It’s 9:43 PM, just finished my tutoring homework for the day and I remembered that I still have a website. Might as well post something.
When I was first searching for a book to read, I was considering things that I enjoy in other media. To be frank, I’m not much of a movie or TV show person, but I’m always a big fan of any video game with an incredible story. Something I feel that always makes a story better is a deep, emotional ending. I wanna talk about that.
I remember when I finished the story of NieR:Automata for the first time. The game itself deals with themes of existentialism, and contains one of the best written tales in gaming in my opinion. Without spoiling anything, it’s an incredibly sad and tragic game with a rather cathartic ending. It takes you on an emotional roller coaster, and ends by making you feel an immense emotional void—exactly what the game is about.
It’s been over 2 years since I last played NieR:Automata, yet I still remember how I felt after finishing it. This, to me, is a story done right. It’s why I enjoy sad storytelling so much; the plot takes you on a journey that’s hard to forget.
Over the years I’ve played many tragic or depressing video games, and something they all have in common is the emotional “high” that they deliver at the end of them. This is similar to why people enjoy horror—sometimes it’s just fun to have a physical high if it doesn’t impose any real danger. I feel the same way about heavily emotional stories. Sometimes it can just be enjoyable to elicit a strong or painful reaction when you know you’re in a safe environment.
One time, when I recommended a particularly tragic video game to my friend, they asked me, “Why would I want to feel sad?” I realize now that this simple question is a lot more complicated than I thought. Many people play video games or watch TV to enjoy themselves, not feel an emotional bullet. This made me grasp the fact that I don’t consume media in order to feel good; I consume media to feel, and I think I’ll leave it at that.
Had no idea what to write after that so I’ll just end it here. Here’s a great song from NieR that I wanted to share.