This game was such a good troll. My favorite is when I went to save it was like "Are you sure you want to delete your save file?" I select No. It proceeds to show a loading bar that says "Deleting file." My heart actually jumped into my throat at that one.
Honestly, it's this sanity effect alone that made me never pick up and play the game, as I heard about it being a thing that could happen but never heard nor got confirmation on whether it was just a trick to mess with your mind and thus didn't actually happen, or if it actually did and it was just that hardcore of a game. Actually, I had heard that it formatted your hole memory card, and so as such I wasn't going to let a game with that possibility anywhere near my memory card that had hours upon hours of Smash Bros Melee and other games on it. By the time I _did_ get confirmation that it didn't actually do that, I had already really moved on from the Gamecube. Alas...
There's a big reason why you don't want your sanity to be that low aside from the sanity effects: When it's fully drained, monsters will start draining your health on sight instead of your sanity.
Yeah, sanity is basically armor. That's why it's the least important to maintain. If your health is attacked directly, it doesn't matter how much sanity you have. If your magic is being drained, it will make it more difficult to defend yourself or regain anything.
12:50 - On my playthough I saw a really cool sanity effect in that room I've never seen anyone else mention. When returning to the room a singular, stationary zombie will have respawned next to a door, and it just lets you kill it. But after you do so it plays the deathsound of the character you're controlling.
When I was a kid I was _really_ into Eternal Darkness, I went to their website & it had a detailed Flash menu with spooky ambient sounds & every couple of minutes you'd hear an echoey man's voice saying something unintelligible...I thought it sounded backmasked so I reversed & it was actually a guy saying "geeez I gotta take a leak so bad I can taste it!" Seriously, I'm not making that up...so did anyone else ever notice it? I've tried viewing a WayBack copy of the site but it doesn't work. It's just too old. 😞
Fun fact, that voice is Rick Moranis and it's his own audio clip of him saying "I have to take a leak so bad I can taste it!" which was used on the website for the game but reversed!
I recall Silicon Knights also saw controversy at roughly the same time as their crowdfunding campaign due to the fact that Ken McCulloch, a Silicon Knights dev, was charged with possession & distribution of child pornography (found guilty) and later sexual assault (found guilty albeit I can only find one source reporting on the verdict of this case).
Back then I only saw one article on the Escapist mentioning that he was being investigated, but they never followed it, though it was obvious he was guilty. Thanks for bringing closure to theses terrible news.
Oh thank goodness someone mentioned this. The ending to this video was weird as it was kinda shaming people for not kickstarting SOTE, even though Silicon Knights by then were a team not to be trusted (suing everyone, not being loyal to Nintendo, making Too Human, lying a lot about Too Human, etc and etc). And that CP thing you mentioned was just icing on the terrible, terrible cake.
I remember a moment in Batman: Arkham Asylum where during the scarecrow fight your screen gets colorfully pixely in a way that gives you the impression your GPU has basically lit on fire. Because my mind recognized it as the specific visual artifacting that happens when your GPU is going kaput (Since I've experienced it for real before) I had a small panic attack until the game went to the next scene. I think that's proof that you really can do something like Eternal Darkness in the modern era, cause that scared the shit out of me. Not many developers do it though; I guess the only games where you can still experience 4th wall stuff from time to time are obscure horror games and stuff like Oneshot.
Apparently the issue is that Nintendo has a patent the sanity system, so making a game with that sort of system for any game that isn't made/published by Nintendo could lead to a lawsuit.
@@joshwist556 Shadow of mordor nemesis system is now patent by WB lmao If companies want to be evil and give a "fuck you" they can do it. We are lucky ID were nice to us and never try to bog down game industry evolution.
One of the most amazing sanity effects, and apparently one of the rarest, is when I played the Franciscan monk in the same cathedral in France. I entered the main hall and suddenly the picture goes black and white, and in there instead of rows of seats there are white tents and women in 19th century nurse uniforms wandering around what looked like a make-shift field hospital. And instead of thunder, I hear bombs and artillery going off outside. Only for a few seconds, then the vision ends. Later I played as the young journalist in the 1st world war, which takes place in the same Cathedral, 100s of years later. I entered the main hall and there was the field hospital they had set up for injured soldiers. Blew. My. Mind. Eternal Darkness is still one of my favorite games of all time. I lost my copy long ago, and there doesn't seem to be any plans of remake, or even re-release that I know about.
That bathroom part is actually the only reason I've ever played this game. My friend was looking at a forum where the subject was, "what is the scariest scene ever in a video game?" Half the board at the time said Eternal Darkness, bathroom. So we ended up renting the game to try it out and I'm so glad we did. I'm very glad you have played the game in its own time. I don't think the jump-scare was stupid at all, mainly because it's literally the only one in the game. Can't think of any other game that has one and only one jump-scare.
this is probably the best review of this game I've seen you've not only put the games scares in but you've put in your own with the discord app sound and the video suddenly crashing and the video recommendations showing up nice job
This one time, I was midway through Anthony's chapter, and I was really getting my ass kicked by a horror. All of a sudden, the game freezes and it says DISC READ ERROR etc etc. I was like "Oh haha wow! Eternal Darkness is so cool!" and then I started hammering on the controller, waited a minute and nothing happened.
Youuuuuu cheeky devil. Loved the video, man, actually recently picked up a Wii to play a few games I missed out on like Xenoblade Chronicles and the No More Heroes games. Will definitely check this out too!
The fake TV setting effects would be super creepy on my TV, wow. It’s actually a Trinitron and it’s volume slider and mute button looks exactly like that. Wow.
YES! Eternal Darkness is one of my favorite games of all time!! The coolest thing is that you don't have to learn spells before you can perform them so long as you have the runes, so you can do a bit of mild sequence breaking if you remember the rune combinations.
The scariest part of the game for me was whenever I had extremely low health in the middle of a fight and knowing that I haven't saved in an hour or longer.
Got this with my gamecube when my wife bought me it for christmas in 2003 , that was our first year of married life crazy to think we've been together that long
I have great memories of playing this game. I loved how the levels evolved and changed across the different time periods. I remember playing in the mansion during a different time period and thinking to myself, "Hey...I don't remember this door being here."
The reason why you haven't seen any other game use the 4th wall breaking sanity system quite like Eternal Darkness did is because Nintendo patented it. I shit you not. Here's the link to the patent: patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6935954.PN.&OS=PN/6935954&RS=PN/6935954
It's kinda like how Namco made a patent for having mini games in loading screens. You know how in some Namco games, you can play a Galaga level while the game is loading? They patented that shit. However, I believe that patent hasn't been renewed by them, though I could be wrong.
+Mark Hirsch It's not the same type of sanity system. If you read the patent I linked you can see specifically all the things Nintendo patented with their sanity system. A game merely having a sanity system isn't necessarily infringing upon Nintendo's patent. The devil is in the details.
My favorite one was when entering into another room the game loads a splash screen thanking you for playing the demo to eternal darkness. Considering I got the game used when I was a kid that one DEFINITELY tricked me when it happened.
Eternal Darkness will always be one of my favorite Gamecube games. It has a unique atmosphere with a unique magic and sanity system that add to the game's setting. The story is structured in a unique way. The controls are surprisingly smooth for a horror game and the game is balanced accordingly. It's miles better than the glitchy Cthulhu game on Xbox.
Jeffskii Without spoiling anything, it's a semi survival horror game series where you uncover mysteries and exorcise ghosts with a special camera. Typically underneath the horror the games are extremely depressing, often with loss of a loved one in a tragic manner.
This is one of my favorite games ever, I absolutely LOVED it in high school, I'm rarely scared of games, but I enjoy when I actually CAN be scared, I really try to get myself creeped out, Eternal Darkness was one game that could actually have me on edge, especially Peter Jacob's level in the Cathedral during the battle of the Somme, when a nearby mortar knocks out the power, the atmosphere is TERRIFYING, full of darkness and dread. Especially when you read papers of info and find out that the soldiers corpses are being used to feed some ancient horror.
I really should have mentioned it in the video, but I always loved how the options menu screen has that X-RAY view of Alex's skull. As if we're peering inside to make changes.
This is one of my favorite horror games, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I played through it multiple times, Mantorok was my god of choice. Fun fact - You run into it through the games actually, it was the decaying god in the cambodian temple.
Great twists on the game's sanity effects, Nitro... I always used to dream about how Eternal Darkness could be revived on Nintendo's later consoles and how the sanity mechanics could be incorporated on their unique layouts (e.g. suicidal voices coming out of the Wiimote's internal speaker)
I recommend the extra work getting the Mantorok rune, it adds so many awesome abilities, spells that heal both health/sanity/magick all at the same time, strong weapon enchantments, etc...great for adding some extra fun for a 2nd full playthrough.
One unmentioned sanity effect that I think scared me the most was I went to save and it just showed the save screen followed by "Deleting all memory card data" and a progress bar that starts all on its own and I had a 3rd party $40 memory card with a ton on it. I remember vividly jumping up shouting NOO!
Just beat the game today and wanted to see a well made review of it, and this video did not disappoint, it delivers beyond what I thought going in! So well edited and really summed up great thoughts about the game overall, great work James!
You actually got me on the 4th wall breaking editing things you did with the buffering and the other ones. I literally thought the video was done. Good videos as always
Eternal Darkness is still to this day one of my favorite Nintendo games, and the fact Alex has a Spirit in Ultimate gives me new hope for at least a remaster if not a full on sequel. Also I know this video is a couple years old as I type this comment but Nintendo published a couple of M rated games between Geist & Bayonetta 2....they actually co-own Fatal Frame ( as of around 2008 ), with 4 & a remake of 2 being released on Wii. Bayonetta was just the 3rd time ( at least as best as I can recall anyway ) that Nintendo published a 3rd party M rated game with the first being Conker's Bad Fur Day & the 2nd being Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Ever have one of those moments when you're watching a review of Eternal Darkeness and then suddenly the sound glitches and nothing moves and you're not sure if it's part of the video or if your computer just froze? Then after rebooting watching the review only to have thing happen, only this time it was the video? It's a surreal experience.
One of the great things about the sanity meter was the background/ambient sounds that would play to distinctly indicate insanity: they were normal, everyday background noises that your mind usually filters out. You don't notice them UNTIL you play this game. Absolutely brilliant.
This game has pissed me off through my whole life, and I've never played it. "Oh, you wanna buy it? couple hundred dollars plz" Or "Oh, you wanna emulate it? Too bad!" While typing this, I remembered I have a homebrewed Wii. My anger is gone!
My first survival horror game. I was just a kid and this game was just released so those old tv effects were really realistic, managed to freak me out a bunch of times. Still one of my favorite horror games to this day
1: The Discord notification sound was too clever for words. 2: As someone who's never played this game, thank you for not just talking about the sanity stuff. It's so refreshing to hear about the game's story and gameplay for once.
Okay, the Sanity System in this video got to me. Fun fact, I was actually ON Discord while I was watching this, but I have notifications muted because the sound irritates me. When I heard that, I actually checked my Discord settings to make sure that they were muted still, and afterward I was still hesitantly checking Discord. Good on. You got me with this video. Know what? I'm subscribing to you JUST for that.
Nitro Rad: Hotline Miami. I mean, I would love to see your interpretation of a drugged out murder spree of a story that was most likely written by Kefka Palazzo on a LSD binge.
Corvus Alendar I've been recommending Hotline Miami for the greater part of a year and a half on this channel but it seems like it might not be his thing.
I've taken ACID three days in a row, the first day was fine, then the second two I just felt awake for 12 hours, no actual trip. You'd have to continuously up your dose if you want to trip everyday, and that's true.
After I realized you were doing sneaky edits I waited the entire video to see the UA-cam HUD or ad overlay pop up for a few seconds (I brushed my keyboard on accident which implanted the idea in my head). I imagine it'd be amazing, but you'd run into the problem of when people watch it on mobile or stream to TVs, where the format is completely different. Ah well, a great video! Always love your Halloween specials.
I thought of the idea for a fake advertisement overlayed in there while it was rendering. Really wish I thought of it sooner, it would have been an awesome one.
5:54 I was legit scared to see that bathtub again. One of the best jumpscare of video game history alongside the dogs jumping through the window in resident evil 1.
the timeline inconsistency is because the tome was made using dark powers and darkness is omnipresent so things that technically happen in the future affect the past
He got me on the Discord bleep, but not on the buffer wheel. When you watch something in picture in picture, every effect stays in the video box while the actual video itself plays in the extension.
You are so incredibly wrong about why shadow of eternals didn't get funded with mighty no 9. Dyack was such a poison in the industry throughout the years from too human being terrible to being a complete jackass on forums and critics to the disaster of x-men destiny. No gamer had any faith in him. He also tried funding it multiple times on different platforms and nothing ever took
I was always interested in the idea of the Fifth Old One, the yellow energy. It was a concept you only saw hinted at in the actual release in the final section of the game. Rumour had it this would have been accessible on your fourth playthrough. Instead of destroying his effigy in chapter one, Pious could have simply left the room and encountered Yellow. Still one of my favourite games of all time.
I've never clicked on a Nitro Rad episode so fast! I've always wanted to see a review for this game but never really saw a good one. Your videos never disappoint so this is going to be amazing
I played through and beat this game for the first time myself last year, and I actually encountered a very subtle sanity effect that I haven't seen anyone online mention. This was near the end of the game, I believe in Michael Edwards ' stage. (The firefighter.) On empty sanity, I returned to one of the rooms I had already cleared of all the enemies. But this time a standard zombie stood in the room next to one of the doors. It wasn't like any other zombie enemy in the game, since it didn't attack back, or even look at you. A couple of axe-swings later it falls to the ground and disinigrates *_with Michaels' death sound playing!_* (I was playing as Michael in the room at 14:47 with Xel'Lotath (The green one) as Pious's Ancient, if that matters.)
One thing I'd add is that if you want to see a good chunk of the sanity effects, you can play the chapter featuring the messenger for Charlamagne. Because of the plot points leading into it, he cannot die, and that does carry over into the gameplay. I remember spending hours at 1 hp just going back and forth between doors seeing what else the game would throw at me, and generally alleviated the rest of the game treating the sanity effects as punishment.
You say that Eternal Darkness is the first of future M rated games published by Nintendo. Did you know that Conker's Bad fur Day was an M rated game back on the N64? Maybe you should give it a play-through someday. WARNING: you will have to use a lot of censors for various parts of the game due to suggestive language, sexual themes, and gore. Just sayin. Maybe Eternal Darkness was the first M rated game to be published by Nintendo, but Conker's Bad Fur Day was the first M rated game to be playable on a Nintendo console.
omg this game is genius. srsly they really though it through when they made this. and i love how you also edited some tricks to troll us well done. also, I'm a fellow Canadian too!
At 3:55, when the music sheet appears , I could literally hear that music play in my head. I've played through this game at least 6 times as I twice got the true ending, and perhaps a dozen or so more times added up, by replaying chapters. My last playthrough was earlier this year. The only other games I completed this often from start to finish must be Resident Evil 4 (on different consoles combined, Gamecube on launch day, Wii as my favourite version), and Aladdin on the Game Boy.
Was about to point that out myself. Not every M rated game that's exclusive to a Nintendo platform is published by Nintendo, it's just considered rare to see third parties put M rated exclusives on Nintendo systems. Speaking of, Rad is technically wrong about Eternal Darkness being Nintendo's first M rated game, that honor goes to Perfect Dark on the N64. Yeah I know that IP ended up being retained by Rare so it then became Microsoft's property after Rare was sold in 2002, but fact is Nintendo published the original N64 release due to Rare still being a second party studio at the time.
I love the room where you find the tome of eternal darkness, with its tortured faces and the screams of the damned. My favorite part is when the hand opens with that creepy, creaky wooden sound, revealing the tome. It kinda puts me at ease, strangely enough. Yes, I am weird.
EightOfSupreme Cue Homer Simpson laughing, because BS. People were attached too much to Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I doubt ED would make a dent in sales on the PS2. That is the logic of Sony loyalists.
So? Even if the PS2 had more horror titles, they still got buried under what Capcom and Konami have done. And ED would be no different. And again, he basically "this game would fare better on MY console, not theirs", which is again, Sony loyalist logic.
Who said they had to jump ship? If anything, it should've been a sign to give a console that was received as kiddy at the time a chance. Instead, it was the fanboyish "this game is on the wrong console". What because the PS1 had more action games, should Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and Turok be on the PS1 instead of the N64? And you forgot that Re4 had a GC installment? The GC? The console it was on first? I'm... done!
This game was such a good troll. My favorite is when I went to save it was like "Are you sure you want to delete your save file?" I select No. It proceeds to show a loading bar that says "Deleting file." My heart actually jumped into my throat at that one.
Tarks Gauntlet I shut off my console in fear and had to repeat like...an hour of progress was not a happy camper.
@@CheezersDeluxe that's what makes the sanity mechanic so good is that it was just targetting Alex/characters but also you the players sanity.
Honestly, it's this sanity effect alone that made me never pick up and play the game, as I heard about it being a thing that could happen but never heard nor got confirmation on whether it was just a trick to mess with your mind and thus didn't actually happen, or if it actually did and it was just that hardcore of a game. Actually, I had heard that it formatted your hole memory card, and so as such I wasn't going to let a game with that possibility anywhere near my memory card that had hours upon hours of Smash Bros Melee and other games on it.
By the time I _did_ get confirmation that it didn't actually do that, I had already really moved on from the Gamecube. Alas...
prinniesforeveryone
? Um, does that word offend you for some reason?
@@awkwardsilence4427 your name sums up what has just transpired here
Did you put in a Discord bleep on purpose?. IS THAT WHY YOU ASKED ON TWITTER WHAT MORE PEOPLE USE??.
clever canadian...
CLEVER SON OF A BITCH!
Kazuma Kiryu I put my phone on silent constantly so that kinda threw me off
Luckily I was on mobile
i've been getting constant discord bleeps for hours and now i don't know what's going on.
There's a big reason why you don't want your sanity to be that low aside from the sanity effects: When it's fully drained, monsters will start draining your health on sight instead of your sanity.
He mentioned the health drains
Yeah, sanity is basically armor. That's why it's the least important to maintain. If your health is attacked directly, it doesn't matter how much sanity you have. If your magic is being drained, it will make it more difficult to defend yourself or regain anything.
Yeah but it's sooo worth it just to see all the ways the game can mindfuck you lol
12:50 - On my playthough I saw a really cool sanity effect in that room I've never seen anyone else mention.
When returning to the room a singular, stationary zombie will have respawned next to a door, and it just lets you kill it.
But after you do so it plays the deathsound of the character you're controlling.
There are so many sanity effects it's hard to mention them all, but I remember this too. Made me think I had to reload save from an hour ago 😂
19:59 No one else noticed Nitro's Flipped Screen Sanity Effect? Gotta love subtlety.
I've watched this at least twice already and I only just noticed it this time.
I heard the Discord sound I just thought, "Oh? I'll check it when the video is over." Nicely done Sanity troll.
Nitro does a lot of cool subtle things in his videos. I think he has a film degree or something.
@@MegaHarv Funny seeing you here. Didn't know you're a Nitro Rad fan lol.
@@caifabe8050 I found Nitro Rad randomly a few months ago and binged watched a lot of his content. Rad indeed!
When I was a kid I was _really_ into Eternal Darkness, I went to their website & it had a detailed Flash menu with spooky ambient sounds & every couple of minutes you'd hear an echoey man's voice saying something unintelligible...I thought it sounded backmasked so I reversed & it was actually a guy saying "geeez I gotta take a leak so bad I can taste it!"
Seriously, I'm not making that up...so did anyone else ever notice it? I've tried viewing a WayBack copy of the site but it doesn't work. It's just too old. 😞
Fun fact, that voice is Rick Moranis and it's his own audio clip of him saying "I have to take a leak so bad I can taste it!" which was used on the website for the game but reversed!
@@theowlsofouterheaven yeah, it's from the movie Strange Brew.
I recall Silicon Knights also saw controversy at roughly the same time as their crowdfunding campaign due to the fact that Ken McCulloch, a Silicon Knights dev, was charged with possession & distribution of child pornography (found guilty) and later sexual assault (found guilty albeit I can only find one source reporting on the verdict of this case).
YIKES
well...that damaged my sanity meter.
roll for sanity damage.
Back then I only saw one article on the Escapist mentioning that he was being investigated, but they never followed it, though it was obvious he was guilty. Thanks for bringing closure to theses terrible news.
"This... can't... be... happening..."
Oh thank goodness someone mentioned this. The ending to this video was weird as it was kinda shaming people for not kickstarting SOTE, even though Silicon Knights by then were a team not to be trusted (suing everyone, not being loyal to Nintendo, making Too Human, lying a lot about Too Human, etc and etc). And that CP thing you mentioned was just icing on the terrible, terrible cake.
I remember a moment in Batman: Arkham Asylum where during the scarecrow fight your screen gets colorfully pixely in a way that gives you the impression your GPU has basically lit on fire.
Because my mind recognized it as the specific visual artifacting that happens when your GPU is going kaput (Since I've experienced it for real before) I had a small panic attack until the game went to the next scene.
I think that's proof that you really can do something like Eternal Darkness in the modern era, cause that scared the shit out of me. Not many developers do it though; I guess the only games where you can still experience 4th wall stuff from time to time are obscure horror games and stuff like Oneshot.
Apparently the issue is that Nintendo has a patent the sanity system, so making a game with that sort of system for any game that isn't made/published by Nintendo could lead to a lawsuit.
Gammera How do you patent a gameplay design? That’s like ID software suing everyone who makes an FPS game. Makes no sense.
@Brupcat Didn’t Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed do that?
WHOA
I better be careful when I get my PC back! XD
@@joshwist556 Shadow of mordor nemesis system is now patent by WB lmao
If companies want to be evil and give a "fuck you" they can do it. We are lucky ID were nice to us and never try to bog down game industry evolution.
Your voice is so soothing to listen to
He sounds like that good old friend from college.
I want nitrorad asmr (reading you my thesis on taz the tazmanian tiger until you fall asleep) roleplay
GamebroTV toxic
it really is, it has that nostalgic feel to it
True! He helps me sleep
One of the most amazing sanity effects, and apparently one of the rarest, is when I played the Franciscan monk in the same cathedral in France. I entered the main hall and suddenly the picture goes black and white, and in there instead of rows of seats there are white tents and women in 19th century nurse uniforms wandering around what looked like a make-shift field hospital. And instead of thunder, I hear bombs and artillery going off outside. Only for a few seconds, then the vision ends.
Later I played as the young journalist in the 1st world war, which takes place in the same Cathedral, 100s of years later. I entered the main hall and there was the field hospital they had set up for injured soldiers. Blew. My. Mind.
Eternal Darkness is still one of my favorite games of all time. I lost my copy long ago, and there doesn't seem to be any plans of remake, or even re-release that I know about.
That bathroom part is actually the only reason I've ever played this game. My friend was looking at a forum where the subject was, "what is the scariest scene ever in a video game?" Half the board at the time said Eternal Darkness, bathroom. So we ended up renting the game to try it out and I'm so glad we did. I'm very glad you have played the game in its own time. I don't think the jump-scare was stupid at all, mainly because it's literally the only one in the game. Can't think of any other game that has one and only one jump-scare.
jump scares are fine when they're scarce like that
it just gets stale when its plastered everywhere
I used to play this game high as crap and I swear everytime I knew that scene was coming I would close my eyes or look away...even in broad daylight!
this is probably the best review of this game I've seen you've not only put the games scares in but you've put in your own with the discord app sound and the video suddenly crashing and the video recommendations showing up nice job
This one time, I was midway through Anthony's chapter, and I was really getting my ass kicked by a horror. All of a sudden, the game freezes and it says DISC READ ERROR etc etc. I was like "Oh haha wow! Eternal Darkness is so cool!" and then I started hammering on the controller, waited a minute and nothing happened.
Oops
XD
10:19
Ok, who else checked their Discord notifications?
HEHEHEHEHEHHHH
Youuuuuu cheeky devil.
Loved the video, man, actually recently picked up a Wii to play a few games I missed out on like Xenoblade Chronicles and the No More Heroes games. Will definitely check this out too!
MAN FUCK YOU (not really luv ya bbygurl
lol shit i really thought it was my discord!
The clever bastard
The fake TV setting effects would be super creepy on my TV, wow. It’s actually a Trinitron and it’s volume slider and mute button looks exactly like that. Wow.
I think most people's did at the time.
I love all of the 4th wall breaks
*character turn and shoots at the screen*
YES! Eternal Darkness is one of my favorite games of all time!! The coolest thing is that you don't have to learn spells before you can perform them so long as you have the runes, so you can do a bit of mild sequence breaking if you remember the rune combinations.
The scariest part of the game for me was whenever I had extremely low health in the middle of a fight and knowing that I haven't saved in an hour or longer.
Got this with my gamecube when my wife bought me it for christmas in 2003 , that was our first year of married life crazy to think we've been together that long
I have great memories of playing this game. I loved how the levels evolved and changed across the different time periods. I remember playing in the mansion during a different time period and thinking to myself, "Hey...I don't remember this door being here."
11:16 ok ok you got me.
You could say this game is a....
"CULT" CLASSIC
It honestly does sound like one.
The reason why you haven't seen any other game use the 4th wall breaking sanity system quite like Eternal Darkness did is because Nintendo patented it. I shit you not. Here's the link to the patent: patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6935954.PN.&OS=PN/6935954&RS=PN/6935954
It's kinda like how Namco made a patent for having mini games in loading screens.
You know how in some Namco games, you can play a Galaga level while the game is loading? They patented that shit.
However, I believe that patent hasn't been renewed by them, though I could be wrong.
lightskintwin hold up but what about call of Cthulhu dark corners of the earth they have a sanity system?
+Mark Hirsch It's not the same type of sanity system. If you read the patent I linked you can see specifically all the things Nintendo patented with their sanity system. A game merely having a sanity system isn't necessarily infringing upon Nintendo's patent. The devil is in the details.
lightskintwin what the actual fuck !?
PikaLink91 there needs to be a law against patent hoarding
My favorite one was when entering into another room the game loads a splash screen thanking you for playing the demo to eternal darkness. Considering I got the game used when I was a kid that one DEFINITELY tricked me when it happened.
Eternal Darkness will always be one of my favorite Gamecube games. It has a unique atmosphere with a unique magic and sanity system that add to the game's setting. The story is structured in a unique way. The controls are surprisingly smooth for a horror game and the game is balanced accordingly. It's miles better than the glitchy Cthulhu game on Xbox.
11:17 Sorry, didn't work I'm using a mobile device.
Mobile gang, rise up
OUR BRAINS ARE TOO LARGE TO FALL FOR HIS TRICKS
You should totally do the Fatal Frame series
Deadeye Duncan what is fatal frame? I've heard of it but I've never seen it or any gameplay or art of it, or at least nothing that I can remember
Jeffskii Without spoiling anything, it's a semi survival horror game series where you uncover mysteries and exorcise ghosts with a special camera. Typically underneath the horror the games are extremely depressing, often with loss of a loved one in a tragic manner.
Deadeye Duncan oh, now I remember that game. Yeah that shit was silent hill level horror
I was going to say this as well! Good call! I think FF2 is the one to go with if he ever reconsiders.
PikaLink91 Damn, did he say why he doesn't plan on it?
19:59
Subtly mirroring the video. Nice.
holding up the case practically gives it away though
October Nitrorad is going to be spooketh!
This is one of my favorite games ever, I absolutely LOVED it in high school, I'm rarely scared of games, but I enjoy when I actually CAN be scared, I really try to get myself creeped out, Eternal Darkness was one game that could actually have me on edge, especially Peter Jacob's level in the Cathedral during the battle of the Somme, when a nearby mortar knocks out the power, the atmosphere is TERRIFYING, full of darkness and dread. Especially when you read papers of info and find out that the soldiers corpses are being used to feed some ancient horror.
You and Somecallmejohnny NEED to collab at least once
Nin10Boy 6464 Agreed! This needs to happen!!
Y E S
They have totally different tastes...maybe they could team up and do Earthbound!
YES! PLEASE!
I always figured the Tome of Eternal Darkness somewhat existed outside of time, explaining the weird chronology of the characters
Amazing work as usual man! Loved the "Fourth Wall" editing you did to go along with the game haha
I've always loved the options menu on the title screen and the transition to it. It's so atmospheric. I can't start the game without visiting it.
I really should have mentioned it in the video, but I always loved how the options menu screen has that X-RAY view of Alex's skull. As if we're peering inside to make changes.
10:19 You played me like a goddamn fiddle
I played this game due to your recommendation over Twitter and I am loving it right now. Thanks mate.
This is one of my favorite horror games, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I played through it multiple times, Mantorok was my god of choice. Fun fact - You run into it through the games actually, it was the decaying god in the cambodian temple.
Great twists on the game's sanity effects, Nitro...
I always used to dream about how Eternal Darkness could be revived on Nintendo's later consoles and how the sanity mechanics could be incorporated on their unique layouts (e.g. suicidal voices coming out of the Wiimote's internal speaker)
I recommend the extra work getting the Mantorok rune, it adds so many awesome abilities, spells that heal both health/sanity/magick all at the same time, strong weapon enchantments, etc...great for adding some extra fun for a 2nd full playthrough.
One unmentioned sanity effect that I think scared me the most was I went to save and it just showed the save screen followed by "Deleting all memory card data" and a progress bar that starts all on its own and I had a 3rd party $40 memory card with a ton on it. I remember vividly jumping up shouting NOO!
👍 for an early episode
LAWDhavemuhsee 7 months later gives a thumb up
Just beat the game today and wanted to see a well made review of it, and this video did not disappoint, it delivers beyond what I thought going in! So well edited and really summed up great thoughts about the game overall, great work James!
Someone had fun with the editing of this, amazing video as always!
You actually got me on the 4th wall breaking editing things you did with the buffering and the other ones. I literally thought the video was done. Good videos as always
I thought the discord sound was my from my computer and the part where the video ended but didn’t really was great, you clever feller
Well we're just about to head into October, so this is a great start.
Noting beats watching nitrorad after a frustrating day of gaming (thank you for calming me down nitro dad)
Eternal Darkness is still to this day one of my favorite Nintendo games, and the fact Alex has a Spirit in Ultimate gives me new hope for at least a remaster if not a full on sequel. Also I know this video is a couple years old as I type this comment but Nintendo published a couple of M rated games between Geist & Bayonetta 2....they actually co-own Fatal Frame ( as of around 2008 ), with 4 & a remake of 2 being released on Wii. Bayonetta was just the 3rd time ( at least as best as I can recall anyway ) that Nintendo published a 3rd party M rated game with the first being Conker's Bad Fur Day & the 2nd being Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Ever have one of those moments when you're watching a review of Eternal Darkeness and then suddenly the sound glitches and nothing moves and you're not sure if it's part of the video or if your computer just froze?
Then after rebooting watching the review only to have thing happen, only this time it was the video?
It's a surreal experience.
LOVE IT
One of the great things about the sanity meter was the background/ambient sounds that would play to distinctly indicate insanity: they were normal, everyday background noises that your mind usually filters out. You don't notice them UNTIL you play this game. Absolutely brilliant.
I know it's probably never gonna happen but imagine this being remade, the spooks would be crazy
This game has pissed me off through my whole life, and I've never played it.
"Oh, you wanna buy it? couple hundred dollars plz" Or
"Oh, you wanna emulate it? Too bad!"
While typing this, I remembered I have a homebrewed Wii. My anger is gone!
11:16 lol you got me, I was like "This video can't be over already! wtf"
My first survival horror game. I was just a kid and this game was just released so those old tv effects were really realistic, managed to freak me out a bunch of times. Still one of my favorite horror games to this day
I remember seeing that Nintendo had renewed the trademark for this game a while ago.
Here's hoping it comes to Switch in one form or another 🤙🤘🖖
I will be watchful... WAITING
It mightve just been for smash
1: The Discord notification sound was too clever for words.
2: As someone who's never played this game, thank you for not just talking about the sanity stuff. It's so refreshing to hear about the game's story and gameplay for once.
I'd love to see a remake of this game for the Switch. Think of all the new sanity stuff you would be able to do.
Imagine the switch popping up with the "Closing software, an error has occurred" sign
That freaking discord notification gets me to this day whenver I rewatch this
11:16 God damn it, you got me!
Okay, the Sanity System in this video got to me. Fun fact, I was actually ON Discord while I was watching this, but I have notifications muted because the sound irritates me. When I heard that, I actually checked my Discord settings to make sure that they were muted still, and afterward I was still hesitantly checking Discord.
Good on. You got me with this video. Know what? I'm subscribing to you JUST for that.
Nitro Rad: Hotline Miami.
I mean, I would love to see your interpretation of a drugged out murder spree of a story that was most likely written by Kefka Palazzo on a LSD binge.
Corvus Alendar I've been recommending Hotline Miami for the greater part of a year and a half on this channel but it seems like it might not be his thing.
"LSD binge" You can't trip every day. Maybe once every week.
This. I agree with.
Lesbian Lioness. Who told you that? It's most definitely not true. It's just a rumor that every teeneager gets told at some point.
I've taken ACID three days in a row, the first day was fine, then the second two I just felt awake for 12 hours, no actual trip. You'd have to continuously up your dose if you want to trip everyday, and that's true.
After I realized you were doing sneaky edits I waited the entire video to see the UA-cam HUD or ad overlay pop up for a few seconds (I brushed my keyboard on accident which implanted the idea in my head). I imagine it'd be amazing, but you'd run into the problem of when people watch it on mobile or stream to TVs, where the format is completely different. Ah well, a great video! Always love your Halloween specials.
I thought of the idea for a fake advertisement overlayed in there while it was rendering. Really wish I thought of it sooner, it would have been an awesome one.
"A Baby's First Silent Hill" sounds like a Christmas Special.
5:54 I was legit scared to see that bathtub again. One of the best jumpscare of video game history alongside the dogs jumping through the window in resident evil 1.
Once you started talking about the sanity effects, I saw them all comming. Hey, your editting style is recognizable!
the timeline inconsistency is because the tome was made using dark powers and darkness is omnipresent so things that technically happen in the future affect the past
*Discord sound* *Checks discord* Dame it, James. YOU MADE ME LOOK!
Discord beep....my god....you are also the only person I have seen successfully emulate the UA-cam buffer wheel. Nice job man.
He got me on the Discord bleep, but not on the buffer wheel. When you watch something in picture in picture, every effect stays in the video box while the actual video itself plays in the extension.
The Discord's notification.....you cheeky ding dong.
Only just found your channel, you got me at the No More Heroes style voiced "Nitro Rad" intro... Loved Eternal Darkness...
You are so incredibly wrong about why shadow of eternals didn't get funded with mighty no 9. Dyack was such a poison in the industry throughout the years from too human being terrible to being a complete jackass on forums and critics to the disaster of x-men destiny. No gamer had any faith in him. He also tried funding it multiple times on different platforms and nothing ever took
I'm pretty sure Too Human would've sucked even if he didn't work on it.
I was always interested in the idea of the Fifth Old One, the yellow energy. It was a concept you only saw hinted at in the actual release in the final section of the game. Rumour had it this would have been accessible on your fourth playthrough. Instead of destroying his effigy in chapter one, Pious could have simply left the room and encountered Yellow.
Still one of my favourite games of all time.
Another Bomb-Ass-Video to make my day brighter!!!
Fantastic review! I was thrilled to go back to this game for my own video. So many great memories and, in my opinion, it still holds up today.
I am very nitro glad to see this. No, I'm not sorry. Why would I be?
because it might make nitro mad
Unknow0059 # this reply is just nitro bad
Jeffskii but when I comes to puns, I am a nitro grad
Nitro lads
I love when you invert the image at 20:00. I immediately though "Was the whole video inverted and I did not notice for 20 minutes?"
Hey Nitro, would you mind trying out the King's Field series? I feel like it be up your alley.
I've never clicked on a Nitro Rad episode so fast! I've always wanted to see a review for this game but never really saw a good one. Your videos never disappoint so this is going to be amazing
Eternal Darkness
*Ansem Seeker of Darkness wants to know your location*
Nice touches on the video. Liked how you did little sanity effects of your own
Let's get an Eternal Darkness character into Smash Bros.
No.
I played through and beat this game for the first time myself last year, and I actually encountered a very subtle sanity effect that I haven't seen anyone online mention.
This was near the end of the game, I believe in Michael Edwards ' stage. (The firefighter.)
On empty sanity, I returned to one of the rooms I had already cleared of all the enemies. But this time a standard zombie stood in the room next to one of the doors.
It wasn't like any other zombie enemy in the game, since it didn't attack back, or even look at you.
A couple of axe-swings later it falls to the ground and disinigrates *_with Michaels' death sound playing!_*
(I was playing as Michael in the room at 14:47 with Xel'Lotath (The green one) as Pious's Ancient, if that matters.)
I was under the impression the kickstarter for the spiritual successor failed because of shady shit with one of the team members. Not MN9 existing.
One thing I'd add is that if you want to see a good chunk of the sanity effects, you can play the chapter featuring the messenger for Charlamagne. Because of the plot points leading into it, he cannot die, and that does carry over into the gameplay. I remember spending hours at 1 hp just going back and forth between doors seeing what else the game would throw at me, and generally alleviated the rest of the game treating the sanity effects as punishment.
You say that Eternal Darkness is the first of future M rated games published by Nintendo. Did you know that Conker's Bad fur Day was an M rated game back on the N64? Maybe you should give it a play-through someday. WARNING: you will have to use a lot of censors for various parts of the game due to suggestive language, sexual themes, and gore. Just sayin.
Maybe Eternal Darkness was the first M rated game to be published by Nintendo, but Conker's Bad Fur Day was the first M rated game to be playable on a Nintendo console.
I love your October episodes. I have all your horror videos converted to an mp3 so I can listen to it at work.
I really REALLY want you to review the dangenronpa games its one of my favorite series
Vin May I'd love to see hi review all of them. I love this series to pieces 😍
omg this game is genius. srsly they really though it through when they made this. and i love how you also edited some tricks to troll us well done. also, I'm a fellow Canadian too!
Hmm that Nintendo voice kinda reminds me of the one in luigis mansion.
At 3:55, when the music sheet appears , I could literally hear that music play in my head. I've played through this game at least 6 times as I twice got the true ending, and perhaps a dozen or so more times added up, by replaying chapters. My last playthrough was earlier this year. The only other games I completed this often from start to finish must be Resident Evil 4 (on different consoles combined, Gamecube on launch day, Wii as my favourite version), and Aladdin on the Game Boy.
Did you..... did you fucking put a Discord sound effect on the video??
damn he did? I really thought it was my discord
... with that discord notification, I was confused, I was like "I thought I had that muted" then went back to test... ya jerk
Great video, but "Wouldn't publish another one until Bayonetta 2" you remember No more heroes 1 and 2 and Madworld right?
Nintendo didn't publish any of those.
Was about to point that out myself. Not every M rated game that's exclusive to a Nintendo platform is published by Nintendo, it's just considered rare to see third parties put M rated exclusives on Nintendo systems.
Speaking of, Rad is technically wrong about Eternal Darkness being Nintendo's first M rated game, that honor goes to Perfect Dark on the N64. Yeah I know that IP ended up being retained by Rare so it then became Microsoft's property after Rare was sold in 2002, but fact is Nintendo published the original N64 release due to Rare still being a second party studio at the time.
You remember that those titles weren’t published by Nintendo, right?
I love the room where you find the tome of eternal darkness, with its tortured faces and the screams of the damned. My favorite part is when the hand opens with that creepy, creaky wooden sound, revealing the tome. It kinda puts me at ease, strangely enough. Yes, I am weird.
Conker was rated M
Tuck Koppinger Published by THQ, not Nintendo.
Sarato you're thinking about Live and reloaded. The original was Ubisoft I apologize
Tuck Koppinger THQ for the original Conker in Europe.
You got me with the "video stop" at the middle. I felt dumb since you were talking about the sanity meter.
Switch Remake/Sequel when?
AppleBee Mcfirdays It got confirmed yesterday: A new sequel.
That jumps scare in the bathroom literally scared the hell out of me when I first played this game. Wasn't expecting it whatsoever.
This game honestly would of sold better if it was on PS2.
EightOfSupreme Cue Homer Simpson laughing, because BS. People were attached too much to Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I doubt ED would make a dent in sales on the PS2. That is the logic of Sony loyalists.
So? Even if the PS2 had more horror titles, they still got buried under what Capcom and Konami have done. And ED would be no different. And again, he basically "this game would fare better on MY console, not theirs", which is again, Sony loyalist logic.
Who said they had to jump ship? If anything, it should've been a sign to give a console that was received as kiddy at the time a chance. Instead, it was the fanboyish "this game is on the wrong console". What because the PS1 had more action games, should Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and Turok be on the PS1 instead of the N64? And you forgot that Re4 had a GC installment? The GC? The console it was on first? I'm... done!
Except every horror game that came out for PS1 or PS2 that wasn't a Resident Evil or Silent Hill had terrible sales. So...
Omfg your sanity effects in this video are flawless