It has nothing to do with budget. It is just The Chinese Room "doing their thing".
maybe there was budget issues I wouldn't really know about their internal affairs 
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Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs |OT| - This Little Piggy Cried AAHHH All the Way to Hell
- Thread starter CheesecakeRecipe
- Start date
It has nothing to do with budget. It is just The Chinese Room "doing their thing".
PairOfFilthySocks
Member
Just finished it. Not sure what to make of it yet. The story and pacing definitely seemed to be a step up from The Dark Descent. In terms of gameplay, however, it definitely seemed like a step back. After playing TDD, I would have assumed the logical next step would have been to expand on the non-scripted scenarios and focus on creating a more dynamic environment with which to terrify the player. MFP felt like a regression in that sense. In fact, I'm fairly certain I could count the number of "real gameplay" segments(ie. parts where you could have been killed) on one hand.
(General spoilers throughout the game)
All in all, I don't regret spending just over a tenner for it...I think. The Chinese Room are clearly more concerned with telling their own story, and while it was a pretty good one and trundled along at a pretty damn solid pace, I'm not sure the sacrifices to the parts where I, the player, could get my ass bitten off, were worth it. The game hits a crescendo, but it wasn't at the level of bowel loosening I was hoping for.
(General spoilers throughout the game)
I gotta say, I was pretty disappointed at there just being the one monster, and what it turned out to be. The early parts of the game legit had me in a state of mega anxiety as to just what the heck I was gonna find myself running away from. The paintings and imagery of "pigmen" had me buckling up for some seriously screwed up body horror madness. That piece of parchment containing the children's bedtime story about the lady who crept around the house at night had me sure there was going to be multiple horrifying abominations to contend with.
As it turned out, the pigman(or, Man-Pig, as I think Mandus referred to him as at the end) was, well, somewhat run-of-the-mill as far as scary creatures go. The parts early on where you run into it, I genuinely couldn't get a good look at it since I was too focused on not getting killed, and as a result was sufficiently terrified. As the game went on, though, and it became easier to discern both his appearance and patterns, I found myself not getting terribly worried when he showed up. It wasn't all that difficult to evade him , after all. I guess they showed the creature too much, which is always a pitfall of visual horror stories. That said, I also absolutely loved the segment where you come across a whole nest of the creatures hanging out and eating some...torsos. A great moment, but by then all fear of the monsters had just about evaporated. They just weren't messed up enough for me, I guess, especially after the images I had cooked up in my head from the early stages of the game.
As it turned out, the pigman(or, Man-Pig, as I think Mandus referred to him as at the end) was, well, somewhat run-of-the-mill as far as scary creatures go. The parts early on where you run into it, I genuinely couldn't get a good look at it since I was too focused on not getting killed, and as a result was sufficiently terrified. As the game went on, though, and it became easier to discern both his appearance and patterns, I found myself not getting terribly worried when he showed up. It wasn't all that difficult to evade him , after all. I guess they showed the creature too much, which is always a pitfall of visual horror stories. That said, I also absolutely loved the segment where you come across a whole nest of the creatures hanging out and eating some...torsos. A great moment, but by then all fear of the monsters had just about evaporated. They just weren't messed up enough for me, I guess, especially after the images I had cooked up in my head from the early stages of the game.
All in all, I don't regret spending just over a tenner for it...I think. The Chinese Room are clearly more concerned with telling their own story, and while it was a pretty good one and trundled along at a pretty damn solid pace, I'm not sure the sacrifices to the parts where I, the player, could get my ass bitten off, were worth it. The game hits a crescendo, but it wasn't at the level of bowel loosening I was hoping for.
Rabbit Clock
Banned
Edit: nevermind.
Finished it now and overall I'm pretty impressed with what it accomplished thematically.
I totally get the strong disappointment of many - AMFP is arguably barely a sequel to TDD both in terms of approach and execution. It's set in the same Universe but very tangentally but charts a very different course : if you were expecting a sequel truer to the gameplay of TDD I can see why you'd be disappointed.
Really the title is much more interested in horror a'la Heart of Darkness and Kurtz than the Lovecraftian horror of TDD and it shows in pretty much every facet of the title.
It also isn't really interested in monsters and their effect in the same way as TDD - here they are built up, introduced and made crepy for a while, then deliberately de-mystifed and made to be pitied instead for the pathetic victims they are.
In fact, ironically, towards the end of the title it felt like a cheat when the game made the monsters foes again and shoved in a last ditch "boss" : that was probably my only niggle with the title, it had sailed far away from that type of gameplay by that point and should have stuck to its guns or better set up the final return of "run from the monster" gameplay.
So I liked it, I get the references to TDD Universe and the deliberate split (interestingly it's even mentioned in game to make it clear) but it's definitely best to approach it as it's own beast and understand the tite Amnesia here is really an umbrella reference - the closest gaming analogy that occurs is Silent Hill 2 to Silent Hill 1 and the change in focus and approach between them, although as noted from a gameplay perspective it's even stronger with AMFP : almost all the core mechanics from TDD are gone, completely removed. The focus is the thematic content and mood - and AMFP excelled there.
I totally get the strong disappointment of many - AMFP is arguably barely a sequel to TDD both in terms of approach and execution. It's set in the same Universe but very tangentally but charts a very different course : if you were expecting a sequel truer to the gameplay of TDD I can see why you'd be disappointed.
Really the title is much more interested in horror a'la Heart of Darkness and Kurtz than the Lovecraftian horror of TDD and it shows in pretty much every facet of the title.
It also isn't really interested in monsters and their effect in the same way as TDD - here they are built up, introduced and made crepy for a while, then deliberately de-mystifed and made to be pitied instead for the pathetic victims they are.
In fact, ironically, towards the end of the title it felt like a cheat when the game made the monsters foes again and shoved in a last ditch "boss" : that was probably my only niggle with the title, it had sailed far away from that type of gameplay by that point and should have stuck to its guns or better set up the final return of "run from the monster" gameplay.
So I liked it, I get the references to TDD Universe and the deliberate split (interestingly it's even mentioned in game to make it clear) but it's definitely best to approach it as it's own beast and understand the tite Amnesia here is really an umbrella reference - the closest gaming analogy that occurs is Silent Hill 2 to Silent Hill 1 and the change in focus and approach between them, although as noted from a gameplay perspective it's even stronger with AMFP : almost all the core mechanics from TDD are gone, completely removed. The focus is the thematic content and mood - and AMFP excelled there.
jacksepticeye
Member
This guy gets it, well said my man
I agree with your niggles too, they felt really out of place but apparently the game was being made by Frictional for a year and then handed over to TCR so that kind of shows in the later levels and yeah it goes for a completely different style of horror. It tries to get inside your head rather than making you panic.
Also the reason the pigs are demystified is probably because
at that point you realise the real monster of the game is actually yourself and the atrocities you've commited
PairOfFilthySocks
Member
Something I missed:
I get that the story is pretty meta, but what the explanation for Mandus seeing into the future?
jacksepticeye
Member
The egg you keep hearing about that he found in the temple (I think). It acted like the orb from The Dark Descent and it showed him visions of the future like the world wars and gassing of the jews etc. it also became implanted in his head and ultimately became the voice on the phone/his split personality/the machine, they're all the one
Had you played the game before or was this your first time? My first time through when the game launched that fucking water dude creeped me out.
Well, I'm done with the game and I think all has been said and done here already, except one thing: I don't think that Chinese Room is very good at what they are trying. For going solely for the "experience" thing and not for gameplay, they have way to many "gamey" elements in it. But not the good ones, like things, that actually fit the game and make it more exciting to play and give you as a player a certain sense of freedom (like TDD did) but the dumb stuff, like...I don't know how many random levers I pulled. And why are they CONSTANTLY spamming me with .txt files if all they focus on is INTERACTIVE storytelling?
It's a weird mix and in the end, it's really nothing special and completly falling short the legacy of TDD.
I also do think that the game is too artsy for it's own good. If you get spammed by cryptic messages all the time, it kinda looses it's appeal. However, the basic story was ok, I guess, albeit a bit hilarious. But ok.
It's a weird mix and in the end, it's really nothing special and completly falling short the legacy of TDD.
I also do think that the game is too artsy for it's own good. If you get spammed by cryptic messages all the time, it kinda looses it's appeal. However, the basic story was ok, I guess, albeit a bit hilarious. But ok.
I found this game really disappointing. Although despite saying that, I don't want to take away from other people's enjoyment, because I totally understand the appeal behind AMfP, but it just wasn't for me.
Loved the world and the sound, plus the story was pretty good also, but I just missed the original gameplay mechanics too much to enjoy myself.
I do wonder what possible reason they had to remove that brilliant mechanic where your character would cry out, revealing yourself, if you stared at a monster for too long. That has to be one of the most awesome, unique ideas I've seen in a horror game. Such a simple thing, but it added a huge fear of the unknown as you cowered in a corner not daring to look up, to see where the monster was.
Loved the world and the sound, plus the story was pretty good also, but I just missed the original gameplay mechanics too much to enjoy myself.
I do wonder what possible reason they had to remove that brilliant mechanic where your character would cry out, revealing yourself, if you stared at a monster for too long. That has to be one of the most awesome, unique ideas I've seen in a horror game. Such a simple thing, but it added a huge fear of the unknown as you cowered in a corner not daring to look up, to see where the monster was.
AuthenticM
Member
DarkChronic
Member
Oh god dammit. I think I just encountered a game breaking bug. Spoilers, I think I was nearing the end:
Damn. I think I was nearing the end. I guess I'll just Youtube the ending.
Really enjoyed it, though. Oh well.
I'm back outside in the town, when all the pigs are unleashed are killing and destroying everything. I'm exploring the town, when I suddenly fall through the bottom of the map. Mandus fell for about 30 seconds, then he went through the death animation. It spit me right outside again, but the music stopped playing. And a door I went through before that was open is not locked tight. No way to open it. Quitting and restarting didn't do anything.
Damn. I think I was nearing the end. I guess I'll just Youtube the ending.
Really enjoyed it, though. Oh well.
Same thing happened to me. I just reloaded the previous save from the menu.
Count me disappointed. For starters, this game is too short. I finished it in one sitting, about 4 hours, which I never do. It feels like they had a good idea, but didn't develop it properly. There were several areas they needed to expand on, yet they never did:
Oh well, time to look for the next scary fix...
1) They needed to have a section where the pigs parts are sewn into the humans. I mean give me a break, that's the most terrifying part and they skip it altogether. Not looking for torture porn, but come on, a chair just doesn't cut it.
2) The pig creatures are simply not scary. They are scary at beginning, but then they just look silly. And you start feeling sorry for them in a way, which I think was the point, but they need to be scarier FIRST, before you feel sorry for them.
3) Too many sections of going to pull that lever there and do this--just too much walking without much happening. I don't want to escape a pig creature every 5 minutes, but something needs to advance the story along.
4) Along the lines of the above, I am beginning to hate the "notes lying along the path". I don't mind reading, but when it's relied on almost exclusively to advance the story, it gets old quickly.
5) Needs more scary "set pieces". The mansion set things up well, but then went down hill from there. Machine parts are not really scary to begin with, and even less so when you see the 400th machine section.
6) Ultimately, I believe the decision to eliminate the lamp and insanity mechanics were terrible choices. They really increased the scariness of the first game. Here you turned on the lamp and never turned off. After some time, I forgot it was even on, and realized it was off when you fell down or something. This hurt the game badly in my opinion.
2) The pig creatures are simply not scary. They are scary at beginning, but then they just look silly. And you start feeling sorry for them in a way, which I think was the point, but they need to be scarier FIRST, before you feel sorry for them.
3) Too many sections of going to pull that lever there and do this--just too much walking without much happening. I don't want to escape a pig creature every 5 minutes, but something needs to advance the story along.
4) Along the lines of the above, I am beginning to hate the "notes lying along the path". I don't mind reading, but when it's relied on almost exclusively to advance the story, it gets old quickly.
5) Needs more scary "set pieces". The mansion set things up well, but then went down hill from there. Machine parts are not really scary to begin with, and even less so when you see the 400th machine section.
6) Ultimately, I believe the decision to eliminate the lamp and insanity mechanics were terrible choices. They really increased the scariness of the first game. Here you turned on the lamp and never turned off. After some time, I forgot it was even on, and realized it was off when you fell down or something. This hurt the game badly in my opinion.
Oh well, time to look for the next scary fix...
Well that was a nice surprise O_O finished the game in 2 sittings at 6 hours. Always played alone late at night with my surround sound cranked up and a cold beer to comfort me
Looks like i am in the tiny minority that "liked" it just as much as the first game and in some parts even more. Lucky me i guess
Here are some of my pros and cons
Looks like i am in the tiny minority that "liked" it just as much as the first game and in some parts even more. Lucky me i guess
Here are some of my pros and cons
Things i liked:
I loved that the riddles got toned down honestly i really don’t play horror games for roadblocks and riddles and i am glad that someone finally got that.
The setting and atmosphere was much more intense and interesting than the castle, also the loud machinery stuff scratched my silent hill itch.
The Sound design is much better and the soundtrack has some really good tracks http://jessicacurry.bandcamp.com/track/the-factory-gates
The first 1/3 of the game had more tension and made me more scared, nervous and sweaty than the majority of the first game.
I found the pigman really interesting and i actually wanted to know why they got created, i liked that you don’t have many "real" encounters with them so you could not “adjust” to them.
Things i didn’t like
Why eliminate insanity? I cant think of a single reason why it isn’t in this game.. seriously i would pay full price AGAIN just to have it patched in.
TOOOOO many big words.. yeah i get it London and all but cmon not ever dialogue needs to be two gentleman with monocles and top hat jerking each other off.
I would have ended the story after London gets fucked up everything after that felt kind of anticlimactic..
After you realise that you lamp flickers every time enemies are near it takes the tension out of some sections.
The two stupid "boss" enemies at the end don’t fit at all in the game..
Maybe its just me being crazy but the pigman are kinda cute... of course they are still scary if they chase you but .... they are also kinda cute >.> maybe its the “small” size..
Also implement some grab animation already it looks sooo silly with stuff just floating around.
I loved that the riddles got toned down honestly i really don’t play horror games for roadblocks and riddles and i am glad that someone finally got that.
The setting and atmosphere was much more intense and interesting than the castle, also the loud machinery stuff scratched my silent hill itch.
The Sound design is much better and the soundtrack has some really good tracks http://jessicacurry.bandcamp.com/track/the-factory-gates
The first 1/3 of the game had more tension and made me more scared, nervous and sweaty than the majority of the first game.
I found the pigman really interesting and i actually wanted to know why they got created, i liked that you don’t have many "real" encounters with them so you could not “adjust” to them.
Things i didn’t like
Why eliminate insanity? I cant think of a single reason why it isn’t in this game.. seriously i would pay full price AGAIN just to have it patched in.
TOOOOO many big words.. yeah i get it London and all but cmon not ever dialogue needs to be two gentleman with monocles and top hat jerking each other off.
I would have ended the story after London gets fucked up everything after that felt kind of anticlimactic..
After you realise that you lamp flickers every time enemies are near it takes the tension out of some sections.
The two stupid "boss" enemies at the end don’t fit at all in the game..
Maybe its just me being crazy but the pigman are kinda cute... of course they are still scary if they chase you but .... they are also kinda cute >.> maybe its the “small” size..
Also implement some grab animation already it looks sooo silly with stuff just floating around.
Finished. Overall pretty meh. Did I dislike it? No, but I probably won't think about it too much in a couple of days, I removed the game as soon I finished and that's it. Probably the worst FG game after Requiem (which isn't saying much, since it was just a filler made of re-used and discharged assets)
Now on Outlast.
Couldn't stop thinking of Hogs of War during the Pigs Assault part <_<.
Now on Outlast.
Emerson
May contain jokes =>
I picked up a number of games including this and Outlast during the Steam Halloween sale. Just finished this one late last night. A wildly disappointing game in my opinion, both on its own merits and even moreso as a followup to the original game.
I don't think I like The Chinese Room games. People praise their writing but to me it strikes me as technically high-quality prose without a lot of the soul and other elements that truly good writing has. To call it pretentious as some have is too simple but not entirely inaccurate. Also for a company that makes a point to value story before mechanics, they don't actually do a lot of storytelling. There's way too much reading and inferring.
I really didn't like the visual style of this game. The blue hue to it I've seen mentioned was distracting, and otherwise the game just kind of looked muddy. I also hate the effect they do where everything slows down and you can't turn the camera without it blurring all over the place. TDD did this too as I recall but I believe it was less.
Most importantly though, I cannot remember a single time during this game where I was scared, even playing it late at night in the dark with headphones as I do. It was creepy and disturbing at best, but honestly most of the time the game felt like a slog from one lever to the next.
Really disappointed by this as I looked forward to it before release. Didn't buy at launch due to mixed reviews and I'm glad I got it cheaply on the trading market during a sale. I have enjoyed Outlast much more in the time I've spent with it.
I don't think I like The Chinese Room games. People praise their writing but to me it strikes me as technically high-quality prose without a lot of the soul and other elements that truly good writing has. To call it pretentious as some have is too simple but not entirely inaccurate. Also for a company that makes a point to value story before mechanics, they don't actually do a lot of storytelling. There's way too much reading and inferring.
I really didn't like the visual style of this game. The blue hue to it I've seen mentioned was distracting, and otherwise the game just kind of looked muddy. I also hate the effect they do where everything slows down and you can't turn the camera without it blurring all over the place. TDD did this too as I recall but I believe it was less.
Most importantly though, I cannot remember a single time during this game where I was scared, even playing it late at night in the dark with headphones as I do. It was creepy and disturbing at best, but honestly most of the time the game felt like a slog from one lever to the next.
Really disappointed by this as I looked forward to it before release. Didn't buy at launch due to mixed reviews and I'm glad I got it cheaply on the trading market during a sale. I have enjoyed Outlast much more in the time I've spent with it.
I was a super huge fan of the first one and just bought this one during the Steam sale. I completed it in three sittings. I had to wait until midnight to start each time so it would be nice and dark and quiet in my house, so it took a little longer but I think it was worth it.
My enjoyment of the game was somewhat uneven. The first level or so in the mansion really fell flat for me. It became immediately obvious that much of the interactivity had been stripped from the game and the focus on "exploration" seemed somewhat hollow since I couldn't actually pick anything up or do anything with anything. So exploration quickly became walking around a museum. Which, perhaps, can be interesting in its own right, but this mansion was a little sparse. The writing stuck out to me as immediately worse; the ornate style and affected delivery actually made the whole experience feel less believable to me and less real. The plain, direct style of Daniel and the various sound samples from TDD were not only easier to understand, but on the whole things just seemed to make more sense. The general theme of the game seems to be elaborateness for elaborateness' sake. Even the music seems to be richer in texture.
Then you finally go down into the machine and things pick up. The monster design I think is a big step over those duck-billed cadavers that stalked the hallways of the first game, and since you can't fight them it doesn't much matter that their AI routines are more predictable and they seem less powerful. Hearing their squeals in the distance really work, and seeing them scamper across the screen is incredibly effective and evocative of the way the bums used to run across the screen in the first Condemned. The story really seems all MADNESS too, which of course is appropriate. But there's this feeling in the back of your mind that you hope they're not going for the typical JRPG villain plot...
...and they do. By the time Mandus switches from monster to saboteur, I think things go off the rails. The environments become repetitive and the general emptiness of the game design shines through. The plot goes exactly where you think it is going and the pacing seems off-- you spend 80% of the game reactivating the machine and then the next 20% breaking it apart. And it all seems so accelerated. Then, you know, you see pigs raping women and I kind of think they took the "machine for pigs" symbolism too far.
I'm glad it was 3 hours long because I have to imagine this would be a wretched 6-8 hours.
My enjoyment of the game was somewhat uneven. The first level or so in the mansion really fell flat for me. It became immediately obvious that much of the interactivity had been stripped from the game and the focus on "exploration" seemed somewhat hollow since I couldn't actually pick anything up or do anything with anything. So exploration quickly became walking around a museum. Which, perhaps, can be interesting in its own right, but this mansion was a little sparse. The writing stuck out to me as immediately worse; the ornate style and affected delivery actually made the whole experience feel less believable to me and less real. The plain, direct style of Daniel and the various sound samples from TDD were not only easier to understand, but on the whole things just seemed to make more sense. The general theme of the game seems to be elaborateness for elaborateness' sake. Even the music seems to be richer in texture.
Then you finally go down into the machine and things pick up. The monster design I think is a big step over those duck-billed cadavers that stalked the hallways of the first game, and since you can't fight them it doesn't much matter that their AI routines are more predictable and they seem less powerful. Hearing their squeals in the distance really work, and seeing them scamper across the screen is incredibly effective and evocative of the way the bums used to run across the screen in the first Condemned. The story really seems all MADNESS too, which of course is appropriate. But there's this feeling in the back of your mind that you hope they're not going for the typical JRPG villain plot...
...and they do. By the time Mandus switches from monster to saboteur, I think things go off the rails. The environments become repetitive and the general emptiness of the game design shines through. The plot goes exactly where you think it is going and the pacing seems off-- you spend 80% of the game reactivating the machine and then the next 20% breaking it apart. And it all seems so accelerated. Then, you know, you see pigs raping women and I kind of think they took the "machine for pigs" symbolism too far.
I'm glad it was 3 hours long because I have to imagine this would be a wretched 6-8 hours.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
WAIT
we are the PIGS
we are the PIGS
Neuromancer
Member
Help!!!
I'm stuck in an area called Cold Storage. There was a giant barrel that dispensed some kind of cylinder that I put into the pneumatic tube machine and sent it off. Now the door I came in through is locked and I can't figure out how to get out. I'm suspecting it's a glitch since there's nothing else to interact with.
Edit: disregard I figured it out
I'm stuck in an area called Cold Storage. There was a giant barrel that dispensed some kind of cylinder that I put into the pneumatic tube machine and sent it off. Now the door I came in through is locked and I can't figure out how to get out. I'm suspecting it's a glitch since there's nothing else to interact with.
Edit: disregard I figured it out
Neuromancer
Member
Just deleting this post nothing to see