The title. I've been told by some people that I should start with the second Silent Hill, but I don't trust those guys. They're out to get me.

So I'm wondering, is Silent Hill still enjoyable these days and is the story and atmosphere great or does that only start with the second part?

have you played Silent Hill 3?

No, played none of the Silent Hill games. Wanna start getting into the series now, that's why I'm asking!

I have the game the first 3 games play exactly the same.

Controls of course are aged for some people (except me I grew up and master the controls) but it encourages you to not fight but run away (not all the time of course), when you are in the town itself do not even bother fighting the monsters because they keep coming back forever, Melee Weapons to me are suprisingly useful in this you sometimes use it alot until you get plenty of ammo for your pistols of course.

Silent Hill 1 graphically looks ugly now, but back than it was the best lookin PS1 games, it had lighting that was ahead of its time.

So it may be aged but please don't let it alienate you, besides IMO there are games that aged worse than this game like GTA 3 on PS2.

Just play them in chronological order.

I wouldn't say that. My impression was that Silent Hill 2 had the better ambiance than Silent Hill 3 and took more time to build up tension than 3 while 3 plays out to be more action focused. Silent Hill 3 has drastically improved graphics thought.

Yes, Silent Hill 1 aged well.
It's not a difficult game at all, and the story is so good you will enjoy it for sure.
I have the first four Silent Hill and all worth a play, they are all good (SH4 too, even if it hasn't a "real" SH mood, but it still a good survival horror).

What I meant was gameplay wise and to me Silent Hill 3 felt better.

People criticize the HD collection for alot of issues, but the HD collection did do something right, it made it more darker (as in the brightness is lowered) thus making it more scary and making the flashlight more useful, I watched the PS2 versions on youtube and there were not that dark so you don't need your flashlight.

Tbh, I wouldn't say it has. If you'd have played it before then it wouldn't matter, but since you haven't it really might be better to start with the second one. The graphics and controls alone in SH1 aren't worth it and the voice acting is sort of lifeless (though that's one of the quirks I actually liked :D). Besides that, SH2 is in high regards among most who have played it, not sure I could say the same for SH1.

On the pros side, the first three silent hill games represent (to me) the holy trinity and it's worth noting, that 1. and 3. game are connected by their story.

Anything SH that comes after the third instalment has lost what makes the trinity so good - either the darkness has been replaced with some weak-ass fog or the games play a lot more like an action horror and not survival horror.

All in all, SH1 was my first PS one game, so I have fond memories of it. It was imao the best at what it did at the time. That said, I'd still probably avoid it now. Also, if you find the urge too strong, you can always come back to it later, it's not going anywhere :)

Well, the HD version is a miss. Did you see the "Inferno" at the end of Silent Hill 3 compared to the PS2 release?
You can't understand ANYTHING without the map :\
Yes, now with the latest patch is not as bad as it was before it, but I prefer the PS2 version.

I have SH 1 and 2 on ROM (but you didn't hear that from me) and I love them. Either they havn't aged well or I havn't aged well because I still dig them the most and I still find them both somewhat creepy.*

*I own "Faces of Death", "Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition", and "TCM Anniversary Ground Beef Edition" on DVD so, without meaning to toot my own horn, I like to think I know a little but about creepy. I don't know anything about anything else, but I know creepy. :)

Silent hill 1 is awesome, sure the graphics are old but personally i find those primitive early 3d graphics have some sort of weird surreal appeal that kind of got lost when the quality went up. If you let yourself get passed the old shaky ps1 pixels you are in for a kickass horror game. The design of the city and that dark world is super uber awesome and that grinding industrial ambient sound is one the most effective ambient sounds in a horror game in my opinion. There are some side stories too if you pay attention to the detail. Sometimes the game would be so creepy/scary that it became uncomfortable to play.

Fantastic game that most people avoid because they don't want to deal with the graphics and they are so missing out.

GREAT POINT regarding the older graphics adding to the surreal appeal. I couldn't have said it better myself. Sharpness of clarity never did any favors for the horror genre.

And I managed to conquer that level no problem :)

Yeah, me too, you must only use the map and there aren't problems, but the graphic is horrible in that part of the level XD