Dead Island 3 FLESH system

[CheeseMerchant]

What do you guys think the next game can improve about the FLESH system?

I think it does most things fine already. A minor flaw i spotted was that organs currently don't melt away with acid if you hit a zombie with an acid attack, while the skin and muscle layer does melt away

Same goes for fire damage and how it does not seem to damage the organs.

Being able to sheer off more bits and pieces of a zombie body that stay there on the ground not disapearing would be cool as well.

Better bleeding effects that stay on the walls and floor indefinitely or far longer then currently.

I am Interested in hearing other takes on this

[droaan]

I hope they focus more on improving melee combat depth and variety tbh.
Flesh system is pretty solid.

Weapons all feel light. Swinging a sledge hammer is like swinging a pool noodle. And impact needs help. Maybe some hit stop or something to add oomph.

Also I think there need to be more moves.

I had a concept in mind. Imagine a PS5 controller.

L2 attacks left, R2 attacks right and pulling both triggers does a center attack. Like a stab or jab. That alone opens up combat to intentionally target certain limbs or do specific and interesting combos.

Another example of missed opportunity is the claw weapons. All melee weapons let you throw them when you use L2
Claws should have had a flurry attack that uses up stamina faster but allows you to wildly claw both hands continuously to shred zombies

The game is fun but there's so much room to improve.

[MeowCats]

I agree with all these.. og dead island had analogue melee for controllers, letting you swing/hit any direction you wanted, though it wasnt available for mouse and keyboard for some reason.

I'd also like to see bodies of water get stained with blood hopefully in the next game..

[droaan]

Originally posted by MeowCats:

I agree with all these.. og dead island had analogue melee for controllers, letting you swing/hit any direction you wanted, though it wasnt available for mouse and keyboard for some reason.

I'd also like to see bodies of water get stained with blood hopefully in the next game..

I agree with blood in water for sure. All the little details go a long way. Would love to see brain pieces slide down a wall after cracking a head open.
Better blood physics, etc.

I don't know why this game is so underrated. It's a great game and I love the tightly designed, detailed world. It's fun to explore and has lots of vertical exploration too.

It's just awesome to explore a few blocks of a neighborhood, rummage through people's houses and discover secrets, side quests and more.

Just hope a sequel goes deeper with everything. Take it all a step farther, add more depth, and keep it focused. Open zones are superior to open world. It lets the devs focus more attention on environmental storytelling and pacing.

Be cool if they toned down the genz type humor and "that just happened" energy too.

[CheeseMerchant]

Originally posted by MeowCats:

I agree with all these.. og dead island had analogue melee for controllers, letting you swing/hit any direction you wanted, though it wasnt available for mouse and keyboard for some reason.

I'd also like to see bodies of water get stained with blood hopefully in the next game..

blood in the water is something i would like to see as well,

Originally posted by droaan:

I hope they focus more on improving melee combat depth and variety tbh.
Flesh system is pretty solid.

Weapons all feel light. Swinging a sledge hammer is like swinging a pool noodle. And impact needs help. Maybe some hit stop or something to add oomph.

Also I think there need to be more moves.

I had a concept in mind. Imagine a PS5 controller.

L2 attacks left, R2 attacks right and pulling both triggers does a center attack. Like a stab or jab. That alone opens up combat to intentionally target certain limbs or do specific and interesting combos.

Another example of missed opportunity is the claw weapons. All melee weapons let you throw them when you use L2
Claws should have had a flurry attack that uses up stamina faster but allows you to wildly claw both hands continuously to shred zombies

The game is fun but there's so much room to improve.

Sledgehammers are strange indeed, you can kick zombies in the air with them but can't smash a head into a pulp with one strong hit (while your feet can...). very often only doing the same gore damage to a zombie as a small claw hammer does. I hope DI3 will have better damage feedback for big and heavy weapons in general.

Then you have the other extreme, of a small one handed knife being able to cut zombies in half ingame because..... reasons. the extreme of the gore damage for smaller weapons like that should be dialed down a bit for immersion sake

Trowing weapons suck , you can't even trow a spear and use it to impale a zombie, it will simply bounce of like trowing a club or something, its that bad atm.

Better gun shot wounds would be nice to see as well. currently the same damage as blunt weapons get applied when you shoot a zombie.

[droaan]

Originally posted by CheeseMerchant:

Originally posted by MeowCats:

I agree with all these.. og dead island had analogue melee for controllers, letting you swing/hit any direction you wanted, though it wasnt available for mouse and keyboard for some reason.

I'd also like to see bodies of water get stained with blood hopefully in the next game..

blood in the water is something i would like to see as well,

Originally posted by droaan:

I hope they focus more on improving melee combat depth and variety tbh.
Flesh system is pretty solid.

Weapons all feel light. Swinging a sledge hammer is like swinging a pool noodle. And impact needs help. Maybe some hit stop or something to add oomph.

Also I think there need to be more moves.

I had a concept in mind. Imagine a PS5 controller.

L2 attacks left, R2 attacks right and pulling both triggers does a center attack. Like a stab or jab. That alone opens up combat to intentionally target certain limbs or do specific and interesting combos.

Another example of missed opportunity is the claw weapons. All melee weapons let you throw them when you use L2
Claws should have had a flurry attack that uses up stamina faster but allows you to wildly claw both hands continuously to shred zombies

The game is fun but there's so much room to improve.

Sledgehammers are strange indeed, you can kick zombies in the air with them but can't smash a head into a pulp with one strong hit (while your feet can...). very often only doing the same gore damage to a zombie as a small claw hammer does. I hope DI3 will have better damage feedback for big and heavy weapons in general.

Then you have the other extreme, of a small one handed knife being able to cut zombies in half ingame because..... reasons. the extreme of the gore damage for smaller weapons like that should be dialed down a bit for immersion sake

Trowing weapons suck , you can't even trow a spear and use it to impale a zombie, it will simply bounce of like trowing a club or something, its that bad atm.

Better gun shot wounds would be nice to see as well. currently the same damage as blunt weapons get applied when you shoot a zombie.

Definitely want to see things taken a step further.

Spears, daggers, swords, and other sharp weapons do stick into zombies. You must have been missing your throws. I often stick them with a thrown weapon, and pull it from them when I run up to finish the job.

[CheeseMerchant]

Originally posted by droaan:

Originally posted by CheeseMerchant:

blood in the water is something i would like to see as well,







Sledgehammers are strange indeed, you can kick zombies in the air with them but can't smash a head into a pulp with one strong hit (while your feet can...). very often only doing the same gore damage to a zombie as a small claw hammer does. I hope DI3 will have better damage feedback for big and heavy weapons in general.

Then you have the other extreme, of a small one handed knife being able to cut zombies in half ingame because..... reasons. the extreme of the gore damage for smaller weapons like that should be dialed down a bit for immersion sake

Trowing weapons suck , you can't even trow a spear and use it to impale a zombie, it will simply bounce of like trowing a club or something, its that bad atm.

Better gun shot wounds would be nice to see as well. currently the same damage as blunt weapons get applied when you shoot a zombie.

Definitely want to see things taken a step further.

Spears, daggers, swords, and other sharp weapons do stick into zombies. You must have been missing your throws. I often stick them with a thrown weapon, and pull it from them when I run up to finish the job.

Just did a test, The spear will only stick to an enemy 1 out of 5 times on average when i trow it at them, this is aiming at the center of the body.

So yes apparently they can stick into zombies, But the hit detection sucks so hard that i never really encountered it in my own plays. Maybe a weakness of the FLESH system in its current form?

Meat cleavers do seem to stick more, so it depends on the weapon type trown as well.

[droaan]

Originally posted by CheeseMerchant:

Originally posted by droaan:

Definitely want to see things taken a step further.

Spears, daggers, swords, and other sharp weapons do stick into zombies. You must have been missing your throws. I often stick them with a thrown weapon, and pull it from them when I run up to finish the job.

Just did a test, The spear will only stick to an enemy 1 out of 5 times on average when i trow it at them, this is aiming at the center of the body.

So yes apparently they can stick into zombies, But the hit detection sucks so hard that i never really encountered it in my own plays. Maybe a weakness of the FLESH system in its current form?

Meat cleavers do seem to stick more, so it depends on the weapon type trown as well.

It is spotty, and I think it depends on hitting soft spots as well. Seems to always bounce off the head but sticks in the chest sometimes, and possibly stomach more often.

Swords, daggers prob have highest chance.

I have been playing on PS5 cause it was recently on a great sale. Love the game and really hope a sequel delivers.

There's a lot of little things I would like to see, that a lot of people either don't notice or care.

Examples being the UI showing when a key has been used, as the keys stack up fast and if you aren't immediately opening the crate, you can wind up scrolling up and down to recall which one was not used.

I also find it strange there is no button to toggle the UI off when inspecting a weapon. The only way to get the on screen info to vanish is by spinning the weapon above a certain speed.

Lots more minor things, but as for larger improvements, just enhancements to the physics. I'm really glad to see zombies have collision when killed. They can end up stacked on top of each other after a fight, and it looks great most times.

I wish there was something similar to GTA 4, where they can lose balance. They can to an extent, but not naturally in all situations. I've tried to boot a few down stairs to enjoy the tumbling And it just doesn't happen.

I'm surprised at how relatively underrated this game is though. Dying Light is def in my top zombie games but I easily set this up there with it. Love the smaller but more detailed maps, and it would be sick if they enhanced the pseudo immersive sim elements in a sequel.

Also take the elemental interactions to the next level. I'm rambling. Thanks for quickly scanning my ramble for keywords and phrases.

Edit: better zombie randomization and variety! I hate how often I see duplicate zombies. We should be well beyond that with modern games. Make a bunch of clothing options, procedurally randomize them, and allow them to have different levels of degradation.

If every zombie looked unique, it would just add to the immersion.

[Atroz217]

More interactable and destructible environments with the character being able to utilize more appliances, electronics, and furniture for improv weapons or distractions. And also, adding unique animations for them for finishing moves.

For example, if you're in one of Bel-Air kitchens, you could do an over-the-top finishing move by putting a zombie head in blender or electrocuting by smashing a microwave on their head, or throwing them in a fireplace and lighting it.

For distractions, you could turn on TVs or stereos, grouping zombies together and then grenading them.

I was a little disappointed in the beginning when you're at Emma's Mansion. I saw a tennis ball thrower outside on the tennis court and I thought it would be usable but no. Something like that would be a way to add more depth and variation to the combat.