General Gaming Dead Island 2 (The Most Miraculously Technically Competent Game of 2023) - Information Thread, update: Steam release set for April 22, released on Xbox (not PC) Game Pass today

[best3444]

I could only play 15 minutes because the game was still downloading. My first impression was that the visuals are great and the combat has great impact. I only killed a handful of "zombies" but I honestly was pleased in what I saw.

 

I'll try later.

[Brian]

@stepee who did you pick? I leaning towards Dani as I hate managing stamina. 

[stepee]

4 minutes ago, Brian said:

@stepee who did you pick? I leaning towards Dani as I hate managing stamina. 

 

I went with Carla. i’m pretty happy with her and I block and parry a lot so she worked out for me. I hate managing stamina but honestly I barely notice the stamina, it’s not like Elden Ring, there is enough leeway that in usual fighting you won’t really be paying attention to it imo.

[Brian]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

I went with Carla. i’m pretty happy with her and I block and parry a lot so she worked out for me. I hate managing stamina but honestly I barely notice the stamina, it’s not like Elden Ring, there is enough leeway that in usual fighting you won’t really be paying attention to it imo.

I’ll check her out. I just installed it and looked at the main characters. I hate when there are so many options. 

[stepee]

4 minutes ago, Brian said:

I’ll check her out. I just installed it and looked at the main characters. I hate when there are so many options. 

 

Yeah and actually I will say also the one thing I don’t like much is how skills are all card based and you have to pick which perks to use and you collect a bunch as you go but I don’t like a card system for perks. Kind of more of too many options and I  don’t manage them much and ignore it because I don’t really want to get that intricate. I rather you just collected skills you kept and have less options.

 

Some of the cards you collect are the special abilities of other characters though so you can customize your character towards another style somewhat if you decided you wanted to go another way.

 

I think Carla has a fun kind of Saints Row style personality but not annoying. The others might be good too though.

[best3444]

I picked Ryan because that's my real name. 

[Brian]

It’s nice to see a dev understanding and embracing limitations. The areas are small but very dense and well designed. The combat is tight and focused. The story is kept to a minimum and the devs understands it’s a vehicle to move the game forward.  Instead of worrying about bells and whistles like mirrors reflecting in real time, the game is rock solid with great art and graphics. It’s refreshing to play a solid game like this after so much nonsense being released lately. 

[Phaseknox]

On 5/4/2023 at 1:06 PM, Brian said:

I hate when there are so many options. 

There’s only three character options as far as I’m concerned. 

[best3444]

After reading and watching video reviews on this, I'm excited to play this tomorrow. The video reviews absolutely loved it and say it's an absolute joy to play. 

 

I'm 10 hours into Jedi but will mix this in too so that I have them both beat before Zelda next Friday. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Anybody try co-op with this? Also can you revisit areas you've already "beaten"? I want to go back to the 

Spoiler

hotel 

because I think I missed some stuff there.

[stepee]

18 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Anybody try co-op with this? Also can you revisit areas you've already "beaten"? I want to go back to the 

  Reveal hidden contents

hotel 

because I think I missed some stuff there.

 

I’ve not tried coop but yes you can return to the different zones, you eventually will have side missions pop up in different areas you already visited. It’s really a lot like an open world game but super streamlined.

[best3444]

I will put in a good amount of time in this today and report back. 

[best3444]

@stepee Played a good amount today and I really like it a lot. The visuals are fantastic and the combat is extremely satisfying. I've did some upgrades and that makes a difference. This is definitely an 8/10 game.

 

However, I'm at at a section I keep dying at. I don't see difficulty settings so I'm currently fucked right now. I'll explain below.

 

Spoiler

I'm heading into the hotel to communicate to the authorities I'm immune. BUT at the entrance in the hotel there are like 15 zombies that you must kill. I don't have any health kits so I'm getting trashed over and over. I try to isolate one zombie at a time but they just ambush me and I have no chance to survive.

 

Any advice? I know you struggle with games too so I'm asking you specifically in how you beat that section. Overall, this is great!

[stepee]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

@stepee Played a good amount today and I really like it a lot. The visuals are fantastic and the combat is extremely satisfying. I've did some upgrades and that makes a difference. This is definitely an 8/10 game.

 

However, I'm at at a section I keep dying at. I don't see difficulty settings so I'm currently fucked right now. I'll explain below.

 

  Hide contents

I'm heading into the hotel to communicate to the authorities I'm immune. BUT at the entrance in the hotel there are like 15 zombies that you must kill. I don't have any health kits so I'm getting trashed over and over. I try to isolate one zombie at a time but they just ambush me and I have no chance to survive.

 

Any advice? I know you struggle with games too so I'm asking you specifically in how you beat that section. Overall, this is great!

 

hm I don’t recall specifically what I did there but 15 zombies doesn’t sound like a crazy amount to me, are you parrying? 

[best3444]

27 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

hm I don’t recall specifically what I did there but 15 zombies doesn’t sound like a crazy amount to me, are you parrying? 

 

Oh yea I'm parrying and doing all that I can. So there isn't a difficulty setting?

[Brian]

I really appreciate the saves are very generous. Not only generous, but the fact they are save states. Die in middle of 10 zombies but you killed 5 before dying. When you reload those 5 remain dead. 

[stepee]

huh I guess there is no difficulty? i don’t see it either, I never had any issues though idk, are you using health packs? environmental hazards?

[best3444]

2 minutes ago, stepee said:

huh I guess there is no difficulty? i don’t see it either, I never had any issues though idk, are you using health packs? environmental hazards?

 

Yea, I'm using health packs but what is environmental hazards?

[stepee]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

 

Yea, I'm using health packs but what is environmental hazards?

 

Like exploding barrels or throwing batteries into water when zombies walk across etc 

[stepee]

Oh and I beat this today -  awesome game. The ending was fine but it’s just kinda weird in that a bunch of story threads get introduced in the final quarter after not much happening all game and then they use that to end in a big cliff hanger and it just seems unnecessary. Is there a dlc for this announced yet?
 

But yeah overall it’s the most fun you can have mindlessly beating up zombie hordes outside of Dead Rising imo. More like a 8.5 than a 7.5 for me, just a really refreshing game that nails its execution on almost all fronts. 

[Brian]

Spoiler

Loved the movie studios. Really fun area for the mission. 
 

Kind of wish this game didn’t add guns. The melee combat is good enough to stand on its own without the need for guns  

 

[best3444]

Played 3 hours tonight and I really like it! I finally got past the hospital section and I'm learning the mechanics now. Great visuals, combat, and the story and characters are B movie stuff which is completely fine. 

 

I'd give this a very solid 8 right now and it's a complete joy to play.

 

Thanks @stepee for your impressions on this game because I would have completely skipped out on it. 

[best3444]

What in God's name is going on. I can't for the life of me kill the boss in that party room. I mean I have 5 health kits, I'm parrying, have a good weapon, and he kicks my fuckin ass! I wish there was a difficulty selection because I've now tried to beat him at least 10 times. I know I suck at games but this is crazy and very frustrating. 

[skillzdadirecta]

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

What in God's name is going on. I can't for the life of me kill the boss in that party room. I mean I have 5 health kits, I'm parrying, have a good weapon, and he kicks my fuckin ass! I wish there was a difficulty selection because I've now tried to beat him at least 10 times. I know I suck at games but this is crazy and very frustrating. 

The big bride boss?

[best3444]

26 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

The big bride boss?

 

Yea and I FINALLY beat him but that was extremely difficult for me. 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

 

Yea and I FINALLY beat him but that was extremely difficult for me. 

I believe that was the first time you meet that enemy type. They're gonna be pretty common after that. Also i think that was a "she".

[best3444]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

I believe that was the first time you meet that enemy type. They're gonna be pretty common after that. Also i think that was a "she".

 

Yea, it was a female. Fuck, more of those types of fights will be brutal for me.  😆 

[best3444]

Reached monarch studios trying to find Michael. This is a very cool game. The challenge is intimidating to me but it makes me wanting to come back. The brutality from combat is absolutely beautiful. The visuals are beautiful and the characters and voice acting are surprisingly very good. 

 

This is not a 7 out of 10 game. Unless it falls apart somewhere down the line it's a very solid 8/10 maybe even 8.5. 

 

This is my type of game so I'll definitely beat it. 

[Brian]

I was worried there was no fast travel. Glad I finally unlocked it. 
 

Spoiler

I honestly thought the story was heading to a Starship Trooper destroy the hive mind angle. I didn’t expect that Wesker reveal. 

 

[best3444]

@stepee You must be much better at gaming then I am. I'm struggling so much in this game and I'm doing everything possible to take down the zombies. I'm making slow progress but it's really difficult.

 

Question. What do I do with all these supplies I'm picking up? It reads I use them to fabricate but when I go to that menu it doesn't allow me to do a thing? What am I missing here?

[stepee]

6 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@stepee You must be much better at gaming then I am. I'm struggling so much in this game and I'm doing everything possible to take down the zombies. I'm making slow progress but it's really difficult.

 

Question. What do I do with all these supplies I'm picking up? It reads I use them to fabricate but when I go to that menu it doesn't allow me to do a thing? What am I missing here?

 

I feel like something is off here, like I’m playing Star Wars on padwan which I think is a level below you and I’m getting my ass kicked but in Dead Island 2 I very rarely had any issues.

 

For your question you want to go to workbenches and upgrade your equipment (level it up, add perks) I always kept my weapons fully upgraded when I could. You can also fabricate ammo and med packs on them. Make sure you are keeping 5 med packs on you.

 

Idk how far you are but pay attention to building your fury meter and what cards you have equipped. My character would go into a rage zombie mode where I could slaughter an entire room. I would build fury and also gain health when I did a parry attack due to the cards I had equipped so I was always able to find weak zombies to get things back on track by parrying them. Oh and fury mode would also gain me health for enemy’s killed with the cards I had equipped and enemy’s would drop health when killing them sometimes so yeah make sure to check what cards you are using.

[best3444]

51 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

I feel like something is off here, like I’m playing Star Wars on padwan which I think is a level below you and I’m getting my ass kicked but in Dead Island 2 I very rarely had any issues.

 

For your question you want to go to workbenches and upgrade your equipment (level it up, add perks) I always kept my weapons fully upgraded when I could. You can also fabricate ammo and med packs on them. Make sure you are keeping 5 med packs on you.

 

Idk how far you are but pay attention to building your fury meter and what cards you have equipped. My character would go into a rage zombie mode where I could slaughter an entire room. I would build fury and also gain health when I did a parry attack due to the cards I had equipped so I was always able to find weak zombies to get things back on track by parrying them. Oh and fury mode would also gain me health for enemy’s killed with the cards I had equipped and enemy’s would drop health when killing them sometimes so yeah make sure to check what cards you are using.

 

Thank you very much for that info!

 

You know what is so fuckin cool about this game? I was stuck at a section so I decided to play online. Well...it actually starts you where you last saved and 2 other players joined me and I advanced really far with these two guys. So then I said to myself, will this translate to my own sp game? It did!

 

So now I am much further in the game and had a total blast playing with two other players with absolutely no lag. This game is awesome!

[stepee]

7 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Thank you very much for that info!

 

You know what is so fuckin cool about this game? I was stuck at a section so I decided to play online. Well...it actually starts you where you last saved and 2 other players joined me and I advanced really far with these two guys. So then I said to myself, will this translate to my own sp game? It did!

 

So now I am much further in the game and had a total blast playing with two other players with absolutely no lag. This game is awesome!

 

I never tried that but very cool! Not surprised it works so well I guess since everything else does. This game was such a pleasant surprise, I still just think about it’s combat when not playing it!

[best3444]

I played strictly online today and got to Venice Beach. It's fantastic as a coop game and it runs really well. I'm not going to be able to beat this before Zelda though. 

[stepee]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

I played strictly online today and got to Venice Beach. It's fantastic as a coop game and it runs really well. I'm not going to be able to beat this before Zelda though. 

 

Yeah I wouldn’t b-line to the end as the side missions are good, you can always go back and forth!