I should clarify, Iām not criticizing the real-world soundness/logistics behind the puzzles/items in silent hill.
Weāre talking about a guy, cool as a cucumber, picking up garbage off the ground and macgyvering a fishing hook to get a key that he can barely see, that he doesnāt even know what its for, meeting other human beings without breaking down into tears, without asking them where did they come from, where are they going, what are they doing about the monsters, asking to team upā¦
Itās the idea that this world is a reflection of Jamesā psyche, or at the very least somehow relevant to him as a person. The problem isā¦name one of Jamesā character traits? Is he even human? We know very little about him besides his wife died and he doesnāt really react much or comment on the things around him. Without a strong main character the themes werenāt working for me.
When I say fatal frame was more elegant, I mean that they avoided the above problems because the characters were totally plastic dolls, and the game was āaboutā this alien hellscape that existed before the girls, and would continue existing without them. Your motivation (besides escaping) is to break ghost-energy seals by doing a bunch of really arbitrary things like taking a picture of markings on a wall. Itās ghost-logic, which feels a lot like nightmare logic to me.
3 had a thread and 4 had a post recently that made them sound good to me. 1, I donāt know but I feel like itās still very well liked.
I agree that I can picture a much better version of Silent Hill 2 just over the hillside; 2 is frustratingly bound by pulpy roots and simplistic characterization despite very complex themes. (In this case, I think the intent is that we can read what we want into James before the reveal, and that should speak to ourselves, but I think it could be done better). It reminds me even more strongly of its inspiration Jacobās Ladder, which is rather flat and obvious in its characters and plot mechanics while striking and percolating in its imagery and theming.
And with that thought, itās even stranger that no oneās been able to push past Silent Hill 2. Part of it may be the difficulty in retaining a romantic melancholy as horror gets deeper and characters more observed; the impulse is to get nastier, but the pacing that waves between a boat ride on the foggy bay and the nightmare sewer and jail, the overlook rest stop and pulsing heartbeat streets, the quiet, dusty hotel lit by morning sunlight through curtains and the crowded rooms inside ā itās so delicate and so important to why it fixes in my head.
I still get romantic feelings towards Deadly Premonition in the same way, although I need to extricate them from the Twin Peaks mood itās borrowing. Empty small town is such a powerful locale, and letting you live there for a few days so enticing, and melancholy and decay fit so naturally atop these places.
Ahh yeah this stuff was all good. Why do I hold horror games to impossibly high standards?
Oh yeah, I got around to playing through Gunstar Heroes after mentioning it within the past week. I thought it was okay, but I think the first combo I stumbled upon being the homing laser deal kinda hurt things as I basically just held the button down and watched all the enemies die for the first half of the game. Even after that there were whole boss fights I basically skipped by just playing keep away.
It would have likely blown my mind if I played it when it first came out.
Finished MK11ās story mode, which was pretty good! Itās definitely way above MK9 and X, on par with Injustice 2 as far as direction goes. I got the āOKā ending, so I guess Iāll drop the difficulty and nab the good one. That final boss fight is a pain in the ass.
The Krypt is pretty fun! Itās cool to run around through all these connected stages from the games I used to sneak away to play as a kid.
Too bad about the busted economy, though. Guess Iāll hop back in when they dole out the āwhoops weāre sorryā currency with the patch.
one of my favorite videogame places
I always think of the walk into town too. the part where you go under a overpass thing is a picture thats got stuck in my head over the years for some reason.
Silent Hill Musou was the best one
I think itās easy to forget what the state of narrative gaming was in 2002. Silent Hill 2 still very much is a game of its era and its successes are despite that.
Itās more than fair to criticize it for the myriad ways in which it is clunky. I feel like a handful of games have surpassed it in terms of specific things it does well since then. But there still hasnāt been a psychological horror game quite as good as this since. Maybe Siren came close but itās a very different flavor.
Yeah, thatās what Hard & Expert are for as itās not as easy to fall back on degenerate tactics and you generally want to avoid homing combos (unless youāre really good manually directing the homing+fire weapon) in favor of something more aggressive with high damage like fire+lightning (the ālightsaberā that deletes bullets).
Gunstar was one of the first games where I appreciated differences in difficulty level beyond just damage modifiers as bosses would have twists and new attacks (some bosses that just seemed like visual gimmicks become serious threats okay maybe not Melon Bread) and you need to reconsider weapons and stage order.
(Contra IIIās also notable for the insane RNG on its hard mode that turns the game on its head, but itās too hard for me.)
The best Gunstar boss is literally Curry and Rice (Iām not biased) because you just straight up have to learn how to do physical tackles without eating your own shit. That said, I also discovered homing laser early and never practiced other weapons. To me, this is fine, since C&R punished me for it.
hmm i donāt think I enjoy āplayingā mediocre anime game Black Rock Shooter.
Not to sound one-note or anything, but can you talk more about this or point me to the relevant Contra literature?
yo i dunno who netherrealm hired between games but their designs for noob saobot are so creepy and spooky and goofy and wonderful
Storing his sickle in his chest is a nice touch.
I played a lot of life force and alex kidd and the enchanted castle for this event i was at today and hoo boy.
if i ever beat life force without continuing it will be the best day of my life.
i also placed third in a melee tourney
Got that one Egypt-themed Assassinās Creed in the Humble Monthly and realized itās not the most recent anymore and that 2017 was two years ago and I have gray hairs now and have nothing to show for it but I imagine being an ubisoft stan must be much harder to justify
they will deliver the product until we die
i didnāt think it was very good but itās fun to romp in the desert!