Silent Hill 2: Extra Riddle Mode In-Depth FAQ Author: XykoJester (xykojester@indigonova.com) Version 1.0, created 8.10.2 This document Copyright 2002 by Branden "XykoJester" Conley. Any reproductions part or in full must be done with written authority. ----- ---- --- -- - Table of Contents A: The Coin Puzzle (Quick) B: How to Unlock Extra Riddle Mode C: Playing With Extra Riddle Mode D: The Safe Puzzle E: The Coin Puzzle (Full) F: The Coin Puzzle (Another Perspective) G: The Innocent Man Puzzle H: Contact Info This guide was made specifically for the English PlayStation 2 version of Silent Hill 2. However, due to the limited focus of the guide, I'm fairly certain that everything in here is also applicable to all OTHER English versions of Silent Hill 2, which would include the XBox (and soon to be) PS2 versions of Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams. ***** --- A: The Coin Puzzle (Quick) Answer: Old Man, space, Snake, Prisoner, space If your trek through Extra Mode went ANYTHING like mine did, this is all you're here for. For the explanation of why this is the answer, see below. ***** --- B: How to Unlock Extra Riddle Mode According to the rest of the internet, to get Extra Riddle Mode, you have to beat through the game on all three of the riddle modes. I'm not sure if this is true or not. I'm willing to bet that you only have to beat it on Hard mode to unlock Extra Mode, but I haven't actually verified this yet. Expect a definite answer to this question in a future update of this FAQ. In the meantime, you should beat all three riddle modes ANYWAY. They're fun puzzles, and if you're so set on completely obliterating the hardest riddle mode, then you probably like puzzles. Also, the text is VERY different from mode to mode, and some of it (the Innocent Man puzzle in particular) is fairly interesting. ***** --- C: Playing With Extra Riddle Mode You've been through the game with every riddle mode, but you STILL didn't unlock the Extra mode. One of two things has happened. You might not have used the same game start every time. When you beat the game, it will give you the opportunity to save your file, and replay the game again from that file. In order to unlock Extra mode, you MUST load that file before going to New Game (in yellow, to symbolize the "Next Fear" or whatever). Yes, the game will auto load the Game Start file if you have one on the card, but if you have more than one, it will load the first one in it's list, which is not necessarily the one you're working on. So to be safe, always load the Game Start file before hitting new game. If this is your problem, I can not help you. You've been through the game a few times, but they weren't all on the same file. I'm so sorry. *heh* But you're gunna have to do it all again. The other problem is that the game isn't very clear that you've UNLOCKED Extra mode. I stumbled upon this quite by accident. To play Extra Riddle Mode, unlock it, and then play through on Hard mode. When you save your game it will say that you are playing in Extra Riddle Mode, and the Safe, Coin, and Innocent Man puzzles will be different from Hard Mode. ***** --- D: The Safe Puzzle When I went through the slip of paper in the wallet says a >> 3 << 4 >> 5. I just figured that "a" was, most logically, the number proceeding this sequence, and since the first direction was "right" that I'd need to go left to get to it to start the puzzle. But this IS Extra Riddle Mode and it IS supposed to be much harder than the other ones, right?. After beating the game on Extra Riddle Mode, I found another FAQ that includes the Extra Riddle Mode solutions... Where was it when I needed it, eh? Anyway, Chris Parker's FAQ @ http://www.megagames.com/megacheats/files/silenthill2walkthru.txt credits "renholder" with THIS solution: "The numbers only go 1-9. After 9, letters take their place. A=1, b=2, c-3 and so on. Take the number of the letter and add 9 onto it to get the number you need. For instance you have 8>>f<<4>>g, it will equal 8>>15<<4>>16. F=6+9. G=7+9." If Chris Parker and renholder are right, then I must have, somehow, accidentally gone through "10" on my way to spin to "2". I'm going to go through the game AGAIN and check this out. One way or another, I'll have a solution for you when I update this FAQ. But, since the safe doesn't give you anything more than handgun bullets, and is completely optional, I'm going to finish out this FAQ "as-is" for now. ***** --- E: The Coin Puzzle (Full) Answer: Old Man, space, Snake, Prisoner, space If you examine the coins, they will have a reverse side, which they don't have in any of the other riddle modes. You can't put the coins in with they're backside showing, so this really only helps in solving the puzzle. I wasn't sure how this helped. I didn't SOLVE this one... After fooling with it for a couple hours, breaking down and checking http://www.gamefaqs.com for the answer, and not finding it, I did what every devout gamer should do before giving up: I said "[expletive deleted] the [expletive deleted] puzzle! I can get past here WITHOUT solving it!" and I spent ANOTHER couple hours trying EVERY POSSIBLE COMBINATION. So I got the answer you see above. *points* Eventually. But I noticed that the answer there *points again* is the same answer as one of the first ones I tried PREVIOUSLY before giving up, but I had it backwards... space, Prisoner, Snake, space, Old Man. Here is what I THINK is the reasoning behind this answer, but it all hinges on the idea that it's implying that the puzzle moves right to left. It is nothing more than my flummoxed assumptions. If anybody has a better answer, let me know. -- Like coins in the hazy aether tossed Our Souls must by their sinful weight Descend to earth with lightness lost To "right" the sins that they hath laid When thrice in falling they intone Then Happiness shall be thy own The first note be not by the Horned One rung Though it be there that all sins be sprung the Bringer of Life and the Bringer of Shame The sins of the latter be even more tame Though coming in the Aged One's wake The Formless One's soul in fear doth quake The Needless One, silent with hungers all sated Is least then in sin with his lusts all abated For the gravest of sinners His place be appointed And if he be lucky may his soul be anointed -- So, the first verse is nothing more than the intro filler stuff. "Use the coins" basically. It explains that the order of the coins has something to do with the order of the sins represented by the coins. I think the "with lightness lost" line means that, left to right, the crimes are getting worse. Then the second verse has the "right" line... Which, I think means that they are listing the crimes from right to left... I can't think of any other reason why the word would be in quotes, and when teamed up with the "lightness lost" line it makes the rest of this solution make sense. The line "When thrice in falling they intone" lets you know that there are three coins in 5 slots, and also relates the coins falling into the slots, or whatever, as "tones". Which leads to the first line of the third verse... ...which says the "first note be not by the Horned One rung, though it be there that all sins be sprung". Who is the Horned One that all sins are sprung from here? Well, Biblically, the first sin was when Adam and Eve were coerced into eating from the Tree of Good and Evil by Satan in a snake's form. Satan is also typically portrayed (when not a snake) as having horns. Or maybe its the Crescent Moon on the back of the snake coin (looking like horns) that make him the Horned One? So, the first (right-most) coin is NOT the snake, though it IS the source of sin. It is also implying that being the source of sin does not necessarily make him the worst of the three sinners. Then, in the fourth verse, "The sins of the latter be even more tame" explains that the "Bringer of Life" apparently had crimes worse than "Bringer of Shame". The Bringer of Life is the Prisoner, because woman give birth ("Bringing Life"), or because the Eggs on the back of her coin bring life. I think the Bringer of Shame is the snake (mentioned again), because after the snake talked Adam and Eve into eating the fruit, the two were filled with shame and ran off to cover their naked bodies: the Snake brought shame. So we know so far that 1) the Snake is NOT the first (furthest right) coin, and 2) the woman is WORSE (heavier sin, thus further right) than he is. So we know that of the three coins, the Snake is to the left of (though not necessarily immediately next to) the Prisoner. In the fifth verse, "The Aged One" can be nothing other than the Old Man. "The Formless One" is an empty space; without form. This "Formless one" comes in the wake of the Aged One, which means it's BEHIND him. From right to left, that means that there is a space just to the right of the Old Man. Sixth verse: "The Needless One, silent" is the Old Man. There is a grave on the back of his coin, which signifies his death. He has neither needs, nor the ability to make noise. Snakes hiss, women... make woman noises, but dead people just sit there and rot. (Unless you're playing Resident Evil *grin*) So, because he's dead, and has had his hunger sated and his lusts abated (he is dead, and thus he has no more sinful desires), he "is least then in sin", and, moving right to left, takes up the left-most hole. Since we're not talking about tones being rung, or anything like that, and we've actually given a name to at least ONE of the spaces, being "least in sin" means he's in the left-most hole. Add a Formless One in the wake of (immediately to the right of) the Aged One, and you've got: "Old Man, space". Since the Snake is less bad than the Prisoner, it means that following "Old Man, space" is either "Snake, space, Prisoner", "space, Snake, Prisoner" or "Snake, Prisoner, space". The first of the three possibilities is the solution to the Easy Mode puzzle, which would be pretty lame to repeat, and the second one would leave the Formless "Two" following in the Aged One's wake (Old Man, space, space). Which leaves the final answer... "Old Man, space, Snake, Prisoner, space" With the riddle solved, the seventh verse is there just to sound pretty, I guess. Either that, or it's saying that the "gravest of sinners" (the Old Man, punned to death) is the last (most left) place. Then, it says that he might, "if he be lucky", have his soul "anointed", meaning it is made holy. But since it only talks about one of them getting this special forgiveness, then you would THINK it would be the Old Man, with the least sin. The only thing that throws this off is that, grammatically, the "gravest" of sinners would be the WORST one. But I think they're dropping grammar for the sake of the pun. ***** --- F: The Coin Puzzle (Another Perspective) According to the OTHER FAQ I found (Chris Parker's FAQ @ http://www.megagames.com/megacheats/files/silenthill2walkthru.txt), THIS is the reason the answer works. "The Aged one is the Old Man, who is in the first slot. He is a bringer of life and shame. It says the Horned One, the Formless One trails behind him on the third falling. Thus the snake coin is in the third slot. Finally, the Needless One is silent and is kept away from sinning, all hungers sated in his prison. Obviously, he pays for his sins by being close to the Horned One (who I assume is the devil), so place the Prisoner right after the snake." His is obviously much shorter, and easier to read, but I really don't see how he came up with it. Here is why I think this isn't the answer: This is NOT a bash on Chris Parker, who seems to have written an otherwise fairly extensive FAQ. It is simply a comparison of solutions with THE ONLY OTHER EXTRA MODE FAQ ON THE INTERNET. 1) How is the Old Man the bringer of life and shame? He IS older than the woman, but he ISN'T older than the snake who (by his own admission, later) is supposed to be Satan, who came LONG before people. And even so, I don't see how it makes him the Bringer of Life. And there really isn't any connection to him being the bringer of shame. Also, with the way the puzzle is worded, the Bringer of Life and Bringer of Shame have to be two different people, or you couldn't compare them by saying "the latter"... For how could the Old Man's crimes be "even more tame" than "the latter one" who is ALSO the Old Man? 2) The Horned One and the Formless One are probably not the same person: If you have no form, where would you hang the horns? *lol* And I'm not sure where he gets "the third falling" part, unless it's from the lines "When thrice in falling they intone Then Happiness shall be thy own" since that's the only other place that the word "three" (or a derivation there of) comes up... It's pretty clear that it's saying when you put all three coins in you will find "Happiness" (solving the puzzle, getting the key, etc.) 3) The Needless One CAN'T be the Prisoner, if for no other reason than The Needless One (supposedly a female Prisoner) is called "he" several times. Also, his definition of "sated" seems to be a little off: someone would not have their "hungers sated in prison" unless they happened to be fed really well there. *lol* The bit about the Prisoner paying for her crimes by being close to the Horned One seems to work, since sinners get thrown in hell with Satan. But since it isn't ANYWHERE in the puzzle itself, I'm inclined to think that this is just a coincidence. 4) The back of the coins don't come in here ANYWHERE, even though Extra mode is the only time you get to see them. I am aware that I only BARELY fit that part in, but mine works, at least. But with this solution, the backside of the coin actually works AGAINST him. Here, the tombstone is on the back of the Bringer of Life, Bringer of Shame, though a tombstone represents death. Death doesn't bring life, and death FREES a person from shame (Ever heard of seppuku? *lol*). 5) What happened to the "with lightness lost" line? According to this solution, the crimes actually get lighter as you move through it... And why is the word "right" the only one in quotes? I know that sometimes part of the puzzle is just there to throw you off, like the "the other one, my secret name" and "I'll take care of you four ever" lines, but this seems to be a little more significant. That's enough nitpicking from me. Especially since I'm not THAT sure of my answer anyway. Got any other ideas? ***** --- G: The Innocent Man Puzzle Answer: The Thief is innocent. This one I'm sure of. At one point in the puzzle, after setting up the whole "one guy is innocent" bit, it says "The bloodstains remaining are proof of their guilt" and then goes on to list them. -- The white bandages stained with crimson The remains upon the scorched black earth The whispered cries of the maiden They are but meaningless contract They are also signs of guilt. But one of them was done without reason. It was done out of fear and a ripe imagination. -- So, white bandages stained with crimson (blood, obviously) is either Murder or Bodily Injury. But if the victim is dead, you don't bandage them, right? So the first guilty man is Bodily Injury. Scorched black earth. Arson. That one's easy. The whispered cries of the maiden? Kidnapping. It certainly isn't arson. *lol* At first I just dismissed the "meaningless contract" line as being just random filler. That would leave Swindling, Murder, and Thievery. Then it goes on to talk about a crime committed "out of fear and a ripe imagination"... I can't see someone robbing or conning someone out of fear, so that had to be Murder. And, on a hunch, I figured they DID mention a "meaningless contract" even if it wasn't directly related to the signs of guilt. So, in the spirit of 50/50 guesses, I figured my odds were better that it was the Thief who was innocent. And there you have it. ***** --- H: Contact Info Got a problem with my FAQ? Any reason why I'm wrong? Any OTHER reasons why I'm right? Questions, comments, anything for the good of the cause? Am I unclear anywhere? Any obvious spelling errors or anything like that? If you have ANY reason to tell me ANYTHING, email me at xykojester@indigonova.com. This document Copyright 2002 by Branden "XykoJester" Conley. Any reproductions part or in full must be done with written authority.