Silent Hill

[HMD]

Now, I know some of you here aren't all into that Survival Horror junk unless it has poor controls and a shitty online mode. And then you'll probably go on and on about how you can't get into Silent Hill because the boobies aren't big enough or the controls aren't completely fucking cumbersome and then make a completely irrelevant list about your favorite flavors of Hi-C.

But then I remembered importgamer13 doesn't post here anymore.

So then, let's discuss this amazing video game series, shall we?

Silent Hill 2 is awesome. Silent Hill 4 was pretty disappointing. Silent Hill: The Movie was a fucking travesty, and the worst $1 I ever spent (I saw it at a dollar theater). The people involved in that tragedy deserve ass cancer.

WHAT SAY YOU?

[HMD]

Oh, I forgot: I bought a Pyramid Head t-shirt on monday. It's really cool.

[elevator_kart]

I've only played Silent Hill 1 and it was really COOL.
For those who played Silent Hill games, which one is the best one... 1,2,3 or 4?

Hey HMD, Shinobi avatar looks great
It's from Shinobi III intro on Genesis as I think

[Ellendesu]

Now, I know some of you here aren't all into that Survival Horror junk unless it has poor controls and a shitty online mode. And then you'll probably go on and on about how you can't get into Silent Hill because the boobies aren't big enough or the controls aren't completely fucking cumbersome and then make a completely irrelevant list about your favorite flavors of Hi-C.

But then I remembered importgamer13 doesn't post here anymore.

So then, let's discuss this amazing video game series, shall we?

Silent Hill 2 is awesome. Silent Hill 4 was pretty disappointing. Silent Hill: The Movie was a fucking travesty, and the worst $1 I ever spent (I saw it at a dollar theater). The people involved in that tragedy deserve ass cancer.

WHAT SAY YOU?

Sick Burn.

Back when I first played Silent Hill on the PS1 I thought it was so COOL. I thought the atmosphere and storyline were so much better than Resident Evil, I've always loved the creepy occult stuff and let's face it...that's what Silent Hill has given us! Silent Hill 2 was an improvement on the already grand SH1, and gave us one of the fucking scariest video game monsters of all time. Pyramid Head. A lot of people hated 3 because of certain aspects (Unlockable costumes and stuff and the whole cute female protagonist thing) But it was my favourite of the series, there were moments in that game that just rocked me. SH4...had some less than charming things added to it, but I still enjoy the game and I feel it was worth the 10 dollars I eventually wound up paying for it.

As for Silent Hill the Movie, it's a matter of opinion, but personally I thought it was the most faithful adaptation of a video game for the screen EVER. I don't see how it's a travesty. I thought it was great.

And to further add to it. The puzzles in Silent Hill always seemed cool to me, there were some real puzzles in those games! Resident Evil puzzles wound up being something an autistic 3 year old with a crack problem could figure out. I like to think.

Anyway, theres my .02

[HMD]

elevator_kart: As someone who owns all four, I'd say SH2 is the best in the series. That'd be the best game for a complete newbie to start, since it's a stand-alone game (its storyline is different than the first games').

Yeah, it's Shinobi III. Or, as it's otherwise known, the greatest video game of all time. Joe Musashi is the man.

Willtaker: SH3 rocked. It was definately the whackiest game, but if you were playing more serious, it was pretty damned creepy at times. The alternate world, in particular, with the bleeding walls and stuff.

As far as the movie is concerned, I just thought it was really bad. The acting (why would I do something...........to hurt my own daughter?) was pretty painful, a lot of things didn't even make sense (the chase scene at the beginning, Pyramid Head), and the fact that the main villain didn't even have a name. She just stood around and looked like my 7th grade math teacher. I would've hated it even if it wasn't based on Silent Hill, so it's not a fanboy thing.

The puzzles are way cool as well.

And of course I made a sick burn. All my burns are sick. You might as well start calling me Jacqui Saburido.

[elevator_kart]

Thanks for this great description
I think I'll check Silent Hill 2 as soon as possible

[ROMate]

I've never played a Silent Hill game. I've watched them be played, for maybe 30 minutes at a time over a period of weeks, and wasn't really impressed. Then again, I'm not much for survival horror in any form. The enemies are great though. Beats the hell out of zombies.

The Silent Hill movie was pretty good. It beats most video game movies as far as staying close to the games. The only other video game movie I ever saw that managed it was Mortal Kombat 1. Annihilation was a big step down.

[Snorlax.RAYZR]

I loved SH. I hear left and right though, that SH2 is the one people like most.

I own SH3 for PC, but I never got around to finishing it. I use surround sound and am always in a dark room, so yeah, I admit it. It crreeps the fuck outta me when I play on PC.

I haven't played SH4 yet, so I'm not sure what it's like. I know every game's story though.

And I agree that the Silent Hill movie was probably the best game-to-movie adaptation ever. It beat Super Mario Bros, that's for sure. Haha.

Now to wait for Tekken, DoA and MGS. Aren't they making a Halo movie too?

Rofl, they should make a Contra movie.

[Centurion]

I loved SH. I hear left and right though, that SH2 is the one people like most.

Ironically enough, people like Resident Evil 2 the most of the series. Strange eh?

[R-9]

Having played through all 4 so far:

Silent Hill 1 was an excellent departure from the norm at the time, and while it did involve the same basic control scheme as Resident Evil, your character didn't feel like you were using a tank instead of a person. Also, the unlimited inventory system was for the awesome, as it didn't feel like the designers were trying to milk unnecessary playtime out of the game.

Silent Hill 2 was basically the ultimate refined version of Silent Hill 1. The control system no longer leaned on Resident Evil, Unlimited inventory was still there, and the plot was partly based on a David Lynch movie: a very nice place to start, as far as atmosphere goes. Also, Triangle Man hates Person Man.

Silent Hill 3 had a great deal going for it, and there were a couple of nice extra touches if you had a complete SH2 save on your card. The game also did a lot with the atmosphere that they probably wanted to do, but couldn't with the first game. My only complaint is as follows: Meleefest extravaganza. I would've preferred a more viable third gun than the SMG.

Silent Hill 4 was something of a departure from the norm, but, then again, SH4 wasn't originally meant to be a Silent Hill game in the first place. The ghosts were neat, but I wish they had found some other way to put you back in The Room than with a limited inventory system. It does, however, have my favorite final boss fight in the series.

As for Contra movie: http://contrarnold.ytmnd.com/

[LordRyunson]

Contra the movie eh? They better base it off the GOOD Contras like Shattered Soldier and the Alien Wars, not the crappy ones like Neo Contra and that awful Contra game for PS1. You know, the one where it took a birds eyes view and you die constantly? Neo Contra brought back that concept.

[HMD]

Okay, so I was listening to the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack (comes free with game!) earlier, and I was reminded: Joe Romersa cannot fucking sing. And judging by that outfit of his on that profile page, he can't dress properly either.

No really, take a listen to this shit:

Hometown (SH3 Ending Theme)

Cradel of Forest (SH4 Ending Theme)

Konami's track record of shitty ending themes (I Am The Wind, Can't Say Goodbye To Yesterday and Way To Fall) is only getting bigger.

[Ellendesu]

Hometown was fucking awful. Way to ruin a GREAT theme.

[HMD]

If there was one good thing about the movie, it was that they didn't play any of these songs. The other singer (Melissa Williamson) is a bajillion million times better.

[LordRyunson]

If the ending tracks stink, what about the opening and middle parts? SNK and Capcom have pretty good music tracks in their heyday, and is now crossing a thin line between going strong, and dropping rapidly.

[HMD]

Actually, the rest of the music is great. I'd post some more songs but uh it took me forever to get those two uploaded. "You're Not Here," "Room of Angel," "Waiting For You," "Tender Sugar" and "Your Rain" are worth listening to, as far as vocal stuff goes. The rest is good if you're into noise/ambience music (also, too many to list).

[Ellendesu]

I have the SH3 soundtrack, and most of the other stuff.

[Guy]

I did play Silent Hill 2 and 3, i think 2 is the best =3

[scarab]

I FUCKING LOVE SILENT HILL.

Most people say that either 2 or 3 are their faves.  4 gets on the bottom of the fave chart only because it really didn't have anything to do with the franchise (they decided to make it a Silent Hill title during production).  Also 4 didn't really utilize the radio or darkness as creep factors.  I think they are all great titles, even though Harry's (the main character of SH1) voice acting is a bit dry.  "Radio.  What's going on with that radio?" cracks me up every time I play through.

If you don't own SH2 for the PS2 and you wish to purchase it, I suggest getting the greatest hits version because it has a sub-scenario and two extra endings (Xbox version SH2:  Restless Dreams already has the extra content).  When you complete a game of SH2 on PS2, save your game and fire up a game of SH3 using the same memory card.  There are references to SH2 during the game of SH3.

[VelcroStraps]

I'm another fan of the Silent Hill series, with my preference order being 2,1,3,4.
Two was the first in the series I played, which could be one of the factors in my favouring it. I also liked that it wasn't so clear why the town was fucked-up, I think if things like that aren't so clearly explained it's harder to get a grip on them and that helps to make you feel powerless. While I did think One was shit-scary, learning the cause of the problems took some of the potency from the feeling of malice that the town gave you.

3, I liked but I didn't think the story was as good as the previous one and the game wasn't as frightening as its predecessors. Still, it wasn't bad and it had some of the most entertaining extras in the series(the Beam Sabre in particular).

4 gets a lot of hate, but I quite enjoyed it(albeit with reservations, but then, all of the games had a few downpoints). Inventory space became irritating after a while(it was fine in the beginning mind you), and the story disappointed me after a while too, the basic premise was fine but it didn't go anywhere interesting.
It was only the second Silent Hill game I played, so I don't think I missed some of the series' staples as much as a lot of other people did.

What's everyone protagonist preference order? Mine would be James, then Heather then the other two tied. Heather's the most obviously endearing, especially because she seems to have an opinion on everything you examine, unlike other survival horror characters who tend to give you a dry account of everything they find. Plus she tends to say or think things that you might actually think yourself in that situation, which helps to make her feel a little more real.
James is my favourite character though, as his story's the best, and naturally his story is a big part of him. His wimpy-niceness and blandness help to enhance his personality, whereas they'd normally be signs of a lack of personality. Those traits also contrast well with certain revelations about his actions, and help to keep him sympathetic through it all.
Henry and Harry are a tad lacking in the personality department, so I don't really have anything to say about them.

While I'm here, Ill give you a link to two sites with Silent Hill fanart. A lot of it's inappropriately cute, but that's part of the charm.

http://www.geocities.jp/oda_777/shill.html
http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~kazumog/SH/index.html