I should fix my calckey server but ughhh I don't wanna.......
I don't drink coffee often, but if I had this Bloody Wolf mug, I would be bringing it out every day
For the past week I've had this TOTK review stuck in my head of someone writing, "Tears of the Kingdom is an objectively good game, but critical contrarians dislike it because of the way games culture overwhelmingly promotes and upholds whatever the new AAA corporate developed game is without fail". And I appreciate their consideration for how contrarianism forms in games culture and taste. I do think it is true that part of the disdain for that game comes from just how much mass praise it receives, but also, I don't know why we are still trying to determine things as "objectively good". And I knoooow it's a tired debate, but I just need to say my piece.
I don't dislike BOTW/Tears of the Kingdom just because a bunch of people like it. I personally just don't like how the game has iterated on ubisoft open world game design elements and I also don't want a Zelda game with crafting/building. Considering those parts of my taste, I think the games are pretty boring. I've started BOTW about 4 times just trying to give it a shot since everyone likes it and it just never lands with me. Sure, its very well designed and polished but that doesn't necessarily determine "objective quality". I don't really have any reason to say the game is good or bad, it's just really not for me.
Saying something is "objectively good" just feels like we are adhering to the idea that there is a canon of "good games" that will end up in one of those yearly game compilation books at the Scholastic Book Fair. It contributes to the notion that all games have to enter into a monolithic amalgamation of "GAMES", rather than looking at the history of a game's design, the communities formed around the individual title's genre, and webs that branch out.
I think instead of trying to expand this ideological bubble of "good games" it's much more interesting to engage with your own enjoyment of individual elements in the game and how it relates to your own taste. What other games does it evoke for you? What other literature, experiences, media does the game connect with for you? The answers to those questions will certainly connect with others playing the game, and a much more specific series of conversations will emerge that transcend the tired, archaic debate of what is an "objectively good video game".