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Silent Hill 2 Remake releases October 8th 2024! | State of Play

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
How much should I be paying for it? I see crazy prices on eBay.
I wouldn’t pay more than $50 for it. You might call a local mom and pop store and see what they sell it for. If you can find it cheaper online, grab that copy. At first I would have said $15-$20, but it’s gone up a lot since I last looked. A lot of the sold copies on eBay went for over $50. I’d filter the ones eBay has and see what the cheapest listing is. Also check other outlets, but don’t spend $70 on it. lol I’d sell you my copy if you thought about that.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Would you recommend this to me, Vick?

It’s expensive on eBay but I got a PS3 and never played it.

I picked up the X360 version of Downpour earlier this year for $35 from estarland. I think I picked up the last 'loose' disc they had without the cover and case.


The Xbox version 'compelte' is over $60 now but you can get a PS3 copy for $42 without any manual or cover (a loose disc basically) and print your own cover out. That's what I did.
 
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Denton

Member
I just tried (for the first time ever) Xenia Canary in order to see how Downpour runs on PC.
Added the patches, enabled 60fps and 16 aniso.
It is quite hilarious how simple it is to make running (no faffing about with controller setups and what not) but there are some issues:
1) for some reason there is tearing eventhough it runs at 60fps and vsync is enabled in xenia config file
2) for some reason when I load my save, there is blinking "saving" prompt that does not go away
3) there is quite a bit of shader compilation stutter

And I did not find out yet how to increase resolution.
But still, I am somewhat surprised how easy it is to make it run.

Also, Yamaoka is a genius, but I love the music in the entire intro section of Downpour by Daniel Licht. Rest in peace.
 
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Vick

Gold Member
Would you recommend this to me, Vick?

It’s expensive on eBay but I got a PS3 and never played it.
I would definitely recommend the game, but not on PS3.
If you really want to give it a shot, I would try to track down the game on 360 along with a used Xbox, as that version is drastically superior in many ways and probably cheaper as well.
Both have performance issues, but at least the extremely noticeable resolution increase and IQ would make the playthrough more bearable on the Xbox.

Also, Yamaoka is a genius, but I love the music in the entire intro section of Downpour by Daniel Licht. Rest in peace.
Same, Bus to Nowhere has stuck with me ever since.

 
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Shakka43

Member
The Game is on discount on GreenManGaming(Steam). I don't usually preorder but there is almost $20 to save on the deluxe edition.
tbJiYPu.jpeg
 
I'm willing to give it a chance. I only played the original SH2 many, many years ago. This still has another 4+ months of development to go and I'm hopeful it all comes together in the final stretch.

Realistically, it may not be on par with the original, but if it's a 7-7.5/10, that's okay for me if I'm honest.

Theres been many a game I've enjoyed that weren't critical darlings in my gaming time.
 

Denton

Member
If you really want to give it a shot, I would try to track down the game on 360 along with a used Xbox, as that version is drastically superior in many ways and probably cheaper as well.
I just played Xenia PC version for about two hours. In 1440p at 60fps. The only issue I still got is shader compilation stutter, which is annoying. I hope it will lessen more and more as more shaders get compiled. But it is playable and looks pretty good.
I am so annoyed Vatra were not able to make native PC version. Czech devs for whom PC is bread and butter! God dammit.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
I'm willing to give it a chance. I only played the original SH2 many, many years ago. This still has another 4+ months of development to go and I'm hopeful it all comes together in the final stretch.

Realistically, it may not be on par with the original, but if it's a 7-7.5/10, that's okay for me if I'm honest.

Theres been many a game I've enjoyed that weren't critical darlings in my gaming time.

Unless you're a rabid culture warrior I haven't seen anything at all worthy of major complaint yet.

The negativity surrounding the game really makes me sad, because there are far more relevant things to worry about. Such as the fact that the content found in the original release is not going to be considered sufficient for a full-price release in the 2024 marketplace. Its a relatively short game, and the different endings don't add a huge amount to the play-time.

But no, rather than discussion over if and how they are going to address actual content and gameplay updating, we're side-tracked onto ideological conflicts about the width of a side-character's jawline. As if that matters to anyone!
 

RaduN

Member
Unless you're a rabid culture warrior I haven't seen anything at all worthy of major complaint yet.

The negativity surrounding the game really makes me sad, because there are far more relevant things to worry about. Such as the fact that the content found in the original release is not going to be considered sufficient for a full-price release in the 2024 marketplace. Its a relatively short game, and the different endings don't add a huge amount to the play-time.

But no, rather than discussion over if and how they are going to address actual content and gameplay updating, we're side-tracked onto ideological conflicts about the width of a side-character's jawline. As if that matters to anyone!
There is plenty of talk about how this remake is completely oblivious about original's subtlety in delivering the themes and narrative, and how completely off this one is, in terms of characterisation, VA and pretty much everything that made the original such a complex and cohesive experience in the first place.

I mean, look a few posts above yours for a quick example of: i have no clue what the fuck the original was all about, but i'm the director of the remake.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
There is plenty of talk about how this remake is completely oblivious about original's subtlety in delivering the themes and narrative, and how completely off this one is, in terms of characterisation, VA and pretty much everything that made the original such a complex and cohesive experience in the first place.

I mean, look a few posts above yours for a quick example of: i have no clue what the fuck the original was all about, but i'm the director of the remake.

No, if you're talking about the Laura on the wall shots they probably had to change it keep it visually consistent.

See, interesting thing about Silent Hill 2 visually is that there are no ceilings. Well, strictly speaking every room*, almost every corridor, has its height artificially extended in order to accommodate the camera. Its a weird thing because based on the way the view works you tend not to consciously notice how "off" it all is. More problematically for Bloober, now they are upping the overall detail and changing the camera position I doubt they can get away with the same visual sleight of hand and will have to adjust stuff.

Go play the original, or watch a walkthrough and its very apparent that the dimensions of the games interior spaces are simply not realistically proportioned. Then compare it with the footage of the remake's gameplay... I think its pretty obvious that they've adjusted it down to make it more naturalistic.

Its funny, this is a massive, massive consequential detail of changing the presentation to fit modern expectations, and yet it's all about costume changes for the peanut gallery.


*Actually the one exception is the Flesh Lip fight as that actual needs the the weird double-height area for its mechanics.
 
What is truly baffling, is that a great majority of people complaining about this and calling the original SH2 a classic, have likely never played it, emulation or otherwise.

I mean we're going on the better part of 3 decades...

This is akin to REmake coming out and saying it looks horrible and if you really want to experience it, go back and play the PS1 classic.

I replayed SH2 and 3 this year, and 3 was great but 2 was damn near unplayable. Gameplay is/was shit... that damn wooden board.

Anyways, I'm excited and had zero hype or faith prior to this latest transmission.

This effort by Bloober looks amazing, and anyone saying otherwise is part of the problem, and the reason we can't have nice things.
Is this projection? I see no reason why non-SH fans will make up playing the classics just to shit on this game. Anybody who's actually placed the game, in the period it was released would know right of the bat that the gameplay was "clunky", even back then. That was part of the charm. But then fans would know this because they played the original game and jumping to the PS2 was a big improvement. Comparing it to modern control conventions is ridiculous and shows you're not arguing in good faith.

I think the criticism has gotten to the point that it's now just 'fans' being such jaded fucking bastards that even a pretty competent looking remake, and possibly the best traditional looking SH release since SH4, is being shit on over such pettiness. The Resident Evil remakes like RE2 and RE4 get a ton of praise and themselves had some similar concessions in minor areas like character design, yet when this gets a similar quality of treatment it gets mercilessly shit on. Double standards out the ass.
Really? You're putting Bloober in the same category as CAPCOM's A-team? So whenever some one else makes an open world game, they should be given the benefit of the doubt that it will have the same quality as R* output? Come on, mate, please be serious. I know this remake has unearned criticism but nobody can take you seriously with responses like these.
If I hear one more millennial/zoomer say "janky" again and again (youtube reactions to this remake) I'm gonna crack some heads.
Look, I don't wanna play the age card for the sake of it, but to understand the bigger picture
and context of SH2's impact you had to be there back in 2001, I was 23 back then.

And this context is that even back then, it was 'janky'. Every seasoned gamer back then was perfectly aware
that is part of what makes it tick.

Impressions so far look decent imo, certainly refreshing enough in the parts where it's desirable.
And besides, they still have some time to polish things up before the master code goes gold.
You guys say boomers and us genX'ers are old men screaming at clouds, but you youngsters are quite the champions at complaining too.
It's like people in this forum forget the PlayStation existed then. The games were janky and fiddly. It's why we've always wanted the next-gen experience. But we learned to love them anyways and going from that to the PlayStation 2 was a massive game changer for pretty much most sequels. SH included.
 

The Fartist

Gold Member
The graffiti in the trailer really bothers me, don't get me wrong I like graffiti, it's just really out of place, here. It totally pulls me out of the Silent Hill atmosphere.

2IXXLiw.jpeg


Still, day, fucking one.
 

Flabagast

Member
While there is a big jump graphically
This particular side-by-side doesn't really show it.
That's not a knock on SH2 Remastered visuals, But credit to the original.
It's made to think there a 23 year difference between them.
Yeah the original was really ahead of its time and still holds up quite well visually.

Stellar art direction (but the environments in the remake look very good too)
 

RaduN

Member
No, if you're talking about the Laura on the wall shots they probably had to change it keep it visually consistent.

See, interesting thing about Silent Hill 2 visually is that there are no ceilings. Well, strictly speaking every room*, almost every corridor, has its height artificially extended in order to accommodate the camera. Its a weird thing because based on the way the view works you tend not to consciously notice how "off" it all is. More problematically for Bloober, now they are upping the overall detail and changing the camera position I doubt they can get away with the same visual sleight of hand and will have to adjust stuff.

Go play the original, or watch a walkthrough and its very apparent that the dimensions of the games interior spaces are simply not realistically proportioned. Then compare it with the footage of the remake's gameplay... I think its pretty obvious that they've adjusted it down to make it more naturalistic.

Its funny, this is a massive, massive consequential detail of changing the presentation to fit modern expectations, and yet it's all about costume changes for the peanut gallery.


*Actually the one exception is the Flesh Lip fight as that actual needs the the weird double-height area for its mechanics.
Nah. The perspective is the same (in that scene i mean). The Remk is simply not giving 2 shits about the symbolism, that's it.
 

Killer8

Member
Really? You're putting Bloober in the same category as CAPCOM's A-team? So whenever some one else makes an open world game, they should be given the benefit of the doubt that it will have the same quality as R* output? Come on, mate, please be serious. I know this remake has unearned criticism but nobody can take you seriously with responses like these.

No, I am not at all saying Bloober is equivalent to Capcom. I have no idea how the game will ultimately turn out. But I am judging it on face value and it's clear that this is a fully fledged AAA remake in terms of both visual quality as well as how much of the design has been reworked. Put this:



Next to:



There is no dramatic difference in terms of visual quality (i'd hope as much since Bloober are using Unreal Engine 5). Anyone who says SH2 remake is a step down or looks like a PS3 game is frankly fucking delusional. Even the game mechanics are similar due to the transition to the over the shoulder perspective.

The point I was making was that many of the things being dogged on - primarily character design and tone - are also things that Capcom's games were dogged on despite their ultimate quality winning out. If someone showed me an open world game that looked as a good as a Rockstar one, but almost all the criticism was being leveled at things Rockstar also does poorly - that is a double standard to me.

We should of course wait for the game to release, but shitting on it for things Capcom are also weak at (who are not perfect themselves and who even get B-team's to do their work for them eg. RE3 Remake) is unfair. There's giving undue benefit of the doubt to a developer but on the flip-side there's also assuming the absolute worst.
 
First of all, as Killer8 Killer8 said, you have to be delusional if you thought that gameplay reveal looked bad. I mean the details, lighting, seamless fog. It was amazing, not sure what some of you here are expecting. Secondly, all those that are so stuck on the old SH2 and making comparisons, I really think you should look at the faces of the characters from then and then compare. They look so outdated and doll-like. Not sure if its this thread or another one that made a screenshot of side-by-side of new and old designs. It's laughable but the point is people have some nostalgia effect not letting them think those old faces look way worse than the ones today.

Also SH was never a graphical powerhouse even at its peak so not sure why the already great-looking remake needs to reach some impossible graphical fidelity as if it was known for pushing boundaries. You say controls and gameplay looks janky? Have you played old SH 1-3? What exactly are you comparing it to because I dont see new resident evil games doing any better. This isnt The Last of Us. You arent some superhero that can wield every weapon perfectly or climb a building with his bare hands. You are just a dude that picked up that plank off the floor.

Really, are you sure OG Silent Hill 2 had better facial design:

4p2Nwit.jpeg
 
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tommib

Banned
First of all, as Killer8 Killer8 said, you have to be delusional if you thought that gameplay reveal looked bad. I mean the details, lighting, seamless fog. It was amazing, not sure what some of you here are expecting. Secondly, all those that are so stuck on the old SH2 and making comparisons, I really think you should look at the faces of the characters from then and then compare. They look so outdated and doll-like. Not sure if its this thread or another one that made a screenshot of side-by-side of new and old designs. It's laughable but the point is people have some nostalgia effect not letting them think those old faces look way worse than the ones today.

Also SH was never a graphical powerhouse even at its peak so not sure why the already great-looking remake needs to reach some impossible graphical fidelity as if it was known for pushing boundaries. You say controls and gameplay looks janky? Have you played old SH 1-3? What exactly are you comparing it to because I dont see new resident evil games doing any better. This isnt The Last of Us. You arent some superhero that can wield every weapon perfectly or climb a building with his bare hands. You are just a dude that picked up that plank off the floor.
Silent Hill 2 was a showcase with shadows and fog. There was nothing like it. Shadow rendering was above anything else at the time. It was peak technology. Your lantern would cast real time shadows on everything. I never saw that before SH2 back in the day.
 
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Silent Hill 2 was a showcase with shadows and fog. There was nothing like it. Shadow rendering was above anything else at the time. It was peak technology. Your lantern would cast real time shadows on everything. I never saw that before SH2 back in the day.

And what exactly is the problem in the Remake with the fog? Its the best fog I have seen yet in modern gaming.
 

RaduN

Member
First of all, as Killer8 Killer8 said, you have to be delusional if you thought that gameplay reveal looked bad. I mean the details, lighting, seamless fog. It was amazing, not sure what some of you here are expecting. Secondly, all those that are so stuck on the old SH2 and making comparisons, I really think you should look at the faces of the characters from then and then compare. They look so outdated and doll-like. Not sure if its this thread or another one that made a screenshot of side-by-side of new and old designs. It's laughable but the point is people have some nostalgia effect not letting them think those old faces look way worse than the ones today.

Also SH was never a graphical powerhouse even at its peak so not sure why the already great-looking remake needs to reach some impossible graphical fidelity as if it was known for pushing boundaries. You say controls and gameplay looks janky? Have you played old SH 1-3? What exactly are you comparing it to because I dont see new resident evil games doing any better. This isnt The Last of Us. You arent some superhero that can wield every weapon perfectly or climb a building with his bare hands. You are just a dude that picked up that plank off the floor.

Really, are you sure OG Silent Hill 2 had better facial design:

4p2Nwit.jpeg
Mmm....no.

There is a little thing you guys (the grafix defenders) don't seem to get.
Nobody is arguing that the textures and polys are not much better. Tehnically is a good looking game i think, with more polish needed though, that's very obvious.
But compared to the original, in terms of character design (appearence, expressions, VA, etc) which is all tied to the fucking characterisation...well, this is where it all goes to shit.

Look no further than that pic you posted (though the fair comparison is to use the fmv faces from the original, because those are the most relevant...but anyway). The new design shows this sad broken family man... i mean, i could cry just looking at him...you can almost feel all his pain and suffering (the new VA tries very very hard to show this as well), while the original design shows a clueless hunk (with a calm, clueless, almost innocent voice).

And this is where the biggest issue is: the entire story and all that incredible, unique, highly praised, still unmatched pshychological aspect of the game, revolves around the original James. James can not be any other way, because then you have a totally different story.
This is about as non-spoilery as i can be on this matter.

This is the big damn problem, not some polys.

And there are other red flags in virtually all such aspects (from the little we saw so far) where intimate knowledge of the original's narrative and themes would have been mandatory for the remake team.

ps. As others said, the original was an incredible graphical achievement back then, and it's sequel too.
 
ps. As others said, the original was an incredible graphical achievement back then, and it's sequel too.

Sorry but no. I was there when RE2 was killing it in every magazine and when SH1 came out it looked dated and was talked about in reviews. SH2 and 3, nobody said they didnt look good but no, nobody said this is some out of this world graphics that people expect now.
 
Why couldn’t they have asked a Japanese or Korean developer to make the game. At least we would be getting good looking character models. Proud to be living in Japan already for 15 years, the country where it is still okay to be attracted to hot women.
 
I don’t get blooper team, they are wondering why everyone hates them. Then nearly every person says that the Angela design is not good.

But instead of appreciate the feedback, they are just like: STFU, we are not changing that.

So there they have one reason why everyone hates them, but they are just in denial.
 

Matsuchezz

Member
I don’t get blooper team, they are wondering why everyone hates them. Then nearly every person says that the Angela design is not good.

But instead of appreciate the feedback, they are just like: STFU, we are not changing that.

So there they have one reason why everyone hates them, but they are just in denial.
Reading a lot of the comments in this thread and others, I wonder why would any developer try to please whiny little bitches, it serves no purpose they wont be pleased no matter what. One guy is complaining about a fucking graffiti, the original game had graffiti in some walls, that I am not going to look for them, they are there. And some other people are complaining for such ridiculous stuff which is ok, if they don't like it that is fine, but stating that something turns to shit just because they don't like something is ridiculous, because it's not a quality of the product issue, it's a personal dislike and that's it.
What is left for me to read in this thread is that someone claims that when he/she played the game for the very first time 23+ years ago, he/she had hemorrhoids and that added another layer of pain to the experience and now that he/she doesn't have them, will make the experience different and it will be shit. Jeeez!
Entitled brats yell at people when they are no getting it their way. It never ends. I hope Blobber just polish the game from here until the game goes gold and the design of the game is already locked and finished. I just hope they could add the previous outfit for some of the characters. That could be neat.

I think as a remake they should take some liberties here and there and since Sato is no longer with Konami and he is not involved with this remake we can overlook those changes related to some of the direction of the cinematics, voice over and change in design. This is another take on that fabulous game.
Graphics are great, Design of characters is different but fits the game and universe, Voice over I think is pretty good by these different actors. People from previous games are involved such as MAsahiro Ito and YAmaoka and they are redesigning the environments the lighting rearranging the OST, and all that is welcomed by me. I have fallen in love with rearranged music by the same artist of a beloved song before. I for one, don't like 1 to 1 remakes. What is the purpose of that.

Just looking at the remaked fucking toluca lake when James arrive to Silent Hill, I smiled and knew This was going to be awesome, different alright and I will appreciate those differences when I play the full game.
 
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Lysandros

Member
Sorry but no. I was there when RE2 was killing it in every magazine and when SH1 came out it looked dated and was talked about in reviews. SH2 and 3, nobody said they didnt look good but no, nobody said this is some out of this world graphics that people expect now.
Silent Hill 1 was more graphically advanced and immersive compared RE2, you are comparing a game with full 3D scenery to a semi 2D title with pre rendered backgrounds.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Silent Hill 1 was more graphically advanced and immersive compared RE2, you are comparing a game with full 3D scenery to a semi 2D title with pre rendered backgrounds.

?

He's not wrong.

Late 90's PS1 3D didn't look flattering even back in the day.

RE2's pre-rendered backgrounds give it a distinct visual advantage when looking at them both.



Silent_Hill_(PSX)_04.png


resident-evil-2-ps1.png
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
?

He's not wrong.

Late 90's PS1 3D didn't look flattering even back in the day.

RE2's pre-rendered backgrounds give it a distinct visual advantage when looking at them both.



Silent_Hill_(PSX)_04.png


resident-evil-2-ps1.png
I think people forget that Silent Hill had a town map on the PS1 rendered in 3D
They was pushing the system and that's why it aged badly
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I think people forget that Silent Hill had a town map on the PS1 rendered in 3D
They was pushing the system and that's why it aged badly

That's fine, but it's not wrong to say that 1999~ era PS1 3D looks ass. MGS1 mostly gets away with it cause it has a forced top-down perspective and operates in smaller zones.

Capcom may very well have chosen pre-rendered backgrounds for technical reasons but it also ends up with them being more impactful.
 

Lysandros

Member
I think people forget that Silent Hill had a town map on the PS1 rendered in 3D
They was pushing the system and that's why it aged badly
I quite like SH1 graphical style despite its limitations, it was a decent effort. But in all fairness a game like Soul Reaver which also came in 1999 showed that PS1 could produce much more impressive visuals in a fully 3D world.
 
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