A story from the perspective of a Silent Hill cult member?

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NightlyOne
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A story from the perspective of a Silent Hill cult member?

Post by NightlyOne »

What if the story of the next Silent Hill game actually took place from the perspective of someone who is an active member of Silent Hill's cult? Perhaps a person who violated cult regulations or is trying to sever their ties from the cult, and now must endure the consequences for doing so. Perhaps a game with a protagonist that behaves like Vincent from SH3; part of the main sect of the cult, but also exercising his or her own free will which ultimately garners the wrath of the cult.

If you recall, all of the other games' protagonists were outsiders or just visitors to the town. So, what we really only get is an "outside look" into how the cult and how Silent Hill works. But so far, there hasn't been a game that has actually been done with a protagonist who was actually born and raised in Silent Hill. The only game that came closest to doing this is Homecoming; however, although the Shepherds were part of the cult, they were part of a different sect and weren't actually from Silent Hill. Alex was also never technically a practicing member - he was just a normal person destined to be caught in the crossfire, given the conditions his family faced.

But other than that, I think it'd be interesting if there was a story told from someone who's actually from Silent Hill and/or has been a part of the cult that is primarily based in Silent Hill. Instead of starting "from the outside and working in" like other SH games do, this one would start "from the inside and work its way out". I believe that such an approach could provide an "inside look" into the practices, the beliefs, and the way the cult operates, as well as add even more shrouding mysteries to the mythology and workings behind Silent Hill. I guess what I'm saying is, I'd like to see another Homecoming (in a sense), but have it based solely on a current or "in-the-process-of-leaving" member of a sect based in Silent Hill, and not that of a neighboring town.

What are your thoughts/opinions?
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sorata
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Post by sorata »

I think one of the thing I appreciate Silent Hill's story was that it keeps on making the player asks the question "why does _____ end up being in Silent Hill?" Even though later on in the story reveal it might be lack of a grand reason. But still, I always like to know what is the "dark secret" of that person while I play.

So the thought of having someone who is already living in Silent Hill might make me less intrigue about what is happening to the person. To me, if he is a cult member, it will end up being a lot "running away from the cult" than "trying to find the truth".

That being said, I'm sure if they take those route, they can always come up with a story that will work. I personally is sick of the cult storyline. SH2 is my favourite of the series and it barely touched the cult storyline and I like that.
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Post by spunkytexan »

I have always liked the cult aspect. More in the flavor of 1 and 3 and Origins.
I think they could find a way to mix the member trying to get out, and maybe have them have discovered a terrible secret that they wanted to tell someone and had to leave to to do it?
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Post by 11/21 »

This would be a very awesome idea for the newest game. But come on, we all know it isn't going to be this awesome. :lol: But we can hope!
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Post by Mephisto »

Like I said many times: I would love to control an Order member. But the game could get more action-ish and all that shit. Plus the fanbase will start to murder each other.

The cult is awesome, get over it.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Only if it can be the last cult story: Once you play as someone from the Order, we've totally run out of ideas.
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Post by NightlyOne »

sorata wrote:I think one of the thing I appreciate Silent Hill's story was that it keeps on making the player asks the question "why does _____ end up being in Silent Hill?" Even though later on in the story reveal it might be lack of a grand reason. But still, I always like to know what is the "dark secret" of that person while I play.

So the thought of having someone who is already living in Silent Hill might make me less intrigue about what is happening to the person. To me, if he is a cult member, it will end up being a lot "running away from the cult" than "trying to find the truth".

That being said, I'm sure if they take those route, they can always come up with a story that will work. I personally is sick of the cult storyline. SH2 is my favourite of the series and it barely touched the cult storyline and I like that.
I understand where you're coming from. The concept of "seeking the truth" is prominent in all Silent Hill games. This is just off the top of my head, but a possible remedy could be that the protagonist starts questioning the "truth" of the Order, and set out to find the real truth, only to be met with severe opposition from the Order itself.

Hell, I just got a bigger (and maybe better) idea:

Playing off the "amnesia" concept, another idea could be that the protagonist was under the influence of white claudia. But through some kind of accident (perhaps an exposure to aglaophotis), he/she is free of the control the Order had, but doesn't remember who they are. So he/she must roam Silent Hill to find clues about who they really are or were before they were a Order member, all while the Order is trying to re-subjugate or even exterminate the protagonist.

Now, this is kind of taking a page out of SH3's book, in a sense, but because the protagonist is no longer under the influence of white claudia, they probably now view the other Order members as "monsters". I'm drawing this from what Vincent said to Heather: "They look like monsters to you?". Thus, it's from this that we can possibly see the rise of a "personalized" Otherworld for the protagonist, with monsters being other Order members.

Further adding to the "personalized" Otherworld (and taking a page out of SH2's book in terms of subconsciously manifested monsters and suppressed memories), other creatures found could represent the protagonist's deeply subconscious guilt over his/her past atrocious actions or deeds while under Order influence, such as killing and torturing innocent people. However, because the protagonist is not fully aware of his/her past deeds (they may just feel guilty, but are unsure why), he/she doesn't realize the significance behind these creatures until learning about his/her past deeds, and realizing why he/she felt guilt in the first place.

The way I think it could be pulled off is if you're playing the game without knowing you're actually an Order member, but through the story, the protagonist becomes aware of what has happened and of his/her past both before and during their stint as an Order member.
Mephisto wrote:Like I said many times: I would love to control an Order member. But the game could get more action-ish and all that shit. Plus the fanbase will start to murder each other.

The cult is awesome, get over it.
Yeah, that's one of the things I believe would probably put a lot of people off - the concept would probably put more of an "action" spin to the game. But people are looking for more "horror" than "action" when it comes to Silent Hill games. While I do personally prefer "horror" over "action", I'd still take a Silent Hill game any day.
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Post by simeonalo »

That sounds cool. It would be great if all these idea threads were merged with the Silent Hill 6 Ideas? topic, because I don't really like browsing throughout topics that were already discussed in the other topic.
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Post by Mephisto »

^ Funny how you think about only your problems. Also, says the one that wished the Cult was gone. This "sounds cool" comment was just an excuse to talk about that "Silent Hill 6 ideas" thread. You don't fool me. You did it before, many times.
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Post by spunkytexan »

actually,

So, a female cult member with secrets from the 1800s and is drug back to the past as the "otheworld".

Viola!
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Post by LittleRed »

I was never too crazy about the cult or the Order or anything. I think its too easy for those kind of characters to spiral into a "delusional evil fanatic" cliche, which I don't find to be a very threatening adversary.
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Post by Silent One »

Been tired of the cult for a long time now. Wish they'd go back to the town itself being the mysterious force rather than a couple of human yahoos.
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Post by Yiyo-chan »

Silent One wrote:Been tired of the cult for a long time now. Wish they'd go back to the town itself being the mysterious force rather than a couple of human yahoos.

IAWTC.
Not that i have a big issue with it.. But come on. SM showed me that i don't need to see the cult and all their shenanigans in order to enjoy playing it...
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Post by LeriSuccubus »

I really don't want to see the cult again. I never really liked them very much anyway.
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simeonalo
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Post by simeonalo »

Mephisto wrote:^ Funny how you think about only your problems. Also, says the one that wished the Cult was gone. This "sounds cool" comment was just an excuse to talk about that "Silent Hill 6 ideas" thread. You don't fool me. You did it before, many times.
I want the cult to be gone, , but that doesn't mean that I don't want to play as a post-cult character who still views the world on a member's POV. And it wasn't an excuse to talk about it, I'm just sick of all these ideas popping up, I mean, we already have one thread for that, it's not really fair... :(
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Post by NightlyOne »

simeonalo wrote:
Mephisto wrote:^ Funny how you think about only your problems. Also, says the one that wished the Cult was gone. This "sounds cool" comment was just an excuse to talk about that "Silent Hill 6 ideas" thread. You don't fool me. You did it before, many times.
I want the cult to be gone, , but that doesn't mean that I don't want to play as a post-cult character who still views the world on a member's POV. And it wasn't an excuse to talk about it, I'm just sick of all these ideas popping up, I mean, we already have one thread for that, it's not really fair... :(
Hey, feel free to call me blind, but I don't see the "Silent Hill 6 Ideas" thread anywhere. I think I do recall seeing such a thread days/a week ago or so, but now it's nowhere to be found.

Was it deleted? Or am I just severely overlooking it? And sorry to be adding to the... erm, "inconvenience". :P
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Post by ww_andi »

i am doing a fan game with the main character was born and raised in silent hill however it was as little to do with the order as possible

at the beginning he lives in the out skirts of the town near to where wish house is
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simeonalo
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Post by simeonalo »

It's in the General Discussion section, just look, it hasn't been seeing posts in a while.
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Post by NanayaShiki »

As I said before, you can't blame people for not seeing the thread when it isn't in this section. If you really have that much of a problem with these threads, ask a mod to move the Ideas thread to this section. If they don't, then they are fine with the way things are being done and complaining about it won't do any good.

Anyway, personally, I don't really like this idea. Mostly because I am sick of The Order. But also because I think playing as a member of it would take away from the feeling of being caught up in something bigger than you are, which you get from being an outsider. That outsider point of view is a part of what I like about the main characters of the series.

Besides, if we take Homecoming as canon, the original Silent Hill version of The Order is dead and gone. There may be fragments here or there, and the Shepard Glen's version may have some people still alive after Alex's raid on their base. But, the main cult is gone.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Besides, if we take SH3 as canon, the original Silent Hill version of The Order is dead and gone. There may be fragments here or there, and the remaining stragglers may be disbanded without Claudia's support. But, the main cult is gone.
Fixed that for you. :3
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