Quote from: Acid_Reign161 on Feb 14, 2024, 01:40:07 PMQuote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Feb 14, 2024, 12:05:02 PMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHnbq-TrS6c
Still nothing good since Shattered Memories or the original three imo tbh
I'm going to be honest, I really enjoyed 'The Short Message' for what it is. Sure, it's no 'Silent Hill 2' (I mean, what is? That game is still probably up there as contender for my personal 'best video game ever'), but I loved the visuals, Ito's monster design was on point, Yamaoka's soundtrack (particularly the end credit theme) was the first time I've found myself listening to the tracks on repeat since the Team Silent era, and it took enough nods from P.T. to satisfy me (albeit nowhere near in the same league). A criticism for me would be the voice acting; they should have given us original language options with subtitles to remedy this (but then it also harkened back to the PS2 era of voice acting; I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but it still aided the SH vibe for me). I'll be more than happy to play through it again.
For me, I feel only Japanese devs seem to be able to make Silent Hill games;
Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room, P.T., and Silent Hill: The Short Message' are all "true" Silent Hill in my eyes (and of all the upcoming projects, 'Silent Hill f' is the one that has my attention the most) 😊
The western games, Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill Homecoming, Silent Hill Shattered Memories are all carried by Yamaoka's soundtracks (with Downpour not even having that and feeling even more sub-par generic survival horror). I can enjoy them, in the same way I can enjoy watching 'The Grudge' 1-4 whilst happily never considering them 'Ju-on', or watch Legendary Picture's Godzilla whilst knowing it'll never be Toho, if that makes sense? Shattered Memories aside, they feel like they belong in the Silent Hill movie universe.
It'll be interesting to see how Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake turns out (I'm optimistic!) - I really enjoyed Bloober's 'The Medium' and 'Blair Witch' but acknowledge they aren't exactly the best in the writing department. However, with SH2, there is heavy Japanese input (story already written, Ito using his original intended monster designs, Yamaoka's iconic soundtrack) - all they have to get right is the visuals and gameplay, something (I feel) they are good at.
On a side note, I also feel 'The Short Message' ties to Silent Hill f in the same way P.T. would have to 'Silent Hills'; the whole backstory of the protagonists grandmother 'The Witch' who travelled from Japan to Germany? I'm guessing that may well be the protagonist of SHf, since it looks set in 1960s Japan (also the shared themes of Sakura in the monster designs to flowers in SHf) - I'd like to see it all come together. 😁
I'm in the middle of playing
SH: The Short Message as well and so far I do enjoy the look and feel of the game. It's scared me a few times now but I'm also a chicken when it comes to this style of game where all you can do is run and hide from the monster.
The story, however, is pretty cringe and makes me thankful it was free. Not up to the quality of P.T. in terms of a gripping and unsettling story.
You may be onto something about The Short Message having some relation to SHf though as they do have some similar themes.
Despite my feelings so far on The Short Message's story, I'm still optimistic about the SH2 remake and hoping for its success. It would be nice to see all 4 of the original games be given the remake treatment if it does turn out great. I know I'd love to see SH3 and SH4 in updated graphics and gameplay.
