The Evangelion of Video Games?

Discussions about non-Evangelion related video games, board games, card games and gaming in general.

Moderators: Rebuild/OT Moderators, Board Staff

komos90
Embryo
Age: 28
Posts: 1
Joined: Sep 05, 2013
Gender: Male

The Evangelion of Video Games?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby komos90 » Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:43 pm

What video game would you consider the Evangelion of video games?
i.e.
A video game who's plot, symbolism and every little detail can be discussed and argued about.
A video game that get's really trippy.
A video game that is a complete mindfuck.

I'm just wondering what games remind you of Evangelion and why ^_^

NemZ
Token Misanthrope
Token Misanthrope
User avatar
Posts: 15804
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Location: St. Louis
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby NemZ » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:09 pm

before you get flooded with MGS nonsense I'd like to throw out To The Moon.

  • great charecterization covering a wide emotional range
  • trippy narrative with lots of twists and turns
  • crazy sci-fi tech enabling a sort of instrumentality
  • very focused on human drama despite all the weirdness
  • deals with abnormal psychology, specifically autism

I mean to be perfectly honest it has much more in common with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind then eva (no mechas, no generational conflict, no vast conspiracy, no religious symbolism) but it's a great game and deserves more attention.
Last edited by NemZ on Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
Rest In Peace ~ 1978 - 2017
"I'd consider myself a realist, alright? but in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist. It means I'm bad at parties." - Rust Cohle
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
"The internet: It's like a training camp for never amounting to anything." - Oglaf
"I think internet message boards and the like are dangerous." - Anno

Monk Ed
Sunshine Administrator
Sunshine Administrator
User avatar
Age: 38
Posts: 8601
Joined: Jul 12, 2008
Location: Chicagoland area
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Monk Ed » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:41 pm

Oh interesting, I bought To the Moon ages ago and have yet to touch it. Now I have a reason to.
System Administrator
"NGE is like a perfectly improvised jazz piece. It builds on a standard and then plays off it from there, and its developments may occasionally recall what it's done before as a way of keeping the whole concatenated." -- Eva Yojimbo
"To me watching anime is not just for killing time or entertainment, it is a life style, and a healthy one too." -- symbv
"That sounds like the kind of science that makes absolutely 0 sense when you stop and think about it... I LOVE IT." -- Rosenakahara

NemZ
Token Misanthrope
Token Misanthrope
User avatar
Posts: 15804
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Location: St. Louis
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby NemZ » Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:28 am

Of course (and I can't believe I didn't immediately jump to this), Xenogears is pretty damn clearly the closest thing to eva as a game you're going to get outside of the officially licensed stuff.

All those things I said To The Moon lacks? Yeah, it's in Xenogears all over the place. It even has trouble staying narratively coherent towards the end when the time crunch and/or budget became a problem.
Rest In Peace ~ 1978 - 2017
"I'd consider myself a realist, alright? but in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist. It means I'm bad at parties." - Rust Cohle
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
"The internet: It's like a training camp for never amounting to anything." - Oglaf
"I think internet message boards and the like are dangerous." - Anno

Monk Ed
Sunshine Administrator
Sunshine Administrator
User avatar
Age: 38
Posts: 8601
Joined: Jul 12, 2008
Location: Chicagoland area
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Monk Ed » Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:00 am

Xenogears, start to finish, never had any of the same impact on me as Evangelion, or even other games I would fall far short of calling "the Evangelion of video games". I beat it only a few years ago and yet I struggle even to remember several characters' names. I don't find it as worthy of analysis or interpretation, either. I really don't want to know its deep secrets, but that likely goes back to the part where I never became emotionally invested in the characters. It's not the lack of voice-acting or anything like that either -- the exact same happened to me with Xenosaga, which I recently beat and have had no interest in seeing the sequels of.
System Administrator
"NGE is like a perfectly improvised jazz piece. It builds on a standard and then plays off it from there, and its developments may occasionally recall what it's done before as a way of keeping the whole concatenated." -- Eva Yojimbo
"To me watching anime is not just for killing time or entertainment, it is a life style, and a healthy one too." -- symbv
"That sounds like the kind of science that makes absolutely 0 sense when you stop and think about it... I LOVE IT." -- Rosenakahara

Tankred
Anime Ja Nai
Anime Ja Nai
User avatar
Age: 29
Posts: 5118
Joined: Jan 09, 2011

Re: The Evangelion of Video Games?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Tankred » Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:12 am

View Original Postkomos90 wrote:What video game would you consider the Evangelion of video games?


Big Rigs.

The Eva Monkey
IT'S OVER 9000!!!
IT'S OVER 9000!!!
User avatar
Posts: 9109
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Location: The Evanets.
Gender: Male
Contact:

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby The Eva Monkey » Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:56 am

Off the cuff, I would say Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation. Yeah, it may not have had a heap of symbolism or anything like that, but like Evangelion, it redefined what a video game could be for me, particularly in terms of narrative and story.

SimplyMason0
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 32
Posts: 252
Joined: Feb 27, 2013
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby SimplyMason0 » Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:23 am

View Original PostThe Eva Monkey wrote:Off the cuff, I would say Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation. Yeah, it may not have had a heap of symbolism or anything like that, but like Evangelion, it redefined what a video game could be for me, particularly in terms of narrative and story.


I replayed MGS1 and it dose show how much potential video games in stories could be. It wraps every subplot nice and perfectly.

MGS2 did the trippy effect though memes and the hype surrounding it. It also satirize the idea of sequels doing similar things each game. To fully understand it, you have to understand the hype for this game and ignore all the sequels after it(as they were never planned). It also gets ignored due to the reaction of Raiden in the west and people taking it to face value with MGS4.

I don't think the other games really measure that much compared to those 2. They're great but not as great as MGS1 and MGS2.

Stryker
Seed of Life
Seed of Life
User avatar
Posts: 3812
Joined: Mar 05, 2011
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Stryker » Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:49 pm

Bastion.
Avatar: The Old Master.
The Moats of Quotes
"Life is becoming more and more indistinguishable from Onion articles." ~Monk Ed
"Oh my gods, that is awesome. I am inclined to forgive both Grant and the dub in general for that." ~Bagheera
"I don't try to engage in intelligent conversation here anymore."~Chee
"Look, if loving a clone of your mom is wrong, I don't wanna be right." ~Chuckman

|Why angels fight.|What Bagheera is talking about.|

Ænimal
Banned
Posts: 832
Joined: Jun 04, 2013
Location: up in smoke

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Ænimal » Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:17 pm

Tetris

CJD
Banned
Age: 32
Posts: 4843
Joined: Jun 14, 2011
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby CJD » Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:45 pm

MGS2 seems to be the most common answer to this question. I'd also nominate both the original Deus Ex and Planescape: Torment. A more recent example that I'd be remiss not to mention as a candidate would be Spec Ops: The Line.

I also feel like I'm forgetting something, but that's what comes to mind at the moment.
You know you have some fucked up characters when a screenshot of them smiling is the biggest piece of fanservice possible in the series. - Anonymous
Be excellent to each other. -Abraham Lincoln
Asuka is a real person. -Bagheera
Human beings are scum. You people looking down on others for simply feeling an attraction to a fictional character are the real filth. -Kazuki_Fuse
CENSORED BY THE ILLUMINATI

SimplyMason0
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 32
Posts: 252
Joined: Feb 27, 2013
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby SimplyMason0 » Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:58 pm

Was Spec Ops really that deep? I thought that was a joke or exaggeration.

hui43210
Former Moderator
Former Moderator
User avatar
Age: 34
Posts: 1777
Joined: Jan 05, 2012
Location: Ottawa, ON
Gender: Male

Re: The Evangelion of Video Games?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby hui43210 » Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:17 pm

View Original PostTankred wrote:Big Rigs.


LOL!
I mean, predictability is the central attraction and the narrative hook that we've all come to expect from the Evangelion franchise. How come Anno can't realize this? Twice? - FreakyFilmFan4ever

NemZ
Token Misanthrope
Token Misanthrope
User avatar
Posts: 15804
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Location: St. Louis
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby NemZ » Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:50 pm

Can we stop with the obvious trolling and title-only replies? If you're going to list something make the effort to say why you think it qualifies.
Rest In Peace ~ 1978 - 2017
"I'd consider myself a realist, alright? but in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist. It means I'm bad at parties." - Rust Cohle
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
"The internet: It's like a training camp for never amounting to anything." - Oglaf
"I think internet message boards and the like are dangerous." - Anno

Atropos
Tabris
Tabris
Age: 25
Posts: 965
Joined: Jul 04, 2011
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Atropos » Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:56 pm

Chrono Cross. The linked article has a pretty good exploration of its ideas and its flawed execution, along with the information that the game's creator actually worked at Gainax before leaving in the early '90s!

CJD
Banned
Age: 32
Posts: 4843
Joined: Jun 14, 2011
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby CJD » Fri Sep 06, 2013 11:48 pm

View Original PostSimplyMason0 wrote:Was Spec Ops really that deep? I thought that was a joke or exaggeration.


Spec Ops had a surprising amount of depth believe it or not. On the surface it's just a generic third person military shooter, but the deeper you dig the more you find to it. On one level it's a criticism of American foreign policy in recent times, the idea that we're some form of "world police" with the duty to protect people. But really, to fully appreciate Spec Ops you need to have some understanding of the modern video game industry, and how fascinated both it and consumers are with violent military shooters.

If you play the game and want to read more, there was a book written on the title: Killing Is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line.

It's definitely a title I've only come to appreciate more and more as time goes by.
You know you have some fucked up characters when a screenshot of them smiling is the biggest piece of fanservice possible in the series. - Anonymous
Be excellent to each other. -Abraham Lincoln
Asuka is a real person. -Bagheera
Human beings are scum. You people looking down on others for simply feeling an attraction to a fictional character are the real filth. -Kazuki_Fuse
CENSORED BY THE ILLUMINATI

NemZ
Token Misanthrope
Token Misanthrope
User avatar
Posts: 15804
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Location: St. Louis
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby NemZ » Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:35 am

View Original PostAtropos wrote:Chrono Cross.


I seriously HATE that game. The plot was fubared and gave the original cast off-screen weaksauce deaths, the new charecters far too numerous and generally forgettable, the element system was tedious while completely losing every scrap of what made Chrono Trigger so charming, and simply by existing it cut off the possibility of there ever being a true sequel to the original.

Utter and complete failure of a game. -10/10, would not recommend even as a joke.

Chrono Cross: not even once.
Rest In Peace ~ 1978 - 2017
"I'd consider myself a realist, alright? but in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist. It means I'm bad at parties." - Rust Cohle
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
"The internet: It's like a training camp for never amounting to anything." - Oglaf
"I think internet message boards and the like are dangerous." - Anno

Dream
Evangelion
Evangelion
User avatar
Posts: 3284
Joined: Dec 08, 2011

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Dream » Sat Sep 07, 2013 8:45 am

I don't have much experience with videogames, but...

I would nominate Silent Hill 2 for the title of "most Evangelion game".

Aside from being the pinnacle of the Silent Hill series, the unique and profoundly emotional story (as well as it's structure) and it's reliance on psychological uncanity makes it very reminiscent of Eva for me.

Couple that with very broken characters, failures and miscomunication/misunderstandings being a major element of the game, high amounts of body horror, and an unrivaled integration of story and gameplay and i think you could see why i nominate it for this.
"Every line is a joy" -Kaworu Nagisa.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Shinoyami65
Seed of Life
Seed of Life
User avatar
Age: 26
Posts: 3926
Joined: Jul 26, 2012
Location: Vinculum Gate
Gender: Male

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Shinoyami65 » Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:35 pm

View Original PostDream wrote:
I would nominate Silent Hill 2 for the title of "most Evangelion game".


Seconded to hell and back. Evangelion and Silent Hill 2 have many similarities, such as an unconventional and insecure protagonist; frequent metaphorical representations of the characters' emotional insecurities, sexuality and troubled pasts and similar themes such as miscommunication, flawed relationships, religious imagery and sexual anxiety.

The other Silent Hill games have similar themes, but none delve as deeply into the psyche of the main protagonist as Silent Hill 2. The original, third and fourth games all focus more on the antagonists than on the insecurities of the main protagonist, whereas SH2 delves deep into James's own dark past in a similar manner to Evangelion's psychoanalysis of Shinji throughout the series. Like Evangelion, SH2 also becomes darker as you go on. I would also consider SH2 the most Evangelion game because its endings can be considered more ambiguous and not necessarily good or bad (much like how EoE and EoTV are not necessarily good or evil, and can be debated upon). Most of the other SH games have a much clearer distinction between whether an ending is good or bad.

Silent Hill 3 does have similar themes to Evangelion such as motherhood, teenage sexual anxiety and child/parent relationships, but I consider it to be more dissimilar to Evangelion than SH2 simply because it's pointed in a different direction in terms of character development and overall tone. The idea of religion and creating a God is prevalent in both SH3 and Evangelion, though, as is the metaphorical symbolism of the monsters (this is prevalent in SH1, SH2 and SH4 as well). Some sequences such as Heather confronting Dark Alessa (a more violent interpretation of Rei talking to Armisael!Rei?) and the contrast between Claudia's dogmatic ideals compared to Vincent's mysterious-yet-realistic knowledge also did remind me of Evangelion somewhat. Much like Evangelion, the Silent Hill protagonists are generally thrown into danger without any explanation, and have to rely on more knowledgeable characters for guidance. They often are forced to explore their own psyche and the minds of others through trippy phenomenae, similar to the Evangelion characters (although while Evangelion does this through introspective metaphysical sequences Silent Hill makes its metaphors part of the environment as physical enemies or items).
E̱͡v͈̙e͔̰̳͙r̞͍y͏̱̲̭͎̪ṱ͙̣̗̱͠h̰̰i͙n̶̮̟̳͍͍̫͓g̩ ̠͈en̶̖̹̪d̸̙̦͙̜͕͍̞s̸̰.̳̙̺̟̻̀

I always thought I might be bad
Now I know that it's true
Because I think you're so good
And I'm nothing like you

Fireball
First Ancestor
First Ancestor
User avatar
Posts: 4247
Joined: Sep 17, 2010
Location: Karlsland

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Fireball » Sat Sep 07, 2013 2:16 pm

The usual suspects have already been named with Xenogears and MGS2 but looking at it from the angle of unreasonable huge fanbase that has remaind relevant 15 later and how it influenced the industry and countless of other games I'd say Final Fantasy VII.
Avatar: Rommel-chan

"I was born into the wrong time" - laughed the girl


「<ゝω・)\綺羅星☆!!/
[/size]


Return to “Video Games and Gaming”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests