New Silent Hill Announced

[Chanel Oberlin]

They're whoring the shit out of the franchise.

Imagine what will they do to Castlevania and MGS next.

 

[Alienman]

I would love to see some whoring for MGS, actually. Could be interesting to play a game in the series without Kojima. Curious where they would take it, well, if we ignore that weird survival thing they made.

 

[schru]

I have said it and will say it again: Videogames aesthetics peaked in the time of the PlayStation 2. The original composition, feel and style is one a hundred times better than the second image, no matter how "high definition" the second looks.

Incidentally, it should be noted that the original cutscenes weren't this smudgy either. It seems like the screenshot is from the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition mod:



Roguey, is this the mod you mentioned when the topic of which version is best to play had come up? It seems like they use AI upscaling for cutscenes and 2-D backgrounds. I told you they'd inevitably tinker with the content. Accept no substitutes, emulate the PlayStation 2 version (apart from the fact that emulation is a kind of substitute).

It may be optional, but seeing as it's already screenshots of the ‘enhanced’ version which are being circulated, the end result is that people go with this sort of thing.

 

[Roguey]

@Roguey, is this the mod you mentioned when the topic of which version is best to play had come up? It seems like they use AI upscaling for cutscenes and 2-D backgrounds. I told you they'd inevitably tinker with the content. Accept no substitutes, emulate the PlayStation 2 version (apart from the fact that emulation is a kind of substitute).

Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition includes settings that can be toggled or adjusted for the game. Use the Configuration Tool to configure project settings.

I assume you can just disable this stuff and keep the purist features you want.

 

[schru]

@Roguey, is this the mod you mentioned when the topic of which version is best to play had come up? It seems like they use AI upscaling for cutscenes and 2-D backgrounds. I told you they'd inevitably tinker with the content. Accept no substitutes, emulate the PlayStation 2 version (apart from the fact that emulation is a kind of substitute).

Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition includes settings that can be toggled or adjusted for the game. Use the Configuration Tool to configure project settings.

I assume you can just disable this stuff and keep the purist features you want.

Yes, but ...

Well, one way or another, most people, if they're to play it at all, would either go with a remake or select all those options, I guess. I don't like it, though.

 

[kalganoat]

Silent Hill f
>we want the fatal frame audience.

 

[kites]

I had a similar thought re: Fatal Frame, plus it looks like the only interesting project of the bunch so far..

time for a replay of FF2

 

[Ash]

I assume you can just disable this stuff and keep the purist features you want.

Yes, but ...

Well, one way or another, most people, if they're to play it at all, would either go with a remake or select all those options, I guess. I don't like it, though.

Precisely. Options aren't always a good thing. The "options are always a good thing" crowd do not factor in two critical things:

1. A new player does not know the game, and therefore in many cases do not have the context and understanding to be able to judge whether enabled/disabled is appropriate.
2. Most gamers are dim-wits anyways, even if they did have that initial understanding.
Bonus: 3: the more options there are, the further we get away from the designer's vision. Which is a bad thing if said vision is very strong and cohesive.

 

[Roguey]

Precisely. Options aren't always a good thing. The "options are always a good thing" crowd do not factor in two critical things:

1. A new player does not know the game, and therefore in many cases do not have the context and understanding to be able to judge whether enabled/disabled is appropriate.
2. Most gamers are dim-wits anyways, even if they did have that initial understanding.
Bonus: 3: the more options there are, the further we get away from the designer's vision. Which is a bad thing if said vision is very strong and cohesive.

The only way to get a copy of PC SH2 now is to pirate it, I imagine these people aren't ignorant dimwits (dimwits wouldn't know how to mount an iso).

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Silent hill 2 it's more like a psychological thriller than a horror game, but there are parts that are more scary. Like the prison.

I have some hope on this though. Ito is involved and has designed the monsters, and probably will help in the levels art design (Otherworld sections). As bland as blooper team games are they look pretty decent (The medium). In case of SH2 they only have to improve muh grapichs and animations.




I really like this artwork

The other games they have announced... pure smoke until I see more.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I really like this artwork

It's terrible. Mary being dead is supposed to be a plot reveal at the very end of the game. From this boxart where Mary is literally in heaven, to James's constant weepy expressions, it's obvious to any new player that she's dead. The whole pacing of the story is destroyed.

Compare it to the old boxart:

Not only is it more unsettling and so fitting for a disturbing horror game, but it doesn't rub the story in your face.

 

[Morgoth]

Another unnecessary remake of one of the most overrated games in gaming history.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

so what does the name mean?
why is the hill silent?

 

[Ash]

It's the name of the town. Like "Wistful Valley" or some American dream idealized peaceful white picket fence town; a quiet place on the hill.

"They're whoring the shit out of the franchise."

Been doing that ever since after SH1 released in 1998



Yeah Yeah I'll accept 1-4 as legit, even if I think lowly of the latter ones, but after 4 it for sure became a milk factory.

 

[schru]

I really like this artwork

It's terrible. Mary being dead is supposed to be a plot reveal at the very end of the game. From this boxart where Mary is literally in heaven, to James's constant weepy expressions, it's obvious to any new player that she's dead. The whole pacing of the story is destroyed.

Actually, it is mentioned that Mary died in multiple places: trailers, the back cover of the American and European version, the manual, the cutscene outside the lavatory; then also James can be seen carrying her lifeless in one of the scenes from the trailers/intro collage and he mentions that she died at various points later on.

I do agree that the style is very generic and the new acting is cliché and overly dramatic. It feels like an entirely different story.

Compare it to the old boxart:

Not only is it more unsettling and so fitting for a disturbing horror game, but it doesn't rub the story in your face.

That cover is indeed nice, but seeing as it's Angela who is on it, it feels a bit incidental, like they just selected it for the striking forlorn expression.

Here's the more prestigious Japanese cover:

And upon opening it:

Itou Masahiro on the nine red squares:

 

[schru]

so what does the name mean?
why is the hill silent?

It's pretty silent when you get there, but there actually are no hills in the town itself, so that part is indeed a mystery, appropriately enough for a horror story.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Actually, it is mentioned that Mary died in multiple places: trailers, the back cover of the American and European version, the manual, the cutscene outside the lavatory, and James mentions it at various points later on.

Yes, you are right - Mary is known to have died, and the plot reveal is that James killed her. This was a failure of memory on my part. New cover still sucks, though.

 

[schru]

Actually, it is mentioned that Mary died in multiple places: trailers, the back cover of the American and European version, the manual, the cutscene outside the lavatory, and James mentions it at various points later on.

Yes, you are right - Mary is known to have died,

Spoiler

and the plot reveal is that James killed her

. This was a failure of memory on my part. New cover still sucks, though.

Some people who haven't yet played the game might read this thread, so let's not spoil things.



Regarding the trailer and new acting, why not recall how unusual and stylish the original trailers were:

 

[Ravielsk]

The "F" game is the only one that looks like it has any sort of potential but its not a Silent Hill game. If anything it looks like Fatal Frame with its strong Japanese themes. The other ones are pure cashgrabs that will at best be so bad that the series will be put on ice indefinitely and at worst will start another round of "re-imaginings" like with Resident Evil so that zoomies can also say they played Silent Hill without ever touching Silent Hill.

Why does he look asian? Isn't the entire point of Silent Hill that its American horror done through a Japanese lense?

 

[Delterius]

poor guy seems like he learned about the remake

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Why the obsession with SH2? Trying to rehash its premise is what ruined the post-Team Silent games. Furthermore, nowadays every other psychological horror is about exploring a nightmare world based on the protagonist’s psyche.

I think they should maintain focus on the occult aspect of the games. Silent Hill isn’t a demonic therapist, it’s a spiritual power that has been corrupted and perverted. The Order is trying to exploit this power to cause the apocalypse. Anyone caught in the crossfire finds their darkest wishes made manifest by the same token. There’s a fair amount you can do with that.

But of course they’re gonna ruin it

 

[Dadd]

The "F" game is the only one that looks like it has any sort of potential but its not a Silent Hill game. If anything it looks like Fatal Frame with its strong Japanese themes. The other ones are pure cashgrabs that will at best be so bad that the series will be put on ice indefinitely and at worst will start another round of "re-imaginings" like with Resident Evil so that zoomies can also say they played Silent Hill without ever touching Silent Hill.

Why does he look asian? Isn't the entire point of Silent Hill that its American horror done through a Japanese lense?

Doesn't look Asian to me. He's just making a Japanese old man face.

 

[Roguey]

Why the obsession with SH2? Trying to rehash its premise is what ruined the post-Team Silent games. Furthermore, nowadays every other psychological horror is about exploring a nightmare world based on the protagonist’s psyche.

Because it's the one that resonated the most with westerners and there's no legal way to buy it because Konami lost the source code and everyone hated the flawed "remaster."

 

[Ravielsk]

Why the obsession with SH2?

Pseudo internet celebrities and journos have been shilling it for over a decade as the best game in the series and have thus kept it relevant despite its age. This also greatly exaggerated the games qualities to a point where, despite technically being the odd one out of the quadrilogy, it became synonymous with the series as a whole. So when people talk or think about Silent Hill they most likely imagine SH2.
In that sense its like RE4 which was a hit back in the its time and context but effectively marked the series decline into sheitdom.

Konami lost the source code

Not really. They lost the source code for the retail release so the team that was making the remake was given some beta version that was technically playable but still needed tuning(aka texture work and placeholder sfx). They of course did none of that and instead poorly ported the beta code onto PS360 and called it a day.
Konami could very easily produce a solid remaster even with that beta source code but they would have to give it to a competent studio and give it enough time to actually make it. They are just too stupid and lazy to do it.

 

[†††]

it do be like that sometimes