while it sacrifices a bit of the depth of meaning i've come to expect from the Kojima entries, i find this surprisingly fitting as a spiritual sequel to MGS2...plunging full force into an unapologetic service to the Id, somewhat formally serving as a deconstruction/celebration of the reasons we enjoy violence, that duality between ignorance of effect and the purity of Play...that violence has no inherent negative/positive connotation, just significance in its direction...follows the usual Metal Gear signature of Big Players using our protagonist for their own means until self-determination breaks the mold, that trademark slow progression into transcendence that defies Raiden's previous subsumption into a post-modern reality, a metamodern banger!!
2011
played only up to the opening minutes of Anor Londo, will hopefully come back to this in the summer when i have more time and energy to commit to finishing!
instrumental to my newbie mind, primarily in its intricate gameplay detail and plethora of options to proceeding...oftentimes subtly defies intuition / invites contemplation in how best to approach its challenges...i greatly enjoy the ritualistic feel of trying/dying/trying in a vicious cycle, each circle getting just a little bit smarter in approach...my initial struggle with the first few levels gave way to a gradual ease of movement, teaches you how to play so slowly it's almost imperceptible...absolutely wonderful how much a fiction the supposed impenetrable difficulty turned out, that playing the game is more about making measured decisions and studying varied, deliberately chosen responses
funny to me in retrospect how damn difficult the Taurus Demon was; easily the longest i stayed at any level of the game, not because it was actually that hard but because i refused to change tactics, did not think of easier methods to winning beyond grinding harder and gaining more skill...the "cheapness" of certain approaches crumbles under the weight of the game's intentional design, that it's MEANT to be beaten, MEANT to challenge you before giving you an out every single time...the satisfaction comes from that process of push/pull against the world, that there's a spiritually driven disposition toward winning, i feel like Neo going into these seemingly hostile areas without faith, dying easily, before arming myself with a confidence in the game's design as a game, an unbelief that is truly just seeing the work for what it is, engaging with it on its own terms rather than projecting myself onto it
i look forward to completing the game!! while i don't think i'm particularly predisposed toward SoulsBorne style games, i'm happy to have put in the work to "get" them, and will likely play something like Elden Ring at some point :) s/o to the GOAT suzie asriel miniike for providing insight and advice throughout this initial experience, extremely Strand Type of her
instrumental to my newbie mind, primarily in its intricate gameplay detail and plethora of options to proceeding...oftentimes subtly defies intuition / invites contemplation in how best to approach its challenges...i greatly enjoy the ritualistic feel of trying/dying/trying in a vicious cycle, each circle getting just a little bit smarter in approach...my initial struggle with the first few levels gave way to a gradual ease of movement, teaches you how to play so slowly it's almost imperceptible...absolutely wonderful how much a fiction the supposed impenetrable difficulty turned out, that playing the game is more about making measured decisions and studying varied, deliberately chosen responses
funny to me in retrospect how damn difficult the Taurus Demon was; easily the longest i stayed at any level of the game, not because it was actually that hard but because i refused to change tactics, did not think of easier methods to winning beyond grinding harder and gaining more skill...the "cheapness" of certain approaches crumbles under the weight of the game's intentional design, that it's MEANT to be beaten, MEANT to challenge you before giving you an out every single time...the satisfaction comes from that process of push/pull against the world, that there's a spiritually driven disposition toward winning, i feel like Neo going into these seemingly hostile areas without faith, dying easily, before arming myself with a confidence in the game's design as a game, an unbelief that is truly just seeing the work for what it is, engaging with it on its own terms rather than projecting myself onto it
i look forward to completing the game!! while i don't think i'm particularly predisposed toward SoulsBorne style games, i'm happy to have put in the work to "get" them, and will likely play something like Elden Ring at some point :) s/o to the GOAT suzie asriel miniike for providing insight and advice throughout this initial experience, extremely Strand Type of her
first one of these i've tapped out on...simply uninteresting, didn't realize going in this was a console version of a portable game haha
comic book cinematics aren't really my thing, first few missions were painfully linear, even the voice acting was kinda mid?? obviously i cannot gauge the game as a whole but my experience was Not Good! moving on :))
comic book cinematics aren't really my thing, first few missions were painfully linear, even the voice acting was kinda mid?? obviously i cannot gauge the game as a whole but my experience was Not Good! moving on :))
Kojima's all-out power fantasy extravaganza, a supercharged version of the original game's appeals to the id...ultra atmospheric, ever engaging, endlessly cool!!
what it lacks in world-altering subtext it makes up for in blunt force, rendering the MGS universe as hyperreal Cold War fantasy, all its bite coming from its intertexual relation to the prior games...much like the Star Wars prequels, we know how this ends and its vibe of pure fun only makes the eventual tragedy that much heavier...an intersection of systemic forces beyond our control with apolitical hippieisms utterly insufficient to prevent the gradual decline to follow...the liberation Snake and Raiden attain is unobtainable to Big Boss, who always remains a hapless puppet, losing control of his own narrative as he goes
the gameplay's relative linearity reinforces this fatalism at every turn; we are not breaking cycles so much as following the game's lead to the bitter end, all the usual antagonists as mirrors to the protagonist turn darker than ever before...i find more layers the more i dwell on it!
a bastion to the 20th century's failures in all its glory, an invaluable artifact and fantastic experience
what it lacks in world-altering subtext it makes up for in blunt force, rendering the MGS universe as hyperreal Cold War fantasy, all its bite coming from its intertexual relation to the prior games...much like the Star Wars prequels, we know how this ends and its vibe of pure fun only makes the eventual tragedy that much heavier...an intersection of systemic forces beyond our control with apolitical hippieisms utterly insufficient to prevent the gradual decline to follow...the liberation Snake and Raiden attain is unobtainable to Big Boss, who always remains a hapless puppet, losing control of his own narrative as he goes
the gameplay's relative linearity reinforces this fatalism at every turn; we are not breaking cycles so much as following the game's lead to the bitter end, all the usual antagonists as mirrors to the protagonist turn darker than ever before...i find more layers the more i dwell on it!
a bastion to the 20th century's failures in all its glory, an invaluable artifact and fantastic experience
still difficult to talk about...essentially the inverse of the original, a game about failure and the need to move forward regardless (you can already see the shape of what would become Death Stranding in how much of this is running fruitless errands for their own sake)
anti-power fantasy in that it begins with a low-key dissection of Snake, the transcendence of his original character having already been achieved and thus all that's left is his death and rebirth...and then Raiden becomes protagonist, a blank slate stand-in for the player that remains constantly in conflict with the player's goals...a literal movement in circles followed by a break, first steps toward agency, a backstory that reveals itself as the player/Raiden go through purgatory...dreaming and then becoming the dream
20th century ghosts haunt the new millennium, the once-vibrant hope of the digital age tears apart, gives way to something terrifying and monolithic, a new fascism that seems inevitable...and yet through what amounts to ego death via stripping (ha) the player and character down to their bare (ha) elements, we find a new hope in the rubble, persistence in the face of a reality that always works against us...Sisyphus unleashed!!
something of an identity crisis, captures Y2K and even post-9/11 and its fallout with such clarity and spot-on chaotic energy that i can help but feel its a rare, magical piece of work...the resonance it takes on in the current day could not possibly be felt in its time, at least not without the benefit of hindsight...its breaks into live action, specifically at the climax, create a hard contrast against the original's focus on a melting iceberg against that game's comparative optimism in a more straightforward self-actualization...here we have a surreal descent into despair and futility followed by a call to keep going anyway, to find meaning in our realities even if we can't quite understand them, and the live action sequences work on multiple levels...as ghosts captured outside their time, abstracted into pixels and inserted into a narrative they have no bearing on, and yet they're evidence of something solid, something that exists and will always exist in a four dimensional sense...image and ambience call without language for us to have blind faith, to throw ourselves into our connections and be present rather than bound to endless loops of the past, whether in literal terms (the repeating of Shadow Moses) or a trap of memory space tinged with crushing trauma...the enemy is Capital and Empire, unsolvable with a boss battle, intangible and invisible to the eye....and yet here we have material and spiritual steps forward
the rare art that has faith in the player to keep moving forward despite everything, to find their own peace without any assurance that their decisions mattered in any immediate sense...to live for living's sake
started this write-up unsure but after dwelling on this for weeks and finally jotting down my thoughts, this is up there with a handful of experiences with art (in any medium) that broaden my idea of what's possible and give me infinitely more hope in humanity's future...astounding this exists, astounding that i get to contend with it!!
anti-power fantasy in that it begins with a low-key dissection of Snake, the transcendence of his original character having already been achieved and thus all that's left is his death and rebirth...and then Raiden becomes protagonist, a blank slate stand-in for the player that remains constantly in conflict with the player's goals...a literal movement in circles followed by a break, first steps toward agency, a backstory that reveals itself as the player/Raiden go through purgatory...dreaming and then becoming the dream
20th century ghosts haunt the new millennium, the once-vibrant hope of the digital age tears apart, gives way to something terrifying and monolithic, a new fascism that seems inevitable...and yet through what amounts to ego death via stripping (ha) the player and character down to their bare (ha) elements, we find a new hope in the rubble, persistence in the face of a reality that always works against us...Sisyphus unleashed!!
something of an identity crisis, captures Y2K and even post-9/11 and its fallout with such clarity and spot-on chaotic energy that i can help but feel its a rare, magical piece of work...the resonance it takes on in the current day could not possibly be felt in its time, at least not without the benefit of hindsight...its breaks into live action, specifically at the climax, create a hard contrast against the original's focus on a melting iceberg against that game's comparative optimism in a more straightforward self-actualization...here we have a surreal descent into despair and futility followed by a call to keep going anyway, to find meaning in our realities even if we can't quite understand them, and the live action sequences work on multiple levels...as ghosts captured outside their time, abstracted into pixels and inserted into a narrative they have no bearing on, and yet they're evidence of something solid, something that exists and will always exist in a four dimensional sense...image and ambience call without language for us to have blind faith, to throw ourselves into our connections and be present rather than bound to endless loops of the past, whether in literal terms (the repeating of Shadow Moses) or a trap of memory space tinged with crushing trauma...the enemy is Capital and Empire, unsolvable with a boss battle, intangible and invisible to the eye....and yet here we have material and spiritual steps forward
the rare art that has faith in the player to keep moving forward despite everything, to find their own peace without any assurance that their decisions mattered in any immediate sense...to live for living's sake
started this write-up unsure but after dwelling on this for weeks and finally jotting down my thoughts, this is up there with a handful of experiences with art (in any medium) that broaden my idea of what's possible and give me infinitely more hope in humanity's future...astounding this exists, astounding that i get to contend with it!!
1998
if the pre-Solid game saw Kojima's preoccupations already taking shape, Solid is fully formed...i've always been told the story is incomprehensible and maybe that's true of later installments but this was quite straightforward, keeping with the prior game it's a series of double and triple crossings but notably every single villain gets empathy...in fact many of the game's best moments are exchanges of love after battle, broken people reaching for connection in their final moments
the military industrial complex and the "terrorists" are one in the same, no one in power can be trusted...and despite this you have to find meaning in other people, love on the battlefield...to live because you never know when your time, when our time, will be up
my only complaints are with the gameplay, which while fantastic still lacks a bit of what i found thrilling in even the first game, with the difficulty and complexity reeled back a bit in favor of a surprisingly linear and intuitive experience...i still had a blast but i feel it could have been better, which makes me that much more excited for what comes after!!
the military industrial complex and the "terrorists" are one in the same, no one in power can be trusted...and despite this you have to find meaning in other people, love on the battlefield...to live because you never know when your time, when our time, will be up
my only complaints are with the gameplay, which while fantastic still lacks a bit of what i found thrilling in even the first game, with the difficulty and complexity reeled back a bit in favor of a surprisingly linear and intuitive experience...i still had a blast but i feel it could have been better, which makes me that much more excited for what comes after!!
1987
surprisingly complex and rewarding...playing Hideo Kojima's first designed game, i expected his style to be unrecognizable...but it's been there from the beginning, eh? i played as long as i could without a guide and then followed a walkthrough the rest of the way, and STILL found myself having trouble with parts of this.
i have no real comparisons to draw from as far as how this plays vs games of its time...but i'm assuming most games in the late 80s weren't built around so many counterintuitive aspects, little details that you have to stumble upon to even progress. it's fascinating...frustrating in that same way Death Stranding is...especially there being so many similar rooms to navigate and so many ways to get set all the way back!!
i have no real comparisons to draw from as far as how this plays vs games of its time...but i'm assuming most games in the late 80s weren't built around so many counterintuitive aspects, little details that you have to stumble upon to even progress. it's fascinating...frustrating in that same way Death Stranding is...especially there being so many similar rooms to navigate and so many ways to get set all the way back!!
interesting!! coming back to Pokémon properly for the first time since i was...ten?...was an illuminating experience. small qualms aside, the overall addictive quality, the fun of it all is still absolutely there. i suppose if anything big got in the way of that, it's my own intelligence now...my tendency to look at stats and analyze details to determine what i do, rather than just pick cool/cute shit along the way haha
that naïve joy isn't there anymore...but it was still a good time. a welcome place to mindlessly sink into something not too demanding and without a whole lotta stakes. will definitely come back to the series soon, maybe try out one of the variant games (Arceus perhaps??)
that naïve joy isn't there anymore...but it was still a good time. a welcome place to mindlessly sink into something not too demanding and without a whole lotta stakes. will definitely come back to the series soon, maybe try out one of the variant games (Arceus perhaps??)
2019
relaxing, tedious, frustrating...always rewarding...such an utterly singular experience that it's hard to put into words...essentially had me from the minute i realized that delivering packages with little to no palpable reward or sense of progress was what the whole thing just...is
that sense of satisfaction when i accomplished a particularly tough delivery, often taking hours and suffering countless restarts due to little mistakes, even slight miscalculations...it's a high i haven't experienced anywhere else
i kinda fell in love with the medium due to this unique disposition...the way the form of the game itself reinforces every other aspect, the story, themes, etc...ideas that i've seen explored elsewhere are given such a tangible potency, resonate with me so directly; it's a sensation that couldn't have manifested in any other way
Power of Gaming moment fr
that sense of satisfaction when i accomplished a particularly tough delivery, often taking hours and suffering countless restarts due to little mistakes, even slight miscalculations...it's a high i haven't experienced anywhere else
i kinda fell in love with the medium due to this unique disposition...the way the form of the game itself reinforces every other aspect, the story, themes, etc...ideas that i've seen explored elsewhere are given such a tangible potency, resonate with me so directly; it's a sensation that couldn't have manifested in any other way
Power of Gaming moment fr