Expressing Ideas through Gaming

[KentaRawr!]

I posted this on my facebook a few months ago, I think, but this is a talk on the making of The Last of Us given by the director, Neil Druckman. It's spoilerific (it pretty much opens with the ending to the game), so I don't encourage you to watch if you haven't played, but he talks about his desire to write an ending he believed in, and what that has to do with leaving a better world for his daughter. His interpretation of the ending he wrote is pretty different from how most people seem to interpret it, and because of that I wonder if he could've conveyed his message more effectively. Here's the talk:

For me, feminism is something that I'm really interested in, so I thought it was neat that he tried to write an ending in that way. People seemed to interpret the ending however they wanted to, but I'd imagine that if he had tried to go for an ending which was more overtly feminist, he might've had trouble getting everyone on board with the game's development. Not because I think developers are anti-feminist, but just because I'd be surprised if everyone on the development team would want to be a part of expressing that idea.

However, what I'm mainly curious about in this thread are the games that EoFFers feel have exemplified certain philosophical or political ideas through their narratives. Do you think there are games which had a "point" at the end that you would then want to take into your personal lives? (I remember the director of Chrono Cross mentioning that's what he was going for with its ending, for example.)

I know it's kind of an EoEO-esque topic, but I don't want people to get too terribly serious or upset. I'm okay with goofy answers. ^_^

[Skyblade]

I can't think of a game that has attempted to express a point with its ending that has done a good job of doing so. A game is a complete entity, and the ending is just a small part of it. If the point is only at the end, it tends to lead to twists or moments that thematically don't work with the rest of the game. I think games do a much better job at getting a point across when it is a greater focus of the game in its entirety.

As to your video: An error occurred, please try again later. Are you sure you used the correct video code? Aha. You also need to cut out the "v=" bit. Just the code at the end.

Video

[KentaRawr!]

Woops! Thanks, I'll edit that now.

I guess I normally treat an ending in a work as a way to bring everything together. An old English teacher compared works of fiction to sandwiches. So you have the top, the middle, and then the bottom part holds it all together. You could feasibly have just one piece of bread as long as it's on the bottom end to hold it all, but if there's no end, then it kinda just makes a mess all over your plate.

The ending's nothing without the middle parts, though. So I see where you're coming from, I think; everything has to be consistent. You can't have an ending that makes a point isolated from the rest of the experience.

[Bolivar]

One game who's message stayed with me was MGS2 and the overwhelming sea of information that is surging on the internet. Keep in mind this game was made years before "Web 2.0" became a thing. It made me aware of the need for context amidst an ocean of content, even if that's what the villains were trying to achieve. It's my least favorite game in the franchise (which is in no way a sleight), yet it had the most enduring message to me.

[Pumpkin]

I can't think of an ending right now that really speaks to me, but as far as expressing game ideas, I think some of my favourite games come from games that feel bigger then themselves. That's one of the reasons I love Majora's Mask so much is you can read pages of theories from fans about a deeper meaning, because the game just feels much bigger than itself. It takes on different meanings and different tones depending on who plays it and its much more than the sum of its parts. I think its hard to do that in a game and I always appreciate it when they can pull it off.

As far as expressing ideas, I don't really read or watch a lot of interviews but I think most RPGs have some underlying theme to them. Like IX's message of self-discovery, Kingdom Hearts and its message about friendship, etc. Suikoden II is another one about friendship and I think its beautifully done