The Problem with Silent Hill 3: The Fall of Team Silent

[@xerioes]

the biggest horror of all is working under the nightmare that is konami

[@Chaos-vm7cy]

Konami wasn't as bad as nowadays i guess. I fucking loved them before, they made incredible games in the 90's and in the 2000's

[@allancandaza]

@@Chaos-vm7cy but as of now they really really bad hahahaha

[@jondoe7036]

@@Chaos-vm7cy Maybe not, but I do feel it says something about their attitude towards their employees and their ability to utilize their talents even back then, how one of their best and most beloved franchises was created in isolation from the rest of the company, by a bunch of people deemed to be essentially failures.

[@aether6098]

@@jondoe7036 i can't seem to forgive Konami because a new silent hill was gonna come up by kojima and the only thing we got was a playable teaser i was so hyped for it's release only to get cancelled

[@jondoe7036]

@@aether6098 Agreed. While in retrospect I'm a bit sceptical whether or not they could have actually captured the magic of the original series, since it was kind of perfect storm that caused Team Silent and their series to come about, the multi-talent team involved with Silent Hills certainly held promise and I would have loved to see what the finished product would have been like regardless. For a company to strangle a goose just about to lay almost guaranteed golden egg out of sheer spite was just all around unfathomably idiotic business move.

[@lanni5]

That photo of team silent is the most 1998 in japan thing that i have ever seen . I dont even know why but it has a uncanny aura of 90's . Raw power.

[@ReviewingMagnet]

Doesn't help its the only one so I've seen it a good fifty times.

[@v-trigger6137]

90s was the OG era. wish I was born in the late 80s then I could see the real beauty of 90s

[@GideonFrost]

Beautifully said

[@deadpilled2942]

@@v-trigger6137 it was wonderful time to be a teenager, my friend.

[@tempest20000]

It’s just amazing how whenever a franchise that’s tied to Konami starts to fall and have issues, it’s because of Konami. The team making the game is doing a great job but whether it be Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Castlevania, or Contra, Konami gets in the way and ruins the product. Every time I hear a problem about the development of a game, it’s the executives at Konami causing problems, whether it be firing key staff members or forcing the development team down a path they didn’t want to take. Fuck Konami.

[@verdunian595]

@Felipe Gomes ironic how that drive for profit leads to games nobody wants to buy

[@mathsrodrigues667]

Add Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven to this analysis. And Fuck KONAMI

[@jameslough6329]

Not to mention cancelling P.T. and Silent Hills! Konami is the WORST! Up there with EA!

[@tencraziest5697]

FUCK KONAMI HOOAH

[@liawatson5789]

​@@verdunian595Yes!

[@TheGamingRestoration]

Hey man thanks for using my SH1 gameplay footage :) I feel really flattered, I'm a big fan of your videos

[@coldstuff9784]

Love the work that you do!

[@killionaire3651]

@@teddybroosevelt6826 You're a miserable person. Go get happy.

[@baghouse2678]

@@killionaire3651 "Go get happy" I have no idea what the person said but that is possibly the dumbest advice anyone has given to a "miserable" person

[@cererra682]

@@baghouse2678 they probably said something not very nice

[@maninthebox0]

I always interpreted SH1 as being about personal horror as well. Although it was Alessa’s personal horror, not Harry’s. Alessa was powerful enough to project her horror throughout the whole town, which is why you can see a monster attacking Dr. Kaufmann. When she was no longer a force in the town, that’s when it got reverted back to the town projecting individual horrors onto people.

[@beetheimmortal]

That's also how I interpreted it. SH2's events were caused by a sort of "vacuum of power", since Alessa (and "God") were gone, the powers of Silent Hill started going after individuals, like James and all the others. Silent Hill 3 should not exist, logically. I still love Silent Hill 3, but whenever I play it I'm always reminded of what could've been.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@beetheimmortal Good news the creator of Silent Hill is making a new Horror game called Slitter head.

[@beetheimmortal]

@@orangeslash1667 I know, I'm looking forward to that.

[@sudanemamimikiki1527]

​@@orangeslash1667thats always such a bad marketing tactic to use when making a new game...

[@orangeslash1667]

@@sudanemamimikiki1527 Why????

[@AlexMoenR]

I'm impressed we got as much artistic vision out of the series as we did. The actual inception of SH was not very high minded at all: Konami wanted a Resident Evil clone after RE2 sold 5 million copies. It was a logical pivot to do psychological horror rather than the biological horror of RE. Somehow Team Silent had the right people at the right time to take this very cynical premise and make something genuinely artistic out of it. But it was always destined to be a series that Konami wanted to turn into a franchise, with sequels, a movie, etc. They were just following the RE playbook.

[@kalejuice5701]

It's truly impressive how much of an accident the genuine horror of Silent Hill was. Graphical limitations are probably half the reason that game is as unnerving as it is.

[@iancruz6617]

@Elleborus funny like parasite eve as well i remeber they lost the right that and made third birthday

[@iancruz6617]

Technocally been aware there been a lot of pure shtty resident evil copy clone games poorly like a lot eve recent as angry nerd with the vampire with poor AI enemies, besides komani, the development team besides going not wanting a quick cash grab clone rush of what i seen but wants to make a game as artist as the hollwoood movies they took inspired from like even novels from stephen king and others i forgot that there names written ib the town street of the game.

[@PretentiousAdonis]

Silent hill 2/3 have no reason to look as fantastic as it does on the ps2

[@kpjlflsknflksnflknsa]

*Silent Hill HD Collection is the only means by which I can experienced SH2 (and SH3). I've heard great things about the games and have always wanted to try them but have heard that the HD Collection is a poor rendition. Is it better than nothing though?*

[@fenix_tx_1342]

@@kpjlflsknflksnflknsa Just emulate the PS2 versions, is the best you will get after the original hardware.

[@bringinthedope5929]

@@fenix_tx_1342 EXACTLY

[@ZebitasMartinex]

@@fenix_tx_1342 Silent Hill 2 and 3 for PC are the best experiences tbh, since now there are mods to make the games run amazing in modern hardware.

[@ghostwalkergaming5856]

@@ZebitasMartinex yep

[@iseeyoukai]

so the original game plot could've been about a twisted rape story involving teen pregnancy and abortion? that's actually really dark

[@sadslavboy]

I mean, it was still pretty dark. The cult only values her as a womb. They killed Harry because they knew that he was the only one who valued her as a person. Thats pretty sad

[@timekeeper2538]

@@sadslavboy Stop it, SH3 failed the franchise.

[@Varsonin]

@@timekeeper2538 Don't see how. Tied up the main thread of the series (the events of Silent Hill 1) and had solid gameplay and scares. Boom. Should've been done there but yknow, money.

[@jeramysteve3394]

@@Varsonin nah should've stopped with silent hill 2 because damn... It terrified me from grabbing my console.

[@blyadtupes9427]

@@timekeeper2538 Only in the small minds of psychotic SH2 fanboys, maybe. You people never cared for the frachise to begin with, but just wanted to claim you like Lynch without actually having to sit through his crap lol.

[@waitselljones8068]

It's a shame that Silent Hill 3 had to be compared to the behemoths that came before it. It's my favorite of the series mostly because Heather is one of the best horror game protagonists in history. Her believability and the voice acting for her is amazing. The way she reacts to this disturbing world and the disturbing adults around her is so realistic and her falling apart at the death of her father really made me feel for her. Also Silent Hill 3 has one of the best lines in the whole series "They look like monsters to you?"

[@JoeKing69]

I like SH2 more but Heather is my all time favorite character in the series I literally love everything about her.

[@dotsya]

I would say Silent Hill 2 had a better crafted story, but SH3 remains my favorite. For one thing, it was the first Silent Hill game that I played. I was 15 at the time and thought Heather was probably the most realistic representation of a teenager in video games, up until that point. She didn't have all the answers, she had mood swings, and she was attractive but in a realistic way. Team Silent made sure to make her look and feel like a real person. She could very well have been some girl who went to my school at the time.

[@Spaced92]

All the first 3 games have things they did better than the others. 3 however is the most refined experience.

[@maxxvii2037]

It wasn't that hard tho. Heather was the first SH protagonist to have an ACTUAL personality.

[@silverg2862]

@AJ The only thing SH 2 does better is it's storytelling imo. SH 3 is still the best looking game in the series with it's morphing textures being very ahead of it's time for a game that came out in 2003. The otherworld hospital still looks insane to this day and provides a more hellish atmosphere compared to the dingy and dirty one of 2. I also think it's just more fun to play with the ridiculous amount of weapons to unlock. I love SH 2 but SH 3 is a more refined game.

[@PredatoryQQmber]

The worst part of SH3 is that Heather looks like my ex-gf… and that's kind of horror I can't handle :|

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodte2380]

SilverG2 To be honest even though I loved both, I prefer the hospital from SH2 because the other world hospital just looked... I guess more realistic to me? Everything in the otherworld hospital from SH3 was just red and squiggly lol and it was hard to find the doors. But it was freaky. I also prefer the SH2 otherworld hospital because I love the transition with the sirens blaring after you fight those creepy box creatures hanging from the ceiling. SH2 will always be my favorite because I preferred its dingy atmosphere and liked the music/story more, but SH3 was definitely scarier and had better graphics (and the music was great too, my favorite is You’re Not Here but Promise and Theme of Laura as well as the other tracks in the background of 2 just appealed to me more). I also like Heather more than James because she’s spunky and was pretty relatable to me as a 16 year old. I’d say SH2 has more of a ‘creepy’ atmosphere and SH3 has more of a ‘scary’ atmosphere, if that makes sense. Not as in SH2 wasn’t scary, but more dingy and subtle I guess, which I prefer, whilst 3 had more monsters and action? You’re thrown into the creepy ass amusement park with all the monsters at the beginning whereas in SH2 the monsters come gradually. Both were really scary in their own rights but again, I preferred SH2 for its subtlety. But each to their own, I wish I could replay both again with my memory erased of them lol

[@hardbody2072]

Silent Hill 3 is the best of the series in my opinion. The one I revisit the most, might not have the deep story of SH2 but that's why 2 stands out and the catalogue stands out , they're each unique and still great. The atmosphere's in 3 are still unmatched even in modern horror games.

[@HamzaAnsari1425]

Silent Hill 3 makes you *feel* like a teenager.

[@iancruz6617]

Lol, i'm was like still a kod during this only like late 2000 and the 2011's where the new type teens was but what i seen yea this game capture what teens then awful gamesni seen like he mention here

[@yennefer440]

Yes, it perfectly captures the struggles of being a teen. Especially a teen girl.

[@slothers8685]

Yet, it has.... A little something for everyone

[@trex511ft]

no

[@B1g_B0sssss]

@@yennefer440 it really does. I can imagine heather getting stalked (by that stuhlinger guy who left those creepy notes) being relatable to a lot of woman and things like her getting the self defense knife from harry is also a very nice touch. (if ya know what i mean 🙃)

[@feudela4357]

Hey, I know this video is a few months old and I don’t know if you check comments, but something that made me pause is when you said Silent Hill 3 was more reliant on shocking imagery than the first game and performed atmosphere to a lesser degree. I strongly disagree. Something I noticed from a critical eye is that the most memorable moments in Silent Hill 3 where the “atmospheric set pieces” rather than imagery like Valtiel turning valves or other stuff like that. The third game pulls off sound way better than the first game. It has that same pulsating, grinding soundtrack but distinguished itself by having moments of unsettling quiet time. This is something the first game never did, and the directional sound of someone walking upstairs still makes me nervously turn my head to this day. It’s genuinely a difficult game for me to replay even though I nailed a 10 star on it. It’s one simple difference, but conveys a different impact. I feel way more alone and lost in a hell world in the third game than I did in the first. I still remember the music that plays in the Otherworld version of hospital, like a heart beating. It’s the same kind of disturbing horror I get reading Junji Ito, not where you jump out of your seat but a captivating sense of disturbed fascination and uneasiness. The third game nails this, imo. A sub machine gun doesn’t make a difference for me considering Harry’s arsenal was pretty heavy as well and it’s undeniable that all four games have you slaughter hundreds of monsters with little strain on resources. They’ve always tickled your trigger finger regardless of what poor damaged soul you were playing as.

[@dreadxplayzs7849]

Sh3 was a55,nobody is making any good cases why it is any good,all I see is talking about nothing to defend it because it's bad abd the start of why I stopped playing.

[@darxkl05]

Totally agree, I believe Silent Hill 3 has the most effective horror not only because it is direct and “aggressive”, for the lack of a better term, but also because it uses sound and atmosphere to create dread even in the most harmless places. The otherworld in SH3 is also my favorite, as it gets all the elements from SH1 and increases the horror to a much higher degree. Implied horror is also good, but when you have direct horror like in Silent Hill 3, you just can't help to feel tense and uncomfortable every time. In SH2 for example, every time I got in a room with no monsters, I was like “At least this is a safe place”, but in SH3, every time I escaped from the monsters, I had this feeling that something was going to appear any time, and that's thanks to the astonishingly eerie atmosphere, sounds and overall aggressive tone of the game

[@DrDolan2000]

I'm in the same boat. The only time I ever felt safe in this game was during cutscenes. But as soon as I took control, I got that feeling inside that says "I don't want to keep going". Then I proceed to go anyway because of how interesting this world is. And then my heart start to drop from the dead silence; as well as the disturbing imagery of the Otherworld

[@orangeslash1667]

@@DrDolan2000 Good news the creator of Silent Hill is making a new Horror game called Slitter head.

[@justiniadonisi9290]

The personal connection to Heather is what made this game work for me, especially replaying it as an adult. I never saw her an an "everyman" in the way that I saw Harry or even James; rather, I felt responsible for her. I wanted to keep her safe. When I found out that Harry is her father, and dead, it left me with a true sense of sadness, as Harrys death severed our personal connection to heather, and left her on her own in a horrifying world. I didn't feel any weakness in the story, nor was I confused. Just as SH1 was Alessa's story, so SH3 is Heather's.

[@dreadxplayzs7849]

Dude get over it silent hill 3 is a bad silent hill game from top to bottom especially if u played sh1 back in 99 sh3 was considered a disappointment and was poor had loor quality plot when compared to even sh2 .As a sh1 fan I didn't like not revisting the old silent hill town where sh1 took place and areas llike the school,the church,the bar harry woke up in that had connections to heather wasnt in the game mad the sequel seem pointless when and missed many opportunities to connect the 2 games properly was completely missed probably to cut corners and then they killed harry in a lame way to kill a protagonist that took out so many bosses to be took out by a regular minion 🤦🤦🤦 it is horrible for a continuation but as a sole game it probably would've shinned more

[@justiniadonisi9290]

@@dreadxplayzs7849 this was exhausting to read, because your grammar is awful. I've played SH1 since it was brand new, to include within 24 hours of this post. I've gotten every ending in every one of these games up through Origins. Know what I really think? ITS BREAD.

[@infernoROBO]

@@dreadxplayzs7849 lol go back to school and work on your damn english before even attempting to criticize anything

[@solitaryenjoyer411]

Yea sure

[@justiniadonisi9290]

@@solitaryenjoyer411 sure, yea

[@PrinceMallow]

Best story goes to Silent Hill 2 but best protagonist goes to Silent Hill 3 with Heather. She's just such a likable and endearing character and something I like about the story of Silent Hill 3 is everyone is going on about the cult and god and Heather is just like "I don't give a shit about any of this. You killed my dad. Screw you."

[@alaa341g]

Imho i desegree with you , in silent hill 2 the protagonist wasn't meant to be likable , unlike sh 3 which made here kinda badass , SL 2 was a so psychologic that show a fucking trash weak protagonist who couldn't handle his wife and killed her , and then go searching for redempsion

[@ant2901]

Nah silent hill 2 gets both of those

[@maxsahni6349]

I still think James is a better character due to his complex psychology and it remains consistent throughout the series. James progression as a character occurs as you progress and naturally so, as you uncover bit by bit what happened to Mary.

[@v-trigger6137]

I think they wanted to make her a badass protagonist but it all gone wrong. I mean most of the time she react like stupid and confused. like take the final scene as an example Claudia stabed Vincent but our Heather girl is saying "what did you do" LMFAO and that happy birthday scene. I still remember. I couldn't stop laughing on that scene I mean that guy is saying creepy things but she still concerned about that guy is wrong about her birthday date 😂 I don't liked Silent Hill 3 that much. It doesn't have that unique atmosphere those terrifying soundtracks. and a likeable protagonist of course. Heather just a stupid retard type character

[@lollmao3247]

I hate the silent hill fanbase. Silent hill are decent games each with their own problems, like how the gameplay was...boring and dum. It didn't feel like a game but the amount of detail and music are great.

[@ujustgotdunkedon4523]

Wow, I was developed 14 years ago and this game looks better than me.

[@respectthosewhodeserveit5192]

Lol you are not alone

[@TheSlammurai]

Same XD

[@HiBuddyyyyyy]

I was developed 15 years ago and it’s the same for me 🙃

[@ohno65]

Wtf dude hahahah

[@aledg25]

Sh3 scared me more than 2 and I think it’s because of the greater emphasis on disturbing imagery and body horror. I actually felt like I was walking through the halls of hell itself, particularly in the otherworld segments. Could also be that the plot is revolved around the cult and inherently has a more sinister atmosphere. Might have taken a step back in storytelling, but I really don’t think that this game gets enough credit.

[@Mrhostil95]

2 wasn't meant to be straight up horror like the 3rd one. The point of 2 is to explore one's inner daemons ,which in return, leaves a longer lasting, lingering impression on your mind rather than the more visual, violent horror of SH3, which while playing is more disturbing, but won't leave you an impression beyond surface level. Also the 2nd game is surprisingly risky with it's creative choices, for being such an internationally anticipated game, they put childhood sexual abuse on the forefront with the character of Angela, you get to know her world view, her own daemon, you even get to fight her pedophile father. It's just something you don't get to see on the next installment.

[@AlexLeut]

SH3 gives you cheap scares, Silent Hill 2 gives you psychological scares, that's the difference, SH3 is scarier but it's only at the time you're playing

[@Mrhostil95]

@Santiago Gonzalez R Yes I was aware of that theme in SH3, but it felt they didn't fully commit to it's message in order to have a more conventional horror style game. SH2 told it's message concisely which everybody got playing the game, because it wasn't a half baked attempt. In SH3 it could easily fly over your head, also riddling the environments with enemies to the point it resembles a hack and slash in an unrelenting manner, doesn't help with absorbing what the game is trying to tell you. The quiet moments that Sh2 had also served as way to sit on your own thoughts, which SH3 severely lacked.

[@Mrhostil95]

@Santiago Gonzalez R Forced pregnancy was mentioned yes. But it was also meant to symbolize the developing years from a young girl to a woman ( blood imagery symbolizing periods, identity issues, body image) but as I said, most people won't get that because the revenge plot and the cult overshadows those interesting themes. Team Silent also said they wanted to do a much more adult, darker story but they leant towards a more action horror approach, instead of going the direction SH2 went.

[@Mrhostil95]

@Santiago Gonzalez R And the gameplay does matter quite a bit. Riddling the environments with monsters trivializes the horror to the point you become numb to what it's being shown to you. You don't fully get that terror you're supposed to feel when you're fighting 5 monsters, or more, every time you open a door. Instead of adding to the atmosphere, it becomes a nuisance and drags down the gameplay. The tense feeling you got from 2 was achieved by having quiet moments and not knowing what you were going to run into around a corner or through the door. To be fair, SH3 has excellent ambience and sound design, especially on the early part of the game, but it becomes almost comics the amount of fighting you have to engage in, stripping away that Silent Hill feel to it and becoming more like a Resident Evil.

[@marlom7882]

It’s always tragic to think about “what could’ve been”

[@Lugbzurg]

Sonic '06 and Final Fantasy XV, anyone?

[@lsaacN7]

@@Lugbzurg Nothing is worse in my mind than Silent Hills (and I'm not even a Silent Hill fan). Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro directing with Junji Ito as concept artist. That is so much high caliber talent on a project that never released.

[@johnblack4307]

Silent Hills, Moral Orel, Jodorowsky’s Dune, and the thief and the cobbler are that for me, and I’m sure there’s more

[@eliack95]

Dragonball Super in a nutshell.

[@li-limandragon9287]

Superman was originally a bald Nazi Ubermensch before he got changed.

[@BayaRae]

I was under the impression that all the games after the first was essentially dealing with the aftermath of the cult's actions. That Silent Hill had unintentionally become an epicenter of purgatory and misery due to the cult failing in its endeavors.

[@Corrector1]

Well an official tie-in book "The Book of Lost Memories" claims that the town became worse after Alessa's psychic freak out. So you're not entirely wrong.

[@deadpilled2942]

I feel like Downpour, and to a lesser extent Homecoming, is where we seeing the town come into it's own which could explain the goofy parts of Homecoming, storywise

[@navylaks2]

Well it sound's to me like Silent Hill was very much inspred by Stephen King's writting i mean we have town in the north east part of the united states, which might aswell be in the state of Main where allmost all King stories take's place

[@Chewy2nd]

In the room near the end of Silent Hill 2, where you fight the two Pyramid Heads, you can actually faintly see the seal that was drawn on the ground across Silent Hill during Silent Hill 1. Silent Hill 2 did have quite a few references to the cult, not least the one invisible prisoner who chants "ritual" in the prison level

[@ValkyriePROfail]

SH3 remains underrated by many. Story-telling, characters, atmosphere, visuals, ost,... nothing that would make you think that its the beginning of the end. Its a gem by itself that actually gathers the best of its two predecesors imo.

[@weirdsailorman4070]

It isn't underated we just live in a age of idiots and heavy consumerism, actual games are rare and everything else is just overpriced tech demos labeled as products, quality is dead or extremely rare compared to how it was so by that normal people left this forsaken land of online community. And those some of the normal people that are still around from time to time are rare that talk about old amazing games. Everyone I know from back in a day played SH3 or at least watched me play it. Same for 1,2,4. Then the remaining of Team Silent were gone and with it the fanbase too slowly started to leave. Then we got shitty games and movies which lured in cluless ignorant idiots who didn't helped already fucked up situation. To the point the franchise died. Same thing with Resident Evil. And no if they still sell RE games doesn't mean spiritually is alive. It's just a stupid name slapped onto some toxic shit they milk to death to some children and mentally ill hipster fucktards who think they are playing games. And don't make me start with the "collectors" that are just bunch of mentally ill hoarders then anything else.

[@LuigiGamesful]

@Elleborus God I hate the term "true fans" so much. Though, it's funny that there's always these kinds of people who bring up "true/fake fans" in every franchises.

[@soundofmouse]

I feel the very same way, personally.

[@dreadxplayzs7849]

I felt sh3 was a55 back in 2004,after playing 1 and 2 in that order,3 felt underwhelming and focused more on graphics then an actual deep psychological and relatable story.sh3 felt like the series went Hollywood with heathers lame jokes in dire situations to the point I couldn't taker her seriously as a silent hill character,it's the worst one in the series only above homecoming imo.

[@andrewkrylov1501]

It is overrated. I can't believe anybody can love such crap.

[@Zhigwich]

Harry Mason didn't deserve to die.

[@Ajehy]

Harry didn’t deserve death or suffering. Neither did Heather or Harry Townsend deserve their suffering... the only one you can argue deserved it was James Sunderland. But that’s part of horror, at least in my mind. Sure, there are monsters/killers that only target those who have done something immoral (real or imagined) but the horror that really gets to me is the type where there is no rhyme or reason we could possibly agree with, and the innocent as just as endangered as the guilty.

[@kokturk2772]

Ajehy You mean Henry right?

[@deadpilled2942]

I remember there was talk of him showing up in other world parts. They were going to do the same thing in SH4. One of the ghosts was going to be Walter Sullivan's foreskin. ;)

[@MegaZeta]

I mean, yeah, that's a key message of _Silent Hill 3,_ that Heather loves her dad and he loves her, and he didn't deserve to die, but what was important was that the two of them loved and trusted each other, not the fantasy of revenge that Claudia tried to force Heather to accept.

[@SAR-re1fx]

@@MegaZeta I think another thing that was trying to tell us he already said it, what it means to be a woman and to lose someone at your teenage years. Heather is forced by a religious cult to give birth to a God that she doesn´t really care/don't know about/doesn't give a damned. But because she is the reincarnation of Alessa and a woman... it is expected to her to be one, be a forced mom and everything that means. Not been in control of your own body when you don't even know yourself yet at been that young. Another thing is what it suggested "SH, shattered memories", that she had some sort of Electra complex with her father. Not commenting the "abortiong" scene when teenage pregnancy was that high back in the days. I think is a masterpiece, yet everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

[@Evilgenius122]

While I totally would LOVE to see what the original SH3 would have been....I dont think I would trade away the SH3 we got. Especially since there is no guarantee it would have been good. Like I understand seeing it as a step backwards towards the cult horror and away from personal horror, but theres enough subtext in SH3 to postulate that the town is still feeding on that trauma, its just caught in the reins of The Order. Though I still liked the video for letting me in to the more developmental side of the games. Plus it didnt make me question a few things.

[@oracledk5885]

Biscuit Productions I don’t trust that source since they weren’t too involved in development outside of music. As Yamato gave an interview for Homecoming saying it was the first game outside of the town itself. Ignoring 3 and 4 which doesn’t take place in the town

[@icarus212001]

I think this should be the rule of thumb: Listen to feedback with regard to gameplay and mechanics. Don't listen to fans with regard to story.

[@nowhereman748]

Never ever listen to fans with regard to story for anything ever. Good way to ruin you story.

[@NihilisticIdealist]

@Elleborus Silent Hill 3 didn't ruin the story. It simply focused way too much on one o the least interesting aspects of Silent Hill. The Cult is to Silent Hill, what the Umbrella Corporations is to Resident Evil. Except the Cult shit is worse, because its somehow more hokey than Umbrella.

[@iancruz6617]

Yea true dmb ss pssy ss fans don't know what the frk they saying ends up ruining the original creative idea like look at remake re 3 dmb ss btching over mr x beibg hard and they dow play renae nemesis poory not even close to a real treat and scare of an popular impact like the original re 3 nemesis one.

[@iancruz6617]

@@NihilisticIdealist Vrih beside cult on silent hill, hll umbrella far more interesting since they're responsible for the mansion incident tried to covered t and also how theu accidentally cost the t virus to spread to the water pipe costing an outbreak all over raccoon city.

[@FlorenceFox]

@@nowhereman748 I wouldn't say NEVER, just take any fan input with a big heaping bowl of salt. More often than not, the most vocal fans don't speak for the majority, and even the majority are bad at articulating what they really want out of something. But that said, if fans respond very negatively to something, or very positively to something, it can definitely be useful to examine why that is. The mistake a lot of creators make is listening to fan input and then blindly responding to it without examining it any further. Ideally, you want to focus less on what people are saying, and more on why they're saying it.

[@chrisossu2070]

In my opinion, Silent Hill 3 is actually the most overtly scary and visceral game in the original series, though its story is basically just an improved version of the first game's, which is a pretty big step back considering what the second game went into. I still do like the characters though. And despite Silent Hill 3's relative unpopularity, Heather is still considered one of the best protagonists if not the best in the series.

[@kyleoashu]

I agree, Silent Hill 3 is my favorite one personally. Heather is such a great protagonist compared to the others in my opinion, but I will agree that SH2 was better from a critical standpoint. It's story about a man dealing with his personal evils is something I hadn't seen done before, it's a classic and the quintessential Silent Hill entry for sure

[@ryuusaki7309]

Silent HILL 3 is my favorite

[@Odinsday]

The first 4 games are all amazing in their own sad, fucked up ways.

[@kalejuice5701]

Silent Hill 3 was my favorite. I prefer that and even the original over Silent Hill 2, to be honest.

[@Jose-se9pu]

I dont understarnd where all these people putting 4 above 3 came from

[@NorthRemembers]

Konami: "Hey, your games are doing pretty well. But we have some ideas to make them even better!" Also Konami: "What, the game didn't sell? That's entirely your fault, Team Silent!"

[@nimazsheik5152]

Reminds me of every gaming corporation ever. Publisher: "Hey your games are doing well. Maybe make a sequel or add multiplayer!" Publisher: "What, the game didn't sell? You shouldn't have focused on the story. You should have added more loot boxes"

[@SirBlackReeds]

@@nimazsheik5152 Tell that to Dead Space. Seriously, it was Visceral's idea to add multiplayer.

[@RoboBoddicker]

HIT THE LEVER!

[@forgived1450]

@@SirBlackReeds yes, but the direction of going action with horror element were from EA itself, so visceral just followed along what EA wanted...

[@dylansmith5206]

#FuckKonami (Though I don't hate them as much as EA And Nintendo).

[@geryldpina7091]

Konami has killed all of its great IPs. Truly a shame

[@unadulterated]

sh2 is honestly my favorite game when it comes to the writing and story but sh3 had better aesthetics and heather is probably my favorite female character in any game

[@SelfPityEntertainment]

I have actually always liked the development of the Cult storyline in the first 4 Silent Hill games. From their oppressive and mysterious presence in the first Silent Hill, to their understated presence in the background of Silent Hill 2, to their return and fall in Silent Hill 3 and to the reveal of another, more twisted sect in Silent Hill 4. I've always enjoyed that the cult and their beliefs represented a looming, supernatural danger in each game in some capacity.

[@vilefigure]

Wow I made that picture of mary and james holding each other so many years ago on deviant art. It was weird to see it pop up in your video. Great video by the way. Very well thought out and edited.

[@kevinsmith8347]

I personally love all of the first 4 and believe that they all do a good job at incorporating different things such as the cult, personal troubles, or perceptions of reality. I bet 5 would’ve been great and would’ve been critically acclaimed had Konami not put their nose too close to the cookie jar and allowed team silent to make another masterpiece without interference. Hopefully these rumors of 2 new silent hill games goes somewhere because knowing Konami we’ll just get either a vita game or some crappy mobile game 😒.

[@MCshlthead]

I disagree. 3 and 4 are good games. 1 and 2 are masterpieces. I actually think 4 better than 3 for at least trying new things

[@Chuked]

your fears have become a reality.. Konami is parading SH's corpse like a fucking parade banner

[@RinLockhart]

Heather Mason is my biggest hero. I wish had half the nerve she has.

[@Ajehy]

I hope you find your courage... and also hope you don’t need it.

[@MegaZeta]

I mean, part of that is because Claudia is manipulating her, and part of that is because there's something inhuman growing inside of her. Much of her fearlessness comes from a suspect place until the very end of the game, when she rejects the revenge fantasy Claudia is trying to force on her.

[@coldstuff9784]

@@MegaZeta I think Heather is genuinely brave. She handled Doug stalking her well, telling him off. And she didn't curl up in a ball when she saw the creatures and instead immediately shot one down.

[@indraservo5764]

I always think that the moment she found her father dead she's just stop being scared and became angrier and angrier until the end.

[@Rene9u]

i always said that to myself wen i playd part 2 I always was rotirng for my charakter But every part is different

[@liah1327]

IMO the fact that every SH game after SH4 tried to recapture SH2 shows just why Team Silent ended up continuing the trend of SH1 with mysterious elements of the cult that could still be explored and not be predictable. The surprise of the SH2 reveal is hard to recapture and cant really work twice. As evident by SH:Origins, SH5 and SH6. Shattered Memories mixed it up a bit and I appreciated that, though.

[@johnjacob3615]

The cult was the least interesting part of silent hill.

[@aznboy1109]

It's weird actually. I played SH2 last year after listening to a friend telling me its one of the greatest games of all time. After beating it, theres this feeling that is really hard to describe. No other game I played in the past or in the present has been able to give me that feeling. Nothing comes close to it and I feel like any game that would try to emulate that feeling would not even come close. It's like having a product be so superior that it's almost perfect, nothing can match it.

[@TheLiquidFilth]

Origins is about the cult though.

[@kaiohhyoh8406]

Homecomming is all about the cult though. Also origins, only downpour went that way.

[@griffodagreat7646]

I enjoyed this video and agreed with alot of your points, but i feel like it is unfair to undervalue SH3 because it is a masterpiece in its on right

[@dreadxplayzs7849]

How is it unfair?the game was garbage for a silent hill game Jesus u fake fans are to funny

[@Gwyn770]

@@dreadxplayzs7849 SH2 is worse.

[@celestialvehemence3196]

@@Gwyn770 oft, sorry pal but you are objectively wrong about that. Unless…. That was your attempt at making a joke? If so i will gladly move my location to the nearest strip club and let all the girls spit in my mouth and pray I don’t get an STD. Silent Hill 1 through 3 are masterpieces of horror and gaming in general. Team Silent fading ever so slowly only to disband after the 4th game, silent hill became Loud flats.

[@mayzerify5525]

@@bruh-rt7sr ride to hell retribution

[@Bremblemax]

@@dreadxplayzs7849 how do you call someone a fake fan for enjoying a game. You're one of those sh2 obsessive fans aren't you

[@sunnyta1990]

How can anyone say SH3 isn't scary? It's easily the most terrifying game in the series. The mirror scene still scares the shit out of me to this day and I avoid that room whenever I play through it. Hell, the otherworld hospital is probably the scariest place in a game ever.

[@Vsevolod3788]

IKR? Some people just don't play it the way it was intended in isolation, dark, even with headphones (but headphones might be too extreme especially in the alternate hospital sequence even for a person who knows every bit of a game). Some just don't pay any attention at all to anything other than fighting, so they just gallop through corridors like it is a stupid action game. And some just immune to this type of horror naturally, they're just quickly getting annoyed and boring, ending up sleeping after the first 5 minutes of the game.

[@USCena]

I am guessing he is thinking that SH3 did more "show than tell" compared to SH2 (it does have the darkest visuals in probably all of the series), but still--Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill 2 were both perfect games in their own right in what was needed for each game's story.

[@babulbi]

Wilbur Wafer Is this bait? Regardless, get out of here with that baby ass shit.

[@babulbi]

Wilbur Wafer Silent Hill 1-4 and PT, Eternal Darkness, Siren, Doki Doki Literature Club (This one's free).

[@babulbi]

Wilbur Wafer I got bored of the whole running away and pretty much nothing else aspect of both games. While the Alien AI did keep the scares fresh for a good chunk of the experience, it wasn't enough for me to finish them. DDLC is best experienced blind, so you may want to just download it from steam and give it an ol' college try.

[@Langtw]

I fundamentally disagree with the idea that the direction of SH3 started the downfall of the series. The key thing is that all of the terrible entries are *slavishly* devoted to ripping off the ideas of SH2. Homecoming, Downpour, Origins, some connect in to the cult aspects a little bit, but they rely on the gimmick of "Silent Hill manifests monsters from your psyche, and your character did something awful"

[@kennethruskin2710]

That's what was going through my mind when he started talking about what he considered having went wrong with the third entry. Every Western developer that made a game since Silent Hill 4 had the exact same idea as this and it _never_ turned out good. Silent Hill 3 meanwhile is a breath of fresh air, it's concerned with telling a story and doesn't crawl too far up its own butt with the 'psychological horror' and introspective parts. That's a cancer that has spread far and wide outside of the Silent Hill series and I'd say that's the real issue with Silent Hill 2, not that it is a bad game or anything, or that it is an issue with the game, but that it inspired all these copycats that all seem to get worse and worse. Bloober Team, who are now responsible for remaking Silent Hill 2 got famous for doing just that with their _Layers of Fear_ and it's the exact same kind of thing. Even if Silent Hill 4 suffered from being shoehorned into being a Silent Hill title instead of what they were originally going for all four games in the series offered something unique and told a different story. It'd have been great if the rest of the games didn't just keep hitting the single note that was Silent Hill 2 over and over again since that's the game many got so obsessed with and it sort of started to eat the series and horror games in general.

[@internetera1523]

Copying SH2 was bad,but making it a direct sequel to SH1 was also bad IMO. As much as SH3 is a great game,the implications of it for the series as a whole are mostly negative. I think going totally experimental like SH4 did but earlier would cement the idea of it being more of an anthology series for everyone

[@Al-ji4gd]

That doesn't change the fact that SH3 on its own is a bit underwhelming. A good game, but it doesn't excel at anything, really, and I say that as someone who has insane nostalgia for it. SH3 has a lot of style and is more polished than the previous games, but it lacks originality. It feels like an amalgamation of SH1 and SH2, but without any of the substance. SH2 might have had the worst impact on the series, ironically, but it's basically a perfect game, SH3 just isn't that good. In particular, I thought the first half of the game was very lacklustre. It's no coincidence that the game doesn't get going until you actually travel to Silent Hill and head to your first main area in the town, which (surprise, surprise) is an area from Silent Hill 2.

[@alessandrolira4035]

​@@Al-ji4gdSH 2 had the worst impact because it set the bar so high, nothing after surpassed it

[@Al-ji4gd]

@@alessandrolira4035 That's not 2's fault.

[@SergiMedina]

_Silent Hill_ is one of the very top five best video games ever. Just a masterpiece. SH2 also. But SH3 isn't much less either. They are virtually flawless.

[@dreadxplayzs7849]

Sh3 was a55 always had this game as a silent hill game

[@leagueofdead569]

@@dreadxplayzs7849 The difficulty iIhad in understanding what you were trying to say kinda shows your lack of intelligence.

[@TheCapedCrusader94]

I don't get the "it should have been personal horror" argument. Personal horror was a big part of SH since the first game, I don't understand how is not obvious to anyone who has played the games. Those arguments make me think that people only play SH2 (or just pay the most attention to) and the dismiss the other one as "boring cult stuff", while not realizing that the cult has a part in SH2 as well (albeit, more in the background). Personaly, the cult aspects of the games made me fall in love with it and Silent Hill wouldn't be what it is without it.

[@helio1055]

So true

[@TheRetroPerspective]

Because Homecoming was based around the cult so they have to hate it to stay consistent in their mind.

[@npc_blob1609]

I mean personally the cult stuff is just boring. There isn't really anything Silent Hill does differently with it compared to other media apart from Alessa's convoluted backstory that I find hard to care about. I think the stuff that makes SH worth being invested in are the twisted designs and the exploration of emotional/mental themes. The cult doesn't really add anything to the game in my eyes, other than some cool set dressing.

[@WackaMei]

@@npc_blob1609 >it doesn't do anything different other than the things it does different Wow. Stunning and brave argument.

[@npc_blob1609]

Other than the one thing it does that I'm sure most people don't care about, is what I said actually. You also seem to have taken it like a personal slight when the "personally" was meant to convey that it's my view

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

*My friends playing Silent Hill 3* *Me:* "Hey! That looks like a vagina!" *Friend:* "Get your head out of the gutter, man."

[@jopdancing7320]

''sorry am balls deep in the gutter''

[@no.402]

Oh, so you're here too. Nice.

[@Antiformed]

Your friend sounds perceptive.

[@Darkerxz]

Stop commenting on everything, moustache man who is definitely not from Fairy Tail

[@DDeCicco]

Actually, in terms of Silent Hill symbolism, your mind's right where they want it to be

[@hex_limpbizkit1969]

This video straight up made me cry lol.... I want team silent back so bad... This will always be my favorite game series no matter what is thrown at us in years to come... it will never be the same :,(

[@kennethforman5265]

Forgotten? How? every where I go for Horror, silent hill 3 is always there being discussed. legit, its hard not hearing about sh2, sh3, and P.T. on a weekly basis in the horror community. I'm just curious who you talk to that made you think its forgotten? *not a hate comment*

[@kennethforman5265]

@Andrew Bailey "They look like monsters to you?" and Voltier* Idk how to spell it and dont want to use google right now* the yellow god are big things I see people always talking about. I get what youre saying and what hes saying, I really think this is a perception issue. cause he talks about how its forgotten, I just wanna know where he got that idea. my perception is the opposite. I really just think its an issue of the people he talks to the most dont care for sh3 that much. the opposite for me, all my friends love 3 the most. so I wouldn't think sh3 was a forgotten gem.

[@whodatninja439]

Yeah it's a pretty common opinion that Silent Hill 2 is the best overall in the series but Silent Hill 3 is the scariest

[@kevindepuy5390]

You’re right. I think this is the first video that I know of where wolf definitely created a narrative for the video rather than having it based on reality. Yeah the sales weren’t as good due to useless reviews, but SH3 is constantly voted as the second best Silent Hill game on fan sites.

[@Lugbzurg]

Yeah, those other comparable horror games starring teenage girls he mentioned are considerably more forgotten.

[@chrisossu2070]

The game at release didn't get enough attention, at least not in the way that mattered to Konami at the time. Silent Hill 3 is often tied with Silent Hill 2 for being the best in the series and definitely a center of a lot of discussions, but that is in the now. What the game needed was to be considered a classic at launch and not in hindsight after the initial sales were tallied up.

[@cyann6445]

Should rename the title to: The Fall of Team Silent: Konami shits up everything. Jokes aside though, I kinda disagree that focusing on personal horror could've saved the franchise. The "person with a tragic backstory has to face their personal monsters through wacky symbolism" trope can get very boring very quickly, no matter how great the execution is. I think another big problem was how the they handled the combat system. I never liked how you were able to just kill the mosters: maybe temporarily distracing/subduing/stunning them (like in Remothered) could've helped to create a creepier atmosphere. Also, I'm still really bummed about the cancellation of Silent Hills. It had huge potential to reinvent the franchise as a whole.

[@VisserZer0]

Yeah, basically all the western-developed games tried to copy that element from Silent Hill 2. That's not necessarily a significant reason they were bad, but it's also not all there is to Silent Hill.

[@brickeelot477]

A bit of a late response here, but I do believe the "evolution" he speaks of is the same way 1 transformed into 2. It would keep a few core elements and abandon everything else for something new. While the refined taste may be very reminiscent of the second entry, I would wager that it would have been quite interesting. A relation that can be made is between this and JoJo's, funnily enough. While it is not a video game, it is a long-running narrative that has thrived, though much more drastically in parts 1-3, through an evolution of the formula used to present it. Seems like it could have been quite fun to see Silent Hill 3 through the lens of its creators, rather than the companies backing them.

[@solidsnack352]

I always thought that this was a personal horror for Heather seeing as how the cult from Silent Hill one was rooted in her family tree. Just as Maria was a manifestation I thought all the cult shit was her manifestation of trauma related to her adopted father. Who's to say any of that shit really happened?

[@kailomonkey]

That's a beautiful way to look at it.

[@FrogsOfTheNewWorld]

I'd like to paraphrase something that Jordan Underneath once said--a very intelligent remark I've yet to hear anywhere else; "SH1 is black and white. SH2 is grey. SH3 is red."

[@SuperHighSchoolLevelMeganekko]

He really did some of the best videos on horror games, didn’t he?

[@matthewnesbitt6416]

While I agree that SH3 is the most thematically simple and safe of the first three SH games, I think Eyepatch missed a whole lot of relevancy to the the inclusion of the Cult, and more specifically Claudia, in those themes. Claudia is meant to be the inverse of Heather, both in her past and her choices.

[@chrisossu2070]

It's one of those occasions where I wish there was some kind of open channel we could use to discuss things with him, but then that'd just invite a bunch of loud-mouthed jackasses, so I can see why he doesn't have one.

[@DiscordedHaru]

Chris Chen He has a Twitter but...idk

[@chrisossu2070]

I doubt he's one of those people who enter a conversation with some random nobody. There are just so many occasions where I wish I could just sit down with them in person and compare our respective view points, but I know that's basically impossible unless I somehow gain enough clout to meet him as an equal.

[@aaliyahrammstein6674]

@@chrisossu2070 Start a KZbin channel! I'd listen to your ideas...👍

[@Cobalt360Degrees]

The problem though, is that those themes could've still been explored with characters who were not Claudia or the Cult. They could've had inverse characters a la the NPCs of SH2, and probably would've made the game and the series much stronger as a whole.

[@axbx7139]

I believe, if they wanted to make a series, they should have tried Final Fantasy style. I mean, each game have it's own story and it's own kind of horror. That would be consistent and refreshing, cause you never know what to expect (but you expect that game should be great)

[@viktorberzinsky4781]

Is it strange that I actually found 3 to be the most terrifying? To me the cult in Silent Hill 3 actually enhanced many of the personal horror themes, partly because it's set in the U.S. where the controversy over certain issues is heavily entangled with certain very vocal conservative religious groups reactions to things such as abortion, sexuality, women's rights, and even the way young people conduct themselves in general. I don't think Team Silent went in looking to make a statement on social issues in the U.S., but when you look at it that way, to me it adds a layer of subtext, however unintentional, that enhances the elements of horror therein.

[@satansjihad6353]

Agreed, I played it for the first time early this year and it always left me with a deep and undiscribable feeling of disturbance and anguish that no other game in the series made me feel. The enviroments themselves were enough to make me feel that way.

[@glitchy000]

SH3 actually horrified me on a spiritual level having been raised Christian. It got under my skin and into my core being. I played it when I was around 13 or 14 so I was still pretty impressionable. That's probably why 3 is the scariest for me (as well as your other points).

[@viktorberzinsky4781]

@@satansjihad6353 That's the other thing. The environmental design hits something in me on a very primal level. There is something viscerally disturbing about it and it taps into some things that deeply unnerved me as a child. As a matter of fact, it all reminded me of the city where my maternal grandmother used to live. It's this city that's nearly a ghost town compared to what it once was and much of it looked very rusted and grimy. It also sort of reminded me of her house, which while not the worst place also looked very similar in some ways and there were parts of it that even as a young boy unnerved me enough to make me avoid them or not want to be alone in them. Then there's the monsters... They touch on both feelings of that same indescrible primal fear and disgust for me. They seem an unholy combination of Lovecraftian abomination and Barkeresque splatterpunk monstrosity. Both Lovecraft and Clive Barker have earned a special place on my bookshelf and in my nightmares.

[@ReviewingMagnet]

Too bad the cult leader in Silent Hill 3 speaks like a British woman huh

[@glitchy000]

TheLegend27 I mean, her accent could be an intentional nod towards America’s British roots and the age of the cult.

[@GrayFoxMacLeod]

I know I'm way late on this, but this video makes me want to cry, man. Perfectly captures the pain of "What could have been." The regret is dripping in this dialogue. Wonderful video, man.

[@kailomonkey]

I'm here 4 years later so you weren't so late.

[@bahmot9501]

Man ... finding out that Silent Hill 5 was meant to be, in essence, a return to godhood for the series ... that hurts. That really hurts

[@Jonipoon]

I have to disagree with you about Silent Hill 4: The Room. The fourth game was certainly not centered around the cult, instead it was a breath of fresh air to the series that introduced NEW settings, NEW themes, NEW atmospheres, basically everything about the fourth game is unique. It didnt try to copy anything from the previous games, yet it feels very much part of it as a true masterpiece of horror. People who don't like SH4 probably never bothered to finish it.

[@emilyb5762]

Loving the SH4 defense squad in this comments section

[@YukiMasshiro]

SH4 was my favorite in the series. I recognize it had it's flaws, but I connected to the themes of isolation on a deep level. I was going through some personal issues at the time relating to isolation and extreme social phobia. I feel like that game came into my life when I needed it most :)

[@GideonFrost]

SH4 didn’t get the respect it deserved. It’s story and themes were very tragic and on par with SH2

[@donquesewilliamswilliams3497]

It was repetitive and as soon as the backtracking started I lost all interest

[@L0wallyn]

Make a video

[@ryanwarren2476]

I get what you're saying about Silent Hill 3 going to back Silent Hill 1's plot being a step back for the series but I don't see how continuing with 2's personal demon horror would have been any better. By your logic, Silent Hill 3 should have been completely different form both 1 and 2.

[@Ellionart]

I think that's what he meant. It should've been different. Completely new story. The same way SH4 is different from all the other games. Now that would be a great trend. Each game introducing something completely new to the universe. Cult stuff are just kind of boring and overplayed in popular culture since Rosemary's baby.

[@TequilaToothpick]

Yes, it should have been something different to both.

[@martyfromnebraska1045]

He's just wrong. Silent Hill 2 fanboys always demand every game in the series follow in SH2's footsteps, which is how we ended up with Downpour and Homecoming. Following up the cult story is completely valid, and SH3 is the best game in the series. Idk why everyone wants every Silent Hill protagonist to have killed their mother/brother/son/wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/cousin/daughter/best friend and go through a Silent Hill therapy session. It worked as a subversion of expectations once. Making every game in the series a supernatural therapy session sucks.

[@klapsendoc06xd60]

@@Ellionart???? Silent hill 4 is not different story wise? It completely explores the orders motives and actions JUST like silent hill 1 and 3, just has a new protagonist (again just like sh3 with adult cheryl). Unlike sh3 we get to know barely anything about henry in sh 4 making it way less personal

[@klapsendoc06xd60]

@@martyfromnebraska1045sh 2 literally just develops how the town works and gives us a great protagonist story with it. The people saying sh 2 is easily the best are all white men thinking theyre just like james and have the same polarising personality and backstory (they dont) all while disregarding of sh3 bc they don’t understand its essence. Silent hill was ALWAYS about the order while cooperating pyschological personal horror into it, not about ONLY personal psychological horror. Not only was developing the story neccesary to also building up the pyschological part of sh (literally why sh2 could walk, bc silent hill 1 RAN prior to it) but only focussing on personal horror and barely any story leaves us with games like downpour and homecoming

[@tuncaydogmusco.70]

From what we know about original vision of Team Silent, (especially Yamaoka's statement that it contained elements that it would not be approved by the rating boards) think it's highly likely the story was to be about Heather being a sexually abused teenager forced to get an abortion as a result of an unwanted pregnancy. I think this story would fit perfectly into the imagery presented in the end product. Imagine Heather was stalked and assaulted by a sexual predator, perhaps killed the predator in self defence (or perhaps in a planned manner for revenge), got pregnant and got an abortion. Imagine the mixed feelings of anxiety and distrust, disgust of all things sexual, guilt from killing a person, guilt about the abortion even though the pregnancy was a result of sexual assault and to top all of that, being a teenager learning how the world works for the first time perhaps in the most disgusting and damaging way possible. Imagine the psychological depths would be created with such a backstory and you got material that would make this damned, godforsaken foggy town of Silent Hill, drool. And yeah, in a sense it would be a similar backstory to Angela in SH2 but i don't think it would be bad thing, since I think Angela's story from SH2 is not explored to it's probably extremely hard to navigate depths in that game. In my opinion, what makes James's story a masterpiece is that there are no clear answers we can give to James's dilemma. Did he do Mary a favor by killing her so that her pain would end? Did he do himself a favor by killing her? Was it an act of love? Or hatred? Or little bit of both? If he did it purely out of love, why does he need to punish himself? If it was purely hatred, again, why does he feel so guilty? It is precisely this ambiguity that makes that story extremely relatable, memorable and meaningful. Heather's case on the other hand, could explore a different side of guilt. Even though you (rightously) hate someone for doing something horrible to you, would you still feel no guilt or trauma whatsoever from killing a human being? In a sense, Heather killing her assaulter would also mean killing her own childish innocence and this would tie in nicely with the concept of the abortion itself. Her mind would be all over the place, simultanously thinking this baby is the symbol of the horrible things she went through and at the same time, thinking it's just an innocent child that did nothing wrong. Please note that i'm talking about a possible thought process of a 17 year old teenager, and this does not, in any way reflect my thoughts on the whole abortion subject.

[@guillermokenedy]

I prefer this SH. I like the atmosphere, the sounds, the characters, even the gameplay. I can understand why SH 2 has most atention but SH 3 was excelent. Heather Mason is one of my favorite characters. By the way, SH 1 will has 20 years the next year...wow im old already. Vincent Rules!!

[@fallensurvivor21]

We all have such love for this series. It's heartbreaking when listening to Akira's music. Japan has such a lovable and grotesque vision when it comes to horror, true horror. The creativity Japanese artists like Team Silent have makes them a staple in videogame history.

[@noelmakarth156]

there is nothing unique about the soundtrack from Silent Hill its just you close minded Americans do nothing but listen to Rap and Rock music all the day that when an electronic ambient song comes in you think its the first time its ever been done before.. Silent Hill is an embodiment of electronic ambient music.

[@fallensurvivor21]

@@noelmakarth156 you sound ignorant.

[@noelmakarth156]

@@fallensurvivor21 Name one ambient electronic Track then.. I'll give you one. Robin Guthrie - Elemental. The art of silent hill is not unique its been done many times before. You just don't want to give lesser known artist recognition,

[@iamaeggmcmuffinboi839]

@@noelmakarth156 why are you so upset lol

[@foxygramp_1973]

I want to comment on the supposed "increased focus on action" in SH3. Whilst SH3 is supposed to be more focused on combat, I actually found SH2 made me engage in combat much more. The amount of ammunition SH2 gives you on normal is ridiculous and let me blast through a majority of encounters. SH3 on the other hand did have seemingly more action oriented weaponry but scaled back much more on ammo given to the player; which made me engage with enemies much less.

[@ienjoychaitea5275]

Hi I am 7 months late so you probably won't see this but I want to add something to this as I finished my first playthrough yesterday. My main gameplay issue in this game is the combination of narrow levels and very mediocre enemies. It didn't feel very well considered in a lot of places how the player should get past certain obstacles. The game tended to flood me with too many enemies (sometimes even 2 was too much) which led to me not being able to pass certain corridors or rooms. The big enemies were a big offense in regard to this in particular. In the church there was one T-shaped hallway with 2 of those and after dying twice or so I decided to brute force it, leading to having to use a couple of healing items too many which eventually led to having only 2 ampoules on the final boss. The game is great but moments like these weren't tense moments where I had to think quickly, it felt like the enemy count should have just been halved in some places.

[@dotcomgamingd5564]

@@ienjoychaitea5275 my sentiments exactly. I think silent hill 3 has the weakest combat of the first 3 games, mainly due to the enemies.

[@zulemazahir666]

I'm only at the construction site so far but my experience is more enemies but less combat. I feel like I've ran from enemies the most in this game compared to the first two. Anyhow point is, I second this comment.

[@dotcomgamingd5564]

@@zulemazahir666 that was also my experience. tons of enemies, but almost no ammo and no good way to get hits on them with the melees, and most importantly, no incentive to actually kill them.

[@zulemazahir666]

@@dotcomgamingd5564 Exactly! Plus is just me or do they take way more bullets to kill too? I could be very wrong on that but that's how I've been feeling.

[@podto0426]

Apologies for the late reply didn't have time to watch it till now and knew i was gonna have 3 books to write about in response. As to your assessment of the quality of SH3: I would like some examples as to why you think SH3 doesn't rely, or relies less, in atmosphere and emotion. You said yourself that the lighting was superb and to me it it does wonders in the setting the tone and mood of SH3 with its sunset light seeping from the outside trough the curtains along with (as you said too) the most detailed enviorments in the series ever, not even SH2 attentions to details in the world is match for SH3. Although i do agree that it is more shocking than 2 in its scares (although with rooms like the hospital bi mirror room i don't quite take it as a negative). I agree that the SH3 has more enemy quantity, and that it emphasizes more combat than in the previous entries, but my 2 cents on this is that while there rooms where this very much applies (the 3 nurse room), the game often has big areas and hallways in which you can maneuver around them like the sewer level with the spinflies. Although now that i think about you'r point is more solid since in hallways like the apartment complex with the crawling "dogs" become to clogged and hard to maneuver around (although again i don't quite takes this as a negative since it is very shocking and nerve racking, even if their implementation is not very dexterous) Onto the part of the 3 reincarnations; i'll explain SH1 so bear with me (or not just skip this): Alessa is a small girl with magical psychic powers or whatever, is born to a crazy cult lady (Dahlia) who wants to use her powers to summon a God. There's a boiling explosion in her house (SH1 easily missable newspaper in Kaufman's office that wasnt included in the US n' PAL version of the game) so she ends up with sever burns. She then splits her Soul in half (SH1 hospital basement scene where Kaufman explains this). One of them remains in Silent Hill(Alessa) burnt and on life support taken care by Lisa Garland, the other (somehow i legit don't know how) ends up with Harry Mason(Cheryl). The Cult uses a spell to call the other half back to Silent Hill (Hospital basement scene). As soon as Harry n' Cheryl reach the town she disappears and i assume melds back with Alessa. The angel looking thing at the end is just the both halves reunited in their god form thanks to magic (yes it's kinda dumb). Kaufman throws the Kool Aid at the god. Evil demon God comes out. Harry RKOs him out of nowhere. Now the god looking thing (Alessa) gives Harry a baby: This baby is... i don't know. It can be either the Cheryl half, or the both halves combined. And this is the ONE reincarnation (as Claudia puts it, not any other force) that happens, not three. tl,dr: Heather is Alessa reincarnated As to it being a convoluted narrative: To a degree yes it's hard to follows, but puzzling it together is the point. SH1 wanted to make it hard to puzzle it all out (I'm trying to draw line between Convoluted and Puzzling) and SH3 is by comparison a lot simpler since SH3 aimed to tie up all the loose ends along with explaining and putting an end to the Alessa Cult narrative. Although your point of it not forming a cohesive whole is true for your assessment of the Female Adolescent growing into Adulthood, it's not for the Cult Narrative part of SH3 since it never tried to coalesce into something, it just tried to explain and the story of SH1. I agree that SH3 lacks the focus and impact of either. I'm hesitant to say this is why the reception and sales were lower than the previous ones. Although i can't provide a solid answer it might have been a case of Motorhead's Ace of Spades followed by Motorhead's Iron Fist. On the point of Silent Hill being a about "Innovation" and "Breaking expectations" and this being the downfall of SH3. I suppose? I don't think the appeal or the "hook" of Silent Hill is to be different and defy conventions, i think it's just being Survival Horror game of peerless quality. "Silent Hill 3 should've been an evolution of the Personal Horror of Silent Hill 2" What do you mean by evolution? How does "Demonic Cult wants to birth a god" evolves into "Dood remember and accepts his guilt"? Is this suggestion meant to be directed at the plot and narrative of the games? Or something else?. I'm not sure if any Silent Hill game is an evolution of the any of the previous ones?. I mean the quality of many of it's aspects go up with each iteration sure, but that's not evolution is it? Sorry but i'm not following this part. "These games were always meant to be about the Cult and nothing else, Silent Hill 2 just being and outlier" As to what they were meant to be: i don't care what they were "meant to be", but 3 out of 4 games ARE about a The Cult. The series should've likely not followed with another plot like this, and they probably knew it too from what little info. we have on "Silent Hill 5" or whatever, although this is just expeculation. "Silent Hill 3 was never supposed to be a direct sequel from Silent Hill 1" "3 should've continued the personal horror of the 2nd game, (is) the Opinion of Team Silent" Alright here we go. Akria Yamaoka is an unreliable source of information: He credited Homecoming as being the 1st Silent Hill game to take place outside of the Town, which a complete contradiction of Silent Hill 3, a game HE was the producer for. And in many other interviews he has wrongfully or weirdly described the series. Akihiko Imamura is not credited for any work done on Silent Hill 3 (I haven't replayed the game yet to see the credits for myself) "Yamaoka: (...) Originally the intention was not to make SH3 a direct sequel to the first game. In fact, the scenario was completely different, but fans seemed to want to tie up some loose ends, so we tried that, even though some on the staff did not agree with the decission." I reiterate this is Yamaoka speaking. Another point that discredits this is Akihiko Imamura saying OTHERWISE in the SAME interview you credited: "Imamura: (...) Another thing is we really didn't want to use a similar template as SH2 for the game that followed it. That was another deciding factor in changing SH3." At this point Imamura (who again was not credited for in the creation of SH3 (although TeamSilent/Konami has un-credited someone before, more on this later.)) contradicts or expands on Yamaoka's comments. Team Silent was torn on which direction to take SH3, either continue SH1 story and tie it up nicely OR follows in the steps of 2's very relateable and self-contained story, which would explain why they decided to ultimately listen to the fans since Team Silent themselves, by Imamura's account, disagreed on which to pick. As to your assessment of Yamaoka's comment about fans(Konami) wanting to tie loose ends. I haven't found any hard evidence to reinforce the idea of Konami wanting to turn SH into a yearly franchise, although the releases of 2, 3 and 4 would seem to corroborate your claim, along with the drop in quality of the latter one does add to your argument and personally... i guess i kinda agree now too that Konami would've wanted Silent Hill to be a yearly franchise, which would mean faster production cycles, which means less quality, which means less sales, which means Konami disbands Team Silent. Much to our dismay and the dismay of the artistic credibility of the Company in question. Yamaoka attributing increased focus on combat to "... the loudest voice in the room". Sauce? I didn't find that comment in any of the written sources you provided, and if the comment is in the either "Making of" documentary please point me to the timestamp. Again i reiterate Yamaoka's credibility. I agree to a degree of your following statements regarding Team Silent crumbling under fan(You mean Konami? or the audience that didn't like 3?) and developer expectation (under their own expectation?) "Yamaoka: I feel our needs as creators have taken a backseat since the third game" Sauce baws? Link to the interview, "The Making of" timestamp or the page in the Japanese Official Konami Guide? From this point onward i kinda agree with your conclusions. Although the unwavering and sometimes fanatic appreciation of SH2 story is a big part of why the western developers couldn't see the finer details and the quality, along with the Silent hill reputation, ended up where it is now. P.D.: Yeah i would've given my left nut and then some just to have 1 more Team Silent game. Maybe one day, years from now, the people that grew up with these games like you and me will be old enough to fund their own video-game company and develop another game like the Silent Hill games you and me, and everybody here loves so much. In closing: I write as a way of expressing my disagreement as respectfully as i can manage, i very much enjoy and appreciate what you do here, and the quality of these video essays, particulary the pacing and endings of your video are a masterclass on how to form a thoroughly entertaining and informative video. I sincerely hope you continue to do this for as long as you can. At the end of the day, i wrote all of this because i like discussing videogames i love, with people who love them as much as i do.

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

I'd say that this vid is true in some ways; Konami should not be underestimated cuz they are such a shit company, I bet they demanded SH games yearly just to compete with RE. But you point out a lot of good points.

[@Rikorage]

Could you be more specific? I need at least 20 more pages worth of context to understand your reply. I didn't read any of your message.

[@gwell66v2AnimeReviews]

You pointed out a single flawed statement and decided that this meant everything Yamaoka said was unreliable or wrong. It's possible that, after having the series taken away from him and his team by the bosses at Konami, he was forced to go issue some PR spin and did so with complete disregard and flippancy. Either way, you should have done a lot more to show that Yamaoka is unreliable since the majority of this post relied on nothing more than assuming he was lying or wrong about everything he said

[@TheAssassin642]

You should make a video rebuttal. Check out Mauler's channel.

[@whitbaez1755]

@@DonnyKirkMusic but RE games weren't even yearly releases for the most part.

[@paprikastaude]

It's not the strongest argument to speculate the game would have automatically sold better if it had gotten more creative freedom. Majora's Mask was a complete 180 after the megahit Ocarina of Time that was clearly built upon whatever the team had in mind - and it was amazing. Yet people at the time bashed it and didn't buy it, appreciation not coming until many many years later. There's lots of reasons why sequels sell worse constantly and in the end it's impossible to know what would have happened with a different SH3.

[@christopherrapczynski204]

Bit of a weird example to compare a series aimed at adults, that is inately weird where the jump from 1 to 2 was instantly diverse, to a kids series that is known for being formulaic and not really taking risks besides gameplay gimics like the wii sword or the wolf that don't really change much. I suppose you could compare it to twilight princess, that was relatively darker than other entries and aimed at a more mature audience. It worked there. Still doesn't really translate.

[@friedzombie4]

I thought the sad overtones was due to Takaya Imamura's mother dying early in production, he's responsible for creating most of the characters in MM.

[@TKRvids]

​@@christopherrapczynski204 Part of the reason that the LoZ series endured for decades is because of the huge changes that were made from game to game. Saying that going from the open-ended, top down adventure game of LoZ 1 to a side-scrolling action RPG like Zelda 2 wasn't a risk or barely a change is so far off-base it's laughable. Nevermind the differences in ALttP to OoT and Breath of the Wild, where they threw the usual Zelda formula of the previous decade or so out the window.

[@Aegox]

I've always been a big fan of the silent hill series, Started playing when I was around 6 with my Older Brother. Silent Hill 3 was always my favorite; I think like wolf described, the teenage pop-rock themes of chaos just stuck with and disturbed me more than the rest of the series. I felt a better connection to the characters (Heather, Vincent, and Douglas to name) than the rest of the series.

[@redkingrauri3769]

I think the swarming of enemies in 3 did serve a narrative purpose too. Heather was regaining her memories of her former self when she was Alessa and they began manifesting here as monsters, constantly swarming her but she wasn't able to fully grasp why. The fetus monsters being the repressed knowledge she was supposed to birth god, the nurses of course being the ones she was being kept alive by, the Closer monsters being both mall shoppers and the abuse Alessa underwent for so long from so many people surrounding her. All of this works in conjunction with her being a confused teenager, feeling surrounded by people but still isolated. It suggests she might not like being around too many people at once. Heather isn't shown to have many, if any friends in the game. And this makes sense. She moves around with Harry to avoid the cult, pretends to be someone she isn't even with a different name and dyes her hair. She carries a knife for comfort and likely grew up feeling slightly paranoid due to the cult and due to Harry's fear of her being found possibly being subconsciously picked up by her. Though now I wanna see the original draft of the story. #Fuckonami.

[@dylqz]

It may have had a narrative purpose, but that doesn't mean it felt good to play. It just wasn't implemented well gameplay-wise imo, and that is more important to me then narrative subtext. When there is just too many enemies at once, it's always a better option to just run past them. Running away and avoiding enemies is super important in survival-horror games don't get me wrong, but there should also be times where you feel forced to fight. That rarely ever happened for me with SH3. I just spent a vast majority of the game avoiding enemies and running away. They needed to find a more satisfying way to implement combat against large amounts of enemies, the gameplay just isn't meant for that kind of combat. The combat felt much more annoying to deal with in SH3 than the previous two games by a large margin for me. Especially the hordes of crawling enemies towards the end of the game that barely do any damage but just knock you over, or the hordes of Pendulum's. Not only is it clunky to fight these things, but it's also annoying to try and run past them. The narrative subtext is cool and all, but is it fun to play? I personally found it more annoying at times than fun.

[@redkingrauri3769]

@@dylqz Guess one could point out Silent Hill games are rarely "fun" to play since they're usually mechanically built to make you feel weak and overwhelmed in most circumstances. It's understandable though if they get annoying. Personally I haven't played 3 myself (only let's plays as 3 was difficult to find) so I can't judge the feel myself. It's a fine line between pushing weakness through mechanics and annoying the player.

[@dylqz]

@@redkingrauri3769 The game mechanics for SH3 are so often clunky and frustrating that it sucks me out of my immersion. This narrative subtext should make the experience more immersive, but with SH3 all it does is remind me I'm playing a video game. I can't say the same for the previous two games. I had a whole lot of fun playing the previous two games. There is no reason to group the previous two games with SH3's shortcomings. Seems like you're really starting to bend over backwards to defend SH3's weaknesses. "It's bad, but it's okay because it's meant to be bad."

[@redkingrauri3769]

@@dylqzThat's the situation with all the sh games. Combat is supposed to be clunky and difficult, making you feel safer to run away. You're supposed to feel helpless and weak. Any fan of the series will tell you that.

[@JakeJupiter]

@@dylqz SH3 isn't more clunky than 2, it's just that the enemies are more aggressive. In SH2 they're very slow and easily avoidable. SH3 kind of took things back to the original game with swarms and faster/relentless enemies. SH3 is definitely the scariest game (along with the 1st) imo. SH2 wasnt really that scary but damn was it amazing

[@DiloConHelio]

Most Japanese videogame plots are complex and crowded, probably for replay factor. The Silent Hill series under Team Silent developement is no exception: the first one might be the most confusing of them all, yet every piece of evidence left behind for the player to collect-and-analyse explains both the stories setting the game into motion and heavily suggesting what's happening in the town during the quest; the second one departs from tone and setting - we even explore a far-south area from the events of the first game - yet once again all evidence together point that the events of Silent Hill 1 perverted the spiritual essence natural to the surroundings into a psychologically aggresive state that turns fears into flesh. In the end, I'd say the "best Silent Hill" quarrell is actually a battle between those who just enjoy the game against those who overanalyse it. Think about it: the first demands research skills while the second is far more intuitive. Personally, I could care less about _canon_ or comparing the games in the series. They're just great in their own right, and that's the mark of great developers. Period.

[@retro7924]

Yes,just enjoy each game for what they are instead of comparing each and every game.

[@theMoporter]

"Most Japanese video game plots are complicated" is a batshit take.

[@Gadget-Walkmen]

theMoporter he said “complex”. Not complicated

[@soundofmouse]

Wherever Team Silent is now, I hope they are happy. They made 4 masterpieces in a row, back to back.

[@orangeslash1667]

Good news the creator of Silent Hill is making a new Horror game called Slitter head.

[@soundofmouse]

@@orangeslash1667 sick! I'll look into it : ) Thanks!

[@ghostgrimmm]

3 is in many ways a reimagining of 1, there is a lot of aspects about 1 that are explored further and the hard to follow story is not only clarified a bit but it also expands upon it. The cult from 1 worshipped Samael while the cult from 3 worships Alessa and it shows how religion changes with time. There’s lots of other aspects like Vincent and Claudia that have tons of depth as characters and Vincent’s famous “They look like monsters to you” line which makes you question everything. I think 1,2 and 3 are a perfect trilogy, each gives us something amazing and I can’t personally pick a favorite since they are all perfect to me, and while the first two have outstanding unforgettable and terrifying moments, the scariest environments and areas in my opinion are in 3. As for 4, in my head The Room is not Silent Hill 4 but a spin-off. Compared to the trilogy It falls short, but as The Room is a fantastic and terrifying game on its own merit.

[@EverDownward]

I'm so sick and tired of everybody throwing Silent Hill 4 under the bus, casually dismissing it because it may or may not have started off as a Silent Hill project when it absolutely trounces the previous games in ways no other game could have. There's a real, startling sense of claustrophobia and the increasing dissatisfaction from being in a safe place that gradually becomes _unsafe_ is extremely unnerving and raw. Not to mention the atmosphere is off the fucking charts in some locations, like especially in St. Jerome's Hospital. That place in particular is a treasure trove for situations, scenarios, and reactions that individually are terrifying but looked at more closely become that much more dim and gruesome and nuanced. Henry's own apartment building, South Ashfield Heights, has some of the better characterization for what was going on before the events of the game take place that is particularly ripe for being explored. Some of those tenants have pasts that are just _dying_ to be explored in better detail. I just wish someday the game would be saved from the garbage, because it never belonged there in the first place. It's an absolute travesty the game is saddled with the reputation it has, I swear.

[@fantasmacstrp9239]

HOLY SHIT I'M SO MAD I HAVEN'T FINISHED BECAUSE IT'S CRASHING WHEN I DISCOVER THE FIRST BODY IN THE TRAIN STATION AND I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO SOLVE THIS SHIT HEEELP

[@drew8235]

Pretty sure it was confirmed that it didn't begin development as some other horror game, and in fact was always intended to be a Silent HIll game. But also yeah it definitely does not deserve all the hate it gets. Silent Hill 4 may be more different from 1-3 than is good for it, but what it most definitely is is a game that is waaaay better than all that came after it.

[@ItsOver-wu3mk]

Sh4 would've been better if it was in actual silent hill while locked up in his house,office or apartment instead of him being in another town.sh3 was such a bad game compared to 1 & 2 lore wise witch is why sh4 got the same treatment and its sad because they had something special with silent hill but ruined it when they tried to turn it into a franchise.

[@kevint9496]

Confession i hated it my first play through for getting rid of the flashlight and no radio, but in hindsight i really do appreciate that game a lot, it was definitely a good game. 👍

[@ItsOver-wu3mk]

@@kevint9496 if sh3 wasn't so bad sh4 would of gotten a pass.sh3 should've hust been about heather morrison not mason and being related to harry mason in anyway.it probably would've been better if it was not for the cult narrative they tried to push.

[@XastherReeD]

I will never understand how a company can look at a team that spawned a new franchise and decide to take away their creative freedom. Team Silent didn't do it once, they caught lightning in a bottle twice and still management decides they know better.

[@jonathanloomis8581]

This explanation feels completely wrong. I never felt like it was the first two games at odds. It felt like a marriage of the two. The cult and their twisted goals of raising a new perverse god created what the town has become (as in the first), but this process has created a place that distorts the world around each person stranded there (as in the second). For whatever reasons people have for not liking the third game, or for being disappointed in it, it wasn't that the themes clashed. On the contrary, the themes of the first two blend well.

[@ByAzuraByAzuraByAzura]

He literally goes over how in the video Team Silent wanted to lean more into SH2's style again and that the decision to tie it back to the cult wasn't what TS originally planned but was most likely imposed on them as the series got big during this time. If that doesn't scream clashing narratives I dunno what does. There's a reason SH3 didn't get the same recognition as the first 2, and this video perfectly captures those points. Not the only factors but these ring consistent and true. Maybe the themes melt together better in concept but SH3 didn't execute it well and it's not a shock because TS clearly had their passions set in a different narrative from the cult one, as stated by them. They tried their best to work with the interference from Konami but SH3 was worse off implementing the theme you're saying works. It clearly didn't. SH2 worked because it was just purely about the character's inner turmoil, there is no cult to battle or dragging you there. SH3 would have been profoundly more scary and interesting if it was about the original narrative that was implied, a teen girl dealing with the pain and trauma growing up after an assault and potentially an abortion. Infinitely more gut wrenching and terrifying than some rehashed cult story.

[@xLadyRaine]

You may feel like this but at release fans of the first silent hill definitely felt 2 was a departure. I know it seems like it's classic know, but fans were not too happy with SH2. SH2 never sold as well as the first game, which is why SH3 ended up being a direct sequel to the first game.

[@sumsaudi]

SH3 has such an incredible soundtrack, love the triphop influence

[@micro581]

SH3 is fine as it is, it is my favorite in fact. While I would have liked to see what the game would have been if the original story wasn't scrapped, I love wholeheartedly this third entry, it follows up brilliantly to the first one, and has that typically japanese storytelling, very implicit, like the first one, while the second, that I like very much, is a bit too "western" with it's explicit storytelling and elements. Still an amazing game nontheless, and a great video that you did there.

[@micro581]

@@sanictheedgehog I agree that my criticism may seem trivial. I meant western in terms of narration, at least I feel that way. This is not a bad thing per se, it's just that I prefer SH1 and 3 over 2, which is still an incredible game.

[@RamblyngRobyn]

Sorry if this sounds a little dumb, but it sounds like Silent Hill 3 would have had a big problem even if they did follow suit with the original concept? If the root of the problem was that it followed too closely to the groundwork laid by SH1, wouldn't following the groundwork laid by SH2 create the same issue, albeit maybe a little less problematic?

[@dicorockhimself]

Nor exactly i believe the idea was more evolveing the last idea instead of reviveinv the older one with a little bit of tge second ideas influence you get me?

[@Vosk21]

Good video. Tho I disagree with some points. Walter Sullivan's story was pretty "personal and dark". I think audiences are just too easily distracted if the focus isn't directly related through the protagonist. Sh2 was direct, whereas 1,3 and 4 were a puzzle you had to piece together, and often the antagonist was the focus. In 3 for example, heather and claudia were sisters at one time. Claudia was forced into the cult, but heather was rescued from them. Could claudia be projecting allessas nightmare? Heather is a reincarnation after all. Her existence illustrates the spiritual choice to move past her dark origin and choose the unconditional love and trust that harry represented. It's a story of personal growth that is born from pain. Even tho the cult is not the focus in 2, you can feel their influence subtly in the background. The resurrection ending primarily. I dont see why a personal story and the cult as a concept need to be mutually exclusive. The lore of the town owes its existence to the cult. The town's power is a direct result of the cults corrupting influence on the indigenous spirits that dwelled there. Silent hill without the cult is a bit like RE without Umbrella. You can write a personal story without them as the focus, but you cant justify the history of resident evil without them. Dont forget it ok?

[@Goombakun]

When it comes to Silent Hill, I never actually cared that much about the overarching universe and whatever logical contradictions existed among the different entries in the series. To me, Silent Hill in itself is a concept first. The town, the monsters and everything else comes second. Therefor, I like the freeform approach of the original Team Silent the most, Silent Hill 4 being my secret favorite among the first 4 entries. Every game after 4 was rather disappointing, because they all relied on concepts that had already been introduced, meaning they failed to surprise therefor made you feel safe. And if there's one thing a true horror game is not supposed to do, it is to make you feel safe. That being said, although the meme is probably getting ridiculousy old by now, but man, what a great game Silent Hills probably would have been...

[@chrismurillo5014]

"Art is at its strongest when not encumbered by expectation". Man... that hit me on personal levels...

[@urbiznesnunuv6938]

It’s funny how the unanimous opinion of those returning to this video is that the video literally goes “sh3 bad cuz not sh2”

[@GelatinPangolin]

Sounds to me like you just want silent hill 2 2

[@Spaced92]

​@@meee110 How did 3 not evolve from 2? The gameplay is obviously inferior to 3, the atmosphere is better in 3, Heather goes through an actual character arc unlike James and doesn't revolve around a different off screen character that's poorly defined, 2 is more of an art piece, the key themes are beautiful and the 'game' exists to serve the themes, however even Silent Hill 1 did some things better than 2. Silent Hill being whatever your inner demons make it was lazy story telling and was never supported by the original game, it isn't this perfect game when the games on either side of it did a lot of things better. 3 has much better horror themes, they are just less relatable. It's body horror, it's Alessas horror.

[@GabryyLG]

@@Spaced92 Heather? Character arc? Yeah if you consider being the 1 dimensional bratty badass anime girl for the whole fucking game. Apart from. This fact, everything you said a out sh2 and sh3 is a mere question of taste

[@sir.williamii5289]

@@GabryyLG You're both wrong. Neither James, nor Heather were shallow at all. Both DID go through a clearly visible arc. The only og protags who didn't were Harry(who didn't need one) and Henry(who actually was bland).

[@sir.williamii5289]

@@Spaced92 Heather's arc is motivated by her dead father who is only defined if you played SH1. In isolation, Harry is less defined than Mary was. James also had a clearly defined character arc. I have no idea what you're talking about

[@GabryyLG]

@@sir.williamii5289 Suuure. Tell me what arc Heather went through. Harry's diary entries were infinitely more captivating and interesting than Heather's entire screen time. In fact, Heather is only as half as interesting just because she is Harry's "daughter" and Alessa's 2nd reincarnation. Other than that she is bratty, annoying and disconnected from the horrors happening around her, often giving snarky cringy comments about the situation, which doesn't fit Silent Hill one bit.

[@CastleIsDoomed]

Before watching the entire thing, going off from the title alone, I'm gonna go off on a limb and guess he'll disregard Silent Hill 4 somewhere in the video. Called it. Poor Silent Hill 4, everyone really likes sweeping you under the rug one way or the other. It's okay though, I still love you to death and you'll always be my favorite Silent Hill game in the series.

[@v-trigger6137]

It's the most disturbing Silent Hill game ever

[@OhAbsinthian]

@Short For A Hoe Honestly, I find Silent Hill 4 to be the most frightening of the four original games. Firstly, the ghosts are the freaking worst. Absolutely terrifying. Their floaty, ragdoll-like movements are uncanny and unnatural. Not only that, but they make creepy as heck noises, and merely being in their presence drains your health. To top it all off, they can't be killed permanently. When I played Silent Hill 3, I took solace in knowing I could make the monster's creepy noises stop by finding and beating the snot out of them. But the ghosts in Silent Hill 4? Out of the question. You just gotta get what you need from the room and BOOK IT. Utterly terrifying, for it makes you never feel like you're never safe enough to let your guard down. Secondly, there are the Twin Victims, which are generally regarded as having the most horrifying design out of all the monsters in the franchise. Not only that, but the implication of the creature itself is heart-wrenching; they are symbolic of the two twin infants Walter murdered as part of his rite. Even creepier? They simply stare, point, and whisper at the player until they are provoked. Thirdly, the game's underlying themes of birth. Many of the game's monster designs allude to birth, such as monsters like "The One Truth". A biological process like birth already puts a lot of people at unease, which makes it a ripe subject for horror. The theme alone leaves me feeling uneasy. And lastly, the game's namesake: Apartment 302. Everything about this concept is just so... freaky. And original. The game literally takes the horror home. 1. Walter Sullivan sees this particular room as his biological mother. This unnatural delusion is the very reason this seemingly unsuspecting room is tied to so much evil... In addition to being one of the most original concepts I've ever seen in horror, it's also unsettling. 2. The game subverts your expectations that this room is a safe place. You start off using Room 302 as a place of rest. You can heal, store items, and generally get away from all the madness that's beyond the hole in the bathroom. But then the madness follows you there near the end of the game, making what was once a safe haven a place of dread. 3. The apartment looks like someone's home. It's a place of solace. Despite this, the fact that you can't escape suddenly makes the place less welcoming. It feels... threatening. The thought of your own home turning against you is darn scary if you ask me. I understand that Silent Hill 4 is considered the black sheep of the originals because it does get a few things VERY wrong, but I have endless amounts of praise for the unique horror that was used in it. Hardly like a Resident Evil game, which emphasizes more on action than psychological horror.

[@Tine_of_Nice_Dreams]

SH4 is an interesting and solid game but it's very different than the first three and to me always felt like it could be a totally separate unique game without the silent hill name. It's still got some really memorable stuff though.

[@etiennelatour3435]

@@OhAbsinthian Agreed 100%. SH4 is my favorite in the franchise even though it's not the best game in the franchise

[@Upsetkiller456]

Silent Hill 4 has some really cool ideas, the room itself was super unique and creepy. Walter was honestly a pretty scary enemy and antagonist. he's just a dude. I fucking LOVED how victims came back as ghosts, especially Cynthias. Also...We all remember *that* enemy.

[@BurgerSliderMan]

Ive been living in Japan for a few years, and have always been tempted to go into game development my entire life, since my main work is software development. After watching this video, oddly enough, the story about Silent Hill 3 team tipped me over to want to work in Game dev. I dunno. As we speak, I am looking at openings in Tokyo and seeing what I can do. I guess thank you alot. I would hope to find that kind of team to work with myself.

[@Subdivision229]

Update????

[@BurgerSliderMan]

@@Subdivision229 I inadvertently ended up doing part time work for an animation studio aside from my main software job. It's been a wild year.

[@aldovk6681]

@@BurgerSliderMan Update update? Lol

[@Valtieldan]

If anything, the fandom of SH2 is one of the reasons the series could never continue. The fandom became way too divided with SH2 elitism of being this "amazing perfect work of deep philosophical thinking for smart guys like myself". All the western games tried to follow those expectations and of course failed miserably. >SH2 is the masterpiece/what the whole series should be always ideals >Akira Yamaoka is the Silent Hill guy >Team Silent is an actual, stable thing Yeah, decade + old misconceptions in this video. I used to discuss the series a lot in forums. The over-the-top fellatio over SH2 made me actually gain a bit of distate for the game (I guess it couldn't meet my expectations either after finishing 1, funny enough. The things said about it were way too much) ) because while it was great, it wasn't this perfect jewel. Heck,. the Eddie fight alone is a goofy mess that would make anyone laugh nowadays (and does). Sh2 has goofy things too. Not everything will work the same on everyone else, not everyone gets as creeped out by PH, it's the beauty of art. For me it is the game with the weakest atmosphere. It's more on the sad side. 1 and 3 are way more oppressive, and that's not a negative. They're just different. I played these games back to back, SH1 - 2 - 3 and maybe that helped me have little bias, since no big ammount of time passed between the entries for me, and SH2 wasn't the first. SH2 being the first creates a big misconception of what the series is about, actually, and the overanalizing of the whole game created such an insufferable attitude amongs fans that overshadowed the games themselves. IMO the series was doomed anyways when it comes to fan reception. When it comes to everything else was just Konami being Konami and The Room development being a mess, after that disbanding everyone and all the other teams just making what felt like cheap Silent Hill copies, heavenly inspired by the movie and thus not even beeing able to remain consistent. I did have fun with Downpour on a 3D TV though, nice wholes everywhere... Impossible to replay though. I still feel 1-2-3 are great games, and 3 ties it all out with a nice bow. There's onlly so much you can do with your personal hell thing before it gets old, anyway. I love SH2 a lot, too, but it's a concept that can't be reused too much either. I also respectfully disagree with the video's implication that SH3 was less well received than it's predecessors for the reasons stated, considering SH2 wasn't as well received as SH1 too, and even sold less. Survival Horror in general was already in decline, and quite niche at this point.

[@xPostpunk]

I agree with pretty much everything you said. I’ve read that the Japanese audience feels this way about SH2 as well. It seems to be the RE4 of the franchise. It’s seems like a lot of “Silent Hill fans” are really just SH2 fans. It’s a great game, but I greatly prefer the occult storyline and darkness that SH1/SH2 emit.

[@jameslough6329]

I respect your opinion but disagree. The problem with making it more about the cult as opposed to the “personal hell” storyline, is that the story is more focused on exposition rather than emotion. One of the key rules of storytelling is “show don’t tell” and it is a lot easier to do that when you are telling a personal, emotional horror story, as opposed to an exposition all cult based horror story.

[@martyfromnebraska1045]

Thank God other people are pointing out how dumb the "every game must be SH2" dudes are. None of these people who claim that Silent Hill 2 is the TRUE Silent Hill ever stop to think about the fact that it's the second game in the series, and the odd one out. If the series is truly all about "going to Silent Hill, Maine for a therapy session via symbolic monsters that represent you doing X bad thing" why wasn't that the plot of the first game? Or even the majority of the games released by Team Silent? Like it or not, it's a game series about a cult summoning a God through fucked up means that results in a town that manifests X character's negative emotions, usually the antagonist or a tragic third party character.

[@waltersullivan2727]

There are a number of things I have to disagree with on in this video. But two gripes I will talk about is how you said SH3 isn’t as horrific as its predecessors which is blatantly incorrect. Then how combat system progression is a negative. SH2 well it being a horror game didn’t really make me feel as uneasy or discomforted during a play through as much as SH3. SH2 was the type of game that came at you emotionally setting a very somber tone with a heavy focus on diluted colors in its surroundings. The main focus is watching James uncover the reality of the things he had done and why he did them. Making it very apparent after the loss of his wife that his social skills took a nosedive with the way he interacts with others he meets in Silent Hill. His hope event starts to dwindle wondering halfway through is Marry really even there waiting for him. To put it bluntly SH2 is a depressing game if I had to choose a color in which best describes it I’d go with gray. As where I’d say SH3 is on the flip side coming at you more visually. With it really focusing on the nitty gritty lots of heavy colors in its surroundings. You see a lot more blood, mutilated bodies, and striking imagery. Great examples such as each time you run into Valtiel just look at what he’s doing! Hard the explain but it sure looks ugly. The monsters defiantly come off a lot more intimidating. Having hulking masses like the Closer, Insane Cancer, and God. There are elements of personal horror in SH3 like SH2 which involve Heather’s childhood but it’s defiantly not as big a focus. My second gripe is how you talk about combat becoming a bigger aspect as if it’s a bad thing. One of my issues with SH2 is it’s combat I mean this a suppose to be a survival horror game but I hardly felt myself struggling to survive (even on hard mode). With combat being very one dimensional and stiff and as soon as you come across a firearm it’s a walk in the park which can take you out of the game. I actually felt like SH4’s combat system was a step in the right direction with limited inventory and cutbacks on ammo/firearms such as the op shotgun and hunting rifle. Forcing you to get more up close with the enemy. Another thing is the enemy A.I which I also felt was an improvement with SH2’s enemies feeling like mindless drones you could walk past. In SH4 though it’ll take more effort to put them down and they come in packs with some even willing to chase you down. Sometimes enemies of the same type even act differently. After all this though I’m not saying it was perfect but I liked where it was going.

[@SolidRaiden2655]

The sound design in SH2 like the hole in the wall in the apartments. And the whisper in room 209. The final boss in SH2 is terrifying.

[@somebodystopme3822]

Don't many of the bad games primarily try to copy 2 though?

[@Stigmatix666]

Yup. Homecoming had an amnesiac killer, SM had a dead person who was remembered as alive, Downpour had an amnesiac killer..

[@geraq0]

SH0 and SHH failed because the combat and controls are terrible and the story is poorly done in both, not because their inspiration is bad. Had they ditched entirely the cult stuff and have less focus on combat, they would have been much better.

[@martyfromnebraska1045]

​@@geraq0 No, they're bad because they're obvious obnoxious SH2 knockoffs. The fandom is just reaping what it sews.

[@Speed4Runs]

I don't understand why is the cult thing so hated. It's literally the stuff that raped a pool child and introduced drugs to a very fragile girl. It's not what drives SH and SH3's horror - what you see in the Otherworld is still the characters' horror manifestation. They're game about extreme torture, mistreating, and psychological fuckups. You play what they fear, what they don't accept and what they try not to see or try to avoid, just like SH2. SH2 is much more simplistic in that aspect in the sense that psychological reflections are directly thrown to your face, but all SHs play on that line, except some are much more cruel than other. I don't think the ritual thing is a step back, except for Homecoming which was ridiculous

[@iancruz6617]

I came across someone hated the cult just want focis of the psycho of the town , i mention silent hill 1 had that and he metion hating it too, there sense origin how and whereit started first after all.

[@18skeltor]

It's funny how many people regurgitate the "cult bad" argument when comparing the games, when Silent Hill 2 has the most supplemental lore on the cult in the trilogy.

[@Al-ji4gd]

@@18skeltor Yeah, because the cult isn't interesting. Silent Hill 2 managed to tell one of the greatest, most touching stories in gaming without even mentioning the cult. SH1 was basically a B-movie plot, and SH3 just tries to build on that, but it can never be as subtle and as thematically deep as SH2.

[@ninjablade-kk1eh]

@@Al-ji4gd ya i agree, i actually love the story of sh3 a lot. But comparing it to sh2 theres not comparison. sh2 scared me in a way no other horror media has, while telling one of the best stories in gaming. Love sh3, but sh2 is imo one of the best games ever made.

[@martyfromnebraska1045]

​​@@Al-ji4gd SH3 is thematically deeper and more subtle than SH2, so your argument is self detonating. Only reason SH2 works in the first place is the expectations put in place by SH. Once you turn the series into main character therapy sessions for the things they've done in the past, you get the Western developed Silent Hills. Again, people like you helped kill the franchise.

[@ryancarless7921]

I've been interested in horror games since Nitro Rad's Video on Clock Tower. Nice video dude

[@chrisbee1984]

cool let us know if you want any recommendations

[@totheendh3330]

Yooooo, I got interested in horror games after seeing Nitro Rad's video on Silent Hill

[@sunnyta1990]

you've been interested in horror games since... like 2 months ago?

[@isaacargesmith8217]

@@sunnyta1990 we all start somewhere

[@WorthlessWinner]

You've only just got into horror games then? There's a lot of gems for you to find :)

[@Wiklina616]

The Room was not an attempt to make SH into yearly franchise. Both games were developed at the same time because The Room was initially supposed to be a different game. It was made to be another SH installment late in developement after konami pushed for it. Also, the argument that Konami pushed for SH1 sequel is kinda stupid because SH2 was more popular and better recieved of the two. Also having a series of stories loosly connected by a theme, not next parts in the "Saga of the Cult" is more viable from buissnes standpoint. You can see that in every western made SH, of which everyone tried to copy Silent Hill 2.

[@Wiklina616]

Aaaand over the years we had many different voices from Team Silent, talking about what happened. Some of them said that they actually wanted to do a sequel to the first game. BTW, not dissing the video which is great as usual. As someone who played all SH games when they dropped I was also dissapointed with SH3 approach of solving mysteries that really did not have to be solved. I think that now people look at this game more favorably due to the fact that this is really last real SH game, before the long downfall.

[@Wiklina616]

@@charaleet6494 Because it pokes a hole in the argument. If Konami pushed for SH3 to be a direct sequel, then why they would also push for completely standalone title (that had little to do with SH mythos at first) to be changed to fourth part of the main series?

[@bumblequeen3287]

I still don't understand why people believe Silent Hill 4 was always meant to be a Silent Hill game. I think there was a quote from one of the devs that worked on SH4, he said something along the lines of "Certainly, without Silent Hill, The Room would not exist." That sounds more like SH4 was heavily *inspired* by Silent Hill, but that changed later on as you said.

[@bumblequeen3287]

@Sir Grampton Hampterfuppinshire of Cummington No, what I'm saying is that if The Room was meant to be a Silent Hill game from the start of its development, then it would be completely redundant for someone who worked on the game to say that without SH, The Room wouldn't exist. That's kind of obvious, people can assume that on their own. But if The Room was meant to be a standalone title at first, which was inspired by the look of SH but had little to do with it overall, then that quote I mentioned above makes more sense. Plus, The Room really doesn't play at all like a traditional SH game, so that's kind of a dead give away in my opinion.

[@cosmostupid123]

We need to keep in mind that the "SH4 wasn't a SH game initially" is not the absolute truth. It's just as safe to assume that it's always been a SH-related title, at the very least. What isn't really confirmed is if it was always supposed to be the fourth installment, or a spin-off. It's unclear because different people say different things. Akihiko Imamura (SH1 programmer/SH4 producer) has gone on record saying it wasn't initially a Silent Hill game. But then, Masashi Tsuboyama (SH2 director/SH4 art designer) completely states the opposite, clarifying that, while the concept did start as just "Room 302", the point was that, as a new SH game, it had to innovate the formula in some way. If anything, what you can gather is that, as an early concept, they were trying to think away from SH. But, as soon as development started, it was clearly going to be a game from the series, and not something Konami imposed on them later in the dev cycle.

[@o7k4vokb0ksp5n2]

The fact this 2003 game has way better facial animations than Mass Effect: Andromeda.

[@touhouclassicreimu1983]

Mass Effect had zoophilia ( human x humanoid alien animals ) it's hentai game

[@caiopatric]

We gotta stop naming videos "The problem with ______".

[@DiscordedHaru]

Katze seriously. Like EPW but I’ve grown tired of clickbait titled videos like this when they go nowhere near to the point that they imply.

[@caiopatric]

@DiscordedHaru it's not even clickbait in my mind at this point, i feel like it's just a stock default title for talking about something not completely in a positive light. it's just everywhere and i kinda roll my eyes a bit for the lack of creativity more than anything.

[@lordinquisitor6233]

Katze I comes off as a little pessimistic, it’s important to critique the things we enjoy but when you do it for multiple videos, it comes off as pessimistic and uncreative

[@jaku9730]

It's the most annoying title for a thing on KZbin

[@josh-oo]

We gotta make a KZbin video with "The Problem with Making KZbin Videos with "The Problem with ______" As the Title" as the title.

[@Wveth]

I think a lot of the complexity and nuance in Silent Hill 3 is unfortunately overlooked in favor of Silent Hill 2. There is a lot of psychology going on, arguably just as much as the second game. I think what it boils down to is that Silent Hill 2 requires you to understand it in order to grasp the basics of what is even going on, whereas Silent Hill 3 tells a narrative that doesn't require the deeper elements to be unearthed in order to understand it. There is so much more to this game than many people realize.

[@fallouttoonlink]

I really liked Heather Mason, she is a ordinary girl who was put into a bizarre and horrifying situation, so she has to be brave and fight back against the horrors

[@BUckENbooz]

I'm curious on your opinion on Silent Hill 4. That was my favorite of Team Silent.

[@niclasneziru1854]

Psychological torture

[@PlaystationSimmer]

He probably blindly dismisses it because it's not Silent Hill 2

[@niclasneziru1854]

@@PlaystationSimmer To be fair it seems pretty dumb that he criticizes SH3 for returning to the first entry's plot, it's not shameless fanservice like Origins the story is pretty great and ties some loose ends as well as expanding The Order's lore, also i can't understand why he keeps pushing the idea that there can only be two Silent Hills when this is blatantly fake, the town takes the shape of the visitor's inner thoughts and traumas. Since James had no connection to the Order whatsoever that's why his Otherworld and story was so self-contained, since Heather was a reincarnation of Alessa that's why her Otherworld was the same as the first game and her story was a continuation of her father's. For me the beginning of the end for Silent Hill wasn't 3's return to the original setting or 4's clunky Gameplay and tedious pacing, it was definitely breaking up Team Silent

[@karinano1stan]

4 has the best story in the series hands down. gameplay is claustric and clunky tho. and it's really terrifying

[@Rene9u]

silent hill 4 is shit

[@olucaspc]

21:45 OOOF, my heart felt that and I think I lost a fragment of myself with this video. Horror in daylight is something I've always wanted, horror games now are always a person in a dark place with a flashlight that barely works.

[@SOBEKCrocodileGod]

Revisiting this video after completing both Silent Hill 2 and 3, I’ve realized I disagree with a good chunk of it. I love all 4 of the original Team Silent games, and I really love SH2. However, I honestly like SH3 even more. As much as the original concept for 3 fascinates me, I actually really really like that it ended up as a continuation of the first game’s story. I think the continued focus on the cult was actually intriguing. Not to mention, the settings are spectacular. The amusement park, especially. I also find SH3 to be more scary than 2, but that’s just a personal preference. I don’t think Silent Hill always needs to be a personal story connected directly to the protagonist’s guilt and mental issues like SH2. I enjoyed that 3 was a mix of Heather’s own fears & trauma and those of the villain, Claudia. Silent Hill 4 was also very excellent and while Henry was a bland protagonist, I thought he was a good audience surrogate for the player diving into the disturbed mind of Walter Sullivan. Things can be much scarier when you’re venturing through the mind of someone else. It’s the most ambitious of the first four titles as well. It took a lot of risks and tried some really cool things, some of which seem to have been emulated with Kojima’s cancelled project.

[@misterdaleboomshears8619]

So the issue is, SH3 could've been like every indie horror from the past five years trying to duplicate SH2, potentially being a watered-down metaphor for post-partum depression, as opposed to what it ended up as. Not a gamble I'd be willing to take. Team Silent crafted some brilliant games in spite of the constant shuffling of team members between games and restrictions put upon by Konami, but I don't think they're bulletproof.

[@moondoor9031]

For me, Silent Hill Downpour tastes like disappointment.

[@miket7869]

"Train Guy Was Drunk.."

[@ImmaLittlePip]

Downpour and homecoming are the worst silent hill games in the franchise

[@deliciousdishes4531]

@4 Controles Origins has that amazing soundtrack tho ~

[@DianaTaffie]

@4 Controles I would even dare to say, Downpour is underrated as all hell. Sure it was technically broken due to Konami rushing the dev team, but other than that it might've been the best Silent-less Silent Hill, even better than Shattered Memories, only if it wasn't so damn borked. And this is such a shame, it could've been even better if they just had more time on their hands. Hell, i can even see some, or more than some, love put into this game. This game needs a remaster, the proper one, the one that will fix all the technical shit.

[@QMMarc]

@4 Controles That's like saying that a turd tastes a bit better than another turd really, i mean, you wouldn't be wrong, but it's still sort of a turd at the end of the day. I think it ended on 4 for me, as much as people hate 4, there were some genuinely fun ideas and original stuff init. after that it's just, '' let's make a twist like 2, people liked 2'' even origins have a 2 twist init even tho' its a ''prequel'' to the Fun Times Cult Saga.

[@TastyLootGaming]

I love Silent Hill 1-4 but 3 has always been my least favorite to play. I think you're right about it feeling like a back step for the series.

[@chaosinmybreath]

While I consider Silent Hill 3 to be one of the best games of all time, I am not blind to its flaws. This video perfectly sums what is lacking in 3 and how it could've been much more. SH1 and 2 reached a level of completeness that when you finished playing them, you were satisfied with the conclusion. SH3 despite being the scariest, most shocking game in the series, doesn't leave you satisfied when you finish it. It leaves you wanting more, like a huge chunk of the game is missing. In my opinion, mistake number 1 was connecting heather so heavily to the cult. If the story of 3 had been about a random teenage girl who has been harassed by a crazy cult lady because she THINKS Heather is Alessa and so she tortures Heather by dragging her into her own personal hell, it would have been 1000x more interesting.

[@routhy]

Honestly I don’t really get this.. both versions of the town are correct. The town that attracts damaged individuals and the town plagued by the cult. It’s all Silent Hill. No matter what, the town that attracts damaged individuals has manifested due to the troubled past of the town itself & the cult. So even though Heather gets her revenge and prevents the materialization of “Paradise” in SH3, that only means that Paradise will not come to fruition (at least not for the foreseeable future). It does not change the history of the town or the fact that it is cursed and essentially irredeemable at this point. The town will continue to attract people like James, Eddie, and Angela. In terms of the identity crisis you refer to after SH3, not knowing which version of the town is “correct” or which one to use, again… it’s all the same, they are both correct. The cult storyline should have been left alone for the most part until there was something worthwhile to contribute, and a greater focus should have been applied to the personal trauma aspect. But Team Silent disbanded and Konami outsourced the production of future titles to Western developers. What follows from that point on does not even matter.. those people are not the creators of this franchise and they have no idea how to expand upon it. That is what caused the downfall of Silent Hill - not an identity crisis, but developers who had no understanding of said identity in the first place.

[@neobogard]

Had to watch this for Halloween. One of your best videos.

[@blairpreaker]

silent hill 3 as a game doesnt deserve this criticism. the game is extremely rich and I find it to be the scariest game in the series. It's all to blame to Konami for the pressure and changes they forced onto the game and what came after

[@GamingKick]

We live in the saddest timeline where the last Silent Hill was the one with the Korn song in the trailer

[@GamingKick]

Also great use of Super Dark Times! Love indepth Silent Hill vids. Well done

[@sunderlandspook1875]

@@GamingKick Oh, god. I forgot about that....

[@yellowtheyellow]

Completely lost me when you said SH3 pulled off atmosphere worse than SH1. The atmosphere in SH3 was immaculate and it was definitely the spookiest of the three games. SH2 also has the worst gameplay out of all three games. Overall I think despite Team Silent not being able to make quite the game that they wanted, that it stands up as the best game in the franchise for sure. I feel a lot of the loss in sales has more to do with the choice of protagonist than a lot of people are willing to admit

[@pinealdreams1064]

This just sounds like you're a huge fan of 3 and are trying to make your subjective opinion objective truth. How is 3's gameplay better than 2's? It's identical. 2 is by far the best Silent Hill game. No contest. And if you're insinuating sexism with the last sentence, that's retarded, considering female protagonists are kinda the norm in the horror genre.

[@pinealdreams1064]

Who the hell plays Silent Hill for the combat?

[@ninjablade-kk1eh]

sh2 might've had the worst combat but wasn't that the point ? even if it wasn't still the best game in the series.

[@yellowtheyellow]

gameplay is more than just combat, guys...

[@freaknr1]

I originally watched this when it first came out, but wanted to compose myself before commenting. Eventually I forgot all about it until now, so no-one will probably read this.XD Still, I care a lot about the Silent Hill-series, and I think Super Eyepatch Wolf usually makes great content, so I want to give my 2 cents about this topic. First of, I think you undersell both the story, atmosphere and gameplay of Silent Hill 3, and the importance of the cult in regards to the bigger narrative of the series. Without the cult there would be no series, as their actions are central to the first game's story and causes the corruption of the spiritual power in the town that makes the events of the future games possible. Out of the Team Silent-games, 2 is the only one where the connection to the cult is non-essential, and even there, the fact that tormented people are attracted to the town seems more like the town and the spiritual power (maybe even the demon) feeding on them rather than the town being some purgatory and means of redemption. This idea that the town is some purgatory seems to be a fan-idea that carried on to the non-Team Silent games, and has tainted the very creativity you claim was tainted in regards to the development of 3, resulting in pretty much every game post-SH4 simply apeing SH2, with some cult-stuff thrown in as well. I'm usually no fan of evil cults in stories myself, but I think SH does it very well, where the cultists feel human instead of simple maniacs, and where they themselves don't really have any control over what they have released. They are a trigger for the story, but the characters are the focus. You claim that the story and symbolism of Heather and the narrative of the cult are divorced from each other, but I've always seen them as connected at the very core of SH3, as the story is just as much about Claudia and Alessa as it is about Heather, and just as much about adolescent trauma as it is about pregnancy. The connection between Heather and Claudia through Alessa, and the way that these characters have coped with their trauma is what SH3 is really about. Alessa and Claudia grew up together in the same cult with parents that mistreated them, but their reactions where completley different, with Alessa rebelling and trying to prevent the birth of God (which the whole of SH1 is about), and Claudia doubling down on the cults creed. But both know that what they went through was wrong. Claudia simply believes that it was necessary for the true good, the rebirth of the human race, to happen. She uses this as justification to put Heather, who up to this point lived a mostly happy life, through more trauma. This is the catalyst for Heathers own search for a way to cope, which shows up several times through the story, especially in regards to how she reacts to Vincent, Douglas and Claudia herself. Claudia might be the most complex and interesting versions of the "humanity is flawed"-type of antagonist there is, and her connection to the cult is essential. Trying to seperate the story into different parts prevents you from seeing the full picture and does the game a major disservice. The same can be said about SH4. I see SH4 as clearly personal horror, just not for the main character, but the antagonist. Everything we see in the game is connected to Walter and his upbringing, and while the cult is part of that upbringing and gives him the methods to influence the world around him, they are not the main focus. SH4 has its problems, but disregarding the personal-horror aspects of the game is neglectful if you are to give it a proper analysis. When it comes to the atmosphere and the gameplay I think it's the best in the series. There is more potential for action, but I think that just boosts the "survival"-aspect of the series, since the game still feels scary even if you have lots of options to fight back with, something I can't really say about 1 and 2. Even on higher difficulties I never had much of a problem fighting back in those games. In SH3 the act of fighting back feels better than ever, but at the same time you feel more compelled to run away because of the number and agression of the enemies, creating situations all through the game where "fight or flight" are both options that have pros and cons. At no point did I feel that I had complete control of a fight, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's a delicate balance that very few horror-games manage, and SH3 does it perfectly imo. Finally, I think your arguments, especially towards the end, are rather weak. It's understandable if you prefer SH2, but several times you disregard or ignore the virtues of SH3 in favour of SH2, making your analysis of the game rather hollow. Your claim that Team Silent where restricted are also rather flimsy, basing your argument on a single interview with Yamaoka (who, while important, never was that important in regards to the story of the series) that simply says that they had several ideas for 3, but that you see as evidence for major tampering with little reason other than your own bias. Your analysis of the series sinking popularity is also lacking, with you disregarding a number of possible factors (changing tastes of the gaming public etc.) as the reason in favor of SH3 and 4 not being SH2. I haven't seen through all of the sources you list, so some of those might adress this, but when it comes to this video, I think you've done a worse job than usual compared to your usual output. This became way longer than I planned. Sorry for rambeling, but I just wanted to get this of my chest. I totally understand prefering SH2, but your critique of SH3 seems more to be more about what it "could have been" rather than what it actually is, which is doing one of the best games ever a major disservice, at least when it seems to affect your understanding of the story. I've tried to explain myself as thoroughly as possible, so I hope I don't come of as just saying "you don't get it". You are an intelligent person who usually comes of as very reflective, so I hope you (and other who read this) understand my points through all of my rambling.

[@PathBeyondTheDark]

The problem with both an overarching story and a larger focus on combat is that this was, and still is, a very common thing to do in horror games. It became a dime a dozen, a clone of other games, with only the extremely intricate of which moat will miss really separating it. It lost its identity as a franchise about a mysterious, almost sentient, town that changed its rules on a whim. Explaining the horror is often the downfall of these types of psychological horror since it is a genre built on perception rather then fact.

[@BugLondon]

@@PathBeyondTheDark I wouldn't say there is a greater focus on combat. Just the opposite in fact. Enemies are numerous damage sponges that hit hard. They become significantly harder to fight than they are to flee from which incentivises fleeing. In Silent hill 2 enemies are easier to fight with melee weapons than they are to run past. Not only are guns redundant but this impacts the horror when enemeis are not a threat. While it does fit its unique atmosphere, Silent Hill 2 is by far the least intense of the original 4 Silent Hill games.

[@RuminInLove]

This is one of my favorite Silent Hill vids on KZbin.

[@maskofshy]

19:39 ... BROH., you give Yamaoka tooooo much credit, while he is a good composer, *he was never the MAIN mind behind Silent Hill.* (Cof cof Takayoshi Sato) YAMAOKA barely even worked in the writtng or development of the game since SH1. and done.. Also.. Yamaoka was the same guy that later agree to continue as producer for ORIGINS & Homecoming.. sequels that missed the whole point of the first games, and barely understand the material.

[@anonforyou]

Hahaha yes! He kinda missed that. Yamaoka is great with his music, but he wasn't the brain behind SH.

[@maxxvii2037]

People use to do the same with the monsters' designer. Never directed, produced or wrote any game, yet gets way too much credit.

[@MrFutago87]

Yamaoka wasn't just speaking for himself but for the whole team not just himself. He was just relaying information about the situation of Team Silent as a whole. And first we aren't supposed to give him credit for the early games but then for the later ones? The issues lie with Konamis mandates for the series.

[@BobLogical]

@@MrFutago87 Don't you see? Everything good is the responsibility of someone else and everything bad is the fault of someone bad, "bad" here being whoever is close enough to throw under the bus to win an argument.

[@bioforest6602]

I think team silent didn't want to do the inner demon stuff anymore since they did the best they could with SH2 and thought they couldn't top it. And that they really can't find a different story to tell with the same set up which is why 3 is a direct sequel to 1. And 4 changing things up by having it be in dreams (which 4 is directed by sh2 director). So when the western teams try to do what sh2 did it doesn't hold up, because you can't really do more than what was presented in sh2. I think it's best to have what we have.

[@bree320]

I would also argue that we got both with sh3. It was a personal story, and her connections to the cult. There was a lot of personal horror that strikes a cord with teenaged girls. She felt extremely relatable to me, which made it the scariest in the series to me.