Having a hard time enjoying the game

[diegzumillo]

I heard great things about this game so my expectation was a bit high.

I absolutely LOVE how the game looks and feels, it's so well crafted. The music gives me goosebumps. But the gameplay goes from boring to frustrating so quickly. Nothing happens, I just go from from here to there, and then people see me and shoot me dead. Stealth is tough in this game.

I'm still fairly at the beginning, I only encountered the alien in a scripted scene. But I'm not having fun now, and I don't even feel motivated enough to open the game again.

And this is after I managed to deal with all the game breaking bugs by toning down the graphics features, which sucks.

This makes me feel bad, because this is a AAA game trying something new! By "new" I mean something indies have done a few years ago, but still!

Any words of encouragement? Does it get better?

[diegzumillo]

Originally posted by Jellypuff:

This game does start slow.
So slow, that i couldn't get scared or intimidated by the alien in the first place because whenever it shows up, i can't decide wether to hide or throw a party and bake cake for it.

Maybe i just can't get into "the mood".
Maybe watching the first alien movie and listening to the lavender town theme from pokemon for a hour straight will fix that.

But i find this game enjoyable, fun and entertaining, though.
I weird thing to say, considering it's both AAA and movie licensed, but miracles do happen sometimes.

Good to know!

AAA and movie licensed. Oh god, I didn't notice that. It is a miracle lol

[Bobby]

Originally posted by Jellypuff:

This game does start slow.
So slow, that i couldn't get scared or intimidated by the alien in the first place because whenever it shows up, i can't decide wether to hide or throw a party and bake cake for it.

Maybe i just can't get into "the mood".
Maybe watching the first alien movie and listening to the lavender town theme from pokemon for a hour straight will fix that.

But i find this game enjoyable, fun and entertaining, though.
I weird thing to say, considering it's both AAA and movie licensed, but miracles do happen sometimes.

Yeah i was on that boat too. 5Hrs later it turned up and i couldn't do anything other than watch my body play out a scripted scene! damn!! I wanted to run after it and ask it to sign a T-Shirt for me. Then 23hrs later i found out it was a spineless $hit that bolted when it had to stand and fight, despite it being invulnerable. lol

[JellyPuff]

@OP:
You should keep on 1-2 hours and enjoy the atmosphere. The first hours are more a sightseeing tour with a bioshock-vibe in the air. Things will get more interesting eventually.
If you still aren't getting into it by then, Alien Isolation is just not the right game for you. To each their own. :)

[beautheschmo]

For what it's worth, I do think the alien sections are the most interesting moments of the game, so you should at least get to a point where you've had to avoid it a couple times before you completely drop it.

To be honest, though, it can also be pretty frustrating to avoid, mostly because failure means instant death, at least until you've gotten a couple of better weapons. Oddly enough, I find it easier in general to avoid the alien than to slip past humans and Joes. It makes a lot of noise, so you're only very rarely going to get blindsided, there's only one of it so it can't see in as many places and it always shows up on the motion tracker even while stopped, while humans and especially Joes often go invisible on it. So while it's frustrating to fail and get yourself killed against it, I find failure really doesn't happen that often, while humans and Joes aren't as punishing, but can catch you off guard more easily. It's still annoying, but not in the same way as avoiding humans, especially since the game's mostly designed around avoiding the alien, so it's at least worth giving the alien a shot at some screen time.

Also, don't be afraid to lower the difficulty. The alien is the most common enemy throughout the game, and once he shows up you pretty much never have to worry about humans again, since he "takes care" of them for you the vast majority of the time (just don't shoot first, he always goes for whoever shot first, so just hide out until he leaves if that happens). Lowering the difficulty honestly doesn't really seem to help much against humans or Joes, but it gives you a lot more breathing room in the alien sections, which is the majority of them.

[Bobby]

Originally posted by diegzumillo:

Originally posted by Jellypuff:

This game does start slow.
So slow, that i couldn't get scared or intimidated by the alien in the first place because whenever it shows up, i can't decide wether to hide or throw a party and bake cake for it.

Maybe i just can't get into "the mood".
Maybe watching the first alien movie and listening to the lavender town theme from pokemon for a hour straight will fix that.

But i find this game enjoyable, fun and entertaining, though.
I weird thing to say, considering it's both AAA and movie licensed, but miracles do happen sometimes.

Good to know!

AAA and movie licensed. Oh god, I didn't notice that. It is a miracle lol

Don't get tooooo excited;

the game is set in 2137, 15 years after the events of Alien and 42 years prior to Aliens

Bit like saying

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sega. The game is set in the Alien universe and takes place after the events of the third film in the franchise, Alien 3 (1992)

lol

[Zandur Goose]

No, you're wrong thread maker. Alien: Isolation gets better and more interesting as you progress. The game can keep you hook if you know what you're doing.

[diegzumillo]

I'm already convinced of that, this thread was very successful in keeping me from jumping from the ledge lol

[Zukkus]

I really think its the controls. I dont enjoy it either, its hard work to start up and slog through. Alien shows up! throw a smoke bomb. Wait i left clicked and swung my wrench instead. Wait, switch to smoke bomb, Q->radial menu, click on the smoke bomb! wait that takes me into crafting! I DONT WANT TO CRAFT NOW. Q to exit. Wait i still dont have my smoke bomb. Oh yeah Q->mouse over smoke bomb.

Oh Now im looking at the aliens teeth. Start over. Controls suck. There really cant be an argument against this.

Reload. Try and throw a smoke bomb when the aliens not around. Hold right mouse button THEN LMB? Are you fu.cking serious? Its so idiotic. Nice console port, next time get someone with an IQ over 50 to code it.

[Berserk Belta]

Originally posted by Prometheus:

Amnesia, Penumbra, Outlast, etc..

I don't think there is one of those games that has 15 hours of engaging gameplay in them for most gamers.

For me, Alien Isolation was still going strong at 25 hours. Alien Isolation does it better imo.

Originally posted by Yog Sothoth:

I really think its the controls. I dont enjoy it either, its hard work to start up and slog through. Alien shows up! throw a smoke bomb. Wait i left clicked and swung my wrench instead. Wait, switch to smoke bomb, Q->radial menu, click on the smoke bomb! wait that takes me into crafting! I DONT WANT TO CRAFT NOW. Q to exit. Wait i still dont have my smoke bomb. Oh yeah Q->mouse over smoke bomb.

Oh Now im looking at the aliens teeth. Start over. Controls suck. There really cant be an argument against this.

Reload. Try and throw a smoke bomb when the aliens not around. Hold right mouse button THEN LMB? Are you fu.cking serious? Its so idiotic. Nice console port, next time get someone with an IQ over 50 to code it.

The awkward controls are blatantly intentional, and I find it difficult to relate to a gamer who does not realise this obvious thing the first time they have to enter a key code under pressure.

[Zukkus]

Originally posted by Warface:

Originally posted by Prometheus:

Amnesia, Penumbra, Outlast, etc..

I don't think there is one of those games that has 15 hours of engaging gameplay in them for most gamers.

For me, Alien Isolation was still going strong at 25 hours. Alien Isolation does it better imo.

Originally posted by Yog Sothoth:

I really think its the controls. I dont enjoy it either, its hard work to start up and slog through. Alien shows up! throw a smoke bomb. Wait i left clicked and swung my wrench instead. Wait, switch to smoke bomb, Q->radial menu, click on the smoke bomb! wait that takes me into crafting! I DONT WANT TO CRAFT NOW. Q to exit. Wait i still dont have my smoke bomb. Oh yeah Q->mouse over smoke bomb.

Oh Now im looking at the aliens teeth. Start over. Controls suck. There really cant be an argument against this.

Reload. Try and throw a smoke bomb when the aliens not around. Hold right mouse button THEN LMB? Are you fu.cking serious? Its so idiotic. Nice console port, next time get someone with an IQ over 50 to code it.

The awkward controls are blatantly intentional, and I find it difficult to relate to a gamer who does not realise this obvious thing the first time they have to enter a key code under pressure.

The awkward controls are a bad console port. Ive played bad console ports. This is that. End of discussion.

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

Originally posted by Warface:

The awkward controls are blatantly intentional, and I find it difficult to relate to a gamer who does not realise this obvious thing the first time they have to enter a key code under pressure.

Allow me to double down on that. I'm amazed the whole "different key combinations for different levers" thing didn't give it away for him.

[SweetZombiJesus]

A mistake made by a lot of frustrated streamers I have watched is hiding too long or being too timid. Yes, one must hide, but the more you hide and the same way, the more the Alien knows how to find you.

Hide, then when the Alien leaves, move along immediately. Yes, you may die, but it is much better than waiting 10 minutes then dying anyway. At least this way the Alien does not learn how to find you as much.

[SubTonic]

Originally posted by SweetZombiJesus:

A mistake made by a lot of frustrated streamers I have watched is hiding too long or being too timid. Yes, one must hide, but the more you hide and the same way, the more the Alien knows how to find you.

Hide, then when the Alien leaves, move along immediately. Yes, you may die, but it is much better than waiting 10 minutes then dying anyway. At least this way the Alien does not learn how to find you as much.

I can't stress this advice enough. After the initial terror began to let up, I'm starting to get more bold with my movements with the alien around, and I'm finding myself making 10x more progress than I was before. There will always be the possibility that the alien's AI will do something you didn't expect and lead to an unavoidable death, but that is definitely better than "waiting 10 minutes then dying anyway."

It also helps to just...let the alien kill you at least once. Get the first one out of your system. I let it kill me two times and find myself a lot less afraid of being caught, but the tension is always there.

[Bobby]

I find myself just sprinting for the exit as soon as the Alien goes into the roof -knowing that the exit is around a corridor or visible on the map- it has worked plenty times. I even wait in the lift and stick two fingers up at the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ when i see it looking at me in my little lift!

Btw, the controls are, and always have been, annoying because they are animated. look how long it takes for the plasma torch to do it's thing; bring it out, have a good look at it, flick eye shield up, turn gas on, flick lighter, enjoy flame, then rotate it correctly around the panel on the wall -otherwise it just stays in one place till you get it right. Can't i just click the mouse button and start burning!
Put a health syringe into your arm and you even have a loading bar bottom of the screen.. wtf is that about???? In bloody Star Trek it's *instantaneous*, and it's older than Alien!!! lol 1893 is one of the original Star Trek plots.

[ItsOnlyAGame]

And it seems you've had too many (cookies, that is), ducks.... As another 'guy on the internet', I would have to agree with Dieg that your approach to giving your "genuine advice" was a bit immaturely aggressive.
Look, I have nothing invested in this conversation.... In fact, the game in question, to me, though I purchased it on Steam sale and have not played it yet, isn't really that interesting. And it seems that cheap deaths are how CA are compensating for "difficulty" in this title. So I'll eventually play it when I'm bored, but I don't expect much of it. But, ducks, to not recognize when you're being - how can I respectfully put it - unneccessarily anal, is not cool.
Ducks, try this: before posting anything, read it back to yourself as if someone were saying it to you, or someone you are protective towards, and that should guide how you approach online conversation and spirit sharing. Peace.

Game ON

Originally posted by Don't feed the ducks™:

Originally posted by diegzumillo:

That is the most needlessly passive agressive post I have ever read. Really. Do you people not read what you write again before you hit post? (see what I did there? it has the same structure of your message, to prove my point)

I say it how it is. If you honestly took offense to that then I have no words. I gave you genuine advice and you chose to interpret it like every other guy on the internet. Well done. You have earned your cookie.