The Well of Fears

First Nightmare. Awesome. Positive Childhood Memory. Check.

I have to admit, if I looked at ONLY the promos when I first started playing these, Nightmare II would have gotten my vote. I had no asperations for Baron Samedi being any good. I thought the character looked goofy and the "Yo Baron, I can DIG IT!!" was a little over the top, but after playing it, the Baron actually became my favorite. I warn people, I know it sounds cheesy, but trust me, it'll grow on you, and it always does. Great lines and overall experience.

Nightmare III, trying to get people to play all these games can be tedious when people feel like they're playing the same game. I think Nightmare III Anne De Chantrane takes the prize on this one. (Not good prize) It plays fairly similar, and the character is hard to understand much of the time. I found that some people had no idea what she was saying in some cases, but on top of that there is a CONSTANT giving and taking away of ALL the keys, which put a bad taste in ALL my friends' mouths. I think at this point Nightmare jumped the proverbial shark. They needed something new. We played this once and sent Anne back to the Black Hole for this one...

Nightmare IV, While they tried something new, adding a new deck of cards (rose cards) and a game dynamic that turned your friends from players to conspirators of Bathory, it did pose an interesting twist, though the game only lasted 15 minutes. Though adding the sex appeal of Elizabeth Bathory, a new deck of cards and a diary in which to twist the game even further, it left us wondering if we could get the Gatekeeper to reign these characters in again.

After Nightmare II the "fun" of the characters had waned. I think focusing on the Harbingers as "hosts" kindof broke the spirit of them trying to escape the hell that they were in. I think Atmosfear (VHS) brought the spirit of the game back to what it was supposed to be and made it more complex for the true of heart. Bringing back the original Gatekeeper was truly the peak of it all! The soul rangers were a good addition (even if Dr. Mastif wasn't) but it gave the players the ability to really do battle with one another and the Gatekeeper which was a great relief to what appeared to be steps in the wrong direction.

Would I have bought the others if they had come out? Heck yeah! I just think they realized the path they were taking wasn't going to generate the interest, plus once you have everyone's attention, it's hard to keep people's attention. I understand the "been there-done that" as a gamer and collector.

What say you? Which one did you think was the worst?

darkgaizat

To keep it simple, i've seen each Nightmare game like this:

1st game - The easiest
2nd game - The coolest (Most enjoyable host)
3rd game - The scariest (Very good makeup)
4th game - The hardest

My personal order of overall enjoyment would be:

1st - IV
2nd - I
3rd - II
4th - III

I can't really explain why I enjoy the 3rd the least, but I know it's my least played out of all four.
Maybe those spell cards?
I enjoy the 4th the most because basically, of how hard it is. Bit of a masochist lol.

The 4th is my favorite because of the highest difficulty. I have mixed feelings about Soul Rangers because of Mastiff, but the gameplay is really good. I think the original Gatekeeper is the scariest character in the series, so Nightmare and Harbingers seem the scariest for me.

My least favorite would probably be Nightmare III, though not because I dislike it. I also think Nightmare II breaks the tones of the series a little, but the Baron is a fun host so I suppose it's allowed!

Yeah, my take on Soul Rangers was that it was pretty cool on the gameplay side. Mastiff could have been cool, but it was way too repetitive, and he had some pretty dumb lines.

darkgaizat

My order of all the games goes as follows:
1. Nightmare/Atmosfear IV: Elizabeth Bathory. VAMPIRE
2. Nightmare/Atmosfear I
3. Nightmare/Atmosfear II: Baron Samedi. ZOMBIE
4. Nightmare/Atmosfear III: Anne de Chantraine. WITCH
5. The Harbingers
6. The Harbingers Booster Tape 2
7. The Harbingers Booster Tape 1
8. Atmosfear: Khufu The Mummy
9. Atmosfear: The Gatekeeper
10. The Soul Rangers

The computer and card games are pretty cool as well, but they aren't actual "board' games so I will omit them from the list, at least for the time being.
Lemme just say that I HATED the DVD games. It's my opinion, but I did. They rate low, but not as low as Soul Rangers. I think after I played Soul Rangers, I took the tape out, threw it on the floor, and jumped on it, so much so that it is extinct, can never be played again.

Khufu the Mummy wrote:I think after I played Soul Rangers, I took the tape out, threw it on the floor, and jumped on it, so much so that it is extinct, can never be played again.

Out of curiosity, what would cause you to dislike the game that much?

MasterOfPuppets wrote:

Khufu the Mummy wrote:I think after I played Soul Rangers, I took the tape out, threw it on the floor, and jumped on it, so much so that it is extinct, can never be played again.

Out of curiosity, what would cause you to dislike the game that much?

The host, mainly. It didn't have the "Nightmare" feel I so enjoy. I felt cheated out of $50 in eBay charges. I didn't like how seein the time was such a rarity and the host was too light and nonchalant instead of scary. It was also too loud. We couldn't hear each other speaking over the noises on the tape. I had to turn it down dramatically 3 minutes in. When it was over I said this is it and that was that

In other words: I's twisteeed!

It's unfortunate because the gameplay for Soul Rangers is really good. I agree the video wasn't as good as it could of been, and that is a turn off.

Khufu the Mummy wrote:In other words: I's twisteeed!

Hah, reminds me of the last clip of Mastif when you lose to him and he says "TWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSTTTTEEEEEEEDDDDDD" for agggggges. Always makes me laugh.