TheJollyCorner
Member
a huge, overblown thread for nothing probably, but what the hell... maybe some (or at least one) of you might be interested...
It was a long time ago, but once upon a time I fell in love with a little known PSone horror games called Echo Night. The basic premise was (I might be a bit off here and there, it's been like 6 years) about a young man who finds some cryptic notebooks by his father. There is some bizarre time travel stuff and you, via first person, must uncover the truth about a cruise ship from the olden days where all the passengers mysteriously died.
The game was unique because it was based more around the atmosphere and puzzle solving, instead of fighting. Since you are dealing with ghosts, naturally you cant do anything physical to beat them. Some of the ghosts are simply confused and lost, needing an item or some kind of help. Others are very angry and will try to kill you.
Nice ghost.
Asshole ghost.
Some ghosts can even effect your time traveling capabilities, and in certain occassions you are taken to different times revolving around the events to get clues and/or just observe some bizarre event that serves as a key to a puzzle.
Worth mentioning, there was a very creepy, doll-like girl that would scare the living shit out of me. In the first Echo Night, you were always safe in the light- but when it was dark, some of the aggressive ghosts might seek you out and use it as an opportunity to try to hurt and kill you. Entering a room, noticing the lights off, hearing strange noises instantly- it was thrilling to quickly turn your head/camera around to try to locate a light switch. Sometimes the light would be broken, you'd hear the weird doll-girl's giggle in the darkness, and that's when the game's real terror started to come out.
The game had some pretty mediocre character models, but the location designs were pretty nicely detailed for the time. The story was compelling enough to push forward, but the real star of the game was the lonely, desolate atmosphere of the early 1900's cruise ship.
From Software made an Echo Night 2, which took place in a spooky mansion, complete with clock tower... but I don't think it ever came to the US. I never played it and I know I would have if I would have seen it back in late '99/early '00.
Now we have the PS2 entry in the series: Echo Night: Beyond (or Echo Night: Nebula, as it was called in Japan)
The game was released in the US last summer... and I'm not even sure I was aware it existed until I saw it @ Hastings two weeks ago.
The premise for this one is a mix between SOLARIS and Magnetic Rose (from Otomo's MEMORIES). Your character is on an interstellar vacation with his wife, but their shuttle malfunctions and crashes. The game opens up with a very nice CG cinematic of clips from a space station project, accompanied by a pretty cool version of the Moonlight Sonata. What's happening at this space station? What's going wrong? Naturally, these questions will be answered as you progress.
Anyway, you wake up. Your shuttle is empty, save for a broken android stewardess...
...and your wife is no where to be found. In fact, there isn't a single human body in the crashed shuttle. Thus begins your lonely, eerie journey.
Any kind of loneliness and desolation the first game had is nothing compared to Beyond. You roam the empty ruins of your vacation shuttle, eventually ending up in the cold, lifeless corridors of this strange space station. Your view is out of an astronaut mask:
and for the most part the only sounds you hear are air depressions from ventilation ducts in the space station, monitors & other electronic equipment malfuctioning, and your own breathing inside the mask. Very eerie. For scripted scenes, there's some pretty nice ambient music, as well.
You have a helmet light that has two different light strengths, as well as the ability to turn it off completely. Yes, the battery will run out over time- but I haven't had any difficulty with that. I've found dozens of batteries for it. Also, your health is based on your heart-rate. It usually beats at a steady 80/m, but if it gets up to 300/m, you're done. Heartbeat rises when things get a little creepy or when you encounter a hostile ghost (it goes up rapidly at those moments). Meeting a non aggressive ghost will make it start pumping, but never enough to kill you... unless you just stand there like a jackass. Usually once you approach the ghost and press the X to talk, it's established that this one won't hurt you and the heart-rate goes down. The bad one's usually always have a strange fog around them anyway.
The location graphics and lighting effects are absolutely marvelous. Like the first game, the character models are probably the weakest graphical element, but since you spend most of your time alone with just the environment as your companion, you get plenty of time to stare in awe at the beautiful (albeit cold and drab) space station.
So far, the game isn't hard. The one 'bad' ghost I've encountered simply requires you to run away down a straight pathway. Apparently, it's like this the whole game- get involved with a hostile spirit and simply run by it until you can get to the ventilation control and get rid of the fog in the area. Then you can go about trying to help said spirit.
The two biggest things the game has going for it are: incredible atmosphere (outside of the Silent Hill games, this is by far the most effective and creepy atmosphere I've ever seen in a game) and compelling story (you are driven to find out what happened at this space station... and where your wife is).
Unfortunately, the game seems to be one massive fetch quest: find ghost, figure out ghosts dilemma, find item, give to ghost, new pathway opens, etc. In the case of aggressive ones: run from ghost, find nearest vent, get rid of fog, help ghost.
The game might be too slow for many gamers tastes... and being devoid of any kind of fighting is another factor to detract most mainstream gamers.
That being said, I'm really liking this game. I don't mind the slow pace... and helping the ghosts always opens up new discoveries about the story. It's also the most 'scared' I've been playing a game in the dark since SH3.
I'm not sure if this is as 'bargain bin' as, say, Disaster Report is, yet. In fact, I'm just renting it (with plans to purchase)- but if any of you actually read my whole thread and are even remotely interested, track it down.
I really hope the Echo Night series continues. It's a nice alternative to gunning down monsters and being mind-fucked by psychological symbolics.
It was a long time ago, but once upon a time I fell in love with a little known PSone horror games called Echo Night. The basic premise was (I might be a bit off here and there, it's been like 6 years) about a young man who finds some cryptic notebooks by his father. There is some bizarre time travel stuff and you, via first person, must uncover the truth about a cruise ship from the olden days where all the passengers mysteriously died.
The game was unique because it was based more around the atmosphere and puzzle solving, instead of fighting. Since you are dealing with ghosts, naturally you cant do anything physical to beat them. Some of the ghosts are simply confused and lost, needing an item or some kind of help. Others are very angry and will try to kill you.
Nice ghost.
Asshole ghost.
Some ghosts can even effect your time traveling capabilities, and in certain occassions you are taken to different times revolving around the events to get clues and/or just observe some bizarre event that serves as a key to a puzzle.
Worth mentioning, there was a very creepy, doll-like girl that would scare the living shit out of me. In the first Echo Night, you were always safe in the light- but when it was dark, some of the aggressive ghosts might seek you out and use it as an opportunity to try to hurt and kill you. Entering a room, noticing the lights off, hearing strange noises instantly- it was thrilling to quickly turn your head/camera around to try to locate a light switch. Sometimes the light would be broken, you'd hear the weird doll-girl's giggle in the darkness, and that's when the game's real terror started to come out.
The game had some pretty mediocre character models, but the location designs were pretty nicely detailed for the time. The story was compelling enough to push forward, but the real star of the game was the lonely, desolate atmosphere of the early 1900's cruise ship.
From Software made an Echo Night 2, which took place in a spooky mansion, complete with clock tower... but I don't think it ever came to the US. I never played it and I know I would have if I would have seen it back in late '99/early '00.
Now we have the PS2 entry in the series: Echo Night: Beyond (or Echo Night: Nebula, as it was called in Japan)
The game was released in the US last summer... and I'm not even sure I was aware it existed until I saw it @ Hastings two weeks ago.
The premise for this one is a mix between SOLARIS and Magnetic Rose (from Otomo's MEMORIES). Your character is on an interstellar vacation with his wife, but their shuttle malfunctions and crashes. The game opens up with a very nice CG cinematic of clips from a space station project, accompanied by a pretty cool version of the Moonlight Sonata. What's happening at this space station? What's going wrong? Naturally, these questions will be answered as you progress.
Anyway, you wake up. Your shuttle is empty, save for a broken android stewardess...
...and your wife is no where to be found. In fact, there isn't a single human body in the crashed shuttle. Thus begins your lonely, eerie journey.
Any kind of loneliness and desolation the first game had is nothing compared to Beyond. You roam the empty ruins of your vacation shuttle, eventually ending up in the cold, lifeless corridors of this strange space station. Your view is out of an astronaut mask:
and for the most part the only sounds you hear are air depressions from ventilation ducts in the space station, monitors & other electronic equipment malfuctioning, and your own breathing inside the mask. Very eerie. For scripted scenes, there's some pretty nice ambient music, as well.
You have a helmet light that has two different light strengths, as well as the ability to turn it off completely. Yes, the battery will run out over time- but I haven't had any difficulty with that. I've found dozens of batteries for it. Also, your health is based on your heart-rate. It usually beats at a steady 80/m, but if it gets up to 300/m, you're done. Heartbeat rises when things get a little creepy or when you encounter a hostile ghost (it goes up rapidly at those moments). Meeting a non aggressive ghost will make it start pumping, but never enough to kill you... unless you just stand there like a jackass. Usually once you approach the ghost and press the X to talk, it's established that this one won't hurt you and the heart-rate goes down. The bad one's usually always have a strange fog around them anyway.
The location graphics and lighting effects are absolutely marvelous. Like the first game, the character models are probably the weakest graphical element, but since you spend most of your time alone with just the environment as your companion, you get plenty of time to stare in awe at the beautiful (albeit cold and drab) space station.
So far, the game isn't hard. The one 'bad' ghost I've encountered simply requires you to run away down a straight pathway. Apparently, it's like this the whole game- get involved with a hostile spirit and simply run by it until you can get to the ventilation control and get rid of the fog in the area. Then you can go about trying to help said spirit.
The two biggest things the game has going for it are: incredible atmosphere (outside of the Silent Hill games, this is by far the most effective and creepy atmosphere I've ever seen in a game) and compelling story (you are driven to find out what happened at this space station... and where your wife is).
Unfortunately, the game seems to be one massive fetch quest: find ghost, figure out ghosts dilemma, find item, give to ghost, new pathway opens, etc. In the case of aggressive ones: run from ghost, find nearest vent, get rid of fog, help ghost.
The game might be too slow for many gamers tastes... and being devoid of any kind of fighting is another factor to detract most mainstream gamers.
That being said, I'm really liking this game. I don't mind the slow pace... and helping the ghosts always opens up new discoveries about the story. It's also the most 'scared' I've been playing a game in the dark since SH3.
I'm not sure if this is as 'bargain bin' as, say, Disaster Report is, yet. In fact, I'm just renting it (with plans to purchase)- but if any of you actually read my whole thread and are even remotely interested, track it down.
I really hope the Echo Night series continues. It's a nice alternative to gunning down monsters and being mind-fucked by psychological symbolics.
