How do you think they could of have improved Silent Hill 4?

[Harrys_Girl]

That is one of the oddest pros of The Room: Power move invincibility.

I wonder if game designers do that intentionally or if it is just to keep from having to design that part of animation. Just like Leon's invincibility in RE4 while climbing ladders. I personally love the little effect of invincibility.

[NeoAquarius12]

I won't complain about the house being haunted, because that was badass... your only true safety in the game becomes a danger if you don't pay attention. What I WOULD like is for the ability to see where the hell I am lighting these anti-ghost candles in the house. I had one haunting a wall, and I was like, I'll put this candle by it!... I put it on the table which got ghosts out of the painting or something... so I wasted a candle and eventually had to let that damn ghost into my house. I was at the very end though, so jogging through the apt didn't phase me anymore.

I would also have liked more diverse locations. Visiting every place twice got a little ridiculous. And having the Apartments levels AND the Building LEVELS was kind of ridic because they really could have made that one level and had something more original in the place of them.

Also, better enemy designs. Get out of here twin mosnter, I know someone above said they like you, but I hate you. You don't cause me to be afraid, you cause me to be disgusted. You're like a goofy disney monster or something.

A better boss battle. This one was tougher than some because of all the factors you had to watch, but it really wasn't the epic conclusion I was hoping for.

[nothingbut3%]

I agree with the inventory problem definitely. I thought the Walter boss fight was fine. The challenge was what made it fun. What I hated was the return missions. If they just made the levels a bit longer and straight through, it would have made it SO much better. Returning to the levels made it very tedious after a while, and maybe less ghosts too. I didn't really think they were all that captivating or scary anyway; mostly annoying.

[Doctor Eggnog]

I liked the final boss and didn't mind the inventory system, plus invincible charge attacks are cool.

I agree that it's hard knowing where to put the holy candles. I've gotta agree with someone above: the most annoying thing in the whole game for me was how close behind you Eileen needed to be when you go through a door. Also, I would've liked to be able to push a button to tell her to wait or follow like Ashley RE4.

[PIE!!!]

-Like Game Dena said, Have the option to unlock a tuxedo as an extra costume for Henry.
-Better AI for Eileen.
-Make Eileen respond to her own giant HEAD!
-UFO ending

[NeoAquarius12]

A UFO ending! Why didn't I think of that! That is the most important feature of a SH game. haha. As long as they are pure ridiculousness and comedy.
I like all of your suggestions here PIE. lol.

[PIE!!!]

Well, thanks for agreeing with me! Haha.

[Doctor Eggnog]

And in SH4's new UFO ending, the bad guy turns out to be:

MARVIN THE MARTIAN!!!

[PIE!!!]

OMG!!! OR. It could be Mira the dog from Silent Hill 2's dog ending!

[NeoAquarius12]

Absurd, to the both of you!

lol.

They would have to pay money for the rights to Marvin the Martian, so he's out... And Mira could be used for sure. But I'd want something even more epic. Like a super personality for Henry as he challenges the aliens to a break dancing competition... and loses instantly, and as he is about to get killed, Harry dressed up as Robbie the Rabbit comes out and says it's all cool... then they ALL dance together, including the protagonists from the other games.

That's just one option. haha.

If they were to actually improve upon the game, I'd like an extra location... maybe an after the game location that you have to beat the game once in order to find that is just an amazing connection between The ROOM and the Town. Like, you crawl through the hole, and end up in mid-Silent Hill and get to do a little bit of exploring. This could be the way to get the UFO ending instead.

[Xev]

Like, you crawl through the hole, and end up in mid-Silent Hill and get to do a little bit of exploring. This could be the way to get the UFO ending instead.

Love that idea - they need to do that and re-release SH4 GOLD EDITION.

[NeoAquarius12]

Who usually writes these letters to Konami? haha. I will do it if we get a coherent list of things they could consider in the GOLD version. Loving the vibe we have in here. haha.

[SilentWren]

^I know, right? Perfect mix of humor and philosophical discussion.

Ok, this is going to be a somewhat silly entry on my part, but about 4's lack of a UFO ending...when you take into account the point in the games when most other UFO endings occur, wouldn't the best place for them to put one in be about at Room 302 of the past?

I mean, Joseph is already stuck in the ceiling. Obviously, the aliens were abducting him and the power went out on their suck-you-up-beam. Hyuk, hyuk.

Their are lots of UFOesque artifacts still in the game files. I guess they were planning on making one and never did.
That sucks.

[LeriSuccubus]

I finally decided to buy this game but right off the bat I wanted to murder Henry's voice actor. He was waaay to calm in his tone, like he was a zombie or Mark Walberg in the Happening. It was painful to hear him react to things. If Henry had a personality, I would like the game a lot better. I kinda wish it wasn't a Silent Hill game, though. I'd rather it be it's own game because the concept was really good. I love the stuck-in-an-apartment idea. The rest of the ties to Silent Hill made it feel like it was all shoved in there just to BE a Silent Hill game. Hell, it didn't even have the town in it (and I mean the town, not the fact that the Wish House was near the area).

[NeoAquarius12]

All very true LeriSuccubus. You have pinpointed nearly the exact grudge that most gamers have against SH4. Henry's calmness. The lack of SH. In fact, there is speculation that this game wasn't meant to be a SH game initially but was later given the SH4 title and thrown some arbitrary information about the town that isn't directly related to the town itself.

And Wren. You are now officially my letter writing partner. haha. Get your quill and ink ready, and I hope you have good handwriting, because a Bachelor's in English does not necessarily make me capable of writing well!

[SilentWren]

^

To whom it may concern,

Despite an obsessive love of your video games, various members of The Silent Hill Heaven Forum have expressed their great dislike of that fact that you left the traditional "U.F.O. ending" out of the fourth installment of the Silent Hill series.

We would humbly like to propose the following negotiable idea to remedy this;
Re-release Silent Hill 4:The Room with a U.F.O. ending that takes place at the point in the game play where the player reaches the area Room 302 of the Past. You may use whatever requirements to meet this ending as you see fit. Beggers can't be choosers, after all.

Due to the hardship we've endured because of your decision, we would also like to propose the following to also be implemented in this re-release
-Regarding the monster known as "patient," please give this monster any other sound byte. The original burp-like noise is generally regarded as (pardon our frankness) just fucking stupid.
-Regarding the NPC "Eileen," Is there any way to make that bitch less annoying? Again, pardon us. It would be rather difficult to completely remove the deemed "escort mission," but, truthfully, that bitch just kind of gets on our nerves. Perhaps you could add a "special costume" that even better accentuates her breasts? Or, even better, google "Nude Raider." If you googled it, and I still have to further explain that one, then you're getting paid too much. With all due respect, of course.
-Regarding the rare item "Sword of Obedience," we would like exactly one more of these to appear in the game. Seriously, one more would've made the super roid immortal ghosts more bearable.
-Regarding the monsters "Wall Man" "Harder? Wall Man" "Rubber Face(old type)" and "Rubber Face (new type)," We were wondering if these could be replaced with monsters that are less fucking retarded. With all due respect, of course. They look ridiculous, they sound ridiculous, and some of us truly wondered if the original creators were under the influence of an illegal substance when they were designing them.
Regarding the "item breakage" and "maximum items carried functions," for proverbially 'crying out loud', pick one and stick with it. If the item breaks, it sound completely vanish. If this is not an option, please get rid of the item carrying capacities. If this is not an option, give us another row of carryable item slots. If this is not an option, give us another row of carryable item slots in the final area of the game. If this is not an option, then may I suggest copulation with your own mother?
-Regarding the rare item "shabby doll," please extend our enthusiastic "fuck you" to whom ever thought of this. Please do the same with the people who approved it afterwords.
-Regarding the monster "Twin Victims," please extend our enthusiastic "thank you" to whom ever thought of this. Please do the same with the people who approved it afterwords.

Thank you for your time, and please take our requests into consideration. It would be a shame for you to stop listening to the fans right as the series is seemingly headed uphill.

Best Regards,
The Silent Hill Heaven Forum

How's that?

[NeoAquarius12]

I'll put it this way:

Would a marriage proposal be out of the question right now? LMAO.

You did perfectly. I feel like we're colonists about to break away from the mother country over here. lol... Only we adore the mother country and just want to make her better.

[Tillerman]

1. Second Time Through. By far the biggest flaw of SH4 is that it makes you play through the game twice. The big problem is that once you've reached the halfway point of the game, you've seen all there is to see. There's very little in the way of surprises, other than the new ghosts and Walter chasing you around. I don't think this should necessarily be changed though, as it is woven into the story and makes sense.

Solution: Revamp the look of the areas for the second time through to give them a more "otherworld" feeling. It worked for earlier games in the series, after all no one complained that they have to explore the school twice in the original Silent Hill, even though it's exactly the same are with just a different look. The important thing is that each area needs to feel new.

Solution 2: In addition, the last area of the game needs to be unique. When you finally step outside your apartment building at the end of the game, you're just like "I've seen this before." It doesn't have nearly the impact it should. There's an easy and obvious solution to this: cut out the apartment stage from the middle of the game, so that when you step outside your apartment at the end of the game, it is for the first time. This would give the last level such a greater impact than it has.

2. Ghosts. Unlike most people in this thread, I certainly do not think ghosts should be made into normal killable enemies. Invincible monsters is a great addition to SH. In theory it adds to the fear of the game because it takes the empowerment of weapons away from the player. This was the theory behind Shattered Memories as well, however that game failed at being scary because of it's horrible game structure. The ghosts in SH4 have a completely different design flaw that ends up robbing them of their scare power: because they are glued to certain areas, the end up acting like guardians of those areas, and as such make exploring those areas incredibly annoying.

Solution: Make ghosts "event based" rather than having them spawn in certain rooms. In other words, allow ghosts to spawn anywhere, have them chase you for a certain length of time, or until the player gets away. This way you'll have a chance to explore any area of the game unmolested, and the game may even be scarier if ghosts can appear randomly.

3. Inventory. This is a huge complaint, and most people would like for you to have unlimited inventory. I don't agree with this, I think a finite inventory adds a nice bit of strategy to a game like this. However, SH4's inventory is too limited... it should be a bit larger. (Only a bit.) Also, bullets should be allowed to stack to 99 in one slot, because the huge inventory requirement of the ammo makes the gun next to useless.

4. The Room. The room itself is an awesome concept for a game, but I would have liked to see more changes to it over the course of the game besides just the hauntings. In particular, the world outside of the window doesn't seem to really change, I would have liked things to get weirder and more otherworldly out there as the game continued. A few more phone numbers to call would have been nice.

5. Walter's Sounds. Walter is one of the only enemies in the series which doesn't cause some sort of creepy sounds to play when he gets close. Just boring silence and his unintimidating laugh. It really takes away the sense of menace he is supposed to convey.

6. Escorting Eileen. In my opinion this doesn't need fixing. It's irrelevant because you can just heal Eileen with holy candles, though you should probably be allowed to do this any time.

I think if SH4 were released with the changes I've outlined here, it becomes one of the best games in the series. As it is, even with it's flaws it's still a pretty underrated game.

[LeriSuccubus]

Eileen isn't really bothering me at all. Right now I'm in the second Water Prison, so I've been with her for a little while. As a character she is better than Henry due to the fact that she has emotions, and I don't find her really that bad. She was a person you could only observe for a pretty long time, then half-way through the game you finally get to really meet, which I thought was a nice feeling to add to the game. Out of all the characters that I've met so far, she seems to be the most interesting even though I don't really know much about her.

The escort missions (which I'm still in the middle of) are not that bad, she's still pretty fast dispite the massive injuries so that's good. My problem was escorting Cynthia due to the fact that she had absolutely horrible AI, lagging behind like both feet were broken (she was blah anyway, that hooker).

[EmilietheStrange]

Speaking of Cynthia, I was just reminded of something. On my last play through of the game, I noticed that you can give her a beating with the steel pipe. While it doesn't harm her, she will react. Later when I tried to bash Jasper over the head or shoot Andrew in the face, nothing happened. That's not fair. I wish you could smack around ALL of the NPCs, as opposed to just three of them. Or even better, kill them. Sure it would cause a game over, but there are some characters in the series I wouldn't mind slaying just for the hell of it.