Volitions Advocate on 11/9/2010 at 06:09
@ renz
the lever actually wouldn't even work at all. I realized my mistake was not mirroring the pipes, I duplicated the pattern rather than mirroring it.
Volitions Advocate on 11/9/2010 at 08:10
This may seem pathetic but I just beat it. I've been playing it all evening.
I got all 3 endings as well. I find it "interesting" that they all suck.
I say that because there really is no good ending at all is there?
the revenge ending made me feel like a huge hypocrite walking out of the castle somehow feeling like I've been absolved of all my sins... I kind of felt like Daniel was really trying to convince himself of it. Then of course both of the other endings end up the exact same, and I dont understand how whether or not saving agrippa has anything to do with it being a good or bad ending, either way alexander gets what he wants.. still used you, and you still die with all of your unresolved issues.
all that aside. I really enjoyed the experience. These guys know how to make a game, even if it isn't perfect. Who can expect the perfect game from anybody? What is a perfect game anyway. With such a small development team ( 6 people? ) I think these guys did fantastic and I wish I could be part of something like this.
If anybody is interested who has beaten it. take the 3 codes that you're given at the end of the credits and mash them together to unlock the "super-secret.rar" file in the games directory for a bunch of extra concept art and pre-production goodies just like they did with penumbra.
in case you're too lazy: lke271tyr299odn314
Also, a warning for later chapters. This game seems to like necrotic flaccid penis the way The Void likes boobs ...
242 on 11/9/2010 at 09:52
How many hours it takes to finish it?
Volitions Advocate on 11/9/2010 at 09:53
according to Steam 7 hours.
catbarf on 11/9/2010 at 13:33
About the same here. Would have been less time if we didn't waste twenty minutes trying to find a source of blood.
Xenith on 12/9/2010 at 21:01
I just finished it, with a headache and a great *sigh* of relief that I'm done with this. Also, disappointed.
Sulphur on 12/9/2010 at 21:11
So apart from the sanity effects, what didn't work for you?
Xenith on 12/9/2010 at 21:49
Well... the immense amount of scripted events.... the big number of monster encounters that just made passing through areas tedious... the way the story never strays from it's path... the way it ends...
Those are a couple of things. I did enjoy the beginning acts and a couple of sections later on though.
Sulphur on 13/9/2010 at 02:42
Understandable, but... hang on. I don't see a malleable storyline as a pre-requisite for a horror game, and scripted events are usually irritating if you're replaying the game and know what's coming up next. I suppose the monster encounters didn't work for you because of the sanity effects, again.
Xenith on 13/9/2010 at 09:22
The story-line, could have been better, I'll just say that.
The events I'm talking about are the little things that happen, like a door shutting behind you, a scream, footsteps on the floor atop. These are fine, but sometimes, Daniel automatically turns to see that door or hear that cry for help and I can't feel any fear from these events, because every time, there's nothing there. The atmospheric sounds, like the footsteps, repeat so many times in such a small amount of time that I ignored them eventually. Also, every creepy sound comes from somewhere near you, as in, right next door, around the next corner, nothing from the room at the end of the hallway (although there is a certain room in the dungeons and maybe one somewhere else that actually make noises which aren't in your face).
The monster encounters stopped working because they happened too often. Sometimes I would run from said monster, go into a room, wait for 1 minute, get out, explore for 2 minutes, monster teleported around me again, repeat process. Also "hiding" pretty much just means keeping a big enough distance from the thing, because it's too dimwitted to actually search for you. The first couple of acts gave you chances of actually hiding in cupboards and closets, not knowing what the monster was doing outside. Then the huge corridors came and: big visual cue that monster is around the corner, audio cue as well, turn off lamp, crouch, move backwards 50 steps, wait.
It felt like the game wanted so badly for me to be scared that it just threw all sorts of things at me. And they would've worked, really, they did in the beginning, but after that, the sheer amount of it all just drowned everything. On top of that, everything is designed to show how evil the place you are going through, is. Even the early parts are so dank and gritty it leaves no room for imagining any of the events that might have gone on. This is reinforced by the fact that you have the story flashbacks all over the place which explain everything, absolutely everything. Well, besides what the orb is and its shadow guardian.
