[varyssa]

I entirely go with Gobbler there. 5 Days and 7 Days were straight games, after you played 5 Days and started with 7 Days, you were like "Yay, it's the welder man again, and it's f*ckin' in space this time! WOOHOO!". 7 Days was actually the only game I played for about 6 times now and was still scared to death in those chasing scenes, and the music just fitted sooo perfectly! I was really excited when TN was released, but found myself like "Huh? Which prince? What's a soul object? What in hell is that about??" most of the time (I'm female and blonde, that's my excuse). Although the mood was great, but of what use is that when you don't get the story? (and now let's be honest, who in hell found out that you had to - for about 1 million times - kick and punch to DIE at the end, if the walkthrough hadn't told you?) After playing 6 Days then, I was confused to the max and understood NOTHING (I didn't even know who Cabadath was, missed that part in TN somehow), that's actually why I ended up here. Guess I'm just too dumb for complex correlations and that's why I like 7 Days best.

[arien]

(and now let's be honest, who in hell found out that you had to - for about 1 million times - kick and punch to DIE at the end, if the walkthrough hadn't told you?)

I actually did that by accident, and I used 'kill lenkmann' instead of 'kick' or 'punch'. ('get' anything also works fine.) I was just putting in random verbs to see if anything happened. I seriously thought I had to kill that dude, so I tried stabbing him with the lockpicks, getting the idol, (I thought that John DeFoe would posess Trilby and kill Lenkmann,) grabbing him, etc. When I played the ending for a second time, I could not figure out why I wasn't dying.

Then again, I played most of the game like that. I thought you had to throw the rotten meat at the Tall Man that time he was trying to kill Trilby, and was furious that it didn't work. (I got through that bit when my sister came in and said, "Why don't you try killing him?" Guh. Stupid me.)

[El Presedente]

(I thought that John DeFoe would posess Trilby and kill Lenkmann,)

I thought that too, and it would have been so awesome, but when I figured out i was supposed to die i was like 'yeeeeeaaaaahhh' when Lenkmann went, 'what? He's dead?'

[Gobbler]

You know, it would have been perfect if Mr. Lenkmann had said something like "NOT IN THE FACE!" after that.

[El Presedente]

'AAAAAAAGGGGHHHH'.....



'Why have you just stabbed me in the eye?'




'......'




'AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH'....

[Gobbler]

This somehow calls for some kind of "What Lenkmann should have said"-thread, eh?

[MAX Acca]

"Put down that Ramones album!"

[Nostaw]

I voted for Notes.

Anyway, to please the review-readers-who-don't-have-anything-else-to-do:

My opinion is that a terror game needs six things:

- A lot of nasty deaths (more than five) - D;
- An intersting villain and/or killing force - V;
- A complicated story, for the smart people - S;
- Intersting main character - C;
- Good chance of dying by many creative ways - F;
- Good ending or the guarantee that there will be a sequel - E

So, we have:

5DAS - V, S, C, E
7DAS - D, V, C, F
TN - D, V, S, C, E
6DAS - D, S

[Blueskirt]

I would add 3 things to your list:
A bit of mystery (you shouldn't know what's going on until it's nearly too late)

Weird sightings or weird stuffs happening as you progress in the story, to gradually build up the mood and occasionally scare the players back under their security blankets until the grand finale,

And the grand finale must be scary (Unlike 5DAS's finale where everyone whole heartly agree to not touch the idol anymore and the danger is removed)

Or maybe I'm just adding those because Enclosure, which is the best scary adventure game in my book, doesn't score that much with your system.

[Gobbler]

I'd also suggest changing that S part from "A complicated story" to "An intelligent story".

5DaS wasn't that complicated, but exceptionally well written, whereas TN or 6DaS left you a bit puzzled at times, which doesn't necessarily contribute to the horror effect.

Also, by your logic, a bad ending can still score points if it promises a sequel. Rrrrriight... now I don't know about you, but I'd probably lose interest if the umpteenth installment of a horror flick with an exceptionally bad written story and ending announces yet another sequel...

[David-kyo]

I would like to use this opportunity to express how much Enclosure's ending pissed me off, now that you mentioned it. I won't spoil it for anyone who might not have finished it, but it's outrageously crap.

[Sinclair]

5DaS wasn't that complicated, but exceptionally well written, whereas TN or 6DaS left you a bit puzzled at times, which doesn't necessarily contribute to the horror effect.

I mostly agree with this, although I found TN to be the scariest. It was probably an aesthetic thing: It was scariest at the beginning, before you really realise what's going on. At least that was my experience. Or it could just have been that the disorientation of the worlds switching faded?

I'm reminded of reading HP Lovecraft's stories: I've always found I prefer the stories that give less background information about the shapeless horror that is Czhashashththtla or whatever. But of course Lovecraft was rather prone to overdescription and purple prose (or at least I think so).

[Nostaw]

I'd also suggest changing that S part from "A complicated story" to "An intelligent story".

5DaS wasn't that complicated, but exceptionally well written, whereas TN or 6DaS left you a bit puzzled at times, which doesn't necessarily contribute to the horror effect.

Also, by your logic, a bad ending can still score points if it promises a sequel. Rrrrriight... now I don't know about you, but I'd probably lose interest if the umpteenth installment of a horror flick with an exceptionally bad written story and ending announces yet another sequel...

Yes, it is. You can't just say it's a bad ending, unless you know the whole story. Technically, it's not even an ending if there will be a sequel. And yes, I don't care if everything is messed up at the end of a particular chapter, since the sequel fix it all.

Please notice: I'm talking about bad endings of chapters, not bad chapters.

[Gobbler]

You can't just say it's a bad ending, unless you know the whole story.

Oh, but I can. A bad ending is a bad ending, and if I can see that much, then the whole story that might possibly become a good one after the third installment can go to hell.

My point still stands and I still don't want to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

[Nostaw]

My point still stands and I still don't want to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

I do not consider it a good movie with a bad ending, but a bad movie that promises a sequel.

Anyway, to avoid this thread to be full of posts about that movie, I'll just say I respect your opinion and it would be better if the bad endings just didn't exist.