Do you prefer fast zombies or slower zombies?

[LigerRider 82]

Hordes of slower zombies - Walking dead style.

[Katana67 2907]

The point is however, that you are less likely to take chances with the fast type than the slow ones, therefore less likely to get in that situation. That sprint across the car park through the shambling horde, you think you might just make it, right? You wouldn't try that with infected.

 

What I mean by a moment of pure panic is the instant you believe you have made a fatal mistake. With infected you wouldn't get to that point so easily as fear would override the urge to take chances - you'd always be on the clock around them.

 

The differences are subtle.

 

I don't think they are. I think they're exactly the same concept in terms of "subtlety". Save for one is the equivalent of the Adam West Batman, the Caped Crusader and the other is the equivalent of the Christian Bale Dark Knight.

 

If I break a piece of glass, and the fast zombies rush me, the fear is the same. I screwed up, zombies come kill me. I instantly made a fatal mistake, fear.

 

Rather than, "Doh! I forgot that there was a massive crowd of zombies outside that I could've easily avoided if I wanted to! Damn you memory!"

 

I get what you're saying, but one involves you actually screwing up. And the other involves you just forgetting that there are zombies in the world like an imbecile. There's no tension in my opinion when you run through a crowd of bumbling zombies.

 

I've risked many a crowd of zombies in DayZ, crawling at a snail's pace, reading their movements... just to get to that helicopter crash unnoticed. Knowing all the while, that if I snap a twig too loudly, they'll come murder my ass in a heartbeat. Wouldn't have that type of fear if I could just moonwalk and stiffarm my way around a bunch of harmless skeletons and casually browse the exquisite selection of weaponry at my local helicopter crash.

 

However, I believe we can have our cake and eat it too. With things like a hierarchy within zombie aggro.

 

1. Loiter. Neutral state, zombies just bein' zombies.

 

2. Alerted. They hear a distant noise, see a distant silhouette, smell a wisp of smoke on the wind... they begin migrating casually toward your location.

 

3. Aggressive. They see you outright, hear you smash a pane of glass, bump into you... all hell breaks loose and they all rush you at full tilt.

 

Sounds like a fun compromise.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Katana67

[Jamz 253]

However, I believe we can have our cake and eat it too. With things like a hierarchy within zombie aggro.

 

1. Loiter. Neutral state, zombies just bein' zombies.

 

2. Alerted. They hear a distant noise, see a distant silhouette, smell a wisp of smoke on the wind... they begin migrating casually toward your location.

 

3. Aggressive. They see you outright, hear you smash a pane of glass, bump into you... all hell breaks loose and they all rush you at full tilt.

 

Sounds like a fun compromise.

 

I agree here. I think DayZ is an example of a game which can benefit from individual zombie behavior. Fast/Slow will always be personal preference and both have pro's and cons, and the compromise you outline is a good one. What if additionally each infected/zombie behaved differently so in any given group you could have fast or slow or a mixture of both but you couldn't tell until they were alerted. That would I think also add an extra element to any planning.

 

When the game can handle it, I'd hope to see it go in this direction.

[Reg Park 160]

they should be slow, typically zombies are pretty darn slow, not olympic athletes!

[sai (DayZ) 137]

First fallacy of the day.

 

Why can't there be crowds of fast zombies?

 

 

How is a lumbering crowd of rotting corpses, that you can dance casually around as they swipe aimlessly at you like morons, something to be feared? I mean, there's a reason why they chained them up at the end of Shaun of the Dead and put them to work in supermarkets.

 

It's worth mentioning that George Romero didn't create the concept of the "zombie." Good thing, too, as "true" zombies are reincarnated through magical means. Sounds more "realistic" than a virus though. Magic!

 

Infected folks. Not rotting bags of non-threatening bones please. Rocket, keep on doing what you're doing.

It's called stamina.

 

You can't run forever.

 

With your moronic vision, you go into a town shoot the zombies that run at you, and its all over.

What a shit game LOL 

 

Thats like being with a girl and cumming in the first second. It's stupid.

Edited August 25, 2014 by sai

[Whyherro123 2283]

It's called stamina.

 

You can't run forever.

 

With your moronic vision, you go into a town shoot the zombies that run at you, and its all over.

What a shit game LOL 

If you have no ammunition, which I hope will have a serious drop in spawn rates, you will not be shooting any zombies, will you? No, you run. Run and hide, and hope they can't catch up and kill you. Survival horror at its finest.

 

With your moronic vision, you can traipse through a town, looting as you go, confident that you can out- WALK the group of zombies shuffling three blocks behind you. There is no fear, just "better keep these zombies behind me, they can't catch me unless I do something asinine"!

 

What a shit game, LOL

[sai (DayZ) 137]

If you have no ammunition, which I hope will have a serious drop in spawn rates, you will not be shooting any zombies, will you? No, you run. Run and hide, and hope they can't catch up and kill you. Survival horror at its finest.

 

With your moronic vision, you can traipse through a town, looting as you go, confident that you can out- WALK the group of zombies shuffling three blocks behind you. There is no fear, just "better keep these zombies behind me, they can't catch me unless I do something asinine"!

 

What a shit game, LOL

Yeah great lets make this game more about running nowhere aimlessly than it already is.

 

Who says they go that slow? You did because thats the only way you're dumb argument works. They won't be snails. All I am saying they should not be able to sprint at you.

There is really nothing more to say because your argument has already been made invalid. 

 

Good luck looting freely with a zombie hiding in the house out of sight that will grab you, good luck looting while hordes of zombies march towards you, good luck running through town with all the gear on your back for much more than a couple seconds.

 

 

With these stupid fast zombies you always know if you're safe, because they sprint at you and you have to deal with them then and there. Then it's over, and you have no fear of other zombies, because if they saw you they'd be attacking you already. With slow and many zombies you never know when they might show up. 

 

With slow zombies, by the time you checked the whole house you could have loads of zombies blocking your escape. You'll be forced to find a better way out. 

With fast zombies, they attack you before you even get in the house. 

As it is now, they attack you before you even get in the town a lot of times!

 

 

You know the difference between an action game/movie and a horror game/movie.

 

THE SPEED AT WHICH YOU GET ATTACKED. 

Edited August 25, 2014 by sai

[Whyherro123 2283]

Yeah great lets make this game more about running nowhere aimlessly than it already is.

 

Who says they go that slow? You did because thats the only way you're dumb argument works. They won't be snails. All I am saying they should not be able to sprint at you.

There is really nothing more to say because your argument has already been made invalid. 

 

Good luck looting freely with a zombie hiding in the house out of sight that will grab you, good luck looting while hordes of zombies march towards you, good luck running through town with all the gear on your back for much more than a couple seconds.

 

 

With these stupid fast zombies you always know if you're safe, because they sprint at you and you have to deal with them then and there. Then it's over, and you have no fear of other zombies, because if they saw you they'd be attacking you already. With slow and many zombies you never know when they might show up. 

 

Mate, I can carry 150 lbs of gear up a mountain with little issue, and I am a fat slob out of his prime. What do you think I can do when my life is on the line, with adrenaline coursing through my veins?

 

Zombie grabs me in a house. Mr. Hammer, meet Mrs. Forehead. Zombie horde marching towards me? All I have to do is keep a slightly faster pace than them, much easier done walking than sprinting.  And, in real life (or a more complete game), I wouldn't have all the gear on my back. It would be left at camp, safe and sound. I can book it much easier with a bookbag of medicine and ammuniton thrown over my shoulder, than with all of my clothing, cooking gear, etc.

 

Slow zombies aren't only unrealistic, they are stupid  as a concept. Worse still, they are hilariously inept at transmitting whatever-it-is that zombies you. You have to be literally ignoring your situation awareness  to get surrounded, as the "classical" zombies moan, shuffle, and derp their way towards you.

 

At least with fast "infected", capable of everything a human being is capable of (and we are capable of beating the shit out of almost every animal in the world when we are adrenaline crazed, believe it or not. When adrenaline is counted for AKA fight-or-flight, the average human male is stronger ( both in pound-for-pound measurements and muscle density/performance measurements) than both chimpanzees and black bears, with a higher level of agility/wider range of motion as well) , the transmission of zombification-whatsits is at least possible. Like you said, you can't run forever, but you can walk at a brisk pace near all damn day

 

TL;DR Slow zombies are hilarious, fast zombies are terrifying.

[Airfield 50]

If we are going for realism here, zombies wouldn't be fast. They would be decaying, and there bone density and general build would be more more saggy and lacking the strength and pep of a living human.

 

Buffing damage would be a monstrosity until they fully patch the fact that zombies can slash you from 10m away and glitch through walls.

[Whyherro123 2283]

If we are going for realism here, zombies wouldn't be fast. They would be decaying, and there bone density and general build would be more more saggy and lacking the strength and pep of a living human.

 

Buffing damage would be a monstrosity until they fully patch the fact that zombies can slash you from 10m away and glitch through walls.

How? Living flesh doesn't rot.  Neither does the flesh of those suffering from rabies, the closest, most realistic example of an actual zombie we have. Guess what? Animals (and presumably, people.) infected with rabies aren't slow, shuffling creatures. They shift from being horrifying berserkers one minute and trembling,spaced-out things the next.

[Rags! 1966]

Slow moving zombies are about as threatening as Fat Albert after an Aunt Jemima's pancake binge.

[trankin 59]

70% sprinters

 

20% shamblers

 

10% oddball (crawlers, hoppers, etc.)

 

Romero zombies are insanely boring. His type of approach to zombies, and the genre in general (no matter how seminal it was), will get no love from me.

 

Infected (28 Days Later) are much more terrifying in my opinion.

 

Yea Romeros zombies are slow but it all depends on what kind of virus turned the people. In 28 days/weeks technically they aren't zombies they are stll people who are infected by a new strain of rabies. So technically they aren't dead. Romeros zombies walking dead ect zombies are slow because the people are dead so the body cant move as fast. which would technically make sense since they are decaying bodies which are losing muscle tissue and have the lowest of the basic brain functions. Imo if you are dead and by some miracle you come back to life as a zombie you shouldn't be Olympic sprinting across fields especially since the average person these days cant sprint for as long as the infected in 28 days/weeks could let alone if they are dead/infected by rabies/rage what ever you wanna call it.

 

and not to mention you cant really beat on Romero since if it wasn't for him we probably wouldn't have zombies since he is the god father of zombie movies Night of the living dead set off the entire zombie genre. Before that "zombies" were considered people under mind control via voodoo/spells/witchcraft.

[solodude23 649]

As others have said, slow zombies aren't exactly threatening or dangerous unless you manage to corner yourself while surrounded. Even with a stamina system in place, you're golden as long as you can jog away from them. I like the speed of the zombies currently and I believe it fits better with the story-line.

[Xbow 362]

Do you prefer slower zombies (Romero zombies, Max Brooks' zombies, The Walking Dead zombies) or faster, more aggressive zombies (28 days later, World War Z movie)?

 

What do you think some zombie games today lack? What do you think would make games zombie games "better" than others?

 

Just curious, because I hear a lot of people (in various places) talking about how the zombie apocalypse genre is getting stale.

I like the Zombies the way they are now EXCEPT that they can sneak op on you at a dead run and don't make any noise. That seems to be a bit of a conflict because if they are running  they should make some noise. Slow zombies shouldn't make much noise.

 

Another thing that would make zombies better would be for their bites and scratches have a chance to infect the player with something that antibiotics can clear up. Of you don't take your pills after awhile the limb they damaged should operate as a broken limb. To fix the limb it should take disinfectant, bandaging and injectable antibiotics. Left untreated a bite/scratch wound should eventually be deadly. 

 

As it is we have a number of zombie types. Females (fast/medium), Stumblers (slower), Military Zombies (fast), and Hoppers medium speed.   

Edited August 25, 2014 by Xbow

[ld-airgrafix 403]

The current state of zombies, we cannot have hordes. They see you way before you see them, they glide faster than you run. Sure they go down with a single bullet, but I want a survivor game not another Arma game. I want to sneak, use stealth and not always use a bullet every time there is a zombie in the area. Zombies are and should only be a threat in numbers.

The only games I have played that features hordes of zombies are ISS/warz, state of decay and 7d2d. ISS have really strong zombies, but I feel this is only to force you to buy ammo in their store. Dayz airfields are a joke compared to ISS airfield, it is swarmed with zombies.

State of decay is a different game to dayz, and their zombies are very easy, but the numbers are great.

The other day I decided to test 7d2d single player mode. I upped the number of zombies to max, and reduced loot to minimum. Zombies were everywhere, I didn't have a moments peace, constantly moving, forced to eat corn and blueberries, drink muddy water, which nearly killed me. Few cans of food were a relief and saved me from starving, something i have never experienced in dayz. As soon as night fell, and zombies started sprinting, I died, my stamina ran low, and that was it. In settings I removed the sprinting at night, and went back. Died many times of starvation, thirst and zombies. I still haven't built a base because I'm on constant move. Even with slow movement they manage to sneak up on me. I cannot loot houses or buildings. I'm living of scraps, and ate a raw egg just to survive, which got me sick, but gave me time to find a can off food.

So if you think slow moving zombies are not a threat, try 7d2d.

[Katana67 2907]

And not to mention you cant really beat on Romero since if it wasn't for him we probably wouldn't have zombies since he is the god father of zombie movies Night of the living dead set off the entire zombie genre. Before that "zombies" were considered people under mind control via voodoo/spells/witchcraft.

 

Which is why that's cool, but we shouldn't be repeating his style over and over and over again.

 

Henry Ford pioneered the automobile, but you don't see us roaming around in Model Ts. We've moved on to better things.