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

DieH@rd

Banned
Right were I am.

the
medical area
is pure horror >.<

It's not that hard [on hard difficulty]. If Alien is away you can easily walk and keep distance to him. At the latter part of the level he will start to hide in vents, you got to stay clear of ceiling vents.
 

EGM1966

Member
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.

  • First Person Horror (FPH)
  • First Person Survival (FPS - wait a minute...)
  • FPSH (First Person Survival Horror)

Beats me. I love the first person perspective and wish we saw more games use it for more than shooting - much like this, Outlast, etc. do. Really been digging it playing Ethan Carter and Ether 1 on PC as much as Alien Isolation on PS4 (yes I know I could play it even better on PC but I wanted to play it on TV like a film and my PC ain't in the vicinity of my TV. I'll double dip later).
 

Catdaddy

Member
So I'm
getting my ass kicked in Mission 6, I think I'm way to impatient after I die numerous times...I just try and run back and that doesn't work in this game
 

ElTopo

Banned
Goldenthal's score is maybe the most frightening of the three in the trilogy. Even moreso than Goldsmith's, really.

I think even the most diehard Alien 3 haters have to admit that that is a DAMN good score.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGZxh-NG7FA

Trivia: Goldenthal re-used pieces of the Alien 3 soundtrack in other films. He used a few ques in Demolition Man and flat out recycles The Wreckage and Rape track in Batman Forever.
 
So I'm
getting my ass kicked in Mission 6, I think I'm way to impatient after I die numerous times...I just try and run back and that doesn't work in this game

Take your time, use noisemakers/flares and check your motion tracker all the time.
And pay attention to the sound when the Alien goes to the vents, that gives a few seconds of free path.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
I really did not find Mission 6 so hard. Sure, I died a lot, but game did not cheat. Sometimes alien walked, sometimes he lurked from the vents [his spit falls on the ground so he can be spotted], and during both of these activities, he can be avoided.
 

Kelas

The Beastie Boys are the first hip hop group in years to have something to say
Is there anything worthwhile backtracking to collect after getting some of the tools later on, or is it just scraps etc?

Someone told me they did in this thread. Regardless I restarted on hard anyway.

Last time I listen to you troll junior.

I don't see where he said the alien attacks them on hard?
 

Kezen

Banned
Last time I listen to you troll junior.

I'm not sure I understand. I'm playing on medium and never did the Alien murdered a synthetic as I wish it did. I tried tossing a noise maker to summon it and the robot just merely stated "unidentified species", the Necromorph leaves it alone.
I never implied that this was the case on hard. I spoke my myself (medium settings).
 

Birathen

Member
So... I had to turn off half an hour after the lady went to bed. I could not take it any longer! Its still just in the beginning :'(

I love/hate the feeling of being absolutely alone. I wanted to just cling to that crazy Alex guy, crawl up and weep in his lap. He would stroke my hair and tell me everything will be alright.
THEN HE UP AND LEFT ME! Well he died but same. Also when you call that first transit train or whatever I spent a minute checking it for supplies. Then when I turned around the god damned alien was standing just outside the door. First "I should not play this"-moment
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
So I'm towards the beginning of the game and I was walking along and the alien just dropped out of a vent and killed me. What caused this and does it happen a lot? That's bullshit.
 

ElTopo

Banned
I'm not sure I understand. I'm playing on medium and never did the Alien murdered a synthetic as I wish it did. I tried tossing a noise maker to summon it and the robot just merely stated "unidentified species", the Necromorph leaves it alone.
I never implied that this was the case on hard. I spoke my myself (medium settings).

It's called a Xenomorph.

SMDH
 

Seanspeed

Banned
I still don't understand how to craft shit. I've got recipes for smoke bombs and now something else(I forget), but it wont let me craft them.

Also unclear what real effect rewiring stuff has. Like, what do cameras do? As far as I can tell, they aren't harmful or anything. And what is air purification mean?
 
There's a really strong implication there. Can't blame him for thinking that.

Or he could have been thinking that the alien does it on easy mode. Not sure why someone would think the game gets easier on a harder difficulty as opposed to an easier one.

Regardless, I don't think the alien attacks droids on any difficulty. Which is kinda bullshit. Didn't Bishop get attacked in Aliens?
 

MattyG

Banned
It's called a Xenomorph.

SMDH
If you want to get real pedantic then it's not even technically called that. The only reason the word Xenomorph was ever used in one of the movies was because it was meant to be the generic term for an alien life form (xeno meaning "strange" I believe, and morph just meaning "form" or something similar). People just assumed that that was the species name and it stuck.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
So I'm towards the beginning of the game and I was walking along and the alien just dropped out of a vent and killed me. What caused this and does it happen a lot? That's bullshit.

Look out for the drool hanging down from the vents. Use your motion detector. Generally, the vents on the ceiling are where the Alien will flee to / jump down from. You need to always be wary of them.

I still don't understand how to craft shit. I've got recipes for smoke bombs and now something else(I forget), but it wont let me craft them.

Also unclear what real effect rewiring stuff has. Like, what do cameras do? As far as I can tell, they aren't harmful or anything. And what is air purification mean?
Cameras will sound a small alarm and attract androids in they are in the vicinity. The PA system makes noises. The air purification system systematically smoke bombs rooms (effectively).
 

ElTopo

Banned
If you want to get real pedantic then it's not even technically called that. The only reason the word Xenomorph was ever used in one of the movies was because it was meant to be the generic term for an alien life form (xeno meaning "strange" I believe, and morph just meaning "form" or something similar). People just assumed that that was the species name and it stuck.

Still cannon. Plus the game isn't Dead Space.
 

Zeliard

Member
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.

It's textbook survival horror. The player character is very vulnerable, darkness often obscures your vision, there's a consistent atmosphere of tension, you have relatively limited tools at your disposal for much of the game to go on the offensive with, and your primary objective is basically to hide and survive.
 

Mr. Tibbs

Member
Iv given up. The medical area is insane. Ive had three teleport kills. (and loads fair ones).

I almost gave up at that point.

When I finally managed to progress past the Medical mission, I dropped the difficulty down to medium. The game gets better after that and the save stations are more generous. I just started chapter 11, and I'm having pretty enjoyable, if erratic, experience.

Back in medical, it was getting to the stage where I had every movement planned out. Walk behind the android, prep the stun baton and whack it. Then hit it six times with the wrench until it croaks. Crouch. Move to the terminal. Get the signal. Match 3 symbols in the hacking game. Wait for the door to open. Now, lets see if I can make it to the objective this time. Sneak down the hall, but be sure not to walk under any vent. Take the first left. I hope I can make to the other side of the room this time. Jump into the locker. Wait while the alien slowly moves in front of the locker, which it seemingly never does when you're not in there. Sit still. Okay, coast is clear. Out through the door and under the gurney. Uh, it's back again. Wait until I can move to the locker at the end of the hall. Made it but it's back again, this time erratically marching back in forth in front the locker. It's closing in. Quick time event! RMB and S. My health is slowly depleting. Okay, it's leaving. Phew. Time to round the corner since it's the only way to make it to my objective. Last time, I threw a noise-maker in the opposite direction but the alien knew whoever used a distraction like would have be moving towards the reception area for some reason. I won't make that mistake a third time. Okay, made it to a gurney. Uh, it's investigating again. It's spotted me. Dead. Alright, walk behind the android, prep the stun baton...

When I finally stumbled my way through that section, which had lost any sense of tension, I was faced with a time-sensitive situation. The game doesn't autosave and I barely made it through alive. If I had failed, I would've uninstalled it.

I still think the alien cheats in the later chapters, and isn't a particularly enjoyable enemy to encounter, but at least you gain the ability to make it disappear for a while when it corners you. The alien is tethered to you.

Check out this awesome art blog from a Creative Assembly employee. If it had a better save system and gave the player some breathing room, it would be amazing.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Cameras will sound a small alarm and attract androids in they are in the vicinity. The PA system makes noises. The air purification system systematically smoke bombs rooms (effectively).
Ok, thanks.

How about crafting? The only thing I'm being 'allowed' to craft is medkits.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I never had a moment where the Alien "cheated". He randomly drops down from vents, sure, but it wasn't like he just appeared in the middle of the room. You could always generally knew his entry points and exit points. You can always hear the footsteps and the landing from the vent. You can always hear the scurrying sound as he jumps back into the vents.

There are some noisy areas where this isn't the case, but in that scenario you're both equally disadvantaged and the motion detector becomes even more valuable.

Also, I can't stress this enough: don't hoard items, don't stay perpetually hidden. Use your noisemakers. Use your molotovs to send the Alien back into the vents. He never stops being afraid of them. Be bold, use that damn security tuner, enter the password, and don't hesitate to scurry back to a save point if you're anxious about losing progress.

You find *so much craftable shit* in this game. Just use it.
 

Phii

Banned
Mission six, here I come! But woah, mission five was a ride.

It's been a while since I was scared in a videogame, last one was Amnesia, and that was 4 years ago! So glad the genre isn't dead for me yet.
 
Check out this awesome art blog from a Creative Assembly employee. If it had a better save system and gave the player some breathing room, it would be amazing.

Nope, with checkpoints or free save, Isolation would be the usual boring corridors game. This kind of concessions ruined a lot of modern games. Stop this bullshit please.

And for the future itineration of the franchise i dream about something like State of Decay, but inside an abandoned colony
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Ok, thanks.

How about crafting? The only thing I'm being 'allowed' to craft is medkits.

Whoops, forgot to answer. That was why I quoted you in the first place. :p

You find blueprints in the environment. For example, you might find a noisemaker which takes two ethanol, a charge pack and an injector. You highlight the item by holding circle (or equivalent), hit L1 and it brings up the crafting screen. You commit items you find around the environment. Then, when you've committed everything needed to craft something, you hit L1 again and you craft the item, which costs you some scrap at that point.

You nearly always have more scrap than the 100 limit, and you frequently find more supplies, so always be crafting basically.

A little extra aside: you can commit materials to items even if you're already at the upper limit for, say, medkits. That said, as you're at the limit, you can't actually hit L1 and seal the deal. But this lets you carry extra materials later in the game, which is always nice. Once you've committed a material to an item, you can't revoke it. Don't lose any sleep over this!
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Whoops, forgot to answer. That was why I quoted you in the first place. :p

You find blueprints in the environment. For example, you might find a noisemaker which takes two ethanol, a charge pack and an injector. You highlight the item by holding circle (or equivalent), hit L1 and it brings up the crafting screen. You commit items you find around the environment. Then, when you've committed everything needed to craft something, you hit L1 again and you craft the item, which costs you some scrap at that point.

You nearly always have more scrap than the 100 limit, and you frequently find more supplies, so always be crafting basically.

A little extra aside: you can commit materials to items even if you're already at the item maxed limit, you just can't actually hit L1 and seal the deal. This lets you carry extra materials later in the game.
I can craft medkits just fine. But it doesn't let me craft anything else. I've picked up blueprints for smoke bombs and noisemakers and it wont let me craft them. Like, in the circle menu, it doesn't let me pick them. I can pick between my revolver and medkit, and that's it.

I'm guessing there's some step I'm missing somewhere?
 
I can craft medkits just fine. But it doesn't let me craft anything else. I've picked up blueprints for smoke bombs and noisemakers and it wont let me craft them. Like, in the circle menu, it doesn't let me pick them. I can pick between my revolver and medkit, and that's it.

I'm guessing there's some step I'm missing somewhere?

Highlight what you want to craft and press L1 (LB)
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I can craft medkits just fine. But it doesn't let me craft anything else. I've picked up blueprints for smoke bombs and noisemakers and it wont let me craft them. Like, in the circle menu, it doesn't let me pick them. I can pick between my revolver and medkit, and that's it.

I'm guessing there's some step I'm missing somewhere?
That sounds like a bug! Are they even visible on the radial menu?


Now THIS is some insane trolling right here... did anyone else's heart skip a beat? Late game
Anisadora
spoilers.

Fucking loved this moment. I haven't followed the link, but I know what it must be.

edit: Your screenshot doesn't do it justice. From the angle you see the first time the lights flick on...
it looks like there are two and the head shape is even more distinct.
 

Kezen

Banned
I can craft medkits just fine. But it doesn't let me craft anything else. I've picked up blueprints for smoke bombs and noisemakers and it wont let me craft them. Like, in the circle menu, it doesn't let me pick them. I can pick between my revolver and medkit, and that's it.

I'm guessing there's some step I'm missing somewhere?

You need the blueprint and the right ingredients.
 

Grisby

Member
A little extra aside: you can commit materials to items even if you're already at the upper limit for, say, medkits. That said, as you're at the limit, you can't actually hit L1 and seal the deal. But this lets you carry extra materials later in the game, which is always nice. Once you've committed a material to an item, you can't revoke it. Don't lose any sleep over this!
This is a good tip. You can basically hold one more item and pick up more supplies.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I'm playing on PC, by the way.

And I cant highlight them. That's my problem.


Yea, they're on the menu. I just cant pick them.

So this is a bug? There's not some way to 'activate' them or something?

I'm not sure what the PC interface is, on PS4 you can just point the stick in their direction and hit the craft button while still holding the menu button.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
I'm not sure what the PC interface is, on PS4 you can just point the stick in their direction and hit the craft button while still holding the menu button.
Ok.

My game is fucked then.

Did a search and found nobody else with the same problem. Which means no fix.

Which means I'm done with the game.
 

Mr. Tibbs

Member
Nope, with checkpoints or free save, Isolation would be the usual boring corridors game. This kind of concessions ruined a lot of modern games. Stop this bullshit please.
Well, the save system wouldn't be a problem if the alien didn't consistently slingshot back to the player, slowing your progression to a crawl. It happens frequently, and thanks to major pacing problems early on, a lot of people are going to find the initial encounters with the alien frustrating for all the wrong reasons. The medical bay is a nightmare because you have to repeat the same section again and again, unless you're a savant.

The alien seems to be able to jump to wherever the player is. The only safe way forward is to sneak into a room and wait in a closet or under a gurney until it leaves, then proceed to the next room on the way to your objective and repeat the process. If you walk under a vent with saliva dripping down, you'll get insta-killed, but if sneak past it, the alien teleports ahead. If it actually traveled there through the environment I wouldn't mind but it cheats.

The rules aren't consistent. The alien doesn't react to human npcs with the same intensity. There will be like 3 of them yelling about a trespasser in the area and the alien won't make a peep, but when Ripley silently sneaks down a hallway using cover, shelter and darkness it will rush to you as if you were making a racket. I've even seen the alien run away from their gunfire. It's never done that with me! Any item that can be used as a distraction just puts it on alert, punishing the player and increasing the likelihood of being discovered.

Such a shame, too. The production values are first-rate and it's probably the best looking game environment I've ever experienced. Sega and Creative Assembly deserve major props for taking risks with Isolation.
 
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