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Amnesia: The Dark Descent |OT|

W

wormstrangler

Banned
Ben2749 said:
I just played the demo, and I got to the part where you have to try and stay out of the water. I died twice because the controls and camera are terrible for making precise jumps onto tiny crates. It's also not helped by the fact that some of the crates are too far apart to jump, so you have to go into the water briefly, and hope you aren't killed. Oh, and you have to do this quickly, because you need to get through a door on time.

Sorry, but if this is the experience I'm confronted with only 10 minutes into the demo, I've lost all interest. I can't remember the last time I had to fight the controls and mechanics of a game so much.
Click to expand...

It's really not that hard jumping in first person but maybe I find it easier having played a lot of toruk back in the day.

Try throwing some body parts around and see what happens.
 
K

KiKaL

Member
Ben2749 said:
I just played the demo, and I got to the part where you have to try and stay out of the water. I died twice because the controls and camera are terrible for making precise jumps onto tiny crates. It's also not helped by the fact that some of the crates are too far apart to jump, so you have to go into the water briefly, and hope you aren't killed. Oh, and you have to do this quickly, because you need to get through a door on time.

Sorry, but if this is the experience I'm confronted with only 10 minutes into the demo, I've lost all interest. I can't remember the last time I had to fight the controls and mechanics of a game so much.
Click to expand...


I actually felt the same thing after playing the demo and it stopped me from purchasing the game originally. Then I ended up getting it anyways because I wanted a good scary game back in October. The game is a MUCH better experience then the demo. I agree with you that the controls make that section very difficult but it really only happens in that section. That section is in the game but later on and when I got to it then I found it much easier. I think that is because I had gotten use to the controls.
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
The water part is particularly fiddly. Most of the game isn't like that! Also, maybe you have a mouse that tends to jump around — no joke, clean your IR or laser lens, clean your mouse surface, remove dirt from the plastic bumper thingies. You want to have a good, clean mouse for games like this. It makes a huge difference.

Besides, most FPS games are much more fiddly and prone to tiny differences in input determining the difference between loss and win.
 
T

theinfinityissue

Member
You get way better at the water part. I've played through the game a number of times at this point, and it's astounding how much I've improved there. I must have died a dozen times the first time through, and now I barely even touch the water, much less get hit. I've been trying to get a deathless run, but I screw up in the prison every damn time.

Now, if you want to have an experience with some fiddly Amnesia controls, get the wax cylinder in Justine.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Finally wrapped it up tonight.

Wow. What a fucking game.

The sound design plays a big part. There is always a thick layer of dread and danger, and when you know there really is something evil plodding towards you it only justifies your paranoia. There are a few moments when it's just down right dreadful, like
the study room and the dog barking, it was so disturbing
. The atmosphere is always heavy and you never feel safe.

On top of the game being pants shittingly scary, it also controls perfectly with KB/M, and the physics were great. Frantically running into a room and throwing objects against a door feels perfectly natural, despite the panic. Or running into a dresser and slamming the door shut. It feels so natural, even when you fuck up and pay for it. It also looks and sounds amazing, especially for a supposed budget game.

Anyways, the game is amazing and terrifying and if you have a capable PC and you don't have a heart problem, you have to play this game. It was absolutely terrifying at times, it puts any other so-called survival horror game to shame. So good.

The Amnesia slot in my line up with be replace with Penumbra. Seems it plays the same, but I look forward the ride.
 
S

soco

Member
Ben2749 said:
I just played the demo, and I got to the part where you have to try and stay out of the water. I died twice because the controls and camera are terrible for making precise jumps onto tiny crates. It's also not helped by the fact that some of the crates are too far apart to jump, so you have to go into the water briefly, and hope you aren't killed. Oh, and you have to do this quickly, because you need to get through a door on time.

Sorry, but if this is the experience I'm confronted with only 10 minutes into the demo, I've lost all interest. I can't remember the last time I had to fight the controls and mechanics of a game so much.
Click to expand...

i think that's one of the more annoying points in the game, but you quickly learn a few things.

a) you can move a lot of crates. so if you really want to spend time, you can take two crates and "walk" your way from one place to another without jumping.
b) you don't really need to jump a whole lot outside of the very beginning as you basically just throw some dead limbs in the water to distract the monster and then run. there's the tiny room at the end, but if you close the door, you should generally be good to find what you need and leave. it's also small enough that you can walk the crates if need be.
c) if you die, the game keeps knocking down the difficulty by removing the monster from certain points. (dunno if that's present in the demo, but i'd imagine it is)
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
I finally finished this.

I have to say, the second half of the game really doesn't compare to the first. Once you learn
the 'behaviour' of the monsters (how they spawn, and 'de-spawn'; how they always groan to announce themselves) and see one close up, they lose all their scariness and become pretty comical
. The atmosphere really suffers in the second half, too (rote gothic bullshit), I could swear the puzzles become simpler (and they're pretty basic throughout the game; the only one I was ever 'stuck' on was
breaking the pipe in the sewer by wiggling it, smh
), and you're left with one or two 'shocks' or 'disturbing' sequences that don't really register. I guess I just got inured to it.

But then 'Frictional Games are:' comes up at the end, and it's just five guys, and that's pretty fucking impressive. The first few hours were probably the most unnerving I have spent in a videogame world (and
the invisible water monster chase
probably the single most scary event I've ever played through [edit: see below]).

I feel like with a slightly bigger budget/team, a few more ideas and variations on terror, and a modern real-world setting (which would be much closer to home than some stock fantasy castle), this would have stopped my heart.

But it's still one of the best games I played in 2010.

8/10


(Edit: the first Condemned, for all its flaws, remains the most consistently scary game I have ever played, and
'dead' guy in the school locker
is still the most a 'jump' scare has ever got me.)
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
so i just beat it... and like... i'm feeling really like the little kid pointing out that the emperor is naked. i know that fear is subjective, and i'm not questioning everyone that was terrified by this, but i've played numerous games that were much scarier, and frankly, this one barely sent a chill up my spine.

why am i supposed to be scared of these monsters? they hit you a couple of times and... well you don't even die. you just get teleported into another room, and occasionally that room will be slightly further ahead, or where you need to go.

so that's actually HELPFUL. 'gee i don't know where to go, i'll let a monster kill me and find out!'.

i can't be scared of something that doesn't hinder my progress at all.

were you scared just because it was dark? the water bit just frustrated me.

cellar spoilers:
so, i got killed once by the thing in the water. that was at the very beginning when there was really no way of knowing that it was something that could actually kill you.

when a game kills me with something that i wasn't warned about, that's just annoying.

and what is the climax of this fright fest? what is the denounemont sure to leave you pulling your hair out of your head and crawling off to bed afraid of what the nightmares might bring?

you push over some sticks, put a head in a portal or do nothing. all beat the game even if they get you different endings.

sure, it's the 'bad' ending, but this is the first final challenge in a game i've come across that you can beat by doing NOTHING. what's remotely scary about that?

terrible terrible voice acting...

the engine was okay, and yes, it's impressive for a small team and i did like most of the puzzle design... but scary? seriously? people were scared by this that had played other horror games?

it did nothing for me fear wise. not a goddamn thing.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
I can only say it's literally the only game I've played to ever even remotely scare me.

What are these countless other scarier games so that I may immediately go seek them out (seriously, I want to)? The early Silent Hills were engaging and well-written but they couldn't cut it. Ditto Fatal Frame. Condemned 1 was awesome but it wasn't particularly scary to me, especially with the confrontational style of gameplay.

Amnesia just hit the mark on every level - how helpless you are, the smoothly balanced light/dark mechanic, the sound design, the visuals. And the tactile way you interact with the environment (inherited from Penumbra) keeps you grounded to the world. The fact that you have to avoid the monsters - or really any other animated thing at all - always keeps you on guard, staring intently at otherwise static surfaces and paths for the slight glimpse of something moving.

Strap on a pair of headphones, play in the dark, and you feel like you're in that castle. Everything involving what people commonly refer to as immersion or atmosphere, the devs here nailed beautifully with a budget and team that's dwarfed by mainstream games.
 
T

To Far Away Times

Member
I was handling the game okay until the
ghost in the water
part which scared the shit out of me. Taking a breather now, gonna jump back in soon. This game is so good.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
Zeliard said:
I can only say it's literally the only game I've played to ever even remotely scare me.

What are these countless other scarier games so that I may immediately go seek them out (seriously, I want to)? The early Silent Hills were engaging and well-written but they couldn't cut it. Ditto Fatal Frame. Condemned 1 was awesome but it wasn't particularly scary to me, especially with the confrontational style of gameplay.

Amnesia just hit the mark on every level - how helpless you are, the smoothly balanced light/dark mechanic, the sound design, the visuals. And the tactile way you interact with the environment (inherited from Penumbra) keeps you grounded to the world. The fact that you have to avoid the monsters - or really any other animated thing at all - always keeps you on guard, staring intently at otherwise static surfaces and paths for the slight glimpse of something moving.

Strap on a pair of headphones, play in the dark, and you feel like you're in that castle. Everything involving what people commonly refer to as immersion or atmosphere, the devs here nailed beautifully with a budget and team that's dwarfed by mainstream games.
Click to expand...
i did play in the dark with headphones. like i say a big problem i have with it is that you really *don't* need to avoid the monsters. they don't so much kill you as teleport you somewhere, and that somewhere is occasionally actually where you wanted to go anyway.

it was a crippling flaw for me. if the monsters did something horrible to me when they caught me, if there was an actual penalty for failure then i may have been afraid of them and crept around slowly and wigged out whenever i saw one, but it was too easy to tell from the music when one was around.

i never really struggled with the sanity aspect either. and like i said, being caught by the monsters was a minor inconvenience at absolute worst. no inconvenience at all regularly, and helpful occasionally, so even when my sanity was low and i was more easily spotted, it didn't really bother me.

i found Shattered Memories scarier. i found Clive Barker's Undying MANY times scarier. hell i found Silent Hill 2 scarier, and i rag on that for not being scary other than pyramid head.

like i said, i get that fear is subjective and that what i find scary is different to what other people may find scary, but you strip away the scaryness from Amnesia (or you're seemingly immune to it) and there isn't really much left to praise.

it's not bad or anything but i found it rather meh. i kept playing to see when it would get scary, and then it ended with the lamest final encounter i can remember.

and yes, i did prefer Justine.
 
P

perryfarrell

Member
I've been walkin around in this game for 2 hours now, going from the Laboratory to the Archives to the Entrance hall, lighting up torches along the way, opening drawers, seeing a scary apparition once in a while.

Is this some type of maze where you have to click on something unexpected, or fetch a bunch of stuff without it being clear what and where you get this? These are not puzzles, I'm not enjoying it one bit.

Atmosphere is pretty good tho.
 
R

ROBOKITTYZILLA

Member
I finally decided to sit down and play this tonight. I cut all the lights off and connected the Astro A40s for maximum impact. I just finished the water section and all I have to say is fuck this game. Seriously.

*curls up into the fetal position and rocks back and forth in the corner *
 
S

Secks4Food

Member
To Far Away Times said:
I was handling the game okay until the
ghost in the water
part which scared the shit out of me. Taking a breather now, gonna jump back in soon. This game is so good.
Click to expand...

This is me right here, I'm just stranded on top of a box in a hallway. It's just been *load game*...*splish splash*--"NOPE"...*exit to desktop* every time I've tried to get back into it...time to man up.
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
plagiarize said:
but you strip away the scaryness from Amnesia (or you're seemingly immune to it) and there isn't really much left to praise.
Click to expand...

Not that you're completely wrong but this is a silly thing to say. Its like saying "Take the fighting out of Street Fighter and there's not much left to praise" or "Take the driving out of Grand Tourismo and there's not much left to praise"

It sucks that the game didn't scare you but... scaring you is the games main goal. It makes sense it doesn't hold up that well if its main purpose fails for you.
 
K

Kalnos

Banned
Oh hey a free demo on Steam, why not.

Finally, a hallway that's light and looks welcoming. Bright white screen.... Dark hallway with no exit and underwater. Nope. Fuck you, game.
 
S

Skirn

Member
Does the retail version have any nasty DRM?

...and god damn is the cover for the retail version horrid or what? What were they thinking?!
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Steam sale new purchase here. How the hell I played the game for two hours just now (started around midnight) is beyond me. Actually found myself holding my breath at times...so I guess i'm really into the game now lol. Not sure if it uses 5.1 surround sound though (didnt see any options for it) so I guess I should start playing with a headset?

Not to mention I keep thinking i'm seeing something down the hallway...

EDIT: Stopped after finally finding the wine cellar key and playing alchemist.
 
D

Dascu

Member
Anastacio said:
If I buy this on Steam, will it support a 360 controller?
Click to expand...
It does not have controller support. Controls are somewhat designed around mouse+keyboard anyway.

If you're not sure if you'd like the controls (I'm not a fan of mouse+keyboard controls either in games that aren't shooters), give the demo a try.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Anastacio said:
If I buy this on Steam, will it support a 360 controller?
Click to expand...

Maybe...but it seems really well built for the mouse, at least with regular puzzles/interaction. For example, I was thinking about how to open a glass case, saw a random box in the corner, picked it up and slammed it down as hard as I could on the case.

Shattered and I was on my way. It really pulls you into the game when you use the default controls.
 
A

Artanisix

Member
Teknoman said:
Steam sale new purchase here. How the hell I played the game for two hours just now (started around midnight) is beyond me. Actually found myself holding my breath at times...so I guess i'm really into the game now lol. Not sure if it uses 5.1 surround sound though (didnt see any options for it) so I guess I should start playing with a headset?
Click to expand...


Supports 5.1, I play with it and it is goddamn freaky. Can't get very far myself.
 
IsayFever

IsayFever

Member
Got the game during the steam sale and oh my god. I played the game at like 1-4am with all the lights out and I haven't slept yet a full 24hrs later. Shit is startling!
 
E

elseanio

Member
FJ0372 said:
Don't blame you, don't blame you at all. I'm too scared to even play, I watch others play it though haha.
Click to expand...

It's so silly. I play the game overly cautious, which makes things just 10 times worse when I encounter anything :( I'm also at a point where I'm out of oil and can't face finding more in the dark to progress.

I have played for 5 hours.. the most out my friends list. Everyone is around 1 hour-ish,
probably when the encounter their first monster thing.
 
G

gdt

Member
I've had this game for awhile, and I want to keep making progress, can't someone help me out?

I'm stuck on the part where
you have to remove the red meaty stuff by using a chemical mixture (I guess?). Pretty much the first-ish puzzle in the game.
 
D

Divius

Member
Alright, so I'm playing this and it's scaring me shitless. I'm now at the
elevator
part where you need to go into the
storage to get some rods or w/e
. Having skimped through a few Let's Play-video's, I know there just might be some shit about to go down. Hold me, gaf. ;_;

Anyway, I am loving the game. It looks and plays great and the music/sounddesign is amazing. Did I mention it's scary as fuck?
 
C

Cudder

Member
I'm glad people are playing this game still. I bought it when it released for Mac last year but eventually stopped playing it about halfway through. I was not prepared for how scary this game was. I need to get back into it. I'll play it once I beat BioShock lol.

And I just downloaded the OST yesterday night, it's great. More money in Frictional Games pockets is good in my book. Hopefully they can maybe experiment with an XBLA/PSN game next?
 
C

cbox

Member
Watched my friends play Justine, it was their first experience and I made sure to keep all the details out. Both of them bought amnesia during the steam sale.

Mission complete.
 
T

Treemonkeys

Member
Well I just finished this (thank you steam sale), what an interesting and unique game. Now I have Justine to play through and I'll probably be buying Penumbra soon, though I still have a few more games I need to finish first. I have some minor complaints about the game, but everything merged together so well to create the atmosphere I doubt I'm smart enough to actually know how to improve on it.

The I wish there were more horror type games like this, they only ones I have played are Call of Cthulhu and now this, and I loved them both. Maybe there are others I have missed out on? Amnesia was far more polished while CoC was more ambitious - I guess I would like to see what these guys could do with a bigger budget and a bigger team - it's too bad so many big studios are all regurgitating similar stuff right now.
 
L

Laurentius

Member
Keep trying to play, but then get too scared after a few minutes and shut it off...

Even though I know the "insanity" thing has been done before, I really like how it's played out here. Where if you just hide in the dark for too long you very quickly lose your sanity -- the push to keep moving is always there, when all you want to do is cower in the corner.

Is Penumbra as scary as Amnesia?
 
Huevos de Oro

Huevos de Oro

Member
I have played this damn game exactly two times. Almost one hour and a half. I just gained access to
the Refinery.
. I have the feeling even though I'm jumpy and nervous at all times, I haven't seen ANYTHING yet.

I'm playing it at night. I fear what tonight will bring.
 
A

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
I just running the demo today on my CrapTop, got this message:

2zsr421.png


I understand that I'm getting this message because my video card is trash, is there anything that I can do to get the game to run? Someone mentioned in another thread about possibly downloading drivers or something. I have no idea, I'm an idiot on PC gaming. My laptop is about a year old. On the "can you run it?" website I passed everything except the video card test.

Any help? I'd LOVE to play this game and I don't want to have to purchase a computer to play it. Really sad, since I doubt this game will ever make it to PSN or XBLA.

Here's what the error log said:
Version 1.10
-------- THE HPL ENGINE LOG ------------
Engine build ID 20100818114615

Creating Engine Modules
--------------------------------------------------------
Creating graphics module
Creating system module
Creating resource module
Creating input module
Creating sound module
Creating physics module
Creating ai module
Creating gui module
Creating generate module
Creating haptic module
Creating scene module
--------------------------------------------------------

Initializing Resources Module
--------------------------------------------------------
Creating loader handlers
Creating resource managers
Adding loaders to handlers
--------------------------------------------------------

Initializing Graphics Module
--------------------------------------------------------
Init lowlevel graphics: 1024x768 bpp:32 fs:1 ms:0 gpufmt:2 cap:'Amnesia - The Dark Descent - Loading...' pos:(-1x-1)
Setting video mode: 1024 x 768 - 32 bpp
Init Glew...OK
Setting up OpenGL
Vendor: Intel
Renderer: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Version: 2.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.1883
Max texture image units: 16
Max texture coord units: 8
Max user clip planes: 6
Two sided stencil: 1
Vertex Buffer Object: 1
Anisotropic filtering: 1
Max Anisotropic degree: 2
Multisampling: 1
Texture compression: 1
Texture compression S3TC: 1
Auto generate MipMaps: 1
Render to texture: 1
Max draw buffers: 7
Max color render targets: 7
Packed depth-stencil: 0
Texture float: 1
GLSL Version: 1.20 - Intel Build 8.15.10.1883
ShaderModel 2: 1
ShaderModel 3: 1
ShaderModel 4: 0
OGL ATIFragmentShader: 0
Setting up G-Bugger: type: 0 texturenum: 3
ERROR: Drivers does not support packed depth and stencil!
ERROR: Drivers does not support packed depth and stencil!
ERROR: Frame buffer 'Deferred_GBuffer_Depth' is not complete! Missing attachments!
ERROR: Could not create frame buffer with only depth for Deferred renderer type: 0!
FATAL ERROR: Renderer #0 could not be initialized! Make sure your graphic card drivers are up to date. Check log file for more information.
Click to expand...
 
A

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
The_Player said:
http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-3754.html
Click to expand...

Awesome, just what I was looking for. Thanks!

EDIT: Well I couldn't get the game running at all on my laptop, the official forums said that my graphics card was just completely unsupported, no solutions.

So solution: my wife's laptop runs the game fine. What are some tips for getting the game to run at a solid FPS? I tried at Medium settings and it was kinda janky, probably sub 30 FPS using my eyes as the only judge.
 
M

MrCookiepants

Member
Just bought this and played it up until I got the feeling I was about to encounter my first monster, at which point I stopped :p

I'm seeing a lot of talk about the water sequence. Already mastered that part from the demo. I'd be sorta disappointed if that was the highlight of the whole game. :/
 
C

clip

Member
MrCookiepants said:
Just bought this and played it up until I got the feeling I was about to encounter my first monster, then stopped :p

I'm seeing a lot of talk about the water sequence. Already mastered that part from the demo. I'd be sorta disappointed if that was the highlight of the whole game. :/
Click to expand...

Please be assured it is not! There are many scares to be found outside of the water sequence.

There is one area in particular where I actually screamed out loud multiple times because
I'm a big baby.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
clip said:
Please be assured it is not! There are many scares to be found outside of the water sequence.

There is one area in particular where I actually screamed out loud multiple times because
I'm a big baby.
Click to expand...
i'm still very jealous of all of you that were terrified by this game.
 
C

clip

Member
plagiarize said:
i'm still very jealous of all of you that were terrified by this game.
Click to expand...

It's unfortunate that you didn't get scared, any idea why?

I played it alone, in the dark, and with headphones, it was amazing.
 
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