Sometimes it feels that some people like to bunch up game development components together, add everything up and give the project either "it's good", "it's a mediocre waste of time" or "it's shit". Most of the time going for "it's shit".
If you pay attention to game development, however, a lot of the time there can be:
- a good level designer
- a good artist
- a good sound director
- a good mechanics designer
- simply a good director (<- probably the most rare)
and the list goes on.
It feels reductive to love the complexity of RPGs, but then when asked what is one, to try to subsume it's components into a 5 word-sentence. In this case, obviously cynics will always win: most RPGs will fall short when viewed with that lens, so... "everything is shit, let's hate everything".
* * *
As an example: In MOTB, after just 2 minutes trying to find Gannayev's mother in that fucking maze, you go nuts listening to her constant looping dribbles. Until you realize it's intentional. She is mad. Because she is a creature that relishes dreams, which has not been able to sleep in decades.
Is that WHOLE game good? Probably not. Is that directing choice in that particular map good? Undoubtedly.
NOTE: My example was just an example. If this spawns 10 pages of autism on MOTB, I'm going to flip my shit. Let's not be retarded. <3
