Chrissy

Run the Game World (Sentimentality)

 Posted by on Fri, 11/18 at 11:21am  proposal  No Responses »
Nov 182016
 

In the ever-growing video game industry of present times, game producers continually seek to change things up, devising fresh plots and new gameplay in order to stay competitive. As is the case within the Kingdom Hearts franchise, this reach to be unconventional can often times leave fans with muddy understanding of what the game and its plot are meant to be. Despite this, the popularity of the franchise continues to rise, which brings to thought that perhaps a clear-cut plot is not always essential to the success of a video game, but success can lie in relatable characters and meaningful music that can regularly pull at nostalgia and keep fans loyal.

Kingdom Hearts’ loyal fans are quick to point out that the franchise takes them back to their childhood. Except, most of these fans are about to or have barely graduated college. Childhood is not so far behind. The games in the franchise cater to nostalgia, with interactions with Disney characters that most fans would have grown up with, and, in turn, fans will become nostalgic of the game itself.

Cosplaying as an artifact

 Posted by on Tue, 11/1 at 10:46pm  artifact networks & relationships  No Responses »
Nov 012016
 

1. My chosen artifact is…

Cosplay

Classify your artifact. Classifications are helpful to understanding your artifact. Once you’ve placed your particular artifact in a larger group, you can make connections between your artifact and the general characteristics associated with that group. In addition, sometimes describing your artifact from within a larger, more generalized framework makes it easier to identify important features. Usually, an artifact can classified in various ways and placed in a number of groups.

2. How do you classify your artifact? In what groups can you place your artifact? What connections can you make to other artifacts in the group?

Art… performance art. Fans of anime or manga. Cosplay isn’t limited to video games… so often cosplayers dress as anime/manga characters.

Compare and contrast the artifact. Comparing your artifact to others allows you to generate new ideas about your artifact.

3. Identify points of similarity between your artifact and others. Then identify points of difference with other artifacts. How is it similar? How is it different?

Like the syllabus, cosplaying takes planning, though probably a lot more than a syllabus would.I would say cosplay is more creative also. It is defined as art, after all.

Create an analogy or metaphor for your artifact. Analogies and metaphors are ways of making connections between your artifact and other artifacts (anything goes… items of clothing, locations, holidays, texts, products, etc.). Be creative here… try to make (il)logical leaps.

4. What metaphors or analogies suit your artifact? (Explain if needed)

I’m gonna steal from one of the comments I got.

Cosplaying is another day of Halloween, just one that’s more expensive and one people might snootily judge.

Examine cultural narratives. Cultural narratives are common storylines used throughout culture, telling how things typically happen. Once you identify cultural narratives that apply to your artifact, you can examine them for assumptions and stereotypes. For example, stereotypes (or rigid, generalized ideas about the character and behavior of people with certain identities) are a kind of assumption (or set of assumptions). As with cultural narratives, you may think you are not affected by these assumptions and stereotypes. However, their pervasive presence in the culture means that everyone is affected by them. Naming these assumptions stereotypes can aid you when describing the impact of culture and values on your particular artifact (or your artifact’s impact on culture and values).

The assumptions operating in cultural narratives found in movie plots and song lyrics also get played out in social practices and social institutions. Social practices are shared, habitual ways of doing things. A variety of guidelines exist for the social practice of dating, for instance: who will initiate the date, who will decide where to go, who will pay. Social institutions are larger, more formalized organization the direct our shared social structures. Questions to explore (pick and choose):

5. How is your artifact characterized? (How do people/media/groups characterize it?)

Cosplayers have their own community, so within the community there’s hierarchies, with the better/richer/more-dedicated cosplayers being on top. The community also has audience, those who don’t participate but simply spectate. Outside of the community cosplaying is sometimes looked down on as nerdy. It’s not usually appreciated as what it’s defined as.

6. What cultural narratives govern your artifact?

The cultural narrative… that money gives you better things. Cosplaying takes money. and good cosplay takes a lot of money. There is of course the time and dedication factor. But who has ample time to be dedicated in the first place? Probably someone with money.

7. What assumptions, stereotypes, habits, social practices, and institutions frame your artifact?

The assumption would be that cosplayers are weaboos… people obsessed with the Japanese culture to a point of appropriation. Cosplayers are all childish dorks who still like to play dress up. Cosplayers want to be Japanese.

Habits: creating photoshoots, being popular on devianart

Institutions: Fan Con, Comic Con, and the lesser conventions.

8. What doctrines or practices affect your artifact? (Or, what doctrines or practices you’re your artifact affect?) Political parties and platforms? Religious? Ideological? Which ones? Are there cultural “rules” and practices? Which?

MY RESPONSE…

9. How does your artifact affect culture? How does culture affect your artifact?

The artifact created a culture of its own. Cosplaying has grown to be its own culture and community now.

Feels Induced

 Posted by on Sun, 10/30 at 8:48pm  ideas  No Responses »
Oct 302016
 

Wow. Like seriously. The release of the opening sequence for Aqua’s story in 2.8 got me in my feels for real. I haven’t even played as Aqua since 2011 when her game was released — she hasn’t reappeared since, either. But the music, along with the stunning visuals, really gave me a flash of nostalgia, and the moderate/mild care I had for her grew as if I were 17  again, sneaking my friend’s PSP to play Birth By Sleep in my history classroom.

I don’t think that would have happened with a different singer. Utada is too iconic in the KH franchise. She’s basically her own character in the KH world. I find myself agreeing with fans who worry that we won’t get new music from her for the last game. What is it about music?

Why is it that the games wouldn’t feel the same with a different artist? Is it just nostalgia.. or that fans don’t like change..? I like to think not. Utada’s music just works so well for everything KH seems to represent. And there have only been 2 songs! Remixes, yeah. But the idea is the same. With just two songs, Utada has been able to encapsulate a decades worth of stories and experiences. I don’t really know how to wrap my head around the importance of her music, but I know the feeling wouldn’t be the same with someone else.

On the subject of the release of the half-titled games to the PS4, I know it’s a smart business move disguised as a ~look at how convenient we’re making it for you to catch up for KHIII~ but ohh my god am I excited. I’m already starting to pre-plan for getting around student teaching and playing hours upon hours and reliving my childhood. The feeling is definitely not exclusive to me… millions of people my age are going to be charging credit cards and cancelling plans once these games drop. I can’t imagine what it would look like once KHIII finally drops.

 

Finally something new

 Posted by on Sun, 10/30 at 8:32pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 302016
 

Over the weekend Square had some big announcements regarding the future of Kingdom Hearts.

Fans got a treat, with Square releasing the opening sequence for one of the playable stories in 2.8 including a remixed version of fan-favorite Utada Hikaru’s original song for the franchise. The other big announcement is that the other half-titled games of the series, the ones that were only available to the PS3, are releasing in another remastered version for the PS4.

Now going back to Utada Hikaru, she has been with the franchise since it’s beginning in 2002. She has written 2 original songs for the game, both in English and Japanese. Though she had some level of fame in Japan before collaborating with Square, the majority of her Western fans came to know her through this game. And not only was Square good for her, but she was good for Square. Her songs evoke the sort of whimsical, fairytale like feeling of friendship and adventure that the KH games have sought to embody. Fans argue that she is just as important to the game as is the main characters.

The issue, then, is that Utada hasn’t written a new song for KH since the last main titled game in 2005. While her songs have been remixed or turned instrumental, Utada decided to stop working for the franchise, citing too-low pay. It makes sense. It’s a lot of work to not just create the song itself, but then translate it to another language in a way that evokes the same feeling.

Fans then wonder if they will be left without new music by Utada for the last main titled game, with the theme music being just as important as the characters. The issue seems to have a simple solution — just pay her more! But Square has to decide for itself if a new song by Utada is something the game really needs.

artifacts of culture

 Posted by on Sat, 10/22 at 9:25pm  artifact ideas  2 Responses »
Oct 222016
 

Cosplaying. A hobby? an art? Actually, defined as a type of performance art. Kingdom Hearts is among many of the video game franchises that are popular to cosplay. KH has its own cosplay celebrities too. Definitely something that requires money, time, and lots of dedication.

Manga. The KH manga sprung off from an attempt to better explain the KH story line. Not a lot of fans read it, but it might offer insight to certain things video-game-only fans might miss out on. Of course manga on its own is not exclusive to and was not created by KH, but there’s the stereotypical connection between hardcore fans of the game with manga/anime and all things nerd, especially with those who cosplay.

Portable game devices. The predecessor to the cellphone… as in, to keep kids distracted or that thing kids won’t look up from. Still going strong of course. Did anyone see the ad for the Nintendo Switch? A console and a portable in one… innovative.

Resisting the Urge to Rant

 Posted by on Sun, 10/2 at 10:46pm  ideas  No Responses »
Oct 022016
 
[SPOILER: I didn’t resist the urge to rant.]

I can’t believe the crap articles I had to sift through throughout my reading this week. Every game website seems to be jumping on the bandwagon to talk about Kingdom Hearts III this week. There was one.. that seemed to have been repeatedly plagiarized and reworded throughout video game and tech journals… that was thrown off by the amount of Disney that’s now gonna be in Kingdom Hearts????? That’s literally… that’s the… that’s what Kingdom Hearts is??? Anyway, I couldn’t find anything remotely important or intelligent so I had to move on from KHIII “updates”.

I never had a PS3. I jumped from PS2 to Wii to PS4, so I never got my hands on the remixed versions of Kingdom Hearts that conveniently put literally all the games together for me. But!!! The existence of these totally cancels out the arguments from last week’s reading about fans ~losing~ interest because they had no way to play the spinoff games!!! They’re right there!!

In a perfect world, they would have been released in the same platform to begin with, but that’s business I guess. And also they made the graphics waaaay more advanced, too, obviously, with the leap as early as 2002 to a version with 2013 graphic capabilities. If I had a PS3, or my PS4 had backwards compatibility, I would 100% buy both half titles right now. But I’m left to my fading memories for now~

Speaking of fading memories, that article about 2.8 that claimed it was a desperate release.. that Square was getting a big head and releasing “pretentious” games… uggghhhhh. Not to be biased, but no. He complains about the lack of familiarity in a franchise he left behind 11 years ago……. and then complains about the too familiar style to the one he left 11 years ago????????????? Do you want it to be the same or not? Like, buddy, you got paid to play the game in advance to review it, first of all, which makes me think you probably play enough video games to have the means to play 1.5 and 2.5, which means you didn’t have to be condescending in your review of a character you are unfamiliar with but fans will ~idk probably lmao~ be familiar with, which means shut up. I want KHIII to hurry up as much as the next fan, so to hear that the game was rushed to be released…. when it was literally delayed…. and it pushed back the KHIII date even further.. Do these video game journalists do any research at all before writing their un-nuancedly biased trash articles or do they just wing it?

I felt that this trash article was important, though, because it seems to encapsulate the mindset of a lot of casual “fans” that complain about the expanded production of the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, actual fans complain about that, too. We’re all impatient. But the condescending, ~edgy, holier-than-thou tone and his blatant uninformed information present throughout the article made hardly any substantial arguments, yet he still tried to argue. That’s a side right? He cares enough to be a dick?

This one article annoyed me so much that I never got to my next point in my readings of the week, so I guess I’ll have to push it back. I was gonna discuss how the short continuation game in 2.8 is a continuation of what is regarded to be the best game of the franchise, but that I will save for next week maybe.

Half Titles and Headaches

 Posted by on Sun, 10/2 at 10:18pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 022016
 

The official upcoming KH game is set to release an HD remastered version of the franchise’s most recent game (2012) and a short continuation? spinoff? of its third most recent game (2010), along with a movie that further explains the lore. Did that make sense? After 4 years, fans are getting a game they already played, and a tiny teeny continuation of a game they played 6 years ago. But! Excitement is still there.

First, let me explain what this new release even is. To catch everyone up, and keep everyone on the same page, Square released half titled (bear with me) “remastered/remixed” versions of the handful of releases that are part of the same timeline. To make that sentence make any bit of sense, a visual: (sorta)

Kingdom Hearts I (2002;PlayStation 2) -> Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004;Gameboy Advance) -> Kingdom Hearts 352/8 Days (2008;Nintendo DS) = Kingdom Hearts 1.5 (2013;PS3) (half titled release!)

Kingdom Hearts II (2005;PS2) -> Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (2009;PSP) -> Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded (2011;Nintendo DS) = Kingdom Hearts 2.5 (2014;PS3)

Since the games have been released out of order in the KH timeline, and exclusive to random systems, these half titled releases serve to help make sense of the timeline and to catch up anyone who couldn’t afford a whole different system to play a single game.

This upcoming release, Kingdom Hearts 2.8, recounts the events that happened between KHII and KHIII, and, since KHIII hasn’t been set for release yet, it can’t be called KH3.5. Square also wouldn’t have waited until after the third installment because KHIII is assumed to be the very last game of the franchise, at least that follows the same characters.

Apparently, this “ridiculous universe” presented in 2.8 is hardly recognizable to the casual fan that left the franchise in 2005 with KHII. Also, according the article, it feels rushed and “desperate”…. so to make way for KHIII. The claim is that Square needed to release 2.8 to catch up fans on the events in between, so they released it as quickly as possible so that they can get on with the end of the series.

Judging by the fact that 2.8 was delayed……….. sure, buddy.

 

11 years is a long time

 Posted by on Sun, 9/25 at 9:55pm  ideas  No Responses »
Sep 252016
 

Is it even that important to know and understand every detail of plot in a video game? Like, I get that the game is so loved and whatever bc of the original idea… meshing Disney with FF to create something new. And, yeah, the original game was about a boy trying to find and save his friends, but… that idea has to go somewhere to advance the series. The same people trashing the series for being so overly complicated and lore-y would be crying about the unoriginality of the game if it continued with the same basic plot and end goal. I agree that the game has gotten overcomplicated, but I feel like that’s what makes it… interesting? enjoyable?

I wouldn’t be screaming every time KHIII gets delayed if it was just the same story told a third time. Yeah it’s overcomplicated but it’s just a game!!! Logic doesn’t have to apply. Especially if the character you play as can fly, use magic, and fights the bad guys with a giant fancy looking key… if you really want to start applying logic to a game about magic?…

The exclusive to certain consoles thing Square does has always annoyed me though. I had to borrow my friend’s PSP in high school to play one of the spinoff games.. I basically bought a 3DS just to play another one of the spinoff games… and I decided to get a PS4 over an xbox only because I figured KHIII would be released on it. It’s actually set to drop on both consoles now though.. but, anyway. So now that there’s this rumor of it being released on some whole OTHER platform.. it’s not confirmed but it kinda pisses me off and I would guess it would piss off all those fans who think the game’s downfall is its multiple platform exclusivity too.

That being said I think the whole over analyzation fans do regarding the plot misses the point of playing games. It’s fun to pick apart plot points and have theories and end games with questions and look forward to answers and that’d be kinda obsolete if the series was left at the simple. Could certain aspects be done better, sure. But most people whining about it don’t have the means to be a video game writer or director or designer and they don’t offer anything in replacement of what they complain about.

Is an extended period of time in between games really a valid reason to lose interest? I hadn’t played a KH game since high school but I bought the 3DS as soon as I could afford it last year just to play the most recent game. Even then I put it down for a few months in constant losing frustration and I still went back to it and ended up binge playing and finishing it within about a week or so. 11 years is a lot, but I feel like there’s enough nostalgia to spark up a glimmer of interest at least.

Losing Interest?

 Posted by on Sun, 9/25 at 8:12pm  reading  No Responses »
Sep 252016
 

The bulk of what I read this week is fans’ fading interest in the continuation of the Kingdom Hearts series. I went through a lengthy reddit thread where fans shared frustrations and epithets about losing interest (or angrily questioning why people would lose interest) in a game that’s been in production for far too long. The arguments, besides the length of production, for losing interest in the game range from a disinterest in the increasingly convoluted plot, an annoyance with the seriousness of the plot, anger at the “stupidity” of the writing, and frustration with how the franchise has been spread out throughout the years.

The main titles have always been exclusively available to the PlayStation consoles, and the multiple spinoffs have been respectively exclusive to different handheld devices — the Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, PSP, 3DS. The argument with that, then, is that casual fans have a right to lose interest in the game, given that they won’t understand anything happening in KHIII because the series branched off in devices they did not have.

Now, the counterargument is the … outright false… claim that those spinoff games aren’t important to the overall plot and casual fans can probably pick up where they left off at KHII (11 years ago). The spinoff games are important to understanding the plot, and if you’re one of those people who neeeeeds the plot to make 100% sense at all times, well first you shouldn’t be playing this series in the first place, but second you would have at least had to play the spinoff games released in between 2 and 3.

The other counterargument is that fans can just recap by watching videos! Because every casual fan will no doubt love the idea of sitting in front of multiple videos explaining the plot and lore of the game series they left in their childhood (11 years ago).

With the impending release of KHIII, gamers and journalists alike have been speculating on the success of the installment once it does finally release, pointing to the same arguments I listed in the first paragraph, but mostly to the incredibly long gap between the games.

Some fans also condemn the overanalysis and anger related to the complicated plot. That’s developed game writing! they say. Or, why does it even need to make sense? It’s a game!

The big issue KHIII will face is the lack of hype from casual fans because, despite the mixed feelings from very involved fans, those involved fans will pick it up no matter what. There’s also the rumor that Square, the game’s company, is pushing the release back to make it exclusively available on Nintendo’s new console? That would open up a whole new can of worms, but fans don’t seem to be acknowledging the rumor as of yet.

growing old with a game

 Posted by on Thu, 9/22 at 9:47pm  mini analysis  No Responses »
Sep 222016
 

Right, so, anyone who’s a fan of the Kingdom Hearts franchise would feel this meme down to their soul. The feeling wouldn’t be completely obvious for someone on the outside — they would have to know about the laaarge gaps in between the main titles… with the franchise starting in 2002, the second main title releasing in 2005, and the third main title still in production with no set release date. It communicates the frustration related to the long wait by exaggerating the time in between releases. The first picture is of a very young kid, the second picture is of a man presumably in his 20s, and the last picture is of course of an elder senior. The exaggeration is also funny as much as it conveys frustration, as memes tend to be. The feeling of an extended passage of time is conveyed effectively through these means.

As for the exigence for this meme… the release date for Kingdom Hearts III continues to get pushed back.. with an HD version of a previous spinoff game in the franchise being set for release around the time fans had hoped for KHIII to be released. I’m not sure of how long ago this meme was made… but the fact is that it can resonate with any KH fan at any point in time after the release of KHII, which, if you didn’t get by now, was literally 11 years ago.

Realistically, I’ll probably be around the age of the man in the second picture by the time KHIII comes out (hopefully jfc), but compared to how young I was when I started the video game series, it’ll feel like I’m the same age as the senior in the last picture. Honestly, they could have used two baby pictures to show a fan playing the first two games because it really feels like a lifetime has passed since I played KHII…. and I picked it up a few years after it was released!!!!!

I also feel like it’s important to point out that the majority of fans of this game series are around the same college age, so this form of a ~compelling visual~ is typical and appropriate for the age of those who would understand it best. It’s like a chest bump to.. millennial problems.. It does what it means to do. It relates frustration in a form of media that is best accessible and understood by the people it hopes to relate to … if that makes any sense.

Anyway, when I saw this I laughed, I sighed, and then I googled “kingdom hearts iii updates”

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