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CHA1N In reply to trogy [2014-02-26 21:26:27 +0000 UTC]

Sorry for my late reply!

I agree, SH1 graphics made a lot of the enemies just grainy and pixelated enough to obscure any close-up details, so you never really got to 'see' exactly what you were dealing with (The thing in the refrigerator in Nowhere was pretty unsettling).

I also liked how most of the music was mainly just a series of sounds and the occasional broken bottle (or the crying in the school bathroom). Harry Mason was one of the first 'average' game protagonists- not having an extensive military background or knowledge on properly firing a gun, no bulging muscles, no super speed or over-the-top attractiveness. You can relate to him and put yourself in his place much easier.

This game brings along with it many good memories of being a scared kid playing alone in the dark at 2AM. Well ahead of its time, I'd say!

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trogy In reply to CHA1N [2014-02-27 00:38:27 +0000 UTC]

Yes, I agree, also the game does have actual music and the music is phenomenal. Both disturbing and beautiful at the same time. 

Harry Mason is one of my favourite video game characters because of his love for Cheryl and determination for finding her, as well as caring for the safety of Lisa and Cybil. That and yeah, you can relate to him better than most characters.

Honestly, as good as 2 and 3 were, I find them overrated, especially 2. While I like 2's story, I much prefer SH1's story and characters and I felt that 2 should not have been a main SH game as it almost completely denies the first game's relevance as the town seems a different entity than that of the first and though it makes sense for the story 2 was telling, it does not feel like it is Silent Hill to me, even though the mechanics are incredibly similar. I know they were trying to make the town into a place were you atone for your sins but I never liked that idea as the first game actually had a back story about what happened to the town. That and 2 just feels like an unpleasant experience. I know it's supposed to feel that way, but what I am talking about is I do not feel for the characters like I do in the first game. I never really cared for James even before I found out what he did. The only character I really liked was Laura, but she could be tedious and throw me to bosses (thanks, Laura, sorry I yelled). Oh, and Pyramid Head was not that scary for me, either. I enjoy him as a plot point and a cool monster, but he never scared me, not even at 7 years old. 

Sorry, I do like 2, but I also kind of hate it, too, if you know what I mean. 

As for 3, it's my 2nd favourite in the series, but some monsters like the Pendulum are tedious to fight and their is not much mystery behind story elements compared to the first. It is very good overall, but doesn't hold a candle to the first. Oh, and they killed Harry, those bastards.

4 was nothing special, and it definitely wasn't Silent Hill, but not awful....... but it wasn't originally going to be a SH anyway........

And the american sequels just sucked, with Homecoming being the worst offense to the series behind the film which indirectly spawned it.

As for Silent Hill 1, I find it to be perfection in all traits, Story-Telling, Graphics, Music and Sound, Gameplay, Replay Value, Everything.

Sorry, don't mean to ramble on, but it kind of happens when I talk about my favourite games, and in this case, my favourite game.

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CHA1N In reply to trogy [2014-02-27 23:09:22 +0000 UTC]

I was pretty chuffed when I first got the soundtrack. All this time later and I still listen to it!

Harry was a thirty-something writer and a devoted single father. Most game characters during SH1's time were teens with massive swords and magazine-cover perfect faces and bodies. So many of them had ridiculously over the top backstories and became cops or military generals by age 14. Not slamming games or characters like that because I'd be the biggest hypocrite ever, as I love plenty of unrealistic games, but it helps to illustrate how Harry stood out as a character you could truly relate to and feel for.

But of course there was also the epic UFO ending that I was not expecting in the least. Had me cracking up pretty bad during the Star Wars style end credits and goofy music. The bloopers at the end of the game were the best, though. A nice touch of comic relief after such a scary game...

Ah, SH2... I fully agree. A good game, but a bit overrated. The nurses from that game on haven't been scary to me in the least. They just look like drunken porn stars staggering through the halls. James was an alright guy I suppose, but as you said, I never really felt for him like I did with Harry.
Oddly enough, I felt worse for Eddie...

Pyramid Head spooked me a bit the first time I played, but now that he's pretty much become a mascot with an enormous fanbase, that scariness has most certainly faded.

SH3 is my second favourite in the series as well, mainly because of the direct ties it shared with the first game. Heather, Douglas and Claudia were good characters, and some of the areas visited were wonderfully dark, rusted and dilapidated. Pendulums were tough to target when on the ceiling. They always sliced me up a couple times before I was able to aim the handgun properly and bring them down.

Harry being killed was utter crap, though. He fights his way through Silent Hill, beating the hell out of all manner of demons and monsters with a rusted pipe, brains undead nurses with an emergency hammer, shotguns a giant split-head lizard down the throat just as its about to bite him in half, and kills the Incubus with a rifle. Then a lame staggering thing with blades for hands kills him somehow? Heather took that thing down with a few shots from the handgun. Come on, now...

SH4 was a good game on its own, but just slapping the Silent Hill logo on an original survival/horror game and changing some of the names does not make for a good SH game. It would have been great as a whole new game series.

I've played very little of Homecoming, and I didn't like it at all. Haven't touched any of the SH games since, with the exception of Zero, which was also very... meh. None of the other games have ever really matched that perfect atmosphere or characterization that SH1 had.

Don't get me started on that horrible film or those shitty 'Dying Inside' comics... Ugh. Clearly, the Silent Hill franchise has gone downhill at the speed of a Ferrari on an open highway. :/

As you can see, I tend to ramble on a bit myself...

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trogy In reply to CHA1N [2014-02-28 01:01:10 +0000 UTC]

At least we're rambling about Silent Hill and not something stupid. 

Besides, every time I've wanted to say "Sorry, I'm rambling. I'll Shut Up..."

Oh, poor Lisa...

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CHA1N In reply to Chris-Darril [2012-09-30 17:54:31 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! You know, I actually intended to do something along the lines of a SH1 game comic like this, but decided to do a similar collage for SH3 at some point.

One day, I'd like to try my hand at that, though. SH1 was an amazing game, still even today.

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CHA1N In reply to jesussuperstar [2008-05-22 16:40:09 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I'm always happy to meet other fans of the first game! I agree with you, SH1 was way ahead of it's time, and it was kind of sad to see it get overshadowed by MGS and RE. (Those are still excellent games though) But it's nice to see it's still being remembered.

Harry was a great character! I grew pretty attached to him after Midwich, and was always terrified of letting him die. That game has a way of scaring you into thinking that you're actually there too.

Ooh, those icky mumblers! They freak me out at the beginning as well, mainly because you're unarmed and you know you can't run from them. XC

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