A friend of mine in the game industry once wondered aloud about why Jak & Daxter felt so much less memorable than Wind Waker (he’s a huge Nintendo fanboy, so it was a big deal that he’d acknowledge such a question could be asked!). They each have richly detailed worlds, the play mechanic is arguably similar, and J&D is richer in some regards — particularly in terms of pure seamlessness. But somehow Wind Waker wins out. Is it the raw tactile feel of the controls, the unusual art style, the syncing of sound to your motions, the feedback you get from the world? The easy way out, I suppose, is to argue that it’s all of these. But, you know, perhaps that’s the right answer, too.

For the most part, Zelda has game mechanics pegged. Even missteps like Wind Waker’s laborious boat navigation get fixed right quick (Phantom Hourglass). But what kept me coming back to Jade’s world was different. I didn’t much care for her staff fighting, the stealth was fun but a bit loose, and I didn’t find any of the bosses that memorable. For BG&E, it was mostly the fabulously drawn characters (and world) that I just wanted to spend more time with. I don’t suppose that’s such a bad thing but maybe it’s different from some (many?) of our other favorite games.

Even though I have fond memories of Jade’s world and its inhabitants, I remember less of what I did there.

A lot of the gameplay was a bit self-similar, folding into a mish-mash of “Okay, so there’s this room, and there are three guards that follow preset paths, and if any of them see me as I attempt to Pac-Man my way across, then I’ll have to hide in a ditch for 45 seconds until they forget me and then I can try again…”.

But, I also have some fond memories of when the game broke free and did purposeful, amazing things. Remember the rising elevator stealth sequence, followed by that rooftop chase? Remember when you could finally fly into space? Remember walking into town and hearing “Propaganda” throbbing dully from the bar blocks away?

Those were all very cool, very memorable set pieces to me, as much so as in other high-quality games.

All games have this same setup. There are the basic mechanisms, the gameplay you keep on doing over and over: shooting headcrabs with machine guns, finding the map and compass, hiding in lockers until the alert passes. And then, there are also the specific, punctuated moments that you really remember: meeting Alyx, drawing the Master Sword for the first time, “Scissors! 61!”.

I’m beginning to think that many people experienced Beyond Good & Evil very differently from me. Why was the game so much blurrier for you and for many others (including many of my friends), when I remember its climactic moments as clearly as for all my other favorites?