Amnesia: The Dark Descent

[Frank]

No offense Sera, but you watch gore movies like they're porn, so I'd have to say your scary gauge is a little on the skewed side.

I don't think gore is scary. Amnesia is all about the atmosphere.

Not responding to Bowielee here, I don't think that the Fatal Frame games are bad. Quite the opposite really, I think they're about the best horror games ever made this side of Amnesia which I think has dethroned them.

 

[CynicismKills]

I think Dead Space 1 did alright, though it got a little jump-scare focused sometimes. From what my brother tells me 2 was much better and quite a bit more disturbing (though again, gets a little too focused on jump-scares).

 

[Frank]

Ugh, nursery rhymes aren't scary. Reminds me of that Cracked article talking about the original script to a movie I can't remember where over and over again it's written that kids are singing Frere Jacques and that it's totally scary. Oh yeah, it was Akira.

The Little Boy looks up, HIS HAIR STANDING ON END, EMITTING A GENTLE PULSE OF STATIC ELECTRICITY as he begins to hum a slow, haunting version of "Frere Jacques." It chills to the bone.

 

[CynicismKills]

I feel like it would make more sense in the storyline as opposed to just seeing that clip (it was the first one I found), but I do agree. Nursery rhymes and British children are pretty overused tropes.

 

[Tiq]

That or I've seen enough real shit that supernatural fantasy stuff doesn't phase me.

See personally, I find that the more grounded in reality I become, the more the idea of supernatural shit becomes effective at scaring me.


Having said that, I have an extremely paranoid mental state at times... movies like blair witch have always been extremely effective at freaking me out, because leaving my mind to it's own devices in these situations is the best way to scare the shit out of me.

 

[SeraRelm]

I guess I've less faith in the supernatural. I'm not afraid of any of that. The creaking footsteps behind me in some dark woods? I'm more afraid it's a person than a ghost or some shit.

 

[Ravenpoe]

See personally, I find that the more grounded in reality I become, the more the idea of supernatural shit becomes effective at scaring me.


Having said that, I have an extremely paranoid mental state at times... movies like blair witch have always been extremely effective at freaking me out, because leaving my mind to it's own devices in these situations is the best way to scare the shit out of me.

Amnesia does a good job of being scary because they know how to use empty space. Not having a monster behind every door is scarier than having a monster jump out every minute, because then your paranoia starts to become your own worst enemy.

 

[SpecialKO]

I guess I've less faith in the supernatural. I'm not afraid of any of that. The creaking footsteps behind me in some dark woods? I'm more afraid it's a person than a ghost or some shit.

I wish Manhunt had been like this. The Most Dangerous Game would make a great game done right.

 

[Bowielee]

I don't think gore is scary. Amnesia is all about the atmosphere.

Not responding to Bowielee here, I don't think that the Fatal Frame games are bad. Quite the opposite really, I think they're about the best horror games ever made this side of Amnesia which I think has dethroned them.

I wasn't saying gore was scary, BTW.

Just that Sera's views of what is/isn't disturbing is going to be completely skewed to the general populace.

 

[SeraRelm]

So tell us how you really feel.

 

[Tiq]

So tell us how you really feel.

I think he's calling you a sick puppy.

Don't be taking that shit... teach him the exquisite pain of the knife.

 

[SeraRelm]

Meh, he knows near nothing about me and I'm fine with that.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Eternal Darkness was a great story, fun, and mind-fucky, but the only time I got scared was

Spoiler

When my insanity meter fucked with my attempts to save and played it as "Deleting Saved Game"

 

[SeraRelm]

Yeah, I loved that stuff. THAT is what made me laugh.

 

[Bowielee]

Meh, he knows near nothing about me and I'm fine with that.

I'm not the one who cultivates an online persona of being a psycho.

I find it funny that you're offended that I'm implying you are what you pretend to be.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I'm not the one who cultivates an online persona of being a psycho.

A person doesn't need to be a psycho to have seen some shit. Although sometimes seeing some shit turns a person into a psycho.


Just ask my wife. Haaaaaaaaaaaa not funny...

 

[SeraRelm]

I'm not Shego, if anything, I think I've proven myself to just laugh stuff off most of the time and try to make light of situations. I'm not offended though, I mean you really do know little about me and I really am ok with that.

 

[Tiq]

I'm not the one who cultivates an online persona of being a psycho.

I find it funny that you're offended that I'm implying you are what you pretend to be.

See now it's comments like that, that wind up with you being taught the exquisite pain of the knife.

 

[bhamv3]

I think Dead Space 1 did alright, though it got a little jump-scare focused sometimes. From what my brother tells me 2 was much better and quite a bit more disturbing (though again, gets a little too focused on jump-scares).

Having played both Dead Space 1/2 and Amnesia, I'd say Amnesia blows them both out of the park in terms of scariness. In Dead Space, you get to be a one-man walking arsenal. You get no such luxury in Amnesia.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Dead Space's gimmicks got old real fast.

 

[CynicismKills]

Dead Space's gimmicks got old real fast.

That's basically what I meant with jump-scares, yeah. I liked the first game, all in all, but I'm sure it pales next to Amnesia/Fatal Frame.

 

[Hailey Knight]

That's basically what I meant with jump-scares, yeah. I liked the first game, all in all, but I'm sure it pales next to Amnesia/Fatal Frame.

Jump scares would be it. Mainly the creatures that would play dead. They stopped being surprising by #3 and stopped being funny by #16.

 

[Terrik]

Hope you guys are right. I just bought it because of this thread.

 

[fade]

Ooh. Cool. I LOVE survival horror. <----------------LOOK I SAID I LIKE SOMETHING.

I hope it's not like the Dead Space games, though. I really did find those kind of boring. I returned DS before I finished it. That was a sci-fi shooter with some jump scares thrown in. I want something that scares you like radio static ramping up in Silent Hill (because whoever decided that a radio would be a good radar was a freaking genius. No sarcasm.) Plus, I didn't like the difficulty level in DS. Normal was too easy, and hard was like saying "Dear monsters, here are my balls."

 

[Necronic]

That or I've seen enough real shit that supernatural fantasy stuff doesn't phase me.

See, this is weird to me. It makes sense, in some ways, and totally doesn't in others. I've had more than my fair share of "close calls". I literally almost had my face melted off once. I've had a loaded shotgun pointed in my face. I know what real danger is.

Which is exactly why "unreal" danger is so scary. With "real" danger there are rules. There are ways of avoiding it, there are ways of mitigating it. With supernatural stuff there's nothing you can do. You are completely helpless and at the whims of a being whose motivations are so alien you can't even begin to fathom them.

Cenobites chasing you? What are you going to do. Go to the cops? Call the FBI? Get the Vatican to try and protect you? There's nothing you can do. There is only the flesh.

 

[SpecialKO]

LOOK I SAID I LIKE SOMETHING.

And yet, you still balanced it with something you disliked.

 

[Ravenpoe]

See, this is weird to me. It makes sense, in some ways, and totally doesn't in others. I've had more than my fair share of "close calls". I literally almost had my face melted off once. I've had a loaded shotgun pointed in my face. I know what real danger is.

Which is exactly why "unreal" danger is so scary. With "real" danger there are rules. There are ways of avoiding it, there are ways of mitigating it. With supernatural stuff there's nothing you can do. You are completely helpless and at the whims of a being whose motivations are so alien you can't even begin to fathom them.

Cenobites chasing you? What are you going to do. Go to the cops? Call the FBI? Get the Vatican to try and protect you? There's nothing you can do. There is only the flesh.

Say what you want, those guys know how to party. Sure, you may not be able to find your skin after, but it will be one HELL of a night.

 

[Necronic]

You know what the scariest part of those stories is to me. That it's NOT Hell. That this isn't a religious thing. If it was then it would imply a heaven. But there isn't a heaven, there isn't a god, there isn't a devil. There's just these horrific things. There is just the flesh.

 

[Fun Size]

That or I've seen enough real shit that supernatural fantasy stuff doesn't phase me.

As a parent, I can tell you that I've seen a lot of real shit. Diapers, not flushing, calls for wiping assistance...you name it. Still, I'm left unjaded. Seems like a flimsy excuse to me.

 

[fade]

And yet, you still balanced it with something you disliked.

I am in a state of fade zen.

 

[Necronic]

You know, as a bit of a followup/correction, I think the thing is with "supernatural" stuff is that when you've been exposed to a lot of rational fears, there's something comforting about a completely irrational terror. Being afraid of cenobites is kind of fun. Being afraid of cancer isn't.

 

[Hailey Knight]

You know what the scariest part of those stories is to me. That it's NOT Hell. That this isn't a religious thing. If it was then it would imply a heaven. But there isn't a heaven, there isn't a god, there isn't a devil. There's just these horrific things. There is just the flesh.

The book fiction of the Cenobites is so much more interesting than where the movie sequels went with it.

 

[SeraRelm]

I don't think they're frightening, I think the idea behind them is interesting though. The idea of stretching the bounds of experience.

 

[Necronic]

Yeah, that's what everyone says until they open the puzzle box. Then they see what's what.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I don't think they're frightening, I think the idea behind them is interesting though. The idea of stretching the bounds of experience.

I love how in the book Frank thinks they're going to be dimension-hopping beautiful women.