Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Discussion Topic Part 1

[Damascus Rose]

Yeah, if you let people imagine what is going to happen rather than push something in their face the game can become a lot scarier than the actual reality of it

[TiberiusBond]

You guys focus way too much on physical fear rather than mental fear. Sure adding more disturbing monsters or making the monsters AI better or other stuff along those lines will give you a brief moment of panic when you initially see them (whether it be a super super fucked up looking monster or a monster that can hunt you down like a pro), but not much past that. What really sticks with you is mental horror though; not the fear of actually seeing the monster, but the fear that a monster may be near by is what really causes paranoia. That's what I loved about Amnesia so much, it didn't need really terrifying monsters or monsters with amazing AI to be scary, in fact you hardly ever even get to see the monsters close up, it relied almost completely on the fear that there might be a monster near by and you never knew from where they would come. It's the difference between seeing someone get their leg sawed off or having someone explain to you in great detail how they're going to kidnap you and saw your leg off. Sure the initial shock of the first one might be greater, but the second scenario could really fuck with you mentally and make you incredibly paranoid for weeks to come.

Exactly how I feel. The first time I played ADD, in the beginning of the game, I was super paranoid of running into the monster and legitimately scared, but after the first encounter and ever since it's never been the same. That's why the water monster still terrifies me so fucking much. Because I can't see it.

I feel if the monster in AAMFP attacks you in the darkest places or when you can't see it, it will be the scariest because you won't know what's coming or where it's coming from. It'll psychologically scare you because that's the most effective way to really scare people, sure, jumpscares get you, but they get old and you're only scared for a second. Psychological horror stays with you as you think of all the terrible things of what you can't see could actually be.

[PutraenusAlivius]

Is this scenario right? Because if it's right, this could cause mental horror.

"A note says that the Prison area you're at harbors some of the worlds dangerous criminals and they constantly banging on the doors. After you read it, you hear some doors being banged. And then, you hear a door being opened and hitting the wall. And then, you hear footsteps."

[failedALIAS]

You guys focus way too much on physical fear rather than mental fear. Sure adding more disturbing monsters or making the monsters AI better or other stuff along those lines will give you a brief moment of panic when you initially see them (whether it be a super super fucked up looking monster or a monster that can hunt you down like a pro), but not much past that. What really sticks with you is mental horror though; not the fear of actually seeing the monster, but the fear that a monster may be near by is what really causes paranoia. That's what I loved about Amnesia so much, it didn't need really terrifying monsters or monsters with amazing AI to be scary, in fact you hardly ever even get to see the monsters close up, it relied almost completely on the fear that there might be a monster near by and you never knew from where they would come. It's the difference between seeing someone get their leg sawed off or having someone explain to you in great detail how they're going to kidnap you and saw your leg off. Sure the initial shock of the first one might be greater, but the second scenario could really fuck with you mentally and make you incredibly paranoid for weeks to come.

I have to give you a +Reputation now, don't I?

[TiberiusBond]

Is this scenario right? Because if it's right, this could cause mental horror.

"A note says that the Prison area you're at harbors some of the worlds dangerous criminals and they constantly banging on the doors. After you read it, you hear some doors being banged. And then, you hear a door being opened and hitting the wall. And then, you hear footsteps."

Yeah, it can. Your little quote reminded me, the best shortest mental horror story I've read is:

"The last man on Earth is sitting in a room, and hears a knock on the door."

Fucks with my head, man.

[PutraenusAlivius]

Is this scenario right? Because if it's right, this could cause mental horror.

"A note says that the Prison area you're at harbors some of the worlds dangerous criminals and they constantly banging on the doors. After you read it, you hear some doors being banged. And then, you hear a door being opened and hitting the wall. And then, you hear footsteps."

Yeah, it can. Your little quote reminded me, the best shortest mental horror story I've read is:

"The last man on Earth is sitting in a room, and hears a knock on the door."

Fucks with my head, man.

Is my quote Physical or Mental horror?

[TiberiusBond]

Is this scenario right? Because if it's right, this could cause mental horror.

"A note says that the Prison area you're at harbors some of the worlds dangerous criminals and they constantly banging on the doors. After you read it, you hear some doors being banged. And then, you hear a door being opened and hitting the wall. And then, you hear footsteps."

Yeah, it can. Your little quote reminded me, the best shortest mental horror story I've read is:

"The last man on Earth is sitting in a room, and hears a knock on the door."

Fucks with my head, man.

Is my quote Physical or Mental horror?

If the quote ends where it ends, it's mental.

[3dge]

That was 6am, cut me some slack.

The first thing popped on my mind is "Cut some throats" (From Dishonored). when I saw your post.

Dishonored is one hell of a game.

[felixmole]

You guys focus way too much on physical fear rather than mental fear. Sure adding more disturbing monsters or making the monsters AI better or other stuff along those lines will give you a brief moment of panic when you initially see them (whether it be a super super fucked up looking monster or a monster that can hunt you down like a pro), but not much past that. What really sticks with you is mental horror though; not the fear of actually seeing the monster, but the fear that a monster may be near by is what really causes paranoia. That's what I loved about Amnesia so much, it didn't need really terrifying monsters or monsters with amazing AI to be scary, in fact you hardly ever even get to see the monsters close up, it relied almost completely on the fear that there might be a monster near by and you never knew from where they would come. It's the difference between seeing someone get their leg sawed off or having someone explain to you in great detail how they're going to kidnap you and saw your leg off. Sure the initial shock of the first one might be greater, but the second scenario could really fuck with you mentally and make you incredibly paranoid for weeks to come.

Exactly my point! I hesitated to say that AIs are there mostly for those who don't "play the game", but actually it seems to be partly true for TDD. Those who have noticed the AI glitch upon their first playthrough of Amnesia probably got wrong the whole point of the game.

[JawlessWarrior]

One thing I want to get sorted out: Is this a machine to be used on pigs, or to be used by the pig (monsters)? Someone/something could either be creating these pig monsters with the machine or the pig monsters could be the ones using the machine. A machine for pigs sounds like it could go either way.

Maybe theres something metaphorical about the pigs? I remember reading somewhere a dev was talking about how TDD didn't have a "lesson" or meaning in the end, so maybe they tried to work something like that in this time? Perhaps the pigs are representative of something else, and the machine is creating or being used by them.

I sure hope this game is amazing, I thought it was supposed to come out in January 0.o