rionaleonhart | Yes, This Really Is The Sort Of Thing I Think About.

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Yes, This Really Is The Sort Of Thing I Think About.

AUGH

I NEVER NOTICED IT BEFORE BUT IN SILENT HILL 2 JAMES NEVER TELLS MARIA HIS NAME

SHE JUST KNOWS IT

AUGH AUGH AUGH

I keep thinking I should play Silent Hill 2 again, but I can't bring myself to on account of my being, you know, absolutely terrified of it. The things that scare me the most are always so tiny - whenever I think about playing it again I always remember a particular point in Alternate Brookhaven Hospital, when you've just come back into the corridor from the garden and everything's changed and suddenly the camera angle sways sickeningly. That's what terrifies me. A camera angle shift has me too afraid to play the game again.

Stupid tiny terrifying things.

I've been wondering recently whether there's any fandom that could actually win against Silent Hill in a crossover. By this, I mean that you could cross it over with Silent Hill and have the dominant tone not be misery and angst. Doctor Who came closest, I think, but Of Towns and Toasters still felt more Silent Hill-ish than Doctor Who-ish, and when I tried including James Sunderland, Silent Hill completely thrashed it. On the two occasions I've tried crossing it over with Scrubs, Silent Hill did horrible things to the Scrubs tone. It always wins the crossover. Is there a fandom that would have a fighting chance?

(Hammond is walking and talking and eating and apparently furious that the BBC are postponing the new series of Top Gear, because dammit, he's not going to let a little thing like a three-hundred-mile-an-hour crash slow him down. The man is immortal, I swear.)

There are more italics in this post than should technically be legal. Sorry about that.

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IS THAT TRUE?

I NEVER NOTICED THAT.

AUUUGH.

IT IS TRUE - I SUDDENLY THOUGHT 'HANG ON, DOES JAMES EVER...?' AND LOOKED UP A SCRIPT AND IT IS TRUE - AND IT IS HORRIBLE.

On a related note, have you played any more Silent Hill 2? I am absolutely itching to see how you'll react to everything.

I'm sorry that I never got around to commenting, by the way. What's really fantastic about your recaps is that I get to see the game from the point of view of someone who knew nothing about it when she started, so I'm sort of getting the playthrough I was denied by having read the script and theories and knowing every spoiler there was to know before I actually played it.

Your 'ARGH' reaction to meeting Pyramid Head in the Labyrinth absolutely cracked me up. I somehow managed to miss him. I would gloat because of this, but that actually made it kind of worse. The problem was that I knew he was somewhere in that place but I didn't know where, so I was running through all the sewer tunnels as quickly as possible, thinking 'OHGODOHGODOHGOD I COULD RUN INTO PYRAMID HEAD AT ANY MINUTE.

(I never thought about James picking up the Great Knife possibly being symbolic! OH GOD MY BRAIN.)

Seriously, I love watching you freak out about everything. It's fantastic. AND YES THE OPEN GRAVE WITH THE 'JAMES SUNDERLAND' HEADSTONE. AAAAAAAAAAAH.

(...INCIDENTALLY, LOL AT YOU, JAMES is the best reaction to James being an idiot ever.)

AND LOOKED UP A SCRIPT

WAIT THERE IS A SCRIPT WHERE???

Game Script, under the In-Depth FAQs heading. Enjoy! Or, y'know, just go 'AUGH' a lot.

OH MAN I WILL HAVE NIGHTMARES

THANK YOU SO MUCH

...That, um, that wasn't sarcasm by the way. Well, I guess it could be about the nightmares, but I was actually trying to thank you there.

...with scary scary allcaps.

/spam

STUPID GAME ARGH.

As yet, I haven't played any more. My PS2, alas, remained behind when I left for Uni, you know? However, with all my games sitting on the shelf just waiting to be played, plus KH2 FINALLY getting it's UK release this Friday, I believe this weekend may see me purchasing a replacement. Which'll mean an SH2 post within the week, I'm sure.

Wow, it'd suck to get spoiled ahead of time, I'd bet. I keep worrying that, having come this far, I'm somehow gonna end up stumbling on huge spoilers anyway and ruin everything. That'd suck beyond words.

Gah, that was horrible! I just didn't expect it at all, and there was no cutscene of anything, I just bumped into him. It was ridiculous! But man, I can imagine what it would have been like for you, too - knowing he was there but just not knowing where. Yikes.

(I WAS VERY PERTURBED.)

You just love my suffering, you foul creature~! But I have a lot of fun writing it, so I guess it's okay. Also, I missed the fact the open grave had James' name, but AUGH. I think that's the creepiest thing so far. Stupid game u__u

I don't know if you've seen this yet or not, but you might want to check out this, uh... Silent Hill 2 fanart (http://twigcollins.livejournal.com/188297.html), I guess you could call it. Pure genius.

I keep wanting to replay it too, except I've never actually played it on my own before. Each time, someone else has been behind the controller, which is really probably a good thing because otherwise I would waste all my bullets shooting at, like, traffic lights and things. Or I would just be frozen in terror, unable to move enough to even turn the game off.

I think

thebaconfat once said that a Silent Hill/X-Files crossover could potentially be done without complete horror, so long as, you know, Scully and Mulder didn't get separated. And what about the Janitor and Elliot in Silent Hill? Even if they didn't exactly win, I think they could maybe hold out for a tie.

Someone should write a crossover where Dumbledore gets stuck in Silent Hill. Someone named you. Or! Phineas Nigellus.

(I cannot believe how fast he is recovering. However, I have to admit I'mg lad the BBC postponed it until Hammond could be there. Maybe it'll make him get better even faster.)

I didn't especially want to play it alone, but I didn't know anyone else who would be remotely interested. If you're like me, you'll develop coping mechanisms to deal with the blinding terror. Mine were running off to save every time I did anything ("I GOT A KEY I MUST SAVE!" "I KILLED A MONSTER I MUST SAVE!" "I TRIED A DOOR AND THE LOCK WAS BROKEN SO JAMES SCRIBBLED OVER IT ON HIS MAP I MUST SAVE!") and talking to myself. I actually ended up talking to James whenever I got too nervous, which was all the time. Because of this I began to feel that James was my Best Friend In The World and started giving him health drinks even if he was at full health, because I worried that he might be thirsty.

I think my point is that playing it on your own is an interesting exercise, because it shows you that you are actually more insane than you could ever have dreamed possible.

The Janitor fighting Pyramid Head off with a mop is an image that might just manage to beat Silent Hill at crossovers. Hmmm.

I bet Phineas Nigellus has another portrait in Silent Hill and uses it to completely freak out the poor souls who get stuck there.

(It's amazing. Three hundred miles an hour! Three hundred, and he just shrugged it off!)

Except, see, I'm also terrified of saving. I think Patrick summed it up best in one of his fics which I unfortunately cannot remember well enough to quote exactly, but involved your mind being subjected to awfulness in the process. The bright redness! BLARGH ...but yeah, I think I'd be saving as much as possible. "I SAVED MY GAME! I MUST SAVE!" and then my memory card would, like, explode.

Because of this I began to feel that James was my Best Friend In The World

I wonder if this is some kind of crazy version of the Stockholm syndrome. I would yell at him, too, though,e specially when he did crazy things like making fun of Eddie. I can't decide if it would be more terrifying playing the game on my own or less, because at least I would be in control of everything. But that would also mean I would have to be able not to freak out every time I heard static, and I'm just not sure that's an option.

...That said, now I kind of want to try it to see what I end up doing. NOTE TO SELF: THAT IS INCREDIBLY STUPID NO DO NOT GO BUY THE GAME WHAT ARE YOU DOING

I bet Pyramid Head has that Phineas Nigellus portrait in his room. It's the sort of thing they'd do. ...I hope Nigellus wouldn't tell him too much about the students, though, or perhaps some of them would be getting a few letters.

"I SAVED MY GAME! I MUST SAVE!" and then my memory card would, like, explode.

I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING

But that would also mean I would have to be able not to freak out every time I heard static, and I'm just not sure that's an option.

Oh, you can't not freak out every time you hear static. I have fond (and by fond, I mean horrible) memories of all the hundreds of times I heard static and OH MY GOD WHERE IS THE MONSTER? THERE IS A MONSTER SOMEWHERE AND I CAN'T SEE IT OH GOD IT'S TOO FOGGY OR TOO DARK AND I HATE HATE HATE THE STREETS BECAUSE THEY'RE SO OPEN AND THE THINGS COULD BE ANYWHERE ARGH WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE TO BE IN A NICE CLAUSTROPHOBIC CORRIDOR RIGHT NOW.

I so want to see Harry Potter characters getting summoned to Silent Hill with Howlers. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU'D TAKE ME THERE AGAIN SOMEDAY! BUT YOU NEVER DID!"

(However, I have to admit I'mg lad the BBC postponed it until Hammond could be there.

Hammond is insisting that he can be there. Essentially, what he's saying is 'WHY ARE YOU POSTPONING IT? YOU CAN'T POSTPONE IT, I WILL BROADCAST LIVE FROM THE HOSPITAL BED IF I HAVE TO.')

(Oh, well see, then they should not postpone it. I would love to see a broadcast where they're all gathered around Hammond's hospital bed with gajillions of flowers and Clarkson making fun of him for it. Because that would be awesome.

Also, Hammond is incredibly awesome and dedicated and awesome.)

As for the Silent Hill crossover, I think Top Gear won if only because it was apparently impossible to do. That's something, surely?

Also, I'm tempted to suggest some kiddy show like Sesamestreet or Pokémon, but that would just result in all sorts of fucked-up ness.

If the BBC cancels Top Gear forever and ever by some fluke, I think they'll have about 100 million very angry people on their doorstep, handcuffing themselves to the doors with fluffy leopardskin handcuffs!

Pokémon had that tower that was haunted by the ghost of the Marowak that Team Rocket killed. WE'RE HALFWAY TO SILENT HILL ALREADY.

If the BBC cancels Top Gear forever and ever by some fluke, I think they'll have about 100 million very angry people on their doorstep, handcuffing themselves to the doors with fluffy leopardskin handcuffs!

Hey, that makes it into a win-win situation! Either Top Gear is untouched, or I get to take part in the best protest ever!

And they had that Maiden's Peak episode where James and Brock became obsessed and possessed by some ghosty maiden.

I bet there are lots of angry bicycle monsters in Ash's Silent Hill.

When I was doing my sprint to the finish in Silent Hill 2, I was nowhere near as afraid as I thought I would be. I was still going eeeeee every few minutes and every time I met Pyramid Head I went AUGH RUN AWAY RUN AWAY, but I didn't have to pause the game and go somewhere sunshiney every fifteen minutes or so. My coping mechanism was the mantra, "sounds can't hurt me sounds can't hurt me," and a cup of tea near my hand at all times. Clearly the tea has given me nerves of steel.

You know, I wonder how well Azumanga Daioh would fair against Silent Hill? I put them together in my head and all I end up with is a message saying 'Please Do Not Attempt This Thought Again.'

Heh, as well as the knife being symbolic, you know when you first meet PH behind those bars? To see him properly, you have to be standing exactly opposite him. Now, think about that a moment. James, on one side of the bars, PH on the other, same pose, staring, unmoving. Like what, I hear you say?

Like a mirror.

I think that was my first inkling that maybe the town wasn't totally the problem.

Also the moment I saw it I turned around and sprinted back down the corridor whimpering.

(This news is made of so much rock. Clearly Hammond has the recuperative powers of Liquid Snake, which is brilliant because it means we'll get to hear him say I LIVE ON THROUGH THIS ARM in a REAL British accent.)

I could never play for more than about half an hour at a time. It was pathetic. Obviously I should have had tea.

My coping mechanism was the mantra, "sounds can't hurt me sounds can't hurt me,"

And you actually managed to convince yourself of that? For me it was something like this:

Riona: soundscan'thurtmesoundscan't -
Game: *BREAKING GLASS*
Riona: *JUMPS A MILE*

'Please Do Not Attempt This Thought Again.'

I have no idea what Azumanga Daioh is, but that message sent me into helpless giggles.

James, on one side of the bars, PH on the other, same pose, staring, unmoving. Like what, I hear you say?

Like a mirror.

AAAAAAAAAH

I HAVEN'T PLAYED THIS GAME FOR A YEAR AND A HALF HOW DOES IT STILL FREAK ME OUT?

(I LIVE ON THROUGH THIS ARM

...I don't even know what that means. I only know that it would be awesome.)

I think maybe my coping mechanism wasn't the tea, but my incredible powers of self-delusion, and also my snarky brother.

Azumanga Daioh is this wonderful, wonderful, ridiculous anime about a prodigy by the name of Chiyo being accelerated into high school. She is tiny and cute and pig-tailed and has a voice that causes teeth to fall from my head. I have often fondly called it my prozac for the soul. It's just about a bunch of Japanese school girls going through Japanese High School and it's all very ordinary and sweet and has no tentacles. It can also be trippy, but in an awesome Japanese way, not in a SCRAPING LIKE NAILS ACROSS THE BLACKBOARD OF MY SOOOUUUUL way, which is Silent Hill when it is trippy.

Essentially, it is as far from Silent Hill as it can possibly be without actually existing in a seperate dimension.

This lj roleplaying thing is harder than I thought. I keep catching myself posting messages in which James starts ranting incoherently about his brother hogging all the internet time, and how happy he is with his new formal dress.

(I LIVE ON THROUGH THIS ARM is the greatest plot device ever invented, and you should play Metal Gear Solid in order to discover its myriad ways of being awesome. The Plot Device Arm is only one of many, including two different crotch grabs, a vampire, time paradoxes (paradoxii?) and characters being inexplicably and intentionally (by the creators) gay with each other.)

I JUST REMEMBERED. What you said about needing to read Chibi Silent Hill 2 again? Did you know there was the beginnings of a flash version?

THAT IS AMAZING. Ahahahaha, James is so adorably insane! And the running along, with 'lol james' and the running music, and the ridiculous narrator voice, and oh, that's just fantastic. Thank you so much for linking to it!

("Wowee gee! A noise north of here! Let's go investigate!")

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