Silent Hill Heaven

i thought the chase scenes added suspense

I really didn't like the chase sequences...trying to find the correct path in the later half of the game with those things breathing down your back became frustrating, but i did understand why those sequences where in place. It actually made sense for the overall concept of the game, i just wish it was implemented a bit better.

I didn't have a problem with the nightmare chase sequences themselves. But I did have a problem with the fact that there was a clear line between the nightmare chase sequences and the rest of the game: I knew that I didn't have to worry about a monster popping out unless it was a nightmare sequence. This removed a lot of the fear/worry I could have had throughout the game.

Axiomatic wrote:I didn't have a problem with the nightmare chase sequences themselves. But I did have a problem with the fact that there was a clear line between the nightmare chase sequences and the rest of the game: I knew that I didn't have to worry about a monster popping out unless it was a nightmare sequence. This removed a lot of the fear/worry I could have had throughout the game.

True. That's really the only problem I had with the game. (Since it didn't try to fit in the canon especially) But, it's still at last plenty gripping enough the first time through. And I've enjoyed all other playthroughs I have done with it too.Once you're in a nightmare sequence, it's pretty tense. Until you've eventually memorized the pathways...

I have an absolute shit sense of direction and my memory sucks as well. I always have an incredibly frustrating time getting through the chase sequences unless my husband is watching me play so he can tell me if I'm going in circles. Sometimes I'll actually make him stop what he's doing so he can help me. He's such an understanding guy.

I do still like the ohshitohshitohshit! factor of the chases though.

While I didn't like the fact that I was completely safe during the exploration portions, I understand why it was necessary in a game with no combat, and I definitely liked that innovation for this one title. Besides, the echoes did instill a little anxiety themselves.

While I didn't like the fact that I was completely safe during the exploration portions

That's sort of the fun of it, though. The first time I played it, I never did feel completely safe. The exploration portions held no threat, but I spent the entire game in a state of dread not knowing when everything would freeze over, because it wasn't until afterwards that I realized it happened only at very relevant moments.

There's also the fact that I just find being chased stressful and frightening in general.

If anything, I rather liked the idea that there was only a threat in Otherside mode. In previous games, the Otherside versions of locations looked much more foreboding than the normalside versions, but with the exception of the first game, monsters never became more of a threat as a result of the shift, either in their behavior or their numbers. Shattered Memories was the first game in which the most iconic element of the series became more than just a cosmetic effect.

Ryantology wrote:That's sort of the fun of it, though. The first time I played it, I never did feel completely safe. The exploration portions held no threat, but I spent the entire game in a state of dread not knowing when everything would freeze over, because it wasn't until afterwards that I realized it happened only at very relevant moments.

I felt the same way, but only during my first playthrough. The fact that that dread couldn't survive multiple playthroughs saddens me just a little, but I still adore Shattered Memories. The game's profiling aspects—which are surprisingly difficult to direct intentionally sometimes—have more to do with its replay value than anything else. If I'm in the mood for a game that's going to scare the hell out of me, I'm not likely to pick Shattered Memories, but that doesn't mean I don't want to play it over and over.

but I spent the entire game in a state of dread not knowing when everything would freeze over

I forgot to mention this. But I could manage dealing with this a lot more easily than I would be able to deal with a game that threatens you relentlessly.

But I share the following sentiment about the game:

I felt the same way, but only during my first playthrough. The fact that that dread couldn't survive multiple playthroughs saddens me just a little, but I still adore Shattered Memories.

One could make the case that the clear demarcation between the nightmare sequences and the exploration portions is necessary for the game. It might be necessary because while the exploration portions are eerie, creepy and tense, the nightmare sequences amplify these feelings of being in a strange place, not really knowing which way is the right way out and so on - in the same way a nightmare would. But I'm not quite sure about this, and it's just a thought.

The Raw Shocks were annoying. The chase sequences were good but those pricks stopped me from appreciating the scenery.

Also: I always had the feeling that they wanted to hug Harry.....

Mephisto wrote:The Raw Shocks were annoying. The chase sequences were good but those pricks stopped me from appreciating the scenery.

Also: I always had the feeling that they wanted to hug Harry.....

Hug, pat on the head, and lay on I find the chase sequences to be very irritating. For instance, the chase sequence in the woods had an X on a particular building, and I kept trying to get to that building not knowing that I had to go to a building far away from the destination for the game to progress (the building with the 4 birds, there is a squawk, hoot, etc.)

I have a really bad sense of direction too, so that doesn't help. Sometimes it's hard to see where the arrow is pointing on the map!

Worst part of the game in my opinion.

How exactly do the monsters evolve as you progress. I have just completed the second nightmare sequence in the forest. I prefer the exploration as sometimes I get so turned around trying to stay clear of the monsters.

The chase scenes can get pretty long if you don't take the right path, I've found. But it might just be that they were meant to be that long. I only played through the game a few times: once I got Wicked and Weak, so I played again to get a couple more endings (the good one and the sleazy one). Then I tried for UFO, but kind of lost interest part of the way through. In any case, the chase scenes seemed to be of varying length from playthrough to playthrough.

For me, Silent Hill just isn't the same when you can't go up to a monster, blast it in the face with a 12-gauge shotgun, and stomp its guts out when it falls over. Is that so wrong?

They don't add any sense of tension or dread so I found them boring and repetitive. The thing about chase sequences is:

A. You don't announce they're in the game before people have played it because it kills the surprise element. Chase sequences only work when they catch you off guard.
B. You use them sparingly. Not throughout the entire game.
C. Taking away combat just further added to the annoyance and and repetition. It didn't make me feel any more intimidated than the typical Silent Hill game especially when you know you won't encounter any monsters outside the nightmare sequences.

QUOTE: Chase sequences only work when they catch you off guard.

And they're less effective if you know you'll be able to escape. And if fighting the monsters is not an option, then escaping them always will be (unless you being overwhelmed by them is a scripted event).

If they wanted to make encounters with the monsters more terrifying, an alternative would have been:
1. Eliminate guns, or have only a few and limited ammunition. Required close-in weapons work, or even hand-fighting if a weapon breaks or is lost
2. Force the player to fight some of the time, but also to flee other times. Make it so they have to make quick decisions.
3. Created monsters that do more than hug you. Make them quick, vicious, and require some QTE work to escape.
4. Had the monsters spring out at you, forcing you to duck or cut them down before their friends catch up with you.
5. Use sound to make the non-chase events more unsettling. Make the player thing something is going to jump out at them, even when it isn't imminent.
6. Make the monsters more freakish. The "game playing you as you play it" concept was really nice, but all it did was make subtle changes to the monsters. Ask questions that determine the players' deepest and most visceral fear, and create monsters accordingly.