Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2020-02-18 09:07 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2020-02-18 09:07 am
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You Can't Just Kill Someone 'Cause Of The Way They Looked At You.
Rei's girlfriend took a look at this journal and said, 'You can mention me by name, you know,' so she will henceforth be Tem!
Tem and I were reminiscing about the Silent Hill games, so I dug out my copy of Silent Hill 2, which I haven't replayed in well over a decade. I did make a brief effort a couple of years ago, but I abandoned it twenty minutes in because our late cat Mabel crept into the room and I realised she was terrified, poor thing.
Our current cats do not fear Silent Hill. I wonder what it was that upset Mabel. It must have been something about the noises. I wasn't expecting sounds designed to unsettle humans to be so scary for a cat.
I'm glad this game gave me a fondness for grey skies and ugly architecture. They're useful things to appreciate when you live in London.
Rei came in while James was first meeting Maria, watched for a moment and said, 'Wow, this game is really bad.' Both Tem and I were scandalised. Look, yes, you can tell it's from an era when videogame companies just cast whoever happened to be standing around the office rather than hiring actual voice actors, but Silent Hill 2 was hugely influential for a reason!
I accidentally said 'sorry, Mary' when I ran into Maria, and I feel that's very appropriate.
Ginger wandered in while I was playing and made the observation that, when using the steel pipe, James attacked by shoving it straight into the enemy's crotch. I was struck by the simultaneous, terrible realisation that a) Ginger was absolutely correct, and b) it was almost certainly an intentional animation choice.
The first time I played Silent Hill 2, I'd already thoroughly spoiled myself on everything, including how to get the various endings. (We had a PS2 magazine that detailed how to get the different endings in mirror print, which I thought was a clever way of making sure nobody accidentally spoiled themselves!) I very deliberately went for the Leave ending.
I'm trying not to deliberately influence the ending I get this time around, but it's tricky! I'm trying to play as I would if I had no idea what influenced the outcomes, but my heart still wants Leave. How am I supposed to know how often I'd heal myself if I didn't know it influenced the ending you get?
I've just realised I've already slipped up; I've been examining every item I obtain, except Angela's knife. I can't pretend that's natural, unspoiled behaviour. I suppose I'd better grit my teeth and take a look.
I still love James Sunderland. A constant beacon of reassurance, reminding me that, no matter how bad my decision-making is, there's always someone who's worse.
Tem and I were reminiscing about the Silent Hill games, so I dug out my copy of Silent Hill 2, which I haven't replayed in well over a decade. I did make a brief effort a couple of years ago, but I abandoned it twenty minutes in because our late cat Mabel crept into the room and I realised she was terrified, poor thing.
Our current cats do not fear Silent Hill. I wonder what it was that upset Mabel. It must have been something about the noises. I wasn't expecting sounds designed to unsettle humans to be so scary for a cat.
I'm glad this game gave me a fondness for grey skies and ugly architecture. They're useful things to appreciate when you live in London.
Rei came in while James was first meeting Maria, watched for a moment and said, 'Wow, this game is really bad.' Both Tem and I were scandalised. Look, yes, you can tell it's from an era when videogame companies just cast whoever happened to be standing around the office rather than hiring actual voice actors, but Silent Hill 2 was hugely influential for a reason!
I accidentally said 'sorry, Mary' when I ran into Maria, and I feel that's very appropriate.
Ginger wandered in while I was playing and made the observation that, when using the steel pipe, James attacked by shoving it straight into the enemy's crotch. I was struck by the simultaneous, terrible realisation that a) Ginger was absolutely correct, and b) it was almost certainly an intentional animation choice.
The first time I played Silent Hill 2, I'd already thoroughly spoiled myself on everything, including how to get the various endings. (We had a PS2 magazine that detailed how to get the different endings in mirror print, which I thought was a clever way of making sure nobody accidentally spoiled themselves!) I very deliberately went for the Leave ending.
I'm trying not to deliberately influence the ending I get this time around, but it's tricky! I'm trying to play as I would if I had no idea what influenced the outcomes, but my heart still wants Leave. How am I supposed to know how often I'd heal myself if I didn't know it influenced the ending you get?
I've just realised I've already slipped up; I've been examining every item I obtain, except Angela's knife. I can't pretend that's natural, unspoiled behaviour. I suppose I'd better grit my teeth and take a look.
I still love James Sunderland. A constant beacon of reassurance, reminding me that, no matter how bad my decision-making is, there's always someone who's worse.
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And isn't that the real gift of Silent Hill?
Fun fact: the film of the game, which I call Silent Hill Starring Sean Bean, was shot in my city. So were scenes of Hannibal, Umbrella Academy, Black Mirror, Handmaid's Tale, and quite a few others. Parts of my city look like trash, so it's great for dystopia and/or horror, or just being Detroit-but-affordable. Actors I appreciate are frequently here and I never, ever run into them or even know until approximately two years later. It's my own manifestation of Silent Hill's endless nightmares!
Just kidding, I don't actually care that much. OR DO I?
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I can imagine.
Yeah, that's kind of perfect.
"Ugh, I make the worst decisions! I can't imagine anyone making worse life choices than me"
"James Sunderland."
"You're right. I feel better."
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I still love James Sunderland. A constant beacon of reassurance, reminding me that, no matter how bad my decision-making is, there's always someone who's worse.
Words to live by.
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I haven't played the HD version myself, and I'm a little wary of it; it seems like so much of the game's atmosphere comes from the PS2's limitations. But, if it could introduce new people to this game, I'm glad it exists!
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I thought the same about the mirror print! It must be tough to avoid spoiling people in a print magazine, but they found a clever way around it.
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Squeem and I watched Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House series late last year and very much enjoyed it, but one of our (many) critiques was that it ruined a lot of perfectly terrifying scenes by turning the camera full on the scary thing and taking all the mystery (and, by association, all of the horror) out of it. I think one of Silent Hill 2's really remarkable achievements is that instead of being anticlimactically goofy-looking, the monsters are more unsettling the more you really look at them. Pyramid Head just radiates menace and force and judgement, while every other creature fills me with an awful mix of horror and pity and revulsion that no other fictional horror story has managed to pull off. While making James beat them with a pipe until they stop moving, underneath all of the terror and disgust there's a bit of mercy, and a bit of anger at this pitiful disgusting creature for making me do this. All of which is horribly, horribly apt!
I accidentally said 'sorry, Mary' when I ran into Maria, and I feel that's very appropriate.
James Sunderland does this as well. (I almost just called him James, which didn't feel right. He is absolutely the sort of man you refer to by his full name. Usually in a worried and slightly pitying tone. Also it just made me picture James of Team Rocket.)
an era when videogame companies just cast whoever happened to be standing around the office rather than hiring actual voice actors
I burst out laughing at this.
it was almost certainly an intentional animation choice.
I hate you for pointing this out.
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God, yes, and it's awful to think about. I woke in the night and saw this comment and then lay awake for a few minutes, haunted by my mistakes, which I feel is the intended Silent Hill experience. I too have fucked up, James. I mean, not as badly as you. You're on your own in this specific situation.
While making James beat them with a pipe until they stop moving, underneath all of the terror and disgust there's a bit of mercy, and a bit of anger at this pitiful disgusting creature for making me do this. All of which is horribly, horribly apt!
I was just nodding along until the implications hit me, going 'yep yep yep wait oh my God no'.
Also, I would leave to read more about how you first picked up SH2 and what your first impressions were, if you remember!
I never expected to play this game. I was really bad with horror as a teenager. But, back in the days when I read
Then
Then I started looking up walkthroughs and symbolism analyses and transcripts, and eventually I had to admit that I should probably just play the game.
I have a vague recollection of going into a game shop and finding a preowned copy and picking it up and thinking 'this is such a bad idea'. I just thought 'in my memory, it's not the usual game shop I went to; where was I?' and went to investigate. The receipt's still tucked away in my Silent Hill 2 box: the seventh of September, 2004. The text is almost invisible by now, but I can just make out that it was the GAME on Kensington High Street; I don't know why I would have been there. Trying to piece together my past from a faded fifteen-year-old receipt feels very Silent Hill.
My first impressions of the game are a bit muddied in my mind, because I looked up so much about it beforehand. This was before YouTube really got going, so I hadn't seen any videos or anything - all my research was text-based - but it's still hard for me to say with confidence what I already knew about and what I experienced for the first time when playing. I think I'd looked things up in pretty heavy detail, because I knew, for example, puzzle solutions and certain jumpscares in advance; I never had to sit around, going 'what am I supposed to do with this lighter, horseshoe and wax doll?' (Or maybe I played with a walkthrough to hand? It seems like it would have been inconvenient when I didn't have a smartphone; I think it genuinely was a matter of having been so fascinated by the game that I'd read walkthroughs before I even started playing it.)
What I can tell you about my genuine first impressions: I started playing it with the lights off, and then had the 'hey, why is James looking at that car? is it a health drink AUGH NO IT'S A MONSTER' moment and physically jumped and never played it without the lights on again. I also remember that Pyramid Head was absolutely terrifying. And I quickly warmed to James, my travelling companion in this terrifying town, whereas I don't think I had particular emotions towards him before I started playing.
I also warmed quickly to the maps. I found James's scribbles on them very comforting.
I'd be interested to hear how you got into the game in return!
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YES. also I laughed at the next bit.
Trying to piece together my past from a faded fifteen-year-old receipt feels very Silent Hill.
This is delightful.
the monsters are supposed to be psychologically tailored to the specific character they're attacking
It is SUCH a good concept and the fact that they have not made a lengthy franchise of very good games about it just baffles me.
I think I actually watched my brother play the game first! Which is true of most games; my parents refused to buy us a gaming console, so my brother got a job delivering flyers to save up for a Sega Genesis. Before that he'd inherited a Coleco Vision console from a friend.
I think he must have read a review of the first Silent Hill game in a magazine. I remember finding the opening scene terrifying, and being extremely freaked out by the shadow baby things in the school. The game did a great job of contrasting the horror with the mundane environment.
I remember being very very excited to play Silent Hill 2 and watching this trailer over and over again. It has this excellent version of Theme of Laura in it, and for a long time the only music file I could find of it still had the trailer noises in it. ("I'm here for you, James.")
When he actually got the game and I watched him play it, I remember being blown away by the detailed graphics in the bathroom at the beginning, being terrified of Pyramid Head -- and YES the bit with the CAR aauuggh. I think we missed a LOT of stuff on that playthrough. We definitely got stuck on one of the puzzles - maybe the one with the medallions? (We had only one family computer at that time, so checking a walkthrough was a big production and impossible to do if my father was online.) I know that I had some sense of the concept, at least, that the town looked different to Eddie, Angela, and Laura, and being very disturbed by Eddie's "they look like monsters to you" speech. But I don't think we actually put it all together and I can't recall if Kadrin was the one who clued me in about it or if I looked up what the ending meant -- we got "In Water". So I really only appreciated how well-crafted it is after the fact, and then of course went back and played it on my own a few times.
never played it without the lights on again
A WISE CHOICE.
I haven't played very many other horror games, but every so often I get into the mood to watch a whack of horror movies and I've found very few that scare me and definitely none that have impacted me the way this game did. It's just so sad and dreadful and personal and bleak and unsettling and sometimes ridiculous. I'm almost afraid to try and play it again, in case the graphics make me laugh too hard or I sympathize with James too much.
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'They look like monsters to you?' is from the third game, I think! Although I do coincidentally associate it with Eddie, because of this exchange a few days ago:
Riona: Where is Eddie getting his pizza? Who is delivering pizza to Silent Hill?
Tem: Pizza? That looks like pizza to you?
I'm almost afraid to try and play it again, in case the graphics make me laugh too hard or I sympathize with James too much.
The graphics actually hold up okay; it's still a PS2 game, obviously, but the character models look fine and I think horror games can benefit from dated graphics in a way other games don't. (I never noticed before, but, when James is looking out over the lake at the beginning, the lake is clearly an actual photograph; it works surprisingly well!) The second concern is extremely legitimate, though.
If you do ever replay it, I'd love to hear about the experience!
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I think horror games can benefit from dated graphics in a way other games don't.
This is a great point!
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That's a really impressive observation re: the camera work! I only caught only one or two of these during my initial watch. Tell me your secrets.
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Pyramid Head: *crunchy Ace Attorney penalty noise*
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Look, yes, you can tell it's from an era when videogame companies just cast whoever happened to be standing around the office rather than hiring actual voice actors
I love this.
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The canonical ending is whichever ending you get; there's nothing within the game to indicate that any one ending is the 'right' one. I think a later, almost entirely unrelated game in the series has a throwaway line that suggests one particular ending is more likely, but my attitude is that Silent Hill 2 is a self-contained story, so I don't really consider anything external to the game to be concrete canon.
(Well, I suppose I'll accept it if the creators ever say the true ending is the ending where it turns out all the events of the game were masterminded by a dog.)
It's one of the coolest 'multiple endings' systems I've ever seen, actually. It takes various small actions into account to determine how much James, as you play him, cares about particular characters, and what sort of future would be most likely for him. There are no 'do you do this or do you do that?' obvious branching points; if you played it without knowing beforehand, you wouldn't necessarily realise there were multiple endings at all.
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I love all the white-ish classical buildings in central London - well, the classical part I can definitely take or leave, but I feel like the off-white goes well with the grey :)
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