As you must know by now Solo, I agree with much of the sentiment of that. Panzer Dragoon represents an experience of a world, probably eclipsing any other fiction from any medium for me, I've certainly given more time and thought to it than any other - excepting perhaps Star Trek by virtue of sheer volume and time scale.
This is also in a different context from earlier, and a part of that context was the very broad comparisons being drawn between games that I find honestly disagreeable. Considering it from this angle sort of clarified the other context further for me however: taking the example of Heavy Rain specifically, I can make the case that it has more pertinent parallels to Call of Duty even than to Panzer Dragoon. In terms of theme, content and execution, they share the priorities of a realistic and compelling depiction of a real world / contemporary setting and story, following a very classic / mainstream narrative formula and overt emulation of cinema. They're both lowest common denominator sensationalism pieces in other words, one just being primarily action and the other a thriller.
Factoring in the increased scrutiny and franchise fatigue with CoD, the actual writing is acknowledged to be about as successful, if not even superior in the best titles, for what it is. And on that subject: how did you actually intend the comment about Alan Wake, do you find the plot and the writing itself objectively inferior to a QD game (or whatever)? If so that would be a fair if debatable point I guess, but on the basis that AW is also generally praised for the writing, it seems reasonable to interpret your statement as it literally stands... as a comment on the GAME right?
So the distinction was also about the genre and format of the gameplay, and / or the quality of its execution; rather than the qualities of its storytelling or virtue of its content. Correct me if I have chosen the wrong interpretation, but I hope you can still see my point regardless: in what way is it pertinent to this subject that Alan Wake "still fit the third person shooter/survival horror mold"? Three out of four Panzer Dragoon games also fit the 'third person on-rails / arcade shooter' mold as well. And with that I think how this connects in response to your last post should also be implicit, of course I can agree with the sentiment, but the context has become very imprecise here.
A film is not a game, half the concerns for a 'good game' are non-existent or translate entirely different to a 'good film'. So that is something of a non-sequitur as an argument - though it's not necessarily fair to treat it as one I understand. Still it serves to un-qualify as much as qualify the subject, because again you cannot presume to judge a game as though it is other than a game, or other than what it is. We all have these conditioned expectations for engagement with any medium, hence why rules of good practice evolve for any discipline, and the simple fact of interactivity multiplies the number of factors that can affect ones engagement with a work. So to express it as a personal example, I would love to see a Panzer Dragoon movie that respected the material, and successfully translated the heart and drama of the games, I mean of course. But I can't expect, imagine, or even wish for that to be any sort of replacement for, or displacement of the Panzer Dragoon I already have.
Panzer Dragoon is more than a game to me, as you say, but it is also more than other stories to me because it is a game. The Panzer Dragoon I know could not have been given to me in any other form, that is why it is so precious and even singular. And in that respect the game still has prominence over the story, because it was the delivery medium of the experience.
The best way I can personally articulate it is: I think a Panzer Dragoon 'game' - let's say a straight up adventure even, with minimal mechanical challenge - that fully succeeded on story and atmosphere yet dropped the ball on interface and overall system proficiency, would still break my heart. While a shooter throwback to Eins, lacking any exposition or even narrative glue whatsoever, could still be wonderful as long as the gameplay and of course the style lived up to expected standards.
And a little reminder that with Crimson Dragon most everyone here seems to have also been disappointed in it as a GAME rather than as a story or adventure, strictly speaking.
I guess I can't quite pin it down even in so many words, but to stretch the film parallel even thinner... I imagine nearly everyone has had an experience going out to the movies and having it virtually ruined by something super inconsiderate that other people in the theater are doing - being loud or obnoxious or even threatening or whatever. That's a bad film 'experience', and sometimes there may be nothing you could do to change the experience of it. Bad gameplay can still make an otherwise phenomenal effort a bad game experience very easily, and Panzer Dragoon occupies the apex of refinement on virtually every level for me, as a series. The exceptional degree of good and wonderful feelings I have for PD are based on the complete experience, of what it is, game by game, rather than any component that can be isolated from the whole of it.
And a note on the tone... that I know I contributed to. Most of my previous ire was not directed at anyone here, except as specified of course. But it is my honest response to that script, and if anything it is just because I don't wish to see it in these boards that that response may be more passionate. The whole reason for that long lecture / rant is because I know that what I was trying to get across cannot be pinned down with any clear and concise argument, it is a CLIMATE rather than the WEATHER I am talking about. Fanboys squabble over who the sun is shining on today and who got soaked, but the very usage of the word "fanboy" was fixed in the lexicon specifically by Sony converts as a shorthand term connoting the illegitimacy of SEGA fans for exhibiting partiality equal to their own! Yes Nintendo was in the mix and got a lot from all sides as well, and yes the memes became common property ammo, but the crucible of fanboy culture was the circumstance between the Saturn and Dreamcast "failures" relative to the Playstation dominance. And so this sanctimonious subtext, as typically seen in the pattern of someone 'correcting' the 'opinion' of someone else for not reading from the same script as themselves... honestly makes me see red when it crops up in one of my sanctuaries. And believe it or not I have often reminded myself that I am not the thought police and let it go many times in these boards, but again all I can say is it is simple honest anger. When I see the script followed to the point of an expression of status quo condescension, I will react. Not to presume my view is the same as Geoffrey's; but it is plain hubris when someone brushes off a dissenting "opinion" from their own with any such crypto-ad hominem aspersions like "agenda" or "grudge" without any background context acknowledged or refuted. Or in plain terms, some of us have actual REASONS for opinions that are very different form someone else, and that seems to be the principle and understanding most often and crucially missing from people's character; or perhaps it is accepted as a de facto sign of weakness in this whole arena of petty opinion wars.
I hope you didn't see any of that previous post as an accusation Solo, the connections made were all general and (to me) natural. Yet the subject is itself a controversy, and you proposed a notion that attracts partisan impulses, as indeed it did. So as one final comment on the innate nuance that is typically glossed over...
Sony also, with the rarest of exceptions, never funds or publishes anything they do not own outright, especially if it is a major release. Is that a good thing then as long as it gets us another PD game? If Sony buys it they'll NEVER let it go either, unless they are actually pushed to the brink of bankruptcy or something. That's just how they operate, how they always have. But to me that's what the whole argument seems like anyway, if one thing, anything somehow should go to Sony then the same could be said about everything. So why not just drop the pretense and give everything to Playstation if it's the only machine truly worthy, that's basically the mentality that informed the marginalization of SEGA, with some real mistakes and disadvantages that get promoted to very certain black and white answers through the chain of rhetorical repetition.
