Silent Hill 3
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Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
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July 3, 2003 
Silent Hill 3 is the third title in the Silent Hill franchise and the second game to be released on the PC and PlayStation 2. The game is a direct sequel to the first game, Silent Hill. Unlike Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 4: The Room, this title was never ported to Xbox. It is also the first game in the series to feature a female lead character, as well as more direct ties to the previous games' plots. The American release came with an extra soundtrack CD, titled "Silent Hill 3 Official Soundtrack" (containing 25 tracks), a first in the series.
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Plot
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Seventeen years have passed since the events of Silent Hill 1, and Heather (the baby who the Incubator gave to Harry Mason at the end of the first game) is now a young girl of seventeen. It is revealed that Harry decided to take Heather in his own care and raise her as his own daughter.
One day, while running an errand for her adoptive father at the Central Square Shopping Center, she falls asleep inside a burger joint known as Happy Burger, and dreams about Silent Hill. She finds herself wandering through the nightmare version of Lakeside Amusement Park, armed with a switchblade, a steel pipe, a handgun and a submachine gun. After fighting her way past several monsters, Heather makes her way up the stairs where the roller coaster is located. She walks along the tracks, until she is struck down by a roller coaster.
After the roller coaster incident in her dream, Heather wakes up from the nightmare. She exits the burger joint and calls her father and lets him know that she is on her way home. She encounters a detective named Douglas Cartland, who was hired by a cult known as The Order to find Heather. Heather thinks that he is a stalker and ducks into the ladies' restroom. She jumps out the window, but her way out is blocked on both ends, forcing her to find another way through the mall. Inside the employee's area, there are strange monsters lurking around. Inside a clothing store, Heather finds a handgun to defend herself with.
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As Heather wanders through the mall, she encounters a barefoot woman dressed in all black, with flowing white hair. She is a high priestess of The Order, Claudia Wolf, who has been searching for Heather, or rather, Alessa Gillespie, for a long time. Claudia tells Heather that her talents are required. When Heather doesn't know what Claudia means, Claudia tells her, "Remember me, and your true self as well," and that she will lead them to Paradise "with blood stained hands." Heather then comes down with a serious migraine, as if she was trying to remember something from long ago as Claudia departs. It is later told that Claudia is the daughter of Leonard Wolf, another leader of The Order.
When Heather enters an elevator, its descent causes a radio to drop from the ceiling, which emits static whenever monsters are nearby. The elevator doors open up revealing a second, more sinister-looking elevator that indicates a crossover into another reality. After riding the second elevator down, Heather then finds herself inside a nightmare version of the mall. Even though she is frightened, she manages to make it back to the real world after a battle with an enormous worm in the mall's depths.
Once everything is back to normal, Heather heads for the subway so that she may return home. However, Douglas stops her. Heather assumes that the private investigator is on Claudia's side, but he tells her that he was only hired to find her. Heather leaves the bewildered man alone and enters the subway. As with the mall, the subway is deserted, with the exception of the odd monsters. Heather even has a close call when she narrowly avoids being run over by a subway car. Heather takes the aforementioned subway to the Underpass and shoots her way through the sewer-like corridors until she reaches a Construction Site. There isn't much she can do here, however, she reaches another building, Hilltop Center, that is adjacent to the construction site through an open window.
It is inside Hilltop Center that while inspecting a bathtub, Heather enters the nightmare world once again. She also encounters a man named Vincent, who is also a member of The Order with Claudia, but has different views on where the cult should go. When Heather reaches the exit, she finds a monster blocking it. She also finds scattered pages of a fairy tale which contains the words 'TU FUI, EGO ERIS' that makes the monster disappear. After getting rid of the monster, Heather is brought back to the normal world and escapes the alternate Hilltop Center.
Upon arriving at her home in the Daisy Villa Apartments, she discovers the body of her father, Harry Mason, slumped in his chair, having been brutally murdered. Heather follows the blood trail to the apartment's rooftop. Claudia is there waiting for her. Her explanation for Harry's murder is that some 17 years ago, he thwarted the cult's plans, and that killing Harry would fill Heather's heart full of hatred. Claudia merely tells her that she wasn't the one that killed him, only that she gave the order to her companion, a monster known as the 'Missionary'. Claudia tells Heather that she will be waiting for her in Silent Hill.
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After killing the Missionary, Heather finds Douglas inside the apartment. He helps her move Harry's body into his room, covered by a white sheet with lilies. Heather pays her final respects to her father. She decides to find Claudia and kill her in revenge, even though Douglas tells her revenge isn't the answer. Douglas offers to drive her to Silent Hill, which she eventually agrees to. In reply to Heather telling him he might die, Douglas states that it's fine and no one is going to cry over his grave anyway. Outside the apartment, Douglas gives her a map of Silent Hill - a gift from Vincent - and tells her that Vincent says to look for a man named Leonard Wolf, Claudia's father. He also gives her Harry's Notebook, an explanation of Heather's past and a final goodbye.
Arrival in Silent Hill
Heather and Douglas arrive in Silent Hill the following day. The town itself is deserted and covered by fog. They set up refuge in Jack's Inn and split up. Heather heads for the Brookhaven Hospital, while Douglas goes over to search Leonard Wolf's house.
Heather searches the hospital for clues to Claudia's whereabouts. Instead, among other things, Heather finds demonic nurses, some of which are armed with revolvers. She also finds out that one of the hospital's patients, Stanley Coleman, has an unhealthy obsession with her, and that Leonard is imprisoned within the hospital. She also comes across a startling discovery about herself long forgotten. Heather is, in fact, the reincarnated Alessa Gillespie, seeing as how she has memories of Alessa before the fire.
Heather enters the nightmare realm once again. It is here that she encounters Leonard Wolf. Unfortunately, Leonard has degenerated into a monster and attacks Heather who defeats him. Heather acquires the Seal of Metatron, a talisman which Leonard possessed and the hospital becomes normal again upon Leonard's demise. Heather returns to Jack's Inn to meet with Douglas. However, just before Heather returns, Claudia and Vincent have a conversation about the cult and Leonard Wolf's abusiveness to Claudia.
Vincent is waiting for Heather when she returns to Jack's Inn, Claudia having already left. Heather asks him about Douglas's whereabouts and Vincent tells her that he left a message, "The church is on the other side of the lake." He also tells her Claudia is in the church. Vincent says Heather must go through Lakeside Amusement Park. Heather follows Vincent's advice, only to find that when she arrives at the park, she enters the nightmare world once again. Heather follows the path to the roller coaster, only this time around, with foreknowledge of what is going to occur because of her dream, she manages to jump off the tracks just before the cars run her over.
It then switches to Claudia and Douglas. Douglas feels betrayed by Claudia, seeing that while Claudia says that Heather was kidnapped and brainwashed, Douglas feels that Heather is actually a normal girl. Claudia then explains that they need Heather back into the cult because God needs to be born and usher in a "New Paradise." Douglas sarcastically asks what kind of place is paradise. Claudia then explains its an eternal world filled with no pain, hunger, sickness, old age, greed or war. Douglas then points out that a place without any worries or negative implications is not really a paradise, but a stagnant world where nothing happens of any real value. He sighs, saying that type of world would be pretty pointless and boring. Claudia tells Douglas that she pities him, and he pulls out his gun and points it at her. What happens during the fight remains a mystery.
After exploring the amusement park, Heather eventually runs into Douglas once again, but he is unable to come with Heather due to his broken leg (it is unknown about how it was broken, but later in the game, Vincent states that Claudia has "powers"). Douglas reveals that his son was shot robbing a bank, possibly because Douglas made little money as a private detective. Heather promises to come back once she is done with things and she finds herself in the same area of the amusement park where Harry was some seventeen years earlier. On the carousel, Heather encounters her doppelgänger, the Memory of Alessa. The other Heather is bloodied and severely burned. After defeating her dark self, she reaches the entrance of the cult's church.
She encounters Claudia inside the chapel and Heather tells her that Alessa likes the world just the way it is (which could have actually been Alessa or just Heather pretending to be as a way of manipulating Claudia, but seeing how Heather is trying to change Claudia's view, its probably just Heather pretending to be Allesa). Claudia has a strong will and explains that there is too much suffering in the world and the God of her cult will change all that. Heather explains that suffering is a fact of life and that you just have to face that reality. Heather suddenly feels pain as the "God" is close to being ready for birth and Claudia leaves.
While fighting her way through the corridors of the church, she encounters Vincent inside the library. He asks her about the Seal of Metatron, which Heather has in her possession. Vincent is relieved, since he believes it can be used as a weapon to defeat Claudia, whom Heather finally catches up to inside the cult's inner sanctum. Claudia wounds Vincent with a knife and Heather is somewhat taken back by this action. After Claudia calms down, she resumes her usual composure and thanks Heather for making God feel hate and becoming closer to paradise. Heather then points out that a God who believes in hate can never create a perfect world. Claudia retaliates by saying that even a loving world can be a cruel place and that in order to understand sympathy, one must understand pain and suffering. Vincent, in a desperate act, tells Claudia that Heather has the Seal of Metatron. Claudia then reveals that the Seal of Metatron is nothing but a useless trinket before finally killing Vincent. Heather nearly succumbs to her rage, but finally gets herself under control.
The pendant Heather wears around her neck was a birthday gift from her father. Inside, it contains a small capsule of Aglaophotis, the red liquid that Harry gave her years earlier. Heather swallows it and vomits the bloody fetus of the God onto the floor. After taunting Claudia that "God didn't make it," Heather is about to step on it with her shoe when Claudia shoves her to the side and picks up the repulsive creature.
After ingesting God herself, Claudia falls through a hole, and Heather jumps in after her. Inside the chamber, Claudia is apparently dead, after giving birth to the monstrous God. Heather then discovers the God; a repulsive skeletal body, a reptilian female face and some sort of metal helmet provided by Valtiel. Due to Claudia, God has been reborn. Heather kills the God, thus finally avenging for her father. Heather collaspes to the floor and mourns over her father's death.
Endings
- Normal ("Good"): In this ending, Heather returns to the normal amusement park. While there she acts very strangely as she approaches Douglas. She wields a knife and seems unresponsive. She acts as if she is about to kill Douglas but then suddenly stops and tells him she was just playing a joke. Douglas makes a comment on how she has a twisted sense of humour. She then insists that Douglas call her Cheryl, which is the name her father, Harry, originally gave her. Douglas then asks if she is also considering going back to her original black hair colour, to which she replies that blonds have more fun. The game closes with the credits rolling over a picture of Heather visiting Harry's grave.
- Possessed ("Bad"): Heather is standing still, with the amusement park still in the Otherworld. Douglas is lying before her, stabbed to death. Heather is holding her knife in her hand, soaked with blood. This may allude to the prophecy, which contains the sentence "leading believers to paradise with blood stained hands," and that this relates to Heather somehow. To get the "Possessed" ending, you must have already finished the game at least once, with Heather accumulating a certain number of "points" throughout the second attempt. Points are accumulated through killing creatures (10 points each), taking damage (1 point with each attack), or forgiving the confessor (1,000 points). The player must accumulate 4,000 points to receive this ending.
- Revenge: Just like in Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3 has a goofy UFO ending. After doing what is necessary to attain this ending, a story-board\comic-like ending commences. Heather returns home to find that her father, Harry Mason, is not dead, and is in fact sitting at a table drinking tea with an alien. James Sunderland, the protagonist from Silent Hill 2, can be seen in the background, hiding behind a curtain. Heather, who seems unfazed by the fact that an alien is present, informs her father of the horrors and events that she has experienced. Harry, clearly upset, vows revenge on the town for wronging his daughter, he jump-kicks a wooden board, held by James, clean in two pieces in a fit of rage, as Heather and the alien look on and cheer. The next scene portrays the town being obliterated in a UFO attack similar to a 1950s science fiction B-horror movie. The credit sequence then begins, with an unseen Japanese man coaxing an unseen chorus of what sounds to be Japanese men impersonating children into singing an odd song, entitled Silent Hill no Uta ("Silent Hill's Song") about the Silent Hill 3 characters, featuring silly jabs at each of the characters. They then appear to be gunned down by anonymous machine gun fire. This ending cannot be acquired on the first playthrough, and requires that the player kill at least 30 monsters with the "Sexy Beam" before entering Harry's apartment. This is ironically the best ending due to the fact that Silent Hill has been destroyed and that Harry is alive.
Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to that of Silent Hill 1, 2, and 4. Heather uses the flashlight and radio much like the other titles. Like the other Silent Hills, the flashlight is often the only source of light. The radio emits static when an enemy is near. The player runs the game as Heather, solving puzzles about her past and leading her to a hopefully more pleasant future.
Fighting
Heather uses guns and melee weapons along with a "Sexy beam" and a "Heather beam" that come from her eyes and forehead. The beams are only unlocked after beating the game once.Ammo for guns can be found around the levels, and luckily the melee weapons do not break.
Items
The player, as Heather, picks up many items. Such as Ammo, Key items to complete puzzles, heath items, and even a new item to the Silent Hill series, Beef Jerky.Ammo and health items are found scarcely though the game and its best to reply on strong, fast melee weapons, saving the guns for the big bosses and hard to kill monsters. Beef Jerky can lure monsters away from you and distract them for some time.
Costumes
The player can unlock various costumes after completing the game once. Some require the player to enter in codes to unlock them.
The player can only use the "Sexy beam" while wearing the "Transform" costume. More info can be found in the unlockables section, the link is at the bottom of this page.
Similarities to Silent Hill 1
There are many similarities between Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 3. The protagonists of both games have 2 syllable names that start with “H” (Harry, Heather) with a last name of Mason. The antagonist is a priestess of the Order who tries to attempt to birth God (Dahlia, Claudia).
Both games start off with Harry and Heather inside of a nightmare. In their nightmares, they are both killed while visiting the nightmare version of Silent Hill. They soon wake up inside of a food store next to bottles of ketchup and mustard. A few moments later, they both meet characters who later support them throughout the game (Cybil and Douglas). In the nightmare shopping centers they visit, they both see a TV flash with an image of Cheryl. In these shopping centers, they both enter a room that they are trapped in (Harry falls down a hole and Heather's ladder breaks) where they must defeat a giant version of a worm. Upon its defeat, the Otherworld changes back into the world they were previously in. Their first bosses they encounter both have their heads split in half (Split Head and Split Worm). In the hospital, they both see the videotape of Lisa Garland. They both visit the Otherworld Lakeside Amusement Park and go on the same carousel where they fight a boss (Cybil, Alessa). Afterwards, they visit "Nowhere", a collection of manifested memories. For example, Harry and Heather both visit a manifestation of Alessa's classroom in Midwich, and Alessa's sick room. In the end of both games, the antagonist (Dahlia, Claudia) dies and the birth of God is prevented. Both characters have lost something precious to them (Cheryl, Harry) and they leave Silent Hill.
Similar locations in both games include:
- Shopping mall
- Sewers
- Church
- Lakeside Amusement Park
- Hospital
Development
- See The Making of Silent Hill 3 (25 min).
See also
External links
- Official Silent Hill 3 site (Konami Europe)
- Silent Hill series (Konami Japan)
- Official Silent Hill USA Forum
- Gamespot
- Translated Memories
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