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+--- Thread: My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) (/thread-10008.html)
My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) - cantremember - 08-27-2011
So I finally beat it, and while it was a great game, which I'm pretty sure everyone agrees I'm mostly going to focus on small points of criticism. Take note, there are many spoilers below.
- While the dynamic engine that allows you to throw stuff around is great, over time I began to felt like that this feature only worked in places they intended to. For example in a trailer it shows Daniel blocking a door by pushing a table in front of it, but in the game that isn't possible.
I mostly felt like you could only throw lone books and small rocks around, and beams/large rocks could only be pushed if it was a puzzle to unblock a door. Many small misc. bottles were even glued to their shelf. Another instance is with the dead grunt, you can smack his upper body around but his lower body is unmovable.
I expected to be able to push vases over and pick up individual pieces of it and throw that too.
- The grunts all looking exactly the same bothered me a little. It wouldn't have been a problem with a more plain looking character (like all the dead bodies), but since the grunts and brutes have extremely distinctive features (the way their jaw is flapping open) it seemed a little out of place to me that they all looked exactly alike. Even more so when there are two next to eachother when they capture you.
- After the prison, the same walltexture is used several times throughout (like the place with Agrippa and stuff), I somehow felt it a bit overused and making the surroundings look repetitive. A lot of the same furniture and items are re-used throughout over and over again.
- I didn't like the part with the Chancel onwards very much because the architecture and layout of the areas looked a little unlikely for a real environment to me and it was a little too out-of-this-world but that's personal taste.
- I'd have loved to have had a portion of the map where I got to be outside, like an enclosed castle yard or something would have been a good choice imo.
- The Laundanum was a little unnecesary because health regenerates automatically and usually if a monster begins mauling you you're done for anyway (and just respawn)
- Insanity doesn't make you insane enough. I've never had my character pass out in a moment that he had to begin running for a monster, so keeping in light was more of a convenience thing to me than an actual gameplay element.
I think that pretty much sums it up. Too bad the next installment won't be horror based, Amnesia was pretty unique and I'd love to see a sequel (maybe in a different storyline or setting).
RE: My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) - razbojnik - 08-27-2011
Most of your issues are tied to the budget oh dear budget factor. I personally agree about the chancel>onwards but not because of it being supernatural but because it wasn't supernatural enough. Would've been nice if daniel seriously started to freak out during this part and some really strange events. Also would've been nice if the creature planned for choir would've made it in!
RE: My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) - dph314 - 08-27-2011
I kind of like the way things were done as far as cut-scenes go. With not many of them and the conversations or voices Daniel's hearing are done "in-game" instead of having a cut-scene, it kept the in-game immersion going. But I think a few would have been cool. Showing Daniel doing various things like walking into areas for the first time and looking-at/picking-up something. Or a monster walking in some area or doing something. With the graphics usually being better in prerendered cut-scenes in most games, seeing one of the grunts up-close in detail, drooling all over himself, would have been interesting.
RE: My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) - Darkchef - 08-28-2011
Well seeing that Frictional Games nearly went bankrupt I don't think you can really criticize them for budget problems, most games reuse textures so that's not really that much of a problem. Also the whole attack mechanism wasn't great in overture so its better that it was missing. And to be honest throwing vases at them doesn't really sound that effective anyway
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RE: My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) - cantremember - 08-28-2011
(08-28-2011, 01:36 PM)Darkchef Wrote: Well seeing that Frictional Games nearly went bankrupt I don't think you can really criticize them for budget problems, most games reuse textures so that's not really that much of a problem. Also the whole attack mechanism wasn't great in overture so its better that it was missing. And to be honest throwing vases at them doesn't really sound that effective anywayYou misunderstood me. I wasn't complaining the lack of attack mechanism, but that the engine's physics are barely ever used for anything useful. if it's not part a of puzzle you probably won't even be able to pick it up at all. Small crates, lone books and small vases are some of the very few exceptions and there isn't anything creative you can do. Blocking a door doesn't work to stop a monster.
In the first hallway I had some fun picking up books and throwing them around, but during actual gameplay it's pointless to touch anything that isn't glowing or isn't a drawer. Half the stuff I wanted to push around was made as part of the game world and completely unmovable. Even though bigger objects could be moved (like wooden beams) if it was part of the puzzle.
RE: My amnesia thoughts (can include spoilers) - gandalf91 - 09-01-2011
(08-28-2011, 03:36 PM)cantremember Wrote:(08-28-2011, 01:36 PM)Darkchef Wrote: Well seeing that Frictional Games nearly went bankrupt I don't think you can really criticize them for budget problems, most games reuse textures so that's not really that much of a problem. Also the whole attack mechanism wasn't great in overture so its better that it was missing. And to be honest throwing vases at them doesn't really sound that effective anywayYou misunderstood me. I wasn't complaining the lack of attack mechanism, but that the engine's physics are barely ever used for anything useful. if it's not part a of puzzle you probably won't even be able to pick it up at all. Small crates, lone books and small vases are some of the very few exceptions and there isn't anything creative you can do. Blocking a door doesn't work to stop a monster.
In the first hallway I had some fun picking up books and throwing them around, but during actual gameplay it's pointless to touch anything that isn't glowing or isn't a drawer. Half the stuff I wanted to push around was made as part of the game world and completely unmovable. Even though bigger objects could be moved (like wooden beams) if it was part of the puzzle.
It's about immersion and a sense of realism. It doesn't have to be exploited to achieve any specific purpose.