• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

This year marks the Silent Hill series' 15th anniversary

Which came out first? SM or SH5? And what month/day?

I need to know when to buy flowers to leave at Silent Hill's grave. :(

Still deeply hurt by the fouled up HD collection. And there's not even a microscopic bit of hope that a definitive edition would come to nextgen with all that crap fixed.
 

Chabbles

Member
Did anyone play Downpour in 3D ? Does it destroy the already questionable framerate ?

I ordered it online last week.. when it released first i played to about 90% before i couldnt take any more, and traded it in... This time im going into it trying to forget its a SH game, "its just a survival horror game" will be my mantra as the game installs.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
Did anyone play Downpour in 3D ? Does it destroy the already questionable framerate ?

I ordered it online last week.. when it released first i played to about 90% before i couldnt take any more, and traded it in... This time im going into it trying to forget its a SH game, "its just a survival horror game" will be my mantra as the game installs.

think the stuttering was fixed in a patch
 

-MD-

Member
I played Homecoming first during a rental and enjoyed it, learning later everyone hated it. SH1 came after and outside the frame rate and some really stupidly hard puzzles I liked it (I'm a big fan of oldschool RE so I was pretty much at home).

Last one I tried was Downpour which from what I can tell during my 2 hours played was a pretty shitty game.

I have 2/3 here emulated but haven't gotten around to them.
 
I thought Downpour was quite good, except for the dunked up combat, weak enemy design, and technical issues. It feels like a game that could've really been something good with a bit more of a budget and some QA time.

I think I'm a bit more forgiving of the later games in general, with the exception of Homecoming and Origins which were pretty much irredeemable in my eyes. I liked Shattered Memories a lot--I don't know if people were expecting more of a straight remake of the original or what and that's why it gets crapped on a bit, but I enjoyed it a lot and still replay it every now and then.

SH2 looks outstanding on my PC with a couple mods and tweaks to get it running properly, but the PS2 original still looks great too. Konami had some straight up wizards working on Team Silent back in the day.

I think I like SH4 more than the original, to be honest. Something about the victim ghosts is particularly unnerving, and the apartment...I think of SH4 as the last great entry in the franchise, not SH3. It was really cool finding
Henry's apartment
in Downpour too,
found it completely by chance and my heart skipped a few beats when I realized where I was, haha.

Honestly, I really wouldn't mind Vatra getting another crack at the series, with more of a budget and QA time like I mentioned before, of course. There were elements of Downpour's presentation that were really neat. Don't think that's gonna happen, though....sigh.

Haven't touched Book of Memories on the Vita besides the demo. Did anyone actually play that?
 

Krammy

Member
I jumped in with Homecoming and Origins, but since backtracked and played the rest of the series. Out of the original four games, I have the weird list of:

SH3 = SH1 > SH2 > SH4

Maybe it was because among the originals, I played Silent Hill 3 before Silent Hill 2, but that one was definitely more memorable to me (not to say Silent Hill 2 isn't memorable). In any case all the original games are god tier Survival Horror that, as far as I'm concerned, trumps all others.

With regards to all non-Team Silent games:

SH0 > SH5 > SH: Shattered Memories > SH: Downpour

Silent Hill: Origins always felt the closest to the originals in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. Despite it's bizarre weapon system and lack of originality, it's hands down my favourite non-Team Silent game. Silent Hill: Homecoming comes up next mostly because it was my first Silent Hill game. The story is just alright, the combat is closer to Silent Hill than the next two games, but it's also not that great. The idea of bringing back Pyramid Head purely for fanservice irked me too later on (despite being a great hook for a newcomer).

After that game, it all went downhill. Shattered Memories has a great story, and is a worthy reboot in that regard, but my God was the gameplay atrocious. Walking around and exploring was okay, but combat is non-existent and the monsters lack any variety. Downpour is just as bad, at least giving the option for combat, but with absolutely atrocious monster design that belongs more in the Condemned series than anything. However, the technical faults of that game simply ruined it for me, even post-patch.

While we're on the subject of Silent Hill, has anyone purchased any of the Gecco figures? I recently picked up the newest Heather Mason figure and am eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I sadly missed out on the Red Pyramid Thing though.
 

Calamari41

41 > 38
So is the HD collection so bad that I would be better off putting a CRT TV in my house in place of playing it on PS3? Because the hankering is hitting me hard, and one of the two is going to happen here soon.
 
Downpour was great barring some technical issues. Really excited to see what the new generation can bring to the table if fucking Konami will allow it and give their developers what they need to execute their vision.
 

sn00zer

Member
I dont see a game like Silent Hill ever being released at retail again... true horror game (ie. not action horror) that was adult in every sense of the word...one of the few consistently mature games...its too smart in a day and age when everyone is trying to make the next Avengers
 

Dueck

Banned
Of all the remakes possible (not reimaginings, I hated SM), I want one of the original Silent Hill. No horror game has captured me so strongly with its setting and characters.
 

A-V-B

Member
Team Silent was Silent Hill. Period. Like Jim Henson is the soul of Kermit, or Mel Blanc the soul of Looney Tunes. Once they're gone, they're gone.
 
My favorite game series of all time. All of the games are special to me outside of Homecoming and Book Of Memories but I like to think BOM didn't happen or have the name attached. I think i'll give the titles i own a replay soon.

2 > 1 > 4 > Shattered Memories > 3 > Downpour > Origins > Homecoming.
 

Bishop89

Member
Its disappointing if there isnt an announcement this year or surprise release.

I think 15, 20, etc.. anniversaries should have a game made for them.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It was funny to go rent this game when it was new, knowing nothing about the series.

"A more psychological version of Resident Evil".

Da fuk is that?

It was a treat to discover.
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
iWnCrGRUQwx44.jpg

iuanNETfXby01.jpg
 

Cudder

Member
One of the most disappointing aspects of Downpour to me (I liked it enough, though) was just how terrible the Otherworld was.
 

Ahasverus

Member
Downpour needed more time, budget and Mashairo Ito (whose absence was weird) even Yamaoka was replaced perfectly. Vatra was the only developer to "get" the series after "Team Silent" end (There was NEVER a Team Silent, only 4 people remained constent on those first 4 games).
 
My favorite series of all time, up to part 4 that is. Haven't played the others, I will some day though (and leave disappointed)
 
Has it really been that long? Wow. Feels just like yesterday when I first popped in that demo disc that came free with my copy of Metal Gear Solid and shit my pants with fear at what was to follow. The perks of going in to Silent Hill at the earliest possible time!

SH2 > Shattered Memories > SH1 > Downpour > SH3 >>> Homecoming > The Room

(Still haven't played Origins)

2 and SM are stone-cold classics. I'd place both of those in my top 20, no doubt.
 

angrygnat

Member
I've always wanted to play these games but I've never gotten around to them. I feel like I missed out by not getting to appreciate them as new titles.
 

Kain

Member
I wonder why they didn't make a movie based on 2 alone. That game is just perfect for a movie adaptation.
 
This is so wrong that it hurts.
Eh, I found a few of the game play designs questionable(or downright bad), but the narrative itself I felt was really well taken care of. Outside of it, I'd say SH3, which is a great game that I have a soft spot for. SH1 is of course classic, and SH2 is good though I didn't enjoy it as much as others. The Room felt like it had a HUGE amount of potential. Still upset over that game.

Yup, damn good game that had its survival-horror priorities straight.
I really should give this game another go. I just could get into it for whatever reason at the time.
 

Lime

Member
Mashairo Ito (whose absence was weird)

Ito's absence is perfectly logical and reasonable. Expecting him to be working with a Western developer long time after Team Silent were disbanded is weird. Ito hasn't been a monster designer since 2003, he only did consultancy for SH4, and otherwise he's only done some outsorced jobs for Konami (cover for SH:O ost, JP cover for Downpour).

even Yamaoka was replaced perfectly.

I don't know about "perfectly". Licht's score is much more orchestral and compositional than Yamaoka's stuff, and Licht unfortunately uses a lot of strings and even heavy percussion (and distorted riffs) to drum up excitement or suspense. The problem is that such methods are incredibly tired, thus making Downpour's soundtrack bland and forgettable. Especially the riffs and percussion drag the soundscape down, imo.

Licht's contribution unfortunately severely suffers from the lack of the dark ambient we've come to associate with this horror series, in addition to the industrial cacophonous ambience Yamaoka usually employs. The stuff we've seen in at least SH1-4 where Yamaoka was directly utilized, the sounds are much more menacing and aggressive, like if your aural senses are being assaulted. The last Apartment segment of Silent Hill 4 is especially notable for its long line of aural textures, in which female orgasm (or is it birth?) sounds are mixed with the more pleasant dreamy ambient.

I personally prefer the variety and song-like structure of Yamaoka's work than Licht. I probably would never go as far as to call Downpour's soundtrack as a perfect replacement for Yamaoka's stuff.
 
I don't know about "perfectly". Licht's score is much more orchestral and compositional than Yamaoka's stuff, and Licht unfortunately uses a lot of strings and even heavy percussion (and distorted riffs) to drum up excitement or suspense. The problem is that such methods are incredibly tired, thus making Downpour's soundtrack bland and forgettable.

Fully concur. Despite having played through Downpour twice, not a single melody or fragment of the score has stayed with me. I have forgotten it entirely.

Whereas the soundtracks from Silent Hill 1-4, I can recall pretty much every single note and sound. They' just got right inside my head and will hopefully never leave.
 

Arsenic13

Member
Did anyone play Downpour in 3D ? Does it destroy the already questionable framerate ?

I ordered it online last week.. when it released first i played to about 90% before i couldnt take any more, and traded it in... This time im going into it trying to forget its a SH game, "its just a survival horror game" will be my mantra as the game installs.


Oddly enough, it stuttered less for me in 3D.. weird.

Also, we need Downpour on PC. It would do well with a PC port (Especially on PC since horror is so well regarded on that platform)
 

joe2187

Banned
I wish they optimized the old PC ports, I have the PC discs for 2 and 3 and trying to get them to work correctly is a pain, I give up on ever playing SH2 on PC since I can never get the sound and voice to sync properly and booting up SH3 is just a pain in ass.
 
Homecoming and Downpour are better than people give them credit for <3

Shattered Memories is garbage outside of the ending.

SH2 is the best game in the series.
 
I wish they optimized the old PC ports, I have the PC discs for 2 and 3 and trying to get them to work correctly is a pain, I give up on ever playing SH2 on PC since I can never get the sound and voice to sync properly and booting up SH3 is just a pain in ass.

Really? I've never had any issues with them, and there's been a few threads on GAF with tips and tricks, how to get widescreen resolutions, etc...

But I'd like the released digitally as well.
 

Chabbles

Member
Oddly enough, it stuttered less for me in 3D.. weird.

That is weird, good to know though. expecting delivery from amazon next couple days.
If someone had told me when i was trading this game in years ago, that id buy it again and actually be excited to play it. i would of told them to fuck off..lol, that is weird.
 
Is Silent Hill HD Collection on the PS3 fixed?
Mostly. It's certainly not perfect but I'd pop that fucker in anytime.

Can only talk about SH2 tho. SH3 still only has the new voices and that is unfortunate. Also AFAIK it's also still more buggy than SH2 even after patches.
 

Arsenic13

Member
That is weird, good to know though. expecting delivery from amazon next couple days.
If someone had told me when i was trading this game in years ago, that id buy it again and actually be excited to play it. i would of told them to fuck off..lol, that is weird.

Like I said, I think it was grossly underrated. It's technically faulty (Especially on PS3), but it brings a lot to the series. I loved the art and exploration.
 
The first four games are works of art in my opinion. Excellent attention to details, mesmerizing and horrifying artwork, brilliant sound design and soundtracks plus fantastic mystery and lore surrounding the town. They're the very, very few games I go back to and enjoy as much as I did the first few times. I finished a play through of Silent Hill 4 just this last November and I still love it.

I'm very disappointed that this series never received a proper artbook chronicling all four games with conceptual and finalized artwork, developer commentaries and story guides. I know Japan got something like that, but they were supplements to some strategy guides and not a true artbook.

Silent Hill is my favorite series, even though I haven't liked a game since The Room. It's the series that got me into games other than Final Fantasy.
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Silent Hill 1 and 2 are two of my favourite horror games ever. Everything from Silent Hill 3 onwards wasn't that great IMO. Silent Hill 4 especially was fucking terrible and the worst in the franchise.
 
One of my favorite sections of any game ever is in the first Silent Hill. It's a masterstroke of horror and atmospheric perfection. Naturally the intro is amazing, but there's something shortly after that I simply like more. Fetch quests aren't ever too swell, but that whole section of tracking down the keys around town leading up to the sporadic nightfall and the track "Dark Again" leading up to Midwich is just amazing to me.

Silent Hill 2 had a similar section, starting with James outside the hospital after going through it, saying a few things to himself which sort of lays out the groundwork of the current situation and how he has no idea where to go, and between that point and the Historical Society is just profoundly dark and ominous.
 

RangerX

Banned
One of my favourite series. The first four games have such incredible atmosphere. Silent hill 2 especially is in my top 10 games of all time. When people talk about mature themes in games they usually bring up The last of us but for me Silent hill 2 explored the darkest recesses of the human psyche. Adult gaming done right.
 
Just finally started this series after not playing it for so long. Surprising as I love survival horror games seeing as the older resident evil games are one of my favorites. Got to the school so far in the first one and it's getting pretty crazy. Completely loving the atmosphere and everything about it. Really don't know why I avoided these games for so long lol. Already got 2, 3, and 4 ready to go when I finish 1.
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
I currently have SH1 installed on my Vita. Loved this series to death until they ruined it with Homecoming.

I actually didn't hate Downpour, but 1-3 will forever be my favs.
 
Top Bottom