Old School: Silent Hill

Since I don't have regular 'net access at the moment, or cable, my girlfriend loaned me her old Playstation along with a few old games. Among those is Silent Hill.

Thus far, I've played through without any help or guides... It's very time consuming and a little frustrating. There are some puzzles/items that always seem just out of reach...

Anyone else big on this game? It may be sorta old, but it's still creepy... :

Ive only played part two. I actually own the first one, but I havent gotten around to play it.

Oh.... Silent Hill.... now there's a memory best left in the past. It's one of the scaries games I have ever played, only beaten by Silent Hill 3. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the camera that always seem to position itself in the scariest way possible. Or the radio that keeps buzzing when a monster gets too close. Or the constant twists and turns in the story, so you don't really know what's going on. Maybe the intro where you find... well, you know. Or that the puzzles is just hard enough to force you to think, without letting you get stuck. (except one puzzle in SH3 that requires knowing the entire works of Shakespear).

Silent Hill 2 on the other hand actually manages to stay fresh and have a great story, and at the same time it's Silent Hill all the way. It starts with you (the main character) getting a letter from your wife, asking you to come to your "special place" in Silent Hill. Problem is said wife died several years ago? Hm... One thing leads to another, things start to not make sense and you end up with a game almost as good as the first one.

Silent Hill 3 started the downfall, yet in some way it's the best in the series. It's far more action than the two first games combined, and you play a young girl instead of a grown man. Still, this is Silent Hill deep down, so be prepared to switch the lights back on and weep like a baby when it gets too scary.

Silent Hill 4: The Room is by far the worst game in the series, and wasn't even supposed to be a Silent Hill game until quite late in development. It see a guy locked up in his room finding a secret door to a new dimension or some crap like that, and don't even take place in the town Silent Hill. Even more, the room is your base in the game. This means you go through a secret door, proceed quite a bit, come to a stop, have to walk all the way back again to your room and then go into another secret door. Not a bad game in it's own, but don't come close to the rest of the series.

Silent Hill 5 are also in development, but will most likely be on PS3. And yes, there's a Silent Hill: The Movie in production. Let's just hope it can match the quality of Resident Evil or Alone in the Dark... :lol

Silent Hill 1 is the still the scariest and the most serious imho, I would never consider it old school, because even compared to most horror games, this game stands up pretty strong for it's fear factor.

One of the first games that created a new genre of survival horror...."Pyschologic Fear"...fear of tight spaces....the dark...and lord knows what else.

Originally based on Stephen King's Jacob's Ladder...this title is so incredible.

Silent Hill 2 and 3 on the other hand, is a bit more soft on the story, yet SH3 is dark....but not as downright INSANE as "Silent Hill 4: The Room" <--- now that will scare the crap out of ya!

I disagree with you Nightwolf, SH4 is much much more deep into one of the most in touch with one of the most common fears "Isolation"...the beauty of part 4, Henry is not even part of the Silent Hill story, he's just an average joe who got sucked into this evil world...James, Heather, and Harry were part of it (Especially Heather)

I enjoyed SH3, but the ending really sucked. To me it didn't make any sense why Heather would be smiling and acting like nothing happened.

The fog and snow making stuff hard to see with the radio freaking out whenever ...things... are near was scary enough.

When the world goes dark during the day, it's scarier.

The abandoned elementry is bad.

The evil elementry is worse.

Of course, that's just a build up to the hospital... and the alternate hospital...

Alternate Silent Hill shopping district is even worse...

The game keeps seeming to get longer even though I've already been to the amusement park and now I'm... nowhere...

I still say the "alternate" hopsital takes the cake for some of the eriest stuff I've ever seen.  The sewers (with the praying mantis type things hanging from the celing) actually made me jump a few times...

At the moment, I'm stuck on the puzzle "the grim reaper's list" so think that I might actually have to look at an FAQ. I really have no idea how to go about the riddle to get through the next door...

That's easy, here's the names to remember for the Grim Reaper Puzzle

Albert Lords
Lydia Findly
Edward C. Briggs
Roberta T. Morgan
Trevor F. White


The easiest way to remember the order....Look at the first letters of each name....A-L-E-R-T.....

Yeah, I got that. The clues aren't very good in that section of the game.

Wasn't there a poem or something about who goes first? Simply line up the people based on their age and read the first letter.

The creepiest part in the entire SH series? Basement, wheelchair. Say no more.

It was the zombie babies that did it for me.

SPOILERS







The scene where Lisa, the nurse, realizes that she's already "one of them" is so awesome... It's erie, despirate, sad... And the diary entry she wrote right before... wow...





END SPOILER


The clues about lining up the Grim Reaper's list aren't very telling about the word you're supposed to put in... I did finally get past that area though.

All I know is that this game has TONS of atmosphere, erie (genuinely hair standing on end) moments and some of those "jump out of your seat" surprises... Intense...

Originally based on Stephen King's Jacob's Ladder...this title is so incredible.

Click to expand...

I don't even recall Stephen King writing Jacob's Ladder...are you sure it's him?

I just started a new game tonight, as this post made me want to play it. I'm not very easy to scare at all, but so far this is making take a couple of breaks.

Anyone tried "Fatal Fram"? It's a lot like Silent Hill, except you play a young girl in her teens, and your entire arsenal is a camera. It's a bit weird, yet excellent. You basically want to let the ghosts come as close to you as possible so you do as much damage as possible, but get too close... It's weird. And I could mention not all ghosts are dangerous. Some try to help, others are just creepy. Add a great story, and you have a great game.

Retro Hero said:

I don't even recall Stephen King writing Jacob's Ladder...are you sure it's him?

I just started a new game tonight, as this post made me want to play it. I'm not very easy to scare at all, but so far this is making take a couple of breaks.

Click to expand...

Glad this post is influencing you.. let me know if you get stuck at any parts...

I'm playing through again to try to get one of the better endings...

Retro Hero said:

I don't even recall Stephen King writing Jacob's Ladder...are you sure it's him?

I just started a new game tonight, as this post made me want to play it. I'm not very easy to scare at all, but so far this is making take a couple of breaks.

Click to expand...

Just ask Konami, that's where they got the idea from

I did a quick search on the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) and came up with:

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Directed by
Adrian Lyne
Writing credits (WGA)
Bruce Joel Rubin (written by)

It doesn't say anything about Stephen King making it or being based on a novel by him. But on the other hand, ever seen The Shawshank Redemption? It's actually a King movie.

And by the way, just because I'm bored, here's a few other survival/horror games you might want to try. I've played them all and loved them.

* Alone in the Dark (oldie, but goodie)
* Alone in the Dark 2 (some friends of mine had major problems since this game was too hard. However, I managed to find a way to kill the monsters easily and beat it.)
* Alone in the Dark 3 (the worst so far, yet better than many other wannabe's.)
* Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (excellent game, but be prepared for the worst ending in game history.)
* The Resident Evil series. (quite great, especially the earlier ones.)
* Resident Evil 2 (Hail to the King, baby! The best survival horror to date.)
* The Suffering (excellente magnifico.)
* Fatal Frame aka Project Zero (and you thought The Ring and The Grudge was creepy?)
* Fatal Frame 2 aka Project Zero 2 (and this one's even better.) (note: Fatal Frame in the US, Project Zero in Europe. I do my research.)
* Clock Tower 3 (it's horrifying, as in you want to run and hide when you realize you actually paid money for this crap.)

If we continue to movies, take a look at
* They (Silent Hill: The movie? Unofficially, yes.)
* Alone in the Dark (games turned into movies hardly ever works. This... well, sort of works. It's not all bad.)
* Resident Evil (games turned into movies hardly ever works. Here's proof.)
* Resident Evil: Apocalypse (and they actually made another one?)
* Jacob's Ladder (shortly put WOW!) :lol

RE 1 the movie wasnt that great. It was ok. Part two was actually pretty good. Again its all a matter of opinion. Its not proof of anything.

I liked the first one much more than the second. The first one took place before the games and fit into the story. The second on the other hand messed up the story entirely, and that even before they made the bad guy a hero.

They and Jacob's Ladder sound pretty intriguing. I did like the first Resident Evil movie, mostly for the soundtrack and action. It did fit into the story pretty well too. The second one was a more brainless action flick IMO. Good action, but it lacked content.

Anyhow, since I'm borrowing a PsOne, I'd actually love to get my hands on Resident Evil, Soul Calibre, Tekken 3, Final Fantasy VII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Wild 9.

I actually think that I'd be QUITE content with that game collection for a LONG while...

Just replace Resident Evil with Resident Evil 2, and good buy summer!

Grindspine said:

They and Jacob's Ladder sound pretty intriguing.  I did like the first Resident Evil movie, mostly for the soundtrack and action.  It did fit into the story pretty well too.  The second one was a more brainless action flick IMO.  Good action, but it lacked content.

Anyhow, since I'm borrowing a PsOne, I'd actually love to get my hands on Resident Evil, Soul Calibre, Tekken 3, Final Fantasy VII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Wild 9.

I actually think that I'd be QUITE content with that game collection for a LONG while...

Click to expand...

Don't you mean "Soul Blade", not Calibur for PSOne?

I just picked up a PSX myself, and I'm trying to track down some goodies. I have never played the original Tekken sadly....only the others. I haven't even played Soul Blade even.