The more times I play this game...

Ten years after the original game and Harry's still searching for his daughter.

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MariaRising
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Post by MariaRising »

I enjoyed this game from the start (even though I managed to get lost in the woods lol). I like how it brings different stuff to the table and the replay value seems to be increased. I've played through it three times and seen different things. There's only one ending I haven't seen yet and that's the drunk ending. I think that'll be the next game I play lol.
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DistantJ
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Post by DistantJ »

Every single time I play it I get at least one thing that's new, and I've played through it a good 7-8 times now. This is turning into one of my favourite games ever made.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Lynch »

DistantJ wrote:The more I love it.

Isn't that weird? Kinda awesome too. It started off as somewhat of a disappointment to me - I mean okay I never found it bad, but I did find that it didn't live up to the Silent Hill series for me. After each playthrough the more I realise that Shattered Memories is it's own entity - where things I was annoyed at being missing were things which played to it's strength as a standalone experience.

To give you an example, the normal/ice split removing the suspense and uncertainty of the series (aside from the occasional red herring so that you're never quite sure when it's going to turn to ice) gives it it's own unique feel, where the story can be experienced more deeply and the fear can be more concentrated and intense. The chase sequences may not have been as scary as playing a traditional Silent Hill the first time but unlike the previous games this one continues to be scary even after multiple playthroughs - even if you know your way around the area and you've seen all of the possible variations of monster, their AI remains unpredictable.

Even on my current play-through, which I'm trying to treat exactly the way I did my first, I'm still being surprised and getting different dialogue and versions of characters.

After initially being unsure I've come to the conclusion that Shattered Memories, at least for me, is an incredibly strong game, and one which should be experienced multiple times to see how much more you can learn and spot, and how many outcomes you can find in each situation.

I eventually warmed up to the ice world (no pun intended, haw haw haw) as well, not that I ever hated it, but I always felt that it would be less scary and iconic than the traditional otherworld and felt that blue may not have been the colour of choice - but after multiple playthroughs I think I've put my finger on why it works so well - I think it's the way it's so cold and lonely, the ice is unwelcoming and harsh, and makes you feel a million miles from home.

So I have to say, in my book, Shattered Memories is definitely one of the strongest games in the series. Second only to SH2 in my book, and I think I'm going to be playing it for quite some time to come.

In a way I am disappointed that Vatra's SH game looks so similar to Homecoming and that before it, I would gobble up another game using SM's style of play, with even more new ideas. It has been said that this isn't the last Silent Hill from Climax, so I'll be happily awaiting news on another from them.

Is anybody else finding their opinion of the game becoming more or less favourable after multiple playthroughs?
Wow...you put that game on a pedestal, but who can blame you?
The games great, being such a big silent hill fan i knew from the start
that it was a good game, homecoming wasn't that all bad either but like
i said im a huge silent hill fan and i like all the games, what surprised me about
your review or feedback(whichever you want to call it)
Was how much you explained your like about this game, the new otherworld
did kind of put me off and think, well whats going to happen now?

When i started the game, not knowing that you can't kill
anything, i was a bit stoked, not scared, more excited.
After the otherworld was shown it didn't scare me at all...
That was until i entered my first chase scene, i turned around and actually tried to
get out my weapon that i didn't even have lol
and i tried to kill it, with no luck i thought it was just
like the first game, so i let the monsters kill me to see what would happen...
Well i had to start all over, so after being pissed i finally saw that i had to run to a
certain destination.

Of course the tutorials would of gave me a hint, the other things
that scared me were the (sorry i dont know what their called) Static noises.
Maybe to resemble the radio?
The phone was a bit corny to bring
into play in a game such as silent hill, but after a while of
finding new numbers and hearing some really disturbing messages...
I felt the game to be a bit creepy.

To end my reply to you, great feedback, i loved reading it
and the game itself i dont find scary even after my
6th time going through it, what i find is a more addicting
pull bringing you back in, which of course every silent hill
has that effect, ever since i bought my first silent hill game, silent hill 1
I always got scared and stopped playing it, but the storyline, the music,
just the gameplay brung me back into it, it was like a drug that you
can't stop taking, it scares you and puts you on a horror drive of insanity
but you love it!
and you want more of it!
i never knew that i would end up a huge fan of the game, nor did i think
i would end up on a forum talking about it, and shattered memories
was the icing on the cake...
Now lets see how well SH8 does yea?

-Lynch
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Otakuluna13
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Otakuluna13 »

I like the game probobly bcause it psychologically profiles you, which I think is really cool for a game. And I also like thinking about ths game because of the psychological stability of all the characters. I think it's really interesting...And yet for some reason I haven't been able to get Wicked and Weak ending yet, OR mean Cybil. I've gotten all her costumes, just not her other personality...oh well. It's still an interesting game, none the less.
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shaka
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by shaka »

I really gotta play this game now man.
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clips
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by clips »

It's a good game, but the psych profile is not as deep and complicated as the game wants you to believe....make a response here and you get this type of cybil, a response there and you get this one....mainly just different skins and different responses from people that generally doesn't effect anything substantial. I like the overall concept tho...it was a new refreshing take on the series. I did like in how in the beginning of the game, Harry would call out to cheryl saying(by pressing X on the ps2)..."cheryl"...and i think he also says "where are you sweetie?"...it gave Harry a real emotional attachment to his daughter and to the player.
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Patman
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Patman »

It's a good game, but the psych profile is not as deep and complicated as the game wants you to believe....
I agree. I only played it two times. The first time I answered all the psych evaluations with complete honesty, and the ending I got was the Drunk Daddy. I haven' t been drunk in ten years now ! ^^ I drink some champagne at christmas and the (very) occasional beer here and there but that' s it. Actually I only drink when everyone around me does, I never buy alcohol to bring it home for myself. The psych profile result in itself was spot on. Not that there was any big revelation about myself to be found in there, I was already aware of all of that. Anyone reading my answers could have deduced the same.
What I' m bitching about is the whole alcohol thing. Apparently the game analyses what you did or didn' t look in the backgrounds, which I think is utterly stupid. The only reason I looked at the "Alcohol' elements ... is that they were in plain sight and in the way ! How can you NOT look at everything around you on a first playthrough ? Do you have to learn by heart were those alcohol/sex/whatever elements are in order to not look at them, even for a microsecond, so they don' t mess with your profile ?
I' ll probably never give that game another shot, the first playthrough was interresting (though really not as much as a classic SH) but the second playthrough was plain boring. I' d be curious to see someone else playing it though ...
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Post by SHACKled89451 »

I notice more little things that the developers threw in for fans of the series, and even just random details in the scenery that interest me.
My thoughts exactly, I'm playing through for the 4th time now, and I noticed
PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
A memorial for the boat that sank on Toluca Lake.
I love this game...
revalations 23:16
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DeSilva
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by DeSilva »

DistantJ wrote:The more I love it.

Isn't that weird? Kinda awesome too. It started off as somewhat of a disappointment to me - I mean okay I never found it bad, but I did find that it didn't live up to the Silent Hill series for me. After each playthrough the more I realise that Shattered Memories is it's own entity - where things I was annoyed at being missing were things which played to it's strength as a standalone experience.

To give you an example, the normal/ice split removing the suspense and uncertainty of the series (aside from the occasional red herring so that you're never quite sure when it's going to turn to ice) gives it it's own unique feel, where the story can be experienced more deeply and the fear can be more concentrated and intense. The chase sequences may not have been as scary as playing a traditional Silent Hill the first time but unlike the previous games this one continues to be scary even after multiple playthroughs - even if you know your way around the area and you've seen all of the possible variations of monster, their AI remains unpredictable.

Even on my current play-through, which I'm trying to treat exactly the way I did my first, I'm still being surprised and getting different dialogue and versions of characters.

After initially being unsure I've come to the conclusion that Shattered Memories, at least for me, is an incredibly strong game, and one which should be experienced multiple times to see how much more you can learn and spot, and how many outcomes you can find in each situation.

I eventually warmed up to the ice world (no pun intended, haw haw haw) as well, not that I ever hated it, but I always felt that it would be less scary and iconic than the traditional otherworld and felt that blue may not have been the colour of choice - but after multiple playthroughs I think I've put my finger on why it works so well - I think it's the way it's so cold and lonely, the ice is unwelcoming and harsh, and makes you feel a million miles from home.

So I have to say, in my book, Shattered Memories is definitely one of the strongest games in the series. Second only to SH2 in my book, and I think I'm going to be playing it for quite some time to come.

In a way I am disappointed that Vatra's SH game looks so similar to Homecoming and that before it, I would gobble up another game using SM's style of play, with even more new ideas. It has been said that this isn't the last Silent Hill from Climax, so I'll be happily awaiting news on another from them.

Is anybody else finding their opinion of the game becoming more or less favourable after multiple playthroughs?

Pretty much the same story with me. I was impressed with this game. I'd play it again if I had a copy to myself.
The ice world stuff didn't sit right with me at first, but once I started looking at it like something new and only a few shreds of thoguhts to connect it to SH, I was alright with it.

basically, I think of this game taking place in an alternate Silent HIll Universe.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Pleasant Sinner »

I believe DistantJ summed it up nicely for me as well :wink:

As for the psych profiling, it was a unique (and much needed) spin on the old formula. Whether it's deep/shallow remains a mystery to me. All I know is Kaufmann (sp?) is one tricky bastard!
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Tillerman »

Pleasant Sinner wrote:As for the psych profiling, it was a unique (and much needed) spin on the old formula. Whether it's deep/shallow remains a mystery to me. All I know is Kaufmann (sp?) is one tricky bastard!
It's shallow. It works on a lot of the same principles fortune tellers use, mainly that it tells you over and over that you're being profiled, so you believe that you are. But the actual facts it comes up with are about as meaningful as a fortune cookie. That's okay though, it's a cool gimmick anyway, despite being shallow.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by stopped_clock »

Fortune tellers, really? It works more like the basic personality tests that we've all seen a million times floating about the internet. Fortune tellers use cold or hot reading (cold being when they have no information about you and basically just make guesses and then alter what they're saying based on how you react to it, or hot reading, where they already have information on you to use.)

Of course the closing comments have to have generalisations in them, so in that sense the broadness of scope encompassed by the final psych eval is somewhat similar to the generic statements that you might get from an astrologist I guess. The trouble is that it's just a system designed to differentiate between a few general personality types and as such cannot be particularly deep. In order to incorporate a profiling system that isn't shallow konami would have to ship each copy of the game with it's own psychologist, which is obviously a ridiculous idea.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Tillerman »

stopped_clock wrote:Of course the closing comments have to have generalisations in them, so in that sense the broadness of scope encompassed by the final psych eval is somewhat similar to the generic statements that you might get from an astrologist I guess.
Right, that's what I meant.
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wonder's boy
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by wonder's boy »

Everything I agree with the author about... This game grew on me, though I loved it from the start, and seems to grow richer each time I play it. Shattered Memories is a very emotional game, which in turn makes me emotional each time I play it. The gameplay is so engaging that it nearly forces the player to take every detail into some sort of consideration.

Nothing is like the first play through, though. I swear I was so shocked at how different it was from other SH titles that at times I didn't feel I was playing a SH game, but some other stand alone title. But this is a SH game, and it shows it if you examine its essence and core foundations: a character strewn in the darkest depths of a supernatural town or place with various alternative realities and dimensions, tormented by a horrifying past and grotesque creatures, and unexpected twists and turns along the way.

I do consider this one of the Silent Hill franchise's strongest games because of how it delivers its story, gameplay, and other key game elements. It utilizes itself and uses the mechanics of Wii playing to its advantage. I really felt that, though as more of a figure of speech rather than a literal statement, at times I myself was wandering around in that frozen town, and that I was sitting on that psychologist's couch, being analyzed and deciphered. The use of the cell phone and flash light were engaging, to say the least, especially during the "nightmare" sequences.

I felt I was given a good amount of diversity in the gameplay department, filling the roles of investigating the clues and mysteries of the normal "snowy" town, escaping the icy, cold and terrifying "nightmares", utilizing my memory and wit to find the exits of the lifeless labyrinths, and then putting my mind on the line for Dr. K's therapy sessions in the calm, collected safety of his cozy office.

Mechanics and gameplay aside, I felt my craving for the psychological metaphors and symbolism often found in the SH universe was quieted by the detailed and well thought-out narrative that kept me not only guessing, but actually thinking hard about what the hell was going on in this new Silent Hill world.

Yes, I love it! Hope to see another like this from these developers, one that maybe has more time spent on it, and is l o n g e r in terms of gameplay length. Maybe even for Wii and PS Move, since that option is now available.

Also, this is the only other SH game that's made me cry since the first. Funny, isn't it? The first game makes me cry, then is re-imagined and still makes me cry. Woof.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by jeremyjh »

I know I think I speak for everyone when I say this is one of the few Survival Horrors that you can play and like better after the 2nd or 3rd time.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by AdjectiveRyan »

you mean to tell me there are not only different endings but different character set ups? that's pretty awesome. l've only played through it once but was kind of interested in more playthroughs (despite my comments in the what scared you thread). l was just trying to make myself laugh in which l succeeded.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by Tabris »

This is definitely a game that should be played a few times. I have no idea how many times I've beaten this game but I can't say I've really seen it the same twice.

I've gotten a lot of friends to play it too and it's pretty damn interesting to see the differences. If you want to get more out of it, try to get as many people as you can to go through it with you. I think that's where this game really shines.
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by DistantJ »

Still love this game. Wish they had put it in the HD collection (with PS Move support!), I'd love to see those textures in high def. Still, the Wii rocks and has a little bit of life in it yet and I doubt I'll be selling it off for a long time to come...
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Re: The more times I play this game...

Post by wonder's boy »

jeremyjh wrote:I know I think I speak for everyone when I say this is one of the few Survival Horrors that you can play and like better after the 2nd or 3rd time.
Certainly. Also, it allows you to switch things up a bit. It's one of the few games on the Wii I can actually stand...let alone replay and feel like I'm exploring new areas in the game. Even if some of the psychological profile aspects were superficial (like, visual things...the way a bear looks in the cabin, or how some ad looks, etc.), it still brought a lot of fresh air to the table, and made SM that much more enjoyable.
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