Octopus Overlords

Sweet, now I just have to actually finish the darn game. I play it in such short bursts that I never get anywhere.

I just finished the new mini campaign tonight. I found it even more disturbing than the original in a lot of ways. Also, despite how short it is I found it pretty nerve wrecking on the basis that there is no saving. If you die you have to restart from the beginning.

Still, highly recommended.

Very cool. I had no idea the DLC was free.

I played it a bit last night. It's fun and creepy.
Is there no way to save it though? It seems a little too long to make it through in one sitting for me.

Also, in case anyone is having difficulty in figuring out how to access the DLC, its a button in the lower RIGHT of the startup menu. I missed it the first two times I was looking for it.

edit; mixed up my left n' right. correct now.

No option to save. It took me a little over an hour to get through but now that I know how to complete it I would wager it could be done in about 20 minutes which is probably WHY they chose not to let you save.

Holy Thread Necromancy, Batman! But I bought this during last year's christmas sale in anticipation of this Halloween. I just got through the flooded part, after sitting on a box for quite awhile, jerking the mouse back and forth trying to see (but not to see) that damned THING!

There is a Save and Exit button (to those above). This game is oozing atmosphere, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it (and I'm glad my wife isn't watching, because she would have nightmares).

Definitely worth the $4 it costs on Steam for this year's Halloween-fest!

Pyperkub wrote:Holy Thread Necromancy, Batman! But I bought this during last year's christmas sale in anticipation of this Halloween. I just got through the flooded part, after sitting on a box for quite awhile, jerking the mouse back and forth trying to see (but not to see) that damned THING!

There is a Save and Exit button (to those above). This game is oozing atmosphere, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it (and I'm glad my wife isn't watching, because she would have nightmares).

Definitely worth the $4 it costs on Steam for this year's Halloween-fest!

L9 is talking about the DLC I think, with regard to being unable to save.

The game is on sale right now over at Gamersgate for $4 for their Halloween sale. I just picked it up yesterday and I plan on playing it soon as I have a week off starting Nov. 2

Canuck wrote:The game is on sale right now over at Gamersgate for $4 for their Halloween sale. I just picked it up yesterday and I plan on playing it soon as I have a week off starting Nov. 2

$4 on Steam as well if you prefer.

So I fired this up today just to take a look around and my old profile is gone. I assume that means my old save game is gone too.

So I get to start over, which isn't actually too bad a thing, although I did run out of steam last time, so that's a risk this time as well.

I think I'll alternate between this and outlast over the next week or so and see how it goes. Not really in a halloween mood but maybe immersing myself in these games plus a good horror flick or two will do the trick.

First, I re-read my comments from earlier in the thread. I pretty much still agree with my previous self, although I'm probably not AS enthusiastic today, but still very positive.

Second, I looked for a "serious" let's play because I know that most people are going to approach the game as just another video game, making stupid jokes about being drunk when your vision starts to blur and spin and just generally approach it like frat boys attending a splatterfest, which doesn't work for this game. You really need to be in the right mindset otherwise it's not nearly as interesting an experience. Someone pointed me to 9play or play9 or something like that, but he was acting like a goof right from the start so it sucked and I stopped watching.

Third, I started up a new game last night, and since I had already played through a portion of the game previously, I was not nearly as cautious this time around. That said, I still took my time, made sure I was "in the mood" and approached the game in the role of a newly awake and confused dude trying to figure out what is going on. Amazingly, I found I was getting a tension headache with my back and neck tensed the entire time. Which is impressive given that I know (I sorta remember) where I need to go and what I need to do. The music, sound effects and atmosphere is quite stressful. Well done.

That said, I managed to progress in about an hour the same distance that took several play sessions during my first attempt at the game.

Fun.

I have some chores to do but I'll just get some playing in first.

So I pick up where I left off last night, except I can't quite remember what I'm supposed to be doing. I find a trap door with a pulley system so I head down. I think I may have missed out on some exploring, and that means less oil/tinderboxes/story development (potentially).

I take a few steps in a well lit and clean corridor, but immediately blackout for a few moments and when I can see again, everything is dark, dingy, covered in bio-mass, and not quite knee deep in water. I take 2 steps and think "am I here already? Crap, yes I am". I take 3 more steps and HOLY SHIT something is splashing towards me in the water. My head shakes as my neck seizes up from fear and a stilted "shit" escapes my lips. I jump on a box in panic. I take a moment to compose myself. Then I jump from that box to another. Yep, more footfalls in the water.

Those chores are looking pretty good about now.

Save/quit.

P.S. total time for that playing session? 5 minutes.

Back after chores. Total time for this play session: 2 minutes.

I think I'm becoming more of a scaredy cat as I get older.

I missed a jump to a higher box, then tried to jump straight onto the box but you can't jump that high, but I kept trying, meaning unknowable horror is splashing towards me at top speed. I manage to jump onto a smaller box just in time, but the entire time I'm trying to jump on the taller box (it's a chest, actually) I'm spewing "fuck off fuck off fuck off!" in a cross between a little girl voice and a full blown shriek.

GreenGoo wrote: Because absolutely nothing happens and it's very anti-climatic. Relax. Maybe even turn up the volume a little to enjoy the excellent ambience sounds they've done a great job with.

Man, it's been long enough that I remember things in general but not the specifics, so all the scares are working on me. I managed to get through the portcullis in the cellar, only to find myself in another water soaked corridor with no boxes to climb, the sound of something running through the water at me, the castle screaming at me, and my sanity bending like a pretzel.

I made it to sanctuary, but holy god, I'm nearly broken.

Total play time: 12 minutes.

Going to give it another go shortly.

I find it interesting that the water sections in the game are what most people find terrifying. I remember being mostly unaffected by that part. What got under my skin was the blackout prison cell area.

I remember the first time playing in that section. I heard the monster coming and I ran into a cell and shut the door thinking I would be safe, only to have the monster rip the door off its hinges and run right at me. Scared the crap out of me.

I think the water section is the most effective (I made it to the cell section last game, a couple of years ago) because you can't see the threat, but you can sure as hell hear something running through the water at you. The effects of the sound of pursuit are amplified by the splashing water, and you can't see what it is, but it sure sounds scary as hell.

One of the factors that drew me out of the experience last time was that I got a good look at what was chasing me. That plus some ai behaviour that allowed me to live when I should have died (reminding me that I was in a video game and a programmer had coded the monster) just kind of broke it for me at the time.

Part of my play time last night was distracting the water thing and then trying to open the portcullis. Well I got it about half open and thought I should be able to crouch through (part of my thought process was that maybe there was another handle I could turn to close it on the other side, so only opening it half way meant I only had to close it half way) but when I tried to crawl through, I didn't fit. Instead of jumping back on a box and starting over, I decided to open it the rest of the way.

Well the beast is splashing towards me at speed and I don't want to take the time to look over my shoulder to see how close it is (you can see the footprint splashes for anyone who hasn't played) so I'm scrambling to turn the wheel while the tension rises to a crescendo, and then I get hit/bit/clawed/shredded/whatevered.

I wasn't quite gibbering at that point, but it was a near thing.

And that is why I have such positive things to say about Amnesia. When I get myself in the right state of mind, the game is phenomenal at messing with my primal instincts. But I have to make sure I'm open to the experience. When I stopped playing last time, the game had kicked me out of my suspension of disbelief, and that was that. I didn't load it up again.

Damn it. I'm just not in the mood for scary crap at the moment. Not the game's fault this time.

Managed to get in the right headspace last night, somewhere between completely weeny and this is just an adventure game. It was perfect to still feel the effects of the game while not being completely frozen in fear.

I've just about got the elevator running again. Had to hide in a wardrobe when Stitchy Mcreanimated showed up, and again in the dark of the storage room (this one was fun). I could feel my sanity escaping out my ears, and it was only by pure luck I wasn't discovered.

I did notice that despite my somewhat hardened nerves, the entire time I'm playing I have tension in my neck and soldiers and a slowly building headache that is mild but noticeable.

Had fun.

So I'm in the kitchen, and my previous attempt to play through the game made it past here, so I vaguely know something is up. I whip open a door and surprise! Fuck. I'm ill prepared and just start to run wildly the way I had come. I didn't even slam the door to try to buy me some time. I have no plan and the thing is too close to find a place to hide. It's chasing me and I can hear it getting ever closer, but not quickly. I can't even be sure who's faster. I'm just entering a room that has stairs leading up to a map transition door when I decide to look over my shoulder. CHOMP! I get a glimpse of the thing moments before the camera turns away and falls to the floor and things go dark.

Apparently I'm slower.

I gotta hand it to you. For some reason, I was under the impression that you wouldn't be capable of suspending your disbelief long enough to feel fear in a game. But you've been managing to do it with this one for quite some time now. It's been fun reading!

Giles Habibula wrote:I gotta hand it to you. For some reason, I was under the impression that you wouldn't be capable of suspending your disbelief long enough to feel fear in a game. But you've been managing to do it with this one for quite some time now. It's been fun reading!

I've got to wait until the kids are in bed and there is little chance of interruption, and I've got to be in the right mood. Not just a video game playing mood, but a "fully immerse" mood.

After I died last night I mentioned to my wife that I've been *too* immersed which has resulted in shorter playing times due to stress/desire to get away from the game. I've found a happy medium I think that lets me play the game without being overly sensitive to the atmosphere.

For the record, in case anyone thinks I'm a big wimp, I enjoy being scared and enjoy horror movies, but video games are a different beast. Games like Doom that are all jump scares are not scary to me. They're just startling and then I deal with the encounter in the same way I would deal with any other fps encounter.

For Amnesia I WORK at being immersed. I treat every sound as something to worry about. I treat darkness as something I don't like and avoid. I treat the groans and shaking of the castle as something traumatic. Eventually it becomes second nature and I no longer have think about it, I just do it. Last night I heard something and whipped around to see if something was there. If you had asked me outside of the game, like now while I'm writing on the forums, if I thought there might be something there, I'd answer no. That's not how the game works and I know that. I understand a lot of the game mechanics and if I WANTED to not be scared, it would be fairly trivial to avoid being scared. But I want to be scared and so I just suspend my disbelief and suddenly that ominous noise is a source of real fear and concern.

My last play through something happened that dragged me kicking and screaming out of my suspension and into a rather average looking video game with mediocre ai. And that was literally the last time I played it until recently. If I couldn't immerse myself then what was the point?

I'm sorta surprised at how much the game can affect me if I let it. When I watch a walkthrough with some doofus making jokes as they play, the game is not special or even that interesting. When I play in the dark with the volume up and the subwoofer groaning, it's awesome.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:34 am Holy Thread Necromancy, Batman!

Amateur.

Yeah it's creepy, and the instruction to use headphones is sound (heh). Reminds me of Sanitarium. Tonight I had my first Holy Shit moment in the Archives, when the invisible thing that's been dogging me briefly materialized at the corner of my eye. I ran for the last cabinet I had found and took a couple of wrong turns getting there. Fortunately the stalker just LOL'd and let me go. I am going to have to get better at remembering escape routes, because I expect the nasty to get more serious.

I'm basically playing one "level" per night, which can take from 15-60 min. Not sure how big the game is, but I reckon it should last a week or two at this pace. I will get my $4 worth.

I didn't realize how precious oil is until I burned out my lantern in like 5 minutes. I think I've got 3 oils left, and I am going to be really stingy with them. You never know when you're going to find more.

Aside from the atmospherics, my favorite thing so far is the lack of time pressure. I don't feel like I'm racing a clock or that the game is going to be mean to me if I take my time. I'm a slow old man.

Anyway, still a great game all these years later.

From reading this thread, I knew there was a difficult water level coming up. I hadn't expected several sequential levels of jumping while racing the clock (twice that gate reset before I could get to it). I finally ended up needing a walkthru, because I'm impatient and it would've taken me forever and way too many tries to figure out the lever/gate/time limit/baiting/distraction dynamics on my own. Kudos to those of you who did. Even following instructions, I died several times anyway. That's when I discovered two more friendly things about this game: dying just sends you back to the beginning of the level, and each reset makes the level a little easier, so that eventually even a klutz like me can blunder through. That's good design. I hate having to lose the same challenge time after time until you figure out the exact right sequence of moves, as in most adventure games.

Up to this point I hadn't felt any urgency, or even real peril. I don't expect it to get easier, but I do hope it gets less hectic from here on.

Great game!