Meta-style storytelling and humour in video games has been with us for a while. It’s not necessarily reached the point of becoming a tired shtick, but it's always good to see a particular title embodying it effectively.
Legendary Gary by Evan Rogers is one that a lot of us are going to be able to relate to, as a good portion of the game is, well, about Gary playing a video game.
We’re dropped into Gary’s room from the off which is the stereotypical ‘gamer in his mom's basement’ setup. We see Gary at his desk along with his girlfriend, his best friend and his mum, all of whom are subjecting Gary to a mild campaign of admonishment for his lazy and rather irresponsible attitude.
The practical nature of this opening could benefit from a little more context than we’re served, but it pretty much serves as a segment to introduce the main and supporting characters and their personalities. It also gives us an overview (albeit a little brisk) of the dialogue and motivation system. The icon for the latter, acting as a progress and information reminder upon being clicked.
This first scenario almost comes off as some sort of intervention. Perhaps, on a subconscious level it can be viewed as just that. Gary festering away in his room, neglecting his social and love-life as he invests countless hours into the digital world where he feels a sense of ease and comfort, not always readily available ‘IRL’. A world where he feels as though his choices and endeavours make not just a fundamental difference, but can more often than not, yield the intended results.
I’ll take a punt of guessing that we've all been subject to an exposition of how we should live our lives according to other people. Relating to the nagging and projecting from his loved ones is something that most of us can have sympathy towards Gary for, I'm sure.
Gary's girlfriend Megan fits the model of ‘despairing partner’. She wants the best for Gary but also yearns for him to grow up and take responsibility for his life, sighing at his fixation (or passion, I’ll let you decide) for video games.
Dave is the a-typical ‘dude-bro’ sort who along with Megan, remarks at Gary's overly carefree disposition and inability to be trusted.
Gary's mum is a character indeed; reminding me somewhat of the mother from Requiem for a Dream. Not just in that they both share offspring who have a habit of leaving reality behind as often as they can, but in that she’s very quirky and in a lot of ways, deluded to say the least. An overtly pious woman who is probably not been the same since Gary's dad passed away. She wants the best for our protagonist and looks at him lovingly, through eyes that are so religiously resolute, we can almost expect the rapture to descend on them both at any minute! Dare they not be prepared! But, of course, she only wants the best for him. The grieving widow investing in her beliefs to such an extent, it's not long until we learn that she’s donated every penny of her deceased husband's life insurance to a religious zealot who’s podcast she’s been listening to for years. She’s stoic in the belief that – come rain or shine, God will watch over them both and if hard times are upon them, then that’s simply part of His plan.
Unsurprisingly Gary has a rather hard time buying into all this. Upon receiving debt chasing phone calls from their energy company, he concedes that he will, at some point have to go back to the Jumbo-Mart where he used to work and convince them to re-hire him.
Being unemployed for a period of time has served as good enough guilt fodder for those that chastise Gary, and has added to his Mother’s worries about him and his lack of ambition. In fact, Gary’s motivation is focused on as a resource feature in the game. Serving in a similar fashion to the emotional or morality levelling method we’ve seen well-utilised in other games. Certain dialogue choices are made available or unavailable, in this case it'll depend on how much ‘get up and go’ you’ve manage to muster. There are a number of testing situations in which the motivational outcomes seems clear, but in some cases it does feel like a bit of a crap shoot. For instance, at the deli counter in the JumboMart you can choose to try Trina’s treat samples. Some will hit the spot and some simply won't, resulting in loss or gain of motivation subjectively.
The most obvious of ways in which motivation is gained or lost, comes from going to bed early and being well rested or staying up too late. In the case of the latter it’ll be from playing the archetypal fantasy game and we eventually realise, real world counterpart, Legend of the Spear.
The game is as run of the mill as most, in which warrior ‘X’ (Winkali) is pitted against demon-like antagonist ‘Y’ (Onija) in a bid to save the land, or world… or whatever, from an impending doom.
It's not necessarily a bad thing that it's relatively generic. I don't feel that it needs to stand out so much that it ends up overshadowing the “real world” in which Gary inhabits, but some elements of it can be a little cookie cutter. Although the dialogue flows well enough and doesn't get too tiresome, it can end up a little overly generic.
This is where the battles shine through as a ‘top billed feature’ of Legend of the Spear. It lifts what could be a relatively mundane story to the gaming equivalent of palate-cleanser. A welcome break that thankfully never overstays it’s welcome.
The battle system is probably on a similar level entertainment-wise as Undertales or maybe South Park's. None of them reinvent the wheel as such, but they prove to be more than just a re-skin of what we’ve seen in countless JRPG’s. They possess the tactical charm that turn based fighting usually does, but also contains a sub-dermal modification to the tried and tested structure. Gone is the notion of wanting to button mash my go-to abilities and instead I’m carefully planning out what my next move is and how it affects not just my teammates, but also the go directly after, and perhaps even the one after that.
Everything happens at once including the enemy moves. As we are also treated to seeing pretty much exactly what the enemy move is going to be, it automatically lays a comfortable foundation to which we can approach each altercation. Playing a preview of how the opposition is going to proceed allows me to plan accordingly and if that's not generous enough, we also have the ability to rewind turns whenever we wish to correct an oversight, or even to try out different things that we haven't already.
This, for me, highlights the escapism element of which the word of games can provide. It's not only great to play the hero, embarking on an awe-inspiring adventure but I can make my journey ever more exciting and heroic by correcting more or less, all of my poor choices.
Escapism indeed.
This could portray the battle system as too easy or to some, even slightly redundant, but as it's designed, each event, for me at least became a process of finesse as opposed to just not dying. I wasn't particularly happy about simply taking a hit even though I knew I'd be victorious.
Another well employed feature would be the ability list, it acts as more of paint palette, or smorgasbord of ingredients to be used in a creative and flavourful manner. Although the text explanation of what the abilities do, could afford to be a bit more intelligible at times, the option alone of being able to take a go again, was enough for me to want to use a fair amount of what was on offer.
The piece de resistance being that, after every go is exhausted and enemy defeated, the whole battle plays out in one continuous motion allowing you to reap the benefits of what you have tactically sewn in a pleasantly fluid manner. I’d say it’s almost reminiscent of watching an elaborate setup of dominoes fall.
If, you’re one to bask in your own glow, you're also given the option to replay it to your heart’s content.
The soundtrack by synth pop group xXSickXx, fits as snug as a soundtrack should. There's very little repetition here and it felt for a good while as though I was getting a new song each fight. It's a great way of breaking the fourth wall (or would it be fifth wall, in this case?) between Gary and the game, and served as a reminder not to take Legend of the Spear particularly seriously.
Regardless of which game we’re playing here, we are after all, an everyday guy, escaping his everyday life via the medium of video games.
Investing what could be coined as, a healthy portion of extracurricular time, into video games can leave its temporary stamp on you when getting on with that thing called life. My first experience of this was when I was a lot younger I remember walking around feeling as though I was still semi immersed in the game that I was playing an awful lot of at the time.
This brings me to one of the first noticeable crossovers with Gary's game and his own life. At first it seems as though he's merely bringing the feeling of his beloved game world into his own when undertaking a simple task.
We realise soon after that it goes a lot further than this, partly as it's very apparent that elements of responsibility serve him well in both worlds.
One of the tasks Gary's mother asks him to do whilst watching over his angst field nephew Isaac is to plant some flowers that she has in the gardens flower bed. Upon planting flowers we’re told that one of Winkali’s teammates has now been granted a new buff spell. Adding to the flower bed and keeping each new edition watered, builds a healthy roster of abilities that Gary can call upon to lead Winkali to victory with increasing flare.
We all learn in our formative years that responsibilities in general, will of course thrive and serve us well if given our time and attention. Typically one of the first tasks given to teach a child this is that of looking after a plant. Perhaps here we are shown that Gary's arrested development is indeed, surmountable and will hopefully bloom through to his very own welfare.
Being agreeable and in some cases just people pleasing to keep them off our backs, can temporarily be a useful coping method. But that's all it tends to be, just coping, and if we’re neglecting ourselves in the process then it largely defeats the point.
The majority of those who are close to Gary seem to want him to indeed, take ownership of his life and flourish. In fact, looking back at the conversation at the very top of the game, we see his mum charitably tell Gary that he’s a ‘late bloomer’, only for Megan to chime in with – “Dude you're almost thirty. Bloom already!”.
The game-world and real-world continue to have their parallels, in pretty much everyone Gary meets and events that take place.
At the JumboMart we have to undertake under take some unscrupulous tasks for the tyrannical store manager in an effort for her to keep ‘the powers that be’, happy and herself in her position, even at the expense of other peoples jobs. We are given the choice to screw people over or basically tell the manager to shove it but she has you over a barrel. It’s not only that she gives you an advance in wages to pay your utilities; it’s also the simple fact that rehiring you in the first place was contingent on you running her grubby little errands.
As much of a corporate woman to the bitter end (and her end IS bitter) as she is, the first thing she asks you to do is to tell an old guy, also called Gary and employed as the JumboMart greeter, that he's fired.
It looks quite poignant; young Gary getting rid of the quite literally named, Old Gary, to undertake a position of work in a place that he previously neglected in which to further address other new responsibilities in his personal life. Old Gary leaves him with some profound words of wisdom which could remain to echo through to young Gary's future.
Now I'm not saying this is his ‘Luke Skywalker in the cave of self-reflection’ moment, but when we a little later on make one of our periodic transitions to Winkali’s reality, we quickly find ourselves disposing of one of the real-world counterparts here, as a small part of the journey to save Winkali and those around him. If having to carry out the bidding of an overbearing Governess to do so.
Dirty work is, I’m sure, easy to palm off to those in a desperate position such as the one that Gary finds himself in.
What do we need to do for the greater good? Which is the right route, the correct choice? Do we remain loyal and virtuous to a fault and not risk causing upset to those around us. Or do we take the more selfish route, doing what needs to be done to start ‘making some changes around here’.
We’re presented with further difficult scenarios, one, being to convince a pregnant woman to go home as the fumes from the mop bucket could be harmful to her baby. This ends up merely being a setup to fire her for leaving her position without asking. We're well aware of the ploy from the outset but how do we handle it? How do we handle the task of uncovering workplace unionisers? Someone's gotta go! Do we point the finger at the most obvious person who is also a friend and by selling you plant seeds, been instrumental in Gary and Winkali gaining skills that help them along the path of growth.
We could attempt to place blame on the staff member who's more of the ‘fundamentalist-conservative mind-set’, despite the fact that he hasn't done anything.
How does Gary fair on his road to growing up? Reaching a particular goal is always an achievement, but whether or not it's a deserved achievement is more often than not, the defining factor. We do, after all, need to proceed from there properly equipped.
The little nuggets of information we obtain from the real-world, which pretty much boil down to people’s names, continue to help Winkali in his quest to free the land from certain doom or judgement.
Gary's mother continues to tell him that he needs to be ready for the day of judgement as it is indeed near! The culmination of which is something of a coming of age reckoning for Gary. The trials, tests and real-world problems are thrown at him to shape him, hopefully into a person who’ll push his fears aside to take control of his life. To be the person that he and others don't just want him to be, but in some cases need him to be.
Are you ultimately motivated enough to become this person Gary?! That is, more or less the final test. Do you accumulate enough motivation. Have you bloomed as well as you should have?
The nurturing coming not just from Gary's mother but as we learn, from his father too. Him, and Winkali’s absent king being one and the same. The one who holds the spear that contains the power to lift up those who are worthy, and do quite the opposite to those who aren't.
Taking the mantle of heavy responsibility isn't something that is welcomed by everyone, or indeed should it be. A good leader can usually be defined by their ability to help and serve those whom they lead, as opposed to just governing with self-interest.
Whether it be a religious higher power or more of a scientific one, we’ve seen stories that tell us of supreme beings who bringing about a level of understanding to us, in methods that we can better comprehend as individuals. With Gary, what better way to be given clarity than through the medium of video games. If I can be giving the gift of influencing my own life to the same degree that I can a digital characters, then I'll probably see some exponential results!
I find it interesting that motivation alone is focused on here is the platform that can ultimately transform Gary in such a profound manner. It has whimsical value of course, being as our guys is the poster boy for slackers everywhere; glued to his PC, possibly dining on pizza rolls and Mountain Dew and from time to time, chortling along to a whole host of the modern-day animated comedy shows that the artwork from this very game itself encompasses so well. It can, also, act as a catalyst to whatever our ultimate achievements may be.
I once remember hearing a friend remark quite despairingly, that ‘procrastination was ruining her life’. Now, this gives pause for thought for those rather unsettling moments, where the simple lack of motivation plays such a part, that whole career and life aspirations hang in the balance of possible success or complete ruin!
Growth in more ways than one is the fulcrum of this story and motivation in and of itself, being more of an umbrella term for a whole host of life skills. The fears that prevent the growth show up as the usual suspects.
Being the sceptical being that we are, the fear of defeat, failure or simply the unknown can be overwhelming debilitating. At one point Gary didn’t even have enough “motivation” to split up with his girlfriend.
These fears are further communicated in Legendary Gary not just through the titular character, but through all of them. Dave having a crisis in which direction that he should take his life, in some ways literally. His goofing off and sophomoric bon mots, mainly serve as a continual distraction from himself.
Megan on one level, yielding to the family path of joining the military but on another, almost wanting her boyfriend to talk her out of it, or at least become the supportive significant other than simply being a ‘nice guy’ won't cater enough to.
Gary's Mum at a time where she probably didn't feel as though she could count and him at all, pours pretty much everything she has, emotionally and otherwise into her faith for fear of eternal damnation.
Isaac, acting out his feelings of abandonment and general petulance, not just through his demeanour, but by running away from his father who’s now decided that he wants to, maybe, be back in his life.
Gary has a hand in how all of these situations develop and they’re mirrored in one way or another, through Winkali’s journey.
Each character’s other world alternative is sometimes very obvious and sometimes not, to the point of some of them perhaps, not even being necessary. We’re given a rundown at the end of who's been portraying who, and even in some places which part of Gary's psychology has manifested itself as a character.
Personally, the jury's out on whether the explanation needs to be there or not. Sometimes hindsight contains an effective impact upon understanding something but I suppose it's also nice to be shown a model of how occurrences in our life, fleeting or otherwise, can add or takeaway to this ever evolving person that we can be.
All in all the entire cast seem to share the spotlight in a way, influencing each other's journey, outcome and ultimately self-development. Gary simply being the clearer canvas out of all of them I suppose.
Being labelled as selfish by Megan is one way of summing him up. He doesn't, of course, mean to be but he's hiding away from life in general, whereas everyone else is in one way or another, trying to figure it out the best way that they can.
I suppose that maybe one takeaway from legendary Gary, could be that whether we are judged in the end by an omnipotent force or not, it's certain that we'll be subject to a lot of judgement along the way. That in itself shows that we aren’t alone in feeling lost, confused or fearful of personal growth.
We perhaps, just have to find our own way of understanding it.
- By OuttaSite
youtube.com/c/outtasite
