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Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - |OT| of Not Your Father's Silent Hill

R

rainking187

Member
EatChildren said:
Then you went in with the wrong attitude, as it was always since the beginning billed as a re-imagining of the first Silent Hill. Trying to tie it in to the overall Silent Hill law, while attempted by some, in my opinion over complicates the story and deviates from what the project was always intended to be.

You shouldn't be trying to slot it in anywhere and instead judging the story on its own.
Click to expand...

Well I guess in that case I still didn't care for the story much. A lot of parts didn't seem to make any sense at all really, unless you just go with it's stuff Cheryl (Heather) is making up. Like the switches between young and middle aged Dahlia, and who was Dahlia anyway if you ignore the first Silent Hill game? She's not Harry's wife, so who was she?
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
canon-rebel-t1i.jpg
≠
cannon-lg.jpeg


Seriously guys, c'mon.
 
J

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
rainking187 said:
Well I guess in that case I still didn't care for the story much. A lot of parts didn't seem to make any sense at all really, unless you just go with it's stuff Cheryl (Heather) is making up. Like the switches between young and middle aged Dahlia, and who was Dahlia anyway if you ignore the first Silent Hill game? She's not Harry's wife, so who was she?
Click to expand...
They're not the characters from the previous games. They may have the same names and the premise of Harry looking for Cheryl may be the same, but it's a completely different story. Comparing them to characters from the previous games makes no sense.
Think of this game like the Batman movies by Christopher Nolan: yeah, it's still Batman, but you wouldn't wonder why Joker is still around in The Dark Knight after the one portrayed by Jack Nicholson splattered on the floor in the first Tim Burton movie, and that's because they're not part of the same canon.
In this story, Dahlia is simply Harry's wife (or his lover, depending on your psych profile apparently). That's it.

Haunted said:
canon-rebel-t1i.jpg
≠
cannon-lg.jpeg


Seriously guys, c'mon.
Click to expand...
The only misspelling that pisses me off more than cannon instead of canon is collosus instead of colossus.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
rainking187 said:
Well I guess in that case I still didn't care for the story much. A lot of parts didn't seem to make any sense at all really, unless you just go with it's stuff Cheryl (Heather) is making up. Like the switches between young and middle aged Dahlia, and who was Dahlia anyway if you ignore the first Silent Hill game? She's not Harry's wife, so who was she?
Click to expand...

Young Dahlia is Cheryl wanting to bone her dad
 
R

rainking187

Member
Jocchan said:
They're not the characters from the previous games. They may have the same names and the premise of Harry looking for Cheryl may be the same, but it's a completely different story. Comparing them to characters from the previous games makes no sense.
Think of this game like the Batman movies by Christopher Nolan: yeah, it's still Batman, but you wouldn't wonder why Joker is still around in The Dark Knight after the one portrayed by Jack Nicholson splattered on the floor in the first Tim Burton movie, and that's because they're not part of the same canon.
Click to expand...

That's kind of my point though. If it's not the same characters, then who are they? Despite the fact that I'm supposed to apparently ignore the fact that the first game exists it seems like it counts on you having played it before, because only the two new characters, Michelle and whatever her boyfriend's name was are really explained. Ignore the "canon" for a minute and explain to me who Dhalia and Lisa were and why they were in the game.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
rainking187 said:
Well I guess in that case I still didn't care for the story much. A lot of parts didn't seem to make any sense at all really, unless you just go with it's stuff Cheryl (Heather) is making up. Like the switches between young and middle aged Dahlia, and who was Dahlia anyway if you ignore the first Silent Hill game? She's not Harry's wife, so who was she?
Click to expand...

Ignore everything about any of the previous games. It is a story reboot. It might use the same names and settings, but it is not supposed to be connected to the old games. Dont tie them in at all. Imagine it as its own story and characters regardless of superficial connections.

In this, Dahlia represented Cheryl's relationship with her mother. Also, quite possibly, represented Dahlia herself during certain parts of the story.

Everything that happened with Harry in the game wasn't 'real'. The whole thing was one symbolic journey through Cheryl's mind, the Silent Hill of her emotions and memories. Every location, character, and event symbolises an emotion or event of Cheryl as a person, and her connections to others.

And, in the end, Harry never existed at all, not beyond what we (as Cheryl) create of him.
 
R

rainking187

Member
EatChildren said:
Ignore everything about any of the previous games. It is a story reboot. It might use the same names and settings, but it is not supposed to be connected to the old games. Dont tie them in at all. Imagine it as its own story and characters regardless of superficial connections.

In this, Dahlia represented Cheryl's relationship with her mother. Also, quite possibly, represented Dahlia herself during certain parts of the story.

Everything that happened with Harry in the game wasn't 'real'. The whole thing was one symbolic journey through Cheryl's mind, the Silent Hill of her emotions and memories. Every location, character, and event symbolises an emotion or event of Cheryl as a person, and her connections to others.

And, in the end, Harry never existed at all, not beyond what we (as Cheryl) create of him.
Click to expand...

And I guess that's why I didn't care for the story. "Oh yeah, none of that actually happened." Is pretty much the biggest slap in the face a storyteller can give to the people following the story as far as I'm concerned.
 
J

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
rainking187 said:
That's kind of my point though. If it's not the same characters, then who are they? Despite the fact that I'm supposed to apparently ignore the fact that the first game exists it seems like it counts on you having played it before, because only the two new characters, Michelle and whatever her boyfriend's name was are really explained. Ignore the "canon" for a minute and explain to me who Dhalia and Lisa were and why they were in the game.
Click to expand...
Then why
we still got Joker? Nah, j/k ;)

Actually, none of the characters is really explained or fleshed out much. Not even Michelle and her boyfriend. They're left to the player's interpretation as either real people who happen to meet Harry's ghost in the present, real-life town of Silent Hill, or figments of Cheryl's imagination based on her memories: Michelle could have been either one of her friends from high school or the woman she saw having a threesome with her father and posing as a prom girl, Lisa could have been either the nurse who took care of her at the Alchemilla hospital or - same as Michelle - the other girl in the above threesome, and so on.
Have you given attention to the ghost messages you find throughout the game? All of them are either related to Cheryl or to people she knew, and flesh out the story of her life in the past 18 or so years. A pretty sad life overall, by the way.

rainking187 said:
And I guess that's why I didn't care for the story. "Oh yeah, none of that actually happened." Is pretty much the biggest slap in the face a storyteller can give to the people following the story as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...
Actually,
the producer clarified they wanted to leave up to the players if the events in this game ever happened, or are just part of Cheryl's imagination. Both explanations work equally. Also, even if you believe everything just happened inside her head, it still did happen and was part of the process leading to her (eventually) accepting her father's death (which is a real life consequence, in any case). Far from being "it was just a dream so nevermind" bullshit.
 
M

MYE

Member
rainking187 said:
And I guess that's why I didn't care for the story. "Oh yeah, none of that actually happened." Is pretty much the biggest slap in the face a storyteller can give to the people following the story as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

uh

okay >_>
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
rainking187 said:
And I guess that's why I didn't care for the story. "Oh yeah, none of that actually happened." Is pretty much the biggest slap in the face a storyteller can give to the people following the story as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

But unlike so many 'but nothing actually happened' stories which lose relevance upon revelation, the story of Shattered Memories unravels the character of Cheryl, her connection to her father, her subconcious developments, and the workings of her inner psychy. It's a story about character development and revelation. The idea is we, as a player, become connected to Harry as a character and what drives him, and at the end have to let go of who he is and accept he is nothing more than a construct of our own imagination and desires (through playstyle), which in turn is exactly what Cheryl, who we really are, is trying to do as well. Even though none of it literally happened, it is still 100% relevant to Cheryl, and thus the development of the plot.

It's cool if you dont like it though. To each there own. But its still best to ignore the other Silent Hill games, regardless of similarities, as its literally its own product.
 
D

Dascu

Member
rainking187 said:
And I guess that's why I didn't care for the story. "Oh yeah, none of that actually happened." Is pretty much the biggest slap in the face a storyteller can give to the people following the story as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...
It's a character study of a girl who's dealing with the grief of losing her father. What does it matter if a fictional story didn't really happen in a fictional world? I hope you don't use this criteria for films and books, because dream-sequences and imaginations are extremely common.
 
R

rainking187

Member
Jocchan said:
Then why
we still got Joker? Nah, j/k ;)

Actually, none of the characters is really explained or fleshed out much. Not even Michelle and her boyfriend. They're left to the player's interpretation as either real people who happen to meet Harry's ghost in the present, real-life town of Silent Hill, or figments of Cheryl's imagination based on her memories: Michelle could have been either one of her friends from high school or the woman she saw having a threesome with her father and posing as a prom girl, Lisa could have been either the nurse who took care of her at the Alchemilla hospital or - same as Michelle - the other girl in the above threesome, and so on.
Have you given attention to the ghost messages you find throughout the game? All of them are either related to Cheryl or to people she knew, and flesh out the story of her life in the past 18 or so years. A pretty sad life overall, by the way.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was another thing I didn't much care for. Some of that stuff made Cheryl (Heather) seem super fucked up depending on how you interpreted it. I remember there was one where it talked about her shoplifting, and ended with her killing some guy.

Dascu said:
It's a character study of a girl who's dealing with the grief of losing her father. What does it matter if a fictional story didn't really happen in a fictional world? I hope you don't use this criteria for films and books, because dream-sequences and imaginations are extremely common.
Click to expand...

I guess to me, yes it does matter quite a bit whether the fictional story in the fictional world actually happened or not. And I don't have a problem with dream sequences in movies and books, provided that not the entire thing is a dream.
 
J

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
rainking187 said:
Yeah, that was another thing I didn't much care for. Some of that stuff made Cheryl (Heather) seem super fucked up depending on how you interpreted it. I remember there was one where it talked about her shoplifting, and ended with her killing some guy.
Click to expand...
Then I guess I can just quote Dascu's reply.
The story of this game was just about a girl going through a hard life and eventually accepting the cause of her suffering, her father's death. No demons or cults involved, except her own inner demons. It's fair not to care or like it, and it looks like you just didn't.

rainking187 said:
I guess to me, yes it does matter quite a bit whether the fictional story in the fictional world actually happened or not. And I don't have a problem with dream sequences in movies and books, provided that not the entire thing is a dream.
Click to expand...
I guess you missed the point, then.
Because, imagination or not, everything happened for her and had a part in her coming to terms with the loss of her father. So, does it matter if Harry was a ghost roaming Silent Hill or not when the result is exactly the same?
 
R

rainking187

Member
Jocchan said:
I guess you missed the point, then.
Because, imagination or not, everything happened for her and had a part in her coming to terms with the loss of her father. So, does it matter if Harry was a ghost roaming Silent Hill or not when the result is exactly the same?
Click to expand...

To me, I guess it does matter. I guess I just have to say I didn't care for the story or for the direction they went in with Cheryl's character.
 
J

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
rainking187 said:
To me, I guess it does matter. I guess I just have to say I didn't care for the story or for the direction they went in with Cheryl's character.
Click to expand...
And that's perfectly fine, then.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Shattered Memories actually works well, I think, with the others.

I see it as a sequel to Silent Hill 3. That game ends with Cheryl in a considerable amount of grief. She thought that by going to Silent Hill and stopping Claudia that it would exact revenge for Harry's death, but clearly it didn't help her. In Shattered Memories, it's almost like a game dedicated solely to Cheryl coming to grips with everything that happened in Silent Hill 1 and 3. She even looks similar to what she looks like in SH3.

But hey, that's my personal justification and it helps me enjoy the game more.
 
I

Inkwell

Banned
I actually just finished this a couple days ago. I enjoyed the experience and story, but I thought the actual gameplay was terrible. During the adventure/puzzle solving segments there were almost no puzzles. The ones that were there were really weak. I hated the chase sequences also. I understand they were made a a bit confusing and maze-like on purpose, but it was just so frustrating.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent does something similar to this game. They focus on puzzle solving, and there's no combat. You can only run and hide. It was by far superior and I had just finished that game a little before I started on Shattered Memories.

I'll probably play through it again and change my choices. I'd like to see how the characters/world changes.
 
M

Medalion

Banned
I can't believe this thread is still going :lol

Yes it was indeed a good game, but it wasn't the best thing ever either.

I was expecting like LTTP threads than the bumping of the same old one
 
S

shuyin_

Banned
brandonh83 said:
Nothing is the "best thing ever." Apart from Silent Hill 2 but I mean there are always exceptions to the rule.
Click to expand...
I'm getting a bit tired of SH2 fans. I too loved it, mostly due to its story and atmosphere, but come on. It's not the best thing to happen to survival horror ever. In fact, if you take out the story and atmosphere, SH2 is a pretty ordinary game.

It was less scary than a lady gaga MV and the gameplay itself was mediocre as hell. In fact, Clock Tower 1 is infinitely better from a gameplay pov than SH2.
 
D

Dascu

Member
shuyin_ said:
I'm getting a bit tired of SH2 fans. I too loved it, mostly due to its story and atmosphere, but come on. It's not the best thing to happen to survival horror ever. In fact, if you take out the story and atmosphere, SH2 is a pretty ordinary game.

It was less scary than a lady gaga MV and the gameplay itself was mediocre as hell. In fact, Clock Tower 1 is infinitely better from a gameplay pov than SH2.
Click to expand...
Can't say I disagree. Story and atmosphere were very nice, but the gameplay was terrible. However that's to be expected of a Silent Hill game, and though Shattered Memories was an (small) improvement, it sacrificed some other things in the process.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
shuyin_ said:
I'm getting a bit tired of SH2 fans. I too loved it, mostly due to its story and atmosphere, but come on. It's not the best thing to happen to survival horror ever. In fact, if you take out the story and atmosphere, SH2 is a pretty ordinary game.

It was less scary than a lady gaga MV and the gameplay itself was mediocre as hell. In fact, Clock Tower 1 is infinitely better from a gameplay pov than SH2.
Click to expand...
First, let me state that SH2 is my favorite game ever.
I completely agree that the gameplay was pretty lame(and it hasn't aged well, too) but it wasn't just the story itself, to be good, it was the perfect metaphorization of all its elements, into visual clues, like the monsters representing elements of the characters' psychology, or the elements of the senario, doing the same thing, etc etc.
Even the riddles and puzzles were all metaphorically connected to the theme, remember the hanged men puzzle? Where you get to decide who was the guilty one?
 
L

Lime

Member
It's beginning to snow where I live and I'm kind of in the mood for a third playthrough. I love it when the atmosphere of a game is congruent with real life.
 
M

MidnightScott

Banned
Is this game really worth it? I was tempted to buy it back at launch but changed my mind. I never saw any good gameplay videos. Someone show me the best ones please?
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I wonder what Climax is up to?
They had 2 unnanounced Konami games in development... but with Vatra doing SH8, and Wii sales as the are... looking less likely they are doing a SM 2 :(
 
M

MYE

Member
MidnightScott said:
Is this game really worth it? I was tempted to buy it back at launch but changed my mind. I never saw any good gameplay videos. Someone show me the best ones please?
Click to expand...

BUY IT
 
Z

ZombieSupaStar

Member
ugh ive have this in the wrapper since I got it last christmas, finally busted it out, and WTF why did they have to put these shitty shitty shitty "combat" scenarios in it?

Especially when "flailing like a retard" usually ends up putting the IR pointer to some position that in turn faces your character in the wrong direction, these are just awful.

Im in the forest "combat" part
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
John Harker said:
I wonder what Climax is up to?
They had 2 unnanounced Konami games in development... but with Vatra doing SH8, and Wii sales as the are... looking less likely they are doing a SM 2 :(
Click to expand...

Hopefully a SH that will utilize MOVE or Kinect?
Really want to see Climax do another SH.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
shuyin_ said:
I'm getting a bit tired of SH2 fans. I too loved it, mostly due to its story and atmosphere, but come on. It's not the best thing to happen to survival horror ever. In fact, if you take out the story and atmosphere, SH2 is a pretty ordinary game.

It was less scary than a lady gaga MV and the gameplay itself was mediocre as hell. In fact, Clock Tower 1 is infinitely better from a gameplay pov than SH2.
Click to expand...

Good thing I don't see Silent Hill 2, or the others for that matter, as gameplay experiences. If you take out the story and atmosphere, I mean those things are purely the driving forces of the series. So no, I don't follow.

If I judged them from only a gameplay perspective, I wouldn't like any of them. Same goes for the earlier Resident Evil titles, which I hold in much higher regard than I do 4 or 5. But I guess since the gameplay is technically better, RE5 is better than RE2. Or not.

The story and atmosphere is exactly why I love the series and I think SH2 is unparalleled in those aspects.
 
Z

ZombieSupaStar

Member
ugh this is awful fuck it i quit.

im following the lights, and i get fucking turned around backwards, I hope whoever thought this was a good idea is fired, can never have a job again, and goes blind.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
ZombieSupaStar said:
im following the lights, and i get fucking turned around backwards, I hope whoever thought this was a good idea is fired, can never have a job again, and goes blind.
Click to expand...

The chase sequences-- while not hard or anything-- do keep me from wanting to replay the game. They can be really frustrating. Same for the combat in Homecoming. Now, I like Homecoming, but it and Shattered Memories really make me appreciate the sterile, boring gameplay of the earlier installments. As in, there's no shitty gameplay mechanics that keep me from enjoying the story and atmosphere.

I'm anxious to see if Silent Hill 8 can finally implement better gameplay along with the story and atmosphere. You know they're going to try to do just that, and it's one of the few concerns I have about the title.
 
F

Fantastical

Death Prophet
John Harker said:
I wonder what Climax is up to?
They had 2 unnanounced Konami games in development... but with Vatra doing SH8, and Wii sales as the are... looking less likely they are doing a SM 2 :(
Click to expand...
For the love of God we must see another Climax SH! The story telling in this game is just amazing.
 
L

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
John Harker said:
I wonder what Climax is up to?
They had 2 unnanounced Konami games in development... but with Vatra doing SH8, and Wii sales as the are... looking less likely they are doing a SM 2 :(
Click to expand...
SH2:SM for 3DS!
 
C

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
ZombieSupaStar said:
ugh this is awful fuck it i quit.

im following the lights, and i get fucking turned around backwards, I hope whoever thought this was a good idea is fired, can never have a job again, and goes blind.
Click to expand...

The story is pretty good, so you should at least read the Wiki article on the game to spoil the story for yourself. But yeah, everything else about the game is kinda awful. Homecoming and Shattered Memories are, besides Play Novel, easily the worst SH games I've played.
 
D

Dascu

Member
brandonh83 said:
The chase sequences-- while not hard or anything-- do keep me from wanting to replay the game. They can be really frustrating. Same for the combat in Homecoming. Now, I like Homecoming, but it and Shattered Memories really make me appreciate the sterile, boring gameplay of the earlier installments. As in, there's no shitty gameplay mechanics that keep me from enjoying the story and atmosphere.

I'm anxious to see if Silent Hill 8 can finally implement better gameplay along with the story and atmosphere. You know they're going to try to do just that, and it's one of the few concerns I have about the title.
Click to expand...
The main character picked up a gun during the first trailer, no? Already a sign for me that the gameplay won't be much better.

Edit: Checked the trailer again. Eh, I can't get excited for this. It looks like a rainy version of Homecoming. The only nice thing about it is the music.
 
M

MYE

Member
ZombieSupaStar said:
ugh this is awful fuck it i quit.

im following the lights, and i get fucking turned around backwards, I hope whoever thought this was a good idea is fired, can never have a job again, and goes blind.
Click to expand...

wow, you're having that much trouble with it :lol
 
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