ORIG'S PROFILE

author=VerifyedRasta link=topic=2919.msg56745#msg56745 date=1232298687

author=Mitsuhide_The_Vagrant link=topic=2919.msg56689#msg56689 date=1232256231
What would it take to make an RM game scary?

Not using a DBS is one step in the right direction.
Seriously, all battles should not be Turn-based. The only real way to give someone a scare on an RM game, is to have Real Time battle systems, where things pop out of nowhere.

What about Sweet Home? That game is a turn-based horror RPG on the NES and still manages to be creepy. And The Longing Ribbon? That had a sweet turnbased CBS (not to mention used RTP graphics) and still scared the crap out of me.

Resident Evil isn't very "scary" by my definition, per se. Rather, it's sort of... stressful. Not to say actually stressful, but trying to keep yourself alive with limited supplies while a million zombies are trying to eat you alive. It's not fun, nor is it much scary. To quote H.P. Lovecraft (because I'm cool like that) "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown..." Knowing what you're up against really does bog down on the scares.

Silent Hill isn't really scary for its monsters or combat, it's scary for its atmosphere. Take the school in the first game, for example. There was one point where you were in a locker room and one of the lockers is shaking. There's got to be something in there, right? Well, you open it, and there's nothing. You try walking out of the room and OGMAEPOGEOIGHA!!!!! a monster jumps out of another locker, completely unexpected. The other reason Silent Hill is so scary is due to its plotlines. I could go more in depth but I don't really want to spoil anything. And I'm not sure if I could do them justice by describing them here.

So there are two types of horror, "Resident Evil" HOLYSHITZOMBIESHEADSHOT horror, where stress is used as a tool to induce fear, or "Silent Hill" WTFISGOINGONSHIT horror, wherein ordinary people are thrown into extraordinary situations and their psychological well being is put to the test. In layman's terms, the former is gameplay and the latter is plot. I'm a fan of the Silent Hill category personally, but there are lots of other people out there who like the Resident Evil kind. Really, you just got to decide on your audience and go from there.

The only exception I can think of to these rules is Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, which excels (at least in my opinion, I'm more than sure others will disagree) in both gameplay and plot. If I may be so bold I'd also like to include Call of Cthulhu to this category.

(btw I didn't get any sleep last night so I'm not sure if this all makes sense. I think I know what I'm talking about, though. <_<)

Lifetime Piling Up
Talking Heads
Sand in the Vaseline

There are not enough words in any language that has ever existed ever to describe my passion for the talking heads.

I think I'm going to make the rest of my maps from now on as panoramas, so I can edit in little details.


(In case she got confused)



Also, since those who played the demo suggested it, the very first battle. It's comes in, like, ten seconds after the demo ends. >_>



Oh yeah, and I got a bunch of Silent Hill and other horror OSTs, so hopefully my sound effects and music won't be exactly like Backstage.

Neat! I've always liked your games. Onyx is probably my favorite RM game all together. Remember the first time I played it I was like 13 and even more hopelessly cutesy romantic than I am today, so when Jade and Chad had sex (or, rather, assumed that they did) I was immediately appalled. To be young and easily offended... ._.

XD Playing Onyx 2 right now, too.

Also your games are so aggravating about an hour into each of them I go into the editor and change all the enemies to 1 HP. <_<

Downloading...

Wondering what wang-chun is, and why everyone is doing it tonight.