Someday The Dream Will End.

[rionaleonhart]

Lately, I've been replaying Final Fantasy X (the original PS2 version, rather than the HD remaster). It's so strange to go back to this game after experiencing PS3 graphics. I remember when I first saw a trailer for Final Fantasy X and was absolutely floored. How were graphics this good even possible? They all looked exactly like real people

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

I like that about the giant whale!

That's a good point about representation. I don't think every piece of fiction needs to be fully or equally representational, and I'm a big fan of looking at overall trends. (Which is why I quite liked the original comic behind the Bechdel Test, for instance, and dislike it when people go "Every movie that fails this test is Bad and Sexist!" The problem isn't that someone sometimes wants to make stories about boys and men, but that Hollywood is only making about 12% of their stories about girls and women.)

[rionaleonhart]

Final Fantasy X has a lot of ridiculous plot points. At one point there's a Star Wars-esque 'the antagonist is your father' moment, which made a lot more sense in Star Wars on account of the antagonist not being a giant flying whale.

Definitely agreed on trends! There's nothing inherently wrong with telling a story about men; the problem is that we're so flooded with stories about men already.

[wolfy_writing]

I'm guessing that the son of the giant flying whale isn't also a giant flying whale for some reason? It'd be hilarious if he was, and he was still completely shocked.

[rionaleonhart]

I think the first game I fell in love with without playing was Silent Hill 2, weirdly enough. It's not at all my usual thing, but somehow I found myself constantly looking through transcripts and plot analyses without ever having played the game.

And then I actually played it and was filled with regret. (Although it still fascinated me.) I'm so bad at coping with horror!

I can tolerate a train wreck of a story as long as the characters are mildly compelling.

Ha, me too, which is probably why VIII is one of my favourites. The plot is a mess, but it has such a delightful cast.

[ariad]

Ah, that's a good point about XV. I personally don't think there's ever a reason to have an ensemble game with no playable female characters because I can't imagine what is so important about Men Being Men that one of them can't be a woman, but it's true that the reason XV stands out in this regard is that Final Fantasy has had such a good track record thus far. So XV still feels like a disappointment to me by having its playable cast be five adult men of similar builds, but this post definitely makes me feel better about it.

[rionaleonhart]

the reason XV stands out in this regard is that Final Fantasy has had such a good track record thus far

You've articulated this much better than I could! It took me a while to realise that my initial 'no' reaction, when I'd just shrug and sigh at other Ten Million Men games, was because Square is usually so much better than the rest of the industry on the female-character front. I can definitely understand your disappointment, though.

[milliebee]

Yaaay, FFX is that other game I actually know stuff about, although I committed the cardinal sin of watching a Let's Play rather than actually playing. Hehe, cardinal sin. See what I did there?

(It was actually an accident but I'm going to pretend I'm clever.)

I don't remember -- was Sin's appearance ever really explained in any way? Was he created by somebody or did he just show up and decide to wreck everyone's day?

[rionaleonhart]

I've never been sure about why Sin showed up. One day, a giant tick named Yu Yevon decided to armour himself in the souls of the dead and destroy everything. To... make more dead to armour himself with? Maybe? I'm generally very confused by Sin.