Silent Hill 4, Now with 50% less Piramid Heads! Options

[unitself]

So... SH4.
I love Silent Hill 2. I've never played 1 or 3, but I bet they're cool too. So, I was totally psyched when SH4 came out.
Now that I been playing it for a little bit, I am ... a bit ... underwhelmed. It's still a lot of fun, but I am just not getting into it the way SH2 got me. I think it's the lack of damage I dish out. The first monster things you run across are these horrible skinned dog looking things. Well, they are tough S.O.B.s! And you only have a damn bent pipe (and maybe a glass bottle) to hit them with... and they take ALOT of hits to go down. Meanwhile, they are chopping on you like no tomorrow. So, I soon found that running away is simply the best option. Then along came the ghosts. Now these guys don't die... they're already dead! So, you have to just run away from them too (for now)! And they have this ability to hurt you without touching you. It seems that you are allergic to ghosts and they give you a "killer" headache.
So... so far, I am doing alot of running away. Yeah, it's allows for some very tense moments, but I am kinda used to blasting my way past the ghoolys. Maybe that's why I am not very good at RE games. Still... I hope it gets a bit better. Yeah, I'm gonna play it all the way through, because I've read a bunch about it and I know there is ALOT more spooky stuff down the road. I just hope that I find a shot gun or something so I can just do what I wanna do. Blast those baddies!

Oh yeah... the apartment... Now, this part is very cool. I love looking out the peep hole at my front door and seeing something random going on in the outside world. I've even just looked out the window for a long time. I don't think I've even seen the same car, or set of cars, go by twice. Very nice touch.

[Crushinator]

I played through most of this game at T-wolfs the other weekend.

The concept is very cool, but like you said... it just doesn't have the impact of any of the previous games. The sense of mystery is there, but it lacks the Silent Hill dread that we love so much about the games.

The puzzles were also a joke. One thing I always enjoy on SH are the brain-bending puzzles, but SH4 leaves much to be desired in that department. And where the hell are the bosses? Granted I didn't get all the way to the end, but I played a good 8 hours into the game, finished up all the "stages" up to the empty area after the hospital... but not a single boss so far.

As far as gameplay goes, combat is just as mediocre as it has always been on SH, but the fast item switching is nice. What is not nice however, is the limited inventory space. This was a total step backwards, and for an even worse kick in the face your health items and ammo clips don't even stack! You only have 8 or so inventory slots, and if you are gearing up for some serious fighting you have to fill up on ammo, then go back thru the hole to put some away when you NEED to pick up a story item. And they don't let you set items down, so I found myself wasting Health Drinks that I just picked up just so I could carry around a new puzzle/story item I found.

SH4 to me, is an example of an overly-ambitious high-concept game, where they fell through on the actual game component. I think SH4 came too hot-on-the-heels of SH3, and they could have used another 6 months or so to flesh out the puzzles and combat.

[unitself]

Oh yeah, Crushinator, I forgot all about the non stack items in your inventory! I did notice the two packs of bullets side by side.
I don't really mind the inventory thing, I am used to it from all the RE games. I'm not saying I like it mind you, just that I am used to it.

You don't think the combat was harder than the others? Everytime I try to beat on a dog, it takes me forever! Like almost 10 hits or something! I know it wasn't like that on SH2, and I hope it wasn't that way in 1 and 3. Also, I didn't notice any way to reload your gun before you ran out of a clip. Yeah, I only skimmed the instructions, but I have pressed all kinds of button combos and the gun never reloads unless I empty a clip.

[Azrael]

[Crushinator]

IIRC if you "use" an ammo clip then you can reload your gun before its completely out of bullets.

EDIT: I really liked how the "apartment" segments are in first person mode, while the "stages" are the standard 3rd person view. It gives the apartment area a more claustrophobic feel... And I saw it as an interesting metaphor, wherein the apartment is "real" and you can only see from your own view, but in the "stages" you are in a dream-like state, and can visualize yourself from the outside.

[Azrael]

Yeah, I just wished they had a few more bosses. The monsters are scary ( I couldnt even take on 5 of the gorilla things with a gun). I still havent encountered a boss yet, but I like the mention of a certain someone who's been mentioned in past games and his involvement. Just finished the 4th stage. To pace myself and because I am also playing FFXI, I'm pacing myself to 2 stages a sitting. Things are starting to weird me out even more.

[unitself]

Cool. I really like the fact that a few of us are playing this game.
And I agree Azreal, no spoilers please! I am taking this one real slow also. Fable is taking preference here for me so I am only in the third stage.
I also like the fact that they mention other game characters too. Right off the bat too mentioning that James (SH2) gave us a picture that hangs in our apartment.
I gathered 4 clips of ammo and I was trying to save them by only using the pipe or whatever, but then I ran across a few monsters that wigged me out so I just blasted them! I am down to only one more clip. I hope I didn't screw myself. heheh.

Looking forward to more weirdness...

Hey, Crushinator, good head scratching thoughts there. Kinda gives me a new way to look at this "game".

[Azrael]

Trust me, save all of your ammo. When you get to the later stages in the game, there will be somewhat of a nuisance in one stage in particular. I had to start over for this very reason. I'm almost back to that point and somehow I manage to have all of my ammo.

[unitself]

Save my ammo? Crap... hehe. Whelp, at least I found another pack of bullets last night. I'm up to 2 packs now and I have just begun the Apartment World area.
Damn ghosts are back too. I hate those things! I'm so busy running away that I miss all the cool scary stuff.
Last night, I saw the craziest thing. I was in my apartment, just looking around. When off in the corner of my eye, I saw a head float down outside the window!!!! I ran over to see it more clearly but it was gone when I got there. My apartment isn't safe!!

[Azrael]

lol, Just wait until later. A tip to avoid one freaky, skin-crawling thing, keep the doll out of the item box. And I just realized from looking at the picture and reading the notes that James didnt give the picture, but someone close to him did. You have to examine it each time you finish a world to figure it out.