I’ve been playing Dead Space Remake, since it’s been released on GamePass. Had to jump through some hoops to get my Xbox account linked to EA, but eventually managed to do it and I’ve been playing it for the past two weeks.
Just reached chapter 8 (comms array). So far, it’s good. I’ll preface saying that the last time I played the original Dead Space was five or six years ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I feel like the game’s a lot more balanced than the OG, although not overly difficult. I remember blasting my way through hard mode with nothing but the starting gun back in the days, but I am playing more conservative here because I feel like ammo drops are scarcer, and stasis stations are a lot rarer than they were originally.
Finding all the guns in the wild instead of having to build them first lets you playtest them against real opponents, and having half the tech tree locked until you progress enough means that you are more incentivized in using them. In the original, I’d main the starting gun and install all my power nodes on it, while in the remake I’m acquiring nodes faster than I’m able to unlock upgrades for the guns, so I’m spending them on my side weapons. The ripper is still as gloriously broken as I remember it!
I like that they didn’t rely exclusively on the procedurally generated enemy spawns, nor on the hand-made encounters, but have a mix of both. Procedurally generated content tends to fall flat because a computer doesn’t know how to set the mood and jump scare you appropriately; while hand-made content tends to grow stale after you play the game once or twice (or reload the same section to complete it with more ammo/health). A mix of both is the best of both worlds, and I’m positively surprised by how well it works in practice.
As for the most discussed improvement in the game, the interconnected world, I honestly find it… okay, but I’m not blown away by it. It works in games like the OG Resident Evil because you have a bit more control over where to go, how to tackle specific threats, and what enemies to expect in each room. I remember myself planning ahead the best route to reach my destination inside Spencer’s mansion or the police station. But Dead Space remake is still a fundamentally linear experience from start to end, so the ability to backtrack to previously explored areas is never fully utilized.
This is further exacerbated by a map system that I find too clunky to use (it’s very slow and sometimes confusing when there are too many levels), the lack of precise notation (security doors are fully visible, but master override chests are one of many small icons that I’d never find if I didn’t know where they are to begin with, and lockers do not appear on the map at all), and the frequent lack of proper rewards for backtracking.
I tested the system as soon as I was given a chance. After I completed the second level and got my first security clearance, I backtracked to the security door situated on the tramway halfway through the first level. I got ambushed by six (!) procedurally-spawned enemies on my way there, just to find common loot inside the room.
At first I was confused by this, but now that I’m halfway through the game, I understand how the system was designed: The developers didn’t expect you to backtrack at your leisure. Instead, they carefully placed locked rooms and lockers at just the right clearance level, that you’re supposed to have when the linear story gets you near those locked rooms. The level 1 clearance door on the first level? You can get it quite easily on chapter 6, when you pass by that room. The same applies to side missions as well. They are designed so you can complete them on your way to the main objective with very little extra effort.
I don’t hate the game for this. I loved the original and I’m totally fine with the remake being another linear experience. I’m just confused by the design principle: they talked extensively about making the world more interconnected and adding side content and optional exploration on the side, but it ended up being just more content that you do while you progress through the linear story, rather than making it work properly as an open-ended experience, and I feel like the attempt at making the remake feel more open ended than it was originally largely failed for me, as I never felt truly in control of where to go or when to complete certain side quests or get some loot that was previously inaccessible.
As for the changes in the story, I’m only halfway through the game, and I don’t want to tackle the argument until I have the full picture of the story. I’ll only say that I liked some changes, I was okay with others, and I’m a bit dubious about a handful. One of them is Hammond, who is a lot less present in this first half of the game compared to the original; the other is Temple and Cross, who I like so far, but I feel like they are two completely different characters whose role could have been given to new characters instead of replacing their original storyline. But as I said, I’m only halfway through the game, so I may change my opinion on this.
TL;DR: I’ll write my full opinion on the game when I finish it, but I’m liking it so far and I think it’s a valid replacement for the original if you never played it and don’t want to buy both. Some changes are appreciated, others less but don’t detract from the overall experience, and the game for the most part feels like “the original, but improved”, which is a perfectly valid spot to land on when you are developing a faithful remake. The game feels and plays like the original, but still manages to bring something new for who, like me, played the hell out of the first game back in the days.
I know. I have an angelbob megabase save that clocks in at 788MB. To play it I need to add an additional 16GB of swap. I figured that it was about time the GPU did some heavy lifting too.
There's a minimum install limit before the fee kicks in. But since Unity can just make more retroactive rules, this strategy can implode at any moment.
On the one hand, I’m as tired of ports and remakes as anyone else. On the other, TTYD is a perfect RPG and the exact opposite of what they’ve done to Paper Mario for two generations, so it not only gets a pass but a big fat golden power star.
I wonder if game designers realize that this actually fucks people like me up, if i get an item that is said to have sentimental value i’m going to put that in a chest and ignore it because i don’t have the heart to sell it and have it just get atomized when the vendor’s inventory refreshes.
I love Enderal for actually letting you hand over some items you get early on, you can totally just ignore them or sell them but if you’re like me and have the instinct to keep sentimental items then you get to be absolutely flabberghasted when you realize the game accounts for this.
Yeah, sometimes it’s weird - for example when a king gives you a sword that has been in his family for generations, you go to the merchant and it’s not worth more than something you looted on a bandit.
Baldur’s Gate 3. Still my first run with a friend, we do not want this to end at all. We take our time as much as we can, exploring everything. It’s so much fun, we’re absolutely into the story.
I can’t imagine the feeling of emptiness once we finish this.
I have a large backlog of games to play before I even think about buying anything new, but is this even a good game? Serious question because I know there has been a huge amount of press on it, but haven’t watched any reviews yet (on purpose because I hate spoilers and don’t want to be tempted with a new purchase yet).
If it doesn’t immediately spark the interest to buy it, go ahead and wait for it to go on sale. It sounds like you may have buyers’ remorse if it ends up not being your thing and you pay full price.
I’m not too fond of CRPGs and I’m hooked on this game. It oozes excellent workmanship and appreciation for the genre/source material which makes it hard to resist.
Yes. Yes it is. Excellent story so far. Gameplay is the best of DnD mixed with the best part of Divinity Original Sin 2. Difficulty is maybe a bit harsh the first few levels when an encounter with a bad initiative can take you out before its your turn. It looks graphically good and runs fine on older graphic cards. The companions have interesting backstories and related quests.
I havent tested it in co-op yet.
I have encountered a few bugs: Actors missing in cutscenes. Money-stacks getting corrupted. The ugly pre-order clothes just disappearing after a patch. But nothing serious.
Co-op is excellent. Drop in/drop out works flawlessly, no lag. It even has LAN options in the year of our lord 2023. One issue is that a player can start an encounter without the others and people can miss out on story. All in all highly recommended.
It looks graphically good and runs fine on older graphic cards.
Yes, but not older processors, apparently, as I found out. I sure as hell never expected a CRPG to be the first game that screams at me to get a better one.
Have you played Divinity: Original Sin 2? Because it’s literally just that game with a D&D skin on it. If you liked D:OS2, or you’re really into D&D/Forgotten Realms, then it’s fine. If you were frustrated by certain things in D:OS2, they’re probably not fixed here.
It uses DND 5e as the underlying rules set. I hate DND 5e. It’s a garbage system full of old bad ideas, and it has such tremendous brand awareness it sucks all the air out of the hobby space.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is still an extremely good game in spite of all that.
That sounds promising, because like you I really really really do not like the DnD system. But to hear that the game is decent in spite of that makes me curious about trying it soon, TYVM. :)
Controlling 4 digital 5e characters in rapid succession feels very different from controlling 1 character in a tabletop setting. Idk if it’s better or worse this way, but (to me) they’re pretty distinct experiences so it’s worth at least trying
Haven’t played it, but been reading/watching a lot of reviews. Seems like they got a lot right and a few things wrong, still some early bugs but not nearly the amount that most releases have, some people complain about length (very long playthroughs might drag out for some, especially the slow combat). But I suspect many people will love or hate this game based on whether they like turn based combat.
I bought the game early access a couple years ago. The reason they got so few things wrong is they actually listened to community feedback from the early access. They made a lot of minor changes on things (from what I saw most of that was to make the game feel more like DND)
Honestly I’d recommend watching someone play it to get an idea of if you like it. Steam also has the option to let you “borrow” someone’s account so I’m sure if you have friends playing this you could ask. That’s what I did and enjoyed it so much I ended up buying it.
If you approach it with a standard videogame attitude (get the strongest weapons and most powerful skills, steal everything that is worth good money and so on), then it is a solid game.
If you approach it as a simulated tabletop rpg game, it is fantastic. You can experiment with all sorts of things. For example: in one fight I was outnumbered and cornered in a small room, with enemies coming from outside. I pulled some furniture in front of the door to block the passage, threw some oil on the ground in the other side and lit it with a torch, then hid my characters behind the walls out of any projectile’s path until I could fully heal them.
Unlike other games those weren’t things that the devs put there specifically for this fight. There was no button prompt suggesting the furniture could be moved or anything like that. They just put a bunch of stuff in the world that can be interacted with in many ways depending on what sort of skill you have and leave it up to you to find a way to use them, or not. You can still min-max your stats and ignore all that. You won’t even know you’re missing anything.
But the physics in both version were identical. That model does not have breast bones in the original or in the remake. Neither does the model use vertex animation, the improvement is only that the breasts would be less pointy, but I am pretty sure they’re also covered in more leaves than the original.
This was a few minutes after I crippled all my limbs fighting the death claws in the quarry with a Grenade Launcher while doing the Great Khan quest line
Deathclaw in quarry that’s the definition of horror, but it rewarding in the end bc you know there’s FatMan launcher somewhere in quarry lake plus you can craft deathclaw gauntlet from looting corpse
Honestly I’d rather fighting bunch of raiders in Freeside or Primm or even fighting monsters from DEAD MONEY DLC rather than fighting a deathclaw in quarry, bc deathclaw can smell your fear from far away ╏ ” ⊚ ͟ʖ ⊚ ” ╏
I’m sorry. There’s a WHAT in the quarry? I just went in after the Khan that was there and left…
Otherwise though, The alpha and mother deathclaw there are fucking terrifying. I would be sneaking around with Stealth Boys and they’d lock on and sprint at me full speed. I swear they’re faster then the normal ones
God. Now I feel like that trip was a waste after not grabbing that. I’ll have to head back and hope they didn’t all respawn. Because I spent so long taking them out with all those Grenades that Good Springs probably thinks the Boomers relocated over there
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