GhostTrip said:
All we need is Masterchris and this thread is complete.
Sorry I'm late
It's been so long since I've last stretched my Silent Hill muscles, I hope I'm not rusty!!
Notice: Major spoilers below. If you're even considering playing any of the Silent Hill games, might want to cast your eyes towards something else -- like porn.
Solaris10 said:
I played only the second game of Silent Hills and I thought it was excellent.
If you don't mind me asking, how is it you know so much about the other games? I hope you haven't been reading FAQs and plot guides.
Solaris10 said:
Having a game resolve around guilt and subcounscious was brillant. I never played 1, 3 and 4 and I wondered...are they worth it? I seriously think Silent Hill is more creepy than Resident Evil because of the psychological touch it brings....and everytime I play it I feel like tainted....or something is going wrong with my mind.
Then Silent Hill worked for you! That's great, so many people try Silent Hill and get bored because it isn't constant in-your-face action like a certain series of so-called horror games (RE).
As always, Hex provided some excellent information. Only a couple of ideas I want to throw into the mix that he hasn't already touched on.
Solaris10 said:
2-Did James survived the even of silent hill 2? If not, which ending is the real one?
Yeah, as Hex said there is no official ending. In fact none of the games have an "official" ending, in that nobody form the development teams of any of the games have ever come out and said "Yes, this ending is the real one." As Hex said, Silent Hill 3 basically came right out and said that Harry survived the first game, and Heather is Alessa reincarnated. This basically tells us that either the Good or Good+ ending from the first game is the "true" ending, as Harry dies in the Bad ending, and he loses his daughter completely in the Bad+ ending. The only difference between the Good and Good+ endings from that game, is that Cybil dies in the Good ending and survives in the Good+ ending. I don't recall anything off the top of my head from the third game that says Cybil didn't survive with Harry. We know she and Harry aren't together by the time the events of the third game occur, so maybe she died a few years after they escaped the first game? Maybe Cybil left Harry because he.... beat her up? Cheated on her? Who knows.
But yes, there is no definitive ending for the second game. Personally I'm fond of the Maria ending myself. Sure the In Water and Leave endings gives closure, but the Maria ending throws that little bone out that hey, things for James aren't going to be quite right after he leaves this town... if this was a movie, I would say the Maria ending opens it up for an easy sequel.
Solaris10 said:
4-What's the connection of silent Hill 4 to all the other games?
As Hex said, there is none. Konami decided to create a new survival horror game, so they created a Silent Hill rip-off about a guy trapped in his apartment, but is given the ability to leave and visit other parts of the town at other points in time, etc etc etc. At some point Konami decided it was unlikely to do that great compared to Silent Hill 3's successes, so they made the unfortunate decision to fold it into the Silent Hill family. They added a few things to bring the story somewhat in line with that of the Silent Hill series, including a whole sub-plot which fleshes out the story of Walter Sullivan from the second game (you learned about Walter in a magazine in the garbage chute at the apartment building in Silent Hill 2), and the orphanage which was also touched in the third game. Basically the connections and sub-plot they created were poorly done in my opinion, although the actual game its self I would rate as decent. Not Silent Hill quality in my opinion, although there were a few areas that impressed me, such as the water prison (which to be truthful was stunning visually, and had a great back-story to it).
Solaris10 said:
5-In Silent hill 3, Heather is in fact Cheryl reborn (well Alessa in fact). Henry Masson (hero of the first one) get killed by pyramid head ordered by Claudia......but why? Why did he had to die?
Hex nailed that one, to enrage Heather. The god gestating inside of her was nurtured by pain and suffering, which was mentioned in Silent Hill 3 as well as in the original game by Dahlia.
Solaris10 said:
6-In the bad ending of silent hill 1, we see a short CG of Henry, still in his car accident after the car accident from the beggining. Does that mean....that all he did in Silent hill was in his head and he was...dreaming???
Even though Silent Hill 3 tells us that this is not the "true" ending, it's still my personal favourite from the first game. Pretty much yeah, if you look at just the Bad ending, everything that has happened do Harry in the first game went on in his head, whether it's a nightmare in the moments before dying, or he really has died and this is some sort of hell he is being put through.
Solaris10 said:
7- In silent hill 2, James said his wife died 3 years ago but it is hinted in the game sthat only a week passed (WTF???). Is this true? Is James mentally sick like the rest of the other character?
Head-nod towards Hex yet again.
Solaris10 said:
3-In silent hill 1, there was this nurse, Lisa Garland I think.....what's her story..is she a ghost or something?
Indeed, get a hold of the game and give it a try. Lisa's character is very deep and involved, even though hardly anything about her is actually known by the player. Although I will tell you she's not a ghost, she is real.
Hexagram said:
solaris10 said:
1- In silent hill 1, the town became this way because of the power of Samael right? But in silent hill 2, from what I can understand is that Silent Hill have become a twisted reflexion of James's mind (Power with the remaining power of samael and the guilt he had over the death of his wives). Which theory is true?
Well, without spoiling SH1, there are many different endings and it wasn't until SH3 that one of the ending was determined the correct one. So during SH2, any one of the endings from SH could've been possible.
The power of Samael still remains dormant in the town and everything James sees (Maria, the monsters, Pyramid Head, etc) are all puppet orchestrated by Samael. However, what James sees is perceived different from others. When James rescues Angela, she screams "Daddy no!" It doesn't look like her father to James or us. James asks Eddie if he knows anything about Pyramid Head while he's throwing up. Eddie is confused by this question because he can't see it. Eddie, Angela and James all go through their own nightmares with their own visions that are different for each of them. Laura is just an innocent girl who thought her frien Mary was in town, so she sees nothing.
So in a way, both theories are correct.
Just a couple of things I want to pick apart Hex. A few years ago I was a part of a community which came up with some really good ideas about whether or not a character named Samael even existed. In Silent Hill 3, through some book we are told that the name Samael is a name given to the cult's god by people who opposed the cult and their religion, and that the name Samael had a negative connotation. I can't recall if an actual name was given to the god Harry battles at the end of the game with the Good or Good+ endings, but many believed Samael was just a name Dahlia gave to the god that Harry might recognize, hoping to scare him away when he finally had to face it. Whatever that god's name is, I agree with you that it is in some way powering the events of Silent Hill 2, even though it is not directly involved with the characters.
We all know what James sees in Silent Hill 2, he sees monsters in female forms attempting to kill him. Female mannequins, female nurses, female... things that shoot acid from their mouths (like all females). He sees this becaue he has been called to Silent Hill to face his guilt, and as we know James killed his wife Mary, so the horror he is facing takes female shapes. Even the final demon he must defeat takes on a female form, and looks identical to his late wife Mary. The character of Maria was also created to look very similar to Mary, and to continually remind James of what he did. The hotel near the end of the game looks exactly as it did when James and Mary visited it a year or two ago, and as soon as James realizes and acknowledges what he did to his wife, we realize what he is seeing in the hotel is not what the hotel really looks like. Truth is the hotel had caught fire recently, since suddenly the hotel is full of water and dampness, scorch marks on the walls, entire sections of the basement unreachable due to fire damage.
Eddy was called to Silent Hill because he is guilty as well; he confesses to James that he killed a man and a dog because he felt they were laughing at him; he believes James is laughing at him as well, and tries to kill James. The creatures Eddy sees in Silent Hill are people laughing at him.
Angela was called to Silent Hill because she is guilty, she killed her parents. She alluded to the idea that her father may have been abusing her sexually, and that her mother may have known about it and done nothing. During her stay in Silent Hill, the creatures she sees resemble her father, possibly trying again to molest her. We know this from the scene where James walks in on her being attacked by a creature that James sees as a walking door (still haven't figured out the significance to James of a giant door with legs). When James finally kills the creature, Angela goes nuts on it, kicking it and eventually throwing a TV set onto it. After this is when she alludes to James that her father may have been molesting her. As I recall Angela also refers to the creature that was attacking her as her father, or daddy, or something.
Laura is the only character not believed to be drawn into the town. As we know from the game, Laura was at the same hospital Mary stayed in, and they became friends. Laura was possibly hanging around the town trying to find Mary, or connect with her. As Laura is not guilty of anything, the town has no effect on her, and she sees everything normally just as you or I would. We know this from the scene where James finds her playing in the hospital room, and says it's not safe here for a little girl. Laura responds with confusion, indicating everything looks normal to her!
Solaris10 said:
Compared to Residnet Evil....the plot is not really explained at all in this serie.... Though I love this story as much as it scares me out (YEAH IT FREAKS ME OUT!!!) I want to understand it but I can't find the games anywhere.... can anyone help me understand the plot?
I suggest trying Ebay. May have to pay a bit more, but if you can locate a copy of the original and play it yourself, you will enjoy it. A lot.
But you're absolutely right in that hardly anything in the story is actually explained until the third game in the series. And that's what was so great about the first two. I enjoy nothing more than sitting down online with a bunch of like-minded individuals, and theorizing about Silent Hill.
