I feel like the Maria ending is almost a response to people who felt that the first game's all just a dream ending was pointless.
Because like.
The thing about cyclical endings is that by their nature they're even more pointless than all just a dream endings in terms of resolving things.
But they're also extremely meaningful in spite or because of their pointlessness, in that they suggest and hint at the futility of existence.
The fact that Maria coughs during her ending really suggests that James is just going to be back here and doing all of this all over again.
EDIT: I mean.
The In Water ending is my least favorite of the three initial endings, but. I feel it's an ending that fits. I feel like all of the endings fit, really.
"In Water" definitely reflects James learning and coming to terms with what he did, and the "Maria" ending definitely does not reflect that. At all. In the slightest.
The "Leave" ending is. I mean. Hmm. It seems like the happiest ending and there's nothing really wrong with it. But I find myself struggling to really get too attached to it.
The "Rebirth" ending is interesting. The UFO ending wasn't quite as good as some of the other ones. Like, let's be perfectly honest, the best UFO ending was Shattered Memories. That's the best ending for Shattered Memories and possibly the best ending in the series?
I think that, thematically, the "Dog" ending actually fits the best. Because after the game spent so much time analyzing toxic masculinity the only real way for it to end is for James to become somebody's bitch.
EDIT: Why Silent Hill mattered.
edited 28th Oct '15 12:34:52 PM by unnoun
So...anyone care to venture a guess on whether or not we'll ever see rereleases of 2 and 3 that aren't the HD Collection?
Hey, guys?
MGSV's Donna Burke is doing horror voice overs for a "new game".
She's insisting that it's not Silent Hill, but...it feels like something's up...
So hey, something that happened.
Last night, my sister had a nasty case of the hiccups so we tried a lot of things. We decided to try and scare her and you know what I suggested?
Watching a no commentary playthrough of P.T.
Unfortunately, it didn't work, but I personally thought it was worth a shot.
EDIT: Also, Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro are having a get-together at DICE. For some reason, people are assuming they're gonna use this to say they're gonna do something together. Not to be a pessimist, but can that sort of thing happen at these DICE things? I kinda doubt it.
edited 7th Feb '16 11:34:16 AM by TargetmasterJoe
So, random thought, but is the Order's mythology supposed to be the actual backstory of the 'verse, or are they just nuts?
"I felt like I had a target on me but I'd be told stop worrying about the fans - don't worry, they'll buy it anyway -" I gasp a pretty unprofessional gasp at this point, "- they'll buy anything that says Silent Hill on it, so it's not a problem. I already knew [...] I was targeted for it and I was seen as The Guy on this. Devin had done an interview where he said that he didn't like the Silent Hill one cult stuff, which... you know, you're allowed not to like the Silent Hill one cult stuff, but someone had attributed that to me on a message board: 'Tomm Hulett hates Silent Hill one!" I was like: alright. Not true, but okay.
"But when I saw [a fan-made web-series slating Hulett's contribution to the franchise], I got a really sick feeling - tons of people are going to see this. And it's taking what I already felt bad about and broadcasting it. It's going to be bad.
"Since then, at other companies, I think it has affected people's view of me, because I'll hear comments from time to time of: Oh, my friend works at that company, and he hates you'. Or I've talked to various companies, and then had contact shut off. And then I always suspect like... Oh, someone there's a Silent Hill fan.
What's worse, however, is knowing that the one person inside that megacorp who cared about the franchise - the one person who was trying to fix it, the one who cared about it - was run out by a spiteful, myopic hate mob that purported to be fans, just like me.
:/
Shattered Memories actually being very good in its own right and mostly getting undeservedly shat on for not adhering to series tradition is still a (silent) hill I'm willing to go down on.
Best ending is the joke ending from book of memories
This is why fandoms are a horrible idea. This kind of toxic crap happens in every single one of them, regardless of IP, regardless of medium, regardless of target audience, it's omnipresent.
Best of luck to Hulett, hopefully these idiots will back off sooner rather than later.
Shit like this is why I've been distancing myself from "organized" fandom as of late. The tipping point for me was all the apparently sincere threats on the lives of Star Wars actors made by the alt-right last year.
And, at the very VERY least, stop laying blame of situations to people you don't know to actually be to blame. In the Star Wars example, stop threatening the actors over character choices that they merely portrayed, not wrote.
Modern fandom culture is almost making me miss people like the Harmonians. At least they were funny and probably didn't actually mean it when they they said they wanted to kill you over shipping.
So, I want to try this series with the second game, which is supposed to be the best.
Should I:
1. Get an emulation on a computer?
2. Get the remastered collection?
3. Get my own Playstation 2 and the game on Ebay?
Edited by fredhot16 on Apr 24th 2019 at 2:56:18 AM
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.Do not get the HD Collection, it's a Porting Disaster if there ever was one.
Playing a genuine copy on a PS2 (or a compatible PS3) will always be the best way to play it.
It was also released on the original Xbox (with the subtitle "Restless Dreams"), and it's technically backwards compatible with the 360, but some Game Breaking Bugs happen when played on a 360. Not as bad as the HD Collection, but still pretty bad, like save files erasing themselves. The same issues might also happen if emulated on a PC, but I'm not sure.
The Xbox version has some extra content, like more endings and an extra mini-campaign. This extra stuff was included later on in the "Greatest Hits" version that was released for PS2. It's all nice, but none of it's essential.
The game was also released on PC, but it apparently has trouble running on modern systems. I don't know if it includes the extra content on the Xbox / "Greatest Hits" version.
Edited by Primis on Apr 24th 2019 at 6:14:40 AM
It's not enough that they killed all their franchises, they just have to keep parading the bodies around to rub it in.
Just beat Silent Hill 2 for Halloween.
.............................Not really sure what to say other than that I feel completely drained emotionally upon finishing it. Like, wow, what an experience.
Eurogamer headline: Report: Konami has two new Silent Hill games in development
Don’t toy with my emotions/sanity like this.
they're both mobile titles
New theme music also a boxoh boy
more Pyramid Head shilling
They're $60 and have the quality of Contra: Rogue Corps.
Also they're pachinko.
"In Water" is an ending that is definitely powerful and unexpected but given that both Eddie and Angela both succumb to Silent Hill's toxicity, I think it's the weakest emotionally. "Leave" is what I think should be the ending but I also think it's an ending that is too happy given James has confessed to murdering Laura's surrogate mother—at the very least he should turn himself in.
Oddly, I actually kind of like "Maria" and "Rebirth" because James learning nothing is both different from the setting and also kind of a bitch on the Ironic Hell nature of Silent Hill. Congratulations, Gods of Silent Hill, you made a bad person not only worse but actively crazy.
Mind you, I feel like backtracking and not following up the horror/dislikability of a protagonist is why Downpour was a 3 star game with a potential to be a 4 star (if not 5 star like 2). Murphy's Multiple-Choice Past breaks the game's point, if it had any to make. Murphy killing Coleridge for Sewell to get at Napier seems like it makes him an actual horrible person but an understandable one.
It also contrasts stronger with the woman chasing him.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jan 27th 2020 at 6:10:52 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
The "Maria" ending is not an alternative to the suicide, it just postpones it. Maria's going to repeat the events that befell Mary and James is going to be right back here again.
Because Maria isn't real. She's a construct created by James's mind to punish him. She can never be anything but more pain. She is not a Replacement Goldfish or a coping mechanism, she is an avatar of James's suffering who exists to make him suffer more.
edited 20th Oct '15 7:53:01 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.