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Silent
Hill 3 Interview.
May 24, 2002.
Konami's upcoming Silent Hill 3 team; Director Kazuhide
Nakazawa, Scenario Writer Hiroyuki Owaku, Sound Director Akira Yamaoka
and also Producer Hirotaka Ishikawa. |
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Question:
The plot of Silent Hill 2 slowly revealed itself to be about a man
who has condemned himself to Hell, but doesn't quite realize it yet.
How much can you tell us about the plot of Silent Hill 3?
Kazuhide Nakazawa:
In Silent Hill 1 and 2, a man was looking for his precious
person. Since we had male characters in both SH1 and 2, we wanted
to try something new. |
| [L-R]
Mr Ishikawa, Mr Nakazawa, Mr Owaku & Mr Yomaoka. |
The
main character of SH3 is a girl named Heather, a girl-next-door type
who goes out shopping and all of a sudden gets trapped in a very strange
world, which is where the story begins to evolve.
Q:
Will
there be any sense of chronology between SH3 and the first two games?
Will there be scenes or gameplay that revisit familiar places in Silent
Hill?
K.N.: The
location where the story starts out does not take place in the town
of Silent Hill. The initial town has nothing to do with the town of
Silent Hill. At this moment, we can't really disclose what kind of
connection there is with SH 1 and 2. At the same time, note that game
players do not need to be familiar with Silent Hill 1 and 2 in order
to play SH3. However, since this title carries the SH name, we assume
there is some kind of connection with the town of Silent Hill.
Q: Some of the locations in SH2 appear
to be modeled after real buildings in Modesto, a rural town in nothern
California. Will more real-life towns be used to provide background
and settings in Silent Hill 3?
K.N.: There is not really
a specific town or city which we model from. The main location will
be somewhat more urban than what you have seen.
Q: Is the town of Silent Hill
Considered an actual geographic location in space, or is it more of
a spiritual, abstract world that changes according to who is in it?
K.N.:
In the world of Silent Hill, the town really exsists, but it has a
lot of depredation as well. What the player has seen in the game is
not necessarily realistic or unrealistic; it can be both. Hopefully
this makes sense.
Q: The plots of SH 1 and 2 dealt with
some extremely sensitive issues, including suicide, Satanism and infanticide.
How difficult is it to present these concepts in such a manner that
they fall within the realm of the "Mature" rating? Is there
anything you haven't been able to do because it was considered too
graphic or too violent?
K.N.: That is a tough issue. Of course
there are certain limitations to what we can do according to what
we can do to accurately express all we have in our minds, but we are
doing our maximum level to achieve it.
Q: In both of the earlier titles,
the lead character was an ordinary man with no special weapons training
and marginal fighting skills. I know this makes sense from a story
standpoint, but it also made combat kind of frustrating. Is it the
same sort of thing that will be in SH3?
K.N.: Well, as you pointed out, to show
the movement of a person who is not actually trained in the military
is consistent in SH 3, since the main character is a typical girl-next-door.
We need to depict the picture accurately. The movement you will see
will be an ordinary person trying to move really heavy firearms or
iron bars... but at the same time we are making the gameplay less
frustrating for players so they will be able to maneuver smoothly.
Q: The game design of SH2 seems to
keep both casual and hardcore gamers in mind; in particular, the ability
to use 2D or 3D controls and the fact that even a person playing in
the easy mode could see all the endings. Will this be true for SH3?
K.N.: The basic game design you saw
in SH2, you will see in SH3. You will not be losing anything that
you saw in SH2. Of course, needless to say, we are adding additional
game features in SH3.
Q: There is a song on Konami's Dance
Dance Revolution: 3rd Mix with the title "Silent Hill".
Is there any relationship between this song and the Silent Hill games,
or is it just a coincidence?
K.N.: When I first heard about the song "Silent
Hill" on the DDR soundtrack, I also wondered if it has some relationship
to Silent Hill. However, "Silent Hill" is just a Christmas-themed
song that has nothing to do with the Silent Hill games.
Q: I really enjoyed the music in SH2;
It was very haunting and mournful Is the music developed along side
the game, or is it something you create and mix after you see the
finished product?
Akira Yamaoka: Actually, it's both. In
some cases I begin after seeing the actual game screen; after seeing
the images I start making music. In some cases I don't get to see
the game yet, but there is a certain theme that I need to create from,
so I do it simultaneously.
Q: In the SH2 game soundtrack, track
21 "The reverse will" repeats a child's bedtime prayer if
you play it backwards, the one that begins, "Now I lay me down
to sleep..." Are there any plans for more Audio "Easter
Eggs" like this in the SH3 soundtrack?
K.N.: We are really amazed that people
are doing that (Playing the music backwards).
A.Y.: Whether or not I will include the
same effect on the SH3 soundtrack... if the sound really makes the
atmosphere effective, then I'd like to keep doing it.
K.N.: Were there people in the U.S. who
attempted this?
Q: One last question: When you made
the first Silent Hill, everyone was asking you what kind of books,
movies etc. influenced your creation. Now that the series has a well-established
mythology, do you feel that Silent Hill has influenced other creators?
K.N.: The movie "The Others"
is a good example of what we think Silent Hill has influenced. |
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