Silent Hill Heaven

I don't think this thread is really about the OP anymore... it's just about people talking about how awesome Silent Hill 1 is. Nothing wrong with that.

Ok, just figured out that OP means original poster, I think. Anyway, just read the OP's post.

I think SH1's graphic style is better than that of the post SH2 games. I find the controls not too hard to use, I like that Harry runs a lot faster than the later protagonists, gives the gameplay a better feel. It's nice to see someone liking Origins the best, but the controls are worse in that game, and I think the graphics in the first game might be better for the ps1 than Origins are for the PSP, though I'm not sure. The characters are a bit simple, but they're given much more time on screen than in Origins, and their writing is more complex and detailed. I always did think it was a little wierd that Cybil gave Harry a gun, but thank god she does. Also, they didn't have cell phones and internet and all that complex info commucation stuff back in the 70s when the game takes place. The music is pretty good, honestly Origins didn't do any more to lighten the mood with its music than the first game does. Gran Turismo is an amazing racing game series, Silent Hill is an amazing survival horror series. Don't see what they have to do with each other.

Too bad that guy hasn't come back to say that we're wrong, and that SH1 like sucks cock and like hasn't got any customizable weapons like in like Black Ops and stuff.
I love idiots like this. They make me laugh. Not out loud though..

The graphic shouldn't matter, espcially since it was made for the ps1. It isn't that big of a deal. I give Silent Hill 1 a 10/10.

I played SH 1 for the first time a few months ago.

If you're one of those people that's capable of getting past the bad graphics, it's one of the best games in the series, and arguably the best of all of them for specific reasons.

"But I still think the apologetics for ps1 graphics are amusing."
Don't see why. Some ps1 games have good graphics and some have bad just like with PS2 and PS3 games. Even today, I'll still sometimes play a new Nintendo 64 game and be blown away by what could already be done with graphics in the late 90s.

Anyway:

Gameplay: 8
Probably the best gameplay in the series, not that the series is really known for it. I'm more used to the controls in this one than any other game in the series. The level design is fantastic and I love the enviromental puzzles. Things like slowly finding your way to the basement in the Alternate School and the 4th floor at the Hospital are great. The combat is fine, the way the Giant Lizard works is genius.

Graphics: 9
I doubt this would be my 3rd favorite game of all time if I didn't love the graphics. The style is great and the Otherworld is fantastic. Only bad thing is pop in in the daytime outdoor areas but the whole town turning to Otherworld is wonderful and the enemy design is usually fine, I'm cool with the whole focus on animals thing. Opening FMV is just wonderful. The way Other Hospital looks is probably the series' most memorable visual thing.

Sound: 9
The voice acting starts out very bad but improves with time, I'm absolutely fine with how the later conversations are and I love Kaufman's voice. The sound is genreally used very well in terms of freaking the player out and there are a couple of very listenable pieces of music as well, like the opening theme and Lisa's theme, also like some of the credits music.

Story: 10
The plot is fantastic, complex, imaginative, and weird. It takes multiple replays to really start understanding it and Alessa makes a great emotional center to the game. The split soul concept and the idea that a story Alessa's read could become a horrifying boss are great ideas. The pacing of the story with Harry blacking out a lot does great things for both plot and gameplay. Conversations with people are oftentimes fascinating.

Score: 9.5/10

Yeah this post is like 2 years old, but I'm going to assume OP is a total troll. Okay, you can't compare SH2's graphics to SH1s. SH2 was a PS2 game.

There's nothing wrong with comparing graphics. I like good graphics in PS1 games better than bad graphics in PS2 games. Being a PS2 game doesn't automatically mean it has better graphics. I don't like SH4's graphics nearly as much as the first game's.

It's not a matter of personal opinion, the PS2 games just have better graphics.

Better graphical capabilities, maybe. Graphics are more than just polygon counts and frame rate, though, and I agree with the good Doctor that many PS1 games have graphics that are better overall than newer games, including some current-gen ones. I like Silent Hill's visuals more than the graphics in Rage, for example, which is technically phenomenal but nonetheless ugly and boring to me.

Wallman wrote:It's not a matter of personal opinion, the PS2 games just have better graphics.

The only way to see that as fact is if you mean that it is more people's opinion that PS2 graphics are superior than that PS1 graphics are superior. However, if you follow this idea, you lead to the concept that there are no such things as opinions, as majority opinion creates fact. I dislike this idea. To me, the fact that there is someone out there who likes PS1 graphics overall more than PS2 graphics means that it is not a fact that PS2 games "just" have better graphics, but rather an opinion.

I like PS2 graphics better than PS3 graphics for example. I like PS1 graphics better than PS3 graphics. It is not factual that PS3 graphics are better.

when he says "graphics", I think he's talking more along the lines of polygon counts, textures, resolution, etc. Which in that case, it is fact that the PS2 is better. Artistically, the PS1 can beat the PS2 in some games. Same for PS3. But when it comes to raw horsepower, detail, and crispnessn, its not just an opinion.

i have to say that SIlent Hill 1 was by far my most favorite game and the best in the series..i've played and beaten the rest of them (2,3,4,origins, SM, homecomming, downpour) the rest of them dont even come close to the original..granted that the original had terrible graphics and whatnot but thats not what its all about..just the pure "FEAR" element and afraid to even want to play the game really makes this game sore above all the others..this is the only game i've ever played that i was afraid to go any further on..i would just be walking down the street in the otherworld in complete darkness and hear monsters off in the shadows and would be afraid to move sometimes. or just the fear of the unknown and walking into a room and hearing nothing but random noises or glass breaking made you not want to move as soon as you walked in..even though there would turn out to be no monsters in the room at all. this is only SH game that really put FEAR into the player..the other games like SH3 or Shattered memories try to put fear into the player by either having a lack of ammo or just plain having to run for your life through the entire game which doesnt make the game scary, it only makes it annoying as hell.

I think the first game was great. It doesn't have perfect graphics but for god sake who cares about graphics ? Seriously there is really stunning graphics games that are really deep sh*t for story and gameplay. Silent Hill 1 puts fear without the help of graphics. You're really scared but you want to continue the game. The story is really well done and there some nice twist. At the middle of the game you're really lost, you don't know if it's a dream, what is real, what isn't real... until you found out. It's really emotionnal too how you can't save your daughter and how you always are too late. Really an amazing game. I've only played Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3 now. And it's one of the best.

About the graphics, I don't get it why you found them nice. I mean, Graphics are nothing important for me. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matter in a visual way for me is the work of art and the ideas for the environnement and the characters/ennemies.
But seriously I thought that Silent Hill 1 was a 1995 game. I was so chocked when I found out it was a 1999 game.

I just bought this game on the PSN because it was only like 5.99. I hadn't played this game in 10 years and it still scared the crap out of me when I replayed it..what a great game.

Just finished the game, for the first time, and I can't praise it enough. I acquired a PS1 copy, and have absolutely no troubles with the graphics, they suit the game perfectly well and some of the animations were spectacular (the big feck-off lizard beastie in the school springs immediately to mind). The whole game was just a total delight from start to finish, the pacing and (vague) unravelling of the story, the bloody atmosphere (quite literally out-of-this-world), and the sound design all combined to create a true Japanese Horror Masterpiece. The soundtrack is ferocious, the level design, the way certain parts of the game lead you quite specifically into a scenarion where they know your heart will be racing, and then the tension is stretched and stretched to way past breaking point before it gives, my god what on earth have I been doing for the last 15 years? I couldn't agree more that the level of fear the game induced was such that I was actually scared to load the damned thing up, it's taken me the best part of a month to get through it, for a total finishing playing time of just over 14 hours. On easy mode I managed 3 stars out of 7, a 'bad' ending, not to mention a morose ending as it seemed that I shot my daughter, or what was left of her soul, and the game faded into despair. Wow, grim as that was it is SO impressive that a game can provoke these feelings.

Utterly stunning. II've got the highly acclaimed SH2 ready to roll, not sure that I don't want to return to this one and have another go first though, no. 2 is gonna have to go some to be better than this.

A Masterpiece. Not only is it the best game I've played since Tomb Raider on the PS1 back in 1997, it probably eclipses TR completely, and that's not easy for me to say.

Glad you feel that way. I played SH1 when it was first released, loved it, and I still feel like it holds up today. It's an amazingly well made game. I think you will also feel the same way about SH2, it is every bit as good albeit with a very different vibe.

Just put about my first four hours into Silent Hill the other night. I was shocked at how well it still holds up today, the controls weren't as bad as I had been told, the graphics are fine by me since they get the job done, and the whole mood of the game is unique. I'm glad I finally got my hands on this bad boy of a masterpiece.
Also I'm laughing pretty hard at the first few pages of this thread with everyone's thoughts and reactions on the OP's review. I know troll is a very popular term lately especially when it comes to internet message boards but I honestly think the OP is just an idiot and sadly is being sincere. Techno dance music...

It took me until the techno music point for me to realize that this was just trolling haha.

A little late to add to this debate I fear but I have to say this: The graphics not as good as Resident Evil? Don't make me laugh. Now don't get me wrong I like the first Resi, but it used pre-rendered backgrounds that don't move, SH had fully rendered polygons that reacted to your flashlight, a mechanic that at the time was cutting edge, the shadows and shading were impeccable, OK when out in the town the graphics were not the best, but when you go inside and your flashlight is lighting your way the effects were stunning for the time, waaaay beyond what Resi could do.

And there are many many aspects to 'graphics'. Any real game connoisseur would be much more specific. Like textures, shading, lighting, animation, character models, draw distance, polygon count, frame rate, visual fidelity (that last one was always crap on PS1) there are other aspects too so the word 'graphics' doesn't tell the whole story.

Silent Hill 1 was among the best looking games on PS1 if you know what you are looking at, I think you're cracked in the head.