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The most philosophical game ever made.

skyfall said:
Always hear about this game maybe I should just check it out then

Checked it out and saw my local second hand shop has this for 15, maybe ill order it
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GOG version is still on sale. It is for windows, linux or mac if you have any sort of computer at all.
 
I've heard some pretty "out there" theses regarding the layers in the Silent Hill games.
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Doesn't The Witness have like hours of video of actual philosophical lectures in it? I think I remember that once the puzzles started involving watching 45 minute FMVs is about when I checked out on that one.

Planescape is a fantastic game that I enjoyed very much as a teen, but I don't think I could replay it today. I'd rather experience it as an audiobook or something.
 
Bragr said:
I am specifically talking about the part of philosophy that questions reality and such. Not the other definitions.

To become interested in such philosophy, you need to think your own views and philosophical conundrums have value. But you are just an animal and you should recognize that. You should have the basic self-awareness to understand that there is no more value in your philosophy than a pigeon judging what branch it should land on.

Philosophy is like art movies. It's a field made for a specialized group of people that view themselves as someone who sees something others do not. They think there is value in art movies, that you need to be special or experienced to witness its purpose. Yet, it's not the movie that is special, it's the person that thinks they are.

Philosophy is an indulgence for indulgent people.
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How about: To become interested in such science, you need to think your own views and scientific conundrums have value. But you are just an animal and you should recognize that. You should have the basic self-awareness to understand that there is no more value in your science than a pigeon judging what branch it should land on.

You seem to be making a claim about value that applies to any human endeavour. Why is anything valuable?
 
Grizzled Ghost said:
Doesn't The Witness have like hours of video of actual philosophical lectures in it? I think I remember that once the puzzles started involving watching 45 minute FMVs is about when I checked out on that one.

Planescape is a fantastic game that I enjoyed very much as a teen, but I don't think I could replay it today. I'd rather experience it as an audiobook or something.
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Yes, the Witness is pretty straight and unironic with the fact it has philosophical themes to the point where some people make fun of it for it. Unlike something like Stanley Parable, it doesn't try to play it off as a joke.

If you look at a game like Control it also has a lot of philosophical ideas in it, and also has big fingerprints of the director on it, but somehow it doesn't come across as demanding you to take it seriously.
 
FireFly said:
How about: To become interested in such science, you need to think your own views and scientific conundrums have value. But you are just an animal and you should recognize that. You should have the basic self-awareness to understand that there is no more value in your science than a pigeon judging what branch it should land on.

You seem to be making a claim about value that applies to any human endeavour. Why is anything valuable?
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Because science helps us, in many ways. It gives us things, it's a tool. Musing about reality and free will is not possible for us to understand. It's a red herring.

I mean, you can do it for fun, but there is a point where it becomes obnoxious.

For me.
 
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Jennings said:
Alpha Centauri by Brian Reynolds
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this is a great shout. the story with the bloom is cool.

great game. i loved designing units.

it really is ripe for a sequel. come on firaxis!



also my vote is MGS2 mostly for "solidus was right in the end" and the AI stuff.

yes, yes, Kojima is nuts and some of his stuff really whiffs the ball, but MGS2, imo was a philosophical hit.

please, dont hate me
throwgarbage.gif
 
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harry potter philoshoper's stone on PS1


a game cannot get more philosophical than this. look at his expressions, there is a deep meaning to it. it is... something else.

the guy went to Greece,birthplace of philosphy to get a dog named fluffy that has 3 heards to protect philoshoper's stone


now see the wisdom in his words... "we can't buy anything' without money". ain't that the damn truth?
OBrrbS9.png
 
Bragr said:
Because science helps us, in many ways. It gives us things, it's a tool. Musing about reality and free will is not possible for us to understand. It's a red herring.

I mean, you can do it for fun, but there is a point where it becomes obnoxious.

For me.
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Well, that's a different argument. Yes, some philosophical questions don't seem to have any relevance to the way we live our lives. And philosophical questions in general don't come with consensus answers, unlike science. But many important questions do unavoidably involve philosophy.

For example, the question of the extent to which genetics or upbringing can determine how much "blame" a person actually deserves for a crime is a philosophical question. It also relates to the free will debate because we need to know the conditions under which a decision can be considered "free". And the "purpose" punishment should serve in society is a moral question that can only really be answered by philosophy (or some kind of "moral thinking") in combination with other disciplines. Also questions about what we can know, go beyond science in asking what its limitations are in the first place. These questions exist "outside" of science, in the space of the philosophy of science. Is it not potentially useful to know how far science can take us?

So I would say that philosophy is also a tool, but one that provides possible answers to the most important questions, rather than definitive answers.
 
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96910--terranigma.png


Maybe not the "most" but surely my favorite.
It's a hero journey sprinkled with buddhist thematics and in my opinion enhanced by the simplicity/essentiality forced by the SNES limitations.
 
Yeah, nice try with planetscape. We all know the real og is:

hero



Age old questions like which panties should I liberate and do I smell them are debated. There's a blonde, red head, and two black haired Ravens!

What more could Marcus Arlieus want?
 
Flabagast said:
Play Pathologic 2 OP.

I promise you your mind will be blown
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Pathologic 2 is really amazing. I should go ahead and play , just to get more of it. The Bachelor route is coming someday, though the Nato, Ukraine/Russia war may delay that. Bachelor seems like it will be cool, though less Mystical than the Haruspex. Hopefully we get changeling as well.

I may play it again on the deck and mod it so I get infinite cures.

Pathologic 2 aside, I haven't really played any vidya that really gets the gears turning. Honestly, the last time a game or its lore got me into a more or less philosophical mood, it was Dark Souls 1. Most of the time, (this is imho of course) narrative stuff actually sucks at any kind of philosophy and ends up kind of regurgitating themes from whatever philosophical or esoteric school of thought the writer was into from a soapbox. The Tolkein vs CS Lewis dichotomy comes to mind.

Extremely interested to see what other people have to say, though.
 
Nier Automata is full of it. The whole plot is just a showcase of the teachings of different classic philosophers and then shows the faults in their teachings in the most depressing way.
 
Bioshock: Objectivism - essentially that your self-interest is good and the opposite is harmful.
SOMA: Solipsism - only the self is absolutely known to exist.
 
Bragr said:
I am specifically talking about the part of philosophy that questions reality and such. Not the other definitions.

To become interested in such philosophy, you need to think your own views and philosophical conundrums have value. But you are just an animal and you should recognize that. You should have the basic self-awareness to understand that there is no more value in your philosophy than a pigeon judging what branch it should land on.
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This post is in fact philosophy--a wordview and set of values that you've put together based on a particular reading of human life and the universe.

It's not very good philosophy, mind you, but that's the problem: everyone justifies their outlook on existence in some kind of philosophical terms, so you're always doomed to engage in philosophy... but you can either do it poorly or you can do it well.
 
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