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Doing a Silent Hill playthrough, but Silent Hill 2 and 3 are prohibitively expensive - is the HD Collection a viable option?
- Thread starter Empyrean Cocytus
- Start date
the only things they fixed were things that were already fixed on the final version anyway
3s are very good, but not as extensive. Make sure you shut of the film grain in 3 though. Given the changes in resolution it destroys the image as it's the old 480p film grain.
From what I hear, it's pretty bad. If you happen to have an OG Xbox there's at least the Xbox version for Silent Hill 2 and 4 at least. Played them a few years back and had a great experience with them. I believe those are considerably cheaper than the PS2 versions. I'd say even play those over the HD collection. Not near as many compromises from the PS2 version as the HD collection.
I played through the HD collection on Xbox 360 a couple years back when I was doing a full series replay. (I had previously played 2 and 3 on PC.) Yes, they have some obvious flaws, but they're still totally playable and a reasonable approximation of the original experience.
I believe the Japanese versions have English text/audio. You could import and emulate if those are cheaper (I got them in Japan for like a couple hundred yen each a few years back).
I would advocate, like everybody else, either finding a way to play on the original console (PS2), or playing the PC ports of 2 and 3, over playing the HD Collection. I would consider the HD Collection to be the very, very last option to play the games, because they do such a disservice to the work that went into these in the first place.
That's pretty tame for cib copies of retro games. You could probably get much better deals if you just buy disc only versions.
OP
OP
It is, but I don't have PSNow. I tend to go physical as much as possible. I still don't have Game Pass.
The HD collection does miss some details and has technical issues that may sour the experience for new comers but specially for people who experienced the original games on PS2, such as myself. Look it as feedback from purists.
BUT it is perfectly serviceable if you want to experience or re-experience the games for cheap or for accessibility. Just keep in mind the technical shortcomings and that you are getting a worse experience than the original ones. Also SH3 has the original voices missing, but in all honesty i don't think this is a biggie.
BUT it is perfectly serviceable if you want to experience or re-experience the games for cheap or for accessibility. Just keep in mind the technical shortcomings and that you are getting a worse experience than the original ones. Also SH3 has the original voices missing, but in all honesty i don't think this is a biggie.
Some people would say that Silent Hill 2 PC is abandonware and can be easily found but you know, I wouldn't trust such dubious voices. They're probably from Silent Hill itself, summoning ye.
I was actually considering the same as OP quite recently tbh, and this post absolutely killed that idea. Damn!
This is really the biggest problem with SH2 HD - the fog. The fog is part of that game's identity and was a huge technological feat when the game released ("volumetric fog!" the previews and reviews exclaimed - and they were right, there wasn't much else like it at the time). I bought the SH HD collection on day one and noped out as soon as I saw how poorly done that element was.
Seconding what others have said; the HD collection isn't the way to play it, unfortunately. The new voice acting, from what I've heard, is less janky than the originals, but that's about it--even after one platform got a patch, the textures were still wonky and there were odd glitches. Konami really screwed over the devs with this and clearly didn't care much about the release. If you're curious about what happened, this two-part video goes a bit into why the HD Collection was so messy:
The second video's first 14 minutes, specifically, go into why the game has so many technical issues (the rest mentions behind-the-scenes drama and overall fandom issues, though the first video does touch on why there's different voice acting).
The second video's first 14 minutes, specifically, go into why the game has so many technical issues (the rest mentions behind-the-scenes drama and overall fandom issues, though the first video does touch on why there's different voice acting).
anywhere used games are sold
if you aren't buying sealed it's not awful, and regardless these games are worth the cost for the quality of the experience they provide.
Are these games available digitally? I've never found them on any of the usual distribution sites (Steam, GOG, etc...). I only see SH4 on GOG.
You can find SH4 on GOG but that's it. I've never found the other ones anywhere else.
My ps2 copy freezes near the end. $10 for this is a steal. Thank you very much lol
My first time through SH3 was via the Xbox 360 HD Collection. It crashed a few times, causing me to lose progress. There's also a horrible audio bug if using certain weapons like the machine gun.
But if you're willing to deal with those issues, you're aware it's not the best experience, it's your only affordable option, and you REALLY wanna play these games, just go for it. The story is still all there, even if the presentation isn't.
But if you're willing to deal with those issues, you're aware it's not the best experience, it's your only affordable option, and you REALLY wanna play these games, just go for it. The story is still all there, even if the presentation isn't.
Because nobody bought it. It's apparently rare. That was a Wii title that got ported to PS2. People just bought the Wii version, it was better.
THAT BEING SAID
Maybe I'm late to the party noticing this, but after this Silent Hill thread and the "what's the most valuable game you own" thread, I'm surprised to find that a lot of PS2 titles I didn't think were that uncommon are going for quite a bit.
looking at the dusty stack of PS2 games I haven't touched in a couple of gens, this is the CIB prices for the following from Pricecharting. New tends to be just shy of double:
SMT: Devil Summoner 2 (Raiho edition): $166.42
.hack Quarantine: $261.65
Persona 3 [FES Limited Edition]: $198.79
SMT: Devil Summoner Raidou vs. The Soulless Army: $125
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: $199.91(!)
Suikoden 5: $123.75
Silent Hill 3: $115.22
Silent Hill 2 (Greatest Hits): $85.63
Silent Hill Origins: $80.00
Eternal Poison: $99.99 (edit: the Eternal Poison copy I have may very well be new. I bought that and have never bothered to open/play it).
Origins going for that much is LOLworthy. That game was a PSP port and looks the part in every way.
Honestly, they could have patched all the common complaints you see (the missing fog effects, comic sans sign, etc.) and I'd still have a hard time recommending a version that doesn't have Mary's original voice actress.
Maybe someday Konami will release SH2 on GOG and you'll be able to patch an official release with the Enhanced Edition mod.
Maybe someday Konami will release SH2 on GOG and you'll be able to patch an official release with the Enhanced Edition mod.
How's the PC version of SH4 anyway? I believe it ran cutscenes at 15 FPS, is that still the case?
Close. The Greatest Hits version of SH2 (and I think the Xbox version normally?) has a mini scenario that shows how Maria got up to meeting James. It's been included with every version of the game other than the original PS2 release, as far as I know.
They fixed that with the GOG release. Cutscenes now run at the original framerate. It also restored the post-processing effects and has widescreen and controller support, neither of which the original PC version of 4 had. It's still missing several of the hauntings and the real-time shadow effect is still messed up, but now it's probably the best official way to play 4 outside of the original ps2 disc.
It is certainly a sick joke.
The PC versions are truly worth obtaining, best five minutes on a search engine I've spent in years.
and then OP faces the same problem he already mentioned -- the OG PS2 copies of the games are really expensive
I would not recommend that you play the HD Collection even as a last resort. I'd recommend watching a longplay before that.
