I Have Devoted My Life To Making Silent Hill Less Horrifying.

[rionaleonhart]

Actually, Amaterasu would have the easiest time ever in Silent Hill, wouldn't she? She'd try to get out, find herself blocked by one of those rifts in the road, paint the road back in and stroll across it. Even if she were somehow forced to go farther into the town, no making handles out of wax and horseshoes for her; she'd just need to paint in the trapdoor handle. And she could use the wind ability to blow the fog out of her field of vision! You've met your match, Silent Hill.

Did I mention that you all need to play Ōkami? Well, you do. It is an extremely good game. (I still want to see Katamari Silent Hill, too. Katamari Other Video Games In General, in fact. It would be awesome. Brushpainting Katamari! Squall and company being swept up into a Katamari just before they go in to face the Sorceress! And I want the Silent Hill level to have the cheeriest music of the lot.)

One essay to go!

Comments

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Katamari Damacy might have the strangest premise for a video game I have ever heard.

[rionaleonhart]

If you think the premise is weird, wait until you've played it. NA NAAAA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAAA NA KATAMARI DAMASHII...

We ♥ Katamari (the one I've played, because the original Katamari Damacy was never released in the UK) has a level in which you have to roll up the largest cow (or bear, or indeed cow-bear hybrid) you can. Apparently, cow-patterned vending machines and cow-print umbrellas count as cows. Who knew?

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Wow.

That would be weirdly funny in Silent Hill, actually. All the monsters lurch up to inflict psychological horror on him, and he just rolls them up before they get the chance.

I'm mentally crossing over two games I've never even played!

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

Can I steal your Katamari on Friday?

[rionaleonhart]

Absolutely! Does this mean you're coming over? Or that you're just going to appear, nick the videogame and then mysteriously vanish again?

[gasara.livejournal.com]

Instead of a Moogle, Lulu carries an Opeo... Instead of a Pyramid Head, Fujio comes to murder you... Yes indeed! Katamari NEEDS to take over the world! XD

[rubaiyyat.livejournal.com]

[Khor] Paint takes notoriously poorly to dust.

[foster9563.livejournal.com]

I can't comment on Okami or Katamari, cause I haven't played them, but everything ever can and should be crossed over with Silent Hill. It's like the ultimate crossover angst/horror fandom! If the psychological torture of 2 doesn't work, then there's the culty mindfuck from 1 and 3, and if all else fails, there's 4's CHAINSAW-WIELDING LUNATIC. Psychological torture usually does the job okay, though.

Say, which Silent Hill games have you played?

[rionaleonhart]

Silent Hill 2 is the only one of the series I've actually played all the way through. I played a bit of Silent Hill 4: The Room, And Also Everyone You Meet Dying Almost Immediately when I was staying with dracothelizard, but her copy froze at the end of Building World. And I saw the film, which I thought was, er, just a bit silly, really.

I absolutely agree that everything should be crossed over it. It is so fascinating to see how different characters experience and react to the town.

Ōkami is such a good game, and I would highly recommend that you play it if you get the chance. Katamari is just insane and bizarre and also curiously addictive.

[foster9563.livejournal.com]

Silent Hill 4: The Room, And Also Everyone You Meet Dying Almost Immediately LOL A lot of people hate that game, because it's so different from the others, but I once read a review that railed against SH2 for being so different from SH1, so whatever. I like it because it's so different and less intelligent! :D

I'd recommend playing through the others if you can get them. 3's easy to find, but for 1 you'll need a PS1 memory card, a good deal (probably at Amazon), and a lot of patience. You know how you can change the control style at the start of 2? In 1 it's 3D-style all the way. This is bad if, like me, you couldn't even get out of the toilets at the start of 2 without changing the controls. Also the map is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Seriously, nothing at all like the others.
Anyway, SH1 and SH3 are about the weird dark-god cult stuff that helped screw up the town so much, which is vaguely hinted at in the Rebirth ending of SH2. I like both of the protagonists more than I like James. Also if you have a saved game of 2 on your memory card, 3 has some special extra scenes mocking him!
Actually, there's a silly-but-accurate summary of SH1 here: http://zarla.deviantart.com/art/Silent-Hill-1-in-Summary-Part1-32588773

The film was basically SH1, but with a woman instead of Harry Mason, because a man going into Silent Hill after his missing daughter would be unrealistic. Also there was Pyramid Head and something about child abuse. Yeah, it was daft, but I liked it anyway. XD

I could go on about this literally all night. Silent Hill turns me into a giant dork, and I always forget how much I have to say about it until I start typing. I don't think anything else does this to me, except possibly Top Gear. ♥

I'll see if I can get someone to get me Okami for Christmas!

[foster9563.livejournal.com]

(Sorry for geeking out at you. Looks like I get long-winded and boring about things I love.)

[rionaleonhart]

It's all right! The entire point of this journal is fannishness, so people are always welcome to be fannish in the comments.

I've actually already read that comic-summary, because Zarla has basically been my Internet hero since I was eleven, but it's great to read it again! I have also read quite a bit about the games I haven't played, because, y'know, Silent Hill works its way into your mind and demands that you learn everything about it. BUT I CANNOT ACTUALLY PLAY THEM BECAUSE I AM A GIGANTIC COWARD AND SILENT HILL 2 RUINED MY LIFE. It is brilliant, but that does not make it any less life-ruining.

[foster9563.livejournal.com]

Man, I love Zarla's stuff. She got me into quite a few of my current obsessions. *has no life* XD

Randomly: My little sister (aged seven) has been obsessed with Pyramid Head since she was four and decided to play Silent Hill 2 with me. She draws pictures for me of Pyramid Head and Starscream (from Transformers) either skipping through fields together or slaughtering the Teletubbies. This is adorable, but she draws these pictures at school and nobody ever knows what she's talking about. This is possibly why Silent Hill has failed to ruin my life so far. It's hard to be scared of it when you have a card signed by 'Pirramid Hed (and Star Skreem)' sitting next to you.

[rionaleonhart]

That is adorable! And also terrifying! Er, I am glad to hear that apparently Pyramid Head has not traumatised your little sister for ever.

I will confess that he becomes slightly less terrifying when his name is spelt 'Pirramid Hed'.

[galaxysong9.livejournal.com]

So, umm, with the mention of Zarla I feel the need to bring up Phantasmagoria as the cheesiest-yet-somehow-scariest video game ever. Anyone else wish more video games used live actors wearing the same clothes for seven days straight?

I personally have devoted my life to making people (aka my wussy friends) play horror games, starting with the baby action-not-horror Resident Evil 4, which I still have to actually play for them while they just watch. But next on our list, Silent Hill! (Although if I mention Pyramid Head some of my friends whimper. :/)

[rionaleonhart]

The Phantasmagoria screencap adventure was hilarious. Although I ended up skipping over all the screencaps of the wives' deaths, because apparently I am easily squicked.

WHIMPERING AT THE MENTION OF PYRAMID HEAD IS PERFECTLY NORMAL.

[galaxysong9.livejournal.com]

I learned the hard way it was a bad idea to watch those videos at midnight.

After this, I'm pretty sure I can never take him seriously again. (http://www.newtrackandfield.com/atg/characters)

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Aw, who's a cute little Pyramid Head?