Episode 7 - RFGeneration Community Playthrough Wrap-Up

[singlebanana]

Episode #7 of the RFGeneration Community Playthrough Wrap-Up for Castlevania: SotN and Alan Wake is live!

[bombatomba]

On the 32X!?! Wow, didn't know that at all.  My best memory of SOTN is 3am, crouched on the end of my bed in my apartment marveling at the music and awesome effects.  How different things could have been.  How different things would have been.

I'm kind of bummed that I didn't play this game with you guys, but the only copy I have is on Xbox 360.  Bleh.  I'd rather play Chronicles of the Sword.

[singlebanana]

I did not have a chance to play Alan Wake (since I do not own a 360), but did watch a complete playthrough of the game that was done by NukemDukem (link to episode #1 below), which I would highly recommend. The playthrough had commentary, but the guy is not cursing or obnoxious like some in other videos. Instead, the guy is really s#$t-his-pants, freaked out and gets really into the game, which is really funny and makes you feel like you are part of the experience. At one point he states something to the affect of, "I am so scared, but I just can't put this game down." Ha! He also shows his deaths in the game to a certain extent (if an area takes him 9 tries, he may show 3 of them at most), which is actually nice.  I'm usually not a fan of playthroughs, but this game really intrigued me for several reasons, (1) I have a background in English Lit and composition, and (2) I'm a huge fan of The Twlight Zone and Twin Peaks (which are discussed in some detail in the podcast).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate in the podcast discussion for that segment, so I thought I would leave a few thoughts here about the game:

1. I really, really liked the story. Like many of the movies I enjoy (especially things by David Lynch), I tend to prefer a narrative that is fragmented, which you have to piece together to arrive at some type of conclusion (abstract or concrete as it may be). I felt that AW was successful in this category and I felt that the narrative really pushed the game along and demanded the gamer (watcher in my case) to press on.

2.  With that said, I think one of the poorest aspects of the game was it's variety, especially in the beginning of the game. For about 75% of the game, it seemed as though you were running through the woods. It was refreshing when you would finally run upon a structure to explore, such as a mill, factory/plant, junkyard, etc. and I thought that there should have been a little more of this to balance it out. Enemies, while clever at times (bulldozer, flying objects, etc.) were very repetitive. However, as I mentioned before, I think the narrative of this game was enticing enough and strong enough to pull it through and made me look beyond these shortcomings.

3. I really liked the integration of the "Night Springs" show into the game. Each episode was thought-provoking and seem to provide further insight as to what might be going on in the game. Perhaps there might have been a few too many of these, but I believe they were very well done and integrated appropriately within the game.

4. One of the best things about the playthrough I watched was the player's limited amount of ammo and how he finally figured out that running to the light was not only beneficial, but an essential strategy of the game. All too often, the strategy of a game like this is to just blast anything threatening. However, in AW, I like how not only you can get away from enemies by making it to the light, but that you have to use it in order to conserve precious ammunition and progress. I think that running toward the light gives the game added suspense, that "Oh hell, they are right behind me!" quality. It also humanizes Alan more by making him vulnerable and not the badass you get in most games. Alan is primarily a writer and most writers I know are not Rambo.

5.  Man, I loved Barry! He's probably one of my favorite supporting roles in a game. He bordered on the line of annoying at first, but then he really kind of grew on me. For a time, I even thought that he might be a part of some sort of conspiracy against Alan. I thought he provided great comical relief, which is something you tend to see more in horror flicks today. I'm pretty sure his look and character were based a little off of George Costanza.

Anyway, I'm sure that I have more thoughts on the game and I will plug them in as they come to me.

[bombatomba]

Just wanted to comment in general.  I loved Alan Wake during each initial playthrough or each game (the main game, DLC, and American Nightmare), but didn't enjoy it quite as much the second time around, mainly due to the lack in variety.  The big set scenes were great, but much of what had nothing to do with running for the next light I found frustrating.  And they took the running out of the series after the main game.  Sure there were a few parts in the DLC, but that is all.  Shame, as the real pull of the series for me (more so than the story in some parts) was that Alan had to literally run for his life, often covering for himself with flares and flash-bangs.  I'd start to really sweat in some parts (like near the end of The Writer) as I watched the enemies increase and my flare supply decrease.

With that said I really liked the story.  It seemed to be such a great mishmash of so many different sources (all of which could be identified rather easily) that it couldn't be anything but a love letter from the devs to those sources.  And I'm waiting for a true sequel.  While the end of American Nightmare seemed to resolve it, the narration left too much ambiguity to be sure.

[singlebanana]

Shame, as the real pull of the series for me (more so than the story in some parts) was that Alan had to literally run for his life, often covering for himself with flares and flash-bangs.  I'd start to really sweat in some parts (like near the end of The Writer) as I watched the enemies increase and my flare supply decrease.

+1 here - though I only watched the game, I got really tense watching the guy freak out while trying to get to the checkpoints. I really liked the evolution of this gamer that I got to watch first hand; he went from blasting everything in sight to strategically using flares and flash bangs. It really gave the game a higher purpose and more combat depth.

[Fleach]

I just want to quickly apologize for the echo during the Alan Wake portion. It's not super noticeable, but it's there. I bought new speakers for my computer and had my headphones plugged into them. Apparently the audio of Skype was coming through my headphones as well as the speakers.

Anyway, glad to see that there's plenty of positive reception to this episode!