Yep, but I didn't know that. Like I said, I only had a vague notion of the criteria, i.e. don't let Maria get hurt, et cetera. In fact, I really didn't know the game was so forensic in its study of the player's behaviour. Pretty impressive stuff for a game that came out in 2001, and most likely nothing like it has been seen since.
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So, it's the next day and I've been thinking about this game a lot.
Am I right in assuming there was never any letter from Mary to begin with? The one we start off with in the game? As it slowly disappears during the hotel sequence, I took that to mean it never actually existed in the first place. Then, at the end of the game, when we see that it's actually just the start of the full letter Mary left James in the event of her death; I interpreted that as James having already read it, knowing full well what it says.
Going by that logic, I think that James was going to Silent Hill to kill himself (the couples' special place). Then on his way there, Silent Hill, or a psychosis, takes over. Cue the very first cutscene from the game.
That scene, and that imagery, is probably the one that leapt out at me the most in the entire game. Like in SH1 with Harry, it's James coming to, slightly out of it; "Who am I? Where am I? Oh, the letter. That's right." This psychosis, coupled with James suppressing the memories (not being able to fully process what he'd done mere days before), is what lead to the character's condition as we pick up and start playing him in the intro. There is no letter. James only thinks there is. Why else would he be in Silent Hill? Why else would it vanish later on as things start coming into picture? Because he'd already read the letter from Mary three days ago. In the end it all comes back to him.
From there, it depends how you play the game. This interpretation goes well with 'In Water' in my opinion, but in the case of 'Leave'; after coming to terms with what he'd done - euthanasing his terminally ill wife and being punished for it - Silent Hill wanted to remind James that Mary loved him and that he loved her.
"James, you made me happy."
Consequently, that knowledge either gives or takes our protagonist's life.
In regards to the gameplay itself, I was disappointed that there weren't any actually frightening enemies outside of Red Pyramid Thing (and I mentioned my issues with him earlier in-thread). All the monsters are slow and lumbering, compared to SH1 where you had monstrous bosses, and things like the Romper (fuck those things, man) and Hanged Scratcher. I realise that most of the creatures in SH2 are construed symbolism of things from James subconscious, but there were many times in the game where it felt like it was building up to a crescendo, feeling like
THE BIG ONE was just around the corner (the prison and labyrinth are a good example). But the
THE BIG ONE never came. Just Pyramid Head and more Mannequins. I soon realised that there was no bite to back up the bark, so to speak.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Reiterating that Silent Hill is a different breed of horror from the likes of Resident Evil, the game still had me completely gripped with terror. I knew no big bads were going to dice me up in mere seconds if I took a wrong step, but the fucking music, audio and atmospherics still made me feel that way. And that's one of the ingredients that make this game so different than the rest.
Silent Hill 2 is a masterwork. I rue the fact that I never got the chance to play it years ago, untarnished by years of spoilers and foreknowledge, but appreciative I got to still play it, and that it even exists, nonetheless.