Playing the game again/Retrospective on antique shop scene

[damkylan]

Recently started playing this again. Late at night with the lights off, headphones on and at full volume, I was thrilled to rediscover the same tension that I had felt when I was nine years old. The long running sequences continue to be my favorite parts of the game, especially the return to the hospital. After all these years, it's still hellish and frighteningly exciting with the endless rain, the metal ground, monsters everywhere and relentlessly following you, the occasional unsettling glimpse of the talisman on the walls of buildings, and the complete blackness all around you.

One thing I do from now on is shut off the radio. The static is creepy, but I think the game is much better without it. The music never gets interrupted and you're left to listen and look out for the creatures yourself. Also, the rompers are still the scariest motherfuckers ever.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about/geek out over is the antique shop scene where Harry and Cybil reunite. In general, I never really find much humor to the acting in the cut-scenes that detracts from the unsettling atmosphere, like many say they do sometimes.

This eerie scene is still one of my favorites in any game. The music is perfect and really complements Cybil's eerie memory of seeing someone walking on thin air and Harry's uncertainty of "some other world". I see a lot of people laugh and say, "hurr hurr, Harry's on drugs", and don't get me wrong, the joke is kind of funny given the context, but ever since I was a kid that whole monologue has communicated the uncertainty and strangeness of what Harry is feeling so well to me. The idea and concept of some dark world we only see in what we think are dreams has always been fascinating to me, and it's things like this that gave me some truly interesting dreams of my own that very much inspired by Silent Hill's imagery. In particular, being in a kind of otherworld, running on a metal grating floor into a long hallway of neverending blackness, while rainwater falls from seemingly nowhere.

Also, while I feel this theme is present throughout most of the latter half of the game, I always felt this scene gave the game a sort of apocalyptic feel, but it was more understated than anything afterward. Along with some of the dialogue I just mentioned, Cybil mentioning how the phones and radios are out and that there's no way out of town really gives that feeling of being completely cut off in the face of something big on the horizon. But it's subtle and there's no sense of urgency because there doesn't need to be just yet. There's still a level of mystery to everything combined with a feeling of dread. To me, it feels like a turning point in the game somehow, like it and the scene with Lisa that follows are the last bits of calm before the town really starts going to hell.

So yeah, this is just an excuse for me to geek out over this whole scene. I'm just really glad that my enthusiasm for this game has remained as strong it's always been after almost a decade of not being able to play it.

[ZombieKillerXXX]

I don't have a lot to add other than you completely nailed it in your description. I really like SH2, but there is and always has been something about SH1 that still amazes me to this day. I know obviously the graphics are the worst of the whole series, but that isn't what makes this game work so well. It's the mood, the suspense, the story, etc. I could go on and on. This is with out a doubt the game I've came back to and played over and over. I've definitely beat this game more than any other game I've ever played, and that's saying something. After reading what you wrote I had to say something about SH1, it's just a great game and don't think I will ever stop playing it completely, and will always come back to it from time to time. I've beaten it twice in the last week so that gives you some idea of how much I still play it. I would like to say that what you just said was bring back a lot of memories but as seeing as I've beaten it twice in the last week, it's still very fresh in my mind. I'm not sure if you feel the same way I do, but I would love to see this game remastered with updated HD graphics, just to see how it differs from the original. Considering how much I still play the original I think it would make for interesting game play. Even if it turned out bad I still think it would be cool just to be able to replay it in a different light so to speak. Well that's all I have for now. Thanks for writing your experiences and memories of the game, it was interesting to read and see your views of SH1.

Mike

[Axiomatic]

I recently finished a playthrough of the game and would say your description is accurate. There's plenty going on in that scene, and there's this sense of being in a dream. Part of that is due to Harry and Cybil being a bit out of their element, not well rested, and so on.

The scene in the antiques shop is quite the turning point.

[NarooN]

It was definitely the turning point. I beat the game again a few days ago (finally finished my data which I started late last year, lol) and I enjoyed it just as much as I ever did. I really like that cutscene for pretty much the same reasons as you listed there. Harry was smart enough to correctly deduce (for the most part) the true nature of the Otherworld and what was really happening there. The voice acting, while indeed very mediocre, never really took me out of the immersion besides the odd moments with the random pauses in speech to let the subtitles catch up.

[damkylan]

I also just discovered the words, "No God" on the wall of the "other church" room. It's kind of strange how the camera never quite gives you a full view of it, and Harry doesn't even acknowledge it. In any case, I'm probably last to the party on this discovery, but the fact that this game still gave me something new, and around my favorite part of the game, no less, really made this feel pretty momentous for me.

[DarkVoid]

Agree. It's over 12 years already, but from time to time someone discovers something new. For example, nobody knew that there is 6th ending where every character can survive.

[devil hunter]

You're joking, right?

[ZombieKillerXXX]

You're joking, right?

I'm right there with you on that one Devil Hunter. 6 endings is news to me. As far as I know there are only 5 endings: GOOD+, GOOD, BAD+, BAD, and UFO endings. If there are 6 I must have been living under a rock for the last 10 years, lol.

Mike

[DarkVoid]

No people, that's not a joke. It's called EXCELLENT ENDING. You can save both Cybil and Lisa. Read here:
http://www.cheatmasters.com/cheats/2782 ... heats.html
Also there was rumor about AMBULANCE ending, but that appeared to be fake.

[devil hunter]

Dude, that's fake.

[ZombieKillerXXX]

Dude, that's fake.

Agreed, if it was real there would be proof of it somewhere on the internet. Someone by now would have posted a video of it. It's bullshit, you can't believe everything you read. Unless you have played it and beat the game achieving this "excellent ending" I would have to say there is no truth behind this. If you have achieved this ending, post some pictures or video of it on here so we can all check it out.

Mike

[Purramid_Head]

Lisa is already dead, you can't "save her".

[DarkVoid]

May be it's a fake. But still nobody knows the actual conditions to get katana. Someone got it (having bad + good endings), others, including myself, did not. So, following your logic, I can claim that katana as a weapon is a fake too. Never saw any screenshots in internet of Harry using it against some enemy!
Besides, some maniacs said you can play a secret mini-game on that machine in a cafe after 9th playthrough. I think there are lots of secrets to uncover. Some may reveal only in concrete versions of the game (japanese?) and require a little help of cheating. Once I was able to jump off the boat near lighthouse and walk on the water. Another time - not. So only time will reveal all whole truth behind this game...
Lisa already dead... Yes, but Henry in SH4 too - that why he can't get out and figure out why he doesn't feel hungry after almost a week being locked in. Yet, in some endings we see him out, alive, and even able to visit Eileen in hospital.

[Purramid_Head]

You can live forty days with out food and seven with out water.

[DarkVoid]

You can, but you will feel hungry and, surely, will not be able to run around and fight monsters. Henry said: "I suppose to feel hungry, but i'm not. Is my stomach paralyzed or SOMETHING?" Don't get me wrong, but the same quality video was for AMBULANCE ending.

[Purramid_Head]

The reason the katana is in three is homage to one. *facepalm*

[DarkVoid]

How it is possible?
http://www.silenthillmemories.net/sh1/r ... screen.jpg
I mean, look at time.
Besides, we are wandering too far from topic.
As for the scene: I always found that strange - seeing all this weird things around, Cybil didn't talk about them with Happy. In the movie she behaves more naturally (to Rose): "Did you saw that? Was that real? WTF is going on here?!" And here - just "I have no idea what are you talking about... must be on drugs...". Also, when I was playing 1st time, after that altar fires up, I felt like from this moment there is no return and something bad's gonna happen.

[devil hunter]

Dude, if Henry is already dead his role as "Receiver of Wisdom" would be entirely pointless, why would Walter try to kill someone who's dead?

I mean wtf. Something like that goes against all logic of Walter's plan and the game itself.

Also, people can rate in that site, that it was either "bogus" or "helpful". Stuff for "excellent ending" is rated 36% and 29%.

That says a lot.

[ZombieKillerXXX]

The reason the katana is in three is homage to one. *facepalm*

Facepalm.....

May be it's a fake. But still nobody knows the actual conditions to get katana. Someone got it (having bad + good endings), others, including myself, did not. So, following your logic, I can claim that katana as a weapon is a fake too. Never saw any screenshots in internet of Harry using it against some enemy!
Besides, some maniacs said you can play a secret mini-game on that machine in a cafe after 9th playthrough. I think there are lots of secrets to uncover. Some may reveal only in concrete versions of the game (japanese?) and require a little help of cheating. Once I was able to jump off the boat near lighthouse and walk on the water. Another time - not. So only time will reveal all whole truth behind this game...
Lisa already dead... Yes, but Henry in SH4 too - that why he can't get out and figure out why he doesn't feel hungry after almost a week being locked in. Yet, in some endings we see him out, alive, and even able to visit Eileen in hospital.

Calm down bro, getting the Katana (which I've got) compared to some ending no one has ever heard of or seen for that matter, is completely ridiculous. The Katana falls in the same exact category as the Chainsaw and Rock Drill. Not in some fantasy land where it doesn't exist. When I played through, I got the GOOD+ ending and the Bad+ ending, that is what unlocked the Katana for me. The video that Purramid_Head posted is legit, that is what the room looks like, and what Harry is holding in his hand is the Katana. Harry even does that stupid slide forward move when using it.

Jumping off the boat near the lighthouse and walking on water is totally believable, but it is just a glitch. Which explains why you did it once and weren't able to do it again. That's usually how a glitch works.

Really SH4....let's not stray to far from the topic now.

The bottom line is that it's just an opinion. like the old saying...opinions are like assholes everybody has one. It's just your opinion, and if you believe that there is all this stuff out there to be unlocked, then that's fine. At the same time you have to respect other peoples opinions on this stuff. Cause for a lot of us here this stuff is really hard to swallow. For a game that is 13 years old you would think there wouldn't be much left to find as far as unlock able, secret stuff goes...just food for thought.

Mike

[NarooN]

What a crazy turn this topic has taken, lol.

Just wanted to say that it's actually interesting to see thoughts on the games/characters from people who don't know much about them, such as this new "Henry was dead in SH4" thing that just popped up here. Of course that's bogus, but it's still cool how people come up with stuff like that.