I...I...love silent hill. Alongside Metal Gear Solid, it's a series that I really hold dear. It's a series(like metal gear solid) that I've been playing ever since the PS1 days fanatically. I've played every single silent hill over 8 times each. I love the storyline, I love the atmosphere, I love the game play, I love pretty much everything about it. And of course loving something for this long, will result in a pretty strong attachment and conservatism regarding the series.
What should be common knowledge now is that the next Silent Hill(now titled Silent Hill: Homecoming) was handed off to American Developers"The collective". When outrage initially was expressed from the Silent Hill community, the damage control casuals of the series took offense. What should be noted to these people is why people got so mad. First off, the collective made the davinci code, and "buffy the vampire slayer" games. Gee, sounds promising.
The main issues overall though, are:
1. They aren't team silent. Period. These games have such a personal touch on them that straying from the original developers causes such a serious impact it's ridiculous. If you don't know this you're obviously just a casual of the series. The thing is though, had someone like Hideo Kojima did the game I wouldn't have been angry. Now you're probably saying, "is it because he's asian", it's not. If capcom did the next Silent Hill I'd commit suicide. It's because Kojima has that personal touch and attention to detail in his games. He has the capacity to make a good horror game.
2. Americans have different approaches to "horror". I'm American. I know this. How many people have told you the Japanese version of the ring, and the grudge were better than the American remakes? I swear to God, I actually gave them a chance until I started hearing details. Now the protaganist of the next game is COMING HOME FROM A WAR and has to find his brother. Not only that, but now the game is centered towards combat. The developers themselves have stated that, now your character isn't so hopeless anymore, you can fight the monsters more effectively now.
GOD DAMN IT you're SUPPOSED to feel hopeless in silent hill. The fact that you aren't so prepared in combat is WHY the monsters are scary. The monsters in God of war would be pretty damn scary had you not had the power of kratos. The abilities of the protagonist affect the horror just as much as the power of the monster. I DO NOT WANT an action game. I want a horror game. A known victim of this is Resident Evil.
For every hardcore silent hill fan out there like me, there's about 3 hardcore resident evil fans. And the way I'm acting now, is how they were acting when Resident Evil 4 arrived. It transformed the series into an action game. And received very high critical and commercial success. It's obvious that the general public just prefers that more than tension and atmosphere. So of course, Resident Evil 5 will follow the same course. Forget infected brain eating zombies, mind controlled African humans are far more frightening. :rolleyes: The collective sees the success and Resident Evil 4's action based gameplay and thinks "me too", obviously.
Just look at how the casuals reacted to the metal gear online beta. Metal gear solid was doing just fine when only the hardcore fans were playing it. But now that MGS4 is the major blockbuster ps3 exclusive all the little novices to the series are hoping out of cod4 and asking Metal Gear Solid to change too. Kojima did a nice job of blending stealth and action in the game so far and I thank him for that.
Contrary to my prediction, there are still some good horror games coming out this year. Alone in the dark, Siren's PS3 remake(the demo is very very good), And fatal frame's next game which will be appearing on the wii. It still just hurts that Silent Hill of all games had to be deaded. The only games that succeed nowadays are games with action and online multiplayer. Single player games, which sadly include horror games are gonna become a thing of the past. And leaving their gameplay elements with them. Yay. I'm done complaining now.
Replaced is a staggering visual achievement, blending 2.5D retro-futurism with a captivatingly grim premise.
Pragmata has sold 1 million copies in two days, Capcom has announced.
I didn't know it came out last Friday, or I would have bought the game. I will try again for this upcoming weekend.
Im really digging it. It reminds me of games from the PS2 era, not visually or how it plays, but like the spirit of it. If you were around for that golden age of gaming, you’ll get what I mean when you play this.
Have you tried Kanitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess (also Capcom)? That feels like a PS2-era Capcom game.
Agreed! The art style is amazing in that game. I bought it immediately after I played the demo but haven't started it lol
I know what you mean. I think it really feels like Vanquish, with some Dead Space and Binary Domain thrown in. So maybe more PS3 era but yes it is great.
The next thing I'm mine when I've had my fill of crimson desert. A nice linear action game to contrast the open ended 😗👌
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has now become the second title to win Game of the Year at all five major awards shows.
It just wasn't for you in that way i guess. Can't really argue with it when it wins all the awards and it's the highest rating by players of all time
I thought this game was a load of rubbish. Trying too hard to be art(sy) by people who don’t really understand art but want to make it look like they do. Found it obvious and shallow and just not a fun game. Just seemed like every relentless second they were clutching at trying to feed this superior narrative… the irony being that’s kind of what I’m doing now… maybe that’s art imitating art….
Didn't know the Golden Joystick fan votum was considered one of the "major awards"?
I always thought it's "only" the Big Four - VGA, Bafta, GDC and DICE.
Nonetheless, congrats to Clair Obscur!
I don't know if they'll die out, but they sure as hell won't be scary anymore. They'll go from "survival horror" to "survival beat-em-up". It's a real shame.
The Siren PS3 remake is a very good sign though. If you don't have a japanese PSN account you should watch youtube videos of it. It's very good.
%100, I've been saying for years that gaming's new found popularity is actually ruining it, and everyone disagrees. I HATED cod4 multiplayer, refuse to touch Halo, refuse to buy anything that says xbox or wii, etc etc. It sucks though because all I do these days is wait for something quality and having a personal touch to it, while the developers must like it because more people buy there video games, it's also a curse because they deliberately mold the game to attract a larger audience, and that to me destroys the essence of what a truly good gaming experience is. What happened to all the old quirky pc gaming market with games like American McGee's Alice, o right those types of games will never be reproduced simply because they do not attract "mass" appeal. F*ck the free world.
I never really cared for survival horror, res 4 was good, it was one of the few survival horror games that was made correctly, I prefer stealth action or when a small part of the game is survival horror ie: Uncharted,Resistance, I find that more interesting, there is often too much atmosphere in survival horror games, don't take this the wrong way because I am anticipating Fallout 3.
thanks for the fine post, i share the same ideas..