Xeogred wrote:I still want to try that one... lol.
Yeah...
Admittedly it would take a bit longer. But we probably would be hitting the relatively mediocre titles pretty quick if we didn't just focus on the Resident Evil/Silent Hill/Fatal Frame combo for the first year. Though it would let us put out the word about some lesser known gems like Martian Gothic: Unification.
I'll be the first to admit I'm horrible at keeping up with the current clubs, but if there was enough interest to make it work it could be spaced out to be 3-6 titles a year. Also it wouldn't strictly have to be survival based either. It could range from Dead Space to Luigi's Mansion to Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. More or less TR's October year round.
"Farewell, good hunter.
May you find your worth
in the waking world."
Omerta wrote:I'll be the first to admit I'm horrible at keeping up with the current clubs, but if there was enough interest to make it work it could be spaced out to be 3-6 titles a year. Also it wouldn't strictly have to be survival based either. It could range from Dead Space to Luigi's Mansion to Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. More or less TR's October year round.
Hey, if enough interest is shown, sure, I'll consider putting something like this together.
I just marathond Silent Hill Homecoming in a day or so.
Despite that... I'd have to slap down a 4/10 or 5/10 if I'm being nice.
Bombs incoming:
- The combat/controls were an absolute pain. Not to mention the console versions are broken and you cannot invert the aiming despite being able to select it in the options. No wait, it gets better. What happens is that you invert the aiming when you're using a gun... but otherwise, the controls are forced to non-inversion. I play inverted, so this was already a massive handicap. That and the button layout just bugged the crap out of me, I kept pushing the wrong buttons. I swear, this practically never happens to me otherwise lol.
- The combat was so damn forced. You know what makes the others keep steady high tension? Running past enemies. Will they still be there when you go back? Where are they going? Why are they there? Here.. it's just triggered encounters that practically shove you into combat 90% of the time.
- The ending I got was Alex waking up strapped down and being tortured. Oh...kay.
- Watching the other endings, they don't make sense or seem anymore rewarding. lmfao, what is the official ending? His dad killed him? He saves Josh and he's alive? What the hell.
- Pyramid Head. No, just no. If they absolutely had to throw in a nod to Pyramid Head, how about just tossing in his weapon dragging sound effect somewhere so fans could wonder "what if"? Instead of blatantly giving us a cutscene. Hated it.
- Shephard's Glen... who gives a crap about Shephard's Glen? I'm here to play and be in Silent Hill thank you. Oh... The Order just decided to move? lmao... oh.
- It was just way too much like the movie. I really enjoy the otherworld design and looks in SH1 and SH3, even Origins got it down. But this? Something about it was just different and really boring. It lacked the upside down bodies and demonic stuff, I don't know. It was just boring. Along with the game basically being black and white.
- Going along with that, the violence just felt too forced and over the top. Like they thought Silent Hill is about shock value. Um, anything but that fellas. The violence here was just cracking me up for all the wrong reasons. The dad being split in half, lol.
- Too many characters and too forced. The Wheeler stuff just really threw me off and didn't feel right. The way the characters were integrated previously was just far more subtle which is how it should be in these weird lonely isolated journeys.
- Then... they did it. They put human enemies in Silent Hill. You have got to me joking. FUUUUUCK. I didn't care about this in Dead Space 3, and it was passable in Resident Evil 5... but this? What a joke. Not to mention the entire final level was just complete crap. Man, I HATED this so much about this one. What were two of the scariest moments in SH1 and SH2 to me? When I had to kill human characters, with my own two human hands. You had to end the few remnants of humanity around you. There was so much weight behind those encounters, up to those points you were just fending off "things" with no guilt whatsoever, but when you are forced to fight Cybil/Billie... man that was frightening stuff to me. Maybe it's just me? But hey here we go in Homecoming, humans are just meat and potatoes. Beat them up, because you HAVE to and there's a lot! Like it or not! I wanted to tap out at the boat kidnapping scene. The cultists here were terrible.
- The SH4 ghost noises in the last level. Now I'm being picky, but that pissed me off.
- For whatever reason, I like that the other games showcase Silent Hill during a cloudy forecast. There's something eerie about those outside moments being your moment of "light" and the fog was more intimidating and claustrophobic. This game having the outside parts being at night, I don't know, you'd maybe think otherwise but I thought it made it less creepy. Yeah, I think claustrophobic is the word. For whatever reason, this game being at night ruined the claustrophobia.
I'm still curious about Downpour. One of my big Silent Hill friends (who admits he think both games generally suck) put it pretty interestingly. Homecoming got some designs and aesthetics right, but otherwise the story and other elements are crap. Downpour is really low budget and has some crappy gameplay, but felt like a dorm room project made by real fans, and so it's got good story/atmosphere according to him.
Who knows, but I'm definitely still open to it. I would say I'll miss the composer (I'll probably really know when I get there), but to be honest I don't think Shattered Memories, Origins, or Homecoming's OST's stood out that much. They all have some select tracks, but I think the guy easily peaked with SH4. But I guess I'll fear that Downpour just has really generic music for his replacement, who knows.
I don't know, there are a few elements about Homecoming that I like:
1. The basic outline of the story is that the guy accidentally killed his little brother and is dealing with the aftermath years later. Yes, everything else in the story is garbage...but then, everything else in the story is bullshit. What's important isn't how the other families treated their children, it's about how Alex was to his little brother.
2. Yeah, the Order having an offshoot sect is pretty bad, but I like the idea of Silent Hill reaching out and plucking up the people it finds interesting, forcing them into their own private hell. This idea worked a lot better in SH4, no questions. But to me, it makes the idea of Silent Hill just that much more terrifying.
That said, the enhanced combat, the level of action, the Silent Hill tropes that it so rigidly adhered to without even trying to really personalize, all just bog the game down. I've beaten it repeatedly, enough times to unlock everything, but it isn't anywhere near as good as the rest of the series. Though I figure it's better than something like Countdown: Vampires, which is still my favorite survival horror whipping boy.
Yeah, I just had to get that all out. Obviously, it was fun and engaging enough to keep me hooked all day. But yeah... glad I just borrowed it from my roommate, I can't see myself ever caring to revisit it. But definitely worth a run.
The cult stuff is really hit or miss with me. The unexplained is what makes Silent Hill cool to me. So... it's always hit or miss when they try to develop it more. It was cool in SH3 though since it was just weird and out there, but beyond that it's easy to see that it just starts becoming too much.
I see Double Helix did that one, Origins, and Shattered Memories. Although they totally played it safe with Origins, it was definitely the best one from them for me.
I forget, but you haven't played Downpour yourself?
No, not yet for Downpour. I plan to give it and Shattered Memories a go eventually, but not yet.
The cult...it's a mixed bag. My personal feelings are that the movie really messed things up for Double Helix, because they suddenly felt like they had to adhere to everything that appeared there. It was a bad decision on their part, and I think a lot of the complaints come from that: "Oh it was in the movie! We have to have it!" Crap.
Having a hard time getting into Fatal Frame 3. It seems like it could be the creepiest one, but the gameplay segments are really broken up so far. But Silent Hill 4 was kind of the same way and just needed time, so FF3 just might be one of those slow runs.
Borrowed Silent Hill Downpour from my roommate. So far, I think I'm already liking it more than Homecoming. The monster designs are definitely terrible as I've heard though, I'm fighting straight up zombies so far or something. But everything else... seems awesome. The weirdness and characters are more subtle again and it's safe to say that this new composer is turning out to be great. The story/characters definitely seem interesting. I'm also loving the otherworld, it seems a lot weirder and artsty kind of like SH4. Very weird angles and unorthodox stuff going on.
