How about no Otherworld?

Post by **cascade88** » 12 Apr 2010

alone in the town wrote:How about a subversion? Make the Otherworld nice?

Actually you know, I'm not entirely sure how that would work, but it would be a twist I suppose. Instead of having the world alter and shift, to not go, "Oh god, here comes the Otherworld..." but to go, "Oh great, here comes reality."

Or even if you still were to have an adverse reaction the Otherworld showing its face, it could be quite dissonant and unnerving for the game to accomplish making you feel as if the nicer world was to be feared.

The way I'm imagining it in my mind at the moment is that you're in the 'real world', fighting off monsters, and then it becomes the 'nice' world, with no monsters. Not quite like SHSM did it, not rushable chase sequences, but still. And then after you accomplish the next puzzle or get to the next location and the nicety disolves, you just get this feeling of total dispair for reality returning. It could certainly be interesting if played right.

Post by **alone in the town** » 12 Apr 2010

I was thinking along the lines of a dark, dreary, unpleasant 'normal' side, with an [otherside] which is more pleasant, yet also clearly more divorced from reality (i.e., physical boundaries and laws are much less strictly enforced).

Post by **Catch22** » 12 Apr 2010

So the otherworld would be somewhat dream-like and surreal? Hell, given the psychological nature of many SH games, that could work in so many ways... Even if it wasn't psychological, it kind of relates to the cult's view of the otherworld as paradise.

Post by **alone in the town** » 12 Apr 2010

Maybe.

I was thinking of it more as a tribute to the Doctor's Journal found in Brookhaven Hospital in the second game, which hints to the possibility of [otherside] being more pleasant than reality for some people.

Think of it on these terms:

"NORMAL" OTHERWORLD: Decorated in some form of that good ol' [otherside] decay, but also have it host elements of the character's real reality. It could symbolize how crapsack his real life is, and feature elements of the things which hurt or haunt.

"NICE" [OTHERSIDE]: This isn't just normal-looking, it's NICE. In here, we see what the character wants in his life. However, because he's probably crazy, and because this manifestation is totally imaginary, there will be plenty of evidence that this isn't supposed to be real, either. Possibly, elements of 'real reality' will occasionally manifest as truth within the illusion. It would nominally feature much which is contradictory to what we gradually learn to be true, and the deeper this gets, the more fantastic and unreal its appearance, as the character tries harder and harder to lose himself in this pleasurable place and keep out all the stuff which hurts.

Perhaps, you could use the "NICE" [OTHERSIDE] to initially make the player think it is actual reality, instead of the usual concept of both halves obviously not being real.

Post by **SHF** » 12 Apr 2010

i always figured that the foggy world was this otherside that you mention, which was read about in the brookhaven hospital. and the rusted, dangerous otherworld is the nightmare/fear sequence

Post by **Catch22** » 12 Apr 2010

alone in the town wrote:Maybe.

I was thinking of it more as a tribute to the Doctor's Journal found in Brookhaven Hospital in the second game, which hints to the possibility of [otherside] being more pleasant than reality for some people.

That doesn't necessarily mean that their otherside looks or functions any differently. That could mean that they find the traditional fog and isolation calming or pleasant, even with the monsters lurching around. I think it's more a point of view than the nature of the world itself.

However, I don't really remember that journal...

Post by **RedPrismHead** » 12 Apr 2010

alone in the town wrote:Maybe.

I was thinking of it more as a tribute to the Doctor's Journal found in Brookhaven Hospital in the second game, which hints to the possibility of [otherside] being more pleasant than reality for some people.

Think of it on these terms:

"NORMAL" OTHERWORLD: Decorated in some form of that good ol' [otherside] decay, but also have it host elements of the character's real reality. It could symbolize how crapsack his real life is, and feature elements of the things which hurt or haunt.

"NICE" [OTHERSIDE]: This isn't just normal-looking, it's NICE. In here, we see what the character wants in his life. However, because he's probably crazy, and because this manifestation is totally imaginary, there will be plenty of evidence that this isn't supposed to be real, either. Possibly, elements of 'real reality' will occasionally manifest as truth within the illusion. It would nominally feature much which is contradictory to what we gradually learn to be true, and the deeper this gets, the more fantastic and unreal its appearance, as the character tries harder and harder to lose himself in this pleasurable place and keep out all the stuff which hurts.

I like this idea! The characters lose themselves in their own dementia

Post by **alone in the town** » 12 Apr 2010

>That doesn't necessarily mean that their otherside looks or functions any differently.

It definitely does, and Laura is the proof.

Memo Title: Doctor's journal
The potential for this illness
exists in all people and, under
the right circumstances, any
man or woman would be driven,
like him, to "the other side."

The "other side" perhaps may
not be the best way to phrase it.
After all, there is no wall between
here and there. It lies on the
borders where reality and unreality
intersect. It is a place both close
and distant.

Some say it isn't even an illness.
I cannot agree with them. I'm a
doctor, not a philosopher or even
a psychiatrist.

But sometimes I have to ask
myself this question. It's true
that to us his imaginings are
nothing but the inventions of
a busy mind. But to him, there
simply is no other reality.
Furthermore he is happy there.

So why, I ask myself, why in the
name of healing him must we drag
him painfully into the world of our
own reality?

(Something else is written by hand.)

I got the key from Joseph.
It's probably the key to that box.

Post by **Catch22** » 12 Apr 2010

You're right, I totally forgot about that. But how much the otherside can actually be altered is debatable. But anyway, thanks for reminding me of that. I do love that note.

Post by **NanayaShiki** » 12 Apr 2010

I think that idea is pretty neat. But I doubt they would try it. Most people would probably whine that it isn't "Silent Hill enough".

Post by **saevitia** » 12 Apr 2010

AITT, I love that idea. A 'beautiful' otherworld that is still very *wrong*.

Post by **ashatteredmemory** » 12 Apr 2010

(back on-topic)The otherworld is still part of what Silent Hill is. Take out the otherworld, and you can play any old Resident Evil.

But still it could be possible to have the "nice" otherworld.
But i was thinking of some kind of "sandy-rocky" otherworld.
But i think it could be cool to sometimes visit real world, apart from foggy world; however, these should be very short moments

Post by **saevitia** » 12 Apr 2010

I also like the idea of getting 'flashes' of the real Silent Hill. Like, phantom people going about their business monetarily flicker into view...

Post by **NanayaShiki** » 13 Apr 2010

ashatteredmemory wrote:(back on-topic)The otherworld is still part of what Silent Hill is. Take out the otherworld, and you can play any old Resident Evil.

But still it could be possible to have the "nice" otherworld.
But i was thinking of some kind of "sandy-rocky" otherworld.
But i think it could be cool to sometimes visit real world, apart from foggy world; however, these should be very short moments

I quite like the Otherworld, but I disagree with it being "needed". I also think that saying the series would be Resident Evil if you take it out is ignoring and simplifying too much of what makes Silent Hill stand out.

Have we really reached the point where we refuse to let go of series staples regardless of the fact that unexpected and new things is a huge part of what made the series so fresh in the beginning. As long as the game is good and stays true to what Silent Hill is, the decision to include the Otherworld or not shouldn't matter.

Post by **saevitia** » 13 Apr 2010

I think taking out the Otherworld would take out all of the 'layered reality' that seems to be present in SH. It's not just, the town, and the outside world, but that there are varying states and gradations of reality/perception.

I like that.

Post by **Apocali** » 13 Apr 2010

I also really like the idea of a "good" Otherworld, it would be a very interesting path to take.

Post by **liquidus118** » 13 Apr 2010

Yeah I like the idea of a nice Otherworld too. It'd be cool if the protagonist thought that this nice Otherworld was reality, and that the darker otherworld/ foggy world were nightmares, and then graudually as this nice world became more abstract (Perhaps like James in the Abyss) he would realise that he's still just stuck in a nightmare no matter what.

Or perhaps make the nice otherworld nice to the character, but not to 'normal' people (ie the players). For example the character may be a sadist and their ideal world is one of people suffering, but in a very nice, civilised environment.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 13 Apr 2010

Or perhaps the nice Otherworld isn't the main character's, but signs of the person he's trying to find, or whatever? Imagine, hypothetically, a man seeing a little girl playing in a beautiful park, and followed her there by following bright flowers. When she runs from him, things start shifting to nastiness...The pattern of Foggy > Sunny > Darkness quickly can become nerving.

Post by **phantomess** » 14 Apr 2010

I wouldn't want the otherworld to be omitted. While I'm admittedly a fan of the classic SH1-style otherworld, I'd be interested to see an otherworld of a different style or even of a quite different nature, like some of the things that have been suggested in here.
But it's important for dread and fear to be maintained at a decent level.

Post by **AgentX7k** » 14 Apr 2010

I wouldn't want the usual shifts to traditional other-world (ie. SH1/3/0/5). But I wouldn't mind a new-type of other-world or perhaps something like SH2/4 did.