ITT: We post games that ACTUALLY have sovl

[Anonymous No.9978941]

Despite what retards will tell you, sovl isn't just "thing I liked as a kid". A game has sovl if it:
>has a quirky but not WHOLLY original aesthetic
>contains eerie, offbeat, or unexplained elements
>evokes a sense of nostalgia, not for the happy parts of childhood, but for rare, confusing peeks into the complex adult world
So Super Mario World does NOT have sovl. What you see there is what you get. But Ocarina of Time DOES have sovl, ex in the happy mask salesman and the cows you find in random caves.
A lot of sovl comes from a game being poorly translated from Japanese, with jokes and ideas seeming bizarre or scary due to missing context.

[Anonymous No.9978945]

>>9978941
>A lot of sovl comes from a game being poorly translated from Japanese
Woolseybros where we at

[Anonymous No.9978964]

>>9978941
Sometimes sovl emerges from the use of an incongruent element. This door is well-enough substantiated in the story of KH1; it's the door to the world's heart. But as a child, WHY it should be a door at all, and why the door looks the way it does– as well as the nonchalant way the characters on the island seem to treat it– gives the door a tinge of sovl. This combines with the way in which the other NPCs on the island present you with those funky questions to determine your level-up scheme in Sora's opening dream to give the entire intro a momentous air, as though the island has collided with something far bigger than a child like Sora or the player could understand.
KH abandoned the eerier elements in later titles in favor of over-explanation, which probably explains some of the hate it gets from disappointed fans.

[Dave No.9979021]

>>9978941
Simple as

[Anonymous No.9979123]

the N64 was good for it
every structure placement felt significant even if it clashed

[Anonymous No.9979139]

>>9978941
>thing I liked as a kid
That's Zelda alright
time to grow up bobby, you're 40

[Anonymous No.9979142]

>>9978941
to me "soul" has always just meant that the game seems like it was designed by human beings who had a lot of fun making it, or went out of their way to add little details that very few people would notice or appreciate

[Anonymous No.9979150]

>>9979139
Nintendo thread in disguise, many such cases

[Anonymous No.9979151]

>>9979142
This is the correct definition. OP is close, though disqualifying Mario World is a weird thing to say. SOVL isn't just "game i like from childhood" nor is it as arbitrary as OP's definition (while OOT is a very good pick of course and arguably the most soulful game ever in my opinion). Soul is really just "i can feel the human touch behind this game and connect mentally with the designers seeing the love they put into this" etc.

[Anonymous No.9979158]

>>9978941
>A game has sovl if it:
No, retard. You’re so close with that second point but you sound like a fag when you bring up “le epic and quirky” and your third point is just plain retarded pretentious nonsense. Stop overthinking it. Soul is just when a game has those little extra touches that the developers didn’t NEED to add but they did anyway. Things that don’t necessarily add to the experience and might be missable if you’re not paying attention but make the world seem more alive or cohesive or give people a little surge of dopamine when they notice. Not necessarily secrets but stuff that might be hidden in plain sight. That stupid ice-cube bullshit in MGS2 is the one I always bring up because it’s such an absurd thing that didn’t need to exist

[Anonymous No.9979168]

got more soul than a sock with a hole

[Anonymous No.9979178]

Most soul in a "zelda"game ever

[Anonymous No.9979203]

>>9979168
Thanks anon, one of my favourite rhymes from Doom

[Anonymous No.9979213]

Soul is when you put extra effort into something that could be done easier or cheaper. It's the unjustified design that makes it soul, that somebody did it just because they wanted to.

[Anonymous No.9979247]

>>9978941
Don’t know about this definition, it feels sorta arbitrary in its specificity. Generally I just think of games with way more character and detail than was necessary for the game to pass the “good enough” threshold, showing the care the devs had for it. Thinking about it that way, the first thing that comes to mind is Mario 3:
>No item comes close to matching the Tanooki Leaf/Suit in utility, and the game could’ve easily replicated the linear Mario 1 power up formula for simplicity, but still there’s a bunch of extra items that are as useless and situational as they’re fun.
>Sliding on slopes is kinda useful but mostly just there to make blasting through levels a joy.
>Random 1 time features like riding the shoe and crouching past white blocks waste cartridge space just cause they thought it’d be fun.
>I still don’t fucking know how to get the coin ship or blue house to appear consistently but its still hype to stumble onto them.
>The map in general mostly just lets you choose if you want to skip some levels and gives you items, but is still packed with secrets and gimmicks that make the thing feel alive.
There are other things but these are the first that came to my mind

[Anonymous No.9979295]

>soul is only what i say it is
Kek, shut up baby dick. Soul is about the passion of the people who made it being evident in the final product, not a checklist of things you specifically liked about OoT.
Imagine thinking SMW doesn't have SOVL because it doesn't have an eerie monster.

[Anonymous No.9979304]

>>9979295
>soul isn't just what YOU say it is
>it's just what I say it is

[Anonymous No.9979309]

>>9979304
>sovl isn't just "thing I liked as a kid"
>Soul is this retarded checklist of things basically just this one game i really liked as a kid has
Yes.

[Anonymous No.9979319]

>>9979295
SMW doesn't have soulle because it's super mario 3: easy mode (with new funky mode)

[Anonymous No.9979326]

https://youtu.be/Mnf7utJoNvc

Also the game doesn't have to be "technically good", because I think Robocop 2 on NES has a TON of soul. That crisp data jack animation transition is so fucking kino.

[Anonymous No.9979376]

>>9978941
Anachronox

[Anonymous No.9979383]

Souls is the human touch. You know it when you see it.

[Anonymous No.9979441]

The first requirement for a game to have soul is, that it was primarily made with the intend of "making a good video game". The second is that it was made by actually talented passionate developers. If both two come together, there is a chance of a game actually ending up having "soul".
Most games today don't have soul because the industry lost its creative innocence due to the huge amounts of money involved. Most games, especially AAA games, are primarily made with the intend of making money and milking stupid video game audiences as much as possible. These games are no longer expressions of art or passion (which come from the "souls" of the developers), but rather just "products" - soulless accumulations of marketing strategies in order to sell to the lowest common denominator (in other words "the broad public").

[Anonymous No.9979651]

>Game doesn't look how (((I))) want it to look based on nitpicky details
>SOULLESS
>Game looks how (((I))) want it to look based on what (((I))) think looks good
>SOUL

[Anonymous No.9980104]

>>9978941
king of sovl here

[Anonymous No.9980419]

>>9978964
based sovlposter.

[Anonymous No.9980427]

>>9979151
I see the logic in disqualifying SMW, but the overworld and music qualify as
>quirky
>eerie, offbeat, or unexplained
>evokes a sense of nostalgia for it being a peek into the adult world
the last point will not make immediate sense to everyone but the *connotations* of music and the progression-structure of an overworld are sovl-adjacent -- no, they won't force a child to grapple with those implications directly but this is why SMW and DKC are firmly included under the banner of sovl.

[Anonymous No.9981649]

>>9978941
I can kind of see where you're coming from if you discount the masterpiece that's SMW as pertaining to the axis of soul/non-soul. Although I contend with then saying oot is soul, it loses in a few aspects-it's popular with a high budget. Such factors don't disqualify but make one wonder twice about the matter.
I'll therefore simply contend the obviousness-it's not 'soulless'. If it is not soul, neither I'd say it's soulless. It's not a mere husk, as that would fall to post-retro games. Although the perplexing notion of neither having or not having soul seems quite a conundrum, it's merely wordplay. Mayhaps it's to be best understood as a buddhist koan.

[Anonymous No.9981772]

>>9978941
remember when epic made games - they used to be maximum sovl

[Anonymous No.9981971]

I always thought the ending credits of Art of Fighting 2 had a lot of soul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUPBUJibBYU

[Anonymous No.9981975]

Despite what retards will tell you, "soul" doesn't actually mean anything.

[Anonymous No.9982697]

>>9978134

>>9978589
>>9977468
>>9982127
>>9976854
>>9977461
>>9982615

>>9977572
>>9979758

[Anonymous No.9982709]

>>9981975
this. it’s absurdist perspective on anything. you could post a salmon and a shrimp and say once has soul, one is soulless. it’s meaningless absurdity. it means a is more (insert anything) than b.

[Anonymous No.9982723]

>>9978964
This game had a genuinely incredible introduction sequence. I think it had the best introduction of any Square game I've played since FFVII.

[Anonymous No.9982730]

I know everybody likes to talk shit about Wet-Dry World but I loved that it was just absolutely bonkers and just kind of did whatever it wants. That empty town was also kind of spooky (to me when I was 11) but in a good way.

[Anonymous No.9982735]

It's like a cross between MGS and FF7(Midgar) on a budget. I love it.

[Anonymous No.9982739]

I would define soul as perceptible effort that went into the game beyond what was necessary to deliver a decent product - labor of love. Minor details like Max Payne knowing how to play a few notes on piano and then being able to only produce cacophony after getting a bullet to the head. More profound stuff like the emails from other racers in Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2.

[Anonymous No.9982806]

>>9979142
>>9979151

everybody else thanks for playing.

[Anonymous No.9983023]

this is a game that always comes to mind when i think of SOVL

[Anonymous No.9983220]

>>9978941
Soul is simply creative vision.

[Anonymous & Knuckles No.9983229]

>>9979168
Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best Sonic game and im tired of pretending its not.

[Anonymous No.9983735]

>>9978941
From "The Book of Alchemy" by Francis Melville (I got this in the "alternative lifestyles" section of a Books-A-Million)

"The Sun is vitality and consciousness. It is the individual soul as opposed to the spirit, which is represented by the Moon. In alchemy, it is usually referred to by its Latin name, Sol."
[...]
"As a planetary sphere, the Sun's influence is benign, but if overemphasized it can engender pride and self-centeredness. Without the cooling, moistening influence of the Moon, it can be harsh, arid, and burning."
[...]
"Principles: the soul, consciousness, vitality"

So much discussion of "soul vs. soulless" these days.
I am putting forward the idea that if one perceives "soul" in a videogame, it might actually be that the game speaks to their own soul, or brings pleasure to their soul, rather than the game itself possessing soul.
The *Soul* exists in the player.

OP, what you are describing in your posts, the "eerie, offbeat, or unexplained elements" or "incongruous elements" as opposed to "over-explanation" - these might be Lunar traits. Darkness and mystery which are the Sun's compliment. The vagina to the penis, if you'll permit a crass, pragmatic metaphor.
A game being eerie and full of unexplained mystery might also speak to the strong souls of the developers, who created something that would please their souls.

[Anonymous No.9983739]

>>9983735
Sage

[Anonymous No.9983772]

>>9983735
In the OP I was referring to how the term "sovl" was originally used on this board a few years ago. There'd be a post of some obscure ps1 game with blurry visuals with the caption "sovl". I think one or two anons were astroturfing it into existence. The original definition with connotations of eeriness stuck around for like 6 months, then the term got dropped on other boards (mostly /v/) and was immediately bastardized to just mean "thing I'm nostalgic for".
The term was doomed to fail from the beginning though, because autistic people can't pick up on nuanced things like vibes and get angry when asked to be precise about anything subjective.
You could probably find the first instance of the term in the archive, especially if you search for "sovl"

[Anonymous No.9983801]

>>9983772
I'm familiar with the use of the term here.

[Anonymous No.9983828]

>>9983229
how did you get that name

[Anonymous No.9983878]

>>9982735
what filter is that, looks nice

[Anonymous No.9983891]

>>9982739
>Minor details like Max Payne knowing how to play a few notes on piano and then being able to only produce cacophony after getting a bullet to the head

Huh? When does that happen in Max Payne?

[Anonymous No.9984035]

>>9980104
>Dum dum dum, dum dum dum
>I'm looking for an alien outlet to charge my augs

[Anonymous No.9984038]

>>9978941
>>has a quirky but not WHOLLY original aesthetic
>>contains eerie, offbeat, or unexplained elements
>>evokes a sense of nostalgia, not for the happy parts of childhood, but for rare, confusing peeks into the complex adult world

[Anonymous No.9984108]

>>9984038
>has ending with two gays embracing

[Anonymous No.9984178]

>>9982730
After doing my first 120 star run recently, I think I realized why SM 64 (but particularly that level) feels so eerie somtimes.

The game has many large, flat or angular walls. Most of the textures in the game, including the walls in every level, are severly stretched, as to barely be recognizable as a real texture.
I noticed this seems to result in Mario’s scale feeling very small, compared to these large flat blurry walls. The game plays around the scale and Tiny huge mountain as well, so I think they were aware of this. Most levels in the game have you scaling some vertical space that is much taller than Mario. Few things in any of the levels can be used to reference Mario’s Real life height. Many enemies in the game are scaled significantly larger than mario (Moma penguin, Big bully, koopa the quick etc).

What makes the “town” section of wet, dry world so interesting, is that it’s one of the only locations in the game that has human relatable elements and scale.
There are normal sized walkways with normal sized trees, and buildings that make sense as 2 story buildings. It’s the only level in the game with doors that make sense in context. Playing the rest of the game feels like a cartoon, but the small section is the only place in any level that looks and feels like it could be a place for hunans. For me, and a lot of other players, probably that was a jarring environmental change. It’s a later stage too, so you’ve already played through many stages.

The closest stages are hazy maze cave and big boos haunt. The former is a pretty generic cave level with almost no signs of human life other than the machinery (elevators), and a few doors. No sleeping quarters. Big boos haunt has many doors, but again, each of the rooms are scaled way larger than Mario, and the level feels more like a fever dream than a real mansion.

[Anonymous No.9984194]

>>9978941
>Floigarina of Time
More soul than a foot model

[Anonymous No.9984205]

>>9984194
holy kek

[Anonymous No.9984206]

One of my favorite games of all time.

[Anonymous No.9984209]

>>9984194
Finally...soil

[Anonymous No.9984815]

>>9984206
Yes a great game indeed

[Anonymous No.9985306]

>>9983891
In Max Payne 2, after Vlad shoots Max.

[Anonymous No.9985331]

>>9978941
Soul overload

[Anonymous No.9985332]

>>9984815
lmao

[Anonymous No.9985389]

>>9978941
If this is what it takes fot "sovl" then fuck that

[Anonymous No.9985641]

[Anonymous No.9985658]

>>9978941

[Anonymous No.9985665]

>>9978941
Why put a label on a definition that only you are experiencing? Why call it "sovl"? Why push stupid internet culture? It's not important to do so, and if you wanted to talk about a certain type of game with a definition you cant comprehend, then try learning some adjectives to decribe your thoughts. Using one word from internet culture isn't a catch all be all solution for your ignorance. Get it together and try to talk about things you like to create a thread worth browsing.

[Anonymous No.9985713]

>>9985665
Soulless NPC detected

[Anonymous No.9985715]

>>9978941
Only the Dark Project does

[Anonymous No.9985729]

[Anonymous No.9985820]

>>9978941
>A game has sovl if it:
>[that green text]
Proofs?

[Anonymous No.9987250]

>>9979326
HOLY SOVL!

How did I miss this game as a kid?

[Anonymous No.9987251]

>>9979376
Society and internet has warped me. I read that as Gender Station at first and then had to realize no it says Sender Station and the World wasn't always as fucking stupid as it is now.

[Anonymous No.9987325]

>>9978941
Dr, Slump. No further explanation is needed.

[Anonymous No.9987460]

>>9978941
>oot has soul
lmao no, corpo trash here's genuine uncut SOUL.

[Anonymous No.9987521]

>>9984178
Wow I don't think anyone has ever put it this clearly before. Great post anon.

I'll respond with my favorite iceberg of all time, which coincidentally relates to what we're talking about.
>1995/07/29 build (DO NOT RESEARCH)
btw it's nothing illegal; it's just a version of the game that caused seizures.

[Anonymous No.9987526]

>>9984178
Wow I don't think anyone has ever put it this clearly before. Great post anon.

I'll respond with my favorite iceberg of all time, which coincidentally relates to what we're talking about.
>1995/07/29 build (DO NOT RESEARCH)
btw it's nothing illegal; it's just a version of the game that caused seizures.

[Anonymous No.9987812]

>>9983801
You sound like the autismo he was talking about lmao!

[Anonymous No.9987816]

>>9985713
It's maddening isn't it. SMHMH

[Anonymous No.9987823]

>>9987325
You're one of those 'MAPs', yeah?

[Anonymous No.9987949]

>>9979383
Came here to post this. Couldn't have said it better.

[Anonymous No.9988062]

>>9987432

>>9984617
>>9986982

>>9986745
>>9985516

>>9982729
>>9983537

>>9987387
>>9985770

>>9984637

[Anonymous No.9988825]

>>9981975
NPC take.

[Anonymous No.9988834]

>>9981975
This post has no afterlife.

[Anonymous No.9988842]

https://youtu.be/YV0Pw88FrAw

[Anonymous No.9988862]

>>9978941
Those are some arbitrary definitions of soul anon. Super Mario World is bursting with soul in every direction.

[Anonymous No.9988869]

>>9984178
>>9987526
Have you two played B3313 yet?

[Anonymous No.9989376]

>>9987628
>>9983370
>>9987518
>>9988205
>>9978191

[Anonymous No.9990713]

>>9990434
>>9990105
>>9990493
>>9984350
>>9989469

[Anonymous No.9990720]

>>9988869
Not yet.
What is it about?

[Anonymous No.9991818]

>>9983878
VHS Pro but with Two Phase Bleeding and no Jitter

[Anonymous No.9992191]

>>9991548
>>9991897
>>9991919

>>9991816

[Anonymous No.9992208]

>>9990720
>An FMA poster
Rare, but BASED nonetheless.
Also it's a rom hack themed around SM64 Iceberg theories. It's very labyrinthian in design and "Backrooms"tier surreal so.

[Anonymous No.9992219]

>>9992208
Thank you, anon.
I will definitely check it out and play it.

[Anonymous No.9992240]

>>9987325

[Anonymous No.9992441]

First AC is so full of soul it's running over the sides

[Anonymous No.9993448]

>>9991818
groovy, ty anon

[Anonymous No.9993734]

>>9988869
>>9990720
>>9992208
>B3313

Dudes how have I not heard of this until now?? This would've been the perfect thing to play a few months back when it rained for like a month straight, in the one room in my house that's haunted.

[Anonymous No.9993743]

>>9993734
Here you go, my friend https://arch.b4k.co/v/search/subject/b3313/

[Anonymous No.9993748]

>>9990292
>>9992640

>>9992689
>>9992178

>>9993346
>>9993132

[Anonymous No.9993751]

There is (usually) some internal development reason a game conveys a feeling of SOVL that comes from the dev team implementing hidden or subconscious inspirations. Good or bad, It all comes down to attention to detail and someone critically observing how a game plays and feels.

Basically, someone had an obsession over their art and put in the work or has someone else put it in.

[Anonymous No.9993775]

>>9979168
Discovered his music just before he died, RIP.

[Anonymous No.9993864]

>>9993743
Thanks. I'm watching youtube videos of people playing it and I'm loving it. Definitely something I want to check out. Any recs on handheld emulators that'll run it smoothly? I just started working security at night in an office building in downtown L.A. and it's the PERFECT place to play something like this....or at least I would think.

[Anonymous No.9993992]

>>9978941
Okay so soul is whatever you decide it is.

Got it.

SMW, does have soul. The overworld and just the general execution of it is how you know.

[Anonymous No.9994504]

>>9993992
>gets mad that I gave a definition of a word
>gives a definition of that word
Every fucking time. I forgot that most posters on this board are retarded

[Anonymous No.9994603]

>>9993992
soul = Nintendo, simple as

[Anonymous No.9994609]

>>9985715
I was going to say Thief as well. I love the clean look of Dark Engine games, and the sound design/mechanics are just phenomenal. The same can be said about System Shock 2, naturally.

[Anonymous No.9994920]

>>9978941
Sovl Calibur III: Chronicles of the Sword game mode

[Anonymous No.9994928]

>>9978941
can't think of a more soul game than Re-Volt. No rubber banding bullshit

[Anonymous No.9994936]

Harvest Moon 64

[Anonymous No.9994965]

>>9994504
I didn't give a definition of what soul is. I just explained why SMW has soul.

Please don't call people retarded when you are infact the retard.

[Anonymous No.9995005]

>>9994965
>supe Mario world has soul because I say it does

[Anonymous No.9995198]

>>9995005
No it has soul for the reasons I brought up. I didn't really go into much detail to be fair, but then honestly I don't really feel like I should have to anyway.

It's Super Mario World.

[Anonymous No.9996007]

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is full of sovl
One of the comfiest games I've ever played

[Anonymous No.9996070]

[Anonymous No.9996148]

>>9979213
Screenshotting this for use elsewhere, very important wisdom

[Anonymous No.9996515]

>>9995462
>>9996025
>>9996450
>>9994080
>>9991687

[Anonymous No.9997137]

>>9979441
Good post but I'd add onto it that modern gamees are made with big teams where every member just sticks to their own area of development, wchich leads to the games having a very "made by committee feeling," representing nobody's vision but the focus groups.

[Anonymous No.9997157]

>>9978964
>>9984178
Appreciation for surprisingly well-thought out posts