Universe looks at how Ueda's themes are open to interpretation by each player, he doesn't provide definite answers. Like the abstract art he so loves, Ueda has intentionality in his works but how people react and experience the games are all valid. However, there are certain motiffs that cover Ueda's games including horns, Chiaroscuro, fatality and sacrifice,
The chapter, 'In the Shadow of Tales' was fascinating to me as an an old Anthropology student. When Bruno Battelheim and Joseph Campbell are mentioned my eyebrows shot up with interest- this was my bag and what I was looking for within this book.
I like the authors description of the difference between a tale, myth and legend:
'A tale is, first and foremost, an account that only exists for itself. While it has the power to pass on morals or values, it nevertheless doesn’t explain anything. A legend, on the other hand, has a more general basis on actual historical elements, but mostly transforms them to embellish or intensify the reality. As for a myth, it has a superior element: belief. A myth is a symbolic explanation of how the world, or nature, functions and has served as social, philosophical and ethical bases for numerous civilizations.'
The rough gist is stories predate the printing press, libraries and even writing itself. Myths and legends, Fables and folklore are passed down from generation to generation, across the years. We create and share them, and in turn, they create us as well, by becoming the building blocks of our cultures. They teach us our values and what we believe, and they hold us together, across diaspora and against the ticking of the clock. We remember our Ancestors, they world they lived in, and the things they believed through the stories they left behind.
There are myths that millions of people are familiar with-the ones that are shared across an entire culture or religion, that tell us how our world wad created, the origins of life, of gods and Goddesses and spirits. Even though they are written in books now these originated from the oral tradition, stories told around campfires or sung in ballads.
Even though in much of the West, faith in religious institutions has massively declined, the interest in myths has remained steadfast as their power lie not in their truthfulness, but rather what they make us feel and what they inspire.
Chapter 3 looks at the music and the sound design. For Ico, Mecheri discusses the sound spatialisation that compliments the colossal castle structure and cavernous rooms, creating a sense of isolation and foreboding in the echoey spaces. The soundtrack was composed by Michiru Ōshima and Pentagon with a couple of tracks created by Masaaki Kaneko.
The author then looks at the majestic Kou Ootani score for SotC, which is glorious with orchestral swells and contemplative moments.
I own the CD of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and the vinyl for Colossus too so these are formative videogame scores for me. Mecheri also looks at Takeshi Furukawa's The Last Guardian soundtrack which was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Chapter 4, Decryption, looks at how the games were received amongst different communities, the reviewers, gamers and the public. Mecheri looks at how many fans of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus spoke about "poetic intuition–the impression of experiencing an elegant, magical, touching and inspiring work." And he's not wrong. When I experienced the games I was going through an existential crisis, as many late teens go through, and the games were a salve of sorts for my anxieties. There was the usual heated debate about 'art games' but in a world of Journey, Dear Esther and Gone Home, what constitutes a game isn't set in stone.
He then does a deep dive into art vs Art and it is a thoughtful and considered discussion. He asserts that Ernst Hans Gombrich was correct in his 1959s book The Story of Art, when he says, “There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists. [...] There is no harm in calling all these activities art as long as we keep in mind that such a word may mean very different things in different times and places, and as long as we realize that Art with a capital A has no existence. For Art with a capital A has come to be something of a bogey and a fetish.”
