rionaleonhart: death note: light's kind of embarrassed that he poured all that fake sincerity into an obviously doomed ploy. (guess not)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
More of the Silent Hill 2 remake! I'm still working my way through Brookhaven Hospital.

James, you cannot keep jumping down or climbing into or sticking your hand in or fucking every hole you come across! It's such a bad habit!

You also probably shouldn't keep injecting yourself with every syringe you find lying around Silent Hill. I'll be honest: I think these are unlikely to be sterile.

I yelped aloud when Pyramid Head said hello on the roof. I wonder if they changed that particular encounter specifically so it could still startle people who'd played the original game.

Actually, it might be a camera angle thing. In the original Silent Hill 2, hearing the door to the roof open just out of shot and not knowing what's coming is absolutely terrifying, but that's something you can only do with a fixed camera angle. In the remake, with its freely movable camera, you could swing the camera over to the door as soon as you heard it open, which immediately strips away that 'oh, God, I know something's here with me but I can't see what it is' terror.

I hadn't really contemplated it before, but going from the restricted camera of the original to the free camera of the remake is a pretty huge change in a horror game. What you can and can't see makes such a big difference to the atmosphere in horror, and it's a lot harder to limit what the player can see if they have full control of the camera.

I'd be interested to know all the ways the remake team tried to address this issue. It might be the reason some monsters, mannequins in particular, will run away from the player when spotted and hide in a different room. You've seen the monster, you know it's here, but it's removed itself from your sight; all you know is that it's somewhere nearby, waiting to attack. It's a way to create that sense of 'there's something here, but I can't see it' even when the player can quickly scan their immediate surroundings. (Of course, the radio is also good for creating that sense in both the original and the remake.)


The YouTube music algorithm recently served me a song that I might have heard in passing at some point, but had never really listened to before. Listening to the lyrics, I found myself thinking, Wow, this song is absolutely perfect for James and Mary.

Had it been any other song, the logical next step would be to contemplate naming a fic after it. Unfortunately, the song in question was 'My Immortal' by Evanescence.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy xiii: lightning pays intense attention to you. (speak carefully)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
More horrible adventures in the Silent Hill 2 remake! I've just reached Brookhaven Hospital, but this entry contains full Silent Hill 2 spoilers.


Notes on the Silent Hill 2 remake. )


This is such a good remake! It's clear that a lot of respect and love for Silent Hill 2 went into it. It really feels like the original without being constricted by it; it modifies and expands on details in ways that feel true to the original game. I'm so impressed!

There Aren't Kitchen Guns, Are There?

November 21st, 2025 23:11
rionaleonhart: the coffin of andy and leyley: andrew glances back over his shoulder, expressionless. (this is who you are now)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
It is time for me to be disproportionately bothered by a single detail in a videogame! Today, we're watching me get frustrated over the story implications of the Silent Hill 2 remake's Wood Side Apartments coin puzzle.

There are major spoilers for the entire story of Silent Hill 2 below the cut.


Silent Hill 2 remake: the narrative problem with the coin puzzle. )


Please acknowledge receipt of my suggestion, Bloober Team. I look forward to seeing it patched in.

I'm still enjoying the remake! But this one detail is sticking in my teeth.
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were originally suggested by [livejournal.com profile] heartovmidnight.

1. What's your favourite TV network?

2. If you could create your own channel, what would it be?

3. What TV show did you watch as a child, that you wish they would bring back?

4. What show have you always hated, and wonder why they ever made such a dumb show?

5. What TV show's seasons would you buy on DVD?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

French Is Such A Scary Language.

November 20th, 2025 15:18
rionaleonhart: revolutionary girl utena: utena has fallen asleep on her schoolwork. (sort of exhausted really)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
I'm taking ficlet requests over on my Tumblr for the month of November! There are still prompts waiting in my inbox to be written, but I thought I'd do a roundup before this entry gets unmanageably long.


Death Note/Danganronpa: Light and Genocider Syo. )

Clair Obscur: Verso/Maelle from Alicia’s perspective. )

Clair Obscur: Maelle/Verso, Maelle struggling with her crush after act two. )

Lost: Jack/Kate, post-finale. )

Omori: Headspace Aubrey meets real Aubrey. )

Omori: the real Hero enters Headspace. )

The Long Walk: Pete/Ray, written from osmosis. )

Forgotton Anne/The Amazing Digital Circus: Ragatha meets Fig. )

Deltarune: Snowgrave route Kris/Noelle. )


I’ve been getting assorted anonymous requests from people who evidently know my fandoms and taste in themes extremely well! Are they from multiple prompters, or am I receiving a lot of carefully calculated requests from some sort of mysterious Riona expert? I’m so curious!

The Silent Hill Mental Health QR Code.

November 18th, 2025 15:23
rionaleonhart: final fantasy versus xiii: a young woman at night, her back to you, the moon high above. (nor women neither)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
I've started playing the Silent Hill 2 PS5 remake! I picked it up in a used electronics shop.

Cashier: Oh, great choice.
Riona: Thank you! I went insane about the original when I was sixteen.
Cashier: Me too. But I wasn't sixteen; I was, er, eleven.
Riona: Wow, that is not the right age to go insane about Silent Hill 2.

I'm a little over an hour in! I can already tell I'm going to regret this, but in an 'I'm so bad with horror' way rather than a 'why did they remake this?' one; the remake itself seems pretty great so far. It's clear that it was made by people who love the original, which makes such a big difference.

Playing through the opening was an absolutely insane experience. I know that sequence so well, and suddenly it had been completely transformed while still feeling like the same place. Seeing that familiar car park in modern graphics! The long walk down to Silent Hill! So pretty and unsettling!

Regrettably, I thought it was cute when James was leaning on the barrier at the start of the game. There's no hope for me at all. I'm so much fonder of James Sunderland than I should be.

(Although not quite as fond as half of Tumblr, which, it turns out, is startlingly horny for remake James.)

The first thing I did, when I gained control of James, was turn around and try to leave Silent Hill. Unsurprisingly, James did not allow me to do this, but I was delighted when I got a trophy for the attempt.

I was concerned that the remake's voice acting might feel too good, but so far it's working for me! They've taken the interesting and clever approach of hiring people who can act, but directing them extremely weirdly, with a lot of strange awkward pauses. Even if the voices and the line delivery aren't the same as the original game, the dialogue has the same feel to it. The creators of the remake evidently understand how the limitations of the original, like its restricted visibility and bizarre voice acting, ultimately contributed to the atmosphere.

After James and Angela's first meeting, I spoke to Angela a couple of times to see if she had any more dialogue, but I felt very bad about it. Angela's a severely traumatised young woman with no capacity for trust, and an unknown man lingering to talk to her a little too long is probably going to make her uncomfortable!

I like how violent and frantic James's fighting feels. No finesse to it; he's just desperate and terrified. You can just keep stamping and stamping on the enemies once you've knocked them down; he doesn't know when it's safe to stop!

Every blow feels like it has a real weight to it, both the ones James lands on enemies and the ones they land on you. I very much feel in danger from even the most basic enemies, despite playing on easy mode. It's stressful!

I initially thought I'd be fine with the stresses of this game after my experience with Little Hope, the most stressful game I have ever played. In a Silent Hill game, if you get the character you're playing killed, at least you can just reload and try again; Supermassive games are considerably more stressful because character deaths can't be undone!

But I'd failed to consider the stress of Silent Hill 2's ending system. My actions during the game determine how this story ends! I'm trying to keep James in good health, because that's one of the details that impact the ending, but how can I look after him when I'm bad at the combat and I keep burning through my very limited healing items?

I'll try my best. Come on, James; we can get through this together.

Look At This Cool Bee I Drew.

November 15th, 2025 23:08
rionaleonhart: okami: amaterasu is startled. (NOT SO FAST)
[personal profile] rionaleonhart
Interesting watching experience: I recently checked out the 3D animated series The Amazing Digital Circus, because 'a bunch of people are confined against their will together and have to fight not to lose their minds' is a concept I can never quite resist.

Watching the first episode, I wasn't sure whether I was going to carry on with this show. I wasn't a big fan of the visual style, and it was pretty strange and a little stupid. It wasn't quite clicking.

Then, twenty minutes into the episode, one of the characters commented on the villain's actions: 'This is dumb and weird.'

'Well,' said the villain, 'uh, y-yet... you're still watching it!'

Rarely have the characters on a screen looked quite so directly at me. Yes, I thought this was weird and stupid! And, yes, I was somehow still watching nonetheless. Evidently this show knew exactly what it was doing. I think that moment almost singlehandedly convinced me to carry on with the rest of it.

The last time I was so personally attacked by a fictional character, incidentally, was in Die Hard 4, when I mentioned how pleased I was that McClane was bleeding just before this exchange:

Farrell: I'm not a doctor, but you're hurt.
McClane: Yeah. Sexy, right?
Farrell: No!!

(McClane is correct and Farrell understands nothing.)

Anyway, I've now seen all six episodes of The Amazing Digital Circus to date, and I ended up having a good time! There are some interesting themes and surprisingly good character moments, and I appreciate the show's willingness to go for the unexpected punchline rather than the obvious one. But, uh, I don't know whether I'd recommend it.

I particularly enjoy the dynamic between Jax and Pomni, because 'cynical arsehole and the person who makes them a little less cynical' apparently remains a combination I'm guaranteed to ship even when one of the characters is a jester and the other is a rabbit twice her height.

The Friday Five for 14 November 2025

November 13th, 2025 18:14
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were originally suggested by [livejournal.com profile] alysonl.

1. What's one of the nicest things a friend has ever done for you?

2. What's one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for you?

3. What is a trait in another person that you instantly admire, and that draws you to them?

4. What is a trait in another person that instantly repels you, and prevents you from forming a close relationship with them?

5. Time to vent: tell us about something rotten someone has done to you.

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.