Forums > Game Forums > Penumbra: Black Plague > Opinions?
St. Martyne (3648) on 4/15/2008 10:31 AM · Permalink · Report
No reviews, so far. I wonder what our residents here think of the second game. If it was already discussed elsewhere, you'll have to excuse me, 2000 unread messages are too much for everyone to cope in one go.
So, what do you think of it?
For me, it was infinitely better than the original game. The story is a bit too Lost-influenced for my tastes, but otherwise marvelous. The puzzles are excellent and interesting and much more physics-based. The clunky combat is gone for good.
But most of all, I enjoyed the way Clarence plays tricks on you -- disappearing doors, invisible ledges, mistaken identity.
Pure gold. Is it the end for Frictional Games? Will they do something else? Because, I couldn't say it after the first game, but now I can: I AM THEIR BIGGEST FAN.
xroox (3895) on 4/15/2008 12:24 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Voice of negativity incoming:
I played through the demo of Overture and thought it was okay - a bit dull - but I finished it. It didn't make me want to buy the full game.
Black Plague... I had no interest in it, but after hearing some nice words about it here, I decided to download the demo. To my surprise... I LOVED IT! I thought it had great atmosphere and interesting puzzles... At the end of the demo, I wanted more!
So I bought the game. And played on. And gave up. Somewhere around the point where it became a HUGE rip-off of Silent Hill AND Aliens, filled with annoying and illogical puzzles and eye-hurting bloom effects. I paid my money, but the game was uninstalled after an hour :(
Sciere (930490) on 4/15/2008 2:39 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Please name the illogical puzzle, this game stands out because ot the lack of it =)
I was a bit disappointed when the enemies finally made their appearance and turned out to be easy to fool, but otherwise I'd say as atmosphere-based horror, I find little direct influences by other games, and much more by horror novels in terms of suspense.
xroox (3895) on 4/15/2008 3:08 PM · Permalink · Report
Perhaps I should replace 'illogical' with 'random' - The game collapsed for me the moment I entered the 'dream world' (aka. Silent Hill world, complete with barbed wire and iron grates). Having to rearrange items in a room so they corresponded with a picture (why?), then raising and lowering giant arms sticking out of a wall, then shifting crates onto colored floor tiles... Perhaps it got better after that, but I didn't feel like playing on. The game was swiftly sold on Amazon.
St. Martyne (3648) on 4/15/2008 9:09 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Actually, being chased by the worm in the dream world was a defining moment for me to press on.
Dream World is a small sequence and was designed to make a small break in the narrative, the game follows a totally different stylistics afterwards. And the lack of direct logic to those puzzles is obvious if you try to appreciate the weirdness of that place.
St. Martyne (3648) on 4/15/2008 9:15 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Sciere wrote--] I was a bit disappointed when the enemies finally made their appearance and turned out to be easy to fool [/Q --end Sciere wrote--]
I wouldn't want to be constantly crouching or hiding behind crates to satisfy the game's claim of being survivalhorror. I felt that the enemies were just right. And a flickering torch at the end of the corridor has always made an intended impression on me.
They're not enough to cause real trouble, but occasionally do provide a couple of thrills. (the saw-asking doctor in the computer room, surprises in the corridors and of course the famous one-room puzzle involving monster, box, chain and a closed door.)
Sciere (930490) on 4/15/2008 9:22 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] I wouldn't want to be constantly crouching or hiding behind crates to satisfy the game's claim of being survivalhorror. I felt that the enemies were just right. And a flickering torch at the end of the corridor has always made an intended impression on me.
They're not enough to cause real trouble, but occasionally do provide a couple of thrills. (the saw-asking doctor in the computer room, surprises in the corridors and of course the famous one-room puzzle involving monster, box, chain and a closed door.) [/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--] You're right about those, I was only referring to the ones at the end of the game. They were eluded so easily, it took away all the fun. Still, it surpassed all other recent survival horror games, and the ending was nothing I'd expected - classy!
I look forward to their future projects. After completely humiliating those terrible Silent Hills and Resident Evils (Admittedly, I'm not a console gamer, but still), let's see what they tackle next.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 4/16/2008 7:31 PM · Permalink · Report
Do you have any problem with Silent Hill (RE sucks butt)? I admit that nothing has been the same since SH2, but SH4 was a good and very original survival horror.
xroox (3895) on 4/16/2008 7:42 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start MichaelPalin wrote--]Do you have any problem with Silent Hill (RE sucks butt)? I admit that nothing has been the same since SH2, but SH4 was a good and very original survival horror.
[/Q --end MichaelPalin wrote--]
No problem :) I really enjoyed Silent Hill 1 & 2. I have SH 3 & 4 on my stack o' games and will play them at some point.
I just had a problem with the way that Black Plague seemed to suddenly, lazily, rip off Silent Hill for its 'dream world' sequence.
EDIT: Ah, I see your question was meant for Sciere :D
EDIT#2: Mr. Palin, I see you're currently playing 'Dementium: The Ward' which definitely takes some inspiration from Silent Hill. What's you opinion of that game? I was enjoying it up until the first boss battle - It's so damn annoying that you have to restart the level every time you die! >:(
I think Dementium wears its inspiration on its sleeve and I think that's okay, as it's an interesting blend of Silent Hill-style survival horror and FPS.
Ah! And you're playing Pathologic too! Excellent! :D
Sciere (930490) on 4/16/2008 7:47 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
It's because of widely-accepted game design choices that don't work for me. I like a very disproportional sense of actual violence (say 5%), no re-runs of locations (abundant in SH4), logical puzzles and a rich environment, horror through isolation, and most importantly no third-person perspective with random angles. By showing more, most developers show less - a more or less apathic character, standing around bored, bumping into walls, all actions repeated ad infinitum until a cut-scene appears. In these types of games, developers constantly remind you to adhere to the game mechanics to advance, rather than to immerse you in a story. Also, I felt no affection at all for any of the characters. But we have been trained to accept most of these elements in a game.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 4/16/2008 8:07 PM · Permalink · Report
Yes, you are mostly right. But, didn't SH2 work for you either? I recognize that SH gameplay shares a lot with RE games (silly carillon puzzles, plenty of butchering), but there is enough atmosphere and story to get fully immersed on them and pass through the annoying bits without losing too much interest. And 3rd person view with independent cameras is fine in SH2, many scary moments are scary precisely thaks to the position of the camera. And about the apathetic behavior of the characters, most of them look wrong, but if you think that James behaves absurdly, you have probably missed what his motivations are.
Sometimes I think that I only love SH because of SH2, I'll confirm when SH5 comes out.
Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 8:10 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Sometimes I think that I only love SH because of SH2
I only love SH2, with the proper respect paid to the first one because it already had so much of the cool stuff seen in the sequel.
The very descriptions of the later installments caused me to have never tried them.
Sciere (930490) on 4/16/2008 8:10 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
I tried Silent Hill 2 based on the recommendations here. The setting is believable and I appreciated the atmosphere right away. But as soon as I came to the centre of the village, I had no direct clue what to do and got incredibly frustrated fighting off those zombies (?) appearing from nowhere, draining a ridiculous low amount of health. I just wanted to explore the surroundings more before really "starting" the game, but I never got the chance that way, and eventually lost interest. If it does pick up after that, I've missed out on it.
xroox (3895) on 4/16/2008 8:32 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
You haven't seen Pyramid Head so you have definitely missed out on one of gaming's most iconic villains and -in his introductory scene- the most twisted and disturbing sequence I have ever witnessed in a game.
BUT I'm going to act like a troll and say that SH2's story is SEVERELY over-hyped! >:)
P.S. It's best to run away from the ever-spawning monsters in the streets, if you can. No use fighting unless you're backed into a corner. And your map will provide clues of where to go next.
Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 9:09 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
the most twisted and disturbing sequence I have ever witnessed in a game.
Second that. I'm still amazed how it wasn't uncensored in the US. Or maybe they thought it was more of a "horror" thing than... you know... the thing Americans like censoring so much.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 4/17/2008 9:07 AM · Permalink · Report
I just wanted to explore the surroundings more before really "starting" the game
If you explore the city you may find some curious things, actually, some pretty cool things, but SH games are totally linear and you shouldn't get tired of them because of a bad exploration experience. And, as they say below, you better forget about killing all the enemies you encounter, they have been done slow for a reason.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 4/16/2008 7:47 PM · Permalink · Report
I wanted to post something similar to this some day, but i have had some motivation problems with MG recently.
Anyway, as for Penumbra, I'm not sure which part has been better. Of course the thing has been polished a lot, but I missed some elements in the second part. You say that the combat in Penumbra is something you are glad to forget, but, well played, a combat system heavily based on melee attacks and blunt weapons can serve as a good way to make the player play the role. If you'd have to survive in such situations, sooner or later you'll be wildly killing one of your enemies following your most primitive instincts. I remember some nice dog-chasing scenes in the first game, that usually ended with me mimicking the attacks on a dog, high on adrenaline, thinking something like "die you fucking monster, now WHO is feeling fear!?". Taking that out of a survival horror is a bad idea for me.
And, of course, the ending of the first game, when the story around Red resolves, made me feel things that very little games have made me feel. there are some emotive moments in Black Plague too, though. You know which I mean.
SPOILERS: By the way, I didn't really understood the ending of Black Plague. Philip didn't help the aliens at the end, did he? Why? and who is the person he talks to in his letter (or is it a mail?)?
Sciere (930490) on 4/16/2008 8:06 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Frictional Games announced Requiem today.
"Requiem" will tie up loose ends from previous installments and as Philip progresses he will encounter various characters from his past. Penumbra: Requiem delves deeper into the world of the Tuurngait infection and personalities from the previous two games, Overture and Black Plague. Long lost friends will return and aid Philip on his quest, but can they really be trusted?
In the bizarre world of Penumbra: Requiem players will experience another psychological thrill on a level unheard of before Penumbra: Black Plague. This time telling what is real and what is not will be even harder and not always trusting your senses will be essential in order to survive.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 4/16/2008 8:11 PM · Permalink · Report
I though it was called Penumbra 3: Back with a Vengance, XD
St. Martyne (3648) on 4/16/2008 8:24 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Sciere wrote--]Frictional Games announced Requiem today.
"Requiem" will tie up loose ends from previous installments and as Philip progresses he will encounter various characters from his past. Penumbra: Requiem delves deeper into the world of the Tuurngait infection and personalities from the previous two games, Overture and Black Plague. Long lost friends will return and aid Philip on his quest, but can they really be trusted?
In the bizarre world of Penumbra: Requiem players will experience another psychological thrill on a level unheard of before Penumbra: Black Plague. This time telling what is real and what is not will be even harder and not always trusting your senses will be essential in order to survive. [/Q --end Sciere wrote--]
I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. I felt that Black Plague ended quite elegantly and left no loose ends. But! Since the new installment is based on the very same things I enjoyed mostly about Black Plague, then I am all for it. Go, Frictional Games!
To answer Palin's question: No, I don't believe Philip succeeded because the hatch is still there, and the whole installation is still up and running, so he's only choice was you - "the player", who saw the story through his eyes and through his last letter. He pleads to you to finish what he has started, just like his father pleaded to him. He came full circle, and finally gave up, because it was too much for one man to take.
But it seems I was wrong, and Philip will find a way to seal Tuurngait from humanity (or vice versa) for good.