Even the Ocean Analysis

[@scas97]

What a special videogame this is! I didn't know that Anodyne took less than a year to develop while this took 3 years. We are so lucky to have people like Melos and Marina in the gaming industry

[@yoppimedia]

yes this game is super special and soooo underapprecciated. in terms of the 3 years thing, i actually have refleted after posting this video and realised i never confirmed that in any interviews with the devs. i just assumed that that based on the fact that anodyne was released 3 years before. so maybe they were working on it in some regard during all that time, or maybe it was shorter than 3 years, idk. whichever is the case, amazing game

[@Rolli_Zolli]

The Analgesic games REALLY helped pull me through the first half of 2020 and their games will always have a big influence on my life going forward. I'm very happy to see more people giving their games the recognition they deserve and i'm SUPER looking forward to your analysis of Anodyne 2 as it's quickly become one of my favorite games of all time and there's just so much that can be said about it. It's an amazing middle ground between Anodyne's exploration and mystery and Even the Ocean's more direct messaging and lived-in-feeling world while still having its own charm to it. Okay, i've rambled on enough, have a nice day!

[@yoppimedia]

omg couldn't agree with you more, their games have so much thematic depth and emotional impact. I just played anodyne 2 for the first time yesterday, and couldn't put it down (i beat it in one day lol). I agree that it is the perfect middle ground between the two storytelling styles of their previous games, taking everything that worked from both and comibining them perfectly. im super hyped to start working on the video. was there any charahters, moments, or metaphors that really stuck with you? i want to ask a bunch of anodyne 2 fans to get ideas for the analysis so id love to hear some of your thoughts on the game :)

[@Rolli_Zolli]

​@yoppi Oh, god, where do i begin?? Well, there's some obvious ones off the top of my head, like how well they established The Center as a metaphor for the common idea of the christian God and then smoothly transitioned that into a metaphor for, like, capitalism with the introduction of C Visionary?? Like, just bringing into focus the western belief of this seemingly all knowing, always right economic system with no alternative as though it were a religion and, of course, how religion is often intertwined with it, at least in my experience as someone who lives in the US. There's also the Desert NPC, THAT was interesting. I'm personally of the belief that Nora is the irl version of Nova and New Theland is an escapist fantasy in the same way The Land was for Young. For that short part of the game we're not shrinking down into a world within New Theland, but briefly growing out into the real mundane and overwhelming life Nora is escaping from. That even brings into question which ending is the right one for Nora. Is the Anodyne a representation of Nora trapping herself within this fantasy, or is it her finally leaving the world? Is her fighting against The Center and making her own future her deciding to escape this fantasy...or just her trying her hardest to find a way to stay longer? It seems like an obvious bad ending/good ending scenario on the surface, especially considering all other parts of the story up to this point, but even if it's the obvious answer that's correct, it still at least got me thinking. As for some smaller segments (literally, in most cases, heheh) i love Center City Cenote. It's such a wonderful tutorial area that perfectly sets up the themes of the game and has lots of fun areas to explore, and every time i go back and listen to the city's theme, i get this odd rush of bitter nostalgia as though i were Nova, being born and raised in Cenote and longing for the simplicity of that early life...but being unable to separate it from an oppressive upbringing. And, on that note, the soundtrack in general??? An absolute masterpiece! I wish i could find extended versions of the game's ost on youtube because i could listen to these tracks for hours on end! From the calming yet somber Pastel Horizon, to the upbeat nerdiness of Lonwei-er, i mean, "Clonwei's" inner world, to the haunting theme of The Anodyne itself, each song perfectly fits the situation and gets stuck in my head for long afterwards. There's also tons of comedic writing throughout the game, the best jokes off the top of my head being Lonwei's "Doctor of Phil" comment, the "Environmental Storytelling" and "AKAB" graffiti, "The friend we made along the way" in New Theeland, and, of course, most of the cards that you collect during the game. I could go on for hours more about each area, each character, each gameplay element and so on, buuuuttt i feel like i've said more than enough, i'd rather this not turn into an entire essay, lol. If there is anything specific you'd like my thoughts on, though, feel free to let me know! Until then, i'm looking forward to future content from this channel, keep up the great work!

[@yoppimedia]

@@Rolli_Zolli WOW! holy moly thank you for this awesome detailed reply. I agree with all of your iterpritations for sure and many of those messages will definetely be in my anodyne 2 video. The critique's of capitalism and religion will defintely be a big part of it. Also, I will have to tie that into how the game discusses parenting with The Center and C Palmist/Palisade. For example I see the glendilock seed as the parental and societal pressure that subconciouslly builds up in ones self. Nova is able to resist hers, but can't get rid of it in the end. However, they are able to raise a new generation without that pressure. Yeah I thought the Nora section was genius and especailly with how it affected the ending. Personally I am a very optimistic person so I saw it as Nora escaping back into Anodyne 2 only temporarily to learn from it. Then the ending where you sail off into the unknown was when you finnally no longer need the game to escape to because you no longer need it, similar to Young walking off into the ocean in the first game. I LOVE that it is ambiguous though. The bitter nostalgia of CCC is a great way to put it. I watched a vid by Melos where they talk about making that song and how they wanted it do have different meaning based on the context of where you are at in the story. At first it is comforting and hopeful, but the more you find out about the dark aspects of The Center, the more it comes of as melancholic. Yeah so many hilarious moments, i will defintely be including some of the ones you mentioned in the video, like the AKAB grafitti. Because it's hilarious but also had legit interesting meaning behind it (like many of the funny aspects of the anodyne games). I may send ya a message when I'm closer to having my thoughts all written down (still researching a lot before getting to actual scripting). In the mean time, you should defintely check out this essay I found about Anodyne 2, i think you will resoante a lot with its iterpretations lotusrootrecords.water.blog/2019/12/30/another-world-is-possible-meditations-on-anodyne-2/

[@Kefgoeroe]

I felt so bad for the geomes. If only the protagonist knew…

[@oyoyoyo7624]

Thanks for this vid! I started playing Anodyne 2 earlier this week. The atmosphere and ideas it contains were so evocative of emotions I wasn’t ready to sit with (Looking forward to picking it back up next week) .. so I bought Even the Ocean Wednesday & saw the credits 48 hours later. E.T.O. is the closest a game has come to feeling like it was “made for me.” I learned a lot from my time with E.T.O., especially the narrative. A good ending can be hard to come by in books, films, and games. This game’s conclusion is my favorite video game ending to date, and this game is my new favorite game to date. I hope it impacts more people the way it has for me 🤍

[@yoppimedia]

omg so glad u had such a good time with the game c: ETO is really somethin special

[@JonathanMorales2]

This is a really good review! The script flows really well and you have a great VO voice, kinda soothing hahah. I've been getting into more old school type games and this looks interesting keep up the content! SUBBED! check out my silly animation vids if ya want too!

[@yoppimedia]

thanks so much! definetely check out all the games by this developer, analgesic productions :) i'm defintely going to be covering a lot of retro style games in the future so thanks for subbing. yo your videos were really funny, and you do a lot with ust green screen and animation, its a good video style!