September - December 2019 Update
Finished: Dying Light
For the first 10 hours or so, this game was a real drag because of how weak you and your weapons are. However, when you finally get stronger weapons, the game really shines and actually becomes a lot of fun - aside from the ending, which is complete garbage. Enjoyed this one a lot more than Dead Island.
Finished: Quantum Break
What a trip this was one was. It’s worth it just for the story, and the “TV show” between episodes was a really interesting concept (which I thought added to the game quite a bit). The gameplay wasn’t anything new, but was still enjoyable all the way through. The only downside was its poor performance.
Finished: We Were Here Together
This one was alright - I’m sort of sick of the setting after having played the 2 previous games in the series, and I wasn’t super fond of some of the puzzles in this one. Still fun to co-op through regardless though.
Finished: Tomb Raider
Beat this way back in 2013, but since I’m playing through the entire series, I figured I’d have another go at it. Still as awesome as it was back then.
Finished: Rise of the Tomb Raider
This was an improvement of the first game in every way. I really enjoyed it. The story was interesting too, even though it rode really hard on your stereotypical villain trope which was kind of lame (and the plot armour…but then again, it’s Tomb Raider!).
Playing Next: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Project Warlock.
What would you say major improvements were? I played through the first Dark Island solo and found it a chore. Got the impression it’s way better in co-op, though. Kinda like Borderlands.
Does it download all assets? I remember reading how it would stream TV show bits or something.
Sorry for the late reply!
Funnily enough, I preferred Borderlands solo, but then again, I’m not much of a co-op guy.
One major improvement is the parkour system in DL, which gives you a lot of variety for traveling, and escaping / dealing with various situations. Adds a lot of variety, and it means that some obstacle in your way can 99% of the time be easily maneuvered around. That alone adds a lot to the game (especially considering there are skills to unlock / improve based on this system that add even more to the game).
Aside from that, I’m not sure what other major improvements I could mention since I last played DI ages ago…I just distinctly remember not having a great time. There was also that bug where the mouse crawls to a near halt in menus that really put me off, too. But I feel like, generally speaking, DL improved on most aspects of DI whether it’s gameplay, atmosphere, story, or whatever else. I will say though that I personally prefer the setting of DI.
I had no idea that it streaming was even an option. Apparently folks are saying there’s no way to download all the assets so I guess it does stream. I couldn’t tell myself.
Interesting. Did they change how the guns work in Dying Light? I remember in Dead Island it was awkward because the system was clearly built for fighting zombies in melee and then you suddenly get gun wielding enemies you’re meant to fight the same way. Parkour definitely sounds like a good addition in urban environment. Is it actually harder at night when zombies are supposedly stronger?
It’s just mindblowing to me they couldn’t include cutscenes as part of the entire package on Steam for Quantum Break, though.
Yes, it’s much better in DL - you can play how you like. It’s a little tricky to go melee-only against gun wielding enemies, but it’s totally possible (especially with how easy it is to craft medkits). Gun play in DL is wonderful though, a massive upgrade from DI for sure. They really let you play through this game at your own pace and with your own rules.
It’s definitely much harder at night because that’s when new types of zombies come out, and not only are they more powerful, they’re super fast, and they gang up on you really quickly. Once you get better weaponry and unlock some skill trees, it becomes much easier, though. The grappling hook is a necessity if you’re going out at night without heavy firepower IMO.
I can understand it. Your choices influence how the TV show plays out, so they’d need 2 versions for each episode (or, if there are duplicate scenes, they’d need to patch it on the fly automatically). Across the entire game, I think it totals up to approximately 2 hours of TV (so that would be 4 hours if they rendered for each branch), which would drastically increase the file size of the game (which is already around 70GB).
What they should’ve done is at least provide it as a free DLC or something that could be downloaded by those who would prefer that way, though.