Chest Infinitum

Henry's locked in his apartment and can't get out. Bless.

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amphreded
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Chest Infinitum

Post by amphreded »

As we all know, Silent Hill 4 is the first and the only game out of the series with a limited character inventory. A storage box with endless space is introduced as an alternative with less convenience. The chest is also a clever device used by the game creators to lure players back to The Room. It helps improving the odds in which the players might experience strange occurances. Basically I think the creators don't want us to miss one of the game's best parts - the hauntings.
But does the chest contain more significance?
Apart from "This chest could hold a lot of stuff," Henry does not say about nor speculate the item any further. Personally I do not think the chest holds any symbolisms. James or Heather could carry ten shovels on their shoulders but yet, they don't show any signs of encumberence. Juding from this, Team Silent does not wish to conjure symbolisms on the infinite inventory space on previous SH games; thus I'm asking myself, why would it be for SH4? I could take a guess to build up a convincing explanation on the symbolisms of the chest but I would be dishonest to myself, because I do feel that the chest holds no connotation.
The point of the thread is, then, does anyone have a "solidified" idea on the symbolism of this chest? By "solidified," I mean that I don't want people to come in and just make something quasi-reasonable up, but I want people to present an idea which is based on either facts or little details that make the idea more plausible than just being "possible."
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Post by Taoy »

...

Team Silent wants to start creating more action based survival horrors (like, for example, Resident Evil), so storage box systems and the like are slowly being nudged into the series to get us used to it before the big fat makeover!

:)
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Post by Æ »

Well, one thing notable on the chest is the fact that if you leave the Doll there, the hauntings will appear more often. But I doubt that there is some sort of spell between the Doll and the chest. If there is any connection, it´s between the room itself.

One thing I´d like to know is if the chest was already in the apartment before Henry moved in.

Other than that, I can´t see any other option, nor did I find any symbolism about chests anywhere. I believe Konami put it there, for you to come back to the apartment more often (like you said) and because there is no option to drop the items anywhere (it takes a lot of RAM to do thid anyway).
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Post by toadstool »

i think its great, it puts more ummph to the survival part of the game
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Post by The Adversary »

I don't remember if Henry indicates that the chest has been there since before he moved in, but I have a feeling he does. I don't have my annotated script for Silent Hill 4: The Room so I can't verify it presently, but if someone does, that'd be great.

Supposing it was there first, it would be Joseph Schreiber's, Henry having moved in shortly after his disappearence. Otherwise its being there, and its abysmal space, probably implies its relation to the [otherside], and how it's to be used for that purpose. It's obviously not going to be same "dimension" in reality, after Walter is defeated.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

I always figured his limited inventory was supposed to be symbolic of Henry being mentally "weaker" and insecure and whatnot. I had a post with a bit of evidence to atleast explain it, but I can't find it right now. I'll get back to this thread when I do.
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Post by amphreded »

AuraTwilight - please do, I'd like to see how the limited inventory is a sign of Henry's weakness.

Does anyone know whether South Ashfield Heights offers furnished rooms to new tenants? I always feel that the chest is in The Room from the start (i.e. when Walter's biological parents lived there). However, as far as I recall, the other rooms do not contain a similiar chest; thus the chest isn't a pre-furnished but rather was brought in by one of The Room's tenants. Joseph? Walter's Parents? Henry? Other? Or could I be Walter himself that brought the chest when he returned to The Room as an adult? Does anyone remember whether in the intro can we see the chest in The Room already? If the chest is there when you play as Joseph, we can cut out Henry as one of the potential people who's responsible for the chest.
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Post by Æ »

The chest was already there in the intro. The only X button pressage says "What the hell is this?" Nice
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Post by Allen »

I got a little thing cooking in my head.

Walter wants you to have the doll, you can take it from his hand and if you dont, its there after he leaves.

Now Walters goal is to kill Henry correct? Since Henry worked his way to apartment world, Walter was worried that Henry might make it to the end of the game or whatever, so Walter devised this plan to kill Henry knowing that the chest was still there since he moved in.

If you put the doll in the chest, a group of crying children's shadow's appear above the chest later on that inflict damage to you I believe. So, that is why Walter gave Henry the doll, or tried to give him the doll, a little insurance in case walters creatures failed.

I have no idea if this is true, I just thought about it 5 minutes ago.
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Post by The Adversary »

There's nothing to indicate that the chest has been there since Walter's birth, and Walter certainly wouldn't know the chest was there at his birth because, well: newborns don't remember anything, and he hadn't been in the apartment since.

>a little insurance in case walters creatures failed.
Walter didn't create the monsters.
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Post by Allen »

I kinda figured that they weren't "his" monsters as there's nothing to indicate that they where his to begin with. Thats just how I spat it out.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Walter didn't create the monsters.
Then who did?
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Post by kennsj »

^ This question is answered by the article Burning Man translated, to which St. Thomas linked in the "Walter Sullivan is cool" thread.

I always thought of the inventory box as being a glory box/hope chest. Y'know, those chests women would traditionally fill with things for their dowry, or in more recent times with things they could find practical usage for once they marry. Christening gowns are often a traditional feature of the items collected in a glory box/hope chest.
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Post by Xev »

I think it is Joseph's. Henry says, "Looks like you could hold a lot of stuff in there" or something like that. Despite that it gives you the hint youre to be putting items in the chest, it says to me that Henry is unfamiliar with the chest itself.
For its meaning, I do not think there is an alternate meaning to the chest.
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Post by Krysta »

Apart from gameplay mechanics I see no major significance to the chest . Without the chest player would probably visit apartment in order to save only. While Konami had 'bigger plans' with the room and wanted that gamers would experience Henrys alienation. It was big risk from gameplay point of view using archaic storage system but also a necessary evil
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Post by amphreded »

starsail1929 wrote:I think it is Joseph's. Henry says, "Looks like you could hold a lot of stuff in there" or something like that. Despite that it gives you the hint youre to be putting items in the chest, it says to me that Henry is unfamiliar with the chest itself.
For its meaning, I do not think there is an alternate meaning to the chest.
I don't think it's Joseph's since (thanks to Piranha) in the intro, Joseph says "what the hell is this" when you inspect the chest.
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