One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror games.

Heather finds out why it's true that you shouldn't talk to strangers. Or look in mirrors, quite honestly.

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impocalypse
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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Re: Amusement park. I think that was the best set in any SH game to date. It was one of my favorite playing experiences of all time.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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yup! One of my favorite areas in the Amusement Park was!
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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If anybody feels like reading the comments found throughout the game, here you go!
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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Kerrigan wrote:If anybody feels like reading the comments found throughout the game, here you go!
You win the internet. Thanks for that.
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Doctor Eggnog
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Doctor Eggnog »

NeoAquarius12 wrote:Eggnog, you're crazy. haha. What would you say is your overall favorite location in any of the games?

Amusement Park, Mall, Church, all too unbelivably designed for words. I mean, 1 and 2 had the iconic locations that would cement the foundation for the series, but I mean, if they used half the detail they did in the third one, you'd explode with awesome juice after playing the games. haha. I have to say, 2 is definitely close to what 3 offers on this plane, but it's just not the same.

I concede to whatever your next comment is, because I respect your opinion. Just, I disagree sir!
My favorite location in any of the games? Hmm. Perhaps the Labyrith, they managed to fit in multiple good character scenes and two boss fights as well as two mindbending puzzles into that level, plus the horrific way Pyramid Head would pop up everywhere made it the scariest level ever for me. The School and Hospital for the first game are memorable to me as well, plus when you leave the Larva fight and have to make your way across and Otherworld town to the hospital. Epic. I did really like the Amusment Park from 3 as well, but gotta disagree on the Mall. The Mall pissed me off! I got the map, looked at it, and said Yay! Really big map with lots of rooms and stuff! Time to explore! Nope. Barely covered any of it. And the rooms entered in the hospital were oftentimes the SAME ONES visited in the second game. What a horrible missed oppertunity! In my mind the whole point of revisiting that same location in another game would've been to the see the locations that couldn't be seen last time. Alternate Hospital HELPED make up for it though, quite a rush.

As for Heather's reactions not being believable, I can kinda understand why. She freaked out at the beginning as everything suddenly overwhelmed her at once, as I did, and later became desensitized. Because SH3 is more in your face than the first two games, I was majorly freaked out at first, but I found that fear subsided after less playthroughs than the first two games. SH2 just creeped under my skin slowly and it took a very long time to shake that off, that's why I find it the scariest game ever.

I do admit I love SH3's attention to detail, especailly from a visual standpoint (Valtiel was a constant nice touch), but while Heather's comments were nice, they didn't add much to the game for me personally.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Typographenia »

The one thing that sticks out the most in my mind when I think back on the game is the presentation.

Silent Hill 3 had a level of polish that virtually no other ps2 game approached. The character models were impeccable, the otherworld looked like sh1 on steroids, the audio was great, there were tons of extra costumes, fun items, a slew of difficulty settings, and the textures were (and still are) mindblowing for the technology.

Evidence that the team worked themselves to the bone on the game is everywhere you look, and it contributes a large amount to the overall experience. Granted, there are instances of obvious shortcut taking, (i.e. reusing the same locations and renders of sh2 locations) but I don't feel they are distracting enough to detract from the game as a whole.

An extraordinary effort by a small group of people.


Heather would probably be my second choice, but there are other horror games that have female leads. They're not up there with the likes of Heather and other enduring, well-done female leads, but they are represented more than the level of polish on display in sh3, in my opinion.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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Typographenia wrote:Granted, there are instances of obvious shortcut taking, (i.e. reusing the same locations and renders of sh2 locations)
Could you kindly inform a poor soul who has never yet had the chance to play SH2 as to what those locations are?
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by clips »

I too agree that the presentation..in prt3 was amazing....the hospital basement scene with the wheelchair?...It had you looking at heather as if you were right on the floor next to the wheelchair as she walked up it....the bathtub scene? (right before the abandoned building changed into the otherworld?)...another great camera angle had you looking at heather as if you were sitting inside the tub.....the wheelchair sitting in that other room shining in the light?...creepy and brilliant at the same time.

Alot of really slick camera angles set the mood in that game....art direction was incredible as well....i guess i'm in the minority in that i wanted a little bit more out of heather in terms of emotion...yeah she reacted early on in the game, and even tho she states that if she lets the place get to her she'll go crazy,...some of her other dry comments about what was going on...kinda takes the energy down a notch.

We're all aware of her past, but i don't think that she needed to be as oblivious as she was as to what was happening around her...she is after all still human....and s**t really started to hit the fan later on in the game, but her comments at times really didn't fit the situation...still...it's the best looking game out of the series and an incredible experience....
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Typographenia »

impocalypse wrote:Could you kindly inform a poor soul who has never yet had the chance to play SH2 as to what those locations are?
The hospital and silent hill town streets.

Like I said, it's not enough to detract from the experience overall, but it felt weird to me coming off of playing SH2 numerous times. I don't blame them for reusing them at all, though. I would have done the same thing because there's no sense in remaking things again unnecessarily.


And to echo you, Clips, the set pieces and some of the rooms were easily some of the most memorable in the series. They did a really great job with them, but I'm afraid to revisit that mirror room now. : (
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Xev »

^The first time seeing that room was just completely bad ass.

The hospital is my most favorite level to this game.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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NeoAquarius12 wrote:Unusually enough, I get the impression that Heather is somewhat okay with the things that happen around her (aside from her Dad's demise and the elevator scene). I think a lot of it has to do with her past life connections to SH. She subconsciously knows all about what is happening in the town, so her actual self only reacts the way she would if it were any other place doing anything else. After all, SH is SH kind of because of her. haha

Haha that's a good point! Like when she see's a dead body, she makes a joke about it. It's like she is trying to believe it isn't happening, and if it is happening she's trying to make the mood a little lighter.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by impocalypse »

Re: the mirror room. that was probably one of the most incredible moments in the history of survival horror to me. It wasn't a plot point, it wasn't a gameplay mechanic or even dangerous to anything other than your sanity, but it was a shining example of what fear in a game is.

I would readily refer to tricks like that and the Borley Haunted House as clear factors separating SH3 from other staples of the genre.

Agree?
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Doctor Eggnog »

^Actually, it was dangerous, it drains your health. Now that I've read your post, I kinda wish that it didn't. It would've been much more effective to me.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by NeoAquarius12 »

Yeah, it does hurt you after a while. But it definitely is the most resonant moment of that game. If there was a moment in SH3 that you could point to as the shining moment, it was that part.

Just like for SH4, it's the Eileen's Head room. The art in that game was just awesome at some points. haha.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by PIE!!! »

Though I wished the head could actually do something instead of just stand there and look at Henry. As I said in another thread, it would've been cool if Eileen reacted to her own giant head when you bring her into that location.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Doctor Eggnog »

I dunno, I guess I just don't like the same moments in the game that other people like. I didn't like the mirror room or mannequin scream in 3, or Eileen's head in 4, it just looked weird to me. I did however like the locker corpse in 1, the Borely Haunted Mansion in 3, and the Theater stage in Origins, parts that everyone else seems to like.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by NeoAquarius12 »

Yeah. Each game has moments that define it for the player. I am not sure if Origins has one of those break out scenes for me that makes a more lasting impression than others... but there are parts of the game that excite me far more than most. Like the stage for instance. The idea of changing the scenery and by doing so, changing the way the Otherworld reacts really got me excited the first time doing it.

And it would be MUCH cooler if Eileen's Head did something except be cross-eyes. Maybe if there is a GOLD Edition, we should ask them for a cute scene in there... Just Henry yelling, "WTF you staring at Bitch?" Or Eileen asking whether or not the giant face is hotter than hers?
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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I love all of Heather's little comments, like in the classroom when she's making fun of the picture of the wolf, and reading the note on the same wall and getting a bit annoyed. When watching a playthrough the guy commented about how Heather thinks everything she finds is junk. Then later she finds stuff in a locker and as usual says it's just a pile of junk, then says something like, "Wait, no it isn't. That's someone's stuff."

He also found it disturbing that some of the locations were the same as in Silent Hill 2. It freaked him out because he had bad memories of those places.

I think it's interesting how the same hospital has the same result in both games. You go through lots of suffering in there, and in the end it turns out the whole thing was a complete waste of time and didn't help you at all. Perhaps like the experiences and fears of people going through painful and harmful treatments in hospitals, only to find they haven't been cured at all - or they've come out worse than when they went in due to some blunder.
(And the idea of a simple natural remedy having the same effect as lots of expensive and harmful modern treatments seems to be mirrored in that stupid box covered in locks in Silent Hill 2 hospital.)
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

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I too kinda liked the fact that you treaded the same area's.... as in the hospital and that immediate area surrounding the hospital..i kinda got the feeling that..."heh...i was just in this location years ago with james"...some people thought it was lazy for them to do that, but for me it felt like there was a continuity there....the town of silent hill still felt the same and the locations were still the same...

I kinda ragged on Homecoming a bit because i stated that there version of SH didn't look or feel anything like SH at all.....and while it might not be totally their fault, since it is due to art direction and it's a completely different design team,..plus i understand that the town can change over the years (construction/demolition of properties..etc)...there's no denying that Homecoming's SH town felt foreign.
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Re: One thing SH3 does that separates from other horror game

Post by Dr-G0nz0 »

clips wrote:I too kinda liked the fact that you treaded the same area's.... as in the hospital and that immediate area surrounding the hospital..i kinda got the feeling that..."heh...i was just in this location years ago with james"...some people thought it was lazy for them to do that, but for me it felt like there was a continuity there....the town of silent hill still felt the same and the locations were still the same...

I kinda ragged on Homecoming a bit because i stated that there version of SH didn't look or feel anything like SH at all.....and while it might not be totally their fault, since it is due to art direction and it's a completely different design team,..plus i understand that the town can change over the years (construction/demolition of properties..etc)...there's no denying that Homecoming's SH town felt foreign.
I also didn't have a problem with the hospital looking the same At the end of the day, the town is a town, and the landmarks are bound to look the same. I found quite nostalgic, really, even i the game was made only a few years from the 2nd game. :P

Completely agree with you on Homecoming, too. All atmosphere was thrown out the window, and as you say just didn't feel like Silent Hill at all.
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