The Perfect Siren

Siren, or Forbidden Siren (depending on where you hail from), is a trilogy of survival horror video games.  Siren and Siren 2 were released on the PS2, while the third installment (Siren: Blood Curse) was a PS3 launch game.  For the most part the gameplay is standard over-the-shoulder fare.  The one outstanding mechanic is the "Sight Jack" system.  Basically this mechanic allows the player to switch between different character POVs.  It's the only video game I can think of that makes significant use of the second-person perspective.  I've already talked about Siren before here, so rather than recap I want to focus on how one might fuse the trilogy into a single quintessential experience.

While interesting and unique horror games in their own right, all three Siren titles suffer from the same fundamental problem - none of them are able to achieve their vision.  The first game has the best storyline and characters.  To elaborate on the original game a bit more, the ensemble cast all have distinct character arcs.  It also has some aspects to the design and plot that qualify as fridge brilliance.  The strange holy symbol (featured prominently on the box art) being the arrangement of wood planks that were used to carry the "Datatsushi" (the eldritch abomination responsible for everything) to the village is one example.  Sight Jacking being the result of the Datatsushi's hive mind, and insect-like growths on cursed villagers being manifestations of it's physical form are two more.  One small detail that Siren: Blood Curse does improve on is making the "Uryen" an alien artifact rather than an ancient clay figurine.  The third game takes it one step further too by having the power of the Uryen infused into the katana "Homuranagi."  Before there really wasn't any explanation as to why these two objects were seemingly magical, but now both have some kind of explanation for their supernatural properties.

Siren 2 has the best gameplay thanks to a number of small, but cumulatively noticeable quality-of-life improvements.  There's more variety in terms of enemy designs, and playable characters run the gambit from a defenseless secondary school student to a soldier armed with an assault rifle.  The result is a lot of different scenarios that help keep things fresh.  Some of the characters have unique abilities such as being able to control whoever they are sight jacking, or seeing visions of past events.  One character (like Miyako in the first game) is blind, but has a guide dog that they have to literally see through in order to navigate certain areas.  

Meanwhile, Siren: Blood Curse is a remake of sorts and tries to trim down the cast by merging or making composites out of the original characters.  A smaller cast means more time to develop each character in theory, but it practice the characters are more erratic.  The originals were sometimes a bit one note, but at least they were consistent.  Another swing and miss is the thematic concept of strangers in a strange land.  All but two of the major characters in Siren: Blood Curse are Americans meaning that language barriers and cultural differences could be an interesting way to play up the horror, but it really isn't used effectively.  In fact, the English localization of the original Siren tweaked certain characters in weird ways.  Miyako Kajiro is a lot more sassy in Japanese than English, and Tamon Takeuchi is much less of a jerk.  The professors assistant asking if he is armed with a real gun might sound like a silly question to an American audience, but it makes sense in Japan since it's a country that doesn't allow private citizens to own side-arms unless they are fake.

There's are some other changes that are neither better nor worse, but simply different.  The final boss in the first Siren is the Datasushi, a cross between a crustacean, sea dragon and a dogū.  In Blood Curse this end game foe is replaced by the "Kaiko," an ever-changing collection of insect parts.  The roof and floor of the boss arena are made up of kaleidoscopes, a mesmerizing effect that lacks the simple elegance of the original's reflective three-sided pyramid shrouded in mist.

Sorry if this blog post comes across as a scatter-brained mess.  Much like the Siren series itself though it's hard to explain in manner that isn't a convoluted mess.  Even so, I stand by my assertation that this IP has some serious discrepancies between concept and execution.  I suppose that can be said for a lot of games, but in the case this franchise it's painfully clear when certain aspects of the design failed to really come together in a satisfactory way.  Because of that, I feel there is still an ideal version of Siren waiting to be made.  Then again who knows how many would answer the call once more...