Are video games art?
It's a question that I think a lot of people that are really into gaming grapple with and have been grappling with for a long time now. Those of us that grew up in an era where video games were "just toys" or "only for kids" have certainly heard plenty of folks opine that they most certainly are not. But in recent years, as the industry becomes more popular and gaming becomes more mainstream, more and more people have been asked to, or forced to, view video games as a media format. I'm sure it happens with every new format, just as our parents were confused by the stupid video games, theirs were confused by the stupid television, and theirs by the stupid radio, and so on.
But that isn't what we are here to talk about, it's a different topic for a different day. We are here to talk about my first foray into the Shin Megami Tensei, or Megaten, franchise. For years, I have avoided playing any of these things because their close attachment to the Persona series, which I think I have made pretty clear I'm not a big fan of. The first Persona game is just bad and the newer ones are not my cup of tea, though I did like Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (I know P2 is actually a two part deal, but I've never played Innocent Sin) However, I decided to give Nocturne, actually the third game in the series but the first to reach the U.S. in 2004, a shot after I learned; a) it was actually Persona that spun off SMT and not the way around -and- b) SMT doesn't include any of the Japanese high school drama BS that Persona does. That was enough for me.
I'm glad I did. SMT: Nocturne was excellent and, for better or worse, had an atmosphere unlike any I'd experienced in a game before. If video games are art, SMTN would be abstract as it gets. I've certainly played games that were weirder or more bizarre, but a lot of them feel like something the programmers went out of their way to make weird or bizarre. SMTN's design feels more organic. It leans heavily into the occult, horror and satanic imagery, but does so in a way that's very subtle. This isn't Doom, where you are blasting your way through areas with goat skulls and pentagrams on the wall. It isn't Silent Hill, where you are fighting hideous deformed creatures while you begin your own descent into madness. SMTN isn't over the top, but it's just so...unsettling. And I mean that in a good way.
The Tokyo Vortex world is unlike any other I have ever experienced in a video game. The run down old malls and abandoned subway tunnels are standard post apocalyptic fare. But even they are presented in such a way that makes them feel super organic and the way the seamlessly transition to the newly created areas just feels like it fits. I can't quite explain it, but something about all the symmetry, the red heavy color palette, the blocks and simple, straight lines of the design are just so different. It really makes SMTN look and feel different from the standard post-apocalyptic media you see just about everywhere else. And again, it's just so bizarre and unsettling. The game delves into some heavy themes, but it's presentation is unbelievably subtle.
Nocturne puts you in control of a silent protagonist, who you name at the start of the game. Your journey starts in Tokyo, where you and a few friends have decided to visit your teacher, currently recovering at a nearby hospital. Upon arriving, however, you discover the place abandoned, devoid of any patients or staff. When you do eventually find your teacher, sitting alone on the roof, you learn why you have been summoned: the world is about to end, in an event called "the Conception" and anyone outside the hospital is going to perish. A lot of RPGs end with the apocalypse, but how many start with it?
Anyway, when you wake up after the conception, you find the world entirely changed. You also find yourself changed, into a demon with glowing tattoos, red eyes and incredible power. Gone are all the human inhabitants of Tokyo, replaced by spirits, manakins and demons, both friend and foe. Only you, your colleagues Isamu and Chakai, a mysterious occult magazine writer named Hijiri and a sinister businessman Hikawa remain from the previous world. You will all work, sometimes together, sometimes against each other, to determine why the conception happened, why you were spared and what's next for the vortex world.
At this point it kind of sounds like I'm struggling to adequately convey my thoughts about SMTN. But I get the vibe that's what they were going for. I can't even scratch the surface of all of the themes this game covers, the moral dilemmas it presents and the decisions it asks you to make. How it was inspired by works like The Divine Comedy, it's focus on life, death and resurrection, all of that would need its own full length analysis to do it justice. Maybe I'll do something like that at a later time. But it won't be next week, because I have to talk about how the game actually plays. All the brilliant atmosphere, heavy themes and unique style don't amount to squat if the game itself sucks. Spoiler alert, this one doesn't, but it does have its share of flaws. Tune in next week for more.
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