Amnesia - problems with getting scared?

[Istrebitel]

2 bobbo, really, i tried clicking every fucking pixel on that door and they just would not go in! Maybe i had a glitch or didnt find THE pixel to click to get in? Anyways, my point still stands with numerous other games, like Lighthouse.

2 nackidno
Yes, i agree 100% my opinion is not "expert" of any sort nor i speak "the truth". I can be mistaken or shortsighted.

On 2) - well at least that!
I mean, i've read dev blogs and i understand now that you may not make some person replay a moment over and over again until he does it right (see mangaminx's letsplay overture, dying 10 times on spiders just because you do not catch the fact that you can light the fuel on the floor, or getting saved with 2 spiders 1 meter away from you definetly destroys atmosphere - "a cave in, how surprising...")

Still, when you know you always have the way out, it kinda destroys one of the major fears and tension moment... like, when you REALLY doubt that this character you like so much is gonna live through this... I mean, thats what claustrophobia is for - you fear that you'd never get out of this small room!

In the game, if you are SURE you are going to always get out, you can feel much more safe...
However, yes i do not know how to go around a fact that having player to replay a tense moment over and over because he failed at something is immersion-breaking...

On 2a) - on the other hand, knowing the whole game world is based on your character and nothing happens without his action totally shatters the feel "this is real".
You know, real like real, like, if you get into a burning house, you cannot stay there for 2 days just because you didnt advance 2 steps further to trigger a script! If you stay in a perfectly lit place in Storage for 2 days, Mr. Face WILL eventually bump into you, if you stay too long in a place where that red thing eventually grows, it WILL grow there, wether you make progress or not.
Of course we cannot make a fully alive world in an adventure/story game, hell hardly any game has it well done, but still, something could have been done for it to feel different? At least something? At least something that doesnt allow you to afk in obviously dangerous spots or suicide against Mr. Face at your will? Or punish you somehow for that?

On 2b) - i was meaning something different.
What i meant is that there is always one single way from location A to location B and when you notice it once you start to feel "What if" or "how many coincidences had to happen for this to end up like it is now". To leave you exactly ONE way to advance, not zero, not two or more, just one!

I mean, it IS totally fine in Penumbra where we are hinted that some Red guy is manipulating us into going exact one way (he barricades doors, he sets traps or caveins, etc)
When we are supposedly in some abandoned place which was left "as is" with no intention to make a "test course" for our player, it starts to bug you.

Why are there EXACTLY 3 rods left, EXACTLY one of the same type? It was obvious from the notes that there were an abundant supply of rods - what is a chance of EXACTLY that happening? Why did the cave in blocked exactly the room with the rod and exactly in the place where you can go around by hopping on windows. (eh, at least there is more coal than required, that would be totally stupid...)

Why a cave-in traps you exactly in the room where there is a weak wall? What if it would happen in any other room without such wall?

Why there would be exactly one key for every door that needs one, and there would ALWAYS be one available? And Daniel somehow miraculously knows if the key is available or not (if it is he'll write to find a key, if it isnt he'll just say he cant open this lock or he needs to destroy the lock) (and we cannot say he knows because he knew before, something might have happened while he was absent anyway and change the situation)

Why would in every quest hub EACH room would have something required for a quest?
I mean imagine a thief breaking into a 5-room appartament and he has to steal something that is hidden in a safe. He needs a key to the room with the safe and a key (or code) to the safe itself. What is the chance he would be required to visit every other room in order to complete that? Most likely, if the solution exists, he'd go into one room to get the key, and other room to find a note with the code. Or one room for a key to the locker, second room in locker key to the room with the safe, third room code to the safe. Why always every available room has a quest item for us?
But if that'd be a computer game, for sure the appartament would have EXACTLY the number of rooms needed for quest to be solved, isnt it stupid?

I mean i agree giving more than one solution to a problem means player will see less content on a walkthrough (and games like Amnesia are not meant to be replayable just to find another way through that closed door). But still, giving at least any kind of flexibility would go a great way. If at least once or twice in a game we would have more than one distinct way to advance, and that would happen sooner into the game, we would have a strong feeling that we have a choice, and when we would have no choice before us, we would think "well, sometimes there is only one choice...".

But when you KNOW you ALWAYS will have only ONE choice, it feels awful!

On 5) well you can answer this to any kind of complaint, generally. But this forum is called "discussion" and thats what i'm doing - i'm discussing, stating points i think could be improved or changed. Its okay for you to think they dont need a change, but at the same time it doesnt counter my point in any way - it just means you have a totally different one, which is perfectly fine.

On 6) they said in the blog that they view it as breaking the immersion if they make you do trial and error - since then you know what is going to happen and just fight a game mechanic to advance the plot. Still - at least they could make it FEEL awful to die, so you would not be thinking "okay i can just sacrifice myself to Mr. Face and respawn and he'll be gone and i can advance". That should be an option - for a player who lacks skill to survive the current action scene - but at a price... i dont know, i think the sound of the dog chewing you in Penumbra was the right way to go... make death count! Make it awful to feel being killed! With proper immerison, players would really FEAR to watch a death scene and that would motivate them against using death to respawn with enemy gone.

Thanks.