(I wonder, has anyone picked a card?)
Ah, nicely done! (Er, no...I hadn't. I guess the Runes will be a challenge for me.)
(From a precursor to the OT):
I know I'm not alone when I say I've been excited for Dragon's Crown since the first time I saw it in action. It isn't about the breasts or butts or elf waifus. I grew up when arcades were more than just the name of a companion in New Vegas, when you'd pour in quarter after quarter playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, or even The Simpsons. There's more to that genre than Mystara, and there have been far too few games like it since the nineties ended. Dragon's Crown is a renaissance of this beloved genre, combined with two others things I love: Vanillaware's beautiful artwork and Hitoshi Sakimoto's moving music.
Wonderfully said...I grew up with those games, too. The first one I encountered was Final Fight. Back then there were no gaming websites, and when I walked up to the machine, I had never seen or heard anything about it before. Right from that "Sometime in the 1990s...", I was blown away. My friends and I didn't go to the arcade on Saturday night, when it was noisy and crowded; we went on Sunday morning, when we could have the whole place to ourselves, and focus on the games. And this is the kind that we played.
I'm sure there will be more than enough people posting breasts, butts, and kotaku links, but that will say more about them than it will about the game.
Well...speaking for myself...it's not
only about the breasts or butts. Nevertheless (and, apologies if I'm misreading you here), I don't think any and all discussion of them is a disservice to the game. The sexy designs are certainly a part of the work.
I think it's evident that Kamitani and his team aren't cynically exploiting sexuality to try to sell games or whatever else; they're simply drawing what they genuinely love to draw. And, very unabashedly. To me, this itself is an unfolding, a development, a progression from the games of 20 years ago, alongside the innovations in technology, gameplay design, etc. The old games had at least hints of sexiness, and I had the impression that the artists were going as far as they were allowed to, but probably not as far as they might have chosen. To see these same artists now attaining full creative control is, to me, very inspiring. I would hope that anyone who values a wide range of artistic expression - in games, and in general - can appreciate that, even if these designs aren't their cup of tea.
Anyway, lovely OT. There's still time to put myself in cryogenic stasis until the 6th...