Nine save points

James got a letter. From a dead person. Oh dear.

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fragilen1n
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Post by fragilen1n »

The 9 squares are featured on a shirt, in the strategy guide, and the 9 square layout is symbolic in Japan. I've seen it in movies and it's in the game link I provided earlier.
There's no possible way it just means "OMFG SAVE NOW!!!11"
Great-grandparents is kinda redundant isn't it? Because they're not your grandparents, shouldn't they just be your greatparents?
Anonymous

Post by Anonymous »

I agree entirely with Pink_isn't_well000 (hope you get better soon, by the way) I thought it was the game saying "It might be an idea to save here!"
Anonymous

Post by Anonymous »

fragilen1n wrote:The 9 squares are featured on a shirt, in the strategy guide, and the 9 square layout is symbolic in Japan. I've seen it in movies and it's in the game link I provided earlier.
There's no possible way it just means "OMFG SAVE NOW!!!11"
Yeah. So on those t-shirts or the strategy guide, it means like "This guy who's wearing this shirt with the nine squares is a mo fo!" or "This is the mo fo'ing accurate strategy guide!"




:mrgreen:
Anonymous

Post by Anonymous »

Why is the number 2 any more significant than 3 than it is 4 or 5 or 6 and so forth? I'm sure we could keep coming up with occultic, religious or spiritual meanings to each and every number.

Here's the simplest and most straightforward idea:

"Hey! You're at the end of the game! This is it! I'm the highly visible and ominous-looking marker, so the truth is probably ahead!"

"Nawww...I was just yanking you. There's nothing special ahead, swearsies!"
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Post by Doola »

Dont know if anyones noticed but, in the morgue after the prison, the holes go 3 up 3 across, making nine corpse holes...
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Post by Captain Rio »

I never notice these things :x but i thought that all the save points were there to make sure you save.
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The 8th Aspect
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Post by The 8th Aspect »

Umm, they are. Where've you been?
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Post by Captain Rio »

The 8th Aspect wrote:Umm, they are. Where've you been?
I should have rephrased that....

"I thought that the 9 save points at the end were to make sure you save almost as a warning that the chance you're going to die is high beyond that point"
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Post by The 8th Aspect »

Aah...that makes sense much more sense.
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Post by Anonymous »

Would anybody care to argue with the point fragilen1n made?
Because, although I have seen numbers of people who believes it's just a warning to the player to save the game, I have not seen many people who gave reasoning to that opinion.
fragilen1n wrote:The 9 squares are featured on a shirt, in the strategy guide, and the 9 square layout is symbolic in Japan. I've seen it in movies and it's in the game link I provided earlier.
There's no possible way it just means "OMFG SAVE NOW!!!11"
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Post by The 8th Aspect »

>Because, although I have seen numbers of people who believes it's just a warning to the player to save the game, I have not seen many people who gave reasoning to that opinion.
I beg to differ, there's some good reasonings people have stated earlier:
Sometimes it's hard to know when one is crossing the line of being analytical and being anal with Silent Hill theories.
I personally don't know why there are nine squares; pretty much everyone's contributions made sense and are plausible.

The way I see it, the pre-Pyramid Heads fight cut scene is arguably the most important moment in the game, and it needed something suitably climatic to precede it. Playing through SH2 for the first time without spoilers, and seeing so many save points in one place instantly makes you realise that you’re about to face something of great importance.

The only problem I have with any of the theories presented is that most are specifically relevant to the other SH games.
Satan, God and Yggdrasil are all associated far more heavily with games three and particularly one, than with the second game.

Yes, any one of those could be completely right, but it seems to me that they might have been just building up to something.
I'm with you, Goodnight, actually. I don't believe there being nine at this point has any more significance than simply: Save it, doughbag. The save points by themselves, however, do have meaning, which I briefly covered above, but the collection of nine is just a warning.

Not to say that there isn't, or that what's mentioned isn't interesting, that's just my own interpretation.

Though I will throw this out there: It's the cover of the packaging for the Japanese version of the game, and scratched into the wall beside it reads The darkness that lurks in our mind.
I am also of the opinion that these are purely a warning. Throughout Silent Hill 2, save points crop up here and there and they don't look particularly startling. The fact that 9 are suddenly in front of you tells me that YOU'D BETTER SAVE NOW. It's a pretty clever thing which has been done. Lets face it - if there was only the one red rectangle there (an ordinary savepoint) how many of us would have simply ignored it and charged into the hell hole next door? The fact that there is a grid causes suspicion. You are sure they are save points, but had better examine it just in case it's a puzzle. Therefore the save game screen appears and it's likely you'll save for the hell of it.
Personally, this one's my favorite:
I believe it means...SAVE because they next thing is a mo fo!!
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Post by safcftm33 »

Pink_isnt_well000 wrote:I believe it means...SAVE because they next thing is a mo fo!!
lol me too, just a big number of saves, because if you dont save here your fucked.
Empty_Eyes

Post by Empty_Eyes »

I'm of the camp that belives it has meaning.... here are a few refrences to support this idea... some of these may have been posted already my apologizies in advance.

The Japanese consider 9 to be unlucky, however. (all Taken from wikipedia unless stated otherwise)

According to Anton Szandor LaVey, as written on his book The Satanic Rituals, 9 is the number of Satan. (I don't really hold stock in this one... but it may have played apart so it's included for conclusivness sake).

Norse mythology recognized nine realms of existence. Eight of the realms were embodiments of opposites: fire and ice, heaven and hell, creation and destruction, and light and darkness. These realms all converged on the center realm where humans lived out their lives. (not really relevent again... but the idea of the realms of the exsistence sort of works)

The ancient Egyptians believed that a person had to earn the right to enter the afterlife. Before an individual could pass into the next realm, nine great gods known collectively as the Ennead had to judge his worthiness. (This I think is an important aspect, because this is such a huge turning point in the game, it's James's realazation {sp})

n the mythology of the Mayan civilization, there existed nine levels in the underworld. Metnal, the ninth level, was a place of eternal darkness, cold, and suffering.
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Post by Anonymous »

safcftm33 wrote:
Pink_isnt_well000 wrote:I believe it means...SAVE because they next thing is a mo fo!!
lol me too, just a big number of saves, because if you dont save here your fucked.
The 8th Aspect and safcftm33, you guys mean you didn't like my post?
That just brought some tears to my eyes. :(
EJay wrote:
fragilen1n wrote:The 9 squares are featured on a shirt, in the strategy guide, and the 9 square layout is symbolic in Japan. I've seen it in movies and it's in the game link I provided earlier.
There's no possible way it just means "OMFG SAVE NOW!!!11"
Yeah. So on those t-shirts or the strategy guide, it means like "This guy who's wearing this shirt with the nine squares is a mo fo!" or "This is the mo fo'ing accurate strategy guide!"




:mrgreen:
But, seriously, just the fact that the 9 squares are on the game package cover points out it's anything but just a reminder to save, don't you think?
I have no knowledge or intelligence like Empty_Eyes, but I can see that at least.
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Post by GioGio »

To me, the only thing that came to mind at that moment was "I better save"
but with SH, there's usually a meaning behind almost everything.
Last edited by GioGio on 23 Apr 2006, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Anonymous »

OK, I gave up. :?






<EDIT>Ohhhhh, you can't edit and change your post like that, after you shattered my hope, GioGio. :mrgreen:(j/k)</EDIT>
Last edited by Anonymous on 24 Apr 2006, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Goodnight »

I've already said it, but I agree that it's just saying "Save here, this is an important fight".

In regard to the design on the t-shirts and whatnot - It's distinctive and immediately ties in to the SH2 game specifically, it's bold, it's one colour, and very simple. It's perfect in terms of mass-production design.
Empty_Eyes

Post by Empty_Eyes »

Goodnight wrote:I've already said it, but I agree that it's just saying "Save here, this is an important fight".

In regard to the design on the t-shirts and whatnot - It's distinctive and immediately ties in to the SH2 game specifically, it's bold, it's one colour, and very simple. It's perfect in terms of mass-production design.
Despite the fact that I do think there is some amount of symbolism there... I have to agree on the mass production quote.

[quote="EJay]I have no knowledge or intelligence like Empty_Eyes, but I can see that at least.
[/quote]

Laughs.... I just did some quick wikipedia research no special knowledge on my part, other then I know that Numbers have significance in various cultures... I don't buy into numerology, but for a game, or something it's something to think about.
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Post by The 8th Aspect »

>The 8th Aspect and safcftm33, you guys mean you didn't like my post?
That just brought some tears to my eyes.
I never think that about anyone's post...unless they go against my beliefs! j/k

Really tho, the quotes I pulled out kinda argues both side with the 'you better save here' emphasis. I was just throwing that out there. :wink:
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Post by Anonymous »

Well, when I think back about the 9-square t-shirt, the idea of "this person is a Mo Fo!" actually is getting and getting to sound cool in me :shock: (Although I've never seen that merchandise in person)

Anyways, let me clear up my thoughts here.
I didn't go numerical like some other theorists to see it but went graphical.
Whenever I see the 9-square graphics, somehow I always imagine prison cell bars.
I don't know why myself. I guess it just makes sense to me personally that James was a prisoner of his self-mental torment.

I basically like the theory (which was discussed in Page2) of that the red saving point is the window to the outside world (probably “the reality”). If that's so, the idea of the 9-saving points represents the complete window blocked by the bars might not be too wild.
To me, I feel like the package art of the Japanese Playstation2 versiontells us that the story is about a guy who is trapped behind the bars (It also says "The Darkness that Lurks in Our Mind" which seems to be the sub-theme of the game at the lower right side on the wall).
(Now, I have no clue why they used an Angela's picture on the North American release that was released the earliest, though.)

Then, I feel like that the creators went backward to show us the hints of every elements in the game, and used "a piece" of his window as a save point.
At the last moment, when we (James) are ready to see the truth of James' Silent Hill, they unveiled the whole shape of his "window".
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