Why Flower is one of my favourite games

Transcript

Hey hey everyone! Dave here, and welcome to the second episode of Dave’s Favourite Games. We’re gonna be doing things a little differently from the first episode. While I wanted this series to be more conversational in tone, not using a script for the first episode led to more problems than I would have liked. Chief among them, a longer, more rambling video. So this time around I’m going to be using a script, but I am trying out a more conversational writing style to see if I can keep a similar loose tone while still having some structure to the content. Let me know what you think.

Now the title of the video and the footage will likely have clued you into that this episode I am going to talk about Flower. Flower is what I will call my latest favourite game. Let me explain what I mean by that. I have put some thought over the years as to what classifies a game to be a favourite, and I have come upon two rules that have helped me to determine this. The first is the five year rule. I think you need at least 5 years to go by before you can begin to think about if a game is considered one of your favourites. That means that of right now, my cut-off for a game to be considered one of my favourites, it had to be released in 2011. Flower was released in 2009, so it qualifies. The second rule explains why a game I love such as say Super Meat Boy released in 2010 hasn’t trumped it. I call the second rule, the three plays rule. For a game to truly be considered one of my favourites, I have to have returned to it at least two times after my initial playthrough. Notice I didn’t say ‘completed’. The reason for this is many games on my favourites list from the NES era like Super Mario Bros or Mike Tyson’s Punch Out I have never completed. I’ve gotten close on many occasions, but despite not having finished them, I return to them time and time again. To me, they are endlessly playable. Returning to Super Meat Boy. That was my favourite game of 2010, but I only played it the once, and I haven’t returned. I would like to someday. Perhaps it and other games since will one day be among my favourites, although the older I get, and the larger my backlog grows, the more difficult it becomes to return to those games one has already spent their time with.

But this series in an excuse to do just that. Ok, let’s talk about Flower. Sorry for the long explanation, but if any game had the footage to keep you entertained while I rambled on about my categorization process, I feel this is it. Flower is my favourite game by Thatgamecompany. Most people would balk at that, citing Journey to be their master work. Now don’t get me wrong. I love Journey! It’s just that, I feel that the emotional arc of Journey was first tested in Flower before it was polished for that game. It has similar beats as you make your way through the different locations. For example, both games have a very depressing moment before the final stage explodes in a shower of joy and whimsy. I just prefer the abstraction of Flower more. Yes, Journey is abstract and ambiguous, but you are still playing a character that has a definitive goal; reach the mountain. In Flower you are a series of flower petals riding the wind. Sure there are heavy themes of growth and rebirth, as you bloom flowers, light pathways, and colourise houses, but… and I apologize for the pun, it’s less about any particular goal, and more about being swept up in the moment.

Another reason I love this game and find myself returning to it is that no matter how many times I play through, or invite a friend over to have them play through it, I always have this huge smile on my face. Riding the wind contains feelings of peace, blooming the flowers and listening to the emergent soundtrack evokes wonder, and there’s just a strength of colour and fluidity to each stage. You can really take as long as you like, whisking through to the end (like I did in the recorded playthrough), or just relaxing as you play around with what the level has to offer (such as the ability to paint the grass at the end of stage 2). I love how each stage is its own distinctive element. The core mechanic of moving on the wind and blooming flowers is always there, but each stage introduces a new element that only is used within that stage. Growth, colour, wind, light, destruction, and then creation. As the purpose of these videos is for me to gush about the game, I don’t want to ruin too much more for those who have not played it, but these differing ideas all link together rather spectacularly.

So my first episode Loom, I completed my footage playthrough of that in an afternoon. This playthrough of Flower took me a little over an hour. So far, one shared aspect of these two favourite games is their length. I love a game that can be completed in an afternoon. Not all of my favourite games are short, but I think its length speaks in Flower’s favour. It presents an idea, then moves through them in quick succession. It doesn’t so much assault the senses as relax them, despite its reliance on colour and music. It’s one of those games I like to show off to those that dismiss the medium of videogames as being violent toys for children. Flower is the type of game that makes me happy to be playing videogames, and that is why it is one of my favourites.

I hope you enjoyed the video. I bought myself a capture card for my birthday this past week, so am able to record console footage now. I’ve been mainly testing it on my PS3, but hooking up my Wii will give me access to a lot of my favourite games from the 80s and 90s. Also look for some critiques on console games I have an excuse to give more time to, now that I can make videos of them. Thanks for watching, and I hope you all a wonderful time.