Text / Ah Mao
Are video games good for patriotism?
I don't think it's a good fit.
Because of the payment model, mobile games naturally carry public opinion risks. For example, the IP mobile game "Bright Sword" has been on the hot search for hellish jokes such as "You can't win a little devil without charging money" and "Krypton gold is more for Zhao Gang's wife", and has been named and criticized for having problems with values.
Console games and PC games, on the other hand, are more global in terms of revenue, and it is likely that foreign players will have to abandon foreign players if they use it as a patriotic theme. For example, in the French game "Assassin's Creed: Revolution", it puts "cutting off the head of the noble grandfather" and "tearing up the Eight-Nation Alliance with the emperor", which are exciting to listen to, and it is very disappointing to rectify the "fate of ordinary people under the torrent of the times".
However, "Rise of the Ronin" subverts people's perception.
It is set in the end of the Edo period in Japan, using real historical characters as game NPCs, among which there is no shortage of Sun Yat-sen characters on large bills, full of enthusiasm from "the black ship knocking on the door of the country" to the "Meiji Restoration", almost the game version of "The Rise of a Nation".
In our words, this game is a proper patriotic theme.
For example, there is a branch line that is easy to resonate with us, and his teammate Takasugi Shinsaku will comment sharply on the Qing Dynasty: "I have visited Shanghai, and it is like the land of the British...... It's really emotional. ”
This passage is adapted from the "Five Records of the Qing Dynasty" written by the historical figure Takasugi Shinsaku: "The Qing people were all foreign commanders. The British and French walked the market, and the Qing people avoided the sideways and gave way. Although the land of Shanghai belongs to China, it is said to be a British and French territory. ”
Interpreting this branch, he meant that Takasugi believed that they had to reform so as not to repeat the mistakes of the Great Qing Dynasty, and after saying that, he asked me what I thought about the future of Japan. This is a bit emotionally complicated, and I can only choose to say: I really don't know what to say.
Then there is the character "Kusumoto Inada", who is half German and has the history of being the first female Western physician in Japan. Then her triple identity of "mixed race, woman, and Western medicine" in-for-tat with feudal and old Japan is so storytelling and appropriate in the theme of the great change in the history of the game.
With the character tension brought by this, it is actually rare in games, but it is common in Chinese movies in the 80s and 00s.
Of course, the most representative figure at the end of the Edo period is Ryoma Sakamoto, a true historical idol who is close to the saint and outwitted the demon, almost equivalent to the Japanese own Zhuge Murafu, who mediates with the face of Arthur Morgan in the game to mediate with various forces to pull the development of his nation on the right track - opening his mouth is to save the world, and closing his mouth is the dawn of Japan.
Players like me, who are not very interested in the culture of small days, are interested in looking for materials to re-study the history of the Meiji Restoration, and after reading it, I only feel that the content of the textbook is still too general, and those things before and after the East Asia region have reasons and foreshadowing.
Objectively speaking, "The Rise of the Ronin" is definitely the outstanding one in the same genre, but the sense of substitution is very disastrous. It's not that there are too many mistakes in its game quality, but that he asked us to play the role of the Shogunate ronin to reform Japan, and also to deliver ammunition to the naval red deer in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War? After all, the historical theme is played with a sense of on-the-spot participation, and I'm afraid not everyone has the mentality that "games are just games." ”
But let's stop at that, to analyze the bootlegged, ass, and conspiracy is the task of the current political marketing account, at least for the game industry, these words will not have any meaning except for bringing cheap and dirty emotions.
The real key is that if "patriotic education" can be carried by video games and presented with high quality, is it possible that the long-term support for related themes in the film industry will become a shortcut to the rapid rise of domestic PC games/consoles?
First, everyone does have a passionate consumer demand, and secondly, led by state-owned assets, in the early years, they also made high-scoring theme movies such as "After the Decisive Battle" and "Born Out of the Sky", and there are more examples abroad with official support, before and after Poland and South Korea, some big game development will be funded by relevant departments.
On the other hand, in China, it seems that the more lively is the Internet celebrity operation of some official media and some self-media that eat imperial food, but the "cultural output" that we often talk about in games is closer to packaging and selling our traditional good things, which is very different from the main theme movie. So compared with the two, I think the internal propaganda function of medium and large games is indeed seriously underestimated.
Especially now that there is an example of "The Rise of the Ronin", a historical narrative can be explained more closely, and it is always more comprehensive and clear than the fragmented stereotypical information and fanaticism on the Weibo short video platform.
Of course, I don't have relatives who work in the Ministry of Culture, so this plan is at best a wild idea and difficult to go deeper, but if you want to argue its rationality from the side, you can find an example, because the "cultural export" that is often talked about, Hong Kong films in the 70s and 00s are recognized as the peak period.
Darveilbelle, the father of modern parkour, said that he was inspired by Hong Kong films, and Akira Toriyama said that there would be no "Dragon Ball" without the "Drunken Fist" movie, including "The King of Fighters" Zhen Yuanzhai and "Street Fighter" Jamie and many other characters have the prototype of the film. In South Korea, the most replayed film in the Spring Festival file of TSB TV is Jackie Chan Movie, almost Zhao Benshan of the Korean Spring Festival.
The reason why Hong Kong films are analogous is that a large number of Hong Kong films have the core of family and country feelings, but they have gained a large number of fans in immigrant communities in South America, Africa and North America, and superstars like Bruce Lee are regarded by them as an anti-white oppression and anti-colonial hero.
Therefore, to a certain extent, it overturns the statement that "to do patriotic themes, it is very likely to give up foreign players".
Perhaps the only thing standing in the way of us in "Rise of Knights", "Rise of the Boxers" and "Rise of the Guerrillas" is that we really don't have the environment that allows jokes about recent historical figures like "Rise of the Ronin".
But as long as you look through the legacy left by the old Hong Kong films, it is not without new ideas. For example, at the same time as the background of "The Rise of the Ronin", it is also the theme of domestic and foreign difficulties to save the country, and the first IP of China's superhero "Huang Feihong" is very suitable for changing into a game.
Vehicles are all similar
For example, at the beginning of the 1991 version of the movie, the camera slowly moved sideways from the teahouse troupe to the block, and several priests led the Chinese to sing hallelujah, which made the guzheng and huqin pipa in the teahouse also rise a few degrees, as if they wanted the east wind to overwhelm the west wind, and secretly competed. Until the sound of "beep-" in the distance, the long roar of a steamship was heard, and the whole world came to a standstill, the meaning of which was self-evident.
In just one minute of footage, the film clearly introduces the region, the era and the current situation. Compared to the remix of the opening animation of "Rise of the Ronin", I think this movie shot is more suitable as the opening CG of a historical RPG.
Then we try to tell the story.
The 91 version of the movie has two villains, one is an American trafficker who relies on foreign forces behind him to engage in human trafficking, and the other is the local underworld Shahe gang that suddenly rose up by taking advantage of the chaos of the situation.
There are also two major villains in the 92 version of the movie, one is the White Lotus Sect, which combines traditional superstition with xenophobic and anti-foreign ideas, and the other is Nalan Yuanshu, who represents the Manchu elite in the pursuit of the revolutionary party.
They correspond to foreign forces, opportunists, fanatical xenophobes, and royalists, who China has had, is, and will continue to be, so the depth of the story discussed is still alive today.
It's a pity that there are kind priests among foreigners in the movie, and the big bosses of the Shahe Gang and the Royalists have also successfully created two tragic heroes with different paths, but only the White Lotus Sect is completely a clown who pretends to be a ghost.
However, we know that the historical prototype of the White Lotus Sect, the "Boxers", also represents the desperate voice of a large part of the oppressed people.
RPGs can avoid similar narrative biases, as we talked about not long ago in "Fallout", where the multi-force and multi-perspective side quest depiction can present a three-dimensional and diverse world better than film and television. On the contrary, it is this kind of analysis and understanding of the world from multiple perspectives that is more like the patriotic education that we are missing now.
There is also this scene in "Rise of the Ronin".
The exchange of traditional medicine and modern medicine
So the "gameplay" that undertakes the narrative, needless to say, the core of it, the martial arts actions precipitated and designed by Hong Kong movies are still high-quality material libraries that have been copied by foreign games, and with this orthodox kung fu action system, readers must have imagined that they are more playable than what I recommend.
I would like to add two peripheral gameplay.
One is the social Coop.
As we all know, Master Huang opened a martial arts gym, and in the movie, his apprentices include returned overseas Chinese, refugees from other places, and market vendors...... It can be said that everyone represents a type of person at that time, so if it is well written, it can achieve the effect of a small stage and a big world against "Cyberpunk: Bartender Action".
The emotional scene between Master Huang in the long coat and the thirteenth aunt in lace dress is a symbol of the friction and acceptance process between Chinese civilization and overseas civilization.
The other is simulated operation.
You may know that Master Huang runs a medical hall, and the role of the owner of the Chinese medicine hall means that players can reasonably contact people from all walks of life in the whole society, and with this extended gameplay of collecting medicines, selling medicines, visiting doctors and helping villagers solve problems, I think it can not only enrich the content of the game, but also strengthen the narrative theme.
With these two peripheral gameplay, the production team was able to bring more playable content at a very low cost, and I imagine that this could be like the early "Like a Dragon", where the entire playable area is only a few streets, but it can make people feel that the sea is wide and the sky is wide.
After all, the ninja group is also 30 years of accumulation, making "Ronin Rising" did not happen overnight, and game production has never been as large as possible, especially for the current fierce competition for medium and large volume games, if you want to present stable and high-quality content, "project management" and "cost control" may be more important things than creativity.
Therefore, China's No. 1 Super League IP corresponds to Poland's No. 1 Super League IP, and I think it will have the potential to become our "The Witcher 1".
The Witcher 1 laid the foundation for the rise of Polish games
So it can be seen that the main theme work does not have to be like "The Rise of the Ronin" to joke about real people. "Once Upon a Time" is just an example, a fantasy after playing "The Rise of the Ronin", in fact, there are many Hong Kong films with family and country feelings at their core, and they are very suitable for adaptation into games from story to content.
Even the French game "Master" and the Canadian game "Bloody Scoundrel" have all paid tribute to Hong Kong films in turn.
Therefore, through Hong Kong films, we can see that "cultural export" can go further to convey some more realistic and specific humanities and feelings. Japan's "Rise of the Ronin" in the game is a direct proof of this, but if we want to replicate the influence of Chinese pop culture in the 70s and 00s in the game field, I am afraid that we need not only the efforts of practitioners, but also opportunities.
Perhaps, "Black Myth: Wukong", which will be launched in August, is likely to become a new beginning, and if he succeeds, he will definitely attract a wave of capital opportunities. It may not be possible to change anything, and domestic games still rely on mobile games to walk on one foot.
Either way, I feel the urge to pay homage to the Black Myth production team, especially when I play Ronin Rise and watch the guys in the game lead Japan to its rise step by step - we who are culturally similar but emotionally conflicted will inevitably want to play our own game.