Silent Hill 2 (2024) | Postgame Show

[00:00:00] Hey, it's your boy Dre off the top here with the usual spoiler warning. This entire episode from beginning to end will be full on spoilers for Silent Hill 2 for this remake and the original game. We are not holding back whatsoever. So this is your one and only chance to turn off this episode right now if you don't want to be spoiled on all things Silent Hill 2. But if you've already played the game or just want to hear us talk about it anyway, you don't care about spoilers. We welcome you and we will get started right now.

[00:00:29] Fine Time

[00:00:39] Hello, party people. Hello, spooky people. Hello, silent people. It's your boy Dre. And I am here with the one, the only, the only person I talk about spoopy games with apparently, Patrick. He's back.

[00:00:53] Hoorah! What's up?

[00:00:55] Hi.

[00:00:56] Are you waiting for me there in our special place?

[00:00:59] Oh, I was going to say, I thought you came, you survived Silent Hill. You got to actually come back.

[00:01:05] Well, well, yeah, but then I got a letter, you know, it's happening.

[00:01:10] Yeah, it's weird, huh? It's like, yeah, that, that letter, you know, that is weird. I know it was like 2001 and snail mail hadn't completely gone by the wayside. I don't know when Silent Hill is supposed to take place at the same time. Like, I don't know, like a letter.

[00:01:27] It has a letter.

[00:01:57] Like the, like the first wave punk and everything. Like, I can totally see him in that scene, you know?

[00:02:03] Yeah.

[00:02:07] That makes sense. All right. Well, as, as I said up front, we're here to talk about Silent Hill 2, this remake that has been a long time coming. It has arrived. We came, we saw, we conquered, and we're just going to talk about it in full.

[00:02:21] But first, you know, I always like to do this. Patrick, tell the people what kind of Silent Hill fan you are. Let's have the perspective of you here first.

[00:02:31] I'm the Silent Hill fan that a lot of Silent Hill fans don't like. Silent Hill 2 is my favorite and was like my second favorite game of all time for the longest time. But I don't hate most of the other games. Like, I think 1 and 3 are good.

[00:02:47] I like Downpour a lot. I thought Book of Memories was fun. Shattered Memories is great. Or, yeah, Shattered Memories, the Wii U. And the only one that I have any issue with is Homecoming, and we don't talk about that.

[00:02:59] But I think each one of them has their own, you know, good points and bad points. And there's not an inherently bad Silent Hill game, except Homecoming, we don't talk about it.

[00:03:11] Yeah, Homecoming is not good. I like, I hate when people shit on Downpour. I really like Downpour. But, you know, what do I know?

[00:03:18] I thought Downpour was a great return to form in a lot of ways. And it's like, yeah, okay, technically it had problems, but just story-wise and presentation, I thought was really good.

[00:03:31] Yeah, I thought so. Basically, for me, I really love the original trilogy. I love all three games. And it's like, you know, I don't really think about it as like something like, oh, yeah, I really love Silent Hill.

[00:03:46] I always think of it as like, oh, you know, I appreciate the series. I play them here or there. Honestly, though, when I think about it, I love those first three games.

[00:03:55] And for completely different reasons, because they're very different games to me.

[00:03:59] They are.

[00:03:59] And I would say I like the third one the best. Silent Hill 3 has always been my favorite. You know that.

[00:04:05] Yeah, I don't.

[00:04:06] Yeah, that is always...

[00:04:08] Fetus dinner.

[00:04:11] I don't even want to get into it.

[00:04:14] But yeah, like, yeah, it's...

[00:04:17] That's my favorite.

[00:04:18] But yeah, I've always appreciated Silent Hill 2 and the first one as well.

[00:04:23] And yeah, that's where I'm coming from.

[00:04:26] I don't think I've...

[00:04:27] You know, I think the only Silent Hill game I've never even dabbled in is 4.

[00:04:31] I don't think I've ever played it.

[00:04:34] It's okay.

[00:04:36] I'm not a huge fan personally, but it's fine.

[00:04:40] You know?

[00:04:42] Yeah.

[00:04:43] Yeah.

[00:04:43] People have thoughts.

[00:04:45] I know that.

[00:04:46] So, okay.

[00:04:48] Let's talk about...

[00:04:49] Before we get into the game, let's talk about how this was announced and the anticipation for it.

[00:04:55] Because I think that's really important for this game.

[00:04:57] So, this remake was rumored and speculated on for months.

[00:05:01] I feel like we had been hearing rumors about it for, like, forever.

[00:05:04] And then when they finally showed it at that...

[00:05:06] What was it?

[00:05:07] That Silent Hill transmission, I think it was called, that Kanami did.

[00:05:10] I was like, well, no shit.

[00:05:12] I feel like we've known that forever.

[00:05:14] You know?

[00:05:15] I feel like it had been floating in the ether since towards the end of the PS4 and the launch of the PS5.

[00:05:21] Like, everybody had been claiming it was going to happen, but nobody would just confirm it.

[00:05:25] And it was like...

[00:05:26] Well, that's the first time I heard a rumor about it, is that when they were having the initial, like, PS5 presentation and, like, showing it off during the Rona.

[00:05:35] I...

[00:05:36] The Silent Hill 2 was rumored to be there.

[00:05:38] And I was like, oh, it's not there.

[00:05:39] But it took a while.

[00:05:40] It wasn't until October 22 when they finally announced it.

[00:05:43] So, what was your feelings at this point?

[00:05:45] Because I was pretty excited.

[00:05:47] Mainly because it was a PS5 exclusive.

[00:05:50] And not because of any fanboy reasons or anything.

[00:05:53] It's just that it meant that they could really, like, hone in and make something really great and tailor-made for, like, one piece of hardware.

[00:06:01] You know?

[00:06:02] Because I really...

[00:06:02] I mean, as much as we do multi-platform nowadays, that's still when you get the best results.

[00:06:07] So, I was thinking, okay, yeah, Silent Hill 2 for one platform, that's going to be great.

[00:06:13] I can't lie, though.

[00:06:15] I was hoping it would be the first game that would be remade.

[00:06:20] Because I think that...

[00:06:21] I think needs it the most is the wrong way to say it.

[00:06:24] I just think it would be the most interesting.

[00:06:26] Not that this wasn't interesting.

[00:06:28] But I think you know what I mean.

[00:06:29] Obviously, being a Silent Hill person, I think the first one would be more like, ooh, that would be a great game to have an interesting take on.

[00:06:37] But no complaints with 2.

[00:06:39] Obviously, I get it.

[00:06:41] That game gets all the glory.

[00:06:42] I understand why they're doing that one.

[00:06:44] But, yeah, I would have liked to see the first one.

[00:06:47] But, yeah, other than that, yeah, I was excited for Silent Hill 2.

[00:06:49] Yeah, I was pretty hyped for the Silent Hill transmission, you know?

[00:06:53] And had been watching cautiously for the years leading up to it, going, okay, are you gonna or are you not?

[00:06:58] You know, when are you gonna do it?

[00:07:00] And then the transmission started.

[00:07:03] And almost everything in there was like, dude, this looks cool, you know?

[00:07:09] I, again, showing that I'm the one that everybody hates.

[00:07:12] I liked the short message when it came out finally.

[00:07:15] I enjoyed it.

[00:07:16] It's weird.

[00:07:16] But it's fun.

[00:07:17] I'm bladed.

[00:07:19] Townfall and Ascension, I'm kind of iffy on now, but their presentation was good.

[00:07:23] And then, of course, they get to Silent Hill 2 Remake where I'm equally parts hyped to the moon and dreading.

[00:07:31] Because I'm like, okay, this is like one of my sacred cows.

[00:07:34] Are they gonna fuck it up?

[00:07:36] But then I was like, well, even if they do, I still have my PS2 disc.

[00:07:41] I still have my PS3 collection.

[00:07:44] I still have the collection for Xbox.

[00:07:46] Like, they can't hurt me if I don't let them.

[00:07:49] So this can only be net positive.

[00:07:52] And then they showed F, and I'm like, I want that.

[00:07:55] Shut up and take my money.

[00:07:56] But we haven't heard about it since.

[00:07:58] Yeah.

[00:07:58] I hope that's still doing well.

[00:08:00] But yeah, that was a great presentation by Konami.

[00:08:03] Yeah.

[00:08:04] You know, I'm glad you said that, though.

[00:08:06] Because there are people who are like, oh, what if they fuck it up?

[00:08:08] The original's right there, man.

[00:08:10] It's not going anywhere.

[00:08:11] I remember, so in 2019, they had the 25th anniversary of Monster, the REM record.

[00:08:19] And they did like a new re-release.

[00:08:21] And there was a new mix of the record by the producer, Scott Litt.

[00:08:25] And it was wildly different.

[00:08:27] Wildly different.

[00:08:28] The mix was crazy.

[00:08:29] He used different vocal takes.

[00:08:31] He did different, like, it was like, it wasn't a completely different record.

[00:08:34] But it was drastically different.

[00:08:36] Because you know how Monster sounds.

[00:08:37] It sounds like it sounds, right?

[00:08:39] You can't imagine it being any other way until he did that.

[00:08:42] Everyone's like, this sucks.

[00:08:44] And it's like, bro, disc one on this collection is the original record remastered.

[00:08:49] Like, you don't ever.

[00:08:50] The MP3s are still there.

[00:08:51] Yeah.

[00:08:52] The new monster cannot hurt you.

[00:08:54] I promise.

[00:08:55] You know?

[00:08:57] But anyway, yeah.

[00:08:58] You know, I do like hearing different takes, even if they're not great.

[00:09:02] I don't mind the Monster remaster, by the way.

[00:09:04] Anyway, Silent Hill 2 was announced to be being developed by Bloober Team, who had previously made games like Layers of Fear, The Medium, Observer, other horror games, right?

[00:09:18] So they seem like a natural fit to do this.

[00:09:20] But apparently, for some reason, people had a bug up their ass about them for reasons I'm still not sure about.

[00:09:27] I don't know.

[00:09:29] Yeah, I don't know either.

[00:09:32] Again, I'm that guy.

[00:09:33] I like Bloober games.

[00:09:35] I love all the Layers of Fear games.

[00:09:37] I'm not too in tune with the Blair Witch game, but I like what they were doing.

[00:09:41] It's just it's not a game for me.

[00:09:43] And that's fine.

[00:09:44] And The Medium, I bought a freaking Xbox for it, okay?

[00:09:49] And then six months later, it comes out on PS5 anyway.

[00:09:51] But we don't talk about that.

[00:09:53] No.

[00:09:54] And any time I tried to get people who were on the, oh, Bloober sucks, blah, blah, blah train, to explain why, the only even semi-thoughtful response I would get is, oh, well, they're problematic because of their treatment of sexual abuse in The Medium.

[00:10:11] And I'm like, what?

[00:10:14] What?

[00:10:15] Okay.

[00:10:17] I'm, you know, this isn't about The Medium, so we're not going to get into it.

[00:10:20] But it's kind of like, oh, I'm sorry someone told a story you didn't like.

[00:10:25] It's one of those things, you know?

[00:10:28] Okay.

[00:10:29] Well, that was the only argument.

[00:10:30] And I'm like, but that's something else.

[00:10:34] They make good games, guys.

[00:10:36] Yeah.

[00:10:36] And, like, I'm also a fan of, like, thinking I'm also of the mind of, like, people can get better at their jobs.

[00:10:47] Like, just because they made something that, like, was kind of whatever.

[00:10:51] Look, I haven't played The Medium, so I don't know.

[00:10:53] But I'm just saying, like, you can do better than that, right?

[00:10:57] I mean, I don't know.

[00:10:59] Honestly, The Medium is probably one of the best, if not the best, Silent Hill knockoffs I've played in a long time.

[00:11:06] The only other one that's close is Tormented Souls.

[00:11:08] Oh, Tormented Souls.

[00:11:09] And on top of that, Tormented Souls is so good.

[00:11:11] The sequel's coming.

[00:11:13] Yeah.

[00:11:13] But anyway, the thing is, is even if that's your complaint, is that there was story problems with The Medium,

[00:11:20] because nobody seems to complain about the gameplay mechanics or anything else,

[00:11:25] they didn't write the story for Silent Hill 2.

[00:11:27] That's on Konami's box.

[00:11:29] So the problem you have with them isn't being handled by them anyway, so shut up.

[00:11:35] Yeah.

[00:11:36] It's weird, man.

[00:11:37] It's weird.

[00:11:38] I just never understood that shit, and I completely agree with that.

[00:11:42] So, okay.

[00:11:44] I do, okay, before we get into the game, I do want to say a couple things, because the lead-up to this game,

[00:11:52] like, the dumb shit things people said about it before it released, one of them being what you said about, like, sexual abuse.

[00:12:01] Mm-hmm.

[00:12:02] There was dumb things said about the trailers, which I'll get to in a sec, but I want to say this first, because this is something I've always felt,

[00:12:11] but the lead-up to this reconfirmed it for me big time.

[00:12:14] I can't fucking stand the way people treat Silent Hill 2.

[00:12:19] Mm-hmm.

[00:12:19] I can't take it, man.

[00:12:21] They act if it's some sort of, like, perfect thing.

[00:12:24] Look, you just said it's one of your favorite games of all time.

[00:12:26] It's not beyond criticism.

[00:12:28] It's not.

[00:12:29] No, it's not.

[00:12:30] They act like it's some sort of untouchable, once-in-a-lifetime perfect game that nobody could ever possibly hope to understand or grasp with their puny little brain, right?

[00:12:39] Mm-hmm.

[00:12:40] Like, oh, this is – and it's, like, it's simply not that.

[00:12:42] Silent Hill 2 is a really great survival horror game.

[00:12:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:12:46] That's it.

[00:12:47] You know?

[00:12:48] It's – and all the mythologizing and, like, putting it on a pedestal over these years allowed it to become this thing that became so weird and annoying in the lead-up to this.

[00:13:03] Like, all the insufferable people you know were the loudest about it, too.

[00:13:07] Oh, yeah.

[00:13:07] It was just – it was insane to me.

[00:13:09] So I got to say that.

[00:13:11] I did not like that on the lead-up here.

[00:13:15] Yeah, and I agree with you.

[00:13:17] And the thing that really gets me is most of those people, the loudest among them, have probably never actually sat down and played Silent Hill 2.

[00:13:27] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:28] You know?

[00:13:28] It's, like, they're going on, oh, I was on the wiki for 8,000 hours, and I watched this other person play through one speedrun, and it's, like –

[00:13:37] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:37] And on top of that, like you said, it's one of my favorites.

[00:13:41] It is the closest to a sacred cow I have, and I will still shit on that game for some of the things it does.

[00:13:46] Because it's not perfect.

[00:13:49] It's not a Kubrick masterpiece.

[00:13:51] Kubrick masterpieces aren't Kubrick masterpieces.

[00:13:53] It's, like, calm down.

[00:13:55] It's just a game, man.

[00:13:57] It's a great game.

[00:13:58] But it's just a game.

[00:13:59] Yeah.

[00:13:59] Like, please – yeah.

[00:14:00] It's, like, if you can't – if you can't criticize the things that you like, then you're not really – you don't really like it.

[00:14:07] Right?

[00:14:07] Mm-hmm.

[00:14:07] I feel like that's a common thing people say, but I think it's true, you know?

[00:14:12] Yeah.

[00:14:12] But I reached my breaking point when at one of the State of Plays – and I know you remember this – they showed this trailer that had this, like – had rock music and James shooting stuff.

[00:14:24] And, like, all the stupid people came out of the woodwork.

[00:14:28] It's, like, oh, no.

[00:14:29] They're ruining it and making it an action game or whatever.

[00:14:32] And it's, like, did you dumb motherfuckers forget what a trailer is?

[00:14:37] Like, holy shit.

[00:14:39] We can't be being this stupid right now.

[00:14:41] We just cannot be, you know?

[00:14:43] And that's when I decided to stop looking at any comments regarding anything and just waiting for the game to come out.

[00:14:48] I just skipped over everything Silent Hill because I couldn't take it anymore.

[00:14:52] Wait, what – you mean you don't think that you could just use the slow burn psychological torment shots for a 30-second sizzle reel and get people interested?

[00:15:00] No!

[00:15:01] Why?

[00:15:03] Jesus Christ.

[00:15:04] I thought we were making a – I thought we were sounding like a product here, guys.

[00:15:07] I mean, my god.

[00:15:09] God.

[00:15:11] If there was, like, Silent Hill 2 commercials back in, like, 2001, I mean, what would those be like, right?

[00:15:18] I mean –

[00:15:19] I think there were.

[00:15:21] And I seem to remember at least – maybe it was on gametrailers.com or something.

[00:15:25] But there was at least one that was basically a montage of James going around whacking things with his pipe.

[00:15:31] You know?

[00:15:31] Like, that happened.

[00:15:33] At some point.

[00:15:34] Somebody did that.

[00:15:35] And maybe it was GTV or something.

[00:15:38] But I saw some clip like that.

[00:15:40] And it's just like, okay, but do you understand?

[00:15:42] You kill, like, 200 monsters on an average playthrough?

[00:15:45] There's going to be combat.

[00:15:46] That doesn't mean it's the only thing.

[00:15:48] You kill stuff in this game.

[00:15:50] This isn't – this isn't even Resident Evil where you pop, like, what, 30 zombies max or something?

[00:15:56] You know?

[00:15:57] It's not that kind of game, which is great.

[00:15:59] That's what sets it apart.

[00:16:00] Anyway, stuff leading up to it.

[00:16:03] But do you agree – I know you agree with me on these people, but tell me about your run-ins.

[00:16:10] There was the same crowd that came out for Dead Space a couple years ago that were screaming and moaning, going, oh, they made James and Maria old and now they're ugly and nobody above the age of 20 ever does anything or fucks or anything.

[00:16:23] And then there was people complaining about his freaking hair color being weird.

[00:16:28] Oh, my God.

[00:16:29] He just looks depressed.

[00:16:30] I'm like, yeah, he's fucking depressed.

[00:16:32] You know what the game's about?

[00:16:34] Yeah, he killed his goddamn wife and he can't deal with it.

[00:16:37] Yeah, he's depressed.

[00:16:38] I'm pretty sure he's depressed.

[00:16:41] And then people, you know, the usual cavalcade of, oh, they made Maria and Angela ugly.

[00:16:47] And I'm like, dude, Maria looks fine.

[00:16:49] I'm just saying I like her a lot more now.

[00:16:52] Oh, yeah.

[00:16:54] And Angela, she looks a little weird at first until you actually go back and look at how old she's supposed to be.

[00:17:00] She's 19 years old.

[00:17:02] Now, the original, she looks 30, but she's supposed to be 19.

[00:17:05] And if you process it that way, you're like, hmm, 19 year old sexual assault victim.

[00:17:11] Gosh, I wonder if that might be why she talks kind of weird and she has a little bit of baby fat still and why she wears big baggy clothes.

[00:17:18] Hmm.

[00:17:19] I don't know, boss.

[00:17:20] You know, but it sounds like you don't understand the game.

[00:17:23] You think you understand.

[00:17:25] And it's just like, come on.

[00:17:28] And they were all flipping out about Maria's voice acting, especially in the trailer that shows her in the labyrinth cell.

[00:17:35] But see, I'm real, James clip.

[00:17:38] And I was looking at it and I'm like, OK, yeah, she sounds often stilted.

[00:17:42] But they also played clips of Mary talking and Mary sounds normal.

[00:17:48] And they're the same voice actress.

[00:17:49] I'm like, I think that's on purpose.

[00:17:51] She's supposed to sound wrong here.

[00:17:54] Yeah.

[00:17:54] Yeah.

[00:17:54] It's kind of like complaining, like you've played the Final Fantasy VII remake series, how Cloud sounds because he's not himself.

[00:18:02] He's not him.

[00:18:03] He can't be his real self.

[00:18:04] And when it sneaks out, you hear it in the voice actor.

[00:18:07] And when you don't, when he's being like robotic cloud, like fantasy, you know, cloudfiction.net, as me and Vin like to call it.

[00:18:18] He was taking a sip while he said, well, I said cloudfiction.net, everybody.

[00:18:25] Sorry, I thought you knew that one.

[00:18:27] Anyway, so like, yeah.

[00:18:29] But yeah, you can tell the difference in the voice actor, you know, but actually, I want to use this point actually to talk about voice acting real quick, because I noticed this in the scene where you first meet Eddie.

[00:18:44] It dawned on me the original game being a product of its time, right?

[00:18:49] It had that very particular.

[00:18:51] This is a Japanese game with English voice acting kind of sound, right?

[00:18:55] Right.

[00:18:55] That's what games sounded like in 2001.

[00:18:58] And shit, I mean, throughout the second half of the 90s, whether it's Resident Evil or, you know, whatever.

[00:19:04] Metal Gear Solid.

[00:19:04] Metal Gear Solid has better voice acting than that.

[00:19:06] But you know what I mean?

[00:19:07] I never thought about Silent Hill 2 or the first one is having like great voice acting.

[00:19:12] It's just what games sounded like at the time.

[00:19:15] Right.

[00:19:16] And then like, because you even hear it in James's voice, right?

[00:19:21] Because Eddie's like, let's get the fuck out of here.

[00:19:24] And James is like, I can't.

[00:19:25] I'm looking for someone.

[00:19:26] There's something wrong with this town.

[00:19:28] You should be careful, right?

[00:19:29] Like he's not that robotic, right?

[00:19:31] But I mean, like he's pretty stoic, right?

[00:19:34] So it's like, this is that feel that gives it a certain feel.

[00:19:37] And that's something I didn't realize.

[00:19:40] You know, I didn't really question that at the time because that's just how voice acting sounded.

[00:19:45] But now in this new context of this remake, I realize that's the way it's supposed to sound.

[00:19:50] You know what I mean?

[00:19:51] He has that blunted affect because of what he's done.

[00:19:56] And it works.

[00:19:59] Yeah, for sure.

[00:20:00] Fine.

[00:20:18] Let's get into the game proper.

[00:20:20] We eat with our eyes first.

[00:20:21] I want to talk about the way this game fucking looks because.

[00:20:26] Oh, my God.

[00:20:28] Okay.

[00:20:28] Let me start here.

[00:20:29] Let me start with a confession to the audience.

[00:20:31] The fine time audience.

[00:20:32] Okay.

[00:20:32] I got to tell you guys something.

[00:20:34] I played Silent Hill 2 in quality mode, meaning, yes, I played it at 30 frames a second.

[00:20:42] Oh, my God.

[00:20:44] I'm terrible.

[00:20:45] Hell has frozen over.

[00:20:46] Yes.

[00:20:47] It is still me.

[00:20:47] Your boy, Dre.

[00:20:48] I have not been taken over by a lizard person or whatever.

[00:20:51] It is me.

[00:20:52] But yeah, it was just really sublime seeing it look like this.

[00:20:56] And that's the default settings quality mode.

[00:20:58] And I think that's for a reason.

[00:21:00] You know, I think it just looks better that way.

[00:21:03] And it was really, really worth it.

[00:21:05] My next play will absolutely be at 60, though.

[00:21:08] I definitely want to see it that way.

[00:21:09] But I did play it at default in quality mode.

[00:21:12] And it looked stupendous.

[00:21:15] It does.

[00:21:16] And honestly, it still looks great at 60.

[00:21:19] I'll tell you that.

[00:21:20] But, you know, your mileage may vary.

[00:21:22] My eyesight's not great.

[00:21:23] Everybody knows that.

[00:21:24] But it looked damn good.

[00:21:27] It is very worthy of the graphics on PlayStation 5 baby stamp, in my opinion.

[00:21:32] Oh, yeah.

[00:21:33] In any mode.

[00:21:34] And it's just the thing that really got me is the attention to detail.

[00:21:40] Like, there's no just, oh, generic wall texture here.

[00:21:44] Oh, same $5 off sign in this store window that you saw six stores ago.

[00:21:49] So everything is very deliberate, handcrafted, not repeated textures.

[00:21:56] Everything is unique, if you really look.

[00:21:58] The only thing that there's a little samey is some of the cars.

[00:22:02] But that, yeah, I'm willing to let that one slide.

[00:22:05] But, like, the shop windows, the shop designs, the street layouts.

[00:22:10] If you look, there's freaking cracks in the ground that are unique.

[00:22:13] It's crazy.

[00:22:14] Yeah.

[00:22:14] It's like, what the hell?

[00:22:16] I had this kind of thought when you get to the music store and you see the front of that.

[00:22:21] And I'm like, I don't remember.

[00:22:22] I mean, look, I haven't laid eyes on the original since it came out.

[00:22:25] But I was like, I don't remember it looking like this.

[00:22:27] Yo.

[00:22:28] You know, like, this looks crazy.

[00:22:30] And I just, I had the same thought.

[00:22:32] Like, the town, Silent Hill, the streets thereof, all, you know, really look very bespoke now.

[00:22:39] Instead of, you know, like a PS2 game, which is great.

[00:22:41] Great.

[00:22:42] And one thing I wasn't prepared for, and I probably should have been prepared for this, was finally seeing the fog in the game as not like a hardware limitation, but as a feature.

[00:22:54] You know, of course, in the original, it's both.

[00:22:56] It is a hardware limitation and a feature, right?

[00:22:59] Yeah.

[00:23:00] This, it is just strictly a feature so they can do this stuff that looks incredible.

[00:23:06] You know, now we do fog because we want to.

[00:23:08] I remember during Dead Space, we talked about this with the volumetric fog and the way, you know, and the way that game uses it, which is obviously completely different.

[00:23:15] In this, it just, man, the lighting, obviously, when you first get there, it is gray and slightly drizzly, if not actually raining, maybe a little bit.

[00:23:28] And it's just, it's, it's really dreary.

[00:23:33] And the fog reflects that.

[00:23:35] But even when you're at night or at different times of day or when it actually does rain and the fog dissipates or whatever, you still get that atmospheric layer, which is just incredible.

[00:23:46] Just, just all the lighting in general.

[00:23:49] When you get to the hospital at first and it's like golden hour and it's like coming through the, oh my God.

[00:23:54] With the refractions of the windows and everything.

[00:23:56] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:23:57] That's one section where I did flip it back to from quality and performance.

[00:24:01] I was like, oh shit, you know, like this.

[00:24:03] I mean, look, it still looked great on performance.

[00:24:05] Don't get me wrong, but it just, you just get over, over the hump, if you will, and the quality to be like, this looks fucking incredible.

[00:24:14] The hotel was obviously beautiful.

[00:24:16] All of the, all the lighting there, the garden, the, every environment.

[00:24:22] Obviously that's the, the shining part of the game.

[00:24:25] But like, you know, and it's clearly inspired by, but it does it so well that it's just like, man.

[00:24:32] The hotel was probably my favorite environment in the game.

[00:24:37] And the one that got the best glow up in terms of game flow and presentation.

[00:24:45] You know, something I was slightly sidetracked, but something that I was very happy about was that you didn't do explore area, go to other world, explore area again.

[00:24:56] It was separate places typically.

[00:24:59] And the hotel really benefited from that immensely in the layout in general and the puzzles and just the, the whole place.

[00:25:07] It, it, it looks great, especially when you first walk in and you feel like you're about to visit the honeymoon suite to be reunited until we find out what really happened.

[00:25:18] And then the hotel.

[00:25:21] Oh, yes.

[00:25:23] And I loved that.

[00:25:24] Yeah.

[00:25:25] That, that shit was crazy.

[00:25:26] Um, it just, just looked incredible at, at, at every turn.

[00:25:31] I really loved all the real time deformation of stuff too.

[00:25:36] Like when that one boss in the hotel comes at you in the conference room and it just goes to the table.

[00:25:42] And like, oh yeah, that thing fucked me up.

[00:25:46] I tell you what.

[00:25:47] Oh my God.

[00:25:48] Like that, that, but the way the table just shreds into pieces, you know what I mean?

[00:25:53] Or essentially flying everywhere.

[00:25:55] Oh yeah.

[00:25:55] It's crazy.

[00:25:56] And, or essentially like all the stuff that happens deep in the labyrinth, obviously when things are just like, I don't know if you're going back and forth between the other world and the real world or like what's, I feel like you are.

[00:26:08] But lore wise, the labyrinth supposedly exists only in the other world, but I don't know if they're going with that explanation here or not.

[00:26:17] I think it's made up of chunks of memories of the real world, less than actual overlap.

[00:26:24] But by the way, until this game, I never knew it was called other world.

[00:26:28] I never knew it had a canonical name.

[00:26:31] Really?

[00:26:31] Yeah.

[00:26:33] Was that, was that because you find a note actually in this game where after you, when you're leaving the hospital and it actually explains a little bit, is that in the original?

[00:26:42] Cause I don't, I don't remember that.

[00:26:43] I don't remember if that note specifically is in the original and I'm not, no, there's a note inside the hospital in the original that talks about the other world.

[00:26:54] Okay.

[00:26:54] But it's always been called that.

[00:26:57] Dahlia refers to that in the original Silent Hill and Claudia and Vincent talk about it and refer to it as that in three.

[00:27:05] Four doesn't really touch on it, but it's four.

[00:27:08] But other world has always been what it's called.

[00:27:11] It's okay.

[00:27:13] Yeah.

[00:27:13] I just never, I don't even know what I used to call it.

[00:27:15] Hell world or flip side.

[00:27:17] I used to call it flip side.

[00:27:18] That's what I named it.

[00:27:19] Cause I didn't know what it was called.

[00:27:21] I always called it misty and dark.

[00:27:22] That was my terminology.

[00:27:24] Like, I think Evan used to call it hell world.

[00:27:27] I think that's, I think that's who he used to call it.

[00:27:30] Um, yeah, I just, Oh, uh, the dual sense baby doing a bang up job here.

[00:27:36] Holy shit, man.

[00:27:37] The way it's used overall, the soundtrack like does something you like when you hear the piano notes of like the theme and you just feel it literally resonating through the controller.

[00:27:49] Those scratchy piano sounds.

[00:27:51] Right.

[00:27:51] Or like, or like I said, when he leaps through the, um, the conference table, uh, and all the splinters go and you literally, Oh my God.

[00:28:02] Or the, the clock, the clock was boom.

[00:28:04] And it just resonates right through the show.

[00:28:06] Holy shit.

[00:28:07] All of that stuff is fantastic.

[00:28:09] They, they work their ass off on that.

[00:28:11] I also really liked the radio coming through the, the dual sense, uh, uh, speaker.

[00:28:16] That was really good.

[00:28:17] And it really fucked with me because I was doing a no radio run the first time through because there's a trophy for it.

[00:28:23] And you know, I mean, and when you see pyramid head in the apartments for the first time he overrides your radio.

[00:28:30] Normally it just turns into this high pitch shriek.

[00:28:33] Okay.

[00:28:34] It started doing that even though the radio was off and it's the shit out of me.

[00:28:39] I was like, what the fuck just happened?

[00:28:41] And I was like, Oh, that's how the radio works in this game.

[00:28:44] Crazy.

[00:28:45] But it was like, what the shit?

[00:28:46] That's crazy.

[00:28:48] That's, that's really crazy.

[00:28:49] I also, I spent the majority of the game limping around on like no health because I was going specifically for the end water ending and the heartbeat as James starts to flag.

[00:29:01] It's very noticeable.

[00:29:03] And if you die after you've been that way for a long time, it kind of pulse, pulse, light pulse, no pulse.

[00:29:12] It's like a flat line.

[00:29:13] I'm like, damn son.

[00:29:15] That is, that is wild.

[00:29:17] I like that.

[00:29:18] They did the typical, uh, the dual sense lights up a green, yellow, or red, depending on your health.

[00:29:23] I always, I always like that shit.

[00:29:25] That was one of my favorite things about code Veronica with the VMU would tell you wouldn't have to pause to see your health.

[00:29:31] You know what I mean?

[00:29:32] Cause that's what you always had to do in Resident Evil back in the day.

[00:29:35] Yeah, that's right.

[00:29:35] Kids.

[00:29:36] You had to pause to see what your health was.

[00:29:38] Yeah.

[00:29:38] Believe it or not.

[00:29:40] Unless you were like about to die where they were there.

[00:29:42] They were limping around.

[00:29:44] Right.

[00:29:44] Right.

[00:29:44] But you didn't know if you were on caution or kind of, you know, like kind of still okay.

[00:29:48] Is that one more hit or is that two?

[00:29:50] Exactly.

[00:29:51] Especially if you were Jill, because you could go from caution to fucking dead real fast.

[00:29:56] You could go find a dead, like one hit sometimes.

[00:30:01] You really could.

[00:30:02] The hunters just want.

[00:30:03] She had no health.

[00:30:05] Oh my God.

[00:30:07] But, um, I think, okay.

[00:30:09] Tell me if you noticed this.

[00:30:10] When you get out of the apartment building and other parts of the game too, like there are, there are some cut scenes.

[00:30:18] Like when you first meet Maria, it, instead of fading into black, it fades to white and then goes into that.

[00:30:24] Right.

[00:30:24] Or sometimes when you talk to Angela too, it does that.

[00:30:28] Did you notice that?

[00:30:29] I didn't notice it until you had called attention to it.

[00:30:33] And I, I'm still not sure if that means anything.

[00:30:37] And I feel like it does that on the PS2 version too.

[00:30:41] Okay.

[00:30:41] I know for sure it's a white fade to white when you meet Maria on the PS2 version.

[00:30:45] But other than that, I'm not a hundred percent, but I'm not sure.

[00:30:49] Um, I mean, I could make theory crafting all day about it.

[00:30:54] Right.

[00:30:54] Right.

[00:30:54] Yeah.

[00:30:55] I don't know if that's intentional or if it's just a, it looks cooler and sometimes to do that or what, but it wasn't weird.

[00:31:02] And yeah.

[00:31:04] Okay.

[00:31:04] That's different.

[00:31:06] Yeah.

[00:31:07] Um, I want to hear about your take because again, you, I have not played the original since it came out.

[00:31:14] And I want to hear about your general, like game flow environment improvements, whatever compared to the original.

[00:31:21] Um, the, the, the, the single biggest one, uh, I already kind of touched on is the exploration.

[00:31:27] It's no longer go to a quote unquote dungeon.

[00:31:31] Uh, you know, the apartments or the hospital or whatever, explore the whole thing and then go to the other world and then explore the whole thing.

[00:31:37] Again, they're, they're distinct environments.

[00:31:39] Now they split up the apartment buildings.

[00:31:41] So the blue Creek is the other world.

[00:31:42] And the wood side is the, the regular world, the hospital.

[00:31:46] It's two different parts of the hospital for the most part.

[00:31:49] The hotel is the only one with that overlap.

[00:31:51] And that worked.

[00:31:52] I was really happy about that because it, it made every environment feel fresh that I was not just treading the same spot over and over and over again.

[00:32:01] Um, and then also the, the streets got a giant glow up in the original version.

[00:32:09] They're just, they're, they're the connective tissue between the dungeons.

[00:32:12] You know, nothing happens there.

[00:32:14] They're not important there.

[00:32:15] You know, there's some items and there's a couple of monsters if you want to beat stuff up.

[00:32:19] And that's about it.

[00:32:20] But the remake made them larger or at least the explorable part of them larger.

[00:32:28] Cause there's, you know, obviously all the broken roads and everything.

[00:32:30] Right.

[00:32:31] But, um, they made the explorable part of them larger.

[00:32:33] They made you able to go into almost all the buildings of consequence.

[00:32:37] Um, they added some puzzles and some, you know, backtracking and redirection and some off the beaten path areas with rewards and made it feel like it's its own area.

[00:32:49] Not just, this is just the through line to get to where you're going.

[00:32:53] There's stuff to do here too.

[00:32:55] And I really, really liked that.

[00:32:57] Yeah.

[00:32:57] Yeah.

[00:32:58] It kind of, yeah.

[00:32:58] In the original, it kind of feels just like a, not a, I think hub is the wrong, almost like just setting, setting the scene, a scene set.

[00:33:05] Okay.

[00:33:06] These are the streets of silent hill.

[00:33:07] It's foggy.

[00:33:08] It's weird.

[00:33:08] It's, you know, it's fucked up or whatever the streets, you know, there's big cracks.

[00:33:12] There's, you can't get across the street, you know, and then you just go to the apartment building and it's like, okay, whatever.

[00:33:17] It just kind of sets, sets the tone of the game.

[00:33:19] So yeah, that is, that is something.

[00:33:21] Um, yeah, let me, I want to make a point actually about this first hour of this game, because I think it's interesting, you know, like, cause what you basically do, like you said, you're running around the streets of silent hill and you find a bar with half a broken record.

[00:33:36] So you got to go to the record store and get the other half of the record and some glue in there to glue it back together.

[00:33:42] Right.

[00:33:43] Yeah.

[00:33:43] And the juke, but wait, the jukebox has this button missing.

[00:33:46] So you got to go dig in this disgusting hole to get a jukebox like button, right?

[00:33:53] You take all the stuff back to the bar, repair the record, repair the jukebox, play the record.

[00:33:58] And this makes the jukebox spit out a key.

[00:34:01] What in the actual fuck is this?

[00:34:04] Like who does that?

[00:34:06] Survival horror, survival horror games from 2001.

[00:34:09] Do that.

[00:34:09] That's who does that.

[00:34:10] And I love that.

[00:34:12] And I guess what I'm trying to say is that like, I love that they didn't try to modernize it in that way because nobody makes a game like that anymore with that kind of weird puzzle shit.

[00:34:23] Right.

[00:34:23] And I loved it.

[00:34:25] I love that they preserved it.

[00:34:26] I wish we could still do that nowadays.

[00:34:28] You know, I don't know.

[00:34:29] I just wanted to highlight that because I guess that's a good inroad to talk about puzzles in general.

[00:34:35] Yeah.

[00:34:35] And I really like the record puzzle.

[00:34:37] I was like, oh, cool.

[00:34:38] Because that is completely new.

[00:34:41] That's never been done before.

[00:34:42] That is 100% new.

[00:34:43] And I was like, I really like this.

[00:34:45] This is cool.

[00:34:46] And you had to think about it.

[00:34:47] And what's the favorite song?

[00:34:49] And, you know, it was kind of cool.

[00:34:51] But the and it's spitting out a key didn't bother me too bad, even though the door is right there.

[00:34:59] And it's like you could have just unlocked the door.

[00:35:02] But then that became kind of a running theme throughout the game is, okay, you did the puzzle.

[00:35:07] Now we're going to cop up either a key for the door that you're standing next to or an item that you use on this pedestal right next to you that will open the door that is right next to you or that will give you a key to unlock the door that is right next to you.

[00:35:20] And I'm like, okay, can we cut a little of the middleman out here?

[00:35:23] I don't mind the puzzles for the most part.

[00:35:26] I do like the redesign puzzles, almost all of them.

[00:35:30] The three coins puzzle.

[00:35:32] I really like that now.

[00:35:35] And I like that it now has a little thing that can influence your ending a little bit.

[00:35:39] I was like, that's kind of cool.

[00:35:40] How does that happen?

[00:35:41] What happens?

[00:35:43] After you go through the several iterations of the movement of the coins, when it asks you the last question, it's who do you blame?

[00:35:50] You can either put the man token, the snake token, or the woman token up there.

[00:35:55] If you put the woman token up there, it gives you points towards the Maria ending because you're blaming Mary.

[00:36:02] It's Mary's fault.

[00:36:03] Okay.

[00:36:03] If you put the man token up there, it gives you points towards in water and leave because James is accepting the blame.

[00:36:12] I put man up there and I got leave.

[00:36:14] So yeah, that's probably, yeah.

[00:36:15] And if you put the snake up there, it gives you points to leave.

[00:36:19] Because you're blaming it on Maria, basically.

[00:36:23] And I was like, okay, that's clever.

[00:36:27] And almost all the major puzzles have a little thing at the end that does influence your ending somewhat.

[00:36:33] They're not as big as the main things like your health bar and whether you look at the letter and stuff.

[00:36:39] But they are there.

[00:36:41] Oh, did I look at the letter?

[00:36:44] Man, I don't think I did.

[00:36:46] Well, that would obviously give points towards Mary, right?

[00:36:49] Yes.

[00:36:50] It gives points towards leave.

[00:36:53] And then if you look at it later in the game, because it gets blanked out when you find out certain things.

[00:36:59] If you look at it, then it gives points towards in water.

[00:37:02] Okay.

[00:37:02] But all the puzzle redesigns I thought were really, really good and kept the spirit to please the, oh, it's my favorite game ever.

[00:37:13] But we're different enough that, okay, I'm not just playing the same shit again, you know?

[00:37:18] Except for one puzzle.

[00:37:20] Okay.

[00:37:20] And in the apartment building, there is this puzzle in, it seems to be implied to be somebody's sex dungeon.

[00:37:27] Okay.

[00:37:27] That he locked somebody up in there.

[00:37:29] And she went nuts with glow-in-the-dark crayon and draw all over the walls.

[00:37:33] Oh, that, yeah.

[00:37:33] And there's that road with all the things and you have to get the safe code.

[00:37:37] And there's a poem that, you know, leans on the hints.

[00:37:41] And I'm like, I get what it wanted from me.

[00:37:43] It's like, okay, it said like river to the right and then hills to the left and then home to the right.

[00:37:50] And I'm like, okay, I get what you're asking.

[00:37:53] But the fact that, one, you have to get up on top of the wall because it reacts to his flashlight, not visible.

[00:37:59] Right.

[00:38:00] You have to carefully drag all the way around the lines.

[00:38:03] And I got so backwards and so fucked up so many times trying to track that.

[00:38:09] I knew one number for sure.

[00:38:11] And I finally ended up just brute forcing the damn thing because I'm like, this is shit.

[00:38:15] This is pissing off.

[00:38:16] And it took me a while.

[00:38:19] I was in there for half an hour, I think.

[00:38:21] And I finally was just like, I'm not dealing with this.

[00:38:24] And I just started, okay, nine, two, two, nine, two, three.

[00:38:29] I was like, I will get there.

[00:38:31] You figured that would be faster than.

[00:38:34] At that point, it was.

[00:38:35] It was like 10 minutes and I was done.

[00:38:37] I'm like, okay, there we go.

[00:38:38] Can you tell me something?

[00:38:39] Because I did not do this because I didn't realize what was happening.

[00:38:42] So you know how.

[00:38:44] Okay.

[00:38:44] By the way, this is one of the things throughout this.

[00:38:46] I'll probably be asking you, did this happen to the original or not?

[00:38:50] When you get in the elevator and the guy is giving you a quiz.

[00:38:54] Is that there in the original?

[00:38:56] Yes.

[00:38:57] Okay.

[00:38:57] Because I didn't remember that shit at all.

[00:38:58] The quiz is different and you actually have Maria with you in the original when you get the quiz.

[00:39:05] And it's really funny.

[00:39:07] And I was kind of upset that she's not for this one because she has some dialogue like, what the fuck was that?

[00:39:12] And she was just like, oh.

[00:39:14] I don't know.

[00:39:15] But anyway, you find that box where it's clearly they want you to put in the numbers from the quiz.

[00:39:22] And I was just like, and it zapped me because I started messing with it.

[00:39:25] I'm like, okay, I'll fuck with that later.

[00:39:26] And then I left and I was like, oh, that was the quiz from the elevator.

[00:39:30] I realized it too late.

[00:39:31] So can you satisfy my curiosity?

[00:39:33] What was in that box?

[00:39:34] Some ammo and health drinks.

[00:39:36] Okay.

[00:39:37] That was it?

[00:39:37] Okay.

[00:39:38] It's nothing really important.

[00:39:40] Okay.

[00:39:40] Good.

[00:39:40] I think it's like one box of rifle ammo, a couple of health drinks and a syringe or something.

[00:39:45] It's nothing you desperately need.

[00:39:48] Yeah.

[00:39:48] If I had one point of criticism about the puzzles, it's almost kind of like what you said.

[00:39:53] I feel like there are just a little too many padlocks and passwords and like number codes.

[00:40:00] I feel like we needed more moon logic, like more Resident Evil moon logic, like press the buttons on the pictures and the generations of the family or whatever.

[00:40:09] Like shit like that.

[00:40:09] I feel like they could have used like a couple more things like that.

[00:40:13] I like the director's office puzzle with the astrological books and then having to translate that to the safe code.

[00:40:20] I really liked that one.

[00:40:22] That was good.

[00:40:22] And I'm like, I would have been cool with a couple more like that.

[00:40:24] Yeah.

[00:40:25] Probably just a little too many numbers, I guess.

[00:40:28] It's kind of a small quibble, really.

[00:40:30] But, you know, that's really it.

[00:40:33] Fine time.

[00:40:34] Fine time.

[00:40:34] Let's talk about story and characters, if you don't mind, because I've always appreciated how simple Silent Hill 2 is.

[00:41:04] And that's not to say that it's all surface level or it's not deep or anything, because it is.

[00:41:08] But the face value of it is what it is.

[00:41:11] James is a dude who can't face himself for what he did.

[00:41:14] So he's going into this nightmarish metaphorical guilt trip to punish himself.

[00:41:19] And that's all you really need to know about it.

[00:41:21] If you want to get real, you can get deep into the lore if you want, but you don't have to.

[00:41:27] Like the game provides everything you need to know.

[00:41:29] And it's up to you if you want to read into it or not.

[00:41:32] Like, OK, I'll be honest.

[00:41:34] What was going on in the hospital with all the notes?

[00:41:36] I read them all.

[00:41:37] Do I completely grasp what's happening there?

[00:41:39] Not really.

[00:41:39] I'm sure I could if I thought about it a little more.

[00:41:42] I mean, I mostly do.

[00:41:43] I mean, but like, you know, there's some stuff where I was like, huh, there's some stuff in the prison where I'm like, OK, you know, but again, it's there if you want to.

[00:41:52] But you don't really need to get that deep with it, you know, because I think sometimes.

[00:41:58] In fact, I think a lot of times horror is best left unexplained because that's what makes it scary.

[00:42:05] That's what makes it fucked up.

[00:42:07] Right.

[00:42:07] I don't need to know why pyramid head exists.

[00:42:09] I don't need to know why the radio produces static when a monster gets by.

[00:42:14] Right.

[00:42:14] It just fucking does.

[00:42:15] It just fucking does.

[00:42:16] Right.

[00:42:17] Like, I don't I don't need to know why there's legs on top of legs kicking the shit out of me.

[00:42:21] Right.

[00:42:21] I mean, I kind of do, but I don't really.

[00:42:24] Right.

[00:42:24] And those are the rules of this world.

[00:42:26] And I'm going to accept this world for what it is.

[00:42:29] As long as they establish rules and they and they stick to them, I'm fine with just about anything.

[00:42:34] And I think Silent Hill 2 is kind of a master class at that.

[00:42:39] Yes.

[00:42:40] It clearly sets out what the rules of this world are.

[00:42:43] It does so fairly early or at least lays the clues for it fairly early.

[00:42:48] And by the end, you understand.

[00:42:50] And there's not really any dangling threads, but it hasn't beaten you over the head with it either.

[00:42:57] And there are little things in the corners.

[00:42:58] If you want to be that person and go dig around and find all the weird stuff, it's there for you.

[00:43:03] But you don't need to.

[00:43:04] You can get the concept of what the story was.

[00:43:08] Yeah.

[00:43:08] And it was very nice.

[00:43:10] Yeah.

[00:43:10] Yeah.

[00:43:11] I really.

[00:43:13] Goddamn.

[00:43:13] You know, I got to say before, I don't remember liking Maria as a character.

[00:43:20] I didn't dislike her by any means.

[00:43:22] I didn't dislike her, but I wasn't like, oh, wow.

[00:43:25] I love this character.

[00:43:26] She was just kind of there in this game.

[00:43:29] I fucking love this character.

[00:43:31] Holy shit.

[00:43:32] I, I hated her fucking guts in the original.

[00:43:36] Honestly, I could not stand her.

[00:43:38] She just pissed me off.

[00:43:41] And like, after I had ticked the box for getting the Maria ending once just to, you know, get my trophy and or get my hundred percent save.

[00:43:50] And then I didn't have to do it anymore.

[00:43:51] Every time I get to the park, I'd sit there and whack her with the stick for a while just to drive down her affection level.

[00:43:57] So there was no chance.

[00:43:58] Now I wasn't getting mad again.

[00:43:59] Right.

[00:44:00] And I just, I couldn't stand her.

[00:44:02] And then when they did the Restless Dreams version with the Born From a Wish scenario, I liked her a little more because it did kind of, you know, ironically humanize her more.

[00:44:11] Right.

[00:44:11] But she's still like, no, you are not best girl.

[00:44:14] Sorry.

[00:44:15] But in the remake, I love her.

[00:44:19] I was like, oh my God, she has a personality.

[00:44:22] She's actually funny.

[00:44:24] She interacts with you.

[00:44:26] She reacts to all the things you're doing.

[00:44:28] She has commentary about almost everywhere in Silent Hill.

[00:44:31] If you just wander around with her and take her places, she'll have shit to say about almost all the marked locations.

[00:44:38] Wow.

[00:44:38] Really?

[00:44:39] And now, unless you're going for the Maria ending, you probably don't want to do that because those are in your points towards that ending.

[00:44:44] Right.

[00:44:45] It's like, wow, she's actually a person.

[00:44:48] And she acts like a person who is a real human being stuck in an unreal situation until the unfortunate elevator accident where her nature becomes more ambiguous.

[00:44:58] But that makes sense.

[00:45:01] Right.

[00:45:01] Also, I like her redesign.

[00:45:03] The old one, she was fine, I guess.

[00:45:05] But very early 2000s skank and not that interesting.

[00:45:09] But her new design, I'm like, hmm, Maria can get it.

[00:45:13] Yeah.

[00:45:14] I can understand why James might have to sit there and think about that for a minute.

[00:45:18] Well, that's the thing.

[00:45:19] That's what sells it.

[00:45:20] She actually has the real sex appeal to make that work because she's like, oh, you sure you don't want to come to the hotel with me or whatever the hell she's saying to him to tease him?

[00:45:31] And he's just like, oh, I guess I have a penis maybe.

[00:45:35] Right.

[00:45:36] Like he's not sure.

[00:45:38] But that's what sells it because she's actually fucking attractive.

[00:45:42] And she's funny and a person and there's emotion in her voice.

[00:45:47] And it's like, yes.

[00:45:49] One of the best parts to me was it's in the labyrinth when she comes up, she strokes his face through the bars and says, don't you want to touch me, James?

[00:45:58] And he just stops.

[00:46:00] And the look on his face is just this pure torture.

[00:46:04] And he just kind of finally stabbers out.

[00:46:07] I don't know what I want anymore.

[00:46:09] And I'm like, yes, they paint this picture.

[00:46:15] I love it.

[00:46:16] I love it.

[00:46:17] No, that's that's I always got the feeling that's the character she was supposed to be.

[00:46:21] And I feel like if there's anything in this remake that is the to me, the biggest glow up.

[00:46:26] That's it to me is Maria.

[00:46:29] That character is now not just there for it.

[00:46:33] She is a great character.

[00:46:34] She's probably my favorite character now, if I'm being honest.

[00:46:37] So it's just like, yeah, I would.

[00:46:39] I would agree with you, actually.

[00:46:41] Yeah, I would concur.

[00:46:43] It's it's she's great.

[00:46:44] It's pretty incredible.

[00:46:47] Any any other character stuff you like that's different or not in in Silent Hill?

[00:46:51] Um, James is acting is better.

[00:46:55] And his facial reactions are really good.

[00:46:59] Like I said, the way he looks when he says this, I don't know anymore.

[00:47:03] Um, the the facial expression he makes when she pours him the shot in the strip club.

[00:47:08] Oh, yeah.

[00:47:09] And it's like, huh.

[00:47:10] I guess James was a bit of an alky, wasn't he?

[00:47:13] Because he you and you convey that through a single look.

[00:47:17] And I'm like, show not tell.

[00:47:19] Perfect.

[00:47:20] And, you know, he's he really got upgraded in that way.

[00:47:23] But I think that's mostly technology is there now to do that.

[00:47:27] Um, Laura and Laura's Laura.

[00:47:30] She didn't change any.

[00:47:31] I still want to punch her in the nose.

[00:47:35] Eddie, though.

[00:47:36] Eddie is such a mixed bag for me because really?

[00:47:39] Okay.

[00:47:40] Yeah.

[00:47:40] I I get that he's supposed to be a gonk.

[00:47:43] He's supposed to be kind of ugly and weird.

[00:47:45] And nobody likes him and misanthropic and all of that.

[00:47:48] But, you know, when you have all these people complaining about how Maria and Angela are ugly and don't look human anymore.

[00:47:57] And Eddie's right fucking there.

[00:47:58] I'm like, dude, I get he's supposed to be ugly, but there's ugly.

[00:48:03] And did sloth mate with a fucking boiling pustule or what?

[00:48:09] I mean, God.

[00:48:10] They really amped it up.

[00:48:12] Yeah.

[00:48:12] They really amped it up.

[00:48:13] He's just so hideous and gross.

[00:48:16] And I think they went overboard on that.

[00:48:18] His attitude.

[00:48:19] I liked a lot more because he does seem a little more layered and torn with how he is, at least up till the end.

[00:48:28] And then then they I feel like they were having a Han shot first moment at his boss fight where in the original James is kind of call him an asshole.

[00:48:37] And that leads to Eddie trying to shoot him.

[00:48:39] Whereas in the remake, it's much more Eddie's just nanners.

[00:48:43] And I feel like that was kind of let's deflect that away.

[00:48:46] So it's not as much James fault that he murders this guy.

[00:48:49] But yeah, whatever.

[00:48:51] I think I think I like that slightly better, though, like slightly.

[00:48:57] I think either way, I'm fine with it.

[00:48:59] But like, I kind of like it more that he's just kind of nuts because I think that makes more sense, especially.

[00:49:05] I was thinking about the scene in the theater, you know, where he's just eating that bucket of pink slop or whatever.

[00:49:10] With his hand covered in shit.

[00:49:12] Yeah.

[00:49:12] It's just like, what?

[00:49:13] What is what are you doing, man?

[00:49:16] Or yeah, you just sit here and eat popcorn.

[00:49:19] He's like, oh, now you want me to come with you?

[00:49:22] He's like, OK, this isn't the time to be butthurt.

[00:49:25] I mean, we could just get out of here, but whatever.

[00:49:29] But yeah, I think that just fits with the way this game goes, I think.

[00:49:35] But like, I don't know.

[00:49:36] I think I think it's fine.

[00:49:38] And that's fine.

[00:49:39] I'm not butthurt one way or the other.

[00:49:42] I just I feel like it was it felt kind of like you were you're nudging it away just because you didn't want to get in trouble with somebody.

[00:49:50] But the thing about Eddie, though, is he has the single coolest character detail of anyone in the game.

[00:49:57] OK, if you watch in any scene where Eddie is, no matter what is going on around him, no matter what environment he's in, his breath is always fogging up like he's cold.

[00:50:07] Hmm.

[00:50:09] In the apartment, his is doing that.

[00:50:11] James is not in the movie theater.

[00:50:13] Laura and James.

[00:50:14] No, Eddie.

[00:50:15] Yes.

[00:50:16] The prison again.

[00:50:17] James doesn't.

[00:50:18] Eddie does.

[00:50:19] And if you look at the corpses that Eddie has left behind, they have a rhyme of frost on that.

[00:50:25] So then when you finally get to fight Eddie and see what his Silent Hill or the world looks like, where it's a frozen meat locker, it's like, oh, you clever bastards.

[00:50:36] You had that there the whole time.

[00:50:38] Did not did not realize that at all.

[00:50:41] Yeah, because, you know, the game is foggy or whatever, kind of hazy, sometimes even indoors.

[00:50:46] Right.

[00:50:46] Yeah.

[00:50:46] So it's just kind of like it is what.

[00:50:48] Yeah, I just I didn't think about that.

[00:50:49] That's pretty fucking cool.

[00:50:51] It is.

[00:50:51] That is that is super cool.

[00:50:54] I did.

[00:50:55] I did really enjoy that boss fight.

[00:50:57] It wasn't like that in the original, right?

[00:50:59] With the meat, you shoot the you take cover behind the meat.

[00:51:04] The meat was there and you could take cover behind it, but the game wasn't really programmed to do that.

[00:51:12] It was just like, OK, it's just a wall that looks like pig legs.

[00:51:15] It doesn't really do anything.

[00:51:16] OK.

[00:51:17] And, you know, it was not interactive in any way.

[00:51:20] It was just the environment.

[00:51:22] That the perfect fog layer in that place to the perfect frost layer, I should say.

[00:51:27] And that did look distinct from the fog.

[00:51:29] They could have just used the fog, you know, but this actually did.

[00:51:32] Yeah.

[00:51:33] This actually did look like like like frost.

[00:51:36] It was it was pretty incredible.

[00:51:38] Fine time.

[00:51:39] Fine time.

[00:51:40] OK.

[00:51:40] I want to ask you about a number of things that I wrote down that I was not sure.

[00:51:44] I asked you about a couple already that I did not remember happening in the original, but you can enlighten me to some more now.

[00:51:51] OK.

[00:51:52] Did the original game begin with that opening forest path?

[00:51:56] I don't remember if it did begin with that.

[00:51:58] I don't remember it being that long if it had existed at all.

[00:52:02] So was that there?

[00:52:03] I don't remember that.

[00:52:05] OK.

[00:52:05] Was it?

[00:52:05] OK.

[00:52:06] The intro of the game from him touching the mirror in the bathroom up to crossing the gate of the cemetery after meeting Angela is essentially identical.

[00:52:19] OK.

[00:52:20] It looks a little different.

[00:52:22] There's more buildings.

[00:52:22] There's some side paths, you know, some stuff to do.

[00:52:24] But it's essentially identical.

[00:52:27] And honestly, I think and I don't know if it just feels this way because there's nothing there on the PS2 and 3 version or if it actually is.

[00:52:36] But it feels longer on the old version.

[00:52:39] Oh.

[00:52:40] And again, that might just be because there's literally nothing there.

[00:52:43] The only thing on that path is if you're in a new game, plus the chainsaw is there.

[00:52:49] OK.

[00:52:49] But other than that, it's just a straight empty line with the droning sound until you get to the same point and then a straight droning line until you get to Angela.

[00:52:59] So it might just feel longer, but it feels longer.

[00:53:02] But otherwise, it's the same.

[00:53:03] OK.

[00:53:05] But wait, I'm sorry.

[00:53:07] Did you fucking say chainsaw?

[00:53:09] Yes.

[00:53:10] Wow.

[00:53:10] I'm definitely playing this game again.

[00:53:12] Holy shit.

[00:53:13] Yeah.

[00:53:14] In the in in the original, there were eight bonus weapons, I think.

[00:53:18] OK.

[00:53:18] The chainsaw, the rock drill, cement saw, power spray, katana.

[00:53:26] And I don't remember what the other ones were.

[00:53:27] Most of them suck because they have such ridiculous windups.

[00:53:31] They're not worth it because you will die before you swing.

[00:53:34] OK.

[00:53:34] Only one of them made it to remake.

[00:53:36] But it's your bestest pal when you pick it up.

[00:53:41] OK.

[00:53:42] It's great.

[00:53:43] All right.

[00:53:44] Then I guess I guess I'm using a chainsaw.

[00:53:46] Yeah.

[00:53:47] There's a OK.

[00:53:48] So there's a part that we talked about it where James has to reach his hand into that

[00:53:54] disgusting hole and pull out that jukebox key.

[00:53:57] Right.

[00:53:57] I remember that in the original just being a cut scene.

[00:54:00] Like you didn't have to like press X or whatever.

[00:54:02] Yeah.

[00:54:03] Was it just a cut scene?

[00:54:04] Yeah.

[00:54:05] In the in the original, there's three or four holes you got to shove your arm into plus the toilet.

[00:54:11] And it's interact with it once.

[00:54:13] There's something in the hole.

[00:54:15] Should I inspect it?

[00:54:16] Yes.

[00:54:16] No.

[00:54:16] Yes.

[00:54:17] And then it's just a cut scene of him grabbing whatever it is.

[00:54:19] It doesn't make you keep pushing the button.

[00:54:22] I'm not sure one of those.

[00:54:24] Is this necessary?

[00:54:26] We're we're reaching around in the goo.

[00:54:27] Just give me the thing.

[00:54:28] Yeah.

[00:54:28] I don't know why we had to do it.

[00:54:30] It was weird.

[00:54:31] I didn't understand that.

[00:54:32] We talked about the puzzle in the apartment with the walls and you got pissed off.

[00:54:36] Was that actually in the original?

[00:54:38] I don't remember it being if it OK, I was going to say that felt like completely new.

[00:54:42] Yeah.

[00:54:43] I didn't in the apartment.

[00:54:45] There's a couple safes.

[00:54:47] One is involves getting the code out of the toilet and the other one's written on a wall.

[00:54:52] And then there's the clock puzzle and then the three coins puzzle.

[00:54:55] But those are the only ones in the apartment in the original.

[00:54:58] The trace line thing is entirely new.

[00:55:02] OK, that makes sense.

[00:55:04] And in fact, that would probably be pretty hard to do on a PS2 anyway.

[00:55:07] That level of texture.

[00:55:08] Can you imagine looking at PS2 textures that way?

[00:55:11] I mean, Jesus Christ.

[00:55:14] And no free aim on the flashlight either.

[00:55:17] Oh, I thought.

[00:55:22] OK, the elevator quizzes in the original.

[00:55:24] I asked you about that.

[00:55:25] Oh, when you unlock something, the locks just kind of like disappear into nothing.

[00:55:30] Did that happen in the original?

[00:55:32] Yeah, basically.

[00:55:33] OK.

[00:55:34] I mean, it'll sometimes do a little animation of like the hasp popping up and then it'll just dissolve out.

[00:55:39] And I always interpreted that as that doesn't necessarily mean the lock actually disappeared from existence.

[00:55:45] It's just video games, moon logic, get it off the screen.

[00:55:49] Right.

[00:55:49] Yeah, exactly.

[00:55:50] You could interpret it as, well, James has solved the puzzle.

[00:55:53] Therefore, Silent Hill is removing the item as it is no longer required.

[00:55:57] You could take it either way.

[00:55:58] Yeah, you could go either way with that.

[00:56:00] I kind of I wasn't sure how to feel about that because, again, I didn't I never thought of it as just I kind of mostly thought of it as a video game thing.

[00:56:09] Right.

[00:56:09] That's what I what I interpreted it as.

[00:56:12] Um, the gravestones with everyone's every character's name on them.

[00:56:17] Is that the in the original?

[00:56:19] I don't remember that shit.

[00:56:20] OK, no, it is.

[00:56:22] Um, yeah.

[00:56:22] When you get when you get to that that room in the prison in the original, it's basically identical.

[00:56:28] I think the text is slightly different between the two.

[00:56:30] But don't quote me on that.

[00:56:32] But it is the same that, you know, you have the three graves and you got to jump down your own to get to the next part.

[00:57:00] All right, let's talk combat, monster design, anything in that arena, because Silent Hill 2 has a lot of it.

[00:57:10] So I guess I'll start here because something I've always really liked about Silent Hill 2 in the original was its approach to combat because it's different.

[00:57:22] Like, I get it.

[00:57:24] You're supposed to be a quote unquote real person in this situation.

[00:57:27] And that's great because that's what makes survival horror like visceral and scary and shit.

[00:57:32] Right.

[00:57:32] You were not Bayonetta who can go up here and chop up all these things or whatever.

[00:57:36] Right.

[00:57:36] You're just kind of a quote unquote real person.

[00:57:39] However, that can obviously go too far the other way.

[00:57:42] Like, I feel like in Resident Evil 7, you feel like a piece of shit.

[00:57:47] We like it doesn't it doesn't feel fun to play because they make you too much of a real person.

[00:57:52] Right.

[00:57:52] So I don't like when games go too far with it.

[00:57:55] However, I think Silent Hill 2 nails it because you just kind of start out with this wooden plank with nails in it to beat on these fucking things with.

[00:58:07] And it works.

[00:58:08] You can beat them.

[00:58:10] It's tough.

[00:58:10] You don't have a lot of health, but you can actually do that.

[00:58:14] Like, I know this is going to sound maybe kind of stupid, but you can practically feel James's sheer determination through like like while you swing it and he's like, oh, as he does it.

[00:58:27] You know what I mean?

[00:58:28] Like the screams, the feedback in the controller.

[00:58:31] Again, you feel it literally in your hands.

[00:58:34] You know, it makes it this real like like I said, visceral thing that I think is like really important for a game like this, probably more than other survival horror games.

[00:58:44] I think like Silent Hill 2 nails that aspect of it.

[00:58:47] Yeah, I do think they got the combat right and got a good balance of every man versus soldier boy and your ability to fight back.

[00:58:59] And I do agree the voice acting and animations of James when he's swinging wildly, they do suit the situation.

[00:59:07] And you do feel like part of the reason he can do this is he's willing to throw himself to that extreme because he wants this done.

[00:59:14] Yep.

[00:59:15] And this is one of the few games I've left adaptive triggers on because normally I don't like those.

[00:59:23] I've got carpal tunnel up the ass.

[00:59:24] It hurts.

[00:59:25] I liked the way it worked in this one.

[00:59:28] And you can feel the difference in the triggers pressure with the animation of which swing he does.

[00:59:35] And also, I don't know if you know this, but if you run, you can do this overhand swing that just whoop him and just club somebody and it'll knock them down immediately.

[00:59:46] And it's great.

[00:59:48] Works really well on nurses.

[00:59:50] I did it.

[00:59:50] I did it a couple times by accident.

[00:59:53] I didn't realize how we did it.

[00:59:55] So now I will be doing that at 60 frames per second.

[00:59:59] Yeah.

[01:00:00] If you run at them from behind and they don't turn around and you hit the thing while still holding run, he will do this overhead slam that knocks them down immediately.

[01:00:08] It is a godsend on nurses, especially the knife ones.

[01:00:12] Oh, yeah.

[01:00:12] Just fuck them bitches.

[01:00:13] Oh, yeah.

[01:00:13] They fucking, oh, they were the worst.

[01:00:16] When they get stabby stabby in you, oh, my God.

[01:00:19] And they swing like five times and it's like, okay, I'm just dead, I guess.

[01:00:23] Yeah.

[01:00:23] It's like, holy shit.

[01:00:24] Yeah, I just like that Silent Hill 2 has such a focus on melee because I don't think most games do that.

[01:00:30] I guess most Silent Hill games have that, right?

[01:00:32] I feel like at least the original trilogy does.

[01:00:35] They do, but 1 and 3 at least give you so much ammo that by the end you might as well just be using the guns.

[01:00:43] You got plenty.

[01:00:45] 2 is a little better about that, but remake is like, no, you won't get anywhere if you're trying to shoot everything.

[01:00:51] Sorry.

[01:00:51] You better save that for the bosses.

[01:00:53] Jesus, are you going to have a bad time?

[01:00:55] Oh, my God.

[01:00:57] I beat Abstract Daddy with one fucking handgun bullet left.

[01:01:01] One.

[01:01:02] To fuck the Abstract Daddy.

[01:01:03] One.

[01:01:04] I dumped 40 shotgun shells into that son of a bitch and then another 30 pistol rounds, and I was still reduced to bludgeoning him with a pipe to finally finish his ass off.

[01:01:16] Which is like, by one issue with the enemies, their designs are great.

[01:01:21] The lying figures, the way if you look at them, they're wearing high-heeled shoes.

[01:01:25] They're much more clearly female in this game.

[01:01:30] The mannequins, the fact that they look like somebody lopped a couple people in half and glued them together with duct tape, where it's much less certain that that's a mannequin and not meat.

[01:01:40] Yeah.

[01:01:41] I thought that was great.

[01:01:42] The nurses and their little bubbling pustules, which, by the way, only stop bubbling when they're dead.

[01:01:47] So if they're still popping, keep hitting it.

[01:01:51] Pyramid Head with his apron that is now much more clearly defined that you can interpret as a surgical smock or a pitcher's apron, depending on what you want to think about him.

[01:02:00] All of that was good, but Abstract Daddy knocked it out of the bloody park as the best monster redesign in the whole goddamn game.

[01:02:11] But he is also the worst example of the problem I have with the enemies, and that is they are too goddamn spongy.

[01:02:19] I mean, I get it's supposed to be tough, and it is, but there's a difference between tough because they're fast, they're stronger than you, they usually have to drop on you, and you have limited resources, and they're tough because of all that.

[01:02:34] Plus, it takes 12 swings to drop the most basic enemy, and even then, it's not dead dead.

[01:02:40] You've got to hit it one more time.

[01:02:42] And then the nurses, you get into, you know, you're whacking them 15, 20 times sometimes just to knock them down, and they're still not dead.

[01:02:49] And then Abstract Daddy just eats all your resources because he can.

[01:02:53] Yeah.

[01:02:54] You know, it's funny.

[01:02:56] Up to that point, I was like, man, I'm kind of stockpiling a lot of ammo here.

[01:02:59] I'm starting to get ahead.

[01:03:00] No, I'm not.

[01:03:01] They gave it to you for a reason.

[01:03:04] And I kind of feel like that was almost deliberate, like, oh, we're going to give you a bunch of supplies and then see how dumb you are with them, and then we're going to make you use all of them.

[01:03:14] I did.

[01:03:14] I think that may have been deliberate, but at the same time, it's a dick move.

[01:03:18] Yeah, like I said, one bullet left.

[01:03:21] One.

[01:03:23] Oh, God.

[01:03:24] I had to, against double pyramid head, I think I had to whack him a couple times to finish him off because I ran out of everything.

[01:03:30] I'm like, fuck this.

[01:03:31] And I just whacked him a couple times and it was over.

[01:03:34] I was just like, oh, my God.

[01:03:36] Thank you.

[01:03:37] Christ.

[01:03:38] Double pyramid head, I had a slightly better time because I had been stockpiling rifle ammo the whole.

[01:03:43] And I did not use any.

[01:03:45] I refused to use it on anything until I got to that fight because I'm like, them fuckers are going to need it.

[01:03:52] Yeah.

[01:03:53] They did.

[01:03:53] I did have to finish Maria off by beating her to death.

[01:03:59] But pyramid heads, nope, I was not going to melee them.

[01:04:02] No.

[01:04:02] Yeah.

[01:04:03] It was, man, it was tough.

[01:04:07] After a few retries, I was just like, I'm fucking done with this.

[01:04:10] I'm just beating these.

[01:04:11] And it worked.

[01:04:12] My rage worked.

[01:04:15] Yeah.

[01:04:16] I just, again, I just really like the melee because like, you know, fuck.

[01:04:19] I really, I really cannot stand in old risen evils where people are like, well, you have the knife.

[01:04:25] The knife fucking sucks.

[01:04:27] The knife fucking sucks ass.

[01:04:31] The only time the knife is even slightly viable is in code Veronica.

[01:04:35] And that's only because they let you stab down.

[01:04:37] Yeah.

[01:04:37] And even then, once you get out of the graveyard, it's useless.

[01:04:40] Fuck the night.

[01:04:41] I, if, if I had to, if I ran out of ammo, I'm starting over in resident evil.

[01:04:45] I'm not using the knife.

[01:04:46] I'm not doing it.

[01:04:48] Yeah.

[01:04:48] You know, I agree with you.

[01:04:50] And in this game, and that's, that's actually one of the contrast things about the first game.

[01:04:54] Like, cause you know, obviously at that point we're used to resident evil.

[01:04:56] It's like, oh wait, I have a melee weapon and I can actually like kill people with it.

[01:05:01] And it works.

[01:05:02] Holy shit.

[01:05:03] But yeah.

[01:05:04] Um, how do I say it?

[01:05:07] Uh, I don't know if I should say that I wanted there to be more enemy types, but maybe for the length of this game, maybe they could use like a couple, maybe one more.

[01:05:20] Right.

[01:05:21] I can see where you're coming from.

[01:05:23] Um, and I don't inherently disagree.

[01:05:27] I just, I don't know what they would have put in.

[01:05:30] Yeah.

[01:05:31] Would have fit what was going on in the original abstract that daddy becomes a mini mooc throughout the hotel.

[01:05:37] So that helps with the enemy variety, but it doesn't make any goddamn sense because he's basically Angela, Angela's pyramid head.

[01:05:43] So why would he show up in James's shit afterward that that was stupid?

[01:05:48] And plus he's a pain in the ass.

[01:05:50] But so that wasn't a great answer.

[01:05:52] And I think removing him was the right answer.

[01:05:54] Okay.

[01:05:55] I just, I, it could have done to have something new maybe in the hotel, but I don't know what it would have been.

[01:06:02] That's, that's the problem.

[01:06:04] Okay.

[01:06:05] Yeah.

[01:06:05] See, that's what I was thinking.

[01:06:06] I know like all the monsters kind of have a thing.

[01:06:08] It has to tie into what's going on in his head.

[01:06:10] And I just don't know what else that would be at that, at that point without just doing something generic, like here's a zombie or something, which obviously, you know, wouldn't, wouldn't work.

[01:06:21] So.

[01:06:21] Well, one, one thing that is nice is there are some variants of some of the enemies that, that were not in the original.

[01:06:28] Cause there's pretty much a lying figures, a lying figures, a lying figure in the original.

[01:06:32] In this one, you have those ones that explode and then the ones that can actually snipe you from across a room.

[01:06:38] That shit is annoying.

[01:06:40] The nurses, you have the crowbar nurse and the knife nurse.

[01:06:44] And I feel like there was a variant for the mannequin too.

[01:06:47] Oh yeah.

[01:06:48] The, the wall climbing bastards.

[01:06:50] Oh yeah.

[01:06:50] That's who I use the rifle on.

[01:06:52] Cause I was like, fuck these motherfuckers.

[01:06:54] I'm not having them.

[01:06:55] As soon as I heard that scuttling around, I was like, aim pow.

[01:06:59] Cause it takes them out in one hit.

[01:07:00] So I was like, okay, I don't have to deal with that shit anymore.

[01:07:05] No, thank you.

[01:07:06] Understandable.

[01:07:07] I mean, I know that they'd only take a few hits only quote unquote, take a few hits when you, when they get close to you.

[01:07:13] But still, I was like, they almost always will get the free hit on you before you can hit them because the way they move.

[01:07:19] Yeah.

[01:07:20] So it's like, I'm taking, I'm taking care of that shit.

[01:07:22] Um, anything else about combat or whatever before we go on monsters?

[01:07:26] Um, just abstract daddy again, most frustrating thing in the game, but also the best design and glow up and overall improvement from its original form.

[01:07:38] Um, I mean, we all know what it's supposed to represent and we all know it's basically Angela's pyramid head and all that.

[01:07:46] But the original is a quick, you know, five shotgun blasts and you're done fighting a tiny room and nobody cares.

[01:07:55] This one being a whole dedicated area that includes a chase, some fake outs, the, you know, the different phases he goes through as he's wailing on you.

[01:08:07] The interruptions of story beats from the televisions and Angela, I was like, dude, this is yeah.

[01:08:14] Yeah.

[01:08:15] And they made him far more visually apparent what he is.

[01:08:21] Yes.

[01:08:22] It's disgusting, but great at the same time.

[01:08:26] And it's my favorite part of the game.

[01:08:28] Bravo.

[01:08:28] My, my favorite part of the game by far.

[01:08:30] Okay.

[01:08:30] I would say that.

[01:08:31] You know what though?

[01:08:32] See, there's the goddamn hotel.

[01:08:34] God damn it.

[01:08:36] Fuck.

[01:08:37] The hotel is good.

[01:08:39] So good.

[01:08:39] You know what?

[01:08:40] They're one in one.

[01:08:41] I can't pick.

[01:08:42] It's a hotel hotel or that.

[01:08:44] Fine.

[01:08:55] Let's talk criticism.

[01:08:56] So we've had a few so far, right?

[01:08:59] And I want to talk about a few of mine and some are small and some are actually, I don't really have too many because I, you know, if I were grading this game as I often do when I, after I beat a game, I post on blue sky.

[01:09:09] I gave it a minus, right?

[01:09:11] I mean, there's very little for me to complain about here truly, but there's a couple things.

[01:09:16] And one of them is I wish this game had more music.

[01:09:23] Because, okay.

[01:09:24] I know some might say it's a horror game.

[01:09:26] It shouldn't have music or whatever, but I, I disagree.

[01:09:29] Resident evil has music, right?

[01:09:32] Especially older ones.

[01:09:33] You know, it's just that when silent hill two does have music, it's fucking fantastic.

[01:09:39] God.

[01:09:40] When you first meet Maria.

[01:09:42] Yeah.

[01:09:42] God damn.

[01:09:43] Get the fuck out of here.

[01:09:44] I love that when you solve the music box puzzle in the hotel, the music just follows you.

[01:09:50] Right.

[01:09:51] Up to room.

[01:09:52] What is it?

[01:09:53] 312.

[01:09:54] Yes.

[01:09:54] And it's building you up for that moment that you've been waiting for the entire goddamn game.

[01:10:00] And it just, and it doesn't make any like spatial sense, but it's perfect that they did that.

[01:10:05] It's a very video game thing to do, but it's like, hell yeah.

[01:10:09] You know?

[01:10:09] And I loved moments like that.

[01:10:12] I just wish there was maybe just a couple more.

[01:10:15] I just like, I don't know.

[01:10:18] I, I wish there was.

[01:10:19] I agree with you.

[01:10:20] I agree with you to a point.

[01:10:21] Like I, I love Yamaoka soundtrack.

[01:10:24] It's beautiful.

[01:10:25] I have silent hill one, two and three soundtracks all installed on my phone for a reason, you know?

[01:10:32] And I, I adore them, but at the same time, I, I kind of feel like if they had more, like, yeah, more of a good thing is good.

[01:10:39] But it might lower the punch value of what is there because then you'd start, oh, it's just sound.

[01:10:48] It's not, oh, I better pay attention because now it's doing something.

[01:10:52] And so I, I don't know.

[01:10:53] That is true.

[01:10:54] That's absolutely true.

[01:10:56] I can see that.

[01:10:57] Yeah.

[01:10:58] So maybe, maybe just like, I don't know, maybe one, I think if it were had like one or two smaller moments like that, I think it would, I don't think it would take away from anything.

[01:11:06] If they did it the whole game, then yeah, of course.

[01:11:08] But I feel like we could probably have snuck in like some kind of industrial nasty for either like the abstract daddy area or the Eddie fight.

[01:11:17] That would have been fine, you know?

[01:11:19] Yeah.

[01:11:20] Um, and wouldn't have hurt anything.

[01:11:22] That might've been an option.

[01:11:24] The only thing that I think is better in the original is the other world.

[01:11:30] I, the depiction of it, like the way it looks.

[01:11:33] Yeah.

[01:11:34] I wasn't, I think that's like probably my biggest criticism of the remake.

[01:11:39] I'm not totally in love at times with the depiction of it.

[01:11:43] I think in the original, they made it look much more contrasty, much more like red and like nastier, I guess.

[01:11:52] I feel like it's not that it doesn't look like that in the remake.

[01:11:57] It's just that like, I don't know.

[01:11:59] For me, it doesn't hit the same.

[01:12:01] I don't, I feel like, cause like before when you went to the other world, it's like, whoa, what is this?

[01:12:06] I think the first time I did in the apartment, I was like, oh wait, am I, am I there now?

[01:12:10] You know, I don't think it had the same like visual punch for some reason.

[01:12:15] I had kind of the same thought when I went to the apartment and I only realized I'd gone to the other world because the trophy notification popped up in the other world.

[01:12:24] Am I?

[01:12:25] Okay.

[01:12:26] Interesting.

[01:12:27] Yeah.

[01:12:27] That's, that's my biggest criticism of the game.

[01:12:30] And if that's like the worst thing I have to say, then I think we're doing pretty good.

[01:12:34] You know?

[01:12:34] And I, I can see what you're getting at.

[01:12:37] It's sometimes it does feel a little too subtle.

[01:12:40] The difference between the real world or real world and the other world.

[01:12:44] But I also think that may be a design choice.

[01:12:48] Like they may have wanted to blur that line because they're really leaning on James being completely unreliable.

[01:12:57] So that may be a stylistic choice.

[01:12:59] It's not necessarily one I embrace, but neither is it one I have a problem with.

[01:13:04] But also in a lot of the areas where it's more obvious, it's another world area.

[01:13:08] They are kind of going with the general style that has been in place since the first Silent Hill movie where it's all that burned dilapidated rot that looks the same.

[01:13:19] And I know a lot of people don't like that.

[01:13:23] I'm neutral on it.

[01:13:23] I'm just kind of used to it.

[01:13:25] That's what it looks like now.

[01:13:26] So it doesn't bug me as much.

[01:13:27] But I do think the original had more variety in the areas because each other world looked different.

[01:13:37] There was the rotten one, the moldy one, the wet one, the burned one, you know?

[01:13:42] And that is not present in the remake.

[01:13:44] But if that's the worst thing I could say, I'll live with it.

[01:13:49] Yeah.

[01:13:49] Again, I think it makes an A and A minus.

[01:13:54] Oh, no.

[01:13:54] Right?

[01:13:55] Like I feel like it's just it's not really.

[01:13:57] Yeah.

[01:13:57] If that had looked like the way I thought it might look, then yeah.

[01:14:02] But again, not a huge criticism.

[01:14:04] I almost had a big criticism, though, of this game.

[01:14:07] And the game turned it around for the most part.

[01:14:10] So here's what here's what I was thinking after the hospital.

[01:14:14] Right.

[01:14:15] I had this feeling where I'm like, OK, I'm pretty much fucking done rooting around in the dark, searching a giant building with a flashlight and prayers.

[01:14:24] OK, like I hope this game is over soon.

[01:14:26] But guess what?

[01:14:27] It's not over soon.

[01:14:29] OK, now there's a prison for me to root around in the dark and explore.

[01:14:34] Great.

[01:14:35] But here's the thing.

[01:14:36] And I learned that I actually wasn't tired of the gameplay formula.

[01:14:42] I think what I wanted was just a little more spectacle, like some more sizzle.

[01:14:47] You know what I mean?

[01:14:48] Because while the exploration and puzzles were fun, sometimes you just need to spice things up, you know?

[01:14:53] Yeah.

[01:14:53] And the prison and the subsequent labyrinth spices things the fuck up, baby.

[01:14:59] Like that's what I wanted.

[01:15:01] I was craving more like moments, for lack of a better term.

[01:15:05] And especially that one basement room with pyramid head in it.

[01:15:07] Oh, yeah.

[01:15:09] Oh, hello.

[01:15:09] Oh, shit.

[01:15:10] Hi.

[01:15:11] There you are.

[01:15:12] Whoa.

[01:15:13] Yeah.

[01:15:14] Oh, you know what fucking scared the shit out of me when you do that one thing and then

[01:15:18] it just immediately cuts to a cut scene of him choking you or whatever.

[01:15:21] And it's like, oh, fuck.

[01:15:23] Oh, at the hospital roof?

[01:15:24] Yeah, yeah.

[01:15:25] Yeah.

[01:15:26] Scared the shit out of me.

[01:15:28] I knew it was coming because that basically is the same in the original.

[01:15:31] And I still about crap myself.

[01:15:34] I was like, goddammit.

[01:15:36] That got me good.

[01:15:37] Holy shit.

[01:15:39] Yeah, but yeah, I just wanted more stuff like that, you know?

[01:15:43] And it really – oh, shit.

[01:15:45] That first part where you finally solve the puzzle outside and you're going to the apartment

[01:15:50] and the fog picks up and starts – and it roars.

[01:15:53] Yeah, the storm, right?

[01:15:55] That part is so good.

[01:15:56] Yeah.

[01:15:56] I was like, oh.

[01:15:59] That shit's crazy.

[01:16:00] Yeah, I think I just wanted a few more moments like that.

[01:16:03] I think for a long time in the game they didn't have stuff like that.

[01:16:05] You're just rooting around and exploring puzzles, which is fine.

[01:16:08] I think I was just a little tired of that.

[01:16:10] But then the rest of the game from there, of course, rowing to the hotel, the hotel, the whole bit, right?

[01:16:16] Then I'm getting a lot more variety.

[01:16:19] So it saved a big criticism.

[01:16:22] Like I said, if it had continued the way it was, I probably would have given the game like a B and not like an A-.

[01:16:28] But yeah, I think because of essentially the second half of the game, it elevated it to a place where I was just like, yeah.

[01:16:38] I was just getting tired of something and then they saved it.

[01:16:42] Yeah.

[01:16:43] I can understand that.

[01:16:44] But yeah, other than that, I don't really have any other criticisms of the game.

[01:16:48] Did you have anything that you didn't already mention?

[01:16:52] No.

[01:16:53] My main thing is that one puzzle pisses me off.

[01:16:56] We could have trimmed the puzzles down just a little bit and the enemies could be a little less spongy.

[01:17:02] But other than that, I'm like, it did everything I wanted it to do.

[01:17:06] And this isn't so much a criticism as a wish list that we knew wasn't going to happen, but it would have been nice.

[01:17:12] If we had gotten the Maria or even, you know, in a perfect world, the Angela and Eddie scenarios included, that would have been nice.

[01:17:21] But, you know, there's DLC maybe.

[01:17:23] Yeah.

[01:17:24] And I can hope.

[01:17:25] They could definitely do that.

[01:17:27] Oh, does this game still have the dog ending?

[01:17:29] Yes.

[01:17:30] Okay.

[01:17:31] You have to get the key in a little different way.

[01:17:33] It's a little more convoluted.

[01:17:35] But yes, you still can get the dog ending.

[01:17:38] And it still plays the obnoxious song.

[01:17:40] I did not believe my friend when he told me.

[01:17:43] I was like, there's like a dog ending.

[01:17:45] I'm like, get the motherfucker out of here.

[01:17:47] First of all, I didn't even know the game had multiple endings at first, right?

[01:17:51] So it was just like, we got the ending that we got because we played the game basically together.

[01:17:55] He had it and I didn't have a PS2 yet.

[01:17:56] So I basically played it.

[01:17:57] We spent a weekend going through that game and it was fucking great.

[01:18:00] And we got the ending that we got.

[01:18:01] I think we got leave back then too.

[01:18:05] I'm pretty sure.

[01:18:07] And yeah, so he told me about this dog ending.

[01:18:09] And I was like, he shows me it.

[01:18:12] And I'm like, this is ridiculous.

[01:18:15] This is so stupid.

[01:18:17] Don't forget the UFO ending, which is even weirder this time.

[01:18:21] They changed that one this time.

[01:18:22] Okay, tell me.

[01:18:23] Well, in the original, basically James just gets abducted by aliens and that's that.

[01:18:29] Right.

[01:18:29] But in the new one, the UFO ending, the UFO comes in and literal 2001 James beams in low poly count at all.

[01:18:39] Oh my God.

[01:18:39] And murders 2025 James.

[01:18:45] Like, you've done enough now.

[01:18:48] I was like, what the fuck was that?

[01:18:51] Wow.

[01:18:51] It's so weird.

[01:18:52] That's amazing.

[01:18:54] How do you even induce that?

[01:18:55] Like, what do you have to do to even like?

[01:18:57] In both versions, you get the channeling stone and then use it in certain preordained spots.

[01:19:04] Okay.

[01:19:04] In the original, the stone is in the bathroom at the beginning and the spots are marked by the seal of Samael.

[01:19:10] Well, in the new version, the stone is actually in the jewelry store window.

[01:19:15] You have to break it and pick it up and it's only there in new game plus.

[01:19:18] Okay.

[01:19:18] And then when you stand in certain places, you'll hear this weird chime noise come out of the controller.

[01:19:24] And if you look at your inventory, the stone will be glowing in your inventory.

[01:19:27] And then if you use it in those spots, then the aliens come.

[01:19:31] And the last spot is always room 312.

[01:19:33] So it's, you have to go through the whole game to do it, but it's there.

[01:19:37] That's pretty good.

[01:19:38] I almost, I almost want to do that now.

[01:19:40] And then there's two new endings just for this version too.

[01:19:43] Tell me.

[01:19:44] Do tell.

[01:19:44] Um, there is the stillness ending, which you have to do some dancing around and, uh, you have to have gotten the in water ending already.

[01:19:56] Okay.

[01:19:57] And then when you finish the game, um, it's basically like in water where he's in the car, he's talking to Mary, but you know, Mary's technically,

[01:20:09] we're not going to talk about what's in his backseat.

[01:20:10] Uh, and he is preparing to off himself, but then Mary's hand comes out of the backseat, strokes his cheek as James, you know what you have to do.

[01:20:22] And then it cuts.

[01:20:24] So it's basically in water, but she's in the backseat.

[01:20:29] It's like, what the shit?

[01:20:31] That's crazy.

[01:20:32] Okay.

[01:20:33] It is, it is very disturbing.

[01:20:36] Wow.

[01:20:36] Um, what's the other new one?

[01:20:38] The other new one you get, um, you have to find a key and use it on a certain safe later in the game, uh, that they're only there for new game plus.

[01:20:50] And you need the chainsaw to get into it because you won't have a weapon to break the window.

[01:20:55] Otherwise to get the key.

[01:20:56] Okay.

[01:20:57] But, um, when you do that, you'll get a bottle of white Claudia, the, the drug that they distribute, the cult does.

[01:21:04] Right.

[01:21:04] And if you drink that before you watch the video, James basically gets sucked into the TV and lives in silent hill forever.

[01:21:13] I just like, what is the twilight zone?

[01:21:16] Is that shit?

[01:21:18] Yo, that's kind of wild.

[01:21:20] Wow.

[01:21:21] It is.

[01:21:22] That's, that's insane.

[01:21:24] They're, they're both well worth looking at.

[01:21:27] Um, there, there's no trophies or collectibles or anything associated with them, but they're worth seeing anyway.

[01:21:33] Oh yeah.

[01:21:33] I, that's, that's.

[01:21:35] And then plus there's the original four basic plus rebirth plus UFO plus dog.

[01:21:43] Plus dog.

[01:21:46] Um, I think that's about it.

[01:21:48] Shit.

[01:21:48] I mean, do you got, you got anything to say, uh, before we get out of here?

[01:21:52] I think, okay, you know what?

[01:21:53] A controversial maybe.

[01:21:54] I think this is better than the original.

[01:21:56] I do.

[01:21:57] I don't think that's controversial at all.

[01:21:59] Um, at the beginning I said, silent hill two is my second favorite game of all time.

[01:22:03] Uh, number one is metal gear solid three.

[01:22:05] Um, they both took a demotion.

[01:22:08] Silent hill two remake is number one.

[01:22:09] They, they got down.

[01:22:10] Okay.

[01:22:11] It's just, it is literally everything I could have wanted.

[01:22:14] Um, and the only thing I would add is if blooper team is listening, please born from a wish,

[01:22:19] or maybe those cut Eddie and Angela scenarios.

[01:22:22] Maybe.

[01:22:23] Yeah.

[01:22:24] Take my money.

[01:22:25] I will gladly buy DLC for this.

[01:22:28] You know, like I, I typically don't do DLC for like, uh, the horror.

[01:22:32] Like I haven't touched the Alan Wake two stuff.

[01:22:34] I want to, you know what I mean?

[01:22:35] But usually I'm just kind of really good.

[01:22:37] Okay.

[01:22:37] I really want to, I, I, um, but yeah, man, I just, I really love this game.

[01:22:44] It's better than the original.

[01:22:46] I think it kind of supplants it for me in a way.

[01:22:50] Like if it, like, like basically if someone were to ask me which one to play, I'm saying

[01:22:54] this, I'm not saying the original, you know, like no reservations at all.

[01:22:59] Yeah.

[01:22:59] Go play this.

[01:23:00] You, you will get 99% of the same experience and the 1% is better.

[01:23:04] Yeah.

[01:23:05] Um, okay.

[01:23:07] I think that's about it for me, Patrick.

[01:23:08] Thank you for joining me to talk about yet another spooky game.

[01:23:11] Uh, I think that is, I think that is your, uh, role here now on fine time.

[01:23:15] Um, I'm okay with that.

[01:23:17] All right.

[01:23:17] Uh, thanks for listening.

[01:23:18] Everybody check the description of this podcast to find our names on social media, rate and

[01:23:22] review us wherever you listen, give us a good review.

[01:23:25] Just write a sentence, you know, thanks for listening.

[01:23:27] We'll see you next time.

[01:23:28] Bye.