PAX 2010: Solace

By: Derek Yu

On: September 9th, 2010

[This is a guest review by NMcCoy. If you’d like to contribute an article for TIGSource, go here.]

So, I just got back from my day at PAX. There was all sorts of delightful stuff on display, fun things to do, and some very impressive demos in the expo hall. The one game that I was utterly blown away by, however, was not LittleBigPlanet 2 or Duke Nukem Forever or Final Fantasy XIV, but a student game in the PAX 10 called Solace. Something that’s been on my mind lately is the fact that while games, as a medium, have certainly been explored as a vessel for expressive artistic statement, gameplay has not often been a part of that. If you take Braid and remove the text, you end up with a puzzle game involving time manipulation that is barely about anything other than puzzles involving time manipulation. On the other hand, if you took Solace, removed the text, and replaced all the beautiful graphics and superb sound design with rectangles and beeps, it would still be about the five stages of grief as represented through the gameplay of its levels – the message would not be conveyed nearly so brilliantly, but nor would it be lost.

Certainly, there have been games in the past that conveyed an artistic statement through their gameplay. Passage springs immediately to mind, for example. But the thing about Passage is that while it may or may not be effective as art, it isn’t really effective as a game. It merits exploration, and provokes thoughts, certainly, but doesn’t really engage the player on a visceral level. In contrast, Solace is fun, challenging, and engaging. The visuals, audio, and level design are all deliberately tuned to evoke within the player echoes of the emotion that they represent. Not just through sympathetic sensory associations, the way a painting or poem or piece of music would – though Solace uses these idioms as well – but through the nuances of the gameplay. The structure of the game expects, and at times effectively requires, the player to demonstrate an understanding of the level’s relevant emotion in order to successfully proceed through the game – and indeed enables the player to do so, with nothing more nuanced than a directional control and a fire button.

Solace, in addition to being a marvelous work of art in its own right, is a lesson to all game designers of what games have the potential to be. In my own game designs, I have often run into a tension between making my game artistically meaningful and having good, solid, fun gameplay. Solace, by being excellent in both regards, has taught me that this is a false dichotomy. If Portal is worthy of a place on a course syllabus, I believe Solace can be similarly instructive, to students and designers alike.

Posted in Abstract, Shoot-em-ups, Videos, Windows | Tags: Digipen

jay

hum, there were like 4 guest reviews (one of which I wrote) before this one that weren't posted. How unpleasant :(
rinkuhero

good article, but i kind of dispute this part: “If you take Braid and remove the text, you end up with a puzzle game involving time manipulation that is barely about anything other than puzzles involving time manipulation.”

i felt that a lot of the puzzles in braid did have a lot of meaning actually: remember all the ones similar to super mario bros.? the meaning was like, why do games punish you by making you try again from so far back? why not let you rewind and try again immediately? look at how easy and look at how little skill is required to beat this if you can simply rewind time and try again instead of having to get everything right the first time. a lot of braid was a critique of games that have contrived difficulty simply by putting you back to the beginning of the game or the stage when you make one tiny mistake.
rinkuhero

although another thing about this article is that it made me think: if passage had been more game-like, if collecting treasures was more challenging and engaging, if there were special moves and jumping and obstacles and bonus combos and other varied things to challenge you as you went to the right, would that have lessened the power of the ending? i don't know, but it's an interesting question.
rinkuhero

oh, one more question: i don't really see how the gameplay shown in this video has anything to do with grief, could you elaborate on that part? i mean, the game looks pretty and nice, but it looks like a shmup, i don't see, from the short video at least, how its mechanics have much to say about grief?

in general i feel like this article didn't go into enough detail of exactly why it feels the way it does about this game, instead spending the time talking about how braid and passage didn't do what this game does.
Whatever

'it would still be about the five stages of grief as represented through the gameplay of its levels'
I thought the opposite way, this is just a shooter showing “grief” through visuals, music and sound design, i don't see how the gameplay barely fits at all, just being a shell for the former.
And can't disagree more with the statement this article seems to be implying regarding a game has to have more value or more interesting value when taken all the non-gameplay elements away, any game or art piece should be seen as a sum of parts, and each part is equally important.
Christian223

I only see a shooter with very simple graphics…
Dodger

The first hardcore Art Shooter or Art-Shmup! It's Ikaruga meets Passage, and subsequently has a baby and then that baby dies. Too much over analysis for me. I just want to play it and have fun.

Looks like a decent shooter – check!
Has fluid and interesting graphics – check!
Very nice music – check!

I don't mind that a game tries to invoke emotion, as long as the developer also intended for the game to invoke the feeling that the game is also entertaining and interesting in some way.

I actually liked passage, but if it was the type of game that you played through multiple times and cried each time you played it, then I think you need to get out more. It has a nice simple message and with that it's worth a nice simple playthru. There really isn't much more too it though. You play thru it once, you get the message – or you don't. There's something to be gained from it, but I don't believe it's worthy of influencing international lectures about human emotions and video games. It's a simple experience that's there for anyone who wants to take part in it – a nice little experience that is perhaps a little thought provoking, but not exactly something that I'd attempt to create a thesis over or travel abroad to give lectures on… however – I'm sure this has already been done (for one title or another) – and I'm not trying to insult you people who would actually do such a thing, but it is a little ridiculous to over analyze something that could possibly or possibly not invoke different emotions and / or boredom in different people. Doing that is only as bad as over analyzing a title from the Call of Duty series and expecting everyone to have the same awesome experience from it – when in fact some people hate the series or just don't care for FPSes altogether. I tend to have a simple view of video games much like Hamlet (act 3, scene 1) To be or not to be: that is the question.

“Is a game fun, is it enjoyable, or is it not?
Doth thou so remember,
how when so young,
and paddle touched ball ever so sweetly,
to bounce back and forth from here to eternity,
or until somebody slips and misses thy ball shaped square
to give or to gain point by point nary a winner in sight
dost though remember hours of electric eyeball intercourse?
From here to hither, forgetful of time and place,
when bricks were broken and coins released,
and a Goomba was the only fear to face –
the mustached man, the proverbial peach,
whose peach thou dost pursue,
stolen by fat green-eyed spiky shelled bastard,
break bricks must he oh mustache man,
must he to rescue fair lust true.”

Yes, you see it's all quite simple really – and it's all explained quite simply in Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet – which I have just quoted verbatim.

(yes I made that on the spot so no plagiarism was involved in the creation of this shitty little poem! So there!)
zoom

“why not let you rewind and try again immediately? look at how easy and look at how little skill is required to beat this if you can simply rewind time and try again instead of having to get everything right the first time.”

I think you answered your own question.
anarkex

Game requires a full installation
No built-in joypad support
No score
No bombs
Infinite lives
Bullshit euroshmup patterns
Glitchy sound
“Meaning” implanted through the use of inspirational quotes fading onscreen
Monotype Corsiva font or some similar goofballery
Collectibles only effect the number of wings on your sprite
Ambiguous hitboxes
Last level, “Acceptance”, is piss easy (I'm sure someone thought that was clever)

A++ work western indie devs! You showed those misogynist Japanese STG devs and their non-art skill-based shrine maiden exploitation games.

In response to all preceding comments: lol.
Glaiel-Gamer

why don't you play the game and judge, rather than watch a video and judge?
rinkuhero

i didn't realize when i posted that that the game was available for download (the article didn't really make that clear), i thought this was another preview post, like the last pax post
rinkuhero

dodge, what about ceramic shooter: digital poem? i thought that was a pretty good shmup art-game, and was released before this one.
Dodger

You mean Ceramic Shooter: Electronic Poem. You're right that was out first. The music was also fantastic. The visuals suited the game as well. The cool thing about it was you could actually enjoy it as a game. I really can't judge Solace yet but it does look interesting, but like you, I just didn't see any of the emotional connection in the gameplay and after reading more of the comments and replies I only just realized that the game is already available for download. So I'm going to have to give it a try. Thanks for reminding me about Ceramic Shooter though. Although the experience is might be different, lets see if Solace can compete with Ceramics' originality and unique charm.
Chris Whitman

I'm sorry this game didn't meet the arbitrary requirements of how you prefer your shmups. Have you considered contacting your congressman or MP with these concerns? Be sure to include the part about how you had to install the game. I'm sure he or she will be outraged.
Brad Kavanagh

I'm sorry, but I played this at PAX and shut it off after 4 minutes because I found it extremely boring. I guess I just dont get art games?
Mike Hunt

What is your response to all following comments?
anarkex

The items I listed are partly to show how inconvenient the game was for me to play, partly to show how little the devs know about designing a proper STG, and partly for lols. Nonetheless, I think the erratic and frequently undodgeable bullet patterns, lack of lives, bombs, scoring, or basically anything remotely interesting, the attention paid to hitboxes and difficulty pacing (none), and the utterly…fuck it, PRETENTIOUS air with which it fires off its artsiness are all testaments to the laziness exhibited in game mechanics and balancing that is frequent in western game design, as well as the inane “artistic” themes the devs responsible for said game design cower behind. It's a game that's built to coddle the player, to jerk him off. It's a game that was not made to be played, but to be written about (this is not a good thing). The interaction is practically optional, and I pity the moron who feels like he would gain anything from a second playthrough.

Needless to say, ANY Touhou, Cave, or Platine Dispositif STG (just to name a few devs who have their shit straight) has more reason to be considered art than this. Nothing could be more insulting to the genre and its patrons, myself included, than to suggest otherwise.
anarkex

I'm gonna say bile, and plenty of it.
http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

I imagine you sitting there, hoping that icycalm somehow reads your comments and nods his head in approval. “This one is strong enough to carry my seed within him,” he'd say. “Go forth and destroy all the artfags in my name, warrior! That someday I may do you the honor of letting you sit by my side in a Japanese arcade, playing Japanese games with me, and achieving the highest of high scores together. In Japan.”
rinkuhero

oops yes, forgot the name
Noggle

Wow. It's a generic shmup. I'm blown away.
bateleur

“it would still be about the five stages of grief”

I hope the author's reading the comment thread and will come back and explain why, because I'm really not getting it.
rinkuhero

yeah, that bothers me too — a game is experienced as a whole, and this artificial/analytical separation into gameplay and non-gameplay always feels nerdy to me. it's not like most players are sitting there saying 'oh ho ho! that was amazing, but you're not doing that with gameplay, you didn't do that exclusively using the defining feature of games, so too bad, game!'

but we get this everywhere, in movies there are probably people going 'that was a great scene, but it didn't take put the art in the cinematography, just the dialogue, and that could have been done in theater, so it's not quite that great'.
Dodger

anarkex,

I see that you don't like the game and from your comments see where you're coming from but using the word PRETENTIOUS in a video game discussion is kind of moot at this late stage of video game development. Art game or not, if you've been playing video games for the past decade (and if you're an adult then multiply that number by 2) you'd already know that every mainstream game that comes out now is gods gift to gamers, if you were to believe the developers that is. Point is, I don't think you need to jump the gun on this. Simply because someone else got something from this that you didn't doesn't mean you need to foam at the mouth over it. Personally I see video games as containing art already. Some can be more involving than others by trying to capture a specific feeling or essence but rarely does such a thing come across the same way to everyone, just like a painting or even a particular piece of music or song. You can't make everyone see it the same way. I kind of resent the art games that try to be emotional for the sake of being “Poofy” just so that people will talk about them, but in many cases these developers are trying to convey a feeling, they just have to accept the fact that not everyone will get that same feeling they are trying to convey. That's life and not something that is limited to games alone. Hell, just discussing games brings about different emotions and opinions so to have such lofty expectations (as a developer or as a gamer) usually leads to disappointment – but sometimes, on occasion, discovery.

Paul brought up an excellent example of an Artsy sort of shooter called Ceramic Shooter: Electronic Poem. What did you think of that? Have you tried it? If not, and as a shooter fan myself, I would recommend you give it a try. Then tell me what you thought of the gameplay and the mechanics, and at the same time be honest. If something about it doesn't interest you than I'd go so far as to suggest you don't much like shooters anyway. I'm not saying it's something that'll make you go out and do missionary work over, I'm just saying you've got to appreciate what's there – even if it's simply the mechanics of it and not the game itself.
anarkex

Well that's great, that really proves me wrong.
SomeNerd

Post in defense of Braid–the gameplay covers regret so brilliantly, as well as longing, the passage of time, and the affects of different life paths happening simultaneously, and the digital concept of undo. It's not perfect, but I do think it's the first major step as far as interactive metaphor goes.
Magnafiend

Still waiting for the game to download so I can give a more indepth critique, but judging from the video preview it simply looks like another pretty shmup, minus half the trademark characteristics of a shmup. I'm sure there's probably a lot not in the gameplay video, but from here I see absolutely nothing referring to the 5 stages of grief. The artwork is really nice, and the gameplay seems fairly solid (though I've yet to play it so I can't make a definite statement as of yet, I'll elaborate more once it actually downloads…yay horrible internet connection.) but the message isn't necessarily clear. Once I play the game, I'll revise my current view accordingly.
http://zez.herobo.com zez

I second this sentiment. I have written and performed pieces (of music,) with a plethora of different emotional intents (and mind you, music is one of the few forms of art that already has a rich system of theory behind it on exactly how to illicit different emotional reactions,) and gotten every response imaginable from the audience well playing them, to the exact same bit. I can actually remember one show, where during my set someone rushed the stage and attempted to perform fellatio on me (making it really difficult to get through my guitar solo,) due too them taking the lyrics far too literally. The woman who originally inspired the song was also in the audience, cracking up despite the overall tone of the song being disdain (not of her per-say, but of some personality traits that she had,) and after the set (this was the first time I played that particular song live,) my backup singer/ belly dancer quit the band, siting the reason being that she felt the song was a personal attack against her and was highly offended (It wasn't really an attack in the first place, and was inspired by someone else altogether, however both of the women in question did have the same personality trait that was 'under attack.' Interestingly so did the MAN who attempted to perform fellatio on me during it.)

So, one song, three people, three totally different reactions.
Sexual Arousal – humor – outrage.
Where any of these responses correct or incorrect? No, not really.
Where any of them the reaction I was going for? Once again, not really. The Outrage reaction was the closest, but I was actually hoping to get that one more internalized (meaning 'This song made me think this thing I do might not be a good idea, maybe I should stop' as apposed to 'The person who wrote this song doesn't respect me as a human being and wrote this song about me as a whole, despite me never being mentioned in it directly, and I can tell because of what they said about one particular trait that I happen to have'.)
twincannon

How do you guys not get his quote about the gameplay? Basically, Solace's gameplay is designed around it's theme as well, not just the audio/visual side, so without those two most important aspects it still covers the theme. It might not be apparent to the player (especially not so if you didn't even know what the stages were, for example), but the gameplay still fits brilliantly.

And lol @ everyone bitching about SHMUP details like bullet patterns. You CAN'T DIE IN SOLACE. It's a “sit back and enjoy the ride” game, not a goddamn hi-score shmup.
Magnafiend

It's not really the score mechanics I have an issue with, never been one for score myself, but the fact the entire gameplay essentially can be boiled down to just tape down the shoot button and stare at the screen completely undermines the “game” component in a way. I don't have an issue with games that won't let you die, but at the same time I personally feel that if the game is going to give you that much of an advantage, it should revolve around some kind of gameplay mechanic (see Wario Land 2 for instance. You can't die, but most of the gameplay and puzzles are based around the very fact you can't die, and the effects different enemy attacks have on the player as you progress through the game).
The problem I have with most art games is that they usually hide poor game mechanics and design with their artistic message, to the point where the gameplay elements are minimal at best. In some games, the whole point is to have minimal control over the events of the game, or the object is mere exploratory in nature, but simply giving the player invulnerability without a clear message behind why they are invulnerable, with no real meaning aside from its a sit through and enjoy the ride type game, it takes away the feeling of achievement that games generally produce. The player I find is oftentimes more distanced from the game by using such tactics, rather than embracing the message of the game because lets face it, they may as well not be playing, because the result will be the same regardless. The game will play itself out on its own.
An example of an art game that I feel successfully combines both gameplay and an artistic message to the full potential of both halves is Eversion. It has simple controls, and fun gameplay, and a really fun mechanic that ties in with the mood and overlying message of the game, which in turn can be interpreted in multiple ways. There are collectible items that reward the player with the possibility of achieving the true ending of the game, as well as a gradual difficulty curve that challenges the player, but is at the same time quite beatable by both hardcore gaming pro's and the casual player.
All in all, I feel art games can't rely on their message alone, but must incorporate both good game design AND good artistic design to truly be successful.
Feckyourtigsource

Ooooooh This looks extremly original and NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
I like how he completely reinvented the genre with ABSTRACT GRAPHICS.
I'm flipping ou RIGHT NOW mang.
anarkex

Magnafiend basically has me covered, but let me highlight this:

>And lol @ everyone bitching about SHMUP details like bullet patterns. You CAN'T DIE IN SOLACE. It's a “sit back and enjoy the ride” game, not a goddamn hi-score shmup.

It's obvious I've misrepresented my point here. This isn't about this particular shmup being DIFFERENT and omg I can't handle things being different because I'm a gamer and I hate innovation. It's that the game lacks not only elements of a typical STG (the equivalent of a megaman romhack that doesn't include shooting and jumping, which yeah, if done right, still mite b kool), but ANY elements at all besides the bare minimum. The game is only moving and shooting, and the fact that you can't die makes even moving and shooting entirely unnecessary. There's nothing at all of interest here besides ambient music and high-res graphics.

The point I've tried to make, time and again, is that balancing a game to be beaten on the merits of skill is a LOT harder than it seems, and as far as I can tell many modern games use infinite lives, checkpoints, and level grinding systems to cover for their lack of balancing. Without these shortcuts the games would be nigh-unplayable, being a million times cheaper and more carelessly constructed than the much-loathed “quarter munchers” that games journalists praise the death of at every turn. That's the case here. The simple addition of lives would change this game from a snoozefest to an unwinnable nightmare. Apparently no one is able to understand that this is not a good thing.

A “sit back and enjoy the ride” game? You barely have to shoot, move, or even hold the controller to beat the game. Tell me, because I honestly am at a loss here:

Why bother?
AshfordPride

Why trust your brain when you can trust your gut?

It doesn't matter if your reaction to something is founded on any sort of facts or logic. Whatever neurosis or lack of understanding of the piece made you feel is what you feel, and DAMMIT that's right!

If I feel that your song was a statement about women's rights, who are you to tell me that I'm wrong? I interpreted the lyrics how I wanted to, and ignored the evidence that inconvenienced me.

Once again Anarkex has gone on one of his laughable tangents to try to prove absolutely nothing. Doesn't he understand that it doesn't matter how correct you are or how much evidence you have to support your case you can always be trumped by a bunch of people who say that you're wrong because you're wrong? Obviously Anarkex missed the point of Sollux. It obviously wasn't made for him, I guess. Why can't he just leave us alone and let us wallow in our ignorance of shmup games?
PhasmaFelis

Penny Arcade has already said basically everything I wanted to about this. “It is as though they were presented with a race car, and then spent an hour criticising all the ways it differed from chocolate cake.”

I've kinda been wondering, is there any subgenre of games that inspires as much fuming elitism as J-shmups? I mean, lots of people have strong preferences for Eastern or Western RPGs, say, but I've never heard anyone imply that open-world gameplay is morally and intellectually bankrupt.
anarkex

>using the word PRETENTIOUS in a video game discussion is kind of moot at this late stage of video game development.

So ignore it. Pretend I said “smarmy” or something. Everyone flips out whenever someone drops the P-bomb because, yeah, an idiot could potentially use the word to describe something he just doesn't “get”. I, however, am not an idiot, I “get” this game and the themes and subjects the devs tried to integrate into it, and when I say “pretentious” I mean it.

>Art game or not, if you've been playing video games for the past decade (and if you're an adult then multiply that number by 2) you'd already know that every mainstream game that comes out now is gods gift to gamers,

No to the way you are saying it, no to what I assume you mean by it. And what does this have to do with “pretentiousness”?

>if you were to believe the developers that is.

I assume even murderers try to justify their actions.

>Point is, I don't think you need to jump the gun on this.

I didn't jump the gun. I 1) Played the game, 2) talked about how I feel about it, and 3) explained why. Most people in these comments skipped 1), performed 2), and ignored 3). What more could I have done here?

>Simply because someone else got something from this that you didn't doesn't mean you need to foam at the mouth over it.

what someone liked this game oh my god raaaaaaage i'm raging so hard with the fires of a thousand suns ffffffff

I ain't even mad.

>Personally I see video games as containing art already.

Certainly. Video games can contain books, movies, music, and still images, all of which can be art.

>Some can be more involving than others by trying to capture a specific feeling or essence but rarely does such a thing come across the same way to everyone

Like how the first Resident Evil isn't really scary anymore?

>just like a painting or even a particular piece of music or song.

Don't lose sight of the goal here: you're supposed to be convincing me that this game is good despite the mechanics being halfassed and the aesthetics being hamfisted.

>You can't make everyone see it the same way.

Yes, just as I can't make the people who read my posts actually figure out what I'm saying before devising a counterargument.

>I kind of resent the art games that try to be emotional for the sake of being “Poofy” just so that people will talk about them, but in many cases these developers are trying to convey a feeling

In which case they are doing it poorly.

>they just have to accept the fact that not everyone will get that same feeling they are trying to convey. That's life and not something that is limited to games alone.

Clearly. I've probably already responded to this argument the last time you replied to one of my posts.

>Hell, just discussing games brings about different emotions and opinions so to have such lofty expectations (as a developer or as a gamer) usually leads to disappointment

Yeah, but somehow my lofty expectations are frequently satisfied. And let's just clarify: my expectations for this game were not that lofty. I only really expected to have to dodge bullets. But shame on me for holding games to such a high standard.

>- but sometimes, on occasion, discovery.

Waiter, there's a fly in my soup.

“It's fly soup, sir.”

Oh.

>Ceramic Shooter: Electronic Poem. What did you think of that?

Always fond of a lark, I downloaded and played the game despite already being quite familiar with it. It is definitely a better game than Solace. So much better in fact that it is actually mildly difficult to complete. The whole “don't break shit” thing was clever though very simple and the text, while only occasionally comprehensible, wasn't especially intrusive or annoying. It could have been better, sure, but it could have been worse.

>If something about it doesn't interest you than I'd go so far as to suggest you don't much like shooters anyway.

Yeah, okay. The game is only barely a shooter, and you'd “go so far as to suggest” that not being enthralled by it might mean I don't like shooters. Whoops, guess I really hate Touhou. Guess my 2+ gigs of MAME is wasted hard drive space. Guess I shouldn't have imported these Cave ports for the 360. Guess I shouldn't have wasted all that time playing Giga Wing and Raiden Fighters at the arcade. Guess I shouldn't have waited in line to play Ketsui at Otakon. Whooooops. You said you're a fan of the genre, right? What are some of your favorites, I'd love to hear them. Don't bother digging too deep, it's all downhill after Ikaruga.

>I'm not saying it's something that'll make you go out and do missionary work over, I'm just saying you've got to appreciate what's there

I do, there's just not much.

>even if it's simply the mechanics of it and not the game itself.

Even if it's simply the mechanics of it and not the game itself.
How can I emphasize the absurdity of this sentence any better than typing it out again?
Amn

Well, open-world gameplay…
I've seen it happening. The whole Old Fallout Games versus Fallout 3 Debate is basically about that. And with a lot of fuming elitism too. Even though I do agree with the point of not liking the current open world approach (random huge terrain, almost no substance versus handmade small terrain, full of substance).

Also you get similar fuming elitism in basically every discussion about consoles, graphic cards and to a degree CPUs. Calling someone a “X-Box Gamer” didn't turn into an insult for nothing.
rinkuhero

ashfordpride, let's not be joking. we all know you don't have a brain.
namuol

NMcCoy makes some bold statements in his review; it wouldn't hurt for him to support his statements with some explanations. That's what reviewers do.
zaphos

He gives some explanation of that in the comments of his blog version of this post — http://nmccoy.net/2010/09/05/games-are-art-some-games-are-truly-great-art/
anarkex

You can say it directly to me, rather than staring up into the sky and mumbling “I was just wondering if there are some people in the world who are bigger douchebags than a certain person who I may or may not have just replied to”.

1) People were trashing on this game before I showed up
2) I'm not mad, what is this “fuming”
3)Being an elitist is a good thing. Why shouldn't people who know the most be respected for their opinions?
4)J-shmup is not a genre.

Lastly I ask you to please explain what legitimate game mechanic found in Solace am I saying is a “blight on the face of gaming”, as well as why said game mechanic is actually a good thing contrary to my rampant close-mindedness. My head is way too far up my own ass to figure it out without someone helping me.
AshfordPride

The thing that gets me is that if I was ever as blatantly rude as this without contributing absolutely anything to the discussion at hand, I'd probably be banned.
Dodger

I'm sensing a flow of PMS from your comments.

You just sound moody is all. I don't think I was so forward with you to put you into the defensive state but you really sound like you've become defensive. I was just expressing another opinion (however absurd it might seem to you) but you've taken it and swallowed it as if it were rock salt. I didn't have the intention of making you like this game, just perhaps seeing things in a different way… I liked Ceramic Shooter better than Solace as well. I didn't really get the feeling from Solace that the developers were trying to convey. Ah well, c'est la vie.
Dodger

You need some Einhander, that'll cure you, you sick puppy. ;-P
AshfordPride

I know, right? He's just SO MAD.

It's pretty ridiculous that someone could be SO MAD. Why would someone get SO MAD over the fact that they were just expressing an opposing opinion?

Bravo, Dodger. Check and mate. I can confirm that your post has stunned Anarkex and made him question why he would even say such stupid, silly things to you. Isn't it absolutely pathetic that this disgusting obese baby of a gamer would ever try to refute your opinions on how good a game is because it's good? Live and let live, my brah!

And way to take the high road on this one Dodger. If I was you, I probably would've bothered trying to talk about some of the points Anarkex was bringing up, but you're too smart to fall into his traps! The best thing to due is ignore everything this angry, angry baby is saying and just tell him how mad he is.
anarkex

That's why they call him Dodger!
Dodger

I said he was SO MAD??? I did? Really??? Please point me in the direction of those comments.

I believe what I said was that he sounded moody. It would've been nice if you had read the entire comment (and previous comments) as well. That way you wouldn't be wrong in what you write. Hey, it's a play on words, ya get it, ya get it? I thought something like that might just blow your mind.

;-P

Don't worry, I'm not out to embarrass you or anything, I just don't like being misquoted, I think that's fair isn't it AshfordPride?

(here's hoping you read all the way down to this bracketed sentence)
Dodger

Actually, THEY don't call me Dodger, I call me Dodger. Just like they don't call you anarkex because left to peoples own devices I'm sure there are more colorful words people could think of to call you. ;-P

(It's just a joke – not trying to strike a sensitive nerve or anything – however, I can take and give little digs as well as anyone else).
Dodger

Hopefully you understand that I'm only doing this so that you see I'm not taking sides (and joking around a bit at the same time because everyone seems to take some of these lighthearted discussions too seriously).

I don't have anything against anarkex (and I seriously hope you read this AshfordPride so you understand my last comment is almost a joke reply – with one serious point – I didn't intend to embarrass or humiliate or make anarkex feel like crap (if he did then that's how he felt before he read my comments since I don't think I said anything volatile enough to get angry over – with the exception of going after his nickname after he tried going after mine ;-)

Anyway, I enjoy talking about and discussing games, but I don't really think this is the kind of game to get up in arms over or to intentionally insult each other about. In all honesty this game is a real hit or miss for some people – it was kind of soothing to watch and listen to (and I mean that about playing the game) but I really didn't get much more from it.
Dodger

Oh, before I forget (and last but not least), I don't want to derail the discussion but, I think everyone interested in Solace should also download Ceramic Shooter: Electronic Poem and play them one after the other. Then decide what to think about each one. Personally I thought Ceramic Shooter did a little reversal on the genre while also being a little self contained spectacle that you sort of have to play and watch at the same time – kind of like an interactive movie or book. It's not a huge game by any means but I think after playing both of these I'd have to say that Ceramic Shooter was a little more poignant perhaps because it's “message” or “catch” was a little simpler in both method and delivery.

Definitely check it out though, at least once.

Thanks again to Paul for reminding me about the game.
Dodger

Argh! and I just replied to myself now twice! Fuckin Tourette Syndrome! ;-P

Anyway, I meant to reply to AshfordPride (and the last reply was actually to anyone who would read it).

Gotta stop posting when I'm tired!