General Games Discussion

Harmonica wrote:KCD2 is the first game in years I'm confident to buy in release.

Yeah is gaming so bad now? I haven't been excited for a game in several years and now that I am it's still probably 2 years away (Witcher)

or maybe im just getting old

Myesyats wrote:

Harmonica wrote:KCD2 is the first game in years I'm confident to buy in release.

Yeah is gaming so bad now? I haven't been excited for a game in several years and now that I am it's still probably 2 years away (Witcher)

or maybe im just getting old

Yeah bad release state seems like a norm now. Most of it is because developers are owned, or games are published by traded companies who do this for money, nothing else. That applies to KCD2 too, but something tells me it will be great game. Because the first one was perfect (- engine bound mass battles) and this will be the pretty much the same, just bigger.

Btw I'm expecting W4 to have bad release, or mediocre game. Unlike the popular belief UE5 is actually mediocre engine, with awful performance and moddability from out of the box. They literally need to code everything themselves again to the engine, so it will probably be like Witcher 1 without the original source material. It will be bad in 2-3 years, or delayed few more years until it's good.

Borys said that "CDPR version of Unreal 5 Engine is slightly modified one (in podcast they said that it is much different than basic version of UE5 used in new Stalker game)"

the interview is in polish tho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI0kgwrdy6M

The guy is an insider in CDPR.

#23

Game: Silent Hill:-
Year: 1999.
Genre: Survival Horror.
Publisher: Konami.
Developer: Team Silent (Konami).




The Silent Hill franchise is often considered the second great Survival Horror franchise starting on the PS1 after Resident Evil, and that's largely accurate despite the two games being very different. While Resident Evil is defined by its campy horror influence and survival mechanics, Silent Hill leans far more on the horror angle.

It is to Team Silent's immense credit that the first game still manages to elicit fear and admiration for someone playing it today.

"This is not a dream! What is happening to this place!!"

The game's story starts like in many horror stories with a car accident. Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl were driving to Silent Hill resort town for a brief vacation when the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse and a suddenly appearing woman caused Harry to swerve the car and crash. Awakening from his accident, Harry doesn't find Cheryl around the car and proceeds to look for her in what appears to be an eerily abandoned town. Almost immediately, Harry dies in what appears to be a nightmare and is awakened by a lady cop who gives him a gun and warns him that something is seriously weird about the town.

However, Harry has one goal, to find and possibly rescue his daughter. To do that, he braves the town despite the hideous monstrosities that attack him and an ever-enveloping darkness that threatens to take away both his life and sanity. Besides this simple set-up, the game is content at only briefly drip-feeding the player with any more detail or background.

As you meet some of the few humans still around in this nightmarish world, you begin to piece together the lore of what is happening and how to stop it, but you are rarely sure about anything. A seemingly crazy lady tells you that a "Darkness" is threatening to envelop the world and that only you can stop it, but that's not a mission that ever takes precedence over finding your daughter.

Without ever explicitly revealing much about the story, the player should be able to figure out some of what happened in the town, the nature of the nightmare they have been living, and even the mysteries connecting their visit to the town itself. It never was the best video game story, but Silent Hill trusted the player with both uncovering enough information and the imagination to figure things out. When the mystery and the horror of the game are central, then the player's imagination becomes a key to the immersion.

"Nothing is to be gained from floundering about at random. You must follow the path"

As I noted above, Silent Hill is more concerned about Horror than Survival between the Survival Horror dichotomy, and that is reflected in the game's mechanics. Mainly, the fact that there is little scarcity to worry about throughout the game. There should be enough ammo and health drinks around to serve you for the entire game, and there is no capacity limit to contend with. When coupled with a decently fast running speed and some of the best tank controls on the PS1, it means that Harry is a formidable hero. Especially when you find the hammer and become a melee God.

Yet, you never feel that way, and that's due to the other mechanics that are designed to scare you. As a rule of thumb, you are more scared of what you cannot see. With its use of fog, darkness, and sound, the game constantly ratchets up the tension and possibility of threat, even when you are almost always equal to facing that threat head-on.

That's not to say that you are rarely under threat. Harry cannot deal well with multiple assailants and can easily succumb to an attack from behind. Also, ammo may be plenty, but you sometimes risk going into dangerous rooms to get it.

Combat is not the main mechanic of the game, which like Resident Evil is an Adventure game at heart. You walk around a labyrinthian location finding keys and figuring out puzzles to unlock the path forward. In the middle of this, your senses are assaulted through visuals and sound with a sense of dread and tension that may convince you the game is harder than it really is.

"Finally. Someone else who is okay"

To find Cheryl, Harry must look all through the foggy town of Silent Hill, or that may be what it looks like to the player when you first get the town map. As it turns out, there is a fairly linear path to the game that doesn't involve much exploration but allows for a carefully curated experience that takes full advantage of the creepy setting.

Typically, the town of Silent Hill serves as the overworld as you go from one key location to another, with each key location (a school or a hospital) being a small labyrinth. However, the game only follows this formula for the first half, since the second half consists of smaller "dungeons" and then a more elaborate final maze.

Exploring each location is key to both advancing the key plot of the game as well as uncovering some story details. Two key optional "quests" are needed to get the game's best ending, and I would suggest consulting a guide to ensure you get it.

I feel that there was space for one or two optional storylines in Silent Hill, which is a missed opportunity. I know I would have appreciated the smallest location more than the game's boring interpretation of bosses.

"By a world of someone's nightmarish delusion come to life... Little by little, the invasion is spreading. Trying to swallow everything in darkness"

To bring the nightmarish world of Silent Hill to life, Konami heavily relied on its production skills to craft a believable world with the latest in 3D technology, and it mostly succeeded on that front with the addition of state-of-the-art CGI scenes. Yet, it is with its sound department that the game's true horror manifests, but more on that later.

First, we must appreciate the work of the 3D artists in crafting some great environments for the PS1 era. Yet, despite that best effort, those assets haven't aged well. At least, that would be apparent if not for the game's brilliant decision to use darkness and fog so effectively. Especially when coupled with the camera direction of the game which is fully controllable yet is often manipulated by the game to create some truly claustrophobic moments.

Light, or rather the lack of light, is a key mechanic of the game as you traverse dark locations with nothing but your flashlight. Besides giving the game a creepy veneer, it also manages to obfuscate the limited graphical fidelity of the game's world and instead highlights the great level of craft and detail in creating the game's world.

No such shortcuts were needed with the game's sound department which is simply brilliant. There is no way to say the game's soundtrack is good since I would never want to listen to it again. Yet, for the game, it is simply brilliant. The droning industrial music shifts and swings with your tension level, suggesting a level of danger to the player as they go through from room to room. Also key is a a central mechanic in the game that exposes the presence of enemies through radio static and directs you to objectives with siren sounds. As such, your ear is always attuned to the game's music and sound effects that you cannot but get creeped out by Akira Yamaoka's brilliant score.

In Conclusion:

There is no question that age, as a PS1 3D game, wasn't kind to Silent Hill. Yet, since the game was a competently made pioneering effort in many areas, it did things that stood the test of time and made it a rewarding experience even today. Simply a seminal work in the psychological horror sub-genre of Survival Horror games, it still is effective today despite its graphics and cutting-edge CGI scenes aging a bit.

When you hear that industrial sound groaning in the background and the darkness creeping in, you will be transported back for a moment to the time in 1999 when everyone was scared of these 3D polygons on their CRT TVs without an ounce of irony. At least until you remember how to point and shoot.

Final: 8/10

Pros:

• Confident storytelling
  
• An intriguing horror mystery
  
• Tension and horror being the main enemy
  
• Very good puzzle and level construction
  
• Solid linear game design
  

Cons:

• Could have used more documents lying around
  
• Challenge is almost imaginary
  
• Boring bosses
  
• Missing side stories
  

"Tips"
1- Music is an indicator of threat level at times. At other times, it's just messing with you.
2- The presence of enemies in a room does add a noticeable static effect to the sound.
3- Combine melee attacks with bullet shots to save some ammo.
4- Search all rooms and inspect all suspicious-looking objects.
5- You will need to get a plastic bottle and some red liquid from the hospital for something later in the game.
6- After the first sewer section, there is a bar you should go to.
7- Don't bother fighting against every enemy if you can run.
8- Don't bother fighting flying creatures with melee weapons.
9- The hammer weapon is EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE.


"Next Game"

As expected, a classic horror game like Silent Hill is both scary and brilliant, even if it shows its age in places.

Another game I feel would be the same is Square's cult hit, Vagrant Story, which sits at #21 in Retro Sanctuary's list. Some people consider this game to be a precursor to today's Souls games, and I will keep a lookout for that influence.

Stay Tuned

Okay so I didnt know Indian Jones the new game for it is by Bethesda and as much flack I give that company man it looks absolutely wonderful

Arquitecto wrote:Okay so I didnt know Indian Jones the new game for it is by Bethesda and as much flack I give that company man it looks absolutely wonderful

It's published by Bethesda, but developed by Machine Games - the company behind the modern Wolfenstein games, which were very good. I haven't played the most recent one, but the first two were fun.

@Firenze

If you're still itching for some Dynasty Warriors, you should check out the demo for the game that comes out in a week. I had a lot of fun with it.