The comic books: how important are they?

[Martee]

This spoiler forum is here for a reason. If someone hasn't played the game, then they really have no business being here. If they do get spoiled, it's their own damn fault.

You're missing my point. My point is that some people haven't even been given the chance to experience the game and think about the story and possibly come up with the information that Tom might be intending to tell us, thus ruining the mystery and intrigue of the game, it's not about spoilers, it's about the symbolism and the main thing people love about these games, thinking about them afterwards and piecing together all of the information presented, if a dev/writer just comes on the forum and answers all of our questions then where is the mystery?
If in fact Tom is going to tell us information that is not provided in the game or not even hinted at in the game but we should have had that information in game then as I mentioned before that just makes the game seem like it failed in providing a complete story experience. That is unless he plans on providing us with information that makes no difference to the game at all, in which case I would argue that it is a futile and pointless exercise.
I just don't like the idea of Silent Hill going down the route of spelling everything out for us, but I also don't like the idea of leaving out information to confused the player or just simply leaving the information out by accident. It greatly undermines my feelings towards a game if I feel like the game is lying to me, or the devs/writers then have to try and explain the story to people as if admitting that they failed in their presentation.
Especially so soon. Hell, people still discuss Silent Hill 1, 2, 3 and 4 to this day and I think if a dev/writer came on the forum and just announced they were going to give answers it would undermine all of the mystery, and that's a LONG time after the game was released, not 2-3 weeks after.
Anyway, I'll leave it until Tom has addressed what he wants to address and see what he has to say, I was just putting forward some of my concerns about the idea of answering fans questions about a game only just released.

[Avianna]

Sometimes I feel bad for people who want to get involved with their fans. It seems like they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. And sometimes, it before they even get a chance to speak

[Martee]

Sometimes I feel bad for people who want to get involved with their fans. It seems like they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. And sometimes, it before they even get a chance to speak

I'm not damning him in any way. I was just voicing my concerns as I said. Personally I don't even really care about the story or the missing information.
I just wouldn't want people who have amazing interpretations of the game to finish it for the first time, come on the forum and have everyone direct them to a thread where Tom tells them that their interpretation is wrong.
That undermines the mystery and everything that makes Silent Hill great IMO.

[NanayaShiki]

Hell, people still discuss Silent Hill 1, 2, 3 and 4 to this day and I think if a dev/writer came on the forum and just announced they were going to give answers it would undermine all of the mystery, and that's a LONG time after the game was released, not 2-3 weeks after.

Have you seriously never heard of the Book of Lost Memories?

Personally I don't even really care about the story or the missing information.

That's you. We do. Please don't ruin this thread for the people that do care by throwing a fit about something that you, by your own admission, don't care about.

I just wouldn't want people who have amazing interpretations of the game to finish it for the first time, come on the forum and have everyone direct them to a thread where Tom tells them that their interpretation is wrong.

First off, you have no idea what Tom is going to talk about or what kind of detail he is going to go into. Chill out.

Second, people have the choice of coming here. If they want to keep their interpretation of the games as their only viewpoint and not have any idea about the writer's intent, that's their choice. If they want to wait until they had time for the story to sink in before they start posting in this section, that's their choice. if they want to come in here and see what other people, including the person who wrote the story, think, then that is ALSO their choice. I don't think anybody needs you to be their crusader here. If you don't care about it, then leave the complaining for people who do.

That undermines the mystery and everything that makes Silent Hill great IMO.

Again, stop jumping to conclusions. We have no idea what is going to be told. A writer telling their fans that they will answer some of their questions is not nearly as big of a deal as you make it out to be. Nor is it anything new. The original devs DID do it, they released an entire goddamn guide book answering all the major questions we had about 1-3. And we got TWO direct interviews with Tomm Hulett over Shattered Memories.

Seriously, you are complaining about something based on your own hyperbolic speculation, which you admit you don't care about, and that has always happened. I'm going to be direct here; get over it.

Sometimes I feel bad for people who want to get involved with their fans. It seems like they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. And sometimes, it before they even get a chance to speak

No kidding. This is literally why we can't have nice things.

[Martee]

Hell, people still discuss Silent Hill 1, 2, 3 and 4 to this day and I think if a dev/writer came on the forum and just announced they were going to give answers it would undermine all of the mystery, and that's a LONG time after the game was released, not 2-3 weeks after.

Have you seriously never heard of the Book of Lost Memories?

Personally I don't even really care about the story or the missing information.

That's you. We do. Please don't ruin this thread for the people that do care by throwing a fit about something that you, by your own admission, don't care about.

I just wouldn't want people who have amazing interpretations of the game to finish it for the first time, come on the forum and have everyone direct them to a thread where Tom tells them that their interpretation is wrong.

First off, you have no idea what Tom is going to talk about or what kind of detail he is going to go into. Chill out.

Second, people have the choice of coming here. If they want to keep their interpretation of the games as their only viewpoint and not have any idea about the writer's intent, that's their choice. If they want to wait until they had time for the story to sink in before they start posting in this section, that's their choice. if they want to come in here and see what other people, including the person who wrote the story, think, then that is ALSO their choice. I don't think anybody needs you to be their crusader here. If you don't care about it, then leave the complaining for people who do.

That undermines the mystery and everything that makes Silent Hill great IMO.

Again, stop jumping to conclusions. We have no idea what is going to be told. A writer telling their fans that they will answer some of their questions is not nearly as big of a deal as you make it out to be. Nor is it anything new. The original devs DID do it, they released an entire goddamn guide book answering all the major questions we had about 1-3. And we got TWO direct interviews with Tomm Hulett over Shattered Memories.

Seriously, you are complaining about something based on your own hyperbolic speculation, which you admit you don't care about, and that has always happened. I'm going to be direct here; get over it.

Sometimes I feel bad for people who want to get involved with their fans. It seems like they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. And sometimes, it before they even get a chance to speak

No kidding. This is literally why we can't have nice things.

You just told me to keep my opinion to myself, so I'll tell you to keep your opinion of my opinion to yourself. Great isn't it?
I'm not trying to ruin this thread for anyone, if you don't understand what my concerns are, or you don't share them, that's up to you to ignore my concerns. However if a dev/writer doesn't know if anyone even cares about these things then how are they supposed to know? You're right, we don't know what he's going to talk about. Which gives me even more reason to raise my concerns now before it is possibly too late. Especially when, as I said, lots of people haven't even been able to play the game yet and the forum isn't exactly booming with people who can give their opinion as to whether they want the writer to give away information this soon.

Also about the Book of Lost Memories. It was an officially released suppliment to Silent Hill 3, you can argue that you didn't get the full Silent Hill 3 experience without the book which is fine, as the book was marketed that way.
It also gave information on Silent 1 and 2 which had been out for quite a while, giving sufficient time for people to interpret those games as they wanted to.
This however is different and isn't a product that was meant to be released along side the game to suppliment the material, this seems more like it is going to be an after thought of things that should have been explained better in the game.

Also you say 'this is why we cant have nice things'.... but you already got your 'nice thing' it was called Silent Hill Downpour and I don't think the game should have to have the writer come onto an unofficial forum to talk about things that should have been in the game to begin with.
As I said though, I don't know what Tom had in mind, but I wanted to express my concerns before it might have been too late and 'the cat was out of the bag' so to speak.

[Avianna]

While I understand your concern (no one wants to have someone easily impressionable come in here and have their thoughts and theories destroyed of something) you're jumping ton conclusions about what Tom is going to say. And although, I do believe you aren't trying to be disrespectful of him wanting to discuss his story, it does come off as brash and rude.

I really doubt he's gonna come in here and tell us what all he was thinking and what everything means. In fact, I was expecting him to ask us questions to be quite honest. Questions that make us think. At least, that's the kinda guy I pegged him for when I met him at SDCC.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we scared him off by now >.>

[Martee]

While I understand your concern (no one wants to have someone easily impressionable come in here and have their thoughts and theories destroyed of something) you're jumping ton conclusions about what Tom is going to say. And although, I do believe you aren't trying to be disrespectful of him wanting to discuss his story, it does come off as brash and rude.

I really doubt he's gonna come in here and tell us what all he was thinking and what everything means. In fact, I was expecting him to ask us questions to be quite honest. Questions that make us think. At least, that's the kinda guy I pegged him for when I met him at SDCC.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we scared him off by now >.>

Well if that's the type of person he is then he shouldn't be scared off by me and hopefully he will understand my concerns like you do.
I don't mean to be rude in any way. I didn't think he would come in and tell us all what we should have gotten out of the game, but quite simply, I don't know the man. I can't give the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this, as if too much information is given then the information is already out and my complaints afterward would be pointless, which is why I raised my concerns, I've only continued to post to explain why I've said what I said.
The thing is as well that something that might seem not very important to the writer of the game might be extremely important to someone else who played the game, it is very easy when you hold all of the information to mention something in passing and assume that everyone already knows it.
My initial thought when I read his post was that he was getting a bit ahead of himself and I wanted him to slow down, as it is easy to get carried away with things you're proud of, and again I don't mean that to be condescending or anything it's just the truth.

[AuraTwilight]

How about you just wait until Tom actually speaks up? He's got deadlines to meet so it's not like he's going to SPOIL THE GAME TOMORROW or something. It's going to take atleast a few weeks, and he's probably not going to talk about THAT much stuff.

[NanayaShiki]

You just told me to keep my opinion to myself, so I'll tell you to keep your opinion of my opinion to yourself. Great isn't it?

If all you took from what I said was "keep your opinion to yourself", then you greatly missed the point.

You said yourself that you don't care. So you are getting upset about a writer answering some fan questions to the story he wrote when you don't actually care about the questions or the answers. You are literally the only person in this thread who is even remotely upset that Tom decided to answer some questions and by your own admission you don't actually care about the questions or answers, just that answers will exist in the future, which as I have said, has happened with several games in the past. Your "opinion" is coming off as "I don't know what is going to happen here, nor do I actually care about it, but I'm going to complain about it." and in that case, YES, keep it to yourself.

[Vixx]

Play nicely, children, or you'll be asked to go play someplace else.

Martee, if you don't wish to read what Tom may or may not say, don't come back to this thread. It's that simple.

Tom: welcome back.

[Martee]

Play nicely, children, or you'll be asked to go play someplace else.

Martee, if you don't wish to read what Tom may or may not say, don't come back to this thread. It's that simple.

Tom: welcome back.

That wasn't what I said, what I meant was I don't care whether he answers burning questions, or just answers pointless questions. The only reason I was posting about it was because there aren't many people on this spoiler forum yet who can even have their say as to whether they want information directly from the writer.
Yeah, I may be overreacting, but I'd rather overreact than have the game ruined for some people who don't even know this thread exists yet (because they haven't even been able to play the game yet!).
If people think I'm just complaining for the sake of it they are greatly misunderstanding and apparently no amount of explaining of my intentions will make people understand my concerns, so meh. Hopefully Tom will understand what I was trying to say even if others don't.

[Vixx]

Okay, okay - I see your point, and it's a valid one. When/if Tom deigns to give any additional information, we'll mark it clearly and obviously in a new thread so that people are aware *before* they enter the discussion.