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Silent Hill Thread: Let's Get Wet
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Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Weaboo List
Always been interested in Silent Hill, but never played much. Thinking of picking it up though.
The games are all pretty self contained. All you really need to know is that Silent Hill is a supernatural town that preys on your darkest sins and will torture and punish the guilty...also it may or may not be controlled by dogs and/or aliens.
In reality the only 2 games that are really "related" would be 1 and 3 and even thats pretty loosely fitted together. There are nods and shout outs to other games but nothing that would ruin the experiance if you don't catch it.
Trueachievements Profile | Gamertag: EyeRChris
Now, I know it's a big hassle in 2012, but you really want to play Silent Hill 2, if any one of them.
With the HD collection coming out playing the older games should get pretty easy outside of maybe The Room and the PSP exclusive.
Trueachievements Profile | Gamertag: EyeRChris
Should heal you back to full on Normal.
The bat creature that jumps from the ceilings? Certain weapons can block, others can't. For instance I don't think the wooden boards block, but a pipe or wrench will. To fight the bat guys, get to a place where they can't jump on you from the ceiling (there's a few spots in that first cave area). You can also pretty much avoid them if you run away, which we did a lot.
The subway can be almost 100% ignored in this game, open your map and look for ? to indicate you should scope out this area.
I just ran into the mail fellow again in terms of my latest progress. Also yeah, the game is a lot more fun when played with combat on easy.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Yeah just watching my g/f try to fight on normal was frustrating. How quick things kill you, how certain areas are set up pretty much to let you fail on anything but easy. One of the puzzles near the end of the game is frustrating if you don't notice it right away just because of what happens the longer you take on it. Ugh that one was such a dick. I just looked up the solution after the 2nd death.
NExt Tuesday, I believe
3DS FC: 5129-0946-8305
Yep. Can't wait.
Steam
Broken Combo
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
I will say that the sound mixing is kind of odd. Things like doors closing behind you sound awfully loud, which scares the shit out of me everytime. The screamers have a way of just creeping up on you, so it's constantly tense.
Gamer Tag: LeeWay0
PSN: Leeway0
And Magus, yeah we probably skipped a good 30% of the game by not really exploring. Having the combat on normal pretty much prevented us because we didn't want to risk having to use an unnecessary health pack because one of those stronger dudes came at us.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
the bad:
1. The monster designs are incredibly lackluster. Every Silent Hill, even Homecoming, had great monster designs, this game the monsters are boring and not at all creepy.
2. Why are there so many weapons laying around. The constant weapons get in the way of me finding the key items I am actually looking for to solve the puzzles.
3. With the game so dark (lighting) why are there so many different weapons that look similar to ladder hooks. I have lost count the amount of times I have picked up a weapon thinking it was a ladder hook only to get a pick axe or a bent pipe. Ladder hooks need to be way more recognizable.
4. The screwed up auto save system. Also apparently the designers did not know that the words saving and loading mean two different things in English, since most of the time when the game says saving it is actually loading.
5. Stealing the stupid chases from Shattered Memories. Shattered Memories needed the chases because combat would not work with the way the game was designed. Downpour is designed more traditionally so there was no need to include the awful chases.
6. Wii design. Everything from opening doors to turning valves require extra actions that make the game feel like a bad port of a Wii game where they did not bother to remove the waggle actions.
7. Certain rooms randomly switch to badly done old school Resident Evil camera angles for no apparent reason. Is it cheaper then the standard 3rd person camera view? Because if it isn't I have no idea why they did that. At times the camera angle is so bad it becomes a chore just to open a door, god forbid trying to fight something.
8. The instant death traps in the otherworld that feel like they should be in a Prince Of Persia game, rather than a Silent Hill Game.
The good:
1. The lighter mechanic is quite good. I would not mind seeing that in a better game.
2. Its not as bad as the last Alone in the Dark game.
The void chases were stupid. The combat was stupid. Weapons were everywhere because hey apparently a fun mechanic is weapons that break! My g/f didn't even find a shotgun until the last area. She'd be pretty much gunless if it wasn't for the preorder bonus. I figured the preorder bonus axe would be unbreakable because come on. Nope.
It had scary moments and good puzzles at times. I'd give it a 7/10.
Weapons that break is a stupid thing. It is survival horror though, so I guess it makes sense.
3DS FC: 5129-0946-8305
Fire extinguishers, although slow, lasted the longest apparently.
Graphics - Decent overall, with some nice set pieces in the Otherworld (not that you often have time to stop and look!). The town itself is alright, though not a lot of it stands out. Non-monster design is decent, people are reasonably distinct. Monster design is horrible with pretty much no good designs except for the last boss. It looks pretty awesome though. Massive framerate/freezing issues at times which can suck ass if you happen to run into an enemy as you do. Ran into total blackness a few times since the game hadn't yet loaded the room yet. Definitely hurts the experience.
Sound - Voice acting is average - no one stands out as either amazing or terrible. Monster sounds are as generic as monster designs, sadly. The music is.. there, I guess? It wasn't bad, but I certainly don't recall much of it. General sound effects like weapons and whatnot are fine, if standard.
Gameplay - Combat sucks, even by survival horror standards. No lock-on, breakable weapons (even ones that have no right breaking) and touchy gun aiming make fighting a chore. Luckily it's entirely optional (you can beat the game with no kills, which is an achievement, no less) and you don't face groups of monsters too often. That being said, unless you're going for the achievement, I suggest playing with combat on easy, it's much less frustrating. Last boss is pretty fun.
The side-quests span from being interesting to being kind of grind-y (fucking human heart) but none are out and out terrible. Giving you a reason to explore the town is actually a big plus, in my opinion. It's easy to get lost, however, so keep that in mind. Getting around town is supposedly easier using the subway (which requires a sidequest to 'activate'), but I never used it.
The puzzles were good. I only played on normal puzzle difficulty, but they felt reasonably complex for the setting. No idea on how hard is. There is still some fetch questing, but it's relatively minor.
The Otherworld 'chase' sequences are alright. The damage/slowdown radius on the red ball of death could be tweaked some.
Story - Reasonable. Feels like they were trying to steal SH2's whole 'man with a dark past' thing, except it's not really hidden and not really dark. I figured it out in the first 20-30 minutes and I imagine I'm not the only one. It tries to throw another plot 'twist' at you later on, except it doesn't really work like they want it to. Whoops! Also, too many NPCs feel pasted into the enviroment, rather then having any sort of relevance.
Replay - Well, there's a second ending you can get only in a replay, but that's pretty much it. Like Shattered Memories, there are no unlockables to speak of. A shame, really.
Final Verdict - A reasonably fun Silent Hill with some notable technical flaws, bad combat and lazy enemy design. It won't wow you (when is the last time a SH game did?) but it's worth a rental or getting it on the cheap (20 bucks or less). I'd give it a B.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
:C
Only two endings?
No unlockables? ...No Ray Gun?
Boooo... I mean, I'll still buy it when it drops in price.. but Boooo!
3DS FC: 5129-0946-8305
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Looking forward to Silent Hill HD collection, though.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Licht managed to sneak in a few good songs in there, but there is very obviously a void where Akira Yamaoka used to be.
You can switch between tank and screen relative controls in both. I switched to screen relative (2d) controls and at least you can move around decently. It's still pretty clunky and what little I got to play the melee combat was not something anything to write home about.
Also, did a little research and apparently the framerate and voice synch issues for PS3 are known issues with some users and Konami is working on a patch.