The Evil Within 2 |OT| "Something not quite right"

Critical doesn't unlock before doing the damage upgrades, and I don't have enough parts for it yet. Plus, the first upgrade is only a 1% chance. Not sure how that's reliable. I also don't like wasting bolts on normal enemies. I never needed to use them (other than taking out entire groups with shock bolts) in the previous game, and would save all harpoons for bosses.

You can get critical there ( I had it). You need Red Gel. There is a vial very close to that spot
in a train car
.

I thought the first upgrade was 30% chance? I believe default is 1%. Either way as long as you get Red Gel you can have 30% crit there.

Not feeling RE4 at all here. That game had way more precise controls and was a hell of a lot more fluid. Also, how the hell do you even use the quick turn outside of dashing? It does nothing unless I'm already running.

I meant in terms of mechanics/tactics. RE4 is still GOAT in feel of controls but TEW2 is way better than TEW1 on that score.

Regarding quick turn- you can do it from a stand still.
 
The combat in this game is truly something awful and doesn't feel rewarding in the slightest. Even on Survivor, enemies are goddamn bullet sponges (even with the third damage upgrade early on). That's just the normal enemies. Going up against an "elite"? Say goodbye to 20 bullets or all of your bolts.

I just did another expected ambush encounter, and of course I died the first time in three hits to a super speed zombie with bladed hands inside of an enclosed area. Second attempt I unloaded my gun, but it didn't matter because the speed force was there to save the day and hack me to bits. Third attempt I tried using a shock bolt and of course that didn't make it drop, so I unloaded my gun. Didn't matter. Fourth attempt, shock bolt and four harpoon bolts, didn't matter.

Is this just one of those non obvious "You can't kill it, you're supposed to run" encounters?

Union Garage

And no, "bullet to the knee" doesn't do jack most of the time to even regular enemies other than make them flinch long enough for you to waste an entire clip just to make them fall to the ground. Maybe a crystal vorpal hand axe of slaying +30 would work if I had one.

Yep

- Crouching speed is a joke. Even with upgraded speed and stealthy footsteps, the enemies do a 180 twirl to and are so twitchy that going for a sneak kill is more of game of chance than actual skill

- Normal combat fares no better. Enemies jump around so much that they often wind up outside your FOV. Thanks, camera.

Rather than do a true sequel to the first game and refine what worked, they threw everything out the window and started anew but this just invited a host of other problems.
 
Yep

- Crouching speed is a joke. Even with upgraded speed and stealthy footsteps, the enemies do a 180 twirl to and are so twitchy that going for a sneak kill is more of game of chance than actual skill

- Normal combat fares no better. Enemies jump around so much that they often wind up outside your FOV. Thanks, camera.

Rather than do a true sequel to the first game and refine what worked, they threw everything out the window and started anew but this just invited a host of other problems.

Sneaking being 'chance and not skill' is bullshit, I literally killed every enemy in Chapter 3 with mostly stealth kills. During the second half I never got caught because I got good at it.

It does have a learning curve, but once you've adapted at it, it's easy enough to do.
 
I thought the first upgrade was 30% chance? I believe default is 1%. Either way as long as you get Red Gel you can have 30% crit there.

It is, I don't know what I was looking at, but it says 1% > 30%. It's also linked to only needing one damage upgrade, but I don't know why they have it placed so far away in the upgrade UI. At a glance it looks like the second damage upgrade is required.

Are criticals in this only for exploding heads, or is it an overall burst chance, and if so, how much more would it even do over a normal shot?

Sneaking being 'chance and not skill' is bullshit, I literally killed every enemy in Chapter 3 with mostly stealth kills. During the second half I never got caught because I got good at it.

It does have a learning curve, but once you've adapted at it, it's easy enough to do.

The majority of my kills have been stealth too (when not ambushed by triggered shit). If you really want to take your time and kill everything with a knife, you can usually run away and hide in the bushes if any are near when detected. The seemingly randomness lies with the zombies that will follow a set patrol, but then stop and shake their heads or twist their torsos at specific points. It's really hard to tell if they will actually spot you or not, because sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Maybe the 50% speed upgrade will make a difference, but the 25% doesn't at all. I kill them the same with it as I did without, and it doesn't feel like an advantage yet.

Bottles seem like shit in this too. You basically have to throw it beside a zombie or it rarely wants to take notice. If it's ten feet away from where you tossed it, oh well, that loud crash goes ignored.
 
Are criticals in this only for exploding heads, or is it an overall burst chance, and if so, how much more would it even do over a normal shot?

Not 100% sure but it seems like it's for exploding heads. But that may just be my TEW1 instincts with me mainly going for head shots. But that 30% critical gives a pretty reliable kill in 1-2 head shots.
 
The Silent Hill vibes extend far beyond the atmosphere and overworld design, they even nailed the terrible voice acting!

I say this as one of the biggest Silent Hill fans out there.
 
I think the voice acting and stealth are good. Combat is tough on Nightmare but I don't thonk it's a hanky kinda tough, I think I have limited ammo and less-than-ideal weapons.

I'm really loving this so far, as a fan of the first
 
Did Sebastian talk to himself as much in the first game? It's pretty grating.

He talked to himself a lot, but not only do I not remember if it was as much, I like Anson Mount, and can't stand the current Snake + Leon + any other generic gruff video game character in history version of Sebastion shouting his lines all of the time. The voice acting wasn't Nolan North or Kevin Conroy caliber in the previous game, but it's just downright bad in this.
 
Did Sebastian talk to himself as much in the first game? It's pretty grating.

He didn't. Or it at least wasn't as grating.
It's definitely been standing out to me as probably the biggest negative point in the game. Since a lot of his talk is common sense stuff that people can see with their eyes.

Cutscene of Stefano taking Lilly
"Stefano has Lilly!"

no shit. If you want to recap the player on what's going on that's why he can call kidman.
There's no reason to tell us this information we saw with our eyes twice or even a third time.
 
I should really take my own advice and stay out of the OT because people definitely do not give a shit about using spoiler tags

(Not that I care about the story but... I want to. I want to, for Kidman)
 
People complained like crazy when the first game came out about Sebastian being silent. This is them trying to fix a common complaint. Problem is, the original complaint was ridiculous to start with.
 
People complained like crazy when the first game came out about Sebastian being silent. This is them trying to fix a common complaint. Problem is, the original complaint was ridiculous to start with.

Most of the complaints about the original game were ridiculous. That's how we ended up with a sequel that feels completely dumbed down compared to its predecessor, bot narratively and aesthetically.

I'm not sure I'll ever get over how bad the voice acting and dialogue is in this game. It's really, really bad. And I've been playing for hours and I still hate the UI and general art direction. This game looks best when it's retreading ground from the first game.
 
He didn't. Or it at least wasn't as grating.
It's definitely been standing out to me as probably the biggest negative point in the game. Since a lot of his talk is common sense stuff that people can see with their eyes.

Cutscene of Stefano taking Lilly
"Stefano has Lilly!"

no shit. If you want to recap the player on what's going on that's why he can call kidman.
There's no reason to tell us this information we saw with our eyes twice or even a third time.

It's bad but at least not Horizon's levels of bad, lol
 
Just finished the original for the first time tonight, and immediately started 2 right after. I'm only on chapter 3, but so far the game feels a huge improvement. Love the RPG focus with semi open levels, deeper upgrade systems, and a quest log.
 
10 hours in now and (so far) this is in every way what Lords of Shadow 2 was to the first LoS.

I want to love this game like I did with TEW, but I can't.

You know, I'm fairly certain I'm completely and entirely fed up of "crafting" and "scavenging" mechanics in video games.

The first game got it right. It only has two currencies (gel and parts) with which to level up/craft. TEW2 quadruples those currencies for no other reason than following the status quo. Unfortunately for TEW2, that status quo is almost a decade old and boring as fuck.

Like most of us I'm programmed to click buttons when I encounter flowers in a remote pocket of virtual wilderness because it will probably maybe possibly reward me later, but I really don't like doing it anymore.
 
Mid-chapter 3. Im dying a lot and haven't done much, so can't speak to the quality of the overall game, but I'm actually enjoying the bad VA. Assumably because my brain is broken in sind very specific way.
 
Funny enough so far. I VASTLY prefer this to the original. We’ll see if it keeps it up, but it’d have to do some really dumb things late game at this point for me to not rate it above the first game.
 
I kinda miss Anson Mount's Sebastion. Jennifer carpenter's Julie was terribly phoned in but Anson's monotone delivery bizarrely worked really well for Seb.

Reached the first safehouse. All I'll say so far is that this feels absolutely nothing like the first game

I can see that. For one thing, it's far more polished and functional than the first :p

It does feel very different though.
 
I thought I was gonna dislike the semi-open world design, but they managed to put well though off level design throught the world and in side quests. You never know what you can get when you explore the city inner outs. Some very cool sequences and the game keeps them fresh and interesting, still on chapter 3, but going around and exploring have been surprisingly fun.

Also I like there's some risk reward situation in these side events.

Controls are still a bit janky and I feel that the first game more lineal design favored the combat system, but I'm enjoying the game more than the first one, for now at least.
 
Does anyone know how to get on the other side of this fence? It's driving me crazy. I had to hit a switch to open the gate, it's some sort of trucking building. (door is locked)


54Gt8ct.jpg

I feel like I was supposed to use some gas to blow up something but it didn't blow up anything.
 
10 hours in now and (so far) this is in every way what Lords of Shadow 2 was to the first LoS.

Surprisingly i feel the same way. While TEW2 has better gameplay and graphics, TEW has better atmosphere and artstyle.

Does anyone know how to get on the other side of this fence? It's driving me crazy. I had to hit a switch to open the gate, it's some sort of trucking building. (door is locked)I feel like I was supposed to use some gas to blow up something but it didn't blow up anything.

Look at the
wood barricade in the right side
 
Does anyone know how to get on the other side of this fence? It's driving me crazy. I had to hit a switch to open the gate, it's some sort of trucking building. (door is locked)

I feel like I was supposed to use some gas to blow up something but it didn't blow up anything.

Progress the story.

Look at the
wood barricade in the right side

The prompt doesn't appear until there's an objective there.
 
I'm like 4 hours in, still cruising through chapter 3 slowly

I'm warming up to the game but I have to agree, it really doesn't feel like the first game (which I loved)

To me it feels like they made this for the people who didn't like Evil Within vs. the people who wanted more. It's pretty much universally a more polished game but it's missing a lot of what I liked

The trippy stuff is substantially toned down thus far, in favor of more generic almost "hacking" like sequences. The gothic atmosphere is nonexistent.

I liked the first game because it was like a grindhouse/Evil Dead take on The Last Of Us. This feels more like Alan Wake mixed with Last Of Us or something. I'm obviously early so I'm sure there's plenty coming but it's extremely different

Also.......are matches gone? That was one of the best aspects of the first game and I'm really disappointed if so.
 
I've literally spent 3 hours running around Union Chapter 3, picking up supplies and doing the first major side mission. It gives me enough time to mess around with the stealth and combat system. By the end of that little adventure I had I think close to 20000 green gel and 600 weapon parts lol.

I've got the crossbow, shotgun and explosive bolt unlocked. As well as 2 handgun ammo pouch.

A couple of comments and questions.

  1. Anyone bothered with the 3-burst pistol lol ?
  2. Nightmare was way too tough for me, I'm pretty sure this does more damage than in the first game, plus the whole no aim assist and not enemy awareness meter is a killer. Switched back to Survival.
  3. Exploration is natural and rewarding (somewhat). I feel like I naturally want to pop in to certain places to explore them and without realizing it 3 hours flew right by.
  4. Combat and stealth are TOUGH, maybe because of my rust I'm not yet in the zone with these things:

  • - Lots of failed stealth in the beginning as I try to gauge the enemy's cone of awareness. I think i really need that corner stealth kill.
  • - Electrocuting the enemies doesn't kill them.... Damnit.
  • - Did not realize there was a stomp attack for enemies on the ground =_= Can't be sure if it triggers so long as you got them on the ground?
  • - Is there no longer possible to stealth kill enemies by throwing a bottle in their face?
  • - Speaking of which, the bottle's aoe seems extremely unreliable.
  • -The best way to kill the White Lady is to open with a stealth kill and then an axe or shotgun to the face.
  • - I've found more crafting materials than bullets/syringes. I think they really want us to use the crafting system.
  • - I'm not sure if aim assist negates the benefits of the steady hand passive
 
Maybe I am just desensitised but this game hasn't been scary in the slightest.

Some of the creature design is ok though.
Just got passed the
cum monster
in the sewers.
 
Sunk about 90 minutes into this just there.

Welp.

If it continues like this it could be one of my favourite survival horror games of all time and certainly my GotY.

This feels like an actual sequel to Resident Evil 4. But on top of that it feels like Resident Evil by way of Metal Gear Solid, Inception and Silent Hill.

Phenomenal yet bizarre mix I never thought would work.

I don't particularly care that it doesn't feel like the original. Resi 4 didn't feel like Resi 1-3. This feels like a phenomenal evolution of TEW1.
 
I'm like 4 hours in, still cruising through chapter 3 slowly

I'm warming up to the game but I have to agree, it really doesn't feel like the first game (which I loved)

To me it feels like they made this for the people who didn't like Evil Within vs. the people who wanted more. It's pretty much universally a more polished game but it's missing a lot of what I liked

The trippy stuff is substantially toned down thus far, in favor of more generic almost "hacking" like sequences. The gothic atmosphere is nonexistent.

I liked the first game because it was like a grindhouse/Evil Dead take on The Last Of Us. This feels more like Alan Wake mixed with Last Of Us or something. I'm obviously early so I'm sure there's plenty coming but it's extremely different

Also.......are matches gone? That was one of the best aspects of the first game and I'm really disappointed if so.

Thanks for the impressions. Disappointing stuff to read. I don't think Shinji Mikami as director would've made these compromises.
 
Damn, haven't played the game yet, but some of these impressions... :( "It's Lords of Shadow 2 compared to Lords of Shadow 1"... I mean, it can't be that bad, surely? Cuz LOS2 was some DMC2/Dino Crisis 3 shit, lol.
 
Thanks for the impressions. Disappointing stuff to read. I don't think Shinji Mikami as director would've made these compromises.

For the record I completely disagree with those impressions. The Alan Wake comment is pretty laughable, too. I'm only 2 hours in but there is loads of body horror and video nasty horror in here, which you'd never have seen within a mile of AW. So far there's not as much as in TEW1's opening hour, but I expect that to change by the end of the game. Judging by how this opens up it's going to be huge, like Resident Evil 4's Village act but doubled or tripled.

The lack of matches is initially disappointing but from what I've seen we're given lots of other gameplay options to make up for it.

Damn, haven't played the game yet, but some of these impressions... :( "It's Lords of Shadow 2 compared to Lords of Shadow 1"... I mean, it can't be that bad, surely? Cuz LOS2 was some DMC2/Dino Crisis 3 shit, lol.

It seems like there's a super hardcore TEW fanbase who love the first game's schizophrenic structure and gameplay and linear focus and just want more of the same, thus are making a lot of negative noise about this sequel.

This feels different, but to me it feels far more 'together' and better thought-out. It feels like I'm on an adventure - not a weird, slightly uncomfortable trip. I'm honestly way more gripped 2 hours in than I was after 5 hours of TEW1.

Got to play more to let it really settle though.
 
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