I'm not at all interested in playing this game.

[Breaka]

It's kind of like comparing a classic old films to their modern sequels. Whilst they're more shiney and new, you just can't recreate that first experience.

Honestly SH1 has some of the most memorable moments from video game history. That opening for one, and when you go under the school and hear the siren for the first time was for me one of if not the scariest moment of the series. Also aesthetically, I think the roughness of the graphics actually add to the stylistic look of the game.

Also the soundtrack is equally as good as the rest of the series.

Silent Hill isn't a book, there is a lot more to it than just the story, so I would strongly recommend giving this a spin.

I only wish I had a PS2 style box for it. Hate the PS1 boxes, so cheap.

[JKristine35]

I have one reason why anyone and everyone should play SH1...
the awesomeness of Alessa.
Nough said.

[ur-vile]

I was meaning to go back and complete this one again, I beat it once back when the game was new. Several months ago, I got to the part where you find Kaufman(sp?), but things came up and I never went back to it.

I find the 3D polygon games of the Ps1/Saturn era to be horribly dated, SH1 among them. I love the series as a whole, but I'm going to go against the grain. I don't feel that compelled to load this one up again.

Defiantly a prime candidate for a remake.

[paladin181]

I pity people who feel dated graphics hinder a game from feeling good to them.. But then, I'm from a gaming generation that had Zork and Myst to play before getting a shiny new NES to tinker with.

Honestly, the graphics help the game, they don't make the game. If the best thing a new game offers is shiny pretty visuals, then they made a bad game, and you're buying games for the wrong reason. The playability and depth is always a good reason to play a game, whether the graphics are great or not. True good graphics can enhance the environment, or some things like that. But they should never EVER make or break a game.

[Will]

A SH1 remake could be done only for the graphics improvement. In that way, i agree paladin181. Graphics can help a game, but when a videogame's best thing are graphic, you're in front of a bad game..

[Breaka]

Let's look at the opening scene

Alright the voice acting is bad, but Yamaoka's soundtrack has this effect of raising the quality of the experience. I mean that music is as good as a game on a system twice as powerful. And whilst the graphics are ruff, in that alleyway I think it kind of adds to it, because it looks horrible and you don't really want to go any further in. Whereas if you look at SH5, it's so sharp that it's realy struggling to achieve the Silent Hill feel.

I'll put my neck on the line and say SH1 has the most silent hill feel out out of the entire series. The others are good in their own way, but SH1 just feels unique. I really wish they could recapture that feel in SH5.

Also after a while I think you just take it as it is. I wish I could get an N-Gage version of this on my phone.

[Rin]

Geez, people take graphics way too seriously now. I think they're so over-rated, personally. It's gameplay and story that matter people, not how shiny and pretty the thing is!

I just got to replay SH1 after waiting nearly a decade (I only got to rent it when it was new, sadly), and I still adore this game. Like it's been said before, the graphics' rough quality really adds to the atmosphere. Besides, you adjust to how a game looks in a few minutes anyway, so that's a pretty dumb reason to lose interest in a game. Especially one as wonderful as the original SH. If you don't know the roots (and you have the option, of course), it's hard to really understand the whole of the series. I'd give it a whirl--it's definately worth it. Don't be so shallow, dude. Otherwise you'll pass up a ton of wonderful gems--not just talking about SH1, either.

[Will]

I think SH 1 is unique too. It's not the graphics, but the storyline and music what really involves you in the SH experience.

By the way, atmosphere and cretures were well-created even with PSX power. I remember SH1 had something called Siggraph...

[JKristine35]

Kudos to anyone who can play a game with horrible graphics and not care- but that is not the norm for most gamers. SH1 suffered largely in my eyes because the graphics sucked so terribly that it took me out of the game and left me rolling my eyes. Yes, storyline is more important than graphics- but noone can deny that the graphics are a very large part of videogaming media. Face it- videogaming is a visual medium; and the original SH would be known for nothing if not for having a truly superb storyline in this day and age. In SH0, I see what the original SH could have been had it been made years later.

[greenthunder]

Graphics have never really played a factor in my choices for new and old video games. Its always been storyline and how well the controls are for me. Now I am impressed by the graphics on some of the next-gen games that are out there but like the one game I bought recently, Turning Point- Fall of Liberty, the graphics are great but the storyline is lacking terribly and the controls aren't the greatest. I will always enjoy going back and playing my older games though because it just brings back the nostalgia from when I first played them while growing up, personally thats what gaming means to me these days.

[paladin181]

Too often gaming companies focus on "cool" visuals, and cut budgets and time spent developing other equally important facets of the game. Video Games aren't, as the name would suggest, a "visual" medium, but rather the only truly interactive medium. Movies don't change with our actions, and while some books do, they are far more limited in terms of choices and consequences.

Games are the only media that exists where what you do matters in a way that can drastically impact the result of what you are experiencing. Some television programs have recently caught on to this idea (American Idol and other even less interesting drivel) and it sells, because people love to be in control.

But games are not only visual, but an experience, and that experience is ever changing in the way we use the medium. I can play the same game 5 different times, doing 5 different types of interactive events each time, and have 5 almost completely different experiences. The fact that "Easter Eggs" and bonus material, special features and cool unlockable content have become expected rather than true extras as they were originally intended goes to show what an experience gaming has become.

Graphics are a part of this experience, but a small part to be sure (though now adays kids are all about flash and could care less about true deep gameplay). A lot of older gamers aren't nearly as impressed with pretty visuals. We are the generation that are still pushing game companies to deliver a total package, a game that looks good, ok. But a game that plays well and is deep in story and rich in immersiveness. Unfortunately, it's also the older generation who are fading out, and games are turning into something altogether different.

>"In SH0, I see what the original SH could have been had it been made years later."

But it wasn't made years later. Silent Hill isn't a very pretty game, but it brings many other facets to the table. Facets that people really don't care as much about putting into games these days. It was also made by a production team that was making (I think) it's first project working together. There are things that don't look great, but then, the game was a "B" game when it was being developed. But it grew a cult following (no pun intended) and got extremely popular (though it was somewhere behind Resident Evil, which had more contemporary story lines and characters) and the team knew they could make money off a sequel.

I look at Silent Hill 2 as the team's chance to almost remake SH 1 into how they wanted it to look with giving you a new story to play. I enjoy playing SH 2, but to me, SH1 is a better over all game. While I'm satisfied with the way SH1 looks, I wouldn't mind a makeover.

Hell, almost every game I've played, I've downloaded mods and adjustments to make the graphics better as one of the first things, however, these aren't the most important to me, and I could honestly live without them, except in a lot of these games (Oblivion, for example) graphics is really one of the main reason to play the game. Which is why I'm glad those games are indeed moddable, so people like me can add and change the game world for a richer experience. I fully fell that most games should have some flexability, be it in adding/changing graphics or adding module content.

Really, graphics are about the third most important thing to me in gaming, behind solid gameplay (good controls, etc) and good plot/characters and story. Sound is also up there, since sound often adds even more to the environments that graphics. This wasn't meant to change anyone's opinions, because those gamers who rely on graphics still will, but it was meant to convey a point of view of why graphics are overrated as a part of the gaming experience (even if I didn't get into the real environment builder, which is good sound and music).

I really pity people who can't see past graphics to find some truly good games.

[ur-vile]

Not to sound too much like an asshole, but a lot of the posts in this thread come off to me as whiny fandom. I'm not sure where some of you people get off saying that because some of us find the game not as interesting due mainly to the graphic quality that somehow were lesser gamers that should be pitied. I mean, if you still really enjoy SH1, more power to you. It just doesn't hold my interest much anymore. I'd rather play 2 or 3 again.

I enjoy older games, but some of them age more gracefully that others. Wolfenstien 3D and Hard Drivin', for example, were state of the art back in their times. Are they that fun now?

Maybe not a great example, I know Silent Hill is a deeper game than some early driving sim but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Feel free to disagree, but don't talk down to us for voicing our opinion.

[GioGio]

Hi Beau~Barbare

Rehardless if you know the game, SH1 purchase in my opinion is a MUST, one of the best games ever made.

Problem is, it will be very difficult to find a copy

[Silent Smiffy]

sometimes i can not be bothered to play it during the day, takes away the atmosphere and at night im busy sometimes but PLAY IT its worth it

[paladin181]

Not to sound too much like an asshole, but a lot of the posts in this thread come off to me as whiny fandom. I'm not sure where some of you people get off saying that because some of us find the game not as interesting due mainly to the graphic quality that somehow were lesser gamers that should be pitied. I mean, if you still really enjoy SH1, more power to you. It just doesn't hold my interest much anymore. I'd rather play 2 or 3 again.

I enjoy older games, but some of them age more gracefully that others. Wolfenstien 3D and Hard Drivin', for example, were state of the art back in their times. Are they that fun now?

Maybe not a great example, I know Silent Hill is a deeper game than some early driving sim but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Feel free to disagree, but don't talk down to us for voicing our opinion.

Nah. Not Fandom. In fact, Silent Hill isn't even the game I had in mind when I posted that. I was thinking games like Daggerfall, Arena, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and others where people have said the same thing. These games, like Silent Hill offer so much more to the gamer than a pretty picture. If your mind doesn't function to the point that you can make up for mediocre or even bad graphics with imagination and the other gameplay devices like sounds, story, plot and game mechanics, then yes. You are a lesser gamer. And Yes. I do pity you. You are the equivalent of a person that seeks a partner for looks, and can over look bad mannerisms or bad personality if they look good, but couldn't deal with a great person if they weren't aesthetically pleasing. That is shallow, and very deserving of pity.

[Breaka]

Yeah, loads of retro games are still as satisfying an experience now as when they were released. You don't just compare one generation of games to the next, each game is it's own experience, you take them for what they are. It's be like comparing a black and white film to iMax.

[Rin]

Not to sound too much like an asshole, but a lot of the posts in this thread come off to me as whiny fandom. I'm not sure where some of you people get off saying that because some of us find the game not as interesting due mainly to the graphic quality that somehow were lesser gamers that should be pitied. I mean, if you still really enjoy SH1, more power to you. It just doesn't hold my interest much anymore. I'd rather play 2 or 3 again.

I enjoy older games, but some of them age more gracefully that others. Wolfenstien 3D and Hard Drivin', for example, were state of the art back in their times. Are they that fun now?

Maybe not a great example, I know Silent Hill is a deeper game than some early driving sim but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Feel free to disagree, but don't talk down to us for voicing our opinion.

Well, to put it simply, to only see the graphical quality of a game is like putting blinders on; you're ignoring major components to the experience. Yes, games are a visual medium, but that doesn't change the fact that they also involve plot, atmosphere (including music here), and a level of entertainment value. A lot of the older games may not be nearly as complex or pretty as ones coming out now, but they're still fun. Some still give you something to think about (people still debate things from Silent Hill, for example)--but most (there's a few rotten eggs, there...) give a rewarding experience due to the whole package. Good graphics do not equate to a good game. Game play, plot, atmosphere...things like that are what leave a lasting impression on a gamer, I think. Graphics CAN, but we naturally adjust to the graphics and don't see them as outstanding as we once did in--at most--an hour or so.

I can't speak for everyone, but that's how I see it. There's more to a game than how easy it is on the eye. It's fine it you prefer to play other games, however, to completely write the game off before even playing it because you think it's ugly looking due to age...that's, yeah, rather judgemental, I think.

[ur-vile]

Not to sound too much like an asshole, but a lot of the posts in this thread come off to me as whiny fandom. I'm not sure where some of you people get off saying that because some of us find the game not as interesting due mainly to the graphic quality that somehow were lesser gamers that should be pitied. I mean, if you still really enjoy SH1, more power to you. It just doesn't hold my interest much anymore. I'd rather play 2 or 3 again.

I enjoy older games, but some of them age more gracefully that others. Wolfenstien 3D and Hard Drivin', for example, were state of the art back in their times. Are they that fun now?

Maybe not a great example, I know Silent Hill is a deeper game than some early driving sim but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Feel free to disagree, but don't talk down to us for voicing our opinion.

Nah. Not Fandom. In fact, Silent Hill isn't even the game I had in mind when I posted that. I was thinking games like Daggerfall, Arena, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and others where people have said the same thing. These games, like Silent Hill offer so much more to the gamer than a pretty picture. If your mind doesn't function to the point that you can make up for mediocre or even bad graphics with imagination and the other gameplay devices like sounds, story, plot and game mechanics, then yes. You are a lesser gamer. And Yes. I do pity you. You are the equivalent of a person that seeks a partner for looks, and can over look bad mannerisms or bad personality if they look good, but couldn't deal with a great person if they weren't aesthetically pleasing. That is shallow, and very deserving of pity.

You know jack shit about me dude. You call me shallow, but you're an elitist asshole. I was trying to be honest about my feelings and respectful about other's opinions at the same time on this subject, but I guess trying to have a civil conversation in this thread with some of you is a lost cause.

[ulcain]

I was thinking games like Daggerfall, Arena, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and others where people have said the same thing.

Daggerfall was the equivalent of an abusive spouse that would smash me against the fridge, break a wine bottle and threaten to cut me every night. I say this because it was such a buggy patch ridden program that I still loved and went back to every time even when my crisis councilor said he'd just keep beating me and mother said it would end in tears.

Ur-vile, it is not civil to dismiss opinions other than yours as "whiney Fandom", so don't cry foul if you started the incivility yourself.

I still like this game, a lot. The graphics are dated, but the soundtrack makes up for a lot and the story is still pretty interesting. If the game was made today with new graphics, I am not sure it would have the same success because I think the whole product was well designed using the limitations of the PSX

[paladin181]

You know jack shit about me dude. You call me shallow, but you're an elitist asshole. I was trying to be honest about my feelings and respectful about other's opinions at the same time on this subject, but I guess trying to have a civil conversation in this thread with some of you is a lost cause.

Hey chill out. read my post again. I didn't call you shallow, nor did I insult you. I'm not elitist, either though I've been called an asshole before, and well, I can't deny it. I merely stated that ifyou meet the criterion I stated, then yes, that is how I see you. I have no beef with anyone personally, and I don't see cursing at people over the internet as "cool" and "fun". Come talk to me when you can stop assaulting the English language with your swear words. It's not becoming of decent conversation, and is completely contrary to your point of trying to have a civil conversation.

If you don't like older games, that has always been your prerogative. I have reasons for not liking a LOT of games, and the graphics on some of those are indeed a sticking point. But for someone to say "I just can't get past old graphics" is mostly inexcusable. Now, I don't know if you fit into that category or not, but I honestly feel bad for people who can't fully experience some things the way I, and others, have. Because everyone can appreciate a pretty picture. Not everyone can look past the picture to see the other parts that went into making it.

Is that less elitist for you, because it was the message I (poorly) tried to convey earlier. I do not think anyone is less of a person. I just know what it is some people are missing out on.

Daggerfall was the equivalent of an abusive spouse that would smash me against the fridge, break a wine bottle and threaten to cut me every night. I say this because it was such a buggy patch ridden program that I still loved and went back to every time even when my crisis councilor said he'd just keep beating me and mother said it would end in tears.

Ur-vile, it is not civil to dismiss opinions other than yours as "whiney Fandom", so don't cry foul if you started the incivility yourself.

I still like this game, a lot. The graphics are dated, but the soundtrack makes up for a lot and the story is still pretty interesting. If the game was made today with new graphics, I am not sure it would have the same success because I think the whole product was well designed using the limitations of the PSX

Hahahaha. Abusive spouse? I never looked at it that way. It was one of those games that you look at and go "wha...?" when you think of what it tried to be and what it was.

They never got a chance to complete it they way they wanted with countries going to full scale war and such. The game itself was poorly coded, but a masterpiece nonetheless. As much as I hated Daggerfall, I loved it that much more, despite all of the reasons for wanting it to die (graphics that were dated even for the time, bugged quests, hidden pitfalls of the "void", and randomly procedurally generated dungeons that were huge and largely unnavigable). Daggerfall is a true Gem and a big influence on a lot of modern games. It was one of the first true sandbox games, and definitely worth a try for anyone.