Old vs New Dark Astoria

[BlueDragoon]

Just wondering what people think of newer Dark Astoria's ambience/atmosphere compared to the old zone? Personally I loved the "Silent Hill" theme of old Astoria, it was really creepy and having it as a dead zone nobody really went to made it feel extra eerie.

 

The new iteration is ok too, but a bit less subtle about being dark and dreary.

[SwitchFade]

Just wondering what people think of newer Dark Astoria's ambience/atmosphere compared to the old zone? Personally I loved the "Silent Hill" theme of old Astoria, it was really creepy and having it as a dead zone nobody really went to made it feel extra eerie.

 

The new iteration is ok too, but a bit less subtle about being dark and dreary.

 

I think there were three versions...

[Generator]

I only remember two myself.

 

The problem with "old DA" is that the game pretty much moved past the concept of street sweeping and Hazard Zones.  The revamp at least gave a purpose back to the zone, and centered a story line there.

 

Personally, I like the new DA arc.  At least the original version of the zone is still there in Echo form.

[Redlynne]

Echo Dark Astoria was ... creeptacular ... in a way that no other zone ever managed.  You had GHOSTS of civilians walking the streets who would disappear when you got too close to them(!).

However, the FOG in Dark Astoria prevented you from getting a good "sense" of the zone or what was in it, simply because you couldn't see it.  It also made it a pain to get around the zone using Fly/Jump/Teleport because you'd bang into a building that suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the fog.

 

The funny thing is that besides the graveyard, all of the building areas of Dark Astoria were things you could see anywhere else in the game, and yet the ever present fog made them all LOOK new/different because you couldn't see them from far away.

 

 

 

Of the two, I honestly prefer the look and feel of Echo Dark Astoria.

[BlueDragoon]

Echo Dark Astoria was ... creeptacular ... in a way that no other zone ever managed.  You had GHOSTS of civilians walking the streets who would disappear when you got too close to them(!).

However, the FOG in Dark Astoria prevented you from getting a good "sense" of the zone or what was in it, simply because you couldn't see it.  It also made it a pain to get around the zone using Fly/Jump/Teleport because you'd bang into a building that suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the fog.

 

The funny thing is that besides the graveyard, all of the building areas of Dark Astoria were things you could see anywhere else in the game, and yet the ever present fog made them all LOOK new/different because you couldn't see them from far away.

 

 

 

Of the two, I honestly prefer the look and feel of Echo Dark Astoria.

 

Yep you took the words out of my mouth. And in regards to the fog, even though it felt like a pain to navigate as you say, I also felt like the fog added a sense of being suffocated, or surrounded, by whatever creepy stuff was going on in Astoria.

 

I only remember two myself.

 

The problem with "old DA" is that the game pretty much moved past the concept of street sweeping and Hazard Zones.  The revamp at least gave a purpose back to the zone, and centered a story line there.

 

Personally, I like the new DA arc.  At least the original version of the zone is still there in Echo form.

 

I know CONTENT wise, old vs new there is no contest. This is purely visual. I should've rephrased perhaps... do you prefer the foggy echo, or the red/cthulhuesque new Astoria?

 

And yeah... I'm sure there was ever only two versions? Or?

[Shinobu]

Cthulustoria is pretty cool though.  I can like both if I want.  ^_^

 

 

[Chance Jackson]

I haven't been to DA since live but I seem to remember liking the change, the monstrosities there now are kinda Berserk Apostle-esque

[Coyotedancer]

I'm fond of both, for different reasons...

 

I liked the challenge of being a flier in the old version's fog, and the vanishing ghosts were just very cool to me the first time I saw them.

 

I like the creepy weirdness of the new version's landscape and the sheer variety of things you encounter if you go street-sweeping. I also love the new DA story arcs.

[Zumberge]

Old Dark Astoria is Silent Hill, and that's good because it's subtle wrongness; it's empty and foggy.  Unfortunately there was no real reason to go there and the mobs were a little incongruous.

 

New Dark Astoria is like if Quake and Blood had a kid, and that's good because you've got cultists roaming the streets as an evil chthonic god perverts the very nature of reality.  You poke your head in and immediately go, "wow, this place is really fucked up," and it's not the kind of thing that every character is going to mesh with, but when they do it really hits it out of the park.

 

I haven't been to DA since live but I seem to remember liking the change, the monstrosities there now are kinda Berserk Apostle-esque

 

I didn't realize it when I did it, but DA street sweeping is the entire reason I gave one of my characters a Guts costume.

[Zombie Hustler]

Like others here, I like both versions, for different reasons. I kind of wish there were a way to use phasing to have both in-game story-wise. Like you would start out with the earlier version of DA, work your way through a story arc involving the BP and Mot, and it would transform into the much more difficult, Incarnate version as you hit that point.

[SwitchFade]

The DA remake wasn't always a lvl 50 zone, I remember this. I do believe there was an update and then a revision, 3 versions, basically. I liked the middle, where you could go at mid levels.

[n00baka]

The best part of old DA for me was always the fog and ghost citizens. I still remember going there at the right level and trying to click a citizen to get the time. But they all kept vanishing before I got close enough. Badge hunting in that zone was especially fun.

 

I would love it if we got that fog in certain spots of the zone. Maybe the city section, then when you entered the graveyard it was clear. Heck, I’d like it if we used that fog effect more often. Maybe in the AR?

[Replacement]

Just a heads-up to anyone (like me) who wasn't around in the i20s back on Live:

 

Night Ward has ghost citizens and other fun mysteries going on.  Pretty fun aesthetic.  No crazy fog though.

[Laufeyjarson]

I loved the look and feel of the old foggy DA.  It was creepy and quiet and awesome.  The big hospital with nobody in it, still lit and working.  The empty streets, with buildings and street lights that lit up, but no people, only the ghosts.

 

But it was a really boring zone.  Street sweeping at fixed levels.  It was almost always too hard or too easy, depending on your level.  Other than Adamastor and badges, there was no reason to go there.  Except the cool factor.  (Do you remember the issue they forgot the fog?  You could see the city; and it was dull.)

 

The new DA is full of great content, which pulls your character in and has lots to recommend it.  It is 50/end game content and will attract a lot of players once they get that high.  It has a great look of its own, too, very Cthulhulic horror.  It's stories also tie in to the First Ward/Night Ward stuff, with the Talons of Vengance.  (Where do they go for 20 levels?)

 

So, both have things to recommend them.  And both are in the game, so we win!

[Trickshooter]

Talons of Vengance.  (Where do they go for 20 levels?)

 

They're only mad at Emperor Cole and Praetoria; since there is no 40-50 Praetorian zone, they're absent for that level range. They only come to Dark Astoria because they're following Diabolique.

[Xaeon]

My main issue with Dark Astoria is so nakedly drawing from Silent Hill for its aesthetics and feel and yet never having any truly silent hill esque enemies. The creatures of Mot are at worst; generic teeth monsters and the spook factor is kind of lessened by appearing next to kind of silly looking tiki torch witch doctors and scooby doo masks. Hell even the zombies all disappear in new DA for some reason.

 

There's just nothing like this to go with the zone's imagery: (Warning, images of blood and gore)

 

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/silent/images/b/bc/Needler.png/revision/latest?cb=20150322095944 

 

I dunno, I thought it'd have been cool to have a faction or two of grotesque silent hill style monsters and ghosts in DA.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Other than Adamastor and badges, there was no reason to go there.  Except the cool factor.  (Do you remember the issue they forgot the fog?  You could see the city; and it was dull.)

 

 

I distinctly remember street sweeping with my ice/fire tank in Live for alchemical silver.  Along with luck charms, that was a manipulated market, and I seem to recall having made a lot of inf just hitting the bid.

 

Haven't been to the new one yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

[EiricEPadraig]

Though I love both, I prefer the original (now, the Echo) of DA. The fog was just an amazing atmospheric element and I wish other zones had something unique about them like this. not fog in other zones, but maybe weather or seasonal changes or other strange elements like the Upside-Down of Stranger Things or the bizarre arcane energies from comic environments we see in Doctor Strange or the New Gods of DC comics.

[KnightSoul]

Just wondering what people think of newer Dark Astoria's ambience/atmosphere compared to the old zone? Personally I loved the "Silent Hill" theme of old Astoria, it was really creepy and having it as a dead zone nobody really went to made it feel extra eerie.

 

The new iteration is ok too, but a bit less subtle about being dark and dreary.

 

I think there were three versions...

Are you counting the bug where the fog was absent from the OG version for a while? 

 

I prefer the original.  Though would have liked it with less fog (but not none), so I didn't feel so reliant on the map to orient myself.  Or at least a few noteworthy landmarks other than the graveyard.  Though it is an interesting transition from early Miskatonic spookshow to "the stars are right" vibes between both versions.  Its an escalation from one scale of Lovecraftian horror to another. 

 

Would be interesting to have an Echo "Light" Astoria to see it before the fog to really get a sense of tragedy.  Double bonus for establishing more personality for doomed characters.