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Silent Hill series wrap-up
Apr. 6th, 2015 10:55 pmSo, with the four proper games of the Silent Hill series over & done, let's take a bit of inventory. ( Spoilers for all four games ahead, of course )
Silent Hill 4 playthrough pt. 9: wrap-up
Mar. 22nd, 2015 10:07 pmThere's something about Silent Hill 4 that's gotten into my blood. ( Cut )
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So it's no secret that the second half of Silent Hill 4 is hobbled by a frustrating web of punishing game mechanics. Looking at the tools that the programmers had at their disposal, though, it occurs to me that a single, simple fix to how one of the items worked might have solved a great many of the game's issues. ( Game developers hate her! Cure unsightly game mechanics with this one weird trick! )
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We interrupt crazy Lunar doujinshi talk for the last part of the Silent Hill 4 playthrough. Well, technically the last part, anyhow.
So after Henry ( Cut )
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So after Henry ( Cut )
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I've mentioned before how Silent Hill 4 is, at a casual listen, nearly completely devoid of instrumental music. This might not precisely be the case, as if you look at the 100% OSTs put together by the user TokyoBrando on YouTube, SH4's tracklist is by far the longest at 132 tracks (not counting the drama CD stuff at the end). Upon listening, however, most are the tracks consist of very soft ambient sound - well put-together if you're paying attention, but mostly not anything you'd notice while playing. The Yamaoka pieces that consist of recognizable instruments playing a conventional melody, like "True" or "Please Love Me...Once More," are largely absent. I can remember "Wounded Warsong"; I can remember the track that plays when you meet Cynthia; and that's it.
What's remarkable is how many songs the SH4 OST has: five. But many of these don't play in the game, either; at least, not to their full extent. It's more like the music team got together and made a mini-image album based on the game.( Cut )
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What's remarkable is how many songs the SH4 OST has: five. But many of these don't play in the game, either; at least, not to their full extent. It's more like the music team got together and made a mini-image album based on the game.( Cut )
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Back when LiveJournal had a heck of a lot more traffic than it does now, I used to read the writings of this one guy who was using his journal as a game & movie blog. He didn't write much about personal stuff, and he had a melange of folks going through his website from the various media communities he frequented. One day, though, he posted about a death in his family. He'd been hit hard, of course, and I felt that it'd be kind of ungrateful to not say something during this tough time, since I'd gotten a good bit of entertainment from his blog. I left a brief message of condolence, but it had the exact opposite effect as intended - he was actually rather creeped out that he was getting this message from a "total stranger." Now, I think he overreacted a bit - he was writing a public blog about public media, not a personal diary - but I can't deny that I'd failed to think of things from his perspective, which was totally different from mine.
What this is all leading up to is that I like the "Dont go Out!!" on Henry's door and think it's one of the great horror messages, right up there with Resident Evil's "Itchy. Tasty." diary and Mary's letter to James. ( Cut )
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When we last left Silent Hill 4, I was - with great reluctance - leaving Eileen. In this installment, this behavior comes back to haunt me. ( Cut )
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Before I go on to Forest World Revisited, we have a bit of unfinished business in Subway World. ( Cut )
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So now we're into the second half of Silent Hill 4, which heralds a number of new systems and gameplay changes. They largely fall under two major changes, and how well you deal with them affects what ending you'll get. ( Cut )
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Just in case you haven't caught my other posts, I should start by mentioning that the mission statement of this playthrough has changed slightly. In my recent downtime, I went ahead and played through the rest of Silent Hill 4, meaning that the entire series of posts (not just the first half) is going to be in retrospect. I'm gonna start by going over how I felt about Silent Hill 4 just before I resumed playing it, as well as by reviewing by thoughts on its first half. ( Cut )
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Note: I started playing Silent Hill 4 two years ago; I stopped due to...well, due to circumstances detailed below. I'd like to resume the game this Halloween, but when I found my old notes, I discovered something: my comments differed significantly in certain aspects from my current impressions of the game. I'm going to publish my old notes to lead off my discussion of SH4, then follow up with my current, dissenting impressions, as well as various other retrospective thoughts on the first half of the game. I'll then comment on the second half of the game as I attempt to tackle it.
Also: my notes below were a bit incomplete in spots. Places where I had to fill in material are bolded. The material kind of peters out near the end, and I'm loathe to add more than necessary, since my thoughts & recollections have changed since I originally wrote this; I'll be expanding on those points in my next entry.( Cut )
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Also: my notes below were a bit incomplete in spots. Places where I had to fill in material are bolded. The material kind of peters out near the end, and I'm loathe to add more than necessary, since my thoughts & recollections have changed since I originally wrote this; I'll be expanding on those points in my next entry.( Cut )
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