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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 6h

looking forward to it!

Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 1d

I revisit this piece -- on Doom 2016, by @materialistjew.bsky.social -- at least once a year. it has become bedrock, and only more relevant

lareviewofbooks.org/article/doom...

"And yet DOOM wants to roll the dice on you. DOOM thinks you will learn to love rage again, to experience its visceral pleasure. DOOM wants you to unlearn all those lessons in civility, in comportment, in tone, in the “benefit of the doubt.” DOOM wants you to consider that when “they go low,” you will scrape the pits of Inferno to go ever lower. DOOM wants you to feel more."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 1d

"Of course, videogames have graphics..."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 1d

been very excited for this -- pumped to dive in tonight (and then read your review)

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Disco Elysium Quotes @discoelysiumbot.bsky.social · 2d

“What, you've never seen a man getting a panic attack before?” (Try to keep breathing.)

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 2d

now just desperate to see Amano's take on this

Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 2d

Chappell when she unlocks her upgraded class

Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 2d

Chappell when she unlocks her upgraded class

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 2d

Final Fantasy XVII

Chappell Roan, Lil Nas X, and Post Malone in suits of armor

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 3d

and we are most definitely talking about Sufjan

"In the morning, through the window shade
When the light pressed up against your shoulder blade
I could see what you were reading
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth"

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 3d

if we're talking lyricists, we're talking Neil Young

like, come on --

"Once I thought I saw you in a crowded hazy bar
Dancing on the light from star to star
Far across the moonbeam I know that's who you are
I saw your brown eyes turning once to fire"

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 3d

"suspend" is interesting -- could be read many ways (like "suspend" = "pause"), but I imagine grabbing your taste and having it swirl in front of you, suspended, for examination

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 4d

and you really feel it when someone takes an axe to the hedging and qualification that so frequently pervade criticism

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 4d

adding on this, I think often about Peter Schjeldahl's "The Art of Dying." if you like or love something, champion it; if you don't like or love it, be generous in your consideration of it (thoughtful and curious, not obsequious, deferential, or afraid)

www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

"I retain, but suspend, my personal taste to deal with the panoply of the art I see. I have a trick for doing justice to an uncongenial work: “What would I like about this if I liked it?” I may come around; I may not. Failing that, I wonder, What must the people who like this be like? Anthropology."

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Carolyn Petit @carolynmichelle.bsky.social · 4d

Again respectfully, I’d say no. If you really like it, argue that it’s good. Make the case for your experience. Critics, stop saying “some of my favorite games are 7/10s” and give THOSE games 9s or 10s. Stop deferring to notions of faux-objectivity and champion the things you actually really like.

Rick or Treat | The D-Pad @ricdesi.dpad.fm · 4d

Tagteaming off of this, one of the most valuable brain nuggets you can use to help sort out the difference between the two is to learn when you have instances of "This isn't good BUT I actually really like it". Try thinking about why both of those halves can be true at the same time.

〽️ax krieger does the damn thing @maxkriegervg.bsky.social · 4d

as a lifelong critic, my best advice on this topic:

practice thinking from the perspective of other ppl. consider where they're coming from, why a piece might resonate w them.

this will help you differentiate between "not for me" and "it isn't good". be kind with the former, don't fear the latter!

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 4d

Chris is, as always, an incisive and delightful read

"Love soon becomes another obligation, and thus a source of tension, shrewdly re-contextualised in each chapter."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 5d

5 ran so Tactics could sprint

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 7d

reviewed the remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics, which remains an exceptional study of how history is constructed, revised, and weaponized. (even the choice to require the fast-forward button to be held down is a political one)

www.slantmagazine.com/games/final-...

"Directed and written by Matsuno Yasumi and first released in 1997, Final Fantasy Tactics is a treatise on historicization: its artificiality, its fickleness, and its capacity to abuse and be abused. What, then, does it mean for Square Enix to remaster the title? In an industry and culture bent on recommodifying the past—often with an airbrush in hand and idiosyncratic expression in its sights—this renovation could easily have betrayed the convictions of its source material. But be at rest: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a gentle and thoughtful touch-up of a foundational work, a brushing of the text’s sharp teeth."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 7d

reviewed the remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics, which remains an exceptional study of how history is constructed, revised, and weaponized. (even the choice to require the fast-forward button to be held down is a political one)

www.slantmagazine.com/games/final-...

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 8d

two-sec cooldown on the blast 👀

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 9d

writing up my review and you...just posted it out

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 10d

[ludonarrative dissonance take] new God of War often gets brought up as an example of this, but I don't think that's totally fair. sometimes parenthood feels like, and maybe even is, chopping things up with an axe (and foraging and crafting and unlocking new skills and raging)

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cindy @bloomedwings.bsky.social · 13d

Okay I'll bite a little, you're not upset about there being too many games, you're upset that there are a selection of games that the industry has insisted you Must Play and everything is a time investment plus all your time is mentally drained by the modern internet and you're old

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 15d

thank you very much!

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 15d

thank you very, very much

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 15d

really means a lot to me. I’ve admired your work for ages

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