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[Darkmakaimura]

The Silent Hill game seem pretty stagnant and convoluted. I've read the basic lore and understand it's about wanting to bring back "God" into the world. Of course, this is some eldritch abomination and not the god of the Bible.

But I really never seen anything advanced that storyline at all throughout the games. They all seem disjointed.

Meanwhile with Resident Evil, story is advancing where we are learning new things like where the viruses came from and how these organizations began. None of this seems present in the Silent Hill games.

 

[Danjin44]

Because not all Silent Hill games are connected to each other like Resident Evil games are.

 

[laynelane]

To me, the SH games are very dependent on the writers/developers - their talent and choices are especially important. The concept behind the Otherworld (not sure if that's an official name, it's just what I call it) is introduced in the first game along with the cult. Silent Hill 2, however, took a different approach and simply expanded on the Otherworld - it was the main character just as much as James. The third game went back to the first in terms of continuing the story of the cult. Finally, the other games have all been a bit of a mixed bag - call backs to the original three games but no significant advances in terms of story and lore - although Silent Hill 4 does provide some back story and context missing in the previous games.

Basically, Silent Hill hasn't been handled well. The original talent were all replaced (after SH4) and the IP was given to devs who didn't seem to really know what to do with it. Still, I find it hard to compare it to RE. They're both survival horror, yes, but that's where the similarities end.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Because not all Silent Hill games are connected to each other like Resident Evil games are.

End of thread. Silent Hill is more of an open concept simply build around a center concept for lack of better words.

RE is an ongoing story full of interconnected stories.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

People say Resident Evil has a shit story and it was cheesy and silly but at least it had some form of coherence and on going narrative until RE4 time skip ruined it then RE5 nuked the last thread with Wesker. Series is so desperate to have continuity now that RE8 needed to have the origin of the Umbrella logo like it fucking matters.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Silent Hill is more of supernatural entity that feeds and festers on the psychological trauma of others. Everything is disjointed because it's more of an occult entity on an eldritch level as opposed to Resident Evil has a pure link to Science Horror and usually having a connection to a immoral corporation that took the pursuit of scientific evolution too far.

Silent Hill is on a psychological level whereas Resident Evil is based more in RE's reality.

I think Silent Hill has more similarity with Fatal Frame then Resident Evil. Given it's more about strong emotions such as guilt, resentment, regret, trauma.

RE is more clear cut.

The only connections you might see is people or souls drawn to the town of Silent Hill and whose psyches have left their mark or imprint.

I have high hopes for SH f.

 

[Generic]

Nothing in Resident Evil makes sense.

 

[Danjin44]

I have high hopes for SH f.

Same, so far SH f is looking good, I hope the combat delivers.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Silent Hill 1 and 3 are the two best SH games.

 

[March Climber]

I always looked at Silent Hill like Final Destination. There's no advancement in lore there either, it's just about the attempt of avoiding the inevitable.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Same, so far SH f is looking good, I hope the combat delivers.

Key factor to success will be atmosphere. I think combat should reflect the character we play as. If they can nail a creepy, dreamlike/nightmarelike surreal atmosphere that has lots of lore spread throughout whatever happens in SH f to where you want to explore and learn and unravel the mystery it has potential.

If they can scatter things around out of order where you have to piece it all together like in Fatal Frame, Signalis, Crow Country and even the older Resident Evils we could have something special.

I think combat should be serviceable but not too clean and soulless because most SH characters do not have combat experience and it gives reason to instill fear in the player. But it has to be done right. Not the usual you are invincible everywhere but these 3-5 mandatory stealth sections.

 

[nani17]

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Nothing in Resident Evil makes sense.

This as well. The Resident Evil storyline may have advanced but it advanced into being stupid and not into a good cohesive storyline.

I love Resident Evil but IMO it really needs a reboot story wise. Break it down to its most simple form and go from there. The basic premise is great.

 

[Facism]

Good

 

[Embearded]

You make it sound like RE has some kind of well written sophisticated lore.

It doesn't.

 

[Killer8]

I spent years being a lore-tard about Metal Gear Solid, trying to rationalize all the retcons and discontinuity issues. I poured hours into the MGS4 Database on PS3 and later even went as far as replaying the series in chronological order to see if it "made more sense". The realization by the end of that experiment was that if you focus too much on the lore and whether things make 100% logical sense, you end up overlooking the themes and the messaging of the individual games - which is far, far more important. (It's also why I fucking hate Youtube channels like EFAP)

Silent Hill games are disjointed because they tell separate stories by different writers. It's really that simple. There are links between the games yes, such as the town of Silent Hill, The Order, as well as some continuity like Silent Hill 3 being a sort-of sequel to the events of the first game (and Origins being its prequel). But really they should all be analyzed individually. Hell, a lot of those things aren't even a prerequisite to being a Silent Hill game - Silent Hill 2 doesn't feature The Order while Silent Hill 4 and the upcoming Silent Hill f aren't even set in the town.

 

[bender]

Good. Resident Evil lore is trash.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Nothing in Resident Evil makes sense.

Stopped making sense after 3. If I buy any Resident Evil these days it's just so I can Tooty Mcshooty. Feel like if they did a Halflike with multiple campaigns featuring different outbreaks and a resolution them whether TPS or FPS there would be potential but so far it's just retreads. Didn't care much for Chronicles it being a Rail Shooter.

Wish I got to try RE Outbreak but never did. Shame.

They really have a hard time moving on from Raccoon City.

 

[SCB3]

It because the first 4 games are all over the place in connections mainly cause Konami originally planned to have each SH stand on its own

for example 1 and 2 are not connected aside from the town and a loose mention of the cult, 3 is not connected at all to 2 and is a direct sequel to 1, 4 is loosely related to 2 as James Dad owns the building its set in and thats it

The concept is the town and the cult of it, thats all thats connected in anyway

 

[viveks86]

 

[El Muerto]

Each Silent Hill is basically an allegory of the protagonist. Resident Evil just has a procedural narrative.

 

[Hugare]

Thank God for that

Can you honestly detail RE's lore without reading a wiki? It's ridiculously convoluted

 

[Sooner]

Resident Evil is one of my favorite franchises. But, it'd be better if they ditched the lore and just told a different, completely unrelated story each game. The more stupidity they add on top of each other gets to the point where it's difficult to care.

REVII almost had the right idea, but then they felt the need to cram that into the Resident Evil story as a whole. You can't jump the shark every game.

 

[a'la mode]

Resident Evil lore, what in the actual hell. The whole series is campy as hell (in a good way), why would anyone care? That's like watching Army of Darkness and caring about the story - no one gives a fuck about the story. Just go with the vibes and enjoy the stupidity and all the oneliners and have fun in B movie: The Video Game! If you take it seriously you're doing it wrong.

And what goes for Silent Hill, the cult is utterly stupid and its taken way too seriously by the series, and SH2 manages to be such a masterpiece exactly because it throws all that stupidity out the window and just does its own thing.

 

[Rentahamster]

Resident Evil's story is completely and globally oversaturated.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Because not all Silent Hill games are connected to each other like Resident Evil games are.

Basically this.

What a first post, thread ended instantly lol.

 

[analog_future]

The Silent Hill game seem pretty stagnant and convoluted. I've read the basic lore and understand it's about wanting to bring back "God" into the world. Of course, this is some eldritch abomination and not the god of the Bible.

But I really never seen anything advanced that storyline at all throughout the games. They all seem disjointed.

Meanwhile with Resident Evil, story is advancing where we are learning new things like where the viruses came from and how these organizations began. None of this seems present in the Silent Hill games.

That's because Resident Evil's story is silly B-horror-movie soap opera rubbish. And I love Resident Evil.

 

[Badlucktroll]

i always saw silent hill as an anthology, with 1 and 3 being the only connected (hopefully remakes soon) which connect to a greater mythos and i bet silent hill f will connect in interesting ways too

 

[DreamcastSkies]

This is true, but I think the fact RE's story is always building upon itself and advancing comes with potential for criticism and cause for concern. We're almost 9 mainline entries in to the story with remakes on a lot of those games as well. It can be hard to maintain quality and engagement for a never ending story and alternatives like a reboot or closing the chapter on certain characters and bringing in a new cast of character have risks and cons to them.

Also, look at poor mainline Final Fantasy. S-E believes the consumer looks at FFXVI and passes on it because the consumer thinks they need to play I-XV to be ready for it. On the other hand, the consumer will want to play through Remake and Rebirth to be ready for FFVII Remake part 3. Messy situation for that brand.

 

[ikbalCO]

SH games are not character based, they are location based hence the name. Their main goal is to put player in a mental state, not tell an over arching narative story. Each have their own advantages. I love them both but re games never reached the peaks of sh games of “feel” imo

 

[GateofD]

RE lore just went silly for me after 4.

for SH, I know 1 and 3 are connected. But do all the games actually take place in a town called Silent Hill or connection to that? Like of like an IT thing that terrorizes the town but picks a certain person it finds most tasty.

 

[kunonabi]

The story of silent hill is the story of Alessa and that concluded. Hulett did try to fuck it up especially with the bullshit he pulled with Book of Memories but nobody played that thankfully. All the western follow ups are just SH2 retreads by a bunch of hacks so none of it matters to begin with.

RE's story might "advance" but it's so incredibly awful outside of the first 3 games and outbreak that it's not really a good thing.

 

[CamHostage]

Silent Hill also is only a "franchise" because the name sounds great and it invokes a concept of being lost in the fog somewhere out in nowhere which sells great.

Maybe things would have been different if instead the games were "Silent Hill", "Silent Heaven", "Silent Ride", and "Silent Room"...

Had the designers had the foresight to know the series would get pidgeonholed with fan expectations of what is or is not proper for something carrying the Silent Hill name and bucked the naming convention early, they might have been able to indulge in some of the unusual ideas they wanted to explore with the creative juice running through Team Silent at the time. For better or worse (probably for the better, although it's interesting to think about,) they generally hammered those strange ideas until they worked for what we now think of as traditional SH experiences, with SH4 The Room being their one indulgence. Fortunately, their creative energy was just as strong filtered as it would have been unrefined, and several all-timers came out in the franchise before it started to get murky, but even now, the creators bristle whenever the series is described by its tropes and traditions; Pyramid Head is not supposed to be in all of these things, but dang it, he's hard to get away from...

 

[L*][*N*K]

Nothing in Resident Evil makes sense.

 

[peish]

I dont think RE has any lore left now.
It is just what new shit the new director thought up during development

 

[Rickyiez]

Which is a good thing because RE lore isn’t really that interesting , and their story sucks hard

 

[Soodanim]

The current problem with the RE timeline and lore is twofold. First is that the Japanese audience isn't too fussed about story consistency and just wants something to drive the games forward. The second is that Village's writer (IIRC) didn't really want to focus on anything but his story despite it being a direct sequel to 7. You've also got inconsistencies all over the place because fans think about this stuff more than devs do.

The result of all of that is that RE hasn't had a long running villain since they killed off Wesker. They keep adding things then dropping them. I'm still holding onto the crazy idea that the remakes are accelerating towards 5 so they can rewrite it and keep Wesker alive in some way.

But I see your point OP, in broad terms RE keeps moving. Its ability to move and adapt is what's kept it alive for so long.

 

[yogaflame]

Silent hill is more of lore connections

 

[killatopak]

It does move but like sideways.

1 and 3 in particular has the story move forward in terms of the cult.

Silent Hill itself is just an entity that is present in every story but the focus is elsewhere.

 

[Sorcerer]

Resident Evil is as basic as evil organization, kill monsters thrown at you to try to get to the head of that organization. Nothing wrong with that at all, and it allows for a more straight actiony type of game, and its usually done very well.

Silent Hill doesn't explain everything, making it a more mysterious psychological experience. The story can go anywhere really. I would say action comes second. The possibility of a story that really stays with you is there, but there is also a possibility the story will totally not connect at all, and you will get a bummer of a game here and there.

 

[JimmyRustler]

I think any real expansion of the SH lore would be counterproductive. The town is a symbol and people going there deal with their past. That’s it. There is no need to explain why. It adds to the mystery.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

In Resident Evil the bad guys live in mansions where you need to move statues and walk through laser traps to go to the toilet.

Some lore.

 

[StueyDuck]

The Silent Hill game seem pretty stagnant and convoluted. I've read the basic lore and understand it's about wanting to bring back "God" into the world. Of course, this is some eldritch abomination and not the god of the Bible.

But I really never seen anything advanced that storyline at all throughout the games. They all seem disjointed.

Meanwhile with Resident Evil, story is advancing where we are learning new things like where the viruses came from and how these organizations began. None of this seems present in the Silent Hill games.

Thats what makes them (the good ones) So creepy and uneasy.

When you keep a story advancing like Resi you are always bound to end up in sillyvile like resurrecting a dead baby using it's body parts and punching boulders.

As much as i love the resi games that plot jumped the shark by resi 4 essentially removing the horror from the franchise.

 

[DKehoe]

Each Silent Hill is basically an allegory of the protagonist. Resident Evil just has a procedural narrative.

Yeh Silent Hill is a mirror that reflects aspects of the main character. You can do all sorts of things with that concept by changing up who your main character is so you don't need to advance the overall lore to keep it fresh and interesting.

 

[laynelane]

The current problem with the RE timeline and lore is twofold. First is that the Japanese audience isn't too fussed about story consistency and just wants something to drive the games forward. The second is that Village's writer (IIRC) didn't really want to focus on anything but his story despite it being a direct sequel to 7. You've also got inconsistencies all over the place because fans think about this stuff more than devs do.

The result of all of that is that RE hasn't had a long running villain since they killed off Wesker. They keep adding things then dropping them. I'm still holding onto the crazy idea that the remakes are accelerating towards 5 so they can rewrite it and keep Wesker alive in some way.

But I see your point OP, in broad terms RE keeps moving. Its ability to move and adapt is what's kept it alive for so long.

I've always thought there's likely some regret about Wesker's fate in RE5. At the time, the series was going in a different direction and I suspect they thought it was time for new beginnings. However, the thing is - Wesker is a fan favourite, a good villain, and a great foil to the heroes.

The post-credits scene in RE4 Remake strongly hinted at a RE5 Remake. I figure they can either change what happened to Wesker there or keep it the same and pull a Tekken in a future game (one of the characters, Hashimoto, has survived being thrown into a volcano just because).

 

[DinoD]

Resident Evil lost the plot after 1-3 and CV. Mind you. I still love playing RE games. Except giraffe getting a BJ.

 

[Badlucktroll]

It does move but like sideways.

1 and 3 in particular has the story move forward in terms of the cult.

Silent Hill itself is just an entity that is present in every story but the focus is elsewhere.

I bet we we get another cult original story one from bloober