-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Alien: Isolation |OT| 1 Alien. 1 Ripley. No Jonesy.
- Thread starter VisceralBowl
- Start date
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
It's hard to imagine a sequel to this game. They really wrung everything they could have out of the Alien stalking you concept. It'll be interesting to see where they go with it. Their world design and scenario design are out. of. control.
Also, I love love love the interconnected world feeling. They ate their cake and had it to: you revisit areas, making the game feel like more than a series of corridors, but the way you'd criss-cross through new areas felt completely natural. It seemed effortless, but that can't be easy.
Super impressive stuff all round.
Also, I love love love the interconnected world feeling. They ate their cake and had it to: you revisit areas, making the game feel like more than a series of corridors, but the way you'd criss-cross through new areas felt completely natural. It seemed effortless, but that can't be easy.
Super impressive stuff all round.
I hope they do. They should be very ashamed to have their name attached to that garbage.
music is really effective in this. Im still very early on, but right after you
see the alien for the first time (the actual alien, not when Axel dies) and after that you have to go to the tram, when you get there the tram takes like 30 seconds (or 5 hours which is what it felt like) and the music was so fucking tense I really thought the alien was going to show up, I was screaming internally "COME ON YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT TRAM, OPEN THE DOORS FASTER!"
I seriosly felt an urge to just take my headphones off, because i couldnt bear the music rising up, but i thought "Then i wont hear it coming". Tense moment.
I bet (and this isnt even a knock on the game btw)
the Alien cant even show up during that, I bet if you just stick around when the doors open nothing happens 
I wasnt going to find out tho lol
I wasnt going to find out tho lolI bet (and this isnt even a knock on the game btw)the Alien cant even show up during that, I bet if you just stick around when the doors open nothing happens
Yes it can. If you take too long getting on the tram and pushing the button to proceed, it will kill you. Saw a few people get surprised killed this way and it was hilarious.
I bet (and this isnt even a knock on the game btw)the Alien cant even show up during that, I bet if you just stick around when the doors open nothing happens
Goddam tram, takes forever to get there.
The Xeno showed up and killed me
Goddam tram, takes forever to get there.The Xeno showed up and killed me
oh cool
Shit, gotta try that. >.<
I bet (and this isnt even a knock on the game btw)the Alien cant even show up during that, I bet if you just stick around when the doors open nothing happens
Someone posted about that part the other day, they were taking their time with pushing the tram button just to find the Alien leap onto them a few seconds later, right inside the wagon
Someone posted about that part the other day, they were taking their time with pushing the tram button just to find the Alien leap onto them a few seconds later, right inside the wagon
I was one of those people.
Nearly jumped out of my skin.
PuppetMaster
Member
I think I am about 2/3 way through now. I can understand the low scores this game got. Some of it is very frustrating due to the aliens AI patterns.
Im still really enjoying it though. But I have a pretty high tolerance for frustration.
Im still really enjoying it though. But I have a pretty high tolerance for frustration.
Yes. FUCK yes!!!
Neff
Member
If the game sells decently, I can see this happening, and happening well.
The game can be rage inducing but I love it and can't imagine how you could keep the experience and lose the elements of frustration.
Maybe they could increase downtime for Alien a bit if you're bring quiet to increase time to act between hiding and avoiding but it's a fine balance and I think the game depends on the unpredictable chance the Alien will catch you by surprise. Or maybe on easy mode they could allow you a couple of save anywhere slots you could use between proper save stations but again the saving is a big part of the risk/reward element.
Later Alligator
Member
im a bit further, and i cant think of a single area of the game that would require 30 mins of re-doing if you didnt save. 5 - 10 mins maybe. i think the saving system is fine
you have to remember to backtrack occasionally. sometimes youre way out of an area/level will be 1 room over from a save point that youve already used once. so go out of your way to save before leaving the area
the more i play the more this game reminds me of dead space 1 in a first person view. a lot of the positives, but some of the negatives as well (ripley and issac are everyones bitch)
Hell, take out all the enemies and just let me play this as a space engineer sim.
That works too. I just think it would be fun walking around with the alien while it gets frustrated by constantly searching for something it can't find.
Zomba13
Member
I don't know what I want from a sequel. A few pages ago someone suggested a possible sequel based on Alien 3 taking place in a prison where you'd have to scrounge up supplies and make allies to escape and that sounds cool. Could also do the Alien 3 thing have have it be a different Xenomorph, a non-human one. Would change the gameplay experience while also using mechanics from this one. Maybe it's the dog Xeno so it can smell you better meaning its on your ass more often and hiding in things for too long means death (you hiding in a box or locker too long means more of your sweaty stench building up giving it a stronger scent to track you?). I'm not a fan of Alien 3 but the idea does sound cool.
What I want though is for them to somehow work a co-op mode into it. It might not work well as the main campaign what with AI needing to "be" the other player (unless the co-op and single player story are the same just all solo in single player). Like, you have voice communication with the other player, radio and local, but that can attract the alien so you would have tense moments where your partner is asking for you to open a door or reroute power but you can't say anything because there is a big ass monster above the desk you are cowering under.
Could also have areas where you are together and have to work together to get past enemies or the alien, like causing distractions or being super co-ordinated to get past it.
There could be just the one Alien and it could do things like only hunt one guy in one bit, alternate between them both in another, one bit could have no communications except at like, certain consoles where you can leave messages (like the emails in the Savastolink things) and you both think the alien is with you.
Done right I think it could be a huge leap in co-op survival horror.
Playing this game my respect for Creative Assembly has skyrocketed. Pulling off such a bold, superbly designed game that does Alien of all franchises justice after being a Total War factory for ages (which I never got into), the only recent exceptions being an average Hack & Slash and a forgettable console RTS, it really feels like they can do anything at this point.
Impressions up to the start of "Mission" 5 (Hard difficulty):
I wasn't really planning on buying/playing this game this year, but all this talk about it being a proper survival horror (with manual saves, limited resources, etc.) got me to pick it up at launch. I'm an "old school" survival horror fan at heart. The older RE titles will forever be my favorites/go-to games when it comes to this genre. With that said, there's a lot I'm digging about this game, but at the same time, there's some stuff I'm not too hot on. I'm mainly going to talk about the atmosphere/setting and the design of the ship. I feel like I haven't seen much of the game yet to talk about the Alien AI and such...
Setting/Atmosphere:
So, the first hour and a half was incredible. The atmosphere, the attention to detail, and more specifically, the sound design; it's all high-tier stuff. Never played a game with such impeccable sound design. I've been exclusively playing this game with headphones and I wouldn't experience it any other way. Being called Alient "Isolation", I expected the game to feel relatively vacant and empty. Just me and the Alien, right? I guess I was wrong...
I thought the game was nearly perfect up until I met the first couple of NPC characters, specifically one
that (fortunately) gets it early on during a cinematic. I don't know about anyone else, but the introduction of this character completely broke all tension/atmosphere (at the moment) and the game went from having its own, unique identity, to feeling like a scenario/situation from just about any other modern day campaign-game. The dialogue and scripted "walk & talks" with this guy completely turned me off and it felt like a complete contrast to the opening hour or so. Was it a deal breaker? No, but I was certainly rolling my eyes and "sighing" through most of this sequence. I understand that this space ship has become a populated space/work-place and that there are survivals and such, but there's a way to do it and there's a way not to do it. This game, for the most part, handles it well, but it still doesn't quite get it right. The "humans" I've encountered still feel like they're cut from that dumb-bone, stiff-looking/sounding, last-gen cloth. It doesn't help that the cinematic scenes are unstable and jittery as fuck. I can't be the only one who thinks the NPCs slightly damper the general vibe of the game, right?
Ship Layout/Design:
What initially got me excited about this game was hearing the fact that it took place on an interconnected map/ship. From the little I've played, it's more or less structured like the original Bioshock. I like the fact that tram/rail cars connect the areas and there appears to be reasons to return to old areas with new tools/gadgets to uncover hidden goodies, logs, terminals and such (although, the game has been fairly linear up to this point and I've yet had the opportunity to really "explore"). With that said, at the same time, I feel like the ship is somewhat disconnected. Maybe it's the fact that there's no overall map of the ship or maybe it's the load times between the various elevators/tram cars that's causing the disconnect, I don't know. It's just not as cohesive as I'd thought it would have been (unless I need to get further?). I do love the fact that the game stubbornly uses hard, manual save-stations too (it's actually one of the main reasons I picked this up at launch). I've been waiting for a "survival horror" to "put its foot down", so to speak, on traditional campaign checkpoints and auto-saves. With that said, now that I've played/seen how the saving works, it's like 90% of the way there for me...
I really, really wanted a modern day survival horror that exclusively rode on manual save points and at the same time, didn't fracture/segment its flow into traditional "missions" or "chapters". As odd as it may sound, I wanted this game (or really any modern day "survival horror") to stray away/eliminate that campaign-feel/chapter select-like structure. This game more or less provides that experience, but at the same time, it's still not quite what I was looking for. This game IS actually a chapter-based game and I'm honestly a bit disappointed by the fact. The game makes hard, system-file chapter saves at the end of each "mission". So, in my mind, they're like free save points (it's almost like the save point you're given between the disk-change in Resident Evil: Code Veronica). I understand why this did this, however. Due to the Alien's unique AI, I'd assume players can find themselves saving during bad situations which could in-turn result in potentially ruining their "run" of the game. This way, the player could just load the "chapter" save and simply start over. The thing is, I wanted one of those "run-like" survival horror experiences and sadly, this game won't be providing that.
Again, does this ruin the game? No, but it's a bit frustrating for me because it's like JUST about there in my books. I really am enjoying the game (there's a lot I didn't touch on that I think the game does very well), but there's some fundamental design decisions that I just don't agree with.
I wasn't really planning on buying/playing this game this year, but all this talk about it being a proper survival horror (with manual saves, limited resources, etc.) got me to pick it up at launch. I'm an "old school" survival horror fan at heart. The older RE titles will forever be my favorites/go-to games when it comes to this genre. With that said, there's a lot I'm digging about this game, but at the same time, there's some stuff I'm not too hot on. I'm mainly going to talk about the atmosphere/setting and the design of the ship. I feel like I haven't seen much of the game yet to talk about the Alien AI and such...
Setting/Atmosphere:
So, the first hour and a half was incredible. The atmosphere, the attention to detail, and more specifically, the sound design; it's all high-tier stuff. Never played a game with such impeccable sound design. I've been exclusively playing this game with headphones and I wouldn't experience it any other way. Being called Alient "Isolation", I expected the game to feel relatively vacant and empty. Just me and the Alien, right? I guess I was wrong...
I thought the game was nearly perfect up until I met the first couple of NPC characters, specifically one
(that Australian-sounding guy?
Ship Layout/Design:
What initially got me excited about this game was hearing the fact that it took place on an interconnected map/ship. From the little I've played, it's more or less structured like the original Bioshock. I like the fact that tram/rail cars connect the areas and there appears to be reasons to return to old areas with new tools/gadgets to uncover hidden goodies, logs, terminals and such (although, the game has been fairly linear up to this point and I've yet had the opportunity to really "explore"). With that said, at the same time, I feel like the ship is somewhat disconnected. Maybe it's the fact that there's no overall map of the ship or maybe it's the load times between the various elevators/tram cars that's causing the disconnect, I don't know. It's just not as cohesive as I'd thought it would have been (unless I need to get further?). I do love the fact that the game stubbornly uses hard, manual save-stations too (it's actually one of the main reasons I picked this up at launch). I've been waiting for a "survival horror" to "put its foot down", so to speak, on traditional campaign checkpoints and auto-saves. With that said, now that I've played/seen how the saving works, it's like 90% of the way there for me...
I really, really wanted a modern day survival horror that exclusively rode on manual save points and at the same time, didn't fracture/segment its flow into traditional "missions" or "chapters". As odd as it may sound, I wanted this game (or really any modern day "survival horror") to stray away/eliminate that campaign-feel/chapter select-like structure. This game more or less provides that experience, but at the same time, it's still not quite what I was looking for. This game IS actually a chapter-based game and I'm honestly a bit disappointed by the fact. The game makes hard, system-file chapter saves at the end of each "mission". So, in my mind, they're like free save points (it's almost like the save point you're given between the disk-change in Resident Evil: Code Veronica). I understand why this did this, however. Due to the Alien's unique AI, I'd assume players can find themselves saving during bad situations which could in-turn result in potentially ruining their "run" of the game. This way, the player could just load the "chapter" save and simply start over. The thing is, I wanted one of those "run-like" survival horror experiences and sadly, this game won't be providing that.
Again, does this ruin the game? No, but it's a bit frustrating for me because it's like JUST about there in my books. I really am enjoying the game (there's a lot I didn't touch on that I think the game does very well), but there's some fundamental design decisions that I just don't agree with.
Oh two other things also...
1) Is Compund B SUPER rare or is it just my bad luck? I have full slots of pretty much every other material but it all bottlenecks with this damn Compund B.
2) Does anyone else get a random bug where it starts to play "spacesuit" sounds when you're walking around? Like you look left and right and there's a clunking sound,
. It goes away usually when I take out the motion detector or load, but still.
1) Is Compund B SUPER rare or is it just my bad luck? I have full slots of pretty much every other material but it all bottlenecks with this damn Compund B.
2) Does anyone else get a random bug where it starts to play "spacesuit" sounds when you're walking around? Like you look left and right and there's a clunking sound,
like in Mission 9 when you're in the heavy suit
The game is great, and it is very enjoyable, a true survival game.
Note that I do not mention "horror" in that sentence.
And that is true for me. The game is tense, but it is not scary. At least after a certain point, which honestly is not very far from the moment you meet it the first time.
The game has IMHO a problem. And that problem is that it throws the Alien card waaaay too often. The first moments with the Alien are truly masterful and actually terrifying indeed. You are legitimately scared of it in the early parts. But then it sticks around way too often. After a while, you kind of get used to it being there. Living with it, coping with it.
And then soon, it stops being terrifying, it stops being scary. And it becomes a hastle. An obstacle towards your next save point, or objective. And because the game has a great save system that makes survival worthwhile, the game -fortunately- still remains very tense.
Not because you are scared of the Alien, but because you might lose a lot of progress.
The Alien will kill you a lot. But you get used to that as well.
I think devs should have toned down the Alien encounters. They shouldnt be so frequent so as to retain the terrifying effect of the first moments you had with it.
It is still a very enjoyable experience because it is legitimately tense due to the "holly shit I need a fucking save point!" and the awesome atmosphere. But I think it could be much more.
Note that I do not mention "horror" in that sentence.
And that is true for me. The game is tense, but it is not scary. At least after a certain point, which honestly is not very far from the moment you meet it the first time.
The game has IMHO a problem. And that problem is that it throws the Alien card waaaay too often. The first moments with the Alien are truly masterful and actually terrifying indeed. You are legitimately scared of it in the early parts. But then it sticks around way too often. After a while, you kind of get used to it being there. Living with it, coping with it.
And then soon, it stops being terrifying, it stops being scary. And it becomes a hastle. An obstacle towards your next save point, or objective. And because the game has a great save system that makes survival worthwhile, the game -fortunately- still remains very tense.
Not because you are scared of the Alien, but because you might lose a lot of progress.
The Alien will kill you a lot. But you get used to that as well.
I think devs should have toned down the Alien encounters. They shouldnt be so frequent so as to retain the terrifying effect of the first moments you had with it.
It is still a very enjoyable experience because it is legitimately tense due to the "holly shit I need a fucking save point!" and the awesome atmosphere. But I think it could be much more.
rottingcore
Banned
Man, that small section just before getting the flamethrower was.. incredible. Wish there was more of that in the game!
Zomba13
Member
Yup. My most common bug. Seems to play the sound mainly after loading a game in my experience.
Only other bug I had was when the Alien was around somewhere near me and was eventually right on top (or below) me. The motion tracker was crazy, I was in a corner with no vent or door near, the music swelled up like I was going to be killed and out from the floor (no vent mind you) like a shark it came and killed me. Only happened once though and I wasn't far from a save so I didn't lose much progress.
MotionBlue
Member
Playing on PS4, the cutscenes seem off. Are they a different framerate?
Shake Appeal
Member
I do agree that a large part of the tension is created by the manual save system. I feel almost the same way about finding the save points in this as I did lighting a bonfire in Dark Souls.
Price Drop
Member
About 2/3 of the way done. What is impressing me more about the game than the Alien AI are the Working Joes. I don't know if there has been an enemy where you never know when it's a friend or foe and can scare the living daylights out of you by being creepy.
It's so impressive how they can feel like subordinate androids and then become terribly aggressive the next. You could be hiding from one thinking it's going to attack, and then it just looks at you and asks, "Are You Lost?" Probably my favorite new addition to the series.
It's so impressive how they can feel like subordinate androids and then become terribly aggressive the next. You could be hiding from one thinking it's going to attack, and then it just looks at you and asks, "Are You Lost?" Probably my favorite new addition to the series.
Totally disagree. I don't think they ever over-use the Alien
There's even a long stretch (maybe 2-3 hours) where you don't encounter any Aliens
That whole Hive sequence is fantastic. It's tense as hell and I was decked out to the nine's and by the end of it I didn't have many good resources left.
Different strokes, but you just come off as someone who gets easily frustrated.
That is awesome.
I gotta' play that DLC.
rottingcore
Banned
This is exactly what i was saying earlier in this thread. The fear is of losing progress, not of encountering the Alien!
It's still a very tense survival game, just not a very scary one!
Bought the game.. Im still amazed that I can buy new games at 25~. Damn PC is great. Also, I finally got my fingers out my ass to fix my PC sound. So the game is working miracles and I havet even starter it.
Gonna watch alien with the lady and then force her to hold my hand when I try the game. I get that cold feeling of dread just thinking about playing it D:
Gonna watch alien with the lady and then force her to hold my hand when I try the game. I get that cold feeling of dread just thinking about playing it D:
Bobby Roberts
Banned
the only time I've had to do anything more than 15-20 minutes of retracing my steps has absolutely come due to my lack of attention to the map/my surroundings. It's usually my own damn fault.
Same thing with dying at least 10 times trying to get to a specific objective before remembering there's a vent/grate nearby that helps me bypass the obstacle course of xeno-death/gun murder I was trying to navigate.
And again - I think trying to ape ALIENS is pointless in 2014. That's essentially all any sci-fi based shooter in the last 25 years has been trying to do. I think adding some RPG elements to this game is the way to go. Again - pattern the sequel after Alien 3: Put the player on a prison. Make it more like Mass Effect, have our lead recruit prisoners, keep them loyal, lose them to a rebel faction, etc. etc. Build booby traps as well as weapons. Way more interesting way to up the stakes on this game as opposed to just unleashing a bunch of dumb bugs on a squad of space marines.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Fucking loving it. Can't stop playing it. First time a game's had me this hard since RE4, honestly.
Granted, I'm predisposed to it considering I'm such a nut for ALIEN and they've really nailed the atmosphere, the visuals, and the sound.
However - there's a lot of story here, but it's sliding right off of me. It's a lot like Alien 3 in that respect, really. The story is just a mechanical means to move me from setpiece to setpiece.
But the setpieces are so good I'm willing to look past the unimpressive nature of the storytelling that got me there.
Granted, I'm predisposed to it considering I'm such a nut for ALIEN and they've really nailed the atmosphere, the visuals, and the sound.
However - there's a lot of story here, but it's sliding right off of me. It's a lot like Alien 3 in that respect, really. The story is just a mechanical means to move me from setpiece to setpiece.
But the setpieces are so good I'm willing to look past the unimpressive nature of the storytelling that got me there.
VanCityGamer
Member
I'm having a surprisingly difficult time finding the answer online - anyone know what's included in the Nostromo edition of the game?
IcyRhythms
Member
It needs to be said. This game has the best looking fire I've seen in a game. Very well done
bitoriginal
Member
The Crew Expendable dlc, which lets you play a section of the end of the first film. I've not completed it but as far I'm aware it's like 40 mins or so long.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
This image alone screams how wrong you are about that.
Aliens can be done, the problem all Aliens inspired games have had is making it a mindless shooter and having Aliens as cannon fodder, which isn't true to the movie.
the only time they was cannon fodder was when they used the torrets and they learned from it, something the Alien in Isolation does too
Re-watch Aliens there are loads that can be translated into Isolations gameplay with a little leg room for the action that does take place in Aliens, remember in the film those heavy gun fire/action scenes wasn't a winning battle like the room to room extermination that the games had.
the game can play on that slow start, big heavy weaponry "state of the bad ass art" impression then make you realize its
have you manage your supplies ammo, scavenge for more not knowing the danger that lurks on the way to medical, the armory etc, picking up survivors and protecting them only to lose them like the rest of your team then finding the nest and getting out alive with whoever is left, it can be done as long as they unleashing a bunch of smart bugs on a squad of dumb space marines like the film does.
wtf, did ign play a different game than me? I'm close to finishing chapter 16 right now and this game keeps on fuckin giving! I'm loving every minute of it. It doesn't feel at all as if it drops in quality in the latter half. Someone earlier explained it perfectly, the constant shift in power is amazing. Getting the (ch10 spoilers)
And the looks, my god the looks.... I can't hype this game up enough, total goty contender for me right now.
Thank you creative assembly for making this, and thank you sega for funding this.
Please sell well so we'll get a sequel!!!!
flamethrower you start feeling like a "bad ass" compared to before, the alien can't just play with you anymore, but it's right back to where you were when you lose your toys
Thank you creative assembly for making this, and thank you sega for funding this.
Please sell well so we'll get a sequel!!!!