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  • Locked thread
Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."


First off, I would just like to thank Alden (A440V) for helping me craft these posts and generally taking point on this LP. He's the one who knows Silent Hill like the back of his hand and without him I'd be floundering in the dark.

Videos:
================

Episode 01 - Our Special Place


Episode 02 - Hieroglyphs


Episode 03 - Space Ice Cream


Episode 04 - Maria


Episode 05 - Door Simulator 2001


Episode 06 - Trick or Treat


Episode 07 - Letter Wrench


Episode 08 - Three Sins


Episode 09 - Crime of Passion


Episode 10 - Justice and Revenge


Episode 11 - Wall of Tide


================

About Silent Hill (The Series)
================
Silent Hill is a series of games within our 90's/early 2000's horror genre. Tank controls, limited ammo, and creepy monster designs, this series of games makes sure to check every item off the old Resident Evil checklist, and then adds some additional points for flavor. Rather than being a game in which SCARY MONSTERS POP OUT AND ATTACK YOU WOOOOOOOO~~~~, the earlier Silent Hill games played more with the player's comfort zone. The game isn't particularly gory and doesn't feature too many jump scares, but that doesn't mean it's any less shocking than other similar titles. Team Silent chose instead to cross some lines and introduced some themes that hadn't yet been addressed in the video game world. Look for a ton of occult theming, torture imagery, and in general things that just make your skin crawl.

After the success of Silent Hill 1, released in 1999 for the original PlayStation, Team silent upped the ante in 2001 with the PS2 release of Silent Hill 2. Rather than continuing the occult story of the original, Silent Hill 2 opted for a brand new story focusing instead on the idea of the town being a catalyst for facing one's inner demons. This design change paid off in spades, as Silent Hill 2 is largely regarded as Team Silent's magnum opus, warranting an additional side story focused on another of the important characters, and an HD re-release in 2012.
================

DISCLAIMER!!!:
================
While we definitely want you guys and gals to watch and enjoy this LP, we thought it best to include a disclaimer regarding the game's (and our) content. This game has some extremely heavy imagery and theming, specifically, some extreme mysogeny. Albeit only hinted at and implied, this game deals with the very touchy topic of rape, and we understand that this topic very much doesn't sit well with people.

Please be fully aware that we here at [DOO]Play in no way condone or advocate any sort of physical or sexual violence against anyone. We also ask that when dealing with these themes when they arise that we keep the thread respectable.
================

About Silent Hill (The Town)
================
The facts:
--
Silent Hill is a resort town that surrounds Toluca Lake in Maine. The overall setting is the archetypal "Small American Town". The game starts as our protagonist, James Sunderland, stops for a break at a rest stop along Nathan Avenue.
--


The speculation:
--
In the later games, Silent Hill was the defacto "spookytown USA with bad guys", but the cool thing about Silent Hill as portrayed in SH2 is that its original intention was to be an embodiment of the main character's inner demons. This was especially prevalent in the case for James Sunderland, as we'll see enemies, other characters, and even the settings themselves seem to be molded around James's psyche. More on that as we progress. Keep this in mind when we go through the game, because we'll be touching on this (read: heavy petting vigorously) throughout the game.
--
================


Character Intro:
================
Quick disclaimer, we will be doing these character introductions as we meet them in-game. Additionally, in future posts, look for updates on these characters. As we learn more information about each character, we will write some short blurbs analyzing what we've gotten story-wise. We will update these character bios in the OP as we play through the game, but any additional analysis will be enclosed in spoiler tags and separated by which episode it accompanies.




James Sunderland: --
--
Our protagonist and player character, James travels to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife Mary, who to James's knowledge has been dead for three years. Mary tells James that she is waiting for him in their "special place". When she was healthy, Mary and James took a vacation in Silent Hill, and stayed at the Lakeview Hotel, which is what brings us to the beginning of the game.


We find James in a restroom on the side of the road, checking himself in the mirror.

Episode 03
At this point, one thing I want to make note of about James is his disregard for his own safety. Up to this point, we have seen no less than three points where James makes a poor decision which could have gone a lot worse than it did:

- He finds a hole with green goop dripping out of it, actually tries to look into the hole, and when he can't see anything, sticks his hand in. This is all well and good, but the interesting thing is he recoils back and goes "ah!" as if something in the hole hurts him, then after thinking for a moment sticks his hand back in!
- During the Pyramid Head scene, instead of getting the hell up out of that room, James hides voyeur-style in a closet. James also completely forgets to turn off his flashlight, so at this point, he knows Pyramid Head is there, and Pyramid Head knows he's there. Pyramid Head wanders towards where James is hiding, so James empties a clip into him. Here's the big point here: notice that James actually stops shooting while Pyramid Head is still in front of him. Why? Pyramid Head isn't dead, he actually doesn't even seem phased. James completely lucks out in that Pyramid Head seems disinterested and just leaves. This could have easily been the end for James, and it would pretty much have been all James's fault.
- On entering the window to the Blue Creek Apartments, James spots an item of interest in a filthy toilet. I'm not saying the fact that he reaches in and grabs it is what's off here. What I am saying is the fact that he doesn't even hesitate to reach in and grab it, noting that he previously got pricked by sticking that hand in another hole not 15 minutes ago. Either James doesn't really learn from his mistakes, or he just doesn't care.

Based on all of this, we can make some assumptions. Going back to James's first conversation with Angela, he tells her he believes her about the town being dangerous, and then listlessly responds that he doesn't care. I use the word listlessly here because I get the feeling he is tired or fed up. He doesn't care that it's dangerous because he's gone through a lot up to this point, and now the only thing he's focusing on is getting to Mary. Maybe compared to what he's been through, sticking his hand in a dirty toilet isn't such a big deal...


Episode 07
As James leaves the hospital, he makes a comment that is really important, I'm gonna write it out here:

Maria's dead. I couldn't protect her. Once again, I couldn't do anything to help. Laura has run off somewhere. Mary...... What... What should I do? Are you... really waiting somewhere for me? Or is this your way of taking... I'm going to find Mary...... It's the only thing I have left to hope for.

This is just dripping with foreshadowing. Once again, James was powerless to help his girl survive. First it was Mary, now Maria. The point where James trails off "or is this your way of taking..." we can assume he's going to say "revenge" here, but he can't bring himself to do it. Why would he be unable to fathom that she would try to take revenge on him, and more importantly, why would she have a reason to take revenge on him?

We are starting to fill in the blanks here, and it's at this point where you start to question whether or not James is in the up and up in his marital relations.

--




Mary Sunderland: --
--
"In my restless dreams,
I see that town.
Silent Hill.
You promised me you'd take me there again someday,
but you never did.
Well I'm alone there now...
in our 'special place'...
Waiting for you..." ~ Mary's Letter

The late wife of James Sunderland and the reason that James returns to Silent Hill. As we mentioned above, James and Mary vacationed in Silent Hill, and Mary took to the town and regarded it as their "special place". Three years prior to the events of silent hill, Mary fell ill to a terminal disease and was forced to spend her last days bedridden in a hospital.

But a dead person can't write a letter, right?

Episode 10
After the fight with Eddie, James laments that he killed a human being, then wonders if Mary really did die three years ago. Why would he wonder about that now of all times?
--




Angela Orosco - (Alden sucks at remembering names under pressure btw)
--
We meet Angela wandering around a graveyard. The conversation is a bit awkward during our first encounter, and we learn that she is looking for her Mama... we mean, her Mother. Notably, Angela thought her father and her brother were in the graveyard, but she couldn't find them. Additionally, note that the conversation is very one sided. James just walks up and says "Excuse me!" and blurts out what he's looking for at first, and Angela recoils back, then apologizes. Throughout the conversation, we get the feeling that James is very assertive; he is determined to get to Silent Hill to find someone very special to him. To contrast, Angela is not assertive at all, rather she seems to be very diffident, stutters, and even seems to get upset when she thinks James doesn't believe her about Silent Hill being dangerous. Not gonna go into too much more detail here, but note the way these two interact because it is very important.

Episode 03
Holy character shift, Batman! What the hell happened to the shaky Angela we met in the graveyard?

We find Angela in room 109, laying in front of a mirror, with a bloody knife in her hand. She seems tired, almost drugged, and talk about a downer personality. Again, the conversation between James and Angela seems a little disjointed, again suggesting that they're living two different experiences. There are three main points to this conversation which need addressing:

- Angela actually invokes the first bit of silent rage that we see in James. When Angela suggests that James is the same as her, James's voice actor changes ever so slightly. When James says "I'm nothing like you", note that it comes from a place of hurt. He seems offended that she would suggest he is suicidal. Two questions for you to think on: 1. Is he angry because he knows she's right? 2. When Angela says that she and James are the same, is she actually talking about suicide?
- At the end of the conversation, Angela asks James to hold the bloody knife, but when he goes to take it from her, she freaks out and points it at him. It's not that she's ready to attack him, but she's prepared to defend herself. She then goes back to timid-Angela, apologizes and says she's been bad, again, like a child would. This reaction to what she did actually has a foundation in psychology. Her behavior suggests a Freudian concept of regression. Angela is fixated on an earlier point in psychological and emotional development, and when she finds herself unable to cope with the reality at hand, regresses back to the oral stage of psychological development (read: speaking as a child would). So the question here is this, why would James reaching for her trigger her in this manner?
- Lastly, and this is a quick one, note that the knife is bloody. It's been used. Also note that Angela is not bloody. No blood on her clothes, and it's not likely she cut herself, because the blood would have seeped through to her sweater, unless she bandaged herself up after, which wouldn't make any sense.


Episode 09
Whoa, we get some really heavy info about Angela in this episode. Shortly before our boss fight, we find a memo about one Thomas Orosco, who was murdered via multiple stab wounds. Remember back when Angela gave us the knife, we noted that it was bloodstained, but she wasn't cut anywhere. Important to note that the motive for murder was a crime of passion. Before our boss fight, we hear Angela scream "No Daddy! Please don't!" and during our boss fight, Angela is freaking out in a corner, then after our boss fight, Angela freaks out again and accuses James of trying to , saying "Or you could just force me. Beat me up like he always did!"

Here's the full story. Angela was born into a very abusive family. Her father was an alcoholic lumberjack, who along with her brother, would rape her when he drank. Angela's mother would remind her that she deserved this abuse when she grew up, and eventually left the family and left her with her father and brother. Lastly, when Angela could no longer handle the abuse, she murdered her father and her brother using the knife we're carrying around, and fled to Silent Hill to find her mother.

--

===============
SPOILER WARNING
The following characters are encountered after episode 01. They will be separated by episode encountered if you want to check back and read up on characters as we encounter them.
===============


Episode 02



Laura:
--
We encounter Laura on the 3rd floor of the WoodSide apartment complex while trying to grab a key through a set of iron bars. The little kid kicks the key just out of our reach, then steps on James's hand and runs off with a rude 'Ha-ha!'. We don't know any more about Laura just yet, but we'll find out some important info on her soon enough.

Episode 06
Laura seems to lighten up a bit towards James during our encounter. Just two quick things here:

-Laura actually gives us our second of James's angry outbursts. During the conversation, she tells James she met Mary in the hospital last year. James knows Mary has been dead for three years. Something doesn't line up, but what's really significant is how angry he gets at this little girl. He spits out "you LIAR" directly after telling her he wouldn't yell at her, as if he just couldn't help it. A bit of speculation here, but since he explains that the time didn't match because that was after Mary died, then what caused the outburst? Why not just explain it without the shout? Food for thought: who's timeline do you believe at this point? Is James right or is Laura right?

-James makes a comment that Laura hasn't gotten a scratch on her. Pretty big feat considering Laura has to run around the bubble head nurses who are swinging at us with metal bars, not to mention Pyramid Head causing all sorts of havoc and every other monster/obstacle we've faced. Hell, the Hospital itself is hazardous, how is Laura not filthy from all the dust? How has she not skinned her knees on the gritty floor? Remember that Silent Hill is a reflection of your inner demons. Laura is just a kid, sure she's probably gotten into trouble once or twice, but how bad can she actually be? We can assume here that Laura is actually the only one here entirely of her own volition, and her response to James's question, "why should I?", suggests that she doesn't see all the creepy-crawlies and danger that James does. To Laura, Silent Hill is a ghost town full of fun little things to play with. Then again, she also traps us in the room with the Flesh Lips (shudder), so maybe she can see them but they don't attack her?


Episode 11
We get more info on Laura in the hotel. She's a lot less hostile towards him at first. We find out that Laura was friends with Mary when they were both in the hospital. Mary had hoped to adopt Laura had she survived the illness.

The most interesting thing we learn about Laura in this episode is her age. In the letter, Mary wishes Laura a happy 8th birthday, and Laura states that she turned 8 last week. This blows what we know about Mary's death completely out of the water. If Mary had really died 3 years ago, why did she wish Laura a happy 8th birthday? Laura would have been turning 5 when Mary died, so that wouldn't make sense. We don't get a good estimate as to when Mary actually died, as she could have written that letter not expecting to survive until Laura's birthday, then may or may not have (my speculation is that she actually did live to see Laura turn 8, but more on that later). So there should be a huge question rattling around in everyone's head right now: why does James think Mary died 3 years ago when she very clearly did not? How could you confuse the date of death for your wife, arguably the most important person in your life? Yeah, James isn't all there, but seriously, he took care of his wife while she was ill, and we've established already that it took a heavy toll on him, so he clearly was aware of her status throughout her illness, so he should know exactly when she died. Think this will get a payoff? You bet your patootie it will!

--

Episode 03



Eddie Dombrowski
--
Gross, we meet Eddie puking his brains out in one of the apartments after finding a dead person stuffed in a refrigerator. The conversation is pretty superficial, and it's worth noting that James is asking questions, Eddie freaks out about not being guilty of killing anyone, and the conversation itself doesn't quite line up, almost as if the two characters are having two different conversations. This may be just my own speculation here, but I feel the disconnect between their conversations is meant to allude to the fact that James and Eddie are seeing two different Silent Hills. Again, James seems very assertive and only cares about what he is after, and again, Eddie seems to recoil back and swears that he is not guilty. Like our first conversation with Angela, this difference in personalities is important, so keep it in mind as we progress.

I wanted to note one thing about our conversation with Eddy, but it also applies to a lot of conversations James has. Eddie makes mention of seeing "monsters" around Silent Hill, but as soon as James mentions anything specific Eddie has no idea what James is talking about. Up to this point no one has been on the same page as far as what the monsters actually are, just that there are monsters. This is definitely done intentionally and lends credence toward the notion that Silent Hill is a place where people face their personal inner demons. ~ Drew

Episode 08
Today, we find that Eddie, despite multiple denials, has in fact killed multiple people, which is why he ran to Silent Hill to escape the 5-0. Eddie seems to really hate being bullied, and has finally snapped. He tells James that from now on, if anyone makes fun of him, he'll kill them. We also get a strong feeling that Eddie is no longer all together, as after completely freaking about people making fun of him, he chuckles and says he was joking, and that the guy with his brains splattered over the cafeteria table was like that when he got there. At this point we know he's lying, but just the fact that he's even attempting to turn a killing into a joke lets us know that he's not all there anymore.

Episode 10
We find a freaked out Eddie surrounded by dead bodies (all of whom are wearing the same clothes as James), and we now learn the full story about our touchy friend.

See, Eddie had it rough growing up. He was constantly teased in school for his weight, and one bully in particular, a player on the high school football team, just wouldn't let up. The football player teased Eddie even after graduation, so one day, Eddie snapped and shot the football player's dog with his father's gun for "making fun of him with his eyes". He then shot the football player in the leg when he tried to retaliate. Realizing what he'd done, Eddie flees to Silent Hill to avoid the police, and unknowingly walks straight into his own personal hell. When we found Eddie, he was vomiting in a toilet in an apartment with a dead body. There are a couple of theories here. One theory is that he's finally realizing the severity of killing the football player's dog etc. and is vomiting because of the remorse and fear taking the place of the adrenaline rush. I like this theory, but it doesn't explain the body in the fridge. I like to note here that Eddie doesn't know about Pyramid Head, but has seen some strange monsters in town. Remember, what Eddie is seeing is not what James is seeing, so we don't get his perspective. It could be that when Eddie entered the apartment, the man there appeared as a monster to Eddie. Eddie killed the monster who was either attacking him or making fun of him, and after it died, Eddie realizes it was a person, and frantically tries to stuff the body in the fridge to hide it. The overwhelming fear and realization that he's taken a human life at this point is what makes Eddie throw up.

Fast forward to when we first enter the prison. While we've been running around the hospital and elsewhere, Eddie has been running around other parts of Silent Hill, and has been encountering his own monsters and demons, and he can't take it. When we find Eddie in the cafeteria, he's snapped. Again, we find him with a dead body, and Eddie says he shot him because the man was making fun of him with his eyes, just like the football player's dog.

Lastly, we come to our boss fight. Eddie has gone full shazbot and has made a conscious determination to kill anyone who makes fun of him. James says something smart in the dumbest way possible, and Eddie turns on him.

In the second phase of the boss fight, Eddie mentions that he and James are the same. I want to point this out because it's the same thing Angela said to him. James again doesn't believe this, but this time it's more important because at the end of the boss fight, James realizes Eddie was right. James just killed Eddie, and James feels true remorse for this. He can't believe he just killed a human being. Thank god there wasn't a toilet around, or we'd probably have to hear James vomit while talking to the next poor soul who wanders through the town.

--

Episode 04



Maria:
--
In the [park], we encounter Maria for the first time. She bears a striking resemblance to Mary, only her clothes and hair are different. Gonna say it here, her clothes and demeanor are kind of provocative. During her first conversation with James, she seems to have sort of a seductive air about her, teasing him from time to time as they speak. When James is ready to leave, she becomes clingy and tries to use her feminine wiles to get James to allow her to tag along.

Important piece of info: Maria has a butterfly tattoo on her abdomen. In some cultures, butterflies are a symbol of rebirth. This symbol is opposite to the moth, which is a symbol of death.

Also in an interesting bit of pop culture knowledge, Maria's character design is heavily based on Christina Aguilera. Her outfit is actually almost exactly the same as what Christina wore to the 1999 Teen Choice Awards:


Episode 06
Maria has some character swings here. As we make our way down to the basement's basement, Maria catches up to us. Her reaction to James's halfhearted relief that she is ok is nothing short of a complete freakout. She starts by screaming at James for not saving her and takes a jab at him for "only caring about his dead wife", then breaks down and pleads for him to take care of her. Is she still playing with him, or is this genuine fright? James notes that she seems to care a lot about Laura, but Maria doesn't know why. She just feels like it's her job to take care of Laura. This is significant.

Episode 07
SHE'S DEAD!!! Pyramid Head did the thing that Pyramid Head does and thrusts his long protruberance through Maria's jibbly-bits. The interesting thing I want to point out here is that James feels just a touch of remorse here. The music in this part is moody, suggesting a dark sort of sadness, and James has some inner monologue as he leaves the building...

Episode 09
The conversation James has with Maria, who by the way, isn't as dead as we expected, is pretty dang weird. It's definitely Maria, but she acts pretty differently at first. She doesn't remember being stabbed at all, and most interestingly her sexy tone is completely gone for the first half of the conversation. Didja guess what's going on here? She's Mary. She's also Maria. They're the same person, and also two different people.

Notice how this conversation is broken into two distinctly separate parts. Part A, as I'm going to call it, is James speaking with Maria. James shows genuine concern for someone whom he thought was killed, and she shrugs it off calling him forgetful, and discussing a tape that he left at Lakeview Hotel. How did she know that? That was Mary's memory. Her personality is very calm and even a little playful, but not seductive at all, which mimics Mary's personality.

Quick spoiler, we will readress this one once we finish the LP.

A transition is triggered when James asks the question "Aren't you Maria?". At this point we find our link between wives. She get's snippy with James, spitting "I'm not your Mary.", which is a comment that we can surmise was meant to cut at James. Mary was very abusive towards James in her final days, understandibly so, being that she's spent 3 (?) years bedridden knowing that she is going to die. During this time, her interaction with James flip flopped between yelling at him and crying for him to comfort her. The above comment was a reflection of that spiteful verbal abuse. It's also seen from time to time in Maria's personality. We know Maria is upset that James seems only to care about Mary (remember the conversation in the basement of the hospital), so this attack is also a reflection of Maria's envious attitude towards Mary.

Part B flips this two-gal back to Maria's personality. She turns the seduction up to 11 and comes on hard towards James. She's actually successful in breaking his faithfulness. He knows this woman is not Mary, but when she seduces him, he actually goes for it.

The main point you should take from this is as follows. Mary is a different person than Maria, but Maria is Mary as well. By this I mean, Mary is James's wife and is actually a different character altogether, but Maria is a unique character who not only represents Mary, but is also a manifestation of Mary herself. Confused yet?


Episode 10
Maria is dead again! This time, James seems upset she's dead, but again, immediately thinks about Mary rather than Maria. There's nothing here we haven't already gone over, this is just a quick scene to drive the point home.
--
================


Enemies:
================



Lying Figure: --
--
In this episode we encounter the first enemy of the game, the Lying Figure. The Lying Figure is a fairly weak but quick enemy which attacks James by vomiting or spewing a green acid-like substance. They appear to be trapped within their own skin, which wraps around them and restricts all arm movement, like a straight jacket. When they're downed, they scurry about to run away from James in order to stand back up.


Notable: without spoiling anything now, note that the Lying Figure appears to symbolize a female mental patient who is in agony. Silent Hill monster designer Masahiro Ito did this intentionally, but we'll get into that a little later on.
--

===============
SPOILER WARNING
The following enemies are encountered after episode 01. They will be separated by episode encountered if you want to check back and read up on the enemies as we encounter them.
===============


Episode 02



The Mannequin:
--
Straight up two pairs of female legs with no torso or upper body, what could possibly be better? No, stop thinking that, for real. This enemy attacks by kicking (of course) its top legs at James, not too much more to explain there. The mannequin will not move unless James gets close to them, at which point they will begin moving towards James to get ready for an attack. Also note that the radio will not play static until the mannequin begins moving.

As far as the character design is concerned, we can pretty much guess that this is another feminine symbol. Note that they don't really move until James either flashes the flashlight at them, or if he gets close to them, suggesting that his presence is what is agitating them. The fact that the monster design is two very feminine pairs of legs whose legs splay outward when they die is extremely important, and even more significant considering what happens to a pair of them during this episode...
--



Pyramid Head:
--
We first encounter the main 'antagonist' for this game on the other side of some bars in a hallway in the apartment complex. The Pyramid Head is what happens to the aforementioned mannequins, as the first significant interaction we have with him is walking in on him raping two of them in an apartment kitchen.

We are going to get a little "Da Vinci Code" here and call to attention that an upward arrow, or pyramid, is a phallic symbol. This, combined with Pyramid Head's muscular physique and our first actual interaction with him, suggests that he is a symbol of overly aggressive masculinity. Keep in mind that Silent Hill at this point is a reflection on James's inner demons, so what does the appearance of an abusive man with a rusty penis-head say about our protagonist? Food for thought...

Episode 04
We have our second full encounter with Pyramid Head in the apartment stairwell, which also turns out to be our first boss fight in this game. When we enter the room, we again find PH sexually molesting one of the monsters, this time the lying figure. Remember that the lying figure is in fact female, and that the skin-straight-jacket is representative of feeling trapped. Note the sound the lying figure makes when Pyramid Head puts it down. I don't really have a good way of describing this sound, but it's a cross between a moan and a scream. The sound seems representative of an "oh god why?" reaction. I have a feeling this was intentional, as it is somewhat sexual in nature but is definitely not a moan that would come from someone having a pleasurable experience. To put it all together, this scene is about a trapped female with no control over her surroundings being abused sexually by an overly aggressive man. At this point, the game designers are pretty much screaming the symbolism at us. We also get another point towards the "James has no regard for his own well being" conversation in that after Pyramid Head is done swinging his giant rusty knife at him, he decides to follow him down the formerly flooded staircase.
--

Episode 05


Bubble Head Nurse:
--
I feel like we are getting a bit repetitive here. The Bubble Head Nurse is a representation both of James' trying to cope with his wife's terminal illness, and more importantly, the resulting sexual frustration he felt when she was ill. The nurses wear a white blouse and tight skirt, with the top buttons of the blouse opened up to reveal the nurses' cleavage. Interesting point with these enemies is that they are the most commonly recurring enemies throughout the Silent Hill series. Each manifestation has a different design which highlights the inner emotions of whomever created the Silent Hill the protagonist is in.


The nurses attack by swinging a metal pole at James. Take these guys out from range to avoid damage. Additionally, these enemies can and will swarm, so pick them off one at a time if you find yourself in a narrow hallway with them.
--

Episode 06


Flesh Lip
--
Flesh Lip... Flesh Lip... Flesh... Lip...

that's just disgusting to say out loud. These creatures hang from the ceiling, and are defined by a body in a skin sack suspended in a metal frame, with big feminine fleshy lips between two feminine fleshy legs. At this point I'm just going to assume you know what I'm going to say about symbolism here, but just to drive the point home, these enemies are sacks of meat (word choice intended) with a feminine shaped orifice where a different feminine shaped orifice should be.

For this fight, use the shotgun. At the start of the boss fight, run forward to avoid the Flesh Lip to James's immediate left. From here, movement is a lot like our first fight with Pyramid Head. You're faster than they are, so run to one end of the room, turn and fire no more than 2 shots into a Flesh Lip, run to the other end of the room, repeat. When the two Flesh Lips are toasted, be aware that there will be a third that will descend from the side of the room, so make sure to head to the center when the second goes down.

The Flesh Lips will attack by moving directly above James and grabbing him to stuff his head into their lips (GET IT?). This will do some significant damage, so if you're at full health, try not got get grabbed more than twice without healing.
--

Episode 09


Abstract Daddy:
--
We fight Angela's father Thomas in this episode, who is manifested as two figures trapped on a bed under a bedsheet of skin, seemingly engaging in forced sex. We can make out a larger figure hunched over the smaller figure, and the "face" of the monster is representative of a penis.

The room we fight abstract daddy in is also representative of Angela's abuse. The pistons around the wall are representative of what Angela considers to be the act of sex due to her experiences with it. The pistons are mechanical, forced, and inhuman. Additionally, and this is purely speculation, the number of pistons (23) may represent the number of times that Angela was raped growing up.

One last bit of interesting speculation before we get on to boss mechanics: why does James see the monster at all? This is obviously a monster who was manifested for Angela, so why does James fight it? Well, as it turns out, the idea of abstract daddy forcing sex on his daughter ties back to James in that it is another manifestation of abusive masculinity. This is Angela's pyramid head. I don't want to give away the big reveal, but just like pyramid head, James can see abstract daddy because he himself uses his masculinity for domination and abuse.

Ok, now on to the mechanics. Abstract daddy attacks by forcing James head into its mouth (get it?). Avoid this by keeping yourself on the opposite side of the room as the monster. This plays a lot like the first pyramid head encounter (and actually, all of the boss fights now that I think of it). Use your shotgun for this fight, and make sure to only take 1-2 shots before hopping over to the other side of the room.

Episode 11
We've gone over this enemy already, but I wanted to re-mention it because now we see the mini versions in the Hotel. You could argue that these are either representative of Angela's brother, or these are more directly related to James's oppressive sexuality. We're getting really close to explaining this one bit of speculation in full detail, so hang tight.
--
================

Ceraph fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jan 2, 2015

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Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 01 - Our Special Place


Hello everyone, and welcome to our let's play of Silent Hill 2! Super special thanks to Alden (A440V) on this one for not only being in the driver's seat for the playthrough but providing the in depth analysis on the events of Silent Hill 2. I would ask anyone who has played this before to avoid any spoilers while discussing these early episodes. Speculation is fine, but I will take the "I can neither confirm nor deny" stance.

One last order of business, anyone who is familiar with this game should be able to tell fairly quickly which ending we are shooting for. Silent Hill 2 features multiple endings, and it's somewhat random which ending you get. We are aiming for a specific ending, one which we consider canon, but after the main playthrough is done we will go back and showcase all the endings. That about does it, I hope you guys enjoy!

bman in 2288
Apr 21, 2010
drat, how long has it been since I played this game? I appreciate you uys sticking with the original voices. The new ones, while more professionally done, don't feel as... appropriate.

Also a thing I wanna say: seeing this version of the game in action, I can see why people were complaining about the fog: it's barely there (compared to the original version) and it's blatently obstructing your view, instead of also adding to the atmosphere. I blame Konami for this.

Cynda
Nov 6, 2014
Just started watching this Let's Play, really enjoying what I see so far, also the duo-commentary really adds to the conversation and keeps things going.

How are you guys enjoying the series so far?

A440V
Mar 27, 2014

bman in 2288 posted:

drat, how long has it been since I played this game? I appreciate you uys sticking with the original voices. The new ones, while more professionally done, don't feel as... appropriate.

Also a thing I wanna say: seeing this version of the game in action, I can see why people were complaining about the fog: it's barely there (compared to the original version) and it's blatently obstructing your view, instead of also adding to the atmosphere. I blame Konami for this.

The original voices seem to be generally more accepted than the re-done ones. This is just a personal preference, but for like 90% of the game I actually prefer the new voices, but the way the original handled the particular ending we're going for is faaaar superior to the new voice acting, so that's what actually tipped the balance for us. That being said, I agree with you, the original voice acting had this sort of charm to them.

I'm not sure what happened with the fog. The PS2 fog definitely blended better with the rest of the environment, not sure if that was changed by the move to HD textures here. One thing I noticed while re-watching the episode is there looks to be this weird transparent layer of fog on top of everything else. Every once in a while as I change the camera around you can see the texture move with the camera. Kinda mood breaking, but I guess that was the decision they made to help blend it after they ran all of the textures through the smooth filter :/

Aishlinn
Mar 31, 2011

This might hurt a bit..


I know in the original there were options to turn the noise filter on and off, you might want to look into that.

A440V
Mar 27, 2014

Cynda posted:

Just started watching this Let's Play, really enjoying what I see so far, also the duo-commentary really adds to the conversation and keeps things going.

How are you guys enjoying the series so far?

Thanks for watching! We were really excited for this one, and I had no idea Drew and Sully had never played it before, so we had a bunch to talk about moving forward.

I'll leave Drew to talk about his own experience with the game, but I definitely am a fan of the series overall. Silent Hill 2 in my opinion is somewhat different than the rest of the series in that rather than just trying to scare the pants off you they really focused on the idea of leaving the player uncomfortable. I don't think there is any SH title that I didn't at least somewhat enjoy, but I will go ahead and jump on the bandwagon and say I feel the older titles were better. I remember playing SH4 for the first time when I was younger and having to pace myself because I was to freaked out to do the whole thing in one sitting. This is purely opinion, but the later titles seemed to lack whatever put that kind of fear into me.

Not sure what our plan is for the rest of the series, but I would definitely be open to doing more of them.

A440V fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Nov 12, 2014

A440V
Mar 27, 2014

Aishlinn posted:

I know in the original there were options to turn the noise filter on and off, you might want to look into that.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like those options made it into the HD remake, or at least not the one for the x360. After doing some quick research, it looks like the SH2 Director's Cut release for the PC had additional options for the complexity of the fog and filter effects, but the HD version we used for this LP only had brightness level as far as visual settings are concerned.

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."

Cynda posted:

Just started watching this Let's Play, really enjoying what I see so far, also the duo-commentary really adds to the conversation and keeps things going.

How are you guys enjoying the series so far?

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of Silent Hill 2. It really messes with the player and manages to tell a compelling story along the way. It finds a way to elicit an emotional response from the player, even if it is a darker tone and that's something I don't really get from a lot of games. Prior to this I had not played any Silent Hill games, but I would be so down with doing more games in this series.

Cynda
Nov 6, 2014

Ceraph posted:

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of Silent Hill 2. It really messes with the player and manages to tell a compelling story along the way. It finds a way to elicit an emotional response from the player, even if it is a darker tone and that's something I don't really get from a lot of games. Prior to this I had not played any Silent Hill games, but I would be so down with doing more games in this series.


A440V posted:

Thanks for watching! We were really excited for this one, and I had no idea Drew and Sully had never played it before, so we had a bunch to talk about moving forward.

I'll leave Drew to talk about his own experience with the game, but I definitely am a fan of the series overall. Silent Hill 2 in my opinion is somewhat different than the rest of the series in that rather than just trying to scare the pants off you they really focused on the idea of leaving the player uncomfortable. I don't think there is any SH title that I didn't at least somewhat enjoy, but I will go ahead and jump on the bandwagon and say I feel the older titles were better. I remember playing SH4 for the first time when I was younger and having to pace myself because I was to freaked out to do the whole thing in one sitting. This is purely opinion, but the later titles seemed to lack whatever put that kind of fear into me.

Not sure what our plan is for the rest of the series, but I would definitely be open to doing more of them.

Well with that said I'm really glad you guys are enjoying the game, I have to admit that I've never really been that involved with a Silent Hill game, mainly because as a kid I thought they where terrifying and that if I played them I would be sucked into hell.

I also think that explaining the games mechanics and some lore (without spoilers) has been very interesting and useful, keep it up guys!

bman in 2288
Apr 21, 2010
About the fog, it's one of the lost assets of this game. Konami, after finishing with the game the first time around, printed out the code, filed it away, and never expected to see it again. Some stuff was misplaced or something, that's why the fog looks weird here: the guys behind the remaster didn't have access to all the original files. And they couldn't have opened up the files straight from the original discs, because I doubt they'd have the time.

So yeah, that's why I blame Konami for the porting issues.

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 02 - Hieroglyphs


LAST TIME, ON DRAGON BALL Z... I MEAN SILENT HILL 2:
================
James Sunderland parked his car with reckless abandon to stop and check himself at a rest stop just outside of Silent Hill to make sure he hadn't gone crazy. Ever receive a letter from your dead wife telling you she's waiting for you in a creepy fog-laden demon-town and think "Yeah, I should go meet her for coffee, that's a good idea."? CUZ THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PAL JAMES!

On our short jog towards the town, we also met up with Angela, who is also looking for the "predominant" female figure in her life, her Mama. While we faff about, we run into a bar and find a strange symbol on a map. This leads us out to an abandoned apartment complex, and so we find ourselves passing the point of no-return...
================

New Enemies:
================



The Mannequin:
--
Straight up two pairs of female legs with no torso or upper body, what could possibly be better? No, stop thinking that, for real. This enemy attacks by kicking (of course) its top legs at James, not too much more to explain there. The mannequin will not move unless James gets close to them, at which point they will begin moving towards James to get ready for an attack. Also note that the radio will not play static until the mannequin begins moving.

As far as the character design is concerned, we can pretty much guess that this is another feminine symbol. Note that they don't really move until James either flashes the flashlight at them, or if he gets close to them, suggesting that his presence is what is agitating them. The fact that the monster design is two very feminine pairs of legs whose legs splay outward when they die is extremely important, and even more significant considering what happens to a pair of them during this episode...
--



Pyramid Head:
--
We first encounter the main 'antagonist' for this game on the other side of some bars in a hallway in the apartment complex. The Pyramid Head is what happens to the aforementioned mannequins, as the first significant interaction we have with him is walking in on him raping two of them in an apartment kitchen.

We are going to get a little "Da Vinci Code" here and call to attention that an upward arrow, or pyramid, is a phallic symbol. This, combined with Pyramid Head's muscular physique and our first actual interaction with him, suggests that he is a symbol of overly aggressive masculinity. Keep in mind that Silent Hill at this point is a reflection on James's inner demons, so what does the appearance of an abusive man with a rusty penis-head say about our protagonist? Food for thought...
--
================

Character Intro:
================



Laura:
--
We encounter Laura on the 3rd floor of the WoodSide apartment complex while trying to grab a key through a set of iron bars. The little kid kicks the key just out of our reach, then steps on James's hand and runs off with a rude 'Ha-ha!'. We don't know any more about Laura just yet, but we'll find out some important info on her soon enough.
--
================

Locations:
================
WoodSide Apartments
--
The first area we explore in this game is the WoodSide Apartment Complex, one of two sets of apartments that make up the first "level" of the game. Here we grab a couple of important items and meet two new people who were drawn to the town, the first of which is probably the most important item of the game, the flashlight.

We grab the flashlight from a mannequin in the middle of Room in front of a Mannequin enemy. Important to note that the mannequin which had the flashlight is dressed in the same clothes as Mary wears in the photo we're carrying around



A440V
Mar 27, 2014

bman in 2288 posted:

About the fog, it's one of the lost assets of this game. Konami, after finishing with the game the first time around, printed out the code, filed it away, and never expected to see it again. Some stuff was misplaced or something, that's why the fog looks weird here: the guys behind the remaster didn't have access to all the original files. And they couldn't have opened up the files straight from the original discs, because I doubt they'd have the time.

So yeah, that's why I blame Konami for the porting issues.

Wow, that's wild! I hadn't really paid that much attention to the fog during the actual play through, but now that you mention it, I went searching for some comparison shots. I understand they were probably under a time crunch getting the game out, but if they didn't have the original assets, you'd hope they'd try to take the time to at least make the new fog effects look a little better against the now HD textures. It's funny that the original reasoning behind the fog in SH1 (and SH2 I think?) was to hide the low draw distance that was necessary to keep the game running smoothly with all of those high-end for the time graphics. Now that we have consoles that can handle all of the now outdated textures, they all but completely got rid of the fog, and I think we need the fog now more then ever. I took the liberty of finding a glaring example:

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 03 - Space Ice Cream


The Story Thus Far:
================
So we found our way to the WoodSide Apartments, found ourselves a flashlight, and are now trying to explore our way through to get to the other side of the town. While wandering through the complex, James get his hand stepped on by a bratty little girl while he's reaching for a key. In this episode, we continue our search in the apartment complex, meet a new character, and get another encounter with Angela, which gives us a ton more information about her, and James.
================

About the Town
================
In this episode, we get a bit of side info about Silent Hill. We learn that a man named Walter Sullivan murdered a pair of children, then killed himself in his jail cell by stabbing himself in the neck with a spoon. This bit of info is necessary for a later puzzle.

The article we read touches on the fact that Walter Sullivan seemed to be terrified of a 'red devil', who was trying to punish and kill him. I wanted to point some significant points on this. As far as Silent Hill 2 is concerned, this memo is a tie-in between the Pyramid Head of this game with the occult goings on of Silent Hill 1. Later on, in Silent Hill 4, we learn that the Red Devil is a nickname given to Jimmy Stone, a priest of the Order, because of the red hood that he wore.

Not really relevant to our LP here, but worth it to note that Walter Sullivan is the main antagonist of SH4, and Jimmy Stone is his first victim.
================

Character Intro:
================



Eddie Dombrowski
--
Gross, we meet Eddie puking his brains out in one of the apartments after finding a dead person stuffed in a refrigerator. The conversation is pretty superficial, and it's worth noting that James is asking questions, Eddie freaks out about not being guilty of killing anyone, and the conversation itself doesn't quite line up, almost as if the two characters are having two different conversations. This may be just my own speculation here, but I feel the disconnect between their conversations is meant to allude to the fact that James and Eddie are seeing two different Silent Hills. Again, James seems very assertive and only cares about what he is after, and again, Eddie seems to recoil back and swears that he is not guilty. Like our first conversation with Angela, this difference in personalities is important, so keep it in mind as we progress.

I wanted to note one thing about our conversation with Eddy, but it also applies to a lot of conversations James has. Eddie makes mention of seeing "monsters" around Silent Hill, but as soon as James mentions anything specific Eddie has no idea what James is talking about. Up to this point no one has been on the same page as far as what the monsters actually are, just that there are monsters. This is definitely done intentionally and lends credence toward the notion that Silent Hill is a place where people face their personal inner demons. ~ Drew
--
================

Locations:
================
Blue Creek Apartments
--
Think of the Blue Creek Apartments as the "Dark Side" to the WoodSide Apartments. In SH1, the scene change between the light and dark world was heralded by an air-raid siren, but in SH2, the change is a lot more subtle. Odd that Blue Creek was actually built after WoodSide, but looks a hell of a lot worse for wear.
--
================

Character Update:
================
Quick disclaimer, this section contains some speculation about the characters, both on my part and general consensus from the Silent Hill Community.

James Sunderland:
--
At this point, one thing I want to make note of about James is his disregard for his own safety. Up to this point, we have seen no less than three points where James makes a poor decision which could have gone a lot worse than it did:

- He finds a hole with green goop dripping out of it, actually tries to look into the hole, and when he can't see anything, sticks his hand in. This is all well and good, but the interesting thing is he recoils back and goes "ah!" as if something in the hole hurts him, then after thinking for a moment sticks his hand back in!
- During the Pyramid Head scene, instead of getting the hell up out of that room, James hides voyeur-style in a closet. James also completely forgets to turn off his flashlight, so at this point, he knows Pyramid Head is there, and Pyramid Head knows he's there. Pyramid Head wanders towards where James is hiding, so James empties a clip into him. Here's the big point here: notice that James actually stops shooting while Pyramid Head is still in front of him. Why? Pyramid Head isn't dead, he actually doesn't even seem phased. James completely lucks out in that Pyramid Head seems disinterested and just leaves. This could have easily been the end for James, and it would pretty much have been all James's fault.
- On entering the window to the Blue Creek Apartments, James spots an item of interest in a filthy toilet. I'm not saying the fact that he reaches in and grabs it is what's off here. What I am saying is the fact that he doesn't even hesitate to reach in and grab it, noting that he previously got pricked by sticking that hand in another hole not 15 minutes ago. Either James doesn't really learn from his mistakes, or he just doesn't care.

Based on all of this, we can make some assumptions. Going back to James's first conversation with Angela, he tells her he believes her about the town being dangerous, and then listlessly responds that he doesn't care. I use the word listlessly here because I get the feeling he is tired or fed up. He doesn't care that it's dangerous because he's gone through a lot up to this point, and now the only thing he's focusing on is getting to Mary. Maybe compared to what he's been through, sticking his hand in a dirty toilet isn't such a big deal...
--

Angela Orosco
--
Holy character shift, Batman! What the hell happened to the shaky Angela we met in the graveyard?

We find Angela in room 109, laying in front of a mirror, with a bloody knife in her hand. She seems tired, almost drugged, and talk about a downer personality. Again, the conversation between James and Angela seems a little disjointed, again suggesting that they're living two different experiences. There are three main points to this conversation which need addressing:

- Angela actually invokes the first bit of silent rage that we see in James. When Angela suggests that James is the same as her, James's voice actor changes ever so slightly. When James says "I'm nothing like you", note that it comes from a place of hurt. He seems offended that she would suggest he is suicidal. Two questions for you to think on: 1. Is he angry because he knows she's right? 2. When Angela says that she and James are the same, is she actually talking about suicide?
- At the end of the conversation, Angela asks James to hold the bloody knife, but when he goes to take it from her, she freaks out and points it at him. It's not that she's ready to attack him, but she's prepared to defend herself. She then goes back to timid-Angela, apologizes and says she's been bad, again, like a child would. This reaction to what she did actually has a foundation in psychology. Her behavior suggests a Freudian concept of regression. Angela is fixated on an earlier point in psychological and emotional development, and when she finds herself unable to cope with the reality at hand, regresses back to the oral stage of psychological development (read: speaking as a child would). So the question here is this, why would James reaching for her trigger her in this manner?
- Lastly, and this is a quick one, note that the knife is bloody. It's been used. Also note that Angela is not bloody. No blood on her clothes, and it's not likely she cut herself, because the blood would have seeped through to her sweater, unless she bandaged herself up after, which wouldn't make any sense.
--
================

Cynda
Nov 6, 2014
Another creepy episode, really enjoying it guys.

Also the amount of connections you are making around the story, games and lore is really interesting and opening open Silent Hill and how it works to people like myself who have only briefly played the games or never played them at all.

Aumanor
Nov 9, 2012
Just one observation to throw in there, note what exactly triggers James's little outburst. He doesn't seem to react to neither "you're the same as me" nor "it's easier just to run". What makes him finally show some emotion is Angela saying "it's what we deserve".

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."

Aumanor posted:

Just one observation to throw in there, note what exactly triggers James's little outburst. He doesn't seem to react to neither "you're the same as me" nor "it's easier just to run". What makes him finally show some emotion is Angela saying "it's what we deserve".

Yeah, that's a good point. People don't just end up in a personal hell because they squished a spider. There is definitely something weighing on James' conscience...

bman in 2288
Apr 21, 2010

Ceraph posted:

Yeah, that's a good point. People don't just end up in a personal hell because they squished a spider. There is definitely something weighing on James' conscience...

Truth is, it was a really big spider.

Ghostwoods
May 9, 2013

Say "Cheese!"

Ceraph posted:

We find Angela in room 109, laying in front of a mirror, with a bloody knife in her hand. She seems tired, almost drugged

Honestly, they all seem kinda drugged. It always felt to me like all the conversations were taking place underwater, if that makes any sort of sense...

BottledBodhisvata
Jul 26, 2013

by Lowtax

Ghostwoods posted:

Honestly, they all seem kinda drugged. It always felt to me like all the conversations were taking place underwater, if that makes any sort of sense...

They talk like charcters from a David Lynch movie, largely. I also think it adds to the dreamlike progression of the plot. Everyone seems just slightly bewitched, which is fitting given the game's set up.

Ghostwoods
May 9, 2013

Say "Cheese!"

BottledBodhisvata posted:

Everyone seems just slightly bewitched, which is fitting given the game's set up.

Yeah, totally. Adds to the feeling that they're locked in different dreams -- which always rather made me wonder whether James is actually experiencing the things we're seeing on the screen.

BottledBodhisvata
Jul 26, 2013

by Lowtax

Ghostwoods posted:

Yeah, totally. Adds to the feeling that they're locked in different dreams -- which always rather made me wonder whether James is actually experiencing the things we're seeing on the screen.

He is experiencing them, but that doesn't make them real. Or maybe it does. :getin:

A440V
Mar 27, 2014

Cynda posted:

Another creepy episode, really enjoying it guys.

Also the amount of connections you are making around the story, games and lore is really interesting and opening open Silent Hill and how it works to people like myself who have only briefly played the games or never played them at all.

Glad you're enjoying it! As the whole SH series went on, Team Silent really tried to bridge the games together by making little references here and there. Silent Hill 3 started the trend (Unless you count the books and ending you can get in your second playthrough of Silent Hill 2) both by being a direct sequel to the original, but also by having some nods back to Silent Hill 2. 4 is especially cool because there are almost 2 stories within the bounds of the game. You had your story that you follow with the protagonist of that game, and also if you read all of the memos, you had this extra story about the main antagonist and his connections to Silent Hills 1 through 3. The lore and backgrounds to this game run really deep and offer a lot of opportunity for speculation, so one recommendation I can make if you decide to play them is keep your eyes peeled and mind open for all of the memos each game has to offer, because almost guaranteed they'll have a payoff in a later point in the series.

A440V
Mar 27, 2014

bman in 2288 posted:

Truth is, it was a really big spider.

And it had a family!

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 04 - Maria


The Story Thus Far:
===================
As we continue on, we find a fire escape key which opens up our path to the Blue Creek apartments, and find although they were built after the WoodSide apartments, look much more run down. James searches through the apartment building and finds a depressed Angela contemplating suicide while lying in front of a mirror.
===================

Character Update:
===================
Laura
--
We find Laura humming away walking along the top of a wall that she apparently drew all over. With all the monsters about, it's interesting that she is so calm and can take the time to color while she walks around the town, almost as if the monsters don't attack her. As with earlier, when confronted by James, she is super bratty, and accuses James of not loving Mary...wait...

...How does she know Mary's name??
--

Eddie:
--
Eddie is a gutless fatso. Where the heck did he find a perfectly edible pizza? We learn that Eddie was afraid of something, and that the cops may or may not have been after him. Prior to the events of the game, Eddie did something that warranted an arrest, and so far as he knows, no one will ever forgive him.
--
===================

Enemy Update:
===================
Pyramid Head
--
We have our second full encounter with Pyramid Head in the apartment stairwell, which also turns out to be our first boss fight in this game. When we enter the room, we again find PH sexually molesting one of the monsters, this time the lying figure. Remember that the lying figure is in fact female, and that the skin-straight-jacket is representative of feeling trapped. Note the sound the lying figure makes when Pyramid Head puts it down. I don't really have a good way of describing this sound, but it's a cross between a moan and a scream. The sound seems representative of an "oh god why?" reaction. I have a feeling this was intentional, as it is somewhat sexual in nature but is definitely not a moan that would come from someone having a pleasurable experience. To put it all together, this scene is about a trapped female with no control over her surroundings being abused sexually by an overly aggressive man. At this point, the game designers are pretty much screaming the symbolism at us. We also get another point towards the "James has no regard for his own well being" conversation in that after Pyramid Head is done swinging his giant rusty knife at him, he decides to follow him down the formerly flooded staircase.

The Boss Fight:
-
This fight is timed, and we can't actually do any damage to Pyramid Head. I have heard from others that shooting him will shorten the amount of time for the fight, but I unfortunately haven't confirmed that. If anyone knows more on whether or not this is true, please let us know. Pyramid Head has two attacks, a laborious side swipe, which does a significant amount of damage, and an overhead swing, which is always a one hit KO. To survive this encounter, you will want to keep your distance from Pyramid Head as much as possible. He telegraphs his attacks pretty widely so you have time to figure out which attack he's going for. Run around Pyramid Head's left side, as that is the side that doesn't have the blade, and will give you a better opportunity to dodge the side-swipe. After a period of time, you'll hear the Silent Hill trademark air-raid siren. As we figured out during the episode, make sure Pyramid Head actually turns and starts walking towards the stairs before letting your guard down. Once he leashes towards the stairs, you're safe.
-
--

Bugs!
--
Not much of a proper "enemy" per se, but worth it to note that the bugs do do damage. They'll make another appearance later on, so I figured it's worth calling attention to them since we missed it in the last post. James can avoid taking damage by keeping mobile.
--
===================

Locations:
===================
Blue Creek Apartments/Overall Silent Hill
--
We touched on most of the backstory for this area in the last post, but I realize I forgot to mention that a lot of the names for streets and items and such are nods to famous horror/sci-fi writers. The Lyne House Key we pick up in this episode is a nod to Adrian Lyne, the writer for Jacob's Ladder. When playing through the Silent Hill series, keep an eye out for more of these references. As you wander around the town, you can find Koontz St. named after Dean Koontz, Crichton Rd. named for Michael Crichton, and Bachman Rd. named after one of Stephen King's pen names, Richard Bachman, just to name a few.
--
===================

Character Intro:
===================



Maria:
--
In the [park], we encounter Maria for the first time. She bears a striking resemblance to Mary, only her clothes and hair are different. Gonna say it here, her clothes and demeanor are kind of provocative. During her first conversation with James, she seems to have sort of a seductive air about her, teasing him from time to time as they speak. When James is ready to leave, she becomes clingy and tries to use her feminine wiles to get James to allow her to tag along.

Important piece of info: Maria has a butterfly tattoo on her abdomen. In some cultures, butterflies are a symbol of rebirth. This symbol is opposite to the moth, which is a symbol of death.

One thing to keep in mind regarding Maria's femininity: remember that this game came out originally in 2001. This was at the height of pop-singer Christina Aguilera's singing carreer, falling squarely between her self titled album (the one with Genie in a Bottle) which released in 1999 and her album Stripped (which had the song Dirty) in 2002. Why are we talking about this? Well, what better basis for a seductive character model than the pop-singer herself. I hadn't realized this until I started researching the game, but Maria's clothes are pretty much entirely based on an outfit worn by Aguilera to the 1999 Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards:


--
===================

Ceraph fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Nov 19, 2014

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 05 - Door Simulator 2001



The Story Thus Far:
==================
We finally make it to Rosewater Park, only to find that Mary isn't there. Instead, James finds Mary's doppleganger Maria (get it? Cuz Maria is Spanish for Mary? See what they did there). Maria weedles her way into James's company, and together, they go bowling. Rather, they go to the Bowl-O-Rama and find Eddie and Laura. Laura runs off, and James and Maria give chase...
==================

Locations:
==================
Haven's Night
--
Maria has all of the necessary keys to get us into what turns out to be a strip club. Not much to discuss here other than again, we have some obvious sexual symbolism here. During the playthrough I did miss the little bit of James's inner monologue, but if you examine the liquor bottles in Haven's Night, James mentions that he turned to alcohol to cope with Mary's illness.
--

Brookhaven Hospital
--
This area is one of the most prominent areas in the immediate series (SH 1-3). Brookhaven hospital is a mental institution, and not a regular medical hospital. While all looks well on the outside, we find through reading memos that the underlying reason for building the institution was to house those who had either gone completely insane due to the Order's rituals, or those who were considered insane for defying the Order. We get more of that in our visit within Silent Hill 3, but for the purposes of this LP, be aware that this is a thing, because we will be touching on some occult imagery later.

While we explore the hospital, we find some memos which give us a little background on the patients treated here. In particular, we find a memo written by one of the doctors, which goes into the psychosis of one Joseph Barkin. The doctor speculates on the decision to treat Joseph, and wonders whether or not it's the right thing to do. I believe we missed one memo which goes into Joseph's personality a bit, so I've decided to include it here:

"His illness seems to be rooted in
the fact that he believes he is
guilty of his daughter's
death. His symptoms suggest a
psychotic break and paranoid
delusions. Normally calm, but has
a tendency towards violence when
excited." ~Patients' Records

Additionally, when we get to the roof of the hospital, we find a diary of someone who is completely depressed and is contemplating suicide. Please be aware that you should only read the diary if you are going for the same ending as us. If you read this diary, it will actually prevent you from getting one of the possible three "first playthrough" endings.

The thing with both the diary and Joseph is that while we know they are written by and about different people, what is written can actually be used to describe James himself. We've already seen that James is normally calm, but can be triggered into anger, and the violent nature is a no-brainer (remember the first lying figure encounter? Remember how I mentioned you can rough Maria up if you want?). Additionally, this is the second time suicide has been mentioned, so I ask again, do you think James is suicidal?
--
==================

Enemies:
==================



Bubble Head Nurse:
--
I feel like we are getting a bit repetitive here. The Bubble Head Nurse is a representation both of James' trying to cope with his wife's terminal illness, and more importantly, the resulting sexual frustration he felt when she was ill. The nurses wear a white blouse and tight skirt, with the top buttons of the blouse opened up to reveal the nurses' cleavage. Interesting point with these enemies is that they are the most commonly recurring enemies throughout the Silent Hill series. Each manifestation has a different design which highlights the inner emotions of whomever created the Silent Hill the protagonist is in.


The nurses attack by swinging a metal pole at James. Take these guys out from range to avoid damage. Additionally, these enemies can and will swarm, so pick them off one at a time if you find yourself in a narrow hallway with them.
--
==================

Megillah Gorilla
Sep 22, 2003

If only all of life's problems could be solved by smoking a professor of ancient evil texts.



Bread Liar
Eddie somehow find and eating that pizza in an abandoned bowling alley is still less weird to me than how he was eating it in total darkness before James arrived. And after he left.

Have you ever tried eating in pitch blackness? It's bizarre.

Cynda
Nov 6, 2014
Man, Pyramid Head is just a straight up pain in the rear end sometimes.
Also nice cliff hanger!

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 06 - Trick or Treat


The story so far
====================
We chased after Laura and wound up at Brookhaven Mental Hospital. As we explored the area, we found a couple of memos concerning the permanent inhabitants, and read a super downer diary about suicide. Just as we were about to turn the power on for the elevators, our friend the Pyramid Head comes and wrecks our day. Game Over? Not Quite.
====================

Quick Notes:
====================
I come really close to making a mistake here in this episode. If you are going for the ending we are going for, don't check on Maria after you leave her sleeping. This will give you points towards another ending.
====================

Character Update:
====================
Laura
--
Laura seems to lighten up a bit towards James during our encounter. Just two quick things here:

-Laura actually gives us our second of James's angry outbursts. During the conversation, she tells James she met Mary in the hospital last year. James knows Mary has been dead for three years. Something doesn't line up, but what's really significant is how angry he gets at this little girl. He spits out "you LIAR" directly after telling her he wouldn't yell at her, as if he just couldn't help it. A bit of speculation here, but since he explains that the time didn't match because that was after Mary died, then what caused the outburst? Why not just explain it without the shout? Food for thought: who's timeline do you believe at this point? Is James right or is Laura right?

-James makes a comment that Laura hasn't gotten a scratch on her. Pretty big feat considering Laura has to run around the bubble head nurses who are swinging at us with metal bars, not to mention Pyramid Head causing all sorts of havoc and every other monster/obstacle we've faced. Hell, the Hospital itself is hazardous, how is Laura not filthy from all the dust? How has she not skinned her knees on the gritty floor? Remember that Silent Hill is a reflection of your inner demons. Laura is just a kid, sure she's probably gotten into trouble once or twice, but how bad can she actually be? We can assume here that Laura is actually the only one here entirely of her own volition, and her response to James's question, "why should I?", suggests that she doesn't see all the creepy-crawlies and danger that James does. To Laura, Silent Hill is a ghost town full of fun little things to play with. Then again, she also traps us in the room with the Flesh Lips (shudder), so maybe she can see them but they don't attack her?
--

Maria
--
Maria has some character swings here. As we make our way down to the basement's basement, Maria catches up to us. Her reaction to James's halfhearted relief that she is ok is nothing short of a complete freakout. She starts by screaming at James for not saving her and takes a jab at him for "only caring about his dead wife", then breaks down and pleads for him to take care of her. Is she still playing with him, or is this genuine fright? James notes that she seems to care a lot about Laura, but Maria doesn't know why. She just feels like it's her job to take care of Laura. This is significant.
--
====================

Enemies:
====================



Flesh Lip
--
Flesh Lip... Flesh Lip... Flesh... Lip...

that's just disgusting to say out loud. These creatures hang from the ceiling, and are defined by a body in a skin sack suspended in a metal frame, with big feminine fleshy lips between two feminine fleshy legs. At this point I'm just going to assume you know what I'm going to say about symbolism here, but just to drive the point home, these enemies are sacks of meat (word choice intended) with a feminine shaped orifice where a different feminine shaped orifice should be.

For this fight, use the shotgun. At the start of the boss fight, run forward to avoid the Flesh Lip to James's immediate left. From here, movement is a lot like our first fight with Pyramid Head. You're faster than they are, so run to one end of the room, turn and fire no more than 2 shots into a Flesh Lip, run to the other end of the room, repeat. When the two Flesh Lips are toasted, be aware that there will be a third that will descend from the side of the room, so make sure to head to the center when the second goes down.

The Flesh Lips will attack by moving directly above James and grabbing him to stuff his head into their lips (GET IT?). This will do some significant damage, so if you're at full health, try not got get grabbed more than twice without healing.
--
====================

Locations:
====================
Dark Brookhaven Hospital
--
After our fight with the Flesh Lip (FLESH... LIP...), we wake up in the darkside version of the hospital. This is where the occult imagery really comes into play. The walls are covered in what looks like painters' tarp, and we find a wall with hands grasping towards the sky. The imagery harkens back to the Order from the first game, and their rituals which would eventually result in the sentience behind the town as a whole.
--
====================

Ghostwoods
May 9, 2013

Say "Cheese!"
From what we've seen so far, I wouldn't be surprised if Pyramid Head is working for Laura. Also, James is kinda a relentless dick to everyone, it seems.

Megillah Gorilla
Sep 22, 2003

If only all of life's problems could be solved by smoking a professor of ancient evil texts.



Bread Liar
I can't believe they made you combine hair and a bent pin. What is this, Sam & Max?

Actually a Sam & Max Silent Hill game would be incredible.

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 07 - Letter Wrench


The Story Thus Far:
===================
So everything is getting a tad surreal now, and by that I mean more surreal than before. After mysteriously passing out during our fight with the Flesh Lips (don't worry, I'm not gonna go there this time), we wake up in the darkworld version of Brookhaven Hospital, get yelled at a bunch by an emotional and clingy Maria, and then get the opportunity to win fabulous prizes on everybody's favorite game show, Trick Or Treat!
===================

Trick Or Treat
===================
I'm dedicating a portion of this update to the game we play, because it has some interesting little tidbits that we can go over, and also, because I realize we didn't actually go over how to get all the answers, so in question order:

1) The Name of Silent Hill's Amusement park.
------
How to find the answer:
--
You can find this answer by looking over the map of Silent Hill we got at the very beginning of the game. At the top of the map, to the right of Lakeview Hotel, you can see Lakeside Amusement Park.

Here it is!

--

Interesting facts
--
There is a real Lakeside Amusement Park in Lakeside, CO just outside of Denver. There really isn't too much correlation aside from it also being an amusement park, but it seems a little coincidental that the park in SH is in Paleville (northern Silent Hill), while the original name of the real Lakeside Amusement Park was White City.

We actually get to go to Lakeside Amusement Park in both Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. There are different attractions at the park in each game. If you guessed that's because the attractions, like the rest of the town, have something to do with the person you're playing as, you're right.
--
------

2)Who was the gruesome murderer
------
How to find the answer:
--
We went over this earlier, but to recap: when you throw the orange drink down the trash chute in the apartment complex, there is a memo when you pick up the Coin [Old Man]. The memo explains that Walter Sullivan killed himself by stabbing through his neck with a sharpened spoon in his jail cell. He was in jail for the murder of Billy and Miriam Locane.
--

Interesting Facts:
--
Walter is the main antagonist of Silent Hill 4. During the game, you are constantly chased by the ghost of Sullivan. We find during the events of SH4 that Walter didn't kill himself out of remorse, but to complete a set of 21 sacramental murders.

We actually find him later on in this game, or rather, his body...
--
------

3)What is the name of the road that leads from Paleville to South Vale
------
How to find the answer:
--
This one is fairly straightforward: look at the map. The road that runs the length of the southern shore of Toluca lake, that's the guy we're talking about.
--

Interesting Facts:
--
This is a pretty important road in our game. Not only do we start at the rest area on Nathan Ave, the entire game can be traced along Nathan Ave from right to left. We start all the way on the eastern side, move to the apartments and Rosewater Park near the center, Move further down it to the Bowl-O-Rama and Brookhaven towards the left, then finally push off of the boat launch at the far western side.

Nathan Ave was named after novelist Robert Nathan
--
===================

Character Update
===================
Maria
--
SHE'S DEAD!!! Pyramid Head did the thing that Pyramid Head does and thrusts his long protruberance through Maria's jibbly-bits. The interesting thing I want to point out here is that James feels just a touch of remorse here. The music in this part is moody, suggesting a dark sort of sadness, and James has some inner monologue as he leaves the building...
--

James
--
As James leaves the hospital, he makes a comment that is really important, I'm gonna write it out here:

Maria's dead. I couldn't protect her. Once again, I couldn't do anything to help. Laura has run off somewhere. Mary...... What... What should I do? Are you... really waiting somewhere for me? Or is this your way of taking... I'm going to find Mary...... It's the only thing I have left to hope for.

This is just dripping with foreshadowing. Once again, James was powerless to help his girl survive. First it was Mary, now Maria. The point where James trails off "or is this your way of taking..." we can assume he's going to say "revenge" here, but he can't bring himself to do it. Why would he be unable to fathom that she would try to take revenge on him, and more importantly, why would she have a reason to take revenge on him?


We are starting to fill in the blanks here, and it's at this point where you start to question whether or not James is in the up and up in his marital relations.
--
===================

Meander
Apr 1, 2010


Since it seems that Maria appears to be one of James' inner demons brought to life by Silent Hill it would not surprise me if she reappears, or if another Mary substitute (Mariah? Marie?) shows up later in the game.

Megillah Gorilla
Sep 22, 2003

If only all of life's problems could be solved by smoking a professor of ancient evil texts.



Bread Liar
I love how this game isn't just jump scares and gore. All the really hosed up poo poo you have to work out for yourself.

Cynda
Nov 6, 2014

Gorilla Salad posted:

I love how this game isn't just jump scares and gore. All the really hosed up poo poo you have to work out for yourself.

Having a unnecessarily deep and meaningful hidden plot is one of Silent Hills greatest achievements.

Antistar01
Oct 20, 2013
With all the analysis of Silent Hill 2 going on here, I'm surprised that no-one's asked the most important question:

What is love? (Maybe some oblique spoilers there.)


Somewhat more seriously, I love this game. One of the best-told stories in computer games I think, even if some things like the voice-acting don't hold up well on their own. To be fair(?) though, you can almost hear the :psyduck: in the actors' voices. If I had received Silent Hill 2's script with presumably not much comment from a bunch of guys over in Japan, I doubt I'd know what to make of it either.

I remember trying to find out ages ago if there was a way to play the game with what I assumed were the original (Japanese) voices, only to discover that the English voices are the originals; there is no (voiced) Japanese language version.


Anyway, I'm not sure what to think of this LP. I am enjoying hearing the reactions of people who haven't played the game before combined with someone who knows it fairly well (though you missed finding the steel pipe weapon, with its interesting location), but the amazing atmosphere and sound-work that you guys often comment on is drowned out by not one but three people talking over the top of it.

It is good to have an analysis of the game's themes and symbolism as an ongoing part of the LP, though. When I played the game I didn't twig to what was going on until a certain later point. (It's quite the thing when you suddenly realise what it all means.)

It made me wonder what would be the 'ideal' LP format for this game would be (because it sounded like you sort of wanted that, from what one of you were saying early on). Maybe something like Kamoc's Silent Hill Homecoming LP, with subtitled gameplay commentary and a voiced documentary/analysis section at the end of each video? Man that was a high :effortless: LP for such a bad game.

I dunno, I'm just thinking out loud, really; obviously it's too late now that you've come this far with this format already.


Oh; those enemies under the grated walkway are called Mandarins. (Spoiler warning again for that link.)

Ghostwoods
May 9, 2013

Say "Cheese!"

Antistar01 posted:

What is love? (Maybe some oblique spoilers there.)

Less spoilery: What is love?

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."

Gorilla Salad posted:

I love how this game isn't just jump scares and gore. All the really hosed up poo poo you have to work out for yourself.

That is definitely one of my favorite things about this series. I think it's really what sets it apart from all of the survival horror series out there (at least that I've played). Amnesia did a decent job of getting under the player's skin, but after having played SH2 it's just not the same. Don't get me wrong, I love Resident Evil, but it's just nice to play something that has dialogue that's a bit more interesting than:

"Chris!"
"Wesker!"
"CHRIIIIIIIS"
"WESKER!!"

Antistar01 posted:

With all the analysis of Silent Hill 2 going on here, I'm surprised that no-one's asked the most important question:

What is love? (Maybe some oblique spoilers there.)


Oh my god that is amazing and my life is now quantifiably better with it in it.


Antistar01 posted:

Somewhat more seriously, I love this game. One of the best-told stories in computer games I think, even if some things like the voice-acting don't hold up well on their own. To be fair(?) though, you can almost hear the :psyduck: in the actors' voices. If I had received Silent Hill 2's script with presumably not much comment from a bunch of guys over in Japan, I doubt I'd know what to make of it either.

I remember trying to find out ages ago if there was a way to play the game with what I assumed were the original (Japanese) voices, only to discover that the English voices are the originals; there is no (voiced) Japanese language version.


Anyway, I'm not sure what to think of this LP. I am enjoying hearing the reactions of people who haven't played the game before combined with someone who knows it fairly well (though you missed finding the steel pipe weapon, with its interesting location), but the amazing atmosphere and sound-work that you guys often comment on is drowned out by not one but three people talking over the top of it.

It is good to have an analysis of the game's themes and symbolism as an ongoing part of the LP, though. When I played the game I didn't twig to what was going on until a certain later point. (It's quite the thing when you suddenly realise what it all means.)

It made me wonder what would be the 'ideal' LP format for this game would be (because it sounded like you sort of wanted that, from what one of you were saying early on). Maybe something like Kamoc's Silent Hill Homecoming LP, with subtitled gameplay commentary and a voiced documentary/analysis section at the end of each video? Man that was a high :effortless: LP for such a bad game.

I dunno, I'm just thinking out loud, really; obviously it's too late now that you've come this far with this format already.


Oh; those enemies under the grated walkway are called Mandarins. (Spoiler warning again for that link.)

I did not know that about the voice acting! I've been trying to reconcile the fact that the lip syncing actually seemed pretty spot on at times with the fact that I had assumed it was dubbed over, but that actually explains a lot. I really appreciate it when games / movies go the extra mile to have people speak the language of the place the characters are actually supposed to be in.

As far as the LP format goes, thanks for the feedback! Alden and I are planning on going back and doing a video with more in depth analysis of some of the footage we've seen so far once we pass the super spoilery point of the story. The hard part of trying to add in analysis on the go is tip toeing around the massive pile of spoilers. Silent Hill 2 is definitely a game that warrants analysis / explanation and I would like to get a good chunk if not all of that in the videos as well as here on the thread.

Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 08 - Three Sins


The Story Thus Far:
=================
Some creepy stuff has been happening to James these past few hours. Most importantly, we get ourselves trapped by Laura as she wanders playfully around a monster-ridden mental hospital, and get yelled at by an overbearing Maria, who winds up dying at the hands of pyramid head. After all the fuss, we leave Brookhaven to continue our search for Mary, this time venturing towards Lakeview Hotel.
=================

Locations:
=================
Toluca Prison:
--
Why is it called Toluca Prison, you ask? Well, that's because it's at least partially built under Toluca Lake! General assumption is that it's located under the historical society, but being that you first go down a long staircase that leads toward the lake, then jump in a hole that falls a long way down into what looks like a well, and lastly wind up going back upstairs to a drydock, my assumption here is that part or most of the prison is built under the lake itself.

Notable in the prison is the execution area, which features a lone hanging platform with three nooses and three corresponding spots for three tablets, which we conveniently have. So heads up, I'm half wrong in the video. Sully makes a point that the three tablets represent the three adult characters who are in Silent Hill at the time. While I made mention that all three relate to James, Sully is actually right here, so my bad for calling him out.

The Seductress - Angela - The explanation of this is actually kind of twisted if you think about it. We don't know the details yet, but once we learn it, I'll touch back here for some added "make you uncomfortable" goodness. For now, just realize that this tablet is tied to Angela.

The Gluttonous Pig - Eddie - This tablet is tied to our pal Eddie for obvious reasons. The guy is hanging out in an abandoned town and somehow manages to find and I assume cook, then consume a full pizza. Additionally, Eddie himself makes mention a couple of times that he's tired of being bullied for being fat and ugly etc. This is further compounded by Laura calling Eddie a gutless fatso and a big fat blabbermouth.

The Opressor - James - Explaining the whole reasoning behind this one would be giving away way too much way too early, but to start, let's define oppressive behavior. Opression is the act of forcing or coercing others into a certain course of action or state of mind that they would otherwise not take of their own volition. Think back on the conversations James has had with the other characters in the story. Remember all of those little outbursts James had? Those are examples of James using opression through force. He is forcing himself on whomever he's talking to, whether it be to make them believe he's not suicidal, that Mary died well before Laura met her, or whatever. Now, notice how his outbursts are always one direct sentence, then he immediately goes good-cop and uses a calm, almost cooing voice after snapping? That is an example of opression through coersion.

Now for the other theory: all three tablets relate to James. We don't have to go over The Opressor again, but with regards to the other two:

The Seductress - We've already established that this game deals a lot with James's sexual frustration, which is more often than not given physical form by way of the monsters we encounter. We're gonna get a tad abstract here, but The Seductress tablet is representative of James's current idea of a desireable woman. This is gonna be a pretty big spoiler, so I've chosen to black this section out. So it may have become pretty evident by now that Maria is just a figment of James's imagination, or rather, she is a manifestation of his inner thoughts. The fact that she looks exactly like Mary is a clear tell, but her other notable feature is that she looks and acts more risque then Mary does. We also know that Maria feels strongly towards Laura, but doesn't know why. In the following episodes, we'll find that the reasoning behind this is that Maria has Mary's memories and emotions. It's not too big a stretch to assume based on this that James has a desire for a woman exactly like Mary, but who will also "put out" more freely than Mary did or can.

The Gluttonous Pig - While gluttony is almost always attributed to food, the broader definition is excessive indulgence. This again ties back to James's desires. While Mary was sick, James felt trapped. With the inability to live out his life, James had the desire to indulge. James wanted to live carefree and be able to take part in whatever struck his fancy at the time. His barrier here was having to care for his wife, needing to visit her, having to constantly research her condition as he felt her doctors weren't doing any good. He was getting tired of it and wanted out. We get a glimpse of James's indulgence at Haven's Night (although I managed to miss it), where James lets us know that he turned to drinking heavily as a way to escape his situation.
--
=================

Characters:
=================
Eddie:
--
Today, we find that Eddie, despite multiple denials, has in fact killed multiple people, which is why he ran to Silent Hill to escape the 5-0. Eddie seems to really hate being bullied, and has finally snapped. He tells James that from now on, if anyone makes fun of him, he'll kill them. We also get a strong feeling that Eddie is no longer all together, as after completely freaking about people making fun of him, he chuckles and says he was joking, and that the guy with his brains splattered over the cafeteria table was like that when he got there. At this point we know he's lying, but just the fact that he's even attempting to turn a killing into a joke lets us know that he's not all there anymore.
--
=================

Ceraph fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Dec 2, 2014

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Ceraph
Feb 26, 2013

Say, "fuzzy pickles."
Episode 09 - Crime of Passion


The Story So Far:
================
After leaving the hospital and running around town a bit more, we find ourselves in prison! James channels his inner Indiana Jones and jumps down a ton of holes that he can't see the bottom of. In the prison, we see Eddie, who once again "didn't" kill a guy, and find a set of nooses for our three main characters Eddie, Angela, and James.
================

Character Update:
================
Maria:
--
The conversation James has with Maria, who by the way, isn't as dead as we expected, is pretty dang weird. It's definitely Maria, but she acts pretty differently at first. She doesn't remember being stabbed at all, and most interestingly her sexy tone is completely gone for the first half of the conversation. Didja guess what's going on here? She's Mary. She's also Maria. They're the same person, and also two different people.

Notice how this conversation is broken into two distinctly separate parts. Part A, as I'm going to call it, is James speaking with Maria. James shows genuine concern for someone whom he thought was killed, and she shrugs it off calling him forgetful, and discussing a tape that he left at Lakeview Hotel. How did she know that? That was Mary's memory. Her personality is very calm and even a little playful, but not seductive at all, which mimics Mary's personality.

Quick spoiler, we will readress this one once we finish the LP.
A transition is triggered when James asks the question "Aren't you Maria?". At this point we find our link between wives. She gets snippy with James, spitting "I'm not your Mary.", which is a comment that we can surmise was meant to cut at James. Mary was very abusive towards James in her final days, understandibly so, being that she's spent 3 (?) years bedridden knowing that she is going to die. During this time, her interaction with James flip flopped between yelling at him and crying for him to comfort her. The above comment was a reflection of that spiteful verbal abuse. It's also seen from time to time in Maria's personality. We know Maria is upset that James seems only to care about Mary (remember the conversation in the basement of the hospital), so this attack is also a reflection of Maria's envious attitude towards Mary.

Part B flips this two-gal back to Maria's personality. She turns the seduction up to 11 and comes on hard towards James. She's actually successful in breaking his faithfulness. He knows this woman is not Mary, but when she seduces him, he actually goes for it.

The main point you should take from this is as follows. Mary is a different person than Maria, but Maria is Mary as well. By this I mean, Mary is James's wife and is actually a different character altogether, but Maria is a unique character who not only represents Mary, but is also a manifestation of Mary herself. Confused yet?
--

Angela:
--
Whoa, we get some really heavy info about Angela in this episode. Shortly before our boss fight, we find a memo about one Thomas Orosco, who was murdered via multiple stab wounds. Remember back when Angela gave us the knife, we noted that it was bloodstained, but she wasn't cut anywhere. Important to note that the motive for murder was a crime of passion. Before our boss fight, we hear Angela scream "No Daddy! Please don't!" and during our boss fight, Angela is freaking out in a corner, then after our boss fight, Angela freaks out again and accuses James of trying to, saying "Or you could just force me. Beat me up like he always did!"

Here's the full story. Angela was born into a very abusive family. Her father was an alcoholic lumberjack, who along with her brother, would rape her when he drank. Angela's mother would remind her that she deserved this abuse when she grew up, and eventually left the family and left her with her father and brother. Lastly, when Angela could no longer handle the abuse, she murdered her father and her brother using the knife we're carrying around, and fled to Silent Hill to find her mother.
--
================

Enemies:
================


Abstract Daddy:
--
We fight Angela's father Thomas in this episode, who is manifested as two figures trapped on a bed under a bedsheet of skin, seemingly engaging in forced sex. We can make out a larger figure hunched over the smaller figure, and the "face" of the monster is representative of a penis.

The room we fight abstract daddy in is also representative of Angela's abuse. The pistons around the wall are representative of what Angela considers to be the act of sex due to her experiences with it. The pistons are mechanical, forced, and inhuman. Additionally, and this is purely speculation, the number of pistons (23) may represent the number of times that Angela was raped growing up.

One last bit of interesting speculation before we get on to boss mechanics: why does James see the monster at all? This is obviously a monster who was manifested for Angela, so why does James fight it? Well, as it turns out, the idea of abstract daddy forcing sex on his daughter ties back to James in that it is another manifestation of abusive masculinity. This is Angela's pyramid head. I don't want to give away the big reveal, but just like pyramid head, James can see abstract daddy because he himself uses his masculinity for domination and abuse.

Ok, now on to the mechanics. Abstract daddy attacks by forcing James head into its mouth (get it?). Avoid this by keeping yourself on the opposite side of the room as the monster. This plays a lot like the first pyramid head encounter (and actually, all of the boss fights now that I think of it). Use your shotgun for this fight, and make sure to only take 1-2 shots before hopping over to the other side of the room.
--
================

Ceraph fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Dec 4, 2014

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