Saturnalia and Santa Claus and human-faced converting deer, oh my!

[arkadyevna]

YO, Saturnalia!

...Okay, I know it's 'Io,' not 'Yo,' but I think you pronounce 'Io' pretty much like 'Yo,' right?  And being a massive dork, I am mightily amused by the thought of trotting through the neighborhood shouting YO SATURNALIA! at people.  (pastrydeity , be glad I did not inflict this on you.)

Anyway, I'm a day late for the start of Saturnalia, but

Comments

[crumpetsfortea]

...that is bizarre.

[arkadyevna]

There is a definite bizarre factor. Which didn't bother me, up until the converting-of-souls bit.

There's also this, from the game-site's FAQ:

It (the glowy thing above the avatars' heads) is inspired by the vision that was received by Saint Hubert. He was an 8th century nobleman who converted to Christianity after seeing a crucifix between the antlers of the stag he was hunting. It is part of the “Ename Ruin” project.

[semyaza]

Being a pagan idol sounds like a lot more fun than being a gravestone with a cross on it.

[arkadyevna]

I agree! It does say this on the site:

This is not a shooter game. If you see a soul, feel free to convert it. But if you find yourself chasing after them, please try one of the 99% other games out there that cater to these particular lusts. In fact, we encourage you to leave the pagan souls alone because they turn into pretty idols when they die at the end of the day. If you convert them, we get more graves around the ruin.

So they also like the pagan idols, apparently. But... in that case, I'm not sure what the intention of the whole conversion thing is, exactly. It just strikes me as an odd sort of thing to incorporate into a game, especially if you're not promoting a let's-convert-the-pagans! message.

It is a very pretty-looking game, though!

[moth2fic]

I know the St. Hubert legend and it's interesting - but this game sounds only marginally better than the one where cartoon kids can shoot each other as a last ditch conversion attempt...

How strange!!

[arkadyevna]

I didn't know the story of St. Hubert, so that was interesting to read about. Honestly, I really like the general set-up of this game -- the non-violence, the fact that it's exploration-driven, not being able to communicate save through body language. And I find the human-faced deer fascinating. (I have a thing for human-faced beasties in general; in fact, I first read about the Endless Forest on manticorelove.) So while bizarre, none of that is too bizarre for me.

But yeah, the converting thing... I just talked about this in the above comment to semyaza, but on the game's site, they actually enourage you to leave the pagan souls alone. So what was the intention behind incorporating the whole conversion aspect in the first place? I'm confuzzled.

[moth2fic]

I wonder... are they seeking sponsorship from firms with a fundamentalist attitude? Are they genuinely trying to slip themselves into the 'shoot to convert' game charts and subvert them? Very odd, and quite interesting. Are you going to play?

[arkadyevna]

Very belatedly responding here, but just thought I'd let you know -- I have not yet attempted to play The Endless Forest. Though honestly, that has more to do with my easily-overwhelmed-laptop than with my bzuh?-ness over the whole conversion factor. I am curious enough that I'd be willing to give it a go, but... yeah, old and cranky laptop! I'd be afraid the game would just crash it.