Errant Signal - Bastion (Spoilers)

Edit: This video does contain spoilers for the end of the game. Sorry, I should have made that more clear.
In the face of undying cynicism, can one man make a positive internet video? Unfortunately, no, he can't. But he can make... whatever mess this is.

[@Cleath78]

Being a middle-schooler who loves bastion, I appreciated your middle-school-level literary analysis.

[@gnetkuji]

(Spoilers for Bastion) Nice work. The only thing I would have clarified is Zulf's exact motivation. Why is he going apeshit? It's because Zia's dad may have sabotaged the device, but he didn't set it off. He only re-targeted it. The only reason Caelondia is gone is because they didn't just think about, but actively attempted to commit genocide against the Ura people. Of course he went apeshit. He was *right* to go apeshit. Zulf's entire mission was one of peace. He was in Caelondia exclusively for the purpose of finding a way to get along with the Caelondians and they didn't just betray that trust, they murdered basically everyone, including the one person Zulf was close to. Now Caelondia is gone and even the Ura lands are suffering because Caelondia's leaders decided they wanted to murder (potentially) millions of innocent people. The fact that Zulf didn't beat Rucks, one of the scientists who helped create this doomsday device, to death right there in the bastion after he learned this fact and instead decided to leave is a testament to his own humanity and restraint rather than some weak excuse for the villain to get away. Zulf's story, more than anyone else's, touched me deeply and it is very frustrating to watch so many Let's Players play Bastion and completely miss this information because they most often simply skip the story side-quests at the Bastion where you learn all of this.

[@Nicholas_Steel]

So it was modified to target the very people that built the machine, but the person who did that modification did not fire it? So that implies the civilization attempted to wipe out the Ura people and were themselves wiped out because of the sabotage... essentially the saboteur ensured his peoples survival in the event his people were double crossed during peace talks.

[@mrsimonb3]

As a) a high school English teacher who has looked for ways to include story-based games - or really any games beyond minecraft - into the curriculum, b) a long-time gamer, or whatever one calls a bloke who wastes a lot of time playing video games, c) fan of yourself and the rest of the spoiler warning crew and d) someone who's so goddamn sick of the general more hate = better than standard of reviewing: thankyou, my comrade. Thankyou for everything, but specifically for this.

[@devinknox6328]

You made me think about something I had never thought of before when I played through Bastion. Taking your break up thoery to the next level, both Zia and Zulf have emotional torment in their pasts stemming from relationships. Zulf is a mirror to the player in that he is lashing out to get back what he lost. Hoping that vengeance will some how mend the hole in his heart from loosing his wife and friends. Zia has been emotional bruised and battered and sought shelter from her pain by closing out the outside world and taking refuge in nature. Even Ruks is a third method of coping as he dwells on the past and tells as many stories as he can to keep this past alive, as one grasps at the dying embers of a bad relationship. *spoilers beyond this point* More telling is the ending. You can choose to save Zulf, or kill him. If you spare him, the conflict ends. You have come to terms with your rage at the events and have the ability to forge a new future. If you kill him, the conflict reaches a fever pitch, echoing that it may never end. And then there is the choice to rewind or start fresh. I think it is telling who is telling you each option. Ruks all but demands that you restore the past. His appearance as the player, only older, is a stark reflection of the Kids desire to go back and live in a better past, regardless of the cost. It is Zia, however, the beautiful girl you meet at your lowest and most lonly, that urges you to carry on and leave the past behind. If the story is a metaphor for a bad break up, than Zia represents somebody who is going through the same issues, holding out their hand, willing to be hurt again if it means the chance to move on. It reminds me of my own love life, in that the love of my life was found while I was still healing from the wounds of past love. I sheltered myself like Zia. Told stories like Ruks. I even raged like Zulf. But in the end, I put the pieces back together and moved on. And while I was dealing with it, there were wonderful people by my side, who I never knew were there before hand. Even somebody who I found love with, but in order to find that beauty, I first needed to except the devastation around me.

[@huntercuddles]

Bastion is a game that never fails to make me incredibly emotional, and your review did not suck

[@GirlsWithDepression]

At the end of my first play-through of Bastion, I chose to reset the world and then I started a second play-through using new-game plus. My read of that was that the world reset and got almost exactly like it was before, only different in new-game-plus-y ways. When I was done with my new game-plus-playthrough, I was basically done with the game as it was and I also selected the other ending. In a way, I felt like this was the game's way of taking away the ambiguity in the final choice. The world definitely starts over because you get to play the game through exactly. The calamity happens over and over because the game is playable over and over. That's just my read tho. Ambiguity's obviously still there. I just didn't feel like it was. I felt like I got told.

[@Methren1]

in new game plus rucks actually says at the beginning:" Wait, I have the feeling I already told this once."

[@DM_Dad]

+COMPETITOR PRODUCT Well, Rucks tells you he doesn't know if there is anything to stop it from happening again. The idea that history keeps repeating itself is a perfectly valid interpretation. If memories are reset as well, then there is literally nothing different to cause a different outcome. The Kid having his powers and weapons breaks the idea because he should be able to warn someone or do something to change events, but just file that under gameplay/story segregation.

[@RyanGatts]

An excellent critique of one of my favorite games. I disagree a little with your 'break-up' reading (I think the break-up is meant to add context to the calamity, not the other way around). It doesn't make sense to me that this dead relationship around which the whole game is supposedly framed would only get mentioned in the very beginning and have no references made to it for the rest of the game or in the stories any of the other characters. The calamity could just as easily be your parents getting a divorce, moving to a new location, or someone you know dying. I also think it undercuts the worthiness of the 'reset' option to contextualize it as a doomed relationship while 'evacuation' is moving on with your life. In the context of the game, the choice is between reviving all of the innocent (and not-so-innocent) people you never got to meet, or running away with a couple people that you do like. You take a tool designed to protect society and use it to defend your own happiness (and the happiness of Zia). That said, I too am glad to have multiple interpretations be valid.

[@danatronics9039]

The calamity could be a lot of things. That makes it more relatable.

[@freddiekruger3339]

Reviving all of the innocent people you never got to meet but not knowing if they'll all just die again or letting the dead rest in favor of maintaining their legacy.

[@dosbilliam]

That was actually an approach I'd never thought of. Good job Chris. :D

[@generik88]

Instead of asking people what they think about the styles of reviews you do, maybe you should just do the kind of reviews that you want to do? You should be making these things because you like them, and want to make them, not because of what other people think. You being happy with your content at the end of the day is all that matters.

[@Cleath78]

That song in the opening is one of my all time favorite video game tracks. Come to think of it, almost every song in this game is one of my favorites.

[@Lulink013]

I didn't see any metaphore in the story until now, and hardly after this video. For me it was a standalone story with enough context to make the decision at the end. I chose the escape option because to me the other meant forcing the world to loop back to the same situation where no-one remembered the other loops and leads to a circlejerk of suffering. I knew the other option didn't garanty a better life either for the characters, but since it's the kid's choice, I think he would chose a life of adventures rather than giving-up his life. He was one of the only person who could bear being a guard on that wall where you start the game. He is a kid who defied a whole nation to reach his goals. He is fit for this world, for this life. He would accept the world like it is and move-on. Looking back always reminds us of better moments, but time travel and fixing your mistakes is a chimera. The only path I saw was the path of acceptance: going forward no matter what. Expecting a lot from the future, sure, but being determined enough to grasp what life might give us.

[@reiokami]

This is one of my favorites of your videos. I have watched it no less than three times and passed it along to my friends to watch. I like your insight and your read. I especially appreciate that your reviews talk about more than just mechanics and graphics. I enjoy that you really embrace the mechanics as metaphor and talk about possible meanings of the game

[@Warstub]

Loved this reading! Just finished the game and wanted to hear what you had to say about it straight away, and was not even slightly disappointed. Great stuff!

[@MagicGuigz]

Dude, PLEASE make more of those. That was one of the best reviews I've ever seen.

[@BigDBrian]

12:50 I disagree here, I read the dream sequence and having to fight yourself as something else entirely. As you progress through the game you destroy everything you pass. The environment, paths, all the creatures that show up... In a sense, you're just like the calamity. This makes a moral crisis, whether you're actually doing good or bad. Along with the ura - stuff, it's also morally ambiguous, until you know the full story. Also, at the very end, of course, you have to make a choice, whether to go back to the past (I chose this, because I felt guilty for destroying everything that was left even after the calamity), or to move on. If you read this from the broken heart perspective, moving on is the right choice. But I don't think the game says anything about which is good or bad, neither before or after you do. Restarting is ambiguous as you don't know whether it'll succeed. I saw someone else mention that the game has indicators along the way that you shouldn't dwell on the past, and move on. This again fits in line with the broken heart perspective, but I can't exactly see what he meant. Sorry for rambling. Interesting game, this is.

[@Zyphon44]

You should do one on Transistor.

[@enriquemeseguer8140]

And now one for Pyre

[@freddiekruger3339]

@@enriquemeseguer8140 and now one for hades... lol

[@sarcinelli86]

@@freddiekruger3339 It's piling up fast!

[@Cranyx]

While on the whole I really appreciate this video, one offhanded comment about how Fallout is only set in a post-apocalypse I think is widely misguided. Just like Bastion, it very much sets the thematic setting of the game and as the central story mechanic in the plot structure since 1997.

[@originalname1337]

I'd agree that in the original Fallout in 1997 and probably even 2 and tactics, that may be the case. But I feel like Fallout 3 and New Vegas are set in post apocalyptic wastelands because that's what the fallout series is. I liked both games of course, and they certainly do expand on and explore the potential of societies in that environment, but I don't know that that is the core thematic or mechanical system of the games.

[@BraUnY74]

I know it's a very very old comment, but I can't not to express it, but essentially, the (probably the only one) thing that I disliked in New Vegas is this. It's essentially is postapoc just because it's Fallout. Post-apocalypse itself doesn't lend much to a story, besides allowing basically worldbuild above real life Las-Vegas and Nevada. Even Fallout 2 is feels less post-apoc, actually, well until Enclave comes into play and poses a question of restoring an old order by a price of lives of simple people.

[@SilentLesch]

I suppose one should finish the Bastion twice to actually find all the story. First time you'll choose Restoration because the game itself and Rucks' voice are pushing you to. But then you start the game for a second time and find that the Calamity happen again, and the Restoration is just a closed loop. So, you beat that once more and Evacuate.

[@Nicholas_Steel]

You don't keep your weapons & upgrades right?

[@SilentLesch]

@@Nicholas_Steel it was a long time ago, but I don't think so, no.

[@cynicshminic]

Excellent video. Especially agree with you about preferring a game have no-fat or filler and just be short - that's actually MORE worth my money than a big game padded by shitty content. Also, I hadn't thought about the break-up analogy but that makes perfect sense.

[@lancelindlelee7256]

Can you do transistor now? That game seems to have more depth of story and I want to know your perspective. Also, I loved the weapon mechanics in the game. At one point, I tried rerunning the game multiple times, using different weapon sets everytime. All weapons are definitely viable

[@jeremysaklad6703]

It’s funny how I see every weapon in the game get called overpowered _and_ underpowered by different people. My personal weapons of choice are the Brusher’s Pike and the Army Carbine, though I like to mix it up. My least favorite weapon is the War Machete, but then I find people who say it is way too powerful! Not only are all weapons viable in Bastion, but all weapons are *equally* viable depending on how you play. That has always been insanely impressive to me.

[@lancelindlelee7256]

Jeremy Saklad Agreed. I used the Pike and Musket. That allowed me to play really defensively, only attack at openings

[@jeremysaklad6703]

Lance Lindle Lee Speaking of the Musket, I also like how the upgrade tree effectively doubles the amount of weapons by having two different roles each one can fill. The Musket can be used to cripple enemies, to be finished off with your other weapon, or made to fire two rounds at once and be used as a finisher itself.

[@moxiousch]

Absolutely great commentary! Super interesting to watch. I definitely don't think reviews need to be negative to be interesting and you've demonstrated so very well. The relationship analysis was something I definitely hadn't thought of. I think you're stretching it just a bit though. I felt the barrette was simply signifying personal loss (remember - the Kid had no family left, which is revealed in a side quest). The broken heart commentary also felt like flavour text, something the gruff old man would say. But it's a pretty interesting and well-reasoned read of the game nonetheless, I'm just not personally convinced.

[@mire4077]

when i saw that snipit of the mlp intro partnered with what you said about how its easier to be cynical than opening up and finding joy in something i thought, "wow, that pretty much sums up my affinity towards that show." I couldn't have said it better myself.

[@lanelafisking]

Bastion really is a game that you only appreciate when you've finished it. When I was playing I really didn't think much of it, it was fun enough, but after the ending I looked back on it fondly. Plus, the narration system stops being literal on what you're doing a few levels on, and starts to offer more information about the history of the world and the characters

[@EmperorNonya]

f you write your own script, you're doing a wonderful job. Honestly, one of the most well-spoken and though out reviewers I've had fortune of coming across.

[@DM_Dad]

I love this game and the soundtrack was phenomenal. I hadn't thought of that analogy for a person in a relationship. I also liked how the game doesn't frame eitehr ending as good or bad. It's similar to how Metro 2033 and Last Light did have "bad" endings, but made them just as satisfying and fitting as the "good" endings. In both, the game clearly leans one way, but both work. Here, it leans toward Evacuation and moving on. This is both because the reset gives no reason why history won't repeat itself and Zia's comments that she wants to keep what has happened since the Calamity.

[@MoonSafariFilms]

Love this channel. The deeper level of discourse about games is refreshing.

[@littledramaboy]

Wow, incredibly insightful. Great reference to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, too!

[@RastafarianPilgrim]

Loving these videos! All of'em! It's really great to find more good, properly cerebral content about gaming and games on youtube, thank you SO much, Campster!

[@cyrus147]

i love your insights in everything. as a psa to other people who hate his videos: being critical of minute points only serves to better whatever medium is being discussed. if small factors that negatively impact an ip or a game are left ignored, they could potentially grow into large problems that would have been easily solved by fixing the intial. sorry if i don't make much sense, my main point is that not discussing these things and falling into groupthink can seriously hurt a game (or anything in your life for that matter)

[@Czarewich]

@Czarewich Also, interesting note: you should listen to the song in the end credits, while being mindful of the context. The female lines are from the Ura's perspective, and the male's from a Caelondian soldier's. The contrast of "some day that wall is gonna fall" vs "I'm coming home from my tour" is touching, and helps create some perspective for the opinions these two races have on each other. They're essentially folk songs set to the same tune!

[@julio3264128]

I'd love to see your take on Transistor, since its' narrative also contains the loss of a loved one and instead of post-apocalypse it has one in progress.

[@CtrlSaltDelete]

Fantastic analysis. I'd never really given the implications of a former relationship much thought, I always interpreted it as a meditation on human nature; the desire to try again, or undo something already done and the fact that even if you could do it over you would probably end up performing the same action. Awesome video :)

[@Nickle_King]

I would like to point out that, even if the player doesn't catch on that this game is about relationships of a sort, they give you 2 characters that hammer in that point even harder. Zia was a hopeful, loving girl who caught nothing but flak just because she was an Ura. Zolf was a thief by necessity who was taken in by a Celandian politician who's life could only get better, and did. After the Calamity, Zia lost nothing she didn't mind losing while Zolf lost everything that made his life worth living. Neither are bad, even Zolf who causes so much trouble for the party. Just 2 different lives and 2 different views on life.

[@briangoubeaux5360]

Your take was actually refreshing. Glad I listened to it.

[@MadnessTW]

Good video. I really liked the analysis, never thought about it that way, but it makes a lot of sense. That emotional choice actually played its part in making me go through the game again as it seemed like after resetting the whole thing it would just start over and over again until I finally decided to move on. It's probably better when you play it twice. This along with the art style and the narration makes Bastion one of the most outstanding games I've had the pleasure to play so far.

[@searock]

Incredilbe video, mate. It's incredibly refreshing to find a positive video about games. Bastion was an amazing game. It's one of those games that make you think about them a long timeafter completing it.

[@voidshot]

dude, i was with you untill the point you said "junior high level analysis" that was brilliant, beautiful, thoughtful, and thought provoking. bravo Someone give this man an award

[@MrPurple3000]

I finished Bastion a few months back, and could finally watch this video. Good job.

[@Tama-Hero]

For what its worth, though I may be a minority, I much prefer insight to bile. I'm not as good at writing it as you, but I hope I'll get there :)

[@KeldNeedsCoffee]

Holy bananas dude, even years later you provide excellent contextual feedback on gaming. Here's to another many years.

[@snacktical]

subbed. Its good to see another fellow gamer who really understands the depth of the medium.

[@SilentLesch]

Thank you for the video. I sincerely think the game was meant to be played twice: first time you restore the Cylandia as the Narrator told you. Then you actually back to the main menu, see the New Game Plus and stuff and feel the urge to go back to this beautiful world, and so you play it second time. But when the end approaches you have to make decision and then it is very clear for you (even if you hadn't already thought that) that the Restoration option for the Cylandia leads to you re-playing the game and therefore the Calamity to happen. And then you choose to evacuate and never play the game again. That may seem as a harsh and too fourth-wall-ey way to think of it, but that really made my overall impression of the game full and unique.

[@madzec]

Zero Punctuation is one of best if not best channel on internet for proper fast reviewing of video games. I mean just look at the animation done in background. Plus i do not finish some games I play but I really am against games that are "short" I am more into solid games that can you can get explore. I mean if you want short games with story there are few of them or ones like Tetris but games that you know you will finish in 4-5 hour there is no point. I mean in general if people want to play games fast, there are sports game to play too.

[@MrSpeakerCone]

It's nice to see someone doing thoughtful critique of games instead of merely product review. Thanks for the hard work!

[@Splatball]

Please make more, sir. I think I'm with everyone else when I say I'd love to hear you do more of these.

[@SelvaPeluda]

I actually would have never thought about this as a break up story, yet it all makes sense in a way. Thank you for this insightful review on one of the few games I actually bothered to finish.

[@SirKinglink]

The exposition works on a lot of levels but why you and everyone likes it is that it delivers the exposition as you play the game. You're never rushed, or have to wait for it to be delivered, and never miss a line because you advance too far. The exposition is delivered to the player as you play the game, not between playing the game.

[@ikelucas]

great video, I really liked bastion, and your arguments just fits it perfectly. bastion is one of my favourite games ever, and you pointed why (with a much better explanation than me) really, really nice! keep doing good videos!

[@wormerine8029]

I love the attention to detail Supergiant puts into their games in effort for gameplay to match narrative. In game+ there are some extra bits of narrative that suggest that the story continues after the reset of the world ending. Rooks feels like he told the story before… which he did at least once 😊. There is also one detail I love. What we get to play takes in a very specific time in the story - when the Kid is out to get the last shard and Rooks and the girl wait for his return. What we see and the narration is the events retold by Rooks. There are couple moments which indicate that it is the girl to whom the Rooks is speaking, not the player, and he is unaware of Kids actions during the last missions. Once he returns there is no more narration - but Rooks and the girl speak in their own voiced directly to the Kid, for the first time. I think it is brilliant as it is the first time the Kid (and the player) has an ability to make a choice - until that point it was all set - we were being told the story, but we’re unable to make a meaningful choice. There, at the end where the future is open to us, the narration has ended and story telling has changed and we take control of the kid for the first time, rather then just following him around.

[@Hwyadylaw]

"There's one problem with a place that sets things back to a bygone time… you can't test it. So you're probably wondering, if the Calamity happened already… What's to stop it from happening again, after the Bastion does its thing? The answer is… I don't know."

[@adrianlopez3373]

You brought up some points that I didn't think of, nice work Chris

[@masamaeda9217]

I'm a little disappointed that you didn't bring up the fact that the beginning (and especially the beginning of the new game plus) alludes to the fact that your play through is probably not the first calamity and depending on your choice it isn't the last. Buuut everyone probably picked up on that any way and it makes sense that you would leave that out.

[@sslugboy]

Man you are very intuitive, keep up the great work.

[@neverclever0]

Nice bookends with the self deprecation; you spent the bulk of it being positive, but the little jabs at yourself at the beginning and end means that watching it in between your other videos still has a thematic flow.

[@mire4077]

you have got to love the mlp reference amiright.

[@AlexanderRM1000]

Thank you for mentioning the main game is only 5 hours before any spoilers, I loved Hades and have been thinking of getting Bastion but didn't want to commit to a 90 hour game; now I'm sold. I assume you're about to say there's more content but I'll finish watchinf the video once I've played it

[@AbyssalManta]

By the end, I felt I had committed enough atrocities to restore the Bastion (unprovokedly invading and robbing cores from the other sentient life-forms) that the only way to escape back into the moral horizon would be to undo everything I had done.

[@senmhil]

Just like to say I found your analysis of the game both insightful and informative. I had not read the game as you did but now you pointed it out, yes I can see what you mean.

[@TheMrMorphling]

Bastion truly was an awesome game, it's one of the few games I even care to finish and I've done it four times just to check out all of the slightly different endings. I might as far as to say it's my all time favorite single player experience.

[@xerpenta]

Thanks for that perspective. It did make Bastion even more meaningful for me.

[@jakeagawea]

I always find it fascinating how you can fit so much knowledge and information into 16 or so minutes.

[@AgentBaob]

You made me love the game even more, so that's another thing you made right

[@guy3480]

whoa. I was just listening to a playlist of your vids and I was doing something else. Didnt expect to see your face all of the sudden. I must say you sir are an attractive fella

[@Harlequin_3141]

In case you ever see this. I just realized that Ludic has the latin root Ludus which is the name of Wade's school planet in the book (not movie) version of Ready Player One. Cool. :D

[@TheWhole7ruth]

That's a really interesting take on a game I already loved. Cheers!

[@Longbow6625]

3 episodes in and it dawns on me, you're a hipster. Still, i'm ok with that and will definitely sub.

[@Elsoddo]

This is how awesome this game is: When Rucks says @ 11:11 "...This is the Bastion alright, 'cept no one else showed up.", I got a chill down my spine.

[@emilythedragon]

I agree that there's an excess of cynicism in game reviews (part of why I stopped watching ZP) and I'd encourage you to make more reviews like this, discussing what makes a game interesting and worthwhile. Also, your analysis freaked me out because I happened to play Bastion after a brutal breakup :/

[@Javierbecerraplaza]

I respect you for the premise of this video, and gave you a thumbs up when I heard you say it.

[@mart8675309]

Oooo, you are good, I didn't get half of that from Bastion! Thank you, the game is even better now!

[@Phished123]

Its odd, i felt a strange emotional connection that i never really pieced together until you brought it up. when i had played through bastion, i had been struggling with some relationship issues. I felt an intense connection with the character. After hearing your analysis of the story i think you are spot on. Its crazy how you can subconsciously understand the subtext of a story without *really* understanding it.

[@Wazgrel]

I love your positive opinions man. I wish you made more of those. Either way I'm interested in your points of view and respect them, because no matter how you present it - it's going to be intelligent and something to think about. Even when I disagree on some points (and I disagree with a lot of stuff you point out). Cheers! :)

[@fredrikjarnbrost4356]

Finally someone with some humility for other peoples work!! Thank you for this excellent analysis! My own analysis is that the game is a game about itself. The kid is the avatar of you, the gamer, and Rucks is the game developer talking to you. He created the world for you, and you will only play it until you finish it, and the finishing of the game is the actual end of the world. That's why the Ura try to stop you, so you don't end the game.

[@MrJjjakey]

I disagree with almost every point made in this video. Of course I can't say the video is 'wrong' though. I could spend half an hour relating Bastion to WWII and I would be just as right as this video.

[@Roamstrong]

Just finished the game today (easily one of the best narratives I've played through ever). I like that you're looking for the metaphors underneath (which there are). But I disagree with the metaphor being about romantic relationships. I could see the argument for it being about regrets as a whole. Instead, the game feels like it's about the decision to live in the past or future. Here's why. The deaths of all those people - and the physical manifestation of them as ash - are meant to show the Calamity's weight. Lots of people died. Your girlfriend died too, sure, but that's just another drop in the bucket. In showing all the various ways the Calamity hurts, the game makes sure that the decision at the end has gravity - whether you care more about relationships, number of lives lost, past glory, wordly beauty, or whatever, some part of you that longs for the past is contained when you reverse time to the new world state. It sounds like for you, you'd empathize heavily with the gravity of relationships lost. I think recognizing the weight of that is intentional - but not the ultimate metaphor. Make sense? So here comes the question that the ending asks of you: is an endless loop of Calamities worth the recurring moments of joy of all those people/animals lost in the Calamity? Is there value in (literally) dwelling in the past to the chagrin of the future? Or is all that loss, as painful as it is, something to remember and memorialize, so that we can continue to learn and move forward? I think the game provides an answer. In New Game Plus, Rucks has deja vu moments - insinuating that restarting retains semblances of memory, but not enough to stop the Calamity from happening. And if you choose to save Zulf, the Ura people abandon their revenge agaisnt the Bastion, and against you. They literally change their entire vengeance worldview because they see your compassion. The moral then? The only way to live - with past and present in heart, but not in control - is forward.

[@AegixDrakan]

I know this is like 6 years old, but... Borderlands isn't post-apocalypse. Pandora was ALWAYS that fucked up. XD That one thing aside, you nailed Bastion. It's really damn good.

[@Pompo5]

Very well said, criticism is usually petty and based on marketed features that people asume ar supposed to attract you. also, bastion is a great artistic game, from the sound and visuals to the actual meaning of the game, thank you for your video

[@Arntonach]

I legitimatly feel bad for not trying this game out when I had the chance. THAT'S the power of positive critisim.

[@ultrablue18]

I've never been one to listen to gaming Vlogs, but yours is very refreshing and intelligently analytical. I've subscribed and hope to hear more great perspectives expressed from your channel.

[@johannamegido8465]

ignoring Bastion's clear anticolonialist messaging for a limp breakup metaphor honestly makes this video age worse than, say, the half life one.

[@TheTlminton]

"This is the best game based on a Greek myth you'll ever play" Supergiant Games: "Hold my beer"

[@SeattleSaurus]

The end-game of Bastion blew me away: from the moment where you can choose to save Zulf (which leads to one of the few times I've ever cried playing a game) to the ending choice, it does something that I wasn't sure I'd see in a game: offer a binary choice where either option seems equally valid. After my first playthrough, I thought for a while about what the game was saying: is it better to move on and grow after a tragedy, or to try and keep it from ever happening? Still not sure I know.

[@politicalnerdV]

I'm watching this in Utah, and the "Humor not valid in Utah" joke is AMAZING.

[@CrimsonSlug]

This was great analysis. What I really love is what it says about the player based on what choice was made. I chose to leave without trying to rebuild and now that I think of it that is exactly what I have done with relationships.

[@l337matt]

I loved it. I have this inability to analyse anything (especially poetry) on my own, but as soon as someone says the most obvious things it all clicks together and I wonder why I couldn't come to the same conclusions myself. This video had a similar effect. And while harsh over-the-top ridicule of stuff is generally easy to laugh at, well thought out insight and discussion is much more interesting and memorable.

[@Grafiction]

One of your best episodes. Nuff said!

[@chickenhed]

This is an outstanding video. Period.

[@zabaoth]

I think the most genius aspect of the game is the moral ambiguity of your actions. I thought they were gonna pull a 'you monster' speech at some point. Your society made a deathray that backfired on them, and while none of it is your fault, you don't know what the Bastion is for, and are just fighting for survival. You kill the monsters you enslaved, the nature that was trying to take over, and straight up end up killing people with an atomic bazooka. The narrator himself ends up just justifying your actions, but at the same time revelling a bit on the violence. In the move on ending you are the villain by any definition. Your society destroyed the world, and you snuffed out everything that survived just for your selfish needs.

[@DM_Dad]

+Adrian Jutronich Especially when he talks about some of the enemies as sapient beings and not just monsters or animals.

[@CaptainObsidian]

I agree with most of what you said about Bastion, I do think it's a pretty good game But fuck you for that subtle mention of Fallout where you say it's just set in post-apocalyptia because it's cool. Have you ever played a Fallout game? Because the entire game is themed around them. The characters all feel like they're struggling to survive in the harsh conditions, the towns look ramshackle enough to see they weren't designed by a highly paid engineer in an office building, and the quests are almost always about surviving in a world where people have been driven mad by the sheer though of death being a possibility at any time and how different people deal with it.

[@Nooneoneoneoeneone]

+Dave Strider not to mention the lore of the series thounds and thousands of pages on the wiki...an thats just the wiki

[@DM_Dad]

+Dave Strider Notice he showed either Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas, the former of which none of what you said is true. I didn't play the first two Fallouts, but in 3 and NV, the missiles fell so long ago that the old world is a distant memory. Here, the Calamity just happened. The change, not merely the event itself, defines these characters.

[@CaptainObsidian]

HA! Are you serious? Did you pay attention to the civilizations during your time with the Fallout series? Just because the bombs fell a couple hundred years ago doesn't mean they no longer affect the present. The world is no longer in shock that the bombs fell but civilization has changed so much its incredible. The economy has been replaced with bartering, interactions almost always start with shoot first ask questions later, human life is treated with almost no regard, drug use is so common you're weird for NOT using them, and weapons are the most valuable thing anyone can own. Not to mention an entirely new class of citizen, ghouls, who have to deal with their own civil liberties. But no, you're right, all of that stuff doesn't matter because the bombs fell sooooo long ago, who even cares.

[@DM_Dad]

Dave Strider All of that stuff is how it's always been for most people in the games, though apparently there are some ghouls that were around when the bombs fell. In Fallout 3 and NV, things are pretty well established. There are towns, trade routes, caravans, and merchants. A new economy has formed, as has the nation of the NCR with a government. Everything you mentioned is part of the setting, but no so much of the story. Fallout 3 is about purifying water, but they don't do a good job of establishing that as a problem. They just throw in some beggars that give you good karma.

[@CaptainObsidian]

Or the conversations that you have with the scientists talking about how important it is to do it. Or the high price of purified water. Or the entire state the wasteland is in? And besides, it doesn't matter if things are established, because the WAY things are established is completely different to the way they would be established if this was any other setting. It doesn't matter that the bombs didn't JUST fall because it's about the lingering affects of the bombs, not the immediate ones

[@kholbekj]

I liked the analysis! I'm not acedemically qualified to validate it in any way, but to me, it made sense. Thanks for helping me put the words in my mouth that I'll need to convince my friends to play Bastion.

[@Evija3000]

You build a wall - people emotionally guarding themselves from others Some day that wall is gonna fall - you let your guard down, trust the person Some day those tears are gonna spill - you get hurt One day your bird is gonna fly - you get left But now you've got nowhere to run - not entirely sure, but it could mean how open to pain you get when you let your guard(wall) down.

[@Jvizzlezz]

I'm amazed by the intelligence in the comment section. You mention enjoying something innocently, while the intro to Friendship is Magic plays in the background... and NO ONE mentions it. It's like a revelation for the Internet. Ponies mentioned in a video with no one talking about them in the comments? It's genius! No one expressing their love or hatred, no massive, immature arguments about the fanbase or ANYTHING. Just a nice little part mentioning MLP:FiM, with no negativity arising. Kudos.

[@SuperNintendofanboy]

Bastion is in my Top 5, just because it was such a surprise, it creates a world, and creates issues for that world, not just adapting real world issues to another world.

[@nicrse1]

on the last part, I was reminded of legend of zelda: windwaker. a world where the the end of hyrule already happened, and you, Link, had to fight ganon that was trying to bring hyrule back. the king of red lions gets his wish first and finally destroys hyrule and lets link and tera (was that her name?) live in the world above water. and what i chose is what gave me a bigger sense of adventure, the evacuation plan instead of treading on already trodden ground.

[@TommislavTLDR]

I think you did a great review, and a very interesting reflection on the story! Good job!

[@atortarr]

I sat there for 5 minutes straight when I was given the choice at the end. One of the hardest choices i've ever been given in a game.

[@FreakyCheeseMan]

I think one of the advantages of negative reviews - and negativity in general - is that people and groups are usually very aware of the things they did well (they did so on purpose) and they (mostly) know how to keep doing them already; thus, actual progress comes from pointing out the flaws, failings, and things to avoid in the future. It's one of the reasons that I think you learn more from losing a fight than from winning one (though such would be tough to represent in an RPG).

[@shiron222]

I just wanna say if you've ever read Yahtzee's novels you would know that his snark and cynicism isn't just used for views. I think he's genuinely that snarky in all aspects of life. I know this video is ancient by internet standards but it's still relevant today, seeing as Yahtzee is still going strong. I can't fault a guy who can turn his general outlook into a webshow to support himself. That said I like that you're positive in this. Were you inspired by Extra Creditz?

[@Pakanahymni]

I enjoyed this game a lot and you raised a lot of good points. Thumbs up.

[@Elias-xf3gw]

I loved bastion and this review. I never saw the metaphor with the break up, but i've been given the feeling of it.

[@ceelar]

I read the game that way aswell, in fact that actually made it easy for me to decide in the end. Choosing restoriation would imply allowing the chance for it all to happen again, while the other option sent a clear message that war is not inevitable. I think there's a strong social commentary on this.