[Fandom Rant/DFF/FFVI] - Terra
Something I've seen a lot of lately, and it really, really bugs me, is how much people complain about Terra, specifically in the Dissidia: Final Fantasy games.
More and more frequently now, I'm seeing rants about how Square Enix "ruined" Terra in Dissidia. About how she's a meek little weak whiny thing and why didn't she just suplex Kefka GAWD. THIS ISN'T HOW SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE. (Also her hair is blonde, but I can't really disagree with that. I like green hair Terra better too.)
To which I ask, "What games have you been playing?"
Or rather, I think a lot of this comes from confusion, misunderstanding, and maybe some ill guided intentions.
One thing that I think a lot of the Final Fantasy fandom doesn't understand is that not all of the characters in Dissidia are from the ends of their respective games. Dissidia doesn't make it clear exactly where each of them come from, but observing their personalities and listening to the things they say can give you a rough idea of some of them. For example, I would pin Zidane as being from being basically at the end of his game, but before the final cutscene, as he mentions that there's "a place he has to return to" and his friendly attitude towards Kuja. Squall is from sometime post returning from SPACE, since he mentions the promise he made to Rinoa and the fact that he's more open to the idea of friendship. (While he appeared to push them away at first, Squall actually accepted Zidane and Bartz as his friends very quickly, proven by his confrontation with the Warrior of Light.)
Terra? Is from after the time her Esper powers awaken, but before she learns to control them.
Dissidia likes to mirror the progress the characters made in their own games, and to do that, they can't very well take most of them from the ending when their stories are said and done, can they? I like this decision, because Dissidia could have easily, as a spinoff on a handheld system with a broad departure in gameplay, just been a barebones fighter with some sparse cutscenes and voice clips. But Square Enix put in the effort to give it a story and meaningful character interaction. Instead of just "here are good guys and bad guys, they fight," time was taken to give the world backstory and to follow up on that, for the characters to interact and help each other grow.
Terra's story in Final Fantasy VI was about her discovering who and what she was and learning to overcome her fear of her power and her fear of Kefka. I don't see how this is much different from what the story in Dissidia presents. Terra was never a gung ho can do fighter like, say, Lightning, and it baffles me that people seem to think that she was. Maybe because the FFVI audience has gotten older and more aware of issues like negative portrayals of female characters in media, so they misappropriate Terra's uncertainty as weakness. The fact that she's the only girl on the Harmony side in the original Dissidia and that Onion Knight, a kid, appoints himself as Terra's guardian probably doesn't help, either. (Though, if my memory serves correct, Terra's party also wanted to protect her as well, especially in the beginning where she's confused, scared, and extremely vulnerable.) One thing that Dissidia shows, but doesn't really make clear is that Onion Knight isn't Terra's guardian in the "shields her from evil monsters" way, even if he likes to think of himself that way. He, along with Cloud, help her by being her moral support and sticking with her. And there's nothing weak about that.
Speaking of which, I don't think Terra is a weak character at all, and part of the hate towards her is due to the "Strong Female Character" fallacy, where a strong female character can only be a tough talking asskicker who takes no shit from anyone, especially not men. A lot of people don't account for the mental hardships characters in media face, especially so because we are looking at the story from the outside, from a safe place. If you discovered that you house incredible destructive powers that you can't control, and that a very frightening, unhinged person wants to use that power for his own gain, how would you react? It's easy to say "oh, I'd kick Kefka in the balls and show him who's boss," it's another thing to actually do that. Especially when Kefka has proven that despite his insanity, he is no slouch. He has no empathy, he has powerful magic that's just as twisted as he is, he's cunning and did succeed in once bringing Terra under control and making her his doll against her will and repeatedly drill into her head that she's nothing but a monster who should enjoy destroying everything. She probably would have never been able to escape without help from others. And even when she did, all he does is wave his hand saying that he'll have her back in no time because he's just that confident and unthreatened. Now imagine that he can do that to you.
That is a very terrifying thing. The fact that Terra doesn't shut down from that means she's not a weakling. Finding any will at all to go on is astounding. She protected the Goddess of Harmony and made her way to Cosmos' throne despite the fact that she was the enemy and would very likely be rejected by Cosmos and/or killed on sight by any of her warriors when it would have been safest to just do what Vaan said and hide. She learns to overcome fear and to harness the very power she was so afraid of and use it to protect instead of destroy. She learned that she's in control of herself and her fate, not anyone else despite being repeatedly told the opposite. The fact that she still finds time to smile and think about her future, which she sincerely describes as very happy despite the misery around her and everyone else, is truly strong.
I think I've rambled enough and this is probably so scatterbrained it's barely coherent. So yeah, get out haters, Terra is amazing.
This entry was originally posted at http://brightwing.dreamwidth.org/673.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
More and more frequently now, I'm seeing rants about how Square Enix "ruined" Terra in Dissidia. About how she's a meek little weak whiny thing and why didn't she just suplex Kefka GAWD. THIS ISN'T HOW SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE. (Also her hair is blonde, but I can't really disagree with that. I like green hair Terra better too.)
To which I ask, "What games have you been playing?"
Or rather, I think a lot of this comes from confusion, misunderstanding, and maybe some ill guided intentions.
One thing that I think a lot of the Final Fantasy fandom doesn't understand is that not all of the characters in Dissidia are from the ends of their respective games. Dissidia doesn't make it clear exactly where each of them come from, but observing their personalities and listening to the things they say can give you a rough idea of some of them. For example, I would pin Zidane as being from being basically at the end of his game, but before the final cutscene, as he mentions that there's "a place he has to return to" and his friendly attitude towards Kuja. Squall is from sometime post returning from SPACE, since he mentions the promise he made to Rinoa and the fact that he's more open to the idea of friendship. (While he appeared to push them away at first, Squall actually accepted Zidane and Bartz as his friends very quickly, proven by his confrontation with the Warrior of Light.)
Terra? Is from after the time her Esper powers awaken, but before she learns to control them.
Dissidia likes to mirror the progress the characters made in their own games, and to do that, they can't very well take most of them from the ending when their stories are said and done, can they? I like this decision, because Dissidia could have easily, as a spinoff on a handheld system with a broad departure in gameplay, just been a barebones fighter with some sparse cutscenes and voice clips. But Square Enix put in the effort to give it a story and meaningful character interaction. Instead of just "here are good guys and bad guys, they fight," time was taken to give the world backstory and to follow up on that, for the characters to interact and help each other grow.
Terra's story in Final Fantasy VI was about her discovering who and what she was and learning to overcome her fear of her power and her fear of Kefka. I don't see how this is much different from what the story in Dissidia presents. Terra was never a gung ho can do fighter like, say, Lightning, and it baffles me that people seem to think that she was. Maybe because the FFVI audience has gotten older and more aware of issues like negative portrayals of female characters in media, so they misappropriate Terra's uncertainty as weakness. The fact that she's the only girl on the Harmony side in the original Dissidia and that Onion Knight, a kid, appoints himself as Terra's guardian probably doesn't help, either. (Though, if my memory serves correct, Terra's party also wanted to protect her as well, especially in the beginning where she's confused, scared, and extremely vulnerable.) One thing that Dissidia shows, but doesn't really make clear is that Onion Knight isn't Terra's guardian in the "shields her from evil monsters" way, even if he likes to think of himself that way. He, along with Cloud, help her by being her moral support and sticking with her. And there's nothing weak about that.
Speaking of which, I don't think Terra is a weak character at all, and part of the hate towards her is due to the "Strong Female Character" fallacy, where a strong female character can only be a tough talking asskicker who takes no shit from anyone, especially not men. A lot of people don't account for the mental hardships characters in media face, especially so because we are looking at the story from the outside, from a safe place. If you discovered that you house incredible destructive powers that you can't control, and that a very frightening, unhinged person wants to use that power for his own gain, how would you react? It's easy to say "oh, I'd kick Kefka in the balls and show him who's boss," it's another thing to actually do that. Especially when Kefka has proven that despite his insanity, he is no slouch. He has no empathy, he has powerful magic that's just as twisted as he is, he's cunning and did succeed in once bringing Terra under control and making her his doll against her will and repeatedly drill into her head that she's nothing but a monster who should enjoy destroying everything. She probably would have never been able to escape without help from others. And even when she did, all he does is wave his hand saying that he'll have her back in no time because he's just that confident and unthreatened. Now imagine that he can do that to you.
That is a very terrifying thing. The fact that Terra doesn't shut down from that means she's not a weakling. Finding any will at all to go on is astounding. She protected the Goddess of Harmony and made her way to Cosmos' throne despite the fact that she was the enemy and would very likely be rejected by Cosmos and/or killed on sight by any of her warriors when it would have been safest to just do what Vaan said and hide. She learns to overcome fear and to harness the very power she was so afraid of and use it to protect instead of destroy. She learned that she's in control of herself and her fate, not anyone else despite being repeatedly told the opposite. The fact that she still finds time to smile and think about her future, which she sincerely describes as very happy despite the misery around her and everyone else, is truly strong.
I think I've rambled enough and this is probably so scatterbrained it's barely coherent. So yeah, get out haters, Terra is amazing.
This entry was originally posted at http://brightwing.dreamwidth.org/673.html. Please comment there using OpenID.