RPG News - The Scariest Moments in Gaming @ GameSpy

Dhruin

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GameSpy has kicked up a 12-page Halloween special titled The Scariest Moments in Gaming. Getting mentions are Janice Polito's Office in System Shock 2 and The Ocean House in Vampire Bloodlines. Here's a taste:
In a game about vampires, it's ironic that the scariest moments in the game involve ghosts. The Ocean House Hotel is a piece of property owned by one of the vampires of Santa Monica. Unfortunately, it's also being haunted by the spirit of a murdered woman and her two children along with the ghost of her husband -- he's the nutbar who killed them and then set the hotel on fire. The player's job is to put the spirits to rest so that the vampire's construction crew will return and finish tearing the place down.
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I have to admit the effects in the Ocean House in Bloodlines got me. I jumped in my chair twice that I will admit to.
 
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Ocean House is a pretty good candidate for the scariest stuff in a PC game. Other than that, Aliens vs Predator and Undying both got me freaked out more than once.
 
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I remember a retrospective on that part of Bloodlines - trying to create that level of tension in a non-combat level ... I loved it!

FEAR, also on the list, had some nice moments - I'm playing the expansion now, and that is also pretty cool.
 
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Definitely:

Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3 !!!

...or even better, the first encounter with Hammer Haunts in Return To The Cathedral from Thief: The Dark Project.

While the Cradle was a fine mission in and of itself, I've always felt that it was the most out-of-place and tacked-on mission in Thief III - a big part of this was due to the very 1950's/modern visual style of the level...all those metal tube bed frames and ceramic floor tiles, modern electricity and lighting (not the half-magical, Theif-y kind) etc..

The level did not feel at all like a medieval, or even steampunk setting within "The City" in my opinion and therefore took me out of the setting and tone of the game too much - which is critical to Thief, I would argue. I think the mission would have been better served in some kind of dank medieval dungeon a la Cragscleft Prison, for (probably poor) example.

Just my $0.02
 
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All of Thief 1, the Children of Karras in Thief 2, the Cradle in Thief 3, Shodan's first trap in SS1 (SS2 never really got under my skin), the Templars, Raysiel's clockwork maze and the final battle in Realms of the Haunting, Undying's first 'Scrye!' scene, and when Luther ate his first mandrake root in LoL 2... those were game scenes which either made me jump or had me on the edge of my seat in no time.
 
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I'm with the Ocean House in VTM:B all the way, man that was creepy! But I also have to confess I nearly lost it when I was ambushed by a Goblin Shaman in the tutorial level caves in Oblivion. Somehow he got behind me and threw some lightning bolt towards me in glorious 5.1 surround sound and I didn't know what hit me. I'm not proud of it but it actually happened.....feels good to come clean on that one :)
 
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Both the SS games stand out in my mind, but the worst moment would have to be when you step on a stone in Arx and the ceiling crashes down and your screen goes BLACK before you realise what's actually happened!!
 
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For me it was definately System Shock 2. I never even got so far as to visit Dr. Polico's office because the game freaked me out and I could only ever play it for, say, 30 minutes at a time.

My experience with Undying was similar, also did not finish this one... :)
 
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I usually get uncomfortable in dungeons where I'm very tense about what's around the next corner and these creepy "from-beyond-this-world" ghostly whispers start assaulting my senses. I have no idea where it comes from or what it signifies, but it's definitely not natural. I'm glad to have played through the Ocean House in Bloodlines, too, I vote for that one as well. :D

Silent Hill 4 also had some uncomfortable ghostly scenes... and let's not forget 11th Hour, years ago. While cheesy, it was still one of the first scary games ever. :)
 
My scariest moment was when I opened my backpack in Ultima VII and had to go through 30+ keys that I had collected. :)

I died laughing here XD XD XD XD oh man, the whole full of stuff backpack was SCARY!

My scaries moments would be any moment System Shock 2 and Arx Crypt ^____^

Arkray.-
 
I agree with the most of you ... VtM:Bloodlines (after playing it the eigth time, the hotel loses its scaryness), Thief 3 (the Cradle was absolutely out of place, and with a clichèd, boring plot, but man, it really was scary), System Shock 2 (oh. my. god.) and even Arx Fatalis (but only when to get this stupid helmet and TWO liches appeared). But one of my _first_ very scary gaming moments was in Ultima Underworld 2, when I had to look into the dungeons of the Pits of Carnage. It was full of reapers, wooha, I hated those. I also found the Sleeper's dungeon in Gothic 1 very scary, too, but only the first time.
 
The spiders in Dark Messiah. Spiders are the rape scene of videogame bad guys, a cheap, shitty bit of manipulation that reveals a total lack of imagination. Arkane don't know how to make their orcs scary, wouldn't know where to begin, so they have to exploit a fear that many of us carry in our genes, one against which we have no defense. I can't not scream when a spider jumps at my face. So thanks for putting me through that over and over again, you no-talent hack fucks.
 
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The spiders in Dark Messiah.

ooo-kaaayyyy ...

For me the spiders weren't scary but annoying ... and is this discussion of scary game moments really the place to grind your axe about your displeasure over Dark Messiah? Isn't that why there are threads about that game, detailing many if the issues?
 
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yeees, Miiike, iiit's aaa threeead abouuut scaaa-ryyy gaaame moooments ...

So I used my post to tell you the game moment that's scared me the most, described the nature of the scare, and shared my opinion of that. While I'd like everyone involved in the creation of the spider levels to go and do something else with their lives, I otherwise quite enjoyed Dark Messiah and wouldn't have much to contribute to a thread full of axe-grinders. Do you mind if we get back on topic now?
 
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