Good forum users, Nobody wants to fight another damned robot/zombie/goblin/chitinous alien. They''re through. They''re done. What were some memorable monsters from the past? Ones that fascinated, frightened, or repulsed you? And what was the secret to their continued grip on your imagination? I myself am fond of Duriel, from Diablo II. He was a big, nasty, ugly bug. If you weren''t a fighter, he would invariably kill you many, many times. And when he died - this is the kicker - his corpse exploded into a mass of many, many bugs. And you could step on them. And you would - even though there was no reward for doing so - because you hated, hated, HATED Duriel. It is the kind of character who inspires this sort of strong reaction in the player, who I wish to hear about, distill the secrets of, and eventually reproduce. Assist me in my travails! -SpittingTrashcan You can''t have "civilization" without "civil".

For me, the main monster that crosses my mind was the Gargantua beast in HalfLife (the huge one that you find kicking over cars). I remember walking into that corridor where that thing was and going "What in the HELL IS THAT?!" and that''s when it turned and looked at me. I actually screamed and woke up my wife in the next room.

As far as console games go, the alien hive-mind at the end of Contra 3 for the SNES totally tripped me out when I first saw it.

- Fuge

Ok, this is a little old-school, but then again so am I.
Does anyone remember the Shadow Lords from Ultima V?
Astaroth, Fauleini, and Nosfentor?
They represented Hate, Falsehood, and Cowardice, and up until pretty close to the end of the game they would show up in towns randomly (well, not randomly, it was controlled by the alignment of the planets, but I never bothered to figure that part out). When Astaroth was present in a town, all of the villagers would become hateful and try to kill you. Fauleini turned everyone into a liar and a thief, and Nosfentor made them afraid to even talk to you. Plus, if you actually got close to one of these three guys, they would suck you into some interdimensional whatsit and kick the living sh*t out of you.
About 3/4 of the way through the game you could finally destroy them, and boy was that a relief! Finally, you are free to wander the land without worrying about these guys messing with you.
That was years and years ago, and I still have nightmares about the Shadow Lords.

*embarassed cough*

I''m sorry, but I''m just not an old school gamer, and I haven''t played many games. Not knocking posters so far, quite the opposite, but future posters should include some level of description of their favorite monster in case I haven''t played the game. It doesn''t help anybody if nobody knows what you''re talking about.

With thanks for your time,
SpittingTrashcan

You can''t have "civilization" without "civil".

I think my favorite all-time monster was the dead civil engineer from Creepshow. I don''t know which of Stephen King''s stories that guy is from, but he just wouldn''t stop coming! The woman killed him on the road and drove away, and he just followed her everywhere. She plowed him into a tree like ten times and turned him into mush, and before the movie is over he kills her in the garage.

I also liked the wooden Indian statue that follows those punks to their house and murders them all. Inanimate objects that come to life and chase you down is some scary shiznit. Basically, any monster that just won''t quit is way too spooky. I love the feeling of endless pursuit, like there''s nothing you can do but you have to keep trying or you''ll be dead.

Not Monsters, per say, but I liked the bosses from Metal Gear Solid: Psycho Mantis and Sniper Wolf in particular. They were cool.

I didn''t actually hate either of them, quite the reverse: despite the fact that they wanted to kill me, I liked them immensely.

Thanks for the ride, lady!

Ever seen ''The Thing'' starring Kurt Russell, set in Antartica in 1981? I was 10 and had nightmares for weeks.
An alternative would be to get hold of a copy of the RPG ''Kult'' (may be available in 2nd hand bookstores, or maybe on the net). I am a bit of an extreme sports fan, so am not scared easily, but the game really gave me the creeps.
I share the above gentlemans sentiments about Halflifes gigantic beasties. I killed the damned thing using 5 packs of explosives, using myself as bait, running past the explosives and planting a laser-tripwire-mine b4 running on. But in the interim I''m sure that my heartrate was about triple the normal...
Jon

How do you know I''m a good forum user?

quote: Original post by SpittingTrashcan
*embarassed cough*
I''m sorry, but I''m just not an old school gamer, and I haven''t played many games. Not knocking posters so far, quite the opposite, but future posters should include some level of description of their favorite monster in case I haven''t played the game. It doesn''t help anybody if nobody knows what you''re talking about.

I assume you are referring to me (the guy who brought up the Shadow Lords).
Um, what kind of description do you want? I told you all about them. Hell, I said more about them than you or the other poster said about YOUR beasties! YOU are the one assuming that everybody knows the game you are talking about.
If you mean what they look like, well, they were 16x16 sprites of little guys wearing a black robe, and they gave off a blue aura sometimes (it is an old game, as I said, one of those that yo play because it is a good game and not because of the poly count). It lacked the graphics and sounds of the newer games, but as far as atmosphere they were great. You never knew when they would appear, and when they did you had to run or die; in addition, just by being nearby they turned everyone who was previously your friend into a tortured creature who would steal your things, run away screaming (when they should be saying "hello"), or outright try to kill you.
That impressed me more than any big ugly bug ever could.

--- krez (krezisback@aol.com)