Silent Hill is the cats pajamas. It wears them every night.

But yeah, it's awesome

Hardcore Silent Hill geek here. I loved 2 and 4 myself. 3 was good, though all of the vagina/pregnancy/rape imagery got kind of old. 4 made me shit more brix for longer, so that's a favourite.

O HAI THERE

Well, because we just started playing through Shattered Memories to get all the endings, I gotta say, it's pretty interesting. But I don't generally like the direction the newer games have taken, though, as you know. I feel alienated sometimes, but, eh, I'll go see every new (awful) movie and play every new game because I love them no matter what, even if they suck and beat me like a lady in a halfway house.

Like most fans, I like 2, but I realized recently it's more because of Maria. Honestly, I think she has more depth than most players give her credit for, and that becomes a little more evident when you play through her scenario IMO. 'course, James is adorable too, amirite?

Curiously enough I just came from a topic where Silent Hill 4 got brought up, huh.

Anyways, I'm a hardcore Silent Hill fan. I don't play the series nearly as much as I used to, but, I've played (and beaten) every Silent Hill (except for Origins) that's been released on console.

That said, Silent Hill 2 was my favorite while Silent Hill 4: The Room is my second favorite. But by far the scariest of the series was Silent Hill 3...fucking Alternate Brookhaven Hospital..shudders

I like Silent Hill 2. It has the best story by far. In most survival horror games, the main storyline will boil down to a cult/a virus/a government conspiracy (Or, if you're Resident Evil, a combination of the above!). What I really liked about Silent Hill 2 was that it was solely based on what was in the protagonist's mind. IMO, the things in your own head are scarier than what you can find outside of it.
James is my favorite protagonist. Yes, he has his special moments (lol refrigerator), but he's the most interesting and developed character. Sure, Harry is a fucking badass and Heather is great too, but I just like James.

Pic kinda related. Vincent is one of the best side characters. He's an asshole and I love him.

>>2033
I loved SH2, don't get me wrong, but I think it's sort of overrated. It's the FF7 of survival horror. I've seen it take away from the appreciation of the other games a great deal, which disappoints me greatly. Everyone compares the sequels to SH2 and they claim they don't live up to it, but really that's a bad way to judge a game IMO.

Oh wow, lol sorry I was gone

>>2015
>>2033
>>2031

Yeah... 2 is my all-time favorite, personally, with 3 coming in close second. Unfortunately, haven't played 4 yet.
Just played through Shattered Memories a few times recently, I enjoy the gameplay and psychoanalysis stuff, and the replay value is good -- but the plot is confusing and, in relation to the rest of the series, doesn't make alot of sense at all.

Vincent was cool. In his game, he was probably one of my favorites. But James is my favorite overall -- so horribly fail. It's adorable. But seriously -- yeah, his character is very well developed.

>>2020

OH HERRO
I ALMOST DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE

>>2039

You mean to tell me you missed the comment about Maria?

>>2041

No, I saw it -- just too late to make a comment about it in that big post.

I do think that's an interesting point, probably one that's overlooked all too often. For what she is, (especially in her scenario) she is very well developed. She is not just the terrible bitch she makes herself out to be in the main scenario. She is much more than that.
As you know I used to dislike her very much, but I have re-examined her a great deal and after putting this into consideration she is not so bad.

Still kind of a bitch, though.

how can people not see past Maria's sexualized and naughty girl persona? She's much more than that.

She was much more than James' fantasy come to life.

you're right. She is more than that.

so you really understand what I'm getting at?

James needed Maria to cope with the loss of Mary. He knew that the beautiful Mary he once loved will never blossom again. She will forever be cocooned in torment. James needed a perfect woman to replace Mary. He needed someone to make him happy, to make up for the times Mary couldn't be there for him.

When Mary died... he lost all his happiness and Maria was there to give back all the joys he lost.

You could say her mere existence was to please James.

Actually... I was going to say that Maria...

is really a giant spaceship.

>>2050

... That... was beautiful.

Nothing surprising there.

>>2048
Alternately though one could suggest that she is nothing but a sex object created by James' psyche, which grew to gain free will of sorts. Maria is everything Mary was not. She was James' ideal and objectified version of his wife, and existed for no other purpose than to supplant Mary, however temporarily. She wouldn't have made James happy, really, she was a stagnant figment of his imagination lacking the depth of a real person (i.e. Mary). A basic pleasure model of sorts.

>>2055
>>2048

I see her as somewhat more than that. Lots of people fail to look at her as anything other than a reflection of Mary, and in doing so, tend to ignore her as an independant personality in and of herself. In my eyes, she is human- she is, after all, self-aware, and she knows that there's something amiss (consider her comment, in her scenario, where she looks at the books of fairy tales and remarks (approx) that she thinks she's read them before, but can't remember anything about them.) I think Maria is a pretty cool guy, eh loves James and doesn't afraid of anything.

Pic somewhat unrelated.

._. ... Silent Hill ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyyuU71oJ-4

>>2094
Hear that? That's the sound of my head hitting the desk repeatedly at that video.

>>2094

Dear god that was annoying. D:

I'm a dork who's listened to the soundtracks more than I've played the games. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn ftw.

>>2113
Same.

I didn't even own a single Silent Hill game when I had a lot of the songs. IT made the game a better experience to find all the songs in the game.

Especially in SH2 when you do the music box puzzle. I heard the music box song so many times and when I finally heard it from the game, my mind was blown.

>>2117
I was afraid I was the only one.

>>2117
>>2113
>>2127

Hey, me too! I actually got my first mild interest in the series because of one of the songs. When my then-soon-to-be BFF brought it up again, I decided it was time to try it out.