Gameplay Mechanics question for Remedy

[jsdaniel007]

In Alan Wake when you shine the flashlight without boosting it and pointing it at a Taken the darkness would slowly burn away, but in American Nightmare you have to boost the light to get the Darkness the burn. My question to you Remedy is why? To many people it was a small, insignificant "tweak" but to me and my other friends who have played Alan Wake they agree that this was a BIG tactic (to slowly burn then boost halfway) that got killed off for me and i thought of it as a strategy so i ask why did you remove this?

[MikkiRMD]

I'm not a game designer, so I don't remember the exact reasoning behind it (there was quite a bit of discussion about it), but you're right, it does change the rhythm of the combat,, and the bottom line is we wanted to change it -- now you have to take the moment to boost the flashlight, and that means you can't move around as quickly when you're burning off the darkness. It forces you to pick your moments and makes things a little more intense.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the introduction of the Splitters was a big factor on this. If you don't have to boost the light to fight the enemies, they just don't work the same way.

[jsdaniel007]

Wow i didnt think you guys would get back to me so quickly but i see what you mean in terms of the splitters since this same thought occured to me a while ago. Thank you for replying so quickly and would this be possible to put in future installments or does it all depend on enemies or what your going to do for the next installments?

[MikkiRMD]

I'm afraid I can't talk about anything that we might be doing in the future. Sorry. =)

[jsdaniel007]

Thats fine (well i guess it has to be doesn't it? :P). Thanks again for replying so quickly! :)

[MarkusRMD]

HA! We knew somebody would ask this and this is a response from our game designer already from December 2011...

"While improving the core combat experience we’ve focused on making the combat more responsive and intensive. Several changes resulted from this; Wake can sprint longer, there’s less auto-aim, the shadowshield visualization is clearer and the boosting mechanics have been changed. Now Wakes’ flashlight only affects the enemies while boosting – this gameplay clarification also enabled us to have some new enemy types that react to light in different ways."

Mikki - this was on a strictly need to know basis, and frankly -- :)

[Pauloselhombre]

Just to provide a contrasting opinion (for balance I suppose), I personally wouldn't want to see the splitter return in any potential AW2 and feel that the lack of light damage without boosting is damaging to the experience. In fact, I feel that most (if not all) of the changes to the combat mechanics, while fine for an action spin-off, have resulted in a much less tense and less satisfying experience than in the original game. Sorry to be negative, but I'm sure you can appreciate honest criticism, especially considering that it's certainly no secret that I believe the original Alan Wake to be a strong contender for the best narrative driven game of the last few decades (and thus, when you think about it, in the entire history of gaming).

[jsdaniel007]

Why do i have the feeling this was a bet? :)

[Pauloselhombre]

A bet? No bet involved, just an honest, if blunt, opinion born of love for the original game.

[jsdaniel007]

Sorry I meant this to be to Markus

[Nelsh]

I sort of agree with Pauloselhombre on this one.

It's not that I don't like changes, and I can understand the ideas behind some of the decisions, but on the whole it's a very different experience.

[MarkusRMD]

I don't think the changes actually make a difference in the tension, American Nightmare was just tuned perhaps to be less tense (but more intense.. :)). On one hand Alan Wake was widely commented as being very repetitive in combat / gameplay, and that was something we felt was necessary to address.

[revan8]

I think the changes are excellent but yes it is less tense, the splitters and bird men are superb.
A balance of both for next one would be perfect. I completed Alan wake 3 times and dlc, I personally did not have issues with combat as it was offset with tense moments and breathing space such as the day time elements.
The dlc expanded on combat by adding environment combat assets such as the changing street lamps or the text fields adding explosions etc etc.
So the next one uses all these features AND keeps the tension then it maybe a ten out of ten.

[jsdaniel007]

Also there was another thing I had thought about and that would be the lack of difficulty modes. I still play through the campaign just for fun but what was the reason behind the lack of harder and easier difficulty modes? I think it would have extended the playtime of the story and for Fight Till Dawn as well if the leaderboards had it integrated.

[revan8]

Yeah campaign was way too easy. All about nightmare difficulty in the original.

[Nelsh]

I'm still waiting for an explanation on leaving out difficulty modes in AWAN's story mode.

[jester131]

same here.
why does the game only have one difficulty?

[revan8]

Adds to tension. To not die in the story mode is a bit of a shame, it original u would have to run in terror to a light source as your ammo was getting dangerously low.

Any chance of a nightmare patch??

[Nelsh]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/15855537.jpg

[jsdaniel007]

Ha! that was hilarious! :)