Amnesia : The Dark Descent

Scratched wrote:

In the case of Amnesia, I am seeing a lot of people saying how great it is (although for me there is the issue that these commenters are, quite literally, invested) , but I can't say the demo sold me, just like the demo for Penumbra didn't sell me either. It took the humble bundle to be 'an offer you couldn't refuse' before I got it.

Well, consider your jimmies kicked then.

Scratched wrote:

In the case of Amnesia, I am seeing a lot of people saying how great it is (although for me there is the issue that these commenters are, quite literally, invested) , but I can't say the demo sold me, just like the demo for Penumbra didn't sell me either. It took the humble bundle to be 'an offer you couldn't refuse' before I got it.

The point about indie whining was more general, not really about Frictional who are just sharing what's going on. Everyone wants to sell more.

I'm not sure the demo was a help or a hinderence - I never finished it, since I had already bought the full game at that point anyway, but from what I played it very much looked like they did that thing where they string together several unrelated sections of the game into one area, and in a game that very much slowly ramps up the tension I think that might be rather damaging to it.

I'll agree with you somewhat Scratched. It's probably a topic for another thread, but I have noticed lot's of comments like "Support Indies!" and "I'll buy it because it's by an Indie". I think a lot of us here appreciate when an Indie developer makes a great game, but that doesn't mean we should still support ANYTHING that is released for $10-20 on the internet because one or a few guys put it together as an "indie" group. I'll definitely agree we still need to support games that are worth supporting, not the idea that we're giving the finger to the big guys.

For me though, even though I own the whole Penumbra series and haven't put more than 4 hours into the first episode, and now this game and have only put an hour into it... I think I'm a wimp. Anyways, they do a good job IMO with the scary horror games, so I'm going to support that.

I picked it up but have only played a little bit so far. The atmosphere is great and I'm already reaching the point where I dread going into the next room or around the next corner because of what I might find there.

I wish the sanity recovery mechanism was a bit clearer because I have sometimes regained sanity and not known what I have done to restore it (and had at least one case where I really wanted to restore it but couldn't figure out how to). Nicely creepy game.

tanstaafl wrote:

I wish the sanity recovery mechanism was a bit clearer because I have sometimes regained sanity and not known what I have done to restore it (and had at least one case where I really wanted to restore it but couldn't figure out how to). Nicely creepy game.

They used to have sanity potions in the pre-release version of the game, but took them out because it was a bit silly. To restore sanity now you need to either (a) make progress through the castle (normally to when you hit a hub area or get through a nasty set piece) or, alternatively, solve a puzzle.

Alright, I'm forcing myself to play more of this tonight. I'll let you guys know how it goes, provided I don't have a heart attack.

Frictional put up an interesting blog post about Amnesia sales and where the company stands now. One word: good.

garion333 wrote:

Frictional put up an interesting blog post about Amnesia sales and where the company stands now. One word: good.

Excellent news!

Interesting read too.

Interesting that they estimate a 83/12/5 Windows/Mac/Linux split.

Hey, cool to see this thread pop back up. I couldn't get it to run smoothly at release due to my 260 GTX freaking out about running at 2048x1152 on a new monitor so I decided to wait rather than scale back the graphics. I recently got a 460 GTX though and remembered to give this a go again yesterday. I'm about an hour in so far and loving it. It's definitely better with quality headphones over speakers.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Hey, cool to see this thread pop back up. I couldn't get it to run smoothly at release due to my 260 GTX freaking out about running at 2048x1152 on a new monitor so I decided to wait rather than scale back the graphics. I recently got a 460 GTX though and remembered to give this a go again yesterday. I'm about an hour in so far and loving it. It's definitely better with quality headphones over speakers.

You've been dipping into the Minecraft server cookie jar, haven't you?

Uh, yeah, so Amnesia. I preordered back in like March and haven't played more than the demo yet. Why? Fall gaming season is why. I'll get to it in January when I'm done with console business.

Blind_Evil wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Hey, cool to see this thread pop back up. I couldn't get it to run smoothly at release due to my 260 GTX freaking out about running at 2048x1152 on a new monitor so I decided to wait rather than scale back the graphics. I recently got a 460 GTX though and remembered to give this a go again yesterday. I'm about an hour in so far and loving it. It's definitely better with quality headphones over speakers.

You've been dipping into the Minecraft server cookie jar, haven't you?

Uh, yeah, so Amnesia. I preordered back in like March and haven't played more than the demo yet. Why? Fall gaming season is why. I'll get to it in January when I'm done with console business.

B-b-b-but Halloween is this month.

I'm normally pretty good with scary games, but this one turns me into a huge wuss. I haven't touched it in over a week because my last play session scared me so much.

$9.99 on steam halloween sale. Reading this thread to see what you guys think.

Metacritic loves the hell out of it.

Stele wrote:

$9.99 on steam halloween sale. Reading this thread to see what you guys think.

Metacritic loves the hell out of it.

I played the demo, got scared the hell out without even watching an evil creature/monster/thingie. After failing to advance much because of the utter unbearable panic I was experiencing, I kinda got bored. Still, love the concept of not being able to fight back, thou the extreme doom-gloom feel made me quit really soon.

Yeah, I love the game a lot, but I keep squealing like a little girl and having to turn it off.

At one point a zombie saw me and I ran away trying to hide in shadows. Once I got behind some boxes I turned around and realized he had followed me. He jumped at me and I slammed the ESC key and hit exit, just to get that image off my screen.

The game needs to exit more quickly.

You do realize that's not quite the intended purpose of the Escape key, right?

Stele wrote:

$9.99 on steam halloween sale. Reading this thread to see what you guys think.

Metacritic loves the hell out of it.

Actually they want $13.99, but it's $9.99 at Impulse.

El-Producto wrote:
Stele wrote:

$9.99 on steam halloween sale. Reading this thread to see what you guys think.

Metacritic loves the hell out of it.

Actually they want $13.99, but it's $9.99 at Impulse.

Whoops, got my sales mixed up. Might be the first time Impulse has beat Steam on price on a game, so of course I was confused.

Started playing the game. Soon stopped because it gave me a nervous glee that made me not want nightmares.

I'm impressed.

Played this with friends over the weekend. Even in a group it is terrifying. Keep playing till you get to the part with the... I don't want to spoil it.

At any rate, this game has the best sound design I have ever seen. More people need to pick this up.

DF7 wrote:

At any rate, this game has the best sound design I have ever seen. More people need to pick this up.

I want some of what you're smoking

Seriously though, it's great to see the old-school Horror Adventure game get some much-needed love. Point and click! Point and click!

I've only played the start so far, but they are too obvious with their sound cues. They seem to be in a rush to try and scare you.

Scratched wrote:

I've only played the start so far, but they are too obvious with their sound cues. They seem to be in a rush to try and scare you.

/sarcasm?

I'm just not sure what to make of it so far. Knowing luck when I get around to playing it properly I'll end up wearing adult nappies for months afterwards, but it hasn't grabbed me so far.

Scratched wrote:

I'm just not sure what to make of it so far. Knowing luck when I get around to playing it properly I'll end up wearing adult nappies for months afterwards, but it hasn't grabbed me so far.

Have you encountered any monsters yet? The game is moderately creepy before that point, but once the monsters show up it gets a LOT scarier.

Scratched wrote:

I'm just not sure what to make of it so far. Knowing luck when I get around to playing it properly I'll end up wearing adult nappies for months afterwards, but it hasn't grabbed me so far.

I completely misread your statement at first, so my bad.

My first encounter with the game was when I was in the middle of the night when I was tired and a little tipsy. From what I understand, the game is trying to put you at a constant unease.

I like that.

I'm lucky enough to have a rampant imagination that tends to lead to the worst things that can happen. When a door slowly creaks open as I turn a corner I get nervous, when I see nothing inside that room, I spin around like something is going to attack me from behind. The few fake-outs the game has thrown at me just makes me more nervous and I cry for my mommy.

The ten or so minutes I played are hitting a lot of the nerves that the underground portions of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. did, which gives me an instant appreciation for it. I'm surprised your experience gave you the opposite effect.

*bump*

Meant to try out Amnesia earlier, but never got around to doing so. I had the game on my plate and evaluate it for a certain competition though. That said, after playing it for a bit, I went straight to Frictional's website and bought it. Best suspense game I've played since Eternal Darkness. It looks fine, but the sound design is really what makes the experience. Just superb.

Spunior wrote:

Best suspense game I've played since Eternal Darkness.

I always get a pleasant tingle whenever I hear "Eternal Darkness", since I enjoyed the crap out of that game and loved to mention it when folks talked about the gamecube being "for babies only."

Ahh...

Err, actually I downloaded the demo and forgot to try it out. I shall rectify this oversight promptly.