Im writing an article on characterization in video games and in the case of some games how good characters can redeem even less than stellar plots or done to death ideas. My opening is just on characters in general. This is, of course, a rough draft: I wasnt sad when Aerith died. Final Fantasy VII, the seventh numerical installment in the increasingly inaccurately named Final Fantasy series of games has much in common with its predecessors and with many RPGs of the day. In the game you control a party that can at any one time consist of three characters. The total battle cast before the tragic mid-game sequence is nine characters which you can swap out at any given time. In terms of the gameplay mechanic of the battle system, the nine characters have some natural inclinations towards magical attacks or physical attacks, and have unique special moves, known in the game as “Limit Breaks”. Ignoring the story of the game, you are given nine expendable allies to use as you see fit. It is only by seeing the life behind these polygonal sprites that they mean any more to us than pretty cool digital action figures. Throughout the game, we learn about these characters, as well as fighting alongside them. We learn of Clouds struggle to understand his true identity. We see the pain that Barret goes through when he has to kill his former best friend. We witness Nanaki come to terms with the reality of his deceased father as through the course of the game he learns that hed been unjustly hating him for years. Adventuring with these characters is what made me want to go on and continue playing. I wanted to see them overcome their struggles and be better off for their hardships in the end. Multiple times my characters would “die” throughout the game. But with the magical healing power of Phoenix Down or inns that inexplicable are outfitted with an Intensive Care Unit, my allies would be back to fighting shape in no time. The game even throws a misdirection at us towards the end of the first disk, when we are led to believe that the robotic character Cait Sith is about to perish for good. This illusion lasts for around fifteen minutes of gameplay until it is revealed that he has been replaced by “Cait Sith 2.0”. Apparently the good thing about robots is that they are, in fact, replaceable. Cait Sith himself even sets this up in the scene where he perishes. Cait Sith: Theres plenty of stuffed toys like my body around, but theres only one me! Dont forget me, even if another Cait Sith comes along. Goodbye, then! (Final Fantasy VII, Disk 1) While it might seem a touch silly to have this fake death scene so close to another (and unfortunately more legitimate) death scene, this was an artistic decision to impact the player. About an hour of gameplay after this touching scene the player will find themselves in the Forgotten Capitol. After a bit of exploration they will find their missing comrade Aerith, and in a cutscene that will live in infamy we will witness her get cut down by the games antagonist Sephiroth. This scene did not make me sad. Many other gamers confessed to having cried at this moment when they realized that, as Cloud put it: Cloud: Aerith is gone. Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry or get angry! (Final Fantasy VII, Disk 1) But I wasnt sad. Because I was an observant player, and noticed even then that there had been another tragic death scene that turned out to be resolved immediately. Through the magic of Deus Ex Machina, Aerith would come back. My first Final Fantasy was Final Fantasy VI. This game also has a mid-game catastrophe that leaves you believing that all of your comrades are dead. However after a message of hope you set off to find them all again and, of course, all of your allies are still alive; albeit suffering various forms of emotional scarring. After that I played Final Fantasy VIII, going paradoxically out of order which would normally bother me, but as each game is stand alone I bore it. That game also has a mid-game tragedy where a long term female party member, Rinoa, is stuck in a coma. There is a long process to revive her and then to save her from peril, but it is accomplished in the same way. So I continued to play the game, fully waiting for her dramatic rebirth. After going through many of the events of Disk 2, I finally uncovered the Ancients Key and the game prompted me to return to the Forgotten Capitol. I was certain that this was it. I was about to revive my friend. But instead I found only a last message from the character Id parted with nearly ten hours prior. This was when it began to sink in. Aerith really was dead. I wasnt sad when Aerith died. I was sad when I realized she wasnt coming back.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 19:53:46 +0000
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