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Thread: Does Silent Hill spoil Silent Hill 2? (no spoilers, please)

  1. Does Silent Hill spoil Silent Hill 2? (no spoilers, please)

    Please, if you can, reply without spoilers. So far I have no idea what's going on in these games, and I don't want to find out here...

    Anyway, I've heard that SH2 is more of a remake than a true sequel; that it borrows alot from the first game. I don't have SH2 yet, but it looks a heck of a lot more interesting, and I'd rather go through that one than spoil things with the PS version. So, can anyone tell me, is playing through SH first a help or a hindrance to enjoying the series?
    -Kyo

  2. #2
    No, it's not a remake... it just feels very familiar. The only way the first game spoils the second is by being better, overall.

    Don't worry too much about the story, it's a lot like John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness... it does its best to pretend there's a cohesive plot, but the pieces never really add up. Sure, there's a VAGUE story in there somewhere, but it's never fully explained, at least not to my satisfaction.

    Whatever, point is, it won't.
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  3. Remake? No, somebody gave you really bad info. Completely new game from start to finish, with no crossover at all that I noticed. I'm sure the detail-oriented will tell you that this place or that street might have been in SH1, but there's no spoilers at all from either game to the other.

    And Silent Hill is better than Silent Hill 2. Or rather, Silent Hill 2 is a better overall gameplay experience, but Silent Hill 1 is a better story, and much much much creepier.

    Silent Hill 1 is the single scaries game ever put to a disk, although I really do need to give Fatal Frame a go...

    James

  4. #4
    Word.
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  5. Thanks alot for the info, much appreciated. And yes, this game is frickin' scary, and I have no idea why, because nothing's really happening. I don't scare easy at all - certainly no game has ever made me feel uneasy...until this. This series blows almost all horror movies out of the water interms of emotional impact. Resident Evil seems pretty darn tame by comparison. One of the few games that genuinely make a stab at being serious art.
    -Kyo

  6. Re: Does Silent Hill spoil Silent Hill 2? (no spoilers, please)

    Originally posted by StriderKyo
    Anyway, I've heard that SH2 is more of a remake than a true sequel; that it borrows alot from the first game. I don't have SH2 yet, but it looks a heck of a lot more interesting, and I'd rather go through that one than spoil things with the PS version. So, can anyone tell me, is playing through SH first a help or a hindrance to enjoying the series?
    Yeah, I know it was already answered, but being the resident SH expert, I have to say it as well anyhow. As was already said, you got some real bum info - SH2 has almost NOTHING to do with the first game. The only similarity is the town, and the only real connection you have knowing that both games take place in the same Silent Hill comes from the map (if you know what you are looking at). Even some of the overall elements about how the town acts were changed for the second game (which was a real shame).

    I would absolutely play the first game first. It is without doubt the better of the two games. However, if you play the second first, the graphics will spoil you, and you'll have a harder time appreciating the original.

    The first SH is stronger in terms of characters, fear factor, some atmosphere aspects, and overall elements, while the second is stronger in terms of graphics, other atmosphere aspects, and MAYBE a bit better story wise - in the way that the second game just goes with the flow of what Silent Hill, the town, is about, while the first tries to explain why the town is like that, but it sounds a bit convoluted in the end.
    WARNING: This post may contain violent and disturbing images.

  7. Originally posted by StriderKyo
    Thanks alot for the info, much appreciated. And yes, this game is frickin' scary, and I have no idea why, because nothing's really happening. I don't scare easy at all - certainly no game has ever made me feel uneasy...until this. This series blows almost all horror movies out of the water interms of emotional impact. Resident Evil seems pretty darn tame by comparison. One of the few games that genuinely make a stab at being serious art.
    Well, there's a good reason for why it's so freakin' scary- in the Resident Evil games, the developers rely on things popping out and saying, "BOO!" to scare you. Think about it- when just walking arounnd in a RE game, do you get scared? No. It's just when the dogs jump through the window or when the Tyrant blasts through a wall. Then you jump, and laugh, 'cause you know Capcom got you. But Silent Hill is different, because the developers tackle the fear issue in a much more effective and somewhat primitive way. And when I say primitive, I mean they play on some of the oldest, most primal fears in the book. Fear of the unknown. Sometimes what you CAN'T see is scarier than what you CAN. Because when you can't see what's moving in the darkness, just beyond your range of vision, when you can't see what that is that's making that noise, your mind tends to invent horrors far worse than any videogame developer or movie maker or whatever can create. Everything in SH just comes together almost perfectly to create the aura of fear- the limited sight created by the flashlight, the freaky, unconventional soundtrack, the random noises, screams, and whispers, the bizarre enemies, and even the somewhat difficult to understand stories (2 was much more straightforward and easy to understand than 1) all combine to keep you off your toes. You're left thinking that, at any second, some freakish horror could leap out and do something hideous to you...sometimes it does, but for the most part you'e left wondering. And they say that anticipation of death is sometimes worse than death itself...

    BTW, if anyone's ever had trouble understanding the engrossing yet somewhat wonky plots of Silent Hill 1 & 2, there's a guy over at Gamefaqs that wrote incredibly in-depth and insightful plot guides on both games. Really, this guy is impressive- he explains every aspect of both stories. He seems to have played the games (especially the first one) millions of times and has picked apart every aspect of the stories and has formed really, really good explanations for everything that happens. Seriously, everything he says is completely logical and makes sense- the plot guides are an awesome read, especially the one for the first game. If you're played through the games and want to get a further understanding of the wacky plot, head on over and check it out.

    http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/game/20324.html

    http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/30429.html

    I'd link directly to the Plot Guides, but Gamefaqs won't let me for some reason. Just click on the 'Plot Guide' in the 'In-Depth FAQs' section written by 'President Evil'. Great stuff.

    As for which game I thing is better, it's a toss up. I think I gotta agree with shidoshi's assessments of both games. The first one was much creepier, probably because it was fresher. They really didn't try to do much different with SH2, so there was a sense of familiarity. It was still creepy, but you'd already seen this in the first game. Besides, I also agree with shidoshi that it was a bummer that certain aspects of the town weren't the same in SH2- like the constant shifts from the "real" world to the "nightmare" world. This did happen in SH2, just not as often, and to be frank, the "nightmare" world in SH1 was much freakier. There was blood and guts and chains and rust everywhere. Very "Hellraiser". In SH2 the "nightmare" world was a little tamer, and more rarely encountered. Still, they're both amazing, scary games, and you should play them both. Just play the first one first, as it'll be hard to go back to it once you see how pretty the graphics in 2 are...

    And Kyo, you're right- the SH series do make a stab at being serious art. Hmm...that's a good idea for a thread...

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  8. Re: Re: Does Silent Hill spoil Silent Hill 2? (no spoilers, please)

    Originally posted by shidoshi

    The first SH is stronger in terms of characters, fear factor, some atmosphere aspects, and overall elements, while the second is stronger in terms of graphics, other atmosphere aspects, and MAYBE a bit better story wise - in the way that the second game just goes with the flow of what Silent Hill, the town, is about, while the first tries to explain why the town is like that, but it sounds a bit convoluted in the end.
    I have played the second, for a bit. That's the game that got me interested in the series...Restless Dreams is a bit more graphic, showing the scenes where Pyramid Head is basically ass-raping the mannequins from a more revealing angle, things like that. The whole look and feel of the game, the mature angle, and the bizarre, almost symbolic look of the characters reminded me heavily of The Cell, which gets my vote for creepiest movie ever.

    The first one didn't grab me at first, I've only now gone back and bought it after being enthralled by the second. But, I guess I'll find out which I like better.
    -Kyo

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