Topic: Silent Hill, that special, evil place.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

......Discuss......

[Abnormal Freak]

tl;dr (I will later, though—ha!)

I'm bummed that Konami no longer handles the Silent Hill series. The first four are easily the best in the series. Shattered Memories was great and a change I accepted, Homecoming was too action-based but still had a lot to enjoy, Origins was like a poor-man's 1–4 but still pretty fun and with one of the best soundtracks in the series...but I honestly have little interest in Downpour and everything else oncoming, especially since Akira Yamaoka is no longer involved.

True survival horror, though, in my opinion, is where there's a threat, there's horror, and there's not a damn thing you can do to defend yourself. No Silent Hill game captures that; there's still fighting, action... Amnesia: The Dark Descent is really an immensely beautiful game which contains true survival horror gameplay and a game I highly recommend to every last being on the planet (including dogs, cats, eels, panda bears...). Truly freaky, densely atmospheric, and all-original. It makes me think of Thief: The Dark Project, if Thief were only concerned with horror and survival.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

True survival horror, though, in my opinion, is where there's a threat, there's horror, and there's not a damn thing you can do to defend yourself. No Silent Hill game captures that

Shattered Memories. You cannot beat the Raw Shocks. Never. They are relentless, and your only defensive option is to piss yourself and RUN.

The first time I encountered them, I freaked. And then I hit a dead end. Oh god. Only way out? THROUGH A GROUP OF RAW SHOCKS.

OHHHHHHH GOD.

That was my first scare with the Silent Hill franchise. That game on PSP rendered me a nervous wreck for a week. And then I played the first 3 games. Nowhere is safe anymore. Nowhere.

[PFG9000]

That's a pretty good write-up, Lumi.  I've played every American-released Silent Hill, and the only one I really didn't care for was SH4, although I even enjoyed that one on my recent replay, up til the start of the second half, when it just gets tedious.

I actually like Origins a lot.  I know I'm in the minority, but I didn't mind that it did nothing new for the series.  Sometimes I don't want a series to innovate with every installment; if Castlevania had retreaded SotN a few times on a console around 1998-2002 or so, I would've been totally happy.  Silent Hill: Origins captured the atmosphere of SH 1-3 very well, at least in the foggy areas, and that's one of my favorite parts of the series.

One weird thing is that I hated SH2, the first SH I played, the first time I tried it.  I had gotten it as a free rental because I had just gotten my PS2 and didn't know which games were good.  It was a strange combination of boring and frightening for me.  But a year or two after I returned that rental, I had a craving to play it again, and I bought it.  Now it's near the top of my favorite games list.

I'll definitely pick up Downpour, but I'm extremely skeptical of the Korn music.  Beyond that, I don't know what to expect for the game.  It might be great, it might suck.  I'm also going to pick up the SH2/SH3 HD collection, but I won't buy it new.  It sounds like Konami has treated the voice actors pretty shittily, so I'm not too keen on supporting them since they're largely releasing the compilation as a cheap cash-in.

[Abnormal Freak]

Shattered Memories. You cannot beat the Raw Shocks. Never. They are relentless, and your only defensive option is to piss yourself and RUN.

If you didn't have the ability to run, it'd be a lot more frightening, or if you could only sprint and get winded, but the fact you can just keep running endlessly doesn't really make me feel the horror of the situation.

Contrast that with Amnesia, which has some similar (but much freakier) creatures, where all you can do is try to find an area to hide and just wait it out, hoping they don't spot you (all the while your sanity draining which eventually affects your health, a la Eternal Darkness)... That's pretty damn frightening.

[X]

You cannot beat the Raw Shocks. Never. They are relentless, and your only defensive option is to piss yourself and RUN.

This sounds like The Call of Cthulu.

[Inccubus]

For those that are not aware, Silent Hill 4 & 5 were not originally developed as Silent Hill titles but were both converted to Silent Hill stories during production.

As for Shattered Memories, I liked it on it's own, but there really isn't anything other than a few character names that link it to Silent Hill. The town is completely different and it just doesn't feel like a true Silent Hill to me. I think the biggest factor that distances it from the rest of the series was the lack of danger in the normal world. As soon as I noticed that no monster was going to ever show up while I was investigating the town I lost all sense of fear. And while the Raw Shocks and the nightmare sequences were cool at first they became very repetitive and (later on) frustratingly difficult. And, again, as soon as I noticed that the nightmares couldn't really kill me I lost all fear of them as well. Plus having only the option to run made them very bland. Yeah I could drop a flare, or hide, but neither strategy was effective. Hiding was useless since the Raw Shock always know where you are and flares only give you a second or two until you reach the next group of Raw Shocks. Honestly the entire thing could have been a text adventure. I don't want to totally bash the game either. The psychology aspect of the game and the changes your choices caused was really interesting, but not enough to make the game worth playing a second time.

True survival horror, though, in my opinion, is where there's a threat, there's horror, and there's not a damn thing you can do to defend yourself.

I actually find it to more horrifying when you can defend yourself, but to a nearly ineffectual degree. One of my favorite things about Silent Hill was that the early characters could barely shoot the side of a barn in broad daylight. AQnd even if you aimed carefully when you did shoot something you then realized it would take half your ammo to kill a single weak enemy. I find that much more frightening than the commandos in Resident Evil or the complete helplessness in Shattered Memories. These still are games after all.

[Abnormal Freak]

yeah, but

YEAH, BUT

play Amnesia. Srsly.



The first Silent Hill game came out 13 years ago today. AND, it's the birthday of Guy Cihi, whom James Sunderland was voiced by and modeled after.

[Inccubus]

Don't worry, I already have my sights set on Amnesia. 

[Abnormal Freak]

You'll poop your pants. I GUARANTEE IT.

But for serialz, it may make you wig out a bit. Play it alone, late at night, with the lights off and the sound real high.

Then go play the first two Thief games if you never have, as I'm certain they were a huge inspiration on this game.

[affinity]

Downpour's MC should have been a female prisoner,  that's something you don't see often.   I think videogames already explored the full spectrum of guys as protagonists but too few bother to explore more female protagonists, especially in survival horror.  Yes there are a few like Clock Tower and Fatal Frame, but their latest games are ancient now, and Fatal Frame really didn't express more realistic characters compared to Siren series.  it was like half realistic, half 3-D anime.   but FF series get credit being scarier than RE series. but I still say Silent Hill should get more females as the MC.  There's already like 5-6 SHs centered on guys. but anyway, DOWNPOUR still has a lot of great things going for it, I heard there are even options to turn off item flashes and button prompts.  and I really like how it evolved the series gameplay without betraying it.   It really looks and feels like a next-gen Silent Hill.   Even the character and their reactions are slightly more believable than past characters!   

[Ahasverus]

Downpour's MC should have been a female prisoner,  that's something you don't see often.   I think videogames already explored the full spectrum of guys as protagonists but too few bother to explore more female protagonists, especially in survival horror.  Yes there are a few like Clock Tower and Fatal Frame, but their latest games are ancient now, and Fatal Frame really didn't express more realistic characters compared to Siren series.  it was like half realistic, half 3-D anime.   but FF series get credit being scarier than RE series. but I still say Silent Hill should get more females as the MC.  There's already like 5-6 SHs centered on guys. but anyway, DOWNPOUR still has a lot of great things going for it, I heard there are even options to turn off item flashes and button prompts.  and I really like how it evolved the series gameplay without betraying it.   It really looks and feels like a next-gen Silent Hill.   Even the character and their reactions are slightly more believable than past characters!

Hell, feeze over. I agree with Affinity! Yeah, Murphy should have been a woman, and if he's in prison because of killing a woman, then a lesbian woman! now that's taboo breaker. And SIlent Hill is not outsider to that.

BTW, I recently saw the first 60 mins or so, and, hell, it looks like the best SH since 2. Some previewers say the haven't encountered an enemy in 3 hours!

[Inccubus]

Link? I'd like to see that as I'm sure would others.

[Ahasverus]

Too lazy right now, search in neogaf (the previews are in german)

[beingthehero]

I'm still waiting for that Silent Hill movie sequel recounting the events of SH3. The actress playing Heather looks utterly identical to the original character.
On the other hand, they had a brief teaser during last year's konami gamer's day and...absolutely nothing since.