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Alien: Isolation |OT| 1 Alien. 1 Ripley. No Jonesy.

This image alone screams how wrong you are about that.

That image does nothing to shake me from my belief that large swaths of the game industry (not just shooters) have been suckling at James Cameron's teat for two straight decades now. Twenty years. Part of the reason this game is so successful is because it manages to play in this universe WITHOUT going in that direction. I'm not in any hurry to then, after this success, immediately steer it RIGHT BACK into that lane.
 

Randam

Member
so, how random/scripped is the alien?

will it drop from the celling on every playthrough at the same spot?
and will it walk the same routes everytime?
 

CHC

Member
so, how random/scripped is the alien?

will it drop from the celling on every playthrough at the same spot?
and will it walk the same routes everytime?

Nope not at all. Certain events are "guaranteed" to draw it to the general area but it reacts differently every time. It's behavior has, for me at least, remained a perfect mix of predictable and unpredictable up through chapter 12.
 

Randam

Member
Nope not at all. Certain events are "guaranteed" to draw it to the general area but it reacts differently every time. It's behavior has, for me at least, remained a perfect mix of predictable and unpredictable up through chapter 12.
So even when you die and replay a section, it can be different and you do the exact same thing.
 

Axial

Member
Question about mission 10:
In the server hub center there's a room with a Nostromo crew log blocked by toxic gas, is it normal that there's no junction box nearby to vent the room? Will there be any backtracking to the server hub further down the game?
 

DukeBobby

Member
Just finished mission 14.

Jesus, that was tense. It looked amazing, too. The nest, the malfunctioning reactor core, damn good stuff. This game continues to impress, even at this late stage.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
That image does nothing to shake me from my belief that large swaths of the game industry (not just shooters) have been suckling at James Cameron's teat for two straight decades now. Twenty years. Part of the reason this game is so successful is because it manages to play in this universe WITHOUT going in that direction. I'm not in any hurry to then, after this success, immediately steer it RIGHT BACK into that lane.
A woman holding a child (to protect) while surrounded by Alien eggs while standing before the queen with no hope of survival doesn't shake you beliefs?
You do realise the queen was technically the only Alien Ripley killed in Aliens, as I said it's been done wrong.
I'm not saying change it from isolation, it don't need to because that's how it should be
But put it in that situation, I know what you're thinking but that's not what I mean, I still want Amanda and if there has to be marines let them play the part they did in the film, the game would still be stealth based but there'll be a lot more threats
 

Scoot2005

Banned
Alright, I find it strange that the Alien only reacts to droids on hard. Playing on medium... It kinda just makes the game harder. Think about it. You could have droids chasing you, you have to run to get away. Attracts Alien, but it doesn't go or the droids that are closer. It just goes after you. Kinda bullshit. Might restart on hard just for this. I don't think I'm that far in.

so, how random/scripped is the alien?

will it drop from the celling on every playthrough at the same spot?
and will it walk the same routes everytime?

No. It's pretty random outside of a few scripted sequences. Even then it can behave differently when it's on the ground.

Seriously, should I just restart on hard if this is bothering me that much?
 
A woman holding a child (to protect) while surrounded by Alien eggs while standing before the queen with no hope of survival doesn't shake you beliefs?

Nah.

We disagree on the direction this hypothetical sequel might go, is all. I'm not saying I wouldn't give your hypothetical game a shot, though. Because I obviously would. CA's earned at LEAST that much with this game. :)
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
holy shit, how could anyone involved think this save system was a good idea. just died
right at the end of the medical facility place where you first need the passcode, then the keycard or whatever, I got both, on my way back the alien teleported in front of me (not right in front, he came down from a vent obviously but he was going to complete other direction when i left him) and killed me, now im aaaaaaaaaaaaaal the way back at the start when you talk to the doctor
. good lord, completely deflating :/

granted, the whole section in there, with playing cat and mouse with the alien, was really satisfying, so im not sure what the alternative would be for the save system, but its not this. I imediatly turned off the game because I wasnt going to do all that again, at least right after.
 

EGM1966

Member
So even when you die and replay a section, it can be different and you do the exact same thing.
Yup. Apart from the scripted events here and there - think say an intro cutscene or in-game equivilent IT acts differently every time so far as I can tell.

For example you might encounter humans and Alien is nowhere to be seen and you sneak though - replay that part and this time the Alien might pop down and take them all out before you reach them.

It's quite an interesting change from the norm for enemy AI and event design.
 

ViviOggi

Member
holy shit, how could anyone involved think this save system was a good idea. just died
right at the end of the medical facility place where you first need the passcode, then the keycard or whatever, I got both, on my way back the alien teleported in front of me (not right in front, he came down from a vent obviously but he was going to complete other direction when i left him) and killed me, now im aaaaaaaaaaaaaal the way back at the start when you talk to the doctor
. good lord, completely deflating :/

granted, the whole section in there, with playing cat and mouse with the alien, was really satisfying, so im not sure what the alternative would be for the save system, but its not this. I imediatly turned off the game because I wasnt going to do all that again, at least right after.

You missed two save terminals there.
 

ElTopo

Banned
Thoughts on the DLC?

Aside from recreating the Vent Scene (although only briefly) it was just too short. Fun but too short.

There's a spot where the Alien just camps and waits for you to pass by a hole in the ceiling, forcing you to try an alternate route.

Also disappointed that they couldn't recreate Lambert's panic screaming while the Alien kills her. And no Jones the Cat, WTF man?
 

JRW

Member
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.

I agree, IGN's rating is absurd, Since I started playing I've completely ignored Shadow of Mordor (also great), I'll get back to it after finishing Isolation.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Yup. And patience is the key. I never move more than two rooms at a time.

I know I missed one because I saw it on the map but by the time I saw it I was already deep in cat-and-mousing

You missed two save terminals there.

dude patience was not the problem here, the whole thing took me like 30-45minutes, I was being careful as fuck.
 
Yup. And patience is the key. I never move more than two rooms at a time.

There's that one scene in medical - after a couple attempts, I said fuck it, and gave it a shot:

So you leave the office with the keycard, and there's the Alien, dropping down from the ceiling right in front of the day-room, and normally I'm crouched under the bed waiting for it to move off before I start trying to sneak to the far door to enter in 1702 on the door. After a couple deaths, I noticed that no matter what, there's about 3 or 4 seconds where the Alien does its dramatic "hiss and slowly stand up" thing from the movie. So I gambed on one restart, and just basically sprinted the instant I got the code from the computer all the way to that door, one go, no stops.

It worked. By the time the Alien had finished that canned animation sequence, I was already at the door and crouched, and once it started moving for the day room or the opposite hallway, I was through.
 

ElTopo

Banned
holy shit, how could anyone involved think this save system was a good idea. just died
right at the end of the medical facility place where you first need the passcode, then the keycard or whatever, I got both, on my way back the alien teleported in front of me (not right in front, he came down from a vent obviously but he was going to complete other direction when i left him) and killed me, now im aaaaaaaaaaaaaal the way back at the start when you talk to the doctor
. good lord, completely deflating :/

.

dude patience was not the problem here, the whole thing took me like 30-45minutes, I was being careful as fuck.

QQ. Seriously, I know there's 1 or 2 save spots nearby.
 
Absolutely, I just wanted to soak the experience in on my first play through with minimal bullshit. Kinda seems like playing a lower difficulty actually adds more bullshit though.

I would love to recommend you playing on Hard mode but I never tried it.
But nothing better than trying a couple of chapters on Hard.
 

Neff

Member
That image does nothing to shake me from my belief that large swaths of the game industry (not just shooters) have been suckling at James Cameron's teat for two straight decades now.

Nobody doubts that they have. We're up to our eyeballs in games whose developers obviously fell in love with Aliens' hardware, xeno-splatter scenes and one-liner-spouting badasses. And who wouldn't? The problem is that that's as far as some go when it comes to loving Aliens, and of course it's not what the movie is about. Twice now Cameron has crucified cocksure jarhead mentality on screen, which ties into a recurring theme of his- that complacent reliance on technology will be your downfall, but courage and smarts and resourcefulness will save you and those close to you. There's no reason to say we can't have a good Aliens game (and Alien Isolation is exactly that at times), it's just that developers aren't sticking to the movie's principles, even in homage.

Remember this? Yeah.
 

ElTopo

Banned
That image does nothing to shake me from my belief that large swaths of the game industry (not just shooters) have been suckling at James Cameron's teat for two straight decades now. Twenty years.

If you think about about it, a handful of 80's action movies shaped video games.

Predator
Alien/Aliens
Terminator
Robocop
Rambo

There's references to these all over the place and still extend to this day.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
I found this game best to play in short spurts, keeps the alien scary rather than being an annoyance. This is usually the last game I play before bed. Also, good god that IGN review is terrible.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
QQ. Seriously, I know there's 1 or 2 save spots nearby.

ah yes, the always apreciated "QQ defense". Truly your arguments are without flaw.

in my opinion (one is allowed to have those right?), it would be easily solved by having checkpoints for example, when
you get the code
, and when
you get the keycard
. You would still have the tension of
the cat-and.mousing
, without risking someone losing 30minutes or more of progress. And yes, missing the save points was totally on me, I wasnt checking the map much or at all because I was freaking out and imersed.

But hey, im just QQing
 

Krejlooc

Banned
You would still have the tension .... without risking someone losing 30minutes or more of progress.

Then it wouldn't be the same tension. A major component of the tension of this game is the real-world punishment via loss of time. You especially don't want to be found for that very reason.
 
I don't know about the rest of you but I just finished the part where
you boot up the droid to open the warehouse door for you
and it moved me. Something about it...just can't explain it. Dem feels
 

ElTopo

Banned
Also, I never used a Flare, Smoke Bomb, and only used the Flashbang once (it didn't help much). Anyone know the practical use of the Flares? I assume you toss it to distract the Alien.
 

ezekial45

Banned
Also, I never used a Flare, Smoke Bomb, and only used the Flashbang once (it didn't help much). Anyone know the practical use of the Flares? I assume you toss it to distract the Alien.

Flares are very effective. Though they they have to be in a spot that the enemies can see. Unlike the noisemakers, flares are a sight distraction.
 

Despera

Banned
Oh man...
when they went out of the ship and shit hit the fan, the way Samuels said "Tayler! Ripley! Hold on!"
... that must've been one of the worst lines in voice acting I've heard in a while. The definition of phoning it in.
 

ihasaflavour

Neo Member
Hey guys, looking for some feedback. I'm pretty sure there's no online settings for this game (dlc of course), so I can't decide which version to buy this on.

360 vs PS3

Does one run better than the other? (Last gen world problems)

Thanks for suggestions and help.
 

Carm

Member
Alright, I find it strange that the Alien only reacts to droids on hard. Playing on medium... It kinda just makes the game harder. Think about it. You could have droids chasing you, you have to run to get away. Attracts Alien, but it doesn't go or the droids that are closer. It just goes after you. Kinda bullshit. Might restart on hard just for this. I don't think I'm that far in.



No. It's pretty random outside of a few scripted sequences. Even then it can behave differently when it's on the ground.

Seriously, should I just restart on hard if this is bothering me that much?

Er, Am I understanding you right, that you think the Alien attacks androids on hard, because it doesn't, at least on my play through so far.
 

ElTopo

Banned
What would you guys call this genre? It's an FPS but the emphasis isn't shooting (well, it is later, but that's here nor there). You have Amnesia, Outlast, this, and a shitload of indie titles.

Isolation is easily the best of these kind of games I think.
 
The problem is that that's as far as some go when it comes to loving Aliens, and of course it's not what the movie is about. Twice now Cameron has crucified cocksure jarhead mentality on screen, which ties into a recurring theme of his- that complacent reliance on technology will be your downfall, but courage and smarts and resourcefulness will save you and those close to you. There's no reason to say we can't have a good Aliens game (and Alien Isolation is exactly that at times), it's just that developers aren't sticking to the movie's principles, even in homage.

I get you, and that's a great breakdown of why a lot of ALIENS inspired games fail. - It's also why I just don't trust that something like that will a) make it through development or b) be appreciated even if it comes out.

But again, I've said that while I prefer CA stay out of that particular lane in this hypothetical sequel discussion, that doesn't mean I'm not willing to check it out if they DO go that route, because the quality of this game absolutely deserves my giving them the benefit of the doubt.
 
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