Overdetermined Adventure Game Tier List: Intro, Still Life, Beneath a Steel Sky, Myst
Added 2025-01-27 14:39:26 +0000 UTChere's a supercut of the first four tier list videos! written, recorded, and (mostly) illustrated by me; (mostly) edited by Willow.
(oh also The South Bank of the Rubicon went public this morning.)
Comments
I am so glad to see that you are a fellow Loom enjoyer. Imo, that game is very under rated. Like, yeah, you need to listen to the audio book before playing the game, and hunt around for the FM Towns version for the best experience, and use the manual it came with to record spells, and get around that awful "reverse the song" puzzle. But like, those are all avoidable, if someone explains to you those tips! And like, on the flip side, it practically invented dithering, invented the "no die" adventure game style, it has beautiful art and music. But most importantly, it has great ludo narrative harmony, wherein you get to see the world through Bobbin's eyes, and experience the joy, and terrible tragedy, as he experiments with his growing power with hardly any guidance, due to his society failing him. Also strong female characters? And commentary on how excessive repression brings about excessive rebellion? And a fully original interface which hasn't been replicated, where you learn *verbs* not objects?? Sheesh, there is so much to love about the game.
Corbett
2025-04-03 01:11:10 +0000 UTCI feel like I am still learning from the ground up. Like I am trying to come out of a very uncreative and conservative mindset at 26 years old and it just doesn't seem to get easier. I would say I was more centrist/centre-right with moderate views than alt right, but it's still difficult. I also am still trying to grow up. There are many things that I have not done that others would not even think about. I just feel like I started thinking late and regret not doing anything for the past 15 years. Sometimes I wish time machines were real. Sadly they aren't. I just feel like whatever I make will be just another power fantasy because I think that's what I have been trapped in my mind for years about. I just don't know what to do or who to talk to.
PixeledStacksSupporter26
2025-02-26 02:16:39 +0000 UTCget right that it has elements of a white savior narrative? yeah, that's in there. I never noticed any of it until I read that Lucas based the Ewoks on the Viet Cong. the idea that a less technological culture could still fend off an empire thanks to home field advantage. it's an interesting idea! but, yeah, once you notice that, the fact that they are saved by outsiders is a little questionable. not, like, "you are bad for liking it/not noticing right away," just worthy of note. something to think about if you write stories of your own. anything you write is gonna go through multiple drafts and you can run things by people to see if you've fallen into tropes. I've used sensitivity readers on a few videos!
Ian Danskin
2025-02-26 00:13:05 +0000 UTCDid I get that right with Return of the Jedi?
PixeledStacksSupporter26
2025-02-25 07:29:41 +0000 UTCI worry about my bias and being able to change. It kind of makes me scared to try writing or reviewing again. I used to have motivation, contentment, and fun. Now I feel like I have no creativity and motivation and I am just waiting to be dust. Forgotten.
PixelWords205
2025-02-04 08:17:23 +0000 UTCOkay regarding Return of the Jedi, I never thought about it like that. I just saw heroes saving a planet by helping it's inhabitants. I never thought race was a theme or factor. I still have trouble comprehending the U.S. was the inspiration for the Empire. That was a major punch to learn. Same with tropes such as the white savior and magical "word". I still think some films accused of this are debatable. And honestly I don't even know what to write without falling into any trope. I feel like I discover one that some makes up everyday. I feel out of my depth.
PixelWords205
2025-02-02 01:46:39 +0000 UTCwell, again: the precision of the scores is intentionally silly. these are subjective opinions, and being really precise and mathy about it is funny to me. but also: this is a very precise method for articulating *your own opinion*. I have given a numerical value to expectations: your expectations are going to be different from mine. I have created badges specifically to illustrate bias: a sugar badge for when I, Ian Danskin, am extra sweet on a game, and a salt badge for when I, Ian Danskin, particularly resent one. you can use these formulas to "calculate" your own opinion, but the entire point is that everyone's results will be different. if anything, the idea is to precisely communicate the uniqueness of our opinions. to make the subjective parts of my opinion *part of the rating* so people can see how I got there. I feel like the theme in a lot of your questions is "how do I get to the RIGHT opinion?" and this isn't about that. despite my jokes about this tier list being "mathematically provable," I'm not interested in "right" opinions. I'm interested in MY opinion, and YOUR opinion, and how we each got to them, and what we have in common and where we differ, so I can better understand why I like what I like, and so I can understand why you like what you like and know whether a recommendation from you will scratch the same itch for me. I get that a lot of lefty/social justice-y people can come off like "everyone needs to have the CORRECT OPINIONS," and that's a problem. but, when we're at our best, it's not about "do you like the right things" but "are you willing to question why you like what you like?" if you like Return of the Jedi because it's about fighting a fascist dictatorship, great! if you like Return of the Jedi because it's about a white "Chosen One" saving a bunch of "primitives" on the Endor moon, that's not so great! THAT'S what we're interested in. why do you like things? what have you learned? what can you unlearn? what insight does your unique perspective bring to the table?
Ian Danskin
2025-02-01 15:23:49 +0000 UTCOkay to answer both comments: I was trying to start a discussion about what makes an opinion or review that precise. Doesn't the aspect of subjectivity automatically defeat the potential of making an objective argument? What would stop someone else from creating a review or critique for one of the games on here that contradicts it being good or bad? For instance, one game that scores high through this system is given a low score or critical rating by someone else; and vice versa. I ask this as someone who has been questioning his tastes in everything at almost 26 years old. And wants to be a good writer, developer, and/or reviewer, and/or critic.
PixelWords205
2025-02-01 05:07:14 +0000 UTCall reviews are subjective and debatable
Ian Danskin
2025-01-29 13:27:23 +0000 UTCFantastic. My only quibble is that I think k it would be good for you to take a moment to state your expected value and base value before the final ranking. I know it’s shown on screen, but it’d be nice to hear it.
Josh Grey
2025-01-29 12:47:41 +0000 UTCI mean, that's 100% the point? I would have even said that's the joke: the contrast of subjectivity and making a precise numerical score. Personally, I love it.
Charlotte KL
2025-01-29 11:35:40 +0000 UTCAnd some of these aspects are literally subjective or debatable.
PixelWords205
2025-01-28 02:44:07 +0000 UTCI see several flaws with this system.
PixelWords205
2025-01-28 02:43:35 +0000 UTCI've already been watching on Nebula and I really love this (in spite of not being that much of an adventure game buff - I like them a lot, but I haven't played that many). This brand of very precisely numerically quantifying something inherently subjective is great!
Charlotte KL
2025-01-27 22:01:52 +0000 UTCIf it helps, I don't mind at all! I know this wasn't your initial inspiration, but it really feels like it's in the vein of Big Joel's videos where he goes through many different movies and gives short reviews/thoughts on them. I'm excited for more of these!
Mike Kachur
2025-01-27 17:50:08 +0000 UTCthese were originally gonna be YouTube Shorts so I wrote them with the 1-minute limit. now Shorts can be 3 minutes and also we're not doing them as Shorts, but I'm keeping the restriction (with a little wiggle room) cuz I gotta do 50 of these. hopefully they'll feel a *little* less breathless as I get better at them.
Ian Danskin
2025-01-27 15:49:16 +0000 UTCI had seen that, yeah. I'm guessing it's cuz I released that video under a Creative Commons license so, technically, it's the only image of me they definitely have legal right to.
Ian Danskin
2025-01-27 15:47:48 +0000 UTCnothing survives Megalopolis
Ian Danskin
2025-01-27 15:46:59 +0000 UTCLOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO PABLITO
Ian Danskin
2025-01-27 15:46:41 +0000 UTCI've been trying to find a metric to explain why I'm currently more willing to watch a film that polarises some people than a film that everyone likes and I think this might be it. That said, I have yet to see if this current mode I'm in will survive contact with Megalopolis.
Chris F.S.
2025-01-27 15:14:35 +0000 UTCIt's happening!! And the approach!! I love everything about this!!
Pablo Meier
2025-01-27 15:11:17 +0000 UTCUnrelated but have you noticed the photo someone used for your channel's Wikipedia article (wasn't me lol!)
Carlos
2025-01-27 15:08:06 +0000 UTCExciting run so far, but they're over so quick!
GregD
2025-01-27 14:43:48 +0000 UTC
