TEW2 will be more memorable to me for its fucky story-telling that makes the Stem machine more iconic in terms of function. That you could build a town in it is pretty cool, and how it can be corrupted and everything. Like one poster said about another aspect of TEW2's story, it retroactively makes the first game better by way of offering more context. TEW2 actually makes me want to play the first again to experience it with this context.
Both games are memorable for their awkward combat. TEW1 does have that memorable shitheel though: Joseph. And shit like Ruvik calling Sebatian, "Seb."
Is it possible to change Difficulty after starting the game? I beat TEW so I put it on Nightmare, but I'm not sure I'll last through to the end and I don't want to get burned out.
I probably won't actually drop the Difficulty down, but I'd like to know if the option is there.
Is it possible to change Difficulty after starting the game? I beat TEW so I put it on Nightmare, but I'm not sure I'll last through to the end and I don't want to get burned out.
I probably won't actually drop the Difficulty down, but I'd like to know if the option is there.
Had a nice long chat last night with NeoGAF's very own Net Wrecker to parse out thoughts on the game. I think the game is really good overall, but goddamn it isn't what I wanted. I'm a huge fan of the "Mikami rollercoaster shooter", so to speak, and the first Evil Within accomplished that to a decent degree. The framework was all there, but the execution was significantly botched with tons of jank and poor performance on console. Instead of polishing it up for an iterative sequel, Evil Within 2 forgoes the propulsive and scripted formula of the original for more methodical, emergent gameplay. That isn't a bad thing, and the result is a sequel that's generally more consistent than the original in quality. The gameplay is also polished up significantly, though a bit of wonkiness can be found if you look for it. It also has the best headshots in any game ever - topping the first game.
A few pages back the city section of TEW1 came up, and I brought up the gondola encounter as being some "Mikami-ass Mikami". Last night I tried to drill down what a "Mikami" encounter really means to me and why I love them so much, so here's what I got. I believe many of the best encounters in both RE4 and TEW1 are recognized as such because they would make a reasonable player say "oh, you GOTTA be kidding me!". The encounters tend to accomplish this by one of two ways: 1. Immediately placing the player in a compromised or otherwise disadvantaged position by way of a unique twist or gimmick; good examples would be the confined space of the RE4 cage match or gondola in TEW1, and the poison gas threat of the Keeper encounter in TEW1. 2. Unexpectedly escalating the threat mid-fight; examples would be RE4's Dr. Salvador shattering the player's sense of comfort in the village's two-story cabin, the one-two punch of the rain of harpoons and subsequent Sadist appearance in TEW1's chapter 6, or going back for Joseph's glasses. Also, defending Kidman in the water trap where first it's a wave of regular enemies, then dynamite guys flooding in, then finally having to make a mad dash to the control panel to frantically input the right code.
The Evil Within 2 doesn't really go for this stuff. There are brief flashes of it in sections like chapter
13's escort
, but generally encounters are clearly telegraphed, mostly emergent, and don't significantly escalate once initiated. The combat survives because of how damn fun it is, but there's little actual encounter design that impressed me.
TEW2 also leans harder into horror sequences when compared to the first game. The obligatory opening walking simulator section is longer than before, and nearly-entire chapters such as
5
are devoted to this stuff. It was neat on a first playthrough, but the hampered pace makes it a bit rough on replays. The game also leans too hard into a story that I really didn't care about, with even more forced walks and some repetitive dialogue.
Yeah, I get that Seb's family loves each other. Pls stop saying it.
The more-open sections are when TEW2 is at its strongest imo. These levels are well-designed, very dense, and filled with rewarding interactions. Stealth killing a group of enemies with clever tactics is endlessly satisfying. Still, the linear sections lack the urgency and setpieces of the original game, and The Marrow sticks out as a pretty boring environment with not a whole lot going on; it has a few moments, but they're mostly fleeting. Boss fights aren't as numerous or memorable as the original for me, with many enemies presented as bosses feeling like glorified mini-bosses instead (Guardian, Harbinger). Final boss was pretty great, though.
A major nitpick I have with the game is that it's just overanimated. It takes too long to perform simple actions like drinking coffee, rummaging through trash cans, and scavenging from dead bodies. Sitting in the upgrade chair also takes a while, since the nurse has to settle in before any options can be selected. A lot of this stuff could have been cut down without harming the experience.
This post might seem really negative on TEW2, but I honestly like it a lot. I think I'd give the edge to TEW1 since its scripted, rollercoaster design is more to my tastes. Both games have flaws - TEW1 often devolves into a janky mess, though the sequel is less memorable and impressive to me overall. I'm glad the games exist because there isn't a ton out right now with spooky atmosphere and frantic, backfoot-oriented survival combat, and I really want a TEW3 to happen.
I actually dislike what you're describing as the "Mikami Encounter" because, in probably more than half of cases, it shatters immersion for me. From a gameplay standpoint these spaces are usually perfect, putting pressure on your resources, your strategy and your skill. But from a real-world, "I'm immersed in this universe" perspective, they always look ridiculous. The moving gondola is like some broken-ass logic shit, the whole city section of TEW1 was just absurd, most of the castle in RE4 was, too. These feel like game spaces, not spaces in a real world. In games that usually start with realistic pacing and environments it's always extra off-putting when they descend into that kind of contrived design, and Mikami always does this. At some point he always throws real-world design logic out the window.
Of course they're not all like that - the TEW1 poison gas sequence was believable/immersive and the cage in RE4 was believable/immersive. But for every immersive example there's at least one contrived example in Mikami's games IMO. This is kinda why God Hand is possibly my favourite of his - it's not trying to nail immersion as WELL as intense encounter design, it's just unashamed balls-to-the-wall crazy game design so the ridiculousness becomes a strength not a weakness.
I'm loving TEW2 because it does away with the unrealistic spaces/designs. It puts you under pressure but the space always feel realistic/immersive (within the lore context) while always providing opportunities to escape/handle the threat. The scene where the woman
sprints across the street being chased by monsters
is a perfect example - you can hang back and let her die, you can hang back to ambush them from behind, or you can run into the thick of it. Do the latter and there is plenty of stuff lying around to save you - cover, looping paths, jumpable fences and bushes to hide in - and none of them feel like unrealistic or contrived additions to the game world, they're just there.
sprints across the street being chased by monsters
is a perfect example - you can hang back and let her die, you can hang back to ambush them from behind, or you can run into the thick of it. Do the latter and there is plenty of stuff lying around to save you - cover, looping paths, jumpable fences and bushes to hide in - and none of them feel like unrealistic or contrived additions to the game world, they're just there.
If you finish the last of the encounters with her, you will see that Sebastian encounters his body still in Beacon, which he promptly kills and feels better. So I took it to mean that the ghost lady is the ghost of Beacon still haunting Sebastian, i.e. the mental trauma caused by the first game which he finally gets over which is represented by killing his representation still stuck in that place. That's my take anyway.
Chapter 3. I missed it several times going back and forth around the place and only saw it happen on my last pass before going to the far north-east objective. Likely an optional/missable thing.
From the first safe house, it's straight down
the street to the right past the church and past the body pile. Cedar Avenue? Straight down there, past the Hag with the knife under the street lamp and then the big manor/hotel on your right. At the end of the street just before the T-junction, when you're trotting along, you'll hear a door slam and a woman sprints across the street from right to left shouting 'shit shit shit' with a load of zombies plunging out after her. I won't spoil what happens/can happen.
It's a really great scene and another very 'emergent/open world Resident Evil 2' moment.
Chapter 3. I missed it several times going back and forth around the place and only saw it happen on my last pass before going to the far north-east objective. Likely an optional/missable thing.
From the first safe house, it's straight down
the street to the right past the church and past the body pile. Cedar Avenue? Straight down there, past the Hag with the knife under the street lamp and then the big manor/hotel on your right. At the end of the street just before the T-junction, when you're trotting along, you'll hear a door slam and a woman sprints across the street from right to left shouting 'shit shit shit' with a load of zombies plunging out after her. I won't spoil what happens/can happen.
It's a really great scene and another very 'emergent/open world Resident Evil 2' moment.
I don't feel Mikami's gone for immersion as the creative lead in 17 years. I don't look to Mikami for immersion. Atmosphere, sure. Tension, yes. Ridiculousness, absolutely. Not immersion. I missed the nonsensical and gamey arena style elements. The closer TEW2 got to that, the better it was. Everything else you can find in every game with stealth elements, zombies, and horror elements. A wacky ass layered area filled with enemies and pointless winches, levers, ladders, booby traps, looping hallways, and ammo in briefcases/boxes in front of a door you need to unlock, behind which is an elevator you will be attacked in, that leads to a room with low ceilings where a maniac mini-boss will chase you to the bottom of your inventory is a MIkami staple, and nobody else is doing this stuff as effectively.
I love me some immersion, but absurdity in the name of fun and replayability is a fine substitute.
Chapter 3. I missed it several times going back and forth around the place and only saw it happen on my last pass before going to the far north-east objective. Likely an optional/missable thing.
From the first safe house, it's straight down
the street to the right past the church and past the body pile. Cedar Avenue? Straight down there, past the Hag with the knife under the street lamp and then the big manor/hotel on your right. At the end of the street just before the T-junction, when you're trotting along, you'll hear a door slam and a woman sprints across the street from right to left shouting 'shit shit shit' with a load of zombies plunging out after her. I won't spoil what happens/can happen.
It's a really great scene and another very 'emergent/open world Resident Evil 2' moment.
I caught a piece of this in the corner of my eye, and it was the most effective horror moment in the entire game IMO. A very underplayed event that was WAY more cost effective in creep factor than any of the bigger surreal sequences.
I don't feel Mikami's gone for immersion as the creative lead in 17 years. I don't look to Mikami for immersion. Atmosphere, sure. Tension, yes. Ridiculousness, absolutely. Not immersion. I missed the nonsensical and gamey arena style elements. The closer TEW2 got to that, the better it was. Everything else you can find in every game with stealth elements, zombies, and horror elements. A wacky ass layered area filled with enemies and pointless winches, levers, ladders, booby traps, looping hallways, and ammo in briefcases/boxes in front of a door you need to unlock, behind which is an elevator you will be attacked in, that leads to a room with low ceilings where a maniac mini-boss will chase you to the bottom of your inventory is a MIkami staple, and nobody else is doing this stuff as effectively.
I love me some immersion, but absurdity in the name of fun and replayability is a fine substitute.
I caught a piece of this in the corner of my eye, and it was the most effective horror moment in the entire game IMO. A very underplayed event that was WAY more cost effective in creep factor than any of he bigger surreal sequences.
I don't feel Mikami's gone for immersion as the creative lead in 17 years. I don't look to Mikami for immersion. Atmosphere, sure. Tension, yes. Ridiculousness, absolutely. Not immersion. I missed the nonsensical and gamey arena style elements. The closer TEW2 got to that, the better it was. Everything else you can find in every game with stealth elements, zombies, and horror elements. A wacky ass layered area filled with enemies and pointless winches, levers, ladders, booby traps, looping hallways, and ammo in briefcases/boxes in front of a door you need to unlock, behind which is an elevator you will be attacked in, that leads to a room with low ceilings where a maniac mini-boss will chase you to the bottom of your inventory is a MIkami staple, and nobody else is doing this stuff as effectively.
I love me some immersion, but absurdity in the name of fun and replayability is a fine substitute.
It's not about looking for immersion in his games, it's about the inconsistent approach to design. You can be immersed in ridiculousness, but then if you're hit with something totally poe-faced and realistic, it will break the 'immersion', if you get me? It's inconsistent tone. Take RE4 as an example:
- The opening sequence: realistic (enough) scenario, brutal car crash, stranded in the woods, terrifying low-key domestic encounter in a house
- The lonely, tense journey through a realistic dead-forest environment
- A totally realistic and intense build-up encounter in the first Village
All of this is immersive. In fact, that level of 'adventure immersion' arguably continues all the way through the Village. There's almost no 'ridiculousness' in that entire chunk of the game. Environments all feel like real 'psycho/cult village' places, all puzzles and challenges feel like these people have really jerry-rigged stuff to try and halt you. Then you hit the Castle:
- the logic of the place's layout makes literally no sense - in contrast with the grim rural poverty of the Village
- indeed it physically makes little sense - it's a trippy castle with no clear functional architecture, like something out of a '40s horror movie - meaningless ballustrades, chambers, staircases, etc - where everything in the village felt like it had a place and broad logic
- a lot of it looks like a Disney theme park. Insane contrast with the grime of the Village
- there are suddenly gimmicky and crazy gameplay objects everywhere - catapults, crazy switch-based water features, rooms which evidently serve no purpose other than locking you off from half of it and making you jump through hoops to solve puzzles, etc
The same thing broadly happens in TEW1: from Chapters 1 to 7 or so the world/design logic is tied to the adventure, not the gameplay, but then we go full Mikami and the world/design logic becomes 'gamified' to the nines and you get weird sequences like the big quarry fight.
Again, none of this is a huge problem because, as you said, Mikami keeps a tight rein on the atmosphere and game design. So even though it's stylistically left-field and, for me, totally immersion breaking, it's still phenomenally designed.
What I'm saying is great about TEW2 is that it doesn't do this (or hasn't so far). They have pulled in the more obviously ridiculous game design features in the world to sustain the sense of coherency about the world - there are no moments when something is blatantly a 'gameplay object'. Instead you learn the 'language' of what is and isn't a gameplay object naturally. Mikami doesn't do that. If there's a switch that unlocks a gate or moves a podium, in a Mikami game it will be the biggest, brightest, most ridiculous switch ever. (So will be the gate/podium.)
I caught a piece of this in the corner of my eye, and it was the most effective horror moment in the entire game IMO. A very underplayed event that was WAY more cost effective in creep factor than any of he bigger surreal sequences in the game.
It's really powerful. Loads of moments and chunks of encounter design in the game have been just as effective for me, but this was a fantastic bit.
I generally adore how every time you backtrack or return to bits of the 'open world' the designers have scripted new zombie positions, new ambushes, new patrol layouts, etc, into it. It's something I don't think I've seen any other open world game do, ever. It makes it feel totally hand-crafted and tailored to keep you on your toes, I love it.
Pretty big spoiler if you follow through and engage in the encounter:
you save her and meet her inside a small house. She 1. reveals that some people inside STEM might not be there willingly (she doesn't remember how she got there) and 2. describes how her husband was terrified of something invisible then became a zombie.
I agree with most of the stuff The Xtortionist said.
I also love the game, but i keep comparing it with the first one, and it falls short in most aspects.
I too miss the 'Mikami feel'.
Idk about her, cause i run to the rescue, but if the encounters are similar, i did see the Mobius guy in ch7 get hit and a health bar appeared, so he can be killed.
Hmm, I didn't get that quote. I got "There is something strange about this room that I can't put my finger on" or something like that. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that I needed to look in the mirror to figure out where to go.
Idk about her, cause i run to the rescue, but if the encounters are similar, i did see the Mobius guy in ch7 get hit and a health bar appeared, so he can be killed.
Hardest fight in the game so far for me because I rolled up on it incredibly low on resources (4 bullets, 0 shotgun shell, 3 sniper rounds, 4 harpoons and that's it). Almost rolled back to an earlier auto-save but I finally made it through with him alive.
Hmm, I didn't get that quote. I got "There is something strange about this room that I can't put my finger on" or something like that. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that I needed to look in the mirror to figure out where to go.
Quick dumb question: just how bad is Evil Within 1 on PS4? I have it on PC and love it and it'd be cool to have on console, too. I can handle 30fps, but if it's consistently worse than that, I won't bother.
It's not about looking for immersion in his games, it's about the inconsistent approach to design. You can be immersed in ridiculousness, but then if you're hit with something totally poe-faced and realistic, it will break the 'immersion', if you get me? It's inconsistent tone. Take RE4 as an example:
- The opening sequence: realistic (enough) scenario, brutal car crash, stranded in the woods, terrifying low-key domestic encounter in a house
- The lonely, tense journey through a realistic dead-forest environment
- A totally realistic and intense build-up encounter in the first Village
All of this is immersive. In fact, that level of 'adventure immersion' arguably continues all the way through the Village. There's almost no 'ridiculousness' in that entire chunk of the game. Environments all feel like real 'psycho/cult village' places, all puzzles and challenges feel like these people have really jerry-rigged stuff to try and halt you. Then you hit the Castle:
- the logic of the place's layout makes literally no sense - in contrast with the grim rural poverty of the Village
- indeed it physically makes little sense - it's a trippy castle with no clear functional architecture, like something out of a '40s horror movie
- a lot of it looks like a Disney theme park. Insane contrast with the grime of the Village
- there are suddenly gimmicky and crazy gameplay objects everywhere - catapults, crazy switch-based water features, rooms which evidently serve no purpose other than locking you off from half of it and making you jump through hoops to solve puzzles, etc
The same thing broadly happens in TEW1: from Chapters 1 to 7 or so the world/design logic is tied to the adventure, not the gameplay, but then we go full Mikami and the world/design logic becomes 'gamified' to the nines and you get weird sequences like the big quarry fight.
Again, none of this is a huge problem because, as you said, Mikami keeps a tight rein on the atmosphere and game design. So even though it's stylistically left-field and, for me, totally immersion breaking, it's still phenomenally designed.
What I'm saying is great about TEW2 is that it doesn't do this (or hasn't so far). They have pulled in the more obviously ridiculous game design features in the world to sustain the sense of coherency about the world - there are no moments when something is blatantly a 'gameplay object'. Instead you learn the 'language' of what is and isn't a gameplay object naturally. Mikami doesn't do that. If there's a switch that unlocks a gate or moves a podium, in a Mikami game it will be the biggest, brightest, most ridiculous switch ever. (So will be the gate/podium.)
Well both RE4 and TEW feel like a hodgepodge of ideas kept in the games that would've been chiseled down by most other studios. RE4 was rebooted a number of times but it feels like they kept elements from all of it. TEW came off as a much more horror based experience in early rumors and concept art, but still comes out with 1,001 different scenarios, many of which are action based in nature. The Evil Within 2 is absolutely more coherent and cohesive on a conceptual and world building level than either of those games. It starts at one speed, changes to another, and keeps bouncing between them all the way to the end. Alongside that, it feels like there's a concerted effort to have Union and The Marrow act as grounding tools for you to become familiarized with and comfortable in (to an extent) in order to make some sense of the journey and how your actions are affecting STEM. Even through the more surreal and gamey sections, it still feels like a title that's trying to keep you in the loop and keep its internal logic intact.
I just don't know if the changes they made are worth it for me, personally. The immersion factor is not strong enough make up for the change in design.
Quick dumb question: just how bad is Evil Within 1 on PS4? I have it on PC and love it and it'd be cool to have on console, too. I can handle 30fps, but if it's consistently worse than that, I won't bother.
Quick dumb question: just how bad is Evil Within 1 on PS4? I have it on PC and love it and it'd be cool to have on console, too. I can handle 30fps, but if it's consistently worse than that, I won't bother.
Quick dumb question: just how bad is Evil Within 1 on PS4? I have it on PC and love it and it'd be cool to have on console, too. I can handle 30fps, but if it's consistently worse than that, I won't bother.
Wish I could join the Chapter 10 love but the second half of that chapter is the worst section of the game to me. Which is super frustrating because on paper it should be the best.
The Laura chase is horrible. Awful sign posting on where the various valves you have to shoot are and her one hit kills need to die in a fire.
Then the boss of that stage comes out of nowhere with no proper buildup through the stage. Chapters 9 and 10 have been focused on the backstory of Ruvik and Laura but the big capper is instead some giant monster.
The garage battle should be great- its a classic Mikami setup. Seemingly overwhelming enemy that the player has to fight in an arena pepperered with hidden alcoves, environmental traps, etc. The boss itself has a protruding eyestalk that screams "weak spot". You think it may be a tactical game of cat and mouse as you use stealth and environmental traps to engage him while quickly ducking away to various hiding spots.
But in execution its just a giant ball random carnage as you just shoot him as much as possible while the environmental traps do jack.
Wish I could join the Chapter 10 love but the second half of that chapter is the worst section of the game to me. Which is super frustrating because on paper it should be the best.
The Laura chase is horrible. Awful sign posting on where the various valves you have to shoot are and her one hit kills need to die in a fire.
Then the boss of that stage comes out of nowhere with no proper buildup through the stage. Chapters 9 and 10 have been focused on the backstory of Ruvik and Laura but the big capper is instead some giant monster.
The garage battle should be great- its a classic Mikami setup. Seemingly overwhelming enemy that the player has to fight in an arena pepperered with hidden alcoves, environmental traps, etc. The boss itself has a protruding eyestalk that screams "weak spot". You think it may be a tactical game of cat and mouse as you use stealth and environmental traps to engage him while quickly ducking away to various hiding spots.
But in execution its just a giant ball random carnage as you just shoot him as much as possible while the environmental traps do jack.
Idk I thought the valves were signposted really well. They all look the same and have glowing orange fire in them, and the game teaches you what they look like and what they do right before she chases you in an area with no enemies around. They went too hard with the OHKs though for sure, but at least shes not too fast.
The amalgam boss worked for me because it came out of nowhere. Thats why chapter 10 is so good. It just keeps ratcheting up the tension and difficulty well past the point you ever thought it was. You think this spinning blade room is tough? Well heres a meat grinder with a tough new enemy. Think that was crazy? Heres a long chase/boss fight against that scary ass nemesis youve been facing most of the game. Oh you think youre done now? Hell nah, heres another boss immediately ever and hes huge.
The stealth/weakspot stuff totally works against that boss as well, and if you dig into the story a little more it does relate back Ruvick I believe.
The first two bosses in EW2 were awesome but I hope they get harder since neither one was as tense as most of the bosses of the first game.
Idk I thought the valves were signposted really well. They all look the same and have glowing orange fire in them, and the game teaches you what they look like and what they do right before she chases you in an area with no enemies around. They went too hard with the OHKs though for sure, but at least shes not too fast.
1) Art design- the furnace is area is pretty much just straight orange (duh) so a gold valve doesn't stand out much against it. And the valves position means that they can be very hard to see if you are on the opposite side of the pipe. It just makes them too easy to overlook.
2) AFAIK there is no signposting on the number of valves in a given room or consistency with how fast the flame wall will go down. Sometimes its a gradual process, sometimes its instant. For gradual you do get an indicator while the individual jets go down but given the art design issues it can be hard to immediately discern individual flame jets on the door way while scrambling to keep ahead of Laura and her one hit kills of doom
So I would have a situation where I would run in and shoot two valves look at the door and wait to see if I was good or needed to keep looking for more.
Of course once you know the answers it becomes cake but I died more in that section than anywhere else int he entire game and it was more frustrating than fun.
The amalgam boss worked for me because it came out of nowhere.
Almost any other chapter and I would agree but in terms of story Chapters 9 and 10 were the strongest with a consistent throughline. That seemed like the worst possible time to give you an unrelated, out of nowhere boss. It feels like it was created wholly separate from other levels and they just needed to find somewhere to bolt it in.
Thats why chapter 10 is so good. It just keeps ratcheting up the tension and difficulty well past the point you ever thought it was. You think this spinning blade room is tough? Well heres a meat grinder with a tough new enemy.
Oof the meat grinder. That seemed like a waste. I feel like RE4 Mikami would have given us ways to use the grinders to our benefit more. Here it was a neat visually but not much else. I loved the feeling you had passing by them while dormant thinking "I know how this is going down- I'm going to have to fight my way out of here while those are going. It's going to be epic!". But it just kind of whiffed- visually interesting but not much more.
The stealth/weakspot stuff totally works against that boss as well, and if you dig into the story a little more it does relate back Ruvick I believe.
Does anyone have a link to a video of somebody doing it stealth/weak spot? I looked but I swear all I find are the mass carnage videos. I've never seen someone beat that boss stylishly though presumably anyone playing on Akumi difficulty would have to.
I do appreciate how all of the creatures had lore basis in their designs but you can only find that out after the fact in the model viewer.
Absolutely inferior to the first game, from a structure point of view. The open world setting is well developed and the dangerous enemies help to keep the tension very high, but there are too few house where you can enter, and the variety of the enviroments is too low, globally speaking, for my taste, for an horror game, need more gothic mansions, old houses, gothic castles, interior like these. Too scarce the ammo even for the normal difficulty. The game is too short compared to the first one, is superior only in the technical aspect, but globally speaking i didn't like it like the first one. The marrow was the weakest part, and the more tedious. And the story is the same old story of redemption, forgive yourself, find your child/wife/husband/ kidnapped by someone/something/some evil corporation. I have enough of this.
Ok I finished chapter 5 and am really enjoying the game but TEW1 comparably chapter by chapter is better for me so far. There were two boss battles in ch.5, the first one was pretty damn good, good new mechanics added in which you need to find out. The second one.... uhhh just weird and boring once you know what to do.
But I want to speak of a specific encounter in chapter 4.
it's in the big room where you need to wait for a door to open and you get flooded by enemies. Here it's just a square room with ways up to small wall ways above and a few columns.
Enemies flood from all sides and it basically becomes a combat arena where I used my smoke bombs to insta kill everyone.
Let's contrast that to a similar kill room situation early on TEW1 where you are stuck in a garbage disposal room and need to wait for a door to open. But in this room you have one central room, two side rooms each with second floors. There are traps in all corners, barrels in strategic locations, water to shock enemies; it's expertly designed to give the player plenty of options to tackle the enemies. That level of care in design is what sets the first apart from the second for me.
Also with TEW2 any kind of stairs or ways to climb up causes enemies to simply freak out. I have seen them glitch, teleport, or simply freak out and shake in place. it's too easy to just climb shit and watch the enemies have a brain fart.
Still on Chapter 3 with close to 7 hours clocked so far. Just went to 336 Cedar Ave last night after grabbing the broke sniper rifle parts.
WTFFFFF that singing ghost chick scared the shit out of me. Worse yet, she's now popping up randomly in Union!?
.
Think I'll finally tackle the first main story objective tonight. Are there more than one in Chapter 3 or will finishing that send me off to Chapter 4? I want to make sure I cover everything in Chapter 3 before moving on.
What's everyone thinking about pistol upgrades? I find myself using the shotgun and stealth more often but I know crafting ammo for the shotgun is a bit more expensive. I can't decide if I should keep pumpin' upgrades into the pistol or not (Playing on Nightmare).
Just started Chapter 7. Man, this game. It's good and so much to do. I feel like I have missed a lot and have done plenty of side missions. 9 hours in and it truly is a successor to the first in every way. Job well done.
Man I loved this game, the gameplay and setting were miles ahead of what the first game was.
Then I played the climax a
nd all my love went out the window and I just wanted the game to end and stop wasting my time with it's terrible story and melodramatic bullshit. What an unsatisfying ending to what was shaping up to be a great game.
The best weapons to level up are the pistol and the crossbow harpoon and shock bolts.
Once you up the critical on the pistol, you'll be getting one shot headshot kills nearly 70 percent of the time. Same with harpoon bolts when you up the damage and they're easy to craft. Shock bolts are a godsend to hordes since you can just walk up and stomp up to 3-5 enemies at once when they get hit.
Smoke bolts were the most useless items in the game, it said you can do stealth kills while their in the smoke....but It never worked at all whatsoever.
Still on Chapter 3 with close to 7 hours clocked so far. Just went to 336 Cedar Ave last night after grabbing the broke sniper rifle parts.
WTFFFFF that singing ghost chick scared the shit out of me. Worse yet, she's now popping up randomly in Union!?
.
Think I'll finally tackle the first main story objective tonight. Are there more than one in Chapter 3 or will finishing that send me off to Chapter 4? I want to make sure I cover everything in Chapter 3 before moving on.
What's everyone thinking about pistol upgrades? I find myself using the shotgun and stealth more often but I know crafting ammo for the shotgun is a bit more expensive. I can't decide if I should keep pumpin' upgrades into the pistol or not (Playing on Nightmare).
Still on Chapter 3 with close to 7 hours clocked so far. Just went to 336 Cedar Ave last night after grabbing the broke sniper rifle parts.
WTFFFFF that singing ghost chick scared the shit out of me. Worse yet, she's now popping up randomly in Union!?
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Think I'll finally tackle the first main story objective tonight. Are there more than one in Chapter 3 or will finishing that send me off to Chapter 4? I want to make sure I cover everything in Chapter 3 before moving on.
What's everyone thinking about pistol upgrades? I find myself using the shotgun and stealth more often but I know crafting ammo for the shotgun is a bit more expensive. I can't decide if I should keep pumpin' upgrades into the pistol or not (Playing on Nightmare).
Ive been stealthing my way throughout the game with stealth on nightmare mode because ammo is scarce as hell...especially the fucking sniper ammo....LET ME JUST HEADSHOT ANNOYING THINGS PLEASE.....
Man I loved this game, the gameplay and setting were miles ahead of what the first game was.
Then I played the climax a
nd all my love went out the window and I just wanted the game to end and stop wasting my time with it's terrible story and melodramatic bullshit. What an unsatisfying ending to what was shaping up to be a great game.
and the combat encounters basically fall apart, in throw away levels that exist just to pepper the next story bit, and a really cool
looking midboss and final boss that are disappointingly easy.
I was pretty down on it last night after finishing too, but now I'm psyched to go back in with new unlocks as the game was riding high for me all the way up to chapter 13.
Smoke bolts were the most useless items in the game, it said you can do stealth kills while their in the smoke....but It never worked at all whatsoever.
Does it really? I think people are only presuming so because of how flash bolts allowed you to by default in the first game. (The smoke bolts effectively work the same) If you actually read the description, it isn't until you upgrade it a few times before you can perform sneak kills after shooting one off.
And then it becomes one of the the most powerful weapons in the game. Like
Man I loved this game, the gameplay and setting were miles ahead of what the first game was.
Then I played the climax a
nd all my love went out the window and I just wanted the game to end and stop wasting my time with it's terrible story and melodramatic bullshit. What an unsatisfying ending to what was shaping up to be a great game.
The best weapons to level up are the pistol and the crossbow harpoon and shock bolts.
Once you up the critical on the pistol, you'll be getting one shot headshot kills nearly 70 percent of the time. Same with harpoon bolts when you up the damage and they're easy to craft. Shock bolts are a godsend to hordes since you can just walk up and stomp up to 3-5 enemies at once when they get hit.
Smoke bolts were the most useless items in the game, it said you can do stealth kills while their in the smoke....but It never worked at all whatsoever.
