Poll: Which Silent Hill do you think was the best. (Clarify and explain.)

[Arsen]

I personally believe that Silent Hill 3 was the best. Reasons stating that while 2 was in my opinion GREAT for storyline and had some of the most meaningful boss fights, Silent Hill 3 made me feel like I was back in Silent Hill 1. AKA: A Hellish, dark brown bloodstained rust morgue of terror where only sins and evil lurk. The enemies were more discomforting to me this time around, the end atmosphere IS how I picture Hell, and overall the games enemies truly felt otherworldy and as if they could do SERIOUS harm.

Key points I felt highlighted my point rather well:

1. After reading the article in the Mall about the suicidal people jumping onto the train tracks and ghosts...to the scene where the ghost breathes towards you and pushes you onto the track.

2. THOSE DAMN ARMADILLO looking demons in the "other" hospital where the walls are literally bleeding and are combined with lava.

3. The worm fight. It creeped me out, plain and simple.

4. The damn twirling, flying, machine...things with blades. Still have no clue what they were.

5. Fighting the small missionairies on that brick platform hanging above an endless black abyss.

6. The part where you are in the final lair and you see that one demon raking the human across the grate and below lies an immense cauldron. You also find your bedroom in Hell.

7. THE RED LIGHT that chases you in the Haunted House. This moment truly made me think "OH SHIT".

8. There were more of those old school moments when you would enter an area/room and have to just START running and you had no clue where you were. Added to the height of the terror.

So yes, while Silent Hill 2 was more subtle Silent Hill 3 in my opinion was overall the more nightmarish of the experiences.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I really, really wanted to say 1 because it launched the whole thing, but 2 was just about perfect. I bought the first three and as much as I liked the third, it just wasn't as good.

See, the first, in my opinion, was the scariest in concept and scope. The first time you went into the basement of a building and hit the power switch only for all the linoleum and drywall to turn into rusty grating ranks amongst the scariest moments in a game ever. But 2 upped the ante by having the fog and darkness a part of the game rather than an easy out for hardware limitation.

Plus, I liked the subtlety. Things were scary not because you got bombarded with things, but because you didn't. I think I went a solid half hour without ever seeing anything, because every time I'd turn a corner and hear my radio go nuts I'd start running in another directon.

No offense, but the list of 8 seems like you missed the core of what made Silent Hill scary shit. Yeah, the demons and cory stuff and big worms are messed up, but that's the kinda stuff that made Resident Evil "scary". The most horrifying moments in SH to me were walking down a dark corridor, then hearing the radio static spike and suddenly fade off. It was the anticipation, that feeling of trying a door and being HAPPY it was locked, that really made SH brilliant.

That's why I thought Pyramid Head was lame. Oh wow, big scary thing that just lumbers around. Great.

 

[Arsen]

I really, really wanted to say 1 because it launched the whole thing, but 2 was just about perfect. I bought the first three and as much as I liked the third, it just wasn't as good.

See, the first, in my opinion, was the scariest in concept and scope. The first time you went into the basement of a building and hit the power switch only for all the linoleum and drywall to turn into rusty grating ranks amongst the scariest moments in a game ever. But 2 upped the ante by having the fog and darkness a part of the game rather than an easy out for hardware limitation.

Plus, I liked the subtlety. Things were scary not because you got bombarded with things, but because you didn't. I think I went a solid half hour without ever seeing anything, because every time I'd turn a corner and hear my radio go nuts I'd start running in another directon.

No offense, but the list of 8 seems like you missed the core of what made Silent Hill scary shit. Yeah, the demons and cory stuff and big worms are messed up, but that's the kinda stuff that made Resident Evil "scary". The most horrifying moments in SH to me were walking down a dark corridor, then hearing the radio static spike and suddenly fade off. It was the anticipation, that feeling of trying a door and being HAPPY it was locked, that really made SH brilliant.

That's why I thought Pyramid Head was lame. Oh wow, big scary thing that just lumbers around. Great.

Resident Evil hasn't been scary since RE2 ten years ago.

The series became a "how can we kill this and this" monster. It's technically a one sided fighting game at this point. Sadly.

I get what you are saying. The atmosphere of SH2 was brilliant, the story was better, but the monsters in 3 were by far more brutal and powerful.

 

[Nico4]

Currently I'm split between SH1 and SH2, I can only chose one, so I'll chose SH1, the environments were much more scarier, the plot got scarier the later you got into the game and the environments were very bizzare, excellent plot and scary music.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Key points I felt highlighted my point rather well:

(Snip)

You forgot the mirror room...

 

[klarr]

oh thank god i have been waiting for this!
my choice is number 1.
yes i know that the game had horrible gameplay and had even worse camara angles but come on the story was amazing and suspensful!
with all the other ones you had a general idea as to what was going to happen. all you know in number 2 through ,err, 5 that silent hill is BAD and for some reason people who go there dont come back.
in the first one you know nothing, and i mean nothing! it drops you in the middle of fucking no where and you truely dont know whats going on! and it has a delightful mind fuck at the begining, in the ally.
the only one that comes close to this sence of sheer mystery is the third, because it all happend so abruptly and suddenly. all the other ones you came in of your own free will!i mean i the 2nd you even talk about going there! the 4th wasnt scary becuse you started out in you pissing room! nothing scary, but i will say the whole chains and locks on your door is a bit creepy. it had mystery but no sence of urgency. in the first you HAVE to find your daughter.
personaly i love the series and its my favorite franchise.
look at it like this do you remember when you first found out about the flood? it was odd and different and you had no idea about it. in the second halo you knew about he flood so it wasnt odd or scary or mysterious at all.
the first was amazing and thats because it had soo many mind fucks and un answered questions.
what do you think?

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Silent Hill 2... the Mandarins still creep me the hell out.

 

[XMarshmallow]

Three was by far the most distilled of all the original old-school style Silent Hills. It had a plot and setting just drowning in fan-service for people who played the first game, and it really had some emotional moments despite some pretty awful voice-acting.
Heather was also by far the most interesting character the series has seen. It loses some of the charm of the blander characters who you can super-impose your own background onto, but it was very rich and deep for all of that.
Also, <3 Valtiel the Janitor.

 

[Arsen]

Three was by far the most distilled of all the original old-school style Silent Hills. It had a plot and setting just drowning in fan-service for people who played the first game, and it really had some emotional moments despite some pretty awful voice-acting.
Heather was also by far the most interesting character the series has seen. It loses some of the charm of the blander characters who you can super-impose your own background onto, but it was very rich and deep for all of that.
Also, <3 Valtiel the Janitor.

The thing was you actually feared SH3 over the gentle atmosphere of 2.

1 was purely cult.
2 was a subtle ghost story.
3 was pure Hell.