Water in Video Games
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Water and water and water water
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00:00 - 03:03 - Earth Juice
03:03 - 09:16 - Water Graphics
09:16 - 13:34 - Music & Ambience
13:34 - 22:12 - Water Levels
22:12 - 26:13 - Water Games
26:13 - 29:24 - Versatility
29:24 - 34:16 - Overflow
#water#videogames#levels#graphics#best#worst#waterlevels#gaming#yeehaw - Hry
I have constructed a playlist of water tunes used in this video, plus about 1.5 hours more. Check it out yall
czcams.com/video/Z5aSMDMpoZ0/video.html
I prefer fire, but to each their own I suppose
A fellow FF8 fan I see
water bottle water bottle waaaaaaaaaaaater bottle
wotah
Water weed dune hair???????
Water is so cool wish it was real
Touch water
You’re not gonna believe this
Africa be like
What?
Maybe one day
The first thing that came to mind for me was water based healing spells. It seems to be commonplace that water is a healer in video games with magic.
Water is a symbol of healing outside of games too. Drinking water is healthy, but it goes way beyond that. It's a universal solvent, making it a common vehicle for medicine. It's like a self-healing substance, it can't be pierced or cut because it just flows back to where it was. The earliest life-forms evolved in water and the ocean is home to some very primordial creatures. Because they have simpler biology, they can often regenerate themselves more easily, and even in some cases reverse the aging process and achieve certain forms of immortality. In the depths of the ocean, the cold and the absence of UV can also promote slower metabolisms and longer lifespans.
@@screwyourhandle So what I'm getting from this is that water is pretty cool
Our body is mainly made up of water, so in a way it makes sense from an elemental perspective.
Yeah, its everywhere, imma list every time the "water = healing" element trope in every media i've ever watched (if memory serves right)
- Avatar the last airbender (Waterbending has a healing branch)
- Genshin impact (Hydro is usually associated with healers, healing and HP-scaling talents)
- I forgor
Earth does it as well, for different reasons.
Golden sun really exemplifies a lot of things about elements in simple game design.
I don’t know if you still read these but the mention of endless ocean and gameplay footage of it at 25:20 just puts a big smile on my face with how many good memories I have of it. Thank you for that little quick mention of it.
Another interesting twist on the theme of "water" is waterCOLOR. Skyward Sword is one such game that uses a watercolor painting style to blur faraway background objects. The Lake Floria and Ancient Cistern areas of the game are also really memorable water areas in the game, and I especially love how the water geysers in the Ancient Cistern look!
I love the water aspects in Skyward Sword too! I always really lobed the watercolour look the entire game has too (((: very whimsical
I still remember thinking how incredible the water looked in the plane crash scene in the original BioShock. The graphics were breathtaking as they ran on a new game engine that had just been released that year, i'd never seen anything like that before.
I still think Far Cry's water was still better looking (at the time) but Bioshock definitely did it well. Then Crysis came out...
I recently replayed Bioshock, and as a teenager around my 12 I was sooo amazed by how it seemed and felt !
Hey, I don't mean to come across as preachy, I just thought you would be interested to know that the original Bioshock actually ran on a modified version of Unreal Engine 2, not 3, which released around the same time. All the more impressive for how good it looked on an outdated engine. Bioshock Infinite would do the same with Unreal Engine 3.
God yes I visualized it again reading this
Breathtaking. Because you're drowning.
This was a great tribute to water in video games, something I've been deeply mesmerized by ever since I was a little kid. Keep up the great work Ghostbro!
My favorites have got to be zora’s domain from Zelda breath of the wild and the luma pools from ori and the will of the wisps. Both are just so beautiful and calming
But the rain before you've taken down Vah Ruta is *immensely* annoying.
The water in the Ori games was wonderful. I'd pick the tense water escape or the relaxing DLC part from The Blind Forest.
One of my favorite water sequences in gaming is in the game Gris. Up there with Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze in terms of water gameplay.
Dude Majora’s Mask Zora’s domain slaps
the water in SOMA was probably the most atmospheric scary take on just walking deep down on the seabed, the ambient soundtrack in the background would just give me chills
Surprised you didn't mention anything about Battle for Bikini Bottom, that game uses water in almost every way you talked about. It takes place entirely underwater and still manages to have several water-levels like the goo lagoon, swamp & rock bottom, each with their own unique feel.
I love the water in Spore, especially and most specifically in the cell stage. It makes you feel tiny, and the music is just lovely
Mmm, primordial soup. The tastiest water :)
Water in Spore looks so drinkable... I loved it.
@11:00 is actually a good soundtrack to just sit and imagine stuff to.
Please, make a playlist of these underwater level tracks.
When talking about rain water you really should remember the Rain World
Rain in this game is inevitable and inescapable, it's merciless and it's raindrops look as sharp as needles
When the rain starts it's ok for a few seconds, but it gradually increases until your character can't move through the almost waterfall of 'needles' and can only surrender under the pressure of this alien form of natue and die
I have been scared of water in video games ever since the original Jak and daxter. That heartbeat sound that would beat faster and faster until the giant fish swam up and swallowed you whole haunts my dreams.
Dive for those orbs Jak, dive!
The underwater place was one of the coolest regions in that whole game imo
same omg that scared me as a kid! im 26 now and i have thallasophobia 😩
FfX
For me it was Mario 64. That orange sunglasses dude in tiny huge island fucked me up man, had me terrified, which made me scared of water in other games (which made it so that when something bad DID happen it was confirmation bias). And now I'm scared of water in all games, and though I've slowly been getting over it, if the water is particularly deep or dark I still struggle to make myself go down
Memory unlocked
Shoutout to water, gotta be one of my most favourite liquids
Props to all the waters
The first thing I thought of when i saw the thumbnail was the iconic gameplay of Subnautica. Subnautica is pretty much THE game (of all time) that deals with water exploration, and while I haven’t gotten around to ever playing it, it’s iconic enough that even a picture from underwater triggered a memory of it.
You also have to try Soma.
This comment is also THE comment (of all time) about water
@@vitaliy.petrovich Not much similarity with Subnautica, no? I wouldn't describe Soma as an underwater or sea based game, just a game that happens to be set in an underwater station. I think Bioshock is a better comparison
My first thought is of great water physics, such as in Hydrophobia, where you could shoot the bottom of a glass pane which is sealing a room full of water, to see the water slowly start to trickle out, before the pressure shatters the glass and the water fills the hallway with some incredibly impressive water physics for the time. Even Little Big Planet had some decent water physics, and water was only added in by DLC at first. When developers put that much care and attention into the game, it really stands out.
I always really loved the way the water in Zelda: Twilight Princess looks. Its texture is just so shimmery and pretty.
Favourite game of all time, so great. Who could forget that first ever plunge into lakebed temple. Just sinking down, down, down.
@@rockinslugz Oh yes, definitely, that lake was just so DEEP. :D
i especially loved the springs that you have to rescue throughout the game, they are so iconic yet distinct from one another
The game that came to my mind was Far Cry. I remember being blown away by how realistic the water was in the original game. That's one of the first things I've checked out in every game in the series since then and they've consistently nailed it.
Not only is water peaceful and calming but it's also a great danger if you push it. Many games have used massive fronts of water as borders for the end of the map or a hazard. Splatoon for example, some maps use water as a hazard during battles, and the way the game explains it in the lore is that your character dissolves when submerged in Salmon Run, getting pushed off the map into the ocean can absolutely kill a run
One of the most memorable moments I've had with water was in skyrim, I'd just gotten out of a giant fight with some thalmor or something and in the aftermath I'd noticed there was a dead eagle just on the ground, saddened by this waste of barely simulated life I'd decided to throw the corpse into a nearby river to bring it to the ocean, now this being skyrim I wasn't confident that it would fully reach the sea so I decided to follow it and make sure it reached its destination, I cant tell you how long it took or how many times I had to un-beach the corpse from the river bank but it eventually got there and after the winged beast flopped into the water I just spent a good 15 minutes looking out into the sea, for a while I'd forgotten that I was looking at unimpressive unmodded skyrim water and just got lost in the beauty.
That's a cool Skyrim story. I never thought of the flow to the ocean. It really does flow out to sea? Man, that game.....!
That's beautiful. Love these role playing tales
THIS is the magic of videogames.
I'm sorry but the thought of someone continually putting a dead bird back into the river because it keeps beaching is really funny
I, too, was looking for a descriptive Skyrim post on this video. Back in 2015 I played modded Skyrim on Steam and I modded the graphics to make even _better_ water and I never looked at video graphics the same way again.
Donkey Kong Country Aquatic Theme is the first thing I thought about. Such a beautiful tune never to be forgotten by the ones who played it.
Same here
One of my favorite audio effects for water is the way that music changes to become muffled in Banjo Kazooie.
This channel was such a hidden gem that I'm glad I found. I never appreciated water in video games until Ocarina of Time but when I played subnautica it took it to whole new level just the perfect use of terror, sight, oxygen and predators in that game. I remember the first time I saw a Reaper it was in the dark nighttime water and I thought I saw a flicker but passed it off as nothing as I thought I was invincible and thought stalkers were the worst it had to offer then I got eaten alive and never went back to get my stuff because of the fear and accepted the fact I was starting again. The next time was when I entered the dead zone and learned how bad it was
I remember when I first played Spyro 2 and I was shook you could swim underwater. Still one of my favorites.
my absolute favorite thing was to do a charging run, and then jump and land in the water, so it'd send me into a charging dive. God that mechanic felt good
That game felt good
Me too.
Such a fun game with even funner vibes
For me, the first game that came to mind was Horizon Forbidden West. The underwater mechanics aren't only as flowy as water itself, but the way it looks, with the light, difference in how far you can look, all that stuff, it was my favorite. I also instantly thought about Abzu, one of the best underwater games I've seen. It conveys the real sense of scale you can find in the ocean, as well of the size of the beasts you can find in it. But also it's emptiness, because there's so little water filled with stuff. Both were super impressive, in my opinion.
Ecco the Dolphin was the first thing that came to my mind, specifically Defender of the Future, where you pretty much visit everything from tropical reefs to a polluted nightmare and deep cave mazes to water tubes suspended high above a lush primordial continent.
That game and Aquaria captured my interest about the sea so, so much more than anything else.
Ecco was so weird and trippy yet fun to play.
@@yuordreams Look into John C Lilly and you'll understand why it's so damn trippy
The dive theme in gen 3 Pokémon games is amazing and has that same feeling you talked about when it comes to the water soundtracks in most games. I always loved exploring the ocean floor in Ruby and I will always have fond memories of the water portions of Hoenn.
7/10 too much water
The surf theme is lovely too!
The dichotomy between the surf theme and the dive theme in gen 3 is really cool. The first captures the feeling of being out on a sunny day and enjoying the waves, while the second invokes a quiet, peaceful, meditative space, invoking curiosity as you discover strange pokemon and a mysterious message written in Braille.
I literally came to the comments looking to see if anyone mentioned the Pokemon Emerald Dive Theme that shit will always hold a special place in my heart 🌊🤍
preach
The water area in Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Luma Pools, is probably the greatest water area/level I've ever played. Controlling Ori in the water (especially when you get a certain ability) is so satisfying, and the area itself is so vibrant (but not oversaturated) and relaxing.
I was going to comment exactly this. Ori does an absolutely phenomenal job with it's water level, in both games
Completely agree
yes!! finally someone talking about ori! that game is breathtaking, the sountrack, visuals, story, everything is amazing!
And there's that bloody flooding tree level.
One of those rare moments where I felt the same level of exhaustion/elation as my on-screen character expressed when I finally beat it and got to collapse on the ground outside.
@@peterclarke7240 Ah, the Ginso Tree escape from the Blind Forest. So hard, yet so good =D
Great vid really enjoyed the breakdown! Couple of random notes / fave memories for the pile:
* Aquanaut’s Holiday - PS1 gem that sold well in Japan but doesn’t get much love in the West, one of the first ‘open world’ games can remember playing, basically just swim around, talk to fish via sonar(?) and build coral reefs. Same team that made Tail of the Sun and Doshin the Giant if not mistaken.
* Metal Gear Solid 2: the rain bouncing off Snake and the ship in the demo was utterly mindblowing at the time - the underwater ‘escort’ level looking for air pockets was really groundbreaking too.
* Super Ghouls n Ghosts - first time seeing that wave appear and wash away some of the platforms was jaw dropping as a kid.
* Wetrix - puzzle based game built around fluid mechanics, doesn’t get enough respect - great game!
I’m so glad someone else out there loves video game water as much as me- so much that they made a comprehensive video essay about it
17:52 thats my favorite zone in the entire game for the exact reasons you mentioned. It gives you an extra axis of mobility, it forces you to have greater spacial awareness, and its got a unique and pretty design not seen anywhere else (except maybe nazjatar)
Great use of the ODST theme in the overflow section, it immediately brought me back to the first time I played the dark and rainy opening level.
It's weird, I read this comment and forgot about it then as soon as I hear the ost it brings me instantly back to spirited away before those long strings hit and I'm transported directly to your comment again
The use of water, both as a level and as a puzzle element, in Gris is excellent. The visuals and music of the first purple-blue rain trees area will stick in my head forever.
You played the music from it but Metroid Prime 1 has a really great water area. The crashed frigate and the music that plays in Metroid Prime after you get the Gravity Suit is tranquil and peaceful, a calm reminder of what makes life and us human. It definitely is a big contrast when right after the crashed frigate, it takes you to the Phazon Mines, a desolate and dangerous place with your sworn enemies.
Metroid Dread also has a really good water area too, with Burenia. I love the Shinespark puzzle that lets you get access to the Gravity Suit early, but I sometimes avoid getting it early so I could slowly traverse through the water looking at all the pretty visuals and hearing the calm music.
And lastly, Metroid Fusion’s Sector 4 also has great music. The area isn’t nearly as good as Dread in my opinion, but the music is so calming and tranquil, right before Samus has to head back into danger.
The use of water as a hinderance in Metroid has always been executed well, I love the Gravity Suit, Gravity Boost, Spin Jump, Space Jump, and Grapple Beam in the games, encouraging you to further explore watery areas.
The water in Myst was one of the factors that gave it such a great atmosphere.
Abzu really made me appreciate the mystical beauty of the sea with its amazing music score, gorgeous environments and free flowing movement. Such a beautiful meditative experience.
YES THAT GAME IS AMAZING i still go back to it sometimes and really appreciate it, i listen to the music very often as well, it shifted my perspective on the sea and really any big body of water. great game
@@h0zi3r yup
When I was a kid, I used to wake up every weekend morning and pop Majora's Mask into my N64 and then just... swim as a zora for hours. I loved jumping out of the water and spinning around while swimming. I would go into the area with the beaver bro's race, but instead of racing them I would just swim back and forth through the track on my own. It was so much fun. Years later, Majora's Mask 3DS came out and i was super excited to swim in it again. Majora's Mask had my favorite swimming mechanic out of any game.
But...3DS got it wrong somehow. Swimming wasn't fun anymore, but clunky. I wondered if it was just nostalgia so I booted up my old N64 to play Majora's Mask and swimming was still perfect and fun in the original. I was super disappointed. The 3ds remake was still nice, but it bummed me out majorly that the thing I was most looking forward to ended up sucking.
The water in Fortnite is probably my favorite game aspect ever. The ocean around the Island is an area of the map that you aren't supposed to go to (since all the fighting happens on the island of course), so when you visit it, it is truly an awesome experience. Even though there are background islands, when you look at the ocean we (or at least me) don't think of it like a real life ocean, where it looks endless but you know there's something on the other side if you go far enough, it feels infinite yet somehow bounded. About 2km from the coast of the island, there is an invisible barrier that you cannot pass (in past updates you could by using boats but now you can't), and whenever you reach that barrier, it just feels so... spooky. You've reached the end, but it looks like there's more. It's very cool. Also, the coast of the island is a very obscure area, as there is only one POI that is definitely a coastal POI (Shiny Sound). So, motorboating around the coast of the island is like exploring the unknown, you pass by many familiar places around the Island and yet you're not really getting anywhere.
If this comment seems a little clumsy or nonsensical, it's because the feeling is very hard to describe in words. You'd just have to play the game to believe it. When you take away the battle, Fortnite is an extremely majestic game.
I remember the water planet Manaan in Kotor very fondly. The Manaan theme absolutely represents the flow of water perfectly.
The first thing that came to my mind with water, was Lord Of The Rings Online.
There’s been far better water since but when I first saw their water in 2007 I was blown away. Reflections, ripples, see the bottom of the lake/river. It felt so alive.
my first encounter with water in any game was probably in a Mario title or 3rd gen Pokemon, but i remember playing this one game called Endless Ocean: Blue World on the Wii and was blown away by the water and exploration (i know a ton of trivial information about random marine life as a result). anyway, i just remember being in awe of the different locations the story required you to go to and i feel like even today it was one of the few games back then that got water "right" (then again it had no choice considering it was about scuba diving huh?). it also captured the dichotomy you touched on of having beautiful locations full of life, and more fear-inducing lonely locations in the corners of the world
there was also Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii, and though it catches a lot of flack for its underwater combat, it's still my favorite game in the series because of how believable they made the environments seem, and Moga Village, the village your hunter belongs to, is a seaside village with the best theme of all time
Edit: I should have watched the entire video first, you mention the Endless Ocean series around 25 minutes in! a man well-versed in video games i see
Who knew a half an hour video of water would be so entertaining 😂
I want to shout out Prince of Persia water. It was so relieving running into a water body after going through a hard section of traps or enemies amd finally getting to heal. The drinking animation, along with the music were also super satisfying
I think Sea of Thieves might have the best looking water in all of video games. It just looks so enchanting and beautiful, especially up close
I mean Subnautica is right there though...
@RoboKnightTV Subnauticas water life is better, sea of thieves has the physics look and the feeling of vast waves hitting a ship you are at the helm of. How at any moment the waves could pick up and send you crashing at the wheel. Subnautica does that with it's fish (leviathans really). But SoT does it well with the water itself.
Duuude, yes! That part about the nostalgia with water themed games hitting differently is dead on.
When you started doing the little noises 9:58 as to how a desert theme should sound, I chuckle so much and immediately subscribed
Jak And Daxter 1 had some of my favorite underwater ruins in any video game ever, with a super unique brassy percursor vibe i havent seen before or since in any media
Yep I was thinking of J&D1 when I came to this video. Sentinel Beach, the Lost Precursor City. Good stuff
My first thought also
All of your series are perfect man, would love to see another video on fire or jungles or anything really like this. Loved it.
It was the late 90s, early 2000s I think when my dad got this screensaver for his computer that allowed you to navigate an ocean floor as a diver. It was both pretty magical and terrifying, especially when the manta ray showed up because it was fuggin GIGANTIC.
The first thing that came to my mind when I read the title was a section of a PlayStation 1 era Tomb Raider game (maybe the fourth), where Lara has to beat challenges based on Mythology. There's an Atlas themed room, where you have to evade a rolling bolder representing the Earth, a Damocles themed room with a huge sword that drops on you, and, of course, there's a water-themed one (Poseidon maybe?), where you have to fully commit yourself to a long diving section that you can barely get through without drowning if you don't hesitate, without knowing, in advance, how long it is... I hated that section...
You mentioned water being a barrier meant to be broken, and the best example of that I can think of would be Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, where water is deadly in the physical realm, as thin as air in the spectral realm and then, upon defeating Rahab, suddenly regular water you can dive in to reach completely new areas.
Generally, I love when developers really think about what implications come with having water in the game. The Japanese SNES tactics RPG Rage of Bahamut, made by Squaresoft and sadly never officially ported to the West (although there are ROMs with excellent fan translations) lets you utilise rivers and other bodies of water in the level by casting your offensive ice magic on it to create temporary bridges which can then be destroyed using fire spells.
Water also plays a major role to some extent in each main Darksiders game so far. In Darksiders, you have the Drowned Pass and other submerged sections, and in the Hollow, you have to progress by manipulating water levels. In Darksiders II, you have the Drenchford, an entire dungeon based around water. In Darksiders III, you have two unlockable abilities to change the way you interact with water (and accordingly an entire underwater level incl. an underwater boss fight), namely the Force Hollow that lets you walk under water and the Stasis Hollow that freezes the water under your feet. Notable in Darksiders III is also that standing under a waterfall or being submerged in a body of water disables the Flame Hollow, focring you to switch to a different weapon.
Oh, and while it may not technically be water, there is a tower in Journey that has a mist that behaves like water. Once more, you progress by raising its level, but there's no riddle to it and the whole experience is, aside from the ending-mountain-flight section and the sand-sliding section, the most calming stuff in the entire game.
Yet another great use of water, that many games feature, is when you can throw water at your enemies to make your subsequent electric attacks more effective.
And, obviously, I skipped the ones you already mentioned, like Subnautica, BioShock, SOMA and Abzû, all brilliant in their own ways.
Damn, Raft is also a thing, huh...?
Yeah, water is very prominently featured in video games, huh?
Ah, speaking of water as a barrier and how some of those heroes should take swimming lessons, it made a lot of sense for water to be a barrier in the first two inFamous games. Cole MacGrath is turned into an electricity mutant... within the first minutes of the first game, you learn how he now can't enter cars without breaking them, hold guns risk-free or enter bodies of water - it just works. It only becomes silly, when Second Son gives us a new protagonist, whose powers aren't based on electricity, and who still can't swim. Granted, we've seen him in a car and a bus in the game, so Delsin technically can enter cars, even though it's not a gameplay mechanic, and maybe he just doesn't need weapons anymore, even if enough are lying around after each encounter, but the fact he's reset to where he was as soon as he touches water, even before he gets his first (stolen) ability? That's just lazy game development.
Anyway, rant over.
I always loved the water in Ape Escape for PS1 and it's sequels on PS2. There are so many areas of water in them, including hot springs which are all steamy. My absolute favourite is the second level on the first game where you are in a prehistoric valley where it is raining and there is a large river you can swim around with a friendly swimming dinosaur who you can stand on its back.
you’re such a real one for this comment 😭 used to spend so much time on that ape escape level just vibing, so bliss.
@@thoriummusic yay you get it too! 😆
@@Cat_pkmn The music really added to it, with the hi-hats in the drums seeming to blend in with the rain.
@@x_voxelle_x I know it's so chill 😌
My first memory of Water in games is the Water from the original Tomb Raider tetralogy. Just the hand drawn look and the style of it mixed with that PS1 audio and the sound design in and around the Water. Was so calming and beautiful. I loved just hopping in and wading around or just being underwater. For me personally no water in any game has topped that
I remember when, passing from Animal Crossing: New Leaf to AC: New Horizons, my mind was just blown away by the beauty of the water in the last one.
It's so clear, and sparkly... and makes me really thirsty somehow.
The games they come to mind for me for good water are Super Mario Sunshine, Waverace GCN, and the Pikmin series.
The game cube's claim to fame was its processing power and its where i feel water really started to look pretty in 3D.
Love love love this video. I’m obsessed with water in games. Nice to meet someone else who shares that enthusiasm.
Dark Bramble from Outer Wilds is a water level without water, and brilliant at that.
That level strikes fear into my bones
It's a really cool area, but also...
Fuck Dark Bramble, that place is hell to traverse.
I once loved water so much I aspired to become a marine biologist, life circumstances got in the way though. Water and it's true beauty always feels like such an underappreciated topic but I might attribute that to just how "normal" it may be. Love that you came out with a video on the topic and it in video games.
I love how you don't just talk about water levels, but the element water brings to certain specific aspect of the game to enhance it. Beautiful and fun video!
One use of water I love is in the Spyro series. When Spyro is underwater, his charge is now able to aim up and down, it's basically free flight. But on top of that, if you charge towards the surface, you'll continue to charge, keeping your momentum out of the water. And the same goes for charging back into water, you'll skip the surface swimming and immediately go back underwater at the same angle you were travelling at before. This means that water doesn't break your flow in the slightest, you're not even slowed down. It's more like a regional, faster version of the superfly powerup.
I immediately thought of Skyrim's ocean. I was so scared of ever being in the water in Skyrim, even if there was really no threat. The dark green emptiness was too unsettling to me and my heart would race if I ever was up north exploring and accidently fell into the water when jumping across the ice
One of the reasons Spyro is still one of my favorite video game protagonists is because of how many fun memories I have with underwater levels in that series.
You make the type of content I wish lasted for hours
Man when you take that elevator down to the sea floor in soma. Looking up at everything sorrounded by darkness but a couple of lights to guide you, fantastic.
I really liked the water vibe through all of Final Fantasy X, it really was a recurring theme and looked beautiful
Water definitely has come a long way in video games from the early days of 3D games such as
Tomb Raider
Metal Gear Solid
Super Mario 64 water has breathed so much life into gaming and the overall Landscapes that one explore swimming and underwater exploration is something Primal to humans that captures a certain imaginative expanse.... games like subnautica have pushed this to the extreme
My favorite water levels are from metroid prime 1 & 2. They just amp up the isolation that metroid is known for. Definitely wouldn't want a full game of it, but it's definitely a good area in the game. Mp1's area being a sunken version of the space frigate you visit earlier is quite immersive. Mp2 on the other hand traps you into the water area, making you worry about going deeper without a way back, only to find the tools you need to get out.
The first thing that came to mind for me was "walking on water" - the scene of Yuna in FFX.
This is a really inspired video game essay. Congratulations for putting this together. I am mightily impressed.
The "Water" I was thinking about throughout this video was how the Good Modern Resident Evil games ( like 4 & Revelations on 3DS) Never Failed with the Water, The Sewers, the Island Invasion & boat boss in 4 ; The entire game ; Revelations on 3DS, the whole game takes place on a ship & the water stuff is the highlights, like the Pool or Flooded sections (no matter if it's knee high or a few levels deep), it blend so well with the horror survival, to not just survive but to deal with the dangers lurking in the water. The Rain is also amazing once you reach the deck or the rain outside while within the darkness of the ships interior, even the aquariums in the ship adds to the mood as you can murkily see the horrors ahead trough them.
Honestly? That dkc 1 water level, plus music came to mind first. The absolute serenity of the song, plus the intrinsic dangers of the level and the hidden secrets to satisfy your curiosity. That level represents water so well and is so iconic, everytime that song plays, I have blazing nostalgia
8/10 Video
Cons:
Too much watter
The very first thing that came to my mind was Soma. Sometimes I just sit in a relaxing place and listen to the ambience or look around at the environment.
the first thing that came to mind for me was the Zora domain in Zelda BOTW, but I was so excited to hear the banjo kazooie music early on in the vid! I always loved the Clanker level in that game, definitely was a very spooky way to incorporate water in a different way from the beach level
Answering the question at the top of the video:
Vashj'ir from WoW. I'll never forget how hyped I was to level in the new expansion, and riding around on the seahorse mount was everything I needed in life. Seeing the giant whale scared the hell out of me, and I still remember the rumors about the loot it'd drop if you killed it successfully. Sure, the controls were wonk, but isn't all of WoW loved for its wonk?
EDIT: I've only been able to play through it once though lmao its so hard to control
When i played forbidden west for the first time and got the water breathing, I was blown away by the sounds and the sights underwater. It was fantastic.
7:23 The oceans in Sea of Thieves were so beautiful! They were my favorite part of that game.
Water is goofy as hell
I'm a little late but water in video games for me has always been about exploration. Getting that boat and crossing the seas or surf to get the next badge or finally learning that spell that gets you to that one spot in the lake. It's always been something to overcome and in most cases opens up a whole new world to explore.
More videos like this, this was weirdly calming and informative
2:23 ngl the first game that came to mind when I read the title was - embarrassingly - Echo VN because I like how it recontextualises the meaning of water through the perspective of a protagonist who is himself a water creature (river otter). It also plays with the symbolism of stagnant water as compared to flowing water. The former is stale and dirty but also clearer to see through whilst the latter is always moving forward and safer to drink from but kicks up sand and dirt from its bed that renders it obscured. The main character belongs in a river but is trapped in a lake, a dead end, as it is his source of trauma that prevents him from moving on. Rivers, showers, and other types of moving water also appear at moments of major choice in the game which I think is cool.
Warning though: it's a gay furry visual novel lmao
I was like "ayo this sounds like a deep, mentally explorative otter simulator," then I realized I've never really heard or seen a game like that... and then it all made sense.
Was not expecting the end :') look cool tho
I played that last year. One of the best pieces of horror media imo. Definitely the best gay furry horror visual novel I've played.
The first thing that came to mind, although I never spent too much time on it, was Abzu. The way you set the scene on the beauty of water and video games being a combinations of all art forms, that game defines that very line
When I think water I can't help but think about kamino in start wars. Something about a stormy world with only water. A place where the only land isn't natural. The buildings in kamino are all done shaped to let the water flow freely across them.
I will always maintain that, with the iron boots mechanic fixed in the 3DS re-release, the water temple is one of the best dungeons in the entire game. It requires you to conceptualize a mental layout of the dungeon and balance how actions in one room affect actions in rooms you've previously visited. It's everything a Zelda dungeon should be, let down only by its final boss. It takes the kid gloves off and really requires intelligence from the player, and sometimes I wonder if that difficulty is the reason why it's so hated.
I never played OoT, but Twilight Princess had a water dungeon I liked. I think they had similar mechanics, right?
Whenever I think of water one of the first games that comes to mind is Bioshock, but I was surprised to see when I replayed the game recently that there’s actually very little water in terms of gameplay. You see it everywhere, out the windows, dripping from the ceiling, in small puddles on the floor, but gameplay wise there’s very little to it. I was expecting it to be almost like Hydrophobia or something, with water flowing from one room to another and flooding sections of the city, making you rush to get through, and causing bits of the roof to collapse to allow water into an area to cause a flood so you can electrocute splicers, but unfortunately there’s never that much to it, the most you’ll encounter is a small pool with a splicer in it that you can sometimes shock if you can switch to the right plasmid in time. But nonetheless, it nails it visually, and I love it a lot.
Although "Hydrophobia" was released as an arcade title on Xbox 360, even the current gen consoles have no title that can even remotely compete with the degree of gameplay implementation of water physics in this game.
I would love to see a semi-series of videos exploring elements in games
The ambient water music in video games is my absolute favorite thing about water in video games.
When it comes to the implementation of rain, both in terms of gameplay and atmosphere, Rain World is (probably unsurprisingly) king in my opinion. Never have I been more afraid of some falling wet stuff
I think that game does a wonderful job at using water in general.
The most obviously example is the deadly rain, but there's also plenty of areas where water can be utilized to travel around, and get to locations that you otherwise couldn't, with the catch being the threat of drowning and aquatic predators. Meaning that water can act as both a potential source of harm, and a potential source of help, based on skill, knowledge and circumstances.
I also appreciate the fact that different areas use different shades and colors for water, to have it actually make sense for that specific location, rather than just keeping it the nice light blue that we know and love.
And lastly, I think water creatures were great too, as they all served a very unique and important purpose, and showed us how diverse aquatic lifeforms can be.
I know that these are supposed to be "basic" things, but they still made a lot of regions more interesting and fun for me (even ones that aren't fully water centric like Subterranean or Garbage Wastes).
I loved Uncharted 4 underwater level. It was the first time of “wet world” feeling alive and storytelling connection between nature and humankind.
longform videos over relatively niche video game topics is the content i live for thank you for this
Final Fantasy X is my favourite videogame ever, and it's not because of the gameplay or the story, even if those are still amazing, it's because of the theme of water, just like Super Mario Sunshine is my favourite Super Mario game, I've always had a great passion for water, summer and beaches, maybe because it's a big part of where I grew up. You can never shake down the feeling that water had a big part in us Gen Z childhood's just taking a look at games and cartoons from that era. I appreciate this video a lot since I love water so much, it may sound dumb said this way but it's just the easiest way to put it, anyway, thanks a lot for making this video and bringing attention to this topic
I loved the beach and wave sounds in Harvest Moon It’s A Wonderful Life. There was no music, just natural ambiance. Sad that the Story of Seasons franchise moved towards more cartoony graphics rather than keeping the more realistic look we got in those 2 games.
In some games, like PS2's Primal, water was used to contrast purity with corruption, and you have to cleanse some water in a claustrophobic and hazy underground space that's suffocating even though you never run out of breath. The contaminated spaces are dark, close, murky, filled with obvious signs of poor water health; meanwhile the safe water, which can be breathed indefinitely, is clear and wholesome-feeling
Good water implementations from my favorite video games, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Sonic, and Shantae games have some cool water swimming levels especially in NiGHTS where the dreamers fused / mixed together as 1 with NiGHTS can truly traverse in water as a transformed boat or swim in water as a merfolk, same goes for Shantae when it comes to mermaid and crab transformations for water travel and Sonic treasure hunting water levels are epic when you got all the gear for Knuckles and Rouge to swim forever. OOH WAIT LETS NOT EVER FORGET ABOUT SONIC ADVENTURE 1'S MAIN ENEMY OF THE WHOLE GAME WHICH IS THE WATER GOD AND CHAO GUARDIAN CHAOS, THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION! And the Sims games and Minecraft when it comes to water emulating physics and natural drowning related consequences are balanced well enough. Other favorite games of mine like Monster Hunter, God Of War, Mortal Kombat handle water decently in many of their games ( except for Monster Hunter 3 which unfortunately handled water areas badly ). Lunime Gacha Games when it comes to Water-power elemental general balancing like Gacha Club, Studio, and World done it decently enough battle mechanics terms. That is all I can say about water game implementation experiences in my life thus far.
Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.
CRIMINIALLY UNDERRATED, im litterally taking notes at how amazing this video is, im not even kidding. You are so close to the editing and overall video style I am trying to create for myself. Really well done, you have my highest compliments man, cheers.
😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴
the first thing that came to mind was this video essay on ideas how to improve water levels in videogames
Dark Souls 2 when you hit the oceanside is magical. I sat and watched the waves for 30 minutes just admiring the sound and beauty of it all.
I'd say one of my favorite uses of water in video games has to be pokemon ruby/sapphire/emerald
Not only do you progress using the typical SURF and WATERFALL, but the dive sections add a whole new world of exploration to the series. In fact, I'd say that the water in those games feels incredibly liberating
Too bad they never used water to this extent ever again...
Ocarina of Time Water Temple was the first thing that came to mind, great atmosphere, but the design has its haters haha
This exactly. Such a love/hate relationship for the OoT Water Temple
Idk why but i went water > fire > forest my first playthru. Got more bad memories of the fire temple without the bow than i do at all with the water temple
The first thing I think about water in videogames is, "is something in here going to attack and kill me?", and do my best to keep the camera above surface in deep parts of water, unless I have to go down. I hate the vast void of blue and thinking of the things that could come out at any time out of nowhere, or just what could be out there, lurking.. waiting.
The first thing that came to mind for me was dynamic water physics in games like Minecraft, Terraria, Where's My Water?, etc.
Funnily enough, I find the Water Temple to be the most compelling dungeon in Ocarina of Time, simply because its laid out in a complex way. The boots still suck (especially in the N64 version), but the layout of the temple is the best in the game.
Great Bay Temple is the best in the series though, only the Stone Tower Temple can compete.
I love the water temple. Although I do wish un/equipping the boots was more convenient...
and that I could remember to look under the elevator.
Wholeheartedly agreed, the entire dungeon is basically a giant rubik's cube that can only be solved in one specific way. It seems insurmountable at first despite its apparent simplicity, but it truly unlocks in front of your eyes step by step the further you proceed. Hands down my favorite dungeon from OoT, but that may be also due to the fact I only ever played the game on 3DS
I always use the key in the wrong spot which makes you need to do some more work.