Hey everyone - if you liked, don't forget to comment and share! I always love getting comments, and I try to respond to all of them (even the mean ones). Also, do share this in groups or communities etc., as the hardest thing for a smalltuber is just constantly fighting for exposure. If you liked the Witcher-y parts of this vid, check out some of my others on the channel ("The Un-Epic Fantasy" & "The Missing Elves). Hope you're all having a good summer! -- jon
I think the problem you video essayists make is you like to tie imperialism and colonialism to being bad things in videos where your theme is finding nuance. You complain about imperialists being monsters attacking the not so "monsters" of the new world of indigenous people. Yet you invoke the noble sav4ge myth. The natives were sometimes monsters to the people that came here. And monsters to their own. The natives don't always get along with each other. Unless you will tell me the mass burials found in America before the Europeans came here aren't relevant. Monsters can be found anywhere. Not just in European settlers.
Hey I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment! I respectfully disagree on a few points: 1. Of course you cannot reduce it all to a simple binary of imperialism = bad, anti-imperialism = good. Nothing is so simple. The complexities of colonialism cannot possibly be covered in a short video like this -- but Greedfall notably also fails to talk about this complexity too... 2. ... yet I wouldnt say discussing Indigeneity in this context invokes the noble savage trope - that is usually about a character not a culture. And I never really got into specific characters here! Greedfall does demonstrate the political factions within its "natives" (they don't have a better word for them), however, I personally find the need to somehow equivocate violence among groups pre-empire to the violence inflicted by empire to be a little too "what about-ism." Sure, everyone is violent. This is axiomatic. But when colonialism is such a powerful (and ongoing) force we can't somehow use the argument of pre-colonial violence as a way of downplaying imperial violence. 3. I also never mentioned Europeans! Greedfall has imagery that is more than just European albeit distinctly Age of Sail. 4. And a friendly word of advice -- again, really enjoy critical discourse -- but in many of these spaces and circles colonial violence remains ONGOING, so if you're going to come to bat saying "what about violence by Indigenous groups" you're going to have to engage with every bit of somehow measuring that to the long long history of imperialism across the New and Old World. Hope this explains more, and perhaps why I didn't get into it all :) because at the end of the day, Greedfall doesn't engage in the metaphor of colonialism beyond "monster = horror of empire", "Malichor = disease of colonialism"
Another great vid man! Even though I haven't played it cux I never had a Playstation, shadow of the colossus comes to mind. I also love Metro and the all the interesting creatures in their world.
dude very happy you keep stopping by! im glad you're enjoying all my disparate interests in gaming. Metro's monsters are super great. I love the Metro series overall. It's one of the best.
At work I try to tell people that cause no longer matters, prevention for what has happened is no longer possible. The problem as we currently encounter needs to be dealt with directly. In a perfect world we will prevent that from happening again, but pursuing the cause only matters once we've solved the problem we are currently dealing with. The monster of Curse part really hit home with how people will try to dance around a current issue as if it will miraculously solve the issue.
One of the most memorable bosses for me might be from 02 from Kirby 64, this giant flying white blob with coloured wings, a halo, and green tail with bramble spikes that shoots blood tears at you while you fire crystsl blasts into its eye, halo or tail. I'm lost on the symbolism but it is truly a wierdly horrifying thing to cap off a game where many enemies were cute animals or geometic shapes.
Well done video as always! As for your question at the end... It's a rather obscure cut from a CRPG series from the 90s, but my favorite monsters have to be from Geneforge. It's a world where mages known as the Shapers harness the power of magical genetic manipulation to create biotechnology, up to and including sapient creatures. It really makes one seriously consider 'how far can you go before something created to be a tool is something to be empathized with? What lines should or shouldn't one cross with the power to create and guide life? What does morality look like when you have the ability to create and destroy in an instant a fire-breathing dinosaur, or a psychic creature, or something all-too-nearly human?' It's a defiantly old-school series, one that takes time and the patience and willingness to read, but it's one of the more unique settings I've ever come across to explore how we treat what we control, and how that impacts not only us, but our creations as well.
really glad you enjoyed it! and super stoked to see you back in the comments :) Games are so great - I absolutely have never heard of Geneforge haha. Monsters in the sci-genre definitely always carry more metaphors more precisely, I find - which is why sci-fi can come across more philosophical than fantasy. Makes me happy knowing the game's monsters are still with you!
How delightful to hear about Roadwarden! It's a gem. I havent beat it, but I found its world and writing to be fascinating. I loved how it felt natural for me to be a scurrying, careful person that respected the people and nature around me, not trying to force control or change beyond what I was truly convicted about. I'm looking forward to revisiting it in the future :] One of my favorite monsters is the dragon Deathwing from World of Warcraft. To me, he embodies a consuming hatred born out of anger and pain, that left unchecked, causes massive destruction and spreads that pain to everyone in the world. He's also just really cool since he has molten lava for blood and giant metal armor reinforcing his body ^^,
Two thoughts on the video game monster. First, the monster is almost synonymous with the antagonist in these types of games. Outside of games which self-consciously humanize or protagonize their monsters (eg Monster Prom or BG3's Dark Urge), we most often see/experience the monster as antagonist or obstacle to the player. Second, I think perhaps one of the only consistent definitions of the monstrous is that the monster is necessarily *inhuman*. But in so many games, the player character is also inhuman - this power or escapism is part of what makes the game a game. So the monstrous in games is not merely inhuman, but inhuman by the standards of the gameplay experience. I wonder then if there are also limits to the ways in which the monster can be used in video games as opposed to other artistic medium. Great video though! I've subscribed and am eager to see what you make next.
Hey thanks for leaving such an insightful comment! I actually never thought about the character also being inhuman (or a monster) - this applies really well to both the Witcher and Greedfall... and in fact, we likely have a lot of 'abnormalities' that are central to game protagonists that make them not-quite-human. I hadn't considered that! Huh. Also thanks for subscribing - hoping to see you in the comments of other stuff I make!
My favourite monsters are from Bloodborne, but I can't narrow it down more than that. The video reminded me of Jaroslav Švelch's book _Player Vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity_. Game Studies Study Buddies also covered it, if you want a more accessible primer on it.
Was it "were-elves" or "were-elk" that you mentioned in the Roadwarden section? I can't quite tell and Google isn't helping me too much. Were-elk sound cool but I think there would be some fascinating implications to explore with were-elves.
Hey everyone - if you liked, don't forget to comment and share! I always love getting comments, and I try to respond to all of them (even the mean ones). Also, do share this in groups or communities etc., as the hardest thing for a smalltuber is just constantly fighting for exposure.
If you liked the Witcher-y parts of this vid, check out some of my others on the channel ("The Un-Epic Fantasy" & "The Missing Elves).
Hope you're all having a good summer!
-- jon
I think the problem you video essayists make is you like to tie imperialism and colonialism to being bad things in videos where your theme is finding nuance. You complain about imperialists being monsters attacking the not so "monsters" of the new world of indigenous people. Yet you invoke the noble sav4ge myth.
The natives were sometimes monsters to the people that came here. And monsters to their own. The natives don't always get along with each other. Unless you will tell me the mass burials found in America before the Europeans came here aren't relevant.
Monsters can be found anywhere. Not just in European settlers.
Hey I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment! I respectfully disagree on a few points:
1. Of course you cannot reduce it all to a simple binary of imperialism = bad, anti-imperialism = good. Nothing is so simple. The complexities of colonialism cannot possibly be covered in a short video like this -- but Greedfall notably also fails to talk about this complexity too...
2. ... yet I wouldnt say discussing Indigeneity in this context invokes the noble savage trope - that is usually about a character not a culture. And I never really got into specific characters here!
Greedfall does demonstrate the political factions within its "natives" (they don't have a better word for them), however, I personally find the need to somehow equivocate violence among groups pre-empire to the violence inflicted by empire to be a little too "what about-ism." Sure, everyone is violent. This is axiomatic. But when colonialism is such a powerful (and ongoing) force we can't somehow use the argument of pre-colonial violence as a way of downplaying imperial violence.
3. I also never mentioned Europeans! Greedfall has imagery that is more than just European albeit distinctly Age of Sail.
4. And a friendly word of advice -- again, really enjoy critical discourse -- but in many of these spaces and circles colonial violence remains ONGOING, so if you're going to come to bat saying "what about violence by Indigenous groups" you're going to have to engage with every bit of somehow measuring that to the long long history of imperialism across the New and Old World.
Hope this explains more, and perhaps why I didn't get into it all :) because at the end of the day, Greedfall doesn't engage in the metaphor of colonialism beyond "monster = horror of empire", "Malichor = disease of colonialism"
This channel is high art for TH-cam.
Really appreciate this - lol but also being a bit sarcastic? Either way, I'm really glad you stopped by again and that you enjoy this!
Another great vid man! Even though I haven't played it cux I never had a Playstation, shadow of the colossus comes to mind. I also love Metro and the all the interesting creatures in their world.
dude very happy you keep stopping by! im glad you're enjoying all my disparate interests in gaming.
Metro's monsters are super great. I love the Metro series overall. It's one of the best.
Monster comes from the Latin word monstrum which means “that which reveals/that which shows”
Oooo. This is awesome. I'm glad I learned something today!
@@QuestMarker there’s a book called Player Vs. Monster. Quick read. Good study. Highly recommend.
At work I try to tell people that cause no longer matters, prevention for what has happened is no longer possible. The problem as we currently encounter needs to be dealt with directly. In a perfect world we will prevent that from happening again, but pursuing the cause only matters once we've solved the problem we are currently dealing with. The monster of Curse part really hit home with how people will try to dance around a current issue as if it will miraculously solve the issue.
One of the most memorable bosses for me might be from 02 from Kirby 64, this giant flying white blob with coloured wings, a halo, and green tail with bramble spikes that shoots blood tears at you while you fire crystsl blasts into its eye, halo or tail. I'm lost on the symbolism but it is truly a wierdly horrifying thing to cap off a game where many enemies were cute animals or geometic shapes.
Well done video as always! As for your question at the end...
It's a rather obscure cut from a CRPG series from the 90s, but my favorite monsters have to be from Geneforge. It's a world where mages known as the Shapers harness the power of magical genetic manipulation to create biotechnology, up to and including sapient creatures. It really makes one seriously consider 'how far can you go before something created to be a tool is something to be empathized with? What lines should or shouldn't one cross with the power to create and guide life? What does morality look like when you have the ability to create and destroy in an instant a fire-breathing dinosaur, or a psychic creature, or something all-too-nearly human?'
It's a defiantly old-school series, one that takes time and the patience and willingness to read, but it's one of the more unique settings I've ever come across to explore how we treat what we control, and how that impacts not only us, but our creations as well.
really glad you enjoyed it! and super stoked to see you back in the comments :)
Games are so great - I absolutely have never heard of Geneforge haha. Monsters in the sci-genre definitely always carry more metaphors more precisely, I find - which is why sci-fi can come across more philosophical than fantasy.
Makes me happy knowing the game's monsters are still with you!
How delightful to hear about Roadwarden! It's a gem. I havent beat it, but I found its world and writing to be fascinating. I loved how it felt natural for me to be a scurrying, careful person that respected the people and nature around me, not trying to force control or change beyond what I was truly convicted about. I'm looking forward to revisiting it in the future :]
One of my favorite monsters is the dragon Deathwing from World of Warcraft. To me, he embodies a consuming hatred born out of anger and pain, that left unchecked, causes massive destruction and spreads that pain to everyone in the world. He's also just really cool since he has molten lava for blood and giant metal armor reinforcing his body ^^,
Really glad you also like Roadwarden! It's one of my favourite games of 2024 so far (even though it came out in 2022 lol).
Deathwing sounds awesome!
very happy I found this channel
I am also very happy you found me!
You have a super cute doggo 😂
Thanks. She's super sweet.
Two thoughts on the video game monster.
First, the monster is almost synonymous with the antagonist in these types of games. Outside of games which self-consciously humanize or protagonize their monsters (eg Monster Prom or BG3's Dark Urge), we most often see/experience the monster as antagonist or obstacle to the player.
Second, I think perhaps one of the only consistent definitions of the monstrous is that the monster is necessarily *inhuman*. But in so many games, the player character is also inhuman - this power or escapism is part of what makes the game a game. So the monstrous in games is not merely inhuman, but inhuman by the standards of the gameplay experience.
I wonder then if there are also limits to the ways in which the monster can be used in video games as opposed to other artistic medium.
Great video though! I've subscribed and am eager to see what you make next.
Hey thanks for leaving such an insightful comment! I actually never thought about the character also being inhuman (or a monster) - this applies really well to both the Witcher and Greedfall... and in fact, we likely have a lot of 'abnormalities' that are central to game protagonists that make them not-quite-human. I hadn't considered that! Huh.
Also thanks for subscribing - hoping to see you in the comments of other stuff I make!
Oh and Hell House from FF7 is one of my favorite monsters. As far as what it means? I have an 83 page document I’ll share one day
dude you gotta drop this 83-page banger
As usual this is awesome.
My favourite monsters are from Bloodborne, but I can't narrow it down more than that.
The video reminded me of Jaroslav Švelch's book _Player Vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity_. Game Studies Study Buddies also covered it, if you want a more accessible primer on it.
I didn't know about either of those! Thanks for pointing them out. Definitely want to check out Game Studies Study Buddies.
Was it "were-elves" or "were-elk" that you mentioned in the Roadwarden section? I can't quite tell and Google isn't helping me too much. Were-elk sound cool but I think there would be some fascinating implications to explore with were-elves.
Haha were-elks!