Your favorite ending and why.

James got a letter. From a dead person. Oh dear.

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Your favorite?

Leave
43
41%
In Water
31
30%
Maria
7
7%
Rebirth
16
15%
UFO
0
No votes
DOG
8
8%
 
Total votes: 105

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Seal of Megatron
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Seal of Megatron »

I don't think it would be as straightforward as that, this is Silent Hill after all. The Mary he would get back wouldn't be the same Mary that died. And i can't imagine him being able to return to the real world with the doppelganger.
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Pastucci
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Pastucci »

^

That's a good point, I didn't think of that..

Of course if we assume that the Rebirth ritual plays out similar to the Ritual of the Holy Assumption that Walter Sullivan performed, then I would agree with you it wouldn't really be Mary that is resurrected, but just a doppleganger, or even a manifestation ( i don't mean Maria)

I can only guess that the resurrected Mary would be her real self.
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Renacimiento
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Renacimiento »

To me In Water is my favorite ending, is where somehow I can understand James and relate to him even more. After all he went through, it's like the only possible ending after such personal hell.

The others endings are also good, with the exception of the 'funny endings" which I never liked them.
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Its Gone Now
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Its Gone Now »

I like that SH2 doesn't really have a "canon" ending per se, as we do not get a follow on and any of the non joke endings could feasibly be canon. For me the in water ending is the most realistic human reaction for James.

The leave, Maria and Rebirth endings are less likely as: 1) They are happier endings and I don't think SH2 cries out for a happy ending.

And 2)
PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
We learn in SH4 that James has been missing for some time
SH1 has a canon ending as we know from SH3.

But there is no official canon ending to SH2 or we'd know by now.
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Renacimiento
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Renacimiento »

Its Gone Now wrote:For me the in water ending is the most realistic human reaction for James.

The leave, Maria and Rebirth endings are less likely as: 1) They are happier endings and I don't think SH2 cries out for a happy ending.
Exactly what I've always thought regarding the In Water ending, is the most realistic of all possible endings, after having gone through all this hell with James and even before the end, if you wonder: How can finish this story after of all this? And the answer is almost certain that will be as it was the In Water ending.

And there is great truth in what you say, well... at least I agree, the other ending are "more happier" to put it in some way, and I don't think in any way Sh2 need an ending in that direction.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Oddish »

I don't dislike "In-Water" because it's realistic or unrealistic. I dislike it because it makes everything James did pointless.
[url=http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=14918&start=0]See the SH2 Endings that WEREN'T chosen[/url]
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Its Gone Now »

Oddish wrote:I don't dislike "In-Water" because it's realistic or unrealistic. I dislike it because it makes everything James did pointless.
I often feel like that when the protag or certain characters are killed. But that's life I guess. Sometimes even our best efforts are futile from the start. Whether the town is punishing him or he is doing it to himself, futility is kind of the whole point.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by AlmostHam »

For me it is the In Water ending.

Which is odd to say because on my first play through this was the first ending that I got and I felt betrayed!! It was such a downer ending that through all the strife and suffering with James' journey it was such a heavy and abysmal conclusion to my 15 hour play through.

But as I found out there were options to my ending that would satisfy me more than the empty feeling left over from In Water, I retried the journey and knew the new quirks to avoid the demise of James.

So when I got Leave, Rebirth and Maria it just didn't leave that smack in the face impression of "wait what the fuck?" that the In Water had left on me.
.
For such a dark and brooding gaming experience I would feel cheated if In Water were the only ending. But knowing you can have multiple endings made the In Water ending stand out more than the others. I like knowing i can leave town with either Laura or Maria (even Mary although its implied).

Knowing all of this I wouldn't like In Water it as much as i do if this was the only ending to SH2.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by phantomess »

It looks like I never posted in here... probably because I can't vote for just one. I love the Rebirth ending, and the sap in me loves the Leave ending too.

I love that Rebirth is, at least to me, both a morbid and a happy ending (happy since he'll get Mary back, and morbid because, well, she's coming back from the dead), and it leaves you to wonder exactly what potentially eerie thing results from the ritual. We can only imagine what undead Mary was like.

Well, I think I'll actually finally go ahead and vote. I think Rebirth wins.

Maria Ending would be next on my list after Rebirth and Leave (the ironic twist in Maria makes it also a delightful ending).
In Water just pisses me off.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Celephais »

I like all the endings, but Leave is my favorite. For me, it just feels like the best way to end the story.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by alone in the town »

With a few years' distance put between me and the issue, I find it kind of weird now that I ever had a preference.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Dr. Robotnik »

Why do you say that?
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by alone in the town »

Because I now understand that all four endings are actually very brilliant and they all work together in a million different ways to bring meaning and understanding to so much of what happens in the game. To pick one and say "this is the best" is fight I used to pick, but none of them make sense without the others, and none of them do a better job than the others of capturing the feel of the game or the essence of the characters. I feel that any assertion to the contrary can be cured by simply looking harder and opening one's mind.

When I realized that it was absolutely possible to interpret each ending in very different ways without in any way contradicting canon, when I realized (specifically) that the Leave ending is a perfectly reasonable outcome for James if he is a completely heartless sociopath, I stopped having a favorite and fell in love with the game even more.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by phantomess »

^It's possible to understand all that, though, and still have a personal preference for which ending we enjoy the most/how we would like to see things turn out. I think when most of us list favorites or say which one is "best," that's all we mean.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Tuniko »

For me is In Water.

Because is the only ending that makes real sense to the game, for me.

Once, one of the developers of the game said that "Mary's body was in James car".

And, in game, we get countless references that the ''letter from Mary" that James got never existed after all.

Like, after you kill Eddie, if you check your letter, you just see a blank piece of paper, without words... and after that, it disappears...

For me, Mary died few days after James went to Silent Hill. Then, James couldn't live with that, and went to the city to die with Mary in the lake. But, when he got there, he got his memories blocked by the city, and the plot made him remember what he did.

For me, that's why I prefer the In Water ending. It feels more realistic to James fate.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by TenderMercy »

I like the dog ending for sheer madness and shibe puppers. Plus I worked for it. But as far as *plausible* endings go, I'd say Leave. I got way too attached to James and In Water makes me cry. It was the first ending I got and I just sat in front of my tv like D: I was so upset I did all that for nothing. Like, 'James, you quitter!'
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Don, Aman »

TenderMercy wrote:In Water makes me cry[...]I did all that for nothing.
I think that's what I like about In Water, though. It refuses to play to the happy ending trope, because James is not a hero. It provides a sort of twisted catharsis. That said, I think Rebirth is my preferred ending. I like my Silent Hill to be a bit ambiguous, and it doesn't get more ambiguous than that. Hell, it's still a debated topic to this day.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by WaffleMaker »

There was something so dreamlike about In Water. Tragic yet somehow fulfilling. I’ve heard some complain that this ending is nihilism, but when you take into account how differently Eastern and Western cultures have historically viewed suicide, it could be interpreted as atonement and overcoming. Sometimes you can’t walk away.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by Droo »

In Water still feels all these years later to be the only ending that truly makes thematic and narrative sense. It's always been my favourite and I don't think that will change.
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Re: Your favorite ending and why.

Post by The Adversary »

While Rebirth is still my favorite, and In Water my least, over the years I do feel In Water is probably the most likely conclusion, especially after the recent discussion about where and when Mary died. I guess some 20 years of life experience has provided me more insight into this game/story. We've all been under the impression James did this in a sort of spur-of-the-moment lapse of judgment. But, now, to a certain extent, I feel like it was much more premeditated. And with that I think James knew he was going to kill himself.

However, in another sense, since Rebirth isn't available on the first playthrough, maybe that's James' alternative in a second life—the chance to bring Mary back.
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