One Night 2: The Beyond, The sequel even scarier than the original. *FULL VERSION* Options

[ambrosecool]

FINALLY!I'll be playing this,as a fan of the fantastic game,One Night.It'll definitely be fun and I'm a psychological wimp,so it'll probably be scary.

[Dark Santum]

i am a big fan of this commedy game or for a lot of you horror game,i hope to beta test the scary one night 3 which will scare the dragon/bravery out of me i will make me a big wimp.

OMG my brother was scared to death when that stupid teddy appear i helped him complete that part no problem for me!
hmmm that freaking sound that scared my bro was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz kind of sound hmmmm i decided.

[ambrosecool]

Me playing this game:YIKES!THAT SCREAM!AHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh?It's not..there..anymore.
Me in the teddy bear part:AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SCARY TEDDY BEAR!YIKES!
I was playing Sara.For my own safety,I'm turning my speaker OFF!

This post has been edited by ambrosecool: Jun 19 2009, 06:04 AM

[Dark Gaia]

I'd advise you not to. You'll ruin the experience that the game can only provide with the sound on. Hehe.

To those stuck on puzzles: A readme in the game's install directory contains the answers to every puzzle. Make good use of it.

[ambrosecool]

Then I'll switch it on.

[Dark Gaia]

Good Choice. Looking forward to further feedback.

Disclaimer:
Dark Gaia is not responsible for heart attacks or other shock related injuries that may occur as a result of playing this game.

[Fallen-Griever]

Since this is the main site for this game I will post this here as well as at RMN...

---

Griever plays One Night 2: The Beyond:

Gameplay: 10/10

I do not have enough praise for the playability of this game. It’s full of interesting and challenging puzzles, well-mapped exploration and has a custom ABS that actually works pretty damn well. I also appreciate the replayability and depth this game has. The game has two characters with two separate storylines to explore and each storyline has a good and a bad ending for you to work towards – this basically gives you two separate games for the price of one, with the possibility you’ll need to replay each scenario in order to see all the endings!

The only thing I think the gameplay is missing is a ranking system, as the stats given to you when you finish the game (time, saves made, medical items used etc.) are clearly geared towards this. It doesn’t take anything away from the gameplay, but I think it would be an easy addition to make and it would be an addition that would add even more replayability!

The only bit of the gameplay in the first instalment that seemed broken was the battle system and since that has been patched up really well I can’t do anything but give a perfect score in this area.

Characters: N/A

Unlike the first game, One Night 2: The Beyond doesn’t focus on character development. Because of this, I won’t be giving a score in this area. However, I will say that I actually think this suits the game quite well…

Storyline/Setting: 10/10

Just like a lot of other horror games, the storyline in One Night 2: The Beyond isn’t something that you have shoved down your throat via cutscenes and is instead something you need to piece together from all the information you find throughout the game. This kind of presentation is pulled off really well in this game and I appreciate the effort Dark Gaia has put into piecing together a decent back-story for the horrors your characters are put through. The back-story itself is, for a horror game, also quite well written. The story you piece together over the course of the game manages to keep you guessing and also credibly explains the many strange phenomena taking place around your characters.

The setting is also tackled extremely well in this game. The horror element the game possesses has – just like the gameplay – been greatly improved upon compared to One Night, relying far more heavily on creating an atmosphere than using cheap gimmicks to make people jump. The game does still try and make you jump, but it tries a lot harder to make you jump than its prequel and it doesn’t use effects that are as cheesy or as tacky as they were in One Night. Although I am not a jumpy person myself, I am sure a lot of people will jump out of their seat at least once whilst playing this game.

Graphics/Mapping: 9/10

The graphics in this game work pretty well. I much prefer the RMXP style to the RMVX style and I am glad the game uses the former as the latter would not fit in well with the horror genre at all. Using the slightly more human-looking RMXP sprites allows the horror elements to work a lot better and prevents any of the graphical choices becoming comical when they are meant to be gory/horrific. I also quite liked the lighting effects used in this game, especially the limited field-of-view you have, as they really add to the setting Dark Gaia is trying to achieve. Lighting effects are sometimes over-used in order to make the mapping in a game seem flashier, but Dark Gaia uses lighting effects with due discretion and manages to get the best out of them.

The mapping is also extremely good and I have a lot of admiration for it. The mansion is well laid out, backtracking is properly utilised and nothing is ever so intricate that you’ll get completely lost or you’ll forget where something is. Equally, there aren’t many misplaced tiles (I think I saw one or two over the course of the whole game) and I didn’t encounter any passability errors or anything of that ilk.

The only problems I have with the graphics in this game are the awful-looking trees in the outside areas. There are also some places where the monsters look kind of silly, but in the whole they are handled very well. These really are little things in comparison to the general competency the graphics are handled with, though.

Music/Sounds: 9/10

All the music used manages to set things up properly and there aren’t any tracks I think are out of place in this game. I especially like how the music always manages to keep the tension going, keeping you on your toes and making those occasions where the game tries to make you jump more likely to do so than they otherwise would. There are also many occasions where the music tries to make you think something is about to happen, even if something isn’t about to happen, and this sort of thing is nicely pulled off. The sound effects used are also chosen, for the most part, exceptionally well. However, one particular screaming sound effect is quite annoying and is also overused and I quickly got sick of hearing it; it only has to be a scream to help make people jump, it doesn’t have to be an annoying one.

Overall: 9/10

With One Night 2: The Beyond, what you get is a marked improvement on the first game in the series; it is clear to see that Dark Gaia has taken the criticism of the first game to heart and made the required improvements whilst developing this instalment. Since the first game in the series was pretty good in its own right, you should definitely be downloading the sequel!

One Night 2: The Beyond is easily the best horror game I have seen come out of an RPGMaker.

This post has been edited by Fallen-Griever: Jun 28 2009, 08:41 AM

[Dark Gaia]

Hi Griever! I was just coming in to link this topic to your RMN review, but you already wrote it down here! Well, thanks anyway for the great review and I loved reading it. I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

[hyuganeji6]

omg dark gaia
Dx iknow the first time ilooked at it ithought well its a sprite game it cant be that scary
but it bloody scared me more then even the silant hill games x[

not joking
ahhhh teddy bears Dx
oh by the way awesome game really

[Dark Gaia]

Thanks very much for the feedback. That teddy bear gets everyone. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[l33tpie 6]

Ahh, I finally finished it. I got the bad ending of course, I had like 25 saves XD. Way too cautious. Oh well, I'm glad, I've finally finished a horror game. Well, I have to say Gaia, great job. Seriously, this game was wonderful. You really know how to make the player scared throughout the whole thing, your brillant combination of lighting and sound effects really made this game work. I'm looking forward to the third One Night. Keep up the great work, Gaia!

[Dark Gaia]

Hey thanks l33t! Yes, it was quite a challenge for me to get the scary atmosphere "just right". I'm glad you finished it! For a non horror fan to complete it, it just shows how much you must have enjoyed the game.

[Dark Gaia]

Update:

A brand new review by RMN's Darken has emerged here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/1144/reviews/454/

Read it to see what's NOT to like about The Beyond.

[l33tpie 6]

Saw that one last night. I only really skim read over it because it felt like a verbal attack on this game. I think that anyone can enjoy this game, I did and I'm not exactly a fan of horror games.

[Dark Gaia]

I actually don't have a problem with negative reviews, provided that they are written decently like any other review and contain constructive criticism, but that one is just a string of verbal attacks and insults linked together.

[Dark Gaia]

BUMP!/Update:

Some people have been telling me about not being able to find Shadow Tome 3. You can find it hidden behind a bush in the garden. Look very carefully along the southern wall.

[Skurge]

Sorry to bump (If i did)

I sent you an email about a problem I encountered, though either you ignored the email or havent gotten it.

When going to the libary door your meant to shoot the door with the loaded revolver right? Well i did that and he keeps saying he can't use it.

[l33tpie 6]

I got stuck there, too. You're actually meant to use the music notes you obtained from the shack to open the library door. Use them at the piano in the bar room.

[Skurge]

O_O




God damn it! Why didn't I think that? XD

Thanks mate, by the way did you get my email? I forgot to mention something so I sent you another.

[obsorber]

Ok I played one night and i must say i was dissapointed to play a game I was having
such high expectations off. You seem to be getting praised by so many people although
I don't fully understand why.

The game itself is basically look around for objects/items and opening doors till you get
to next part. That's the gameplay. Now you try and scare the audience which I must say
is pulled off well but doesn't effect me much as I don't scare easily anyways. The sounds
and music made the feeling of the game very dark and horrific. Now I used the man, forgot
what his name was but I didn't like the look of him. I'm not fond of playing characters if they
don't look cool enough. Now the grammer was great I must say and well done.

Honestly the mapping was good, not overfantastic but still very good. Music and sounds were
neat. There wasn't much suspence or drama as I feel the horror was rushed and the game
doesn't last all that long either. Another thing I didn't like was the way you fought teddy bears.
I hated that. I would rather have a bat or gun or something to pound its head in rather than press
random options to attack it, you may as well have used a sideview battlesystem.

Ok I must sound very harsh but it's better to honest that to lie right. This game is designed well
and the story makes sense plus it also gives you a dark feel. It fails to scare anyone as I believe
trying to scare the audience with 2d sprites isn't really going to work. I'm not going to rate it either as
my review of this game is based on my opiniion. Now I didn't complete it as I got bored of randomly
running around the mansion looking for keys and other stuff like trying to find the 3 pin numbers.




(Finally, the Titlescreen you are using in your game is very similar to mine. The haunted house
picture. I didn't steal it of you if that's what you are thinking. I made Morbid Awakening a long time
ago and released it as vigour of the fellowship but after receiving lots of critisms as well as insults
because I apparently stole music from someones game which was a mistake I stopped working
on the project and came back to it only recently. Made a few changes and added some things to
it. The Titlescreen of the game was changed when I stopped working on it and I was originally
going to call it Morbid Reckoning or Morbid Rising. )