FF7: Sticking to traditions

So, one of the great things about FF7, to me, at least, is how it sticks to the classic traditions that came before it.    Take yourself back to FF6, and the battle with Whelk.   FF7 starts you out battling a Scorpio-bot, with an identical battle mechanic.   Attack when it's <blank>in, and it'll <blank> ur <blank>z. But it doesn't just stop with repeating battle mechanics.   In the proud tradition of Final Fantasy...

There's hoyay. And, wow.  I'd forgotten just how hoyay this game is.   I know that we (perhaps over-)use this tag a lot, but you have to admit, when you can take the time in the middle of the heist to comment to one of the womenfolk in your team of loveable terrorists that she looks hot, just like a dude would? Hmm. I've commented in the past that every time I play these games, I learn something new.   One thing I learned was that after having recently watched the entire season of Firefly (and Serenity), is that I can't resist referring to our wacky hijinks on the rail as 'The Train Job' while sing-songingly reminding myself that there's no place I can't be, since I found Serenity. ...erm, yes.  Anyhoo, back to the game.

 

I mean, FF7 is pretty awesome, if for nothing more than how immature the script will allow you to be, sometimes, and all the things that seem 'risky' and 'edgy' after the prior games.   What other game will let you call a female love interest a 'slum drunk'? What other game will let you play the part of a terrorist faction that blows up power plants? I'm actually vaguely of the opinion that, were someone to try to pitch this game now, that it wouldn't make it, what with the whole interactive terrorist module.  And, just in closing -- I do have a 'Cloud, you set the bomb.' screenshot.  I'll abuse a lot of memes, but that's one that I'll respectfully decline to touch. Kamarile will probably be all over it, though.

Ending

Now what are we going to say about the ending to FF6?

Other than the fact the ending to FF6 is the best ending in videogame history?

You mean better than Mario 2's "It was all a dream" ending?

That was actually the exact counterpoint I was thinking of. I mean, it's easily the best FF ending compared to the prior ones, in that, I don't know, you're not fighting a fucking tree.

Interesting note: FF6 and FF5, the only games in the series with non-linear endings. Unless you count X-2, which you don't.

I can't believe you'd sully FF6 with a post about X-2. I mean, FF6's ending is brilliant. It has customized parts for every character that ties into their individual storylines. It's actually probably the most serious part of FF6, though.

Yes, two of your party members die in the escape!

Sadly, none of them are Relm.

For me, a discussion of the ending of FF6 really rests upon the music. Uematsu has three tracks in FF6 that are better than anything else he has ever done. One is the opera. One is the final boss music. And one is the ending.

This is true. I think that, occasionally, I play FF6 just for the music.

It's here that you realize how clever Uematsu really was with his character themes. Like, how he designs Celes' and Locke's themes to be played together.

Locke and Celes - together because of harmonies since 2007.

I mean, the music adds a real poignancy to the ending-- an ending that isn't really so much about what the characters are doing as who the characters are.

Somewhere on the Internet, I'm sure you've just spawned a novella about philosophy in FF6.

Well, when you look at the endings to FF4 and FF5, they're very action-oriented and happily-ever-after-ish. In FF4, seriously, everyone becomes a king, except for Kain, who becomes an emo. And in FF5, the non-linear aspect is pretty much the luck of the draw, based on who is KO'd at the end of the final battle. In FF6, your ending changes if you didn't find certain characters. Celes gets a different ending without Locke, Relm gets a different ending without Strago, Edgar gets a different one without Sabin.

That's true, there's a lot of dialogue change, but on the all, it's also a very happy ending too. Terra goes back to being a baby momma, Celes and Locke doink on a bed of bandanas... even Strago and Relm ride off into the sunset together.

That's all implied, though. It is implied that Celes and Locke get together, but they ever actually confirm their lurve throughout the entire game.

Okay, if Celes is like, hoshit, this place is collapsing, gonna die, whoops, dropped a bandana of Locke's have to go get it... that's a little more than implying.

No, but if this were FF4, we'd see the wedding.

This is true.

I think if there were a fanfic that said that Celes and Locke broke up after a year because she's too emo and he loves his ex too much, I wouldn't call that OOC.

I don't know that they've got the true love that shall live forever, but you definitely know that they're rocking it in that tent on the save circle.

Okay, I'll give you that. Another sad thing: Shadow kicks it.

Well, he was understandably emo that his partner-in-crime/partner-in-the-sack died.

Right. So, all I'm saying, is that the ending is on the bittersweet side.

It's not all rainbows and sunshine, but it's pretty cheery, really.

Of course, once everyone realizes that Terra is alive, and can be a real live human girl, everything gets SUPER happy.

Exactly. Note to Square: Better ending? Terra dies.

Oh, come on.

Look, I'm sorry. But it's true.

You have to have a heart of stone not to smile just a little when the FF Prologue music is playing, and flowers start to bloom... and Duane sits in the back room while the small children of Mobliz deliver Katarin's baby...

I mean, that could all still happen with Terra taking a dirt nap. If Terra dies, everyone goes home a little wiser.

Awww, but FF6 is all about hope! If Terra died, it would be so nihilistic.

Admit it though, you'd bawl your eyes out if she did die. They could bury her next to Leo.

No, they couldn't, because if she died, it would be because the esper part of her poofed away like the magicite!

So they could bury half of her.

Oh, whatever. You can't kill your hero at the end of the game. It just doesn't happen.

Maybe it should. Wouldn't you have liked FFX better if Yuna died? No sequels.

So what makes FF6 the best game ending ever, if Terra's survival renders it imperfect?

It's a lot like the game. It's quirky and serious. Everyone gets to play a role in your survival, even if you've neglected to level them because they suck ass.

I think I screencapped like, everything in the ending.

As did I. It's all gold. I'm just saying that I could see a very good ending where Terra dies. Or even where it's left ambiguous.

FF6 is the happy medium between the overexplained ending of FF4 and the extremely ambiguous ending of FF7.

I think that's why it's so great. It's like the baby bear's stuff in Goldilocks. It's not too this, it's not too that, it's juuuust right.

Of course, I also love the FF7 ending, but many people didn't, at the time.

The 7 ending is a lot more clear than the 7 story.

I still think that if Terra died, it would defeat the whole point of the game, which is about Terra trying to find her place in the world.

Her place in the world could be in a wooden box!

You're a meanie!

I know. I'm a horrible, horrible person. Let's see if you defend Cloud so much in FF7 when I say he should have died.

I think the same is true for FF7. The game is pointless if Cloud dies, because the game is all about trying to figure out who Cloud is.

I mean, Terra couldn't die and have the ending make sense, of course. It's silly. Cyan beating up on machines, Setzer not trusting his luck... it's like everyone grew a little bit after saving the world.

I mean, yeah. And the growing is small and incremental, and not dramatic in every case. The game doesn't overreach.

Which, for any other game, might be an insult. The game doesn't strive for some the highest peak, it chills in the middle and speaks with the people.

Like, I said before that this game is ambitious, so I'm not like, revising that or anything. I just think that it is true to its characters and to itself.

I mean, that's 6's strong point. The plot and character development. They carry that right on through to the end, without doing something silly like, I dunno, killing the main character to be edgy.

Yeah, that would be silly, wouldn't it.

And not FF6 silly, appearantly.

So, our message to Square: You go, girl.

Are there any high ranking girls at Square?

Probably not. It's Japan.

Oh, right.

Anyway, stay tuned for our FF6 edition of Games In Conclusion.

It'll be great. (And someone might die!)

A treatise on Edgar, pt. 1

I think Edgar gets a bit of a bum rap (not a word from you, Kammy!) from the two of us.   I think that *the* most common joke K and I make when we're chatting on IM is about Edgar, the date-rape King of Figaro.   I mean, ostensibly, Edgar is a good guy.    I'm not sure why his initial description calls him an ally to the Empire, only to have them tell you ten minutes later that he is, in fact, working with the Rebel Alliance to take down the Emperor.  If they could take out those four words, and replace them with lover of fine women, you'd probably be a bit closer to truth where Eddy is concerned. Edgar, to me, is a lot like a freshman, living away from home for the first time, and trying to find his identity in an alcohol-tinged year at Uni.  There's no denying that he's a genuinely nice guy -- he is, after all, working to overthrow the forces of evil. However, he's got a bit of an exaggerated machismo, in that he more or less catcalls at every smoking hot babe that happens to wander through Figaro proper.    Which is good -- I like that pretty much every hero in your party is flawed somehow.   Now -- I don't have too much more to say about Edgar, but instead, I'd like to present you with this photographic montage of the good King of Figaro.

Most misleading intro ever.

 

 

(Yes, I know I'm taking this out of context -- but it makes for the funneh!)

Edgar!  Getting what he wants through the pretty!

Edgar!  Equal opprotunity lover!

I'M IN UR BLOG, POSTIN UR PIXTORZ

FF6 is interesting, in that there are a lot of things that I'm surprised make it past the censor's sensors. Matricide? Really? It's like we're all sitting at home and watching Family Guy instead of playing Final Fantasy 6. Y'know, family guy? Watching a little cartoon? Voiced by Seth McFarlane? Show about the Griffins? An eensy bit racist? sexist? Like a risque simpsons? Hmm? Hmm? hmm?. No, seriously, it's a lot of fun.

On the flip side, the other thing that interests me is the first real gay character in Final Fantasy-dom.

Now, I know what you're thinking. At least he's not some gym obsessed size queen, right?

..never doubt me again! Ever!

Political Incorrectness

Like I said, FF3 is a game from a simpler time, before the advent of the PC age in the 90s. How can I tell this? Well, Google. But also from the way you treat your womenfolk:


That's right: rescue the princess, then refuse her the opportunity to demonstrate her skill and capability, and then sleep in her bed! This is a moral outrage.

Not as outrageous as this, though:


I think they prefer to be called little people. And this offensive word is everywhere! There's the Town of Midgets, there's Midget Bread... I mean, I know there are space restraints to take into consideration, but couldn't we have had the City of Vertically Challenged Individuals and Bread that May Be Small, but is Just as Delicious as Larger-Bodied Bread?

And here you are intruding on the breeding ground of what can only be described as an endangered species:



Completely unacceptable. I have to grudgingly admit, however, that this game possesses a rather enlightened viewpoint towards gay acceptance, a view far ahead of its time. I mean, just look at this:


It's moments like these-- when I can take a screencap of two men spooning in an inn-- when I remember how much I love video games. Isn't it a beautiful moment?

Because we all love teh hoyay...

The only way it seems that I can complete my quest is by performing ambiguous sexual favors for trees.






Ewwwww.

Jilted!

Poor Fucker.

Hot Lesbian Action?

...words cannot describe.