You know, when you play a game a lot, and realize that you have a lot in common, and you want to take the game a step further? I do.
That's me and Rez.
Back in 2002, Rez and I had something special. I've always been a rhythm game junkie. When I heard about Rez, I knew there was something to be had. I bought it for the Playstation 2, and there was magic. Rez and I had a great time together.
Rez was a masterpiece, a game I proudly displayed on my shelf.
*Sigh*
Lately, I've been hearing that Rez is hanging out with the wrong crowd. It's fallen into the hands of some stoners who abuse it. I can't do anything about it.
Imagine a group people in a museum talking about [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica (painting)]
Guernica[/url]. You love the painting; it's bizarre, it's surreal, but it's still quite an emotional experience. Then, you hear an ignorant young man come along and say "Dude, that shit looks awesome when I'm stoned out my ass". That's how Rez is today.
And, quite frankly, I'm not happy about it.
Rez is a work of art. It is a game where every facet of the game increases the immersion. Mizuguchi made sure that every aspect, from the stylized "coded" graphics to the pulsating trance soundtrack enhanced your experience as you shot targets in sync to the kick of the bass.
According to the kids who were only recently introduced to this game, however,
it sucks unless you're high. The visuals have no worth on their own whatsoever, and the gameplay is easy enough for you to go through the game without sobriety. The fact that people think one of my favorite games of all time is better when you're high leaves a terrible taste in my mouth.
As much as I'd hate to admit, I can understand this rationality when it's pointed at Space Giraffe, which goes out of it's way to obscure your vision as you go through the game. But Rez? Come on. This game is pure unadulterated sex, why enhance (Read: lose) the full experience of something like this?
Ugh.
(In before Jim Sterling provides a simple, yet insulting counterpoint) 
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain's blog
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Also, that Warfare match with the bots we played earlier tonight made me want to stab myself in the balls.
Yeah, sorry about that. The bots in UTIII suck shit, so whenever I have to play a game with them (To test out my new skin) I give myself a heavy disadvantage. I wasn't really expecting the game to fill up.
I felt better after playing through Morbias with bots and the timer set to 30 minutes with the frag count off. Nothing like winning a match with over 300 kills.
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But although I appreciate my beloved video games recognize them for their artistic merits, I prefer playing most games while I am stoned. It accentuates colors, sounds, animation, reactions, immersion, characters and gameplay. It makes the game pop out at you and grab your face.
I'm not saying that games are better under the influence, but I know I much prefer playing them while I am.
While playing Bioshock while tripping on acid, it was like I was in the city of Rapture, lurking around, thieving from corpses. It was unlike any experience I have ever had with a video game. Did that make it better? Not exactly. It was a completely different experience, but I loved the game either way.
Just saying, you can enjoy games on both levels. But ignorant stoners will always say everything is better while stoned.
My 2 cents
Rez is popular?
As for those who think it enhances the experience, I think Rez is a game that certainly lends itself to playing while under the influence and if you really feel that way then I would bet you feel the same about any game to some degree.
I think I played it high once or something, and it was cool and all and gave me a slightly different perspective on the things happening in the game, but I enjoyed it just as much, if not more when I was straight sober with a clear head. It was just such an intense experience that kept building and building and I was sucked right into the world. I think if I was high and without the full use of all my faculties I might have lost out a bit on the richness of the experience and summed it all up with a \"whoa, cool\".