VB: Hey, what's up? I'm VoidBurger. I'm here with my friend Bob.
Bob: Hey, I'm Bob.
VB: AKA Tortoiseontour, AKA Kamoc, AKA Shesellsseashells [editor note: he's "Bobvids" now]
...like two other things--I don't know what.
Bob: Mmmm.
VB: But this is the quote-unquote "Nerds Commentary" of Silent Hill 2 and we are going to spoil everything and anything.
VB: So if you're watching this by mistake, and you don't want things to get spoiled you -really- should stop watching it like RIGHT NOW.
Bob: Yeah, why did you click on it in the first place?
VB: Yeah, you've made a mistake.
VB: So we're just gonna be shooting the shit about Silent Hill 2--
and all the symbolism and the themes and yadda yadda.
Bob: Oh, I love this scene.
VB: Such a good way to start it.
Bob: I know.
VB: Like you already know something's wrong--
that there's a fucking duality about him if you will...
VB: [gasps]
VB: Mirrors.
VB: I also love how fucking filthy this bathroom is- [laughs] Bob: Yeah, oh man.
VB: It is so gross.
Bob: [sighs] Classic. Pictures of Maria up on the wall in the back there.
VB: Yeah, they're already foreshadowing Maria in Heaven's Night back there.
VB: But you can't see too well in the original version -- I'm playing the emulated version and it's crisp as hell.
VB: You can see it clear as day, but in the PS2 version you can't really see that too good.
VB: They actually mirrored this room instead of having a functioning mirror by the way.
VB: So that's just a glimpse into the other room that is exactly mirrored like this.
VB: ...and over here would be the little channeling stone you pick up for the UFO ending stuff, but we haven't unlocked it yet, so...
VB: That'll be a bonus video or something.
Bob: I remember the first time I played this I got stuck in there like, "UMMM....... where's the door?!?"
VB: [laughs]
Bob: I was like clicking on everything like, uh, this isn't it-this isn't it--
VB: Oh no.... that's terrible!
VB: Although the downside of having this on super nice settings is that that really looks like a .jpeg back there. [laughs] The background.
Bob: [laughing] Yeah, that's kind of parallaxed weirdly.
VB: It looks just like a gigantic billboard, uh-- over there.
Bob: If you do the higher resolution hack for the PC version it is -ridiculous- how bad that looks.
VB: Mmhmm. That is like a really crappy image they spread out all over there.
VB: But--you're supposed to not really see it very well because Playstation 2--and, like, all the fog's supposed to obscure it and all that shit.
VB: But what are you gonna do?
Bob: You're gonna look for your dead wife--that's what you're gonna do.
VB: Mmhmm.
VB: Dead wife that YOU killed--you ASSHOLE!!
VB: Told you we're spoiling everything. [laughs]
VB: I -love- the idea that you had for the title of this episode: "James and the Giant Speech."
VB: That is-- *mwah* -- brilliance.
VB: But I realized I'm not clever enough to keep that up, so it's going to be like the subtitle in the description. [both laugh]
VB: Unless you have great ideas for all the rest of the episodes, but it's gonna get hard.
Bob: Hey man, I'm thinking about doing that for my next LP.
Bob: So, like, subtitles like that for every freakin' video--
Bob: But it's gonna be so taxing--anyway.
VB: [sighs] You just have to overachieve on everything, don't you?
Bob: I have to. It's part of my thing.
VB: That's your trademark.
Bob: Oh man, I love this music.
VB: It's really good.
VB: They changed it for the HD Collection didn't they? 
Bob: Yep, they did.
VB: They made it kind of like a heavy rock version which was...a really strange choice.
Bob: If memory serves, it was an... electric guitar? 
VB: Yes, it was an electric guitar version. It was really out of place. It was just very strange.
Bob: Which is weird, because there are definitely versions of this floating around the Internet. I know that I grabbed one way back in the day.
VB: Yeah, I don't know...I don't know why they made a new track of it. It's really weird--also, emulation error right there--
Bob: *beep be-deep beep beep*
VB: That grate.
VB: Just walk home, James. You don't want any part of this. [laughs] Walk home and turn yourself in to the cops.
VB: I wish you could read the--all the graffiti on all the walls, but a lot of it's just mishmash bullshit that looked cool to the developers, because--you know--why not?
VB: I didn't know there was a fence there until this playthrough. I was like, "What if I go closer to the camera? Holy shit, there's a fence here!"
Bob: [laughs] Oh, there are so many things that I had to play the game like--ten times in order to realize what was going on. Like the, uh--
VB: I love how old this car is. It's like a 50's car. 
Bob: Yeah.
Bob: But I did like--I was walking on the main, uh... yeah, Nathan Avenue when you're going to the historical society--
Bob: And if you walk all the way to the end,
there are parts where they drop mannequins out of the fucking sky?!?
VB: Yes, they do! You see it in this!
VB: By the way, Mary's body is probably in the car right now.
Bob: Oh, actually, I hacked the PC version--I went into the textures in order to see if they modeled it.
Bob: She is NOT in there.
VB: Oh, well of course they wouldn't model it. 
Bob: Modeled? That would have been SO crazy if they did that though! 
VB: That would've been SO cool!
Bob: We come. 
VB: Wecom. 
Bob: We dot com.
VB: Brahms is like so far away. Like what the hell.
VB: Brahms is supposed to be like the next town over and like--
In the movie, they're like--oh, I'm from Brahms. Like, what? Brahms is like as far away from New York as Baltimore or something like that.
VB: It's far away!! 
Bob: Don't they usually, like, show on those mile markers like places that are -nearby-? Not like..? [VB laughs]
Bob: Like--it's like going to DC and seeing a mile marker for "Here's how long it'll take to get to Denver, Colorado!!" [laughs]
VB: Yeah, it's like, "Oh, well, thanks? I'm not going there because we're nowhere near there." 
Bob: Exactly. Like, what? I don't know. 
VB: Gee, you shouldn't... have...?
Bob: Dat fog. 
VB: Mmhmm.
VB: This whole sequence is such a great precursor to what you're getting into.
Bob: I love it so much--it messed with me so much when I first played it, too--because I was hearing all those noises.
VB: They're like--they're like weird dog noises, too. 
Bob: Yeah, man!
VB: They're like animal sounding, not really monster quite-like; like they're kind of halfway between a dog and some sort of monster.
Bob: See, I remember the Silent Hill 2 disc--the original one for the Playstation 2--
the non Greatest Hits version, because I played this without the Greatest Hits version, so I didn't get the Maria sub-scenario.
Bob: But they built the sound design in this game as being--like, they called it something weird like "omniaural" or something.
Bob: Where they were saying that the sounds are designed so that the sounds would actually sound like they're coming from where they're positioned--
Bob: It was their attempt at doing like a surround sound thing, but with only stereo speakers.
VB: But God, it works in this particular area, like, so well! 
Bob: Yeah, this is the first area where I was like, "Oh man, it actually does work!"
Bob: "They're doing a really good job!"
VB: And it sounds like those things are close to you, too. 
Bob: Oh, yeah.
VB: First time you play this, you turn around thinking, like, "This is the first enemy!! Dukes up!!" 
Bob: Yeah!
Bob: What do they call that? The thing that makes those noises? The "Lake Monster?"
VB: Who??
Bob: Oh, you haven't heard that? 
VB: No!
Bob: There's like a theory that there's like a Loch Ness monster in the lake or something.
VB: [laughs] I haven't heard that one before. 
Bob: You've haven't heard that one?
VB: That's kind of adorable.
Bob: To be fair, the last time I played this was--well, sincerely--was like when I was in fuckin' like high school or some shit.
VB: Oh, man. 
Bob: Might have been a theory in my teenager brain.
Bob: AHHH!
VB: Ah, this weird feeling!
VB: [dramatic] This feeling inside...!
Bob: You could say that James is hooked on said feeling. 
VB: [laughs]
VB: By the way, I heard that the--um, I heard that the save points (the red squares) are the exact size of Mary's letter. 
Bob: Huh!
VB: [spooky singsong] OooOOOooo!
Bob: [singsong] Dun dun DUNNNNN!
VB: [dramatic] It means stuff!
Bob: I love that--there's like, you could analyze literally everything in this game--
VB: Oh yeah, every teeny tiny thing-- 
Bob: Just because the game is so good that--
Bob: Everything sounds neat. [laughs] 
VB:  And then there's things in there like--oh, a can full of light bulbs. Huh?
Bob: Yeah. We don't--we don't analyze that. 
VB: No, we don't analyze that but there's a Loch Ness monster out there in the woods. [snickers]
Bob: I love this scene SO MUCH: one, because of the audio, two, because of the character of Angela--she's so great--
but three--because look at the symbolism right here--the fact that she just got up, walked off screen,
and then came back on signifies -two- different people.
Bob: Signifies two different states of mind. 
VB: Hmmm.
VB: Interesting. It could also, like, symbolize--well, she's extremely abused by her family--it could also be, like--
VB:  you know, you're abused by your family, but it's still your family, You keep coming back to them. 
Bob: You keep coming back. Yeah.
VB: And it's like why did she re-check--what, she can't read?
VB: Like it makes no sense--why she would, like, read it and be like, "Wait, wait, what was that again?" 
Bob: Yeah.
VB: Might also be indicative of her mental state, not--you know--being able to comprehend everything around her.
Bob: I think I latched onto the idea of her having two personalities because she has two clear, distinct ways of talking to James throughout the game.
VB: That is true. 
Bob: One is very accusatory and the other one's definitely like what she's like right now--the first Angela that you meet.
VB: Very unsure, and then there's the very--
Bob: diminutive and-- 
VB: Yeah.
VB: This is- this is like her defense mode like, "don't hurt me" mode. 
Bob: Exactly.
VB: That she's so used to and what doesn't come out that often is the brazen like, "fuck you,
I'm standing up for myself" mode that she's not used to doing. 
Bob: Exactly. The assertive one.
VB: But that might just be indicative of the things she recently has been through--she just killed her dad.
Bob: True.
VB: Who had been torturing her for years...
VB: ...Sexually/mentally/emotionally. 
Bob: True, yeah. 
VB: There's apparently--I read that there is a
novelization of Silent Hill 2 that expounds on that; and apparently she was also molested and abused by her brother as well?
Bob: Yeah, I heard that--that's one of the reasons why there are two of the "daddies" on--what are they called?
Both: "Abstract daddies" 
Bob: Jinx. 12345678910. Soda please.
VB: [snickers]
Bob: We missed the best--James'  best line. 
VB: I'm looking for...someone. 
Bob: [robotic] I'm looking. For. Some. One.
Bob: I'm sorry-- but Guy Cihi, the guy who acts as James just sounds like a goddamn robot sometimes. 
VB: Yeah, I kind of like it, though?? 
Bob: Yeah.
VB: 'Cause when I first played this I thought it was totally intentional, but then like the more research
I did I was like--oh, they were literally the only people they could find that spoke English in Japan at the time. Bob: Basically, yeah.
VB: And, um, what's her name--Donna?
Bob: Burke?
VB: Donna Burke who does Angela, she's actually Australian, isn't she? 
Bob: Yup.
VB: So she was suppressing her accent during this entire game.
VB: So that's why she sounds strange a lot of the time, because she's not used to talking like this. 
Bob: Yeah.
VB: I love this cutscene.
VB: Duhhhhhh, yeah? 
Bob: [laughs]
Bob: GET OUTTA HERE, dumbshit! 
VB: What the hell?! [laughs] What a silly man.
VB: Ohh, that's what I was doing. My dead wife. Yeah.
VB: [laughs] Ok, sorry. I'll be on my way.
Bob: Shatner it up. [terrible impression] "My dead whyyy effe!"
VB: [laughs] That was more of a Tommy Wiseau than a Shatner right there. 
Bob: Or was that--oh, what's his name--  Borat. Anyway.
VB: [laughs] They're all so similar, those actors. 
Bob: Yeah.
VB: I can never find this exit. Like, fuck me! I can never find it.
Bob: I always seem to magically find it every time I do this but I think that's--
VB: You're just one of those people, you either get it every time, or no matter how many times you play this fucking game--
you just don't know where it is. 
Bob:  It's just  like ingrained in my brain. I played the damned beginning of this game so many times. 
VB: Mmmm.
Bob: It's like muscle memory 
VB: I feel like I've played it all the way through pretty much every time, so I feel like I equally know most of the game.
VB: I love this part so much.
VB: Sound design wise? 
Bob: Yeah, ah man. 
VB:  It sounds like there's somebody right behind you because
they delayed a leaf crunching noise. It sounds like it's right behind you.
VB: So it's another instance of like [startled] "uhAHHHH, stop it!"
Bob: Oh man, I do not miss that camera. 
VB: Yeah, it's a little-- [inhales] little wonky donkey. 
Bob: Little bit.
Bob: Oh, I love that. I love it so much. 
VB: Aaaaaaaa~ It's right behind me!
Bob: What is it?? Aaaa
VB: The least appealing salad dressing: Silent Hill Ranch.
VB: Ugh, it's got like--chunks--and it's not the right kind of chunks!! [disgusted noise]
Bob: I opened the--I opened up the Silent Hill Ranch jar and this fog poured out of it! Ugh? 
VB: [laughs]
VB: Oh, it's the light version.
Bob: That fucking van, dude!
VB: I know. I love that van. That van was the funniest thing in Origins, 'cause it was like a little too large--
Bob: [laughs] Right.
--and like, it became like the funniest running joke for me--other people enjoyed it, too.
VB: But that van was so tall in that game that Travis could have opened the door with his teeth.
VB: Like that's where the handle was--it was on the level of his teeth.
VB: It's like, what is this, like a diesel truck van? Why is this like a monster truck van?
Bob: God. Speaking of running jokes, you should have walked up to it and tried to open it and James would have been like--
Bob: "Why is this car here?! It's obviously broken down."
VB: It's obviously broken, someone should move this car. Bob: What? Why is this still here??
Bob: But have you talked--are you gonna show the intro cinematic, or does that have too many spoilers in it for you?
VB: You mean the "attract" movie that plays when you idle too long? 
Bob: Yeah. 
VB: Yes, but I'm going to show the
version that doesn't have the extra VO (voiceover) and I'm saving that 'til later--'cause it only has VO on it when you complete the game.
Bob: Because it's interesting that there are a lot of scenes in that movie that did not make it into the final game--
VB: I know! 
Bob: and one of them involves Eddie and Laura being in front of that frickin' white van--
which makes me think that they wanted to do something with the white vans!
VB: There's some sort of conspiracy with these vans right? 
Bob: I know, right?
Bob: 'Cause they're everywhere! It's like weird! It seems like-- 
VB: It seems like they show up more than the other cars. I'm sure they don't but they're just more noticeable.
Bob: Definitely--because they're white frickin' vans!!
VB: They're like the only thing that's white in this whole friggin' place except the fog--like everything else is dirty and disgusting and then there's
like WHITE VAN. 
Bob: And when you think of like, all the creepiest cars--that's weird that came out of my mouth.
VB: White vans are up there as far as creepy cars go, yeah. 
Bob: Definitely.
Bob: Black vans seem like, "Okay,  that's criminal activity." White vans? Just like, "Okay---
"ANYTHING could be going on there!!" 
VB: [laughs]
VB: Anything!!
VB: I'm just pointing out that this road is too small for, like, even a single car.
VB: But it has signs that go both ways for both lanes of driving. It's like what?? It's like this town's trying to kill me!!
Bob: [pensively] Hmm..
VB: Like, that's nuts! This tiny road.
Bob: Yeah. 
VB: I never understood this road--
and it ends in a dead-end with a big fence in it too. Like what the hell's this road for?? 
Bob: I have no idea, man.
Bob: But this is one of those things where you could easily be like, "Oh, it's the town creating that, and not the-- VB: I don't know.
Bob: Sometimes Silent Hill really annoys me.
VB: [laughs] I know what you mean.
VB: It's like I want things to be at least a little consistent sometimes. 
Bob:  Just a little bit. 
VB: Because you can hand wave anything away
that's weird by being just like "Pfft, it's the town. They're weird. It's weird."
Bob: It's James recreating that road from his memory from the times of blahbleeblahbloo....
VB: [laughs] Yeah.
Bob: Wiltse. 
VB: Wiltse Road. See, it -is- a road.
VB: And there's car signs on it, but I don't know. 
Bob: Okay, tough question. Neely's Bar, or Bar Neely's?
VB: Oh, God. I think it's Neely's Bar because it makes more sense in English, and I think that they screwed it up...
VB: ...In other areas. 
Bob: What, time--Team Silent--time sealant, that's what I was going to say-- 
VB: Time Sealant! [laughs]
Bob: Time Sealant, you can use that for a bonus clip for your Patreon. 
VB: Oh, it sounds great.
VB: Perfect! 
Bob: But, uh, what was I gonna say? Oh, wow. Goodbye thought. 
VB: [laughter]
VB: Rip in Peace, thought! 
Bob: Shit.
VB: That thought's as dead as my wife!! Bah-dum-chhhh!
Bob: [groans] Awwww, shit.
VB: Bar Neely? Neely's Bar? Team Silent fucking up or not? 
Bob: Oh yeah. Team Silent can't fuck up. What are you talking about??
Bob: They DON'T make mistakes.
VB: No, it's impossible.
VB: Every single pixel of every single game that Team Silent has ever touched has been 100% perfect, glitch free, and intentional.
VB: THE END. That's my FINAL say on it. No discussion, everybody shut up, I'm right.
Bob: [sighs, groans] 
VB: I'm the best Silent Hill fan. 
Bob: No, I am. 
VB: No, I am! [etc]
VB: Where's your EVIDENCE?
VB: Anyway. Fandom jokes aside. 
Bob: Yes.
VB: That people won't get if they're not in the--the fandom is terrible. 
Bob: The fandom is awful. 
VB: Silent Hill is one of the worst fandoms.
VB: I mean, there's a lot of good stuff. But there's--the bad stuff is like SO...venomous. Like... oof.
VB: Some of the bad stuff is the baddest of stuff.
Bob: Oh, I love being able to just make out the figure of that....oh, I love it!
VB: [laughs] I just thought your sentence would would end with, "I just LOVE being able to make out."
Bob: Well, yeah. I love making out. It's great.
Bob: Everyone should make out all the time. 
VB: Make out with that wobbly guy who's walking away from us.
Bob: C'mere dude, I wanna smooch.
VB: I love that if you're like, no, I'm--I'm a reasonable person, I'm not following that thing--
the game's like "No, you're following that thing, don't be silly." 
Bob: Yeah, regardless of like-- 
VB: You're following it.
Bob: Regardless of whether you thought that was just a dude or not, it's like--
"Nope, we're gonna have to force you to do this, kinda against your will." Which is, I guess, thematic.
VB: It's kind of a nice way to put an invisible wall up, as the character is doing it--spooky van three!
VB: Like, I hate invisible walls of games, but if the character is invisible walling me I'm more likely to not be pissed about it.
Bob: Wait, is that van parked up on the damn curb?
VB: Most of the cars are. 
Bob: Damn, dude! 
VB: They're kind of halfway up because there is really no parking lane here.
Bob: It's true, but it seems kind of illegal.
Bob: I'm not--I'm just saying that that car should be towed. 
VB: That's--yes,  that van should be towed out of here.
Bob: I mean, it's obviously broken down.
VB: What's this doing here?
Where are all the cops around here?
VB: The only one I've ever seen it's from Brahms and that's 268 miles away!!
Bob: Let's go on a walk! 
VB: Was it 268 or 265? It doesn't matter. 260 something miles away.
Bob: Oh, people are gonna get mad at you now. 
VB: I'm not the best Silent Hill fan.
Bob: [haughty] You're making fun of Silent Hill fans and you can't even remember how many miles away Brahms is from Silent Hill?!?
VB: [laughs]
VB: Don't go in that spooky hole, James. 
Bob: James, no. James, no!
VB: James. 
Bob: No! 
VB: Don't. James, you are SO bad at this.
Bob: Fun fact, kind of, maybe possibly?
The tunnel here is very similar to a picture in P.T.
VB: That's right, yeah.
There's a inverted and upside-down picture in a picture frame in P.T. that looks a lot like this tunnel.
Bob: Oh, I love this reveal too. 
VB: Oh, it's so good. 
Bob:  Oh, the way the camera obscures him. ... or her.
VB: It. This thing. This monster guy. 
Bob: What up, dawg? 
VB: [laughs] James' reaction is like--
Bob: Uh... 
VB: Uh??
Bob: Ok, that's not what I was expecting.
VB: Just like the slightest little gasp. [gasp]
VB: Like somebody put an ice cube down his shirt or something. 
Bob: Look, if that was any reasonable person they'd be like [high-pitched scream] "Ahhhhhhhh!" 
VB: [laughs]
VB: And I'm like super bad at combat in this game. Like, I just was not on my "A game" for like--
this entire recording. 
Bob: Well, to be fair, this isn't like frickin' an action game.
VB: No, you're not supposed to be good at this. 
Bob: Yeah
Bob: Good question, James! 
VB: It's a Lying Figure!
Bob: Oh, is that because it's just dishonest? 
VB: Yeah, it's just always fibbin' about stuff. [clicks tongue]
[sighs] Always fibbin'.
Bob: What was the original name for those dudes?
VB: We used to call them "Patient Demons--"
Bob: Yeah! 
VB: But that apparently wasn't canon all along--or something--and now they're called "Lying Figures?" I'm not exactly sure.
VB: Hey, there's a dead guy here. This is like the only corpse he comments on, because after this point
he just can't give a shit about corpses anymore. Once you seen one you've seen them all.
Bob: I got better shit to do than comment on this corpse.
VB: I'm a busy man. I can't just comment on every corpse.
VB: It took me a long time to get that fucking pattern right on the wall. I hated it! 
Bob: Understatement of the gentry!
Vb: The... gentry? 
Bob: I can't read cursive.
