Topic: Silent Hill Origins - new footage, + GSpot gets to play it.

[Quemaqua]

Looks to be shaping up nicely.  Seems like it'll definitely be another more traditional SH adventure, which is certainly okay in my book.  As usual the gameplay looks a little stilted and slow, but again, that's how it's supposed to be.  I suspect this will still make me crap my pants, as playing through the original game again has made me a little bit nervous even on my PSP.

Tried to find the old thread I made about this but didn't have any luck finding it.  Oh well.

[Xessive]

Is this one the remake of the original SH or is it a completely new one to the series?

EDIT:
Nevermind, I just realized it's for PSP. I'm waiting for the PC remake of the original SH

[Quemaqua]

I don't think that's actually been confirmed, has it?  All I know of for sure at this point is Silent Hill 5 and Origins.

[Xessive]

I don't think that's actually been confirmed, has it?  All I know of for sure at this point is Silent Hill 5 and Origins.

Yeah, I think it's just a rumour so far although there have been some suggestions that it the devs are thinking about it seriously.

It's the one I'd be most looking forward to anyway.

[Quemaqua]

The only rumor I heard is they were going to do a game based on the movie, and I have very little interest in that.

[MysterD]

Kotaku speaks about their Silent Hill: Origins impressions

[Quemaqua]

Sounds good to me.  I can definitely get behind that.

[MysterD]

Que would pop a few quarters in to play this, if this was out in America...

Silent Hill: The Arcade Game.

It's out in Japanese arcades everywhere.

Video of a battle w/ Pyramid Head right here..

[TheOtherBelmont]

Que would pop a few quarters in to play this, if this was out in America...

Silent Hill: The Arcade Game.

It's out in Japanese arcades everywhere.

Video of a battle w/ Pyramid Head right here..

Weird, House of the Dead + Silent Hill.  That would be interesting to play, doesn't seem like it would have any of the charm that the Silent Hill console games have though.  There's actually a good arcade in Austin that gets a lot of the weirder Japanese arcade machines so they might get it.

[Quemaqua]

Some new screens are up at GSpot.


Lisa from SH1?  Maybe?




I'm pretty happy with the monster designs they've shown so far.  Seems like a big improvement over SH4 (and I could take or leave some of what was in SH3).

[MysterD]

Yeah, that does look like Lisa...oooooooh....

SHO looks like a combo of two of the best SH's -- SH1 and 2.
That could be a good thing, given how those are the best SH's in the series, if you ask me.

[Quemaqua]

Son of a... THIS IS OUT?  AND I WAS IN A GAME STORE TODAY NOT BUYING IT?

Fucking hell.  I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

EDIT - IGN's review seems the most level-headed of those I've read, and a few finicky (read: stupid) reviewers aside (1Up says, in its predictable, conventional way that the game is predictable and conventional?  I'm so surprised), the reviews are quite positive.  Most Silent Hill fans seem to agree, despite a small minority of naysayers.  Considering how worried some of us rightly were at the game being developed almost entirely by another studio, apparently things turned out pretty damned well.

EDIT x2 - Well, I didn't pick it up as planned.  I sort of did, though, through the magical underworld store.

I'm impressed.  The game seems to nail everything, right down to some of the odd things people might not like as much.  They set out to do another SH game that stays true to the others, and they pretty much did.  So far, it feels just like anything Konami would have put out if the original team had done it.

It looks great for a PSP game.  Honestly, it looks as good as any of the previous games with only minor detractions that have to be there simply because of the limitations of the hardware.  These guys really pushed for it, and it looks great.  Music is still Yamaoka, so it's still perfect, and there are more vocal tracks this time around (same girl who sang for 3 and 4, who despite myself, I have grown to quite enjoy).  Sound design borrows from other games and appears to stay as true as possible to what's been doing before, so everything sounds appropriate.  Even the voices are just wonky and stilted enough to sound like another SH game instead of being a hundred times better than the previous games.  Of course, I don't know that I'd mind better voices, but.... case in point, yes, the game feels like SH through and through.

I haven't played much, but from what I've read around the net, any SH fan with a PSP should pretty much just go buy this.  The story stuff already seems great just from the opening.

[Quemaqua]

Have put about 4 hours into this now, which feels like 25.  That's the usual relationship with SH games and I.  It's tense, it has me on edge, it freaks me out, and yet I keep coming back for more.

Story's gotten a lot more interesting.  Travis's personal background has come into play, and like many of the games, it seems like that part of things is its own world.  There isn't a ton of development on the main SH thread yet, just some scenes with Lisa and such that don't really reveal anything.  There will certainly be more of that later, but for the beginning few areas they seemed to want to set up Travis's situation more than anything else, which is probably wise.  I'm curious about his past and junk.

Everything else applies.  Good and bad, this is SH all over the place.  There are some great puzzles and some really fun sort of puzzle-lite type deals, and it gets pretty creative with it.  New areas are cool to explore, and feel very appropriate.  All in all there are just a lot of times when something was "cool", like the way a puzzle was solved, the way a level sent you from one place to another, or a location that turned out to be more interesting than I thought.

Great stuff.  Where are the other SH fans at?  Nobody's played this?  I don't think any of you have PSPs, so I guess not.  Damn.

[MysterD]

I don't have a PSP, unfortunately...

Does Konami have any intentions of bringing the game to a console like the PS2? PC?

I mean, only game I remember being portable and then being shipped over to consoles were the Grad Theft Auto portable games from PSP being brought over to PS2 at a reduced price -- since well, gamers love their GTA and wanted it on their console...

EDIT:
Y'know what'd be awesome?
If they sneak SH: Origins into say SH5 as some unlockable-game...

[Quemaqua]

Not gonna' happen.  It's one thing to port a game like GTA from PSP to something else because of the overwhelming popularity.  SH doesn't have that.  It would be a waste of money.  And no, they aren't going to put a current game as a freebie in another current game.  Be reasonable.

[MysterD]

Not gonna' happen.  It's one thing to port a game like GTA from PSP to something else because of the overwhelming popularity.  SH doesn't have that.  It would be a waste of money.  And no, they aren't going to put a current game as a freebie in another current game.  Be reasonable.

Well, then -- here's another question?
How well has the PSP actually sold??

[Quemaqua]

What does that have to do with anything?  I really don't know how it's sold, though.  I see a lot of them around on the street, and the games have gotten a lot better.  It seems to be gaining momentum.  No idea about hard data on it, though.

[MysterD]

What does that have to do with anything?  I really don't know how it's sold, though.

Well, probably some of the obvious questions I'm gonna throw, since PSP is not the #1 Portable Gaming System...

Do you think a well-known franchise like Silent Hill w/ its new SH: Origins will help make some PSP sales??
Do you think Origins will sell well on the PSP even???

It probably doesn't help the PSP sales to have the PSP-made GTA games ported over to the PS2. IT makes the PS2 gamer who didn't buy the PSP say, "Why should I buy the PSP, if they'll port what I want over to the PS2?"

I see a lot of them around on the street, and the games have gotten a lot better.  It seems to be gaining momentum.

Obviously good for Sony.
Well, that's good for Konami; especially if PSP fans want a SH.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I know if I get a PSP in the future (and I really want to, theres several games I want for it) this will be one of the first games I pick up with it.

[Quemaqua]

While Origins has surely sold a couple of PSPs (I know a few fanatics who picked up PSPs just to play it), I doubt it's a lot.  SH is still too niche for that to be a big factor, even if its popularity has grown quite a bit in the last couple years.  And while the game could certainly be ported to PS2 (it looks just about as good as the PS2 versions... a little touching up probably wouldn't be a huge problem given that the architectures probably aren't so different), I don't see it happening at all.  There's no evidence to suggest that anybody other than Rockstar thinks that's a great idea, because they don't have franchises that could brand used toilet paper and still move product.

[MysterD]

Yahtzee takes on Silent Hill: Origins.

[Quemaqua]

I didn't really agree with him in general.  I found the game fun and generally compelling, though some of his complaints are certainly valid.  Unfortunately he just plain doesn't mention a lot of what's cool about the game, like the puzzles and just some of the neat ways they go about doing stuff.  It feels very much like a Silent Hill game, and I don't think it feels too much like a fan game... it just isn't the strongest in the series.

I guess I didn't mention that I finished it.  I was very happy with it on the whole, and I think pretty much any die-hard SH fan would be hard pressed not to like it.  There are a few problems, but for me it did an awful lot right.