Silent Hill

[skykiii]

Myst-ass supermax lighthouse prison for kids in the middle of the ocean. Have you tried grounding them instead?

You know, I've always wondered what a Myst-like game set in Silent Hill would be like.

(Though I suppose Dark Fall: the Journal or maybe that fan game Alchemilla are close approximations.... I think. I haven't played Alchemilla).

.......

Gonna drop another "general series" take, I've only played the first three SHs... of those three, I tend to feel like 3 was the closest to actually being "scary" and is probably my favorite, but 1 had the best told story.

Emphasis on told. One thing that gets me about SH2 and 3 is that a lot of times they expect you to do things that, in character, you would not do and which logically are rather counter-intuitive. I often fell into the screen actor cliche of asking "what's my motivation?"

(example from SH2: after you get the plank, you're supposed to then go to Eddie's van to get the breadcrumb trail that leads to the hotel key... but there's absolutely nothing to point you at it IIRC, and the way things are placed you're actually way more likely to just run into the key by mere happenstance before you run into Eddie's van).

SH3 also has a problem in that the first half of the game, up until Heather actually gets home, feels like padding. First time playing I legit started laughing when I got out of the sewers and then had to explore an unfinished house because I felt like the game was pranking me.

The first SH never made me feel that way--I always generally understood where I was going and why (with the exception of that side area you have to just kinda arbitrarily decide to explore to get the golden ending).

 

[Nameless One]

SH3 also has a problem in that the first half of the game, up until Heather actually gets home, feels like padding. First time playing I legit started laughing when I got out of the sewers and then had to explore an unfinished house because I felt like the game was pranking me.

It's like the shortest and most straightforward game in the tetraology and is intentionally a roadblock.

 

[Flopper]

SH3 also has a problem in that the first half of the game, up until Heather actually gets home, feels like padding. First time playing I legit started laughing when I got out of the sewers and then had to explore an unfinished house because I felt like the game was pranking me.

I think it's very much by design - it's the biggest (and one of the most unreasonable and dangerous) detours for a teenage girl to take to get home, like some otherworldly shit is purposefully delaying her so that the even at her apartment could happen.
The office building is actually my favourite "dungeon" in that game, and I understand from a gameplay design perspective, it's padding, but only because the actual town of Silent Hill feels so restricted and confined, which is a shame.

 

[Nameless One]

Weird how prominent drug use was in 4 as a theme and it never went anywhere. Tender Sugar and the cinematic trailers were about a guy shooting up. Jasper is kind of a tweaker ig

They cut back on the White Claudia idea or ties to 1/3 to focus on Walter once they had it take place in the dreamscape. Tender Sugar itself focuses on the dream and has references to white claudia which may be something that fuels Walter or originally had a role where Harry gets fucked up on it and wakes up in Walter's dream. Who knows.

I never actually thought about it but "and the white sugar gently hides me" is obvious. BUT this can be a song for Cynthia's coke addiction or the other victims if you read their files on the memories site.

it's padding, but only because the actual town of Silent Hill feels so restricted and confined, which is a shame.

The last part with the church and amusement park spiraling down to 3's version of nowhere more than makes up for the SH2 town reuse.

 

[Nameless One]

UPDATE:
someone has posted the opening panel for Silent Hill f.
I have archived it locally. I like the main theme and town.

Sorting by new on the horrible subreddit sometimes brings news and leaks even more than lurking on 4chan's silent hill posts.

 

[Captain Syrup]

It's like the shortest and most straightforward game in the tetraology and is intentionally a roadblock.

Maybe this is a post-bubble Japan cultural thing, but I thought Heather’s street was going to end at some little suburban house.

Instead, it’s another bland, soul-sucking apartment. I got spoiled on HM being dead, but even if I hadn’t, I'd have already assumed he'd been murdered because that building had the energy of a tenant who died months before anyone finds out.

 

[Brain Problems]

The office building is actually my favourite "dungeon" in that game

Mein nigger.

I think 3 is a lot weaker than most people want to admit because the highs are so high but the office building is such a great section because it nails what SH is so good at: dropping the player into a dark, empty, familiar place. It's what the mall section should have been but they fucked it up.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Mein nigger.

I think 3 is a lot weaker than most people want to admit because the highs are so high but the office building is such a great section because it nails what SH is so good at: dropping the player into a dark, empty, familiar place. It's what the mall section should have been but they fucked it up.

I memory holed the construction site. The whole first chunk of the game feels like 4 hour loading screen, just wandering around urban liminal space while Heather mutters sarcastic shit. Then Douglas shows up again and it’s like oh right this is Silent Hill.

 

[Lone MacReady II]

I think it's very much by design - it's the biggest (and one of the most unreasonable and dangerous) detours for a teenage girl to take to get home, like some otherworldly shit is purposefully delaying her so that the even at her apartment could happen.
The office building is actually my favourite "dungeon" in that game, and I understand from a gameplay design perspective, it's padding, but only because the actual town of Silent Hill feels so restricted and confined, which is a shame.

Is the office the part with the monster that Heather kills with a "magic spell"? I always thought that was a cool nod to who Heather actually is. She doesn't realize it, and it's downplayed as just a children's fairy tale, but Heather uses "magic words" and her own latent psychic powers to kill a monster. Very subtle, but intelligent and foreshadowy in that distinctly SH manner.

 

[skykiii]

Maybe this is a post-bubble Japan cultural thing, but I thought Heather’s street was going to end at some little suburban house.

... but Silent Hill has always been set in America?

 

[Nameless One]

SH3 slanderers never really make any good points beyond the lack of multiple serious endings. I used to be jaded about it until I played the game. The lack of multiple endings makes sense since due to the way they presented the story. It has the most diverse art direction in the series and people will still find ways to whine about it not meeting their standard of what silent hill even is. It's the most replayable one imo due to how linear it is.

Heather has a unique apartment complex compared to 2, and her room has tons of detail that tell you about her. Discard 4 or the future games and actually compare 3 to its predecessors to see how unique it actually is. Harry's apartment opens up more about what was going on with Harry having to raise Cheryl again. It's a very satisfying story rich area since you just crawled through the Hellish subway and sewer and it has a pretty cool and intense bossfight with a missionary who killed Harry which sets up the second half of the game and after that it has the best cutscene of the fucking series with Douglas and Heather leaving (Portland,
Maine?) to go to Silent Hill.

 

[Flopper]

Is the office the part with the monster that Heather kills with a "magic spell"? I always thought that was a cool nod to who Heather actually is. She doesn't realize it, and it's downplayed as just a children's fairy tale, but Heather uses "magic words" and her own latent psychic powers to kill a monster. Very subtle, but intelligent and foreshadowy in that distinctly SH manner.

That's correct. It has some of my favourite imagery in environment in the whole series as well; the wheelchair behind the glass, the figure holding the doll over the hole, which cannot be examined by the way, I love that it's just a thing that Heather has nothing to comment about, considering how much she likes to remark about stuff that you can examine.

 

[msd]

The more I skim through the thread highlights, the more I dread that a silent hill 4 remake is coming.

Please, bloober, dont ever touch 3 or 4, they were my favorites, and 4 remains my top favorite

 

[Nameless One]

The more I skim through the thread highlights, the more I dread that a silent hill 4 remake is coming.

Please, bloober, dont ever touch 3 or 4, they were my favorites, and 4 remains my top favorite

Why would it bother you? They're doing the same shit as ever post-2006, it makes no difference because SILENT HILL won't ever be what it was again. If 4 is remade more people will realize the original was pretty unique and special. I fear no remake. Just shows how dead this IP is without team silent since they themselves refrained from doing the same shit over and over again. Just take 1-4, Team Silent's planned followups and PT and block the rest out.

 

[msd]

Why would it bother you? They're doing the same shit as ever post-2006, it makes no difference because SILENT HILL won't ever be what it was again. If 4 is remade more people will realize the original was pretty unique and special. I fear no remake. Just shows how dead this IP is without team silent since they themselves refrained from doing the same shit over and over again. Just take 1-4 and PT and block the rest out.

Good point, but to see someones hard work, and all the nice story elements be bastardized in a remake would make anyone a little upset.

Like why take someones baby, misinterpret it, then just completely fuck it into the ground

 

[Nameless One]

Good point, but to see someones hard work, and all the nice story elements be bastardized in a remake would make anyone a little upset.

Like why take someones baby, misinterpret it, then just completely fuck it into the ground

Because it's for fans who would gargle the balls of creative regression as long as Konami keeps the IP "alive". They want more Silent Hill, and god damn it at any cost at that according to shareholders and fans themselves. Said fans still consider 4 a black sheep due to the worse gameplay and rushed elements. They don't understand it can't be a perfect 10/10 all the time, it was experimentation that made these games as great as they are now. Even SH2 had critical backlash for not continuing what 1 did. They'd rather have a remake that removes anything that made it special and SH2 remake is the bestseller now, so effort is not needed and the only effort required are pretty and unoptomized graphics with UE5. Remakes are the name of the modern game. Risks not needed. Hell, OBEYING the original vision isn't needed either (turning Blue Creek aparments into the otherworld, bloating out SH2 remake from a 5 hour ps2 game to a generic 16 hour remake).


Fans couldn't move on. Hard to. Especially after being blueballed with hopium from PT. Konami wanted back in. They succeeded. But still, they don't understand anything about SILENT HILL to the point we are literally getting a followup to the original 2006 film by the same director who doesn't understand Silent Hill either.
The IP died after Team Silent was disbanded in 2005. For me it's not ever coming back. Only elements of it may be retained. It's still a corpse without the soul it had with the first four.

I'm still a bitter fan. I don't forgive easily so I still believe it'd be better off in public domain than in Konami or any modern company's grave defiling hands.

 

[msd]

Because it's for fans who would gargle the balls of creative regression. Said fans still consider 4 a black sheep due to the worse gameplay and rushed elements. They'd rather have a remake that removes anything that made it special and SH2 remake is the bestseller now. Remakes are the name of the modern game. Risks not needed. Hell, OBEYING the original vision isn't needed either (turning Blue Creek aparments into the otherworld, bloating out SH2 remake from a 5 hour ps2 game to a generic 16 hour remake).

a genuine travesty, I've been playing the re4 remake, and this shit really doesnt stand up to how the original was, sure its fun in certain aspects, but god, I just prefer the OG.

Getting the re4r has basically convinced me to NOT get the silent hill remake, because if all I feel is "meh" playing this, I wont enjoy the silent hill game

 

[skykiii]

Good point, but to see someones hard work, and all the nice story elements be bastardized in a remake would make anyone a little upset.

Like why take someones baby, misinterpret it, then just completely fuck it into the ground

I've said this before but I low-key have a conspiracy theory that remakes exist to lower our standards.

I remember something Spoony said, that he bought one of his cousins a DVD of the original 1987 Robocop (he specifically mentions this in his vlog about the 2014 remake) and that cousin said "Oh, there's an old one? I didn't know that."

Which, think about that: Imagine someone who does not know Robocop existed before the shit remake. Now imagine that person gets online and hears people say "Robocop was a good movie." That person might do research and find out about the original, or he might be lazy and conclude we all just had bad taste and thus old movies all sucked.

Same deal here. What better way to pave the road for nu-Silent Hill mockeries than to gaslight people into thinking the originals weren't good?

And a lot of people really do have a cognitive issue with realizing a remake and an original are not the same game. Like I remember someone asking me "what's the difference between RE2 and RE2 Remake?" Like... they're completely different games, basically not even in the same genre, how do I even answer that question? But some people just don't get why I find that question so perplexing. Literally it's like asking "what's the difference between a bird and a tree?"

 

[msd]

I've said this before but I low-key have a conspiracy theory that remakes exist to lower our standards.

I remember something Spoony said, that he bought one of his cousins a DVD of the original 1987 Robocop (he specifically mentions this in his vlog about the 2014 remake) and that cousin said "Oh, there's an old one? I didn't know that."

Which, think about that: Imagine someone who does not know Robocop existed before the shit remake. Now imagine that person gets online and hears people say "Robocop was a good movie." That person might do research and find out about the original, or he might be lazy and conclude we all just had bad taste and thus old movies all sucked.

Same deal here. What better way to pave the road for nu-Silent Hill mockeries than to gaslight people into thinking the originals weren't good?

And a lot of people really do have a cognitive issue with realizing a remake and an original are not the same game. Like I remember someone asking me "what's the difference between RE2 and RE2 Remake?" Like... they're completely different games, basically not even in the same genre, how do I even answer that question? But some people just don't get why I find that question so perplexing. Literally it's like asking "what's the difference between a bird and a tree?"

You might be unto something, considering you now have to call the older ghostbusters, ghostbusters (1984), because of the newer shittier one.

 

[Scarthew]

Mein nigger.

I think 3 is a lot weaker than most people want to admit because the highs are so high but the office building is such a great section because it nails what SH is so good at: dropping the player into a dark, empty, familiar place. It's what the mall section should have been but they fucked it up.

3's strength is how oppressive it is. Silent hill 1 and 2 give you a lot of breathing room and downtime at the start and in between dungeons. Roaming the town just isnt scary even at night or otherworld. But 3 doesn't give you any time to breathe until about half way into the game aside from a short section between the sewer and your apartment which is really only there to bring you slight relief to make the next reveal hit harder.

While sh1 and 2 are ebbs and flows of horror and relief 3 keeps you drowning in claustrophobic despair that never lets your mind relax for hours. The sounds and visuals in 3 are also always cranked up to 11, its constant sensory overload.

3 and 4 also are better designed games for repeat playthroughs getting 10 star ranks is actually difficult and fun on these since resource balancing is tighter and they have defensive options and enemies that actually attack you.