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I've been thinking of asking this for quite a while, and Retrofanatic's recent query made it come to the forefront of my mind.

I've never played a survival horror before, except for Enemy Zero, and am very much on the squeamish side. But I have an irresistible curiosity about legendary games like Resident Evil, and am convinced that I can get through a dated old 1990s horror game with no more than a pleasing tingling of the spine. After all, I enjoyed D and Enemy Zero. So, which should I try first: Alone in the Dark on the 3DO or Resident Evil on the Saturn? For instance, will it spoil my appreciation of Alone in the Dark if I play Resident Evil first?

(By the way, I just know someone's going to say "Skip them both and play Deep Fear", so let me say in advance: I only have a North American Saturn, so I can't play Disc 2 of Deep Fear. So, no go.)

I was really lookin forward to playing alone in the dark
Resident evil is a favourite. I'm not sure but I felt when playing the saturn game it was more difficult than on the playstation. I wouldn't say playing either first will ruin the other provided you enjoy the style of game is kind of how I feel about doom and wolfy I think wolfy is much more basic but I liked playing through it as I like the game. I imagine alone in the dark is a more basic earlier resi style game. I have avoided reading anything on it or watching videos etc to come into it with no knowledge of the game really other than the genre. I will need to watch for spoilers on this thread therefore

On the subject of deep fear....interesting. Why is it you feel unable to play disc two on a usa saturn? I have a pal and a japanese one. The pal one came to me scratched badly and basically causes the game to exit to the saturn dashboard if you try to watch any of the cutscenes. So I bought a japanese one. Is good game. The pal version would have to be a £100 game

I'd go with Resident Evil. It's a much better game ... longer, more diversity, more replay value, and (if you can imagine) better control (it's all relative of course )

It looks and plays great on the Saturn too!

You will have no appreciation for Alone in the Dark if you jump to RE.

Alone in the Dark has dated graphics, but it's not a zombie game. There's a little more puzzle solving and a lot less combat. It's not scary now, but I was a mess when this game first came out on PC.

I HAVE AITD2 FOR 3DO & SATURN...
and as someone who came to it 20 years too late, I'd say it was a bit gash, and will require your levels of patience and virtue to appreciate and enjoy it.

I found it painful, but you may get something positive out of it

If you can find it cheap enough, try it. Otherwise, I'd advise to move straight onto RE. The restrictive game mechanics actually work in RE. I just found the gameplay in AITD clumsy and frustrating by comparison...

Of the two in comparison (Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil), I much prefer Alone in the Dark. As Sneth said, it focuses much more on puzzle solving. Or let me rephrase that--both are focused on puzzles, but Alone in the Dark is more like Out of This World in that several of its puzzles or ways around traps are of the "life or death" kind, or at least if you don't solve them properly (like placing the Soup on the table full of zombies), your life will be made much more difficult as a result.

I actually found Alone in the Dark to be more action oriented, or at least have more actual "action" than Resident Evil. Yes, you shoot zombies, dogs, and combat a huge killer snake that can eat you in one bite in Resident Evil, but that's it. It's not as slow and clunky as Alone in the Dark, but you are pretty limited with what you can actually do. You aim up or down, shoot either up, straight or down, and that's about it (next to utilizing your useless knife). In Alone in the Dark, you can kick, punch, shoot guns, use swords, and chuck just about anything in your inventory at an enemy. There is a lot more room for experimentation here. There is also more room for exploration, as you can look in drawers, cabinets, and other random piles of crap to find books, ammo, keys, documents and what-not. In Resident Evil, everything is usually out in the open and sometimes shining to let you know it's something you can grab.

Some other things I like more about Alone in the Dark is that it has music that fits the haunted house atmosphere. Like, actual music. Resident Evil's soundtrack consists mostly of very subtle ambient-esque tracks. Also, I prefer "mysticism/the occult/ghosts/spirts/whatever" themes than the "failed experiment/bio-terrorism" sort that the Resident Evil series lives by.

While a lot of the visuals in Alone in the Dark are dated (all moving characters except for a couple are comprised of flat polygons), the enemies you encounter are truly out of this world, which always made them seem much more eerie to me. There's one instance where you see a ghost sitting in a chair, and if you disturb it, it stands up, turns into something indescribable, then chases the hell out of you until you're dead. It's genuinely creepy. Resident Evil doesn't have much in the way of that. Just your (now-typical) dogs, zombies, the occasional oversized spider, etc.

If you play Alone in the Dark, make sure it's the first game, either on the PC (the smoother version) or the 3DO (the better sounding version). You might be fine with the 3DO one since it seems you are less susceptible to noticing gameplay lag and framerate choppiness. Also, the second game in the series isn't generally looked upon too highly, regardless whether it's the 3DO, PC, PlayStation, or Saturn version. It's also a lot harder to get into than the first, as you're pretty much being gunned down the second you start the game (which is lame). The first game eases you in to the experience far better and gives you more room to explore at your own pace.

Overall, I think Resident Evil is a more accessible game. It has less of a learning curve. But I feel it also has a lot less depth, and I found the series to be pretty boring until Part 4 came along. Alone in the Dark has always been a favorite of mine, but I did play it a lot in the mid '90s on the PC, so I have a particular soft spot for it.

Martin III wrote:...will it spoil my appreciation of Alone in the Dark if I play Resident Evil first?

Yes it will. Play Alone in the Dark, skip the sequel and then play Resident Evil. You may even enjoy Resident Evil more from playing AITD beforehand.

Martin III wrote:(By the way, I just know someone's going to say "Skip them both and play Deep Fear", so let me say in advance: I only have a North American Saturn, so I can't play Disc 2 of Deep Fear. So, no go.)

I have a completed USA prototype. You know how to get a hold of me.

3DO Experience wrote:I have a completed USA prototype. You know how to get a hold of me.

Really? It was slated to be released in the US, it was fully complete, but it was cancelled? Sheesh, I hate it when companies do that. Just release the damn game, even if it's only a couple thousand copies! I don't understeand why they just let that work go to waste..

Austin wrote:

3DO Experience wrote:I have a completed USA prototype. You know how to get a hold of me.

Really? It was slated to be released in the US, it was fully complete, but it was cancelled? Sheesh, I hate it when companies do that. Just release the damn game, even if it's only a couple thousand copies! I don't understeand why they just let that work go to waste..

Tax purposes.

Definitely Alone in the Dark first, then Resident Evil.

I'll see if i can find some reviews of AitD and Resident EVil and scan them. Get you in the mood. Both games are great.

Thanks for the replies, guys! Right now I'm leaning towards getting Alone in the Dark first... I'll have to take a look around Ebay and see what the pricing is like.

Retrofanatic83 wrote:On the subject of deep fear....interesting. Why is it you feel unable to play disc two on a usa saturn?

My Saturn is unmodded, so I have to use an Action Replay cart to play imports. Deep Fear is one of a handful of multi-disc Saturn games which, due to the mechanism used for saving progress between discs, cannot be played to completion using the Action Replay cartridge. That's why the PAL version goes for obnoxiously high prices even though the far more common Japanese version is almost entirely in English!

I see. I have a pal and Japanese Saturn and when I play the pal copy on the JP machine it has slight coloured borders top n bottom. I'm sure it was optimised for the pal release but its still playable. I didn't know of any disc saving issues as I use the action replay on the Japanese Saturn to play the pal stuff and the USA duke nukem I will no doubt one day obtain. Bought a bundle of Saturn games and seller didn't know what they had as it was cheap and included complete deep dear that would have to be the one game that was scratched to hell wouldn't it lol

play AitD first, but it is harder than RE. AitD2 is even harder.

Martin III wrote:My Saturn is unmodded, so I have to use an Action Replay cart to play imports. Deep Fear is one of a handful of multi-disc Saturn games which, due to the mechanism used for saving progress between discs, cannot be played to completion using the Action Replay cartridge. That's why the PAL version goes for obnoxiously high prices even though the far more common Japanese version is almost entirely in English!

Is it the Action Replay specifically that's the problem? I've played through it with a different cartridge.

CRV wrote:

Martin III wrote:My Saturn is unmodded, so I have to use an Action Replay cart to play imports. Deep Fear is one of a handful of multi-disc Saturn games which, due to the mechanism used for saving progress between discs, cannot be played to completion using the Action Replay cartridge. That's why the PAL version goes for obnoxiously high prices even though the far more common Japanese version is almost entirely in English!

Is it the Action Replay specifically that's the problem? I've played through it with a different cartridge.

Yeah, it's probably just the Action Replay. I can't remember for sure, but I think the Action Replay's going to its own menu is what causes the interference.

ooo that stinks, I had a ST Key, which it seems to many to be the best for import only carts. Maybe I shouldn't have traded it... but there is always editing the game's region via a back-up of your discs. I prefer to use the originals but if it messes things up that works.

3DO Experience wrote:ooo that stinks, I had a ST Key, which it seems to many to be the best for import only carts. Maybe I shouldn't have traded it...

Nah, you definitely did the right thing by trading it.