Hey all! Whatcha been playing! Missed last week partially because I was thiiiiiis close to being done with titanium court and really wanted to finish before the thread. And I did! I absolutely loved it. For those who have played
spoiler
I ended up starting to leave asap as soon as I saw what was happening. I got some curses lifted kinda by happenstance. But I really enjoyed the characters. Had a big goodbye at the end. Puck helped me out, set the enemy up with Hop. It was a great time. Really wish there was a Kacey’s mod kind of thing for the game because it really is fantastic on mobile. Portrait mode! It’s awesome!
Now I’m playing the OOT remake and really enjoying it. I think the art style works. Game still fucks all these years later
Titanium Court spoilers below, don’t read unless you’ve completed the game. I’m serious!
Titanium Court Spoiler
The way it kind of turns into a horror game almost after the Enemy steals your keys is so brilliant. I had gotten quite a few keys when I realised I was destroying everything, and when I went to leave the Enemy just stole them all. Then suddenly the whole vibe changes - you’re desperately trying to do everything you can to get whatever keys you didn’t already have and get back whatever keys you can from him. The castle becomes a lonely house of ghosts as you’re doing everything in your power to avoid everyone and everything to not unexpectedly turn anything more stale. You work with Puck. You have the sleepover, and prepare the spell for Her. And then yeah, the relief and triumph when you finally get to the big send-off. I even made a copy of my save file to try out several of the ways you can defeat the Enemy right at the end, there.
And also… I just really liked the central question of “does squeezing every molecule of content out of a game ruin the magic of the experience?” that the game poses you. It’s something I haven’t thought about before necessarily, and I think it may have succeeded in changing the way I think about games a little bit.
Don’t go for a 100% playthrough in the future, by the way. It’s pretty bleak.
spoiler
Yes on your last point I can imagine it would be really depressing. I was getting excited to go through it all but yeah the message is interesting. I got the mirror shortcut pretty early so I wondered if it would end up being something like this. I am someone who usually loves to get every last drop out of a game and I can understand the magic of a game being lost. Like, when I played ocarina of time when I was young, I definitely did not find everything, so I left that world knowing there was more out there, and that knowledge was kind of magical and made the world feel bigger than it really is. It helps keep the illusion alive I feel when you don’t consume all the magic it has to offer
spoiler
It’s something I’ve probably felt before subconsciously, but not seen or thought articulated until this game. The way your favourite RPG follower - after you’ve finished the companion quest and exhausted the banter interjections - becomes just a pile of stats. The way Dark Souls, after you look up all the maps and secrets online, becomes just a video game. And also I think, to a certain extent, the way your takeaway from an ending can diminish if you look up all the other endings and permutations afterwards.
But also, I think, on a more general level, the way especially achievement hunting and that sort of approach, 100%-ing, turns games from artworks into checklists. Even though I’ve never been a platinum hunter, I’ve definitely had experiences where I’ve let myself wear myself out on a game by trying to be too completionist. But maybe Titanium Court has taught me to be comfortable with leaving a few more stones unturned.