Okay, you can remove it now.
I'll send you the mail once I remember what I wrote. I'm a bit stressed, I hope I don't miss anything.
(Should have saved that posting, like the other. *sigh*)
Well, my problem is, that I see Alan as a character who has only flaws and almost no redeeming values.
There's this scene in Episode 2 showing he does care. But that's a flashback and Episode 1 shows that their relationsdhip isn't that good anymore. Episode 4 or 5, where we can find the recorded call from Alice outright states that their relationship has become cold. Well, and Alan'S main goal is to find Alice.
I could go more into detail, but I posted it at this topic what I think of Alan, if you're curious: http://www.gog.com/forum/alan_wake/should_i_buy_this

Beware, it reads a lot like a rant.

I agree. The vast majority of video game protagonists are quite close to perfect when it comes to their personality. You very rarely see someone who "needs work", and it's even more rare to see any growth. For those of us who really got into the story, it gives one more reason to see Alan Wake through to the end. Will all this change Alan for the better? Will it be too little, too late? There's this whole other aspect to the game that you just never see in other titles, including other titles in the Survival Horror genre.

I guess there's something to be said about wanting to idolize your character. From him not being a badass in combat to his personality flaws, some people might find it difficult to play someone who just doesn't resemble the sort of person they would like to be.

Ironically enough, the arguments you have made in the linked discussion have made me like the game and Alan Wake as a character even more :-P

I would especially like to refer to the part where you're saying that he is the one turning the people into what they are, and describing him as being sociopath for doing so - a) that probably isn't true. It has been made quite clear that if Alan writes something that's too remote from reality, Dark Presence will not be able to replicate it as it automatically does with the entire text, and these changes will basically be nullified. Now you could say that characters of people are actually quite easy to shift, and that brings me to my another point:

If Alan really does cast people he dislikes into negative roles and dangerous situations, story has just gotten a helluva lot more complex and interesting. That would be one of the little details which make the game great, as it is, in its entirety, about Alan's insecurities and issues. Now, let's look at his situation for a bit: He's closed in a room and somebody makes him write a story taking place in Bright Falls. He doesn't know the manuscript actually has power - he took some time to figure that out. Now he has to use some support cast, and he has to use it in a way that allows the story to flow properly. Who else would he cast into negative roles than people he dislikes? If it were random strangers, some random people would die all the same. Now, don't forget that Alan had a writer's block. In his situation, the easiest thing he could have done was to keep to what he knows and what he can lean on - which is experience. His experience with Bright Falls was quite limited so he had to use whatever assets he had.

Now for his personality. When I said I know a couple of writers, I was being serious. Those that I have allowed into the small circle of people who I consider friends do act like assholes - they're not exactly the most stable of personalities, their emotions shift easily and they're very easy to anger. I knew of one who's had a genuine writer's block, and you wouldn't want to be anywhere near him for a prolonged period of time. Thing is - I don't allow people who actually are assholes close. Being an asshole is a defence mechanism, not necessarily an indication of your real attitude towards others - and I think Alan has proven that whatever he says, he will go all the way for those he cares about. Alice, Barry, sheriff - he has risked his life for all of them, even he could have just left the other two to die and choose the easy way out. Now I understand that you dislike Alan Wake as a person and that you aren't capable of identifying with him - that's fine. But you can't objectively argue that he wasn't a well-crafted character, exceptionally well for a videogame character.

I loved Alan Wake, HATED Dead Space entirely.

please delete

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD Well there's some disagreement concerning whether horror was really what they were going for more often than not. I personally couldn't care less what genre we try to fit this game in; I don't think it would work. But assuming you simply mean "fear" or "suspense", I strongly disagree. I'm sure it has more to do with the player than the game (just like anything, movie or game, resembling a horror or thriller). What you expect from this game along with what you're accustomed to in games and movies are likely to influence how (or if) you enjoy Alan Wake. I can say the narration neither annoyed me nor affected how often I was on the edge of my seat (i.e., practically the whole game through). But then, maybe that's because I wasn't expecting jump-scares, gore, etc., or because I don't play a lot of thriller/horror games (except Resident Evil, which I think has always just plain sucked). Still, it's not unheard of for people who've played other games of this nature to prefer AW ;) Both this and the narration I attribute to their unabashed goal of making this game seem like a television series. It's made most evident by the presentations at the endings and beginnings of every episode (not to mention the fact that they call them "episodes" to begin with), but also by their use of cinematics, and an independent camera angle enabling you to see behind Alan as he's running forward. Or how bout the fact that any documents that were related to the plot and shown on screen, also had to be narrated by the one who wrote it. And of course, I'm talking about the manuscript, the author of which was Alan.

Now, does this truly "degrade the sense of horror", in my view.... No! In some cases, it even enhanced it! Just as any horror movie would by playing loud music where it was previously quiet, showing a shadowy figure just appear out of nowhere, etc. But none of this is to mention the true fear and suspense of this game, the atmosphere in which all this takes place! On my first playthrough (and at some points even in subsequent playthroughs), the wind picking up as it did was enough to send me running for the nearest Safe Haven. Half the time, I didn't even care what I had left behind; that's how much it got to me. I also didn't think it made the combat "too easy", if that's more what you meant. But again, everyone's different. I don't know what you're referring to, concerning "at the end of the game they are laughably depicted as revelations". But I disagree with the general message. In fact, other critics have even said the story is too confusing, pointing to the fact that you can never really take anything for granted in the game, even at the end of it (which was undoubtedly intentional). The story is one of the greatest I've seen in any video game, practically taking on a life of its own by the time you've completed the last episode. There are still people talking about what this could've meant and that could've meant, sharing their interpretations which are equally plausible yet somehow wildly unique. Simply put, whatever revelations that are spoiled in the "beginning" of the game (You're quite vague here, on both "revelations" and "beginning") are spoiled exactly because they're not the greater revelations. Collectively, they're the tip of the iceberg. I've heard this before. I think it works well with the game, myself. Whatever one word adjective you wish to use for it (I've heard them all: "boring", "soothing", "calming", "nervous", "timid", "whiny"), it's my experience that the shift in tone from his narration to a combat sequence or other action in the game is extraordinary. It's not typically a jump-scare, what you get from this shift, but it's not far from it! However, again, that depends on how much you get into the atmosphere. You know, I will agree that nothing in the game is notably (or at least not memorably) funny. But I do question this "misplaced humor" bit. From what little actually struck me as attempts at "humor" in the game, I thought it was all very well-placed. For example, the line Barry uses in Episode 4 about his "Flaming Eye of Mordor" wasn't especially funny (at least not to me), but there was no loss of atmosphere from that in and of itself. It was placed immediately after you get out of a dark basement. You chat with Barry a while, and then it's at least a couple minutes before you see combat or anything one could construe as "scary" again (not that we have reason to think it was trying to be scary or suspenseful in this combat sequence anyway).

As for Barry being in the game in general, he really wasn't one of my favorite characters at any point. But, I think saying the atmosphere is destroyed for the rest of the whole game just because Barry's in Bright Falls is... well, odd. You still go through the vast majority of the game without him, or any help for that matter. Heck, the overwhelming majority of the time, no one even knows where you are but you, and the dark presence. That's utter nonsense. Narration from the character you're playing doesn't hinder the feeling of isolation one iota. It's understood on every level that you're still completely alone in the woods surrounded by evil powers and beings. Now, let's put the sequence you're referring to in some (honest) perspective. In about one-half of one episode toward the end (comprising 1/12th of the game, at very most), you're accompanied by the local Sheriff. Barry joins you much later, and is only present for 5 fights (less than half of the time you get help from the Sheriff). There is also a short sequence in an episode before that where you have "help", but in this sequence you don't have a gun, just a flashlight and you have to drive the darkness back so your (highly incompetent at aiming) partner can shoot the Taken while you try to stay alive. The remainder of the combat sequences in the game, you're on your own in the dark. This game does isolation immensely well, narration or no. ....I noticed you didn't mention how fast some of the Taken move, that the poltergeists actually fly at you, that some poltergeists are vehicles and take longer to kill while doing a lot more damage than the others, and that there are other ways to kill the Taken than using the flashlight and gun (namely flare guns, flashbang grenades, and the occasional car). Any reason for that?

Well, no matter. You know, I was expecting the standard complaint about how you see repeats of the same enemy models and types throughout the entire game. I had my standard "That's not unlike most shooters", "They were wanting to keep it established that the dark presence was simply possessing humans/objects, not creating monsters", and "This may have been intentional; to suggest no one's actually being killed, the same former human bodies are being recycled, which would explain why they disappear when 'killed' instead of falling over dead" responses all ready!

The truth is, they could've done more along the lines of models, but types are variant enough. You have your flankers, who move quickly to get beside or behind you. You have the ranged Taken, who throw knives and such from a distance until they're close enough to swing at you. Then, you have assault Taken who are big, burly, ax-wielding, slow but powerful and hard to kill. You also have tele-flankers, who move at superhuman speeds. And then there's the occasional massive Taken who are even larger, more powerful, and harder to kill than the assault variety; plus, they wield chainsaws. That's not to mention the poltergeists (which range from a simple wooden real to a harvester to a monster truck) or the birds who attack quickly from above by flying directly at you like darts!

Finally, the way they designed the game is a brilliant use of these rather limited variations in enemies. There are not many consecutive areas where you're fighting the same enemies the same way. Most of the time you have a good mix of weapons. But sometimes, you don't have much ammo, you have to dodge bear traps while fighting, you have nothing but flashbang grenades, you have worklights you can switch on to slow the Taken down, you're given a vehicle to flatten them with, you're given no weapon, you're given no flashlight OR weapon, etc. And I won't even go into the ever-changing environment. I'd be here all night listing the different sorts of locations you end up in, which is amazing because when I first loaded the game I was under the impression I'd literally be in the woods, like, 75% of the time. It's more like 25.

It's a remarkable thing, how two people can have exact opposite opinions of the same game. I've played this game six times now, mostly for the combat and the atmosphere. It just scratches an itch no other game has been able to scratch for me *shrugs* Switch 'em around, in other words. What would be the point? And how long would the guns stun them, exactly? "Long enough for you to escape" kinda sounds like it'd make the game easier than it is currently. How would making the game easier... make it more scary?

Less ammo and flashlight batteries in some areas would be an improvement though; I'll give you that. Of course, I don't think the game "drags on and on" because I enjoy it. But I will say I'm glad they decided to make Alan Wake linear. In most genres, I'd beg for an open world setting. For thriller and horror? Linearity is a must. Being able to decide where you go and when, possibly stockpiling supplies until you feel comfortable enough stepping foot into a danger zone? Yeah, not good. Then it's off to Amazon for you, where "Used - Like New" copies of the game are selling for exactly that BECAUSE THIS GAME ROCKS!

Imho