Somehow Cole Train was the first person I thought of when I met Wheeler, both are stereotypes with some similarities. I don't consider it extreme, it's just the association I have. I just got out of the Shepherd's Glen prison and during the short time between when he releases me from the cell till Schisms attack he says "Shit" 3 times and he even says "helluva".
The problem I have with Wheeler is that his personality lessens the experience for me. Not because he cusses, but all the things he does wrong.
I just don't think that he belongs in the game, his dialogs are poorly executed. There are obsolete words and the sentences are awkwardly constructed. Basically the quality of the message he is trying to communicate is low and therefore less clear.
There are 3 problems I have with this.
1. I prefer the more cryptic dialogs where the message was unclear because the meaning was hidden, you would have to think and analyze it. Not that the message is unclear because Wheeler isn't cultivated enough to make a sentence that tries to make sense.
I found a couple of interesting remarks in Homecoming and I really liked some of the moments where you meet other people in the game too. Just not some of the parts with Wheeler.
2. One of the things I like about Silent Hill is that you can be philosophical, there are so many hidden messages in the games in forms of metaphors, imagery and themes. Basically nothing is a coincidence, nothing is obsolete, but filling up the vocabulary with words and sentences like this are.
I'm not saying that I want the characters to talk as if they where feudal lords from the 1700's, but I just don't want mature and decent thought provoking conversations rather than stereotyped and braindead ones.
I'm going to compare it with fast food, once in a while it's ok and it feels good. But it's not like real food that exceeds fast food in the quality in nourishment. By eating fast food as a habit the traditional values are slowly lost and the quality of the food is lowered.
3) I like that the whole fog world atmosphere is so surreal and puzzling, it's almost like a dream or a nightmare. In order for me to live myself into the whole experience I like to keep it this way, there's nothing ordinary or normal about what's going on.
When I met some of the other characters they would point out how strange things are and how unreal it all seems, sometimes the way they talked was as if they where abstract, like if the reality of what was going on was irrelevant. I don't know how to describe this, but there is something deep and satisfying about that, it almost feels like I'm in a pleasant and lucid dream. It is realistic, but it's nor ordinary, and it allows me to completely immerse myself into the experience.
As soon as wheeler says "shieeeet, where not going that way" pulls out his shotgun and yells "why won't you die?" somewhat wakes me up from that feeling.
I hope that I'm making some sense here.
Greiver wrote:on that note why then did you let it pass for homecoming?
Because the next time I will let Wheeler die, I'm going to sit there and watch him slowly die with all those knives stabbed right into his chest and stomach. (Obviously I wasn't the only one who didn't like him) = )
In all seriousness I'm pleased with the Homecoming, overall I am very happy. The game isn't flawless but the things they did right allows me to see past the flaws. I can still immerse myself into the story, the music and the atmosphere without being too bothered about it.
I'm just a bit bummed that I've already swooped through the game, I still have some thing to do though.