Played Silent Hill 1 again over the past few days. The first time I‘d gone through it I had already played 2 a lot, 4 once, and nearly all of 3 (got stuck at the very very end), but was surprised then at how much of those first three sequels really stuck to 1’s blueprint (in a good way).
Anyway this time I wanted to get a better ending (got the Bad one first) and so I got Good this time: it wasn't much better! The final boss was just offscreen for the whole fight and the [credits music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKw8aJwCVdw) was less interesting than the [Bad credits music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPW6A2m8_xA). Also discovered that if you're playing the PSN version on PS3 and you shoot the last boss with a pistol, the game audio wigs out and sounds like [Merzbow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukZYP5Dy43E&t=42s). It's very loud.
The final area is really great. There's no map, and the design is good enough that not having a map actually works (contrast with the rest of the game where I hardly took my thumb off Triangle). There's a book on a shelf in one of the final rooms which, if you're like me, when you look at it just says something like "There's a botanical reference textbook here. Nothing useful." I thought this was bizarre and that the book seemed to be highlighted by the room's camera angle (and it was in a room with nothing else in it). I found out that you have to read a series of other documents throughout the game in order to actually read the textbook, which is on one hand kind of frustrating, but on the other hand cool: the contents of the book only mean anything to Harry if he has context provided by previous reading.
The commitment to no HUD and the particularity in audio design really get to me. I wish I found the _plot_ more interesting, but there's enough of a _story_ here communicated through level design and aesthetics/art which works for me. Cool game!
[upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/3o0zXu2.png]
@"tapevulture"#p45118 Chrono Trigger does not have random battles ;)