Anyways, while I’ve recently run into some problems regarding my motivation for studying, I’m sorta starting to get back the desire to actually partaking in the non-existent "Video game analysis movement", and when i finished the pay-what-you-want NiTW[1] supplemental short game Lost Constellation[2] yesterday I felt myself thoroughly reminded of why I started doing this thing in the first place. Yeah, it’s time to get back on track. Hopefully.
Now, if I knew I
had a specific audience reading this stuff I’d probably start a vote about what
to finish first, but I don’t think there’s enough people around for that kind
of thing at all, at least not yet, but at any rate I’ll let you know the
current WIP articles and ideas for articles I have;
-An article
about Sunless Sea and how it uses unconventional world-building, dialogue,
aesthetic, perspective, and largely textbased gameplay to evoke uncertainty and
fear in an unfamiliar setting.
-An article
about Arma: Cold War Assault (Formerly Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis)
and why I believe it’s the most authentic military simulation I’ve played, and
about why Arma 2 isn’t.
-An analysis and
comparison of the Quest Journal in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and how it emphasizes
on different aspects in the respective titles, especially in Morrowind as
opposed to the later titles.
-A kind of
shitty mish-mash of thoughts about the mod “Requiem” for Skyrim, and how the
vastly increased difficulty works excellent, and how some of the shitty design decisions
that went into designing Skyrims combat system to not be particularly challenging
results in the player occationally getting trapped inside quest segments with
enemies they cannot defeat, with no option to back out again. Seriously, I encountered
enemies with regenerative health that I couldn’t even kill with godmode enabled
because they regenerated health faster than I could hurt them, all while I was
in the middle of crucial quest moments that didn’t allow me to just leave and
return later because Skyrims design expects you to be able to kill mostly anyone
you come across with little to no resistance whatsoever. Goddamnit.
-An article
about Yume Nikki and how it uses its fragmented map design, intentionally broken and
nonsensical game mechanics and internally inconsistent aesthetic as a
representation of the severely troubled psyche of an isolated young woman.
-An article
about simulation/management games, why I think they’re really fun and
compelling, and how they represent different complex aspects of society and
economy. Expect politics. Because politics is fun.
-An article
about disturbing elements of world design and setting in Legend of Zelda:
Majora’s Mask, of which there are many. It will not have the “Four stages of
grief”-theory’s approach, rather I’d like to touch upon some of the aspects that
a lot of people seem to overlook. Like this.
-I kinda want to
write a longer, elaborate analysis and interpretation about the cartoon series “Adventure
Time”, which I’m a pretty big fan of. It’s a really good series, it manages to
be a tribute to so many different wonderful things at once while still building
a universe with some really interesting characters. Almost everyone has
psychological qualms, the show occasionally changes it’s style pretty radically
between episodes, and there’s plenty of fart jokes to go around. It’s really
good, I just don’t feel I’ve watched enough of it to write a fully fleshed out
article, and I’d rather not half-ass something in which there’s so much good to
write about.
-An article about the game "Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason". There's much good to be said about this one, but i need to get it and play it through somehow, which is a bit of a fuzz because it got pulled down from Steam some time ago. Need to figure out how to get it before this one will happen.
-An article
about the video game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. This probably won’t happen anytime
soon, there’s so much content and aspects of its design to write about that it’s
insane, and there’s no way I’m ready to do something that large yet.
-Lastly, an
article about the last of my three most beloved Eastern European postapocalyptic
horror survival games (that is, along with Cryostasis and S.T.A.L.K.E.R), Metro 2033, its world building, its themes, how the
postapocalypse is depicted both in the novel and the game, why it’s insanely good.
It’s quite a
list, I know. My biggest problem at the moment is simply sticking with working
on one project enough for me to actually finish it. Also, I’d kind of like to
refine my blog, actually put in a bit of fancy visuals, or at least just a
logo/avatar just for starters. I’m shit at drawing though, dunno how I’ll make
that work. Anyways, as stated, I’m still somewhat alive, don’t know when to
expect my next article, but I sure as hell haven’t given up on this at all,
even if I haven’t finished anything recently I’m still working on stuff.
Hopefully will get at least one of these projects finished at some point soon.
Also, happy new year!
-Neo
[1] God, i’m looking so much forward to
this game, haveyouseenititlookssogoodohmahgawd-
[2] Available here http://finji.itch.io/lost-constellation
