yep
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The Evil Within 2 |OT| "Something not quite right"
- Thread starter SlasherJPC
- Start date
yep
You can test it easily. Just try to make small circles while aiming, you'll get squares.
It's super fucky and really reminiscent of UC3 like he said. But at the same time that game was more vertical so it was a bigger pain in the ass.
The first game to me:
- had great visual design
- had solid (not great) combat design
- had great story/lore ideas
- had great bosses
- had terrible, godawful, fuck-that pacing that arguably ruined the game for many
- didn't manage to execute its story/lore ideas in any solid fashion
The second game to me:
- has great visual design
- has fantastic story/lore ideas
- has great bosses
- has fantastic pacing (the design of the open world exploration, the timing of it, the flow of linear sections)
- executes its story/lore ideas far better
- has flawed combat design
That's only one negative (the combat design) which I would agree is better in the original. I think TEW2 has better encounter design than TEW1 but worse mechanics. In TEW2 I love all the countless scripted scenarios with enemies appearing new places, ambushing you, the way the open world integrates with enemies and encounters, etc. The open world is totally immersive.
Re your points here:
I played them both at once and the overall package was really good and nicely balanced.
I can imagine if you played the first in isolation it would be pretty annoying.
110%
I also love both games, TEW2 is just personally pressing my buttons on a gut-level more than the first.
Not done with TEW2 yet, but so far its pacing is on point. Currently on Ch. 11. Loving it so far and it's already a stone-cold classic to me.
I also think the pacing is great in TEW1, although sometimes it might not feel that way because TEW1 is so bleak and stressful and suffocating in its atmosphere that it fries your nerves and feels like "too much" at times.
TEW1's Ch. 9 and Ch. 10 are among the finest hours in videogames, but damn, they kill part of your soul.
I also think the pacing is great in TEW1, although sometimes it might not feel that way because TEW1 is so bleak and stressful and suffocating in its atmosphere that it fries your nerves and feels like "too much" at times.
TEW1's Ch. 9 and Ch. 10 are among the finest hours in videogames, but damn, they kill part of your soul.
TEW1 was basically a series of set pieces. Some better than others. But even at its worst, it never made me want to stop playing... although ghost Ruvik is always an annoyance. I don't mind the RE4-style chapters, because after your first playthrough, you'll likely end up with a surplus of ammo alongside some upgraded weapons at the start. Go to town. (I don't think I've ever taken the ammo found in lockers, I just open them for the gel)
Oh and if try to take on Laura with the fire harpoons, it takes a whole lot and one mistake and you're dead. That's something I skip on replays.
Oh and if try to take on Laura with the fire harpoons, it takes a whole lot and one mistake and you're dead. That's something I skip on replays.
Yeah, I think I feel the same. Love both games, but in an active moment-to-moment sense, I think I "enjoy" TEW2 more.
One reason is it actually has some feel-good, comfy/cozy moments that provide contrast, as I discussed before:
I think this comfort, described above, makes a big difference. It provides me an incentive to make it through the dreadful areas by rewarding me with a brief break from it all at the end. TEW1 never really felt comfortable to me since it never felt safe, not even in the mirror world where strange stuff kept happening, keeping me constantly on edge.
Horror is, obviously, a goal of horror games. But horror also has a numbing effect when it's all horror all the time.
Torres' Voice Acting
probably the worst voice acting i have heard in years
This was my reaction to all of the VA in this game.
I think Yukiko has the worst VA though.
Waddle Dee
Member
I liked that unapologetic nature of TEW1's environments. TEW2 often feels relatively safe and basic by comparison when it comes to it's environments and I get the suspicion that this is one of the changes brought on by the more western focus.
Like the giant eye in the sky in Chapter 7 was fantastic and all I can think to myself is "Why couldn't there be more of this?".
Brian_FETO
Banned
Taking shots at the director is ignorant and unwarranted
The game feels more cohesive than the first and addresses a lot of the criticisms
Unfortunately it seems designed around solving said criticisms vs. improving what the first game did. It's a well-designed game but as a sequel it's strange. A lot of the warts of the original gave it character. The one shot deaths and traps felt like the game was always laughing at the player's expense, without really getting overly frustrating. Just keeping you on your toes because the second you get comfortable and run towards the objective a tripwire wrecks you
I cannot stress enough that the removal of matches is baffling and incredibly disappointing. One of the most memorable moments in my playthrough of 1 is catching an invisible enemy with a harpoon and nailing him to a piece of hospital equipment, then lighting him on fire
The game feels more cohesive than the first and addresses a lot of the criticisms
Unfortunately it seems designed around solving said criticisms vs. improving what the first game did. It's a well-designed game but as a sequel it's strange. A lot of the warts of the original gave it character. The one shot deaths and traps felt like the game was always laughing at the player's expense, without really getting overly frustrating. Just keeping you on your toes because the second you get comfortable and run towards the objective a tripwire wrecks you
I cannot stress enough that the removal of matches is baffling and incredibly disappointing. One of the most memorable moments in my playthrough of 1 is catching an invisible enemy with a harpoon and nailing him to a piece of hospital equipment, then lighting him on fire
I'm finding that when TEW2 wants to turn on the bleak relentlessness, it does, and it's just as stressful as TEW1's bleak and relentless parts.
But TEW1's pacing was so weird and wonky you'd spend hours feeling that, haha. It was weird. I prefer TEW2's 'peaks and troughs'.
Seb is a total cartoon in this game, which is fine! There's some high concept stuff here whereas TEW1 plays it pretty conservatively.
I just read between the lines of execution and intent and find both humor and an admiration for the attempt.
Like, bless their hearts.
Like I said earlier, it really reminds me of some localized, optimistic, late '90s to early 2000s survival horror. I wonder how the Japanese VA sounds.
I just read between the lines of execution and intent and find both humor and an admiration for the attempt.
Like, bless their hearts.
Like I said earlier, it really reminds me of some localized, optimistic, late '90s to early 2000s survival horror. I wonder how the Japanese VA sounds.
It's weird that they removed such an overpowered mechanic and replaced with other overpowered mechanics- i.e. easily attainable skills like bottle break and corner sneak kill. Gel seems to be a lot easier to get in higher quantities, I've seen people leave Chapter 3 on Nightmare with stacked abilities/weapons.
Also everyone knows that you flash bolt -> sneak kill those invisible guys.
synce
Member
Because Kidman's jeans.
OK, actually the DLC is definitely superior to the last few chapters of TEW1 - the city based ones where zombies have guns. It just became a bad shooter at that point. The DLC had way more tension.
That said, both TEW1 and 2 have some big issues, but overall 1 has far less of them and you really can't compare to godfather of survival horror to some new guy. Up until the first game turned into a shooter it had a ton of buttclenching moments. There's almost none of that in 2 - no traps to worry about, the enemies have the intelligence of looney tunes characters, and you can pause a battle to craft herbs, I mean come on.
The weird thing is that even with a mouse hitting enemies isn't that easy. As well as this weird analog quirk I really think that the enemy animation/attack design is flawed.
Peroroncino
Member
Waddle Dee
Member
Nah.
That one guy calling him a vegan/stoner was rude but it's not hard to see how the change in director has changed quite a few things (and for the worse, I'd say). TEW1 felt more like Resident Evil 4 with it's focus on tight enemy encounters and strictly linear progression while TEW2 feels a bit closer to The Last of Us and while I did like that game, it wasn't the direction I wanted to see the series take, especially since so many other games are copying it now.
The matches were one of the defining mechanics of TEW1. I don't understand how the thought it'd be a good idea to remove them. It'd be like if a Mario game removed blocks to break. It's a key feature!
It's a bit closer to The Last of Us, a bit closer to RE4 (way more open and backtrackey than TEW1), a bit closer to Silent Hill, a bit closer to MGS, a bit closer to STALKER...
It's not JUST like TLoU.
Also the guy didn't just call the dude a stoner but based his entire judgement of the guy's development capabilities on how he looked. "This guy doesn't look the type to have a mind to create a game that is better than EW1 in any department." That is poor quality chat.
theyturkerjurbs
Neo Member
Does anyone know why sometimes when ya doing a cover transition Seb just stops short of going into cover properly? Its pretty inconsistant feeling.
It's not a bad comparison, but I don't like it too much because neither TEW2 is as bad as Dark Souls II, nor TEW1 is as good as Dark Souls. Sure, the comparison doesn't necessarily talk abou the quality of each title, but it's an inevitable parallel that people will make.
I think a better comparison in the Souls series would be from Demon's to Dark, actually. It even matches the shift from level-based progression to a bigger focus on exploration and a connected map. Make it Demon's Souls to Dark Souls II, if you want to represent the director change as well. In fact, you'll find plenty of people in the fanbase who make a similar argument as to why Demon's is a better game. They'll concede that the interconnected world structure is a really cool addition and that the game is great and a lot of fun to explore, but they'll say that the tradeoff wasn't worth it, that it lost some of its charm and atmosphere in this change. Which is exactly what a lot of people here are saying.
Dark Souls II isn't a game with a wildly different structure to its predecessor, it's just worse. That's why I don't like the comparison too much. There are still some folks who prefer Dark Souls II, but overall the fanbase agrees that it's just worse than Dark Souls. If you compare it to Demon's, however, you'll see a bigger split, because they have such different structures, that even if you still think Demon's is much tighter and better designed, the exploration provided by having this "open world" may be something you prefer, even if they're not nearly as well connected as in the first game. It's overall a different experience.
Going by the IGN video where both Mikami and Johanas mention some of their biggest influences for the series, even if there was a conscious focus on western horror, it certainly wasn't something Mikami was opposed to or wouldn't do himself. He even mentions The Walking Dead, while Johanas was the one to bring up Junji Ito.
piccio_ssl
Member
can confirm this,13 hours without a single issue and today two crashes in 30/40 minutes
didn't notice any update tho
CrichtonKicks
Member
Yeah, this is a much better analogy.
I like you. Thank you.
The DLC is for the hardest of the hardcore fans of EW to submit themselves to that shit just so they can learn more about the game universe.
It is abysmal stuff, and it makes sense there is such a focus on stealth in EW2 now that is with the guy who made this DLC.
I'm not out to blindly trust pupils in anything, not just video games. To me based off of his work which is the DLC for 1 and this game, then he doesn't have the chops to create a good horror game from start to finish.
Mikami needed to play a bigger role, but for some reason he felt this guy could make a more compelling game to western audiences than himself. Perhaps he succeeded in that since the game reviewed better, and the casual game journalist media enjoyed it more with its mish mash of other popular AAA franchise game elements.
Not every game needs big ass CoD #'s to be successful. Or even those big of teams. Survival horror has always been niche, so to strip the survival horror great parts of EW1 to instead make a pseudo Last of Us 1.5 to appease masses seems to have blown up in their faces. What we know so far is it didn't do hot commercially, correct?
I want a EW3, but not with this guy as the lead director. He can work on post game DLC or something, and leave the core product to the master.
I actually wondered the first time I played the game if that's how Uncharted 3 pre-patch felt. Never played with the original aim.
Yeah, I agree. It would be awesome to have Mikami directing TEW3, but I'd be thrilled if it was yet another departure, instead of just going back to the style of the first game. I love the idea of having a new action horror series where every entry tries to be its own thing. The setting definitely allows for this.
That I completely agree with. Even though they do provide some options to make up for it, it's just... why? Why remove it?
Make it the trademark Evil Within mechanic. I hope it comes back if we ever get a sequel, no matter who's the director.
SolarPowered
Member
This might be the best gaf post I've read in months.
thanks! yeah that did the trick
Inkvoterad
Member
On chapter 13
cleaning up the open area with the new enemies, has anyone gone back to the very first place? Was wondering if it also had updated with new enemies.
Neff
Member
I didn't make that claim, but I do think that TEW1 made Seb's suffering and general state of misery more believable.
TEW2 goes to ham-fisted lengths to re-iterate what we basically already knew, save for Myra's personality and fate, which didn't really go anywhere either.
I'm waiting for an interview from the first game to come out giving a story along the lines of the explanation of why Lara Croft's breasts were huge "We accidentally added a 0 to her ass calculations"
Butt its not even giant tho
As someone who loves Soulsbourne- I would replay TEW1 over DS1 any day. DS2 as well. Bloodborne... maybe not.
DS1 really falls apart in the second half for me. And DS2 just isn't that fun to play overall because of the lack of starting iframes and less entertaining bossfights. (Also the terribly sensitive enemy aggro and well there's a lot of shit I don't like about the game, particularly the seemingly slight changes in combat mechanics)
DS1 really falls apart in the second half for me. And DS2 just isn't that fun to play overall because of the lack of starting iframes and less entertaining bossfights. (Also the terribly sensitive enemy aggro and well there's a lot of shit I don't like about the game, particularly the seemingly slight changes in combat mechanics)
-MD-
Member
Chapter 6 mirror thing is just the worst.
You should try the first game again, aiming feels miles better in TEW1.
You should try the first game again, aiming feels miles better in TEW1.
Sanctuary
Member
I think the "second half" claims are really exaggerated, especially from a first playthrough perspective, where you'll most likely do as much as you can before Anor Londo.
My typical Dark Souls playthrough has this after O&S:
Catacombs
Tomb of the Giants
Demon Ruins
Lost Izalith
New Londo Ruins
Duke's Archives
Returning to the Undead Asylum
Painted World of Ariamis
Artorias of the Abyss
Kiln of the First Flame
Only Lost Izalith is really garbage among these, and some of them like Catacombs, New Londo Ruins, the DLC and the Painted World are pretty damn awesome.
The game gives you a lot of freedom with your progression, you could even add Lower Undead Burg, Depths and the whole Darkroot Garden to this after-O&S list if you want.
On a typical "doing as much as possible" playthrough, what is called the second half by most people is really just a few areas and bosses and then Gwyn. From that perspective it's certainly lackluster, but at this point I'm way over my first impression of "the second half is not that good" that I had from my first playthrough.
Sanctuary
Member
They are grossly exaggerated. It's more like the last sixth at worst.
What? I don't get why that's considered complicated at all.
After running through doors randomly and ending up in the same room, it would be time to do something different. The only thing different to do is check out the mirror. The mirror which shows you how to leave the room.
The Xtortionist
Member
Playing right now and it feels pretty similar. Enemies are less squirrely and easier to shoot, though.
I honestly think this is the biggest difference. A lot of people were talking about it back at the start of the thread.
In TEW2 the enemy attack animations are way too lungey and quick and it doesn't gel with the tight aiming view and lack of movement options at all.
TBQH it would be fine if you could do RE6-style dodges and rolls and leaps, but you can't, you can just sprint your clunky ass back and forth.
Clunky aiming ala RE4 and TEW1 is fine as long as the enemy animations and attacks are designed carefully around it - in TEW2, they're not.
It wasn't brilliant, but it was still miles better than the final boss in the first game.
Sanctuary
Member
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=252406584&postcount=3228
I don't even remember the boss of the first game, so I guess maybe it is.
RE6 dodges would be fantastic for this game. Even something like an Alan Wake dodge tied to the sprint button would work great with this style of enemy behavior.
Yup. I hated the DLC, except for the story bits. John Johanas directing TEW2 was a disappointing announcement in my opinion. And judging by people's responses here, the amount of stealth has increased considerably
Aside from weapon canceling, there's nothing in that video you can't pull off in TEW2.