Most Annoying Part of The Game?

[Droo]

Sewer levels in the Silent Hill series are like water levels in 80s side scrollers - everybody hates them.

I actually really liked the water level in Donkey Kong Country. Primarily for the music though.

[Burning Man]

There are several areas that can be annoying as hell when I'm playing for a fast run on Hard mode or above.

• The sewer area leading to the hallway with the Wine bottle. This area usually has one large Numb Body and two small ones. This large Numb Body gets way too excited to knock Heather to the ground. If you happen to kill this one and retrieve the Wine bottle, another one just as aggressive will spawn when you exit the Wine bottle hallway.
• First-half hallway of alternate Hilltop 4th floor. You know the one. There are like six slurpers in that narrow hallway. If you get so unlucky as to get knocked down by one of them, all the other ones will swarm towards Heather for a combo. Heather's health can go down to dangerous red in an instant.
• Alternate Bookhaven first-floor C patient wing. This area can have up to three slurpers and one nurse. There are some ill-positioned props that block Heather from moving through. I have been surrounded by the slurpers in this wing before, which usually ends in game-over. Please let me just go and fight Leonard!
• Alternate Brookhaven C1 room aka "Birthday Room." Depending on your score, this room can have up to three nurses. Can I just take my presents and leave, thank you very much?
• Church hallway with two pendulums and one scraper. Not a problem if you can defeat the scraper quickly, but sometimes he decides to play champion and won't go down. And then the pendulums will come start poking at Heather. I have seen pendulums circle Heather like vultures as she lays on the floor.

But if I had to choose one part of game that's annoying above all else:

• It's where you have to backtrack to Jack's Inn after leaving Brookhaven and then head to Nathan's Avenue. This is a really poorly designed level. I don't know what the team was thinking here.

[Herr Shaun]

The most annoying part of the game is the pacing of the entire first half of the game. The whole stretch between the end of the shopping mall and Heather getting home is an absolute slog. It's just area after area of mundane garbage with zero significance to the plot, except for "shit's in my way". Not even meeting Vincent saves it.

That's not to say that every area of a Silent Hill game needs to be significant, but when you consider that the first half of the game is just random nooks and crannies of a mostly irrelevant town but spooky, it just ends up feeling like a chore to get through, every single playthrough.

[DinoNerd89]

The obscurity of the puzzles, at least on the harder difficulties. While they ain't an issues these days due to easy internet access, I still don't like having to know obscure information to move on from an area in any game.

[screwymoony]

Pendulums. 'nuff said.

[Jonipoon]

The most annoying part of the game is the pacing of the entire first half of the game. The whole stretch between the end of the shopping mall and Heather getting home is an absolute slog. It's just area after area of mundane garbage with zero significance to the plot, except for "shit's in my way". Not even meeting Vincent saves it.

That's not to say that every area of a Silent Hill game needs to be significant, but when you consider that the first half of the game is just random nooks and crannies of a mostly irrelevant town but spooky, it just ends up feeling like a chore to get through, every single playthrough.

I think this needs to be taken into serious consideration if and when Silent Hill 3 gets a remake. Like you said, these parts serve no purpose to the story at all. Basically the only significant event is meeting Vincent at Hilltop, but even that felt out of place.

I would switch things up a bit and place Hilltop Center in Silent Hill instead, because it would make more sense for Heather to first meet him in the actual town of Silent Hill. Then instead of Vincent randomly giving Douglas a map outside of Heather’s apartment, I think Heather and Douglas should arrive in Silent Hill without no real plan where to go. While at the motel, Heather could receive a note from the reception desk telling her to go to Hilltop, where Vincent waits and tries to warn you about Claudia. Douglas meanwhile will investigate the post office (or something like that), and once Heather gets the information she needs about Leonard from Vincent, she’ll head back to the motel and talk to Douglas, and they once again agree to split up with Douglas heading to Leonard’s house while Heather investigates Brookhaven.

I wouldn’t completely delete the subway level from an eventual remake though. The subway ride itself is quite iconic, so that can stay, but the whole prior part of unlocking the gates and all should be simplified for the sake of pacing. The sewers should just be scrapped completely.

[alone in the town]

I completely agree with Herr Shaun, my biggest annoyance with the game is that it feels like you begin the game with Heather having to go home, which requires her to navigate the entire mall (twice), the subway stations, a sewer, then the entire office building (twice), all during which almost no plot advancement takes place. The story really doesn't actually get going in earnest until she arrives home, and then she and Douglas go to Silent Hill. It feels so padded.

[leftshoe18]

Yep. The story would have lost absolutely nothing if the subway had just dropped her off at home.

[The Adversary]

The first half of SILENT HILL 3:

[Jonipoon]

I also wouldn't mind if the whole South Vale section is swapped for an Old + Central Silent Hill section instead. Especially if the remake is developed back-to-back with SH1, since Heather visiting locations like Alchemilla Hospital makes so much more sense than visiting Brookhaven.

>>Game starts -- CENTRAL SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER -- SUBWAY
>>Subway ride to home -- MISSIONARY BOSS FIGHT
>>Car ride to Silent Hill -- HILLTOP CENTER
>>Gets information from Vincent -- ALCHEMILLA HOSPITAL
>>Back to motel to find Douglas gone -- LAKESIDE AMUSEMENT PARK -- CHURCH

[Arsonist]

This is entirely my fault for replaying the game after many years on extreme difficulty, but GODDAMN. Literally, damn the god.
I enjoyed the challenge up until facing down the final boss. She is unkillable, to the point where I'm wondering if I'm doing any damage at all. I even ended up saying "fuck it" and using the infinite ammo submachine gun and she's still kicking my ass. I managed to survive her for nearly 20 minutes before she killed me yet again. The arena is too small, and she has total control over it. Doesn't help that she doesn't always telegraph her fire moves. Though that could be her glitching out due to eating too many bullets in quick succession. I spent the entire game surviving by the skin of my teeth, gunning for the possession ending no less, so I won't let her make me quit when I'm so close. But I really need a break.
As for the complaints about the first half of the game, I get that. But I think that was a very deliberate design choice. The long, long, long journey home is supposed to be harsh and frustrating, especially when you're the first time player who is excited to see Harry again. It makes the gutpunch of reaching the apartment all the more brutal. What (probably) wasn't deliberate is what happens in SH. The reuse of SH2's location was likely due to time constraints. Going back to places that had meaning to Harry and Alessa would have been more effective, but also more time consuming to recreate. At least we get the amusement park and a few significant rooms in the church area.

EDIT: I went to youtube to see how speedrun players do it, and apparently she has a blindspot next to her left elbow you can exploit. Killed her with a katana in two minutes after some trial and error. Heather stomping her head has never felt more satisfying.