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Silent Hill: Shattered Memories videos from GamesCon

markatisu

Member
EatChildren said:
Its not, but there's a fan translation patching in the works, and they're making huge strides. Check it out here to see info, screenshots, and a video of the whole thing in motion. They're expecting it done by the end of the month.

Thats great, there is a team doing something similar with Monster Hunter 3 (right now they have only gotten the main menus, some of the items, and the quests once you are in them translated)

But in the past you had to patch the ISO's before you played them on the USB Loader, interesting they are attempting to use the SD Card route
 
TheJollyCorner said:
it's amazing that this looks graphically better than Homecoming to me. Maybe I need to play it again or something. Homecoming looked amazing in a few instances... but damn was it ugly in others. @_@


I'm really looking forward to this.
I thought Climax did a great job with Origins other than a few annoyances (breakable weapons, tough enemies + weak Travis, bad camera at times).

To me, essential to the series.
 

RagnarokX

Member
John Harker said:
It looks great. I've played it, and it's eerie and enjoyable just walking around. However, there are long stretches of absolutely nothing happening really... and while the atmosphere is strong that you don't really get "bored" per se, it also lessens the impact to an extent: you have all this great lighting and flashlight mechanics, but you already know theres nothing lurking in the shadows.

I mean, there are no enemies without a trip to Otherworld, so to speak. So what's really the "scare" factor, in a way, in opening a door slowly and quickly peering around in the dark? You already know there's no enemy hiding in the shadow, nothings going to slink out at you from just behind the light-line of your shadow, since you arent in the Icy world. The occasional enemy would do a lot, I think, without the early warning signs. just so you're always on edge.

Still... day 1.
(I also enjoyed Homecoming)
Well, the way I see it, there might as well hadn't been enemies in Silent Hill 2. They were slow and easily avoidable; never a true source of danger. You might open a room and be confronted by a nurse pointing a gun at you point blank, but that was a very rare situation. Silent Hill 2 was all about atmosphere. The looks, sounds, scraps of town history, and how James and the other characters interacted with the town and each other.

Perhaps Shattered Memories can accomplish jump out scares and the like in the normal world without the need for monsters roaming the streets. Heck, didn't one of the "scariest" parts of Silent Hill 1 involve a plain ol' cat?
 

sullytao

Member
This along with Red Steel 2 will probably be the games to make me repurchase the WII. This is the first time since SH2 that a Silent Hill game has looked scary to me. The new direction the game is going in looks like its going to be a huge success though I will miss the old hell/darkworld look.

As for the questionnaire I see it as a good thing. If they actually put thought and research into the questions so that the game stands a better chance of frightening you then I'm all for it. Besides its only one page with a few questions on at the very start of the game and never again. It will be one of those things you do and forget about almost immediately but have the effects of your answers really fuck with you hopefully without you recognising what its down too.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Leckan said:
It does looks nice enough overall I guess but why does a game on the Wii in 2009 get utterly destroyed, at least in the cut-scenes by a ps2 game from 2003. I'm no graphic whore at all BTW, but was Silent Hill 3 really THAT damn good looking or where they lazy or cut on money and time for this one?

Shattered Memories (on Wii) looks amazing. The only part of the visuals that's kind of basic is the geometry, but with the entire town (including the inside of buildings) being streamed seamlessly at all times, I can forgive that.

Dascu said:
I would really, really love to see a cel-shaded horror game. Or at the very least, a horror game with stylized visuals.

hotdbetacell.jpg


hotd3cellshading3.jpg


hotd3cellshading2.jpg


...would have been amazing. :(

Dascu said:
It really is. From what I've seen, that's definitely my biggest worry about this game. If there's really only enemies in the Otherworld, then I don't think the game's going to be very scary a lot of the time. There's going to be too many moments where you feel safe and at ease, which isn't very good for a horror game. I hope this changes as the game progresses, i.e. longer stretches in the Otherworld, or the real world and the Otherworld merging into one hellish place.

Note: I haven't played Silent Hill 1 (only 2), so I don't know if something like that is actually going to happen.

Well keep in mind these are tradeshow demos so I would assume that not only has the difficulty been toned down, but they're just from the start of the game. I'm sure later on as Icy World and Real World start to converge, you'll see more enemies pop out of unexpected locations.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I will say, this quote in the IGN preview is great;

You can also go to a bar, but I've always found myself at the diner due to my psych profile. "I've seen a lot of people online how to get certain things and they assume that if you say you like to drink and then look at all the beer in the room you'll get to the bar. But it's actually based on how outgoing you might be. So more outgoing people might end up a different place than the diner," said Hulett.

As simple as it is, they're at least using proper psychology. Interest in alcohol =/= interest in going out to a bar. I'm glad a small detail like this has been noted.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Still not sure what to think of this. I don't like how they completely removed combat and the ability to defend yourself (i.e. blow the shit out of everything you see), and I'm a bit unsure how they'll deal with bosses in the game (there better be bosses!), but on the other hand, it's a SH game.. Might pick up the PS2 version.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
From what I've seen, Shattered Memories seems to have the atmosphere thing down pretty well and I like what they're doing with the Wii remote, but I'm still not sure about this psych profiling thing.

Like Yahtzee said, Silent Hill 2 managed to mess with your mind so well that it often times didn't even need to bring out enemies to be scary, and it didn't use any dynamic system.

Whenever games try to do something new and dynamic like this of often times fails because they can't predict players gaming the system or they end up painting in broad strokes. I'll admit though that I'm surprised with how subtle the psych profile effects are supposed to be.
 

AniHawk

Member
RedSwirl said:
From what I've seen, Shattered Memories seems to have the atmosphere thing down pretty well and I like what they're doing with the Wii remote, but I'm still not sure about this psych profiling thing.

Like Yahtzee said, Silent Hill 2 managed to mess with your mind so well that it often times didn't even need to bring out enemies to be scary, and it didn't use any dynamic system.

I like what Shattered Memories is doing because it's connecting the story closer to the player. Stories tend to get away from developers a lot of the time, but here supposedly small decisions down to what you look at as a player will change the direction of elements in the game. More games need to do this sort of thing if they have a story to tell, because in the opposite direction is stuff like MGS and Xenosaga.
 
RedSwirl said:
From what I've seen, Shattered Memories seems to have the atmosphere thing down pretty well and I like what they're doing with the Wii remote, but I'm still not sure about this psych profiling thing.

Like Yahtzee said, Silent Hill 2 managed to mess with your mind so well that it often times didn't even need to bring out enemies to be scary, and it didn't use any dynamic system.

Whenever games try to do something new and dynamic like this of often times fails because they can't predict players gaming the system or they end up painting in broad strokes. I'll admit though that I'm surprised with how subtle the psych profile effects are supposed to be.
Just 'cause the enemies were a joke in previous Silent Hill games doesn't mean they can't be scary this 'time around. Not like there's some budget that dictates how much scary they can put in the game.
 

hellclerk

Everything is tsundere to me
AniHawk said:
I like what Shattered Memories is doing because it's connecting the story closer to the player. Stories tend to get away from developers a lot of the time, but here supposedly small decisions down to what you look at as a player will change the direction of elements in the game. More games need to do this sort of thing if they have a story to tell, because in the opposite direction is stuff like MGS and Xenosaga.
exactly, truly ambiguous decision making for varied and difficult to gauge results, precisely what gaming as a media art form has over film and book, if people would take advantage of it more often...

anyway, very impressed with the game. anything after the first nightmare world is on blackout mode for me though. either way, i'm VERY impressed with both their lighting model and animations. the subtle emotions are very well portrayed and i'm really looking forward to the game. i hope they release the week before Halloween...
 
Andrex said:
hotdbetacell.jpg


hotd3cellshading3.jpg


hotd3cellshading2.jpg


...would have been amazing. :(

So basically, what you're trying to say is you guys had an epic thread of lols and gifs when this was unveiled, and thinks it would suck like Wind Waker. You guys then claim to never buy Sega games again because they're kiddifying HOTD. Now you guys pretend it's a crime against humanity that they didn't make it/cel-shading is the greatest thing in the universe. Am I getting it right?
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Cow Mengde said:
So basically, what you're trying to say is you guys had an epic thread of lols and gifs when this was unveiled, and thinks it would suck like Wind Waker. Now you guys pretend it's a crime against humanity that they didn't make it/cel-shading is the greatest thing in the universe. Am I getting it right?

Well I've always loved cel-shaded games. And comparing to the version that actually came out, the cel-shaded one holds up much better.

If they announced a cel-shaded House of the Dead rail-shooter right now, I'd be in the thread defending the decision no doubt.
 

SuperJay

Member
Game looks awesome, but I'm worried this whole psyche profile thing will turn out to be just a way of padding an otherwise short game with replay "value". Hope that's not the case, though.
 
Andrex said:
Well I've always loved cel-shaded games. And comparing to the version that actually came out, the cel-shaded one holds up much better.

If they announced a cel-shaded House of the Dead rail-shooter right now, I'd be in the thread defending the decision no doubt.

That wasn't exactly aimed at you specifically, but just GAF in general. I'm willing to bet the thread when this game unveiled would look something like what I described.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Prime Blue said:

Dead horse, but my housemate made a comment that I didn’t think of, yet really is quite obvious.

The sign on the door is what anybody would probably do; leave a message, and then a sign in case they don’t get the message. It’s not atmosphere ruining at all. It’s something many, many people would do; cover their bases to make sure a message gets passed on.

But more importantly, where the key is hidden is highly unlikely to be an actual puzzle at all. You don’t need to find Jane’s jacket, but instead you select which jacket Jane would have worn, and the game acknowledges this and it becomes part of your psychological profile.

The key is in the first jacket you pick. There is no actual ‘Jane’s jacket’.
 

wsippel

Banned
EatChildren said:
But more importantly, where the key is hidden is highly unlikely to be an actual puzzle at all. You don’t need to find Jane’s jacket, but instead you select which jacket Jane would have worn, and the game acknowledges this and it becomes part of your psychological profile.

The key is in the first jacket you pick. There is no actual ‘Jane’s jacket’.
Wow! Subtile and quite clever.
 
wsippel said:
Wow! Subtile and quite clever.
that is quite clever, cause i am going to first choose whichever jacket i think jane would most likely have worn, even if i don't consciously think about it.

still i think we should spoiler such things from here on.
 
EatChildren said:
The sign on the door is what anybody would probably do; leave a message, and then a sign in case they don’t get the message. It’s not atmosphere ruining at all. It’s something many, many people would do; cover their bases to make sure a message gets passed on.
I meant the answering machine, not the sign. :)
 

Erebus

Member
EatChildren said:
Dead horse, but my housemate made a comment that I didn’t think of, yet really is quite obvious.

The sign on the door is what anybody would probably do; leave a message, and then a sign in case they don’t get the message. It’s not atmosphere ruining at all. It’s something many, many people would do; cover their bases to make sure a message gets passed on.

But more importantly, where the key is hidden is highly unlikely to be an actual puzzle at all. You don’t need to find Jane’s jacket, but instead you select which jacket Jane would have worn, and the game acknowledges this and it becomes part of your psychological profile.

The key is in the first jacket you pick. There is no actual ‘Jane’s jacket’.
I don't get it, is this just an assumption your housemate did based on the video we all saw or how things actually are in the game?

It's clever either way though.
 

ScOULaris

Member
As a fan of the Team Silent-developed entries in the series (1-4), this is yet another stake being driven into the heart of the franchise.

R.I.P. Silent Hill. We hardly knew ye.
 

gunther

Member
plagiarize said:
that is quite clever, cause i am going to first choose whichever jacket i think jane would most likely have worn, even if i don't consciously think about it.

still i think we should spoiler such things from here on.


yep, know im going to chose the big boobs jacket :(. :lol
 

gfdoom

Member
ScOULaris said:
R.I.P. Silent Hill. We hardly knew ye.
lol you had about 6 games to get to know it..
Im a fan of the silent hill series (and have played every game), and would have to admit that the series needs/ needed a change. Having played this at E3, and chatted with the developers. This game is going to be that change the series needs while still retaining that classic silent hill feel. And Imo, Silent Hill 4 was one of the worst in the series.
 

Vdragoon

Member
ScOULaris said:
As a fan of the Team Silent-developed entries in the series (1-4), this is yet another stake being driven into the heart of the franchise.

R.I.P. Silent Hill. We hardly knew ye.

sign me up for your drama class.
 

ScOULaris

Member
I guess what I meant by "we hardly knew ye" is that we never got a chance to see what Team Silent could have done with it on next-gen (or current-gen, whatever you wanna call it) hardware. Have you taken a look at SH3 lately? That PS2 game shames Homecoming stylistically and even technically at parts.

I think that Shattered Memories could be a decent game in its own right, but it does not seem to retain even a tenth of the atmosphere that SH1-4 had. I think that the developers should have just made a new IP with the same ideas in place. The Silent Hill series has been dragging its broken legs forward for long enough. I choose to remember it as it was in the PS2 entries of the series.
 
ScOULaris said:
I guess what I meant by "we hardly knew ye" is that we never got a chance to see what Team Silent could have done with it on next-gen (or current-gen, whatever you wanna call it) hardware. Have you taken a look at SH3 lately? That PS2 game shames Homecoming stylistically and even technically at parts.

I think that Shattered Memories could be a decent game in its own right, but it does not seem to retain even a tenth of the atmosphere that SH1-4 had. I think that the developers should have just made a new IP with the same ideas in place. The Silent Hill series has been dragging its broken legs forward for long enough. I choose to remember it as it was in the PS2 entries of the series.
this, at least from a game design perspective, makes your comparison of 'dragging broken legs forwards' an apt one but not in the way you intended.

sure, it must have been nice playing essentially the same game with better graphics back when 2 and 3 were came out, but i'm kind of over the thrill of playing the latest entry with better graphics this far into the gen. beyond 'lets just add shiny new graphics but pretend survival horror games haven't changed in ten years' crap.

i first played Silent Hill just a few years ago. i had already played PS3 and 360 games at the time, and despite the graphics being far from cutting edge, it was easily my favourite of the series and it now stands as one of my favourite games.

two in many ways was a disapointment, three i liked more, but both felt like the same game with slightly better graphics. i know 2 is loved and understand why, but for me, i connected much more with a father searching for his lost child, than a guy trying to work out whether or not he killed his dead wife for a good reason or a bad reason. i cared a lot more about the stakes in the first and third game than in the second.

Shattered Memories is trying to screw with your head in new and ground breaking ways. it's cutting out the worst part of the games in dropping the combat and trying something new instead.

whether it is anointed with the mark of Team Silent or not, it is a the freshest game in the series since the original. amazing for something that could be called a remake.

Climax nailed the atmosphere and made a technically amazing game in Silent Hill: Origins... which is probably still my second favourite in the series.

so what if it isn't pushing the most powerful hardware, Shattered Memories IS pushing the hardware.

when have we ever had a Silent Hill game that pushed the most powerful hardware available?

from my perspective, playing them after the fact, the two games that are arguably the least impressive technically when divorced from the limitations of the hardware they ran on are the best... so i don't have the perspective that a Silent Hill game can't be any good salt if it isn't the most graphically impressive game going at the time.

and thank god for that.
 

ScOULaris

Member
I actually agree that Climax is doing some really cool stuff with Shattered Memories, but I just wish that they weren't being forced to shoehorn those good ideas into a franchise/universe that has already been beaten to a bloody pulp.

From the videos I have watched so far, the atmosphere is so far removed from what Silent Hill has been in the past that I think the game would have been better off if it were a new IP. But hey, the Silent Hill brand sells, so what can you do?
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Prime Blue said:
I meant the answering machine, not the sign. :)

So? It's still what a person would do; leave two messages to make sure the other person knows for sure. I've seen it done many-a times. It's really not that outlandish to believe and picking at it for being an atmosphere breaking flaw is just scraping the barrel.

DarkUSS said:
I don't get it, is this just an assumption your housemate did based on the video we all saw or how things actually are in the game?

Assumption, but he’s probably right.
 

Erebus

Member
EatChildren said:
Assumption, but he’s probably right.
I thought your psychological profile in the game would be basically compiled by your answers in the introductory quiz. If it goes beyond that, SM is gonna be a good psychological test at the very least.:lol
 

The Hermit

Member
ScOULaris said:
I actually agree that Climax is doing some really cool stuff with Shattered Memories, but I just wish that they weren't being forced to shoehorn those good ideas into a franchise/universe that has already been beaten to a bloody pulp.

From the videos I have watched so far, the atmosphere is so far removed from what Silent Hill has been in the past that I think the game would have been better off if it were a new IP. But hey, the Silent Hill brand sells, so what can you do?

You sound like RE fans after RE4 was announced...

Let's hope this game does the same to the franchise.
 
DarkUSS said:
I thought your psychological profile in the game would be basically compiled by your answers in the introductory quiz. If it goes beyond that, SM is gonna be a good psychological test at the very least.:lol

I'm pretty sure that they've said that the psych profile at the beginning just lays the groundwork, but things done in-game will be a huge part of it.
 

Erebus

Member
Baiano19 said:
You sound like RE fans after RE4 was announced...

Let's hope this game does the same to the franchise.
This.

To be honest I'm still not convinced by SM either, though I hope for the best.

EmCeeGramr said:
I'm pretty sure that they've said that the psych profile at the beginning just lays the groundwork, but things done in-game will be a huge part of it.
That's pretty cool then.
 

TunaLover

Member
ScOULaris said:
I actually agree that Climax is doing some really cool stuff with Shattered Memories, but I just wish that they weren't being forced to shoehorn those good ideas into a franchise/universe that has already been beaten to a bloody pulp.

From the videos I have watched so far, the atmosphere is so far removed from what Silent Hill has been in the past that I think the game would have been better off if it were a new IP. But hey, the Silent Hill brand sells, so what can you do?

At least the score composer is on board, but yeah, I miss the old character design and enviorement feel, I think SM will bring the serie to a new level thought, gameplay wise.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
Baiano19 said:
You sound like RE fans after RE4 was announced...

Let's hope this game does the same to the franchise.
Wow... wouldn't that be amazing? :p

I'm really anticipating this game. Don't know if I can justify day one though with the relatively short length I've heard the game has. Not sure how long the other Silent Hill games are though.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
ScOULaris said:
I guess what I meant by "we hardly knew ye" is that we never got a chance to see what Team Silent could have done with it on next-gen (or current-gen, whatever you wanna call it) hardware. Have you taken a look at SH3 lately? That PS2 game shames Homecoming stylistically and even technically at parts.

I think that Shattered Memories could be a decent game in its own right, but it does not seem to retain even a tenth of the atmosphere that SH1-4 had. I think that the developers should have just made a new IP with the same ideas in place. The Silent Hill series has been dragging its broken legs forward for long enough. I choose to remember it as it was in the PS2 entries of the series.

So... remake the first Silent Hill, but without the Silent Hill? I don't get the complaint of "shoehorning ideas into the series". Every series needs to innovate or it'll grow stagnant, and I bet if Team Silent was the name on the box instead of Climax for this game, you'd be silent.

If you're arguing against Shattered Memories' technical accomplishments or atmosphere, I will combat you using every piece of media released thus far. The game looks amazing. (Edit- Especially with the screens RagnarokX just posted.) It's the rest that we don't know will pan out.
 
EatChildren said:
So? It's still what a person would do; leave two messages to make sure the other person knows for sure. I've seen it done many-a times. It's really not that outlandish to believe and picking at it for being an atmosphere breaking flaw is just scraping the barrel.
A horror game using human voice at a point in the game where it's just not needed at all, that's what bothers me. Keep it to a minimum, unless it serves a specific purpose. In SH4, the radio was used to alienate you from the outside world and to build up the maternal theme. An example of good usage of voices for gameplay would be this.

SH:SM seems more like "cold town with monsters at night", all the mysticism is gone. Even 0rigins did it better, despite the other heavy problems that game had.
 
wait I thought that cover was proven to be a Photoshop of a Goosebumps cover or something?

Soundtrack contains 18 of your favorite tracks from the Silent Hill series.

the... fuck? sounds like there'll be one or two Shattered Memories tracks mixed in with other SH music. disappointing.
 
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