• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Silent Hill Downpour |OT| Rain, Rain, Go Away

Lime

Member
That not kill any monsters achievement just adds more to the idea that the monsters in the silent hill games are people / animals and only monsters in the players eyes.

Or it was just something arbitrary put into the achievement list of the game, which has no impact whatsoever on our interpretation of the "mythology" (if there even exist one that isn't fan-constructed)

People put way too much stock into something I'm sure is not intended to be interpreted or understood as coherent or intentional. Especially with something as Silent Hill, which has had several different developers, all with different ideas about whatever fictional world they are creating.
 

Grisby

Member
I think I'm gonna pick it up for PS3 because my 360 will be stuffed with Mass Effect. I hope it runs pretty decently.

Man, its great to be awaiting a Silent Hill game though.
 

Replicant

Member
What an awful timing to unleash this now to the gaming population. Sure, not everyone is going to play ME3 (or SSX or SF x T) but the majority will and will still be occupied even at the end of this month. If this game is not selling well, they have no one to blame but themselves for setting the release date so close to ME3 and other big releases.
 

kunonabi

Member
What an awful timing to unleash this now to the gaming population. Sure, not everyone is going to play ME3 (or SSX or SF x T) but the majority will and will still be occupied even at the end of this month. If this game is not selling well, they have no one to blame but themselves for setting the release date so close to ME3 and other big releases.

not to mention releasing in the same month as two other SH games.
 
Hey, remember when Homecoming had options for inverted aim? Oh wait, it didn't.
Remember how one of the pillars of survival horror game defenders is that people need to get used to things like tank controls and quit complaining? haha, good times, good times.

Not a slight against you, just always amused me.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
Hey, remember when Homecoming had options for inverted aim? Oh wait, it didn't.

Ugh...this shit drove me up the wall. What was even worse where the people on some boards who actually defended it when people were asking Double Helix if they could patch it. As if our request had no logic behind it at all...

Deal_with_it_dog_gif.gif
 
Ugh...this shit drove me up the wall. What was even worse where the people on some boards who actually defended it when people were asking Double Helix if they could patch it. As if our request had no logic behind it at all...
It wouldn't surprise me if DH literally weren't able to. Considering how Konami has been shuffling through various developers for SH like they have, their contracts/deals may very well end immediately at launch. It's something that should have been very easy to patch in (I assume), but nothing at all?
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
It wouldn't surprise me if DH literally weren't able to. Considering how Konami has been shuffling through various developers for SH like they have, their contracts/deals may very well end immediately at launch. It's something that should have been very easy to patch in (I assume), but nothing at all?

That could have very well been the case. Last I heard about it was this response by one of the developers:

We specifically called the mode invert aim and not invert camera to differentiate its function from the normal invert we see in games. We made a decision during development to support invert aim and not invert camera. Unfortunately none of the team nor any of our test group actually had a preference for playing with an inverted camera, so the issue of its omission never came up. Given the furor on the net it appears this was the incorrect choice to make and one that I will apologize for.
 

kyubajin

Member
Damn, I'm really on the verge of pre-ordering it through Amazon... I want to support further Silent Hill games but I'm uncertain about whether to wait for a more than possible bomba price in the coming months.
 

pa22word

Member
Damn, I'm really in the verge of pre-ordering it through Amazon... I want to support further Silent Hill games but I'm uncertain about whether to wait for a more than possible bomba price in the coming months.

It's going to bomb, period. The question is, how bad do you want more Silent Hill games? Because after three straight flops the series is probably toast.

This isn't one of those bs lines some irrational fans throw out to degrade people they don't deem as true fans for not buying it day one @ full price, it's just the reality of it. If you want to see more Silent Hill, I'd try to buy it as close to release as possible to support the series. Because after Homecoming and SM did as poorly as they did, I frankly don't see another one on the horizon if this one meets the same fate.

As for the reviews...I don't even care at this point. The disconnect between what I like and what a typical reviewer wants out of a game is so large at this point I can't even be bothered to read them anymore. Be it 10s or 5s I'll still buy the game because I read all the promo stuff and seem all the trailers and made a decision to buy it because it interests me.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
I will get the collection cause that will be harder to find later, I'll wait for bomba on this.

Don't buy the collection. If anything, get Downpour instead, provided it doesn't get slaughtered in reviews. The collection is just a disservice to SH 2 and 3. Either way, the series is probably toast anyway. Shattered Memories flopped, Homecoming flopped, Downpour will most likely flop, the HD Collection deserves to flop, and Book of Memories is gonna be bomba totala.
 

pa22word

Member
hope you stick around to keep the optimism alive in the thread.

Honestly there's not much to be optimistic about at this point. Konami is flooding the market with three Silent Hill titles spaced very shortly apart with little (and what little there is is horribly handled and terribly misguided) to no marketing in the same month as an industry blockbuster in Mass Effect 3.

It doesn't matter how hyped I am for Downpour (which I very much am) if Konami doesn't give a shit about the game. As a long time fan of the series all I can do now is sit here and pray that Downpour is a nice swan song for the series. It's sad, but it was inevitable given the industry's shift away from survival horror combined with Konami's gross mishandling of the series.
 
hope you stick around to keep the optimism alive in the thread.

Let's not fool ourselves. Silent Hill has not sold as well as it used to, and I highly doubt Downpour will be the exception.

I want this series to be great and to sell well, just like many people, but it's just how things are, currently.


I'm planning on stopping by a Hastings or two tomorrow (depending on circumstances) to check out if it's really going to be out early and at $40 as advertised.
 

Ridley327

Member
Hasn't the series sold progressively worse for each new game all the way back to SH2? I seem to remember reading somewhere that SH2 sold less than SH1, SH3 sold less than SH2 etc.

I think that SH2 is still the best-selling game in the franchise, but the sales spiral is correct from that point forward. Shattered Memories apparently sold as well as Homecoming, but that clues you in on how poorly Homecoming did than anything else.
 

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Don't buy the collection. If anything, get Downpour instead, provided it doesn't get slaughtered in reviews. The collection is just a disservice to SH 2 and 3. Either way, the series is probably toast anyway. Shattered Memories flopped, Homecoming flopped, Downpour will most likely flop, the HD Collection deserves to flop, and Book of Memories is gonna be bomba totala.

For someone who has not followed the media on the HD collection, what's wrong with it?

Curious is all.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair

Ouch. Well, I guess there won't be anymore SH games then. But as Stump said, they can keep the IP alive to keep making movies.

For someone who has not followed the media on the HD collection, what's wrong with it?

Curious is all.

Image is too dark when it's supposed to be bright, and too bright when it's supposed to be dark, colour is washed out, some textures in SH3 are flat out gone and some fog effects seem to be gone too (in the SH3 intro the fog seems to be completely gone). It looks like a mess. Check out pics and videos in the HD collection thread.
 

pa22word

Member
I'm planning on stopping by a Hastings or two tomorrow (depending on circumstances) to check out if it's really going to be out early and at $40 as advertised.

Woah, details?

EDIT: nevermind I saw it. I just called my local hastings and they said they weren't getting any in until the 13th

EDIT2: Well shit fellas checked their facebook page and found this:

Capture-147.jpg


Called them and they told me it was a misprint for the HD collection...which makes even less sense as that comes out on the 20th right? lol what a mess
 
It is a bad time to release the game, but it is a better time than last October would have been.

It's still not going to sell that much no matter when they release it. People who are interested in the game are fans of the series or who just like horror games. But mostly fans of the series. I doubt that many "outsiders" are going to support it that much.

It's unfortunate but that's just how it is. I'm just glad that they didn't focus on making it a game that might have had a better chance in the market and kept it modest which does give me some respect for them.
 
if i can avoid the apparently shitty combat, and if that's fun... i might just try and do that then. i really want one last trip to silent hill.
 

UrbanRats

Member
What? There hasn't been a trailer for the SH2 movie AFAIK, and the first one, flawed as it may be, was still far more enjoyable to me than Homecoming and Shattered Memories were.

Sorry, meant the screens (there are a few around).
The first film was good visually (at least the first part) but was also a lot of bullshit.
The story was worst than Shattered Memories by far (which is not a masterpiece of writing itself) and the pacing was way off, trying to emulate the pointless videogame breadcrumbs trail following.
On top of that, it tried to give an explanation to metaphysical, iconic elements, such as the siren and threw in a bunch of fun service (PH) for the sake of it.
It wasn't horrible and i even enjoyed it at a first viewing, since it stroked my fanboy organ, but if that's the future of the series, they might aswell wrap it up and call it a day, seriously.

I'd rather see a more bold authorial approach to the franchise, but it's not gonna happen, not anymore, anyway.

EDIT: Anyway, i'm being a bit melodramatic, because it pisses me off how this series (which was my favorite) has fell down so fast and so badly to its knee.
 

theDeeDubs

Member
..them and they told me it was a misprint for the HD collection...which makes even less sense as that comes out on the 20th right? lol what a mess

When this first went up for preoder on Amazon, they had it listed at $39.99 too. It's since been fixed, but I wonder if Hastings never bothered to correct their listing. What sucks is I had it locked in at that price but wanted to switch platforms.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Sorry, meant the screens (there are a few around).
The first film was good visually (at least the first part) but was also a lot of bullshit.
The story was worst than Shattered Memories by far (which is not a masterpiece of writing itself) and the pacing was way off, trying to emulate the pointless videogame breadcrumbs trail following.
On top of that, it tried to give an explanation to metaphysical, iconic elements, such as the siren and threw in a bunch of fun service (PH) for the sake of it.
It wasn't horrible and i even enjoyed it at a first viewing, since it stroked my fanboy organ, but if that's the future of the series, they might aswell wrap it up and call it a day, seriously.

I'd rather see a more bold authorial approach to the franchise, but it's not gonna happen, not anymore, anyway.

EDIT: Anyway, i'm being a bit melodramatic, because it pisses me off how this series (which was my favorite) has fell down so fast and so badly to its knee.

Oh, yeah, the photos from the SH2 movie sete were kinda.. ehhh. Hoping for the best, expecting the worst, really.

Anyway, Shattered Memories definitely had a better story than the movie, but the story was really the only thing I liked about SM. So comparing the overall quality of SM to the SH movie, the movie wins for me.
 
Sh3 voices got replaced and the new ones are awful. Bad enough to where it actually affects character personalities and relationships.
...I don't think I'd go so far as to ever say something as severe as that. Especially before playing it.
For someone who has not followed the media on the HD collection, what's wrong with it?

Curious is all.
Just feels unfinished. There are several things in the visuals either missing (textures, effects), strange inaccuracies (lighting, sounds), and just doesn't look like it was really ready to be released yet.
There is also no option to select the original recordings of SH3, but SH2 has both original and new voice over options.
 

kunonabi

Member
...I don't think I'd go so far as to ever say something as severe as that. Especially before playing it.

Just feels unfinished. There are several things in the visuals either missing (textures, effects), strange inaccuracies (lighting, sounds), and just doesn't look like it was really ready to be released yet.
There is also no option to select the original recordings of SH3, but SH2 has both original and new voice over options.

Heather's relationship with her father was portrayed in a completely different fashion than it was in the original game. It's a very complex relationship that the two of them had and none of that comes through with how she talks him in the new game. It's a difficult thing to match because SH3 did such a wonderful job of painting their relationship with very little time with the two of them together but they still managed this layered, believable, dynamic. This scene which showed much of that in the original now just features a really bored Heather who gets frustrated with her dad at the end. All the sweetness from Heather's end is gone and you don't get that same sense of how well ***** knows his little girl and how much of a pushover he is. Her blah demeanor just kills it. The "I love you" at the end doesn't come off as honest and she's much less concerned about disappointing her father. It doesn't work. If it doesn't work here it isn't going to work for the rest of the game. Douglas' super gruff and less endearing persona isn't going to help that angle either.
 
I have to say, I didn't hear her reading like that at all. I'm sorry you feel that way, but I kind of suspect it won't much matter to you, since I really doubt you'll be buying it anyways. : P

Well, the good thing about Downpour not being $40 tomorrow is that I have some time to feel less guilty about not playing it yet. Forgive me, but have we heard any statements about the length of the game yet? I was wanting to say I remembered hearing 12 hours, but I really think I must be remembering wrong.
 

kunonabi

Member
I have to say, I didn't hear her reading like that at all. I'm sorry you feel that way, but I kind of suspect it won't much matter to you, since I really doubt you'll be buying it anyways. : P

Well, the good thing about Downpour not being $40 tomorrow is that I have some time to feel less guilty about not playing it yet. Forgive me, but have we heard any statements about the length of the game yet? I was wanting to say I remembered hearing 12 hours, but I really think I must be remembering wrong.

You are correct I'm not picking it up. I just wanted to him to be aware that the new voices are a legitimate downside to the SH3 port as I firmly believe it will have a negative effect on the single most effective, well-written, and important character relationship the SH series has ever portrayed. One that is highly dependent on Heather's performance and facial expressions that original VA managed to bring to life despite the occasional awkward bit of dialogue.

I wonder if they reinserted dialogue for the nurse's videotape. I would hope so since it always burned me that they removed it.
 
I wonder if they reinserted dialogue for the nurse's videotape. I would hope so since it always burned me that they removed it.
Pretty sure
that Lisa's
VA has a very tumultuous relationship with Konami. I really don't think that is ever making it back in the game.
 
Shattered Memories was a great, fresh take on the series that it desperately needs. More exploration in that direction would have been wonderful.

Instead, we get this game, which has looked at best like a stale imitation of old Silent Hill games, and at worst like a later Alone in the Dark game. Ugh.
 

pa22word

Member
I don't really see how SM was fresh when it was just a poor imitation of the gameplay found in Frictional's titles with dreadfully shallow story and gameplay. Not to mention an atmosphere that failed to be scary in any way (literally on or off), and chase scenes that became old after the first one.

It was okay, but if Downpour end up being worse I'd be very disappointed as SM set the bar going forward pretty low.
 
Top Bottom