Been thinking about how a lot of my favourites really drive home the big messages or storytelling sequences in genius ways and how the prevailing things I get from them far outweigh the overall “experience.” But then there are other favourites that I’m almost the opposite with.

There are lots of examples for the first case. Umineko has quite a bit of redundancies, Final Fantasy 7 Remake has tons of padding and some other problems, Nier:Automata didn’t have me truly engaged the entire way throughout..

..my initial enthusiasm for Omori faded a bit during the mid-section of the game, etc. There are many more examples too of the moment-to-moment experience not always reflecting how highly I regard these stories holistically.

But the way the main messages are communicated, the way these stories ended and how they executed the big moments far transcends some of the disengagement I had at other parts.

I think how the big brush strokes are crafted and come together is so important. Fumble in those moments and the flaws stand out much more. But execute them with quality and my problems fade away in relevance due to how profound everything else is.

But then on the other hand, there are stories that I don’t think much about outside of when I’m experiencing them, but the *experience* is why I love them so much.

It’s hard to express how much I love immersing myself in Xenoblade Chronicles and Witcher 3, but I’d be lying if I said that the messages really have staying power in my mind, or that their stories constantly have me reflecting. But that doesn’t mean I inherently value them less.

And then there are a bunch of favourites that are the best of both worlds of course, although those may not necessarily be above the ones that are one or the other on my rankings. It’s weird but it all comes down to that feeling of emotional attachment I have to a story.

I don’t really know what my point is, I’m just thinking out loud.