Topic: Shocktober 2021: Just in time for Metroid Dread.

[pokepal148]

I wasn't planning on doing this again since there didn't seem to be much interest last year but I've been proven wrong apparently so here we go.

When does this start?

Shocktober begins right now, and will last the entire month of October, ending after Halloween night.

What should I play?

Anything that falls under the classification of a horror game. Survival horror, action horror, a horror-themed FPS, anything with zombies, etc. In the interest of having fun, this can be more of a loose definition of what defines a horror game, and constitute anything that is more-or-less "horror themed". If you're not sure, just check out the previous years' threads which I've linked below...as you'll notice, a wide range of games are accepted.

For me, it's very much the same outlook as Backlaugust -- I've got horror games in my backlog, and it's time to play them. How many games you want to play is up to you, whether that's just one game or a few games. Any platform, doesn't matter. They can be new games, old games. Even horror games you've already beaten long ago and want to replay. You don't have to choose all of your games up front; you can if you want, but it's fine to just take it one-game-at-a-time.

Who should participate?

If you:

a. Enjoy horror games
and/or
b. Have at least one horror game in your backlog
and/or
c. Plan on buying a new horror game

you should do this!

The purpose of this is a little less about seeing how many games we can beat, but for everyone to share in the experience of playing something scary. A good horror game can be a tough thing to get all of the way through to the end, but with some moral support from the rest of the community that's going through the same thing, maybe we can all make it back into the light by November! That's what it comes down to -- having fun, and being scared shitless. And being scared shitless is a lot more fun when being scared shitless as a group.

One last thing -- for your fellow NWR-er who hasn't played every game, try using spoiler tags whenever possible for anything major that's story-related, or just in general anything that should not be spoiled.

Examples of games that count as Horror:

Anything remotely spooky, scary, or Halloweeny. You getting Metroid Dread? That counts. You planning to play through Luigi's Mansion 3? You sucked yourself right into a game that counts for Shocktober. Are you literally just planning to do the Halloween event in Animal Crossing? Come on in.

[M.K.Ultra]

I am getting Metroid Dread shortly after release and I am also thinking of playing The Mummy Demastered as it seems on the shorter side and has been in my backlog for while. I am already playing Fallout 4, but I don't know if that is on brand enough to qualify. That should be enough to keep me busy for this month.

Thanks for hosting this again Pokepal, and Happy Shocktober everyone!

[NWR_insanolord]

I’ll be playing Dread and the Castlevania Advance Collection. Maybe if I’m really feeling ambitious I’ll go back and try to finish Luigi’s Mansion 3.

[Mop it up]

I've gotten started on Costume Quest. For some reason I thought it was some kind of beat 'em up, but evidently it's an RPG! It seems like a decent enough game so far, a little exploration, some side stuff to find, though combat is pretty simple. Having action commands like the Mario RPGs is dangerous to have on Xbox, since I have to actively try and remember that the buttons in the prompts are switched around from Nintendo's controllers. There's some decent humorous writing though the tiny, stylized text in speech bubbles can be a bit difficult to read at times. I have a feeling that everything is just in the imaginations of the kids and the "monsters" are actually teenagers! They sure act like them at least.

[broodwars]

I'll be playing Metroid Dread & the Alan Wake Remaster, but I think those are the only Halloween-ish games for me this month unless I decide to pick up House of Ashes.

[Khushrenada]

I just wrapped up Return of the Obra Dinn on Sunday. Mark me down as having participated and finished a game for this event. Not sure if we're doing a tally for this or not....

[TOPHATANT123]

I had to rack my brain for any unplayed horror game I own, but I found one. Silent Hill, I purchased this during the PS3 store closure rush. Never played anything in this series, it's a shame the other games sound like they don't have great ways to play them anymore. Konami could have just released 2, 3 & 4 on PSN the same as 1, but that boat has well and truly sailed now.

[Luigi Dude]

Well I recently finished Super Hydorah which was a pretty awesome indie shoot-em-up that was a great homage to Gradius.  Not exactly a horror game, but some of the levels did have a creepy atmosphere to them and it was pretty challenging at times.  Plus there's floating skulls you have to avoid in the room before you fight the final boss, so I'd say I could legally get this considered a Shocktober game.

I also played some of the Dragon's Lair Trilogy on the Switch today.  This was my first time experiencing the first Dragon's Lair, and it was interesting.  It could count as a Shocktober game since you're in a creepy castle fighting monsters and constantly getting killed.  The main character is constantly getting turned into a skeleton from all the death I got and since skeletons are spooky, it fits the theme very well.

I'm basically just been playing shorter experiences because I want to be ready for Metroid Dread this Friday.

[M.K.Ultra]

I just completed The Mummy: Demastered on Switch. Overall this is WayForward at their best. I really enjoyed the sprite work, music, and horror theme. The game is pretty short, which I also like. You could probably beat it in a single night if you wanted to. I spend about 10 hours getting 100% on items and the map. Definitely recommended if you like the developers other games or indie metroidvanias.

You may be wondering why I would not just play Metroid Dread. I ordered it from dailysteals to get a discount and it is getting sent through USPS and I am supposed to finally get it tomorrow. I am surprised to see some of you having completed it already. I will probably be chewing on that one for the rest of the month.

[M.K.Ultra]

I have been playing a lot of Metroid Dread, but I think I will finish it before the month is up so I will wait until then to comment. Fallout 4 on the other hand may not even get finished this year. I am playing on PS4 and I only picked it up because it was $5. My only other experience with Bethesda games is that I am playing Skyrim, which I only picked up because it was VR. I was glad to see that I could switch the view to 3rd person, as I don't really like the 1st person perspective in 3d games. The sci-fi story is decent enough to keep me playing but there is more fighting/shooting than I would prefer. There are lots of scary creatures so this is a good Shocktober game. The difficulty seems a little steep so I am thinking I am either expected to grind some (it is an "RPG" after all) or there is something I am missing in terms of finding good weapons. Expert tips are welcome

Also, I am planning on playing some Luigi's Mansion 3 multiplayer on Tuesday October 26 in the evening. I will post info here and in the Discord (under Multiplayer Chat) if anyone wants to join me.

[M.K.Ultra]

I am playing the Scarescraper multiplayer mode in Luigi's Mansion for the next few hours. If anyone wants to join just post in the multiplayer_chat thread of the NWR discord.

[broodwars]

Looks like it's just going to be Metroid Dread for me this month as far as games I finished. I did play about half of House of Ashes and a couple chapters of Alan Wake, but I've largely been invested in TV stuff this month.

[pokepal148]

I finished Majora's Mask. It's easily a top 3 Zelda game for me.

[Khushrenada]

I finally wrapped up Wario Land II from the 3DS VC over the past weekend. It's got a Zombie Wario transformation with some haunted house type levels as well so I guess that makes it another legit game for this thread.

First time having played this game. I remember growing up and always feeling like I was missing out as these Wario games were released and later seeing people talk about them on these forums and elsewhere as a great series. However, I found this game to be a bit of a bore. A lot of the early levels are quite bland and the never changing Treasure game and Map Piece game also give the game a repetitious quality that gets tiring. Thankfully, the levels do start to get a bit more varied in the challenges and substance to give it a stronger finish than start.

That said, I’d put Wario Land 1 ahead of 2 based on my enjoyment. Curious to see what 3 is like as that was often listed as the highlight of the Wario Land series. (Although I suspect Shake It would probably now be considered the best game in the series since its release.) However, it’ll probably be some time before I get around to 3. I’m thinking I might do Shantae GBC for the next VC game and then perhaps Oracle of Seasons to wrap up the GBC Zeldas before getting around to 3 as I keep chipping through all the games I’ve downloaded on to my 3DS.

[Luigi Dude]

That said, I’d put Wario Land 1 ahead of 2 based on my enjoyment. Curious to see what 3 is like as that was often listed as the highlight of the Wario Land series. (Although I suspect Shake It would probably now be considered the best game in the series since its release.) However, it’ll probably be some time before I get around to 3. I’m thinking I might do Shantae GBC for the next VC game and then perhaps Oracle of Seasons to wrap up the GBC Zeldas before getting around to 3 as I keep chipping through all the games I’ve downloaded on to my 3DS.

Wario Land 3 is a more challenging game then WL2 and has more gameplay variety.  It's a direct sequel that was designed with people having played Wario Land 2 first though.  I actually played Wario Land 3 first and I wasn't the biggest fan since I kept getting stuck and having to look up what to do.  Months later I played Wario Land 2 and loved that game more since it was easier to get into.  After finishing Wario Land 2 I decided to replay 3 again and this time I loved 3 more then 2.  Many of the things that gave me trouble in WL3, were things WL2 gradually taught while WL3 just expects you to know them, so finally experiencing WL2 let me enjoy WL3 better.

[TOPHATANT123]

Hey I actually did it, I beat Silent Hill.

Hot take time, I'm sure it would have been scary in its day, but at the current moment the only thing that's terrifying is the game design.

There is a limited finite amount of HP in the world of Silent Hill. You can only heal with items and they don't respawn. If you count up all the health items you could calculate the sum total of allotted HP energy in the entire game. The big problem here is that there are places where enemies will respawn indefinitely.

Enemies don't respawn constantly, but they respawn enough so that it's not really worth killing them if it's the slightest bit dangerous to do so. HP is a ticking time bomb and once you run out of items, you may as well kiss that save file goodbye and load up an older one, or if you've been especially inefficient, restart the game from the beginning.

The same goes for ammo. Finite ammo, infinite enemies. If you were to shoot all of your bullets into a wall just before a boss fight and save over your only save, you would likely need to start the game over again.

I get the impression the game is designed to be replayable. There are important weapons and items that can easily be missed and multiple endings that are unlocked by doing random BS that you would never discover on a first play through. Which explains the design choice with regards to health and ammo. Run out of resources? Well start again and be more careful next time.

Bad controls contribute to boring boss battles, which are simply ammo and health gates, as you stand in front of the boss and shoot it until one of you dies.

The map system in this game feels ahead of its time and very useful. Sometimes showing you where to go, places you've been and locked doors, but that's only if you can find the area map in the first place. If you miss it along the way you will need to stumble around same-y looking corridors for hours on end.

If you put a gun to my head and asked me to describe the plot I wouldn't be able to tell you. As it's designed to be replayable I'm going to be charitable and say it isn't meant to make sense the first time round. But no, sorry Silent Hill, I don't want to do that, I'm just going to find out what your plot is through a YouTube video.

There are some PS1 games that hold up. I recently played Suikoden and Metal Gear Solid, and would recommend those. Silent Hill however I cannot recommend.

[M.K.Ultra]

I finished Majora's Mask. It's easily a top 3 Zelda game for me.

Which system were you playing this on?

[M.K.Ultra]

I saw the credits roll on Metroid Dread on 10/24. It took me about 9 hours and I had 43% item completion. Personally, this was a 10/10. I almost always get lost in Metroidvania games and this is usually what takes away from my enjoyment. There are two main reasons why this worked so well for me. First is the map. I think this is the best map in any game I have ever played. I love the detail of the icons and how you see not just which rooms you were in but where in the room you explored. Second is the level design. I know there is usually an intended sequence for these games but as I mentioned I usually get lost and then have to backtrack and try everything 2-3 times before making progress. I did not get stuck or lost once (and did not have to look anything up). I would even make a wrong turn occasionally and the game would make it so clear I was going the wrong way. So with 0 backtracking (other than the little bit that is required) I moved right through the sequence and ended up with 43%. I enjoyed it enough to revisit in the harder difficulty or going for 100%. Another great Shocktober...see you all for Indiecember!

[pokepal148]

I finished Majora's Mask. It's easily a top 3 Zelda game for me.

Which system were you playing this on?

This was on 3DS using the 3DS restoration Mod to patch out some of the changes from the 3DS version and add some quality of life improvements.

[Khushrenada]

Just beat the final boss in Metroid Dread. Also had a 100% completion rate on items. Thank goodness there wasn't a counter displayed after for the number of times you died like how some recent Mario games show the amount of lives you needed over the game.  My final time was just about 5 minutes short of 17 hours although according to my Switch it is about 25 hours I have in the game. Some of the time was me going around and filling in every square of every room on the map so that there was nothing dark or untouched by Samus. Definitely not something that's required by the game or anything I'll do again but I figured I'd do it this time on my first playthrough while I was checking for the remaining items. However, the ending escape sequence doesn't not give you time to fill in the new areas at that time so it's a task that can never be fully finished.

I've been reading up on things and I see beating the game in under 4 hours on Normal and Hard will unlock everything in the Gallery so I guess I have some speeding up to do.   I also learned that I performed a sequence break during my initial playthrough. I was able to acquire the Cross Bomb ahead of when the game would lead you to it. Unfortunately, the Cross Bomb isn't really an item that can do much to lead to other sequence breaking or make things easier. Still, it seems players are excited about the way this game is designed to allow you some freedom in how you acquire the items. Like this little post on Reddit.

Definitely learning the map and where blocks are hidden to allow you to access other rooms off the beaten path would come in handy. While part of me does want to keep moving on to other titles to play and keep checking off the backlog, I'm really tempted to keep playing this for now and get it done at faster and faster times. It's always been in my mind to do that with Samus Returns but I've yet to go back to that game after finishing it the first time. The fact that I'm going to do that with Metroid Dread is a real indication of how much I've enjoyed this game and what a step up it has been from Metroid games since Corruption. Right now, I'd position this game about the same as Super Metroid in my personal rankings but I don't consider Super Metroid the best game in the series either so that isn't quite the highest praise from me. Still, there's a lot about it I find similar to that game. (For instance, the Shinespark is still pretty much useless aside from some puzzles for items and the grappling hook is still lousy for swinging back and forth from hook to hook.  )

[Order.RSS]

Also finished Dread last week, and I think I gotta echo most people's sentiments: it's really good. Movement feels great, the bosses were challenging but rewarding to beat, the ending is hype, and it seems to offer plenty of replay options for speedrunners/completionists.

I hope Mercury Steam have another one of these in the tank in 3-5 years. I'd like to see them get more experimental - they obviously have the formula down at this point, so I'd like to see them go wild with it. The EMMI never felt very threatening since they are contained to little zones for example, and the game felt too respectful of its players to pull a Fusion and burst through a Save Room door.
You could do all sorts of things, like giving players misleading maps, or destroying their recharge stations. Dread pulls it punches a lot outside of the bosses, which is fine, but I think they could really increase the tension a lot if they wanted to without just further upping the difficulty.