Apparently, the developers are putting in a bunch of changes to the PS3 version for UK/PAL/Europe release. As in fixing a lot of the complaints from the version they already released in North America.
First up, Eden has taken on board the camera issues. Gone is the restrictive single-stick system which the player often fought against, and gone is the dynamic, somewhat zoomed-in perspective. Instead, players see Carnby from a more conventional zoomed-out third-person view, more central to the action, and, crucially, are given the option of full manual camera control with the right stick.
...
Other movement elements have been overhauled too. Carnby now runs by default, so there's no longer any need to hold the run button down the whole time. He changes direction quicker too and feels more responsive and fluid - though when you need to be careful and walk, you can still do that. You just nudge the analogue stick a little. Simple.
Elsewhere, the inventory system has also been given a few tweaks here and there. While you still press down on the d-pad to check the contents of your coat, it's not such a ball-ache. The completely imprecise analogue system that made it tough to cycle through items has gone. Now you only have the choice of flicking through your items with the d-pad. A small, but worthwhile change. You also don't have to pick up and insert batteries the whole time, or combine objects in a specific order to make them work, or confirm that you want to drop items. Such pedantic niggly little things, and worth changing.
I guess it would be too much to hope for a patch for the game for the 360 version or the North American copies of the game, right?
I read that yesterday and found it rather good. As a 360 owner, if it finds its way into that realease (and gets re-reviewed positively), I would consider buying it.
I read that yesterday and found it rather good. As a 360 owner, if it finds its way into that realease (and gets re-reviewed positively), I would consider buying it.
I agree. I want to play the game, but all the issues raised put it on the "keep away" list. If these fixes make it into some kind of re-release or patch for consoles/regions where the game already exists, I would buy it up, no problem.
You know what that shit is? A smokescreen. Yes, the interface is abhorrent. But the game is also missing anything resembling dramatic tension, horror, or even isolationism, all of which this game SHOULD HAVE. Also, though I stopped playing, isn't there one part of the game that makes you do some retarded Super Smash Bros. Brawl maze-like thing that pisses everyone off?
I don't like pissing on anyone's hopes and dreams here but the game would still be a worthless piece of shit even if the interface becomes God of Warlike.
Addressing the interface issues is certainly nice, but that's a diversion: The rest of the game is ass too.
You know what that shit is? A smokescreen. Yes, the interface is abhorrent. But the game is also missing anything resembling dramatic tension, horror, or even isolationism, all of which this game SHOULD HAVE. Also, though I stopped playing, isn't there one part of the game that makes you do some retarded Super Smash Bros. Brawl maze-like thing that pisses everyone off?
I don't like pissing on anyone's hopes and dreams here but the game would still be a worthless piece of shit even if the interface becomes God of Warlike.
Addressing the interface issues is certainly nice, but that's a diversion: The rest of the game is ass too.
Eh, I read comments elsewhere that disagreed with this. Tycho's opinions and the Eurogamer review, particularly.
You know what that shit is? A smokescreen. Yes, the interface is abhorrent. But the game is also missing anything resembling dramatic tension, horror, or even isolationism, all of which this game SHOULD HAVE. Also, though I stopped playing, isn't there one part of the game that makes you do some retarded Super Smash Bros. Brawl maze-like thing that pisses everyone off?
I don't like pissing on anyone's hopes and dreams here but the game would still be a worthless piece of shit even if the interface becomes God of Warlike.
Addressing the interface issues is certainly nice, but that's a diversion: The rest of the game is ass too.
Eh, I read comments elsewhere that disagreed with this. Tycho's opinions and the Eurogamer review, particularly.
I dunno if you guys saw it or not. But it seems the ps3 version will be getting a price drop along with its ambiguous improvements. Seems the msrp is $30. Is this price drop enough to move it from "pass" to "buy"?
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
Seriously, though, while people are certainly entitled to their opinion, I think this is a wholly worthless product in every sense. When I called it "irredeemable" back in early July, I meant exactly that. They would have to replace everything in this game - story, characters, setting, pacing, interface, and so on - to redeem it, but then it would just be another game, and that's not really redeeming it at all.
Of course, the thing that is going to stab people in the face most readily is the absolute travesty of an interface because the player has no choice but to use the interface to interact with the game. That's what an interface is. In Alone In The Dark, it is like a toothache that just never goes away while all the other problems are intermittent punches in the face that occur from time to time.
The thing is, even if you give the player a root canal by fixing the interface, he's still going to get punched in the face by the fact that the game is an empty, ugly, annoying, unintersting, unfun disaster.
So I really do think this is a smokescreen. Fix the thing that people bitched about the most because, after all, the interface is the thing players are confronted with the most, and pretend that the rest of the game that this interface allowed them to interact with wasn't a total clusterfuck.
Gyral's article mentions a 360 patch: "But 360 owners of Alone in the Dark, at least, need not feel completely hard done by. Eden has confirmed that it is working on a patch which will implement most of the changes that have been made to the upcoming PS3 version."
"Eden Studios has said that it is working on a patch for the Xbox 360 version of Alone in the Dark to bring it into line with the heavily reworked PS3 version."
I don't think I'm the target audience for a game that requires you to press a button to blink, even just in one section. I didn't like Indigo Prophecy's "Press spacebar to breathe" sections, either.
I actually liked the idea of the episodic format that let you skip around -- that was cool. I'd love to see it done in a game better than this.
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Do what?
e: The WII version is a stay away game. Don't even THINK about renting it. But I don't think you have a Wii.
No sir I do not have a Wii. I spent too long trying to find one, and now I've stopped giving a shit. But yeah, I think I might steer clear of AITD.
It's a goddamned irredeemable piece of dogshit.
Really. I don't think I want to play with an irredeemable piece of dogshit. Nosir, in fact I am quite certain I do not.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=220284
Apparently, the developers are putting in a bunch of changes to the PS3 version for UK/PAL/Europe release. As in fixing a lot of the complaints from the version they already released in North America.
I guess it would be too much to hope for a patch for the game for the 360 version or the North American copies of the game, right?
I agree. I want to play the game, but all the issues raised put it on the "keep away" list. If these fixes make it into some kind of re-release or patch for consoles/regions where the game already exists, I would buy it up, no problem.
I don't like pissing on anyone's hopes and dreams here but the game would still be a worthless piece of shit even if the interface becomes God of Warlike.
Addressing the interface issues is certainly nice, but that's a diversion: The rest of the game is ass too.
Eh, I read comments elsewhere that disagreed with this. Tycho's opinions and the Eurogamer review, particularly.
Tycho and Eurogamer are wrong.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
Of course, the thing that is going to stab people in the face most readily is the absolute travesty of an interface because the player has no choice but to use the interface to interact with the game. That's what an interface is. In Alone In The Dark, it is like a toothache that just never goes away while all the other problems are intermittent punches in the face that occur from time to time.
The thing is, even if you give the player a root canal by fixing the interface, he's still going to get punched in the face by the fact that the game is an empty, ugly, annoying, unintersting, unfun disaster.
So I really do think this is a smokescreen. Fix the thing that people bitched about the most because, after all, the interface is the thing players are confronted with the most, and pretend that the rest of the game that this interface allowed them to interact with wasn't a total clusterfuck.
Which, in my humble but angry opinion, it was.
But now I'll wait to see if those updates come to the 360 in the form of a patch.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
Here's an article specifically about the patch: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=220266
"Eden Studios has said that it is working on a patch for the Xbox 360 version of Alone in the Dark to bring it into line with the heavily reworked PS3 version."
The maze part took me two tries.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
I actually liked the idea of the episodic format that let you skip around -- that was cool. I'd love to see it done in a game better than this.