History Headscratchers / SilentHillShatteredMemories

**** I noticed that too, and after a few playthroughs found something that might explain it on a meta level. There's two conversational tracks Harry can follow while walking with Lisa. In one of them he mentions his daughter very early on, and Lisa's comment follows up on that. In the other, he doesn't bring her up, but that exact same follow-up comment from Lisa happens anyway. It could just be a glitch that's keeping her from saying whatever she'd say otherwise, or the developers overlooked her comment during the writing process. On the Watsonian level, though, yeah, it can just be taken as either evidence that it's real or just things being weird in general.

** It's another one of those things you can take two ways. Some of the stuff might have happened to Cheryl herself, like the date rape and the shoplifter, and maybe the party in the woods (though depending on how you play it, the party in the woods can lead to the girl drowning, so maybe not). If it's all happening in Cheryl's mind, then even the unrelated stories are imaginary allegories about Cheryl, reflecting her own feelings (the brother who died in the plant reflects her survivor's guilt, the John reflects her distrust of men and so on). That's probably the simplest explanation. Personally, I like to think that Harry's a mental projection who actually came to life one fateful night, like something out of ''TheTwilightZone''. Under that theory, since Harry's a sort of spirit himself, he can sense and interact with other psychic hot spots and restless spirits that are haunting the town. Some of the stuff might be Cheryl's memories, but others could be unrelated crimes and tragedies that have left their mark on the town.

** It's another one of those things you can take two ways. Some of the stuff might have happened to Cheryl herself, like the date-rape in the car and the shoplifter, and maybe the party in the woods (though depending on how you play it, the party in the woods can lead to the girl drowning, so maybe not). If it's all happening in Cheryl's mind, then even the unrelated stories are just imaginary allegories about Cheryl, reflecting her own feelings (the brother who died in the plant reflects her survivor's guilt, the John reflects her distrust of men and so on). That's probably the simplest explanation. Personally, I like to think that Harry's a mental projection who actually came to life one fateful night, like something out of ''TheTwilightZone''. Under that theory, since Harry's a sort of spirit himself, he can sense and interact with other psychic hot spots and restless spirits that are haunting the town. Some of the stuff might be Cheryl's memories, but others could be unrelated crimes and tragedies that have left their mark on the town.

** If the whole game's happening within Cheryl's mind, or Lisa and Michelle are projections, then the answer is just that that's how she imagined it and their giving Harry phone calls when they shouldn't know his number is a hint that none of it's real. If you take it as really happening but Lisa and Michelle are Harry's lovers as "Sleaze and Sirens" suggested, then... well, that gets into VoodooShark territory. If you take what's happening as more or less real, Harry probably gave Michelle his number during the period when he thought she'd been replaced by Dahlia (their phone conversation in the mall suggests that Michelle saw a different version of events, but the call disconnected before Harry could learn more). Lisa's a little weirder: maybe her panicked phone call for help wasn't a normal call at all, but a psychic effect like the ghost/memory messages, since she was so close to death. That'd explain why her phone call for help sounded so surreal and static-filled compared to one of the normal calls.

** If the whole game's happening within Cheryl's mind, or Lisa and Michelle are projections, then the answer is just that that's how she imagined it and their giving him phone calls when they shouldn't know his number is a hint that none of it's real. If you take it as really happening but Lisa and Michelle are Harry's lovers as "Sleaze and Sirens" suggested, then... well, that gets into VoodooShark territory. If you take what's happening as more or less real, Harry probably gave Michelle his number during the period when he thought she'd been replaced by Dahlia (their phone conversation in the mall suggests that Michelle saw a different version of events, but the call disconnected before Harry could learn more). Lisa's a little weirder: maybe her panicked phone call for help wasn't a normal call at all, but a psychic effect like the ghost/memory messages, since she was so close to death. That'd explain why her phone call for help sounded so surreal and static-filled compared to one of the normal calls.

** If the whole game's happening within Cheryl's mind, or Lisa and Michelle are projections, then the answer is just that that's how she imagined it and their giving him phone calls when they shouldn't know his number is a hint that none of it's real. If you take it as really happening but Lisa and Michelle are Harry's lovers as "Sleaze and Sirens" suggested, then... well, that gets into VoodooShark territory. If you take what's happening as more or less real, Harry probably gave Michelle his number during the period when he thought she'd been replaced by Dahlia (their phone conversation in the mall suggests that Michelle saw a different version of events, but the call disconnected before Harry could learn more). Lisa's a little weirder: maybe her panicked phone call for help wasn't a normal call at all, but a psychic effect like the ghost/memory calls since she was so close to death. That'd explain why it was so static-filled and surreal-sounding compared to a normal call.

* Why is there no [[NerdsAreVirgins "I'm a virgin"]] option to some of the more sexually charged questions on the surveys? I think it [[MissedMomentOfAwesome would have been]] a great opportunity for the game to [[{{Pun}} fuck with the player]] about their lack of sexual activity, especially if they act in a horny manner in-game. Perhaps it could be implied that [[{{Squick}} Cheryl was saving herself for her precious dead daddy?]]

** Kaufmann does say "you're clearly not getting enough" during the game (though I think he says that no matter what), and you can answer the questions and use the tests to suggest a very shy, introverted character with little sexual experience. Unfortunately, that seems to net "The Wicked and the Weak" ending (unless you follow it up by being a perv in the game, which would probably tilt the scales back towards the CharlieSheen endin... ahem, I mean the "Sleaze and Sirens" ending).
** Actually, if you just stop and explore everything, you'll pretty much definitely get the Love Lost ending. I'm pretty sure the therapy sessions don't effect the ending at all, only what you'll be seeing in the next area.
*** ''Actually'', I explored everything and got Wicked and the Weak the first time. I ran through a second time focused only on the essential tasks while also answering the therapy questions as an extrovert, and ''that'' lead to Love Lost. The walkthroughs and other wiki's back that up: introverted answers in the therapy sessions have the same effect as being rude to the characters, to the point that even being nice to the characters doesn't override it. According to most sources exploring is ''bad'' for the ending because the game interprets that as being unfocused and "easily distracted by trivial things.

*** It's pretty heavily implied, if not obvious in some cases, that all the people Harry talks with are also constructs. "Dahlia" isn't equivalent to Dahlia Mason, Michelle and Lisa are from a sex tape that was create 18 years ago and haven't aged, everyone seems to know things they shouldn't and act inconsistently, basically acting however the psych profile and Cheryl's wishes require, and they are a part of the Otherworld, freezing with it when it shifts to the Nightmare. Kauffman and Cheryl are the only real people.

** Since we don't get any information about them outside of the gossips, who are obviously deliberately trying to smear her name (see: trying to make sneaking a photo of her in the gym shower out to be something tawdry on ''her'' end), it's up to you how you read the photos. The one thing that's definitely true is that he was holding her in the first one, you can just see his hand on her back if you look close enough, but there are thousands of other fictional teacher out there who've hugged their students without it being anything other than a sign that they're a good teacher who cares about their students. Personally I always think her pose looks most like she was just caught in the middle of crying on him.

* How did Lisa and Michelle appeared in any game with an ending other than Sleazy and Sirens if Cheryl had no way to know them?

* The main page makes a few references to "Cheryl/Heather", but unless I'm missing something the game always calls her Cheryl. Is this some kind of reference to the first game? The only other one I've played is number 2.
** When Harry "hacks" the principal computer you can see the Heather part of her name.

* How come Harry doesn't ever bring up the Raw Shocks in conversation with the various NPCs he meets? He just outran some from the High School, and once he runs into Michelle, he only mentions he needs to get to the apartment. Hell, if I were in his shoes, I'd be like "Dude, what the frick were those pink things chasing me?".

*** ''Actually'', I explored everything and got Wicked and the Weak the first time. I ran through a second time focused only on the essential tasks while also answering the therapy questions as an extrovert, and that lead to Love Lost. The walkthroughs and other wiki's back that up: introverted answers in the therapy sessions have the same effect as being rude to the characters, to the point that even being nice to the characters doesn't override it. According to most sources exploring is ''bad'' for the ending because the game interprets that as being unfocused and "easily distracted by trivial things", which sends you back towards [=WatW=].

*** ''Actually'', I explored everything and got Wicked and the Weak the first time. I ran through a second time focused only on the essential tasks while also answering the therapy questions as an extrovert, and that lead to Love Lost, so no, I'm not just making crap up for the fun of it. The walkthroughs and other wiki's back that up: introverted answers in the therapy sessions have the same effect as being rude to the characters, to the point that even being nice to the characters doesn't override it. According to most sources exploring is ''actually'' bad for the ending because the game interprets that as being unfocused and "easily distracted by trivial things", which sends you back towards [=WatW=]. I did my research, so don't treat me like a liar just because you couldn't be bothered to do yours.

*** ''Actually'', I explored everything and got Wicked and the Weak the first time. I ran through a second time focused only on the essential tasks while also answering the questions as an extrovert, and that lead to Love Lost, so no, I'm not just making crap up for the fun of it. The walkthroughs and wiki's back that up: introverted answers in the therapy sessions have the same effect as being rude to the characters, to the point that even being nice to the characters doesn't override it. According to most sources exploring is ''actually'' bad for the ending because the game interprets that as being unfocused and "easily distracted by trivial things", which sends you back towards [=WatW=]. I did my research, so don't treat me like a liar just because you couldn't be bothered to do yours.

*** ''Actually'', I explored everything and got Wicked and the Weak the first time. I ran through a second time focused only on the essential tasks while also answering the questions as an extrovert, and that lead to Love Lost, so no, I'm not just making crap up for the fun of it. The walkthroughs and wiki's back that up: introverted answers in the therapy sessions have the same effect as being rude to the characters, to the point that even being nice to the characters doesn't override it. According to most sources exploring is actually bad for the ending because the game interprets that as being unfocused, which sends you back towards [=WatW=]. I did my research, so don't treat me like a liar just because you didn't do yours.