Jimquisition: The Survival of Horror

[LordLundar]

Eh, I would say Aliens: Isolation would be a failed concept at it's outset. Let me explain.

The fear of a xenomorph isn't that it bides it time to kill you when it's creepiest. They don't. Xenomorphs kill you when you're at your most vulnerable. So a lone person (say an unarmed scientist) would be dead pretty quick. The game would be over in a few seconds in that case so the player needs to be armed and a threat to the Xenomorph. But once again, you only get one encounter with it. Either it's dead and you win or you're dead and you lose. Once gain, pretty short game. This is where the REAL fear of Xenomorphs come from.

A xenomorph is not terrifying in of itself. They kill too quick as they've evolved to to make them really scary. The catch is a Xenomorphs are like a love child between a zombie and a cockroach. Once you're done with the brain bleach I'll explain why.

Done? Good.

As I said earlier, A xenomorph isn't particularly scary. The fear is that when you see one, you can't see the hundred or the thousand around you like a cockroach. And like a zombie, they have one goal: to feed to reproduce, and you my friend, are their lunch. That is what makes the xenomorph truly terrifying. To modify it to act like some malevolent entity that enjoys tormenting the player until it decides to kill it is making it into something that is not a xenomorph. The Xenomorph is a hunter at it's core, and that doesn't go well in a one-on-one with something for a horror game.

 

[Rad Party God]

The Evil Within sounds like it could be, at the very least, a pretty decent horror game, with Mikami at the helm, I highly doubt it'll be yet another Silent Hill or Resident Evil post 2005 (though I can argue that SH4 was shit and Shattered Memories was brilliant).

I don't want a mainstream industry where Dead Space is considered the most "terrifying" game, especially considering it butchered itself with Dead Space 3, I also know the Metro series exists, but what I mean, is that I'm fed up of shooting galleries with horror themes, I want a slow paced, methodical and cerebral experience like Silent Hill 2 or the Resident Evil remake (though one can argue it's a shooting gallery too, but SHUT UP!), or Lone Survivor, heck, even the Stalker series is a very slow paced, methodical and cerebral experience without ditching out the shooting mechanics.

 

[Kittyhawk]

I guess Jim caught the recent Conan video of him playing Outcast, Amnesia and Slender. No?

I expect the horror games from large studios will get better in the light of the above games, that show it can be done on the cheap and done well too. Problem is like fighting games, horror is also a niche genre. Publishers are only going to put so much money in, but they will get pressure for the suited ones to make everything bring in more money.

Problem two is that suits lack the ability to reign in their lofty projections, as some of those at Capcom proved with RE6, (or Square when concerning some of their games like Tomb Raider etc, outside of this horror topic). While I also agree that the trade in value on such games can be hampered, its up to publishers to get create games that don't make gamers trade them in quickly.

Online play and DLC content can play a part here (while season passes take the piss out of every gamers bladder, throwing it in our faces), but the powers that be make the deal unsavoury by hiking up price etc. Once upon a time, they offer better deals. Now it's all about the nickle and dime time. We might buy more DLC, if occasionally we got a bit for free (not a dirty word at all) and paid for the second.

I do find it funny and humbly enlightening that small devs are succeeding where many large devs/pubs are failing. It doesn't all have to be that way, though.

 

[DementedSheep]

I'm not sure about the The Evil Within. From what I saw in the gamplay vid of it it didn't have much in the way of subtlety (although I guess that's hard to make interesting in gamplay vid since it relies on you being immersed)and there was a lot of keep pressing forward to not die.

 

[Piorn]

I was holding my breath in excitement when I heard there was an Alien survival horror game with only you against one Alien...
and then I hit my forehead on the table when we'd "fight soldiers and clones for the majority of the game"...

Jim is toying with my emotions yet again.

 

[el_kabong]

That...got weird...I mean...just.......

 

[Smokescreen]

Oooookay.

Putting that on the list of 'things I don't need to see again'.

 

[Chimichanga]

Come now. Isn't it refreshing to see Americans scared of something other than a black guy as President and vegetables that aren't deep fried?

You've got me there.

However: drone strikes on innocent civilians. International wiretapping on people who pose no threat. Imminent starvation. I don't think being scared of a stupid video game or movie is much of a step up from what most of the world has to deal with.

Oh wait, one more final thing to horrify people: LIBERALS! HEALTH CARE!

Ha ha ha, yes. We are still scared of black people, Obama just got his job because of affirmative action and white guilt. It was not due to the majority of the American public freely electing him into office. At all. Race relations are still exactly the way they were in 1990. Of course, only Americans can be so ignorant.

Because none of your governments are just as shady, disingenuous, and underhanded; nor will they completely disregard your human rights, privacy and dignity when they think they can get away with it. Europe must be some kind of benevolent utopia right? Thank god none of you live in the Borderlands-styled Hell that is idiot 'Murka. Must be, otherwise you wouldn't feel so insecure that you had to ape every other teenybopper hipster around the globe in bashing the US in a thread discussing the latest installment of a web series that focuses on vidyagarmes.

OT: Thank ye' Jim. I must now go to wash my eyes with bleach.

 

[mjc0961]

I fucking died when the Aliens Colonial Marines box was taped to the head. Fucking brilliant.

This is what I like about Bethesda. They're a company that is willing to publish games that would ordinarily be passed up by other publishers because "there's not enough appeal" or "it wouldn't sell in these days". Good on them for taking stabs at a variety of genres.

Now if only we could get them to take a stab at having a QA department.

Ha ha ha, yes. We are still scared of black people, Obama just got his job because of affirmative action and white guilt. It was not due to the majority of the American public freely electing him into office. At all. Race relations are still exactly the way they were in 1990. Of course, only Americans can be so ignorant.

Because none of your governments are just as shady, disingenuous, and underhanded; nor will they completely disregard your human rights, privacy and dignity when they think they can get away with it. Europe must be some kind of benevolent utopia right? Thank god none of you live in the Borderlands-styled Hell that is idiot 'Murka. Must be, otherwise you wouldn't feel so insecure that you had to ape every other teenybopper hipster around the globe in bashing the US in a thread discussing the latest installment of a web series that focuses on vidyagarmes.

OT: Thank ye' Jim. I must now go to wash my eyes with bleach.

This is a classic example of why you should always read something in full before you respond to it. Reading your first paragraph made me want to tear you and the guys you quoted a new one. Then I got below the image and realized you were actually tearing those two the new one they so desperately deserve.

And thank you for doing that. This forum is a toxic mess of anti-American bullshit and it's why I stopped being a part of this site's community (aside from leaving comments on videos and news articles). And none of the mods care because they're too busy making sure nobody leaves short posts because "low content posts halt discussion". Yeah, you know what else halts discussion? The thread getting turned into yet another discussion of how much Americans suck. And not to mention that the big rule that says "Don't Be a Jerk - This rule trumps any other. Any loophole you think you've found in any other rule is covered by this one. If you make our forums a less pleasant place to be, we don't want you here and we have no problem revoking your account." that they're also breaking with their anti-American nonsense. Sadly, you and I are more likely to get modded for ripping them a new asshole and ranting about how the moderation sucks respectively than they are for their posts that make the forum a less pleasant place to be for an entire nation of people.

 

[Lunar Templar]

It might appear a bit more... professional

o.0 we saw the same video right? or did you not watch the ending cause yeah >.> professionalism wasn't really a thing that crossed his mind i think ....

snip

The shit you get away with ....

 

[Toadfish1]

So Jims just gonna keep pretending The Last Of Us didn't come out? YEah, it had action combat, but it was still pure survival horror.

 

[Seracen]

I think it's just that AAA-publishers don't want to invest the time required to create good horror games. Just like RPG's, these titles cannot be rushed. Churning out yearly or semi-annual (looking at YOU Crapcom) installments just lead to weak, uninspired flops.

But proper development time, or true passion (not the color-by-numbers drivel some publishers produce) can become success stories. As Jim said, it'll always be a niche genre. So long as it is developed for accordingly, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'd rather have a bunch of little successes that I can bank on, rather than roll the dice on a "killer app" done by committee and fail.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

It's my hope that someone takes this Jim-given advice to heart and makes a Dead Space sequel with a smaller, tighter budget but embraces its horror roots whole-heartedly, creating a beautiful experience. Ah, one can hope.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm thinking about buying Outlast just because of the awesome reaction videos online. The game looks scarier than Amnesia. I don't want AAA survival horror games. They will eventually be ruined by DLC and multiplayer and microtransactions etc. Leaving survival horror for the smaller studios is fine by me.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

Ha ha ha, yes. We are still scared of black people...

There are still a hell of a lot of people accusing Obama of being a Muslim, and/or asking for his birth certificate. There are people even today who are trying to alienate black voters. So yes, there's plenty of racism being directed at Obama specifically, and liberals in general.

Obama just got his job because of affirmative action and white guilt. It was not due to the majority of the American public freely electing him into office. At all.

WTF? When did I ever suggest anything of the sort?

And considering that I made one rather pointed barb directed Obama's way, why is it that you assume I'm some sort of Obama apologist?

Because none of your governments are just as shady, disingenuous, and underhanded; nor will they completely disregard your human rights, privacy and dignity when they think they can get away with it. Europe must be some kind of benevolent utopia right?

My governments? I'm not European, so I'm not sure where the hell you are getting this idea from.

I also never referenced anybody's weight, so I don't understand he relevance of the the image. Can you let me know where I wrote that all Europeans are skinny? Or where I mentioned Europeans at all?

 

[wulf3n]

This video contradicts itself.

It talks about how the Movie industry still releases horror movies, they're just not Blockbuster titles with Blockbuster budgets, then goes on to criticize the AAA Game Industry, basically the Blockbuster sector of the games industry, for not making horror games.

They (horror films) don't cost as much as the Hobbit does and consequently don't need to make as much

But by asking the AAA to make more horror you're effectively asking for Hobbit level budgets.

I really don't understand the current belief within the gaming community that the AAA is the only sector that produces anything of worth, and that even though the "Indie" scene is still producing good quality horror titles, people don't care because it's not AAA.

You want AAA budget/quality but that means you need AAA profits.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Jim, you're a sick puppy...

On the topic at hand though, I kinda hope that triple A developers keep their mitts off horror. Watching LPers like Markiplier has shown me there is a wealth of horror out there, and frankly we don't need the likes of them spoiling it.

Things like SCP containment breach, Kraven Manor and so on don't need capital to be great, what they need is passion. They need developers who give a damn for what they're making for more than the pay cheque at the end. The Triple A industry has shown they don't have the passion needed for it.

Damn straight. If the AAA industry has made FPS games come turn into CoD remake upon CoD remake when we had the interesting Doom and Quake, then I am worried what would happen to it if the AAA industry got their hands on a system they felt that worked for horror games, and sucked its blood dry until it was a saggy, grey skinned dusty old corpse (Halloween is fun~ :3). We don't need them trying to make huge coin off of horror games. Next we'd see a massive overrun of survival horror games that were as sub-par as the next "CoD to be"

 

[Seracen]

By the way, which one of you jackasses bought him the doll?! I swear, he will troll us each time someone gives him a weird gift (like the furry porn...).

Not that it isn't comedy gold...but I'd rather not see Jim's reaction to those real/alive robotic silicone love-dolls (for example, made to look like Final Fantasy characters)...

Actually...on second thought...someone should totally start a Kickstarter and crowdfund buying him a REALLY fancy one...that'd be hilarious...