Return to Jacob's Cove and taste the Zombie cuisine!
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 15:45
[ SPOILER WARNING for The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, DLC 1 ]
<Seriously!>
...
I just had a great idea! With the defeat of Dr. Ned and the conclusion of all its quests, especially "Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains", we've seen that SOME zombies can retain some semblance of sentience. What if, as time passed since Ned's machinations had ended, more and more zombies began to rediscover their intelligence, to varying degrees? Perhaps they, with T.K. Baha leading them, could work a deal for bringing Jacob's Cove back into operation. I'm sure Jacobs would like nothing more than tireless workers operating the Mill's machines they were used to in life, never complained about work-related accidents {sound of buzzsaw on flesh} and also bringing, um, un-life back to the town.
Imagine the fun of touring Old-New Jacob's Cove peopled with tourists and the unliving alike, with stores manned by zombies wearing all sorts of humorous shirts such as, "I Love Head" and "Not in the Face! Not in the Face!".
Zombie cuisine could be the new nouveau! (wait a minute...) Has anyone played a paper & pencil RPG called Underground? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_%28role-playing_game%29 ) In it, a megacorp named Tastee Ghoul is famous for serving "cannibal fast food" made from "pre-frontals", which are clones created without effective brains. Yummy and delicous... for those with that appetite! I'm sure T.K. would have a regular nosh of certain dishes...
I know *I* would love to PLAY a Zombie! Can you imagine the skills?! HAHAHAHA
"Shot Through the Heart" a defensive skill, reducing damage you take, like Juggernaut and especially Grit do.
"Mangia, Mangia!" which would allow you to eat corpses to regain some health *urp!*
"HELMET!" a skill which would increase your health or maybe shield. (Can players get criticalled by non-player enemies, e.g. NPCs?)
"Embalmed" A skill that would protect you from otherwise hostile critters who prefer living, and certainly not "preserved", food. It could be coded that they avoid you or ignore you, but probably easier to have a damage reduction. (*blech!*)
"Take a BIte Outta Life" A melee attack that would do increasing damage (Acid?) and chomp through shields, but also heal you by a rising percentage.
One more for now. This could be the Zombie's main skill, "Reanimator" where you could raise the corpses around you to attack your attackers. You'd have various skills similar to Mordecai's, that raise the amount of corpses you could bring back to unlife at once, as well as ones that'd raise their attack power and speed, cause "dazing" (by actually holding onto a enemy) along with continuous damage on a rising scale (bite-bite-bite). Oh, so many possibilities. Just imagine any boss covered with a blanket of his own goons, just scratching and biting and going for the soft and gooeys.
Basically, I see the zombie as having some good attacks, but definitely lots of defensive skills, and being a close combat specialist. heh, in fact he could start with -1 in all Weapon Proficiencies, and the DLC that would add them (or a sequel) would finally add Melee to the list.
I can just see the amended opening video now, with the Zombie sitting on the floor in the back of the bus, in front of a disgusted Brick. When the video would switch to showcase the Zombie, he'd pick up a pistol by the barrel with a pinky through the trigger guard, staring up the funny hole. A massive arm, would reach over and quickly snatch the gun away, and hand it back to him in the correctly held position. To which the zombie would look up right into the camera with a happy smile, revealing dead eyes and rotted, worm-crawling teeth. heh heh heh
Sat, 03/27/2010 - 06:24
#2
When six feet under gets too boring...
Excellent! Go ahead and please list -any- ideas. We can always work on them if they're too much. I'm sure many of mine are.
I like your idea for Psycho and would put forth that it kicks in when the Zombie gets reduced to a certain health level. As you put more points into it, that level get higher, i.e. you go sooner. I would also suggest it increases damage done in melee for the duration.
My idea for Reanimator is for the corpses risen to stick around as long as they "survive", instead of a duration. The basic skill would raise an undead with like 10% of its full living health, and the more points you put into an appropriate skill, named Unlife, maybe?, the higher that percentage gets. I figure at 10%/level, a Zombie with Unlife maxed and maybe a +4 with a class mod (they'd have a "gooey" or "dirty" look, heh) means they could bring someone back at their full health. I think your Stick Together could augment that amount (increasing max instead of regenerating), along with the Zombie's health. However, since they're undead already, nothing could heal them, including Roland's skills. They'd only stay alive as long as their health holds out. Obviously bosses and beings that were incinerated, melted and blown apart could not be raised.
This is also why the Zombie wouldn't have any healing skills for other party members, though they'd be able to bring back a teammate like anyone can. ("Oh god NO!, not the UNDEATH KISS! I'm alive, ALIVE! OK??!?! ... GOD!")
This one may be a bit radical, but since I've established that the Zombie's animates can't be healed by normal methods, it also means that Healing Kits and Vials wouldn't work for the Zombie. Hmm, but I think it'd be a bit much to prohibit Healing Shields, which are a whole different tech, probably nanotech. What do you think? In any case, the primary way for the Zombie to heal would be to eat corpses, which brings the conundrum between healing and raising a little army. Myself, unless I was badly wounded, I would always have my "brothers" with me, and then worry about healing.
Oh! Just thought of this one. This may be a bit unbalancing, and possibly not codeable, but you know how there's frequently body parts strewn about after a fracas? Well, using a skill I like to call Snack Time!, I think the Zombie could grab body parts to heal his reanimated compatriots a little, or himself if alone, to a smaller degree than eating a whole corpse. heh, The Zombie could Use any body part, and then it would be held in front of him. He could then take it to whatever animate he wants to heal, and Use it again, watching said individual have some chow time. If there was no one around, the Zombie could Use it himself, and get that little health, or drop it by switching to a weapon.
I have another idea for a skill. I would call it Hardly Dead, as a counterpoint to Brick's Die Hard. heh It would basically work the same way, though. heh heh
I was thinking about the possibility of the Zombie being able to Reanimate -any- corpse, but on Jacob's Cove, you only see humanoid zombies, plus they state Skags are immune to the effect. An argument could be made as to the nature of the Skelerakks, but I figure lets just keep it simple. Ex-humans only, please, Mister Zombie. Don't make us go all Bruce Campbell on yo ass!
Speaking of media, has anyone seen the hilarious new Comedy Central animated show "Ugly American"? Man! Its giving me all sorts of ideas for the Zombie. hahaha Care for a toe?
Sat, 03/27/2010 - 08:00
#3
Wow, zombies might be part of
Wow, zombies might be part of the game...(clears throat) okay.
I was actually thinking the same about the Psycho skill, well kinda. I was thinking instead of increasing melee damage, probably, increase the speed of melee attacks as well. Like a "Rage Mode".
Sorry I miss understood the Reanimator skill, and it makes since for the zombies to not heal with convencional items. Also, makes things more challenging.
Snack Time!, although it may seem unbalanced, there are high chances that the zombies (including you) would be weak. That, including slower fire rate and almost no recoil resistance which would make this skill more balanced... this gives me more ideas:
-Friendly Sacrifice = When sacrificing an undead ally with a melee attack,you may restore some health by eating its corpse. [INCREASE BY %]
-Strongbones = Withstand more recoil. [INCREASE BY%]
-More Crimson or Veteran = Increase fire rate after killing an enemy. [INCREASE BY DURATION]
Reviving humans only makes since too. It would be too much to have a flock of corpse eaters defending you. And to have dead bosses in your team wouldn't be fair either... LOOKING FOR BARON FLYNT AND RAKK HIVE!
Oh, by the way, I haven't been able to watch the Ugly American show as comedy central in here looks bad (bad reception).
Now, that would be an interesting concept. To play the roll of a zombie would rock. Here are some ideas for skills too:
-Brotherhood = Increases allies attack power after killing an enemy (for Reanimator). [INCREASE BY %]
-Stick Together = Recover health by the number of allies (i.e. one ally summoned = 1%)(for Reanimator). [INCREASE BY DURATION]
-Psycho! = Increase movement speed. [INCREASE BY DURATION]
-Rising = Reduces action skill cooldown time after killing an enemy. [INCREASE BY %]
There are a few things I can think of, but they might be unfair.
Look! I can make his head disappear! BOOM!