ohnomegan

I love your analysis of why the Always Sunny style works, especially with the concept of dark humor as stress relief. I think it would be interesting to look at this approach to dark comedy in shows like Bojack Horseman, that are comedies but also wallow in serious drama and consequences for the characters.

I always find it fascinating to look at how gameplay relates to story in games, and how the narrative is communicated. I LOVE how Shadow of the Colossus created that gamefeel for climbing/fighting the Colossi where you can start to feel something’s off about your mission before the twist at the end is revealed.

However, I’m always kind of on the fence about storytelling in games like Bioshock where the environment is FANTASTIC for the narrative but the actual gameplay doesn’t have a whole lot to do with it. The situations you’re fighting in are drenched with story, but the fighting itself is could be removed and you wouldn’t lose too much of the narrative. Now, the fighting is what makes it a game in many regards, so it’s an interesting challenge to figure out how a designer might bend gameplay expectations into something original which fits a wholly unique narrative.

This is a great read! I really like the point you brought up about the breakdown of stark good vs evil. Javert has always been fascinating to me because much of Les Mis is a story where everyone is doing what they think is right, and they all have high points and flaws, and it’s just much more compelling than the sort of basic “killing bad, hero good” sorta thing. Everyone’s bad and good, let’s talk about why.