HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[rionaleonhart]

I decided to give Shadow of the Colossus (thank you, firefly99! ♥!) a try yesterday. It is a very beautiful game, and I'm enjoying the running-over-the-landscapey bits, but it turns out that I am absolutely bloody terrified of the colossi. When one turns up, I completely freak out and run to hide behind the nearest walkthrough, which would be pathetic in any game but is especially pathetic in a game consisting more or less entirely of puzzle bosses. You're supposed to work out how to defeat them yourself! That's the entire point!

(I had similar moments when playing Silent Hill 2. 'I don't want to be in this town! Hold my hand, Internet!' When I walked into the huge, dark, empty courtyard in the prison, I panicked, exited immediately and refused to enter again until I'd looked it up online and found out what was in there. Basically, if anything in a videogame genuinely frightens me, I immediately lose all my credibility as a gamer. It is shameful.)

Anyway, I'm about four colossi in, and when I next play the game I am going to try to be a little more brave and a little less walkthrough-dependent. The colossi are really scary, though.


Of course, the terror of the colossi pales next to the terror of going to see Derren Brown in person. Yesterday evening, sos_your_face, reipan, hippyjolteon, sacred_sarcasm, _afterism, cryforthemoon and I went to the Adelphi to see Enigma, his latest stage show.

This isn't going to be much of a reaction post, I'm afraid, because we have been sworn to secrecy and cannot tell you anything of what there transpired. Here are some things I can tell you:

1) Derren Brown is incredibly frightening,
2) Derren Brown is incredibly hot, and
3) these two facts may not be entirely unconnected.

Also, it was excellent and I really enjoyed myself. Derren Brown is hilarious and charismatic and fantastic to watch, whether you're impressed by his tricks or not (I was, for the most part; whilst I could work out how some of it was probably done, some aspects have me entirely stumped). And the very end was a moment of absolute magical genius. And, whilst none of us were called up on stage, some members of our group had interesting experiences.

Much of the evening was spent accusing various members of our group of being Derren Brown. Today, waiting at the train station, sos_your_face and I came to the conclusion that we were, in fact, collectively Derren Brown, each of us representing a different aspect.

sos_your_face: I'm his shortness.
rionaleonhart: Yes, you're his height complex. What am I?
sos_your_face: You're his narcissism. All the writing fanfiction about yourself.
rionaleonhart: (laughs) Yes, if I am Derren Brown, I'm definitely very narcissistic.
sos_your_face: reipan's the part of him that gets really bouncy and excited about things. Who's his creepiness, though?
rionaleonhart: ...that's a good point.
sos_your_face: None of us are really that creepy.
rionaleonhart: This is frustrating! Our Derren Brown is incomplete! We need to find a really creepy person to join our group. (pause) Wait, we didn't meet lasayla, did we?
sos_your_face: We didn't! I bet she's creepy. Obviously she wasn't with us because she was up on the stage.

We're sorry, lasayla. I'm sure you're not really the physical incarnation of Derren Brown's creepiness.

Comments

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

I only played Silent Hill 2 with the walkthrough, so that I could check when scary things were going to happen. Also, that dark courtyard is EVIL. EVIL.

But yeah, I was about to do the nightmare hotel, and it was around midnight and I was alone in the livingroom, and I thought 'you know what, I'm just gonna do this tomorrow. With daylight.'

So, the 7 of you are one of those Japanese mechas that combine into one supermecha?

[rionaleonhart]

Shameful walkthrough-using high five! (I was all right in the nightmare hotel, actually, but the nightmare hospital scared me senseless.)

So, the 7 of you are one of those Japanese mechas that combine into one supermecha?

Yes. Yes, we are.

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

You're already doing better than I did. I nuked the first three Colossi, and then got really lost. After THREE DAYS of desperate navigation with the map and with walkthroughs and with the sword thing, I was still lost.

[rionaleonhart]

Three days? My goodness. Of course, it took me over four hours to find the Fire Cavern in Final Fantasy VIII, even after having Quistis tell me that the [Fire Cavern] was located [east of here], so I really can't judge. And possibly even longer to realise that, oh, hey, Professor Oak won't show up on Pokémon Red until you try to go into the long grass.

[darthfi.livejournal.com]

Actually, she's very good at doing creepy, so maybe she is...

[rionaleonhart]

Excellent! Clearly we are all Derren Brown, then. I can see no other possibility.

[nano_moose]

I thought the colossi were beautiful. The only one that actually scared me was the very last. I do confess to using the walkthrough once or twice, though - the map and the sword both get useless towards the end, I warn you.

[rionaleonhart]

Well, I found the first three absolutely terrifying, so I dread to think of how I'll respond to the last. They are rather beautiful, though.

[make-a-move.livejournal.com]

THE ENDING!!! *FLAILS AT YOU* I wish I could say more without spoiling everyone else.

OH OH OH, did he do his Stewie from Family Guy impression for you guys?

[rionaleonhart]

YES EXACTLY. AMAZING.

He did! Did you get the thoroughly ridiculous 'HMMMMMMMMMM' noise? (He forbade us to laugh whilst he was making it, which was a difficult order to follow.)

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

I want to see what the collosi are, now!

[rionaleonhart]

Each colossus is different, so I can't give you one convenient image, but a Google Image Search for 'shadow colossus' will let you see at least some of them.

And you have to fight these enormous things.

[snowdrifts.livejournal.com]

gnaklnklfa Shadow of the Colossus ♥ Probably on the beautifulest games ever created. Just just the whole game omg the art the atmosphere the occasional music and Wander's BFF Agro accompanying him whilst he goes and tries to revive the woman he loves.

I swear it's my favorite game ever.

But the Colossi do tend to give people the chills, especially as you progress further on. The last one. Oh dear god the last one. But I thought they were absolutely stunning and Gaius is probably my favorite Colossi (lol I have a rip-out posted with him on it from Game Informer xD) aside from the last one.

BUT YAY. Colossus ♥ I do so hope you enjoy the game, despite being terrified of the Colossi. How far are you in it and I apologize for my rambling. This game does that lol

[rionaleonhart]

I do love the incredibly rare, beautiful music. And Agro! The whole game is just so completely unlike anything else I've ever played; it just feels so real. A game has never before made me feel so strongly as if I am actually riding a horse across vast distances and fighting enormous terrifying creatures, which is in part because the number of games I have played involving both horse-riding and enormous terrifying creatures is rather small but mostly because the game just feels real.

Ooh, do the colossi have names? How do we know what they are?

I just defeated the fourth colossus today, and I am preparing to attempt the rest of the game walkthroughless, or at least checking the walkthrough only when I have genuinely run out of ideas and not just because AAAAAH IT'S BIG AND SCARY HOW DO I KILL IT. This may or may not be successful.

[cobecat.livejournal.com]

XD The first time I saw Shadow of the Colossus a friend was playing and had just gotten to the fish/sea serpent/whatever one. Turns out she was scared of water and drowning, because she was freaking the fuck out and finally just handed me the controller and was like "YOU DO IT".

[rionaleonhart]

I have not yet encountered this one! That is something to look forward to. Because clearly the colossi are not frightening enough without the threat of drowning.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Twas lovely to see you all! I'll post when I have better interwebs.

Which bit of Derren am I?!

[cryforthemoon.livejournal.com]

The pornographically-minded part - oh, no, sorry, that's me. I think. >.>

[rionaleonhart]

After some consideration, I think you may actually be his way with words.

[wolfenkahlon.livejournal.com]

Oh man... Shadow of the Colossus is a beautiful game... I played it through over the course of a night at a friend's place because I couldn't get to sleep on the couch...

I kind of felt bad for the Colossi though... after all, you're going around hunting them down one by one... and they look so very alive...

There seems to be a strong correlation between being incredibly frightening and being incredibly hot... it seems to need to be the right sort of frightening though... which is why it's so hard for Pyramid Head to get dates...

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

*tries not to say anything about Pyramid Head's one true love*

*tries not to say anything about Pyramid Head's one true love*

*fails*

Pyramid Head doesn't go on dates because he's in love with Riona, and she spurns him, politely but persistently.

[theoret.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Ooo! I saw Enigma a while back! It was awesome. Yes on all three of your facts. *g*

[rionaleonhart]

I had not realised that you were a Derren fan! Seriously, the correlation between how hot he is and how creepy he is currently being is almost exact. I do not understand it.

[cryforthemoon.livejournal.com]

I'm too scared of the Duchess in American McGee's Alice to keep trying to beat her; if I get picked up and eaten, I can't remember what my fingers ought to do on the keyboard. *g*

some members of our group had interesting experiences. *hides in corner*

It was so lovely to meet you! And wheeeeeDerren.

[rionaleonhart]

I am glad I am not the only person who experiences ridiculous amounts of videogame-boss terror.

It was lovely to meet you as well! It is a shame we didn't have more opportunity to chat.

[twilit-wanderer.livejournal.com]

The colossi are so beautiful and amazing! (But, er, yeah, I just went and skimmed my ramblings, and I spent a large amount of time flailing and freaking out over them, for varying reasons.) The fourth one was the first to really succeed in horrifying me (and in multiple ways, at that!). It's worth it, though.

(I was/am the same way with Silent Hill. I refuse to be shamed! I tried and I failed miserably, but I'd rather see it through to the end with someone holding my hand than to just stop! I do not think I could live with the thought of leaving a character stuck for all of time in an incomplete Silent Hill game. How cruel!)

Also, it seems I'm just echoing other people at this point, but yeah, there are a couple places in Shadow of the Colossus where the sword becomes completely useless and you can become stuck going in confusing loops for literally hours.

[rionaleonhart]

Ooh, I had forgotten you had rambled about this game! I've read your ramblings up to the fourth colossus now, and I love that you seem to discover the method for each colossus entirely by accident every time.

(I do not think I could live with the thought of leaving a character stuck for all of time in an incomplete Silent Hill game. How cruel!

Man, yes. I felt horrifically guilty just saving and stopping for a while when I was playing Silent Hill 2. SORRY, JAMES, I'M JUST GOING TO LEAVE YOU IN THIS HORRIFIC PRISON FOR A FEW HOURS. HAVE FUN.)

[lasayla.livejournal.com]

I am slightly mollified at having missed the show now I know that I am an aspect of Derren Brown, particularly something as apt as creepiness.

(Other acceptable aspects would have been Derren Brown's Smug Half-Smile At Knowing Something You Don't, Derren Brown's Chagrin At Constantly Having To Correct Misspellings Of His Name or Derren Brown's Habit Of Keeping Slightly Disturbing Objects In His Living Room.)

My sister has been in labour since Thursday and has still not had the baby. I'm pissed off about this, but nowhere near as pissed off as she is.

[rionaleonhart]

It was a shame we couldn't meet you! (Although, given that you are apparently Derren Brown's creepiness, meeting you would probably have been quite an alarming experience.)

Oh, ouch. Best wishes to your sister!