RichardKimble

Well, the thing about Silent Hill is that it literally descends you into the depths of madness, which is, needless to say, quite unnerving. And it's not like the sanity gimmick in Eternal Darkness where you can just cast a couple spells and you're good as new. Like the characters, you have to wade through some of the most mentally disturbing stuff you've ever experienced without losing your mind, and there is no easy way out. What's worse, all of it has the tinge of human atrocity all over of it. You have to look at all the horrible things human beings can and have done to each other, which is probably the unpleasant of all. That is why SH truly frightens me.

True. His lines after Eddie's death are: "Eddie.... Eddie! I... I killed a... a human being... A human being... Mary... Did you really die three years ago...?" (From the SH 2 on Gamefaqs.com) Still, it's a bit of grief, albeit tiny.

No problem. I wrote it for the sake of discussion. And as long as it adds stuff, like yours did, and not "You r teh suck," it's perfectly fine. I can see a lot of that. Certainly, the mannequins do have feminine aspects and do seem to represent somewhat his sexual frustrations. For example: The Pyramid Man rape scene. If the PM is a representation of James and the mannequins are a representation of his sexual frustrations, it certainly gives the scene a lot of context. Also, one of the little unsaid things is that while Mary was very sick, she and James couldn't, you know, do it. This could range from 6 months to 3 years, according to the doctor when James is listening to the headphones in the reading room. Not to be too immature about it, but that's a LOT of time without sex. However, there are some enemies that don't emphasize sexuality, like the demon patients. These could be James realizing that he isn't as mentally stable as he seems to be. Probably. I may have overcomplicated the matter because Maria also has an extra temptress quality about her could imply a demon, but like it said, I doubt it. It probably wasn't all that clear, but I don't think Silent Hill is JUST for the dead. However, it's a great many things (especially things people bring to it) and could be a place for the dead who have a connection to it. Mary says the place is a sacred place, and a lot of the historical stuff you find agrees with that. Off-topic, while Silent Hill 2 is definately a personal journey, I think it also fits into the series by filling out what exactly the town of Silent Hill is. In the original, it's a nice backdrop and you get some of the backstory, but just enough that you (somewhat) understand the story. Here you get a LOT of stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the main plot, but what it does do is give context for the town, much like SH 3 gives a lot of context to the cult from SH 1. So, even if you hate James and his little story, you can still admire SH 2 for being a guide to the town. Well, I wouldn't call her completely innocent. I mean, she steps on James' hand when he's reaching for the key and she isn't exactly nice to Eddie. But she does have a connection to Mary. She has the letter from Mary and they were very close and she got to see all the bad things about James. So I still think she's there for the sake of getting James to realize that he didn't always think the world of Mary. Of course, that creates the question of why she interacts with Eddy at the bowling alley. Why does Maria stay out of the bowling alley, for that matter? If she's so scared of the monsters, why would she let the fact that she doesn't like bowling alleys bother her? Even though she claims she saw Laura runs past her, we never see Laura and Maria in the same place at the same time. Maybe that's part of of it. Maybe they're two different forces pulling at James. I think it may be Maria's a part of James' mind that is trying to push him farther into the trap he's got himself into and Laura is trying to help him out in her own rough way. or that could be all crap. Maria after all shows a LOT of sympathy for Laura and seems to genuinely want James to go after her. Who knows. Maybe. He could be a hint to James. It's one of the many things in SH 2 that seems to fit in somewhere in the puzzle but there's not an exact fit. You're welcome. I've read through that myself. It has a few flaws (Like not mentioning the fact that the doormen are actually the bedmen in the discussion of that enemy), but the vast amounts of information and theories backed with evidence make up for those little things ten times over. The memo feature on SH 2 and 3 help immensely for information gathering, but there are some things that the memos forget that are written down in it that help immensely in understanding everything. As for the monster thing, that theory probably sounds more correct. I was just basing my theory off of what Vincent said at the end about the dark other world being a creation of Claudia's. But, I see basing anything off of what Vincent says to be dubious, since he's something of a swindler. He twists things to make himself more favorable and even lies to for that purpose. However, even his lies have a slight bit of truth, so you never know... And ECCLES: Well, he's like Harry in that matter. They really have one-track minds in the game. Harry does the same thing in the original SH. "Damn, those bodies on those the wall are creepy. Let's go find Cheryl!" "Yeah, you've been changed into a zombie of sorts, but you're better now, so get off your ass and help me find Cheryl." "Yeah, yeah, all that stuff about gyromancy is all very interesting, but that doesn't help me find Cheryl, you creepy old bat!" "Wow, that nurse seems like she really needs support. Oh well, Cheryl's more important. I'm finding her." The makers really need to find reasons for the characters to go forward, and in some ways, you need to suspend your disbelief a bit. Plus, giving them those big motivation allows them to give some believability to the characters' actions. I mean, it would take a LOT for someone to walk through three rooms worth of corpses and then jump down a hole where one can't see the bottom. Giving them this one-track mind can be a reason for it. James DOES express grief for killing Eddie, saying stuff like "I've never killed someone before" (which is, of course, not true), but if he was extremely distraught, he wouldn't get on that boat and go to the hotel, so they have to give him that determination about finding his wife. He knows there's something wrong about something surrounding his wife. Something he's missing, and that's kind of what's driving him forward. I can see why you don't particularly like James, though.

Well, I'm seeing the world of Silent Hill 2 as something of a pergutory for James. Not in the Christian sense, but more in the sense as it was somewhat presented in the Asian movie The Eye. The belief that plays a major part in that movie is that people who commit suicide stay on Earth as spirits who constantly repeat the act until they come to grips with what they've done. We know James commits suicide in one of the endings. However, it's ambiguous whether it happens before or after the events of SH 2 since the letter James is supposed to get after Mary dies is being read over the ending. It's possible that James suffered miserably from guilt and that letter, filled with some emotional stuff, was delivered to him and pushed him over the edge. Not saying it's right. Just my thoughts on it. So, we plug this in to everything. My idea is all the dark, evil stuff in Silent Hill 2 is James' projection. Well, not all of it. Some of it is other people's, but I'll get to that in a moment. All right, so they're a projection of his mind. This includes the Pyramid men and Maria, all though Maria may be a demon, but again, we'll get to that. In the final confrontation with the Pyramid Men, James says he needed them to punish him for his sins. What do they do besides skewer him and take swipes at him with swords so big, Cloud couldn't even hold one? They execute Maria. A few times, really. While the Pyramid Men may not be a direct representation of James' dark side, he does permit them to do what they do, if subconsciously. So, he's constantly living out the torture of what he's done through Maria, only it's an act separate from himself because he hasn't come to grips with he's done yet. I believe the final showdown with Maria is something of James coming full arc, confronting the ugly thing he's done (and yeah, Maria isn't exactly a pretty final boss), and moving on. She is in an execution cage because this is James realizing that this is him who has done the crime and his final bullet is something of reaching a finality. While the fight with the Pyramid heads may have somewhat served that need, he still is clinging to Maria a bit (He says "Leave her the hell alone!") and may need that last push. Maria could be a demon pushing trying to drag James to a hell of some sorts. The final scene with Angela sort of throws in the possibility of the existance of hell since she now always sees flames. In the movie What Dreams May Come (I know, more making references to religious stuff in movies. I should probably read a book or something), a big part of the movie is one the characters committing suicide, and that person sort of building walls around herself, not coming to grips with her actions, and not even recognizing the person she should recognize the most. Angela fits ALL of that (Which is why I think they added the odd part with her mistaking James as her mother). So, with that in mind, Maria may be a separate entity trying to drag James into the flames, but I doubt it. Most of the things in SH 2 (or the entire SH series, for that matter) are very mental in origin. I think Maria is seen getting executed instead of Mary because James subconsciously doesn't feel he deserves to see Mary and is giving this sin-tainted replacement (notice at the end she looks exactly like Mary, but is still Maria. Completely getting rid of Maria is James turning the last screw). So what are these OTHER characters doing here? Well, maybe they all died in Silent Hill on the same day? Note in the Catacombs, there are newspapers with "today's date" on it. It has flaws, considering that it's quite a coincidence three murderers died on the same day in the same town, but it may be just a Twilight Zone "it makes the plot work" kind of coincidence. Maybe they've been there for awhile and are constantly repeating their sins and simply reseting each time. However, if that's the case, then I question the linearity and the apparant finality of their actions. When James kills Eddy, it doesn't seem like Eddy's going to just reset and start again, does it? Anyway, so since they're all in their own personal pergatories, they're fighting monsters of their own creation. Eddy's possibly fighting very human-like monsters that taunt him (though I can't be sure because he kills all of them and leaves them either REALLY bloody or in a place where you can't see the body). Angela is being chased by the bedman, because well, we all know what her daddy did to her. Sometimes these worlds cross and James sees Eddy's and Angela's monsters. Laura is a loose end, I admit. She doesn't seem to be bothered by anything in Silent Hill. She feels she has enough time to calmly draw murals onto the walls of Silent Hill, for crying out loud! She could be there because she's been a complete and total brat to everyone. She's not exactly the nicest kid in the world. However, she may also be some kind of "tough love" help for James, pushing him into realizing all the things he can't realize himself. She locks James in the room with all the caged monsters and he fights a caged Maria later and she's the one who indirectly points out the bad things in his relationship with Mary. Of course, still, locking a guy in a room with three REALLY creepy monsters just ain't right no matter what the reason, ya' know? Anyway, that's about all I have on the subject. Hope you enjoyed reading. My only big question is what is the significance of Walter Sullivan? He's mentioned very prominantly a couple times and even has his own tombstone in the room before the battle with Eddy. If it's been covered in this thread, sorry, I'm an idiot. Oh, and I do not by any means feel I'm completely right. With something like Silent Hill 2, it's to no benefit for one to say there's a be-all and end-all explination. Just some thoughts. Oh, and a quicky theory about Silent Hill 3. I'm thinking the monsters may be a representation of the 7 deadly sins (AGAIN with the stuff learned from movies!). Since it's established at the end by Vincent that the dark world is all Claudia's decoration, and Claudia sees the world full of sin, the monsters could be a reflection on sin. The monster Heather first encounters could be greed with all the extremeties except the legs being mouths, the little things first encountered in the malls sloth with only having a giant mouth and tiny legs, the "cancers" being gluttony, the pendulums or the blademen being wraith, and the nurses being pride (They do seem to have makeup on, which is a difference from other SH nurses). Of course, I'm missing a couple, but it's a rather incomplete and flimsy theory. Just a thought, really. Oh, hi, by the way. I lurk a lot, but I always love a good Silent Hill discussion. EDIT: Fixed some typos, though there may be still plenty of misspellings since I'm not that great at spelling.

I'm probably the fiftieth guy to have done this, but I have just dropped into the thread and read all the previous ones. Anyway, I kind of have a short list hardest bosses, some may have been mentioned fifty times, some may not. Death-Castlevania I can beat Death on every other Castlevania, but I cna't beat him! Why?! Maybe it's because I rely on the whip and never use secondary weapons, but it wasn't so much Death as the full room of Knights and Medusa heads before him that made it hard. Jacquio (sp?) Ninja Gaiden- Like Castlevania, I can beat every other sequal of the these games, but not the original! Stand still punk and then we'll see how bad you really are! Final Boss of Super Ghouls and Ghost: Considering you got this far, you had to deal with a five-story boss in the realm of Ghouls and Ghosts where the difficulty of everything goes to 11. And while we're on the topic of huge bosses, The stadium-sized beast from Duke Nukem 64. It's not bad enough it's the stripped down, slightly sanitized N64 version of the game, but oh yeah, there's a HUGE beast with a never-ending supply of rockets out to kill you! I just wanted to set it on God mode, stand at its foot, and fire at it with my pistol just to see how long it would take to die. Nei's clone-Phantasy Star II, Now Dark Force and Mother Brain were no problem for me, but it was a matter of circumstance. Awhile ago, I bought an original cartridge of PS II from a friend, and I spent the following THREE YEARS trying to get all the Legendary weapons from those overcomplicated dungeons (OK, the PS I dungeons were harder, but that's because they were 3-D dungeons. Man, I HATE 3-D dungeons!) and thus, had WAY overleveled my characters by the time I finally found full-color maps on the internet, and completely eradicated the final bosses (Short, but great ending, but NOTHING in the ending could top the satisfaction I had in just completing it). But as for Nei's clone, wander through a complicated dungeon for an hour, find her, have her kill off a vital character, then go at it until she kills you. Start all over again. Of course, there IS That reviving Nei thing, but I never tried it. After three years, you can't blame me for not wanting to go through it again. Smithy-Super Mario RPG Now granted I rented the game once and ran straight through and never touched it again, but Smithy was an hour-long marathon of patience. I just wanted to finish it and be done with it because unlike the rest of the world, I really didn't like the game and I wanted no excuse to play it again. So, I probably went up against Smithy about 5 levels under what i needed to be (But HOW? I fought every battle I could!). I beat the sucker.... eventually... those Power Ranger rip-off punks also rank. Eve-Parasite Eve II The Eve on top of the Chrysler Building would probably easily top this.... if I could get more than five feet in the Chrysler Building and find out for myself. But still, Eve making a shadow clone of itself that immediately dispatches you sucks. Big time. Plus, there are NEVER enough item pouches on your armor! General Baal's final form-Grandia OK, even though he probably one of the harder bosses on the spectrum, my problem is not that I couldn't survive him. I couldn't survive his VOICE ACTING! I know I know, there's something on TVs called volume. I was making what is called a joke... oh, and while we're here, Ghaleon from Lunar? Batty from Blade Runner called. He wants his line back (Not that the voice actor of Ghaleon was bad in any way. Just, couldn't they think of DIFFERENT things for the final boss to say?!). Hat Guy from Total Recall-Normally, I can tolerate bad movies-to-games. Sometimes their badness drives me along through their loose gameplay and unpolished mechanics. But Total Recall was TOO MUCH! I made to this guy who threw his hat at you a la Oddjob, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get ANY further. Then I just shut that game off for good. EDIT: I forgot to add the final level of back to the Future. Granted, it's not a boss per se, but still, you're driving and you have to hit the final point at EXACTLY 88 MPH or else everything you fought for for the entire gaming session means nothing! I did it... once... the ending sucks.... it's NOT WORTH IT! SAVE YOURSELF!