Hello again, pleasant dreamers, for my first post-class Dispatch from the home front of God of War. This episode takes us up to the bit with the Sirens, which we’ll be getting to shortly. Before we go underway, though, I’d like to take this opportunity to offer our first post-class challenge. What, preytell does it entail? Simple– I’d like to see what someone else’s Dispatches look like.
When I say “somebody else,” I mean you, Charles. Yes, this blog is beginning to turn into a two-pony show between us, but if it is I’d like to see how you document game on a first-run-through, play by play basis. Specifically, I’m curious as to how you’d react to (altogether now, everybody!) Metal Gear— the first two MSX games in the Subsistence package, to be exact. Last time we talked about this you still hadn’t played them, and I think you owe it to yourself to do so. You’re very attached to the whole idea of MGS as a trilogy, it’s own thing– which it both is and isn’t. I’d really like to see how you view the experiences of the original games, as I think in its own way they might both disabuse you of the notion of MGS as its own self-contained series and reinforce it at the same time.
As for another somebody else, how about you, Oren? Don’t worry, I’ve long since given up trying to convert you to the fold of Kojima acolytes– instead, I’m wondering how your experiences with Ico have been shaping up. Have you sat down and played the game yet, or is it still sitting on your shelf? In the case of the latter, why not try cooking up your own journal of wanderings through the castle in the mist? I’d definitely like to read a room-by-room account of how that game works, if for no other reason to better understand its structure from a first-go-around perspective. I can’t do that myself, of course, since I’ve beaten the game about three times already. If you’ve already conquered it, though, maybe somebody else can volunteer…
Consider this a formal call-out, you two. If our blog is to survive the coming summer, we must conjure up our own little feud, forth with! Now, onto the show!