2053: 'Oh, my Kevin Spacey, it's god.

@@leonmayne797 Hedonismbot: "Oh, my." (See also George Takei, who has at least one troubling allegation similarity with Spacey.)

brilliant comment

@@leonmayne797 I imagined that as a cult later worshipping that man being on the day of Judgement seeing God.

It should, anyway.

I still prefer "spunkgargleweewee"

@@anone.mousse674 That's just the abbreviated form.

@@anone.mousse674 and that is why nobody will ever really listen to your opinions.

hopefully the genre it descibes doesn't.

Particularly coming right on top of talking about Bioshock: Infinite.

What is that clip from?

@@keil764 rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead

superbly superb

It really aged hilariously, seeing as you spend most of the game hunting him down for being a bad bad man. Playing the game now, early lines like "Mr. Iron has really taken a shine to you." align realities of Spacey with the game's antagonist in a twisted poetic way. The whole game becomes this cathartic justice thing, as if it predicted the future and let you act upon it.

Emma Goldman but “Kevin Derpface” stands even more than before

I'm one of his partners, and by golly, don't we all wish he were well-funded XD

IKR? I struggle to be as insightful and as able to put understanding into words as you Ian. I'm refraining from going into a meritocratic tangent about what you deserve in terms of recognition and opportunity, but the truth is all I wish is that I could know you 'IRL' and bounce ideas around with you. In another life. Keep up the amazing work, friend.

If you want to get good at that sorta thing, study philosophy/other humanities subjects :)

"You're so good I fucking hate you" Ough. That was the kinda flick to the balls that the soul cringes at. The kind I know I've felt before.

@@davidmartinez-toribio6825 When I grew up I was a pretty average visual artist who went to an arts camp mainly for musicians called Interlochen. It was like immersion therapy for being around people who are obscenely more talented than you can ever be. Something about being stuck in a little cold cabin in the forests of Michigan with world-class violinists who have sold out tours around the world at 14... I used to feel that bitter jealousy at first but after a few summers, I think it just "normalized" these talented people, and normalized those extreme differences to just "a thing that happens". Of course, it can still flare up on occasion; usually when it's a specific peer very close to my age, background, and in a specific field I desperately want to be good in!

I'd argue the game every 1st person shooter has to be compared to is Half-life and Counter-Strike. Maybe even Quake, everything past those 3 are it's children. Half life is the story line, counter strike is team battles, quake was mindless 1 against everyone combat. Quake made the engine that spawned Half-Life, that in turn spawned Counter Strike.

@@Mark-ec8ix I think that isn't entirely true since you have subgenres like hero shooters and movement shooters (quake I guess but still) but that is fair to say

@@johnreese5739 My post is based on basic game mechanics of shooters, where I present the grandparents. Your post is true in the sense of a games player base. They know what they liked, They know what they want. They depend on a given company to deliver. Where what I presented was more objective and abstract. I wasn't stuck on a specific vendor but instead paid homage to where it started.

@@Mark-ec8ix quake is just the child of doom though, which is the child of wolfenstein 3d. which is the child of other video games. nothing wrong with comparing to more recent games, if that game is good/groundbreaking enough that it sets a standard.

I am also learning that I enjoy these more intellectual, more objective examinations of a single topic, as you call them, Video Essays. I recommend Errant Signal, if you can find him. It can veer into a bit of navel gazing, and can seem pedantic sometimes, but always thoughtful.

***** thanks man! I love his videos!

Implying ass dance off isn't content

What are you talking about? Hes made loads of videos

@Pheo OP's comment was written over 3 years ago. At the time, judging by the current state of the channel's video archive (so not accounting for removed/privated/etc. videos), this was the 4th video posted to the channel.

@@shiinakochiya6068 haha yeah i noticed that after i left my comment. Whoops

@@pheo4156 damn you were so stupid 3 years ago! :P

I came here expecting a sci-fi discussion about the ethicality of humans in a warzone, whether "Blood is necessary" woops. Still good video though.

"Inspired by Heart Of Darkness and Apocalypse Now." That single statement was all it took for me to go from ignoring it to buying a copy.

the problem wasnt if the stories are really doing shit (COD is already a deconstructor fleet) the problem was its audience and reviewers being blaise about what the fuck it says, since, all shooters are... shooters. blood is compulsory

Get Deep Rock Galactic. You'll like it. Best of luck to you and your friends, and stay safe.

No because that would say nothing about that game other than "it sucks." Saying things that actually describe something is different from just flat out insulting it in a very childish manner.

SundaysEnd "Modern on-rails content-munching jingoistic spectacle shooter" describes the game about as well as spunkgargleweewee. Also you aren't acquainted to the concept of fun. Nor do you hang out where the cool internet kids do.

No, I enjoy fun, I just don't enjoy most FPS. There are a few I enjoy but most of the time I prefer other genres like RPGs, platformers, action/adventure games and experimental indie games. It's not specifically that have something against FPS' as a whole nor do I have anything against the people who play them, I just don't find the gameplay very interesting. And I used to hang out with the "cool internet kids" but then I found out they were a bunch of clueless idiots so I don't typically associate with them anymore.

SundaysEnd That went right over your head.

It's a Zero Punctuation reference guys, no need to get defensive lol

But we don't call them mages, 'cause that would just be plain old silly nonsense humbug in our highly-plausible intelligent sci-fi. Now quiver before the awesome might of my god-tier biotics!

No, those are Jedi. Different thing.

Superheroes are just wizards with gaudier costumes who know what phones are.

@@TheLithp I am taking that quote. I hate that a significant number of my best quotes are just internet comments.

​@@TheLithp I mean...some wizards know what phones are (in urban fantasy), and some superheroes actually _are_ wizards (or at least sorcerers), but I think there's a meaningful distinction between superheroes and wizards. In general, superheroes are limited to a specific set of powers (once their origin story is complete). In general, wizards can learn new spells by putting in the effort. Superpowers are innate; spells are learned. This distinction is meaningful...well, when powers and magic follow those rules, at least.

I'd argue there's a few problems with saying BI shouldn't have had shooting. One is that the point of the game is actually to show that Columbia's beauty is a facade. It's meant to be a Bioshock game, and what Bioshock means to its creator is "Having super powers in one hand, a gun in the other, while exploring a fantastic dystopia". It's also not like games can't have story and shooting in them-the first Bioshock proves that. So does the System Shock and Deus Ex games.

To be fair, I think The Black Glove failed because they tried to be too cagey about details of the game would actually entail. Which is unfortunate. (I say this as someone who was a would-be backer at a pretty high tier.) That aside, I definitely agree. I don't think Infinite was horrible with shooting, but I definitely think there's a lot of interesting places they could have taken it without it, and a lot of aspects of the shootery and vigor felt shoved in because "that's what makes it bioshock" and often didn't gel as well with the feel of the world or story. In Bioshock 1 and 2, you're shown that most the people you can kill have been mutated to the point of insanity. And even then, in Bioshock 1, they specifically kept the designs on the humanoid side as much as possible so there was a feeling that these were people, however crazy, you were killing, to create a sense of amorality. But in Infinite? Yeah, they're xenophobic racists, but they're also, from their perspective, trying to stop this psychopath who has killed literally thousands and is basically the antichrist. The lack of hesitation for the brutal murders you commit is weird. So's the fact that the streets magically clear during all of this.... and the fact that Vigors are as successful as they are in general. Why the heck is it legal in this highly puritan society to sell this magical elixir that allows you to steal from machines and rape people, with the side effect of 100% of time causing them to kill themselves after using it, assuring that every use is also a murder? Things like this made sense in Rapture, but they don't make any sense in Columbia. Sorry, got off on a bit of a rant. I really, really love the game, it just... bothers me. :/

spinningninja2 The shooting and violence of bioshock infinite were explicitly part of the narrative. Booker DeWitt is a violent person from a violent place with a violent background. He doesn’t know diplomacy, and the world around him is equally as violent. Columbia is a terrible place run by neo-confederate klansmen with a cult of personality around their leader. So they also can’t really be reasoned with. ESPECIALLY by a man like Booker DeWitt.

I'm thinking about writing something up on this (though how well it will turn out who knows), but the whole issue with CoD bothers me. How did a series that used to stand as closer to Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers turn into something worse than Clancy ever did. Either way, great vid!

Sounds like you have a lot to say.

Rewatched it again. I had a conversation about CoD with someone, was reminded of a snippet of this video, then spent the next three hours trying to figure out what video it was. I thought it was Innuendo Studios, but I also thought it was about Modern Warfare, and as such couldn't find the video despite looking multiple times. It took suddenly remembering the title to get here. Totally worth it, a truly great video.

Super BunnyHop, Noah Caldwell-Gervais, Errant Signal, MrBtongue, Ahoy and now Innendo Studios. You are in good company:)

M Pesce I'm personally about to start my own video essay channel; I've got the first two written. I would love it if I could get some feedback from someone of your taste in channels once the first one's out. I don't mean this as a self-promotional thing, more that it would be good to see what gaming video essay fans like you think of it because, well, judging from the two that I've written, I think my channel's going to be fundamentally way more out there than the norm. I don't mean this as a brag, just that as a style they'll probably end up being way more speculative and full of theory crafting than even mrbtongue. It would be good to know if (a) youtube has a home for such videos and (b) whether or not I'm full of shit! I understand if not.

+TheLithp Came here to say this, glad I'm not alone.

Jake Stueckle I'm a helper. I also couldn't help but mentally compare it to Portal, which is literally a puzzle game turned into a shooter. Only the gun makes holes. Not bullet holes, but-- Oh, you know what I mean.

+TheLithp Portal isn't a shooter, it just uses shooter mechanics. It would be more apt to say it's a shooter turned into a puzzle game, what with the only hurdles to your progression through the game being quiet rooms that force you to answer questions before opening the door to the next room. Shooting isn't WHAT moves you forward in Portal, it's just HOW you do it.

I think you'll like a certain video from the youtuber called MrBTongue, you might have heard of him, or not. His videos "Slow Down the Violence" go on about the industry's collective bad habit and the squandered potential that arises from that

You might like Titanfall 2, it's a short story-game that does shooting really well for its 6 hour run time. I also thoroughly recommend Halo Reach for the story, as a bonus the shooting is unique from the 3 games you mentioned because it's largely focused on maneuvering around in combat, less so taking cover. Super Hot is a sort of gimmick shooter that's super good in VR or regular, short too.

Whereas I am both uninterested in _and_ utter crap at anything action-ey*, meaning that tying your story to a shooter template makes it less appealing _and_ less accessible to me. Which is part of why I like visual novels so much-they're pure story, without any reflex-based gatekeeping. *My disinterest is unrelated to my incompetence...I assume...