12th Feb: A new policy is being put in place for TRS threads: If there is no evidence provided in the Opening Post that the page is broken, the thread will be nuked immediately. See Everything You Wanted To Know About Changing Names for what constitutes evidence.
5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here
In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised you'd take me there again someday, But you never did. Well I'm alone there now... In our "special place"... Waiting for you...
Silent Hill 2 is the second game in Konami's Silent Hill franchise; it is considered by numerous fans and critics to be the franchise's apex and holds a place on a number of critics' "greatest games" lists.SH2's story and character are almost wholly unrelated to the previous game: James Sunderland receives a letter from his wife Mary asking him to meet her in their "special place" in Silent Hill, which they visited together once on vacation. There's one problem with this letter, though: Mary is dead.Despite knowing it's impossible for his wife to be alive, James travels to Silent Hill in order to discover who's behind the letter and why they sent it. Upon his arrival, he finds only a cold, oppressive, and seemingly-abandoned town shrouded in a perpetual fog. During his exploration of Silent Hill, James meets several people: Angela, a disturbed runaway; Eddie, a psychopathic slob; Laura, a young girl who seems to know Mary and bears a grudge against James; and Maria, a stripper bearing a remarkable resemblance to Mary who begs James to protect her.As James searches for the truth, he is confronted by a menagerie of increasingly symbolic monsters; most notable amongst these Hellish creatures is Pyramid Head, who rapes and assaults his fellow monsters and murders Maria over and over. James discovers that his journey through Silent Hill is a very personal one, as he is forced to confront his fears, vices, and sins — as well as his guilt over Mary's death.SH2 features Multiple Endings, and which one a player sees is determined by James' general behavior throughout the story (rather than specific choices at certain junctions). Like other "classic" Silent Hill games, SH2 has a theme to its story: guilt and a person's ability (or inability) to accept and overcome it.
Amnesiac Dissonance: One of the characters eventually discovers something about themselves that they tried to mask. Who was it?: James was involved in hastening Mary's death, causing him to have his memory of the fact repressed
Another Side, Another Story: The "Born from a Wish" sub-scenario in the collector's edition, where you play as Maria just before she meets James out by Toluca Lake.
Anticlimax Boss: Pyramid Head. When you first meet him, you'll just have to evade his attacks till he leaves. Near the end of the game, you encounter TWO Pyramid Heads. You'll have to repeat the same process, then they'll just spontaneously kill themselves.
Apocalyptic Log: Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away!
Awesome, but Impractical: The Great Knife is highly powerful and makes you feel powerful like its past owner but it's beyond slow to even have equipped. Now try fighting with it.
Maria's is James' confusing her with Mary, which is strange, considering she does it occasionally.
President Evil's plot guide, analyzing the "Born from a Wish" sub-scenario, suggests that Maria doesn't have any identity outside of "surrogate Mary" — and she realizes this. It confuses and hurts her that her only purpose in life seems to be to torture some sad and lonely dude that she's never met before by representing his dead wife. She can'tnotconfuse herself with Mary, but it still hurts her when she and others do.
BFS: The Great Knife. Unusually, the game realistically portrays how impractical such a weapon would be in real life — James drags it as he walks, and has to struggle to even lift it for a strike. Pyramid Head himself even drags it along slowly and takes a while to do the overhand swing.
Big Bad: Arguably James himself. Or, more specifically, his repressed guilt brought to life by the town. Come on, guess.
Boss Corridor: The final hallway to Mary's room. As with most things, the time you linger in this hall affects the ending. A similar hallway, this one lined with newspaper murder headlines, precedes the Doorman.
Chainsaw Good: In a New Game Plus, you can find a chainsaw in the forested area near the beginning of the game.
Chekhov's Gun: Angela's knife, which James obtains after the cutscene in the Blue Creek Apartments, is sort of a Chekhov's gun. Frequently looking at this item in the inventory and allowing James's health to get low will result in the "In Water" ending, in which James commits suicide. Sort of because, though the knife isn't used in the actual act, it is implicated in suicidal ideation.
In the Brookhaven hospital, James finds a Dry Cell Battery. Later, in the Silent Hill Historical Society, he has to use it because his flashlight suddenly goes out after finding a key.
James came to Silent Hill with the intention of committing suicide, although he only goes through with it in the In Water ending. Quite literally.
Angela, although it's slightly ambiguous, as it's not certain that she and James are seeing the same things.
Elevator Snare: Lucky for James. Not so much for Maria. In fact, the closing of the doors seems triggered to make James see the full grisly consequences of his self-preservation.
Exclusive Enemy Equipment: Subverted with Pyramid Head's weapon, the Great Knife. Later in the game, this weapon can be picked up in a room in the labyrinth.
Played straight with the spear the Great Knife is replaced with.
Hellevator: The lift that marks the end of Toluca Prison and the start of the Labirynth. The doors close by themselves, and it's a ride downwards at a reasonable speed that takes a full minute to be completed.
During a long ride in the Brookhaven Elevator, JAAAAAAAMES's radio picks up a macabre game show, complete with wacky host.
I Got Better: Maria reappears in the prison after being fatally impaled by Pyramid Head in the hospital basement with no explanation apart from insisting that they were "separated in that long hallway".
Implacable Man: Pyramid Head. No amount of damage can harm him, and he often appears without a cutscene, providing an excellent source of Paranoia Fuel, especially in the basement of the hospital, when you realize oh god he's right behind me. All you can do is run.
Incurable Cough of Death: Used in the "Maria" ending to imply that Maria will suffer the same fate as Mary.
Inescapable Ambush: The first battle with the Pyramid Head. The door inexplicably closes behind James. He tries to open it, obviously, but to no avail.
I Never Told You My Name: Maria calls James by name in spite of the fact that he never introduces himself. James never comments on this or responds to it in any way, and it's far from the only knowledge she should not have and yet does.
Law of Disproportionate Response/Rant Inducing Slight: "'Anyway?' What do you mean, 'anyway'?!" Maria's outburst is triggered by James's "not seem[ing] very happy to see [her]" after she "was almost killed back there."
When Eddie snaps things quickly go south after he runs into James the last time.
Let's Play: Several let's plays have been done of Silent Hill 2. Agent JR's youtube Let's Play can be found here, From Earth's hilarious screen shot Let's Play can be found here and Iktor's blog Let's Play (and first play through ever) is here
Angela. Throughout the game, it is hinted at that she was abused by her father. A newspaper article that James finds later more or less confirms that she killed him, possibly in self-defense.
Eddie claims this.
"Do you know what it does to you, James? When you’re hated, picked on, spit on, just 'cause of the way you look? After you’ve been laughed at your whole friggin’ life?"
Mercy Kill: James claims that Mary's death was this; his overwhelming guilt after the fact is what sets the events of the game in motion. Whether or not he did it out of mercy is ambiguous - James's admission and reasoning, and whether Mary accepts and forgives or hates him is different in each ending.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: The nurses◊, though their constant twitching makes it difficult to see. Conversely, the Otherworld nurses have only a bare hint of a face.
Nightmare Sequence: Silent Hill 2 seemingly shifts into this type of experience during and after exiting the hospital. This is the only time of the game where the town becomes dark, for one. The character is lead to a "Historical Society"; from there, James encounters features unlikely to exist, such as a very-very long stairway, and very deep man-made-looking holes that don't cause injury from jumping into them. Also, one room has a deep hole that is protected by a prison bar-gate, with doors and ceiling features on the walls making this a hallway that has been rotated down 90 degrees. Additionally, James encounters a labyrinthine area with dead-end halls occasionally found. The nightmare seems to end after James gains a significant insight, and this places James back into the foggy town from earlier.
Not so Different: Angela, Eddie, and James have all caused severe bodily harm to somebody, and felt summoned to Silent Hill as a result.
The characters of the story (discounting Maria and Laura, since one isn't real, and the other might not be real) have much more in common that seems apparent at first. Eddie, Angela, and James have all come to Silent Hill because of a murder they committed - James, his wife; Angela, her father; and Eddie, who shot a man who pushed him too far.
In Eddie's case, he didn't actually kill the man, he shot him in the knee and killed his dog. Also, while it is true they are not so different, it's not because of what they did, but because of the guilt they felt. All of them felt that they should be punished for their actions.
Oh Crap: James takes seeing Pyramid Head raping a monster about as well as you'd think he would.
You can also make the enemies essentially have one, by equipping the Great Knife, and turning off the flashlight. The enemies will hear the knife dragging on the ground, and run.
Ominous Save Prompt: How about NINE of them arranged in a bright red square on the Hotel's top floor?
Parental Incest: It's suggested that Angela was sexually abused by her father and her mother was aware of it but didn't intervene, actually telling the girl she deserved it!
Recurring Boss: You have to deal with Pyramid Head several times in a variety of ways.
Replacement Goldfish: Maria. Deconstructed in that she's a creation of the town manifested from James's desire to see his wife and subverted in that the "Maria" ending implies that she will fall ill like Mary.
Rule of Symbolism: Tons, especially in the enemy designs and also in the characters.
Self-Inflicted Hell: The town of Silent Hill itself, in this game more so than the others in the series.
Sheathe Your Sword: In your first encounter with Pyramid Head, you can win by avoiding him and not attacking until he goes away. You can also drive him off if you shoot him enough times, too, which not only slows him down, it makes the invisible counter go down faster.
Shout Out: In the Lakeview Hotel, if you examine the heater, James will find a note on the back of it that says: "I'm Johnny, one hot guy." This may be a reference to the The Shining (Heeeeeere's Johnny!) where main character Jack Torrance forgets to adjust the pressure on the old boiler room of The Overlook Hotel, causing it to catch on fire. A poster for The Shining can also be seen on a wall before James gets to town.
Sinister Scraping Sound: Pyramid Head and his giant shiv. This can work to James's advantage - if he equips the Great Knife and moves (with the flashlight turned off, mind you), monsters run away from the noise. Then again, they have a good reason.
Arguably, James, though it's more easily applied to Angela.
Eddie wants to be seen as one, but James thinks otherwise.
Sympathetic Murder Backstory: James eventually discovers that he smothered his wife to death out of misogynistic sexual frustration, this presumably being the reason the Town is tormenting him. Depending on the ending you get, this could serve to make him more sympathetic or to make him look like a monster though.
Through the Eyes of Madness: Heavily implied. Beside the (supposed) letter, if you return to the spot where you kill your first monster later in the game, it's surrounded by police tape. Near the end, the motel keeps shifting between Bizarrchitecture and a perfectly normal (if musty and abandoned) hotel.
Together in Death: The "In Water" ending heavily implies that James puts his dead wife's body into his car and then drives into Toluca Lake, drowning himself so that they can be together again. However, the graffiti in the Dark World version of Neely's Bar says "you might be heading to a different place than Mary", i.e. Hell, since not only did he commit suicide, but murder as well.
Tomato Surprise: Mary died only a few weeks ago. From James smothering her with a pillow.
Tragic Hero: The way the story plays out, James technically does not take on this trope until the end of the game.
Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Specifically when the Trick or Treat quiz show randomly plays on James's radio. Maria and James once again show what a comedy duo they would make by their reactions at the end.
Unreliable Character: James's entire reason for coming to Silent Hill as he states it in the beginning is a complete lie. Near the end, when the player starts to realize this, the letter he supposedly received becomes a blank sheet of paper. Later, the paper it was written on disappears entirely.
Victoria's Secret Compartment: Maria keeps the three keys to a triple-locked door tucked into her short skirt, in her boots, and in her cleavage, in that order. While she's opening the door, James attempts to sneak a peek to no avail.
Vomit Discretion Shot: The cutscene introducing Eddie Dombrowski features this, though the sound of Eddie's spewing quite suffices in place of visible puke.
Vorpal Pillow: How James put Mary out of her misery.
Welcome To Hell: An incomplete "WELCOME!" sign blithely hangs over Road 73.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Laura only appears in one of the four main endings. In the other three, she is never seen nor mentioned again after running away from James in Room 312.
Possibly justified, as it's theorised that she's not real.
Womb Level: The Abstract Daddy boss is fought in a room which features fleshy, pulsating walls, with pistons thrusting in and out of them. Allegedly, the room is supposed to represent Angela's uterus.
0 reviews 