After reading that I will be getting the original Silent Hill thanks to PSN, I was very curious on picking this up and possibly Downpour in the future. Unfortunately, I keep reading that these are terrible ports especially on ps3. So for somebody who has never played these games would it ruin the experience? I'm not asking about the quality of the games per say, they seem to be well received as far as survival horror is concerned (big fan of the genre). Is there any talk of a patch to fix these issues? Thanks for the help bombers
Silent Hill HD Collection
Game » consists of 7 releases. Released Mar 20, 2012
The second and third Silent Hill games come to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Silent Hill HD Collection with new high-definition graphics and voice acting.
So how bad are these ports?
Definitely play the first one. My only issue with how dated it seems was the over-produced footstep sound effects. They were very repetive and got a bit much here and there, but it was still a great game overall.
Downpour has been amazing so far. I'm really digging the story. It has a blend of some of the best elements of previous Silent Hills. Scenes where you're just running, like in Shattered Memories and the combat has been the least annoying so far. A block button goes a long way. I'm really stoked to continue playing it.
@Sackmanjones said:
@xyzygy: @Duecenage: Would you say its a good idea to play the first one before I get this. PSN+ is giving it for free in early April. I may not be able to finish it due to how dated it is but should I at least give it a shot? Also have either of you played downpour and if so how was that?
I've never played the stuff after the original (other than some of The Room), although I would love to, but you should know that even though the original is old, it's actually still quite scary. I think even though I haven't played the sequels, I can still answer this question, and I believe you should definitely play through the original. I was surprised at how great it was. I've never really been into the old RE games, but I've seen my brother play all of them multiple times through, and beat a few myself, but I guess it turns out Silent Hill is more my style, 'cause to me it seems it has aged better than the old RE's. Do not! I repeat, do not let the game's age get to you. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. You have to give it time too. If you ever find yourself getting lost, don't give up on it, you'll be grateful that you didn't. It's kind of sad to see it's been going downhill after three though.
Lots of people are complaining about it but I think it's fine. I'm happy with my purchase. I also agree you should play 1.
@Duecenage Glad to hear Downpour you're enjoying Downpour, playing the HD collection has made me want to give it a shot. I'll pick it up after I finish the collection.
Thanks for the tip! I am actually a huge RE fan myself and have always known about the Silent Hill series but never got around to playing them. Given the fact I was too young to play the first Resident Evil, the first Silent hill game looked terrifying to me. But since I am a big survival horror fan Ive decided I should probably dip into these games. As for the age, I have played through all the PSone RE games no later than a year ago so thats no issue, I was just truly interested on how it was. Again thanks for the help!@Sackmanjones said:
@xyzygy: @Duecenage: Would you say its a good idea to play the first one before I get this. PSN+ is giving it for free in early April. I may not be able to finish it due to how dated it is but should I at least give it a shot? Also have either of you played downpour and if so how was that?I've never played the stuff after the original (other than some of The Room), although I would love to, but you should know that even though the original is old, it's actually still quite scary. I think even though I haven't played the sequels, I can still answer this question, and I believe you should definitely play through the original. I was surprised at how great it was. I've never really been into the old RE games, but I've seen my brother play all of them multiple times through, and beat a few myself, but I guess it turns out Silent Hill is more my style, 'cause to me it seems it has aged better than the old RE's. Do not! I repeat, do not let the game's age get to you. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. You have to give it time too. If you ever find yourself getting lost, don't give up on it, you'll be grateful that you didn't. It's kind of sad to see it's been going downhill after three though.
@Duecenage: Cool, maybe if this catches on I will try to pick it up on an amazon sale in the future
@Sackmanjones said:
@xyzygy Are the games mostly puzzles or is it pretty even between that and creepy atmosphere and running/fighting?
Well, Silent Hill 2 presents a very open world type game. You don't have to necessarily go directly to your mission because you can explore the parts of the town that gradually open up on you. There are puzzles but I wouldn't say it's focused on them. I'd say 2 leans more on exploration and combat than puzzles.
However, 3 is a different story. My experience with it was underwhelming, especially coming off of 2. Characters aren't as memorable (especially the protagonist and antagonist, both are very annoying and shallow - compared to James and the antagonists from 2), the game is ridiculously short (I beat it in 5 hours 56 minutes :/ ) and there is far less exploration. And the story wasn't even that great. I don't remember any of the puzzles from 3 but I do know there are some in there.
Homecoming however is much more focused on puzzles I found.
@groin: Wow, that's a little disappointing, but to the games credit you wouldn't really be seeing the edge of the game world very much, right? Just around the very edge of the map, and the percentage of time you spend there is pretty small in comparison.
@groin: As I've said in previous threads of this forum, the reduced fog only happens through Computer controlled moments like that, the fog comes right back in once you gain control of your character. The CG scenes still have the same amount of fog and blurriness as the original as well as the normal gameplay of Silent Hill 2. People need to understand that the fog only gets reduced with computer controlled scenes such as this and the Rest Stop at the beginning of the game.
Edit: And there is a glitch in the game where once you skip a cutscene, slowly but surely over time with how many times you skip cutscenes the lips become more and more out of sync as the game goes on, so I suggest not skipping them until (hopefully) a patch comes out. So far that is the only real problem with the game that I have encountered. Mind you this is for the XBOX360 version of the game and only Silent Hill 2 that I have played, haven't ventured into Silent hill 3 yet.
@Grivah said:
@groin: As I've said in previous threads of this forum, the reduced fog only happens through Computer controlled moments like that, the fog comes right back in once you gain control of your character. The CG scenes still have the same amount of fog and blurriness as the original as well as the normal gameplay of Silent Hill 2. People need to understand that the fog only gets reduced with computer controlled scenes such as this and the Rest Stop at the beginning of the game.
Based on my experience this is not true. More so in 3 than in 2.
@Commisar123 said:
Reviews seem pretty favorable actually and I have no reason to think that they would be bad ports
Because most revievers are just lazy and didn't compare the games to the originals.
These ports look like shit in comparison to the originals. It's beyond me how someone doesn't see that. Textures are worse, fog looks like shit, water looks like a graphical glitch, effects like self-shadowing and depth of field are missing, cinematics are just stretched, sound problems are even worse that the graphical problems, etc....
@Grivah said:
@groin: As I've said in previous threads of this forum, the reduced fog only happens through Computer controlled moments like that, the fog comes right back in once you gain control of your character. The CG scenes still have the same amount of fog and blurriness as the original as well as the normal gameplay of Silent Hill 2. People need to understand that the fog only gets reduced with computer controlled scenes such as this and the Rest Stop at the beginning of the game.
Wrong. The fog always looks like shit in comparison to the originals. Fog effects are always way worse and it looks like you pushing a rotating wall in front of your character.
@Grivah: There definitely a whole lot of fog effects missing during normal gameplay.
And the water looks like a glitch: http://i.minus.com/i3Ph4CpiXrvX8.gif
New textures are too clean and boring (also, notice the new background which looks way worse):
Here's a nice comparison gif for SH3 (it's almost like someone switched off the atmosphere in the HD versione): http://h9.abload.de/img/a87x4i.gif
The fog effect is rather laughable in the town section of SH3. It's basically a solid white wall that cuts the screen off ten feet in front of your character and scrolls when you run towards it. Thankfully there is barely any fog in the game in the first place. The game got worse on my second play through when I decided to test out the unlimited smg and it decide to screw up the audio and lag the game play for several seconds after I was done firing it.
@xyzygy said:
However, 3 is a different story. My experience with it was underwhelming, especially coming off of 2. Characters aren't as memorable (especially the protagonist and antagonist, both are very annoying and shallow - compared to James and the antagonists from 2), the game is ridiculously short (I beat it in 5 hours 56 minutes :/ ) and there is far less exploration. And the story wasn't even that great. I don't remember any of the puzzles from 3 but I do know there are some in there.
Well, both games are actually pretty damn short considering each one has an achievement for beating them in under three hours.
I played the original SH1 for the first time about a week ago. It was great. Would I be better off playing 3 before 2? Since 3 is apparently "underwhelming". I honestly don't care too much about it but what do you think?
@BasketSnake said:
I played the original SH1 for the first time about a week ago. It was great. Would I be better off playing 3 before 2? Since 3 is apparently "underwhelming". I honestly don't care too much about it but what do you think?
SH3 is practically a sequel to SH1 and it's a really good game. So yes, you should play it and now is the best time since you just finished SH1. The notion that SH3 was underwhelming stems mainly from the fact that SH3 was not as amazing as SH2 - a game you should definitely play as well. Just try to get the original PS2 versions.
SH2 is currently kicking my ass. Only mid-way during the apartments, and I can't remember the normal combat difficulty being this tough. Three bites to the ankles and I'm toast.
I'm gonna have to wimp out and set it to Easy combat.
I'm noticing a few stuttering issues on the PS3 version, but other than that, it seems pefectly fine.
@Creamypies said:
I'm noticing a few stuttering issues on the PS3 version, but other than that, it seems pefectly fine.
Yeah, interestingly enough, same here. Also no title update (EU PS3 version).
@CptBedlam said:
@Creamypies: Except for the visual downgrade.
The fog looks really crappy. Its there, but its unconvincing. I'm sure the Toluca Lake scene is going to have the same impact as the original...
@CptBedlam said:
@StrikeALight: Are you kidding? The "graphics glitch" look of the scene totally completely destroys the mood and atmosphere there. And the distant light looks like a cartoon star.
Yeah, I was just being facetious. That scene looks terribad!
@CptBedlam said:
@Grivah: There definitely a whole lot of fog effects missing during normal gameplay.
And the water looks like a glitch: http://i.minus.com/i3Ph4CpiXrvX8.gif
New textures are too clean and boring (also, notice the new background which looks way worse):
Here's a nice comparison gif for SH3 (it's almost like someone switched off the atmosphere in the HD versione): http://h9.abload.de/img/a87x4i.gif
Well, thankyou.
I was going to buy it, but, i guess you just saved me some money.
But i'm still sad...
The glitches and the arbitrary art changes - you may be bothered by them, you may not. But the lag on the PS3 version is the worst I've seen this generation. It's frequent, and in SH3, it's definitely going to interfere with any melee combat you were planning on doing.
I discourage anyone from buying it for PS3. I am stuck with mine, no returns at my retailer and no response yet from Konami customer support.
I can't recommend the PC versions either. Getting them in widescreen is a complicated .EXE editing process which must partially be repeated each time you want to play - not convenient at all. And the quality once you get that done... I think it's not so great, to be honest, both for the interface and the game's performance.
Get the PS2 versions. So much about them is more effective. Or the Xbox versions if you still have a functional Xbox, I hear reports that the originals don't play well on the 360.
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