Is this the best horror game ever made?

It was boring as fuck, none of the locations were scary, and the twist was a dud because it was so obvious throughout the game.

Maybe not scariest, but has some of the most chilling general atmosphere and feeling, partly thanks to the amazing soundtrack.

One of those things that puts you in a mood whenever you even think about it.

yes and?

PH is the interpretation the town makes of James' guilt for killing Mary and later on letting Maria "die"

his attack is slow and allows James to dodge, once when James was on the roof of some hospital, Pyramid Head hit him and James fell into one room, so he didn't intend killing James

Think about it:
Pyramid Head leads James towards vital clues that he needs in order to confront himself and admit the truth. When he does, Pyramid Head(s) commit suicide.

It can be frightening, especially in the apartment complexes

SH1

No that'd be Pathologic, which also happens to be the best open world game ever made

It was God-tier like SH2, but below it.

SH3 was better

Uh...yeah, probably.

>Main villain
>Maria
Let's not forget an important plot point senpai

Pyramid Head's job is make James remember and accept what he has done. That's why PH keeps suffocating monsters around and killing Maria all the time.

Like what, that Maria was an illusion, made by James to help him keep running away from his problems?

Is that real? Fuck my headcanon right up senpai
I thought Pyramidhead was trying to stop James from realizing the truth by killing him

When do we start arguing about cults vs inner demons

There is no fucking cults. That shit ruins SH.

(you)

Spotted the SH2 fanboy.

The Cult is responsible for all of the fucked up shit that happens in the town though.

He says right before the double PH fight that he created a demon to make him pay for his crimes, to punish him for his deeds.

Then after the fight he's all "Yo maybe I need to stop being a pussy and just own up to the fact that I smothered my wife."

Yes, Masahiro Ito tried to clarify some parts about plot where he himself had some influence on. Many details of the plot and of the creatures's symbolism and purposes were invented by Ito himself.

Which is why most fans consider the In water ending to be the canon one. James accepted his guilt, so the Pyramid Heads kill themselves(or go to sleep or something like that) and allowed James to face his nightmare.

should I emulate the old silent hill games or play the PC versions? which look better?

depends on variety of criteria (and people's preferences), such as atmosphere, scares, character development, story, fighting mechanics, etc.
Amnesia is pretty neat as a simple horror game with nothing but atmosphere and chills, add good background (+ awful fighting mechanics) and you get Kuon.
I think the real horror is a voyage through someone's troubled mind, just like SH2. It has neat atmosphere, but it exceeds in the story and characters. Realizing that James was led by guilt and characters represent some of his wishes/flaws makes the story more and more disturbing.

Sure, the cult makes sense in SH1 and SH3 which are good games. But fuck the cunts that mention the cult in SH2.

James is quite a fucking badass once he gets over the fact that he murdered his beloved wife
"It's time to end this."

EMULATE
HD collection FUCKS it all up.
Do NOT play the HD collection

not that user but did the patch for it on ps3 actually fix it? was looking to play them but muh toaster is too weak to run it decently.

The Cult perverted the spiritual power of the town thus allowing the events of SH2 to happen. Without their influence, the town would just be an untapped well of spiritual power/energy. SH2 is more about the personal struggle of the characters but the Cult's influence is still obviously present.

The games largely serve as commentary on how bad foreign influence and religion can taint otherwise good ideas.

Avoid the HD collection at all costs. For every issue they may have fixed, there are countless other problems still there.

Worst case scenario is to just find a used PS2 and copies of SH2 and 3.

ah okay, thanks for saving me ten shekkels goy.
also if a physical version for ps2 is best is there any noticeable differences in the different region versions?

Don't know about PAL performance if that's what you mean. I know some older games run slower in PAL though. Maybe a euro user can chime in.

The town was still there, and it was fully populated. Everyone just saw their own versions of the town. It was all mindgames and trauma, no satanic cult involved.

So Harry was seeing Alessa's version of the town despite the fact he never had any guilt or even knew who she was and Heather was seeing whoever version of a mall that is miles away from Silent Hill(and Douglas saw it too). Vincent is somehow seeing Claudia's version of the church despite the fact he doesn't even like it.

Laura punched a hole so big in the plot that not even the otherworld can change it.

In my eyes, the nature of the "nightmare" is still a product of the events of the first game. Without Dahlia, her faith, the influence she had on her daughter, and Alessa's seven year long nightmare, Silent Hill would have remained a quiet peaceful resort town.

Also, this

I kinda wish Owaku would just come out and explain everything already. or Toyama himself since he created the concept of the town.

You are right.

He begs to be punished for what he did and Pyramid Head does so.

It is only once he admits his guilt and has been punished that they kill themselves since they have fulfilled their goal.

youtu.be/MWhS_cXyPks?t=1246

What Dhalsim says literally goes for Laura in Silent Hill.

Harry? Harry has to go through Alessa's hell or purgatory or whatever the fuck, because his life lost all meaning if it wasn't for Cheryl. That's why there's no "face yer shit mang" at the end for him, he's just a bystander that figures out whatever the fuck other people are going though, learns who "his" kid was, gets it back, maybe some chick to fuck for a while and leaves.

I want to play this but I'm unmotivated because I feel I've been spoiled by it all already

Let's resolve this discussion amicably.

believe me, you can still have a lot of entertainment by playing the game, there is so much to discover

Everything that happens in the series goes against what Laura says.

In Silent Hill there isn't even a concept of bad or good, good or evil or anything like that. James was just getting punished because he wanted it subconsciously.

SH3 is written by Owaku and you see the otherworld appearing outside of Silent Hill and for a girl that never did anything particularly bad in a place where she clearly enjoys hanging out.

agreed. isolation is better

>that pic
what
does
it
mean

That Vincent doesn't consider the creatures to be monsters. He has been interacting with them for quite some time, so he treats them as brothers.

You and I are going to have a talk about safety.

He said they look like monsters to you?
Heather freaks out
He says kidding

Could be either way

I didn't think the gameplay was very good desu. Great concept though.

Yeah SBFP play through.

That's just part of Silent Hill's ambiguity. Almost everything in the game is ambiguous, even the imagery seen in the otherworld is made to make your brain process and recognize it with uncertainty of what exactly it is.

For Vincent, Samael is God, for Heather he is the devil, to which Vincent replies "whichever you like". It's a recurring theme in the series.

Clock tower onpsx

>narratively complex and nuanced.
You mean this? SH2 is a better game but is mindfuckery isn't as strong as this one.

Oh shit, good taste.

Where is SH download poster at? He shows up in EVERY SH thread.

it's the most well paced horror game ever designed

Silent Hill isn't a mirror, it's an impressionist painting. The normal tourist town is "real" image that most people see, and because they are grounded in reality, that's all they experience.

But when someone is disassociative, their own fears, guilts, and religious beliefs hold more sway to their perception then reality itself, and in Silent Hill that perception IS their reality, with real, physical consequence. It's one dimension seen through multiple view points.

These view points interest with each other either through being similar or with understanding, and therefore "adjacent" (i.e. James coming to understand and relate with Angela, and beginning to experience her reality), or, by abusing the possibilities of one's reality to draw others in (i.e. Dahlia's attempt to kidnap Heather in the Mall).

Yeah. I like the mysterious tone of the games but some official insight on SH would be appreciated.

But we can look at one of the major inspirations for SH, Twin Peaks, to get an idea of what they were going for. The White/Black lodge is a place both near and distant to the town. It's a relatively dormant place that doesn't have much effect on the real world until someone fucks with it. Beings like Bob or Valtiel only exist because of outside influence. Not because the town just decides to cause mayhem. Further more, Bob definitely fucks shit up in the "real world" despite being a spiritual being.

One of the major faults of the SH movies and the newer games is they also assume this spiritual energy is naturally vindictive or cruel when in reality, it only projects that which is put into it.

You'll have to wait for him for the links but I do have this.

H1 NTSC DDL:
mega.nz/#!bVUCTJzD!PmnPw4S7fWGyvTjw9S0-RQdk7rRp2BQNuXJqRkZCZvk

SH2 DDL:
mega.nz/#!rFcj1SIJ!47JH9M4OrzmQKuaiJ6IqUgmgz_SVNtk4LIYNSa-D-_8

SH2 torrent:
mega.nz/#!bYcEnbhC!rYnhvcJiRC46T6yExS0Y61JHZ-5N3WxFvfZMI8xbyhE

SH3 DDL:
mega.nz/#!2JNkgJ7b!nfPf5cIs6I5K-sdAs7RcnHvGA2hAvIGdpQuIoBhF3iE

SH3 torrent:
mega.nz/#!GVVGRLpD!SyklVbuLIkc38ZYji5QL3sWHKtHt9-Bto700My8pH7c

SH4 DDL:
mega.nz/#!Us1XTaII!cglH0dZOaH5yQEm4cnEh3eyUz4bIf6rACQqcVzkb4Hc

The SH1 is a PS1 rip that you gotta emulate.
The "sh2proxy" is an all-in-one fix, and is included in the pack.
If you use the NEW fix mentioned in the guide, you can use the sh2proxy's EXE as a no-cd crack!

In case you experience issues saving the game / not being able to edit the disp.ini, make sure the files aren't set to "Read Only", and run the game as Administrator.
If SH2 gets stuck in a black screen upon launch, close it and re-start it again.

The mall is not in Silent Hill, it's at least 20 miles away from Silent Hill.

And the power that Dahlia takes from the town is real, because she believed it to be. Heather herself was reborn through the town's power.

Again, the perception has physical consequence.

Not to mention Heather has a very real demon brewing inside her once Claudia comes around.

I played it when it came out and was somewhat disappointed because it didn't scare me as much as the first one did
I also thought PH looked kind of goofy
still a great game, but I prefer 1 and 3

scariest game I've ever played? Idk, probably fatal frame

Believing was never enough, the otherworld anomalies only happen when God is around. It was only after Alessa was impregnated with God's seed that everything went haywire.

It was only when God started growing inside Heather that the mall got engulfed by the otherworld.

Remember that the only reason Cybil went to Silent Hill from Brahms, is because the local Silent Hill police department wouldn't respond, so something happened in the real world.

Bad shit was going down in Silent Hill long before the Dahlia started fucking around with Alessa's abilities. The God is some bad juju for sure, but it's just another creation like any other.

In the original game, Alessa releases energy that causes the Fogworld. It also created monsters, sunk roadways and whatever else to stall the cult members from stopping them from progressing.

This also allowed Alessa to contact her other half. It was her only hope to try to solve the whole issue.

While I enjoyed Alien Isolation, it fell flat in a few places. The alien, wasn't exactly scary. Okay, the first few times it dropped down and scattered around looking for you was pretty fucking nerve racking.

After the 12th time it dropped down, snooped in the same places, then went back up, and you take a teensy step forward for it to drop down again got really bloody annoying.

I used distractions, I caused a ruckus in places. The Alien was just annoying by half way in the game. Those fucking Robots. Fuck the robots. They were way too strong. I mean in the first movie, they fucking knocked it's head off with a lead pipe, while I'm over here burning the fucking thing, and throwing grenades at it. Fucking bullshit.

Also the story was shit. Ending came out of no where, and the middle ground of the game became really fucking drawn out and boring.

Silent Hill - Up to the fourth(I stopped playing it, because it was just.. Eh. Not the same). It drew me in. I liked the story. I liked the tank controls for the most part, at times it'd be annoying. But the fact that I can choose to fight or flight, was wonderful. SH4 didn't give you that option.

Iunno. Different styles of games, but I think Silent Hill games come out over the top.

Yes and it's a shame nothing has topped it yet. I mean eventually something has to top it right? Eventually..

Nothing can really top the bloodied rusty metal grating industrial environment. Sadly.

There is no proof the God isn't real. Considering the radio goes crazy near him and he can turn places far away from Silent Hill into a nightmare, chances are he is the carrier of the power.

There is no fogworld. Otherworld and real world are the same place.

I see...

You're missing the point. The God is real, because he was made real. The town's projections aren't smoke and mirrors, they are totally realised entities with very real power.

That being said, the God was killed at the end of SH1, the God of Silent Hill 3 is a wholly separate entity. It looks, acts, and functions differently because Claudia birthed it as much as Heather did, and Claudia had only her beliefs, and not first hand knowledge.

...

I forgot, what happens to valtiel?

Nothing, he continues to chill.

Turning that wheel all day everyday.

Motherfucker is dedicated.

God's looks are the least important thing because Gods can take any shape or forms because they're omnipotent.

He is the guy who keeps the otherworld running. The closers mop the floors, he fixes the plumbing etc.

God V1.0 took the form of a Baphomet, the imagery use by the cult, as passed down in their stupid ass fake religion, the image that would have been all but burned into Alessa's mind.

God 2: God Harder is in the form of Claudia, the self aggrandising narcissist, and also the focal point of Heather's anger.

They are both plainly influenced by their creators, and while powerful, neither exhibit any truly God like powers, or control over the town's powers. There's no reason to think they're anything but projections.

Fuck off with your e-celeb shit, fucking nigger.

Maria is the most tragic figure in all this. She never asked to be created. She had no choice in any of this. She starts as a blank slate, and then Mary's feelings and memories start to slowly flood her mind. She's driven to become obsessed wtih James, and having him love her.

>horror games with good gameplay

those exist?

Much like Alessa's psychic powers or split soul, this is one of those subjects i would rather not even talk about because they sound too surreal and don't make much sense.

"Born From a Wish" shows she has full independence. Without it, you might conclude Maria is just some ghost with no internal consciousness.

Her obsession for James becomes too much for her to control. That's why she acts like a jealous bitch later on into the story and becomes emotionally unstable.

what's his name again

hungry jose

As opposed to acid spitting humanoid monsters?

Very a propos thread as I just started Silent Hill 1 (first silent hill game).

It's already freaked me out a lot with that intro in the alley, and the constant fog obscuring everything. While the camera and controls are much more wonky, the game is really spooky, much more so than the classic standby of RE.

Just started it a few hours ago.

Shits really getting weird as soon as I found the blue butterfly.

Its not even that bro, I don't want to spoil but after you believe you have reached the end of the game, go read the wiki and have your mind blown out of your head.

>SH4 didn't give you that option.
It did, for the most part.

How is controller support?

It's weird pretty weird. If she was just another woman who look similar to Mary but somehow starts having these weird thoughts, but being created as soon James steps into town? That's just outlandish.

That's the best part of Silent Hill. As a Hellraiser fan, i fell in love with Silent Hill because the otherworld is like a more fleshed out version of the realm from where Pinhead comes from.