Let's Nerd! - Silent Hill 1
Wait... don't leave! I promise this will be interesting, I guess. Ah well, you've already ran away. I'll just talk to myself. ^_^
Yeah, this is me nerding the hell out of video games. Why not? People gush about television because that's what they do for entertainment. Me, I hate watching television and movies (for the most part), but I love video games. I love playing them, watching people play them and I love talking about them.
This may be a regular thing I do; I want to go over the franchises and games that have shaped my life and play a big part in how I am. My imagination is mostly from the video games I've played, and so I want to share that with you guys. Cus I like you.
SO, without further ado, one of the biggest series that I draw most of my creativity from.
Oh, Silent Hill. You devilish game, you. If you play this video while reading, it'll add to the atmosphere.
*A Word Of Caution*
- This is a survival horror game. As Daniel Day Lewis once said, There Will Be Blood... among other things. Squirmish people, hold your breath.
- If anyone dares to mention the graphics and complain, I will reach through the computer and slap your silly arse. It was released in 1999 on the Playstation. The grainy effects add to the atmosphere. I AM A FANGIRL WHO REFUSES TO ALLOW ANY HATE. Look, it was good at the time and still works to this day.
Okay, understood? YAY, let's go!
If horror films are your bag , then this game will not disappoint. Classic cult horror, genuine jump out of your seat moments and stories that you can just melt away and fully immerse into.
Picture the scene: After being involved in a car crash because a ghostly schoolgirl walked in front of your car, you awake in a foggy, desolate town where ash falls continuously from the sky. Your 7 year old daughter has gone missing but you can just see her in the misty distance. After chasing after her, you find yourself going down dark alleyways where rain drips off the rusty drainpipes and wheelchairs are abandoned. Hospital stretchers are also left in the rain with questionable things laying on them and you find yourself following a chain-link fence maze.
Then, you find a body. Hanging on the fence. You freak out, try to run away but the path you took is now suddenly blocked and headless children with claws attack you. You can't escape, you HAVE to die.
SERIOUSLY? I HAVE to die? Never before had I played a game that actively forces you to accept fate and be eaten alive. It's like the game is turning around and saying, "We make the rules, you aren't playing. We're playing and you will be controlled by us."
It's psychological fear and it hits you hard and that is how Silent Hill plays out from then on. You have the controller in hand, but the game keeps snatching it away and fucking up the playing field.
The biggest appeal of the game is that, it isn't set in a fantasy world. Silent Hill looks like your average American town (from what I have seen of pictures xD). Streets are lined with shops, the police station, the hospital, an elementary school. It's all there and looks rather pleasant and realistic. You can picture yourself in that situation. It's...normal, at first glance. Ignoring the fog, of course. Oh, and the completely collapsed roads and the broken down cars. And the dogs with no skin. And the sirens. Yes, especially the sirens.
You hear that voice, that's you. Igniting the lighter in your pocket in a desperation to see what is ahead of you. But now, the world doesn't look normal. The floor is rusted metal, the wallpaper has peeled away and you can almost feel like the walls are living breathing things. This, is the Otherworld.
You freaked out yet? If you are easily made upset by gory things, don't watch the next video. If you want a good bit of horror, feel free.
YEAH. That happens in the school. THAT'S NOT NATURAL. Basically, Silent Hill is everything but normal. An innocent locker room turned into a nightmare. Perhaps that's why people watch horror films and play horror games. It's the biggest leap into the unknown but familiar all the same. We don't feel so detached that we can't relate to it. If you are willing to take the horror genre seriously, it can be very rewarding.
Add on top some ghoulish and soul-stirring music, and you have a winning formula of scares and chills. Akira Yamaoka is a master of creating music that sticks in your head and crawls under your skin. People might say that video games can't have the same effect that movies do, but they clearly haven't played any.
Are actors more likable than any game characters? Certainly not.
For starters, you have your protagonist, Harry Mason, who is searching for his daughter and is willing to do anything get her back. She was his adopted child, but that doesn't matter to him. He is her father and the only one left in his life. He doesn't have super powers or a bad-ass attitude and uses a gun the same way any untrained person would. He's normal, he's just a guy and you become him. Harry isn't perfect, in a Mary-Sue sense, and he isn't so bland that you can't relate to him.
You meet many people along the way, each one with a story and personality that doesn't feel forced. One who strikes me the most is the nurse you meet at Alchemilla Hospital. This is the moment when I 'do' bore you with story.
Ready? Sleeping caps on?
Basically, Harry's daughter (the one who has gone missing) is called Cheryl. Cheryl is the bisected soul of Alessa Gillespie. Let's keep going.
Alessa possessed supernatural powers ever since she was born. Her classmates at elementary school called her a witch, teased her, scribbled on her desk, and excluded her because of her possession of these abilities.
Dahlia Gillespie is her mother. Seven years prior to the game's events, Dahlia conducted a ritual that impregnated Alessa with a deity through immolation (burning), in order for her to give birth to it. She regarded the deity as an object to be exploited and to grant her immense power.
Alessa, having received extensive life-threatening burns from the ritual, survived because her status as the god's "vessel" rendered her immortal. Due to her resistance to the ritual, her soul was bisected, putting the deity inside her in a dormant state, and, thus, preventing the birth. One of the soul's halves went on to live in baby Cheryl.
Thank you, Wikipedia, for helping this to make sense. You guys still here?
Sooooo. Lisa Garland nursed Alessa while the latter was hospitalized in Alchemilla, due to Alessa's life-threatening burns from the "accident" Dahlia staged. With all the hatred brewing inside of Alessa, Lisa was unfortunately cursed and forced to remain in the 'Otherworld' for eternity. She can't leave.
No... somehow I feel I'm not supposed to leave this place.
*Potentially upsetting*
Pull on anyone's heartstrings? No? You heartless bastards. Maybe it's just me then. You realise Lisa's fate of endlessly living in this state and you feel anger towards Dahlia for what she did to her daughter, just for power and money. You feel Alessa's pain and resentment towards life and existence, and you strive even harder to ease her pain. Your want to find your daughter is even greater, if it will give Alessa just that little bit of joy by looking after the part of her soul that still retains happiness.
This may sound really off the wall, but listen to me. You've got to believe me. I've not gone crazy, and I'm not fooling around. At first I thought I was losing my mind. But now I know I'm not. It's not me. This whole town. It's being invaded by the other world. Worlds of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. Little by little the invasion is spreading. Trying to swallow up everything in darkness.
DEEP.
That was Silent Hill. It captured my imagination for the crazy but weirdly believable. It created memorable characters and environments. After 13 years, it still haunts the player and makes for a fun, fascinating and frightening game. If you ever get the chance to play it, take that opportunity. You won't regret it.
Or watch the film. Yeah... do that after playing the game and leaving your brain at the door. It's not bad, it's slightly faithful but struck down by fan-service. But hey, at least Sean Bean didn't die in it, like he does in every other film.
I really hope you've enjoyed this. I know I did waaaay too much. Let me know if you would like another one or not, be honest. I want to feel like I've educated some of you or at least freaked you out a bit. That's the aim today. Video games aren't just for kids, that's the moral of the story.
Thank you for reading.
Yeah, this is me nerding the hell out of video games. Why not? People gush about television because that's what they do for entertainment. Me, I hate watching television and movies (for the most part), but I love video games. I love playing them, watching people play them and I love talking about them.
This may be a regular thing I do; I want to go over the franchises and games that have shaped my life and play a big part in how I am. My imagination is mostly from the video games I've played, and so I want to share that with you guys. Cus I like you.
SO, without further ado, one of the biggest series that I draw most of my creativity from.
Oh, Silent Hill. You devilish game, you. If you play this video while reading, it'll add to the atmosphere.
Click to view*A Word Of Caution*
- This is a survival horror game. As Daniel Day Lewis once said, There Will Be Blood... among other things. Squirmish people, hold your breath.
- If anyone dares to mention the graphics and complain, I will reach through the computer and slap your silly arse. It was released in 1999 on the Playstation. The grainy effects add to the atmosphere. I AM A FANGIRL WHO REFUSES TO ALLOW ANY HATE. Look, it was good at the time and still works to this day.
Okay, understood? YAY, let's go!
If horror films are your bag , then this game will not disappoint. Classic cult horror, genuine jump out of your seat moments and stories that you can just melt away and fully immerse into.
Picture the scene: After being involved in a car crash because a ghostly schoolgirl walked in front of your car, you awake in a foggy, desolate town where ash falls continuously from the sky. Your 7 year old daughter has gone missing but you can just see her in the misty distance. After chasing after her, you find yourself going down dark alleyways where rain drips off the rusty drainpipes and wheelchairs are abandoned. Hospital stretchers are also left in the rain with questionable things laying on them and you find yourself following a chain-link fence maze.
Then, you find a body. Hanging on the fence. You freak out, try to run away but the path you took is now suddenly blocked and headless children with claws attack you. You can't escape, you HAVE to die.
SERIOUSLY? I HAVE to die? Never before had I played a game that actively forces you to accept fate and be eaten alive. It's like the game is turning around and saying, "We make the rules, you aren't playing. We're playing and you will be controlled by us."
It's psychological fear and it hits you hard and that is how Silent Hill plays out from then on. You have the controller in hand, but the game keeps snatching it away and fucking up the playing field.
The biggest appeal of the game is that, it isn't set in a fantasy world. Silent Hill looks like your average American town (from what I have seen of pictures xD). Streets are lined with shops, the police station, the hospital, an elementary school. It's all there and looks rather pleasant and realistic. You can picture yourself in that situation. It's...normal, at first glance. Ignoring the fog, of course. Oh, and the completely collapsed roads and the broken down cars. And the dogs with no skin. And the sirens. Yes, especially the sirens.
You hear that voice, that's you. Igniting the lighter in your pocket in a desperation to see what is ahead of you. But now, the world doesn't look normal. The floor is rusted metal, the wallpaper has peeled away and you can almost feel like the walls are living breathing things. This, is the Otherworld.
You freaked out yet? If you are easily made upset by gory things, don't watch the next video. If you want a good bit of horror, feel free.
YEAH. That happens in the school. THAT'S NOT NATURAL. Basically, Silent Hill is everything but normal. An innocent locker room turned into a nightmare. Perhaps that's why people watch horror films and play horror games. It's the biggest leap into the unknown but familiar all the same. We don't feel so detached that we can't relate to it. If you are willing to take the horror genre seriously, it can be very rewarding.
Add on top some ghoulish and soul-stirring music, and you have a winning formula of scares and chills. Akira Yamaoka is a master of creating music that sticks in your head and crawls under your skin. People might say that video games can't have the same effect that movies do, but they clearly haven't played any.
Are actors more likable than any game characters? Certainly not.
For starters, you have your protagonist, Harry Mason, who is searching for his daughter and is willing to do anything get her back. She was his adopted child, but that doesn't matter to him. He is her father and the only one left in his life. He doesn't have super powers or a bad-ass attitude and uses a gun the same way any untrained person would. He's normal, he's just a guy and you become him. Harry isn't perfect, in a Mary-Sue sense, and he isn't so bland that you can't relate to him.
You meet many people along the way, each one with a story and personality that doesn't feel forced. One who strikes me the most is the nurse you meet at Alchemilla Hospital. This is the moment when I 'do' bore you with story.
Ready? Sleeping caps on?
Basically, Harry's daughter (the one who has gone missing) is called Cheryl. Cheryl is the bisected soul of Alessa Gillespie. Let's keep going.
Alessa possessed supernatural powers ever since she was born. Her classmates at elementary school called her a witch, teased her, scribbled on her desk, and excluded her because of her possession of these abilities.
Dahlia Gillespie is her mother. Seven years prior to the game's events, Dahlia conducted a ritual that impregnated Alessa with a deity through immolation (burning), in order for her to give birth to it. She regarded the deity as an object to be exploited and to grant her immense power.
Alessa, having received extensive life-threatening burns from the ritual, survived because her status as the god's "vessel" rendered her immortal. Due to her resistance to the ritual, her soul was bisected, putting the deity inside her in a dormant state, and, thus, preventing the birth. One of the soul's halves went on to live in baby Cheryl.
Thank you, Wikipedia, for helping this to make sense. You guys still here?
Sooooo. Lisa Garland nursed Alessa while the latter was hospitalized in Alchemilla, due to Alessa's life-threatening burns from the "accident" Dahlia staged. With all the hatred brewing inside of Alessa, Lisa was unfortunately cursed and forced to remain in the 'Otherworld' for eternity. She can't leave.
No... somehow I feel I'm not supposed to leave this place.
*Potentially upsetting*
Pull on anyone's heartstrings? No? You heartless bastards. Maybe it's just me then. You realise Lisa's fate of endlessly living in this state and you feel anger towards Dahlia for what she did to her daughter, just for power and money. You feel Alessa's pain and resentment towards life and existence, and you strive even harder to ease her pain. Your want to find your daughter is even greater, if it will give Alessa just that little bit of joy by looking after the part of her soul that still retains happiness.
This may sound really off the wall, but listen to me. You've got to believe me. I've not gone crazy, and I'm not fooling around. At first I thought I was losing my mind. But now I know I'm not. It's not me. This whole town. It's being invaded by the other world. Worlds of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. Little by little the invasion is spreading. Trying to swallow up everything in darkness.
DEEP.
That was Silent Hill. It captured my imagination for the crazy but weirdly believable. It created memorable characters and environments. After 13 years, it still haunts the player and makes for a fun, fascinating and frightening game. If you ever get the chance to play it, take that opportunity. You won't regret it.
Or watch the film. Yeah... do that after playing the game and leaving your brain at the door. It's not bad, it's slightly faithful but struck down by fan-service. But hey, at least Sean Bean didn't die in it, like he does in every other film.
I really hope you've enjoyed this. I know I did waaaay too much. Let me know if you would like another one or not, be honest. I want to feel like I've educated some of you or at least freaked you out a bit. That's the aim today. Video games aren't just for kids, that's the moral of the story.
Thank you for reading.