Sickness on the Player's Part

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

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
jamz_sunderland
Just Passing Through
Posts: 4
Joined: 09 Mar 2014
Gender: Male

Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by jamz_sunderland »

Firstly, I want to say that I loved this game. Every second f it I was glued to my seat, iron grip on the controller, waiting to see what monstrosity or other horrible thing would happen next. But I was revolted at the same time. I felt physically sick playing this game. I felt like I was going to get pink-eye just looking at some of the bathrooms. And Pyramid Head's intro had me screaming at the top of my lungs, waking up my next door neighbor(I'm a college student that lives on campus).But what really did it for me was fighting the Abstract Daddy in the room made of skin. Just looking at the walls and hearing the sickening squish of James's footsteps on the floor made me want to vomit. Between that and Pyramid Head's rape of the Mannequins, I felt more than awful; I felt violated. Never before has a game made me feel violated. Did this happen to anyone else? Does anyone else feel that way?
Mephisto
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 8073
Joined: 12 Feb 2009

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by Mephisto »

No to everything and I don't understand how a game can mess with the head of someone like that. If it's true, that is.
User avatar
phantomess
Moderator & Cult Member
Moderator & Cult Member
Posts: 4825
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Gender: Female
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by phantomess »

Jamz- it is meant to be disturbing, and it is when you first play it! It sounds like you've experienced this to a stronger degree than myself and probably most others, but that's not bad. It's interesting that you could be disturbed to that degree and still enjoy the game.
Image
User avatar
silenthell88
Woodside Apartments Janitor
Posts: 1123
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Location: Overlook Hotel

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by silenthell88 »

My first experience with SH1 was a little like that. I was pretty desensitized by the time the other games came out. None of them made me yell tho. It put me on the edge of my seat with the hairs raised on the back of my neck. I thought the environment was gross and like I needed a tetanus shot from looking at it.

I guess it depends on your age and how new to horror you are. I had already binged hard on horror movies before ever playing SH.
User avatar
GeneralSubject
Just Passing Through
Posts: 8
Joined: 03 Apr 2014
Gender: Female

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by GeneralSubject »

While I was playing it over, in the meanwhile, I had to go through art galleries in one day, all fairly close to each other. So I printed out a map and marked the buildings. Wait wait wait
Then, as you may remember, as J entered the town it was a street and first 'first aid' kits. I love this one music track 'First Aid'. I have dreams of actual places, but obviously they do not look exactly as actual (I know the deal, not the point). So, there was a dream about this street with war first aid center there.

As for OP, age not considered, anything from what you describe looks like a low-brain reaction, but if typed here it is a mere Game experience. The environment was created for player. And you in one go are able to observe how you use emotions. Cyber, you see.
Oddish
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1299
Joined: 12 Jan 2008

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by Oddish »

I found myself unsettled a lot, especially by the ever-deepening nightmare realms featured in the game's third act. That creepy morgue was the worst for me, because of the sheer indifference of throwing multiple corpses into holes and leaving them to rot. But I don't remember being physically sick.

Still, I can see how it could happen. In terms of mature themes, SH2 makes even ultraviolent games like GTA or Fallout look like a frickin' ice cream party.
[url=http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=14918&start=0]See the SH2 Endings that WEREN'T chosen[/url]
User avatar
Jonipoon
Subway Guard
Posts: 1718
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Location: Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium
Contact:

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by Jonipoon »

Congratulations Jamz, if the developers of Silent Hill 2 heard you now they'd scream "YES!!!" because your reaction to playing the game and experience afterwards is exactly what the developers had in mind when they created it.

I'm actually quite jealous of your experience. When I first played Silent Hill 2 I was like 11 and didn't quite understand the adult concept - for me back then it was just a game with scary and horrible monsters. When you're older and understands all the concepts of death and sex, you're more likely to feel disgusted and violated.
I EAT GALAXIES FOR BREAKFAST.
Oddish
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1299
Joined: 12 Jan 2008

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by Oddish »

That's one thing about SH2: love it or hate it, it's almost certain to be a memorable experience.

I played SH3, and it had better graphics and some nifty puzzles. SH0 had the best combat, since it has a protagonist who knew how to fight. And Downpour provided something of an open world to play in. But none of them come close to SH2 in terms of incredible plot, complex characters, and deeply disturbing imagery.
[url=http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=14918&start=0]See the SH2 Endings that WEREN'T chosen[/url]
Squarehead
Gravedigger
Posts: 531
Joined: 16 Jul 2006

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by Squarehead »

Silent Hill 2's world is unique. The subtle imagery and noise always keep on hinting at something you can't quite recognize to a certainty but you know it's something horrible. Well maybe not quite as subtle as most places in the case of the Abstract Daddy room. :| It's great that you got so much out of it. :D
I can't believe i earned 10 Silent Hill cash for this.
User avatar
KageReneko
Subway Guard
Posts: 1561
Joined: 02 Aug 2005
Gender: Male
Location: My own personal hell

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by KageReneko »

Wow... Really?? I always felt the Silent Hill 2 world was the less invasive and aggresive in the original four games; it was more subtle than the other games...

Good luck playing the others...
User avatar
Tabris
Brookhaven Receptionist
Posts: 804
Joined: 12 May 2009
Gender: Male
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by Tabris »

I remember the first time I played Silent Hill 2. I was 15 or 16 and bought it when it first came out on a whim because of the EGM review stated that the game WILL scare you. At that point the Resident Evil games were about the scariest games I played and I was pretty numb to them. I didn't have a damn clue what Silent Hill was about (I played the first one but didn't get terribly far). Far I knew it was just another survival horror game and it was just another virus making shit weird and dogs bursting through windows.

But damn was I wrong. I knew I was in for something different right away when I could hear things on the forest trail and nothing was jumping out at me. It was clear the game was just fucking with me.

Then I got to the apartments and it was so disturbing, oppressive and creepy. Inexplicable things, dead bodies, horrible noises. I couldn't wrap my head around it. It was so downright fucked up and disgusting I actually DID start to feel physically sick. I actually turned the game off around the point where you meet Eddie. It was just too much. At that point I couldn't believe a game like that could be even made, let alone released to the public. Hilarious at this point knowing how much more worse it gets. There just wasn't any horror games at that point that I knew that went or were even allowed to be on that level of disturbing.

That only really happened to me once though. I guess after processing it enough and going back, despite how freaky the game was I never felt that weird. Not so much physically ill. However with the first 3 Silent Hills, my brain did feel like an atom bomb of fucked up was going off. Good times.
User avatar
FatalFrame
Cafe5to2 Waitress
Posts: 274
Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Gender: Female
Location: Ry'leh

Re: Sickness on the Player's Part

Post by FatalFrame »

I never had any of those reactions but I remember during the big reveal about James I was literally stunned. Most games I had played up until then were "what you see is what you get" kind of games and for it to pull such a twist on me I was blown away. The only other game to give me that feeling was Fatal Frame 2: crimson Butterfly.
Are you ready to begin your trip to the Otherside
Death is an old friend of mine
Post Reply