Moments in Games that make you Panic! Fear! Worry! *NEW Repulsive!* or just Holy Sh*t!

[Danj86]

Boo!!

Welcome to the Halloween themed thread of video game dread, fear and general unplanned bladder emptying-ness. I checked, and there was a fear topic already in the Video Game section. But I wanted something different in this thread, and I'm not talking about the green text...

Fear comes in many forms and deciding which is which is a major part of this topic. Then sharing that feeling from a specific moment in a game. Let me elaborate a little...

Panic - Sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Polar Bear Chase!

A Panic moment is what I would called, "a time to move." Something bad is gonna happen if you don't shift and you might feel the need to make loud noises while doing so.

Crash Bandicoot 2 would be the game to give me my biggest "Panic moment". The music sets the tone perfectly, and you might recognized that very tune played when a boulder wanted to give Crash a big hug. So, I'm already expecting trouble...

The Polar Bears massive size, angry eyes and nasty looking teeth increase this "Panic moment" so much that sometimes I would dive into the bottomless pits, just to get away from it.

Fear - An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

Banjo-Kazooie - Clanker's Cavern

Yes, a Fear moment is usually when faced with danger, but also appearance. Even though he's harmless, Clanker is the biggest source of fear for me in a video game. His size, those teeth and his shark like appearance as well as how he appears to be made of a mix of metallic and organic parts. With all the blood red nastiness inside him.

Because of being forced to watch Jaws back in middle school, large fish have always given me the creeps.

Worry - Give way to anxiety or unease; allow one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.

Metal Gear Solid - Cyborg Ninja?

A Worry moment is often about uncertainty. Is trouble near? Do I fight that thing? Why did the music change? My biggest "Worry moment" had to be playing Metal Gear Solid. And actually happened during a cut scene. As Solid Snake, you come to a door and look through a small window at lots of soldiers being...gutted in a most messy manner. I'm sitting there thinking "Don't go in there! Don't go in there! Don't go in there!" So he's in the corridor with all the bodies and bang! Almost gets hit by a flying soldier that was kicked in that direction. Luckily, the Cyborg Ninja hasn't spotted him yet, and it leaves the room.

The scene ends...now what?...you want me to follow it? F*ck *ff!

Holy Sh*t!! - ​The most popular method of shock in horror. A sudden loud event that makes the victim jump out of there skin. Often followed by the phrase "Holy Sh*t!!"

Banjo-Kazooie - Mad Monster Mansion: Portrait Chompa

Hard for me to remember the biggest Holy Sh*t moment, but the earliest must've been back in Banjo-Kazooie. You face an enemy similar to Portrait Chompa in an earlier level, but it was easy to guess that something ugly was gonna jump out of those hole. But in Mad Monster Mansion, the Portrait Chompa lurks behind a painting and only jumps out to bite you when your close enough. Once it's tasted your flesh, it leaves the same way it arrived and the painting is unharmed. Like the monster never jumped out and chewed on you at all?!

So those are 4 different types of fear I have experienced in my gaming history. And 4 of my most memorable moments of each type.

What are yours...?

Edited October 7, 2012 by DanielJ86

[Solkia]

Every level in Mega Man X8

[MegaMan_EXE]

The Water Temple from OoT. I get lost in 5 minutes! DX

[Semi-colon e]

End of the World in Sonic 06 satisfies this because the slowly darkening sky makes you worry something will kill you at any moment, there's the holy shit moments where an eye of Sauron spawns on top of you with you going "shit shit shit shit", and the panic also makes you die. Then there's the sections where you're a bit too slow and you get to a nice vantage point, and orbs just spawn around you and it's like "okay how the fuck do I get past this without dying and losing yet another life".

God damn it End of the World you bastard.

Dark Aether in Metroid Prime 2 has a similar thing, except instead of cheap Sauron eyes it's just a dark purple creepy mess with breathing and weird noises as the music and the alien Ing creatures shrieking horribly, as well as you losing health constantly when not in a safe zone.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Tori Himemiya]

Haunting Ground.

Daniella. Just Daniella.

I love her for it but goddamn she can be creepy as fuck. Just check out her trademark smile.

She goes off hunting down girls with a shard of glass or fire poker and has a tendency to close doors behind her leaving Fiona stuck in a room with her.

Best part of the game though.

[JezMM]

I'm SO bad at chase scenes, especially when you can't see what's chasing you due to a fixed viewpoint of what the player sees. Man they tense me up so much. I'm always running into stuff as I run backwards from Tanks in L4D, hell, even rushing past the Gargantua in Black Mesa recently riled the nerves up a bit.

I think the worst one was a game I only ever watched a friend play - Resident Evil 4. When you play as Ashley and that suit of armour monster or whatever chases you back through the near-pitch black maze of suits of armour, and you don't dare turn around but you can hear its footsteps gradually getting louder the whole time.

Brrrrr.

Other than that, I truly despise how much the Half-Life series loves to occasionally make the air vent you're crawling through break and fall down with no warning. BioShock had some pretty mean scripted moments too where stuff appears behind you, but I know that game so well now I actually know exactly what triggers them and "beat" the game by carefully positioning myself so I literally see the enemy in question spawn out of thin air and then give it the ole zap-whack.

[Sarah Jane Smith]

When I'm playing Minecraft, and I go in a cave.

Especially when I suddenly hear a sharp "SSSSSSsssss"

[Jack / Joker]

Panic - Every time I get to Lavender Town...

Fear - When I'm nearing Eggmanland...

Worry - Wait... Is Joker going to die at the end of Arkham City?

[Emmett L. Brown]

Ravenholm.

[novelty]

Every time a swear word is said out loud on CoD and my mother hears it.

[buba]

Well, I'm not really going to attributing any specific emotion to those, but you get the point:

Sonic Heroes - The Alligator

Everytime that I play Sonic Heroes, when I get to the Lost Jungle stage I start getting really pressured knowing that the giant bastard is waiting for me in the end of the act.

When I finally make my way to that part my heart goes insane with each jump from swing to swing, the stupid controles/camera don't help me a single bit.

A miscalculated jump and bang, Team Sonic is alligator food.

Any Pokémon game - Shiny Pokémon

I'm not afraid of Shiny Pokémon, infact I welcome every single of them. What I'm actually scared of is to accidentally kill one.

The odds of finding a Shiny Pokémon in the wild are 1 in 8,912 according to Serebii, so you can spend your entire life serching for one and never found a Shiny.

They aren't anything special, just coloured differently, but they are awesome trophies to have.

Resident Evil 4 - Dr. Salvador

Well, this is a horror game, so that's the point.

Those guys are fast as hell compared to the other Ganados and also have considerable health, the easiest way to get rid of those dudes is by throwing grenades then shoot has much as you can.

If he gets you, he cuts your neck in one of the most disturbing death scenes I've ever seen in a video game.

Resident Evil 4 - Iron Maiden

Shoot has many times you want, this guy will stand there like it was nothing or just regrow their lost limbs, even the head.

They can pull you to their needles from a far distance and the best way to kill them is shoot their legs then shoot the Plaga on his back.

They will take lots of ammo and are scary as shit.

I may post other stuff in the future, but by now I can only remember those things.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Tmsp

[TheOcelot]

There is a moment that got my heart racing, that I will never forget it. This also happened in Metal Gear Solid (PS1).

Solid Snake, having defeated Liquid Snake in the Hind D, goes back down to the elevator, as it is now moving again (it wasn't previously working).

Even when Otacon contacts you straight after the epic fight with the Hind D on top of Tower B (which is a fight that takes a lot out of you), when Otacon says that he did not fix the elevator, that it started working again by itself, Snake doesn't sound completely convinced, and you feel that something isn't quite right.

So Snake heads back down to the elevator (while slightly uneasy background noise plays), which then arrives. The elevator doors open. Snake steps in and an alarm goes off. The lift starts to move downwards, and then Otacon contacts Snake via codec. Otacon says that four stealth suits are missing. Snake asks Otacon, did the weight limit alarm go off when Otacon previously used the elevator. Otacon says yes, and dramatic music starts to build. In the codec screen, Otacon's face is suddenly bigger than usual, and he says......

"LOOK OUT SNAKE, THOSE MEN (armed soldiers who want to kill Snake) ARE IN THERE WITH YOU!!!".

You then have to fight and kill the four armed soliders in the enclosed space of the elevator, whilst it is moving. Your practically having to do this more or less blind, unless you have thermal goggles (infrared).

Once you have killed all the soldiers, there is an in game cutscene of Snake breathing heavily. This shoes how dangerous and frightning that was. A lengendary scene. Kind of makes me a bit paranoid when I get into a lift/elevator on my own. Are you really alone?????

Here is the scary scene below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XLiaASkEIk

Edited October 5, 2012 by NightwingFox

[Teoskaven]

Actually, i have a moster that gave me Worry, Panic and Fear at the same time: The King Behemoth, from Final Fantasy XII.

Imagine this: you are running arounf in one of the most annoying dungeon of the game not seeing anything and trying to beat every single enemy in order to made the mob appear (btw, all of this is done with

adorable soundtrack in the background). Remember that the biggest enemy you fought at that moment were probably one of the Espers, or the Elder Dragon.

And then it pops up:

Trust me, the first time this thing appeared, i was frozen in terror. No matter that i was overpowered, the combination of creepy music, hide and seek scenario and the massive size of the best made me stop the game for at least 30 minutes before i decided to face the King Behemoth.

Of course, it was relatively easy, but my god. Even the Mors that appeared out of nowhere where creepy, but not like this.

Oh, and by extension, generally all ubermobs that spawn out of nowere in a tipycal MMORPG scares me.

[Alex2Beta]

Not even sure where to begin..

There's..

-------------------------

Worry: The Dinosaurs themselves,

from Dino Crisis (PS1/DC/PC)

I know I bring up this game plenty of times, but this very detail, that to me...Seems more scarier than most of the monsters in RE..The Dinosaurs (mostly the ones in the pic). Now, you'll probably laugh..But these scare me more than the hunters in RE, I mean..You see these things throughout the whole game, and the fact that they run pretty fast doesn't help that you have the typical "rotate character and go" controls.

Just stepping into a room/hallway with these demons already fills me with worry, as well as the music that you hear in most hallways simply puts a shiver down your spine.

---------------------------------

PANIC: The Beetle Robot-thing-WHATEVS

from Sonic Adventure 2 (DC/GC/XBLA/PS3/PC)

So..You guys been playin'n'talkin' about SA2, eh? Well I'm sure everyone knows of this guy.

This guy--Right here.

Whenever he enters the room, I just lose control and spaz-out right away, into the highest corner away from it's fancy-smarty-pants laser detector..And shiver.

------------------------------------

Fear: Memory of Alessa

from Silent Hill 3 (PS2/PS3/XBLA/PC)

Before ever playing Silent Hill 3, I'd see this on the net..And after spoling myself when I meet it, I was a bit creeped out that when then playing SH3, I'd be only a few steps from her. And man, I was really just thinking that I should stop, but I didn't.

Running into the Merry Go-Round with the little horses..And then it would spin fast, and suddenly, they all started spraying out poison gas, and blood would come out as you'd kill these guys (even though they were stationary and looked "somewhat" harmless)..And then suddenly, the Merry Go-Round starts spinning faster, until it drills into the ground..All the horses are now wearing fancy robes, and then--THIS THING COMES OUT.

The sounds it made after spawning each time (Bill Cosby trying to vomit..only sped up) and the fact that it looked like Heather (the main character you play as) as if she was turned into one of them zombie things with a Silent Hill twist just felt uneasy..(obvious intention they had..But still!).

Edited October 6, 2012 by Godot

[JezMM]

Ravenholm.

I've played HL2 enough times to conquer that chapter in no time flat. In fact it's reached the point where I know my way through so well it personally offends me that I am forced to by the way the level is set up to "go the wrong way" just to have Grigori mock me, grrr!

Still, like most chapters in Half-Life 2, it's crazy just how long it took me the first time. Yet the entire time spent in the town of Ravenholm is just four maps long. That doesn't include the comparitively unscary cemetary, mines and sniper train tracks.

Edited October 5, 2012 by JezMM

[Diogenes]

Fear - An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

Banjo-Kazooie - Clanker's Cavern

I was a wussy kid. Swimming through that tunnel and being confronted by an absolutely massive set of teeth and bulging eyes...I turned right the fuck around, and didn't dare come back until probably years later.

Doesn't bother me a bit now, though. And he's really just a poor innocent little cyborg sharkwhale who wouldn't (and can't) do a thing to hurt you. Dude's just got a few problems that he needs some help with.

Also there's no shortage of creepy and unsettling things in Majora's Mask, but the one that still manages to get me at times is the moon. It practically radiates pure malice, and no matter where you go in Termina it's there with you, glaring down, and oh-so-slowly getting closer. More than once I've let it slip from my mind, then taken a look around, and ended up with that face glaring down at me.

[Wraith]

So imagine you're about 14. You're cruising through Metroid Prime. Finding shit. Killing Shit. Getting killed by shit. Getting lost. Staring at your map for about 5 minutes just so you could figure out where the hell you we're supposed to be. having a good time.

And then, you see a Metroid trapped in a case.

Huh. Why does the game think this is so important? Oh well. Might as well scan it and search the rest of the room.

So you scan it, not even bothering to read the text. You turn around for a second. And then you hear the shattering of glass and OH SHIT IT'S OUT. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT WHY WONT IT DIE SHIT SHIT IT'S GOT MY FACE OH JESUS HOW DO I GET IT OFF OH GOD SAMUS IS DYING FUCK FUCK FUCK NO.

and that was the first time I played a Metroid game.

[Linkabel]

For some reason this fucking scene made me jump the first time I played it (it starts at 1:30)....I mean what the fuck it's not even scary:

Edited October 5, 2012 by TheBlueWind

[KHCast]

One of the ending scenes in MGS2 when Raiden is talking to TJ after GW crashes into the city.

[Gregzilla]

Pretty much the entirety of Silent Hill 2 fills me with dread. Especially one particular scene in which you walk down a REALLY long hallway, while some moaning sounds in the background keep getting louder (they're apparently supposed to sound like a sinking ship, but they sound demonic). It just made me so tense with anticipation for something awful to happen, and it kept stringing me along, toying with my emotions.

But when you got to the end, nothing particularly spooky happened. I guess that's just the game's way of messing with me, but I felt kinda disappointed. It did that a couple times at various points in the game, like the boat scene. If there are a bunch of scenes with nothing but intense anticipation, it gets annoying when they amount to nothing scary happening.

[Xenos]

Ah, I have the perfect one for worry, and panic! Not to mention fear.

Dissidia 012: Duodecim

Now, this game isn't scary or anything, but holy fuck can you get into some intense fights.

Panic, Fear, AND Worry:

Every. Single. Later Dungeon. In the extra story. (000, Confessions of The Creator)

Your maximum level for your characters in this game? 100. The maximum level for enemies you fight? There is none! The enemies can go to Level 100 and beyond. And because of this they have very good equipment, very good summons, and very good AI. The odds will be mightily stacked against you, of course.

It's great when you finally have the upper hand and some breathing space, but when they do shit like this (Skip to 1:40 for the WTF):

Is usually when I pull my hair out.

So yes, that big number is how much damage you do to their health. And in Confessions of The Creator, the 100+ Enemies will most likely be able to hurt you enough for OHKO's. The stress of fucking up even once despite the progress you've made in the fight being erased in one single hit is enough for me to almost break.

So by then you have to be near-flawless when attacking and dodging or else you will never be prepared for the True Extra Final Boss, Feral Chaos.

There are 2 versions of him, one that is a hidden boss that is level 95, with level 1 equipment, but a bunch of other things that make him unsafe and gives his every attack x99.0 to the normal damage, and his defense after only one minute. So by that time, if you aren't able to counter and hit him from behind to get Critical hits, you will do exactly 0 damage, and he will probably do a 500+ with each move. FUN!

But the other one, the true one, is the one that makes me go Holy Sh*t!!

He is essentially Level 150.

150.

50 Levels Higher than you could ever possibly hope to be. And the ones that were only about Level 120-126 were the ones able to curbstomp you at every screw up. His size also comes to factor, he takes up half of the space. And his attacks take up the rest of that. Again, your dodging, blocking, and countering have to be near flawless.

And yes, I'm aware there are workarounds to make the fight a measly 14 seconds, but I was already too far in so I had to do it the difficult way.

Stay high up in a corner, and spam a very accurate homing move. That was the only way I actually BEAT this fucker. Thank God everyone, Terra exists.

And you get to play as him after you win! ...And he's not that fun to use because your regular characters are already powerful.

Yeah...

[JezMM]

Oh, for one from a lighter game. The Redeads freaked me out in all three Zeldas they first appeared in. As a kid I always dreaded the Bottom of the Well in both OoT and MM in particular. I was mostly over it by WW but the Cabana basement freaked me out a bit mostly because WHAT ARE THEY DOING DOWN THERE. Q_Q

Also the first time I played, when I didn't know how simple and undramatic the "mystery" behind it is, the ghost ship in WW used to creep me out a fair bit. Mainly because my first experience with it was simply just taking the fishman's advice and waiting on an isolated island during a particular moon so "IT" would appear... I mean I had seen the Pictograph of it on Windfall Island so I kind of put two and two together, but yeah.

[Kuzu]

Hmm, I think I panic the most when I'm literally just a hit away from beating particularly hard boss. Like I spend so many fucking hours getting my ass handed to me, and the fact that I'm this close to winning causes me to panic, and fuck up. I've always been like that.

In terms of Fear......Those damn ghosts in Sonic Adventure 2, and Dark Aether in Metroid Prime 2. Never have I been so afraid to beat a game, those ghosts just creeped me the fuck out, and are partially the reason I dreaded going to Pumpkin Hill or Death Chamber. I'm mostly over it now, granted I haven't played Sa2 is a bit, and I don't plan on downloading it anytime soon. Dark Aether just reminded me of Silent Hill, the environment is dark, and the music is barely audible and it gives it that feeling of nothingness, it's just creepy as fuck.

[Wraith]

That panic when you're playing a good fighting game and you and your opponent are on the brink of death, so you're already in panic mode. Then you're opponent starts comboing the ever living shit out of you and you can do nothing besides slowly watch that health bar go down.(Or, if you're playing smash, watching as your character flies off the goddamn stage.)

[-Robin-]

The blackout portion of Luigi's Mansion unnerved me when I was little, since I had no idea where Uncle Grimley was at, and so I just went room to room hoping I got lucky, only to find out that there was no mirrors in the room and wait did that door just lock itself no go away ghosts leave me alone ok is Grimley here in the giant mirror room well damn OH FUCK I AM NOT FIGHTING 10 OF THESE REFLECTION GHOSTS GO AWAY GET ME OUT NIDSNOVIDNVI.

And none of you can tell me that you confidently went up against the Invincible Tubba Blubba before you beat its heart, nor can you tell me you avoided it without your heart skipping a beat if he made eye contact with you.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Joshua