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Alan Wake Day#3: No Sign of Dawn

This session of Alan Wake leads me around the woods some more, and the plot thickens in mostly dorky and stiff ways. It’s trying hard to pull at me and failing. There is so much exposition I’m choking on it including tons of spoiling foreshadowing, and again, that does not scary make. There are some good fights, but the running around is really starting to get tired. Weak, but the end seems to be coming, so I’m sticking around. Spoilers within.

Third session resumes with Alan and Barry (my literary agent) meeting  a new guy, Randolph. at front of the trailer park. Randolph offers to take us to Rose, although he’s suspicious of us. We follow Randolph as we talk. My agent found all sorts of weird stories about the town.  Randolph reveals that Indians thought the lake was a gateway to the underworld. Apparently there was an island on the lake owned by a guy named Zane — he was a writer but he doesn’t seem to have published any books. He was also a diver and went down when the volcano took out the island. At this point in the exposition, I would like to point something out. For a story that starts with a Stephen King paraphrase about how horror works by not revealing things, HOW IS THIS NOT TELLING ME THE WHOLE STORY!?! Yet another FAIL at horror, Alan Wake. As we walk, we see a boat crashed in front yard of trailer strangely. The exposition continues — a girl named Jager drowned in lake a week earlier to the volcano. She was a  lover of Zane. It’s a local spook story; Cynthia Weaver wrote the article and she’s the apparently the crazy lady that I met.

We get to Rose’s trailer and knock to talk to her. She’s creepily lethargic but we go in anyway despite my (the player’s not the character’s) huge reservations. There’s a CS of Alan and Gerry inside and drinking coffee. They then collapse because she drugged them.  Alan falls unconscious. We cut to Alan in the darkness. A voice in a light says I must turn the lights on. The lady in black appears there saying she promised that she would find me and my wife. A voice again tells me to turn on the lights, and we cut back to the trailer. The woman in black tells me to wake up and get back to work in a flash.  Alan flips on the lights and I get control back. There’s another TV bit: Jager is my editor and told me I can save wife, but the story is becoming more hers than Alan’s and turning to horror. Jager helped Zane too. HOW IS THIS NOT TOO MUCH EXPOSITION?

I’m still in the trailer, and my goal now is to get my passed out agent into a car. I find a manuscript page that tells me Randolph called cops. I run to my car, and lo and behold, Randolph’s there and the cops arrive. Thank goodness the game didn’t shock me with the surprise of that plot twist; it might have made me feel something. In CS, Agent Nightingale tries to arrest me but I run. Nightingale shoots at Alan and misses.  I get control back in the woods. In voiceover, Alan reveals he hated leaving Barry behind, but he has to meet the kidnapper. I have to run through dark woods avoiding the police. It’s interesting that now I’m trying to avoid the light (flashlights, flares). I get another manuscript page giving away WAY too much plot (about Zane, in this case). I see a police car wipe out in front of me and that seems fishy. I reach a light, and watch some creepy darkness effects in the woods. Continuing to run, I see a light up ahead of me go down and hear cops closing in. I run. A helicopter comes up, and dark ravens show up and crash it. Alan comments on how cops can’t stand up to the HORROR. I reach a cabin and stop for a second, and for my trouble, more thermoses!

I head back out and find a gate covered in darkness that I can’t pass. I have to find a generator to power a spotlight to blast the gate. I do; it’s kind of a dumb puzzle. I get my flashlight back and take out another GATE OF DARKNESS. I then get some flashbangs (light grenades) and use them to kill a bunch of Taken. In the next battle, I die fighting, but I continue from there quickly and it’s more running and fighting to get to a lit place, which turns out to be the radio station – my goal. There’s a CS of me talking to Maine (the radio host).  Nightingale shows up outside and shouts threats. Maine says it’s cool. The sheriff tells Nightingale that Alan’s caught, but he shoots anyway and Alan runs. There is a stupid melodramatic moment every time Alan jumps in CS where the whole game slows down to show off my five foot drop. And by the way, why are they so quick to hunt down a famous author anyway? If I’m the superstar that I am, wouldn’t I get a little bit of a benefit of the doubt about whatever crime I’m supposed to have committed. I get control back when I complete my epic leap.

More running follows, and I get my guns back. There’s a fight at a cabin that’s pretty good. I keep going and as I walk, Alice calls.  She’s weird, and tells me I’m not me and she’s alone. I get to the depot. Pipes get Taken over and fly at me but I have no idea how to dodge them. I die once, but then “beat” the scene when I totally unintentionally fall out of that space where the pipes are flying to get away. So silly. I destroy more flying objects on the way to my next goal (whatever it is) by shining a light on them. I get to a new depot area, and get attacked and die from many enemies surrounding me. The save point for this battle is a lit spot just before the depot, and the voiceover repeating itself at that spot every time I respawn gets very lame. After three deaths, I beat the fight by throwing flares until I finally get a gate opened, and when I run inside, I get my back against a wall and take the remaining guys out from the defensive position. It’s a not bad fight scene after all. I  go in a building and head upstairs. There’s a new tv show that’s pretty dumb. I go back outside and get into a fight with several guys and a bulldozer. I kill the Taken quick with a flare but have to dodge the bulldozer until a gate opens. I get inside, thus avoiding the bulldozer,  and find a car.

The sun rises as I drive to the coal mine where I’m supposed to meet the kidnapper. I zoom out, and return to me on the road. I drive a little and then switch cars for a jeep. I explore a bit and find a radio in a cabin off of the road.  Maine is on my side it seems. Back to the road, and the camera changes in the car are WAY too jerky and awful. Actually, driving is this game is terrible in general. I get to the coal mine, leave my car, and head into the building. There’s a CS of Alan in the museum with brooding music. Time passes as he fucks around, but the guy never shows. I get control and the kidnapper calls.  I have to meet him somewhere else. Darkness shakes the house. The door is locked, but I explore and find a trapdoor down to get out of the building. To get out of this depot, I have to turn off the power to climb over an electrified fence. The depot is huge, so I drive across the field to the power building. I kill a bunch of Taken with my jeep before the jeep goes down, then I kill the rest. I turn off the power and then die on the return (flying things and lots of Taken). I get past them with solid tactics the second time. I walk into the building past the fence. There’s  fight on on each floor as I go up, nothing too hard. I find another manuscript page which implies I’m touched by darkness but not Taken because THEY NEED MY MIND.

I get outside by following some yellow arrows. I  kill the power to get past another gate and I find more flashbangs (Alan observes that it’s not standard equipment for work crews). I blast some dark spots as I run. There are a series of  staggered fights with short-term spotlights I can use — I do fine and the fights are pretty fun. I get to a seeming checkpoint where I kill a standard rushing boss. I then  have to cross a ghost mountain town. There are more flying objects, and  I take them out with injury but no real threat. I get into a clearing and die once, because I think I can enter a door but can’t and a flying thing kills me, quite cheaply. Oh the door was locked — would have been nice to get some kind of messaging about that.  I kill the machines and find the key. I see another view of me on TV – Alan on TV reads Zane’s poetry and says he’s going to include that in the story.

I find a hunting rifle and go back outside. I scale a hill and find a stash with more flare gun stuff. As I continue, I see more birds. There’s a stupid thin bridge section I fall to my death on because walking is so awkward. I get past it and fight off some birds. At the end of the path, I fall into a mine. I run around and hear Alice’s voice. I see writing that says all tunnels go to Cauldron Lake. A big headache floors Alan and I hear Alice screaming. As I explore, I reach an edge and immediately unintentionally jump over and die (CHEAP). I find a way around and win some more fights. I reach a part where I have to use an “elevator” (planks on chain) to navigate up an incomplete tower. The puzzles in this game are so straightforward they are almost pointless. I get out of the mine. I climb up the hill first (which is opposite the way I’m supposed to go) and find a nice view — the backgrounds in this game are quite good. I also find a new page. I go back down, and fight more birds. At the bottom of the hill, I activate a generator which activates another cable car. On the car across, I fight some birds but I get to the other side — the cart tips and crashes but it doesn’t do anything to me.

There’s a tiny little fight on the other side. As I run following that, I see a big train car thrown. I keep moving into another small-ish fight. I start crossing a rope bridge. A CS starts in the middle of the bridge to set up an attack. It’s a short fight, but I do it and continue up the mountain. I find a building with nice creepy graffiti in the bottom floor about Zane. It takes me a while to find an exit, but I reach it. There’s a small fight then a walk  to the roof. The roof collapses into a big fight where I’m surrounded. I die once then get it. It’s a good fight. With that, I’m out of the building.

I start heading back to the lake. I see a light (Alan thinks from a boat) in the distance. I overhear the kidnapper pleading with someone as I run. There’s a CS of me approaching the kidnapper. He says he was lying about having my wife. There’s a flash of the dark woman and the “kidnapper” is sucked away into a tornado of darkness.  Alan grabs flare and lights it as he’s sucked up himself. So this scene was told to me earlier in a manuscript page, and I am HATING that I don’t have the chance to light the flare myself. Wow does this manuscript page foreshadow suck all of the life out of the story. Alan’s dropped into the lake, and there’s a series of flashes of Alice sinking, Alan typing, and Alan sinking.  Someone saves him and that’s the end of episode three. It’s a terrible song this time, hokey and silly.

After the again pointless “last-time-on-Alan Wake”, I awake in Episode 4 (“The Truth”) to Alice who turns into Dr. Hartman. He tells Alan the  shock of his wife’s death caused schizophrenia. I get control and get up in bed. I’m locked in the room.  Hartman comes in to talk to me and wants to show me the hospital. I call it a night.

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  1. Vic 2.0 says

    “This session of Alan Wake leads me around the woods some more, and the plot thickens in mostly dorky and stiff ways. It’s trying hard to pull at me and failing. There is so much exposition I’m choking on it including tons of spoiling foreshadowing, and again, that does not scary make.”

    I’m hoping to see some elaboration on these points, but in the meantime I want to reiterate for anyone reading, Alan Wake was not meant to scare you, the player. It was marketed as a Psychological Thriller instead of Survival Horror specifically so people wouldn’t walk away from it comparing it to Silent Hill or Resident Evil.

    “Third session resumes with Alan and Barry (my literary agent) meeting a new guy, Randolph. at front of the trailer park. Randolph offers to take us to Rose, although he’s suspicious of us. We follow Randolph as we talk. My agent found all sorts of weird stories about the town. Randolph reveals that Indians thought the lake was a gateway to the underworld. Apparently there was an island on the lake owned by a guy named Zane — he was a writer but he doesn’t seem to have published any books. He was also a diver and went down when the volcano took out the island. At this point in the exposition, I would like to point something out. For a story that starts with a Stephen King paraphrase about how horror works by not revealing things, HOW IS THIS NOT TELLING ME THE WHOLE STORY!?! Yet another FAIL at horror, Alan Wake.”

    In reality, this is not a “fail” because it ISN’T telling you the whole story. This is like, the tip of the iceberg. The volcano isn’t really a volcano, for one example. Give you a very small background on Thomas Zane (the most mysterious character in the game) is not telling you the whole story. But looking back at it now, it’s funny that you thought this WAS the whole story, no? 🙂

    “We get to Rose’s trailer and knock to talk to her. She’s creepily lethargic but we go in anyway despite my (the player’s not the character’s) huge reservations.”

    Well to be fair, you did just see the cutscene that showed Rose was being used by the dark presence. Further, though Alan could’ve been more careful, he had no knowledge the dark presence could act during the day. And considering his personality (He’s a jerk; once more, I say “jerk” because I’m not sure I can say what he REALLY is!), it’s not hard to believe he would write her speech off as a depression and get right to what’s more important, which is of course HIS problems.

    “There’s another TV bit: Jager is my editor and told me I can save wife, but the story is becoming more hers than Alan’s and turning to horror. Jager helped Zane too. HOW IS THIS NOT TOO MUCH EXPOSITION?”

    Because the very first line is “I can’t tell reality from dream anymore”, and the second calls Barbara Jagger imaginary. You’re saying it’s too much exposition because you took everything at face value and simply missed all the hints that there is something very mysterious about EVERYTHING here. The third line confirms that what she’s wearing is a funeral dress (Who is/was she mourning?) The fourth sentence says “I call her Barbara Jagger”. So is she real, imaginary, someone Alan created, someone Alan just renamed, what? And after the lines you actually told us about here, he says “but I know she’s right”. HUH? How is she right? What exact changes is she making, why, and why is he agreeing with her? I’m sorry, I respectfully disagree that this is too much exposition. Heck, I’m not sure it qualifies as exposition at all, considering we don’t even know if this lady’s a real person… or ever was….

    “I find a manuscript page that tells me Randolph called cops. I run to my car, and lo and behold, Randolph’s there and the cops arrive. Thank goodness the game didn’t shock me with the surprise of that plot twist; it might have made me feel something.”

    I suppose. When I played it the first time through, BECAUSE the cops weren’t even there at first, I actually FELT like I had a chance of getting out of there beforehand.

    “It’s interesting that now I’m trying to avoid the light (flashlights, flares).”

    You know what, that didn’t even occur to me!

    “I get another manuscript page giving away WAY too much plot (about Zane, in this case).”

    Ok, let’s see what we got here. Mention of a “poet” (which is PROBABLY referring to Zane but his name isn’t mentioned), mention of some “rock stars” which are completely unknown to the player at this point in the game, and the notion that it’s creative works that give the dark presence its power. I don’t see how it’s giving too much (or hardly ANYTHING) of the plot away.

    “I reach a cabin and stop for a second, and for my trouble, more thermoses!”

    There’s one thermos here, and a somewhat humorous CB conversation. Don’t hate the thermoses, man, they’re just collectibles.

    “I have to find a generator to power a spotlight to blast the gate. I do; it’s kind of a dumb puzzle.”

    If I were to consider it a puzzle at all, I’m sure I’d agree. But I didn’t.

    “I then get some flashbangs (light grenades) and use them to kill a bunch of Taken. In the next battle, I die fighting, but I continue from there quickly and it’s more running and fighting to get to a lit place,”

    Gotta hand it to you – to hear you speak of this very different combat sequence, even I almost believed it was just the same ol’ thing you’ve been doing all along. You are a master.

    “There is a stupid melodramatic moment every time Alan jumps in CS where the whole game slows down to show off my five foot drop.”

    I don’t remember the others, but this one was more of a ten foot slide. I just watched the cut scene again. His escape and fall were both done amazingly here.

    “And by the way, why are they so quick to hunt down a famous author anyway? If I’m the superstar that I am, wouldn’t I get a little bit of a benefit of the doubt about whatever crime I’m supposed to have committed.”

    If you’re talking about Nightingale, that remains a mystery. The others are “just following orders” by Nightingale until the Sheriff shows up to put a stop to the madness courtesy the banality of evil. I would say that if a group of cops will beat someone down in broad daylight here in the real world where they know there will be witnesses, it’s not too far-fetched to think they’d give in to the thrill of the chase here in the woods at night where they’re almost sure to get away with anything they choose to do. Plus, fear probably plays a role. In the woods, they’d likely be thinking, “If I hesitate to kill him, he’s probably going to kill me”.

    “Pipes get Taken over and fly at me but I have no idea how to dodge them. I die once, but then “beat” the scene when I totally unintentionally fall out of that space where the pipes are flying to get away. So silly.”

    I don’t see how that could happen, but if you happened to find an easy way out that’s cool.

    “The save point for this battle is a lit spot just before the depot, and the voiceover repeating itself at that spot every time I respawn gets very lame.”

    Oh c’mon! That’s in every game where there’s dialogue going on outside of cut scenes. If you die, you WILL have to hear the dialogue again, it’s very common.

    I do agree with you about the driving physics, though. They are absolutely awful. But I never had any issues with the camera.

    “I find another manuscript page which implies I’m touched by darkness but not Taken because THEY NEED MY MIND.”

    Right, because of his inclination to create things. The dark presence thrives on creativity, no matter the source. Remember that was in one of manuscripts earlier that supposedly gave too much exposition? 😛

    “I get to a seeming checkpoint where I kill a standard rushing boss.”

    Not all the tele-flankers in the game are bosses; the one in the cemetery certainly isn’t.

    “I get into a clearing and die once, because I think I can enter a door but can’t and a flying thing kills me, quite cheaply. Oh the door was locked — would have been nice to get some kind of messaging about that.”

    The one moment the game gets realistic on you, you whine about it 😛 Jk, you’re right, it’s a rather annoying little trap.

    I kill the machines and find the key. I see another view of me on TV – Alan on TV reads Zane’s poetry and says he’s going to include that in the story.

    “As I explore, I reach an edge and immediately unintentionally jump over and die (CHEAP).”

    Where, exactly?

    “I find a way around and win some more fights. I reach a part where I have to use an “elevator” (planks on chain) to navigate up an incomplete tower. The puzzles in this game are so straightforward they are almost pointless.”

    I don’t know anyone else who would call this puzzle too easy, but ok. I watched an LP of the game in which the critics were having a field day with Alan Wake. Even they had a little trouble with it (and so obviously didn’t call this one too straightforward).

    “There’s a flash of the dark woman and the “kidnapper” is sucked away into a tornado of darkness. Alan grabs flare and lights it as he’s sucked up himself. So this scene was told to me earlier in a manuscript page, and I am HATING that I don’t have the chance to light the flare myself. Wow does this manuscript page foreshadow suck all of the life out of the story.”

    Not at all. You got that manuscript way back before you fought the bulldozer. That’s ample time to completely forget about it and only realize you’ve read it before AFTER it happens, if then. And I’m glad they didn’t mix QTEs with the cut scenes, but that’s a matter of preference so I’ll leave you to it.

    Alan’s dropped into the lake, and there’s a series of flashes of Alice sinking, Alan typing, and Alan sinking. Someone saves him and that’s the end of episode three. It’s a terrible song this time, hokey and silly.”

    ‘Up Jumped the Devil” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Probably my least favorite of them all, but it’s good Halloween Party music 😉

    The point of the “Previously on Alan Wake”s is just to go with the intended TV series feel, let it go!



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