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You're absolutely right that he didn't realize it. James suffers from delusional disorder...and probably a bit of schizophrenia too. Although, you have to take into consideration that he was in Silent Hill...and that town isn't normal to anyone. The monsters are real, but they appear in specific forms for James, with the exception of Pyramid Head. His appearance is most likely universal despite the fact he's only exclusive to SH2.
More than one person can see the monsters, they just appear differently. In Silent Hill 3, Vincent asks Heather, "They look like monsters to you?" It kind of makes you wonder just what everyone else sees. Though, Vincent does follow it up with "It's just a joke." So more than likely, he sees things similar to what Heather sees. He isn't particularly fond of "paradise" by the end of the game.
And finally, we can't forget: The origin of the monsters and Alternate Silent Hill in the first SH are Alessa. Samael resides in Alessa. So what it comes down to is that Samael is responsible for all the bad crap that appears in the town.
Now let's back up to what James sees, once again. Samael decides to deliver Silent Hill to James from his delusion and guilt, which is exactly what he gets. It's the same for all the other characters in Silent Hill 2. The creatures appear in forms Samael decides to tease them with. The only exception is Laura and Maria, since Laura simply doesn't see anything harmful, and Maria is part of James' delusion.
Probably a tired theory, but it's probable.
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But the important thing is that you can't really compare the monsters and the Silent Hill of the first game to any other.
Why not? (SPOILER)Because it never actually happened in the real world, in SH1, Harry was in a car crash, throughout the whole game he's laying by the side of the road dying. His search for his daughter occured in a world of Alessa's creation, all that he saw and killed was just a false reality into which he'd been transported by Dahlia. The game never actually ended (except, I think, in the bad ending). You can see this happening by two important things, remember the start of the game? Harry ends up getting killed in an alleyway by a monster and awakes in that Cafe. What happened to him? Dahlia realised she'd put him in a dangerous place and moved him to a safe starting point. You see, every time you finish the game, it never goes Dahlia's way, so she just resets the game, like replaying a game of chess from stalemate. Hence why Harry starts off in the cafe after a Brand New Fear game instead of the alleyway. So really, the world of Silent Hill was more of a battle between Dahlia and Alessa for control of the world, with Harry as just a pawn, light Silent Hill as Dahlia's "safe place" for Harry,and dark silent hill as Alessa's view of the world. So the Silent Hill of the future games isn't the one from the first, but it is influenced by what happened to cause the story of Silent Hill 1.
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silent hill is very complex... makes my brain hurt...
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(SPOILER)I was wrong. A bartender IS a victim, but he's from Ashfield Bar...
