I'm not a fan of Resident Evil (or anything horror in general) but I was in mood for something dark yesterday so I gave this game a try. It certainly has a lot of potential and vision: Storyline, actual inventory management (I especially like the whole combining thing) and various systems. Plus, the new sprites looks great: The switching between sprites is pretty unsettling but I know that's only temporary so no problems there.
However... I'm having huge issues in actually playing the game. I realize that it's definitively just me being dumb: I've read all the comments that date since the last update and no one else seems to be having any issue at all. I'm normally pretty okay at games in general but 'survival horror' is not a type I have any experience in and I'm actually having problems with really basic stuff too... I'd really appreciate if someone could give a few tips and suggestions so that I could actually enjoy the game.
1) Ammo: I run out of ammo incredibly early: Zombies usually come in group of 2, and take about 3 shots to knock down each. By the time the 2nd one is knocked down, the first stands back up and it takes about 6 shots per zombie to actually kill one. Considering that you can sometime get a lucky 1-shot knockdown and run over it, I find myself to have enough ammo for 6 zombies at most. The knife is extremely hard to use: I know the "no sprite for knife attack" makes it even harder, but even with "knife-back" tactics I very rarely can knock down a zombie without getting grabbed. Trying to crouch under their lunge doesn't work either... I haven't actually found any ammo pickup, except in the Mercenary mode where it's common.
2) Submitting: While I do try to go through games trying to avoid getting raped, I soon found myself at low HP with no ammo, no healing items, and grabbed by a zombie. I figured that submitting was better than dying and then turning into a zombie, so I pressed 'X' as mentionned in the instructions... And the zombie just kept bitting the neck and killed me. That happened 3 deaths in a row: X didn't submit. So even though I normally try to avoid getting raped, I was curious to see what I was doing wrong for the submit so I started a new game and threw myself at the first zombie I found... And I have no idea how you are supposed to do it. 'X' doesn't work, and the only thing that does anything was struggling with the arrow keys (But you still get bited at least once even if you go very fast so it's not an option anymore at low health). So while I'm actually playing trying to avoid trying to submit... I'd rather know how to submit when necessary instead of always getting bitten in the neck 100% of the time.
3) Dog: Is there a way to avoid taking damage from it? You can't shoot it, and I always take damage trying to jump over it. Tiny amount of damage, but damage nonetheless.
4) I'm not sure how to interact properly with things. I know Z open doors, but I found a car that opens the inventory when you Z near it, but nothing else. Same thing with a door later on. I can't interact with anything else, including the dying/dead guy near the end (I knock down the zombies, try to Z him which does nothing then the zombies stand back up right on top of me and kill me).
5) What's the thing in the inventory marked "Special" that you can't select and have one of?
Edit before post: I decided to give it one last spin today before posting, and I actually managed to finish it... It feels really strange that the way to pass the zombies is to jump right in their arms so they miss (I hadn't tried that since it felt counter-logic to jump at something trying to grab you). I enjoyed the electricity puzzle: It was pretty simple, but it's certainly swell to see puzzles in a game like this! What I missed for #4 if that I hadn't killed both zombies before trying to talk to the dying man, I had just knocked them down which prevented the dialogue.
Ammo are certainly stupidly restricted: I barely shot at anything during the game, and I had only 3 bullets spare after beating the boss. I'm not sure if the boss took damage when in "ghost form" so after a few shots I just waited until he was material to shoot once or twice (I'm not sure if it was necessary or not but I didn't want to take the chance). I assume he's probably not beatable with the knife, especially with the time limit.
I barely managed to get through the game without any reload or death (Half health with one green herb remaining), but I didn't need to submit or anything so that was good (I did know beforehand about ducking against the boss since I had read the last few pages of the thread yesterday). I rechecked quickly, and I still don't know how to submit: I prefer not to anyway, but it bugs me not knowing what I do wrong since it sounds so simple.
So question 2, 3 and 5 still stands unfortunately
Anyway, the game is shaping up to be pretty enjoyable, thank you!