Eternal Darkness GCN - worth buying?

[vegeta1215]

Anyone played Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube?

I've read lots of great reviews about it, and it sounds like a good game, but I can't decide whether I wanna get it or not. I know it's really inexpensive now since it didn't sell very well, but it's getting harder to find, and if it's as good as what some people have said I'd like to pick it up while it's still available.

[AtmaWeapon]

Have you ever read H. P. Lovecraft? Imagine playing a game based on one of his stories. A game that plays and feels like Resident Evil should have played and felt like.

This has long been one of my favorite Gamecube games. It has a pretty intriguing plot line, and I promise you there is a neat surprise if you beat it aligned with each god.

I found the acting to be pretty good. It's the kind of game that IMO you could record on a VCR and watch like a movie.

If you don't buy it your Gamecube library will not be complete.

[Grasshopper]

If its inexpensive, and if you're even contemplating on getting it, I'd go ahead and pick it up while you can. It is very good, and the combat and control is pretty easy to slip into.

[Vagla]

It's not a game you want to pass up, in my opinion. Just like BG&E, it should have sold much better than it did. It's a whole lot of fun; I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Petoe]

ED worth buying? Hell yes! Though the graphics aren't that good and the game might feel boring in the beginning, it's a really fantastic and genius game. The game has the best story I've ever seen and the mood is so fantastic because of the perfect sound effects. Let your sanity decrease and weird things start to happen. I just think it's very interesting how the chapters take place in different periods of time from 26 B.C. to 2000 A.D. And about the scariness of the game, it's not RE-scary like zombies jumping out of walls or anything "cheap" like that, instead the game is really disturbing sometimes and plays with your mind.

Don't know if my opinion matters since I seem to have a "weird/wrong" game taste... like I think that Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine and Eternal Darkness are the best games for GCN and popular games like Wind Waker, Starfox Adventures and Mario Kart DD suck ass IMO.

[Fiyerstorm]

Eternal Darkness is my favorite video game. It is simply excellent. The storyline is fantastic and the gameplay is fun. It's a must have. Do it. Get it.

THE DARKNESS COMES.

[vegeta1215]

Cool.

Now, is there anyone out there who doesn't like the game? Or is there anything about the game you don't like? I heard the graphics aren't fabulous, but graphics don't bother me much.

[AtmaWeapon]

The only thing I don't like about the game is also one of the things I enjoy about the game: the combat.

Initially, I was very satisfied with the combat system. It's like a simplified RE aiming system. You hold R to target, then use the control stick to choose head, torso, or arms, then you press the attack button. Quickly releasing the R button and pressing it again switches targets. It's simple, it's fun, and it works.

However, short of some boss battles (a few of which took me an hour or so to get the patterns down, no thanks to power outages we were having at the time), there is not much variety. To get the final ending, you have to beat the game multiple times. By the final playthrough you'll pretty much see the combat as a chore to be completed in between puzzles and cutscenes. The puzzles aren't mind-boggling, they are mostly "gather the items" or "use your new power" puzzles. The cutscenes are different enough for each playthrough in most places to be worth it, and the final ending scene is pretty cool if you understand what it means.

So really the only thing that detracts from the game for me is the monotony that comes from killing zombies over and over. My R button is getting worn and it caused some problems with targetting from time to time, but that's not really the game's fault.

I guess another gripe is that once you get experienced at combat you're not going to experience the sanity effects much at all. If you want to experience the most possible sanity effects, decode the following spoiler by reading every third letter start over at each space):

cdfhdfogyouistee ewtsxhswe dfXjkeiulng'wsldxoswtszahjtuuh (fsgczrreeszeren) aeavsrj7thliiuf,lakicojt dxfreidwrcjsuht

Everything else was spot-on and I really don't think any Gamecube library should be without Eternal Darkness.

If you feel like reading hints, then read the following sentence: except in one scenario towards the end of the game and against one specific type of enemy you don't want to get near, always favor melee weapons to guns and ranged weapons.

[punkonjunk1024]

I believe I played this game once on my friend's GC, I remember the sanity meter, and one thing in particular that happens when you let it go waaay down - the screen flashes blue, and gives you the typical "fatal error" windows screen. I laughed my ass off, but I couldn't find a copy of the game. the bit of gameplay I got was awesome, too.