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The Evil Within 2

Started by Bazooka, October 13, 2017, 12:48:08 PM

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Bazooka

Out today, Shinji Mikami directing again. I loved the first game, it was a fresh take on the survival horror genre and had some fun bosses, except the final boss which was a piece of shit.

Anyone else going to give it a go?


madhair60

Might do some fancy tradin' this weekend and nab this for meself. I loved the original - flawed as fuck but really involving and fun to play. Every encounter felt dangerous.

Thursday

Yep loved the first game, and everyone who gave it a mediocre review is wrong.

As I understand it, Mikami is just producing this one, and it's directed by John Johanas who did the DLC for the first game.

Was a bit worried to hear it had open world and crafting elements, but have been really looking forward to this nonetheless.

Thursday

Well I've mixed feeling on this so far, still enjoying it but my worries about it going a bit open world are founded. The crafting is okay as it feels quite Last of Us, but with the open world it does feel like I'm spending so much time gathering resources rather than going through great set-pieces. Still early days, and I'm sure they'll be some to come, but yeah it feels like it's lost a lot of what I liked about the first game, even though I'm still enjoying it for what it is.

madhair60

Fuck sake I just did me trading in as well. Holding fire on ordering it now.

Thursday

Most people seem to like it more than me though, and now I've got further there's definitely been some more classic TEW gameplay.

Thursday

Yeah enjoying this more and more as it goes on actually.

Shay Chaise

I've seen some people on Twitter raving about it as it goes on, even approaching RE4. Not going to be buying it for full price, but I'm interested in seeing how it develops.

biggytitbo

Does it run like dog turd on pc like the last one?


madhair60

The first one runs smooth as butter on PC?

Pdine

Quote from: madhair60 on October 18, 2017, 07:06:28 AM
The first one runs smooth as butter on PC?

Yes I thought so too... Eurogamer is saying that this one runs poorly on PC:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-the-evil-within-2-shines-on-ps4-but-xbox-one-and-pc-fall-short

but I can't really reproduce their findings. My PC is not as good as the one they used, and I get 60fps with tiny, momentary drops to 58-59 with all settings maxed.

madhair60

Played up to chapter 3 yesterday and found it very, very hard to put down. Ch 3 is a classic, a large sandbox area dense with things to do, genuinely tense and involving combat/stealth scenarios, and rewarding stuff to find. I've read that people have spent 8/9 hours on this chapter alone and never got bored. Loving this.

biggytitbo

The problem I have with this game is its one of those 'nothing is really happening' type stories, which makes me struggle a bit to invest in whats going on. It doesnt help either that reality is constantly shifting so you never really get a handle on the environments for too long. And the monsters seem like boring afterthoughts as much as integral to the game. I am starting to warm to it a bit more as I play it though, its atmosopheric enough and the exploration is OK.

I wish the lead character would stop saying 'what the hell...' all the time though, you'd think he would be use to crazy shit happening by now.

biggytitbo

How do you get past the fucking dick head Sebastian in chapter 8?

Bazooka

Finally got this, two weeks later. Anyway, liking it so far, a few things I miss from the first game: no way to disable tripwires and no way to sort out 'sleeping' enemies. Oh I will go and collect that herb placed in the crotch of an enemy that is ready to jump to life.

I am only at chapter 5, stamina and stealth investment seems to trump all of the other skill trees at this point, just investing in the handgun and critical hits. The small sandbox open world element works fairly well, yet the structure of the first game was better in execution in the earlier stages, the psychological horror elements are nothing special having played the first.

Can't complain too much, nobody else is making survival horror games, looking at you Konami. It's great fun though.

biggytitbo

Annoyed that I've had to can the game altogether because I can't get past the cunt on level 8. They've ruined an otherwise enjoyable game with a shitty difficult curve, twats.

Thursday

Not sure which bit you mean, what difficulty you playing it on?

biggytitbo

The boss fight with the photographer guy in chapter 8. I was playing in on normal and doing perfectly well, but spent 2 days failing to get past that level even after reducing the difficulty so i have had to pack it in. I'm going to say bad game design considering ive not had much trouble with it prior to this.

Thursday

I hate to be that dickhead, but I don't remember struggling with that one at all, so I'm not even sure what advice I can give.

biggytitbo

Don't rub it in! Why can't I get past it, maybe my game is broken...yes that must be it?

Thursday

Have you tried shooting the man and not getting hit by the man?

brat-sampson

Interesting. It's not my normal genre, but I was enthralled after seeing a video of the opening section. It's impressive how the following area works, as a network of infiltration possibilities but with the punishment for discovery isn't just a firefight but essentially a level reset as you die easily and have enough choices to not be caught in the first place.

Basically I'll play the side-quests and etc because I'm a sucker, but I'm genuinely interested to see what this game has beyond an 'open' village...

Bazooka

Completed it last night, was a fun ride, was different enough from the first to make it interesting. Almost 100% completed it in terms of collectibles, although a bug prevented me from doing so. Had a few bugs actually, nothing game breaking just some of the mechanics stopped working all together causing some cheap deaths.

I would definitely recommend it beat, even if not your genre, the survival horror genre has all but disappeared sadly.

brat-sampson

This is really good. I really like how subtle a lot of the side stuff is. Like if you find a new sub-mission or objective it'll let you know the once, and then you can remind yourself where it is on the map or if you're in the area, but you never know what to expect when you go. It could be a little flashback, some ammo or something more in-depth. Also, for an 'open-world' game, even in inverted commas, they've never gone down the lazy route of characters just asking you for random amounts of shit, which I appreciate. The small amount of actual side-missions there are are all pretty well focused and interesting, with generally meaningful rewards. Stealth and combat are fine, pretty standard stuff for the genre. I'm playing on Survival (so, normal) and feeling, if anything, a little overpowered. I've been boosting my stats and weapons, focusing on a couple, but resource-wise I've never really struggled. I've left behind more medkits than I've used and don't feel like I'm really having to be especially strategic, other than because if you attract a horde of enemies you'll likely just die. From what I've seen watching other videos, Nightmare is significantly harder, particularly in the early game, where you really do need to push out slowly and make the most of everything you can find, and so whether to avoid a nasty thingmy or risk a sniper bullet (more if you miss) to try and take it out safely becomes a lot more of a gamble.

So yeah, wandering around in Chapter 7 and enjoying myself a lot. Playing on PC and it seems to run fine, though I turned on motion blur a tad as panning looked a little choppy otherwise, which was weird as the framerate in general feels fine. I'm still a little bummed that when they *want* to do more interesting locations and imagery, they do it brilliantly, so why the fuck am I spending most of the game in AnyTown USA* surrounded by red-eyed zombies like in more other games and genre pics than I can be bothered to count? Yes the town is visibly spread across platforms floating in space, but the point remains. This could be *anything*, so it's a bit of a shame it's just... this. Also I'm like probably barely half-way through the game, if that, so things could change up, but from how characters are talking, Union seems to be the main Locale for the foreseeable future.

*I know the plot reason, but come on.

Bazooka

Glad you are liking it. I noticed in this I never needed to use the crossbow ever, whilst in the first it was a standard boss killer.

brat-sampson

Damn, I enjoyed that a ton. Might have to buy the original now. It was one of those where every evening if I turned it on, I'd lose 3-5 hours to it. The pacing was generally excellent, with the big open-y bits that eat up most of your playtime and the punchier more linear segments alternating with a good rhythm. I played on Survival and died a few times, but overall it's wasn't exactly difficult at that setting. I was always making progress, which felt good. The story managed to surprise me a couple of times and even though I was worried a section of the game was going to be pretty generic compared to what I'd seen before, it wasn't tooooo bad. ( Just generally the Firey Preacher was just a lot less interesting as an enemy than Cameraman, who I thought was really inventive. The back half's focus on Sebastian as a person made up for it some way though. Also, Sorry, but rock/lava people that can kinda fuck off. Slightly too tanky to kill with bullets, and the rhythm of the fire caught me out more than a couple of times. Also, Flamethrower Man's HP could probably have been tuned a leeeeetle lower, no?). Played on PC, generally ran well, if a bit framey. Took about 20-21 hrs.

Definitely a solid 8.5-9, especially if you like the genre.

bgmnts

The first one was a bit cack but this looks like a vast improvement. Might get it when i can.