As a teenage girl gamer during the Playstation one era, I was introduced to my favorite video game fandom, Final Fantasy. Though they were my first ones, I liked them so much that I played the older ones. Now an adult, I recently decided to retro play Final Fantasy VII and VIII after not playing them for about ten or so years. What a difference time makes.
Like many people, I was introduced to the series with Final Fantasy VII. Regardless of franchise history, it was a solid game
on its own. It lived up to the hype it was given back in the day and my
thirteen year old self thought it was the greatest thing ever. Back then, I
believed Sephiroth was the ultimate villain. The most evil thing ever spawned
in a game. Playing as an adult though, I
saw it in an entirely different light. Instead of actually evil, Sephiroth came
off as just mentally disturbing. This is turn made me think the following: “Other
than his serious psychological issues, what exactly did he accomplish as a
villain?” Okay, I’ll be the first to admit he gave us truly memorable moments,
such as burning Nibelheim and killing Aeris, but there wasn’t much character
development after both of those events. I kept telling myself that “it’s okay, he’ll
do something else later on”, because I remember worshipping him on the altar of
villainy back in the day, but it never happened. I did however, find myself
appreciating the protagonist, Cloud, instead. There’s something to be said
about his practical nature and straight-to-the-point attitude. He is a revenge
driven hero, and everything he saves along the way is a bonus. Granted, he’s
still a messed up individual, but even after his ordeals, he resolves his
issues by admitting he’s messed up and moves on. Considering the world is
ending at that point and only the cast can save it, I’d say that’s a pretty
good attitude to take. I just feel bad that in the sequels (Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus), they took his practical attitude away and
turned him into an even bigger emotional mess than when he was all crazy in the
lifestream.  |
| No you're not. Stop being weird and poison a village or something. |
Then came Final
Fantasy VIII. I used to love this game, even with its faulty gameplay
mechanics and peculiar plot though I hated the cast. I thought everyone was
bland and stupid. Replaying it, I found that I still dislike the entire cast of
this game but for different reasons. Surprisingly, I still hate Squall as a
character, but found myself justifying his frigid attitude. Squall is an insecure,
seventeen year old introvert with abandonment issues who has the simple goal of
being a really good mercenary. While I understand heroes are meant to grow and
change, in his case it seems as though his world is conspiring to make his life
miserable. Squall’s school apparently supports bullying since it makes Seifer, everyone’s
tormentor, the head of the disciplinary committee. His eighteen year old
teacher constantly flirts with him (even though he shows no interest in her)
and eventually he gets stuck with two idiots and a perverted sniper who fail at
everything. Rinoa, the love interest, pretty much decides she’s his girlfriend at
some point I must’ve missed, because I can’t recall a time before she falls
into a coma where we actually see them bonding. The two scenes where they do
bond include a wonderful dance scene where she was actually looking for a guy
she used to date and a concert which ended in an argument. Apparently almost
every adult is incompetent, which results in causing pretty much every single
problem in the game. Considering everyone around him is either tormenting him, incompetent
or part of the mercenary version of Saved
by the Bell, I can’t really blame his attitude either. To be honest, I can
definitely understand why Twilight is
so famous. Squall and Rinoa are the Final
Fantasy equivalent of Edward and Bella. She has zero personality and he is
a ball of personified, yet justified angst. Together, they lack even base
chemistry. Sound familiar? I wonder if Squall wears all that leather to hide
his sparkles.
 |
| Pictured: Squall and his angst, his perverted sniper and airhead #1 |
Looking back, I realized that I had outgrown the heroes and
stories I once loved. These stories are immensely flawed and their characters have
the minimum required traits needed to impress a young crowd. They’re meant to pander
to teenagers. They aren’t 100% bad games and though I look at them with
nostalgia, I’m no longer their target audience.
But outgrowing our heroes isn’t always a bad thing. Fandoms
are ready to give us new ones. Pop Culture is all about growth and evolution
and as human beings we should be about that as well. While it’s great to look
back on our heroes with nostalgia, we have to realize that sometimes a badass
villain is really just a dude with a need for a psychologist or that a teenage
emo mess is just an introvert stuck in a relationship with his rival’s sloppy
seconds.
In fact, now that I think about it, both games
seem more amusing to me with this new perspective. I wonder how Final Fantasy IX will pan out.
Currently Listening To: Maybe I'm a Lion- The Black Mages
Book on My Nightstand: Batman: A Death in the Family
On my TV: Game of Thrones (season 1, episode 1)
Currently Retro gaming: Lunar: Eternal Blue
Random Pop Culture Thought of the Day: "Edit recap...Put picture of Mary Winchester or chandelier hangman Sam? Maybe crying Dean....? Decisions...."
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