KickStarter Dead State: Reanimated

[Severian Silk]

You seem upset.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I'm pretty sure ITS isn't to be considered part of the "CRPG revival". Correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Severian Silk]

Dead State combat is fine. Granted, a little more variety in enemy types would be nice.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

The combat is basically AoD combat isn't? Pretty much the same system and it is made in the same engine?

 

[Luckmann]

The combat is basically AoD combat isn't? Pretty much the same system and it is made in the same engine?

More or less, yes.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The combat is basically AoD combat isn't? Pretty much the same system and it is made in the same engine?

More or less, yes.

with guns though.

 

[hellbent]

The combat is basically AoD combat isn't? Pretty much the same system and it is made in the same engine?

In addition to guns, you fight 2 enemy types the whole game - humans (raiders/looters/bikers/soldiers) and....zombies. (SURPRISE!)

The most fun to be had in combat is to figure out ways to dispatch human enemies without arousing the zombies, or to get zombies to attack the human enemies for you by making noise and running off. I really liked finding creative ways to clear areas without resorting to direct confrontations.

Unfortunately, I believe the maps remain largely unchanged from game to game, so starting a new game does not randomize much ( I think it changes loot items, but little else ), or else I'd have started a new playthrough already.

 

[Severian Silk]

I didn't realize there was any randomization at all!

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Combat is fine but you do need to play it in short bursts, as it starts to drag during longer sessions.

 

[Galdred]

I agree that the combat is weak, but cheatengine's speedhack makes it 500% more bearable (it also solves the problem of running around in the shelter).
It also causes strange glitches with several zombies sharing the same tile, but it was not a big issue as they can still move away from it.
Finding creative ways to send zombies on your opponents was the best part of the combat for me.
Unfortunately, it is also one of the better "stronghold" RPG, as very few have managed to get a meaningful base management.
I gave up a short time after day 20 out of boredom, but I might retry with ironman and player infection to make it less trivial.
The game would work so much better if it were a fallout-esque post apocalypse than a zombie one.

 

[Mark Richard]

The rebel base in Crusader: No Remorse came in two flavours. In the PC version the base is interacted with in exactly the same way as the rest of the game, by walking around the various rooms to talk to characters. The console version replaced this with a static overlay which transported you between rooms to talk to any character of note.

I may have just made all that up. It's been over 20 years, memory is a funny thing. My point is this - Dead State might've been better served with the overlay. Being able to walk the corridors of the school exposes the budget as characters stand in an awkward stock pose without animations to accompany their tasks. There's no point seeking them out in that environment more than once because their lines just repeat. Anything new is relayed through triggered events where they come directly to you.

 

[Galdred]

Indeed, I find the base UI criminal in that it forces useless slog and character hunting while a menu would have been much more efficient.
Darklands and Mount and Blade got it right by not trying to represent everything, and letting you do most interactions through a menu.

 

[hellbent]

Yeah, they could have tightened it up by allowing you to set a "meeting" with characters via the job board. That would have saved some time. The only thing that might have made the running around the school looking for teammates interesting would have been an occasional break-in by zombies that you would then have to fight off.

 

[Galdred]

Yeah, they could have tightened it up by allowing you to set a "meeting" with characters via the job board. That would have saved some time. The only thing that might have made the running around the school looking for teammates interesting would have been an occasional break-in by zombies that you would then have to fight off.

That is another failed opportunity indeed. You have a walkable base that you never get to defend (or do you? I stopped playing a bit early maybe) in a zombie apocalypse setting...

 

[taxalot]

So, is this worth playing now or what ?

 

[Zombra]

So, is this worth playing now or what ?

Shrug, I thought it was flawed but worth playing before the EE which allegedly fixed most of what I disliked, so yes. Don't know if that's helpful to you or not

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

It is, just remember to speed up the animations and try to keep sessions relatively short. It's a fun game, but longer sessions tend to wear you out badly.

 

[Snorkack]

And if you find yourself bored around day 20 and ask yourself whether you should keep on playing, don't.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Between it and State of Decay, I enjoyed them both as decent indie Zombie games. Better than project Zomboid or that one where you wander around the sewers for 1 billion hours.

Price has to be low now so I'd say to check it out if you're bored and want something zombie flavored. Not really a must-play game though.

 

[Mustawd]

Price has to be low now so I'd say to check it out if you're bored and want something zombie flavored.

5 dorrah on steam. FYI.

 

[OSK]

Oh wow. I spent 117 hours on this game according to Steam.

In all honesty, the game is pretty mediocre. The combat, resource management, story and whatnot are individually OK at best, but I felt like the entire package came together nicely in a way that made me strangely addicted to it. I'd love to see a more polished version with similar mechanics in a new setting.

 

[zool]

A good game marred by very uneven (i.e sometimes super-bad) writing. I've yet to finish my first and only playthrough (stopped around day 25) but it's definitely worth playing on ironman/hardcore/player infection. Beginning of the game is great and tough as it shoud be but then it gets easy once you get sufficiently good gear.

Play it ironman though, there is no point in playing it any other way. Losing your best combat NPCs to zombies/military/looters and having to go out scavenging with a team of crappy NPCs might be the best part of the game.

 

[NotAGolfer]

So I'm giving this another try atm.
Ranged char this time, since zombies are pushovers even with all three hardcore settings activated.

some things that immediately annoy me:
Pathfinding sucks for both the AI and when moving my own troops around.
The other survivors putting you in charge just like that on day 1 didn't get any less weird. Wtf were they thinking?
I kinda like the way the shelter is shown in 3D even though the torque engine is a piece of shit but why can I repeat the same basic dialogues over and over again? What's the point?
The default camera angle is set too low. You always have to tilt it up a bit to be able to see anything because walls, cupboards etc are obstructing the view. I suppose that's another issue with that crappy torque engine.
The UI is a nightmare. I had to do an internet search on both how to exchange items between party members in the field and how to see NPC stats in the shelter, didn't remember it from last time and it still doesn't make sense.
Looted containers/bodies should not stay lootable afterwards if there is nothing left inside them. That's really basic stuff and they still didn't get it right.
I wanna set traps. Why can't I set traps? (no, not just the lame kind where you exploit the stupid AI by making noise)

Other than that it's pretty fun again.
I don't have the faintest idea how to avoid running out of content around day 30 max though. But I guess I can just fast forward through the daily routine to get to those stupid timed story triggers after that.
...
Maybe it might be more fun to not invest any points in social skills so at least there will be some drama, right?

 

[zool]

I had to do an internet search on both how to exchange items between party members in the field and how to see NPC stats in the shelter, didn't remember it from last time and it still doesn't make sense.

Having to go through the shelter inventory to exchange items between people in the shelter was also pure crap.

Maybe it might be more fun to not invest any points in social skills so at least there will be some drama, right?

That's exactly what I was planning to do for my next playthrough. Playing a social character makes shelter management too easy.

 

[lightbane]

You can't do a pure social character, as your MC MUST accompany every expedition, even if it doesn't make too much sense in-game, so combat skills are mandatory. Having high lockpicking skills are also a must, as apparently no-one else have them and by the time you find these, it is way too late. Same thing for the science and tech skills, which are even worse as it is done in a purely artificial matter in order to make things harder for you just because.