Grogs said:torrens7760 said:Why? What’s wrong with it? I’ve thought about picking it up in the past.
Some of the graphics are clearer and what you would consider HD - the drawback to this is that a lot of the elements of suspense, disgust and dread RELIED on the graphics being less clear. This is more apparent in SH2, where you spent much of the time on the foggy streets (less so in SH3, iirc). This means that a lot of the emotional dread you should be feeling, as a player, is lost when, instead of only being able to hear a monster...somewhere...the fog is now so pushed back that you can see them from miles away.
Now, you might think these are little things, and functionally the game runs in the exact same way. This is why I say that if you don't care about the games themselves, or you've already experienced it for yourself elsewhere, it's not so much of an issue. I'm just a big enough fan that I would like for people to be able to experience them as they were *meant* to be experienced when they first came out. The HD collection doesn't add anything new, except achievements, although there are certain endings/items, iirc, that were once only available on the Xbox director's cut - but still, you're getting the same experience, and this other ending is not canonical so if you never got it before, you're still not missing out.
There's also several grating sound design choices that, as far as I am aware, some are straight up technical mistakes, and others are just...weird choices. E.G, there is a part in Silent Hill 2 where you are descending down a seemingly never-ending staircase, ...and you hear the non-stop blare of a ship's horn. There are papers just before this section gave some hints as to what this is, and in the original game it's VERY well done. In the HD, for some reason, they took out this sound and replaced it with the radio static - in and of itself a very stress-inducing noise. However, they took away the main atmospheric dread from that moment.
I think in SH3 (it could be 2, but I think it's 3), they are literally dubbing the new voice actors over the old voice-over, and you can hear it if the volume is just right. At one point the team lost/accidentally deleted certain files, music, code, all the important stuff, so there's a lot of stuff they had to cover up or quickly replace. All in all not the best muster for the 'HD Collection' of a popular and much-loved, if relatively niche' game. (I say niche only because I think a lot of people know it by osmosis instead of actually playing it?)
Anyway, you can find comparison videos of the originals and HD online, and as fasr as I know, it's generally disliked by many SH fans, so it's not just me bitching about it, hehe.
Obviously I still recommend playing the games, and if you're not able to get the originals in any form then definitely pick the HD up whilst it's on sale (it's not worth more than the current price now, honestly). I would just suggest that afterwards you watch someone play through the original or heck, even the PC 'enhanced' versions - which is what the HD collection SHOULD be like. Hope this helps and sorry for the essay! I'm v. passionate about Silent Hill.....
Cogito ergo sum.