History YMMV / SilentHill2

** Pretty much all of the characters with the exception of Pyramid Head count really. Whether they hang on to it all the way through or not depends, but every one of the main characters will have your sympathy at some point. Although given that a few cutscenes show that Pyramid Head seems to be in constant pain due to his head/helmet, even he has at least one sympathy point.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS6HX2m-HNY White Noiz]], which plays in the opening DisgustingPublicToilet scene. Have you ever wanted to hear [[SweetDreamsFuel what it would feel like to have your soul transcend out of your body]]?

* SweetDreamsFuel: "White Noiz", the ambient track that accompanies the opening bathroom scene of the game.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: There is still a tremendous back-and-forth argument on the correct way to interpret James. Many see him as a heartbreakingly sympathetic man put into a terrible situation and [[spoiler: who ended his wife's suffering]] as a result, while others see him as a selfish asshole who [[spoiler:murdered his wife to move on with his life]]. However, the fans aren't the only ones, as James himself is unsure of which is really true, and his exact motivations for [[spoiler: killing Mary]] vary depending on the ending you get.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: There is still a tremendous back-and-forth argument on the correct way to interpret James. Many see him as a heartbreakingly sympathetic man put into a terrible situation and [[spoiler: who ended his wife's suffering]] as a result, while others see him as a selfish misogynist who [[spoiler:murdered his wife to move on with his life]]. However, the fans aren't the only ones, as James himself is unsure of which is really true, and his exact motivations for [[spoiler: killing Mary]] vary depending on the ending you get.

** Pretty much all of the characters with the exception of Pyramid Head count really. Whether they hang on to it all the way through or not depends, but every one of the main characters will have your sympathy at some point.
*** Given that a few cutscenes show that Pyramid Head seems to be in constant pain due to his head/helmet, even he has at least one sympathy point.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qalGezr76o Promise]], the standard end credits theme, and its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_PXTGdlGw reprise]].
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The radio "game show" that takes place in the hospital elevator. Maria simply asks "What was ''that''?" and nothing more is made of it in the story. From a gameplay standpoint, though, it might be good to pay attention. [[spoiler: The correct answers are the code to open a chest in one of the storage rooms of the hospital with a nice amount of supplies. Get the answers wrong and you get a face full of acid.]]

* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:James killed his wife.]]
* JerkAssWoobie: Angela. Her rude and cynical behavior is because of her horrific past.

* MemeticMutation: Try image-googling "rape clock" (may or may not be NSFW).
** [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llw47dMrhz1qeorzv.jpg Good Heavens, just look at the time!]]

* MoralEventHorizon: Eddie could count as a JerkassWoobie up until he cheerfully brags about how he violently killed a dog.

* PortingDisaster: While not exactly a disaster, the PC version has a few issues. Music skipping can be solved with a fan patch, and the game isn't designed to run on multi-core machines so you get voice de-synching and other issues if you don't manually set it to run on one core (CTRL+ALT+DEL>Processes>Set Affinity).

* ToughActToFollow: While most fans like part 3, there aren't many who prefer it over this one. [[ContestedSequel As for 4...]]

* FridgeBrilliance: When the game begins, James is looking in the mirror. He then spends the rest of the game [[spoiler: searching for his true self]].
* FridgeHorror:
** [[spoiler: Dog ending. Lighthearted as it may seem , it also makes it absolutely clear that the town is under Mira (the dog)'s control, everyone inside included. No one is free anymore.]]

* HellIsThatNoise: Silent Hill isn't totally silent: various ambient sounds throughout the game- scraping, moaning, footsteps, whispers- add to the paranoid ambiance of the game. The sound of Eddie vomiting into a toilet might count as well, if only because it sounds so realistically gross that even those with strong stomachs might feel like barfing themselves.
** The utterly inhuman scream that the Mannequins make when you attack them. Their feminine appearance only makes it worse.

* FreudWasRight[=/=]FauxSymbolism: When and where these tropes get applied depends on your AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of choice.

* ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked: While the voice acting in the original game was hardly bad all around ([[spoiler: Mary's letter reading]] has been near-universally praised), it was noticeably less polished than the voice acting of the HD collection. Naturally, there were fans who preferred the former regardless.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WShknpNpHbY Betrayal]], for the[[spoiler: final confrontation with Pyramid Head]].

** ''The Silent Hill HD Collection'' due to Konami's loss of the original source code, renders ''[=SH2=]'' and ''3'' this. Technical issues include voice acting that lags slightly in cutscenes (inexcusable considering they ''recorded new voices for all the characters'' for this release), the removal of graphics that were used to cover up incomplete graphics in the original game, and slowdown in the PS3 version whenever the HDD is accessed. The collection also made several changes to the game's visual style, such as making the colours more vibrant and effectively removing the series' iconic fog, which were very poorly received by fans.

* ItGetsBetter: It can take awhile for players to get into the game. The first two hours or so of the game aren't particularly scary, as the player mostly faces unchallenging and easily avoidable enemies in a single fairly dull apartment building, culminating in an anticlimactic HopelessBossFight against Pyramid Head who is effectively incapable of harming the player. This section of the game is also light on story too: the only real plot developments are the introduction of James, Pyramid Head and three secondary characters. The story starts to get going shortly afterwards once James meets Maria, and thereafter the game starts to become much more frightening, with the deeply unnerving hospital sequence, more challenging enemies and the MindScrew-y PsychologicalHorror elements to the game becoming more prominent.

* MagnumOpus: Considered one by many a ''Silent Hill'' fan as the greatest game in the franchise.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LB7LZZGpkw Theme of Laura]]

* AwesomeMusic: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LB7LZZGpkw Theme of Laura]]

** "YOU FARTFACE!"

** "How can you sit here and eat '''pizza'''?!"

*** LET'S PARTY!

* NarmCharm: To fans, the awkward voice acting from the original releases made the characters much more believable as ordinary people, who generally aren't as dynamic with the way they talk and show emotions compared to an actor. The new voice acting was so poorly received not because it was bad, but because it was too ''good''; to wit, it sounded much more slickly dramatic and professionally acted, which fans believe undercut the verisimilitude of the game's story.

* NeverLiveItDown: James sticking his hand into a toilet without so much as a sound of protest or evem rolling up his sleeve. Not only do the sequels love to make fun of it, but it's a fairly common ShoutOut for the series.