Cradle. Dear God... - by mol
Palantir on 18/3/2006 at 12:11
Just finished Compound, only 90% of loots....
Anyway,
I've got the map [SPOILER]in the catacomb[/SPOILER]
5 Holy water
15 Fire arrows
just need to refill my flashbombs to 20,
Well, and cradle!
I visit you,
.......uhmm, next week
:cheeky:
Kalibos on 18/3/2006 at 19:38
I finished the cradle about 2 weeks ago, but just found this thread. Let me share my thoughts about this ungodly place.
Now, granted, I'm a bit of a pansy when it comes to games (DOOM 3 scares me, but in the *zomg screamer* way), but I thought after reading so much about this level previously I would be fine, cruising through it. Not so. I had read the stories, the background, and knew that there was nothing that could hurt me in the first half of the level. Looking back, I wish I hadn't read all that (but then again, if I hadn't, I might have been admitted to an asylum by now). I was slightly anxious to get into the place, so I zoomed over to the entrance, stocked up and ready to go.
Once I entered, I just continued forward. Now this is where I was really smacking myself. I knew that I was safe from harm here, but it still scared me more than any game has ever done. After quicksaving every 5 feet, quitting the game for a few minutes, and coming back, I just kept going (but by that time had taken off my headphone because I couldn't stand it). I missed the knock at the attic door (because of my headphones being off, :p ), but the note alerted me. Now, I hadn't read much about the attic, so I had an arrow nocked the whole time up the stairs. What evil stairs. After the little... "encounter", I did what the game told me to, grabbed the fuse, and proceeded downstairs, my confidence slightly boosted at this point. Blah blah blah, I reach the generator. I quit the game for about an hour at that point. I did not want to turn it on. Partly because I don't want to be exposed by light, but mostly because I knew that turning it on would force me into the Inner Cradle. So eventually I come back, turn it on, and proceed.
Now, I thought the Outer Cradle had invoked fear in me. Not so. The inner part, I believe, made a lasting impression on me. I was crouch-creeping along the entrance, trying to go as slow as possible and not be seen. Then there was the shadow flitting behind the reception desk. Once again, I saved, quit, and came back an hour later. I knew the enemies were undead, so I appropriately stocked up on holy water, but nothing prepared me for these... things. I stayed in the shadows as best I could, and was just about to enter the eastern hallway when I noticed the lights flickering and knew a puppet was around. So I shot a noisemaker into the part I could see, and sure enough, the creature was upon it, investigating. I threw my water in there, killing it. That made me feel slightly more comfortable; at least these things could be killed.
This is where the experience really disturbed me. I wandered into the east hallway, not knowing that there was another puppet patrolling the area. I took a right, and was facing the place to go to the morgue and such, where I heard some sort of weird screech and turned around. The thing was right there. Batting at me. Now this scared me. A lot. I quickly lobbed one, two, three, four, five flashbombs at it, making sure to kill it. Once again, at this point, I had to save and quit. But it was for about a day this time. I was just too traumatized by a god damn undead mental patient to go on.
Eventually, I worked up my courage, and continued. Now, you've all played the level, so I won't give you a play-by-play. But I consider this my weakest point of all gaming. Whenever I booted up the game, I had to quicksave and quit every 50 feet or so. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to finish the level. I just wanted Garrett to kill himself rather than facing this place. But I kept going. Through the treatment rooms (the notes on such things as 'botched' lobotomies didn't help my fear), very slowly through White Hall, and eventually all the puppets were dead except the one in Cell No. X and the morgue.
I did my objectives, and finally, thankfully, left the Cradle. I will never, ever, go back there. Writing about this makes me feel uncomfortable (okay, major pansy, I know), and reading about others' experiences also unnerves me. I have to have really loud music on to distract me from my memories.
null (the right guy, right? correct me if I'm wrong), god damn nice work. You evil man.
T-Smith on 18/3/2006 at 20:18
Glad to hear you made it out alright :thumb:. It seems that lately, we've been getting more and more first time Cradle survivors, and we've been hearing from more people who haven't yet gone in.
Kalibos on 18/3/2006 at 22:12
Alright? Hardly. :D
T-Smith on 18/3/2006 at 22:16
Quote Posted by Kalibos
Alright? Hardly. :D
Well, you're still LEGALLY sane, so that's a win :p
Kalibos on 18/3/2006 at 22:17
Yeah, but what if someone comes over and find me hiding in a corner not moving?
Cardel on 19/3/2006 at 09:18
Just be sure never to do that... they take you to this assylum known as the cradle and will remember you forever... well, untill a handy thief comes along, but you'll find that he seems to dissapear for an hour or so for every 50 feet he walks :p
Dont worry, I had to do the same thing, too. Funnily enough, I was thinking most of the way through the memory part of the level [SPOILER]I gotta go through this one real quick, or the cradle might remember me [/SPOILER] so much for my quick-timed work. :laff:
Dia on 19/3/2006 at 15:36
Quote Posted by Kalibos
Yeah, but what if someone comes over and find me hiding in a corner not moving?
As long as you're not in the fetal position you'll be okay ... after awhile. (Just don't start sucking your thumb, 'k?)
Otherwise, we'll come over & tape a sign to your head that says, 'Cradle Survivor; approach with caution'.
;)
Kovitlac on 20/3/2006 at 23:40
I *just* started the Cradle for the 2nd time. Last time it was on the PC - now it's my Xbox. It's not so bad the 2nd time. I sped through the Outer Cradle quickly enough). The Inner Cradle is much, much worse... I didn't think there was a puppet that came 'round the entryway so I thought I was reletively safe, at least until I found the Observatory. Wrong. I was leaving one hall and found the lights to be flickering madly in the entry area where I first came in. I dashed around the corner and hid a second before puppet walked out like 3 feet away, I swear. (At this point my dad was there and I was all 'LOOK at it, dad! It's TWITCHING!' of which he didn't seem to care one bit about. Than my cat saw a bird outside and jumped into the slidding glass window, which made me jump about 5 feet...). I shot a fire arrow and the Thing's retreating back. It shrieked and I shot another one. Did it die? No. It came running straight at me. It took all my courage not to reload right there. Instead I shot another arrow and watched it smolder. Than I stepped on it, got paranoid that it was somehow come back to life (as they have an awful tendancy to do) and quickly quit the game. I'll return to it tonight.
T-Smith on 21/3/2006 at 01:38
What difficulty are you playing on? Well.. normal, that much I know (due to the unfixable bug). But what difficulty did you START playing on :P?
