In most cases the Aliens we know from the films like to take their victim away with them, sometimes alive sometimes not.
It bothers me a little bit that the AI Alien seems to just run around killing and then leave the corpses, from a game perspective I think it may have been much more impactful to see the Alien drag people away alive, kill the androids or even ignore them.
Imagine what a great scene it would be to finally wander into the place where it has taken everyone, and how horrifying that would be, in my mind better than finding a bunch of corpses all over the place.
Well if it's taking victims away, what exactly would be left behind for you to see where it happened?
"No blood, no Dallas, nothin'"
Scratches on the doors , walls or if you can hurt it in some way , acid .
Parker and Lambert were left.
As were Rains, Golic, Vincent, Eric, and someone dangling from a vent holding a torch.
It's hardly unprecedented.
Quote from: The Necronoir on Aug 14, 2014, 10:22:55 AM
Well if it's taking victims away, what exactly would be left behind for you to see where it happened?
"No blood, no Dallas, nothin'"
Marks by small arms fire, barricades, half eaten doughnuts etc.
Also the people that are left alive if attacked could be dragged away, which I think would actually be scarier than just seeing them impaled and then the Alien wandering off. Or just mix it up a bit.
Quote from: SM on Aug 14, 2014, 11:02:59 AM
Parker and Lambert were left.
As were Rains, Golic, Vincent, Eric, and someone dangling from a vent holding a torch.
It's hardly unprecedented.
True, but the opposite also occurs and a lot more often if you count all of the colonists. I just feel that having corpses all over the place just doesn't feel right for an Alien theme, now if all of these corpses are results of survivors coming into conflict I could buy it more easily.
Do we know that there are "corpses all over the place"?
I think a balance would be good. Have some mangled bodies here and there, but it would also be cool to see the Alien snatch people into vents or grab them from the ceiling and pull them up. Stuff like that.
Thats why we got the Cocoon Scene in the Director's Cut of Alien.
Does anyone think we will get a cocoon scene in this game? From what I have seen so far the ship looks pretty big so its not like the Alien killed everyone and left their body's. It's possible most of the crew abandoned ship after the alien got aboard unless its like the Nostromo with little crew in the first place.
You are not seeing it through the right eyes. Think of this if you were a developer - do you know how much work on animating, scripting and rigging is needed to develop a system where an AI controlled alien is supposed to drag bodies on its own? In non scripted event? A LOT! And if they leave it just to the ragdoll system, it will cause great lulz all the time. Besides, think of the performance impact with all the bodies and body parts around the place which are not static object. Also the cluster f**k of bodies in the xeno's den or whatever the AI will store the bodies, will kill your CPU bad.
Quote from: Xenoscream on Aug 14, 2014, 11:54:35 AMQuote from: SM on Aug 14, 2014, 11:02:59 AM
Parker and Lambert were left.
As were Rains, Golic, Vincent, Eric, and someone dangling from a vent holding a torch.
It's hardly unprecedented.
True, but the opposite also occurs and a lot more often if you count all of the colonists. I just feel that having corpses all over the place just doesn't feel right for an Alien theme, now if all of these corpses are results of survivors coming into conflict I could buy it more easily.
In Aliens, there was a Queen churning out eggs, and a sizeable hive to support. As Alien's alien only stashed half of its 4 victims, and Alien 3's alien leaves a trail of bodies (and does quite a bit of what appears to be eating), it seems like the abduction-per-alien ratio is fairly low.
Would indeed be cool if we could come across the xeno's secret stash at some point, though.
OMFG, so much NITPICKING.
Did OP watch any of the films?
Quote from: PRI. HUDSON on Aug 17, 2014, 05:17:18 AM
OMFG, so much NITPICKING.
Did OP watch any of the films?
No I just happen to be a member of a fan forum.
High value post there, thanks for your contribution, very insightful.
Quote from: Xenoscream on Aug 17, 2014, 12:17:25 PM
Quote from: PRI. HUDSON on Aug 17, 2014, 05:17:18 AM
OMFG, so much NITPICKING.
Did OP watch any of the films?
No I just happen to be a member of a fan forum.
High value post there, thanks for your contribution, very insightful.
Go watch Alien 3 and see how many bodies were left behind. Go watch Alien, see how many bodies were left behind.
Does the Alien take people away often? Yes. Does the Alien do it ALL the time, every time? No.
Quote from: PRI. HUDSON on Aug 17, 2014, 04:32:21 PM
Quote from: Xenoscream on Aug 17, 2014, 12:17:25 PM
Quote from: PRI. HUDSON on Aug 17, 2014, 05:17:18 AM
OMFG, so much NITPICKING.
Did OP watch any of the films?
No I just happen to be a member of a fan forum.
High value post there, thanks for your contribution, very insightful.
Go watch Alien 3 and see how many bodies were left behind. Go watch Alien, see how many bodies were left behind.
Does the Alien take people away often? Yes. Does the Alien do it ALL the time, every time? No.
I'm glad you're here to help me out. I'd never noticed that before. So I should skip Aliens and Alien R then?
Quote from: Xenoscream on Aug 18, 2014, 12:32:53 PM
Quote from: PRI. HUDSON on Aug 17, 2014, 04:32:21 PM
Quote from: Xenoscream on Aug 17, 2014, 12:17:25 PM
Quote from: PRI. HUDSON on Aug 17, 2014, 05:17:18 AM
OMFG, so much NITPICKING.
Did OP watch any of the films?
No I just happen to be a member of a fan forum.
High value post there, thanks for your contribution, very insightful.
Go watch Alien 3 and see how many bodies were left behind. Go watch Alien, see how many bodies were left behind.
Does the Alien take people away often? Yes. Does the Alien do it ALL the time, every time? No.
I'm glad you're here to help me out. I'd never noticed that before. So I should skip Aliens and Alien R then?
LOL, you wise ass. I am not wasting my time. Aliens took people in 2 of the films and killed people in 2 of the films. So even in the films there wasn't consistency ALL the time. Also, I am pretty sure an Alien killed one of the crew members and left him in the hallway as he pursued the group down the dead end corridor.
QuoteSo I should skip Aliens and Alien R then?
You skipped the actual game before deciding it left "corpses everywhere".
Quote from: SM on Aug 18, 2014, 10:30:14 PM
QuoteSo I should skip Aliens and Alien R then?
You skipped the actual game before deciding it left "corpses everywhere".
We haven't even seen a quarter of the game. we have no idea what the left over damage will be like. Didn't they state that there would not be cocooning in the game, in an interview a while ago?
I would love to see it in the game though
QuoteWe haven't even seen a quarter of the game. we have no idea what the left over damage will be like.
Precisely my point. Wait till it's out and then ask the question.
In Aliens, the xenos have a collective conscience to abduct humans and get them face hugged because it serves their community structure. Without the hive, they are lost. That's why the xenos in Alien and Alien3 run around unpredictably and kill most things as they encounter them. I think they are actually scarier that way.
They didn't seem terribly lost in Alien and Alien3.
The aliens lifecycle has always been fairly questionable. Viruses and parasites tend to only kill their hosts after they've reproduced enough to infect others. The aliens seem to decide to kill or impregnate arbitrarily.
If we just go by the first movie the alien lifecycle was never really explained. What causes the human corpses to turn into eggs in the cut scene where Ripley stumbles upon Brett and Dallas? If we never had Aliens or that human into egg scene, I believe that having the alien be a completely autonomous bio weapon is an interesting take on the creature. Or as Ash described it, a perfect killing machine. It also seems to be more in line with Scott's interpretation of it from both Alien and Prometheus. The creatures were meant to be used as weapons. Highly dangerous weapons that can turn on their owners, but weapons nonetheless.
Quote from: Ferazel on Aug 24, 2014, 06:53:56 AM
The aliens lifecycle has always been fairly questionable. Viruses and parasites tend to only kill their hosts after they've reproduced enough to infect others. The aliens seem to decide to kill or impregnate arbitrarily.
If we just go by the first movie the alien lifecycle was never really explained. What causes the human corpses to turn into eggs in the cut scene where Ripley stumbles upon Brett and Dallas? If we never had Aliens or that human into egg scene, I believe that having the alien be a completely autonomous bio weapon is an interesting take on the creature. Or as Ash described it, a perfect killing machine. It also seems to be more in line with Scott's interpretation of it from both Alien and Prometheus. The creatures were meant to be used as weapons. Highly dangerous weapons that can turn on their owners, but weapons nonetheless.
The way egg morphing works makes the Alien less productive the way I see it. It's a really creepy concept that I wish they went into a little more, but having the alien turn a person into an egg then have another person be impregnated to die just seems like to much to reproduce. Cocconing a person then having a queen lay eggs is more productive since the alien could itself turn into a queen. Egg morphing could be a solution when the alien is all alone though like in the movie Alien and is not sure if transforming into a queen is the safest idea.
Quote from: Ferazel on Aug 24, 2014, 06:53:56 AM
The way egg morphing works makes the Alien less productive the way I see it. It's a really creepy concept that I wish they went into a little more, but having the alien turn a person into an egg then have another person be impregnated to die just seems like to much to reproduce.
The fact that we only received a glimpse of the eggmorphing cycle served to make the film more terrifying than if there was any attempt to explain it.
Half of the deaths attributed to the xenomorph on the Nostromo were the result of crew members looking for it. The fact that this one will consciously stalk characters is, imo, more in tune with the characteristics of the xenos in Aliens than with the original film. Hell, I don't even think Kane's son had even intended to get inside the Narcissus with Ripley at the end of the film. I always thought it seemed more like it was looking for shelter and wanted to be left alone.
QuoteIf we just go by the first movie the alien lifecycle was never really explained. What causes the human corpses to turn into eggs in the cut scene where Ripley stumbles upon Brett and Dallas?
The Alien did it.
Quote from: Queen7 on Aug 24, 2014, 07:45:30 PMThe way egg morphing works makes the Alien less productive the way I see it.
I'm with you on that. I love the idea of people being turned into eggs from a horror point of view, but it just doesn't make much logical sense. You'd need two hosts for every one Alien. That's pretty wasteful. You'd only get half the Aliens you would if you were using a Queen and eggs, less if you consider the people who will inevitably be killed during the capturing process.
Alien bursts, matures, morphs its former host into an egg. All in the space 4 or 5 hours. Multiply depending on number of available hosts, with gestation times of around 16 hours, give or take.
Queens, on the other hand, take about 3 days to gestate and another 3 days before they start laying.
Once they do, of course, you have lots and lots more eggs.
But given a large number of available hosts, you could have a bunch of Aliens already setting up a hive in those 6 days.
Most parasites are wasteful. Like a fungus that inevitably kills its host tree. The host lives long enough for the parasite to fulfill it's purpose of procreating its next generation.
Eggmorphing is much the same thing. The Alien eggmorphs its host into an egg. The egg then sits dormant for any amount of time - in the case of an Alien, this could be any amount of time. Centuries or possibly even millennia to our knowledge.
As it looks as though the Alien is intended as a weapon against human beings (as hinted at by what we can project from what we have seen in 'Prometheus') its intended purpose is to wipe out humans and it may be intended for it to perform this task in a geometric progression. An eggmorphed human needs another human host for the facehugger stage and if this level of prolific progression were to reach its conclusion, eventually, the host species, in this case homo sapiens sapiens (us) is destined to become extinct through such 'wasteful' geometric progression.
A very elegant weapon, wouldn't you say? In the extreme that's what such a weapon is for, to be wasteful and wipe out its host stock.
-Windebieste.
[EDiT] - Oh, and 'conservation' holds no meaning to a parasite. Symbiotic relationships are very, very different.
Quote from: windebieste on Sep 02, 2014, 10:37:16 AM
Most parasites are wasteful. Like a fungus that inevitably kills its host tree. The host lives long enough for the parasite to fulfill it's purpose of procreating its next generation.
Eggmorphing is much the same thing. The Alien eggmorphs its host into an egg. The egg then sits dormant for any amount of time - in the case of an Alien, this could be any amount of time. Centuries or possibly even millennia to our knowledge.
As it looks as though the Alien is intended as a weapon against human beings (as hinted at by what we can project from what we have seen in 'Prometheus') its intended purpose is to wipe out humans and it may be intended for it to perform this task in a geometric progression. An eggmorphed human needs another human host for the facehugger stage and if this level of prolific progression were to reach its conclusion, eventually, the host species, in this case homo sapiens sapiens (us) is destined to become extinct through such 'wasteful' geometric progression.
A very elegant weapon, wouldn't you say? In the extreme that's what such a weapon is for, to be wasteful and wipe out its host stock.
-Windebieste.
[EDiT] - Oh, and 'conservation' holds no meaning to a parasite. Symbiotic relationships are very, very different.
Hmm, that fits pretty nicely; never thought of it like that.
I was also gonna say, what if the egg is actually the final stage of the cycle, not the adult Alien? The adult could just be a means to leave behind some eggs.
Quote from: windebieste on Sep 02, 2014, 10:37:16 AMA very elegant weapon, wouldn't you say? In the extreme that's what such a weapon is for, to be wasteful and wipe out its host stock.
That depends entirely on you accepting the whole 'Aliens are engineered weapons' theory though. If it's a natural creature it seems less sensible.
Quote from: windebieste on Sep 02, 2014, 10:37:16 AM
Most parasites are wasteful
The Alien isn't really a parasite, though. It's more akin to a parasitoid or protolean being ("those that begin the growing phase of their lives as parasites, and in particular, typically as internal parasites. As a rule they end that phase of their lives parasitoidally by killing or consuming the host, and then they emerge as free-living adults.")
Quote from: PsyKore on Sep 02, 2014, 10:59:02 AM
I was also gonna say, what if the egg is actually the final stage of the cycle, not the adult Alien? The adult could just be a means to leave behind some eggs.
I like this idea, perhaps the eggs in the derelict were harvested from a world / city which had already been wiped out.
Wouldn't the very nature of a 'cycle' preclude a 'final stage'?
Speaking of queens vs. eggmorphing , I wonder if there's going to be an explanation why this specific alien (along with Kane's Son) never turned into Queens themselves. My personal explanation is that both are male breeds of the Alien and therefore have to rely on eggmorphing to produce females to turn into queens or queen eggs to just skip the whole female hormone storm process.
Doesn't it come from the EU where they turn into Queens? I know the AvP games (2010 in particular) show this. But going by Alien 3, a Queen has to be laid by a facehugger and gestated the same way a regular chestburster does. So it fits that a regular Alien could create eggs in order to spawn a Queen.
Cameron said that one of the first Aliens to emerge in Hadley's Hope grew to become a queen. I say that since there was more than one Alien present at the moment that the oldest one was able to morph into a queen. The theory I'm thinking of is that if there is a single Alien it can't become a queen without another Alien present as it would be left too vulnerable during its transformation, so the Alien will resort to eggmorphing in order to produce an egg that will most likely carry a queen facehugger or a regular one depending on the Alien who eggmorphed the person. So in order for a queen to come about there needs to be more than one Alien present at a time.
The new forthcoming canon bible from Fox, the "Weyland Yutani Report" (aka the SMXLTM) seems to confirm the possibility that a drone or worker could transform into an egg producer. Whether "egg producer" literally means a Queen or simply that they could gain the ability to "egg morph" I do not know.
(https://www.sideshowtoy.com/assets/products/902252-alien-the-weyland-yutani-report-collectors-edition/lg/902252-alien-the-weyland-yutani-report-collectors-edition-005.jpg)
I hope i can find hires scans of that book..
Anyways. I never cared fro the idea of them being weapons, i like the idea that they are natural creatures. never cared for the egg-morphing idea much either.
I think bodies here and there would bother the species of the corpses and that's the point by the alien. Does it have one or not? Who can tell?
It might be striving to survive either on the station or through a possible escape. Maybe it's reacting tactically towards what the humans are thinking? Maybe it seeks out alternatives with what it does to implement the most chaos? "Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality."
I don't personally care much about the eggmorphing idea either. The onetime queen facehugger egg by drone idea seems legit but it would also need the best opportunity for the alien and it's like ripley, i suppose, figuring out what to do at the time of events.
The mystery of not knowing how they do certain things is one of the things that makes them special as an alien being. Persistent damage and bodies is what i love seeing in games. The idea of corpses fading away or environment healing itself has always bothered me in many games. If they're on your path showing pain, despair and fear or getting snatched last minute or in some other way surprising you it adds to the atmosphere of the game story.
I wonder if some of the characters you get to know more and relate to will die in the most horrible way?
Comon cut the alien some slack, he's working overtime to kill all the people on the station. There must be hundreds or thousands.
He leaves them there as a warning to all the other humans X)
Before i go off topic, ill chip in my 2 cents.
In essence, the xeno wouldnt particularly drag people off to god-knows where for no random reason. Naturally, if the directors cut had been canon, then it'd make more sense because of them being the catalyst for the egg transformation process. since it was cut, my only explanation is that it's acting in a way a lone, vunerable but also deadly creature would. violently. Regardless, they probably posed a threat to the xeno, culminating in a on-the-spot impalement or dance in the dark. ;D
Spoiler
Also, in terms of gameplay/storyline, there is a part where a certain doctor helps you out, but wants you to get something for him, knowing full well the xeno is on that level. You retrieve, you come back, scold him for it, and as he opens elevator access, he's about to come out but the xeno is on the other side of the door. creeps towards him a lil, then snatch & grab into the dark..
And here's my off topic piece:
Has anyone else noticed the purina logo on all the doors?
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121221171111/logopedia/images/a/a9/Purina.png (http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121221171111/logopedia/images/a/a9/Purina.png)
even in the films! SPACE ALIEN CHOW!!!
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky4eysgePS1qb78wao1_500.png (http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky4eysgePS1qb78wao1_500.png)
QuoteIn essence, the xeno wouldnt particularly drag people off to god-knows where for no random reason.
Except Brett, Dallas, Clemens, or Andrews.
Quote from: rabidninja64 on Oct 05, 2014, 09:49:06 AMIn essence, the xeno wouldnt particularly drag people off to god-knows where for no random reason. Naturally, if the directors cut had been canon, then it'd make more sense because of them being the catalyst for the egg transformation process.
Even without the DC, the Aliens could well still be cocooning people off-screen. Like SM says, plenty of victims get taken and never reappear.
Quote from: rabidninja64 on Oct 05, 2014, 09:49:06 AM
And here's my off topic piece:
Has anyone else noticed the purina logo on all the doors?
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121221171111/logopedia/images/a/a9/Purina.png (http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121221171111/logopedia/images/a/a9/Purina.png)
even in the films! SPACE ALIEN CHOW!!!
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky4eysgePS1qb78wao1_500.png (http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky4eysgePS1qb78wao1_500.png)
It's similar but not the same. The "hazard warning sign" from Alien has four little red squares with rounded corners on the outside and one large square in the middle. The Purina logo is just a red & white checkered background.
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F50%2Fsemioticstandard.jpg&hash=8747a293ba242b307b056562db07453c2c6ee47e)
Here's the rest of the Nostromo's signage.
I've said it before, but I do love that they've used those symbols - and other new Cobb-styled ones - for the trophy icons.
Quote from: Queen7 on Aug 24, 2014, 07:45:30 PM
The way egg morphing works makes the Alien less productive the way I see it. It's a really creepy concept that I wish they went into a little more, but having the alien turn a person into an egg then have another person be impregnated to die just seems like to much to reproduce. Cocconing a person then having a queen lay eggs is more productive since the alien could itself turn into a queen. Egg morphing could be a solution when the alien is all alone though like in the movie Alien and is not sure if transforming into a queen is the safest idea.
Like SM, I've been saying for years that the two methods are
not mutually exclusive: Egg transformation could be done to
create a Queen in an emergency situation. The result then allows for normal reproduction. Presumably, in '
Alien', the creature was hedging its bets and creating two, just in case one had been killed during the vulnerable implantation.
I used to like the idea of any adult being able to become one. It was realised well in Perry's adaptation of the first graphic novel, in prose. But ever since '
Alien 3', we know that specialised facehuggers impregnate a host with a Queen. If any adult could become one, there'd be no biological reason for that. So, really, this goes all the way back to '
Alien 3... If it hadn't been for that, the 'adult-becomes-Queen' theory could still stand (and transforming hosts into eggs would be seen as a preliminary in-between stage of its development).
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Oct 05, 2014, 02:35:43 PM
Quote from: Queen7 on Aug 24, 2014, 07:45:30 PM
The way egg morphing works makes the Alien less productive the way I see it. It's a really creepy concept that I wish they went into a little more, but having the alien turn a person into an egg then have another person be impregnated to die just seems like to much to reproduce. Cocconing a person then having a queen lay eggs is more productive since the alien could itself turn into a queen. Egg morphing could be a solution when the alien is all alone though like in the movie Alien and is not sure if transforming into a queen is the safest idea.
Like SM, I've been saying for years that the two methods are not mutually exclusive: Egg transformation could be done to create a Queen in an emergency situation. The result then allows for normal reproduction. Presumably, in 'Alien', the creature was hedging its bets and creating two, just in case one had been killed during the vulnerable implantation.
I used to like the idea of any adult being able to become one. It was realised well in Perry's adaptation of the first graphic novel, in prose. But ever since 'Alien 3', we know that specialised facehuggers impregnate a host with a Queen. If any adult could become one, there'd be no biological reason for that. So, really, this goes all the way back to 'Alien 3... If it hadn't been for that, the 'adult-becomes-Queen' theory could still stand (and transforming hosts into eggs would be seen as a preliminary in-between stage of its development).
On the topic of an adult alien turning into a queen, I read that cameron stated one of the first aliens to emerge becomes a queen. Could this be taken into perspective that a baby alien has a chance of becoming a queen before it matures? I look at it this way in order for there to be a queen more than one alien needs to be present at a time. I think this works with all the films, the aliens egg morph to create another alien or a queen facehugger egg, with the latter being most likley.