Wish House

[Angantyr]

Thanks for your invertation, I accept

I own:
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2 (Pal with bonus DVD)
Silent Hill 3

I have completed the first one and currently I am in "dark" mode at the hospital. I have only played the opening to SH3 but I will go through it once I have finished with SH2.

[Bryan]

Welcome, Odin and Lai Lai Hei!

As for the rabbit (or Robbie...where is he called Robbie? Just curious!), I've attached two pictures of him. One with him looking at you from Eileen's room, because I'm not sure if this is what you didn't see or not.

The other is a picture of him looking back at you through the peephole. I made it a point to look through the peephole numerous times and I never saw him. Eventually, I didn't see anything but the hand prints on the wall. Maybe this was just in a non-American release?

I've also heard rumors about being able to look through a window in the Building world of SH4 and having a surprise happen if you look long enough. I never really investigated that, either. However, when you first start SH4 and after the phone rings, look out the window, up and to the left. You should see a big billboard with a phone number on it. Call it on your phone. Make sure you turn the lights on wherever you are playing it before you do it, though. It's pretty sweet.

Also, Chez, I read that you couldn't find the dead cat in SH4? I don't think it does anything special...but it's just kind of out there. You can find it when you revisit the Apartment world. It's in one of the rooms...I can't remember which one, though. The door to the fridge is open and it's in there.

*EDIT*

By the way...I just noticed that the freakin rabbit is pointing at you! I never noticed that before. Creepy little bastard...

[Chez Daja]

Originally Posted by Hollow

As for the rabbit (or Robbie...where is he called Robbie? Just curious!), I've attached two pictures of him. One with him looking at you from Eileen's room, because I'm not sure if this is what you didn't see or not.

Yeah, I saw that one. I was just confused as my best friend saw it in that hole into Eileens room, looking around with red eyes.

Originally Posted by Hollow

The other is a picture of him looking back at you through the peephole. I made it a point to look through the peephole numerous times and I never saw him. Eventually, I didn't see anything but the hand prints on the wall. Maybe this was just in a non-American release?

Woah, the peephole picture is horrible... I dunno about the non-American version, though. Because I have the English version and I've not seen that. However, the hauntings are random and I've played through the game a few times....maybe I need to look closer.

That peephole picture is really really freaky, though. Have you seen Ghost Henry looking through the peephole before?? I've seen it once. It's at the front door, the peephole bleeds and you have to look through it and see Henry. I'm assuming this is how you see Robbie as well, but maybe not.

Originally Posted by Hollow

I've also heard rumors about being able to look through a window in the Building world of SH4 and having a surprise happen if you look long enough. I never really investigated that, either. However, when you first start SH4 and after the phone rings, look out the window, up and to the left. You should see a big billboard with a phone number on it. Call it on your phone. Make sure you turn the lights on wherever you are playing it before you do it, though. It's pretty sweet.

Oh, do you mean...

Spoiler: When you get the number wrng? When you look AT (not out of) the apartment window and see that floating head? (You have to wait about a minute each time you see it to see it again, though. And it stays like that throughout the rest of the game afterwards. I'm not sure if candles can heal that, however. It happened before my apartment started getting the hauntings.

Originally Posted by Hollow

Also, Chez, I read that you couldn't find the dead cat in SH4? I don't think it does anything special...but it's just kind of out there. You can find it when you revisit the Apartment world. It's in one of the rooms...I can't remember which one, though. The door to the fridge is open and it's in there.

Ohhh, I thought you could find it in room 302... my bad! I think I have seen it in Apartment world, though.

Also, I always noticed the bunny pointing... it was weird...

[Angantyr]

I finally got through the hospital, it wasn't that long and tedious but maybe I used the Walkthru too much.

Spoiler: That music when Maria/Mary (I forget) gets taken by Pyramid head is no way as near as deep as when Lisa dies! I would of hoped for something read emotional but I guess I will have to wait for later

One thing that I have started to notice is the Beauty of Evil, see most american flicks based around horror are rather bland. But Silent Hill along with a few other games, have a very "magical" method of using dark imagery. Like on that door with the 3D arms, that was quiet eerie, the hospital had a motif* with hands and rings (perhaps the whole game does, I dunno) and though quiet evil had a majestic effect. I have to admit the bunny doesn't do it, I think they were trying to throw out the feeling of something really innocent turning to the darkside if you will.

[Chez Daja]

Originally Posted by Odin

I finally got through the hospital, it wasn't that long and tedious but maybe I used the Walkthru too much.

Have you heard the song Promise (Reprise) ? ... I'm not sure if that's when Maria...

Spoiler: Gets taken away... but it might be. It was the theme when Angela is found in the Apartments, wanting to kill herself.

Originally Posted by Odin

I have to admit the bunny doesn't do it, I think they were trying to throw out the feeling of something really innocent turning to the darkside if you will.

I agree. I think the bunny was somewhat of a childs' theme, becoming bittersweet and taking a descent into evil, or a haunting effect. Maybe.

[Angantyr]

Yes, if I remember correctly it was quite good, though I can't remember and looking for it: http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/107/74

Well I like the way they describe the mental patients, and its like he is actually in the same place as the patients. Like how in the hospital they covered it with sheets and ripped beds and so on, worked well.

[Chez Daja]

I have most of the SH2 soundtrack. I just didn't know which track was playing when Maria got taken away.

I like how, as the story goes on, you can actually get a sense of James' mental health deteriorating more and more, little by little. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. I loved how...

Spoiler: Maria was a figment of his imagination, put there to represent Mary, but he found her in sluttier appearence, which represented a lot of his sexual wants and needs.

There were other sexual meanings in the game as well, such as...

Spoiler: Pyramid Head. Found raping these creatures, which represented all of James' unmet sexual needs from Mary while she was sick. It was actually said that James raped her before he killed her, but I have no idea if this is true. If James did rape her, that probably drove him to more guilt.

In the end, Eddie goes crazy and...

Spoiler: James ends up killing him. After he does so, another Pyramid Head appears, representing more guilt, and another kill. But it's said only the first is driven by sexual want and need, the one that appeared first. His want and need to make love to his wife, making him not only guilty for killing Mary, but even more guilty for still having his sex drive while she was sick. The other Pyramid Head is in guilt for Eddie.

In the end, as James begins to overcome his guilt, the Pyramid Heads'...

Spoiler: Kill themselves, representing the over-layer of guilt being washed away.

Something else that interested me was...

Spoiler: Everything in the game, in James' "adventure" is a figment of his own imagination, apart from a few of the other people he encounters. The people he does meet have some kind of link for being in Silent Hill...

Take James, who was drawn to Silent Hill because he...

Spoiler: Received a letter, which in the end, wasn't really a letter at all, he imagined it. He was drawn there from guilt, and put through pain of killing his wife and his continous want to make love to her. Equals even more guilt, which drove him to a pyschotic break, making him "see" these weird monsters.

And then there's Eddie, whom...

Spoiler: Killed and man and a dog, and escaped to Silent Hill after the police began chasing him. He's simple-minded and believes there is nothing wrong with killing people who look at him strangely. He is driven to Silent Hill from his own guilt of killing people, but his own insanity and insecurity drove him into believing he was doing the right thing.

Then of course, poor Angela, who...

Spoiler: Was beaten and raped by her dad. She goes to Silent Hill looking for her mother, whom is believed to have lived in Blue Creek Apartment buildings. There is a room of Angela's pain, where there are hole in the walls, with motions of penetration, representing her rape. I found that extremely upsetting, because in the game, she is meant to only be 16 or 17. She ran away from home after she finished off in high school, but he dad found her, brought her back home and did some pretty shitty things to her. She ran away again, to Silent Hill, still looking for her mother. She doesn't think she'll ever be happy, and often attempts to committ suicide. Like for example, in the scene of James meeting her when she's lying on the floor, in that apartment room. She's holding a knife in her hand, one that she plans to use to cut herself with. James manages somehow to convince her suicide isn't the only option and she gives her knife to him. She is in Silent Hill because of the pain she has suffered. You also have to face a boss which is SUPPOSED to be the shape of a bed frame with two figures, one being raped, representing Angela herself. She believes this hideous creature is her father.

There's a little Laura...

Spoiler: Whom was friends with Mary in hospital. Mary loved Laura and wanted to adopt her. After you complete the game, there is an ending of which James can adopt her and leave with her. It's said that Laura cannot see any of the monsters because she is innocent and has done nothing wrong. To Laura, it's just a ghost town, therefore she isn't scared and doesn't feel the fear that the others do. It is also said that Angela cannot see many of the creatures either. Only ones that conflict with her own emotional pain.

After all of that, I bet nobody will read this whole post.

Just thought, you guys who have played and completed SH2 might enjoy some of my views on the characters.

I'll post more on the SH2 creatures and what they represent later, okay!?

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Odin

One thing that I have started to notice is the Beauty of Evil, see most american flicks based around horror are rather bland. But Silent Hill along with a few other games, have a very "magical" method of using dark imagery. Like on that door with the 3D arms, that was quiet eerie, the hospital had a motif* with hands and rings (perhaps the whole game does, I dunno) and though quiet evil had a majestic effect. I have to admit the bunny doesn't do it, I think they were trying to throw out the feeling of something really innocent turning to the darkside if you will.

Silent Hill is bursting at the seems with symbolism. The way I like to think of Silent Hill is a bit different. It can't be compared to Resident Evil when it comes to quality of the game, either. It's not the same type of game. It's just not.

It's a bit difficult to decide who the enemy really is in Silent Hill. As for the rabbit, I think that it symbolizes a few different things throughout the game. I'm not sure what it is in SH3 yet, but I think I might in SH4.

It's really psychological as is Silent Hill in general. To explain the bunny, nothing could be creepier...think about it:

As the game goes through, you look through the peephole and hole in the wall, yet nobody see's you. There are points where you hit the door and even yell, yet nobody hears you. Just when everything starts going really bad, nobody stops outside of your apartment anymore. Signs of human life around you just seem to vanish and the only thing that knows you're in that apartment and what is going on is that damned rabbit.

Silent Hill director Christophe Gans put the creatures (in the game) into the proper light...

Originally Posted by Christophe Gans

The creators of Silent Hill the game are so highly intelligent and used so many abstract and interesting references to create the creatures that of course it was such challenge for us to replicate this. Silent Hill the game heavily borrows from Modern Art especially the paintings of Francis Bacon. As in Bacon's art we see the monstrosity of his figures is actually a reflection of their souls. They are the embodiment of anxiety, fear and self-destruction and exist in world where cruelty is absolutely accepted. Hence the fact the creatures of Silent Hill are so absolutely unique. They are not your typical wait around a corner and jump out to scare you type. They are promiscuous pathetic and disturbing... standing naked in the middle of a room or alone on a street. Every fan of Silent Hill knows the creatures have been conceived by a child at least in the first game. They are the creation of Alessa's mind. They embody a strange, naïve, candid sense of cruelty that only a child can have. They are more like broken dolls than horrible creatures.

Chez, are you playing a Silent Hill right now? Odin is playing SH2 and DarkViVi is playing The Room, right? We're taking this series DOOOOWWWWNNN!!! I'm playing SH3 right now (well, not as we speak). I just entered the subway last night. Fun fun. My friend is borrowing my SH4 and as soon as SH2 arrives in the mail, I'll be playing that. These next few months are going to be loaded with Silent Hill...

*EDIT*

And I would have read all of the spoiler tags up in your post, Chez. Unfortunately, I've never played SH2 (that changes next week!). I'll go back through and read that after I've played through it, though. Promise!

[Chez Daja]

Lookie at what I found! http://www.psxzone.opalnet.pl/Podstr...galeria13.jpeg =D!

That quote from Gans was interesting indeed. I have some views on that as well, not bashing his, but coincided in a more detailed way.

And yeah, I'm on SH2 right now. DV is on SH4...Something tells me he won't be finishing that in a while, though.

Don't worry about the spoilers, they're just my summary on the game and it's characters. You can read 'em when you finish SH2 maybe we could exchange views on it. ^^;

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Chez

Lookie at what I found! http://www.psxzone.opalnet.pl/Podstr...galeria13.jpeg =D!

WOAH! Where'd you find a picture of Wish House?! I've searched all over the internet for more stuff about it, but to luck. I still can't get over the stuttering guy (forgot his name). I can't believe in exchange for keys, you have to give him chocolate milk.

Ohhh, that's right. Isn't DV in the Water Prison area? The most complicated part in that was the rotating part. Lining up the holes in the cells. Good thing there are only three of them, though.

Speaking of SH4. Do you remember the ragged doll that you can take from the guy when he offers it to you? Did anybody take it? I did. If you didn't take it, nothing different happens in the game. If you did take it and you left it in the box back at your apartment...you might want to keep an eye out for Holy Candles, because you're going to be having some new visitors back at the homestead.