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| nobinobita 1102th Post
  
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|  "Re(1):UNDEAD THREAD 2012" , posted Wed 17 Oct 07:08:  
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THE COLONEL HAS DECREED IT IS TIME FOR HALLOWEEN
Since every dumb site will have an article on "games that are scary," we could try upping the ante with stories of spooky/atmospheric experiences tied to games that may or not have been scary, preferrably on Halloween. This may not draw dear Undead Fred out from whatever land of shadows he escaped to, but we were overdue for an inevitable Dracula thread anyway.
My favorite experiential tale is still turning out the lights on a Halloween Sunday (parties were all earlier that weekend) and playing Dracula X~Nocturne in the Moonlight in the dark for about four hours with howling wind outside, maybe around that part to where you get to the hellish depths of the castle. Last year, I think I managed to draw on the spirits of the dark gods to beat Dracula 1 for the first time ever, somewhere around Halloween late at night as well.
The Sorceress' Procession in Final Fantasy VIII is probably the finest witchy scene and music ever seen in a video game, so one time I played it on loud throughout the house before heading out to walk among the real-life (?) sorceress' procession in Manhattan, aka their giant world-devouring masquerade parade.
There's a point in Final Fantasy Tactics that always stuck with me. Forgive me if I fudge the details as it's been almost a decade since I played it, but I recall ...
There's a scene where it's starting to rain and everyone's resting in camp. A frog hops on screen, then much to everyone's horror it starts talking. There were no outright supernatural elements in the game up to this point (some light fantasy like monsters and special moves, but nothing too crazy) so this was really spooky. The frog told me that everyone in the camp would die tonight before horrifically turning itself inside out in a small shower of lights.
It was a really great way to introduce the occult elements of the game. Really effective.
It reminded me a bit of the part in Berserk where they meet Nosferatu Zodd for the first time, and no one can believe it's really happening. I love stuff like that!
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Wed 17 Oct 07:10] |
| karasu99 1010th Post
PSN: robotchris
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| "Re(2):UNDEAD THREAD 2012" , posted Wed 17 Oct 10:08
quote:
THE COLONEL HAS DECREED IT IS TIME FOR HALLOWEEN
I'm not sure that this will qualify as a scary game-related story or if anyone will actually care, but when I was a pretty little kid, the only TV we had was in a room in our house that you could call a sunroom or a Florida room or whatever-- a room that had been built out of the side of our house but that was mostly windows. At this time we didn't have any very close neighbors, with the exception of the churchyard (and graveyard, or course) across the street, so everything outside was just darkness, and I had been indoctrinated into horror movies at an abnormal time in my life, so I was prepared to be scared easily.
Back in those days, it was apparently okay for parents to go out for dinner with friends, leaving 7 or 8 year old me at home, alone, in the dark, with a TV and video game. I don't have an especially notable moment to describe, but for me playing video games has always been linked with the strange paranoia of loneliness and darkness. A few games always remind me of this-- all of them for the fine old Atari 2600, the system I grew up with: Berzerk, Defender, and especially Haunted House.
As a result, to this day I have a particular love for scaring the crap out of myself while playing video games in the dark, alone, despite the fact that my neighbors live about 10 feet away. I'm sure all of this says something telling about me!
www.secret-arts.com
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| Nekros 516th Post
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| "Re(2):Final Fantasy the 13th" , posted Tue 6 Nov 23:46:
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However, the true horror I experienced was when I finally played FF13. Alas, I suppose that the (tragically unused) advertising line of "From the director of FF X-2" should have braced people for this.This was the first FF game I had really tried to play since IX and I am not sure if I will ever pick up a new FF again. Good news! None of those people are really around Square anymore anyway...you could go play some Mistwalker games for "a new FF" and be getting just as honest and genuine a new Final Fantasy, I'd say.
Sure, Mistwalker games have a classic jrpg feel, but none to me has the FF scent. Except Lost Odissey, of course.
FF is a series quite difficult ot understand and love in its entirely, specially as today is. I played most of the games but the only ones I liked were 3 (V, VI and VII). The other episodes have some aspects I find good and other I hate with passion... the two games I absolutely find disgusting were VIII (for the most part: game design, direction, crappy love story...battle system and music are good) and IX (didn't like anything except the ost). So it's not impossible that someone plays a random FF game and find it unbeareable, but beware: every FF is different so pick another one and you might enjoy it.
Side note: FFXIII has its good side, but the game is very bad executed and directed. I think in some other hands it could have been a lot better, especially in story and dungeon design.
[this message was edited by Nekros on Tue 6 Nov 23:48] |
| KTallguy 1452th Post
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| "Re(3):UNDEAD THREAD 2012" , posted Fri 9 Nov 11:00
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As a result, to this day I have a particular love for scaring the crap out of myself while playing video games in the dark, alone, despite the fact that my neighbors live about 10 feet away. I'm sure all of this says something telling about me!
I would play video games all through the night in my PJs too, even as a young adult (and I still do sometimes!). I remember beating Valkyrie Profile and being extremely depressed at getting the B ending. I remember playing Silent Hill 1 and being scared to all hell, to the point where it was difficult for me to actually walk forward.
I had a few rough New Years Eves when I was alone and I just went to the beach by myself and let the chilly wind hit me in the face. Games were a nice companion back in the day (and still sometimes today). Lately I feel empty after completing many newer games. Sometimes I feel like moments of catharsis and satisfaction after finishing games might have been more of a product of adolescence than whether the games' quality was good or not... but then I still felt emotional after beating Crisis Core (sorry...), Policenauts, and even Superbrothers. Just, it takes an extra special game to give me that kind of emotional release now.
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Side note: FFXIII has its good side, but the game is very bad executed and directed. I think in some other hands it could have been a lot better, especially in story and dungeon design.
I tried to approach FFXIII with an open mind. I had the demo and played it to death, I didn't mind the linearity of the first few parts, the story had some interesting potential, and I was in love with the battle system. One part that stands out for me is the first time you get to the crystal forest with Hope and Lightning... I was standing in awe as I panned the camera around examining the place, and I really loved the sister/brother feeling they had with their banter. I thought "wow, this is pretty cool storytelling right here".
But unfortunately the amount you got to explore those locations was so limited, they felt like empty husks. FF12 did it right, with a bunch of interconnected areas that actually had inhabitants and felt "lived in". And similarly, the relationship between the characters ultimately was glossed over for silly character tropes and Snow's complete bullshit personality... like really. Hope was put through some horrible stuff, but he barely grew as a character... and all the other characters were really static.
I think that the part where you got to explore Vanille's old home was interesting but also a wasted opportunity for more storytelling. The town was small and there was very little to examine.
It's a shame that the game was not that good, and from what I've watched and played of XIII-2, for all the interesting systems they added, they wrapped it in a candy shell of eye gouging crap (hint: I hate the art). I still want to play Versus 13 someday.
Play to win... or to have fun too! :)
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| karasu99 1027th Post
PSN: robotchris
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| "Re(4):UNDEAD THREAD 2012" , posted Sat 10 Nov 04:21
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I remember playing Silent Hill 1 and being scared to all hell, to the point where it was difficult for me to actually walk forward.
I had a very similar moment with (of all games!) Fatal Frame, where you're wandering through a run-down Japanese town. There's so many places where you think you've seen something but maybe you didn't that I just ended up freezing up and turned the game off. I don't think I've ever gotten back to it, actually!
quote:
Games were a nice companion back in the day (and still sometimes today). Lately I feel empty after completing many newer games. Sometimes I feel like moments of catharsis and satisfaction after finishing games might have been more of a product of adolescence than whether the games' quality was good or not... but then I still felt emotional after beating Crisis Core (sorry...), Policenauts, and even Superbrothers. Just, it takes an extra special game to give me that kind of emotional release now.
I think it's a mix of both being at a certain place and time and those particularly great characteristics of some games that lead to that kind of emotion. As much as I hate to admit it, games aren't important to me in the same ways as they were at other points in my life (like when I played them instead of going to classes for days at a time). I think if my time to play wasn't broken up so much these days, I'd have more of an emotional response to some games. Plus, I'm a lot more mellow and less high-strung than I was even ten years ago!
I'll just chime in with one tiny thought about Final Fantasy: I played the demo of XIII-2, the first game in the series I had played since my brief attempt at playing X, and while I appreciate some of the game's design considerations (I think Polly and I discussed how strangely appealing Chocolina is despite her awful US VA), I felt like I had been completely set adrift in the game by lackluster level design and completely inscrutable game systems.
Like has been said before, I think that people play Final Fantasy games (and SquareEnix makes the games) for completely different reasons than I did back when I was enjoying them. And that's okay, since there's plenty of other JRPGs to play!
www.secret-arts.com
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| Maou 2392th Post
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| "Re(1):UNDEAD XMAS 2012" , posted Sun 23 Dec 01:07:
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Well so the end of the world thingie didn't happen!
I hear that The World Ends With You, after all, so I guess you weren't ready. Alternately, in other regions, I've heard that It's A Wonderful World, so you know.
I celebrated by getting the third-best score I've ever gotten in Ziggurat...regrettably, or appropriately, it was seconds before the end of the in-game world.
Ktall, you should instate the SF Cafe's latest meeting in my stead. Sorry to miss you, but come to Tokyo and we'll know what to do. Did you know: the Colonel already changed out of his Halloween outfit into his Santa gear this year by the morning of October 28, since October 31 was on an unfestive weekday?
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Sun 23 Dec 01:09] |
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So scary . . . . 
