Sundays are for… oh god, there’s more, isn’t there? I thought it was just an ordinary cave, not a cave for literally a million new things. Before I go left and spend the next three hours stressing about the things I missed by not going right, let’s read this week’s best writing about games (and things related to games!)
Kastel wrote about “Large” and “Large” games via Cohost, or games that are traditionally, massively persistent, and games that are a little more sparing and thoughtful with their scope. Call the ever-increasing critical distance for the place. It occurs to me that there’s a whole world of these wonderful, personal Cohost blogs out there that I’m just not tuned into, and probably where a lot of the coolest writing in the field currently resides.I’ll try to dig in!
But there are other ways to make something feel big without giving it everything. Something I found interesting while listening to an interview with the creative director of 1000xRESIST was his description of Final Fantasy 7 as a game where you leave places. For him, there’s something sentimental about leaving the places you’ve been forever and then exploring a new world. It transforms the sense of loss of not being able to enter the places into something wonderful and wonderful. As the saying goes, “You may have to leave your hometown, but there’s a bigger world out there.” If you play 1000xRESIST, you’ll find that each chapter is full of unique sets that don’t appear in other chapters. The same goes for Final Fantasy 7, Mass Effect 2, and other games where you lose access to places you’re familiar with. You are forced to go to different places, to a new world. I think this negative sense of loss and the strange need to “emigrate”, for lack of a better word, makes the world feel bigger and harsher than it really is.
Unwinnable decided to see me coming this week and feature the dark fantasy TTRPG MÖRK BORG AND Godzilla Minus One. If you’re not familiar with MÖRK BORG, it’s spawned what I believe to be a pretty unique tabletop phenomenon with its open license, spawning many spinoffs, expansions, and add-ons, and it’s always fun to see the wonders of popular spinning with its distinctive characteristics. atmosphere and unforgettable, fragments of spiritual knowledge.
For Aftermath, Nathan Grayson (RPS at Peace) wrote how Dr. Disrespect, depressingly, will likely come out of all this with the same career still. I usually pay very little attention to what Grayson describes as the “middle-aged man yelling at video games” industrial complex, so his perspective is always enlightening.
There’s an obvious trainwreck appeal here, but some fans also see these aspiring creators as avatars of sorts. If a great content creator can embrace a freelance lifestyle and get whatever they want, maybe viewers can too. These types of viewers will always root for someone like Beahm, a 42-year-old man who acts like a 16-year-old boy, because they see themselves in him. And though Beahm will probably lose viewership for this one in total, whether it stays on YouTube or ends up elsewhere, the viewers who stick around will likely become bigger fans than ever. Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about morality or principles; It’s about people who form such a strong bond with a creator that they feel that attacks against them are attacks against them, and platforms who realize that they’ll make more money than they’ll lose by exploiting that ugly energy.
Hellworld aside, season 3 of The Bear is here! Good news for people who enjoy watching imaginary people get stressed out with each other in tiny kitchens, ie. Gingy is one of the best lore aggregators “Tubers imo”, and he’s rounded up the Shadow Of The Erdtree reveals for your viewing pleasure. Polygon’s Simone de Rochefort gave me grief about the armor I’ve been wearing for most of the Elden Ring DLC. This week’s music is lost by Robohands. Have a great weekend!