I once wrote a high school, 5-paragraph-essay on why I hate 5-paragraph-essays for a teacher who literally said that as long as we write something down, we wouldn't get a 0. I got a 0.
Once I had no idea for a Powerpoint Presentation in Uni and I thought to myself, I will do one about "nothing". As in literally about nothing. What nothing means, interpretations, what are the implications of the concept of nothing and so on. I've got the equivalent grade of a "B" for it.
Oh man, I remember telling my adult cousin about this game when I was a teenager and explaining the story and the meaning of the title and he paused after I was finished with a blank look on his face and asked me "...and this is a game? That you play?"
I literally ONLY played ICO because a GameStop employee I was on good terms with told me it was MUST PLAY. Even then, I didn't believe him, but I bought it because it was cheap used, as nobody wanted it, and they also had a 7 day return policy. Needless to say, he was right and I'm grateful I experienced it at a time when it was more or less state of the art.
@@ZX-Gear I never beat the game, so I don't know. Metatron is considered to be the highest of angels because his name is the same value as El Shaddai in Hebrew gematria.
Slight correction with regard to ICO: The original North American version of ICO was rushed to market before even the Japanese version released. The reason they changed the cover art was because the art used by the Japanese and European versions hadn't actually been given to them as it wasn't finished yet. It wasn't because they thought the more iconic, minimalist one wouldn't appeal to gamers; they never saw it in the first place, so they worked with what they had. (I recently started playing ICO and became obsessed with it, so I did a bunch of research to fuel my obsession and that was what I found)
I think a key part of why KH got away with that monstrosity of a title was that Kingdom Hearts was already well established by the time they released that game. People already knew what Kingdom Hearts was and that they wanted it. If that had been the title for the first game, it probably would have killed the series.
At least it's not "kingdom hearts: 358/2 days" or "Kingdom hearts: dream drop distance" or "kingdom hearts: re:coded" That colon between re and coded was ABSOLUTELY neccessary, don't you know? Nomura is such a fucking hack.
@@RedFloyd469 I mean, in the case of Re:Coded, the "Re:" part is meant to be a reference to emails, of the "Re: [topic of previous emails that need to be referenced by reader for full context]".
I played this game as a child. I didn't have much money, one day I went to a game store and gave them one of my games, paid a little and they gave me this game, they chose it for me, like a game no one was buying so they just gave it to the first person they could trick to make him leave with it. I really don't remember much of it, I didn't understand it; but I liked it enough to remember it for years and search for it online, but not many people have analyzed it, so I'm happy someone is talking about this deeply. Describing this game as a ''dream'' is very fitting, that's how I remember it, as a dream that I had years ago and still remember years later.
i used to work at a gamestop with a guy who recommended this. i tried it. it was ok. i later found a restaurant named el shaddai in a strip mall and took a picture of the marquis, “manderson insurance” written underneath, and sent it to him. he sent back a picture of the ps3 case with masking tape over the title that said “manderson insurance.” i’d post it if i could. good times.
The name of the this game has been mentioned during a scientific lecture at the Collège de France to show that yes the niche interest of the biblical scholars in the room does influence media at times.
It’s not a niche interest of some fm scholars though, it’s god’s revelation of the best stories which is the base of most media because that’s what resonates more with ppl, because they are either a copy or a spinoff of true stories.
@@Omarew Look I am not sure that there are many missionaries approaching people by saying: hello I would like to talk to you about your Lord El-Shaddai.
I got so excited when you revealed the game was El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron. Literally said aloud " yes finally someone else played the game too".
I played this game when it released, it was actually one of my favorite games at the time. I wasn't aware that it didn't seel very well as I simply saw it as a great game and never looked further into it.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="149">2:29</a> This sounds like a 3 episode OVA from 1996 that you find buried at the bottom of a bargain bin in a closing Best Buy.
″‘Oh dear,’ said Aziraphale. ‘It’s him.’ ‘Him who?’ said Crowley. ‘The Voice of God,’ said the angel. ‘The Metatron.’ The Them stared. Then Pepper said, ‘No, it isn’t. The Metatron’s made of plastic and it’s got a laser cannon and it can turn into a helicopter.‘” - _Good Omens_
@@Sorain1There's two, Animated and Earthspark, but Good Omens was written in 1990, and Animated Megatron was released in 2007. We didn't even have the G2 Megatron that turns into an enormous bogie coloured tank when Good Omens was first on shelves. In fact, there were maybe five helicopter transformers total - I can name four and a half, depending how you count it. (Those helicopter TFs are Vortex, who also turns into an arm or a leg; Springer, who also turns into a car; Sandstorm, who also turns into a dune buggy; Battletrap, whose chest turns into a helicopter but whose legs turn into a tank; and Spinister, whose main job is holding two tiny men who approximate the shape of guns.)
I still remember how a "friend" that I had invited to my birthday party back when I was in elementary school gave me this game cause he found it somewhere cheap, as an attempt to get a low effort gift and when he gave it to me he said "I got you this. It includes swords and fights or something". I had never seen this game before in my life, but I still played it and loved it. Never seen it being mentioned even once since then, and I also haven't revisited it. Maybe I should
@@StonedHunter Allow me to explain. 1.The words originate from the 15th century alchemical texts of the Ripley Scrolls, which has instructions on creating the Philosopher's Stone. 2. For Alucard to be immortal, from the death of his mortal form to his rebirth as a vampire, he must embrace his three aspects within himself [which is symbolized by having many eyes to look within. his own being]: -Nigredo, the stage of decomposition and demise (Having died a mortal man, this form is his Dracula form, which is him wearing black armor) -Albedo, the stage of purification (his rebirth into a little white-clothed girl and the start of his Vampire form, having consumed blood to evolve into the being known as Rebis) -Rubedo, the stage of self-awareness and reentry into the mortal world (as Alucard grew in life, his self-awareness through the consumption of blood as power and knowledge fueled his strength and immortality, thus his red robes, coat, and hat. This is repeated at the end of the show, but that's explained later) 3. Using his own body as a vessel to form the bodily representation of the Philosopher Stone shows the stage of his rebirth and evolution. Guess the stigma of vampires desiring virgin blood makes sense from an alchemical standpoint through the use of using both the blood of man and women in order to consume and fuel the metaphorical stone within them by absorbing the anima and animus in both. 4. The seals on his hands and the act of destroying the souls within his being is the act of 'eating his own wings'. But after the final battle and lost his sense of self-awareness, his eyes closed and left the current reality in order to return to his original being. 5. Duality exists in the Philosopher Stone, and the show constantly express how the servant (monster) is stronger than the master (human) but the monster chooses to 'eat his own wings' to serve the human and his line, eventually leading to Integra. Here is the full video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1dH2jUChmwM.html
@@jeffreypeters5578None of the books purportedly written by Moses ever mention a "Book of Enoch." Nor do they reference it. None of the other Old Testament books mention it either. The only place there's a firm reference to the book of Enoch in the Christian Bible is in the Epistle of Jude.
I saw the title and the thumbnail and was thinking for the first 2 minutes, 30 seconds: "Please be El Shaddai - Ascension of the Metatron. Please be El Shaddai - Ascension of the Metatron. Please be El Shaddai - Ascension of the Metatron."
If the title was simply "The Ascension of Metatron" it would be fine. But they decided to put "the" in a weird place that makes Metatron sound like less of a name and more of a thing; and made El-Shadai the main title, so it's way longer than it needs to be.
@@saintfayde4438 'Metratron' is a title, as it is "the voice of Jehova" (thus "The Metatron".) It is definitely an overstuffed title, despite how awesome it sounds. Also, FYI, that's not how you use a semicolon; this is how you use a semicolon-to connect two related complete thoughts that could otherwise be separated by periods. Yours should just be a comma.
@@Painocus Because the title isn't just "El Shaddai" It's "El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron" which is longer than "The Ascension of Metatron" 4 words is less than 6
When it comes to band names there's a thing where the band makes the name sound good, not the other way around. When you think about it a bunch of popular band names are completely nonsensical, starting with Anal Cunt and Dying Fetus all the way to Korn and Arctic Monkeys.
@@MATCHLESS789 one of my favorite nonsensical band names is Ozric Tentacles (which the story of how they made the name being they were making up fictional cereals probably stoned outta their mind and Ozric Tentacles was one such fake cereal they made up)
@@MATCHLESS789 It still makes me chuckle that Dave Grohl said that if he knew Foo Fighters was gonna be a big thing he wouldn't have named it that because he thinks it's the worst band name ever made
El Shaddai: Metatron Comes Home Chronicles of Metatron: Escape From El Shaddai Metatron Alone: Lost In El Shaddai Beyond Metatron & El Shaddai El Shaddai Ate My Metatron
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="104">1:44</a> to be more precise, Okami did not sell well when it launched. Since Capcom remastered it in 2017 for all consoles and PC, that version has sold 2.4 million as of their most recent quarterly report, and is the 46th best selling Capcom game in its history.
“Just a few years after the garden of Eden”. Even the minimal Biblical time period puts it at a good thousand years I think. Many believe it was much longer. This time period always fascinated me because we know so little about it. Were there ancient high-tech civilizations? Did beings like Zeus and other myths actually happen during this time? How radical was the sorcery and other things the Watchers taught humanity? It just sounds like the most fantasy time of humanity and I want to know.
Almost as bad as "Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters And Gain Strong Weapons And Armor. You May Be Defeated, But Don’t Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe There Will Be A Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King."
Listening to ASMR Satan yap in my ear for 6+ hours while my eyes slowly glazed over from the visual assault did the same to me. I had to google "Enoch Game" a few years later to prove to myself that it was real. "Yes I told him already. Don't worry, he'll be fine. I know. I said I know. Sheesh. Yeah yeah, I'll tell him again." :click:
the problem with marketing issue is the internet. in what time the game came out, what year of the internet is it, and when gaming/anime/manga started to become main stream. some games just didnt have the marketing because unless you bought a gaming magazine you relied on word of mouth or went to the store and picked a game at random because you liked the title or like the art. also there is the phenomenon of "it was before its time" that is a contributing issue. its a part of life and always happens. the generation that the game was made for just didnt get it at the time. then time passes, people change, new people start gaming, and then people act surprised and be like "why did i never play this?" like it was some sort of mystery.
is because they metion that michael and satan fight for the body of moses in one of the new testament letters but this was a jewish tradition centuries before the book of enoch mention it
is because they mention that Michael and satan fight for the body of moses in one of the new testament letters but this was a jewish tradition centuries before the book of enoch mention it
@@elderjose9662As far as I can remember the book of Enoch doesn't mention Moses at all. Especially being that Moses wouldn't have been born yet. There are many different times the book of Enoch is quoted in the New testament though. One being when Jesus explains that we do not marry in heaven but are like that of the angels. Jesus specifically points out that they should know that if they know their scripture. But they didn't know it because they didn't read the book of Enoch. I forget who he was talking to when he said it though.
Wait people had a problem with the name? I was always onlooking at the miriad if unsold copies at my local GameStop but NEVER it came to my mind that people might have not been interested in the title because of the name. ... because i'm in italy and to non-english speakers el shaddai doesn't sound any weirder than half the english game titles. What i can say though, is that the game genre didn't fit the market of the time and that no amount of publicity would have saved it from being a flop here, it would have been like trying to sell houseki no kuni(land of the lustrous) to a tv channel that only airs cartoons at lunch hour: it just wouldn't have worked.
P.s.: also for reference, what publicity the title got in Italy back then was full of praise, i.e. big press sites acclaiming it eith the lowest score being iirc a 7 but plenty of 9s
Born in '89 and I am EXACTLY the target market for ICO. Remember reading magazine articles about it but I didn't buy it because I just had no idea wtf it was
I picked this up since my guardian said I couldn't get GOW yet. I quickly fell in love with the game. Where I'm from, people aren't really aware this game even exists. So I'm really happy to see a video being done it by you. TYSM!
I’d argue that’s a better name, but only because it’s ridiculous in a way that could intrigue people. Like you do not know what you’re getting into with Unicorn Overlord. Whereas El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron doesn’t give you anything. Other than sounding like a pretentious 90s anime you’d find in a bargain bin at a closing Best Buy.
@@nicodemusedwards6931 do a google search on what el shaddai translates to, and you will 180 that opinion. the title is good when translated to english,
Oh hey, El Shaddai. I haven't thought about that game since I beat and reviewed it way back when it first came out. I gave it a 5/10. Here's how I ended it: "El Shaddai has a lot of interesting ideas, but it fails to fully implement them. The biblical source material is wasted on utterly boring and one-dimensional characters. The combat mechanics are fine - the three-weapon system keeps you constantly in motion and changing strategies - but it’s limited by the repetitive combos, the inability to wield more than one weapon at once, and no opportunities to modify or strengthen your move set. The platforming is occasionally well-crafted, but there’s nothing particularly mind-blowing or challenging. The horrendous camera and inconsistent controls don’t help, either. There were a lot of missed opportunities with regards to the online features; what could of have been a great multiplayer title is limited to brief and unsatisfying single-player experience. At least it looks awesome; few PS3 games can boast the kind of visual splendor and fascinating design that went into some of these stages. But as El Shaddai illustrates, style is nothing without substance."
I remember seeing this game on Steam and thinking "oh this looks like if Atlus had an acid trip like a that weird game " the weird game in question is another very abstract game called "Where they Cremate the Roadkill".
@@onetruesavior69 oh, sorry SMT puts all mythological beings from around the world together, which I find kind of cool. Then again, SMT YHVH is something I am glad it's not in *our world*
_looks it up_ Ooo! Warhammer Online, Epic Mickey, F3&New Vegas, Oblivion, Catherine, Splatterhouse, and Civ4 were made on that, with Maplestory 2 being the last
I love that you're inserting more humor into your videos! Your sense of humor is fantastic. Oh and Smoughtown mentioned you in another Elden Ring video, there was a whole comment thread was calling for a collab. I must admit it warms my heart when two of my favourite youtubers come across each other.
This game did something I haven't seen in any other game. If you're beaten when fighting the Watchers and their agents, you typically just get to continue from a checkpoint. However, there are a few sections in the game where you have to do some platforming while outrunning a rising tide of darkness that threatens to swallow you. If the darkness catches you, it's game over. Basically, you get a bad ending, and a sequence plays (which I won't spoil) while the credits roll. You have to reload your save to keep going. HOWEVER, you have control over your character while this sequence is playing. If you do a certain action, you get a special scene. Again, no spoilers, but it BLEW MY MIND that this was in the game. Such a cool game. One of my all time favorites for weird shit alone.
I need to find out what this certain action is for this special scene! I’ve allowed the darkness to get me plenty of times over the years with this game but can’t ever remember getting a special scene. Can you give me a hint at all? 😂
@@GenkiStarLeaf Yeah... I'll be honest with you. It's been about 8 years or so, so I don't remember EXACTLY what I did... All I can tell you is... It might depend on the direction you start running. Whatever you do, DON'T stop moving until you get kicked out to the title screen. Good luck! Also this was the PS3 version. Not sure if the PC version has this or not.
I just remember seeing this at a Gamestop once and being truly bewildered that someone would name their game that. Since then I've been looking forward to the inevitable day I walk into a store and see "Jesus Chris: Disciple Dash" for sale
As a Christian I would describe the 3 books of Enoch as a really weird set of fanfiction stories based on a side character who got 5 minutes of screen time. Some fans will argue till their red in the face that it has to be canon because it doesn't necessarily contradict the canon story even though the publisher has said it's not. For anyone interested in a scholarly explanation without a bias of debating if something is scriptural canon or not, the channel Religion for Breakfast has episodes on all 3 books of Enoch. He provides good historical context for all 3 books because they were written at different times in history.
The christian bible contains direct references to the book of enoch as supporting material for the foundation of Christ as Messiah, along with the Melchizedek texts. It's widely accepted that the first two books were part of the scriptural canon of the hebrews, particularly the Essenes.
@@CantusTropusthe church can and very often has committed mistakes throughout history. I’ll trust the Hebrews of Jesus’ day over the Roman Catholic Church.
But yet it's an awesome game!? Do you agree and what do you think about Judaism taking on aliens, wormholes, time continuities and weird alien monsters, or glitches!? I thought kabbalah was a much more advanced form of alchemical science inspired by alien tech going back to ancient sur or Enech empires of Mesopotamian lore.
This video was my introduction to you, which was done on a whim, and I had never heard of this game before, but you have convinced me to both try it and to subscribe.
This game is sitting in my Steam Wishlist for years, might be time to finally pick it up. Remember seeing ads about the original release of it around 2010 I guess. Looked bizarrely interesting.
Currently working on a video that used this game as an inspiration, I haven't had the heart to play it, but I'm thankful that you covered it today. Thank you, Max!
Why didn't I play this game when it came out? I've really missed out this gorgeous looking game. The trippy aesthetics are so incredible to look at. It's like being in a surreal dream created by Salvador Dahli.
This was such a cool game. I had to play it when my wife wasn't around because the visuals reminded her of the time she tried acid and it was making her uncomfortable, haha.
Speaking of this being a spin-off of a spin-off, 'The Lost Child', a very old-school SMT inspired dungeon crawler released a while back, is itself a spin-off of this game. Hell, you even get Enoch as a party member!
If NA really wanted to make a more appealing cover art, they could have designed one of Ico holding off a group of the shadow creatures with a sword(pointed at them) while he holds Yorda behind him with the "stay back" gesture. The background could have been the castle with the silhouette of the queen engulfing everyone. This tells you it's a fantasy setting, with some form of combat, and there's a shadowy leader that needs to be defeated. Could have drawn some Final Fantasy fans since this was during the JRPG boom and a lot of gamers were looking for more fantasy themed games. The Japanese box art was a death sentence to this game in a world before Social Media.
It's not a matter of taste. It's a matter of even knowing what the fuck the game is about. It's a matter of even knowing the game exists in the first place. Nobody bought this game other than a handful of people. And it's probably not because of the gameplay. Marketing is 90% of why anything gets sold. Period.
@@RedFloyd469most mangas(and by proxy anime) are full of hypersexualised objectified women the reason being the ones that werent got axed for not selling enough many of the masterpiece movies i have watched ended up flopping when it comes to webtoons some of my favorite ones are in obscurity whit less than a fraction of followers than the absolute trash full of flashy explosions and girls so sexualised and depersonified they might as well be mindless toys, and yet they somehow have millions of followers
@@RedFloyd469your comment is amusing to me on two levels. You really think the average fifa or madden fan would pick up a game like this or Ico if it were just advertised more? The other point is this game did spend a lot on marketing. It was something they put a decent amount of money into. But i guess you wouldnt know that when you just regurgitate hack RU-vid videos.
I remember seeing this game in a tv channel that did AMV-style clips, and I was amazed at how strange and beautiful it looked, as you said, it appears like a dream
When this game came out I was too young too like the gameplay loop but still knew I was playing a beautiful work of art, and I couldn't even get out of the first level.
The amazing thing for me, i started the video not even thinking that the game would be el shaddai, because the one thing that made me buy el shadday for my ps3 was tha name
I'm really glad that people are going back to this game and re-evaluating it! I was an OG fan of the game all the way back when it was first released, though I never got to actually play it, and it's always stuck with me for just how ethereal and beautiful the game design was and some of the interesting ideas that it had, like basically everything that has to do with Lucifel. It's a real shame that the rest of the 9 games never came out and El Shaddai never got expanded because I definitely think it could have been something great, like on the scale of the Nier games. It was partially this game that introduced me to the Book of Enoch, the fallen angels, and the Nephilim and, as a queer kid who was feeling stifled and disrespected within this strict Christian upbringing, it really provided me the first step in discovering Gnostic philosophy and theology which I think is something that a lot of people in this world need with the way Christianity in particular, but basically all of the world's major Abrahamic religions are going. And because of my upbringing with the game, it's become a source of inspiration for the trilogy (?) of epic urban fantasy novels I'm getting ready to start writing which are based directly on Gnosticism set in an urbanized Garden of Eden which heavily feature the Nephilim as major characters and are basically Free Palestine The Books! I just hope that they become much more popular than the game did! XD
Before I watch, I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say the game is Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. That is, to this day, the worst title I've ever heard. I was wrong, but this game looks dope. Awful name too, but I still think Lodoss War takes it in the name department.
It's locked in by being based on an older anime, but the full title is very clunky. Maybe Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit could have accomplished the same thing since all the fans would know ohhhhhh!!!
Hey Max, hope you're great. This video put me in a great place and I'm absolutely going to play the game in the next few weeks, with some good friends I'm moving in with. Been sober for almost 8 months and I'm excited to rewatch all your videos for the first time again.
The game come out on PC??? I wanted to give a try, but having only a pc limited me to emulation which is not fully playable yet. The game being on Steam without me knowing just show how badly marketed the game was even in the re-release
I was listening to your video while I was away from my phone, I heard you say “Ico” and rushed back because I thought you said “Ecco” like the dolphin I was slightly disappointed
Yeah, to your chagrin I think your thumbnail work effectively hooked me. My thought process was “I think that’s El Shaddai?” and then “I remember thinking it was mid, was I wrong all this time?” and those two aspects led me to watch the whole thing, whereas something like “a review of El Shaddai” I’m not sure I would’ve stopped on.
As soon as I read that video title I knew it was El Shaddai without even seeing the thumbnail 😂 I loved this game back when. My zealous mom bought it for me because it was “biblical” and she was desperate to keep me occupied with media that reinforced her religious values 💀 she had no idea what it was actually about lmao thanks for this blast from the past!
I'll always be amazed of how older games back in my day tended to tell 'A deeper story' - 'a deeper meaning' - 'a deeper message.' It's amusing that now and even still people are deducting what those games tried to tell us. Impressive!
Max, ive been rolling with u since IDK, probably the pandemic? Your videos always get me through tough times. Here you are handing us over another hidden gem. Thank you and keep on keeping on
I remember really wanting to play this game back in the day, and when I saw the thumbnail for this video I managed yo predict it would be this game by the blond dude with his armor breaking off, as I really like armor and clothes breaking mechanics in games, anything that shows your character being damaged during battle.
Gotta hard disagree. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is a title that immediately makes me want to play, & it’s actually as soon as I learned that this was not some kind of Kabbalistic Soulsborne game, but a hack & slash game, that I immediately lost 70% of my interest. But I know, there aren’t enough esoteric philosophers & mystical practitioners out there for that to translate into mass sales.
Religion and mythology should not always be conflated with one another. I used the term "religious mythology" when I was an atheist because it was a pureile way of self-validating my own beliefs and feigning intellectual superiority on topics pertaining to theism. Thank God I made it out of that cave.
I totally forgot this game's title, but its gameplay is totally burned into my brain. My friend had it, and I only got to play a few hours, but it was awesome, and I never got a chance to get back to it.
