Silent Hill Fans Come Sit By The Fire!!

[Wan-Fu]

I am very, very late to the party concerning Silent Hill. I just bought SH4, apparently the worse installment in the series, and I can't get enough, but I have a lot of questions concerning the Silent Hill Series, and Fatal Frame as well.

1. Is combat clearly an afterthought in every Silent Hill Game?

I'm not expecting a Ghostbuster FPS, and it would ruin the series, but the never dying ghosts and funny looking bats and Resident Evil dogs were really awful to fight, and had no discernable AI. Is this experience pretty much uniform in SH?

2. How Does Fatal Frame compare to the Silent Hill Series?

I have read some opinions on the topic, but nothing truly helpful. What is the actual gameplay like in Fatal Frame, and is the art direction and ambience top notch Like Silent Hill??

3. Is the story one continuous story, or is each game different??

Have I ruined it by playing SH4 first, or is each one a story in and of itself, and does each installment of SH have alternate endings?? And is there any replay value WHATSOEVER in any of the Silent Hill or Fatal Frame games??

Thanks!

[Cuddly Knife]

1.It was actually, until part four. Part four is produced by the creator of the music in the SH series, Akira Yamaoka. In interviews, he said that he wanted to bring more action into the series with melee weapons, and in the most part, I think he succeded.

If you pay attention to the story, Walter uses those weapons that you wield to finish off his chosen prey, so if anything, it is accurate in being realistic to the game world. I personally love to kick ass with the shovel and the fireman's axe. It was a welcome departure from part 3 which I think tried a little too had to be like Resident Evil with the guns.

The ghosts can be stopped, and if you stop the lead ghost, it doesn't come at you anymore in the game.


2. Fatal Frame is its own beast. If you enjoy scary-as-hell atmosphere, then definitely get this one, but if you want RE-style combat, keep away at all costs. First off, your characters run slower than R-Type: Final, and the battle system(first-person shooting your camera, charging up shots) is weak sauce. The story is decent, not nearly as involved as Silent Hill, but I haven't seen a story that is, yet. Oh yeah, the acting in part 1 is some of the crappiest this generation, imo. Part Two is supposed to clear up all the problems of 1, but I can't say if they succeded, yet. Part one is possibly the scariest game I've played through. By todays standards, the graphics suck balls, but atmosphere is what makes this game more than a below-average adventure game.

3. If you're talking about Silent Hill 4, then the story has nothing to do with the others. The same goes for part 2. 1 and 3 are connected by each of the lead characters. 2 and 4 are the best when it comes to story and creepiness. There are references to some of the people from the whole Silent Hill universe in each game, like Pyramid Head/Crimson, Walter, and a few other things, but you have to pay attention to the stories.

As far as replay value, Part 1 has at least five endings, part 2 has seven, I don't know about part 3 and 4 has at least four endings. Part 2 has the most replay value, as you need different objects from different scenarios to get different endings. The main story up until the end of each game stays the same, though.