(Untitled)

[dancingspiral]

Squall Isn't Emo! (And Other FF8 Characterization Issues)

Squaresoft created a game that presented so many often overlooked opportunities with Final Fantasy VIII. Major plot holes that beg to be filled aside, we have characters with just enough definition to be unique and more than enough room to be expanded on that are often lumped into horrifying

Comments

[ex_karasu511]

Thanks for that! I have had a similar thought brewing in my head for awhile, and this definitely makes me feel a sense of relief that others do realize this, even if this is one of the most hated on games in the FF fandom...

Also, an additional, 'hear hear!' to Squall's section, who yeah, presumably came to the orphanage with Ellone after Raine died, and probably was one of the first of the Orphanage Gang there. Given that Ellone probably had her own baggage about Raine's death, she would probably want to take extra care of Raine's child, and when she's taken with no explanation (that we know of, though maybe there was, and Squall just forgot)... It would definitely be shocking to him, since it seems like he was a pretty shy child, being an orphan aside. The one person who he felt really belonged to him, just vanished - poof.

Not just that, but after all that, he's taken away (along with Seifer - the 'left over, nobody wants' problem children) to be trained as mercenaries from like five years of age! Which means their last means of emotional support (Matron) is taken away, too. Perhaps if Matron had continued raising the two of them at the Orphange, they might have developed differently. But yeah, even she's cut out of their lives by the time most kids would be getting ready for kindergarten. It's very unlikely that anyone would have, from that time on, coddled them at all or treated them with a maternal manner (maybe Dr. Kadowaki, but how long was she on staff? - unknown~~~). I imagine Quistis, too, is coming a lot from that whole 'not wanted, so now you learn to DO BATTLE!' mentality, since she was returned at around 8, was it?

So yeah, he does tend to be angsty on and off (which admittedly is part of the appeal to me, but you know, that aside!), but he does a pretty good job of taking care of everyone else despite his anxieties and also making terrifying life or death decisions for others, too. I always feel sad, since he is often very much disliked and it's like people who dislike him just don't care about any of that, so it seems pointless to even point it out. I honestly think there is a very complex side to him that maybe the script doesn't do as good of a job of pushing out there as it could have, and that this side does make him as a person make a lot of sense. There are definitely hints of it, even if it isn't fully explored in game. But then, Square was trying to make an adventure game, not a psychological drama about an orphan, so there you go. xD;;

And even his mopiness and tendency to withdraw was just normal teen angst... Well, in game, he is only 17. Hating teenagers for being teenagers is kind of ridiculous, I find, which is what I find pretty often to be people's issue with Rinoa (oh noes, a 17 year old girl who acts like a 17 year old! D:).

Anyway, great essay! Thanks for posting it. ;D