[CaptainAhab]

I finished the Writer and the Signal. It's a good thing they were included for free in the pc version, as they are about as cynical a cash grab as I've seen lately. A bunch of hallways and tiny rooms with reused assets. Story and characters are nonexistent. They wildly overuse that thing where the objects in the environment get possessed and they just hurl themselves at your head. In fact, the experience of playing through it was pretty much, walk down a hallway, spend a minute highlighting each flare with your flashlight for 10 seconds so that you can pick it up, walk into a tiny garage, get hit in the head with a flying Mack truck. They take out a lot of my favorite things from the main game like being in the town during the daytime and finding my way through large outdoor areas, but they double down on the annoying things like throwing cars at your head, having to fight people and flocks of birds simultaneously, hack-y metaphors. Ugh.

[ArjanN]

So am I being an ass for not enjoying this more? I respect a lot of people's tastes ITT but I'm not feeling it. Feels like an over-zealous Steven King/Twin Peaks fan made the game. I don't know how much of the crappiness is intentional (Wake's writing) or just honestly poor writing. As noted earlier in the thread, there are deus ex machinas and things that just don't make sense. For example, why doesn't Alan just strap every goddamn lantern he comes across to his body? He's a tool and stupid and keeps making horrible decisions, something I hate in bad fiction. And Barry....ugh. Right my wrong attitude. Tell me the hidden awesomeness in this game. Because right now I feel like it's a huge step down from Max Payne 2.

I kind of felt the same at first, the overall story is pretty much a mashup of Stephen King stories and Twin Peaks and probably could have been stronger. It seems too busy referencing other stuff to really tell it's own story.

But the presentation is pretty good, and there's enough neat moments and references that it's keeping me entertained. Stuff like the songs at the end of the chapters, the Night Springs episodes on TV etc. I think chapter 4 is where the game really seemed to grab me though.

Barry feels like an annoying Joe Pesci imitation at first, but even he kind of grows on you.

[derFeef]

Making of Alan Wake feature on edge.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-alan-wake

I'll highlight this ;)

As the team built its sandbox prototype, though, it was apparent that something was missing. The freedom to go anywhere robbed the story of its purpose. As any good horror novelist will tell you, the slow creep of dread requires careful pacing. When players can abandon the search for their wife and go off logging instead, it’s hard to maintain the requisite atmosphere.

[JaseC]

Now everybody will be mad that Remedy removed logging from the game.

[derFeef]

Now everybody will be mad that Remedy removed logging from the game.

You could turn that one machine off in Episode 1. Ha!

[JaseC]

You could turn that one machine off in Episode 1. Ha!

I don't know if that will appease those who went into Alan Wake expecting to fulfill their lifelong author-cum-lumberjack fantasy. :(

[plagiarize]

I finished the Writer and the Signal. It's a good thing they were included for free in the pc version, as they are about as cynical a cash grab as I've seen lately. A bunch of hallways and tiny rooms with reused assets. Story and characters are nonexistent. They wildly overuse that thing where the objects in the environment get possessed and they just hurl themselves at your head. In fact, the experience of playing through it was pretty much, walk down a hallway, spend a minute highlighting each flare with your flashlight for 10 seconds so that you can pick it up, walk into a tiny garage, get hit in the head with a flying Mack truck. They take out a lot of my favorite things from the main game like being in the town during the daytime and finding my way through large outdoor areas, but they double down on the annoying things like throwing cars at your head, having to fight people and flocks of birds simultaneously, hack-y metaphors. Ugh.

i like how they mix things up, personally. i like the slammed together otherworldlyness of the environments. i just finished Special 1, and i still enjoyed it. save up your flaregun stuff for the main possessed encounters and they're over pretty sharpish!

i did the vehicle bit on foot for the achievement even. that took a little effort. i'll be playing Special 2 later tonight, and i remember really enjoying that one, so hopefully i still do.

so far i've kept 336 screenshots out of god knows how many i took.

[Ciastek3214]

This might be one of my favorite games of 2012. This game looks and plays good for me, and it has that "something", like some actual effort and love put into it. I can tell Remedy had fun while making this game why shouldn't I have some while playing it?

Also, the greatest use of rock music since Alpha Protocol

[derFeef]

Matias, CEO of Remedy says thanks to the fans. That's nice.
http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=7943

[Lettuce]

So whats the best GFX settings to have for this, disable FXAA competely??

[JaseC]

Matias, CEO of Remedy says thanks to the fans. That's nice. http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=7943

I wonder how long it'll take for the PC version to outsell the X360 version. The latter is at, what, 1.1-1.2m?

[plagiarize]

I wonder how long it'll take for the PC version to outsell the X360 version.

i understand the 360 version passed one million... not sure if that's counting copies bundled with systems or not though.

[JaseC]

i understand the 360 version passed one million... not sure if that's counting copies bundled with systems or not though.

If it's still hovering around 1m, I'd say by the end of July is a reasonably safe bet, depending on how popular the game proves to be during the Steam mid-year sale.

[AndyMoogle]

I wonder how long it'll take for the PC version to outsell the X360 version. The latter is at, what, 1.1-1.2m?

i understand the 360 version passed one million... not sure if that's counting copies bundled with systems or not though.

Yeah, it should definitely be able to pass that after the Steam summer sale.

[Dennis]

Matias, CEO of Remedy says thanks to the fans. That's nice. http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=7943

High resolution texture pack (and DX11 patch) would be awesome.

there you go

[scitek]

i understand the 360 version passed one million... not sure if that's counting copies bundled with systems or not though.

From what I could find yesterday while doing research for a video I'm doing on the game, it initially sold around 500k worldwide, 330k NPD, and with the bundled download code it reached almost 1.5 million.

[jim-jam bongs]

Best part of the whole game!

It's actually very convenient on reflection that they provide an excuse for any plot holes or events which might otherwise undermine the authenticity of the story. Alan is just kind of a mediocre writer. His work isn't meant to be high-art, it's trashy pulp fiction, the crime equivalent of The Da Vinci Code.

[Mr_Zombie]

there you go

According to MarkusRMD: http://forum.alanwake.com/showpost.p...postcount=1474

The game looks pretty awesome in 1080p or "2540p" - in fact I just had the same image on 720p and 1080p screens side by side and wondered why the other looked so much better before I realized the resolution wasn't the same But yeah, there are some spots where we had to optimize textures to fit the memory budget on Xbox360, and we'll try to do something to the roughest spots. But to explain a bit about the problematic we're facing: - The game uses 6991 textures in total. I just checked... - We don't have any automated way to up-res all textures, and in fact it wouldn't make sense to up-res everything as most textures are in very good resolution already. It would make the game just hog resources for no visual benefit. - Many of the textures haven't been created in higher resolution than what was in the 360 build. So they would need to be re-done which is a TON of work. Thus it's manual work - playing the game, checking what textures could be in better resolution, finding the object on screen, open it up in a 3D editor and check the texture. Then check our asset repository whether we have it in higher resolution; export to game, test, rinse and repeat. Fairly labor intensive.

So I wouldn't count on hi-res textures patch :(

[scitek]

This might be the kind of game that gets enough of a fanbase to do a texture patch themselves. Too bad they hardly turn out well, though.

[Ciastek3214]

So I wouldn't count on hi-res textures patch :(

Then make it moddable, fans will do the rest.

[jim-jam bongs]

Eh, I'm with Markus. The textures are fine. It would be great to get a high-res pack but the game doesn't need it anywhere near as badly as most console ports do.

[squidyj]

Deadly Premonition is closer, even though it's more like a Mel Brooks version of Twin Peaks.

SEE Twin Peaks in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

[Ciastek3214]

Eh, I'm with Markus. The textures are fine. It would be great to get a high-res pack but the game doesn't need it anywhere near as badly as most console ports do.

This game would REALLY benefit from some POM.

[jim-jam bongs]

This game would REALLY benefit from some POM.

Yeah especially the areas with the patchy grass texture, a little bit of depth would go a long way towards differentiating the grass and mud patches.

[ctrayne]

derFeef, your avatar is much more handsome than the in-game Alan Wake. It would have been kind of awesome for them to do more live-action stuff with the cutscenes.

[brain_stew]

So whats the best GFX settings to have for this, disable FXAA competely??

Absolutely not. MSAA +FXAA is the way to go.

[Mr_Zombie]

Then make it moddable, fans will do the rest.

Unfortunately Remedy is not planning to release the mod tools. The tools are a lot more complex than they were with the Max Payne games, and are based on many 3rd party commercial tools like Autodesk 3d studio max. Additionally they have been integrated to work with our Perforce asset repository and other internal services, and removing and re-implementing these features would be a lot of work.

http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=7730

[derFeef]

I don't mind the low-res textures as much as some low-poly stuff. A little bit of tesselation would do wonders to some of the already fantastic environmental art. That said... they don't really need to do anything if you ask me, this small team of 60 people need to focus on their next big thing, aka hopefully AW 2 :)

derFeef, your avatar is much more handsome than the in-game Alan Wake. It would have been kind of awesome for them to do more live-action stuff with the cutscenes.

You should play American Nightmare then, I guess :)
(that's Mr. Scratch on the avatar)

edit: I also switched to 360 controller - that's where it's at. So much better. Not that the M/KB controls are bad, but it feels more natural to me.

Absolutely not. MSAA +FXAA is the way to go.

Indeed.

[AndyMoogle]

I don't mind the low-res textures as much as some low-poly stuff. A little bit of tesselation would do wonders to some of the already fantastic environmental art. That said... they don't really need to do anything if you ask me, this small team of 60 people need to focus on their next big thing, aka hopefully AW 2 :)

They have 60 people now? They only had 40 last time I checked.

[plagiarize]

I don't mind the low-res textures as much as some low-poly stuff. A little bit of tesselation would do wonders to some of the already fantastic environmental art. That said... they don't really need to do anything if you ask me, this small team of 60 people need to focus on their next big thing, aka hopefully AW 2 :)

it has to be AW2. American Nightmare, apparently grew out of the the arcade mode right? which apparently stemmed from the team testing out new enemy types.

so i always ask this question: testing out new enemy types for *what*? obviously AW2 :)

[AndyMoogle]

it has to be AW2. American Nightmare, apparently grew out of the the arcade mode right? which apparently stemmed from the team testing out new enemy types. so i always ask this question: testing out new enemy types for *what*? obviously AW2 :)

It's guaranteed to be AW2. They drop obvious hints every time they talk about the franchise.

[Metalmurphy]

What are the chances that Alan Wake 2 releases on PC at the same time? Pretty slim no?

Good AW1 sales probably encourages it but then again... Microsoft.

[CoolS]

Man, this game is amazing. And it looks fantastic as well, especially the lighting is breathtaking. I'm a shocker for shadows and light and this game utilizes it so well. Love the effects of flares etc.

Played most of chapter 3 and maybe half or so (I guess) of chapter 4. Chapter 4 is great so far. Didn't even notice the time going by. Just wow. Though it really scares the crap out of me at times, the Taken are scary enemies. On the other hand it is SO satisfying when you barely manage to reload, shine your flashlight in one of those fuckers faces and just blast him away :)

[AndyMoogle]

What are the chances that Alan Wake 2 releases on PC at the same time? Pretty slim no? Good AW1 sales probably encourages it but then again... Microsoft.

I'd say no chance at all.

[aeolist]

What are the chances that Alan Wake 2 releases on PC at the same time? Pretty slim no? Good AW1 sales probably encourages it but then again... Microsoft.

My fear is that after letting Remedy take the risk to do the PC versions themselves and seeing how successful it was they'll lock the third game to GFWL or the Windows 8 app store

[brain_stew]

My fear is that after letting Remedy take the risk to do the PC versions themselves and seeing how successful it was they'll lock the third game to GFWL or the Windows 8 app store

GFWL is dead.

[aeolist]

GFWL is dead.

It's just being renamed to Xbox Live for Windows or whatever they're going to call the gaming shit on Windows 8

[whalleywhat]

Two lock-ups in about half an hour. I can assume this game is taxing the hell out of my 9800 GT? It actually runs decent with settings lowered.

[Shnookums]

I finished the Writer and the Signal. It's a good thing they were included for free in the pc version, as they are about as cynical a cash grab as I've seen lately. A bunch of hallways and tiny rooms with reused assets. Story and characters are nonexistent. They wildly overuse that thing where the objects in the environment get possessed and they just hurl themselves at your head. In fact, the experience of playing through it was pretty much, walk down a hallway, spend a minute highlighting each flare with your flashlight for 10 seconds so that you can pick it up, walk into a tiny garage, get hit in the head with a flying Mack truck. They take out a lot of my favorite things from the main game like being in the town during the daytime and finding my way through large outdoor areas, but they double down on the annoying things like throwing cars at your head, having to fight people and flocks of birds simultaneously, hack-y metaphors. Ugh.

Though I didn't really have the same negative reaction to the dlcs I can see what you mean by this. I felt like they were too different from the main game, and not grounded enough in the world I fell in love with from the game for my taste. I would have preferred more subtle dream/supernatural stuff and more exploration. Ultimately I enjoyed them, but what I really wanted was something that felt closer than an extension of the full game.

[plagiarize]

Though I didn't really have the same negative reaction to the dlcs I can see what you mean by this. I felt like they were too different from the main game, and not grounded enough in the world I fell in love with from the game for my taste. I would have preferred more subtle dream/supernatural stuff and more exploration. Ultimately I enjoyed them, but what I really wanted was something that felt closer than an extension of the full game.

i don't think they felt like they could do DLC along those lines. they didn't want the DLC to be something you HAD to play to get Alan Wake 2. i'm sure American Nightmare also won't be a straight continuation of the first game for similar reasons. it's too easy to forget that not everyone has their xbox connected online.

personally i like the DLCs. i think they mix things up. i like how they're a bit more 'gamey'. i wouldn't want Alan Wake 2 to go in that direction, but i'm glad that the bonus episodes aren't 'more of the same', even as they sort of revisit a lot of locations from the game proper.

i just wrapped up the second special and enjoyed it as much as the first time. i love that giant wheel thing nearly as much as i love the fun house in Max Payne 2, which i also somehow found the time to replay this weekend :)

[pa22word]

What's everyone's memory usage at in the game? I was playing having a blast when I peaked down at my keyboard and noticed my memory bar was near full. I alt tabbed and checked the task manager, and sure enough the game was using 6 GBs of RAM. It kind of shocked me, but I guess it isn't that surprising given the 4GBs it recommends.

Anyone else mind chiming in?

[scitek]

My fear is that after letting Remedy take the risk to do the PC versions themselves and seeing how successful it was they'll lock the third game to GFWL or the Windows 8 app store

I expect Microsoft to take notice of the success of the PC version and kind of half-ass a Windows 8 push with it, honestly. I don't think they'll lock it to it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they touted it as a featured title among a selection of games available for play on it. The only reason I think Remedy were allowed to self-publish were because MS likely didn't think it'd make any money. They're woefully bad at reading the PC gaming market.

[plagiarize]

I expect Microsoft to take notice of the success of the PC version and kind of half-ass a Windows 8 push with it, honestly. I don't think they'll lock it to it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they touted it as a featured title among a selection of games available for play on it. The only reason I think Remedy were allowed to self-publish were because MS likely didn't think it'd make any money. They're woefully bad at reading the PC gaming market.

my belief is that Remedy kept the rights to the game, and that all they looked for from Microsoft was literally a blessing, since they are currently working with them on American Nightmare and super obviously Alan Wake 2. it's quite probable that any exclusivity agreements are already signed and sealed, and i doubt Remedy signed over the IP.

in other words it's probably too late for MS to step in and try and change those agreements after the success of this. i believe that Remedy could have made this PC version even without MS's blessing, but didn't want to piss off Microsoft given their current projects.

both titles will be tied up for a length of time dictated by the contracts Remedy have signed. what that length of time is, we'll probably find out once we get an idea of when the PC versions of AN and AW2 went into production :)

[Shorty11857]

my belief is that Remedy kept the rights to the game, and that all they looked for from Microsoft was literally a blessing, since they are currently working with them on American Nightmare and super obviously Alan Wake 2. it's quite probable that any exclusivity agreements are already signed and sealed, and i doubt Remedy signed over the IP. in other words it's probably too late for MS to step in and try and change those agreements after the success of this. i believe that Remedy could have made this PC version even without MS's blessing, but didn't want to piss off Microsoft given their current projects. both titles will be tied up for a length of time dictated by the contracts Remedy have signed. what that length of time is, we'll probably find out once we get an idea of when the PC versions of AN and AW2 went into production :)

From what I've read on the forum Remedy definitely own the IP but Microsoft funded Alan Wake 1, not sure about American Nightmare or 2

[Quicksilver4648]

Remedy clearly owns the Alan Wake IP. There is no way Microsoft would have allowed one of their IPs to be launched on Steam with full Steamworks integration. However, with Microsoft being the publisher of the Alan Wake games it really just comes down to the when their exclusivity contract ends. For the first Alan Wake it was probably about a year and American Nightmare is most likely around that same time as well. If Alan Wake 2 is currently being developed then the contract was probably signed long ago so the recent developments of Alan Wake on Steam wont change anything. Though, there probably is a clause that says any Alan Wake can never be on a Sony or Nintendo console no matter how much time has passed.

I see three things happening with future Alan Wake titles.
1. Microsoft sees how good Alan Wake PC did and asks Remedy alter their contract and include a PC version of their next project. Remedy accepts and this would most likely use GFWL or whatever service is current at the time, such as the Windows 8 Marketplace.
2. Microsoft sees how good Alan Wake PC did and asks Remedy alter their contract and include a PC version of their next project. Remedy declines and they wait till the exclusivity window for the project is over and then starts development on bringing it to PC on their terms, probably with Steamworks integration.
3. Microsoft doesn't care about how good Alan Wake PC did in sales and don't change their contract. Once the exclusivity windows is over then Remedy starts the converting-to-PC process.

Either way, Remedy owns the IP and given enough time every future Alan Wake project will eventually be on PC.

[alphaNoid]

GFWL is dead.

Nope, its being rebranded, heavily overhauled and packaged into the Windows Store as Xbox Live for Windows in Windows 8. What little exposure I've had with the TAP program at my office (alpha testing select Win8 OS's and applications), the Xbox Live for Windows software is a complete refresh and bares very little resemblance to what exists today as GFWL. Unified ecosystem that ties into the Windows Store better than the integration built into the existing Xbox 360 and its marketplace.

It seems MS basically stopped all resources into GFWL years ago and started building XBL4W long ago with a new vision. I haven't had much else exposure but should in the coming months. Most of my software testing outside of Win8 and WinServer8 has been with Lync 15 and Office 15.

[Gez]

There is no way Microsoft would have allowed one of their IPs to be launched on Steam with full Steamworks integration.

Orcs must Die was published by Microsoft if i recalled correctly. Also Fable 1, 3 and and Age of Empires 3 is on Steam.

[plagiarize]

Orcs must Die was published by Microsoft if i recalled correctly. Also Fable 1, 3 and and Age of Empires 3 is on Steam.

the Fable titles and Age of Empires aren't steamworks though, and Orcs Must Die isn't published by microsoft on Steam at least.

[Shahadan]

Just bought it and know almost nothing of the game, but I'm pretty sure I have a problem. Audio settings are at the max but I barely hear the voice acting, and Alan has no voice at all.
I enabled the subtitles so I know he's saying something, but that's it.

Any help? Or is this some sort of "I'm a writer so what I'm saying is written, you know, not spoken" thing?

[plagiarize]

Just bought it and know almost nothing of the game, but I'm pretty sure I have a problem. Audio settings are at the max but I barely hear the voice acting, and Alan has no voice at all. I enabled the subtitles so I know he's saying something, but that's it. Any help? Or is this some sort of "I'm a writer so what I'm saying is written, you know, not spoken" thing?

sounds like the game thinks you have a center channel when you don't. check your audio configuration in windows.