my brother was also obsessed with skyrim. he loved it, and being a curious 7 year old, i would sit and watch him play. i got so into the game that whenever he would play without me, i got really mad. even though i didnt know what was going on, i really enjoyed watching him play. after he finished the game, he gave me the controller and guided me through the skyrim. unfortunatley, he lost his battle with cancer and passed away before i could finish it. without him holding my hand, i had no desire to play to the end, so i dropped it for years. it was only until 2020 when i was reminded of the elder scrolls. my friend bought a copy and i wanted to watch her play. every day we would be on call for hours just playing and discussing the game. once she reached the end, i had an urge to finally finish the game. i dug out my old xbox 360 and loaded up skyrim. i started a new game and played it to the end by myself. when i finished i began crying. it wanst because i was sad or anything, i just started crying. memories of my brother that i forgot began to flood my conscious and i started crying. without my brothers (unhealthy) passion for gaming and my curiosity, i would have never had these memories of him. nostalgia doesn't make a game magical, its the memories that were made that is, and when u have an incredible game (like skyrim), nostalgia only adds to it. happiness comes from hardship, and nostalgia is just a weird, melancholic version of happiness. idk where this comment is heading towards but i hope yall like my story :)
great video. you give off a really cozy, small town friend next door vibe n your warm n crisp mic really helps to accentuate that. i also love that you connect all your topics to something more personal but also sorta universal.
Hey, I found this to be a very informative and enlightening video! I have a few thoughts! I agree that nostalgia plays a crucial role in creating a feeling of 'lost magic' towards a gaming experience. I would say that nostalgia can lead to a 'cerebral disease' of some other kind such as depression, but it isn't one itself. However, if it is moderated by (and balanced with) new, fresh experiences, then it can be an occasional source of happiness like you described. So, just like when you choose a different character class in a very familiar game like Skyrim, the amount of joy we get from a game that has this 'lost magic' will increase because we are experiencing a combination of both the new and the old, injecting new life into an old game. I found it interesting how, by looking at Skyrim through the 'new lense' of a mage, you got close to that 'childlike wonder' of the first playthrough! You raised an interesting point towards the end of the video that one of the ways you could make a game feel new is if you lost your memory. From watching this, I feel like memory and joy are intrinsically linked. In various texts, memory has even been depicted as a curse. A baby, on the other hand, is never depressed, owing to having a 'childlike wonder' at everything in the world it knows nothing of. Once it gains experience and knowledge, the 'wonder' fades, just like what happens after we get familiar with a game. When you said that you can get this same level of joy by watching people you forced (how rude of you by the way 😂) play it, you are probably joyful at the mirror image of yourself that you see before you that depicts your first time, when you too had a sense of 'wonder'. Anyway, this is quite a long comment, I'm sorry 😂 I have been subscribed for two or three years now and it's always great when you upload a new video! I just normally watch without commenting 😂
I really love your last point, by watching someone else play. Now that I think about it, I understand why I love watching reaction videos, it's the joy of seeing someone watch your favourite show or play one of your favourite game for the first time, and you feel as happy as them. You know what will happen and expect the reations, but it's like you're discovering it again for the 1st time. I played Mario Sunshine again after 10 years, but it really felt different. But if I watch someone playing it, I am happy.
Your production is beyond high quality. I've never played Skyrim before nor have I ever desired to watch a video about it, but your storytelling skills are one of a kind. Underrated is an understatement
Secunda always brings me back to playing Skyrim for the first time on my mom's PC on the night of my 11th birthday. I honestly cried when I unwrapped it.
⭐great video dude, I have felt this exact bittersweet scenario so many times with all of my favorite game and it just so nice to see somebody explore this often forgotten and underrated topic with lots of hope and optimism⭐ Great Video 🌟
As a junior in high school fall of 2019. I was going through it mentally. However I stumbled onto your page from one of your minecraft videos at the time and watching your videos was a good part of the day. I recently thought of this page and searched 20 minutes to find the page. I have been watching your videos nonstop for the past couple of days experiencing the nostalgia talked about in the video. Thank you meraki
The initial magic can only happen once. But I think the magic staying lies in comfort and a sort of mind time travel. When I replay Twilight Princess every few years it brings me back to childhood and lots of sleepless nights gaming with my brother. We have no contact due to personal reasons. But it’s still a nice feeling. Video games are obviously a nice escape from reality. But they can also be an escape from time.
Also for me nostalgia is a reminder of the safety of video games. My favorite game of all time is big on that. It’s the black sheep of the series. Legend of Mana. That game got me through my parents divorce and moving away from childhood friends and getting used to my new stepfamily. Games are so important. I really wish I could properly convey their importance and magic to non gamers in a way that could break through their defenses.
Great job Meraki ! This is so cool to see you talking about nostalgia in video games. I haven't see a lot of people dealing with this topic, but, at the same time I think about it quite often. Keep on the good work !
What I love about your videos is how well you manage to show the world through your lens. Im probably 5~10 years older than you so many games that you cover were games that were released when I was starting to lose the magic of playing videogames. I had that feeling that if I was younger I knew that I'd love playing those games, but at the same time my life was taking a different direction. And it's almost as if through your lens I'm able to get the feeling of how it would be like if I was the same age as you when these games were released. Thank you for sharing your perspective, your videos are amazing.
This is exactly what happens with for Minecraft, Iv been burnt out for awhile and every time I try to play again I can’t play for more then 5 minutes. I just don’t feel motivated to play? I’m not sure but anyways I just miss playing 360 chat with friends back in the good old days
After watching out for you return i really want to say please dont quit youtube. Your videos are really well made and edited and the scripts are really well written.
You know, I've been watching Meraki for a while and I think I just realized why I like his videos so much. His video style is kinda like a chill NakeyJakey video, but not so much so that he just seems like a copy. Also, I loved the video. Deffinatly a topic I tend to think of a lot, and it was really cool seeing someone actually talk about all of this in this way
I've started researching games as I play. I know this can interupt the flow, but it makes it more worthwhile for me as I like to learn. Bioshock was a great example, where I realised Dionysus Park was named after the Greek god, etc.
I've had that same feeling of burnout with a game. Minecraft, specifically. It's boring to play alone, hard to continue a build when you don't have the motivation, and just became stale in every way. Playtime limitations didn't help any of that either. I haven't touched minecraft in a while, and when I do, I don't get that wonder that I had when I was young. So, I decided to play rlcraft, the hardest mod for minecraft. It's tough, and I've died countless times already, but it's been the most fun I've had with minecraft in a very, very long time. And it makes me realize that I'm not much of a builder, I like to explore and discover. It's also the most terrified I've been since I first got the game.
My love and nostalgia for Halo is exactly like your love and nostalgia for Skyrim. It's a really hard feeling to put into words, but you did so very eloquently. Thank you for sharing! You have some great content on your channel!
Just bingewatched some of your content man and I'm blown away. Keep grinding. You're only a few weeks/months from the algorithm giving all these videos a huge boost. Excellent quality and relatability to the viewer. If you ever need cool beats/video game music remixes for your vids let me know 💯
Hey Meraki! I watched your video a couple of days ago, wanted to come back to say how much I love your channel. Also, this Wednesday I'm going to be revisiting a new Skyrim playthrough (it's been 5+ years at this point despite Skyrim holding a super warm memory to me too) I do recognize it was quite some time ago but I do admire your humility talking about a hard time in your life and want to say I'll be here to stay on your channel for quite some time. Sad to see YT algo isn't picking up your stuff lately but you definitely are putting out good videos worth it. It'll take off soon! Anyways take care, thanks for FINALLY convincing me to do another playthrough I'll let you know how it goes
Hei Meraki, great video as always As a person who does not experience nostalgia this is very interesting. Not feeling the positive emotions other describe getting from nostalgia, I see it as more of a negative thing. I think there are two main problems that make nostalgia not worth it: 1. It ultimately leads to disappointment. No matter what we try, we can never relive the past, even without the idealizing aspect. While, I do think your approach to "rekindle old love" is good, focusing on new experiences rather than chasing after memories, there's still a fundamental problem; comparison. Your first playthrough was a new and therefore independed experience. Sure, you might have compared it to other games, but it was allowed to exist as its own thing. Every subsequent playthroug will lack that. You will always, conscious or not, compare it to previous playthroughs. This alone kills the magic that 'doing something for the first time' has. So, these attemps will end up feeling like they just lack something. 2. It's an escape mechanism. Now, there is nothing wrong with some escapism. But when we use it to tone out present hardship, then it can get questionable. I feel like nostalgia is often used like that. I think it's no coincidence that nostalgia is strongest when we're unhappy with the present and/or worried about the future. Uncertainty is scarry. You might feel nervous about starting a new game (assumption here, feel free to correct me ;D) and therefore opt for a game where you already know what to expect. The downside is that you possibly miss out because of that. How many odd and new games could you have played instead of trying to go back in time? I don't wanna make this sound like an accusation. Just maybe shine some lights on the aspects of nostalgia that I see as problematic. Of course, I don't think it's a cerebral disease (wtf) or anything like that. Just, as someone who doesn't feel nostalgia: Sometimes we might be better off without it.
thanks for watching asti!!! appreciate the comment but cannot BELIEVE how you nailed me avoiding starting new games and opting for ones i know like the back of my head hahah
This is so valid. Makes sense why I want to play so badly but feel this block and wish back to 12 year old me playing video games on bad monitors with the limewire burned cd was playing in the background 😭 god im old
I remember i played through the Bioshock Series back when those came out in 2007 and following.... Eversince then my focus in games changed drastically, like nowadays i will prefer rpgs and platformers over any shooter... BUT i just had this urge to try it again in 2023 and it felt SO magical to play through it again, that i literally played through the entire series in just a couple of days and it was one of the coolest things i did in 23.... It was a huge gap between 07 and 23, but it was definitely worth it... I still had the levels and characters sort of memorized, but everything still felt great. I had so much fun.
I envy the times in history we hadn't explored the majority of the world as a hole at times. We could explore areas and find new discoveries. Video games to me are just a safer substitute for this desire for adventure.
Hats off to you man! I I'm no gamer (or Gamer), but I still find myself clicking on these videos the moment I see them. It's the quality, really, and the essay-esque style of your videos that reels me in. And the vocab? *chefs kiss* Although it has an English plebe like me looking up definitions every other 30 seconds😂
It's called a sense of wonder. (that feeling of being a little kid again and not knowing anything and being awestruck by new stuff - the same feeling of traveling to another country and feeling like you are an alien visiting a new world) I got it playing Ultima and Daggerfall on PC. These were games for escapists wanting to escape the boring real world and enter into a fantasy world. IF that fantasy world is very well designed, pretty, and with lots of things to do and people to interact with, it makes you not want to leave. This is essentially what made MMORPG games like World of Warcraft popular. They gave you a big world to move about in with others and enter a fantasy realm. However.... the single player open World RPG is still the superior alternative because you are in control of when events happen. (the world centers around you and what you do to change it, whereas multiplayer RPG put you in the role of 'Mr. generic dude number 203424' out of 100000 players playing generic dudes all grinding and farming things for XP. "the rat race to become powerful") Skyrim had just the right amount of action and rpg. Prior games had more freedom, but Skyrim gave a more cinematic opening that drew in the normies. (people that are not nerds) This game made it cool to play an open world rpg rather than a nerdy pursuit. It gave you control of a man who is the centre of the events within the world. The Chosen One. It made you feel like your action shapes the future. Other RPG did that but not in a dramatic way. I think that is the reason Skyrim is remembered by normies but Morrowind is liked by the nerds more. Morrowind made you feel like you were a foreigner in a truly alien world. Oblivion is just the dumbed down version of Morrowind with better graphics and lots of bloom effects. Skyrim on the other hand truly felt like an "EVENT" game. Where they pushed it as a big event on release. Release of Morrowind and Oblivion didn't have that. So that may be another reason Skyrim still gets hype more than previous ES games. Skyrim is the 'popcorn movie' aimed at the casual gamers, and Morrowind is the 'novel you are told you should read'. The move away from games with more deep mechanics and less flashy presentation... to games with dramatic openings that force you to get into the action and be on the run constantly from a a reoccurring threat was a decision to dumb rpg games down more which limits the replayability of the franchise. (you are told what you are right at the start of skyrim compared to other ES games that give players control over thier characters and who they are just like pen and paper RPG games) This need to appeal to casual gamers sort of killed the RPG depth of ES because it started out just being a game where you decide your fate. But with the sucess of Skyrim, it meant you would slowly lose control over what your character was in the fantasy world since the developers want to TELL you who you are more. This means if you don't fit the role the developers want to push you towards, it means you won't get a fresh new experience on replays. So what games actually do feel fresh on replay? Now here is my recommendation to you: Play Fallout New Vegas. Even if you don't like post apocalyptic settings, the rpg mechanics in this game lets you replay the game as different characters and you see the results of the decisions you make at the start. You will feel the "magic" you mention in the video because the creators of the games are experts at making proper RPG games where the decisions affect what happens in the world. It was what Pen and Paper Table Top RPG games also give. FONV has aged but with mods you will have a blast. (obsidian was the developers behind this one and were subcontracted by Bethesda to make it. The reason this is important is because Obsidian were involved in the original 2D fallout games which are thought of as some of the best games RPG games of all time due to how much your decisions affect the game. Eg playing a person of low intelligence and inability to speak will result in funny interaction with other NPC due to that low intelligence.) If you ever get the time: research what made Fallout New Vegas loved by the nerds who play RPGs. Then download it to pc, play vanilla version, add mods later, and then review this game. Replay as different character and stream the differences in the experience you had playing the other character you play now compared to the first character you made. This change in how the game world works (the simulation aspect to RPG) based on how you built your character up, is what the CRPG game community wants more of. IE replayability of the game to get different experience each time.
I have never played skyrim- I've gotten really close more than once; but Call of Duty, Little Big Planet and Minecraft always got in the way. I even tried again pretty recently but dropped it after being @'d on discord to play CS (or whatever game I was playing at the time) a couple to many times before I got truly invested. These games take time to get into; I just never managed to. Great video as usual.
I have similar feelings about Minecraft all the time. Last winter i played through minecraft caves and cliffs, finally beating the whole game elytra and all, for the first time no cheats, singleplayer. Its now getting cold again so I recently revisited this world, and it was odd how even though it was only a year ago that I played in that world, because of the music and even the sounds of the minecaft cows that have been ingrained in my head since elementary school, I had some pretty thick nostalgia. anyway, awesome video. sorry for the essay comment lol.
Loved it. I subscribed! I don't know......a ball of chain sounds pretty awful to drag around too. Because I'm old, Sonic the Hedgehog came out when I was 13 and Christmas and that game still go hand and hand for me. God,....I wish it was better every year. Still love it. Keep up the good work. I'll be watching.
I also had an XBOX 360 on 2019 and played minecraft 1.14.4, since that was the only version i could play, and i also cheesed a racing game, literally, juked all police, even the fbi started to chase my car in-game. and i exploited the car repair station.
Getting rammed backside by dark souls for hours on end when I first tried the xbox version is one of my biggest nostalgic memories, should I be worried?
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I have been looking for world of goo for so long. I forgot the name of it and couldn’t explain it well enough to get the name from google. Ahahhhhhhh yes. Thank you
That last wisdom you mentioned, I had that with Stray. Within the first half hour I knew that this was going to be a game I would hold dear for a long time, and so I actively chose to limit my playing time to one hour and set up a ritual (cup of coffee, dim lights, bowl of potato chips) and take my sweet time to play through it. I would look forward to it each and every day. I still think of that period often.
I never thought I would capture this wonder again. I had it with Morrowind. I had it with Minecraft. But then years passed and nothing. Then Stray came out and made me hopeful that I can still derive wonder from video games like I did in my past.
I cant help bun mention that that definition of insanity is not the definition of insanity. It's just this erroneous idea that people have come to accept. Great vid though.
I cannot wait for the next elder scroll game its gonna be amazing I hope that will make games fun again. but playing games wont be the same, it is just not possible. the odd game that comes out ill be excited for but it wont capture me for very long. maybe we just seek how we felt before staying up late with friends playing games
7:44 Im running into that problem in Fallout. I run a melee/sniper build and it is the most fun Ive had. Ive tried all the different weapon types and things but that build is just too strong - when I take on stuff I forget Im weaker. So I just modded the game to make my character less powerful. Also the Sim Settlements 2 community has me playing with FO4 each day and having fun. 11:15 my Father drunk till the day he died trying to forget Vietnam. That joke isnt very funny. Ive really enjoyed exploring some of your videos. Your def worth a sub/bell. Your pretty cool even if you like milkcaps :P
The most popular creators in this field produce quality lower than Meraki. Sure they have excellent production and are on top for a reason, but the amount of time and effort put into every single second in these videos beats them all. You’ll make it there eventually.
The most popular commenters on the platform produce comments lower quality than Bradley. Sure, they use bigger words and are top commenters for a reason, but the amount of time and effort put into every single word of these comments bears them all. You’ll make it there eventually.
Its a bad roleplaying game. Your creativity was stimulated to create your character. As a roleplaying game, skyrim is very bad at facilitating RP. big game doesnt want your character to overpower their game, otherwise we all be playing in cardboard boxes
It's not nostalgia - 90% of my gaming was done between the age of 34 - 40....I've been gaming since 1980. I'm now almost 50 and have played maybe 4 games over the past 10 years... Nostalgia is a thing but modern games are pure psychological torture. I can't do it anymore.
my brother was also obsessed with skyrim. he loved it, and being a curious 7 year old, i would sit and watch him play. i got so into the game that whenever he would play without me, i got really mad. even though i didnt know what was going on, i really enjoyed watching him play. after he finished the game, he gave me the controller and guided me through the skyrim. unfortunatley, he lost his battle with cancer and passed away before i could finish it. without him holding my hand, i had no desire to play to the end, so i dropped it for years. it was only until 2020 when i was reminded of the elder scrolls. my friend bought a copy and i wanted to watch her play. every day we would be on call for hours just playing and discussing the game. once she reached the end, i had an urge to finally finish the game. i dug out my old xbox 360 and loaded up skyrim. i started a new game and played it to the end by myself. when i finished i began crying. it wanst because i was sad or anything, i just started crying. memories of my brother that i forgot began to flood my conscious and i started crying. without my brothers (unhealthy) passion for gaming and my curiosity, i would have never had these memories of him. nostalgia doesn't make a game magical, its the memories that were made that is, and when u have an incredible game (like skyrim), nostalgia only adds to it. happiness comes from hardship, and nostalgia is just a weird, melancholic version of happiness. idk where this comment is heading towards but i hope yall like my story :)
Beautiful story man
Rest in peace to your bro, I'm sure you've made him proud:)
@@ZEDSTAAAA thanks bro, that really made me smile
beautiful comment. thank you for sharing
Why is this guy so good at making videos and explaining, yet he is so underrated. UA-cam, fix this. FIX THI-🗿💔
You better like the video then if you actually want him to grow.
Meraki has the perfect voice for narration, and his humor is top notch. This guys channel is genuinely underrated. Amazing video
great video. you give off a really cozy, small town friend next door vibe n your warm n crisp mic really helps to accentuate that. i also love that you connect all your topics to something more personal but also sorta universal.
I hope this is the year this channel pops off
hahaha i should rly upload then
The editing was great this video!! Another reason why Meraki is incredibly underrated
Hey, I found this to be a very informative and enlightening video! I have a few thoughts!
I agree that nostalgia plays a crucial role in creating a feeling of 'lost magic' towards a gaming experience. I would say that nostalgia can lead to a 'cerebral disease' of some other kind such as depression, but it isn't one itself. However, if it is moderated by (and balanced with) new, fresh experiences, then it can be an occasional source of happiness like you described. So, just like when you choose a different character class in a very familiar game like Skyrim, the amount of joy we get from a game that has this 'lost magic' will increase because we are experiencing a combination of both the new and the old, injecting new life into an old game. I found it interesting how, by looking at Skyrim through the 'new lense' of a mage, you got close to that 'childlike wonder' of the first playthrough!
You raised an interesting point towards the end of the video that one of the ways you could make a game feel new is if you lost your memory. From watching this, I feel like memory and joy are intrinsically linked. In various texts, memory has even been depicted as a curse. A baby, on the other hand, is never depressed, owing to having a 'childlike wonder' at everything in the world it knows nothing of. Once it gains experience and knowledge, the 'wonder' fades, just like what happens after we get familiar with a game. When you said that you can get this same level of joy by watching people you forced (how rude of you by the way 😂) play it, you are probably joyful at the mirror image of yourself that you see before you that depicts your first time, when you too had a sense of 'wonder'.
Anyway, this is quite a long comment, I'm sorry 😂 I have been subscribed for two or three years now and it's always great when you upload a new video! I just normally watch without commenting 😂
I really love your last point, by watching someone else play. Now that I think about it, I understand why I love watching reaction videos, it's the joy of seeing someone watch your favourite show or play one of your favourite game for the first time, and you feel as happy as them. You know what will happen and expect the reations, but it's like you're discovering it again for the 1st time.
I played Mario Sunshine again after 10 years, but it really felt different. But if I watch someone playing it, I am happy.
Your production is beyond high quality. I've never played Skyrim before nor have I ever desired to watch a video about it, but your storytelling skills are one of a kind. Underrated is an understatement
Secunda always brings me back to playing Skyrim for the first time on my mom's PC on the night of my 11th birthday. I honestly cried when I unwrapped it.
⭐great video dude, I have felt this exact bittersweet scenario so many times with all of my favorite game and it just so nice to see somebody explore this often forgotten and underrated topic with lots of hope and optimism⭐
Great Video 🌟
As a junior in high school fall of 2019. I was going through it mentally. However I stumbled onto your page from one of your minecraft videos at the time and watching your videos was a good part of the day. I recently thought of this page and searched 20 minutes to find the page. I have been watching your videos nonstop for the past couple of days experiencing the nostalgia talked about in the video. Thank you meraki
that’s so lovely to hear, i’m glad you found me again :) and glad i could help during that time, i hope things are better for you
The initial magic can only happen once. But I think the magic staying lies in comfort and a sort of mind time travel. When I replay Twilight Princess every few years it brings me back to childhood and lots of sleepless nights gaming with my brother. We have no contact due to personal reasons. But it’s still a nice feeling. Video games are obviously a nice escape from reality. But they can also be an escape from time.
Also for me nostalgia is a reminder of the safety of video games. My favorite game of all time is big on that. It’s the black sheep of the series. Legend of Mana. That game got me through my parents divorce and moving away from childhood friends and getting used to my new stepfamily. Games are so important. I really wish I could properly convey their importance and magic to non gamers in a way that could break through their defenses.
Great job Meraki ! This is so cool to see you talking about nostalgia in video games. I haven't see a lot of people dealing with this topic, but, at the same time I think about it quite often. Keep on the good work !
What I love about your videos is how well you manage to show the world through your lens. Im probably 5~10 years older than you so many games that you cover were games that were released when I was starting to lose the magic of playing videogames.
I had that feeling that if I was younger I knew that I'd love playing those games, but at the same time my life was taking a different direction.
And it's almost as if through your lens I'm able to get the feeling of how it would be like if I was the same age as you when these games were released.
Thank you for sharing your perspective, your videos are amazing.
This is exactly what happens with for Minecraft, Iv been burnt out for awhile and every time I try to play again I can’t play for more then 5 minutes. I just don’t feel motivated to play? I’m not sure but anyways I just miss playing 360 chat with friends back in the good old days
After watching out for you return i really want to say please dont quit youtube. Your videos are really well made and edited and the scripts are really well written.
You know, I've been watching Meraki for a while and I think I just realized why I like his videos so much. His video style is kinda like a chill NakeyJakey video, but not so much so that he just seems like a copy. Also, I loved the video. Deffinatly a topic I tend to think of a lot, and it was really cool seeing someone actually talk about all of this in this way
I felt the same way about Skyrim it always gave me this warm feeling this comforting feeling that felt like home. Something about Skyrim atmosphere.
Bro is talking about nostalgia and pulls a Stardew Valley song at 4:48 ,wich instantly made me nostalgic...
I've started researching games as I play. I know this can interupt the flow, but it makes it more worthwhile for me as I like to learn. Bioshock was a great example, where I realised Dionysus Park was named after the Greek god, etc.
I've had that same feeling of burnout with a game. Minecraft, specifically. It's boring to play alone, hard to continue a build when you don't have the motivation, and just became stale in every way. Playtime limitations didn't help any of that either.
I haven't touched minecraft in a while, and when I do, I don't get that wonder that I had when I was young. So, I decided to play rlcraft, the hardest mod for minecraft. It's tough, and I've died countless times already, but it's been the most fun I've had with minecraft in a very, very long time. And it makes me realize that I'm not much of a builder, I like to explore and discover.
It's also the most terrified I've been since I first got the game.
My love and nostalgia for Halo is exactly like your love and nostalgia for Skyrim. It's a really hard feeling to put into words, but you did so very eloquently. Thank you for sharing! You have some great content on your channel!
thanks man :) glad you enjoyed
i have nostalgia for halo, but only played reach as a kid. wish i had played the other games in their prime :(
Just bingewatched some of your content man and I'm blown away. Keep grinding. You're only a few weeks/months from the algorithm giving all these videos a huge boost. Excellent quality and relatability to the viewer. If you ever need cool beats/video game music remixes for your vids let me know 💯
Hey Meraki!
I watched your video a couple of days ago, wanted to come back to say how much I love your channel. Also, this Wednesday I'm going to be revisiting a new Skyrim playthrough (it's been 5+ years at this point despite Skyrim holding a super warm memory to me too) I do recognize it was quite some time ago but I do admire your humility talking about a hard time in your life and want to say I'll be here to stay on your channel for quite some time. Sad to see YT algo isn't picking up your stuff lately but you definitely are putting out good videos worth it. It'll take off soon! Anyways take care, thanks for FINALLY convincing me to do another playthrough I'll let you know how it goes
Hei Meraki, great video as always
As a person who does not experience nostalgia this is very interesting. Not feeling the positive emotions other describe getting from nostalgia, I see it as more of a negative thing. I think there are two main problems that make nostalgia not worth it:
1. It ultimately leads to disappointment. No matter what we try, we can never relive the past, even without the idealizing aspect. While, I do think your approach to "rekindle old love" is good, focusing on new experiences rather than chasing after memories, there's still a fundamental problem; comparison. Your first playthrough was a new and therefore independed experience. Sure, you might have compared it to other games, but it was allowed to exist as its own thing. Every subsequent playthroug will lack that. You will always, conscious or not, compare it to previous playthroughs. This alone kills the magic that 'doing something for the first time' has. So, these attemps will end up feeling like they just lack something.
2. It's an escape mechanism. Now, there is nothing wrong with some escapism. But when we use it to tone out present hardship, then it can get questionable. I feel like nostalgia is often used like that. I think it's no coincidence that nostalgia is strongest when we're unhappy with the present and/or worried about the future. Uncertainty is scarry. You might feel nervous about starting a new game (assumption here, feel free to correct me ;D) and therefore opt for a game where you already know what to expect. The downside is that you possibly miss out because of that. How many odd and new games could you have played instead of trying to go back in time?
I don't wanna make this sound like an accusation. Just maybe shine some lights on the aspects of nostalgia that I see as problematic. Of course, I don't think it's a cerebral disease (wtf) or anything like that. Just, as someone who doesn't feel nostalgia: Sometimes we might be better off without it.
thanks for watching asti!!! appreciate the comment but cannot BELIEVE how you nailed me avoiding starting new games and opting for ones i know like the back of my head hahah
@@merakimerakimeraki 👀
This is so valid. Makes sense why I want to play so badly but feel this block and wish back to 12 year old me playing video games on bad monitors with the limewire burned cd was playing in the background 😭 god im old
I remember i played through the Bioshock Series back when those came out in 2007 and following.... Eversince then my focus in games changed drastically, like nowadays i will prefer rpgs and platformers over any shooter... BUT i just had this urge to try it again in 2023 and it felt SO magical to play through it again, that i literally played through the entire series in just a couple of days and it was one of the coolest things i did in 23.... It was a huge gap between 07 and 23, but it was definitely worth it... I still had the levels and characters sort of memorized, but everything still felt great. I had so much fun.
Man, we're a similar age and seem to have grown up with the same games. I was also hopelessly addicted to Dota.
Bro's got that trails in the sky ost!?
Return of the King
I envy the times in history we hadn't explored the majority of the world as a hole at times. We could explore areas and find new discoveries. Video games to me are just a safer substitute for this desire for adventure.
Hats off to you man! I I'm no gamer (or Gamer), but I still find myself clicking on these videos the moment I see them. It's the quality, really, and the essay-esque style of your videos that reels me in. And the vocab? *chefs kiss* Although it has an English plebe like me looking up definitions every other 30 seconds😂
Same here🙋♀️
thanks ladan :)
How do you regain the magic?
Me: amnesia, the most authentic way to play a game like it’s your first time
Meraki should have 63 million instead of 63k, still not bad for a small yt, KEEP THE GREAT WORK UP MAN LOVE YAH
It's called a sense of wonder. (that feeling of being a little kid again and not knowing anything and being awestruck by new stuff - the same feeling of traveling to another country and feeling like you are an alien visiting a new world) I got it playing Ultima and Daggerfall on PC. These were games for escapists wanting to escape the boring real world and enter into a fantasy world. IF that fantasy world is very well designed, pretty, and with lots of things to do and people to interact with, it makes you not want to leave. This is essentially what made MMORPG games like World of Warcraft popular. They gave you a big world to move about in with others and enter a fantasy realm. However.... the single player open World RPG is still the superior alternative because you are in control of when events happen. (the world centers around you and what you do to change it, whereas multiplayer RPG put you in the role of 'Mr. generic dude number 203424' out of 100000 players playing generic dudes all grinding and farming things for XP. "the rat race to become powerful")
Skyrim had just the right amount of action and rpg. Prior games had more freedom, but Skyrim gave a more cinematic opening that drew in the normies. (people that are not nerds) This game made it cool to play an open world rpg rather than a nerdy pursuit. It gave you control of a man who is the centre of the events within the world. The Chosen One. It made you feel like your action shapes the future. Other RPG did that but not in a dramatic way. I think that is the reason Skyrim is remembered by normies but Morrowind is liked by the nerds more. Morrowind made you feel like you were a foreigner in a truly alien world. Oblivion is just the dumbed down version of Morrowind with better graphics and lots of bloom effects. Skyrim on the other hand truly felt like an "EVENT" game. Where they pushed it as a big event on release. Release of Morrowind and Oblivion didn't have that. So that may be another reason Skyrim still gets hype more than previous ES games. Skyrim is the 'popcorn movie' aimed at the casual gamers, and Morrowind is the 'novel you are told you should read'. The move away from games with more deep mechanics and less flashy presentation... to games with dramatic openings that force you to get into the action and be on the run constantly from a a reoccurring threat was a decision to dumb rpg games down more which limits the replayability of the franchise. (you are told what you are right at the start of skyrim compared to other ES games that give players control over thier characters and who they are just like pen and paper RPG games) This need to appeal to casual gamers sort of killed the RPG depth of ES because it started out just being a game where you decide your fate. But with the sucess of Skyrim, it meant you would slowly lose control over what your character was in the fantasy world since the developers want to TELL you who you are more. This means if you don't fit the role the developers want to push you towards, it means you won't get a fresh new experience on replays.
So what games actually do feel fresh on replay? Now here is my recommendation to you:
Play Fallout New Vegas. Even if you don't like post apocalyptic settings, the rpg mechanics in this game lets you replay the game as different characters and you see the results of the decisions you make at the start. You will feel the "magic" you mention in the video because the creators of the games are experts at making proper RPG games where the decisions affect what happens in the world. It was what Pen and Paper Table Top RPG games also give. FONV has aged but with mods you will have a blast. (obsidian was the developers behind this one and were subcontracted by Bethesda to make it. The reason this is important is because Obsidian were involved in the original 2D fallout games which are thought of as some of the best games RPG games of all time due to how much your decisions affect the game. Eg playing a person of low intelligence and inability to speak will result in funny interaction with other NPC due to that low intelligence.)
If you ever get the time: research what made Fallout New Vegas loved by the nerds who play RPGs. Then download it to pc, play vanilla version, add mods later, and then review this game. Replay as different character and stream the differences in the experience you had playing the other character you play now compared to the first character you made. This change in how the game world works (the simulation aspect to RPG) based on how you built your character up, is what the CRPG game community wants more of. IE replayability of the game to get different experience each time.
That was a great video. Looking forward to more from you.
thanks steven! editing my next right now :)
Getting on my iPod every day to play Minecraft Pocket Edition back in 2013 just won't ever hit the same as it did than
I have never played skyrim- I've gotten really close more than once; but Call of Duty, Little Big Planet and Minecraft always got in the way. I even tried again pretty recently but dropped it after being @'d on discord to play CS (or whatever game I was playing at the time) a couple to many times before I got truly invested. These games take time to get into; I just never managed to. Great video as usual.
Honestly I got back into gaming in 2017 and dark souls 3 gave me that old magical feel.
I have similar feelings about Minecraft all the time. Last winter i played through minecraft caves and cliffs, finally beating the whole game elytra and all, for the first time no cheats, singleplayer. Its now getting cold again so I recently revisited this world, and it was odd how even though it was only a year ago that I played in that world, because of the music and even the sounds of the minecaft cows that have been ingrained in my head since elementary school, I had some pretty thick nostalgia.
anyway, awesome video. sorry for the essay comment lol.
glad to have you back
when you get older things don't look the same, it's not the games that change it's how you see them
Loved it. I subscribed! I don't know......a ball of chain sounds pretty awful to drag around too. Because I'm old, Sonic the Hedgehog came out when I was 13 and Christmas and that game still go hand and hand for me. God,....I wish it was better every year. Still love it. Keep up the good work. I'll be watching.
thanks for the kind words finn, i’m glad you enjoyed!
Great videos! What hair product do you use? Looking fly as hell
I just don't think any of the games I found magical have lost their magic except Minecraft.
Editing skills have been going Stonks recently not gonna lie bro! Intresting video topic aswell should be discussed more (:
hahaha this comment made my laugh. thanks rekh
YEAH BABYYYY MORE THAN ONE UPLOAD IN FALL
a fellow vermonter talking about nostalgia and videogames
we did it gg
best state :O
#1 most canada-like state (cool)
Bro wtf is this guy only at 63.7k subs, man wtf come on give this guy more subs
Haha bro, you need to hit modded Skyrim on PC. Whole new world
I also had an XBOX 360 on 2019 and played minecraft 1.14.4, since that was the only version i could play, and i also cheesed a racing game, literally, juked all police, even the fbi started to chase my car in-game. and i exploited the car repair station.
Your videos are so great. Humor was 10/10 in this one as well!
1:02 Yes, I was able to answer
Lad deserves a hell of a lot more subs.
it is always a glorious day when meraki uploads
and a glorious day and ztrppy comments
Good thought brother
Yes! Good to see you again.
Idk why but your face is literally hypnotic
I cant help but stare at your face 👁️👁️👁️👁️
Getting rammed backside by dark souls for hours on end when I first tried the xbox version is one of my biggest nostalgic memories, should I be worried?
damn we had the same childhood wtf. that mw2 xbox was sick
also great video! subbed.
thanks man!
great stuff as always!
I just have nostalgia for minecraft. Thats line the only game I play. (Love your vids btw.)
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I have been looking for world of goo for so long. I forgot the name of it and couldn’t explain it well enough to get the name from google. Ahahhhhhhh yes. Thank you
That last wisdom you mentioned, I had that with Stray. Within the first half hour I knew that this was going to be a game I would hold dear for a long time, and so I actively chose to limit my playing time to one hour and set up a ritual (cup of coffee, dim lights, bowl of potato chips) and take my sweet time to play through it. I would look forward to it each and every day. I still think of that period often.
I never thought I would capture this wonder again. I had it with Morrowind. I had it with Minecraft. But then years passed and nothing. Then Stray came out and made me hopeful that I can still derive wonder from video games like I did in my past.
Stray's atmosphere is incredible.
this comment made me add stray to my cart
I cant help bun mention that that definition of insanity is not the definition of insanity.
It's just this erroneous idea that people have come to accept.
Great vid though.
I cannot wait for the next elder scroll game its gonna be amazing I hope that will make games fun again. but playing games wont be the same, it is just not possible. the odd game that comes out ill be excited for but it wont capture me for very long. maybe we just seek how we felt before staying up late with friends playing games
we love meraki
meraki love you
7:44 Im running into that problem in Fallout. I run a melee/sniper build and it is the most fun Ive had. Ive tried all the different weapon types and things but that build is just too strong - when I take on stuff I forget Im weaker. So I just modded the game to make my character less powerful. Also the Sim Settlements 2 community has me playing with FO4 each day and having fun.
11:15 my Father drunk till the day he died trying to forget Vietnam. That joke isnt very funny.
Ive really enjoyed exploring some of your videos. Your def worth a sub/bell. Your pretty cool even if you like milkcaps :P
Loved this video!
thank you!
@@merakimerakimeraki Nostalgia is a tricky thing, you did a good job putting it into words
Every time I open your channel link in a new tab it takes me to some other dead YT channel lol.
He is literally one of the best looking man I've ever seen.
Where did you go?
i’m here! just busy irl. have a video on the way don’t worry
When Skyrim released I called in sick and stayed how for 2 weeks playing Skyrim 24/7. ⚔🐱🏹
Blamed it on arrow in the knee...
nice one, as always!
Meraki is a beautiful man.
Pog Man
legends speak of him
nice video, keep going and making good vids
Nice vid
I really love Skyrim too! Did you ever play fallout? specifically New Vegas or 3.
i’ve played quite a bit of new vegas! never beaten them tho 😔 it’s on my list
@@merakimerakimeraki haha can relate
The most popular creators in this field produce quality lower than Meraki. Sure they have excellent production and are on top for a reason, but the amount of time and effort put into every single second in these videos beats them all. You’ll make it there eventually.
The most popular commenters on the platform produce comments lower quality than Bradley. Sure, they use bigger words and are top commenters for a reason, but the amount of time and effort put into every single word of these comments bears them all. You’ll make it there eventually.
Def insane, but we all are...
comment for algorithm ♥♥ u meraki
You are an insane person.
Jk I'm exactly the same cool vid bro
I subbed😁
Please return
i will!
I Love yuouuuuuu !!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
ok I'm buying skyrim
Its a bad roleplaying game. Your creativity was stimulated to create your character. As a roleplaying game, skyrim is very bad at facilitating RP. big game doesnt want your character to overpower their game, otherwise we all be playing in cardboard boxes
my girlfriend has a happy crush on u wtf
𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖒 ✨
It's not nostalgia - 90% of my gaming was done between the age of 34 - 40....I've been gaming since 1980. I'm now almost 50 and have played maybe 4 games over the past 10 years... Nostalgia is a thing but modern games are pure psychological torture. I can't do it anymore.
great video bro :) you seem really fun to play a game with, do you have a discord or some way to reach you for that?