Continuing the PSO2:NGS grind. Leciel is extremely fun, just the right amount of tension and challenge, and constant novel boss “twists”. Yesterday we had a boss with breakable parts and a breakable bomb, as well as buffs to damage to breakable parts. The strat was to stagger him by breaking his legs then do a mad rush to break the bomb before it wiped the entire party.
Beyond that, continuing my journey through .hack//IMOQ. It’s immediately clear how special this series is. Not just for being the seminal story about an imaginary game, and being fairly unique in actually looking at how people interact with games as a third place, and the queer potential of video games; but also for actually providing a playable version of the imaginary game. Including an MMO version of the MMO!
I really want .hack to come back. Log Horizon rules, and I like the more heroic, legendary, and optimistic tone and theming, but there’s something really appealing at how realistic .hack is without being dark, gritty, or cynical. The sense of romance in the game’s backstory is great too. All this weird background fabric about genius programmers singlehandedly changing the course of the world, people overhwelmed by emotions; meanwhile the spotlight is on real people.
Just for the heads up, this thread will probably have a lot of spoilers. I’m gonna try to go vague on spoilers for anybody that hasn’t played Hotline Miami 2. If you’ve played the game, you’ll probably know what I mean, but I’m going to say some purposefully esoteric shit to keep it out of full spoiler territory....
As Adol: Climbing down Gens d’Armes to finally meet Dana, Eternia sitting in the distance.
spoilerAdol and Dana having a little heart to heart before the final dungeon, hoping that maybe destiny isn’t real just this one time, and she isn’t fated to die soon.
The scripting in the true final boss, with the dawn breaking over an endless field of water, as the introduction ends and the fight begins.
spoilerFighting through gods and spirits to bring Dana back one last time, to say farewell.
As Dana: White Memory. God. Making peace with Olga, and having her finally open her heart to you as a dear friend, a message from beyond the grave. Watching the last sparks of your civilisation die out in an apocalyptic winter. Valley of Kings, learning that you’re the first person to break a divine apocalyptic cycle, but still bound by fate.
I legitimately couldn’t enjoy video games for two weeks after I finished Ys VIII. I still get really emotional thinking about it.
But it’s nothing compared to FFXI, my favourite game of all time:
Chains of Promathia is incredible from start to finish. Weathering the emotional assault of death beyond death and the decay of the spirit in the Promyvions, this horrible, haunting, gloomy drone in the background; and then immediately being taken to this place of both incredible healing beauty and immediate and poignant, human sorrow.
Witnessing the exact moment where a dear companion begins to waver if he’s on the right path with you, and seeing his doubts culminate in fighting you, to the death if need be. Seeing the guilt, shame and lingering doubt when you win… and forgive him.
Seeing the god of regeneration send a little glimmer over the view of a fallen kingdom, which you’ve probably sat and stared at with strangely passive wraith enemies. The entire Distant Worlds song and cinematic as a whole, closing out a musical and narrative theme that had been developing over three years. Definitely another storyline where I had to sit and just process it for a bit. Took me a year to come around on Aht Urhgan since I did it the day after Promathia.
Seeing the ghost of a city-state wiped out by genocide, brought back into a state of undeath by a god of war and chaos, sacrifice himself to save the heritor of the empire that claimed his city. The music for the fight that follows right after, Ragnarok.
The sadness that makes your heart sink, of wandering the Shadowreign era of Vana’diel, seeing a world ravaged by war, hearing Flowers On The Battlefield add an incredible, keening aura of melancholy everywhere, albeit with little glimmers of peace… broken by the drums of war as battle rages once more.
The end of Adoulin, Forever Today. Closing the book on one of your most personal adventures, alongside some of the most brilliant and heroic characters. The sense of finality mixed with renewal, with musical callbacks to the Theme of Final Fantasy and the Prelude.
Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, especially the ending. Seeing the bravery of an old friend’s daughter sacrifice herself again and again as the cosmos rejects her presence in the past. Building a relationship with a character just as sincere and brilliant as her father. Her final monologue to you: “Master, this is not ‘Farewell.’ It is ‘See you soon.’ Until our paths cross once more, the blessing of Phoenix is yours to wield. And I will be with you, always.”
The beautiful poem being sung as this all happens, leading into the Adventurers’ Chorus of over a hundred actual players from across the world, singing the title music from the first release of the game…
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of August 6th angielski
Hey all! Another weekly thread is here....
Most emotional moments in games? (SPOILERS)
Just for the heads up, this thread will probably have a lot of spoilers. I’m gonna try to go vague on spoilers for anybody that hasn’t played Hotline Miami 2. If you’ve played the game, you’ll probably know what I mean, but I’m going to say some purposefully esoteric shit to keep it out of full spoiler territory....