RazorOutlaw

Good to hear about the new job, ifirit. They made the right choice, I'm certain! Now I skimmed the article and saw the mention of the havok physics engine and my concern with is how the bodies will react to falling. If you've ever played Oblivion or any other game that incorporates physics engine (such as Half-Life 2 or even a few strategy games) I'm sure you'd notice that the bodies seem to lose all weight the character/creature dies. So, for instance, a finishing move in Oblivion has sent a dead enemy spiraling up into the air and flailing like a rag doll. Literally. Nearly every game that using the engine seems to have this problem and I hope they avoid it. Nothing could seem sillier to me than blasting a monster in the face with a shotgun, killing it, and watching its body can spiraling upwards into the air.

Indeed, I found Silent Hill 4 to be the most lacking in terms of relating to the characters. Although there was characterization in the game, it was either too subtle or nonexistant. I never picked up on much, if at all. That lead to a lot of disappointment in the end of course. Personally my fear is that by SH4 they had run into "How do you tell the same story again?" At the base level, and I hope I'm not going too far as to hastily generalize the entire game, SH4 repeated the mad-person ressurecting a darker power for their own ends. The Star Wars EU ran into a problem of constantly trying to up the "threat" level the heroes faced. Every new villain had a super weapon or a grand army. It became boring because everybody wanted to have the next Darth Vader on their hands! In the same universe just how often would that be possible? Not every general is Alexander the Great just as every muscician doesn't end up being Kurt Cobain. Thus with the exception of SH2, people just seem to want release demons into the world for the purpose of domination. Now I guess we could fall back on that oh-so-human story of Silent Hill 2, but how many times have fans repeated the motif of a guilty party being judged for their sins? I dunno, maybe I'd just like to see a good person get fucked over for once. No cosmic justice, just plain old bad luck ala ALIEN.

In my Literary Genres class, we had to mak a film based on a literary work or a work of our own. My mind practically exploded with possibilities, because I kind of always wanted to try my hand at doing something scary and/or psychological. Being that my campus is creepy in some areas (actually as a general rule, its just creepy anywhere inside the buildings) I figured this would be an easy task. But I also recognized that my plans were ambitious, and the group I was working with came up with the simpler idea of adapting Frankenstein. So I kind of pushed the idea to the back of my head until I visited a friend last night and she showed me the music video she made for her Media class. It was put to the song by Greenday, y'know the one that goes "There's something unpredictable but in the end its right/I hope you had the time of your life" However the music video itself centered around a couple, one of whom died in a wreck, and the girlfriend left behind who couldn't let go. Fortunately the music video ended happily, but it got my mind turning as to what the music video would have been like if it hadn't been put to a popular and upbeat song. ANYWAY, as I watched her video I thought that it'd be a bitchin' idea if someone had adapted the Theme of Laura song to their own music video. I'm a bit disingenious on this part, but it occured to me just how much I'd like to see the original video adapated with real people. And then it occured to me just how much I'd like to direct that video myself. Just to satiate my curiosity as to how the intro to Silent Hill 2 was directed, in the off chance that I'd take up time next semester for this extracurricular activity, I looked up the old song and then I found this odd little gem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehCB_AkD0ac And that was an unecessarily long introduction, sorry!

Three things ifirit: In Resident Evil 4, I mean, Silent Hill 0rigin's gameplay videos I noticed that the flashlight effect looks exactly the same as the one in the first Silent Hill. The edges of the light's circle (whatever you call it) are jagged. I realize this is a work in progress, but that's just something I found a amusing. Additionally some of the camera angles while NOT in combat look exactly like Silent Hill. The later games in the series played around a bit with different camera angles and such, but the developers for 0rigins seem to have taken a look at the original game at least. Third, you mentioned a lack of fog. Did you see the "outside combat" video? There's plenty of fog in that one...perhaps the fog doesn't come until later in the game?

I agree, the quality is a problem. But then I never thought I'd see a clip from PLAY! let alone one actually catching the entirety of Akira's performance. What can I say, I truly appreciate Ifirit's searching ability. A++ will watch again.

I was wondering about something, ifirit. Have you ever found any conceptual art from the Silent Hill movie?

You're a whiner. I think it's a bit harsh to call a really good game, that's the least awesome, in a group of AMAZING games, the 'worst' when it's simply the 'least awesome.' I disagree that it is harsh especially if I think that the game was not the "least awesome", rather just downright bad. Sorry.

Call me a whiner, but I'm not fond of the monster designs so much. The level designs, from the snippets I've seen there, seem to have more in common with SH4 than any previous title. Not that it's bad, SH4 has just got this stigma in my mind as being the worst in the series. Actually, at this point I think I've undertaken an unhealthy cynicism and skepticism towards the series. Heh...not sure what to do about that one...

Considering the way American movies are made in general, I'm not surprised as his decision. /jab

Yeah...those were just a few of the areas that made me roll my eyes. But for every crummy scene, I can think of at least one other that was done well. The movie has just got this inconsistency with its scenes (something ifirit noted himself). Meh. We've got this diluge of posts now, can't reply to them all with something meaningful to say. But it's nice to see that the movie can be enjoyed by most people (and for the most part) despite its flaws. ^^

I can accept the opinion that the voice acting in SH2 is awful. I have a hard time accepting the opinion that the voice acting in SH4 is the most solid out of all of them (that's what some other strange little man said to me on another forum)...but that's off topic. We're supposed to be ranting and raving about the movie.

For what it's worth, it's not like the music they chose was bad. Hell, I liked most of what I listened to... But to me it was like sitting down to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and hearing the Star Wars soundtrack instead... Yes, it felt that jarring and out of place. Similar to the time I saw the Japanese version of Godzilla 1985 (Godzilla Returns). Same movie, but Japanese version was the original uncut version. So many things felt out of place to what I was used to...(and yes, the American version switched scenes around from different parts of the movie beginning, end, middle, whatever suited the needs of the editors). Of course, like I said in my previous edits, the music is jarring and somewhat boring only because of my familiarity. Removing that, and the fact that the crowd laughed at the movie (), I've only got some clunky dialogue, suspect acting in some scenes, as well as some other things that I forget... I mean, really, the story is fine... Mmm reading your review Ifirit I remember that they laughed at the Nurse dance step scene.

Silent Hill 2 didn't use the very same music more than twice...the reptition in the movie is annoying, but minor in my opinion.

Wrong, I only made the assumption that the movie wouldn't have the theater laughing at it. That they may not have played the games does not factor into this point which bothers me so much. I can't hold the movie to blame for all parts that were laughed at, the crowd may have just been expecting something else...

Warning. Spoilers. EVERYWHERE! Hmm, I was pretty disappointed in some areas. I did not like the heavy emphasis on using Akira's original soundtrack throughout the movie. I did not like the fact that everytime something "spooky" happened, or pointing out an oddity such as the streets having fallen away into a foggy abyss, had to be followed by some piece of Akira's music. Didn't Akira poke Gans with a big stick and say "Silence as a sound?" Not every scary scene had to include original Silent Hill music! Or hell, any music at all...the opening scene would have been fine with just an ambient rumble like from the first game (which was heard briefly, at least). So I was rather disappointed in regards to music, although I'll hold myself partly to blame because I listened to the soundtrack frequently enough to not enough its transition to the big screen. Also, as Jenga mentions below me...repetition. If they weren't playing the voodoo chant from SH3, then it was the music from the scene with Angela or Laura Plays the Piana. mmm, and aside from the repitition, the transitions for a lot of the music was poorly done. Opening scenes with Rose running out to the sign was "Prisonic Fairytale" or some such thing, which then turned into the music from Alchemilla hospital. Mine you, I'm somewhat looking at this from the perspective of the games. I know which music fits with what part of the game, and to hear it out of place is jarring to me. To switch from one soundtrack to the next...so crazy! Next point was the way some of the dialogue was delivered so matter-of-factly, such as when Rose says "It'll be 'ok'" to Cybil after a particular encounter. Hell, it sounded like something out of Silent Hill 1 where the voice actors forgot about things like voice inflection Oh...and there were a few instances when the character's just made a random connection to a particular plot point...I don't recall exactly what happened but I just rolled my eyes. And it's rather unfortunate that for the first time ever I had to put up with a crowd of people who laughed at the movie I was watching. Not laughing at intentional humor, but laughing at the most random shit. Like in the hotel, when Rose swung back over the hole with the rope/wiring/whatever? They laughed at that. Or when Rose was screaming for Sharon? They laughed. The Lying Figure hobbling out onto the street? Laughing. They just laughed so many times...I felt so damned embarassed because I'm a fan and I'd like to see Silent Hill get the respect is fucking deserves. Here I was thinking that despite the way certain parts of the movie were done, whether that be the music or lack of direction for the actors (voice inflection please!), that the movie would be able to stand on its own. Call me crazy, but I had an earnest hope that the movie wouldn't have any laughable parts to it, but the crowd I was with proved otherwise. Christ, I'm so...angry... Hell they even laughed at some of the music chosen for scenes, like when Alessa rises from the pit with her barbed-wire tentacles of doom? The organ music from the final boss battle in SH3 begins to blare, and giggles tore through the theater. BLAHREA! As for the story itself, I can't really complain about that, although the inclusion of PH is suspect since he seemed to be a pawn of Dahlia's. I thought there was a bit too much useless running around in the beginning, but when you got down to it, the fanatical SH cult being deceived about the true nature of Alessa was an interesting twist. Hell, any scene involving the cult was pretty damn well done. I just hated the running around before all of that. Hopefully when I buy it on DVD and watch it in the comfort of my own home I'll be able to enjoy it more...

*does a happy dance about the mod* <--- is downloading now

Honestly, slowing down the speed wouldn't be a problem especially since bullet time mods have been created. This is assuming, of course, that modding the game's speed could be done at a constant rate instead of however long you hold a key down. Mmm, and ever play Undying? System Shock 2? FEAR? AvP 2? Horror isn't necessarily restricted to 3rd person games, although first person games do change the dimensions a bit...

I'm definitely going to a theater with a digital screen, although I'm not particularily happy about driving to the theater in question (let's just say it's close to the city, which I'm not used to driving in, so that means there'll be more traffic there than I'm used to dealing with). Well, of course I could go to THAT theater but there's also another theater that's pretty awesome too that my friend goes to. It too has digital screens from what I remember, but I'd need him to come along to show me the way. At any rate, I've also been thinking: Wouldn't it be awesome if somebody made a Silent Hill mod for Half-Life 2? Or even...just a level or two recreating one of the game's locales. Seriously would be an interesting piece of work, especially since HL2 comes with the decrepit buildings already!

I'm sorry, I couldn't follow this post at all. I'm basically saying that by locking most of the doors in an area, you focus the players attention better. If you recall, very few rooms in Silent Hill are empty or without some items for a player to pick up. Locking all other doors keeps the already high amount of "wondering around looking for clues" to a minimum because that'll be one less room to think back on and say "Oh, what if the item was in there..." And, I dunno, the worst place for pointless rooms in any Silent Hill game was in the hospitals. You could just walk in there, kill a few monsters, and walk back out... The same idea applies to blocking exits, hallways, stairwells with random crap. It keeps the attention focused on where the players can go and where clues for solving puzzles may be.

The locked door idea was "alright" for the first two games, but short of making every room enterable (lol word?), the best way to focus the players attention without overwhelming him or her would be to lock most of the doors. I'm sure with some thought they could think of a better system though.

I have a pretty good feeling about SH5, because 3 and 4 were released rather quickly after 2 (a little over a year after 2, and a little less than year after 3 from what I can remember. If anything, the development time and story that is currently underwraps hopefully means Konami is puting their magic to work again. This is overly optimistic though. I liked SH3, to me it was very creepy. The story was fairly hokey. SH4 was, in my opinion, a fountain of good ideas that was not put together very well. Both felt rushed in some ways, while in others they felt solid. Being that SH4 was released in the U.S. late in 2004, and we're still in quarter 1 of 2006, I'm optimistically speculating that this development time is being put to good use. Plus, as Nulion mentioned, they're remaking SH1 for the PSP. Not quite what I was expecting (hoping for a PS3 remake, comeon Konami!) but then we haven't even gotten SH5 in ours laps yet. Of course, blah blah blah.

You're entitled to your wrong opinion.

Spoilers! Mmm thanks for the response. I had a similar idea in my head that James was seeing Pyramid Head because that's what he wanted to see in Valtiel...not sure if I posted that already. But this discussion jump started some else from my mind too. I found out about PH's lack of exclusiveness from the Myspace Silent Hill group I visit. In that topic one girl mentioned that Walter's ranting about the red devil coming to kill him meant that Walter was seeing pyramid head. She finished by saying "So obvious it hurts." Lost Memories explicitly states that Walter did not see Pyramid Head. Now correct me if I'm wrong here, but in the Sullivan Victim Files we later learn that Jimmy Stone had the nickname "Red Devil". He also had a right-hand man known as George Rosten, a man who had a hand in raising Walter and allowing Valtiel to enter his consciousness. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Jimmy Stone also had a hand in this, being that George and he were close working partners. So if what the Lost Memories says is true, and Walter did not see PH but bothers to mention that the "Red Devil" is coming to kill him and that "he made me do it!", and we only know of Jimmy Stone being known as the "Red Devil", wouldn't it be logical to conclude that the "red devil" Walter was ranting about was Jimmy Stone? The girl only replied that she bad read "billions of theories regarding the Red Devil being Pyramid Head and that Jimmy Stone and George Rosten were actually the two Pyramid Heads at the end of SH2.[sic]" She also said she was "really annoyed" and didn't want to argue over fictional characters. That was all she said in reply. I challenged her to answer my point (mentioned above) or concede, and she conceded. So while I certainly find it amusing that the leaders of two religious sects would take such an interest in old James Sunderland, I'm upset that she only put forth opposing theories, not bothering to attempt to correct my claims. And I know this would be another point to answer, but by the time of Silent Hill 2 Billy and Miriam Loccaine had already been killed. James had read about their death and Sullivan's suicide. Both George and Jimmy died long before Walter killed those twins. How could they be there with James if they were already dead? Granted, Jimmy Stone's sect apparently puts him in role of being an executioner, being that they follow Valtiel and all...so her theory might work if their spirits were sent to judge James. But that just sounds like inventing reasons as opposed to looking at the facts (which are admittedly lacking if one wants to think both Jimmy and George took the form of Pyramid Heads to fight James).

Yes, Akira actually has his hand in the movie. Infact, Team Silent worked pretty closely with Gans and Avery. It's only a bonus that the two of them were such fans of the Silent Hill series.

Mmm, there would be little reason for supplemental material about the game to be false. Wrong interpretations even with that material can still happen, if the James/PH fiasco (a fiasco for me, mentally) can still happen.