(Be aware that Silent Hill F is a fantastic game but has very, very dark themes)
Right now, the voice actor for the protagonist Hinako of Silent Hill F is a big deal in Japan. She started a YouTube channel to stream her woefully-unprepared-self playing this horror masterpiece. She speaks quickly with a good dose of casual Japanese as she chats with the people watching the stream, and I think it's a good example of "hanging with friends" Japanese, and you can read the stream chat as it goes along for more practice.
Although not quite as popular, her colleague (who voice-acted Rinko in the game) is also streaming herself playing Silent Hill. She speaks slowly and clearly and is considerably more formal. A big bonus with Rinko is that she very clearly reads the in-game text out loud (Hinako just says she hates reading). There is no stream chat displayed in the YT video, although she does chat with viewers throughout.
Both streamers make for fantastic practice! I've learnt a lot watching them.
This is awesome, I'm a huge fan of that game and thought i was on the silent hill f sub for a moment. This has somehow missed me, I'll check it out!
I just finished the game yesterday and loved it! The Rinko voice actress is much better to watch if you want to see the gameplay, Hinako is very wild and makes slow progress although she's more engaged with the audience.
Specifically for language leaening, do you have a preference? I'm still very much a beginner (halfway through Genki 1).
Hinako speaks so quickly that a beginner may struggle to recognize or even tell apart the words. That said, she frequently repeats phrases that will be useful anytime you play games with Japanese people (or watch videos of it).
Rinko would probably be better for general listening practice, but because she speaks a bit more formally she definitely uses more varied grammar and vocabulary.
Both present their own challenges but also their own benefits! The best one to watch is the one you enjoy the most!
This post reminds me that I have to do my 2nd run, because I wanted another specific ending. My first run, I accidentally put all the puzzles on max difficulty.... And that was a small mistake on my part because although I grew up playing Silent Hill from the original, the puzzles on max difficulty are insane on SHf.
How scary is Silent Hill F? Some youtube vids got recommended to me so I was curious about this game, but I'm a scaredy cat so I don't wanna play it if it's too scary.
There are plenty of jump scares from the enemies, an oppressively haunting atmosphere, as well as body horror and other horrible events.
That said, I found that it wasn't horror for horror's sake, it's very much in service of the story. If you can handle it, it is a powerfully artistic game. Certainly, though, it's not for the faint of heart.
Does the game have any options to reduce jump scares or other very scary situations? I really appreciated those features in Outer Wilds and Soma.
If you're easily scared then it's a no no. They intentionally make some parts quite uncomfortable for the easily scared people.
I knew about Hinako but didn't know about Rinko! Thank you so much for posting this!
Even though she's a little stiff on camera compared to Hinako, Rinko is a great watch. She is much better at playing the game and breezes through it on her own, while Hinako dies every 30secs and asks chat how to do everything.
noting this very much given ryukishi07's work is giving me the push to get back into learning to begin with :)
Isn't she not just the voice actor but also the physical model?
Oh, fun. I've been playing through Silent Hill f in Japanese. It's been a great experience. The hardest parts of the game to understand are the notes, and I've been screenshotting them and transferring them to my computer to check my understanding and mine from them.
Don't want to spoil anything right now, but I'll definitely take a look at these streams once I've finished.
The notes are extremely cryptic! They are meant to be hard to understand, which kinda sucks for us learners.
Honestly, I’ve been able to mostly work it out but there are a couple things with old grammar that I haven’t learned yet that were a little rough.
I happened to be watching a video on the game today and they mentioned how bad the scarecrow puzzle was, which is odd because I messed up multiple times but it was mostly on me. Looked up the English hints and I understood, they’re worded so weirdly and confusingly. Made me glad I was playing in Japanese for that part.
Definitely saving this for later since I don’t think I’m quite at the level to follow it yet, but it sounds really fun and great for immersion! I love watching gameplay, although it’s rare to come across stuff that isn't overwhelming for beginners, sadly.
Nice one! Are there any other recommendations for gaming youtuber with more easy and casual japanese besides her?
Second that.
This is awesome, thanks!
I've been immersing for a few months now on material made for japanese learners (nihongo con teppei, Japanese with Shun, etc.)
Was looking to branch into native material as well so this is perfect!
Cool!
Oh this is so cool! I loved the game so much.
saved, and downloaed. thx. gonna listen to this for the next month or so.
Yeah. But you can also just watch vtubers. At the end of the day, just watch what you like
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Correct, and OP is providing another option for those interested.