Comments on: So Meta It Hurts: Ginormo Sword

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:25:50 +0000

Since this is a full-length, enjoyable game, I’m not sure if it qualifies as satire. Sure, it may parody many conventional RPG cliches, but I don’t think the entire game was created just to make a statement.
Also, despite the grinding, I enjoyed the game.

By: Kavika

Kavika — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:13:57 +0000

I’ve spent like 2 days playing this now. I also agree w/ Narwolf in that I think it is just simple because it is simple, not simple because it is parodying anything else. The author clearly has played Blizz or Castlevania RPGs, tho. Looks like something my friends or I would have made in high school, polished all the way out.

By: damnyouRPS

damnyouRPS — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:15:55 +0000

I just spent the last 6 hours of my life on this.

WHY!?

By: Commenter #876789

Commenter #876789 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:22:38 +0000

Fun for a bit, then I got frustrated by the fact that straying off the screen takes you back to the area map. Nothing worse than having to redo a battle that you almost finished, just because you walked a little bit too far to the left. >:(

By: Hypocee

Hypocee — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:47:56 +0000

Yeah, see, I have this irrational dislike of horizontal shmups with a discernible vertical axis, so I think I may have never played an R-Type. :O

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:14:13 +0000

I never really had much time for any of these.

By: Magnus

Magnus — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:11:46 +0000

I played Ginormo Sword many months ago now, but I compulsively played it for a couple of hours a day for about a week or so.

Even then, after getting to the final square, and beating what I thought was the final boss…. there was another boss!

Seriously risked RSI and my mouse’s health.

By: Paxton

Paxton — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:51:59 +0000

“I don’t think reducing games to just the addicting core that the rest hangs on is anymore an indictment than reducing food down to its base nutritional elements is an indictment on cooking.”

Best.
Metaphor.
Yet.
Today.
<3

By: PleasingFungus

PleasingFungus — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:12:44 +0000

(Ah – a reversed example of Poe’s law, that is. Hm. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good comparison.)

(Sometimes I miss the edit button.)

By: PleasingFungus

PleasingFungus — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:12:06 +0000

Yeah – my brother got much farther than I did before stopping, and we’re pretty sure now. It’s sincere. (If it was just messing around, the enlarge-your-sword thing would be a much bigger deal, and there wouldn’t be any of that statue-with-flashing-eyes or armour-upgrading or magic stuff.) It’s a pretty cut-down entry in the genre, and the controls are, in fact, astonishingly horrible… but I think this is basically an extension of Poe’s law.

Also, Hypocee, thanks for the links. Robodome and Babarageo didn’t do much for me, but Boschvos was pretty interesting.

By: Narwolf

Narwolf — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:48:29 +0000

Is it really taking the piss at of the compulsive rpg genre though? I’m curious how people would react if it hadn’t been framed as a joke/parody. I mean it is clearly made in fun, but I detect no sneer to the simplicity of it.

By: The Innocent

The Innocent — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:12:40 +0000

Personally, I thought You Have to Burn the Rope was a fantastic bit of commentary. I don’t know how true it is that people really couldn’t figure it out — I saw the comments in the forums, people asking for help, but I truly wonder if anyone was actually that dense. If they were, we probably should feel poorly about making fun of them.

I also thought Achievement Unlocked was quite apt. I didn’t finish it all because I’m not that compulsive, but I did play a game that wasn’t very fun for a lot longer than I normally would have in order to get little messages saying that I had accomplished… a lot of deaths, or a very long fall, or had found the number pi. Reminds me of some insane things I do in some games to get achievements, like playing multiplayer in a game that I don’t like, etc.

Upgrade Complete, though, I thought failed. Again, I’m not generally compulsive about those things, and I didn’t get halfway through. It seemed like a game that hated gamers a tad too much. Ginormo Sword also doesn’t feel like a success, but that’s likely due to the fact that I’ve never liked those sorts of games. It always reminds me that I’ve never beaten Act I in Diablo 2, and how dorky I feel when I realize I’ve purchased the game on two separate occasions.