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The title's pretty descriptive. I cannot believe this thing got the high ratings it did. Of course I never understood why Halo got the high ratings it did. In fact, DS strongly reminds me of Halo. Storywise, I'm almost tempted to call it a rip-off with some added gore. Maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems like all you do is walk around and shoot things. Woop-de-doo. What was so fresh and innovative? Inevitably, someone is going to point out that I'm saying I hated something (despite the fact that like the last 40 threads I started were about things I liked, but whatever).

I confess I've only made it a few chapters in, but I could swear I'm sick of being told I just have to "wait for it" in games (looking at you, WoW nerds). Is there something I'm missing? I mean even on the moderate difficulty level its still insanely easy, too. When did games get to be such pushovers?

You know, I've never understood people complaining about games with a variety of difficulty settings being 'insanely easy'

Just switch to hard. By all accounts, it's how Dead Space is meant to be played.

Play it on Zealot. The fact you're NOT tested by the difficulty plays a huge impact on the enjoyment of the game. for example, despite LOVING BIOSHOCK, I found the game ridiculously easy without even trying. DS is an interesting series. I enjoyed it. Is it memorable that I'll go back in 2-3 years and play it? No. But it's still a decent game... sadly, I enjoyed the MOVIES more than the actual games.

fade said:

The title's pretty descriptive. I cannot believe this thing got the high ratings it did. Of course I never understood why Halo got the high ratings it did.

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Because it something some people haven't seen yet?! Halo was the 1st console FPS with good controls and the bro gamers embraced it or something.

Dead Space is a horror shooter in a time when CS/Delta Force clones have dominated the market for years. And no one even played Undying anyway, so it's an even longer absence...

Not to mention how nowadays scores are idiotically high, with consoletards complaining about an 8.6 being a bad score... use to be that a game above 9 was a very rare thing and meant it was both near perfect and did at least a few innovative things.

Iaculus said:

You know, I've never understood people complaining about games with a variety of difficulty settings being 'insanely easy'

Just switch to hard. By all accounts, it's how Dead Space is meant to be played.

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Iaculus, that's pretty easy to answer, actually. It's because the "hard" difficulties are usually exponentially harder, to the point of silliness. I don't want to be irritated by impassable levels, either. Maybe I should've said, "Why isn't there a 'sweet spot' difficulty setting?"
Added at: 14:40
I made an infographic illustrating my view on game difficulty settings:

*facepalm*

If you're NOT being challenged by the game's difficulty, raise it FFS.

I could've sworn I posted an answer to that right above yours.

I mean gee golly willikers, thanks all you helpful people for letting me know that the very difficulty settings I was talking about went up higher. I never noticed that.

Mental Reject, Easy, Medium, Kinda More Than Medium But Not Really Hard, Harder Than the Previous Setting But Not Enough to Really Piss You Off, Hard Enough to Piss You Off, Only That One Guy That's Played This Game Ninety Times Can Get Past The First Level

That work for you Fade?

If you say so. All I'm saying is that there's a huge leap between moderate and hard on many games. Too much for my tastes. I mean, come on. I'm hardly the first person to call attention to that fact.

fade said:

I could've sworn I posted an answer to that right above yours.

I mean gee golly willikers, thanks all you helpful people for letting me know that the very difficulty settings I was talking about went up higher. I never noticed that.

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What the.... you're not worth my time.

Stupid git.

For what, pointing out that I already answered that question? How exactly does that make me a "stupid git"? You come in my thread, and make fun of my intelligence, and then when I call you on the fact that I already addressed your point (with again, tongue-in-cheek sarcasm), you insult me again, and act as if I did something to you. How does that make any logical sense at all?

Kind of like how you dismissed the point I made that addressed your complaint?

They can't cater to every single type of gamer. They make three levels of difficulty at the least. I much prefer that over the days of NES lack of difficulty choices.

I agree with fade though, in many games I find that moderate is boring and hard is ridiculously difficult. I think his chart is right on.

Also: Is there a rule that says we have to go out of our ways to be an ass to anyone who disagrees with us? Jeeze people. Take a freaking chill pill.

Again, while I DO agree with the huge jump between moderate and difficult, it just doesn't seem plausible to add 5-6 difficulties to a game. If you play through the game once on Medium, find it too easy, then play on Hard and find it too hard, then play it again on Medium till you get more comfortable with it. That's just how I see and deal with it.

While there isn't a rule about being an ass (just Jay anyway, but that's part of his charm and he's making up for the lack of the ole Chaz/Shannow/JCM days) but Fade kind of started it with his "WoW nerds" comment.

Jiarn said:

Again, while I DO agree with the huge jump between moderate and difficult, it just doesn't seem plausible to add 5-6 difficulties to a game. If you play through the game once on Medium, find it too easy, then play on Hard and find it too hard, then play it again on Medium till you get more comfortable with it. That's just how I see and deal with it.

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I don't know man, I remember when games had 4 difficulty levels (seems many still do) easy, regular, hard, super freaking hard. That seems like a good balance to me since it still gives those that want it the super crazy hard version they want and those who want a more challenging game but not one where they die every 2 steps what they want.

Fade's chart does reflect those 4+ difficulties.

Jiarn said:

Fade's chart does reflect those 4+ difficulties.

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His chart reflects the problem with they way those difficulties are balanced. I'm saying just like he is that it would be nice to see them more balanced.

Newsflash : For people who know what they are doing, Hard isn't really HARD.

It just means, pay attention or else you'll die. There may be a couple of moments where the difficulty will ramp up, for example during scripted moments when you're rushed but overall it isn't HARD. Just pay attention. Moderate is for player who'd rather not have the game throw kittens in your general direction and scraping you on the kneecaps but not have them gasping for air and counting their precious ammo. The hardest mode in the game isn't even that hard, you just have to decide, "do I punch the necromorth or use one of the few ammo clips I have left?" *punch away and hope not to get 2 shotted*

And for the record, I wasn't being an ass... I just severely dislike "difficulty whiners" who won't even TRY the hard/hardest difficulty at length before judging it or the game. You're not playing the game the way it's supposed to be played and the fact you opened a public thread entitles me to tell you what I think about you AND your opinion. I'm not here to change your opinion, it doesn't even matter to me even in the slightest bit, I just want to point out that your logic is flawed and will do so frankly. You can take the advice like a man or you can simply whine about the fact I'm "picking on you".

And enough of these comparisons between me and other poster, what is with you folks and comparing A to B? Get over it Shego.

Meh, my problem with harder difficulty levels is that ussually it's not so much harder per se, but simply that it takes more time to take down an enemy... or the enemy can kill you so easily that any mistake is a re-load, without any opportunity to be able to deal with in... usually makes for a boring chore... (Mass Effect 2 on Insanity only got interesting when i had enough upgrades to be able to Charge into a group of enemies and dance around them without getting killed after being touched 2-3 times by bullet fire).

Oh Jay you say the sweetest things.
Added at: 10:51

@Li3n said:

Meh, my problem with harder difficulty levels is that ussually it's not so much harder per se, but simply that it takes more time to take down an enemy... or the enemy can kill you so easily that any mistake is a re-load, without any opportunity to be able to deal with in... usually makes for a boring chore... (Mass Effect 2 on Insanity only got interesting when i had enough upgrades to be able to Charge into a group of enemies and dance around them without getting killed after being touched 2-3 times by bullet fire).

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I actually think most "hard" settings are fine, but every now and then I run into one that is just over the top and makes it hard to enjoy the game since it's either super hard or super easy. Red Dead kind of did this by not having any difficulty settings, it would have been really nice to have been able to make the game harder than it's default setting but alas, they didn't put in any difficulty adjustment.

@Li3n said:

Meh, my problem with harder difficulty levels is that ussually it's not so much harder per se, but simply that it takes more time to take down an enemy... or the enemy can kill you so easily that any mistake is a re-load, without any opportunity to be able to deal with in... usually makes for a boring chore... (Mass Effect 2 on Insanity only got interesting when i had enough upgrades to be able to Charge into a group of enemies and dance around them without getting killed after being touched 2-3 times by bullet fire).

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Hardest difficulty isn't for everyone sadly. I have a special love for games that provide me that challenge. I don't want Shepard to fly into battle and wtf pwn all the waves of troops that come in his direction. I want him to work his opposition, go from cover to cover and strategically take them down. Otherwise, I'd play a Super Saiyan/Dynasty Warriors game.

Hardest difficulties require sound planning, sound judgment and most importantly, sound builds in RPG games. It's not for everyone.

Hard however, is quite playable and fun to play unless you simply can't take it. As an old school gamer where games like Ninja Gaiden or Contra shaped my life, let me tell you, very little frustrates me in today's gaming.

I like a game that gives me a challenge. A strategy that can win if plan properly.

Alpha protocol is fun BUT their difficulty scale is insane. As you gain AP (action points that you can earn/spend on buying skills) not levels, the enemies become tougher but not smarter. At 10 AP I can head shot someone with a sniper rifles, but at 60AP it takes TWO headshot to take down an enemy. To me, that is silly mechanic. I love using pistols and do headshot at close range, but when I was at 100AP, it took liike 5-6 headshot at close range to kill a single target. That is just silly.

Jay said:

Hardest difficulty isn't for everyone sadly. I have a special love for games that provide me that challenge. I don't want Shepard to fly into battle and wtf pwn all the waves of troops that come in his direction. I want him to work his opposition, go from cover to cover and strategically take them down. Otherwise, I'd play a Super Saiyan/Dynasty Warriors game.

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Yeah, fun fact, i didn't do anything for insanity different from my first playthrough except spend more time killing each enemy. The only difference might be that on easier difficulties i probably could just Charge without thinking, which is actually a problem with those difficulties (you should only be able to curb stomp opponents on the lowest difficulty).

Heck, the fact that Loki mechs where the most dangerous opponents speaks volumes (because they just keep coming instead of hiding behind something until you kill them).

That argument all falls apart when I've actually played on hard difficulty. I have no problem with challenging difficulty. For the third time, I'll say I'd like another option between boring and suicide. I understand that the two of you disagree. Like I said, though, I'm incredibly far from being the first person to complain about it.

For the record, Jay, I never complained about you "picking on me" or "whined". I made a statement initially that contained opinion. If it differs from yours, that doesn't constitute "whining" by any definition of the word that I'm able to find. It's simply a different opinion. What bugged me about your second post was that you were essentially upset that I insulted you back after you insulted me. Actually, I didn't even insult you or say anything about you at all. I pointed out sarcastically that your obvious advice was obvious, which somehow earned me a personal insult for some reason.
Added at: 17:15
Jiarn, my problem isn't the number of difficulties, it's the balance of difficulties. I didn't completely ignore your post, I just didn't feel like arguing again that I was talking about balance, after saying it twice, and even drawing a picture.

Jay said:

And enough of these comparisons between me and other poster, what is with you folks and comparing A to B? Get over it Shego.

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Meh, I enjoyed Dead Space enormously, but I could understand it not being someone else's cuppa tea. I just loved the atmosphere, the graphic design, and how (if you're playing at an appropriate difficulty level), you're constantly on the run, trying desperately to survive while not using up all your ammo. That going into shoot-everywhere-panic-mode will actually hurt your chances of surviving at that point as well as in the future was something I appreciated.

In the end though, survival-horror is survival horror; at the moment, refining artistic design and graphics is considered a much higher priority than gameplay refinements.

I'm a bit confused by the Halo comparison though. The gameplay is not even remotely alike. If I played DS like I play Halo, I would get ambushed from behind while crouching behind cover or I'd just get my head bitten off when I run up behind an opponent. If I played Halo like I play DS, I would get blown to shreds at range while I slow back away switching between multiple targets as I shoot at their legs.

Chibibar said:

I like a game that gives me a challenge. A strategy that can win if plan properly.

Alpha protocol is fun BUT their difficulty scale is insane. As you gain AP (action points that you can earn/spend on buying skills) not levels, the enemies become tougher but not smarter. At 10 AP I can head shot someone with a sniper rifles, but at 60AP it takes TWO headshot to take down an enemy. To me, that is silly mechanic. I love using pistols and do headshot at close range, but when I was at 100AP, it took liike 5-6 headshot at close range to kill a single target. That is just silly.

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Bad games are usually bad like that.

More Doom than halo to me.
This game isn't the only one with difficulty issues.
Dead space is entertaining and enjoyable to me.

Jay said:

And enough of these comparisons between me and other poster, what is with you folks and comparing A to B? Get over it Shego.

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Shegokigo said:

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Jiarn = Shego? My mind is blown.

Insight Roll = (1d20) + (modifier) = Final Roll
Insight = 1 +3 = 4

You read Jay's comment and critically fail to fully understand his intent. You get upset and attempt to cover your lack of understanding by promptly going to Google search and finding a witless image and post it to cover your tracks.

Diplomacy = (1d20) + (modifier)
Diplomacy = 5 + 0 = 5

You're not trained in diplomacy and your attempt at comedic relief has failed to garner a laugh nor sympathy to your cause.

There is an awkward silence. What do you want to do next?

Jay said:

Insight Roll = (1d20) + (modifier) = Final Roll
Insight = 1 +3 = 4?

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If this is intended to be an insult and compliment at the same time, it's pretty funny. Though I guess it depends what level you are.

Fade doesn't like something?

Jay said:

Insight Roll = (1d20) + (modifier) = Final Roll
Insight = 1 +3 = 4

You read Jay's comment and critically fail to fully understand his intent. You get upset and attempt to cover your lack of understanding by promptly going to Google search and finding a witless image and post it to cover your tracks.

Diplomacy = (1d20) + (modifier)
Diplomacy = 5 + 0 = 5

You're not trained in diplomacy and your attempt at comedic relief has failed to garner a laugh nor sympathy to your cause.

There is an awkward silence. What do you want to do next?

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Yeah I don't play DnD, your references are lost on me. Considering what you know about me, I was a bit shocked about the comment. That's all.

Low rollers tonight.

Uh... to address the question raised in the first post...

I agree with @lien regarding the innovation that Dead Space brought, it's a solid game that was different from the other stuff on offer at the time. Yes, you go around shooting things and pushing buttons, but you do it differently from other games (no more headshots!) and the setting is uncommon too. Good word of mouth helped up the hype.

I personally played Dead Space through once, then had zero motivation to play it again. It's good, but not amazing. It has an interesting story, but the gameplay gets repetitive, and the controls are really sluggish.

bhamv3 said:

I personally played Dead Space through once, then had zero motivation to play it again. It's good, but not amazing. It has an interesting story, but the gameplay gets repetitive, and the controls are really sluggish.

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I actually found it hugely fun to play through a second time with the military RIG and the fully upgraded pulse rifle and force gun. You're overpowered for the game at that point, but encounters that murdered me over and over again when I only had my lame original RIG and un-upgraded early weapons are a blast to do space-marine style and watch necromorph corpses just pile up in front of you. After spending 12 hours on the first playthrough sneaking around, conserving ammo, and getting chased around the room by things that wouldn't fucking die, it's incredibly cathartic.

Dead Space really isn't scary, but I feel it's a good game.

That said, I just finished Chapter 4... and why the fuck did I have to play Asteroids? That is NOT what I signed up for and it sucked. Big time sucked.

No game where you can gib enemies at a good rate will ever be truly scary...it's why Alien was horror and Aliens was an action film...

That's what Amnesia: The Dark Descent understood (and that's just form the demo).