Thread 719027059

>Soul

Can /v/ define what "soul" in vidya actually is?

>>719027059 (OP)
For me it's pure, unapologetic and unhindered passion for a vision.

I'm too cooked to define it anymore, let alone care, about anything no less.

"soul" is a sliding scale describing how strongly a game resembles the games I played when I was twelve years old

When I like the game

>>719027059 (OP)
For me it's having a unique and recognizable character.

>>719027059 (OP)
artistic merit

>>719027059 (OP)
whats with all the gta 3 threads lately? did a youtuber make a video essay on it?

>>719027059 (OP)
the perfect intersection of authentic passion, vision, artistry and a fun vidya game

>>719027059 (OP)
If you have to ask, you don't have one.

>>719027059 (OP)
It's definitely not Rockstar slop, I can tell you that much.

>>719027059 (OP)
When it's clear that despite limitations, a human spent a long time trying to make something fun and interesting according to their own biases, as opposed to slapping a 6 million polygon asset in place with some plugin effects.

>>719027059 (OP)
>Can /v/ define what "soul" in vidya actually is?
It's when developers were white and making games for whites.

>>719027831
based king dabbin on the snoys

>>719027059 (OP)
Well for one, atmosphere != soul, that's a common mistake.
autists want a robust, pedagogical framework, but "soul" is an abstract and complicated concept that simply equates to a creator's true efforts manifesting in their creations which affects a sort of "life" in the creation, hence "soul".

>>719027059 (OP)
It's an ineffable certain je ne sais quoi
It's like trying to define "consciousness" - where does reptilian neurological instinct end and self-awareness and thought begin?

>>719027059 (OP)
Games I like: SOVL
Games I don't like: soulless

>>719027059 (OP)
not enough games have rain or weather control

>>719027059 (OP)
Anything that shows that the developers
actually cared (writing, optimization and presentation), had a vision and stuck to it and made the best out of their resources.

>>719027059 (OP)
When the team puts effort in to make a good product.

>>719029583
So TLOU2 is soul

>>719027059 (OP)
not without Nintendo Magic I cannot

>>719027059 (OP)
A work (in this case a video game) that is a passion project of the devs instead of something shat out by a focus group.

>>719027059 (OP)
designing a game and art style around its technical limitations to look as good as possible
its why older movies have more soul and newer movies are just cgi slop that shows too much

>>719029683
yes
was that meant to be a gotcha?

>>719027059 (OP)
It doesn't mean anything
"Soul" is just some meaningless buzzwords retards would use for either "old good new bad" or "thing i like vs thing i don't like" because they are too retarded to form an argument for why they think like that

>>719027150
What a stupid definition
By this logic, shitty games like AC Shadows have soul because the team behind it were passionate about making their shitty game

>set graphics to lowest settings
>set resolution to 480x640
There, now every game has soul.

>>719027059 (OP)
Definitely not pic related
Fuck off zoomer

>>719027059 (OP)
It's something you just feel or sense, something that you can't pinpoint using words. It can’t be captured by a single description or taken out of context as it only makes sense as the sum of its parts. In the same way, a game developer can't fully explain what their game is through words alone - you have to play it to truly understand the experience they’ve created, what small additions they made here and there for their vision to come alive.

soul is when vision scrapes and grinds against limitations of its period

Soul simply equals beauty and games now simply can't match the levels of beauty of the past anymore. It takes very little to ruin a painting and it's not different with video games. This beauty is not just about graphics. A few words or numbers that are off already can make an ugly taste. Games now seem to simply have embraced ugliness and also insanity, similar to most modern art or architecture.

I like it = soul

>>719027059 (OP)
Effort evident within the work that mysteriously transcends technical limitations and flaws.
Its a known concept when it comes to art in general, just not under that term.

>>719027059 (OP)
it has that je ne sais qui

>>719034150
you are kinda hitting the nail on the head, as NPC's don't like things they just adopt trends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEJcipj_xzQ

The simplest definition is that which makes you feel something. GTA 3 is a great example—the soft red blur of the taillights in the urban haze, the techno music on the radio ... it makes you feel like you're in a world where everything is permitted.

>>719027059 (OP)
Holy fuck, this is one of the most NPC posts I've ever seen from this site. It's like asking what a feeling or colour is.

>beep boop Inquiry: what is definition of soul beep boop

Soul cries out to soul, if you have no soul then you can't understand it

>>719035098
>it makes you feel like you're in a world where everything is permitted.
yeah GTA3 is cool because you penetrate a world
VC and SA (and 4 and 5...) are worlds built for you... good games but not the same anymore, it only has islands of soul
at least in my opinion

>>719031475
>What a stupid definition
>By this logic, shitty games like AC Shadows have soul because the team behind it were passionate about making their shitty game
hm, good post

It's when the game is so absorbing that after playing it you need a moment to readjust to the real world, because the mood, characterisation, tone, setting, narrative, sound, etc., have seeped into all your senses.
The easiest way to tell that something is soulless is that you can put it down immediately without any bother.

My own cringe example.
>binging Final Fantasy XV for days
>later walking around city
>unconsciously find myself wanting to impersonate Noctis / seeing the world through his pov
people criticise that game but it has a lot of soul poured into it

>>719027059 (OP)
It's genuine passion and care from the developers for the game they're making. It's the devs making something they think is good, something they think is cool, something they like and something they believe in.

>>719027059 (OP)
Why do people use III as an example of "soul"? It's uncanny valley, it doesn't have any soul, it feels more like some homunculi cobbled together, a weird pseudo amalgamation that just barely works to do what it sets out to. VC and SA are much more appropriate older GTA games for "sovl".

On a practical level, everything in a game is an opportunity for a deliberate aesthetic choice. Soulful developers simply make more of those choices than soulless ones, who are happy to autopilot through them and churn out default crap.

>>719035490
no, that's just you being an autistic gay nerd

you fags think appealing to you aesthetics = soul

>>719035508
>he doesn't know
https://youtu.be/eMkdtMQH7WM?si=Ba_-JFmF6q0csx16&t=9m28s

>>719027059 (OP)
It's contextual based on the genre/franchise. Generally it means old good new bad but not always. Which is why context matters.

>>719027059 (OP)
No, defining it would be like trying to explain to a blind person what it's like to be able to see.
You'll understand soul if you have one yourself.

>>719027059 (OP)
Soul is the excess emotion produced when someone puts 100% of their genuine effort into something they lack the ability or means to properly create to their vision. You either have a Soul and can feel it, or you don't and you can't.

I personally feel as though “soul” can be designed as something that was clearly the result of the devs doing what they want to do rather than following market trends.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, many soulful games are deeply flawed in some way or other, but you can feel the passion behind them.

>>719027059 (OP)
Sure!
Sovl is any piece of work or project made by an entrepreneur that was not guided by some human social relation, but rather by some type of higher calling outside of any contemporary human society.

That you "rise to the occasion" so to speak, a calling, and create something that stands the test of time.
You, as the entrepreneur, is to be alert to opportunities that come your way, and have the wherewithal to capitalize on it by sheer force of innate skill. that the creative genius "flows through you" but does not "come from you." you just gotta spot it when it arrives.
Essentially, when Sovl is achieved, man does NOT become the measure of all things.

Hope this helps!

>>719027059 (OP)
>'That is why the soul is the first grade of actuality of a natural body having life potentially in it. .. It is substance in the sense which corresponds to the definitive formula of a thing's essence. That means that it is 'the essential whatness' of a body of the character just assigned.'
>'Suppose that the eye were an animal-sight would have been its soul, for sight is the substance or essence of the eye which corresponds to the formula, the eye being merely the matter of seeing; when seeing is removed the eye is no longer an eye, except in name-it is no more a real eye than the eye of a statue or of a painted figure.' - Aristotle, On the Soul

>>719027059 (OP)
Soul represents the medium of video games before PBR graphics destroyed their unique low poly visual merit. Much like how CGI ruined hollywood movies, the advent of advanced physically based rendering has completely destroyed the video game aesthetic and created a homogenized, bastardization of video game visuals that has impacted every facet of their design.

Games from the PS2 and earlier were made by hand. The hand of the artist is ever present. Whether it's the hand painted / photobashed textures of Half Life 1, or the comic book exaggerated realism of GTA 3, or the painterly colors of World of Warcraft, or the pixel art in Chrono Trigger or the low poly skies of Spyro on PS1... video games used to have a visual language all their own. Our brains entered a digital world of man made art to explore and interact with...

But then PBR graphics came. Low poly simplified worlds disappeared in favor of highly complex, visually dense, ultra realistic worlds. Procedural generation fills the gaps. The human hand is lost. Characters weren't painted they were sculpted. Every single material in the game has bumps and roughness and shininess and is reacting to every light source "realistically"... but it's all just NOISE. The art is gone, it's just blurry, noisy, visual density as far as the eye can (barely) see.

When games became CGI movies, and they lost their low poly spacial uniqueness, they faltered away from a medium of digital worlds of interactivity into digital set dressing for barely interactive movies at immense artistic cost.

The more realistic games get, the less interactive, the less "games" they are allowed to be. You can't just jump 10 feet into the air, it's unrealistic! the animations won't look right! All the fun of games is being erased by mocapped, ultra realistic slop and it's all because everyone thought better graphics would improve games... but it actually degrades the medium.

>>719037309
Mario 64 is a masterpiece of surrealist art