Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 113: Silent Hill 2

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Todays game is Silent Hill 2. How would you rate the story on a scale from 1-10?

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Previous Results:
Planescape: Torment - 9.83 (12 votes)
Higurashi When They Cry - 9.69 (8 votes)
Omori - 9.67 (6 votes)
Outer Wilds - 9.61 (22 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.17 (33 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
The House in Fata Morgana - 9.1 (10 votes)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9 (8 votes)
Steins;Gate - 8.94 (9 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 8.91 (30 votes)
Grim Fandango - 8.88 (13 votes)
Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - 8.88 (20 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.85 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8.83 (6 votes)
Suikoden II - 8.8 (11 votes)
Umineko When They Cry - 8.79 (12 votes)
Persona 3 - 8.75 (21 votes)
Xenogears - 8.71 (23 votes)
Tales of Berseria - 8.69 (14 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)
Dragon Quest V - 8.64 (14 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask - 8.56 (27 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.56 (16 votes)
Undertale - 8.45 (42 votes)
What Remains of Edith Finch - 8.41 (19 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Chrono Trigger - 8.39 (40 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.38 (28 votes)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 8.37 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.31 (56 votes)
Final Fantasy VII - 8.28 (37 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.21 (19 votes)
Final Fantasy VI - 8.19 (43 votes)
The Walking Dead Season 1 - 8.17 (21 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.15 (41 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.13 (35 votes)
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 8.06 (18 votes)
The Wolf Among Us - 8.04 (14 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles - 7.94 (27 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 7.94 (16 votes)
Spec Ops: The Line - 7.9 (17 votes)
Bloodborne - 7.88 (20 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.85 (31 votes)
The Sexy Brutale - 7.7 (5 votes)
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - 7.69 (31 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.66 (26 votes)
Bioshock - 7.64 (23 votes)
Celeste - 7.62 (25 votes)
Skies of Arcadia - 7.54 (14 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.5 (30 votes)
The Last Story - 7.47 (6 votes)
Mortal Kombat (2011) - 7.46 (13 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Tales of Symphonia - 7.34 (28 votes)
Earthbound - 7.33 (19 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.25 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Red Dead Redemption - 7.23 (11 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (25 votes)
Mass Effect 3 - 7.16 (21 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 7.11 (23 votes)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 7.1 (30 votes)
To the Moon - 7.07 (7 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7.04 (23 votes)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 7 (5 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (21 votes)
INSIDE - 6.93 (15 votes)
Gone Home - 6.91 (17 votes)
Bioshock Infinite - 6.87 (19 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.68 (32 votes)
Firewatch - 6.65 (10 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.61 (29 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.56 (17 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - 6.5 (13 votes)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - 6.38 (12 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 6.34 (35 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.16 (14 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.15 (13 votes)
Tales of Vesperia - 6.13 (23 votes)
Star Fox 64 - 5.8 (25 votes)
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception - 5.8 (24 votes)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 5.72 (9 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.78 (30 votes)
Metroid Prime - 5.67 (24 votes)
Kingdom Hearts - 5.51 (31 votes)
The Wonderful 101 - 5.5 (4 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - 5.63 (13 votes)
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - 5.33 (9 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - 4.93 (23 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 4.85 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.79 (29 votes)
Final Fantasy X-2 - 4.79 (19 votes)
Final Fantasy XV - 4.79 (19 votes)
Fallout 3 - 4.76 (17 votes)
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - 4.72 (9 votes)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 4.64 (40 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.43 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy - 4.24 (19 votes)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - 3.89 (9 votes)
Resident Evil 6 - 3.74 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 3.69 (13 votes)
Starcraft II (overall) - 3.4 (5 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.31 (16 votes)
Dissidia: Final Fantasy - 3.29 (12 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates (overall) - 3.29 (12 votes)
Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void - 2.83 (6 votes)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - 2.66 (16 votes)
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm - 2.57 (7 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.4 (10 votes)
Tales of Zestiria - 2.38 (8 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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9.5

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9.5

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9.5

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Nominate Hotel Dusk: Room 215

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JAMES/caps

8/10

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10/10

I'd give higher if I could

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Easiest 10 in the world.


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10/10

Equal parts mysterious, atmospheric, heartbreaking, horrifying, and poetic. Everything about this game's story and characters is absolute dynamite, so this is an automatic 10 from Plasma.

Fun little side story... Back when I was a college freshman, I "borrowed" SH2's ending for a creative writing assignment and the professor was so impressed that she signed me into an advanced fiction workshop. Two years later, I met her husband and learned he was a HUGE fan of SH1-4. Good thing he and my prof didn't play them together.

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plasmabeam posted...

Fun little side story... Back when I was a college freshman, I "borrowed" SH2's ending for a creative writing assignment and the professor was so impressed that she signed me into an advanced fiction workshop. Two years later, I met her husband and learned he was a HUGE fan of SH1-4. Good thing he and my prof didn't play them together.

Which one? Or the combined twist that occurs at the videotape?

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10/10

My #1 favorite video game story of all time. Hell, it's my favorite fictional story period. There isn't a single weak aspect to it. From the very first frame of this masterpiece, not a single second is wasted on fluff or excess. Absolutely everything ties in to James' or one of the supporting characters' stories in one way or another, as symbolism can be found everywhere. Ambiguous deep holes recur, generating a sense of unease, helplessness, uncertainty, recklessness, and sexual innuendo. Bars and gates constantly separate James from his goals and progression, emphasizing the divide between others and him, as well as his memories from reality. Of course, monsters found throughout the game constantly remind James of sex & promiscuity, but also sickness and writhing plague, transforming beauty into pain and disgust. Pyramid Head, James' own self-fashioned torturer and executor, is the primary antagonistic force, but also a hero in disguise, forcibly making James come to the realization of what actually transpired between him and his wife before the events of the game.

Characters at once feel real & dream-like at the same time; broken, incompatible strangers meeting in passing as they each struggle with intense demons and vicious pasts that have led them to the town of Silent Hill in one way or another. They help mirror aspect of James' psyche while still telling compelling, rich stories in their own rights. Angela's history of sexual abuse from her own family is disturbing and insidiously complex, as you directly encounter Angela's own-self monster in the form of twisted lumps of flesh on a bedframe. Eddie's history of bullying and violent revenge illustrates the more destructive parts of James' personality, while encapsulating the feelings of millions of disenfranchised and lonely teens around the country. And Laura, who represents the innocence and kindness still left in the world and inside James as well. The voice acting and motion-capture makes each encounter with these characters kinetic, strange, off-kilter and most importantly, memorable. To me, its why the game endures as much as it has due to the uniqueness of the performances. It's something that keeps the tone of RE '96 alive while transforming it into something artful, that compellingly plays into the story and characters.

There are many times I've played SH2, and never once have I found the journey an easy one to digest. It's meant different things to me at different times, and has played on my own fears and insecurities in ways that has shocked, surprised and disgusted me. To me, Silent Hill 2 is a masterwork of art because of this, this malleable force of nature that changes along with me through relatably flawed characters, a strong evocative, emotional musical score, and thematic elements which are direct components of the human condition. Unlocking its secrets only pushes others deeper, and this enigmatic psychological aspect baked into the game's very execution in its plotting and pacing will forever make each subsequent journey only that much more meaningful.

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My .5 deduction comes from some of the voice acting crossing over from "surreal in a good way" to "surreal in a bad way" territory. That aspect still overall works great though, and I wouldn't want the performances updated in any way (sup Konami).

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Hey I should probably play the silent hill series

Actually...

Change to a 10

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7.5

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Voice acting absolutely should be taken into account if they use it.

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Funny enough, I actually liked the voice acting of the remake. Then again, I know all the actors from 5 million other things...so I'm biased. Then again, I think the original v. remake acting is similar to SOTN's. SOTN's is VERY campy and has both super highs (Dracula) and lows (Succubus). The remake actors are better quality, but less...intense about it.

So I guess it's a matter if you want memorable with the potential to be bad or "Hey, I know this set of actors won't screw this up."

SH2 had...decent actors in the original. Nothing amazing either.

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10/10

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Strife2 posted...

Then again, I know all the actors from 5 million other things...so I'm biased.

This isn't a positive. Silent Hill 2 is an extremely personal journey, and it hurts the experience when you can recognize the VA from 5 million other things.

Guy Cihi (James' VA) said that when he first heard the new VA, his immediate reaction was that they're so much more professional than him, but after some reflection, came to the conclusion that they're too 'Hollywood' for Silent Hill 2. SH2's cast is full of awkward weirdos, not professionals. It's a take I 100% agree with.

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Sure, I respect the opinion. Someone else once said "I can get into them as "characters" more if they aren't "well known.". However, the "AHA that person is in this?" moment thrills me more. I'm a big sucker for good actors and we'll...I lived through the 90s....never again.


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See, this is a complaint I have for media even outside of Silent Hill 2 - it's just a bigger deal in that game due to the type of story it's telling. I'm pretty tired of hearing the same VAs in everything, especially if you're a fan of anime-styled media. They're good but it dilutes the effectiveness of their performance, and some of them really don't have a lot of range!

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Different strokes I guess.

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UltimaterializerX posted...

Bro you're the one that got me to think of stories independently of voice acting, because of how bad a job FFX does. You were very correct, too, because Tidus and Yuna are great characters if you play on mute.

But at the same time, I wouldn't blame someone who punished FFX because Yuna's VA is bad (I'll defend JAT as Tidus to the death. He's good) because it does break immersion. I'd elevate a good story's score on the back of good acting, and you can do it the other way around, too. It's fair game.

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10

9

Brilliant

Appreciated it more and more the older I got

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10

The greatest horror story told in any media. Just brilliant story-telling with some of the most gut wrenching twists I have ever experienced. The atmosphere adds another layer to the already terrifying story.

9.5

Don't remember why I bought it (online hype?) but saw it at a flea market at uni, picked it up and was a great pickup. Still remember a couple of jumpscare moments but it's really the music, atmosphere and story that sealed it.

One of the easiest 10s ever

LeonhartFour posted...

Nominate Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)

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9

Good use of symbolism, solid characterization, interesting themes. I actually also think the voice acting is a weakness because it crosses the line over to comical in a way that detracts from the sense of dread, for me. There's also a little bit of awkward dialog writing that can have the same effect, at least in the English translation.

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Cavedweller2000 posted...

One of the easiest 10s ever

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)

oh darn, I somehow forgot we already did that one

Nominate Last Window: The Secret of Cape West then

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Nominate Wind Waker and Twilight Princess

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Is the story a continuation of SH1? I think I may start this series to get in the Halloween Spirit.

No, though it is the same setting. 3 is more of a true follow-up to Silent Hill.

Also 9. Its the best story from that era. There are some technical elements holding it back slightly like the voice acting, but on the whole its excellent. The thing that really struck me was that while we do see stories like this these days in indie games, this was a AAA game. You would never have that these days. Silent Hill never sold that much though, and so it became a casualty of rising costs in development. A shame, the production values added to the storytelling.

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10

Absolute masterpiece

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10

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Isquen posted...

Which one? Or the combined twist that occurs at the videotape?

It was the ending where James drives into the lake after remembering what he did.

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ChainLTTP posted...

Is the story a continuation of SH1? I think I may start this series to get in the Halloween Spirit.

SH2 is a standalone.

SH1's sequel is SH3.

SH4 is basically a standalone with minor references to SH2.

All 4 have GREAT stories.

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You know what else has a great story? Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, though sadly not the rest of the post-Team Silent games.

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The Woodside Apartments is one of my favourite VG locations ever. The room where you put your hand in the hole in the wall for a key has one of the scariest ambience ever. Reminds me of the Otherworld school courtyard in SH1, that also shit me up

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It's because pretty much every SH game after 4 retells the same story as SH2 without everything that made it great. And believe me, I probably defend those games more than most, I don't really think they're that bad overall. It's just clear the same level of craft, writing, and passion is not there as it was in the Team Silent games.

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Cavedweller2000 posted...

The Woodside Apartments is one of my favourite VG locations ever. The room where you put your hand in the hole in the wall for a key has one of the scariest ambience ever. Reminds me of the Otherworld school courtyard in SH1, that also shit me up

Same here! I always appreciated how different SH locations were from RE. RE always had a sense of unrealistic bombast to their locations. Extremely memorable and great, yes, but having locations based in realism and logic made it seem like this could be something that could happen to you. And when the Otherworld shifted in twisted the logic established it genuinely created the feel of a nightmare unfolding before you.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

You know what else has a great story? Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, though sadly not the rest of the post-Team Silent games.

That's the remake of SH1, right? I need to give that a shot.

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Cavedweller2000 posted...

The Woodside Apartments is one of my favourite VG locations ever. The room where you put your hand in the hole in the wall for a key has one of the scariest ambience ever. Reminds me of the Otherworld school courtyard in SH1, that also shit me up

SH1's School and SH2's Apartment are two of my favorites. I love the moment in SH2 where you exit the apartment only to find out there's another apartment right next to it. Chilling stuff.

SH3's Mall and Subway are great too. Same with SH4's Apartment (The Room and the Otherworld Apartment) and the Cylinder Prison.

Also, every Hospital. Love the Hospitals in Silent Hill 1-4.

Snake5555555555 posted...

Same here! I always appreciated how different SH locations were from RE. RE always had a sense of unrealistic bombast to their locations. Extremely memorable and great, yes, but having locations based in realism and logic made it seem like this could be something that could happen to you. And when the Otherworld shifted in twisted the logic established it genuinely created the feel of a nightmare unfolding before you.

Nailed it. SH's locations are so damn unsettling. One thing that always stuck out to me was when you keep jumping down holes after entering SH2's historical society, even though you know that logically there can't be anything down that far.

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plasmabeam posted...

That's the remake of SH1, right? I need to give that a shot.

Its definitely more in the reimagining category than the remake category, but its easily seen as the best of the modern Silent Hill fames.

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