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I just played Silent Hill: Downpour for the first time since launch....

fart town usa

Gold Member
and how the hell can any of you say straight faced that this game is better than Homecoming?

How Dare You Greta GIF


Daniel Licht!! Where the f*ck is Akira Yamaoka!?

Where are you Downpour fans? I'm pulling your Silent Hill cards now. Hand 'em over.

-edit. "Since launch" meaning I played it at launch and this is my first revisiting since then.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
Yeah, this game was dreadful. I remember the enemy designs being the most generic uninspired crap ever and the whole thing being a bland bore to play.

I think the SH fandom was just coping big time when this game came out.
I'm glad I own it again and I'll try to finish it this time but it's like laughably awful at times. At the very worst I'll start a new game and just play on EASY across the board. There is no way in hell I'm putting up with the potential frustration this game is gonna give me.

The chase sequences are better than Shattered Memories though. I'll give it that much.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
I've never played Downpour but after having finished Homecoming last year, it would be impressive if something were worse than it. America was a mistake.
Homecoming is solid where it counts, it's just the story that is really bad.

Combat is solid if you don't suck at videogames and the overall atmosphere and OST is top notch. If combat doesn't gel you can just use the knife, it's too quick for most enemies and you can just stun lock them and horde ammo for the cultists.
 

Doom85

Member
Downpour is worse in monster design. I guess music too, but honestly IIRC the audio mixing was pretty poor in Homecoming and it was by no means Yamaoka at the top of his game like with prior SH entries.

Homecoming is far worse in all other aspects.

-praising the combat is missing the point. It’s a Silent Hill game, giving me Zelda-like camera angles for combat and having me do SICK COMBOS is the most fucking idiotic shit the series has done in terms of gameplay. You could tell they didn’t give a shit about ambience in this title, especially when they have you fight human enemies who trash talk at you, like fuck off already!

And of course, the developers tried to defend this horseshit with “ah, but Alex is a solider, it makes sense!”

Sarcastic Joke GIF


Oh, you know, except there’s the little reveal at the end that Alex never was in the military at all, and had been institutionalized!

Face Palm GIF


Oh, and you got to love the sheriff at one point giving Alex a loaded gun to defend himself with and doesn’t even ask if he knows how to use one! Because, you know, he’s NOT a soldier but heaven forbid the writers remember the plot twist they’re supposed to be building up to! It’s not like Silent Hill 2 had a plot twist that recontextualized the entire game in a logical way as opposed to adding a bunch of plot holes and inconsistencies!

-the game is visually boring. I especially “love” the hotel where I’m forced to explore dozens of rooms with the exact same layout! Silent Hill 1 had all unique rooms with no repeats and that was a PS1 title, how does this PS3 game not manage that?!

-the cast is completely boring, and I don’t care about Alex trying to find his brother because his brother is always acting like a little whiny shit so why should I care? Yes, it’s reminiscent of Laura in 2, but she wasn’t James’ main goal in that game, plus her behavior ended up being justified given the reveal. Alex’s brother? He’s an annoying brat for no reason!

Also, yes, please try to desperately retcon this random town we’ve never heard of as so important to SH lore. You know, in 3 and 4, even when spending time in places outside of Silent Hill, they kept the important lore to within Silent Hill instead of trying to push some rando new town as “super important”.

Fuck Homecoming. Downpour is bad, but at least some of it had potential even if it failed to utilize said potential. Homecoming was just bad idea after bad idea.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
Downpour is worse in monster design. I guess music too, but honestly IIRC the audio mixing was pretty poor in Homecoming and it was by no means Yamaoka at the top of his game like with prior SH entries.

Homecoming is far worse in all other aspects.

-praising the combat is missing the point. It’s a Silent Hill game, giving me Zelda-like camera angles for combat and having me do SICK COMBOS is the most fucking idiotic shit the series has done in terms of gameplay. You could tell they didn’t give a shit about ambience in this title, especially when they have you fight human enemies who trash talk at you, like fuck off already!

And of course, the developers tried to defend this horseshit with “ah, but Alex is a solider, it makes sense!”

Sarcastic Joke GIF


Oh, you know, except there’s the little reveal at the end that Alex never was in the military at all, and had been institutionalized!

Face Palm GIF


Oh, and you got to love the sheriff at one point giving Alex a loaded gun to defend himself with and doesn’t even ask if he knows how to use one! Because, you know, he’s NOT a soldier but heaven forbid the writers remember the plot twist they’re supposed to be building up to! It’s not like Silent Hill 2 had a plot twist that recontextualized the entire game in a logical way as opposed to adding a bunch of plot holes and inconsistencies!

-the game is visually boring. I especially “love” the hotel where I’m forced to explore dozens of rooms with the exact same layout! Silent Hill 1 had all unique rooms with no repeats and that was a PS1 title, how does this PS3 game not manage that?!

-the cast is completely boring, and I don’t care about Alex trying to find his brother because his brother is always acting like a little whiny shit so why should I care? Yes, it’s reminiscent of Laura in 2, but she wasn’t James’ main goal in that game, plus her behavior ended up being justified given the reveal. Alex’s brother? He’s an annoying brat for no reason!

Also, yes, please try to desperately retcon this random town we’ve never heard of as so important to SH lore. You know, in 3 and 4, even when spending time in places outside of Silent Hill, they kept the important lore to within Silent Hill instead of trying to push some rando new town as “super important”.

Fuck Homecoming. Downpour is bad, but at least some of it had potential even if it failed to utilize said potential. Homecoming was just bad idea after bad idea.
Spare me the lore shite, this isn't Reddit.

There are no shortage of SH games with a decent story and awful combat. Heaven forbid we get one game that tries something new and actually works. And who are you to question Yamaoka's work.

GIF by Giphy QA


I already said the story was trash, I do not give a shit if Alex having combat skills doesn't make sense. It's a vidyagame.

Give me your card. You spoke ill of Akira because of your irrational hatred of a solid videogame.

Embarrassed Shame GIF
 
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Dirk Benedict

Gold Member
Downpour had a lot of good ideas. The one that comes to mind is how they made Silent Hill more explorable than previous games.
They really need to go that direction, I think... I want to say, I read Silent Hills was going in this direction. KojiPro would have made it interesting.

That said, the inclusion of Korn, the shitty character/monster designs, the... combat wasn't too bad, but it still sucked. Also, there seems to be a lack of replayability with regards to unlockables, extra content.

Arachnid Arachnid
You use, Heather Mason as your avatar. I don't believe you!!
 
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ShadowLag

Member
Homecoming gave me a migraine by the time it was finished. Downpour didn't do that, so it automatically wins this fight.
 
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Homecoming was actually a very good game, clearly not on par with 1, 2 & 3 but better than 4 and Origins and leagues above Downpour and whatever the hell Shattered Memories was.
1. Shattered Memories was great. Maybe it should not have had Silent Hill in the name but it was an haunting adventure experience with exhilirating run segments. It was not fixated on a mirror world created by the personification of evil, but instead the emptiness of bygone experiences that comes with the passage of time and an outsider's perspective on interpersonal trauma.

2. The Room has the best plot in the entire franchise and some unrivaled set pieces in the horror genre, but similarly should not have Silent Hill in the name. It dips during its first venture into prison world as a result of a bad environmental puzzle, but otherwise is the most demandingly engaging game in the series with little downtime.

3. The best parts of Downpour (scouring the burbs and going through the building of the Radio station) are more fascinating than any segment in Homecoming. Unfortunately the other segments of it are a real chore. All Homecoming has over it is consistency with a quality that is still below series standards.

P.S. I am playing through Evil Within II right now and for my money it is the best spiritual sequel Silent Hill could ever get.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
1. Shattered Memories was great. Maybe it should not have had Silent Hill in the name but it was an haunting adventure experience with exhilirating run segments.
2. The Room has the best plot in the entire franchise and some unrivaled set pieces in the horror genre, but similarly should not have Silent Hill in the name.
3. The best parts of Downpour (scouring the burbs and going through the building of the Radio station) are more fascinating than any segment in Homecoming.

P.S. I am playing through Evil Within II right now and for my money it is the best spiritual sequel Silent Hill could ever get.
You got massive stones for saying 4 has a better plot than 2 and for that you can keep your card.

However, Organ Quarter for PCVR and PSVR2 is the best spiritual sequel to Silent Hill.

Vibes cued up.

 
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You got massive stones for saying 4 has a better plot than 2 and for that you can keep your card.

However, Organ Quarter for PCVR and PSVR2 is the best spiritual sequel to Silent Hill.

Vibes cued up.


Outside of visual metaphors the plot of Silent Hill 2 is bad relative to the rest of the games by Team Silent. Organ Quarter is not combat focused enough to be a Silent Hill spiritual successor.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
Outside of visual metaphors the plot of Silent Hill 2 is bad relative to the rest of the games by Team Silent. Organ Quarter is not combat focused enough to be a Silent Hill spiritual successor.
? I don't understand what you mean by that but no worries.

Nice to see someone being critical of 2 for a change. 🍻
 
? I don't understand what you mean by that but no worries.
The premise of looking for the wife you buried outside of the cemetery after an old letter arrives years later. The nonsensical nature of Maria. Angela and Eddie appearing in strange places they have no reason to be. On top of that, the journey takes the player from one set piece of heavy emotional baggage to another but often decides to psyche the player out instead of letting the pieces fall. Most of the endings also have continuity problems.
 
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kiphalfton

Member
Homecoming is garbage. I had the displeasure of playing it on PC, and had to mod it to remove the awful film grain, add in controller prompts, fix the broken map, etc.

Then on top of that it ended up having crap combat, as well as bad world exploration.

I played downpour before it, and liked it way more. Side quests were good, and the world was more interesting.
 

Doom85

Member
Spare me the lore shite, this isn't Reddit.

There are no shortage of SH games with a decent story and awful combat. Heaven forbid we get one game that tries something new and actually works. And who are you to question Yamaoka's work.

GIF by Giphy QA


I already said the story was trash, I do not give a shit if Alex having combat skills doesn't make sense. It's a vidyagame.

Give me your card. You spoke ill of Akira because of your irrational hatred of a solid videogame.

Embarrassed Shame GIF

-you will be spared nothing!

-try something new? Oh right, why would I want horror in my horror game, silly me!

Are you honestly claiming Akira’s work is equal across every SH title? THAT is disrespectful.

The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Slap GIF


-“it’s a video game”. Bruh, the DEVELOPERS themselves used the story to attempt to justify the combat, and then it turned out they were full of shit. Stop defending this nonsense.

-you will get no card, and by disrespecting Akira’s work on the actual good Silent Hill games, you have earned even more slaps!

bitch slap GIF
Bitch Slap Slapping GIF by absurdnoise
bitch slap GIF
slap gtfo GIF
Never Ending Slapping GIF
Mario Mean GIF
 

Killer8

Member
The Silent Hill games not made by Team Silent started to look real good as the years passed. I began to find some semblance of respect for these games after seeing how dogshit many of the indie "inspired by" Silent Hill games were. It is seemingly harder than it looks to make a Silent Hill and games like Origins and Homecoming came closer than any other attempt - their flaws notwithstanding. I'd say those games even felt more like Silent Hill than other official shit like The Short Message and Book of Memories.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Silent Hill 4: The Room even with flaw design it was better than those two western made Silent Hill games…..what Konami thinking handing out one of their more important IP to random western devs?
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
Played Downpour a couple of months ago and found it more enjoyable than Homecoming, mostly due to the atmosphere and setting that I think the developers did better. The story was intriguing with Murphy as the lead protagonist, and although it didn't amount to much in the end, it kept me hooked until the end. The biggest flaws of the game were the awful combat where you could only pick up one weapon at the time. Monster design sucked ass and those chase sequences from the red light is probably the biggest load of shit in any SH game.

Homecoming was bad mostly because of the retconning and fan service, putting in classic characters like Pyramid Head even if it makes no sense. The story was weak as was Alex as a protagonist, like the most boring Average Joe ever. Shepherd's Glen is probably the worst setting in any SH game. And the combat where focus was on dodging and counters did not work at all. Music was good but far from Yamaokas best work. Bosses were cool though and had great design.

With all that said, both western games are hot garbage compared to the work of Team Silent. Wouldn't mind a remaster of them though on current gen, like a double pack. Both games have horrible performance issues on PS3. I played them on PC and emulator and it was a far better experience than console
 
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keefged4

Member
I'd say Homecoming and Downpour are on the same tier level compared to the original 4, A few hundred miles below them. Shattered memories is better than both Homecoming and Downpour.
 

kunonabi

Member
Everything after 3 was complete shit so I never saw a point in ranking any of them. The best I can give them is SH4's soundtrack being Yamaoka's best work, although horribly implemented in the game itself, and Shot Down in Flames deserved a much better game to be attached to.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
-you will be spared nothing!

-try something new? Oh right, why would I want horror in my horror game, silly me!

Are you honestly claiming Akira’s work is equal across every SH title? THAT is disrespectful.

The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Slap GIF


-“it’s a video game”. Bruh, the DEVELOPERS themselves used the story to attempt to justify the combat, and then it turned out they were full of shit. Stop defending this nonsense.

-you will get no card, and by disrespecting Akira’s work on the actual good Silent Hill games, you have earned even more slaps!

bitch slap GIF
Bitch Slap Slapping GIF by absurdnoise
bitch slap GIF
slap gtfo GIF
Never Ending Slapping GIF
Mario Mean GIF

🤔 It's got plenty of horror. 🤷 And Akira's sound work is damn effective at keeping the player on edge, I will not entertain any type of critique on his contribution to Homecoming, it's phenomenal by any standard. The real-time damage effect appearing on enemies is cool too.
 

Doom85

Member
🤔 It's got plenty of horror. 🤷 And Akira's sound work is damn effective at keeping the player on edge, I will not entertain any type of critique on his contribution to Homecoming, it's phenomenal by any standard. The real-time damage effect appearing on enemies is cool too.

I’ve read Goosebumps books scarier than Silent Hill Homecoming!

Karen Gillan Yes GIF by A Little Late With Lilly Singh


And I won’t accept you showing a proper lack of appreciation of his work by just blindly rating all his OSTs equally. A true connoisseur of Akira’s music would evaluate each OST individually and rank them properly, not blindly go, “they’re all amazing, LOL!” Regardless, the audio mixing is bad so you can’t even hear the music a good deal of the time properly, and that’s not Akira’s fault, but regardless the OST will be less effective if you can’t hear the damn thing that well.

I don’t give a shit about “cool things” for Silent Hill, I want to be scared. Even Downpour at least had moments of unnerving background noises at times, Homecoming couldn’t even manage that. Despite having stupid ass enemies like wet clothes woman, shirtless dude, and red void thingy, Downpour’s ambience still managed to occasionally be present, not most of the time, but still occasionally. I was not scared or on edge a single moment throughout all of Homecoming. And that is why it fails.
 

Doom85

Member
Silent Hill 4: The Room even with flaw design it was better than those two western made Silent Hill games…..what Konami thinking handing out one of their more important IP to random western devs?

Random doesn’t even do it justice. Homecoming was Double Fine’s FIRST game (yeah, don’t pick a studio with a track record or anything!) and Downpour’s developers, Vatra, had developed ONE game prior…with a Metacritic of 47.

Ryan Reynolds Ugh GIF by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment


Origins and Shattered Memories were developed by a Western studio with an actual long development history to their name, and while not as well received as 1-3 or even 4, they were, *shocker*, still far better received over Homecoming or Downpour which were made by unproven talent.
 
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