Darkness Falls on Eternity (more horror, scary themes in eternity)

[Ulquiorra]

I want this Atmosphere > Fight in eternity

 

This not going to happend. This is why PS:T was not such big 'comercial' success as other more fighting oriented RPGs. It was great in sense of atmosphere an dialogues (this is what makes good roleplay) but missed more complex combat system (read gameplay) for good RPG you need all these elements balanced (Role Playing Game(play))

 

I don't mean that fight is not important part, i meant that storyline, gameworld shoud be main par for eternity only backed by fights ... if you like fight il sudest Diablo 3 hack and slash ...

[Heresiarch]

The two scariest games I've played in the last I don't know how many years ere Dead Space and Spec Ops: The Line. Not because of the body horror, since space zombies and people burnt alive don't exactly horrify me. But because of the psychological element of being locked in a never-ending nightmare with no hope of escape, while trying to justify your own actions to yourself.

 

DA2 had a nice horror element, when the protagonist resques his mother from her suitor. And by nice I mean that it was pretty ****ed up even for a horror game, not only an action RPG.

[Chilloutman]

I want this Atmosphere > Fight in eternity

 

This not going to happend. This is why PS:T was not such big 'comercial' success as other more fighting oriented RPGs. It was great in sense of atmosphere an dialogues (this is what makes good roleplay) but missed more complex combat system (read gameplay) for good RPG you need all these elements balanced (Role Playing Game(play))

 

I don't mean that fight is not important part, i meant that storyline, gameworld shoud be main par for eternity only backed by fights ... if you like fight il sudest Diablo 3 hack and slash ...

 

Its like you tell that ToEE or IWD were not good games because they got good combat... and even when i love Diablo, like Diablo II I HATE D3

[JFSOCC]

I've seen enough grit and greyness. I'm ok with some scary stuff, it is after all a mature game. But I want my colourful pixies and landscapes and characters and a degree of humour as well.

[Mandragore]

I've seen enough grit and greyness. I'm ok with some scary stuff, it is after all a mature game. But I want my colourful pixies and landscapes and characters and a degree of humour as well.

 

This is exactly the opposite of what I want. There are plenty of Jrpgs that are all smiles and rainbows, go play one of those; I'll take my PE with an extra large helping of grimdark.

[High Octane 881]

Why does the game need a preset mood? It doesn't have to be all one or the other. The IE games mostly had a very nuetral temperment.

[DungeonKeeps]

I still remember the haunted mansion from Vampire:Bloodlines. It was one of the most scariest moments I've ever had in a videogame.

 

And the beatyfull thing is that in eternity also can be some haunted manson (mayby not LA style) haunted masion was awsome and even if you where a vampire this still was scary ha

 

I pretty much agree. However it would feel rather strange, wouldn't it?

[LadyCrimson]

I don't like unrelenting tension in games. Wait, no that's not entirely true. I admire/respect it, because games that manage to put me in that sort of state are rare, but I won't generally get far/play a game of that type even if I think it's awesome (Amnesia). I don't want to play an RPG to be sweaty-palm stressed out all the time. :laugh: So I'd rather not have that.

 

Horror graphical elements, horror-like creatures to set a mood in some dungeons etc. are fine tho.

[Adhin]

Yeah I'm all for heavy atmosphere drenched dungeons and whatnot for good effect and some messed up monsters. Hell even just a mini-zombie apocalypses as a quest somewhere can be fun but it's still an adventure RPG. Your gonna be in a city, hitting up taverns, chatting with tons of people... can't be horror all the time. But when its called for, freakin' drench me in that ****.

 

Side note, Dragon's Dogma had some nice horrory elements here and there (at night, in tombs) which where welcome touchs. To many older RPG's never quite got there with how they handled things. D1 had a great feel to its dungeon exploration for what it is.

 

Anyway yes but not all of it.. also didn't vote for 'hard mystery required to progress story' since that usually means awkward 'whys this here' puzzles. I love puzzles, and I love all that problem solving stuff but unless your making a puzzle game like portal it makes for a bad forced path. Awesome for side stuff though, things 'not' required.. and if you meant more like detective like quest stuff, all for that too. Hopefully avoiding RE-style 'puzzles' though, bleh.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm pretty jaded about horror in most games to be honest. I would prefer strangeness myself. I want to see aberration creatures again, and deal with cosmic entities completely alien to me. I think I want less Cthulhu and more Doctor Strange if that makes any sense.

[Ulquiorra]

 

Its like you tell that ToEE or IWD were not good games because they got good combat... and even when i love Diablo, like Diablo II I HATE D3

 

I liked IWD series. BUT in my opinion where it goes dawn to ROLE PLAYING part fight is just another way tu bulid atmosphere .... I ike fighting but i must say that i don't wanna see fights the way was presendet in Diablo 3 where you do nothing more then fight, or fight is the reason of this game ....

 

If i want to fight in the game i will but in my opinion first atmosphere, roleplaying part, and seckond fighting and lootspawning ....

[Bos_hybrid]

I would really love to see an horror RPG. However I don't feel PE is that game, nor should it be. Horror is at it's best when it's the focus, and more towards psychological than jump scares.

 

Still if Obs wants to make The Thing RPG, they can count on my money.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Bos_hybrid

[Kurumi Morishita]

Yes.. horror shoud be one of the elements of the game, but not the main theme (I'd esp. love to see some elements from lovecraft and really atmospheric horror like in the original version (1980) of Carpenters "The Fog"). I also like battles that you can't win at a certain point of the game and you must flee for your life - but probably one should be able to defeat those encounters at a later point (if the characters are better equipped and/or at a higher level).

Edited December 8, 2012 by Kurumi Morishita

[Tsuga C]

An element of horror a la Ravenloft is a fine thing, but I wouldn't want the majority of the world to be dominated by the horror theme. Horror is at its best when it's applied to a limited area. Make it too common and it palls and loses its ability to put the player on edge or disturb them.

[Osvir]

I would really love to see an horror RPG. However I don't feel PE is that game, nor should it be. Horror is at it's best when it's the focus, and more towards psychological than jump scares.

 

Still if Obs wants to make The Thing RPG, they can count on my money.

 

I had a dream about a quest where a God or a Cipher gives you a choice and "Eyes to See" in the middle of a city. The Quest is about there being Doppelgangers all over the city, mixed with all of the other NPC's. Time is running out, and soon all of the Doppelgangers will have taken over all of the city and killed all of the villagers. So you have to move quickly and take down them, but if you do it in the open guards will instead start hunting you down (you are the only one who can see the doppelgangers, no one else, so everyone would think you are going berserk when in fact you are just trying to save everyone).

 

Worst comes to worst you get killed by the city or thrown into jail. Which is another thought.

 

Instead of "Dying" when all of your party members gets knocked out, are there some encounters that could drag you off to their camp, make you a slave, throw you in jail, cook you for dinner (but with your wits you manage to charm your way out or whatnot). Kind of like "Second Wind" in Borderlands as well as similarly in Guild Wars 2.

A "Narrative" Second Wind.... hrrrrm should make a topic about it but I'm lazy right now (feel free to do it you if you find it interesting)

 

An element of horror a la Ravenloft is a fine thing, but I wouldn't want the majority of the world to be dominated by the horror theme. Horror is at its best when it's applied to a limited area. Make it too common and it palls and loses its ability to put the player on edge or disturb them.

 

Pfft! Ravenloft... ppfttt! It was nothing compared to the instance in Episode 2 (maybe that is Raveloft as well) in pitch black darkness and you're waiting for a rusty cranky ****ty mf elevator. That was some scary sh... stuff in my opinion. Got to admit though, the very first time I got to Ravenloft it was really scary (I wussed out, saved, shut down the game, took a breather, re-entered the game) but on Half-Life 2 Playthrough 3, not so scary. Scariness is about element of surprise.

 

VtM:B was really scary too, Mansion-house, but it became kinda un-scary too. Saw a Let's Play of it recently however (lots of time has passed since I played VtM:B) and got some chills down my spine. So it is entirely possible to be "re-scared" by an instance, but it requires the memory to go into the fog as well as time. Generally the "horror" or "darkness" stuff is only in the game to be experienced fully once, after that it can become rather bland.

 

For you who have finished Amnesia, how scary is it a second time?

Edited December 9, 2012 by Osvir

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I'd like to see Twin Peaks-style sinister weirdness all over the place. Pretty unlikely to happen, though. Perhaps as a sidequest?

Edited December 9, 2012 by aluminiumtrioxid

[Odglok]

Love the topic, but let's go ahead and accept that Project Eternity isn't a horror-themed game. Having gotten that out of the way, there are definitely aspects of horror settings that can be applied to isometric RPG without feeling out of place. Three in particular come to mind:

 

1) Quests that involve macabre or disturbing subjects. Anyone remember the tanner quest from BG2? I can't remember many details, but it started with you investigating some murders in the main city in which the victims had been skinned. Spoiler alert:

It turns out that the murderer is a local tanner, who is in fact some kind of evil being disguised as a human. I don't remember what his goal was, but you can ultimately end up creating a suit of human leather armor, which could only be worn by evil characters IIRC. Pretty dark stuff in a classic Infinity Engine game.

 

 

2) I would really love to see some dungeons that can't be approached in a step-by-step manner, if that makes sense. Places where you never really know whether you're safe just because you've cleared a room. New enemies could come around the corner at any time. There might be a raiding party that returns while you're still clearing the dungeon. I'm not suggesting random spawns all over the place, but your party definitely shouldn't be able to rest for 8 hours in the kitchen while a group of ogres wait patiently in the room next door, oblivious to your presence. Here I'm talking about realism more than horror.

 

3) It would be nice if undead were treated a little more seriously. I understand that in fantasy settings, monsters and evil races are common. But I would think walking skeletons and zombies would be considered unsettling, even if they aren't especially dangerous. I don't have much to add on this topic, I think it's worth considering.

[Chilloutman]

I like how first Alien vs Predator game got that tension feeling because you never can clear level completly. New alien were still spawning so there was no safe place and you still have to be on the move. It completly remove feeling that you are safe when you clear room. I know that its not isometric game but I think that this could applz to any game pretty well

[MusedMoose]

I like the idea of some horror elements. Heading in to what seems like just another "clear out the monsters and take their stuff" kind of sidequest, only to discover the whole place is ridiculously dark and there's bizarre things painted in blood on the walls because there's an ancient ritual going on here and what people thought were monsters were cultists bonding parts of dead beasts to themselves and now you suddenly have to stop them from summoning something horrific... yeah, I'd enjoy that. ^_^

 

The thing is, atmosphere is going to play a huge role in making any horror work in this game. The isometric view makes it so we can see quite a bit, so give us something truly creepy to see. Or, set the entire area in close halls and narrow passages, really play up claustrophobia and the feeling that we can't see as far as usual, so now we get much less warning before something comes to eat us. Just knowing that a fight would be much more difficult because I couldn't use my usual tactics would be enough to put me a bit on edge.

 

Also: sound. Sound is very, very important for this sort of thing. Quiet, creepy noises in the near distance? What might have been voices from somewhere else in the dungeon? A party member asking others "Did you hear that?" when I, in fact, heard nothing? Or maybe just horrific screaming coming from the other side of a closed door, to make me reconsider if I actually want to open it. Happened to me once, way back when playing Daggerfall, and that was the first time I was letigimately scared while playing a game.

 

One thing I don't want, though, is unbeatable enemies I have to run from. Horror or no horror, this is heroic fantasy, is it not? I know some things will be too tough to beat at a certain level, but that just means my party should be able to handle them at a higher level.

[AGX-17]

Like I said in the torch thread, there's nothing scary about an isometric RTW/P cRPG. You could put as many Anglerfish faces and Cthulu pictures in and you're not going to scare me. The reason real survival horror games work is because the player is ineffectual or helpless. That's why Resident Evil 6 is not survival horror or scary, it's just a cover shooter with ugly monsters.

[Matthew]

If it's grim and gritty and dark throughout, I'll be bored. That's part of the reason I never really got into Diablo. You can be realistic/authentic without being grim all the time. We laugh in real life, even when we're not supposed to--and sometimes that's the scary thing. People laughing at the theater as they watch on-screen people get slaughtered? Yeah. Getting kinda off-topic, though. Real life runs the gamut of emotions, and so should a game that's not particularly focused on creating one emotion.

[Osvir]

Like I said in the torch thread, there's nothing scary about an isometric RTW/P cRPG.

 

And you never replied to my question about it, Repeat:

Since when did the perspective determine if it is scary or not? I've read books that have put me on my toes, one book I was putting down because I got too scared. The isometric view isn't scary, first person view isn't scary either (otherwise I'd be afraid all the time IRL!!). Fear/Horror is all in the writing, the music and the atmosphere and the environment.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Osvir

[Vargr]

Horror/Terror/Dread = Yes please!

 

I'm in the camp that wants Lovecraftean stuff. Or any kind of horror that's based on atmosphere and subtle stuff rather than

in-your-face gross-out stuff.

 

People keep citing the Ocean House from VtM: Bloodlines. That's a good one.

 

 

To clarify, I don't want P:E to be saturated with horror throughout. But I would like there to be a lot of horror and fear of the dark unknown,

whenever you travel into dark places. Even exploring an old, abandoned house. Creaking floorboards. Maybe hearing floorboards creak from footsteps

even though your party is standing still. Sudden gust of wind making a window slam open. Descend into the basement into complete darkness, (unless you have a torch), investigating a strange sound which seems to originate from there.

 

There are plenty of ways to make a game have that feeling of dread and horror.

 

 

Hah! I remember the first time I played the original Alone in the Dark at my uncle's place. That game freaked me out back then. Of course, I was around 10

or something. But although I haven't played it since, I clearly recall early in the game when I opened a door, and there stood a friggin zombie! It slowly raised

its' arms and walked towards my character. Freaked me out.

 

 

As for P:E... walking through the marshlands could be a good opportunity too. As the sun sets, mist rises, more or less covering the ground. Maybe make it cover your characters in a light haze too. And you start hearing strange, muffled noises from *somewhere*. Could there be weird, unnatural beings skittering

around below the mist's surface?

I love sh... -stuff like that.

 

 

I know some people would have a problem (especially in a game like this) with an enemy you simply can't beat. I would like to modify this to

"an enemy you simply can't beat through conventional means".

 

Meaning, you might run into something in the marshland mists, stalking you. You can't stop and fight it, because you can't see it. Stay around and wait for it,

and it will pull your characters down under the mist one by one. So you have no choice but to outrun it, taking refuge on small, elevated "islands".

Later on, maybe you have a means to dissolve the mist. Or recieve an item or charm which lets you see the unseen. Now you can go back and face the creature/s. Maybe you can kill it if you can see it. Maybe it turns out you need a special material to harm it as well. (E.g silver weapons or sanctified ones)

 

A different creature, demonic or undead, maybe you cannot beat either. Later on, maybe you learn it is because it is not fully in the material world, but learning its' true name and uttering it will draw it fully into the mundane world, where it can be fought.

 

The point is, that at the time these creatures (which should be encountered in a horror-like, dreadful setting) will seem invincible, making you feel

helpless and terrified. But later on, you might gain knowledge which would allow you to go back and make them pay for making you feel weak,

should you so choose. Sometimes, it could be part of a quest to return to beat them.

 

 

Umm yeah... bit chaotic post again.

 

*shrug* Just some spitballing.

[AGX-17]

Like I said in the torch thread, there's nothing scary about an isometric RTW/P cRPG.

 

And you never replied to my question about it, Repeat:

Since when did the perspective determine if it is scary or not? I've read books that have put me on my toes, one book I was putting down because I got too scared. The isometric view isn't scary, first person view isn't scary either (otherwise I'd be afraid all the time IRL!!). Fear/Horror is all in the writing, the music and the atmosphere and the environment.

 

Since you were scared of little critters or big critters or what have you mobbing you in a dark area but otherwise playing the same as you would in the light (with an accuracy penalty,) and I was not, and I was scared of fumbling around a pitch-black nightmare rust hospital with only a flashlight and a radio whose static increases the closer an unseen monster is to you. An isometric game can't have the atmosphere of a scary horror game unless you are cowardly and easily frightened (no offense.) No amount of writing can change the fact that it's not an immersive perspective. They can try to give it a scary atmosphere visually, or narratively it might say in the lower left hand corner that you're fumbling terrified in the dark by the sound of skittering skitterers, but you're still seeing a team of capable combatants with some vast array of tactics and skills at their disposal. And torches. And possibly light spells. From on high.

 

There's no visceral fear when the player is a god-like observer above the action with the ability to command many characters with many effective combat capabilities and the power to stop time itself, as compared to fumbling in the dark only to run into an unkillable foe that can kill you with one swipe of his giant razor blade. When you run into an enemy who's stronger than you in an IE game my response is "oh, I need to find some quests or encounters to level up and find better loot before taking this guy on," or if it's some special enemy who requires a special weapon or item to defeat it's "I must need a special item to defeat this enemy," not "OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD TURN ON THE LIGHTS SOMEONE HELP OHMYGOD RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN IT'S COMING THIS WAY OHMYGOD"

 

Especially when the player is used to being in combat, being successful in it and understanding the game rules. Scary is Silent Hill 1-3, Amnesia, etc. Scary is not Fallout, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. The perspective is fundamentally not immersive, it's detached. You can imagine yourself seeing through the eyes of your character, but then it's you doing all the work of scaring you, not the game or its perspective or its atmosphere.

 

The fundamental truth is that cRPGs are not Survival Horror games, period. It's right there in the name. "Computer role-playing game." That is decidedly not "Survival Horror game."

Edited December 10, 2012 by AGX-17

[Jobby]

Horror will most certainly be a theme i think, i dont however expect to be constantly jumping from my seat shouting "where the **** did that come from!?!?!" occassionaly yes but all the time would be game breaking, i think it comes down to atmosphere, music etc..

 

Perhaps a bit irellevant as its a jRPG and after watching it again not quite as jarring as i remember as a 10 year old (though that could by the cheesy japanese diaglogue) but none the less Suikoden II had a great cutscene where one of the badguys forces someone to act like a pig before killing them anyway,

 

That kind of horror would fit in very well i feel and also makes for a deeper more engaging storyline, i'm also all for having some dark torchlit dungeons with a nice creepy feel to them, but a geniuinely jump out of seat scary moment would probabally be quite difficult to implement in anything other than a first person game, then again we'll see what the guys at Obsidian can do