Alan Wake II (thoughts)

[Rin Stowleigh]

I liked the first two Alan Wake games.. completed them both, and found
the overall duration to be about right for a single player game.

AW2 is a PS5 exclusive at first, but Epic is showing that it will be
released for the PC in October.

Not sure if I should look forward to this one or not.. When I look at
videos of the original Alan Wake vs. Alan Wake Remastered, the
remastered version looks a little too bright/shiny/clean, like some of
the gloomy atmosphere was drained from the original. I'm not sure
that "features" such as more detailed character faces really adds
anything to the game.

Given all the disppointing releases in recent years, I don't want to
assume this release will be worth playing, because doing so always
seems to jinx the actual outcome. I think it may be best if I just
forget about it as a potential purchase, and only give it my attention
if glowing reviews throw themselves at me.

[Rin Stowleigh]

>AW2 is a PS5 exclusive at first, but Epic is showing that it will be
>released for the PC in October.

Disregard that part, apparently there's a lot of misinformation out
there.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Did you read that on Fox News? :P

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

[Rin Stowleigh]

On Sun, 28 May 2023 15:44:41 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtr...@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 5/28/2023 2:00 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>
>>> AW2 is a PS5 exclusive at first, but Epic is showing that it will be
>>> released for the PC in October.
>>
>> Disregard that part, apparently there's a lot of misinformation out
>> there.
>
>Did you read that on Fox News? :P

There was a time when search engines could reasonably distinguish (in
the first page of results) whether something was in fact a platform
(PS5, Xbox whatever) exclusive or not within the first page or two of
results.

But this time I saw lots of indication (fake news maybe) that it was
PS5 exclusive, then realized there was more indication (fake news
propagated more effectively maybe) that it was being released for all
platforms at the same time.

As far as I can tell, it's true that it is expected to be released in
October, but as far as it being exclusive to any platform for more
than 24hrs, I guess it's anyones guess. My own level of
give-a-fuckness on any sort of gaming release timing is so
non-existent at this point, I just didn't want to be the purveyor of
bad information as it emerged from Google's search results :)

Personally I was kind of hoping it would be a PS5 exclusive at first,
long enough for them to work out the bugs. Some of the PS5 titles
have hit the PC in a pretty polished form. Whenever I hear of
simultaneous platform releases I often think more than likely QA
resources were spread too thin to hit a deadline, and the PC version
(the only one I'm interested in) is probably going to arrive with
stupid bugs and oversights, like custom keybinding issues at minimum.

Thus the lack of give-a-fuckness that has accumulated over the years
:)

[Mike S.]

On Sun, 28 May 2023 19:22:41 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
<rstow...@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:

>Thus the lack of give-a-fuckness that has accumulated over the years

I stopped caring about release dates long ago for two reasons. First,
I already own so many unplayed games, I really just don't care when
yet another one is coming out for the most part. Second reason is
because those release dates are going to be pushed back anyway.

As for release platforms, this is not something I care about either.
But that is just because I like western style RPGs and strategy games
most of all, and those tend to be released on the PC, so I never even
have to think about it or check to make sure.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

I haven't really been following the news about the sequel, so I can't
speak on its graphics or any news about the story. But my first
reaction to the news was, "Yes, finally!"

The original "Alan Wake" had somewhat flawed but still generally
satisfying gameplay, coupled with an excellent sense of atmosphere and
- for its time - tremendous visuals and effects (even today, the
cyclone of cars and boats you face off against in the end-game is
impressive). It well captured the feel of being in a Stephen King
novel, with entertaining characters and situations. It did drag on in
a few parts but on the whole it was extremely satisfying game that
I've played numerous times and likely will again.

The semi-sequel, "American Nightmare" was less entertaining, being a
bit too repetitive, but the over-the-top acting of Sam Lake as "Mr.
Scratch" more than made up for it. I never really took it for a
sequel; more as something to tide us over until "Alan Wake 2" finally
saw the light of day.

Which, apparently, is happening at last, and I'm tentatively happy at
the idea. I want to see how the story ends (hopefully we get to some
conclusion). Remedy (the developer) has generally provided
satisfactory games - I enjoyed "Control" and "Quantum Break", even if
I didn't love them - so I expect they'll please me in that regard,
even if the game probably won't wow me with its mechanics. And it
should be a nice test for my new PC, since Remedy games tend to be
cutting-edge.

But, again, I lack any specifics against which to judge. But this is -
unusually - a sequel I am actually looking forward to.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Mon, 29 May 2023 09:32:04 -0400, Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>On Sun, 28 May 2023 19:22:41 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
><rstow...@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
>
>>Thus the lack of give-a-fuckness that has accumulated over the years
>
>I stopped caring about release dates long ago for two reasons. First,
>I already own so many unplayed games, I really just don't care when
>yet another one is coming out for the most part. Second reason is
>because those release dates are going to be pushed back anyway.

Ditto and ditto, with the addendum that I don't buy day-one games
anymore anyway. The game might be coming out in October, but I
probably won't play it until two years down the line, when it finally
shows up on sale.

Buying games on release is a sucker's deal. Especially now, you're
paying full price for a beta product that won't work well until six
months of patches; it's not worth the hassle. Plus, you've no idea
what the gameplay is really like, or if the developers are going to
radically change the gameplay for the worse with the addition of MTX
and other nonsense.

'Back in the day' there was a point to buying a game soon after it
released; there was only limited shelf-space in stores, and if you
didn't snag a copy when you saw it, it might not be there next time
you visited. I think one reason I hoard^h^h^h^h^h collect^h^h^h^h^h
acquire so many games these days is because that happened so often to
me in the past.

But in these days of digital sales, it's unlikely that any game won't
be available for years to come. Sure, some games are occassionally
removed from digital storefronts (usually do to licensing issues) but
those events are fairly rare, and almost never occur less than two or
three years after release. So there's never any rush to buy a game
immediately. Especially if it is a single-player game - like Alan Wake
- not dependent on high server populations.


TL;DR: I'm waiting for the "Game of the Year Platinum Ultimate
Collection" version of the game... and even then I'll wait until it's
on sale. ;-)

[Rin Stowleigh]

On Mon, 29 May 2023 10:31:03 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Ditto and ditto, with the addendum that I don't buy day-one games
>anymore anyway. The game might be coming out in October, but I
>probably won't play it until two years down the line, when it finally
>shows up on sale.
>
>Buying games on release is a sucker's deal. Especially now, you're
>paying full price for a beta product that won't work well until six
>months of patches; it's not worth the hassle.

I agree to some extent, but there are some other angles to consider
here.

First, games are dead easy to refund these days, so buying a stinker
on release day no longer needs to be disappointing.

Second, if the game is worth keeping and doesn't need to be refunded,
making the purchase at full price is a form of voting with one's
wallet and supporting games that went the extra mile to develop and
test a decent title before trying to use the customer as a beta
tester. Waiting until a title is dirt cheap or free really does
nothing to encourage quality out of the gate, and sort of incentivizes
alternatives like the whole early access thing (which I'm not a fan
of).

Now the bad news is that the current state of gaming is so horrendous,
that it's hard for a title to even interest me in the trailers and
announcements, much less wow me upon release day. So the
opportunities to support a good day one release have dwindled to truly
rare occasions.

[Rin Stowleigh]

On Mon, 29 May 2023 10:20:40 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

> It well captured the feel of being in a Stephen King
>novel, with entertaining characters and situations.

This is exactly why I enjoyed it, they simply got that part right.

>The semi-sequel, "American Nightmare" was less entertaining, being a
>bit too repetitive, but the over-the-top acting of Sam Lake as "Mr.
>Scratch" more than made up for it.

It was a bit repetitive by nature of the game design and to some
extent didn't feel like a full game, but I do remember enjoying it
overall.

[Rin Stowleigh]

On Mon, 29 May 2023 09:32:04 -0400, Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>On Sun, 28 May 2023 19:22:41 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
><rstow...@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
>
>>Thus the lack of give-a-fuckness that has accumulated over the years
>
>I stopped caring about release dates long ago for two reasons. First,
>I already own so many unplayed games, I really just don't care when
>yet another one is coming out for the most part. Second reason is
>because those release dates are going to be pushed back anyway.

Not to mention the never ending disappointment that gaming in general
has become. The occasional good game still emerges, but the amount of
time it takes to find one (or maybe the patience for it to find you)
makes it seem the juice isn't worth the squeeze most of the time.

I think back to 30 years ago and believing that the state of gaming
would be so much farther ahead by this time than it is.

[rms]

>I liked the first two Alan Wake games.. completed them both, and found
>the overall duration to be about right for a single player game.

Yeah I loved the main game (and the two short dlc, for the most part);
American Nightmare became a bit tedious with the combat focus. Also have
the remaster on epic, and wouldn't mind playing that version to see how it
compares to the original (I wouldn't be overly concerned with graphical
differences, imho, and it sounds like they added much modern improvements.
I am concerned if they have altered the game's music, since some years back
there was an issue with music licensing)

>AW2 is a PS5 exclusive at first, but Epic is showing that it will be
>released for the PC in October.

Epic paid for both the Remaster and Alan Wake 2, so yeah. I would not
count on AW2 coming to steam any time soon either, that could be many years.
Epic pricing the game lower than other AAA releases is very interesting --
they have a marketing reason, but I do wonder if it is e.g., shorter in
length -- guess we'll see. I do balk at paying full price on release in any
case, and will probably wait til a sale next year on it.

rms

[JAB]

It's pretty rare that I buy a game on release date but I do occasionally
if it's a 'must have' game. Even then I do make sure there are some
reviews in before I press that buy button.

The next one, only one come to think of it, on my list is Mask of The
Rose as it looks to be just the sort of game I like and the dev's
(Failbetter) have a good track record of producing games that I've very
much enjoyed.

[rms]

Update: I installed Alan Wake Remastered on a lark, and am frickin shocked
at the major bugs and glitches: The graphical glitches piss me off, and
happen All The Time. The weird mouse sensitivity garbage is incredibly
annoying. It's been like this since launch by all accounts. Incredibly
disappointing.

rms

[Rin Stowleigh]

When I saw the graphics of remastered, it worried me a bit. Not that
they looked bad, just that something seemed missing. Hard to tell
from videos I suppose, but it seemed like the hue choices just didn't
match the eerie vibe of the original.

Even some of the character faces changed from a menacing look to kind
of a dorky/silly rendition... it's as if in the struggle to make
things more detailed and "accurate" looking, the original vision was
lost.

This concerns me because Alan Wake 2 is being released in a very
different political climate than the first game was. And I'm
wondering if what's really going to emerge is Alan Woke, with the game
caring more about attempting to influence society than provide an
entertaining game. With recent letdowns from previously excellent
game production teams like Arkane Studios, DICE, etc., it makes me
wonder if Remedy will be next.

[rms]

>This concerns me because Alan Wake 2 is being released in a very
>different political climate than the first game was. And I'm
>wondering if what's really going to emerge is Alan Woke,

I wouldn't get caught up in the latest rightwing social media boogieman,
there's a new one every month, and will be a new one every month until the
election. Just wait and see how the game pans out. I am continuing to play
AW:Remastered (just finished Episode 3), and except for occasional graphical
glitch and having to change my mouse DPI settings when driving -- and I've
become inured to those -- I'm enjoying the game, and the texture and facial
animation changes really are upgrades.

rms

[Werner P.]

Am 28.05.23 um 19:19 schrieb Rin Stowleigh:

> AW2 is a PS5 exclusive at first, but Epic is showing that it will be
> released for the PC in October.

I guess, another lock in in the EGS for another 6-12 months!

[Rin Stowleigh]

I am about as far as one can get from a right-wing nut job. I'm left
of center on most social issues. My comments here are about what's
happened to gaming. There is no place for politics in gaming, right
or left, but it's happened anyway, and I'll continue to call it out
when I see it.