Podcast questions!

I'm with you. Generally, if I can engage with the story first I'll buy in early and stick around. I can easily fall off the wagon if the story hook isn't strong though. We weren't able to get to this question this time, but feel free to ask again next time and I'll make sure we talk about it!

Resonant Arc

This is really tough to answer! I'd have to think about it a lot. Maybe next podcast!

Resonant Arc

I agree with Jonah's thoughts here.

Resonant Arc

Hi, Carlos! We weren't able to get to this question, but we have touched on this a bit in the past. I believe we delved into the topic during this podcast: https://youtu.be/AFC7PUGoFuc?t=2100

Resonant Arc

Hey Bishop! As Jonah said, we have talked about the mystery box storytelling a few times in the past--but we do think Nier does a super good job of not relying on this. Nier sets up legitimately interesting mysteries and knows what the answers are--and every scene leading up to the reveals builds context to those mysteries.

Resonant Arc

I tend to feel like lots of television series take this too far the other direction, and end up meandering or stalling because they're trying to fill up a 10 episode season instead of moving the story along in a natural way. I think films have changed because of the advent of home video and streaming. People can get great character-focused storytelling at home with excellent home theater setups. The theater experience has become relegated to "wowing" audiences with big visual effects and action--which just isn't the same at home. This means movies now have 5-6 big action set pieces instead of 3 like in the older blockbusters, and there just isn't room left to do good character work.

Resonant Arc

I think there's no doubt games like FF7 and Xenogears will inspire that kind of experience for younger players. They were completely revolutionary at the time, and inspired generations of RPGs after them. I can't say I've had this kind of experience myself though (with older films).

Resonant Arc

I would never trade a film I love for something I haven't seen but could potentially be good. Absolutely not!

Resonant Arc

Good Q - I've been playing it on the weekend :)

Michael R

They’ve already talked about this in one of their previous podcasts, as a segue from another question regarding shipping wars: https://youtu.be/nliqaQ6Y5K4?t=3884

Personally, I suspect that tragedies appeal to us because they help us to learn and cope with the difficulties of life (e.g., loss), and often serve as cautionary tales against making the wrong decisions.

I had the same experience with Blade Runner, and my mother had the same experience with Se7en (she used to watch Criminal Minds, so Se7en’s premise was not original to her at all).

I recently read this old (2009) FF7 review from Action Button (http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=615) that talks about games being "about something" and it got me thinking about the types of games I've been playing lately and the ones I've enjoyed more. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Many indie games seem to be going down that route with different levels of success, while I (anecdotally) see less of that on higher production games for some reason. How important is it for a game to be "about something"? Is it a prerequisite for a good story-based game? Or can you have a good story that's not technically "about anything"? Thanks a lot, guys, and awesome job on the amazing content you have been producing! PS: I don't know if you guys have played it or not, but now that Disco Elysium Final Cut is out (yay for voice acting!), would you consider putting it on the list of games to analyze in the future? I'd be really curious to hear what you both have to say about it :)

Stories can’t always be all doom and gloom throughout. When does comedy play an effective role in adding some lightheartedness to an otherwise serious story? Do any examples stand out to you?

One interesting topic would be for you guys to fantasize the RPG. What would be RPG like if you were in the director seat with good budget

Toni Gröndahl

Probably a quick question. What do you guys think of Fantasian?

Love that you guys are looking into NieR Gestalt / Replicant - my favorite game! (See: my username) One thing you brought up in your first episode on NieR was its amazing hook - Moving forward 1,312 years into the future, but Nier still struggling to care for Yonah as if nothing changed, is a huge mystery that immediately got me hooked on the story. Personally, a hook can completely change my experience of a game. If I am not pulled into the world, I experience the game in a mechanics-first way, which doesn't incentivize me to learn about the world and follow the plot closely. This especially applies to auxiliary world-building, like information presented on loading screens / journal entries found in-game. However, if the hook is strong, either through the uniqueness of the world or the specific setup (for me, NieR or Horizon: Zero Dawn), I end up experiencing the game story-first, and am much more willing to look past the game's mechanical flaws and to go hunting for more information about the world. Given that the both of you are very interested in how stories are constructed and ordered, I am curious if you experience this as well, and what your thoughts are it. For myself, I often worry that I under-appreciate stories with weak hooks but strong climaxes / endings, due to me not being able to "buy-in" early enough to get the payoff.

Gestalt

Recently, I watched a video by The Critical Drinker titled " Why Canon Matters" (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAmJ52dtQl0 ), and the main point of his video is that the reason why canon is so important is because in-universe consistency helps to maintain the illusion that a fictional world is real (more specifically: believable), thereby facilitating the viewer's immersion. However, when a writer starts contradicting the established canon or retconning things at any point, it essentially pokes holes in the fictional world and in doing so blurs the line between "canon" and "not-canon" to such an extent that the "authority" of said writer is reduced to that of an amateur fanfic author (hence why the term "bad fanfiction" is so often used on the internet to describe incongruous storytelling). This video struck me as highly profound, and it reminded me of the same problem that occurs when you start bringing characters back from the dead or adding time-travel to a story: nothing is at stake if there is no guarantee that a plot point will be of lasting consequences. I was just wondering what your thoughts were on it?

Hey guys, while I was playing Nier Replicant it occurred to me just how upfront the storytelling was. Yes there are twists and hidden lore, but there is not the overwhelming vagueness, or dependence on data logs that defines a lot of modern storytelling. This mystery box storytelling is what made things like Lost, or Kingdom Hearts exceptionally popular, as people spend the time between games or episodes theorizing and debating what actually happened and why. In my opinion this approach has been really damaging to the stories that use it, but it also seems to garner a huge audience of theory-crafters. Do you guys think this kind of storytelling is harmful overall? And do you think Nier does a good job of not relying too much on the unsaid? Thanks! (P. S love the new podcast format!)

Which characters in the Final Fantasy series do you feel are the least compelling heroes? Why do you think their stories/arcs failed to resonate with you?

Are movies antiquated for character-focused stories? With the rise in quality television, I’ve found that more and more I prefer television for deep character driven stories. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing character-driven films, but there’s simply no way a 2 or 3 hour film could reach the level of depth and nuance 5 seasons of Breaking Bad could. I’ve found that the films I gravitate towards tend to be event driven. Or experience driven, say the Marvel Films or something like Fury Road. But outside that, I prefer to watch a tv show if it’s a nuanced character study. To the point that even if I see a good character film, I’m walking away going “that was good...but what if they had made it a 10 episode mini-series?” How do you both feel about this?

The odd couple effect: what was your first odd couple moment? That is, the moment you read/saw something hailed as a classic only to think “what’s so special about this? I’ve seen this in 500 other stories” only to later realize you’ve seen it everywhere because the original material was that influential. (This was my experience when I first read The Odd Couple play. Also had a similar experience the first time I watched Citizen Kane.) What movies/games that we grew up with do you think will inspire “odd couple” moments for younger generations?

The movie Sophie’s choice: You have the chance to see one movie that almost happened (The third Nolan Batman if Heath hadn’t died, Del Toro’s Hobbit, etc) but you have to lose one great movie. And not just a movie that you’re like “yeah this is a classic but I don’t really care about it.” It has to be a movie you LOVE. Do you make the trade?