Sam B or Xian Mei

[WeylandYutani]

After playin the whole Dead Island with both Chars on each two playthroughs i cant say which Character i should favor. Now i played Riptide the first map with both Characters and still cant say which Character i should use mainly.

Both Character are really good, both are really cool with their weapon styles so i decide to ask here maybe i get some fresh opinions. I know each Character Skills and Gameplay, i compared both a long time but it still hard to choose.

So what do you think and what Character would you favor and for what reason ?

[Freakfire v2]

It depends on your inherent playstyle, therefore if you enjoy bladed weapons and sidestep raping zombies rock Xian whereas bashing zombies and basically tanking like a champ would be Sam B.

Also I too couldnt decide when I started since I had 4 saves from DI with all maxed heroes. I ended up rolling john morgan and must say hes amazing when played right.

[Tysard ☭]

Sam B. because WHO DO YOU VOODOO B1TCH!

[Krakn3dfx]

I like Sam B because he drops the 'F' and 'MF' bombs pretty much non-stop, sometimes in the same sentence.

I would hang out with Sam B.

[FrozenStar]

Sam is a loss less tank-ish than he used to be. Tackle is seriously underpowered now, and it was the best part in the first game, the knock them down, stomp - power combo. Never even have to use a weapon. Heavy wep mods are more common in Henderson, which you'll reach after completing 75% of the story.

So for convenience and an easier time, good mods early on and all that, I say Xian. I got her to level 70 already.

[itsyaboi]

nethier john that new one

[WeylandYutani]

Yeah thats why i favor sam b so much because of his F and MF bombs ^^ and he is all the time really cool. I like his playstyle (not tank wise) and yes the tackle is a little messed up and it doesnt hit many time, ran directly into the zeds but it doesnt hit.

On the other side i like xian mei playstyle really much, she is strong, her slashing is really cool and throwing weapons with here is really nice too. Shes a little bit boring as a character from story and shouts.

If anything happens sam b has most of the time something say ^^ but in the end game im sure he isnt that strong. His hits smash zombies to the ground most of the time and the bleeding stuff and zeds ouch noise are really nice. But his hits doesnt interrupt hits many times but xian meis slahses interrupt most of em thats a part that i dont understand.

Then there the weapons and mods, most of the ingame weapons and mods are for blunt weapons. I would favor Xian mei but maybe except some swords like a catana with toxic, electric or fire mods arent enough. On the blunt side there are many different cool maces or things like golf bats and else, and most mods are for blunt weapons thats really sad.

I can say ok to no cool shouts and no cool smashing arround but this weapon and mods this is the main part what makes my choice so difficult. In the first game blunt weapons where much cooler and had the best mods, on the sharp side there is only katana like weapons what where really cool and there only the death....toxic mod and thats not enough.

[kaffekoppen]

Flavor-wise, it's of course subjective.

But for a skilled player, there's no doubt that Xian is miles ahead of Sam B in terms of power. Much better stamina, stamina regen on kill, high crit rating, good healing, fury in 3-4 kills, she's just incredibly overpowered overall. While Sam B is catching a breath because he doesn't have stamina regen on kills, Xian has already 1-2 shotted the next few thugs and a ram,

I wish every character had the "Vampire" skill.

[VampXGamer]

Xian is great, with her anti threat skill you can walk past most zombie hordes without them even bothering to attack her. Only the special zombies tend to 'see' her. Stealth works tons better in DI 1, I remember it was pretty useless, but not in Riptide.

[WeylandYutani]

I dont really want to choose a character because only of their skills, but yeah i should choose her. But Sam B hasnt that Stamina issues at all, it depends on what weapon you use, if you use baseball bats and the right skills you can swing it 20-25 times and thats really enough.

Vampire is good but too much i dont need it really only used 1 point for it and thats enough and only used as a reserve for a never ending fight.

[Kamatsu]

What about someone who isn't great skilled or has an issue with their eye-to-hand co-ordination?

I've played both DI & Riptide, like both blunt & bladed combat and both characters, But find myself dying or near dying in both games quickly as Xen Mai but not as Sam B. Reading the posts here.. seems Xen Mai does more damage, but is fragile & is a better character in the hands of a good player... but not everyone is good/great (I know I for sure ain't.. lol)

It's been awhile since I played DI (and lost all my saves.. boo), just how strong/capable is Sam B later on @ higher level's? I know what he's like around lvl 15-17 thanx to Riptide starting me at 15... but can't remember what he's like later on.What about Xen Mai?

Also, is Riptide still way more in favor of blunt weapons? I do remember in DI getting a flood of decent/good blunt weapons that had a plathora of mods I could use, didn't see many really useful/handy blades...

[Goat]

Originally posted by Kamatsu:

"stuffs..."

my sam b at 42 is a fine smooth gameplay tbh so i think he does fine but with the easy to get blunt mods at the beginning he is decent nothing like xian with her amazing fury building but he can take a few punches and in fury he is quite unstoppable to

weapons feel equal just grab a machete/2h axe or a baseball bat at the 1st town vendors mods seemed abit in favor of blunt to me right at the start with the free nail bat though my bbq blade/recipe fixed this abit its just pricey compared but i fixed this at the 2nd town where you get a free blade mod

[kaffekoppen]

No, Riptide is not in favor of blunt weapons, and neither was the original for that matter. I don't mean to say that blunt weapons are bad. They're not. But sharp weapons only really sucked in the beginning of Dead Island when you got crappy knives. Once you started getting machetes and katanas (and some good mods!), sharp weapons were suddenly amazing. They still are.

About the stamina thing: I sprint everywhere because it's faster. I jump kick and stomp because it works really well and doesn't damage your weapon. It's not just a question of how many times you can swing. What if you jump a bit, kick a bit, run a bit? If you have Vampire, none of that even matters. If you don't, you either have to play more conservatively, or you will run out. Of course it's not a gamebreaking issue, but I just prefer the acrobatic approach.

[Blue Shark~Vault Boy /CZE/]

For me Xian is best. Cuttting off heads and arms with bad ass moded blade weapons never gets old. :P

[Soundcreepy]

I tried Sam B for a bit, but my god that tackle is awful......

[Sharza]

I imagine Xian to be the more fun character to play overall. You just fly through the hordes slashing left and right, dodging where necessary and killing everything in no time. I played her in the first one and imported the character to Riptide and last night hit 70. She just doesn't have to stop as her stamina pool feels close to infinite at this level and she can kill insanely fast. 3 kills, fury, 3 kills fury and so on...
The only real downside I can see to playing Xian is that you sometimes get 1 shot by thrown weapons.

I played a bit of Sam B in the first one and found him to be quite boring in comparison. He is slower and does less damage, has to stop, thus taking the fluidity out of the game. On the other hand he can take quite the beating whereas Xian feels like made of paper in that regard.