pronounshe + him
157written posts
offlinecurrently
it has, truly, been a roundabout path...
okay so i think it's really cool to understand why something is someone's favourite anything. if it's just because "the game is really fun" (^: that's totally chill, and totally talk about it because i like really fun games too! but reasons other than that are super cool as well! for example, it's hard to choose a favourite game, so i'll be picking two, neither of which might even be my definitively favourite game ever (already breaking my own hecking rules). and those games are: nier (replicant) and persona 3
neither game are the most fun games i've ever played. nier automata blew the original out of the water in terms of gameplay and making it actually fun. the same has been done with persona 3, especially with the whole not being able to control your party members part (i'm talking about fes. i have portable i just haven't gotten the chance to get far into it.)
both games aren't mechanically the best i've played by a long shot, but they both of two things that i love in games: a good story and a great soundtrack. (spoilers):
nier is like a grim fairytale. one about an orphaned boy who wants to save the single most important person in his life and will do anything to keep her alive, teaming up with a group of loveable misfits along the way and bonding with them over the course of five whole years. except they never really get the happy ending (relucent to call ending e happy, plus it's not in the game). the once happy-go-lucky nier who believed he could play the hero by helping villagers and saving his sister slowly has his vision of the world crushed by it's cruelties until finally, he breaks during the mid-point of the game, becoming an older, cynical person in the second half who lusts for the blood of shades and is hellbent on killing the shadowlord. the team, individually and as a group go through hardships and changes and by the end it's really hard to consider them good people, but they're sympathetic people. the ending (as mentioned before) is far from happy, nothing really goes right for anyone but they continue to try, and i love it.
not to mention the music is phenomenal, (mostly) sung in a language completely made up by the singer, she makes her gibberish sound like a real language. a lot of work was done by her; having studied languages and some of their "key features" or things that were specific to that language and combining those traits with the other languages she was told the lyrics should sound like they should be sung in. yes, multiple languages in which they wanted a song to sound like, and emi evans killed it. there's not a single song in that game that isn't a bop, i'll sing along to those made-up words all day.
as for persona 3, i guess i'll go with the music first. shoji meguro is a god at making music, that's honestly about it. the composing is great and i super dig the rock music, having grown up with classic rock because my dad loves it. rap isn't something that i grew up with, but it's inclusion is totally fine with me. i'm honestly not super good at explaining why i like music, or why it works, i'm just a fan of the music. but i will say that "burn my dread" is the perfect theme song for the game.
while a lot of characterization for the protagonist is only given in spin-offs, you still get a sense for who the character is. he's a chill dude, too chill, apathetic. he doesn't show any signs of fear being attacked by a shadow for the first time, he doesn't care if he lives or dies. and while people may argue they're the worst cast, i think the cast of persona 3 is the most realistic and my (possibly idk i love every group but for arguement's sake) personal favourites. the group isn't held together by just the protagonist, they have their own relationships separate from the protagonist, ones from before the events of the game, yukari and mitsuru, akihiko and shinjiro, shinjiro and ken, junpei and yukari, and even aigis and the protagonist. in fes you don't get to hang out with the boys, and that just shows even more that without the main character there being everyone's best friend they're still held together. the protagonist doesn't need to be the adhesive holding the group together, they're friends with each other regardless of the protagonist. you find the members throughout the dorm hanging out and talking without the main character having to call them together. junpei and yukari chat because they want to, not because the team is having a meeting. (heavily spoilers): and after the protagonist eventually dies, while they fight with one another, they understand one another and are still friends. you get to see them continue to be friends without him there, even if it's hard (the hardship mostly coming from the passing of the protagonist). which, speaking of: the main character going from not caring whether he lives or dies to realizing his reason to live and deciding to die for that very thing, his friends, is heartbreaking and i love it. as someone who's biggest fear is knowing someday i'll die and will have panic attacks stemming from it, i really appreciate the theme of death and how it's handled.
sorry if i'm all over the place, but it's midnight rn and my eyes hurt too much to look back and fix any mistakes lmao, but i'm sure my points came across somewhat. anyways, that's why persona 3 and nier and two of my favourite games (even though the thread says one but whatever, sue me). i'd love to hear your reasoning for why your favourite games are, well, your favourite. cheers.
|
last edit on Jul 4, 2018 4:22:50 GMT by Gonzo |
