Emotional Investment and Vidya Gaming

[flintlock]

I've been sick this week, which I think I mentioned the last time. Even if I didn't, let me begin by saying that I am now better. Hurray. What this means, though, is that I did not do very much this week; I hunkered down and played video games

Comments

[sweetgreens]

The magic of the EO games is the imagination factor. I imagined a rich world beyond what the game let me see and experience. Kane got frustrated with my playing, saying that I had no reason to react so viscerally to a game WITH NO GRAPHICS. But my imagination is totally scarier than anything you can see.

Hope you feel better soon!

[flintlock]

What I enjoy most, I think, is being able to step onto the internet and chance upon the stories of other players and other guilds. The article above has a link to a game journal created for EO1, for instance, and Pixiv has a ton of personalized artwork and narrative from the guilds of Japanese players. The image I'm using on my LJ layout is actually the main party of a guild from Japan.

Then, of course, I have silly things like this graphical representation of my EO1&2 guild. My own contribution to the collective narrative.

[sweetgreens]

Oh, nice! That's a level of devotion I lack, though I do daydream about my party's adventures in the labyrinth.

We just cleared the game - didn't even realize that the "final" bosses were on the 25th floor. I screamed bloody murder when I killed the first boss and wasn't allowed to use my warp wire to take a nap at the inn before facing the second one... In the end, everyone's MP was depleted to single digits, and poor Chibi (Level 71 Elemental Ronin) was dead. But we did it!

Sixth stratum appears to be a bonus area? I kind of want to move onto EO3 now and create my new guild. :P

[flintlock]

Yeah, in EO1, EO2, and EO3, the Sixth Stratum exists as a sort of bonus level filled with optional bosses and completion items. You get a special Hero Medal at the end of EO2 for having completed it all... which is utterly useless because you've finished the game 100% and don't get a new game+...

I love stories like that. Your MP is down, the party DPS is dead, but you grit your teeth and fight and conquer. That's the stuff of legends and epics right there, and what makes games like this so special!

The sprites were not made by me. I actually have a whole sheet of them that you can sort of move around on Photoshop on your own if you're interested, haha. I don't have the skill to make them myself....

[isamunee]

/tries to read the article

Oh, it's shitting all over BbyS. Which I'm enjoying right now. :| It would be nice if people could say positive things about what they're trying to say without talking shit about something else.

[flintlock]

Haha, It's more juxtaposition, I'd say, than really taking the piss out of the game. A necessary contrast between what is a 'mainstream' game versus what is very decidedly 'cult' in status. If you read carefully, you'll note that when the author speaks of BbS, he uses very personal language to denote his own opinion rather than making declarative statements of fact.

I, too, did not enjoy BbS or any KH game past the first, so I understand the sentiment. That's my personal experience with the game, though. If other people like it, I'm not about to hold that against them, and, I'd wager, neither is the article's author.

[isamunee]

Saying that EO is super fantastic is also a personal opinion, not a fact. I do feel that the author of that article would hold it against me that I would prefer to watch Cinderella spin around than spend hours with do-or-fail character sheets. If he had simply said EO was an excellent game despite a lack of top-end graphics and character development, I would be more likely to give EO a shot. But why did he have to shit on BbyS to say that? The sort of argument that depends on pointing out the flaws in something else or how it can be unappealing to someone in order to emphasize the great qualities of something that does appeal really doesn't impress me. LONG SENTENCE WAS LONG.

I agree that BbyS sucks monkey balls from an academic perspective and that there are hundreds of games more worthy of acclaim and sales. But saying so won't make me think 'yeah, spending hours carefully mapping dungeons can be more fun than typically popularized games!' which (I think?) was the point of the article.

[flintlock]

Never said that was a fact either. When it comes to games and other luxury resources, all of it is really opinion. Even reviews in Famitsu or PCGamer done by professional critics? Just opinions. Like I said, the reason for bringing BbyS into the picture was not so much to antagonise those who enjoy the game, but rather to showcase the contrasts in reviews and personal experiences for a pair of games that released concurrent to one another. Honestly, I could have done the same by contrasting my enjoyment of EO3 and Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, the two games I bought together last weekend, and come to the same academic conclusion. I would not have disparaged so greatly of Castlevania, though, for I am enjoying it for different reasons. I may have disparaged of Fifa '11, however

[bassist_159]

I admit, EO works not only because it allows the imagination to take center, but because it's a formula that gamers are familiar with. Sure, they changed it up and the classes don't map as neatly as they used to, but at the end of the day, I boot up EO3 and I'm suddenly eight playing Wizardry V all over again.

...Also I keep having the idea to write stories about my characters. Shut up.

Between Etrian Odyssey III and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, my game purchases have been very 90's lately. Hopefully with that new NIS game coming out, companies are catching on that retro with depth is a viable market.

[flintlock]

It also works because of the upgraded interface. For the life of me, no matter how doggedly I try, it's extremely difficult to get back into the swing of an old game that isn't Master of Magic. Old games like Wizardry and Ultima are now jarring to me, so EO provides that nice intermediate between old and new.

Also you aren't alone. I want to write stories about my characters, even if they are just in the realm of 'replay.' It's sort of sad since I know it would be a long and arduous process that will end in nobody really caring, haha.

The other game I purchased with EO3 was Castlevania: Lord of Shadow. I think companies are trying to catch the retro era, but instead of recreating, they are reimagining. Old style games will really be more the purview of the handheld device (DS/PSP). Look at Layton, for example, and compare it to the old puzzle games of the 90's. That's a good study.

[bassist_159]

I can see that. Honestly, you're a braver man than I am. I still have a working SNES, and my copy of Wizardry V (though by this point the battery has to be dead) around the apartment. I haven't attempted to replay it out of fear of how archaic it might feel. In a way, it's nice to have another fan of the old school confirm that the games a little too clunky to go back to.

At this rate, I might consider just LPing the series and using that as an excuse to write about characters, although I'd let the audience generate them. Weren't you considering starting an EO-inspired LJRP for awhile? Though given how busy life is for you, I totally see why you haven't

[flintlock]

I'd have a working SNES/NES and a slew of priceless old classics if my mother wasn't so overzealous with her cleaning binges. She honestly waited for me to go to school one day before throwing all of my retro stuff out. I got home and it was all gone. This happened again when I came home and my dog was put to sleep, and again when my cat was declawed. My dad's experiences with my mother often include going out to play golf and coming home to a new dog, so it's a trend