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[Angry Fork]

I haven't played SH4 but I have a friend who's a big SH fan and said it would've been good if there were no recurring ghosts that couldn't be killed. I saw a bit of a walkthrough on it and some parts were really cool/creepy mainly the apartment itself. When you look through the eyehole and see yourself on the other side. I love shit like that.

The visuals were amazing as well for PS2 but that's no surprise after SH3. I wish Team Silent got a chance to work on PS3 =( Apparently SH4 wasn't supposed to be SH4 though and was some side project? And Konami made them change it to SH4.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

The Rooms atmosphere was fantastic but half the game being a damn escort mission got me to never finish it. Also had some really silly design choices like the burping nurses that just dumb.

their 'look' made up for their sound, IMO. They were just horrifying looking and I never wanted to run into them. I mean...

Spoiler

they had a visible fetus in their stomachs

the stupid 'gorilla' enemies, however, were just piss-poor designs. The double-headed baby things were creepy, but I was pissed Yamaoka changed their sound effects. In early videos they squealed like baby pigs (very unsettling), but in the final version they sounded more guttural. Also- lol @ the dogs that made jaguar noises. Yamaoka was really phoning it in with the stock sound effects in SH4.

 

[Cramoss]

I really want to replay these games but I'll wait for now.

The Rooms atmosphere was fantastic but half the game being a damn escort mission got me to never finish it. Also had some really silly design choices like the burping nurses that just dumb.

I absolutely loved SH 4's concept of the apartment (the 1rst person view was an amazing choice), the hauntings and how it becomes an unsafe place throughout the game.

Spoiler

And even weirder

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Apparently SH4 wasn't supposed to be SH4 though and was some side project? And Konami made them change it to SH4.

Yeah, after SH2 Imamura and Tsuboyama were challenged by KCET to make a more traditional Japanese 'ghost story' horror game, which was tentatively titled Room 302. It was being designed at a similar time with SH3. The idea was for SH3 to release, then Room 302 to release, and both teams reteaming for SH4.

Somewhere along the line allegedly KCET got nervous about a new IP being so Japanese-centric (Fatal Frame apparently didn't have the sales worldwide that Konami desired) and part-way through development instructed Imamura to convert Room 302 to SH4. You can still see a lot of remnants that weren't changed (i.e. some of the signs on buildings in 'Building World', or whatever the hell it was called, are still in Japanese in SH4 and, of course, the ghosts)

Itou did not do monster designs for The Room to intentionally separate it from a traditional SH game, which is why many people complain about the overall monster designs in SH4 compared to SH1-3.

On top of having to convert a partially complete new IP to a SH, the team's development time was cut and rushed. They had to use precious development time intended to finish the game to redesign/restructure things. KCET simply didn't give them extra time to compensate and, as admitted by Tsuboyama in post-game interviews, admitted they had to add all the backtracking simply for content to make a finished product. Hell, Yamaoka couldn't even utilize all of the soundtrack in the final game (hence a shit load of SH4 songs from the OST/Extra Tracks that you never even hear in-game).

Imamura made the best of a bad situation. Sadly it equated to a lot of wasted potential and ultimately sealing Team Silent's doom as a functional production team.

 

[ULTROS!]

I wonder why they killed of Team Silent. It's not like the SH games after 4 were any better, not to mention weren't they selling even worse?

 

[Calints Neos]

Anyone know if Heaher has a new voice?

 

[Broder Salsa]

I wonder why they killed of Team Silent. It's not like the SH games after 4 were any better, not to mention weren't they selling even worse?

Yeah but Silent Hill had been selling worse and worse ever since the first, so I guess they thought they could change it for the better. They obviously could not.

Anyone know if Heaher has a new voice?

Everyone in SH3 does. So does everyone in SH2 but you have the option to turn the old ones back on in that.

 

[Typographenia]

Anyone know if Heaher has a new voice?

She does.

Nice op, ultros.

 

[ULTROS!]

Anyone know if Heaher has a new voice?

The entire SH3 cast has new voices.

 

[Typographenia]

Isn't 2 widely considered the "best"?

It all depends on what point in the series a person got interested in SH was, what kind of atmosphere they prefer, and what kind of story elements they like. That's why you should always ignore what SH fans say until you've played the games yourself. At least, when it comes to more subjective stuff.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

I wonder why they killed of Team Silent. It's not like the SH games after 4 were any better, not to mention weren't they selling even worse?

No one outside of KCET seems to know, unfortunately... and none of the main players on Team Silent (Imamura, Owaka, Tsuboyama, Itou, Yamaoka, etc.) have ever really talked about it that I know of.

It's strange, because there was an interview in the spring of 2005 where Imamura (or maybe it was Tsubo) talking about the recombining of the SH3 and 4 teams and they had started pre-production on SH5 to make use of 'next generation' technology. I wish I could find it. I know SolidSnakeX would reference it in these discussions in the past.
It was going to kind of re-envision Silent Hill and make a lot of unsettling stuff happen in the daylight (referenced the way 1970's films could make daytime scenes seem surreal, grainy, dreamlike) and just go back to more bizarre character-driven stuff.

I wonder if any of that test material is around anywhere? Did major companies like Konami even have 360/PS3 dev kits yet at that point?

Regardless, that's the last anyone ever heard from those guys regarding Silent Hill.
It would be a couple years later when we got the SHV (later to become Homecoming) teaser at E3 and news that a Western developer was working on it. All of us SH fans were scratching our heads and we never got any answers.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

The collection releases next month and we still haven't even heard new voices from Silent Hill 3 nor do we know if they finally fixed the graphic problems that are visible on the screen from OP.

 

[K' Dash]

I'll cream my pants again playing this.

Also, people need to stop the SH2 bullshit, I mean, it's fucking awesome game, but degrading the rest of the games just for that one is complete bullshit, especially when they do it with SH3, wich is fucking awesome too and ties perfectly with the original SH.

Enjoy them, I will.

Edit: did I hear a rumour that this was going to be on games on demand ala RE4 or it was all in my head?

 

[Angry Fork]

No one outside of KCET seems to know, unfortunately... and none of the main players on Team Silent (Imamura, Owaka, Tsuboyama, Itou, Yamaoka, etc.) have ever really talked about it that I know of.

It's strange, because there was an interview in the spring of 2005 where Imamura (or maybe it was Tsubo) talking about the recombining of the SH3 and 4 teams and they had started pre-production on SH5 to make use of 'next generation' technology. I wish I could find it. I know SolidSnakeX would reference it in these discussions in the past.
It was going to kind of re-envision Silent Hill and make a lot of unsettling stuff happen in the daylight (referenced the way 1970's films could make daytime scenes seem surreal, grainy, dreamlike) and just go back to more bizarre character-driven stuff.

I wonder if any of that test material is around anywhere? Did major companies like Konami even have 360/PS3 dev kits yet at that point?

Regardless, that's the last anyone ever heard from those guys regarding Silent Hill.
It would be a couple years later when we got the SHV (later to become Homecoming) teaser at E3 and news that a Western developer was working on it. All of us SH fans were scratching our heads and we never got any answers.

How would we get answers? Some kind of mass mailing thing to Konami or something? Where have all the Team Silent guys gone.

 

[Broder Salsa]

The collection releases next month and we still haven't even heard new voices from Silent Hill 3 nor do we know if they finally fixed the graphic problems that are visible on the screen from OP.

There's a few lines from Heather here, sounds like some anime dub.

 

[randomwab]

There's a few lines from Heather here, sounds like some anime dub.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Mary Elizabeth would have been perfect for Claudia, but she doesn't fit Mary at all. I guess Maria will sound fine, but her acting Mary is just wrong considering the character.

I sort of can't wait to hear the full letter at the end. The original voice actress gave one of the best performances I've heard in a video game with that one.

 

[disappeared]

Nice thread Ultros!

 

[TheJollyCorner]

How would we get answers? Some kind of mass mailing thing to Konami or something? Where have all the Team Silent guys gone.

Unfortunately not.

Situations like these are generally buried among major companies (especially Japanese ones) and even when pushed by a bold interviewer they usually lead to canned responses. Then again, finding a bold interviewer in video game 'journalism' in the current industry is like finding a Mississippi WWII vet at a sumo wrestling match.

Unless a former staff member spills the dirty details, we'll likely never know. They might even have non-disclosure clauses on their contracts. I tend to wonder if that's why Imamura and Tsuboyama were sent into KCET oblivion... because they talked about some of the frustrations with original designs for SH3 and the Room 302 mess while still employed. Maybe corporate didn't appreciate that and banished them to working on MGS4 and then cell phone games?

Reminds me of the production difficulties with FFXII. I can't recall anyone talking about what happened there in detail, just that "Matsuno ran into bad health". Bullshit. He either couldn't handle the stress of a massive production and got sacked or Wada made him crazy and he walked. After 6 years we still don't know.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Reminds me of the production difficulties with FFXII. I can't recall anyone talking about what happened there in detail, just that "Matsuno ran into bad health". Bullshit. He either couldn't handle the stress of a massive production and got sacked or Wada made him crazy and he walked. After 6 years we still don't know.

I think the theory back then was that Matsuno basically suffered a nervous breakdown due to stress, and that was why he 'ran into bad health'.

 

[Jotamide]

The collection releases next month and we still haven't even heard new voices from Silent Hill 3 nor do we know if they finally fixed the graphic problems that are visible on the screen from OP.

Exactly, worst comes to worst I guess I'll only pick up SH2 from PSN. At least I'll have the original voices.

 

[Persona7]

I'll ask the same question that I posed in the other (accidental) |OT| thread...

Why is this already up? The game doesn't come out for another three weeks.

The game was set to come out on the 6th, but they just updated the official website within the past few days with the new date.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Since there's many SH fans in here. Anyone knows if SH4 on PC supports 360's wireless controller? been trying but without success.

 

[Persona7]

Since there's many SH fans in here. Anyone knows if SH4 on PC supports 360's wireless controller? been trying but without success.

If I remember correctly, it has generic gamepad support.

Is your controller installed correctly?

 

[Super_Chicken]

I bought all of these on PS2 and never got around to playing 4 or finishing 3 When I played 1 as a kid I nearly threw up at the nurse scene.

I rented 5 and brought it back when I found out I couldn't invert the controls, the game was unplayable.

I'm looking forward to this thought. Love the HD remakes!

 

[Persona7]

I bought all of these on PS2 and never got around to playing 4 or finishing 3 When I played 1 as a kid I nearly threw up at the nurse scene.

I rented 5 and brought it back when I found out I couldn't invert the controls, the game was unplayable.

I'm looking forward to this thought. Love the HD remakes!

Did you ever try the original Silent Hill at a later time?


If not, it is $5.99 on PSN.

 

[ULTROS!]

I bought all of these on PS2 and never got around to playing 4 or finishing 3 When I played 1 as a kid I nearly threw up at the nurse scene.

I rented 5 and brought it back when I found out I couldn't invert the controls, the game was unplayable.

I'm looking forward to this thought. Love the HD remakes!

I recommend playing 1. It's still scary though. It will give you a good background on Silent Hill and how it all started.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Usagi is such an awesome, bizarre little video. Same with Fukoro. I remember seeing them years ago.
Some of the (many) things I miss about Team Silent.

Those videos sold me on Silent Hill. I can't remember how I found them, but I loved how bizarre they were. Sometime after that, I went out and bought Silent Hill 2 one weekend I went home from college. Usagi also made Silent Hill 3 scarier because I was expecting to see those rabbits roaming various areas of the game. The hospital basement scared me the most.

 

[ULTROS!]

I seem to associate Fukuro with SH2, Usagi with SH3, and Ki-No-Ko (mushrooms) with SH4.

 

[Lime]

Did you ever try the original Silent Hill at a later time?


If not, it is $5.99 on PSN.

It's not on the EU store.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Yeah, after SH2 Imamura and Tsuboyama were challenged by KCET to make a more traditional Japanese 'ghost story' horror game, which was tentatively titled Room 302. It was being designed at a similar time with SH3. The idea was for SH3 to release, then Room 302 to release, and both teams reteaming for SH4.

Somewhere along the line allegedly KCET got nervous about a new IP being so Japanese-centric (Fatal Frame apparently didn't have the sales worldwide that Konami desired) and part-way through development instructed Imamura to convert Room 302 to SH4. You can still see a lot of remnants that weren't changed (i.e. some of the signs on buildings in 'Building World', or whatever the hell it was called, are still in Japanese in SH4 and, of course, the ghosts)

Itou did not do monster designs for The Room to intentionally separate it from a traditional SH game, which is why many people complain about the overall monster designs in SH4 compared to SH1-3.

On top of having to convert a partially complete new IP to a SH, the team's development time was cut and rushed. They had to use precious development time intended to finish the game to redesign/restructure things. KCET simply didn't give them extra time to compensate and, as admitted by Tsuboyama in post-game interviews, admitted they had to add all the backtracking simply for content to make a finished product. Hell, Yamaoka couldn't even utilize all of the soundtrack in the final game (hence a shit load of SH4 songs from the OST/Extra Tracks that you never even hear in-game).

Imamura made the best of a bad situation. Sadly it equated to a lot of wasted potential and ultimately sealing Team Silent's doom as a functional production team.

Someday I'd love to see an Art of Silent Hill book that covers games 1-4 with a dvd/bluray companion featuring interviews from the teams. I know it will never happen, though. Also, why are there no Silent Hill artbooks?

 

[UrbanRats]

SH2 > SH1 > SH3 = SH4.
For what it's worth.

EDIT: By the way, i bought the original Silent Hill on the store, and it had two sound bugs:

1) When fighting

Spoiler

the giant maggot in the mall

, there was a loud sound (like a laser, very annoying) throughout the whole fight, until the cutscene.

2) When fighting

Spoiler

Cybil on the carosel

, every sound would repeat in loop as loud as possible reaching, after a few seconds of shooting and moving, a level of loud sound-wall, that forced me to turn off the volume.. this also through

Spoiler

the cutscene of her dying

, until the loading.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I seem to associate Fukuro with SH2, Usagi with SH3, and Ki-No-Ko (mushrooms) with SH4.

The style of "mushrooms" is pretty similar to that great trailer for Silent Hill 4 which is why I enjoy it a lot.

 

[Lime]

Someday I'd love to see an Art of Silent Hill book that covers games 1-4 with a dvd/bluray companion featuring interviews from the teams. I know it will never happen, though. Also, why are there no Silent Hill artbooks?

Because Konami are incompetent. Although they released the DVD "Art of...", it's still not the same as having a proper hardcover book or browsing through the art in a convenient way (DVD menu and all that).

The style of "mushrooms" is pretty similar to that great trailer for Silent Hill 4 which is why I enjoy it a lot.

I was actually debating yesterday with my colleague about the trailer for a game we're currently developing and saying the trailer for SH4 is probably something every competent game trailer should strive for. It really is amazing.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

It's not on the EU store.

Um, what? It is. They put it back up.

 

[adamsapple]

This will be mine Day 1 !!

It's a shame they're not including atleast a voucher for the first SH on PSN/XBL.. not so sad about The Room not being included though.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Yeah same here. Also did you ever try hopping down the stairs backwards? Harry falls on his ass, it's pretty awesome.

Harry "Gumby legs" Mason

The way he moves when you just stand there rotating him is pretty funny.

SH2 > SH1 > SH3 = SH4.
For what it's worth.

EDIT: By the way, i bought the original Silent Hill on the store, and it had two sound bugs:

1) When fighting

Spoiler

the giant maggot in the mall

, there was a loud sound (like a laser, very annoying) throughout the whole fight, until the cutscene.

2) When fighting

Spoiler

Cybil on the carosel

, every sound would repeat in loop as loud as possible reaching, after a few seconds of shooting and moving, a level of loud sound-wall, that forced me to turn off the volume.. this also through

Spoiler

the cutscene of her dying

, until the loading.

It seems to happen when you play it on the PS3. It could be an issue with the emulator, or something. It's just fine on PSP, though.

 

[UrbanRats]

Because Konami are incompetent. Although they released the DVD "Art of...", it's still not the same as having a proper hardcover book or browsing through the art in a convenient way (DVD menu and all that).

The menus of that dvd are amazing in and out of themselves, though.

 

[Lime]

Um, what? It is. They put it back up.

They put it back up? When did this happen?

 

[Combichristoffersen]

They put it back up? When did this happen?

Last year. I think I bought it off PSN sometime around Christmas or so.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

The menus of that dvd are amazing in and out of themselves, though.

There's one on Lost Memories which has a background image of a cartoonish Heather freaking out and pointing behind her to a robbie peeking behind a door. I don't think I've ever seen that image, or any others like it elsewhere. It's is a shame because I like it.

 

[CyReN]

It's delayed until March 20th it seems

Still looking to get this, getting Homecoming for sure.

 

[Broder Salsa]

It's delayed until March 20th it seems

Still looking to get this, getting Homecoming for sure.

So... Releasing it a week after downpour.... Fucking konami, gotta get that shit out this fiscal year I guess.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Still can't believe 1 and 4 is missing from the collection. I guess having 4 games in a bundle is to good to be true, but they still could've given us 4.

Yeah well, Tom Hulett clearly knows what everyone else wants better than they do.

 

[MiamiWesker]

Yeah I am in the SH1 is the best camp. I dont get the love for SH2 outside of story fans. It was a step back in so many ways from SH1. It had practically no hell world, most of the game is you just walking around where SH1 had constant enemies and things going on. SH1 has so many more memorable locations like the school, how it changes into a hell school and you hear horrible noises in the boiler room. A hospital with 3 floors but an elevator that goes to a 4th floor. The amusement park, yikes. The things that happen in that game is so messed up, plays with your mind so much and of course it was first. SH2 is a walk in the park by comparison.

I liked SH3 a ton, a nice focus on action while keeping the awesome puzzles and craziness of the series in tact.

 

[Typographenia]

Yeah well, Tom Hulett clearly knows what everyone else wants better than they do.

That makes sense. Wait.

 

[toddhunter]

Yeah I am in the SH1 is the best camp. I dont get the love for SH2 outside of story fans. It was a step back in so many ways from SH1. It had practically no hell world, most of the game is you just walking around where SH1 had constant enemies and things going on. SH1 has so many more memorable locations like the school, how it changes into a hell school and you hear horrible noises in the boiler room. A hospital with 3 floors but an elevator that goes to a 4th floor. The amusement park, yikes. The things that happen in that game is so messed up, plays with your mind so much and of course it was first. SH2 is a walk in the park by comparison.

All the reasons you listed are why I like SH2 better, in reverse It was one big mind fuck that unravelled perfectly.

 

[Varshes]

I only recently found out about the HD collection delay, I was so ready to play next week... Konami is just danglin' that carrot in front of my nose at this point. So now I have to delve into Downpour first, please be good!

 

[kunonabi]

Yeah SH2 was just too easy for words. I really couldn't find the game all that scary because of how ineffectual the enemies. With SH1 I always have this irrational fear that one of these days some completely new enemy is going to pop of nowhere and kill me. I know it isn't possible but the game is so scary that it just makes me throw common sense out the window. SH2 on the other hand, if even if that did happen the enemy would probably just walk around in circles and do nothing. The game does everything else so well but it just wasn't in the same league as the first when it comes to fear factor. The psychological scares were brilliant but I always felt like they could have been more effective had there been any sense of danger throughout the rest of the game.

SH3 came closer and certainly played more like SH1 which are some of the many reasons I liked it so much.

 

[Persona7]

Amazon has a 5 dollar credit towards one of the other two silent hill games if you preorder the HD collection. Book of Memories also has this promotion.

Then, Downpour has a 10 dollar credit.


I have HD collection and Downpour pre ordered, thanks amazon.

 

[Persona7]

For some reason the release day delivery on my order reverted to FSSS.

I had to do the chat thing with amazon support and have then create me a new order with overnight shipping AND then remove the shipping charge.