first time with dead rising series, mistake to play 3 first?

[ratso]

anyone willing to give a run down of differences or personal preferences between 2 and 3(my current selection)
seems like 3 was the first step off the rails and 2 is more in line with 1 so I'd rather wait to own dead rising 1 then play 2, but 3 seems different somehow. I have no idea if there is anything I would be missing from the first two games but maybe having 3 be further from 1 than 2 and off the record would be a good thing? I dunno, need help

[Kurtino]

One thing about the series is that each game, in some way, tries to improve some of the more complained about issues of the previous game. If you play number 3 first you may find being unable to sprint in 1 and 2 annoying, or you may find that 1/2 is much more difficult than number 3.

Obviously the best answer is to always go chronologically 1 > 2 > 3, but 3 is different because its mainly outdoors open world with no loading screens, and the zombie density is a lot larger.

If you're talking story wise then yes 3 is its own story, but it does make some references to the past somewhat, and I think number 1 is the game that explains the origins of the zombies but 2/3 don't recover this really.

You'll also probably want to look at whether you want to play DR2 or DR2: Off the record, and most will tell you just to play off the record.

So differences listed off the top of my head:
You can sprint
Open world/no loading screens
Zombie density
Large focus on vehicles to get around, less focused on individual buildings/mall environment
Difficulty significantly easier
Levelling also seemed a lot easier to me
Almost no focus on survivor escorts
Crafting is done on the spot, rather than a maintenance room
Time limit vastly extended (6 days I think)
More of a collect-a-thon than previous games
Saving is done on the fly, and you don't need to go to a restroom to save
Money isn't a thing anymore

[Really Cool Chicken]

Personally, I recommend the normal Dead Rising 2. I think its better than OTR which isn't even cannon and only exists to please OG fans which liked Frank. On the other hand, I'd recommend getting Dead Rising 3 after beating the second game. I don't know why everyone says Dead Rising 3 is bad, cause I think its fun. Then again, I'm not as arrogant as most Dead Rising fans that only want Frank as the MC and it to take place in a mall (*cough* DR4 *cough*). Dead Rising 3 is different, but its honestly a good kind of different. Lastly, don't buy Dead Rising 4, its trash due to how buggy and unfun it is with a-hole Frank and forgettable story.

[ratso]

Thank you guys so much, what I find really cool is wherever you look you seem to get a different yet vaild opinion(from googling) but its all useful info. I think I might play 3 lightly and just visit 2 and OTR until I can get a copy of 1 to play chronologically. I appreciate your views on the titles

[Really Cool Chicken]

Originally posted by ratso:

Thank you guys so much, what I find really cool is wherever you look you seem to get a different yet vaild opinion(from googling) but its all useful info. I think I might play 3 lightly and just visit 2 and OTR until I can get a copy of 1 to play chronologically. I appreciate your views on the titles

Good plan. Regardless, enjoy the games. They're all good in their own respect, except Dead Rising 4.

[Wolfe]

I didn't get a chance to play 1 and didn't care much for Dead Rising 2, but 3?

This game is awesome so far in terms of feeling like a huge zombie apocaplypse, it feels more open than 2, and even though you can play it with funny weapons, you can also play it like a fairly serious zombie game.

You won't lose much at all not playing the other games first, I plan to go back to the remix version of 2, but still not sure if I'll like it. 3 has been a really good surprise for me.

[ratso]

From still having not played any of them it gives a real state of emergency vibe.

[Kurtino]

Originally posted by Charlotte Dunois:

Personally, I recommend the normal Dead Rising 2. I think its better than OTR which isn't even cannon and only exists to please OG fans which liked Frank. On the other hand, I'd recommend getting Dead Rising 3 after beating the second game. I don't know why everyone says Dead Rising 3 is bad, cause I think its fun. Then again, I'm not as arrogant as most Dead Rising fans that only want Frank as the MC and it to take place in a mall (*cough* DR4 *cough*). Dead Rising 3 is different, but its honestly a good kind of different. Lastly, don't buy Dead Rising 4, its trash due to how buggy and unfun it is with a-hole Frank and forgettable story.

For me it's not about Frank West, more so that OTR made improvements and fixes from DR2, and included a sandbox mode + the photography. The story isn't as strong because it was originally designed for chuck, but the trade off is worth it imo.

I think DR3 is a better multiplayer experience, but there's just something about it that doesn't capture the original. I think that the main character is really bland, like it's not so much that he isn't frank, more that his personality isn't as interesting/fun, just boring.

DR1/2 were quite difficult in comparison, and you were prone to restarting a lot due to poor time management or just dying, but the levelling system gave you a good pace, and really rewarded you towards the end. Take the vehicles from DR1/2 for example; you got them towards the end of the game, or through accomplishments like taking down the biker, or spending 1.5 mil in cash and buying the keys, or late game cases unlocked tunnels for them. In 3, the entire game revolves around cars, and as cool as it is to see the sheer scale of zombies, it also feels really easy. You can just mow through them like its nothing to get from point A to B.

The environments as well were very specialised in DR1/2 because it was a mall, so each store had its own personality. In DR3 its a lot more open world, but each store feels less impactful. The zombies are mostly crowded outside in the streets where you drive, and every so often you might get out to go inside some building, but it just doesn't have that same exploration feel to it. It feels more grand theft auto'y.

The levelling just seems so easy in DR3 as well. You get things like an unbreakable vehicle that can spawn anything, life regeneration, activating all books at once and so on...like it doesn't start off that difficult, but you quickly become very overpowered if you try to take part in any of the bonuses they place around the world for you to find, which is disappointing. The game doesn't scale really at all with you levelling, so it just progressively gets easier. It was the same in DR1/2, but the pacing was a lot better.

Survivors were the main aspect of DR1/2, and arguably one of its strongest or weakest points, but they are iconic. Survivor interactions and side quests, getting them to do strip poker or reuniting with their family were strong things, but mostly removed in DR3. I get that survivors were a bit complaint due to the poor AI, but just making them crop up as EXP sponges that are super easy to clear wasn't a great alternative.

Like overall I still think DR3 was a good game, but I just think it took too many mechanics from the original while changing so much of the ground rules, causing things to imbalance.

DR4 is just a mistake, and outsourced by a different company.

[ratso]

that was a heart felt write up, I certainly appreciate it. seems like I am ultimately going to be way happier playing 1 and 2, not just from what people have said but my personal tastes, so definitely gonna beat on 3 with a stick for a while until I can afford buying 1 or get impatient and just play 2 more seriously. again, thank you for the solid opinion covering many aspects

[Really Cool Chicken]

Originally posted by Kurtino:

Originally posted by Charlotte Dunois:

Personally, I recommend the normal Dead Rising 2. I think its better than OTR which isn't even cannon and only exists to please OG fans which liked Frank. On the other hand, I'd recommend getting Dead Rising 3 after beating the second game. I don't know why everyone says Dead Rising 3 is bad, cause I think its fun. Then again, I'm not as arrogant as most Dead Rising fans that only want Frank as the MC and it to take place in a mall (*cough* DR4 *cough*). Dead Rising 3 is different, but its honestly a good kind of different. Lastly, don't buy Dead Rising 4, its trash due to how buggy and unfun it is with a-hole Frank and forgettable story.

For me it's not about Frank West, more so that OTR made improvements and fixes from DR2, and included a sandbox mode + the photography. The story isn't as strong because it was originally designed for chuck, but the trade off is worth it imo.

I think DR3 is a better multiplayer experience, but there's just something about it that doesn't capture the original. I think that the main character is really bland, like it's not so much that he isn't frank, more that his personality isn't as interesting/fun, just boring.

DR1/2 were quite difficult in comparison, and you were prone to restarting a lot due to poor time management or just dying, but the levelling system gave you a good pace, and really rewarded you towards the end. Take the vehicles from DR1/2 for example; you got them towards the end of the game, or through accomplishments like taking down the biker, or spending 1.5 mil in cash and buying the keys, or late game cases unlocked tunnels for them. In 3, the entire game revolves around cars, and as cool as it is to see the sheer scale of zombies, it also feels really easy. You can just mow through them like its nothing to get from point A to B.

The environments as well were very specialised in DR1/2 because it was a mall, so each store had its own personality. In DR3 its a lot more open world, but each store feels less impactful. The zombies are mostly crowded outside in the streets where you drive, and every so often you might get out to go inside some building, but it just doesn't have that same exploration feel to it. It feels more grand theft auto'y.

The levelling just seems so easy in DR3 as well. You get things like an unbreakable vehicle that can spawn anything, life regeneration, activating all books at once and so on...like it doesn't start off that difficult, but you quickly become very overpowered if you try to take part in any of the bonuses they place around the world for you to find, which is disappointing. The game doesn't scale really at all with you levelling, so it just progressively gets easier. It was the same in DR1/2, but the pacing was a lot better.

Survivors were the main aspect of DR1/2, and arguably one of its strongest or weakest points, but they are iconic. Survivor interactions and side quests, getting them to do strip poker or reuniting with their family were strong things, but mostly removed in DR3. I get that survivors were a bit complaint due to the poor AI, but just making them crop up as EXP sponges that are super easy to clear wasn't a great alternative.

Like overall I still think DR3 was a good game, but I just think it took too many mechanics from the original while changing so much of the ground rules, causing things to imbalance.

DR4 is just a mistake, and outsourced by a different company.

I agree OTR did improve DR2 with improved animations and weapons from Case West (I think, not sure). I agree that Nick doesn't have a personallity level of Chuck or Frank, but to be honest, he seems like a watered down version of Chuck. He has people he cares for and wants to help them escape by doing whatever he can. If anyone is bland, its ♥♥♥♥ cause he's a generic ♥♥♥♥ boy with no backstory or context to why he's fighting with Nick. That's just me be nit-picky, but it doesn't really matter cause he's nothing to the story, but its a comparison. Also, I hate when people mention the unbreakable vehicles and being able to use all the books when talking about the leveling being easy, because you only get them AFTER reaching level 50, where you can only gain attributes. With that said, they don't make leveling easy, only the game. Even at that point, it doesn't matter cause someone would've beat the game once or twice, so they already played he game at a low level. If anyone is gonna argue this game is easy, they should bring up the weapon locker which is broken and even I hate it.

[Really Cool Chicken]

That censored name is D1CK, forgot about Steam censorship.

[Kurtino]

Originally posted by Charlotte Dunois:

I agree OTR did improve DR2 with improved animations and weapons from Case West (I think, not sure). I agree that Nick doesn't have a personallity level of Chuck or Frank, but to be honest, he seems like a watered down version of Chuck. He has people he cares for and wants to help them escape by doing whatever he can. If anyone is bland, its ♥♥♥♥ cause he's a generic ♥♥♥♥ boy with no backstory or context to why he's fighting with Nick. That's just me be nit-picky, but it doesn't really matter cause he's nothing to the story, but its a comparison. Also, I hate when people mention the unbreakable vehicles and being able to use all the books when talking about the leveling being easy, because you only get them AFTER reaching level 50, where you can only gain attributes. With that said, they don't make leveling easy, only the game. Even at that point, it doesn't matter cause someone would've beat the game once or twice, so they already played he game at a low level. If anyone is gonna argue this game is easy, they should bring up the weapon locker which is broken and even I hate it.

Yeah I mean I'm going mostly off of memory, and I started playing DR3 from scratch the other day and I almost instantly reached level 10, which was enough to max out the intelligence bar which gives me even more PP, but I suppose you could avoid that tree if you wanted to level slower. I didn't touch any of those frank statues or speakers either, but I did try one of the DLC episodes and trying to play that made my EXP almost skyrocket.

I remember my experience of DR3 late game years ago playing it on xbox one was going to the weapon locker, making that shotgun that was combined with something else, then you would just walk through and mow down anything. Either that or the assault rifle with 3 tubes. The ranged weapons were really OP, and it made using anything else feel like what was the point when I can hold a button down and hordes are dying.

Still, thats my sort of playstyle and I like to play optimally, so if the game gave me strong stuff I always used it. I also remember reaching level 50 really easily, but I can't remember when I did. I remember trying to max out DR1/2 taking many retries and repeats of the story, but then again I also played those games when I was so much younger, so it might not be as difficult for me now.

Overall they're all good games, and only DR4 is the first disaster. I haven't tried DR3's nightmare mode, but from what I've read it mostly forces you to skip past most of the content that makes DR3 unique to try and speedrun the timelimit, which involves mostly driving cars from point A to B from what others have said.

Difficulty is a preference thing though, if you aren't as nitpicky about it as me you probably wont notice it, and it might even be interesting to play DR3 first if you wanted to scale the difficulty between games, as long as you aren't frustrated by removed mechanics (I usually can't play previous games of series because most series improve on their mechanics or add new ones).

[Really Cool Chicken]

Originally posted by Kurtino:

Originally posted by Charlotte Dunois:

I agree OTR did improve DR2 with improved animations and weapons from Case West (I think, not sure). I agree that Nick doesn't have a personallity level of Chuck or Frank, but to be honest, he seems like a watered down version of Chuck. He has people he cares for and wants to help them escape by doing whatever he can. If anyone is bland, its ♥♥♥♥ cause he's a generic ♥♥♥♥ boy with no backstory or context to why he's fighting with Nick. That's just me be nit-picky, but it doesn't really matter cause he's nothing to the story, but its a comparison. Also, I hate when people mention the unbreakable vehicles and being able to use all the books when talking about the leveling being easy, because you only get them AFTER reaching level 50, where you can only gain attributes. With that said, they don't make leveling easy, only the game. Even at that point, it doesn't matter cause someone would've beat the game once or twice, so they already played he game at a low level. If anyone is gonna argue this game is easy, they should bring up the weapon locker which is broken and even I hate it.

Yeah I mean I'm going mostly off of memory, and I started playing DR3 from scratch the other day and I almost instantly reached level 10, which was enough to max out the intelligence bar which gives me even more PP, but I suppose you could avoid that tree if you wanted to level slower. I didn't touch any of those frank statues or speakers either, but I did try one of the DLC episodes and trying to play that made my EXP almost skyrocket.

I remember my experience of DR3 late game years ago playing it on xbox one was going to the weapon locker, making that shotgun that was combined with something else, then you would just walk through and mow down anything. Either that or the assault rifle with 3 tubes. The ranged weapons were really OP, and it made using anything else feel like what was the point when I can hold a button down and hordes are dying.

Still, thats my sort of playstyle and I like to play optimally, so if the game gave me strong stuff I always used it. I also remember reaching level 50 really easily, but I can't remember when I did. I remember trying to max out DR1/2 taking many retries and repeats of the story, but then again I also played those games when I was so much younger, so it might not be as difficult for me now.

Overall they're all good games, and only DR4 is the first disaster. I haven't tried DR3's nightmare mode, but from what I've read it mostly forces you to skip past most of the content that makes DR3 unique to try and speedrun the timelimit, which involves mostly driving cars from point A to B from what others have said.

Difficulty is a preference thing though, if you aren't as nitpicky about it as me you probably wont notice it, and it might even be interesting to play DR3 first if you wanted to scale the difficulty between games, as long as you aren't frustrated by removed mechanics (I usually can't play previous games of series because most series improve on their mechanics or add new ones).

Nightmare mode is a joke of a difficulty. I've beat it twice in the main story and in some of the DLC without dying. The time is the only difficult part, but I was able to do almost every side mission. Unless you're really curious, I wouldn't bother with it.

[Kahvipannu]

DR3 isn't really DR game in my opinion. It has lost a lot of character, and instead being quite unique game that was designed to be played multiple times, now it is more herp derp kill all the zombies, no rush. In previous DR games all the stuff around you, even the zombies, were there to just distract and slow you down. That isn't the case anymore. It is almost like the game has lost it's soul, the thing that made it different and so awesome.

Also no Frank West (apparently in DR4 they redesigned the character, so that is missing him too...)

DR3 isn't bad, it is still fun game, I'm having fun with it. It just feels like they made it more like the rest of open world games out there, less DR. Playing this makes me wanna play DR1 and OTR again, but I want to finish this one first, I'm pretty close to the end.

It might be becouse I started the serie back in the day with DR1 for 360, but DR isn't DR without Frank to me, so DR2 OTR, and DR1 would be my recommendations. DR3 is very different compared to those.

[ratso]

Thank you for your input, I've been enjoying 3 a lot lately having completed it and playing it spontaneously with random coop partners, considering a second playthrough to try and complete more survivor blueprint frank statue stuff. I wanna burn it out of my system so I can not worry about it in the future. I think 3 acted as a nice preview for what is possible in terms of dead rising, having never played a previous game before 3. So I'm really excited to eventually get to it, I hope playing 3 so much won't warp my perception of the previous games, it sounds like that's almost impossible given the quality of the earlier games according to various testimony. I have a pretty open mind so if something is missing like sprint, i'm not going to hate on the game, everything is by design and dr1 and 2 are simply different games. I'm not really one to favor modern concessions.

[Kahvipannu]

Yeah, don't expect same type of games as DR3. I would almost categorize DR1, and OTR too maybe, more as of puzzle/time trial games. That sounds terrible, but once you get what the games are doing, it makes sense.

They are all different, in their own way. I like them all, but DR3 feels like all the other AAA open world game sout there, with bunch of zombies to play with, by design. I kinda wished they would had kept the unique design earlier games had.

No idea about DR4 tough, watched some of it, and they made FRank... They got me so exited telling he is back, and then they made him totally different character, I just can't get over it.