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[noomi]

While I very much enjoyed the first two entries in the series, the 3rd was still decent enough for me.

It wasn't as scary, felt more commando than anything else. Still had fun with it though, sad to see the series end like this, but meh... it is what it is.

 

[Ghazi]

Spoiler

Comas don't count as time passing for a person. To them, it would be an instant.

So falling in love with someone else so quickly seems weird.

I guess Isaac's just a player then. If it's this easy for him to drop girls now then thank god there isn't a game about his High School life.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

On top of that, I still had fun with the combat. It's a step down for sure, but it's still quite enjoyable at times, and when you throw in the crafting system there is room for some pretty cool experimentation.

Why accept less than what we had in the first two games?

Tight, smart, relevant and challenging (if people played on the proper difficulty level) combat.

You just admitted that the combat in DS3 is a "step down for sure". So why cut Visceral slack? They had an excellent thing going and fucked it up for the sake of including co-op and shoehorning in the microtransaction model.

Which leads to the crafting system.

It managed to make the strategies around what weapon to use and when pretty much irrelevant. Just keep pulling the trigger of whatever weapon you have. Strategic dismemberment of the nercomorphs became nothing more than gory explosions.

Universal ammo; which needed to exist due to making the weapon crafting worked took inventory management entirely out of the game which in turn encouraged more "point with the gun and pull the trigger" play.

You're part of the problem man. Visceral had an excellent model and threw it away for the sake of greed.

You and others like you enable this nonsense.

While I very much enjoyed the first two entries in the series, the 3rd was still decent enough for me.

It wasn't as scary, felt more commando than anything else. Still had fun with it though, sad to see the series end like this, but meh... it is what it is.

"Meh"

It's fantastic when developers emulate the people buying their games. Why should they care when the people buying and playing their games don't care?



"Meh" was what Visceral said when they could have fixed the spelling of "Telsa" and put in "Tesla". (A spelling mistake was not something you'd ever see in the first two games)

"Meh" was what Visceral said when they established their save system and unless you completed a side mission in one sitting, you were going to have to repeat the entire thing over again.

"Meh" was what Visceral said when the inclusion of universal ammo removed any sort of tension and anxiety generation over ammo shortages and having to resort to a different weapon. (People paid real money to make this weapon they wanted. We have to let them use it right?)

 

[Andrew.]

I still think the best part of that game was the music and the debris field. Visceral nailed the Alien tune and I have no idea how they avoided the lawsuit.

Good game overall though.

And now I feel like going to replay it again in the near future.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Why accept less than what we had in the first two games?

Tight, smart, relevant and challenging (if people played on the proper difficulty level) combat.

You just admitted that the combat in DS3 is a "step down for sure". So why cut Visceral slack? They had an excellent thing going and fucked it up for the sake of including co-op and shoehorning in the microtransaction model.

Which leads to the crafting system.

It managed to make the strategies around what weapon to use and when pretty much irrelevant. Just keep pulling the trigger of whatever weapon you have. Strategic dismemberment of the nercomorphs became nothing more than gory explosions.

Universal ammo; which needed to exist due to making the weapon crafting worked took inventory management entirely out of the game which in turn encouraged more "point with the gun and pull the trigger" play.

You're part of the problem man. Visceral had an excellent model and threw it away for the sake of greed.

You and others like you enable this nonsense.

Did you buy the game? If so then you're just as much a "part of the problem" as me, regardless of what you thought of the game in the end.

The combat isn't the only aspect of the DS games so it's possible for me to like the game for other reasons enough to look past the decrease in the quality of the combat. Plus, I still enjoyed the combat. Shame on me, I know, but I guess I just realize that every sequel isn't always going to better than its predecessors, and with that in mind I can still enjoy a game even if it's a step back in a few ways.

If it was up to me I'd take the combat in DS and DS2, but I love this series so I decided to try 3 (after waiting for a price drop, which I didn't do for the first two games) and was able to enjoy it on its own terms. Sorry if that bothers you but I'm not losing any sleep over it.

 

[Omegasquash]

I'm wearing a smirk walking in here, seeing the thread title, and then seeing that the OP was banned (I hope not permanently). Dead Space 3 is a fine game...I just burned through the add-on yesterday and had just as much fun.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

For the record, I didn't mess with the microtransactions at all and I really don't think they affected the balance of the game. I was worried about that going in but it never seemed like an issue to be concerned about.

Just because you didn't use them doesn't mean they didn't impact the game.

Microtransactions needed to be in the game.

This led to the weapon creation system.

The weapon creation system was leveraged to attract the Call of Duty / Halo / Gears of War crowd that made the combat in DS3 a mindless series of shooting at necromorphs and watching them explode.

So...no. Microtransactions did indeed affect the game.

Did you buy the game? If so then you're just as much a "part of the problem" as me, regardless of what you thought of the game in the end.

I did. Which is why I'm pissed. Unlike you however, I'm not going to give Visceral a pass. I've played the first two. The third is a joke. They absolutely did not give a fuck.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Just because you didn't use them doesn't mean they didn't impact the game.

Microtransactions needed to be in the game.

This led to the weapon creation system.

The weapon creation system was leveraged to attract the Call of Duty / Halo / Gears of War crowd that made the combat in DS3 a mindless series of shooting at necromorphs and watching them explode.

So...no. Microtransactions did indeed affect the game.

How do you know the weapon creation system didn't come before the microtransactions? I had fun with the crafting without the use of microtransactions, even if overall I prefer the simplicity of the weapons in DS and DS2. I went into the game expecting to hate it because of the microtransaction and by the end it seemed like it wasn't an issue.

I'm not "giving them a pass." I liked the game but admitted that it has flaws. That's where I stand, it seems pretty simple to me. Unlike you I actually thought the game was fairly ambitious in a lot of ways, like the environments, story, and even amount of content. There were some missteps along the way but I had a great time with the game regardless.

 

[Conciliator]

I got this for free after the Sim City debacle, been meaning to play it but...just not that interested. I do want to check out the gun crafting, and lots of people have said that the first act is good so maybe I'll at least check that out.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

How do you know the weapon creation system didn't come before the microtransactions? I had fun with the crafting without the use of microtransactions, even if overall I prefer the simplicity of the weapons in DS and DS2. I went into the game expecting to hate it because of the microtransaction and by the end it seemed like it wasn't an issue.

I'm not sure how old you are, nor do I know how long you have been playing games.

The weapon crafting system was the mechanism used to deliver the microtransaction model to the people that bought the game.

I'm not questioning that you had fun with it. You said microtransactions didn't affect the balance of the game. I'm saying the existence of microtransactions. most assuredly did.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

I'm not sure how old you are, nor do I know how long you have been playing games.

The weapon crafting system was the mechanism used to deliver the microtransaction model to the people that bought the game.

I'm not questioning that you had fun with it. You said microtransactions didn't affect the balance of the game. I'm saying the existence of microtransactions. most assuredly did.

The microtransactions just as easily could have been shoehorned into the existing design at a later point. The crafting system seems to me like an evolution of the weapon system that Visceral wanted to attempt.

Materials are plentiful throughout the game which is why I said microtransactions didn't really affect the balance. I played on hard and rarely felt underpowered.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

The microtransactions just as easily could have been shoehorned into the existing design at a later point. The crafting system seems to me like an evolution of the weapon system that Visceral wanted to attempt.

Okay!

That completely makes sense. I suppose Visceral was just sitting on the perfect moment to launch their weapon crafting system that turns their fantastic survival-horror IP into shoot-bang homogeneity. I suppose it was just a coincidence that it fit as well as it did with the EA model of spending real money and gambling on loot bundles. (See Mass Effect 3)

You're naieve, obtuse or have zero clues...

 

[codecow]

How do you know the weapon creation system didn't come before the microtransactions?

Weapon crafting was one of the first things we started on after DS2. Microtransactions are what came late.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Okay!

That completely makes sense. I suppose Visceral was just sitting on the perfect moment to launch their weapon crafting system that turns their fantastic survival-horror IP into shoot-bang homogeneity. I suppose it was just a coincidence that it fit as well as it did with the EA model of spending real money and gambling on loot bundles. (See Mass Effect 3)

You're naieve, obtuse or have zero clues...

It's possible, but I don't think it's a given. Weapon crafting systems existed long before microtransactions, and EA could have influenced that design decision before microtransactions came into the picture. Even if the decisions occurred at the same time I still don't think they affected the balance, like I said in my previous comment. The crafting was an interesting idea on its own, even if it had its share of minor flaws.

Weapon crafting was one of the first things we started on after DS2. Microtransactions are what came late.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[codecow]

Okay!

That completely makes sense. I suppose Visceral was just sitting on the perfect moment to launch their weapon crafting system that turns their fantastic survival-horror IP into shoot-bang homogeneity. I suppose it was just a coincidence that it fit as well as it did with the EA model of spending real money and gambling on loot bundles. (See Mass Effect 3)

You're naieve, obtuse or have zero clues...

Personally I wouldn't have done weapon crafting the way we did it, but yes, it was one of the main ideas for DS3. A lot of people on the team like, play, and are influenced by RPG games with deeper non-combat gameplay and there was a desire to both have Isaac seem more like an engineer as well as add that type of creative gameplay.

It was definitely not a vehicle for microtransactions, at the time the system was designed nobody was even talking about MT and we didn't have them in the game until over a year later.

 

[OverBlood 3]

I don't understand why people like these games so much, I played through most of the first and completed the second game. They're barely above the quality of Army of Two. Maybe I just put too much importance in story telling. The gameplay itself was incredibly boring too.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Weapon crafting was one of the first things we started on after DS2. Microtransactions are what came late.

You've been involved with Dead Space since the beginning.

You want to disclose things. How about disclosing the dilution of the IP? How pressure from EA to sell more and more games forced you guys into adding in multiplayer in DS2 which wasn't bad but was a complete was of time and resources both for the development studio and anyone playing it.

Multiplayer DS2 failed.

With EA still pushing you guys bolted on co-op. Which could have been good if you guys had put the same attention to detail into the co-op experience as you put into every single aspect of the first game.

You have defend this because...well...you have to.

I find it difficult to believe that the team responsible for the first two games would build a mechanic such as weapon crafting that might very well give every person a chance to have a weapon that is a unique and beautiful snowflake...and yet make weapon choice completely irrelevant in combat.

Then again...this team managed to make one of the most broken save systems I've ever encountered in a video game so anything is possible I suppose...

Thanks for the clarification.

Naive it is.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[LuchaShaq]

As someone who loved 1 AND 2, I got 3 from gamefly about 10 days ago and I'm still only like 4 hours in.

The save system makes me lose 15 min basically every time I turn the game off.

The game is boring as fuck.

The weapon crafting/universal ammo is much less fun.

Non stop puke monsters.

I'm about one more crappy session from sending it back to gamefly and then youtubing the likely awful ending.


I don't care when they were made but the weapon crafting and microtransactions are both boring and gross.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Personally I wouldn't have done weapon crafting the way we did it, but yes, it was one of the main ideas for DS3. A lot of people on the team like, play, and are influenced by RPG games with deeper non-combat gameplay and there was a desire to both have Isaac seem more like an engineer as well as add that type of creative gameplay.

It was definitely not a vehicle for microtransactions, at the time the system was designed nobody was even talking about MT and we didn't have them in the game until over a year later.

I get that with each iteration, things need to change. There needs to be new bullet points to put on the back of the box.

The implementation of the weapon crafting system was inelegant when it came to improving/adding to the combat system in Dead Space. It sure was an elegant way to deliver a microtransaction platform however.

I appreciate you responding...AND being civil when I'm being the furthest thing from. I'm just...disappointed man. I loved the first two...like...loved. Dead Space 3 was such a massive soul-suck for me.

Someone on your team is made some incredibly poor decisions. They might be super nice. They might have the very best intentions...but someone made some key decisions that compromised DS3. Weapon crafting to make Isaac seem more like an engineer again... How about having him do things in the story that make him feel like he's an engineer again as opposed to what feels like a bolted on system that is included for the sake of pleasing the publisher?

 

[Replicant]

Hahaha, there's a love triangle now? Seems they threw Nicole under the bus quickly.

Well, Nicole was kind of 7 on the hotness scale while Ellie is about 8 or 9, so who can blame Isaac for quickly moving on to Ellie?

Back to the game, EA's server just died on me again when I tried to buy resources. If this whole online-only BS goes to ahead, I can see great things in our future.

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

The series went to shit with the 2nd game anyways. Not surprised that 3 is shit as well.

Hell, I'm not even saying that DS1 was this amazing and untouchable masterpiece; it was deeply flawed. But at the very least, it showed a LOT of promise. The sequels could have been amazing.

Fucking EA strikes again I suppose. Can't have anything stay good or pure now, can we?

 

[Dysun]

I'm still waiting for the bargain bin price drop, I loved DS1 and 2 and the mixed reaction for 3 doesn't make me really want to jump out and buy it either

 

[Replicant]

I'm just...disappointed man. I loved the first two...like...loved. Dead Space 3 was such a massive soul-suck for me.

I second this. I love DS1 and DS2 and loved the feeling of doing Hardcore so I can get that Platinum trophy. I don't usually bother with trophies unless I like the game. But now, I'm halfway through the Hardcore in DS3 and I just don't feel the enthusiasm. I am only doing it for the sake of completion because I did it for both DS1 and DS2. But the game is just there. It's too long and by God, 4 play-throughs to plat is a bit too much for me. I mean it's doable but way too time wasting when I have other games to play. If the game excites me, maybe I wouldn't mind it so much.

 

[doniewhalberg]

Dead Space 3 is a good game imo. It's just not an excellent game, nor even a great game, particularly in comparison to it's predecessors. But it is a good game if I just pick it up and play it. The pure gameplay is fun and the world is different to most games on the shelves, if not original in larger fiction. The gameplay may be messier than the last two, the world slightly more tired, but that doesn't make it less than a good game, for me personally. So I'd haver to disagree with OP's statement. I would say it's probably up there just behind TR and Bioshock as one of my favourite games of the last six months.

 

[AkuMifune]

"We've got a lot of pancake batter here, hey if we add more water maybe we can feed more people!"

They added too much water. They should have used milk and not diluted it to feed more people.

 

[Omegasquash]

Dead Space 3 is a good game imo. It's just not an excellent game, nor even a great game, particularly in comparison to it's predecessors. But it is a good game if I just pick it up and play it. The pure gameplay is fun and the world is different to most games on the shelves, if not original in larger fiction. The gameplay may be messier than the last two, the world slightly more tired, but that doesn't make it less than a good game, for me personally. So I'd haver to disagree with OP's statement. I would say it's probably up there just behind TR and Bioshock as one of my favourite games of the last six months.

See....I feel like it's fun. It's a bit of a departure, but it still manages to give a good shock every now and then. I liked weapon crafting, and I beefed my gun up and had a ball on normal. On higher difficulty I'm sure that I would get killed a few more times and go from there.

People are being REALLY hard on this game. It's like there's an expectation there that the same game get made. I'm not sure I understand, but it seems like a big to-do over an option. They're not selling you a crosshair or anything, they're just giving you a choice is all.

 

[Halcyon]

DS3 to me was 1 day coop with some random dude.


It wasn't scary nor particularly interesting but I had fun in the same way RE5 was fun. Coop was what made it fun.

The weapon crafting was nonsense. I had a machine gun/shotgun combo and stuck with that.

I'd never even consider paying for anything. It would make no sense. This wasn't an mmorpg or something I was considering playing again.


Also who thought doing 5-10 stupid wall climbing sections was good game design.

 

[Ryoku]

I didn't bother with it considering how much shit Dead Space 2 was. Story-telling-wise and actual gameplay-wise.

 

[Revven]

Really? I enjoyed it. It was certainly better than DS2's final boss encounter.

I mean if you like fighting the same enemies again while the boss only has one attack that seemingly doesn't really matter... I guess you can enjoy it.

I find that when the regular enemies you face make more of a threat than the boss itself to be a design problem; enjoyment or not. "Fun" doesn't matter when the challenge isn't there, the challenge being the boss, not the enemies that are spawned to make up for the lack of the boss actually doing anything remotely damaging to you.

 

[maomaoIYP]

I absolutely hated DS3, it was a complete waste of money.

Combat: Strategic dismemberment, which was a unique (and useful) mechanic in the 1st two games, still works, but only in theory. Since every room involves piling enemies onto enemies which are silent when coming from behind, move like the wind, and are bullet sponges, the best strategy was to just shoot as many bullets as possible until they stop moving.

Story:

Spoiler

That fucking love triangle. Ellie was a real badass in DS2, holding her own against the necromorphs and overall was an interesting character. In DS3 she becomes a useless damsel who whimpers at the sight of anything that moves. In addition she totally leads both males on, giving them both blue balls while being a shitty person in general. Also if you play the game solo, almost no one ever interacts with Carver. He's just an invisible character who's single defining characteristic is the badass scar on his face. I spent the entire game thinking he was only a figment of Isaac's imagination, and was waiting for the mindfuckery to unfold at the end......but there was not a single bit of mindfuckery to be had. So the markers just stopped talking to Isaac all together? Come on. The final nail in the coffin is that stupid ass ending.

Poor as shit writing: At some point Ellie becomes angry at Isaac and Isaac forges ahead alone to clear a path. Ellie is with Santos and they get attacked off camera as Santos is on the comms with Isaac while Ellie still refuses to talk to him.
Santos: Oh my god they're coming! Run Ellie, run!
Isaac: Ellie are you ok? Ellieeee!!! ELLLIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

 

[UFRA]

I disagree with the OP's opinion on a single game. It appears that the correct course of action would be to dismiss all of his opinions entirely based on this information.

Gaming. Serious business.

Or it was a sarcastic comment tacked on to my point of disagreeing with him.

I'll let you decide!

 

[Family Fry]

I finished it today and it was alright, doing all the side quests did make it overly long though, regretted that. Got to say the boss was a piece of piss, literally NO danger what so ever and the ending was fucking awful.
Bet you they cut that ending to have an epilogue as Awakened.

 

[luxarific]

Weapon crafting to make Isaac seem more like an engineer again... How about having him do things in the story that make him feel like he's an engineer again as opposed to what feels like a bolted on system that is included for the sake of pleasing the publisher?

I thought the weapon crafting did this well. Much better than an in-game puzzle or QTE would have. Instead of boring hacking games, Issac/the Player got to actually build something for once.

 

[Matt2thefuture]

Dead Space 3 was disappointing. The DLC however was much better. If you like 2 play that.

 

[Grisby]

I had some good fun with DS3. The co-op kind of put a strain on the SP experience and the story seemed to have shit itself. However, I love the Thing and DS3 is like a giant love letter to it.

Weapon crafting was a lot of fun. Didn't feel transaction stuff limited me at all.

 

[RedSwirl]

I have to say though, one thing I've always appreciated Dead Space for is being one of the few action adventure games from a big studio willing to retain a lot of gameplay mechanics that might be considered "oldschool" compared to most current generation games:

--Lack of health regen
--Health packs
--Stationary save points
--Inventory screens
--Area maps (in Dead Space 1 at least, which I really miss)
--Discoverable text records

I personally would have preferred the Ishimura in DS1 to be more open-ended instead of just going linearly from deck to deck, more like the mansion from Resident Evil 1 or the Von Braun from System Shock 2.

I looked up a timeline and I think it was actually close to 3 years between them because Isaac

Spoiler

was in a coma

for a while. The timeline was a little confusing to read though so I may have misread it,

Dead Space released in 2008 -- takes place in 2508
Dead Space 2 released in 2011 -- takes place in 2511
Dead Space 3 released in 2013 -- takes place in 2514

Personally I wouldn't have done weapon crafting the way we did it, but yes, it was one of the main ideas for DS3. A lot of people on the team like, play, and are influenced by RPG games with deeper non-combat gameplay and there was a desire to both have Isaac seem more like an engineer as well as add that type of creative gameplay.

It was definitely not a vehicle for microtransactions, at the time the system was designed nobody was even talking about MT and we didn't have them in the game until over a year later.

In and of itself gun crafting is something I've wanted to see for a while, but in the context of what's supposed to be a horror game or survival game, in my opinion the parts didn't feel scarce enough, but that's going into the whole issue of DS3's identity of a shooter versus a horror game.

Does anyone at Visceral perchance notice the similarities between Dead Space 3 and the PS2 dungeon crawler Vagrant Story?

Both games:
--Take place in ruins filled with the undead.
--Feature a religious cult and government agents among the factions in its story.
--Feature weapon crafting as a central gameplay component.

 

[Moff]

Combat: Strategic dismemberment, which was a unique (and useful) mechanic in the 1st two games, still works, but only in theory. Since every room involves piling enemies onto enemies which are silent when coming from behind, move like the wind, and are bullet sponges, the best strategy was to just shoot as many bullets as possible until they stop moving.

I really dont understand where statements like this come from.
If you dont aim for the limbs you will have a very very hard time in DS3. the irony is that you call them bullet sponges, which they are only when you dont aim for limbs but the torso. just like in DS1 and 2.
gameplay wise, its absolutely fine.

and people are even bitching about the crafting now? wow
the crafting and weapon upgrade system was great, and so much better than in the previous games.
seriously, people. its not the perfect or even a great game, but its surely enjoyable.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

I'm just...disappointed man. I loved the first two...like...loved. Dead Space 3 was such a massive soul-suck for me.

Someone on your team is made some incredibly poor decisions. They might be super nice. They might have the very best intentions...but someone made some key decisions that compromised DS3.

I third this, and as a developer myself (non-games) I appreciate it must be really soul-destroying for CodeCow etc to hear a lot of these types of criticisms; however to balance that I would look to emphasise two key points

1. Dead Space 3 is not a bad game, I completed it and even started a second playthrough.
2. Dead Space 1 was a revelation to me, so DS3 really suffers in comparison.

I think when all is said and done, Dead Space will be my Game of the Generation along with Bioshock 2, so it's relative, but DS2 stood up well to DS1 if falling a little short at the end, whereas DS3 really didn't stand up at all IMO.

I think my personal frustration with games at the moment is the continued MORE, MORE, MORE approach with successive sequels (my love for Bioshock 2 is precisely because it bucks this trend, at least in single player, which Infinite does not IMO)

MORE GUNS!
MORE SET-PIECES WITH ANNOYING QTES!
MORE EXPLOSIONS!
MORE POINTLESS TACKED ON MULTIPLAYER! (yes even Bioshock 2, sigh)
MORE CO-OP!
MORE! MORE MORE! BIGGER! BADDER!


I'm hoping to find someone in the gaming world with the balls to push a 'less is more' approach, and especially for Dead Space, where most of the original's strengths could be argued to be 'less is more', I think that would reap huge benefits.

But hey, I'm a single-player dinosaur, soon to be extinct, so what do I know.

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

From the demo at least, the weapon crafting system felt like some facebook-game level of shit. Was absolutely abhorrent. But I guess they wanted us to have the "feel of an engineer".

 

[Replicant]

I really dont understand where statements like this come from.
If you dont aim for the limbs you will have a very very hard time in DS3. the irony is that you call them bullet sponges, which they are only when you dont aim for limbs but the torso. just like in DS1 and 2.

LOL. That's not true at all. You're only going to have a very hard time if you're actually trying to aim for limbs and go for one-on-one dismemberment like in DS1 and DS2 instead of just constructing a super-weapon. If you use one of the electricity-based weapons, you can pretty much mow them down in 1 or 2 hits with no regards to how or where you hit them. I know because that's what I've been using: an electricity-based weapon on the top and a force gun on the bottom for crowd control. The poor plasma cutter is only used when I have to fight that annoying giant crab who refuses to die and overstays its welcome.

With the way they designed the fast-moving enemies, there's no point in using plasma cutter and going for limb dismemberment when you can just aim, hold, and unleash a barrage of electricity that'll fry or at least knockback most, if not all, of those annoying mobs. With my weapon, they'll have to be *extremely* lucky to get close to me. And that's usually because I allow them to (in the case of Feeders) so I can hit a few in one go.

 

[malfcn]

I thought the end boss was goofy looking.

 

[Moff]

LOL. That's not true at all. You're only going to have a very hard time if you're actually trying to aim for limbs and go for one-on-one dismemberment like in DS1 and DS2 instead of just constructing a super-weapon. If you use one of the electricity-based weapons, you can pretty much mow them down in 1 or 2 hits with no regards to how or where you hit them. I know because that's what I've been using: an electricity-based weapon on the top and a force gun on the bottom for crowd control. The poor plasma cutter is only used when I have to fight that annoying giant crab who refuses to die and overstays its welcome.

With the way they designed the fast-moving enemies, there's no point in using plasma cutter and going for limb dismemberment when you can just aim, hold, and unleash a barrage of electricity that'll fry or at least knockback most, if not all, of those annoying mobs. With my weapon, they'll have to be *extremely* lucky to get close to me. And that's usually because I allow them to (in the case of Feeders) so I can hit a few in one go.

I used mainly the plasma cutter thorugh both my playthorughs and I think it was by far the best and most satisfying weapon, if you aim for the limbs.

I didnt use your weapons much in DS1 and 2, but I never had to aim for the limbs with them in the previous games either. so if you want to play it like that, you can. I did not. I chose limb shooting like in the other games.

there really isnt even a reason to discuss this: damage to limbs DOES much more damage, thats a fact.
sure, you can use your spread weapons, that do less damage than accurate weapons, but you could do that in the previous games, too. the games gives you that possibility. but you cant use spread weapons and say that damaging limbs is not rewarded.

I mean I also used a flamehrower, which does very high damage at a very close range, for certain situations, but I dont walk around complaining that I didnt have to aim for limbs with it, that would just be silly. weapons are mant to work differently.

but if you hit the limbs, you DO more damage, therey no denying that.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Dead Space 3 is a decent game, but it's death by 1000 papercuts with bad design choices that all add up to underwhelm. From the universally frowned upon save system, to the tedious and depressingly predictable enemy waves (stop running and lunging at me, you fucks), to the annoying and overwrought narrative and QTEs, to stacking of too many superfluous and commands on top of a control scheme that was pretty much perfect the way it was, to the inane resource collecting, to middling cut and paste missions it squanders its potential and buys into the fallacious mindset that more = better. The things it does well it excels at, but it tries to do too much and ends up spread thin between a bunch of lukewarm ideas as a result.

Still, the core Dead Space combat system is satisfying, even if the never ending string of necromorphs with samey patterns fails to create the right scenarios for it to shine. The best of the environments and character models constitute some of the best creative visions in the industry imo. The thing that's maddening about the series is that if it stayed true to its suspense roots, cut the bloated presentation, and paced enemy patterns and the frequency of encounters properly it would be golden. For me it comes down to respect for the audience. Unfortunately it seems like EA has invested so heavily in the franchise that it's being watered down in an attempt to "broaden the market", which is code for pandering to the lowest common denominator. I don't give a shit if Dead Space meets the checklist of modern day shooters, like ridiculous sequences where Issac hangs onto shit by his fingertips before it blows up, or if there's an online component. That's not why I fell in love with Dead Space. Quite the opposite, actually. The first game screams labor of love. It began in a very earnest manner as a sort of dream project for a small pool of talent who couldn't even be sure the project would ultimately get the green light, and that level of intimacy and purity of intent comes through when playing it. I'd go so far as to call it some of the best sci-fi horror of the past decade in any medium. As an artist I sense the stamp of good creative instinct all over it, even if it was never high art or anything.

By contrast the sequels have a bit of a hollow ring to them. It's not that there aren't any improvements (DS2's controls and UI were the bees knees, for example) but on the whole they smack of design by committee, or at least a muddled understanding of what they're trying to achieve and what's necessary to progress the series without stifling the quieter elements. The guiding philosophy appears to be when in doubt pile on more crap. DS2 had its moments but also got progressively more hamfisted as it went on, and DS3 is wildly inconsistent, perpetually taking one step back for each step forward. Both still stand up on some level as action games, but they're embarrassingly in-your-face and clumsily conceived on a creative level compared to the original. The vibe they give is overly ambitious and trying to be all things to all people rather than focusing on refinement of a formula that wasn't broken to begin with. I'd love a sequel that explored dread, tension, freedom of exploration, and a more sophisticated minimalist presentation, but given the trajectory of the series I suspect that's the last thing we'll see.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

but if you hit the limbs, you DO more damage, therey no denying that.

No one is denying that there is more damage when you hit the limbs, the problem is that Limb Dismemberment as a game subsystem is BROKEN in Dead Space 3.

The whole system as exhibited in Dead Space and DS2 (at least until around level 9) wasn't just that targetting limbs did more damage, it was the whole dynamic between TK, Stasis and Limb Dismemberment. TK is next to useless in DS3. In DS1 and DS2, I enjoyed nothing more than dismembering a Necro's arm to then TK it at another; this is so much harder to pull off in DS3, it becomes more frustrating than fun IMO.

Stasis for me wasn't really about crowd control as such, it was allowing me to do Limb Dismemberment and TK and conserve ammo.

Now, because of running Necro's, sometimes even when Stasis'd they still hit you completing their animation.

Now, I appreciate I might not be as good a player as you or are you PC? It may be that Limb Dismemberment may still be intact to an extent with Keyboard and Mouse, but for me and a good few others on this thread, the core gameplay subsystem of Dead Space is busted, to the extent that the game is less fun played that way. Just IMO and as always YMMV.

With the way they designed the fast-moving enemies, there's no point in using plasma cutter and going for limb dismemberment when you can just aim, hold, and unleash a barrage of electricity that'll fry or at least knockback most, if not all, of those annoying mobs. With my weapon, they'll have to be *extremely* lucky to get close to me. And that's usually because I allow them to (in the case of Feeders) so I can hit a few in one go.

Agreed, I played most of DS3 with the Javelin Gun when I got the electrocution module. I wanted to complete the game using the Plasma Gun as my mainstay with TK and Stasis as I tackeled both DS and DS2, but it simply wasn't fun, so I switched to the Javelin Gun - to be fair I used the Javelin Gun in DS2 as well, but only it's ALT fire for sections with the Pack. The Javelin Gun in DS3 renders most other guns pointless it's so overpowered IMO.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

The vibe they give is overly ambitious and trying to be all things to all people rather than focusing on refinement of a formula that wasn't broken to begin with. I'd love a sequel that explored dread, tension, freedom of exploration, and a more sophisticated minimalist presentation, but given the trajectory of the series I suspect that's the last thing we'll see.

+1000 QFT.

Maybe I'm not the only dinosaur!

 

[Moff]

Now, I appreciate I might not be as good a player as you or are you PC? It may be that Limb Dismemberment may still be intact to an extent with Keyboard and Mouse.

I do play on the pc.
And I agree that the telekinesis pulling of limbs and launching back at enemies was practically non-existent in DS3, but I blame the universal ammo for that, and that is truly one of the games flaws.
but I dont see how this has anything to do with aiming for weakspots on the enemies (which is limb-shooting)

 

[Ziltoid]

From the demo at least, the weapon crafting system felt like some facebook-game level of shit. Was absolutely abhorrent. But I guess they wanted us to have the "feel of an engineer".

If only engineering was that easy. I'd have a masters degree right about now.

 

[Replicant]

but if you hit the limbs, you DO more damage, therey no denying that.

Who said anything about them not doing more damage? I'm saying it's pointless to do it in DS3 because the sheer number of enemy practically makes one on one dismemberment a futile effort. Unless, of course, you're playing on PC where you can spam projectiles with ease thanks to precision of mouse and buttons.

there really isnt even a reason to discuss this: damage to limbs DOES much more damage, thats a fact.
sure, you can use your spread weapons, that do less damage than accurate weapons, but you could do that in the previous games, too. the games gives you that possibility. but you cant use spread weapons and say that damaging limbs is not rewarded.

I mean I also used a flamehrower, which does very high damage at a very close range, for certain situations, but I dont walk around complaining that I didnt have to aim for limbs with it, that would just be silly. weapons are mant to work differently.

Because damaging limbs really is not rewarded much in this game. It doesn't matter that it gives you more damage. By the time you finish with one, there'll be 2-3 (if you're lucky instead of 4-5) other monsters gunning for you, making the entire concept of limb dismemberment a joke.

That's my fucking point: limb dismemberment has been turned into a joke in DS3. If you want to play efficiently and frustration-free, you are better off making super weapon. This is not the case at all in DS1 and DS2. In fact, you can go the entire of both games using just Plasma Cutter. In this one? Not without the help of other weapons.

This also ties how messed up the resources is done in this game. The lack of resources often mean that you can't craft enough stasis, another important element in limb dismemberment. And with the ridiculous amount of enemies, you'll be wasting stasis before you can even finished off all of them.

In summary, in this game limb dismemberment technique is rendered useless. The changes done to enemy speed and weapon crafting thanks largely to MP has create a necessity to just super-weapon'd almost anything that gets in your way. And BTW, flamethrower is fucking useless. Short reach, imprecise and too slow burn to get the right result even after upgraded (especially against those pickaxe guys). Not to mention a waste of bullets.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

Replicant:-

That's my fucking point: limb dismemberment has been turned into a joke in DS3. If you want to play efficiently and frustration-free, you are better off making super weapon. This is not the case at all in DS1 and DS2. In fact, you can go the entire of both games using just Plasma Cutter. In this one? Not without the help of other weapons.

Perfectly summed up. Agreed 100%

 

[Moff]

That's my fucking point: limb dismemberment has been turned into a joke in DS3. If you want to play efficiently and frustration-free, you are better off making super weapon.

yes, and that super weapon is the fully upgraded plasma cutter, because dismemberment is still strongest. Even on the hardest difficulty even the hardest enemies fall apart quickly.
you admit that dismemberment does more damage, but at the same time its a joke because there are too many enemies? that doesnt make sense. what do you think stasis is for?

and I played both other games after DS3, and while DS2 played exactly the same, DS1 felt like a completely different game.

but as I have stated before, I understand everyone who says he loved DS1 but hated both sequels (and I know many who think like that), but loving DS2s gameplay and hating DS3s. that does not compute.