Dying Light Thread

I was replaying Dying Light 1 The Following DLC lately and also a bit of the regular game as well as bootup DL2 and got a good idea as to the differences. I've played and finished both games main stories and also the story DLC for both.

 

Dying Light 1 is a classic zombie game and still looks great today. At a distance from the textures it can look near photo realistic at times. It runs great of course on modern equipment at high settings and framerates. I lock it to my standard 45 for less fan or no fan in this game and turn off vsync which is unnecessary when you're system can do above that easily. I played the Following DLC to the ending mission which I have not done so far but most of pretty much everything else other than the buggy races which I'm not too interested in. Even with a third person view mod it's too jumpy of a camera to be worth it and FPP sounds not too fun there tbh. During the game I never used the buggy since the trainer I use has superspeed option as fast or faster than the buggy, much better.

The Following ins't more than 10-15hrs depending on your play style so it's a good short campaign to see if you want more. Only way I could get back into the main story is to replay it or maybe load up an earlier save which the game uniquely has the option for but not for manual saving. Idk I might not sure since there's not a whole lot that interests me in games right now old or new.

DL1 has a more realistic art style so the game is more serious in feel then 2 and def is better imo. I'm no afficianado at parkour and such I just remember the side missions are more interesting than fetch quests but that's mostly what they are in both games just in dangeroud places you have to travel to. There was a couple of plant bombs missions and such which I guess are not just fetch quests as you need to get out of nasty places quickly etc Another thing I remember is the dank dirty sewers and nasty places in general when you need to go into them and also to travel to the old town area. Old town is more picturesque and has it's own style whereas the starting map is mostly slums areas with some coastal areas.

It's a much smaller map size then 2 and doesn't have as good of textures and complex a world as 2 either. It's more compact and has more of a handcrafted feel whereas 2's map seems to be more cookie cutter resued assets type of thing especially the lower office interiors.

I don't know about the stories so much as that's subjective but neither is winning any awards. Crane is a more logical character than Aiden is imo. Crane is there for some reason w the GRE and such to find a cure or something or scientist etc I might get confused here but yeah the second map has the scientist in it. Uh well it reminds me of Half LIfe 2 with it's environmental puzzles which includes figuring out how to get to some places, swimming challenges, some qte at the end I guess, clearing zones and etc The Following added on a large map with a lot of farming fields and a dam, a small seaside town, lots of beaches, caves where you go for missions and some for clearing zombie hives which are new to the game.

 

Uh volatiles at night if they see you chase you around but sleep in the hives during the day w regular zombies anywhere. They kept most of this in 2 from what I remember but no volatiles I guess but added them in later on. The climbing is fine but can be twitchy at times and I really don't like the bridge high place where you have to find bulbs as it's hard to know where to go and it's easy to fall or get pushed off by zombies rushing you. The bad guy rais is just a standard bad guy and I don't remember most of the characters really, same for 2 they're not that memorable.

So yeah I can't even remember the end of the main story and from what I've read the following you either side with them or not. The Followers don't have a cure but some gas or something that stuns the zombies and also helps those turning to limit their zombie ness I guess. Uh the main story from what I've read is you either nuke haran and die or don't and become a volatile yourself.

2 is you either get blown up or save your sister or something and you are both the result of crossing with zombies so have some zombie powers like superjump or such. I'll get into 2 more next.

 

2 is more colorful and gives an impression of a circus really. You can tell techland with their new megacorp overlords have designed this game for online and dlc abuse. It has all sorts of challenges and such and in game currency with later releases then what I have 1.90 no denuvo version. Not interested in updating until they add back guns in there. They removed guns and added in a glider to travel the larger map easier but you get it fairly later in the game so it's limited to that and also to post campaign play. I also found the various things to help you a bit off turning as well like the pillow bags to fall way down easier and the jump pads to boost into the air and use your glider. Also you get these almost manholes that emit high pressure air in places to boost up also.

2 is supposed to be 15 or so years after the first outbreak and things have settled with factions and settlements and such. Tbh it is pitiful that 15 years later humanity couldn't totally eradicate these finite amount of zombies in whole cities. They're largely dumb and even volatiles could be managed really if you think about your average animal or pest and how they're managed for a long long time.

Aiden is the result of experiments and has zombie abilities but also has the freak out zombie thing during cutscenes only. There is also more movement animations and such I find them mostly worse tbh they insert too much in between gameplay to have mini things that really manages the length of the game when added up imo. I can't stand the disorienting jumping through openings animation as it's a bit motion sickness inducing just unpleasant so I have to take the time to go around, costs the same amount of time to do.

DL1 is 25gb install w the Following EE edition I have. DL2 is around 46gb and does give a much larger world and map with better overall graphics. It's buggy and harder to get running smoothly with more crashes and more resources used of course. I don't think I could get that running w no fans even at 45fps locked. Even with dlss it's just too many npcs all over and effects and better graphics for that.

Uh so it's a bigger game with more game to it no doubt but doesn't grab me like 1 did and of course I like 1 better. It feels like a complete product instead of an online focused and dlc charging thing that just goes on and on. TL has events all the time and gives good support as they did to 1 no doubt but that's all for online and such players. I'm just SP offline play only no updates and such.

I do have the so called story dlc they released and played a little of it but not too impressed. It's a disguised battle arena with a shallow story around it imo. Boring. Some story in the open world would be much better or even like the Following give me a whole new map with new things like the buggy, hives, factions and such. The story dlc in 2 gets abysmal reviews by players on steam btw.

 

When 2 came out it was denuvo as well, pretty off putting to many as it adds overhead. They removed it in about 6 months or so. I have the denuvoless version but did have the denuvo version before just cracked. There was a bug w the cracked version for some w the ending and I got it too where it just went black and froze when entering the post campaign open world. Since TL doesn't allow manual saves it was a pain but they do have a hybrid where you can roll back to pre mission or even earlier if you want. I think even buyers had that bug but it was fixed. I can't remember but I might still have it on the 1.90 denuvoless version too. Don't care too much tbh.

Some of the newer minigames like connecting the cables is interesting and prob others. But yeah I don't like the cartoony colors and such nor the corny aides. The glider is necessary in such a larger world taking you all over. I remember the dating side mission kinda funny. Did the collecting books missions fetch quests and the payoff afterwards which you don't get to see lol Uh the rest of it is all muddled it's been so long. I could see a replay of that too once it gets guns and such. It's a good game whereas 1 is a great game.

1 is a classic 2 is just a newer prettier and more type of thing in the series. They need to go back to making a complete game that's tighter imo then this extravaganza type of game that goes on and on and is online focused really for revenue stream type of thing. Of course there's no going back, they're megcorpo now so just have to look for smaller studios with games like that really. Techland that made the megahit 1 is no more like cpdur, rockstar and all sorts of other studios bought out by the monopolists who are concerned with stock share and earnings and such more than the hobby of gaming. It's more of a shift to a drug dealing type of thing then making games that have a decent story, no nonsense hands on gaming and a beginning and ending like a book.

 

And as a player whose only interested in SP offline play you have to have these huge games that include all this nonsense geared towards the online customer. And unless you're connected to the launcher and updating all the time you don't get access to any of those assets until you grab an updated free version but by that time it's not enough really for the hassle of it. This game is included in that. The only thing that would bring me back is guns really, they're better for fighting zombies anyways who wants to get up close and personal with creatures that want to bite and kill you. Also a major well reviewed DLC story like PL in cp77 which is the rare SP focused game with no online component to it.

 

Makes no sense that guns wouldn't be there really nor all sorts of other things 15 years later. Just the amount of material available in stores would last a long enough time to develop a pipeline for gunpowder and such.

Another off putting thing is the circus world stuff. Trees are not going to just grow on rooftops without deep soil for roots and this games totally ignores that for a fantasy setting of trees growing on bare roofs, ridiculous. You'd have to fill the floor below with dirt and at that higher level have to water them a lot more than natural trees in soil that water filters down into naturally with rain and such. It's hot on rooftops and windy the trees would lose a lot more water just for that and so would need to be artificially watered. So then you have the problem of getting fresh water and taking it up to the rooftops and it'd be a constant need in most places during the whole year. Nonsense stuff like that is another major reason why 1 is more realistic and just better.

 

Taking to the roofs would only last so long until you'd have to get smart and lure zombies into pits for burning and such. Even just disabling legs would help a lot to eradicating them. If all you need to do it sever the heads there's that too. They go to sounds and lights and can be electrocuted and such too, they could be gated off and penned in etc Lots of ways there. So 15 years and still on rooftops an such? Nah this just videogame logic which isn't even viable vg logic.

 

But no one in the game seems to have any clue or concern in that direction at all. They've just given up and started living on roofs, silly stuff. You'd think 15years later you'd at least have something done in that direction but nope. So it's not good writing at all. 1 at least it's the outbreak so there's not the amount of time to get too organized for it so nothing done is reasonable to believe there.

 

So I've been playing DL1 and it's great game, the EE 116 version I've got installed has a few of the community maps that are very short but kinda nice for a quick game. I've got the DE too just haven't bothered to install it. I'm pretty sure the only difference is maybe more of the events are in some way included and likely more community maps in the 3 or so years difference between EE and DE releases. Prob more outfits and cosmetics etc

So I did as many of the undone side missions as possible with only the getting bulbs from the bridge one which I don't like it's a pain. And challenges which doesn't interest me too much. I really wish they had made The Following so you don't have to load into them separately, meaning you could move in game between all the maps.

Only thing that could get me into it more would be a new game but then I'd have to do the final mission which isn't my fav w the extensive high climbing part to get to rais. I guess I could grab a NG+ save though. Great game looks great and I've got a few mods that make it better. If you can get the EE version very cheap it's a dynamite deal if you like the game, 2hrs on steam to decide. Runs on a modern potato just fine, no bugs by now never was really a buggy game including the dlc. Oh right I could also do the prison again and bozark again, eh battle arenas really, they should have just made more side missions and a few more involved ones in the main game tbh much better than battle arenas. Tried Be the Zombie but it's really geared towards MP.

 

I'm also missing hellraid but from the reviews looks like didn't miss anything.

 

Yeah so I downloaded a modded max save from nexus that's post campaign in both of them for a new game plus eventually. He left a lot of the side missions undone which is nice since I like those, not too involved or cutsceney type of thing but just exploration and combat focused. The game of course runs silky smooth and almost completely silent with my settings and still looks amazing to this day.

I enjoy the game flow here with the jumping climbing and great sound. I turn off the music but it still keeps the eerie ambient night subtle music which is fine. The grappling hook is nice as you can go up and down and sideways with none of that annoying hard landing mini cutscene stuff. And once I'm done there can just start a new game plus with everything. I still have my old save with all side stuff done mostly but didn't want to bother with the long cutscene heavy endings in both campaigns to then do a NG+ with all my equipment. This is an easy way to get that at my leisure.

I don't really want to bother w the DE version install due to my mods and it adds gb's in size for the various cosmetics techland loves to sell and of course Hellraid which isn't too much of a draw for me. Another battle arena with a thin story to dress it up, nah.

 

I'm currently in the old town sequence of 1 just after the huge dam-radio tower mission and at the clinic w the doctor there and it's been pretty fun to replay here and there last few weeks. 1 at times can look photorealistic with the art style and if it got a texture update would be even more photorealistic. That kind of yanks you out of the illusion there when you glance over and see old textures and the car models are basic no doubt but I think UE5 in robocop has car models that aren't terribly different from this game from 2015.

Oddly in cyberpunk if you use a blown out lut lighting mod and have a bright but cloud covered day the game looks photorealistc if you have the system to run it and also has rtpt going. I've seen videos with the luts, envs and a reshade without RT at all and it looks very photo realistic. Usually Nova or GITS Fuji luts and envs are used then a reshade over top of it.

I think they could add in RT to DL1 and also update the textures and this would look very photo realistic, but most people could run RT in dl1 with minimal problems since it's 9 years old. How you going to sell new hw if a 9 year old game can just be backported with RT? NO excuses that older cards can't handle it.

 

Actually scratch that last comment, insert foot in mouth as I didn't bother to research RT in DL1 before it. So here's a vid I found and really it doesn't look any better than what I see without RT maxed at 1080p, looks less realistic at a glance since the bushes there are overly bright and the modder didn't bother to go into where it looks most photo realistic in town areas and lighted interiors.
https://www.nexusmods.com/dyinglight/videos/27

So yeah DL1 is phenomenal looking to me other than the textures close up. I think if it was easy to do I would grab upgraded textures but it's likely 10gbs or more which I'm not too keen on downloading from nexus since I still just have a free account.

 

Was playing DL1 a bit of the last mission extraction at Rais' hideout and I remembered why I usually never play this finale. It's LONG, has lots of high climbing, and the ending is not too good. I also hate how techland likes to cheat in difficulty also. So you can use your grapple hook once you get it at any time in game, but once you get to missions suddenly you're too tired to use grapple hook is what the blocking message tells you. I think this is immersion breaking and just plain bad game design, if you're going to have items you can get in game then don't restrict them for missions.

Crane is MORE likely to use grapple hook in mission situations as they're usually a lot harder climbing and precision then normal open world and any aid you can get will be used, and Crane isn't tired in a high paced zombie sequence he's amped up. So this is just plain bad game design and cheating in difficulty by techland.

I don't like how you can't cancel missions once underway either, what was so hard about cancel mission and return to before in the menu? Endings are usually so long like 45mins locked into it, that it's abuse of player time to not have this. And what if you want to come back after farming skills and such? Nope. Even if I exit out mid ending it autosaves where I was if I come back so for this save I HAVE to finish the final mission. See this is where manual saving should have come in but techland has never had that in either DL game.