Zero Punctuation: Silent Hill Origins

[blackfly01]

Count me in as one who pans SH4's story along with the gameplay.

Mr. Madman himself is interesting (sometimes the only character that is so) but his characterization ends up getting lost in the endless explanation for how he can do what he does (mystic mumbo jumbo no one cares about).

I also don't understand why Travis can be subjected to critical grief when the original King Random Berk of Silent Hill, Henry, gets off with with worse. He is often but one line in SH4: "What the hell...?". At least Travis dares boldly to don the Marty McFly jacket.

Here, here! I can't shake the feeling Konami just rented a bunch of '90's-2000 era thriller movies and borrowed aspects from it and made an original drama off it; and as emotionally interesting as the whole child abondonment issue is in it, it doesn't help being able to note all of the game's movie references that are actually tied to the plot. Since when was Walter a hippy serial killer? I thought all he did was kill two kids and himself. And Henry is a total Bierficker.

I have to admit though, I found myself liking Eileen the most of that two dimensional cast and besides her good looks: she seemed to be the only character with an understandable emotional out put and despite continuity she seemed to understand what was going on better than Henry despite him basically repeating everything Joseph told him verbatim and I appreciate a woman with maternal instincts that knows how to fight (or at least tries to).

 

[Raphite2]

How would he eat his own ass? That especially hard because it's recursive, as you would have to complete the digestive system somehow. Also, weapon degradation is good, if it's slow. If it's fast, and has no repair system, no. Just no. Slow AND repair item, then great.

 

[MightyMouse]

The oblivion one was meaningless and so might as well not have been there. It wasn't like things could ever run out whilst you were using them since you had to go to a city every couple of seconds so it just you meant that you would have to get all your stuff repaired every time you were there rather than actually changing your decisions. It was like a tax for playing the game, except you were already hoarding all your money on offshore bank accounts so the small amount they could sting you for just highlighted how you could afford houses in every city and get that guy to pay for curing him over and over and over.

 

[FlameMasterAxel]

Silly PSP, Trix are for kids.

Why does it seem that most PSP games nowadays seem to be screaming "Please buy a PSP! We're begging you. I don't want to die!"? Every game seems to be a revival. Can't they just let the thing die on it's own. I mean, I'm no fanboy, but the PSP is dying faster than the Gamecube (yeah I said it) and I don't see the point in all these "no look it's still breathing kind of" games.

Anyway, it was a good review. Not my favourite, but I laughed.

 

[mrbunny]

im too afraid to play silent hill. lol watched the movie - was ok, since i had a general concept of what the game was about, but for others who didnt said it didnt make anysense.

 

[Sylocat]

Sometimes I wonder what the Silent Hill series would be like if they took away all the monsters and bad guys altogether and made it just an exploration game of discovery. Do away with the crappy gameplay altogether and just have puzzles and story. Like a few here, I loved SH4's story (bland main character notwithstanding, but he wasn't meant to be the driving force behind it anyway), and think it could have been one of the greatest games ever made if they had made the whole game like the first section, just a Myst-style point-and click exploration game with no tedious action. Or maybe one final boss fight that gave it some action, but that wouldn't be essential.

But regardless, I agree 100% that the story is what makes it great, despite the fact that the gameplay leaves something to be desired.

(Oh, and at the risk of sounding even cruder than Yahtzee, I learned from one of the more hostile people on the Sillysoft forums that you don't have to remove any vertebrae to eat your own ass, you can just use a spoon and it works just as well. But to each their own, I suppose. )

 

[stacia123]

I don't think anyone who has ever played live RPGs can enjoy weapons degradation on any level, even if it's well done. Now, I'm not accusing Yahtzee of being one of those scary, aged nerdlinger types who used to get his jollies from a bag of dice, but if the DM hat fits, well...

Of course, I may just be angry because Yahtzee apparently hasn't been saving my lengthy emailed declarations of adoration. How long do I have to freakin' stalk someone before they love me?

 

[GloatingSwine]

The oblivion one was meaningless and so might as well not have been there. It wasn't like things could ever run out whilst you were using them since you had to go to a city every couple of seconds so it just you meant that you would have to get all your stuff repaired every time you were there rather than actually changing your decisions. It was like a tax for playing the game, except you were already hoarding all your money on offshore bank accounts so the small amount they could sting you for just highlighted how you could afford houses in every city and get that guy to pay for curing him over and over and over.

It's mostly a justification for keeping the Armourer skill in the game. Which, as noted, eventually nets you a concrete benefit (as well as, of course, being a way to boost your Endurance, one of the more important stats early on).

 

[LarsWestergren]

Another good review....

I didn't mind the "slow talking" ZP episode, a change of pace is nice sometimes and it felt like you had really thought carefully about both your opinions and the jokes.

Could we get some PC gaming love next time, pretty please? Witcher maybe?

 

[Kerspeles]

diablo 2 was the first game that popped into my mind when the weapon degradation was mentioned

also, i've never played any silent hill so i wouldn't know about that, but for me second sight is the game that has the best story telling i've ever seen in a game

 

[Khakidoo]

Haven't played Silent Hill in ages, I loved the original, I can still hear that creepy gate squeeking...
And here's some useless trivia: A Pennsylvania town named Centralia was used as the basis for the town in Silent Hill. For the past 45 years a mine fire has been burning underground there, releasing toxic steam and warping the streets. There is a seriously creepy old church and graveyard where steam rises up right amongst the headstones. (I used to live about 45 minutes away from Centralia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

 

[sathie]

Think he was getting at over the top weapon degredation being a bad item, hence the Chocolate Katana reference.

Funny review once again.

The only Silent Hill I've played is the original on the Playstation. I got bored of running around in the fog being eaten by random creatures and listening to static. And I don't much like horror games (pee pants time), so any excuse to stop playing, really.

 

[the_pearson_person]

Yay! Amusingness!



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[GloatingSwine]

Haven't played Silent Hill in ages, I loved the original, I can still hear that creepy gate squeeking...
And here's some useless trivia: A Pennsylvania town named Centralia was used as the basis for the town in Silent Hill. For the past 45 years a mine fire has been burning underground there, releasing toxic steam and warping the streets. There is a seriously creepy old church and graveyard where steam rises up right amongst the headstones. (I used to live about 45 minutes away from Centralia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

That only applies to the movie. The town in the game isn't based on a single place, it's an amalgam of all the small towns in which horrific things happen in all the books of American horror authors.

 

[Blatchford]

Weapons degredation in Baldur's Gate was a good idea, as it was actually built into the story line and only applied to non-magical weapons (which were so common that you never had to worry about it).
Oh and more to the point, a great review as ever.

 

[Ugainius]

To all those going on about games with weapon degeneration: Just because it's tolerable doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.

Excellent review Yahtzee, as always though I did feel you were coming more from the Silent Hill fanboy "I'm looking down on this" crowd rather than an unbiased "Yet another bad game" crowd. To each is own I suppose.

 

[thebrink]

Since the thread is really off topic already, and weapon degradation is on the table. How about the worst game with it? Seriously I'd like to know, I haven't played many and I thought Condemned was pretty awful with it, so I'd like to see how far it can go. No "Fire Emblem" or "Dead Rising" or "Diablo" - for any thing you can dream up, these games most did a satisfactory job of it and really can't be put into a "worst" category (but the trolls will come anyhow...). In games like Diablo and Oblivion it's for the grind factor so I'm not a huge fan, but in Condemned it was pretty lame having to pick up a new crowbar every couple of feet, and a shotgun with only 2 shots in it? ugh...

 

[darshannon]

Oh, but you DO go to Silent Hill in Silent Hill 4. There is Silent Hill Smile Support Society and Toluca Lake in there.