A Silent Hill 4 Remake-Would you welcome one?

Post by **simeonalo** » 15 Feb 2010

Would you welcome a direct Silent Hill 4 Remake/Re-Imagining?

I would welcome one. I would like some changes, such as:

*Eileen being the Main Character and Henry the supporting character, both with new character models including more characters that will be encountered

*Switching the character you're playing as during selected parts of the game, a lot like Fatal Frame 4

*More dialogue and character development through cutscenes and memos

*More worlds you can travel through, without the whole "Let's go back to this world" thing

*A re-vamped story line with alterations to the Ritual of the Holy Assumption and the character dialogue

*Glass-Type World, and a Stone-Type World

*Melee weapons with the occasional firearm, with GTA-type shooting

*The Flashlight from Silent Hill Shattered Memories

*Psychological evaluation throughout actions in the game

Would you like a Silent Hill 4 Remake/Re-imagining? What changes would you like to see?

Post by **cascade88** » 15 Feb 2010

I wouldn't neccesarily welcome one because I don't find a remake of the game neccesary. The only benefit of it I can think of might be better controls. That aside, nah, it's alright as is.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 15 Feb 2010

Ditto what Cascade said. SH4 doesn't need a re-imagining.

Post by **krakalackin** » 15 Feb 2010

I'm having a hard time playing through the current SH4, please don't make another one!

Post by **Harrys_Girl** » 16 Feb 2010

Ditto on Aura's ditto, only extend my ditto to all games. None of the games needed "re-imaging" no matter how much I liked SH:SM, it wasn't needed.

Post by **alone in the town** » 16 Feb 2010

People want a straight-played remake of the original Silent Hill that conforms more to the current aesthetics of the series--competent voice-acting, high-detail graphics, and so on.

Silent Hill 4: The Room has all this. It's the gameplay which causes most people to dismiss it in relation to its series siblings. That being said, it does not fit the criteria that almost anyone requires in a remake. So, no.

Post by **Kenji** » 16 Feb 2010

If I were presented a list of existing SH games and had to choose one to be reimagined, SH4 would be at the top of the list. That said, I'd really rather see a completely new story that has, at most, tenuous connections to the other games.

Post by **Tamshend** » 16 Feb 2010

Like a lot of other people have said, it's fine as it is.

...But it could have done with some more fun stuff to unlock. I find the game a wee bit too serious. Aside from the dirty stuff.

Post by **krakalackin** » 16 Feb 2010

alone in the town wrote:People want a straight-played remake of the original Silent Hill that conforms more to the current aesthetics of the series--competent voice-acting, high-detail graphics, and so on.

Silent Hill 4: The Room has all this. It's the gameplay which causes most people to dismiss it in relation to its series siblings. That being said, it does not fit the criteria that almost anyone requires in a remake. So, no.

Thank you! When I heard Shattered Memories was a remake/re-imagining of the original Silent Hill, I was ecstatic. But after reading the reviews and others thoughts on the game, I thought was an interesting take on the original, but was disappointed in that it wasn't an actually remake of the first Silent Hill. Silent Hill 4 is still, in my opinion, a fairly new game and doesn't need to be remade anytime soon. I think the next Silent Hill title should start linking some of the previous titles together while, of course, expanding the series as a whole.

Post by **hdghog** » 16 Feb 2010

I don't think SH4 should be remade. I think it's a great game. One of my favorites actually. It may not have the same gameplay as the others in the series, but something like that isn't a huge deal to me.

It may not be perfect, then again what game is?

Post by **paladin181** » 16 Feb 2010

Yawn.

SH4 just doesn't need this. It's a nice game as it is. The gameplay is often painful and the worlds just plain felt... tacked on or one dimensional. They were too much like "stages" of an arcade game. But the plot was spot on and the atmosphere was mostly good.

Post by **NeoAquarius12** » 16 Feb 2010

If any one of the Silent Hills need to be re-imagined, it's SH4. I think it is indeed still too recent to be remade, or even re-imagined. If they used the concept for a Shattered Memories 2, I'd welcome it providing they did keep most of the changes you suggested. Although I'd rather be Henry or have a dual protagonist thing going on. At this point though, I'd prefer a completely new game though.

Post by **Mephisto** » 16 Feb 2010

Gosh, like Bishop Sasarai said a while ago, on another thread: "Are people so allergic to nowadays graphics?" or something along these lines.
SH4 is fine the way it is, it doesn't need a remake. And your idea of glass thingy simeonalo is getting old fashioned. Why? I don't know, maybe 'cause yout talk about it everytime.

Post by **Axel_98** » 16 Feb 2010

I think it's fine the way it is. So, no in my book.

Post by **Chrysaor** » 16 Feb 2010

Silent Hill 4 is brilliant. Almost no one realizes how everything in the game funnels into a maternal aesthetic. If you changed nearly anything about it, it would lose that aspect entirely. The repetition of worlds was necessary. The limited inventory was necessary. The lack of firearms was necessary. Henry's bland persona (as well as him being the only character, and Eileen being a dependant supporting character) was necessary. The things that annoyed you were meant to annoy you, but they were also meant to serve a greater purpose.

It really seems as if the entire purpose of this game was lost on nearly everyone who played it. Everyone simply seems content to bitch about how it was nothing like the previous games, and so the entire focus of the game (losing your 'mother') flew way over their heads.

The only thing I would change about this game is to take out Joseph's talking head (I didn't need that revelation, thank you very much. This was almost as cringe-worthy as Sharon's little dialogue in the hospital in the movie), and add in all of the content that was relegated to the website, perhaps with a little more detail. Oh, and give Eileen better AI. Other than that, this game is perfect as is, and I will be playing it for years to come.

Post by **NeoAquarius12** » 17 Feb 2010

I am not doubting what you are saying Chrysaor... but how exactly does Henry's bland persona add to the game? I am not sure I follow that idea to it's full extent. Was it really necessary?

Post by **Chrysaor** » 17 Feb 2010

Henry is about as close as you can get to being a tabula rasa without being a completely blank slate. It is so much easier to project yourself into a character that is completely devoid of personality than it would be if Henry was a fully fleshed-out character with his own morals, values, and interests. They would inevitably conflict with your own. Henry has a few defining characteristics, but they are completely arbitrary. I believe this was completely intentional, to get you to feel the loss of comfort that came halfway through the game firsthand. This is also the purpose of the first-person view in The Room.

Henry's only major defining characteristic is supposed to mirror you. He is a complete shut-in, dependant on his (your) room for a sense of security. Nearly every mechanic in the game is built to make you feel this way, only to take that sense of comfort away from you completely once the hauntings begin.

Post by **Kenji** » 17 Feb 2010

I understood fairly early that Henry was meant as a tabula rasa, all-but-silent protagonist. I also understand that he represents the player's tendency toward voyeurism in the context of video games and real life. The difference is that I don't think it was implemented particularly well.

See, the only thing that makes a silent protagonist work is if we're presented with choices. SH4 doesn't give us choice (taking care of Eileen and scrubbing your room isn't a choice: it's a pass-fail assessment like any other part of the game). There are no consequences for any of the actions you take while projecting yourself into Henry, short of the punishment for sucking at the game (again, Eileen and the room). For example, whether you barely glance at Eileen's bedroom or spend hours staring at her has absolutely zero bearing on anything. Because of that, the whole projection of self aspect is completely wasted.

Somehow, despite having a voice, Henry manages to be less interesting than a variety of nameless silent protagonists from the Megami Tensei franchise. I got misty at the end of Persona 3; I couldn't have given a damn if Henry lived or died, and there's really no excuse for that. It's entirely possible for an avatar meant to directly represent the player to be dynamic (Travis Touchdown) or for a voyeur who lives vicariously through others' experiences to be interesting and charismatic (Graham Dalton from Sex, Lies, and Videotape). That Henry is neither of those is a failure on the part of the writers.

Post by **Chrysaor** » 17 Feb 2010

Kenji wrote:I understood fairly early that Henry was meant as a tabula rasa, all-but-silent protagonist. I also understand that he represents the player's tendency toward voyeurism in the context of video games and real life. The difference is that I don't think it was implemented particularly well.

See, the only thing that makes a silent protagonist work is if we're presented with choices. SH4 doesn't give us choice (taking care of Eileen and scrubbing your room isn't a choice: it's a pass-fail assessment like any other part of the game). There are no consequences for any of the actions you take while projecting yourself into Henry, short of the punishment for sucking at the game (again, Eileen and the room). For example, whether you barely glance at Eileen's bedroom or spend hours staring at her has absolutely zero bearing on anything. Because of that, the whole projection of self aspect is completely wasted.

Somehow, despite having a voice, Henry manages to be less interesting than a variety of nameless silent protagonists from the Megami Tensei franchise. I got misty at the end of Persona 3; I couldn't have given a damn if Henry lived or died, and there's really no excuse for that. It's entirely possible for an avatar meant to directly represent the player to be dynamic (Travis Touchdown) or for a voyeur who lives vicariously through others' experiences to be interesting and charismatic (Graham Dalton from Sex, Lies, and Videotape). That Henry is neither of those is a failure on the part of the writers.

While I see your point entirely, I think you're looking at this from the wrong angle. Henry is simply a vehicle for your own emotions, not a complete reflection of you. You are not supposed to care about him at all. He is supposed to be as forgettable as possible. In fact, it's better if you don't even realize that he's there. Henry is not even the main character. The character that Silent Hill 4 is trying it's hardest to project onto you is Walter, by instilling you with comparable emotions. If you don't feel empathy for Walter by the time the game is over, you are probably fairly numb and heartless. If Henry was actually a sympathetic character, either through complete self-projection or a defined, affable personality, a lot (if not all) of that feeling would be lost.

His voyeurism is not even his own characteristic; it's yours. You are not required to spy on the outside world at all, but in doing so, you are probably relieving yourself from the stress of being confined. Initially, being confined to the apartment is fairly jarring, until you realize it's usefulness and lack of chaos. I think the voyeurism aspect is supposed to initially let you see more value in the room, but you'll probably pass the need to look outside the room eventually.

I think that the lack of choice is actually a crucial element in the game. With choice, you become independant. The driving force of the game is for you to become dependant on the room, and to feel what it's like for that to be taken away from you. The only real choice you have is whether or not you want to leave the comfort of the room (your 'mother', so to speak), and whether or not you wish to return to it. If you were empowered by a plethora of options, you probably wouldn't feel helpless, as intended.

Post by **carneeval** » 17 Feb 2010

I'm probably the only one who would be disappointed to have Henry not as the main character. Anyways that would have to completely change the plot (which...A re imaging is...) that would make Eileen the Receiver of Wisdom and Henry... Er... Mother Reborn if she was the one locked in the room and he wasn't... Which would be... Disturbing. Playing as Eileen while she's just going on her normal day would be boring.
Now the flashlight would be difficult to use while trying to fight the monsters but I would prefer the flashlights from all the other games.
Rather, I'd like just the game to hold the original concept, a more involved and emotional Henry Townshend and more options.