Silent Hill 5 Gameplay

Im really trying to have faith that this game is going to be good. I like alot of what these guys are saying, like how SH4 was a major departure from the tradition of the series, but SH5 will bring it back to its roots. I also like that they are maintaining many of the familiar imagery and motifs. Akira Yamaoka is still going to be doing the soundtrack, which is very important. At least we know the music is in good hands. He will also be overlooking the games production.

Theres quite obviously alot of inspiration from the film, which isnt necessarily a bad thing in my opinion. The film was very true to the nature of Silent Hill. As long as they keep it to things like enemy design, and real time environment changes (darkness transformation, paint peeling) then it should be okay.

The only thing that bothers me is the talk of better combat. Call me crazy, but as a Silent Hill fan, I realize that what makes these games so great is their ability to knot up your stomach with overwhelming fear when played in a dark lonely environment, with the volume blasting. Part of what creates this aspect of fear, is your helplessness in the situation. Knowing that these monsters might be just around the corner, and there isnt much you can do to defend yourself. The moment you give the player too much power over the situation, the fear is gone. Seriously, Silent Hill combat was indeed always shitty, but thats because this isnt an action game! I want to remain optimistic, but everything these guys are saying about action and combat changes just makes me think about Resident Evil 4. However, they directly reference RE5, saying that while it would be more of an action game, SH5 will be the true survivor horror experience. So who knows? At this point, Id say it could go either way.

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Despite how much I hate the combat, I totally agree. And I've never thought about it that way before!

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INFP, Evokateur/Healer/Scintillator

Well, I think they can improve the combat without neccesarily giving the character and overwhelming advantage. I mean most of the Silent Hill games battle animations were just horribly slow or awkward looking. And in most of the games, if it was a one on one situation your character could usually win without much trouble. But in situations where there were several enemies on the screen it was usually better to just run like hell than risk getting killed.

Again, in SH:O There's a lot of weapons and to me it doesn't seem like you're in that much danger most of the time, but the actual animations of the combat still arn't all that great.

Besides to me, Silent Hill is more about atmosphere, the enemies really don't bother me as much as the settings and the fear that there might be something there. I give SH4 alot of credit for the sometimes random ghost appearances, since the only real way to keep them in line was with the sword. I found myself in many situations where I truly felt helpless cuz no matter how much I beat the hell out of them, they'd just get back up.

Anyway, my point before all that was they could improve the effectiveness of the combat in SH5 with better controls and still maintain that sense of helplessness just by stuff like number of enemies, or how narrow the hallway is. Besides even with great controls, they could make the enemies AI equally formidable(or just downright cheap) or something like that.

Just my thoughts.

well , the main character IS coming back home after being in a war , so hes a war veteran i would say , and that alone would give at least some "excuse" for combat to step up a bit in favor of him (if only slightly).
However , its my opinion that survival horror main character should be "weak" characters , physically or psychologically....or both. Having a war veteran bashing up closers or nursers or whatever , knowing that your character is supposedly experienced at least with firearms tones down silent hill's "magic" on creating a world in which you are always in disadvantage , in some way.
In my opinion , its a poor choice of a main character , but thats a technicallity i guess. Most people wouldnt care if its a soldier or a baker as main character ,what they really care is to bash some nurses' faces in with the metal pipe and pray to their God(s) that they can find a 1st aid kit in the next corner because they are all out of consumables because they wasted all of their bullets on tough as hell monsters because they are playing on Hard mode....*pant* you get the jist.

I really wish Team Silent was making Silent Hill 5 (Homecoming), Cause Silent Hill Origins was a let down for me. :/

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Personally, I don't care who makes it as long as it's a good game. But what is a good game to me and a good game to everyone else varies. I've always went more for storyline and I'll battle through a game with some horrid combat (Rule of Rose, anyone) for a good storyline.
If this SH can deliver a solid, interesting storyline, then I don't care who did or did not make it.

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"It could be worse. There could be zombies."