My problems with the game revolved around the cricket bat. It takes way too many swings to kill a zombie with it. This would be fine if there was some way to upgrade it, but since that's not possible it seems ridiculous that a zombie takes 5+ swings to the head for it to die. Since using a gun is basically an absolute last resort, the bat was your main weapon.Evonisia said:
I don't think I ever personally took issue with the Cricket Bat's damage save for the stupid Police Armour Zombies (I swear one actually took seventeen hits to die). Eventually I learned it was three hits to knock the helmet off, and just whip out the pistol for a quick headshot.Mir Teiwaz said:
The same day?I thought 4 days was bad but whoever ok'd that decision needs a serious talking toWolvDragon said:
Probably didn't help that people didn't seem to be expecting a survival horror game.I can't remember which site had a review(but it was one of the major ones)where the reviewer was quite scathing in his review and said something along the lines of "it could have been a great L4D style shooter"...FFS at what stage in all the pre-release footage and demos did it ever look like L4DEvonisia said:
See this never bothered me as I imagine in real life it would take quite a few swings to bash someones head in so it made the game more realistic.It kind of annoys me in shows like the Walking Dead when even the scrawniest armed character is able to bash a zombies head in with one hitMir Teiwaz said:
The game wasn't THAT long, but we spent an eternity screwing around in the world and laughing endlessly. It's so unfortunate that Neverhood was released as point-and-click games were drowning in a riptide, or else its name might be as recognizable today as Monkey Island, and regarded with equal reverence.
I wouldn't say they're languishing in obscurity. FP2 has a very active modding scene and the games often frequent top 100 and 50 games lists. The real reason why they are not a household name is because the space-combat genre itself dropped out of the mainstream right after they came out (some say exactly because FP2 set the bar so high it intimidated other developers at the time). Sure, the younger generation probably doesn't know them too well, but chances are most gamers who grew up in the nineties played the hell out of them already.Fallow said:The Freespace series (1998, 1999).
Absolutely top class games; great review scores, supported modding toolset, great storyline (lots of cinematics), great replayability (multiple paths through the story). It's just a complete package.
Pretty bad sales, and now languishing in obscurity.
Volition wants to do a 3, but Interplay owns the IP
You are really understating of just how broken Bloodlines was at release. It wasn't just a few bugs, the game was downright unplayable. It became a great, if still flawed gem after all the community patches, but you cannot blame the release date for the low sales of this one.Johnlives said:
I loved Alan Wake and beat it two days before RDR came out! Then enjoyed me some RDR.WolvDragon said:In North America, Alan Wake was released the same day as RDR, that was pretty bad timing in my opinion.MetalDooley said:Pretty much most games released between Oct - Dec as they get overshadowed by the big annual releases.Why publishers insist on cramming the majority of releases into the autumn/winter period is beyond me
Beyond Good and Evil is a perfect example.Released a few weeks after Vice City and around the same time as Prince of Persia:Sands of Time,Mario Kart
Alan Wake is another good example.While it didn't do badly sales wise it was definitely a mistake to release it 4 days before Red Dead Redemption came out as it was always going to be overshadowed by Rockstars game
Which leads me to post this, Alan Wake, one of my favorite games of all time, was released on the same day as RDR. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to release it on the same day as RDR, but it definitely hurt the game saleswise.
I'll add to the Tri-Ace love with my love of Infinite Undiscovery, possibly the stupidest title in the history of titles, but an awesome game with a memorable story.Foolery said:
I loved KOA and the behind the scenes world building that was going on by R.A. Salvatore. He'd had a huge bit of lore imagined and was writing furiously to add to the MMO that was supposed to follow. I used to talk to him regularly through various means (he still answers my e-mails!!) and he really felt horrible for all the fans who wanted more from the world of Amalur. Its even worse that all the stuff he did will never see the light of day thanks to court orders. He's still bound by an NDA and can't give any details about it, no matter how much begging people do.Ten Foot Bunny said:
Releasing it at the busiest time of the year for game releases alongside other big name titles like Vice City and Mario Kart combined with fuck all marketing probably didn't helpGabeZhul said:
I might have beaten Alan Wake in that time frame except that I got distracted at the beginning. Hearing one of my all-time favorite singers in a video game made me so giddy that I couldn't do anything else. More games need Harry Nilsson.FoolKiller said:
I'd never even heard of Salvatore before KoA, but I was really impressed by what he wrote for the game. You could tell that KoA's story was just the beginning of something greater. It was so good that I was dumbfounded every time the IP was passed up at auction. The pundits suggested that the IP was toxic because of its association with 38 Studios, but I can't believe that nobody saw the potential in continuing a story that was already so thoroughly and carefully crafted.Imperioratorex Caprae said:
I'm glad he got some exposure from the game, and it really is weird how no one wanted to touch it. You figure someone would have seen the sales alone on KoA and said "hey we could totally make $$ off that IP" but no. Headdesk-frustrating that is. I've not ventured to ask Bob yet if Amalur has turned him off from writing for more games or not, I don't want to see the answer. He's a good writer overall and a great worldbuilder.Ten Foot Bunny said:
