STICKGHOST'S PLOT ANALYSIS OF SILENT HILL PART 2!
For those of you just tuning in, I'd like to remind
everyone that this article will pretty much spoil just about the entire
game, so if you have any intention of playing this game, leave now or
you will get the shit spoiled out of you.
This one kind of resides in its own little niche, being mostly separate from SH 1 and 2, and basically 4, even though it does draw connections to one another. While the other 3 games depict Silent Hill as a normal town transformed into hell on earth, in this one, if not for the others, we would assume the town is of no place in reality. Enough theory, onto the matter at hand.
A quick glance onto the back of the box advertises "a brand new adventure". Well holy shit! I thought they would give us the exact same adventure with the exact same characters under the exact same premise. Seriously, this almost reeks of desperation to say something else why you should buy the game. Why not mention that this game is in FULL COLOR too? I thought at first that it was just the Greatest Hits version referring to Maria's quest, but the other box says it too. Inside the box we find the instruction manual with 'character bios'. It starts off each character by listing their age and occupation, like this: Age: Unknown. Occupation: Unknown. Actually, they ALL say 'unknown' except James', which lists his occupation as "protagonist". Why did they even bother? I could go further, but I would be treading familar territory.
Basic story involves James Sunderland (who appearance I hear was based on Kiefer Sutherland's, as was the name) going to Silent Hill after receiving a letter addressed by her. Did I mention she was dead? James decides to go check it out...
But first, let's cover the extra scenario for Maria. This little bit 'explains' a bit more about Maria and her role in the story. It begins with Maria in the office of the Heavenly Nights nightclub giving a monologue. Unsurprisingly, she's has no idea what's going on or even when it happened. What a wholly new premise. Mostly about her being miserable, whether or not to fight, and how she is afraid of pain. Oh cry me a river. But her best line is this one:
This one kind of resides in its own little niche, being mostly separate from SH 1 and 2, and basically 4, even though it does draw connections to one another. While the other 3 games depict Silent Hill as a normal town transformed into hell on earth, in this one, if not for the others, we would assume the town is of no place in reality. Enough theory, onto the matter at hand.
A quick glance onto the back of the box advertises "a brand new adventure". Well holy shit! I thought they would give us the exact same adventure with the exact same characters under the exact same premise. Seriously, this almost reeks of desperation to say something else why you should buy the game. Why not mention that this game is in FULL COLOR too? I thought at first that it was just the Greatest Hits version referring to Maria's quest, but the other box says it too. Inside the box we find the instruction manual with 'character bios'. It starts off each character by listing their age and occupation, like this: Age: Unknown. Occupation: Unknown. Actually, they ALL say 'unknown' except James', which lists his occupation as "protagonist". Why did they even bother? I could go further, but I would be treading familar territory.
Basic story involves James Sunderland (who appearance I hear was based on Kiefer Sutherland's, as was the name) going to Silent Hill after receiving a letter addressed by her. Did I mention she was dead? James decides to go check it out...
But first, let's cover the extra scenario for Maria. This little bit 'explains' a bit more about Maria and her role in the story. It begins with Maria in the office of the Heavenly Nights nightclub giving a monologue. Unsurprisingly, she's has no idea what's going on or even when it happened. What a wholly new premise. Mostly about her being miserable, whether or not to fight, and how she is afraid of pain. Oh cry me a river. But her best line is this one:
"Everyone's gone... Is it because of those monsters?"
NAW! It couldn't be! A correlation between the arrival
of monsters and the disappearance of people? I mean, let's look at some
statistics here...
And compare that with this...
Let's see now... The human population had climbed to
its peak between 93' and 94' while the zombie population has remained
steady at none. Well, the sudden spike of zombie activity does coincide
with the mass slaughter of civilians... However, since the city was nuked
shortly thereafter, I'm gonna have to throw this evidence out on a technicality
and say that there is NO solid evidence that monsters contribute to increased
death rates in population.
The only other person who Maria meets during this episode is Ernest, who is very antisocial and refuses to leave whichever room he occupies or even let her in. However, after locating a birthday card from his late daughter, he warms up somewhat.
The only other person who Maria meets during this episode is Ernest, who is very antisocial and refuses to leave whichever room he occupies or even let her in. However, after locating a birthday card from his late daughter, he warms up somewhat.
"That's why... That's why you could see me..."
Uh, Ernie? You do realize that I can't actually SEE
you either, right? You know, what with you being behind the door and all.
"In the apartment next door, there is a bottle containing
a white liquid. I must have it."
I don't know what exactly is in the bottle, but it seems
to be the same stuff as what James needs for the Rebirth ending. Ernest
explains he can't leave the apartment to get it himself. Well, that's
fine, but then how did he discover where it was if he couldn't leave the
house? And more to the point, why is the white potion in an apartment
building?
"You must bring me the Holy Grail filled to the brim
with the water of the River Styx! I think Jeremy has it in his apartment
in the building next door. You can't miss it!"
I just have to go back to the 'how did he find out where
it was' question now. He says he could no longer leave the house when
he discovered where it was, so how pray tell did he? Did he read it in
a prophecy?
"Somewhere in the realm between heaven and hell, where the temple of Cthulu once flourished, the Stone Of Abkanis will reveal itself on the night of Carousel, directly under the Corona Borealis."
Gasp, why that HAS to be Jeremy's apartment! And that's pretty much all there is to this story. At the conclusion, Maria contemplates ending her own life. She decides not to, but she then THROWS HER GUN AWAY. Well geez, if you're going to try to survive this, don't throw away your only decent weapon. YOU STUPID BITCH.
And just about this time James arrives in town. Well, actually I don't know when exactly he arrives, but who gives a fuck? After a breather in a restroom (about the only time the word "restroom" actually fits), he gives a little narration explaining his presence.
"Somewhere in the realm between heaven and hell, where the temple of Cthulu once flourished, the Stone Of Abkanis will reveal itself on the night of Carousel, directly under the Corona Borealis."
Gasp, why that HAS to be Jeremy's apartment! And that's pretty much all there is to this story. At the conclusion, Maria contemplates ending her own life. She decides not to, but she then THROWS HER GUN AWAY. Well geez, if you're going to try to survive this, don't throw away your only decent weapon. YOU STUPID BITCH.
And just about this time James arrives in town. Well, actually I don't know when exactly he arrives, but who gives a fuck? After a breather in a restroom (about the only time the word "restroom" actually fits), he gives a little narration explaining his presence.
Nice parking job, jackass! And make sure you leave your
car door wide open while you're in town!
The road is blocked, so he takes a footpath into town.
Along the way, he meets a woman in a graveyard. She says something's wrong
with the town, but James says he doesn't care and goes on alone.
As soon as he gets onto the streets, he discovers blood, and a shadow of a straight-jacketed person shambling away in the fog. Mr. Kiefer finds this curious, and decides to investigate.
As soon as he gets onto the streets, he discovers blood, and a shadow of a straight-jacketed person shambling away in the fog. Mr. Kiefer finds this curious, and decides to investigate.
"That shadow looked suspicious. I should investigate..."
No, you know what you should really do? Go back to the
car, get in, drive to the next town, and call at least 2 different police
departments to investigate. But James is intent on checking it out, so
we follow the blood trail to an underpass or something. Even though we
can clearly see the shape of the thing a couple feet away, James
decides that a nearby noisy radio deserves his immediate attention. Finally,
he decides he should kill the monster, utilizing a board with a nail in
it.
Now, at this point, I think it's time to get out of town. But James doesn't quite see it that way...
Now, at this point, I think it's time to get out of town. But James doesn't quite see it that way...
"I have no reason to go back. I must look for Mary."
You're shitting me, right? You just killed a fucked
up and and probably (un)dead person in a straightjacket! And actually,
he says this if you try to leave right after entering the town. Therefore,
his recent near-death experience hasn't changed his mindset any. The road
DOES get blocked off later, which would have made more sense why he doesn't
leave.
Your next destination is the Woodside Apartments. However, the gate is locked, so you need to find the key. You find the key on a corpse, which you are led to by a map in Neely's Bar, which you are in turn led to by a memo in a trailer, which you are led to by... well, nothing actually. This is especially stupid when you consider that the alley with the corpse is half a block from where you fight the thing, and the trailer is directly all the way across the town. Which do you think you'll probably find first? Then there's the question of WHY the person's body is marked on the map in the first place. Hey, Jimmy died here with the key to that apartment, so let's mark it down so if we ever need it, we can find it!
Things get interesting inside the apartments. You catch a glimpse of a little girl after she kicks a key out of your reach, and meet another dapper fellow with a giant helmet in the middle of some kind of monster orgy (and no, I didn't make that up.) Interested and slightly aroused, James decides to watch from a nearby closet, but Pyramid Head senses something wrong, and investigates. Fortunately, there just happens to be a handgun clip in the closet, so James grabs it, loads it (oh yeah, James finds a gun) and shoots the guy to no visible effect. Fortunately, completely embarrassed, Pyramid Head can only walk out, mumbling something about going back to his apartment and "getting my motherfucking knife."
Another person you meet is Eddie, who you find puking in a toilet. After some rather dry humor with James inquiring about a nearby corpse and whether or not Eddie happens to know Pyramid Head, they decide to part ways. You find an emergency exit door, but the actual staircase was knocked down when an adjacent apartment was built. That's gotta be a violation of the building code... Hey, Angela's (woman from graveyard) here too. She flips out and walks out. However, Pyramid Head reappears for payback. Amazingly, James finds the intelligence to aim for a normally vital spot; the head! Why does the cast of RE never catch on to this? Unfortunately here, he's got a bulletproof helmet, so shooting him there does jack shit. You can't aim anywhere else, so you have to resort to alternate means. Maybe if you can just hold him off until the knife rusts... Actually, shooting him or waiting long enough will win this fight.
From the building, its a short walk to the park. Another quick meeting with the little girl, you arrive at the park. A woman is on the waterfront. Could it be Mary? Nope, it's Maria. After the conversation, James starts to walk away, but then they decide to ACTUALLY STICK TOGETHER for the first time! However, Maria's apparently forgotten how to defend herself after meeting Ernest. The most direct route to the hotel is blocked, but a nearby corpse has a map with a bowling alley circled on it.
Inside the bowling alley, we meet the little girl (who we learn is Laura) and Eddie again. Other than that, there is absolutely nothing here, which begs the question: why was this place marked on the map? Laura runs off, and you chase her into the alley. While she slips through a narrow passageway, you and Maria are forced to enter the back door of Heaven's Night, which is the same door that some asshole stuck gum into the lock of. Despite their handicap of at least 2 minutes, they catch up to her down the block going into the hospital (not the same one in the first.) Oh, this is just getting better and better.
You can find a shotgun shortly after entering. Maria complains about a hangover, and James decides to leave her alone in the room for a while. After running a gauntlet of rooms and mini puzzles, you find Laura back on the first floor. She found a way around those busted doors. Suddenly, she pipes up about a letter from Mary. She leads you to its location, an operation room in the basement. Now, I'd probably start to wonder why she has the key to such a room, but lets humor her and check it out. Well, she slams the door and locks him in. And wouldn't you know it, there are 3 freaks in hanging cages just lying in wait.
Fast forward through some uneventful stuff and street walking... James finds the entrance to an underground prison in the historical society, where he meets up with Eddie (don't ask me why he's down here too, and ahead of you, too), who's beginning to lose it. He goes out alone to go fight more 'demons'. James finds his way to the Nowhere equivalent of the first game, where he finds Eddie once more. Now he's completely gone, standing in the middle of a room full of bodies. After a hefty dose of dialog concerning his tortured years of highschool, he goes out on this line:
Your next destination is the Woodside Apartments. However, the gate is locked, so you need to find the key. You find the key on a corpse, which you are led to by a map in Neely's Bar, which you are in turn led to by a memo in a trailer, which you are led to by... well, nothing actually. This is especially stupid when you consider that the alley with the corpse is half a block from where you fight the thing, and the trailer is directly all the way across the town. Which do you think you'll probably find first? Then there's the question of WHY the person's body is marked on the map in the first place. Hey, Jimmy died here with the key to that apartment, so let's mark it down so if we ever need it, we can find it!
Things get interesting inside the apartments. You catch a glimpse of a little girl after she kicks a key out of your reach, and meet another dapper fellow with a giant helmet in the middle of some kind of monster orgy (and no, I didn't make that up.) Interested and slightly aroused, James decides to watch from a nearby closet, but Pyramid Head senses something wrong, and investigates. Fortunately, there just happens to be a handgun clip in the closet, so James grabs it, loads it (oh yeah, James finds a gun) and shoots the guy to no visible effect. Fortunately, completely embarrassed, Pyramid Head can only walk out, mumbling something about going back to his apartment and "getting my motherfucking knife."
Another person you meet is Eddie, who you find puking in a toilet. After some rather dry humor with James inquiring about a nearby corpse and whether or not Eddie happens to know Pyramid Head, they decide to part ways. You find an emergency exit door, but the actual staircase was knocked down when an adjacent apartment was built. That's gotta be a violation of the building code... Hey, Angela's (woman from graveyard) here too. She flips out and walks out. However, Pyramid Head reappears for payback. Amazingly, James finds the intelligence to aim for a normally vital spot; the head! Why does the cast of RE never catch on to this? Unfortunately here, he's got a bulletproof helmet, so shooting him there does jack shit. You can't aim anywhere else, so you have to resort to alternate means. Maybe if you can just hold him off until the knife rusts... Actually, shooting him or waiting long enough will win this fight.
From the building, its a short walk to the park. Another quick meeting with the little girl, you arrive at the park. A woman is on the waterfront. Could it be Mary? Nope, it's Maria. After the conversation, James starts to walk away, but then they decide to ACTUALLY STICK TOGETHER for the first time! However, Maria's apparently forgotten how to defend herself after meeting Ernest. The most direct route to the hotel is blocked, but a nearby corpse has a map with a bowling alley circled on it.
Inside the bowling alley, we meet the little girl (who we learn is Laura) and Eddie again. Other than that, there is absolutely nothing here, which begs the question: why was this place marked on the map? Laura runs off, and you chase her into the alley. While she slips through a narrow passageway, you and Maria are forced to enter the back door of Heaven's Night, which is the same door that some asshole stuck gum into the lock of. Despite their handicap of at least 2 minutes, they catch up to her down the block going into the hospital (not the same one in the first.) Oh, this is just getting better and better.
You can find a shotgun shortly after entering. Maria complains about a hangover, and James decides to leave her alone in the room for a while. After running a gauntlet of rooms and mini puzzles, you find Laura back on the first floor. She found a way around those busted doors. Suddenly, she pipes up about a letter from Mary. She leads you to its location, an operation room in the basement. Now, I'd probably start to wonder why she has the key to such a room, but lets humor her and check it out. Well, she slams the door and locks him in. And wouldn't you know it, there are 3 freaks in hanging cages just lying in wait.
Fast forward through some uneventful stuff and street walking... James finds the entrance to an underground prison in the historical society, where he meets up with Eddie (don't ask me why he's down here too, and ahead of you, too), who's beginning to lose it. He goes out alone to go fight more 'demons'. James finds his way to the Nowhere equivalent of the first game, where he finds Eddie once more. Now he's completely gone, standing in the middle of a room full of bodies. After a hefty dose of dialog concerning his tortured years of highschool, he goes out on this line:
"From now on, if anyone makes fun of me, I'll kill
em'! Just like that!"
With that, he starts to walk out. All right, you go
Columbine in that general direction; I'll just stay out. But just then,
"Eddie, have you gone nuts?"
DO'H!
At this, Eddie turns around and snaps on him. He takes a shot... James
clutches his arm as if shot, but if he was, he's certainly taking it
pretty well. The fight spills into the next room, a meat locker, where
James fells Eddie. Back outside, he takes a rowboat across Toluca Lake
to the Lakeview Hotel, where he and Mary stayed awhile back.
Not long after arriving does he find Laura. Yep, she must've rowed a
boat here too, or swam. James seems pretty cool about being locked in
a room with monsters, and she's suddenly lost her bitter hatred of him
that she's had throughout the game. She runs off to find a letter from
Mary, and James loses her the moment she steps out of the room. A note
on the front desk tells him that the video tape he left there is still
being held by the staff. Yep, for 3 years. He solves a little puzzle
involving thinner, a photographed scribbled on, and a locked briefcase.
Apparently, the owner of the case thought it would be a great idea to
take a picture of the case with the correct combination. He then realized
the stupidity of his action, and set about making sure no one got the
combination from it. The obvious thing to do in this case would be to
destroy the photo, but I guess he thought blacking it out with a marker
would be better.
An employee elevator is the best way down to the restricted area, but
it seems it has a little weight limit. 1 person, the sign says. Really?
I'm the only person in the elevator, so therefore it should work. Wait
a minute, unless...
"Watch out James, there's 4 mannequins with inviso
suits in there with you!"
HOLY SHIT!
Oh, wrong game. My bad. Konami probably got a bit confused too. Apparently this elevator can just barely support the weight of one person wearing clothing, so you have to stash everything on a nearby shelf and then go down unarmed. An elevator for the workers that can't transport a person and his equipment together? Brilliant!
Employee 1: "Hey Jerry! I need to go fix some pipes on the first floor. I'll send the elevator back up, and you feed me the tools one by one, OK?"
Employee 2: "Why don't you just walk down the stairs?"
Employee 1: "Why would I use the stairs? We have an elevator for this shit!"
Once in the office, the video tape is in a safe. And a can opener too. A can opener... in a safe. I guess people kept stealing them. However, now with the added weight, you can't use the elevator to go back up. Well, actually, you couldn't take it back up without any items. I suppose the strain of the elevator going up with someone in it would be too much. Instead, you have to head through a bar downstairs to return to the first floor.
The door is locked, but James has the key. However, he can't "find the keyhole because its too dark". C'mon, try under the doorknob. Is this really that difficult to figure out? I guess so. A lamp is nearby, but the bulb is burned out. There are a few lightbulbs kept in a sealed can in the kitchen. Lightbulbs... in a can. This is making less sense by the minute. Even IF someone decided to keep bulbs in a can, which is at least feasible, how and why did he/she seal it back up?
Once back in the room where the couple had once stayed, our protagonist plays the tape which reveals the awful truth. I'm not really sure why he decided to tape him killing his wife, or how he managed the Mary's POV shot. All right, so it was probably just the warped representation of the town, but meh. I suppose I'll pretty much stop here to save the final slam-bang finish. I do have to address the Leave ending, though. It just came out of nowhere and almost just seemed thrown in because the other endings didn't end too well and they wanted something warm and fuzzy. Oh well, SH 4 pretty much confirms it's not the 'official' one.
And on to part 3!
Oh, wrong game. My bad. Konami probably got a bit confused too. Apparently this elevator can just barely support the weight of one person wearing clothing, so you have to stash everything on a nearby shelf and then go down unarmed. An elevator for the workers that can't transport a person and his equipment together? Brilliant!
Employee 1: "Hey Jerry! I need to go fix some pipes on the first floor. I'll send the elevator back up, and you feed me the tools one by one, OK?"
Employee 2: "Why don't you just walk down the stairs?"
Employee 1: "Why would I use the stairs? We have an elevator for this shit!"
Once in the office, the video tape is in a safe. And a can opener too. A can opener... in a safe. I guess people kept stealing them. However, now with the added weight, you can't use the elevator to go back up. Well, actually, you couldn't take it back up without any items. I suppose the strain of the elevator going up with someone in it would be too much. Instead, you have to head through a bar downstairs to return to the first floor.
The door is locked, but James has the key. However, he can't "find the keyhole because its too dark". C'mon, try under the doorknob. Is this really that difficult to figure out? I guess so. A lamp is nearby, but the bulb is burned out. There are a few lightbulbs kept in a sealed can in the kitchen. Lightbulbs... in a can. This is making less sense by the minute. Even IF someone decided to keep bulbs in a can, which is at least feasible, how and why did he/she seal it back up?
Once back in the room where the couple had once stayed, our protagonist plays the tape which reveals the awful truth. I'm not really sure why he decided to tape him killing his wife, or how he managed the Mary's POV shot. All right, so it was probably just the warped representation of the town, but meh. I suppose I'll pretty much stop here to save the final slam-bang finish. I do have to address the Leave ending, though. It just came out of nowhere and almost just seemed thrown in because the other endings didn't end too well and they wanted something warm and fuzzy. Oh well, SH 4 pretty much confirms it's not the 'official' one.
And on to part 3!