Dead Rising - General Discussion

[Carnivol]

I had no problems (on my first playthrough, after a Case Zero import file) to rescue all advertised survivors + finish all main Cases and psychoes I encountered.

Most of the psychoes were pretty easy when you figured out how to deal with them. (Which in most cases involved a jump kick to the face to first stop them, or dodging their attacks, to then give them a punch or two with a combined weapon - rinse and repeat 4-6 times)

Bringing survivors around was much more easy in 2 than in 1 too (also, having 8 survivors and the book that improves survivor efficiency more or less creates a 9 man army of zombie slaughter that no one can stop )

[DarkMemories]

I had no problems (on my first playthrough, after a Case Zero import file) to rescue all advertised survivors + finish all main Cases and psychoes I encountered.

Most of the psychoes were pretty easy when you figured out how to deal with them. (Which in most cases involved a jump kick to the face to first stop them, or dodging their attacks, to then give them a punch or two with a combined weapon - rinse and repeat 4-6 times)

Bringing survivors around was much more easy in 2 than in 1 too (also, having 8 survivors and the book that improves survivor efficiency more or less creates a 9 man army of zombie slaughter that no one can stop )

I didn't really have any problems either besides some very close calls on time. I did lose one survivor because I didn't realize the mission I took him to was one with a psychopath.

My problem with the psychopaths stems from the fact that mostly they have no reason to be so durable or even all that capable. How the hell do you deflect bullets with a frying pan? Since when can someone slit their throat 999 times and still be able to kill you? And why in blue hell is the fastest psychopath in the game a fat BDSM wannabe? It just doesn't work.

Survivors certainly are better at following you in general, but in this game it just feels like busy work. They aren't relevant to the plot and outside of one or two they don't provide you with anything decent. There was one in particular, Dean I think, who just seemed to be there for the pure purpose of making you run out of time.

[Darkmoon]

i think most of the pschyopaths are meant to be rather toungue in cheek, rather than taken seriously. Most of the ones in the first game certainly were, such as the guy having a permanent 'nam flash back (despite how tragic his actual story is) and the guy defending his super market to death. And Jo.

[Carnivol]

If you're afraid of a survivor dropping dead whilst fighting a psychopath, just tell 'em to go stand around somewhere else ("most" psychos have a save point or maintenance room near them, just tell your survivors to stand around there while you take care of business)

Only time I really had a problem with survivors potentially dieing was when I did the train chase, since when you board the train, you change map and any survivors that're with you don't spawn on the train (except from Snowflake) - so they're treated as if they were on a different map while you're on the train (which means they'll rapidly just loose health for no good reason)

[The_15th]

I'm very disapointed there's no varying characters to chose from in coop. And I heard this was full of ultra long cutscenes, so I'll be saving my time and money.

[Carnivol]

Ultra long cutscenes?
(+the coop char is your partner's Chuck, so clothing/stats is brought in. Unless you and your mandate have an awkward moment of wearing the same shirt, there'll be no two "the same" walking around.)

Also, cutscenes aren't really long. There's an intro/ending to each case in the story mode + an intro/ending to each psycho (+a couple of short cutscenes triggered either when you enter certain places or when the clock hits a certain mark). None of which are really long or anything. Pretty much the same type of stuff that was in the first game, really.

[The_15th]

It's still the same character with the same stats, animations, voice etc.

[DarkMemories]

i think most of the pschyopaths are meant to be rather toungue in cheek, rather than taken seriously. Most of the ones in the first game certainly were, such as the guy having a permanent 'nam flash back (despite how tragic his actual story is) and the guy defending his super market to death. And Jo.

No, I realize that. I'm just saying that, from a gameplay perspective, it's a bit unrealistic (and it doesn't help that you aren't given much clue that the mission you choose to investigate might turn out to be one with a psychopath so it's hard to prepare the first time).

[Carnivol]

Most psychopath missions involves mentions of someone "hoarding" people or someone being "dead" or taken against their own will.

It's only the random chance encounters that don't really give you a so-so-ish clue/heads up about there being a potential psycho in the area (+you usually also don't see a survivor name pop up near the mission location if there's a psycho involved)

[Dracarys]

No, I realize that. I'm just saying that, from a gameplay perspective, it's a bit unrealistic (and it doesn't help that you aren't given much clue that the mission you choose to investigate might turn out to be one with a psychopath so it's hard to prepare the first time).

You can always run away if you run into a psycho unaware, they do not move very far so can stop mid fight and go find food or weapons if you really needed, they don't regain health.

[Zombie Fred]

Some psychos' are fast (and one does keep on following you for a long distance if not careful) and regain health so running away cannot be effective in most encounters (or some others have a dead lock on you and take health afar, even if you are not near them) so it's hard to go around looking for health if didn't come unprepared for certain missions, since by the time you recover you will have wasted valuable time for other rescue calls and the main story, or some of the "hostages" die after a short period and don't have the chance of them being rescued. The best cause of action is to save often between cases and have plenty of healing items and some killer combo weapons (they are very effective once you know the weakness of the psychopath) before you move on. It's all about time management and knowing your surroundings and using the right tactics. The best thing about this game is letting you learn from trial and error, allowing you to mix things up with the tools in the sandbox you play in.

[Rombie]

I've said it elsewhere, but the game is easier than the original if you spend a little time planning. If you have the spare slots, it's always worth having one powerful knife/blade weapon (like the Boxing Gloves+Bowie Knife) and a couple of painkiller mixes. They're painfully easy to make via beer+beer, which is the most abundant of drinks at the bars obviously. They reduce damage for 60 seconds to almost nothing. The majority of bosses you can reduce their health by half at least using one without getting a scratch on you. I usually go in with full health, then once they've got me down to a little left, crack open the painkiller and slaughter them.

The psychopath that gave me the biggest problem in the main game was Snowflake, especially the time it took to tame the SOB. It's fickle about if it'll look at the steak you just threw at it or not.

[A-J]

It's fickle about if it'll look at the steak you just threw at it or not.

I think standing absolutely still after throwing the steak helps. If it's in it's attack-pounce animation then you can't really do anything but if it's just running around what worked for me was clearing out a small corner, throwing the stake and standing absolutely still.

ps, yes this is definitely way easier than DR1, agreed. Especially when I found the glove+claw combo, that thing kills psychopaths fast, it's like a more fragile version of the one-hand saw's from DR1.

[Canas Renvall]

^ I saw what you did there.

Oh Chuck~

[A-J]

You're on fire.