The Problem With Narrative Transportation 

Remember to use code DARYLTALKS50 to get 50% off your first Factor box at bit.ly/3SeTNCe! Thank you all so much for watching the show this year. Big plans ahead for 2024. Oh and feel free to use this as a "You misspelled *Aggressive* at 12:26" button 🙈

As a writer, this is just something I have to deal with. I know too much about how to structure a narrative to not see it when it’s done. For a while, it kind of sucks. And then you get past that and you learn to enjoy a good story even though you know how it works. A rainbow is just as beautiful when you know how it happens, and honestly, even a little more.

I don't think that being aware of what happens behind the scenes when consuming something is necessarily detrimental or that needs to be "fixed", there are a lot of times when it's quite the opposite. Imagine you're in a museum and you see a pretty painting, you say "Nice" and keep moving, meanwhile, someone else might know the artist, the period in which they did the painting and the context behind it, that would make it more impactful than just looking at it for what it is, same thing can happen to different types of media and can make you appreciate something even more.

I find that the healthiest way of analyzing stuff is experiencing it, seeing how it makes you feel, and then analyzing why it makes you feel that way (instead of starting by analyzing the thing itself)

Between this and the back log video, you really got me reanalyzing my reanalyzing of my gaming habit and backlog. Screw it, pass the eggnog. 🤣

As someone who has hobbies in writing, art, gaming, and film making, I tend to find myself more engrossed in a piece of media when I do see the individual parts the creators have put into it. Like the windows in RE Village with the jumpscare I found myself excited to see the developers try to scare me. When I see how the set design, character design, or something else try to influence me to feel a certain way, when I know thats what the creators want from me, I'll buy into it more, get more excited. Maybe this is just a side effect of being a DM that tries to put in serious plot beats for a party of absolute goofballs, giving the developers the buy-in that I want from my players.

I'm a game developer and honestly, to make, knowing how everything is made only makes me appreciate it more. I don't care as much about smaller issues that I know are hard to fix and I'm constantly amazed by clever solutions to technical problems that most people don't even realize exist.

Sort of a chicken & egg scenario with this: When I had a major bout of depression (I got out, I'm doing great) I remember *not* being able to just let a movie engross me. (That "narrative transportation") I just saw camera angles, set construction, lighting, actors, and I'm not even a cinephile. If I knew as much about game dev as I do now, I'm sure I'd have seen animation blends, nav meshes, colliders, scripts. I could see the parts, and not lose myself in the sum of it. Thus furthering the depression because I couldn't just enjoy stories. Many years later, Night in the Woods really nailed the idea with its similarly afflicted protagonist talking about "everything just being shapes". NOT trying to diagnose anyone here, but if you're reading this and everything has felt that way to you lately, it might be time to look for someone to talk to. Good luck out there.

Spoilers absolutely destroy the first time playthrough because it’s hard to consume things you know will happen. Also a spoiler video would be fire Daryl, keep up the good work 👍

Heyy awesome Christmas tree! As a (former) video game translator for me it's language analyzing that's super hard to turn off. I mostly play in English if that's the original language but my brain keeps and *keeps* going "How would I translate this?" "Wow, that's tough, I wonder what they did with that" to the point where I switch languages mid-game to check or play through multiple times (looking at you FF7 Remake) just to experience all "my" languages. And I'm genuinely interested in what I find but it can get tiresome too. It's a bit different than what you described but also not lol. And I don't have a solution, I think you said what there is to say. I kinda rather want to know if someone shares my compulsions... Oh and for my taste it's a bit much wrestling in this one but hey, it's your channel and it's great is has some personality.

I ALWAYS make sure I am fully invested and ready to take in the story and experience infront of me, if I feel like it's not the time, I wait. Same with horror movies etc. Get into the mood and everything first.

I think honestly the point you make at the end about the obsession with "hot takes" reveals the big issue with how we engage with media now. I don't think that the "analyzing brain" is ruining our immersion or that it's actually that detrimental. It's the feeling of obligation to something other than your own personal goals. People aren't engaging, analyzing, or "thinking deeply" about media because they genuinely want to. They're doing it because that's what everyone on Twitter is telling them that's what they're supposed to do. If you genuinely love the piece of art/media, and you're choosing to analyze it for yourself than it is no longer "ruining" anything. Analyzing the structure or "taking yourself out" of the work isn't a bad thing if you're doing it out of an inherent curiosity or love for the medium, but because everyone is telling you this is what you're supposed to do you end up doing it almost out of a cultural pressure, and that's what I think is taking away the enjoyment. This also affects how we choose to analyze work as well, what "takes" we're supposed to have (and you better have the correct one or else everyone will be mad at you!). We force ourselves to think in specific ways so that we can regurgitate some kind of opinion to the outside world when really any type of analyzing should be for your own personal growth and for improving whatever relationship you have with the media you care so much about. Ultimately you can and SHOULD think deeply and analyze media, but you should be doing it because you're genuinely naturally curious about it, not because everyone else is doing it or they told you you have to. Find the specific pieces of art/media that speak to you, and make you naturally curious, and then it won't be so detrimental.

A part of me found some genuine freedom in the conclusion to this video. Throughout my life, I've felt something akin to guilt for enjoying things that I knew that a lot of people disliked, that I knew were rated poorly, or that I even knew weren't objectively well made. I've kind of reached this "don't give a damn, I like what I like" attitude on my own in response to it, but I've never heard someone else conclude that either. Cheers!

The beauty of knowing about how things are made behind is that it makes it even more special when you forget about them because the product is so well done, i move it when a dialogue feels like something someone could say instead of something a writer wrote

In a similar fashion, I am a student of law, and unfortunately, there was a time that whenever someone tells me news about someone dying, my mind instantly slips through the legal provisions surrounding succession law, and then only after I realize "Oh wait, shit.. A real person actually died."

You sir have just explained the appeal to the "Shut off your brain" entertainment. By acknowledging how ridiculous and unrealistic the media is at the start we ironically are able to immerse ourselves easier then watching something more artistic that engages our brain into a high level of thinking.

My friends and I have discussed this phenomenon that we've colloquially referred to as "TV Tropes Education", where critical media has made people aware of the puzzle pieces and ingredients that creators use to make media, and that some people take this knowledge as a sign that they should be devalued. We have spoken to so many people who have fallen into TV Tropes rabbit holes to the point where they can't watch a single piece of media without popping every single TV Tropes flash card out of their pockets when they recognize it, and worse yet is that they falsely believe that just _using_ a trope is a sign of bad writing. We know better than to use TV Tropes as a substitute for media literacy, but it hit me the most when a friend was telling me that they were watching _Everything Everywhere All At Once_ with their mother, and during the third act of that film the mother completely tuned out once she locked in on the idea of "Oh, this is just an overly-positive 'love wins' scenario". And this is a sentiment I have also heard several times with good stories that I cherish that people simply write off as having a "power of friendship" narrative that somehow robs it of depth or meaning. I don't know if I ever cured myself of media cynicism; I still roll my eyes at the latest servings from Marvel because my brain can't help recognizing the pattern of Marvel's multi-tiered meganarrative. But at the very least I've been exposed to the worst kind of media nihilism that I can tell myself confidently that "I don't want to be _that_ person". And as a result, I've let myself be surprised by a lot of things in recent days than I have over the last few years.

something that surprised me is that zen, meditation, and clearing my mind is something that helps me to check out and enjoy stuff. it takes practice to let go of all the thoughts in my head and let the game just take up space in the place of my own thoughts for the duration of the experience. but it’s amazing when i can do it. i think that’s what people mean by suspension of disbelief

I've found that it's actually pretty easy for me to get sucked into stories still, but I've also found that most of my favorite stories are meta fiction. Stuff like Doki Doki Literature Club, Umineko, Earthbound, The Truman Show, Barbie, etc. They're a good mix of the two ways of consuming media you explained and I love how their self awareness is utilized in the stories they tell. Not only are they great on their own, but they also make me think and I love thinking lol.

It’s so funny that you and Super Eyepatch Wolf both uploaded videos with wrestling sections tucked into the middle in the same day

Was so happy to see a clip of Frieren when you uttered the line "And to remember that the art you like best is best." No further notes. 👏

I agree that defying expectations is necessary for a complex and engaging plot. Friedrich Nietzsche's _The Birth of Tragedy_ talks about how one of the most suspenseful play genres became very distilled, with the ending and plot twists being spoiled in the synopsis _before_ the play. Modern stories in blockbuster films rarely have the gall to truly end on depressing notes, making them much more predictable.

Many years ago I analyzed every movie, game etc I consumed. I was under the impression that this was the correct way of consuming media, you had to be able to properly critique the things you consumed. I eventually realized that I was no longer enjoying myself and I made an effort to analyze less and enjoy myself more. I still analyze media to some extent of course but now I spend way more time actually enjoying movies and games for what they are. My life is far better for it.

A friend chastised me recently for liking mediocre games because it “means you’re complacent for devs to make shit games” and that honestly irked me. Must every game these days need to be a perfect 10/10 cinematic masterpiece just to be considered “fun”? Is it wrong to find the fun in flawed products that you know aren’t the best experiences but it’s something you can just vibe with? My friend sees my expectations of fun to be ”a low bar”, I however see it as a comfort.

Most people I have met have the same experience as you, and it always baffles me. I have no issue with analyzing something, knowing how it's made, and even thinking it could be more enjoyable to me if done differently- without being overwhelmingly critical and negative about it. Because I don't share the "problem" and I don't think I'm inherently different from anyone else, I think the difference is one of attitude and perspective. Frankly, I think people are too negative and too egocentric. The wrestling forums you showed as a case study easily applies to criticism to other media, including games. People get so caught up in what they think a thing should be, or what a thing isn't, that it supercedes what the thing is actually trying to be and what they got out of the experience that actually exists. They express this through outward displays of negativity to what the thing is, and egocentric displays of how their ideas or "understanding" would supposedly make the thing better. I find that in a lot of these cases, the audience thinking they are experts is just a straight up Dunning-Kruger effect- they think they know how this thing would be better, and they think it confidently. Yet they often have never actually created this kind of thing before, and have limited and at most, 2nd or 3rd hand knowledge of what the craft is like. There is often also a second layer of egocentric thinking too- a lack of respect for the artist, their work, and the idea that the artist should create what they like or want. Instead these types of criticisms are always razor focused on how they should get what they want, defining "good" and "bad" around their own personal (or perceived group) desires. It is so rare to see analysis and criticism that focuses on the author and their goals, or the art itself as it actually exists instead of a personal idea of what it "should" be. What did the author want to make, and did they accomplish that? What is the thing as it is, why is it the way it is? Instead criticism is almost always superficial and egocentric. "This dialogue is annoying (to me).", "I can't take it seriously because I can tell it is CGI", ect. It's all superficial, and doesn't actually do a good job at analyzing the work or offering anything constructive for the artist. Instead it usually boils down to some variation of "I don't personally like this element of this thing, so therefore that element is bad and should be changed to be something different." It tells me more about the person making the judging critique than it does about the art or the artist. I learn about the critics personal tastes, but I don't learn anything new about the art or the artist. The only thing the artist can take away from it is "This person doesn't like that thing", which is relatively mild as criticism- and is usually amplified by the critic using more insulting, demeaning, or otherwise offensive language. And this is why it is baffling to me. The more I learn about the creation process and the artists behind it, the more I am impressed by the things created, and the more beautiful it all seems to me. Creating things is hard as fuck!! It takes a lot of skill, time, dedication, and effort to make even simple things. The fact that people generally turn their nose up and disregard that effort and accomplishment because it doesn't fit some imagined idealized product that fits all of their personal tastes is a really upsetting state of affairs to me. The narcissism of people who just casually speak and act like they know and could make better, when often they have never made anything like that themselves in their lives makes it even more distressing. I don't understand how or why higher "literacy" has lead to the reactions and treatment people have towards creative works and their creators. I almost feel like it is less about literacy, and more like how surface level literacy combined with Dunning-Kruger and a lack of authentic respect for art/artists leads to confidently believing in and spreading incorrect information. It's sad and unhealthy for society to talk about media and fiction in that way. It contributes to judgemental and persecuting behavior like the people who say the Frieren anime is pro-racism (and therefore so are it's creators and fans) because of how the show portrays demons and justifies Frieren's attitude towards them. Or how people mock and belittle or otherwise antagonize others for enjoying X game (which they don't like for personal reasons/preferences) instead of Y game (which they do like, also for personal reasons/preferences). Like the extremely dumb internet arguments over Baldur's Gate 3 winning GOTY instead of Spiderman 2. Very unhealthy arguments were had over social media on that topic.

This reminds me of something I realized after working as an artist for a couple of years. I definitely feel like the magic of observing most art has gone away due to the fact that I look at a painting, for example, and immediately think about how I could replicate that. I think about the technique, the colors used, where something similar has been done before, and if it could serve my own work in some way. I can never view art like I used to. But when it comes to something like music, which I know absolutely no theory about, I find myself usually unable to describe why I like it or what makes it good. Just like you said, I like it simply because I like it. Even the most basic cord progressions feel so magical to me. I'm sure a well trained musician would listen to a similar cord progression and think "oh that's just these two cords, it's used everywhere". It makes me enjoy my ignorance more I guess! I've had the urge to learn some kind of music theory, just so I'd be able to have a deeper understanding of why I enjoy the music I do, but this experience has ultimately led me to realize I'd rather not know, haha. Also, my knowledge on the process of art making hasn't ruined the craft for me. I'm able to engage with it on a deeper level each year and it brings immense fulfillment to my life. But it's nice to have something else I can enjoy without feeling the need to pick it apart. Great video to end the year on!

I like how Daryl shares appreciation of Every Frame Is A Painting by showing it twice lol. miss this channel a lot, its one of the greatest "echoes" of the past life

Love the annual somewhat-related-to-wrestling video every time.

I've had the same "problem" since the moment I studied psychology and even more when I started to learn to be a game developer... It happens to me with almost every game and a lot of media content... But there are some games that have been able to break that and make me feel like a wondering child again ☺️ I've got no clue what has made these games achieve it but I'm always grateful when it happens ! A lot of times it's even in a game that I wasn't expecting! And that's also, as you said it, why meta narratives are so appealing to me ! Thanks for these years and the years to come! Once again, your content is incredible and a big inspiration for me ! ❤️

This reminds me of Plato's cave. Our words are woefully inadequate for describing the entirety of our subjective experience, and at best they only outline a "shadow" of it. Over time we slowly confuse the shadow (our analysis) for the real thing, and lose the ability to engage with what caused us joy and delight in the first place.

Yeah, i have consumed enough to "see things coming" from a mile away in most cases, but it rarely ruins stories for me. It is OK that i know what is coming, it just means when the story catches up, i feel smarter for getting there first. It is a matter of mindset. When i stop having fun with something, i walk away from it. Whether it is for a few minutes, an hour, a day, a week, or forever, i tend to know what types of stories i am in the mood for, what conventions i can overlook at any point in time, and how to enjoy what i am experiencing. I can turn off my brain for bad movies or games enough to "enjoy" it for its effort, then have some fun picking it apart later in conversation. Not everyone has to agree with me, and i am OK with that as long as they are respectful about it. I can try to convince others, but when it becomes clear i am "talking to a brick wall" that wont budge or someone who disagrees strongly enough that i wont convince them, i walk away from the conversation or leave it at some variant of "agree to disagree", respectively. There is no problem consuming media at a higher level as long as you can come to terms with what that means. You might not have the right words to convince someone of your opinion, but it does not make it any less valid. Pick your fights accordingly and dont linger on fights that cant be "won".

I've been going thru a lot recently and I've been binging your videos. Thank you so much for the amount of work and thought you put into these videos, because they have been helping me think more about my life. That small "Have yourself, damn good one" keeps making me tear up so just thank you again for everything you do.

You've definitely hit the nail on the head, Daryl, with what i myself have been feeling as well for a while about this. While on one hand i am grateful we live in an age where it is much easier to be literate on the technical aspects of media, be if gaming, film, etc, it also comes with the downside that everyone is kind've a "critic" in a way, and just how far down the rabbit hole you can go with that to the detriment of your enjoyment. I think it's just healthy to just step away from that every now and then and just simply remember why you love media in the first place! :)

I think it also has to do a lot with the feel of needing to analyze something. Like in your case it's for the channel and together with the schedule you've described in the backlog video I think it's the pressure of "i have to watch and analyze it, because i won't have time to analyze it later". And for the general feel - like with all the discussions in the internet and around you, you kinda feel that a simple "i liked it" is not enough and doesn't "count" as an opinion.

I fully acknowledge that this feeling is my own and everyone goes about this differently. But that "Break it down" Mindset sort of goes hand in hand with Immersion for me. The more I like something the more I have the urge to stick around and really break it into digestible bits. If I don't like something then acknowledging it's failures and what not can often become tiresome and boring. Though I've never personally been very enraptured by stories even as a kid. But ever since I can remember, the act of consuming and analyzing media have never been concepts in contest for me.

Frieren has fixed the problem as you have laid it out in the first part of the video. I have been thoroughly enjoying that show and just that. It's the first media that has done this with me, where I haven't been thinking about any little detail for days or weeks after watching the episode. And it felt like there has been a weight lifted and I hope I can find more experiences like that in the future.

My big immersion breaker is voice actors: I’ve gotten pretty good at identifying quickly who is voicing a character, but then all I can think of is that actor standing in the booth recording the lines for that character. Best solution I’ve found for this is to -as much as possible- avoid finding pictures of VAs so the picture stays incomplete.

At this point I enjoy analyzing the hell out of my favourite art, because I realized I while ago I want to make it. They are lessons for how to make my ideas a reality Merry Christmas Daryl!

I'm a game developer and designer, but also a hobbyist comic artist and just do... well... lots of things. I know how the sausage is made for so many different things. I've gotten to the point that I've completely given up on discussions on whether these things are "good" or "bad" and instead focus on the analytical aspect. Media critique has gotten so cringe to me at this point. A thing I do when it comes to reading comics/manga, watching anime/shows/movies, or playing videogames is particular to me and I doubt many others know this feeling very well. But basically I am capable of shutting off the analytical brain so that it becomes... more of a "whisper", and the enjoying brain as the "loud one". When it's something I'm really enjoying I can easily just shut off the whisper entirely, as well. However when it comes to videogames (the nature of the job being you gotta know how the shit works by playing it) that doesn't quite work anymore. Instead it's gotten to the point where the whispers feel more like subtle nudges, instead of being merely impressed by this or that or what have you (which I often save for moments of pause) it's almost like I can hear the thoughts of the people who designed this stuff. I can hear the thoughts (albeit more of a feeling) of the guy who placed that mountain, the idea behind making the UI a certain way, the intention of the area I'm currently in. Nothing to do with story or world building, but rather the game design itself. And it honestly is such a nice feeling because it's like a merging of the enjoyer brain and the analytical brain of media consumption. It's like I'm having the wide eye kid-like feelings TOWARDS the analysis itself. It's an odd thing to describe.

I've don't really have this problem. I can usually suspend disbelief because I love stories and I want to believe and experience them. I might analyze it once I'm done, but while I'm in a game, I am role playing as if I were there with the characters and I take everything at face value. I think this is why I cry so easily when playing games/shows/anime compared to most people. But there does have to be a certain level of craftsmanship for me to be able to attain this level of suspension of disbelief. If a game is really poorly written, the illusion crumbles no matter how hard I try. I hate meta narratives though, since that takes me out of the story.

honestly the setting where im consuming a piece of media can have an effect on how i consume it. like because a movie theater is dark and there's no other stimuli besides the movie, it's easy for me to get sucked into the story and enjoy it for what it is. but if i'm watching a movie in my living room while my family is being loud and doing their own thing, i struggle focusing on enjoying the movie and start wondering "where have i seen this actor before?" "is that special effects?" "oh there's that symbol again, what could it mean?" because i can look those things up or talk to someone in the same room as me.

For me, I feel that I've started enjoying the games I play more after part of the initial hype has died down. I love talking about a game after I'm done with it, but when a it is so big that it consumes social media for a time, it just makes it harder for me to immerse myself or turn my brain off. It's like by the time I boot the game up (or even start the show / movie) I've already burned out on it, because I've already seen several hot takes and clips of the game, just by scrolling through my feed during the day.

I actually study something related to this in my PhD project in culture and media studies, though my focus isn't on fiction narrative media. It was really fun to watch someone explore it, very insightful too!

An example I can make is about "Your name" I did enjoy it and then move on. Later on, when talking about it with some friends came out something like "it have huge plotholes etc" and personally I did notice anything nor I fully understand which one there is.

Our enjoyment shifts from one kind to another as our experience and understanding of a medium grows. While 5-year-old me was fascinated with a straightforward narrative about super hero punches bad guy, adult me watches the same story unfold with less interest in the narrative and more interest in the animation, shot framing, voice work, etc. It's not better or worse, just different, and takes some getting used to for sure. You hit that nail on the head about us "fiction snobs" and enjoying works that intentionally subvert our established expectations. I sometimes worry how that's impacting the overall landscape of TV, movies, and video games for a younger generation. If the most popular things are geared towards the fiction snobs who aren't entertained with a simpler story, is there anything left for the newcomers? For example: I'm playing through Crash Bandicoot 4 right now and LOVING IT. There are so many things to do, so many secrets, so many cheeky references and throwbacks; as an OG Crash fan, I'm loving it. But would my 6-year-old nephew enjoy this game as much as I enjoyed the OG Crash, or would he bounce off of it because it's not geared towards him anymore? Does my nephew even have a good entry point into this hobby anymore, or is it all for us fiction snob adults? It's probably not as bleak as that, but it makes me wonder.

Dude, that door knock effect had no business being SO real, I had to get up to check my door

Honestly this is why I mostly tend to focus on whether or not the fiction I'm consuming makes me feel something instead of just analysing, not that I don't see the value in analytical outlooks on fiction but its not my primary focus when I'm engaging with it. My focus is and shall always be whether or not it interests me, if I find it engaging or not, I do not care how it ranks compared to other fiction or even if I can see some plot points coming from a mile away, whether or not people are also enjoying it is irrelevant to me I'll form my own opinion on whether not the piece of fiction is good based on my own experiences. Provided I'm having a fun time with it that's really all that matters to me.

Interestingly enough, I almost never have this problem: usually dissecting the media that I like makes it the media that I love. When I see how masterfully the narrative tricked me, or how likeable the characters are, or hear the banger soundtrack (yes, I'm playing Persona 5 right now, how can you tell?), I basically jump back and forth in and out of immersion. The only times when that does break the wow-effect is when the art wasn't so great to begin with, at least for me (not to say it was bad - for example, I just can't dig a DMC series, doesn't click). And you are so very right - liking art is not a competition.

There is a beauty in being naive to the way things are "supposed" to be or how they always turn out. I think one of the key factors that keeps my childlike enjoyment of media is keeping the experience entirely to myself. I actively avoid social media for the things that I love because even if the media is flawed or if its "just like other things" My personal experience with that media and how engrossed I become while consuming it is so special to me that Id never want to take that away from myself more than my mind already automatically does because of how much we as people learn. Its one of the few things I'm okay with being naive about.

personally im keeping away from any spoilers for anything. when bg3 first came out i avoided videos about it like the plague (and still do) just so i can play it again and again and again in that blissful, immersed state before eventually giving into the analysing state hopefully years down the line

I have a friend who always goes analyszing mode with anything they play or watch, and they enjoy if theyre right but it kinda drives me crazy cause I only do that on replays/rewatches lol. Really does make a difference personally

My perspective on consuming media changed when I started to interact with the academic side of media analysis. We often get caught up in what makes a thing good or bad, but what keeps me immersed is thinking about how media can be used to get a better understanding of the specific time and culture which produced it. You hear a lot of nonsense about being disappointed by some media because “the end flopped” (aot fans lookin at you), but somehow this misses the point. When you recognize that you consume the media to understand a culture, the end cannot be bad, in fact no media can be bad, it’s just a question of whether you happened to enjoy it. (But you come to appreciate really “bad” media this way also!) Also, depending on your media studies camp, you might hear about “death of the author” as another way to get around getting bogged down - which is very similar in how it removes any agency from the author in your analysis.

Love how you combine wrestling, games, movies, anime and music into your videos. I can pretty much relate to all of it. Love your videos. Keep up the good work, my man!!

What a great and insightful video this is, I couldn't have said it better myself! Now time to break it down and analyze it frame by frame and look forward to a 5 hours retrospection of this video coming soon in theatres near you.

As an overly involved Pro Wrestling fan who has seen my enjoyment of Wrestling, Gaming & Film go down because of weird over analyzing (probably because of my Pro Wrestling fandom), I needed this video. Incredibly well made and seeing things like r/SquaredCircle in a video like this means a lot.

Daryl this is definitely the best year you've had for content on youtube. So proud of how far you've come. happy holidays buddy

On the topic of always being subconsciously aware of developer intent, I've recently been playing The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (I am right now at case 2-5 in fact), and while it rekindled the love I have for the Ace Attorney franchise in multiple ways, there was always the problem. Most of the time, I wasn't thinking about how I should solve the mysteries, I was thinking about how the developers wanted me to solve the problems, and I personally think that took away from the experience, especially given the easy of access to saving and reloading (though that's been a problem since the very first Ace Attorney). The problem with this, I think case 2-2 is one of the best examples that I won't spoil, but it's the fact that, as you said, we develop such a good sense of catching on to the foreshadowing that we instantly jump to conclusions, which not only kills Ace Attorney's mysteries narratively, but also mechanically, because while the story of the game still works under the assumption that the characters, understandably, don't have the mystery cracked yet, nevertheless we know - or at least make reasonable assumptions - of what the answer is, which creates a huge gap of disconnect between reader and story that is hard to ignore, especially since the game is inorganically forcing us backtrack our own train of thought, which can feel condescending. However, I do also believe that one of the problems is the punishment that comes with getting an answer wrong. The penalty system, at this stage in the franchise, only exists because it is a staple of it and it was added in the first place because, as a videogame, it understandably needed a game over state; however, the punishment is so permanent that it discourages players from actually experimenting and daring get an answer wrong, which I feel would actually elevate the sense of mystery and suspense that the cases strive to hold. If you get an answer wrong, at any time during a trial, you get penalized in one of five tries before a game over occurs, and given how long some trial segments can get - and the fact you only get restored your tries between entire days - really discourages experimentation and instead actively makes you think "okay time to figure out WHAT the developers want me to think so I don't get a game over", much to the game's detriment. I think that both Ace Attorney Investigations managed a great middle-ground between punishment and lienancy - you get more chances at punishment during investigations, yes, but at the same time you truth bar is more readily replenished between segments, which also feel much shorter and helps in making mistakes less daunting and thus encourage more exploration while at the same time still requiring the level of critical thinking the game expects instead of mindlessly throwing evidence at every statement.

Sometimes when reading a book (yes I read books) I remember that all of this dialogue was written by one person and that even though I (think) I want the conflict to be over and for the main characters to succeed, I actually want them to fail and face conflict fisrt. If I got what I "wanted" the story would be very short and dissapointing, I usually realize this when the main characters almost succeed at their goal or just barely miss something important.

This actually helped me put something into words I've been trying to explain to myself. When people are reviewing a game or media, they're often at different points along that spectrum. So while some people might have been immersed in a narrative, others will be making comparisons to previous experiences. It's not often mentioned what kind of perspective is being given but I suppose it helps if you follow the same reviewers and relate more to where they're coming from.

Man I’ve been feeling this for quite a while. To the point I thought I didn’t even like movies or tv anymore. And then Alan Wake 2 came out and it sparked my interest in revisiting Twin Peaks. And that show is a masterpiece. And it reminded me why I love movies and TV. And suddenly I found myself able to enjoy other forms of media again. Maybe the solution is to watch or play something truly profound or inspiring. Something that reminds you why you fell in love with it in the first place, why you analyze to the point of knowing too much. And like you said just enjoying something for the sake of enjoying it. That not everything has to be a masterpiece, sometimes things are just good.

I always try to remind myself that im no critic or reviewer and should just enjoy what im consuming. But i can’t lie, i love media that wants me to do that since i just can’t help it! Great vid as always! Here’s to next year :D

As a fellow JJK fan, my condolences brother. Also, great video as always, Daryl! Happy holidays and have a great new year.

One other problem is also probably how current marketing of fiction is focusing on telling you "this is the biggest thing ever made, nothing else is worth experiencing after so you should experience this thing over and over again" that makes people react in the two opposites reactions. At least this is what I experienced with several pieces of media and people talking about it. Sometimes I do agree with a thing being great (while also trying to see if there are problems), sometimes I don't agree (while seeing stuff that I like too). In general tho I don't always try to provoke interactions by saying "OMG this is the best thing ever, if you don't see it too then you're wrong". Even in the moments I do say that, I want to be wrong because interacting with people who have a different POV on a thing to me is also interesting and hopefully civil.

Thanks for the video! I think I missed the poll but this is a topic I completely understand. By profession, I am a games designer, and it is my job to understand and articulate experiences to allow my teams to (re)create them. Having no off-switch myself, this is an issue I have experienced at one point, but over time, I've personally saw less of "the line" as I internalized the understandings, and learned to allow myself to trust the journeys that is put in front of me. It's like, sure, you know the risk of getting killed by a car is higher when you're a pedestrian (vs. just staying at home), but you learn to still enjoy walks in the park. It's not an "active switch" as much as it's just, knowing that experiencing what's in front of you is more important, and you can still analyze it, but not allowing any part of that analysis that doesn't "add" to the experience detract from the experience itself. Like learning to breathe without letting the idea of air-born fecal matter bother you~ (You can go clean your lungs or toilet or whatever later.) It's easier said than done, but for me, it's allowed me to enjoy movies and TV shows a lot more these days. :)

That's exactly why I can't watch and enjoy horror movies. My brain goes "it's not real, don't bother"

This is exactly the kind of phenomena that Indie animation is running into currently. Between Twitter/X, Reddit, AMAs, Theory Channels… everything, unless there is a source material that is making an indie show closer to an adaptation (Lackadaisy comes to mind as one of the few that isn’t an anime picked up Webtoon/similar) people think they know everything, and the assumption that they do, has caused a lot of weird bitterness amongst people I’d class as “former” fans (they’ve yet to join the Hatedom). The sheer fact that I have seen _multiple_ people talking about how “Murder Drones doesn’t really have a plot and is forcing the audience to figure it out” when the _only reason_ they think, or assume, that, when Murder Drones is _very_ tightly plotted, is because it’s taken two+ years to roll out six episodes, is mind boggling. I have, personally, deliberately, desensitized myself (using fanfic canon -adjacent AUs, and the confusing existence of the _Fate_ franchise, I know, boo-hiss) to be able to know that I will be able to immerse myself into the world of Hazbin Hotel because so much of the plot has been kept hush hush, and the (tiny but important) intricacies of the world haven’t been lore dropped and will show up in the show itself as important linchpins in the show itself that over studying a trailer, or released stills, or just my _stupid_ amount of personal knowledge of mythology and history (which has created two logical inconsistencies with a character, both revolving around how they originally died as a human) that I could ruin something I’ve been looking forward to for years by not just accepting that I don’t know. That whatever I have reasoned out (the Radio Demon clearly has frost bitten limbs, which match his modern/western Wendigo based mythos, but functioned and lived in Louisiana/New Orleans which means that couldn’t have happened, and in 1933 it’s much harder to headshot someone and also mistake them for a deer while also hunting with dogs, ergo, neither of these two things can exist even if you bend over backwards to make it so) as “should be canon” (basically falling into the FNAF “let’s predict the plot of the next game before it’s out” trap) simply cannot be. And that me following production bread crumbs has allowed me to craft an alternate universe of what the real story might be. And like any other fan who comes up with theories and knows how the writers write, or the tropes the show runners enjoy having in their series, and everything else… I have to section it off as AU. Just like I would be extremely frustrated if I was still expecting Helluva Boss to be a sit-com, as it’s gotten more involved and fleshed out in the back half of season one and most/all of season two. Being able to separate myself (especially as someone who is writing my own original fiction) from what information I’m given by the devs or the creators, or even pre-created source material (Lackadaisy comic, or Invincible had I read it) is vital to allowing my suspension of disbelief to remain intact. It’s a trait I had to start actively developing due to the Hatedom revolving around HB/HH, _and_ the _utter insanity_ of Faz-goo and Sea-Bonnies if you branch off into the novellas of FNAF.

Every time I watch one of your videos my backlog of games grows because of how many amazing examples you insert

One of the things that I use to help out with over-analysing media is keeping a spreadsheet of ratings that I would give after consuming said media. I read a lot of books so I have one specifically for that and you may also do this for whatever you enjoy consuming but the key thing I found that helped was giving a title two different ratings: a "critical" rating that analyses the title and finds the good and the bad in it along with an "enjoyment" rating that just ranks how much you enjoyed the title without caring about how objectively good or bad it is. I find that this helps me separate the two aspects a little more and, most importantly, if I find a flaw whilst consuming, I recognise that it's a flaw but also recognise that I'm still enjoying the title regardless. By doing this the flaw has a lower impact on whether I enjoy a title but I can still understand that there is a flaw. That's also why I have some titles that have a critical rating of 6/10 yet an enjoyment rating of 10/10 which may seem counter-intuitive at first but are completely fine to have. Hope this helps someone struggling with this :)

Fun fact about that one MHA scene you used: it was entirely anime original, the manga cut straight from the start of that fight to the finale, so I like to think they really did choose to present it that way.

The problem is not that people have become experts on media; it is that they THINK they have.

Love the content Darryl and I can’t wait to see what you have in store for 2024!

Bro, one of your finest videos yet. I feel like this gave me a revelation about how I consume and enjoy video games. I've definitely been doing a lot of the things mentioned without even realizing it was affecting my enjoyment of the games I play. I don't think there is realistically a way to "go back to how it used to be" but we can certainly try to put ourselves in a mental state and just enjoy a game for what it is. Hope you have a good holiday!

I've always felt bad that I was unable to be part of "high level" discussions and the like, but this video made me realize that it's not a bad thing.

This actually perfectly describes how i feel about horror movies that try too hard to be a metaphor. Babadook, smile, lights out. These movies make it so obvious that they are .etaphors for trauma and mental illness that each story beat seems more like another layer of a metaphor rather than things actually happening to our characters

I have hypersensitivity to all five senses so if I find a game with enticing enough graphics and audio my brain will refuse to acknowledge anything but that, it will be programmed to consume and refuse to analyse

The funny thing about this phenom is that I was doing it to this exact video while you were talking about it. Analyzing what makes your video about analyzing what makes media work at the same time as just enjoying your well thought out points and examples

Getting lost in analysis sauce is possible, but analysis isn't at odds with wonder. The "experts" bit is hilarious. If one's analysis isn't adding to one's enjoyment, then it's a mashochistic fantasy at best. I love narrative transportation. But what pulls me out of it is often the fiction itself. Plenty of stories lately don't respect themselves. Suspension of disbelief with regard to consumption/analyzation wowed me. People can't do both!? I'm always on both tracks. You can't listen and talk at the same time. But you can listen on two levels at once if your head isn't inside your rear. Edit: lemme expound upon stories that don't respect themselves. We keep getting stories that seem to not speak the language. They imitate speaking the language. The imitation is clear that it is serving only $$$. That is easy to pull one out. Rather than giving the story the benefit of the doubt, it's becoming easier to check out early. Game of Thrones worked because it communicated tone early. When stories go "oh the audience has it figured out!? Time to SUBVERT," they are just doing themselves a disservice.

Pre-emptive apologies for yet another novel of a response. I think, firstly, overexposure to media may be a problem. As technology advances and these art forms become more influential, the quantity of things being made increases exponentially. For many, "consumption" is the name of the game, which, admittedly, is a term I typically use in a negative light. Consume, digest, excrete out to consume next thing. However, the idea presented in this video is different, as it results in part from genre savvy. The funny thing about genre savvy is it can lead to an over-obsession with post-modernism, or confuse post-modernism alone with cleverness. There's an obsession with "the meta" that I THINK is gradually dying as sincerity begins to take hold again, but who can tell in this day and age. Regardless, when you are a child, as you observe, everything is new. When you are older, you have experienced the old adage that there is nothing new under the sun. The funny thing is, one of the many origins of this quote (as it is attributed to many places) is the book of Ecclesiastes, which is itself a navel-gazing examination on the purpose of life and how to find meaning in it, if it's even worth finding meaning at all. In following with the book of Ecclesiastes (really didn't expect to be making this reference in a RU-vid comment about enjoying video games and wrestling today), I think it's possible to be genre savvy yet enjoy these things regardless. Do you enjoy them the same way? No, and I don't think it is a problem for that reason. I saw Godzilla Minus One last weekend, and while I greatly enjoyed it as a lifelong Godzilla fan, I did not have the same response to it as many others have had. Similarly, I was shocked when someone told me the ending had them in tears. I did not have any such reaction since my mind was wondering similar things, but I don't think that means my experience suffered. However, that might also be a matter of perspective. While certain story beats may not have been surprising to me, other aspects of the film were. I am going to purchase the film on Blu-Ray, and I am going to watch it multiple times and perhaps even look up interviews because there's a variety of deeper, more intricate elements of this film that I want to figure out what makes it work. I think this is the advantage to having knowledge and wisdom regarding media and how it's put together. People lament that "the magic is lost", but on the contrary, I say the magic has changed. Perhaps it's closer to that of a reverse engineer, one that likes to tinker and take things apart in order to figure out how things work, even if they don't know how to put it back together. The danger, I think, comes more in what you mentioned as story snobbery. It's not the story snobbery itself, but I'd say it's the social media snobbery. The nature of online engagement and interactions being relegated to status bars, likes, and upvotes as well as memes has changed the nature of communication, and now one's thoughts must, consciously or subconsciously, be distilled into a bite-sized "take". Opinions aren't offered as opinions, they're offered as judgments and declarations. This, itself, has changed the nature of media consumption because it's not enough to be apathetic about something. For example, I am apathetic about the Barbie movie, but for several months (and I'm sure coming soon) I couldn't escape people having an opinion about the movie, even among people who didn't see it. The quality of the movie or the reasons behind those individuals' opinions is inconsequential to me, I just don't care. Yet it felt like the world could not let me be at peace with my stance. No, Barbie was THE conversation, and YOU MUST be AWARE of THE conversation, and you MUST take part in THE conversation. Wrestling, though... that's something I'm not as exposed to. I just started to watch AEW again this summer, and I am blissfully unaware of most backstage drama. Sometimes it can be fascinating, but I am otherwise happier being ignorant of any real grudges. I'd rather everyone perceive it as a stage performance, not unlike a musical but swapping songs with fisticuffs. Anyway, time to wrap out the too long post. Great video, as always. Gives me a lot to contemplate and chew on. Enjoy your holiday break.

Always look forward to watching your videos. Never fail to get me thinking or looking at something differently. Can't wait to see what you have planned for 2024. Happy holidays and have a great and prosperous new year.

congrats on 500k Daryl, you deserve it! you're an awesome content creator, can't wait for 1mil!

Gotta say, I'm loving the anime to pro wrestling pipeline that super eyepatch wolf and Daryl both promote

Alright after watching the entire video, I'm gonna need a 2-hour analysis video on CM Punk. Please and thank you

Love the videos and channel in general. Glad you've made it 6 years and hope for many more!

For me it’s about a happy middle ground. I love learning how the things I love work and critiquing the art I engage with. But I also make sure to give it the room it needs to “work” me. I always try to remember that artists make the content I consume. This doesn’t mean I just love everything put in front of me, but it does let me enjoy new forms of media just as much as I did when I was a kid.

Everywhere wrestling fans go, we see those eyes. CM Punk’s eyes!

I dunno. I do think that just enjoying stuff is often a good thing, but it also feels like a slippery slope into consuming media passively and giving into the lowest common denominator. Yes, it makes me seem like a snob. But also, I don't want to "waste" my life consuming. I want feel, and think, and ponder for hours afterwards, and speak to people about what makes it so good.

Good job this year! You've put out awesome videos. Hope you have a good, prideful break!

Just wanted to thank you for making those videos, they are so good to watch and think about video games and media in general 😊

happy to have found your channel this year man! incredible stuff!

I love how unique the topics you choose to cover

Camw across this channel this year and have thoroughly enjoyed binging through the videos. Thank you and have a good Christmas

Thank you for making this video. I feel it really spoke to me, even if only because I understood all the game references in this video. I don't think there are many people who have as wide a breadth of gaming experience as we do.

Happy Holidays, and I just wanted to say that you make my day everytime you post a video and I'm so glad I discovered you a couple years back, this is the standard of quality content that I personally need to see more often. Keep up the good work!

Thank you Daryl. Happy holidays!

Another great one Daryl! Keep up the good work, and happy holidays to you and yours!

That's very interesting and also actually quite relevant to my own situation. I grew up with video games, and I can say that I'm at least comfortable in all sorts of genres. Fighting games, MOBA, indie, puzzle, so I have that understanding of how video games work at a smaller level. What items should be used as last resort, how damage modifiers work, positioning in FPS games, or why buffing in turn-based games is good. Even when I play a completely new game like Othercide, there's a part of me that still feels comfortable with my experience getting through games like XCOM and Darkest Dungeon and Into the Breach that just builds the basic mechanics 100x as fast. I also grew up with books. So much so I started being a writer. And now I have that intimate knowledge of how stories are made, how beats are done to lull readers into a sense of "this is how things are and work". Why certain characters are easy to get attached to, how to write a good villain, what you need to make a good plot twist work, how character dialogue influences how we think their personalities/background are like. And over time, understanding turned into articulation and now I can explain why I think my favorite games are good. Or why I despise certain trends in gaming or storytelling or movies. I can explain why Odysseus in the Odyssey is clever and yet how he's the dumbest person for getting lost for 3+ years by his own accord. I have the experience, knowledge, and reflection that are ingrained whenever I try and pick up a new movie, book, game, or whatever. But my younger brother doesn't have it. He grew up less than a decade after me, but it was so much different. Instead of books and movies to pass the time, he grew up with RU-vid and educational music videos. We both love video games, but he grew up in a completely different environment of gaming. Instead of Paper Mario or MW2, he grew with Crossout and the FPS-side of Roblox. Games that while fun and pass the time, are simple and singular games. No diversity in choice or mechanics, no real narrative to dive into. But he still enjoys them because they're fine games to enjoy. I've tried to get him into other things. Books that I read as a kid, movies and shows that I think are good, games that I think would help him expand into anything besides FPS and basic horror games. And while he sometimes enjoys it, there was so much I got upset over that he just never picked up on. Why certain ways Leonardo DeCaprio talks in Catch Me If You Can portrays his character as more knowledgeable than he appears, why not hugging walls is much more beneficial in a Bullet Hell game, what the difference between analysis and evidence is when writing an essay, or whenever I try and make him focus on a certain aspect of a scene but ask him a minute later and he can't recall what anything meant. So when it started affecting him in school, I wanted to help. At first I thought it was just he wasn't exposed to enough of this stuff, that I picked up different books and games to an unhealthy degree and it made me have to just keep introducing my little brother to more and more things. Fullmetal Alchemist, Hunger Games, PJO, Uncharted, Celeste. And when he can't focus on things like figurative language in his school assignments, I thought it was just inexperience of not seeing enough examples. So I should just expose him to more every week or two. But this video has made me see something else. Because I never really TAUGHT him that he should look at a piece of media differently, only that he can. He does sometimes enjoy the movies and books and games I recommend, but now I have to wonder if all that time was spent in actually just... enjoying it. Liking the story for what it is instead of trying to dive into it. Analysis is second nature to me, but it wasn't something my younger brother really ever had to deal with. So it's not even third or fourth nature to him. Now I wonder if instead of pushing more and more media on him, I should just let him dive into the same thing. Again and again. Like rereading the Hunger Games 3-4 times to not only understand plot, but character traits and parallels and whatnot. Or if I give him something like Mirror's Edge to simply enjoy, then appreciate the gameplay, the story, and then the small technicalities that make the game feel good to pilot. Thank you Daryl Talks Games, for teaching me that I can make it simpler.

Really enjoyed the video and made me genuinely think about the way I approach video games in particular, I found that I usually get this with games which have some sort of completion percentage which causes me to just constantly be looking for hidden areas and every small little detail I can find. Recently this popped up while playing crysis where I just had a blast playing the first game and not really thinking about anything else but when I started playing the second game and it hit me with collectibles, the enjoyment just stopped. I suddenly felt like I had to find every collectible and check out every corner of the area so I didn't miss anything and it just made the experience feel empty, I wasn't really playing the game anymore and just checking of every box just so I could move on to the next checklist.

Thanks for this video. I've been recently having a lot of thoughts about why my friends are so pessimistic about media when I'm so excited always and this added a bit to that thought of mine. It really helped my thought process in a direction I haven't been going and understanding on how I enjoy things. That last line really hit y'know. That's really all, but thanks.

Honestly, I analyze the daylights out of everything. Sometimes, I analyze and look stuff up on TvTropes rather than even bother to consume the media in person. Sometimes I wonder if I do this because I don't have the patience for it anymore and hace a busy adult life to get back to or if it's because I just like to categorize things and genuinely enjoy analyzing the media first and then going to consume it once I've enjoyed it. I love watching your videos, look forward to seeing more from ya!

You're videos are some of the only ones on RU-vid that are a must watch for me. I still wear my Be a Main Character hoodie all the time. Thanks for the great content, here's to a million subs!