All things Silent Hill

[arry_g]

I completed P.T. last night and somehow without a guide. I feel proud of myself!

Have many of you played P.T. yet? What are your thoughts?

Although I've played many a horror game, few have ever provoked any kind of reaction from me, let alone a 'man-scream' (which is a first for movie or game). I've attached a YouTube video of one of my reactions, unfortunately this one is audio only as the twitch stream broke but it should still offer some form of amusement for you.



I'm not going to spoiler tag this as I think most people know now but the end of the game reveals that the playable teaser was for Silent Hill all along or more importantly Silent Hills.

Given how well the scares get across and how well the shorter format works for this genre, do you think that the name Silent Hills could possibly not actually be the name of the overall game but rather a reference to the idea of multiple, smaller, episodic games telling a complete narrative. We know this is a popular format right now. We've seen at least one other major Japanese company taking its approach with their newest entry (RE Revelations). We know that horror games work well and are more likely to be completed by players if they are shorter. This is a wild guess based on very little evidence other than weird plural usage from a company that named another game 'Ground Zeroes' (but then, that game did contain multiple scenarios at the aforementioned ground zero site - possibly justifying its bizarre name... so who knows).

[Alex79]

I just bought the original Silent Hill to play on my Vita. What's the best way to play the other main games in the series nowadays? I had the collection on PS2 but never played and sold it years back. Wasn't there a HD release a few years back for PS3? Is it worth getting? I'm not really interested in all the side games, just the main numbered ones. Thanks!

[adwild1982]

I would also like some info on this as like Alex79uk I am planning on getting Silent Hill on the vita in the new sale but should I just get the HD release?

[ratsoalbion]

Avoid the HD Collection guys! Although the PS3 version was somewhat fixed, it was an unfortunate shambles of a release:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... nt-hill-hd

[arry_g]

Ok, my take on this is as follows:

Silent Hill 1 was an excellent game for its time and did a lot to push forward the survival horror genre as well as pave the way for its critically acclaimed sequel. 2 is arguably the best in the series, 3 is great but does have ties directly to 1 and 4: The Room is not available to play on the 360/PS3 gen consoles.

SH1 can feel remarkably dated however, the cutscenes are still good but the gameplay models and the actual gameplay itself very much feel a product of its time. If this is something you struggle with you probably wont see SH through to the end (but for the price its available at I don't think that matters for most people). Silent Hill 2 and 3 are available in a HD collection, do not buy the 360 version - if you plan on buying then only go for the PlayStation version as when released they were heavily bugged and only Sony's product got the attention it deserved. Again, as long as tank controls aren't a problem for you then they are a great play and many people hold SH2 up as one of the best videogame stories to-date. If you do not feel particularly enamoured with the series then 4 will not shift your opinion and wont be worth picking up but if you do fall in love with it a copy can usually be picked up at CEX or online for cheap though you will need either a PS2 or a PS2 emulator.

[arry_g]

Avoid the HD Collection guys! Although the PS3 version was somewhat fixed, it was an unfortunate shambles of a release:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... nt-hill-hd

I would argue that the PS3 version is playable now.

[Alex79]

That's a shame. Well fingers crossed for their individual release on PS2 Classics range then I guess.

[Alex79]

Hmm, well I'll see how I get on with the first game and maybe get the PS3 HD ones later.

[Todinho]

I think Sh1 still holds up it's still the scariest of the original 4 for me,and yeah Im one of those people who will say to the end of time how SH2 is one of the best stories in videogames(terrible voiceacting aside) 3 is also pretty good but I can barely remember it now and 4 well it had good ideas and let's leave it at that.
Unfortunally I dont see Konami giving much of a crap to the old games enough for them to fix the HD version completely or releasing them in the classics section,honestly the best way to play SH2&3 is through emulation so buy the HD version if you want but emulate them in the PC you'll have a much better experience.

I havent played P.T but I watched a bunch of playthroughs of it and Im impressed,hell it even got game of the month in gamespot,I think this shows that Kojima and crew are the right people to be handling this(not that this will please the purists but nothing will please them) and I can completely see your theory being right Arry especially with Kojima saying all the time about how he'd like to make a game with an episodic structure,hopefully we'll have more info in TGS.

[Alex79]

I just watched a 20 min gameplay video of P.T.



I don't want to go to sleep now...

[arry_g]

I think Sh1 still holds up it's still the scariest of the original 4 for me

To be honest that's not so much what I meant when I questioned how well it held up. I played last year just after I moved house (what better a game to play while adapting to a new foreign, unfamiliar environment than Silent Hill).

We (my wife and I) had lots of guests around at the time, helping, wishing us luck and looking after the little one while we sorted the house out but once it got to a certain time of night and people needed to go, I would go into my cupboard (which we converted into a computer/games room), switch off the light and play SH. Every now and then my wife would come in to check I was OK, or one of our friends who had overstayed their welcome would come in to say bye and I would hear comments like: "wow that's old, has your PS3 broken", "that looks boring", "why is does that man-shaped blob run like he's **** himself", "hahahahahahaha how is that scary?" and so on. Now granted that a lot of our family friends are not people who would associate themselves with gaming and are either noticeably older or noticeably younger than my wife and I it is true that they wouldn't understand the way that you can immerse yourself in a game and they were not around long enough to see how the tension is built in the first place but the animations, the slow nature of the controls and the blurry nature of the graphics make it difficult for most people to enjoy or appreciate these games I think. Basing my opinion on this bit of anecdotal evidence is of course a logical fallacy and I cannot know for certain but if I include opinions I hear online and via Podcasts I would have to say that for many it is the case that this just doesn't hold up.

My experience of the game is that these things aside it still scares me and the story still intrigues me but I'd find it hard to recommend to someone whose tastes I do not know well - for example I know that you got a lot of enjoyment replaying RE this year, so the stuff about the time period is no issue at all and I know you like a good horror game so I'd have no problem recommending it to you but I suspect our tastes sit a little outside of the mainstream.

****! Sorry that was long, much like Kojima I need an editor.

and yeah Im one of those people who will say to the end of time how SH2 is one of the best stories in videogames(terrible voiceacting aside)

Opinion shared. Adore the game because of the plot as much as the scares, an excellent example of a videogame story. One of the things I did like about the HD Remake is Troy Baker rocking the VA, sounds much better.

3 is also pretty good but I can barely remember it now and 4 well it had good ideas and let's leave it at that.

I actually loved 3 equally to 2 but for different reasons, I think 1 and 3 as a complete arc tells a fantastic story and parts of it haunt me to this day (and inspire my own writing but fan debate on whether something is better, worse or equal to something else is pointless. So, let's not go there. I agree with 4, I like what it was trying to do though it's just the execution wasn't right. On a side-note, did you ever play Shattered Memories?

Unfortunally I dont see Konami giving much of a crap to the old games enough for them to fix the HD version completely or releasing them in the classics section, honestly the best way to play SH2&3 is through emulation so buy the HD version if you want but emulate them in the PC you'll have a much better experience.

You know what? If Hills takes off then I think Konami might. Look at how many re-releases the Metal Gear Solid gets... all it takes is one game to set the world on fire and it could happen but that is a big if. I agree that it is the best way to play actually, emulation allows you to get that resolution boost but not suffer in the way of bugs or re-implemented (and sometimes badly) lighting in areas. That said though, this isn't an option for everyone - many don't have PC's capable of even PS2 emulation and plus some have ethical or legal issues whether they own the game or not. So, it's hard to recommend but you are right - absolutely the best way to play.

I havent played P.T but I watched a bunch of playthroughs of it and Im impressed,hell it even got game of the month in gamespot,I think this shows that Kojima and crew are the right people to be handling this(not that this will please the purists but nothing will please them) and I can completely see your theory being right Arry especially with Kojima saying all the time about how he'd like to make a game with an episodic structure,hopefully we'll have more info in TGS.

I'm building a compilation videos of all my jumps at the moment thanks to PS4's streaming abilities. P.T. is by far the best horror experience I've had since the PS2. There is so much right with it. I'm interested to see what from this they take over to the actual game(s) though as it is unlikely with an actor likeness such as he that we'll see a completely first person experience but if they explored SH4's ideas properly this time then maybe they could. I doubt they'll do that but who knows. Also, thanks - the more I think about it the more I think that Silent Hills could be multiple smaller projects it would make more sense with the schedules of all parties involved too. Roll on TGS.

I just watched a 20 min gameplay video of P.T.



I don't want to go to sleep now...

This makes me happy!

[DomsBeard]

Never played a silent Hill game for some reason. Mind you that's a lie I think I might have played a demo for 1. Do you walk around somewhere foggy find a radio in a cafe then something flies in through a window?. I'm away at the mo so hopefully the hotels sketchy WiFi will let me download it to my vita this week, be daft not to try it for less than a pint.

[ratsoalbion]

Do you walk around somewhere foggy find a radio in a cafe then something flies in through a window?

Yep - that's the one.

[arry_g]

Yea MGS came with a demo of it back in the day. One part of the demo was that bit of the story the other was being trapped in a dark school with little pint sized demons.

[Todinho]

Yeah I get what you mean about SH1 not holding up in that sense,it's kinda of hard to sell someone used to modern day graphics a 1998 game which is unfortunate but I went through something similar when I was replaying the original REs this year,but if you've been a gamer for awhile I think the graphics wont bother you as much that's why I recommended.

Yep Troy Baker is pretty good but unfortunally everybody else is somehow worst,only Konami could pull this off.

The funny thing about 4 is that a friend of mine that's really into SH holds that as the best of the originals go figure(the setting is pretty though),and yeah I played Shaterred Memories and while I think it cant hold a candle to the originals it was doing it's own thing and it was good for what it was I still hold it as the best post Japan Sillent hill but I havent played Downpour yet.

That's the hope if P.T and Sillent Hills generate enough buzz it just might make Konami give a crap again,this was talked about alot in the voices in the static podcast: http://shshatteredmemories.com/blog/201 ... iscussion/ and after listening to that Im sure it can happen.

[arry_g]

That's the hope if P.T and Sillent Hills generate enough buzz it just might make Konami give a crap again,this was talked about alot in the voices in the static podcast: http://shshatteredmemories.com/blog/201 ... iscussion/ and after listening to that Im sure it can happen.

I wasn't aware of that, I'll check it out.

[arry_g]

I've spent some time playing Silent Hill 2 (HD) last night and this morning. Oh boy does that game still have it! Others might disagree but what Silent Hill does for me that Resident Evil does less so is 'tension' based horror rather than outright jumps. There are fewer dogs jumping through windows (or zombie arms) and more shadows in the distance or time spent alone in close spaces. That said I love both series and for differing reasons I suspect.

I talked before about how the PS3 edition of the Silent Hill collection is playable and much better now it has been patched. I can't speak for SH3 (as since patching I have only played it for one hour) but I am reassured and confident in what I'd said regarding SH2 being OK now. No instances of crashing, mismatched lip syncing, incorrect mist, bizarre sound levels, bugged puzzles or wrong sounds looping in the wrong place as there were at release. I'm glad I hadn't remembered incorrectly because based on some comments here I was beginning to doubt myself (I suspect some of those comments linger from initial release impressions).

All that said, as Todinho and I discussed earlier the most desirable way to play might still be emulation (but the HD Collection - or 2 at least - is a serviceable way to play) because of two main reasons... 1) The updated graphics means higher draw distances (even with fog), enemies in some locations will be easier to prepare for than in the original. 2) The voice acting was admittedly bad in the original - by most characters not all and that's OK because the tension and overall story really make up for it - the insertion of Troy Baker in this version however highlights how bad some of the others are. You can play with original voices though!

All-in-all, loving my return, even on the inferior version but I am reminded of how unforgiving the internet can be.

Regarding Pyramid Head:

Spoiler: show

I forgot about his tendency to molest things...

[Alex79]

I think the first Silent Hill has held up very well. The graphics don't look too bad on the Vita (I'd not wager they look that great on a big HD TV, however) but the most important stuff, the atmosphere and the uneasy feeling you get playing the game is still there in bucketfuls.

[arry_g]

I think the first Silent Hill has held up very well. The graphics don't look too bad on the Vita (I'd not wager they look that great on a big HD TV, however) but the most important stuff, the atmosphere and the uneasy feeling you get playing the game is still there in bucketfuls.

That could be the difference. My revisit last year was on a big, widescreen TV which may cause issues for obvious reasons. My only concerns were graphics and controls for the uninitiated (some confidently rock the tank controls whilst others don't). That unease and tension was definitely there and as my post above, sure as heck is in 2 too.

[Alex79]

I actually prefer tank controls for games like that, I think they'd feel weird with direct control.