Amnesia 2: A Machine for Pigs

Ah, that one is long dead, pardon, it was removed not long after it was posted to make room for more shenanigans, here is one from the tropes site◊.

-Shudders-

Thank you!

...

Oh, Mister Mister Ozzy Mandus, how could you be so mean?
I told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine...

Review copies have been sent out and one of these have apparently ended up in Pewdie's hands, with the developers' blessing he's already put together a "Scariest Moments" montage. Obviously a spoiler-tastic affair and I haven't seen it but if it's of interest

I don't like survival horror and as such don't plan on playing it, but I've watched several Let's Plays of the first game and am interested in the lore.

So, Pewds has started doing a walkthrough of it. Watched the first episode. So far, it's looking really good. I can't wait for it to be released.

Is it a decent walkthrough, or the usual shrieking for giggles? ._.

Relatedly, has anyone else started an LP?

His sneak peek video was more realistic, though when he was stuck in a room with a monster he did the customary freakout, but a reaction video I saw for the first game tons of people freaked out when they saw a monster.

Welp, I'm not exactly a fan of Pewds, but hey, he's posted a thing. So I'll watch it. I'm hoping it'll be good. Controversial as it might be, I loved the writing and visuals in Dear Esther.

Aaaaaand now the vid is private. Oops. Well, there weren't really any big spoilers.

edited 30th Aug '13 10:26:35 AM by Pannic

It was more new Pewds than old Pewds, but eh, I like him. Either way, the video was taken off. I guess he wasn't supposed to release anything before it came out.

GameSpot has put up a thing of the first 30 minutes, as a Pewdie-free alternative.

Nope. The Chinese Room weren't asked and didn't like him. They posted these tweets to tell people about it and a few hours later he turned the video private.

First tweet.

Second tweet.

A picture of his response taken by Slowbeef.

edited 31st Aug '13 12:12:37 PM by LordofLore

So the game is finally out.

It's... getting a slightly mixed response. Basically you either love it for the story or you hate it because the gameplay has been slimmed down from TDD and the puzzles are waaaay more simplistic.

Basically it comes down to

>Dear Esther

edited 10th Sep '13 1:10:53 PM by Pannic

Speaking of LPers who have been playing the game, I've noticed Mangaminx (aka theRPGMinx) has started to LP A Machine for Pigs. It's going to be awesome to watch through especially since the first videos of hers I watched was her LP of Amnesia which I heard of through the Nightmare Fuel page on here.

edited 10th Sep '13 1:54:58 PM by ElecRei

I just started it and so far I like it. I want the mansion setting to stay for most of the game. I'm still hoping that Justine will be involved but I doubt she will.

I wonder if it would have been smarter to release this closer to Halloween though.

Well I disliked Dear Esther, so that automatically means this one's a no go. Of course, assuming that assessment has some basis in reality.

Well that was short, and disappointing, and a little too much Dear Esther and not enough Amnesia near the end.

I'm sorry, but I disagree the fuck with this

Video games are an unique medium. I don't want to rebut this statement with "make game mechanics or piss off". But to me it's like they declared they're a movie company and arguing that the filming isn't their focus, they have far more important scripting and sound editing to worry about "what the camera is pointed at". And if you don't like it, Peter Jackson will probably make a movie where he points a camera at things.

I guess this confirms Everyone Has Gone to Rapture will be another walking-and-listening-to-an-audio-book simulator.

edited 23rd Sep '13 9:36:40 AM by Rotpar

Well, this was a real poem. Reminded me a lot of Tales of the Black Freighter. "I had swallowed too much seawater. I had swallowed too much horror."

Walking and listening to an audio book is pretty fun, in the right atmosphere. They're sort of going back to the old Myst formula, except with more humanity. Inhuman humanity. Because only humans are so deliberately and massively inhumane.

The evil in this game... you'd think it was obvious, but, really, it was just pieces of evidence, here and there. We never get to see how humans are killed and turned into pigs, we never get to experience any of the industrial processes happening, per se (save for the one bit with the blowtorch). We get everything as aftereffects, evidence left behind, and most of it is left to our imagination, which I suppose is good.

But, really, the writing is a bit too poetic at times. I know mad people aren't supposed to make sense, but those texts tend to really genuinely not make sense. These however feel crafted to imply and suggest and they're incredibly unsubtle about it. After the first couple of notes you wonder "could it be that they're making Soylent Green"? But there's a point where you can't help but think "WE KNOW YOU DID IT! ADMIT TO IT AND FUCKING GET ON WITH IT!". Same with the kids; "HE'S BASICALLY SCREAMING AT YOU THAT YOU KILLED THEM! REALIZE IT AND MOVE ON, MAN!"

And I agree with Pew, "I did it for love" was the lamest excuse ever. And killing everyone to prevent everyone from killing each other is just plain stupid and un-engineer-like. Though the trick with the cold and hot pipes was pretty clever, I'll admit it, but that's a very old trick, there's nothing special about it. And, yeah, the machine is way oversized, where did he get all the funding? And how did he get a Maya temple inside?

edited 17th Oct '13 7:50:27 AM by TheHandle

Actually, I think that I agree with them: mechanics needn't be the core focus. There will presumably still be some, even if they're just walking and a basic "use" button, but I don't see a problem with focussing on something else. A game needn't have new or deep mechanics in order to deliver an engaging and interactive experience — for me, at least.

Note that "not having something as one's core focus" doesn't necessarily mean that that element is disregarded entirely, just that it isn't were the majority of effort is put.

To extend the movie metaphor, a developer focussing on mechanics seems to me to be roughly equivalent to a movie-maker focussing on impressive cinematographic tricks — 48 frame-per-second cameras, 3D, new camera rigs to enable shots that were previously infeasible, advances in usage of CGI, etc. — as opposed to focussing on delivering good performances or a good story, for example.

Note too that I'm not saying that no game should ever have mechanics as its core focus, just that I don't see a problem with some games not placing their focus on it. Since games are rather younger than movies, I think that it's probably a positive thing for the medium that at least some people focus on mechanics, because there's still plenty of space to explore.

Yeah, leave the focus on mechanics for the likes of Platinum Games. Remember Proteus? Those were some nice mechanics.

edited 17th Oct '13 7:52:12 AM by TheHandle

... It's been weeks, and I'm still kind of obsessed with the game. The soundtrack keeps resonating in my head. Also, I've sort of stopped buying pig. Not because I expect it to be Soylent Green or anything, I just... don't feel like buying it.

Just pork products, or anything with pig in it?

I will never give up on my polvorones.