Games Aren't Numbers

Braid creates new meaning from the properties of past games.

Thinking critically about that is good.

But only acknowledging Blow's own work as meaningful implies that others aren't meaningful, so

Re-evaluating all past games based on the ideas Braid uses is better.

But why limit yourself to that,

Critically analyzing all past present and future games with Braid's model, along with original methods, is best.

Braid lacks any subtlety in its usage of properties from past games, so not acknowledging the merits of its source material is inexcusably sloppy.

Braid is one of the loudest examples but these points stand with virtually every game.

So enough about Braid.

Okami is a tribute to older games as well, specifically the Zelda franchise.

Without Zelda then Okami wouldn't exist, but

Okami is a partner for Zelda. The former's existence puts the latter into a new context.

To zoom in, this occurs every time a new Zelda game is made as well.

For example Majora's Mask gave new meanings to a lot of Ocarina of Time's properties.

The present always gives new meaning to the past. The properties of the past never change, but their meaning evolves over time.

Zelda has always been what is is, although Okami may have given a new insight into it.

Any analysis of Okami as a game cannot be complete without considering Zelda along with all other related games, and vice versa.

And any analysis of Braid cannot be complete without considering all of its inspiration.

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead

-T. S. Elliot, Tradition and Individual Talent

I've been very busy lately so when I started writing this post I realized I had a lot of general ideas but I wasn't patient enough to elaborate on all of them. So I limited myself to a sentence or two about each one and spared the originally intended details and explanation. I put a lot of faith in these few words to contain a worthwhile meaning, so maybe this was a good idea and maybe not. Since there may be some confusion over what I intended to mean, I might elaborate more later.

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