Yes, I think I found all the vaults and such in all the levels. You get SO much more out of the game when you do that, it's amazing. God, Psychonauts was such an emotional sucker-punch. ... Which is obviously the best kind.
Oh no, I didn't think you were putting down my choices; I'm just trying to lay my limitations on the table. I'm a novice when it comes to thinking critically about media and analyzing them and so I'm trying to be sensitive to my own limitations -- i.e. I have no education, experience, or even casual reading on the subject and also I haven't played truckloads and truckloads of games dating back to the original Pong.
As for accessibility, lord! I'm currently trying to get through MGS and Silent Hill (I have this thing where I HAVE to play series in order or I explode and seriously it's hard tog et that stuff off walls) and god am I sorry I'm such a goddamn story enthusiast. I'm playing the games because I hear the series have good stories(*), despite the fact that I suck big time at action and horror gives me nightmares. I have two kinds of accessibility problems: one is just technical difficulty; the other is emotional investment. The technical is pretty straightforward: I suck at shooting things, am kind of dodgy on platformers sometimes and basically the only thing I'm good at skill-wise is racing games, for whatever reason.
Meanwhile, the emotional investment. I get really emotionally invested in stories, so when I know something is a big emotional investment I'm wary of approaching it -- I just don't have the emotional energy to spend. So anything horror is basically a hard sell for me. I have a deep love/hate relationship with horror -- well done horror is so visceral and does that evoking-emotions thing I go on about so well, but christ, I don't actually LIKE being scared. I think. Who the hell knows, it's such a deeply instinctual reaction I can't even judge it. Usually I get into horror for the story -- to find out WHY or HOW this happened, and honestly good horror often has EXCELLENT plot and some of the most fantabulous storytelling ever -- that's waht makes it GOOD horror. Like I said, love/hate.
And once again Psychonauts just totally bypasses my difficulty/emotional censors because it's so goddamn friendly-looking. Tim Schafer: 1, My Gut: 0.
Meanwhile! I do encourage you to check both the video and the article. It's really short, just 4 and a half minutes -- and while he's really more than a little foul-mouthed he's hilarious and acerbically insightful and I wasted an hour I didn't have watching all the rest of his reviews even when I hadn't played the games. The article is just that, an article, and I will admit right away that I'm a fledgling in the world of video game meta, so if it's actually not good at all compared to what else is out there I apologize. But I like it.
I'm not a member of Awful Forums (I'm a lurker, I swear, I just emerge and spew a few thousand words one or twice a year), but I am intrigued and grateful for recs, so I'll make a point of investigating. Thanks! =D
(*) Okay, I admit it, part of my interest in MGS et al is that Snake just seems goddamn awesome and I thought maybe I should play the game and actually get to know him. Sue me; characters tie with storytelling for my top motivation to experience media.
no subject
Oh no, I didn't think you were putting down my choices; I'm just trying to lay my limitations on the table. I'm a novice when it comes to thinking critically about media and analyzing them and so I'm trying to be sensitive to my own limitations -- i.e. I have no education, experience, or even casual reading on the subject and also I haven't played truckloads and truckloads of games dating back to the original Pong.
As for accessibility, lord! I'm currently trying to get through MGS and Silent Hill (I have this thing where I HAVE to play series in order or I explode and seriously it's hard tog et that stuff off walls) and god am I sorry I'm such a goddamn story enthusiast. I'm playing the games because I hear the series have good stories(*), despite the fact that I suck big time at action and horror gives me nightmares. I have two kinds of accessibility problems: one is just technical difficulty; the other is emotional investment. The technical is pretty straightforward: I suck at shooting things, am kind of dodgy on platformers sometimes and basically the only thing I'm good at skill-wise is racing games, for whatever reason.
Meanwhile, the emotional investment. I get really emotionally invested in stories, so when I know something is a big emotional investment I'm wary of approaching it -- I just don't have the emotional energy to spend. So anything horror is basically a hard sell for me. I have a deep love/hate relationship with horror -- well done horror is so visceral and does that evoking-emotions thing I go on about so well, but christ, I don't actually LIKE being scared. I think. Who the hell knows, it's such a deeply instinctual reaction I can't even judge it. Usually I get into horror for the story -- to find out WHY or HOW this happened, and honestly good horror often has EXCELLENT plot and some of the most fantabulous storytelling ever -- that's waht makes it GOOD horror. Like I said, love/hate.
And once again Psychonauts just totally bypasses my difficulty/emotional censors because it's so goddamn friendly-looking. Tim Schafer: 1, My Gut: 0.
Meanwhile! I do encourage you to check both the video and the article. It's really short, just 4 and a half minutes -- and while he's really more than a little foul-mouthed he's hilarious and acerbically insightful and I wasted an hour I didn't have watching all the rest of his reviews even when I hadn't played the games. The article is just that, an article, and I will admit right away that I'm a fledgling in the world of video game meta, so if it's actually not good at all compared to what else is out there I apologize. But I like it.
I'm not a member of Awful Forums (I'm a lurker, I swear, I just emerge and spew a few thousand words one or twice a year), but I am intrigued and grateful for recs, so I'll make a point of investigating. Thanks! =D
(*) Okay, I admit it, part of my interest in MGS et al is that Snake just seems goddamn awesome and I thought maybe I should play the game and actually get to know him. Sue me; characters tie with storytelling for my top motivation to experience media.