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What ruined Visage for me was it was just too difficult, so I'd spend so much time running around and dying that the ghosts weren't scary anymore, it was just an unskippable death animation at that point. MADiSON was like that, maybe not as bad but in the beginning I got really stuck looking for an item and quickly got used to all the ambient spooky sounds so it didn't catch me off guard when they'd happen
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Nov 12, 2022 22:03
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American McGee's Alice is an amazing game and should be ported to modern consoles beyond a tie in with the worse sequel. Yeah the story is kind of trite but it is represented in Wonderland in a very interesting way, and the acting is very charming, especially for an older game.
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Nov 12, 2022 22:33
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I dont know who wrote the booklet journals that came with the original Alice and Clive Barker's Undying but they were really good too Speaking of Alice though, apparently there's movement on a third? I don't follow American's patreon anymore but things looked good this time last year TheWorldsaStage fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Nov 12, 2022 |
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Nov 12, 2022 23:00
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madness returns was great at emulating the original’s cracked turns of phrase “I’ll have you know, I’m quite on edge.” “Perfect! When you’re not on edge, you’re taking up too much space.”
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Nov 12, 2022 23:24
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Evil Kit posted:I've been playing Signalis off and on, taking my time with it and today I noticed if you hold your aim on an enemy (with the pistol at least) the red box indicating you'll hit slowly shrinks to a certain point. If you fire when it's at its smallest, it only takes 1 pistol bullet vs 3 for the most basic enemies. I'm at the third major area of the game and enemies started respawning so frequently I just stopped shooting them unless there was absolutely no way to move around them. I've acquired approximately 4 flares through the entire game and 1 round for a fire-based weapon: a single room can have 3-4 enemies in it, sometimes more. Above all it's my one beef with the game and realizing you don't need to kill everything has actually eased my OCD with clearing out rooms because gently caress it, I don't need all this ammo. Crimson Heads were kind of the big talking point about REmake but through the entire game I recall encountering maybe 3 total? IDK if enemies in Signalis are triggered to rise every X number of new rooms/key items/puzzles solved/or just plain moving back and forth but the third time a dude I blasted stood up again I just had enough.
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Nov 12, 2022 23:41
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for a moment at how much ammo I had wasted not knowing this.
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al-azad posted:I'm at the third major area of the game and enemies started respawning so frequently I just stopped shooting them unless there was absolutely no way to move around them. I've acquired approximately 4 flares through the entire game and 1 round for a fire-based weapon: a single room can have 3-4 enemies in it, sometimes more. Above all it's my one beef with the game and realizing you don't need to kill everything has actually eased my OCD with clearing out rooms because gently caress it, I don't need all this ammo. Generally I haven't bothered shooting enemies unless they're directly in the way or the corridor is so narrow you can't just run by them without eating hits. And are you playing on a harder difficulty? Because I've found at least 5-6 flare gun rounds, not including the Grenade rounds you can load into them. The flare gun is great, since can just plug an enemy with them, they fall over, you stomp on them and they're immediately thermite'd so they never get up again. That said I dunno what causes enemies to get up again, I'm sure someone will datamine and find out eventually. It hasn't actually caused me any problems yet though. There is one place I wasted a shitload of ammo I really didn't need to, but aside from that I've never really been hurting for it.
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Nov 12, 2022 23:48
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I'm pretty sure any enemy in Signalis will get back up after some time has passed unless you burn the body.
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Nov 12, 2022 23:49
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The problem is it's just so random. I've put down some basic or advanced enemies and they stay down the entire time I'm exploring an area, and sometimes I put down something and as soon as I leave the room and come back maybe twice, it leaps back up. There's no obvious rhyme or reason.  I do like it as a means to make you less likely to start blasting everything as soon as you see it though.
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Nov 12, 2022 23:53
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I've noticed that a dead enemy in Signalis can stay down indefinitely unless you get near them, in which case they may pop back up after a surprisingly short period of time. You can disable an enemy permanently for "free" if you manage to cap them somewhere out of the way.
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Nov 13, 2022 00:30
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Oxxidation posted:madness returns was great at emulating the original’s cracked turns of phrase Both games are full of bangers, 90% of which came from the Cat. A lot of that comes down to the excellent voice on the VA but it's also good writing. "How fine you look when dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate it is not permanent. And you're lucky to, red eyes suit so few..." "Here's a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you: Whenever you want it to be." The Jabberwock monologue was great too.
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Nov 13, 2022 00:48
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I seem to remember the weapons in Alice1 all being pretty clever and fun.
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Nov 13, 2022 05:18
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“52 pickup is a staple of juvenile humor. But when the deck slices and dices, it is no laughing matter.”
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Nov 13, 2022 07:26
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Bogart posted:I seem to remember the weapons in Alice1 all being pretty clever and fun. There was a lot of interesting design. Most weapons had two firing modes, and even basic ones like the Deck of Cards that just shot low damage homing missiles were welcome when the Boojums came out. There was the Dice which spawned a summon where if there was nothing to kill then it would attack *you*, making it a bit more tense to use, and most inspired was the fact that you could throw the Vorpal Blade for pretty decent damage, meaning that playing non optimally and blowing mana on big damage when you felt like it was often fine because the Blade was always usable in a fight.
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Nov 13, 2022 15:46
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I had no idea Flare gun could burn enemies in Signalis. Yeah I'm dumb.
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Nov 13, 2022 21:10
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Best flare gun was in Blood (1997) where your pistol equivalent is a flare gun that sets enemies on fire and it's literally the first gun you get.
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Nov 13, 2022 21:33
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FreudianSlippers posted:Best flare gun was in Blood (1997) where your pistol equivalent is a flare gun that sets enemies on fire and it's literally the first gun you get. Also the alt fire in an insane diamond pattern of shots that can light up whole rooms of dudes.
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Nov 13, 2022 21:35
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FreudianSlippers posted:Best flare gun was in Blood (1997) where your pistol equivalent is a flare gun that sets enemies on fire and it's literally the first gun you get. I got a retro-styled shooter called Project Warlock in a Humble Bundle a few months ago. You can mod its starting pistol so it shoots flares instead, which turns it into one of the best weapons in the game.
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Nov 13, 2022 22:00
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I just played Blood through for the first time a few weeks ago and it was a ride, lemme tell you. Amazing game. Not much in the way of horror other than aesthetic trappings, but those were good and fun in an over the top B movie kind of way.
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Nov 14, 2022 04:48
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unimportantguy posted:I just played Blood through for the first time a few weeks ago and it was a ride, lemme tell you. Amazing game. Not much in the way of horror other than aesthetic trappings, but those were good and fun in an over the top B movie kind of way. Blood's a fantastic game, and probably one of my favorite classic FPS games. The arsenal's rock solid and I appreciate that it tried a number of uncommon things for contemporary FPSs, like alt-fire modes and damage types. Plus you have weird novelties like the voodoo doll, different types of dynamite, and the spray can--which I will pretty much always take over a rote FPS arsenal.
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Nov 14, 2022 05:30
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Finished Observation. I'm not sure I'd call it a horror game, though there certainly is plenty of weirdness and suspense. I especially liked how the narrative unfolded, which had me hooked until the end. I'm now playing through it again with a guide to grab all the data logs I missed along the way. Having played both NoCode games now, I'm really curious how they will approach Silent Hill. Both Stories Untold and Observation are heavily focused on point and click interaction with electronic devices, which can range from modest puzzles to busy work that provides the illusion of tension (which, unfortunately, breaks a little when you realize there is never any real time limit). That could very easily slot into the puzzle parts of a Silent Hill game. However, both games have zero combat, and traditional exploration (ie moving around) is limited to one extent or another. I'm curious if they will add those in to be more like classic SH, or if they'll stick to the narrative/puzzle focus. I hope they go for the former, as I think there should be a little more chance of failure in a SH game, but could also see them coming up with a more novel approach to make the latter entertaining. Either way, eager to see what they come up with.
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Nov 14, 2022 21:15
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veni veni veni posted:No. it's not very good. I've played through 2/3rds of it twice and gotten bored out of my mind both times and moved on. It's pretty spooky but not very fun to play and it really starts to just feels sort of cheap and crappy after a while. I loved Visage and will probably replay it. No it's not great but haunted house games are few and far between unless you delve into the endless trashwave of unity youtuber-bait. Hey devs I will pay thirty bucks to cludge around a big haunted house for six hours. Standing offer, thanks
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Nov 14, 2022 23:16
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Silent Hill 3 Man, I cannot say how much of a dissapointment the whole game ended up being in spite of the graphics and how cool some of the effects were, shout out to the weird room with the blood mirror invading the other side. The game feels totally aimless for the first half, then you actually kick it into high gear with Harry's death and returning to silent hill. But the structure is such that it's deliberately trying to make you reminscen over areas in one and relate that to how Claudia feels about the ritual never being completed. But by reusing so many of the assets as 2 it doesn't hit the right tone for most of it. Alessa sat in a hospital for seven years covered in burns and then you go to a different hospital, it's nutso. Going back to the themepark was a nice touch, especially finding the Memopads that Harry had used in the first game, but like most of the other areas of the game the puzzles were just fetch quests, using the chain on the carousel to rip open the gate was cool at least, and at least somewhat logical instead of weird poo poo like the hairdryer sitting in the middle of a construction site. But then you get "Puzzles" like the snow white/ Cinderella one where they just give you the answers and the items are right outside the door. Why even waste my time with that. The Normal puzzle level in general felt like a step down from Normal in 2 as well. Nothing gave me any real trouble right up until the final actual puzzle where it just gives you the placement of all the tarots barely disguised. You'd think they'd at least do a little obstufication or leave one out. There's also just way too many enemies, and worse than that they're all really annoying. In manner and in speech. The Molemen constantly bite your ankles, the Big guys block your path, the slashers in the last dungeon are super fast and track your movement on attacks, and the roller demons are hard to even tell where they are spatially with the camera angles. Then you get the problem that all of them make the most godawful noises, not scary noises but incredibly annoying scratching and snuffling that makes me turn my volume down so my neighbors don't have to listen to that poo poo. It got to the point that I was just popping open my map soon as I hit the door, checking all the new doors, and then bee-lining for them in hopes of getting to the next progression point. Vinny went off on his little rant implying the Monsters are people, and I just lol'd I hadn't killed a single enemy since the Hospital at least. The story as well is rough, Claudia feels like a dime store Dahlia for most the run, and by the time they start actually setting her up as something different it's almost over. Vincent is interesting conceptually as a sort of corrupt clergy using the congregation as a cult of coin. But his voice acting and direction are straight garbage, and he really doesn't fit in for most the story. Why the hell was he in Heather's town in the start, why didn't Claudia just rid herself of him sooner if he was her only threat. Sure she doesn't like killing, but she did away with Harry, and got Leonard locked up somehow. The Detective is fine, I even like that he realizes he's a fuckup and still just tries to help earnestly, after 2 especially with so many people all wrapped up in their own trauma it's nice to see a dude just realize he hosed up and try and ameliorate the situation. I liked the Cult stuff in 1 about as much as the psychological stuff in 2, but the way it was done here just doesn't feel all that interesting, not the least because you don't even spend half the game in their territory. The use the money for personal enrichment or use it to summon a demon god has all the intensity and interest as your local meeting of the chamber of commerce. Claudia bringing the nightmare world to Heather's town raises severe questions about the metaphysics of Silent Hill (series) and Silent Hill (town) that I don't think Silent Hill ( game) is prepared to answer. Heather slowly becoming more aware and attune to her old Alessa form was interesting, but happened so quickly that I got taken out of it for a second when she started talking to Claudia like she knew her, also Claudia the secret almost sister to Alessa is such a weird retcon. Making her the architect of all of Heather's misery as well, bad writing in Bond and in here. As a whole the game just feels ungainly, the graphics and gameplay feel best in the opening acts, but during those the story is barely existent. Then the gameplay becomes a tedious mess when the story starts showing signs of life, but the whole thing speeds up so much that there's no time for things to breathe and the whole thing becomes unsatisfying. It's still a good game, but it hardly lives up to it's predecessors. The only unqualified plus I'll give it is Heather, I love her moxie and how nonplussed she is. It's a shame the game didn't serve her as well as 2 did to James.
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Nov 15, 2022 03:14
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I’m sure someone has written a deeper dive into how SH3 is about the commodification of women’s bodies and in the same way James the ultimate toxic man’s Silent Hill is a world of weak, whimpering monsters Heather has to deal with aggressive ankle biters and creeps over the phone and just accepts it all with aplomb because this is life for a young adult woman in idk where the game is set let’s say Ohio which is truly hell on earth. It is a weaker overall game by design, I’m surprised you didn’t bring up the instant deaths, and wait until you play 4 which I think is genuinely bad (although still interesting). I will say nothing gave me greater pleasure than literally aborting god and scaring a wounded man with a bad heart half to death then cut to a cheesy credits song that rivals symphony of the night.
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Nov 15, 2022 13:38
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al-azad posted:I’m sure someone has written a deeper dive into how SH3 is about the commodification of women’s bodies and in the same way James the ultimate toxic man’s Silent Hill is a world of weak, whimpering monsters Heather has to deal with aggressive ankle biters and creeps over the phone and just accepts it all with aplomb because this is life for a young adult woman in idk where the game is set let’s say Ohio which is truly hell on earth. The first half of 4 I really enjoy. The ambiance and general theme of the ghosts is pretty great. The second half is where it gets frustrating Lord I hate escort missions, and through the same exact levels? eff that. I do like the unique ghosts that are introduced in the second half, did add a different element of danger, having the constant oppressive force that you can't kill.
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Nov 15, 2022 13:44
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Gaius Marius posted:Silent Hill 3 this is the point where the series really became a "brand" and started to care less about scaring the poo poo out of the player than merchandising Robbie the Rabbit plushies at Hot Topic. it's got "lore" now. it's got "canon." remember the suggestive use of names like Samael, Belthegor, etc. in the first game? well now we've got Xuchilbara and Yosol-Vith and Valthiel, original names do not steal. edit: also Silent Hill 3 was when Akira Yamaoka was promoted to producer for the series and was pushed as its public face as a kind of Kojima-esque auteur responsible for way more than he actually was (Konami also did this with Igarashi and Castlevania at this time--again I can only assume they were trying to capitalize on press/marketing about Kojima by being like "yeah we've got like two, three more Kojimas!". This is obviously more Konami's fault than his but based on the innumerable interviews he did between 2003-2006 (usually credited with exaggerated epithets like Master of Horror and Creator of Silent Hill) the dude can make scary noises but he was not suited for that role. speaking of which i'm guessing that splitting his responsibilities between producer / face of marketing / composer / sound designer is why Silent Hill 4's sound effects are the way they are (bad) Bonaventure fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Nov 15, 2022 |
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Nov 15, 2022 13:48
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Yeah the Silent Hill town concept was interesting in the earlier games. The monsters for James fed on his fear of being a big old sad boy pervert, while Cheryl's are her fear of being sexually assaulted and unwanted pregnancy. It's an interesting choice they made because the same was true in the first game, but it was *Alessa's* fears driving the monster design, not Harry, who was just a stand up dad who really wants his daughter back. It took it from "girl controls evil town" to "town tests those who enter it Jigsaw style". It just doesn't really work as well in 3 because Cheryl didn't even do anything wrong, it's all this cult poo poo that was forced onto her, much like the pregnancy. Given how the mechanics of the town work in other circumstances it makes you wonder if the God they are trying to birth and the town are really in synch with one another. The Town seems to be doing everything it can to drive her away and kill her, which is the absolute opposite of the God's goal. Yes, it's to bring her pain to birth the Pain God, but killing Harry could have been enough. Maybe the Ancient Indian Burial Ground town is antagonistic with the cult in the same way that it was in (I know, I know) the movie.
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Nov 15, 2022 14:44
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I really don't think Silent Hill even in SH2 could be fully described as just a Jigsaw test of character hell, you already had stuff alluding to Walter Sullivan, the notes in the street from that guy who seems to be slipping into the bad reality for no reason, some of the ominous messages like 'there was a HOLE here, it's gone now' that don't seem to tie into James' psyche at all. Its role being different in every game and never giving you a satisfying explanation that ties up exactly what is up with the place is part of the series' appeal, and playing as a teenage girl in a hyper aggressive version of the town that *isn't* morally judging you and just wants to kill or control you was a great change of pace after James' bleak purgatory imo
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Nov 15, 2022 15:01
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I think most of the stuff in the prison in SH2 would indicate any judgement of character is coming from the characters rather than the town. Also if you die in SH3 sometimes Valtiel shows up to retrieve Heather's body. Maybe just to grab the god fetus, maybe to drag her back to a save point, either way the town seems to have a solid contingency for the monsters getting a bit too wild.
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Nov 15, 2022 15:27
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Imo the best explanation is that the town is primarily a place of power that people jockey for influence over, whether they know it or not. 1, 3, and 4 have mystics and psychics intentionally directing things, weaponizing inner worlds, and clashing with each other. 2 has a trio of clueless depression havers bumbling around and bumping into each other where their unfettered, unconscious psychic spheres overlap.
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Nov 15, 2022 15:35
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I thought it was pretty clear that the reason the dark world was able to be brought to the mall was because of Heather's connection to Alessa. That said, it's always seemed like the next natural direction for the series was for whatever was going on in Silent Hill to eventually spread. We got a little of this in 4, where the titular Room and many of the levels aren't even in Silent Hill, though like 3 this is once again revealed to be due to the cult. The title of the cancelled "Silent Hills" hinted at some kind of pluralization. And now we have Silent Hill f which seems to take place as far from the town as possible.
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Nov 15, 2022 16:16
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glitchwraith posted:I thought it was pretty clear that the reason the dark world was able to be brought to the mall was because of Heather's connection to Alessa. That said, it's always seemed like the next natural direction for the series was for whatever was going on in Silent Hill to eventually spread. We got a little of this in 4, where the titular Room and many of the levels aren't even in Silent Hill, though like 3 this is once again revealed to be due to the cult. The title of the cancelled "Silent Hills" hinted at some kind of pluralization. And now we have Silent Hill f which seems to take place as far from the town as possible. Don't forget Homecoming dealt with the next town over!
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Nov 15, 2022 16:28
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The true Silent Hill is in your heart. Kind of surprised no one has done a cheesy Kojima-like reveal where Silent Hill slowly morphs into Silent Hell.
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Nov 15, 2022 16:29
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TheWorldsaStage posted:Don't forget Homecoming dealt with the next town over! Ah, fair. Never played that one, and given it's reputation will likely never get around to it. Well, unless I get especially bored or morbidly curious. I did buy it off steam during an especially good sale.
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Nov 15, 2022 17:31
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glitchwraith posted:Ah, fair. Never played that one, and given it's reputation will likely never get around to it. Well, unless I get especially bored or morbidly curious. I did buy it off steam during an especially good sale. I'd be remiss if I didn't say give it a shot, if only for a certain level. It's really, really not all that bad, and you might like it more than you think  Idk I'm just averse to the whole 'bad reputation means never giving it a shot' thing. Not you specifically I want to emphasize, just in general. E: although, the legit steam version is crashy as gently caress from what I remember TheWorldsaStage fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Nov 15, 2022 |
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Nov 15, 2022 17:34
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glitchwraith posted:Finished Observation. I'm not sure I'd call it a horror game, though there certainly is plenty of weirdness and suspense. I especially liked how the narrative unfolded, which had me hooked until the end. I'm now playing through it again with a guide to grab all the data logs I missed along the way. I passed your comments on to the developers, one of whom is a friend, as they’ll be delighted with your feedback. In terms of your question about Townfall, I know very little but I believe their approach is the former rather than the latter.
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Nov 15, 2022 17:59
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glitchwraith posted:Finished Observation. I'm not sure I'd call it a horror game, though there certainly is plenty of weirdness and suspense. I especially liked how the narrative unfolded, which had me hooked until the end. I'm now playing through it again with a guide to grab all the data logs I missed along the way. Oh I missed this post, thanks for quoting it AlMac! I'm so glad you liked both games glitchwraith!
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Nov 15, 2022 18:29
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TheWorldsaStage posted:Oh I missed this post, thanks for quoting it AlMac! I'm so glad you liked both games glitchwraith! No probs! I’ve seen your posts and can’t quite work out if you’re on the dev team or just really like these games? Either is good!
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Nov 15, 2022 18:55
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AlMac posted:I passed your comments on to the developers, one of whom is a friend, as they’ll be delighted with your feedback. Oh wow! Well, let them know I really enjoyed both their games, and that my comments are more in speculation and anticipation than concern. I think Observation really improved over Stories Untold, which itself was a very fun little game with a lot of great gameplay and narrative concepts. Regarding my one real criticism, I think having little to no fail states works fine for these types of narrative heavy games, since the story itself is more of the driving force than the challenge. And having played through Observation again to get the achievements, I realized I may have missed at least one potential way to fail; being spotted by Jim in the sphere after he locks you out of the station controls. The first play-through I was careful enough that I made it through without being spotted. The second time I had to swap spheres a couple times, and I assume those run out eventually. I actually think Silent Hill would be a great setting for a similar, narrative focused game if they are going that direction. After all, Silent Hill has never been known for it's combat. But there's something to be said about having to dodge or kill something in a level as opposed to the threats being entirely implied. Like I said, I could envision either working well, and having played their games, I trust them to deliver something fun.
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Nov 15, 2022 19:16
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No Dignity posted:I really don't think Silent Hill even in SH2 could be fully described as just a Jigsaw test of character hell, you already had stuff alluding to Walter Sullivan, the notes in the street from that guy who seems to be slipping into the bad reality for no reason, some of the ominous messages like 'there was a HOLE here, it's gone now' that don't seem to tie into James' psyche at all. Its role being different in every game and never giving you a satisfying explanation that ties up exactly what is up with the place is part of the series' appeal, and playing as a teenage girl in a hyper aggressive version of the town that *isn't* morally judging you and just wants to kill or control you was a great change of pace after James' bleak purgatory imo At the same time, we enter other people's personal hells at multiple times during the series, with Harry entering Alessa's and James entering both Angela burning hallway and Eddie's meat locker. So it's not unprecedented for stuff to leak through from other people.
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Nov 15, 2022 19:19
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AlMac posted:No probs! I’ve seen your posts and can’t quite work out if you’re on the dev team or just really like these games? Either is good! Ah no no no, just a huge fan of the devs and the games! I was psyched when they announced they were working on a horror game and a year later it's Silent Hill and my hype levels are up lol TheWorldsaStage fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Nov 15, 2022 |
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Nov 15, 2022 19:26
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