#my articles
Text
How to Make a Visual Novel in a Weekend
(you can read this blog post on my website or down below)
Making a visual novel is already hard, so how do you make one in a game jam where you have a set deadline? Or worse, how do you make an entire visual novel in only a weekend? What about when you have to use certain themes in the game and can’t go fully freeform?
Game jams are such a great way to get started making visual novels—I first got my start with Ludum Dare 10 years ago, as of this August. They force you to downsize a lot, to focus on what matters and most importantly, have a tight deadline hanging over your head that you can’t push back. Some game jams, like my upcoming Otome & Josei Jams, allow users a much longer timeframe of 2 months and don’t restrict on themes. Others like Ludum Dare only give you a weekend (though there are other formats now) and require you to use a user-voted theme that’s only made public when the jam starts.
With the tight deadlines and possibility of restrictions, how do you make a visual novel that quickly? Is that even humanly possible??
First off, if you’re completely beginner to visual novels, check out my newbie guide on how to make visual novels which goes over the basics, terminology, engines, and more.
Earlier this month I entered Velox Formido, a visual novel jam inspired by Ludum Dare with a few tweaks:
Themes are still voted on but you have to incorporate at least 2 of the top 5 themes
The jam only lasts 36 hours from start to submission
Very, very tight! Still, I was able to squeak out a new game- Dahlia, a short story about being trapped with a cute (but possibly hungry) vampire. While you can read about my creative choices in my post-mortem for the game, today I want to talk about how you can recreate my process.
jam requirements
First off, you need to become familiar with the jam you’re entering. If you’re not entering a jam but rather just making a game in a weekend for fun, skip this.
You’ll want to have a clear idea of each of these parts…
rules
What rules does the jam have? Do they stipulate what kind of stories you can enter? For instance, most game jams that require the developers or a panel of judges to rate games (i.e. competitive jams) won’t allow 18+ content in the games.
engines
Similar to the rules, some game jams stipulate what engines you can use. Be sure to know this ahead of time. If a game jam doesn’t say there’s an engine requirement, however, you can usually use whatever you want.
themes
Will you be required to use certain themes or can you make a VN fully up to you? Sometimes themes feel too restrictive, while other times they help guide you to a more solid idea.
jump right in
Once the game jam starts, dive right in! …That is, if you have an idea of what to do.
ideas
Ideas are a dime a dozen—truly, it’s in the execution. Still, you need some kind of idea and you need it fast if you only have a weekend to finish the game.
After taking into consideration the rules and themes for the jam, I then start rapidly brainstorming ideas I would be okay working on. If one of the themes is forbidden romance, then what kind of couple would I want to write? What kind of story beats could I do with flower symbolism?
This stage needs to be quick. It’s okay to scrap ideas, but you need to stick to one and fast. For Velox Formido, I initially started writing one idea but scrapped it a couple hours later to begin the idea I ended up finishing.
Don’t be afraid to change your idea- but make sure the one you stick with is one you’re happy with!
work flow
How do you begin making a new game concept?
For me, I’m an artist, writer, and programmer, so I can make a game by myself. I’m fine with starting on writing or concept art first, it just depends on my mood. For this recent Velox Formido, I started on writing first, just going with the first ideas in my head. Other times, I start with concept art so I have a clearer idea of the characters as I’m writing.
There is no wrong way to start making a visual novel, except to not start at all!
If you feel like starting on an outline for the game, go for it. Want to dive into character art? Do it!
managing time
Having only a weekend to make a visual novel is just- well, it’s a weekend. It goes by so fast so you have to be aware of how long parts will take you. If you’ve never made a visual novel before, it’s even harder to gauge how quickly you can do things.
How long does it take you to draw a character sprite? How many characters will you have? How fast can you write 1k or 3k words? Will you have time to program the art and writing into the engine? What about music, GUI, sound effects?
scope
You need to keep the scope of the game small. Tiny. Even tinier than whatever you’re thinking.
Think of it in terms like this:
how many characters will I have?
will there be any choices?
what ending(s) will it have?
do I need to make a GUI?
speed
I know I can make art pretty quickly when I throw caution to the wind, but I still have to limit how much art I make. For instance, in Dahlia I wanted to draw CGs, but I ended up spending too much time on the writing and only started on the art 12 hours before the deadline. I was able to finish the 2 character sprites in just 2 hours, but then I had to grind to finish the programming.
In order to finish in time, my weekend long games are no more than 3 characters. 2 is the perfect amount, really. You can have a succinct, interesting story with just 2 characters in a room together and it leaves less artwork to worry about.
advice
Now that we’ve talked about different aspects of making a visual novel in just a weekend, I want to zone in on my process with advice.
focus on your idea
Follow the idea you have and really dig into it. Flesh it out as soon as you can so you have a solid idea of what the endpoint you’re headed towards looks like.
do things faster
I don’t outline for weekend jams. I outline for my normal visual novels, but not for weekend jams. There’s just not enough time aside from making a few bullet points and running with it.
Whatever speed you make things at, you have to make them even faster. That means less edits in your writing. Less rendering in your art. Less polish in your programming. There’s just not enough time for it all.
If you’re writing, focus on getting to 1 ending. Don’t worry about extra choices or nameable protagonists or extra side characters. If you’re drawing, you need to use an art style that’s easy to render. Don’t spend so much time on lineart and shading. If you’re programming, set up ways to make your setup faster. Define transforms, positions, and more that you can reuse multiple times and get in the habit of copy+paste.
reuse what you can
Like I said, don’t hesitate to reuse any snippets of programming that you can use multiple times. When I was drawing the character sprites in Dahlia, they both have the same base- this saved me maybe half an hour of redrawing parts that ultimately didn’t matter.
Be sure to check what you can and can’t reuse beforehand. For instance, a lot of jams require you to not start on the game beforehand, meaning you can’t use previously made assets unless they’re publicly available. Don’t slip up on this detail!
cut out even more
You probably think that your scope is doable in the time frame, but it most likely isn’t. Don’t be afraid to cut it down even more to save yourself time and headache. Ideally, you’ll want everything in the game finished before the final hour of the jam so you have time to playtest and ensure the game actually runs from start to finish (yeah, remember bug testing?).
use resources
Have in mind what parts of the game you’re not going to make. I’m not going to make music for a game jam (I’m not musically talented) and I don’t usually recruit others for weekend long jams. Instead, I use premade music that I’m able to put in my games legally.
Know where to find these kind of resources if you need art, music, GUIs, etc. before the jam starts. I have a growing list of visual novel development resources here.
focus on the MVP
Don’t get distracted by the things that don’t matter. Do you really need this extra character? A wardrobe change? An extra ending?
Focus on the core of your game. Why are you making it? What is the feeling you hope to give the player? What is the overall goal of the game?
With Dahlia, I wanted a somewhat whimsical and slightly tense story about a midnight intruder, how unnerving it would be to have a person invade your private space in the middle of the night but looking like a fancy doll.
How will you present your idea with such limited time?
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Wow, April really went fast. Before I knew it was the end of the month- wasn’t it April Fools last week and I was rushing to draw our studio mascot genderbent? And now Otome & Josei Jam start in 24 hours…. There’s never enough time!!
Quick list of what I’ve got going on:
First, we just announced that the Battle Action Fantasy jam will be returning this June! Create a chuuni visual novel inspired by battle action manga you’d see in Shounen Jump. Second, I’ll be entering Otome Jam this year and returning to a directorial spot! More details on that later….
Third, it’s Kickstarter season. If you’re thinking about holding your own Kickstarter or want consultation on marketing for you visual novel studio, I’m still open for freelance.
— Arimia
30 notes
·
View notes
Text
So I'm annoyed at a collage of minidiscs ending up in my timeline because I follow "diskette" but that's not important...
You know how weird the etymology of "diskette" is?
So, it's a portmanteau of "disk" and "cassette".
Disk as in "a round flat thing", and it's the American spelling, because the diskette was invented by IBM, an American company. Disk (usually spelled "disc" in commonwealth countries) comes from the Greek dískos, as in "discus", the circular thing you throw for sport.
And floppy disks are primarily a circle of magnetic material. That's actually how they were first conceived, as a flexible version of the rigid metal magnetic circles used in hard drives. But they quickly realized that it was impossible to keep them clean: fingerprints and dust stick to the surface too easily, ruining them. So they were given a vinyl (and later, plastic) jacket, so they could be safely carried around.
And thus, diskette was coined. Sometimes you'll see it etymologized as "small disk", like a disk-ette, but that's wrong: it's a portmanteau with cassette. Because cassettes were made by taking reel to reel magnetic tape and putting it in a small case, so they can be quickly and reliably loaded.
And why are cassettes called that? Well, it's French. But in French it's quite simple: it's the diminutive of "casse", which means case. It's a little case. You put the tape in a little box. It's a cassette.
So similarly, diskette was made by cassettizing "disk". You put the disk in a little case. It's a disk cassette, a diskette.
This sort of thinking also explains why they're called "floppy disks" when they've been hard plastic since 1984: it's just like how we call cassettes "tapes". They're not tape, they're a little plastic box containing tape. Tape is a thin flexible thing that you wrap around a spool, not a little plastic box. But we call them "tapes"/"a tape" as synecdoche: a part is used to represent the whole. It's a "tape", fittingly because the tape is the important part. It's the part that stores the audio, the rest is just packaging to keep it safe and reliable.
Floppy disks are similarly called such: the floppy part is the magnetic disk inside the vinyl or plastic case. We're calling the whole package by the part that actually stores the data.
And in any case, they were named as such in comparison to "hard disks": the metal or glass surfaces used by hard drives.
Anyway, three final things:
1. You ever wonder why it's Floppy Disk but optical discs? You have a DVD* disc or a CD (compact disc), not a DVD Disk or Compact Disk. I already basically explained it: floppies were invented in the US, and compact discs came from a Philips/Sony partnership: a Dutch/Japanese partnership. So they used the commonwealth spelling, thus it became a standard to refer to optical media as "discs".
2. My favorite silly floppy fact comes from this sort of thing: so the first floppies were 8", then the 5.25" model was invented, and in 1981 we got the 3.5" floppy. These are by far the three most common floppy disks, and those are their names, used nearly** universally in English.
But here's the thing: one of them is wrong.
8 inch floppy disks? They're eight inches even. 5.25 inch floppy disks? They're 5.25 inches even.
3.5" disks are actually 3.543"!
This is for the same reason why we have disk vs disc for floppy and optical media: 8" disks were invented by IBM, an American company. 5.25" disks were invented by Shugart/Wang, both American companies.
3.5" disks were invented by Sony, a Japanese company. They're not 3.5" disks... They're 90mm disks!
But it was already the standard in English that floppy disk formats get called by their size in inches, so it has always been called the 3.5" disk, because that's close enough for jazz.
3. to get back to the first point of this post: minidiscs aren't diskettes. Diskette is for disks, and minidiscs are discs. They're not flexible, they're rigid: minidiscs are actually magneto-optical discs, where there's a small plastic disc like a CD, which is read by a laser but written by a magnetic read head. Since they have to be rigid for the laser to work, they're (rigid) discs, not (flexible) disks. They are confusing, I agree: usually magnetic media is disk, while optical is disc, and disks have cases, while discs are just a plastic circle... But minidiscs are magnetic AND optical, and they're optical but inside a case. They're one of those exceptions that makes taxonomy so difficult. (they're very trans in that way, imo)
* I intentionally didn't expand out the acronym DVD, because the fun fact is about that is that DVD is not an acronym. Not anymore. It was originally supposed to be Digital Video Disc, but the later Digital Versatile Disc to better reflect the non-video uses of the disc, but apparently the official meaning of the acronym is now that it just is the name of the disc. It's a DVD: it doesn't stand for anything.
** one exception to the "universally called by their sizes in English" that I'm aware of is South Africa. For Reasons they just called the 5.25" disks "floppies", and then when 3.5" disks came around, they called them... "stiffies". Yes, this is hilarious. They know.
512 notes
·
View notes
Text
#in which i spend 1000+ words defending pedro/din#pedro pascal#din djarin#star wars#the mandalorian#my articles
121 notes
·
View notes
Text
My newest article for LiveScience is about a ton of Pleistocene bones found in a cave in Siberia!
We're talking:
Mammoths
Horses
Wooly Rhinos
Wooly Bison
Brown Bears
Wolves
Yaks
Deer
Gazelles
Rodents
Birds
Fish
Frogs
and of course, cave hyenas! Including baby ones!
All the bones are chewed up too
(Image credit: V. S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy)
236 notes
·
View notes
Text
My article on Otherside Picnic for Anime Feminist is out at last!
Really love Otherside Picnic and hope this encourages more people to read these great novels! Major spoilers for volume 4 on starting with the 'I'm Glad It Was Me' section, but there's no huge spoilers up to that point, so please check this out to learn about these books and how they explore abuse, grief and healing through the lens of horror in a way that really resonates with me.
(And trust me, the horror is not intense, just mildly creepy and really effective.)
And thank you so much to Lizzie, Vrai, and Alex for helping me write an article about a series that means so much to me!
#otherside picnic#urasekai picnic#toriko nishina#sorawo kamikoshi#anime feminist#my articles#satsuki uruma#yuri
241 notes
·
View notes
Text
Horse Ranch was, without exaggeration, one of the most anticipated additions to The Sims 4. Perhaps, if the previous game had not set such a high bar, expectations for the fourth would have been lower. Although it cannot be less, given the game's initially tarnished reputation. Nevertheless, Horse Ranch significantly raises the bar of the game from the first seconds. The developers expose themselves, proving that the closed world is just an excuse for their own laziness and unwillingness to do anything more than small worlds of the same type. It turns out that even in a limited space there is room for majestic and graceful horses, the appearance of which players have been waiting for almost a dozen years.
I often go to extremes, saying on the one hand that subsequent games in the series have the right to repeat themselves. If they don't bring to the industry or even the franchise itself, there's nothing wrong with that as long as it's a good game in its own right. But Sims 4 is not the case. I have repeatedly pointed out that this particular game is a leech, which, nevertheless, we continue to play. This waiting game has gone on too long. But, as they say, patience is rewarded.
The horses in the Horse Ranch expansion pack have undergone a significant improvement compared to The Sims 3. They look really graceful, their faces are no longer obtuse and silly, and in general they look relatively realistic in the game's cartoonish graphics. In the 3d game, you will need a bunch of mods to make the horses closer to their living counterparts and get aesthetic pleasure from their appearance. In the 4th, they are really nice to watch. Especially in a bunch with well-developed animations.
I last played Sims 3 not so long ago, so the contrast in the movements of both the animal and the rider feels good. They no longer slide across the ground like logs, and the reins are not glued tightly to their necks. Now you see how your character literally sets the direction and the horse, leaning and bending to turn or jump, reacts to the control by realistically stomping its hooves.
The style of the game is also focused on the western type of horse riding inherent in American culture. I will not say that this is the best idea, given that many players think of the classical school when they hear the words "horse riding". I myself would prefer to see more classic elements. But it is worth considering that The Sims is originally an American story about the American dream, created by Americans. I think, against the background of numerous additions that represent various cultures of the world, it is worth leaving something for yourself.
However, that doesn't excuse the fact that the game has too… No. TOO little horse equipment per se. 3 saddles, 2 bridles and several accessories, including two saddle pads. For the money the add-on costs, it should have featured some more unusual equipment. In addition, the story of Native American tribes is woven into the expansion, so why not develop this theme a little deeper, and add more historical and cultural artifacts?
The first minutes of the game are really fun. Everything seems completely new, you want to try so many things at the same time. But this euphoria quickly passes when you understand that all improvement ends in the appearance and animations. The new discipline – barrel racing – is not impressive at all. All you can do is run in circles around the barrels. That's all. When I say circles, I mean it literally. No eights, complex tricks or at least movement in the other direction. With show jumping, or rather what was left of it, it is even worse. Instead of a chain of obstacles that could be built into an entire arena in The Sims 3, you can practice with just one small obstacle that is as high as your character's knees. At first it is interesting to watch, but then it is so depressing that training horses turns into a mortal routine.
By the way, now your horses have as many as 4 skills. One develops the character of your pet and expands the number of interactions with it, the other 3 - endurance, jumping and agility - have almost no effect on anything. Gold medals at the first levels of competition difficulty are very easy, even if the horse's skills are minimal. And yes, all competitions are our 'favorite' and well-known rabbit holes, where you cannot even conditionally observe the development of the event. What is even more annoying is the fact that now there is practically no point in training. Unlike Sims 3, in the fourth game foals do not inherit skills from their parents, only character traits. If earlier you could breed a foal with almost 100% skills, train it quickly, win a few competitions and sell it for good money, now you have to suffer for a very long time with one horse to get at least something for it. For these reasons, I see no need to keep a mare and a stallion to develop a pedigree. It's too long, too unrewarding and terribly boring. Considering the lags, it is also dangerous for nerves.
What is undoubtedly pleasing against the background of all these endless minuses is the mobility of horses. They no longer stomp endlessly in place when you try to interact with them, they don't need a lot of space to perform actions, and most importantly, no more ugly stalls that take up too much space. Now you have a 3x3 bedding where your horse can sleep, but which you can do without. Fortunately, instead of large, clumsy barns, you can now build luxurious stables. Another plus is that several horses can use the feeder and waterer at the same time.
In addition, all lots have small paddocks nearby. And all areas of the town have barrels and obstacles, so you don't have to place them on your lot. It is enough to build a house and a stable when the training area is nearby. Thus, on the largest lots, you can arrange whole farms and ranches with a bunch of animals.
Speaking of animals, I can't say much about goats and sheep. Yes, they are cute. But like the rest of the livestock, they have a more decorative function, if you, like me, don't really like to dig around with all this craftable stuff. They are not always friendly, they can butt and do not want your attention. Given that we already have rabbits that can help you in the garden, I think goats and sheep could come up with more interesting roles. If you have too many decorative animals, then taking care of them is a nightmare. Fortunately, the ranch hand you can hire is great at their job. In addition to taking care of the animals, they tend the garden, can do things and take care of the animals from Cottage Living. However, sometimes there are weird lags where they idle instead of leaving the lot when the job is done, or quits without notification and you have to hire them again.
Overall I like the new expansion pack. It adds long-awaited new experiences to the routine of Sims' lives. But as with all add-ons for The Sims 4, Horse Ranch is fun right up until you've tried all the features of the set. A week later, I no longer feel a burning desire to return to my ranch, because I know that nothing new or interesting awaits me. Rather the opposite: endless bugs, simulation problems and sheep that hate me. Undoubtedly, if you are crazy about horses and Horse Ranch was a long-awaited addition for you, it is worth your attention. After all, where EA has screwed up, there will always be talented creators and their mods. If horses sound empty to you, I don't think Horse Ranch will be able to dilute your routine for long. In any case, this add-on is not worth its full price, and despite the good idea that players have been waiting for, it is another heartless DLC that openly encroaches on our wallets like never before.
I think at this point I like the scale of the game more, which the new expansion pack adds to the game, which makes its world feel less closed. My sims can sit in the pond while the horses walk in the pasture and the little goats sleep under their feet.
#simblr#sims#the sims 4#sims 4#ts4#sims 4 horse ranch#sims 4 horses#ts4 horse ranch#ts4 equestrian#sims 4 equestrian#video game review#my articles
130 notes
·
View notes
Text
MEMORIES OF AN APPLE GIRL
By Francie Schwartz, Rolling Stone #46, November 15th 1969
#I think I told someone I would post this#well#here ‘tis!#my articles#my quotes#the beatles#francie schwartz#rolling stone#paul mccartney
196 notes
·
View notes
Text
Happy Easter !! ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ
♡ For a colorful day, a montage with our dear Xavier and his rabbit costume. Really adorable
@ p.r.i.n.c.e.d.e.s.t.i.n.y.y Follow me on Instagram
/!\ DO NOT REPOST THANK /!\
20 notes
·
View notes
Text
ok, i have some news for the tomgreg community <3
this month all my articles about tomgreg will be published. i rewatched the show and read your theories and analysis about them to write so thanks!
the article about them in season 1 is available here and i will announce when the others came out.
ps: the articles are written in portuguese because i am brazilian lol and i am an editor on a brazilian website... but you know, just translate?
THESES IMAGES THAT I MADE FOR MY ARTICLES ARE SO BEAUTIFUL RIGHT?? I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF 😭
68 notes
·
View notes
Text
The order - Chapter 2 - forlovewithyou - Toy Story (Movies) [Archive of Our Own]
Yes, I tried to write a sequel✨
The inspiration came but I wasn't sure it would be good this time... or even bad💔
Anyway, hope you guys like it!
And, this is still in my native language, I hope you guys can understand!
#buzz lightyear#toy story#woody pride#prideyear#buzz x woody#Fanfiction#Toy Story Fanfiction#my novel#my article#my articles
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
My article about Scott Pilgrim's references!
It has been posted! Go read it! I spent a few days on it.
If I missed anything, please let me know. I couldn't stretch it into like 20 or so, so I went with 15.
#my articles#scott pilgrim takes off#scott pilgram vs the world#scott pilgrim anime#scott pilgrim#scott pilgrim spoilers#I took a few days on this#sportskeeda#anime articles#writing#my posts#my post#my writing
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
want to make a visual novel in 2024? do it!!!!
I just updated my master post on how to make visual novels to include even more resource links and a new misconceptions section to dispel some misconceptions about visual novels.
make the visual novel of your dreams this year!!
#visual novel#visual novels#visual novel game#indie game dev#game dev resource#game dev#my articles#resources#resource
876 notes
·
View notes
Text
FIRST LIVE-ACTION LIGHTSABER DUEL BETWEEN WOMEN IN STAR WARS WE DID IT FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AHSOKA I LOVE STAR WARS I LOVE BEING A WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#coolest feeling ever was pitching this AND getting to write it#you mean they let me be a part of this history in some minor way????? ugh. screaming#ahsoka series#ahsoka spoilers#sabine wren#shin hati#my articles
71 notes
·
View notes
Text
For the first time in this series, the main cast gets sidelined with a Rudy episode as he prepares for an important dinner with his family at the dinner table in my review of "The Amazing Rudy".
#Bob's Burgers#Bobs Burgers#Bob’s Burgers#The Amazing Rudy#Review#My Reviews#Article#My Articles#Link#Weebly
8 notes
·
View notes
Link
Wrote an article for Anifem based on that one quick post I did a while back! It’s been a while since I wrote an article, so thanks to Alex and Vrai for being great editors and helping me out.
I think I kind of put into words at the end there why Winry resonated with me as a character way back when and still does on rewatch/reread in a way I never quite managed before, so that was nice. Hope y’all enjoy the article.
#fullmetal alchemist#my hero academia#winry rockbell#inko midoriya#edward elric#izuku midoriya#fullmetal alchemist brotherhood#anime feminist#my articles
190 notes
·
View notes
Text
Part 1 is here
It is impossible to defeat nature and its laws. You cannot destroy the established order of things, because sooner or later it will return to the starting point, albeit modified. Part of the eternal order is war. This is a rather conventional character, which, nevertheless, has all the features of eternal evil, which the main character must defeat. Before the battle, Sundowner reveals another revelation to Raiden: he is too blinded and naive to think that he can change the world. War is part of cruel human nature. This is an outdated tool, which we have not been able to completely discard. But like a real virus, rooted in the very middle, it evolved with us, adapting to the conditions of the times.
War is indifferent to moral guidelines and honor, deaf to human suffering and merciless to victims. This virus is ready to manifest itself at any moment, as soon as the system crashes. What for Raiden as a person is a matter of morality, for the World Marshal as a large military company is supply and demand. Even the "Patriots", well known to Raiden, did not invent anything new. The fact that after their "disappearance" history continues in the same direction is only proof that the established order cannot be defeated. This is what Sundowner actually says: Raiden with his good intentions will not change the world. PMC has offices all over the world, and therefore their products are in demand. They are only suppliers working for the war market. After all, war is a business hidden behind the face of morality, and the person in it is a commodity.
This again resonates with the rest of the games in the series, where the main unit is not so much the metal gears themselves, but the people behind their creation and control. Of course, the crown of creation of both nature and man is not a perfect tank, but the Legendary Soldier. Big Boss used to be the one. The same fate awaited Raiden. Towards the end, however, MG Rising moves in a slightly different direction, touching on the theme of the "ideal society". As the Patriots once fought for a single ideal world, so Armstrong seeks to create an ideal society where "people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE". Be that as it may, history constantly shows that an imperfect man cannot create a perfect society. After all, it cannot become even the best version of itself. MG has something of the dystopia inherent in the cyberpunk genre. But, at the same time, it remains close to reality, where some wars are fought to stop other wars.
Each war has its own methods of achieving the goal. I like that MG Rising raises the question of the facelessness of the enemies that Raiden kills in packs. Their fate does not interest you as long as it is only a dummy for beating. But as soon as you imagine in front of you a person who has life, destiny and its own will, it becomes morally difficult to destroy them. Maybe that's why it's much more difficult for me to kill innocent NPCs in modern games - they suffer too realistically and look like real people who have their own lives. Giving the enemy human traits is what Sam uses to break Raiden mentally: reality doesn't match his moral principles. It turns out that they are just a cover for his true nature. But as a player, we lean more towards our main character, considering his (that is, our) actions a priori correct. Raiden's reasoning about the sword as an instrument of justice gives us a moral discharge: we destroy the villains who exploit the weak, and therefore do nothing wrong.
But all this is just an illusion. There is no moral attitude that would give a person the right to take the life of another person. "Who saves the weak from the man who saves the weak?" Through the mouths of the characters, the game in a peculiar manner breaks through the fourth wall, addressing the player. Why do we kill? Why do we justify our cruelty? Perhaps Monsoon's phrase that nature cannot be defeated does not mean only the world order. But also a person who has always been marked by cruelty, and therefore cannot defeat himself. As Raiden, we have no right to judge or condemn someone to death. But our internal attitudes, they are memes, give us an excuse, and the game gives us such an opportunity.
In the general sense, a meme is a unit of information. An attitude or idea that is repeated in different variations and transmitted by imitation or learning. The thesis Meme as a gene was formed by the scientist Richard Dawkins in the 1970s, comparing cultural phenomena with human genes, which copy themselves and are ultimately subject to natural selection. In fact, this is all that Monsoon is talking about: memes (that is, cultural attitudes) influence our behavior, the way we communicate and perceive reality. Culture, religion, our own will - everything is formed from the outside and imposed on us as a given. However, not all cultural phenomena undergo selection. In the struggle for the human mind, the "stronger" meme survives, the one most successfully replicated by the carrier, and therefore more valuable.
Raiden wins with his tool of justice meme Mistral with her thirst for revenge because his beliefs are stronger. But this fake facade of nobility is not enough to defeat Monsoon's nihilistic worldview. Dawkins claims that memes adapt quickly, easily deforming under external conditions. All memes disappear, but are immediately replaced by new ones. Breaking Raiden's unnatural mindset, Monsoon forces him to quickly adopt a new one: "…killing your enemies felt good. Really good <…> I was born to kill <…> Pain… this is why I fight”. Thus, Raiden returns to his original beliefs, where he is Jack the Ripper. Again following Dawkins, memes can change and combine and split, resulting in the formation of new memes. For Raiden, it becomes obvious that you can achieve your goal in another way, by accepting the repulsive part of yourself and using it for good.
This is the transformation that Samuel could not go through at the time. Unable to handle his thirst for revenge and justice on his own, he falls under the influence of Armstrong's memes. In the end, this makes him doubt his own ideals, and later he rejects them altogether. It's clear from Sam's backstory that he's not a bad guy. Rather, a guy who got into the wrong company and chose the wrong path. There is something in his character about samurai stories, especially the Hagakure - a treatise on bushido - the samurai's unwritten code of honor. The series of stories was created by Nabeshima Mitsushige in 1716. In them, he told the stories of the former samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo, who after the death of his master became a ronin - an exiled samurai. In short, the meaning of the book can be described by the phrase 'A samurai has no goal - there is only a path', which was attributed to Yamamoto himself (although he did not actually say anything like that).
Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861). Tomimori Sukeemon Masakata from the Biographies of the Loyal Retainers series. Woodblock Print, c. 1847. Source: Ronin Gallery
Sam begins his samurai path to avenge his father's death, but as his purpose crumbles, he becomes increasingly hesitant and ends up becoming a mercenary for terrorists. The transformation from a respected man to a robber was quite a common phenomenon among samurai during the turbulent times of Japanese history. But Sam's path was not in vain and meaningless. Yamamoto commanded the samurai to find their own way in life, discarding thoughts about the past, future and everyday problems. This path was paved on the battlefield with a sword (or rather a bow and a horse), and to die in battle for a samurai is the highest honor. Sam and Raiden's battle was a test of their ideas; a turning point that had to decide whose ideology has the right to exist. Samuel himself speaks about this in his posthumous message.
Both were not enemies, but rather adversaries, each had their own convictions at stake as a kind of equivalent of honor. Sam's mindset and fate shows that personal beliefs do have weight. If they are true and worth fighting for, if they are the same strong memes, they will continue to exist. That is why, finally accepting his nature as an assassin, the sword as a weapon, and the goal as completely achievable, Raiden defeats Samuel.
Totally forgot I started to write it, so i had to finish it, haha.
#game review#video games#gaming#videogames#metal gear#metal gear series#metal gear rising#metal gear rising revengeance#mgrr#mgr raiden#raiden mgr#mgr monsoon#samuel rodrigues#jetstream sam#my articles#japanese art#samurai
55 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
airavatastudios-blog
Best Photographers in Ann
Arbor
mp-top-10
MP-TOP-10
