Sulphur on 13/9/2010 at 23:02
Hrm. Sounds like you decontextualised/deconstructed the game while playing it. Observed it instead of experienced it, so to say. Horror's a tricky thing to pull off, and intellectual horror even more so if it fails to effect a sustained suspension of disbelief.
Still, that's a fairly subjective thing, and the demo certainly was pretty immersive for me, so let's see how my run through goes when the time comes. :)
Xenith on 14/9/2010 at 11:40
Yes, of course it's subjective. I did experience those things until I couldn't do it anymore, because a part of me just couldn't stop seeing the "patterns". I've tried replaying it just now and all sense of fear is gone, though it was mostly just anxiety to begin with. I suppose it should be expected of all horror games where you already know where the scary parts pop up. How ever, the fact that there are so many scripted events (story scenes, automatic camera rotations) makes it simply an annoying trek through a dirty, gritty place that stops looking like a castle and more like an area specifically designed for everything to fall into place.
This is... unfortunate. For me at least. It's better to have played it and get sad/angry, than not to have played it at all and I hope they make more games like this (but I hope they make them more like Penumbra).
242 on 14/9/2010 at 13:04
Quote Posted by Xenith
I suppose it should be expected of all horror games where you already know where the scary parts pop up.
No, there are some cases when games remain equally scary on replay. F.e. Siren, though the latter is kind of sandbox, i.e. less scripted.
sNeaksieGarrett on 15/9/2010 at 05:31
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Manipulating physics objects with "invisible arms" has always bothered me, Deus Ex 1, Half-Life 1 & 2, The Dark Mod, whatever. Even more so after we've had first person games with full body presence like Crysis, FEAR 2, Far Cry 2 and AvP 2010.
This has bothered me too, but I have also not let it bother me to the point that I make a big deal out of it. It's that sort of "oh that looks funny" response, but it's a minor detail. As dethtoll so nicely put it, we learn to deal with it. What's bothered me far more is how every FPS game (not counting the more current games that are starting to have it) has a lack of a body character model that is animated and shown to the player. (Or as what I've heard people say, body awareness.) By that I mean you see the person's arm and hand holding the gun. Or you see the character's arms reaching out and moving when climbing a latter. Or, you look down and see your feet. (Halo 2 immediately comes to mind, and that was the first game I saw that kind of thing and thought to myself man that is cool.)
However, seeing as how every game up until a few years ago was like this (sans body awareness) I've come to expect, or have gotten used to, the lack of it. I imagine most people have. One day this probably won't be an issue at all.
Anyway, going back to the whole physics manipulation thing, I'm thinking that it might actually look strange to see your character try to rotate an object in his "hands." It could feel more like you are controlling a puppet, and less like it was actually you doing it. So in a way the lack of the animations
in this case is not a big deal, imo.
Oh, and on the topic about scripted stuff:
Doom 3 is the same thing. You play it once and it's fucking scary, then you play it again and you know what to expect. I think that's really a problem with all horror FPSes.
gunsmoke on 15/9/2010 at 15:09
Hmmm, see I still get frightened when I play DooM 3 and Resurrection of Evil.
catbarf on 15/9/2010 at 15:29
Doom 3 and RoE are jump scares. The only way to not be 'scared' is to know in advance exactly where and when the jump scares will occur.
foldy on 15/9/2010 at 15:59
Remedy should be required to play Amnesia before they make another "horror" game.
Alan Wake simply wasn't scary. What mostly ruined it was the fact that I'd killed half a dozen of the same enemies you fight throughout the entire game by the end of the tutorial. There's nothing remotely scary about fighting the familiar.
While playing Amnesia, I find myself genuinely nervous and uncomfortable. I breathe sighs of relief when I've escaped an area with enemies and yell, "Oh my god" if one should catch up to me.
Is it perfect? Dunno; haven't played too far in, but it all works beautifully for the time being.
I haven't been anywhere near as affected by a game since good old Shalebridge Cradle, and I'm damn impressed.
Most horror games get a few things right -- seemingly the most pedestrian games can pull of a jump scare (Doom 3), but Alan Wake ruined any potential for these by slowing the game down and pulling the camera out, so the player can see the surrounding enemies before they get too close -- the game design equivalent of "Hey, look out!"
Jason Moyer on 15/9/2010 at 23:00
I dunno what it is, but Frictional are the only people who manage to give me that feeling I had the first time I played Thief TDP. This game is fantastic.
Malleus on 19/9/2010 at 18:48
(
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/2010/09/one-week-after-release-of-amnesia.html) It has now been a week since we released Amnesia: The Dark Descent and I would like to go through some areas of interest.
Quote:
The most distressing thing is the sales though. Even though we are far from complaining, it feels like we do not have the financial security we would like to have, to truly be able to focus on making the best game possible. So what should we do? The things we have discussed include: Increase the cost of the game, doing a console port instead of Linux/Mac, do a less niche title and more. Now is too soon to make a decision though and we have to see how the coming weeks and months go.
gunsmoke on 19/9/2010 at 21:36
I am speechless.............
