Dialogue
Send your views, using 'Dialogue' as the subject line, to edge@futurenet.com. Our letter of the month wins an exclusive Edge T-shirt
Link up
Being able to create pretty much anything with Ultrahand is obviously the main draw here, but my withered, feeble brain is limited to maybe a few lopsided wheels either side of a plank of wood before it gets overwhelmed. However, being able to phase through pretty much any obstacle completely subverts my understanding of what an adventure game can be, in the best possible way.
Ascend feels like the culmination of the old traditional Zelda approach, as if the ambition of A Link To The Past’s Dark World or A Link Between Worlds’ wall-merging mechanic has finally been realised, this time without a fixed camera, in an endlessly explorable 3D world. There have been so many frustrating deaths where I have tried to glide or climb to a seemingly unscalable tower, where the instinct has been to rant to a friend or draft a spicy take on how I miss the days of Majora’s Mask – but then I remember I can just swim through it, right to the top. I’m having to retrain my brain to look at the world in a different way. Every time I successfully pull off a good Ascend it gives me that giddy feeling, like I’m cheating or breaking the game – in the same way the giant laser robots more talented people are assembling and sharing on Twitter must make them feel, but this time with just a single button press. It’s just pure magic, and I can’t see myself scaling geometry in any other video game without longing for something like this. Rob Funnell
It’s Eiji Aonuma’s favourite, too, so you’re in good company. An Edge T-shirt should surely give you an additional lift.
Back chat
As the comments and reviews on Tears Of The Kingdom drop in, I find my eyes rolling at the amount of praise not backed up by arguments. Instead, I’m advised to simply experience it firsthand. Recently, The Back Page podcast replied to a letter in which I asked why they were careful not to spoil the games they discuss. Bless them, they said the answer was obvious and put the question equally to me – they don’t understand my stance!
This reply is probably too long for their pod, and everyone who reads Edge should listen to them anyway, hence me writing my reply here. (Just to be clear, Samuel and Matthew are great. I just want them to share all their insights without holding back.) When a work of art uses the element of surprise, sure, that shouldn’t be spoiled.
Think of BioShock’s “would you kindly”, and that trick Jesse Venbrux’s Execution does. But does everything have to be fresh for the player? Perhaps there’s a certain purity in sticking to the artist’s conducting of their work, as if deviating from that would tarnish the craft. At least, that’s an argument I’ve heard. What I do know is that people tend to enjoy works of art the more they engage with them intellectually. I like to believe that’s the point of the monthly Time Extend. Great art is deep, and having its depths exposed is a boon to its enjoyment. When I hear from others how they have enjoyed something, I take that with me and that springboards me onto new perspectives. Rarely do I hear fresh perspectives come from new players who aren’t already participating in the discourse. Those that do improve my understanding of an artwork are usually deeply entrenched in it. For video games this is even more the case, considering their interactive nature. Tears Of The Kingdom is at its best when players are doing amazing things the designers do not intend. I would also argue that interactivity places more emphasis on the ‘how’ than on the ‘what’, so it doesn’t really matter that much if you see something portrayed in a passive medium such as text or pictures. Extra information is a benefit, not a replacement.
To me, the zenith of play is reached more quickly and strongly when it’s part of a dialogue with others. When I think of my favourite games, they’ve all been ‘spoiled’ in some way by Nintendo Power/Tom Bissell/ Game Maker’s Toolkit, or by being a sequel/ remake/mod. Oh, and (forgive me, it’s such a great example) I don’t think I would ‘get’ Cruelty Squad had I not looked into Ville Kallio’s paintings. Also, sometimes players should just know about things. For example, Edge’s review of Inscryption admitted the game was full of surprises. But because I played it on the Switch and without an Internet connection, I missed out on some of its best fourth-wall-breaking moments. Also, I didn’t know about the kill switches in Deus Ex until I was told about them, and they’re now perhaps my favourite part of the game!
Ultimately, I think we should make a better distinction between what’s good to leave as a fresh experience, and what’s better to be prepared for. From what I’m seeing around, we’re afraid of spoiling almost everything featured in a game. And I believe this is actually stifling our enjoyment. Robert August de Meijer
The Back Page podcast? Yeah, it’s no Rotating Platform. Regardless, as you say, some surprises are best preserved – and what constitutes a surprise invariably differs from player to player. Outside of Time Extend and certain Post Scripts, we’d rather err on the side of caution, but do let us know if you feel differently.
Happy Tears Usually I’m jealous of videogame media outlets, traditional and digital likewise...
Send your views, using 'Dialogue' as the subject line, to edge@futurenet.com. Our letter of the month wins an exclusive Edge T-shirt
Link up
Being able to create pretty much anything with Ultrahand is obviously the main draw here, but my withered, feeble brain is limited to maybe a few lopsided wheels either side of a plank of wood before it gets overwhelmed. However, being able to phase through pretty much any obstacle completely subverts my understanding of what an adventure game can be, in the best possible way.
Ascend feels like the culmination of the old traditional Zelda approach, as if the ambition of A Link To The Past’s Dark World or A Link Between Worlds’ wall-merging mechanic has finally been realised, this time without a fixed camera, in an endlessly explorable 3D world. There have been so many frustrating deaths where I have tried to glide or climb to a seemingly unscalable tower, where the instinct has been to rant to a friend or draft a spicy take on how I miss the days of Majora’s Mask – but then I remember I can just swim through it, right to the top. I’m having to retrain my brain to look at the world in a different way. Every time I successfully pull off a good Ascend it gives me that giddy feeling, like I’m cheating or breaking the game – in the same way the giant laser robots more talented people are assembling and sharing on Twitter must make them feel, but this time with just a single button press. It’s just pure magic, and I can’t see myself scaling geometry in any other video game without longing for something like this. Rob Funnell
It’s Eiji Aonuma’s favourite, too, so you’re in good company. An Edge T-shirt should surely give you an additional lift.
Back chat
As the comments and reviews on Tears Of The Kingdom drop in, I find my eyes rolling at the amount of praise not backed up by arguments. Instead, I’m advised to simply experience it firsthand. Recently, The Back Page podcast replied to a letter in which I asked why they were careful not to spoil the games they discuss. Bless them, they said the answer was obvious and put the question equally to me – they don’t understand my stance!
This reply is probably too long for their pod, and everyone who reads Edge should listen to them anyway, hence me writing my reply here. (Just to be clear, Samuel and Matthew are great. I just want them to share all their insights without holding back.) When a work of art uses the element of surprise, sure, that shouldn’t be spoiled.
Think of BioShock’s “would you kindly”, and that trick Jesse Venbrux’s Execution does. But does everything have to be fresh for the player? Perhaps there’s a certain purity in sticking to the artist’s conducting of their work, as if deviating from that would tarnish the craft. At least, that’s an argument I’ve heard. What I do know is that people tend to enjoy works of art the more they engage with them intellectually. I like to believe that’s the point of the monthly Time Extend. Great art is deep, and having its depths exposed is a boon to its enjoyment. When I hear from others how they have enjoyed something, I take that with me and that springboards me onto new perspectives. Rarely do I hear fresh perspectives come from new players who aren’t already participating in the discourse. Those that do improve my understanding of an artwork are usually deeply entrenched in it. For video games this is even more the case, considering their interactive nature. Tears Of The Kingdom is at its best when players are doing amazing things the designers do not intend. I would also argue that interactivity places more emphasis on the ‘how’ than on the ‘what’, so it doesn’t really matter that much if you see something portrayed in a passive medium such as text or pictures. Extra information is a benefit, not a replacement.
To me, the zenith of play is reached more quickly and strongly when it’s part of a dialogue with others. When I think of my favourite games, they’ve all been ‘spoiled’ in some way by Nintendo Power/Tom Bissell/ Game Maker’s Toolkit, or by being a sequel/ remake/mod. Oh, and (forgive me, it’s such a great example) I don’t think I would ‘get’ Cruelty Squad had I not looked into Ville Kallio’s paintings. Also, sometimes players should just know about things. For example, Edge’s review of Inscryption admitted the game was full of surprises. But because I played it on the Switch and without an Internet connection, I missed out on some of its best fourth-wall-breaking moments. Also, I didn’t know about the kill switches in Deus Ex until I was told about them, and they’re now perhaps my favourite part of the game!
Ultimately, I think we should make a better distinction between what’s good to leave as a fresh experience, and what’s better to be prepared for. From what I’m seeing around, we’re afraid of spoiling almost everything featured in a game. And I believe this is actually stifling our enjoyment. Robert August de Meijer
The Back Page podcast? Yeah, it’s no Rotating Platform. Regardless, as you say, some surprises are best preserved – and what constitutes a surprise invariably differs from player to player. Outside of Time Extend and certain Post Scripts, we’d rather err on the side of caution, but do let us know if you feel differently.
Happy Tears Usually I’m jealous of videogame media outlets, traditional and digital likewise...
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Edge Uk (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2023