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Post by Discoalucard on Sept 19, 2006 12:15:30 GMT -5
So I've been doing some interviewing for that cultural article I'm working on. I talked to John Opplinger (from the Ask John column over at Animenation...even if you don't have the slightest interest in anime, there's a lot of interesting stuff posted in it daily) and asked why he thought that the destruction of the creator was a recurring theme in at least a few games. His response was pretty interesting:
"Asian culture, unlike Western culture, is pan-theistic. Japanese religion consists of countless gods and spirits rather than a single God. Christian theology dictates a single life while Buddhism believes in rebirth and renewal, which may explain the death of gods and the beginning and ending of civilizations, eras, and gods. Japanese culture itself has gone through numerous recycles and births including the end of the feudal era, the introduction of the West, and the atomic bombings and the following rebuilding. Since Christian culture has only one God, we don't think about the death of God. But Asian culture and beliefs like karma are cyclical."
I know about the different beliefs but hadn't considered this. I mean, to an extent, the "church" featured in many games may as well just be an evil corporation like, say, Shinra, because it's not a foundation that the Japanese are inherently familiar with. So portraying them as evil and untrustworthy isn't much different than your standard nefarious empire.
So how does this sound?
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Post by jameseightbitstar on Sept 19, 2006 12:51:14 GMT -5
That sounds awesome.
Let's go kill us up some Gods!
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Post by necromaniac on Sept 19, 2006 13:26:42 GMT -5
An ending I'd like to see: "Oops, we killed God.... We are coming undone!!!". And then the univerce slowly fades away.
A great begining of a detective rpg would be "They've found god's frozen carcass floating in space. We want you to investigate!"
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Post by Malroth on Sept 19, 2006 13:53:40 GMT -5
I always thought it was just a recent fad with games like MegaTen. You know, the whole "my characters are so badass they killed God! Yeah! Beat that!"
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Post by michiyoyoshiku on Sept 19, 2006 13:56:52 GMT -5
Love the anime nation forums Post there when I'm not here.
Ask John is one of the best
but yeah......lets kill us some gods I remember Prince Monnoke
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Post by bioniccommando83 on Sept 19, 2006 13:58:24 GMT -5
An ending I'd like to see: "Oops, we killed God.... We are coming undone!!!". And then the univerce slowly fades away. That happens in Super Hydlide and to some degree, Star Ocean 3, though as Kurt noted, there's a kind of rebirth that goes along with it. It's definitely reflected fairly well in several video games, and a couple anime (Chrono Crusade comes to mind, though I need to see the end of it, and of course, there's Evangeleon). Tying it to the way the church is held- a bit more of a leap. I think there's definitely that view as an evil empire, but it's not so much related to views on God, but Tokugawa era prohibitions on Christianity, where it was viewed as being subsersive, and being accused of being a Christian was about as hip as being accused of being a communist circa the 1950s- all Christian views were viewed as being subversive and more or less identified with Roman Catholic evangelism regardless of denomination. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2006 14:24:35 GMT -5
An awesome game would start out with the death of God immediately. Something like violence ravaging the land and stopping it is beyond divine intervention, so God commits suicide, and the sky constantly rains blood, and the grass always hurts to walk on, and skeletons all float about in the acidic ocean, and people just explode for no good reason...
... excuse the quasi-goth mood, but I'm feeling a mite tad bitter at the moment.
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Post by Discoalucard on Sept 19, 2006 14:27:28 GMT -5
What you just described is at least like 75% of the concept of Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.
What an awesome game.
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Post by Malroth on Sept 19, 2006 15:38:10 GMT -5
Heh, yeah. I love the "Lets go save the worl-oh shit. The apocolypse *just* happened. Ah well, time to go recreate it in my own image!"
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Post by MRSKELETON on Sept 19, 2006 17:18:37 GMT -5
I believe in god.
But i also believe in other gods, It makes more sense.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2006 17:37:44 GMT -5
I don't know what to believe in, so I'll just believe in myself. ;D
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Post by michiyoyoshiku on Sept 19, 2006 17:41:16 GMT -5
Worship me and my holy order of Johnism bitches.
Worship me OR DIE!!!!!!!!
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Post by YourAverageJoe on Sept 19, 2006 18:24:18 GMT -5
To quote a Bob and George fancomic:  |
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Post by Neo Rasa on Sept 19, 2006 22:57:08 GMT -5
An awesome game would start out with the death of God immediately. Something like violence ravaging the land and stopping it is beyond divine intervention, so God commits suicide, and the sky constantly rains blood, and the grass always hurts to walk on, and skeletons all float about in the acidic ocean, and people just explode for no good reason... ... excuse the quasi-goth mood, but I'm feeling a mite tad bitter at the moment. sotenga, you NEED to play the Megami Tensei games. This is not a polite suggestion. You will enjoy them. |
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Post by jameseightbitstar on Sept 20, 2006 3:55:38 GMT -5
A great begining of a detective rpg would be "They've found god's frozen carcass floating in space. We want you to investigate!" Here's one I'd like to see in a fantasy RPG: "We can not kill God with ours swords, lasers, and giant robots! We need your great Kicking Powers!" |
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