Man, i just got through the final part of The Marsh Refinery. The one where you have to turn those valves to release gas into the room with the huge Shoggoth (at least that's what i think it was). I had already died several times during the previous part. In the last part i probably DIED a couple of times before i managed to get the room gased (having to go through the same areas twice to do it svckS). So i wonder what the Hell am i supposed to do next.Well, i go check if the valve close to the entrance of the room is open or not. So i use the wrench on it and the action starts, only you cannot cancel the action. The guy starts to get damage, from the gas as i would find out. So after the valve is turned i immediately run back to the entrance doorway, only i CANNOT RUN becouse this is CoC:DCotE and Jack Walters is too cool to run. So he DIES instead. I also got KILLED by the shoggoth once or a few times after this.Ok, so i get the room gased again and again wonder what to do next for a nice while. I even try to shoot around to make the gas ignite. Since nothing seems to happen i go back to that big room to find something (although i'm pretty sure i find nothing couse there was nothing there the last time). Then i remember the sparkling big door. I push the open door button and BOOM, great. I go to the Cthulhu statue room, flip out, and rip my @#$!!ing eyes out of their mother@#$!!ing sockets.It is interesting to note that there is no opportunity to @#$!!ing SAVE between the shoggoth part and the Cthulhu statue room.I do the same **** again and when i get to the Cthulhu room i still can't figure out what to do. I do find out that you can move the pedestal with the gem on it and shoot that weird red light beam. But it won't work i go crazy again and DIE.I do all of it again, which is getting pretty frustrating as it takes very long to run through all those rooms around the shoggoth TWICE especially since you CAN'T run. It's very boring, too. I go to the Cthulhu room and move the pedestal, then shoot the "laser" thingie. I notice that the light that is reflected from the gem doesn't quite hit the big red gem on the wall. I try to move the pedestal back but it "won't budge". The next time, which btw feels like 20 minutes or so, i get it right.So i probably spent several hours becouse of this thing. Only thing i woul've asked is to have a [censored] SAVEGAME between the shoggoth and the Cthulhu room and to be able to RUN. Wow, i hope there won't be anymore part like this in this game, or any other game for that matter.I have to admit though, that part of the game made it very easy to relate to Jack Walters, especially in the part where he claws his eyeballs out in the room with the Cthulhu statue.*****So, did any of you have painful experiences at this or any other part of the game you'd like to share? A shared pain is a doubled pain, right? No wait, that's not how it goes...? :huh:

I haven't made it to the refinery yet (I stopped playing the Xbox version at Escape From Innsmouth, and I'm still on Attack of the Fishmen on the pc version) so I can't say about it. I'd have to say that "Attack..." is the worst part I've encountered so far, replaying it has greatly reminded me of that fact.

I didn't think The Attack of the Fishmen was so bad, although it took me several attempts to get the hotel thing right. It's impossible to get it right at the first try or even the second or third. The hotel part is pretty tough for the very first actoin part, i give you that.

Pretty much the same as you =)

*kicks the hell out of the board for going down*Alright that's over with... I take it back, I've noticed that when I actually know what to do "Attack" isn't all that terrible. The warehouse right after the hotel gave me a bit of trouble in the Xbox version, but I got through it in one shot for the pc just now. It might be the fact that controls are just more comfortable though.For the record I honestly thought the level was called "Attack of the FishERmen" until I was playing it just now and noticed it was Fishmen. My bad.

I didnt find either the Attack of the Fishmen or The shoggoth chase to be "bad" at any rate. Both scenes were crucial to my enjoyment of the game. Both scenes had me on the edge of my seat - and they really frightened me beyond anything I've ever experienced from a game or movie. The only part of the game that I am somewhat disappointed in, are elements in "the Escape from Innsmouth" as well of the "Refinery" sections of the game. Way too much shooting, dodging and reloading for my taste. It takes out the horror when you just wander hallways to shoot seemingly identical deep-one obstacles. Dont get me wrong; I like a bit of action (teh funnays!) and I dont mind shooting stuff. Still it got a bit too severe for me. Still I love the game to bits....it roxdacox!

the part at Devil's Reef, where you have to cross from the spike trap to the red diamond maze. it wasn't so hard the first two times I played through the game, but the third time I nearly pulled my hair out

SPOILERS (to a certain degree):I got destroyed over and over and over and over by the Polyps. It made me want to cry. This was on Boy Scout mode mind you. Ultimately it was fun, though, and helps reinforce Jack's mortality.

After so many years of waiting I was very surprised at the quality of the game! Good work Bethesda, I think you did an excellent and very unique gaming experience!However, there were a few places which I really hated mostly thanks to the lack of Elder Signs (Save Game spots). These were usually scenes when there was a lot of repetition, especially of cut-scenes.Warning! Many spoilers ahead.#1The scene with the marines. First you have to listen to the marines giving orders (the sarge gives an order to the corporal who gives an order to the private) and can't proceed because the sergeant is standing in your way. There is no feeling of actually being there with a squad of marines and a battle raging in Innsmouth. The orders are passed laconically, as if the men were in the barracks. I can't imagine marines standing around and saluting on the battlefield. I'm pretty sure the guy who designed this has not had any military experience.When the orders are passed, you can move. Woo hoo! But then you have to watch not one but TWO visions one after the other! When the fishmen attack, the sarge leads a "heroic rearguard action" with all the clich?s from "Move, Walters! That's an order!" to all the men being swamped and run over by fishmen. After the visions you get to climb a rope, which, with this engine, is more lethal than the polyps (died only twice to the polyps, but I fell from the rope half a dozen times)! When you manage to descend on the ice you fall into the icy water and have to do the whole thing over again.When you get past the holes in the ice, you can watch a silly scene with two marines kicking fishmen - not very Lovecraftian. Then you are shot at and you fall into the ice again. Restart.OK. When you finally get to the cave mouth, you see a lone private. He's trying to pick up the mood by saying that everybody's dead. Was I really expecting I'd get to share my ventures with a squad of marines? Then, as a climix from script hell, the last marine does something stupid and gets killed in a very expected way. All this only so that you can solve one obvious puzzle and kill the elephant man?So: bad design, horrible clich?s, no feeling - and you have to do this a dozen times!#2On the Urania, when you blast your way through the vents and enter the storage room, the cowardly seaman calls you an idiot, locks the door leading back to the Save Game spot and continues with an annoying and loooong story about how he lost the welding kit. Now, after this you have to solve a possibly lethal puzzle, which killed me a dozen times before I figured it out. Listening to the cowardly seaman's long story and watching the vision time after time really caused some massive sanity loss.Had I been able to just go back to the storage room (that the annoying seaman locked) after the long and winding speech and save before going to solve the puzzle, the scene would have been great. But now... I was ripping my hair out when I finally realized that all I need to do is re-release the valve!I was cackling with glee when I saw the coward ripped apart by a Deep One. Did my extreme sanity loss make me a sadist?#3When you escape from the holding cell in the underwater city, you have to sneak past a dozen fishmen to find the blue flower. Now, unlike the two other pet-hates of mine, this wasn't a badly designed scene, but it was damn difficult and I had to try it a dozen times before I got this right! I was so glad when I got to return and gun them down after I had killed their high priest.#4The "realize that you have to stand in a pool to possess a deep one appearing from nowhere to release the water flow without any clues whatsoever" puzzle. I would have appreciated some clues! It took me hours to figure this one out!

I repeated the Attack of the Fishmen many times but at least I could change my tactics and learn and adapt after each death. Right now I'm stuck on the Truck ride after Jailbreak. I've repeated this at least 27 times. I've tried dodging, sitting in one place, popping up and shooting, only shooting those folks that appear at the end of the truck. It seems to be based on luck and chance and there is no way to influence the out come of the scene. I'm a sitting duck.Is there a secret to this that I haven't found or do I just keep trying until I get that one lucky run through the town.Any suggestions before I shelf this game (Which I was really enjoying until this section!)?

*Spoilers*The marsh refinery was a low point in terms of the atmosphere of the game. Running around an industrial complex shooting people is not at all what I think of when I think of Call of Cthulhu; and it was quite unscary. I liked Hoover, but he seemed out of place in the game and detracted from the atmosphere. But the sheer awesomeness of the shoggoth (except in the final part where it just sits there flailing about a few pseudopods stupidly) just about makes up for the rest of it. The scene the Unnamable complained about was somewhat difficult and I died a handful of times during it; but the secret is that if your high enough on hash you won't care how many times you have to replay a scene.Devil's reef seemed like a low point to me; it wasn't aggravating but just didn't seem very fun. This will probably sound contrary to the spirt of Lovecraft; but if they just put a handful of deep ones in the stage to spice things up it would have been more fun.The most aggravating part for me was the end of the game; the Hydra fight onwards. It took me a while to figure out that I could possess a deep one if I was deaf; considering that there were no clues and at no previous point in the game could I possess anything. But though that took me several tries, since it was out of genuine difficulty it didn't overly bother me. What did was the final run from Y'ha-nithli; I probably died over 15 times but just kept on trying it so I could see the ending; and the ending was disappointing on top of all of that.

The ride is about remembering where the fismen are, like someone already said, but there is one more possibility to solve your problem - knowing where they are doesn't mean only that you can shoot them fast, but also you can know where to move on the truck to be protected. I had to shoot only once (the truck that blocks your path), and got hit only once...which cost me one bandage and one splint only...

Thanks all for the suggestions! I guess it was the guy on the balcony that kept killing me during the truck ride.Now I'm in the refinery; another tough place due to the respawning bad guys.BTW: I wasn't able to save Ruth but Brian drove me to the refinery after I slapped him around a bit. Is it possible to save Ruth? I figured I'd play it the way it worked out. Kind of a throughback to my RPG playing where I take what is dealt to me rather than re-playing something to get a preferred outcome.Fun game! My daughter turned off the lights in my office while I was playing to help me get into the proper frame of mind... I had those lights ON for a reason!

It is possible to save Ruth from falling down.

My least favorite part was the final run to the portal. Must have tried for hours, and nothing worked. Otherwise than that the game wasn't too hard. Just a lot of annoying minor bugs.

My worst part: The first deep-one attack on the Urania. That was kind of silly with the marine bots looking very stupid walking on the bridge and deepone dying with one gun shot. Quite a confusing moment. Could have been nice if it was done ok. Attack of the fishermen was fun once I reduced my graphics resolution.

The worst part of all had to be from Hydra onward.I didn't even have much trouble with the polyps.The one thing that killed me was when I went through all the crap with the shoggoth and forgot to grab the fuse from the office.I could have ripped my real eyeballs out at that point. I am still trying to get past the rocks falling.Everytime I get to the damn gate tunnel at the top of the campfire room I am immediately crushed. I tried jumping left,right, I even tried pouring goats blood over my monitor,because Bethesda wil not be happy until there is blood shed

*SPOILERS INCLUDED ---------- FOR FREE *I would have to say that the parts toward the end were the most frustrating for me. Fighting Hydra was sort of vague in some ways... But afterwards you're like, how didn't I pick that up?And currently escaping from the Temple is the greatest irritation I have ever faced in a game. I have read the threads and will attempt some of them later.Other then that the game has been fine. I find the door closing and bolt sliding to be a little jittery but that's about it.

I think Dangerous Voyage was the most difficult chapter of the game. It was frustrating fighting wave after wave of deep ones, not terrifying or scary especially since it's likely Jack will get killed and the player will have to try again. The game would have been better if the number of deep ones was reduced or if fighting all the deep ones relied less on player involvement to get through (that's what the soldiers are there for!) That would also have preserved the spirit of HP Lovecraft's work. In his stories, action and combat are downplayed and don't play an integral part of the story. In fact, in most of his stories, the investigators are running for their lives to escape whatever is after them, not directly confronting it/them. In the few stories where the investigators need to directly confront an adversary, the combat plays only a small part of the story, and isn't embellished or greatly detailed.

My least favorite had to be the fight with Robert Marsh. You needto put a save game right before him cuz you usually have to playit 50 times to get through it. Then, AFTER him there isn't a really good place for a save game either, with all the deep ones, whichoften leads me right back to fighting him another 50 times.