Feels like an appropriate time to bring this back up. When Silent Hill 2 was first released, it was not the beloved horror-defining game that everyone now considers it to be. Quite the opposite, actually. It was generally seen by many to be inferior to Silent Hill 1. People now look at Gamespot's review
or Game Informer's
and wonder how it the world these guys completely failed to understand the masterpiece they were playing. What people don't realize is that these reviews actually reflect what the majority of the Silent Hill fandom felt about SH2 at the time, and in fact were actually more positive than what some other fans thought about 2.
From what some long-time fans on the Silent Hill: Heaven and Silent Hill: Community forums have said, a lot of fans thought Silent Hill 2 was garbage for being boring and slow and easy ( stuff like the game giving you tons of ammo and health items even when playing on hard, all of the monsters being slow as molasses) and the fact that the plot had nothing to do with the first game.
Jeremy Blaustein, who worked as the voice director and translator on the game, has also mentioned this in the past, with how the fan reception towards 2 caused the change in direction for Silent Hill 3:
And there's also what Masahiro Ito has said how disappointing sales of SH2 led to changes with SH3.
I still find this interesting to look back on.
Silent Hill 2 is a much prettier, somewhat smarter but less-compelling game than the original.
or Game Informer's
Instead of the brain-bending adventure with scares and gore that I had so desperately hoped for, it turned out to be a sloppy, monotonous bore that nearly put me to sleep.
and wonder how it the world these guys completely failed to understand the masterpiece they were playing. What people don't realize is that these reviews actually reflect what the majority of the Silent Hill fandom felt about SH2 at the time, and in fact were actually more positive than what some other fans thought about 2.
From what some long-time fans on the Silent Hill: Heaven and Silent Hill: Community forums have said, a lot of fans thought Silent Hill 2 was garbage for being boring and slow and easy ( stuff like the game giving you tons of ammo and health items even when playing on hard, all of the monsters being slow as molasses) and the fact that the plot had nothing to do with the first game.
Jeremy Blaustein, who worked as the voice director and translator on the game, has also mentioned this in the past, with how the fan reception towards 2 caused the change in direction for Silent Hill 3:
http://alchemillahospital.net/omg-silent-hill-is-dead-and-other-fallacies/I don't have my old gaming magazines, so I barely remember some of the press, but when I intereviewed Jeremy Blaustein he mentioned that Silent Hill 3 was what it was because people thought Silent Hill 2 was "too psychological." So , in response to the backlash of some people, they made Silent Hill a direct sequel to the first game, including characters related to that story, the cult, Alessa, Lisa, the whole birthing god stuff, and even blood and rust. So the devs listening to what people were saying about the games is not something that has only happened recently.
https://tokenflipguy.tumblr.com/post/116409990840/the-thing-is-when-sh2-came-out-i-will-neverThe thing is, when SH2 came out, I will NEVER forget the fan reaction. "Why wasn't it more like SH1??" "It's too psychological"" THAT is why SH3 went in the direction IT went. Creators should not listen to their critics and fan base overly much or their creativity will be diluted until it is beige, bland and boring.
And there's also what Masahiro Ito has said how disappointing sales of SH2 led to changes with SH3.
I still find this interesting to look back on.