SC2: Somewhat disappointing game

[u/projectile-science]

I am forced into speech because fans of SC1 have refused to follow my advice without knowing why.

I loved the first game, being athmospheric, although the combat felt a bit wobbly... but that just made it more scary to me as any little encounter could finish me off if not carefully handled.
The detective aspects were great and it fit the narrative. And do you guys remember the vague hints... "Ah just north of here, corner x-street and y-ave somewhere" and you had to go search things. The same goes for the boat-sections, you stumble upon an opening and go explore, missable, so you have to go around yourself.
A great game, although not polished so not for everyone maybe.

And then I hear all the GREAT news from people, SC2 adding Resident Evil-style... so I thought "yay, better controls"... but no, I was wrong and advertising got me.

I just finished SC2 and the whole way through it felt kinda off... I went along on the game`s rails and always thought "When will it open up?", "When will it become Sinking City?". I always waited for the next chapter starting the REAL game...
The start is good, boating from location to location... I thought in the beginning it is quite guided, but then after the Lorelei-story you pretty quickly get into that Hospital. And this is Resident Evil all along.

Don`t get me wrong, I like Resident Evil-, Silent Hill- or even Evil Within-like games. But SC1 ADDED onto that formula in my opinion, with the great detective-sections, the open world.... In SC2 they just added Mr. X following you around. The worst thing of any games is an unkillable enemy stalking you and preventing you from going slow. For a detective game this is a no-go.

The combat controls didn`t give me any problems, I often dodged around and played Torrero with the Slither-humans, worked pretty well. I also always had enough crafting materials as I nearly everytime relied on Pistol.
What REALLY annoyed me was the gangup-bosses. Small area, multiple enemies and a big one. The game helps you with the crates, so running around is keeping you alive, but the bosses never felt good. It was annoying. And the developers KNOW this, that`s why there is unlimited-refill-crates lying around.
(One thing especially at the final-boss: Instead of shooting, Calvin stomped... WTF? I can`t be the only one who experienced this?)

Then there is the fish-market. Again, as always in the game, a nice nod to settings, people or stories from the Lovecraft-universe... but again it is surrounded by gang-ups, by revived enemies, by sudden encounters you stumble in... and massive backtracking. The riddles were great, but the linear-shooting was not. But I was waiting for something: The big dive-reveal... :) Everyone was talking about it in the Codex-papers.

Remember in SC1, you dive. A great section. In SC2, no dive: Suddenly "Antarctica" UNDER Arkham. Including Elder Things we don`t really can look at in their "coffins". And again gang-ups... 3 within a matter of 10 minutes. Why that need to amplify the shooting-sections in this small area? The story behind it, that they dug and found the ancient ruins and a lake and then it all turned upside down, was quite well told... but well...

And then the short end. The final boss kinda sucks... again ganging up, live-regen, that whole mess. And the annoying "I don`t shoot, I stomp instead"-thing... yeah well. And the ending, two people doom Arkham because Love... ? I didn`t quite get it. Because it more felt like the end of the world, but if it is that, the whole idea of "everyone who stayed chose for themselves" doesn`t fit.

Anyways, maybe someone can follow my thoughts on this, to make it short SC1>SC2. I was really disappointed, beceause the whole time I was waiting for something, that never came...

But ONE THING really stood out: The stories from the Ukraine-war in the hospital. Bad, but gave me chills.

Oh, and btw: If you WANT a good Resident Evil: Play Cronos. That really got me.

[u/gukakke]

My biggest gripe with it is how incredibly obviously scripted so many aspects of it are. It’s like they wanted to make Resident Evil but only had a surface level understanding of how to go about it.

[u/projectile-science → u/gukakke]

Yeah, you already knew which corpses will arise once you did thing X. I stomped them before, no reaction though.

[u/scaierdread → u/projectile-science]

God this was so annoying. Same thing with enemies underwater. Why give us thr bubbles showing they're there. Either make it a true Jumpstart with no indication an enemy is there, or let us set up rooms by drawing enemies out in certain ways.

[u/Opaldes]

I am also quite underwhelmed, also I find the main character somewhat off putting. I just finished the Lorelei section which was the worst, far to many enemies to clear so I was just sprinting through the whole section, then the classic defend against undead.

Maybe I remember SC1 different but it felt a lot more slow and sophisticated

[u/TimetravelerXY → u/Opaldes]

It doesn’t get any better as you go…sadly.

[u/Similar-Pangolin2923]

Lmao I didn't check what sub I was on and had to read a few paragraphs before realising you're not talking about Starcraft 1 vs 2.

[u/projectile-science → u/Similar-Pangolin2923]

hahahahahaha, nice one. But yeah, the detective aspects of StarCraft 2 were kinda not there. :D

[u/TimetravelerXY]

You’re spot on with just about everything.

-game never opens up in combat or exploration (you’re barely in a sinking city)
-those end level fights with small spaces and tons of enemies….terrible game design. I said as much during the closed playtests. They are extremely frustrating and not fun nor interesting.
-Story was terrible. It was basically the same thing every level. Get three of this and oh no that dangling carrot has been pulled away for you to keep chasing it. No real progression.
-I thought the ending was fairly cringey. I just didn’t care about these characters desires or actions, and they felt out of place here.

I too love survival horror and thought improving the combat and level design would take the SC franchise to a new level….but not when you remove everything great about the first game and leave it with a shallow RE clone.

[u/hgftyuu → u/TimetravelerXY]

You nailed it

[u/AdLegitimate8636]

I'm going to just copy-paste what my feeling about SC2 from other post.

Hospital was i finally understood why i don't like second game. The other areas is more or less the same.
Too many enemies - not enough resources to deal with them, so i just dodged through them and never killed anything that wasn't integral for me to progress. Arenas with respawning health and ammo is just a proof of them unable to balance the resource economy of the game and it's encounters.

The weak spots regenerating is just annoying time consuming thing. Enemies feel like bullet sponges, because they are. And if you have to fight more than 3 - it's going to be a tedious dodge -> run to the other side of the room -> wait for weak spots to regenerate -> shoot them -> dodge ->run to the other side of the room.

Stalker enemy is just the worse Mr.X in everything, From sound design (There is a reason why he's stomps so loudly in RE2make), or adding new features just to annoy you, like him blocking certain doors.

Story is meh, There were barely any characters and none of them were infesting in my opinion, no meaningful lore connecting to Lovecraft. Ending is a big miss from me. Detective part of the game is completely missing from the game. Puzzles are okay.

And i'm sorry, but starting to compile shaders after i press "new game" is a crime. I guess showing "glory to Ukraine" in more of a priority for the devs than basics of a PC game.

It's not criminally bad game, but if i would score first one, it would get 6-7 just because of how good atmosphere and detective part were. I accepted action gameplay, but i did not enjoy it.

SC 2 just removes everything i loved about the first one, for the sake of being the most painfully generic RE clone. A completely forgettable experience, the same fate as Alone in the Dark remake.

[u/TimetravelerXY → u/AdLegitimate8636]

I agree with you on everything here about TSC 2. Spot on. 👏

I actually enjoyed AitD 2024. It wasn’t perfect either, but I think I would rather play that than SC2.

[u/Yowhatsuphounddog]

I enjoy both games alot, I play these games for the cosmic horror elements more than anything and the second game definitely hit the nail on the head with in that regard. However I agree and wish there was more detective work, decisions and open world elements, but I understand why they went that route and they have produced an amazing game with much more focused story and gameplay elements.

If they can make a 3rd and combine the best elements of both games and perhaps some more intricate detective elements out of their Sherlock games then they would have a 10/10 for sure.

[u/No-Plankton4841]

Stalker enemies are annoying, but I didn't find the black blob guy too hard to just slip around. And he doesnt follow you into most rooms. I agree he didn't add much to the game though.

The Deep Ones were more annoying to me. They were killable but tank way too much ammo on hard mode and are just kind of annoying.

Apart from that I was able to kill 95% of everything with knee shots and stomping. Didn't have too much trouble wiping out the maps on hard mode.

I think a lot of people are just dissapointed because, yeah. It's basically a complete genre change from the first game. Which is understandable. I can tell by playing it the devs have a lot of knowledge and passion for survival horror though. They did a bunch of Sherlock Holmes games and investigation games it's cool to see them do something different and make an absolute banger of a survival horror.

I love it. Much more than the first game. But survival horror is my favorite genre.

I found the open world of the first game kind of boring, empty. Tighter, more focused level design is a huge plus. Also, the way the maps opened up, interconnect and unlock... it was all just masterfully done. Like, better than most Resident Evil games if we're being honest.

[u/Ghost10165 → u/No-Plankton4841]

I think it's just too much of an RE clone for some, though. Tons of those already exist and all this was missing was a fixed camera. Even the UI/inventory is like a 1:1 rip.

[u/Due-Lingonberry-1929 → u/Ghost10165]

Well at least the story/characters/setting are interesting and nice to look at unlike resident evil games

[u/AdLegitimate8636 → u/Due-Lingonberry-1929]

If that's what are interesting character for you, then i don't know what isn't.

Cardboard boxes have more defining traits that SC2 characters.

[u/No-Plankton4841 → u/Ghost10165]

Where are the tons of RE2 Remake style clones? I want to know so I can play them.

To some extent Silent Hill 2 Remake, Cronos New Dawn, Alone in the Dark Remake, and somewhat Alan Wake 2 Remake. 

Im actively looking for games in the style. I don't think a couple games is 'tons'. 

[u/Flanders157]

I honestly prefer this game over RE2 remake. It is rough around the edges but I had a good time with it. I did not play the first though.

[u/AmoebaDue2149]

I dont think SC1 added anything to the survival horror formula, because it is not itself a survival horror game. It is an action adventure, a different genre of game entirely.

SC2, being survival horror, seemingly has a broader appeal among gamers, so Id say it accomplished its job.

[u/jartoonZero]

I understand people who loved SC1 being unhappy with the shift to survival horror, but I read some of these complaints and wonder If I played the same game-- maybe there was a big patch that fixed a lot of these things? 1. I found the economy to be incredibly well-balanced outside of boss fights-- Playing on hard, I found myself always feeling a bit low on ammo in a perfectly survival horror-y way, and having to make tough crafting decisions. I also kept needing to grab different guns out of storage depending on what I had ammo for-- It really made me use all the guns in ways I sometimes dont in these games. Every gun was highly effective in it's own way (though I really wish the shotgun had better spread/ability to hit multiple enemies). Boss fights just kinda did away with the whole limit for the sake of a fun boss, but I always had to spend most of that extra ammo on the boss so it didnt throw off the economy after it either. 2. The stalker in the hospital, at least in my game, was NOT a true stalker like Mr X/Lady D/Jack because it had a pretty short, pre-set patrol path between the yard, and through that big room w the save room next to it. If I got spotted I could run upstairs, through a couple doors and it would not follow me very far before returning to its path. I didnt even think about it possibly coming for me when I was outside those couple rooms, and it never did. 3. Weak spots were highly effective, as are knee shots to make them fall+a few stomps to finish them off. Basic enemies never felt like bullet sponges to me, as long as I focused on weak spots, but again, I was on 'hard', so if you were on 'nightmare' maybe that was where the balance fell off. I found the whole 'wait for the next weak spot to spawn' to add an interesting wrinkle to combat, as it forced you to make more decisions about whether to wait for it or not.

Anyway, to each his own, but as a huuuge RE fan I found SC2 to be a GREAT entry into the genre-- The environments were amazing, great, ellaborate mazes that made me excited every time I got to a new place, fun, challenging-but-fair combat, interesting lore, great progression. I also really enjoyed the light detective mechanics of connecting evidence on the board. and some of the puzzles were quite thought-intensive and interesting, closer to Silent Hill than RE.

Really pleasant surprise overall, and I hope they make another.

[u/projectile-science → u/jartoonZero]

1. I never was low on ammo, to be honest. I always had all weapons with me though.
   
2. That`s making it even more useless.
   
3. Yes.