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

Once I beat this on hard, (hopefully tonight) and I run back through on Nightmare for achivements, can I select episodes separately or do I have to play through the whole game like normal?
 
Dax01 said:
Okay. I gotta get all the coffee thermals, all the manuscripts, all the radios and TVs, and all the hidden chests.

Not sure if I should go after all of 'em in one go.:lol

That's what I'm spending my first playthrough doing.

About to start Episode 4.

Got 100% collectibles so far, and have had to replay some sections to do so, but have been more than happy to.

Fucking awesome game.
 

codecow

Member
derFeef said:
Tell me about it. I was afraid of the repetition because almost every review pointed that out. But in the end, I am not seeing it. Alan Wake will stay in my mind because of the story and the atmosphere, the shooting was just the sugarcoating. Sure, enemy types are the same over and over again, but the combat is so much fun that it did not bother me.

Yeah, for me it is that the encounters/setups themselves feel very same-y. Like the 10th ambush walking from A-B with a guy suddenly behind you at least for me is very repetitive. I want more enemy types, weapons, and setup variation. I still like the game though.
 

Hawk269

Member
I started on normal, got through about 50% or so of EP3 and decided to start over on hard. Thing is, I want to start COMPLETELY OVER and even deleting the save file the game seems to tie the achievements to the collectibles etc. I was hoping to delete everything and start FRESH, but somehow the game has something hidden somewhere. Aside from the achievement, the Statistic screen even after deleting everything still shows how many kills etc, basically everything I have done.

I have gone so far to delete the game, the game save, clear the cache etc, but it still has the stats and no matter what I cannot start over fresh.

I know it sounds weird, but just wanted to do it completely over and there does not seems to be a way to do this unless I am missing something somewhere.
 

Hawk269

Member
slasher_thrasher21 said:
We seem to have very similar feelings and experiences concerning Alan Wake! I looked out my windows one night and swear I saw a shadow move. :lol :lol

lol...it has been windy where I live and the other night the wind outside was howling and making my sliding door creep, all while I am playing an night time portion of AW with the lights out....kindo of extra abient sound effects for me...but yeah, it spooked the crap out of me and I kept waking up to the same sounds as it remained windy all night!
 

Tokubetsu

Member
2 Minutes Turkish said:
That's what I'm spending my first playthrough doing.

About to start Episode 4.

Got 100% collectibles so far, and have had to replay some sections to do so, but have been more than happy to.

Fucking awesome game.

Is there a good collectible guide out?
 

Pelydr

mediocrity at its best
Finished the game and really loved every bit of it. The story was actually pretty good! Not something I expect out of a game. :lol It was still really flawed but still better than most. They do need to improve on combat but I think Remedy has a great base to build on.
 
For people who have beaten the game: I am at the
tornado/Barbara
(mega-spoilers, you are warned)...is this the last boss?

I really love this game. Come on, honestly, this is one of the better video game plots, right?? That is not to say it does not have its issues...but it was definitely decent shit.
 

Shrennin

Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
FateBreaker said:
For people who have beaten the game: I am at the
tornado/Barbara
(mega-spoilers, you are warned)...is this the last boss?

Yes.

As for the plot of the game - it is one of the main reasons to play the game and it is actually a thriller that has great gameplay (although, as was already said, there *needs* to be more variety in the enemies in the sequel).

I would go as far to say that this could be an almost perfect game if there were variety in the enemies.

Also, I kind of am starting to, um, believe that I wouldn't like this game as much as I do if it weren't for the awesome
soundtrack.

:X

This is not actually a bad thing considering the influence of
the soundtrack into the gameplay.

To get some discussion going - what are people's problems with the plot. I hear that it's a decent plot not without its problems but what are those problems exactly? I think that any plot holes the plot could have could easily be explained away and the only real negative thing I can think of with regard to the plot is
the ending and its ambiguous nature
although I actually like that about the plot.

The problem I've been hearing about the ending isn't story related at all, I think it's gameplay related. The variety of the gameplay is terrible in the last episode.
 
WOW, just finished episode 4, OMG, I'm speechless, that was amazing. The thing was
I had been listening to that song before I played the game, so when I found out that the lyrics were directly related, it sent shivers down my spine.
But yes, that episode was completely amazing. If Alan Wake 2 had all episodes that were that much fun and story driven, then it will be an easy GOTY finalists. Now to finish the last 2 episodes.
 

mujun

Member
FateBreaker said:
I really love this game. Come on, honestly, this is one of the better video game plots, right??

Totally. In many games, I: a) ignore the story completely or, b) half watch it, foregoing listening for subtitles, etc.

Not the case with this game.
 
Help guys. I can't get the tv upstairs in the
lodge of chapter 4
to turn on. What am I doing wrong?


Edit: Weird! Reloading the save got it to work.
 

SPEA

Member
On Chapter 6. Fucking loving it.

Curious why Remedy didn't add more dark presence animals. Like they have the birds obviously. But wolves, dogs, bears, etc. takin over by the dark presence would be scary as fuck.
 
First two chapters down, starting to get more interesting. Love the music and the voices so far.

EDIT - Playing it on hard but honestly that might be a tad too difficult for the lack of ammo I've gotten so far and how many people you need to put down. There is another thought though, are you at times supposed
to run for your life and head toward the lights?
 

Shrennin

Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
They actually did have bears, dogs, and other animals in the game earlier in development but took them out for some reason I don't remember.

Anyway, I just listened to The Poet and The Muse and I think I just realized something:

I'm going to spoiler it because that song actually contains spoilers of the game:

The majority of the song is about Tom Zane and Barbara Jagger but when it gets to these parts (the chorus):

"And now to see your love set free
You will need the witches cabin key
Find the lady of the light gone mad with the night
Thats how you reshape destiny

And now to see your love set free
You will need the witches cabin key
Find the lady of the light still ravin in the night
Thats how you reshape destiny"

Is it talking about what Alan Wake has to do to free Alice because of the events of Zane and Jagger? In other words, the chorus is about Alan Wake while the story of the song is about Zane.
 
Beat the game.

I think I need to form a "Buy Alan Wake Right Now" group and website. This game NEEDS to be played by people. Once again, I feel the Metacritic average is way too low. Best MS original IP in years.
 

thetechkid

Member
I just finish the game and I don't know what to say besides the DLC needs to be here sooner, also is there anywhere I can get The Alan Wake Files? I really wanna read through it but I got the normal edition.
 

derFeef

Member
FateBreaker said:
Beat the game.

I think I need to form a "Buy Alan Wake Right Now" group and website. This game NEEDS to be played by people. Once again, I feel the Metacritic average is way too low. Best MS original IP in years.
Im with you. Looks like WE have to do Microsoft's job there. Still angry about the fact this game got little to no advertising.
 

Tonza

Member
Just beat Episode 1. Had to stop because the end of episode stuff with Ray Orbison song was so awesome.


God I hope the game sells enough so Remedy can make a sequel.
 

Cardigan

Member
thetechkid said:
I just finish the game and I don't know what to say besides the DLC needs to be here sooner, also is there anywhere I can get The Alan Wake Files? I really wanna read through it but I got the normal edition.
Sell your copy and buy the limited edition, it's worth it.
 
Tonza said:
Had to stop because the end of episode stuff with Ray Orbison song was so awesome.


God I hope the game sells enough so Remedy can make a sequel.
The Orbison tune in episode one fits in so well. And between episodes is the best time to take a break, but at the same time you just wanna keep going.

This is now undoubtedly the game of the year for me, so far. Despite it's very minor flaws this game deserves a second season. And better marketing.
 
I didn't see if this was answered, but can you play each episode individually once you beat the game? What sucks is that I didn't specifically write down what items I missed, which are only 2-3. I don't want to have to go through and check for everything my 2nd runthrough. >.<
 

derFeef

Member
The_Inquisitor said:
I didn't see if this was answered, but can you play each episode individually once you beat the game? What sucks is that I didn't specifically write down what items I missed, which are only 2-3. I don't want to have to go through and check for everything my 2nd runthrough. >.<
Yep you can play episodes and even chapters separately. Only thing is, that you can not play an episode on nightmare if you have not played it before on that difficulty.

In the main menu you can list the manuscript pages and look in which episode you missed some. Sadly you can not do that with the other collectibles.
 
Hawk269 said:
I started on normal, got through about 50% or so of EP3 and decided to start over on hard. Thing is, I want to start COMPLETELY OVER and even deleting the save file the game seems to tie the achievements to the collectibles etc. I was hoping to delete everything and start FRESH, but somehow the game has something hidden somewhere. Aside from the achievement, the Statistic screen even after deleting everything still shows how many kills etc, basically everything I have done.

I have gone so far to delete the game, the game save, clear the cache etc, but it still has the stats and no matter what I cannot start over fresh.

I know it sounds weird, but just wanted to do it completely over and there does not seems to be a way to do this unless I am missing something somewhere.
The only way to start completely over is to start with a new gamertag. Many games save info directly on your gamertag. My gamertag is around 15MB nowadays iirc.
 
BruceLeeRoy said:
I love all the Max Payne references that are throughout the whole game.
Yeah. The only one that bothers me is when it goes into bullet time for a second during the cutscene where
Nightingale fires at Wake
. Just feels out of place.
 

Diseased Yak

Gold Member
I'm taking my time with this one, playing an episode per night or so. Finished episode 3 last night, and with the way it ended and the beginning of 4, this might just be my GOTY so far. Simply an outstanding experience so far.

The sound is incredible. The wind through the trees, the deafening bass when something collapses or trees fall. Stunningly good stuff. Plus the music! I'm listening to the mini-soundtrack included with the LE right now and it's fantastic.

Graphics are amazing, too, even in the daylight. I'm also really starting to like the story, and with what happened at the end of 3/beginning 4, well, holy shit.
 

Shrennin

Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
Dax01 said:
Too bad the game struggles with episode 6.

Yea, the gameplay in Episode 6 is pretty bad (in variety and it's pretty annoying as well). However, I would say the story is just as good as the story elements in both episodes 4 and 5.
 

p2535748

Member
Beat this a couple of days ago, and unlike most games, I'm planning on going back to it. It's a great experience. Episode 6 definitely felt rushed and was the weakest part of the game, but everything leading up to there was just fantastic.

Some standout moments besides the obvious (
rock show
) (don't read unless you've finished the specified chapter):

Chapter 3:
When the train falls out of the sky in front of you, just a perfect "oh shit" moment, punctuated by Alan explicitly saying "oh shit"

Chapter 4:
After you exit the clinic, and get to the gate, Barry yells to look back at the clinic, and you see the darkness raging inside, with lights flashing out some of the windows. It's a great horror movie moment.

Chapter 6:
The hill with boats falling out of the sky

In general, I loved the atmosphere of the game. The narration is handled excellently, and while I'm not going to say the story is original or ground breaking, it's told very well, and it's definitely compelling enough to keep you playing. I thought that, for a game, the characterizations were quite good.

The soundtrack is amazing. There's at least one scene (and a bunch of people have mentioned it), where turning on a radio to listen to music during the sequence prety much makes the experience.

It could have used more variety in the enemies, and some more variety in the combat (though I thought the combat is quite solid, it's just that your arsenal never really expands, and there's a definite "rinse, repeat" nature to it).

It's a fantastic game, and people should absolutely give it a shot, especially if they're fans of any of the influences (Twin Peaks, Stephen King, ...). I really hope we get a sequel.
 
I think it would be bad ass if they made it where instead of Alan Wake writing a novel series that is supposed to remind us of Max Payne that he actually did write Max Payne. Could have been a great way to combine the universes.
 
Alan Wake was my most anticipated game of the year, but I have to admit I'm disappointed so far. I'm growing weary of the enemies; it's getting very repetitive, to the point where I can't wait for each episode to end. The levels give the appearance of going in circles, and there is so much wasted space. I like to wander off and explore and find secret items, but more often than not I'm just running around with nothing to show for it. The nighttime effects are great, and they are the highlight of the game, but everything else just seems so disjointed to me. I think the bad character and facial animations really hurt a game like this; it's breaking the immersion for me and I have no empathy for any of the characters. And it's nowhere near as creepy or scary as it could be.
 

adelante

Member
HOly fuck the ambient sound effect that triggers whenever the night atmosphere gets crazy (NEVER fail to send shivers up my spine) is made out of baby cries and kitten meows?!? (little dev tidbit there courtesy of the Making Of videos in the bonus dvd) :lol



Just thinking about those intense moments is not helping me with my decision to play through the game on Nightmare :(
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I really liked the game a lot. Not sure if I liked it as much as Max Payne, but I'd love to replay on Nightmare and get the 18 or 20 remaining manuscript pages. What's good about the game is totally obvious, but the complaints aren't necessarily.

Complaints:
- Running speed remains way too slow. It's not an issue in Episodes 3-5 because you don't need to run long empty stretches, but particularly in Episode 2 when you leave the cabin you're staying with Barry in until you get back, and also in any of the vehicle sections if you happen to not have a vehicle. And even besides the speed, Alan's apparent asthma is pretty annoying. Yes, he's *supposed to be a writer not a hero, but he can shoot a gun like a pro so there's no need to have his agility be "believable". Also, not being able to run in sections where the game decides that you don't need to run is terrible in any game.

Note that I don't have a problem with the Taken moving faster than you can. That's great. That's a source of tension. I'm A-OK with that. I just think that outside of combat, moving around is really lumbering and it's because of these things.

- Difficulty spikes. I died about 10 times on Hard in Episode 2 with that tree you walk through that's kinda like a bridge. I died about 10 times on the bridge in Episode 6 (was going for the no shooting achievement). I died maybe 3-4 times in total besides these two places. I didn't find the game Hard on Hard. I don't think I ever ran out of flashlight batteries and I didn't really make a huge effort to conserve light power.

- Alan Wake can't climb over shit. It's very stupid to have to jump on a rock, walk up the rock, and jump off the rock over a knee-high fence.

- Screen tearing.

- Inventory resetting. In times like the beginning of Episode 4, it makes sense that your inventory is emptied. In times like Episode 5, where you get off the Helicopter, it makes no sense. Why would Alan toss away his hunting rifle, pistol, and heavy duty lantern? Making the player's inventory empty as an artificial way to make sections more difficult represents either a failure in plotting or a failure in balance.

Questions
- The puzzle with the three switches in Episode 5--what was the correct solution to that puzzle? I literally just flipped switches randomly until the correct outcome triggered, and I still don't know how I was supposed to solve it or how I was supposed to know how to solve it.

- Was there a significance to Nightengale calling Wake a different author's name every single time he talked to him? At first I figured he was cracking wise, but then I started wondering if there was a particular significance to it.

- Was the actor playing the talk show host supposed to be someone I knew? I caught Sam Lake, obviously, but the other guy looked familiar and I couldn't place how.
 
adelante said:
HOly fuck the ambient sound effect that triggers whenever the night atmosphere gets crazy (NEVER fail to send shivers up my spine) is made out of baby cries and kitten meows?!? (little dev tidbit there courtesy of the Making Of videos in the bonus dvd) :lol



Just thinking about those intense moments is not helping me with my decision to play through the game on Nightmare :(

Anytime that sound triggers shivers run all up my back and I start breathing like my mouth is wrapped around a pvc pipe.

I would love to play the game a second time but I'm not sure my heart could handle it.
 
perineumlick said:
Alan Wake was my most anticipated game of the year, but I have to admit I'm disappointed so far. I'm growing weary of the enemies; it's getting very repetitive, to the point where I can't wait for each episode to end. The levels give the appearance of going in circles, and there is so much wasted space. I like to wander off and explore and find secret items, but more often than not I'm just running around with nothing to show for it. The nighttime effects are great, and they are the highlight of the game, but everything else just seems so disjointed to me. I think the bad character and facial animations really hurt a game like this; it's breaking the immersion for me and I have no empathy for any of the characters. And it's nowhere near as creepy or scary as it could be.

The first episode is the worst, I think. I don't even know why, but I remember thinking things like you are. Ep 2 and 3 were better, and once 4 came the game hit "amazing" status and didn't lose it for the rest of the game.
 

therapist

Member
Beat it on normal , a little over halfway through on nightmare mode now.

Some parts are realllly hard on nightmare but its fun.

My fave horror game since re4/sh2 :)
 

Mr. B

Member
Just finished it. Fantastic game. The only real gripe I had with how repetitive the combat got.

Loved the
Max Payne (Sam Lake) cameo during Alan Wake's interview.
 

BluWacky

Member
Stumpokapow said:
- The puzzle with the three switches in Episode 5--what was the correct solution to that puzzle? I literally just flipped switches randomly until the correct outcome triggered, and I still don't know how I was supposed to solve it or how I was supposed to know how to solve it.

Each switch operates two of the locks on the dam. You just need to use them in the right combination to close all three locks so you can walk across. You can use logic, or you can just hit the buttons...

- Was there a significance to Nightengale calling Wake a different author's name every single time he talked to him? At first I figured he was cracking wise, but then I started wondering if there was a particular significance to it.

Because of the type of game it is, I think we'd like there to be more meaning than there actually is - I'm pretty much certain it's cracking wise. Alan's writing is just like all those hack authors he mentions (except a million times worse), after all.
 
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