Emotional Investment and Vidya Gaming

[flintlock]

I've been sick this week, which I think I mentioned the last time. Even if I didn't, let me begin by saying that I am now better. Hurray. What this means, though, is that I did not do very much this week; I hunkered down and played video games

Comments

[flintlock]

What I enjoy most, I think, is being able to step onto the internet and chance upon the stories of other players and other guilds. The article above has a link to a game journal created for EO1, for instance, and Pixiv has a ton of personalized artwork and narrative from the guilds of Japanese players. The image I'm using on my LJ layout is actually the main party of a guild from Japan.

Then, of course, I have silly things like this graphical representation of my EO1&2 guild. My own contribution to the collective narrative.



The ones facing to the right are the original EO1 Sandfire team, and the ones facing to the left are the EO2 Sandfire team. The overlapping Alchemist/Hexer is the guild leader, who changed classes between adventures.

[sweetgreens]

Oh, nice! That's a level of devotion I lack, though I do daydream about my party's adventures in the labyrinth.

We just cleared the game - didn't even realize that the "final" bosses were on the 25th floor. I screamed bloody murder when I killed the first boss and wasn't allowed to use my warp wire to take a nap at the inn before facing the second one... In the end, everyone's MP was depleted to single digits, and poor Chibi (Level 71 Elemental Ronin) was dead. But we did it!

Sixth stratum appears to be a bonus area? I kind of want to move onto EO3 now and create my new guild. :P

[flintlock]

Yeah, in EO1, EO2, and EO3, the Sixth Stratum exists as a sort of bonus level filled with optional bosses and completion items. You get a special Hero Medal at the end of EO2 for having completed it all... which is utterly useless because you've finished the game 100% and don't get a new game+...

I love stories like that. Your MP is down, the party DPS is dead, but you grit your teeth and fight and conquer. That's the stuff of legends and epics right there, and what makes games like this so special!

The sprites were not made by me. I actually have a whole sheet of them that you can sort of move around on Photoshop on your own if you're interested, haha. I don't have the skill to make them myself....