Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Heather finds out why it's true that you shouldn't talk to strangers. Or look in mirrors, quite honestly.

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AlbertWesker
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by AlbertWesker »

It surprises me that this thread is still alive.
Well, I just wanted to make an observation: to argue that the characters are "less" beacause there is not some discernible "character development" is actually a very common mistake. Apart from the fact that the field of "art" is an actually very difficult subject (and I am afraid that this is the principal subject in this kind of threads), we must point out that there is not some "rector principle" that somehow obligues us to introduce that "develpoment" of character.

With this I am not saying that there is not develpoment of story. I am referring to some kind of "change-trough-time" of the character. Not to confuse with the necessary "changes" that every character goes through in his different actions (in the becoming of events, "devenir" in spanish), changes that not necessarily imply some kind of discernible "progression" in the psyche.

There would be a need for a fundamentation of the necesarity of such "development" in order to claim other things.

Anyway, I would claim that there is indeed some kind of change in Heather´s character, but no a very huge one, given that she is actually very un-fearsome since the beggining. And, not different from the development of characters in other series. Maybe because of difficulty in expressing emotions in videogame animated characters, and given that there is only the cutscenes time to make it happen.

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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by I, Rabbit »

Heather as a main character was always my favourite. After replaying sh 3 via hd edition, I can partially understand why some people hate it. The game play is tiresome, the grinding, screeching music is irksome. The mall level can be completed within minutes if played before, taking out any scare or even psychological factor really, (though the penis worm, I STILL don't like it to this day and I picked it up when I was like what, 14?)
The levels all the way up to the amusement park tire me out in that sense of constantly battling with myself to not turn it off. Especially in the sewer level...fuck... which is ridiculous considering the amusement park and church are the last two levels.
I can understand where people come from when they say the game is the worst, because the levels truelly are.

But the story line? No.

Hands now, 3 has one of the best story lines in the series. And yes, people may argue it's merely an extension of 1, but is it not the story of 1 we all wanted to be told?
Learning more about the cult is great, I'm glad they expanded some more on that, and surely nobody can deny the end boss fight is one of the best thought out thing to fight, if not the fight itself. Heather plays her part well, it's the environment that let the game now. The levels, the monsters, Claudia herself.

Just gotta think; at least they never made it like the film.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by phantomess »

The final boss is one of the easiest in the series IMO, as long as you have ammo. Coming from someone who always plays it on Normal. (It's an interesting enough boss design though.)

The oppressive, terrifying otherside environments of SH3 are my favorite thing about the game.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Mephisto »

The best boss is the Missionary. Hands down.

God was a joke. Good design, but that's about it. You could say that he wasn't born properly as an excuse of why he's quite lame though...
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by I, Rabbit »

Mephisto wrote:The best boss is the Missionary. Hands down.

God was a joke. Good design, but that's about it. You could say that he wasn't born properly as an excuse of why he's quite lame though...
That's what I meant. The battle itself was ridiculous and took away much of the 'this is it, this is the final boss fight' (I even have a video of me somewhere finishing her off with a freaking stun gun fgs), but the actual concept of fighting a deformed, imperfect God? That was the good part. Even if it was/partially done before with the incubus/incubator (forgive me if the names are wrong, I really haven't played 1 in a very long time), the idea itself is outstanding and for that, I believe it holds itself up. It's just a shame the fight itself didn't.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Postcode »

I, Rabbit wrote:Heather as a main character was always my favourite. After replaying sh 3 via hd edition, I can partially understand why some people hate it. The game play is tiresome, the grinding, screeching music is irksome. The mall level can be completed within minutes if played before, taking out any scare or even psychological factor really, (though the penis worm, I STILL don't like it to this day and I picked it up when I was like what, 14?)
The levels all the way up to the amusement park tire me out in that sense of constantly battling with myself to not turn it off. Especially in the sewer level...fuck... which is ridiculous considering the amusement park and church are the last two levels.
I can understand where people come from when they say the game is the worst, because the levels truelly are.

But the story line? No.

Hands now, 3 has one of the best story lines in the series. And yes, people may argue it's merely an extension of 1, but is it not the story of 1 we all wanted to be told?
Learning more about the cult is great, I'm glad they expanded some more on that, and surely nobody can deny the end boss fight is one of the best thought out thing to fight, if not the fight itself. Heather plays her part well, it's the environment that let the game now. The levels, the monsters, Claudia herself.
That's more or less the exact opposite of my feelings for the game! The gameplay, atmosphere, locations, monsters, characters, etc were all fine (though I was never the biggest fan of Heather herself), but the story just doesn't do much for me. It was engaging enough the first time through and I was interested to find out what was going to happen, but it felt hugely anticlimactic to me. To be honest I'd kind of rather that they'd left the original story alone than add this to it.

Not that I hate the game or anything, but it's definitely my least favourite of the hallowed 'Team Silent' quartet and lower in my esteem that Shattered Memories and Downpour too.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Its Gone Now »

phantomess wrote:The final boss is one of the easiest in the series IMO, as long as you have ammo. Coming from someone who always plays it on Normal. (It's an interesting enough boss design though.)
Agreed, a lot of people say that it's a hard Boss??? I've litterally never struggled with it at all, not even on Hard. I seem to remember most of the bosses on SH1 being more challenging.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Renacimiento »

I, Rabbit wrote:Heather as a main character was always my favourite.
Same for me, definitely my favorite character. Even if it is somewhat difficult to explain in words why I felt so connected with her.

Now, regarding the subject of the thread, I completely disagree, on the contrary I would put Sh3 near the top, well above any list. I never had problems or found its gameplay tiring or annoying, the music seemed to me excellent and very emotional, the story? Impressive... I loved it. Could perhaps be said to be somewhat short and some levels can be completed quickly, although I do not think that in itself constitute such a negative thing to consider it the worst oof the series.

God ends up being weak, a mutation, a kind of creature that never finish to develop fully, but I do not think it is always necessary that the "final boss" must be the hardest of all. And although the final fight is simple, the atmosphere and background music while this fight takes place was great in my opinion.

PS: Sorry for my English.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Its Gone Now »

^ All very good points, I thought the boss was easy too but I have been told by more than one person now that apparently some had quite a bit of trouble with it, not an easy boss for all. I personally seem to remember the last boss of SH1 to be more tricky? Anyone else find this? The SH2 Marie/Maria boss I thought was far too easy.

I'd like to add that I think SH3 is full of SH charm, and when I say charm of course I mean oppression :) it has some of the creepiest, most skin crawling moments of the entire series, some of the most off putting sounds and music. They really went out of their way to make it incredibly grim.

No game since has been as oppressive as SH3. People who say it isn't creepy are either looking for jump scares and are probably better off with something like RESI, or they are like my Sister and don't really pay attention to the game because they are listening to music or some s**t, my sis plays while chatting on facebook, so she's NEVER going to find the game creepy. You've got to play in the right setting I think.
The best boss is the Missionary. Hands down.
I can see that, I also liked Leonard, creepy f**ker. I thought Team Silent were better than the first boss though;
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Renacimiento »

Its Gone Now wrote: I personally seem to remember the last boss of SH1 to be more tricky? Anyone else find this? The SH2 Marie/Maria boss I thought was far too easy.
From what I remember yes, the final boss from Silent hill1 was much more difficult to defeat, and agree in what you say the final boss from Sh2 (Mary/Maria) was also relatively easy to defeat, but for some reason some people seem only remember Sh3 as the game with an easy final boss but seem to forget the final boss in Sh2 .

Its Gone Now wrote: I'd like to add that I think SH3 is full of SH charm, and when I say charm of course I mean oppression :) it has some of the creepiest, most skin crawling moments of the entire series, some of the most off putting sounds and music. They really went out of their way to make it incredibly grim.
Yes, Sh3 is full of magic or charm or whatever you call it, full of atmosphere of oppression, depression, desolation and some of the most creepy moments in the entire series.

All this is due to multiple details like music, sound, etc, etc. One of the only games that made me put goose bumps on several occasions and give me a true state of fear almost to a subconscious level as well. Sh2 so does, but I think Sh3 has more of those moments.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Rinku95 »

I started to play again the game yesterday (Well, the morning in Spain) before the fight of Mayweather vs Pacquiao (Disappointing fight tho) and i started to have strange feelings about it. First, i still loving the art direction, the music, Heather, and the "realistic" sensation of the game. But there's one thing that is not liking me so much in this replaying and is the level design. I found the mall very linear and simplistic, it's probably a feel heavily introduced because i played a lot RE Remake HD, which have an absolutely amazing level design (The mansion is great).
I'm starting to remember that the game revisits again the Brookhaven hospital... ugh.

Let's see if this improves or not.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by AlmostHam »

After all these years I have come back to tackle Sh3.

Dear god was this a frightening experience. During my previous playthrough I was quick to discredit this game because it's not Sh2. This is why I enjoyed my second attempt with 3. I've played all the disappointing and recycled attempts with the later entries into the series after the dispand of Team Silent. For me origins/home/shattered/downpour felt like a chore to sloth trough, underwhwheming attempts to capitalize on the legacy of what was once a great series. It's a breath of fresh air, it is its own flavor and not trying to be a carbon copy of Sh2.

The jump scares got me, the ambiance made my skin crawl and the constant dread had me hesitant to open doors. The sound design is just as much a foe as the monsters you battle to reach ending credits. All the screeching, howling and deep roars had me so on edge that when I gave myself a break to smoke outside in the dark I was still on high alert. Subconsciously the silence was an out of place feeling for me that I creeped myself out with the stillness of my neighborhood.

The imagery and graphics are absolutely superb. This could easily fool someone into thinking that 3 is a new gen game. The detail and polish is delicious eye candy.
The soundtrack is as always, sublime. Akira went with distortion and abrasive energy harking back to the Sh1. The voice acting is thing to be admired as well. Every character is dynamic and believable enough to be people outside of this videogame realm.

Sh2 is always going to be my darling. But it's a strung out concept at this point with all the sequels that followed.

When I first posted on this thread I was 17 and only had 1-4 to choose from as the worst. Being that that was almost a decade ago(...damn.) and we've had all these titles released after the dispand of Team Silent, no. It's not the worst.

I'm glad I gave this a second chance. Now for 4.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Tabris »

AlmostHam wrote: The jump scares got me, the ambiance made my skin crawl and the constant dread had me hesitant to open doors. The sound design is just as much a foe as the monsters you battle to reach ending credits. All the screeching, howling and deep roars had me so on edge that when I gave myself a break to smoke outside in the dark I was still on high alert. Subconsciously the silence was an out of place feeling for me that I creeped myself out with the stillness of my neighborhood.
I enjoyed reading this. It reminded me of how I felt my first playthrough way back in 2003 (I was 18 at the time). Silent Hill 2 messed me up, but Silent Hill 3 gave me a level of dread and fear I never really experienced before or after that. I didn't even want to bring the game home from my friends place but he wouldn't let me leave it there either! Hell, even his cat went absolutely ballistic while we were playing that game.

Glad to see this game still has this affect on people 12 years later. Some of the sounds are still absolutely haunting. I still usually play it once or twice a year or so, certain parts still get to me.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by KennyPowrez »

This game isn't necessarily my favorite, but totally see why fans favor it. I will say that the whole "God" dialogue between Claudia and Vincent is what ruined the game for me. After that, the game went from mysterious and intriguing to pithy and heavy-handed.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Lifetolifeless »

Far from the worst. Personally, the game does a better job of stitching its plot to the events of the first game than it needed to, but I don't buy Vincent and Douglas as characters whenever they're on screen.

SH3 is a mix of some of the best and worst the series has to offer, and it averages out to what I'd still consider a good game that's better than anything released after it.


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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Caim »

Silent Hill 3 is my favourite, and I know that I'm "wrong" for many reasons but I stand by what I say. It was the first one I played, and its still the most visually volatile of all of the games. The Otherworld hospital still makes me nauseous when I re-visit it.

The plot is meh, and Claudia and Vincent are both losers. However, I love Heather and Douglas, and I only would've wanted them to have more interactions with one another.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Tabris »

Caim wrote:Silent Hill 3 is my favourite, and I know that I'm "wrong" for many reasons but I stand by what I say. It was the first one I played, and its still the most visually volatile of all of the games. The Otherworld hospital still makes me nauseous when I re-visit it.

The plot is meh, and Claudia and Vincent are both losers. However, I love Heather and Douglas, and I only would've wanted them to have more interactions with one another.
Why would you be wrong for thinking that? I know plenty of people that love Silent Hill 3 the most.

Everything you stated here is one of my favorite reasons (though I enjoy the plot) to go back and play it and it's my second favorite Silent Hill. But it has without a doubt my favorite environments.
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Re: Is silent hill 3 the worst game in the series?

Post by Caim »

Tabris wrote:Why would you be wrong for thinking that? I know plenty of people that love Silent Hill 3 the most.

Everything you stated here is one of my favorite reasons (though I enjoy the plot) to go back and play it and it's my second favorite Silent Hill. But it has without a doubt my favorite environments.
That's why I put it in quotes, because a lot of people hate it when you say anything other than SH2 is the best. But why would we be on a forum if we were just going to agree with one another, right? =)

I do enjoy the plot of 3, it definitely gets the job done. And my God, the environments, atmosphere, music, EVERYTHING comes together to make it THE scariest SH game. It has so many classic set-up scares that actually land, like the mirror room in the hospital. It still creeps me out. I show it to people when I want to freak 'em out.
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