State Of Decay 2 - May 22nd Release

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,553
5,359
I really like this guy's reviews. I think he does a good job of taking the entire game, situation, and price point into consideration when giving a critique. At the end of the review, he ends up pretty positive on the game.

 

Utnayan

I Love Utnayan he’s awesome
<Gold Donor>
16,269
12,026
Game looks fun. Reviewers and streamers are being overly critical, half the people bashing it are retarded and getting mad because it doesn't play how they want it to play, instead of playing it the way it should be. There are definitely bugs, but none are game breaking for a solo experience. It is a $30 game

Can you give examples of how they are not playing it the way it is meant to be played? Far as I know, and maybe you know more than I in this aspect, it's just like the first game and your coop team has about a 450 meter radius from the host, which is the only difference in that this game has multiplayer. The first game suffered , from a ton of bugs that took a long time to iron out (Understandably so, given their small team and Indie) but when you have MS dollars behind you and can leverage QA resources, there isn't any excuse for when I am watching streams a week out from launch and 10 out of 30 zombies in a 5 minute stream show screaming zombies below the world while a player cannot even see what the hell is going on. I'd call that game breaking.

Just on one review alone, they called it comical.

The bugs and glitches are so numerous and varied that they almost loop round to being a genuinely enjoyable part of the game, as you sit and wonder what will go wrong next. It’ll certainly keep YouTube busy for the foreseeable future, as you watch characters and vehicles get stuck in scenery, invisible walls appear and disappear at random, zombies fall from the sky like rain, cars levitate strangely through the air, and computer-controlled allies disappear for a whole mission and yet somehow provide commentary the whole time.

I dunno. $30? Free with Gamepass? Still doesn't excuse just how bad the bugs are at this state of decay knowing just how long they have had to get this polished.

Again, doesn't effect me. I'll waste some bandwidth, download it, and laugh at the majority of the issues... But I'll continue to shake my head at anyone knowing this is the case with the game and jumping in with an ultimate edition just for Early Access.
 
Last edited:

Brodhi

I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
<Donor>
1,283
3,427
Now I have no idea about publisher money and the business dealings of these companies, but is everyone certain Microsoft shelled out a high budget to this studio for game development and QA? Whatever, I don't care about the game enough to have very strong opinions on it, but I've watched people stream this for hours and barely saw any bugs. Sure experiences very, but what seems very consistent between everyone is the unwarranted criticality. It is like a memo went around to tell all early access folks and media to sht on the game. When other games with more bugs and higher budget have made much shittier experiences for twice the selling price, and have gotten praises.
 

Vorph

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
10,943
4,640
People pretty much universally shit on Sea of Thieves too, and look how that turned out. Sure, it's probably worth playing for $10 like ACG said, but personally I've got a backlog a mile long, another new game that is excellent (Omensight) and stuff coming out next week as well. Might as well wait until a slow spot in the summer after they've patched half a dozen times and it's at least somewhat polished.
 

Utnayan

I Love Utnayan he’s awesome
<Gold Donor>
16,269
12,026
I don't know if MS funded them or not, I assumed they did being it is one of their highly marketed titles for the system along with X one X support. The shame is game pass could hold some real value here, but as of right now aside from a few indie titles and Rise of the Tomb Raider, it's really turning out to be a subscribe for a few months service to play some titles you didn't before, most of them medicore, and then just cancel for a while. So it's a good value in that regard so we don't waste money on those games. It really does have a leg up to be a great service if they start adding some quality titles. And/Or cycle more in and out. Will be interesting to see what they announce at E3 because with the subtraction of over 20+ titles, I am guessing they may lay down a surprise with new upcoming titles to really get it going. I'll still give this game a shot next Tuesday though due to that service. So if anyone wants to coop memorial day weekend, just add me on Xbox live.

It will probably be hilarious with all the bugs :)
 

goishen

Macho Ma'am
3,547
14,537
I'm still on the fence about this game.

Of course, it'll prolly cash like shit when it finds out that I've modified my registry to take some of the XBox shit out.

Fucking M$, fucking shit up whenever and whereever they can.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
Lots of "This game is OK, but could be a lot better if X" in the community. Sucks!

I also don't trust UL to fix many of the issues, but maybe they'll surprise me. Usually when a game switches between release to a new platform/engine, it's because they hated the prior one and will want to make a stand on the new one. Here's to hoping they'll plug the many holes in the game and create something much more complete instead of just moving onto cash-grab DLCs.

A lot of these bugs are less the "Haha holy shit this is crazy" bugs and more the, "Ugh this again, set me back an entire night and will be frustrating to redo" kind.
 

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
<Silver Donator>
6,351
4,634
Yeah, seems like a mess. Will give it a shot myself but I would have passed if it weren't for the Game Pass.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Denaut

Trump's Staff
2,739
1,279
Alrighty, so. I had what was essentially a 5 day weekend due to well placed holidays and my girlfriend was going away for a couple of those days. Despite myself I ended up just buying the UE so I could play over the weekend, I loved the first one and saw enough streams to know I would like this one so I felt pretty confident despite not usually diving in like that.

I put 43 hours into the game and the TLDR is; It is structurally the same game as the first one but much better in every way. If you loved the first one you will love this one, if you hated the first one you will hate this one.

I've completed one map and have almost completed a second. The game is has the same sorts of bugs, but is much less than the first one, and I wouldn't qualify it as a "mess" just buggy. The AI is much better but people will get "lost" once in a while, this is annoying but is fixed by switching characters, although this sometimes isn't possible due to their quest structure (which is a little odd).

My major complaint is that the game is just too easy, I would like a bit more challenge. You are punished pretty severely if you are unprepared, but it is easy to be prepared. The game could use more enemy types as well. They actually give you a decent number of tools to deal with the zombies, but there are too few zombie and freak types to really let you explore those tools fully.

Also they desperately need to rework how throwing works, I've gotten a little better at it but you really need to be able to aim more precisely when you throw things. This is especially bad inside houses, which are small. They should add an aim mode for throwing when you have the button depressed that shows you the trajectory so you can actually throw things threw windows and what not.

The game is generally much better balanced than the first one and I actually found myself having to make some decisions about what to do. Overall though you so have enough of everything if you aren't totally wasteful and choose your battles wisely.

I haven't even tried multiplayer, so I have no idea how bad that is.

I am biased (love me some survival action management base-building games) but I think it is definitely worth the game pass price, and $30 for the base game is the correct price point. That is a pretty fair price for the amount of polish and content the game has.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
Alrighty, so. I had what was essentially a 5 day weekend due to well placed holidays and my girlfriend was going away for a couple of those days. Despite myself I ended up just buying the UE so I could play over the weekend, I loved the first one and saw enough streams to know I would like this one so I felt pretty confident despite not usually diving in like that.

I put 43 hours into the game and the TLDR is; It is structurally the same game as the first one but much better in every way. If you loved the first one you will love this one, if you hated the first one you will hate this one.

I've completed one map and have almost completed a second. The game is has the same sorts of bugs, but is much less than the first one, and I wouldn't qualify it as a "mess" just buggy. The AI is much better but people will get "lost" once in a while, this is annoying but is fixed by switching characters, although this sometimes isn't possible due to their quest structure (which is a little odd).

My major complaint is that the game is just too easy, I would like a bit more challenge. You are punished pretty severely if you are unprepared, but it is easy to be prepared. The game could use more enemy types as well. They actually give you a decent number of tools to deal with the zombies, but there are too few zombie and freak types to really let you explore those tools fully.

Also they desperately need to rework how throwing works, I've gotten a little better at it but you really need to be able to aim more precisely when you throw things. This is especially bad inside houses, which are small. They should add an aim mode for throwing when you have the button depressed that shows you the trajectory so you can actually throw things threw windows and what not.

The game is generally much better balanced than the first one and I actually found myself having to make some decisions about what to do. Overall though you so have enough of everything if you aren't totally wasteful and choose your battles wisely.

I haven't even tried multiplayer, so I have no idea how bad that is.

I am biased (love me some survival action management base-building games) but I think it is definitely worth the game pass price, and $30 for the base game is the correct price point. That is a pretty fair price for the amount of polish and content the game has.
Sounds good.

In Breakdown each successive map got harder. Is that true in SoD2?
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
Changes within the new map:
1) Zombies will spawn in greater numbers across the board, including the ferals, juggernauts, and bloaters.


2) Increased number of "asshole" enclaves, these enclaves will often try to extort you out of doing their bidding.


3) Increased number of survivors in need ambient missions


4) Ambient mission times for protecting survivors in need is increased, sometimes up to 1:30 or more
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
After playing it a bit last night I think everyone getting their car stuck are driving like assholes. Or are driving like in GTAV / Just Cause where a new car is immediately available.

The limited gasoline thing is lulzy though. Watching the gas level drop like a rock is silly, but I guess there is a way to renew it in a green-style anyway which is equally silly, but balances out the game mechanics.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
Having fun with this game. I learned that after you complete the tutorial you can start a new community and roll survivors baldur's gate style.

I don't like the base I took in the foothills, and I don't like any of the characters I have, so I think I'm going to restart on a different map and spend an entire night trying to roll guys like
S6hK0R1uu9e5j746BVqFdL6lX9bVw8ifeklCEEB9RvU.jpg
 

Denaut

Trump's Staff
2,739
1,279
I have a max stealth hero that can take out hearts right quick with C4 and Thermite grenades.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
almost beat the first map. I have on more quest before my survivors go into legacy mode or whatever. I'm debating continuing the map to try out new stuff, find better survivors etc, or just complete it and roll a new one.

There's a lot wrong with the game, but for me the two big things it's missing that probably wont br patched are:
1. More player control. I feel totally at the mercy of the game's random events for any progress. One of my goals the entire game after creation was to find a mechanic so I could modify cars. I've looted a ton of buildings and have around 20 books, done a lot of enclave missions etc, and through out it all I haven't found a single mechanic.

2. Zombies don't represent a real campaign threat. Unlike say, they are biilons or rebuild, the zombies are a largely static threat that just exist as an impediment for the players progress. It is super easy to get a self sufficient base, and the player can then do whatever they want without external risk.


1 and 2 are linked in that making pure survival trivial, the player can choose their own goals, but they are largely powerless to make specific gains toward their goals.



I had the same problem with the first game and am kind of disappointed the sequel didnt improve on it. Im not that motivated to win another map because even if they had a hard mode that spamed ferals and jugs, none of the above would change and thr game would be just as harmless but more tedious.

Related: