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Silent Hill series appreciation thread

M

Mau ®

Member
Well since this is my first thread on GAF I wanted it to be special so I decided to honor my favorite series of all time here

Silent Hill is not only my favorite horror game series but my favorite game series of all time due to its incredible atmosphere, soundtracks, scare factor and out of this world storylines.

Horror gaming IMO truly started with Silent Hill 1, sure you had your RE and Alone in the Darks but once SH stepped in horror gaming changed (then it stayed that way until RE4).

My favorite SH game is Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, this had an atmosphere that IMO felt natural but at the same time it felt surreal and otherwordly, that combined with a troubled cast of characters that should all be in a mental facility and not wondering around a town and a storyline written by the Devil himself that handles themes like euthanasia, physical and sexual abuse, and traumas make it my favorite horror game and 4th favorite game of all time.

Trailing behind SH2 is SH4 (not a popular choice I know) but I think SH4 introduces a great concept, that, with more time could have AMAZING. I also think it featured one hell of a storyline too. I don't really get the hate on this one, the only thing I disliked was the removal of pitchblack areas and the backtracking.

Silent Hill 3 has graphics that could very well be considered next gen (crappy next gen graphics but still...) the models are next gen quality imo. The storyline was great but after SH2 is kinda meh. I must say Heather was HAWT even though she was a crackwhore (or at least had the looks of one).

Silent Hill 1 had a truly confusing storyline but still a very good one IMO.Is probably the scariest of the bunch. This needs a remake more than FFVII :lol

On the horizon we have the unannounced Silent Hill 5 which is being developed for a next generation console, supposedly the best console will get it so it'll probably be on PS3 due to its better hardware and the fanbase is on PS side. I was slightly disspointed that SH5 was not present at TGS2005 but I'm also glad that the series are taking a public rest and Team Silent is taking their time with this one. After MGS4 I cannot imagine how SH5 will look with the power of PS3.

There's also a SH movie in the works. Everyone has high hopes for this one and everything I read about it is very possitive. If done right this could become a hit kinda like The Ring, it certainly has the potential.

The series has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide but that was way before SH4 was released so I don't know the latest numbers, if some one knows the latest numbers for all SH games plz post them.

Post your thoughts on this amazing series. :)
 
Enjoy the series a lot, but the series definately peaked at SH2. That game was fantastic. SH3 and 4 I couldn't get into as much, but I think SH2 is better than all the Resident Evils except 4.
 
Favorite series as well. I like Silent Hill 1 the most (the avatar is from 1), then 2, then 4, then 3. I really wish the character designer/CG animator from 1 and 2 still worked on the games. Silent Hill 3 and 4 do not nearly have as well designed characters as he made them. Also, they need to STOP WITH THE CULT. I'm SO friggin' happy that 5 will be going the route 2 took where it was about the characters and Silent Hill, but no stupid cult exposition.
 
SH1 was the scariest piece of entertainment I've ever experienced, and since playing it I've had at least a few freaky nightmares that were definitely inspired by it. Awesome game, great series.
 
I recently played SH 1 again a couple months ago. Still, to this very day, it's the scariest game ever made.
 
I liked Silent Hill 3's gameplay the best, and liked Silent Hill 2's story the best. Silent Hill 2 gameplay tired me out with the constant aimless running in the dark through the city. Probably wasn't the only one that felt that way because that disappeared in Silent Hill 3.

SH4 gameplay was even worse though. It had some SERIOUS backracking. Gotta go through every level at least twice and in the same room most of the game. Fighting the ghosts wasn't fun, and the Nemesis like dude wasn't scary to me...just annoying. Somehow it actually looked worse than SH3 graphically too. :/ Couldn't make it to the end of this one

Awesome series though. The only series that had a moment that literally scared the living shit out of me
In the mannequin room in Silent Hill3, and just when you're about the leave you hear a girl scream and then a bunch of weird noises. And you knew something was going to happen in that room, but I still didn't expect it.
 
1 started out great but lapsed once I realized the rest of the game followed the same formula (dungeon once in light world, then again in dark world), and the plot was a lame Rosemary's Baby rip-off.

2 was excellent. It kept its exceptionally creepy atmosphere by grounding the world in reality and relies on psychological horrors rather than "OMG there's BLOOD ON THE WALL" cheap thrills. The prison and hospital are still the creepiest environments in a non-FF game. The plot was a huge improvement as well.

3 is hurt a bit plot-wise by being the sequel to 1, but overcomes a fair amount of that game’s flaws and manages to stand on its own. Heather is probably the most likable SH protagonist, and while the game starts out rather non-threatening, once she makes it to Silent Hill the game hits its stride. The park and the church were great.

4 is just bad. Having to do every area twice -- with a severe crutch the second time -- was just not fun at all. The RE inventory system was all kinds of annoying, none of the characters were particularly memorable, and the plot was laughably bad. I mean really, who thinks an apartment room is their MOTHER?
 
Silent Hill 1 is still tops, IMO, and I played it after SH3 so it isn't just the nostalgia talking. The shift from nightmare world to real world, the way everything slows down when you deliver the final blow to a boss, the sirens, the fog, everything was so brilliant (except for the voice acting). None of the RE games hold a candle to it when it comes to atmosphere.

I thought SH2 was way too slow, and I don't think the script and voice acting did the ambitious plot justice, but the prison and pyramid head are one of the first instances in a game where I'm literally dreading exploring a room.

SH3 was overall even creepier, especially with some of the mind tricks they tried to play. But I think in terms of pacing it was the exact opposite of SH2, it was way too fast.

SH4 doesn't exist, it's just a myth being spread by people who hate the series. ;)

So, SH1>SH3>SH2 for me.
 
I have a lot of respect for other franchise in the survival horror genre as well (Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, and Alone in the Dark to name a few) BUT none have made me love the genre quite like Silent Hill. For me it’s the pure intelligence that hooks me with it's sophisticated storyline, and well thought out character and creature design. Never knowing really what to expect makes me only want to press on to find out. I agree with most in saying that SH2 was the pinnacle of the series. The story was amazing (one of the best this gen IMO) for the people that stuck though till the end (some gave up within the first hour cause of it’s slow brewing story) with a shocking twist that made my jaw drop. With high production values the graphics are top of the line for ANY current system (especially SH3) and the sound is amazingly creepy. For me Silent Hill is an experience not a game
 
While Resident Evil's become more of an action franchise, Silent Hill is still a horror game and I like that a lot

Silent Hill 1 was mindblowing
 
demon said:
SH1 was the scariest piece of entertainment I've ever experienced, and since playing it I've had at least a few freaky nightmares that were definitely inspired by it. Awesome game, great series.
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Same here, no game has quite scared me like Silent Hill 1 has all these years. I wussed out so bad that I purposely turned down the volume because the music and sounds was creeping the hell out of me.
 
SH2>SH1>SH3>SH4

Silent Hill 2, I refused to play in the dark. It just creeped the heck out of me, especially the Hospital. I also wasn't a fan of being able to see things moving around in the dark, and deciding whether or not to run over there and smack the hell out of it with my pipe or just book it.

Silent Hill 1 was the only game of the series to give me shivers. In the parts where the transparent babies are running around, I've never felt more uneasy playing a game as those parts.

Silent Hill 3 was meh. That doesn't mean I don't not like it, because I do, but there just seemed something missing to it.

Silent Hill 4 was a chore to play. I played it on easy just to finish the game. It was the first time I've ever felt like I just had to finish the game just because I bought it.
 
Don't ever think that RE and AitD ushered in the horror games.

With that said, I love SH2, found 3 too easy and short and couldn't stand part 4. It was pure trash on a stick. Although it wasn't as painful as cleaning the walls of a temple or carrying books around.
 
evilromero said:
Don't ever think that RE and AitD ushered in the horror games.

With that said, I love SH2, found 3 too easy and short and couldn't stand part 4. It was pure trash on a stick. Although it wasn't as painful as cleaning the walls of a temple or carrying books around.
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Hey, Shenmue II rocked. >[
 
SH2 is the best amongst them. Fantastic atmosphere, and story is more about personal sin/guilty.

And I had finally got my SH Play Novel (GBA) yesterday, brand new, completely out of my expectation. :D
 
The quality of the Silent Hill series is pretty amazing when you think of factors such as the high output of titles (3 in this gen) and the constant shifting of staff positions.

I do think Team Silent has listened too much to their most vocal fans though. While SH1&2 (especially the latter) are timeless classics, SH3 is not quite as good. Felt as if it was held back by being a direct sequel to the first game. SH4 would probably have been better off as the standalone title it was originally intended to be. It was hardly total shit, but not up to snuff as far as SH is concerned. For SH Next, they'd better get Owaku back to writing the scenario.
 
Silent Hill 1 is indeed the best one. I haven't played something as disturbing as this game...good times. SH3 doesn't even come close. I can't stand the gameplay anymore, though. It's dated and slow as fuck.
 
Ceb said:
I do think Team Silent has listened too much to their most vocal fans though. While SH1&2 (especially the latter) are timeless classics, SH3 is not quite as good.
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Yah that's what I think. SH3's story was much more simplistic than the previous games which was somewhat disappointing. It still had a good story but nowhere near as good as SH2. They also seem to be making it too action oriented and that shouldn't be the point of the series. Having a good battle system is fine there's nothing wrong with that, but the focus shouldn't be on it.

Ceb said:
For SH Next, they'd better get Owaku back to writing the scenario.
Click to expand...

In one of the MGS threads someone mentioned that a mod on an IGN board said that Konami going to be making a big multiplatform announce in the next 2 weeks. Could be the new SH.
 
BTW...I'm thinking about picking up SH2, but I already know
That the blonde woman(Marie i think) is dead
. Is that gonna ruin the game/storyline for me?
 
jett said:
BTW...I'm thinking about picking up SH2, but I already know
That the blonde woman(Marie i think) is dead
. Is that gonna ruin the game/storyline for me?
Click to expand...

Nope her death is the basis of the story. You're suppose to know about it.
 
what's a thread like this without pics?

SH1:
psd3d008.jpg


psd3d021.jpg


psd3d041.jpg


psd3d042.jpg


psd3d106.jpg


SH3:
sh3__9.jpg


sh3.jpg


sh3__3.jpg


sh3__11.jpg



I loved 3, although it suffers in the story department it has some pretty heavy atmosphere. SH1 is a classic I revisit from time to time and is overall the scariest of the bunch. SH2 has the best story easily and is engaging throughout, but is too easy in spots. you can actually just run past the slow moving monsters most of the time and you can just avoid the first boss and he'll go away after 2 minutes. Despite that, Pyramid Head IS scary and the prison level is unsurpassed.
 
Richiban said:
SH2>SH1>SH3>SH4

Silent Hill 2, I refused to play in the dark. It just creeped the heck out of me, especially the Hospital. I also wasn't a fan of being able to see things moving around in the dark, and deciding whether or not to run over there and smack the hell out of it with my pipe or just book it.

Silent Hill 1 was the only game of the series to give me shivers. In the parts where the transparent babies are running around, I've never felt more uneasy playing a game as those parts.

Silent Hill 3 was meh. That doesn't mean I don't not like it, because I do, but there just seemed something missing to it.

Silent Hill 4 was a chore to play. I played it on easy just to finish the game. It was the first time I've ever felt like I just had to finish the game just because I bought it.
Click to expand...

IAWTP.
 
Shikamaru Ninja said:
People talked about Resident Evil controlling bad, but this game takes the cake.
Click to expand...

Eh? The only difference between SH and RE's tank controls is that in SH you can strafe and move and shoot at the sametime.
 
I still remember playing SH1 when he got that phone call in the School(I think) scared the shit out of me. :lol
 
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