I think the trend is that the aliens ultimately serve their hive above all else.  An individual warrior's life is not that important compared to the safety of the queen and eggs.  When together, they operate collectively: attacking in groups, retreating in groups, and so on.  They adapt to the environment of their hosts, possibly pulling genetic features that insure they will be able to move and survive in the world of their prey.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Actually you

Edited January 30, 200719 yr by sindex

I remember that scene, but I don't remember anything about turning the corpses into eggs. The "statue" of Brett didn't resemble one, at least. I believe the space jockey "growing into the chair" was an example of this process.

 

But you could be right. It's plausible that they hadn't conceived of an alien "hive" or a queen that lays eggs until they started making the second movie. Regardless, as the cocoon scene was cut from the movie I'm not sure if it's considered canon and as it is, it potentially contradicts the other movies.

The directors cut of Alien includes a scene in which Ripley finds Dallas cocooned, much like characters in Aliens were, and puts him out of his misery. As far as I am aware an explanation was once planned that those cocooned were being mutated in aliens, but nothing eventuated.

" 2007, 07:26 PM)

I think the trend is that the aliens ultimately serve their hive above all else. An individual warrior's life is not that important compared to the safety of the queen and eggs. "

 

In insect collectives the queen dominates the drones with phermones, if for some reason that fails they simply stop caring about the hive. I watched a documentary on bees on Discovery, where the worker bees had become immune to the control because of a virus, little by little the drones stopped their collective behavior and in the end the collony died.

 

Wolves and many pack animals have an alpha couple that are the only ones allowed to breed, the other female members don't come into heat and the males restrain their natural drive to breed, however this is entirely dependent on continued agressive subduing of the rest of the pack.

Didn't read the whole 64 (was it?) pages previous discussion; so...

 

First of all; I liked the movie "Aliens" the best of all 4. Action-packed and still creepy.

 

Which makes me wonder if it is a great setting for a RPG.

The Alien setting and scariness is primarily made by the fact your (or in the movies: Ripley) on your own (or with very few)... and in RPG's alot of interaction is usually required (unless you gonna start about Diablo-type-RPG's) to make a good storyline.

If there are alot of NPC's in order to support such a story I wonder if they can make it as creepy as the movies (unless ofcourse after your done all the NPC's get eaten or murdered on some other way... or are in cocoons; but that also gets repetative).

 

Also the variety of Aliens and their facts make me wonder if it is fit for a RPG. Facehuggers are supposed to "insta-kill"; how can you make that properly in a RPG (unless you make it a DX-kind of mix), aliens are supposed to be WAY faster than any humans and cling to all kinds of walls findable; how can you make a proper 3rd person RPG with gunfire action and a lot of retreat (with several different "floors" for the enemies)? So far I have seen none. Also melee is out of the picture (unless your PC likes acid-burns); as is magic.

 

And if they do make it a bit like DX (RPG-features fit in a FPS world) how can they stimulate the speed of the aliens without making it a reflex game FPS like AvP is? And than the interaction with NPC's is still going to be a rare opportunity to not spoil the feeling that your out their against overpowered aliens. Visiting a fully living breeding city like New York/Hong Kong/Paris like in DX would totally not fit into the Aliens scene...

 

Oh well; I'll await the first info/screens/movies etc. to see how OE thinks they can make a RPG out of this francise...

 

EDIT;

Oh; and to add to the Source/UE3 discussion:

Apparently UE3 has... besides really nice graphics... also a very userfriendly toolkit, which made alot of Devs to choose a license in that engine instead.

And if you say things about bloodlines with Source; remember DX was made with UE (2 versions older too)!

Edited January 31, 200719 yr by Hassat Hunter

I am wondering about the abilities of the consoles mentioned. Will they be a drag on what the PC could bring to the table? ie: A fairly good PC bought today outshines a 360 and ps3. I am thinking that this game is at least 2 years away (Unless I have missed something, i would think they need at least this amount of time), so i am guessing this game will be a touch dated on newer PC's?

 

Graphics, thats cool, I don't really care about this too much. However, if the game could use large areas that the PC has the processing power for i would hate a 'deus ex invisible war' letdown to creep in, where areas were pathetically small, even in comparison to its old PC only brother, Deus ex 1.

 

And for the person who suggested a synthetic; Well done, you have just destroyed the big shock halfway through the game! Oh wait. Its not a bioware game is it.

There's nothing outside of top end computers' graphical ability that a console can't do. Role-playing wise, a computer and a console have the same capabilities and have been for years.

However, if the game could use large areas that the PC has the processing power for i would hate a 'deus ex invisible war' letdown to creep in, where areas were pathetically small, even in comparison to its old PC only brother, Deus ex 1.

 

UE3 has map-streaming technology... and seeing Oblivion is also on X-box 360 as one huge map...

I liked the movie "Aliens" the best of all 4. Action-packed and still creepy.

 

Which makes me wonder if it is a great setting for a RPG.

It's a good thing you aren't creative director for the game, then, isn't it?

The Alien setting and scariness is primarily made by the fact your (or in the movies: Ripley) on your own (or with very few)... and in RPG's alot of interaction is usually required (unless you gonna start about Diablo-type-RPG's) to make a good storyline.

If there are alot of NPC's in order to support such a story I wonder if they can make it as creepy as the movies (unless ofcourse after your done all the NPC's get eaten or murdered on some other way... or are in cocoons; but that also gets repetative).

You've played System Shock 2, right?

Also the variety of Aliens and their facts make me wonder if it is fit for a RPG. Facehuggers are supposed to "insta-kill"; how can you make that properly in a RPG (unless you make it a DX-kind of mix), aliens are supposed to be WAY faster than any humans and cling to all kinds of walls findable; how can you make a proper 3rd person RPG with gunfire action and a lot of retreat (with several different "floors" for the enemies)? So far I have seen none. Also melee is out of the picture (unless your PC likes acid-burns); as is magic.

If you watch Aliens again,

you'll see Ripley in "combat" with a facehugger when she has been locked in a laboratory by Paul Reiser's character (Carter Burke). No insta-death there at all.

 

And if they do make it a bit like DX (RPG-features fit in a FPS world) how can they stimulate the speed of the aliens without making it a reflex game FPS like AvP is? And than the interaction with NPC's is still going to be a rare opportunity to not spoil the feeling that your out their against overpowered aliens. Visiting a fully living breeding city like New York/Hong Kong/Paris like in DX would totally not fit into the Aliens scene...

Why does it have to be combat-centric at all? RPG is Role-Playing, that role needn't be a soldier.

You've played System Shock 2, right?

 

That was exactly the game I was thinking of. An RPG where your only interaction with another character is basically listening to her bark orders to you.

If you watch Aliens again,

you'll see Ripley in "combat" with a facehugger when she has been locked in a laboratory by Paul Reiser's character (Carter Burke). No insta-death there at all.

 

Yeah,

until the facehugger is BLOWN TO BITS BY ASSAULT RIFLE FIRE.

 

"The thing's wasted man. It's history."

 

A bit hard to create some plausible situations that handle Alien combat in a non-hostile way. Maybe Obsidian can create some button-mashing minigame to keep the facehugger at bay, and even then there's not much else you can do with standard Aliens. Unless they go all pop reference on themselves and temporarily stun Aliens by showing them Avellone's Alien comic strip.

The main point is that if there's going to be lots of action, it better be some freaking awesome action. This is where JE comes into play.

So you want some action with JE? Get in line, jerk.

I was thinking that good action would be acceptable. Until Llyranor said it, which convinced me that it was a poor idea.

You just don't want to be in line, jerk.

I think it should be like AvP, where when you meet a facehugger the whole game goes into bullet time and some techno music starts playing. Yeah that would be great.

You've played System Shock 2, right?

 

As mentioned... unlike they make it DX-like FPS/RPG mix. And then it'll be twitch considering aliens are even faster than SS2's monkeys...

 

Why does it have to be combat-centric at all? RPG is Role-Playing, that role needn't be a soldier.

 

Think SS2 without combat... what remains?

A good adventure game with a fantastic story?

Yeah, tbh the combat in SS2 was not the enjoyable part. The atmosphere was excellent. Throw in some NPCs and party interaction a la Aliens and we have something interesting. In the Alien movies the first act is usually investigation and research. If the game follows suit that leaves plenty of scope for typical RPG fare.

 

Speculating optimistically 2 years ahead of release is a bit pointless but fun too. Whatever the case, its infinitely more useful/constructive than bashing an as yet unmade game based on limited understanding of game design, like some retarded troll.

A good adventure game with a fantastic story?

 

Adventure as in press A; go to B; then do action C?

Even so adventure is not much of a RPG.

 

Yeah, tbh the combat in SS2 was not the enjoyable part. The atmosphere was excellent.

 

And would that same creepy atmosphere is there when you do not have to fear brain-exposing monkeys and hear their squeeks from miles away? Would that atmosphere be there when you could just walk wherever you want; unharmed?

Even if the combat is not the best part (agree here) there would be no "good atmosphere" if the game was without it...

 

Whatever the case, its infinitely more useful/constructive than bashing an as yet unmade game based on limited understanding of game design, like some retarded troll.

 

Dunno... I wouldn't call System Shock 2 an unmade game "

I still say, make the general game world like Gothic/Gothic 2/Gothic 3 (take your pick) and the dungeons/mining complexes/mega corporation HQ's/alien nests like System Shock 2. It's not impossible to combine the two you know.

 

I would love it if you had your own ship as kind of your home base too. A ship that could take you from world to world.

The question would be one of expectations. Disregard you RPG losers for a moment. What would Aliens fans think of the game were it NOT action/combat-centric?