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Gragt

Gragt

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kaizoku said:
Is Alan Wake worth it?
I've been on the fence on this one for a few times... but after reading/youtubing some reviews I discarded it.
But right now it costs less than 4€!
Is it good for a storyfag?
Anyone played it here?
Click to expand...

It's very good and one of the best stories in a video game although it is on a different than it is formulated. Action is decent but repetitive and it's only with the episode that it tries new things. It was cheaper a few weeks ago when it was in a indie bundle though, basically pay what you want.
 
Cowboy Moment

Cowboy Moment

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Gragt said:
kaizoku said:
Is Alan Wake worth it?
I've been on the fence on this one for a few times... but after reading/youtubing some reviews I discarded it.
But right now it costs less than 4€!
Is it good for a storyfag?
Anyone played it here?
Click to expand...

It's very good and one of the best stories in a video game although it is on a different than it is formulated. Action is decent but repetitive and it's only with the episode that it tries new things. It was cheaper a few weeks ago when it was in a indie bundle though, basically pay what you want.
Click to expand...

No, just no. The story is really banal, starts out fairly intriguing, but quickly descents into painful mediocrity. And no, the fact that it's a mediocre writer writing a mediocre story about himself and therefore oh so clever and meta does not make it good. Grand majority of your time, you still spend with the painfully mediocre story. All the more painful because of the wasted potential. And then there's running around the woods and killing shadow hillbillies...
 
sser

sser

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Alan Wake is an aesthetically pleasing bad game.

I bought it for $5 and still regretted it.
 
Gragt

Gragt

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First it's not about a mediocre writer writing a mediocre story about himself but about a tv show about a mediocre writer fighting for the control of his reality with his writing, and that could be interpreted in many more way than what is shown in the game. What I find interesting with Alan Wake is not just the game itself but how most people are so used to be spoonfed that they do not want to or can't delve a bit deeper. People just stop at the "oh so clever and meta" bit and repeat it and do not realise that it's not about the story itself but how it's told. The narration by Alan is realistic because it's done by a pulp writer and it wouldn't fit if it had been done in another style. Yes, he occasionaly utters faux-deep monologues and uses trite images, and that's why it works because it helps to define Alan and his identity as the narrator: it's what he typically does. You can see that in many stories where the character utter clichés and that's fine because it's what real people do and it reinforce the realism. And the story shines by exploring Alan's insecurities, which are for the most part typically masculine (the way he approaches and talks of his writings is very typical of a man and few women would do it the way he does), and how they influence his life and his relationships, first among them his relationship with his wife which is the one at the origin of the whole mess. If you know of another game that explores male insecurities like that, let me know.
 
Cowboy Moment

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Gragt, I'm pretty sure you're reading into it way too much. I'm open to the idea of Alan Wake being more elaborate than it appears, but this smells like that huge FF8 plot analysis essay. Most stories have some measure of subtext, and especially a story constructed like Alan Wake's will lend itself to interpretations of varying depth, but I honestly doubt the intention here was to offer this complicated indirect characterization of Alan, where the character we play is not actually Alan as he is, but Alan as he writes himself to be.

However, even if you're right, it still doesn't change the simple fact that 90% of the game is spent following this mediocre and banal thriller, and shooting the same shadow people over and over. This is the basic experience of the game no matter how clever it is in subtext. It's similar to what Patrick Rothfuss writes, and just as I'm not willing to give Rothfuss a free pass for his cliche nonsense because of the implied unreliable narration, I'm not going to call Alan Wake's story good.
 
Gragt

Gragt

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That's the great thing about intent: it means shit in art. I don't know Lake's intent and I don't care because all that matters is the end product. Knowing the intent might be interesting to see where what went well and what went wrong but that's just it. The whole thing might be a happy accident that it wouldn't detract from its quality.

I agree that the repetitive gameplay is one of the weak spots and some things could have been handled better, thankfully it's short enough and I'm sure that if it had lasted a few more hours I would have grown bored. Still it's one of those cases where a good story manages to drag up gameplay shortcomings, like the Soul Reaver serie — AW is nowhere near as tedious as Defiance though.
 

LizardKing

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kaizoku said:
Damn GOG and their wallet assault tactics!


Time to burn cash...



Is Alan Wake worth it?
I've been on the fence on this one for a few times... but after reading/youtubing some reviews I discarded it.
But right now it costs less than 4€!
Is it good for a storyfag?
Anyone played it here?
Click to expand...

I played it through and wouldn't recommend it.
It's a fine example of wasted potential.

The setting is good and there's some nice visuals, but that's about it.
Combat is repetitive and it gets boring very quick since there's no variation. There's also too much filler combat.
Plot is not good and characters are not fleshed out enough to make me care about them.
I forced myself through the game just to see if the plot gets better and it never did.

The game would have been much better if it was more Twin Peaks and less 3rd person shooter.
 
Gord

Gord

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Today's special:
Don't starve (only -33% though), Witcher 2, Strike Suit Zero, Signal Ops, Slender: The Arrival and Miasmata.

Miasmata is dirt cheap at 3,74$ and sounds fairly interesting. Anyone played it?
 
tuluse

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I noticed the Thief and Thief 2 installers were just updated

Hi everyone,


Just wanted to let you know that we have uploaded some brand spankin' new installers for the first two Thief games. Included now are all the NewDark fixes for both games. Shout outs/thank yous go out to voodoo47 who has been more than awesome with the community and helping us out with everything Thief-related.

So, please, enjoy these newly-enhanced installers and let us know what you think... and don't forget to steal everything not nailed down :P
Click to expand...
 
Aurelius

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I'm interested in Don't Starve, is it worth $9.99 in its current state? No doubt it will have more content and likely be cheaper in the future, so I'm undecided.
 
Zewp

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Codex 2013
It's a good game, but I don't like it as a roguelike. It's not that the game is difficult, but a single mistake that leads to your death can cause hours of replaying the same content. It can be a bit disheartening.

Otherwise, it's a pretty good game and definitely worth $9.99.
 
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