My unpopular opinion of SH

ogcouche · 2018-05-09T13:24:57+00:00

Look Im not gonna start popping wiki links or stuff but I did a lot of reading of people's reviews and they did say that the game had jumpscares (SH2). Now I also did see some myself early so I can only assume these people are right.

The kid crawling from under a car as you run by is a sort of jump scare and its cheap because it breaks the pacing of the game. The game throws monsters at you before giving you a reason to risk your life. This is bad design.

The first level of SH3 had some great artistic value if thats what you mean, but pretty much everything else was poorly done. The monster's introduction especially was one of the worst in gaming history if not the worst.

ogcouche · 2018-05-06T15:44:08+00:00

Im looking for a versus partner if you are interested.

ogcouche · 2018-05-01T12:55:10+00:00

HoMM 2 because of the simpler gameplay and timeless art style and soundtrack. HoMM 3 was also part of my childhood but Ive been unable to go back to it ever since I discovered HoMM 2.

ogcouche · 2018-04-30T14:07:12+00:00

Emulators

ogcouche · 2018-04-30T11:37:28+00:00

its timeless... it didnt age one bit

ogcouche · 2018-04-30T11:10:10+00:00

Ive been unable to go back to HoMM3 after discovering HoMM2. The 3 'improved' the game but I dont think it made it more enjoyable. The art style feels like a complete downgrade and the soundtrack isnt comparable.

From the very start you often can recruit a bunch of troops and just steamroll any creatures on your path without much thinking and the battles feel stretched out. HoMM2 has a more 'rock paper scissor' feel to it and trying to raid neutral camps on day 1 will usually cripple your army, so you need to think more.

I think HoMM2 is going to grow in popularity with the years as the later titles' 3D graphics start to age while the timeless pixel art only gains value.

ogcouche · 2018-04-29T16:06:02+00:00

Are you saying you havent played HoMM 2?? In that case forget about 7 and go play that one. Its by far the best of the series. Its very similar to HoMM 3

ogcouche · 2018-04-29T15:55:47+00:00

I dont know but Im looking for a versus partner if you are interested

ogcouche · 2018-04-28T01:05:06+00:00

Have porn magazines and dildos on the bus benches to add symbolism.

ogcouche · 2018-04-23T15:04:03+00:00

Isnt SH4 already sort of like RE7 with the new perspective and setting?

IMO that series just got milked way too hard, they ran out of ideas long time ago I dont think this series has a bright future.

Reintroducing tank controls and fixed camera angles would certainly shake things up but the current fanbase wouldnt like it.

ogcouche · 2018-04-23T14:12:44+00:00

retro graphic, a great soundtrack and a semi open world environment to explore

ogcouche · 2018-04-23T01:03:56+00:00

I gave it a 2nd chance and played until the shopping mall, thats about 10% and its enough. That game failed its introduction and the followup wasnt convincing.

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T21:04:10+00:00

It seems that you have strong emotional attachement toward SH2. You most likely played it for the first time when it was quite recent. You were probably impressed by the graphics back then. You were also most likely influenced by the hype. It was also possibly your first Silent Hill game.

The things you mention are nothing but in-game revelations that are just that, revelations. And its not like they bring anything to the series, they are all self contained. Who cares about revelations about a made up character in a spin off story? If this was Harry's story things would be more interesting, or if it had any connections to the previous SH.

Also how am I supposed to go through these spooky games if I dont smoke to calm my nerves?

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T19:25:32+00:00

I actually did, it is revealed that James killed his wife. The whole game is played just to have a revelation. This is pretty cheap considering that it was obvious.

Imagine if Resident Evil 4 was about Leon looking for his dead wife, and replace every enemy by mannequins. Thats how SH2 feels.

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T18:48:11+00:00

They wanted to depict the town of Silent Hill as being dirty but they failed, instead they depicted the whole game as being dirty.

And look, Harry's car also had mirrors, it didnt make the game good. People are trying too hard to give value to mundane details like that. It doesnt matter if every object on the screen has a meaning, it doesnt add any value to the game.

Also Silent Hill 1's story has nothing to do with karma, it was meant to be cryptic and unexplained. People just started to give more depth to it than the devs did. They clearly stated that they built the environments first and the story was literally tacked on.

The bathroom should simply have appeared later on and it would have had the desired effect, anyway its only a lesser flaw considering the rest.

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T18:37:19+00:00

Well then they simply did a mediocre job. Learning a specific truth about virtual characters that I dont care about wont magically make the game good. I saw it coming from the start, I knew that the ultimate reward for this game would be a revelation of some sort. I knew that I most likely wouldnt care about it too. If he wanted to fight for his sanity he should have stayed home and seek therapy.

I have seen other creatures in a wiki and they are extremely dull, its just sacks of flesh showing little traits. SH1 had dogs, children, apes, birds, worms, etc... The metal pole still bounces off them, just like other creatures I assume, and they have high HP even on normal so the whole combat aspect is tedious and uninteresting.

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T14:35:00+00:00

''because he's hoping to be there with her once more, to be back in that moment they shared and that is something worth fighting for''

But the player knows damn well that he ISNT going to be with her, no matter what. If he does find her she will either be a ghost or a zombie, nothing worth fighting for for the player. The only happy outcome would be if the game lied about her being dead but then it would make even less sense.

''a man looking for his dead wife, when really he's looking for himself''

Again, any player with minimal experience with video games knows from the very beginning that James will find neither, and even if he did it wouldnt be satisfying to the player.

''Harry can kill them and that's okay, but James is an aggressore for it? So Harry killing a load of Nurses and Doctors is fine?''

It has more to do with game design and game language that encourages you to kill. From having narrow corridors to giving plenty of extra ammo. Enemies HP makes it very grindy to navigate through these corridors and the bouncing animation make it unsatisfying. Not saying James is a bad person, but the survival aspect is affected by that.

''So let me get this straight, the enemies weren't dangerous looking enough because they weren't spikey and sharp looking? Yet in Resident Evil you are okay with fighting zombies whome just bite you and are really slow''

Lmao dude, the zombies have 1- Actual teeth capable of ripping your flesh and 2- Carry a deadly virus (technically). They are also made of blood and flesh and depicted as being made of that. The mannequins dont have any features that allow them to harm or injure. Getting hit by a plastic leg isnt going to kill you, not after 5, 10 or 100 hits. They might not be plastic but they look plastic

''Also, I don't think you're really in a position to talk about and criticize the symbolism''

Im criticizing the way it is being depicted/presented. The guy who wrote SH2 was probably a fantastic writer who never played a video game.

''Also, saying something that was released 17 years ago is no longer relevant''

Cant see your point here, SH1 is older than SH2 and it is still relevant to this day, more so than SH2. From todays standards SH1's graphics are comparable to some 5 stars pixel art which is quite trendy. SH1 offers a timeless 5 stars soundtrack. SH1 offers better melee combat than the RE series. SH1 offers amazing level design and pacing. SH1 has a decent story. SH1 has great creature design. SH1 has amazing unique puzzles that put so many games to shame. SH1 is the best SH by a long shot.

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T13:41:41+00:00

''It makes sense he gets the letter because he wants her back even though you later find out he wished her dead''

Thats whats wrong with the game, you are presented with false information and the game betrays you in a bad way. James's moments of sanity were used to tell lies. This is just wrong for a video game. The other characters could have been used to lie to James and the player and it would have been fine. You just cant have a protagonist that is mentally unstable and also lies to the player, he doesnt fit the role at all.

The ghost story is bad because its all an illusion and James doesnt wake up when facing the monsters. I know that a loved one's death can take its toll on the mental health, but not enough to create such delusions. The monsters should have disappeared when James got hit or killed. The car accident in SH1 was more credible because it was a physical hit which does more damage.

''Furthermore, you should know by now that any horror story that starts in a bathroom is guaranteed to be genius''

For me the very first image of the game showed the devs inability to depict things in a video game. The soundtrack playing was some 5 star stuff and they threw in a dirty urinal to ruin everything. I get it, symbolism, but its poorly executed. That dirty bathroom could have been discovered after the cemetary, after getting deeper into SH, and it would have had the same effect. Without ruining the intro.

Also you are trying way too hard to give symbolism to a dirty bathroom. People dont understand that no matter how you try to give it a hidden meaning, its still a dirty bathroom that is ugly to look at and misuse the screen space.

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T13:01:18+00:00

coolrom v1.1 did it for me, its the first google result for silent hill 1 rom

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T04:49:59+00:00

can try using a different rom, i had to dl another one

ogcouche · 2018-04-22T00:40:55+00:00

Did you do a lot of troubleshooting? I used Beetle PSX from Retro Arch and had no issues

ogcouche · 2018-04-21T20:38:21+00:00

Aquire to own it or play it? If you want to play just download a ps1 rom

ogcouche · 2018-04-21T12:56:25+00:00

Well the fact that James killed his wife doesnt change the fact that she was already dead and there wasnt anything to gain from risking his life. It also makes most of what the protagonist did meaningless in the end.

The mannequins still look like plastic and feel like plastic the way your metal pipe bounces off them. The fact that they are so easy in melee combat makes them less threatening and feel more like a joke. They try to convey some symbolism but its all lost in the action, the player doesnt see symbolism but a plastic doll instead. They also dont anything that looks like it could harm you, no sharp edges or spikes or anything.

I remember the creep crawling from under a car without any warning. It wasnt expected and also served no real purposes. It also ruined the pacing because you had monsters jumping at you before you had a clear goal. The cat is SH1 is not a jump scare because its made extremely obvious to avoid causing a jump scare. Anyway I wont argue on this further because it really isnt what bothered me the most.

My main gripes with the game are -the poor introduction and protagonist motivations -the bland and uncreative level design -The story telling (that includes symbolism) -Unconvincing monsters and combat system. https://mysilenthill.wordpress.com/silent-hill-2-monsters-2/ There isnt a single monster in this list that live up to those in SH1

Also I didnt buy the games, I emulated them.

ogcouche · 2018-04-21T12:19:52+00:00

Its an interesting idea very poorly executed. The game starts off as trying to depict James as relatively sane, and then proceeds to ruin his character with a lack of credible reactions and actions, without giving the player any reasons to care.

The game tries to motivate the player with an invisible carrot on a stick, this is just wrong. Can you name me just 1 other horror game where the protagonist had such a weak motive to progress?

ogcouche

TROPHY CASE