Homecoming vs Downpour

Murphy's been a bad boy ...

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Its Gone Now
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Its Gone Now »

I like them both and I think they are both worth additions to the series.

Combat in HC can be finnicky that's true, but you get used to it after a while, but I can understand the frustration. Biggest mistake was the inclusion of PH, but HC "feels" like a SH game to me for the most part. The bosses are among the best in the series, especially Scarlet, that music is haunting. Don't like that they copied so much from the movie though if I'm honest.

DP's biggest downfall (no pun intended :roll: ) is that it is technically an unfinished game, so you are not getting the full experience that they intended to deliver. I can't help but wonder what it could have been like. The side "quests" could have been better though there were a few good ones, my fave was the Gramophone - Axe murder scene, that was inspired and sooooo Silent Hill.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Sith_Dreamer »

Grimmiy wrote:Personally I thought Homecoming had better enemy and boss design but a so-so story, while Downpour had a better story but so-so enemy and boss design. Both have good points and bad points.
I'd say this sums it up for me.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by NukezNitro »

For me I'd have to say Homecoming.

I've noticed the general consensus is that the story wasn't so great or a copy of SH2 but for me I LOVED the story and it's stuck with me since I played it a year or two ago whereas Downpour's made sense in the long run and I appreciated the wheelchair foreshadowing the whole way through but overall it's pretty forgettable. Sure by the end of it you knew they were leading to Alex being the intended sacrificial lamb but his passion and confusion made me want to find out what was going on and why his family home seemed like he never existed. In short, I felt a connection with him and a drive to uncover the truth, and as previously stated I wasn't disappointed. Murphy was a likeable guy but despite the game feeling much longer than Homecoming I never felt that true connection with him, I can't explain why that was in terms of constructive criticism, it was just missing for me.

The combat I've noticed has been annoying to some people but I honestly never found any issues with it and I never rage quit or anything like that. Homecoming had strategy to the various enemy types whereas Downpour felt like all the battles were the same.

The enemies in Homecoming were varied, disturbing and original, ranging from the common types to the Bosses, Scarlet (her intro cutscene is one of the coolest things I've seen), Asphyxia and the Josh boss being really cool. The Siam is a wonderful abomination and difficult to defeat due to their unwavering rage, the Schisms split me in half on multiple occasions adding a "holy crap" to each of their encounters. The Needlers were awkward as hell to defeat as they were good at blocking gunshots and I had a tough time with them. Even the smogs and nurses despite being nothing special required strategies to defeat.
On the other hand I finished Downpour two days ago and the enemies were rather disappointing, one of the main reasons for me being that they were all too human and had nothing special about them other than the dolls which I thought was a really cool take and the only time I felt they ever really did anything original. Plus the weeping bats were a win, they were creepy and freaky and came out of nowhere, they were good.
Other than that you just had a screaming woman, a mental prisoner and a muscly mental prisoner. All of these enemy types you did the same thing with, block when they attack, and hack and slash at them afterwards - no unique strategy, all the same.

In terms of ending and payoff, I loved the various endings of both. My first playthrough of HC gave me the electro therapy ending which I thought was clever, referencing the room 205(or around there) being foreshadowed all through the game, the happy ending was good, he gets the girl, comes to terms with what happened and leaves. Plus the bonus of Josh taking the photo which you can actually find in game was excellent.
DPs good ending felt a little lackluster to me, Murphy is pronounced dead and leaves - to do what? Isn't he going to have to start a whole new life? He's meant to be the good guy that ultimately did nothing wrong but take revenge on his son, I felt he needed a happier ending. The switch ending just doesn't even make sense, is it meant to show she was driven by revenge so she should be the prisoner? But he still killed Napier already so shouldn't he be portrayed as bad too? However, the Repeat ending where he is destined to repeat the prison sequence over and over is a great way to show him being trapped in purgatory and also gives a sinister tone to the seemingly friendly Howard and DJ Ricks: are they being forced to repeat things due to the evils in their past? Howard delivering his letters over and over, and DJ Ricks forced to spin records for eternity with no end? This is what I gathered from these endings anyway but I'm sure others have their opinions.

Despite my love for it I still however admit that HC has it's flaws, the graphics especially in cutscenes look very jagged, as someone previously mentioned the first cutscene with Curtis he looks really weird and others have jagged squared fingers with is distracting. DP looks pretty incredible, the character models are much more polished and the animations are smoother. Having said that I experience lag on DP between 5 and 10 times during my playthrough whereas I never encountered any issues like that in HC. Bugs such as a weird black and white background popping into the morgue cutscene in St Maria's, I had no such issues with HC. When it works, DP looks and runs much better, but in terms of consistency for me, HC was better.

The atmosphere in DP was very dreary and kinda boring after a while, the whole mechanic of the rain making them more aggressive was cool but I honestly feel like I was never affected by that and I couldn't tell any difference. Likewise, the atmosphere in HC was quite drab but DP felt more repetitive when outside due to it being so long.
The Otherworld was more unique and original in DP absolutely but there wasn't so much to explore and more just to go from one room to the next, most of the time running through it. I did enjoy it though and the void did well to break up the slower segments but by the end of it there was too much void! You can have too much of a cool thing.

One cool little moment they added into the area in HC was the "look behind you doll" and despite having the side missions which where a great addition I never felt that kind of spontaneity as that gave me a sense of. The side missions were really cool and something else to focus on, but they did seem cordoned off in their own areas and separate from the main focus. In HC I felt the collectibles were adding a relative thread between Alex and his past and the story that they were trying to convey.

Overall, sure, DP did some stuff really well and some better than HC. But for me the lasting experience and replayability is definitely with HC. Maybe I just see some things in it that other's don't or are too set against in the first place to acknowledge how good it is. For those that say it takes too much from the game, so what? It really doesn't matter to me I love this game. Downpour was solid, but I don't love it.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Haunting Hero »

Downpour all the way for me, Homecoming just was not the best to me. The only thing I did like from Homecoming was the story, it was pretty good.
Downpour has sooo much better combat system and you can run around the town something you weren't really free to do at times in the others. Now I understand you could roam around the town in 1, 2, and 3, but to really do side quests and even the weather system really made Downpour. If this question was story wise, Homecoming would be my answer but since this is overall my answer would be Downpour.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Tabris »

Downpour for many of the reasons Haunting Hero described.

I love the atmosphere, weather system, story etc. The fact that you can wander the town and do some pretty interesting side quests (for the most part.)

The only thing I'd say Homecoming did better is the combat. Downpour's is frustratingly terrible for the most part.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by icarusfalls »

I enjoyed Downpour more than Homecoming. As a long time fan of the series, I liked the combat in Downpour much more than the combat rolling around in Homecoming. It just felt more like a survival horror game, and less like an action adventure game. One thing I did not like about Downpour was the otherworld chase segments. I didn't mind the atmosphere and world building of the otherworld, but the chase sequences with the black hole of doom wore on my patience. It wasn't scary to me, and I found it more annoying than anything else. If they had kept the combat from the normal world with a little more monster variety, I would have loved it. I find that if I play the newer Silent Hill games without comparing them to the original Team Silent games, I enjoy them much more. I have a lot of nostalgia for the first 3, and to a lesser extent the 4th games, so it's going to be hard for a newer game to evoke the same emotions the original games did. I did still enjoy Homecoming, it just felt like a completely different game compared to what I was used to. This doesn't make it bad in my opinion, just different.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Tabris »

Yea, the chase sequences were kinda annoying. The concept is cool and thankfully they're mostly fairly simple. But some areas are way-thefuck-beyond annoying. But another problem for me is it kinda took away from the atmosphere of the otherworld.

Part of the fear of the otherworld comes from being forced to deal with the heavy atmosphere and dealing with the ambience/noises/visuals etc. It's kinda hard to feel that when you're constantly running from some bullshit light that has noclip mode on.

But it did look cool.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by lonelytruckdriver »

You cannot possibly compare those two. Silent Hill: Downpour is way better than Homecoming. Homecoming's story is just boring and not interesting. And the combat, hell don't make me talk about it. It's just disgusting. On the other hand, Downpour is amazing! Has amazing story and the combat is not that bad. The only flaw I can find is - it's not scary. It's just like any other action-adventura video game. But all in all, Downpour is my second favorite Silent Hill, and Homecoming my least favorite game.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by dias17se »

Homecoming blows downpour out of the park, downpour aged very bad, no one cares about it, its the worst silent hill, its so bad.

Both have glitches, homecoming pc port is disastrous, i dont know about downpour port, but on console it lags so much, its unplayable, but homecoming has a solid story although with too much wasted potential (war vet ptsd unused), better soundtrack, bettter bosses, better combat, arguably the best hell levels in the entire series, better enemies, better everything really.

Homecoming dev team sucked, but if this game and the base story was given to team silent, it could have been sh2 godly level.

Downpour is just forgettable, its a big turd IMHO.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by dias17se »

Homecoming blows downpour out of the park, downpour aged very bad, no one cares about it, its the worst silent hill, its so bad.

Both have glitches, homecoming pc port is disastrous, i dont know about downpour port, but on console it lags so much, its unplayable, but homecoming has a solid story although with too much wasted potential (war vet ptsd unused), better soundtrack, bettter bosses, better combat, arguably the best hell levels in the entire series, better enemies, better everything really.

Homecoming dev team sucked, but if this game and the base story was given to team silent, it could have been sh2 godly level.

Downpour is just forgettable, its a big turd IMHO.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Skele »

I'm sure I posted in this thread years ago, but I'm bored and am watching a Downpour playthrough on YT atm.

I know all of the SH games have cringe character dialogue, but this line will forever be the most wtf/cringe line for me:

"Pendleton *awkward long pause*........... Get on the bus!"

For me, Homecoming is the better game by far. Neither game is amazing, but Downpour was just that bad that it makes it a no brainer for me. Mind you, I played it back when it released and it had very obvious technical issues, with very poor gameplay/combat. I think playing it now would be a smoother experience, but still not a very pleasant one. I also didn't care for the game's art direction at all, as monster designs are awful and the town doesn't even feel, nor resemble Silent Hill at all. It just comes off as some tumblr fan's poor imitation of Silent Hill. And don't even get me started on the music.

Homecoming's flaws had everything to do with the depiction of the order, and the game's weakness in storytelling. I won't go into great detail, but I hated the copy/paste of the order from the film. All of the other visual elements the game borrows is pretty tolerable. I also feel like minor changes to some characters and how the story unfolds would've made things more palatable. The reveal of what really happens with Josh should've been done no later than halfway through the game, or at the start, as it doesn't ruin the true twist anyway. The only other main issue was the inconsistent graphical quality. Not that Downpour was amazing looking, but it's consistently average throughout, whereas Homecoming looks good in some instances, and downright awful in others lol.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by The Adversary »

>"Pendleton *awkward long pause*........... Get on the bus!"<
That was incredibly clunky. Like, what was she getting at there?

After having not played either since they were released, and relying solely on playthroughs, I think I now prefer HOMECOMING over DOWNPOUR, though that's primarily because I delved into the chronology of DOWNPOUR and got nowhere with it. And I'm not sure why they put Silent Hill in the same zip code as parts of southern Portland, Maine/Cape Elizabeth. It doesn't make sense that Harry would move to hide from the Order in a city that's only a few miles away. Silent Hill should be in the more northern region.

I'm also still irritated at the final levels of DOWNPOUR and how many times I died just trying to get to the final boss. Only to find the final boss be easily the worst in the series.

My main complaint at the time of HOMECOMING was the combat. I don't care about quick moves and action. Just let me play the game for the story, please.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Droo »

In fairness, it doesn't make much sense that Harry would even stay in Maine at all. I would have taken Heather to California to get as far away as possible.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by The Adversary »

Oh for sure, which is why when in SILENT HILL 3 we find out the Masons "moved to Portland 12 years ago" it made sense they were in Oregon, not Maine, especially coupled with Douglas' California license plate.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Droo »

I thought they moved to Portland Maine and that's where the opening sections take place before they drive to SH.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by The Adversary »

Correct.

I meant it would make more sense it was Portland, Oregon, because they probably should have gotten far, far away from Silent Hill, not—what turns out to be—only a few miles away. But DOWNPOUR indicates Silent Hill is immediately south of Portland, Maine—it’s a glaring inconsistency if we’re trying to create a real-life geographical setting (which of course I always am).
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by Droo »

Oh, I thought you were saying they actually went to Oregon there.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by The Adversary »

Late-night typing leads to late-night phrasing errors.

Anyway, yes, the Masons moved to Portland, Maine. I still want to find that distance sign in DOWNPOUR because that would give a clear distance between the two cities.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by leftshoe18 »

Was there a distance sign in Downpour? I remember one from the beginning of Shattered Memories near where Harry crashes but I don't remember seeing one in any of the other games.
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Re: Homecoming vs Downpour

Post by The Adversary »

I definitely remember seeing one in some playthrough I watched, though I can't recall which one or where in the game it was. Droo told me months ago he'd go look for it but noooooo.
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