The Pen is Mightier than the Flashlight: Alan Wake

[General Zod]

I second Zixinus, the thing that really bothers me about the whole migration to consoles made by many publishers is how it is blamed on Piracy or, as with this game, on the console being somehow the ideal platform for the game. They won't outright say that it is way more cost-effective to develop exclusively for consoles. Heck, some even announce the game as coming out for the PC, and then take it back after the console release.

The question is, do they do it to avoid negative backlash from PC users? Or do they need to convince their shareholders or something? Or maybe they don't want to piss off nVidia, or the many manufacturers of overpriced gaming peripherials.

What backlash? They can't lose sales to a market they don't release for.

[Oskuro]

They may simply not care. This is a genre that is not well-served on PC anyway: RE and SH etc have never been big on PC.

What backlash? They can't lose sales to a market they don't release for.

Hence why their attitude is confusing. If they don't care, or can't be negatively impacted (thus they don't care) why keep pretending like their hand is being forced when they don't release a game on the PC?

(I'm of course speaking in general, not referring to this particular game or genre)

[Stark]

Well I'm not really familiar with the circimstances around the platform change; was it pushed as a PC game? Did they really say right before release 'lol no actually no PC version'?

[DaveJB]

If memory serves, it actually life as a PC exclusive - in fact, Intel pushed it as a "killer app" for their then-upcoming Core 2 Quads way back in 2006. Then it just kind of dropped off the map until last year, when it resurfaced as what was planned to be a simultaneous PC and 360 release. The cancellation of the PC release was announced in February of this year.

The loss of the PC version might not have been so bad though, considering that the original version of the game was apparently trashed and rewritten as a 360-focused game, so odds are any PC version would have been of the "shitty backport" variety.

[Stark]

Yeah, I've heard the released game is very different to what was planned. It's a shame too, since they could clearly have made it 'appear open' like Far Cry etc without much work.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The new Silent Hill game for the Wii was pretty good, though it wasn't much like previous SH titles gameplay-wise.

[Stark]

For people who've finished the game, what was the go with all the 'sinister' trees falling over in the background? Several times the camera focused on a tree falling down somewhere nearby, and these trees also ruined some cable cars.

I figured it was something underground trying to get him (reinforced by the tunnels that 'lead to the lake') but Sherry got the impression it was due to something big/invisible moving through the woods. Nothing in the finale gives any answer to this; it's almost like it's a go-nowhere 'scare' inserted for cheap boo effect.

Bear in mind this is obviously not related to the Dark tornado throwing things (including trees) at you. Actually, the game never really went anywhere with the idea that the Dark uses things as 'drop pods', as when they threw a boat at the trailer park to insert some Darkness into a house.

[adam_grif]

I recall Alan Wake being pushed as a premiere 360 title way back before the 360 was released.

[General Zod]

For people who've finished the game, what was the go with all the 'sinister' trees falling over in the background? Several times the camera focused on a tree falling down somewhere nearby, and these trees also ruined some cable cars.

I figured it was something underground trying to get him (reinforced by the tunnels that 'lead to the lake') but Sherry got the impression it was due to something big/invisible moving through the woods. Nothing in the finale gives any answer to this; it's almost like it's a go-nowhere 'scare' inserted for cheap boo effect.

Bear in mind this is obviously not related to the Dark tornado throwing things (including trees) at you. Actually, the game never really went anywhere with the idea that the Dark uses things as 'drop pods', as when they threw a boat at the trailer park to insert some Darkness into a house.

Could be the Darkness was just trying to grasp whatever it could to use as a weapon and the trees just happened to be there. I got the impression that its degree of control over inanimate objects wasn't very refined unless they had their own method of steering.

[Stark]

That's the thing; it can throw trees when it wants to, but sometimes it just shows them falling over a bit and lying there in the distance. Somehow this is supposed to be scary? I don't even understand how it's related to anything.

However I've read some reviews now and my problems with the game aren't just my imagination.

[General Zod]

That's the thing; it can throw trees when it wants to, but sometimes it just shows them falling over a bit and lying there in the distance. Somehow this is supposed to be scary? I don't even understand how it's related to anything.

However I've read some reviews now and my problems with the game aren't just my imagination.

Eh, the game really didn't do a good job at being scary. It had lots of great atmosphere and decent level design. But I was more scared by the splicers in Bioshock that played dead.

[Stark]

Yeah, but what I'm getting at is the game focuses on things (not even 'press left stick to focus' but 'we stole your camera focus') that aren't scary at all and have nothing to do with the plot. It's like they just threw random stuff in (like the constantly collapsing bridges).

[DPDarkPrimus]

I think the trees were just a convenient way of showing that the Dark Presence was out there looking for you still, without putting you in combat all the time.

[Stark]

I think the trees were just a convenient way of showing that the Dark Presence was out there looking for you still, without putting you in combat all the time.

Since it's a big tornado that can affect almost the whole town at once, it's pretty absurd that it doesn't know where you are. I know Wakey goes on about 'coming closer' and shit, but it's attacking you with birds and flying trains and ... doesn't know where you are?

Actually the way it's trying to kill you even though you're a meta-Wake and it kinda wants you to succeed is bizarre anyway.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Following the story as laid out.

[Stark]

Except it's a worthless plot element because they never actually point out you're meta-Wake and the Darkness isn't controlling proper-Wake very well at all.

Y'know.

Down in his submersible log cabin of horror. He even still has the basement!

[DPDarkPrimus]

Spoiler

Sure glad we added spoiler tags to the forum.

[Stark]

So you don't have anything to say then? OK. Remember, the best stories are ones that make absolutely no sense!

[Laughing Mechanicus]

I was quite tempted by this, but the spotty reviews and the way they seem to be releasing extra chunks of the story as DLC has made me unsure.

Can anyone tell me (without massive spoilers) how these DLC episodes actually relate to the main story of the game? If they are an integral part I will probably wait for a cheap game-of-the-year edition which includes them all.

[DPDarkPrimus]

So you don't have anything to say then? OK. Remember, the best stories are ones that make absolutely no sense!

I just kind of thought, you know, that talking about end-game story elements out of spoilers, when spoiler tags are available, is kind of inconsiderate towards those who have not played the game.

[General Zod]

I was quite tempted by this, but the spotty reviews and the way they seem to be releasing extra chunks of the story as DLC has made me unsure.

Can anyone tell me (without massive spoilers) how these DLC episodes actually relate to the main story of the game? If they are an integral part I will probably wait for a cheap game-of-the-year edition which includes them all.

I didn't bother with them. I'd suggest not bothering purchasing and getting it as a rental, you can easily beat the game in a day if you rushed.

[Stark]

They weren't even out yesterday. Is there any reason to believe they'd add any quality? We're just going to get The Zane Levels and Yellow Paint Retailer and Hobo Trust Fund: Emergency Light Purchase.

[adam_grif]

A buddy rented it and we took turns playing it for a few hours. Got up to the end of chapter 3 before we kind of got a bit bored and did other shit.

The flashlisht mechanic wasn't that great, and it took quite a bit of getting used to the timing on the dodging before I could do it competently. We were laughing at how contrived some of the situations were, because like 90% of the time when you finally reach a "safe place", it's one cutscene, a short bit of gameplay in the daytime, then OH NOEZ YOU LOST ALL OF YOUR GUNS AND THE FLASHLIGHT, AND IT'S SUDDENLY DARK.

Of course, monsters never attack you unless you have the tools to finish them off, and the only tense moment so far was when my buddy was stuck with some flash grenades and no gun, and was a terrible fucking aim so I had to take over for him. The game as a whole isn't scary, at all. The enemies are pretty lame, and when they started throwing inanimate objects at me, that was even lamer. The narrations are tripe, but the same kind of tripe I got with Max Payne, so it was at least nostalgic. The writing in the manuscript wasn't great either.

But my favorite bits were when I could stop and watch an episode of... NIGHT SPRINGS... or whatever it was called. They're like 2 minute Twilight Zone parodies. Loved it. Won't be picking it up, and I probably won't be finishing it either. I suppose I should praise the atmosphere or something, but damn it got repetitive, even where I got up to. That place is foggier than Superman 64.

[Stark]

Night Springs is awesome. It's the deliberately bad lip sync that does it.

[adam_grif]

The whole game is like that though. Remedy is a Finnish studio, so I'm thinking that it's just a bad english dub. Unless it was made in English, in which case I'm fucking astounded something like that could make it through quality control.