Dead Island

Anyone else gotten it?

Been playing it off and on since it's come out and so far. It's kind of a rough gem, and it's not really what the developers originally promised but I really like it so far.

The combat is probably my favorite part about it, especially when it comes to fights with enemies like thugs which require a little more strategy than just smashing their heads in with a crowbar.

Also, it's fairly unreliable right now but they've got this weird multiplayer system going where sometimes if a player joins your general area in their game, they can hit j to jump into your game and play some co-op with you. It's buggy and kind of annoying right now because the voice chat uses always talk, and the private session doesn't work either, meaning you have to use Hamatchi to do makeshift private games

The game's got its fair share of bugs though, but most of them are just visual. There's a lot of HoMs throughout the island, although they're pretty hard to find (although I did find a pretty glaring one at some point). The draw distance is also pretty low and there's quite a few clipping problems with the models (If you open a door from the wrong angle your character's hand will clip through it when he/she opens it.

Anyway, discuss

Me and my friends have been playing it together since release. Not really had any serious issues. We figured out a workaround to the VOIP issue (we set up a different entry for the Steam mic so we could keep using TS) and aside from one day not being able to join eachother's games (which we were pretty sure was an issue with Steam more than anything), we haven't really had any issues outside that.

I ordered it off amazon about a week ago now, it said "order now 10 left in stock" when I ordered. The next day I recieved an email saying that dead island was not in stock and I would have to wait a month before it came...

I havent cancelled my order because it was pretty cheap, cheaper than everywhere else at least.

Brother: I've got this game called Dead Island
Me: Is it about zombies on an island?
Brother: How perceptive.

Is it like a Vice City / Far Cry sized version of that game with zombies in a mall?

I had two of the quest glitches happen to me in the city (disappearing barricade at the abandoned house and broken dialogue for the toolbox guy in the church).

Black screen at startup went away when I killed Kaspersky.

Haven't noticed any graphical glitches except for the water reflections in the sewers, they look really screwy.

It's fucking awesome. I'm playing it strictly single player so far and at first I was disappointed by how easy it was (10 hours of playing 'till the first accidental death from falling a bit too far), but now I'm loving how the difficulty level is scaled to my progress, while still providing areas that are lethal if you stay too long in them like the city center that constantly spawns 3-4 Infected.

Deaths could be a bit more costly, losing money doesn't really hurt that much.

Edit: Damn, clocked 27 hours in two days. Haven't managed anything like that since San Andreas came out.

Two of my friends have been playing the PS3 version, according to them it's "alright, but nothing to get worked up about". Might give it a rental, but I'm reluctant to buy new.

I'm not sure what to make of it. The game doesn't live up to my expectations, and some aspects of it are downright shit, but it still has a certain charme. Maybe I just like slaughtering zombies. It's like Left 4 Dead (minus the AI director) meets Dead Riding 2 (minus the stupid timer) in a Far Cryish setting forced into a *console-friendly game environment*.

What annoys me most is the totally retarded weapon degradation. I could live with it if it wasn't so exaggerated. Basically all weapons become useless after killing only a handful of zombies, even with upgrades. All the while the weapon inventory slots are limited so it's near impossible to do several hard quests in a row without heading back for a workbench to repair them. Not to mention the steep price curve, particularly for modded weapons.
What's the deal with the weapons anyway? It's like in Borderlands where there's a shitload of different models and you constantly have to check which ones are better. Here you have "flimsy" knives, "tiring", "weak", "homemade", "spiteful" ones and several other varieties of each weapon class.

Another thing that reminded me of Borderlands in a negative way is the respawning of enemies. This is okay on principle, if it's a 'sensible' repopulating of previously visited areas so it stays interesting. However, for the most part the same zombies appear in the same spots as before after you've left an area, which feels quite unrealistic. Same with items (though they come in handy).
And it seems pretty much every single quest goal area is guarded by a strong zombie (thug, straightjacket dude etc).

Yeah sure, all done with coop in mind, but I would have wished for a more sensible system for single player. Oh well, it's still a bit of fun, so I'll keep playing for a while.

Belial said:

Deaths could be a bit more costly, losing money doesn't really hurt that much.

Yeah I heard there's pretty much no penalty for dying. Which surprises me that Kristus is enjoying it since that was a chief complaint of his with games like Bioshock...

Use3D said:

Yeah I heard there's pretty much no penalty for dying. Which surprises me that Kristus is enjoying it since that was a chief complaint of his with games like Bioshock...

All that happens is you go to the last checkpoint and lose 10% of your cash, which I really haven't been spending much of anyway. It'd be nice if they would add an option to have it so you lose all progress you've made since the last checkpoint instead, like in most games. Hell, a hardcore mode where death is permanent would be pretty intense too.

What annoys me most is the totally retarded weapon degradation. I could live with it if it wasn't so exaggerated. Basically all weapons become useless after killing only a handful of zombies, even with upgrades. All the while the weapon inventory slots are limited so it's near impossible to do several hard quests in a row without heading back for a workbench to repair them. Not to mention the steep price curve, particularly for modded weapons

Pretty much why I just save special weapons for special ocassions, like if I'm going up against a large mob of infected, thugs, etc. Otherwise I just use random weapons I find on the ground until they're used up and ditch them

Weapon degradation doesn't bother me at all. I'm playing Xian and sharp weapons are the ones with lowest durability so I just stick to machetes and use baseball bats and maces as secondaries. It's impossible to go anywhere without running into a workbench, especially on main quest missions, so I don't know what neg!ke is complaining about. 18 inventory slots are more than enough, I only carry around enough weapons to fill the selection wheel, using the rest to grab stuff for sale. Money isn't a problem either, the only times when I have less than 20k are after upgrading some new weapon (upgrading guns eats money like candy). Just loot some cash registers now and then or go to the resort hotel and loot the bags there, plenty of cash to be found. Killing punks for their guns is a good source of money as well.

I can tell that the weapons will keep getting more interesting, just got my first katana.

Belial said:

I can tell that the weapons will keep getting more interesting, just got my first katana.

I managed to get my hands on a morning star not too long ago. It's pretty much my weapon of choice against the special infected now. Also got my hands on my first pistol, specifically the magnum.

Also I managed to get to the city which has to be my favorite part so far. The fights are a lot more tense and it seems like there's a bit more use of vertical space as well. It's also adds a bit of a nice contrast to the beautiful beaches.

After playing through the city and upgrading my inventory slots I agree about the weapons getting better and making for more suitable products for selling, especially the guns. But it's still pretty annoying how fast they degrade, even with the durability perk maxed, though a little less than before. There seem to be more workbenches in the city than in the beach resort, yes. The cash registers are a good source for money, but most seemed to be empty, and some higher level zombies have a decent amount as well. But I find it increasingly tiring to go through every bit of junk and baggage for tiny sums all the time just so I can fix my stuff (or lose it again after being surprised by a mob or accidentally blowing myself up with a barrel). I still do it and it's working out okay... just dunno how long I can keep at it before getting bored.

I've also come to appreciate explosives more, deo-bombs and molotovs. Good against groups and heavies.

I suppose it could get a bit boring if you have to do it often. I only do it when I'm making major upgrades (recently I've found both a single shot rifle and an auto rifle, $30k to upgrade them). Repairs aren't that expensive if you don't let your weapons degrade to below 50%.

Having some sort of explosives on you is a must in the city. Molotovs are nice and you can get them for booze (yeah I know, collecting stuff can get boring), but proper explosives are way more useful. I'm hoping that at some point they'll become standard items in shops, like medkits. Now I feel bad that I haven't maxed out on grenades when they popped up in a store once. Deo-bombs will have to do for now.

Also, regardless of what the game tells you, ammo is not a problem once you get to the city (pistol ammo at least). You can loot punks in the streets and at some point you get blueprints for it anyway.

So apparently the developers gave Xian a vagina. And no panties

Craigs said:

So apparently the developers gave Xian a vagina. And no panties

The people in the comments section have way too much time on their hands.

EDIT: I guess I should talk about the "vulva". I don't think we're ready in the Western civilization to handle nudity in a video game.

Remember, games are for kids! Right? .....Right?

In all seriousness, though, I wonder how the devs thought they'd get away with this. There's certain to be a huge shitstorm over this, considering it's a game about zombies and the kiddies are drawn to them like flies to shit. Nevermind the fact that it's one of the goriest games in modern times. Then again, according to the article there was apparently full frontal nudity of a male in an M rated game, so this game getting said shitstorm over this would just be silly.

I have to wonder what the point was, though. Oh boy, digitally rendered female anatomy! It's not like the real thing's better in every way anyways, right?

Craigs said:

So apparently the developers gave Xian a vagina. And no panties

And now some creeper has posted a video of her cooter all over the internet. That poor woman.

That's what she gets for not wearing underwear under her piece of clothing that doesn't cover anything underneath. ;)

But yeah, I don't get that. Dresses and skirts. The entire bottom part of the clothing is totally open for anyone to see. Why would someone wear that.

Use3D said:

Yeah I heard there's pretty much no penalty for dying. Which surprises me that Kristus is enjoying it since that was a chief complaint of his with games like Bioshock...

Yeah, but Bioshock wasn't coop. I'm probably being a hypocrite. But I don't really hold coop games at the same standards as I do survival horror. (And if anyone says Dead Island is survival horror I will kick them in the head)

Dead island is a good way to spend time with your friends. Bioshock was aspiring to be a spiritual sequel to System Shock 2. It wasn't.

And 10 percent of your money on death isn't that cheap really. It was the same or similar deal in Diablo 2 and people didn't really seem to mind.

Craigs said:

So apparently the developers gave Xian a vagina. And no panties

"Can't hurt to look", she says it herself.


Anyway, finished it. I didn't like the jungle levels much and the game felt pretty random ever since then. Maybe because the story was so bad and with such big leaps inbetween. Of course I didn't really expect much from a zombie game, but at least they could have tried to explain what the point of all was.

Don't care for coop, it seems even less interesting than in Borderlands, but what do I know. SP was fun in parts.

Did any of you find more of those developer's mod recipes? I found several skulls and a couple of altars, but only one where it fit (orange skull). Didn't create the weapon though.

From what I've seen this game looks promising, once my exams are done I'll see if I can pick it up at a decent price.

kristus said:

And 10 percent of your money on death isn't that cheap really. It was the same or similar deal in Diablo 2 and people didn't really seem to mind.

In Diablo 2 though you also dropped your gear when you died and had to retrieve it from your corpse

Craigs said:

In Diablo 2 though you also dropped your gear when you died and had to retrieve it from your corpse

Thankfully people couldn't raid your corpse.

Xeros612 said:

It's not like the real thing's better in every way anyways, right?

I dunno, you can turn the game off and don't have to buy it anything.

kristus said:

Yeah, but Bioshock wasn't coop. I'm probably being a hypocrite. But I don't really hold coop games at the same standards as I do survival horror.

No, that makes sense. I don't have any idea how extensive the multiplayer is at all in Dead Island.

Craigs said:

In Diablo 2 though you also dropped your gear when you died and had to retrieve it from your corpse

or save+exit

Yup, there's a film in the works.

Xeros612 said:

It's not like the real thing's better in every way anyways, right?

This is what I always say about sports games, but man, look at those Madden sales figures.

neg!ke said:

Did any of you find more of those developer's mod recipes? I found several skulls and a couple of altars, but only one where it fit (orange skull). Didn't create the weapon though.

I found the brown one in the bunker, the orange one in the supermarket and the purple one in the sewers. I noticed that the game was saved when I picked them up so I googled to find out what they are. Then I just went through the walkthrough grabbing and dropping off the rest of them.

I got a ton of diamonds in exchange for champagne but I didn't bother making the weapons.

I liked the jungle maps. Jason made one hell of a secret boss.

Dead Island is really fun, the combat is great and the gameplay is pretty dynamic depending on how you play. Haven't tried co-op yet but heard good things about it. Only problem I have it is the weapons deterioration, but still adds a few cool elements to the game