Silent Hill

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skykiii said:
So, already I am known to have mixed feelings on Silent Hill because its the series that practically popularized the bullshit horror concept of "nothing is really going on, its just the character is emotional and everything is an extrapolation of their feewings!"
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"It was all a dream" has been in literature for centuries and was popularized in modern culture by the Wizard of Oz. Even in strict horror circles you'd have to look at Jacob's Ladder. For video games in general it would be Link's Awakening. For horror video games I'd say Cry of Fear was the first big one.

Meanwhile, the only Silent Hill games where everything was a dream were shattered memories, the message, and f. Everything that happens in most silent hill game is real. Silent Hill is (supposed to be) about localized monster outbreaks where the thing making the monsters models them on things in people's heads. f fucking that up just tells me the writer didn't care, which seems to be the current course of the series.
 
Local FloRida-man said:
"It was all a dream" has been in literature for centuries and was popularized in modern culture by the Wizard of Oz. Even in strict horror circles you'd have to look at Jacob's Ladder. For video games in general it would be Link's Awakening. For horror video games I'd say Cry of Fear was the first big one.

Meanwhile, the only Silent Hill games where everything was a dream were shattered memories, the message, and f. Everything that happens in most silent hill game is real. Silent Hill is (supposed to be) about localized monster outbreaks where the thing making the monsters models them on things in people's heads. f fucking that up just tells me the writer didn't care, which seems to be the current course of the series.
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again, it isn't a dream, its a sort of spiritual internal journey, I guess its pretty close though.

there really is a Fox God trying to fuck with her, and the drug is letting her sort of communicate with it, this game is actually closer to one of those character dungeons from Persona 3, complete with her Jungian Shadow being her main real antag.
 
Zenos Yae Viator said:
again, it isn't a dream, its a sort of spiritual internal journey, I guess its pretty close though.

there really is a Fox God trying to fuck with her, and the drug is letting her sort of communicate with it, this game is actually closer to one of those character dungeons from Persona 3, complete with her Jungian Shadow being her main real antag.
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Descending into your subconscious psyche, or "the otherworld" (usually in dreams or altered states), to overcome your personal demons and to transcend to a higher state of self is the biggest trope in myth. It originated in death and rebirth/regeneration/initiation myths that go back to older prehistoric initiation rituals that acted as a rite of passage or entry into a secret society/mystery school. In a way these games are just interactive virtual initiation rituals telling a basic mythic trope. The obvious Jungian influence is what really connects all of this together.
 
Mental illness?
Psychological trauma?
Sordid past?
Ever-descending nightmare crafted from a subconscious desire for punishment?

Nah man I'm just here to save my daughter. I'm good.
Screenshot 2025-10-28 172139.png
 
Local FloRida-man said:
f fucking that up just tells me the writer didn't care
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Seeing as the game is by Ryukishi07, he probably did care, just... well, his own original fiction is usually pretty retarded, so I'm not surprised him tackling someone else's franchise had issues.

And hopefully I won't attract spergs by saying that... Ryukishi is one of those bad writers who nevertheless has a devoted fanbase that thinks he's genius.

Anyway, I've written in more detail elsewhere about my issues with modern horror fiction... but yeah, even in the games where its clear Silent Hill is really haunted, I find something lame about the concept of "it only goes for people who have issues."

At least when there's a sponge under the kitchen sink that causes bad luck, there's interesting questions there: where did this sponge come from? How did it get under your sink? Does it handle stubborn stains and embarrassing bald spots?
 
skykiii said:
I find something lame about the concept of "it only goes for people who have issues."
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Think of it like a nervous system, it has to have something that excites/activates it without some sort of direct intervention like Alessa housing "God" (likely the corporeal form of the power of the land) where in now everyone can see and be affected by it.

It isn't so much as "people with issues" as it is human suffering, in SH2 it isn't playing therapist, it isn't trying to help Eddie, Angela and James, its feeding on them and trying to get them to feel more despair and suffering.
 
VisaMallgoth said:
Sounds like an egregore, or the Jungian "collective unconscious."
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I believe this is the case, and the Cult used drugs and mass drugged state to essentially arrest the power/unconscious belief and desires they sought to slap the God into Alessa, this sort of thievery or plucking the power from the "land" was like a permanent infected wound on Silent Hill, sort of like The Shining, which is one of the the things that clearly inspired Silent Hill, among many.
 
A fun spooky thing in Silent Hill 4 that I couldn't find mentioned anywhere online expect a single YouTube video(this one) is if you stay in place for long enough in the apartment in the latter half of the game you will hear knocks on the door(3 slower knocks, 3 quicker ones and then 3 slower ones again), but if you look through the peephole there is no one there.
 
aaalawgin said:
A fun spooky thing in Silent Hill 4 that I couldn't find mentioned anywhere online expect a single YouTube video(this one) is if you stay in place for long enough in the apartment in the latter half of the game you will hear knocks on the door(3 slower knocks, 3 quicker ones and then 3 slower ones again), but if you look through the peephole there is no one there.
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Aren't there a ton of hauntings that are so rare you could play the game a few times and never happen upon them?

Fuck SH4 was good. Shame it just couldn't stick the landing in other parts.
 
Brain Problems said:
Aren't there a ton of hauntings that are so rare you could play the game a few times and never happen upon them?
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Yes like the cool Walter portrait one. I really love it when games have stuff like that randomized for each playthrough. It's a shame that people that played the PC version before this year missed out on a bunch of hauntings due to that one fuck up in the game code. Thankfully earlier this year GOG fixed that in their version.
Brain Problems said:
Fuck SH4 was good. Shame it just couldn't stick the landing in other parts.
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Agreed, if I was rich I'd throw a bunch of money for a Team Silent revival and a proper remake of SH4.
 
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Zenos Yae Viator said:
there really is a Fox God trying to fuck with her, and the drug is letting her sort of communicate with it, this game is actually closer to one of those character dungeons from Persona 3, complete with her Jungian Shadow being her main real antag.
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That just puts it in the same tier as the therapist in shattered memories. It doesn't matter if the being is real or not, the game still establishes that the events are in the protags head only.
Scarthew said:
I wouldn't... the world of the book is a real thing. Whatever the protag scrawled into his journal turned into real monsters. We know this because of the coop campaign.

Shattered Memories also came out 3 years before it.
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Ah, I was getting it confused with afraid of monsters. Same pole made them afterall. But I am certain even the coop is supposed to just be metaphorical. At least going by all the endings. It's not book of shadows.
skykiii said:
Seeing as the game is by Ryukishi07, he probably did care, just... well, his own original fiction is usually pretty retarded, so I'm not surprised him tackling someone else's franchise had issues.
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I should've clarified that he probably didn't care about silent hill's story. He absolutely cares about his own story. He's been writing the same one over and over again for almost a decade now after all.
skykiii said:
but yeah, even in the games where its clear Silent Hill is really haunted, I find something lame about the concept of "it only goes for people who have issues."
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Somebody else already said it, but the force in the town is just magic play dough. It's never meant to be the focus, only a tool for the story to explore the horror of other people. Cults, serial killers, regular killers, burn victims, bum dads, etc. Y'know, the real evils of the world.
 
Local FloRida-man said:
Ah, I was getting it confused with afraid of monsters. Same pole made them afterall. But I am certain even the coop is supposed to just be metaphorical. At least going by all the endings. It's not book of shadows.
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No they say very clearly they're trapped in his world of nightmares. The book is its own pocket dimension.

We also have the doctor side campaign where the doctor is trying to destroy the book to escape the nightmare. Its very explicit that the monsters are real.
 
Scarthew said:
No they say very clearly they're trapped in his world of nightmares. The book is its own pocket dimension.

We also have the doctor side campaign where the doctor is trying to destroy the book to escape the nightmare. Its very explicit that the monsters are real.
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Well that just doesn't gel with the single player at all. The main game and endings make it pretty explicit that there are no monsters and Simon is the only real threat. The book is just his journal. Why would a random book Simon gets from his therapist be magic? Why would armed cops use that book and risk their lives to prevent a cop killer from being crippled? How would they even know to do that? Why couldn't Simon when that was all he wanted? It clashes too much with the themes of the story to be more than a what if mode. Especially since the cops aren't even characters.

As for the doctor campaign, that's purnell undergoing a a similiar mental breakdown after reading Simons journal and realizing his therapy sucked ass and was like ~70% responsible for everything. It makes sense that it would mirror simons breakdown since purnell was the one who caused that.
 
Big news for all the f-Heads (which I think is just me and Zenos, bringing the number of things we have in common to a distressing amount). Just in time for Halloween, Silent Hill f got a patch. Notable changes are the inclusion of casual mode for babies, changes to unavoidable combat, and the ability to skip an entire section of the game on New Game Plus. The most important thing is that they fixed the bug that kept certain items from spawning, which kept me from platinumming the game.

New Features

Added Action Difficulty: Casual
The Casual action difficulty will be playable when starting a game from “New Game” on the main menu or from a New Game+ save file.
For players on the Story action difficulty or higher, the Casual action difficulty will be selectable upon reaching the Game Over screen multiple times. Added Optional Skip Feature for Select Sections of New Game+ Upon completing the “Go through the door” objective after solving the mural puzzle on New Game+, the game will display the option to skip. The game will resume at the scene where Hinako awakens at the corridor of the Dark Shrine for the second time with the “Proceed” objective if skipped.
  • Items from the skipped sections will not be collected.
  • “Thankful to Be Here,” “Grateful for a Worthy Foe,” and “Clear Skies” do not unlock on a playthrough that uses the skip feature.
  • The skip feature does not impact branching paths or endings.
Added Motion Blur option to the Graphics menu

System Changes​


  • Hinako’s stamina replenishes slightly faster
  • Unskippable combat encounters are reduced across multiple sections
  • Fewer enemies are placed across multiple sections
  • Hinako’s line when an enemy is defeated plays at a slightly later time
  • Hinako takes slightly less damage on the Hard action difficulty

Bug Fixes​


  • Fixed bug where Shu duplicates in the cutscene that plays when heading from Sennensugi Shrine to Rinko’s house during the “Head to Rinko’s house” objective
  • Fixed bug where interaction icons do not display on the hall leading to the room with the naginata during the “Enter the inner room” objective
  • Fixed bug where the Sakuko-like entity stops moving in combat during the “Defeat the Sakuko-like entity” objective
  • Fixed bug where the Fog Monster stops moving and halts progress during the “Chase after the Fog Monster” objective
  • Fixed bugs across multiple levels where events do not progress despite meeting the required conditions
  • Fixed bugs across multiple levels where specific enemies remain outside of the combat area and cannot be defeated
  • Fixed bugs across multiple levels where clumps of flesh do not spawn
  • Fixed bug where some notes from “Sakuko’s Diary” could not be obtained on New Game+
  • Fixed bug where Hinako may become unresponsive to player input after dodging
  • Fixed bug where Hinako dies upon loading an autosave file if Hinako died during an autosave
  • Fixed bug where the “View Endings” option does not display on the title screen after finishing the first playthrough (may require loading New Game+ data to fix)
  • Fixed bug where the cursor moves without player input when playing on the controller

*Various other minor bugs have been fixed, including bugs related to audio, hitboxes, text errors, loading, and graphics.
 
I have no idea why people were surprised F's narrative was a giant pile of shit.

The Hirogashi When They Cry dude is infamous in the anime/manga community for being incredibly heavy handed and blunt with his storytelling.
 
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