YMMV / Silver Falls Gaiden: Deathly Delusion Destroyers and Ruby River

• Funny Moments:
  • In his introduction scene, Dr. Allerdyce refers to Gus as "the only patient who smiles when I give him a prostate exam." Gus is baffled for a second, then realizes that the doctor is just messing with him.
  • In her introduction scene, Mimmet theorizes about what could have happened to Cooper, such as getting mauled by a bear in his sleep, or getting ripped apart by a pack of wolves. Gus is annoyed, but doesn't take it personal.
  • One of the random Diner people mentions that he ordered a water-powered flashlight. If you look through Cooper's magazine in Ruby River, he'll be wonder how something like that would even work.
• Difficulty Spike: Regular missions in Deathly Delusion Destroyers are for level and item grinding, and aren't very difficult. But if you try a mission on Challenge Mode or beyond and don't understand the mechanics or build a proper team, you will get wrecked very quickly. Also, the enemies in Ruby River are programmed to be more aggressive at night, which will definitely catch you off guard if you tend to play at those hours.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Gus is apprehensive about asking for help, because he doesn't know how people from a small mountain town will react to a gay couple. Everyone either knows or has heard about it, and nearly all of them don't care. Special mention goes to Sam, who sternly tells him to stop wasting time and accept himself.
  • Slim is such an alcoholic mess that he's unable to help wit the search. It's later revealed that the townsfolk secretly takes turns checking to make sure he's still alive on the mornings after his binge drinking, and that Gus was the one who organized the plan. Slim has no idea until Dr. Allerdyce tells him in attempt to get him to quit.
  • Dr. Allerdyce himself used to be an even wore alcoholic, and credits the support of the town for helping him turn his life around.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The monster of Ruby River looks like a gigantic shark and mermaid hybrid, with a bony white body covered in red splotches, and bull skull for a head. Its back is covered in moss and leaves, and it uses long, thin, arm-like appendages to crawl rapidly along the ground. The worst part is that you usually need to be near water to trigger its appearance, so you might mistake its sounds for flowing water until it's too late to run.
  • The minor enemies in Ruby River are rabbits, goats, and birds. But occasionally - and more frequently at night - their models will be covered in red, fleshy textures. The same thing happens in Deathly Delusion Destroyers, but with more varied designs. It makes you wonder if these monsters are just nocturnal, or if something changes them in the night.
  • Several characters are alien abduction victims that can remember at least some of what happened, but half the town doesn't believe them.
  • At least 3 different buildings in Silver Falls are rumored to be haunted. If you've played the other games, however, you know that those aren't just rumors.
  • The morning fog can cause people to get lost for what seems like days at a time. It even even drove one man insane.
  • Slim talks about a wide variety of cryptids. The creepiest of which is the Facestealer, which steals the faces and voices of people to lure their loved ones into the forest.
• Paranoia Fuel:
  • Holt reveals that since the 3 Down Stars incident a few weeks ago, He has different memories from everyone else, such as his aunt Sarah dying 6 years ago, whereas his uncle Arnalt says they've been divorced for 6 years. He also doesn't recognize some of the Midnight Falcons albums Georgia has. This raises all kinds of questions and possibilities, all of which are sinister.
  • One of the loading screens reveals that Silver Falls served as the inspiration and even filming location for Midnight Realm, an iconic '50s sci-fi show created by Bill Brandish. However, Bill tried intentionally ruining the final season after a supposed alien encounter. None of his efforts worked. But then a fire mysteriously destroyed the warehouse where all the footage was kept, so none of the final season aired. His grandson, Bull, bought all the land where the show was filmed at, and had it fenced off. None of this is further explained, leaving the player to theorize what happened.
• Quicksand Box: You have to figure out pretty much everything in Ruby River by using good, old-fashioned experimentation. The game doesn't tell you anything, aside from the warning to stay out of the water. Exploring the menu will reveal that you can build structures, furniture, equipment, and food, but not their individual functionalities. While the obvious choice is to seek out the river itself, there's no indication of what to do aside from picking up whatever items are strewn on the ground. It's not until later on in Deathly Delusion Destroyers that a feature unlocks which makes boxes of weapons and ammo randomly wash up on the riverbank.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Weather effects in Ruby River can wreak havoc on your HP and stamina bars, and there's no way to predict when they'll happen. There are ways around this, like building a structure with a roof, using a campfire and bath, and the assorted armors. But in the early game when you've barely got enough materials to make anything, a sudden shift in the weather can screw you over in a matter of seconds.
• Special Effect Failure: Ruby River lets you explore a massive area. But even with the limited draw distance on the 3DS, it leaves much to be desired. Trees will appear as green placeholder blobs until you get enough close to them. Entire hills will flicker in and out of existence depending on how fast you're walking and how the camera is angled. It can also rain despite being completely sunny, because there are only a few sky graphics.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Gus's apprehension about asking Silver Falls folk to help him isn't unfounded. One conversation reveals he was outed back in the '90s. Not only was he fired for being gay, but his own brother or sister refused to allow him to visit his nephew anymore. Gar Puskin tried assaulting Gus in the Dusty Cactus, but missed and slipped; Gus caught him before he could get hurt, then let him walk away.
  • If you take the time to look through Cooper's inventory in Ruby River, you'll find an urn containing his dad's ashes. His dad loved Ruby River, and his final wish was for his ashes to be spread there. However, this takes on a bitter tone when you find out that Cooper was disowned for being gay. Cooper himself hasn't been back to Ruby River in years, because his dad stopped taking him there when he found out. His dad used to talk about him to his friends at the bar, but had nothing but horrible things to say. When Cooper introduced Gus to him over Christmas dinner, he even stormed out of the house. Cooper attended the funeral, despite knowing how angry his dad would've been. Cooper's brother, Ed, was a drug addict and murderer, yet was still favored over him. In fact, his dad actually blamed him for how Ed turned out. Needless to say, Cooper is carrying a lot more than just an urn. He had intended on this being a solo trip, but Gus came along.
  • Arnalt reveals that he, Hogan (Holt's grandpa), and Bud were abducted by aliens. Bud was never seen again. Not only does Arnalt live with the trauma and Survivor Guilt, but half the town thinks that he's lying to cover up his own crimes. One of the random people at the Diner darkly jokes that you should ask Arnalt where Cooper is, because he knows all about making people disappear.
• That One Boss: One of the first things that can happen in Ruby River is that you accidentally trigger the monster to appear. It's large, fast, and dishes out far too much damage.At this point, there's no possible way you can kill it. But even if you've leveled up a bit and have stocked up on guns and ammo, you're still going to have a lot of trouble due to just how strong it is.
• Underused Game Mechanic: Collecting fish in Ruby River requires you to equip the fishing rod. However, you don't actually fish for them; you just equip the rod, then walk on top of the water, and collect them like any other pickups. Had there been more time, it would have been interesting to see fishing fleshed out into a proper mechanic.