The Surge 2

[cruel]

Yeah, I needed to disable bunch of stuff in the video settings, without that I was getting a headache after 30min. Still worth playing though.

 

[HoboForEternity]

i got the perfomance fixed mostly using
-high -USEALLAVAILABLECORES as launch options too.

 

[Haplo]

Its good, but all that backtracking... ouch... also the environments are much more uniform then in case of part 1.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Finished the surge 2. Overall better game than surge 1.

+faster, more varied combat
+D-parry is fun
+more bosses with varying quality
+better locations
+sidequests are also more fun for the most part.
+more armor set (too bad the coolest looking armor you only get after beating the game)
+more weapon types and the new weapons are super fun. I ended up maining spears, using punching gloves (i love the beast claws weapon.)

-run like ass. Not intolerable but it got into my 50s and 40s in pretty big part especially in the endgame where there are more nanites.
-lighting is just weird. The balance is off in alot of places. Either shit is too bright or too dark. While technically surge 2 boast better graphics, but in pure visual term surge 1 looks better simply because everything is consistent.
-a lot easier than surge 1. Basically master the parry and the game is yours. You also have pretty much infinite healing.

Some negative-neutral stuff:
-tone and story is all over the place and the aesthetics basically went full anime. In surge 1 you have this consistent derelict industrial setting. A lot of the weapons and armor really feel like industrial tools used as improv weapons. In 2 you have cyborg ninjas wielding katanas, demons stuff, giant snake, and the final boss looks like devil may cry enemy and the martriach feels like metal gear revengeance boss. Overall i don't mind but alot of the thematically consistent atmosphere of surge 1 are lost.

 

[Kaivokz]

Started this today for some brain candy but reading HoboForEternity ‘s post made me a little sad. My first impression is strong: many weapons types already, d-parry is fun (but maybe too good), and the general system of targeted attacks to get new loot is as fun as in the first game. I wish more games made you work directly to get cool items—the feeling of encountering an enemy with a new weapon, and then having to beat him and cut off his arm to get it, is fun (even if it doesn’t make sense). Same for armor. It has a monster hunter vibe but in a very different style of game.

One of the things I loved most about the first game was the industrial environment and the strong aesthetic shift in the later parts of the game.

 

[deama]

One of the things I loved most about the first game was the industrial environment and the strong aesthetic shift in the later parts of the game.

The sequel has more locales and is more diverse than the original, I would actually advise new players to just skip the 1st one and start with the 2nd one as it's just a straight up improvement.

 

[Eyestabber]

One of the things I loved most about the first game was the industrial environment and the strong aesthetic shift in the later parts of the game.

The sequel has more locales and is more diverse than the original, I would actually advise new players to just skip the 1st one and start with the 2nd one as it's just a straight up improvement.

This, 100%. I wish more sequels were like Surge 2. This game is a direct improvement over the first on pretty much every single front.

 

[Haplo]

Eh, mechanically and graphics wise its a big improvement for sure. But I kinda liked the flow of part 1 more. Moving from one area to the next, variety in areas.
Too much backtracking and moving trough same-y urban area in Surge 2 for my taste.

 

[4249]

I finished this last week and hard to say whether or not I liked it more than The Surge. More equipment, more bosses, the d-parries were fun if overpowered, exploration was mostly really fun. They kind of botched the feeling of going back to explore old areas with new abilities, when most were just completely pointless shortcuts to places you didn't need to really go to. Maybe one or two had interesting loot or collectibles. Still enjoyed it a lot and these two have been the best soulslikes for me so far. I'd really like a Surge 3.

I know the whole weapon proficiency mechanic was kind of ass in the first one, but they could've built up on that as well instead of removing it. Make weapon type proficiency cap fairly early so it's not as substantial as in the first one or make the mechanic deeper. I was thinking of something like Resonance of Fate where you generally got experience for using weapons, and lower level weapons leveled you up faster than higher level ones, thus encouraging you to switch between weapon types. Could also have more general unlocks that can be accrued with all weapon types and then weapon type specific ones. But oh well, it's gone.

It ran like complete ass for me as well. I had no trouble running Surge 1, but with this I had to turn all the graphics to potato and still got really bad performance at times. The biggest difficulty was trying to d-parry during bosses when they suddenly became slideshows. Also seemed to crash a lot when fiddling with the graphics settings.

I wish they'd finally do good discounts on the DLC, been kind of itching to try out Walk in the Park and the Kraken, but not with the prices they're selling them at.

 

[Wunderbar]

I know the whole weapon proficiency mechanic was kind of ass in the first one, but they could've built up on that as well instead of removing it. Make weapon type proficiency cap fairly early so it's not as substantial as in the first one or make the mechanic deeper. I was thinking of something like Resonance of Fate where you generally got experience for using weapons, and lower level weapons leveled you up faster than higher level ones, thus encouraging you to switch between weapon types. Could also have more general unlocks that can be accrued with all weapon types and then weapon type specific ones. But oh well, it's gone.

Nioh 1-2 did weapon proficiency and familiarity really well.

 

[Villagkouras]

I started this a couple days ago and I am having a really good time. I played it when it came out and didn't even reach the first proper boss, but now it's different. I'm nailing the parry and it makes combat a lot of fun. Of course I'm using easy mode with parry, I've equipped the implant which shows directions.

As other have commented already, the level design is great, vastly improved from the bland levels of the first game. There are so many shortcuts and traversing a level is very easy. Exploration is fine, too. Also they made standard mobs having less health than 1 which was something that bothered me.

The only thing that I would like from them is to start designing better bosses. It's their 3rd major game and still they cannot find proper balance in bosses. Some are too easy, but some are tiring, like Delver that I just beat after 6-7 tries.

Anyway, if things don't take a really bad turn, this is going to be my favorite souls-like not created by FS. Most of the time, I don't like souls-likes, for example I could get into Nioh at all, a game that most people love.

It's like other devs consider difficulty the most important part in these games and cannot actually understand what makes them special. For me, especially in DeS and Das, it's the sense of adventure and discovery that made me fall in love with these games. The atmosphere, the actual dungeon crawling.