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My name is Alan Wake. I'm a writer. |OT|

Smokey

Member
Finished Episode 3 last night. Felt like it dragged on towards the end.

Now for the OMG Episode 4 I keep hearing about later on tonight!
 

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
Just completed, wanted to wait until night time but couldn't wait, I actually liked the last episode, anyway really enjoyed the game, definitely best game I've played this year so far, great to get into a story in a game for change, rarely stories in games pull me in but I was hooked with this one, can't wait until the DLC is out, I hope Remedy break even on this game considering how long it was in development it is a little worrying, I really want this game to be supported with extra episodes.
 
After finishing this game I believe I have come to the conclusion that its not that fun. Mainly because the combat is kind of repetitive and stops being fun very quickly and the atmosphere is too oppressive. On its own that's not too much of a problem but starting with chapter 3 and on the game is padded with too much combat and stumbling through dark forest/cave/rural area. While the best parts about the game namely the story, exploring the town and the characters are pretty limited towards the end of the game.

Edit: To put it in terms of the game, most of the time is spent in the nightmare world of darkness and barely any time in real world of day light.
I mean the day part gets skipped over multiple times because Wake is drugged, in jail, indisposed. Its like the night ends and then 5 minutes later its already sunset and all the terrible shit is going to start all over again
 

LiK

Member
lowrider007 said:
Agreed,
when I first saw him with the head torch and the Christmas lights wrapped around him it really cracked me up
, such a great character.
Yea, he won me over there. Such a funny
moment
 

Cardigan

Member
BluWacky said:
Take, for instance, the bit in Chapter 4 where
you set up base at the rock stage on the farm
. Other people in this thread call that an awesome set piece - I call it
yet another outpost defense moment
, like the
outlook in Chapter 2
or the
church in Chapter 5
. I don't see the awesome - I see the
killing-the-waves-of-Taken-again-like-I've-done-before
. Plus I found the whole thing utterly contrived anyway...
.
Duder, how is
shooting Taken with Metal blaring, fireworks blasting out the ass, and Barry's hilarious banter
not awesome? If you can't see the awesome in that, I think you might be taking the story a little too seriously.
 

Prine

Banned
Lostconfused said:
After finishing this game I believe I have come to the conclusion that its not that fun. Mainly because the combat is kind of repetitive and stops being fun very quickly and the atmosphere is too oppressive. On its own that's not too much of a problem but starting with chapter 3 and on the game is padded with too much combat and stumbling through dark forest/cave/rural area. While the best parts about the game namely the story, exploring the town and the characters are pretty limited towards the end of the game.

I find that to be a strength. I LOVE that. Thats the whole point in being bound to a small rural town.

Are you the one playing it on normal?? I cant help but be skeptical of your criticism about combat if you are. The combat shines when your in intense situations, something that only takes place on Hard and Nightmare.
 
Prine said:
I find that to be a strength. I LOVE that. Thats the whole point in being bound to a small rural town.

Are you the one playing it on normal?? I cant help but be skeptical of your criticism about combat if you are. The combat shines when your in intense situations, something that only takes place on Hard and Nightmare.
Well that's fine but I am not going to play through the game again on a higher difficulty just to prove how much fun I am not having.

Edit: Also being bound to a small rural town is fine. Whats not fine is having the monster of a horror novel just walking beside you all the time. Its not surprising or suspenseful its oppressive.

Edit2: Whats the difference on higher difficulty levels besides enemies being able to take more damage? Do you take more damage, does your health recover slower do you find less ammo/flares/stuff?
 

Cardigan

Member
Lostconfused said:
Well that's fine but I am not going to play through the game again on a higher difficulty just to prove how much fun I am not having.
If you switched to a higher difficulty, you would probably have more fun. You complain about the combat being repetitive, but that's you're playing on a easier difficulty where you don't have to explore different combat strategies. A lot of the fun in the combat for me came from using different combinations of guns and items not because I wanted to, but because I had to (or else I'd die).
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Prine said:
I find that to be a strength. I LOVE that. Thats the whole point in being bound to a small rural town.

Are you the one playing it on normal?? I cant help but be skeptical of your criticism about combat if you are. The combat shines when your in intense situations, something that only takes place on Hard and Nightmare.
I'm not gonna disagree that the night exploration is awesome conceptually, but I understand what he means with fatigue. You wander through a lot of dark grasslands, forests, and caves with shipping containers and logs placed throughout for the first 3 chapters. It gets better in chapter 4.
 

Prine

Banned
Lostconfused said:
Well that's fine but I am not going to play through the game again on a higher difficulty just to prove how much fun I am not having.

Edit: Also being bound to a small rural town is fine. Whats not fine is having the monster of a horror novel just walking beside you all the time. Its not surprising or suspenseful its oppressive.

Edit2: Whats the difference on higher difficulty levels besides enemies being able to take more damage? Do you take more damage, does your health recover slower do you find less ammo/flares/stuff?

Guess we have a different understanding on whats acceptable. Im quite distressed knowing im always being watched, or under the gaze of the darkness. This combined with someone breathing behind me on certain parts really adds tension. You dont know quite what this entity is going to throw at you, but whatever happens you have to continue towards it.

There was a real fear for the taken, something that cant be appreciated on a lower setting.

Y2Kev said:
I'm not gonna disagree that the night exploration is awesome conceptually, but I understand what he means with fatigue. You wander through a lot of dark grasslands, forests, and caves with shipping containers and logs placed throughout for the first 3 chapters. It gets better in chapter 4.

I can see that. But then i think these areas were gorgeous to traverse through that i didnt have a problem. I didnt jog or sprint, i walked thorough these places completely absorbed with AW journey. You feel like you've been through an ordeal at the end, which i think is what the devs were trying to illustrate.

I also thought Shenmue 2 ending where Ryu does something similar was one of the best parts of the game.
 

Keyvan

Neo Member
so can I play one chapter a day and still enjoy the game, or is it one of those games that you will enjoy it much more by playing continuously?
 

LiK

Member
Keyvan said:
so can I play one chapter a day and still enjoy the game, or is it one of those games that you will enjoy it much more by playing continuously?
Totally, it's like playing a TV miniseries.
 

FrankT

Member
Keyvan said:
so can I play one chapter a day and still enjoy the game, or is it one of those games that you will enjoy it much more by playing continuously?

That is pretty much the approach I'm taking. Slow but steady in between some RDR. Oh and AW at night.
 
Prine said:
I can see that. But then i think these areas were gorgeous to traverse through that i didnt have a problem. I didnt jog or sprint, i walked thorough these places completely absorbed with AW journey. You feel like you've been through an ordeal at the end, which i think is what the devs were trying to illustrate.


I have to agree with Prine on this. I love the forest stuff and people talk about lack of variation being in a forest alot of the game but the small things are what pushes this to awesome for me and keeps it from feeling like "just a forest". Walking along, finding a abandoned campsite, a empty cabin, a dark cave, etc. The game throws little things like this throughout the jaunts in the forest and I just eat it up! Though again its a personaly preference I suppose.
 

Keyvan

Neo Member
Jtyettis said:
That is pretty much the approach I'm taking. Slow but steady in between some RDR. Oh and AW at night.

thanks a lot, my gaming time is really constrained these weeks and RDR is taking most of what is left, so it's a relief to know I won't miss much.

LiK said:
Yea, play at night too

Meant night in the first place ;) played the first chapter last night and enjoyed it, so by what I hear I'm doing it wrong by playing on normal, huh?
if it's not sadistic I will play it on hard from now on.
 
jjasper said:
Played through the first 2 episodes. Really enjoy it but it bothers me that the characters don't ever blink.

Now are we talking about in cutscenes or in-game because I swear I saw them blink in-game. Unless I was tripping. But I looked specifically for it.
 
In the Sam Lake interview video right around 1:46 or so when Alan is talkin to Barry it looks like he blinks to me. Though I know this isn't exactly how the scene plays out in the final game but it definetly looked like a blink lol.
 

LiK

Member
jjasper said:
Played through the first 2 episodes. Really enjoy it but it bothers me that the characters don't ever blink.
Didn't really notice cuz their lips don't really sync up so I'm fixated on their mouths instead.
 

soyboy

Junior Member
Finished this last night & have to say it's probably one the best game I've ever played.

Hopefully Remedy is happy with the sales figures and continues the story.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
ffs I cant believe the end encounter is spoiled in the achievementlist .....
 

LiK

Member
Corky said:
ffs I cant believe the end encounter is spoiled in the achievementlist .....
I didn't really read the achievements but I noticed no secret ones for the story. I guess achievement hunters should beware.
 

EagleEyes

Member
Absolutely loving the game so far. Maybe its just me but I love a game when you can see off in the far distance a place that you are eventually gonna end up. Makes the game seem more cohesive for me. I know, weird.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
LiK said:
I didn't really read the achievements but I noticed no secret ones for the story. I guess achievement hunters should beware.

well same here really but halfway through the game I though I'd check the list just for the hell of it and BAM right there they spoil what / who / how etc the ending is gonna be , even though somewhat vague it still ruined it for me. :( , I'm sad now
 
Cant0na said:
wanted more missions with barry.

chap 4/5
were almost like left 4 dead
Episode 5 was indeed inspired by L4D. The event in episode 4 seems to be just a coincidence. Great minds think alike.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
:lol at some point in episode 3 (4?), this giant train car crashes down out of nowhere and i jumped and literally said out loud "....ooooohhhhh shit." a split second later, wake said the exact same thing in game in exactly the same fashion. totally awesome.

by the way, ch. 4, with the
rock stage complete with dragon, fireworks, and nearly endless taken? super fucking intense and awesome
. the game just gets better and better.

much longer then i thought it would be too. i'm spending about 2.5 hours plus on each ep, really soaking in the atmosphere and exploring. i wish wake dabbled in photography, a camera and photo mode in this game would be amazing (for the sequel please remedy!)
 

Karram

Member
I don't like the way enemies holding hooks and knifes are just normal threat. They should make them more dangerous make them do more damage and face them alot less, while having enemies with garden hoes and other weapons being just the normal enemy you usually face. It's abscured that the chainsaw guy is a great threat but the guys holding a hook and knife are just alright.
 

Metalic Sand

who is Emo-Beas?
^

May want to spoiler some, Not everyone would want to know the enemy types.



DLC is so far away. why would they do this when it already dls.
 

JimboJones

Member
Just got the game yesterday :D got through the first episode and it's pretty decent so far.

I was getting some strong max payne vibes while playing it then realized it was the same developers!
 

Doodis

Member
LiK said:
Didn't really notice cuz their lips don't really sync up so I'm fixated on their mouths instead.
Yes, after the first two episodes, I'm digging the game, but I have to say, the cutscenes are truly awful when it comes to lip movement. Really does the rest of the package a disservice, in my opinion.

Otherwise, loving the story so far and the game has made me jump a few times already.
 

LiK

Member
Doodis said:
Yes, after the first two episodes, I'm digging the game, but I have to say, the cutscenes are truly awful when it comes to lip movement. Really does the rest of the package a disservice, in my opinion.

Otherwise, loving the story so far and the game has made me jump a few times already.
Yea, the voice acting is superb, wish they fixed the cutscenes.
 
Usually when someone posts something like I'm about to write I usually roll my eyes, but after finishing Alan Wake last night I found it to be flawless experience. Gaming perfection for me has happened only a few times...SMB 3, Battletoads, Metroid Prime, Half-Life and RE4 come to mind. Alan Wake joins that group. Hopefully the DLC is just as engrossing.
 

Aeana

Member
I've finished chapter 2, but I think I'm too much of a wimp for this game. It's very interesting, but I'm way too tense the whole time, and it's actually physically exhausting to play because of that. :( I'll keep going for as long as I can, though, because I want to see what happens next.
 

Korey

Member
Just finished EP4.

The only complaint I have about the game is that the combat is very samey throughout so far.

That's literally my only complaint...everything else is top notch. Voice acting, narrative, immersion, graphics, sound, etc.
 
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