I never unterstood the
SH4 HATE
plot (Hey, it made sense, was twisted, demential, diabloical and scary - My worst nightmare could be waking up in a shit like the intro-)
-
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Silent Hill Downpour |OT| Rain, Rain, Go Away
- Thread starter brandonh83
- Start date
Yeah, I agree there. But at the same time, it did feel more like Silent Hill: The Movie: The Tie-in Game than a proper-proper Silent Hill.
So, if we take away the run-mechanic, it is basically Silent Hill 2 then by that description?
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
About the spoiler discussion, it actually makes sense since... Well spoilers again.
You visit at least one location that is important to the plot of Silent Hill 4. You go to this area named Pearl Creek, which looking it up on Google is linked to the Silent Hill 4 town of Pleasant River, which is apparently where Walter attended university, and without giving away to much, is linked to one of the places you visit in Silent Hill 4. Like that area that you sort of visit in 4 with the forest and the giant tower in the water prison thing, this area of the game is located near all of that.
kunonabi
Member
The twist was painfully obvious from the beginning and doesn't magically make a forced, heavy-handed bundle of cliches into a great story.
The chase mechanics have been done before and better.
What tension? The game is split into two parts: empty world with no danger, threats, or obstacles of any kind and the ice sections where dying has no real meaning or repercussions.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Hype rising. A few questions:
1) How is the combat compared to Homecoming? Is it the shitty dodge dodge dodge swing dodge fuck I'm dead garbage from Homecoming, or is it closer to the combat from SH 1-4 where youd just shoot/whack enemies until they died, and then get on with whatever you were doing?
2) Can you adjust combat and puzzle difficulty separately, or is it the same shit as in Homecoming where you could only select normal or hard difficulty?
3) How is the game on providing you with ammo and health items? Cheap as fuck like Homecoming, or more liberal like SH 1-4?
4) In short; is it offensively bad like Homecoming, or at least a decent game?
I liked SH4 for what it was, but it had some glaring flaws and terrible design decisions. Still, compared to Homecoming it's a masterpiece.
brandonh83
Banned
I have admittedly warmed up to Shattered Memories a bit, it's still not what I would like from the series but I think it had a lot of quirks that I dug. My biggest problem is actually one of the better aspects of the game: the ending. On one hand it surprised me and I felt it was executed well, but on the other hand, they setup the story to where pretty much anything could have happened and that was my problem. The game acted like it was brilliant by doing the psychological profiling thing and tying it into the twist, but the problem is that it makes the entire game's plot feel completely inconsequential.
The other games are psychological, well, at least SH2, but what happens in those games
actually happens
Alessa trying to piece together what she thinks she knows, and thus the entire game happens exclusively in her head with the exception of the office scene interludes of course. It allowed the writers to write whatever the fuck they wanted without any sort of consequences because the outcome to each situation did not have to matter since it's just "scattered memories all in her head." The absolute worst example of this is Lisa. They just wrote her in and did absolutely nothing at all with her but hey, she's part of Alessa's memories so we can stick her in there somewhere and not have to worry about any narrative ramifications whatsoever!
IMO that was a very cheap way to write a story and it made the game feel like a waste to me. I still thought it had some bright spots and I grew to love the music, but it wasn't scary, hell it didn't even make one attempt to be, and the story was utterly pointless.
Definitely not trying to derail the thread, but it's something to talk about for the time being. Plus GAF loves my Shattered Memories posts, considering that my opinion of the game changes almost daily. It's been a while though and my above impressions have been my impressions for at least going on a week or so now.
kunonabi
Member
Heh, everything you listed as a negative for Homecoming I actually enjoyed <.<
I really liked in Homecoming how running out of supplies was a real threat, and how every encounter could possibly be the end. It really made me fearful of facing the enemies in combat. Not to mention landing hits in that game felt really good. Hearing bone crunching as you brought down your sledge hammer was a really awesome touch.
What HC didn't do right is that the game was very obviously not done and was forced out to be on the market in NA in time for a halloween release. The result was numerous technical flaws here and there, some half baked level design in some places (the town and Hell's Decent being the most obvious offenders here), puzzles that are deceptively easy one minute then pointlessly time consuming the next, and a woefully unimpressive story that feels like they were just getting started fleshing it out before Konami pulled the plug.
Homecoming was a really sad outing for the series not because of what it was, but because of what it could have been. Sure, it was loaded out the ass with unnecessary fan service to move more copies but other than that the game felt like it had a really solid base brought down by everything else...and that's almost always a sign of deadline-itis to be quite honest.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
1.) If I can be frank, it's not like either of those, but if I had to say it'd be closer to the old games. Generally speaking what I find works best is to whack an enemy a few times, then run out of the way as it prepares it's attack. I haven't had any blocking wars, though some of the enemies can block your attacks, but generally if I feel like facing an enemy I just run it and whack it some, and then run out of the way. This doesn't work with all enemy types though, and then the weapons in this game break and such so I've found myself helpless looking for something to pick up as a weapon with some agitated foe chasing me as I'm helpless. I also find it's useless to try and fight enemies when it's raining since they'll quickly gang up and beat down on you. I personally find it better to try and incapacitate an enemy so they can't chase you down than to go for a kill, especially if there's more than one enemy around.
2.) You select the difficulty for combat and puzzles separately. But then this game has a MUCH stronger focus on puzzles than Homecoming did.
3.) Ammo is very sparce, and you can only hold like, two weapons at any given time. One firearm and one melee weapon. If you want a shotgun, for instance, you'll need to give up whatever gun you're carrying. You can also pick up things like a chair and use it as a weapon but it's not very efficient and slow. Sometimes things will break though and you can use the parts of the broken things as weapons as well.
4.) I'm not entirely sure I can answer that the same way as another might. I should clarify I didn't hate Homecoming, I just thought it was misguided and the weakest entry in the series. So in that sense, no it's not misguided. I felt that Homecoming was trying too hard to be, "Silent Hill The Movie The Game," while this is much more creative. I also again like the different emphasis as the game goes in a very different direction than Homecoming, from story to gameplay mechanics.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Hype rising.
Hype deflating.
Hm... Think I'll just hold off the game for now, and see how it pans out. I assume there won't be a demo either.
I remember there being a puzzle in the house, and that I hated the shit out of it, but can't remember what the puzzle was :lol
You don't remember that infuriating puzzle in the attic of the nightmare house?
I envy you, I really do.
Was it a slide puzzle? I somehow remember a slide puzzle, but I might be confusing it with RE4 for reasons currently unknown to me.
Sorry if this offends you, but that seems like a really shallow reason to pass on the game. If you just want to mow everything down with ease why don't you just quit fooling yourself and just set it on easy dude.
It was indeed. Oh, and before you think you're crazy, both RE4 and HC had pretty much the exact same sliding puzzle.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
That's what I'd planned to do anyway; combat on easy, riddles on hard. Best way to play Silent Hill IMO. I'm already regretting setting combat to normal on SH3 :lol
Oh, OK. I'm like a slide puzzle master or something, since I've never had an issue with them in any game.
To be honest, I can't remember a whole lot about the locations in Homecoming, outside of wandering onto the set of the SH movie when you finally reach the town and then being whisked away to the set of Hostel for the finale.
Man, fuck that game.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
It's alright, this is sort of what I mean that the game doesn't really have a strong emphasis on on combat. I mean it's obviously there, and I've encountered one boss so far, but in-between the fact that combat is kind of clunky, your weapon inventory is extremely limited, and the fact that facing more than one enemy at a time can be a difficult thing to do, the focus here isn't combat really. But I also think the developers did this intentionally, and things such as having the ability to incapacitate an enemy goes a long way to help it not be frustrating. However, not everyone is going to like it.
It's actually hidden, like an easter egg. What you do is while your going past some very familiar sights, you'll see this open window above you and a ladder you can pull down. When you climb into the window it's the Silent Hill 4 apartment. There's some cool little easter eggs in there and some ammo and such.
brandonh83
Banned
The slide puzzle sucks but there's a way to do it in like 3-4 moves or something, it's genius.
Broder Salsa
Banned
What? I really disliked a lot of the room, but the story was fantastic. So I'm happy with that.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
The game does sound miles better than Homecoming, but I've been burnt by SH twice in a row (at least I didn't buy Shattered Memories, I just borrowed it, but even if I got Homecoming at a sub-bomba price it still wasn't worth it), so I'll still hold off on the game until reviews start trickling out.
SH4 is the only SH game where I've had more sympathy for the antagonist than the protagonist. Henry was such a completely bland and forgettable character.
kunonabi
Member
The story was only marginally better than the busted, broken, and miserable game design. Instead of taking the concept to do a psychological, character driven piece we get a bunch of exposition to explain why the Room was haunted and why Walter isn't dead like he should of have been. All that is presented as plainly as possible with awful characters, a tacked on love interest, and a typical "save the girl in the seventh hour" finale.
Nothing was ever left to ponder or explore on the player's end. What you saw was what you got and everything was fairly self-explanatory.
Some of that might have been salvageable had Walter not been a walking pile of fan-service constructs.
Most people like the story and consider it the game's saving grace but I've never been able to figure out why. To be fair it didn't shit all over something I hold dear like Origins and SM did.
Yep, but intriguingly so.
Alright and alright. I guess that you didn't like any of the points mentioned. I can understand you, sorry for the macro pic (someone succeeded in quoting it before I edited my post damn).
And I totally disagree with your three points. First, the plot was not as obvious as you imply, it was a brilliant quest for finding questions in oneself (though it is true that the psycho tests were 0). The chase mechanics was done before ? Alright, but you never had a gameplay built specifically around it and the execution was very well done, you really get the impression at times to lose yourself in seemingly infinite corridors.
And "what tension" ? Get to the last stage with you being more vulnerable than a leaf in a hurricane, with no indication whatsoever that the plot is slowly reaching its climax, being forced to die (!) after having battled like hell to reach the lighthouse and you'll get the point. For me it was a genius move.
But also, I must admit I never died in the game (well except at that moment).
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
The Room was the last one I mostly enjoyed, I'm really hoping for something decent here. Wasn't too thrilled with the horrible screen tearing and framerate of the last video I saw, but I'm not too picky as long as performance doesn't make me ill.
legacyzero
Banned
THIS.
I more so am curious mainly because I want to know if the game is bad or not. =/
PrinceOfApathy
Banned
Thats all you had to do was talk about The Room to get me interested in this new game, and you've succeeded. None of the recent Silent Hills have had a good as story as 2, that isn't up for debate but as straight forward as The Room was could the story be comparably worse than Silent Hill 3? Or Homecoming. Surely the detractors jest.
What made The Room the second best Silent Hill in existence was its strong eerie dream like feeling in certain regards. The First Person view of The Room was handled excellently, as everytime you came back ( before your sanctuary collapsed around you ) was so hazy and dream like, an interfering with the radio, looking at neighbors across from the windows. The Superintendent coming to your door, peeping at Eileen and tons of other weird instances to recall.
The "holes" were brilliant and I loved how some of the puzzles tied back in with the room, don't tell me it wasn't amazing washing the shirt in the Bathtub, or using the Phone to dial the number once you got back and many brilliant, otherworldly, cool, slick and bizarre touches.
Yes it was horrible having to go through some of the Worlds Twice even if they "opened" up more to explore, but I found The Building World was better on the 2nd visit, The Forest World was better on the 1st, The Prison was better on the 2nd visit etc. etc.. If they could have focused some of the design and really nailed it, it would've been a gameplay and design masterpiece.
Anyways, sorry didn't mean to turn this thread into a SH4 wankfest, but if Downpour can get atleast close to SH4 much less SH2 you have a sale.
What made The Room the second best Silent Hill in existence was its strong eerie dream like feeling in certain regards. The First Person view of The Room was handled excellently, as everytime you came back ( before your sanctuary collapsed around you ) was so hazy and dream like, an interfering with the radio, looking at neighbors across from the windows. The Superintendent coming to your door, peeping at Eileen and tons of other weird instances to recall.
The "holes" were brilliant and I loved how some of the puzzles tied back in with the room, don't tell me it wasn't amazing washing the shirt in the Bathtub, or using the Phone to dial the number once you got back and many brilliant, otherworldly, cool, slick and bizarre touches.
Yes it was horrible having to go through some of the Worlds Twice even if they "opened" up more to explore, but I found The Building World was better on the 2nd visit, The Forest World was better on the 1st, The Prison was better on the 2nd visit etc. etc.. If they could have focused some of the design and really nailed it, it would've been a gameplay and design masterpiece.
Anyways, sorry didn't mean to turn this thread into a SH4 wankfest, but if Downpour can get atleast close to SH4 much less SH2 you have a sale.
Thanks @ Dusk Golem for the impressions, i won't read the spoiler, just yet, though.
Regarding Shattered Memories (Downpour is not out yet, we need something to talk about anyway
).
I've been an "apologist" for the title since the first days, and there are several elements of that game that i found very interesting and full of potential BUT, i also think that it does an incredible number of things utterly, utterly wrong.
First of all yes, i like the basic idea of the story, and even some glimpse in its execution but although the final twist was kind of cool, everything leading to that was a very awkward process.
To explain myself i have to spoiler SH2.
Long story short, i enjoyed SM when it came out, i'm glad i played it and i think it had some very good elements buried in it, but it simply wasn't savvy enough to juggle with them, and it fell short for this reason.
To be honest, i liked Homecoming even less, but that's for another day, as i'm tired of rambling on.
Regarding Shattered Memories (Downpour is not out yet, we need something to talk about anyway
).I've been an "apologist" for the title since the first days, and there are several elements of that game that i found very interesting and full of potential BUT, i also think that it does an incredible number of things utterly, utterly wrong.
First of all yes, i like the basic idea of the story, and even some glimpse in its execution but although the final twist was kind of cool, everything leading to that was a very awkward process.
To explain myself i have to spoiler SH2.
SH2's plot twist, although maybe more predictable and overplayed, had a real weight into the story and the character (of James), while SM's had a weight on the player and the player alone.
Cheryl is not being "tricked" by it, only the player is; only the player, thinks Harry is on that couch, and only the player is therefore affected by it.
So the very nature of this twist, was merely to shock players, and not add something to the character development; this is totally ok, from a narrative point of view, but it also drastically loses strength after the credits rolled (and since it's a big part of the emotional impact of the game's story, it's a pretty big deal).
SH2's twist was a piece of the puzzle, that shed a different light on the whole story, but was also an element of change for James himself, and that connected James with the player in a sort of "bond" in discovering the truth while, at the same time, the opposite effect is had in SM, casting out the player as a third party to the whole thing, like the only one "who wasn't in on the secret".
-
Another factor is the elegance with which both titles chose to tell their tale.
I think both SM and SH2 portrays stories that are surely not groundbreaking nor incredible BUT, while SH2 elegantly makes use of the medium, to unfold the events and all the underlying elements (leaving only what's strictly necessary to words) with subtle and abstract symbols (strong symbols, because that's the horror nature of the game); SM is incredibly more clumsy and loud (as in: obvious) resulting almost obnoxious, it doesn't often manage to integrate some of those symbols well, to the point that it has to reduce most of them, to a methodical game mechanic (Poltergeists?).
That's the worst offender, i think: neither game presents a story that shatters your mind, but SH2 is, again, able to elegantly juggle with visual cues and symbols (it falls short in a few places, but hey it's still gold for the videogames' landscape) while SM tries to follow suit awkwardly, but it's like it has read a bullet-points manual of how a SH games should be, and tried to go along with it.
And the exemplification of this, comes from the profiling system itself:
SH2 is constantly profiling you as much (if not more) as SM, but NEVER tells you that.
If you don't heal, if you leave Maria behind, if you examine Mary's letter/photo too many times, if you listen to Mary's whole monologue, etc. are all factors that are going to change the game's ending and therefore, the profile the game has extrapolated from "you".
SM on the other hand is, again, very on the nose and obvious about its intentions, taking more or less meaningful choices you make and giving you correspondent outcomes; everything is transformed in a defined "game mechanic" and is presented to you as such (not only in form of marketing, i mean in the game itself).
This makes everything that more gimmicky and, in the end, pointless (if i know you're profiling me, i'm not gonna act natural-- as a general rule of thumb).
In a nut shell, SH2 and SM both start from a close point, but one is able to leap through quite elegantly, while the other constantly stumbles on its course, to get to a similar ending point.
On the gameplay side, the comparison is obviously not drawn to SH2 (they go for very different designs, and SH2 wasn't particularly great, on that front).
I liked the basic idea in here, too.. i always thought that the combat in SH games (especially the heavily story-driven ones, like SH2) was somewhat tacked on or forced in, cause "that's the Survival Horror formula.period."; so the idea of SM was pretty cool as a basic principle, to me.
Problem is, again, execution-- aside from a few things (the flashlight is awesome, slowly opening doors is awesome -if pointless- and a few other moments were awesome) the utterly rigid structure, comes off as incredibly underwhelming.
It's IMPOSSIBLE to have any tension when you know for a fact that in exploration mode NOTHING can happen to you-- while it's a turn off, when in your 3rd chase, you understand that those segments are nothing more than a methodically predictable simple mechanic, with little to no variables.
Again, the lack of elegance in game design is what destroyed the potential this game had.
But at first, i was willing to close an eye on it, because after all it was a rather unique system and it had that sparkle that could've become something really great.. that is, until i fucking bought Penumbra on Steam.
Frictional Games was basically what made me reconsider SM in a big way.. here's the same identical principle, done (for the most part) right, here's big chunks of exploration with unparalleled levels of tension, here's (basically) relentless foes that you have to escape and hide from, without it being a fucking methodical.. gimmick (excuse the limited vocabulary).
Cheryl is not being "tricked" by it, only the player is; only the player, thinks Harry is on that couch, and only the player is therefore affected by it.
So the very nature of this twist, was merely to shock players, and not add something to the character development; this is totally ok, from a narrative point of view, but it also drastically loses strength after the credits rolled (and since it's a big part of the emotional impact of the game's story, it's a pretty big deal).
SH2's twist was a piece of the puzzle, that shed a different light on the whole story, but was also an element of change for James himself, and that connected James with the player in a sort of "bond" in discovering the truth while, at the same time, the opposite effect is had in SM, casting out the player as a third party to the whole thing, like the only one "who wasn't in on the secret".
-
Another factor is the elegance with which both titles chose to tell their tale.
I think both SM and SH2 portrays stories that are surely not groundbreaking nor incredible BUT, while SH2 elegantly makes use of the medium, to unfold the events and all the underlying elements (leaving only what's strictly necessary to words) with subtle and abstract symbols (strong symbols, because that's the horror nature of the game); SM is incredibly more clumsy and loud (as in: obvious) resulting almost obnoxious, it doesn't often manage to integrate some of those symbols well, to the point that it has to reduce most of them, to a methodical game mechanic (Poltergeists?).
That's the worst offender, i think: neither game presents a story that shatters your mind, but SH2 is, again, able to elegantly juggle with visual cues and symbols (it falls short in a few places, but hey it's still gold for the videogames' landscape) while SM tries to follow suit awkwardly, but it's like it has read a bullet-points manual of how a SH games should be, and tried to go along with it.
And the exemplification of this, comes from the profiling system itself:
SH2 is constantly profiling you as much (if not more) as SM, but NEVER tells you that.
If you don't heal, if you leave Maria behind, if you examine Mary's letter/photo too many times, if you listen to Mary's whole monologue, etc. are all factors that are going to change the game's ending and therefore, the profile the game has extrapolated from "you".
SM on the other hand is, again, very on the nose and obvious about its intentions, taking more or less meaningful choices you make and giving you correspondent outcomes; everything is transformed in a defined "game mechanic" and is presented to you as such (not only in form of marketing, i mean in the game itself).
This makes everything that more gimmicky and, in the end, pointless (if i know you're profiling me, i'm not gonna act natural-- as a general rule of thumb).
In a nut shell, SH2 and SM both start from a close point, but one is able to leap through quite elegantly, while the other constantly stumbles on its course, to get to a similar ending point.
On the gameplay side, the comparison is obviously not drawn to SH2 (they go for very different designs, and SH2 wasn't particularly great, on that front).
I liked the basic idea in here, too.. i always thought that the combat in SH games (especially the heavily story-driven ones, like SH2) was somewhat tacked on or forced in, cause "that's the Survival Horror formula.period."; so the idea of SM was pretty cool as a basic principle, to me.
Problem is, again, execution-- aside from a few things (the flashlight is awesome, slowly opening doors is awesome -if pointless- and a few other moments were awesome) the utterly rigid structure, comes off as incredibly underwhelming.
It's IMPOSSIBLE to have any tension when you know for a fact that in exploration mode NOTHING can happen to you-- while it's a turn off, when in your 3rd chase, you understand that those segments are nothing more than a methodically predictable simple mechanic, with little to no variables.
Again, the lack of elegance in game design is what destroyed the potential this game had.
But at first, i was willing to close an eye on it, because after all it was a rather unique system and it had that sparkle that could've become something really great.. that is, until i fucking bought Penumbra on Steam.
Frictional Games was basically what made me reconsider SM in a big way.. here's the same identical principle, done (for the most part) right, here's big chunks of exploration with unparalleled levels of tension, here's (basically) relentless foes that you have to escape and hide from, without it being a fucking methodical.. gimmick (excuse the limited vocabulary).
To be honest, i liked Homecoming even less, but that's for another day, as i'm tired of rambling on.
plagiarize
Banned
i guess it wouldn't be a silent hill game if a section of the fanbase didn't hate it. other than the first, every game in the franchise gets it's hate, even if the later ones get more hate.
i hope it's good, because i'm buying it, obviously... but i've generally been on the more positive side of the coin more lately. it's interesting to hear how warmly this seems to embrace 4, because mechanics aside, i really liked what 4 did. i liked it's ideas... so that gives me a bit more optimism.
oh and Brandon, about what you said on SH2
.
and what still impresses me most about Shattered Memories (which has no impact on the other games in the franchise) is that however good the story is or isn't, it's a story that is BEST told by being interactive. most video game stories aren't served by being interactive... of the very few where the interactivity adds wait to the story, i think Shattered Memories does it best.
SH2 and SM spoilers below:
in Shattered Memories, the player is supposed to associate with Harry, not Cheryl, and Cheryl not being in the dark on the aspect of the twist you highlight, doesn't change that Harry, whatever he is, whatever he represents, IS in the dark about that... and Cheryl IS in the dark about Harry.
again, what impressed me wasn't the characters or the plot or the reveal (though i didn't see it coming personally, as i did a lot of SH2's dramatic swerves) it was that interactivity worked FOR rather than AGAINST the story, and i think that's something people should strive for more often.
i hope it's good, because i'm buying it, obviously... but i've generally been on the more positive side of the coin more lately. it's interesting to hear how warmly this seems to embrace 4, because mechanics aside, i really liked what 4 did. i liked it's ideas... so that gives me a bit more optimism.
oh and Brandon, about what you said on SH2
James didn't really get a letter
and what still impresses me most about Shattered Memories (which has no impact on the other games in the franchise) is that however good the story is or isn't, it's a story that is BEST told by being interactive. most video game stories aren't served by being interactive... of the very few where the interactivity adds wait to the story, i think Shattered Memories does it best.
SH2 and SM spoilers below:
who is on the couch isn't really key, what's key is that it makes perfect sense for the pschological profiling to effect what turns out to be pure delusion, and it makes sense that 'resisting treatment' gets you the ending where she refuses to let go of the her delusions of her father. 'it was Cheryl on the couch all along' wasn't important to me, dramatically, in the same way that 'our experiences are just delusions going on in the head of the person being given treatment' was. the dramatic twist in Silent Hill 2 isn't that Mary is dead. it isn't even that James killed her because that starts to become clear very early on. it's WHY. that's what Silent Hill 2 comes down to. did this guy kill his wife for altruistic or selfish reasons.
in Shattered Memories, the player is supposed to associate with Harry, not Cheryl, and Cheryl not being in the dark on the aspect of the twist you highlight, doesn't change that Harry, whatever he is, whatever he represents, IS in the dark about that... and Cheryl IS in the dark about Harry.
again, what impressed me wasn't the characters or the plot or the reveal (though i didn't see it coming personally, as i did a lot of SH2's dramatic swerves) it was that interactivity worked FOR rather than AGAINST the story, and i think that's something people should strive for more often.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
This screen was not taken by me, but for anyone who is curious... DOWNPOUR LOCATION SPOILER WARNING. It's the location I was talking about in the Downpour spoiler tabs:
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9631/downpourroom.jpg
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9631/downpourroom.jpg
PrinceOfApathy
Banned
If this is real. This game is BOUGHT!
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
I can definitely confirm it is real.
plagiarize
Banned
it's one of the only games i recommend cheesing through on easy. it reduces how much you have to deal with the weaker parts of the game.
FairXchange
Member
Wow, pleased to read some of these impressions. I'm all over this game when it launches.
Right, I started a playthrough on easy and left off in the Forrest area (first time). I'll probably pick it back up this weekend. Those invincible ghost in subway were prettah annoying.
The Praiseworthy
Member
brandonh83
Banned
No. No. No. I won't. Fuck you and anyone else who wants to tempt me with spoilerific images LESS THAN 5 FUCKING DAYS FROM RELEASE
The wait has been unbearable, I will not give in this close.
Could someone maybe start a Downpour spoiler thread?
Don't click it dude. Stay strong with me. I haven't looked at anything yet, and I'm trying my damndest not to haha
Acquiescence
Member
Okay, I absolutely hate
The Room
brandonh83
Banned
right, the game has a lot to prove already and clicking on spoilers for things that ARE going to be awesome isn't going to do it any favors.
but oh holy fuck I came so close.
The Praiseworthy
Member
.... Now I'm hating myself so much for watching that picture and ruining it for myself -_-"
plagiarize
Banned
it's weird, easter eggy kind of things are the sort of thing i don't mind getting spoiled on at all, but i've been avoiding real locations and plot developments and the like. i don't know what characters i'm likely to meet, if any, other than Murphy... and so on.
but i can see how that picture would be a massive spoiler for other people.
brandonh83
Banned
oh man, I'm excited but the impressions from one picture are actually helping me NOT click on it.
For me a surprise is a surprise, whether it's an easter egg or a plot twist. If it's something special that the designers put in without telling anyone because it's a surprise, that's a spoiler in my book.
This is the reason why i said they come from a very similar point, and draw to a very similar conclusion.
The point of the distinction between the two though (and why i found SH2's approach more engaging) is that
although in SM, Harry is an avatar for Cheryl's delusions, we're not really in control of it, so to speak, and we are forced to a resolution, only because we are manipulated (as Harry and not as Cheryl) into the truth-- difference with SH2 being, We have the same exact level of consciousness of James in SH2, but only a very partial level of consciousness of Cheryl, in SM.
And it's not very clear how partial this level is, because either Harry died on that day, when Cheryl was still a child -and so Harry's avatar nature is nothing more than a visual metaphor for the player- or his avatar nature is something more, a manifestation of Cheryl's delusion through SH's "powers", that though do not include as well, all that the games tells us about her (her having a promiscuous sexual life at young age and all that stuff).
Either way you look at it there's a level of depth missing, while in SH2 everything falls into place despite of the ending (which doesn't mean the ending are inconsequential) and keep getting richer and richer on each playthrough.
You then start to connect all the dots, when you realize that when James used to go find Mary at the hospital, maybe in those lonely and frustrated night he would drop off at the Heaven's Nights, looking at the pole dancers (one of which resembled Maria, btw) many elements that built his final decision.
You do this as James, and James is as clueless as you are on it.
in SM Cheryl has had a (pretty long) life after the accident and yet lets you in on a specific nightmare she can't get a grasp of.
In SM i felt a clear disconnection between the physical life of Cheryl, and her backstory and the mental anguish of her internal world and delusions.
This is why i think there's more of a disconnection between character and player, because physical and mental journey are not as seamlessly interlaced.
And it's not very clear how partial this level is, because either Harry died on that day, when Cheryl was still a child -and so Harry's avatar nature is nothing more than a visual metaphor for the player- or his avatar nature is something more, a manifestation of Cheryl's delusion through SH's "powers", that though do not include as well, all that the games tells us about her (her having a promiscuous sexual life at young age and all that stuff).
Either way you look at it there's a level of depth missing, while in SH2 everything falls into place despite of the ending (which doesn't mean the ending are inconsequential) and keep getting richer and richer on each playthrough.
You then start to connect all the dots, when you realize that when James used to go find Mary at the hospital, maybe in those lonely and frustrated night he would drop off at the Heaven's Nights, looking at the pole dancers (one of which resembled Maria, btw) many elements that built his final decision.
You do this as James, and James is as clueless as you are on it.
in SM Cheryl has had a (pretty long) life after the accident and yet lets you in on a specific nightmare she can't get a grasp of.
In SM i felt a clear disconnection between the physical life of Cheryl, and her backstory and the mental anguish of her internal world and delusions.
This is why i think there's more of a disconnection between character and player, because physical and mental journey are not as seamlessly interlaced.
If that makes any sense, lol.