Am I (first time player) supposed to fully understand the story?

[tejofi]

First off I got the "In Water" ending.
Even now after finishing the game I still have A LOT of questions. Like: What did James do and why? He said he killed Mary but it was obviously the sickness as she said at the end. So the he killed her in his mind because it was too hard to bear?
Who is Maria? Still don't know. Is she supposed to be another "version" of Mary?
Who is Laura? What's her connection to Mary?

As you can see I have a lot of questions and many more. Could someone clarify at least some of my questions? That is without spoilering the other endings. I only got one (In Water)

Thanks in advance!

[Noobie]

You arent gonna get it all in one playthrough. The game is actively better each time because you piece more and more together

[Leon Scott Kennedy]

- He did kill her (Mary) using a pillow. Yes, the sickness killed her mentally but he is the one who killed her physically. She said that because she already forgave James even though he killed her.
- Maria is a perfect version of Mary which created by James' deepest desire (assuming Maria is not physically real)
- Laura is an orphan who once met Mary at the hospital (there's also theory said that Laura is a ghost and not real too)
- The "in water" ending is when James finally accepts his crime and the only way to redeem is by following Mary.

[Shae]

James killed Mary, like legitimately killed her. She didn't die to her sickness three years ago. Mary died within the week of Laura turning 8 years old hence the letter she received of Mary congratulating her for her birthday.

Maria is the embodiment of Mary but in James eyes, she's meant to be a more sultry and sensual version of her to represent James delusion.

Laura met Mary and befriended her before the events of Silent Hill took place. Mary intended to adopt her as written in the letter for her had things ended up differently for Mary.

That's about as best as I could summarise for your questions without revealing everything else. I'll let you work out the rest by playing more of the franchise.

[tejofi]

Originally posted by Shaelent:

James killed Mary, like legitimately killed her. She didn't die to her sickness three years ago. Mary died within the week of Laura turning 8 years old hence the letter she received of Mary congratulating her for her birthday.

Maria is the embodiment of Mary but in James eyes, she's meant to be a more sultry and sensual version of her to represent James delusion.

Laura met Mary and befriended her before the events of Silent Hill took place. Mary intended to adopt her as written in the letter for her had things ended up differently for Mary.

That's about as best as I could summarise for your questions without revealing everything else. I'll let you work out the rest by playing more of the franchise.

So if she didn't die 3 years ago from the sickness as James claims at the beginning of the game, when did she die? Or when did James kill her? Also 3 years ago?
The timeline I find also a bit confusing. Like when the events take place exactly.

[Shae]

Originally posted by LigmaBallz:

Originally posted by Shaelent:

James killed Mary, like legitimately killed her. She didn't die to her sickness three years ago. Mary died within the week of Laura turning 8 years old hence the letter she received of Mary congratulating her for her birthday.

Maria is the embodiment of Mary but in James eyes, she's meant to be a more sultry and sensual version of her to represent James delusion.

Laura met Mary and befriended her before the events of Silent Hill took place. Mary intended to adopt her as written in the letter for her had things ended up differently for Mary.

That's about as best as I could summarise for your questions without revealing everything else. I'll let you work out the rest by playing more of the franchise.

So if she didn't die 3 years ago from the sickness as James says at the beginning of the game, when did she die? Or when did James kill her? Also 3 years ago?
The timeline I find also a bit confusing. Like when the events take place exactly.

James killed her not long after Laura turned 8 years old so it's recent. The 3 year timeframe is probably when she got diagnosed with her sickness because it's said Mary ended up with a disease before the event of the game.

[Illusion of Progress]

Originally posted by LigmaBallz:

So if she didn't die 3 years ago from the sickness as James claims at the beginning of the game, when did she die? Or when did James kill her? Also 3 years ago?
The timeline I find also a bit confusing. Like when the events take place exactly.

It's heavily implied she died pretty much immediately before the events of the game.

Spoilers in case you don't want more backstory/endings...

It's implied that it is shortly after killing Mary, James returns to Silent Hill, probably with the intention to do what he does in the "In Water" ending you got.

In Water is where he can't overcome his guilt for what he did.

But pay attention to the letter Mary has written to both James and Laura. She tells Laura not to hate James and give him a chance, and she tells James she forgives him and that she wants him to live on.

In Water is where he fails to overcome his grief.

There's a complimentary ending where he overcomes it.

There's a third ending that I won't spoil but it involves Maria.

Those are the three "base" endings you can get on a first playthrough. The other five are obtainable only on additional plathroughs, and some are more of "what ifs" and some are even jokes.

Edit: I forgot to add this and since you got the In Water ending, this isn't spoiler-territory for you, but in that ending, when James looks in the mirror and then into the backseat, it's implied Mary's body is in the car with him. This (less likely he has a weeks/months old body rotting with him), paired with the "Mary couldn't have died three years ago" realization James has while reading the letter at the start of the hotel, where we find out it was closer to a week ago, means it was very recent.

After he starts the car and the scene goes Black and you hear the crash, it's implied he crashed the car/ended up into Toluca Lake, "joining" his wife.

[klimat13]

Mary gets sick three years ago.
She is put in a hospital where she gets worse with time, since her illness in uncurable.
The relationship between Mary and James also worsens, since James can't bear to see Mary suffer and is robbed of his happy married life, while Mary is in pain and is basically told she is going to die soon no matter what, so she's constantly miserable and lashes out at people around her, mostly on James.
In the hospital Mary befriends Laura, who is an orphan. We don't know what Laura's illness was, but apparently nothing too serious, since by the beginning of the game she's fine.
Shortly before the game starts, Mary is transfered from the hospital back to her home, since doctors can't do anything anyway and it's her last chance to see home before she dies.
Around one day before the game starts James kills Mary with a pillow, since he can't bear this whole situation anymore, can't see Mary suffer, can't bear to be burdened by her and so on.
James freaks out, puts Mary's body on the back seat of his car and rides to Silent Hill presumably to end himself in water.
James gets to the toilet to wash his face and right there in the intro of the game his mind snaps unable to accept what he's done. He gets in denial so deep he completely wipes his memories of the last three years erasing Mary's struggles, replacing those with a vague death three years ago as if it was an almost instantaneous occurrence. James's mind also constructs an elaborate fantasy about a non-existent letter and a possibility of Mary being alive to distract itself from reality even more and to give James some hope.

[tejofi]

Originally posted by Illusion of Progress:

Originally posted by LigmaBallz:

So if she didn't die 3 years ago from the sickness as James claims at the beginning of the game, when did she die? Or when did James kill her? Also 3 years ago?
The timeline I find also a bit confusing. Like when the events take place exactly.

It's heavily implied she died pretty much immediately before the events of the game.

Spoilers in case you don't want more backstory/endings...

It's implied that it is shortly after killing Mary, James returns to Silent Hill, probably with the intention to do what he does in the "In Water" ending you got.

In Water is where he can't overcome his guilt for what he did.

But pay attention to the letter Mary has written to both James and Laura. She tells Laura not to hate James and give him a chance, and she tells James she forgives him and that she wants him to live on.

In Water is where he fails to overcome his grief.

There's a complimentary ending where he overcomes it.

There's a third ending that I won't spoil but it involves Maria.

Those are the three "base" endings you can get on a first playthrough. The other five are obtainable only on additional plathroughs, and some are more of "what ifs" and some are even jokes.

Edit: I forgot to add this and since you got the In Water ending, this isn't spoiler-territory for you, but in that ending, when James looks in the mirror and then into the backseat, it's implied Mary's body is in the car with him. This (less likely he has a weeks/months old body rotting with him), paired with the "Mary couldn't have died three years ago" realization James has while reading the letter at the start of the hotel, where we find out it was closer to a week ago, means it was very recent.

After he starts the car and the scene goes Black and you hear the crash, it's implied he crashed the car/ended up into Toluca Lake, "joining" his wife.

Thanks very much. This explains a lot!

[River Victor]

If you look closely at the rear of James' car at the beginning, you see vague shape of something draped in blanket. I believe you know what that is.

Her body is recent. She couldn't have died 3 years ago. It's that when someone's mind broke, he mixed the mental construct with real info. She was diagnosed 3 years ago, but he mixed the number up to construct the time she died to evade his guilt. Couple that with Mary's letter to Laura. You wish someone happy birthday near the date and not more than a year ahead, so the letter is very near Laura's birthday. A month or two at most, not last year, can't possibly be 3 years ago. The exact time is up to your imagination, but her body possibly couldn't have decomposed. You will see her in different endings.

Everything James see in this town in the manifestation of his guilt and desire for punishment. (The town was empowered by the entity from Silent Hill 1, but only the results of it is relevant to Silent Hill 2.) All common monsters that you can kill are feminine and signify different aspects of Mary. All except The Red Pyramid Thing, which actually is James, or his guilt. You notice that he can't beat this guy. He just avoids them until the end. Once he accepts the truth, Pyramidies surrender and die. The achievement says "Obsolete": Destroy what you don't need.

Eddie and Angela are called here for the same reason. They're both sinners with traumas. Angela was obviously SA survivor and killed her SAs. Eddie shot someone out of anger for being bullied. Their Silent Hills are different from yours, but you caught a glimpse of it when you fought Abstract Daddy, which is her Silent Hill leaking into yours. That and the burning staircase, on which she commented "For me, it's always like this."

Only Laura is without sin. She's just a child. She is totally unaffected by the creation of the town as there's nothing within her to haunt her. "You can get hurt!." "BY WHAT?" She's here to look for Mary because Mary didn't tell her she would die, and she kept mentioning Silent Hill.

Maria is the town and James' construct. She's the idealized version of Mary. Seductive, healthy, always wants him. You'll notice that only James can see and interact with her. In the cutscene that contains both her and Laura, Laura did not react to her. She's also the town's punishment to him and she's there for him to see her die over and over. This is why she keeps coming back. Once after the hospital, once the labyrinth, once before the duo boss, and once more as the final boss. And ONCE more depending on your ending. This is confirmed by the fact that her playable scenario in the original game is called "Born From A Wish."

[River Victor]

Also, the letter from Mary was never there. If you check the letter after you kill Eddie, it's blank. It's gone completely by the end of the game.

[Mastodon_2]

You finished the game. Congratulations, time to dive into the Silent Hill deep lore.

[burumanet]

The revelation that James killed Mary was the first genuine shock I received from a video game as a kid. It gave me chills. In the original game when you popped the VHS into the VCR you could clearly see him smothering her with the pillow. It does seem a bit harder to make out what is happening in the video this time around but it's there.

[Sifer2]

They censored the videotape sadly in the remake it's difficult to see but James uses a pillow to smother his wife. The fact you were denied that big reveal in-game, and were confused about it is why I hate that sort of censorship. It ruined the most dramatic moment in the game.

[Noobie]

Originally posted by Sifer2:

They censored the videotape sadly in the remake it's difficult to see but James uses a pillow to smother his wife. The fact you were denied that big reveal in-game, and were confused about it is why I hate that sort of censorship. It ruined the most dramatic moment in the game.

Its not censored at all its in the tape. Very clearly in the tape in fact.

[RobBobBrah]

Originally posted by River Victor:

If you look closely at the rear of James' car at the beginning, you see vague shape of something draped in blanket. I believe you know what that is.

Her body is recent. She couldn't have died 3 years ago. It's that when someone's mind broke, he mixed the mental construct with real info. She was diagnosed 3 years ago, but he mixed the number up to construct the time she died to evade his guilt. Couple that with Mary's letter to Laura. You wish someone happy birthday near the date and not more than a year ahead, so the letter is very near Laura's birthday. A month or two at most, not last year, can't possibly be 3 years ago. The exact time is up to your imagination, but her body possibly couldn't have decomposed. You will see her in different endings.

Everything James see in this town in the manifestation of his guilt and desire for punishment. (The town was empowered by the entity from Silent Hill 1, but only the results of it is relevant to Silent Hill 2.) All common monsters that you can kill are feminine and signify different aspects of Mary. All except The Red Pyramid Thing, which actually is James, or his guilt. You notice that he can't beat this guy. He just avoids them until the end. Once he accepts the truth, Pyramidies surrender and die. The achievement says "Obsolete": Destroy what you don't need.

Eddie and Angela are called here for the same reason. They're both sinners with traumas. Angela was obviously SA survivor and killed her SAs. Eddie shot someone out of anger for being bullied. Their Silent Hills are different from yours, but you caught a glimpse of it when you fought Abstract Daddy, which is her Silent Hill leaking into yours. That and the burning staircase, on which she commented "For me, it's always like this."

Only Laura is without sin. She's just a child. She is totally unaffected by the creation of the town as there's nothing within her to haunt her. "You can get hurt!." "BY WHAT?" She's here to look for Mary because Mary didn't tell her she would die, and she kept mentioning Silent Hill.

Maria is the town and James' construct. She's the idealized version of Mary. Seductive, healthy, always wants him. You'll notice that only James can see and interact with her. In the cutscene that contains both her and Laura, Laura did not react to her. She's also the town's punishment to him and she's there for him to see her die over and over. This is why she keeps coming back. Once after the hospital, once the labyrinth, once before the duo boss, and once more as the final boss. And ONCE more depending on your ending. This is confirmed by the fact that her playable scenario in the original game is called "Born From A Wish."

An interesting note is how Maria becomes lethargic (sick) when they reach the hospital. Also, well summarized.

Originally posted by Noobie:

Originally posted by Sifer2:

They censored the videotape sadly in the remake it's difficult to see but James uses a pillow to smother his wife. The fact you were denied that big reveal in-game, and were confused about it is why I hate that sort of censorship. It ruined the most dramatic moment in the game.

Its not censored at all its in the tape. Very clearly in the tape in fact.

The uncensored version has Mary shrieking as she is being smothered to death and it lasts for a good while. I may have seen it differently as a young boy 20 years ago, but I could've sworn James also does a humping motion on top of her after she's dead. I might be mistaken but I bought the very first version of the game days after its release.