Disapointed by the easiness

[OttoSporteman]

Folks.. I *really* don't like to start this kind of threads but I'm just really disapointed by how easy and "in your face" American Nightmare gameplay is.

First of all, there's no different difficulty levels on story mode, what you have is what you have and deal with it. Then the batteries recharge really, and I do mean REALLY fast. Played the whole campaign and didn't die ONCE! Recharged batteries TWICE! IN THE WHOLE GAME! Seriously, it's EASIER than original Alan Wake on easy.

That could have been easily changed if a hard mode was available or even if a Nightmare mode was available after game was completed but there's something that is bothering me more:

Indications on the radar of where the manuscripts are? Indications of where you need to go? I mean, I can understand trying to reach a different audience, that doesn't read or listen to what's being discussed on the game, but dumbing it down so drastically is frustrating to the point that the experience with AN, to me, is compromised.

I don't want challenge on an arcade mode that me, and most people I know, won't go to fight scores... I play FTD to have a blast and couldn't care less what my position on the leaderboard is. I know some people do though and I totally respect that.

My real problem is with the campaign. It's dumbed down to ALMOST Call of Duty standards and it's utterly sad.

[thebestbit]

Would be nice to have Nightmare mode. I think the new wepons make it easier that it might have been.

[OttoSporteman]

I don't know if it's just the guns, though... The Taken are released from darkness faster too.
I just feel it has been over simplified and made easy and I don't have problems with that, I just wanted a little more challenge. Alan Wake was easy but both hard and nightmare settings made it challenging.

[RadiNightingale]

Yep, the Polterguiest objects were way to weak, and the whole campaign (not arcade) was way to easy i was disappointed how there there no boss fights ever, they where 1 of my favourite parts of AW

[Nelsh]

On the one hand, they made it easier:

- More powerful weapons: I can live with that, okay.
- Objectives, manuscripts and weapons on mini-map: Ugh, it's taking you even more by the hand than the compass in the original game.
- Battery recharges ultra-fast

On the other hand, they made it more difficult:

- Light damages taken only when boosted (I don't like this, to be frank... my whole strategy was based on keeping the (non-boosted) light on the enemy for most of the time.)
- Auto-aim (snap to closest enemy) is gone, and replaced by full manual aim. I like this change, it feels more in control and adds difficulty.

It was a huge mistake to not include difficulty levels though. I feel like replaying the game, but at the same time I don't want to, because there's just no challenge. Like so many others, I got hit maybe three times in the entire story campaign, and never even got to low health.

[iStreeT]

Yeah dont know why theres no difficulty option on american nightmare!

[MikkiRMD]

I have just deleted a huge argument from here that was entirely stupid and could have been avoided with a modicum of politeness.

Seriously, it shouldn't be so hard to not be a jerk.

Back on topic.

[Doctor Bat]

Seemed strange at first but it seemed to be at Normal difficulty. Fine by me, I'm no thrillseeker. I wouldn't dare do Nightmare.

[chrizzl0r]

Seemed strange at first but it seemed to be at Normal difficulty. Fine by me, I'm no thrillseeker. I wouldn't dare do Nightmare.

Yep, same here. I already died in the second chapter, however, I really don't consider myself to be a master of the art of dodging - as I just realized another time while playing the arcade mode. :cool:
I'm perfectly fine with the difficulty since I played the original Alan Wake on normal as well. ;)

[thebestbit]

Well after trying Nightmare mode on FTD im not as good at this game as i thought ;)

[jester131]

the weird thing is that remedy made a higher difficulty level ... for the nightmare FTD mode.
@remedy: Why didn't you give us the option to play the story in nightmare difficulty? Couldn't have been that much work when you already had it worked out for the nightmare FTD.

[OttoSporteman]

the weird thing is that remedy made a higher difficulty level ... for the nightmare FTD mode.
@remedy: Why didn't you give us the option to play the story in nightmare difficulty? Couldn't have been that much work when you already had it worked out for the nightmare FTD.

I agree... the setting for Nightmare is there, it was just a matter of porting it to story mode. Perhaps through DLC it'd be possible, since a patch costs 40k?

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Perhaps through DLC it'd be possible, since a patch costs 40k?
Developers can not put up free-to-download DLCs for XBLA games, while patches are free for the players. I doubt they're going to make a DLC just for nightmare difficulty -- if anything it would be a patch.

[thebestbit]

Devs have put up free DLC for XBLA games ;)
And it was recently mentioned that MS and Sony charge 40K to patch a game which is why a lot of small devs dont/cant.

[OttoSporteman]

Developers can not put up free-to-download DLCs for XBLA games, while patches are free for the players. I doubt they're going to make a DLC just for nightmare difficulty -- if anything it would be a patch.

I was thinking about a free or paid DLC, where we could have perhaps one more advance on the story (a la The Writer or The Signal) and the difficulty setting added.

If they make it available through a patch it would be much better... If they release a patch to address the freezes that have been reported I hope they sneak some Nightmare in it! :D

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Devs have put up free DLC for XBLA games ;)
And it was recently mentioned that MS and Sony charge 40K to patch a game which is why a lot of small devs dont/cant.
No, that's not possible. Super Giant Games said that Microsoft has a policy about this. For retail games you're only allowed to make one free DLC and for XBLA games it is not possible to make free DLC. This is why the DLC for Bastion is free on PC and costs 80 MSP on Xbox 360. 80 MSP is the least amount you can charge for DLC.

Also, yeah I read about that 40,000 to patch, but I saw no source, and don't have much reason to believe it. And besides, come on, do you really expect it to be cheaper to make DLC than to make a patch? That's insane. Even more insane than Mr Scratch.

I was thinking about a free or paid DLC, where we could have perhaps one more advance on the story (a la The Writer or The Signal) and the difficulty setting added.

If they make it available through a patch it would be much better... If they release a patch to address the freezes that have been reported I hope they sneak some Nightmare in it! :D
Sure, sometimes devs add a little something like nightmare difficulty into DLCs that contain much bigger things like advancement to the story.

Still, RMD are probably working to patch the freezes like you mentioned, as well as any other eventual glitch, so they could just throw in nightmare difficulty at the same time.

[thebestbit]

Splosion man has free DLC as has a few others and the source for 40K was from Tim Schafer whos company Double Fine have released 4 titles on XBLA.

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Splosion man has free DLC as has a few others and the source for 40K was from Tim Schafer whos company Double Fine have released 4 titles on XBLA.
True, Splosion Man does have free DLC. I'm puzzled. Perhaps this is a new policy? Or perhaps it's got to do with third- or second-party? Or maybe the Splosion Man developers paid Microsoft? Seems strange, but I have no reason to believe that Super Giant Games were lying.

[kleiner352]

I really do want to see a Nightmare mode, I'd even be cool with paying a small amount on the marketplace for it. The entire concept of replaying the game is extremely dwindled when I know it will seem even easier than already, and I died a grand total of 0 times the first go-round. It makes the FTD mode SO much better, and there's really no reason I can think of to not have it in story mode as well.

[Nelsh]

I'm just baffled as to why they didn't include difficulty levels.

I can't even think of a reason other than maybe they couldn't get it done before the deadline?

What were they thinking?

[WakeLestat360]

Agreed. I would love to play Alan Wake with some "hardboiled" gameplay, if you know what i mean...

[Stammy]

The game was too easy for me and I don't even like difficult games! I wonder what Remedy were thinking when not including more difficulty options (I mean, more options is always better, right?). Didn't the playtesters find the game too easy when it clearly is?

I'm no fan of nightmare but Alan Wake on hard was perfectly balanced.

[MattS]

Game is way too easy. Has Remedy comment yet on the reason for a lack of Nightmare mode? I'd be curious as to the reasoning

Aside from that, its great.

[OttoSporteman]

No, Remedy didn't comment on it and it would be really nice that they address this, since it's almost common opinion between fans.. Even the ones who don't care about Nightmare mode.

[Stammy]

Has Remedy comment yet on the reason for a lack of Nightmare mode? I'd be curious as to the reasoningI haven't seen any comment about this.

I haven't played Fight Till Dawn Nightmare levels yet. I'm curious, how is the difficulty made in them? Is it just more enemies or are the enemies stronger etc? If it's the latter one, then they already have the tech in place. Just tap switch in the engine and the difficulty will go up. If this is the case, then I'm really curious why there isn't more difficulty options in the story mode. Having options wouldn't hurt anyone, even if Remedy wanted the experience to be more casual friendly overall.

I remember many people complaining that original Alan Wake was too easy. I personally had no problem with it and the hard setting was perfect to me. Still with those complaints in mind, it's very odd that they made American Nightmare even easier.

EDIT. I think reasoning behind easiness might be that they wanted the player to feel more powerful. And in that they succeeded. New weapons do feel very powerful and satisfactory to use. Then again the weapons are so powerful that the battles are over in seconds. They should have balanced it out by adding more enemies. Now it's still just 3-5 taken coming at you and you just kill them instantly and the battle is over.

[LonelyGreyWolf]

I haven't played Fight Till Dawn Nightmare levels yet. I'm curious, how is the difficulty made in them? Is it just more enemies or are the enemies stronger etc?
For starters, there aren't any breaks between the waves, and you'll quickly be over-whelmed by Takens. There's always a constant flow of enemies. All the weapons are switched too -- nothing is in the same place as on normal difficulty, and you have a bit more supplies and way more weapons on nightmare difficulty. The Taken also do more damage, just like in Alan Wake (1).

Now, I haven't played a lot of arcade mode, but I believe the Takens also have more health. I'm pretty sure a standard Taken takes three shots with a 9MM Pistol on normal difficulty, but on nightmare it took four shots. If I'm correct, then this is different from the first game, since there enemies were killed with just as many shots on every difficulty.

[Nelsh]

Now, I haven't played a lot of arcade mode, but I believe the Takens also have more health. I'm pretty sure a standard Taken takes three shots with a 9MM Pistol on normal difficulty, but on nightmare it took four shots. If I'm correct, then this is different from the first game, since there enemies were killed with just as many shots on every difficulty.

Incorrect. Taken took WAY more light and bullets to kill on Hard/Nightmare in the original game. I did at least 6 Nightmare runs, so I should know. ;)

IIRC, Stucky on Nightmare takes 3 entire revolver clips plus one round (So, 3x6+1=19 rounds) to kill. But Stucky's a heavy-weight. All the Taken require twice as much rounds to kill on Nightmare and their darkness seems to burn away at least two or maybe even three times as slowly. The easiest Taken to kill, the fast runners, take two rounds on Nightmare.

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Incorrect. Taken took WAY more light and bullets to kill on Hard/Nightmare in the original game. I did at least 6 Nightmare runs, so I should know. ;)

IIRC, Stucky on Nightmare takes 3 entire revolver clips plus one round (So, 3x6+1=19 rounds) to kill. But Stucky's a heavy-weight. All the Taken require twice as much rounds to kill on Nightmare and their darkness seems to burn away at least two or maybe even three times as slowly. The easiest Taken to kill, the fast runners, take two rounds on Nightmare.
You sure? I've completed the first game on nightmare difficulty and I'm pretty sure every enemy took just as many bullets to kill as they did on normal difficulty. The only difference I noticed was that enemies do hell of more damage.

[MattS]

No, I did just play it and the ammo needed for the large Taken was 8 rounds - rest needed 4 and rarely 2

Here 2 was the average. with 4 being the exception; I dont remember ammo self regenerating either...

[Nelsh]

You sure? I've completed the first game on nightmare difficulty and I'm pretty sure every enemy took just as many bullets to kill as they did on normal difficulty. The only difference I noticed was that enemies do hell of more damage.

Yes, I am sure. You're mistaken. Enemies on Nightmare take at least twice as much light and twice as many bullets to take out.

Just play it. You'll notice the difference immediately.

Like the other guy said, large Taken take 8 bullets, rest four, minimum is two. Guys like Stucky take 19 revolver rounds, I think Emil's 'Pet Gorilla' in the Escape from the Clinic level takes even more. 37 rounds or so, it's insane. The chainsaw dudes take 25 rounds IIRC, not entirely sure.

On 'Normal' (Easy mode) most taken require only 1 or 2 rounds, and their darkness burns away really quickly. Large ones take 4 revolver rounds on 'Normal' IIRC.

Mind you, I'm doing all my nightmare runs without ever changing batteries and using nothing else but flares and revolver. (Not even Flashbangs!) :P

Oh and no, ammo doesn't regenerate in the original game. The only exception are the big chests with unlimited flares or revolver ammo that you can find in some rare locations.

[OttoSporteman]

I'm with Nelsh on this one, just did a quick play on nightmare to be sure and his accounts are precise as they can be!

Great memory dude!

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Yes, I am sure. You're mistaken. Enemies on Nightmare take at least twice as much light and twice as many bullets to take out.

Just play it. You'll notice the difference immediately.

Like the other guy said, large Taken take 8 bullets, rest four, minimum is two. Guys like Stucky take 19 revolver rounds, I think Emil's 'Pet Gorilla' in the Escape from the Clinic level takes even more. 37 rounds or so, it's insane. The chainsaw dudes take 25 rounds IIRC, not entirely sure.

On 'Normal' (Easy mode) most taken require only 1 or 2 rounds, and their darkness burns away really quickly. Large ones take 4 revolver rounds on 'Normal' IIRC.

Mind you, I'm doing all my nightmare runs without ever changing batteries and using nothing else but flares and revolver. (Not even Flashbangs!) :P

Oh and no, ammo doesn't regenerate in the original game. The only exception are the big chests with unlimited flares or revolver ammo that you can find in some rare locations.
I never thought of that when I played it on nightmare. But if the enemies take more bullets to kill, surely the game also give you more ammunition? I saw the "item limit reached" text all the time.

Speaking of chests with unlimited ammo, I re-played The Signal & The Writer a week before AWAN came out, and just noticed that they give you not only unlimited flares and revolver ammo in The Writer, but also unlimited batteries and shotgun ammo -- RMD really were giving out too much supplies in that one. Like you I completed The Writer without ever changing batteries, so seeing the box with unlimited batteries at the end was funny.

I really think RMD did a better job with giving out ammo in AWAN. Having red boxes that refills all ammo and batteries is a good system, and I also noticed that the ammo you find is always for your currently equipped weapons (or if shotgun ammo if you don't have a main weapon).

[Nelsh]

I never thought of that when I played it on nightmare. But if the enemies take more bullets to kill, surely the game also give you more ammunition? I saw the "item limit reached" text all the time.

No... I'd have to check on this to be sure, but as far as I know the game gives you the same amount of ammo as on 'Normal' (easy). No more, no less, it's the same. It's a really forgiving amount for 'Normal' and it's adequate for Nightmare.

I had the same thing; 'Item Limit Reached', most of the time. It's probably because by the time you're playing Nightmare, you'll have learned to be conservative with ammo. (No firing unless the darkness has been burned away, etc.) :)

And yeah, in AWAN, there's basically two types of ammo; for big guns and for small guns. The game will adapt the name of the ammo to the type of weapons that you're carrying. It's clever.