Why on earth did they make the Patient monsters in Silent Hill 4 burp when you hit them?

[Mars People]

So I was recently watching a twitch playthrough of Silent Hill 4, a game I haven't thought about in forever.
But I cannot get over the burping sound the Patient monster make when you hit them.
Its absurdly comical for a series that is tradionally not so at all.

To increase the hilarity there is a section where you fight them on a descending staircase.
And when you knock them down, they fall down the stairs, burping all the way down...

Here's a clip of what i mean.




The streamer I watched is Mary Kish and its well worth watching her playthoughs if you like horror games.

 

[Drigon87]

Disgruntled employees and poor playtesting because the game shipped a year too early.

 

[@TheFriendlyBro]

I'm sure the Silent Hill Wiki has some in-depth answers.

"These burp sounds actually represent the trauma experienced by Henry as a child, in which his mother (who was killed by Pyramid Head) often burped in front of him to summon a demon god monster."

Something along the lines of that.

 

[Lord Fanny]

I don't know if this specific aspect was ever addressed, but SH4 had its development time, budget and staff cut back from SH3 quite a lot, so I imagine a lot of odd stuff like this can in some form be contributed to the game just not having the time and resources it needed to be as polished as the games before.

 

[Zacmortar]

you could also ask why the mannequins in 2 cannonball over the highway fences as if pyramid head is just fuckin chucking em at james.

theres tons of goofy weird shit that isnt scary in these games and it's all super charming and cool. It's why the first four are so good imho.

It also works because 4 is the scariest in the series and that goofy brevity is kinda welcome in a game that ditches a UFO ending

edit: also does that streamer upload vods to youtube? itd be great to get more Silent Hill content that isnt filled with a pessimistic hatred for everything that isnt 2 lol

 

[Mars People]

It feels like a place holder sound effect that was bizarrely never changed.

Just a bit of Monday humour for you all.

 

[Lord Fanny]

It feels like a place holder sound effect that was bizarrely never changed.

Just a bit of Monday humour for you all.

Click to shrink...

Tbh, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was at least partially true.

 

[Zacmortar]

I'm sure the Silent Hill Wiki has some in-depth answers.

"These burp sounds actually represent the trauma experienced by Henry as a child, in which his mother (who was killed by Pyramid Head) often burped in front of him to summon a demon god monster."

Something along the lines of that.

Click to shrink...

please, the wiki atleast understands that everything in 4 is a manifestation of Walter's

it's his greatest regret of not having a mother to burp him as a baby

 

[Deleted member 10726]

I'm sure the Silent Hill Wiki has some in-depth answers.

"These burp sounds actually represent the trauma experienced by Henry as a child, in which his mother (who was killed by Pyramid Head) often burped in front of him to summon a demon god monster."

Something along the lines of that.

Click to shrink...

idk needs more wild speculation about circumcision

 

[Igniz12]

Lmao at the enemy burping his way down the flight of steps.

 

[Deleted member 543]

Burping is gross. Can you imagine the smell. The stink of that place after a few patient monsters have burped all over you.

 

[Mars People]

I can easily buy the theory that a disgruntled konami employee deliberately left it in the game.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

I would ask you the question, OP,.... why not?

Did you ever consider that?

 

[TeraDax]

Yeah, as much as I love Silent Hill 4, I never understood that. At least, it made me laugh when I sent them down the stair.

I needed to laugh after seeing the Twin Victim

 

[thepenguin55]

idk needs more wild speculation about circumcision

Click to shrink...

What about uterus removal speculation? From the wiki:

The burping-like sounds may possibly indicate the emission of gases produced from bodily decomposition, specifically from where the lungs and uterus were removed. This may even tie them into Eileen; when the whiteboard with Eileen's x-rays is more clearly visible in a cutscene, the term "vomicae" is present, which is a condition where a pus-filled cavity caused by tissue decay, typically in the lungs, is found and causes the expulsion of the vile fluid. Perhaps the Patients are a vision of what Walter planned of Eileen's body to become.

Click to shrink...

Sounds plausibly fucked but yeah the burping is hilarious.

I will say, I think the first half of this game rules but the game completely falls off a cliff both narratively and in terms of gameplay later on. The game play becomes such utter BS towards the end and story just goes to some real dumb places towards the end.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

It feels like a place holder sound effect that was bizarrely never changed.

Just a bit of Monday humour for you all.

Click to shrink...

SH4 has a lot of place holder/stock sound. Either Yamaoka wasn't able to complete his sound design or he was on heavy drugs and thought it was funny using them. 😅

 

[thepenguin55]

Yeah, as much as I love Silent Hill 4, I never understood that. At least, it made me laugh when I sent them down the stair.

I needed to laugh after seeing the Twin Victim

Click to shrink...

SH4 has a lot of place holder/stock sound. Either Yamaoka wasn't able to complete his sound design or he was on heavy drugs and thought it was funny using them. 😅

Click to shrink...

Like the weird Panther roar the dogs make? lol. It seems like this game didn't get the budget that SH2&3 got. Just between stuff like that, the lower quality visuals compared to SH3, and the significant padding in the back end of the game it feels like Sh4 didn't have a big budget and maybe came in a little hot.

 

[Keym]

It feels like a place holder sound effect that was bizarrely never changed.

Just a bit of Monday humour for you all.

Click to shrink...

I swear I read somewhere that something like this was the case but I don't remember how it went exactly.

 

[TeraDax]

Click to shrink...

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Yeah it's weird especially since they're otherwise one of the scariest and most dangerous enemies in the game.

 

[kiriku]

Really has a placeholder feeling to it, considering it's the exact same sound being played every time. On the other hand, I can't remember if that was the case for other enemies in the game as well though.

 

[Lord Fanny]

Like the weird Panther roar the dogs make? lol. It seems like this game didn't get the budget that SH2&3 got. Just between stuff like that, the lower quality visuals compared to SH3, and the significant padding in the back end of the game it feels like Sh4 didn't have a big budget and maybe came in a little hot.

Click to shrink...

It didn't. It's budget and overall staffing was cut down from the previous games

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

I agree it's kinda weird decision, lol.

The dog enemies makes terrifying panther like screams when they died, instead of this.

 

[Cosmic Voyager]

HentaiPHD.... okay then lol

 

[carlsojo]

Gotta say I didn't expect it to be explicitly a burp. No that's just a burp. A real belch.

Belch belch belch belch belch

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Really has a placeholder feeling to it, considering it's the exact same sound being played every time. On the other hand, I can't remember if that was the case for other enemies in the game as well though.

Click to shrink...

The dogs had a stock-sounding cougar noise. There were those enemies that sounded like apes. The burping patients. Strangely the Twin creatures were dead silent (which made them kind of freaky), yet in the trailers they had this really unsettling piglet squeal noise.

Just odd, lackluster sound direction for a series that previously excelled in it.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

The dogs had a stock-sounding cougar noise. There were those enemies that sounded like apes. The burping patients. Strangely the Twin creatures were dead silent (which made them kind of freaky), yet in the trailers they had this really unsettling piglet squeal noise.

Just odd, lackluster sound direction for a series that previously excelled in it.

Click to shrink...

And yet the soundtrack is one of the best

 

[Silver-Streak]

As someone who was modding for the stream linked above, those sound effects still make me laugh to this day. That said, many of the sound effects were always hilarious in SH4 even back in the day.

That doesn't help that the entire 2nd half of SH4 is terrible, but still, they were worth a laugh.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

And yet the soundtrack is one of the best

Click to shrink...

Indeed.
I've always wondered if Yamaoka's Producer duties got in the way of him concentrating strictly on the soundtrack AND the sound direction.
Then again, he also had a Producer credit on SH3 and that turned out fine, so... *shrug* it's all a mystery we may never know.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Indeed.
I've always wondered if Yamaoka's Producer duties got in the way of him concentrating strictly on the soundtrack AND the sound direction.
Then again, he also had a Producer credit on SH3 and that turned out fine, so... *shrug* it's all a mystery we may never know.

Click to shrink...

He produced both games, and they were supposedly developed together, so he must have been super busy. If that's why he chose stock sounds for 4, then that makes a lot of sense especially if Konami wanted the game out so soon after 3.