Story Mode Help & Discussion (Playthrough Videos)

[thecaffeinatedone]

Not gonna spoil it of course, even with a spoiler tag, but should've known better than to go snooping around because one of the videos did indeed feature the ending of the game. Now I feel a little bad! :c Ah well.

[aliens13]

 In some of this videos shows how the alien arrived on the ship?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUcQhlJEFgacqgm5ZpPOOchg

[Corporal Hicks]

I officially stopped watching. I know too much (though not the ending or final body count, or all the twists - I hope). There are definitely multiple climaxes, I know that much.

Be fair Alien/s/3 all have multiple endings.

[SpeedyMaxx]

Oh, I agree. That's why I'm very tolerant of this. From the hours I have watched, this is easily, easily the best Alien or Aliens game ever made.

Also, I cracked and watched a little more. (Not to the end, though.) I won't say much, but re: the original impetus for the story -

Spoiler

Amanda gets what she seeks. And I'm not crying, I'm just cutting some onions.

[close]

[WinterActual]

How its the best Aliens game?

[SpeedyMaxx]

Well, let me clarify - to me and perhaps only me, it is the best game in the entire franchise, no matter what film we choose. (And I adore Aliens, for the record.)

It's incredibly faithful to the aesthetic of Scott's Alien, it's got a decent plot and characters (IMO), and what I think is an incredible performance by Andrea Deck as the voice of Amanda (with Welsh actress Kezia Burrows, I believe, as the physical performer). Its gameplay is simple and effective, and its alien is smart and incredibly powerful.

It's terrifying, it gets full of both suspense and adrenaline, and it surprises me and totally immerses me in that world. It's the Alien game I have wanted since I was a kid. None of the pew-pew Aliens shooters ever meant much to me, and I have played many of them - some were a real good time, like the original AVP, but I found most of the experiences ultimately forgettable. Their hordes of aliens just didn't do for me what the films did. This does.

I'm sorry ACM sucked so hard, but this is a different game and IMO it's very good and should be acknowledged for it. I think the FPS cycle for the franchise played itself out long ago, and I can't resent this game for the failings of another.

[Xenomorphine]

I think it would be more fair to say that it's the most atmospheric game. All the footage I've watched makes it look like an exceedingly frustrating actual experience.

Also think the production team wasted an opportunity by not allowing the creature to walk on walls and ceilings, as per the second and third films. It moves well (mostly, at least, because there are many instances of it sliding into a turn, rather than physically moving its legs to provide the motion), but adhering to more surfaces would have allowed its behaviour and hunting to be much more capable.

I'd also say that hiding behind a table to elude it, while tense, feels cheap... The original creature had no way to see where Dallas was, but located him at considerable range and trapped him by thinking three-dimensionally. Same for those who hunted the Marines down. The creatures knew where they were, from all the way over in the atmosphere processor. Couldn't see them, but knew where they were.

I understand the reasons they put it in the game, but in terms of authenticity, random pieces of furniture shouldn't be portrayed as such an insurmountable obstacle to their senses.

[St_Eddie]

I'd also say that hiding behind a table to elude it, while tense, feels cheap... The original creature had no way to see where Dallas was, but located him at considerable range and trapped him by thinking three-dimensionally. Same for those who hunted the Marines down. The creatures knew where they were, from all the way over in the atmosphere processor. Couldn't see them, but knew where they were.

I understand the reasons they put it in the game, but in terms of authenticity, random pieces of furniture shouldn't be portrayed as such an insurmountable obstacle to their senses.

That's a very good point.  However, I also agree that it's pretty much a necessity in terms of game design.  Still, it's food for thought.  Maybe the reason that the xeno in 'Alien: Isolation' can't sniff out Amanda is because it has a severe case of the sniffles.  As long as the alien doesn't wander into the store room of the Sevastopol and come across a crate of Benylin, then Amanda should be safe enough.

[Le Celticant]

I'd also say that hiding behind a table to elude it, while tense, feels cheap... The original creature had no way to see where Dallas was, but located him at considerable range and trapped him by thinking three-dimensionally. Same for those who hunted the Marines down. The creatures knew where they were, from all the way over in the atmosphere processor. Couldn't see them, but knew where they were.

This ^

Let us be honest, if you have the alien on your tracker, there are chances he's sneaking and you should be worry because he's already hunting you.
I think they really missed an opportunity there.
Staring at it makes the whole scariness goes away.
Instead of actually giving the Alien the sneaky ability and to you the chance to escape they chose to reverse the roles.
You sneak and the Alien can escapes when you hunt it with flamethrower 

Also, the Alien in this game wasn't doing much but wandering in corridors with no purpose at all.
But that's the problem when you don't use scripted AI, most of the time the thing has no purpose but to execute random actions with 0 logic. It sure makes the game everytime you play it original because he ain't taking twice the same path but on the opposite he's non repeating useless action the entire game and behave exactly the same way no matter the different levels.
And its behavior were very dumb. That T-Rex like walks he had annoyed me a lot.

While the Alien is not scripted I had the feeling the character I was playing was totally scripted.
The Alien is here, ya got no choice, it's either the table that is close to you, the locker if there are no tables, the flamethrower if you have it or the chance to pullback or use the noise maker if the alien hasn't spotted you.
They could have allowed you to run from it and the ability to lock the doors, break the glass to go through, I don't know but just more possibilities allowing you to escapes and buy some time.
It's even more stressing to know he's hunting you and you can actually escapes depending on what you're going to do in the next 2 seconds while there it was interact in the next two seconds before he sees you but that completely not build enough tension because if he sees you, you do know at 100% what's going to happen.

It would have been much more tense and stressing to have an Alien who when it senses you actually goes ahead, hide and wait for you to commit the mistake.
And that would have been indeed awesome to have him performed wallwalk and gets you like he got Brett.
Imagine the tension, you walk by a room when suddenly catches you from above.


On a side note, I agree with you about the atmosphere.
CA really pulled it out.
Everything related to the "form" of the game and its shape such as designs, sounds, maps and so on looks incredible.
There's definitely the atmosphere I expected and it feels so right!

I'm kinda on a 50/50.
It felt right for the good reasons but it also felt terribly executed.

[TheBATMAN]

At the end of the day, it's a video game. The way the Alien works is a game play mechanic to allow you as the player the chance to evade it. If the Alien were to act as you describe and be more in line with the films it would just be a complete exercise in frustration as you would simply be killed over and over again without hardly ever seeing it.

While I agree with the point made about hiding behind a table, I'm not going to criticise it as I see no other way it could have been done in terms of this being a video game and not a movie.

[Le Celticant]

At the end of the day, it's a video game.

Thanks captain obvious, I thought it was a book for a moment. 

The way the Alien works is a game play mechanic to allow you as the player the chance to evade it.

The alien never let you the chance to evade, he just leaves you. ->

If the Alien were to act as you describe and be more in line with the films it would just be a complete exercise in frustration as you would simply be killed over and over again without hardly ever seeing it.

Because that would make the difficulty any different than the one this game has 

[ikarop]

It's said all the time about those type of mechanics not translating well into a videogame, until some developer comes around and implements it right.

The more these games evolve, the closer the experience is to the film. Not just visually but gameplay wise so I'm sure eventually someone will get it 99% right. A:I seems to be a huge step in that direction so that's most important.

[Gruyères]

I understand the concern about the missed oportunity, but what I don't get is the constant bashing this game gets from the target audience. I mean, we have the best possible rendition some company did to our beloved franchise and we nitpick every flaw we can? Not fair imho.

[hfeldhaus]

You can't please everyone which is a shame. Leave the nit picking to the nit pickers.

[TheBATMAN]

Thanks captain obvious, I thought it was a book for a moment. 

Well Captain Sarcasm, it may as well be a book the way you describe it.

The alien never let you the chance to evade, he just leaves you. ->

And? What's the issue here? What possible chance would you have to evade it if you could never see it in the first place?

Because that would make the difficulty any different than the one this game has 

Yes it would actually, stupidly so to the point where it would not be enjoyable to play.