Feb 5th, 2008, 12:29 AM
Emu's right. Silent Hill 2 is a much more cerebral game than any of the others and that really is a double-edged sword. I don't play Silent Hill 2 to have fun, persay. I play Mario Strikers to have fun. I play Team Fortress to have fun. I play this game more like a novel. I notice things I didn't notice before, I make realizations...it's a really rewarding game in that regard.
That said, the gameplay is extremely tedious for the most part and is only exciting when you come across something interesting (like There Was a Hole Here... )
I genuinely don't understand the "OH MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON" question. In Bioshock it was viable, because not ten minutes into the game you're shooting needles into your arm without being prompted to. In most games, the survival aspect of it rides over all else; not in this case. You could've just passed by that syringe dispenser, you didn't know what the hell it did. And you did it anyway, you imbecile. I think I recall the guy (O'something) not even telling me to do it, the game itself did. I still think Bioshock is a fun game but I can see where that's off.
On the other hand, you have a genuine motive in Silent Hill 2, albeit a bit odd. Your wife, dead for however many years, sends you a note saying to return to Silent Hill. She knows enough about you and speaks as your wife, so it's not a joke. You go in search of her and throughout the entire game your purpose isn't necessarily to survive, but rather to find Mary. The answer to exactly why you're going isn't explained until much, much later. All you know is that you're trying to find your wife, you'll know why soon enough. So for now, enjoy the ride. It's one of those games where the protagonist knows more than you do and if that pisses you off, just don't play it.
To be honest, I hated SH2 the first time I played it too. I got into the SH series via the third one, which is much more gameplay oriented. Why? I don't know, it just feels better. The settings were much more alive and interesting in my opinion. But it suffers from the same sense of "WHERE AM I" so if you hate it that much then I'd steer clear.
What a big post!
EDIT - And to answer your question about why everyone is so calm, there's a reason for it. It's up to you to figure it out. Or a website, one of the two. What I did when I played the game was I made observations and later looked them up to see if others felt the same way I did. What I found were some neat little tidbits.
For instance, in SH2 I think the only vehicles in the game are big white vans, right? I might be wrong, it might be the first game, I don't know. But when people think big white van, they generally think of abduction, displacement, kidnapping, that sort of stuff.
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and he looked freaky as hell! 
Linear Mode
