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[AmethystEnd]

I had different experiences, I guess.

I never had enough ammo (unless I knew where to look and explored out of my way... which often resulted in encountering more enemies...), enemies took way too many shots to go down, and guns were still completely useless unless enemies got right up in my face since the aim of my characters was pretty pathetic outside of a shotgun. The majority of my fights were with melee weapons in all games as a result, smacking things around with lead pipes and 2x4s.

When I think of "running to a safe distance", my mind went "when?". My memories are filled with cramped, narrow hallways, difficult controls, poor navigation, and trying to fire in a dark hallway with two spastic nurses hobbling towards me and I only have 4 shots to work with...

Simply not killing everything leads to entirely too much ammo for bosses. I don't use ammo on anything but bosses. Strictly melee weapons for regular enemies, or just run past them.

As for running a safe distance, most enemies are braindead. No matter how cramped the hallway, you can easily push past any enemy or goad them into attacking by walking forward and then walking backward, and then running past them when they lunge/swing/whatever.

 

[StrongBelwas]

I love horror games and somehow never played Silent Hill its my biggest gaming regret, and I don't know why since I was all about Resident Evil on ps1 so its not like it was before my time.

My only real experience of it way back when was playing some demo of it at a friends house, I never even played it just watch my friend play the demo but it scared the shit out of both of us.

Later in life I played Homecoming and enjoyed it, I know its considered the worst game but as not having played any of the others I enjoyed it. I really hope and pray that some how Silent Hill 1-4 get released on PSN but I guess its unlikely.

I still have my ps2 somewhere though no idea if it still works but I guess if worse comes to worse I can get them on ps2.

 

[Garlador]

subbed in a heart beat.

Now - can someone explain me, why in "The Room", protagonist couldn't just break the window? Would the room kill him there? Or am I just stupidly looking for logic where there's no place for it?

Don't hold me to this, but I think I read somewhere that Henry tried. He would scream and pound on his door, but nobody would even hear him. He'd pound on the glass, but it would never break. No phone service. No communication. No way out. And everyone else was oblivious. The game starts after Henry has already been trapped for five days before a hole appears. It was apparent to me he'd tried to get out during those previous few days and it was useless.

Simply not killing everything leads to entirely too much ammo for bosses. I don't use ammo on anything but bosses. Strictly melee weapons for regular enemies, or just run past them.

As for running a safe distance, most enemies are braindead. No matter how cramped the hallway, you can easily push past any enemy or goad them into attacking by walking forward and then walking backward, and then running past them when they lunge/swing/whatever.

I get the distinct impression you're MOSTLY talking about Silent Hill 2....

SH1's dodgy controls and aggressive enemies (those dogs and winged demons...) were almost impossible to avoid in narrow parts of the game or to outmaneuver unless you were out in the open. The hospital nurses and doctors weren't easy to get around either in those narrow passageways. SH3's enemies were even larger and more aggressive, to the point that "running past them" or pushing them aside was nearly impossible...

(yeah, you just take up the whole hallway...)

SH4's enemies were even more relentless, and that doesn't even include the unstoppable ghosts. Origin's enemies were (for better or worse) significantly faster and had far more stamina than Travis did, so running was almost useless. Homecoming's are probably the most vicious enemies in the series. And, of course, Shattered Memories strips you of all weapons and forces you only to run.

The ONLY game where I felt the enemies were more "just there" was SH2. All the other games had pretty aggressive enemies and combat quirks that made standing your ground or outmaneuvering them highly challenging.

 

[AmethystEnd]

Definitely not just 2. In that gif from 3 I see plenty of space to run past both of those Closers on the side.

And your point about Origins is kind of funny considering I've successfully beaten the game in under 40 minutes with only boss kills.

Speedruns for 1 are done entirely with the flashlight off never killing a single enemy because they're that easy to run from.

This is awful quality but this is the kind of thing I'm talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5UmRU4Ie78

Most monsters either move slow, attack slow, or both. Notice how you can basically hug the Closer and still be safe.

 

[Garlador]

Definitely not just 2. In that gif from 3 I see plenty of space to run past both of those Closers on the side.

And your point about Origins is kind of funny considering I've successfully beaten the game in under 40 minutes with only boss kills.

Speedruns for 1 are done entirely with the flashlight off never killing a single enemy because they're that easy to run from.

This is awful quality but this is the kind of thing I'm talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5UmRU4Ie78

Most monsters either move slow, attack slow, or both. Notice how you can basically hug the Closer and still be safe.

I guess if you know the game, but on a first blind playthrough? Nobody plays a game like that. Just like you can run from 99% of enemies in almost any game while speedrunning.

I didn't know what passageways were safe. I didn't know what rooms held the right items. I was running from enemies into dead-ends and having to fight my way out of them. I was getting cornered trying to open the right doors and seeing which ones were locked or unlocked. I would run to "that safe passage on the side" and discover I had to turn around, only now I couldn't because two enemies were now on top of me. I'd waste ammo on an aggressive demon dog, only to discover a boss in the next room and my supplies empty.

Now that I have the game memorized, sure, it's a boring chore to run exactly where I need to go, do exactly what I need to do, and skip past all the enemies because I've memorized their patterns and the level layout and mastered the controls...

... But that certainly didn't happen the first time I played through those games. Slowly. Carefully. Without direction. Without understanding.

It's like how I can dance my way through Dark Souls these days, but you bet I was paranoid as hell and going to the wrong places and getting lost and making mistakes in my initial playthroughs.

 

[Sesha]

We're not talking about whether or not guns are thematically appropriate or handled realistically by any given character. We're talking about guns trivializing gameplay.

Even though no characters had weapon training besides in Homecoming (kinda), every character can still kill anything with perfect ease (as I described above) because there's:

1. Too much ammo
2. Nothing stopping the player from doing the same tired strategy of firing once or twice then running a safe distance.

I was more thinking in terms of how slow and clunky gunplay actually is in.

Anyway, the availability of ammo is dependent on player behavior. I assume balancing wasn't specifically made with careful/more skilled players in mind. Another factor is boss and enemy design themselves. I found Silent Hill 2 extremely easy not because of the generous amounts of ammo or health items, but because enemies and bosses rarely pose a threat as they move so slowly. Unlike 1 and 3 there are no fast or flying enemies either. Even in cramped spaces I never felt threatened. The most threatening fight in the entire game is the first Pyramid Head fight.

Reducing the amount of health items and ammo would probably be the simplest way to make the games more challenging. I can't say for SH3 because I've only played and seen a little of it, but I heard ammo is more scarce in that game, and there's a bit more variety in enemy types. But in terms of critiquing the game design, at least for SH2, I could easily blame the enemy design/AI for being too slow, and for enemy damage values being too low.

 

[AmethystEnd]

Resident Evil was my first survival horror game. Monster dodging in Silent Hill functions similarly to zombie dodging in Resident Evil, which is also possible in incredibly tight corridors.

I agree, I was more apprehensive on first playthroughs of each game, but monster dodging was a constant.

Though dog types are a notable exception, since they move fast and attack fast. I always made sure to kill those.

 

[PooBone]

Been playing Downpour for my first time. Really loving the game. The atmosphere is fucking insane (the rain motif is pretty awesome).

Are the other Silent Hill games like it?

I recommend Homecoming if you haven't tried it. Those two get slapped together a lot because of their place in the story and the fact that they were externally/Western developed. I liked them both, but Homecoming is my definite favorite of the two. It gets shit on a lot.

The other games, 1-3 and even The Room to some degree, are WAY better.

 

[brau]

oh wow.. didn't even think of searching for a SH community thread. I should hang out here more. I love Silent Hill.

 

[PooBone]

I love horror games and somehow never played Silent Hill its my biggest gaming regret, and I don't know why since I was all about Resident Evil on ps1 so its not like it was before my time.

My only real experience of it way back when was playing some demo of it at a friends house, I never even played it just watch my friend play the demo but it scared the shit out of both of us.

Later in life I played Homecoming and enjoyed it, I know its considered the worst game but as not having played any of the others I enjoyed it. I really hope and pray that some how Silent Hill 1-4 get released on PSN but I guess its unlikely.

I still have my ps2 somewhere though no idea if it still works but I guess if worse comes to worse I can get them on ps2.

At this stage in time I'd say that would be the preferred way to play it if you can. Start with 1 but even if you decide you don't like it, make sure you then try 2, as it's highly regarded as the pinnacle of the series.

 

[Eusis]

Dunno a better place for this, and it's recent enough to just throw here I guess:

So for some reason (probably the DEEP FUCKING FOG when I went to sleep) I dreamed about Silent Hills. I managed to drowsily make some notes about the dream before I fell back asleep and I'd (likely) forget about most of it, but there was a movie Konami had made tying into the game and released anyway, but the game itself was quite far along in development and for some reason I got to play it. It had you save at Bonfires where you'd be able to interact with other players, but the saves were limited so you wouldn't want to overuse each bonfire, and what I "played" was in was partially in a ruined area with enemies that'd more seriously pursue you and be a very serious threat. It also had a lot of branching paths, seemed to be allegory for a sick child, switched to a female protagonist later for some reason, and, uhh, was mostly overhead for testing purposes.

. . . Now that I think about it the ruined area may've looked like the last area in the Bloodborne: The Old Hunters. Combined with the bonfires I wonder if this is a case of my own subconscious saying to me in a dream "Wouldn't it be better if Silent Hill were made to be like a Hidetaka Miyazaki game?" but then there's the overhead weirdness that reminded me of Sword & Sworcery for some reason. At least I remember the movie being good, but logically you'd probably want Guillermo doing that anyway to have a better realized vision with the game.

 

[StrongBelwas]

I just got a copy of silent hill 1, does this work on ps2?

 

[Eusis]

I just got a copy of silent hill 1, does this work on ps2?

Yes. You'll be good to go, don't remember it being on the list of problem games and it's a short list.

Do get a PS1 card though, controller will be fine but not a PS2 card.

 

[StrongBelwas]

Cheers I went online and bought 1,2,3,4 origins and shattered memories. I hope I like them lol.

 

[brau]

I just got a copy of silent hill 1, does this work on ps2?

have fun! and let us know what you think. Its a great game.

 

[StrongBelwas]

have fun! and let us know what you think. Its a great game.

Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. I remember playing the demo years ago and finding it terrifying lol

I've been told it hasn't aged to badly.

 

[brau]

Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. I remember playing the demo years ago and finding it terrifying lol

I've been told it hasn't aged to badly.

You are in for a treat!

I think the emulation has some options to clean up some of the art. But just playing the original as is is pretty thrilling. I still have all of my original discs.

 

[timetokill]

Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. I remember playing the demo years ago and finding it terrifying lol

I've been told it hasn't aged to badly.

Well, even when the game came out it looked like the main character was running around with a stick up his ass

so... yeah, it hasn't really changed

 

[Laranja]

Yes. You'll be good to go, don't remember it being on the list of problem games and it's a short list.

Do get a PS1 card though, controller will be fine but not a PS2 card.

You can create virtual PS1 memory cards to save your progress when playing PS1 games on the PS2, no need to find an actual card.

Edit: or was that on the PS3? I can't tell. Fuck, I'm getting old.

 

[StrongBelwas]

You can create virtual PS1 memory cards to save your progress when playing PS1 games on the PS2, no need to find an actual card.

Edit: or was that on the PS3? I can't tell. Fuck, I'm getting old.

I just ordered a ps1 card anyways so I hope it was something you could do on the ps3 and not the ps2 lol

 

[brau]

You can create virtual PS1 memory cards to save your progress when playing PS1 games on the PS2, no need to find an actual card.

Edit: or was that on the PS3? I can't tell. Fuck, I'm getting old.

im pretty sure that was on the ps3. ps2 still used memory cartridges.

 

[Rekki-Maru]

This might've been posted already but if not- It's a fan vid of Alex's Theme from Silent Hill Homecoming. Lots of spoilers.

 

[Eusis]

You can create virtual PS1 memory cards to save your progress when playing PS1 games on the PS2, no need to find an actual card.

Edit: or was that on the PS3? I can't tell. Fuck, I'm getting old.

It was PS3, yes.

Conveniently enough you CAN back saves up to PS2 cards though.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I just ordered a ps1 card anyways so I hope it was something you could do on the ps3 and not the ps2 lol

If you're playing on PS2 you will need a PS1 memory card.

 

[StrongBelwas]

So in just waiting for my ps1 memory card to arrive before I dive in. I have I think all the games is there a certain order I should play them in? I understand 3 follows 1 so should I play 1,3,2 or does having 2 between them not really matter, and where does origins and shattered memories fit in?

 

[h0tp0ck3t]

So in just waiting for my ps1 memory card to arrive before I dive in. I have I think all the games is there a certain order I should play them in? I understand 3 follows 1 so should I play 1,3,2 or does having 2 between them not really matter, and where does origins and shattered memories fit in?

I'd say play them in the order they were released, 1-4 then Origins and last shattered memories. Origins comes before 1 and shattered memories is a re imagining of 1

 

[sixteen-bit]

If you're into long-form game reviews, watch Twin Perfect eviscerate Book of Memories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-oqXJYAmis

 

[SolidSnakex]

Since this has been bumped, here's a rare pic of the original Team Silent

 

[Audioboxer]

Painful bump.

You guys....

 

[Dusk Golem]

Silent Hill Downpour just in the last hour got backward support for Xbox One, as a heads-up.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

If you're into long-form game reviews, watch Twin Perfect eviscerate Book of Memories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-oqXJYAmis

Just got through both parts.

Fucking LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL


Holy shit, you weren't kidding when you said 'eviscerate' - and they were right to do it. What a complete, utter piece of dogshit and really magnified everything that was wrong with the Hulett-era of Silent Hill.

Unfortunately once I got beyond the laughing fits the sadness kicked in.
RIP Silent Hill.