Story and Games

[Dark Jaguar]

Exactly, and honestly when I say Vader was evil, I don't mean to say he actually thought "I am going to harm all that is". Most people who are evil really think they are doing what's right. I'm just calling what he does evil despite what he thinks about it, or rather, maybe BECAUSE he was able to rationalize it. lazy has a tendancy to assume a LOT of VERY specific depth when he looks at a story. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't get that specific when I look for depth. I look at a general meaning. Vader being God? There is a lot wrong with that there. Basically the only thing I can see to make that work is the part where Luke exists because of him. Palpatine as God works better than Vader as God! Vader as the anti-christ, NOW we are getting somewhere :D.

I have a hard time compairing great books to great movies myself, because they are, in general, so different. Of course you need focus in a movie, because in that time if you take time to show something else, it actually takes away the impact of the main storyline. However, in a good book I'd like them to go into all manner of subplots at every single opportunity.

I mean, Lord of the Rings reads EXACTLY like an RPG (well, they are based on this work when you get down to it). Our favorite hobbits constantly go on sub quests that have nothing to do with the main storyline. Well, there's a relation if you go back far enough, but as far as story structure often it's just not relevant. In a movie, fine, toss out all the parts where the crew meets Tom Bombadil or gets their legendary weapons from a mini-boss battle in those misty hills. In a book, GIMME THE DETAILS! By the same token, give me those details in games too. Sure, Whelp the stupid snail boss really isn't needed in a movie, at all, and to focus on every single dumb boss battle in one would make for a pretty freakin' stupid movie. When you HAVE all the time in the world though, it's good to expand the story as much as you possibly can. Oh and, yes a lot of those battles don't even do anything for the story in ANY sense, and ARE there for fun and nothing more. That's okay though, it doesn't ruin anything for me.

Here's what I find weird. lazy used to think the story of FF6 was freakin' awesome. He used his depth analysis on it to tell me that the story of FF6 was the story of World War 2, with Kefka as Hitler and Ghestaul as Stalin, or something like that. Somewhere along the lines, lazy either "woke up" and realized it sucked, or as I see it, he "was brainwashed" and "realized" it sucked. I mean, Terra has a great storyline. They could have focused entirely on her, but I would rather they didn't. When they switched focus to other characters, it was nice to expand on them. I liked finding out a lot about the people around Terra, because it made her character better. And, after "the event", Celes suddenly became the star. Now, that's the one part that sorta throws one for a loop. What story suddenly throws away the main character to the side lines to bring out a new one? They really could have eased her into that place with a LOT more forshadowing so you sort of see it coming, that's probably the worst part of the story, that transition there, but AFTER it they do a really good job with her too. "Terra, a scared woman trying to find out her past, fights for selfish reasons at first until her past is revealed. She continues to fight to save the world, but doesn't truly understand the nature of selfless fighting and is still fighting for somewhat selfish goals. After the cataclysm, she becomes afraid to fight at all and simply wishes to take care of a village of children lost after the event. Soon though, after Celes shows her selfless courage, she burns with a fire brighter than she ever had before the event." That's how I saw it anyway, that she changes like twice during the story and it ends with her willing to let go of the very thing she was searching for for most of the first part of the game.