Topic: RFN RetroActive Discussion (Game #3: Eternal Darkness)

[NWR_Neal]

I feel bad that I haven't said anything in this yet.

This was probably one of my most anticipated games ever. It was also how I learned about ship dates and release dates. I marched proudly (parent in tow because I was underage) to a GameStop the day it supposedly came out, only to be told it was coming out the next day.

Regardless, I love this game. I went back to it a year or two ago and the combat didn't seem to be as much fun as it used to be, but the story's still awesome. From the bit I played of Too Human, it seems like Silicon Knights may have lost that touch that made ED's story amazing. It's got good characters that play off of solid archetypes (the Indiana Jones-esque guy). I liked jumping around from character to character because it made each chapter a little bit different.

I loved Anthony, but I hated playing as the fat little bastard Roberto because he ran so damn slow.

I love the little things in this game and all the little sanity effects or sanity moments that are peppered around. I knew the infamous bathtub scene was coming and I still nearly **** myself.

I'd watch a movie of this game. Who knows, maybe in 20 years Zack Snyder's kid will make it into a movie.

[Stratos]

I think that the quality between ED and TH is the Nintendo difference. A lot of companies that have guidance from Nintendo put out their greatest works. Miyamoto's guidance from Retro is what lead to the 1st person view and the awesomeness of the Prime series.

Silicone Knights needs to return to Nintendo. If not for ED2 then for anything new from them. I believe that Too Human would have been a better product if SK was still attached with Nintendo.

[NWR_Neal]

Stratos - I agree. Microsoft, from what I gather, is a bit hands off. It works out for some companies, but not for all. I think SK is of the latter.

[Stratos]

Stratos - I agree. Microsoft, from what I gather, is a bit hands off. It works out for some companies, but not for all. I think SK is of the latter.

A number of companies have suffered from 'Post-Nintendo-Game-Disorder'.
Factor-5
Silicone Knights
Camelot
RareWare...

[NWR_Lindy]

I played several hours of ED this week (and then couldn't make the podcast because I had to work late, boooo) and was reminded how much I love it.  Great story, interesting characters, cool magic system.  My main criticisms are its clunky combat system (it's better than the early Resident Evil games, but is still too "tanky" for me), lack of enemy variety, and the fact that they make things harder by throwing more enemies at you, not by giving you more complex tasks or puzzles.

But I still love it.

[BeautifulShy]

I remember around the launch of this game there was lots of comparisons between REmake and ED:SR. In regards to that The inventory system and the combat was better in ED:SR than REmake. In regards to scares they had different types.REmake was more jumpy and "oh crap what is this" scares. ED:SR was all psychological.

[Jonnyboy117]

Yeah, it's a bit funny to remember the flood of RE/ED comparisons back then.  Resident Evil has become such a totally different series now.  (The changes are definitely for the better.)

[broodwars]

Re-post from Podcast 137 discussion:
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My big problem with Eternal Darkness is the Sanity Meter, as it allows you to know instantly if anything you see on-screen is a Sanity effect.  That takes any surprise out of anything the game can do to you the entire game, and completely nullifies the point of the Sanity effects.  Also, let's say you play through the game with the Sanity Meter intentionally left empty (the most enjoyable way to play the game).  Then you have to deal with an endless barrage of women and babies crying, which is just too obnoxious to deal with the entire game.

[Stratos]

So I just beat the game tonight after listening to the podcast (#138).

Once you beat it three times you can choose to start the game with the fact you beat all the ancients once before. I thought this could be an endless cycle where you beat the game over and over. But this time I beat it doesn't save a fourth came completion. Too bad as I half hoped that the second set of three plays could be a 'hard mode' of sorts. Maybe the 4th time is harder, it's been so long since the last time I played the game through that I don't remember.

I also realized that I am missing the blue zombie from Max's medical journal. Guess I'm playing the fourth time on the blue path.

Also, to supplement a bit to the closing podcast discussion, I would love a sequel to take place in the same world. For one, who is to say that those are the only ancients in the world. Also Mantorok is still alive and when I heard the true epilogue it sounded as if Mantorok could be planing his own takeover of humanity or something else entirely.

Also, I think a great sequel game could be more 'lost chapters' from the original story. It was mentioned by some of the staff and also on other sites that there were a number of other levels planned that were removed of not finished for a number of reasons. This playthrough I realiszed that the character Pious used as the foundation of the tower was supposed to be a Templar knight who had a middle eastern level during the crusades.

One last interesting tidbit I read: Michael was originally planned to kill himself in front of Dr Roivas to avoid facing the forces of darkness that were chasing him. I'm personally glad that got removed (at Nintendo's request apparently).
Also, I believe that the 'cast team mentioned that Michael was originally going to be a Marin fighting in the Gulf War but was then changed to a politically safer fire fighter. In the first room the body where you get your guns from is the original model/army outfit that Michael was supposed to have as a Marine.

[Stratos]

Just thought I'd add this that I stumbled upon. There is a fifth Ancient. The yellow one and you can see hints of it in the game.

Though I'd been told he was tired of sequel questions, I tried a nudge, asking which stories he'd really like to tell, and as I expected, I was rebuffed. Almost. "Ooh," he says, laughing like a man who just parried an unexpected strike. "I don't think I can go into that. Secrets for the future. But one of the things we lightly touched upon, and some people have discovered, there actually is a fifth Old One in the game that's really alluded to, which is the proponent of yellow magic. And explaining that stuff and the mythos, there's a lot more to tell, [like] why have the Ancients been imprisoned, those kinds of things. It's just the tip of the iceberg, where we need to expand the universe and stuff. There's a lot more to tell."

Another thought I read online about the Yellow Ancient

Some would say that yellow represents order. Unspoiled magick, before the other Ancients can set their stamp on it, the magick is yellow. Monsters fallen in battle will be called upon by the yellow one, and it is Yellow who leads you the way into Mantorok's sanctuary.

We know how Mantorok's magic resides inside the circle of chaos that Chat, Uly and Xel upheld, feeding itself from their quarrel. However, might be that that is not the complete side of the story. Imagine a triangular bipyramid (a 'diamond' of two pyramids glued together), with the 'normal' Ancients in the middle, and Mantorok and yellow on either side of the tops of the pyramids. From atop, we'd indeed see Mantorok in the middle... but we don't see all beyond the veil.

Yellow is seen once more when the safeguard before Mantorok's rune is still in its equilibrium- all Ancients still represented, balancing eachother, means order... and the barrier is yellow. Remove one Ancient from the game, and the other two will ensure chaos- no more yellow.