Mythic Mind Games

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Video games do not merely distract from sorrow. Through time spent with characters, player agency, and participation in sub-creation, they can become a unique art form for facing grief, mortality, and what loss teaches the soul.

In this fellowship conversation, Dr. Andrew Snyder and guests ask why games are especially suited to sorrow: long attachment to characters, choices that feel like your own, and stories that turn grief toward wisdom rather than mere amusement. The panel moves through Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Trails of the Sky, Lost Odyssey, GRIS, The Last of Us, BioShock, Horizon Zero Dawn, Final Fantasy IV, Red Dead Redemption 2, Final Fantasy VII, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Final Fantasy VI. Along the way it draws on Tolkien's idea of sub-creation, C. S. Lewis's A Grief Observed, and the image of grief as waves that still come but change over time, before closing with 007 First Light on refusing to let grief harden the moral self.

Chapters:
00:00 Why video games can bear the weight of grief
08:22 Ocarina of Time: lost time and subtle sorrow
17:41 Majora's Mask and memento mori
21:13 Kingdom Come: Deliverance, revenge, and reconstruction
30:12 Trails of the Sky and Lost Odyssey
37:27 The Last of Us and the cost of vengeance
44:54 Apocalyptic logs: BioShock and Horizon Zero Dawn
47:05 Final Fantasy IV and confronting the self
48:11 Red Dead Redemption 2 and Arthur Morgan's mortality
50:48 A Grief Observed and beauty amid loss
52:49 Final Fantasy VII, Expedition 33, and moving on
58:33 Counseling grief, meaning, and the waves
01:06:55 007 First Light: do not let grief change you
01:11:14 Closing: from amusement to musing

Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship: https://mythicmindfellowship.com

Related episodes:
Expedition 33: Art, Grief, and Sub-Creation (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 41) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfOFa9eOnsg
Facing Fate in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 51) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi0kgEKEEmg
Final Fantasy VI and the Will to Meaning (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 21) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d44YewC12w

Listen to and watch Mythic Mind podcasts:
- Mythic Mind
- Mythic Mind Games
- Mythic Mind Movies & Shows

#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #VideoGames #Grief #Philosophy

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Red Dead Redemption 2's Arthur Morgan and Tolstoy's Ivan Ilyich both teach memento mori: facing death can renew how you live. After Arthur's tuberculosis diagnosis he turns from outlaw vanity toward an honorable redemption; after Ivan's fatal illness he sees that a respectable career and middle-class image were a false life.

In this Mythic Mind Games solo essay, Dr. Andrew Snyder reads RDR2 against The Death of Ivan Ilyich. He traces Ivan's acquaintances who think "it is he who is dead and not I," the widow's inconvenience over grief, Gerasim's honest acceptance of mortality, and Ivan's spiral of denial until the end. Then he sets Arthur beside that arc: a bad man who wants to be good, collapsing into TB, asking whether he has wanted the right things, and redeeming what remains of his life by living well. The shared archetype is mortality that reorders desire; the medieval Latin reminder is not morbid retreat but a call to responsibility, virtue, and the form of a human life (Aristotle, Westminster). Along the way Andrew argues that video games can approach the literary and connect us to the true, good, and beautiful.

Continue the Red Dead thread with:

- RDR2 panel (ep. 5) https://youtu.be/WpViR-BQwCg
- Red Dead Redemption  https://youtu.be/cqrr3_p1hmw.

For the series frame on games as fairy-stories and literary value, see:

- Video Games and Fairy-Stories (ep. 1) https://youtu.be/lYzzMFDus9U
- The Value of Video Games (ep. 10) https://youtu.be/C7g7z-PmVwU.<... />

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- Mythic Mind Games
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #RedDeadRedemption2 #RDR2 #ArthurMorgan #IvanIlyich #Tolstoy #MementoMori #Death #Redemption #Philosophy #VideoGames

Video games are not only amusement. They are structured existential experiences: forks that press agency, anxiety, identity, desire, and failure on a real self, whether the world on screen is "primary" or secondary.

In this Mythic Mind Games season opener for Exploring the Psyche, Dr. Andrew Snyder (professor of philosophy and theology) makes the case for approaching games with seriousness and discernment. Drawing on Tolkien's fairy-stories (escape, consolation, recovery), C.S. Lewis and Kierkegaard on living other lives through story, and Kierkegaard's vertigo of freedom, he asks what play does to attention and desire: if games can deform the self, they can also upbuild it when wisdom is what we seek in the marketplace.

Topics include choice practiced vs choice observed, embodied attention, character archetypes as self-revelation, noble goals vs grind, failure and grit (including Clair Obscur), and why "sticky" decisions make play feel moral. A first season conversation on grief in video games is teased.

Join us for our season of "Exploring the Psyche" at https://mythicmindfellowship.com

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/-BS688rdNW8

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth asks whether Remake's defiance of fate was ever real freedom: after killing the arbiter of fate, the path still narrows, some outcomes stay locked, and Sephiroth bends the Whispers to set himself up as a new master of fate across timelines. Aerith still dies as fate decreed, yet the remake path saturates her arc with foreboding from the start, trading original shock for a different, sustained weight that largely keeps the spirit of 1997 while opening Zack-periphery multiverse stakes for Revelation.

In this episode, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Micah to wrap the Final Fantasy VII mini-series on Square Enix's 2024 Part 2. They praise combat, party synergy, and character work that continues Remake's reimagining, weigh open-area pacing and gamey bloat against narrative heart, and press the faithfulness question: does Rebirth honor the original's essence when timelines collide, Cloud's hollow identity fractures, and Aerith surrenders her role with grace? Excited for Revelation; next Games turn opens Exploring the Psyche.

Continue the Final Fantasy VII mini-series: Final Fantasy VII: Grief, Consolation, and Recovery (ep. 48) https://youtu.be/A_AOv8Jso04; Final Fantasy VII Remake: Reimagining, Sequel, and Fate (ep. 49) https://youtu.be/GpBsTGBtTZY; Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Trauma, and Untapped Depth (ep. 50) https://youtu.be/yKEFkPQmkU8. Next Games: Video Games and the Psyche: Agency, Anxiety, and Upbuilding (ep. 52) https://youtu.be/-BS688rdNW8.<... />
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- Mythic Mind
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Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is a visually striking fan-service film that sketches a psychological study of Cloud's unresolved trauma and a fragmented Sephiroth (Kadaj and company), then mostly leaves that potential untapped for action-anime spectacle. The strongest beats are Cloud finding purpose against evil again, a literal death-and-rebirth turn, and Aerith's healing rain as a baptismal church scene; the rest of the cast is mostly nostalgia cameo.

In this cross-listed Mythic Mind Games / Movies episode, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Micah to weigh Square Enix's 2005/2006 CGI sequel two decades on. They praise the era's animation and cool fight set pieces, critique English voice direction and a Cloud character reset that undoes growth from the original game, and wish the film had spent less runtime on vapid villains and more on existential character work Remake later handles with clearer love for the same people. Next in the Games mini-series: Rebirth.

Continue the Final Fantasy VII mini-series: Roundtable (ep. 48) https://youtu.be/A_AOv8Jso04; Remake (ep. 49) https://youtu.be/GpBsTGBtTZY; Rebirth (ep. 51) https://youtu.be/Qi0kgEKEEmg.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #FinalFantasyVII #FF7 #AdventChildren #CloudStrife #Sephiroth #Kadaj #Trauma #Psychological #JRPG #Philosophy

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Final Fantasy VII Remake is less a straight remake than a reimagining that often plays like a sequel: Midgar expands into a full game that deepens Avalanche, Barret, Jessie, and Cloud's found-family bonds, while the Whispers and a broken fate open multiverse speculation that leads straight into Rebirth. The heart of the original returns stronger, renewing the grief beats (the plate fall, Jessie's death, Aerith foreshadowing) that Mythic Mind Games framed as consolation and recovery in the Roundtable.

In this episode, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Micah to weigh nostalgia against craft on Square Enix's 2020 revisit of the 1997 classic. They praise character deepening that still feels like the same people, the soundtrack's adapted nostalgia, and Midgar's longer runtime as emotional buildup rather than empty padding. They also probe the remake-vs-sequel question, Sephiroth's early pressure on fate's arbiter, timeline splits after the Whisper bosses, and why Advent Children's character handling left trepidation that Remake largely dissolves. Next in the mini-series: Advent Children, then Rebirth.

Continue the Final Fantasy VII mini-series: Roundtable (ep. 48) https://youtu.be/A_AOv8Jso04; Advent Children (ep. 50) https://youtu.be/yKEFkPQmkU8; Rebirth (ep. 51) https://youtu.be/Qi0kgEKEEmg. For the wider Final Fantasy series gateway, see the Final Fantasy intro (ep. 12) https://youtu.be/mXSP_TWbMdA.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #FinalFantasyVII #FF7 #FF7Remake #Reimagining #Sequel #Fate #Whispers #CloudStrife #Aerith #Sephiroth #JRPG #Philosophy

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Final Fantasy VII is a story of grief, consolation, and recovery: Aerith's death scars the party and the player, Cloud must rebuild an identity that was never simply his, and Sephiroth stands as the nihilistic inverse of the beauty and life she embodies.

In this Mythic Mind Games roundtable, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by David, Micah, and Josh for a character-centered reading of the 1997 classic. They linger on Cloud's existential crisis (puppet, borrowed memories, Zack, and the question of whether a self can still be claimed), Aerith as sanctuary and sorrowful beauty in Midgar's church and flower beds, Tifa and Barret as anchors after her loss, and Sephiroth's hunger to own the planet against her belonging to it. Along the way they weigh nostalgia versus craft, the game's longing-filled aesthetic and soundtrack, ecological themes, Materia combat, and why FF7 still holds as more than a childhood favorite.

Opens the Final Fantasy VII mini-series. Continue with Remake (ep. 49) https://youtu.be/GpBsTGBtTZY; Advent Children (ep. 50) https://youtu.be/yKEFkPQmkU8; Rebirth (ep. 51) https://youtu.be/Qi0kgEKEEmg. For Tolkien's recovery frame behind fairy-story consolation, see Video Games and Fairy-Stories (ep. 1) https://youtu.be/lYzzMFDus9U.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #FinalFantasyVII #FF7 #CloudStrife #Aerith #Sephiroth #Grief #Consolation #Recovery #JRPG #Philosophy #Roundtable

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Outer Wilds asks what stories we tell and what music we make when the universe itself is ending. On the last day of everything, a 22-minute time loop forces the question: where do you find meaning in the face of mortal fate and cosmic finality?

SPOILER WARNING: This episode discusses Outer Wilds in depth, including major plot reveals and the ending. If you have not finished the game (and preferably the Echoes of the Eye DLC), play first, then return. Outer Wilds is best encountered blind.

In this Mythic Mind Games roundtable, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Michael and Micah for Mobius Digital's time-loop exploration classic. They trace the knowledge Metroidvania of Nomai ruins, the Sun Station false quest to "save" the system, Chert's existential panic as stars die, and the campfire at the Eye of the Universe where remembered friends play one last song. The ending refuses a save-the-world fantasy: the end is inevitable, yet agency still matters in how you live and what you carry forward. Along the way they hear a Silmarillion echo (music poured into a new creation), weigh Ecclesiastes and memento mori against cultural denial of death, and touch the DLC's critique of false digital immortality through the Prisoner at the fire.

This is the Outer Wilds conversation delayed from ep. 45 (Philosophical Attention): https://youtu.be/LaDAEZcs1AU
For Tolkien's fairy-story frame behind wonder, recovery, and subcreative music, see Video Games and Fairy-Stories (ep. 1): https://youtu.be/lYzzMFDus9U

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What looks like politics, and imagines itself to be political, will one day unmask itself as a religious movement. (Søren Kierkegaard)

Final Fantasy Tactics stages justice, class warfare, and a church that looks faithful while feeding demonic deception. Ramza's war for order sits beside Delita's rise, and the Lucavi plot under the surface of Ivalice's politics.

In this Mythic Mind Games episode, Dr. Andrew Snyder reads FFT as a story about what lurks beneath political movements: genuine prayer and salvation language at the start, then a religion unmasked as demonic revolution against true justice.

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Outer Wilds had to wait. Nearly a year into Mythic Mind Games, Dr. Andrew Snyder instead looks back: why he set video games aside, what recovered his appetite for fiction, and why games now repay philosophical attention.

As Mythic Mind Games approaches its first anniversary (the show began May 2025), this solo reflection traces a personal and intellectual arc. Childhood consoles and SNES RPGs gave way, in his twenties, to the sense that games were a waste of time amid grad school, marriage, work, and kids. A utilitarian suspicion of fiction followed. Kierkegaard's emphasis on existential appropriation, a season of deep sorrow, and Tolkien's On Fairy-Stories categories of escape, consolation, and recovery reopened secondary worlds. Lord of the Rings and then Lewis, MacDonald, and Dostoyevsky reshaped what stories can do. From there he asks whether video games can take a quasi-literary role: not identical to books, but capable of artistic edification when engaged with responsibility.

He then surveys the first ~11 months of the Games podcast and related conversations: Knights of the Old Republic and identity, Red Dead Redemption 2 beside Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Ilyich, Zelda, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters 1-6, an Elder Scrolls philosophy course (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim), Fallout, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, The Forgotten City, Red Dead Redemption, and Chrono Trigger. Along the way he draws on C. S. Lewis on telling the story you have rather than preaching an ideology, and closes with a hierarchy of primary-world responsibilities: childlikeness without childishness, recovery of something lost, and discovery of a deeper adult way to play.

Outer Wilds was delayed for scheduling and will return soon as ep. 47: https://youtu.be/ahKy2pWEFMI

Series manifesto (Fairy-Stories / Tolkien subcreation): https://youtu.be/lYzzMFDus9U
Related: Arthur Morgan and Ivan Ilyich (ep. 4) https://youtu.be/ynV50tCh6oc; The Value of Video Games (ep. 10) https://youtu.be/C7g7z-PmVwU; Chrono Trigger (ep. 44) https://youtu.be/FZ0OQjWFkb4.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #VideoGames #Philosophy #Tolkien #OnFairyStories #EscapeConsolationRecovery #Kierkegaard #CSLewis #OuterWilds #ChronoTrigger #RedDeadRedemption #FinalFantasy #ElderScrolls #ChristianHumanities