[Alice: Madness Returns] 'I don't want to go among mad people...'

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Pancake

Aegeri wrote: »

You cannot cancel animations mid attack to dodge (for example).

You can, actually, just not during the combo finishers or the attack you get from switching from vorpal blade to hobby horse or vice versa. If you're fighting something you know you'll need to dodge while attacking, just don't do those attacks. Three vorpal blade attacks and then a pause before resuming your attacking should let you dodge whenever you need to. If they aren't getting canceled, those attacks are so fast it doesn't matter.

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Kevin Crist

I also finished tonight. And I'm a tad confused by the continuity of the ending to the real world segments between chapters..

Ending spoilers:

But first: Hi Evil Eldritch Abomination Doctor! Meet Tea Bomb Spam. Haha Hehe Hoho.

So anyway, last we see of Alice in the Real World was in the Asylum in a straightjacket and shaved head between Chapter 4 and 5, right? But then she kills the Doctor at the end in the Real World looking normal?
Or maybe the asylum part takes place after she kills him.. given the real world and Wonderland starts to blend together.

I just don't know.. Madness indeed.

mastrius

Kevin Crist wrote: »

I also finished tonight. And I'm a tad confused by the continuity of the ending to the real world segments between chapters..

Ending spoilers:

But first: Hi Evil Eldritch Abomination Doctor! Meet Tea Bomb Spam. Haha Hehe Hoho.

So anyway, last we see of Alice in the Real World was in the Asylum in a straightjacket and shaved head between Chapter 4 and 5, right? But then she kills the Doctor at the end in the Real World looking normal?
Or maybe the asylum part takes place after she kills him.. given the real world and Wonderland starts to blend together.

I just don't know.. Madness indeed.

Yeah it's tough to figure out what was real or not. Which was her reality? It's up to you in the end I suppose. But I guess Wonderland is what matters most.

cooljammer00

Damn, so the game is 40 bucks on Amazon already. It's too soon to tell if it sold poorly, right?

Magic Pink

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Damn, so the game is 40 bucks on Amazon already. It's too soon to tell if it sold poorly, right?

Actually, it was 45$ new so that's not that big of a drop.

SyphonBlue

Magic Pink wrote: »

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Damn, so the game is 40 bucks on Amazon already. It's too soon to tell if it sold poorly, right?

Actually, it was 45$ new so that's not that big of a drop.

However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to imagine this game has sold poorly.

Teyar

My take on it was that the asylum bit was a memory - from the very instant you engage the event, its tripped out. Likely she was trepanned during her first stay in the bughouse, and didnt actually DO terribly much before escaping / leaving / dont really remember off the top of my head for some reason.

Really showed off how horrifyingly intimate storytelling can be. Hopefully this game gets remembered for its achievements there more than the silent-hill-esque final level pumped full to the brim of doll-for-child-symbolic-rape.

Mr_Grinch

Does the PC version come with the remake of the original? I'd be mightily tempted (i.e buy it today) if it does.

L Ron Howard

Not any more. AFAIK, there's no way to currently buy the original.

Cormac

The PC version is down to $29 so I'll definitely be buying that tonight, and maybe even the art book since it's back in stock again.

Artoria

A quick question.

do you get to original game if you buy this on Steam or a retail copy? or only at EA Store?

L Ron Howard

You cannot get the original game for PC. EA's special was only for preorders, which is no longer available. Steam does not have the original game yet either.
The only way to get both is to get the Xbox 360 version which includes both games.

mere_immortal

Man this game just keeps on going doesn't it. I don't really wanna play anymore but I still wanna see the story out, so someone please tell me I'm near the end.

I've just gone into the dollhouse with the dollgirl and two menacing ruins up on the top floor who throw stuff at you.

Artoria

L Ron Howard wrote: »

You cannot get the original game for PC. EA's special was only for preorders, which is no longer available. Steam does not have the original game yet either.
The only way to get both is to get the Xbox 360 version which includes both games.

Ouch. Well it looks like I'll be picking up the PS3 or 360 version.

mynameisguido

Well, personally, I have a feeling this game would have been a good bit better if it was a lot, lot shorter. I'm only in the middle of chapter two and the tedium is setting in big time.

I think part of the reason is that some of the puzzles are made harder by things like the delay in drawing the pepper grinder and the forced camera angle changes.

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musanman

So I bought the original alice on live, and now realize I can't play it without the game disc. Is there any way I can exchange this or give it to somebody.

cooljammer00

musanman wrote: »

So I bought the original alice on live, and now realize I can't play it without the game disc. Is there any way I can exchange this or give it to somebody.

I think Europeans could buy it separately...

Snowblindvictim

I found a copy of the original game, (just the discs) at a local used/retro video game store.
They're selling it for 30 bucks. Worth it? Or should I just wait for another outlet?

cj iwakura

Thats a ripoff.

Mr_Grinch

Snowblindvictim wrote: »

I found a copy of the original game, (just the discs) at a local used/retro video game store.
They're selling it for 30 bucks. Worth it? Or should I just wait for another outlet?

I played it the other day, it's dated HORRIBLY badly. I wouldn't bother personally.

mastrius

Mr_Grinch wrote: »

Snowblindvictim wrote: »

I found a copy of the original game, (just the discs) at a local used/retro video game store.
They're selling it for 30 bucks. Worth it? Or should I just wait for another outlet?

I played it the other day, it's dated HORRIBLY badly. I wouldn't bother personally.

For 30 dollars more or even wait for a deal and can get them both for either ps3 or 360. New and old.

mastrius

Bamp.

1000/1000 woohoo! Alright. Well. That was fun. So worth my moneys.

Artoria

Sprung for the PS3 version and finished Alice 1 over the weekend.

Overall the atmosphere was great but it was a bear to do the platforming. Alice jumped like an FPS character mainly because they used an FPS engine and gave it a 3rd person view. I really hoped they might have fixed the floaty inaccurate jumps but they did not. that killed me more times than the jabberwock.

Started Alice Madness returns yesterday and I'm digging it so far. but I'm only on level 2 and..

Did Alice just get raped? you wake up and when Alice asks the guys who were standing over her what they were doing they just respond with "What comes naturally". to top that off they were talking about renting a room in the whore house so really it sounds like they raped her and then planned to rent out her unconscious body.

Also if you were thinking about picking this up the game has gone on sale/price drop on amazon.

the PS3 and 360 version is $40 and the PC is $30 right now.

Schwhat

dragonsama wrote: »

Sprung for the PS3 version and finished Alice 1 over the weekend.

Overall the atmosphere was great but it was a bear to do the platforming. Alice jumped like an FPS character mainly because they used an FPS engine and gave it a 3rd person view. I really hoped they might have fixed the floaty inaccurate jumps but they did not. that killed me more times than the jabberwock.

Started Alice Madness returns yesterday and I'm digging it so far. but I'm only on level 2 and..

Did Alice just get raped? you wake up and when Alice asks the guys who were standing over her what they were doing they just respond with "What comes naturally". to top that off they were talking about renting a room in the whore house so really it sounds like they raped her and then planned to rent out her unconscious body.

Also if you were thinking about picking this up the game has gone on sale/price drop on amazon.

the PS3 and 360 version is $40 and the PC is $30 right now.

No she didn't. The 2 fishermen's conversation was that they were going to do the deed by bringing her to a room in the nearby inn (which is your destination anyhow), but she woke up.

I just finished this game this weekend on nightmare mode as my first playthrough. I can see how people can like it a lot and why people were clamoring why it was flawed.

I loved the art design especially on a PC with max settings. Gameplay/controls is ok but you need to really remap the dodge key to the middle mouse button otherwise you're left hand will hurt.

I have to agree with the complaints that the lack of boss fights is a real downer. There are a few tough battles which you can not cheese that I had to retry a few times, but most of them are easy to cheese or did not need to be cheesed.

I can see the rehash on some of the puzzles can get tiring to some after a time, but I can deal with that as long as they actual had chapter end bosses. Story was mediocre, I could see what was going on from mid chapter 2. I see no real reason to replay this game again.

Skull2185

Man... this game is such an oddity.

On one hand, this game has quite possibly the worst platforming in a game ever. Like, somebody needs to be tried for war crimes, and the combat is mediocre at best.

And yet, I find myself wanting to play and keep playing. The design of the scenery, and the re-imagining of the Wonderland characters is pretty awesome. The story and the way its playing out is pretty rad too.


I also like seeing what the next pretty new dress will look like...

Mr_Grinch

dragonsama wrote: »

Sprung for the PS3 version and finished Alice 1 over the weekend.

Overall the atmosphere was great but it was a bear to do the platforming. Alice jumped like an FPS character mainly because they used an FPS engine and gave it a 3rd person view. I really hoped they might have fixed the floaty inaccurate jumps but they did not. that killed me more times than the jabberwock.

I got it on PC and I just couldn't stick at it. I loved the atmosphere but the jumping was horrendous, and I wasn't overly wowed with some of the level design. I got to that floating castle thing and it looked like a hastily put together user-made quake map.

I felt shallow for giving up but it's dated too badly for me. Just about to start Madness Returns though and very much looking forward to it.

Glal

Skull2185 wrote: »

Man... this game is such an oddity.
On one hand, this game has quite possibly the worst platforming in a game ever. Like, somebody needs to be tried for war crimes, and the combat is mediocre at best.
And yet, I find myself wanting to play and keep playing. The design of the scenery, and the re-imagining of the Wonderland characters is pretty awesome. The story and the way its playing out is pretty rad too.

That sounds exactly like the first game.

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Tastyfish

Mithror wrote: »

Aegeri wrote: »

WMain00 wrote: »

The mind boggles why this has been rated with only mediocre scores

That's easy. The gameplay is awful by modern platformers and stuck well in the past. It is saved because it's non gameplay parts are REALLY solid. If it wasn't for the twisted scenery, the setting and the general way the story progresses I wouldn't be anywhere near as engaged with the game as I am. I do wish that the games core gameplay was better to support the fantastic setting and scenery. I'm playing it because I loved the first game and the story is really engaging me.

I'm curious, mainly because this does seem to be the main argument for the lower scores, but what exactly should it have done then? To which platformers are you comparing it to and what exactly makes it old fashioned?

Frankly, I'm glad that for a chance we actually do seem to get a platformer, because they have been rather sparse the last years, if you ask me. And I'd definitely put it up there with Psychonauts, which is already quite old.

I think part of it might how much free-running games like Assasin's Creed have spoiled older styled "platformers" by removing a lot of the obviously gaming elements which is probably why it now feels padded. Platforming has now become more part of how you explore the game world rather than just a goal in itself.

I think the evolution of modern "platform" games can definitely be summed by:

Mario/Sonic -> Alice -> Tomb raider -> Assasin's Creed/Mirror's Edge

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Skull2185

Oh.

Oh my... Almost done with the game I guess. Stopped at the beginning of The Infernal Train last night.

Poor Alice... how disturbing. Do I have this correct:

So, Bumby did something to Alice's sister (murder or rape, maybe both?) locked her in her room, and then burned down the house to cover his crime. Alice escapes, and he tries to corrupt her mind to make her forget and position her to become a prostitute herself

Is that about right? Goodness...

Loathing

Pretty much, yea. Plus:

All the orphans at the orphanage? He's been using them as prostitutes as well, and trying to brainwash Alice of this fact.

Skull2185

Jesus Christ...

Edit: On a much needed lighter note

The Red Queen's Castle

After being chased around by The Executioner, my eyes lit up when I found the cake. I thought it would just make me his size though so we could duke it out. Pleasantly surprised when it made me a friggin giant, the look on Alice's face and the reaction of The Executioner were priceless. The bit as a giant, barebones as it may have been, is one of my favorite parts of the game so far.

Teyar

Not, quite. First, a younger, not yet established Bumby enters into Alice's home. A place of love, and safety, and comfort. He sneaks past Alice's room. Goes to her sister's room. Audibly and undeniably rapes her little sister, remembering that Alice herself is but barely a teenager at the moment. He watches Alice watching him, and a moment of grim, silent, torturous understanding passes between them. She will not speak of it. He knows. But just incase, because on top of being a child rapist, he's a dick, he decides to burn the house down. Through sheer luck, she survives.

And eventually finds herself in his care. Knowing of the rape, of the murder of her innocent sister and beloved parents, and that such a fate is infact her own, she stays silent, enduring his exhortations to forgetfulness and quiescence.

He then removes her hair, metaphorically and likely quite literally raping her body, her mind, and her soul, untill the only thing she can manage upon suddenly and violently remembering all of this, the ONLY thing she can do - is murder.

And thats what A:MR is about. Try not to understate it. It needs to be repeated - Silent Hill 2 has got NOTHING on this shit.

Skull2185

Jesus fuck...

that shit is way tormented. I can't decide if this game is a bad game, or an awesome one for making me feel the way I do.

I wouldn't call myself sheltered or anything, but this game is some heavy stuff, man.

Am I overreacting?

maximumzero

This game looks fantastic, and my girlfriend likes Alice in Wonderland-themed stuff, so now I just wait for the magic $30 price point.

Local H Jay

it's been $40 all over the place since it came out, keep your eyes peeled because i'm sure you'll see it at $30 any day now. it's easily worth $40 though, i still haven't beaten it but it's mad fun