POLL - Is Silent Hill Dead? (important, academic stuff!)

[devil hunter]

Devil, your right, but each of the SH games from TS still had the same feel to them. From Origins to Downpour, the gameplay has been changed extremely.

SM yes, Homecoming maybe, Origins and Downpour? No, those two didn't had extreme gameplay changes.

[LXMETALC]

I haven't played Downpour and I'm looking forward to doing so. I wasn't optimistic at first but what little I've seen has started to win me over.

Also, not everything in TS games worked in the game, they put some things in the game just because they were scary. that stuff didn't had anything to do with the rest of the game, it was just scary.

I think this was my point, you probably can name a few things from each of the newer games, my point was that those 'things' are piled up one after the other in the original games. The western developers have a very linear approach, where the original team would throw a concept at you and leave you to puzzle over why that happened.

Who says that new devs do it for capitalising.

I say, Origins was just handed to the next company in line when deadlines weren't met. The Homecoming guys really did want to make a Silent Hill game and did make a solid game, I guess. There really needed to be more in it. Shattered Memories was quite obviously the result of someone saying "Let's make a SH title for Wii, so that people with Wii can have Silent Hill and we can have their money" and that's about where the debate really becomes divided.

I've watched the Book of Memories clip several times and everything Tom says is just wrong.He could be talking about anything there, it's just called Silent Hill to try and get my money. Maybe that will change? Maybe it is secretly amazing. Maybe he knows exactly how to stir a controversy, while actually making the greatest SH title...

One more thing....alieness of the culture? Wasn't their source of inspiration western horror?

Yeah, a Japanese team inspired by western horror. Maybe the Western teams should flip it around and draw more inspiration from Japanese horror to balance it out?

TL;DR all of my arguments: I feel if Origins, Homecoming and Shattered memories were all squished into one game it would be the equivalent of the wealth of concepts and experiences in any one of the original four games. There was a lot (or at least a bit) in each of them I really liked. But to answer the topics question, I do not think SH is dead, I do think that the original games were a big deal and that the titles immediately after missed many opportunities to equal any of the first four.

[devil hunter]

I think this was my point, you probably can name a few things from each of the newer games, my point was that those 'things' are piled up one after the other in the original games. The western developers have a very linear approach, where the original team would throw a concept at you and leave you to puzzle over why that happened.

I don't think you understood what I meant. I can tell you why the mannequin's head fell off in SH 3, because that's scary. There's no really much puzzling beyond that, that's why it happened, it's scary. Western devs do that too.

I say, Origins was just handed to the next company in line when deadlines weren't met. The Homecoming guys really did want to make a Silent Hill game and did make a solid game, I guess. There really needed to be more in it. Shattered Memories was quite obviously the result of someone saying "Let's make a SH title for Wii, so that people with Wii can have Silent Hill and we can have their money" and that's about where the debate really becomes divided.
I've watched the Book of Memories clip several times and everything Tom says is just wrong.He could be talking about anything there, it's just called Silent Hill to try and get my money. Maybe that will change? Maybe it is secretly amazing. Maybe he knows exactly how to stir a controversy, while actually making the greatest SH title...

Well, that's the point, they're making the game for money, that's their job, no? What's wrong with making a SH title for the Wii? Other game franchises were also on different platforms.

What I am trying to say is that they try to make good games for fans and for the money, because that's their job, but fans come first.

Yeah, a Japanese team inspired by western horror. Maybe the Western teams should flip it around and draw more inspiration from Japanese horror to balance it out?

I see what you're trying to say, but the SH series is not really a good series to show us the "alien" japanese culture. They were simply inspired by western horror, hell you can even see the plots of several movies in SH 1 plot.

Games that show japanese culture are games like Fatal Frame and Ku on for example.

[LXMETALC]

There isn't anything wrong with doing it because it's popular and it will make a lot of money and its your job. I just don't think that job is done properly by some people whose ideas seem to be limited to slapping a few things they saw in other Silent Hill games in there, and calling it the next Silent Hill.

Or things that have nothing to do with anything, and calling it Silent Hill.

Or nothing happening at all, and calling it Silent Hill.

I mentioned Tomb Raider earlier, look at how seriously those guys take the responsibility of understanding the material and delivering the experience of exploring and finding things using acrobatic moves and problem solving with Lara Croft? My feeling is that recent Silent Hill developers have not taken being challengingly uncomfortable, questionable and scary with the same discipline and creativity. It seems to me they're saying if it has areas that look like something we saw in Silent Hill and it has SH monsters and Pyramid Head then it's Silent Hill. Please look forward to it.

No.

[NarooN]

RE: Survivor was such a bad game. I remember playing it with my brother when it first came out ages ago, we got to the very end, don't remember if we beat it or not. So I decided to reacquire it and played it on epsxe... Bad idea. That game is trash, no way to spin it, lol. Weird controls, nonsensical story, ridiculous battles (oh let's just drop three tyrants into this narrow walkway at once so you can run out of ammo lolololol", and the save system was retarded.

I never got a chance to play Dead Aim, but heard it was at least decent.

Yeah, Dead Aim had an impressive cast of monsters that never made it into any other of the games which is sad. I didn't have a light gun, so the experience suffered. But it's story was god-awful. Apparently Umbrella has a satellite that can neutralize it's own agents via a death ray from space .

And man, Ark Thompson is my favorite RE character. I actually loved Survivor because it was so terrible and at one point as you said all they do is literally hurl Mr.X variant tyrants at you. Seriously, you down about 40 of them over the course of the playthrough. I also never got why the Umbrella Commandos in the game deflated when they died and disappeared when none of the other enemies did. Then again I also wondered why men with submachineguns would rather melee you then shoot at you.

Also the old guy in the library literally has no significance and you never see him again he just kinda inanely blathers and disappears.

The game was probably the worst game I've ever played, so it's earned a special place in my heart for at least being so bad that it was memorable.

Agreed with everything, when I remember the game, the memory itself isn't a bad one. It's one of those "it's so bad, it's good" things. I'd play it again for the lulz. And the point about the commandos disappearing made me LOL because it's something I thought about the last time I played it.

[NarooN]

Devil, your right, but each of the SH games from TS still had the same feel to them. From Origins to Downpour, the gameplay has been changed extremely.

4 didn't feel anything like the other three, and two felt a lot different than 1 & 3 did. The only way they "felt" similar was the tank controls, which were optional in SH2 & 3, forced on you in 1, and didn't even exist in 4.

[what]

Shattered Memories was quite obviously the result of someone saying "Let's make a SH title for Wii, so that people with Wii can have Silent Hill and we can have their money"

You should actually try playing it sometime. It's obvious you know nothing about it.

[Augophthalmoses]

I know this is mind blowing to some people, but the original Silent Hill was the result of Konami wanting money by competing with Resident Evil. Game developers don't exactly make every single game for friendship and magic.

[Waverer]

I haven't played Downpour and I'm looking forward to doing so. I wasn't optimistic at first but what little I've seen has started to win me over.

I really liked it, personally.

I say, Origins was just handed to the next company in line when deadlines weren't met. The Homecoming guys really did want to make a Silent Hill game and did make a solid game, I guess. There really needed to be more in it. Shattered Memories was quite obviously the result of someone saying "Let's make a SH title for Wii, so that people with Wii can have Silent Hill and we can have their money" and that's about where the debate really becomes divided.

Have you played that game? It was a great re-imagining and I think the way they handled it shows that they cared about the source material enough to really think. The chase scenes were frustrating but at least they tried something different. I really don't think you can say it was "quite obviously" a great big cash-in unless you've played it. :/

I've watched the Book of Memories clip several times and everything Tom says is just wrong.He could be talking about anything there, it's just called Silent Hill to try and get my money. Maybe that will change? Maybe it is secretly amazing. Maybe he knows exactly how to stir a controversy, while actually making the greatest SH title...

Tomm has said he's a long-time fan and I think he genuinely cares about making a good contribution to the series. Book of Memories, though.. I love the concept of the storyline but the multiplayer scenario seems very silly to me, along with almost everything else about it.

[WalterisHere]

I know this is mind blowing to some people, but the original Silent Hill was the result of Konami wanting money by competing with Resident Evil. Game developers don't exactly make every single game for friendship and magic.

True, but I felt that the first 4 SH's had more development and work put into them. I mean, Call of Duty is obviously used as a money maker, but TS really took time and work into the first SH's. Not saying the current devs don't, but SH is barely just a money maker.

[what]

If people would just admit that they have a bias for the Japanese games and just say "it's personal preference" it'd be fine. That's totally okay. I have my own biases, in that I prefer the games which focus less on the occult and more on personal issues. I also prefer the games which are least-focused on combat. The games which do focus on the cult, and/or which are more combat-intensive are not inferior, they're simply not to my tastes.

It's when people try to present their bias as objective fact, and attempt to justify it in vague and unquantifiable terms, that it becomes silly. I really wish people would stop doing it.

[Q. Valintyne]

It's when people try to present their bias as objective fact, and attempt to justify it in vague and unquantifiable terms, that it becomes silly. I really wish people would stop doing it.

This statement needs to be a required read before anyone posts on ANY forum ANYWHERE.

[rollerfan222]

It lives on, no matter how hard some people try to kill it. Much like Scarlet in Homecoming.

hahahaha true that!

[SilentHill19]

Downpour is a good start to bring the series back; the atmosphere is as creepy as ever.. library & prison .. disturbing, and the rain makes you feel uneasy to be outside.