So the month of Shocktober is upon us and before we know it Samhain will be knocking at the door along with a bunch of little monsters dressed up as another kind of monster. October is the month I like to watch a horror movie or play a horror game at least once a week on the run up to Halloween and it got me thinking. What kinds of ghost stories do you have about playing Elder Scrolls or Fallout?
The story can be about a particular quest you found creepy, something creepy or unexpected that happened in gameworld in general or even something creepy that happened in real life to you while you were playing ES\FO.
So once, I was playing Fallout New Vegas and something odd...happened. I was in a perfectly normal area and I had a MASSIVE frame drop. Suddenly, my entire screen went black! I was confused for a moment, until it minimized I saw a cut up face and heard a scream! I fliped my keyboard and fell back in my office chair, screeching like a little filly! My girlfriend came in and asked what happened, and my response was somewhere along the lines of "I don't bucking know! Hold me!". Later I found out that I had accidentally caused a creepy pasta video I had open in my browser to start playing and minimize my game
Hmmm, I must say, all the places I felt uncomfortable, but not really scared, were in the Fallout games. I'm talking about, of course, the Vaults. I mean, their very own concept, although it could be a good thing, is spooky, considering we all know what they really were.
In less general terms, there's Vault 34, hearing all those Ghoul screams and not knowing how many are around you is quite unsettling. Also in New Vegas, the vault that succumbed to plants, with those green things popping up from the overgrown grass. In Fallout 3, there's Vault 92, with its dark history.
Point Lookout and Into the Pitt in Fallout 3 are also unsettling... You know, let's just say the world of Fallout is a terrible place, very dark and is a setting that can get quite... "heavy" without much effort. That is true since the beginnings of the franchise, with Fallout and Fallout 2's locations and especially those games' soundtracks contributing to this overall feel of despair.
I never expected to get scared in Skyrim, but I was doing some skillful mountaineering by spamming Y and shuffling (as one does) when I slipped and landed in front of a word wall on the mountain, and I had no clue where I was.
Before I could react to the fall, I was suddenly greeted by a ghastly pale visage bursting out of the ground and covering the entire screen, letting out a BLOODTHRISTY HOWL. I recoiled and left the game paused for a few minutes to catch my breath, all the while that creepy face staring at me.
The jump-scaring wispmother then blasted my level 3 Imperial to kingdom come.
It took me a couple days to think on this one-- but I think I finally decided on one that was the most Halloween-y.
Quest: Blessings of Nature
Location: Orphan Rock
It was a sunny afternoon in Whiterun and Danica Pure-Spring decided to send me into the middle of the woods to retrieve Nettlebane. I like Kynareth/Kyne. Wind, sky, death... all cool by me. OK, Danica. I'll get that old, magic plant-dagger for you. Consider it done.
Since Orphan Rock isn't really by much, I remember fast traveling to the nearest location and then tromping through the woods in the now complete dark looking for this place. I think the inhabitants found me first, because as soon as the location name came up I was absolutely blasted by an ice spike. I screamed I was so surprised. Those witches were ready for me. In the dark I'm scrambling around trying to find these ladies clad in black while being nailed from (what felt like) all sides by destruction spells and tripping over runes left and right. Occasionally I'd see a face pop out of the dark before getting blasted and then the hag would vanish again... at which point I would then tear into the dark after my attacker yelling, "DIE WITCH!!!"
...Turns out there were only four of them and a Hagraven. But gods damn did it feel like a scene out of Paranormal Activity 3.