ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- No joke my entire worldview shifted after digging into this game.
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Credits:
Editor: / ryuurushu
Artist for storytime: Bone Witch
www.artstation.com/anoubis
artistofins...
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:22 What is Enderal?
05:03 Game Feel
11:40 Quests
19:34 Companions
22:15 Story and Endings
24:29 Catharsis
27:26 Brave New World
29:09 A Story From Spring
30:57 You're not Special
36:37 The Dreams
38:09 Story Time
43:39 Outro
#enderalforgottenstories #enderal #videoessay #skyrimmods - เกม
This video took a really long time to make and if you'd like to support me and get more videos like this, there's always the Patreon in the description. You can also find the Discord here:
My Discord: discord.gg/JMPnhBK
We have one more Enderal video in the pipe, but I'm unsure what's after that right now. There's one massive project, but I'll probably find a few smaller projects to work on between that coming out and this.
Enderal deserves the Forgotten City treatment 1000%. The shackles that tie it to Skyrim prevent so many from experiencing one of the best stories in games period.
Absolutely. This is a situation where so much of the game is held by being tied into Skyrim, it's incredible that it even exists.
imagine if it had easier to access magic like the witcher 3! or soulslike combat! (im focusing on the combat because thats the thing the engine was going to guarantee sucked no matter whay)
first prey, now enderal? man, you got some good taste
Also Remnant, Tyranny and Othercide, but who's counting
@@TheNewtC I said what I said
I would argue the Dreamflower Ending is still the best. Even if it's not real, what we learn by the end of the story is that the Prophet is just as responsible for the Clensing as the other Emissaries.
If the "eternal sleep" is what actually happens when you drink the potion, the Prophet is removed from the equation and the Clensing can't happen.
The gears of the Cycle come to a grinding halt without the Prophet.
It's not thematically satisfying, but from a practical perspective, it saves the world.
Problem is that once again, we're not special. The Cleansing wouldn't be stopped, only delayed. By the time the Dreamflower ending happens, it no longer matters what happens to us. Our part has already been long played. The fact that there's more than one Prophet in play at all (namely, the Aged Man) means that even if one emissary is removed another can easily be made. The Cleansing and the Cycle only have one way to end, and that's by playing it out and making the correct choice. Trying to slow it down means that the choice just gets given to someone else.
@@TheNewtC This comes very similar to the Dark Souls idea then, in the last game the heroes wouldn't reignite the fire, so the old heroes was awakened, and they also refused, and eventually it's up to the earlier rejects to have a go at it.
What a fantastic essay! I'm humbled by all the work that must have gone into this. 😊
My favorite game. We will never see its like again.
The game has bumps. Lots of things are a bit stilted or are weirdly paced. A few things aren't as populated and complex as one would want. But, like. The passion shows. They TRIED doing something. A lot of the game troubles are to be forgiven in paid products. And it was a passion project of a mod, made for free. It's maddening and impossible that it exists. There's so much deliberate love everywhere, even when it misses.
I love the video here, it's like a small, loving eulogy of sentimentality to a beautiful world. I never saw the story as one much of hope, but this is why the game has so much richness. There's so much richness to it, warts and all. Lietzau is so good.
I'm truly glad to hear you enjoyed it. Enderal holds a very special place for me, and my hope is that this convinces a few more people to give it a try.
The intro definitely perked my interest! I'll be coming back for more soon!
I finished Enderal today, your video is great. Wanted to tell ya. I am now feeling the typical hollowness of when you finish a piece of media like this.
But like a Cycle, I will start to obsess over some new piece of media, and then get drained at the end of it. And then, once more. And once more. Until I die, probably.
With all these wonderful pieces of art, it's so hard to accept that they end. It's like I look for suffering, I enjoy being kicked in the guts by feels by these videogames.
Because that's how you know they're beautiful. I regret trying to play this game with my usual evil roleplay, the story really doesn't fit well with it, I wish I knew when I started.
I'm so happy you liked it. This video was a passion project that took almost 3 months, plus the time to actually play and research the game. Hopefully you find something that can fill the void!
@@TheNewtC Cheers! I will surely find it, as I always have, but the problem is that nothing seems to last forever, and sometimes that's where the beauty of it resides.
What is a story, without an ending?
I love and hate endings, so much.
Fantastic video man love to see it
Whoa. You know about Enderal? Haven't heard you talk about the game before.
Now YOU make a video about Enderal 🔫 🤨
Wow, this is one of the best analysis of Enderal’s themes I’ve seen yet. I never figured out about the protagonist’s backstory and I thought it was just a representation of guilt, not that their father was an actual cannibal
Yeah, I wasn't entirely sure about the cannibal aspect myself for a while. I double checked with the Enderal lore community on this and apparently it's pretty explicit. There definitely is some amount of survivor's guilt going on there too, but it's assumed that Daddy was a victim of the Red Madness, which is how this all ties in with the High Ones.
I love Enderal's story and themes, and Catharsis is imo the best ending, the way I see it The Aged Man and The Black Guardian are cautionary tales, through them we see the end result of not confronting the end, that being cynicism and apathy, they chose to preserve their own lives, The Black Guardian was no Emissary, and had no means of stopping the cycle, he chose to preserve his own life through the cycle, but caged himself in his attempt, The Aged Man was an Emissary, and had the means to stop the cycle once and for all, but his failure was letting the chance slip through his fingers
The fact the Aged Man has already attempted the exact same thing that we do in the New World Ending, also ties into the themes of Sureai's previous Total Conversion Mod, Nehrim, Nehrim's themes deal with the concept of Fate, and how despite all logic telling us otherwise, it is possible to defy it, this is outlined very well in Nehrim's opening cutscene: th-cam.com/video/ysRhHTWof9A/w-d-xo.html
I bring this up because Nehrim's story is tied very strongly to Enderal's, since Nehrim's is about the deaths of the Lightborn, which is what directly leads to Enderal's
I also brought this up because the penultimate quest of Nehrim's Main Story is called "Hope at the end of the world" which is the first thing I though when I saw the title of this video :D
Weren't the themes of the Black Guardian foreshadowed in the Apotheosis questline for Yerai in the Nobles' Quarter?
This game is one of those once-in-a-lifetime games upon first experience. I wish I could go back and play it again for the first time. It's not too outlandish to say that you won't be the same person after playing this game, it's that incredible. 10/10 would recommend, don't spoil anything having to do with this game for yourself, go and play it blind.
Dude this is the most underrated goes under the radar game I’ve ever played. It’s so sad. Before cyberpunk came out it took a place in my heart as my favorite rpg ever. It’s definitely my favorite fantasy rpg. The story of so good it hurts. And despite that I’ve shown the game to two other people and they don’t care. It’s sad to me. But I’m glad there’s a strong community of people who connected with this game on a level I did.
When I first saw Enderal way back in the day, it was just coming together in dev updates. When I saw them put out a call for English voice actors, I knew I had to help even in some small way. Since we were still doing Fallout: New California, I called up Roger Owen and Autumn Ivy, and we got some voice lines from SureAI, then did I think... 4, 5 characters? It was a tiny contribution to just the English side, but it was cool o help out another team doing something similar to what we were. 8 years is a small eternity in modding, and the flakiness of the crews involved can't be understated. Getting these megamods to release is a minor miracle.
I just saw this, it's so cool to see one of the voice actors here! It still amazes me how much talented voice work this game had, especially considering it's all volunteer work.
What a great video! How have I not seen this sooner?
Your last line made it sound like Enderal is a highly addictive drug. And honestly, fair. I also can't stop thinking about Enderal. I'm on my 4th Forgotten Stories playthrough and I don't even know how many I did back in ye olden times. At least two.
I absolutely hate Agnod and Isle of Kor. Great quests, but the underwater parts, NOPE! I did them for the achievement, so now I can avoid them forever. Unless a Prophet demands to do them.
And while I avoid those quests, I'd love to play the Rhalâta quests, like, 5 times each playthrough. They're just sooo good! And they come with a precious Tharaêl, of course.
Oh believe me, I've got another video coming on just the Rhalata. I didn't mention it in this one because it's too big of a topic and very much deserves its own moment to shine.
@@TheNewtC Hell yeah! I'm looking forward to that!
I was wondering why you didn't bring it up, I thought you maybe missed it? But then you showed that temple at the end, so... But yeah, lots to unpack there.
The art for the dream is super well done!
I couldn't agree more, Bonewitch put everything she possibly could into it.
I love how your starting intro, was very much, like the enderal intro. Well done.❤
Thank you. I still get chills when I see your video, when I hear this incredible music. the best game I have played, which stayed in my mind for a long time.
I really appreciate that. These videos are labors of love on my part and take a ton of time to research and complete. This is probably the biggest one I ever made, but I felt it was worth the time to get more people to try the game. It was also really great to meet the community, including the interview with Nicolas Lietzau.
Hell yeah, god bless you man
Oh, a Enderal Analysis video I missed!
You got my like just for making this video. :)
If you like it, make sure to share it around! This unfortunately got buried pretty hard, so word of mouth does a lot to help people find it.
this is beautyfull :O
It's insane how much I loved this game. It's unbelievable this is "just" a mod, even though a total convertion. I wished big developers had the gut to create something like Enderal, with a complex story meant to be for adults.
I read the book as well, but didn't like it as much as the game, the new setting didn't quite invoke the same feelings of wonder I had while playing Enderal. I really do hope the second book is able to caputre that magic again.
There's so much passion that went into this game, and considering it's done with zero hint of compensation that may be all that was able to keep the game running. Building a normal game is hard. Building a new Skyrim? Nearly impossible on passion alone. This is the main reason why I wanted to make this video. It's amazing that Enderal even exists, given its constraints.
I'm really hoping to catch the second book too, and who knows, maybe we'll get another Enderal down the line.
25:04
Hmm, can't recall hearing any monologue from Tharaêl 😅
The game would probably crash on him saying, “But neither am I a cynic who has lost all of his faith in the world.”
Don't worry, he'll get his time to shine
@@TheNewtC You know something?
38:07 I don't think there was cannibalism involved. That crisp meat comes from Main Character seeing his family getting crucified, then they were set on fire. MC had a trauma from the smell of a burnt human flesh. During dream, you can find 3 crucified skeletons, which were set on fire.
Still cool video.
It's one of many theories, with none of them being confirmed by the author. I appreciate the comment though!
@@TheNewtC It is a good choice for them give the Prophet a backstory, while leaving details vague, letting player fill in the blanks.
Will you do a video like this to a star wars series called Andor? Its a true masterpiece
I'm thinking about it. I don't know enough about the series yet to say for sure. I wouldn't be opposed to highlighting something that needs attention, but Star Wars stuff is about as high profile as you can get. It doesn't really need more attention. I want to use my channel more as a way to bring light to lesser known stories like Enderal. That isn't a no, but I'm uncertain as of right now.
@@TheNewtC to be honest, star wars is know yea, but andor not so mutch, because there are no light sabers and obiwan kenoby, that is why most star wars fans dont know about it
Ive watched almost on every enderal video there is on youtube. I just get enough of this game, story, world and characters.
My brother on youtube this video is just _INCREDIBLY_ depressing.
" _You as an individual can get eff'd because you can't do anything alone._ "
That's *NONSENSE* . I am an individual can do a lot of things, the only question is if anyone or even I care to do a lot of things.
I can't help but to feel that many people who have issues forging friendships will just feel disheartened by this.
And in the end of Enderal, it is *YOUR* decision that matters, fully placing it in the hands of the individual.
The Wheel of Time has a term for that sort of individual, ta'varen, which is an individual of who other people seem to get entagled in with regardless if the person wants it or not.
Someday I will play Enderal but I doubt it'll be that meaningful to me.
I feel like this is missing my point drastically. On a cosmic scale, we can't do shit. But the universe isn't allowed to only care about the cosmic scale. It will always care about individual actions because those are the actions that start movement. Just because the effects are unseeable during our lifetimes doesn't mean our lives mean nothing. My point is that the greatest actions we can take are those that inspire others to take action. We are individuals with free will, but limited time. Make that time count.
It makes me wonder if you actually watched up to the conclusion. Or the title of the video.
The counterpoint to Dreamflower ending being a dream is that the fleshless is themselves an illusion and a dream. So while a normal human would enter a dream the fleshless is a dream already so the standard rules don't apply. Also since in my playthrough I picked Jespar to survive, I'm pretty sure that Jespar is a fleshless as well so it makes sense that the same rules would apply to him.
It's an interested idea about the Fleshless being dreams already, though I'm not sure from the above comment what the implications are on that. Jespar being a fleshless is a bit dubious, given that we see him being effected by the Cleansing right at the end. Though maybe you just mean the Jespar within the dream?
I think that the theory they are running with, is who says the Veiled Woman brought Jespar back as human? @TheNewtC
@dndknower exactly how can you trust anything the veiled woman shows you. Your first encounter with her involves getting literally murdered by other people. The you of those memories died right around when you see the underwater ruins and hear the word breathe. Then she "ressurects" Jespar, and everything's hunky dory. No I think not. On the other hand that means he gets to hang around long after the world ends and normal people would have died.
@TheNewtC but Tealor is affected by the cleansing he's just lost in his cult of personality at the end. You aren't affected but you are also a tank on legs by the endgame so that's not surprising.
Enderal taught you to HOPE AGAIN? Did we play the same game?
Came here from the Tyranny video, was not sure what to expect.
I am really unsure if I can see the same kind of hope in this story, there just seems to be worse and less worse endings, and struggling with mental health issues I find these kinds of videos useful just to know if I will be better of or worse of by playing it myself, Enderal seems to be one that would make me feel worse of, especially with so few good quest endings, even if I would have loved to mine the game for ideas for my own potential RPG table.
I'm actually really curious on your thoughts on the endings. None of these endings are good, but they still come with a certain amount of choice. They are very real. No choice we make in reality is every wholly good. Even if it seems that way, someone else will always be effected by our choices down the line. I guess for me, that's why Enderal stands out. It really emphasizes that our choices matter.
@@TheNewtC Since I have not played Enderal myself I can only really use your video and your perspective on it, but the ending of drinking a potion and going into an eternal slumber is escaping the problem, which is never a good ideas.
The moving into a different realm with the only person you care about is selfish and will hurt you in the end.
The ending with the world doomed is just that, more or less a Game Over screen, both in the sense that the game is over but also that there was nothing afterwards unless you somehow made the birth of this new "god" change based on the actions you took.
I very much do like the idea that "No matter what happens, what you did, will always stay done. Time cannot remove this", but similarly to some speculation on the old Marathon games there was an Ai who survived the heat-death of the universe to end up shaping the next universe, and as such giving the next universe a new chance at something new.
I missed alot from the latter half of this video, but this felt closer to the Moons from Dead Space, no choice mattered in the long-term of things, the world is equally doomed no matter what and I don't think the "Things you did stays done" in the same way that, if we take the example of, in everyday life, the good you do for others will always act as a way to spiral their lives into better or worse, which will act on the people those people meet, and act on the 3rd spiral and 4th spiral.
@@TheNewtC Of course after a few minutes of ruminating on trying to figure out a good example, let us say that no matter what, we as a species will die, even if we populate the entire galaxy, the galaxy will die and we will too. That means we could only survive in ways of escaping to another galaxy, do something like the Arc in SOMA, or leave behind something which the things after us will find, and it will influence them in return (If they destroy it it will no longer matter, but we can't control that)
As an example I swear I heard for the first time just the other day, Isaac Asimov wrote the story "The Last Question", where an Ai is asked "How do we reverse entropy?" and the Ai lacks enough data. Humanity ends up going extinct before the Ai figures the answer out, but once it does, it goes: "Let There Be Light".
This could either be that nothing happened because there was no humans left to act on this information, or, the Ai re-started the universe, giving everything a new chance.
If we go by the latter, the idea that after the heat-death of the universe, nothing else will ever happen because nobody was there to restart it, that would be the final end, the end that made everything else no longer matter.
We have games that play upon "What you did last playthrough will affect this next playthrough" as a good example of that. It makes the things that happened before mean More.
A lot of those games a very good too. We tend to think of games as one and done, at least for single player titles. A lot of the big indie games take that idea and change it though. Undertale, Oneshot, Signalis, and even a few AAA titles like NieR Automata (no I am not covering NieR).
In Project Moon's character Binah, there's an interesting question. She states that the tyranny of civilization will always inevitably grind down the people that make it up, and that there's no way to escape this cycle. The answer she's given (after a thorough drubbing) is that we can only predict the future, not know it. To that end she finally agrees to let us pass, acknowledging that a non-zero chance of success is still a chance. I think these games about cycles are games about hope. Cycles are where hope goes to die.
Sorry for my English, is not my first language.
I was surprised by the title of this video, but after watching it, I realize that you just haven't played the whole saga, or at least the game that came before Enderal: _Nehrim: At Fate's Edge_
Because you are clearly missing the point of the game with that _hope_
The main theme in the saga is *determinism* and how you are a puppet that doesn't really exist regardless of what you think or do.
In Nehrim because it is stablished that Fate as a concept exists in Vyn, and in Enderal because what the High Ones are meant to represent: our subconscious, the "I" we don't know and moves the strings of our existence without us having any control over it.
Humanity is always a puppet if not for one reason for another: that is message of the game.
That is why the question at the beginning "It may sound simple to you at first, but I pray you think about it. What distinguishes a free man from a slave?" has a more complicated answer than just _freedom_ it is as difficult as the other important question "what is reality anyway?"
And as curiosity, determinism is a philosophy Nicolas Lietzau holds in real life. Even if he knows that is not a healthy philosophy to live by.
If you think about it, an existence without any real choices, where any perceived personality or ambitions are fake, it is not an existence worth living, even less an existence you can hold accountable for anything.
Now I will paste something I wrote a long time ago, because I am too lazy to write something like this again, but I still think it was interesting.
~o~
The core of Enderal is to ask yourself: *why did I waste my time playing this game?*
On purpose, designed to make you ask yourself that.
Not because is bad but because the theme is determinism and is so well conveyed that you can say everything you do in the game is a waste of time.
Because if there is no free will, no chance of winning at the conflict, and you were doomed from the start, what was the point?
As Fate as a concept exists in Vyn, with _the Book of Predestination_ where everything that will happen exactly how the _personification of Fate_ Sarantha wants it to happen is written already, that makes everyone a single puppet with no free will at all.
Sure, in the eventuality we are playing in Enderal the Tel'lmaltath/player killed Sarantha 2.5 years ago in Nehrim (the Aged Man writes about how he had hope that things would be different in this reality) but in the end, everything is the same because the battle known as "The Night of the Thousand Fires" which is the detonator for Sha'Rim's treason already happened.
People in Enderal are nothing more than toys running in their pointed direction until their batteries will finally die.
I always thought the Veiled Woman was Chance, traveling between realities and looking at destinies trying to find one where Fate is out of the picture so she can influence the outcome.
But in the end it is useless because the solution to the problem is the problem itself: a society without Ego that manages to remove all pointless conflict between ourselves, is a collective consciousness: a High One.
That if anything happening is real, because everything in Enderal could be just a dream you are having while you are drowning, as Axion/Noxia puts it.
Nothing you do in the game really matters. And that is just delightful.
Now *some words by Nicolas Lietzau, the writer about the Red Madness and the High Ones and what they are supposed to be:*
"Here's the way I intended it as a writer: it is true that the Red Madness is caused by the High Ones. It's true that they manipulate people to their ends. HOWEVER, the manipulation only works because people give in to it.
Think of it as a kind of catalyst for your inner demons.
Yero always felt grief and guilt for his wife, even before the High Ones came along (letter 3.) However, only when they infected him with the Red Madness, this grief morph into hatred and desperation.
The same applies to Ryneus. He was also broken and lonely, but the Black Stones/the High Ones used that loneliness against him and made him effectively kill that entire village.
And so on, and so forth.
Yes, the High Ones manipulate us, but the only reason they can do this is that we're fragile creatures in the first place.
It's probably a bit obvious, but for me, and on a more meta-level, the High Ones were always metaphors for the frailty of conscious existence. It might sound pretentious, but it's always been a topic that fascinated me.
The less aware we are of the underlying emotions and struggles that guide our actions, the more prone we are to 1.) bringing about our own downfall and 2.) externalizing these struggles onto someone or something else.
On a micro level: Yero projected his suffering on the people who chose "the Void." Adila projected it on the criminals of the world. Tealor projected it on the High Ones - and so on and so forth.
Every character affected by the Red Madness (the Fleshless Ones/Emissaries more than anybody else, as they are materializations of their struggle) is ultimately fighting a part of themselves.
Even the generic Possessed Ones or the crazy keepers whose struggles the story doesn't reveal.
*And that's also what the High Ones and the Cycle ultimately are in the grand scheme of things: The embodiment of the perpetual struggle of humanity/existence with itself.*
Now, I could go on for ages, but I'll stop here to not spell out things too much. :) As for the animals and the undead, yes, the Red Madness works on them because, as you suggested, their minds are a lot less complex. They still have aggression the High Ones can make use of. In a way, they are probably the closest thing to a direct intervention method the High Ones use."
I think I partially agree with this, but that's very much due to how I view stories. For me, the point of a story is to resonate with the audience. In some cases that audience can include the author, and in those cases those are the stories that the author wanted to tell. However, each story will resonate with people in different ways, meaning that it's not just the author's interpretation of their own work that matters. These videos have one clear goal when I make them: to attempt to explain why a story resonated with me. They aren't intended to try and get everything perfect, though I do a fair amount of research in every video before I finally release it. For instance, I was actually able to talk to Nicolas himself during my research process for this, and did a pretty considerable amount of research via the community discord. But even with that research in mind, my own goal is to tell how I saw Enderal with all of that context, and hopefully encourage others to give it a try themselves.
I also want to point out that stories will inevitably mutate after they are completed. They will acquire and lose themes, sometimes through the interpretations of those who tell them. In most static stories like books or video games, that comes out in what resonates with the player, or what they remember most. Enderal doesn't even have just one theme. Most stories don't. Determinism is a major part of its story, but so is the journey along the path. One of the other core messages of Enderal is that the fact we walked the path at all is just as important as where our path ends. Just as the Cleansing always occurs, there is also always the option to pull that other lever and end the High Ones. Just because it hasn't happened in a very long time doesn't mean it can't happen in the future. Another core theme in Enderal is possibility. All outcomes are possible through the Sea of Eventualities, which means good and bad outcomes are both guaranteed and in flux. We see this with the Dreamflower and the Planeswalker, and it ties with the other themes by making you question why you wanted this outcome in the first place.
And finally, Nicolas was the writer for Enderal, meaning that while he obviously took heavy inspiration in its story from Nehrim, he also was allowed to put his own spin on it. While it's true that I haven't played Nehrim and so can't really talk about it, that also means that I can give an interpretation of Enderal's story without that context, which is what most people who approach the game will have. Nehrim is sadly not nearly as well known or as supported in other languages, which is a crying shame. Even my own lack of playtime in it is due to it being entirely in German with English subtitles.
TLDR; Your interpretation is no less valid than mine, Nicolas Lietzau's, or anyone else who approaches the game. I do also really appreciate the thoughtful response.
@@TheNewtC _For me, the point of a story is to resonate with the audience._
I kind of disagree with this line, but I know it is because I am just really weird and I am letting my own experiences influence my worldview.
I will explain more later if you want to read it, but because it is unrelated to Enderal, I will leave it for later.
I agree with you that Enderal has a lot of themes and references beyond just determinism. Jungian Archetypes, Gnosticism, and humanism (finding a meaning in a meaningless existence/world) to name a few.
I still think determinism is the main theme, the one that is more _in your face_ and in the spotlight... but again, I have Nehrim's context to add to the experience.
That yes, Nehrim didn't aged well narratively speaking, and you have to read small subtitles so it is a pain.
Damn, thinking back about it I played it at release when my English wasn't that good in comparison to now, so perhaps I am misremembering stuff about that game. Maybe I will have to replay it, or at least watch a playthrough somewhere to have a refresher.
For sure I forgot anything related to _Myar Aranath_ and _Arktwend_ since my English was really bad at the time. But if Nehrim aged bad, those two... Only the lore built in them is important enough to me, and I can get that from a wiki so I will pass on the refresher for those two xD
Have you played the Rhalâta questline?
Since you didn't mention Tharaêl as a companion I wondered if you played it, but then I saw some footage when talking about Daddy issues, so maybe you are saving it for a future video.
In case you didn't play it I really recommend you do, I think it is the best that Enderal has to offer.
The one that parallels the Prophet's journey the best, since it is connected to _The Butcher of Ark_ and that is already a great allegory.
The understanding of _The Butcher of Ark_ will increase your enjoyment of the questline but is good even without it.
_I do also really appreciate the thoughtful response._
I am surprised you even read that wall of text to be honest, I wasn't expenting it.
I guess it is a good way to go back to the first paragraph, but because it is just me rambling about my life and ideas, feel free to ignore this and stop reading right here, and thanks for the reply, it was interesting to read.
~o~
I don't write anymore, but the times I did it was just because the creative process, that exercise of imagination to evade reality was therapeutic for me.
I often wrote just about the dreams I had the last night, since I often dream I am watching movies.
The purpose wasn't to entertain others: I wrote just for myself because it made me feel good.
Hell, the only reason I shared what I wrote at all, was to explain to my teacher what I was doing instead of the real homework for Literature class, and to have a registered timeframe of sorts reflected in the forum post data.
For my teacher that endeavor was related to her class, and she forgave me for prioritizing my writings over reading other authors... as long as I eventually did that xD
However I soon realized that other people align with your mindset.
Add to it any other expectations they may have: from originality, to technique, to just being something interesting to read to begin with... and those expectations were placed on me, a girl of 10 by that time.
I guess I should be flattered, that they thought the quality was high enough to be taken seriously to even bother with giving all that criticism... but I really disliked their behavior, I didn't wanted it.
In a way, it was like having people yelling from the window reacting to a documentary that I was watching on the tv: an instrospective experience interrupted with loud voices in the background that maybe their input was interesting sometimes, but... I didn't perceived sharing something on the internet, as an invitation to others input.
I was too young to realize how the world works. Even now I realize it rationally, but not emotionally.
I stopped writing a long time ago (at least anything other than the occasional long comment on youtube that I really don't expect anyone is going to bother reading, so you may say that I am still writing for myself even now) because of that different approach.
I really think the purpose of any product, it doesn't matter if it is a lightbulb, a tv, or a book, is only defined by the creator of those things.
Having expectations over something a product isn't trying to do is awful... and you can only have reasonable expectations if you understand the purpose of something.
Maybe the purpose of certain media is to start a debate with the public, an exchange of views. But I wouldn't take those things for granted.
I will give you an example that reinforced said worldview.
I read a review about a purple lightbulb used for relaxation that pretty much said _this light is useless, you can't see shit with it_
As a review it was completely worthless because he was ignoring the purpose of the lightbulb.
I don't deny that he probably didn't see well with it, but those lightbulbs are dark on purpose so you can leave them on while you sleep. But because that person wanted that lightbulb to have a different purpose he got really angry.
Maybe he was looking for a regular lightbulb with a purple tint and ended up in the wrong section, but he sure made a fool of himself with that review, and I remember him for that even after all this time.
It helped to reinforce a worldview I already had: don't bother trying to choose the purpose of things as the customer, it is not your place to do so.
Edit: Grammar. I apologize for the ones I am not seeing.
Edit 2: I am now watching the interview, I envy you.
Honestly, I think I understand that worldview a lot. I do some small amount of writing myself, and while some of it is intended to be seen by others, other parts of my writing are me extracting an emotion or feeling that I want to examine more closely. I call this "soul writing", because it feels like I'm tearing a chunk of my own soul out and putting it on paper. Afterwards, it's no longer as easy to feel that emotion, but it's a lot easier to look at. I mention this to Nicolas during our interview, that writing can have a therapeutic effect, and was surprised to find he had similar experiences.
I think there's definitely a part of intent that goes into judging any form of media. I don't believe wholeheartedly in the idea of "Death of the Author", where only the audience's interpretations matter. That removes the context of the original work, and that context is important to judge the themes and ideas. But I believe in part of it, which you can already guess. You could say my interest in stories is in there retelling, or that mutation that happens each time. What's different? What's the same? What elements were borrowed from other stories? Ironically we can pull from Jungian archetypes for this.
And yeah, I want to reinforce that sometimes the audience for a story can be the storyteller themselves. My soul writing will probably never be shared, because that's not its intent. The words I write bring tears each time I read them because they are so raw and unfiltered. They apply to me specifically. But that doesn't change the fact that if someone were to read them they would probably have some level of meaning to them to. I've shared a few small scraps with friends and they immediately asked if I was okay. It surprised me, but if it was taken as an emotion I was still feeling, then yes, I could see that response.
Finally, I want to highlight that the reason I don't take authorial intent as sacrosanct is because sometimes there simply isn't any. Zdzisław Beksiński was pretty famous for painting the most horrific and harrowing things, and was notably annoyed when people tried to interpret his work. For him, he was just painting what he wanted to paint, and that was it. I have numerous artist friends that have expressed similar annoyances with the "analysis" crowd. That doesn't mean we should ignore authorial intent if it's there, just that it should color our interpretations but not define them. It's always really hard for me to figure out when my "analysis" turns into a new canon, but I try my best to prevent it from getting that far.
Alright, answer time. Yes, I've played the Rhalâta questline, it's probably my favorite in the entire game. It will get a video of its own next, though it's more of a story video than an analysis like this one.
Surprisingly, I read all of the comments I get, because I find the conversations these games bring to mind interesting. They're one of my favorite parts of making these videos. Sometimes people can even change my perspective, as it was in the Prey video I made much earlier.
@@TheNewtC I lost the reply I was writing (the cat turned off the computer, issues with having the switch on the horizontal surface instead of the front... a jump is all she needs) so I apologize if this one is shorter.
I am kind of not in the mood, but a complete lack of reply will make the feeling worse, so...
_For him, he was just painting what he wanted to paint, and that was it._
I didn't know Zdzisław Beksiński, but a search in google images made me recognize two results.
I find it funny and makes me glad I respected the authorial intent just by coincidence.
If the purpose of the images was for him to enjoy his hobby of painting, with the result of the activity being kind of irrelevant... then I succeeded by not caring enough about the images to search more of them or the artist xD
I know my way of thinking is hard to understand, sometimes it is irrational, and is for sure isolating.
So I am grateful you tried, and for the time you invested in writing your reply, it was very interesting to read.
Thank you very much.
Have you read Dreams of the Dying? The ending shares a more explicit and optimistic view on determinism.
What I would do for another game as good as Enderal.
The only way we'll get another one is to continue supporting the developers. Currently they're working on their next game, Dreadful River. While it's definitely not the same kind of game, it's what they have the capacity to make right now while still being able to pay their devs.
38:12 The artwork is gorgeous.
Bone Witch did such an amazing job on it.
Your interpretation of the dream flower ending is actually probably correct. At least as correct as possible without being explicit. There’s a book in the ‘Our Mark on This World’ quest-line that tells the beliefs of this cult on the veiled woman. It’s painfully reminiscent of Gnosticism, where the Veiled Woman creates an imperfect world because a perfect world would be unbearable. Drinking the Dreamflower potion isn’t just irresponsible, it’s damnation in disguise.
Brooo ... some of those scenes are gay af
The only reason you think Enderal is better than Skyrim is because you know too much about Skyrim. Ignorance gives a fresh game experience.