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Just thought of another good examples: Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Resonant Arc

I could have sworn we talked about using gameplay to tell the story recently but I can't pinpoint exactly which podcast it was. In either case, I went into detail about the Nibelheim Incident (again, haha) but also gave a few other examples. Journey, Shadow of the Colossus, Papers Please, Hotline Miami, and The Last Of Us are a few of the best examples I can think of.

Resonant Arc

We actually talked a lot about map construction in last week's podcast here: <a href="https://youtu.be/-1Ednk79-xg?t=800" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/-1Ednk79-xg?t=800</a> To answer the question though, I think video games or D&D campaigns would be the best place for a person to share their world with someone, since both allow for actual exploration of those worlds! -Mike

Resonant Arc

Ah, I see! Thanks

LWDY

We talked about the thousand years of dreams sequences recently in this podcast: <a href="https://youtu.be/-yUBKgffy1k?t=1768" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/-yUBKgffy1k?t=1768</a> That time code should take you right to the correct topic. To answer the second part of your question, I didn't feel that these sequences had any negative impact on the pace of the game because they are completely optional. If they aren't interesting for a certain player they have no need to go through them. They are long though, but so rich and well written and provide a completely unique angle on the 'experience' of immortality that I found absolutely gripping. -Mike

Resonant Arc

Ooh just thought of another question... When I was a kid, I used to love drawing maps for fantasy stories and games - in fact, I loved drawing maps a lot more than writing the story :P The results were frequently highly detailed and well-thought geographies and histories with very little in the way of engaging character and plot. My question is, for those of us who love to build worlds, what is the best medium for sharing that world with other people? (The answer is not, I imagine, a Star Wars prequel)

I really liked that the movie played out like 1 or 2 episodes of an old comic/cartoon of Spider-man. Rather than an origin story or a continuation of a set of movies. The fact that Spider-man didn't need to save all of NY city this time was refreshing! It was just a short story about Peter Parker trying to be a high school kid, but also a superhero at the same time. It kept the original spirit of the character intact while very loosely tying it in to the rest of the MCU.

With the emphasis of the channel changing to focus on storytelling, what are some of your favorite examples of Storytelling through gameplay? Mike has mentioned FFVII in the past, where Sephiroth's strength is conveyed through stats and combat during the Nibelheim flashback. (Shortly after this, Cloud and company see the Midgar Zolom impaled on a tree as they pursue Sephiroth, and the moment has more impact since the player has witnessed Sephiroth's power level in the context of the gameplay). What are some of your other favorite examples of a game using its mechanics or systems to communicate or reinforce aspects of the story to the player?

To further expand on Casen's video this week. What games or movies do you think had a great plot that worked with similar tropes to world saving, but it was a much smaller scale situation and not world saving? What stories do you appreciate that didn't focus on this type of trope but were still led through a Hero's Journey? I think of Spider-Man Homecoming and what I appreciated about that movie was it wasn't that Spider-Man had to save the world from a villain. He was just being his neighborhood friendly persona and just stopping the villain from stealing supplies from S.H.I.E.L.D.

I’m currently replaying FF10 (HD Remaster) & I really like/appreciate the combat system! The ability to swap characters in & out, whilst providing each character with their specific capabilities/styles makes it all very smooth. Out of all FF games, what’s your favourite in terms of battle system & if you were tasked with creating your own battle system how would it work? Thanks, PS Junction system ftw 😳😂

I'm a huge fan of the exploration of story telling that you guys have been delving into. But how did you find the story telling that was presented in Lost Odyssey through the "thousand years of dreams" sequences? I'm on the fence as they are very emotive, but can often get in the way of the games pacing. Oftentimes, I'd find myself wanting to skip them because they are so frequent. Saying that, they do wonders for the characterisation of some of the protagonists. In short, what are your thoughts on the "thousand years of dreams"?

LWDY

Do video game stories HAVE to be patterned after the "hero's journey?" There are other long-standing narrative archetypes out there - the Greek tragedy, the comedy, the "careful what you wish for" story, the fable - and so on, but maybe these story types, by their very nature, can only be off to the side of the protagonist's experience in a game, since they don't copy the "main character must achieve a task" structure at the heart of so many games. Or... maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way... maybe the protagonist of a video game story isn't always the player character... what do you think?