Horror Aficionados discussion

Anyone experiences with any of the game series?

Have been playing the Fatal Frame series since 10 years and it never seizes to scare and amaze me. Great atmosphere and setting and you feel so helpless.
Recently picked up Silent Hill, which is highly popular and has tempted me due to its popularity. Finished 1 and 2 now and can only say - that game sucks! Game controls are lame, the main characters are boring and I find myself shouting abuse at them, hoping they will fall apart and applauding their deaths, because they are so stupid.

How do you feel on any of these games, what are your thoughts?

I personally love the early Silent Hill games 2 & 3 are probably the best. They were know for horrible combat. People just played them because they were scary at the time. They haven't aged well and newer gamers don't want the tank controls of the old Silent Hill's and Resident Evil's. (Side note Capcom is making a new Resident Evil Revelations game that is supposed to go back to the roots of the series. They are going to have an option to play with tank controls or without them.)

Also the real main character of Silent Hill is the town itself. The game relies heavily on atmosphere and you really are supposed to avoid combat as much as possible run whenever you can.

Fatal Frame did have a slight advantage at being newer. Silent Hill 1 & 2 were released in 1999 & 2001 respectively. The first Fatal Frame didn't come out until 2002. Most Fatal Frame fans consider 2 & 3 to really be the best. 2 was released late 2003 & 3 was 2005. Every year developers learn new tricks to make games better so Fatal Frame did have a bit of a time advantage coming out later.

Of course that doesn't take away Silent Hills horrible controls. Some old gamers like me have just turned it into another challenge of the game.

I have yet to meet a gamer who didn't like the Fatal Frame games I think it has to do with Silent Hill and Resident Evil games being geared towards American gamers they just aren't are scary as the Fatal Frame series.

Sorry for such a long post horror and gaming are pretty much my favorite things.

Why, I loved your take on this! The context of time is really a thing, it seems. I had been thinking the first 2 Silent Hills were a bit older than that.

I agree on the avoiding combat in Silent Hill. As camera angels blow and you can hardly precisely pinpoint your opponent apart from boss battles, it is just too much of a pain in the ass. It does take away a lot of fun about exploring the town if you're basically just forced to run throught the fog, hoping to get to your destination.

What exactly does "tank controls" mean in this setting? I haven't encountered that term yet.

Good point on the target audience being American gamers. Would you say americans would enjoy Silent Hill over Fatal Frame due to how it's made and because of which aspects? :) Wondering, cause I am from Germany, so not much of a clue about the typical american mind.

Which Fatal Frame do you personally like the best then? I thought 2 was incredibly cool but would choose the first easily over the third (that candle-stuff ... meh).

Would you still recommend going on with Silent Hill? I got me the whole bunch on a whim a while ago, so I still have 3, 4, and Origins lying around, but was wondering if it would be a lot of fun, seeing as the first two weren't really my cup of tea.

Hm, I can't really compare the two. I've only played Fatal Frame two and Silent Hill the Room. I found both to be creepy but I think Fatal Frame is more scary. Silent Hill the Room kinda of made me angry just because it was annoying to try and get anywhere and I thought the concept wasn't very good. However, the constant wondering and not being able to get anywhere still gave it a feeling of creepiness. Fatal Frame however, really creeped me out. Just the whole atmosphere and the darkness of the environment kept me creeped out and jumped a few times at the ghosts. I think my opinion might be a little biased though because I love Japanese superstition and horror.

Even though Silent Hill is geared towards American gamers there were plenty that played and loved Fatal Frame. The Fatal Frames were a little harder to come buy. I remember wanting to get one of them can't remember if it was 2 or 3 but it was still like 20 or 30 dollars when it was already a few years old.

I think a good example is Asian horror films Ju-On many American myself included love them, but some can't get past another cultures norms. That's why there was a vast difference between Fatal Frame and a lot of other 'horror' games around that time that were geared to American gamers.

As far as the rest of the Silent Hill games most fans of the series say that 2 & 3 are the best some like 2 and some like 3 I also think that some like 3 because it has a female protagonist. The 4th game many people didn't care they were forced to make because Konami just wanted them to make another one so it was different and you could say that their hearts were not in it.

Basically
Silent Hill 4, Downpour, Homecoming, and Origins were all not well received mostly because they were so much different than fan favorites 2 & 3. The series has been going downhill. Of those four games Origins is probably the best. So I would say play 3, but if you didn't like 2 it's a toss up. Most people say the combat in 3 is improved I just can't remember how much of an improvement it was. However since it is considered one of the best I would say that it is worth a shot. Origins if you have it already it might be wroth a play when you get bored. I would just say pass on 4 there was really nothing good about it.

The new Silent Hill however might take the series back to greatness. Even for new gamers since it most likely won't have the old style of combat.

It's going to be called Silent Hills
Norman Reedus stars in it.
Guillermo del toro & Hideo Kojima (Mainly know for the Metal Gear series he is someone highly respected by gamers.)are the ones making the game so it has a lot of potential.

Fatal Frame 2 is my favorite it was the first one I played so maybe that is why it has a special place for me. The others were not bad of course, but Fatal Frame 2, Resident Evil, Silent Hill 2/3, and Clock Tower 3 are like the definitive horror games from that generation.

And Finally the 'tank controls'

defined Tank controls refers to a movement style in early third person perspective 3d games where the character is used as the point of reference when choosing which direction moves them forward.

Basically,
You rotate the character and then press up to move forward. Basically you can only move in the direction your character is facing. Early Resident Evil games are prime examples 1,2,3 and Code Veronica were all 'tank controls'. Also usually it has a fixed camera so for example you can be in a room and not actually all of it is viewable. This wasn't true with every game, but most of them.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time deciding which series I like better. The first time I played Silent Hill was about 8 years ago, and I've played 1, 2, and 4. I just played Fatal Frame for the first time this year, and I've only played the second one. It was fantastic though.
So I want to say Silent Hill is better because of the experience I have with it. But Fatal Frame 2 was a great game with a unique mechanic going on.
Really the only reason I like Silent Hill so much is because I love the fourth one, even though I've heard that it's the most hated game in the series. I didn't feel like the first and second were very scary, and the controls really did take away from the experience.

Even if you didn't like the other games in the series, I think you may like SH4. The characters were more interesting, the gameplay was still a little clunky, but not near as bad as in previous games in the series, and the story is a refreshing release from the usual Silent Hill plot.

But I still think anyone who loves horror but hasn't played Fatal Frame should try it. It really was an interesting and unique approach to the horror video game genre.

I can't really weigh in on how scary they are. Amnesia: The Dark Descent has ruined horror for me forever, I think. (If you haven't played it, I recommend it, as well. It's just amazing!) So I'll just say they're equal in scariness.

Rei wrote: "Honestly, I'm having a hard time deciding which series I like better. The first time I played Silent Hill was about 8 years ago, and I've played 1, 2, and 4. I just played Fatal Frame for the first..."

I agree Fatal Frame is a requirement for horror fans.

I kinda feel like Amnesia has taken the horror genre down a little bit. It was a great game itself, but has spawned too many clones that are just poorly designed.

Have you tried Oulast? Some people feel that it rivals Amnesia.

Alright, so I will give the other Silent Hill's a chance and not let them rot away in my cupboard.

Surprisingly, I havent heard of Amnesia at all yet. Just googled some screenshots. Monsters look fancy. I take that its for computer, yeah?

And which game cloned this one and in how far?

Wendy wrote: "Alright, so I will give the other Silent Hill's a chance and not let them rot away in my cupboard.

Surprisingly, I havent heard of Amnesia at all yet. Just googled some screenshots. Monsters look ..."

Yeah, Amnesia is for the PC. You should know that it has no combat if you find a monster or whatever you have to run and hide. There are really to many clones to list. Slender: The Arrival is one that comes to mind although it is still worth a play. Outlast is like Amnesia, but a lot of people think it is just as good. Some people think Outlast is scarier.

Anna & Doorways are some example of clones that just aren't quite up to par. I think Anna leads more to the adventure in gameplay honestly I only played it for 5 minutes it is still a horror game. There are really too many to list. They might be worth a play on sale I think I got both of them on sale for like a dollar or two.

Doorways is short and episodic you can get the first two chapters as a pack, and then they just came out with the third and are releasing a fourth so you have to buy them all if you really want to play the full game. I got the first two thinking I would get the third when it came out, not the case. Not worth it at full price. Steam does a lot of sales if they are all for sale might be worth it.

You can just search steam for horror and find most of them. Some are ok, or at least worth picking up on sale. Plenty of other good horror games too.

Outlast trailer worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GPf3...

William wrote: "Rei wrote: "Honestly, I'm having a hard time deciding which series I like better. The first time I played Silent Hill was about 8 years ago, and I've played 1, 2, and 4. I just played Fatal Frame f..."

I hadn't heard of Outlast before, but I just looked it up, and it sounds awesome! Took a look at the trailer too, and it looks like it really could give Amnesia a run for it's money. I'm in the middle of building a gaming PC. Now I know the first game I'm buying when it's finished. xD
Really interested to see if it's scarier than Amnesia.

William wrote: "Wendy wrote: "Alright, so I will give the other Silent Hill's a chance and not let them rot away in my cupboard.

Surprisingly, I havent heard of Amnesia at all yet. Just googled some screenshots. ..."

I haven't gotten the chance to finish both of them (I have like 250 steam games) but from what I've played I think Outlast is better. At the very least @ 20 bucks it's well worth the money. There is a dlc for it to that expands on another part of the story different character if I'm not mistaken.

Did any of you play Fatal Frame 4 as of yet?

I haven't played Fatal Frame 4. It was never released in the US & it was a Wii only title.

I think it can be purchased as a Japanese import under: Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen - Amazon has it listed for $74.00 and I would assume you have to have a modded Wii to play imports. I don't have a Wii, but that's the way Xbox & Playstation are. Not saying that I support piracy. Although I did put one of my books on the PirateBay.

Of course one could go the not so legal/ethical route and use a Wii emulator like Dolphin & torrent the iso. Not saying that I would do that, but the game is not even in circulation anymore which means they are not making new copies of it. I guess the question is is piracy bad when something is no longer being made thus the company is not losing any money.

Why is this turning into a piracy issue? :')
Had it come out in any language I could understand and be it spanish, I'd had purchased it. Alas, for some reason they don't and although I am really putting a lot of time in learning japanese - it takes a while. So I kinda reckon the gaming agency doesn't want my money at the moment so I don't feel too bad about taking the Dolphin-route here.

But anyway!
Setting is really good, gameplay is a bit confusing as you switch between a couple of characters and at least two of them look pretty much the same. But it takes place in an old mental hospital, which is always a great environment. They also introduced some new features that were really great.

Hope it'll be localized some day. I want to put it on my shelf with the first three. Alas, I'm afraid they won't. Havent heard any plans about localizing the 5th (which is out already? or soon to be?) either. Shame! Wonder why that is.

My only guess could be that the first 3 were not huge sellers in America and other countries so they decided to keep them Japanese only since that is where Nintendo is and they own the rights to the series. It probably costs a lot less to just develop the game for Japan and only one system so the games wouldn't have to sell a tremendous amount for them to get their money back. Fatal Frame I think is more of a cult classic it's popularity grew after it was out for a bit much like a lot of horror movies that do terrible in theaters.

Fatal Frame 5 is still a possibility since it is much newer and Nintendo has made no official comment whereas with 4 the have flat out said they are not doing an American version. Also on the Japanese launch (September 27, 2014) day for 5 there was an official stream of the 'movie actress' playing an English version of the game, so I would say that there is hope.

They made a live action Japanese version. Which is supposed to come out or is coming out soon I believe. (I think it was the 26th of Sep. not 100 percent on that though. It was announced in July at some event that Hollywood would be making another live action movie. Some people seem to think that an American/English release of 5 might coincide with the American film version.

Well, I'd be super-glad if they released the game, I've seen gifs on tumblr and it looks very cool. They can keep their movie, though, the trailer looked (caution! pun!) ... horrible.

Yeah, the trailer looked pretty lame. It's supposed to be based off the novel which was based off of the first game. So I think that makes it an adaptation of an adaptation.

Maybe this can be one time when America makes a better movie than Japan. I think it is supposed to be its own movie and not a remake of the Japanese version which would be good. (other wise it would be an adaptation of an adaptation of and adaptation.)

Here's to hoping that it is better than most Hollywood takes on video game movies like House of the Dead, Resident Evil, and Alone in the Dark. (cringe) Maybe with all the attention the series is getting now that will make Nintendo start releasing American/English FF titles again.

I did like the American adaption of The Ring very much though. I also enjoyed what they did with Ju-On.
How's your feelings on that?

The Ring got quite overhyped with its thousands of parts and spin-offs in Japan and kinda lost it's taste aber a while.

But here's YAY to the possibility of Fatal Frame 5 in english! Might even consider buying a Wii for that.

I did like both The Grudge (same director as Ju-on I think he wrote and directed both Ju-On Curses & both Ju-On Grudges, and then directed the first two American ones.) and The Ring American version. I know I watched Ringu, but I honestly can't remember it all that well. I know I didn't see the sequels.

I think Ju-On got more sequels and remakes there was Ju-on: The Curse, Ju-on: The Curse 2, Ju-on: The Grudge, Ju-on: The Grudge 2, Ju-on: White Ghost, Ju-on: Black Ghost, Ju-on: Beginning of the End.Then the American versions The Grudge, The Grudge 2, and The Grudge 3.

So I guess it's not just America the suffers from Horror movie sequel fever.

I also like Chakushin ari which is One Missed Call, I thought the American version was crap. Chakushin ari had two sequels that were both better than the American version.

silent hill is my all time favorite game. for three reasons;
1. they are not insanely impossibly difficult to complete like for instance resident evil
2. The stories are amazing and all have unexpected twists
3. The monsters in silent hill are scary like properly scary. even when you dont think they are they seem to make their way into your dreams whn you sleep.

those are the main reasons amongst others whoch makes all the silent hill games the best franchise ever. Looking forward to playing future games which may or may not happen. cough silent hills.

Both are great franchises.

SIlent Hill pretty much peaked with 2, which is easily one of the best game experiences I've ever had. Amazing soundtrack. Three was good, but very uneven, and the series has flailed around ever since. The Room had a great concept and some neat ideas but suffered from poor execution and frustrating mechanics.

Fatal Frame was wonderfully atmospheric but by all accounts the series has suffered from being similarly erratic. (Only played the first two on PS2, and while I loved the first one found myself getting bored with the sequel.)

Might have to actually buy a Wii U if Fatal Frame: Maiden of Blackwater actually does makes it to the West (it's been announced, but, well, I'll believe it when it happens).

Silent Hill, alll the way. The original and the best.

I'm returning to this thread now that I've played Outlast to let everyone know that it's definitely worth playing. I'm still not sure if it's scarier than Amnesia, but it's pretty darn close. I can only play it in 15-20 minute increments before I have to take a break. TT u TT