Why is Silent Hill 2 so brillant?

F · Post by F » 13 Nov 2005

Miserably. Watch it next time.

Post by **Red Pyramid** » 13 Nov 2005

You know what I didn't like that much? Silent Hill 2.

Seriously, nothing made it brilliant. I guess Konami decided to make up for the smooth, awesome graphics by giving the characters clunky, pixellated personalities. James and his hole fetish got old fast. But the main thing about this game was that it was the ultimate futility. See, when I play a video game it becomes my struggle. I saw every horrible thing he had to see, I puzzled over the riddles he found. I practically felt it whenever I took an injury...and what was nine hours of my life worth? Nothing! James's whole adventure is an excercise in futility. You fight to save Maria but she always dies. You battle the PH's but they kill themselves in the end. You find your wife but you have to kill her. James went to Silent Hill because he wanted to be punished, and he was punished by failing again and again at saving his wife. When he realizes all he wanted was a good spanking the monsters skewer themselves, probably because they got tired of hearing his listless voice, and then he goes and kills himself.

Give me Silent Hill 1 or 3 any day, where my characters win!

Post by **Artemis Panthar** » 13 Nov 2005

But the main thing about this game was that it was the ultimate futility

Bingo!
Last I checked, life rarely ever had a 'happy' ending and humans rarely ever win, especially against themselves. A human can struggle and fight every day and end up in the same or worse situation.

Most people (that I know) don't play Silent Hill to get the typical video game happy ending, where everything you did paid off because "Horray we won!" and whatnot. But if that's what you need to like a game when then obviously you didn't like it. And by that fact I don't reckon you like life very much either.

Post by **Red Pyramid** » 13 Nov 2005

Well you have a pessimistic view on life. It seems that you've played too many dark video games. Life has no ending at all, except of course, death. It is many good and bad things strewn in the same pot and happiness comes from accepting that.

I play Silent Hill for the same reason I play any video game: to win. If I want to be shocked or scared, or psychologically challenged, I'll read a book. Video games are challenges to be mastered and I was disappointed when the reward for my challenge was a permanent swim. If I was sent into a town like silent hill and I fought my way through only to discover that the whole point was to get a good spanking, well, that's kind of pointless and lame and pointlessly lame. But if it was to defeat a terrible spirit who wants to consume the world in its wicked darkness, well, in the words of Douglas, "That's a pretty good reason to risk my life."

Silent Hill is a great series because it puts in your hands a man of average ability in a world of supernatural darkness, and in the end you win. In SH2 you are in a world of darkness that is purely your invention, and you still lose. That's why I don't like it.

Post by **Burning Man** » 13 Nov 2005

...in the end, you win?

In my opinion, none of the Silent Hill games except for one ending in Silent Hill 4 -The Room- has the protagonist "win." I think it's just a matter of perception, really. I mean, obviously, since you got the worst ending in Silent Hill 2, you're going to feel bad. If someone got the Possessed Ending on their first try (which I know isn't possible, but...), then that person might say the same thing you just said.

I really didn't see any closure when I acquired the Normal Ending in SH3. What exactly did Heather accomplish? She went to Silent Hill to get her revenge, but that she didn't get. Her goal was never to kill off God. She doesn't even understand what it is supposed to be.

Post by **Littlestardweller** » 13 Nov 2005

I believe you both have points.

Of course there's downs and ups and all those inbetween in life, you both know that, we all know that. There can be as much depth (and even more) in happiness, progress towards happiness as there is in the dark side. But personally I believe all the fulfillment is in the progress.

I like how Silent Hill 2 is presented because it gives a hope for very different directions the medium of videogames can evolve to. The most real-time, physically interactive visual entertainment medium is probably videogames, I think. Why not really experiment in this genre that could have the power to create a dialogue with the user? I like to see how they take ideas and feelings, stories and such you'd see more often in novels and films into videogames.

But at the same time, for me it's not a totally refreshing, original, ice-cracking story, characters, endings etc that stretches beyond all those mediums. I'd like to see that.
Some of the visuals in Silent Hill 2 hinted and sometimes did this for me though.

Hmm, but I found Silent Hill 3 quite depressing. I felt more depressed than with Silent Hill 2 for some reason.

Post by **Red Pyramid** » 13 Nov 2005

Okay, I do hate happy endings too. Sure the protagonist doesn't win. Even in the best scenarios Harry loses his daughter and Heather loses her father, but the point remains that evil has been vanquished by ordinary men. They have done a great thing, even though their own more selfish ends were left unfulfilled. It's a bittersweet ending and I like it.

Post by **[ m a r i a ]** » 14 Nov 2005

It has an amazing storyline, especially towards the end. It's just like '...wow'. It has characters who seem so different until later when you realize how alike they really are, in more ways than one *ahem*. I was a little disappointed that it lacked the wonderful grimey-ness of SH1, but it was still great. The music was not near as creepy as the music in SH1, but it was still good in a more beautiful, melodic way, which can also be creepy in its own way on occassion. Obviously, the game has great graphics, especially compared to its PS1 predecessor, but I'm not that shallow.

I love how everything flows, and how everything is past and future intermixed. You start off in the end and work your way to the beginning, so to speak.

Plus....it has Pyramid Head.

Post by **Red Pyramid** » 14 Nov 2005

Yes, Pyramid Head could single handedly redeem any game, even that crappy LOTR RPG.

Post by **Goodnight** » 14 Nov 2005

I think it's a little bit of everything that makes the game so stunning.

The graphics, the characters, the story, the soundtrack, the setting, the monsters... if any one of those things were different, the game wouldn't be the masterpiece it is.

I highly doubt any game will ever surpass SH2 for me, personally.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » 21 Nov 2005

the graphics the ppl in it make the game so billiant the game is so good i love it (well i love Pyramid Head the most

) the day i beaten it the first ending i got was Leave i was shocked but when James and Laura was leaving the town i was well alittle happy because the game kicks ass mostly when i said there watched the Making of Silent Hill 2 i got more into it the graphics are almost like for-real it's spooky to much but ultra cool im not scared of the game well i was with the first when i was 11 but oh well Silent Hill 2 has to be the most greatest game well i like MGS the most though i still like Sh2

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » 28 Mar 2006

alessa_was_here wrote:I thought that Silent Hill 2 was so great because of the way that it grasped onto the storyline and made it so real and raw. I think that all of us, in some way, can relate to the way that James feels/felt about Mary and her situation. Love can be a dangerous thing, it can make us do stupid things, but at the same time it can make us be real. I think that James' delimma and the way he ultimately resolves it is the reason that Silent Hill 2 affects each of us in such an intense way.

I think this element was big for me.
When I played the first SH, I felt it was sub-par as a video game. Than I lost my appetite and forgot about the series, but I saw the intro of the SH2 somewhere. I lost my girlfriend by a disease three years ago (at that time), so I quickly got curious about the game. I bought a copy of the game then, but I really could not touch it for a year, because I was sure that would remind me of her. At that time, I really did not want to think back about her. Now, I guess the time has healed me out a bit and I regained a gut to look straight. (When I found out that James actually stopped Mary's life, I thought WTF

, but that's another story.)

I'm a guy who never has a problem with any scary movie or anything, but this one got me quite good for three days after I finished playing. I think you know what I mean. It's just different from ordinal method to scare people. It makes you realize your demon and makes you live next to insanity.

I still think the game play of SH2 is lame and the graphics and the music are OK level comparing to other forms of art. But I agree those elements together make the game pretty convincing.

Now, I feel I got enough of SH, so I don't think I will ever find my time to play 3 and 4 in my life. I don't think there would be any other video game that makes impact on me more than this. It's like the "Leave" ending in the real life. I feel like I found something that I needed going through this whole process, and I probably don't need to come back to Silent Hill.

Post by **sweet_weeping_silence** » 28 Mar 2006

Wow, that's quite the story. It sounds like you've found something you were looking for before, and it's good that you found it and grew from it. I also commend you for having the courage to play a game like that after something like that happened to you. I don't know if I could have done the same. I'm glad you found your peace in Silent Hill...as strange as that sounds....it seems like you really did.

Post by **Chris Sunderland** » 29 Mar 2006

"I still think the game play of SH2 is lame and the graphics and the music are OK level comparing to other forms of art"

the gameplay,sure,but the music and graphics are excellent.The music is some of the best in any medium ever,to me. You got quite the story there too,useing silent hill as a tool to heal your own suffering.SH2 had that sorta effect on me at the time too,but not like yours.

Post by **Son_of_Kauffman** » 29 Mar 2006

The storyline of the SH serie is great.It says that even evil can be defeated, yet, with loses.

Post by **dan abnormal** » 29 Mar 2006

i like silent hill 2 because of the brilliant boards of canada style soundtrack and the it is the only silent hill which i own.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » 30 Mar 2006

First of all, thanks sweet_weeping_silence and Chris for your warm comments.
It sure felt very strange because I found many things about James and Mary were similar to us. At leaset I felt so and became quite emotional.

Yes, I still can't figure out why but this game makes us feel like we are one of them.
I think those characters in the game are not total strangers to any of us. I think any of us could be James, Eddie, Angela, Mary, or Ernest any day. Or maybe already are.

Another thing is.........
I know a lot of younger guys read this forum, so I should be careful not to give any negative influence, but is killing people really eccentric matter to us?
No no, I haven't done it. At least I don't think so.
But..........

That's why I was haunted for three days AFTER I played the game.
To me, the scary part was not playing the game. It's after I realized the whole concept and when I go to bed and look into myself alone in the dark. Then my demons crept out and stalked me around in my mind.

Mary's letter starts from the words "In my restless dream, I see that town. Silent Hill..."
Our "Silent Hill" is in our dreams.
Your dream is not always clear (foggy?), and things happening in it tend to be suggestive of your sub-conscious.

I always liked the words "Fear is an illusion" said by Michael Jordan.
But now I realized illusions could haunt people.
If you become aware of this, you start to wonder where the border of sanity and insanity is.

Your biggest fear lies inside of you.
Not any monsters or evil ghosts out there.

Post by **the man in the planet** » 30 Mar 2006

i'll get reamed up and down for this, but quite simply, i liked SH2 best because it didn't have all the convoluted mystical aspects of SH1 & SH3. it was a complete, self-contained, interesting story with some creepy (but symbolic) monsters and an emotional center. plus lots of sexual imagery.

Post by **Truegosu** » 30 Mar 2006

The Storyline.... music and characters + gameplay and the timeplay = Perfection

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » 30 Mar 2006

SH2. Characters just were perfect, I really LOVE these characters in this game, expesially James and Mary/Maria. Pyramid Head is the most scariest and horrofied thing, what I have ever seen. That Pyramid Head/Gate scene in Blue Creek's, first time it was really s-c-a-r-y. Story is perfect, I don't personally know another game, where would be better storyline. MGS is close, but too far. Voiceactors were good, that guy who act's James was impressive, without him, James wouldn's be so James what he is, lol.