Perkel
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2014
- Messages
- 16,092
SH3's problem is it's not Heather's story.
SH3 doesn't have any problems. Problems started with SH4 and mostly because they tried to adapt game to modern controls which "newsflash" destroyed ambience and theme. It would be completely fine entry if they would use old movement and camera scheme.
Every SH since 4 is trying to replicate rather than create which is why they can't be good games.
One of the reasons why shattered memories was good entry in SH series is precisely because it was not made to be SH game in first place. Developement team behind it wanted to make different game but their publisher acquired license and they were made to reform their game into SH game. So it was their game with SH theme bolted to it. At first I wasn't too keen on it when i played it on Wii (especially the chases) but it gradually grew on me and by the time it ended I realized that that whole thing was elaborate setup to play on SH fan expectations hence the name "Shattered Memories" IT's not just in-game reference but also real life reference to fan memories. Game played by someone completely new to SH genre would play entirely different than for old veteran of SH games like me. It was familiar story of SH1 that played around with that knowledge to surprise old fan.
The final twist of shattered memories story proves that this was NOT sh game. And yet by proving that it was not SH game with that final twist it proved it was SH game after all.
Playing Shattered Memories also taught me a lot about what makes SH game click. It is complicated mess of several factors and the story itself as much as praise it can get with something like SH2 is not actually that important. It is the surprise factor that make SH games tick. Ito's monsters were so good not because they were horrifying. They were so good because they surprised players. They were more interesting than scary. Pyramid head was scary but primarily it was puzzle for player to solve not the physical threat behind it to watch out for. Why hotel was flooded is core of SH theme not story, gameplay or characters. It is the mystery behind elements, the shadows rather than lights.
If you watch SH documentary you can take from it the surface details but if you watch it from this perspective you quickly realize why Ito designed their mosters like this, it wasn't fluke or "crafty" creation. IT was conscious choice. So were the stories involved, environments etc. I have no doubt that a lot of that stuff was something that was not understood well by creators themselves (as proven later by Siren series) but if there ever was something that can be called high art this was the thing.
TLDR: To create true SH game it requires more than just understanding some themes and being at the top of game dev game. It requires true creative spark between many avenues. The fact that there was a team that could do it 3 times in a row (with 4 one being damaged by outside factors) is something amazing in itself.