Support NeoGAF

[siamesedreamer]

I'm a certified Xbot and I was really impressed with the looks of Silent Hill 3.

What the hell happened with SH4? It looks like shit. Terrible.

I played the OXM version of the game and I was completely thrown off by the clunky FP-view and the graphics. I will not buy the game because of it.

 

[Sysgen]

Well maybe it was just because it was a demo. Speculation. I've read that SH4 is more action and less puzzles which suits me fine. I hate puzzles.

 

[cybercrash]

Keep in mind that SH4 started off in development as a different (non Silent Hill) game... Plus I believe they spent less time on it than on SH3 (not sure though) AND it's multiplatform, while with SH3 they could spend all their time tweaking their PS2 code and now they probably had to come up with easy-to-port code with tighter deadlines.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

Am I detecting some visual damage control? (cues screaming baby)

 

[RiZ III]

SH3 looked sharper. It had that shiny look. In sh4 thats gone. Its all kinda bland and blurred. Either way, the game looks pretty cool.

 

[IJoel]

Am I detecting some visual damage control? (cues screaming baby)

WTH!?

:lol

GAF REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS!

As for SH4, I thought it looked great at times, and bland an others. Completely mixed impressions.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

WTH!?

:lol

GAF REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS!

As for SH4, I thought it looked great at times, and bland an others. Completely mixed impressions.

Of course, you're an X-drone. Btw, I was joking but SH3 surpasses this easily if judging strictly by visuals alone.

 

[Lazy8s]

The game is very cinematic in its presentation of the graphics, so there's layers of filters and effects going on most of the time. Sometimes it works, like when distant lights seem to get scattered through the sickly haze in the air or when the view gives enough perspective on the scene to allow the depth of field effects to lend photorealism. Other times, the cinematic implementation is imprecise or perhaps mismatched, where focus is unclear and ugly transition bands cut across the image.

Even though the texturing is styled to be gritty and benefits from the extra noise provided by the grain filter, its quality is so low many times that it kills the effect. The human character models are done very well however, especially the meticulous detail and animation of the faces in cutscenes. But in gameplay, the character movement can be very choppy, where animation for attacking with a baseball bat, for example, can appear to sample at 15 fps even though the game's framerate is 30.

The impact of the visuals dilutes its potential without the deep shadowing that more enclosed space could've provided. The moodiness portrayed by Silent Hill 4's cinematic design is ultimately sieged by a crudeness of quality which doesn't allow it to blend into the scene.

 

[IJoel]

Of course, you're an X-drone. Btw, I was joking but SH3 surpasses this easily if judging strictly by visuals alone.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!

I mean, really... COME ON! Not everything is done as some part of a master plan. The game might actually look worse and the fact that he noticed maybe, JUST MAYBE, isn't some comment to prevent some damage of apocalyptic proportions.

 

[cybercrash]

Haven't played it myself yet but I've seen loads of media of it... It didn't seem to come near SH3 visually (technically).

 

[Vitten]

Not buying a game because of the graphics... that's the spirit !

Who needs gameplay anyway huh ?

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

Normally I'd agree, but a big part of Silent Hill is atmosphere, which is largely tied to graphics. In Silent Hill games atmosphere is more important than gameplay, so a hit in graphics might be enough to turn some fans off.

 

[dark10x]

Normally I'd agree, but a big part of Silent Hill is atmosphere, which is largely tied to graphics. In Silent Hill games atmosphere is more important than gameplay, so a hit in graphics might be enough to turn some fans off.

No.

When you ask someone which Silent Hill game is their favorite, you are bound to get different responses each and every time...but a lot of those people will say Silent Hill 1. If you haven't seen it in a while, I can tell you that it is a truly awful looking game. A complete visual mess, by today's standards. HOWEVER, it's still a very intense, atmospheric and scary experience...despite those issues. SH4 looks far superior...

Of course, it sounds as if SH4 is a lot less scary here.

Sadly, I agree with Lazy on his points here...except for the 15 fps character animation. When something is animated at a lower framerate than the rest of the game, it drives me mad. Halo PC had this problem as did Rayman 2 (among others). It's also similar to updating the reflection maps at half rate on XBOX. Most 60 fps XBOX games update their cubic maps at 30 fps whereas the 30 fps FORZA actually updates them at 15 fps.

It is something that sticks out to me the second I see it. I have very little experience with SH4 yet, however, but from whta I've seen, the animation is just a bit akward...not actually updated at 15 fps. It would look MUCH worse than it does now if that were the case. Of course, perhaps the animation is composed a low number of frames and they simply interpolate between them? Regardless, the animation is not sampled at a lower framerate than the rest of the game.

 

[Schmackos]

Sorry to hijack the thread. I'm currently playing SH1, and am probably going to finish the game in an hour or so (currently in the part where Harry just came out of the antique shop). So my question is whether or not it is worthwhile to replay the game when I finish so as to get all the extra weapons or simply go onto SH2 and 3.

BTW, I have to say that SH1 looks pretty bad but there is no denying that the atmosphere is fantastic despite the blockiness.

 

[dark10x]

Sorry to hijack the thread. I'm currently playing SH1, and am probably going to finish the game in an hour or so (currently in the part where Harry just came out of the antique shop). So my question is whether or not it is worthwhile to replay the game when I finish so as to get all the extra weapons or simply go onto SH2 and 3.

BTW, I have to say that SH1 looks pretty bad but there is no denying that the atmosphere is fantastic despite the blockiness.

First of all, make sure you get the GOOD ending (if possible). It isn't worth getting the extra weapons, to be honest...but you'll want to see the best ending.

After that, play Silent Hill 3. SH3 is the direct sequel to SH1 and should be played together. SH2, on the other hand (my favorite in the series), can be played by itself. SH3 is also ~5 hours long whereas SH2 took me about 12-13 hours (the first time through).

 

[ourumov]

Sorry to hijack the thread. I'm currently playing SH1, and am probably going to finish the game in an hour or so (currently in the part where Harry just came out of the antique shop). So my question is whether or not it is worthwhile to replay the game when I finish so as to get all the extra weapons or simply go onto SH2 and 3.

BTW, I have to say that SH1 looks pretty bad but there is no denying that the atmosphere is fantastic despite the blockiness.

I thought the game looked pretty good considering its age. Anyways it's the one that has scared me the most. I even had nightmares playing it.

 

[SaitoH]

Damn, I hate reading bad stuff about number 4. SH3 hit such a high water mark visually.

*Le sigh*

I'm still buying it though. =P

 

[Redbeard]

I've never played a Silent Hill game before, so I don't know how indicative the gameplay is of the series as a whole, but the SH4 demo was absolute garbage. Worse than garbage, it was the garbage juice that you find on the bottom of the trash can.

Loading between each tiny room in Harry's apartment: check.

Shitty controls: check.

Shitty animation: check.

Shitty combat: check.

Shitty looking enemies: check.

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

"No.

When you ask someone which Silent Hill game is their favorite, you are bound to get different responses each and every time...but a lot of those people will say Silent Hill 1. If you haven't seen it in a while, I can tell you that it is a truly awful looking game. A complete visual mess, by today's standards. HOWEVER, it's still a very intense, atmospheric and scary experience...despite those issues. SH4 looks far superior..."


Yes.

Way to miss my point. Silent Hill 3 had cool atmosphere. largely due to the detailed graphics. Someone coming off of that game might be turned off if indeed Silent Hill 4 has worse graphics. Just because Silent Hill 1 has bad graphics and great atmosphere doesn't mean that better graphics don't improve atmosphere. Remake vs. original Resident Evil, anyone?

 

[Solid]

It looks ok to me, not as sharp as SH3 but still OK. And yes I will also get the game (PS2).

 

[Gattsu25]

Remake vs. original Resident Evil, anyone?

REmake did a shitload more than just upgrade the graphics...my main reason for loving that game (despite my general lack of interest in every other RE game) is because of how much atmosphere and tension they ADDED

 

[dark10x]

Way to miss my point. Silent Hill 3 had cool atmosphere. largely due to the detailed graphics. Someone coming off of that game might be turned off if indeed Silent Hill 4 has worse graphics. Just because Silent Hill 1 has bad graphics and great atmosphere doesn't mean that better graphics don't improve atmosphere. Remake vs. original Resident Evil, anyone?

I know people who have played SH1 after those other titles (mistakenly so), and they were just as creeped out by it. SH1 is a very scary game, perhaps more so than SH2 or 3. Silent Hill 3's atmosphere was not entirely the result of good visuals...

ourumov, that's a little unfair...SH1 on PSX looks much worse due to very poor image quality. However, the ultra grainy visuals actually work very well for the game...and was what inspired them to create a "grain filter" for SH2.

 

[eso76]

Not buying a game because of the graphics... that's the spirit !

Who needs gameplay anyway huh ?

Well, Silent hill never had a great gameplay anyway.
Sh is all about story and atmosphere, and while i believe bad graphics can ruin the atmosphere, this is not exactly the case with Sh4.
Technically it's almost decent, and at least the gritty, filtered look works fine (and it better...they've been using the same look for the past 5 years...)...this is not the big problem with it...
Problem is, action is clunky...you constantly feel like you're playing with boxing gloves on, Henry is unresponsive, the camera is quite stupid, enemies look bad, animate worse and move around stupidly.
They could have gotten away with bad controls and camera by giving 'action' a much smaller role (kinda like what they did in the past, implementing some good puzzles) but this episode is more balanced towards 'action' rather than exploration and puzzle solving.
Terrible loading times too.
Henry lives in a 3 TINY rooms apartment, was it really necessary to have them load separately each time ?
Toilet is opposite to the bedroom, there's only like 1 meter distance between the 2 doors, but it takes literally minutes to go from bedroom to bathroom anc vice versa.
"Whet the hell" (henry would say...he only says that all the time) " i'd have to piss all over the now loading screen if i had bladder emergency in the middle of the night ".

As i said though, the atmosphere is nice, and the game is quite scary.

 

[ourumov]

It doesn't stand a chance against modern games but well I think it looked good back when it was released. The city is very well done and so were some areas. IMO the biggest flaw of the game is the poor framerate it had (for my standards).
Anyways I beat it using epsxe recently (less than a year I think).

 

[dark10x]

Well, Silent hill never had a great gameplay anyway.
Sh is all about story and atmosphere, and while i believe bad graphics can ruin the atmosphere, this is not exactly the case with Sh4.
Technically it's almost decent, and at least the gritty, filtered look works fine (and it better...they've been using the same look for the past 5 years...)...this is not the big problem with it...
Problem is, action is clunky...you constantly feel like you're playing with boxing gloves on, Henry is unresponsive, the camera is quite stupid, enemies look bad, animate worse and move around stupidly.
They could have gotten away with bad controls and camera by giving 'action' a much smaller role (kinda like what they did in the past, implementing some good puzzles) but this episode is more balanced towards 'action' rather than exploration and puzzle solving.
Terrible loading times too.
Henry lives in a 3 TINY rooms apartment, was it really necessary to have them load separately each time ?
Toilet is opposite to the bedroom, there's only like 1 meter distance between the 2 doors, but it takes literally minutes to go from bedroom to bathroom anc vice versa.
"Whet the hell" (henry would say...he only says that all the time) " i'd have to piss all over the now loading screen if i had bladder emergency in the middle of the night ".

As i said though, the atmosphere is nice, and the game is quite scary.

Is this from PS2 experience? I am picking up the XBOX version for 480p support, so I'm hoping for faster loading...or is this based on the XBOX demo? If so, that's very disappointing...

 

[Lord Error]

Dark, I have the PS2 demo installed on the HDD and the load times are really short

I agree however, the game simply doesn't have the same visual flare as SH3 does. It looks boring, locations everything just seems very uninspired, and it kills the atmosphere. Considering that the atmosphere is the reason to play SH games, I'd say I'm quite disappointed.

 

[Spazbiohaz]

I think it's because of the demo. I bought the PS2 version when it came out in japan, and I would almost go as far as saying it is the best in the series (Minus the fact there are no puzzles). don't let the demo fool you it is a great game and looks good as well. Also do you have the noise filter on, if so turn it off if you can in the demo it will make it look alot better.

 

[Miburou]

Yeah, SH4 is underwhelming in pretty much every way. The only thing I liked was the old film like effect when you transport to "the other world" or whatever it's called.

 

[maskrider]

As far as graphics goes, SH4 doesn't look like ass to me, it doesn't look as high contrast as SH3 since the environment is rather dim and in lower light environment without a flash light as the previous games.

Everybody wants different things from the game. Don't play it if you don't like it, it is your choice. The team tried something new with SH4, and I think the changes are pretty good.

 

[ypo]

I don't see how does the game look like ass by any standard. It's not as polished as SH3 but it still looks very good. Everything else (control, camera, etc) stayed pretty much the same as SH3.

 

[Miburou]

Don't play it if you don't like it

How can you know whether you like it or not without playing it? And seeing as how it didn't start life as an SH game, I don't think they should be given credit for trying something new, especially since most of the changes/omissions have made for an inferior experience.

 

[maskrider]

How can you know whether you like it or not without playing it? And seeing as how it didn't start life as an SH game, I don't think they should be given credit for trying something new, especially since most of the changes/omissions have made for an inferior experience.

Rephrased : "Tried it and don't like it but don't bother to give it another chance by playing the full game, please don't consider playing it again, do yourself and the game a favour."

Should the credit given to you ? I guess not.

And well, inferior to you, not to me.

And BTW, who created a boundary for what Silent Hill should be like ? The answer is the mind of some gamers.

 

[Miburou]

Awfully defensive, aren't we? I find that mildly amusing.

Should the credit given to you ? I guess not.

What?

And well, inferior to you, not to me.

Well, duh. I thought we were having a debate, where everyone states his opinion. I guess not.

And BTW, who created a boundary for what Silent Hill should be like ? The answer is the mind of some gamers.

Um, the first three games in the series?

 

[maskrider]

Awfully defensive, aren't we? I find that mildly amusing.

Yes, amusing. Defensive ? Not really. People just can't appreciate things. This is the worse trend happening everywhere in the world.

What?

Who deserve the credit ? No one ? Only the team deserves the credit.

Well, duh. I thought we were having a debate, where everyone states his opinion. I guess not.

Is what I said not an opinion ?

Um, the first three games in the series?

No, it is the closed mind of the gamers. People simply put down on the changes they don't like.

 

[Miburou]

You're being defensive because your reply consisted of the usual "don't like it don't play it" and implying that it's the gamer's fault if he doesn't like the game, instead of actually discussing the game.

As for SH4, it started life as a game called Room 302, and did not have anything to do with SH. But for commerical reasons, they decided to slap on the SH4 name, so the intent was never to reinvent the series. That's taken straight from an interview with the producer.

As for the changes, well, if a near total lack of puzzles and scare factor is a change you see as positive, then more power to you, but it reduces the game to a being a clunky action game with some interesting, though hardly original, settings and a mildly interesting story.

 

[maskrider]

You're being defensive because your reply consisted of the usual "don't like it don't play it" and implying that it's the gamer's fault if he doesn't like the game, instead of actually discussing the game.

People expect every game in a series to be using the same old formula, the presentation and main theme of every SH to date is rather different, or unique to me. SH4 is a big departure.

edit: BTW, I don't see any problem with "Don't play it if you don't like it, it is your choice.", or was it you that take that statement too far from its simple meaning.

As for SH4, it started life as a game called Room 302, and did not have anything to do with SH. But for commerical reasons, they decided to slap on the SH4 name, so the intent was never to reinvent the series. That's taken straight from an interview with the producer.

But without the SH name, the game may never be published. Isn't it the closed mind of the gamers that can't treat every game (even in a series) separately ?

As for the changes, well, if a near total lack of puzzles and scare factor is a change you see as positive, then more power to you, but it reduces the game to a being a clunky action game with some interesting, though hardly original, settings and a mildly interesting story.

I won't disagree that the lack of puzzles is one weakness, but SH (to me) is about story and atmosphere, which SH4 is very good in this regard.

 

[XboxGamers]

I'm a certified Xbot and I was really impressed with the looks of Silent Hill 3.

What the hell happened with SH4? It looks like shit. Terrible.

I played the OXM version of the game and I was completely thrown off by the clunky FP-view and the graphics. I will not buy the game because of it.

:lol


Does it look better then SH2? I still didn't get the demo yet but I want to give it a shot.

 

[Future]

--------------
Problem is, action is clunky...you constantly feel like you're playing with boxing gloves on, Henry is unresponsive, the camera is quite stupid, enemies look bad, animate worse and move around stupidly.
--------------

Exactly. Graphics don't look so bad to me, but the crappy animation of it makes it worse. Henry has one of the worst walk animations I have ever seen. Dodging looks like a joke. Enemies so far haven't been much better.

Didn't know that this didn't start out as a SH game. Makes sense. No real puzzles. No enemies hidden in darkness. Atmosphere isn't so great either (but has gotten better I since I started playing). And most importantly I really don't feel any fear. And the fact that you can basically get healed for free and save almost whenever you want doesn't help things either (might change later in the game, haven't completed it)

The best thing about this game so far for me has the room itself. I like the immersiveness of the first person view and the things I've seen happen in the apartment. But the slight load time going from room to room hurts that experience slightly too. The underlying Silent Hill-style "WTF is going" on storyline is probably the only thing that will keep me playing.

 

[maskrider]

Exactly. Graphics don't look so bad to me, but the crappy animation of it makes it worse. Henry has one of the worst walk animations I have ever seen. Dodging looks like a joke. Enemies so far haven't been much better.

Control is 2D (no longer let you choose from 2D/3D), animation is indeed bad, especially the sliding motion when he is in a battle (it is especially stupud). Other than that, nothing vastly changed from the previous SH. And the previous SHs do not have much better animation.

Didn't know that this didn't start out as a SH game. Makes sense. No real puzzles. No enemies hidden in darkness. Atmosphere isn't so great either (but has gotten better I since I started playing). And most importantly I really don't feel any fear. And the fact that you can basically get healed for free and save almost whenever you want doesn't help things either (might change later in the game, haven't completed it)

Wait until something change radically.

The best thing about this game so far for me has the room itself. I like the immersiveness of the first person view and the things I've seen happen in the apartment. But the slight load time going from room to room hurts that experience slightly too. The underlying Silent Hill-style "WTF is going" on storyline is probably the only thing that will keep me playing.

The story has a little twist, I think you will find it more interesting later on.

 

[dark10x]

And the previous SHs do not have much better animation.

Heh, Silent Hill 1 has inferior animation, even.

 

[siamesedreamer]

Does it look better then SH2?

Worse.

 

[MentalNoiz]

:lol


Does it look better then SH2? I still didn't get the demo yet but I want to give it a shot.

Silent Hill 2 still holds up pretty well even in 2004 IMHO . At the time (2001) it was one of the best looking games on the PS2 . I guess some didn't like the limited color pallete, but the art direction was brilliant not only in an artistic sense, but also helped set the depressive mood and atmosphere . As dark10x has has many times, which I agree with, SH2 still has better shadows than a lot of games today .

As for SH4, I didn't mind the art direction, nor the low(er)-resolution textures, what I didn't like was the backtracking in the later parts of the game . Once you hit "that point" nothing really happens BUT that, oh and an annoying AI character that tags along . The endings really are nothing special as well . Another kicker, is that a LOT of songs on the OST are not in the game anywhere . Were you hoping to hear Tender Suger, Your Rain along with many others in the game ? Not gonna happen .

I also agree the monster designs are kind of ho-hum . Masahiro Ito(creature designer/art director on SH1-3) did not work on SH4 and it shows.

I said back in June I thought SH4 was better than 3, but in retrospect, that isn't the case .

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

crappy animation of it makes it worse. Henry has one of the worst walk animations I have ever seen

So a throwback to the original, eh?

 

[Truelize]

I'm playing this today. Silent Hill has always been my favorite game series. I'm about an hour or so into this one and to be polite...... I'm not loving it. Harry runs like a loser. The combat seems really clunky right now. I've been using the pipe the majority of the time (saving bullets), and I've been fighting the dog like creatures and it's kinda stupid. The dogs move around a lot and Harry doesn't automatically target the closest enemy.
And is there anyway to kill those floating zombie dudes?
I'm kinda thinking that this is a run away from everything kinda game.

 

[Ill Saint]

Henry.

Floating zombies are invincible

Spoiler

until you get the right weapons.

 

[EmSeta]

Henry.

Floating zombies are invincible

Spoiler

until you get the right weapons.

What, you mean until

Spoiler

you can pin them to the ground with swords? Not such a good idea, since you have a very limited amount. I'd still call them pretty invincible..

 

[Vieo]

I've beaten Silent Hill one. I'm trying to find the other games, though, I might just take the advice of just buying SH2 and forgetting about 3 & 4 if they suck that bad.

 

[JMPovoa]

The only instant where i found the game kind of hard, was at the beginning, because the weapons were very poor and scarce. (bullets are a waste against ghost, you'd better stick with that pipe)

If you notice there's a new thing to the melee weapons that wasn't in past SH games. If you press and hold the attack button, a circular thing will fill with yellow colour. When it's full, you can unleash a powerfull attack, against the first ghost the powerfull attack with the pipe is awesome. Check that out.

And i loved the game that much more than SH3 (fuck graphics, and i like them best on SH4 anyway, it's more on the raw side, but for me it's better. Just look at Henry! The facial detail is brutal).

 

[Ill Saint]

What, you mean until

Spoiler

you can pin them to the ground with swords? Not such a good idea, since you have a very limited amount. I'd still call them pretty invincible..

Spoiler

I'm a fraud, I don't have the game yet.

 

[Miburou]

When you say SH4 looks like ass, do you mean a Vida Guera caliber ass, or a flat, Japanese-style ass?