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+--- Thread: [SPOILER] Diary of the First Playtrhough (/thread-22844.html)
Diary of the First Playtrhough - Alex Ros - 09-10-2013
Just updated my pre-load and launched the game...
First of all, with my comp specs and every graphic option on max it runs as smooth as I could imagine. No glitches, no freezings, nothing at all to notice, runs really nice and smooth.
First, I noticed somewhat like bluish fog filling all interiors. It made me feel quite a bit like I am dreaming, not really walking around the mansion. I have tweaked gamma in order to make picture a bit more contrasting and it did work, but I may confess the presence of that fog didn't vanished. I may presume it's somewhat intended, an artistic decision, but be honest I do not like it right now. At least now, I just finished the very first location.
Second, the electric lamps seems to give extremely low amount of light. It's not that I am fan of realism, basically I do not care about f**king realism. But in fact the amount of light of electric lamps is way too low. That is also something I do not like in particular. Lamps do look just like a bright stains, not the sources of light. Here are a bit of ingame screenshots...
http://i.imgur.com/ADAPsds.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/aKvmlox.jpg
Third, it's really kind of annoying that nearly all objects aren't dynamic. Well, I do not know if that could be annoying without playing Penumbra and 1st Amnesia, but at the right moment it feels as if I am limited in something for no particular reason. But I can't really complain on that at the moment, cause probably at the later locations the situation might be drastically changed with amount of dynamical objects.
But! I must say to make my position clear, that in general, all these complaints are just shitty, real shitty who-cares complaints and I do understand that for sure. Because while I finished only first location I am already began to sink into the story and gameworld.
Finally, I got my first pack of bricks in the pants. When I got down the stairs and there was somewhat like earthquake and a painting fell down, I was f**king scared to shit. It was absolutely unexpected.
RE: First Impressions & First Playtrhough - Clord - 09-10-2013
Just finished the game.
Story was good but it is not something I would classify as a horror genre for me after games like Amnesia the Dark Descent. I collected all the notes of course.
RE: First Impressions & First Playtrhough - Alex Ros - 09-10-2013
I just finished 2nd part of the mansion and following cellar machinery location. And what can I say is that I am scared to shit. Drastically a lot more scared than when I was playing the Dark Descent. All those noises and machinery shaking earthquaking are just making me sweat like a child. THAT way of building horror and fear is surely the one that strongly affects me personally. If I only saw just a single monster I would not be nearly as scared as I am now. But roaming all those empty halls and finding secret passages... roaming that indescribable distillery cellar full of cisterns and tubes webs and valves... roaming and EXPECTING for something horrible without even knowing what is this exactly, that made me scared to shit. Sweating like a child nearly 33 old age man. I didn't expect even closely that evolution from ATDD to AMFP would be SOOO great. I am as impressed as rarely get impressed. Last time I was impressed as much as now is when I first played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, 6 years ago I presume. Well, not to mention ATDD, but that's obvious that I was incredibly impressed by ATDD too.
As for what I wrote just a post above, then I might say that now at the cellar location that blue-green color correction is what I really like from now on. Now it's doesn't looks like a fog for no reasons.
It did look bad during mansion sequence and I am stating on that, because it doesn't fit well the mansion stone-wooden interiors. As a result at the mansion parts that fog looks just like something buggy, not like something intended to build certain mood. IMO of course.
But down there at the metallic rusty electrified underground cellar it does works extremely well, it do builds certain mood and doesn't look like a fog or something imposed. It's just injecting a feeling of the presence in a DEAD place, blue-green DEAD place. Just like all these tubes, cisterns and valves are part of some once alive creature, but now it's dead... or sleeping.
As for other playthrough feelings. I was a little bit down by extreme linearity of the 1st mansion map. But as far as I progressed through 2nd mansion part and a cellar locations the non-linearity is just as chilling as I could just dream. Lots of paths and no restrictions at all where to look first. What is a lot more interesting I do not even know where and what exactly I should look for. Of course I am into searching for my ghost children (it's obvious they're already dead), but there's no tasks, no mementos and that's extremely cool. The less there's from the usual gameplay mechanics the less I am playing and more living. Well, not that crazy ))) but the immersion level is as high as I never felt before with any game. These are honest words.
I've finished first 3 locations and I can say for sure that a Machine for Pigs WITH NO DOUBTS IS EVOLUTION of the Dark Descent, not degradation. And it is scarier than the Dark Descent. Scarier in a very different way which I personally prefer.
RE: Diary of the First Playtrhough - Alex Ros - 09-11-2013
Got through the alley and cemetery part, 4th location I believe. Was scared to "pause" at some point, fucking crazy, man. To link a scare to the object manipulation is just crazy. My brains and heart were blown away for a second: "Fuck! Should I run? Should I turn my head and look what's made all that fucking noise?!? Or should I stay still and just continue turning that fucking valve? What the fuck should I do?!?!?" These are crazy questions that flooded me for a second if not less. Crazy moment, got to change my pants.
By the way that truck, blocking my way to the church, was really nice puzzle-non-puzzle. I am falling in love in those puzzles which aren't self-contained puzzles, but just parts of the world, just my interactions with the world objects. Solid experience non divided on puzzle solving, monsters running or roaming around. Everything is chained together into one solid walkthrough and experience. And if that's supposed to make a player to feel it that way, then the task is handled well.
Here's a bit of screenshots with blue-green style that I do like after completing mansion part. If I would ever decide to paint the face of a stone-cold corpse I would surely use same palette.
http://i.imgur.com/azIWgjo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zd5alZM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BeZxrDO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/b4BrDGU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mzBO7P8.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K2yL3NJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JcJcMQt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qIYDtZs.jpg
Anyway, all light sources still, I mean while playing on and on, all do looks just like bright stains and I do not like that at all, because I can't imagine any reason, artistic design decision, why it should be that way. It's just annoying that every source of light in fact is not a source of light, but a self-illiminate-shader object illuminating itself and nothing else.
RE: Diary of the First Playtrhough - Alex Ros - 09-11-2013
Played a couple of hours...
Turned on the pumps to drain the waters...
And I must admit that in fact I didn't expect such a detailed, huge, gorgeous and frightening virtual world. The machine maps are just unforgettable. Models and textures are just great. Level design as a whole is just so
unexpectedly impressive. Lighting, architecture, animated tiny details
of machinery. I was so impressed that a lot of time I was just roaming
around and staring at how everything is made. And once again I nearly didn't expect to enter such a detailed, huge, gorgeous and frightening virtual world. In the gamedev world there's not so much of level designs that are as impressive as a Machine for Pigs. Artistically a Machine for Pigs, without even mentioning the plot, is just a masterpiece.
Next I was drawn into the London fascinating slaughter. THAT scene is the biggest surprise I could not even imagine. Well, of course, I knew that unlike the Dark Descent a Machine for Pigs would present some outdoor environments. But I thought those would be just narrow shadowy streets with a monster or some kind of of butcher-killer roaming around. I didn't expect an AAA class huge "world on fire" scene and it is an AAA class scene. As for me personally it's a lot more impressive then any, for example, Crysis "whole world is on fire scenes" simply because the immersion level is a lot higher with a Machine for Pigs. In conclusion the London slaughter scene is really climatic, orgasmic, heart-beating, eyes-wide-open, etc.
Now I am turning that bloody machine down, became a saboteur once again. And, if turning on the machine was an impressive and even beautiful with all those animated mechanisms, then destroying it is even more impressive and appealing. It's easily comparable to the VALVE Portal 2 destructions over detailed animated scenes. And, you know, VALVE are real great with lively animations. And I could not even imagine that a small indie studio would make something comparable, but in fact absolutely unexpectedly it is comparable, the level design and what exactly is animated and how it looks like to the player...
I presume I have nearly finished the game...
And... Well... With no doubts it's so huge and detailed and full of plot mysteries, so I would surely make a second one walkthrough, which I rarely do at all. For example, I made second walkthrough of the Dark Descent ONLY because there were commentary option. A Machine for Pigs is truly rare exception for me personally.
Don't get me wrong I am not a blind fanboy. Nope. I am a fan of nobody and nothing. I prefer to stay as critical as possible. I love water, not stones. I try to stay open-minded and I can easily change my mind. So... I am saying this only to make it clear that I AM NOT A FANBOY. Nope. I am absolutely honest with my impressions.
And I hope that such a momentary impressions diary of the 1st playthrough, not deliberate well-thought-out review, is interesting to someone at all. If not, sorry.
RE: Diary of the First Playtrhough - Alex Ros - 09-12-2013
Finished.
The last part of roaming the machine were thrilling. The build up of the scare was real great, so I got my bricks when I did face that electro pig monster. I did not expect that there will be another one monster in companion to usual pigs.
9/10 for sure. Evolve of the Amnesia franchise. I wish someday I could play the Dark Descent remake, made in a same manner. Without tinders, inventory, etc...
Well, that's all. Later I will try to write a well-thought-out review. Just after I will finish with Outlast review (oh, a little bit of advertising
)Thread can be closed if nobody else is goin' to write down impressions right during 1st playthrough. And for some reasons I presume nobody will
RE: Diary of the First Playtrhough - Change - 09-12-2013
I had a great time, it's like a carnival or theme park ride it's scary and exciting at the same time, one of the parts that scared me (because I was not expecting it) was right after you push the three levers up, I thought it would just turn on the engines a make the place a little brighter........nope, XD. Then I creep out that door turn on my lantern and then suddenly......."hell NOPE!" I had a lot of fun, that out door part was just......WOW! I was not expecting that.
Which part surprised/scared you the most?