Insanity

[Homicide13]

What exactly does insanity do? From what I can tell, it doesn't really do anything except make the screen shake, make strange noises, and make you see things. Can you actually die from insanity? I never have. Wouldn't it be safer to simply not light any of the lights so that it's easier to hide from the monsters?

I am also interested in level development, so knowing the exact mechanics of insanity would also be helpful for me. (where can I learn more about this?)

[hollowleviathan]

Insanity also makes you less reliable, which mechanically means you trigger more scary scripts and monsters can hear your raspy gasps for air and find you much easier.

If you want to be the safest you could, you would never use the lantern, progress slowly and in the dark, retreat to a predetermined small room with hiding location at the first sign of anything, and huddle under a light in those safe rooms until your mind is clear before moving to the next position. It makes a slow game even slower, but the mood can really sink into your bones that way, too.

[Homicide13]

Insanity also makes you less reliable, which mechanically means you trigger more scary scripts and monsters can hear your raspy gasps for air and find you much easier.

If you want to be the safest you could, you would never use the lantern, progress slowly and in the dark, retreat to a predetermined small room with hiding location at the first sign of anything, and huddle under a light in those safe rooms until your mind is clear before moving to the next position. It makes a slow game even slower, but the mood can really sink into your bones that way, too.

How would you define "less reliable"? So panting from insanity does catch the monster's attention in the same way being in the light does?
And there are certain scripts that will trigger (ie spawn monsters) once your insanity has reached a certain level?

[nofsky]

Monsters will notice you easier when you're low on sanity and they will also move faster. There are many things in the game that will only happen when your sanity is low too, like corpses will appear and Daniel will whisper to himself etc (i don't think more monsters will spawn though).

[Natural]

What exactly does insanity do? From what I can tell, it doesn't really do anything except make the screen shake, make strange noises, and make you see things. Can you actually die from insanity? I never have. Wouldn't it be safer to simply not light any of the lights so that it's easier to hide from the monsters?

I am also interested in level development, so knowing the exact mechanics of insanity would also be helpful for me. (where can I learn more about this?)

You can't die from it, however if your sanity level reaches critical you will pass out for a second. When you get up your sanity will return to the "hands shaking" level.

On my playthrough I used less light to make hiding and escaping easier. I think I finished with 40+ tinder and 7 oil. I didn't really see the point in using tinder at all once I figured out that chilling in the light didn't actually restore sanity. Progress seems to do a lot more for restoring it. Once I passed a certain portion of the game I found there was barely a need for light.

[hollowleviathan]

Chilling in the light does restore sanity, it's just numbingly slow.

[Homicide13]

I know that I'll start seeing things and that I'll start talking to myself, but I guess what I was asking was that if there is a reason I shouldn't just put up with these things and continue on in the dark safe from monsters.
Not to say that I was meta-gaming: my in-game decision was actually to put up with all the creepy effects because they scared me less than being chased by a monster. ("Holy shit those monsters scare the crap out of me, I had better make sure I'm safe even if it drives me insane...") I was just wondering if this was actually worse when dealing with the monsters. So I found out, I was already at a high insanity level when I walked around a corner and a monster appeared out of the darkness and i immediately began limping (at which point the monster just waltzed over to me and ripped me apart), but assuming I'm not at this critical level isn't it actually safer to stay a little insane as long as you're in the dark and they can't see you? I feel like they'll spot me easier in the light than they will if I'm the dark and going insane.

Btw, I know this isn't the right section, but is it possible to run certain scripts once a person reaches a certain insanity level (or i suppose more preferably to have an if-than function that check's the player's insanity level)? I would assume there would be, but I don't know much about the scripting as of yet. I have some cool ideas where the player will have to drive themselves insane in order to progress.

[Nospheratu]

One of my friends who also started to play Amnesia said: "Why the hell should I allow the insanity to f... up my character's behaviour, isn't it easier & better to just disable it?". Another friend played it on a slower comp and disabled it for performance, then he just easily waltzed through the game

I told both of them the same explanation, why this is/was not a good idea: "You know the movie series Saw? Ok, now take all Saw movies and remove all the killing, blood, all cutting, bone breaking and all scary machines and contraptions. What is left? A series of people moving from one room to the next and in each room one drops dead untill finaly only one or two are left. Not much of a movie now, is it?"

I also started to watch a "Let's play Amnesia" recently where the player disabled the insanity before even starting to play, on the ground that "it was probably more of a nuissance than a real scare factor"; needles to say i immediately stoped watching becouse exactly the nuissance of your vision wobbling around and loose controls is what makes it a big scare factor, DUH.

In my opinion, the sanity effects are one of the cornerstones of Amnesia and they are an integral part of what makes this game so fabulously scary, so each player should definetly have them on

[Homicide13]

In my opinion, the sanity effects are one of the cornerstones of Amnesia and they are an integral part of what makes this game so fabulously scary, so each player should definetly have them on

Of course, I completely agree. Turning insanity off is like saying you're going to replace your texture pack with solid block colors. You can still play the game but it's going to be very bland. I was just asking if there was any in-game reason I should actually try to avoid insanity. Whenever I enter any room in this game, my first paranoid thought is "where can I hide from the monster if it appears?" and so I tend not to light any new lights to make hiding easier.

[mattwestwick]

I find that although hanging out in well-lit areas doesn't instantly restory in-game sanity. It certainly does provide a sanctuary for my real sanity levels.