AvPGalaxy Forums

I have just uploaded the 19th episode of the AvP Galaxy podcast. This episode sees myself (Corporal Hicks) and fellow staffer RidgeTop joined by community guest star Shevvie as we discuss the recently released Alien Isolation. Beware there are spoilers so if you haven’t finished the game it maybe wise to avoid this one. However, we do give spoiler warnings so you can give it a go.

To listen to previous episodes of our podcasts, please be sure to check out the Podcast section of the website. And if you haven’t read my review of Alien Isolation, what are you waiting for?!

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Well, I disagree with the praise you were giving to Andrea Deck. Sure, she did the job but she wasn't anywhere near as good as Camilla Luddington in Tomb Raider.

Great podcast guys! Loved it!

But were there Aliens in Tomb Raider?  ;D

Quote from: Darkness on Oct 18, 2014, 09:17:30 PM
Well, I disagree with the praise you were giving to Andrea Deck. Sure, she did the job but she wasn't anywhere near as good as Camilla Luddington in Tomb Raider.

I can agree with that but I think the character took much more punishment.

I listened while I was cutting up to when the spoilery stuff started - and I'm kinda annoyed.  Based on the enthusiasm, I was sorely tempted to listen to the whole thing.

be strong bre'r brook

dun you gun gone in that there tar patch

Ah surely won' Xhancle Raymus!

One major problem with making an Aliens-esque sequel: if you can't shoot and kill the Alien creatures in this one, how would it make any sense that you suddenly could in the next installment?

A sticking to the rules of the second movie as opposed to the first

B firing explosive armor piecing rounds in rapid succession

Quote from: Comment on Oct 20, 2014, 07:20:37 PM
One major problem with making an Aliens-esque sequel: if you can't shoot and kill the Alien creatures in this one, how would it make any sense that you suddenly could in the next installment?

Make the ammo severly limited, as it is in the film, and maybe make every Alien death impact the environment in detrimental ways. Perhaps make it dangerous to fire in certain areas. Maybe, as in the film, shooting an Alien within range is likely to severely incapacitate or kill you (Hicks, Drake). Making the Aliens with the Isolation AI would help, especially if they can group together to figure out how to bypass barriers erected by the player. Essentially, have the player constantly painting themselves into a corner.

But, as someone stated in the podcast, they shot the Alien multiple times with a shotgun and it just stumbled back slightly. So how would it make sense for the Alien to suddenly be affected by something it once wasn't? I don't see how guns can go from doing no damage whatsoever to suddenly becoming the creature's weakness.

The only time a shotgun really hurt an Alien was when Hicks shoved one in its mouth.  Daresay most guns in the gob would do a lot of damage, if not outright kill an Alien.

He shot at another Alien in the hive - but for all we know it just stumbled back.

After the shotgun blasts in the hive, the alien did cry it's death scream. But for all we know it took two direct shots to the face. An ALIENS: Isolation game would need REAL careful thought and consideration so as not to be hypocritical of the first.

It screamed.  We have no way of knowing if it was a "death scream".

I think this was harshed over before, but there are different types of ammo, and the one used in A I might not be that lethal to the alien. Then again, the bolt gun should have had enough power to drill it through, so its just the game.

I don't like the Alien being susceptible to bullets. Something about the idea just doesn't feel right. It's such a beautiful monster creation and its weakness is gunfire? Lame.
Ridley Scott intended to make something that we don't understand. Being able to kill it makes the Alien less... well,... alien. I applaud James Cameron for trying to go a different direction, and I think the Alien Queen looks cool, buuuut, I'm not a big fan of Aliens. In fact, I think I like Alien 3 better (though I see the movie's flaws). Aliens just dumbed down the Alien too much for me to like. It was so interesting and original and BAM it's shot with a pistol a couple times and it's dead.

QuoteI don't like the Alien being susceptible to bullets. Something about the idea just doesn't feel right.

It was never supposed to be bullet proof.

Quite.

Quote from:  Dan O'BannonI was stuck on one point, once they got the thing on the spaceship I wanted to avoid the cliché of bullets bouncing off of it: the indestructible monster. I mean, that's the ancient cliché, right? 'You can't stop it, bullets won't stop it.' Not at all. I wanted the thing to be, in every respect, a natural animal, which means, yes, if you shoot it, it'll die. Though deadly, the critter was as vulnerable as any other animal to having holes drilled in it.

Quote from: SM
It was never supposed to be bullet proof.

I recall Giger himself saying that he saw the creature as bullet proof. I can't remember if I read it somewhere or if it was in a video, but I remember it very clearly because I agreed completely with it and it's changed the way I look at the franchise.

The guy who created it seems to disagree.

If it's bullet proof there's no need for acid blood.

Quote from: SM on Oct 24, 2014, 02:38:34 AM
The guy who created it seems to disagree.

If it's bullet proof there's no need for acid blood.

Bullets aren't the only thing that can inflict wounds...

Like blunt graplon hooks travelling at lower velocities.

Quote from: SM on Oct 24, 2014, 03:13:29 AM
Like blunt graplon hooks travelling at lower velocities.

It hit the Alien in the abdomen which, I think, looks like the only exposed and vulnerable area of the creature (besides the neck) because of all the tubes and cords running through it.

Therefore - not bullet proof.

Quote from: SM on Oct 24, 2014, 09:15:10 PM
Therefore - not bullet proof.

Well, about 80% of it is. That's much more bullet proof than they've been portrayed to be.

No, none of it is.  It was never supposed to be.

Ops and vents had bullet proof

Got to them at with right bullet at right angle though but.

true

Quote from: SM on Oct 24, 2014, 09:15:10 PM
Therefore - not bullet proof.

The Alien in AI is not bullet proof. You can see the wounds every time you fire at him...but, he doesnt care much about it. Try to fire an elephant with a hand gun from 10 meters (you are gonna have a bad day) and he isnt bullet proof.
Call it, resistance, regeneration, whatever

Quote from: SM on Oct 25, 2014, 07:08:32 AM
No, none of it is.  It was never supposed to be.

I said they should have been, not that they were supposed to be.
As shown in James Cameron's portrayal, a big problem with having multiple Aliens is that you have to dumb them down, and that does injustice to the creature's amazing design. If they all had the same hunting skills as the first Alien (which is basically to use stealth and get right in your prey's face so when they see you they have no time to react) and exhibited good team work, there'd be no survivors.
In conclusion, it's not the lack of them being bulletproof that bothers me, but their behavior.
But the rhetorical question still remains: If I can shoot the Alien for infinity with a shotgun in A:I and it not die, why would that suddenly not be the case in the sequel?

QuoteIf they all had the same hunting skills as the first Alien (which is basically to use stealth and get right in your prey's face so when they see you they have no time to react) and exhibited good team work, there'd be no survivors.

You mean how they got right up in the marines faces in the hive and then again by attacking through the roof and floor from multiple directions in Ops?

Any anyway Ripley survived the first film so why shouldn't a few survive the second?

In A:I, you weren't supposed to have time to let off more then a few rounds into the creature. After every death, you start before the last encounter. Who's to say after your killed, the alien doesn't eventually die from the wounds?

Quote from: SM on Oct 27, 2014, 03:57:10 AM

QuoteIf they all had the same hunting skills as the first Alien (which is basically to use stealth and get right in your prey's face so when they see you they have no time to react) and exhibited good team work, there'd be no survivors.

You mean how they got right up in the marines faces in the hive and then again by attacking through the roof and floor from multiple directions in Ops?

And if it weren't for Ripley driving into the hive with the APC then the Marines would have been massacred in there.

Quote from: SM on Oct 27, 2014, 03:57:10 AM

QuoteIf they all had the same hunting skills as the first Alien (which is basically to use stealth and get right in your prey's face so when they see you they have no time to react) and exhibited good team work, there'd be no survivors.

You mean how they got right up in the marines faces in the hive and then again by attacking through the roof and floor from multiple directions in Ops?

Any anyway Ripley survived the first film so why shouldn't a few survive the second?

Standing 10+ feet away =/= getting right in someone's face (referring to the scene in Ops). The Aliens drop from the ceiling at a pretty fair distance. They're far enough for no acid blood to get on the Marines, unlike in the scene where Hicks and Ripley get in the elevator (which is as close as the first Alien got to its victims). Multiple directions? Eh, not really. Pretty much the direction the Marines were facing. The only exception to that is the floor attack which should have happened much sooner if the Aliens showed any truly threatening strategy. A few Aliens were already killed from the first encounter. They should have learned from that and communicated with each other to devise more successful strategy against their opponent. That's how a human would do it, so the Alien should too.

Because that was just one Alien... Aliens was hundreds. So they had to dumb it down to properly express the script's story.

QuoteThe Aliens drop from the ceiling at a pretty fair distance.

Because Hicks rumbled them.

QuoteMultiple directions? Eh, not really.

Yeah really.

QuoteSo they had to dumb it down to properly express the script's story.

How many humans ultimately survived?

"Because Hicks rumbled them."
Nope. Because plot.

"Yeah really."
Ok. In front of them and that one in the floor. Please tell me when some came in through the ceiling, literally falling on top of and pinning the Marines down. Or when they were waiting right on the other side of the Ops exit door. Because I don't quite recall them attacking from either of those angles.

Face it - Cameron turned the Alien into a disposable insect. I hold no grudge against the man, I simply wish he hadn't gone that route with the Alien creature.

Everyone always forgets the sneaky bugger that got onboard the dropship.

Quote from: Huol on Oct 29, 2014, 07:11:36 AM
Everyone always forgets the sneaky bugger that got onboard the dropship.

The one where those two pilots are killed? No, I didn't forget about it. That's one of the few scenes I liked the Alien in. You never saw it until it was too late - I liked that.

Quote"Because Hicks rumbled them."
Nope. Because plot.

Profound.

Quote"Yeah really."
Ok. In front of them and that one in the floor. Please tell me when some came in through the ceiling, literally falling on top of and pinning the Marines down. Or when they were waiting right on the other side of the Ops exit door. Because I don't quite recall them attacking from either of those angles.

Convenient.

Great podcast guys! It's one of those conversations I wish I was in on. I kept thinking 'Ooh Ooh! What about this other cool thing, too!'

I got the platinum trophy tonight (first game I've wsnted to 100% since Dead Space), and when watching the credits I saw Mac MacDonald did voice work in it.:) Another Aliens Alumni!

Would never have even recognized the name! Nice find.  :)

Thanks for the kind words. :)