What first attracted you to the series?

[The Gentleman]

I'm not sure what my very first incentive was but I remember looking up Silent Hill 2's plot on wikipedia a few years back and being fascinated (back then I was a lightweight who wouldn't go within a mile of a horror game).

[schlaufuchsMIKE]

In magazine articles (PSM, I do miss it ) that talked about it being a Resident Evil clone, which was perfect for me because I was way into Resident Evil. Then they talked about it being more graphic (or something) and I thought, "I totally gotta try it." So, I played the demo, and the hellish otherworld was awesome, the psychological horror was awesome, and the fact that I didn't want to play another second of it from being scared, but at the same time, I couldn't get enough of it. Good times, man

[OneFreeMan]

I had a PS2 Magazine with a demo disc in. One of the Demo was SH4. I played it, later I got the game and later tried to collect the series. All there is left for me to play is SHSM.

[NarooN]

My first run in with the series was when it first came out, my older bro had it and I used to go into his room at night and watch him play it. Was too big of a pansy to play it myself, so I'd curl up into a ball and just watch.

Wouldn't be until a few years later when SH2 came out on the Xbox that I'd really "get into" the series. I played it then and like many people, had nightmares due to PH. I played the series on and off ever since then, but I didn't really become hardcore until around 2006/2007 when the movie came out and rekindled my interest with the series.

[jacobia]

Back in 2000 I had a lodger who let me borrow his PS1 after he'd moved out and my fellow horror lover recommended Silent Hill to me and lent me his copy. Well, I was already a Resident Evil fan and was happy to expect more of the same....but then I played Silent Hill and it sure as shit wasn't Resi. It completely got under my skin and I loved being freaked out by it. Like others have posted before me, the rest is history...

[MoonBlade]

I was 10, I'd never played a videogame before and I had Daddy Issues.

I'm kidding about that last part... mostly. The game was so magnetic for me. From the moment I started playing, I never stopped. I dreamed about it. I thought about it all the time. Everything was just so grotesque and inviting.

[Noname6]

The box art/CD cover of Silent Hill 1, which I saw in February '99 at Blockbusters.

[Waverer]

My dad brought me the game (SH3) because someone else told him I might be interested. I only became interested because it seemed very different from any other game I'd ever played, I'd played Resident Evil and seen other people play more action-geared survival horror titles but this series was all about being creepy/weird, not shooting stuff. I think the only reason I got to be such a dedicated fan was because I didn't understand the plot or concept of the town at all and I wanted to learn as much as possible so I wouldn't be so stumped.

[Mothersdecent]

My dad brought me the game (SH3) because someone else told him I might be interested. I only became interested because it seemed very different from any other game I'd ever played, I'd played Resident Evil and seen other people play more action-geared survival horror titles but this series was all about being creepy/weird, not shooting stuff. I think the only reason I got to be such a dedicated fan was because I didn't understand the plot or concept of the town at all and I wanted to learn as much as possible so I wouldn't be so stumped.

I always wondered how it would be like to start the series with a title that isn't SH1.
How difficult was SH3 to understand on your first playthrough?

[Volodislavu]

I think the only reason I got to be such a dedicated fan was because I didn't understand the plot or concept of the town at all and I wanted to learn as much as possible so I wouldn't be so stumped.

That's probably the main reason most of the fans become so dedicated because there is still stuff do this day people aren't sure about and gets debated so heavily.

[Waverer]

My dad brought me the game (SH3) because someone else told him I might be interested. I only became interested because it seemed very different from any other game I'd ever played, I'd played Resident Evil and seen other people play more action-geared survival horror titles but this series was all about being creepy/weird, not shooting stuff. I think the only reason I got to be such a dedicated fan was because I didn't understand the plot or concept of the town at all and I wanted to learn as much as possible so I wouldn't be so stumped.

I always wondered how it would be like to start the series with a title that isn't SH1.
How difficult was SH3 to understand on your first playthrough?

Well, my first question was "why is it called Silent Hill?" since it takes place outside the town. I got to about the part where she meets Claudia and gets the spiel about giving birth to a god, then I had to look up what the first two games were about because it seemed really weird and messed up at that point. After Harry dies and she basically sums up the events of SH1 in the car with Douglas it became a little easier to understand.

That didn't save me from failing 200 times at the part where you use the aglaophotis, though.

[Q. Valintyne]

I always wondered how it would be like to start the series with a title that isn't SH1.
How difficult was SH3 to understand on your first playthrough?

I played 4, Origins, 2, 3, Homecoming, Shattered Memories, SH 1, and Downpour in that order. SH 3 wasn't that hard to understand; the game gives you a lot of material to work with via Harry's notes and I didn't really feel lost at all. Of course playing the first game later allowed me to have a better understanding of SH3, but I wasn't confused during my SH3 playthrough.

[Mothersdecent]

Well, my first question was "why is it called Silent Hill?" since it takes place outside the town. I got to about the part where she meets Claudia and gets the spiel about giving birth to a god, then I had to look up what the first two games were about because it seemed really weird and messed up at that point. After Harry dies and she basically sums up the events of SH1 in the car with Douglas it became a little easier to understand.

That didn't save me from failing 200 times at the part where you use the aglaophotis, though.

The memo douglas gives you has more detailed information about what happened in SH1, Heather just summarises it a bit.

That didn't save me from failing 200 times at the part where you use the aglaophotis, though.

I always wondered how it would be like to start the series with a title that isn't SH1.
How difficult was SH3 to understand on your first playthrough?

I played 4, Origins, 2, 3, Homecoming, Shattered Memories, SH 1, and Downpour in that order. SH 3 wasn't that hard to understand; the game gives you a lot of material to work with via Harry's notes and I didn't really feel lost at all. Of course playing the first game later allowed me to have a better understanding of SH3, but I wasn't confused during my SH3 playthrough.

It probably isn't but i imagine it isn't AS easy to understand as playing it having played SH1.

[Q. Valintyne]

It probably isn't but i imagine it isn't AS easy to understand as playing it having played SH1.

Eh... debatable. There's no way to prove this either way. All I know is that I didn't have a hard time enjoying and understanding SH3. You asked how difficult it was to understand 3 without 1; it wasn't. As I said, I had played Origins and 2 before 3. Origins did give the player enough information about the game it precludes that SH3 made more sense, I guess.

[Mothersdecent]

Well seeing how SH3 is a direct sequel to 1, it only logical to think it would be easier to understand SH3 having played SH1, even if 3 tries to explain things to new comers in the middle about the events in 1.
I don't think it's debatable, but to each it own.

[Axiomatic]

My brother got me into horror games. He's nine years older than me, so when he played games like Resident Evil, he was about 16 or 17 and I was 7 or 8. I knew Resident Evil terrified me, but when he got Silent Hill 3, I gave it a go. I was hooked on 3, bought Silent Hill 2 on my own, then Silent Hill, and the rest is history.

Other than my brother's influence, I found the setting, the characters, and the strangeness of it all to be quite fascinating. It was very different from my experience with Resident Evil, which I thought was very in your face. But Silent Hill was psychological and it was like a snake slowly tightening its grip on you until you notice, but then it is too late.

[Q. Valintyne]

I had no trouble understanding Mass Effect 2. The first one was never released for PS3 so I've never had the chance to play the original. If you read the codex data featured in ME 2, there is honestly no need to play through the first one. My friend has the original ME on 360 and it plays pretty clunky to me. Reading and understanding the story helped me more than plowing through the actual game itself. That's kinda what SH3 did as well.

It is absolutely debatable, but that's not really the topic. SH3 gave you a lot of information that helped the plot make sense on its own. It's impossible for someone who played 1 then 3 to understand that because they've had the experience of 1 to prepare them for it. It's not very nice to assume everyone is stupid and can't read into the details of the game. Heck, if it were not for the internet, some people might consider SH 3 to be a standalone story from 2 (if they never played the first game). SH3 never says "Well, in the first game this stuff happened with my dad and here I am!" One could look at it as, "well, Heather's dad had a previous experience in Silent Hill. Hmm... I get it now. That's why she's here now, too." Enough detail is given within the context of 3 for it to make sense on its own. Kind of like direct-to-DVD sequels, you know? They are direct sequels, yes... but for the most part, they make complete sense on their own.

[Purramid_Head]

I had no trouble understanding Mass Effect 2. The first one was never released for PS3 so I've never had the chance to play the original. If you read the codex data featured in ME 2, there is honestly no need to play through the first one. My friend has the original ME on 360 and it plays pretty clunky to me. Reading and understanding the story helped me more than plowing through the actual game itself. That's kinda what SH3 did as well.

That's not true. The codex is limited in information and you cannot change things in the story with out playing through 1, which means you potentially lose out on some very important stuff.

[NarooN]

Actually, most of the truly important decisions you made in ME1 could be chosen in the introductory comic for the PS3 version of ME2 anyway. If you didn't play ME1 you'd miss out on some backstory for characters that get passing mentions and some events such as battles and stuff, but nothing too mind-blowing or game-breaking.

As for ME1, it did play clunky as hell on the 360, but the PC version fixed a good deal of the control issues and also tweaked the UI a good deal. I noticed that even on PC, ME2 absolutely annihilates ME1 visually, lol.

[Mothersdecent]

My point was that you would still grasp the overall plot BETTER if you followed the story line from the very beginning regardless of anything else. This is logic, there's no debating logic, i am done arguing about this.