I'm still upset with the way Sony has handled these games. The lack of marketing for the sequel led to a disastrous release, and the competition at the time buried this underrated gem in terms of popularity. I love the characters, I love the world, I just wish that love was reciprocated by Sony themselves.
They most certainly will with future titles, they are now aware of the power of marketing. They'll make the most of it. Also, the marketing for GR2 wasn't poor, it was just released in a super busy window.
@@Xgil2Play most of the advertisement came from Japan and Europe, while America doesn't have any advertisement. if you have seen the trailers, you might though of Sony pushing the marketing of the game hard. Honestly, if it wasn't for them realizing FFXV and The Last Guardian would impact GR2, then it would've suffer the same fate as Tearaway: Unfolded.
add the fact that they released the sequel on another console... for those who only have a PS Vita and discovered the game first hand back in 2012 and don't have the monney for a PS4 to be able to play the #2, that's just an a** move. i know the Vita is mostly dead, but come on, they could've end it's life with this last spark...
@@CSK_T. Even before 2017 the Vita was just as much of a "it has no games lololol" 'joke' as the Wii-U or Microsoft with 1st party exclusives is though. They weren't wrong to put GR2 on a system with a _much_ larger install base (15 mil compared to 85+ million units), they just fucked everything *else* up and let it get overshadowed by their much larger titles. Besides I, and a lot of other people, never would've found this series had it not been on ps4, even if it was just because they keep putting it on sale.
That's probably something they should explore in future titles. I feel like compared to everything else in the game, Kat is rather overpowered. I just hope Lunar Style and Jupiter Style come back.
East Asia, espically Japan wants only long black haired white girls. Not blonde, tanned and/or black skin. According to the producers Kat is supposed to be a Gyaru (people who object Japan's beauty standard)
I love how klutzy you can feel in this game. I actually saw myself improve in handling the gravity fall power as I progressed to the point where I could fall so smoothly that it made my character do small flips and then she landed on her feet. It was simply amazing. Hardly any game makes you feel like a total klutz and a smooth lander as well. It has a unique effect in place where the more quick and finesse you are with the controls the smoother you perform things. But if you go at it too hard then you end up overshooting things and crashing everywhere. I love it. I think games like this have to implement a few more components for online play in order for them to survive longer. Imagine playing a game like this co-op instead of just racing their shadow. I think these days almost every game needs some kind of pve and pvp content for people to keep coming back.
I think a better term for this concept would be something like "Limited Power". "Disempowerment" should rather refer to a more extreme situation where you lose power and agency, like the snow level in Journey or the logic virus in Nier: Automata. Then an even more extreme version would be when someone else takes control in your actions, which I think has gone unexplored for the most part.
AMR15x A lack of something is not the same as taking it away. Not being 100% in control is not "disempowerment", because there was never any power to begin with.
@@maxbearington7565 like I said before to the other guy, you're getting too deep into the semantics of it. in gaming player empowerment is making a player feel strong. player disempowerment is the opposite if that. making a character feel weak. disempowerment has more than one definition too. look it up if you feel like arguing but disempowerment is absolutely correct.
AMR15x It doesn't really make anyone feel less in control, but actually feels more real. It would have to be less ability than in real life. It is merely different, not less. Semantics is the foundation of communication and can change the context of any situation, so we can't go too far.
The developers said that a 3rd game for the ps4/ps5 was very possible, but probably wouldn't be about Kat. And last o checked it's not in development, yet.
Not worth my time if Kat won’t be in the next game, yet, i have my religion based on this game, and if I want to proceed to live in hekseville i must work my way into it, and that’s it keep holding Kay’s legacy.
Oh my God, I just love sooooo much the Gravity Rush serie... it's just beautiful: the design the music, the characters, and THE movement system...it is perfect, at least to me. Before these games, I had never thought that just moving could be that fun! I love the unpredictability of the movements and I love to play with it; I think I have reached a point at which I can say that I know what I'm doing while alternating alterated gravity and normal gravity, and it is by far the most satisfying achievement I have reached, more than completing a chain of several combos, more than the acquisition of a new powerful ability. I hope that in future there will be more titles like these, able to put upside down the bases and turn them into something that even (or because) simple, can entertain as much, if not more, than something elaborated.
Gravity Rush 1&2 are my current favorite games (Got 1 when the PS4 remaster released and loved it ever since) and I looove this video! It's a new angle of why the game is so good that people don't talk about or if they do, they're using it as a negative point. I never complained about the controls and actually really loved them, and this video made me realize exactly why! I always thought the controls felt more natural. She's falling everywhere, hurdling through the sky, I think it's quite natural that it'd be more difficult to control. It's a right shame this well made video isn't more popular ♡
I'm not a gamer but my boyfriend is and he's trying to get me into games. Gravity Rush is the first real game I've explored on my own and I love it!! Can't wait to play it on the PS4 one day. Playing it on vita rn.
Darksiders 3 actually shows off what happens when you tell the player that he is insanely powerful, but then give him a disempowered character to match the dark souls like gameplay it tried to implement.
Im surprised you didnt mention how the director of the game had worked on horror games (Siren) before Gravity Rush, which might be one of the reason the "disempowerment" idea that's used in said horror games was so well done in the Gravity rush games
In an age where Critics review games in advance and discourse begins before release, Gravity Rush Remastered is the only game I bought because it was on sale and I loved the cover art! I never thought I would love this series so much that it would stand as one of my favorite games of the generation. It is also the best superhero game ever made!
"Disempowerment" how do you figure? You control a misterious being controling a Lovecraftian cosmic cat that makes you a gravity bending god... I felt this was one of the most freeing games I've played...only ever felt that with Prototype... My friend also complained about the controls but I got accostumed to them so fast...the rest of the game was so good to me that I honestly didn't feel this initial discomfort... Also, the combat felt solid to me...
GR and GR2 are among my top 5 favourite games ever like EVER. I still listen to its music almost everyday and feel nostalgic about rhe times I used to wander in the skies of cel shaded world of Hekseville and Jirga Para Lhao using Gravity Shifting. I totally agree with what u said u the video... Really really want they make GR3 soon...
I absolutely love segments in games where you have power taken away, because it forces you to work with what you have. I wish you did talk about the specific points in these games where it was like that, like the beginning of GR2 past being in the suit.
Oh my God. I've never heard of this game. I've always been trying to look for a game like this, a low poly physics based game with fluid but nuanced combat. Thank you!
I owned this title on the Vita, and quickly became frustrated with the controls and the lack of immediate gratification... I was wrong to rush... to such a conclusion... I will take another shot at this title again...
I fixed a lot of the GR controls by shifting thru the Lunar and Jupiter styles, and just getting used to them :p with wonky controls, u gotta learn how to work with them instead of against them Great video!
Thanks for the awesome review! The Gravity Rush games are some of my favorite games of all time! I never really thought about the whole disempowerment thing before. I always felt pretty awesome flying around and kicking butt, however, I have to admit I put in almost 200 hours into Gravity Rush 2 and sometimes still find the controls difficult. This doesn't make me hate the game at all, just makes me want to keep trying. A game that wants the player to master the complex controls instead of just making everything easy for the player to learn, I feel, are way more rewarding. Like you said, horror games have this down to a t. I think Gravity Rush's director, Keiichiro Toyama, knew this when making Gravity Rush seeing as he is the creator of both the Silent Hill and Siren series. Now I want to play more games like this. No horror though I can't handle it lol! Thanks for the video!
I can't tell you how much I adore gravity rush. Please please play at least the first one! (unless you have motion sickness. Then maybe don't) It is one of my top three favorite games of all time. Exploring that world was a genuine wondrous and child like experience! And mastering the inertia and wind up of Kats moves was so gratifying. You earned your strength, you get to fell bad ass in these games when you work at it. My only really big problem with gravity rush is the lack of secondary character development. Since the other characters are so cool it's sad you don't see much of them. But Kat and dusty will always have a very very special place in my heart.
I subbed cause of your godly writing. As soon as you started talking and explaining i realized how well you express everything and that's a defining characteristic that kept me interested until the end. And also because you did justice in this video to one of my favorite games (Gravity Rush) and I consider it to be extremely underrated.
I you want art you want drama, if you want drama you need conflict, if you need conflict you need obstacles, and power fantasies miss the point, however gratifying.
this is actually a super interesting take on these types of games, honestly I ended up getting frustrated with NieR, Shadow of the Collisions and Gravity rush- for the exact reasons you mentioned. I'd never really considered that it could be an intentional decision for 'dis-empowerment'. Great vid, I think I need to come back to these games with this in mind
this is the kind of game that i print the screen every 10 seconds while "flying", plus a mix of songs, can be the jazz from the game itself, its so good!!!
@@unicorntomboy9736 Last Guardian was by the same company who made ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and yes Ape escape need to be talked about and revived.
I absolutely love this kinda thing. I play most games on the hardest difficulty to try and get the rush of feeling accomplished, of feeling like I earned that victory. The same feeling I first experienced in Dark Souls, but it really goes away after the first playthrough, so you start applying extra difficulties to challenge yourself, until you get to the point where it's less rewarding and more tedious, which is a fine line often imposed by the players themselves.
Thank you for talking about controls. The original Resident Rvils gets shit on for tank controls, but just like silent hill, the controls informed the vulnerability. The Remake's inclusion of 3d controls in later releases really show how jarring and antithetical the movement is against the backdrop of the masion.
Nice video (and hair)! I've just bought GR 2 and that may be the reason why this video appeared in my feed. I'm already feeling the disempowerment that you're talking about - but let me just add something: in my opinion, this disempowerment bears more meaning when we're playing as a super strong character with super powers (rather than the disempowerment we expect in a horror game). Because, if we are that strong and able of unimaginable things, how can it be so complicated to control? It gives us the feeling that not everything about being a complete badass hero/heroine is just kicking asses and flying around the world. Great job, great video! I hope I enjoy this game as much as you seem to have enjoyed it!
I've only felt disempowerment in the sequel from Kat's time spent without Dusty and there were more moments of shifting being removed. Other than that, I felt they were more about mastering Kat's powers (and taming the camera) than being disempowered imo. I got used the controls. The way I played it felt more like a rush as I was darting myself around town doing gravity parkour Tokyo drift Tony Hawk Pro Shifter shit, Kamen Rider kicking and launching debris and tossing people in battle, while Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs is playing in my head. And after a bunch of upgrades I felt overpowered in the endgame. You are spot on about the reoccurring themes of rebellion and overcoming odds in the game's story. I dunno too much about Spidey other than the movies, but I think he and Kat are alike; they are superheroes but also kids so they're cheeky and down to earth, and they interact with the townsfolk and wanna help out, doing odd jobs and minor chores. Good to know the series is doing well in spite of Sony's treatment of it.
Why does this man only have 17k subs... His videos while a little niche at times are small masterpieces each in their own right. With his Gunpla one, it imposed a sense of zen upon me while this was more of a roused sense of interest and self-reflection upon my own gaming habits. Few content creators have ever gotten these reactions from me while watching a video. And for that, I hope he gains the audience he damn well deserves.
I think you're completely off the mark. I'm not saying any of this to be antagonistic by the way, I just genuinely don't agree with the thesis here. When you say you never feel in complete control of her flying, I have to say it's entirely subjective on your part. Merely flying and jumping around never was much of an issue to me. The depleting meter when using gravity shifting is as close as it gets to disempowering but it's such a non-issue than I don't understand why it's even there, since losing your power for a few seconds just means you'll fall back to normal gravity for a bit then it replenishes, having made you lost seconds at most. In bosses it can be annoying but it wastes your time, not much else. If anything I think it was a bad idea to have because it makes it impossible to forget which way is down and I think it's a shame, not having to go back down to earth has to potential to alienate you from the normal population even further. Showing Kat crashing to the floor and saying she 'almost never sticks the landing'... that's you letting it happen. A graceful landing is the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, just quickly stop your momentum before hitting the floor and that's it. No crash. Even if she crashes, it looks embarrassing for her but anyone else would have died, meanwhile she shrugs it off. You can find that disempowering but I just can't see it that way at all. Bumping into obstacles and civilians is a bigger issue in the sequel given the higher density of stuff everywhere, but drifting on the floor still shoves everything away. Including pedestrian. Hell you can make them fly, throw them off the cities, just like you can do to the military that attack you to the point that these normal humans are clearly at your mercy. The attacks she does on the ground are athletic enough to be beyond most of us. Obviously we can't fly so that's even further beyond our abilities. The wind up for the attacks is hardly that slow, even then it doesn't matter given that the enemies aren't any faster than you. The unreliability of the dive kick auto-aim is not disempowering cos it's still a powerful attack that looks radical, but it is certainly annoying. It just means you'll have to try again if Kat misses, you are at the mercy of a non-diegetic reticle that fly all over the screen without much consistency, not helped by an awkward control scheme that stops us from aiming the camera and pressing the relevant attack button at the same time (unless you do the Monster Hunter patented claw). But I don't see a theme in that, I just see thoughtless button layout. Mechanically, it all works fine enough, if the attack and boost button were on the shoulder of the controllers it would be a non issue because there wouldn't be a need for such aggressive auto-aim since you could correct your direction with more precision... on the fly. That's one of the two control issue I have with the game, the other being that no matter what you choose, switching gravity style is an inconvenient hassle. You can invest money into improving your defensive and offensive abilities, get devastating super moves, as you go through the game you also earn new powers, one that teleports your dive kick straight to your enemies and one that allows you to create massive shockwaves on impact and block almost any hit, hell you even get to transform into a cosmic panther for a while. All of this is typical video-game progression. I see nothing out of the ordinary here, nothing that's supposed to make Kat feel especially weak compared to any other character in any other series. If anything, after recently playing Darksiders 3, the naive blonde that regularly makes a fool out of herself feels three hundred times more powerful than the edgy horsewoman of the apocalypse that serves as D3's protagonist, despite it being a flashy action game. So I just don't see your point here.
You just handwaved everything with player skill and how annoying some mechanics are as if it gets rid of the intention behind it all. Nearly everything you describe as the issues saying they're no big deal doesn't mean that's not the point. They're not supposed to be a big deal, it's all a bunch of minor things, it's more like subtle disempowerment. It's clearly intentional how the controls are, I'm sure there are people so good at the game they never miss a Gravity Kick, but that's player skill. Disempowerment doesn't relate to player skill. You could look at the garbage that is Superman64 and see how crazy good some people are at it. And he wasn't saying there is no empowerment, like Kat is almost literally a comicbook hero, just really clumsy.
@@RyleyHawke That's a weird bunch of arguments to make. Ironically, it looks like you're jumping through hoops, Superman 64 style, to justify awkward designs as somehow deliberate and thoughtful decisions on the devs part. Yet Superman 64 (double irony, Superman is the archetype of the power-fantasy) is a great example that games can be crap. It happens. Why would the Gravity Rush devs be above making poor choices, even if their games are on the whole good ? Because it's far more likely the few control issues present within the game are just that : poor choices that weren't fully thought-out. But let's pretend that they deliberately tried to weaken the player through some uncomfortable control scheme and unreliable auto-aim; the fact that it's so easily overcome or devoid of any real consequences would negate that intent pretty hard. Cos Gravity Rush isn't Superman 64, you don't need mad MLG skills to control Kat. It's so minor, so subtle as to be easily mistaken for your average flaw in the video game landscape, at that point if that was their intent, it'd be worth asking : were they even trying ? Well, no, it's clear they weren't since the few powers that were unwiedly in the first game were buffed in the sequel, making you noticeably stronger. Better yet, you only get your power after a lengthy and obvious display of powerlessness where your character needs to be rescued and gets scolded for her incompetence, getting your powers after that makes the contrast, well, empowering ! By default ! It's very very hard to believe that the devs were sneakily trying to make you feel weak by overtly making you stronger than ever. There's so much empowerment in that game and so little of the inverse, but there is in fact some instances where Kat is stripped of her power or agency, when that happens there's nothing subtle about it. So I still don't see any reason not to handwave this talk of disempowerment away.
You pretty much made my point honestly, I know I wasn't exactly great in my argument lol. As long as you understand the point of view, I'm not saying you're wrong, just I think that the video is more right than what you started with about being off mark.
Also since when does it need consequence to be attached to limited control or disempowerment? A consequence attached to forced limitations is the opposite of fun.
@@RyleyHawke Oh okay. Perhaps it's true that the video isn't "completely" off mark but the main thesis is definitely not something I find accurate so it kind of falls apart altogether for me.
Hey! I Stumbled upon your content - I've watched your entire back catalogue now. I can't believe you don't have more views, this video is a great little analysis, your editing is great and your narration never drags on past the point of "we get it already"
Halo CE had is own entire level of disempowerment, that level is called the library. Well, when you play it a lot of times, you start to memorize the checkpoints and spam points of the enemies, then it can be really fun to kill tons of flood enemies, but that is after play a lot that level, the first time is terrifying and you feel hopeless, like you want to run and get out of there quickly but you have to follow a freaking flying phychopath ball, which is your only way to find what are you looking for or at least get out of that place and at the same time, confront an entire army of really angry, fast and scary zombies. According to the books even master chief himself was terrified that day.
that duality between disempowerment and empowerment, reminds me alot of Monster Hunter, and it's game design. specifically the older games on the 3DS and PSP. some people called them bad or clunky, mainly slow, but that's not really the case, it's just much more precise than it's World counterpart, you have to time each hit. as for the duality I was talking about, I meant how the game does alot to disempower the player by making them weak and hiding the boss' health bar, but then empowers the player through the feeling of success after each hunt. anyways that's all I wanted to say and point out. also also, the intro seemed so different than Gravity Rush that for a moment there I thought it was an ad. 😂
sadly some people never grow out of being obsessed with that power fantasy. many never expand their interests. give things they don't already know they enjoy a shot. they don't try to understand why people can like something they don't. it's unfortunate but humanities growth is very limited.
I can relate with your taste on media moving away from overpowered player characters (except through books instead). One of my favourite Japanese novels with a darker theme that I'm currently reading, "The Shaman Can't Become a Hero" focuses on a bunch of high school students who end up taken into a fantasy world (by forces and for reasons mostly unknown so far). Sounds kinda bog standard? The twist is the fact that the fantastical abilities the MC receives are extremely underwhelming compared to others of his former class, which is contrasted by short intermissions of the shenanigans of the overpowered students. This shows on the characters, as the OP ones slaughtering their way through the dungeon treat it like a mild challenge or a fun RPG while the MC was almost killed by the weakest monsters just a few paragraphs ago, surviving only through meticulous planning and ingenious use of his magic skills (and a contingency plan or three on occasion). I recommend this to anyone wondering what the background characters would do in situations our protagonist solves effortlessly.
I actually got into Gravity Rush because of this video. After I got a PS4 it was one of the first games I bought. And, looking back to what you said in this video I only have agreement to your notion. It was an Experience that was unique to Gravity Rush. This game has a unique charm that is exclusive to it and I too wish that there were more games like these. All in all, I would like to thank you for making this video, without this I wouldn't have experience this underrated masterpiece
i hear that one of the silet hill original team work in gravity rush. that would help to explain using game some of his game desing. I totaly agree with you i love to travel to fantasy world that feel real . Cruel caotic and full with characters with defects. Sadly most people in young ages usualy love his power and is never going to be mainstream stuff but... i kind of feel good about that
Dude is showing his trademarks. Silent Hill and Siren were also critized for having a bad camera and clunky controls. Feels like Akira Yamaoka and Matsuhiro Ito are the only relevant Team Silent members to the gaming community.
As someone who grew up playing video games more than viewing non interactive media, my perspective is that Interactivity IS empowerment. The greatest disempowerment is being a completely passive observer. If there is no interactivity, there is absolutely nothing I can do to affect what's going on. The perfect example are game cutscenes where you can't do anything and that's usually where something tragic happens. If you had control, you could should the enemy before they kill your friend. I think for a lot of people, when there is no interactivity at all, they don't get anxious and feel the need to take control. Maybe they're not as used to interactive narratives. If you have power (interactivity) and then it is taken away, that feels different from never having it in the first place. My default is interactivity.
Thanks, mighty Algorightm for showing this channel in my reccomrnded feed. All the content is of such quality, it should be far more popular. I'll do my best to spread it :-)
I knew almost nothing about these games or even knew they existed, but after playing GR 2, I fell in love with it. I am hoping for a GR 3 for the future PS5
it's like Playing Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005 of course), when you don't have tight control around your car but you mastered the skill, even though you struggle, it even adds to the satisfaction when you execute it perfectly. like that scene in Cowboy Bebop when spike flies his SwordShip spaceship, you can see through the animation that there is a struggle happens between him and his Ship. or in End of Evangelion when Asuka's struggles within her Eva unit 02 to defeat the Eva series, you can see that she's trying to rush in before the kill and seconds later the Eva 02 complies. i had those moments in Ace Combat 2 and 4, the AC2 was my childhood so i mastered it very well, but many years after i played Ace Combat 4 there is a mission that goes unexpectedly and you fight the equivalent of a CPU who cheats, in that moment you can sense all the limitations that the chosen plane can handle that creates that some sort of bond between you and the game and the Player and his Jet. i feel that limitations are made so we can go beyond, so i love those kind of games that's why most of my Nintendo Switch games are NeoGeo ports, but if i would pick a game that can combine the two elements of being in control and the players Disempowerment is non other than Jagged Alliance 2 and i know that because i played this game and replayed this game for the past 19 Years, and there was nothing that could come any close to that sentient satisfaction when you kill an enemy, nothing could imitate or surpass it's depth in the Mechanics nothing to this day can surpass it's brilliance while on the surface look like an uninspired Mercenary battle, it's only when you struggle and dive deep enough you can understand. i sincerely think i am privileged to have played this game.
Liked your take on disempowered, good video. I actually kinda expected this video to be more about gameplay mechanics, so I am gonna add my perspective here. Disempowerment can be a fantastic tool, to create interesting gameplay, by removing part of your toolset and having you rely on your other abilties to make it through. For example losing your weapons in a campaign and having to work around the holes this leaves in your options, can be more enjoyable at times then having everything. Though on the other side of this are bad implementations, like forced stealth-sections, so disempowerment has to be carefully implemented.
Gravity Rush is, literally, the reason I bought a Vita, and I do not regret it in the slightest. Sure, I've found plenty of other Vita games to love since then, but Gravity Rush is, literally the reason I bought it. I absolutely adored this game, and was honestly kinda pissed that the sequel came out on PS4, cause I don't own one. A part of me is even debating buying one with the intention of playing the Remaster and 2, but I also kinda need a decent TV for that, as well, sooo... The whole Gravity Shift thing is excellent, and it worked exactly how I'd always imagined something like this would. The whole fly/falling thing was also so much fun, and even the whole 'limited power' thing didn't bother me since you didn't need to do something stupid like actually touch the ground or something before it would refill. I always remember coming close to running out of power, and just re-aiming myself to fall "up" until it died out, and falling until it recovered, then continuing fly/falling/wall running on my way.
I absolutely loved the first game and I exactly fell in love with the mechanics, story really just wraps its all up. I really want to play the second game if I ever get the chance.
This and shadow of colossus r 2 of my favs. Its weird but i loved the controls and animations of both games. To me its more realistic when their bodies flail and move clumsily
This was a really interesting analysis. GR was the first game I got on my vita, and I had a lot of fun. I haven't gotten around getting a ps4 yet, but I know which game I'm playing first. I've come from RagnarRox to say hi!
I saw a lot of games reviews. A lot saying the game was great visually. However the controls issue, where folks complaints about the game. Thanks for this review!!! Now I’m planning on getting this game.
im enjoying this game (more specific, Gravity Rush 2) even after i finished it 3 times, first time got annoyed by the controls but then got used to it, now im using lunar style in the main world just because of the satisfaction of each jump
Glad to see more people liking this underrated gem. Definitely one of my favorites. I know that chances are slim, but I still hope we'll eventually get a sequel. Also, I always found it funny how people keep saying Kat is not a looker, while she is a perfect 10/10 and one of if not the most beautiful girls in the game. Well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I suppose.
Hello, I stumbled upon your channel and looked some videos. This one make me think you could find a lot of things of values in Crosscode, a recent (and very polished) indie game. The main character is strong in battle, but suffers a lot of other issues that disempower her in some way or another. (and the gameplay is very good too)
Man GR1 is my favorite game of all time but too bad GR2 never clicked with me. The second game moved over to a more modern "anime" style. It's cool and all but the first game was more like a classic Ghibli movie compared to the rainbow and sunshine style that we got in the sequel.
Rain world is a game that executes disempowerment incredibly well. You are a prey, lost in a world you don't know, the controls are.. interesting... And everyday is a challenge. Really recommend it
i really really REALLY love the gravity rush series. when it came out for vita back then, i was super sad that i will never get to play it. i finished both of the games in ps4 and i totally could go for more. sadly not many people are aware of this game. it's kinda sad. in fact NONE OF THE PEOPLE I KNOW even played this game.
Not to mention the whole city throughout the whole of both games treat Kat like garbage. She does so much; saves people, fixes things, helps people with errands, solves crises, etc. People regularly act entitled of her time and hard work and act like she's somehow unreasonably incompetent for helping if she was going to not read their mind and do everything they ask as perfectly and precisely as they want. AND THAT has such a huge payoff by the end. With all the themes of social corruption and toxic human nature tackled in this game, it's incredible how such a powerful character is accentuated to be almost wholly unable to change ANY thing. It's true disempowerment, not so much mechanically (although she is unavoidably a klutz, and I think that's FUCKING ADORABLE), but more so contextually. She's a doormat. She gets pissed, she gets discouraged, but she takes it all on the chin. It makes her so endearing. Her back story may be some vague lofty mystery, but she has this unmistakably lovable down to earth character about her. And it's not arbitrary disempowerment for the sake of protest against overplayed and increasingly thoughtless empowerment fantasies, but for the sake of exploring themes of empowerment itself. The thing that makes a fantasy where you have powers beyond what you have in reality so compelling is using those powers to face situations that make you feel powerless; usually allegory for situations you face in real life. I think anyone in a middle class or even lower class of living can relate to Kat. Sure, you might have a home and a PS4 to play Gravity Rush. But someone somewhere wants to step on you and watch you squirm. Government. Your boss. Neighbors. People who pretend to be your friend but just want to use you as a means to an end. It's empowering to see and experience a character who is essentially a super hero go through those same struggles and feel just as powerless as you are in the real world. She uses her powers to do things most people can do without powers. She delivers mail, she carries luggage, she escorts people around. Her gravity shifting is most akin a bike or a taxi cab in our reality. It's her constitution and her unwavering integrity in the face of uncertainty and constant rejection that makes her experience so captivating and inspiring. Gravity Rush is great man.
The primary game play elements that you describe as leading to a sense of dis-empowerment were inertia in falling as well as the windup to attacks. I wouldn't describe this as dis-empowerment of the player as much as forcing the player to commit to their actions. It's less that you're not powerful, and more that the world doesn't forgive your fuck ups nearly as easily as other games that'll allow you to cancel actions midway through, so you can dodge exactly when you realize you've made a mistake. . . . So, basically what I'm saying is Gravity Rush is the Dark Souls of falling
I'm still upset with the way Sony has handled these games. The lack of marketing for the sequel led to a disastrous release, and the competition at the time buried this underrated gem in terms of popularity. I love the characters, I love the world, I just wish that love was reciprocated by Sony themselves.
They most certainly will with future titles, they are now aware of the power of marketing. They'll make the most of it.
Also, the marketing for GR2 wasn't poor, it was just released in a super busy window.
@@Xgil2Play I agree. It had animations and a lot of interesting ads used to advertise it, Jesus. It just wasn't a good release period.
@@Xgil2Play most of the advertisement came from Japan and Europe, while America doesn't have any advertisement. if you have seen the trailers, you might though of Sony pushing the marketing of the game hard.
Honestly, if it wasn't for them realizing FFXV and The Last Guardian would impact GR2, then it would've suffer the same fate as Tearaway: Unfolded.
add the fact that they released the sequel on another console... for those who only have a PS Vita and discovered the game first hand back in 2012 and don't have the monney for a PS4 to be able to play the #2, that's just an a** move. i know the Vita is mostly dead, but come on, they could've end it's life with this last spark...
@@CSK_T. Even before 2017 the Vita was just as much of a "it has no games lololol" 'joke' as the Wii-U or Microsoft with 1st party exclusives is though. They weren't wrong to put GR2 on a system with a _much_ larger install base (15 mil compared to 85+ million units), they just fucked everything *else* up and let it get overshadowed by their much larger titles.
Besides I, and a lot of other people, never would've found this series had it not been on ps4, even if it was just because they keep putting it on sale.
If kat taked falling damage these games would be a nightmare
If you use dodge just before Kat hit the ground it would not be a nightmare.
It you can't dodge fall damage it would be a rage game
That's probably something they should explore in future titles. I feel like compared to everything else in the game, Kat is rather overpowered. I just hope Lunar Style and Jupiter Style come back.
*took
Taked.....
Kat isnt a looker? She‘s super hot
Agreed
By east asian standards, no since they often advertise whitening creams and skin bleaching.
East Asians culture don't like colored skin, they wanna look as pale as possible.
East Asia, espically Japan wants only long black haired white girls. Not blonde, tanned and/or black skin. According to the producers Kat is supposed to be a Gyaru (people who object Japan's beauty standard)
@@Asehhar gyaru is supposed to be a fashion trend, but not necessarily dark in skin color
The "ganguro" in the vid makesuch more sense.
I love how klutzy you can feel in this game. I actually saw myself improve in handling the gravity fall power as I progressed to the point where I could fall so smoothly that it made my character do small flips and then she landed on her feet. It was simply amazing. Hardly any game makes you feel like a total klutz and a smooth lander as well. It has a unique effect in place where the more quick and finesse you are with the controls the smoother you perform things. But if you go at it too hard then you end up overshooting things and crashing everywhere. I love it. I think games like this have to implement a few more components for online play in order for them to survive longer. Imagine playing a game like this co-op instead of just racing their shadow. I think these days almost every game needs some kind of pve and pvp content for people to keep coming back.
This comment feels like it could be about Outer Wilds
I think a better term for this concept would be something like "Limited Power".
"Disempowerment" should rather refer to a more extreme situation where you lose power and agency, like the snow level in Journey or the logic virus in Nier: Automata.
Then an even more extreme version would be when someone else takes control in your actions, which I think has gone unexplored for the most part.
the term is called disempowerment. that's the word. limited power is the same thing. you're just saying it differently for the sake of semantics.
AMR15x A lack of something is not the same as taking it away. Not being 100% in control is not "disempowerment", because there was never any power to begin with.
@@maxbearington7565 like I said before to the other guy, you're getting too deep into the semantics of it. in gaming player empowerment is making a player feel strong. player disempowerment is the opposite if that. making a character feel weak. disempowerment has more than one definition too. look it up if you feel like arguing but disempowerment is absolutely correct.
AMR15x It doesn't really make anyone feel less in control, but actually feels more real. It would have to be less ability than in real life. It is merely different, not less.
Semantics is the foundation of communication and can change the context of any situation, so we can't go too far.
@@maxbearington7565 I don't see how that relates. realism is a different thing than empowerment or disempowerment.
Still holding out for the 3rd game.
Same.
The developers said that a 3rd game for the ps4/ps5 was very possible, but probably wouldn't be about Kat. And last o checked it's not in development, yet.
Not worth my time if Kat won’t be in the next game, yet, i have my religion based on this game, and if I want to proceed to live in hekseville i must work my way into it, and that’s it keep holding Kay’s legacy.
@@stro-berry7880 As much as I love Kat, I trust the developers to make a great game that I will enjoy even without her if they so choose.
I love this game, gives me a feel of anime "Made in Abyss"
Am I the only one who quickly flickers the gravity on and off close to the ground for a soft landing then?
Oh my God, I just love sooooo much the Gravity Rush serie... it's just beautiful: the design the music, the characters, and THE movement system...it is perfect, at least to me. Before these games, I had never thought that just moving could be that fun! I love the unpredictability of the movements and I love to play with it; I think I have reached a point at which I can say that I know what I'm doing while alternating alterated gravity and normal gravity, and it is by far the most satisfying achievement I have reached, more than completing a chain of several combos, more than the acquisition of a new powerful ability. I hope that in future there will be more titles like these, able to put upside down the bases and turn them into something that even (or because) simple, can entertain as much, if not more, than something elaborated.
Gravity Rush 1&2 are my current favorite games (Got 1 when the PS4 remaster released and loved it ever since) and I looove this video! It's a new angle of why the game is so good that people don't talk about or if they do, they're using it as a negative point. I never complained about the controls and actually really loved them, and this video made me realize exactly why! I always thought the controls felt more natural. She's falling everywhere, hurdling through the sky, I think it's quite natural that it'd be more difficult to control. It's a right shame this well made video isn't more popular ♡
I'm not a gamer but my boyfriend is and he's trying to get me into games. Gravity Rush is the first real game I've explored on my own and I love it!! Can't wait to play it on the PS4 one day. Playing it on vita rn.
Try out Transistor from Super Giant Games.
Darksiders 3 actually shows off what happens when you tell the player that he is insanely powerful, but then give him a disempowered character to match the dark souls like gameplay it tried to implement.
Honestly Gravity Rush and Soul Sacrafice gave me a good 100+ hours of life that I am glad I used on them.
Im surprised you didnt mention how the director of the game had worked on horror games (Siren) before Gravity Rush, which might be one of the reason the "disempowerment" idea that's used in said horror games was so well done in the Gravity rush games
Keiichiro Toyama is also the creator of Silent Hill, which goes to show the man have a gift for creating cult classics.
I feel like gravity rush is a masterpiece
More than Nier Automata?
A hidden gem at that.
@@unicorntomboy9736 why can´t both be masterpieces? They were such fantastic pieces of art
@@mondayheadache1402 I agree
(I actually forget that I commented here)
Man I wish they ported it to PC so they don't fall into oblivion in older platforms.
How is she ugly in the game? She looks great! The clothing looks cool too.
It's not that she's ugly to us, but traditional Japanese beauty standards, she defies that. So she's not seen as conventionally attractive.
@@gretathuumberg Wouldn't that make her unconventionally attractive? I just don't see anything wrong with her.
@@danielhuelsman76 same
And yeah, I guees
Japanese glorify pale white skin, and not darker skin
@@danielhuelsman76 Again, it's easier to see that from our own perspective. Japanese people have entirely different standards for beauty.
In an age where Critics review games in advance and discourse begins before release, Gravity Rush Remastered is the only game I bought because it was on sale and I loved the cover art! I never thought I would love this series so much that it would stand as one of my favorite games of the generation. It is also the best superhero game ever made!
"Disempowerment" how do you figure?
You control a misterious being controling a Lovecraftian cosmic cat that makes you a gravity bending god...
I felt this was one of the most freeing games I've played...only ever felt that with Prototype...
My friend also complained about the controls but I got accostumed to them so fast...the rest of the game was so good to me that I honestly didn't feel this initial discomfort...
Also, the combat felt solid to me...
GR and GR2 are among my top 5 favourite games ever like EVER. I still listen to its music almost everyday and feel nostalgic about rhe times I used to wander in the skies of cel shaded world of Hekseville and Jirga Para Lhao using Gravity Shifting. I totally agree with what u said u the video... Really really want they make GR3 soon...
I think this game was created by the creator of Silent hill game Keiichiro Toyama
I absolutely love segments in games where you have power taken away, because it forces you to work with what you have.
I wish you did talk about the specific points in these games where it was like that, like the beginning of GR2 past being in the suit.
Oh my God.
I've never heard of this game.
I've always been trying to look for a game like this, a low poly physics based game with fluid but nuanced combat.
Thank you!
I owned this title on the Vita, and quickly became frustrated with the controls and the lack of immediate gratification... I was wrong to rush... to such a conclusion... I will take another shot at this title again...
Being clumsy is the epitome of East Asian beauty standard for anime-sequels characters
still wishing for gravity rush 3 bc we dk what happened to kat still, note there is a way to have a smooth landing most people just dk it lol
I fixed a lot of the GR controls by shifting thru the Lunar and Jupiter styles, and just getting used to them :p with wonky controls, u gotta learn how to work with them instead of against them
Great video!
i'm all for disempowerment in games, but you don't have to break my legs (shoddy controls) to accomplish that.
Yeah I'll never forgive sony for screwing over gravity rush. 2 was so damn good and we'll never have another.
Kinda angry about how good this is.
I feel disempowered by this game not being available on PC.
Despite being at least 3/4 of the way through the video, I will pick up Gravity Rush and come back afterwards
I think Kat is beautiful, and definately like her more than other characters in the game. I even think Kat is more beautiful than Raven.
Thanks for the awesome review! The Gravity Rush games are some of my favorite games of all time! I never really thought about the whole disempowerment thing before. I always felt pretty awesome flying around and kicking butt, however, I have to admit I put in almost 200 hours into Gravity Rush 2 and sometimes still find the controls difficult. This doesn't make me hate the game at all, just makes me want to keep trying. A game that wants the player to master the complex controls instead of just making everything easy for the player to learn, I feel, are way more rewarding. Like you said, horror games have this down to a t. I think Gravity Rush's director, Keiichiro Toyama, knew this when making Gravity Rush seeing as he is the creator of both the Silent Hill and Siren series. Now I want to play more games like this. No horror though I can't handle it lol! Thanks for the video!
This game series has always interested me. Looking at it through this lens only makes it more intriguing!
I can't tell you how much I adore gravity rush. Please please play at least the first one! (unless you have motion sickness. Then maybe don't) It is one of my top three favorite games of all time. Exploring that world was a genuine wondrous and child like experience! And mastering the inertia and wind up of Kats moves was so gratifying. You earned your strength, you get to fell bad ass in these games when you work at it. My only really big problem with gravity rush is the lack of secondary character development. Since the other characters are so cool it's sad you don't see much of them. But Kat and dusty will always have a very very special place in my heart.
Kat is a better waifu than 2B Fite me
I see you're a man of culture as well.
I subbed cause of your godly writing. As soon as you started talking and explaining i realized how well you express everything and that's a defining characteristic that kept me interested until the end. And also because you did justice in this video to one of my favorite games (Gravity Rush) and I consider it to be extremely underrated.
I you want art you want drama, if you want drama you need conflict, if you need conflict you need obstacles, and power fantasies miss the point, however gratifying.
Digging the Nier music at the start
I like how you used the soundtrack of the game in the background 👍
It is this feeling of disempowerment and having to overcome obstacles way stronger than you is what’s made me fall in love with the Dark Souls series
this is actually a super interesting take on these types of games, honestly I ended up getting frustrated with NieR, Shadow of the Collisions and Gravity rush- for the exact reasons you mentioned. I'd never really considered that it could be an intentional decision for 'dis-empowerment'. Great vid, I think I need to come back to these games with this in mind
this is the kind of game that i print the screen every 10 seconds while "flying", plus a mix of songs, can be the jazz from the game itself, its so good!!!
Gravity Daze deserve to be talked about more since it was made by the same person who made the Forbidden Siren series.
What about ape escape and last guardian too
@@unicorntomboy9736 Last Guardian was by the same company who made ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and yes Ape escape need to be talked about and revived.
@@aeontheyearningyouth2934 I meant wasn't Gravity daze made by Same developers as ape escape
@@unicorntomboy9736 IDK the only thing I know is the peson who made Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren, sorry.
When you want to play this shit but don't have a PlayStation :(
Not even available on steam :(
I absolutely love this kinda thing. I play most games on the hardest difficulty to try and get the rush of feeling accomplished, of feeling like I earned that victory. The same feeling I first experienced in Dark Souls, but it really goes away after the first playthrough, so you start applying extra difficulties to challenge yourself, until you get to the point where it's less rewarding and more tedious, which is a fine line often imposed by the players themselves.
Thank you for talking about controls.
The original Resident Rvils gets shit on for tank controls, but just like silent hill, the controls informed the vulnerability. The Remake's inclusion of 3d controls in later releases really show how jarring and antithetical the movement is against the backdrop of the masion.
2 days ago i got the platinum trophy for the second one , and i loved them both . You do gonna need a good sense of direction playing them :D
Nice video (and hair)! I've just bought GR 2 and that may be the reason why this video appeared in my feed. I'm already feeling the disempowerment that you're talking about - but let me just add something: in my opinion, this disempowerment bears more meaning when we're playing as a super strong character with super powers (rather than the disempowerment we expect in a horror game). Because, if we are that strong and able of unimaginable things, how can it be so complicated to control? It gives us the feeling that not everything about being a complete badass hero/heroine is just kicking asses and flying around the world. Great job, great video! I hope I enjoy this game as much as you seem to have enjoyed it!
I've only felt disempowerment in the sequel from Kat's time spent without Dusty and there were more moments of shifting being removed. Other than that, I felt they were more about mastering Kat's powers (and taming the camera) than being disempowered imo. I got used the controls. The way I played it felt more like a rush as I was darting myself around town doing gravity parkour Tokyo drift Tony Hawk Pro Shifter shit, Kamen Rider kicking and launching debris and tossing people in battle, while Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs is playing in my head. And after a bunch of upgrades I felt overpowered in the endgame.
You are spot on about the reoccurring themes of rebellion and overcoming odds in the game's story. I dunno too much about Spidey other than the movies, but I think he and Kat are alike; they are superheroes but also kids so they're cheeky and down to earth, and they interact with the townsfolk and wanna help out, doing odd jobs and minor chores.
Good to know the series is doing well in spite of Sony's treatment of it.
I do like how some challenges limited you to a certain style so you had to learn the whole moveset
Why does this man only have 17k subs... His videos while a little niche at times are small masterpieces each in their own right. With his Gunpla one, it imposed a sense of zen upon me while this was more of a roused sense of interest and self-reflection upon my own gaming habits. Few content creators have ever gotten these reactions from me while watching a video. And for that, I hope he gains the audience he damn well deserves.
I think you're completely off the mark. I'm not saying any of this to be antagonistic by the way, I just genuinely don't agree with the thesis here.
When you say you never feel in complete control of her flying, I have to say it's entirely subjective on your part. Merely flying and jumping around never was much of an issue to me. The depleting meter when using gravity shifting is as close as it gets to disempowering but it's such a non-issue than I don't understand why it's even there, since losing your power for a few seconds just means you'll fall back to normal gravity for a bit then it replenishes, having made you lost seconds at most. In bosses it can be annoying but it wastes your time, not much else. If anything I think it was a bad idea to have because it makes it impossible to forget which way is down and I think it's a shame, not having to go back down to earth has to potential to alienate you from the normal population even further.
Showing Kat crashing to the floor and saying she 'almost never sticks the landing'... that's you letting it happen. A graceful landing is the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, just quickly stop your momentum before hitting the floor and that's it. No crash. Even if she crashes, it looks embarrassing for her but anyone else would have died, meanwhile she shrugs it off. You can find that disempowering but I just can't see it that way at all.
Bumping into obstacles and civilians is a bigger issue in the sequel given the higher density of stuff everywhere, but drifting on the floor still shoves everything away. Including pedestrian. Hell you can make them fly, throw them off the cities, just like you can do to the military that attack you to the point that these normal humans are clearly at your mercy.
The attacks she does on the ground are athletic enough to be beyond most of us. Obviously we can't fly so that's even further beyond our abilities. The wind up for the attacks is hardly that slow, even then it doesn't matter given that the enemies aren't any faster than you.
The unreliability of the dive kick auto-aim is not disempowering cos it's still a powerful attack that looks radical, but it is certainly annoying. It just means you'll have to try again if Kat misses, you are at the mercy of a non-diegetic reticle that fly all over the screen without much consistency, not helped by an awkward control scheme that stops us from aiming the camera and pressing the relevant attack button at the same time (unless you do the Monster Hunter patented claw). But I don't see a theme in that, I just see thoughtless button layout. Mechanically, it all works fine enough, if the attack and boost button were on the shoulder of the controllers it would be a non issue because there wouldn't be a need for such aggressive auto-aim since you could correct your direction with more precision... on the fly. That's one of the two control issue I have with the game, the other being that no matter what you choose, switching gravity style is an inconvenient hassle.
You can invest money into improving your defensive and offensive abilities, get devastating super moves, as you go through the game you also earn new powers, one that teleports your dive kick straight to your enemies and one that allows you to create massive shockwaves on impact and block almost any hit, hell you even get to transform into a cosmic panther for a while.
All of this is typical video-game progression.
I see nothing out of the ordinary here, nothing that's supposed to make Kat feel especially weak compared to any other character in any other series. If anything, after recently playing Darksiders 3, the naive blonde that regularly makes a fool out of herself feels three hundred times more powerful than the edgy horsewoman of the apocalypse that serves as D3's protagonist, despite it being a flashy action game. So I just don't see your point here.
You just handwaved everything with player skill and how annoying some mechanics are as if it gets rid of the intention behind it all.
Nearly everything you describe as the issues saying they're no big deal doesn't mean that's not the point. They're not supposed to be a big deal, it's all a bunch of minor things, it's more like subtle disempowerment.
It's clearly intentional how the controls are, I'm sure there are people so good at the game they never miss a Gravity Kick, but that's player skill.
Disempowerment doesn't relate to player skill. You could look at the garbage that is Superman64 and see how crazy good some people are at it.
And he wasn't saying there is no empowerment, like Kat is almost literally a comicbook hero, just really clumsy.
@@RyleyHawke That's a weird bunch of arguments to make. Ironically, it looks like you're jumping through hoops, Superman 64 style, to justify awkward designs as somehow deliberate and thoughtful decisions on the devs part. Yet Superman 64 (double irony, Superman is the archetype of the power-fantasy) is a great example that games can be crap. It happens. Why would the Gravity Rush devs be above making poor choices, even if their games are on the whole good ? Because it's far more likely the few control issues present within the game are just that : poor choices that weren't fully thought-out.
But let's pretend that they deliberately tried to weaken the player through some uncomfortable control scheme and unreliable auto-aim; the fact that it's so easily overcome or devoid of any real consequences would negate that intent pretty hard. Cos Gravity Rush isn't Superman 64, you don't need mad MLG skills to control Kat. It's so minor, so subtle as to be easily mistaken for your average flaw in the video game landscape, at that point if that was their intent, it'd be worth asking : were they even trying ?
Well, no, it's clear they weren't since the few powers that were unwiedly in the first game were buffed in the sequel, making you noticeably stronger. Better yet, you only get your power after a lengthy and obvious display of powerlessness where your character needs to be rescued and gets scolded for her incompetence, getting your powers after that makes the contrast, well, empowering ! By default ! It's very very hard to believe that the devs were sneakily trying to make you feel weak by overtly making you stronger than ever.
There's so much empowerment in that game and so little of the inverse, but there is in fact some instances where Kat is stripped of her power or agency, when that happens there's nothing subtle about it. So I still don't see any reason not to handwave this talk of disempowerment away.
You pretty much made my point honestly, I know I wasn't exactly great in my argument lol.
As long as you understand the point of view, I'm not saying you're wrong, just I think that the video is more right than what you started with about being off mark.
Also since when does it need consequence to be attached to limited control or disempowerment?
A consequence attached to forced limitations is the opposite of fun.
@@RyleyHawke Oh okay. Perhaps it's true that the video isn't "completely" off mark but the main thesis is definitely not something I find accurate so it kind of falls apart altogether for me.
Hey! I Stumbled upon your content - I've watched your entire back catalogue now. I can't believe you don't have more views, this video is a great little analysis, your editing is great and your narration never drags on past the point of "we get it already"
Halo CE had is own entire level of disempowerment, that level is called the library. Well, when you play it a lot of times, you start to memorize the checkpoints and spam points of the enemies, then it can be really fun to kill tons of flood enemies, but that is after play a lot that level, the first time is terrifying and you feel hopeless, like you want to run and get out of there quickly but you have to follow a freaking flying phychopath ball, which is your only way to find what are you looking for or at least get out of that place and at the same time, confront an entire army of really angry, fast and scary zombies. According to the books even master chief himself was terrified that day.
I forgot how much I love the music in these games.
that duality between disempowerment and empowerment, reminds me alot of Monster Hunter, and it's game design. specifically the older games on the 3DS and PSP. some people called them bad or clunky, mainly slow, but that's not really the case, it's just much more precise than it's World counterpart, you have to time each hit. as for the duality I was talking about, I meant how the game does alot to disempower the player by making them weak and hiding the boss' health bar, but then empowers the player through the feeling of success after each hunt.
anyways that's all I wanted to say and point out. also also, the intro seemed so different than Gravity Rush that for a moment there I thought it was an ad. 😂
sadly some people never grow out of being obsessed with that power fantasy.
many never expand their interests. give things they don't already know they enjoy a shot.
they don't try to understand why people can like something they don't.
it's unfortunate but humanities growth is very limited.
Oof, this comment is dripping in edge
@Akemi Homura Or maybe it's just because well... They just don't give a shit at all and people have their own preferences?
I can relate with your taste on media moving away from overpowered player characters (except through books instead). One of my favourite Japanese novels with a darker theme that I'm currently reading, "The Shaman Can't Become a Hero" focuses on a bunch of high school students who end up taken into a fantasy world (by forces and for reasons mostly unknown so far). Sounds kinda bog standard? The twist is the fact that the fantastical abilities the MC receives are extremely underwhelming compared to others of his former class, which is contrasted by short intermissions of the shenanigans of the overpowered students. This shows on the characters, as the OP ones slaughtering their way through the dungeon treat it like a mild challenge or a fun RPG while the MC was almost killed by the weakest monsters just a few paragraphs ago, surviving only through meticulous planning and ingenious use of his magic skills (and a contingency plan or three on occasion).
I recommend this to anyone wondering what the background characters would do in situations our protagonist solves effortlessly.
This Video reminds me of these clips where someone describes some piece of modern art (2 lines crossed for example) over half an hour.
I actually got into Gravity Rush because of this video. After I got a PS4 it was one of the first games I bought. And, looking back to what you said in this video I only have agreement to your notion. It was an Experience that was unique to Gravity Rush. This game has a unique charm that is exclusive to it and I too wish that there were more games like these. All in all, I would like to thank you for making this video, without this I wouldn't have experience this underrated masterpiece
The soundtrack is still fun to listen to
i hear that one of the silet hill original team work in gravity rush. that would help to explain using game some of his game desing.
I totaly agree with you i love to travel to fantasy world that feel real . Cruel caotic and full with characters with defects. Sadly most people in young ages usualy love his power and is never going to be mainstream stuff but... i kind of feel good about that
Keiichiro Toyama made the original Silent Hill, the Siren series and these.
yeah tnk you! that is probably why the gameplay is meaningfull instead of just optimize for fun
Dude is showing his trademarks. Silent Hill and Siren were also critized for having a bad camera and clunky controls. Feels like Akira Yamaoka and Matsuhiro Ito are the only relevant Team Silent members to the gaming community.
As someone who grew up playing video games more than viewing non interactive media, my perspective is that Interactivity IS empowerment. The greatest disempowerment is being a completely passive observer. If there is no interactivity, there is absolutely nothing I can do to affect what's going on. The perfect example are game cutscenes where you can't do anything and that's usually where something tragic happens. If you had control, you could should the enemy before they kill your friend.
I think for a lot of people, when there is no interactivity at all, they don't get anxious and feel the need to take control. Maybe they're not as used to interactive narratives. If you have power (interactivity) and then it is taken away, that feels different from never having it in the first place. My default is interactivity.
I cry every time i hear that song when Kat sings it...
Thanks, mighty Algorightm for showing this channel in my reccomrnded feed.
All the content is of such quality, it should be far more popular.
I'll do my best to spread it :-)
I knew almost nothing about these games or even knew they existed, but after playing GR 2, I fell in love with it.
I am hoping for a GR 3 for the future PS5
it's like Playing Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005 of course), when you don't have tight control around your car but you mastered the skill, even though you struggle, it even adds to the satisfaction when you execute it perfectly.
like that scene in Cowboy Bebop when spike flies his SwordShip spaceship, you can see through the animation that there is a struggle happens between him and his Ship.
or in End of Evangelion when Asuka's struggles within her Eva unit 02 to defeat the Eva series, you can see that she's trying to rush in before the kill and seconds later the Eva 02 complies.
i had those moments in Ace Combat 2 and 4, the AC2 was my childhood so i mastered it very well, but many years after i played Ace Combat 4 there is a mission that goes unexpectedly and you fight the equivalent of a CPU who cheats, in that moment you can sense all the limitations that the chosen plane can handle that creates that some sort of bond between you and the game and the Player and his Jet.
i feel that limitations are made so we can go beyond, so i love those kind of games that's why most of my Nintendo Switch games are NeoGeo ports, but if i would pick a game that can combine the two elements of being in control and the players Disempowerment is non other than Jagged Alliance 2 and i know that because i played this game and replayed this game for the past 19 Years, and there was nothing that could come any close to that sentient satisfaction when you kill an enemy, nothing could imitate or surpass it's depth in the Mechanics
nothing to this day can surpass it's brilliance while on the surface look like an uninspired Mercenary battle, it's only when you struggle and dive deep enough you can understand.
i sincerely think i am privileged to have played this game.
Liked your take on disempowered, good video.
I actually kinda expected this video to be more about gameplay mechanics, so I am gonna add my perspective here.
Disempowerment can be a fantastic tool, to create interesting gameplay, by removing part of your toolset and having you rely on your other abilties to make it through. For example losing your weapons in a campaign and having to work around the holes this leaves in your options, can be more enjoyable at times then having everything.
Though on the other side of this are bad implementations, like forced stealth-sections, so disempowerment has to be carefully implemented.
When i first started resident evil (for ps1) i found it difficult, but started to enjoy it as i git further
You’re supposed to stop just before you hit the ground… Poor Kat lmao
Gravity Rush is, literally, the reason I bought a Vita, and I do not regret it in the slightest. Sure, I've found plenty of other Vita games to love since then, but Gravity Rush is, literally the reason I bought it. I absolutely adored this game, and was honestly kinda pissed that the sequel came out on PS4, cause I don't own one. A part of me is even debating buying one with the intention of playing the Remaster and 2, but I also kinda need a decent TV for that, as well, sooo...
The whole Gravity Shift thing is excellent, and it worked exactly how I'd always imagined something like this would. The whole fly/falling thing was also so much fun, and even the whole 'limited power' thing didn't bother me since you didn't need to do something stupid like actually touch the ground or something before it would refill. I always remember coming close to running out of power, and just re-aiming myself to fall "up" until it died out, and falling until it recovered, then continuing fly/falling/wall running on my way.
I'm ducking praying for a 3rd, you do not understand how much I fucking love these games
I absolutely loved the first game and I exactly fell in love with the mechanics, story really just wraps its all up. I really want to play the second game if I ever get the chance.
your video really makes me want to give this game a second look. good stuff
I was really calmed by this video for some reaon. Thank you
This and shadow of colossus r 2 of my favs. Its weird but i loved the controls and animations of both games. To me its more realistic when their bodies flail and move clumsily
This was a really interesting analysis. GR was the first game I got on my vita, and I had a lot of fun. I haven't gotten around getting a ps4 yet, but I know which game I'm playing first.
I've come from RagnarRox to say hi!
I saw a lot of games reviews. A lot saying the game was great visually. However the controls issue, where folks complaints about the game. Thanks for this review!!! Now I’m planning on getting this game.
im enjoying this game (more specific, Gravity Rush 2) even after i finished it 3 times, first time got annoyed by the controls but then got used to it, now im using lunar style in the main world just because of the satisfaction of each jump
That song with the big booty made me feel better!! Thanks for the laughs!!
I'm so glad I subscribed to this channel
Glad to see more people liking this underrated gem. Definitely one of my favorites. I know that chances are slim, but I still hope we'll eventually get a sequel.
Also, I always found it funny how people keep saying Kat is not a looker, while she is a perfect 10/10 and one of if not the most beautiful girls in the game. Well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I suppose.
Right off the bat love the humor. Subbing
Hello,
I stumbled upon your channel and looked some videos. This one make me think you could find a lot of things of values in Crosscode, a recent (and very polished) indie game. The main character is strong in battle, but suffers a lot of other issues that disempower her in some way or another. (and the gameplay is very good too)
Gravity rush was the first game i beat on my ps vita im still amazed at how great the game was
I did NOT expect this video to open the way it did 😂
Man GR1 is my favorite game of all time but too bad GR2 never clicked with me. The second game moved over to a more modern "anime" style. It's cool and all but the first game was more like a classic Ghibli movie compared to the rainbow and sunshine style that we got in the sequel.
I agree that it was a little unfortunate it got more anime. But I still really enjoyed it.
Rain world is a game that executes disempowerment incredibly well. You are a prey, lost in a world you don't know, the controls are.. interesting... And everyday is a challenge. Really recommend it
The Nier music though
So many won't know this
It's so iconic to me I recognized it immediately and now I want to replay it lol
i really really REALLY love the gravity rush series. when it came out for vita back then, i was super sad that i will never get to play it.
i finished both of the games in ps4 and i totally could go for more.
sadly not many people are aware of this game. it's kinda sad. in fact NONE OF THE PEOPLE I KNOW even played this game.
I think minimalism and disempowerment go well together especially in games like shadow of the collosus and ico
Absolutely love these two games, thank you for this game
This was gonna be one of the first games I buy if I got a ps4
Seems like Kaladin from the Stormlight archive just as a videogame.
I really appreciate the Nier theme at the beginning
Not to mention the whole city throughout the whole of both games treat Kat like garbage. She does so much; saves people, fixes things, helps people with errands, solves crises, etc. People regularly act entitled of her time and hard work and act like she's somehow unreasonably incompetent for helping if she was going to not read their mind and do everything they ask as perfectly and precisely as they want. AND THAT has such a huge payoff by the end.
With all the themes of social corruption and toxic human nature tackled in this game, it's incredible how such a powerful character is accentuated to be almost wholly unable to change ANY thing. It's true disempowerment, not so much mechanically (although she is unavoidably a klutz, and I think that's FUCKING ADORABLE), but more so contextually. She's a doormat. She gets pissed, she gets discouraged, but she takes it all on the chin. It makes her so endearing. Her back story may be some vague lofty mystery, but she has this unmistakably lovable down to earth character about her.
And it's not arbitrary disempowerment for the sake of protest against overplayed and increasingly thoughtless empowerment fantasies, but for the sake of exploring themes of empowerment itself. The thing that makes a fantasy where you have powers beyond what you have in reality so compelling is using those powers to face situations that make you feel powerless; usually allegory for situations you face in real life.
I think anyone in a middle class or even lower class of living can relate to Kat. Sure, you might have a home and a PS4 to play Gravity Rush. But someone somewhere wants to step on you and watch you squirm. Government. Your boss. Neighbors. People who pretend to be your friend but just want to use you as a means to an end. It's empowering to see and experience a character who is essentially a super hero go through those same struggles and feel just as powerless as you are in the real world.
She uses her powers to do things most people can do without powers. She delivers mail, she carries luggage, she escorts people around. Her gravity shifting is most akin a bike or a taxi cab in our reality. It's her constitution and her unwavering integrity in the face of uncertainty and constant rejection that makes her experience so captivating and inspiring.
Gravity Rush is great man.
Dood, your hair is awesome
Amazing work, Michael. First timer seeing your content.
Can't wait for your next take on whatever. You got a sub, sexy boi.
The primary game play elements that you describe as leading to a sense of dis-empowerment were inertia in falling as well as the windup to attacks. I wouldn't describe this as dis-empowerment of the player as much as forcing the player to commit to their actions. It's less that you're not powerful, and more that the world doesn't forgive your fuck ups nearly as easily as other games that'll allow you to cancel actions midway through, so you can dodge exactly when you realize you've made a mistake.
. . . So, basically what I'm saying is Gravity Rush is the Dark Souls of falling
Wow these games look fantastic, i would love to play them