Research on "who" you felt like in Amnesia

[Juby]

I felt like I was Daniel throughout the entire game. I believe that immersion is very much dependent on the player and their surroundings.

[Hunter of Shadows]

I feel really derpy, cause I voted for acting out as myself but slowly acting as daniel as I learned more about him...then afterwards, I suddenly realize that no, I acted like myself, and I hadn't thought it through for the vote well enough >_<

[Chrysler]

I think as long as you are running around in the castle and exploring things, you feel more like being Daniel as you are directly in the game and have control. But when you pick up a note, for example, you get to read the name "Daniel", and sometimes even hear his voice when reads his diary entries. This then somehow makes you feel you are reading a book written in first-person narrative style, and you see Daniel more or less as someone telling you a story.

[securit]

When I played the game for the first time I felt like everything had happened many years ago, and that I was reliving the horrors as a different person. In the same way that some of the early letters are written about events that happened months/years ago, I read all the letters like that. So while I was experiencing Daniel's horrific story, it didn't feel like I was re-living the experience as Daniel.

I think to some extent I was also expecting a game about my character going crazy (the "descent"), and so I wasn't sure if what I was experiencing was actually happening - particularly the monsters.

I was, therefore, surprised that Agrippa was still alive, and was addressing me as Daniel. But even after that point, I felt that I was experiencing torture that happened, not that I was responsible for it myself. The stuff I was expecting to come round the corner and kill me was rather more of a concern.

I have since enjoyed replaying it many times "as" Daniel though, now I know the full significance of the letters, the torture sounds and the crying girl screaming "get away from me".

[Addonex]

It is an interesting inquiry, the fact is I did play as myself and Daniel. I felt more of the emotions Daniel did during the game, however my tactics were of what I would do in these situations. Like being chased in the archives by the Water Horror (real name escapes me) instead of moving the boxes i would just jump over them. If I'm in a dark area i would stay in the dark as well, however Daniels Nyctophobia made it hard i couldn't really see myself losing my sanity by just staying in the dark. I myself feel safer in the dark.

Throughout the course of the game I didn't know what to think of Daniel, and then after I learned what he did i was furious with him. That's when i realized i felt the same emotions as he did, he didn't know what to think of the situation (other than he was scared to death) but then when he found out he killed innocent people he was furious at himself and Alexander for tricking you into doing it, for his own gain. Daniel doesn't seem like the whole "ima help you out buddy" kind of guy, however I am. That's why i chose to save Agrippa, which benefited me in the end, I myself would help Agrippa but I don't think daniel would.

*Fun fact: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Johann Weyer are based off of real historical figures, with the same names and even occupations. Agrippa was a man of occult magic, and science, and had a pupil that surpassed his knowledge by the name of Johann Weyer. Like in the game they were Alchemists as well.

[johnbanana]

i normaly suck at self expression but here we go.

i feelt i was my self from start to finnish, future i went in to the game more annoying these flashback got.
i normaly feel i am insade another world, so all the note i found were besicly non intresting to me, sure that danial did horrible things but those are hes problems. :/

Also that that future i went in the game, somehowe more relaxed i feelt -.^
everyting got bigger, dead people everywhere, toture flashback. and etc etc etc....'
i simpy got to mutch of everything.
(other words, i was easyer to keep my mind off other things then just being so sceard of a grunt will pop-up)

the begining was the worst place personly. just becouse every thing was thight, alone and abandon.

[Desperate4God]

I reacted mostly as I would have in any given situation. However, throughout that game I felt almost like Daniel's conscience, guiding him through the castle.

[Paddy™]

Thomas,

Most of the time I felt that I was guiding myself through the game. Sometimes, usually after some kind of revelation or story progression involving the main character(s), I'd feel that I was guiding the character through the game and that I felt kind of "responsible" for his well-being (as opposed to my own). In other words, I never really felt that I was Daniel, I either felt that I was myself or that I was responsible for Daniel as a separate person for certain sections of the game.

Because I felt that I was the one in the castle rather than Daniel I felt slightly "cheated" by the revelation that Daniel was, at least at one time, an enthusiastic murderer/torturer. It was as if the character I projected into the game (i.e. myself!) was "sullied" but in a way that was obviously impossible to anticipate. It wasn't a negative experience though, it just made the game even more depressing than before!

That's a good point actually - I felt stressed and frightened almost all of the time, but the one emotion I rarely hear mentioned in relation to this game is despair/depression. It's an emotionally draining experience, like watching Schindler's List 10 times in a row. Not because of the story per se, I think it's just an offshoot of the "vulnerability = horror" thing. The incessant feeling of vulnerability doesn't just make you afraid, it makes you feel impotent/demoralised. And I friggin' love it.

[Darkchef]

For me I always felt myself and didn't regard myself as Daniel (although that is actually my name...lol). The immersion in the game was spot on though and the distorted visuals and sound design really helped to achieve this. The chase scenes are always good too, so I would try to keep an element of that in the new game....

I guess the main reason why I couldn't see myself in the game was because i didn't feel any empathy for Daniel as I didn't really have anything to emphasize with as ironically he didn't know who he was due to having Amnesia

[kartanonperuna]

Hmm,good question.I'm not exactly sure...I guess for me it was at first,that it was me in there,but as the daniels background reveals and reveals more,I'm more like Daniel.Think what Daniel would do and all that.