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Truck drivin' Travis detours into Silent Hill. Tree Top Tall & Wall-to-Wall, Good Buddy.

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Was the story too simple?

Yes, I want my money back.
3
7%
Yes, but it's just fine.
23
55%
Maybe, I still didn't understand some stuff.
3
7%
No.
13
31%
 
Total votes: 42

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whiter4bbit
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Post by whiter4bbit »

What do you mean simple?

The story is not as self-explanatory as SH3 plot is. It isn't blatantly simpler than The Room either.

Lots of questions arise, even if it is often due to poor design instead of being due to good design (as SH2 was).

There are dozens of people thinking that the final boss is Samael or God, and that Dahlia actually unleashed it; dozens of people wondering about Lisa's purpose. And what about the bad ending? And the butcher? And why is Travis driven to SH by who, and the flauros, what are its powers in relation of the ones it showed in SH1? And what about reality shifting? What about Lisa in the sanitarium?

You can't exactly tell that you're able to explain everything in a "clear and simple and universal" way. So SH0 isn't that simple at all.
It sure lacks some style, but it isn't obvious. It isn't SH1/SH2, but it's just fine.
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Post by SilentRacoonX »

Maybe 'simple' was the wrong word, lackluster would be a better word. Or maybe not filling enough. It had a very thin storyline. In depth with alot of unanswered questions, yes, but was it completely engulfed in a story like SH2, no.
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Post by David01 »

I liked the game, the character himself was a bit lackluster. But the story was good, and very silent hillish.. I Just think that the cry babies who want every fucking game to be like Sh 2.. are out in full force running any game down that isnt sh 2. I liked sh2.. however you can never duplicate something exactly, no matter who is working on it.. or how good the story or material for it may be.


the CGI scenes in this game were amazing.. and the acting wasnt bad.. just the character Travis.. but he is an ordinary guy.. cut him some slack.. he's not superman. And Truckers do kinda act like Travis does.. Hell I know a trucker personally, he's as odd as they come and his gf is even worse lol But seriously.. give this game a break.. it's a decent game.. yes it's short.. but appreciate it for what it is.. a part of the silent hill series.. I"ll admit it's a bit pointed directly toward the fans.. but the monsters were well designed.. the characters were well designed..


This game was good, it was not the best of the series.. but still decent enough for me.. and I'm sure alot of fans. And the fact that we're still talking about, shows that this game wasnt that terrible.. it actually stimulates conversation.. which is a good thing.. alot more than I can say about the RE series.
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Post by whiter4bbit »

> lackluster would be a better word. Or maybe not filling enough.

I agree here. I believe the game storyline fades with the final part, after a good first half of "promises" we obtain hasty conclusions to all the open affairs
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Post by David01 »

I would not really say that the conclusions were hasty. Because however we were not given alot of information at the beginning of the first game. So really the things that took place toward the end of Origins.. could have really been cannon.. no one can really say for sure one way or the other. And actually I liked how they ended Lisa's storyline.. she probably found out some things about Travis from public records and such.. and found out that he had a troubled past.. thus being that she was very young.. she kinda judged him as being a bit of a slouch.. which explains why she just walks away from him when he see's her and the Dr getting it on. I dunno I'm tired of hearing all the bitching about this game.. people have been bitching ever since sh 2.. saying that 2 was the best.. I do not agree.. I believe that sh 2 was a very deep and meaningful game... but to say it's the best is more opinion than fact. The fact is.. that all the Silent hill games are soo different from eachother. That it is hard to say that one game is better than the other.. because the differences in the storylines of each game is soo different.. and different isn't nessasarily better in most cases. As I said before Silent Hill Origins is not the best game of the series.. but it certainly isn't the worst either. all Silent hill games are good in their own right, and Origins should not be run down like it is.. the only reason in my opinion. That people are running this game down soo much.. is because they want another Silent Hill 2. And this game isn't another Silent Hill 2.. you cannot duplicate as I"ve said before something that has been created.. and even if one attempts to duplicate it.. it will still have some minor differences.

I thought the story of this game was very well handled.. considering that this was a psp port and psp game to begin with. And usually a handheld game isnt able to hold as much information as a console game.

Something game did, that others did not. Was have audio flashbacks.. which really adds to the fact that Travis is remembering his past little by little as he goes through the town.

But in closing, I do not agree with the term hasty to describe how the end of this games story was handled.. I believe it to be fact.. because clearly something terrible happened between both the Dr and Lisa between this game and Silent Hill 1. And I think that drugs and sex played a role.. I mean think about it, it makes sense.

alot of crimes of passion do happened when sex and drugs, and even money are involved. Also at the end when travis pieces the Flauros together, and all hell breaks lose that was handled very very well. Because it shows very clearly just what happened to the town before Harry showed up.

But before this turns into a novel.. which it already has I appologize... This game wasn't as bad as it's being made out to be.. it's a Silent Hill game.. and silent hill games are odd usually anyway. and if one is complaining about inconsistancy.. then take a look at sh4.. which was full of it.. but it still told a decent story. This game told a decent story also.. and actually from what I have seen.. the ps2 port makes a couple things more clear.. just play it and get the bad ending for example.. it's a lot lighter and you can see much more on the ps2 version than you could on the psp version. But this my friends is for the other topic conerning the bad ending, and i will not go into that one.

Just give this game a chance.. the story isn't too simple.. its very straight forward that's all.. the character Travis was a bit aloof.. but most truckers can be. You try spending days and weeks driving down endless highways.. and see how you act.

Also, read the memo's through out the game, it clearly explains the story. :wink:
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Post by Thereal-Toxicfumes »

Well unfortunately it didnt give players the chance to choose a difficulty level. I think that was the problem. They had to make it = for all players
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Post by SymboliC »

whiter4bbit wrote:What do you mean simple?
Well, when I said "simple", I meant that I wheezed thru the whole game in 8 hours, with almost all the questions answered for me. Travis had a mom in the Sanitarium, was possessed, his father clearly stated why he killed himself, Alessa making Travis her tool, etc. I guess maybe I had to rewrite my point...that the main issue was just "simple" to me.



I felt like comparing my experiences with the previous games that really made me go "What the hell did just happen?.." that I had to look for info in the internet and replay the game 5 more times just to grasp the story, but this latest game didn't.
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Post by crucifix »

whiter4bbit wrote:I agree here. I believe the game storyline fades with the final part, after a good first half of "promises" we obtain hasty conclusions to all the open affairs
definately. i was really getting into the game, but by the time i got to the motel... we as players get this sense of "the end is near", which is expected. and then, all of a sudden the answers to whatever questions were created are either thrown at you in a boringly anticlimactic manner or just drift off. i was really expecting the characters from SH1 to be fleshed out in this one. that's my main qualm with SH0.

it's still better than SH4.
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Post by VIVIsect »

My big beef with Origins were the boss battles. They were way too easy.

The Butcher?
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Just run around the table and shoot.
I don't think the final boss managed to hit me once.

Other than that, I loved the game.
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Post by David01 »

Yeah the bosses were easy.. but the main enemies were difficult to avoid.. they'd constantly be running after you... in past games the bosses were difficult and the enemies were easy as hell to avoid.. I think they flipped it in this one.


As for unanswered questions.. there are some things that are still not completely answered here. Like for example we all suspect that travis did something really bad.. but it doesnt really throw it right at you in the bad ending either.. it hints at it and flashes a bunch of images at you all at once.


There were alot of other things too that still arent answered. But I'm sure in time they will be.. but afterall this game takes place before any of them.. so it doesnt have to really be better than any of them.. I mean look at other prequals such as Batman begins and such.. they werent really all that much better than the rest of the series they belong to. The only purpose this game serves is that it's a prequal to the silent hill series.. it's there to explain some of the storyline that wasn't told of the events before sh 1.

All this bitching and complaining is stupid.. and the only reason it's happening is because people want another sh2.. but as I've said a thousand times.. you can't duplicate a game like sh2.. and to try would be a crime against the creativity of that game. I agree sh2 was a very meaningful and deep storyline.. but damn Origins has a more deep and meaningful storyline than sh3 and 4 put together. it's a medium game, it's not terrible.. but it's not perfect.. but I dont think they intended it to be perfect..

And you also have to take into consideration.. that this game ran into problems.. and was sent to a different development team at least once.. and I"d say it turned out pretty good for a game that ran into those type of problems. It could have been better I know.. but it could have been a hell of a lot worse too.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Like for example we all suspect that travis did something really bad..
Speak for yourself. I just think he has emotional problems.
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Post by Mutius »

we all suspect that travis did something really bad
Yup, I do. I tend to prescribe to the Butcher ending. But my reasoning is flawed, so I won't post it, nor will I change my 'prescription.'
he has emotional problems.
That's it? The kid was probably raped and abused by his mother, and then he sat there for hours staring at his father hanging from a noose, and you think he simply has emotional problems? There's more to Travis than meets the eye... no Silent Hill protagonist has ever just had "emotional problems." Something twisted is going on and I think Origins is the only SH to hide the reason why Travis was lured by the city (and the city only attracts evil, imho).

I can't be the only one to think that the story was simple only as a deception...
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Post by Scyron »

Mutius wrote:

That's it? The kid was probably raped and abused by his mother, and then he sat there for hours staring at his father hanging from a noose, and you think he simply has emotional problems? There's more to Travis than meets the eye... no Silent Hill protagonist has ever just had "emotional problems." Something twisted is going on and I think Origins is the only SH to hide the reason why Travis was lured by the city (and the city only attracts evil, imho).

I can't be the only one to think that the story was simple only as a deception...
there is nothing that suggest rape was at all involved, this isn't sexual abuse like in Angela's case. Also emotional problems aren't unheard of, I mean his mother went insane, let's say she is schizophrenic, schizophrenia is able to be passed down through genes all it takes it something to break it and it can become full blown. Taking into account that he knew his dad was dead but he still stood there for 10 hours, something must have been up.
(and the city only attracts evil, imho).
Harry, Henry and I'm pretty sure Heather didn't really have problems or a fucked up past. I honestly think you are lumping one instance of silent hill (sh2--James' psyche) with the rest of the cases. Other's have noted but sh1/3/4 were apart of someone else's realm of control, either Alyssa's or Walter's. Nothing about Harry was evil, the same could be said for Henry as he was just a tenant at the apartment complex, hell I'd think Frank Sunderland is more evil since he held on to someone else's umbilical cord for how many years?
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Post by Mutius »

There are some things to suggest a relationship between Travis and his mother, such as the Jocasta artifact, right? I'm also not sure we know the *whole* story for her incarceration... yet. The sexual relationship is a stretch, but I still think there's more to Travis than just "emotional problems." In any case, all this seems to suggest that the story isn't really that simple, taking into account the Silent Hill universe to which many people may not be familiar.

the city only attracts evil
As for the evilness of Harry, Henry, and Heather; well, the city attracted Cheryl which in turn attracted Harry, so my quote still stands; I'm still catching up on Henry's story, my bad; and Heather was going to give birth to a demon that would destroy a whole lot if not everything.. that's pretty evil. I suppose in hindsight I should add "the city only attracts evil or those in proximity/relationship with said evil" :?
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Post by AuraTwilight »

That's it? The kid was probably raped and abused by his mother, and then he sat there for hours staring at his father hanging from a noose, and you think he simply has emotional problems? There's more to Travis than meets the eye... no Silent Hill protagonist has ever just had "emotional problems." Something twisted is going on and I think Origins is the only SH to hide the reason why Travis was lured by the city (and the city only attracts evil, imho).
You make it sound like emotional problems are only "Oh gee, um...life is teh sucks, yo."

Emotional Problems can be on ANY scale, even a life-changing one. Of course he only has emotional problems, do you see any physical disabilities or wounds on the guy? He certainly has all of his limbs.

And the city doesn't attract just evil: Laura. And besides, we don't know whether Travis was actually called by the town, called psionically by Alessa, or was there purely by coincidence.
hell I'd think Frank Sunderland is more evil since he held on to someone else's umbilical cord for how many years?
Oh be fair, that's a tradition in lots of families.
As for the evilness of Harry, Henry, and Heather; well, the city attracted Cheryl which in turn attracted Harry, so my quote still stands; I'm still catching up on Henry's story, my bad; and Heather was going to give birth to a demon that would destroy a whole lot if not everything.. that's pretty evil. I suppose in hindsight I should add "the city only attracts evil or those in proximity/relationship with said evil"
Cheryl isn't at all evil, and Heather was going to give birth to a "God" who would "Bring paradise."

You can't just say that the Otherworld attracts evil, since evil isn't clearcut in Silent Hill. There's probably both good and bad things to every entity and phenomena involved. At best, you can say the town attracts "darkness", which is probably "darkness" in the Jungian sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_%28psychology%29
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Post by Mutius »

You're absolutely right about the darkness. I think everyone's attraction to Silent Hill (the series, not the town) is in that Jungian darkness. I've always said the darkness is not the evil part. We all have darkness within us, a sort of white noise for me, but we're not all evil by association...

I'm not sold on this "paradise," that could mean anything.
And I'm not sure Cheryl is either good or bad. I think she just is. As a God-incubator. She seems to be part of an extradimensional world and she has special powers, I'm willing to believe that 'good' and 'bad' are not what concerns her or if 'good' and 'bad' even have the same meaning in that world...
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Post by David01 »

Lets just say, that people end up in silent hill.. to either seek redemption or damnation. and I agree that the town simply attracts darkness, the town itself really is not evil. The only thing that even made the town dark in the first place was the fact that the cult tried to make an innocent girl give birth to their god. And when they set fire to Alessa, it caused such anger within her and hatred toward those who did that to her, that there was a conflict within her mind.. the conflict was that she still loved her mother and wanted to be with her. But yet the other half of her soul wanted revenge on the cult and it's followers.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

I'm not sold on this "paradise," that could mean anything.
Neither am I, but to some people, it's a good thing.
And I'm not sure Cheryl is either good or bad. I think she just is. As a God-incubator. She seems to be part of an extradimensional world and she has special powers, I'm willing to believe that 'good' and 'bad' are not what concerns her or if 'good' and 'bad' even have the same meaning in that world...
Cheryl is a human girl, first and foremost. She has no knowledge or awareness of anything that's going on metaphysically until she merges with Alessa. She is a pure, innocent, sweet, ordinary little girl like you'd find anywhere, except she only has half a soul and probably acute ESP.
Lets just say, that people end up in silent hill.. to either seek redemption or damnation.
That's not true either, though. See: Laura.
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Post by PrinceOfDarkness »

the story was simple. but that doesn't change the fact that it was still a good prequel. :mrgreen:
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Post by Video Gamer »

PrinceOfDarkness wrote:the story was simple. but that doesn't change the fact that it was still a good prequel. :mrgreen:
If it's so simple, then how come people are still debating the story...?
Eh, I think it was okay. Not nearly as much of a mindfuck as SH2, but still a good story. A lot better than a lot of movies I've seen recently...
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