I think a lot of the Silent Hill series’ shtick is to leave the player confused… helps create an uneasy atmosphere (note: SH games aren’t supposed to be scary, just disturbing). Frankly, I think that helps with the gameplay… you just have to train yourself into not expecting things to be explained for you.
Play Devil May Cry 2.
That’s a burning, stinking piece of ass.
While I like some parts of it. The acrobatics are pretty cool to watch, the lockon system is pretty nice. Most of the game just blows. You have NO idea what you’re trying to do in each level, where you’re trying to go or WHY you’re doing it…
Here’s the plot:
Dante finds this wierd looking chick, saves her life. Saves it again, finds this old woman. Something about a demon. Attacked by an evil helicopter. Travel to an oil rig. Some wierd guy who looks like Satan from the Dragon Ball manga (he’s a professional wrestler). Oil rig blows up after killing Efreet. Wierd guy starts the demon ressurection ceremony. Dante kills him, goes to hell and kills a large pile of GOO. Then hops on his motercycle (which was in his pocket apparently since it wasn’t with him when he entered the portal to hell) and says something like, “Yeah, I’m going all the way to hell” – insert heavy metal/techno music.
I swear to christ that I don’t understand why this game is on two DVDs. There are like 2 cut scenes, you play the same goddamn maps with different textures over and over again and maybe 8 lines of spoken dialogue. There are no puzzles in the game, NONE of the enemies are REMOTELY challenging.
DMC 1 was pretty interesting, pretty stupid plot but at least it kinda made some sense and there were a few good cut scenes. I can’t believe I spent 56$ on this game.
On the other hand Galerians:Ash was MUCH better, and only 44$ with tax.
My first impressions with SH2 were dissapointment, but the more I thought about it, the more creepy it became. My initial dissapointment with it was mostly its short lenght.
SH1 scared the shit out of me with its ambient sounds. Up until that point we had been told that “scary = Resident Evil” but when RE got past its dog through the window scene, it and all of its sequels were nothing but actions scenes with an occasional “BOO!”. SH1 made it scary. The flapping wings and radio made a serious atmosphere, as did the ambient sounds. The fate of Lisa was one of the few video game scenes that brought me nearly to tears.
SH2 had scarier monsters, with deeper meaning. Take a look at those Mannequins and sack monsters. They, along with the plot, delve into psychosexual horror. It won’t make you jump out of your seat, but it will disturb you. Especially when you realise that the what the town of Silent Hill is doing (and offering).
There’s other things that make the place scary. The background is well concieved, the characters look like they haven’t slept in days. There’s hints at other plots taking place.
The garbage chute puzzle at least fits logically into the landscape. I’ve seen games that make no sense in regards to simple logic:
Hero1: What did we do when we entered this room?
Hero2: We smashed and defeated a Mech made of Titanium.
Hero1: So why are we still standing here?
Hero2: We cannot seem to get past this thin plywood door.
Don’t talk to me about “dumb puzzles”.
No doubt they were scarier, and it does make sense that they were less varied (maybe we can do a Cafe Society thread here if we get much deeper), but I don’t think they necessarily had a deeper meaning.
[spoiler]The monsters of the first, it seems were more or less manifestations of Alessa’s childhood and fears. Dogs, dolls, teddy bears, other children (kids can be so mean sometimes!), doctors and nurses (who surround her in her condition). The rest are demons there for the bidding of Samael.
In 2, the issue is much more clear: James only sees things related to his own dementia… and of course no one else does. (Ever wonder why Cheryl in 1 never saw any monsters? Her monster was drugs! White Claudia…) Eddie sees people he can kill without punishment to finally exercize his force, the dark haired woman (I can’t remember her name) sees flames and the horror of her father everywhere. And the little girl? 
Maybe in another thread…
[/spoiler]
True, but the fact that it came back to the protagonist rather than some poor girl was a unique step in psychological fear in my oppinion. Certainly better than RE’s inclusion of a transvestite (ooooh, scary) to spice things up.
BTW, the black haired girl’s name is Angela Oroco. Also Eddie did seem to see some monsters since he mentions it while puking his guts out.
There is no real winning an arguement here. What may be scary to some may be total ass to another. But I would not bag the game cause you cannot figure something out. And though everyone loves to beat on Spoofe, he/she has a point.
IMHO, Silent Hill 2 was good…was too short…and did have some moments. S3 definitely is going for a good creep factor and should be a lil longer. The story is supposed to be confusing and twilight zoneish. One of those ‘perfect world turned on its ear’ type stories. If you want a straight up story, then dont play this game series.
If I may, i would like to put in a couple of votes for creepy games. Though its dated, System Shock 2 scared the shit outta me while playing it. The sound effects were spot on (nothing like a zombie/ex friend beating the hell outta you while screaming “Immm Soooorrrrryyy! Killllll meeee!”) and the ultimate twist in the storyline had me sitting back just shaking my head in disbelief.
God bless Looking Glass Studios (R.I.P.)
Eddie thinks people are the monsters, IMO. I suspect he tried to deal with James like he dealt with all the other things SH threw at him. He saw all the people (or archetypes of them) that had messed with him all his life that he was only previously impotent in “handling”. James saw reminders of the sorrows and eventual murder of his wife. Angela saw reminders of the horror of her home life (and her destruction of it).
Let’s not get into RE: Veronica :rolleyes: (Ooh, look, they’re playing with BUGS!!!)
Uggh. That series lost me at Nemisis. “Oh look! Here’s The Big Baddy AGAIN! You’ll never kill him! Isn’t this FUN!?”
I played Veronica since there wasn’t much else out at the time. Its not good when the zombies are at best described as “obsticles”. Too much chop-sokey crap too (how many bullets can a pair of golden Luger’s hold, anyway?). THe “horror” has long left that series and was replaced with “irritant”.
As to Eddie, Angelo, etc. that’s pretty much what I understand. Except Eddie does specificly mention “weird monsters”. Of course he has no idea what Pyramid head is.
What’s fun is that all the names actually translate from other languages. James Sunderland, for example, the word Sunderland is German for “Sinner Land”. The other names do this too.
I also kind of understand the need for shortness in SH2, they had to get some resolution of the characters. Would have liked more, but how many times can you-know-who get killed. Wish it was otherwise, though.
Did you play the “Born from a Wish” scenario on the XBox, Mr. Miskatonic?
I enjoyed SH2 but I did have some problems with it. The first problem I came across was the beginning of the game. I don’t really like running around for 15 minutes through a park, a graveyard, and finally into the town itself without anything happening.
I know a lot of people liked the story but I didn’t really care for it. At least I didn’t care for how the story was executed. The idea behind everything was actually pretty neat and the creators of the game added a lot to enhance the creepy mood.
Marc
Nope. I only had the PS2 version. I get the jist of what happened in BFAW, though.
I have both Silent Hills, but I decided not to play the second until I finished the first. I am a dumbass and ran out of ammo three-quarters through and missed the rifle. Other then that, it was pretty fun. The sound is a huge part of it. Somebody who plays with the sound off probably won’t be even mildly creeped out.
Personally, I thought the scariest part of 1 was when the town itself went into the alternate world for a while, with all the pistons and windmills and shit. I found myself creeped out the most while on the town map, just because there were so many more angles to be attacked from. And I certainly didn’t appreciate the lowered visibility at night. Compared to night outside, most of the buildings are a breeze.
I have to say that disregarding action, graphics and story, Silent Hill’s main selling point is that you don’t have to rotate your character manually to turn around.
Hey!
(Dammit, I hate having a reputation…)
Just fer future reference… I’m almost a man. Almost.
Doesn’t the PS2 ‘Greatest Hits’ version of SH2 have the BFAW scenario? I recall seeing that on a gaming board I go to, but haven’t gotten around to replacing my old PS2 version. I’d love to play BFAW and all, but I refuse to buy an X-Box, when there’s nothing on the console that I’d like to play.
I discovered SH1 after seeing it at a local store for twenty bucks. I’d seen it there for the same price for months, gotten curious, and then just bought it one day, for a lark. Dear Og, that game gave me the creeps. Scariest moment? I was coming out of a door in the Hospital (I think it was the Nightmare version of the place, but I’m not sure). As soon as the screen loads with Harry standing in the hall, a Doctor lunges at Harry from the side of the screen and grabs him. No warning; I barely had time to realize the radio was going off when it happened. Eeekk…
BFAW is interesting. Short, but interesting. Helps flesh the story out, that’s for sure. No flashlight, that sucks, but you get a meat cleaver, that doesn’t. 
Eh. I didn’t like the BFAW scenario. Granted, I didn’t play through it all (lost interest while still in the mansion)… what big revelations did it have other than…
I’m guessing that the “revelation” was that Maria was created solely as a phantasm of sorts to torture James, and that she never really existed in the first place?
SPOOFEI don’t know that there was more of a revalation there than that. You read an interesting book, learn about a young girl’s tragedy, understand the elements you find in the normal game second time around and why they give the ending they do, but I think that’s about it.Interesting, and I thought it was fun, but not necessary or anything.
BFAW seems like it would be something that shouldn’t be in the first playing of the game, but is unlocked for a second go-round. It has a problem in that it does answer too many questions (i.e. that Maria is really a creation.)
The ambiguity is what adds to the disorienting horror.
BTW, has anyone played “Fatal Frame”? I played for a bit, and while it seemed to have all the elements, it never really engaged me. I stopped about 1/2 way through.
I just don’t like walking for 10 minutes down a street or passageway when absolutely nothing happens. What’s up with that? If you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, you spend hours wandering around aimlessly. If you read a walkthrough, the game becomes incredibly easy.
Most games for me, even if I read the walkthrough & know what I have to do, they’re still hard. SH2 you just wander around trying doors 95% of which don’t do anything. Or you read the walkthrough & spend your time checking off the objects you have to collect & then occasionally go up against an incredibly easy opponent.
I think objects should be findable, but not easy to get. Opponents should be scary & difficult to get past/defeat.
I think there are lots of save points though. Just takes awhile sometimes to find them. Even after a Boss fight & you desparately want to save, there’s usually nothing a danger to you until you do find a save point.
No. The worst game ever was Realm. You get to level 4(or something) in 5 minutes. Then the next level happens to be IMPOSSIBLE.