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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2558 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 18, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Pretense is just the hater's word for atmospheric.

Maybe? That still implies I found something hate-able about those game's attempts at atmosphere. It's not like I dislike atmosphere in general.

I won't spend too much effort trying to explain myself there, but I think what bothers me is that those games touch upon a lot of interesting topics, and use a lot of grandiloquent language to do so, but ultimately treat their ostensible subject matter as a thin layer of aesthetics seemingly meant to make very simple games look deeper than thy are. It feels disappointingly superficial.

If anything, I'd say it's the opposite. The gameplay is a thin layer to make the subject matter feel more earned/discovered. It is supposed to be esoteric, after all, so simply giving you a textbook on the world would be counterproductive to the feeling the author is trying to cultivate. I suppose that you could describe much of the writing as thin. But that isn't because the subject matter is thin. That is because the writing is meant to obliquely reference things you have to cobble together for yourself. Again, this adds to the esoteric atmosphere.

I don't begrudge anyone who doesn't like that sort of thing, but let's be accurate about just what it is. Kennedy does a very good job at what he wants to do, but it certainly isn't for everyone.

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