I actually found Jin's death to be as impactful as Holiday's, when I failed to rescue her the despair, loneliness, and failure of the Pointman really hit home.
I maintained hope she'd survive right up until they showed her running past just ahead of you. I try to avoid predictions in games and films to keep the entertainment factor alive, but the second that happened I knew she was a goner. 30 seconds later - vindicated. Think that was the only part I was actively disappointed with the game.
It's kinda fucking haunting, hearing her admit the hopelessness of their situation, knowing she's going to die afraid and alone. Jarek4GamingDragon, who commented here, did an amazing analysis of Extraction Point and mentioned this particularly as one of the more impactful points in the expansion.
Personally I would love to see something on Bioshock. Critically acclaimed, but not without its own set of flaws. It's one of my favorite game series of all time right next to F.E.A.R.
PLEASE MANKIND DIVIDED. This game IS woefully misunderstood when the gameplay is concerned. The story was not as big as the earlier series, but the point stands it goes with the GIANTS that are the original Deus Ex, and Human Revolution.
Half life was also good about that, Opposing force added weapons and enemies, Blue shift is playable standalone, came with a graphical update, kept the classic half life gameplay, and made it easy and short, excellent for a more easy going game session.
Glad you had such a great time with Extraction Point! Shame about all the bugs though. Never had the "disconnected from server" bug until Perseus Mandate, but old games like this always seem to be finnicky. Speaking of PM, I'm looking forward to that video. Things get a little different.
Alma actually helped you fix the elevator, i think. Alma probably regrets that youre involved an wants to make amends. Alma also seems to be split between her child spirit and her adult, dead self. I dont know but The story managed to intrigue and satisfy me.
That's the same impression I got about the two different Alma's. I thought that her child form possessed more of her faculties and wanted to protect her son, whereas her adult corpse form embodied her rage and anger. Also that at the end of the game these two consciousnesses' joined/rejoined together. One final thing to note is that when you're rushing to find Jin in the hospital, both Jankowski's ghost and the child Alma appear along the way, urging the Point Man to hurry.
One thing that I can't wrap my head around was one of Alma's quote "don't let them hurt me." but just who was refering to, exactly? the ghost that she spawned? Paxton?
I also love the effect the game has on gun sounds "speeding them up" once you're out of reflex mode. My fav was the bolt rifle gun in the original until now. I did not play this expansion yet. Its a shame that this and maybe max payne are the only really good games utilizing slow-mo in gaming to this day.
Bazzy John Woo's Stranglehold had a cool slow mo system. You could check an option that made slow mo happen automatically when your aiming at an enemy, which looks cool as balls when your swinginging from a chandelier with a shotgun.
It is, sort of, mentioned in the vanilla game that Paxton and Alma shares memories. This happens in the very first interval of the first game when Paxton slaps the shit out of you with a food cray. "Are the memories mine.. Or Hers? It doesn't matter. They deserve to die. They all deserve to die." As for Paxton appearing in the expansion it could be explained by this very telepathic link between them. Alma is pretty powerful in her own right as she died 3-4 days after giving birth in the vault and yet manifests herself and guiding Paxton in an attempt to free her. The sheer hatred for the people responsible for her (and Paxtons) fate is what is keeping her from dying off. After consuming Harlan she's probably aware of Genevieve and her (Still largely unexplained) role so when Harlan is dead she sets off to hunt her down. There are plotholes in the game to the deal with Alma especially considering they "merged" in one of the games, I forgot which one. I speculated in child version being innocent and not knowing what happened verses her adult self being aware of her fate and the people who caused it. I loved all releases (yes even the 3rd and it's DLC) of FEAR and it kind of saddens me there are these plotholes. As you have pointed out in your video(s) they are still great games and milestones when it comes to AI interactions with the environment.
I remember watching a playthru of Extraction Point way back. The whole tone of the game, Holidays brutal death made me feel alone in the city, and then Jins death just made me ask myself "What is the point anymore?". It really gives you the feeling of "you're alone in this city, just you and them". Touching on the part where you say that people might enjoy the horror part of the game, i really did, especially the damn hospital, that messed me up, i even remember one of the most creepy corridors ive ever seen in gaming. Well, now get ready for Perseus Mandate. Oh youre genuinely gonna be surprised that this was made by Timegame. Ive heard someone say "its like they found out the expansions are non-canon and just gave up trying with Perseus Mandate". Coudnt agree more, cant wait for your video on it.
I personally liked the elevator room, elevator music fight, or the warehouse at the end of FEAR 1 where the cloakers are swarming in through every window. But yeah, this was awesome.
It's one of the few game deaths to actually affect me in the last few years, despite the fact that most F.E.A.R. characters are flat, losing Holiday like that was bone-chilling.
From what I can remember(as I played this a long time ago) the kid Alma version helps you while the grown one is antagonistic towards you like they are separate entities or personalities.
Extraction Point contradicts elements that show up in FEAR 3, such as a certain character who dies in EP but is alive in FEAR 3. Also, EP and PM were removed from Canon because of Monolith having a bad falling out with Vivendi. Lith were very unhappy working with Vivendi, and started looking for a way out before they even finished FEAR. Also, the expansions were made non-canon because TimeGate ignored multiple plot points that Monolith had set down for them. Character and timeline arcs that would work into future games, but TimeGate completely ignored them and did their own thing. Which, kind of worked in EP... but PM is horribly disappointing. Also, Vivendi still owned the FEAR name, while Lith/WB owned character names. So, Lith moved forward with Project: ORIGIN... while Vivendi was planing to have TimeGate develop a full on FEAR 2. But, those plans all fell apart. WB bought all aspects of the IP from Vivendi and Lith got to make FEAR 2. Then.... FEAR 3. And again, the studio hired to develop the game... completely ignored Lith's story beats and did their own thing. And... ugh.
Absolutely right. PM brings the satisfaction in terms of new guns and gameplay mechanics. Everything else, however, feels out of touch. Even level design reminds more of FEAR 1, but certain moments are top-notch. I started to play FEAR with PM bought back in 2007, and tbh, I wasnt dissapointed. Even looking now its worse than its predecessors, but I cant call it simply "bad" -- it has some writing issues, but the gameplay makes up for it.
F3AR- i wish just never happened. Day one studios were the wrong studio to work on it (many day one employees actually came from ubisoft studios so take that as whatever) i actually wish timegate if not closed wouldve made the 3rd one personally. anyhow FEAR unfortunately will likely never be revisited as it ended on a very bad note, FEAR 3 was horrible in literally every single way. project origin was actually a worthy sequel but nothing will ever top the stellar combat in the 1st and its expansions
FEAR 3 (I refuse to use the stupid 3 for an E title) isn't completely horrible. The combat is pretty good, some of the atmosphere is solid. The mech battles are great. For me, a big issue is the heavy focus on coop and the score system. It completely ruins the atmosphere when there's always a little thing popping up in the corner telling you what you've just got points for. There really should've been an option to disable that crap. Also, the way in which FEAR 3 seems to ignore events from previous entries. In FEAR 3 Paxton is still a ghost. That can possess people freely, okay... that ignores the events of FEAR 2: Reborn then. As in Reborn Paxton finds a perfect clone solider and gets a new body, making him "reborn". Also, FEAR 3 brings back Jin, fine... what about Holiday, or FEAR leader Rodney Betters? The ending also annoyed me, with a final boss fight that just... doesn't fit the FEAR series. And, you can tell levels were cut during development as the game jumps around from location to location towards the end. You're fighting on a freeway overpass... okay... now you're at an airport.... NOW you're at a random house in the forest. The Hell happened in between?
DamienAzreal yes the pacing was all over the place in favor of variety of level design. 100 % agree with the hud and points system being out of place. id personally want a modern reboot of the 1st game with extensive levels even a few new ones as well. a disable hud or limit/dynamic hud option for atmospheric reasons and lastly hire actual intelligent horror curstors. like contact writers and editors from insidious movies or something for better ghost scares or atmosphere etc, thatd work well.
You shouldn't have to think about constantly quicksaving all because the checkpoints put you a country mile back. This is FEAR, not Deus Ex. Would like to say that the base game didn't have the issue, it's checkpoints were reasonably placed and you didn't have to replay too much on death.
A perfect example for this missing is crysis 3 compared to 2 and 1. The levels get bigger and bigger again and the checkpoints are so far apart that you loose half an hour to even an hour of progress if you play methodically, that line is really just flat out untrue.
Bazzy Crysis 1 saves allowed for silly kills. I always quicksave before a truck comes down the road so I can jump on top and punch everyone out of it before blowing it up by superpunching the gas barrel. Good times.
Pro tip, turning on force reload fixes all the crashing issues and you don't need to turn down the graphics. I can not disagree any harder about the horror, shades, and plot. I consider the ending to Extraction point to be the true ending to the fear franchise. There was no better ending to such a dark franchise than that. I also though the new shade enemies were fucking brilliant, basically taking the assassins and making them much, much worse in a good way. The horror was also flawless, too. Every thing about this game is a masterpiece.
Agreed on Extraction Point being the true ending to the FEAR franchise. As much as I like Perseus Mandate for the game play, I found the story to be not that great (though I still thought it was better compared to the crap we got in FEAR 2 and F3AR).
JarekTheGamingDragon I wish there was more to the story so it could be but the narrative started good then went half assed. I think when time gate found out they would not be on the next fear game they started to tone it down. They even put a different voice Norton Mappes in. To me I wish they kept the story up to the very end but only through half the dlc was it really good. Unfortunately Monolith mentioned years ago this was not cannon then made that God awful fear 3.
Hey, Whitelight. Found your channel a week ago with Destiny 2, and I loved your critique so much I subbed 5 minutes into the video. You have excellent videos, there are so few long-form critique RUclipsrs out there, I am overjoyed that I have found you!
There's this fantastic video "FEAR Plays differently every time", about specifically the funeral home gunfight. The sheer variety of things the enemies can do in that one little fight is so impressive. It's really fun to watch.
FEAR 2 retconned E.P. and P.M. because it wasn't originally called FEAR 2. It was originally just called Project Origin, a name chosen by fan competition, because WB bought Monolith and Vivendi/Sierra held the rights to FEAR during development. The game was being developed at the same time as the expansions, but as a spiritual sequel, not an actual sequel. Vivendi shut down Sierra, and sold the rights to WB just a year before FEAR 2 was released, allowing the game to become an actual sequel to FEAR. If I remember correctly, at the time Monolith was also pretty salty about the rights dispute, so they may have struck Extraction Point out of spite.
And now we see where that got the franchise to. Hopefully WB reboots it by following whatever Timegate was going for instead. Vivendi timeline is far more interesting than anything we got from the "canon" one.
While it should have been explained in the game, it is implied that Alma has now two personas: Her adult, mentally instable side and her childlike, innocent side. Guess which one Fettel is sided with and which one is protecting you. Anyway, XP wasn't putting as much emphasis on story as the original game did, so you'll never get any real clarification, which is disappointin for those who give a damn. However, the way the story is written for the Pointman is that he can be as powerful and unstoppable as he wants, he will lose anyway. In a game such as FEAR, the player cannot have a true victory. Sure he can gun himself through hordes of enemies, but there are still forces that even he cannot controle. The helicopter was landing there to pick you up at the extraction point. You managed to clear the area from the enemies and won. You get rescued... except you don't. Your victory didn't matter. There is no extraction point for you. Everyone you know is dead. And there was nothing you could have done to change that. That is what the story of Extraction Point (and FEAR as a whole) is about. You can be as badass as you want, but in the end you are powerless to stop the innevitable. Oh and BTW, Extraction Point DOES clash with FEAR 2 and 3, so it's impossible for these games to co-exist in the same continuity.
EP does clash but only with Jin. They never flat out say that the replica's are reactivated due to Fettle (Just that it would be the obvious conclusion). But in FEAR 2 Alma does reactivate all the replica's in her hunt for Beckett. You could just say thats what happened and Paxton is just a ghost like in Fear 3. (This explanation does however work better with PM since Paxton is never seen with the Replicas)
These videos explains the whole game in detail, kudos to you, man. I can tell just how much work you put into this. FEAR franchise is one of my favourites, and it's good to have someone to shed a light on it. It's unfortunate that you dislike F.E.A.R. 2 though. I thought it was a really worthy sequel that balanced the action and horror. (*cough* except F.3.A.R. *cough*)Can't wait for your F.E.A.R. 2 video. Keep up the good work.
I just finished playing FEAR and I must say the first expansion pack was actually really good. It's much more scarier and action-packed game than the original with a load of new content. It's much more darker and apocalyptical as well. Lazer gun and machine gun were fun to use and I really dig new urban locations. Overall great job. I miss the time when expansion packs were actually that well made and thoughtful
I still found Jin's non cannon death hard. Harder than Holiday's as I thought if I went a right way I could save her. I inevitably found out, that's not the case. It felt like a race to save her and you fail to.
I wouldn't say Warhead is superior to Crysis, except for visuals being a bit better. But Extraction Point is superior to FEAR in absolutely all respects (visuals are the same, but some arenas are bigger)
Not form monolith you won't if they are even the same studio. They are far to busy with the construction of loot box mechanics in a bad ac and arkham clone. That should never have gotten the praise it had. As for TimeGate i wonder if the outlived the Aliens Colonial marines fiasco, because they are indeed one of the four (!) credited studios on that game. Oh man this is making me angry.
Fuck me, when I look back on FEAR 1 and picture the shootouts and moments that stood out, about half of them come from this expansion, and I had totally forgot they weren't in the original! Thanks for reminding me of this incredible expansion. It reminds me of the first expansion for Quake: adds new stuff but doesn't take away a single thing that worked in the original.
Found your channel shortly after watching one of my favorite FPS games of 2016 get analysed to a degree I've never heard or seen before and have loved your content ever since, here's to more subs, likes and appreciation coming your way, cause you definitely deserve 'em mate.
Your performance problems are really strange. Besides the infamous mouse bug, this expansion ran similarly to the base game on every machine I've owned (I replay this a lot). Really enjoyed the video, keep up with the great work.
Really? Huh. It's even documented on the wiki that Extraction Point runs worse than the base game. Well, it seems to fluctuate. But the disconnected from server bugs are a widespread issue.
Finished it a couple of months ago. Even tweaked it for 4k. Absolutely no issues with it. Could be the recording, AMD GPUs, maybe even Windows 10. Mandalore Gaming got the server error in Perseus Mandate. So yeah, that one has no excuse.
Playing FEAR and FEAR Extraction Point without reflex is the most fun I've had replaying these games. Its challenging, fast paced and visceral - its a thrill.
great review! Just a thought on the story, I've always seen it as Alma sort of "splitting in half" with one half, the child, protecting you, and the other half, the "teen?" Alma, working against you, and working with Paxton. that's what I got out of the last scene, where the two Almas are seen approaching each other. I thought this was an exciting take on the story.
So mandalore brought me to your channel with his update when he uploaded it. Since then I’ve watched every video you have. Very very very good content. Will always be coming back.
I'm glad he brought up about Alma's motives and actions when she kills the Replica. I went over to one of those closed gates in the Subway ans you could see Alma's shadow killing a Replica soldier. And she kills the Replica and says, "You're safe now." After completing Extraction Point about a week ago, I still wonder in my head, "Why did she save me? Why did she kill the Replica? They're on her side, so what the hell?" I'm glad this guy brought it up so others can see it too. Was questioning why Alma did this and what her motives were.
now for the classic "worked for my pc" comment I've never had many bugs or much of a performance dip with extraction point, so his issues are seem weird to me.
The memory and server bugs are widespread, but it seems some people get away scot free. I wonder if it's an OS thing? As for performance, there should be a dip on all machines, the severity seems to vary.
Great review btw, too bad the rest of the fear series gets progressively worse from here on out. The grenade collision boxes being the size of soccer balls in fear 2 really shows how far the series falls.
Did you have the memory leak problems with the base game? Because they were present for me, literally every level in fact dropped the fps to around 20 fps. Other than that it ran fine once i applied the second fix listed on the pcgaming wiki page. But there is a listing on it for this working on all games on that engine, even condemned is on that list. The link to the fix that worked for me, concerning the memory leak. community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/789-directinput-fps-fix/
I loved the part where you're fighting the invisable enemies in a room full of horizontal lights, when the best way to find them was to look for their shadows before they attacked.
I REALLY miss the days of oldschool expansions, only seems like MMO's expansions are actual expansions now. On my old Windows XP I never had any bugs or framerate issues with Extraction Point, so I'm thinking it's a mix of new OS and the capture software as you mentioned. One thing I absolutely loved about all of the F.E.A.R. games was that a lot of scares weren't some you'd see in your first, second, third maybe fourth playthrough as there's optional exploration and some triggers are really weird for the scares, which is why I always felt I was on my toes when playing these games. Again great work, looking forward to watching the Perseus Mandate video.
Glad RUclips recommended you (probably based on my subs to Writing on Games and Hugbox). Excellent breakdown of this little gem. I was actually thinking before I clicked the video "I wonder if he's going to go into the funeral home fight" That was my favorite as well :D
wth, i thought i was subscribed, this series you did on FEAR is really amazing and indepth, and its really goddamn good for game dev and analyzing other games faults and positives.
Alma, as you may have noticed, has two forms: young girl in red dress, older naked Alma. The younger version of her psyche seems sympathetic towards the player and actively tries to protect you. Older Alma, arguably the more damaged of the two, is violent and unstable. As to why Paxton is still alive, I think because he's a psychic like Alma he's able to survive as a conscious apparition even in death, much like Alma can. Who knows? Maybe even the Point Man can too.
Those red eyed shades actually scared the bajeezus out of me back in the day. To the point I had to break from the game. Like I legitimately find them more terrifying then the Regenerators in say Resident Evil 4. They make no noise, they don't stay in place, and they can easily take a good chunk of your health from behind you and by the time you re-orientate yourself they're gone. Yeah the Replica Assassins are a big jump the first time, but their just gymnasts in suits. But the shades have that otherworldiness that makes them difficult to explain and contextualize.
Yeeaaah! I remember playing through this expansion on that dark winter night. Chills. Memorable. Atmospheric. Inventive. And even emotional! The main game tried a bit too hard to be spooky, but those fragments of memories, hallucinations and some of the voice messages were extremely well done. I do sometimes think that the time-dil had some unrealized potential, though. It may sound silly, but I'd like for it to make you more susceptible to more hallucinations and ghost attacks. Maybe even some poltergeist-like outbursts..? I mean, Pointman, "failure" that he was in the eyes of Armakham, is still Alma's son! The moment his body (and, more importantly, his brain) goes into an overdrive, he should become more "visible" to both Alma AND Fettel. It seems logical to me, but then again, maybe it's only me. Again, amplifying the dangers would necessitate amplifying you, too. And that would threaten the tactical aspect of the game. You know, feeling vulnerable even being a supersoldier. Overall, I think this expansion was great. And so is your content. I really love your work! Keep at it, and I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion on F.E.A.R.2 (I think it's really underappreciated) P.S. oh, and I forgot to mention Fettel's final little speech. In Russian it sounded blood-chilling. It sounds great in English, too, though.
Damn good schedule, thanks for not making us wait for those Videos, FEAR is really interesting. Have you though about maybe making a X year later Video for Half Life and / or Half Life 2?
Look's like you're getting a small, but very loyal and supportive audience. I found you from Mandalore so thanks again Mande! I'm really enjoying this more flushed out, essay style content lately. If I had to compare you two, I would say Mandalore pumps out broad stretches of content, and so your content supplements or improves upon it with addition points. So basically, I'm becoming a massive fan of both of your channels. Hope you're back soon Mande, and to White: keep up the good work!! An afterthought, I wonder if either you or Mandalore have ever played Peter Molenoux's Black & White? Now that's game that's worthy of an essay or two. Just putting it out there that there would be an audience. ;)
Speaking of the funeral home and replayability, Rabbit's Respawn has a great video showing a dozen different ways the scene can be played out, such a good level.
Also, the "You're safe now." Bit and Alma's protectiveness, at least makes me think that throughout most of F.E.A.R. 1 she may have not known you were her child, it's speculation but it perhaps could provide some reasoning.
@@toakovika yep, or maybe she considered you a threat because you were sent by someone trying to take control her. The scene where young and old Alma merges may be a proof she had some sort of split personality, maybe she overcame her rage and realised you are her son.
I completely forgot that EP was harder than the base game. I was quite happy with the challange. I don't remember having technical issues with EP. Maybe i was lucky. Great video as always
Aside from your weird technical experience, brilliant review man. I also agree Extraction Point is better than FEAR1 on absolutely all fronts. Better paced, scarier, more set pieces, better combat encounters, bigger maps while still interesting. I'm still profoundly disappointed FEAR2 absolutely ignored story wise Extraction Point.
Love these videos, I recently played through Fear and it was one of the few horror games I actually enjoyed. Mostly because if something ever scared the shit out of me I'd blow holes out of it back again. >:D
16:57 Alma's protecting and playing with the Pointman. Given that the story is horror themed, it seems apt to include a very much unstated motivation (and in action no less) to keep the player scared and confused.
When I saw the giant mech for the first time I had to run back to grab a gun midfight and when I came back the mech had vanished, I was perplexed, but I rounded a corner and found that the mech had actually flipped a car over and used it to hide in the corner of the area and was silently waiting for my return. Scared the bajesus out of me. Just went through extraction point because I never did the expansions for some reason, what a blast.
Another excellent video full of cogent, intelligent and eloquent criticism. I do have one comment though, if I may. You narrate your videos in quite a flat tone and, while this presents something of a welcome contrast with other more hyperactive youtubers, it can make listening to your work a bit of a grind. That said, there are many other superb video essayists whose intonations are also flat (MrBtongue springs to mind), but they don't deliver their scripts as quickly as you do. Flat and fast is something that every public speaking coach worth their salt will caution against as such a manner of delivery can strain your audience; an audience which I believe in your case deserves to be as wide as possible.
I played FEAR on hard diff, so when I started FEAR XP I set diff to hard too. Boi oh boi, it actually was hard. I just had to switch to normal after some time
The crashes from what I know are are from the game not playing nice with high res there's a guide on steam for how to get highest visuals and high res with no slow downs, it's also made by yours truly. I had no problems when using the methods I outline in it
The reason why Alma kills all the replicant soldiers threatening you is because she realized your her son. Great video and great analysis on this awesome expansion.
High action shooter where you're a SWAT officer who uncovers some shady government stuff and later the game gets slightly scary, which isn't surprising since it was made by the people who made nightmare house 2. It's entirely free too so if you wanna check it out later when you have free time feel free to, it's probably the closest a fan mod will get to a AAA game experience, sadly I think it's not getting new updates since the main developer got hired by an actual studio.
Not gonna contest that one. Their mod team really is wonderful, and unlike the dudes that made Skywind, they actually deliver content in a timely manner. The way things are going skyblivion's gonna get released first than the morrowind mod.
I know that I made a similar comment on your video of the original game, and I know you were probably already deep into making this video before I posted the comment. I'm sorry for being redundant, but I just wanna point out that Alma was never trying to harm you or impede your progress in the first game, she was trying to link with you telepathically, hence the visions and apparitions. It's not at all out of character for her to clear the tunnel of replicas for you in the subway to help you progress, you're her son, she wants you to escape. As for the Nightmares and Shades being hostile, like you said yourself, she doesn't really have control over them, they're simply physical manifestations of her anger and trauma that started bleeding into the real world as a result of her release from the vault. Also, I don't really consider this to be a spoiler, but *SPOILERS* just in case you or anyone else reading this comment hasn't played F.E.A.R. 3 before, but Jin actually returns as a supporting character which definitely contradicts with the events of Extraction Point, so I can kinda see why they'd wanna pretend those expansions never happened. Though, I think the decision might've had more to do with the legal situation going on with the series at the time, regarding WB acquiring the publishing rights to the series during the making of the expansions. It was kind of a clusterfuck, from what I read of it. Anyway, seriously great video. This is probably the only in-depth review/critique/analyses I've ever seen of any game in the series aside from the original, so it's really cool to see someone giving their thoughts on the expansions and sequels. I can't wait for the next video.
I can understand that, I just think it's a horribly contrived excuse. She's there for horror, nothing she does could be interpreted as trying to link with you. I'm also fine with Alma clearing out the replica, but then she shouldn't actively impede your progress (she can and will kill you if you get too close), and it shouldn't have been the replica as that conflicts with Paxton. I wasn't aware Jin returns, but that's FEAR 3, the retcon was for FEAR 2. I suppose you couldn't consider it canon anymore then. There better have been a good reason for bringing her back because they must've known it would cause this conflict. Thanks.
I only recall Alma ever being able to actually hurt or kill you near the end of the first game where she's walking towards you in the building from the beginning of the game. All of the visions you see in the first game of your birth are her trying to make you remember. I definitely don't disagree with you that it's a bit contrived, and could've absolutely been handled and communicated much better. I also don't understand why she seems to be helping both you and Paxton, despite the fact that Paxton is working against you. I think only one thing gets retconned in FEAR 2, and it's unrelated to the expansions and kind of insignificant. I suppose you could argue that Monolith wasn't done with Jin's character and always planned to bring her back later. I wouldn't get your hopes up, mate. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you feel about FEAR 3 because it's definitely conflicting. Honestly, thanks for even taking the time to read my comment and respond, I really appreciate it.
The ZombieMan - Oh shit, you're right. I completely forgot it was developed by Day 1 Studios, not Monolith. I have to give the game some credit; I genuinely believe the game has the best shooting in the series, at least in terms of the sense of impact you feel when your bullets hit an enemy, it just feels really meaty. Best ragdoll physics in the series, and the bullet decals on enemies are kinda cool. The Creep also genuinely kinda made me uncomfortable the first time I played the game. That's it, that's all I liked about it. It's even more depressing when you realize the cinematics were directed by John Carpenter. What a waste.
I love these longform videogame analysis video essays, I found your channel just the other other day and instantly subscribed. The quality of your videos is up there with the likes of Noah Gervais-Caldwell, Superbunnyhop, and Joseph Anderson. Keep it up, man!
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Perseus Mandate. A lot of people really hate it, and while the story still sucks, I think the new enemies, new weapons and some of the combat scenes, such as that insane trainyard fight, maintain its quality. It still has the same great combat in some new locations and with a few new things to play around with. I like it. It also has some of the toughest fights in the original trilogy, with those elite spec-ops guys.
Here is what I read or experienced while playing EP all those years ago. Before the subway track section where alma helps you, there is another section where alma tries to hurt you and in doing so realizes that you are her firstborn and hence starts helping you. But here is how it plays out, the lil alma the one in the red garments is the one supporting her firstborn, while the teen naked alma is the one supporting paxtel. ALMA isn't a ghost, it's more like a perpetual consciousness which is living on holding to all that resentment. There are 2 consciousness' living in that world, the kid alma and the teen alma, and that probably explains the questions you had.
Can you release more frequently please? I binged your entire channel about 2 weeks ago and it hurts waiting for vids because you've quickly become a top channel in my eyes
can i just cut in here and say that these videos where you have to pour effort into researching, playing a game a couple times through, analyzing, getting outside opinions, they dont take a day mate. the research AND editing takes long amounts of time, and I'd say it's worth the wait.
I’m really enjoying these FEAR reviews, makes me want to buy the games myself, but I’m waiting for your FEAR 2 and 3 reviews before I make my final decision.
It;s 5 dollars on fanatical, and that's good price for the first game and extraction point alone. FEAR 2 is controversial, and it sounds like FEAR 3 is dogshit.
I remember reading somewhere that FEAR has issues with any mouse that isn't bog standard, causing your framerate to dip super hard if you have anything more advanced than that with the drivers installed and running. This might be wrong, but I definitely remember that. Also, to stop you from having to faff around with config files repeatedly when the game alters them, setting the settings/config notepad file to "read only" resolves issues for a lot of games too.
The "you still don't know" thing is probably him just alluding to you being his brother, and thus Alma's first born. Paxton being alive in the expansion was pretty stupid, as it was clear Alma was done with him, and her full attention was now on you.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
I actually found Jin's death to be as impactful as Holiday's, when I failed to rescue her the despair, loneliness, and failure of the Pointman really hit home.
Agreed. That bone-chilling scream was unforgettable
@Severin Dahl The fact that you're in the absolute minority in that opinion totally proves you wrong.
I maintained hope she'd survive right up until they showed her running past just ahead of you. I try to avoid predictions in games and films to keep the entertainment factor alive, but the second that happened I knew she was a goner. 30 seconds later - vindicated. Think that was the only part I was actively disappointed with the game.
You aren't coming are you?
It's kinda fucking haunting, hearing her admit the hopelessness of their situation, knowing she's going to die afraid and alone. Jarek4GamingDragon, who commented here, did an amazing analysis of Extraction Point and mentioned this particularly as one of the more impactful points in the expansion.
Who'd like to see videos on Deus Ex?
Personally I would love to see something on Bioshock. Critically acclaimed, but not without its own set of flaws. It's one of my favorite game series of all time right next to F.E.A.R.
I'm down for Deus Ex, man. Do it!
Deus Ex? Yes, please.
jirka2142 Absolutely!!
PLEASE MANKIND DIVIDED. This game IS woefully misunderstood when the gameplay is concerned. The story was not as big as the earlier series, but the point stands it goes with the GIANTS that are the original Deus Ex, and Human Revolution.
shooter expansion pack.. 5 hours long.. well, different times.
Better than the core game as well.
Half life was also good about that, Opposing force added weapons and enemies, Blue shift is playable standalone, came with a graphical update, kept the classic half life gameplay, and made it easy and short, excellent for a more easy going game session.
An expansion as long as a full $60 release of the current year. Almost too good to be true.
Same with doom 3 resurection of evil expansion pack
Back when Expension Packs actually meant something, instead of cashgrab DLCs we are getting today.
Glad you had such a great time with Extraction Point! Shame about all the bugs though. Never had the "disconnected from server" bug until Perseus Mandate, but old games like this always seem to be finnicky.
Speaking of PM, I'm looking forward to that video. Things get a little different.
Tell me about it lol. Thanks for stopping by.
Hated perseus mandate so much. Its the only part of FEAR 1 that I never finished.
Mandalore chan I love you
MandaloreGaming it’s quiet
Your vid covering it and the rest of F.E.A.R. 1 was great, I'm excited to watch WL's video back to back with this!
Just finished watching F.E.A.R: 13 Years Later and now this gets uploaded whitelight you absolute legend
Alma actually helped you fix the elevator, i think. Alma probably regrets that youre involved an wants to make amends. Alma also seems to be split between her child spirit and her adult, dead self. I dont know but The story managed to intrigue and satisfy me.
That's the same impression I got about the two different Alma's. I thought that her child form possessed more of her faculties and wanted to protect her son, whereas her adult corpse form embodied her rage and anger. Also that at the end of the game these two consciousnesses' joined/rejoined together. One final thing to note is that when you're rushing to find Jin in the hospital, both Jankowski's ghost and the child Alma appear along the way, urging the Point Man to hurry.
One thing that I can't wrap my head around was one of Alma's quote "don't let them hurt me." but just who was refering to, exactly? the ghost that she spawned? Paxton?
@@ennieminymoo6675 Perhaps she was referring to all the nightmares she led into the world, but she was afraid of them as she could not control them.
@@ennieminymoo6675 It was the young version of Alma that says that, I always assumed it was the Armacham B.O.D. and Fettel she was scared of.
I will never get bored of the sound of the word "fuck" be said in slow motion haha.
I also love the effect the game has on gun sounds "speeding them up" once you're out of reflex mode. My fav was the bolt rifle gun in the original until now. I did not play this expansion yet. Its a shame that this and maybe max payne are the only really good games utilizing slow-mo in gaming to this day.
Bazzy John Woo's Stranglehold had a cool slow mo system.
You could check an option that made slow mo happen automatically when your aiming at an enemy, which looks cool as balls when your swinginging from a chandelier with a shotgun.
It is, sort of, mentioned in the vanilla game that Paxton and Alma shares memories. This happens in the very first interval of the first game when Paxton slaps the shit out of you with a food cray.
"Are the memories mine.. Or Hers? It doesn't matter. They deserve to die. They all deserve to die."
As for Paxton appearing in the expansion it could be explained by this very telepathic link between them. Alma is pretty powerful in her own right as she died 3-4 days after giving birth in the vault and yet manifests herself and guiding Paxton in an attempt to free her. The sheer hatred for the people responsible for her (and Paxtons) fate is what is keeping her from dying off. After consuming Harlan she's probably aware of Genevieve and her (Still largely unexplained) role so when Harlan is dead she sets off to hunt her down.
There are plotholes in the game to the deal with Alma especially considering they "merged" in one of the games, I forgot which one. I speculated in child version being innocent and not knowing what happened verses her adult self being aware of her fate and the people who caused it.
I loved all releases (yes even the 3rd and it's DLC) of FEAR and it kind of saddens me there are these plotholes. As you have pointed out in your video(s) they are still great games and milestones when it comes to AI interactions with the environment.
I remember watching a playthru of Extraction Point way back. The whole tone of the game, Holidays brutal death made me feel alone in the city, and then Jins death just made me ask myself "What is the point anymore?". It really gives you the feeling of "you're alone in this city, just you and them". Touching on the part where you say that people might enjoy the horror part of the game, i really did, especially the damn hospital, that messed me up, i even remember one of the most creepy corridors ive ever seen in gaming. Well, now get ready for Perseus Mandate. Oh youre genuinely gonna be surprised that this was made by Timegame. Ive heard someone say "its like they found out the expansions are non-canon and just gave up trying with Perseus Mandate". Coudnt agree more, cant wait for your video on it.
yes Jins death was pretty sad, "you aren't comming are you? I don't want to die alone with them"....
@@eltirad0 And Point Man couldn't even comfort her as he's a mute protagonist...
Yeah, I would agree that the funeral home shootout is just about the best in the entire series. It's an awesome non-stop progression of enemies.
I personally liked the elevator room, elevator music fight, or the warehouse at the end of FEAR 1 where the cloakers are swarming in through every window.
But yeah, this was awesome.
god, yes
that scene of Holiday's death was amazing
I could never understand why most people dislike this expansion
Most people I know enjoy it a lot. Everything from the weapons to the level design was kicked up to 11.
Even the ghosts kick a little ass in this one.
What do you even mean, EP is generally well liked.
It's one of the few game deaths to actually affect me in the last few years, despite the fact that most F.E.A.R. characters are flat, losing Holiday like that was bone-chilling.
jin's death was more sad
people like extraction point. they hate perseus mandate
From what I can remember(as I played this a long time ago) the kid Alma version helps you while the grown one is antagonistic towards you like they are separate entities or personalities.
Yeah, you can see them "reconnect" towards the end of the hospital level
Extraction Point contradicts elements that show up in FEAR 3, such as a certain character who dies in EP but is alive in FEAR 3.
Also, EP and PM were removed from Canon because of Monolith having a bad falling out with Vivendi. Lith were very unhappy working with Vivendi, and started looking for a way out before they even finished FEAR.
Also, the expansions were made non-canon because TimeGate ignored multiple plot points that Monolith had set down for them. Character and timeline arcs that would work into future games, but TimeGate completely ignored them and did their own thing. Which, kind of worked in EP... but PM is horribly disappointing.
Also, Vivendi still owned the FEAR name, while Lith/WB owned character names. So, Lith moved forward with Project: ORIGIN... while Vivendi was planing to have TimeGate develop a full on FEAR 2. But, those plans all fell apart. WB bought all aspects of the IP from Vivendi and Lith got to make FEAR 2.
Then.... FEAR 3. And again, the studio hired to develop the game... completely ignored Lith's story beats and did their own thing. And... ugh.
Interesting. Do you have any sources for that?
Absolutely right. PM brings the satisfaction in terms of new guns and gameplay mechanics. Everything else, however, feels out of touch. Even level design reminds more of FEAR 1, but certain moments are top-notch.
I started to play FEAR with PM bought back in 2007, and tbh, I wasnt dissapointed. Even looking now its worse than its predecessors, but I cant call it simply "bad" -- it has some writing issues, but the gameplay makes up for it.
F3AR- i wish just never happened. Day one studios were the wrong studio to work on it (many day one employees actually came from ubisoft studios so take that as whatever) i actually wish timegate if not closed wouldve made the 3rd one personally. anyhow FEAR unfortunately will likely never be revisited as it ended on a very bad note, FEAR 3 was horrible in literally every single way. project origin was actually a worthy sequel but nothing will ever top the stellar combat in the 1st and its expansions
FEAR 3 (I refuse to use the stupid 3 for an E title) isn't completely horrible. The combat is pretty good, some of the atmosphere is solid. The mech battles are great.
For me, a big issue is the heavy focus on coop and the score system. It completely ruins the atmosphere when there's always a little thing popping up in the corner telling you what you've just got points for. There really should've been an option to disable that crap.
Also, the way in which FEAR 3 seems to ignore events from previous entries.
In FEAR 3 Paxton is still a ghost. That can possess people freely, okay... that ignores the events of FEAR 2: Reborn then.
As in Reborn Paxton finds a perfect clone solider and gets a new body, making him "reborn".
Also, FEAR 3 brings back Jin, fine... what about Holiday, or FEAR leader Rodney Betters?
The ending also annoyed me, with a final boss fight that just... doesn't fit the FEAR series. And, you can tell levels were cut during development as the game jumps around from location to location towards the end. You're fighting on a freeway overpass... okay... now you're at an airport.... NOW you're at a random house in the forest. The Hell happened in between?
DamienAzreal yes the pacing was all over the place in favor of variety of level design. 100 % agree with the hud and points system being out of place. id personally want a modern reboot of the 1st game with extensive levels even a few new ones as well. a disable hud or limit/dynamic hud option for atmospheric reasons
and lastly hire actual intelligent horror curstors. like contact writers and editors from insidious movies or something for better ghost scares or atmosphere etc, thatd work well.
"you can quicksave, but you shouldn't have to." What? That's the attitude that removed quicksaving from modern gaming. Great video either way.
You shouldn't have to think about constantly quicksaving all because the checkpoints put you a country mile back. This is FEAR, not Deus Ex. Would like to say that the base game didn't have the issue, it's checkpoints were reasonably placed and you didn't have to replay too much on death.
Ah I see. That's fair.
A perfect example for this missing is crysis 3 compared to 2 and 1. The levels get bigger and bigger again and the checkpoints are so far apart that you loose half an hour to even an hour of progress if you play methodically, that line is really just flat out untrue.
Bazzy Crysis 1 saves allowed for silly kills. I always quicksave before a truck comes down the road so I can jump on top and punch everyone out of it before blowing it up by superpunching the gas barrel.
Good times.
Quicksaving more like homosexualsaving
Pro tip, turning on force reload fixes all the crashing issues and you don't need to turn down the graphics.
I can not disagree any harder about the horror, shades, and plot. I consider the ending to Extraction point to be the true ending to the fear franchise. There was no better ending to such a dark franchise than that.
I also though the new shade enemies were fucking brilliant, basically taking the assassins and making them much, much worse in a good way.
The horror was also flawless, too. Every thing about this game is a masterpiece.
Force reload helps alongside the settings fix, but it would never work on it's own for me.
Agreed on Extraction Point being the true ending to the FEAR franchise. As much as I like Perseus Mandate for the game play, I found the story to be not that great (though I still thought it was better compared to the crap we got in FEAR 2 and F3AR).
The ending was the moment where I realized that helicopters in Fear are always two days till retirement.
JarekTheGamingDragon I wish there was more to the story so it could be but the narrative started good then went half assed. I think when time gate found out they would not be on the next fear game they started to tone it down. They even put a different voice Norton Mappes in. To me I wish they kept the story up to the very end but only through half the dlc was it really good. Unfortunately Monolith mentioned years ago this was not cannon then made that God awful fear 3.
It didn’t always work for me
Hey, Whitelight. Found your channel a week ago with Destiny 2, and I loved your critique so much I subbed 5 minutes into the video.
You have excellent videos, there are so few long-form critique RUclipsrs out there, I am overjoyed that I have found you!
There's this fantastic video "FEAR Plays differently every time", about specifically the funeral home gunfight. The sheer variety of things the enemies can do in that one little fight is so impressive. It's really fun to watch.
Yeah, watched it. It's cool. Not as cool as his other FEAR video though!
I adore this franchise😎
X2
FEAR will always have a place in my heart. Love your dive in this series, man. Keep that good good comin'
me too man
I grew up playing this horror game and thnx to this old game
i have lots of scary memories to cherish
"An average run"
*Turns replica into shotgun patte*
Yep, that's fear alright.
FEAR 2 retconned E.P. and P.M. because it wasn't originally called FEAR 2. It was originally just called Project Origin, a name chosen by fan competition, because WB bought Monolith and Vivendi/Sierra held the rights to FEAR during development. The game was being developed at the same time as the expansions, but as a spiritual sequel, not an actual sequel.
Vivendi shut down Sierra, and sold the rights to WB just a year before FEAR 2 was released, allowing the game to become an actual sequel to FEAR.
If I remember correctly, at the time Monolith was also pretty salty about the rights dispute, so they may have struck Extraction Point out of spite.
And now we see where that got the franchise to. Hopefully WB reboots it by following whatever Timegate was going for instead. Vivendi timeline is far more interesting than anything we got from the "canon" one.
While it should have been explained in the game, it is implied that Alma has now two personas: Her adult, mentally instable side and her childlike, innocent side. Guess which one Fettel is sided with and which one is protecting you. Anyway, XP wasn't putting as much emphasis on story as the original game did, so you'll never get any real clarification, which is disappointin for those who give a damn.
However, the way the story is written for the Pointman is that he can be as powerful and unstoppable as he wants, he will lose anyway. In a game such as FEAR, the player cannot have a true victory. Sure he can gun himself through hordes of enemies, but there are still forces that even he cannot controle. The helicopter was landing there to pick you up at the extraction point. You managed to clear the area from the enemies and won. You get rescued... except you don't. Your victory didn't matter. There is no extraction point for you. Everyone you know is dead. And there was nothing you could have done to change that. That is what the story of Extraction Point (and FEAR as a whole) is about. You can be as badass as you want, but in the end you are powerless to stop the innevitable.
Oh and BTW, Extraction Point DOES clash with FEAR 2 and 3, so it's impossible for these games to co-exist in the same continuity.
EP does clash but only with Jin. They never flat out say that the replica's are reactivated due to Fettle (Just that it would be the obvious conclusion). But in FEAR 2 Alma does reactivate all the replica's in her hunt for Beckett. You could just say thats what happened and Paxton is just a ghost like in Fear 3. (This explanation does however work better with PM since Paxton is never seen with the Replicas)
It's a fucking mess, let's just say fear extraction point real fear 2 and call it a day.
These videos explains the whole game in detail, kudos to you, man. I can tell just how much work you put into this. FEAR franchise is one of my favourites, and it's good to have someone to shed a light on it. It's unfortunate that you dislike F.E.A.R. 2 though. I thought it was a really worthy sequel that balanced the action and horror. (*cough* except F.3.A.R. *cough*)Can't wait for your F.E.A.R. 2 video. Keep up the good work.
Love your videos dude. You're up there with Mandalore Gaming. You and him are probably the best in terms of in-depth game reviews and analyses.
You found me before mandalore? That's rare. Yeah, his videos are 11/10.
I just finished playing FEAR and I must say the first expansion pack was actually really good. It's much more scarier and action-packed game than the original with a load of new content. It's much more darker and apocalyptical as well. Lazer gun and machine gun were fun to use and I really dig new urban locations.
Overall great job. I miss the time when expansion packs were actually that well made and thoughtful
I still found Jin's non cannon death hard. Harder than Holiday's as I thought if I went a right way I could save her. I inevitably found out, that's not the case. It felt like a race to save her and you fail to.
So basically Extraction Point to F.E.A.R., is what Warhead to Crysis.
Warhead**
Thanks for correcting me.
In a way, yeah.
I wouldn't say Warhead is superior to Crysis, except for visuals being a bit better. But Extraction Point is superior to FEAR in absolutely all respects (visuals are the same, but some arenas are bigger)
Extraction Point is definitely the best entry in the series, fucking love the laser carbine.
Still hopelessly praying for a well made FEAR 4. But thank god FEAR 1 and the expansions have tons of replay value.
Not form monolith you won't if they are even the same studio.
They are far to busy with the construction of loot box mechanics in a bad ac and arkham clone. That should never have gotten the praise it had.
As for TimeGate i wonder if the outlived the Aliens Colonial marines fiasco, because they are indeed one of the four (!) credited studios on that game. Oh man this is making me angry.
This is one of my all time favorite games. Its hard to find shooters as entertaining with good campaigns nowadays.
Remove FEAR 3 and FEAR Online from canon. Give this franchise a proper 3rd game finale, Monolith. Great video.
You have no idea how glad I am to hear you are doing the rest of the series!! Can’t wait. Keep it up
Fuck me, when I look back on FEAR 1 and picture the shootouts and moments that stood out, about half of them come from this expansion, and I had totally forgot they weren't in the original! Thanks for reminding me of this incredible expansion. It reminds me of the first expansion for Quake: adds new stuff but doesn't take away a single thing that worked in the original.
One of the few times the recommended sidebar gives me something I fucking loved.
Great analysis! Now to watch all your previous videos :D
Found your channel shortly after watching one of my favorite FPS games of 2016 get analysed to a degree I've never heard or seen before and have loved your content ever since, here's to more subs, likes and appreciation coming your way, cause you definitely deserve 'em mate.
You deserve so much more attention. Your videos contain more expertise and structure than most of the huge youtubers. You're going to grow big.
Your performance problems are really strange. Besides the infamous mouse bug, this expansion ran similarly to the base game on every machine I've owned (I replay this a lot). Really enjoyed the video, keep up with the great work.
Really? Huh. It's even documented on the wiki that Extraction Point runs worse than the base game. Well, it seems to fluctuate. But the disconnected from server bugs are a widespread issue.
Finished it a couple of months ago. Even tweaked it for 4k. Absolutely no issues with it. Could be the recording, AMD GPUs, maybe even Windows 10.
Mandalore Gaming got the server error in Perseus Mandate. So yeah, that one has no excuse.
Recording makes it worse, but it isn't that. AMD... maybe. Windows 10 seems too obvious, but it's the best bet.
I'd like to point out that the last two GPUs I used were AMD, so it's unlikely that this is related. Maybe a CPU thing?
Guy above had an Intel, I'm running AMD. We also have different RAM. Are you guys on Win 10?
Playing FEAR and FEAR Extraction Point without reflex is the most fun I've had replaying these games. Its challenging, fast paced and visceral - its a thrill.
@RobertEdwinHouse9 playing fear 1 on extreme no reflex is doable but extraction point? Nah
I never played any FEAR but this and Perseus. I'll definitely get the first one. This game was great and I hope it can make a return in the future.
great review! Just a thought on the story, I've always seen it as Alma sort of "splitting in half" with one half, the child, protecting you, and the other half, the "teen?" Alma, working against you, and working with Paxton. that's what I got out of the last scene, where the two Almas are seen approaching each other. I thought this was an exciting take on the story.
So mandalore brought me to your channel with his update when he uploaded it. Since then I’ve watched every video you have.
Very very very good content.
Will always be coming back.
You make great videos man, I'm excited for Perseus Mandate video.
The surround sound with EAX with my 5.1 speakers in this game is the best i ever heard in any game.
This channel deserves more subs. Good job.
I'm glad he brought up about Alma's motives and actions when she kills the Replica. I went over to one of those closed gates in the Subway ans you could see Alma's shadow killing a Replica soldier. And she kills the Replica and says, "You're safe now." After completing Extraction Point about a week ago, I still wonder in my head, "Why did she save me? Why did she kill the Replica? They're on her side, so what the hell?" I'm glad this guy brought it up so others can see it too. Was questioning why Alma did this and what her motives were.
There are two split personality s of alma
Older one and the younger one
now for the classic "worked for my pc" comment
I've never had many bugs or much of a performance dip with extraction point, so his issues are seem weird to me.
The memory and server bugs are widespread, but it seems some people get away scot free. I wonder if it's an OS thing? As for performance, there should be a dip on all machines, the severity seems to vary.
worked on my pc
Great review btw, too bad the rest of the fear series gets progressively worse from here on out. The grenade collision boxes being the size of soccer balls in fear 2 really shows how far the series falls.
Did you have the memory leak problems with the base game? Because they were present for me, literally every level in fact dropped the fps to around 20 fps. Other than that it ran fine once i applied the second fix listed on the pcgaming wiki page. But there is a listing on it for this working on all games on that engine, even condemned is on that list.
The link to the fix that worked for me, concerning the memory leak.
community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/789-directinput-fps-fix/
The GOG version runs extremely well. I beat it twice with no issues except for one crash on my first playthrough.
Such an in depth breakdown. I loved this game growing up
I loved the part where you're fighting the invisable enemies in a room full of horizontal lights, when the best way to find them was to look for their shadows before they attacked.
And then they somehow dropped the ball hard with Perseus Mandate
Perseus mandate was pretty good in my opinion. I prefer it over extraction point.
I was sad when Holiday died. He was my huckleberry and everything.
I REALLY miss the days of oldschool expansions, only seems like MMO's expansions are actual expansions now.
On my old Windows XP I never had any bugs or framerate issues with Extraction Point, so I'm thinking it's a mix of new OS and the capture software as you mentioned.
One thing I absolutely loved about all of the F.E.A.R. games was that a lot of scares weren't some you'd see in your first, second, third maybe fourth playthrough as there's optional exploration and some triggers are really weird for the scares, which is why I always felt I was on my toes when playing these games.
Again great work, looking forward to watching the Perseus Mandate video.
Amazing stuff, once again! I really need to get around replaying Extraction Point :)
Glad RUclips recommended you (probably based on my subs to Writing on Games and Hugbox). Excellent breakdown of this little gem. I was actually thinking before I clicked the video "I wonder if he's going to go into the funeral home fight" That was my favorite as well :D
great vid man i hope one day we get another fear game
Wow. . . it's like what 2,000 more subs in the past week or so? Congrats man!
4500.
Geez. Well. Kudos nonetheless.
Oh man I hope you break it big dude. your videos are amazing. Please don't give this gig up.
Don't plan on it!
wth, i thought i was subscribed, this series you did on FEAR is really amazing and indepth, and its really goddamn good for game dev and analyzing other games faults and positives.
Alma, as you may have noticed, has two forms: young girl in red dress, older naked Alma. The younger version of her psyche seems sympathetic towards the player and actively tries to protect you. Older Alma, arguably the more damaged of the two, is violent and unstable.
As to why Paxton is still alive, I think because he's a psychic like Alma he's able to survive as a conscious apparition even in death, much like Alma can. Who knows? Maybe even the Point Man can too.
Those red eyed shades actually scared the bajeezus out of me back in the day. To the point I had to break from the game. Like I legitimately find them more terrifying then the Regenerators in say Resident Evil 4. They make no noise, they don't stay in place, and they can easily take a good chunk of your health from behind you and by the time you re-orientate yourself they're gone.
Yeah the Replica Assassins are a big jump the first time, but their just gymnasts in suits. But the shades have that otherworldiness that makes them difficult to explain and contextualize.
Woooo new Whitelight!
Yeeaaah!
I remember playing through this expansion on that dark winter night. Chills. Memorable. Atmospheric. Inventive. And even emotional! The main game tried a bit too hard to be spooky, but those fragments of memories, hallucinations and some of the voice messages were extremely well done.
I do sometimes think that the time-dil had some unrealized potential, though. It may sound silly, but I'd like for it to make you more susceptible to more hallucinations and ghost attacks. Maybe even some poltergeist-like outbursts..? I mean, Pointman, "failure" that he was in the eyes of Armakham, is still Alma's son! The moment his body (and, more importantly, his brain) goes into an overdrive, he should become more "visible" to both Alma AND Fettel. It seems logical to me, but then again, maybe it's only me. Again, amplifying the dangers would necessitate amplifying you, too. And that would threaten the tactical aspect of the game. You know, feeling vulnerable even being a supersoldier.
Overall, I think this expansion was great.
And so is your content. I really love your work! Keep at it, and I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion on F.E.A.R.2 (I think it's really underappreciated)
P.S. oh, and I forgot to mention Fettel's final little speech. In Russian it sounded blood-chilling. It sounds great in English, too, though.
Really enjoy these video's keep it up man!
Hey dude fantastic video I'm happy you did a FEAR video.
Damn good schedule, thanks for not making us wait for those Videos, FEAR is really interesting. Have you though about maybe making a X year later Video for Half Life and / or Half Life 2?
Look's like you're getting a small, but very loyal and supportive audience. I found you from Mandalore so thanks again Mande!
I'm really enjoying this more flushed out, essay style content lately. If I had to compare you two, I would say Mandalore pumps out broad stretches of content, and so your content supplements or improves upon it with addition points.
So basically, I'm becoming a massive fan of both of your channels. Hope you're back soon Mande, and to White: keep up the good work!!
An afterthought, I wonder if either you or Mandalore have ever played Peter Molenoux's Black & White? Now that's game that's worthy of an essay or two. Just putting it out there that there would be an audience. ;)
Speaking of the funeral home and replayability, Rabbit's Respawn has a great video showing a dozen different ways the scene can be played out, such a good level.
Also, the "You're safe now." Bit and Alma's protectiveness, at least makes me think that throughout most of F.E.A.R. 1 she may have not known you were her child, it's speculation but it perhaps could provide some reasoning.
@@toakovika yep, or maybe she considered you a threat because you were sent by someone trying to take control her. The scene where young and old Alma merges may be a proof she had some sort of split personality, maybe she overcame her rage and realised you are her son.
Great work man, subbed!
New favourite content creator! Well-earned new sub! :)
I completely forgot that EP was harder than the base game. I was quite happy with the challange. I don't remember having technical issues with EP. Maybe i was lucky. Great video as always
I would like to see you made this for The Suffering games. Nice job, I really like this series!
Can't wait for your vids on Fear 2 and 3
Yeah fear 3 will be "interesting" i wonder how much he will changes his tone if he does that. To a sad or disappointed one, i mean.
Aside from your weird technical experience, brilliant review man.
I also agree Extraction Point is better than FEAR1 on absolutely all fronts. Better paced, scarier, more set pieces, better combat encounters, bigger maps while still interesting.
I'm still profoundly disappointed FEAR2 absolutely ignored story wise Extraction Point.
Love these videos, I recently played through Fear and it was one of the few horror games I actually enjoyed. Mostly because if something ever scared the shit out of me I'd blow holes out of it back again. >:D
16:57
Alma's protecting and playing with the Pointman.
Given that the story is horror themed, it seems apt to include a very much unstated motivation (and in action no less) to keep the player scared and confused.
When I saw the giant mech for the first time I had to run back to grab a gun midfight and when I came back the mech had vanished, I was perplexed, but I rounded a corner and found that the mech had actually flipped a car over and used it to hide in the corner of the area and was silently waiting for my return. Scared the bajesus out of me. Just went through extraction point because I never did the expansions for some reason, what a blast.
Great video as always!
I can't wait for you to tear into PM and 3. So excited.
2 is a guilty pleasure of mine though.
Another excellent video full of cogent, intelligent and eloquent criticism. I do have one comment though, if I may. You narrate your videos in quite a flat tone and, while this presents something of a welcome contrast with other more hyperactive youtubers, it can make listening to your work a bit of a grind. That said, there are many other superb video essayists whose intonations are also flat (MrBtongue springs to mind), but they don't deliver their scripts as quickly as you do. Flat and fast is something that every public speaking coach worth their salt will caution against as such a manner of delivery can strain your audience; an audience which I believe in your case deserves to be as wide as possible.
You just earned a new subscriber.
Absolutely adore this one. The horror mindfucks are way better.
I played FEAR on hard diff, so when I started FEAR XP I set diff to hard too. Boi oh boi, it actually was hard. I just had to switch to normal after some time
The crashes from what I know are are from the game not playing nice with high res there's a guide on steam for how to get highest visuals and high res with no slow downs, it's also made by yours truly. I had no problems when using the methods I outline in it
thank you so much for this!
The reason why Alma kills all the replicant soldiers threatening you is because she realized your her son. Great video and great analysis on this awesome expansion.
We Will wait for this Fear Extraction Point Video will get recommended for 10 years
Have you ever played underhell? It's a half life 2 mod that seems to be a spiritual successor to this series.
No. In what way is it considered a spiritual successor?
High action shooter where you're a SWAT officer who uncovers some shady government stuff and later the game gets slightly scary, which isn't surprising since it was made by the people who made nightmare house 2. It's entirely free too so if you wanna check it out later when you have free time feel free to, it's probably the closest a fan mod will get to a AAA game experience, sadly I think it's not getting new updates since the main developer got hired by an actual studio.
I love Underhell! I wish it got more attention. Some really great writing, characters and dialogue. :)
Not gonna contest that one. Their mod team really is wonderful, and unlike the dudes that made Skywind, they actually deliver content in a timely manner. The way things are going skyblivion's gonna get released first than the morrowind mod.
I know that I made a similar comment on your video of the original game, and I know you were probably already deep into making this video before I posted the comment. I'm sorry for being redundant, but I just wanna point out that Alma was never trying to harm you or impede your progress in the first game, she was trying to link with you telepathically, hence the visions and apparitions. It's not at all out of character for her to clear the tunnel of replicas for you in the subway to help you progress, you're her son, she wants you to escape. As for the Nightmares and Shades being hostile, like you said yourself, she doesn't really have control over them, they're simply physical manifestations of her anger and trauma that started bleeding into the real world as a result of her release from the vault.
Also, I don't really consider this to be a spoiler, but *SPOILERS* just in case you or anyone else reading this comment hasn't played F.E.A.R. 3 before, but Jin actually returns as a supporting character which definitely contradicts with the events of Extraction Point, so I can kinda see why they'd wanna pretend those expansions never happened. Though, I think the decision might've had more to do with the legal situation going on with the series at the time, regarding WB acquiring the publishing rights to the series during the making of the expansions. It was kind of a clusterfuck, from what I read of it.
Anyway, seriously great video. This is probably the only in-depth review/critique/analyses I've ever seen of any game in the series aside from the original, so it's really cool to see someone giving their thoughts on the expansions and sequels. I can't wait for the next video.
I can understand that, I just think it's a horribly contrived excuse. She's there for horror, nothing she does could be interpreted as trying to link with you. I'm also fine with Alma clearing out the replica, but then she shouldn't actively impede your progress (she can and will kill you if you get too close), and it shouldn't have been the replica as that conflicts with Paxton.
I wasn't aware Jin returns, but that's FEAR 3, the retcon was for FEAR 2. I suppose you couldn't consider it canon anymore then. There better have been a good reason for bringing her back because they must've known it would cause this conflict.
Thanks.
A decent reply to a decent explanation, ON RUclips. Pinch me now or is this the return of decent community in here?
I only recall Alma ever being able to actually hurt or kill you near the end of the first game where she's walking towards you in the building from the beginning of the game. All of the visions you see in the first game of your birth are her trying to make you remember. I definitely don't disagree with you that it's a bit contrived, and could've absolutely been handled and communicated much better. I also don't understand why she seems to be helping both you and Paxton, despite the fact that Paxton is working against you.
I think only one thing gets retconned in FEAR 2, and it's unrelated to the expansions and kind of insignificant. I suppose you could argue that Monolith wasn't done with Jin's character and always planned to bring her back later. I wouldn't get your hopes up, mate. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you feel about FEAR 3 because it's definitely conflicting. Honestly, thanks for even taking the time to read my comment and respond, I really appreciate it.
Caboose387 can we consider fear 3 non canon for being trash and not made by monolith
The ZombieMan - Oh shit, you're right. I completely forgot it was developed by Day 1 Studios, not Monolith. I have to give the game some credit; I genuinely believe the game has the best shooting in the series, at least in terms of the sense of impact you feel when your bullets hit an enemy, it just feels really meaty. Best ragdoll physics in the series, and the bullet decals on enemies are kinda cool. The Creep also genuinely kinda made me uncomfortable the first time I played the game. That's it, that's all I liked about it. It's even more depressing when you realize the cinematics were directed by John Carpenter. What a waste.
It wasn't Tommy Thompson who discovered the resource issue with the rats. It was Eric Jacopin.
Great review, I don't think I've had a good sit down with this game since 07. This video is changing that.
Perseus Mandate is my favorite of the series, the level at the datacenter building is wonderful.
I love these longform videogame analysis video essays, I found your channel just the other other day and instantly subscribed. The quality of your videos is up there with the likes of Noah Gervais-Caldwell, Superbunnyhop, and Joseph Anderson. Keep it up, man!
Those are strong words, thanks.
I give TimeGate the same kudos I give GearBox for Opposing Force, which imo is the best expansion pack to a game yet.
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Perseus Mandate. A lot of people really hate it, and while the story still sucks, I think the new enemies, new weapons and some of the combat scenes, such as that insane trainyard fight, maintain its quality. It still has the same great combat in some new locations and with a few new things to play around with. I like it. It also has some of the toughest fights in the original trilogy, with those elite spec-ops guys.
Here is what I read or experienced while playing EP all those years ago.
Before the subway track section where alma helps you, there is another section where alma tries to hurt you and in doing so realizes that you are her firstborn and hence starts helping you.
But here is how it plays out, the lil alma the one in the red garments is the one supporting her firstborn, while the teen naked alma is the one supporting paxtel.
ALMA isn't a ghost, it's more like a perpetual consciousness which is living on holding to all that resentment. There are 2 consciousness' living in that world, the kid alma and the teen alma, and that probably explains the questions you had.
man I only recently subscribed but your videos are awsome
That footage of boxing the mech tho. Balls of steel XD
Can you release more frequently please?
I binged your entire channel about 2 weeks ago and it hurts waiting for vids because you've quickly become a top channel in my eyes
Electromag[e] i agree 100% it would be great if he could do atleast one video per week. Love this channel and these type of videos so much!
can i just cut in here and say that these videos where you have to pour effort into researching, playing a game a couple times through, analyzing, getting outside opinions, they dont take a day mate. the research AND editing takes long amounts of time, and I'd say it's worth the wait.
I’m really enjoying these FEAR reviews, makes me want to buy the games myself, but I’m waiting for your FEAR 2 and 3 reviews before I make my final decision.
It;s 5 dollars on fanatical, and that's good price for the first game and extraction point alone. FEAR 2 is controversial, and it sounds like FEAR 3 is dogshit.
I remember reading somewhere that FEAR has issues with any mouse that isn't bog standard, causing your framerate to dip super hard if you have anything more advanced than that with the drivers installed and running. This might be wrong, but I definitely remember that.
Also, to stop you from having to faff around with config files repeatedly when the game alters them, setting the settings/config notepad file to "read only" resolves issues for a lot of games too.
I never had any ini files reverting back, with this game. But boy do i hate this happening with any bethesda game. Holy hell.
The "you still don't know" thing is probably him just alluding to you being his brother, and thus Alma's first born. Paxton being alive in the expansion was pretty stupid, as it was clear Alma was done with him, and her full attention was now on you.