I hated Silent Hill 3 when it came out. I thought, You play as a teenage girl and start in a shopping mall? LAME. Of course, I bought it the day it came out and played through it obsessively, anyway. Somehow, I began liking it. Other people were starting to like it, too, except for the ones who hated that the cult was back. I do feel it focused too heavily on the cult, and I’d rather leave the cult as a mysterious backdrop to the series, but whatever. It was still an enjoyable game.

One thing I definitely remember, though, is the massive amount of hate that many people had for Silent Hill 4 when it came out. Why? Because it lacked “that Silent Hill feel,” and it doesn’t even take place in Silent Hill. Here are some choice quotes preserved on the forums from the time SH4 came out. I liked it when it came out, but it was certainly quite different. I could be wrong, since I am old and senile, but I seem to remember the time of Silent Hill 4′s release as the beginning of people declaring the death of the franchise.

Origins is where stuff started to get messy. I don’t mean the game, but rather, the fanbase. Undoubtedly due to the backlash against SH4 as well as the fan cries for a remake of the first game, Konami decided to do a prequel to the first game. Hey, a sequel worked last time people complained, so why not a prequel? I will admit that I was intrigued and I never really do grow tired of Alessa&Co. It wasn’t perfect, but I found it enjoyable. My main gripe is that it was supposedly going to answer a lot of questions and really give a backstory on Alessa, Dahlia, Lisa, and friends, but it failed to do so. Travis’ character felt like it could’ve been rounded out a bit better, too. Still, for those who didn’t like it, they decided that the series would now be split into two parts: Those games made by KCET, and those games that were not. People decided this was because they weren’t made by a Japanese studio.

I digress as usual. I agree that the original teams were a talented bunch. I attribute that to their creativity and talent, not the fact of being born in Japan. And while there is undoubtedly Japanese cultural influences, albeit ones filtered through American horror, I don’t think the problem is necessarily a lack of Japanese people. (And to play the devil’s advocate, just because a company isn’t based in Japan doesn’t mean it cannot have Japanese influence or Japanese people. Hell, Sato has been working on videogames in the USA for years now.) What makes a good dev team is talent, creative vision, working hard, etc.

Which brings us to Homecoming. I played it one time and never touched it again. Many people apparently didn’t even make it that far with the game. Though it had its moments, many declared it a failure and decided the series was dead. Again. They blamed it on Americans, both for developing it and because American Hollywood horror films exist. (I would argue that, even if made in Japan, there would have been a chance that the devs would incorporate elements of recent American horror because it was popular.)

What people fail to understand is that, with videogames, you cannot separate art from commerce. Also, a videogame is made by many people, so there are bound to be errors and inconsistencies sometimes. The Silent Hill series has grown and changed not only because of different teams, but also in response to the fans. It’s always been changing. “Team Silent” was not a homogenous group, and each game has been significantly different from the last. I’m sure all the devs have wanted the games to be good games, and also to succeed commercially. Sometimes, hell, many times, the devs have taken chances to try to improve the series or at least make things more interesting.

But anyway, after most people disliked Homecoming, what happens? A re-imagining. IIRC, they first said it would be a direct remake, but then it turned into something else. Basically, the only thing it had in common with the first game were the names of the characters. I thought it was great. It breathed new life into the series. The only reason I can imagine they re-used characters is to gather interest and sort of appease old fans. Maybe. Of course, some were upset. But, even thought I disliked the chase sequences and a lot of it wasn’t as visually interesting as other games, it reinforces the idea that Silent Hill works well as a serial, like watching different episodes of The Twilight Zone.

I think Downpour tried pretty hard to retain the “feel” of the series, and certainly had its good points. I was unimpressed by the monsters and some of the visual aspects, though,because these have always been a strong point of the series.

But still, my point is that even if Downpour had been awful, I don’t see how this kills the series (well, unless it does so financially). Despite many games having ties to other games, each game can still stand on its own. Even if most of the games were bad, that doesn’t make it impossible for future games to be good, nor does it invalidate the goodness of previous titles.

Though I’ve read many reviews, I still don’t know how Downpour sold or if the series will continue to grow and change. I just think it’s pointless to wish the series would end. In my mind, new games mean new opportunities for playing GOOD Silent Hill games, and I wouldn’t wish for fewer possibilities for good games. Still, if you have lost all hope for the series, I think it’s more logical to quit paying attention to the games rather than trying to argue with people on the internet that they shouldn’t enjoy newer games. And this is coming from a person whose favorite game is Silent Hill 1. It just irritates me that people think, if a game is different from the last, that this is a new phenomenon, and that the first four are a completely homogenous set of games, when they were, in fact, quite different from one another.

But at least they put up something about it this time, rather than making us rely on what amazon.com is saying.

I guess if the Amazon estimated release of October 31 is to be believed they might actually try to market this with Silent Hill Revelation…

This contest is for the game that started it all! After hearing so much on the forums how it’s hard to get the first game, or expensive, or both, I have decided to give away one copy plus the Prima strategy guide and a promo ad.

Note that this copy is not sealed (but it’s like new, no scratches and in great condition), and the guide has a slight crease from being stored so long. The ad was on the back of the booklet for Metal Gear Solid.

Still, if you don’t have the original and want to play it, this could be for you. (Or if you’re a collector.)

There are two ways to enter:

1. Like us on Facebook.
2. Send a piece of fanart you’ve made, preferably for the first game but I don’t really care.
3. Email me @ dr.michael.kaufman@gmail.com

OR

1. Like us on FaceBook
2. Make a short video of you doing an impression of any Silent Hill character (can be serious or humorous).
3. Email the link to video to dr.michael.kaufman@gmail.com

Questions or comments, just email me at the address above, also.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an NTSC copy. It will work on original US PS1s, PS2s, and probably PS3s (I bought the game again on PSN, so I never really tried using the original game disc). If you are not in the US, you might not be able to play it on your system (though you could still play it using an emulator). Open to everyone, just a note that the version is US / NTSC.

Deadline: June 30.

As you know, the pink points on the maps are key places to explore, all the pink places like the: School, Church, the bridge control room and the sewer entrance, are key places to proceed with the story of the game. The places marked with violet color are places where did you find key items but not to proceed with the story of the game, like the: Gas Station and Convenience store 8.

There is a rumor that the pink points that appear in the OLD SH & Central SH map that are not accessible, they were key places to visit with Cybil, for some reason Team Silent forgot to change the color to those areas.

Curious.
-Giromancy

Some people have speculated, over the years, that these were intended for a Cybil sub-scenario thing and that she could visit them. However, there is no real evidence that they ever worked on making Cybil a playable character in the first game.

A Lurker pointed me to a quote on SilentHillMemories.net from PSM, #19 March 1999, in which Toyama explains that, due to time constraints, some areas had to be cut:

Here are the images Giromancy posted:


This is the door that’s pink on the map.

In the above diner image (resort area), Harry comments on the door. He usually doesn’t do that to buildings that you can’t enter, so maybe this was intended to be an area he could visit.

Following are some more observations from Giromancy:

Yeah, I think…..I was watching the textures of the game from the CD, when I noticed a detail, SMALL DETAIL by the way, when something caught my eye:

This is the texture, we can see references from:
CAT´S EYE (Novel by Stepehen King)
CARRIE (Novel by Stepehen King)
MISERY (Novel by Stepehen King)
CHRISTINE (Novel by Stepehen King)
KAZANIAN ANTIQUES (From the Movie ¨INFERNO¨ -Dario Argento)-Giromancy

He also posted the image above. See the little Pennywise the clown at the bottom left!

Then there are things like the Jacob’s Ladder HELL poster:

And the Barbar Shop and Benny’s which also didn’t make it into the game, which leads me to wonder if these textures may have been intended for areas that were never finished, rather than just stuff they decided didn’t fit. Of course, in the texture file above, that is a fuckton of Stephen King references, and maybe they decided it was too much.