An Explanation of "Post-Punk" Games | Semi-Ramblomatic
Added 2024-02-08 16:03:01 +0000 UTCThis week's episode of Semi-Ramblomatic is now available!
Comments
It’s way better than my definition of post-punk music: what happens when the punk rockers mellow out and learn to play their instruments.
erakfishfishfish
2024-02-10 19:28:07 +0000 UTCDesign Delve's dog is JM8's rea-life dog Ludo (short for "Ludonarrative Dissonance"). Yahtzee's dog is his real-life dog Toffee (short because he's a chihuahua).
Ørjan Hoem
2024-02-09 17:04:04 +0000 UTC"Punk art destroys what is already there, and post-punk art is what gets built on the wreckage." Brilliant quote, I’m gonna remember this one. This piece is insightful as hell. Hearing Yahtzee articulate the je ne sais quoi of these “post-punk” games validates my own refined palate for good indies and reminds me why Yahtzee is the best. HERE’S A COMPLIMENT ZP’s genius could be attributed to being the post-punk of game reviews. Coming out of the early era of user-generated content where any dickbag could shriek “this game sucks,” ZP was not an iconoclastic “fuck you” takedown of game journalism, but a subversive yet thoughtful reframing of game journalism that rejected established norms: no review scores, no group consensus, a purposely horrible art style, dick jokes. HERE’S A CRITIQUE So If ZP was post-punk, what’s Fully Ramblomatic? ZP with a flipped color scheme and a cartoon dog in the intro for some reason. Adheres to the same mold. Probably not post-punk. Don’t get me wrong, I am so fucking glad that you guys are giving us ZP: The Legend Continues and that this amazing team has risen from ashes like… well, you know. But it so closely resembles the original product that FR comes off like the reformulated Four Loko: same taste, new packaging, but lacking that special lightning in a bottle that made the original such a brash and ambitious phenomenon. Second Wind has the opportunity for creative freedom, but you’re playing it safe with these ZP / EP clones. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wonder what kind of gold you might strike if you experimented with the aesthetic, presentation, or format a bit – something a little more post-punk. You can’t catch lightning in a bottle twice (or whatever the saying is), but you might as well try. We’ll all keep watching and paying you a few bucks a month regardless. Thank you for reading. I’m just trying to practice my rusty writing chops. With love, Ollie P.S. AS A THANK YOU FOR READING THIS DIATRIBE, I’m gonna up my monthly contribution by a dollar. P.P.S. Seriously, what’s up with the dog in the intro? Yahtzee has a dog, J’s new Design Delve has a dog. Who is this dog?
Shpock
2024-02-08 23:51:21 +0000 UTCThis is my favorite semi-ramblomatic so far I think. I appreciate the breakdown of what yahtzee meant by "post punk" because while I felt I understood the shape of the meaning I couldnwt quite articulate why I thought it fit. The eternal tension of subversive art gaining legitimacy from the attention it gains by being unconventional ultimately becoming the convention to be subverted is very fascinating to me. It can be so frustrating seeing something once beloved being slowly twisted and warped into establishment over time. But it helps to remember that there will always be some more fat fucking gazelles in the futuree
ixi
2024-02-08 22:40:29 +0000 UTCI wasn't commenting on the quality of the game or who made it--this ad is the first I've heard of it--more in the irony of a video about what arises from subverting norms and sticking it to the man being sponsored by another in a long line of ARPGs, that includes the trappings of its big-studio forebears. It may well be a shining example of the genre, and even boast some of that man-sticking (which can probably be phrased better) in its being developed by an indie team; it just appeared to be the antithesis of the subject at hand.
MABrock1980
2024-02-08 21:02:38 +0000 UTCWhat? People enjoy Last Epoch, highly rated on Steam and made by indie developers.
Nick Calandra
2024-02-08 19:42:06 +0000 UTCWhile I won't begrudge Second Wind bagging themselves some sponsorship, a Diablo clone--replete with loot-grinding and tiered "editions"--sponsoring a video celebrating VG punk and what is birthed from it, is at once icky and hilarious.
MABrock1980
2024-02-08 18:11:41 +0000 UTC
