Though tbh I don't even really know how to approach finding a video about this that would explain it enough
For what it’s worth, you’re turning up on my YT main page videos / recommendations now.
mine too!!
This is exciting @“tapevulture”#p51165 and @“rejj”#455 - I‘ve had a few others tell me this too. I don’t know what this means exactly, but it could mean the videos are reaching some level of critical mass to get “impressions” beyond the ones I create myself. At least for subscribers. This is good!
https://youtu.be/fgb75cmj1nI
Made a new one of these bad boys - part of my Archaeology of Dark Souls series, this one has me analyzing religious iconography and architecture in two early game areas. I found some surprising things!
@“fridgeboy”#p51171 shaking with anger that my personal algorithm goblin doesn't foist your channel on me more often…
also: got a good look going there, very oscar isaac as llewyn davis
@“fridgeboy”#p51214 I liked it! (by which I mean I both genuinely liked it, as well as I pressed the “like” YT button)
Tiny feedback: don't be afraid to go even harder on the background blur/darken when you are highlighting things to look at. I think it was one of the reliefs you were talking about and it took me a second to notice that you'd put a highlight region over one of them. Maybe that's a me problem - sitting back and watching from a bit of a distance rather than at a desk close to a monitor - but my focus wasn't _immediately_ drawn to the area in question. I worked it out pretty quickly, however.
@“rejj”#p51281 Good feedback! I‘ve never used that effect before so I was definitely experimenting. I’ll play around with it a bit next time as I‘m sure there is a way to do exactly what you mean. Thank you!
@kory you’ll just have to turn notifications on for me, dangit!
Interestingly this video is not performing as well as I thought it would. Oh well!
@“fridgeboy”#p51292 smashing that bell as we speak
@“kory”#p51303 https://youtu.be/rrtO6aZKjU8
another good youtube video from Dr. Bill
Just finished the most recent Dark Souls video--excellent as always, I really enjoy this style of video. It really feels like I'm casually walking around an archaeological site with an expert (who has helpfully preempted my visit by murdering any and all loiterers that might impede our stroll).
There's a lot to unpack here, but one concept that resonated with me was From's very deliberate approach to asset re-use. The practical (or one might even call cynical) approach to modern game design would be to make full use of the infinite reproducibility of digital assets, not to mention licensed or otherwise premade assets, and pack a detailed game world with as much set dressing as possible to give the illusion of grandeur. Honestly, I'm sure most of us don't bat an eye when we pass by the 300th identical copy of an ornate rotunda or meticulously carved statue--that's video games! But here, that mother and child statue, for example is reproduced for a reason and in very specific internally consistent contexts.
This also brought to mind the poison spewing statues of the Gutter and Black Gulch in Dark Souls II. What begins as an occasional environmental hazard in the former area becomes absurdly abundant in the latter, as if some madman has been slaving away carving these wretched things for all eternity (The Rotten, maybe?). I didn't play far into Sekiro (yet!), but I did meet the Sculptor, and his whole deal is pretty similar re: the Buddha statues. Anyway, I'm definitely not trying to throw shade at other developers (or deify From), but your discussion of iconography inspired some deep respect for their approach to building spaces.
@“kory”#p51397 I love this analysis and thank you for the kind words! I think you’re onto something. Jumping back and forth over the fourth wall is an interesting part of archaeogaming. There’s a utility in staying in a mindset of being in the world fully and trying to forget this is a fake place made by artists. At the same time, pulling back once in a while and considering the game makers framework and the practical limitations of making a game that looks and feels good to play can sometimes be very interesting indeed. Your analysis of asset reuse is dead on.
Fromsoft reuses assets like a sommelier might suggest their favorite wine to numerous guests. When they do it - they do it thoughtfully.
Another example in this video is the use of the lockable gates. How much of that is just wanting the level to have that circuitous back and forth of a good from designed area? How much of that is meaningful worldbuilding? Can it be equal parts both?
I love this crap lol
@"fridgeboy I’m curious, which other games/series do you think would stand up to the same rigour?
I love the dive in to Dark Souls, but I am real curious about what else could potentially also have enough thought behind its design/engineering to be worth looking at
Things that come to my amateur mind are Outer Worlds, maybe some of the Ultimas, and as a maybe bad representation the Bethesda Fallouts
I bring it up a lot on this forum, but I think Obra Dinn would definitely lend itself to your expert analysis if you haven‘t played it yet. The game’s central mechanic is essentially what you are doing in many of your videos: meticulously and attentively surveying an environment and inferring the meaning and relationships of the objects you encounter. In this case, these objects happen to include petrified humans as well as artifacts, but the assertion stands! Furthermore, the central conflict of the story turns out to revolve around the idea of ||pilfering cultural artifacts from their rightful owners||. I highly recommend it @fridgeboy if you haven't played it–its not too long of a playthrough and seems right up your alley!
Strong 2nd on any recommendation of Obra Dinn.
@“rejj”#p51458
So I did a video about BotW and I‘d like to do more - that’s a great archaeological sort of game that could be analyzed in a similar way to these. Outer Wilds is actually a game I want to make a video about this winter! It‘s #2 in my list of upcoming videos. It is, in my opinion, the best archaeology game ever made. The Fallouts could definitely work, and even the Elder Scrolls games but meh. If I’d do any of these it would be New Vegas for extremely obvious reasons. That being that it‘s the only one that’s good.
@"kory"#p51464 @"rejj"#p51465 I haven't played Obra Dinn yet but I _really_ want to and it definitely looks like a great game for this series. It's on the list for sure. I can get that on consoles now I think right?
BTW: Sawyer on the Action Button discord (for those who know him - cool guy) shared this video with me. It's real good and talking about a lot of the stuff I am!
https://youtu.be/A-fKInP1AJY
>
@“fridgeboy”#p51487 I can get that on consoles now I think right?
Yup, all current consoles as well as pc and mac
Oh hey how‘s it going I got a capture card for christmas and used it to whip together this little playthrough of an area of Breath of the Wild. It is very chill, I sort of talk about archaeology and sort of not. It’s nice, I think!
https://youtu.be/czT58thtpKw
Just watched the two Zelda vids and enjoyed them a lot. I recently listened to an interview with the geneticist Eske Willerslev on the podcast Tides of History that covered Kennewick Man so it was cool to get an archaeologist's perspective on that. Dr. Bill…………go on Tides
@yeso in his most recent video Dr. Bill explains that Breath of the Wild has good graphics...maybe watch it and study up