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

Frankfurt

Banned
Post at Penny-Arcade forum says Poets of the Fall confirmed the "Old Gods are back in the studio".

I did a quick look at their official site and didn't find any mention, though.
 
Tokubetsu said:
Probably for that flash game or whatever the hell it is that new Awake spin off is supposted to be ='(

I don't think it's a flash game...It was rumored to be an XBLA release and possibly even Kinect enabled.
 

derFeef

Member
angular graphics said:
There was a leak of screenshots from PartnerNet. It's an XBLA title.
Not really screenshots, but we have a whole topic about it anyway.

Tokubetsu said:
Still doesn't exactly fill me with joy.
Nope. But Alan Wake spinoff is better than no Alan Wake at all. Still hoping for AW2, but what Phil Spencer said at E3 makes me a bit nervous.
 
It's impossible to find them, as they were deleted very quickly, and the guy that posted them was banned because it "goes against our laws and disrespects developers", according to the admin of the board where they cropped up.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33216

Why do people not follow the rules?

Posting shots a beta stolen from certnet or whatever
is stupid. It's also goes against our laws and disrespects
developers.

Do you not realize you harm real people, put real fear in
their minds that their hard work is stolen? That their sales
will be less and they will maybe be downsized?

I am tired of having to apologize for you.

Here I am having an exchange with the DEVELOPERS about
this mess.
These are real people who depend on this to
support their families. Many of us are programmers and
artists. If you see something out of line, report it.
Not reporting it is almost as bad as posting it.

I have done what I can by once again distancing us from this.

We are better than this. The mods and myself do not know about
everything going on in gaming. If it seems iffy, report it and let
the mods and myself make the call.

-ASSEMbler

He thought he was doing something good for the community by showing pictures of what he thought were possible alpha shots from an already released Alan Wake title.
Remedy Games contacted him telling him otherwise and steps were taken to have all information removed from his own site, here and I think unseen64 also.
 

Frankfurt

Banned
Thanks!

By the way, I'm replaying the game on Nightmare one chapter per week, and... How come nobody in the whole thread mentioned the possessed skeletons? I hadn't seen them in normal mode, but I bumped into them in Nightmare mode and they were pretty hard (actually had to run away, couldn't beat them).
 

derFeef

Member
Frankfurt said:
Thanks!

By the way, I'm replaying the game on Nightmare one chapter per week, and... How come nobody in the whole thread mentioned the possessed skeletons? I hadn't seen them in normal mode, but I bumped into them in Nightmare mode and they were pretty hard (actually had to run away, couldn't beat them).
They were mentioned a few times actually. That part scared the hell out of me because I was not prepared for them. That shows how much the game needed more enemy types.
 
My copy of Alan Wake Illuminated arrived today from Amazon, and boy is this book hot. I wish more games had behind-the-scenes books like this. Also I grabbed it with the guidebook in a bundle for 8.30 which is a rad deal.

Now to replay the game, and get those last Writer DLC achievements to 100% this awesome game.
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
I recently started replaying Alan Wake on Nightmare difficulty, and I think I'm enjoying the game a lot more this second playthrough.

Not that I didn't like it the first time, I really did, but I had some issues (minor) with it.

I think my chief complaint would be the lack of a really strong or iconic soundtrack. For kicks, I actually loaded up the complete Silent Hill series soundtrack onto my 360 and had that blasting as I played the game, and it did two things:

1) Reminded me how absolutely amazing Akira Yamaoka's score for Silent Hill is,

and

2) Actually had me white-knuckling the controller for some of the scenarios in Alan Wake.

I think audio, whether sound effects or musical score, is very under-appreciated or acknowledged these days.

A lot of us may not even realize it when it's gone, but when it's there, a strong audio presentation can suck you into a game's world like no other.

Alan Wake already had some pretty great atmosphere, but when I coupled that with Yamaoka's oozing with atmosphere score, it really elevated my Alan Wake experience. At times, I completely forgot that the score wasn't part of the game, because it fit so perfectly while I was playing. Even some of the combat scenarios I got into would often sync up with a tense or hectic track from one of the Silent Hills (I basically had the scores for Origins through to Homecoming on my 360).

During my Nightmare playthrough, I actually didn't initially play it with the SH soundtrack, but found myself missing it, and booted it up.

It just surprises me how much a good soundtrack can elevate a game to a higher level (look at Shadow of the Colossus. Great game, but that soundtrack and atmosphere just sets it so apart from it's contemporaries).
 

atre324

Member
I guess that's a good point. Alan Wake was a home run for me on so many levels, but I don't really remember much of the soundtrack/score beyond that incredibly tense music that plays when enemies are about to spawn. I would have liked to see more care taken to craft a more spooky soundscape, but I'd just be happy with Alan Wake 2 in any form at this point too.
 

Frankfurt

Banned
The soundtrack didn't achieve the scare factor, but the softer themes are really, really good. Alice's theme (Clicker) is my favorite track in a videogame this gen. Writer's dream and the song that plays when arrive in town are great, too.

When Clicker played in the DLC episodes, I got chills.
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
atre324 said:
I guess that's a good point. Alan Wake was a home run for me on so many levels, but I don't really remember much of the soundtrack/score beyond that incredibly tense music that plays when enemies are about to spawn. I would have liked to see more care taken to craft a more spooky soundscape, but I'd just be happy with Alan Wake 2 in any form at this point too.


I agree with you big time on Alan Wake 2. Just give it the greenlight already, or sign with a publishing partner that's not Microsoft.

Remedy own the AW franchise, right?

I'm sure Alan Wake 2 would be loads better than it's predecessor, which was already a really great game in it's own right.

Outside of the lack of a strong soundtrack, and the constantly repeated scenario of "Alan is lost in the dark, spooky forest...AGAIN," I thought it was a really promising entry into the New IP market.

We need more new IPs, and AW shouldn't have to suffer the same fate as Folklore and Heavenly Sword, and many other quality games that got robbed of their chances of having a great sequel.

Look at Assassin's Creed. Part 1 was pretty decent, despite issues, but Part 2 elevated the series to classic, and Brotherhood built upon that foundation and added more intriguing game play. I don't know about Revelations, but hopefully it will continue the upward trend the AC series has seen. Same thing with the Uncharted series.

Can you imagine if those franchises never made it past Part 1?

Alan Wake deserves a sequel. Put it on 360. Put it on PS3, put it on PC. I don't care. It's an IP worth expanding on.
 

Frankfurt

Banned
MS IPs haven't been supported by customers. It's as simple as that. Kameo, Viva Pinata, Lost Oddysey, Blue Dragon... People bought the multiplats and ignored the exclusives. It's no surprise MS has passed on the new AW and left Remedy to find a publisher of their own.
 

Dacon

Banned
So I finally picked this up after waiting unsuccessfully for an announcement of a PC version.

I wish I hadn't waited so long. This game is freaking awesome. I love all of the subtle nods to Max Payne
Did wake write Max's story in this world?

The game is absolutely beautiful, and I love how it's split up into episodes. The story so far has been pretty gripping and shooting is solid and fun. Using the light to aim was a nice touch.

Does the game stay this strong?

Also
I fucking lol'd hard when I found the tree called "The Great Old One"
 

Frankfurt

Banned
Lots of people got bored of the enemies and/or walking thorugh the woods at night. Your mileage may vary.

I'm on my 2nd playthrough (1st on normal, current on Nightmare), and having more fun this second time, as the enemies actually pose a threat when they pile up. I absolutely love the dodge mechanics, so I never get tired of the game. I have no idea how they managed to make the dodge so cinematic without the character ever going in a different direction or whatever - the character always dodges the exact way and direction I want, and it still looks more like a cutscene than gameplay. Really nice.

Plot-wise, the game improves as it goes. Gameplay-wise, it stays pretty much the same.

I do think the DLCs are unnecessary, though. They have some "new" platforming and interesting mechanics, but they kinda hurt the amazing ending of the game.

Anyway, I guess if you didn't enjoy the shooting you would get damn pissed every time you had to fight some taken, which was the response some people had at the game.
 
The DLCs are a nice lead-up to the sequel, I thought. Plus, they take advantage of some of the craziness that was only mildly present near the end of AW. I liked them.
 
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
The DLCs are a nice lead-up to the sequel, I thought. Plus, they take advantage of some of the craziness that was only mildly present near the end of AW. I liked them.
Yea, as for the DLC, the gameplay was better but the story was better for the main storyline.
 

Dacon

Banned
Frankfurt said:
Lots of people got bored of the enemies and/or walking thorugh the woods at night. Your mileage may vary.

I'm on my 2nd playthrough (1st on normal, current on Nightmare), and having more fun this second time, as the enemies actually pose a threat when they pile up. I absolutely love the dodge mechanics, so I never get tired of the game. I have no idea how they managed to make the dodge so cinematic without the character ever going in a different direction or whatever - the character always dodges the exact way and direction I want, and it still looks more like a cutscene than gameplay. Really nice.

Plot-wise, the game improves as it goes. Gameplay-wise, it stays pretty much the same.

I do think the DLCs are unnecessary, though. They have some "new" platforming and interesting mechanics, but they kinda hurt the amazing ending of the game.

Anyway, I guess if you didn't enjoy the shooting you would get damn pissed every time you had to fight some taken, which was the response some people had at the game.

Yeah I'm having a lot of fun with the game. On episode 4 now.

I will say this, holy screen tearing Batman
 

Tokubetsu

Member
Dacon said:
Yeah I'm having a lot of fun with the game. On episode 4 now.

I will say this, holy screen tearing Batman

sub hd too if IIRC. Still love the game though. So much so that I bought the LE of the guid after.
 

Mr_Zombie

Member
Frankfurt said:
Plot-wise, the game improves as it goes. Gameplay-wise, it stays pretty much the same.

Does the game at least introduce new enemies, weapons or gameplay elements after episode 2? I'm playing the game at my friend's house and while I love the atmosphere and the story seems intriguing, the repetition starts to show up. It just seems like I've already seen everything the game has to offer by now. I know that there's a section where you have to drive a car, but besides that, is there anything new?
 
Every time I play this game I can't help but get chills at some of the story parts, and I have played through this game probably about 6 or 7 times.
 

Frankfurt

Banned
Does the screen tearing only appear at 1080p? My tv is 1080p, but I keep everything at 720p since games are almost never Full HD.

Maybe I just don't have the eye for it, as I've never noticed tearing in my life.

Mr_Zombie said:
Does the game at least introduce new enemies, weapons or gameplay elements after episode 2? I'm playing the game at my friend's house and while I love the atmosphere and the story seems intriguing, the repetition starts to show up. It just seems like I've already seen everything the game has to offer by now. I know that there's a section where you have to drive a car, but besides that, is there anything new?

There's nine weapons, four or five being very similar to each other. Ten enemy types, five being human. The five "human" ones vary in speed and power (there's the weak guy that is very fast and sneaks up on your back, the slow dude with a chainsaw, the guy throwing projectiles, etc), but they look very similar. There's eight cars, but the difference between them is negligible. The five non-human enemies are completely different frommeach other but they don't appear often.

Gameplay-wise, there's a couple escape sections, a few driving sections, some mild platforming (some jumping sections, others where you have to dodge objects to get to another area, etc). There's also the section right before the ending, which has a pretty weird mechanic. But you have a section walking through darkness and fighting human taken in every stage, so if you're not enjoying those you're better off stoping now.
 

KageMaru

Member
Frankfurt said:
Does the screen tearing only appear at 1080p? My tv is 1080p, but I keep everything at 720p since games are almost never Full HD.

Maybe I just don't have the eye for it, as I've never noticed tearing in my life.

If you have a 1080p TV, you should probably set your 360 to 1080p and let the console do the scaling. Just a heads up =p
 
KageMaru said:
If you have a 1080p TV, you should probably set your 360 to 1080p and let the console do the scaling. Just a heads up =p
just a heads up, this often introduces screen tearing. it did in Alan Wake. it does in Resident Evil 5. it does in Shadows of the Damned.

unless you have a shitty tv with a shitty scaler, best let the TV handle the scaling.
 

Feindflug

Member
plagiarize said:
just a heads up, this often introduces screen tearing. it did in Alan Wake. it does in Resident Evil 5. it does in Shadows of the Damned.

unless you have a shitty tv with a shitty scaler, best let the TV handle the scaling.

I wouldn't call it often but yeah in a small number of games it creates frame-rate issues...Ninja Gaiden 2, every Capcom game using the MT Framework and Shadows of the Damned being the most well-known.

Also I don't know for sure but there is a possibility that there will be more input lag when your TV does the scaling plus the IQ from what I've seen is almost always better when the 360 does the scaling @ 1080p especially if your TV has a 1:1 pixel mapping option.
 
Feindflug said:
I wouldn't call it often but yeah in a small number of games it creates frame-rate issues...Ninja Gaiden 2, every Capcom game using the MT Framework and Shadows of the Damned being the most well-known.

Also I don't know for sure but there is a possibility that there will be more input lag when your TV does the scaling plus the IQ from what I've seen is almost always better when the 360 does the scaling @ 1080p especially if your TV has a 1:1 pixel mapping option.
this thread is about one of the games where setting your TV to 1080p introduces tearing. i think it's a bad place to tell people to let the console do the scaling.

obviously the TV is a big factor in what you should have it set to generally, but it's silly to tell someone playing Alan Wake to set the game to 1080p, when they're talking specifically about the screen tearing.
 

H3xum

Member
This was one of those games that I have fond memories of when I think back on playing it, however, I haven't thought about the game before now since I was watching the end credits roll.

I can't help but wonder what that says about this game, because the above feelings are unique to it.
 

Feindflug

Member
plagiarize said:
this thread is about one of the games where setting your TV to 1080p introduces tearing. i think it's a bad place to tell people to let the console do the scaling.

obviously the TV is a big factor in what you should have it set to generally, but it's silly to tell someone playing Alan Wake to set the game to 1080p, when they're talking specifically about the screen tearing.

I talked in general and not only about AW which is the first time that I heard that 1080p upscaling introduces screen tearing - obviously everyone who cares about the frame-rate has to set their 360 to 720p like I did with SotD after reading your impressions...but generally setting your 360 at 1080p seems to be the better choice with someone with a 1080p panel - the games that have problems with this are a very small percentage of the system's library so to suggest to someone to set it's console at 720p to avoid tearing in 5-6 or even 10 games is not good either.
 

KageMaru

Member
plagiarize said:
just a heads up, this often introduces screen tearing. it did in Alan Wake. it does in Resident Evil 5. it does in Shadows of the Damned.

unless you have a shitty tv with a shitty scaler, best let the TV handle the scaling.

No, it's not often and it's usually engine specific. The scaling capabilities in the 360 are very good, so you really need to have a damn good scaler in your TV to choose that instead. You want your TV to do the least amount of work, scaling included. It's one of the reasons why they have Game modes, to turn off all the post processing your TV may do.

Besides in the case of sub-HD games like AW, your system is upscaling to 720p, then your TV is upscaling that to 1080p, which is additional scaling that isn't needed.

I game on a 768p LCD and I've still seen screen tearing in Shadows of the Damned and Alan Wake. IIRC the reason setting the 360 to 1080p may introduce tearing is usually due to the fact that the tearing is otherwise hidden in the overscan area. When you stretch out the screen to 1080p, you're seeing this area that is usually hidden in 720p. Could be wrong on this one though.

Wasn't trying to be a smartass with my earlier post, just made a suggestion.
 
KageMaru said:
No, it's not often and it's usually engine specific. The scaling capabilities in the 360 are very good, so you really need to have a damn good scaler in your TV to choose that instead. You want your TV to do the least amount of work, scaling included. It's one of the reasons why they have Game modes, to turn off all the post processing your TV may do.

Besides in the case of sub-HD games like AW, your system is upscaling to 720p, then your TV is upscaling that to 1080p, which is additional scaling that isn't needed.

I game on a 768p LCD and I've still seen screen tearing in Shadows of the Damned and Alan Wake. IIRC the reason setting the 360 to 1080p may introduce tearing is usually due to the fact that the tearing is otherwise hidden in the overscan area. When you stretch out the screen to 1080p, you're seeing this area that is usually hidden in 720p. Could be wrong on this one though.

Wasn't trying to be a smartass with my earlier post, just made a suggestion.
okay, going to get a little technical here.

Shadows and Alan Wake still tear in 720p when the game drops below 30 fps. Many games ditch vsync when they can't keep 30 fps so in these intense situations you'll see tearing no matter what you do.

some games suffer from constant tearing when you have the 360 handle the scaling. we can debate what 'many' and 'few' means, but we're pretty clear on some of the examples. all framework games, wake, and shadows spring instantly to mind.

Alan Wake is going to double scale on a 1080p TV whatever you do. where as most games that are sub 720p render at a lower resolution and then scale to whatever the 360s output is set to, Alan Wake is a bit different. if you look at the HUD elements and the cutscenes you'll notice that those are 720p. Wake renders it's geometry at sub 720p, and then overlays certain effects and the HUD at 720p, so the engine scales the geometry internally, it isn't handled by the 360's scaler.

so the game puts together it's mix of sub and 720p, which is then going to get scaled again by the 360 or your TV if its 1080p. my TV doesn't overscan. in the examples i've brought up going from 720p to 1080p is going from minimal tearing, to constant tearing.
 

KageMaru

Member
plagiarize said:
okay, going to get a little technical here.

Shadows and Alan Wake still tear in 720p when the game drops below 30 fps. Many games ditch vsync when they can't keep 30 fps so in these intense situations you'll see tearing no matter what you do.

some games suffer from constant tearing when you have the 360 handle the scaling. we can debate what 'many' and 'few' means, but we're pretty clear on some of the examples. all framework games, wake, and shadows spring instantly to mind.

Alan Wake is going to double scale on a 1080p TV whatever you do. where as most games that are sub 720p render at a lower resolution and then scale to whatever the 360s output is set to, Alan Wake is a bit different. if you look at the HUD elements and the cutscenes you'll notice that those are 720p. Wake renders it's geometry at sub 720p, and then overlays certain effects and the HUD at 720p, so the engine scales the geometry internally, it isn't handled by the 360's scaler.

so the game puts together it's mix of sub and 720p, which is then going to get scaled again by the 360 or your TV if its 1080p. my TV doesn't overscan. in the examples i've brought up going from 720p to 1080p is going from minimal tearing, to constant tearing.

I understand about soft v-sync and such, no debates on my end there.

I also understand that AW renders a bunch of buffers at various resolutions, so yeah you'll have double scaling no matter what when playing on a 1080p TV. AFAIK, most sub-HD games don't do software scaling in-engine and instead let the 360 handle the scaling, so my point is still valid for most sub-HD games on the double scaling.

It basically comes down to personal preference and obviously I prefer my TV to do the least amount of processing as possible, so I was just making the suggestion.
 
KageMaru said:
I understand about soft v-sync and such, no debates on my end there.

I also understand that AW renders a bunch of buffers at various resolutions, so yeah you'll have double scaling no matter what when playing on a 1080p TV. AFAIK, most sub-HD games don't do software scaling in-engine and instead let the 360 handle the scaling, so my point is still valid for most sub-HD games on the double scaling.
absolutely.

It basically comes down to personal preference and obviously I prefer my TV to do the least amount of processing as possible, so I was just making the suggestion.
generally yes, i agree with you. there might even be some people that think constant tearing is preferable to their TV's scaling, but i doubt there are many of those. for games like Alan Wake though, I think things tip towards the balance of 720p being optimal.

i have an interesting question though. do any games which aren't 720p native have the tearing issue (obviously i'm counting Alan Wake as 720p native... but with a big caveat)?
 

KageMaru

Member
plagiarize said:
generally yes, i agree with you. there might even be some people that think constant tearing is preferable to their TV's scaling, but i doubt there are many of those. for games like Alan Wake though, I think things tip towards the balance of 720p being optimal.

See, I've seen RE5 on a 1080p TV and I wouldn't describe the tearing as constant. Not sure with AW since I've only seen that game on my TV, but I thought Shadows of the Damned had horrible tearing in general. Unless the slight upscale to 1360x768 is what's causing all the tearing.

plagiarize said:
i have an interesting question though. do any games which aren't 720p native have the tearing issue (obviously i'm counting Alan Wake as 720p native... but with a big caveat)?

Tearing issues in general or just when upscaling?
 
super late to this game, but holy shit is this game good. if i love the game so far (im on chapter 2) will i love the dlc as well? everything so far about this game is top notch (except the occasional screen tearing).
 
This is my 4th replay and man I just always love the story and setting in this game. Though I don't remember ever seeing the skeletons on nightmare mode! WTF? Really?
 

Vorg

Banned
slasher_thrasher21 said:
This is my 4th replay and man I just always love the story and setting in this game. Though I don't remember ever seeing the skeletons on nightmare mode! WTF? Really?

Me neither. Finished the game on nightmare a week or so ago.
 
this was one of the most boring games i ever played. Go from point A ---> B Fighting the same tired shadows the whole time while the story didn't make much sense.
 

derFeef

Member
slasher_thrasher21 said:
This is my 4th replay and man I just always love the story and setting in this game. Though I don't remember ever seeing the skeletons on nightmare mode! WTF? Really?
Hey man, long time no see.
Are you saying you saw them on non-nightmare mode, or not at all? They are around the
barn with the huge harvester
 
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