Blanding on the Shoulders of Giants

I remember hearing about how amazing Sea of Stars was, especially in the writing department. So, when I started the game and was introduced to Garl's singular dimension of "No Flaws Friendly Man" I was just counting the minutes until he either died to give us motivation or turned evil to reveal hidden layers to his character. Then he just... Never evolved... It was honestly a unique experience to see a character that seemed purpose designed to only have 5 minutes of screen time, become (and stay) a main character. Is the equivalent of going to a sit-down restaurant and seeing Skittles on the menu... And it's just literally Skittles. There's nothing wrong with that; everything in its place.... but I'm not sure what it's doing here. - - Honestly, the writing just felt like if you combined the stale, played out humor of Phase-4 Marvel and combined it with the terrible anime fan fiction I wrote back in high-school... Seeing it in the Game of the Year Awards has the same vibe as looking at that one token minority front and center on BYU brochure.

This video showed up randomly in my recommended, and what a gem I found! I really appreciate how thoughtfully you critiqued both of these games while being understanding and sympathetic about the reasons some of these problems may exist. This was an excellent video top to bottom, thanks for sharing!

God damn, is it good to see deep dive longform oldschool YT content again. Subscribed

"Garl is why Larry David throttled Elmo" had me hacking up spit from the back of my throat.

I think Garl is the world's best boy the goodest cinammon roll everyone loves for the very simple reason - so we'd be extra sad when he died, and would be extra motivated to do the true ending. Like it seems they just didn't know how else to make a truly likeable character, but to make everyone like them. There is a character in Oz series, Shaggy Man, who possessed a Love Magnet, an item which made everyone treat him like Garl. He spent half of the book trying to get rid of it (in a way it won't be found by another poor sap who'd have to deal with it)

Back at the start of this wave of retro-inspired revivals, I was pretty excited as I believed many older games had positive qualities that shouldn't be lost to time, aspects that didn't deserve to die under the label of "outdated". Some early successes made me feel hopeful that new, interesting experiences could be created by building on those forgotten design sensibilities. But seemingly time and time again every project of this nature either missed the mark entirely (too many to list) or played it so safe that it's fine enough to play once but doesn't stand out against what it is trying to replicate at all (ie. Bloodstained). Eventually it reached the point where seeing yet another classic-inspired game announced I'd have absolutely no expectation of it even being good, let alone surpassing what came before it. I had always rooted for any studio willing to try something outside the mainstream because they were passionate about making that thing specifically. So when I saw these early attempts at retro-inspired projects that were clearly missing important ingredients, the kind of pain it made me feel was like when you watch a kid who is about to ram their bicycle into a tree, you know someone is about to get hurt and you can't do anything to stop them. It was painful watching them pour their heart and soul into something knowing they'd fail anyway. I felt like even if they were flawed I should support them because doing good work takes time and nobody gets it right straight away. In hindsight I had deluded myself into thinking they were also aware of these shortcomings and would see them as things to be fixed on their next go around. But then something changed, despite the writing being as bad as ever some of these games started to succeed, bringing us to where we are today, Sea of Stars winning multiple GOTYs by being pretty and doubling down on all the worst parts of their previous work. While I still acknowledge these are works of passion, it became clear to me that so many of these projects were primarily the nostalgic passions of people who time and time again demonstrated they don't have anything interesting to say and little to share beyond their childhood love of videogames. You'd read the developer interview for the next project of this nature and it'd read almost exactly the same as the last one. The 'retro-inspired videogame' had seemingly become the place where all the developers without a single novel idea to their name came together to blur the line between homage and plagiarism. Not I feel there are far more worthwhile creative endeavours I could be supporting. A couple days ago I was reading a interview about an upcoming indie game primarily inspired by a title that is quite dear to me, but the aspects they chose to talk about and the aspects that didn't even get mentioned, it all kept reminding me of this video. Every paragraph I read just inflicted more psychological damage. It feels like so much of the indie space is just people who have this overflowing love for videogames (usually because videogames are their entire life) taking the "natural next step" which isn't of course getting a broader perspective, having something unique to bring to the table, something thought-provoking to say, but instead to dive in headfirst and cram all that love and nostalgia into a videogame-shaped package. And this isn't liable to stop anytime soon given that games like homeopathic Chrono Trigger sell well and win awards.

The way you read that last line in the "rumors" section reminded me of Mark Hamill reciting that Star Wars line that he'll never forget even though it didn't make it into the movie.

You have such a unique and candid analytical voice that, while I'm excited I get to experience the (relatively) early days of your foray into this style of videos, it almost hurts to find out that I can't go through your channel and find 10 other videos of similar subject matter to binge... yet. This is the sort of stuff I turn the bell on for. Do you have a discord? I'd love to reach out and just chat games with you and others :)

really appreciate mentioning Scott McCloud's six steps. Something I think about every day I work on games. "Why am I doing this?"

Well considered arguments, very caringly presented. I've felt this way about a lot of film and TV writing, and some literature. My faith was renewed seeing a couple of really good films recently, but I'd wondered if the thread had been cut and we lost some fundamental understanding of storytelling. There has also been a tendency lately in popular media to just reference most of the time, and that feels like a placeholder to me. A subtle nod now and then can be great, but it feels like a lack of confidence in one's own world and squandered potential inherent in art. I haven't played most of the games you reference (beyond a demo or some of the older ones on the list), but I think I understand where you're coming from. I hope devs manage to grow from what lessons they've learned and really take things forward; given that these were independent projects they have that opportunity more than a risk-averse giant

Solid critique. This clearly shows how much effort was put into fleshing out your thoughts.

Fantastic analysis/critique, writing, sense of humor, and grasp of storytelling/characterization. Was a great listen.

Man, this is a great video, perfect way of putting into words what I felt playing both games basically back to back. Your channel deserves much, much love! Subbed on the spot!

Long time NMW fan, this is a great first(?) video essay and I can't wait to see more if you have it coming down the pike.

This is an excellent video, I'm glad I watched it. I've been unable to describe why these retro styled RPGs have turned me off, causing me to not ever play them, and this video helped me codify why that is. You can do something new, guys! We'll catch the Chrono Trigger nods, you don't have to make them explicit and hammer us over the head with them! I also avoided Tunic because it came off that way to me too, but hearing that it does more than just be "furry Zelda," I'll give it a shot. Thanks, Alex!

What is this, Jump Button Reviews? I'm just teasing, I couldn't resist the obvious joke given the subject matter. This is good content and you seem like a great person.

I like the cut of this guy's jib. I SURE HOPE HE DOESN'T TURN OUT TO BE THE UNIBOMBER OR SOMETHING.

19 minutes in and yeah, I'm glad I hadn't played many of the games referenced in Chained Echoes yet (I never had a PS1 or 2). I recognized certain things like the parallels to Chrono Trigger, but a lot of the rest went over my head. Gameplay-wise though, I constantly felt like I was playing a 2D turnbased version of Xenoblade Chronicles. The exploration with its sprawling fields, collectible glowing orbs and mineral deposits for crafting feels exactly like XC1 or 2's open fields, complete with OP boss monsters. The robots immediately had me thinking of Xenoblade Chronicles X's Skells. And the way character building works, as well as how character roles work (every character has a general archetype, then you can choose to focus on certain aspects of it). I love Xenoblade Chronicles 1's gameplay, so I was all in when I played Chained Echoes, but I definitely see the issue. As an avid Pokemon player, the general issue is even more obvious to me. I like monstertaming games, I like Pokemon. I seek out other games in the genre. Some of them feel like they stand on their own, like, say, Dragon Quest Monsters or Monster Sanctuary. Others, like Coromon or Nexomon borrow so much from the Pokemon games that it's beyond hommage - they feel like very VERY elaborate Pokemon fan games. The most annoying thing to me is how there's usually a Pokeball equivalent in some other geometric shape. In Pokemon, they look like that because one of the inspirations was gachapon capsules, which look very similar if you imagine the white half to be translucent. In Coromon and Nexomon, it's a distinct Pokemon reference. I like these games (even though I usually look for games that DON't feel like Pokemon) so this isn't to be taken too negatively, but it always makes me wish these games could try to stand on their own more.

Been waiting on this one since i heard you mention it on NoMoWo, great job!

This was a really good video Alex. I only played Chained Echoes for a little while. It felt strange because it was supposed to be retro or whatever but felt super modern and I couldn't come to terms with that. It makes me wonder about my own games though as they are all supposed to have that old spirit too. It's probably the writing that got to me in Chained Echoes and I haven't written much for my stuff yet, just coding and art and gameplay etc. Also, I'm glad this is gaining traction. More views in 4 days than your first video did in 10 months.