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[brandonh83]

There was the forest area in SH4 too, but that was around the middle of the game, or the latter half.

Both, because for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to make you go through the same environments twice throughout the game.

I'm really loving the idea of the otherworld sections in this game being more exclusive instead of just altered versions of places you've already been. Sure, it was nice, but sometimes it made things a bit predictable. Like "oh man it was quiet before but I bet when the world changes there will be a baby crying!"

I think having the otherworld sections not involve backtracking will make things way more unpredictable. I'm not saying it was ever bad in the older ones, but instead of knowing to expect a weird version of a room you've been in, you won't know what to expect period.

 

[Haunted]

I like the water and fighting bits.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Both, because for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to make you go through the same environments twice throughout the game.

Yeah, for every thing SH4 did right, it did at least two things wrong. Still, I enjoyed the game for what it was.

And an Otherworld that isn't directly connected to the 'real world' does sound interesting. I'm sort of torn on this game so far. There's some really interesting stuff going on, but also some elements I'd rather not have in the SH series. Until reviews start appearing I'll just assume it'll be yet another SH game that will disappoint me, and hope that I might be wrong, and end up being pleasantly surprised.

Spoiler

Now can we get a SH1-4 HD collection or an SH2 HD remake?

 

[TheJollyCorner]

I remain cautiously optimistic...

I just want to believe.

Loved SH1-4, kind of middle-of-the-road with Origins, Homecoming felt like a fanfic, and loved Shattered Memories (Wii version).

After seeing what MercurySteam did with Lords of Shadow, I'm confident that Konami is doing a better job scouting these development teams. I hope VATRA brings a lot of creativity to the table and doesn't pull another 'Double Helix'.



...although I'm really going to miss Yamaoka on this one. 'Dexter' guy might do a fine job, but Yamaoka has always been one of the most significant factors in my love for this series.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Both, because for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to make you go through the same environments twice throughout the game.

SH4 was severely rushed during the last 1/3 of development, mostly due to the time wasted switching the solo project ROOM 302 over to a SILENT HILL. All that backtracking was never the original intention- at least not in the way it came out in the official release. Tsuboyama mentioned that in an interview back in 2004. I'm trying to find that particular interview- so I'll post it when I do.

The ROOM 302 Project was completely wasted potential, thanks to KCEJ's balls shriveling up and not wanting to take a chance on a new horror IP by members of the SH2 team. It actually amazes me Imamura & Tsuboyama were able to salvage what they could and still manage to put out a decent game with the SH name (forcefully) attached to it.

SH4 had a lot of fucking wonderful ideas. It's a shame they didn't get another 5-6 months to work on it.

 

[Chiggs]

After reading the article, I'm sort of getting the impression the parallel worlds are going to be something along the lines of Scarecrow's stages in Batman AA...minus the side-scrolling.

 

[badcrumble]

It's weird to hear so much promising news, see such lovely screenshots, and then read about QTE boss battles. Such an odd choice among a bunch of good ones.

And yeah, count me in as looking forward to this even though I'm usually very very skeptical of new SH games since Team Silent shut down.

 

[Trent Strong]

Silent Hill: Heavy Rain.

 

[RedSwirl]

The emphasis on avoiding combat alone should put this head and shoulders above pretty much every so-called "horror" game that's come out on current gen consoles (I haven't played Siren Blood Curse). I usually hate weapon degradation in action games, but it sounds perfect for this kind of game.

For now: cautiously optimistic.

 

[brandonh83]

Glad to see everyone making "cautiously optimistic" posts; shows that everyone still demands high quality for the series and I really hope the developers are aware of that.

 

[stuminus3]

None of these bullet points address why Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories are the best games ever. :-/

 

[Poimandres]

Could very well be good! True horror is hard to come by in games these days. I really hope this turns out well.

 

[John Harker]

Never played a SH game I didn't like (though I technically never finished Origins or 4, guess those are the "weaker" entries for me).

Obviously very interested in this... everything sounds good, though I hate the idea of breakable weapons. At least, I didn't enjoy how Climax did it with Origins. Hopefully this is a better gameplay experience.

 

[Foffy]

One could say that this information...is downpouring to us~

Seriously though, I hope it's good. I'm not a hardcore Silent Hill fan (Only finished Origins), but there are very vocal opinions about how the games not made by Konami themselves lack the shine the ones made in-house do.

 

[brandonh83]

None of these bullet points address why Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories are the best games ever. :-/

I disagree about Shattered Memories-- but do you really think that the greatness of Silent Hill 2 could be summed up with bullet points made from an article written somewhere around 8-9 months before the game is released?

All they can talk about really is gameplay mechanics and scant story details. To talk about what makes SH2 so great would get into heavy spoiler territory-- something that a magazine article isn't going to do.

 

[timetokill]

I really hope this game turns out well. Shattered Memories was wonderful, and the best SH since SH2. I hope this game continues the upward trend

 

[Gen X]

*Edit* nm

Hurr durr l2read

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Is the new Silent Hill multiplatform?

Yeah, PS3/360

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

-avoid fights when possible, better to deliver incapacitating blows and run away (so good!)

Hopefully this is much better than the forced chase segments in Shattered Memories which pretty much ruined the game for me.

 

[RagnarokX]

A small lakeside mountain resort town... with a subway?

 

[Gen X]

A small lakeside mountain resort town... with a subway?

Eat Fresh! :lol

 

[brandonh83]

A small lakeside mountain resort town... with a subway?

Yeah, there's a subway in Silent Hill 3. The mountain resort is in the outskirts of Silent Hill, which you go through first before even getting there.

 

[RagnarokX]

Yeah, there's a subway in Silent Hill 3. The mountain resort is in the outskirts of Silent Hill, which you go through first before even getting there.

The subway in Silent Hill 3 is in a town that is a full day's drive from Silent Hill (well a full night's at least). Silent Hill is a mountain resort.

 

[brandonh83]

The subway in Silent Hill 3 is in a town that is a full days drive from Silent Hill.

Son of a bitch

 

[Cosmozone]

I'm not getting my hopes up too much. The SH games come out just too fast to create too much excitement. Some pics that are looking good are surely not enough. But hey I'm buying it anyway.

 

[Guenther]

Yeah, I wonder how the existence of a subway will be explained.

 

[eXistor]

The only bad info is those darned QTE's. That needs to go the way of the Jaguar.

 

[ram]

combat was weak in every silent hill game and it seems, that its no fun in the new game either. i hate breaking weapons.

 

[Vinterbird]

I need to man up and actually play some of the SH games. How scary are they compared to Amnesia, and difficulty (puzzle, combat so on) compared to RE1?

 

[Dascu]

-the town is so large that you can use a subway system to travel between focal points
-sidequests

Open world design? I'm interested.

-avoid fights when possible, better to deliver incapacitating blows and run away (so good!)

Hmm, let's see how this turns out.

-boss fights with quicktime events (not so good)

Yucky.

-prominent locations in the older installments like schools and hospitals will not return

Good. Getting sick and tired of the usual Silent Hill locations.

-no weapon inventory, weapons weaken and break

Ugh. Breakable weapons are never fun.


Scans look alright. The town looks great, but the enemies look dull.

I need to man up and actually play some of the SH games. How scary are they compared to Amnesia, and difficulty (puzzle, combat so on) compared to RE1?

Not nearly as scary (or good) as Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I personally despise the series' combat and silly puzzles, but the clunkyness and queerness of it all helps a tiny bit to create some oppressing atmosphere. The games are worth it for the visual design and interesting story/characters. SH3 in particular is a visual masterpiece. SH2 and SH:SM have good stories.

 

[SolidusDave]

This sounds good!

I don't have a problem with QTEs in boss fights, it's probably just the finisher and maybe in between to weaken it/break parts off etc. Doing that with the normal combat looks stupid nowadays IMO. (last 1% boss health after beating and shooting the shit out of it -> 1 kick to the knee -> *dies* yay... epic..)

I'm actually more concerned about the side quests. I'm not sure yet if this fits to SH/ a horror game. Need to see how they are executed (and if it's only for side stories or if you get some kind of rewards).


I hope they include some sort of stealth kill system like in Siren. Stealth gameplay + horror games combined enhances the atmosphere greatly.
As in, if you fail to sneak by or kill certain enemies, you will have to run or you have a chance of dying if you now take them on directly (if only after your weapon breaks and there are more than one enemy).

 

[KAOz]

This sounds amazingly good. I also trust the story this time around. The story is being written by Tom Waltz who wrote Silent Hill: Sinners Reward and the current comic Silent Hill: Past Life. Dude knows his lore, and I will not be surprised if this will be more like Silent Hill 2 than the past games.

I feel more hopeful about this game, than the 3 latest iterations that came out.

 

[Dascu]

I don't have a problem with QTEs in boss fights, it's probably just the finisher and maybe in between to weaken it/break parts off etc. Doing that with the normal combat looks stupid nowadays IMO. (last 1% boss health after beating and shooting the shit out of it -> 1 kick to the knee -> *dies* yay... epic..)

I personally don't associate the terms "finisher" and "epic" with good horror gameplay.

This sounds amazingly good. I also trust the story this time around. The story is being written by Tom Waltz who wrote Silent Hill: Sinners Reward and the current comic Silent Hill: Past Life. Dude knows his lore, and I will not be surprised if this will be more like Silent Hill 2 than the past games.

I feel more hopeful about this game, than the 3 latest iterations that came out.

I thought SH:SM's story was very much like SH2. No cult stuff. A very personal story about coming to terms with a sad past.

 

[metareferential]

I really hope this plays out as a free-roam survival.

I can't wait.

 

[KAOz]

I thought SH:SM's story was very much like SH2. No cult stuff. A very personal story about coming to terms with a sad past.

Indeed it was. It's one of the best stories in the Silent Hill universe, but what they where missing was the proper lore in my opinion. And no, not talking about the cult when I mean lore, nor Pyramid Head. So where they excelled in a personal story, they missed out alot on the touches of the town itself.
Hopefully, Downpour will bring a nice mix of them both.

 

[Jucksalbe]

I like the inclusion of puzzle difficulty options, never understood why they took that out from SH4 onward. But the rest, not so much.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I like the inclusion of puzzle difficulty options, never understood why they took that out from SH4 onward. But the rest, not so much.

This is what I've been waiting for, the return of at least. Is there hope?

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Glad to see everyone making "cautiously optimistic" posts; shows that everyone still demands high quality for the series and I really hope the developers are aware of that.

as opposed to the developer's assessing the situation, realising no one cares and intentionally sabotaging their reputation by making a shitty game?

 

[MYE]

QTE's? :lol

Sidequests? Wat :lol :lol

Aaand we're going backwards. Homecoming part 2, here we come. Cant wait to play and forget about this one right after the credits roll.


Go Konami. You had a good thing going on for a while, but down the drain the SH name seems to go again...

 

[davonaytor]

sweet. 2, 3, 4 and homecoming were on PC right? Any chances of this one getting ported?
Got silent hill 2 of ebay a few weeks ago, still yet to play it for the first time.

 

[Dascu]

Some other notes from the GameInformer article:
- "Murphy smashes a cinderblock into the ghoul's twitching body, which dissolves into a puddle of black tar."
- Some paths are blocked off, for example by a padlock. You need certain weapons to get through, in this case a crowbar. This sounds extremely similar to what was done in Silent Hill: Homecoming.
- Lots of disemboweled dogs and other dead animals and such.
- How you interact with other characters and the clothing you wear have an effect on the story.
- One on the "puzzles" involves you playing an arcade game.
- There's this one part of the article that describes Murphy hearing some enemies, then running away and looking over his shoulder at those enemies and such. Sounds like it's all one big cutscene though. That's a shame.
- They also describe the combat to be similar to the older games. Murphy is inaccurate with his attacks.
- Murphy has a mysterious and troubled past.

 

[Danielsan]

Okay I'm totally in after seeing what it looks like. I'm craving for some real survival horror these days. Wish I had a PC that could play Amnesia :/.
I'm also in the camp that actually enjoyed Home Coming and this looks like a massive step up. I'm also glad they are bringing new themes to the Silent Hill world (water) instead of retreading the first 3 games. Can't wait for this to come out.

Side note: I wanted to enjoy Shattered Memories so bad. They got the atmosphere right and everything. But those chase sequences were fucking awful and knowing that you won't encounter anything harmful outside of them destroyed it for me. Just couldn't get myself to finish it.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Okay I'm totally in after seeing what it looks like. I'm craving for some real survival horror these days. Wish I had a PC that could play Amnesia :/.
I'm also in the camp that actually enjoyed Home Coming and this looks like a massive step up. I'm also glad they are bringing new themes to the Silent Hill world (water) instead of retreading the first 3 games. Can't wait for this to come out.

My Macbook runs Amnesia! Come now, surely you can run it on some low settings. I played it on low settings on my Macbook with a touchpad in the loungeroom with people talking around me and I still Cmd+Q'd after about half an hour.

 

[Danielsan]

My Macbook runs Amnesia! Come now, surely you can run it on some low settings. I played it on low settings on my Macbook with a touchpad in the loungeroom with people talking around me and I still Cmd+Q'd after about half an hour.

You know what. My PC is a total turd. It actually had issues playing Machinarium. That game is based on flash for crying out loud. I just downloaded the Amnesia demo though. I will report back in a couple of minutes. I'd really love some good horror right now.

 

[Nemesis_]

Every fucking protagonist has a MYSTERIOUS and TROUBLED past. I just can't get excited about Silent Hill after being let down by Origins/Homecoming and semi-disappointed (but not fully) by Shattered Memories.

I like the idea of using Water though, for some reason. Could be good if done right.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

My PC is a total turd. It actually had issues playing Machinarium..

D=

 

[SolidusDave]

I personally don't associate the terms "finisher" and "epic" with good horror gameplay.

Well, it may be a wrong choice of words, but the last blow to a boss enemy should be fatal blow and not a standard hit. Usually that's done by playing an animation/cutscene and I just wanted to point out that I don't have a problem if have to press a few buttons during said scene to progress.

 

[Danielsan]

D=

Tried it. I could probably play it on the lowest settings. But the floor is actually clipping over itself the entire time. So yeah. Perhaps this is the year I'll get a new pc. :lol

 

[The Praiseworthy]

A Silent Hill game without Hospital? That's new

OMG i want a new trailer ... Please don't release so far away

 

[faridmon]

If I was a SH fan, I wouldn't approve of many of those points, but again I don't play Horror games because of me being scared easily so I'll just read this thread from the sideline.