by Ack Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:46 am
Thanks, wclem, I appreciate it.
So, where was I? Ah yes, in the middle of NOWHERE. NOWHERE is basically the Hell Hospital turned on its head. The arrangement is completely different, rooms that could not connect in any way in the real world connect, concepts of time and space don't really make much sense. Most of it is still Hell Hospital though, so if you remember its layout, you'll have a rudimentary idea of how to operate. The nice thing is that there were several objects back in the original Hell Hospital that you could interact with but were not used; these items are now needed for the NOWHERE puzzles. I found this to be a delightful treat.
Exploring NOWHERE also reveals an upgraded enemy, the ghost version of the Grey Child. It's a Grey Child, but it's translucent, making it much harder to see until it's just about in range to attack you. Thankfully it does about the same amount of damage and has the same amount of health, so dropping it with the hammer is quite quick. The halls are also filled with puppet nurses, and they often spawn new ones after grabbing new items, so stay on your toes, folks. You'll also encounter what is effectively the ghost of Cheryl a couple of times, but it does little more than pass through you and vanish. Also interesting enough, at least one readable note that was in the PAL and NTSC-J release was removed from the NTSC-U release. It's an article about the fire that burned Alessa.
When you arrive in NOWHERE, you are forced to find keys to named doors. Doing that requires a fair bit of running back and forth along with solving a couple of puzzles. The first such puzzle I encountered was a locked door with an alphabetical keypad and a listing of names with ages on the Grim Reaper's list. Another plaque tells you to put the names in order of age. Doing so, you then must use the first letter of the five names to spell the word necessary to use the door. The word is "ALERT." The second puzzle features astrological-related images with numbers assigned to them. Based on four that you are given, you have to guess the correct number for three others. Unfortunately the numbers that are attached seemed in no way related to astrological order. I tried alphabetical order but again no dice. I then started checking to see if the numbers could perhaps be represented by the positioning of the images(say, two fish swimming in a circle make a kind of 0 for instance), but no. I stared at the crab representing Cancer for a moment, and then the answer hit me: the numbers were based on the total number of limbs in each image.
That seemed like a strange way to handle that puzzle. Then I thought back on all of the previous puzzles and realized that the astrological symbols were just another example of the game design using something a child might have encountered to throw off the player. The first puzzle requires three keys named for Wizard of Oz characters, yet the Oz connection has nothing to do with it. The piano puzzle is about understanding the order of a series; the actual piano portion really isn't related, it's just a vehicle. The colored blocks from the Hell Hospital had used an Alice in Wonderland motif, yet the real puzzle was about colors based on a poem. Finally this had nothing to do with astrology whatsoever, it was a counting exercise. All of these things were things a child might have encountered(The Wizard of Oz, piano lessons, Alice in Wonderland, Astrology[Hey, it's a Japanese game]), but despite the motif, none of these puzzles bore more than a rudimentary resemblance of that particular thing.
Unfortunately realizing this didn't help me much, as the last "puzzle" of the game merely required I acquire five objects to open a door. A couple of those had mini puzzles of their own, but they primarily consisted of using the right object at the right time. Since you're given all of the objects necessary, figuring out what to use at what time actually wasn't that hard, despite the generally cryptic clues. For instance an alter with paintings light and darkness required using a camera flash to reveal symbols for opening locked doors. In another room, a ring was needed to seal a chained refrigerator so I could take a necessary item without releasing the monster within.
Unfortunately I have to report on what fate befell the nurse Lisa Garland. It turns out she was Alessa's caretaker in the hospital basement. Constantly changing the Alessa's unhealing burn wounds took a psychological toll on the woman, who had accepted the job due to her crippling drug addiction via the ongoing Silent Hill drug trade. Lisa slowly comes to realize this...and then realizes that she is ultimately no different from the puppet nurses stalking the halls of Hell Hospital. It turns out her ignorance was all that was keeping her going, and you are treated to a lovely scene as she begins to bleed from every orifice and tries to embrace Harry for comfort in her supposed final moments. Harry instead runs and bars the door despite being able to hear her fearful cries and sobs on the other side. Harry, you're a dick.
Anyway, all puzzles solved, all objects acquired, you eventually end up back in the basement and discover the ghosts of the cultists in Alessa's room talking about how her soul has split in two: the forever injured Alessa and the reborn Cheryl. The cultists decide to play the long game and fuse the soul back together to birth their god; otherwise he won't be powerful enough and therefore won't give them much power. Finally you open the final door and discover a scene of Dahlia abusing the child Alessa. Down the final flight of stairs I went, into the darkness below.
What follows next changes based on whether you saved or killed Cybil and checked into the drug trade connection. Save Cybil, and she's there for the final encounter though not much help. Do the drug thing, and Dr. Kaufmann kinda-sorta helps you out. I'll get into that in a second. The important thing is that Dahlia is there along with burned Alessa and Cheryl now returned to her proper age and no longer the child Harry knew her as. Dahlia taunts Harry, Alessa and Cheryl fuse to form proper Alessa, and you're in for a boss fight. Depending on Kaufmann's presence, the fight changes however; don't explore the drug angle, and you fight Alessa for your final boss. Do it, and Kaufmann hurls a vial of that red stuff on her, releasing the demon Incubus. This will cause Dahlia to freak out, and Incubus totally kills her for it by blasting her with lightning until she cooks to death and dies in the way her injured daughter never could. If it's Alessa...well, she will also fry Dahlia with lightning. Either way, Dahlia gets fragged.
Incubus/Alessa are actually pretty similar in how they operate: they sit there and hit hard with magic lightning. Like really hard. Like REALLY hard. I never did quite get the hang of dodging during this boss fight, but thankfully I had enough healing items to take the hit, heal, and unload into the boss with the hunting rifle. Despite having the same tactics, Alessa is actually technically easier because she has less total health than the Incubus. Either way, it bleeds so you can kill it. I pumped enough lead into Incubus to use him as a pencil, and he reverted to Alessa.
Boom, Good+ ending unlocked. Alessa gives Harry a new baby(who becomes Heather, the protagonist of Silent Hill 3). Harry and Cybil run like hell for the escape portal while Alessa uses the last of her power to stop time and let them escape. Dr. Kaufmann also tries to run for it, but outta nowhere undead nurse Lisa Garland climbs out of the floor and drags him backwards into Hell. That's right, kids, Winners Don't Use Drugs. Harry and Cybil manage to escape with the baby just as Alessa dies. This is followed by joking FMVs in which the characters all get introduced and laugh at the camera(burned Alessa gives a thumbs up and Dahlia tries to kiss it). Also the intro cinematic of the game has changed so now its Harry and Cybil with baby Heather as opposed to Harry and his wife finding Cheryl.
I shouldn't need to remind you that when you beat the game, SIT THROUGH THE ENTIRE CREDITS. YOU WILL SEE YOUR ENDING CINEMATIC, YOUR SCORE, YOUR UNLOCKED ITEMS, AND BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR GAME.
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POSTGAME SILENT HILL
In this section, I'm going to talk a little bit about endings and unlockables.
First, I mentioned in a previous post that the conditions for which ending you get are based on saving Cybil and exploring the drug trade stuff. I was right on this, though I got which affected which part a bit off. Exploring the drug trade decides which boss you fight, so that's the difference between the Good and Bad ending. Saving Cybil denotes whether you get the + or - ending, so you can get Good+, Good-, Bad+, or Bad-. The Good+ gives you access to the UFO ending. These endings offer a variety of outcomes ranging from Harry and Cybil making it out with Heather to Harry dying in the initial car accident that started this whole misadventure. Unlockables are mainly tied to the Good+ and Bad+ endings, though you will also receive an ending score of up to 10 stars depending on your performance. I ended up with a score of 5.4 or so...which admittedly isn't too bad for a first time run.
You know all those references to the gas crisis in Silent Hill I made? Turns out that is actually a real thing; a gas can is one of the unlockables, which will then let Harry access the chainsaw and rockdrill weapons. For getting the Good+ ending I also unlocked the Channeling Stone that can call in aliens for the UFO ending if used in certain places. Getting the UFO ending(or possibly starting the game while having a Konami Justifier plugged into the PS1) will unlock the Hyperblaster weapon. The Hyperblaster becomes more powerful if you obtain certain levels of score, so getting an 8.0 or higher powers it up while getting a perfect 10 makes it the most powerful weapon in the game. There is also an unlockable katana, though the requirements aren't fully understood; I've read both that it just requires the Bad+ ending with a specific score and that it requires the Good+ ending and then the Bad+ ending.
Beating the game also unlocks the special Bullet Adjust option. Bullet Adjust is actually a multiplier; the higher you set it, the more bullets you'll get from any individual box. Every time you beat Silent Hill, the bullet adjust multiplier maximum increases by 1, so if you beat the game four times, you can set Bullet Adjust to x4. Instead of receiving 15 rounds form a normal pistol box, you'll receive 60. As for the maximum, it appears it may change depending on the region. I've read that PAL can get up to x6, while NTSC-U can get up to x9, though I cannot confirm. While this feature is included in later Silent Hill games, I don't remember it ever going over x5. Since Harry can only hold a maximum of 200 rounds of any ammo type...yeah, expect to fill up quick once you're up there.
As for getting a perfect score, well, good luck. You have to kill 75 enemies by melee and 75 more by shooting with near perfect accuracy(which must be broken down in an arrangement of specific distances, be it what the game considers close range, medium, or far), collect 150 items, use no more than 1 continue, save no more than 2 times, get the Good+ ending, and beat the game on Hard in under 1 hour 30 minutes to receive a perfect score. Using any special weapons will also drop your score substantially even if you succeed at all parameters, though using the bullet adjust does not.
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Well folks, so ends my playthrough of Silent Hill, my personal gaming white whale. It only took me nearly 20 years to do it. I'm both happy to have beaten it and saddened to see it go. Parting is always bittersweet.
I will write up my thoughts on the game in the Games Beaten thread at some point in the near future, and I will also soon pick out my next Summer Challenge game, as I still have 4 to go. I suppose this is what I get for mostly picking longer games, though at this point I'm pretty sure I know what the final four will be.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed reading through my little romp in Silent Hill as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's been fun.
Oh, and that's Silent Hill 0-5 done. I'll get around to Shattered Memories and Downpour someday I'm sure.