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[timetokill]

Just finished the game about an hour ago. Quick backstory so you know where I'm coming from -- I was a huge fan of the original Dead Space, and I'm one of the few that bought Extraction on Wii at full price.

So here are my thoughts. I'm going to keep the pro's pretty short because I liked a ton of things about the game, but I'd like to go into some details on things I didn't like much.

Pros:
- Insanely good visuals. And it ran perfectly smoothly at max settings on my PC. Truly gorgeous areas.

- Gunplay is as good as ever. I went through with the following four guns: Plasma Cutter, Javelin, Ripper and Prox Mine. Only weird stuff was with the bubbling creatures that would not die from explosions... just didn't feel right.

- Some good new characters. I liked Ellie a lot and Strauss was all right. Ellie especially had some good give-and-take with Isaac which I thought worked well to dispel some of the tension at key moments. (

Spoiler

though unfortunately, there wasn't that much tension to begin with

).

- Great voice acting. This was largely true in Extraction as well, so I was expecting good things here and I wasn't disappointed. Isaac is voiced really well as well as Ellie and some of the more minor characters.

- Great sound. Just like Dead Space 1, DS2 had a great knack for good sound effects. I played it the entire time with headphones and it was a treat, just as the original was. Great stuff.

- Zero G Upgrades. After playing the demo, I said I missed the Zero-G mechanics of the original. But after playing with it more in Dead Space 2, I really enjoyed the new mechanics, and it fit well with this game.

-

Spoiler

Return to the Ishimura

. best part in the game. Loved it!


Cons:
- Some poor characters. I don't know if there was anybody that was surprised by the "twist" regarding

Spoiler

Daina's character.

It was so completely obvious and it took a bit of the wind out of the beginning of the game, which was a shame after the excellent intro which was a nice callback to the original game. Additionally, the other "antagonist"

Spoiler

Tiedemann

was really underdeveloped... he was really just an annoyance, and we didn't get really any development between him and Isaac.

- Weak sense of place. This is a weird one, but what was I think most interesting about the

Spoiler

return trip to the Ishimura

was how it cast light on how poorly designed the space of the Sprawl was.

Spoiler

When going through the corridors of the Ishimura I could really see the contrast between how well I remembered the space of the Ishimura and how it was laid out, compared to the Sprawl, which right now I couldn't tell you all that much about. The layout of the Ishimura was interesting and it made sense, it had context, and I think part of that is how key it was to give you a constant visual layout of the place. In Dead Space 1 you frequently saw maps of the ship and how it was laid out. In comparison, Dead Space 2 ended up feeling more like a run down a bunch of hallways. I felt lost for the most part, just following that blue line, and as a result it didn't leave an impression on me. When walking the Ishimura, I knew where everything was, even on the return visit, and it was amazing. But most of all, it made me realize how much I missed having that really solid sense of place. The one exception to this was the Unitology church area, which was really well put-together and very memorable.

- End chapters. I was not happy to see the return of the

Spoiler

ubermorph

which was the worst thing about the first game. It felt anticlimactic how the game basically abandoned

Spoiler

going for atmosphere and tension and just went for throwing a ton of enemies at you.

- Not scary. I guess the guys weren't joking when they said they wanted to make it less scary, because I think I only jumped maybe once or twice the entire time. Part of this is the game does a lot less build-up compared to previous games. I didn't feel a sense of oncoming dread in this game. Instead, I knew the game was going to have things jump out at me, and I was just mentally prepared for it the whole time. That said, the times when they abused their "safe" feelings were the best jump scares in the game. Examples:

Spoiler

scares in the elevator, and the hallucination of the tentacle on the Ishimura.

- Too much of a badass. I guess this is a weird "complaint" but it ties into my previous point. I don't know if we're supposed to think that Isaac is still an engineer, or if he turned into some sort of super-soldier. Some of the stuff he does in the game is pretty ridiculous and took me out of it a little. As "cool" as it is, the

Spoiler

rocketeer

sections are really over-the-top and unrealistic. This in addition to the lack of weight to the character that I felt in the first game, ended up making him seem really agile and capable, more like a soldier than a systems engineer.

- ... her?

Spoiler

Nicole again? Sigh. I get that Isaac isn't over her but dealing with Nicole again made the story feel pretty samey after the first one. It's nice to get a little resolution on it I guess this time, though. And it does lead to a perfect ending shot of Ellie saying: "... what?" -- really loved that.

- This, over and over again:
"Isaac, I'm here on the video comm to tell you where the next place you have to go to is."
"Okay, can you tell me anything else? Plot details? Who you are? Why I should do what you say? Anything else at all?"
"Sorry, I think .. I'm going through a tunnel I guess? Anyway reception's real bad, talk to you next time the player needs critical info!"
".. shit!"

It was just so frequent that it became unintentionally hilarious. I understand why this trope is used, but I really hope they can figure a more natural way for things to happen with the next game.


------------------

Okay, all of that out of the way, I really did enjoy the game, and I played through it pretty quickly, which means I was hooked on it. I don't finish a lot of games, especially in the span of a few days, so this game was doing a lot of things right, and it was very polished and enjoyable to play. I admit I wasn't looking forward to this game much, especially after all that was said by EA about it before release. I loved the first game and the sidestories along with it, and I loved Extraction as well -- in general, I just really love the Dead Space universe. But my main concern was that DS2 was going to be the disappointing RE5 to the incredible RE4.

Those concerns aside, the game ended up being a lot of fun, but somewhat less inspiring than previous entries. I kind of hope we don't see Isaac again as the main character in the inevitable Dead Space 3. I'd like to see a new take, a new setting, a new set of characters, and how they deal with what is hopefully a fresh new situation.

 

[Dan]

I completely agree with this. The Hive Mind was marginally better than DS2's final boss,

Spoiler

but only, imho, because you could actually see what was going on. I hated the shadow children and the general environment in which you had to battle Evil Nicole (not the concept itself - I liked the fact that two parts of Issac's brain were essentially warring against each other). I know that you're in his mind, blah, blah, but it would be nice if you could see what was going on.

DS1's Hive Mind never really made sense to me (why is it there? why does the marker control it? or does it? bleagh).

I'd agree with all that. I really like the concept of the final DS2 boss, even if the execution has some flaws.

Cons:
- Some poor characters. I don't know if there was anybody that was surprised by the "twist" regarding

Spoiler

Daina's character.

It was so completely obvious and it took a bit of the wind out of the beginning of the game, which was a shame after the excellent intro which was a nice callback to the original game.

I don't think that's really supposed to be a surprise. It's certainly obvious what's going on if you've played through Ignition. It's not like Isaac is in a position to know much about what's happening either.

- End chapters. I was not happy to see the return of the

Spoiler

ubermorph

which was the worst thing about the first game. It felt anticlimactic how the game basically abandoned

Spoiler

going for atmosphere and tension and just went for throwing a ton of enemies at you.

I understand the complaints about this, but I think it's wrong to say there's a lack of atmosphere and tension in these parts. It's just a different kind of atmosphere and tension. That may or may not work for everyone since it is sort of an subtle change in gameplay techniques, but I think it's clear what they were trying to achieve. And it does make sense from a story perspective.

- This, over and over again:
"Isaac, I'm here on the video comm to tell you where the next place you have to go to is."
"Okay, can you tell me anything else? Plot details? Who you are? Why I should do what you say? Anything else at all?"
"Sorry, I think .. I'm going through a tunnel I guess? Anyway reception's real bad, talk to you next time the player needs critical info!"
".. shit!"

It was just so frequent that it became unintentionally hilarious. I understand why this trope is used, but I really hope they can figure a more natural way for things to happen with the next game.

This more of less ends after Chapter 6 though, at which point Isaac takes charge. Even still, the first part of the game handled these elements better than the first game.

 

[timetokill]

I don't think that's really supposed to be a surprise. It's certainly obvious what's going on if you've played through Ignition. It's not like Isaac is in a position to know much about what's happening either.

I guess so, but considering it's a third of the game's chapters, it's a long time to go when you aren't in the same position as your character. Generally you want to make sure the player and the character's motivations are generally the same. Instead, for 5 chapters you get to

Spoiler

lead Isaac into an incredibly obvious trap

. If they had managed to work it into like Chapter 1, or if this was a game without any prequels, it would've worked fine.

I understand the complaints about this, but I think it's wrong to say there's a lack of atmosphere and tension in these parts. It's just a different kind of atmosphere and tension. That may or may not work for everyone since it is sort of an subtle change in gameplay techniques, but I think it's clear what they were trying to achieve. And it does make sense from a story perspective.

It does make sense from a story perspective (well, the tons of enemies thing, anyway). But I think what is frustrating about it is that the gameplay is really well-suited to how the game plays in all of the sections before that part. Here, they suddenly change the gameplay and it just isn't fun. All of a sudden there's almost no point to dismembering anything, and it comes down to just "stun and run". It sacrifices the finely tuned gameplay of the rest of the game for a

Spoiler

Nemesis stunt

. I get what they were trying to do but I didn't enjoy it here, and I didn't enjoy it in the 1st one (though it was more annoying here, somehow, even if it was easier). I certainly understand that you want to change up the gameplay every so often -- which is what the Zero-G and puzzle rooms do for you -- but this just feels annoying more than tense.

This more of less ends after Chapter 6 though, at which point Isaac takes charge. Even still, the first part of the game handled these elements better than the first game.

I disagree that it handled it better than the 1st game, but aside from that -- it doesn't really totally end. you still have

Spoiler

ellie talking to you and then OH NO we're under attack/i'm getting attacked/arrrrggghhh -- cut to static --: "ellie? ellie? shit!" etc. etc.

It just feels extremely unimaginative after a while. I mean,

Spoiler

WHY would ellie turn on her video just so you can see her get stabbed in the eye... from the side, somehow? why does the video cut out right as she's screaming? it doesn't make any sense.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

wow. untagged last boss spoilers.

thanks, lux.

 

[kyo_daikun]

wow. untagged last boss spoilers.

thanks, lux.

Unhappy to the extreme...

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Oh shit. It's actually spoiler tagged in luxarifics post though. Dan you need to tag it in yours.

 

[Replicant]

- Too much of a badass. I guess this is a weird "complaint" but it ties into my previous point. I don't know if we're supposed to think that Isaac is still an engineer, or if he turned into some sort of super-soldier. Some of the stuff he does in the game is pretty ridiculous and took me out of it a little. As "cool" as it is, the

Spoiler

rocketeer

sections are really over-the-top and unrealistic. This in addition to the lack of weight to the character that I felt in the first game, ended up making him seem really agile and capable, more like a soldier than a systems engineer.

I must say that I *really* disagree with this point. There's no such thing as too much of a badass. It makes perfect sense that Isaac becomes so much more agile and capable after his experience in Ishimura. One does not go through situations like he did and became none the wiser/better for it. I see his up-skilling similar to Ripley in "Aliens". Just like Ripley in that film, Isaac now understands how to navigate the treacherous necro-infested areas. And because of that, he actually leads/provides pointers for some of the missions.

And the section you mentioned was actually one of the best sequences in the game. I'd feel awful if the next game is devoid something cool like that. It was fun, exciting, and cool. It's the very precise thing that I want to feel while playing this game.

 

[BeeDog]

Playing through the game on Zealot, I have a couple of complaints (that I haven't seen anywhere else) that I hope Visceral sorts out for the inevitable sequel:

- Despite the great amount of vents/entry points for necromorphs to use, randomizing the spawn locations would add so much to the replayability to the game. As it is now, the necros trigger from the same location every damn time. Having a randomizer that moves them around would be swell.
- They need to fix their ragdolling system; The faking necros (the ones lying still on the floor) are too obvious since 1) they always lie down in the same canned position, and 2) they're not ragdolls which makes it very obvious they'll jump up. It's the same thing with dismembered enemies; you know they're still alive when they don't go into ragdoll mode. Many games allow enemies to stand up/continue fighting even when they have entered ragdoll mode, and I hope this can be fixed for Dead Space 3, since it could lead to more awesome tension since you won't know if a necro will rise up or not.
- It's too easy to abuse the bad waypointing between rooms. It was obvious in DS1 and it is equally obvious in DS2; in the larger rooms, you can often backtrack into a previous room to avoid the necros since they'll just run off and hide until you re-enter (even if you stasis them the stasis is autoremoved so you can't cheese as much). The AI/scripting needs to be improved so you can't do this.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I swear to everything that is holy , I'm going to play the severed DLC ( aptly named ._.) on my pc-version if it's the last thing I do.

Insert 'I ain't even mad' or similar meme as respons to the idea of this DLC not coming on PC.

But good luck with that one anyway.

 

[ajim]

Just beat it.

Fucking fantastic game, and I loved it all the way through. Well, at least until

Spoiler

the ubermorph showed up again. What a cunt. I hated him in the first one and had a feeling he'd be back in this one. Too bad I didn't get to roast this cunt.

.

Also, I loved

Spoiler

returning to the Ishumura. It was so intense because I knew what happened last time, and I had been there before. I was walking so slowly. And like someone else said up there earlier, Ishumura > The Sprawl.

Bring on Dead Space 3.

edit: Any nerds gone about and translated everything in the game yet? The stuff on the title screen? Stuff scribbled along the walls etc?

 

[badcrumble]

I actually didn't mind

Spoiler

the immortal necromorph

nearly as much in DS1 as I did in DS2, but that's probably because the first game's weapon economy was slightly better and made it harder for you to dig yourself into a corner.

 

[MarshMellow96]

Regenerator..

Spoiler

Ripper to the legs, stasis and Line Gun secondary in between his arm and head. He regenerates slower while in stasis and if he eventually loses his arms, which also have to grow back. No problems with him whatsoever on Zealot.

 

[tedtropy]

Playing through the game on Zealot, I have a couple of complaints (that I haven't seen anywhere else) that I hope Visceral sorts out for the inevitable sequel:

- It's too easy to abuse the bad waypointing between rooms. It was obvious in DS1 and it is equally obvious in DS2; in the larger rooms, you can often backtrack into a previous room to avoid the necros since they'll just run off and hide until you re-enter (even if you stasis them the stasis is autoremoved so you can't cheese as much). The AI/scripting needs to be improved so you can't do this.

My favorite AI quirk is how the stalkers are blatantly limited to just their special arenas. Walk out of the door and hit their trigger and their AI is actually kind of impressive, the moment you walk back through that same door they suddenly run away. I used that to my advantage in just about every encounter to just shoot them in the back.

 

[Callibretto]

why do people hate the

Spoiler

ubermorph?

the last few chapters are really intense for me since I have to switched playing from slow paced aiming and shooting to frantic running around and have to think and react quick to enemies. I was so exhausted when I finally beat the game, it's not a pleasant experience, but looking back after beating the game, it's a real thrill ride.

maybe the scripting and flaws will be more apparent on my 2nd playthrough, but for my first experience, it was awesome.

 

[tedtropy]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2737-Dead-Space-2

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2737-Dead-Space-2

What a shocker...

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Alright GAF, I think I'm stuck.

I'm in the middle of chapter 10

Spoiler

running through the Ishimura again

. I'm playing on survivalist and I don't think I'll be able to go any further.

First off, I love the game, but "hard" on Dead Space 2 seems 10x more difficult than hard was on the first game, and here it's really starting to show. Every other room is chock full of the black variant enemies and the item drops just haven't been generous enough to keep up with room after room of clusterfuck. Now think I've finally reached the end of that zero sum formula: I'm stuck in an area where two slashers and four leapers pop out of with a sliver of health and a few plasma shots left.

This may be partly my fault, as I feel I wasted a lot of money/power nodes trying several of the new weapons as the third leg of my load out (the other two being the cutter and pulse rifle). And now I'm starting to feel like I should have poured a lot more nodes into stasis earlier on.

So basically what I'm asking is, should I bump the difficulty down or start a new survivalist run with my new found knowledge of how much of a dirty, dirty bitch this game can be?

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Alright GAF, I think I'm stuck.

I'm in the middle of chapter 10

Spoiler

running through the Ishimura again

. I'm playing on survivalist and I don't think I'll be able to go any further.

First off, I love the game, but "hard" on Dead Space 2 seems 10x more difficult than hard was on the first game, and here it's really starting to show. Every other room is chock full of the black variant enemies and the item drops just haven't been generous enough to keep up with room after room of clusterfuck. Now think I've finally reached the end of that zero sum formula: I'm stuck in an area where two slashers and four leapers pop out of with a sliver of health and a few plasma shots left.

This may be partly my fault, as I feel I wasted a lot of money/power nodes trying several of the new weapons as the third leg of my load out (the other two being the cutter and pulse rifle). And now I'm starting to feel like I should have poured a lot more nodes into stasis earlier on.

So basically what I'm asking is, should I bump the difficulty down or start a new survivalist run with my new found knowledge of how much of a dirty, dirty bitch this game can be?

You're not earning an achievement for survivalist so ratchet it down until you get your head above water. Then switch it back.

Stasis is mandatory on higher difficulty levels.

 

[gdt]

My survivalist run wasn't too crazy, it did get hard at the end though.

Guess I'm just a boss like that.

I'm gonna NG+ Zealot down the road. Can't imagine I'll ever do it Hardcore though. That's too, well, hardcore for me. Sounds frustrating, I'm not looking to be frustrated.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

My survivalist run wasn't too crazy, it did get hard at the end though.

Guess I'm just a boss like that.

I didn't really have too much trouble either up until around Ch. 9 when the enemy count spikes and the drops just seemed to really start sucking. I powered through it for awhile thinking I was just in a typical Dead Space tight spot but it never really let up.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

I didn't really have too much trouble either up until around Ch. 9 when the enemy count spikes and the drops just seemed to really start sucking. I powered through it for awhile thinking I was just in a typical Dead Space tight spot but it never really let up.

I was in a couple tight spots on my zealot run but I only went through with two weapons so everything else was upgraded pretty thoroughly.

I was actually kindo impressed with just how solid the formula worked out for me. I was always on the edge of disaster in the second half of chapter 10, right up to the end of the game.

It aged me about ten years, but was a completely unforgetable experience...and I screamed/whimpered often.

 

[MarshMellow96]

I feel like boss about now, having finished first time through on Zealot.

Doing a normal run through for achievements - fuck do I feel overpowered. It's great.

 

[Monkey Pants]

Almost universally, when I see people having trouble with the numbers of enemies later, it's because they are over-relying on some weapons for whom the numbers present a challenge.

The Ripper and Contact Beam really come into their own later. An upgraded Plasma Cutter, Semi-Upgraded Ripper, and normal Contact Beam make a pretty tough trio to top.

Upgrade HP and Stasis and you are good to go. Also, remember the respec feature.

 

[Dave1988]

Almost universally, when I see people having trouble with the numbers of enemies later, it's because they are over-relying on some weapons for whom the numbers present a challenge.

The Ripper and Contact Beam really come into their own later. An upgraded Plasma Cutter, Semi-Upgraded Ripper, and normal Contact Beam make a pretty tough trio to top.

Upgrade HP and Stasis and you are good to go. Also, remember the respec feature.

Hey Moneky pants, are there any chances of a patch that will fix the disappearing objective bug in Multiplayer?

 

[LiK]

Almost universally, when I see people having trouble with the numbers of enemies later, it's because they are over-relying on some weapons for whom the numbers present a challenge.

The Ripper and Contact Beam really come into their own later. An upgraded Plasma Cutter, Semi-Upgraded Ripper, and normal Contact Beam make a pretty tough trio to top.

Upgrade HP and Stasis and you are good to go. Also, remember the respec feature.

Protip straight from the source. I'll take your advice even tho I suck with the Ripper. Contact ftw.

 

[Dave1988]

People need to start using the Force Gun more. It's like the answer to all of life's problems.

 

[me Jojo]

Any word on a patch for the PC version yet? I want my Elite Engineering RIG

 

[luxarific]

Protip straight from the source. I'll take your advice even tho I suck with the Ripper. Contact ftw.

I love the ripper, so much. You don't even need stasis 90% of the time. First time I met the

Spoiler

Velociraptors

, I carefully tried to block off all possible avenues of approach with

Spoiler

detonator mines

(probably because the game leaves

Spoiler

detonator mines right next to a body*)

the first time you meet this enemy). Now I just wait for them

Spoiler

to run at me

and hold out a ripper. Best gun in the game, followed by the contact beam and force gun.

*which is really a good hint that you might not want to use this weapon, now that I think about it.

Spoiler

Dead body != successful tactic

 

[Host Samurai]

I didn't really have too much trouble either up until around Ch. 9 when the enemy count spikes and the drops just seemed to really start sucking. I powered through it for awhile thinking I was just in a typical Dead Space tight spot but it never really let up.

I am playing on Survivalist now and currently on Ch 13. 9 definitely gave me the most trouble so far. My biggest tip is conserving your loot. I plowed through Ch 11 and 12 with minimal problems using the Plasma Cutter, Ripper and Line Gun. I have the Force Gun but it is practically useless to me.

 

[Hixx]

Man after chapter 13 & 14 and the preceding parts of 15 the last boss was a joke.

Spoiler

3 seeker rifle shots to Nicole, 5 to the Marker, win. I think something hit me as I fired the last shot though, not sure

Also the black Leapers are so annoying, definitely the most frustrating enemies in the game.

 

[Kinyou]

- Too much of a badass. I guess this is a weird "complaint" but it ties into my previous point. I don't know if we're supposed to think that Isaac is still an engineer, or if he turned into some sort of super-soldier. Some of the stuff he does in the game is pretty ridiculous and took me out of it a little. As "cool" as it is, the

Spoiler

rocketeer

sections are really over-the-top and unrealistic. This in addition to the lack of weight to the character that I felt in the first game, ended up making him seem really agile and capable, more like a soldier than a systems engineer.

Not a weird complaint at all.

Spoiler

For example, I was kind of disappointed how Issac just shrugged the pain off, after jumping from the Solar Arrays. Just letting him need to take a rest for a second or scream in pain would have made it better I guess. The way it was displayed it looked like doing this is actually a common way to get down there.
I like it much more when Issac is a victim of his environment, like during the Gunship fight in which he was just constantly flipped and smashed around

Also about the

Spoiler

Regnerator. I love that guy! When he appears the game switches from tense to absolute panic. It was maybe a bit too much during the end, but still, he got my heart way more pumping than hordes of normal enemies would have

 

[Dyno]

The Ripper and Contact Beam really come into their own later. An upgraded Plasma Cutter, Semi-Upgraded Ripper, and normal Contact Beam make a pretty tough trio to top.

I'll sing the praises of the Contact Beam again. It is for me an essential weapon. Not only is it the ultimate boss weapon but you can two-shot brutes and one-shot everything else. Once upgraded it powers up and reloads quickly so it also can become a decent "oh shit" go-to weapon when you get overwhelmed. Paired with stasis this gem wanders into broken territory which is funny because it actually comes WITH STASIS. I've also never run out of ammo with it.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Can someone tell me if all of chaps 13 and 14 are going to be respawn fests because if they are I'm seriously questioning whether I want to finish the game.

 

[BeeDog]

Can someone tell me if all of chaps 13 and 14 are going to be respawn fests because if they are I'm seriously questioning whether I want to finish the game.

Unfortunately, the game stays that way until the very end, but those chapters are short so... Finish the game!

 

[MarshMellow96]

Honestly, they're not that bad.

As well as IGN's guide (judge me - awful website and awful guides) saying that there were no normal enemies after chapter 11 (lol bullshit), I listened to Gaf and got really worried about whether or not I could finish my Zealot run. Lo and behold, I got to chapter 15 thinking, 'where are the enemies?' Just soldier on without any preconceptions and you ought to be fine.

 

[Replicant]

I'll sing the praises of the Contact Beam again.

My contact beam (the Zealot one) is already at a point where it's now a one-hit-kill (except for Brutes, unforch). I just realized this when I was completely gang-banged and raped by a bunch of Necros on my first exploration inside Ishimura. After the 2 brutes, I was reduced to only 2 dangerously red health bar. Sure enough, two swipes was all that it took for any Necro to kill me.

Much to my surprise, the contact beam came to the rescue. I keep firing a single shot which pretty much obliterated anything in its path as I walk away until all Necros are killed. Some managed to get a swipe on Isaac, in the end leaving him with only 1 red health bar. Thankfully they're finally dead and I can proceed to the save point. But damn it, I hope that's not a preview of things to come.

 

[ArjanN]

Honestly, they're not that bad.

As well as IGN's guide (judge me - awful website and awful guides) saying that there were no normal enemies after chapter 11 (lol bullshit), I listened to Gaf and got really worried about whether or not I could finish my Zealot run. Lo and behold, I got to chapter 15 thinking, 'where are the enemies?' Just soldier on without any preconceptions and you ought to be fine.

After chapter 11 you can pretty much run by everything just using stasis and occasionally shooting a leg of a necromorph that gets in your way.

Even if there are more enemies than before, once you know that you can ignore them those last chapters are actually pretty easy.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Dead Space 2 Unboxing Gone Wrong

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I must say that I *really* disagree with this point. There's no such thing as too much of a badass. It makes perfect sense that Isaac becomes so much more agile and capable after his experience in Ishimura. One does not go through situations like he did and became none the wiser/better for it. I see his up-skilling similar to Ripley in "Aliens". Just like Ripley in that film, Isaac now understands how to navigate the treacherous necro-infested areas. And because of that, he actually leads/provides pointers for some of the missions.

And the section you mentioned was actually one of the best sequences in the game. I'd feel awful if the next game is devoid something cool like that. It was fun, exciting, and cool. It's the very precise thing that I want to feel while playing this game.

I agree with this.

Not a weird complaint at all.

Spoiler

For example, I was kind of disappointed how Issac just shrugged the pain off, after jumping from the Solar Arrays. Just letting him need to take a rest for a second or scream in pain would have made it better I guess. The way it was displayed it looked like doing this is actually a common way to get down there.
I like it much more when Issac is a victim of his environment, like during the Gunship fight in which he was just constantly flipped and smashed around

Also about the

Spoiler

Regnerator. I love that guy! When he appears the game switches from tense to absolute panic. It was maybe a bit too much during the end, but still, he got my heart way more pumping than hordes of normal enemies would have

I also agree with this to an extent.

Dead Space 2 Unboxing Gone Wrong

That is awesome. I saw it earlier today.

 

[RoboPlato]

Dead Space 2 Unboxing Gone Wrong

Haha. I was not expecting that.

 

[LiK]

Dead Space 2 Unboxing Gone Wrong

HAHA, funny. cute girl but way too much make-up.

 

[MarshMellow96]

Dead Space 2 Unboxing Gone Wrong

It's funny, but I imagine a Plasma Cutter wouldn't create a big bullet hole..

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Hardcore mode...weak-sauce style.

I'm realizing that stasis is the ultimate weapon in this game.

Once your stasis is upgraded enough that it starts to recharge on it's own (or you have a suit that increases the recharge).

When you find a safe place, just hold still, wait for four full charges again and then move forward.

It's slow and it's not sexy but I'm finding it pretty damn helpful.

 

[Replicant]

Once your stasis is upgraded enough that it starts to recharge on it's own (or you have a suit that increases the recharge).

Oh wow. Is that why my stasis somehow increases to its full charge when I didn't even fill it up?

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Oh wow. Is that why my stasis somehow increases to its full charge when I didn't even fill it up?

That is why, sir.

Of course it's only two charges to start with and the duration sucks, but upgrading stasis in hardcore mode (for me at least) is my number 1 priority.

 

[Balphon]

Oh wow. Is that why my stasis somehow increases to its full charge when I didn't even fill it up?

Yeah, it recharges on its own from the get-go. Upgrades/Advanced Suit make it recharge faster, though.

 

[luxarific]

Not a weird complaint at all.

Spoiler

For example, I was kind of disappointed how Issac just shrugged the pain off, after jumping from the Solar Arrays. Just letting him need to take a rest for a second or scream in pain would have made it better I guess. The way it was displayed it looked like doing this is actually a common way to get down there.
I like it much more when Issac is a victim of his environment, like during the Gunship fight in which he was just constantly flipped and smashed around

Basically sums up why I loved the ending after you

Spoiler

beat the final boss, but before Ellie shows up (although I loved that bit too). He looked like he had had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

. A really authentic moment, for want of a better word.

 

[Replicant]

Yeah, it recharges on its own from the get-go. Upgrades/Advanced Suit make it recharge faster, though.

Yeah, I have the Zealot suit (which I also upgrade incrementally) and from time to time I frowned and wondered why the stasis bar is completely full without me recharging it. Now, I know. Thx!

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Yeah, I have the Zealot suit (which I also upgrade incrementally) and from time to time I frowned and wondered why the stasis bar is completely full without me recharging it. Now, I know. Thx!

There's actually a sound when it fills one charge. It's faint, but it's there.

 

[JohngPR]

I got through the first five chapters so far.

I'm really digging this game so far and think that although it's not as scary as Dead Space 1, it's a better game overall. The set pieces happen more often, it's like they put some Uncharted 2 into my Dead Space (that sounds wrong and dirty at the same time LOL).

The end of Chapter 5 was nuts....absolutely loved it and

Spoiler

felt like a boss fight although it was more like a QTE sequence.

There still enough scares and handled the action shooter that's survival horror thing waaaay better than Resident Evil 5 thus far.

Hopefully Isaac won't start uppercutting boulders and make me look bad. LOL