One thing I don't understand *spoilers*

[SHF]

@ Whitney-

Alchemilla Hospital doesn't have a mental ward, only brookhaven does.
Alex was dreaming, and for some reason he thought the hospital he was at was Alchemilla.

His father sent him away because he ( Alex) was the next sacrifice ( to protect him)
Alex was hospitalized outside of silent hill.
I guess the question is why does Alchemilla come up as the name for the hospital.
Maybe Alex read something about it, or one of his family members went there. I haven't figure that out yet.

[VigiLanTyRanT]

In my opinion, Silent Hill: HomeComing "just like every other Silent Hill" does not have a true ending because what they are getting at is there is no end to they're torture. Silent Hill and all the creature's in it are A manifestation of A town's wrong doing's. Some say it is a parallel world and some say it is a hell created by a town's sin's. If you really pay attention to the game's starting from the very first one.It really wasnt about just the little girl, but everyone around her. An idolised demon which used the girl as it's doorway to create a hell/ parallel world for the people that gave it it's power. As far SH: Homecoming goes, the true ending in my opinion is all but the alien's ending LOL.

[JaneTheNurse]

I'm pretty sure it would be Alchemilla since in Homecoming it stated they re-renovated it as a mental ward.

What can they say? Silent Hill has a lot of loonies to keep track of.

[SHF]

It is possible that this ending is canon. It is still debated, though. Looking at the other endings, the drowning ending reflects what should have happened when Alex was younger. The bogeyman ending is almost like Alex' ultimate punishment, reflecting James' punishment. The UFO ending is an obvious joke, along with the others and the dog ending in SH2. The good ending is debatable, because there is a debate on whether Elle Holloway is real. She was based off of Maria in SH2. Depending on what ending you get, she can exist, or not. As far as I know, the hospital ending seems the most canon. This could mean, as previously stated, that Alex never made it out of Alchemilla, or he was brought back in, but the ending suggests that he never left.

Alchemilla? I figured he was in an unamed hospital...or if anything Brookhaven since it deals with mental cases. Though its been awhile since I've played was it mentioned by name?

If you look at the map while playing the Hospital sequence, it will say Alchemilla Mental Hospital or something.
Which hints that it really is not Alchemilla Hospital, since Alchemilla is not a mental hospital.

Alex never was at Alchemilla. It's unknown where he was held.

[JaneTheNurse]

How is Alex able to act like a soldier without ever actually being a soldier? Easy. He's in a military household and he's probably watched movies with soldierly things in them. Action movies can make anyone feel like they're a badass ("omg i know how to do it now lol") but it would take a delusional nightmare world to actually make it real for you. Perhaps the only reason he's able to fight back against the monsters is because he's certain he'd be able to. Sure, the town is overtaken by a nightmarish state, but when does Alex ever encounter a monster with someone else nearby to see it too? Even when he's in the sewers with Elle, he's out of reach of her whenever he meets up with lurkers and needlers.

I'm going on the assumption that she actually exists, of course. I don't feel she's a complete knockoff of Maria in that she's just in his head.

[Augophthalmoses]

Well, the moves he performs aren't exactly things you need military experience to do. Anybody can do an evasive roll and duck. There was also the instance in the police station with Alex and Wheeler being attacked by the Schisms and Elle being attacked by a Siam with Alex present at the time.

Plus, being in a desperate situation with your adrenaline running it's not too unreasonable that a person would try to do anything they can to keep from dying. It also depends on the individual. Some people have more of the the internal instinct to survive more than others and some are more capable of doing so than others as we saw from previous games.

In any case, it's only a game and the developers were merely upping the combat system. I liked it and would like to see it return in future games albeit more improved.

It made things more strategic in that you couldn't simply go up and wail on monsters like previous games. But there are some other fans who don't care for that sort of thing and prefer simplified combat because they only play the games for the storyline.

[SHF]

I'm pretty sure it would be Alchemilla since in Homecoming it stated they re-renovated it as a mental ward.

Where in the game is it stated that Alchemilla was renovated into a mental ward?
I am positive there is nothing saying that at all, but I will replay the game to see.

[JaneTheNurse]

Ahh, yes, I always forget about the police station... Bah. Nevermind, then.

[Pyramid_Heart]

I'm pretty sure it would be Alchemilla since in Homecoming it stated they re-renovated it as a mental ward.

Where in the game is it stated that Alchemilla was renovated into a mental ward?
I am positive there is nothing saying that at all, but I will replay the game to see.

All hospitals have mental health treatment.

There's nothing in the game to contradict that Alex stayed in Alchemilla, which is why he was dreaming of it. If you compare the maps of the current version of the hospital to the original game, you can see that they did renovate the clinic and add more mental health observation areas.

It is supposed to be a suggestion that the problems in Silent Hill are becoming more mental and less physical. More demand for mental treatment and less medical.

[Shadedarkan]

The map of the hospital at the beginning of the game specifically states that it is Alchemilla Hospital and under that there is a line stating that it is an institution for mental patients.

[Paul Scheible]

You mean the map that appears in the nightmare of the escaped mental patient?

[Shadedarkan]

You mean the map that appears in the nightmare of the escaped mental patient?

Yes, I'm referring to the map that Alex picks up in the only hospital he visits. Which happens to be during a nightmare and is the opening to the game. There is a note saying that a patient is missing, but not specifically that the patient escaped.

[Paul Scheible]

You mean the map that appears in the nightmare of the escaped mental patient?

Yes, I'm referring to the map that Alex picks up in the only hospital he visits. Which happens to be during a nightmare and is the opening to the game. There is a note saying that a patient is missing, but not specifically that the patient escaped.

Actually, the escaped mental patient I was referring to is Alex himself. I was casting dubiety on the reliability of the map.

Also, to go back...

All hospitals have mental health treatment.

Yes.

There's nothing in the game to contradict that Alex stayed in Alchemilla, which is why he was dreaming of it.

Actually, there's evidence Alex had apparently been to Alchemilla before, which is why he may have dreamt of it.

If you compare the maps of the current version of the hospital to the original game, you can see that they did renovate the clinic and add more mental health observation areas.

The map of Alchemilla that exists in a mental patient's nightmare.

It is supposed to be a suggestion that the problems in Silent Hill are becoming more mental and less physical. More demand for mental treatment and less medical.

Is that your explanation or an official explanation?

None of this is actually proof that Alex was committed at Alchemilla. I would also think it to be the last place Adam would have him committed.

[Shadedarkan]

That is kind of true since Adam never wanted Alex or Josh to go to Silent Hill. But, if that is the case, Alex would never have been there before. Even though he almost drowned in the bus crash, Doc Fitch saved him and if hypothermia was considered serious enough to send him to Alchemilla, instead of to Doc Fitch's office, then Insanity was an even better reason to send him to Alchemilla.
At this point, the only thing we can assume is that he was in Alchemilla. There is no other evidence to go off of.

[Paul Scheible]

That is kind of true since Adam never wanted Alex or Josh to go to Silent Hill.

I was actually referring more to Adam's failure to sacrifice Alex. If any Order members happened to stumble across Alex in Silent Hill then they might kidnap him and either kill him or brainwash him, especially considering that he was supposed to be sacrificed to their god.

But, if that is the case, Alex would never have been there before. Even though he almost drowned in the bus crash, Doc Fitch saved him and if hypothermia was considered serious enough to send him to Alchemilla, instead of to Doc Fitch's office, then Insanity was an even better reason to send him to Alchemilla.

Silent Hill wasn't as dangerous in 1993 as it was in 2003. After the accident, he and a bunch of other children were evacuated to the hospital by adults. That's not the same as him going alone to a hospital in Silent Hill that's one block away from a church full of Order members. If he wasn't alone, but escorted by Adam, then that would have been even more dangerous and silly.

If he had been sent to Alchemilla, wouldn't he have seen Fitch anyway? He never mentions seeing him.

[Shadedarkan]

Doc Fitch didn't work at Alchemilla. The note implies that Doc Fitch was visiting the head of Psych for treatment.

The way that the newspaper is worded, Alex may have been the only student not evacuated to Alchemilla. It's hard to say.

[Devoured]

I was actually referring more to Adam's failure to sacrifice Alex. If any Order members happened to stumble across Alex in Silent Hill then they might kidnap him and either kill him or brainwash him, especially considering that he was supposed to be sacrificed to their god.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of people seem to misinterpret the timeline of Homecoming but the Shepherd's Glen ritual has 'nothing' to do with the beliefs of the SH cult [whichever it is in Homecoming].

To clarify : in the game's logic the ritual would've co-incided with the bicentennial, so the ritual would've been roughly that night or possibly the next day. So almost definetly on the day of the bicentennial [or at least very shortly afterwards] does Alex overhear his father's conversation with Josh, and later that night, while or just before the ritual is supposed to take place, he takes Josh on his little fishing trip gone wrong. As Josh's big brother it's Alex's duty to protect him - which he fails at rather miserably. This triggers his soldier delusion, and causes his father to ship him off to the loony bin the very next day and it's not until several years later that Alex returns to Shepherd's Glen, during which Holloway gradually affirms her position in whichever of the original 'true faith' SH orders, and it wasn't until a few months before the events of Homecoming that people started disappearing. So before Holloway was in the picture, Alex and his failing to die is completely irrelevant to any and all of SH's cult members. It's not like his dad put him in there to protect him from the cult and he just happened to adapt well to his environment, the only thing Alex needed protection from at that point was himself.

Anyway, going back to the original post...I think this has to do with the devs never deciding on just what the true story is. I know it's been stated in this topic that if everything were a delusion it'd be way too elaborate, but IMO that was just the point behind the whole game. A psychotic person will fill in whatever detail they need to maintain their delusion, no matter how elaborate, I really don't think that's an issue in this case.

Like I said, I don't think the devs ever took a final stance in what 'the true story' is, leaving it all ambiguous and thus impossible to ever really figure out, but I've always seen it like this :

Alex's psychosis is not just his being a soldier, that's the psychosis within the psychosis - it's the whole ritual conspiracy. Simply put, his father's an abusive tyrant who's the undoubted king of his castle, even keeping half the house locked from the rest of the family, that never much cared for Alex because he was weak in his eyes. His mother's a lethargic sheep wasting her days lost in pastimes and staring out the window, anything to avoid ever having to voice her opinion, let alone taking a stand for Alex now and then. So Alex has always gotten the short end of the stick, while lil' bro Josh has always had it easy, and then one day Alex overhears Josh getting the family ring, which causes the whole accident to take place. Alex never meant for what happened to happen, but somewhere inside he does resent Josh for receiving the parental love he never got, thus increasing his feeling responsible for his death, a fear of having wanted to kill him subconsciously. In all likelihood [yes, speculation] the sandman story is like a playground rumour and his mind overlaps with this, like James / PH. As his delusion is obviously built around avoiding any guilt on his part [he's a soldier, he protects people] throughout the game this is projected onto others - first the townspeople disappearing, then it gradually becomes more personal with his mother & father, much like Pyramid Head assaulting monsters and Angela's & Eddie's roles [hence the Bogeyman never really attacking Alex]. IMO the whole concept is that it's 'easier' for Alex to believe that his parents were cold to him because they couldn't let themselves grow too attached because of some insane ritual than having to accept that they're just lousy parents that didn't appreciate their child.

[Shadedarkan]

That's very... Shattered Memories'esque. Interesting, to say the least.

[Devoured]

REVEAL SPOILER

I've never played Shattered Memories from what I've gathered it's basically, put very simply, about Heather playing as Harry, right?

I just remembered that the location the ritual takes place is actually in Silent Hill...so the townsfolk might care a bit more than I indicated in my last post. Nevertheless, I'm still convinced the disappearances were only because of Holloway's influence, and the SG people are generally left alone by the SH people.

[Shadedarkan]

REVEAL SPOILER

I've never played Shattered Memories from what I've gathered it's basically, put very simply, about Heather playing as Harry, right?

I just remembered that the location the ritual takes place is actually in Silent Hill...so the townsfolk might care a bit more than I indicated in my last post. Nevertheless, I'm still convinced the disappearances were only because of Holloway's influence, and the SG people are generally left alone by the SH people.

REVEAL SPOILER

You sit in a room talking with Dr. Kauffman, who is a psychiatrist, about your past. Basically, you play Heather, exploring Heather's traumatic past by remembering it, but playing as Harry in the memories. The whole game takes place in her head and her delusions.