Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

[KiramidHead]

I just meant that they fit well together. The later games tried to expand the universe, but they strayed too far from the roots to be classics. Even though I love all of the games, I still think this holds true.

[LuciaInFurs]

I'm not singling you out for having a bad attitude, KiramidHead. Sorry, I should have phrased myself better. What I mean is that this undying faith that the first three games "did it right" just sets everyone up to be disappointed. I'm guilty of this myself. If a new game isn't anything like the first three I get pissed because it doesn't feel like SH any more, if it's similar than I feel that the developers are being lazy and putting us through the same game again.

[KiramidHead]

That's okay, I understood what you meant and gave a better explanation of what I was getting at. My main idea is that they should try a type of story arc instead of wholly unconnected stories over and over again.

[SPRINGS02]

I'm not singling you out for having a bad attitude, KiramidHead. Sorry, I should have phrased myself better. What I mean is that this undying faith that the first three games "did it right" just sets everyone up to be disappointed. I'm guilty of this myself. If a new game isn't anything like the first three I get pissed because it doesn't feel like SH any more, if it's similar than I feel that the developers are being lazy and putting us through the same game again.

Actually i see nothing wrong with that, i mean i consider the silent hill 2-4 to easily be the best ones, i don't think you should have to lower your expectations for newer games. I mean why settle for less?

[paladin181]

My argument here would be that SH2 was an accident, in a good way. SH1 had a terribly executed story and many of the references were random, truly a tribute to the source materials that the developers used to create their haunted town. SH3 was recycled from the characters to the environments to the story. SH4 was (and still is in many peoples' eyes) the worst SH game to be released. The story is top notch, if you can suffer through the damn near painful gameplay to see it told... Really, looking back the over arcing story and individual moments in each game in the series are what keep me coming back, because most of the games in the series are largely unenjoyable for me to play through. Hard to like playing games that make you beat your head into a concrete pillar ten minutes in.

I'd go so far to say I like playing SH1 because it was a scary experience. The story was poorly conceived and had to have MUCH out of game explanation (and in some rare cases a few retcons) just for the story to make any semblance of cohesive sense. SH2 was a better experience with mature subject matter and one of the biggest icons in video games. SH3... well, it was utter garbage churned out to make a buck. SH4 was a step in a new direction that had a great story, but failed REALLY hard in the gameplay execution. Twice. Homecoming was fun to play, but not scary because I never felt REALLY threatened except in the police station (Or was it a sheriff's office??).. Ørigins had the Sanitarium, which was GREAT until you criss crossed it 20 times. Shattered Memories was another attempt in a new direction (not nearly so bad as SH4) and it was at least a fresh new idea that wasn't completely tedious as hell to play through. Really the only game that was somewhat fun to play AND had a good story was SH2 over all. But that's just what I realize as I play them all over again anyhow. Not that SH2 was the "BEST GMAE EVAR!!!1", but it was a complete experience.

[KiramidHead]

The only one I consider garbage is Origins, which was definitely an attempt to make a quick buck. I mean, it started out in early development as a remake of the original featuring Rose from the movie. That shows that even the original ideas behind it were bad, not to mention SH is a solid enough series to merit a true console game, not a handheld.

[SPRINGS02]

^I agree somewhat, however i would say the worst is easily homecoming. Too much hollywood action style horror for me. Also just because a game goes to a handheld doesn't mean it's a joke, i mean metal gear peace walker is amazing.

[KiramidHead]

^What I meant is that Climax was trying to save money by developing te game for a weaker system. They did the same thing for SM, but I felt that it fared better than Origins in terms of writing. Origins had many inconsistencies which were probably indicative of two teams working on it, and it felt very uneven. They should have chosen to do either a cult or personal story, not an odd inbred mating of the two. I think I enjoyed Homecoming more because I cared more about the situation. If either of my younger brothers disappeared, I would run into Silent Hill to save them, that and the fact that I'm not as good to them as should be, which makes me identify with Alex a bit. It's a personal thing for me, but I also think that the controls and lack of weapon degradation elevates above Origins quite a bit.

[paladin181]

Weapon Degradation is fine though. Not to the extent Ørigins does it, but the complete lack of it meant the knife in all its brokenness and the axe in all its goodness were plain and simple fear breakers. Why would I fear ANYTHING when I know I can out class it EASILY with 2 or 3 hits? The Siams were the only monsters that gave me any sense of frustration in the game (After killing 10 or so Schisms in the police station, or was it the sheriff's office?) and even those were made simple with firearms and the fact that there were only 3 or 4 of them in the game. The game's over all presentation though was far better than most other SH games imo. The puzzles were not nonsensical, and yet strangely fit RIGHT in with the puzzles from SH1 and RE (both of which used complex puzzle systems that made far less sense than in Homecoming). Ørigins was a great game that lacked the confidence behind it due to a shifting of paradigm in the middle of development, and that led to a change in production teams. All in all, I think they could have done the same stories a little better with out the artificial length of the Sanitarium.

SM was a nice bit of work. Unfortunately it showed that Climax and Konami were stuck on SH1 for quite a while given that that's all they wanted to produce for 2 or 3 years. I wish they'd have just done the actual remake and been done with it instead of the bullshit toying around we got. SM was good, and would not have been made if the remake HAD been done instead of Ørigins, but I think the series as a whole would have been better off.

[Uyrikeustek]

I love this game. Not as great or memorable as 1 or 2, but it's the last game before team silent split up. I always thought the first three were masterpieces. It also scared me more than the first two and I liked having a female protagonist for once. The addition of the extra costumes and the unlimited submachine gun were definitely awesome too. Just my opinion.

[SPRINGS02]

^Actually team silent worked on sh4 too.

[Sam Pilgrim]

Silent Hill 3 it's one of my favorites... I just loved it, I played it in my laptop and I was scared to death!!... I loved Heather, the enviroments, the music.. everything, hell

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I almost cried when Harry died

.

PS. Yeah, the night I finished, I didn't sleep. I kept thinking some closer would appear in front of me

[Tabris]

Definitely not the worst in the series to me. Homecoming is to me.

Although for some reason it's become less compelling to me over the years.

I played the hell out of this game when I was younger. I played it damn near every day almost for a long time.

It's easily the scariest to me. The visuals and audio are the most disturbing in the series. Plus Heather just getting thrown into the scenario and forced through what she goes through is pretty messed up.

Something about the game is making it less interesting to me over time though. Might have something to do with the first half of the game. I love the mall, but the subway and sewers are somewhat boring. The bleeding walls after you beat the game in the sewers makes it better though. I also really love the office building, especially in the other world, but it still feels somewhat like filler.

The story kicks up a bit too late into the game considering its length.

[AngelValtiel]

Silent Hill 3 is THE BEST SH entry by far.
The characters are just so well-rounded, the graphics are amazing, the story is good, the gameplay is fun, it is TERRIFYING, etc etc it's the perfect survival horror game.
The only thing SH2 has over 3 is the story.

[redrum]

I think SH3 is one of the best entries in the series, it wound up Silent Hill 1's story well

[Shacknasty]

Worst? Nah. The story may be a bit lower on the scale, but the dialogue and actual character interaction is much more polished than the previous two games. Actually, I think the game has the best dialogue right behind Shattered Memories.

As far as worst in the series that easily goes to Shattered Memories. After that I'd place Origins afterward simply because the story is pointless and the game just goes through the motions.

[mrnitsua]

I honestly can't decide which of the first 3 is better, but I think we can agree the series lost it's touch after Heather's delimma.

[SiXo]

The problem I had with Silent Hill 3 is that I didn't play SH1 and the hole story just wasn't full for me. But I can't say that it's the worst when it's not. But is it at the bottom of my list, I hate to say, but yes it is.

[clips]

It's not the worst, but the story could've been better,..i mean this was the game to wrap up alessa's/heather's storyline and the ending scene was kinda anti-climatic....i thought the ending was really weak...it just should've wrapped up everything so much more fluidly,...maybe show her and douglas attending harry's funeral, or some extended cutscene showing the aftermath of the events...

It's definetly the best artistically and atmospherically tho....

[TANK]

no no no no. sh3 is in my top 2. sh2 is the best. sh3's story did take awhile to pick up steam for sure, but the little easter eggs make the first hour of the game worth playing, i mean, when the

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ghost pushes you onto the tracks in the subway

the little things like that made the first hour pretty eerie for me. and after you find harry, it just hit a new level for me... WOW now im getting all...excited