Silent Hill (Spoilers, All Series)

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cj iwakura
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by cj iwakura »

I like 4's atmosphere. Actually PLAYING the game, not so much. I hate inventory management.
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Obiwanshinobi
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

One NIFTY thing about 4 was the Repulsion/The Tenant vibe. A fimwatcher's game.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

I've grown to love SH4 over the years for its sense of reality and unreality blurring into a lucid dream within 302, and the countless confounding little details like Frank's diary at the foot of the spiral. Like the other three KCET games there's enough expicit information to support a range of strong theories about what's going on, and enough ambiguity to ensure the discussion remains open.

SH4's game design is unfortunate. To play comfortably you'll need a few playthroughs' familiarity and exposure, exactly what a horror game shouldn't require. First runs will inevitably be fraught with redundant travel, inventory woes and AI partner irritation, and the presence of a second loop is a momentum killer. Worth a single play at least, and if the plot hooks you, replays are vastly easier to handle.
Obiwanshinobi wrote:One NIFTY thing about 4 was the Repulsion/The Tenant vibe. A fimwatcher's game.
I've thought the same - I find the KCET SH games quite relaxing, since I spend a lot more time observing and thinking over their content than I do riveting my nervous system to the onscreen action. SH4's 302 is a particularly great venue for this.

Well, SH1 and SH3 can still unnerve me a bit. The former for the sheer violence of its ambient sound (esp. the hospital basement and the sewers), and the latter for the encroaching sense of aggression its more monster-infested areas can create. It feels like drowning in darkness, static and overly friendly monsters at its busiest points.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by replayme »

Estebang wrote:
replayme wrote:Never really played any of the Silent Hill games, apart from the 1st one, but I've always been curious about the series.
Play 2-4 (on their original PS2 versions) as soon as possible. You can safely ignore the outsourced Western games.
i've got 2. i've never really played it as i get too scared by survival horror games and generally suffer from a nervous disposition when it comes to those type of games...
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ryu
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by ryu »

replayme wrote:
Estebang wrote:
replayme wrote:Never really played any of the Silent Hill games, apart from the 1st one, but I've always been curious about the series.
Play 2-4 (on their original PS2 versions) as soon as possible. You can safely ignore the outsourced Western games.
i've got 2. i've never really played it as i get too scared by survival horror games and generally suffer from a nervous disposition when it comes to those type of games...
but that's the best part of playing them.

i once had to turn off silent hill 2 because it genuinely freaked me out to a level that i was too scared to play any further. it even made my heart race.
and that was in the middle of the day too.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by replayme »

ryu wrote: i once had to turn off silent hill 2 because it genuinely freaked me out to a level that i was too scared to play any further. it even made my heart race.
and that was in the middle of the day too.
apparently drinking red bull and other energy drinks is really bad for you as they stimulate the heart beyond a level that is considered as being healthy. i guess it's the same with checking out music videos (featuring skimpily dressed girls) in gyms. having said that though, going to the gym does get your heart racing...

yeah, i'll check out silent hill 2 at some point. although it won't be during the day (on a day like this). not wasting gorgeous UK weather like today. even if it is a bit nippy.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by ryu »

nope. pretty sure it was a little panic attack i had there.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by JBC »

circuitface wrote:
neorichieb1971 wrote:I don't know if its public knowledge but I believe Konami are on board to "ps3" the original games.
Yeah, I don't think it's official yet but most fans are clamoring for an HD collection of 1-4. If they do it I would pay full price.
Sweet, it halfway happened.

Is Korn still on the soundtrack of Downpour? :roll: I'll never play another SH that isn't by Team Silent.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Battlesmurf »

circuitface wrote:
circuitface wrote:
neorichieb1971 wrote:I don't know if its public knowledge but I believe Konami are on board to "ps3" the original games.
Yeah, I don't think it's official yet but most fans are clamoring for an HD collection of 1-4. If they do it I would pay full price.
Sweet, it halfway happened.

Is Korn still on the soundtrack of Downpour? :roll: I'll never play another SH that isn't by Team Silent.
My understanding is that Korn was only on a title/credit/etc screen- not in game at all.
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Jonathan Ingram
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Jonathan Ingram »

circuitface wrote:I'll never play another SH that isn't by Team Silent.
Same here. I`m a huge fan of Silent Hill and have all versions of the first four games. However, I haven`t bought or played a single game under Silent Hill name since then. I really fail to see what justification can there be for having interest in this franchise after Team Silent`s disbandment and its outsourcing to Western devs.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by JBC »

Battlesmurf wrote:
circuitface wrote:Sweet, it halfway happened.

Is Korn still on the soundtrack of Downpour? :roll: I'll never play another SH that isn't by Team Silent.
My understanding is that Korn was only on a title/credit/etc screen- not in game at all.
I don't care. It shows a lack of integrity and either a lack of respect or a complete misunderstanding of the fan base who thus far had prided the series for it's amazing soundtracks. It comes off like a slap in the face and shows just how little Konami gives a shit about thier customers lately. They could handle a beloved franchise internally instead of cash cowing like they did with that God of War game they wrote Castlevania on.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Marc »

Agree with Mr 'Face. Silent Hill 1-3, hell even the half-assed 4, would never have been so fucking crass. Sadly, it's just something else Konami no longer give a fuck about. Shit changes and I accept that, but either create something new, or respect the tradition you lay down in a 10 year+ series.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

Yeah. I try to keep an open mind about the outsourced stuff before playing. But associating the games with Korn*? Wow. How about Def Leppard next?

*or just the lead singer, if you will. Could've fooled me, the song is a full-crew angstwank.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by CMoon »

It's too bad; I'd like to go back and play 3 at some point but am not going to pay collector's price for it. Will probably suffer through the HD port when they're desperate to get rid of it.
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Re: Silent Hill

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CMoon wrote:It's too bad; I'd like to go back and play 3 at some point but am not going to pay collector's price for it. Will probably suffer through the HD port when they're desperate to get rid of it.
What is the going price for SH3 anyways? I picked mine up last year for a pretty reasonable $25
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

CMoon wrote:I'd like to go back and play 3 at some point but am not going to pay collector's price for it.
If you can play NTSCJ PS2 games, the last SH3 budget reprint is fairly cheap brand new, and like SH2 and SH4 it has full English text support (all three games only ever had English speech).
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

Good news for Mega CD fans, now you can play Silent Hill 2 as well.

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I like how Room 312 is very pointedly a pristine and well-kept space, yet the border image the HD devs chose is of a filthy TV that could've come from anywhere else in the game (duhhhh art direction wuts dat?). I might actually buy this thing... it's hilarious spotting all the little, middling and glaring screwups it makes with both ports. Then again it's cheaper to pop into my friends' place, point laugh and leave. The novelty will surely wear off at some point. :/

It's also been amusing watching the random fan fronting the series attempting to rationalise the godawful shit in this collection on various SH forums. My Halo-playing lager-chugging pals still don't give one rat fuck about SH after hearing the new VA, Mr. Hulett. :[ How could your ingenious plan have failed?
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Jason X »

Nice. I'm usually the resident Silent Hill nutjob on most of the forums I visit, so it's good to see some other people around who appreciate the series. It's true that the series stopped being objectively "good" after SH3, but I'll stand by SH4 until the end of time. It's not perfect, and it even does its damndest to make you hate it, but there are a lot of little things about it that really make me appreciate it. I also really enjoyed Shattered Memories, even though it seems to be "cool" to hate on it these days.

The sad thing, though, is that I'm as much a part of the problem as Konami itself. The franchise is shitty now, and there's absolutely no defending the recent games, but I still buy them all brand new when they come out. I do the same thing with all the other Konami franchises that I used to love, but have since gone on to become zombified monstrosities that no longer resemble the beautiful creations I once knew, i.e. Metal Gear, Castlevania & Suikoden.

All we can do is just look back on when it used to be good, and shake our heads at what it's become. Hell, not even just SH, really, but Konami as a whole.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

Jason X wrote:Hell, not even just SH, really, but Konami as a whole.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance sounds promising, 60 fps and all (apparently Kojima himself insisted upon high framerates). Konami doesn't really have a great history with such demented slashers (no, Z.O.E. 1&2 weren't all that great either), but some former Capcom employees onboard give me hope it's going to be better than DmC at least.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Op Intensify »

Metal Gear Rising in its current form is actually being handled by Platinum Games, not Konami. Only the canceled original version of the game was by a Konami team. The PC version was also canceled.

It really is a shame that the physics-based aspect of the gameplay was completely scrapped. I was really looking forward to hacking apart limbs and bringing down buildings with pinpoint precision as Raiden. They were also definitely going for a more serious storyline and tone before Platinum and the "Revengeance" silliness came in. There was something about Raiden needing to drink the spinal fluid of enemies to stay alive.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

Op Intensify wrote:Metal Gear Rising in its current form is actually being handled by Platinum Games, not Konami.
For Konami's money, which sounds like putting it to a better use than Capcom outsourcing DmC to Ninja Theory.
Op Intensify wrote:It really is a shame that the physics-based aspect of the gameplay was completely scrapped. I was really looking forward to hacking apart limbs and bringing down buildings with pinpoint precision as Raiden. They were also definitely going for a more serious storyline and tone before Platinum and the "Revengeance" silliness came in. There was something about Raiden needing to drink the spinal fluid of enemies to stay alive.
Tell you what, I hope it's going to be a spiritual successor to the 2002 Shinobi, i.e. a game of FAST exploration and killing to stay alive, no less.
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Re: Silent Hill

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I'm interested in MGR by default since Platinum is involved... but that would be grand if it was something like Shinobi, ie 100% high-speed carnage with no fetch quest or upgrade distractions and a strong incentive to slaughter enemies in as spectacularly blood-bathing a fashion as one's skills and balls allow.

*fans self*

Doesn't Japan have weird issues with games involving people getting all cutthefuckup though? Even Shinobi was neutered for NTSCJ. Anyway, I hope the NA release brings the screaming bloody gore.

edit: oh yeah, they were supposed to be going the LOL CYBORGS route ala Nano Breaker, weren't they.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Drum »

BIL wrote:My Halo-playing lager-chugging pals still don't give one rat fuck about SH after hearing the new VA, Mr. Hulett. :[ How could your ingenious plan have failed?
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

That's a really good answer! This brand name has a fever, and the only prescription is more angst-metal.

I still think Def Leppard could go down a storm, too.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Jason X »

Reminds me of how the trailer for Wrath of the Titans used Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams" cover. YES! 16 year old Manson songs are what the kids love these days.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

And the series' more rocker tracks used to be all balls and no BAWWWWW. :/ It even had room for some bouncy electronica. Oh self-assurance.

"She" (Silent Hill Original Soundtracks)
"Silent Hill" (SH1 OST)
"Overdose Delusion" (Silent Hill 2 Original Soundtracks)
"Alone In The Town" (SH2 OST)
"Terror In The Depths Of The Fog" (SH2 OST)

To be fair, Downpour's not that angsty a game. Has its fair share of problems, though. They still haven't worked out multiple endings =/= create your own story, and if the series is going to continue reheating the distinct arc SH2 nailed the first time around, it could at least remember to not moralise. "Revenge bad mmkay?"

Not that I really care what happens to "the series" (meaning "the brand") now, but it'd be nice to get another "unlucky guy/gal in wrong place+wrong time" story like SH1, SH3 or SH4, ie 75% of the original series.
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by Jason X »

If they could avoid adding any more superfluous, blatant Morgan Freeman types to the mythos, as well, that would be great.
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Re: Silent Hill

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I know - not one but two magical black dudes™! I thought for a second Bobby Ricks was in a wheelchair and Konami were about to get sued by HBO. And after Homecoming with Reginald VelJohnson as Wheeler going "AWW HELL NAWW" and "Sheeeeit!" while Rugged White Male blasts the baddies. Oh and Howard the magic mailman is from the comics? Sweet cross-media incest Konami, that's sure to help the games' standing. (I heard he is, anyway - I attempted to read one years ago, and just barely averted imminent brain death long enough to flush it down the toilet before dialling 911. I won't be returning to them)

I'm wrong about SH3 and SH4... it's really only SH1 where the protagonist has absolutely no special status keeping his shivering lily-white arse from the yawning abyss and gnashing teeth within. This was me (on the left) when the shopping district completely lost its shit midway through the game.

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Re: Silent Hill

Post by xris »

^this
You actually hit the problem with guy/gal/wrong/place/time, that is central aspect/theme of the town. The continued adventures of the comics proves this. They tried to expand on it but still ran character specific plots, a couple run together in the overall concept. The only ones I liked were the short ones anyway, the painter's is my favorite actually.
Downpour was pretty decent. It just suffered from the middle being the best parts. The clock tower otherworld was crazy awesome! That was the best in the entire series for me. The right mix of gameplay and thematically. The last couple of levels felt stale once you get there. The finale was fun at least, and I thought the final boss was actually a challenging area.
Edit - this seems slightly incoherent because I'm posting from my phone, and apparentlly it makes me stoopid. I'll come back later...
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Re: Silent Hill

Post by BIL »

Downpour actually did some things I once wanted a post-SH2 game to do. Problem is the sub-par execution.

The story is a unique episode and raises some interesting moral questions, but it makes the mistake of attempting to "answer" them, coming across as sanctimonious and undermining the formidable ambivalence of SH1-4's town. The fundamentally unknowable realm that reflected their human stories so vividly is now a preaching nanny with an agenda. Howard The Magic Mailman and The Magic Nun further put personal - and irritating - features where they shouldn't be. Murphy's character is vague and difficult to care about, since different endings effectively re-write him instead of examining a consistent personality. I'd say I sympathised with his plight, but there is no "him."

Likewise, the aesthetic is unique and avoids rehashing, but the creature designs are lame, the carnival funhouse otherworld is all blaring spectacle and no subtle impression, and the various new locales stretch the credibility of the town as a sleepy resort area.

I do like the one weapon + firearm approach to inventory, as it's something I've wanted right from SH1. The greater ability to explore random buildings around town is much appreciated too. I enjoyed digging around the town way more than the key locales.

It's an okay game, but nothing that'll make me glad Konami is still farming out sequels. I honestly don't think the series needed any more games after SH4 to begin with. There's easily enough content and contentious material in KCET's games to fuel another decades' worth of forum nerdfights, and I've found nothing in the farmouts worthy of acknowledging in the same light.
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