Homecoming vs Downpour

Murphy's been a bad boy ...

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Glenn
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Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Glenn »

I know we compare all the Silent Hills, but I think directly comparing these two games to each other makes a lot of sense since they are both new, HD, and have taken different approaches to the series

I think Homecoming was better

With the health bar- It was hard to tell how bad Murphy was injured, and it got a bit annoying having to hit start then go to statistics and then check the health percentage. Homecoming's health bar showed how you were doing and disappeared when not needed

Combat- Homecoming had counter, dodge, and attack. I thought having to precisely hit the counter for each monster took more skill than just holding a block button in Downpour. I think it would be nice for the next game to have both a counter and block.

Cut scenes- Homecoming had nice cut scenes, and so did Downpour, but I expected a bit more from Downpour since its a few years newer.

Framerate- Homecoming ran smoother

Bosses


I preferred Downpour with

Scares- Homecoming missed a lot of pop scares. I felt like the atmosphere and the quick scares were great in Downpour

The variety of weapons in Downpour was interesting and fun. Oh and throwing weapons (especially something like a fire extinguisher was great).

The town was more alive with added things to do

Fixed camera angles

The customization that was offered such as puzzle difficulty prompts etc
--------------------------------

I know everyone has their own opinions, but I figured it would be nice to pick out the major differences in the two and talk about the things we liked about each of them. :)
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by fudgestix »

For me, I enjoyed Downpour more. I hated Homecoming, it tore out my heart and spat on it!

I found the combat system impossible, and it just sapped any pleasure out of the game whatsoever. I got sick of repeating myself over and over and over and finally ended up rage-quitting forever. The plot itself wasn't redeeming enough for me to look past the flaws.

Downpours plot was interesting and kept me guessing, Murphy was a character I felt I could relate to much more.It did have its flaws, but overall it was just a more enjoyable experience. It was my most enjoyable SH experience since 2, even if other games did manage to do some things better.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by The Adversary »

What she said, almost precisely.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by TGST »

Definitely downpour. Homecoming just made me really angry and frustrated on many occasions. Homecoming's story was just plain bad and it messed up many things canonically, But It could have been an enjoyable experience to some extent if it wasnt for the horrible combat and the underground lair parts. And oh, dont get me started on those spider-esque monsters... I've got to say that the weakest link in downpour are the monsters, but even they were better than in homecoming to my mind.

Wow.. I didnt actually hate homecoming, did I? :lol:
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Soulless-Shadow »

Each to their own opinion, but for me Downpour was so much better than Homecoming.

Anyway, my opinions;

Health - I found the health bar in Homecoming annoying and distracting. I don't think such things belong in a survival horror game. An RPG or something, yeah, but not a game where a large part of it is atmosphere that is supposed to put the player on edge. It was a distraction.
As for the health in Downpour, it's pretty easy to tell how healthy Murphy is because there are various signs; amount of blood/wounds, moving speed/limping, and breathing. All of that is a pretty good indication of how healthy Murphy is without having to use a health bar. Also, I found it added to the atmosphere and feeling of the game; not only did I have to watch for monsters and clues and whatnot, but I had to be careful and keep an eye on Murphy.

Combat - I disliked the combat in Homecoming. It felt too action oriented to me. It also seemed that in order to offset the ease of combat they just threw in heaps of monsters to make up for feeling weak and powerless.
I thought Downpour's combat was just about right though. To me it felt like a more polished version of the combat from previous games, though sometimes there were a few problems (for example targeting monsters. More often than not Murphy would target the wrong monster and get hurt by the one I was trying to go after).
Glenn wrote:Scares- Homecoming missed a lot of pop scares.
There's more to a game than "pop scares". Imo such things are just a cheap way of getting a thrill out of the player. A good horror game can make the player feel scared when there's nothing happening at all. Both games did alright with that, but I have to say Downpour wins again in that regard. It did a better job, especially with some of the side quests. Even though there were no monsters and no cheap scares when exploring buildings during side quests, I was still on edge.
Glenn wrote:The variety of weapons in Downpour was interesting and fun. Oh and throwing weapons (especially something like a fire extinguisher was great).
I agree with this (both the variety of weapons and being able to throw them), although I found myself usually sticking with the same kinds of weapons (small axes or crowbars. Fast with moderate strength).

Overall I liked Downpour more than Homecoming. I did enjoy Homecoming when I played it, but Downpour is still, imo, the better game.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by RinoTheBouncer »

I adore Homecoming, it's my most favorite game in the series I think, I believe it was going to be better than Homecoming but with less time and a probably greedy producers or inexperienced developers, we had some disappointments in it.

I love the motion capture, facial expressions, camera angles, weapons, cutscenes, endings, replay value and puzzles / side questions of Downpour but I don't like the numerous lags, the monsters and the noticeably repetitive textures of Downpour.

I can say that I love both Downpour and Homecoming the same, I just wished that Downpour had a more convincing and inspiring otherworlds, monsters and a more interesting twist in the end, just like Homecoming.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by aj4x94 »

My gripe with Homecoming is that it's simply not scary. At all. That body falling out of the ceiling in the beginning was one of the most laughable attempts at a jump scare in any work of fiction.

There's also the fact that the game relies far too much on the movie to draw it's visual style. The nurses, PH, the otherworld siren and transformation, and of course the Order Soldiers.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by RinoTheBouncer »

aj4x94 wrote:My gripe with Homecoming is that it's simply not scary. At all. That body falling out of the ceiling in the beginning was one of the most laughable attempts at a jump scare in any work of fiction.

There's also the fact that the game relies far too much on the movie to draw it's visual style. The nurses, PH, the otherworld siren and transformation, and of course the Order Soldiers.
.
I actually got scared of that hanging body at the start (I'm not really the kinda guy who gets scared easily) and found Homecoming to be scarier than previous games which weren't that scary except when it gets too dark in SH2 and SH3 and you don't know what's coming or SH4 when the room has that shadow of a child n all these hauntings in the room.

I also loved the PH, Nurses and Siren even if they're taken straight from the movie because they did have something to do with the story of the game not something that was just put there for the sake of relating to the movie.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by clips »

As much as i've criticized Homecoming, i still think it's a decent game, but for me Downpour has it beat. The only otherw orld sections of Homecoming that were really good was the Helldescent level and the otherworld house level, but Homecoming does have Downpour beat in terms of it's creature designs and i actually loved all of homecomings boss designs.

My downfall for homecoming came with it's combat, just remembering patterns and the way the enemies zeroed-in on you on an invisible rail became annoying. Downpour's atmosphere was more immersive and oppressive and it's storyline was better....and Downpour's version of SH actually felt like the town. Homecoming's version of SH felt just like shepherds glenn and even then, it felt very chopped up and blocked off....it never quite felt familiar.

In short Downpour was better overall...but homecoming had better monster designs and bosses...
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by JuriDawn »

As mentioned, Homecoming did have some really great creature designs, and the Helldescent was awesome, but when that's all that really stands out for me, the game has kinda fizzled a bit. Alex's story is really what stopped me from loving the game rather than changes to the combat system. I personally thought the combat was okay, though I will wuss out and play on Easy.

I play Silent Hill games primarily for a good story. Of course the gameplay is important as well, but when you want to include a plot with a major twist, DON'T USE THE SAME TWIST AS A PREVIOUS GAME! *ahem* I was disappointed, is what I'm saying.

Silent Hill 2 had a great story centered around the protagonist's moral dilemma and the consequence of the terrible decision he had to make. The big reveal when James watches the videotape is a great bit of storytelling that hits players hard. Fans of the game have thoughtfully considered the ethics of
PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
mercy killing
for many years after the game's release. Homecoming directly lifted the plot twist without bothering to include any moral dilemmas. What is there for fans to thoughtfully consider here? The ethics of boating safety? Homecoming has a cartoonishly villainous cult staffed with power tool-wielding, child-killing torturers. It's not a game that provokes a lot of deep thought.

Downpour does not rely on big twists. It tells a compelling story revealed slowly throughout the game, and it does this very well. I like Homecoming. I LOVE Downpour.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by EmilietheStrange »

I really like both games. While downpour ranks higher on my list than Homecoming, each game had things that it did better than the other.

Homecoming's advantages:

1. the monsters. Homecoming had some good designs, and the Siam is one of my favorite non boss creatures in the series. My first time through the game, every time I saw one, I thought, "Aw shit, not another one of these!" The monsters in Downpour, while still better than the ones in the room, didn't impress me that much. None of them were too imposing either, especially if you have the right weapons. The axe easily butchers everything.

2. the bosses. I still stand by my statement that Homecoming has the best and toughest boss fights in the series so far. Each one has a specific strategy, not just 'run around and shoot it until it dies'. Downpour only has one real boss (I consider the fight with Bogeyman to be more of a mini boss). While it was unique, I thought the game could use another boss or two.

3. the protagonist. I have yet to dislike a SH protagonist, but I prefer Alex over Murphy, probably because Murphy was so reserved. That's the same problem I have with Henry. I've only played through Downpour once so far, so Murphy might grow on me over repeat playthroughs.

Downpour's advantages:

1. town exploration: Downpour's exploration is without a doubt the best in the series so far. I liked how you could go almost anywhere and uncover little pieces and back stories of the town. I'd like to see that return.

2. the puzzles: Homecoming's puzzles were sub par, except for the dial with the riddles in the otherworld prison. Downpour did a much better job in this aspect.

3. the other world: Some people might not like the fact that platforming elements were Incorporated, but I thought it was neat. It was a nice change from blood and rust (though some of that was still present). I especially liked the gravity defying water, rotating hall ways, the huge room with hundreds of books floating in the air, and the entire St. Maria's other world.

4. the supporting characters: Overall, the supporting cast in this game was a lot more likeable, there are no cowardly blondes like Elle, and neither Howard nor DJ Ricks felt like huge African American stereotypes like Wheeler. I liked Anne, and from the first cut scene with her, I was interested in finding out why she was so hostile towards Murphy. With most of the characters in Homecoming, you just don't care. Plus, it's evident that judge Holloway and Curtis are against you right away.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Glenn »

Soulless-Shadow wrote:Each to their own opinion, but for me Downpour was so much better than Homecoming.

Anyway, my opinions;

Health - I found the health bar in Homecoming annoying and distracting. I don't think such things belong in a survival horror game. An RPG or something, yeah, but not a game where a large part of it is atmosphere that is supposed to put the player on edge.
Glenn wrote:Scares- Homecoming missed a lot of pop scares.
There's more to a game than "pop scares". Imo such things are just a cheap way of getting a thrill out of the player. A good horror game can make the player feel scared when there's nothing happening at all. Both games did alright with that, but I have to say Downpour wins again in that regard. It did a better job, especially with some of the side quests. Even though there were no monsters and no cheap scares when exploring buildings during side quests, I was still on edge.
I didn't find the health bar annoying because it went away. Its hard for me to measure health in Downpour especially if a monster gets a few hits at me. I'm also using a controller that doesn't vibrate. I don't know if the controller vibrates if he's low on health but I wouldn't know ( sort of a sidebar, but the part where you had to feel for a key in the screamers was cool, but I had no idea if I was close). Sometimes when I hit the quick heal, I don't heal and then I end up dying.

And with the cheap scare thing, Downpour had much more. I do agree that atmosphere is very important in scares but as someone here has said before, atmosphere leads to tension and creepiness and a pop scare is sort of like a scare orgasm, brief by thrilling. As far as atmosphere I think both had it although Homecoming had more a depressing atmosphere while Downpour had a more creepy one.

And fudgestix where did you rage quit?
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by sgillespie31 »

Downpour was a flawed Silent Hill game. Homecoming was a decent game influenced by Silent Hill. Personelly, I will take the flawed "real" Silent Hill game anyday, and think it's much harder to make a great a Silent Hill than it would be to make a good action game.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

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Glenn wrote: And fudgestix where did you rage quit?
The ninja nurse after the Needler in the hotel. I finally got past her one time, only to be killed immediately after. NEVER AGAIN!
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Fevered Dream »

For me, Homecoming > Downpour, but I would not say by a whole lot.

Homecoming had some interesting monster designs, the combat was greatly improved and was actually fun once you get used to it, and it had some interesting places to explore. Sure the story was weak and some of the characters sucked big time, but I think it still had some decent aspects to it.

Downpour is almost the opposite of Homecoming. It had abysmal monster designs (the Doll was kind of cool though, but that's about it), and some of the environments just didn't cut it. The look of Silent Hill just felt really drab and dull, and not in a good way. Also, the combat was really awkward and felt like a step backwards. It did have a nifty storyline though and some great characters.

I guess I say Homecoming is slightly superior because, to me, it's more "playable." Though Downpour is still far more playable than SM :lol: so for that it gets some props.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by sgillespie31 »

I am mystified by some folks's dislike of the characters in Downpour; it doesn't get MUCH better than that. I feel like if you didn't like the Downpour characters you didn't really read them in an interesting way. They were fantastic in my opinion... just that though... opinion.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Number 7 »

fudgestix wrote:
Glenn wrote: And fudgestix where did you rage quit?
The ninja nurse after the Needler in the hotel. I finally got past her one time, only to be killed immediately after. NEVER AGAIN!
I just turn of my flashlight and approach her slowly, then go to town on her with my weapon. I do that with all the nurses in Homecoming.

The game is worth playing at least until after the Hell Descent/Scarlet boss. Easily the best part of the game.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by fudgestix »

I tried the turning the flashlight off, tried approaching her slowly, no matter what I did she managed to always get in first and obliterate me :C The times I do get past her, the next Needler just takes me out.

I've tried so many times. I'm just not cut out for games with tough combat :'(
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by EmilietheStrange »

That nurse gave me trouble too, so eventually just equipped my pistol and shot her. There are more psycho nurses in the hotel later on, but you can sneak past them. As for needlers, they're too wide to fit through doorways. You can run from them as well.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Lahkesis »

Fevered Dream wrote:For me, Homecoming > Downpour, but I would not say by a whole lot.

Homecoming had some interesting monster designs, the combat was greatly improved and was actually fun once you get used to it, and it had some interesting places to explore. Sure the story was weak and some of the characters sucked big time, but I think it still had some decent aspects to it.

Downpour is almost the opposite of Homecoming. It had abysmal monster designs (the Doll was kind of cool though, but that's about it), and some of the environments just didn't cut it. The look of Silent Hill just felt really drab and dull, and not in a good way. Also, the combat was really awkward and felt like a step backwards.
This. I was very disappointed by Downpour, and don't understand all the hype. Hated the monster designs, most of the characters, the way Silent Hill was portrayed, ect. Homecoming wasn't even that good to begin with, but at least it had monsters worthy of being nightmare fuel.
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