I played through the PS4 port which is an upscale of the PS2 version stapled to new hardware.
Just avoid disc changing in emulator dissaster would not recommend emulating the dreamcast version.
I also wouldn’t recommend playing Code Veronica it’s terrible.
If you do, when you get the escape timer in Anartica as Claire GO SAVE. The timer is moderately generous. Claire keeps everything on her until the game is 98% over, so you can be locked out of half your weapons for all of Chris’s campagin.
I agree that you can interpret and analyze these themes out of the source material. that doesn’t convince me that it’s deliberate though. generally speaking, story stuff in zelda games rarely has much greater purpose than scaffolding the game’s design ideas, mechanical gimmicks, etc. it’s totally fair game to find a deeper read, and I like where you’re going with that analysis, but I still fail to see how any of that means it’s purposeful?
purposeful being the key word here, because I can see a shaky throughline with the general vibe of forlorn misery you encounter with various npcs as a adult link, but I don’t see how any of it culminates to a coherent narrative theme. to the extent that those themes are present, they mostly feel incidental to the game’s larger narrative.
majora’s mask is a strong contrast because it does a lot to weave side story themes into something more coherent and palpable, even if it’s not very subtle (as @VastleCania observed).
I guess what I mean, to reply to your first post, that with ocarina at least, it largely does feel like an accident that those themes of lost identity and memory pop up in the game. I find it a lot more likely that they were sublimated as a result of difficult development circumstances. because the game itself seems fairly clear as to what it’s actually about, which is the same boilerplate theming that every other zelda game has been about: a lone hero overcoming overwhelming odds to triumph over evil. if there are deeper themes, I can maybe see some support for them in the haiku-like poems sheik recites before teaching you a new song as adult link. and you can see those themes expressed in some of the side stories/pre-dungeon quests, to varying extents. but even those still seem like they’re included more for dramatic effect than any actual thematic interest.
and I don’t particularly care that much about authorial intent. in this case it just feels like giving them a little too much credit. that’s really the only part that I don’t agree with – if there is subtext in ocarina of time, I think you’ve done a great job exploring those possibilities.
If we can read it, and clearly, in the preceding and following games, why would we assume they forgot about it in between?
I think this is largely right. Ocarina is split between a similar narrative core as Link’s Awakening and the simpler narrative in Link to the Past; it’s an enormous undertaking, and a narrative theme like this is probably owned by a single person. It’s easy for that one person to hold onto what they want to do but for everyone else to be so busy and distracted that it doesn’t come through correctly.
I’d say, it’s not directed towards those themes on the whole. There are scenes that clearly play to it, there’s plenty of character writing to support it, but the game is busy. Now, I like half-broken projects that still have a spark and I’m fundamentally compromised in ever reading this particular game honestly but it speaks to me.
I think we largely agree then. and picking apart the darker, more disturbing parts of these games is a discussion I’m always happy to have. regardless of whether they were intended, they are among oot’s most saving graces.
one of the things I’m happy to see people pick up on are the really strange details in the character models
These characters in Northern Journey are really excellently grotesque:
I like Code Veronica a lot these days because it’s one of the few that, even on replay, remains difficult at certain parts of the game. Like, most RE games are steamrolled by the midway point. CV has interesting tuning, there are easy valleys between peaks of difficulty, and the ending is basically consistently hard. I think that is afforded because it’s also damn long, the longest of the classics but second to RE6 I bet. Now, all this is only true if you don’t go speedrunner mode and exploit the knife, which is the most powerful weapon in the whole game.
This is one of the main ideas in Madoka so that’s another one-season anime you might enjoy.
I did enjoy Land of the Lustrous quite a bit, thank you
Anybody play that Tokyo Mirage Sessions game on the Wii U, I was thinking about maybe checking out the Switch port some day. I’ve got it in my wishlist at the moment.
despite what @Cerium may have you believe under no circumstances should you play tokyo mirage sessions
Oh but now I want to know why Cerium feels that way!
(and also why you are against it!)
I remember bouncing off it cuz it was too sanitized. I can’t stomach depictions of the entertainment industry that pretend it isn’t filled with utter sleazeballs.
TMS is what is objectively defined in the selectbutton canon as a “curio” (i never finished it)
TMS is of academic interest only. I couldn’t get far before getting bored of the theming and rigidity of the party dynamics.
For an SMT/FE crossover to try and mix battle systems and for it to result in cutscenes where characters advertise fictional product is interesting.
Playing it isn’t.
Yeah also a problem with that Persona 4 Dancing game. All about being an idol is finding a new identity and none of the very public and known sleaze and exploitation.
Rest In Piss Johnny of Johnny’s
which dragon quest is written most like a cormac mccarthy novel, and/or which dragon quest is the FFX of dragon quest (has fire island tribal house vibes). i feel like i have to play at least one
1, terse gbc version
They have announced that 12 is going to have more serious, dark plot elements. I’ve assumed they just mean the protagonist will glare instead of grin but maybe they’re going all out and doing the Blood Meridian of jrpgs. Would be pretty cool
Is the Peppa Pig game on Game Pass actually good or is everyone just memeing?
i and vii, easy
