My Rule of Rose video

[Jessica]

Hi everyone! I'm not much of an artistic person so I never get to share much in here, but yesterday I thought I'd show you all a music video I made a few months ago and speak a bit of a game I really like.

The song is "Eleanot Put Your Boots On", from Franz Ferdinand, a song I really like, and the images are from the Playstation 2 videogame Rule of Rose, developed by Punchline.

I'll quote Wikipedia so you all know a bit about the story of the game:

England, 1930, the plot revolves around a nineteen-year-old girl named Jennifer, who becomes trapped in a world ruled by young girls who have established a class hierarchy called the Red Crayon Aristocrats.

Players control Jennifer, a young woman who is led to an abandoned mansion by a small boy. After experiencing a traumatic event, she wakes up on a virtually abandoned airship that is ruled by a cruel group of children known as the Red Crayon Aristocrats. Under the threat of death, Jennifer must appease the Aristocrats by finding an offering for them each month. Whilst doing so, she must piece together clues and recall forgotten memories which will ultimately allow her to escape their clutches.

That's the gist of it, but the story gets actually really complicated, and it seems like the creators of the game wanted the player to try and unravel what is really happening instead of telling clearly. The game is filled with hints and mysteries, and not all of them have a clear answer. In fact, most of them don't. There is even a blog in the net in which dedicated fans try to solve the mysteries of the game. It's a beautiful game which really should get more praise and recognition. It was banned in some parts of the world (the UK, I think) because of its adult themes, but I don't think it deserves it. All the info is on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_rose#Controversy).

The story of the game is, as the game case states, "A tale too cruel...and beautiful... not to be told".

Anyway, on to the video! It focuses on one of the "Aristocrats", Eleanor. Eleanor is the Countess, and when you speak to her, the game introduces her as "The cold Princess". Eleanor never speaks much, and is always carrying around an empty bird-cage, because she hopes to find what she calls "The Red Bird of Happiness". She's the one with the short brown hair.



Hope you all like it, and sorry about rambling about the game so much!

[Kiri]

Actually - that sounds really, really interesting! Feel free to ramble about it some more!

The you-tube you did was really well done - and I'm amazed at the graphics, and the atmosphere that you are able to get from the game.

Kiri

[Jessica]

Thank you, Kiri! The graphics on the actual game aren't as good as what is shown on the video, sadly, since what I used were the CGI scenes. The game looks very good though and the atmosphere, as you said, is great. There's even a "filter" that gives the impression of looking at a very old tape while you play. The music is also great and adds to the atmosphere.

Here are some more images from the game: www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/ruleofrose/images.html?tag=tabs;images

I'm glad that you think that the story is interesting: it really is, and as you advance through the game you begin to somehow understand what is really happening, as things aren't as they seem at first. Most of the game's mysteries aren't clearly solved, and as I said in my first post it seems like the game's creators intended for it to be that way. They wanted the player to figure out things on his or her own with the hints they provided in-game.

As I also said before, there is a blog created by a fan in which he and other fans try to unravel the mysteries of the game. The owner of this blog recently created a Youtube channel in which he shows records of his gameplaying to illustrate his thoughts. It's all really interesting. I would link to them but they're full of spoilers, and besides some of the things that happen in the storyline are pretty disturbing. They're not hard to find by using Google anyway, or I could PM the links if someone is interested.

The game was a real sleeper hit. It plays as a survival horror (even though it would work better as a graphic adventure IMO) and the battle controls are kind of awkward, which gave it a bad reputation amongst players of games like Silent Hill or Resident Evil (I am one of them, but loved this game anyway for reasons other than gameplay) , but that's understandeable since you play a nineteen-year-old girl who is quite fragile and timid (when you make her run she is showing trying to catch her breath when stopping, clutching her chest). Jennifer is no Lara Croft, and that shows when it comes to fighting. The game encourages running away anyway, and I think your first weapon is a fork...

This is the opening of the game, which gives a pretty good feeling of the general atmosphere. I love the song:

[Whitnerd]

Nice video Jess! I love Franz Ferdinand. The game looks pretty dark, but I'm sure the story is really fascinating.

[Jessica]

Thank you, Whitney!!

[Theachen7]

Very nice video!

That sounds like an interesting game!

[Jessica]

Thanks, Thea! It really is!

[Sylphide]

Jessica, I played both videos. Yours is beautiful. I love the way you chose the pictures to go with the words of the song.
The other one is also beautiful and lets us hear the soundtrack of the game I guess.
I don't play on anything but the computer, and from what I saw of that game it seems pretty dark. That would make me nervous. I actually stepped when the girl was taken by the hand from the back. I get really uneasy with that kind of game, not because I don't approve, but because they are usually well done and even if I don't "believe" what is happening in the game, I get scared anyway! I know... it's embarrasing especially at my age!

That's why I love my Sims I guess. When they do something strange or weird it's usually funny!

[Jessica]

Thank you, Margot!

Don't be embarrassed! I'm the same way. I love horror games and yet I get so scared by them! It's happened to me that I buy one of these games and then don't play them for a long time because they make me so nervous.

Then there's times when I will play and finish two or three in a row. Funny how the brain works sometimes.

[Madizzo]

That sound slike really nice game! I've never heard of it before but I am tempted to try it out.

The graphics looks impressive as well!

Nice videos! What program do you use to make them?

[Jessica]

Thank you, Maddie! If you have a PS2 you can always look for it or buy it online somewhere. I think it wouldn't be too expensive, hehe.

To make my video I extrated the movie files from the game itself and used plain old Windows Movie Maker to join them with the music. I also used a couple of other programs to convert said video files to .avi and to cut the parts of them that I wanted to use.

[Madizzo]

So just movie maker then? I've never dared to use that program...maybe I shoulk give it a try

[Jessica]

It's very easy and intuitive! Give it a try!