Does SH have a future for you?

[synce]

I grew up with the series but honestly I didn't care for SH4, SHO, or SHH. It's like Konami doesn't know where to take the series, and I kinda want to see it dead before any more harm is done to it. Are there any other longtime fans here, and how do you feel about the series today? (I'm new here by the way.) -.-

[Darkmoon]

I enjoy SH4, and haven't managed to play Origins or Homecomming yet, so I may chance my mind when I do. But, honestly, I think it's doing alright. I liked 4, as I said, because it had an interesting plot, some fun puzzles and some good scares, and that's what I look for in Silent Hill. I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish it had taken place in, you know, Silent Hill though.

[randomwab]

I do think the series has a future. However, I think that it needs either a huge rethink and reinvention, or a reboot. The formula is getting stale, the combat is horrible, and not even the story can save these games from playing very poorly. Perhaps the problem is that the games are still using a set of ideas which were designed around two generation old hardware.

Honestly though, I think a big problem is a mix between hardcore fans bitching (I'll be honest, myself included) and the developers fearing the wrath of these fans. When people like myself are bitching because they put a popular character into the game, it has to be annoying for the developers, especially seeing as Silent Hill fans can be a bloodthirsty pack of evil people.

I have to say though, even I can see ways to improve the series while staying true to its roots. Hell, I even have ideas for a new, fresh Silent Hill title, but sadly, I don't have an eager team of developers to do my every bidding. A pity, really.

[Neptune]

I enjoy SH4, and haven't managed to play Origins or Homecomming yet, so I may chance my mind when I do. But, honestly, I think it's doing alright. I liked 4, as I said, because it had an interesting plot, some fun puzzles and some good scares, and that's what I look for in Silent Hill. I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish it had taken place in, you know, Silent Hill though.

exactly the same here mate, i was gunna pick up Origins on the PS2, but money constraints have dictated otherwise, naturally i cant aford a PS3, but i shud be getting on in April, as it gets given away on a mobile phone contract for free!

i really liked the first 3 games, i havent got in2 SH4 as much, but im still optimistic

[Biohazard EX]

I liked SH4, and Origins I actually enjoyed very much. The storyline wasn't beyond extraordinary but I found it scary, and in the true spirit of Silent Hill. And although I didn't find Homecoming scary, I did like its storyline very much, so if nothing else, it still did justice to the series as far as the narrative is concerned.

[Mr_Zombie]

I enjoy SH4 and Homecoming (I haven't played Origins yet - only the Hospital section) and I think that the series has a future. But, just like randomwab said, the developer need to rethink what they want SH to be. Because SH4 was a completely different game to its predecessors, while both Origins (from what I saw) and Homecoming are like fan games -- they are reusing lots of ideas from SH1-3 instead of creating something new.

Also, I think Team Silent need to come back. While I like Origins and Homecoming, especially their gameplay (the combat in Team Silent's SH games sucked :/), 0rigins has rather so-so story (they should concentrate more on Travis' past, which was interesting, instead of throwing the whole Alessa story in there, which on the other hand was poorly made), and Homecoming's story was very disturbing and IMO not very in SH style (end part especially).

[Biohazard EX]

Yeah, it seems like Silent Hill is at a crossroads at the moment where Konami doesn't really want to know what it wants to do with it.
Akira Yamaoka said he wants to produce a different horror game, so who knows... Maybe Homecoming is the last SH game we'll see.

[Gradon]

Wow, if only Team Silent were still working at the game.

[randomwab]

Word is that some of the core members of Team Silent are working on something at the minute.

[Gradon]

With Konami? A horror collaboration? Or can't you clarify any more?

[randomwab]

I'm not sure. I would imagine it is with Konami though. As for what it is, no word, though I would think it will be a new IP.

[Biohazard EX]

Well, it's consistent with what Yamaoka wanted.

[James]

Word is that some of the core members of Team Silent are working on something at the minute.
Aren't the core members of Team Silent now known as project SIREN? >_>

[randomwab]

Aren't the core members of Team Silent now known as project SIREN? >_>

Not really. Some guys left for project SIREN, but people like Yamaoka, Ito, Owaku, Tsuboyama and Imamura are still at Konami as far as I am aware. Just a pity that Sato and Toyama will probably never be able to work on another Silent Hill title.

[James]

Wasn't Yamaoka working on something else, that was alledgedly a similar horror franchise?

In that same interview, didn't Yamaoka say that he couldn't let anyone else do a Silent Hill game?

This doesn't say much for the future of Silent Hill.

[Biohazard EX]

Well, the good thing about Silent Hill is that there doesn't need to be a future game. I mean, each Silent Hill has a conclusion. So it's not like after homecoming you think, "Gosh, I wonder what's gonna happen to these characters in the next one."

As long as we get a horror title, Produced by Yamaoka, and published by Konami, hopefully with some vocal work by Mary Elizabeth Glynn on the soundtrack, which was also made by Yamaoka. They could call the game whatever you want and make it about anything they want. Heck, it could even be about a well respected corporation doing secred bio weapon experiments which lead to a zombie outbreak.

[Gradon]

As long as we get a horror title, Produced by Yamaoka, and published by Konami, hopefully with some vocal work by Mary Elizabeth Glynn on the soundtrack, which was also made by Yamaoka. They could call the game whatever you want and make it about anything they want. Heck, it could even be about a well respected corporation doing secred bio weapon experiments which lead to a zombie outbreak.

I see what you did there. :waga waga

[News Bot]

Silent Hill died after 3.

Anything else is just drawing it out.

[rehunk88]

i never played the games only saw the movie so for my sake they chould go on with it or not

[Henry Spencer]

Silent Hill died after 3.

Anything else is just drawing it out.

I think SH4 is a bit underrated, but for the most part, I agree. There's only so much recycling one can take. Pyramid Head was scary, once upon a time, before it got whored out to every SH title after 4...

[Biohazard EX]

SH4 is VERY underrated. I don't see why people come down on it like that.
Origins was good, too. For a portable Silent Hill experience, it delivered everything it promised.

Pyramid Head got whored out LONG before Origins or Homecoming came along.

[Gradon]

Pyramid Head should have mean unique, not whored and raped in every continuation. :D

[Nomad9026]

^ OMG, LOL! I just couldn't hold myself, what an irony in this post:D

[Gradon]

Looking at the Wikipedia page, Pyramid Head has been mentioned/in Silent Hill 2, 3, 4, Origins, Homecoming and Arcade.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Head

[riderkid]

SH4 is VERY underrated. I don't see why people come down on it like that.


it was good but everytime i get to the apartment the first time i always get lost.o_o

but the only thing that can save silent hill now is team silent itself

[rewak]

The reason people (myself included) didn't like SH4 was the fact you had to re-run all the levels again, which is like putting mirror courses on racing games, it's lazy ass developing. If they had cut all that out, and just moved to the end when you got Eileen, it would be a lot better. Criticized perhaps for being a little too short but that's their own damn fault for not inventing other pointless places to explore. And then of course there's the ghosts, and the burping nurses, and the haunted house. It has a lot of flaws that could have been fixed, and shouldn't have even been there in the first place, put it that way.

Anyway, does SH have a future? Hard to tell really. If whoever ends up making the next game actually put their heads together and come up with some new, original ideas instead of picking what they like from other games and the movie, then yeah it will. But i wouldn't bet on that happening.

[BLSR1]

I think Silent Hill has a future.
Why? Because I like Origins, and I like Homecoming.

Why? Because Im not a crybaby fanboy.

[Darkmoon]

Jeez, BLSR1, way to go and insult anyone with any kinda concerns. You do know you're entitled to your opinion, right? And so is everyone else. It's not being a crybaby fanboy to not automatically enjoy a game just because it has the right title. If the game is doing things differently then there will always be folk who don't like the changes, and that's not being a crybaby, it's them not liking the new elements or the loss of old ones. Simple as that.

Grow up, please. People are gonna express there opinion and I will not tolerate you belittling them because you don't agree with it.

[BLSR1]

I just hate it when people scream that its the end of a franchise when things change.

Its my opinion that people who do that are crybabies, so I will express it and you will not tolerate yourself belittling me because you don't agree with me.

[Darkmoon]

There's a difference between disagreeing with someone and calling them a crybaby. One is polite, and tolerated here. The other ain't.

Now, I actually agree with you. I find it somewhat over dramatic to pronounce a series doomed so easily. If you're gonna declare a series dead, even just to you, should require a great deal of thought. A single game or even a single element will never end a franchise. However, I understand that for people, it can end the series for them, because some fans do feel that strongly about things. After all, fan is just the shortened form of fanatic.

Simply put, you can disagree with people. That's fine. Calling them a crybaby, however, is rude. They have there own opinion, which they have decided on, and while you can disagree and argue with that position you cannot, and I hope in future will not, be rude about it. You don't have to call them crybabies to disagree with them.

[BLSR1]

*rude remark*

[Darkmoon]

...? BANNNNNNON! I call thee forth!

Now, on topic.

I've been replaying the games I have (the first four and the play novel) and I must admit, I'm kinda amused. A lot of folks are upset at Origins and Homecomming for being too much the same as the older games but they're also mad at SH4 for being too different to the older games.

So...where is the line for you? What changes are good? Which are just not a wise move? What do you feel needs to be done for the4 franchise to continue and grow? I really am curious.

[Gradon]

I do like Silent Hill 4, I just can't get myself to play it due to phantasmophobia.
I can't stand those ghosts, they're fucking scary.
Either way, I've completed 1 all the way to Origins excluding 4, and I like all of them.
I just find Pyramid Head being whored out in every continuation.

[Nomad9026]

As long as I like the game I hope that there will be a future titles. I liked all SH games I've played ( SH4, Origins and Homecoming included) so I hope to see something new in the near future.

[BLSR1]

SH4 does scare me more than the others,


The ghosts are terrifying.

Do you think it was SH4's negative reception that caused the American studio to end up taking over.

[Nomad9026]

Maybe. Or maybe Konami or Team Silent just got bored from SH.

[Canas Renvall]

Yeah, scaring people shitless in different ways each game (from the subtleness of SH2 to the very direct fears in SH3) can get pretty boring after a while. XD

[himher_elle]

I think it really has a future. I'm playing SH:Homecoming now and I really like it, though I'm on the third puzzle (I think)... the one on the grave of a boy or something and I have NO idea of what to do, I'll try a few more times, but if I can't get it out I'll have to serch it on the net

[Scream]

My idea for the next SH game would be a merging of the SH and RE worlds.

What happens is that a squad of UBCS soldiers end up in Silent Hill. I guess by being in a truck driving through SH or something. The squad never reaches their destination of Raccoon City... or maybe it did and thats why they're in SH. You'll find out later. Anyway the fog comes out, bla bla bla, squad gets out and sets up base, gatling guns and heavy weapons come out, you think your safe... not.. All of a sudden your squad is decimated and your alone.. the lights go out... you dunno where you are and not all the squad are as dead as you think they are.. I wouldn't say zombies, maybe 25% zombie and 75% very unusual behavior.. you know like how everyone you meet in SH is weird... you'll see them around for the rest of the game... then there's some story scenes for each squad member so you get to know them for the prequels/sequels, some other stuff happens, final boss. The End.

Silent Hill UBCS.

[randomwab]

Silent Hill UBCS.

Woah....mind blown.

[Nomad9026]

^That's a good words for this idea. A "good" mind blow actually.

[The_15th]

Survival Horror is dead forever, and it hasn't even reached it's peak, with like 4 or 5 franchises. Horse Grooming game fans probably are served better.

[The_15th]

I just hate it when people scream that its the end of a franchise when things change.

Its my opinion that people who do that are crybabies, so I will express it and you will not tolerate yourself belittling me because you don't agree with me.

I'd argue the ones buying orange juice because they want and expect getting more orange juice are the ones that aren't mental.

[BLSR1]

I'd argue the ones buying orange juice because they want and expect getting more orange juice are the ones that aren't mental.

?


....


?

Yeah. Still don't see yer point there.

[Rock it.]

My 2 cents:

Yeah, it does. Why? Because Homecoming was awesome. It was way better then, say, Dead Space or RE4, especially on the gameplay front. It was the only Silent Hill that I truly enjoyed when I think about it. Why? Because combat didn't suck, meaning it was actually fun to play it. Also, I actually had to pay attention to it too, especially on hard, since 1 or 2 mistakes could prove to be fatal (melee is where the fun is at IMO). It's amazing how much depth and fun a damn dodge button can add to your freaking game.

[randomwab]

Silent Hill games have always been fun, just not in the straight up "this gameplay is fun" sense. They're fun in there own way, because they have an unrivalled sense of place and atmosphere, and deciphering the story and themes is always fascinating.

Or maybe that's just me.

Also, I know it's your opinion and such, but you really think Homecoming had better gameplay than Dead Space and Resident Evil 4? Homecoming, to me, was a very dumbed down, awkward version of the games you mentioned, almost like it was trying to bring the series into the current-gen standard for survival horror gameplay, but not being able to let go of the roots of the series, making a very awkward experience. I mean, the combat was pretty horrible, the dodge system was a mess, and the enemies didn't match the rest of the gameplay style.

Now I shall insert my usual, shameless Siren: Blood Curse plug by saying that “Siren: Blood Curse is the perfect mix of old school survival horror and the new style gameplay that has been introduced into the genre in recent years”, and how “It’s the best survival horror game in the last ten years”.

And you can quote me on that.

[Rock it.]

They're fun in there own way, because they have an unrivalled sense of place and atmosphere, and deciphering the story and themes is always fascinating.

Atmosphere and a good story might make a game interesting, but it doesn't make it any fun on its own. For me, that's the gameplay's role.

Homecoming's gameplay wasn't "dumbed down" AFAIK, especially when compared to RE4 or Dead Space. In RE4, I'd just head/knee shot, go melee run, repeat, and maybe throw a granade if convinient. There was no shortage of ammo, or any real danger: I could Handgun/knife 3/4 of the game on my first run, back when it got released on the PS2. It was a simple and repetitive TPS.

And then Dead Space came, making the easy easier. It managed to be easier then RE4, that one. I mean, buying HEALING ITEMS? It's not like one would ever need them (the enemies would drop loot way too often), but still, the simply possibilitie takes away the whole "survival" part of survival horror. Also, the only challange in that game is aiming, wich is crap, altho they managed to make it worse on the PC. The enemy A.I. is a bad joke, and the only way the devs found to make the enemies "dangerous" (and I use that term loosely) was to spam them right behind you. I won't go and say how f*cked that is.

And then we have Homecoming. It wasn't perfect, but hell, how it was better. I actually had to think in that game y'know, pay attention to my enemy, attack and react, stuff like that. I thought the controls (I speak of the pc ver. here) were pretty good and responsive, and the dodge system worked flawlessly, and you can quote me on that. It just required 2 things: practice and timing, and hey, check it out, both RE4 and DSpace didn't require ANY of that. They were dumb shooters, dumbed down to a new generation of gamers that can't be bothered to learn how to aim. They weren't scary, and for the most part, they weren't fun. Homecoming at least had a good (if transparent) plot, a decent setting, great audio, good character design, and good gameplay. The *only* thing that dragged it down was the monster design. It was pure crap for the most part. Also, it could use a few improvements here and there too, especially on the graphics. While not especially bad, they were way too plain.

Also, haven't played Blood Curse yet :( . I'll make sure I do if I ever get a PS3 tho. As for the best horror game in recent memory for me? CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth easily takes the cake. Best horror game since the first AitD (altho the new one wasn't half bad, I loved the soundtrack and art design, altho I'm yet to play the next gen fully).

[REmaster]

Silent Hill games have always been fun, just not in the straight up "this gameplay is fun" sense. They're fun in there own way, because they have an unrivalled sense of place and atmosphere, and deciphering the story and themes is always fascinating.

Or maybe that's just me.

Also, I know it's your opinion and such, but you really think Homecoming had better gameplay than Dead Space and Resident Evil 4? Homecoming, to me, was a very dumbed down, awkward version of the games you mentioned, almost like it was trying to bring the series into the current-gen standard for survival horror gameplay, but not being able to let go of the roots of the series, making a very awkward experience. I mean, the combat was pretty horrible, the dodge system was a mess, and the enemies didn't match the rest of the gameplay style.

Now I shall insert my usual, shameless Siren: Blood Curse plug by saying that “Siren: Blood Curse is the perfect mix of old school survival horror and the new style gameplay that has been introduced into the genre in recent years”, and how “It’s the best survival horror game in the last ten years”.

And you can quote me on that.

Is it really that good? I bought the original Siren as few years ago but never really got into it, but I downloaded the demo a few months ago and it looked pretty damn scary. The graphics are also pretty nice. How's the story?

[Darkmoon]

Completelty changed from the origional. And not as much fun, in my opinion, but a hell of a lot easier to understand. If you like Silent Hill plots this will likely work well for you.

[REmaster]

Damn I can't find it any local gamestops. I say siren: blood curse and they look at me like I have a plagas growing out of my heado_o They haven't even heard of the original Siren even though I traded it in for credit last year:nervous:

[Darkmoon]

Your shops suck but if your PS3 is online, and you got some room left on the hardrive, you can download the thing off the PSN. The whole damned game.

[REmaster]

Yea I'll have to do that if I can't find it, I'm really excited about it.

[The Ekamp]

Siren is ONLY available for download in the US >__>

So you may as well get it off the PSN and you won't have to pay shipping for an import =)

It's a pretty good game...but I have no desire to replay it anytime soon.I probably discovered that I am a casual player that way...it requires too much thinking! Tho I did beat the original Siren....

[J_Man757]

I just bought Silent Hill: Homecoming less then an hour ago and I must say I love it, yeah its not a perfect game but I don't care the story, the atmosphere,and the scary moments make up for all of it, infact I find it more scary/creepy/eeri which ever you would like to call it in comparison to RE5.

Infact this is the first time my RE5 copy has had a break in over two weeks or more I believe :) I must say the purches was worth it, plus I got it for around 18.00 dollers at Gamestop and I hope they make another Silent Hill now ^_^