Game Debate #177: Five Nights at Freddy's

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

37 minutes ago, Koopa64 said:

The offensive part is that FNAF is so popular that better horror games and series get forgotten or considered "crap" because they don't rely on cheap constant jumpscares.

...According to who? I haven't noticed this, personally.

Also, in FNaF's defense, the reason the jumpscares work is because it's incredibly good at setting a tone and a sense of dread prior TO the jumpscare. The thing that makes the series scary is the anticipation of the jumpscares, not the jumpscares themselves, since the games are all good at getting the player to dread them thanks to the tone they set, that's the series' greatest strength. The jumpscares wouldn't work if it didn't properly instill a sense of dread in the player prior. That's why I've always disagreed with the popular narrative of FNaF being all jumpscares, it really isn't, the jumpscares are just the crescendo after a lot of tone-setting, but without that tone-setting the jumpscares would fall flat.

Really my biggest gripe with the series is actually that the gameplay is very basic, which leads to almost all of the games in the series being very very short. The actual horror itself is done very well, both in terms of creepy scary and jumpy scary like I said earlier in the thread, if that sort of horror was accompanied by more involved gameplay I'd like the series a lot more. That's why I was looking forward to Security Breach, until it turned out they botched both the horror, so it wasn't scary in the slightest, and the gameplay, so it wasn't fun in the slightest, haha.

[Tulpa | 3,516]

Yeah, the whole FNAF franchise has sold a respectable amount, it's nowhere near the sales juggernaut of series like Resident Evil or The Last of Us. Nor has there been that many imitators.

If you're tired of Let's Players or their fans squawking about it, there's an easy solution. Stay off of YouTube.

 

[Sumez | 2,968]

I don't hear anyone talking about this game ever, so I definitely don't see that as an issue.

If it's this reliant on jump scares, it doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in playing anyway. If people here are to be believed, it's a pretty trashy game?

[Tulpa | 3,516]

10 hours ago, Sumez said:

If it's this reliant on jump scares, it doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in playing anyway. If people here are to be believed, it's a pretty trashy game?

It uses jumpscares, but not "cheap" jumpscares. It's not a game where you're ambling along and suddenly out of nowhere, BOO!

It builds up the tension. You're given some exposition from the phone call at the very beginning of who you are and the environment you're in, and while it's funny, it also gives you the feeling that something isn't quite right.

Then you're doing your tasks, and everything is dark and weird. Suddenly, things seem out of place. You hear things. You try your best to stay calm. You use the doors, the cameras. But the power resources dwindle. It gets more and more tense. And only then do the jumpscares come. IMO, if you use jumpscares, this is the way.

[Sumez | 2,968]

That sounds pretty bad to me  But if people enjoy it, cool

[Tulpa | 3,516]

10 hours ago, Sumez said:

That sounds pretty bad to me  But if people enjoy it, cool

Well, there's no accounting for taste, is there?

I'm kind of curious as to what you think a "good" horror game would do.

[Sumez | 2,968]

Unnverve the player via gameplay, putting them in tight and dangerous situations, limiting their resources etc. And not rely on jump scares.
There's a reason jump scares is generally considered bad form in horror movies as well. It's stressful and rarely actually scary. Even if the setup is really good, as it allegedly is here, it should work just as fine without the jumpscare, shouldn't it?

I'm not opposed to scary things showing up suddenly or unexpected, but if the scare doesn't linger afterwards, it's just a cheap effect - hence the jumpscare terminology.

[Tulpa | 3,516]

36 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Unnverve the player via gameplay, putting them in tight and dangerous situations, limiting their resources etc. And not rely on jump scares.

I would not say FNAF relies on jumpscares. In fact, if you're good at the game, there really won't be any. I don't think I stuttered when I said: "It uses jumpscares, but not "cheap" jumpscares. It's not a game where you're ambling along and suddenly out of nowhere, BOO!"

Everything else you mentioned describes FNAF to a tee. 

I'm not saying it's the greatest horror game or anything, just that people describing it as only a jumpscare game are being VERY disingenuous.

Edited November 24, 2023 by Tulpa

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

6 hours ago, Sumez said:

it should work just as fine without the jumpscare, shouldn't it?

No, because then there'd be no payoff. Like I was saying earlier, the jumpscare is the end result of a lot of tension-building. If you didn't have it, not only would it just be tension with no release, the tension would also eventually stop working on the player entirely because there isn't the looming threat of a jumpscare if the player messes up. In a vacuum the atmosphere of the games is great on its own, but it's only enhanced by the threat of a jumpscare, without that threat the tension would very quickly deflate since there isn't an actual threat of anything happening, it would just be empty tension. Tension only works if the player actually feels like they're in danger.

Other than that, "Unnverve the player via gameplay, putting them in tight and dangerous situations, limiting their resources etc." is exactly what FNaF does, that's what the whole series does, the jumpscares are just the punishment for when the player messes up, which like I said helps to actually enhance the stress the player feels whilst playing. That's the best possible thing you can do with jumpscares, when they're not just cheap shock value, but actually serve a purpose to enhance the whole experience. In my opinion, FNaF would actually be a worse game without the jumpscares for these reasons.

Like I said earlier the weakest link in the series for me is the gameplay, I have no complaints whatsoever about how the series approaches its horror honestly, it's really expertly done, especially for a developer who, prior to this game, had no experience whatsoever in the horror genre as far as I'm aware.

[Tulpa | 3,516]

Sumez, don't get us wrong. This game may nor may not be your cup of tea anyway. I'm not saying you're going to love it. I actually have no idea.

But it sounds like someone did a REALLY shitty job of describing the game to you, because a lot of stuff you're saying you don't like about a game like FNAF, isn't actually what FNAF is about. Maybe you're getting hung up on the word jumpscare, and that might be the wrong term.

The first game is only about an hour long, and that's if you play it perfectly. You might give it a spin just to see for yourself rather than listen to some wags on the net. You might actually like it (or not, but at least your opinion would be informed. )

Edited November 24, 2023 by Tulpa

[Koopa64 | 51]

jumpscares are considered lazy in movies, the same applies to video games.

[G-type | 2,483]

7 hours ago, Koopa64 said:

jumpscares are considered lazy in movies, the same applies to video games.

I’ve heard people complain about overused jump scares: the cat jumping out of a hiding place while screeching… closing the medicine cabinet to reveal scary guy in the mirror behind them - but now your issue is all jump scares?

[G-type | 2,483]

Last I checked most people considered the jump scares in movies like Psycho, Carrie, Jaws, Exorcist 3 to be among the best scares.

[Sumez | 2,968]

Can't speak for the others, but I know exactly the scene you're talking about in Exorcist 3, and I wouldn't consider that much of a jump scare.

[G-type | 2,483]

5 hours ago, Sumez said:

Can't speak for the others, but I know exactly the scene you're talking about in Exorcist 3, and I wouldn't consider that much of a jump scare.

just about every article on the internet refers to it as a jump scare:

 https://filmschoolrejects.com/exorcist-iii-jump-scare/

https://www.slashfilm.com/572812/exorcist-iii-jump-scare/

https://www.horrorbound.net/blog/onemovie-onescene-the-exorcist-3

I bet if you polled the people on this site, they would also consider it a jump scare. 

Edited November 26, 2023 by G-type