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Denver, 11:57 PM
Sun Nov 22
16 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/10/09
09/10/09
09/09/09
I was so pissed at this game I sent double helix this letter. [gameolosophy.com]
09/10/09
I had an issue with your letter, though, especially for someone who's supposed to be an "aspiring novelist". Your letter is poked with little grammatical mistakes that suck credibility from it. I could easily see one of the mail-readers looking at it and saying "Ho hum, another irritated fanboy." I have not played any of the Silent Hill games, so I can neither agree or disagree with anything in your letter, but I have to say that having a proofreader is very handy when you want to look like you know something. It also occured to me that you began to lose track of your argument a few times.
Also, as far as the link you provided: next time, don't put white text on a black background. It often became hard to focus on the words, and my eyes began to hurt from it after a few minutes. That's all I have to say about that, though.
09/10/09
09/09/09
At the very least it has some new Akira Yamaoka music in it.
09/09/09
Pretty please?
Also, this is probably Konami's way of saying they have now officially stopped caring about their own franchise.
09/09/09
*sigh* Konami hates every franchise they own that isn't named Metal Gear. I don't know why. =/
09/10/09
The insane brain fart from Konami was thinking: "Since this serie works better in occident than in japan, we really need an occidental team to be even more in tune with the market!" Good job in trampling one of the very few video game serie that did not seem to be made by retarded teenagers for retarded teenagers.
09/09/09
09/09/09
They probably know that Easterners have the 'They should have stopped the franchise' opinion now, and are hoping to preserve the franchise in japan
09/09/09
I would say it's definitely not as good as the original three games, but better than Origins and The Room? Sure. It's at least worth playing as long as you're not 100% hyper-devoted to the franchise and resistant to all forms of change.
The team's usage of Pyramid Head (which seems to be one of the main sticking points among fans) is actually NOT as pointless as most of the haters might say, but he honestly could've been replaced by any other creature of the Otherworld and nobody would've been able to tell the difference.
It's a Silent Hill game, it doesn't harm the canon in any particularly negative way (hell, Pyramid Head's appearance is justified in a totally believable way if you pay attention at all), and it stands on its own well enough. The only real sticking point for me is that there aren't many coal mines in New England, so they aped that 'coal mine' plot thread from the film in an awkward manner. Otherwise it's quite decent.
09/09/09
[en.wikipedia.org]
09/09/09
Listen to this man. Seriously. Ignore the haters. Theres a reason why its sitting at a 70 average. Its not horrible by any means. I'd put it above the PSP versions and above 4, but thats about it.
People are just fucking picky and stupid these days. I dont understand why anyone has said its 'horrible', since I've played 'horrible' games, and this was certainly not it.
09/09/09
And believe me, I know all about Centralia. They based the version of Silent Hill from the movie directly off of Centralia. The problem is that Silent Hill, in the games, is somewhere in New Hampshire or Vermont. Coal mining isn't exactly big in this area, since it's nothing but granite and quartz. :P
@(Zombie) Komrade Kayce: Exactly. There are plenty of TERRIBLE games out there. This one is mediocre at worst, decently entertaining at best. Nobody's saying it's a perfect game, but it's NOT as bad as the haters are saying it is.
If you want to play a "horrible" game, go play Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.
09/09/09
I actually hated the gameplay itself. The dodging mechanic was broken enough that 99% of the time, you got hit even if you dodged. That irked the crap out of me and ruined my experience.
I didn't like the movie referenced bits either. Origins was better in my book and so was 4.
It wasn't a bad game but hindered by a weird design choice to make the combat more challenging. Fair enough, but I'm not one who enjoys running away from enemies in games and the combat was broken to an extent.
09/09/09
09/09/09
That being said I really don't think they were enough to render the game worthless and unplayable, especially considering the WEALTH of references to previous games in the series, like the references to James in a few areas, or Alex's reference to the "there was a hole here, it's gone now" line from SH2. Hell, one of the notes you can find DIRECTLY references Douglas' actions in SH3. There are also several far more subtle references in the game that you really need to go out of your way to look for, but they're there.
I will agree that the dodge system needed some tweaks, but I appreciated the dodging being there as opposed to not being there, which would've resulted in a LOT more running away like in previous games.
09/09/09
Protip: Even on the hard difficulty, I didn't need to dodge a single time, unless it was a slow ass boss. So I guess I can't find fault with something I didn't use.
09/09/09
Maybe I'll try it on PS2 someday. I dunno.
09/09/09
Just don't aim for the "good" ending. What a rip that was...
09/09/09
I guess I let the dodge bother me more than it should have.
09/09/09
Protip: If it's there, I'll use it. If it's broken, I'll complain.
09/09/09
You mean the one where Wheeler runs out and shakes his fist at the UFO as it flies away going 'DAMN! I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!'?
Dude, that was the best UFO ending out of all the games ever. I couldn't stop laughing.
09/09/09
As stated before though, no argument with you on the coal mines thing. Just didn't feel very New England-y to me, which is weird because Shepherd's Glen and Silent Hill OTHERWISE look almost exactly like New Hampshire lakeside resort towns.
Seriously, having lived in New Hampshire for most of my life, I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of the towns around here WERE Silent Hill.
09/09/09
Try it on the PS2 for sure. It's a good port complete with 16:9 support.
09/09/09
Seriously, the only thing better was the Dog ending from 2.
09/09/09
09/09/09
Eh, I dunno. I think story and atmosphere wise (the only reasons to play SH games), it was the worst in the series only after Origin.
SH4, while not great, still had a more interesting story that tied in better to the series as a whole. I do remember being super-pissed at the inventory system and the enemies showing up in your apartment, but looking back think it was actually a pretty bold experiment that just happened not to work out.
Homecoming felt very by-the-book in contrast. Instead of trying new things with SH like our old friends at Team Silent did, you could almost see the check list the Homecoming developers were following while creating the game. It had a been-there-done-that vibe to it. I think they did a great job recreating a model of SH for next-gen consoles, but just didn't have the story and that special something (soul, if you will) even the worst Team Silent games had.
09/09/09
Double Helix did about as best as they could, I think. Yes, the story felt familiar at certain points, but it definitely had atmosphere to give, and I think it did a really good job of capturing the Silent Hill vibe.
As I said in another post in this thread, the problem is that the fans just don't know what they want out of a sequel. No matter what a developer does with the series now (even IF Team Silent were to reunite!), people would find something to bitch about.
09/09/09
Refresh my memory, what humans in SH3? Been nearly 3 years since I played it.
09/09/09
Now I need to go to YouTube and see the UFO ending. That sounds hilarious!
09/09/09
09/09/09
[silenthill.wikia.com]
09/09/09
I disagree.
*spoilers ahead, yar*
From the whole setup that Shepherds Glen was founded by four families that fled Silent Hill, to slowly discovering how they managed to 'escape' the curse that turned Silent Hill into a sort of purgatory by sacrificing the first born every generation, to where Alex is forced to travel to Silent Hill and finds cultist survivors still running around... I thought it was pretty damn good.
Now, part of what made it so good is what made the other SH'es so good. You can say that they didn't do it as well, but they DID do it. You found LOTS of childrens graves in the graveyard. More than would be normal. Some foreshadowing there.
Even the very beginning of the game, if you watch it again, showed all four children dying from all four families. One being drowned, one being cut up, one being buried and one being burned.
I did kind of guess that Alex never went off to war, that he did go to a loony bin, but as much as it was foreshadowed I certainly didn't see the revelation coming that he was responsible for the death of his brother.
Also, how can you say it was 'by the numbers'? Pyramid Head was in it and you always got that feeling 'OH FUCK IM GOING TO HAVE TO FIGHT HIM'... but you never did. He wasn't there for Alex, he had other business to attend to. At least, thats my theory.
All the references to earlier games were very appreciated as well. Did you notice that Mary Sunderland's name before she married James, was Shepherd? As in, shes a relation to Alex and part of that same family that came from but managed to escape Silent Hill?
As much as it may not have been the original Team SH's intention to have all this tied in like this, I think SH: Homecoming did a good job with adding to the canon, without making it retarded. They even incorporated the Siren from the movie and little connections to the anti-cult cult from it without going overboard.
I'll agree with Arch in that the coal miner survivors were kind of out of place, but I think that it was nice (and unexpected) that there were survivors in SH in the first place. But I guess there would have to be, since someone (other than the town) is certainly running around mucking shit up and incanting new incantations.
tl:dr version - I liked it and thought it was pretty well written, even if you didn't like the gameplay, and didn't step on the toes of the previous games too much
09/09/09
its exactly the same as the 'good' ending, just with added UFO kidnapping and random Wheeler fist shaking and 'I knew it all along!'. I got it completely by random (I didnt know that would happen) and because of the way its set-up, I literally shot pepsi out of my nose and made a big mess.
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
The fact is, DH made a passable Silent Hill game on the surface, but the soul of the game, the part that makes Silent Hill Silent Hill, was simply missing. Anyone can make fog and freaky monsters, but the true psychological creepiness, the dreadful sense of isolation, of being an ordinary dude (or girl) being lost in this vast, nightmarish world simply wasn't there. Alex was a solider, for goodness sake! (no spoilers).
I fear you're right though, because the SH games we fell in love with can no longer be made. Of course people will find faults, because the game they expect just simply isn't possible to make. SH is gaming history now, and the best thing that can happen for the series is to just fade away into the fog.
Giving it more thought, I think the arcade game was the death rattle of the series, and everything else made afterward is just... fan service at best. DH made a competent SH clone, but the series (should be) done. It did what it came to do, and there isn't really anything left to do except what's already been done before. Trying to push the series on into the future is a waste of money and time for both Konami and the players.
09/09/09
I'm hoping the year gone by gives me some sort of spoiler immunity. Or that someone who really doesn't want it spoiled will see the wall of text and scroll on. But I had to rebuke the claims of poor storytelling and by the numbers with some solid examples, so while I hate to spoil, it had to be done.
I've sinned now, unfortunately. My pink fleshy demon bags that wander around in the fog will undoubtedly look like patchwork shambling game endings, to games I havent played yet. Oh, the horror!
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
I rescind my earlier assessment. SH:H is a 10/10. Buy it now! :P
09/09/09
In your eye, you say? The scene that was cut from the Australian release, you say?
09/10/09
I can see and appreciate your point.
I'm not trying to be a snob about it or anything, in fact I posted above SH fans should check it out, but Homecoming just didn't do it for me. It's a perfectly competent SH game, yes, but I thought they were way too heavy handed with the story stuff.
Instead of letting this big meta story weave itself in the back of your mind like a spider web - delicate threads of story coming together to form an ordered and cohesive tale like I felt the first games did (yes I know this metaphor is crazy but bear with me), it felt like the exact opposite - that they put up a big, in your face poster with bright colors leaving no room for the imagination to fill in the gaps. Which for me was a significant part of the enjoyment while playing SH games. I'm still noticing tiny details and nuances in SH2's story and characters to this day, but I doubt I'll notice anything new in Homecoming even on the eventual second play-through.
I guess it comes down to (obviously) personal preference, and I'm glad people like Homecoming because it got a lot more crap than it deserved. It just didn't draw me in like the series used to (and still does on new playthroughs).
short version: I see your point, appreciate it, but am not quite as into the story because I feel like it's painted in too broad of strokes.
09/10/09
Hopefully not, though there really haven't been many at all this gen.
That PS3 Siren game seemed interesting from the japanese demo. Been meaning to play it for a while now. Reviews aside, you know if it's any good?
09/10/09
09/10/09
"I am a major silent hill fangirl,"
Never mind.
09/10/09
Homecoming = garbage. There is a reason Japan doesn't want it.
09/10/09
One man's trash is another man's etc.
09/09/09
09/09/09
09/09/09
I really like the way the team used music to create subtle elements of foreshadowing. In case you haven't noticed, listen to Josh's theme on Youtube. Try to place what the noises playing in the background are. Yamaoka's still got it.
@Naop: SH4 is kinda the black sheep of the series because it really doesn't take place in Silent Hill, its connection to the franchise is tenuous at best (the villain was mentioned in a newspaper clipping in SH2), and it really just doesn't have the same feel as the rest of the games. It's not bad, it's just not really Silent Hill. It's more or less a traditional Japanese horror movie (even down to a Ringu-esque ghost monster) with Silent Hill connections superglued into it.
I don't hate it, and most SH fans don't either. But when you're comparing to the greatest horror game of all time (SH2), anything looks like shit.
09/09/09
5 on the other hand was just ass. QTEs, bad writing, and a long list of other bad gaming cliches.
09/09/09
SH5 had its flaws, yes. I'm not going to say the game's totally blameless. But honestly, most Silent Hill fans are just pissed about the game because they don't know what they want out of the series. They want it to be like SH2, but at the same time they DON'T want it to be like SH2. They want updated gameplay, but God help you if you change the controls to be more modern. They want new locations, but you better not take the setting out of Silent Hill itself or they won't play it.
The fans have been sending mixed messages on what they want for years now, and nobody, not even Team Silent themselves (note: they're mostly gone from Konami now) is going to be able to please them all.
That being said, the combat was improved in some ways (strafing, dodging, locational damage) but also flawed in others (awkward timing on dodge maneuvers is a pain in the ass). But the game isn't that bad. It really isn't.
09/09/09
I'll definitely search for Josh's theme on Youtube, but you don't have to tell me Yamaoka is awesome. I have noticed this fact, and I agree. He is still totally tits.
09/09/09
Anything but Siams. God, those things scared the shit out of me because I NEVER managed to work out a good strategy to take them down.
09/09/09
i think you and i have very different ideas on what constitutes a silent hill game. i think the story is marginally important since most the games are marginally related (though some of the series have really good stories). bad combat, emphasis on running, shifting realities, atmosphere. the most important factor is the horror. silent hill is a truly creepy series and in most those areas silent hill 5 is the most deficient.
yeah its playable. and it has some nice moments. but its certainly not silent hill (and i dont care if pyramid head is there not). its slightly scarier than resident evil 5. the only thing it has going in the atmosphere is the music. ill give it that.
yeah the fans ruined it. but i get the feeling the devs were fans themselves which can be the problem. its inevitable that all horror shifts from the scary to the cliche; its just sad to know that silent hill is gone. despite all this i still have a copy and i play from time to time.
09/09/09
I hate to admit it, but I had to use a trainer program to get past that scene. :(
09/09/09
And to think I have the little heart clicked under your name, when you're using a trainer to get past monsters that only need a single shotgun blast to die. :(
09/09/09
It was definitely FAR scarier than RE5, and SH4 for that matter.
You're right though, it is a shame that the original team is dead; I'd love to see what Team Silent could do with modern hardware.
09/09/09
You're forgetting the part where you cut the power to Silent Hill, then go outside into a world of fog and no street lights.
I was terrified.
09/09/09
Also an interesting tidbit: Some people decompiled the PC version and found a number of unused sound and voice clips. Apparently, according to some dummied voice files, Walter Sullivan from SH4 was one of Doc Fitch's patients when he was a little kid, and he was friends with his daughter. How's that for a mindfuck?
09/09/09
Also, PC controls. Need I say more?
(is it obvious that I doth protest too much?)
09/09/09
09/09/09
Id say the decision makes sense if there is no real market to be buying the game.
They had already tried to move the series with the Japanese version of the US made PSP game and that didnt do too hot either.
Guess Konami doesnt want to be wasting little of what money they dont have currently in the market here.
09/09/09
I never played HC though. It is worth getting?
09/09/09
09/09/09
If by "great storyline" you mean "they threw SH1 and 2 in a blender and puked out a bad fanfic" then you're absolutely correct
09/09/09
09/09/09
Is it too violent because it was developed by westerners or something?
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09/09/09
09/09/09
Its called a wise business decision.
09/09/09
09/09/09
Were people excited for it over there, at all?
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