(no subject)

[shadowhive]

I had intended to do a June something or some other type of post but alas, no.

In part that’s due to this weekend’s weird weather. It’s been a mix of warm and trying to storm. It did rain a bit both yesterday and today, but seemingly not enough to cool things down and today’s especially was short. But either way it’s been too much to do much of anything.

Another part is that mum’s picked up some sort of bug and I’m not sure if it’s from the library or the trip out last week, but she’s been feeling rough (though is a little better) and now I’ve felt it coming in. Which is… not the best, but at least we don’t have any real plans.

Despite that I did a few things.
*I got to Genshin level 18 so now I’m on the last of the prologue quests woo!
*I listened to a Who audio, The Dalek Trap which was free with from a a magazine code. It was part of a boxset and it was the first one, so it’s clearly laying the groundwork for something from the final audio, which means a lot is left hanging which is a shame
*I watched Shoto’s stream yesterday which was stories from his trip which was sweet
*I watched The Mummy Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor and it’s… ok. I mean it’s good that they tried something different, you can’t fault them for that but it just felt kinda… I dunno.
*There was a qsmp mini event yesterday which was funny because of Foolish and Bad being spy’s and being terrible at it, but it was fun. Though now there’s a mysterious timer
*I finished Inscryption, has anyone else played it because I have some thoughts and questions and….
*I watched some twitchcon stuff, though net was spotty and I got the time wrong and missed the gen loss panel so will have to watch it when the vod is live

And yeah, the net is back to being spotty which is annoying as fuck. At least when it went off this morning it was because of one of the girls turning the router off somehow but it’s disconnected randomly a bunch of times today, ugh.

Randomly today I got hit by a depression wave of sadness and just… bleh. I wish it would go away. It came out of nowhere too and it’s just…. Lowered my mood so much and I don’t get why. Meh.

I’m not sure what I’m gonna do now, I did think of watching a film on tv but both are horrors and I’m not really in the mood for either. Maybe I’ll finally revisit Foolish’s Name Your Price. Or find something else.

Comments

[yarnofariadne]

I've watched a few playthroughs of Inscryption - I will warn you my feelings about the first 2/3 of the game are very positive and about the last 1/3 are very negative, so if I'm not the person to comment/answer questions that's totally fine, lol.

*hugs* Hope you feel better ♥

[shadowhive]

I’d not watched any play through or anything (mostly getting it on a friend’s recommendation) so going in all I knew was the 1st third of the game (and thought it was all like that) so cut to me being surprised by… everything that happens. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was so surprised by a game.

I think the first third was my fav and the second third gave me huge vibes for the pokemontcg video game. (Though I was on tv tropes after I finished it and was very WTF at the giant bones having a character entry…. And who they were). I did like the last third, though I can see why people might not. That last scene though… and wtf even is the OLD DATA ago cause all of this stuff

*hugs* I hope so too, I wish it would shoo

[yarnofariadne]

I really enjoyed the gameplay for the first part of the game but I was willing to give the rest a shot if the story delivered on what had been set up. I thought the story was really ramping up and getting interesting, and then the end was abrupt and didn't resolve or explain anything. I really hate when death in media is used as a ~surprise ending~ because it's just lazy storytelling.

I struggled with what I would've done instead and I hadn't really thought of anything because I'm not sure where they were trying to go or what they were trying to do; it kind of teases this mystery that, in the end, doesn't materialise, so I see why they felt they had written themselves into a corner, if that's indeed what they felt. It just treats "the game wants to be sentient" as an end in itself - it doesn't explore why, to what end, or by what means. If Kaycee died as a result of 'fire complications,' why does the ghost using her name in the game have a block of ice in her head? There's an interesting explanation there that they just never do anything with! And if the things we encounter in the game entered from the real world, how did they end up in the game? Presumably beings like the Prospector and the Angler weren't video game developers who got sucked into the game through vaguely unexplained technical phenomena. It's just frustrating because it had so much potential and it really just fell flat. There's no resolution and I hate that.

I understand sometimes a story doesn't explain everything to allow the audience to write the ending themself, and that's a thing in video games as an interactive storytelling medium, but this didn't feel like that. This felt like they had so many good ideas and no idea on how to satisfyingly deliver a full narrative based on those ideas. A real, real shame. But then I know everyone in the world loved it except me so maybe I've just got a stick up my ass, lol.

[shadowhive]

I agree, I think the story was really interesting and I do wanna know more of what was going on. And I agree too that the ending felt a bit abrupt. Like we go through the whole thing because of the old data and yet… still have no idea what it actually IS? Which makes me wander if the people that made it know what it is or if they lost the thread somewhere.

I think usually I’d have been more bothered my y Luke’s death at the end but I think, because of the genre, that something bad was going to happen to him. However I do think him just getting shot like that felt… disappointing. I thought I saw a shadow of something behind him when he was at the computer so what I expected was for him to get… I dunno, sucked into the game as well?

From what I’ve gathered it’s not necessarily that the game wants to be sentient per se, it’s that the old data made it sentient. But what is the old data? Is it supernatural? Technological? A mix of both? I get that it’s set up to leave it to interpretation but I wish it was a bit more… definite? Kaylee is a strange thing. Was she killed by the game or by the developers? Was the fire the definite cause of death or a cover up? I know there’s an update to the base game called Kaycee’s mod so maybe that’ll give more hints. (I’m guessing it’s from there that they got the bones name since I didn’t see anything even hunting at that in the base game)

Yeah I get what you mean! I mean I enjoyed it but I still think it could’ve explained things a bit more. But then I guess the question would become exactly how you’d explain them. Because the whole game is set up to be Luke’s recordings of him playing the game it’s not as if you can just switch pov or something to show explanations of things. (If that makes sense?)

I think the only way we’d get any more explanation is updates to add things (like kaycee’s mod which might offer some expiations? But since I’ve not played yet I dunno) or a direct follow up. But then maybe it is something that we’re just not meant to know, I just hope that’s by intention (and that the creator does know what it all means)

I hope that long rambly makes sense (ive woke up feeling ill so I’m hoping I’m not rambling insanely)

[yarnofariadne]

if the people that made it know what it is or if they lost the thread somewhere.
Yeah, this is the crux of the problem for me. Either they know what it is and weren't able to adequately convey it, and didn't take the time to develop a story that would actually answer the questions they set on the table, or they had great ideas they didn't fully flesh out and thought that disguising it as a ~mystery~ would make that less obvious. Either way, it's a failure for me.

I kinda figured being the horror genre that he'd die in the end, I just didn't expect that to come before we got any answers or resolved...you know, anything. To have it come where it did was essentially just a 'that's it! that's all you're getting! bye!' which is completely unsatisfying. I don't mind being left with some unanswered questions - it's when they're all unanswered that it reads less as an intentional choice and more of a 'we wrote ourselves into a corner and don't know how to get out so uhhhhhh gunshot' thing.

From what I’ve gathered it’s not necessarily that the game wants to be sentient per se, it’s that the old data made it sentient.
Man, that's even worse. So there's not even that much of a goal? What is the point of all this. Why did it become sentient in the first place? Like there's no MOTIVE, there's nothing that pushes the plot along except for the mystery which they don't have any interest in solving so this is just FRUSTRATING. I hate to be like 'these people aren't smart enough for the story idea they had' but honestly that's what this feels like to me, lol. It's either that or they know and just aren't interested in telling, which is lazy from a storytelling perspective and insulting from a consumer perspective.

I didn't see much of Kaycee's Mod but it looked to me like it was just a way to keep playing the first third of the game without progressing a plot, which is actually all I want out of this game as it stands but also doesn't give any answers. The people I watched play it may just not have played it long enough to get answers, but if the explanation for the whole game is buried several hours into a DLC, that's infuriating. Make your standalone game a satisfying experience or don't waste my time.

[shadowhive]

From my play though I’m inclined to think that they do have an idea of what the old data is and just decided to hide it like they did for thematic reasons. Which is a choice and I can see why they made it, but it did leave me wanting to know more and being puzzled by what the old data was. I think their goal was to get people talking and speculating, which they’ve certainly done, but it feels there should have been… more.

(And I do understand the frustration, I’ve got into a few things (mostly shows and films) where they started with a central idea/mystery and clearly either had no concrete idea at the start or changed their minds partway though and so it the result was muddled)

Yeah it felt very unsatisfying! I think if he’d seen what the old data was (and us as well) then his death would have felt more justified? Because at least then you could say ‘oh, he definitely knew this info and so they had to cover it up’ I think it would’ve been better if the game just started up again and pulled him into it.

I think that’s the thing, we don’t know what made all this happen and we really should. Again from my play through, it felt clear to me that the scrybes wanted the old data for some reason but the reason wasn’t clear (the implication being it would give them some sort of power). The old data not just being power, but being the trigger to give them sentience…. It kinda makes sense, but again, it should’ve been clearer.

I guess the whole thing shows how hard it is to write a mystery thing, because you clearly want the thing to be a mystery, but then you fall into the trap of making it too mysterious

I think I might play it at some point because I did enjoy the first act also it’ll be fun to do it again and I might report back if I stumble on any info from it, but I agree. I don’t mind them adding a few bonus tidbits in it per se, but some of what I saw on tv tropes was…. Things I never would have guessed. (Again, I go back to my point about the skeleton because I would never have guessed who THAT was and the talk of how they relate to things just feels… there’s no hint of that in the game itself so it must be in the mod)

But overall though I did really enjoy the game, the genre shifts really surprised me and I have to admire them for doing something so different to what I was expecting.

[yarnofariadne]

Not every game's for everyone and this one isn't for me! I'm glad you enjoyed it though. I completely understand my criticisms are coming from someone they weren't interested in reaching so like, I'm not the audience and my criticisms don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. I do think it's poorly written but I can grant them the benefit of the doubt and assume they wanted the audience to spin the story out for them rather than present information with which to solve a mystery.

It's reminding me of Lost and Battlestar Galactica, both of which really suffered from not having a clear ending point in mind when they started. It becomes super obvious in each story that they've started themselves off with a lot of threads and no plan to weave them together or solve any problems they created. It's why I believe so fervently in outlines, lol. If you don't know where you're going with writing a story before you start it, you're gonna get tangled up in all the threads you're leaving open for yourself. Both those shows got really mired down in the uncertainty over what they wanted to do and I found both really disappointing and unsatisfying.

And if the whole point is power for power's sake, fine; it's shallow, but it's not unheard of. Ganondorf's whole deal is power for power's sake; in all the Zelda media I'm familiar with (which admittedly isn't comprehensive), he doesn't particularly seem to want power to do anything in particular, other than be powerful. I think it works in Zelda because they've woven in mythology so heavily, that they've made power as a goal in itself a meaningful story choice tied to the Triforce and how other characters embody singular values themselves, and in the journey to getting there a richly told and fleshed out story. I don't see any of that storytelling care in Inscryption and that's where it's falling flat for me.

[shadowhive]

This is true! I do wonder if they had the concept for act one (which would have worked as a game on it’s own) but then decided to add everything else after? The whole thing makes me curious about the process

I’ve only seen a little of both of those so I can’t fully comment. (I did see the first season of Lost when it was on tv but it got nabbed by sky which was an irritating thing that happened with too many shows back then.) I do feel something like Lost should have had a definite idea no outline (I just looked it up and how did they stretch it out for 6 seasons???) I agree, it’s so frustrating when a show starts off with these threads but just… doesn’t do anything with them so I can only imagine how bad it was for something like that. You’re so right there!

For me things that comes to mind in those terms is the Resident Evil films (which started really well then each time got messy and the last one was just…a mess of contradictions) and also Rise Of Skywalker (which felt like they bought Palpatine back for no reason and messed a lot up)

Yeah power for power’s sake is a common motive that’s been used a lot (I guess in this case it’s the vagueness of what the power is that’s the issue). With Zelda it started as being just for power’s sake and it’s only because of later games that it expanded further than that. I think whoever came up with the that piece of lore for the characters in OOT was a genius because it works and it works so well.

I think comparing the two is a bit difficult (especially because Zelda has 20 games compared to Inscryption’s one). Would we think differently if Inscryption had a sequel further down the line that’s less vague and has more answers?

[yarnofariadne]

Oh good shout bringing up Star Wars - I remember hearing from the filmmakers that there wasn't a three-film plan for the sequel trilogy when they started and I was like ?!?!?! We just admit this now?? Embarrassing. But yeah, that's how you get Palpatine, of all things. Not outlining is how you get Palpatine.

You're right that it's a bit unfair on my part to compare Zelda and Inscryption - it was just the first thing that came to mind with a 'power for power's sake' motivation. But I do think that Zelda's an example of it done well.

Honestly an Inscryption sequel would annoy me? Like, I'd be happy it exists for everyone who enjoys it, and I hope it'd be fun. But with my fundamental issue with it being that the original game doesn't have a compelling or well-developed story, I think them being like 'okay but we totally promise we'll get the story right in the second game' feels like a cash grab to get money for two games rather than one, and also that they're counting on my goodwill that they haven't earned in the first game. If I felt the groundwork were laid competently in the first game I'd be more willing to entertain the idea of a sequel - they haven't earned my investment, I feel. But then, I don't think they want my investment or my opinion so it truly doesn't matter, lol.

[shadowhive]

Yeh when I heard that I was like ?? Because they set up things that could have been interesting only to…. Not have a plan? Or back down on them. I remember when The Last Jedi came out and the director for it said multiple times that when he came in there was no plan and he was free to do what he wanted and I was just ??? This is the middle part of a trilogy and there was… nothing? And then we get Palpatine and just…

That’s ok! And yeah you’re right it is

That’s fair! I guess to me it would depend on what they did with it. I think it works on its own, but a follow up to expand the story could be interesting (or to have another game effected by it) but it could also end up being just as unexplained