Weird Video Wednesday: WTF moments with Forbidden Siren 2 (PS2)
It was obvious from the off that something wasn’t quite right with this girl. You play as the guy helping her, and when you find her she’s stumbling about in the dark with zombies everywhere, a little bit too concerned about finding her mother as opposed to her own survival. Plus other normal people you come across accuse her of being a witch and attempt to physically assault her several times. All in all there are some pretty bad omens for this character. Still, when she starts undressing, well, let’s just say it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
For fear of spoilers, I haven’t watched this entire video. The first half of the video is a minor spoiler (i.e. something you come across quite early in the game), while the second half is from somewhere beyond where I’ve gotten to in-game. To be honest, I might never make it to the video’s second half in the game, as Forbidden Siren 2 (aka Siren 2 in North America) can be a frustrating experience; on more than one occasion I’ve started a level, only for something crucial to not activate. Net result: I run around completely clueless for an interminable period unsure of what to do, go to GameFAQs, discover that the game withheld some vital information, and then I swear. Lots.
Very Very Gaming 
I have not heard of this game, but it seems very strange. I was not expecting that girl to look like that underneath her clothes either, is she the Forbidden Siren of the title? Luring people to her lair? I have also had problems with crucial things not activating in games. While playing Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, I completed a task in one level, but could not find a way to proceed. After spending a few hours searching everywhere in a few levels, I killed a motionless enemy and the way forward just appeared.
That is a good idea, I hadn’t thought of that. I honestly don’t know who or what “Forbidden Siren” actually is, the story is non-linear in this game and as a result is pretty confusing. There’s a lot of different characters and all of them have amnesia, and these special powers… I believe the person responsible for the story directed the first Silent Hill game, so this game shares a lot in common with that series. With that in mind, these characters are possibly all dead, or in purgatory, or something…?
Your experience with Last Revelation sounds excruciating. It’s such a frustrating experience, wasting all that time when you’ve actually done everything you need to progress. This is one of the main reasons why I doubt I’m going to come back to this game, it just makes me angry. Did they just not test it?
This game seems more interesting. How does the story work? Does it follow each character as they discover more? Then change character? It seems strange for a game which seems to feature characters discovering something unusual to also have an in-depth backstory, usually these sort of backstories are used when an event has occurred and the player discovers more about the event by following a character, while other stories follow a character as they encounter strange events and feature less backstory because that is not the focus of the story. It is also interesting when a developer, with a reputation for using an innovative idea in a story, develops a story which uses a similar effect to explore a character’s psychology. Reminds me of Zack Snyder using ideas from the 300 film in Sucker Punch film.