Dissapointed by the Cradle...

guildmaster on 13/3/2006 at 12:26

Okay, I quit lurking on this exquisite board to share my mild dissapointment with what many people here (and elsewhere) refer to as one of the scariest experiences in the realm of electonic entertainment. Dont get me wrong, Cradle is quite good & atmospheric level (madhouses and lunatics have always fascinated me), it reeks of misery and sadness, but it simply isn't scary enough. By some of the threads on this board, I have expected to be incapacitated by fear, especially as I'm not extra-brave person (Bonehoard was more than enough for me). So I guess you are partly to blame.:D Anyway no great point to this post, just to vent a bit...

Sluggs on 13/3/2006 at 12:40

I was expecting alot more from the Cradle myself, having heard all the fuss over it. What impressed me the most was some the level design and the sound. I didn't find it scary, but then, i don't find anything scary, apart from Women that is! :joke:

These are my favourite parts of the Cradle...

Inline Image:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vaughn.cooper/temp/cradle1.gif

Inline Image:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vaughn.cooper/temp/cradle2.gif

The ghost in the attic was a neat trick but it wasn't scary. Those undead patients spoilt it for me. They might as well have been Zombies!

T-Smith on 13/3/2006 at 13:35

Strange how you mention Bonehoarde scaring you, but not the Cradle. I haven't ever been scared or even freaked out by Bonehoard. Not once in all the times I've played it, for some odd reason. The Cradle however, still gives me shivers just looking at it.

LittleTaffer on 13/3/2006 at 14:04

Quote Posted by sluggs

but then, i don't find anything scary, apart from Women that is! :joke:

Hehe. I find women scary too. Some days I actually think that I'd like to be a man. It's so much simpler!

And back on topic:
I've not done the Cradle yet, but from those screenshots I can see why everyone can get so freaked by the place. It seems beautiful with all that iron flowery latticework, but the windows, the architectural structure of it lends another dimension to it. In contrast to that beautiful curly latticework, the rest (almost 99%) of the building is cold cement or stone, done in straight, unforgiving angles, huge lumps of them sat across from one another forming corridors, hallways, everything. The staircases aren't warmly welcoming wood or stone, but instead they're made of cold iron(?), like metal pipes. The very element of pipe-like structures in that place makes the atmosphere very brittle, very technical, very...controlled. Very cold and unforgiving. Now if they were wooden banisters or fences, this might have been more fascinating than uneasily unforgiving.

..Sorry..am I overanalysing here? I do that too much when it comes to immersive games. :angel:

Tithian on 13/3/2006 at 14:26

I too was a bit dissapointed at this level. There were only one time in this level that I got really scared, and that was when I was picking a lock and heard something behind me, so I turned around and had my first look at one of the patients charging at me :o

It's not even close to being as scary as Return to Cathedral was the first time I played it. But I was a whole lot younger then :D

Tin Star on 13/3/2006 at 15:03

Quote Posted by T-Smith

I thought and felt that the bonehoarde was more tense then the cradle myself,as for being scared,freaked out or even the shivers that didn't happen to me by nether one of the levels.
What I like about the bonehoarde is that there was a lot more to advoid then what the cradle had as well as explore,I guess I expected more out of the cradle other then the sounds they put into the level and I found it to be an easy level to go through.

Tin Star

ffox on 13/3/2006 at 15:18

I wasn't really scared by The Cradle, but I did find it very depressing - all those gloomy grey-blue and grey-green rooms. I often popped down to the morgue to cheer myself up with a cheerful blaze. ;)

Kovitlac on 13/3/2006 at 15:46

The only part of Bonehoard that freaked me out was when I entered the Halls of Echoing Repose and got jumped by 7,000,000 zombies, I swear!

Cradle doesn't seem so scary now but when I was playing through it... I would often take 'breaks' so my racing heart could slow down.

Sluggs on 13/3/2006 at 16:46

Quote Posted by Tithian

There were only one time in this level that I got really scared, and that was when I was picking a lock and heard something behind me

It would have been nice to have something appear behind you when picking the locks. I rather enjoyed the lockpicking in this level because i was expecting things to happen, only they didn't! :(

I'm sure later on, taffers' will see the Cradle as a good place to make an FM and put more into it, like they have done with some of the other OM's. I'd look forward to that!

Oh, i rather liked the [SPOILER] returning to the past idea and having to avoid the black figures.[/SPOILER]

Hewer on 13/3/2006 at 18:47

It sounds to me like you guys heard all about how scary the Cradle was and stuff and got your expectations too high.
I didn't let myself read anything at all about the level before playing it. All I knew was that it was an undead mission. Because of that the first half had me freaked out of my wits- I knew there were undead or something around, so I expected them to pop out of nowhere at any second. I didn't know what was ambient noises and what wasn't- even with the pounding on the door until I got near it. The little girl made my blood run cold when she first spoke- after that I was ok with her. Catching the first patient out of the corner of my eye freaked me out, too. After a little bit I was able to settle down and appropch them like any other enemy, though, and the level wasn't too scary after that.

So, the fun scary part was the not knowing- the anticipation. I feel sorry for you people having missed that.