I think I lost a inch or two from my penis after playing that game.
When you pick up a game that has Donald and Goofy standing astride a pointy haired child on the box and don't expect something that falls between anime stupidity and a sapfest, you deserve that kind of castration!
Sort of gratifying that OP mentioned Eternal Sonata as an example, because that's the game that first sprung to mind when I glanced at the thread. When you have that kind of subject matter, you can't make it anything less than awesome. It was a high concept that the writers either lost interest in or simply did not have the imagination to write properly, so what we got was felt like a by-the-numbers melodrama of rushed narrative steeped in pretentious anime bullshit. The disappointment was crushing.
Rosetti on
A crude broom stand.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation and Lost Planet were the two most recent "angst ridden melodrama" games I'd played. Fortunately you can just skip through the story cut scenes.
I love making sweeping generalizations, as we all do here in G+T, so I submit that Japan has a huge (or very petit) boner for melodrama. Everything is so dramatic and there is almost always a philosophical circle-jerk by the end of the game.
I love making sweeping generalizations, as we all do here in G+T, so I submit that Japan has a huge (or very petit) boner for melodrama. Everything is so dramatic and there is almost always a philosophical circle-jerk by the end of the game.
I know that japanese writers are quite capable of writing great, non-sappy stories, it's just that we always seem to get the overdramatic crap instead.
Of course, the western gaming world has plenty of this as well. Bioware, I'm looking at you...
I love making sweeping generalizations, as we all do here in G+T, so I submit that Japan has a huge (or very petit) boner for melodrama. Everything is so dramatic and there is almost always a philosophical circle-jerk by the end of the game.
I was just going to submit "Every JRPG ever made." Even the comparatively good ones. I mean, we're still mostly in an era where a "well-written" video game is mostly well-written only when compared with the status quo for games. I'm playing Eternal Sonata right now - which I like, btw - and I saw it getting praise for its well-written story tackling mature issues in a thoughtful manner. No, it just uses simplistic caricatures of each binary side for a number of modern issues - war, environmentalism, other crap - and wraps them in standard wussy teenage love drama.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I love making sweeping generalizations, as we all do here in G+T, so I submit that Japan has a huge (or very petit) boner for melodrama. Everything is so dramatic and there is almost always a philosophical circle-jerk by the end of the game.
"You people sound like chapters out of a self-help booklet!"
a dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization.
Sounds like most (all?) games anyway.
Basically speaking, games need some kind of drama in order to justify the premise. The way to find drama is to create conflict. So games usually go in one of two directions, generic characters with a single defining characteristic pumped up to 10 or a little bit of the ultra-violence (literal conflict). Frankly, if the alternative to current practices is to license Uncle Vanya into a game then I'd rather have spike-haired goofs running around bitching about their lot in life.
That being said, there are particularly egregious examples (most do seem to come from Japan) of which Ace Combat 5 could be the poster child.
I love making sweeping generalizations, as we all do here in G+T, so I submit that Japan has a huge (or very petit) boner for melodrama. Everything is so dramatic and there is almost always a philosophical circle-jerk by the end of the game.
"You people sound like chapters out of a self-help booklet!"
Kefka has to be the least melodramatic villain in any RPG ever.
Which is quite a contrast to the rest of the game.
Yeah I didn't find Cloud to be whiny at all, really.
He was more like "Hey guys, why don't we just forget about my problems and go kill Sephiroth k?"
Squall, on the other hand...
Squall never whined vocally... unfortunately we could read his thoughts :P
Rohan on
...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.
Also, just because he'd hate that so much, I'm gonna go ahead and refer to Squall in the past tense now.
Squall was a pissy emofag.
I always saw him as a parody, actually.
It makes the game immeasurably more entertaining.
That scene is so hilarious because nobody's talking and Squall just gets lost in his thoughts for 15 fucking minutes and runs off on a stupid tangent and manages to move himself enough to go out screaming "I DON'T WANNA BE A PAST TENSE!!!" with no provocation, running out crying, with everyone just sort of looking at him going O_O
Also, I move for this thread's title to be changed to "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHGLBHRRRH"
SimBen on
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augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
edited April 2008
Grandia 2.
Tales of Symphonia.
Both really horrible.
I'd also include Golden Sun but that was more a problem of it being written at a fourth grade level.
Trauma Center on the DS had some misplaced melodrama.
"Doctor, just let keep cutting myself at night. The world is too bleak. I want to die."
The next day, the patient's life is genuinely in danger - "Save me, Doctor Stiles. I want to liiive!"
Actually, I find that entirely credible.
Yeah, I recall reading a stat awhile back that suggested that many of those who were rescued after a suicide attempt claimed to have immediately regretted the decision. I have not, however, been able to find those numbers.
I note that Emn left out an important factor in that story, as well: Stiles has a conversation that evening about how she shouldn't want to die, and so it's not like she just changed her mind at the last second, in any case.
Anyone notice how some things (mattresses and the copy machines in Highrise) are totally impenetrable? A steel wall, yeah that makes sense, but bullets should obliterate copy machines.
I don't know about you, but I always buy a bullet proof printer. Its a lot more expensive, but I think the advantages are apparent.
Damnit! I was really looking forward to getting that game from my gamer queue.
Damn you sissy game development writers!!! Damn you to hell!
Don't let one guy on a forum ruin it for you. I'm about halfway through disc 2 and loving the majority of the game. There are certain annoying characters that could be removed without hurting the story, but it's definitely not the the point of "fuck this game it's dumb."
Indeed. I did not mean to imply it was a bad game, but for a game that is so story focused it is not its strongest point.
Trauma Center on the DS had some misplaced melodrama.
"Doctor, just let keep cutting myself at night. The world is too bleak. I want to die."
The next day, the patient's life is genuinely in danger - "Save me, Doctor Stiles. I want to liiive!"
Trauma Centre's melodrama wasn't too bad, but there's was so much of it. It was click-click-click-why won't you let me operate-click for minutes before getting to cut people open.
Definitely Tales of Symphonia. It's an awesome game, but it suffers.
reasoning including major spoilers
everybody dies. one, by one, they all sacrifice themselves- first Regal, which is pretty hard-hitting, because he's kinda cool, and you actually think he's gone for good. but then when the others start sacrificing themselves (in cutscenes involving only them and Lloyd for whatever reason, the other party members cease to exist and/or refuse to help until their specific special moments) your disbelief is suspended only by the gravity of having lost EVERY party member you ever had, only for you to finally reach the end of the section, expecting a climactic one-on-one battle. but no, the game is all "haha pranked kratos/zelos saved them all only you couldnt see friends reunited yay" and you're just left in a state of WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT.
don't get me wrong, the story DID have its moments. it wasn't all contrived bullshit (although most of it was.) even watching Colette lose her senses seemed pretty dark, in a way. Mithos was a great character and villain, and actually had a reason to be all emofag- but god damn if the game didnt milk every last ounce of drama.
i thought Golden Sun wasn't that bad. the writing was kinda shit, but the story held up- and none of the characters were whiny for the sake of it. that was important.
Not Uncle Dave on
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PunkBoyThank you! And thank you again!Registered Userregular
edited April 2008
Is Persona 3 considered melodramatic? If it is, it's definitely a game where the melodrama is done right.
I'm also playing through Yakuza now, another game where I feel the melodrama is done well.
PunkBoy on
Steam ID:
The Linecutters Podcast: Your weekly dose of nerd! Tune in for the live broadcast every Wednesday at 7 PM EST, only at www.non-productive.com!
Is the group hug and warm encouragement most Japanese games give you before facing the final boss a kind of melodrama? You can do it and the power of friendship and all that rot. Or is that kitsch?
That would be more kitsch. I think melodrama in that scenario would be if suddenly party members started breaking down and you got even more exposition and character development.
Posts
When you pick up a game that has Donald and Goofy standing astride a pointy haired child on the box and don't expect something that falls between anime stupidity and a sapfest, you deserve that kind of castration!
Sort of gratifying that OP mentioned Eternal Sonata as an example, because that's the game that first sprung to mind when I glanced at the thread. When you have that kind of subject matter, you can't make it anything less than awesome. It was a high concept that the writers either lost interest in or simply did not have the imagination to write properly, so what we got was felt like a by-the-numbers melodrama of rushed narrative steeped in pretentious anime bullshit. The disappointment was crushing.
A crude broom stand.
I still need to get Zero. Has it gone down to $20 yet?
Bullshit? FUCK YOU HOMOFAG DOUCHENOZZLE AC5 IS THE BEST SHIT SINCE SLICED CRACK BREAD.
Renzo, more like Gayzo.
Zero might never get to $20, it's getting rare at least around these parts I don't know nationally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LISmPmdUhYA&feature=related
...though this is horrible to the point of hilarity.
XBOX Live: BrandXSavior
Wii: 4629 5078 1523 8513
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDLuXNpUF7w&feature=related
Better? Or Worse?
I never asked for this!
I won't lie, that shit made me sad when I was 11.
hahaha that was hilarious.
I think I am noticing a trend in all of these games.
*Hugs his copies of DDS, Nocturne and Persona 3*
Of course, the western gaming world has plenty of this as well. Bioware, I'm looking at you...
I was just going to submit "Every JRPG ever made." Even the comparatively good ones. I mean, we're still mostly in an era where a "well-written" video game is mostly well-written only when compared with the status quo for games. I'm playing Eternal Sonata right now - which I like, btw - and I saw it getting praise for its well-written story tackling mature issues in a thoughtful manner. No, it just uses simplistic caricatures of each binary side for a number of modern issues - war, environmentalism, other crap - and wraps them in standard wussy teenage love drama.
"You people sound like chapters out of a self-help booklet!"
Basically speaking, games need some kind of drama in order to justify the premise. The way to find drama is to create conflict. So games usually go in one of two directions, generic characters with a single defining characteristic pumped up to 10 or a little bit of the ultra-violence (literal conflict). Frankly, if the alternative to current practices is to license Uncle Vanya into a game then I'd rather have spike-haired goofs running around bitching about their lot in life.
That being said, there are particularly egregious examples (most do seem to come from Japan) of which Ace Combat 5 could be the poster child.
By the way...
Anime can do drama well. Also, I would like to say this thread has been hilarious thus far.
Kefka has to be the least melodramatic villain in any RPG ever.
Which is quite a contrast to the rest of the game.
Squall never whined vocally... unfortunately we could read his thoughts :P
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
It could be Morse Code.
Maybe he's saying "SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"
I always saw him as a parody, actually.
It makes the game immeasurably more entertaining.
That scene is so hilarious because nobody's talking and Squall just gets lost in his thoughts for 15 fucking minutes and runs off on a stupid tangent and manages to move himself enough to go out screaming "I DON'T WANNA BE A PAST TENSE!!!" with no provocation, running out crying, with everyone just sort of looking at him going O_O
Also, I move for this thread's title to be changed to "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHGLBHRRRH"
Tales of Symphonia.
Both really horrible.
I'd also include Golden Sun but that was more a problem of it being written at a fourth grade level.
JACK DO YOU ONLY GO OUT WITH ME CUZ IM BEAUTIFUL:!?
also, every cutscene is the dynasty warriors games are hilariously over the top in a cheesy melodramatic way.
"Doctor, just let keep cutting myself at night. The world is too bleak. I want to die."
The next day, the patient's life is genuinely in danger - "Save me, Doctor Stiles. I want to liiive!"
Actually, I find that entirely credible.
Yeah, I recall reading a stat awhile back that suggested that many of those who were rescued after a suicide attempt claimed to have immediately regretted the decision. I have not, however, been able to find those numbers.
I note that Emn left out an important factor in that story, as well: Stiles has a conversation that evening about how she shouldn't want to die, and so it's not like she just changed her mind at the last second, in any case.
XBL: LiquidSnake2061
Fixed that for you.
Also, they aren't melodramatic, really. Just funny.
Liu Bei FTW.
"I fight for the people... and the land. But what do the people what for the land? How can I fight for the people?
The LAND MUST BE UNITED!"
Especially with all the trannies.
Indeed. I did not mean to imply it was a bad game, but for a game that is so story focused it is not its strongest point.
Trauma Centre's melodrama wasn't too bad, but there's was so much of it. It was click-click-click-why won't you let me operate-click for minutes before getting to cut people open.
reasoning including major spoilers
don't get me wrong, the story DID have its moments. it wasn't all contrived bullshit (although most of it was.) even watching Colette lose her senses seemed pretty dark, in a way. Mithos was a great character and villain, and actually had a reason to be all emofag- but god damn if the game didnt milk every last ounce of drama.
i thought Golden Sun wasn't that bad. the writing was kinda shit, but the story held up- and none of the characters were whiny for the sake of it. that was important.
I'm also playing through Yakuza now, another game where I feel the melodrama is done well.