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Post by Xeogred on Oct 9, 2022 21:34:07 GMT -5
For 1994 it looks like a technical achievement, but yeah. Maybe just something to respect from afar.
Even if it's primitive and basic action like melee combat in Silent Hill, it's a little spice that goes a long way and makes horror games better. FACTS!
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Post by toei on Oct 9, 2022 21:53:35 GMT -5
It's really a necessity to me. Horror is just kind of dull and lifeless without it. Actually I watched some Alone in the Dark gameplay and it did have combat. Looks a lot more interesting.
Has anyone here ever played Ecstatica? It looks incredible for a 3D game from 1994, and it looks to be very weird and creepy.
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Post by Ex on Oct 9, 2022 22:31:13 GMT -5
Actually I watched some Alone in the Dark gameplay and it did have combat. Looks a lot more interesting. I played and beat both AitD1 and AitD2 the years they both respectively released. At the time these were absolutely amazing games, from both technological and gameplay perspectives. By today's standards, Alone in the Dark will seem like a primitive Resident Evil. Except for the fact that RE came out after AitD and basically ripped it off entirely.
Yes and it's not good. The sequel is more tolerable though.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 9, 2022 22:50:22 GMT -5
Alone in the Dark just ripped off Sweet Home.
JK
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Post by Ex on Oct 10, 2022 9:45:28 GMT -5
I'm probably the only person on HRG who's beaten the original Alone in the Dark, the original Resident Evil, and Sweet Home. I can draw some correlations as a result, but really the only constant is all three take place in a mansion. AitD1 and RE1 are similar in quite a few ways, and I recall reading in a Mikami interview that AitD1 was a direct "inspiration". I won't pick on RE too much about that, because RE as a series did evolve into its own thing with its own ideas over time. Even though you were just kidding, I do find it hard to imagine some French computer game developers back in 1990/91 where influenced by a Japan-only Famicom release. Rather, Frédérick Raynal (one of the key AitD developers) cited Dawn of the Dead and Call of Cthulhu as AitD1's primary influences. And you can definitely see those influences in the game.
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Post by toei on Oct 10, 2022 9:52:43 GMT -5
Realistically, Resident Evil is a lot closer to Alone in the Dark than Sweet Home, and I don't know whether Alone in the Dark is close to Sweet Home at all. It's unlikely the makers of AitD had ever even heard of it, and all it has in common, from what I know, are the adventure components and the mansion setting, which is a ancient staple of the horror genre in the first place. With the caveat that I haven't played AitD for more than a few minutes, but watched some videos and read some articles, I suspect Resident Evil's most novel achievement was doing Alone in the Dark right. The true originator of any genre is rarely very good, which is why the fame usually ends up going to whoever does it right first, or whoever does it big enough for people to notice. Alone in the Dark was a big hit, but it was completely eclipsed by Resident Evil, and hey, RE is a great game. But who knows, I might give the original AitD a shot soonish after all, since I just beat Doctor Hauzer.
I was already quite close to the end, so I decided I'd go for it. There's a really bad sequence at the end where you have to make it to the other side of a room while trying to avoid energy balls that hurt and push you back, usually killing you quickly, with an unskippable cutscene right before.... took a few attempts. Anyway, very quick review.
-It does have a somewhat creepy atmosphere, even if it's quaint. -The story isn't original, but it really benefits from its concision, as does the game. -It's very representative of the 3DO, in the sense that it's recognizable as a prototype of the type of games you'd find a couple years later on the PSX and Saturn. Its cinematic aspirations feel respectable in that context. -There are a handful of mini platforming sequences, but I wish there was at least some combat thrown in there. You find a knife, an axe and even a shotgun, but they're only used for puzzles! Let me blast something besides a glass door, dammit. -Instant deaths are stupid and bad.
I'd give it... either a 5 or 6. It's not awful. But it's not good either. It's certainly interesting as a historical artifact. It's miles away from anything on consoles at the time (even the 3DO port of AitD came out a few months later). Not better, necessarily. I like the experimental side of 3DO 3D graphics, as exemplified by the wild facial expressions in the cutscenes.
The game came out on April 29, 1994. I am 8 months away from hitting both of the monthly themes.
Trivia: the lead programmer of this game, Akihiro Hito, went on to start Level 5 (does what Doctor Hauzer do in its cutscenes count as cel shading?). He directed Dragon Quest VIII! The lead game designer and writer, meanwhile, made OverBlood on PSX, with Hito again as the lead programmer.
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Post by Ex on Oct 10, 2022 14:59:21 GMT -5
I suspect Resident Evil's most novel achievement was doing Alone in the Dark right. / it was completely eclipsed by Resident Evil, and hey, RE is a great game I agree and disagree with what you wrote there, concerning AitD1 (1992) VS RE1 (1996). I will try to explain succinctly. But first let me point out what AitD1 did better than RE1, and what RE1 did better than AitD1. I am explicitly talking about these two games, not any remakes or whatever: VS AitD1 is better at:Better story/plot, more interesting writing and tale. Scary atmosphere, actually manages to be legit creepy at times (unlike corny RE1). More realistic protagonists. Superior background/backdrop artwork. Much cooler oblique camera angles. Far better item/environment puzzles. RE1 is better at:More interesting protagonists. Better combat/weapons overall. Better enemies and actually has bosses. Better polygonal/textured character models. Better controls. Better music. Has a good goofy sense of humor. I could write a large paragraph explicitly explaining all the big and little things RE1 stole from AitD1. But I don't want to pick on RE1 too much. Keep in mind I am a fan of the RE series, and have beaten many of the games in that franchise. For me RE1 on PS1 is kinda crappy, though its REmake makes it great. RE just got much better after the original RE1. RE2 was amazing in comparison and so on. The strongest reason RE1 took off really is right place right time. RE1 was an early release on PS1 and Capcom knew exactly how to market it. Who knows how AitD1 might have done though, if AitD1 had received an updated port to PS1 and released in 1996 alongside RE1. Although AitD1 did, as you mentioned, get a 3DO port. No idea how good, bad, or different that port is. Anyway, the original Alone in the Dark deserves more respect than it gets from gamers. The game practically invented the survival horror genre as we've come to know it. And for its time, it was quite a thrill, if you were there to play it in '92. I had a 386 DOS PC back then, and yes I played the game in its prime. I was blown away, and my little brother was terrified of it. - Pretty awesome you beat Doctor Hauzer man. I can see some similarities between it and AitD1, but Doctor Hauzer released two years after AitD1, so if there's any inspiration it's in that direction. DH is still impressive from a technical perspective, it did some neat things for 1994. DH's character models' tech would not be considered cel shading, though. They use flat polygons (and a few are textured like the protagonist's hair). Cel shading is rendered using custom shaders that superimpose over polygons. >Akihiro Hino Yeah he founded Level-5 which is kind of a major accomplishment. I think the best games that Akihiro explicitly designed has been the Professor Layton series. But he's been involved in a LOT of games as programmer/director/producer, mostly L5 stuff.
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Post by toei on Oct 10, 2022 16:26:00 GMT -5
Overblood is very, very similar to Doctor Hauzer in how it plays out. It's got a sci-fi setting, taking place in a research facility rather than a haunted mansion, and there are some added features, such as the ability to switch between two characters, but it progresses and is basically built in the same way. It may be technically a bit better, but it's still not good, and it's less interesting to play. It's also longer - maybe 3-4 hours instead of like, 1h30-2h00 - which might sound like nothing, but it feels pretty long. Apparently this one has a tiny bit of fighting at some point? I'm a third of the way through and I still haven't run across any. It came out about 4 months after Resident Evil in Japan, so I wonder if they back and threw in a couple fights in the last months of development once they saw what RE was doing? I think I might ditch this one.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 10, 2022 18:23:37 GMT -5
I feel like Resident Evil effectively took some of the guts of Sweet Home and combined it with quite a bit of Alone in the Dark, and as noted, improved the combat. While I've not played through the original RE on PSX, I did beat REmake and Sweet Home, and have briefly played AitD. Respect to what they pulled off there.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 10, 2022 19:17:46 GMT -5
I played the original RE1 after I had played RE2, RE4, REmake, and RE3 in some kind of crazy order (other than RE2 being my gateway and RE4 getting me super hooked). I still like to go back to the original PSX RE every once and awhile. I've beaten both versions across both characters, the scenarios and layout of the mansion progression is a bit different so it's more than just Chris being stronger but having less inventory slots. The core gameplay and layout is still very much the same, so yeah. I still dig RE1. Just make sure it's the Directors Cut, NOT any of the Dualshock editions with the wack music. But even that version might be worth playing for an odd experience.
REmake is a 10 though and and the product of when the original director gets to perfect a past masterpiece. I don't think that happens often in the industry though, usually a new team and other people do the remakes down the road.
I'd only recommend new players REmake of course. But for hardcore RE or retro fans, RE1 PSX is still worth a look I think for a bizarro alternate take on that original scenario, since REmake is now more clearly the canon version.
If we're just talking PSX era though, yeah RE2 is leagues better than both RE1 and RE3. It's been in my top 3 PSX games since forever and probably won't move. I go back to it all the time and might again this month, because I still need to play the N64 and DC versions. Just straight up one of the most replayable games ever made. 10/10.
In the end though, there's only one Spencer Mansion. Only one RE that is truly Metroidvania. RE1/REmake will always be special.
Has anyone here played RE3 besides me? Seems like one most of you guys haven't played yet.
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