So I finished Silent Hill 2 last night (after not playing it since it came out) and I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed. For one the game is a bit short. I beat it in about 7 hours and that's with exploring heavily and making sure I didn't miss any items/secrets. Game length wasn't a large negative though. The first one was about the same length.
Not enough monster variety. The game and it's boss fights were extremly easy. The puzzles weren't hard. The story was predicatable. It wasn't nearly as scary as the first one. The only thing I absolutly loved were the graphics.
I think it has a good story, good graphics and a spooky atmosphere. But it, in my opinion, played/controlled crappier than the original SH, SH3 and just about every RE game out there except for the original.
Didn't finish it yet. So long enough for me I guess.
It started out great and stayed there until Pete's. Halfway into the hospital and the next main area it got a little bland though. For some reason people popped out from anywhere and I didn't know why but James didn't seem to care.
Sometimes there's great atmosphere like in the beginning and at Heaven's Night / Pete's and I'm a sucker for that so it's a hard choice. But SH1 is definitely scarier. SH2 has the best soundtrack of them all, though.
Silent Hill 2 just dropped the ball in terms of pushing the presentation of the world of Silent Hill further, and the story was predictable as all hell.
Silent Hill FTW!
James can go listen to emo music and slit his wrists on his own time. :lol
Silent Hill 2 might very well be my Game of the Generation when it's all said and done. Everything about the game was just perfect for me- the pace, the mood, all aspects of the atmosphere, Yamaoka's soundtrack, the story, etc.
Sure, it was easy, the controls weren't 'deep', and the main twist doesn't take a fucking detective to predict it from the beginning... but the way the game's story just dissolves further into hopelessness and lonliness as you progress is unlike anything else I've seen in a game.
During (late in game spoilers)
the fight with the two Pyramid Heads, I honestly didn't feel like I deserved to 'win'- what James had done and the fact that the whole game was his punishment, it was just a strange feeling I've never felt before in a game. Normally in games I get pumped up for the big fights, but that particular fight, from the get-go, there was just a feeling that I should let those two bastards walk up and skewer James. Of course my 'gotta keep playing the game' senses kicked in, mostly because I was fascinated in how this depressing story could end, but I'll never forget that initial feeling.
I really enjoy all 4 SH games for what they do individually, but after replaying all of them, exploring as much as I can in each game, emotionally I'm always drawn back to SH2.
All that being said, I can understand how it can click with some and not with others. It's not a game or story that is meant to cater to the mainstream. The themes are admittedly not something that a lot of people care to explore, it seems. *shrug*
I think the writers had a lot of balls to take on some of themes (some more subtle than others, that's for sure) tackled in this game, which really makes me hope they take that a step further for SH5. The Room had a lot of potential to deal with some really dark ideas, but sadly it seems Team Silent just didn't have the time to really flesh them out.
well, all of the main people involved with SH2 are still on Team Silent, with the exception of character designer Sato. They were just split between SH3 and 'Room 302' (which became SH4). Hopefully the full team is concentrated on the next gen Silent Hill. I don't think it's out of the question that we might get another gritty, gutsy SH like 2... it's just a lot less likely now that SH is more or less considered a popular franchise. Konami wants to sell copies, which brings in the whole 'create for the demographic' concern. So far, it's only been along the lines of 'adding more action'... but what comes next?
You heard it here first- SH5 to feature 'rapper taking a wrong turn to Silent Hill'. Voiced by Ja Rule.
well, all of the main people involved with SH2 are still on Team Silent, with the exception of character designer Sato. They were just split between SH3 and 'Room 302' (which became SH4). Hopefully the full team is concentrated on the next gen Silent Hill. I don't think it's out of the question that we might get another gritty, gutsy SH like 2... i
Well if it does happen it won't be with SH5. Someone posted some comments from Team Silent and they're still going to the action route with the series. Until they stop that crap it's never going to be like SH2.
Well if it does happen it won't be with SH5. Someone posted some comments from Team Silent and they're still going to the action route with the series. Until they stop that crap it's never going to be like SH2.
yeah, but Imamura also said in an interview they want to experiment with moody 'sunlight' sections and something (don't have the interview handy, although if inthezone shows up I'm sure he'd post it ) about the original story for SH3 that they weren't able to use back then showing up in the future. The vague hints about that original story, from what I recall, made it seem like it was along the lines of SH2.
I too am in the SH1 > SH2 camp but that doesn't mean SH2 doesn't rock. It does and some parts are fantastic but the entire series has been on a steady decline. Each game just gets a little bit worse with every new release. Such a shame since SH1 is one of my favorite Horror-style game of all time.
Well if it does happen it won't be with SH5. Someone posted some comments from Team Silent and they're still going to the action route with the series. Until they stop that crap it's never going to be like SH2.
I- After the underwhelming response SH4 got, we've been gathering opinions
from everywhere to make sure we come back strong with the next installment.
Sometimes the most vocal opinions, for example the desire for more battles,
are not always the best ones, especially for a series like this. We wanted
more melee combat in SH4, but realized from fan reaction that there was just
too much action, regardless of it being melee or not. That kind of action
doesn't make the atmosphere creepy anymore, but kind of obnoxious.
SH problem isn't the amount of action, it's the execution of it. The series has been slow and tedious in that regard and after 4 installsment it really hit hard. Make more encounters or don't, it's the quality of it that's really important.
SH problem isn't the amount of action, it's the execution of it. The series has been slow and tedious in that regard and after 4 installsment it really hit hard. Make more encounters or don't, it's the quality of it that's really important.
You could make SH5 with higher quality enemy encounters like the ones in, say, RE4. However, that'd still be focusing on something that SH's not about - the repetitive killing of hundreds of monsters.
If the fighting mechanics are iffy than low or high enemies it get's boring either way for that gaming portion. The purpose I was trying to say is you can make combat much more enjoyable overall regardless of numbers to improve the game in the grander sense. No need to be super action fest, you might have maybe 10 enemies in all of an entire area, but if designed extremely well in how they interact and the options you are given for confrontation, it can be a much better experience.
I think there has got to be a middle ground between improving the controls so fighting ungodly monstrosities isn't such a pain in the ace, and making Silent Hill into another action series with a dark atmosphere.
I'm still a fan, heck, I even liked SH4. But I don't think anybody will argue that the base controls could use some refinement.
On another note,
I've been purposely keeping myself in the dark about the SH movie, so far it looks good, good cast, good talent behind. I was just wondering would a movie that is faithful to the series be well recived by a mass audience?
If the film is true to the games, it will be plenty messed up and rather obtuse, and while I don't have a problem with that, will the multiplex crowd support a horror film that doesn't connect all the dots for them? Also one of which is practically assured an R rating and lacking any major "draw" for the WB network crowd.
I'm pretty sure the film won't suck, but will it be accepted by a larger audience then the rabid fans of Konami's 4th or 5th most popular series? I don't know.
So I finished Silent Hill 2 last night (after not playing it since it came out) and I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed. For one the game is a bit short. I beat it in about 7 hours and that's with exploring heavily and making sure I didn't miss any items/secrets. Game length wasn't a large negative though. The first one was about the same length.
Not enough monster variety. The game and it's boss fights were extremly easy. The puzzles weren't hard. The story was predicatable. It wasn't nearly as scary as the first one. The only thing I absolutly loved were the graphics.
I see the action part of the SH series as something that's generally lacking, but it doesn't ruin the rest of the game too much.
With that said though, if they actually improved the action and made it fun to play as well, SH games would be much better. Now, I'm not asking for a Res Evil 4 change...but look at Fatal Frame/Project Zero for example. It came up with a original gameplay style that not only was fun, but also increased the horror factor a lot. SH needs something like that I think. Also, the monsters in SH games aren't really that scary anymore...or maybe it's just because they're too easy to avoid.
SH2 was and still is the only Silent Hill game I played, I didn't like the combat system.. but I did like the music, atmosphere and story.. though I was dissapointed with the "scare-factor" it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.
the ending in a story is pretty important (movie, book, game) and damn did I like the one I had in SH2! (Water Ending)
SH3 was great and a good way to conclude the story from the first game. SH2 was just a great story and backgrounds and characters and well evrything it just revisioned silent hill for the better.
So long enough for me I guess.
