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Silent Hill Community Thread: "There was a title here...It's gone now"

R

RicoTheMad

Banned
<3 Silent Hill.

I have Downpour just sitting there, waiting for me... in that town, called Silent Hill.

But no seriously it's just sitting there. I have to find some time between my gamedev/work to play it. Trying to go into it with no expectation and just see where it takes me.

My favorite is definitely Silent Hill 2, loved the story for that game, very interesting/disturbing.
 
G

Gintoki313

Banned
Haeralis The BRave said:
There are not many franchises which I love more than Silent Hill. Everything about the first four is just so filled with depth and a sort of surreal beauty. The soundtracks are GOAT too. I wish that the series could get back on its feet.
Click to expand...

Same. It seems like they were on the right track with Downpour, if it wasn't for all the problems. I just beat it again yesterday, and it seem'd worse then I thought it was. The stuttering was still there, the A.I. was still wonky, and the combat was weird (Silent Hill was never great in the combat area anyways).

The story was really good, and felt like a regular Silent Hill game. The protagonist that doesn't know what's going on, a bunch of shifty people in town, an explorable town, and a few extra places to go. It was pretty spooky as well, especially if you don't turn the brightness too far up. It felt more spooky when I couldn't see everything coming at me. The game also answered one of my questions about the town. What happens if a person just lives there, instead of leaving? Turns out,
DJ Ricks
is what happens. The town
controls you, until it kills you off
.

I hope Konami brings the series back. Without the bugs, I can see the next one being good.
 
D

DigitalDevilSummoner

zero cognitive reasoning abilities
Silent Hill reminds of Nine Inch Nails. When they started, both projects, becoming popular was not really a goal. In fact they counted on that their respective audiences were core enthusiasts and not a wider crowd. It gave them certain freedom and that's why they pushed the envelope. Trent never intended for the average teen (or in fact any teen) to one day stumble upon his broken movie on youtube. Same thing for the first four Silent Hill games. So -this will sound like a hipster statement but it's not- the series really died once word came out and it became popular. You cannot put out an existential, drama horror amalgam if your publisher wants to go for todays RE crowd. Kids play SH as "shock" horror and not the Jacob's Ladder-esque psychological thriller it was meant to be.

Four games was good enough for a game concept this complex. After the room, the other attempts were like a mediocre tribute band. I hope they don't drag this brand through the mud anymore.

ps.I just remembered, controls and button mapping on the pc versions of 2,3 and 4 were complete fucking shit !
 
C

Cudder

Member
Best series ever.

SH2 is my absolute favourite game of all time.

Though I didn't think too highly of Downpour, I at least appreciate the honest effort to keep the gameplay in line with original titles, and not turn it into something completely different ala RE.

Here's hoping we get a next gen entry.
 
A

A-V-B

Member
Community? What community? Silent Hill is dead. Ya hear me? Ito, Sato and Yamaoka are all gone, it's all over. It's never coming back! :(

Not ever!


:(((((


Someone hold me.
 
T

Taruranto

Member
Methinks Konami should let the series rest of a while. A long while. It's not just about the games quality, there is a negativity surrounding the series (granted, it's not so unfounded after games like Homecoming and that book thing) and the fanbase is so divided that letting some time pass maybe will let things fix themselves... a bit.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
Looking back SH1 and 2 really were phenomenal experiences. I loved the concept that each SH was going to be kind of a 'Twilight Zone' experience, with the only real connection being Silent Hill itself.
It's a shame it didn't last and SH3 (even though great) had to go into the "direct sequel" territory.

I still haven't completed Downpour, which is a shame because I was enjoying it aside from the technical muck-ups. I think it just came at a time when a bunch of other big releases were coming out (well done, Konami) and although interesting, it wasn't strong enough to put my attention solely on it.
Vatra had some great ideas. It's a shame Konami essentially asked them to take dirt and turn it into gold.

Hopefully in the next 4-5 years KCET has a massive restructuring, gets some more creative minds behind project development, and takes another crack at the series. As of now, I trust Konami with their IPs less than I do Square-Enix with theirs, which is saying a lot.
 
S

Sgblues

Member
"In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised you'd take me there again someday. But you never did. Well I'm alone there now... In our 'special place'... Waiting for you..."

I always like this, it was pretty haunting especially coming off SH1, when I (and I guess others who played it) thought
Mary was really alive and waiting in Silent Hill for James.
 
SargerusBR

SargerusBR

I love Pokken!
Sgblues said:
"In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised you'd take me there again someday. But you never did. Well I'm alone there now... In our 'special place'... Waiting for you..."

I always like this, it was pretty haunting especially coming off SH1, when I (and I guess others who played it) thought
Mary was really alive and waiting in Silent Hill for James.
Click to expand...

They really nailed the psychological elements and symbolism in SH2, also obligatory:
JamesHoleIsGone.jpg
 
Green Wiggly

Green Wiggly

Member
Book of Memories is dirt cheap on Amazon right now, so I grabbed a copy. I enjoyed the demo, so hopefully it doesn't end up sucking too much (I couldn't care less about it being anything like other SH games).
 
G

Gintoki313

Banned
I hated this part in SH4. That is a lot of doors to check.
jdPIWM7hIK6OS.png


A-V-B said:
Community? What community? Silent Hill is dead. Ya hear me? Ito, Sato and Yamaoka are all gone, it's all over. It's never coming back! :(

Not ever!


:(((((


Someone hold me.
Click to expand...

I made this thread because I always see tons of conversation about Silent Hill, whenever its brought up. Yet there's no place to talk about the series in general. There are a ton of games to talk about in the series.

While there may not be any Silent Hill games coming out at the moment, at least we're getting SHO and SHSM on the Vita store (in Europe at least). At least that shows that they haven't completely forgotten about it.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
Rogue_Ledr said:
Can I ask a question here please:

Would someone please explain what the hell possessed Konami to insist on most of the recent SH entries to be Western developed? What happened to the classic SH team?

For some reason they became fixated on the idea that the series needed a new dev team despite the fact that the games were splendid to begin with and had no major shortcomings.
Click to expand...

A question many of us wish we knew.

The easy answer is: Konami wanted to take a franchise that had a now-familiar name, a loyal fanbase, and turn out more games with cheaper developments... thus outsourcing to low-experience Western devs.

As far as the original masterminds who, as a collective of talent, fans lovingly refer to as 'Team Silent'?

Let's list a few major members of the Silent Hill team from SH1-4 and what they have done since:

Keiichiro Toyama (Director/Writer)- SH1
Projects Post-SH1: Creative Lead @ SCE Studio Japan; Created the SIREN series and Gravity Rush. Rumored to be making a new PS4 horror game.
Akihiro Imamura (Producer) - SH2, SH4
Projects Post-SH4: Unknown
Masashi Tsuboyama (Director)- SH2; (Art Director) SH4
Projects Post-SH4: Unknown
Hiroyuki Owaku (Writer/Scenario Designer)- SH1, SH2, SH3
Projects Post-SH3: Assisted in end-of-production work on SH4. Worked on Silent Hill: Cage of Cradle, a Japanese digital manga.
Kazuhide Nakazawa (Director)- SH3
Projects Post-SH3: Joined Kojima Productions. Assisted (unspecified) in MGS4, MGS:pW, MGSV (?)
Suguru Murakoshi (Drama Director/Scenario Designer)- SH2, SH4
Projects Post-SH4: Joined Kojima Productions. Assisted (unspecified) in MGS4, MGS:pW, MGSV (?)
Takayoshi Sato (CG Creation/Direction)- SH1, SH2
Projects Post-SH2: Briefly worked with EA on Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. Currently works for a small dev called Virtual Heroes, Inc.
Masahiro Ito (Art Direction/Creature Design)- SH1, SH2, SH3
Projects Post-SH3: Worked on promotional art for Origins, Homecoming, Downpour, Book of Memories, and some of the comics/digital novels. Current projects unknown.

Of course you also have Akira Yamaoka, but he's still very active in the industry and hasn't disappeared like pretty much every other former Silent Hill Team member not named Keiichiro Toyama. :p

It's just baffling to me.
Besides the major names listed above, you also had some amazing technicians within the teams that made absolute magic with those games (especially SH3).
Many are believed to have been shifted to Kojima Productions with the heavy development of MGS4 and it's assumed many are still there, but I don't have the time or patience to go through the lengthy list of credits for SH1-4 and try mixing and matching with the lengthy credits of MGS4 or even Ground Zeroes.

Major players, like Imamura, Owaku, and Tsuboyama being MIA in this industry is just a fucking tragedy, in my opinion.
 
Erebus

Erebus

Member
Great thread!

I have such a high regard for SH2, it's my favorite game in the series by far and among the video games that I consider to be classic and timeless. Once someone takes the time to delve into the world and the atmosphere of SH2, I'm sure they will be hard pressed to find anything similar.
G06.png


cv6.png


(Shots are taken from the Screenshot art thread here)
Click to expand...
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
I love the concept of Silent Hill, but I never played any of the games until I recently got Silent Hill on my Vita to try it out, and surprise, it's fucking amazing. It's one of the most unsettling games I've ever played, and so well designed. That school and hospital will stay in my memory for a longgggg time. All though, I have to say the second half of the game hasn't been nearly as memorable as the first half (although still great).

The music, the atmosphere, so good. Also, I loved the piano puzzle, definitely one of the best puzzles I've played in a long time.

I'm stuck on the boss fight against
Cybil
. I have like 2 health drinks, and she kills me so fast, and it's really hard to strafe on the Vita to dodge the bullets. Any tips on this fight? I'd really like to be able to beat the game...
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
Rogue_Ledr said:
Can I ask a question here please:

Would someone please explain what the hell possessed Konami to insist on most of the recent SH entries to be Western developed? What happened to the classic SH team?

For some reason they became fixated on the idea that the series needed a new dev team despite the fact that the games were splendid to begin with and had no major shortcomings.
Click to expand...

This is a quesiton that only Konami could really answer. But a clue may be in what happened to Castlevania. We know for a fact that Iga was a working on a new 3D Castlevania (which was apparently SotN 2) as there was a trailer shown at TGS 2008. It was never seen or heard of after that. Lords of Shadow would later be announced. Which obviously meant that Iga's CV was quietly canned in favor of Mercurysteam's game.

Which brings me to Silent Hill. Tsuboyama did several interviews before Homecoming was announced. In them he talked about how the team had been thinking of concepts of how to make Silent Hill work during sunlight. He also made it relatively clear that they were working on the PS3 at the time (this was back in 2007). One interview ended with him hinting that their Silent Hill could be announced at E3 that year. Homecoming is what would end up being announced. After that we never heard from Tsuboyama or really any of the original Team Silent members aside from Yamaoka who'd go on to be the producer for the series.

So, it seems like they were hoping or banking on western devs to revive the popularity of the series. It sorta worked for Castlevania while doing a lot of harm to Silent Hill.
 
M

mollipen

Member
Let's see if I can do this. Based on an emotional level, my enjoyment of the game, and if I thought it hurt or helped the Silent Hill series.

SH1 * SH2 > Downpour > SH3 > Origins > Homecoming > SH4

* = This is both ">" and "=". I can't commit to either one, only both.

Shattered Memories isn't Silent Hill. Don't care what anybody says. It's a very interesting game and experience, but it isn't Silent Hill. Haven't tried Book of Memories. Not sure I need to.
 
V

Violence Jack

Member
My favorite game series. Subbed.

The only thing I came to completely hate in the SH world is that travesty of a movie Silent Hill: Revelation. I like that they finally did a live-action adaptation of Silent Hill 3 (my favorite of the game series), but it was terrible compared to the first film. The writing and acting were bad, the horror/scares almost nonexistent, and it looked rather cheaply put together.

As for the games, I have to admit that the only one that I haven't played is Homecoming. It's still sitting on my shelf still in its shrink-wrap.
 
P

PoemOfTheLastMoment

Banned
I'm glad the series has finally been shelved. It hurt a lot to see the greatest horror series ever created turn into a shadow of its former self. The people in charge at Konami aren't competent enough to make a good game let alone a good Survival horror game.
 
L

Laranja

Member
I was really looking forward to the PS3 Silent Hill game by the original team.

It's been a long time, but I remember reading about how they were going to experiment with scary scenarios in daylight settings. It was really exciting. I was so bummed out when Konami announced Silent Hill V and that it'd be developed by a different team.

And to think the two titles I was looking forward the most when I bought a PS3 were this and Timesplitters 4...
 
C

Cudder

Member
I pretty much bought a Vita for BoM, and it's just terrible and frustrating, didn't make it very far on the many times I've tried to play it.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
Laranja said:
And to think the two titles I was looking forward the most when I bought a PS3 were this and Timesplitters 4...
Click to expand...

lol, I feel the same way.


Circa 2006:
"PS3! YES! Can't wait for SH5, a new Fumito Ueda game, and next gen FF games!"

Look how all of that shit turned out. :/
 
G

Gintoki313

Banned
So Silent Hill Book of Memories isn't good? Darn, I was planning on picking that up. I heard the joke endings in that game were great. What was bad about it?
 
G

Grisby

Member
I have a cd dedicated to Mary Elizabeth's songs. It's played usually every week. Her and Yamaoka were brilliant together.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
Grisby said:
I have a cd dedicated to Mary Elizabeth's songs. It's played usually every week. Her and Yamaoka were brilliant together.
Click to expand...

Don't they still work together on other projects?

Whatever happened to that Bowie-wannabe Joe Romersa guy? Christ all mighty, I really disliked his vocal songs in SH3 and 4. :/
 
D

daveo42

Banned
Silent Hill Community Thread?! I'm in.

Played through the first four and haven't really touched any of the other games. I played a small amount of Origins and found it lacking in comparison.

Edit: Ratings: SH2 > SH3 > SH1 > SH4
SH3 edges out SH1 based on the depth of the story/lore and the improved combat system. SH1 is still a game I could go back to, but the terror of 3 trumps it. SH2 will forever be my favorite.
 
L

Laranja

Member
TheJollyCorner said:
lol, I feel the same way.


Circa 2006:
"PS3! YES! Can't wait for SH5, a new Fumito Ueda game, and next gen FF games!"

Look how all of that shit turned out. :/
Click to expand...

Yeah, this past generation was a huge bummer when it came to established franchises and studio closures. For me, Sony's first party line-up and the indie scene managed to save it from being a total disaster, so it wasn't all that bad.

As far as Silent Hill titles are concerned, I actually liked both Shattered Memories and Downpour, even if not nearly as much as the original games.

I absolutely hate Homecoming, though. I can't think of a single redeeming feature about it, other than the soundtrack, which wasn't even all that great.
 
G

Guri

Member
Every now and then I look for news of a new game. I still believe it can be done right. I liked Shattered Memories, despite some flaws and maybe Climax, compared to Double-Helix and Vatra, was the best studio outside of Konami to handle the franchise. But I still wish the original team would give it a new shot. Very difficult, though. I think Akira Yamaoka left the industry, since he's working in a new band in Japan. I have no idea if Masahiro Ito is doing anything else but freelance work, though.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
Laranja said:
Yeah, this past generation was a huge bummer when it came to established franchises and studio closures. For me, Sony's first party line-up and the indie scene managed to save it from being a total disaster, so it wasn't all that bad.

As far as Silent Hill titles are concerned, I actually liked both Shattered Memories and Downpour, even if not nearly as much as the original games.

I absolutely hate Homecoming, though. I can't think of a single redeeming feature about it, other than the soundtrack, which wasn't even all that great.
Click to expand...

Right there with you, Laranja.

The one thing I take away from Homecoming is the atmosphere of Alex's childhood home (and the wonderful music played while you are in the house).

Loved that moment. Loved looking at the pictures on the wall and going into each room. Other than that, I really disliked Homecoming as a whole.
 
L

Laranja

Member
RobertoSAGuedes said:
Every now and then I look for news of a new game. I still believe it can be done right. I liked Shattered Memories, despite some flaws and maybe Climax, compared to Double-Helix and Vatra, was the best studio outside of Konami to handle the franchise. But I still wish the original team would give it a new shot. Very difficult, though. I think Akira Yamaoka left the industry, since he's working in a new band in Japan. I have no idea if Masahiro Ito is doing anything else but freelance work, though.
Click to expand...

I still think that Masahiro Ito is as important to the series as Akira Yamaoka. I find it really strange how they keep asking him to illustrate the covers for the recent games without asking him to be involved in the actual games.

Maybe they have and he just doesn't want to? Still, it's pretty stupid to have the guy who almost single-handedly created the Silent Hill aesthetic simply illustrate the cover of games he had no involvement in.
 
T

ToraShiro

NISA
TheJollyCorner said:
Right there with you, Laranja.

The one thing I take away from Homecoming is the atmosphere of Alex's childhood home (and the wonderful music played while you are in the house).

Loved that moment. Loved looking at the pictures on the wall and going into each room. Other than that, I really disliked Homecoming as a whole.
Click to expand...

I actually really liked Alex's interaction with his mother. It's very unsettling and somewhat more subtle and downplayed. If the rest of the game had lived up to that I think we'd all have a different outlook on Homecoming.
 
T

tryagainlater

Member
Silent Hill 2 is the best. I really enjoyed Downpour and I love Shattered Memories. I don't really care about them getting the original team back together but just as long as someone keeps making games like that. Even with that said, I do think the series could use a break. I'd like to see one before the end of this gen though.
 
G

Guri

Member
Laranja said:
I still think that Masahiro Ito is as important to the series as Akira Yamaoka. I find it really strange how they keep asking him to illustrate the covers for the recent games without asking him to be involved in the actual games.

Maybe they have and he just doesn't want to? Still, it's pretty stupid to have the guy who almost single-handedly created the Silent Hill aesthetic simply illustrate the cover of games he had no involvement in.
Click to expand...

He does covers for Japan only, right? So it seems that it's more a Konami's decision than the dev team. For him to work again on Silent Hill it would need to be fully developed in Japan, I think.
 
T

The_Monk

Member
Really well made thread fellow GAFfer, thanks for taking the time to do this.

I had very fond memories of playing this with a friend of mine. His 2.1 System was really good (back in the day) and we got so many jump scares! I know they are going to re-release two Silent Hill games for the PS Vita. I never played those and I know nothing from them so I'll check some info to see if I should get them.
 
M

M.Steiner

Member
It's been a while since I last played it but Silent Hill 2 remains one of my favourite games of all time, such an amazing experience. Loved SH1 & 3 as well but 2 really was something special. Everything from the story, the incredible atmosphere and its awesome soundtrack. I even bought a physical copy of the OST which I rarely tend to do for games. <3 Akira Yamaoka.

Homecoming wasn't too bad I guess and I did enjoy that to a degree but not even close to the first 3 games for me. I haven't played any of the others but I suppose for some of those that might be a good thing heh?. I should probably give some of them a try at some point though. Perhaps Shattered Memories now it's coming to Vita, or mebbe I'll get Downpour for my PS3...
 
M

Mature

Member
Silent Hill holds a very "special place" in my heart. Easy sub!

My biggest hope for the series is that it goes quiet for a good long while, then resurfaces under the name of a great director to take it in a new, but familiar direction. I know not everyone is a big Kojima fan, but I think he could do wonders with the franchise.
 
RedAssedApe

RedAssedApe

Banned
are the character modelers for SH3-4 still in the industry? they did some amazing work

homecoming was actually a good game. there was some stuff like monster designs, those cloud chase sequences and waterslide stuff that were bad but the side-quests were really well done.
 
G

Grisby

Member
Cudder said:
the Homecoming soundtrack is probably second to SH2's soundtrack, imo
Click to expand...
Yeah, Alex and Ellie's themes are great.

I also really enjoyed Shattered Memories songs but "You're Not Here" from SH3 will always be my favorite single track.
TheJollyCorner said:
Don't they still work together on other projects?

Whatever happened to that Bowie-wannabe Joe Romersa guy? Christ all mighty, I really disliked his vocal songs in SH3 and 4. :/
Click to expand...
Do they? I haven't kept up. If they were in Florida together I'd sell 5 oxen to go see th play.

Also, I wasn't the biggest fan of Romersa either.
 
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