On Friday I had a date and we went to see Snitch because...it was the only thing playing that didn't look like complete garbage. He made me pick the film and I was hoping that it wasn't going to suck and make me look like an idiot who likes bad movies (even though I am).
It was better than I expected, but it was also different from what I expected. It has been promoted as an action thriller and it's not. It's more of a crime drama. To be honest, it was mostly ridiculously sad scenes peppered with people shooting at each other at the end. But it was mostly talking. Sad talking and sad faces. People screwing each other over because they are bastards.
And there was a part where the protagonist, who I only call The Rock (because who cares what his character's name is) gets the snot beaten out of him. And I'm like, hey, fake and lame. You can't beat up The Rock. It doesn't work like that.
Oh and the "Based/Inspired on True Events" (or whatever the exact phrase was) that you read at the beginning...it's not. Not as far as I have seen. It was inspired by the changes to the federal drug policy of the United States. These changes encourage people facing judge charges to snitch on each other. In reality the policy makes it a "he said she said" deal where people can start pointing fingers.
Anyway, it was an alright movie, especially for what is in the theaters right now. An ok date movie. We got to talk about how people are assholes to each other and how everyone sucks on the ride home.
I finally got around to really
giving my time to SH: HDC. Why’d it take so long? At first, I waited for the
patch. Then the patch wasn’t coming for the Xbox 360. I did Downpour and
Homecoming, and then this one. When I started I was in the middle of my third move
the 2012 year. I had to leave people I have become attached to, and it was
particularly hard. My comfort is not found in chocolate or ice cream or chick
flicks. It’s in my favourite video games. One of my all time favourites is
Silent Hill 3. To stop thinking of my shitty life, I dedicated a week to
getting all the achievements. Since you can easily play SH3 in about 2 hours
and 30 minutes, getting all the achievements was not as hard as I was
expecting. If you’re an achievement whore, this game is easy, but you also have
to get all of SH2’s achievements to get them all. As of posting, I still haven’t
gotten the achievements for SH2 on Hard Mode. And yes, I know that this post is
long overdue, and it was difficult to organize between the two games, new and
original, and the console differences.
Disclaimer: I love SH3. I love SH
the universe. If I could only play one series for the rest of my life, this
would be it. I still have my PS2 copies, and I will always love these games.
I’m not opposed to change, but it better be change for the better.
Graphics
HD remakes
of PS2 games are not the kind of things that I get very excited for, especially
if there is not going to be new content. That being said, the HD graphics are...alright.
Necessary? No.
Yay! Now we get to see the PH rape scene in HD! And the scene where
James puts his arm into the disgusting toilet without even rolling up his
sleeve!
Well, now I can die happy!
</sarcasm>
That being
said, the graphics still leave something to be desired. The fog has been
redone. Previously, the fog was used to hide the environments loading on the
streets of Silent Hill. Additionally, it added to the creepy atmosphere-you can
never quite see far enough ahead to feel safe. Now, the fog seems to be further
away, giving you a larger area that you can see. But I don’t think they changed
how the game loads. Outside, it is easy to run too fast for the game, causing
lag and moments where you can see the environment building itself before it can
be hidden by the fog. My Xbox froze 3 times outside on the streets. I have a
new model Xbox, less than a year old, and as far as I recall, it has never
frozen on me before this. Why does lag (like what happened in SH: Downpour)
happen in games? While it wasn’t as bad as SH:D, it shouldn’t happen.
Post PS3 Patch
The patch did fix some graphical issues (but the patch was
only released for the PS3). If you want a comparison, go to Youtube and do a
search. The patch gives noticeable results, but not enough for me to care.
However, there are still a myriad of graphical issues on the PS3, even with the
patch. So in the end, an Xbox 360 patch wouldn’t have done much good anyway,
because Konami gave us a Band-Aid when we needed duct tape. And Konami
blatantly ignored one whole console.
What’s funny is that the current
god of the SH franchise is Tom Hewlett, who basically blames the glitches on
the data they were given to port. He claims that they were given incomplete
archive data, so you know…totally not their fault for delivering a broken game.
However, everyone is citing the fact that Blue Point Games (who did the HD ports
for the Metal Gear HD Collection, which is multiple orgasms on a disk) takes
retail versions of the games and uses that data, so they always get the final
version. Oh hey…that makes way more sense than using incomplete archive data!
So...why didn’t anyone tell Tom Hewlett how to do this? *Face palm.
Gamespot PS2 versions of SH2 and SH3 VS SH: HD (prepatch)
Voice Acting
This is
probably what everyone is talking about. And I’m going to talk about it because
while I am a rabbit, I wear sheep’s clothing.
How do I feel about
the new voices?
The voices
are...meh. I don’t know WHY this game needed new voices. Oh, wait, yes I do. It’s
because Konami figured recording new voices would be cheaper and they probably
didn’t expect Guy Cihi (original voice actor of James) to raise a fuss. And Mary
Elizabeth McGlynn and a few others wanted to carve their names into the fame
that is SH2 and SH3. And quite frankly, I used to be a fan of McGlynn. Her
vocal tracks for the Silent Hill games are phenomenal and they will be songs
that will probably stick with me forever. I love her songs, but I cannot
respect the woman. The arrogance of this woman that oozes from her statements
about the original and new SH voice actors is astounding. And she mistakenly calls
Mary/Maria Marie. At least try to pretend that actually care like you say you
do. You can watch a clip of her talk on Youtube, two sources being here and here. At the very least, I think they should have included the option to have
the original or new voices on both games, not just SH2. I have to wonder, what
was keeping them back on having the original voices on SH3? Heather’s original
VA was, in fact, easy to get a hold of, contrary to the rumour that was
circulating that they just couldn’t find her.
For the
next part of the review, I will be focusing on SH3 of the HD Collection. I will
post the SH2 portion at a later date.
Silent Hill 3 (HD
Collection)
Hi, I consumed Ester's
high school experience.
SH3 Graphics
At times the graphics appear to be washed out when compared to the original. In the PS2 version of the amusement park dream, there is a sepia-colour fog rolling about. It is not in the HD version, reducing the atmosphere quality. Overall the lighting is better, removing the black splotches that the shadows made. It makes the setting more naturalistic, though I liked the surreal quality of the lighting. You’re trapped in/infected by the Otherworld, a whole different reality. Making the lighting naturalistic blurs the lines between the safe reality and the uncertain and dangerous predicament that Heather is dropped into. Overall the whole thing is just meh and unnecessary.
SH3 Voice Acting
"Is every person here a mental case?"
Heather
What I liked about Heather’s
character was that she is a very normal character. She’s quick to anger, loves
her father, and is determined to get revenge, even though at one point it would
be totally easy to drive away and not go to Silent Hill. Heather’s new voice, played by Amanda Winn-Lee, sounds so nasally. You know what it sounds like? A grown ass woman trying to
sound like an anime character. The old Heather, Heather Morris, sounded much more natural, and
the new Heather lacks the enthusiasm in key moments (i.e. “Don’t talk about my
dad like that!”-of course, the noise of her hand hitting the door is absent,
killing the intensity of the moment). She was alright during the climax at the
apartment, though I dislike that they altered Heather’s speech to Claudia. OMG,
they added a swear, now Heather means business. Like no one took her seriously
before. Don't try to fix what isn't broken.
"You know that only God can
save us."
Claudia
The new Claudia, voiced by Laura Bailey, is bland. I feel
like she lacks the conviction of old Claudia, played by Donna Burke. She does try to sound like the
old Claudia to no avail. Claudia is a religious fanatic. She knows, without a
doubt, that she can bring God. God will come and purify the world with fire and
usher in a new paradise. She will create a new world that is free from all
suffering. Her convictions are unwavering. When she set out to do her task, even
though she knows that her sins are too great for redemption, in her heart she
knew she is right to do it. And I feel like Bailey just doesn’t
convince me of these deep aspects of her character. Most of the time she sounds
bored. This character is integral to the plot. She is the antagonist and has an
emotional connection to Heather. She orders an atrocious act that shatters
Heather, causing her to switch from her “let’s escape from all this crazy BS”
to “let’s vivisect Claudia” mindset. With her new voice, she is basically as
threatening as a cardboard cut out. Story complexity just went down the toilet.
"Monsters? They look like
monsters to you? Don't worry.
It's just a joke!"
Vincent
Vincent. Oh, god, poor Vincent.
His old voice revealed just how messed up he was. It was unsettling. The new VA, Yuri Lowenthal...isn’t creepy. His voice lacks that certain nuance that makes you unsure
about him. He holds all the answers, but he is clearly lying and quite possibly
mentally unstable. With him, you’re never quite sure if you should trust him.
Everything would be so much easier if Vincent would explain everything to
Heather. But...as she says, “There’s something wrong with you too.” I feel like
the new Vincent tries to play down what made Vincent’s character so awesome.
It’s like putting eyebrows on Claudia-it’s part of the character, don’t mess
with it. I know that they thought the original acting was weird. And it was, in
a very good way. This new voice actor sucks phallic imagery. And you'll know him as the VA who does Sasuke Uchiha's voice from Naruto.
"That's fine. Nobody's gonna cry
over my grave anyway."
Douglas
The original VA of Douglas, Richard Grosse (who sadly passed away before the game was released), was fantastic. The new VA, Kirk Thornton, sounds more gravelly, like the VA was pushing the “detective” stereotype. The old Douglas sounded natural. The new VA is trying to emulate the hardboiled noir guy. He tries too hard and it shows. If I had never heard the original VA, overall I would say that the performance was fine. Nothing to be excited about voice acting wise, but alright.
Sorry, Heather, the good points aren't
up here,either.
Judgement
Don’t buy the game for the
graphics or the new voice acting. Don’t even buy the game new. Borrow it. Rent
it. Buy it used. Don’t support a team of arrogant jerks. In the end, I don’t
know why they bothered other than to have a piece of SH pie with their names on
it. SH3 is watered down and subpar. Good for achievements.
Everyone has them. If you play
video games, read books, or watch television shows, you got ‘em. The fictional
characters that you want to be real to whisk you away. You lie in bed at night
with your significant other and think “Why can’t he/she be as amazing as
[insert fictional crush]?” And when you see some other fictional bimbo getting your soul mate, you fly into rampages
and swear that it can’t be cannon.
I
consume a rather alarming amount of media and I am exposed to characters that
are supposed to make me fall in love with them on a daily basis. Some
characters just…do it for me. I get
attached to their charm, their courage, their intelligence. So much so I lament
the fact they are fictional and all men cannot compare. Instead of wallowing in
reality, I make lists. Today I introduce you to my list, as of 2013, in a rough,
but certainly not definite order, from least to most desirable, of all the fictional men who have
stolen a chunk of my heart, thereby ruining me for real men.
Ester York’s Fictional Character Valentine’s Day List: 2013
Men’s Edition
Yes, I know. I know. I am completely aware that he eats people. Let’s get this out of the way. He only eats the
“free-range rude.” These are people I dislike anyway. How many times have you
encountered someone in this world who is debased and moral-less? You think I’d really just like for this person to go
away. Lector, an educated and brilliant psychiatrist, is classy and
traveled. He does what most people only dream of. Admittedly he goes one step
further and eats people. Once you figure out why he is compelled to do it, it is an awww moment. And my fascination with the character is actually not new. Google it. It's a thing.
The reason why he is so low on
the list is because I couldn’t trust him to make me dinner. Also, he has been
caught in the past. Do I really want to keep moving around? What if I have a
house and a job and what about all my nice, neat, flaming little shit?
Jane used to be a con-artist, pretending to communicate with the dead and read minds. Then he called out a serial killer, Red John, on television. Red John retaliates by killing his wife and young daughter. He joins the California Bureau of Investigation to lend his stellar people-reading skills and to ultimately enact his revenge on Red John.
On the outside Jane is witty, perceptive, and intelligent. He manipulates people for his own ends (which are usually good) and he always gets the criminal, using techniques that are legally questionable. In the inside, he is conflicted. His mission is to kill Red John and beyond that there is nothing for him. I am all for vigilante justice. It is raw and personal. It was Jane's hubris that led to Red John killing his family and he shoulders that burden everyday that his nemesis still lives.
Jane is hot, snarky, a sharp dresser, intelligent, and totally deserving of my crush. The reason why he scores so low on my list is because in the end, he is complicated and, quite frankly, emotionally damaged. How do you compete with a dead wife, child, and vigilantism?
Fettel
is the product of Armacham Technology Corporation's super-secret Project Origin. As a psychic, he
controls battalion of clone super soldiers with his mind. During the first
game, it is revealed that Fettel has rebelled and taken the soldiers on his own
mission to avenge his mother, who was experimented on by the same company in
the past. His mother has a psychic link to him as well, and he goes to kill
everyone involved in her project.
To
experience the memories of other people, he…eats people. But just a bit! And while, yes, this is cannibalism too, it’s not
like Lector. Lector wants to eat
people. Paxton wants information. Also,
he might have mommy issues, but for good reasons. I feel like he would be the
kind of guy to stand up for you-and believe me, it goes along way with me. Also,
he’s psychic. You probably wouldn’t have to pay for anything in a store ever
again. And he has an army. An army you can use for mundane tasks like carrying
your groceries. He’s also driven to get
shit done. No more couch potato boyfriends!
Oh, Snake. Calm, handsome,
intelligent, self-sacrificing Solid Snake.
Some might call him a loner, but do loners make a secret handshake with
their best friend? Nope. When called a hero he denies it. (It’s ok
Snake, you’re the hero of my heart.)
How many times has he basically saved the world from impending doom? He
infiltrates and hides and shoots and has flirty banter and tranquilizes and he
just always knows what the fuck is
going on-*inhales*
And he has a ridiculously sexy
voice. It makes me melt every time I hear it. Something about him just drives me to throw my
panties at him.
Downsides: he smokes, is a flirt,
and ages quickly. The latter issue is nearly moot because even as an old guy he
is beyond HAWT. He tends to die a lot
though…at least with me. SSSSSSNNNNAAAAAAAAAKE!
No one
has any idea how much I am in love with this character. He’s the FBI criminal
profiler sent in to solve a murder mystery gripping the town of Greenvale. Every
morning he looks into his coffee to get a message for the day that may or may
not relate to the case. He is an 80’s B-movie film buff, and used to be a
punk-rocker. He has a large scar on his forehead that extends into his hairline
and some slashes on his cheek. He is able to fight with the Shadows-monsters
that appear with the purple fog. Most importantly, he frequently listens to a
voice in his head, an entity named Zach. They have dialogue exchanges where the
player can only hear what is being said by York.
I have
never encountered a character with so much personality. York is dynamic and has
actual presence in the world around him. Have you ever dated someone who was so
emotionless that he was a fucking robot? Or he keeps everything inside and lets
everything stew in his head until it doesn’t resemble reality at all? At least
with York he’ll tell you what he thinks, as long as it isn’t confidential
information that will comprise his investigation. And I love to bake-something he would appreciate!
And…I have his last name. Coincidence?
I think not. So, back off, he's mine.
American McGee is the genius who made American McGee's Alice, Alice: Madness Returns, and American McGee's Grimm. From the Alice games alone, this guy is one of my favourite people in the video game industry today.
Apparently, his game development studio, Spicy Horse, needs help finishing up Akaneiro: Demon Hunters. They need $200,000 to complete this free-to-play ARPG MMO, and they have a Kickstarter where you can support them. As of writing, they have hit $12,974 with 29 days to go. Apparently, the bulk of development is already done and they are in closed beta. The last of the development is for final touches to make it the best it can be. You can learn more about the game at the official website. Considering that they aren't asking for money for a product is still an just idea in someone's head, I'd say there is very little risk in this project blowing up and becoming vaporware like Sadness. So if you have some extra cash laying around, go donate it to a game deserving of it. I'm not a huge fan of every visionary begging for money for their ideas, but at least this comes from an individual well known in his industry, who already has games under his belt that have a huge fan base, and it's almost done.
I
don't want to do a whole review for this. Quite frankly, I like it a lot. Yes,
we all saw the end coming. I think it's more pertinent to make Alex realize the truth, and the player
needs to find out why Alex can’t see
it like we can. The graphics are great, I liked the interaction with The Order,
and I liked the story with Shepherd’s Glen. I’m tired of people exclaiming, “OMG YOU LIKED THIS GAME?!” Yes, I do. It’s
why I got all the achievements for it. It’s why I’ll play it a billion more
times before I die.
There are a few things I'd like to post though. You know who my favourite character is? This guy:
Curtis Ackers
People
cite him as one of the main antagonists, second to Judge Halloway.
I don’t really consider him a main, more like a mini-boss, and I’m not
convinced he’s always been evil. I don’t think he was part of The Order until
after you find his shop all locked up. I think they took him then and he
converted.
What
I find intriguing about him is his focus on fixing
and maintaining. He runs the scrap
yard/repair shop and he sees how people can neglect their possessions. With The
Order, he “finds clarity.” I’ve been wondering what his clarity is. He isn’t
part of the four families of Shepherd’s Glen, so I am uncertain if he was part
of that religion too. His clarity might have been religion. And since he seems
to be a grumpy guy who prefers to be alone, perhaps he found the people of
religion to be of his social taste. And they gave him a new job-to fix...broken
people. With a circular saw.
You
know who I hate? This lady:
I'm busy looking for my son. Oh, wait..no I'm not.
Totally useless. Yes, I get her emotional
trauma. She had to pick one son, but she gave birth to both. She’s mentally
unstable now, but you know how short/different the game would be if she was
like, “Oh, hey, about your brother...you know [insert plot reveal], right?
Remember? Oh yeah, I guess you’ve forgotten [other big plot reveal]. Guess you
have to go to Silent Hill now instead of meandering all over this town. Bye!”
There Be Spoilers Ahead!
Silent Hill Downpour has been out since March 2012, and I intended to do a review around that time. There were some lag issues and Vatra promised to patch that. And because I love the Silent Hill franchise that much, and because I strive to be a fair person, I decided to wait on the patch. I didn't think that it would arrive only a few weeks ago, about eight months later. Last night I got all the achievements for the game, which is huge for me. I usually don't bother. I did it for Alice: Madness Returns on the old account that I once used, and that's it. Until now.
Patch
The patch was designed to fix the framerate issues, save issues, and bugs concerning the "Homeless" mission and the subway system. I've only had a save issue happen once, and since the patch, it has not happened again. I didn't do the Homeless mission or use the subways before. However, I did post-patch and I noticed that passages that were supposed to be open in the subway were not. If I found locked doors and I had to leave the area and come back on the reload and the door would be opened. That was annoying.
The above issues are minor annoyances, considering the frequency of occurrence. My concern is the framerate issues. The patch didn't eliminate them all, no. But it lessened the degree of lag. There still is lag. It's not the end of the world though. I didn't consider the pre-patch game unplayable, and less lag is still better. Although, I might have to remind the world about why I hate the way the gaming industry relies on patches instead of making a functioning game to begin with.
Praise
I do have to say that I did enjoy the game. Downpour gets a lot of unnecessary hate, especially from old fans. And I am an old fan (from about 2001) and I enjoyed it enough to play through it multiple times for the achievements, and I am not an achievement whore.
I am a cult enthusiast. Cults fascinate me. Especially magic cults. If someone invited me to a cult that claimed they could do magic, I'd totally hop right into the sketchy van. Yet, I do like how Downpour did a story set in Silent Hill, a town basically run by old gods and the cult that follows it, without the cult element. Yes, DJ Ricks alludes to it when he says that they are always listening. Though he could be alluding to the monsters in general, or the old gods. But no where in the story does anyone stop Murphy and say, The Order is behind this. Mostly because, I think, they aren't. Yes, the old gods have deemed it necessary for Murphy and Anne to figure out their issues. The Order is busy doing other stupid shit. I like to think that they aren't concerned with Murphy and his troubles.
Officer Anne Cunningham
After playing through this game over and over, a few things have become apparent to me. And as a disclaimer, you can disagree with me. The great thing about the SH universe is that most of it is unexplained spookiness. I tried to watch the first Silent Hill film with my friend and with all his questions about how the universe works, I had to give up. It's magic, ok? The normal laws of our world don't always apply. It has its own rules. And he was totally fine with that answer. Or at least he stopped asking questions.
Anyway, I've been thinking about the meat of the story. It is about revenge. Anne: "My father was a good man. He didn't believe in revenge. But I do."
Murphy also wants revenge. It's what got him in prison. His deal and development is super easy to see. What I've been thinking of is whosestory this actually is. Today I am feeling that it is really Anne's story and Murphy is tangled up in it, in his own way. That the gods of Silent Hill wanted to give the darkness festering in her heart the opportunity to get revenge, or forgive. She mentions the "sick" things she had to do to get Murphy under her watch. Murphy already got his revenge and he was probably going to rot in prison. Anne had yet to get hers, but she had to pay for it before she even got the opportunity. Yet he was already technically "paying" for his crimes, but it wasn't enough for her. As with the sequence of final scenes when Anne shoots Murphy in the showers, he is her Boogeyman. She is fighting her monsters. Murphy is fighting himself, running away from himself.
What would be really awesome is if Anne could get her own game, or at least some DLC for her story. It's alluded to that she hasn't just been frolicking in the streets until she runs into Murphy or DJ Ricks. Too bad this will probably never happen. This definitely sucks because the series needs more strong female leads. Old E3 Trailer
Does anyone else remember the old official E3 trailer from 2011? It's interesting to see the changes that they made. I remember first playing it and waiting for the kids to push me and run past me. I guess they were supposed to be the kids you keep seeing in the paintings? I thought it was dumb that they were never really given a mention, they just appear in the art all the time. They were probably supposed to be part of something and they were cut completely. I'd love to play a version of the game before the changes.
