125 - Silent Hill: Origins

[matt]

In this video, I talk about Silent Hill Origins and how the platform you play it on matters. I also digress and discuss developing for the PSP, emulators, and the importance of doors and streaming.

[RightClickSaveAs]

I hadn't heard much about Rule of Rose so I looked it up, is this the trailer?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZE3VYZm_F8

That makes me want to play it also! Although I'm a little wary of that style of trailer for games, when they seem put together like a movie trailer and there are a lot of cutscenes, it makes me wonder how it actually plays. Like the Dead Island trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqrG1bdGtg It was like a really touching short film, but the game by all accounts turned out to be a fairly standard run around and kill zombies type.

Also according to Wikipedia Rule of Rose is kinda rare now, even though there's a "citation needed" in there: "As one of the rarest games on the PlayStation 2 (around only 15000 copies are known to exist in North America),[citation needed] the game commands a high price (nearly $100 for used copies)." So you may want to keep the shrinkwrap on that!

[matt]

That is indeed the trailer. I agree I am wary of trailers like that these days, but I think back in the PS2 days, they actually used footage from the game (or cutscenes) rather than hired a company to create something brand new. As much as I love the Gears of War Mad World trailer, it had nothing to do with the game. That being said, the reviews for Rule of Rose were bad (59% on Metacritic)...

Holy crap! You are right about the value of the game! Someone is selling it for $500 new on Amazon, and the used copies start at $100. As much as I want to play it, as someone whose collector's instincts border on obsessive, I think I'm not sure I want to destroy its value. hahaha There were a few times over the years that I almost took the shrink wrap off, but for some reason, I never did. Hopefully I didn't go opening it after I recorded that video...

The real question is does this unseat Panzer Dragoon Saga as the jewel of my collection? I own 2 copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga, which apparently starts at $480 on half.com used. I'm not sure how flawless my discs are, but between my two copies, I probably have some nice discs. hehehe. I bought it for $100 or so on half.com many years ago, which was a biter pill for me to swallow, but I am a Panzer Dragoon nut. The other copy I got from our programmer Dan, when he donated his collection to my cause.

Hopefully there is no earthquake in LA that destroys all my precious games...

[Harry Sunderland]

I played the PS2 port of Origins because I make it a habit to play everything Silent Hill (except that weird visual play novel and the vita game that is some weird multiplayer hack and slash).

I didn't mind the game too much. I thought the "mirror" aspect was interesting...but honestly I found the monsters near the end of the game to be much too difficult. In that "motel" sequence, I was at a point where I was low on ammo, and I just had to run my ass away from everything in sight. It actually really took me out of the game.

Also, I played it several years ago, but I remember the last boss making me say WTF. I can't remember if he was insanely easy or insanely difficult, but I remember being totally unsatisfied by the battle.

I basically only play SH games out of pure fanboydom. Origins wasn't awful, but if I wasn't a fanboy I don't think I would've enjoyed it.

[matt]

I also want to play everything Silent Hill. So far, all that is left is the hack & slash (which I will probably play once I get a vita just because I'm a fanboy) and Downpour, which I am kind of holding off on because I feel like I will be inconsolably depressed when there are no Silent Hill games left. (Plus it didn't get very good reviews) I hadn't heard about the visual novel. Are you talking about the weird Game Boy Advance thing? I guess I'll probably skip that. hahaha

The mirrors were cool. The enemies were a pain and ridiculously frequent in the final segment where I got lost a million times despite using a walkthrough. hahah I didn't get to play the final boss because of the emulator crash, but I watched a playthrough, and it seemed pretty underwhelming...

[Harry Sunderland]

Yes, I am referring to the Gameboy Advance game. And actually, this conversation just let me to check online and find out there was a fan-made English translation. Maybe I'll load the rom onto my phone, just to have some mobile Silent Hill action.

I'd probably play the Hack and Slash too if I ever got a Vita, but as of now I'm more interested in Vita TV than another portable console. Have you heard about that? It's Japan only at the moment, but if it ever made it to the U.S., I feel like it would make Ouya/FireTV/(Other Android Micro-Consoles) pretenders to the throne.

I think I mentioned on here before, but I very recently played Downpour. Honestly, I thought there were some things it did very well (I was actually very into the storyline, and some of the atmospheres were awesome). But also, I feel like an Open-World is a terrible environment for Silent Hill. I think it's really difficult to pace suspense in an Open World. For me, Silent Hill should be all about striving to survive. That kind of clashes with a, "I better find all these collectables and explore random buidlings for side quests!" type game. I actually didn't do any of the side quests, because I just wanted to GTFO of Silent Hill (and also GTFO of playing a mediocre game).

I could mail you my Xbox 360 copy if you'd like to play it. And honestly, if you never got around to returning it, I wouldn't be heart-broken .

[matt]

I was looking for the fan translated rom. I could only find the fan translated MegaDrive port. Do you have a link to a translation of the GBA game? Maybe I'll give it a go.

I was really excited about the Vita TV until I read the reviews which seem to be lukewarm. It seems kind of rushed, and they didn't quite work out the interface or game compatibility. Maybe they are ironing out these issues before bringing it to the US.

I think the microconsole that could really get a big market share would be a $99 device that uses the amazing Tegra K1 chip. The Tegra K1 chip has a Kepler core, so it can support full DX 11.1 as well as OpenGL 4.4. That means that it essentially jumps the Xbox 360/PS3 in terms of graphics capabilities. I imagine it may not quite have their horsepower, but no longer would developers have to worry about OpenGL ES incompatibilities (which can be a nightmare). That would mean basically someone could port a Mac/Linux game without much trouble. Granted, that is assuming Nvidia can make an OpenGL 4.4 driver/API for Android (currently, it only supports ES 3.0, which kinda sucks), but Nvidia is betting big on Android, so I can't imagine they wouldn't make it happen (especially since Android is open source, so they can do whatever they want).

I keep telling Ouya to put a K1 in the Ouya 2, but I suspect the K1 wouldn't be ready in time. Maybe next year!