I'm really not a fan of where I currently stand in life. I have a crummy job, making crummy wages, and I'm not really going anywhere. After a talk with my brother; he gave me quite a different, and inspiring point of view. He told me that this was actually a positive thing, as I have no ties. This is true, I really don't have anything tying me down here, besides the lease on my apartment, but, that's going to go up early next year. The end goal for me is to become a video game journalist. Whether that be for Kotaku, Revision3 games, Game Informer, Giant Bomb, or any other site that I admire. I just have to become a video game journalist. No better time than the present as they say.
I'm not saying that I'll be moving out to Los Angeles, San Fansisco or anywhere like that as soon as my lease goes up next year, but on the other hand... what's holding me back? Money, well that's one thing, but is it really enough, or something that is worth putting in my way just because I don't want to go into debt? But I feel like Bilbo Baggins. WOAH! LITERARY REFERENCE!
It's true, though. I live comfortably in my hobbit hole and make comments about my neighbors behind their back because I've got it so good, and I am much more civilized than they are. Though, this is not the life for me. I need that call to adventure. I need a kindly old wizard to cross my doorstep and take me on the adventure of my lifetime.
Being my mind the one that it is, and working the way that it does. My mind went straight to video games.
I feel like most adventure type of games don't exactly establish this call to action and adventure. Generally it's already been established that you're, the main character of the game, is already well established as some kind of adventurer/ some kind of badass. I never get that feel of normalcy. Generally, players are thrown into the thick of it right from the get go. Except for one game in particular.....
That's right Zelda. The Legend of Zelda is very close to my heart, so there is a great deal of bias, however I also haven't really played that many other adventure or RPG games that I could really get into. Generally a LoZ game starts off with Link just living life. It's nothing interesting, but it's comfortable. Life is good. He's got a roof over his head. Sometimes, he even has a job that keeps him busy and out of trouble. Then suddenly, there is that call for action. That one thing that seems to come out of nowhere, that upsets the balance and the state of normalcy.
If this is all sounding familiar, it's because it's the tried and true method of the heros journey tale.
Did you watch it? Good.
The Hero with a Thousand faces is the basic breakdown of the heros tale that we all know and love. Link is the quintessential hero of video games, and of heroism. He's not the only one. Sora of Kingdom Hearts, The Kid From Bastion, Alexandra Rovias of Eternal Darkness, Jade of Beyond Good and Evil and many more. Though, these games don't establish that sense of comfort that the hero is ripped from by the call to adventure.
That contrast between the state of normalcy, and the grand epicness of adventure is what can really drive home the sense of adventure. I'm reminded of Red Dead Redemption; where, towards the end of the game, John Marston has completed his mission that was beset upon him by the government and was given his state of normalcy back to him. This moment in the game is beautiful. John Marston, throughout the game had always talked of his family and his ranch that he wanted to get back to after he was done. True to their word, the government gave John back his family and his land, just as he wanted, so that he can get back to what was normal. I didn't mind playing through this part of the game. It was kind of relaxing to have all of this nonviolence. I was happy to see John and his wife reunited and to see the way that he looked at her even though she was yelling at him to get some menial task or another done. I enjoyed the state of normalcy.
This contrast can be used quite effectively, if used properly. It's not a bad thing to be thrown into the middle of things, but it certainly makes clear what it is exactly that you're fighting for when you go on your adventure.
P.S.
I know that normalcy is not what the beginning of this post was about, but my life isn't being overrun by monsters or general evilness, that I need to fight for it. I need to fight for change so that I can make my state of normalcy something worth fighting for.
Showing posts with label FEAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FEAR. Show all posts
Friday, August 30, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Going down....
There has always been something genuinely unsettling about going downward in video games with me. When I was young, I lived in a house that had a creepy basement, as did we all. I was scared of the dark, the things that went bump in the night, and the creatures of the shadow. That basement embodied every one of those fears. It was dank, dark, desolate, and all kinds of scary. Yet, I still had to brave that basement to get to what I desired: my Nintendo Entertainment System. Eventually, I overcame my fear of that basement, and I realized that there was really nothing to be feared. During the summers I would spend with my dad, I would actually spend time in his equally scary basement. My dad had a Super Nintendo. He also had The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past. I would later realize that it's one of the quintessential Zelda games to be played, but back then, it was the thing that would bring back all of those fears of going downstairs into my creepy basement.
Recently I was reading on Kotaku, an interesting article discussing this advertisement. In the article, there is a line discussing the "threshold" that players must gather up the courage and cross in order to save the world, or complete their objective. "Traversing the known to the unknown requires you to cross an important threshold: fear." It is true that we cross into the unknown when we play video games, but often times, we go across that threshold with a casual stride. Perhaps this comes from my old age and experience with video games, but games seem to have lost that appeal. I don't like to get scared, but I like overcoming fears. I love games that give me that sense of overcoming something, and gathering up that courage to achieve my quest. Because the bad guys aren't the only enemy in that game. It's also myself.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past, and many other Zelda games that I've played, helped me to overcome my fears. They've helped me journey into that unknown without fear. In Zelda games, players take control of Link, just a young and ordinary lad, who also happens to be the holder of the Triforce of Courage. It's really become clear just how much they push the whole courage aspect of Zelda. Every single dungeon in Zelda is a force to be reckoned with. Each one has a momentous sense of being and terror. These are landmarks, filled with mystery, evil, and monsters. The player acts as a light in that darkness. It is dangerous to go alone, and that's what makes Zelda such a brilliant and fearful affair.
Often times in the dungeons, the player must travel downward. Going down a flight of stairs in Link to the past has a sense of foreboding danger. The player couldn't see what was on the other end of that staircase, and Link went off screen. Who knows what could happen? Traveling deeper and deeper into the depths of an ancient and evil temple, further into the dark, that has meaning, and danger. That's something that requires a lot of courage to undertake.
The Legend of Zelda is a great series that is very important to the video game industry on the whole because of subtleties like these. Games just aren't scary anymore. There are the Dead Spaces, and the FEARs, and some kind of gorefest, but they all have the same thing, which is just gore, and jump scares. That's not scary, it's just disgusting. There's no set up, or meaning to it. It's just an insignificant and pointless scare. There's nothing to overcome. In games like those, you just survive, which is exhilarating in its own right, but I feel as though there isn't a take away from those kind of games and experiences. Zelda is a game that instills fear in the player, but in a way that presents a barrier. Players have to knock down this barrier, and when they do, they feel as though they have accomplished something. They've grown, as a person in a small way.
Zelda is an adventure game, and that means that players get to explore, and experiment, and interact, and discover. I feel that most adventuring games these days don't quite capture those elements of discovery and wonder in the way that Zelda does. Skyrim is a fantastic game that captures those elements of discovery quite well. The first time that you come across a Dwarven Ruin, or a Draconic Tomb, and it's a wonderful feeling of adventure and discovery. Yet, because of the modern format of games, discovery is relegated to an aspect of completion. There's no sense of wonder to it, or even wander for that matter. Skyrim is enormous and has lots and lots to offer, but it just doesn't seem to carry as much weight to it as Ocarina of Time. While the overworld of Ocarina of Time seems like a subdivision compared to the entire country of Skyrim, there seems to be a lot more at stake. In the world of Skyrim, folks don't seem to care much if the world is coming to an end. Sure they talk about it, but the game itself doesn't really seem to care whether or not the hero of the story goes off and joins a guild of thieves or revives a terror of a league of assassins. I know that's what the game is for: just doing stuff, but nothing really takes precedence. I'd think that I should take issue with the whole "world ending" matter, but instead I just raise my arms up in excitement and fight them for the fun of it. Killing a random dragon doesn't affect the outcome, or force any progress, it's just another random battle which has been tailor made for me and my character.
While this has been a bit of a rant comparing Zelda games to others, I think that the point still stands that games don't let the player be afraid anymore. They don't build up an illusion of insurmountable odds that the player has to face not only that, but also themselves. Gamers these days rarely have to gather up courage to take on the challenge that lies before them. I haven't felt that threshold for a very long time, and for as much as I dread it's presence, I honestly kind of miss it.
Recently I was reading on Kotaku, an interesting article discussing this advertisement. In the article, there is a line discussing the "threshold" that players must gather up the courage and cross in order to save the world, or complete their objective. "Traversing the known to the unknown requires you to cross an important threshold: fear." It is true that we cross into the unknown when we play video games, but often times, we go across that threshold with a casual stride. Perhaps this comes from my old age and experience with video games, but games seem to have lost that appeal. I don't like to get scared, but I like overcoming fears. I love games that give me that sense of overcoming something, and gathering up that courage to achieve my quest. Because the bad guys aren't the only enemy in that game. It's also myself.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past, and many other Zelda games that I've played, helped me to overcome my fears. They've helped me journey into that unknown without fear. In Zelda games, players take control of Link, just a young and ordinary lad, who also happens to be the holder of the Triforce of Courage. It's really become clear just how much they push the whole courage aspect of Zelda. Every single dungeon in Zelda is a force to be reckoned with. Each one has a momentous sense of being and terror. These are landmarks, filled with mystery, evil, and monsters. The player acts as a light in that darkness. It is dangerous to go alone, and that's what makes Zelda such a brilliant and fearful affair.
Often times in the dungeons, the player must travel downward. Going down a flight of stairs in Link to the past has a sense of foreboding danger. The player couldn't see what was on the other end of that staircase, and Link went off screen. Who knows what could happen? Traveling deeper and deeper into the depths of an ancient and evil temple, further into the dark, that has meaning, and danger. That's something that requires a lot of courage to undertake.
The Legend of Zelda is a great series that is very important to the video game industry on the whole because of subtleties like these. Games just aren't scary anymore. There are the Dead Spaces, and the FEARs, and some kind of gorefest, but they all have the same thing, which is just gore, and jump scares. That's not scary, it's just disgusting. There's no set up, or meaning to it. It's just an insignificant and pointless scare. There's nothing to overcome. In games like those, you just survive, which is exhilarating in its own right, but I feel as though there isn't a take away from those kind of games and experiences. Zelda is a game that instills fear in the player, but in a way that presents a barrier. Players have to knock down this barrier, and when they do, they feel as though they have accomplished something. They've grown, as a person in a small way.
Zelda is an adventure game, and that means that players get to explore, and experiment, and interact, and discover. I feel that most adventuring games these days don't quite capture those elements of discovery and wonder in the way that Zelda does. Skyrim is a fantastic game that captures those elements of discovery quite well. The first time that you come across a Dwarven Ruin, or a Draconic Tomb, and it's a wonderful feeling of adventure and discovery. Yet, because of the modern format of games, discovery is relegated to an aspect of completion. There's no sense of wonder to it, or even wander for that matter. Skyrim is enormous and has lots and lots to offer, but it just doesn't seem to carry as much weight to it as Ocarina of Time. While the overworld of Ocarina of Time seems like a subdivision compared to the entire country of Skyrim, there seems to be a lot more at stake. In the world of Skyrim, folks don't seem to care much if the world is coming to an end. Sure they talk about it, but the game itself doesn't really seem to care whether or not the hero of the story goes off and joins a guild of thieves or revives a terror of a league of assassins. I know that's what the game is for: just doing stuff, but nothing really takes precedence. I'd think that I should take issue with the whole "world ending" matter, but instead I just raise my arms up in excitement and fight them for the fun of it. Killing a random dragon doesn't affect the outcome, or force any progress, it's just another random battle which has been tailor made for me and my character.
While this has been a bit of a rant comparing Zelda games to others, I think that the point still stands that games don't let the player be afraid anymore. They don't build up an illusion of insurmountable odds that the player has to face not only that, but also themselves. Gamers these days rarely have to gather up courage to take on the challenge that lies before them. I haven't felt that threshold for a very long time, and for as much as I dread it's presence, I honestly kind of miss it.
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