Bring out the Scaree!!!

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SilentHaku
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Bring out the Scaree!!!

Post by SilentHaku »

The Silent hill series is one of my favorites and it is sometimes scary but I feel that they should put more scary parts like the part of silent hill 1 where a body falls from the locker or like in silent hill 2 where you keep knocking on the bathroom door and when you leave you hear a scream,or finding pyramid head in a unsuspected room.And I hope this time the character acts like a real human, cause in the past games you can see that the characters see something and they don't act scared or disturbeb at all.Anyways I hope it's a good and difficult game.^^
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simeonalo
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Post by simeonalo »

I have a feeling that you may need to discuss this in the impressions thread, this really isn't valid as its own topic :?
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Harrys_Girl
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Post by Harrys_Girl »

^Unless this is specifically what people are hopping the "types" of scares there will be.
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SPRINGS02
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Post by SPRINGS02 »

Actually Heather acted pretty scared when she first encountered the closer, it's james harry and henry that act like monsters aren't such a huge deal.
Also can we say this thread is for the types of scares people want in sh8?
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alone in the town
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Post by alone in the town »

I want more blood and tits.
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Koshercrackers
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Post by Koshercrackers »

^Indeed. We also need more dakka.
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Catch22
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Re: Bring out the Scaree!!!

Post by Catch22 »

Those are called jump scares. I'd like to see less of them, actually. It takes more talent to create a frightening atmosphere without relying on shit popping out at you or women screaming as they take a dump in a bathroom stall.
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SPRINGS02
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Post by SPRINGS02 »

^True jump out scares aren't really scary IMO they rely more on reflexes and reactions of people. For instance i've jumped from the noise of being spotted in metal gear because i didn't know someone saw me. But that doesn't make the game scary. I want more abstract scares that the older silent hills(2-4) had. Weird abstract shit like eileens head, the alternate hospital in sh3 etc.

lol women screaming while taking a dump. :lol:
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Post by Kampfgruppe Haus »

After playing a bunch of the games, I've found a few long-standing habits of the developers' that they need to amend to make it scarier.

1) No more radio. Yes, this is heresy. But let's be honest with ourselves, how scary is it when a you know exactly when a monster is in a room with you? The Ambush is one of the scariest things in the world, in war or otherwise. How do you expect the poor monsters to ambush you if they make radios turn on? The radio-thing was scary at first but then we became used to it. They can refresh the concept by only using it part of the time. For instance having a radio on a table burst into terrible, straticky life as you are stalked through a claustrophobic room.

2) Don't stop playing music after you kill the monsters. You ever notice how the scary dark ambient and noise music cuts out after you've defeated all the enemies in a room? When this music cuts, that's a signal to me that everything is alright and that I'm safe. That feeling is anathema to horror! Keep the tension up with the nightmarish Merzbow tunes! Besides, I like that music.

3) No more safe areas. Stairwells are really scary things, you have no idea what's waiting around the corner in a perfect, elevated position to lop your head off. In Silent Hill, they're places of refuge. Monsters just don't go there. Same for the other random rooms. Monsters should follow you into rooms at least some of the time.

4) Regenerate monsters. I always feel a sense of security once I know a level is clear of monsters. I know then that I am free to look around without fear of gruesome death. Monsters should respawn in rooms that were formerly cleared to maintain the uncertainty.

5)More tits.

6)More Dakka. Mor' snikkin' 'umies too.

In closing, Silent Hill isn't as scary to me as it was when I started because I know the way the rules work. I know when I should be on my guard for the coming nightmare and when I can relax. The developers of SH8 should strive to achieve unremitting horror by throwing away all of our preconceived notions about how that world works and destroying any feeling of certainty we had going into it. Order is anathema to terror, all must be chaos.
Desperately seeking a real abandoned city, preferably in New Jersey or the tri-state area, where I can live out my Silent Hill fantasies. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone looks promising but it's kinda far...
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Post by Mis Krist. »

Please plant tongue firmly in cheek and keep humor in check at all times while reading this post.


1: The radio has been pretty much ignorable since SH3 -- SH3 was the radio at its most useless. And the lack of a radio was one of the main reasons people cunted off about SH4.

2: The music doesn't stop? I guess it depends on the game.

3: No, screw you goodsir. Those little spots of rest -- the few that DO exist in the game -- are tremendously beneficial for those of us in the fanbase who, y'know, like and need them.

4: They do regenerate?

5: Leave.

6: Still.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
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TYFYT
Last edited by Mis Krist. on 27 Jul 2010, edited 1 time in total.
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Catch22
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Post by Catch22 »

All the stuff you want to remove, Kampfgruppe Haus, are things that are essential in any horror movie or game... The brief moments of reprieve. You can't have non-stop terror everywhere you go. It's mentally exhausting, but most importantly you adapt to the over-exposure... The chaos quickly becomes nothing more than annoying obstacles, and there is no terror where annoyance is concerned. Knowing that there are no more monsters in a room may make you relax, but that just makes the next monster-filled room all the more frightening.

Respawning monsters especially seems like a bad idea to me. It seems like lazy developing, and destroys the point of the ammo it takes to clear the monsters out. It destroys the choice given to players where they get to decide if they want to use up precious ammo clearing out a room, or run through, leaving the monsters alive. Add respawning creatures and players will just run. You're totally destroying an entire play-style.
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Post by Kampfgruppe Haus »

Point taken. Of course there needs to be some equilibrium between terror and reprieve to prevent over-exposure. Of course there should be reprieves in horror, why do you think I want more breasts? I'm not saying that there should be more monsters or that they should be at your throat constantly, but you should never be entirely sure when or where they will pop out.

As for the respawning, I don't mean having all of them come back to life as soon as you reenter a cleared area as if you never dealt with it in the first place. What I mean is, occasionally, having one or two waiting for you in a room you thought was safe. Maybe not even the second time you reenter. Maybe having it show up a really long time after you cleared it so you're really not expecting it.

Like I said, the best thing they can do is to remove certainty, ALL certainty. No certainty that you will be entering a safe room, no certainty that you will be battling hordes everywhere you go. Balance it out so the player can relax sometimes, but don't let the player get too relaxed.
Desperately seeking a real abandoned city, preferably in New Jersey or the tri-state area, where I can live out my Silent Hill fantasies. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone looks promising but it's kinda far...
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Catch22
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Post by Catch22 »

In that case, I agree with you. I like the idea of monsters re-appearing randomly, and not too often--I had in my mind various negative preconceived notions about respawning. It would also add a lot to replayability.
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Post by Falconv1.0 »

Only thing I agree with is more dakka. A horror game needs 'safe rooms', otherwise you kinda lose the tension due to the fact that you've been exposed to shit that might be some what unnerving all the way through, kinda numbing you to it, the way SH2 was for me near the end when NOTHING scared me because I was like "Bullets solve everything herp derp", and if they didn't, running away was not difficult in the slightest.

I've gone over how you could make interactions with the monsters scarier, and how this could enhance the scripted scares at least 3 times now, I'm not doing it again. T_T
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Post by crucifix »

you mean you want more lame jump-out scares?

no thanks.
no longer active. thanks for the memories.
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Travis
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Post by Travis »

No cheap jump scares in Silent Hill please. At least no more than three or four in the entire game.
Last edited by Travis on 27 Jul 2010, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by AnimalMother »

alone in the town wrote:I want more blood and tits.
and I also, I want to be disturbed but subtly over an extended period of time.
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paladin181
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Post by paladin181 »

Kampfgruppe Haus wrote:After playing a bunch of the games, I've found a few long-standing habits of the developers' that they need to amend to make it scarier.

1) No more radio. Yes, this is heresy. But let's be honest with ourselves, how scary is it when a you know exactly when a monster is in a room with you? The Ambush is one of the scariest things in the world, in war or otherwise. How do you expect the poor monsters to ambush you if they make radios turn on? The radio-thing was scary at first but then we became used to it. They can refresh the concept by only using it part of the time. For instance having a radio on a table burst into terrible, straticky life as you are stalked through a claustrophobic room.

2) Don't stop playing music after you kill the monsters. You ever notice how the scary dark ambient and noise music cuts out after you've defeated all the enemies in a room? When this music cuts, that's a signal to me that everything is alright and that I'm safe. That feeling is anathema to horror! Keep the tension up with the nightmarish Merzbow tunes! Besides, I like that music.

3) No more safe areas. Stairwells are really scary things, you have no idea what's waiting around the corner in a perfect, elevated position to lop your head off. In Silent Hill, they're places of refuge. Monsters just don't go there. Same for the other random rooms. Monsters should follow you into rooms at least some of the time.
This describes Silent Hill 4. People HATE HATE HATE playing it mostly. If not for the outstanding story, the game would never see the light of day. I know I dislike playing the game mostly due to the bad combat mechanics. But that game lost the radio, only partially changed music for fighting and had ghosts pursuing you no matter where you went. And it was ONE. BIG. FUCKING. ANNOYANCE. Sorry. It wasn't scary, just tiresome and strenuous. I never felt afraid (save for the beginning of the game in the subway). It doesn't work terribly well.
Kampfgruppe Haus wrote:4) Regenerate monsters. I always feel a sense of security once I know a level is clear of monsters. I know then that I am free to look around without fear of gruesome death. Monsters should respawn in rooms that were formerly cleared to maintain the uncertainty.
See Ørigins for how well respawning works. If you respawn mobs and not ammo, then prepare for a shitstorm, cause I'll just avoid them at all costs. Why kill something if it just comes back. I understand it's horror, but at the same time, let's not make gameplay elements become repetitive and pointless.
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AnimalMother
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Post by AnimalMother »

Agreed with Paladin, Please no regenerating monsters! In my opinion that is cheap and just gross. And yes I think we need safe areas, we need to explore and walk for extended time intervals without the intrusion of monsters. That builds tension and allows us to better immerse ourselves in the atmosphere (see Shattered Memories).

I agree, it would be very creepy if the monsters could follow us into various rooms, maybe if we chose not to fight we could barricade doorways while they are pounding on the outside! I always thought it would be terrifying if I was investigating a room and the idea of something also coming in was in the back of my mind.

Spoilers maybe:

I know most people will hate this idea, but having to scavenge for flashlight batteries I think would be interesting. And I like the radio. I also want to revisit midwich from the real Silent Hill 1 version. I want to find James car washed up along the lake (maybe its his, maybe not).
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Coercion
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Post by Coercion »

YA AND THEN U SHUD MAKE THE GUD GUY A SPESS MARINE AND GIVE HIM A ROCKIT LAUNCHER AND MAKE LIKE A MILLION MORE ENEMYS THAT ARE ALIEN DEMONS FROM HELLHEAVEN COME OUTOF THE VENTS.


No, but seriously. No telegraphed conflict this time and we'll be fine.
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