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Anna has a mind....and she notices what makes you scared.

2

Posts

  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    Dead Space 2 was pretty good in Chapter 10 when you got to "go back". Having a weapon and knowing what was coming didn't really help.

    Though that could be more suspense than outright horror, I guess. The game did a decent job of that, I thought, especially with the PTSD stuff.

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Chapter 10 basically scared everyone up the wall who had played the first game. All of the most terrifying, recognizable moments stitched together into an unholy horror.

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  • chocoboliciouschocobolicious Registered User regular
    Dead Space is never scary.

    Because, again, Isaac isn't trapped with them, they are trapped with Isaac and his god damn plasma cutter.

    This sounds absolutely fascinating and looks cool. I'll probably pick it up.

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Really? Because I find it is a very very very hand of luck that keeps Isaac alive. The Necromorphs are only so very very happy to vomit down his neck.

    huntresssig.jpg
  • ZekZek Registered User regular
    Dead Space is not a survival horror game because you have the ammo and firepower to kill everything you see. That sort of empowerment is the antithesis of being scared.

  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    I think we're just going to have to disagree on the value of being scared, because I'm still terrified five playthroughs in of DS2.

    Only when you get the foam hand does the terror go away.

    huntresssig.jpg
  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Dead space doesn't seem that scary. I watched some LP's and all it is is Scream, dead guy on window, dead guy from ceiling, guy getting abducted from ceiling, meh.

    Well I've seen an Amnesia Let's Play and all it is is some monster every once in a while, but don't try to tell me that Amnesia isn't scary.

    Amnesia isn't scary. I'm a huge non-gore horror buff and that thing was a crushing bore. It always amazes me the ridiculous amount of praise such a terribly mediocre title gets.

    I did love Dead Space tho. The atmosphere was superb.

    I can understand where you're coming from. I remember when I was in the basement, with those fleshy things, and I must of spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. All the atmosphere the game built up was lost, and it took a while for the game to rebuild it.

    So, yeah, I don't blame you for not liking Amnesia because it does have some deep flaws. But, IMO, it's a game that needed to be made to start nudging the 'survival horror' in the right direction.

    Casually Hardcore on
  • AbsalonAbsalon Lands of Always WinterRegistered User regular
    As long as the developers make money back and there is a consumer base, horror games don't have to make it big. Amnesia apparently did well enough for a sequel.

    Niche games can often do pretty great things because the common denominator is well-known and distinguishing. Look at Sine Mora - you think any game aiming for the general market could get away with anthro steampunk animals speaking Hungarian? Huh, I just wrote that.

  • dispatch.odispatch.o Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Dead space doesn't seem that scary. I watched some LP's and all it is is Scream, dead guy on window, dead guy from ceiling, guy getting abducted from ceiling, meh.

    Well I've seen an Amnesia Let's Play and all it is is some monster every once in a while, but don't try to tell me that Amnesia isn't scary.

    Amnesia isn't scary. I'm a huge non-gore horror buff and that thing was a crushing bore. It always amazes me the ridiculous amount of praise such a terribly mediocre title gets.

    I did love Dead Space tho. The atmosphere was superb.

    I can understand where you're coming from. I remember when I was in the basement, with those fleshy things, and I must of spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. All the atmosphere the game built up was lost, and it took a while for the game to rebuild it.

    So, yeah, I don't you for not liking Amnesia because it does have some deep flaws. But, IMO, it's a game that needed to be made to start nudging the 'survival horror' in the right direction.

    Amnesia had all the design of a horror game done right in the environment, but the puzzles were just awful and the pacing was uneven. I'd like a horror game that's not based around stupid puzzles and just you trying to get the fuck out of somewhere.

    You wake up in an apartment, it's clean and well lit, you open the front door and you're in a slaughterhouse. Now get out, and maybe figure out why, but mostly get the fuck out.

    That's what I'd like to see. No brewing potions, finding keys or assembling cog machines, no decoder rings.

    dispatch.o on
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    rayofash wrote: »
    >I mean, what's up with survival horror? Why is it so hard?

    Because most people don't know what it actually means to be afraid. For a lot of people horror means gore and screams for whatever reason. Horror is a science, and very few game developers/film makers understand it.

    it's not quite as simple as that. people get scared by different things. For example, blood and gore does nothing for me, but plenty of people find it chilling. My weakness is noise. Noise that shouldn't be there. Even in a completely unbeleivable environment, I can suspend my disbelief to be drawn in and consider what the place should be (like a sci fi setting), and I just know when a sound is something not normal. This is why the first Dead Space game freaked me out so much - the designers knew how to use sound to make you uncomfortable. That haunted hotel in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines? I couldn't play through it without turning the sound off. But the new Siren game on PS3? Not really scary. It's tense, for sure. But nothing actually scary.

    Now obviously I'm not everyone, and there's definitely people who don't really jump at sounds. There's people that jump at odd things in your periphery vision, or seemingly normal things randomly happening at an odd situation - japanese horror movies are good at this. Siren did this well.

    Horror is completely subjective based on the person doing the watching or playing. The reason people think there hasn't been a good survival horror game in a long time just aren't scared by what's offered in mainstream survival horror games.

    -Loki- on
  • Magus`Magus` The fun has been DOUBLED! Registered User regular
    There's a fine line between making something so outlandish that our brains can't really relate it to anything (and thus has a dulled effect) and being too similar to reality. People, on average, are more scared by things that have recognizable features than something that is totally 'random'.

    As for this game, I'm not impressed by the trailer, but we'll see. Having some sort of 'AI' that can tell when you're scared and act on it would be awesome, but.. I'm skeptical.

  • ruzkinruzkin Registered User regular
    I must be the only person that thinks this looks terrible. The concept of the game is neat, but at no point is that actually demonstrated in the trailer. Oh shit, a brick house? Oh shit, some candles? She reads my mind? How? Give me an example? Right now this is a FRAPS recording of a brief walk around a hut in the hills, not a trailer.

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  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    ruzkin wrote: »
    I must be the only person that thinks this looks terrible. The concept of the game is neat, but at no point is that actually demonstrated in the trailer. Oh shit, a brick house? Oh shit, some candles? She reads my mind? How? Give me an example? Right now this is a FRAPS recording of a brief walk around a hut in the hills, not a trailer.

    But FRAPS was never instaaaalled...whhhhooooo!!! :shock:

    Yeah, it's an interesting idea. From the looks of it, it changes the environment based on what you examine or try to do. So you look at the eye drawing, more eyes pop up everywhere, etc.

    On that second trainer, was that light glare off the brick?

  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Amnesia scared me out of my wits. I youtubed the shit out of it first, realized out the music was spoilering the genuine threats lurking around and it still took me three months to complete. I got nightmares weeks later.

    You people are bonkers.

    Cantido on
    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • L Ron HowardL Ron Howard The duck MinnesotaRegistered User regular
    Magus` wrote: »
    There's a fine line between making something so outlandish that our brains can't really relate it to anything (and thus has a dulled effect) and being too similar to reality. People, on average, are more scared by things that have recognizable features than something that is totally 'random'.

    As for this game, I'm not impressed by the trailer, but we'll see. Having some sort of 'AI' that can tell when you're scared and act on it would be awesome, but.. I'm skeptical.

    If it's as good as we'd like to think it is, all it's going to do is throw shit at my screen over and over every couple of seconds until I go completely numb. I hate cheap "shit jumps out at you" things, but it works too well on me. Well, did. I don't know any more, after so many years of horror movies being completely comprised of shit jumping out at you.

  • durandal4532durandal4532 Registered User regular
    The best horror game is definitely The Void.

    Take a moment to donate what you can to Critical Resistance and Black Lives Matter.
  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    Magus` wrote: »
    There's a fine line between making something so outlandish that our brains can't really relate it to anything (and thus has a dulled effect) and being too similar to reality. People, on average, are more scared by things that have recognizable features than something that is totally 'random'.

    As for this game, I'm not impressed by the trailer, but we'll see. Having some sort of 'AI' that can tell when you're scared and act on it would be awesome, but.. I'm skeptical.

    If it's as good as we'd like to think it is, all it's going to do is throw shit at my screen over and over every couple of seconds until I go completely numb. I hate cheap "shit jumps out at you" things, but it works too well on me. Well, did. I don't know any more, after so many years of horror movies being completely comprised of shit jumping out at you.

    "Jump scares" always work that's why they're the cheapest, laziest scares there are. However, excellently crafted atmosphere and build up can turn something that's not especially a jump scare INTO a jump scare that makes it ten times as effective as any cat in the cupboard could ever hope to be. If you get a chance, try to find an indi movie called Absentia. It does this frequently and, despite being ridiculously low budget, is a monstrously effective film.

    Dead Space did this several times too with the things crawling by the window scares. Not really jump scares since it's well in the background but could still scare the crap out of you.

  • L Ron HowardL Ron Howard The duck MinnesotaRegistered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Magus` wrote: »
    There's a fine line between making something so outlandish that our brains can't really relate it to anything (and thus has a dulled effect) and being too similar to reality. People, on average, are more scared by things that have recognizable features than something that is totally 'random'.

    As for this game, I'm not impressed by the trailer, but we'll see. Having some sort of 'AI' that can tell when you're scared and act on it would be awesome, but.. I'm skeptical.

    If it's as good as we'd like to think it is, all it's going to do is throw shit at my screen over and over every couple of seconds until I go completely numb. I hate cheap "shit jumps out at you" things, but it works too well on me. Well, did. I don't know any more, after so many years of horror movies being completely comprised of shit jumping out at you.

    "Jump scares" always work that's why they're the cheapest, laziest scares there are. However, excellently crafted atmosphere and build up can turn something that's not especially a jump scare INTO a jump scare that makes it ten times as effective as any cat in the cupboard could ever hope to be. If you get a chance, try to find an indi movie called Absentia. It does this frequently and, despite being ridiculously low budget, is a monstrously effective film.

    Dead Space did this several times too with the things crawling by the window scares. Not really jump scares since it's well in the background but could still scare the crap out of you.

    I'll give it a shot. Movie sounds interesting. Is it on Netflix? Please say so.


    I think that's why I love Amnesia, there weren't billions of jump scares. It was the atmosphere, the sound, everything about it.
    I'm hoping Anna's not a "jump scare" simulator, is what I'm saying.

  • DemonStaceyDemonStacey TTODewback's Daughter In love with the TaySwayRegistered User regular
    dispatch.o wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Dead space doesn't seem that scary. I watched some LP's and all it is is Scream, dead guy on window, dead guy from ceiling, guy getting abducted from ceiling, meh.

    Well I've seen an Amnesia Let's Play and all it is is some monster every once in a while, but don't try to tell me that Amnesia isn't scary.

    Amnesia isn't scary. I'm a huge non-gore horror buff and that thing was a crushing bore. It always amazes me the ridiculous amount of praise such a terribly mediocre title gets.

    I did love Dead Space tho. The atmosphere was superb.

    I can understand where you're coming from. I remember when I was in the basement, with those fleshy things, and I must of spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. All the atmosphere the game built up was lost, and it took a while for the game to rebuild it.

    So, yeah, I don't you for not liking Amnesia because it does have some deep flaws. But, IMO, it's a game that needed to be made to start nudging the 'survival horror' in the right direction.

    Amnesia had all the design of a horror game done right in the environment, but the puzzles were just awful and the pacing was uneven. I'd like a horror game that's not based around stupid puzzles and just you trying to get the fuck out of somewhere.

    You wake up in an apartment, it's clean and well lit, you open the front door and you're in a slaughterhouse. Now get out, and maybe figure out why, but mostly get the fuck out.

    That's what I'd like to see. No brewing potions, finding keys or assembling cog machines, no decoder rings.

    This would be awesome. And when you die you fucking die. Game over. Try again from the start!

    That would rock so hard....

  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    DaemonSadi wrote: »
    dispatch.o wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Dead space doesn't seem that scary. I watched some LP's and all it is is Scream, dead guy on window, dead guy from ceiling, guy getting abducted from ceiling, meh.

    Well I've seen an Amnesia Let's Play and all it is is some monster every once in a while, but don't try to tell me that Amnesia isn't scary.

    Amnesia isn't scary. I'm a huge non-gore horror buff and that thing was a crushing bore. It always amazes me the ridiculous amount of praise such a terribly mediocre title gets.

    I did love Dead Space tho. The atmosphere was superb.

    I can understand where you're coming from. I remember when I was in the basement, with those fleshy things, and I must of spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. All the atmosphere the game built up was lost, and it took a while for the game to rebuild it.

    So, yeah, I don't you for not liking Amnesia because it does have some deep flaws. But, IMO, it's a game that needed to be made to start nudging the 'survival horror' in the right direction.

    Amnesia had all the design of a horror game done right in the environment, but the puzzles were just awful and the pacing was uneven. I'd like a horror game that's not based around stupid puzzles and just you trying to get the fuck out of somewhere.

    You wake up in an apartment, it's clean and well lit, you open the front door and you're in a slaughterhouse. Now get out, and maybe figure out why, but mostly get the fuck out.

    That's what I'd like to see. No brewing potions, finding keys or assembling cog machines, no decoder rings.

    This would be awesome. And when you die you fucking die. Game over. Try again from the start!

    That would rock so hard....

    Hmm....

    A horror Rogue Like?

    I can see that working! Something like Eternal Darkness, but with a randomized house where the start of the game is 'You woken up and something isn't right. You decide to leave your house, but something is different.".

    That could be pretty freaking awesome.

  • PsycohedPsycohed On a Fool's ErrandRegistered User regular
    Strangely, I find myself more intrigued about the underlying tech than about the game itself. We've seen rudimentary "reading the player" stuff in games before. Hell, it's how Silent Hill 2 determined your ending. Even if the game or story is rubbish, I'm fascinated by the idea of any game that claims to be an adaptive horror game. Can't wait to see how it works.

    Oh, and if it's scary as hell, that'd be a nice bonus, too!

    brig_banner.png
  • Mr_GrinchMr_Grinch Registered User regular
    -Loki- I'm similar to you, sound in a horror gets to me. "Drag me to Hell" on a tv through the speakers? Not scary. "Drag me to Hell" at the cinema, or at my home with a fully cranked up deafening sound track? Kept me on edge throughout the entire thing.

    I actually really liked the sound design in Siren though. I still haven't finished the game and need to get on with it, I initially found it too dark but then realised I had my PS3 RGB set up wrong and it was crushing the blacks. Anyway the sound creeps me out. Walking around in the woods and from behind you you can just hear one of the creatures giggling, or creeping around in that hospital as the kid and hearing the heavy breathing of one just around the corner.

    Man, I really need to finish that game. I wasn't too keen on the "sight jacking" mechanic but other than that it was awesome.

    Steam: Sir_Grinch
    PSN: SirGrinchX
    Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
  • darklite_xdarklite_x I'm not an r-tard... Registered User regular
    The twist is, you were a ghost the entire time.

    Steam ID: darklite_x Xbox Gamertag: Darklite 37 PSN:Rage_Kage_37 Battle.Net:darklite#2197
  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    dispatch.o wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Dead space doesn't seem that scary. I watched some LP's and all it is is Scream, dead guy on window, dead guy from ceiling, guy getting abducted from ceiling, meh.

    Well I've seen an Amnesia Let's Play and all it is is some monster every once in a while, but don't try to tell me that Amnesia isn't scary.

    Amnesia isn't scary. I'm a huge non-gore horror buff and that thing was a crushing bore. It always amazes me the ridiculous amount of praise such a terribly mediocre title gets.

    I did love Dead Space tho. The atmosphere was superb.

    I can understand where you're coming from. I remember when I was in the basement, with those fleshy things, and I must of spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. All the atmosphere the game built up was lost, and it took a while for the game to rebuild it.

    So, yeah, I don't you for not liking Amnesia because it does have some deep flaws. But, IMO, it's a game that needed to be made to start nudging the 'survival horror' in the right direction.

    Amnesia had all the design of a horror game done right in the environment, but the puzzles were just awful and the pacing was uneven. I'd like a horror game that's not based around stupid puzzles and just you trying to get the fuck out of somewhere.

    You wake up in an apartment, it's clean and well lit, you open the front door and you're in a slaughterhouse. Now get out, and maybe figure out why, but mostly get the fuck out.

    That's what I'd like to see. No brewing potions, finding keys or assembling cog machines, no decoder rings.

    Thank you. The Silent Hill games were a great example of this. Yeah sure they were scary, but only for the first few times you had to pass through that damn room.

    Okay yeah hi mister monster, you were scary the first, second and third times I saw you on my way through this room. Just move aside now so I can continue to try to find the key to that door.

    I did love the "flesh walls" that Silent Hill 3 had, though.

    Donnicton on
  • TurkeyTurkey So, Usoop. TampaRegistered User regular
    It's coming out on Desura in just a week! They submitted the game to Steam as well, but it'll probably come out later there.

  • TurkeyTurkey So, Usoop. TampaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2012
    Available for Preorder on Desura. To be honest, I'll probably wait on grabbing it until a Steam or Indie Bundle release, but here it is.

    Turkey on
  • GarthorGarthor Registered User regular
    DaemonSadi wrote: »
    dispatch.o wrote: »
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Dead space doesn't seem that scary. I watched some LP's and all it is is Scream, dead guy on window, dead guy from ceiling, guy getting abducted from ceiling, meh.

    Well I've seen an Amnesia Let's Play and all it is is some monster every once in a while, but don't try to tell me that Amnesia isn't scary.

    Amnesia isn't scary. I'm a huge non-gore horror buff and that thing was a crushing bore. It always amazes me the ridiculous amount of praise such a terribly mediocre title gets.

    I did love Dead Space tho. The atmosphere was superb.

    I can understand where you're coming from. I remember when I was in the basement, with those fleshy things, and I must of spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. All the atmosphere the game built up was lost, and it took a while for the game to rebuild it.

    So, yeah, I don't you for not liking Amnesia because it does have some deep flaws. But, IMO, it's a game that needed to be made to start nudging the 'survival horror' in the right direction.

    Amnesia had all the design of a horror game done right in the environment, but the puzzles were just awful and the pacing was uneven. I'd like a horror game that's not based around stupid puzzles and just you trying to get the fuck out of somewhere.

    You wake up in an apartment, it's clean and well lit, you open the front door and you're in a slaughterhouse. Now get out, and maybe figure out why, but mostly get the fuck out.

    That's what I'd like to see. No brewing potions, finding keys or assembling cog machines, no decoder rings.

    This would be awesome. And when you die you fucking die. Game over. Try again from the start!

    That would rock so hard....

    Dying is the worst thing that can happen to a horror game. You reload your last save, backtrack through an area you've already done (and know where all the scares are) and the immersion is totally ruined. Having to replay the entire game would only make things worse, and having this as a major point would imply that dying is supposed to happen often... which would basically drain any possible terror out of the game.

  • JihadJesusJihadJesus Registered User regular
    ...which is why horror is so hard to do in games. If it's really dangerous you get tension killing and immersion killing repetition. If it's not, you start feeling safe.

  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    I'm not sure if Ravenholm is intended to be "scary" so much as "Look at this horrible place to live." So, like much of the cities in HL2, except at night. Since the rest of the game is during the day anyway.

    It's hard for it to be scary when there's exactly one method of being scary used--one type of enemy approaching you loudly.

    Color me intrigued about the Anna trailer though. And kudos if they try to make things scary during the daytime, outdoors.

  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited July 2012
    I don't like uncertainty. If you want to raise tension in me you simply have to present me with something unknown. An unknown threat. Or even something as simple as hearing a creature out there, but not knowing when it is going to attack. There's lots of ways of showing an uncertain situation, including breaking patterns and false telltales. Like hearing the sounds of a familiar monster in the next room, then when you get there it is either nothing or something else entirely. Both of those will freak me out for quite a while because I can't trust the games telltales anymore.

    When it comes down to the actual nitty gritty of combat all my tension is released into action because I know what I'm facing and I know that if I apply x to it I will beat it, so I don't actually get horrified by what I'm facing in any game and the actual monsters don't usually bother me. They're just targets. What bothers me is stuff I can't be certain about. Although the first encounter is always a bit worrying if the way to beat it isn't obvious (because I'll attack it then realise I can't be certain how to fight it oh shiii).
    I'm not saying that the fights aren't intense. They're always intense. They just can't break me down and make me not want to proceed. If you present me with a concrete thing to blow away I will juice up on adrenaline and blow it away. If you warn me of an ambush ahead of time I wont freak out I will break out the big guns. My initial response to any ambush from a known creature in a horror game is to reflexively shoot it in whatever its weak point is as soon as I've figured out what it is. This even extends to charging into rooms I know has an enemy that is supposed to be doing a scary slow walk to come and get me. I will charge the "scary thing" so I can put myself into a situation where I know for sure what I'm facing.

    This is one of the reasons I was so completely freaked out by system shock 2's gun breaking. Suddenly I couldn't even be certain that I could fight a thing. That always breaks me and I can't keep going through the game. One day I will beat that damn thing.

    A really good example of what I'm talking about: I used to use sound to track targets in counterstrike. I would use prediction and listening to sound to know where all my enemies where. I once got completely sideswiped by a guy in what I thought was an impossible place and the shock caused me to jump in my seat due to the massive adrenaline spike I had just received. The intensity of the shock was so great I couldn't react, aim or move properly after I realised I was being shot, my hand eye was not working anymore. I was shaking for five minutes afterwards, the adrenaline spike was that huge.
    I thought I knew for certain where the attack would be coming from but he out sneakied me which resulted in the type of shock you are "supposed" to get from a horror game.
    Now, I wouldn't say he scared me. Because I wasn't scared of him. It wasn't fear of the player or being shot. It was just something completely unexpected and uncertain.

    I bet the programming in Anna is not going to realise that what causes me to freak out is uncertain situations. I will probably just be given repeats of what I have reacted to out of uncertainty in the past, but this will backfire because I will have seen it before, so I will be certain. It's actually kind of interesting because I might end up with a really random changing game as it tries to repeat what worked before, only it never works as well the second time.

    Stalker spoiler.
    The boxes in the first lab completely fucked me over. completely. I took about fifteen minutes after the first box to actually move and even then it was a snails pace. I was being attacked by previously safe pieces of the environment by something completely unknown. I was absolutely terrified.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • TurkeyTurkey So, Usoop. TampaRegistered User regular
    Did anyone get the game from Desura? I've seen some Let's Play thumbnails that the developer keeps linking on Facebook, but I'm so bad with jump-scares that I haven't dared try it yet until I'm sure there's not many of those.

  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    I don't like uncertainty. If you want to raise tension in me you simply have to present me with something unknown. An unknown threat. Or even something as simple as hearing a creature out there, but not knowing when it is going to attack. There's lots of ways of showing an uncertain situation, including breaking patterns and false telltales. Like hearing the sounds of a familiar monster in the next room, then when you get there it is either nothing or something else entirely. Both of those will freak me out for quite a while because I can't trust the games telltales anymore.

    Hah, I've gotten jump scares from turn-based rpgs simply from generic enemies suddenly appearing around a corner when I wasn't expecting it. No immersion necessary, just a sudden feeling of loss of control.

  • MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited July 2012
    Just recently I was sneaking around in Thief 2 and came around a corner to see an npc standing in an empty room I'd walked through two or three times in that level. It was someone who I had hidden from as he walked away from a conversation earlier, I didn't realise he had moved all the way to a "safe" spot.

    It scared the crap out of me until I realised he was looking away.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
  • CheesecakeRecipeCheesecakeRecipe "Should not be allowed to post in the Steam Thread" - Isorn Squalor Victoria, Squalor Victoria!Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    PAGE 67

    “Eh, no thanks.” You say to the man at the desk. “I’m not one for joining clubs that would have me in the first place.”

    “Fair enough,” the man pushes a button on his desk, the elevator dinging to life and the doors at the end of the room opening up. “If that is how you feel, you’re free to go as you were.” You get up from the desk and shake the man’s hand one last time, before heading over to the elevator. As the doors close, the man salutes you.

    You work your way home and take a seat in front of your TV, flipping through channel after channel of garbage. Your mind is a little dulled out from all the horseshit it’s trying to take in at once, and you decide instead to retire to the bed and relax with a good book or something. You perform your nightly ritual of brushing of the teeth and organizing your socks properly before heading off for some ol’ shut eye. As you drift asleep, you can’t help but think back on the hotel you visited earlier in the day and wonder about the men behind the magic. What would life have been like among the classy? You feel as though you made the right decision continuing your life as normal, but you can’t help but wonder what things would have been like in the company of class by the

    END.

    Anna is out now on Steam, thinking about biting the bullet but the average metascore is making it a little more difficult to pull the trigger.

    CheesecakeRecipe on
  • President RexPresident Rex Registered User regular
    The trailer and anything I've heard related to the game doesn't tell me how it supposedly plans on scaring me or creating tension (even for what... $9?).


    'Scariness' in games has been downhill for me since playing Resident Evil when I was 11 or 12. And that was basically "there's all this talk of a huge snake, oh no!" And that was killed when you actually see the snake for the first time and it looks terrible (it is still harrowing because it can kill you so quickly, but I actually died the first time I finally saw it because I couldn't stop laughing at the craziness of "wait, I was worried about that?").

    Aliens versus Predator did a decent job starting as the marine (...once you play as the badass predator or the alien and just dominate everything any fear goes out the window, though). I know people deflect with humor in stressful situations, but all I kept thinking about while playing Dead Space was "where is OSHA in the future?"

    I felt like Amnesia could have some tension, but if I get penalized for fighting with awkward environments and controls I'm not going to be scared, I'm going to be frustrated.

    I think DaemonSadi's setup is the only real way you can work. Death has truly has to have consequences, you can't cheaply kill the player and you can't rely on jump scares. A semi-randomly generated gamespace where your goal is survival/escape (getting good atmosphere and gravitas from randomly generated content blocks would be the real challenge for the designers).


    But hey, if someone in here says Anna seems alright and the metacritic score is off, I'd be willing to give it a shot. I can always get my adrenaline-fueled "surviving by the skin of your teeth" moments from the new (or old) X-Com.

  • darklite_xdarklite_x I'm not an r-tard... Registered User regular
    I might try to knock this out over the weekend. Bought it because of the interesting premise, but the metacritic core really has me concerned.

    Steam ID: darklite_x Xbox Gamertag: Darklite 37 PSN:Rage_Kage_37 Battle.Net:darklite#2197
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    The trailer and anything I've heard related to the game doesn't tell me how it supposedly plans on scaring me or creating tension (even for what... $9?).


    'Scariness' in games has been downhill for me since playing Resident Evil when I was 11 or 12. And that was basically "there's all this talk of a huge snake, oh no!" And that was killed when you actually see the snake for the first time and it looks terrible (it is still harrowing because it can kill you so quickly, but I actually died the first time I finally saw it because I couldn't stop laughing at the craziness of "wait, I was worried about that?").

    Aliens versus Predator did a decent job starting as the marine (...once you play as the badass predator or the alien and just dominate everything any fear goes out the window, though). I know people deflect with humor in stressful situations, but all I kept thinking about while playing Dead Space was "where is OSHA in the future?"

    I felt like Amnesia could have some tension, but if I get penalized for fighting with awkward environments and controls I'm not going to be scared, I'm going to be frustrated.

    I think DaemonSadi's setup is the only real way you can work. Death has truly has to have consequences, you can't cheaply kill the player and you can't rely on jump scares. A semi-randomly generated gamespace where your goal is survival/escape (getting good atmosphere and gravitas from randomly generated content blocks would be the real challenge for the designers).


    But hey, if someone in here says Anna seems alright and the metacritic score is off, I'd be willing to give it a shot. I can always get my adrenaline-fueled "surviving by the skin of your teeth" moments from the new (or old) X-Com.

    I think different people react to different kinds of 'scary'. Some people don't find a game scary unless their health's flashing red and they're one stumble away from having to replay the last hour again, while others can be terrified without that, simply by having the kind of setting and atmosphere to set them on edge. Personally, I'm in the second group, where I don't need to know that everything is capable of eating my face off to feel tension and fear. You kind of sound more like you're in the first group?

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  • President RexPresident Rex Registered User regular
    The first group is not fear or horror, it's adrenaline-fueled survival. Like when you're the last person alive in a game of counter-strike and you manage to pull off a victory against 3 or 4 other people.

    All 3-4 of my examples are games that try to build tension and a horror feeling with atmosphere. Like the giant snake: you hear about it, then you come into the room right before the giant snake and see a guy with huge bite marks on his chest and blood smeared across the walls. And then you see the snake and all that build-up is lost. It's the classic "show the monster, lose the tension" setup.

    Aliens versus Predator actually does an excellent job building tension in the start of the marine level. You're not actually in any danger until you meet the first alien, but (the first time you play it) you're already on edge due to walking through an empty facility filled with disturbing, unfamiliar sounds and alien (both in foreign-ness and movie-related sense) locations.

    Thief 3's Cradle level is also a decent example; nothing in the first part of the level can kill you and that's the better part of the level.

    In the "permadeath exploration" option, death need not be instantaneous or commonplace. Take Amnesia for example: I could feel that it had good atmosphere and some of the mechanics were very fitting (hide in a closet and try to avoid monsters, try not to wake the "hidden" monster by stepping in water, etc. But then it's marred by non-sensical puzzles and questionable mechanics.

  • chamberlainchamberlain Registered User regular
    Soooo, has anyone actually played this yet?

  • WydrionWydrion Registered User regular
    I watched the trailer and it looked really boring. The house's graphics looked decent from the outside, but then it shows shots of walking around inside and it looks like you're walking around in Oblivion.

    One game I found legitimately scary, maybe it was because I was younger, was Morrowind. The mutated elder-god people that worshipped Dagoth Ur in small secluded huts near the mountain, with blood drawings on the floor and readable books and scrolls littering the room, with whisper ambient sounds playing the further you got into the caverns below, yeah, that was done right. It probably suffers now due to the graphics not aging well, but back then the tension was thick.

    I really enjoyed Dead Space, only because I felt they actually refrained from pop-up scares. I mean, REAL pop-up scares, like you're watching a .gif that isn't moving and suddenly a face appears. And then at the end,
    they basically throw a pop-up scare right in your face. And then reference it at the end of DS2.
    That was horror flavor done right. DS2 was definitely more action-oriented than 1, but playing that at night with headphones on is definitely not boring, and that's not only because the game is fun to play.

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