What Scene Made a Game Art?

[The Great JT]

Psychonauts. Just Psychonauts.

Now let me explain. In the game, you jump into the minds of those you interact with. I'm no psychologist, but my interpretation of this is that you are playing a game where you interact with someone's repressed memories, emotional baggage, hopes, dreams and nightmares, in essence the inner turmoil of your fellow man. You are playing a game where the level is the psychoses of another human being, and to completely clear a level is to come to understand the working mind of that person. No two levels, like any two minds, are alike. When playing the game, a thought came to me, "what would my mind look like as depicted by this game?"

Just keep that in mind when you play Psychonauts, WHICH YOU TOTALLY NEED TO PLAY RIGHT THE CRAP NOW.

 

[Khazoth]

I'm not a lame hipster so i'm not gonna sit here stroking my goatee while wearing a beret and a turtleneck sweater talking about which specific scenes are art. I'm not some overly pompous person who will sit and namedrop artistic things and drawing comparison. I'm not Kyle Kahlgren (Badum tsh)

I'll just say The Longest Journey as a whole. I also recently heard a rather eloquent argument for why Doom was artistic because it was the emotional labor of a small group and that you can learn about the people who created it by simply playing it. The person claimed that they left their soul into that game because you felt like you knew them by the end of the game.



But the problem with art is that art is perceived differently to each person. There is no universally respected art because that's not how art works. Art has a thousand definitions going back to the latin definition which said it was just a skill or a craft. Today, the broadest definition is creation of beautiful things: the creation of beautiful or thought-provoking works, e.g. in painting, music, or writing.


But, without going through every previous post. I'm going to say this thread has, and will continue to just namedrop Psychonauts, Portal, Bioshock, and Deus Ex because those are the names they've been told are awesome and artistic. Give or take them parroting Yahtzee.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

I think everything about Age of Empires 2's William Wallace learning campaign was pretty standard until I researched 'Loom'.

My god, I just love that part in the game. It was just so deep and meaningful to have my villagers be able to kill a wolf without having one of my dipshit soldiers babysit them. I have a lot of bad memories of those wolves *shakes fist grudgingly*

OT: I get enough of the bullshit "what does this mean to you" philosophy in my art class and I'd rather have it as far away from games as possible *shudders*, now I have to get back to working on my art project who's meaning is of war which I totally pulled out of my arse at the last minute *double shudder*

 

[burningdragoon]

Hmm, let's try something not mentioned:

<spoiler=contains Chrono Cross><youtube=923fVDDwaHo>

The fact that that's before you even push start probably emphasizes some kind of point. >.>

 

[GTwander]

This thread is giving me a nostalgia overload!
/headsplosion

 

[crazyrabbits]

I can think of a few (some already mentioned):

Journey: Collapsing on the snowy mountain, and seeing your partner falling in the snow beside you as they valiantly try to make their way ahead.

Deus Ex: The "Kill Bob Page" ending, which ends on the hand holding the globe and Morgan Everett saying, "...and together, we will lead them into the day."

Deus Ex: Human Revolution: The Jaron Namir boss fight in the room of bodies, complete with alternate cutscenes (whether or not you got the Biochip) and Namir's speech - "You've lost her, Jensen. Men like us? We never get back the things we love."

Super Metroid: The completely non-obtrusive way the game introduces you to walljumping, via the creatures in the passage demonstrating it. No cutscenes or asides whatsoever - they just keep doing it, and you'll realize you can try it to. Breaks the game wide open, and is completely immersive.

Infamous 2: The "Kill The Beast" ending - the "Let go" shot in front of the Church with John broken down in the background.

Mass Effect 2: A toss-up between controlling Shepard as s/he moves through the depressurizing Normandy in the prologue, or the whole Omega-4 Relay sequence (with all its variables).

Mass Effect 3: Shepard looking up at the Shroud as it collapses, then seeing the genophage cure on his/her hand as Wrex walks into the sunlight and looks up and "Vigil" plays. May not have made the entire game art, but made the scene much better than the rest of the material.

Metal Gear Solid 2: The moment in the ending when Raiden truly breaks the fourth wall for good and throws his dogtags (inscribed with the player's name) away, with the remark that he'll be his own man.

Final Fantasy VI: So many moments, but I've always loved the sequence in Setzer's crypt for Darryl - learning about the two of them and their rivalry, discovering the second airship, and breaking the waves out of the ocean as "Searching For Friends" triumphantly plays and you get access to the world map. It's beautiful.

 

[[REDACTED]]

The only possible answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcvdDtnM_0

*Sniff* It's... beautiful.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Art is supposed to create an emotional reaction in the person experiencing it.
With that said:
Any time a vocal song pops up in Red Dead Redemption. Oh, and the ending too.
The ending of FFX. So many un-manly tears.
Bastion's narrator, and ending and the music that accompanies it.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

The ending of Shadow of the Collossus.

Spoiler: MAJOR SPOILERS! CLICK AT OWN RISK!

So a party of monks arrive at the temple that's the center of the game's story. They see the girl they had sacrificed lying on an alter and start giving her some last rites...

Then the last statue holding back the god of that land shatters, shocking the head monk...and then they see the hero staggering towards them from the center of the temple. He's been totally consumed by the essence of the collossi he's slain, he's got horns and many other corrupted looking alterations. the head monk orders him put out of his misery. The hero is hit with an arrow and yet he still stumbles forward....then you see though his eyes that he's just trying to get back to the girl he risked everything to bring back to life.

and then he's put down.

...At which point the god of that land takes his body for it's own and (in gameplay) you drive the monks from the temple. While the head monk activates a seal in the entryway that is meant to seal away the god once more.

And then...As the seal activates, the hero's monstrous new shape is torn away and (In gameplay once again) you are dragged backwards, away from the girl you've been trying to save this whole game. And no amount of struggling, sprinting, or anything can counter the pull of the seal. And as you're yanked up the stairs to the seal, you can even grab desperately onto the stairs if you want and hold on until your stamina finally gives out.

That whole scene....Holy shit. You feel so powerless, just trying to get to that girl, only to get pulled away helplessly, any struggles totally in vain. That....That was amazing and totally made the game for me.

 

[xPixelatedx]

The ending to Shadow of the Colossus

Spoiler

This is the perfect example of a good bad end. You play this game doing something evil, and gradually becoming something evil, all to save someone you love. It's not just a matter of self sacrifice, it's 'giving the world the finger' because your special someone is more important then it.

Also the fact that it has about as much story as the first few Zelda games, and to be able to pull off this much emotion and character with so little words or explanation is basically the very definition of art.

 

[Waffle_Man]

The point I was trying to make was that the scene in inFamous 2 resonated really strongly with me and elevated the game from just another really fun game to a work of art. If they had done the scene differently, the game still would have been great.
Y'know what? Sometimes it is a single brush stroke or camera angle that can elevate a piece. If we can show that games can move us in the same way that other art can, we can better inform others of this fact, and spread the knowledge even better.

I don't doubt that the scene is good, nor do I contest it's ability to enhance a work. I wasn't trying to belittle a scene or throw it's greatness into doubt. What I was trying to make a point of was the incredible lack of context given. Not having played inFamous 2, I can't say the scene affects me very much, but that's because I have no idea of what surrounds it. How does it work with the game before and after? What makes it more than just a good cutscene.

What worries me is that if we keep on posting cutscenes and scripted scenes as the reason for games being art without giving a context that actual involves the game, we aren't making an argument for video games being art, we're making an argument for video games simply being dressing for the already established art of cinematography.

 

[Terminate421]

Almost no words are needed.

 

[NephTS]

http://youtu.be/lFiLNc46jAM

Shakespeare with Vampires.