When will come out the second episode? Your thoughts about it...

[JohnO]

Why all this firearm euphoria? I'm sure everyone remembers, at the beginning of the game Phillip explains the two different ways he can use a tool/weapon. I have to say I really expected some form of blade in Ep 1, especially since the narration suggests almost too obviously, that he can "perform a stabbing motion" with the tool.

Should there be any weapons added(and here I agree, they should be!:), I think the first category the devs should consider are blades, any kind of blade, really, just something you can stab an attacker with. Obviously, it's not going to be that easy, since Phillip is a scientist, not a man trained for combat, especially melee. And if you think about it, a knife(or a "home-made" spear, ...)is still a pretty clumsy weapon if you're inexperienced. And I'm not talking about some 12'' machette here, hell no! Maybe an old (rusty, of course) survival knife or a kitchen knife(the people down there had to eat, too, I figure) or maybe a meat cleaver. Also a piece of rope, a 3 or 4-foot long stick/rod and something sharp or pointy would be cool, really DIY and of course it could be broken after some use. Or maybe a 2x4 with a nail(s) sticking out of it, from a shattered crate(like in that "horror" game from SEGA, the name of which I can't possibly remember). Guns really have no place in a game like this, though I am fond of the flaregun idea, but like the name says, it's a flaregun and not (primarily:) intended for dealing physical damage.

I must also say I like the thought of having (some kind of) armor, like a thick sweater or a leather jacket, heavy duty pants,... because it's cold down there. Well, not everywhere, but you get the point. Phillip complains about the cold, you walk in a room(a wardrobe perhaps) and there is a sweater or a jacket. You put it on and Phillip is warm and happy(well, for the moment:). But it could have a nice side effect; dog bites don't do as much damage(nothing drastic, slightly noticeable), as well as spider bites etc. A leather jacket could also be some sort of defense against steam(again, on a minor scale). Of course a jacket or a sweater,... would be torn apart by several dog bites(we've all seen the teeth on those monsters), and eventually he would have to discard them.

As I was writing the previous paragraph, another idea crossed my mind - wouldn't it be nice if Phillip could find some junk(like a strong elastic band, a small plastic cup,and a wishbone-shaped, but sturdy item)? Did you catch my drift? As an added reality feature, since there is no crosshair(and that is good!), aiming would be really difficult, though I can't think of a way of implementing how you interact with weapons in this game, you'd have to stick with "push button" for "arm" and "move around" for aim. The slingshot wouldn't do any real damage to dogs, but would be amazingly effective against spiders - that is, if you can hit them, that's the catch! Also, you could use pretty much everything that has the right size for ammo - if you find it that is:). It would also be a brilliant demonstration of the physics enigne, since heavy, compact and hard items, such as rock pebbles would do substantial damage, whereas light or/and breakable objects wouldn't. There should also be categorization for the projectiles, like "heavy", "hard", "sharp", "soft", "brittle",... Maybe picking up an empty bottle and breaking it on a spiders "head" would also be ok. The bottle would break eventually, of course:).

There, that's it for now, I'm not out of ideas, just the "flow" is gone,... for now:) I hope you like it!



M