Hard Level.

[Kanthiel]

Hello again , I got another doubt , is possible to finish the game in Hard Level and doing the Escape ending?

[Floodclaw]

Of course it is, it's just more difficult than other settings because Eileen takes more damage, so she approaches the machine at the end quicker.

[Kanthiel]

Of course it is, it's just more difficult than other settings because Eileen takes more damage, so she approaches the machine at the end quicker.

o.O, you did it by yourself?

[what]

Did Silent Hill 4 even have difficulty levels?

I honestly do not remember.

[Floodclaw]

To the best of my memory, it does, but not separate difficulties for action and puzzle, just overall.
And no, I haven't done it myself, but there's no reason it shouldn't be possible as long as you to your best to protect Eileen. After all, the less Eileen is damaged throughout the game, the slower she moves in the final fight.

[Kanthiel]

Did Silent Hill 4 even have difficulty levels?

I honestly do not remember.

Yes, the Hard Level, which is freaking hard to maintain Eileen with a good health... speacially if you want to do the Escape ending

[Aherd]

I have done it just last week. So yeah, it is possible, just need to save every bit of time at the last battle.
Such as, Walter being near you after stabbing the eight spears, using the full attack and normal attack of pickax when he gets up(when he can take damge), and firing all revolver bullets fast so that he stumbles and don't attack(shoot) back, finally finishing him off with the spade. (I didn't bring any health items.)

[Wooden Plank]

Your Handgun capacity is also 8 instead of 10 or 12. That might be something to watch for.

[OneFreeMan]

I tried to play SH4 on hard mode once but I couldn't be bothered. I don't play games for the challenge I play for the story and characters. I just leave it on either easy or normal.

[Kanthiel]

I have done it just last week. So yeah, it is possible, just need to save every bit of time at the last battle.
Such as, Walter being near you after stabbing the eight spears, using the full attack and normal attack of pickax when he gets up(when he can take damge), and firing all revolver bullets fast so that he stumbles and don't attack(shoot) back, finally finishing him off with the spade. (I didn't bring any health items.)

Oh nice! and it was the Escape ending? 100% free spiritis plus saving Eileen? o.0

I tried to play SH4 on hard mode once but I couldn't be bothered. I don't play games for the challenge I play for the story and characters. I just leave it on either easy or normal.

I use to do that in some games before (before ps3), but now, the consoles have Trophies , so I try to get all the Trophies as possible .

[Kanthiel]

Sorry for that mistake Sir Moderator what, hope I'm doing it right now otherwise I'm open for suggestions ^^

[what]

Do me a favor, sir: edit your post to add content to it, rather than making a second one right after a first. Helps keep our country clean, don't you know.

[Augophthalmoses]

SH4 just had Easy, Normal, and Hard. No puzzle difficulty modes either. The game itself isn't hard at all on Hard mode. The only real hard part about it is saving Eileen at the end of the game. Fighting Walter isn't the problem. It's Eileen's health.

The game has a tendency to glitch up with her health which gets really annoying. You know that cutscene you get with Walter slowly raising his pistol towards you when you reach the end of the Subway World and encounter that final doorway?

The game is bad about occasionally having Eileen suddenly at maximum damage with blood and bruises all over her even if she had never taken a single hit in the game prior to reaching that cutscene. Even happened several times when I equipped her with the submachine gun and never had her leave my side. It's best to have a save before reaching that particular cutscene.

Supposedly you can "heal" her with the Holy Candles towards the end of the game, but more often than not she'll show up at the final boss with max damage anyway despite following the instructions in several different walkthroughs. It's just a crapshoot half the time. You're much more likely to get the ending with no BS attached in Easy or Normal.

As for fighting Walter, the shovel is what you want if you're going for pure speed. True, the Rusty Axe has that invulnerability advantage during the time it takes to execute a fully charged swing, but Walter often dodges back before you're even able to execute that swing with him being just out of your reach.

The shovel's charge attack charges quicker than the Rusty Axe, does slightly more damage, and takes less time to execute (which means less of a chance of Wally jumping back out of the way). And try to corner him to where his back is against the edge of the arena. It's the best weapon to use against Walter if you're trying to save time since the quick attacks save precious seconds. And use only charged attacks. Never waste time using regular attacks with any weapon.

[Wooden Plank]

The game is bad about occasionally having Eileen suddenly at maximum damage with blood and bruises all over her even if she had never taken a single hit in the game prior to reaching that cutscene. Even happened several times when I equipped her with the submachine gun and never had her leave my side. It's best to have a save before reaching that particular cutscene.

Every time Eileen fires the SMG she takes a teeny bit of damage. It builds up pretty quickly.

[Augophthalmoses]

The game is bad about occasionally having Eileen suddenly at maximum damage with blood and bruises all over her even if she had never taken a single hit in the game prior to reaching that cutscene. Even happened several times when I equipped her with the submachine gun and never had her leave my side. It's best to have a save before reaching that particular cutscene.

Every time Eileen fires the SMG she takes a teeny bit of damage. It builds up pretty quickly.

It has nothing to do with the SMG. This has happened several times in which she was never equipped with the gun. It's definitely a glitch and not exactly a unknown one. Because there have been several instances where she would be completely healthy then after the cutscene be covered completely in blood. Being such a radical transition like that indicates its a glitch.

[Kanthiel]

Thanks a lot Augophthalmoses for explaining me of the rest about the annoying glitch , very helpful no doubt!

[Aherd]

Yeah^^ 100% is quite easy, just don't return to the apartment too often. I never used the handgun, so inventory space was never a problem. I think I missed a holy candle, but still had three left in the end, and used 2 on eileen.
But as I said, you need every bit of time in the boss battle. So i took my time protecting eileen this time round(play time about 7-8hours).
The downside though is that you don't really get to see the cool hauntings on this playround.
I am curious though, is that could this be achieved(hard+escape) within two hours + no saves to get the one weopon mode? : (

[Augophthalmoses]

You mean seeing all the hauntings while still being able to achieve a ten star ranking? No, you won't see all. It's highly unlikely. However, you are allowed to use one save without it counting against your ten star rank. But the catch you have to find all fifty two memos throughout the game for that one save to not count against you. Doing so also adds an extra thirty minutes to your time without counting against your rank.

So you may as well find them all. A few playthroughs and you'll know where they all are and they'll be a snap to find. Worst comes to worst you can always use a walkthrough.

[Aherd]

Oh, i meant get the one weapon mode in condition of: 2 hours + no saves + no continues + escape, on hard mode.
Cause, in aim of getting escape, eileen tends to slow things down if you want there to be less damage on her.

I didn't know that finding all 52 memos(which i did) would add extra time, thanks for this valuable information^^
I'll try again sometime, I think i got about 8.5 rank or so the last time, with about 50 saves QQ

PS. I think the hardest part is the first subway level QQ

[Augophthalmoses]

Oh, I see. I don't think the ending you get actually factors into the rank (at least I don't remember it ever having any effect on the ranking). I read a few walkthroughs and two of them on GameFAQs say the ending doesn't matter. But it is possible to get the Escape ending on Hard and get ten star ranking as I've done so myself.

The main problem is making sure Eileen's health stays in good enough shape for the final boss fight. That stupid subway area glitch I mentioned has the potential of fucking that up. Like I said, you can heal Eileen using the Holy Candles, but figuring out how and if they'll work or not is just uncertain. Here's what one walkthrough (http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/919554-sile ... faqs/31678) says:

There's a little trick to heal Eileen if you want a better ending.
You
can do this AFTER travelling the 1F Hallway that has the hanged figure
(The Apartment World - 2nd time) and BEFORE entering Room 105 which
has just been unlocked. It's better to do this trick in the large 1F
central hall. I have written this trick in the walkthrough when it can
be
done. By the way, a few players have also noticed me that THIS GLITCH
MIGHT HAVE BEEN FIXED IN THE NORTH AMERICA & LATER VERSIONS. So PLEASE
DO
NOT surprise if it doesn't work in your game. A glitch is still a
glitch.
Here I repeat the tasks :

- Push Eileen to the centre of the hall. Then light a Holy Candle
close
to her. Try to push her to the candle. As the candle is fading, you'll
see
Eileen's red marks gradually disappear. When she recovers enough, DO
NOT
wait until the Holy Candle completely fades. Just run to Room 105 soon.
As
the cutscene takes place when her red marks are gone, she'll be kept
"healthy" for the final battle also.

In case if you wait til the candle is put off, the blood marks may
re-
appear and Eileen returns to her original status. In fact you can do
this
trick in anywhere if you can satisfy these standards (my own
experience) :

- Choose a safe and large place which has no enemy (of course).
- Try to push Eileen close to the candle as much as you can.
- DO NOT wait until the candle runs out. Leave before it fades away.
- Trigger a cutscene SOON AFTER THAT.

The cutscene may be the key "glitch" that makes Eileen's recovered
status is preserved. But since this is just my own experience and I
have
just tried a few places which are not very effective, don't waste the
candles then. Just wait til the final chapter, just before the Room 105
cutscene and heal her in 1F Hall, as I've shown you here and in the
walkthrough when it's needed.

And one final note : This trick is JUST A GLITCH ! And we abuse it to
heal Eileen. I don't guarantee about its true effect or if you are able
to do it or not. So then if you still can't do it although you have
tried step-by-step or if the effect is not as good as you expected,
don't feel strange.

But like the walkthrough says, it's a glitch and it has the potential of not working regardless of whether or not you've followed the instructions correctly. Another thing that helps save time and spare Eileen from harm is leaving her behind in the main hub of the Forest World 2nd time(the room with burned down Wish House) since there are no enemies in that area and she has no reason to accommodate you to any other areas in that level. Merely leaving her behind doesn't subject her to damage. That only happens if you leave her alone in areas that have enemies. Another thing that helps you in that level is soaking your torch in the kerosene bucket in Henry's laundry room. It allows the torch for much longer than it would if you didn't soak it in kerosene. Just highlight the torch in your inventory, look at the kerosene container, and press the Square button.

Another time saving tip is the glitch in the Building World 2nd time with Eileen which allows you to bypass that Reminisces puzzle (the one where you have to go around collecting items like the cue ball, cake candles, etc. and put them in their appropriate places to unlock a special door in the bizarre clock room).



The two important things to note in this video is:
*make sure Eileen isn't with you in the elevator. She has to be left in that room for the glitch to work.
*When you get to the subsequent room you reach after leaving the area where you find the first aid kid, wait a few seconds and Eileen will catch up to you. This glitch saves a lot of time.