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The Darkness: The Official Thread

JdFoX187 said:
Just beat the game...

I liked how they brought Jenny back at the end for some closure. Just like throughout the game, Starbreeze did an EXCELLENT job with the emotions of the game. I just wish they would have given you a true choice whether to kill Paulie or not.

So did the game go along with the comics? If so, what happens now?

Nah, the comics are a bit different from the game story and it was for the better. As a whole, the game's story (imo) was a lot tighter and accessible than most arcs in the comics. Only wish they included Angelus. Some odd reason there's a ton of concept art for her but no comments why she was left out.
 
I thought i'd post the final paragraph of my review to sum up my feelings on the game... I wont be putting up a url as that would be bad!

All in all The Darkness is fantastic game to play, a welcome breath of fresh air for a genre bursting at the seams with samey, me-too titles, and a game I honestly believe that everyone should experience. In fact, ‘experience’ is probably the best word to sum up what The Darkness brings to the table, as over its fourteen hour run, it is both a thrilling and exhilarating masterwork from Starbreeze. Sure, the game is a gory one but after some solid play sessions it is evident that it is the well told, character driven story, and not the gratuitous violence that seems to stand out, and that, I believe, is the games crowning achievement. Just like Riddick, The Darkness is filled with characters you will grow fond of, poignant scenes you will remember long after playing, and on top of all that it has an air of quality with literally hundreds of little touches that make many other top-quality games look half finished.
 
TheFallen said:
Nah, the comics are a bit different from the game story and it was for the better. As a whole, the game's story (imo) was a lot tighter and accessible than most arcs in the comics. Only wish they included Angelus. Some odd reason there's a ton of concept art for her but no comments why she was left out.

care to eloborate on the differences? i'm sure many would be curious to know. spoiler as needed.

and i'd imagine starbreeze may be saving that stuff for a sequel (if they decide to do one)
 
op_ivy said:
care to eloborate on the differences? i'm sure many would be curious to know. spoiler as needed.

and i'd imagine starbreeze may be saving that stuff for a sequel (if they decide to do one)

Well, a few things first. Starbreeze and Silvestri combined Frankie Franchetti and Paulie Franchetti into a single character this time around. Originally in the comics, Frankie Franchetti was the mafia don who adopted Jackie from the orphanage (in the game it is Paulie). In the comics, Frankie was informed by a man named Sonatine that if he adopted Jackie, it would give Frankie's mafia ungodly power. On Jackie's 21st, Jackie received the powers of the Darkness as it was passed down to him (similar to the game's story). Entities like Angelus and the Brotherhood of the Darkness sought to destroy and steal The Darkness from Jackie, and for the most part Angelus became his major opposition. However, when Jackie attempted to leave the mob, he sought out Batman's advice before going to Frankie and asking to leave the mafia life behind. Upset, Frankie kidnapped Jackie's childhood friend, Jenny (Jackie was not deeply in love with her in the comics), whom Frankie killed and sent a video to Jackie. Following this, Jackie angered, killed himself, Frankie and his goons. At this point he was stuck in Hell, and The Darkness resurrected him. At which point, he returned to NY and found Frankie's cousin, Paulie in charge of the Mafia. Paulie learned of Jackie's powers and attempted to blackmail him by killing Jenny's sister; prompting Jackie to kill the hitman and Paulie. After that, Jackie was the new don of the Franchetti mafia.

So you can see some similarities in the comic timeline and the game. Paulie and Frankie are very similar so it works for the better that they were combined. Add to that, a love arc between Jenny and Jackie gave a better motive for revenge. Some other smaller changes was The Darkness was given a larger role (much better imo), darklings became more animalistic, and Jackie has yet to forge armor out of the Darkness (which could come in a possible sequel, but it works as is to not give it a cheesy superhero atmosphere).

It's been a while since I've read some Darkness comics. Top Cow loves to interweave the characters into Magdalena and Witchblade. At one point, I got lost whenever Nottingham showed up, him and Jackie are just too similar. I'll have to take it up again one day.

For some comics that influenced the game, there's a recent graphic novel compendium in stores now. It'll do a better job than I did explaining.
 
JdFoX187 said:
Just beat the game...

I liked how they brought Jenny back at the end for some closure. Just like throughout the game, Starbreeze did an EXCELLENT job with the emotions of the game. I just wish they would have given you a true choice whether to kill Paulie or not.
I tried not to kill him. I turned around to walk out the door once The Darkness said it would own me after killing him but the door was locked and then he pulls out his gun anyway so you are forced to kill him. SO, if I had to kill him I really wanted to do some damage to this guy, I wanted to rip him in half with my tentacles and then chuck his corpse out into the ocean off the top of the lighthouse. So I whipped out my tentacles but I was weak from that lighthouse light moving across me every few seconds so the only tentacle rape I could muster was a little *poke* and he barely budged but he did die.
Great game though. Starbreeze really shines with atmosphere and story.
 
anyone know exactly where in gunhill the last guy for moratello's side mission is? Also, has anyone figured out what the secret achievment is?
 
Just beat it as well.

Was a fantastic game, one hell of a wild ride. There needed to be more of a sense of where to go though, and there was too much "back and forth" between areas than I would have liked, but everything else was top notch.
 
Yeah, finished it last night. Excellent despite the already discussed to death issues, makes me very eager for the next Riddick or whatever is next. :)

Now, off to R6:Vegas... I'm sure the super-powered run and gun style I adopted for Darkness will serve me well in R6. ;)


Dai Kaiju said:
anyone know exactly where in gunhill the last guy for moratello's side mission is? Also, has anyone figured out what the secret achievment is?
He's in a second story apartment just outside the room with the elevator you used to get to Shrute's place. The window is the only one open, but the room is dark so it's a bit tough to see at first (at least for me). You need to use the creeping dark to get in there and kill him, don't forget to smash open and get the darkling outfit in the room too.
 
Started playing this last night, ended up playing until 3 something in the morning. I played up to the part where I had to use the Kamikaze Darkling to blow up the wall thing, was stuck there for a while since I ended up going back and forth cause I did not notice I had to blow it up. :lol
Maybe I suck at FPS games, but I died a lot....
So far though, I am enjoying this much more than Resistance (single player at least... never played Resistance multiplayer, still debating whether to trade Resistance into EB or not). The atmosphere and story is just more interesting. The voices and the way they deliver the story is more enjoyable to me than the narrative style they had in Resistance.
 
just finished the game.

I owe santaC's buddy an Apology the game kicked so much ass even with the issues i mentioned. They dont game games like these anymore. I loved the little details and the full on Gore.


I really wish it had a better ending tho as i want to see what happens to jackie after the Bench scene.

Really fun stuff once you get really into the game and get your powers going.
 
I am stuck on a loading screen. Everytime I am supposed to
meet Butcher and Aunt Sarah, the mission called God.
It freezes on the dialog, i went on GFaqs and there are tons of people with the same issue. Clearing the cache and getting a new disk have been suggested, but it still doesnt fix the issue. Anyone here with the same issue?
 
grendelrt said:
I am stuck on a loading screen. Everytime I am supposed to
meet Butcher and Aunt Sarah, the mission called God.
It freezes on the dialog, i went on GFaqs and there are tons of people with the same issue. Clearing the cache and getting a new disk have been suggested, but it still doesnt fix the issue. Anyone here with the same issue?

It was mentioned a few pages back. It's a bug.
 
Hopefully there is a sequel that will continue the story.
We know that apparently Starbreeze had some very ambitious ideas they weren't able to implement in this one.
 
HydrantC12 said:
Indeed it is. Here is what I wrote a page back


I just got it to load, all i did was go out and get a new objective. Maybe that effected the save file. I talked to to Terrence WIllis who gives you another mission in lower east side.
 
On my second play through. This time I'm going to dump Jenny. Her bathroom sink is friggin' disgusting. I think she's been using it as a toilet. Not cool.
 
I think the game is kinda mediocre myself. Everything is really great except the gun play is very boring to me. Which to a FPS.. is well, important?
 
I just finished it a couple of hours ago. I'm relieved more than anything--the game had some cool moments, but I guess I just couldn't get past all the things in the game that really irritated/pissed me off.

Please, please, please, no sequel.

And seriously, every other person in the credits is named Jens, Erik, or Lars. Sigh, I'm just being a bitch at this point.
 
whatdidyousay said:
And seriously, every other person in the credits is named Jens, Erik, or Lars. Sigh, I'm just being a bitch at this point.

Because they're typical names in sweden. My name is Lars :P
 
This game is awesome. Having a great time with it. Most addicting game ive played since gears of war. Im hooked on finding phone numbers.
 
I am really enjoying this. While there are aspects that annoy me, the atmosphere and presentation are fantastic. I love how terrified all the enemies are of you. I don't think I've ever played a game that so successfully conveys the feeling of being an evil bad ass. They've managed to make what was an average at best comic license and really make it something great. Good stuff.
 
I love the ambient music in the subways, really serene and makes exploring enjoyable. Reminds me of the feeling i get from the resident evil save room music.
 
playing this late at night exclusively so its taking a while to beat. enjoying it but I do find the gun play not as satisfying as other shooters but thats not the whole point of this game. the darkness voice really creeps me out from time to time. makes me check on my sleeping daughter to reassure myself everything is kosher in the real world. many games i play i feel very detached to, this one is really easy to get into. i knew starbreeze would come through!
 
whatdidyousay said:
I just finished it a couple of hours ago. I'm relieved more than anything--the game had some cool moments, but I guess I just couldn't get past all the things in the game that really irritated/pissed me off.

Please, please, please, no sequel.

And seriously, every other person in the credits is named Jens, Erik, or Lars. Sigh, I'm just being a bitch at this point.
Here's an interesting thought:

Don't buy the sequel.

Most of us really enjoyed it and want a sequel. So Starbreeze shouldn't bother with one simply because you don't like the names of the people who made it?
 
I don't know what it is but there's something about the characters that make it easy to get emotionally attached to them. You actually hate the villans for what they did, you take a liking to the 'good' guys who help you out, and you obviously feel for Jackie. Honestly,
who thought Jenny was going to get executed right in front of your face? I know I'm not the only one who though a giant tenticle was going shoot through the door and scare off Paulie/Shrote.

I beat it on Normal, went back and played through some of the set pieces through the Checkpoints, and now I'm about half way through Hard mode. It's easily my favorite 360 game of the year so far, maybe even my favorite, period.
 
dralla said:
I don't know what it is but there's something about the characters that make it easy to get emotionally attached to them. You actually hate the villans for what they did, you take a liking to the 'good' guys who help you out, and you obviously feel for Jackie. Honestly,
who thought Jenny was going to get executed right in front of your face? I know I'm not the only one who though a giant tenticle was going shoot through the door and scare off Paulie/Shrote.

I beat it on Normal, went back and played through some of the set pieces through the Checkpoints, and now I'm about half way through Hard mode. It's easily my favorite 360 game of the year so far, maybe even my favorite, period.
Yeah, I found myself just waiting for Jackie to break free and save her. But it didn't happen. It reminded me a lot of Prey when Jen got killed. Except Starbreeze did a better job with the emotions than 3D Realms did.
 
JdFoX187 said:
Yeah, I found myself just waiting for Johnnie to break free and save her. But it didn't happen. It reminded me a lot of Prey when Jen got killed. Except Starbreeze did a better job with the emotions than 3D Realms did.

Who's Johnnie?
 
Just started playing tonight, and man, am I glad I decided to buy this game.

It definitely feels like Riddick's spiritual successor to me, and I love the work Starbreeze does with its graphics engines. Game looks great and I've no real problems with the control, either.

Really looking forward to playing and completing this one.
 
Okay, loving this game to death, but two things:

Number One: There's a lot of areas that are wide open and empty. Butcher Bay was much more claustrophobic, which suited it's theme, but I'm doing a lot of running around in empty areas. And finding areas I wasn't supposed to be in and getting lost.

Number two: why is there so few side quests? Am I missing any? The only ones I've found so far are
the harmonica player, the woman with the coins, and the bracelet quest
.

I'm in "The Hills" right now (for lack of spoilers) after that major event at the orphanage and meeting a certain dead relative. How do I get past
the bell?
.
 
bengraven said:
Okay, loving this game to death, but two things:

Number One: There's a lot of areas that are wide open and empty. Butcher Bay was much more claustrophobic, which suited it's theme, but I'm doing a lot of running around in empty areas. And finding areas I wasn't supposed to be in and getting lost.

Number two: why is there so few side quests? Am I missing any? The only ones I've found so far are
the harmonica player, the woman with the coins, and the bracelet quest
.

I'm in "The Hills" right now (for lack of spoilers) after that major event at the orphanage and meeting a certain dead relative. How do I get past
the bell?
.

You will get more side quest as you progress and re-visit areas.
 
Well, I beat the game today. I could site here and write all day about the game and how much I enjoyed it, but I've already made that clear throughout the rest of the thread. Thanks Starbreeze for putting emphasis on the little things, keep it up.
 
dammitmattt said:
Demon Arm :D

Just grab it and fling it to the side! Sorry I missed that part of the post!

No worries!

I didn't realize it had that kind of power. I was finding it useless as it seemed only good for breaking lights. We were calling it the "bitch slapping" arm as it just seems to slap enemies and not do any damage.
 
urk said:
On my second play through. This time I'm going to dump Jenny. Her bathroom sink is friggin' disgusting. I think she's been using it as a toilet. Not cool.

:lol i think you are my new favorite gaffer.
 
bengraven said:
No worries!

I didn't realize it had that kind of power. I was finding it useless as it seemed only good for breaking lights. We were calling it the "bitch slapping" arm as it just seems to slap enemies and not do any damage.

Impaling and throwing enemies with the demon arm = best part of my day.
 
I really dont know if I should get this.. I want a game I can play in bursts that has a good story.. Overlord is not great for this.. i dont like starting at the start of the level every time I want to play.. is this game good for what I need.. im put off by the awful graphics of the guys hands and the fact that games like dead rising and condemned scare me too much to even play
 
The game is awesome - I'm halfway through
just visited my aunt...
OMG at
"Hell" & the orphanage
The game is something like Riddick meets the best parts of Indigo Prophecy.

Also technically the game simply owns, the game looks freakin' amazing - beautiful texture work, motion blur, AA, AF and 95% of the times maintains a steady frame-rate...who thought an updated Riddick engine will look that good.

I can't wait for the Riddick remake. Starbreeze ftw!
 
Game is awesome, but I'm stuck...I'm sure its right under my nose but I cannot find the cannon ammo...I am in the bunker, but when I look around I dont see shit. Can someone point me in the right direction?
 
Feindflug said:
The game is awesome - I'm halfway through
just visited my aunt...
OMG at
"Hell" & the orphanage
The game is something like Riddick meets the best parts of Indigo Prophecy.

Also technically the game simply owns, the game looks freakin' amazing - beautiful texture work, motion blur, AA, AF and 95% of the times maintains a steady frame-rate...who thought an updated Riddick engine will look that good.

I can't wait for the Riddick remake. Starbreeze ftw!

This is my favourite game so far of 2007. So much for a game that got 7.8 from IGN.
 
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