finalfantasy

Rants: 1-10

Where'd that rabbit come from?

Today is Easter, the Christan Holy Day that celebrates the Resurrection of Yeshua(Jesus) of Nazareth. Many of you may dislike the holiday because its true meaning is overshadowed by the arrival of the "Easter Bunny," eggs and those god awful marshmellow Peeps. Why did people forget the resurrection and replace it with this "idol worship."

You may not know this but the "Easter Bunny" actually pre-dates the modern understanding of Easter. Christians throughout history have been adaptive. They use old pagan holidays and customs to celebrate verious situations from the Bible. For example, Christmas is celebrated at the start of Winter to coencide with the winter solstice when it is more likely that Jesus was born in Spring. Similarly, the Christian Easter is celebrated on the day of the Feast of Easter. Easter was a matron goddess of Spring and new life, making it a natural choice to commemerate the Resurrection.

Now on to the rabbit. The Rabbit, which eventually became our Easter Bunny, was the symbol of the Goddess Easter. At the start of Spring, rabbits have to come out of their shelters and begin searching for food. This covers their role in portraying "new life" (they could have chosen any animal but the chose the rabbit so it stuck). As for the eggs, they are a more obvious symbol as what but new life comes from them. The peeps represent this new life.

So the next time you get angry with the commercialism, remember: The Easter bunny has been around longer than the idea of the empty tomb.

With that I take my leave. Have a good day and Happy Easter to you.

--15:25, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Look what I found.

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Want it/Hate it poll by Machinima.

Reasons this suggest that Versus XIII is actually coming to 360

Reasons to the contrary

I would very much like it to come out for 360. I don't have a PS3 and don't intend to buy one. Hopefully, this "mistake" is accurate and SE is simply building suspense.

--Werefang 00:04, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Emo

There is a tiresome, overused comment often made about characters in the Final Fantasy series. That is that a character is emo. I will say this now: I dislike this term. It denies the validity of actual mental and psycological dissorders. People do suffer from depression. It is a result of flawed brain chemistry; it is not a choice or an elected lifestyle.

Now I will attempt to explain what "emo" actually is. "Emo" people (or people mistakenly called "emo") are often described as having similarities to histrionic peronality disorder. This is usually characterised as attention seeking behavior, inappropriate seductiveness, and over dramatic displays of emotion (oh look, "emo" is in there). Otherwise, people like this are antisocial, doing what they feel is expected to get ahead but nothing more. Emo itself is similarly defined as being overdramatically emotional, usually tending towards a facade of misery.

Why Squall is not emo Perhaps because he dresses in the stereotyped style of emo, Squall is often called "emo." However, if one were to actually pay attention to how he acts, it is easy to see that this is not the case. First, Squall never makes himself out to be miserable. Instead he bottles everything up, hiding everything from those who would wish for him to open up. Second, emo is "overemontionallity." This would cause him to be driven by his emotions. Instead; however, we see that he is driven by reason and rationallity; he even goes so far as to deny the reality of evil. Emo is irrationally; Squall is rationallity. He is by far, more comparable to Dr. Brennon in FOX' crime drama, Bones.


Why Cloud is not emo Another character refered to as "emo" is Cloud. I'm not certain how long he has been called emo, but as far as I can tell, it wasn't until AC. However, the current assumption states that because he is emo now, he must have always been emo. This is not the case at all. In the original game, it is well known that he is a mercenary. On account of his catch phrase, "It's not my problem," people assume that this somehow makes him emo. Might I first remind you of what a mercenary is. A mercenary is someone who take a potentially violent job in order to make money. This objective means that at some times, said soldier-for-hire may end up working for a past enemy. "It's not my problem" is the anthem of being a merc; to make something your problem would also make it harder to find work later. Other than that, Cloud comes off as fairly well adjusted, save for his mistaken past.

Many people say that he became "more emo" in Advent Children (although whether he was emo in the first place is disputed). I will suggest that few people can watch their home burn down, see their best friend get gunned down in front of them, being present and unable to stop the murder of a woman they care about AND sit by as their son (though adopted) contracts an incurable disease with a 100% mortality rate and on top of that, contract the same fatal malody. Whoever, thinks they can has just forfeited their right to be called "human." This is more similar to depression; so many things go wrong in his life that he simply ran out of serotonin and could no longer supply his ability to cope with his problems. And that is, again, ignoring what emo actually is. As with Squall, Cloud puts on a brave face and attempts to avoid attention. Emo, is attention seeking behavior that masquerades as misery, but is not, by defininition, misery.

In closing I realize this may seem long winded, but I find this ignorance tiresome and annoying. Emo people are trying to trick others into pitying them and they resort to false misery. Cloud and Squall are the exact opposite. Both actually have something to be miserable about, yet both actually keep these feeling to themselves. Think of it this way, pity is not a good thing. People who are genuinely unhappy ussually would not want to bring others down, so they keep to themselves. Emo people don't realize this and seek pity by pretending to be unhappy (making themselve more miserable in the process). So instead of resorting to an inaccurate stereotype, try to actually pay attention to the character's mannerisms, those are far better indicators.

-14:52, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Game Spotlight: DarkSector

As I said, I will include information for games that I have played and now, I shall tell you all about one of my favorite games. DarkSector is a third person shooter released for the PS3 and XBOX 360 and later for the PC. It was rated "Mature" by the ESRB for violance and gore. It was even banned in Australia for this reason. However, at certain intervals it feels like survival horror.

Story:

Off the coast of Lazria, a Soviet port city, a salvage opperation discovers an abandoned submarine with a gaping hole in its side. A member of the salvage team is killed when something inside gets loose. Twenty years later, the Agency sends you into the highly hostile area in order to kill a captured agent before he gives any information to the enemy. However, before you can get away, you are captured by the master mind of this entire thing and you are infected with the very disease discovered 20 years ago on that submarine.

Characters:

Hayden-"I thought...I knew...they were sick; I knew they had to die."
DarkSector's protaganist and anti-hero. In the Agency, he was removed from duty as he was one to the most brutal opperatives they had. After killing his target, he is captured and infected with the bio-weapon that runs rampent throughout the city. For most, the pain of the transformation is enought to drive anyone insane. Hayden, though suffers from a real life dissorder called congenital analgia which prevents him from feeling pain. While others' skin turns to a metalic crust, Hayden learns to use his infection as a weapon, and gradually comes to terms with the changes.

Friendlies

Yargo-"I have your updated orders from the AD. I have also arranged for you to aquire weapons and explosives."
One of the Agency's sleeper agents in Lazria, he was tasked with observing the infection. He provides aid to Hayden though a 2-way radio.
Black Market Dealer-"So you have come to know how capitalism really works."
This man hides in the sewers and can be contacted by using lotus marked man-holes. As would be expected, he sells you weapons.

Enemies

Mezner-"There is a chorus of drowning voices in my head, calling out...calling out for a savior."
The chief antagonist of DarkSector, Robert Mezner is an ex-employee of the Agency. He controls the infected with a machine that emits a signal to attract them. Hayden was sent into Lazria to kill him. He seems to maintain some sanity with the infection (but whether he was sane in the first place is debatable).
Nadia-"This is exactly how I pictured it, how I we'd meet again...You turned away like that; and I'd have my gun, just like this. Double tap to the back of the head, just like you did to them."
An ex-agent of the Agency, she now works for Mezner. She despises Hayden with a passion and seeks to punish him for his crimes.
Nemesis-"..."
Appears to be one of the infected. It is a faceless man that serves as Mezner's bodyguard. Its entire body is covered in a metalic suit. Hayden received the infection when Nemesis stabs him in the shoulder.
Haz. Mat. Soldiers-"Groud D, what is your situation? Group D..."
Lazrian soldiers. They are the main enemies for the first part of the game and will fight you as well as the infected. Beware the infirion canisters; it is harmful to the infected.
Technocytes-"*uninteligable jargan*"
The technical term for the infected. They are usually disorganised and violent. Many times they will crawl out of the walls, as is stated by a unit of soldiers that they wipe out.

Game Play:

DarkSector is completely linear and there are no side missions. Most cases, you have to move from Point A to Point B while killing the soldiers in between. However, this isn't just shooting (though you can do that). Actually, you primary weapon will be the glaive. This is a three pronged blade that grows out of Hayden's right arm. This can be used for melee of ranged throw attacks and will become more useful over the course of the game.
But what self-respecting shooter lacks guns. While the glaive is out, Hayden holds a hand gun in his left; if not, he uses one of the many heavy weapons purchased from the Merchant. If you don't want to use your own ammo, you can steal an enemy's weapon and use it against them. This is only a temporary option as soldiers equip their rifles with "goverors" to keep them out of the hands of the infected population.

Oppinion:

DarkSector is exiting and interesting. There are plot twists and deep characters. And if that isn't for you, then you can always just use the glaive to rip a man in half. And now I leave you with the cryptic words of Yargo Menzick: "That was how it started, the irony of this disease, that in all the others it made evil, but for him it saved his soul."

And of course, the official trailer:

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--23:13, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Volume XIII

I was looking over some of the old trailers of Final Fantasy XIII and noticed something that everyone else has already seen. Snow has a Sub-Machine gun. This curiosity inspired me to examine a number of the characters. XIII has the most ranged fighters of any Final Fantasy. In fact, every single friendly character is shown with some sort of ranged weapon: in most cases a fire-arm but Oerba Dia Vanille is seen with what looks like a bow over her shoulder. However, two of these heroes are shown with melee weapons: Lightning can change her weapon into a sword and Snow is shown to be a brawler of some sort. This suggest something that I would find quite interesting. Is it possible that every character will have access to both a Melee and ranged weapon, similar to FFXI? Personally, I would love this if it were the case. I would love to see the ability to do Devil May Cry type combos during battle. It will make battles more exiting and more engaging. But that's just my oppinion.

Now I will talk about why I was looking at old trailers: I was looking for something including the recently revealled Odin summon. As I've seen it, most summons seen to be Cybernetic in nature: Shiva is a motorcycle, Ifrit looks like he could become a train system with all those metal smokestacks stiking off of him, Carbuncle is in a CD, and Shiva looks like the AI Cortana in Halo. Odin himself has been described as a "man in armor." But "armor" can easily be the missinterpretation of a "steel chassis," although I haven't seen him yet so...

Anyway, these are just some of my hypotheses. There is no actual proof so this is all conjectur. If I do happen to be right though, I would guess that Bahamut is the Airship.

-13:21, 2 June 2009 (UTC)


The Job Hunt

Many times, people here obsessively refer to characters by a particullar Job (job classes being the classic means of refering to characters). Unfortunately, they resort to this even in refering to games such as VII, VIII and even XII. A debate about jobs even spread to the DNC nomination page in referance to FF7. I believe that people here don't know what a job is. I will attempt to explain. A Job is an occupation (no matter how much you dissent, you cannot change this fact). How do I know this? Because of the word, "Job." If it was not meant to imply "profession," they would have chosen "class" or "type." "But Fang, what about Vincent? There is no job called 'Unemployed.'" That is a separate issue. You will notice that 7 lacks a job system so it does not count. Games that include job systems often follow a separate protocal.
History of Jobs
Jobs appeared for the first time in FFI, likely the reason behind the zealose attribution. Originally, there were 6 job types, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. As the game had no back story, it is difficult to explain it using 1 as an example. Other games in the franchise are better for explaining. 3, again, is problematic as there was originally no back story, and also, I have never played any version of it. However, as the mechanics seem similar to FF5, it is safe to say that "Job" is more a referance to the "job" that they fill in the party. The first best example is actually 4. In this one, job refers to the profession. Cecil, the central protagonist, is a Dark Knight in the Baron Army. This is more equatable with "soldier" or "Marine" in the US military. The same holds true for Kain. Rosa is a White mage, a medic, so to speak. And perhaps the most blatent of them all, Cid is an Engineer. He designs airships for the military, as anyone of his trade might. Though Edward is a prince, he masquerades as a bard. Bard is a profession. All of the magic users act as scholars and scientist in their worlds, each one's field of study, centered in the one dictated by their job. This is similar to 9: Zidane is a theif because he actually commits crimes, Steiner is a Knight because he works as such, Vivi is a black mage because that was his primary function. 5 was not originally released in the US with other installments of the franchise. However, it can work, as the central job of the game is Freelancer. Freelancer is the term for a private soldier who does not directly serve any interest. This is best way to discribe all of the heroes, as all of them have have left their homes in an effort to save the world. But as with 3 (and TA, TA2, and X-2) and is more a referance to job in your party. "But what about Tactics?" As with the previous it follows a job-in-your-party style as with the above. However, unlike the above, there are also some unique jobs assossiated with the unique characters. Ramza is a squire. He is a knight in training (which is what squire means). In chapter 1, he studies in the Academy. Because he never graduated, he never became a knight. Argath (Algus), because of his (blind) loyalty recives that rank. TG Cid is considered by some to be a Saint that weilds a sword, thus he has the title of Sword Saint. Mustadio the Engineer (same deal as before), Balthier the Sky Pirate, Cloud the SOLDIER (given this job to avoid spoilers). These were all profesions, except for Cloud, as there was no guarantee that people had played 7 up to that point, they had to call him Soldier in order to avoid spoiling the game.
The absence to the Classic Job
First inroduced in FF2, Square (now SE) dabbled with the ability to fully customize your party, rather than relying on static jobs. Each character could use any weapon, and learn any magic. All of these character are best refered to as freelancers as no single job can be used to discribe them under all situations. Firion can have a sword and shield on one file and act as a warrior. But another file may give him a lance and white magic. Some of the 4th character tend towards inherent jobs, and in these cases these jobs are their overt profession: Minwu is the White Mage of the Rebellion, Ricard is a Dragoon by trade, Leon is the Dark Knight of the Empire. Eventually, the "whatever-weapon-you-want" was abandoned, but the "magic and skills" remained the same in 7, 8 and to a lesser extent 10(maybe 6 but I haven't played it). By overloading even the biggest brute with magic materia, they can become the equivilent of a black, white or red mage (high magic, low HP and Att). Or if you give Aerith a number of Attack up materia and others to boost what you wouldn't think of boosting, you can make her a fairly good brawler. Many consider Cloud to be a fighter, but if you overload him with magics, his attacks will be weak and he will die in one hit. Unlike 2 though, there is a justificating (though nonsensical) for these jobs. Tifa and Zell fight bare handed. Even though neither have set foot in a monastary, they must be monks.</sarcasm> They both can use magic fairly well, too. This is a feature that is noticably absent from all official monk characters.

10 is a unique case though. Unlike others in this set, everyone is initially set up for a particular speciality. Lulu starts as a black mage, Rikku is the only theif, Auron is the only stat breaker. But as with the above, there are near limitless possibilities. Wakka can jump into Lulu's section to learn magics, Lulu an improve her physical strength by reaching Auron's section, Kimahri branch into anyone's grid and lean everything. You end up with a fully customizable party (except for Yuna's summons).

XII returns to the absolute Weapon, skill and magic freedom abandoned sinse II. You can give Heavy Armor to someone with a dagger and every magic and there is no problem with that. And it remains to be seen but 13 seems to return to a similar mechanism, everyone with unique weapons but can use just about any skill.

In closing
I contend that there are two distinct styles of developement when it comes to unit types: Jobs and Free typing. Jobs force the player to select a preprogrammed type of character with unchangable strengths and weaknesses. Knghts will never be strong mages, and mages will never be stong mages. Free typing enables one to create more variation, focusing on what you need to do at any given time. Say you want Cloud to be focused on lightning magic. You can focus on that. Make him a power house, mech crusher, that is fine. Say you need Zell to kill that Ice monster faster, focus on fire. You can focus on anything you want. Or you can focus on nothing and make them perfect. Become a master of magic but also boost attack. That is fine too, though it takes more time. You can not just focus on weapons to tell the job: though Sephiroth has a Japanese style sword he is not a samurai. He has none of the skill sets assossiated with the job and if you have ever reached Wutai, you know Cloud can get a katana.

-23:57, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Gaming Spotlight: Drakengard

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/A_J_Werefang/Drakengardcover.jpg

"Drakengard" (called Drag-on Dragoon in Japan) is a hack-and-slash action RPG made by Square Enix (yay). It was released only for the PS2 and is rated M by the ESRB for violence and gore.

Story:

A great war rages between the armies of the Union and the Empire. The Empire's objective is to break the goddess seal and bring about the end of the world. The Union fights to protect it. But the empire is unstoppable. At every battle, Union soldiers are slaughtered wholesale. The story begins during a battle at the castle where the goddess is being kept.

Characters:

Caim - "Empire rats; you shall feed the ravens!"

The main protagonist, Caim is the prince of a kingdom destroyed by the empire; he was even forced to watch as his parents were torn apart by Imperial black dragons. This contributes to an extent to his sadistic enjoyment of battle. He has absolute hatred for the empire as well a dragons. However, a severe wound to his back forces him to make a pact with the dragon held captive by the empire. Reluctantly, they exchange hearts; an act that gives him incredible power at the cost of something that he holds dear: his voice, marked by an emblem emblazened on his tongue.

The Red Dragon - "Human castles are all built on sand."

She has little more than contempt for all humans and only forms a pact with Caim because he threatens to kill her otherwise. She can communicate telepathically with Caim and acts as his mouth at times. At first, she does not trust Caim but as they fight together, a bond transending their mutual hatred is formed. She allows Caim to ride on her back and can fight enemies from the air.

Leonard - "I am already dead. Where this body drops and rots is of no matter now."

A man who lived peacefully away from society with his two brothers. As the Empire moved, it deemed this a problem, razed the hermitage to the ground and murdered Leonard's brothers. Seeing his home destroyed and his brothers dead, Leonard attempted to take his own life. However, a faerie tricked him into forming a pact. The cost was his sight, a cost made greater by the fact that the last things that he ever saw were the mutilated bodies of his brothers.

Arioch - "Where are my children?!"

An elf driven mad by the murder of her children. While being held prisoner by the Empire, Undine and Salamander convinced her to form a pact, the cost being her womb. Perhaps that is for the best though, as the madness of her loss causes her to delight in mutilating children and using their lifeless bodies as toys.

Seere - "I-I won't be alone! Golem will be with me. Besides, I became the 'Little Hero.'"

A young boy searching for his sister. Their mother had always treated Seere better than his sister, Manah. Because of this, she ran away, searching for a purpose. During his search, Seere made pact with Golem and eventually joins Caim to face the "Cult of the Watchers."

Verdelet - "I do not understand. It cannot be. Has the last seal been broken?"

The Hierarch, he is responsible for creating the seals that bind the Goddess. These seals keep the gods from bringing about the end of the world. But he is a cowardly old man. He made a pact with a petrified dragon and as a result lost his hair.

Furiae - "I am well...quite well. But what of Inuart?"

She is the goddess, the seal to prevent the end of the world. But the empire seeks to kill her and bring the "Seeds of Resurrection." She is...was Caim's sister before she was cursed with her fate. She is a soft hearted woman and cares more about those around her than herself.

Inuart - "Songs!? I pray for strength!"

Before Furiae became the goddess, she and Inuart were engaged to be married. Now he wants only the strength to protect her. To do so, he forms a pact with an imperial black dragon. The cost: he can no longer make the music that those around him knew him for.

Gameplay:

Drakengard is a hack-and-slash, 3rd-person action game. The story is punctuated by a Chapter and Verse mission selection that allows you to return to older stages of the game with the current weapons and experience. A weapon wheel allows the player to switch between 8 weapons at a time, while a support system allows you to call either Leonard, Arioch or Seere into battle in your stead for a short time. Also, in accordance with the tag line, "Death from above, Chaos below," you can switch between air combat and ground based melee combat thanks to the red dragon. Each weapon has a predefined combo as well as a spell used to fight groups of enemies. These combos, attacks and spells can be made stonger by leveling up the weapons. They also have their own stories and histories behind them that extends the replay value of the game and are unlocked with the levels as well.

Opinion:

I would consider Drakengard to be one of my favorite Square Enix games. The only one ahead would be the sequal, Drakengard 2. A deep and intreguing story and exciting gameplay make the game one of my favorites, even if it is incredibly dark.

--19:05, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

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