Dead Space 3 - Feb 5

[cmdrdredd]

I had lo s of issues with dead space. Am I the only one who had hitching that ruined the control?

 

[Madia]

I had lo s of issues with dead space. Am I the only one who had hitching that ruined the control?

The main issue I had in dead space was the controls (using a controller) not being immediatly responsive. For example when I wanted to move forward there was a very slight albeit noticeable delay in between me pushing up and my character moving forward. Turning off vsync fixed that problem.

In my last playthrough of DS vsync being off did create a problem. Infrequently when I landed after jumping in zero g the screen would just freeze and after a few seconds the game would kill my character. I found out that this was due to upgrading my gpu since the last time I played DS. With vsync off my framerate would go too high for the game in that section and cause it to freeze. To fix it I'd have to force vsync out of the game. Luckily, it was very infrequent and I was able to beat it without having to figure out how to force vsync.

I had vysnc off for DS2 but don't remember if I originally shut it off because there was the same problem with the controller's responsiveness as in DS1 or if I just did it as a preventive measure. Whatever the case, DS2 was solid for me and I don't remember ever having a problem with it crashing or freezing. DS1 on the other hand was problamatic for a lot of people.

I just wanted to chime in on the exec producer's quotes about mouse and keyboard. I think some people are taking them out of context. I don't think he meant that by giving us mouse/ keyboard support visceral is already giving pc users something special. I think he's merely stating that the game feels a bit different when playing using a keyboard/mouse rather than a controller. It would be like a flight sim or driving game exec saying it's a different experience to play their game with a wheel/flightstick than it is with a mouse/keyboard.

What I disagree with the exec about is the goal of making the experience similar across every platform. I agree with the fundamental principle that the gameplay itself should feel the same across every platform. You shouldn't switch platforms and suddenly feel like you're controlling a character from a different game. That much is obvious. However saying that every game should look/sound exactly the same is ridiculous.

To use film as a metaphor I understand saying that you want all of your products to be 24fps (the gameplay). If a movie's fps was sped up or slowed down it would change the experience. However saying that it should be standard def across the board because high def would change the experience somehow is absurd. High def (better graphics) would enhance the experience, not change it. It's like not adding 5.1 sound because you don't want to change the experience from dolby 2.0. It's a ridiculous arguement.

If the exec simply said the pc sales don't warrant the time/cost of upgrading the graphics I could understand. But thinking that enhanced graphics would fundamentally change the experience of a pc version of DS3 vs. the console's version is wrong. It would simply enhance the expereince.

 

[Skel]

I've heard tale that this game is more CoD than Horror the title used to be. Anyone confirm or deny?

If it is the case, then I'll be passing. I'm getting a bit burned out with interesting games being shoved into the blender of "accessibility".

 

[KentState]

Would I be missing out on anything if I jumped to DS3 without trying the first two?

 

[KaOTiK]

Would I be missing out on anything if I jumped to DS3 without trying the first two?

Probably. If you don't want to play the first 2, I suggest watching a youtube video or something that covers the story of both of them.

 

[KentState]

Probably. If you don't want to play the first 2, I suggest watching a youtube video or something that covers the story of both of them.

If that's the case, I will just get the first two and wait for 3 to come down on price.

 

[KaOTiK]

If that's the case, I will just get the first two and wait for 3 to come down on price.

Good call. They are good games and can be had for like $5 each now when they go on sale. The first one is a poor port mostly due to the mouse issues, but the game itself is solid.

 

[Madia]

Would I be missing out on anything if I jumped to DS3 without trying the first two?

You'd be missing out on two excellent games. Storyline wise you'd be missing out on a lot. DS1 does a good job of establishing the mythos of the Dead Space universe and DS2 establishes Isaac's character (he didn't say a word in the first game). You're looking at around 10-12 hours a game so they're not a huge time investment.

Avoid the physical and origin copies of Dead Space 1. They use securom drm that can create a lot of headaches. Go with the steam version instead. DS2 doesn't have securom, instead it just has you login to your origin account in game (origin isn't required to run it - you just need an account). Unfortunatley right now, DS1 + 2 are both selling for retail price on steam ($20 each). They're worth it but if you can wait do so. I've seen them as low as $5 each and when they have one on sale they'll have the other on sale also.

 

[SantaAna12]

What I remember is the hit boxes being off compared to other games I play. Drove me nuts and I dropped it. Liked the genre though. Too bad.

 

[Madia]

I played about 90 minutes of DS3 this morning and have some inintial impressions.

It definitely seems that the game is going in the direction of more action/intensity and less horror/suspense. The biggest change is a complete overhaul of the weapon/inventory system. There's no more credits, stores or save stations. Instead you pick up scrap materials and use them to build weapons or items at the bench. You can completely customize your weapons given the right materials/blueprints. I'm very early in the game so I haven't played around much with the weapon customization but the way it seems to work is by basically combining two of the guns from the DS franchise. For example, you can make a gun that's primary fire mode is a machine gun (pulse rifle) and secondary fire mode is a shotgun (force gun). From there it seems you can further tweak clip sizes, fire rate, reload times, etc. Also, each firing mode has it's own ammo count so you can completely empty your machine gun half and still have a fully loaded shotgun. Ammo is now universal.

I'm way too early in the game to have the materials to really do anything with the customization so I can't really comment on it. It does seem to fit the character of Isaac being an engineer. The streamlining of everything doesn't seem to be done to simplify the game but instead done to accomidate the change to customizable weapons. The weapons did have a different feel to them but it didn't feel like I was playing another different game.

Gameplay wise Isaac can now roll (double tapping run) and crouch (tapping the button for the waypoint). I haven't had any use for the roll but had to crouch to get behind cover. Don't worry, it hasn't turned into a coverbased shooter but there was some of that in the game. Isaac doesn't put his back toward the cover and pop out when aiming ala some other shooters like Mass Effect 3. Instead he's just crouched behind the cover and will pop up when you aim. This doesn't feel as slick as in cover based shooters and the regular combat it more enjoyable so hopefully it's just in small sections.

All of the necromorph's I've encountered were also overhauled. The lurkers (the ones that cling to walls and sprout three tentacles) seemed to be mostly a cosmetic change while both the look and behavior of the base necromorphs has changed.

Based on my completition percentage so far the game looks to be around 12 hours long playing as Isaac solo. However, with a co-op mode that changes the campaign a bit and the fact that the previous DS titles had good replay value I'd estimate that you'll put at least 22 hours or so into the game if you enjoy it. If you really enjoy the series there's still the new game + and harder difficulties that you can put even more time into.

It's way too early in my playthrough to give any kind of rating but the game seems to be at least as good as the previous two. You'll probably be able to snag the physical copy (that will bind to your origin account) in a month and a half or so for $40 so if you're sitting on the fence you can continue to wait. Since I was a huge fan of the previous two I didn't mind preordering to be able to play the game at launch.

I'll probably avoid this thread until the end of my first playthrough (to avoid any spoilers) but once I'm through I'll post my thoughts on the game.

 

[Canbacon]

Nice, how is the difficulty?

I've been seeing that people think it is too easy now and doesn't have the Dead Space feel. However, some people counter that with telling people to bump up the difficulty level and it solves most of the issues.

 

[mindcycle]

Dead Space 3 shows a series that is a victim of its own success. Playing it is like seeing Metallica in 2007 at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium versus a 1982 show at the 1,000-seat Whisky a Go Go. The same essential pieces are there, but changes were made along the way to fill that giant venue. Publisher Electronic Arts’ investment in the Dead Space series has grown so large that Clarke and company need to find a huge audience to be successful. The easiest way to do that is to cut away what gave the franchise its edge and uniqueness, taking it from a killer niche experience to something more generic in nature.

via: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/dead-space-3-review-what-have-i-become-my-sweetest-friend/

I haven't played it yet so I can't really comment on the game itself but I thought that paragraph was pretty funny.

 

[Sulaco]

Dead Space series has grown so large that Clarke and company need to find a huge audience to be successful. The easiest way to do that is to cut away what gave the franchise its edge and uniqueness, taking it from a killer niche experience to something more generic in nature.

THIS!!! Motherf***ing this.

THIS can be applied to SO MANY GREAT franchises over the years, I don't even know where to begin. Also commonly called "dumbing down", appealing to the lowest common denominator, or even "consolization".

But the same idea is clear: Publisher decides to get greedy and make their game the next Call of Duty, needs a MASSIVE audience to meet sales goals, alters the original game to appeal to audiences that generally don't care for that genre/type of game (dumbing down), ends up generic and genuinely pleasing no one.

Can't say for sure that's the case with DS3, haven't played it, but it's nice to see a major media/news outlet recognize the phenomena and call it like it is.

 

[badb0y]

I put in about 2 hours so far and the game definitely feels different. There is a lot of intense action sequences and I don't feel that they were able to capture the atmosphere of the first 2 games because of that.

I will play it through just for the story though but that feeling of being alone and stalked is not there.

 

[I.M.Weasel]

Curb stomp all the things!

 

[Canbacon]

So far I only finished the very start of the game. I can see from first impressions how people are angry, but I think it is because there isn't enough necromorphs. Though, the start of the story just doesn't really have many due to justifiable spoilerish reasons.

So far, I'm liking it, I cranked it up to max difficulty and it is sufficiently hard. I dismembered one improperly and it morphed and tore me a new one. I'll hold my final judgement when I hit the main planet. Overall, I think DS3 is an evolutionary move to the series. Isac is very experienced with the necromorphs and we know most of the tricks that they throw at us. The only thing I don't like so far is the sound track. I find it too intrusive. I'm ok with a very sparse music track like in DS1/2 (unless I am remembering stuff incorrectly).

 

[nemesismk2]

i've only just started playing the first dead space due to work but will try to finish them all

 

[coloumb]

Well..maybe I should finish DS2 as the intro story to DS3 seems like I missed something. I believe I stopped playing DS2 after failing to repeatedly fly through the space debris [or maybe I was more interested in something else at the time].

After about an hour of playing - I'm enjoying it so far other than the "die and retry the same area over until you stay alive" crap].

 

[Madia]

I've spent some more time with the game and have some further impressions. First off, I was wrong about the time it takes for a playthrough. According to the in game progress I'm about 50% complete and have logged in just upwards of 11 hours. Some of this was due to the extra time spent tinkering with the crafting station but the game is a lot larger than the previous two and will probably take twice as long to complete.

The biggest change to the game is the feel of the gunplay due to the weapon crafting system and overhaul of the necromorph's behavior. This doesn't mean it's become a call of duty type action fest like many feared, it just feels different than the other games and you can no longer plow through the game with a plasma cutter and line gun like the previous two.

The weapons crafting system takes some time to learn. There's no in depth tutorial so you learn by tinkering. It takes a while to figure out how the crafting works and even more time in figuring out what guns you want. While a gun may look like a good idea on paper it might not behave the way you think against necromorphs. There's a weapons arena that lets you craft/test the weapons but even so it takes a while until you're comforatable with the crafting system and a good amount of time testing until you come up with the guns you like.

I've been playing on the normal difficulty and the game has seemed very easy and I only died maybe once or twice. That was until I encounted the second boss-type necromorph. He was rather tough (I died the first time against him because I had harldy been paying attention to my rig health since the game was so easy up until then) and he turned out to be a difficult challenge. After him all the necromorphs have toughned up and have been giving me a challenge. I noticed the necromorphs growing tougher as I played through the game but this was a spike in difficulty. Maybe the beginning was designed to be easy because at first you're trying to figure out the weapon crafting and gather the components for better weapons. Where I'm at now I understand the crafting and have some pretty good weapons so maybe that's why visceral decided to spike the difficulty at that point. So for those who are upping the difficulty because the beginning is too easy I'd caution against upping it too far since you might face an extremely difficult challenge later on in the game.

From what I've played so far the weakest part of the game seems to be the execution of the story. On paper, everything is fine. The plot of the game, the mythos of the Dead Space universe, the character of Isaac are all very good. It's just that the execution is flat.

As said by the characters it's the end of the world and if the mission the crew are on fails than that's it for humanity. However, the game fails to convey that sense of doom and everything feels rather tepid. The dialouge is tepid, the sense of epicness is tepid and the horror/creepiness is tepid. It's not the execution I expect of a AAA title and I don't feel emotionally invested in it as I would have if it was executed properly. It's not like the execution is bad or campy, it's just lukewarm.

Still, the game is fun so far and I still have half a way to go so maybe the story will pick up. It's definitely a good game and worth playing but it would need a better execution to come up to the bar of truely gaming experiences such as the Witcher 2, ME series, etc.

 

[badb0y]

I've spent some more time with the game and have some further impressions. First off, I was wrong about the time it takes for a playthrough. According to the in game progress I'm about 50% complete and have logged in just upwards of 11 hours. Some of this was due to the extra time spent tinkering with the crafting station but the game is a lot larger than the previous two and will probably take twice as long to complete.

The biggest change to the game is the feel of the gunplay due to the weapon crafting system and overhaul of the necromorph's behavior. This doesn't mean it's become a call of duty type action fest like many feared, it just feels different than the other games and you can no longer plow through the game with a plasma cutter and line gun like the previous two.

The weapons crafting system takes some time to learn. There's no in depth tutorial so you learn by tinkering. It takes a while to figure out how the crafting works and even more time in figuring out what guns you want. While a gun may look like a good idea on paper it might not behave the way you think against necromorphs. There's a weapons arena that lets you craft/test the weapons but even so it takes a while until you're comforatable with the crafting system and a good amount of time testing until you come up with the guns you like.

I've been playing on the normal difficulty and the game has seemed very easy and I only died maybe once or twice. That was until I encounted the second boss-type necromorph. He was rather tough (I died the first time against him because I had harldy been paying attention to my rig health since the game was so easy up until then) and he turned out to be a difficult challenge. After him all the necromorphs have toughned up and have been giving me a challenge. I noticed the necromorphs growing tougher as I played through the game but this was a spike in difficulty. Maybe the beginning was designed to be easy because at first you're trying to figure out the weapon crafting and gather the components for better weapons. Where I'm at now I understand the crafting and have some pretty good weapons so maybe that's why visceral decided to spike the difficulty at that point. So for those who are upping the difficulty because the beginning is too easy I'd caution against upping it too far since you might face an extremely difficult challenge later on in the game.

From what I've played so far the weakest part of the game seems to be the execution of the story. On paper, everything is fine. The plot of the game, the mythos of the Dead Space universe, the character of Isaac are all very good. It's just that the execution is flat.

As said by the characters it's the end of the world and if the mission the crew are on fails than that's it for humanity. However, the game fails to convey that sense of doom and everything feels rather tepid. The dialouge is tepid, the sense of epicness is tepid and the horror/creepiness is tepid. It's not the execution I expect of a AAA title and I don't feel emotionally invested in it as I would have if it was executed properly. It's not like the execution is bad or campy, it's just lukewarm.

Still, the game is fun so far and I still have half a way to go so maybe the story will pick up. It's definitely a good game and worth playing but it would need a better execution to come up to the bar of truely gaming experiences such as the Witcher 2, ME series, etc.

OMG, I am about finish the game (Chapter 18) and I am running low on freaking bullets. The difficulty spike was definitely the reason I started using more clips because I had a lot of extra bullets until now.

EDIT: Just finished the game doing main story line only. Took me about 11 hours to complete it and the main story line ended for me at 75.3% completion.

Overall it was a good experience, much more action packed than I would want in a title like this. I would give it a 7.5 because the gameplay was fun, crafting and upgrading was fun, and the story line was decent. Some quirks for me were the obvious puzzles and areas that were designed for co-op. I didn't get to craft any of the high end weapons though since I simply didn't accumulate enough wealth. It's probably so you have something to do should you replay it.

 

[Madia]

OMG, I am about finish the game (Chapter 18) and I am running low on freaking bullets. The difficulty spike was definitely the reason I started using more clips because I had a lot of extra bullets until now.

EDIT: Just finished the game doing main story line only. Took me about 11 hours to complete it and the main story line ended for me at 75.3% completion.

Overall it was a good experience, much more action packed than I would want in a title like this. I would give it a 7.5 because the gameplay was fun, crafting and upgrading was fun, and the story line was decent. Some quirks for me were the obvious puzzles and areas that were designed for co-op. I didn't get to craft any of the high end weapons though since I simply didn't accumulate enough wealth. It's probably so you have something to do should you replay it.

The three side missions I've played so far all resulted in bonus resources so that might have been one of the reasons you were running low. The side missions are as good as the rest of the game and have taken around 30-40 minutes each. My playtime also might be up a little since instead of pausing the game when I'd take a quick break I just let the game run so I wouldn't have to wait for my bot to get back to the bench.

My main weapon is a line gun/shotgun and my other is a machine gun/ripper (mostly used for the hoards). I'm still not completely satisified with them so I'll continue to tinker.

 

[badb0y]

The three side missions I've played so far all resulted in bonus resources so that might have been one of the reasons you were running low. The side missions are as good as the rest of the game and have taken around 30-40 minutes each. My playtime also might be up a little since instead of pausing the game when I'd take a quick break I just let the game run so I wouldn't have to wait for my bot to get back to the bench.

My main weapon is a line gun/shotgun and my other is a machine gun/ripper (mostly used for the hoards). I'm still not completely satisified with them so I'll continue to tinker.

My 2 main weapons were an assault rifle with damage/rat of fire upgrades and the plasma cutter with damage/rate of fire/reload upgrades lol. I did make some of the lower tier weapons but they didn't suit my play style. Anyways the final boss was pretty easy compared to those giant necromorphs.

 

[Keeper]

Ummmm Holy crap (dust myself off after crawling out from under rock)
1 & 2 are SOLID 9's across the board. Where the HELL have I been?

Ok, SORT of a hijack. DO I MISS anything If I play 1&2 on XBOX?
Since I have upgraded my PC, I have left console world for a bit.
Cheapest I can find 1 & 2 is 20 each or a 39 dollar combo for download at Gamestop.

XBOX... 7 and 9 dollars respectfully. Used of course..

Please let me know. Here in the NE as long as power holds up its gonna be a gaming weekend!!!!!
Maybe some sex... Wait.. Long time married... Who am I kidding?

 

[badb0y]

Ummmm Holy crap (dust myself off after crawling out from under rock)
1 & 2 are SOLID 9's across the board. Where the HELL have I been?

Ok, SORT of a hijack. DO I MISS anyhing If I play 1&2 on XBOX?
Since I have upgraded my PC, I have left console world for a bit.
Cheapest I can find 1 & 2 is 20 each or a 39 dollar combo for download at Gamestop.

XBOX... 7 and 9 dollars respectfully. Used of course..

Please let me know. Here in the NE as long as power holds up its gonna be a gaminng weekend!!!!!
Maybe some sex... Wait.. Long time married... Who am I kidding?

You won't miss anything just get the cheapest price you can find or whatever platform.

 

[Soundmanred]