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Angela design reportedly won't be changed in the final verison of Silent Hill 2 despite negative internet reactions

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
The uncomfortable truth of the matter is no one is not going to buy this game just because Angela looks like dogwater and those paupers at Bloober know it.
The reason I'm not excited for this game because gameplay they shown so far has been underwhelming, it felt like I was watching wanna be RE game.

I like RE games, I like them a lot but thats not what I want out of Silent Hill games. Honestly I'm not in to first person games but P.T. felt more of SH game than this did.

And this poorly made character models not really helping it at all.
 
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Griffon

Member
The uncomfortable truth of the matter is no one is going to not buy this game just because Angela looks like dogwater and those paupers at Bloober know it.
Actually that was the final nail in the coffin for me.

Before Angela I was thinking about maybe getting it. But now I just know they're taking the piss, the game is infected with DEI trash and I'm nopping the fuck out.
 
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My problem isn't that she's good looking or not, the new one doesn't grab the essence of the original. Her being more underweight with hollow cheeks contributes to her creepy, unhinged vibes. It suggests this person doesn't eat enough, something's eating away at her from the inside. Same with her narrow, downturned eyes. This new version, what does her look tell you about her? Nothing. Actually she doesn't look ugly, it's just a bland character design. You can have a creepy, overweight character, but SH2 already has one, his name is Eddie.

Not like the original was a looker anyway:

5z9KEZp.jpeg
v28XK5t.jpeg
OrtNc00.jpeg
phLrGa2.jpeg
 

laynelane

Member
I’ll stick to the original.

I’ll probably play it once just to see if it’s any better qol wise.

Fat angela who supposed to be
an object of desire of her father. Pretty obvious with her related boss fight.

And Maria who’s supposed to be
a sexual take on her true self based on James’ desire. Literally has a scenario where she works on a strip club/seedy bar

There’s just a lot of red flags with some scenes at least in the previous trailers that seem to think the audience are dumb and try to make some stuff super obvious instead of allowing you to gradually uncover stuff.

I have the same concern. The original game does deal with sensitive matters, but in a way that allowed the player to gradually piece everything together. Dialogue, symbolism, environments, characters, etc. - it all came together in the end. I guess what I'm wondering is if Bloober is going to be able to capture the subtlety of the original's storytelling or are they going to go the route that the audience needs to be protected from such disturbing topics. I have pretty big doubts considering they hired sensitivity/DEI consultants.
 
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TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
The reason I'm not excited for this game because gameplay they shown so far has been underwhelming, it felt like I was watching wanna be RE game.

I like RE games, I like them a lot but thats not what I want out of Silent Hill games. Honestly I'm not in to first person games but P.T. felt more of SH game than this did.

And this poorly made character models not really helping it at all.

My first vibe was Homecoming.

Which...isn't the best first impression.
 
I personally don't see anything to be upset about Angela's design (Not saying people who are upset are unreasonable, I'm saying I don't share that opinion).

But I do have an issue with Maria's design though. And I know gamingcirclejerk adjancent people will twist it as "gamers are horny again", when that's not the point. Maria looking the way she did in the original, had a artistic purpose to it beyond giving you a boner.

If the responsibility of "sanitizing" Maria's design, lies with Sweet Baby, I'm not surprised, because the people at Sweet Baby are not artists.
 

rapid32.5

Member
This remake does feel and look like a 70$ remake. Wasn't RE4R $60 at launch?
I would gladly buy PS2/XB version in 4K on consoles.
 
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Chittagong

Gold Member
I am a huge Silent Hill 2 fan, it’s still my number one gaming experience ever.

With that context, I continue to be baffled by the negativity for the remake. The videos very much capture the essence of what I was feeling back in the day when playing the game.

Angela is supposed to be an awkard looking character, looks wise kinda the closest I can think of is that uptight Jack Bauer sidekick from 24. Not upright ugly, but awkward looking.

James to me looks fine, he was always generic, good looking guy. And the little girl, well in the trailer she is the little girl she always was.

The hard ones to nail will be the fat dude and Maria, they both have extremely distinct looks and vibes. For Maria, it is that sexual, Christina Aquilera meets Melrose Place look.

My main concern is whether they can bottle the absolute weirdness of the original enough, the Francis Bacon like surreal nightmare rather than an American horror flick.
 

MacReady13

Member
My problem isn't that she's good looking or not, the new one doesn't grab the essence of the original. Her being more underweight with hollow cheeks contributes to her creepy, unhinged vibes. It suggests this person doesn't eat enough, something's eating away at her from the inside. Same with her narrow, downturned eyes. This new version, what does her look tell you about her? Nothing. Actually she doesn't look ugly, it's just a bland character design. You can have a creepy, overweight character, but SH2 already has one, his name is Eddie.
Spot on. That is exactly what I took from her in the original. In this remake, she looks healthy and not withdrawn at all! She's meant to be traumatized yet looks the complete opposite!
 

Dr.Morris79

Gold Member
Honestly not getting the 'Angela is now ugly' angle, she was never meant to be a looker ffs.. :messenger_unamused:

What should be everyone's concerns is why a fucking DEI company needed to be brought into a psycological horror game that didn't need touching in any sensitivity department.. it's a self contained story. Why would they even need to be there?

What even is that?

How much did these parasites charge?
 

begotten

Member
Because it’s an industry wide virus that we’d like to stop the contagion before it spreads to game we do care about?

Nah it's not.

Every character they've shown in these trailers seem to look inconsistent and off depending on the angle and the lighting they're in. James and his hair look different all the time, and Laura only looks good in the dark. It's as if footage has been captured at various stages of development. You can see it with the interiors too.

Clinging to one angle and shot of a 19 year-old character and crying "Sweet Baby!" because she's not Anime enough. Did you play the original and just miss the fact that the females looked like dudes and all shared deformed primitive features?

8IvVn1m.png
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Dmx9jRu.png


(Cherry picking, what a great thing right)

The most iconic shot of Angela, which hopefully you actually know, looks great and has been honoured:

APFuyJF.png
 
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SenkiDala

Member
That subject make me very upset, and what makes me the most upset is the Design of MARIA.

GO3OL3SX0AA682F.jpg


To explain why I am upset I'll need to spoil the canon ending of the game.
Maria is obviously, and it is known from the beginning, the "sexy double" of Mary, James's dead wife. She is the same woman, we can see it from the beginning.
So the question is "WHY THE FUCK does she look exactly similar than James's wife but a lot sexier".
And the answer to this question is the point of the fucking game.
She looks like Mary, but sexier, because all the monsters of Silent Hill, included Maria are a representation of James's fractured mind. In the case of Maria, the most important character in the game, she is sexy because Mary is actually really dead, and she died of a long lasting disease, which caused her physical state to deteriorate greatly, to the point of becoming repulsive. Maria is sexy BECAUSE she is what James's wanted Mary to be, this is the image of her he has in his fractured mind, as her disease lasted long, he ended up by being disgusted by her and even feeling upset to her being sick... because the burden is so hard to carry (note : my both parents died of cancer, mom from a brain cancer, and I can relate, you get angry at them for not getting better, horrible thing to feel).
He even ended up "killing" Mary, his wife, to shorten her agony (or his agony?), pyramid head being a representation of his guilt.

So her original design IS not only important, but this is the key of the scenario of the game... Of its magnificence. So making the "wild, sexy, temptress" Maria a random girl dressed randomly... not sexy at all... Is an insult to the original material, and an absolute proof that either Bloober didn't play the original game, or worst : they did but didn't understand (which means they must be pretty dumb). And the look on her face on the screenshot I posted... Like the "oh no I am innocent girl, I'm afraid, where are we, what am I doing here?" look on her face... This is ridiculous.

silent-hill-2-maria-silent-hill-11065314-800-10251.jpg

This is Maria, does she look like a scared girl ?

james_maria.0.jpg

The look in her eyes... The temptress, the wild Maria.

Compared to the one in the remake...

Damn I'm so disappointed.
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
What sucks is Konami will learn the wrong lesson about this when it flops. They'll think we just don't want remakes. Meanwhile capcom is doing it right and killing it.
They ain't immune, they gave Ashley & Jill a fucking Skort for fucks sakes.
But at least they respected the design.
So far everyone has kept their old design with a few updated details except for Maria which has had completely redesigned
From this
PVc7gwP.jpeg

To
jbGwBE7.jpeg


Not that it's bad but the original was designed that way for a reason that relates to Mary & James
and it's generally a style from that era too.
I just don't understand the reasoning behind it.
Some say it's desexualising...but really?
It's a pretty casual look
And as I said before Mary's & Maria's Designs are a flip of eachother
They kinda the same but not
And after looking at this I can't believe there is a 20 years difference between them.
 
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I just don’t understand why companies continue to hire these kinds of groups. There’s no reason for it. Make the game you want to make and let the market decide what they want. No outside group needed!
 
The reason I'm not excited for this game because gameplay they shown so far has been underwhelming, it felt like I was watching wanna be RE game.

I like RE games, I like them a lot but thats not what I want out of Silent Hill games. Honestly I'm not in to first person games but P.T. felt more of SH game than this did.

And this poorly made character models not really helping it at all.
okay, definitely 2 points scored on that one...
 
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SHA

Member
Its not even about model looking “too realistic” it just looks like a badly made model with poor expression.

For Monster Hunter Wild Capcom making character models more “realistic“but still managed make them looking waaaaaaaay better.

JbxLI4f.gif
It's capcom, they seduce you from characters look and surprise you with a shorter story.
 

begotten

Member
Read my post above and you might understand why it matters that much for this game. Maria being attractive is the key of the story of SH2.

Your post above, and you thinking Maria being attractive is important, just shows you have the same interpretation of the game that my dog would have had.
 
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36FhY2H.png


Here's the original PS2 model.

They've used the ingame model as reference, not the CGI one. And they look very similar, imo.

Thing is, Bloober sucks in terms of character models. This is not due to Baby Inc or anything like that, they just suck at modeling characters.

And about Maria being "sanitized". It wasnt a huge change in terms of design and it will work storywise anyways.

But sure, lets have some 20 pages talking about Baby Inc influence or whatever
That's a stupid reason to make her look that way. It's like saying Cloud in Remake should've been a pointy, polygonal mess.
 

taizuke

Member
Her design is the least of my worries. While in some instances the graphics can look good, everything else looks bland. Especially the melee and shooting mechanics, it's like they don't have any weight.

I want to like this game because i've never truly played the series outside of demos and The Room on a little bit (always preferred RE) but this is not looking good.
 

Madflavor

Member
The uncomfortable truth of the matter is no one is going to not buy this game just because Angela looks like dogwater and those paupers at Bloober know it.

I think this might be one of those games where bad reviews can impact sales. Silent Hill isn't as popular as Resident Evil, it's got less mass appeal, and Silent Hill 2 is kinda a sacred game to a lot of fans. The footage and trailers for the remake have been pretty polarizing, with a good amount of people on the fence or not interested. I think if the game comes out to less than 80 on MC, there might be a good amount of folks who will pass on the game, myself included.
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
The real problem here is not the model itself (although the eyebrows could probably make Brezhnev blush and the face is too wide), it's the lack of complex in-game rendering and lighting, subsurface scattering, contact shadows, and all sorts of other shit to make the face look more realistic and grounded into the game's world. But with all that said, unfortunately we live in the world where pre-rendered and even in-game Eileen madel from 2004 looks miles better than modern character models in AAA games.

sh4_art_char_06_eileen_galvin.jpg

sh4_art_char_09_eileen_galvin.jpg


Anyway, I'm sure Angela will be fixed via mods, plus she wasn't a looker even in the original game tbh, unlike Maria.
 
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ShadowNate

Member
Not a problem for me. This is Angela we're talking about. The remake model is ok.

It couldn't possibly capture the subtleties of the design for the original that were meant to add to her looking more bizarre and off putting. That would be really high expectations when the remake does everything from scratch and with what is possibly a really small budget for a title of this impact on the series. And it's bleeping Bloober on the helm so expectations are to be adjusted accordingly anyway.

She looks fine and serviceable for the purposes of her arc in the game. Which hopefully won't get botched.

Another thing to consider was that, at the time, Konami were fucking wizards at making in-game characters faces look life-like (yes, outside of the CGI cutscenes). Of course James' model was the best example for this, since his is the first occurrence of experiencing that amazing work in-game. This is something that the remake could never repeat, since it's near impossible or really rare to happen again. It was basically a specific gaming era thing. To outdo spectacularly what were considered the hard limits of modelling tech of your time.

Yet, Angela is... well Angela. It doesn't matter if she's now a bit more bloated on the face. She's plain looking, still a bit bizarre, albeit not as bizarre. Her voice acting is good. She's fine for what she's meant to be.
 
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