Any thoughts on Silent Hill 4: The Room?

Post by **Popcorn** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:11 pm

Sorry this thread's old, only just rediscovered it.

As far as I know, that's an issue inherent with all third-person games.

It's not. In Silent Hill your character drifts over the landscape like they're not even attached to anything; in Sonic, you at least feel like you've got some traction. The controls are so slow and lumpy-- the response time is disgusting. The menu-orientated system is balls.

Am I the only guy who *hates* pressing X next to an item like a crate or a door or something, only for everything to freeze and a little descriptive message to pop up? It's so completely, horrendously alienating from what's going on it's untrue. This is the future; we should be integrating invisible game designs and living on the moon by now.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:26 pm

I still can't get hot water to flow without running it for more than, like, three minutes.

I still can't just toss all my dirty clothes into one load and have them all cleaned together.

Going to the dentist still fucking hurts.

We're not in the future.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:39 pm

Green Gibbon! wrote:I still can't just toss all my dirty clothes into one load and have them all cleaned together.

I sure as hell can.

aso · Post by **aso** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:01 pm

Popcorn wrote:Sorry this thread's old, only just rediscovered it.

As far as I know, that's an issue inherent with all third-person games.
It's not. In Silent Hill your character drifts over the landscape like they're not even attached to anything; in Sonic, you at least feel like you've got some traction. The controls are so slow and lumpy-- the response time is disgusting. The menu-orientated system is balls.

Am I the only guy who *hates* pressing X next to an item like a crate or a door or something, only for everything to freeze and a little descriptive message to pop up? It's so completely, horrendously alienating from what's going on it's untrue. This is the future; we should be integrating invisible game designs and living on the moon by now.

I consider most 3D platformers an exception, as I don't really consider them third-person games so much. Generally, third-person titles are adventure, survival horror, or RPG affairs (Tomb Raider, Heretic II, pretty much any non-first person SH title, et a;). I'll agree that earlier control concepts were pretty bad, most notably the 'stand and spin' technique (STILL) used in Resident Evil, but they've improved on that in SH3, Fatal Frame, and other titles, in my eyes. Controls respond naturally in the games I've mentioned to me. It doesn't work as well with you. All I can say is 'too bad'.

And in lieu of "everything freezing", what would you recommend? So we're living in the future, what space age renovations do you think should be in place?

And laundry you can lump together... just don't mix colors with whites.

Post by **Segaholic2** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:46 pm

aso wrote:And laundry you can lump together... just don't mix colors with whites.

Now you sound like my mother.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:48 pm

I mix colors and whites all the time. As long as you've washed them a few times you won't end up with pink underwear.

aso · Post by **aso** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:55 pm

Segaholic2 wrote:
aso wrote:And laundry you can lump together... just don't mix colors with whites.
Now you sound like my mother.

Where do you think I heard the whites and colors rule from first?

'Washed a few times'? Craziness...

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:44 pm

And laundry you can lump together... just don't mix colors with whites.

Didn't Brown Versus Board of Education prove that you SHOULD mix them to be fair?

aso · Post by **aso** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:49 pm

Zeta wrote:
And laundry you can lump together... just don't mix colors with whites.
Didn't Brown Versus Board of Education prove that you SHOULD mix them to be fair?

Ow. Ow, ow, ow.

Post by **Delphine** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 4:10 pm

Zeta wrote:
And laundry you can lump together... just don't mix colors with whites.
Didn't Brown Versus Board of Education prove that you SHOULD mix them to be fair?

I certainly don't mind a little chocolate in my vanilla, but I don't want pink underwear.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:22 pm

but I don't want pink underwear.

Still wearing those Sailor Moon panties, then?

aso · Post by **aso** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:15 pm

Silent Hill 4: The Room has been released in Japan. Those who have imported it to the States (and elsewhere) report that

1. The game contained a complete English translation

2. The game's style is more along the lines of SH2 (dread) than SH3 (shock)

3. That William Sullivan is one fucked up man

4. Spoilers are a terrible, terrible thing

Post by **Delphine** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:24 pm

...it has a full English translation? Damn, I'd import it if I could afford to.

aso wrote:2. The game's style is more along the lines of SH2 (dread) than SH3 (shock)

Yay! It certainly seemed that way, from the demo movies I'd gotten ahold of.

Dache · Post by **Dache** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:37 pm

Yes please.

aso · Post by **aso** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:45 pm

It makes sense that SH4 is similar to SH2, given that SH4's production began just after finishing SH2 (around 2000 or so). SH3 could've been something a separate team whipped up to appease the fans until the next entry in the series was ready.

There are a few other notes...
1. There is pausing, hooray!

2. There is only one save point, in your room. You can reenter your room through several holes found throughout your journies.

3. There is an item chest in your room within which you store items. This is a necessity, given that you can only carry around 10 items at a time. Reminds me a bit of RE, but eh...

4. There are items you can use to deal with the much heard of Ghosts. Breathe a sigh of relief!

And Dache: Jesus, that pic scared the crap out of me when I first saw it. The trailer view is even worse, as the eyes are moving around like crazy.

Post by **Delphine** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:51 pm

aso wrote:2. There is only one save point, in your room. You can reenter your room through several holes found throughout your journies.

THAT'S what those were. The demo movies I found had holes in the walls all over the place and I couldn't figure out why.

aso wrote:3. There is an item chest in your room within which you store items. This is a necessity, given that you can only carry around 10 items at a time. Reminds me a bit of RE, but eh...

Well, that's more realistic than both the RE system and the pervious SH system -- nobody has unlimited pocket space, and the magic item boxes that ALWAYS had the same items were certainly a hole in the fourth wall.

aso wrote:4. There are items you can use to deal with the much heard of Ghosts. Breathe a sigh of relief!

Saw that in the same demo movies. *g* But the idiot playing didn't seem to realize how to do it... *headshake* Even by just watching I could tell...

aso · Post by **aso** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:57 pm

aso wrote:2. There is only one save point, in your room. You can reenter your room through several holes found throughout your journies.

Delphine wrote:THAT'S what those were. The demo movies I found had holes in the walls all over the place and I couldn't figure out why.

Yep! They push the concept of your Room being a safe place to escape to. Apparently, though, as the game progresses, the 'safety' within your room diminishes...

You can also return to your room to restore health and look through the peep hole of your front door, through which you might see several people.

aso wrote:3. There is an item chest in your room within which you store items. This is a necessity, given that you can only carry around 10 items at a time. Reminds me a bit of RE, but eh...

Delphine wrote:Well, that's more realistic than both the RE system and the pervious SH system -- nobody has unlimited pocket space, and the magic item boxes that ALWAYS had the same items were certainly a hole in the fourth wall.

True enough. There is one annoying note about this, though, as I've just now remembered: a clip of, say, 10 bullets for a handgun counts as one item. That amounts to around 90 bullets and one handgun taking up all of your inventory space.

Oh yeah, and while I'm sure this is something everyone knows, inventory access is real-time, so you can't pause and switch weapons on the fly. You can examine all of your items, though!

SH4 is coming to the US in September for simultaneous release on PS2, Xbox, and PC (or so they say). It'll be hitting the UK sometime around December.

Post by **Delphine** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:00 pm

aso wrote:True enough. There is one annoying note about this, though, as I've just now remembered: a clip of, say, 10 bullets for a handgun counts as one item. That amounts to around 90 bullets and one handgun taking up all of your inventory space.

Ew. No wonder there are so many hand-to-hand weapons.

aso wrote:SH4 is coming to the US in September for simultaneous release on PS2, Xbox, and PC (or so they say). It'll be hitting the UK sometime around December.

Ah, just in time to distract me from my classes.

aso · Post by **aso** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:15 pm

aso wrote:SH4 is coming to the US in September for simultaneous release on PS2, Xbox, and PC (or so they say). It'll be hitting the UK sometime around December.

Delphine wrote:Ah, just in time to distract me from my classes.

Better yet, the game is longer than SH3 (and possibly even SH2). There may be four possible endings to unlock.

aso · Post by **aso** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 3:17 pm

September 7th, 2004 is the release date that Gamestop and EB have been pushing. As far as a soundtrack CD goes... I checked with Gamestop and they had ONE soundtrack left. Only by reserving can you get it. EB, well, they aren't quite so sure.

So, until more info comes up, reserve a copy at Gamestop (or an affiliate) and carry on with your life until the game comes out.