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Siren:Blood Curse- The creator of Silent Hill takes us back to Hanuda Village(NSF56k)
Drem
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Note: I'm not sure what resolutions most people use nowdays. The pictures are quite large but fit fine on my 1440 x 900. But out of courtesy for those who have lower, I've opted to put all of the pictures into spoiler tags so they then can be opened if desired if/whenever you peruse the thread.
System: PS3 (Playstation Network downloadable game)
Developer: Sony
Release Date: July 24th
Price: Released episodically in 3 parts for $15 per part. You can buy all 3 parts at once for $40 (and save $5)
A while back, a small survival horror game came out the Playstation 2 by the name of Siren. It recieved mixed reviews, with most complaints being the game was too difficult and marred by bad controls. On the other hand, many said that if you were able to adapt and/or deal with the game's flaws, you'd experience one of the finest survival horrors ever made.
Now, you may ask how did Sony of all people come out with something like that? How could they possibly best the likes of Resident evil's unending thrills and Silent Hills incredible atmosphere? Well, you see, the game was actually directed by Keiichiro Toyama, the man who created Silent Hill. In fact, much of Siren's staff had originally worked on Silen Hill. This is probably why Siren draws many comparison's to Silent Hill, and shares Silent Hill's keen awareness of atmosphere.
The story revolves around a remote Japanese village, Hanuda, in the mountains that conducts a mysterious ritual. That night, the mountains disappear and are replaced by an endless crimson sea, the sky begins to pour a never-ending rain, and the village people slow turning into shibito , which is a fancy word for zombies. Throughout the entire village, the sound of a mysterious siren rings.
The storytelling is one of Siren's most interesting aspects, as it is told from the point of views of... I can't remember the exact number, but over 7 playable characters, whom you switch between as you make your way through the game's chapters. They are all normal people who are trying to escape the village before they, too, become shibito. In fact, they are already slowly transforming, indicated by the fact that they slowly recover their injuries over time (way to integrate gameplay systems into the story). The chapters are not presented in order, however, requiring the player to do some thinking. This also affects gameplay, as many times you will need to do something (like unlock a door) in a chronologically earlier chapter so a character from a chronologically later chapter can get inside.
The game also features heavy use of sneaking. You aren't very formidable in Siren; you don't have a wide range of weapons at your disposal at all times. Instead, you must make your way through the game's enviornments without attracting the Shibito's attention. One game system that helps you in this endeavor is "Sight-jacking," an ability some characters have that allow them to see through the eyes of nearby shibito. The third-person perspective of your character is replaced by the first-person perspective of a neaby enemy as he roams around doing his business. Being able to derive where shibito are located by what they see is essential to surviving, and also provides some good scares when the shibito turns a corner and you begin looking at your own back.
Siren also had a sequel that was only released in Japan and Europe.
All that said, this is all heresay. I haven't actually played Siren myself. In fact, I really haven't played many, if any, survival horrors (RE4 doesn't count). I enjoy reading about them, and I would really like to experience them, but I'm too much of a chicken. So when I found out about Siren: Blood Curse (Siren: New Translation in Japan), I decided I'd finally buckle down and play this.
So now let's finally talk about Siren: Blood Curse. Blood Curse is a next- generation remake of Siren for the PS3. The original team decided to try the game one more time in the hopes of reaching a wider audience. This is done through many changes, chief among them:
A more international cast: Siren was a very Japanese game. It relied heavily on aspects of Japanese culture that are lost in the translation to english, and it's especially odd to hear an entire village of Japanese people speak in British accents in the English dub. Blood Curse was designed from the outset to appeal more to foreigners. Many of the characters have been replaced by American/British counter-parts. The game features an America news crew doing a story on a "hidden Japanese village," as well as some other characters I don't know a whole lot about.
Refined controls: They made the controls better. Can't really say a whole lot here, but based on the demo, it controls fine.
More weapons: One of the game's touted features is "over 50 weapons." I assume this is to make the game a bit easier. Whether this is a pro or a con, I don't actually know. One of Siren's most charming aspects was supposedly how defenseless you were. I guess we'll see how it works out. Another change I'll stick in here is alterations to sight-jacking. Instead of the whole screen going into the shibito's perspective, the screen instead gets split half, allowing you to see both your character and the shibito's view, so you aren't stuck still while sight-jacking.
A slightly altered story: Along with the internationalization, the story has been suitable changed a little bit. Apparently, much of it is still the same, but enough has been changed to keep the interest of those who have already played through the original Siren.
More balanced gameplay: The game shouldn't be frustratingly hard anymore.
The game is being released in an episodic format. The game is being released in 3 set, which each containing 3-4 episodes (each episode containing 1-2 hours of gameplay). Oddly enough, all of the episodes are being released at once for download. You can download one episode for $15, or you can buy all of them together for $40 dollars, which is budget price for this generation and also saves you $5 if you were to buy them separetly. Unfortunately, Ameria is not getting a retail disc-based release like Japan and Europe, so you're only option is to download it, taking up your precious disk space. That said, it's still a high quality game; it's just digitally distributed. Apparently, each episode is around 600 MB. Estimating around 12 episodes, and that's 7.2 GB if you want them all on your hard drive at once. You can, of course, delete and re-download the packs at your leisure once you have bought game.
Siren: Blood Curse already has a demo released on the PSN Store, providing a small (very small) piece of gameplay. It's not exactly a great demo; it doesn't last long enough to give you a good sense of the atmosphere or style. You do at least get to see the enhanced NEXT-GEN graphics.
Eurogamer gave the first 3 episodes a pretty glowing review: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=172394
insert credit says lots of stuff about the original Siren, which I guess might still be relevant to Blood Curse: http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/siren/index.html
Famitsu, the well known Japanese gaming magazine gave the game a 9/9/9/9. That's one 9 over Dreamcast day, so it must be incredible.
The game comes out on the 24th. That's this Thursday. I haven't proof read any of this post. Let's talk about Siren.
P.S. This post feels like it has too many women, so as not to seem sexist, here's some testosterone:
Some videos I found on Youtube just now ( if you go to the actual Youtube pages you can watch them in HD):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzwfBpqgT0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgiE74X7MYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu2JuF8R9zg&feature=related
System: PS3 (Playstation Network downloadable game)
Developer: Sony
Release Date: July 24th
Price: Released episodically in 3 parts for $15 per part. You can buy all 3 parts at once for $40 (and save $5)
A while back, a small survival horror game came out the Playstation 2 by the name of Siren. It recieved mixed reviews, with most complaints being the game was too difficult and marred by bad controls. On the other hand, many said that if you were able to adapt and/or deal with the game's flaws, you'd experience one of the finest survival horrors ever made.
Now, you may ask how did Sony of all people come out with something like that? How could they possibly best the likes of Resident evil's unending thrills and Silent Hills incredible atmosphere? Well, you see, the game was actually directed by Keiichiro Toyama, the man who created Silent Hill. In fact, much of Siren's staff had originally worked on Silen Hill. This is probably why Siren draws many comparison's to Silent Hill, and shares Silent Hill's keen awareness of atmosphere.
The story revolves around a remote Japanese village, Hanuda, in the mountains that conducts a mysterious ritual. That night, the mountains disappear and are replaced by an endless crimson sea, the sky begins to pour a never-ending rain, and the village people slow turning into shibito , which is a fancy word for zombies. Throughout the entire village, the sound of a mysterious siren rings.
The storytelling is one of Siren's most interesting aspects, as it is told from the point of views of... I can't remember the exact number, but over 7 playable characters, whom you switch between as you make your way through the game's chapters. They are all normal people who are trying to escape the village before they, too, become shibito. In fact, they are already slowly transforming, indicated by the fact that they slowly recover their injuries over time (way to integrate gameplay systems into the story). The chapters are not presented in order, however, requiring the player to do some thinking. This also affects gameplay, as many times you will need to do something (like unlock a door) in a chronologically earlier chapter so a character from a chronologically later chapter can get inside.
The game also features heavy use of sneaking. You aren't very formidable in Siren; you don't have a wide range of weapons at your disposal at all times. Instead, you must make your way through the game's enviornments without attracting the Shibito's attention. One game system that helps you in this endeavor is "Sight-jacking," an ability some characters have that allow them to see through the eyes of nearby shibito. The third-person perspective of your character is replaced by the first-person perspective of a neaby enemy as he roams around doing his business. Being able to derive where shibito are located by what they see is essential to surviving, and also provides some good scares when the shibito turns a corner and you begin looking at your own back.
Siren also had a sequel that was only released in Japan and Europe.
All that said, this is all heresay. I haven't actually played Siren myself. In fact, I really haven't played many, if any, survival horrors (RE4 doesn't count). I enjoy reading about them, and I would really like to experience them, but I'm too much of a chicken. So when I found out about Siren: Blood Curse (Siren: New Translation in Japan), I decided I'd finally buckle down and play this.
So now let's finally talk about Siren: Blood Curse. Blood Curse is a next- generation remake of Siren for the PS3. The original team decided to try the game one more time in the hopes of reaching a wider audience. This is done through many changes, chief among them:
A more international cast: Siren was a very Japanese game. It relied heavily on aspects of Japanese culture that are lost in the translation to english, and it's especially odd to hear an entire village of Japanese people speak in British accents in the English dub. Blood Curse was designed from the outset to appeal more to foreigners. Many of the characters have been replaced by American/British counter-parts. The game features an America news crew doing a story on a "hidden Japanese village," as well as some other characters I don't know a whole lot about.
Refined controls: They made the controls better. Can't really say a whole lot here, but based on the demo, it controls fine.
More weapons: One of the game's touted features is "over 50 weapons." I assume this is to make the game a bit easier. Whether this is a pro or a con, I don't actually know. One of Siren's most charming aspects was supposedly how defenseless you were. I guess we'll see how it works out. Another change I'll stick in here is alterations to sight-jacking. Instead of the whole screen going into the shibito's perspective, the screen instead gets split half, allowing you to see both your character and the shibito's view, so you aren't stuck still while sight-jacking.
A slightly altered story: Along with the internationalization, the story has been suitable changed a little bit. Apparently, much of it is still the same, but enough has been changed to keep the interest of those who have already played through the original Siren.
More balanced gameplay: The game shouldn't be frustratingly hard anymore.
The game is being released in an episodic format. The game is being released in 3 set, which each containing 3-4 episodes (each episode containing 1-2 hours of gameplay). Oddly enough, all of the episodes are being released at once for download. You can download one episode for $15, or you can buy all of them together for $40 dollars, which is budget price for this generation and also saves you $5 if you were to buy them separetly. Unfortunately, Ameria is not getting a retail disc-based release like Japan and Europe, so you're only option is to download it, taking up your precious disk space. That said, it's still a high quality game; it's just digitally distributed. Apparently, each episode is around 600 MB. Estimating around 12 episodes, and that's 7.2 GB if you want them all on your hard drive at once. You can, of course, delete and re-download the packs at your leisure once you have bought game.
Siren: Blood Curse already has a demo released on the PSN Store, providing a small (very small) piece of gameplay. It's not exactly a great demo; it doesn't last long enough to give you a good sense of the atmosphere or style. You do at least get to see the enhanced NEXT-GEN graphics.
Eurogamer gave the first 3 episodes a pretty glowing review: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=172394
The Siren team is, arguably, the most talented team working on this style of survival-horror at the moment, and Siren: Blood Curse is the best thing to appear in the genre in a very long time.
insert credit says lots of stuff about the original Siren, which I guess might still be relevant to Blood Curse: http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/siren/index.html
lots of stuff
Famitsu, the well known Japanese gaming magazine gave the game a 9/9/9/9. That's one 9 over Dreamcast day, so it must be incredible.
The game comes out on the 24th. That's this Thursday. I haven't proof read any of this post. Let's talk about Siren.
P.S. This post feels like it has too many women, so as not to seem sexist, here's some testosterone:
Some videos I found on Youtube just now ( if you go to the actual Youtube pages you can watch them in HD):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzwfBpqgT0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgiE74X7MYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu2JuF8R9zg&feature=related
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Siren games take the very concept of unfairness, break its back, chew a hole open at the nap of its neck and manipulate it like a hand puppet to ape its demented laws, cackling all the while.
ASK me about the time I had to take down the hardest enemy in the original Siren with a motherfucking umbrella.
MARVEL at how the game expects you to defeat a crack sniper with a lightbulb and a portable electroencephalograph machine!
BEHOLD the character that dies, not if you touch an enemy, but if you wander within three feet of one!
Siren was a piece of atmospheric art that sabotaged itself with awful British voices and fear that was attained not by any outside stimulus, but by putting the player's balls in a fucking vice. If this tradition continues despite their promises, I will not be pleased.
I got a bit lost and couldn't find where I should go though but I was playing it sort of rushed, I may give it a more relaxed go tonight. My fiancee made me turn it off because it scared her, always a good indication.
::edit:: I never did play the old games but you definitely aren't defenceless in this one. In the demo I managed to sneak passed some lunatic with a pick axe, grab my own axe, sneak up behind him and smack him in the back. The two enemies I came across before turning it off were no match for the might of my axe. There were also two knives lurking around on the floor which came in useful.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
It's actually pretty damn impressive, the stuff that's showing up on PSN - Siren and Quest for Booty chief among them. My only question is:
If I order Quest for Booty and Siren: Blood Curse from Europe, they'll play on my PS3, right? PS3 has no region lock apart from PS1/2 games, right?
Killin' is all well and good, but if they kept the conventions of the first Siren (I never played 2 of course), the enemies don't die. Sure you kill 'em, and they're dead, but what with them being undead and all, after a minute or two they'll get back up and a-come fer ya!
...I wonder if there's decapitations in Blood Curse, and if so does it have an effect on posthumous permanence?
Truthfully, after making that post I began to lose my nerve about buying Siren. I had always thought it was a bunch of old people with blood coming out of their eyes and mouths, and a maybe a few Fly Men here and there. After browsing through screenshots for the OP, I began to see all sorts of other types of enemies, far freakier than what I expected. The monster designs are fantastic. Even the plain old bloody-eyes shibito look really good and creepy. I love reading about horror, but I'm no good at dealing with them directly.
that's why i'll just get silent hill: homecoming lol
That said, I always have the second game.
Also, to keep on track with this thread, that game looks fuckin sweet, if I had a PS3 Id buy it in a heartbeat, looks crazy.
Hey, thanks.
Really?
Siren 2 was substantially less frustrating than the first game so I can't imagine Siren: Blood Curse being overly difficult. With the fairer difficulty of Siren 2 plus the graphics of the PS3 and the awesome plot & setting of Siren 1, Siren: Blood Curse should rock in a manner that few other horror games before. This is actually the game that has me wishing I could come up with an excuse to buy the PS3, but having a 360 & a Wii already and with the PS3 still at $400 that's going to be a tough sell to the wife.
Oh and I don't think it's any coincidence that ever since Siren came out, the Siren games have been getting better (and they started out pretty amazingly, odd dubbing and insane difficulty not withstanding) and the Silent Hill games have been getting worse.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
I was mildly stoned and decided to give the Siren demo, with its creepy as fuck title music, a go.
I was not disappointed.
Demo Impressions...
The graphics had that level of sharpness I've come to expect from the current-gen. However, some textures occasionally looked muddy when the camera swung too close to an object (think gates, the odd wall etc.,). Also...
But the atmosphere, oh the atmosphere. This could be the first time where darkness actually served a game, not hindered it (Doom 3 olol). The darkness isn't just an environment choice, it was more of a malevolent force in a town where the sky rains blood. At one point, I was gripped with fear, totally afraid to move on -- the tattered shibito corpse I (surprisingly) smashed through the window was lifeless, but I felt, no knew, that if she wasn't back, something worse would get me. Finding better weapons didn't ease that sense of dread either, as it seemed to attract more shibito (plural?) running towards me, screaming.
As much as I would've liked a disc-copy, just to keep for archival/collecting purposes... Fuck it, this folks is a DEFINITE BUY.
How important is sight jacking this time around?
I was just making a joke. Homecoming is being made by a different company (The Collective), and a lot of people are hesitant about their ability and/or don't like some of the things we know so far about Homecoming. I'm sure it'll still be scary.
Well, as a couple of people mentioned above, Team Silent broke up. I don't see Toyama (SH1's director) in the credits of SH2 and up, so I'm assuming they split after the first game. Toyama and a some other members probably just went to Sony afterwards. I doubt the entire team moved to Sony though, so I don't think you can truthfully say it's by the entirety of "Team Silent."
Have any of you played the Japanese demo? I found it by accident at my friend's house a long time ago and tried it out then. What do you call the whole thing with when you go over an icon in the XMB, the background changes and sound starts playing? Whatever you call it, it's actually a bit different in the Japanese version. Instead of the creepy music you get in the US release, you instead get the sound of, uh people? There are some strange sounds that are probably from shibito, some gasping, and some other stuff. It's pretty creepy.
I've also read that the game's first person mode is very well done. In the demo, you can't actually do it until the second mission (inside the house) by pressing R3. Try it sometime!
What about the time you had to take down the hardest enemy in the original Siren with a motherfucking umbrella? Edit: Unless it's a giganto spoiler, in which case never mind. It's probably still in Blood Curse. I'll just be wary if I ever find an umbrella.
Edit: I don't think Blood Curse is a straight re-make of the original, so a lot of the harder things could easily have been fixed.
It wasn't the puzzles. It was the dying. A lot. Easily. From everything.
There's one special shibito in the original Siren that lurks in the hospital level. Unlike the others, she doesn't flinch when she's hit, so you can't stun-lock her (the only way to melee-kill most shibito). She also wields a shovel than can kill you dead in a single swing. Unfortunately, two of the utterly obtuse "secret objectives" require you to kill her.
For the first one, the character you're playing as doesn't even have a weapon to begin with. So what you have to do is fetch an umbrella from supply closet, take a longer and substantially more difficult route around the hospital, lure her towards you and then pull out a completely innocuous fire extinguisher. The foam somehow blinds her and while she's angrily swinging the shovel at empty air you have to creep up behind her and beat her senseless.
The second one's even worse in some ways, because she bum-rushes you in the very end of the level and your character is armed with a pistol. It takes six shots to down her. If you have less than six bullets, then you're shit outta luck and jolly well fucked.
I may need to make a US account or something. Or maybe UK?
Yes, shibito come back alive. I'm not sure how much time passed, but it wasn't more than 5 minutes when the lady who you slammed through the window who then attacks you again, uh, gets up and attacks you again. I was busy dialing the number on the telephone when all of a sudden I started getting hit in the back.
I can affirm that first person mode is, indeed, awsome. Holding R2 lightly (it's the zoom button) can mimic first person mode until you reach the shack and can press R3 for permanent first person view. The head bobbing and view movement when attacking and getting hit are really, really well done. It also gives you a better view of what's in front of you, and you can see small details better. The shibito look great, and you get a better view of the blood splattering on sidekick girl when she attacks shibito. It's just an all around more immersive experience.
Is there anything to do in the basement of the shack? I didn't actually notice it the first time I played. I also found the video tape and the can opener, the latter of which was apparently a key objective for the archive or something.
Lastly, if anyone has a surround sound system, could you please go to the options (select button) and try out Midnight Mode for me? It supposedly makes many of the smaller ambient sounds louder, but it isn't available for stereo or mono sound modes.
Also, I forgot to mention that Famitsu gave this new Siren a 9/9/9/9. That means that each of the four reviewers gave the game a 9 out of 10. That's got to count for something.
Siren 1 was difficult (and for many people frustrating) for some of the following reasons:
* Stealth based gameplay where you were actually in serious trouble most of the time if you were detected.
* Many levels where you had no weapons or only weak weapons
* Crazy Graphic Adventure game puzzle logic that almost necessitated the need of a Walkthrough
* Maps where your current position was not displayed
* Defenseless escorts in some levels
* Clunky controls
* Enemies come back to life after a period of time
* Insta-kill snipers if you went to certain areas that you weren't supposed to
Siren 2 was less frustrating for the following reasons:
* Adjustable difficulty levels. Tons of health on Easy mode.
* More hints on what you're supposed to do (Hints can be turned off if you want the challenge).
* Maps show where you are.
* More weapons plus you can pick up weapons from enemies.
* Escorted characters can pick up weapons and fight with you.
* Greater variety of levels: in some levels stealth is essential, in other levels, run & gun is a viable option
* Better controls
* Very few insta-kill snipers
I would assume that Siren: Blood Curse will follow Siren 2 as far as difficulty goes.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
My biggest problem with the game was that it was so god damn dark. I couldnt see anything, and I was dieing every 30 seconds. Eventually it gotten to the point were I'm just replaying the game over and over untill I memorize exactly what to do for the first 2 levels.
Then I gotten to the part where I had to escort this girl. That level was such BS. How the fuck can these snipers kill you 2 miles away in pitch darkness?! When I finally gotten to the end of that stage, it turns out my escort was still at the beginning of the freaking level! At that point I gave up and returned the game.
That's precisely the part where my little brother gave up on the game, while playing with a friend. When I came home with Siren a few weeks ago he couldn't believe I'd blown money on it, and proceeded to inform me of a brutal gauntlet of death involving an escort, a sniper, and a bridge.
Thoroughly intimidated, I decided to give it a shot anyway. Died probably twenty-five times before I even got to that bridge, and when I finally did, I tried (see: failed in the attempt) to cross it about five times while the Shibito was looking away before re-examining my tactics.
So later I'm chatting with my brother,
"So how you likin' Siren?"
"It's really good, actually - the faces in that game are fucking amazing. It's pretty incredible, what they were able to pull off on the PS2."
"Yeah, yeah... you get to the bridge yet?"
"That was like three stages ago."
Blank stare.
"You got past that bridge?" he asks.
"You didn't notice the side path?"
"There's a side path?"
"You can go around the bridge."
"Man, fuck you."
*
On the subject of Blood Curse:
Some dude on the GameFAQs forums has apparently had his "Asian" (Japanese and English) versions shipped already, and promises to post as to whether or not it has an English text option - information I'll be sure to pass along here for weal or woe.
Gimmie English text/in-game instructions and I'm sold. Siren seems like the perfect item for an inaugural PlayAsia purchase.
*
On the JP/US demo experience:
I played the JP demo a few months ago, and while I liked the graphics and the combat, the controls were a bit of a hassle (a lack of English instructions) - after a playthrough-and-a-half I put it aside, feeling thoroughly beige about the whole affair.
Upon trying the US demo, however, it was like the clouds parted, and I ended up having a blast. Putting a zombie's head through the wall? Fun! Getting shot and then beating a miner-zombie to death with a pickaxe? Funner. Blowing away five-or-so zombies with the miner's gun? Fun-but-been-there-done-that. Shoving a mining rail car down a slope, hopping in and blasting through the not-quite-dead-enough bodies of those five dead zombies? Funnest!
Also, is it just me or is there no sightjacking in the demo?
Incidentally, I remember buying the first siren at frys for like 10 dollars and instantly hating it. Looks like the team learned from their mistakes, if the demo is any indication.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop