i die, i dust myself down and come up with a better strategy, and when i find it i usually walk through mostly unharmed. my issues is remembering to use those same smart strategies even when i'm not low on ammo or health.
 

hteng

Banned
anyway to kill the
regenerator? i look at some youtube vids and you can shoot it through a fan or something lol..
 

LiK

Member
hteng said:
anyway to kill the
regenerator? i look at some youtube vids and you can shoot it through a fan or something lol..

don't think so. i just shot off all the limbs, used stasis to slow it down and ran.
 

scitek

Member
plagiarize said:
i don't know, i couldn't disagree more. i'm playing on survivalist and i'm LOVING the harder combat scenarios. they punish me, but i also feel like they're just pushing me to get better, and to fight *smarter*.

The enemies respawn, there's nothing smart about fighting them because it just wastes your ammo.

EDIT: I'm talking specifically about the last three chapters.
 
Just finished, overall loved it, but definitely agree that there's some frustration with the scenarios where you're simply overwhelmed from all directions. I kept wishing I had some sort of dodge move, until I came around to the reality that in this game, stasis is the dodge button, something to be used early and often, instead of some sort of precious consumable to be hoarded.

The final encounter was a little frustrating, maybe because it took me so long to find a good approach, after which it was pretty easy.
go go line gun secondary fire! Stupid shadow demon kid thingies.

Overall great game, has more Aliens in it than Alien 3.

One of my favorite moments had to be after/during the credits
Isaac in the shuttle, sits down, lets out a breath...turns to the right... and its just Ellie... her response makes the moment. "What?"
 
scitek said:
The enemies respawn, there's nothing smart about fighting them because it just wastes your ammo.

EDIT: I'm talking specifically about the last three chapters.
well i'll get back to you on that when i play the last three :)
 

Bossniak

Member
Spent my Saturday playing this game and beat it about an hour ago. Fucking loved it. I loved Ellie.
Was sad when she lost her eye. :(
 

scitek

Member
akskiller said:
Spent my Saturday playing this game and beat it about an hour ago. Fucking loved it. I loved Ellie.
Was sad when she lost her eye. :(

She didn't. She knew where it was.
 

Luken

Member
I liked the Resident Evil 4 moments in Dead Space 2. This game reminds me a lot of Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2.

SPOILERS !

Along with The Darkness game, I love the story and the relationship moments between Isaac and Nicole. Isaac is driven by his love for Nicole through both games, my favorite part was when Nicole confronted Isaac, asking who she was to him, after that I bought the advanced suit and I got pumped to kill some necromorphs.


Pics contain Spoilers.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/Luken51/DeadSpace2Nic3.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/Luken51/DeadSpace2Nic4.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/Luken51/DeadSpace2Nic2.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/Luken51/DeadSpace2Nicole.jpg



There are four things I don't like about Dead Space 2.

1 – There isn't a single huge monster boss fight. like in the first game. (The Leviathan)

2 – Isaac don't get to interact with many people in the game, it would be great if you could save more people in the game, or try to to save, like in The Suffering for PS2. The whole game is like everyone is dead when you get there. I wish Dead Space was more like Mass Effect where you could talk with lots of people. It would be great if you could join with some resistance civilians or police officers fighting the necromorphs in the hot zones. Or maybe a section of the game where Ellie could support your progress with the gunship giving covering fire against the necromorphs.

3 – The most frustrating thing in this game is that the necromorphs keep showing up behind you while you are are shooting a necromorph in front of you, I died many times while playing in the survivalist in my first playthrough, because of this.

4- You can't kill the Hunter regenerator in the end of the game. You could kill the regenerator in the first game.
 

JRW

Member
So I played through the first 5 chapters on 360 version, Amazing game I love it, then I started playing it on PC tonight and was surprised at the difference 60fps makes! (360 version locked @ 30fps)

Im able to run it with maxed out custom render options @ 1920x1080 with the exception of Vsync, I have to disable Vsync otherwise it runs at 30fps instead of 55-70fps (i7 920 @ 3.6ghz / GTX 480).

Im using a controller on PC as well (PS3 controller setup as 360 controller via MotionJoy driver) and yet its still a lot easier to aim vs 360, Im pretty sure its due to the higher framerate and possibly lack of vsync, Im able to shoot specific limbs & perform head-shots much easier.

Oh and of course it looks great on PC, Not a huge step up vs. 360 but definately nice. 60fps makes all the difference tho.
 

careksims

Member
Just beat it last night. What a way to start 2011 in gaming. Such a great universe. Stalkers are definitely the creepiest enemies. I keep seeing them peeking out of corners in my head. Augh.
 
Luken said:
There are four things I don't like about Dead Space 2.

1 – There isn't a single huge monster boss fight. like in the first game. (The Leviathan)

Nope...and I didn't miss it. Bigger isn't necessarily better. Nothing out there says DS2 needs to mimic DS1.


Luken said:
2 – Isaac don't get to interact with many people in the game, it would be great if you could save more people in the game, or try to to save, like in The Suffering for PS2. The whole game is like everyone is dead when you get there. I wish Dead Space was more like Mass Effect where you could talk with lots of people. It would be great if you could join with some resistance civilians or police officers fighting the necromorphs in the hot zones. Or maybe a section of the game where Ellie could support your progress with the gunship giving covering fire against the necromorphs.

Mass Effect is NOT Dead Space. Joining up with groups of people would completely stop the survival horror aspect and turn it into another third person shooter. It's Isaac...by himself, and there is very little hope to be had. That's the point of it.

Luken said:
3 – The most frustrating thing in this game is that the necromorphs keep showing up behind you while you are are shooting a necromorph in front of you, I died many times while playing in the survivalist in my first playthrough, because of this.

This is funny. You're funny
and wrong in your misunderstanding of this concept of the game and how the combat is planned out.


Luken said:
4- You can't kill the Hunter regenerator in the end of the game. You could kill the regenerator in the first game.

Further deviation from the first game. What I particularly enjoyed about DS2 is that the developers lead you right up to a situation or scene that seems incredibly similar to one you encountered in DS1...and then they leave you hanging and go in another direction. It fucks with you. The game fucking with you is one of the very best things about Dead Space 2. The developer generally keeps the player guessing, even when the player THINKS they know how something should be.
Constantly running from the regenrator, on top of fighting all of the black necromorphs was incredibly stressful and a great deal of fun...and stressful. Wow...so stressful.
 
bigdaddygamebot said:
This is funny. You're funny
and wrong in your misunderstanding of this concept of the game and how the combat is planned out.

He actually has a point. I remember there being a kind of manifesto about game design stuff (iirc about Ninja Gaiden) and one of the big things was that you generally don't want enemies that the player never sees attacking them. It's one thing to have a scare moment, but if you have an enemy that literally just pops out of nowhere and attacks the player (which this game does a lot) that's just bad design.

EDIT: I think it was one of the devs on NG:Black talking about how off screen ranged units added to the difficulty without adding anything to the game and how they kept units from using ranged attacks if they were off camera.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Just finished it...damn, what a game. I loved DS1 but I really do have to say I think 2 was much better in pretty much every way. I felt 1 dragged a bit and got way too predictable and samey near the end, but 2 kept throwing new scenarios and setpieces until the end. I greatly preferred the style from 1-11 more than 12-15 but the mad rush of enemies still was done in a way that wasn't just walking into a room and fighting another monster closet, I was sprinting through these sections and barely fighting, using stasis and the force gun to great use.

I do think Hardcore is completely insane and will probably never attempt it because of how crazy it gets later, but I'm about to do playthrough 2 already.
 
NovemberMike said:
He actually has a point. I remember there being a kind of manifesto about game design stuff (iirc about Ninja Gaiden) and one of the big things was that you generally don't want enemies that the player never sees attacking them. It's one thing to have a scare moment, but if you have an enemy that literally just pops out of nowhere and attacks the player (which this game does a lot) that's just bad design.


They don't just pop out of "nowhere". If you pay attention, a significant amount of the time, they come out of "something". (vents, panels, etc)

Visceral just isn't that sloppy with Dead Space.

The whole point of the game is to be stressed out and you often need to look behind you to make sure there's nothing coming at you from that direction.

Ishimura
was a mother-fucker BUT after redoing that level, if you watch for them, they never just appear behind you. You always have time to react, even without using stasis.

The combat is really finely tuned.
 
bigdaddygamebot said:
They don't just pop out of "nowhere". If you pay attention, a significant amount of the time, they come out of "something". (vents, panels, etc)

Visceral just isn't that sloppy with Dead Space.

The whole point of the game is to be stressed out and you often need to look behind you to make sure there's nothing coming at you from that direction.

Ishimura
was a mother-fucker BUT after redoing that level, if you watch for them, they never just appear behind you. You always have time to react, even without using stasis.

The combat is really finely tuned.

Just because the monster has to come out of a closet doesn't mean anything. If the player doesn't see it then it might as well be magic. The rooms are pretty much all designed such that they could spawn a monster at almost any point and have a legitimate way for it to come in (vents on every wall, the floor and ceiling).

The problem is that the monsters in DS2 tend to perform high damage attacks shortly after spawning in an area you don't see. This isn't a huge issue in the standard areas, but in larger fights it can be annoying. It's also just plain bad game design.
 
Just finished the game. Freaking awesome! Everything a sequel should be. Better graphics, more variety in environments/enemies. Reminds me a lot of RE2 and how it improved upon the first game.

I found Dead Space 2 to be a bit harder than the first game(played on normal). Maybe it's the way this game just throws so many enemies a you. Just when I think I'm safe after clearing a room of monsters, four more pop up. Talk about tense. Died a few times but, wasn't too much of a problem. Don't know how I'm going to finish the higher difficulties though. XD

Spoilers:
Really liked how they handled the return to the Ishimura. You go to some familiar places, but nothing looks exactly the same. Way better than most games do it. RE3, and SH3 come to mind. The little flash backs and how they seem to be tied to Isaac's condition were an nice touch.

Knew something was gonna happen to Ellie. The way Stross was acting, it was bound to happen. Just didn't think she would lose an eye.:S

Speaking of eyes. I can't believe they made us stick a needle in Isaac's eye. Jeez hasn't he been through enough. Messed up a couple of times too.XD

GOTY so far, but it's still early. Now on to MP!
 

Luken

Member
bigdaddygamebot said:
They don't just pop out of "nowhere". If you pay attention, a significant amount of the time, they come out of "something". (vents, panels, etc)

Visceral just isn't that sloppy with Dead Space.

The whole point of the game is to be stressed out and you often need to look behind you to make sure there's nothing coming at you from that direction.

Ishimura
was a mother-fucker BUT after redoing that level, if you watch for them, they never just appear behind you. You always have time to react, even without using stasis.

The combat is really finely tuned.


Thanks for replying. And I kind of agree about everything you wrote. :D

That is what I'm saying, I don't like to die in the game. You're concentrated in aiming your gun at the necromorphs limbs that is in front of you. that it is already too late when you find out there is a necromorph behind you, when you have just a little health bar left and it kills you from behind with one strike. So I died many times from this moments, the game kills you by surprise from behind so we can get it right in the second attempt.



NovemberMike said:
Just because the monster has to come out of a closet doesn't mean anything. If the player doesn't see it then it might as well be magic. The rooms are pretty much all designed such that they could spawn a monster at almost any point and have a legitimate way for it to come in (vents on every wall, the floor and ceiling).

The problem is that the monsters in DS2 tend to perform high damage attacks shortly after spawning in an area you don't see. This isn't a huge issue in the standard areas, but in larger fights it can be annoying. It's also just plain bad game design.

Yes, I agree. :D

EDIT:
Somnium986 said:
Spoilers:
Really liked how they handled the return to the Ishimura. You go to some familiar places, but nothing looks exactly the same. Way better than most games do it. RE3, and SH3 come to mind. The little flash backs and how they seem to be tied to Isaac's condition were an nice touch.

Knew something was gonna happen to Ellie. The way Stross was acting, it was bound to happen. Just didn't think she would lose an eye.:S

Speaking of eyes. I can't believe they made us stick a needle in Isaac's eye. Jeez hasn't he been through enough. Messed up a couple of times too.XD

GOTY so far, but it's still early. Now on to MP!

Spoilers !

I have a question, why Isaac eye appears to be intact in the end? See image link below.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/Luken51/DeadSpace2Isaacreye.jpg
 
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