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[bigdaddygamebot]

Just finished the game. In summary I have to say that it was probably the biggest disapoint since RE5 for me personally.

Since it seems some of the developers are reading here, I'd like to adress some of the things I didn't like about DS2. Note: I still love DS 1 and also think Extraction was a great piece of software. I know many in here will not agree with me, but whatever...

- The introduction was terrible (gimme a few minutes before throwing me into the action...)
- Extremely linear - almost no exploration any more
- Only two real objectives in the entire game!?
- Weak storyline
- Annoying enemies (the Leapers....)
- No boss battles
- Most of the zero gravity areas seemed random (and are generall not that good)

Badest and most annoying part were the last two hours...

Spoiler

I don't know but throwing millions of enemies at me all the time didn't seem like the best idea. Especially when they're always spawning behind me again. I got really sick of it cleary a certain area and proceding to next to take care of the enemies there only to get attaked from the area I cleared a few second ago.... What were they thinking?
And the Hunter at the end... Was there a reason he was there or we he just in there for the sake of getting all enemies from DS1 into DS2? I don't know.... I was just facepalming when he showed up...

Overall I'd give the game a 6/10. I really hope DS3 will be more like DS1 again. Meaning more Adventure and less Action.... As someone mentioned in this thread before I really loved the feeling that after some time I really got to know the enviroment. If there was a door, I would be able to open it sooner or later.... Really missed that in DS2.

Where you and I can agree on preference to DS1 environments as opposed to DS2, that's pretty much where the agreement stops.

I don't get how you can like DS1 as much as you say you do, yet be so disparaging about DS2. They didn't deviate from the formula that much.

I was just reading a reddit thread about DS2 hardcore runs and a guy mentions this: "Also, grab puker's puke and throw it back, that's an instant kill even against the elites."

Has anyone done this? Gotta TK them/it first?

Done it...LOTS.

It has to be the "projectile ball" though and not the "close up spray".

Catch it with TK...launch it back. Works great on the black-ubers too.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Hardcore mode: best choice of weapons? Should I buy line gun?

Just beat the game on zealot today (it was my first run through so no upgrades, crazy lol) and jumped into Hardcore right away. Got my first death in chapter 1 against Stasis necro...currently in chapter 3 now. I've hardly read any guides so I'm getting pretty nervous playing right now

Plasma Cutter

Ripper

Contact Beam

*Force Gun (I found it REALLY helpful but I'm starting to be swayed towards a fully upgraded ripper. I found the Force Gun was great for an "Oh shit!" button. Things get crazy and out of control, the Force Gun squared shit away quick-fast.)


...and enjoy the nervousness...it's awesome.

 

[plagiarize]

Plasma Cutter

Ripper

Contact Beam

*Force Gun (I found it REALLY helpful but I'm starting to be swayed towards a fully upgraded ripper. I found the Force Gun was great for an "Oh shit!" button. Things get crazy and out of control, the Force Gun squared shit away quick-fast.)


...and enjoy the nervousness...it's awesome.

force gun is ridiculously good against the

Spoiler

shardow children

. i presume it's equally good against the

Spoiler

children on the stage

. just aim it parallel with the ground and laugh as you kill them all in one shot.

edit: maybe i shouldn't mess with spoiler tags when i'm tired.

 

[MarshMellow96]

Whoa, dude - fix those spoilers!

 

[Pancho]

Is anyone playing the MP in the PS3? Been wanting to try it out with a nice team.

 

[NEOPARADIGM]

I know they already got their props last time around, but BRA-freaking-VO to this team for integrating all the HUD elements into real-time, in-game interfaces. That shit is, like, the future, man.

 

[legacyzero]

So fucking good. GOTY for me so far. Dont really know of anything else on my list this year that can top it.

 

[Kruhex]

Finished. Guess I'm in the minority that believes this outdoes the original in every way. Main complaint though is still somewhat dull monster designs.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Finished. Guess I'm in the minority that believes this outdoes the original in every way. Main complaint though is still somewhat dull monster designs.

I don't think it's a minority.

 

[Carnby]

I hope I can convey this as best as possible, and I hope some of you know what I mean when I say...

The best way to play this game is on normal difficulty. Any higher than Normal, this game becomes a chore to play. When one plays the game on normal they are always making near death escapes (which are fun as hell.) When one plays on hard they die 90 times on a room which requires the player to watch the same 30 to 90 second sequence to play out before they are ambushed by the same instant-death-kill-scenario. And that is not fun. Playing the same scenario repeatedly diminishes the quality and significance of every scare, surprise, and action sequence.

In short: Visceral Games does not understand the difference between a challenging difficulty setting and a "I want to eat my fucking controller and take a nap during loading screens" difficulty setting.

 

[tsigo]

I don't think it's a minority.

Until

Spoiler

the regenerating enemy near the end, and every room/combat scenario he's involved in

I agree, I think it's way better.

 

[Carnby]

Until

Spoiler

the regenerating enemy near the end, and every room/combat scenario he's involved in

I agree, I think it's way better.

Pro Tip: Run past every enemy in the last chapter. It works very well.

 

[Pollux]

never played the first dead space, but got dead space 2 from the girlfriend for valentine's day....this game is amazing. I seriously don't have a single complaint, going out this week to get the first one.

One thing that i really like is the little cartoon that tells you what happened in the first game, makes following the story much easier, although I'm sure it's not nearly as good as playing the actual first game. lol

 

[leng jai]

Hmm its becoming increasingly apparent that my choice to play it on Zealot on the first run through has been an epic fail.

 

[Carnby]

Hmm its becoming increasingly apparent that my choice to play it on Zealot on the first run through has been an epic fail.

play on normal. it's the way to go.

 

[Dreamgazer]

Hmm its becoming increasingly apparent that my choice to play it on Zealot on the first run through has been an epic fail.

I did it and enjoyed the experience.
I guess I can also boast about it now lol.
Stasis, force gun and contact beam is your friend.
Barely touched the cutter later on.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Hmm its becoming increasingly apparent that my choice to play it on Zealot on the first run through has been an epic fail.

There should be an option to lower the difficulty somewhere in one of the in-game menus.

 

[GodfatherX]

played the demo for this tonight, beautiful game..sadly im a little bitch when it comes to horror games and movies

 

[StevePharma]

The guys from the Rebel FM-podcast have been doing a "Game Club" (aka book club for games) special on Dead Space 2 for the last couple of weeks. While I'm not much of a Rebel FM listener I really like this concept for a podcast.

It's nice to listen to the guys talking about the game in a chronological order and remember all the great parts from it.

 

[tedtropy]

Played the game on Normal, had a good time with some challenging moments, but wasn't frustrating for the most part. Was still enjoying myself playing a new game + on zealot with my better toys until the last few chapters when they game basically dissolves into a relentless enemy spam fast. There were a few moments where it just ceased to be fun and became a grind to get to the end, particularly when the Ubermorph entered the picture. It became a matter of firing stasis left and right, hauling ass, get puked on from behind and murdered, rinse, repeat until the final boss.

Funny enough, with my maxed out contact beam it was about a 30 second battle...didn't even get touched. Maxed out all my weapons, suit, etc, got all but the airlock achievement (wrapped up that annoying elevator one a few hours ago) and the hardcore one. Think I'll get that easier one and will likely be done with the game for a good while. Maybe dust it off a few years from now to take a crack at hardcore. But probably not.

 

[AlStrong]

In short: Visceral Games does not understand the difference between a challenging difficulty setting and a "I want to eat my fucking controller and take a nap during loading screens" difficulty setting.

I would have agreed more regarding Dead Space 1, which had more limited options. On the other hand, I always saw Zealot as a difficulty that was meant to cater to New Game+ folks. "Zealot" to me referred to such a fan of the game. That it's made available for New Game just speaks to allowing user choice without having to play the game to unlock it, whereas Hardcore would definitely warrant aprior memory of the game so as to minimize any frustrations related to the game mechanics.

It's not like it's their fault people are thinking they're so hot at the game that they're picking the hardest available difficulty on the first run. There is no harm in picking Survivalist for instance. That they even allow players to change difficulty mid-game already speaks for their ability to understand that people may not have chosen wisely.

Was still enjoying myself playing a new game + on zealot with my better toys until the last few chapters when they game basically dissolves into a relentless enemy spam fast. There were a few moments where it just ceased to be fun and became a grind to get to the end, particularly when the Ubermorph entered the picture. It became a matter of firing stasis left and right, hauling ass, get puked on from behind and murdered, rinse, repeat until the final boss.

You may want to have a look into using the secondary fire with the upgraded contact beam as that has a special area of effect stasis. It's extremely useful because you can't get damaged while you're performing the animation.

 

[leng jai]

I actually chose Zealot because I wanted the achievement and probably won't be playing the game again anytime soon.

I'm up to chapter 6 and still only have the Plasma Cutter...I think I need to buy a few more guns.

 

[Carnby]

I would have agreed more regarding Dead Space 1, which had more limited options. On the other hand, I always saw Zealot as a difficulty that was meant to cater to New Game+ folks. "Zealot" to me referred to such a fan of the game. That it's made available for New Game just speaks to allowing user choice without having to play the game to unlock it, whereas Hardcore would definitely warrant aprior memory of the game so as to minimize any frustrations related to the game mechanics.

It's not like it's their fault people are thinking they're so hot at the game that they're picking the hardest available difficulty on the first run. There is no harm in picking Survivalist for instance. That they even allow players to change difficulty mid-game already speaks for their ability to understand that people may not have chosen wisely.

say what you want. but im saying normal is FUN and any harder is far from fun. and isnt the point of playing a videogame is to have fun? /end

 

[AlStrong]

oK mr. cool. did you play the bullshit that is Zealot +? say what you want about how good you are at the game but i can see that the majority says that HARD is too hard. and therefore making it not fun.

Yeah.. it was a cake walk on new game+. On just new game, I got up to around chapter 7 when I realized I could use New Game+ on any difficulty. So I restarted because I figured I'd rather have fun with upgraded weaponry.

I still don't see what the hate is about considering there's still survivalist difficulty, which has plenty of ammo and health packs compared to Zealot, but still remains challenging with enemy damage. It just seems an egotistical complaint against Zealot. No need to get all snarky.

edit: I mean, I'm by no means saying I'm good enough without NG+. Far from it, but it seems some folks are, and that's great. They didn't have to unlock the difficulty by playing it on a setting that would be not as challenging to them.

edit2:
And you also would have to consider that folks are upgrading weapons as they go. Normal shouldn't be too difficult, and it just becomes too simple later on in the game. Again, switching to higher difficulty then would be an option, but then the player is taking a bit of a chance having not had prior experience with said difficulties.

Survivalist is pretty decent...

 

[Deleted member 30609]

yeah, one of the best things about DS2 is the difficulty options. So many different ways to play. I love it when a game lets you push that shit up to 11 if you want to.

 

[jax (old)]

I hope I can convey this as best as possible, and I hope some of you know what I mean when I say...

The best way to play this game is on normal difficulty. Any higher than Normal, this game becomes a chore to play. When one plays the game on normal they are always making near death escapes (which are fun as hell.) When one plays on hard they die 90 times on a room which requires the player to watch the same 30 to 90 second sequence to play out before they are ambushed by the same instant-death-kill-scenario. And that is not fun. Playing the same scenario repeatedly diminishes the quality and significance of every scare, surprise, and action sequence.

In short: Visceral Games does not understand the difference between a challenging difficulty setting and a "I want to eat my fucking controller and take a nap during loading screens" difficulty setting.

Normal is too easy and survivalist is the right difficulty level.

 

[MarshMellow96]

As I'm happy to espouse in this thread, I completed the first Dead Space on hard a few weeks ago. It was my first playthrough. The same goes for DS2 - hardest mode possible for the initial playthrough.

The rationale? What is the point of playing a survival horror game if you're not out of your comfort zone? The whole point of the harder modes is to emphasize the 'survival' element (which, I would argue, in turn emphasizes the 'horror' element). Simply, it's meant to be hard, it's meant to challenge you, but oh boy is it rewarding.

It's like complaining that veteran on COD is cheap. Of course it is - you know exactly what to expect when you play on that mode. Both COD and DS2 give you the opportunity to knock the difficulty down if it gets too extreme.

I sure hope they don't gimp DS3 because people couldn't handle Zealot first time around, because a lot of us could. The way I see it, you can either play within your means, or accept a challenge that is clearly beyond them and enjoy that for what it is, rather than bitching about it the whole time.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Normal is too easy and survivalist is the right difficulty level.

Just finished it on Survivalist, I'd say if your proficient at the first game, it's the way to go for a nice challange. If you really just want to go through and see the sights, I'd imagine Normal is perfect, it's a hard game by default. I struggled for a few attempts towards the end on my Survivalist run, but enjoyed every minute of it.
I don't think I could recommend Zealot to anyone for a first run. I'm no Savant at DS, but I finshed the first game on Hard without to much of a problem. I was pleasantly suprised by the slight ramp in difficulty, it's seem fashionable/profitable to gimp a sequels difficulty these days.

Spoiler

Oh, and I loved the very end, the nod to Nicole's ghost in the first game with Ellie turning to Issac, and asking "what?"

 

[RedAssedApe]

Wtf...Ellie

Spoiler

gets her eyeball stabbed and pulled out of its socket but the only real indication that she is in any type of pain is the health bar on her back?

LOL

 

[Replicant]

Zealot on New Game+ has been a breeze so far (chapter 8). It helps that my rig, stasis, plasma cutter, and Zealot Force Gun are fully maxed. I also have more health packs than I hope I'd need (thx to my health packs hoarding attempt when I played Normal, I still have 3x large health packs, 20 x medium health packs, and 6 x small health packs).

Hardcore, OTOH, has been a nightmare. I always died either with the 1st boss or during the gangbang in church. The fact that you can't save more than 3 times means one slip-up and it's over.

 

[AlStrong]

Zealot on New Game+ has been a breeze so far (chapter 8). It helps that my rig, stasis, plasma cutter, and Zealot Force Gun are fully maxed. I also have more health packs than I hope I'd need (thx to my health packs hoarding attempt when I played Normal, I still have 3x large health packs, 20 x medium health packs, and 6 x small health packs).

Even more of a breeze if you find one of the new game+ suits

Spoiler

(Elite Advanced RIG in Chapter 11. 25% protection, +10% damage to ALL guns, +15% stasis duration)

.

Hardcore, OTOH, has been a nightmare. I always died either with the 1st boss or during the gangbang in church. The fact that you can't save more than 3 times means one slip-up and it's over.

I've been debating trying this again because I died at the train sequence hanging upside down. :s The low armour rating and lack of stasis upgrades is just killing me. Sure wouldn't mind a DLC with absurd armour rating like the Zealot RIG in DS1.

----

I find that ammo isn't too too bad if you spam the stasis/TK. The

Spoiler

raptors

are kind of an easy part if you're patient enough with the A.I. since they only attack one at a time, and there's usually a bunch of those sticks lying around. Plus there's the left-over claws after killing one.

I really dread the tripods the most though,

Spoiler

especially the elevator

. The lack of the force gun or upgraded contact beam is going to be a pain with those

Spoiler

kid/pack

creatures or any of the parts with waves.

 

[Corky]

Wtf...Ellie

Spoiler

gets her eyeball stabbed and pulled out of its socket but the only real indication that she is in any type of pain is the health bar on her back?

LOL

yeah I found that to be alittle meh aswell

 

[Rolf NB]

yeah, one of the best things about DS2 is the difficulty options. So many different ways to play. I love it when a game lets you push that shit up to 11 if you want to.

Agreed. I don't get the complaints. You can even change the difficulty on the fly.

I like it challenging. The scares and the mood are lost on me when there's no risk of failure.

I started on Survivalist too, and the only parts that initially gave me trouble were
1)the bottom floor in that residential area, with the two birthers/lots of leapers ambush
2)stalkers in the cargo room

The whole last chapter was tense, yes, but I only died twice in the whole sequence. It was a nice tingling sensation, and that's fine. I still had plenty of ammo afterwards.

 

[WrikaWrek]

This game has some pretty goddamn awesome action set pieces.

Now let me just ask, how the hell do you kill the ball of meat that crawls around? I've shot it anyway i can and it won't die.

 

[SketchTheArtist]

This game has some pretty goddamn awesome action set pieces.

Now let me just ask, how the hell do you kill the ball of meat that crawls around? I've shot it anyway i can and it won't die.

One leg and one arm. Works for pretty much all walking necromorphs.

 

[Rolf NB]

This game has some pretty goddamn awesome action set pieces.

Now let me just ask, how the hell do you kill the ball of meat that crawls around? I've shot it anyway i can and it won't die.

Is this after the eyeball business?

Spoiler

It's a regenerator, known from Dead Space 1, poorly explained in Dead Space 2. You cannot kill it, no matter what you do, only slow it down. It will keep getting back up. Just run through the level as fast as you can.

 

[IonicSnake]

One leg and one arm. Works for pretty much all walking necromorphs.

Except the necro with armor on their legs, just shoot the arms on those.

 

[WrikaWrek]

Is this after the eyeball business?

Spoiler

It's a regenerator, known from Dead Space 1, poorly explained in Dead Space 2. You cannot kill it, no matter what you do, only slow it down. It will keep getting back up. Just run through the level as fast as you can.

It's after the twist,

Spoiler

girl is a marker follower and then the gunship trashes shit, etc.

. Oh ok.

I actually quit the game because i thought there was something wrong i was doing and i wasn't seeing a way out anyway. I'll look better then.

 

[Keikoku]

Just started chapter 13, how long until I beat the game ?
Chapter 11 and 12 were totally inferior to the rest of the game (which I loved) :/

Spoiler

And were the hell are the bossfights ?

 

[SketchTheArtist]

Just started chapter 13, how long until I beat the game ?
Chapter 11 and 12 were totally inferior to the rest of the game (which I loved) :/

Spoiler

And were the hell are the bossfights ?

Sorry, but it's downhill from there.

 

[Rolf NB]

It's after the twist,

Spoiler

girl is a marker follower and then the gunship trashes shit, etc.

. Oh ok.

I actually quit the game because i thought there was something wrong i was doing and i wasn't seeing a way out anyway. I'll look better then.

Disregard what I said then. That's way later.

At the point you're at, every enemy can be killed. I suppose the "hunk of meat" you're talking about is a real fat thing, but one that still has arms and legs. Shoot off the limbs. If you do too much damage to center mass, your problems will only multiply.

Use precision weapons. The plasma cutter should work best. The line gun packs a harder punch, but you risk damaging the torso as well. The assault rifle is too weak (until almost fully upgraded) and lacks precision.

 

[Raxus]

Just started chapter 13, how long until I beat the game ?
Chapter 11 and 12 were totally inferior to the rest of the game (which I loved) :/

Spoiler

And were the hell are the bossfights ?

Spoiler

1 more boss fight and 2 more VERY annoying encounters

the game really falls apart during the end since it is all predictable encounters and cheap shots.

 

[Backfoggen]

Finished the game today and loved every single bit of it. Got quite intense in the last chapters which I liked.

 

[MrCompletely]

This thread is starting to get a bit loose with the spoilers, please be mindful of those who are not finished.

 

[JohngPR]

I think I'm towards the tail end of Chapter 13 right now.

Spoiler

There are two rooms as you are heading towards where the marker is that are cheap as fuck to get through. After dying a few times, I realized that it's just best to stasis the Necromorphs in your way and just run past the room, otherwise they spam like every kind of Necromorph in that room and it's like 7 against 1.

Other than that, I've had very few issues with the difficulty...it's just right. Also, I got the advanced suit. Man that thing looks sexy.

I'm really enjoying the story. Although it's much more involved thematically compared to the first one, it's still takes a minimalist approach which I like. That kind of approach can work while you tell a decent story.

At this point

Spoiler

I feel really sorry for Isaac. He's psyche is breaking and I think that's part of the reason why he launched Ellie's escape pod. I think part of him is afraid that he's going to try to kill her like Strauss attempted to.

 

[Vlightray]

Just started this, fuck throws me right into the battle do we get at least a taste of what it was like before the shitstorm hits the station? Only on chapter 1 here.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Just started this, fuck throws me right into the battle do we get at least a taste of what it was like before the shitstorm hits the station? Only on chapter 1 here.

No, not really. Shit hits the fan real quick. There are, however, short breather points throughout the game.

 

[SketchTheArtist]

Finished hardcore! I said FUCK YEEEAAAHHHHH!!!

Man,

Spoiler

after the final boss, my hands were all sweaty from thinking that if my XBOX gave up, the game crashed or the power would go out, I would have to re-do everything from Chapter 12.

Now, just need to get the 20 Necromorphs out of the windows to get 1000/1000!

 

[Yes Boss!]

Got a quick Dead Space question.

I've got the first game, the second game, and Extraction. Is it safe to start with Extraction first?

Played the first chapter of Extraction and loving it but not sure if they need to be played in the order they were released.

 

[tsigo]

Pro Tip: Run past every enemy in the last chapter. It works very well.

That's what I did on Survivalist and Zealot. Doesn't make it less stupid.