What changes do you think will reinvigorate the Dead Space franchise?

[Evaheist666]

As a huge survival horror fan, for me the Dead Space (DS) series became a favorite from the first 2 games. I absolutely DID NOT expect the first DS to be as good as it was and DS2 was like survival horror nirvana for me.

However, DS3 remains my least favorite for different reasons mainly including the "shooter-ification" of the title among other things. Maybe that's the reason the developers went for a more action oriented feel because they knew that after 3 titles, the horror would pretty much run dry. Players of previous games were now swimming in pre-conceptions of DS scare tactics and couldn't be Wowed like the first two times.

So I basically think the series needs a thorough reboot in order to remain viable and fresh. Maybe the developers need to come up with new stuff and/or go back a little to their horror roots? Should DS continue on its Resident Evil path of becoming more of a block-buster set-piece action game or should it strive to be the next big thing in survival horror?

 

[skywolfblue]

Kind of moot point isn't it though?
Since EA ended the Dead Space franchise because their lofty "5 million" sale marker wasn't met, and the fact that they sacked most of Visceral.

I would like to see some elements from Dead Space make it into a new franchise. The RIG, the dismemberment combat, and the guns for sure!

 

[Catfood220]

A new main character, I said after Dead Space 2 that Isaac Clark's story had been told and we should have a new character. Visceral and EA obviously disagreed and he was back for Dead Space 3 and...it wasn't great.

If there is a new Dead Space, there needs to be a new main character who has not killed more Necromorphs than had hot dinners.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Hmmm...let's see...

"Randomized" areas, according to visceral Games they had intended to also create a "Randomized area" where no two paths are alike so one playthrough have you dealing with stasis heavy hazard zones and the other nearly endless waves of necros. Bringing this will add an air of dread an uncertainty to the game

Sanity have a true affect on the game, due to the inevitability that is fighting in a marker infested area can and will break the mind of Isaac, apply that with Sanity effects and the only thing you can do is keep moving lest the visions reach your head.

 

[Reed Spacer]

What about a 'Necromorph mode', in which the game mechanics are reversed: you're a necromorph and you have to deal with a base of well-armed humans?

I know that the multi-player mode in DS2 allowed you to do that, but that was just arena fighting - this would be more like Alien versus Predator, in which you could play either race.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

Hmmm...let's see...

"Randomized" areas, according to visceral Games they had intended to also create a "Randomized area" where no two paths are alike so one playthrough have you dealing with stasis heavy hazard zones and the other nearly endless waves of necros. Bringing this will add an air of dread an uncertainty to the game.

THIS

In any "survival" game. In this day of instant information survival games have no difficulty when you know ahead of time what guns to bring, and how much ammo etc. to each room or level. You know exactly what enemies there are, where they spawn, everything.

Now add randomly generated enemy waves and locations, and see how well you truly survive. No space station or ship is alike. Anything can pop up anywhere, any time.

 

[Bertylicious]

Hmmm...let's see...

"Randomized" areas, according to visceral Games they had intended to also create a "Randomized area" where no two paths are alike so one playthrough have you dealing with stasis heavy hazard zones and the other nearly endless waves of necros. Bringing this will add an air of dread an uncertainty to the game.

THIS

In any "survival" game. In this day of instant information survival games have no difficulty when you know ahead of time what guns to bring, and how much ammo etc. to each room or level. You know exactly what enemies there are, where they spawn, everything.

Now add randomly generated enemy waves and locations, and see how well you truly survive. No space station or ship is alike. Anything can pop up anywhere, any time.

Isn't that a bit... actiony though? Not that action is bad, far from it, but it's not really scary.

I might go so far as to say that you can't have horror without tightly controlled, read: scripted, gameplay. So many elements must be controlled! The sound, the lighting, the pacing; all stuff that's hard enough for a human creator to set up, let alone a machine.

Then again I suppose there is the AI Director in the Left 4 Dead franchise and that does a pretty good job, although the hunter that leaps on you as you're trying to find gubbins is more thrilling than chilling. I imagine that is about the best you could do with AI driven content.

 

[Schmeiser]

I don't know, the ending of DS3 was so bad and predictable it left such a sour taste in my mouth. Just drop Isaac and give us another char that has to survive against all odds, like a doctor that uses different kind of equipment.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

Hmmm...let's see...

"Randomized" areas, according to visceral Games they had intended to also create a "Randomized area" where no two paths are alike so one playthrough have you dealing with stasis heavy hazard zones and the other nearly endless waves of necros. Bringing this will add an air of dread an uncertainty to the game.

THIS

In any "survival" game. In this day of instant information survival games have no difficulty when you know ahead of time what guns to bring, and how much ammo etc. to each room or level. You know exactly what enemies there are, where they spawn, everything.

Now add randomly generated enemy waves and locations, and see how well you truly survive. No space station or ship is alike. Anything can pop up anywhere, any time.

Isn't that a bit... actiony though? Not that action is bad, far from it, but it's not really scary.

I might go so far as to say that you can't have horror without tightly controlled, read: scripted, gameplay. So many elements must be controlled! The sound, the lighting, the pacing; all stuff that's hard enough for a human creator to set up, let alone a machine.

Then again I suppose there is the AI Director in the Left 4 Dead franchise and that does a pretty good job, although the hunter that leaps on you as you're trying to find gubbins is more thrilling than chilling. I imagine that is about the best you could do with AI driven content.

No, I'm not talking about big waves of enemies. Take the first Resident Evil. I don't consider that to be "actiony". It was suspenseful, but after a playthrough or two, you knew where that zombie pair in the L hallway was, and that there were 3 dogs in the other one. You knew where the pistol would cut it, and where you needed your shotgun.

I'm talking about randomizing those encounters.

 

[Darquenaut]

I loved the Dead Space franchise, but I will agree the third game just felt off-kilter which the rest of everything else in the series because it focused more on protracted action sequences instead of long periods of creeping dread. So... here's some of my ideas.

1) Bring back Isaac. Except not have him doing the whole action hero thing. He can still be confident, but I want them to ramp up the "crazy" factor. That was one of the best parts of DS2 was how more and more unhinged he felt. I'd like to see them bring it another level further, make him mutter to himself, constantly seeing bizarre objects and figures. Maybe take a cue from Eternal Darkness or AMnesia and have how he relates to other characters dependent on how "sane" he s at that moment.

2) Keep things brutal. DS3 faltered here because when you're able to waste so much ammo and make guns that break the game (seriously, I created a rivet gun/ plasma cutter gun and I waltzed through the second half of the game on Hard) and the violence just became commonplace. It was violent yeah, but not shocking. Make it mean something. Maybe take away most of Isaac's tools until the very end (ie- make the plasma cutter the game's equivalent of a BFG), and have him have to resort to building traps and use his engineering brain to keep alive. Make each close encounter something to dread.

3) Less is more. Make each bullet scavenged count. Make each corner to hide in important. Give the player a reason to get to the end of a level if only then they can breathe for a few seconds. The original DS did this in spades, making each trek out of the tram tense and the eventual return to it a relief when you finally got into the safe confines of the shrieking metal box.

4) GET. RID. OF. MULTIPLAYER. ALL OF IT.

5) Ramp up the madness. The DS mythos revolves around the Markers and how they manipulate, hypnotize and convert living creatures into bloodthirsty maniacs. Make this a constant threat. Have characters spontaneously lunge out. Have it set up that anyone can go at any time, not at a pre-determined scripted point... which brings me to my final idea...

6) Get rid of any predictable encounters. One of the ways Left 4 Dead worked out great is because shit could happen at any given time. Get rid of the monster closets and make every play through a different experience.

 

[Muspelheim]

A shovel, a box and a new space horror IP. A fresh start, in short. It can and should strike many of the same notes, but new blood wouldn't go amiss.

Dead Space had a good run. It had neat ideas, and worked rather well. It will leave a mark on the genre.

It fell apart a bit at the end, but so does kebab. I am sure there is a connection, considering the monsters all looked like they were made out of kebab. Nonetheless, it's fallen apart, and brushing the left overs together and heating them back up in the microwave wouldn't satisfy anyone.

The last thing we need are more long, expensive franchises slowly running out of ambition.

 

[Terminate421]

No emphasis on weapons. Weapons needed to be an after thought, effective ways of removing limbs but used as MINING TOOLS and not ACTUAL WEAPONS (Pulse Rifle and seeker rifle are allowed)

The Protagonist CANNOT BE RELATED TO THE MILITARY. Dead Space works when Isaac was an Engineer, not a soldier (Dead Space 1 and 2 understood this).

Make it crazy. Dead Space 1 and 2 understood that when the player was going insane was that is worked quite well.

Dead Space also needs to be set IN SPACE, SPACE ITSELF MUST BE A THREAT AS MUCH AS THE NECROMORPHS.

Necromorphs more creative than Slashers and make them more interested in being subtle rather than very loud. Also make Ammo really scarce.

 

[Qvar]

I hope they just will stop, but something tells em taht they won't miss the opportunity to milk just a bit more out of the once awesome franchise.

Not that DS3 was a bad game by itlsef, I only hatted it to no end because it felt 90% "give me your money and take this game we already had and then labeled it DS3" and 10% Dead Space.

EA could easily make themselves even more rich with the awesome franchises they have bougth/created, but instead of making genuinelly good games and make everybody happy, they prefer to squeeze some meagre cents out of us and go back laughing to their cave.

At Spain we have a saying that goes something like "Bread for today, hunger for tomorrow". EA's own actions for short-sigthed benefeit will be their doom in the future.

You are Arthur C. Asimov, an engineer on a ship that crash landed on a quarantined and once human inhabited city on another planet after the Faster Than Drive malfunctioned. You Crashland near a safe room (which the maximum number of that can be generated goes down with harder difficulties) and hide in it to protect yourself from the monsters.

To win the game, you would have to get various engine parts for a small ship while surviving the Necromorph-esque monstrosities that inhabit the place. While doing this, you also every now and then have to deal with randomized events.

lol sounds like a minecraft-deadspace hybrid, I like it.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Hmmm...let's see...

"Randomized" areas, according to visceral Games they had intended to also create a "Randomized area" where no two paths are alike so one playthrough have you dealing with stasis heavy hazard zones and the other nearly endless waves of necros. Bringing this will add an air of dread an uncertainty to the game.

THIS

In any "survival" game. In this day of instant information survival games have no difficulty when you know ahead of time what guns to bring, and how much ammo etc. to each room or level. You know exactly what enemies there are, where they spawn, everything.

Now add randomly generated enemy waves and locations, and see how well you truly survive. No space station or ship is alike. Anything can pop up anywhere, any time.

Isn't that a bit... actiony though? Not that action is bad, far from it, but it's not really scary.

I might go so far as to say that you can't have horror without tightly controlled, read: scripted, gameplay. So many elements must be controlled! The sound, the lighting, the pacing; all stuff that's hard enough for a human creator to set up, let alone a machine.

Then again I suppose there is the AI Director in the Left 4 Dead franchise and that does a pretty good job, although the hunter that leaps on you as you're trying to find gubbins is more thrilling than chilling. I imagine that is about the best you could do with AI driven content.

No, I'm not talking about big waves of enemies. Take the first Resident Evil. I don't consider that to be "actiony". It was suspenseful, but after a playthrough or two, you knew where that zombie pair in the L hallway was, and that there were 3 dogs in the other one. You knew where the pistol would cut it, and where you needed your shotgun.

I'm talking about randomizing those encounters.

The problem with that is that one of the key points of survival horror is managing your resources. If you randomize the game then you have the chance to make it so you're in an unwinable situation. This is fine with something like The Binding of Isaac, where the point is to play multiple times and getting a bad run is just getting a bad run, you try again, but what about a game like Dead Space where where if you end up in a situation like that, it means having to start over potentially hours of progress?

Keep in mind, I'm not disagreeing with you that it would make it suspenseful, I'm just wondering if you have any ideas on how to deal with something like this.

You are Arthur C. Asimov, an engineer on a ship that crash landed on a quarantined and once human inhabited city on another planet after the Faster Than Drive malfunctioned. You Crashland near a safe room (which the maximum number of that can be generated goes down with harder difficulties) and hide in it to protect yourself from the monsters.

To win the game, you would have to get various engine parts for a small ship while surviving the Necromorph-esque monstrosities that inhabit the place. While doing this, you also every now and then have to deal with randomized events.

lol sounds like a minecraft-deadspace hybrid, I like it.

Actually, it reminds me of Teleglitch.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

Hmmm...let's see...

The problem with that is that one of the key points of survival horror is managing your resources. If you randomize the game then you have the chance to make it so you're in an unwinable situation. This is fine with something like The Binding of Isaac, where the point is to play multiple times and getting a bad run is just getting a bad run, you try again, but what about a game like Dead Space where where if you end up in a situation like that, it means having to start over potentially hours of progress?

I completely agree, inventory management should always be a key component to survival. You should not be able to pack 6 guns and hundreds (if not thousands) of rounds of ammo.

Honestly I'd like to see this :

1. A weight based inventory system where you move slower the more weight you pack. As a percentage, not in stages. 10? capacity you move 5? slower, up to the point your bag is full and you move at half speed.

2. Magazines added as ammo requirements. Your number of reloads is limited to the number of magazines you actually possess. No more magic reloading, or anally reloading after firing 1-2 shots. If you have 4 mags you get 4 reloads before you need to reload them

3. A time consuming (but not overly) animation where you actually have to reload said magazines. You need to be clear of a fight, somewhere safe, and have the time needed. No more time freezing while in menu/inventory and no more instant reloading from your inventory.

These would add a crucial management system to your survival. Do you run fast and light and hope no heavy enemies come your way? Do you run heavily armed but move like a snail? Are you sure you want to puck a fight with that group of enemies? Sure, you've got plenty of ammo, but you've only found 2 mags for that shiny new gun, is 24 rnds enough? If not and you need to run, can you move fast enough to get away?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Isaac and Carver need to be supporting roles at best in the next game. Here's my idea:

Set the game on Earth. Personally, I would like to play as Gabe--yes, I know he died at the end of the DLC, but then that one Dead Space guy said, "Who said he's dead?" so it's possible they're saving him for later.

Gabe (or whoever) wakes up in the middle of the outbreak (yeah, DS 2, but it works) and has to stay alive. Thing is, the fighting is already over. Weapons and tools are hard to find, and ammo is even harder. The invasion has begun and humanity has been overrun.

Throw in the fact that, with the moons now devouring Earth (DLC again), you have to fight your mind going nuts too. Hallucinations, whispers, other people who have gone mad. You're not really sure what's going on.

Pick up the radio call that Isaac and Carver sent out at the end of the DLC. Since they seem to be the only ones who know what's going on, you make your way to them, all the time getting worse and worse.

Arrive at their location, only to find it overrun with Necromorphs. Fight until you're near death, and then bam! Everything clears. The whispers are gone, no more visions, and you look down to see that the Necromorph you're about to kill is actually Isaac/Carver.

Look up to find Lex and her child (Gabe's child too) standing close by, along with Ellie. Remember, Lex is immune to the Marker signal and so is anyone standing close to her. This is referenced in Extraction, and the reason that shadow group is hunting her.

No idea where to go from there, but I just really want them to put some of these back-seat characters to use. The fact that Lex is immune to the Marker signal is a huge deal, and I wouldn't be surprised if her child is too. Maybe find a way to have them counter the Marker Signal by the end of the game, thus wrapping up the Dead Space story for good.

Just a thought.

 

[w9496]

I think more resource management would breathe some life back into it. I played the demo for Dead Space 3 and I never once felt like I couldn't steamroll everything in sight. Less ammo or deadlier/tougher enemies could curve it.

As for multiplayer, I felt that DS2 did a decent job aside from some balancing problems on the necromorph side. A new leveling system would be need as well, since the people that play the game longer get real damage boosts and more health, which wouldn't be so bad if it was 25-50% increases.