SH thread

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Here's the obligatory guide
>Silent Hill thread
Great! Now lets repost the neat SH PC Guide + the DL links :

SH1 NTSC DDL:
https://mega.nz/#!bVUCTJzD!PmnPw4S7fWGyvTjw9S0-RQdk7rRp2BQNuXJqRkZCZvk

SH2 DDL:
https://mega.nz/#!rFcj1SIJ!47JH9M4OrzmQKuaiJ6IqUgmgz_SVNtk4LIYNSa-D-_8

SH2 torrent:
https://mega.nz/#!bYcEnbhC!rYnhvcJiRC46T6yExS0Y61JHZ-5N3WxFvfZMI8xbyhE

SH3 DDL:
https://mega.nz/#!2JNkgJ7b!nfPf5cIs6I5K-sdAs7RcnHvGA2hAvIGdpQuIoBhF3iE

SH3 torrent:
https://mega.nz/#!GVVGRLpD!SyklVbuLIkc38ZYji5QL3sWHKtHt9-Bto700My8pH7c

SH4 DDL:
https://mega.nz/#!Us1XTaII!cglH0dZOaH5yQEm4cnEh3eyUz4bIf6rACQqcVzkb4Hc

Mount the ISOs of 2 & 3, and then run their installers like always.
The SH1 is a PS1 rip that you gotta emulate.
The "sh2proxy" is a all-in-one fix, that works as a no-cd crack as well. It is included in the pack.
If you use the NEW fix mentioned in the guide, you can use the sh2proxy's EXE as the no-cd crack!

In case you experience issues saving the game / not being able to edit the disp.ini, make sure the files aren't set to "Read Only", and run the game as Administrator.
If SH2 gets stuck in a black screen upon launch, close it and re-start it again.

SH2-4 do not support Xinput gamepads. Either use Xpadder, a DirectInput pad, or just play with KB+M.
You can now see some decent emulator settings for SH1 as well in the guide. If the image of the game does NOT fill your entire screen in fullscreen mode, check your plugin AND GPU control panel's image scaling settings!
Also give the new PGXP emulator a shot for a lot less wobbly PS1 graphics.

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>>377669691
Damn, you beat me to it. Nice!

>>377669616
>post comfy SH music, here's what I'm chillin to now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LB7LZZGpkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qalGezr76o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aalI-pmhgb4

>Post favorite moments
first minutes of Silent Hill 1.
Nuff said.

The mirror in SH3 is close 2nd.

>>377669846
Alone in the town - is probably my favorite SH2 theme

I think it captures very well how comfy this game is despite being a horror game

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>>377670002
It truly is one of the most underrated songs in the series' history.

Funnily enough, no matter that I got to play SH2 almost day-1, I only sort-of realized its existence quite a bit later on, from one of the most bizarre routes out there: listening to fan-made MIDI remakes of the OST.

After that, however, I've spent extra time in the Bowling alley, each playthrough.

>I think it captures very well how comfy this game is despite being a horror game
I think the "Making Of" put it the best:
"It's not your typical horror game, but more of a sad love story". Which is prolly one reason why so many people from different backgrounds still flock to SH2.

>>377670383
How did you get to play it day -1 anon?

>>377669616
I'm turning 28 later this year, I'll play through a Silent Hill game on that day just because of you.

>>377670817
Do it for you man

They can be therapy at best

>>377670948
It would be, but across time two people can enjoy Silent Hill on their 28th birthdays. It's better than anything else I could spend my time on, or likely would.

>>377671037
I guess that's a way of putting it. What's your favorite one?

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>>377669616
I think Silent Hill 4 is really underrated and does not deserve the shit it gets.

It was like a full P.T. game for the PS2, looked great, was creepy as fuck (the only one that really made me uncomfortable) and a very interesting plot.

Only bad thing for me was the re-use of the areas and that was it.

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>>377670707
well this weird Brit came out of this blue phone box one day, spoke something about timey wimey wibbly wobbly stuff... long story yeah.

>>377670817
attaboy.
Turning 29 soon-ish, and SH1 & 2 have been on my semi-annual replay list for quite some time now.

OP here, I usually just replay 1-2 but found a new love for 3 that I never really felt before.

finished it twice this week. gotta say, it's a lot better than I remember. SH games get better the more you know them anyway, at least for me

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>>377671463
I know what you mean, but nothing beats going in all blind for the first time, not knowing what to expect. Or even what you might be witnessing either.

>>377671885
It sure makes it a lot more frightening, but to me walking around in a familiar nightmarish environment is also an enjoyable experience

it kinda feels like you've defeated your childhood fears or something

>>377671115
Three, Heather is absolutely fantastic in every way. I just want her to be happy.

>>377671134
The only one I haven't replayed in years is the first game, maybe I should get around to it.

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>>377672157
>The only one I haven't replayed in years is the first game, maybe I should get around to it.
Do it.
It's still my absolute favorite one after all these years. I literally have some 40+ playthroughs done already, on numerous different platforms at that.

>>377671463
>>377671885
There is nothing like playing SH1-3 for the first time though. Unique experience.

I'm going to shit up this thread for a little bit and talk about why I think Shattered Memories is fantastic.

From a narrative perspective it's legitimately well written. It foreshadows all of the twists pretty strongly and I sincerely believe that if the story had been told in any medium other than a video game (ie: with you controlling the protagonist) it wouldn't have caught nearly as many people off guard. The biggest mark of how great a twist it is, is that on a second playthrough you see everything in a new light and realize how heavily hinted at it was the whole time. The rest of the plot is also pretty well paced and, outside of the one section in the woods (and maybe the paparazzi bit in the school), it doesn't ever really feel like a slog.

Atmosphere is top notch. I still remember watching a trailer with the first transition into the nightmare and it was incredibly creepy. There are a lot of little details that make the various locations unsettling as well. A large part of this is due to the echoes mechanic.

Speaking of which, echoes are great. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Dark Souls both have a similar thing, where the story is there if you want to look for it and piece it together, but it's absolutely not required to enjoy the game. Echoes also do this great thing where they tell a bunch of different short stories and a bunch of them are obviously connected (many are from Heather's childhood) but a bunch of other ones might be (school one about a frigid GF, party in the woods, etc...) and a bunch clearly aren't (boy who shoots father in woods). Trying to figure out which stories are connected lends itself to each player having a unique perspective on the plot.

Music is solid. Akira Yamaoka doing an Elvis cover is not something I expected to see in my lifetime. Most music isn't in your face, but helps contribute to the melancholic, abandoned tone of the town.

>>377673649
The game plays fabulously (note: the gameplay is flawed due to nightmare sections being the only time the player needs to worry about game-overs breaking the game into 3 very distinct types of gameplay, but that's a design issue not an actual play issue). The phone as a menu is fun and the inclusion of a 'look behind you' button is great. Waggle and door opening mechanics (burst through vs peek) are also responsive and effective without feeling gimmicky. The inclusion of the camera (and its 'lag') as well as the phone makes the game feel very polished.

Graphically the game is serviceable but holy shit, it must have taken some advanced wizardry to let the wii render all of the shadows/snowflakes. It's technically very impressive, despite only looking 'decent'.

I think there are also a lot of individual moments that stand out. As I already mentioned, the first transition to nightmare is intense as fuck, the car escape, Cybil freezing up just as she's about to tell you the truth and then basically everything with the nightmare section after seenig Dhalia in her apartment. And of course, the finale. Everything about the reveal is handled really well and the framing of the scene as Kaufman explains everything only for Harry to walk in, here himself be called 'not even a ghost' and then they both call out 'Cheryl' in synchronization, damn I get chills just thinking about it. I think that one moment is probably one of the best directed pieces of video game narrative I've ever seen.

Obviously the game isn't perfect, and the nightmare sections, while really cool on initial plays, quickly become tedious and the monsters aren't really varied or threatening beyond the initial couple of jump scares. It's a shame because the idea of them grabbing you as you are climbing fences/opening doors is really effective.

Ultimately, the game is fantastic in everything other than gameplay (which is true to most SH games) and does a lot of cool ideas executed really well.

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>>377673649
>I'm going to shit up this thread for a little bit and talk about why I think Shattered Memories is fantastic.
well you're set to fail horribly then, because SH:SM was fucking amazing.

>>377673729
>Graphically the game is serviceable but holy shit, it must have taken some advanced wizardry to let the wii render all of the shadows/snowflakes
Nah. People seem to forget that Gamecube already had games like Resident Evil:REmake and RE4, which still hold up well and had fancy lighting.

Deferred Shading, the trendy trick for fast real-time lighting that got mega popular after mid-00s, really is feather light, and drawing dozens of tiny triangles with low-res snow textures on 'em really isn't a big feat for a 7th gen machine either. It's nice looking game yeah, and I love the urban exploration vibes it has.

>>377674141
I will admit that I know next to nothing about technical elements of games, but is it really that easy to get a 'real' snowfall with individual flakes that are affected by lighting? It's something I still don't see in many games today so I had just assumed it was tricky to implement.

And the urban exploration feel is nifty too. It's not so much of a factor in the opening bit but it really shines when you're heading under the lake and then for basically the entirety of the mall segment. It's a really weird atmosphere because Silent Hill is supposed to be a populated, regular town; but everything feels sort of derelict and falling apart. The blizzard was also a neat way to justify the locations all being abandoned.

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Post your Silent Hill collections, broskis!

on top of these, I got a strat guide for SH2 on my bookshelf, SH1's NTSC and PAL copies on PS3's HDD, and PC ports installed on my machine.

>>377674659
>but is it really that easy to get a 'real' snowfall with individual flakes that are affected by lighting?
Short answer: Yes. If you know what you're doing.

The snowfall in SM is most likely just a simple particle-effect cloud that follows the player around, rendered on a secondary camera or not, with the flashlight's light illuminating and casting shadows out of the individual particles with the simple "dark OR lit" principle. STALKER uses similar lighting system, but at much higher quality and out of ALL light sources, and it is indeed always amazing to see even individual branches of some far-away trees to cast detailed shadows on the surroundings as lights move around.
It obviously helps that Wii had fairly PC-like specs, with the Ati GPU and IBM CPU. Nowadays, you could fairly easily replicate the effect with any major game engine, from Unity to Unreal.

All that said and done, I originally excpected to HATE SH:SM, because of its pacifist style gameplay, Nintendo-exclusivity, and the fact that it toys around with SH1's plot and cast. However, once I got to finally play it, I was hooked.

I played it 4 times in a row within couple weeks, just to get to see as many endings and variations to scenery and scenes as possible. You can imagine my surprise when I witnessed my friend play it later on, and he managed to get to places and see scenes I didn't even know to exist in the game!

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the best begining for a survival horror game in history.
my favorite Song would be I Want Love mix version

>>377675108
this is the part where even the most jaded "lol old PS1 game w/ bad graphix can't be that scary!" people usually shit bricks and weep.

>>377669616
>Silent Hill 1
Second time the siren sounds, everything goes dark, and you have to make your way to the school. Or that time when you fight that giant fucking moth.
>Silent Hill 2
When you get into the boat and follow the lighthouse/First monster encounter/ Fighting the two pyramid heads.
>Silent Hill 3
That fat piece of shit following you on the subway/Mirror reflection/Decapitated Mannequin.

I didn't play The Room.

>>377675347
>I didn't play The Room.
you really should tho'.
everything about THE room is the best part in it.

>>377669616
Happy birthday OP.

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>>377669616
happy birthday dude.
loved the opening in SH3 for some reason, never been really able to put my finger on it.
also love the first otherwold transition in 1 before you wake up in the cafe, because everything about that sequence is fucking brilliant.

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1 > 2 > 3 > 4

>>377672332
top tier taste.

>>377675727
my rankings have always been 1>2=3>>>4

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>>377675854

I'd go as far as to put 1 and 2 on the same level as each other. 3 was a step down due to not letting you explore the town that much, and 4 for being retarded in certain game designs.