If you play a game long enough you will get used to it and be less "scared" when playing it. Great example with system shock 2 where I was frankly scared to death in the beginning taking ages to make progress, but 2 days later I simple just started to rush. Thats why I never "finished" the game.
<!--QuoteBegin-Umbraed Monkey+Mar 29 2004, 03:07 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Umbraed Monkey @ Mar 29 2004, 03:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Yea, and eclipse used to have some nice pitch black places.
Darker maps and greater amount of alien infestation is basically the only difference in atmosphere between now and 'back then'. Oh, and the lack of minimap probably helped too...
edit: by more infestation, I mean more alien buildings everywhere, not the mapper infestations. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Scary darkspots are neat, but lose their novelty awefully quick
uuuusually wen u do things over and over u get use to it... right ? playing ns for the first time walking throo maintainance passage on the way to ventilation hive gets phreeky... same as with half life... nothing happens.... still nothing happens and something eats u from an angle. u cant really make ns much more scary than it really is, the majority of us playing it are use to the models and maps... perhaps a small map with eary noises coming out of vents and shtuf could put a lil adrenaline through your vains?
<!--QuoteBegin-Forlorn+Mar 29 2004, 04:14 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Forlorn @ Mar 29 2004, 04:14 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Guys if you watch the same horror movie 5 times in a row is it still scary by the 5th time? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> After watching waterworld tons of times, each and every viewing will leave me shriveling in fear ... thats one movie that has gotten much scarier with repeat viewings.
<!--QuoteBegin-Nomble+Apr 9 2004, 06:07 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Nomble @ Apr 9 2004, 06:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> If you play a game long enough you will get used to it and be less "scared" when playing it. Great example with system shock 2 where I was frankly scared to death in the beginning taking ages to make progress, but 2 days later I simple just started to rush. Thats why I never "finished" the game. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> SS2 was a great game for atmosphere for almost 90% of the game. The last little bit got a bit silly, but still forgivable. The Many was a great concept for a enemy, and damn creepy.
"We are, we are, we are..."
If you took your time in that game, and read each datapad you picked up, there was a hell of a lot of story. I particularly found the whole Bio/Greenhouse level with the Midwives horrifying/creepy.
That however was a single player game. Most of the elements that built great atmosphere can't be used in a multiplayer game. The most you have to rely on are the maps themselves, ambient sound/music, and the playstyle.
Some maps like the old Bast and Caged have excellent built in abience, while others like Veil leave something to be desired.
Speaking of ambient music, I think the best game I've played in that respect would be the original Alien Vs. Predator. All the music was on a seperate MP3 disk, that you ran in your tray with the game. It was all random, based on what race you were playing. However despite its randomness, the music always felt spot on, and added a good 10 points to the creep me out factor to that game. Its sucessor AVP 2 failed in that respect. While the music was still good, the had the tracks cued to different events. Every time an enemy was around or approaching, the muisc would rise up, effectively giving you an early warning. It was very cinematic, but I found the music was more effect at telling me when the aliens were coming that my motion tracking <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Aliens poppin' out from different angles.. in dark places... or when you're weak and defenseless against impossible odds that you just can't see - that is what creates suspense. IMO a single marine is far too unsusceptible to aliens. People are scared of losing their lives. People start conjuring images in the dark due to lack of vision, hence they <i>speculate</i> and this creates fear. So in conclusion, we want DARKNESS and weaker, individual marines (or faster moving skulks) & definitely new alien models that actually LOOK scary. Yeah, I'm talkin' especially about the skulk.
First time I played NS back in 1.04 it was definatly scary, I played bast, where that water tunnel comes up near Refinery hive, A fade passed right over me on the walkway as I hid in the water. Scared the **** out of me.
After playing the game so much it just gets less scary.
Comments
Darker maps and greater amount of alien infestation is basically the only difference in atmosphere between now and 'back then'. Oh, and the lack of minimap probably helped too...
edit: by more infestation, I mean more alien buildings everywhere, not the mapper infestations. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Scary darkspots are neat, but lose their novelty awefully quick
playing ns for the first time walking throo maintainance passage on the way to ventilation hive gets phreeky... same as with half life... nothing happens.... still nothing happens and something eats u from an angle. u cant really make ns much more scary than it really is, the majority of us playing it are use to the models and maps... perhaps a small map with eary noises coming out of vents and shtuf could put a lil adrenaline through your vains?
<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
After watching waterworld tons of times, each and every viewing will leave me shriveling in fear ... thats one movie that has gotten much scarier with repeat viewings.
SS2 was a great game for atmosphere for almost 90% of the game. The last little bit got a bit silly, but still forgivable. The Many was a great concept for a enemy, and damn creepy.
"We are, we are, we are..."
If you took your time in that game, and read each datapad you picked up, there was a hell of a lot of story. I particularly found the whole Bio/Greenhouse level with the Midwives horrifying/creepy.
That however was a single player game. Most of the elements that built great atmosphere can't be used in a multiplayer game. The most you have to rely on are the maps themselves, ambient sound/music, and the playstyle.
Some maps like the old Bast and Caged have excellent built in abience, while others like Veil leave something to be desired.
Speaking of ambient music, I think the best game I've played in that respect would be the original Alien Vs. Predator. All the music was on a seperate MP3 disk, that you ran in your tray with the game. It was all random, based on what race you were playing. However despite its randomness, the music always felt spot on, and added a good 10 points to the creep me out factor to that game. Its sucessor AVP 2 failed in that respect. While the music was still good, the had the tracks cued to different events. Every time an enemy was around or approaching, the muisc would rise up, effectively giving you an early warning. It was very cinematic, but I found the music was more effect at telling me when the aliens were coming that my motion tracking <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
why arnt the aliens scared?
After playing the game so much it just gets less scary.