Is This Game Killing Silent Hill?

[NeoRanger]

Shattered Memories is terrible. If I wanted to play a game where the entire plotline is someone's drug trip, I'd just play high. Sorry to be blunt, but....yeah. Silent Hill 1 was good because the story was about a man looking for his daughter, not a man in a mental hospital hallucinating about looking for his daughter who doesn't exist.

Did you... did you just spoil an ending? Because that's certainly not the ending I got when I played the game.

[AuraTwilight]

He's referencing, and mocking, that it was all in Cheryl's head.

Even though lots of the same people didn't have a problem with theorizing that earlier Silent Hills were in somebody's head or that all the characters are high on White Claudia

[Typographenia]

Shattered Memories is terrible. If I wanted to play a game where the entire plotline is someone's drug trip, I'd just play high. Sorry to be blunt, but....yeah. Silent Hill 1 was good because the story was about a man looking for his daughter, not a man in a mental hospital hallucinating about looking for his daughter who doesn't exist.

SH1 spoiler:

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Do you have a problem with this as well?

[Magnolia]

White Claudia sounds like an awesome drug now that you mention that. It would be awesome if someone could come up with something synthetic to match those effects. I'd be all over itajajjhhahhahahahahahahahahahaha cmon guys some drugs can be good if used properly

But anyway, the problem of this game is the very fact that it was made. To this game, I say what Char Aznable once said; "you may blame this on the misfortune of your birth". The game, if it was its own thing, would be awesome in its own right. If SM had been the first Silent Hill game, I'm pretty sure it would have succeeded. The problem is the fact that it was made as remake of the first Silent Hill game. As its own thing, it would have been epic. As a remake, it's a nightmare, and I don't mean that in a good way.

If they wanted to play with the Harry-and-family story some more, they should have made another game with Heather. Heather is awesome, as was Harry. Harry was awesome before some writer suffering from an insomniac episode decided to

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do away with him

. If they had done another game with Heather, it would do well with people who like consistency. Consistency is not something the Silent Hill makers like, though. In fact, it seems that they do everything humanly possible (perhaps with some enhancements such as that "real" White Claudia I mentioned before ahahahahahaha) to be inconsistent and sway drunkenly from point to point.

Team Silent needs to return and take back the reins of Silent Hill before these new guys turn it into Resident Evil. It's already starting to look like Resident Evil from the trailers I have seen. I mean seriously. They just turned the series over to a group of guys working from a decommissioned KGB torture vault. It can only go Metal Gear from here.

EDIT: JESUS GOD THAT PICTURE SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME MAN WHY'D YOU POST THAT ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Don, Aman]

Team Silent needs to return and take back the reins of Silent Hill before these new guys turn it into Resident Evil.

I really don't see Team Silent getting back together for any game. And honestly, I can see why someone would say this about Homecoming, but Shattered Memories swung things in the opposite direction of Resident Evil.

[Typographenia]

But anyway, the problem of this game is the very fact that it was made. To this game, I say what Char Aznable once said; "you may blame this on the misfortune of your birth". The game, if it was its own thing, would be awesome in its own right. If SM had been the first Silent Hill game, I'm pretty sure it would have succeeded. The problem is the fact that it was made as remake of the first Silent Hill game. As its own thing, it would have been epic. As a remake, it's a nightmare, and I don't mean that in a good way.

So your problem with it is that you love the original too much?
Were you one of those people that hated the game before you ever even played it? You didn't say anything about what was wrong with it other than it was a "remake" which, not to be overly technical, has been called a "reimagining" everywhere. From the sounds of it you seem to like SM, but not since it has ties to the original. I'm really just confused.

If they wanted to play with the Harry-and-family story some more, they should have made another game with Heather. Heather is awesome, as was Harry. Harry was awesome before some writer suffering from an insomniac episode decided to

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do away with him

. If they had done another game with Heather, it would do well with people who like consistency. Consistency is not something the Silent Hill makers like, though. In fact, it seems that they do everything humanly possible (perhaps with some enhancements such as that "real" White Claudia I mentioned before ahahahahahaha) to be inconsistent and sway drunkenly from point to point.

Once again, I'm extremely confused.
Why would a game about Heather be more consistent? "They" intentionally try to destroy the consistency of the games? This just sounds like a (hard to follow) rant and not any real explanation as to why you feel this game is ruining silent hill.

Team Silent needs to return and take back the reins of Silent Hill before these new guys turn it into Resident Evil. It's already starting to look like Resident Evil from the trailers I have seen. I mean seriously. They just turned the series over to a group of guys working from a decommissioned KGB torture vault. It can only go Metal Gear from here.[/spoiler]

Oh, so everything's terrible. Gotcha.

EDIT: JESUS GOD THAT PICTURE SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME MAN WHY'D YOU POST THAT ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Because it's extremely relevant to your first post?

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You complained about SM being some drug addled trip or someone hallucinating in a hospital, but one of the endings for the original silent hill has Harry having died in the car wreck at the beginning. I just didn't understand how one could bother you and the other not.

[SilentWren]

Magnolia's not the first Team Silent cheer leader, and she sure as fuck won't be the last. Maybe Downpour will change her mind. Who knows?
I can't say I don't understand it. I almost cried during Homecoming, and not because it was sad.

I think it's a phase that a certain percentage of the fans just have to go through. It started with 4, then after everyone slowly accepted it, Origins pissed them off all over again.

[Magnolia]

@ Typographenia

More or less, the original needs to continue further after Silent Hill 3. Origins went back in time. It told a story that somewhat needed to be told.

[Yuki]

@ Typographenia

More or less, the original needs to continue further after Silent Hill 3. Origins went back in time. It told a story that somewhat needed to be told.

But what needs to be said about Heather afterward? She's free of God and The Order; the only unresolved plot point was "what did she see after the final boss?". At least Shattered Memories subverted expectations in being a reimagining and told a completely different story.

[AuraTwilight]

also, the Origins story did not need to be told. It was pretty much an asshole and was a rehashing of information we already knew.

[lain of the wired]

White Claudia sounds like an awesome drug now that you mention that. It would be awesome if someone could come up with something synthetic to match those effects. I'd be all over itajajjhhahhahahahahahahahahahaha cmon guys some drugs can be good if used properly

Have you considered picking a stance and going with it? Are games involving drugged protagonists (according to you, anyway... are you saying therapy=getting high or what?) good or bad?

also, the Origins story did not need to be told. It was pretty much an asshole and was a rehashing/bastardizing of information we already knew.

There I fixed it.

I'm always so surprised when people want to keep following up on SH3 and the cult. Heather's issues were resolved in 3... and, even admitting that SH:SM was an alternate universe, her psych issues/guilt over her father's death were resolved there (makes it kinda funny that you so deeply despise SM when it really does exactly what you say you want). There's no need for her to come back except for gratuitous fan service.

The cult... the cult has gone from this neat, distant construct that had a genuine mystique to a stereotypical Evil Cult In A Video Gameâ„¢. The more they show up in the series, the more the series becomes RE and another excuse to just go shoot monsters. If that's what you want, go play something else. The allure of SH is the focus on the characters' damaged psyche over their badass kung-fu skillz. When the cult is involved in the games, they become boring. Not to mention that they tend to completely ruin the fan theories- it becomes one particular writer's vision, END OF STORY. SH fans seem to like the games because they get to make the myths instead of the designers: it's why this forum is so fucking huge! Cult-centralized games take that away from us.

[Kenji]

I'm always so surprised when people want to keep following up on SH3 and the cult.

Sometimes... no, oftentimes, I get the feeling that what a lot of fans want translates to "what we didn't get."

Now I feel bad for the Western teams.

[Don, Aman]

The allure of SH is the focus on the characters' damaged psyche over their badass kung-fu skillz.

As far as the cult goes, I agree that we've seen just about as much of them as is necessary. One of my favorite features of Shattered Memories is that they stepped away from the cult games a bit and still gave us a superb story involving the "same" characters. I really do love SH3, but I think it summed everything up nicely and doesn't really need to be revisited.

Also, 150 posts evidently looked good enough on my application to get me a job as a waitress. And in this economy, too...

[clips]

I agree that it's time to step away from the cult storyline, it's done and over with along with Heather's storyline...what i don't get is why some dev's want to tread the same material.....SH is setup to where you can have a completely different experience and storyline, with completely different characters every time.

There was no need for Origins and there was no need for SM...and Homecoming tho different in some area's was really a watered-down version of the storyline that was found in prt2...i saw the plot very early on in that game...

[wonder's boy]

I think the only way I would humor the idea of the cult returning is if the main character we played as was a member of the cult, maybe one that changed their minds about their beliefs or one that had other ideas in store for manipulating the powers of the town. I don't think I'd ever want to see Alessa, Heather, Harry, or anyone from the past games ever return ever again. That is unless Laura is now adult with some freaky story of her own, unrelated to SH2's. That'd be kinda cool. I definitely don't see it happening, though.

[lain of the wired]

^WHOOOOOOOOOOO... There's an interesting thought for ya- a real reason to include the cult in the games for a change: A MEMBER'S ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM THE CULT!

Could be interesting. Maybe they could throw in a button-directed cutscene where your family tries to drive-by kidnap you and de-program you, while another cult member tries to keep them from pulling you into the van... I'm coming at this after hearing a segment that comes after minute 37 in this thing, but it could be a very new take on the cults. Much better than "OMG HOODED GENERIC NON-CHRISTIAN BAD GUYZ"... Maybe some of them try to help you, some may betray you, some may be surprise allies... That could be neat!

[Kenji]

Y'know what'd be better than the protagonist trying to escape from the cult?

A protagonist who's committed to the cult.

SH3 was pretty much when the cult was at their best. They've gotten cartoonishly evil, since then. A protag trying to escape their clutches would only exacerbate this trend.

Hell, despite my personal views, I'm all for a well-written story about someone trying to justify their religion.

[Don, Aman]

There are some pretty interesting ideas presented for a new game about the cult here. Just ideas, but I suppose a game like that could work. Personally, I like the direction they took with SH:SM, though. Maybe not as outright terrifying as some earlier installments, but it was more psychologically layered.

[Kenji]

Truthfully, good ideas aren't hard to come by. A published author (or a candidate who knows what s/he's doing) has no problem tossing ideas around for discussion because it's not ideas that get sold: If it were, we could publish outlines and synopses and make money with a bare minimum of work.

It's the execution that's being sold, and even bad ideas can be saved by skillful execution.

[SilentWren]

SH3 was pretty much when the cult was at their best. They've gotten cartoonishly evil, since then. A protag trying to escape their clutches would only exacerbate this trend.

Hell, despite my personal views, I'm all for a well-written story about someone trying to justify their religion.

I like what you've got here, but what about the cult from The Room? Besides a couple ghosts, they weren't directly present, but their influence was. That would satisfy everyone. (Wait, is it possible to satisfy everyone in this fandom?) I know it would be about as easy as pulling teeth to work them in at all now, but there's a part of me that's always going to think Silent Hill=The Order.