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SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
IT'S THE UPDATE OBAMA DOESN'T WANT YOU TO SEE! CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS BANNED UPDATE!



TEXT LOGS

- The Hatch
- Hatch Hint (Unplayed)
- Lockdown
- Antiquated
- Death Trap (Unplayed)
- Stross' Episode

Changelog

- Updated Stross, Isaac, Ellie, and Nicole entries in the Humans section

Again, there are a couple of hint audio logs that I don't stick (or float) around for.

SaigonTimeMD fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Jun 6, 2013

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SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
Holy hell, I totally forgot to add linkbacks to the original post. Whoops! That's done now.

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.
Someone should make fanart of Ellie running up to hug Isaac, then noticing a giant bloodstain on his crotch and slowly pulling back.

KeiraWalker
Sep 5, 2011

Me? Don't worry about me...
Grimey Drawer
The line gun and plasma cutter combo was my arsenal of choice in both DS1 and 2. They're just so good together, it's tough to beat 'em. That said, next time I play through the games, I'll make a note to try some of the other weapons...

Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream
The Force Gun in DS1 is a ridiculously powerful weapon and will pretty much blow all the limbs off any but the biggest necromorphs at close range. It's less ridiculous in DS2 but still very good.

The contact beam wasn't good in DS1 IMO, whereas in DS2 fully-upgraded you don't even really need to aim it. Just so long as you HIT a necromorph a fully-upgraded contact beam is pretty much a 1-hit kill. The alt-fire is sickeningly useful as well in DS2.

And of course the Plasma Cutter is pretty much the best weapon in the game for overall use since there's nothing it's not effective against.

Other than that the rest of the weapons are pretty playstyle dependent or situational. Didn't like the mine launcher, the javelin, flamethrower (useless), the assault rifle (had some uses in DS1...), seeker rifle, or Line Gun really. The line gun has its uses and the seeker rifle is apparently ridiculous when upgraded however.

Fabricated fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Jun 7, 2013

Alkydere
Jun 7, 2010
Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.



KieranWalker posted:

The line gun and plasma cutter combo was my arsenal of choice in both DS1 and 2. They're just so good together, it's tough to beat 'em. That said, next time I play through the games, I'll make a note to try some of the other weapons...

The steam version of DS2 is great since you get all the DLC for free so you can literally have any weapon you want when you get to the first store. I actually have a save there so I can just pop in and play space-zombie-shooter with the crazy weapon of my choice.

My experience with weapons:
  • Plasma cutter: Best and most reliable weapon in the game, can also be upgraded to set enemies on fire.
  • Line Gun: Great for literally tripping up enemies by cutting off their legs. There's a reason there are enemies with armored legs but not armored arms. Though the small ammo stack size (6) does cause inventory management issues on normal.
  • Ripper: Excels at close range defense (great against the pack), alt fire launches a sawblade that behaves almost exactly like the Line Gun's main shot. Alt-fire sawblade also does more damage than the Line Gun shot, is cheaper (Ripper ammo is everywhere and stacks to 15) but isn't quite as wide and will stop completely if the edge hits terrain. Unlike what Saigon initially showed in the LP the Ripper's alt-fire can be fired at any time, you don't need to waste ammo by using the normal attack first.
  • Detonator: It's a grenade launcher. The fact that the grenades can also be used as mines is magical. The fact that any misses or unused mines can be recovered is practically game-breaking in a survival shooter. Also hilarious for killing Isaac when you panic-fire it into point-blank enemies.
  • Flamethrower: Most of the damage is done via DOT which isn't that great, on the plus side it has a decently large tank and stuns most enemies but this becomes less and less useful as the player finds stronger and stronger enemies that they would prefer dead faster. Also is the most reliable way to turn the pack into a comical pile of drops since the flamethrower guarantees a drop (Only damaged corpses drop loot, but the game will auto-cull most bodies the second they're off camera. The flamethrower keeps burning which means the corpse will drop loot almost immediately before it can be culled).
  • Force Gun: Graviton Shotgun, great for attacking all limbs on a necromorph at once. Alt-fire puts a nice, tight choke on it for ranged hits that also knock down enemies.
  • Contact Beam: Charge it up and it will one shot even black "advanced" necromorphs if you hit them on a limb. The Contact Beam is interesting in the fact that you cannot upgrade its damage, instead you upgrade the charge time. Alt-fire mode has Isaac shove the gun against the ground and causes a massive, hilariously powerful shockwave around him. Isaac is also invulnerable during this animation. Alt-fire can also be upgraded to have a stasis effect. Also the ammo is hilariously valuable (a stack of 6 sells for 6K), which means you can cheese the game by carrying one in your inventory to make the game drop more so you can sell those stacks for 6K/pop for more power nodes.
  • Seeker Rifle: Does similarly absurd amount of damage as the Contact Beam, but only if you zoom in. Also, since zoom is the alt-fire it's a one-trick pony.
  • Pulse Rifle: It's a plasma rifle, kinda cool. Main fire's not that good but the alt-fire grenade launcher is fun and can be useful.
  • Javelin Gun: You know how absurdly powerful your Kinesis attack is when using pointy objects (bars, necromorph arms, mops)? The Javelin Gun is literally Kinesis but in a gun. Hits like a truck (compared to the Contact Beam's freight train), and the damage can be upgraded further. Great for pinning necromorphs or their limbs to walls. Alt-fire electrocutes the area around the last javelin fired (or electrocutes the necromorph it's embedded in), and when fully upgraded it will also explode as soon as the electrocution effect ends, which makes it another grenade/mine thrower in a sense.
  • Rivet Gun: Uggh. Just Uggh. Shoots weak rivets, alt-fire makes last several rivets explode (much like the Javelins) and ricochet randomly everywhere. I tried to make this gun work, but I just couldn't make it fun.

Spoilered because Saigon may or may not want me ranting about guns and I don't want to steal the LPer's thunder. I know he's showed off most of these, but he hasn't showed off fully upgraded versions, and some of them have special upgrades or foibles that can drastically change how they work or are used.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013

KieranWalker posted:

The line gun and plasma cutter combo was my arsenal of choice in both DS1 and 2. They're just so good together, it's tough to beat 'em. That said, next time I play through the games, I'll make a note to try some of the other weapons...

My usual setup is Cutter, Line Gun, Force Gun, then whatever. I fall into the 'boring, yet practical' mindset most of the time. I'm actually really enjoying how I pretty much HAVE to use new and different weapons when I show them off because it means I have to stretch my brain a bit.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
Holy poo poo it's been a while. I've been struggling with virus stupidity on my laptop since last week and just got it fixed, so expect two episodes this week!

KeiraWalker
Sep 5, 2011

Me? Don't worry about me...
Grimey Drawer
Huzzah! Hope you got that virus thing worked out without too much trouble...

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
It was actually what was causing those momentary hang-ups in the video. The one I'm working on now has a few of those moments too unfortunately, but everything after that should be smooth sailing. In theory.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
gently caress, nevermind about those updates. Now Adobe Premiere is being a cock.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
HOLY poo poo THE NEW YOUTUBE LAYOUT IS TERRIBLE BUT AT LEAST THERE'S AN UPDATE



TEXT LOGS

- Ellie's Story 3
- Ellie's Story 4
- Gear Puzzle 01
- Gear Puzzle 02 (Unplayed)
- Come Meet Me

Changelog

- Updated Isaac and Nicole's bios

I just hit a Bench at the end of this update, so expect huge Arsenal section updates next time!

KeiraWalker
Sep 5, 2011

Me? Don't worry about me...
Grimey Drawer
I laughed way harder than I should have at the ME3 comment.

Also, why is it that flamethrowers are almost invariably terrible in videogames? It defies logic, or at least statistical odds.

Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream

KieranWalker posted:

I laughed way harder than I should have at the ME3 comment.

Also, why is it that flamethrowers are almost invariably terrible in videogames? It defies logic, or at least statistical odds.
Syndicate is a dumb game but you get a flamethrower in it at one point and it's ridiculously good.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013

KieranWalker posted:

I laughed way harder than I should have at the ME3 comment.

Also, why is it that flamethrowers are almost invariably terrible in videogames? It defies logic, or at least statistical odds.

The painful truth is that the Flamethrower is a very specialized weapon, and against certain types of enemies (Swarmers, Dividers, and the Pack specifically) it can be pretty nasty, but that's only after you've dumped quite a few Power Nodes into it. It's not like the Seeker Rifle which SEEMS specialized but can really gib just about anything, so there's very little to justify keeping it around, let alone upgrading it, unless you just can't get enough of burning things.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

KieranWalker posted:

Also, why is it that flamethrowers are almost invariably terrible in videogames? It defies logic, or at least statistical odds.

Actually it's totally logical; flamethrowers look really really cool but are actually terrible as weapons. Add in that videogames lack the neccessary fluid simulations to create rivers of flowing fire and smoke and the one use for flamethrowers (clearing out tunnels) isn't even viable.

Basically flamethrowers are only good for a very small number of things that videogames are bad at doing and are basically useless or even actively hampering for anything else. There's a very good reason why you don't see them in modern military forces very often, if at all. Unfortunately Flamethrowers are simply awesome but impractical.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013

Neruz posted:

There's a very good reason why you don't see them in modern military forces very often, if at all.

Good reason here meaning the Geneva Convention, I assume?

I think the only games I've personally seen do flames and flamethrowers right was Far Cry 2 (whoops, I burnt down the island) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (whoops, I burnt down myself).

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

SaigonTimeMD posted:

Good reason here meaning the Geneva Convention, I assume?

Well yeah that too; but if you look at the times in the past where they were employed (I believe they saw use in both World Wars at least) all the soldiers involved in using them said pretty much the same thing; awesome but impractical. Weighty, annoying, prone to malfunction, prone to exploding, prone to friendly fire and so on; great fun when firing and loving amazing when they work right but any benefit is massively outweighed by the costs.

Now a tank mounted flamethrower would be a totally different story and would be highly effective in urban warfare as being on a vehicle eliminates the unwieldlyness issue and being inside a tank significantly reduces the friendly fire issue.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
STOP UPDATING AT ME!



TEXT LOG

- Ellie's Story 5

Changelog

- Added Force Gun and Line Gun entries to the Arsenal

Ashsaber
Oct 24, 2010

Deploying Swordbreakers!
College Slice
Oops, looks like I'm two weeks late for an update and flamethrower chat, but I'll add my :2cents: anyway.

Even Tvtropes will point out that one of the bigg reasons the flamethrowers we get to pla with in games aren;t the good kind. What we get is most often the hollywood "propane tank with a lighter" style rather than real world flamethrowers which have a decent range (as in tens of meters rather than one if you're lucky). Also the flames don't spread to destry everything in enemy fortifications (if that were more useful than killing enemies in the first place).

Also, check that page if only for the image of what a real world flamethrower's fire looks like. It's pretty sweet, honestly, and pretty much the only reason I linked the page.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
Real-world flamethrowers basically shoot a stream of sticky liquid fire that burns hot and with lots of smoke. They're brilliant if you need to flush an enclosed space but can't risk running into enemy ambushes, but outside of that their uses are limited.

It's worth noting that the US Military is developing a kind of rubberized napalm bouncy ball that you shoot in through the windows of a structure you want to clear and then it turns into a ball of fire that ricochets around the inside of the building setting the whole thing on fire. These would be much easier to use than flamethrowers and substantially cooler.

KeiraWalker
Sep 5, 2011

Me? Don't worry about me...
Grimey Drawer
Regarding today's update, seeing the Ishimura in drydock there was a serious "oh poo poo" moment for me when I played through the game. The very idea of having to board the ship later filled me with dread.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013

KieranWalker posted:

Regarding today's update, seeing the Ishimura in drydock there was a serious "oh poo poo" moment for me when I played through the game. The very idea of having to board the ship later filled me with dread.

Yeah, I understated my reaction in the video. The first time I played DS2 and hit that moment, I pretty much stood up at my desk, put my hands on my head, and shouted "ARE YOU loving SERIOUS." The thought of going onto it hadn't even occurred to me at that point, it was just the presence of the thing. I thought it would've been destroyed along with Aegis VIII, but nope, there it is, like a goddamn astro-necropolis.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
A running theme in the Dead Space series seems to be that nobody knows how to leave eldrich abominations the gently caress alone.

DerpAlert
Aug 31, 2009

Haulin' Ass, Gettin' Paid
TEN XXXTRA LARGE

SaigonTimeMD posted:

Yeah, I understated my reaction in the video. The first time I played DS2 and hit that moment, I pretty much stood up at my desk, put my hands on my head, and shouted "ARE YOU loving SERIOUS." The thought of going onto it hadn't even occurred to me at that point, it was just the presence of the thing. I thought it would've been destroyed along with Aegis VIII, but nope, there it is, like a goddamn astro-necropolis.

You didn't think a mining corporation would leave a multibillion dollar ship just sitting out there collecting dust when there's planets to be cracked, did you?

David D. Davidson
Nov 17, 2012

Orca lady?
They're from the Umbrella school of business: basic logic and sanity is a weakness.
Anyways there is a Dead Space movie in the works.
And it's being written by the guy who wrote Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. :smithicide:

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013

DerpAlert posted:

You didn't think a mining corporation would leave a multibillion dollar ship just sitting out there collecting dust when there's planets to be cracked, did you?

Oh no, I actually thought that it had been destroyed in the impact at the end of DS1. Whoops.

SaigonTimeMD
Feb 6, 2013
PUNS IN VIDEO TITLES, HO! UPDATE.



TEXT LOGS

- Tanks Go Boom
- Obstruction Gone
- Tanks Two
- Tripod Hint
- CEC Escape

DerpAlert
Aug 31, 2009

Haulin' Ass, Gettin' Paid
TEN XXXTRA LARGE

SaigonTimeMD posted:

Oh no, I actually thought that it had been destroyed in the impact at the end of DS1. Whoops.

Nope, that's nothing that some primer and a little paint can't completely cover up. Look, they're already masking off and everything, although I'm concerned that the geometry will be really strange when they're finished.

Alkydere
Jun 7, 2010
Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.



DerpAlert posted:

You didn't think a mining corporation would leave a multibillion dollar ship just sitting out there collecting dust when there's planets to be cracked, did you?

Considering that A) most people considered it destroyed and B) it was on its final run before being decommissioned on DS1, it was quite a surprise to see it in DS2.

I guess EarthGov wanted it as a museum...with fully working equipment? Or they thought they could do a complete strip-down and overhaul and put it back in planet-cracking business now that everyone on board it was horribly murdered and turned into zombie-slurry-tentacles?

Alkydere fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Jul 28, 2013

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness
Oh please they clearly recovered it for more Marker research; goddamn Humans just cannot leave well enough alone. Oh noes we accidentally mined out an eldrich horrorterror that ate an entire ship! Wellp better bring it right the gently caress back to earth so we can look at it and wonder where all the face eating monsters came from :downs:

Spudd
Nov 27, 2007

Protect children from "Safe Schools" social engineering. Shame!

I do like that your elevator music that was reversed as you were heading up to Ishimura. I thought it was very clever and I chuckled.

thiswayliesmadness
Dec 3, 2009

I hope to see you next time, and take care all

Neruz posted:

Oh please they clearly recovered it for more Marker research; goddamn Humans just cannot leave well enough alone. Oh noes we accidentally mined out an eldrich horrorterror that ate an entire ship! Wellp better bring it right the gently caress back to earth so we can look at it and wonder where all the face eating monsters came from :downs:

Is it ever really explained why there's such a hard on for the Marker's that they're constantly willing to turn thousands of people into a fleshy lego set? The unitoligists keep going on about convergence which is very bad and others about unlocking the secrets of humanity or such, but nothing concrete like "Hey! We could cure cancer with this!" Never seen the movie shorts or touched the third one and from what I've heard about the gameplay, doubt I will.

Neruz
Jul 23, 2012

A paragon of manliness

thiswayliesmadness posted:

Is it ever really explained why there's such a hard on for the Marker's that they're constantly willing to turn thousands of people into a fleshy lego set? The unitoligists keep going on about convergence which is very bad and others about unlocking the secrets of humanity or such, but nothing concrete like "Hey! We could cure cancer with this!" Never seen the movie shorts or touched the third one and from what I've heard about the gameplay, doubt I will.

Nope, not really. Humans in the Dead Space universe just do not know how to leave poo poo alone.

bman in 2288
Apr 21, 2010

Neruz posted:

Nope, not really. Humans in the Dead Space universe just do not know how to leave poo poo alone.
Actually, there is an explanation as to why this poo poo keeps happening, but I don't think we're there yet.

If worst comes to worst, we'll just come out and say it later.

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.

Neruz posted:

Humans in the Dead Space universe just do not know how to leave poo poo alone.

If there is one constant, universal truth, it is this:

If a man sees a blinking red button saying "DO NOT PRESS", he will feel an overwhelming urge to press it.

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
Man, I realize that it would be boring if EVERYTHING went to plan, but at this point NOTHING ever goes to plan, EVERYTHING has a last-minute complication, or several, so you pretty much just keep expecting it and it has no impact whatsoever.

Also, what is the point of the vent-crawling? I mean, nothing attacks you in there, there are never any branching paths, a straight corridor with no necromorphs would have served the same purpose.

thiswayliesmadness
Dec 3, 2009

I hope to see you next time, and take care all

PurpleXVI posted:

Man, I realize that it would be boring if EVERYTHING went to plan, but at this point NOTHING ever goes to plan, EVERYTHING has a last-minute complication, or several, so you pretty much just keep expecting it and it has no impact whatsoever.

Also, what is the point of the vent-crawling? I mean, nothing attacks you in there, there are never any branching paths, a straight corridor with no necromorphs would have served the same purpose.

I think the sole purpose of the vent crawls is just to pack in a few more cheap jump scares.

"Gah! Something moved around the corner ahead of me! Oh. It's gone."

"Well that was a boring crawl through... Gah! No needles to my face! Oh. I'm just crazy."

Drakyn
Dec 26, 2012

PurpleXVI posted:

Man, I realize that it would be boring if EVERYTHING went to plan, but at this point NOTHING ever goes to plan, EVERYTHING has a last-minute complication, or several, so you pretty much just keep expecting it and it has no impact whatsoever.
To be fair, that happened in the first one too.
"Isaac, we need you to get the engines on."
"Isaac, we need you to turn on the asteroid bug zappers so we don't get perforated with our engines on."
"Isaac, the greenhouse is covered in pond scum and you need to squeegee it so we don't choke on our own farts."
"Isaac, the captain's stash is at the other end of the ship and I'm jonesin' at the controls, could you get that for me before I freak out and think the command deck is covered in spiders."

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PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Drakyn posted:

To be fair, that happened in the first one too.
"Isaac, we need you to get the engines on."
"Isaac, we need you to turn on the asteroid bug zappers so we don't get perforated with our engines on."
"Isaac, the greenhouse is covered in pond scum and you need to squeegee it so we don't choke on our own farts."
"Isaac, the captain's stash is at the other end of the ship and I'm jonesin' at the controls, could you get that for me before I freak out and think the command deck is covered in spiders."

Well yeah, I suppose it's thematic for the series, it just gets really annoyingly predictable when a game pulls it all the time. I forget if it was the original FEAR or one of the expansions which had literally every helicopter flight bar the very first or so, end in a crash, or had every helicopter shot down just before it could pick you up, etc. it just sort of became a theme that you expected.

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