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[crap monkey]

This is just a result of thechineseroom not being interested in, like, actually making games. I knew this would likely happen with Amnesia : aMfP, but I held out hope that the mechanics already existing -- as well as the technology -- would inspire them to follow through with actually keeping it an Amnesia game and not distilling it into an Amnesia "experience."

Whatever. I still haven't played it so I can't judge the final product, but if they fucked this up royally they can kiss a sale of Rapture goodbye. I'm also going to be angry, just like how I was angry over Dear Esther being a shit-for-brains game.

Why are you angry over Dear Esther? I can understand if you're angry over Machine for Pigs, since it's a sequel to a game that, I presume, you loved, and that significantly changing the game could anger you. But Dear Esther, afaik, was an original title. Why would you be mad over how they chose to create a game using their own ideas and IP, in such a way?

 

[Cramoss]

Guess I'm going to post my rview in here as well.

It's a 4 out of 7: http://nerdsontherocks.com/amnesia-machine-pigs-review

I was pretty disappointed with it. The game has some cardinal design flaws which make the experience nowhere near as scary as the first game. Once you realize that after the first hour of play time you will no longer care about anything that is going to happen. Nothing will really scare you. This game is closer to Dear Esther than it is to the first Amnesia.

Goddammit.

The bolded part was my main worry when I heard they were co developing with the chineese room.

 

[Spoo]

Why are you angry over Dear Esther? I can understand if you're angry over Machine for Pigs, since it's a sequel to a game that, I presume, you loved, and that significantly changing the game could anger you. But Dear Esther, afaik, was an original title. Why would you be mad over how they chose to create a game using their own ideas and IP, in such a way?

Fair question. Mostly because I overpaid for it. Was (and is) worth about 5 or 6 bucks. I think I paid in between 15 and 20, for an hour and a half (barely) of walking and nothing else. It seems like all thechineseroom likes to do is make barely interactive stories; that's fine if you're pushing War and Peace I guess, but was Dear Esther didn't have much in that department.

Anyway, I did love Amnesia, but I was fully prepared to have thechineseroom mess with the gameplay -- I just didn't think they would ever mess with it so much. I mean, seriously, the engineering effort to take out all of that interactivity... how is that anything but the strangest form of lazy (strip gameplay so you don't need to worry about it)?

 

[Zeliard]

People thought the sanity effects in Amnesia were a substantial gameplay element? By Frictional's own admission, they were relegated to mostly a visual role.

I'll miss the sanity mechanic for its great Lovecraftian flavor, in not being able to stare at the monsters for fear of going mad. Being stuck in some dark room with a prowling creature and not even being able to look at the thing - largely limited instead to staring at a wall or down at the floor, enfeebled - is an unusual experience in games. It's one thing not to want to stare at these things because they're creepy and you're that caught up in the experience, but it's another for the game to directly punish you for it on top of that.

It added quite a bit to the general intensity, and I thought sanity was solid enough strictly as a gameplay feature, working well in concert with the light/dark system and puzzle-solving in requiring that the player properly balance out these different, often conflicting elements.

It seems that the sequel contains more of a traditional stealth-like experience, where you generally have an idea of where the monsters are and have to actively try to avoid them:

And whereas Dark Descent most often forced you to run and hide, most of Machine for Pigs’ malignant horrors will have to be actively circumvented. This serves to build tension, but at the same time, takes some of the mystery out of the equation. In the majority of encounters, you will know where the enemies are, and they won’t know where you are.

I'm sure it will be a fine experience taken on its own, if a different one. I'm interested in what they've done as far as narrative and sound design.

 

[Xater]

It seems that the sequel contains more of a traditional stealth-like experience, where you generally have an idea of where the monsters are and have to actively try to avoid them:

I kinda never used stealth. I just ran through the environments with enemies. These encounters are few and far between and usual don't involve more than finding the right way.

 

[Easy_D]

So is this gonna turn out to become some "Let's all jump aboard the 'Blame TCR' bandwagon!" topic? Because last I checked, Frictional were heavily involved and had the final say when it came to pretty much every decision TCR made.

 

[Soyongdori]

My body is ready, my gut is not.

 

[JBourne]

I'll miss the sanity mechanic for its great Lovecraftian flavor, in not being able to stare at the monsters for fear of going mad. Being stuck in some dark room with a prowling creature and not even being able to look at the thing - largely limited instead to staring at a wall or down at the floor, enfeebled - is an unusual experience in games. It's one thing not to want to stare at these things because they're creepy and you're that caught up in the experience, but it's another for the game to directly punish you for it on top of that.

This is a big issue I have with Outlast, and why I can't even force myself to be scared when I play it. It'll make me jump with the occasional "BOO" moment, but being able to see your enemies up close numerous times really takes away their ability to intimidate.

 

[Rezbit]

This is not sounding like what I wanted, at all :\

 

[TheExodu5]

For me the ability to get a game over doesn't scare me...I find it immersion breaking in an experience like this. I realize this may not make any sense, but once I was killed by the invisible monster in TDD, he stopped being scary.

 

[Blizzard]

For me the ability to get a game over doesn't scare me...I find it immersion breaking in an experience like this. I realize this may not make any sense, but once I was killed by the invisible monster in TDD, he stopped being scary.

I hate scary games, but I think this may be generally true. People are afraid of what might happen. In one of the Penumbra games I was being chased by

Spoiler

a wolf or something

, but once I actually stopped to see what it would do when it caught me, I was like oh, I just get eaten, game over. It's not as bad afterwards -- it becomes a known.

 

[Jac_Solar]

I'll miss the sanity mechanic for its great Lovecraftian flavor, in not being able to stare at the monsters for fear of going mad. Being stuck in some dark room with a prowling creature and not even being able to look at the thing - largely limited instead to staring at a wall or down at the floor, enfeebled - is an unusual experience in games. It's one thing not to want to stare at these things because they're creepy and you're that caught up in the experience, but it's another for the game to directly punish you for it on top of that..

I think that's a significant contributor to the horror of Amnesia -- the game sort of acknowledges that the creatures are terrible, or says that the creatures are terrible, and is constantly reminding you of it.

 

[EGM1966]

For me the ability to get a game over doesn't scare me...I find it immersion breaking in an experience like this. I realize this may not make any sense, but once I was killed by the invisible monster in TDD, he stopped being scary.

Good point - that's probably the biggest issue with most horror videogames. When I play something like Amnesia or Outlast or Silent Hill I really try and avoid death at all costs and forget that all that'll happen will be a checkpoint respawn because once you let that knowledge take hold there's really nothing to fear at all.

I reckon one of these games needs to find a way to avoid killing you while nonetheless keeping you tense and fearful - not an easy ask I know but I'd love to see it tried.

 

[Xero]

Good point - that's probably the biggest issue with most horror videogames. When I play something like Amnesia or Outlast or Silent Hill I really try and avoid death at all costs and forget that all that'll happen will be a checkpoint respawn because once you let that knowledge take hold there's really nothing to fear at all.

I reckon one of these games needs to find a way to avoid killing you while nonetheless keeping you tense and fearful - not an easy ask I know but I'd love to see it tried.

Thats true of all horror media. You can always stop reading/watching whatever it is too.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Yeah its a bit disappointing to hear all this news....but at the same time i feel that if the story is actually good and the ambiance suitably spooky, then thats pretty much all i look for anyway from a lot of adventure games. Seems like the quality might be really high, but the established formula set by Amnesia to scare the shit out of everyone set false anticipation. It doesnt help their advertising claimed this to be the scariest game ever. After playing Outlast i knew this would have its work cut out.

 

[Soyongdori]

Main complain about the first Amnesia's story is that there are so many things just left unexplained at the end and there are just too much ambiguity regarding so many things, such as Alexander and the Darkness. At least, the story in Machine for Pigs is told much clear and the story itself is so much better.

 

[Coldsnap]

I think maybe I would like this game better than Dark Descent. Only played about 3 hours of DD and didn't like the sanity effects and story was all over the place and had me confused.

 

[TheExodu5]

I reckon one of these games needs to find a way to avoid killing you while nonetheless keeping you tense and fearful - not an easy ask I know but I'd love to see it tried.

Penumbra Black Plague was just that for me.