Silent Hill Downpour Appreciation Thread

[alone in the town]

I think they released two others. For some reason, 4 sticks out as a magic number there.

Though, the real reason I remember it at all is because, surprise, surprise, the fandom exploded when they heard vocals in their Silent Hill tracks. It was proof that Akira Yamaoka was losing it. It was proof that Konami was selling out. It was proof that the series was going in the wrong direction.

[Hydra666]

I really like Mary Elizabeth but the old song without singing was better IMO.

We don't need lyrics to feel emotions, SH2's soundtrack was the perfect exemple.

[thy_butcher]

I can't wait to hear more music from Downpour. I was hoping for no vocal tracks whatsoever, but oh well.

[Monster]

I really like Mary Elizabeth but the old song without singing was better IMO.

We don't need lyrics to feel emotions, SH2's soundtrack was the perfect exemple.

Thank you. Yeah, I much preferred the soundtracks of 1 and 2. Really industrial, ambient and moody. I just can't really take the singing seriously, it's like trying too hard to effect a mood, and in Silent Hill less has always been more to me.

I sense an irony in the fact that the new devs consider Silent Hill to be such a hard game to make, when they would probably have more success at this point just making it like the old games. Everybody's like, 'well we need to improve combat/graphics, blah bla' but at the end of the day those old games with all their flaws were what made the series.

[Hydra666]

What I liked about SH1's ambient music is it's randomness. Most of the time, ambient music in otherworlds was pretty much low octaves chords to create heavy sounds. Sh1's ambient music was mainly pad + main instrument. It was simple and effective.

SH2's was very different, using softer instruments and lots of bass chords to create heavy atmospheres (brookheaven hospital is a good exemple). SH2's overall music was so much atmospheric and beautiful, the way it amplified the atmosphere was incredible.

But from SH3 and so on, the music became quite repetitive. Origins had great music but SH3,4,SM and homecoming music was repetitive and not so original.

I think Daniel licht will do a great job in Downpour, so far the music seems to fit downpour almost like SH2's music was.

[Shacknasty]

I sense an irony in the fact that the new devs consider Silent Hill to be such a hard game to make, when they would probably have more success at this point just making it like the old games. Everybody's like, 'well we need to improve combat/graphics, blah bla' but at the end of the day those old games with all their flaws were what made the series.

Doubtful. Sure, the games would probably do ok among the SH fanbase, but old school horror games like that have always been part of a niche demographic so it wouldn't burn up the charts. And Konami is apparently trying (although their methods are questionable) to expand the franchise beyond the core fanbase. The Team Silent games eventually started slipping in sales too starting with SH3.

[Hydra666]

Being a fan of the old school SH's style, I'm disapointed with the looks of the city in downpour. The dark blue atmosphere doesn't fits SH IMO. We always recognized SH by it's white fog and I think they should follow that way, because this blue fog makes SH look like a generic city.

Look how much better the game would look with the white fog and the noise effect

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

I'm not against some change but the white fog definitely needs to remain.

[Shacknasty]

Eh, I really don't care about that. Silent Hill 4 only had fog in a few select areas of the game. Just the area near Toluca Lake and the Water Prison. Didn't ruin anything for me.

I just don't get why some people keep thinking "it doesn't fit with Silent Hill". Just because it's blueish? Who cares? I'm up for a different theme than the usual stuff we've seen before.

[thy_butcher]

I like that picture you posted Hydra 666. It looks very good.
I am however digging the look of Downpour how it is anyway. I am into the blue-tone of it. I much prefer that than Homecoming's puke-tastic orange.
I would like to see the noise effect utilized though. Barely noticeable during exploration, but frenzied during an encounter with 3 or so enemies. That would be lovely IMO.

[Hydra666]

The dark blue atmosphere indeeds fit with the water theme but maybe we will also have white fog.

Where I live, this exact blueish atmosphere is present almost each morning. That means that maybe what we've seen so far takes place in the morning, maybe there will be gameplay parts during the day with white fog.

[thy_butcher]

I actually did indeed get a "morning-time" vibe from almost everything I've seen from Downpour. I thought that was just me though... hehe.
I would have no problem with the game looking like your photo. It reminds me of SH1.
A few more months and we'll find out.

[stopped_clock]

I agree fully with Hydra here, the way I see it the otherworld is where the protagonists psyche manifests itself in all it's strength, that's where the differences between the games should be. The foggy world should be something of a blank slate, the blanket of white fog reflects that, it should seem like there's nothing beyond that fog, like you're enveloped in emptiness. Once you start putting in visible details beyond the fog it loses it's mystery, it goes from being something strange to being just fog.

Hell, I even turned off the complex fog in SH2 because I felt it took away from the atmosphere simply by suggesting that wind existed in the foggy world, and that made it less alien. That's the problem I see with Downpour, it just looks like a town experiencing some bad weather, not some strange otherworldly intervention.

[Hydra666]

The white fog is also what makes people recognize Silent Hill.

SH and SH2 both had amazing and magical atmospheres due to that fog (SH3 had far too many at once, I couldn't see anything).

Like Stopped-Clock said, Downpour's Silent Hill looks like a generic city under bad weather. I mean, look at this

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

I swear that if I didn't knew this was from SH Downpour, I would never had guessed it's Silent Hill. It looks like it could be any city.

While if you look at this

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

I immediately recognize the Silent Hill town. Ghostly white fog, low buildings (even if SH1 had high buildings but still), eerie, unique.

That's the only thing I'm asking for every SH game. Other than that, I'm open for innovation.

[Monster]

Eh, I really don't care about that. Silent Hill 4 only had fog in a few select areas of the game. Just the area near Toluca Lake and the Water Prison. Didn't ruin anything for me.

Maybe not for you, but I think the lack of fog and darkness effected the experience of alot of people which probably contributed to SH4's lack of popularity. I could forgive many other things I dont like about downpour if they'd just restrain our field of vision more. That was what created the feeling of tension and isolation.

[Yuki]

To be honest, I've found the restrained vision really frustrating. I had to check the map every few steps in SH1-3, whereas Downpour looks navigable.

[Shacknasty]

Eh, I really don't care about that. Silent Hill 4 only had fog in a few select areas of the game. Just the area near Toluca Lake and the Water Prison. Didn't ruin anything for me.

Maybe not for you, but I think the lack of fog and darkness effected the experience of alot of people which probably contributed to SH4's lack of popularity.

That's never been a particularly popular criticism among the SH fans especially considering all the other more critical complaints people have with the game. You'd probably find some who wouldn't even realize it in the first place unless you told them about it.

[KiramidHead]

Eh, I really don't care about that. Silent Hill 4 only had fog in a few select areas of the game. Just the area near Toluca Lake and the Water Prison. Didn't ruin anything for me.

Maybe not for you, but I think the lack of fog and darkness effected the experience of alot of people which probably contributed to SH4's lack of popularity.

That's never been a particularly popular criticism among the SH fans especially considering all the other more critical complaints people have with the game. You'd probably find some who wouldn't even realize it in the first place unless you told them about it.

That person would be me. I was too distracted by crap controls to notice or care about the lighting. All forms of tank controls need to die a slow death.

[Hydra666]

I kinda like tank controls. It makes the player feel uneasy (or frustrated).

Siren Blood curse could have been such a scary game but the characters moved with so much ease and speed... I think the controls Siren 1 had where better for the survival horror style. The characters where slower and much weaker (but let's agree with this: Siren was not hard because of the controls but because it was just naturally so freakin hard) but they where still easy to control.

Dead space-like controls are fine by me. Not too fluid, not too awkward. Downpour seems to have the same kind of controls.

[Shacknasty]

I really don't care if tank controls are used or not, but you can horror and suspense without the need of tank controls. Case in point: Fatal Frame

[Soulless-Shadow]

I was too distracted by crap controls to notice or care about the lighting. All forms of tank controls need to die a slow death.

I can't agree more. I hate tank controls. I find that the frustration they cause takes me out of the moment and ruins the atmosphere of the game to the point where all I'm thinking about are the crappy controls and not noticing the small details in the game. Personally, I don't think there's any need to use tank controls any more.

I really don't care if tank controls are used or not, but you can horror and suspense without the need of tank controls. Case in point: Fatal Frame

Tank controls aren't really something I associate with horror games. Like your example, horror games can be suspenseful without them.

As for the fog being bluish instead of white, personally I don't have a problem with it. From what I've seen so far, Downpour looks pretty good. As someone else already mentioned, SH4 didn't have much fog at all. I hardly noticed that, to be honest.