kainedamo
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What video games do you think of when it comes to sheer art? What about the signifigance of a video game in popular culture? And what games are best in story? That will be the topic of this discussion! I put this in Community because more people pay attention to community and this is more of a discussion, rather than a "great news about such and such a game coming out" type of thing.
What immediately comes to mind, because I played it fairly recently, is Ico. Ico came out a couple of years ago on the PS2. It's a very simple idea: a boy with horns who is considered a curse by his own people is locked up in a castle. He encounters a spirit girl, and for the rest of the game you guide the girl and try to free them both from the castle. Really, really lovely and pleasant game. Sometimes, the most simple of ideas are the best. The graphics are beautiful. Not because everything is super detailed, but because of the way cell shading is used. Everything looks so damned nice, like a good painting. The way the sun shines down on the grass in the outdoor parts, the way the wind blows a gentle breeze... the game is very calm. There are action interludes where you must beat off shadow creatures, prevent them from taking the girl. But the game would be just as good without this action. There are many puzzles. Indeed, the large castle itself is like one giant puzzle. There are no 'levels' in the typical video game sense in the entire game - the whole castle is the level, if that makes sense. Most of the gaming comes from the puzzles. Swinging from ropes, grabbing onto the end of a windmill to climb up, lighting torches, very simple sometimes quite clever puzzles. I just love this game. I love the save points, I can just sit there and just watch them sit, looking around themselves, and myself look at the environment around them. There is very little music, but what music there is is good. I remember one particular point, I was outdoors trying to figure out a puzzle, and I notice the girl is running about, chasing after a dove. It's so cool the way she just looks around her. I love the way the game ends, brings such a smile to my face. Anyway, enough of that. The game isn't so much a game as it is a piece of art. And you can only really understand when you play it yourself.
A game that's great in a cultural and story sense is Silent Hill, and it's following sequels. It's incredible how much depth and pain the creators went through to create a rich mythology. It all revolves around a religion, a cult if you will, that believes God is coming and will bring paradise. They believe that this girl, Alessa, is pregnant with God. So what do they do? They torture her. The cult is absolutely insane. What kind of cult thinks torturing the mother of God is going to bring paradise? (Forgive me if I get things wrong, the story is rather complicated and ambigious). And so, the town of Silent Hill starts to resemble Alessa's pain, and her nightmares - she can do this because of the power of the demon in her womb. The town has three planes of reality. Real Silent Hill (never actually seen in the game), pergatory (foggy Silent Hill) and Hell (dark Silent Hill). It's a very complex and rich story, and it's so ambigious (but the pieces are all definately there) that players often come to fairly different conclusions as to what exactly is going on. There are arguments on message boards about a symbol often seen on the walls. Is it the symbol of Samael or the symbol of another God/demon? There are so many interesting layers to the story. Like the fact that the cult of SH believe man and woman created God and not the other way around. The creators are incredibly imagineative, and they often draw from cult movies (probably most famously Jacob's Ladder), and even painters. There are often sexual undertones, reflecting the main characters own pains and desires. That's the real beauty and meat of Silent Hill, as best displayed in Silent Hill 2. In Silent Hill 2, it is revealed that people with great guilt and pain on their conciensce are drawn to Silent Hill. And whatever guilt is on their mind (like James' sexual frustration) is reflected by the monsters in SH.
What immediately comes to mind, because I played it fairly recently, is Ico. Ico came out a couple of years ago on the PS2. It's a very simple idea: a boy with horns who is considered a curse by his own people is locked up in a castle. He encounters a spirit girl, and for the rest of the game you guide the girl and try to free them both from the castle. Really, really lovely and pleasant game. Sometimes, the most simple of ideas are the best. The graphics are beautiful. Not because everything is super detailed, but because of the way cell shading is used. Everything looks so damned nice, like a good painting. The way the sun shines down on the grass in the outdoor parts, the way the wind blows a gentle breeze... the game is very calm. There are action interludes where you must beat off shadow creatures, prevent them from taking the girl. But the game would be just as good without this action. There are many puzzles. Indeed, the large castle itself is like one giant puzzle. There are no 'levels' in the typical video game sense in the entire game - the whole castle is the level, if that makes sense. Most of the gaming comes from the puzzles. Swinging from ropes, grabbing onto the end of a windmill to climb up, lighting torches, very simple sometimes quite clever puzzles. I just love this game. I love the save points, I can just sit there and just watch them sit, looking around themselves, and myself look at the environment around them. There is very little music, but what music there is is good. I remember one particular point, I was outdoors trying to figure out a puzzle, and I notice the girl is running about, chasing after a dove. It's so cool the way she just looks around her. I love the way the game ends, brings such a smile to my face. Anyway, enough of that. The game isn't so much a game as it is a piece of art. And you can only really understand when you play it yourself.
A game that's great in a cultural and story sense is Silent Hill, and it's following sequels. It's incredible how much depth and pain the creators went through to create a rich mythology. It all revolves around a religion, a cult if you will, that believes God is coming and will bring paradise. They believe that this girl, Alessa, is pregnant with God. So what do they do? They torture her. The cult is absolutely insane. What kind of cult thinks torturing the mother of God is going to bring paradise? (Forgive me if I get things wrong, the story is rather complicated and ambigious). And so, the town of Silent Hill starts to resemble Alessa's pain, and her nightmares - she can do this because of the power of the demon in her womb. The town has three planes of reality. Real Silent Hill (never actually seen in the game), pergatory (foggy Silent Hill) and Hell (dark Silent Hill). It's a very complex and rich story, and it's so ambigious (but the pieces are all definately there) that players often come to fairly different conclusions as to what exactly is going on. There are arguments on message boards about a symbol often seen on the walls. Is it the symbol of Samael or the symbol of another God/demon? There are so many interesting layers to the story. Like the fact that the cult of SH believe man and woman created God and not the other way around. The creators are incredibly imagineative, and they often draw from cult movies (probably most famously Jacob's Ladder), and even painters. There are often sexual undertones, reflecting the main characters own pains and desires. That's the real beauty and meat of Silent Hill, as best displayed in Silent Hill 2. In Silent Hill 2, it is revealed that people with great guilt and pain on their conciensce are drawn to Silent Hill. And whatever guilt is on their mind (like James' sexual frustration) is reflected by the monsters in SH.
