A few years back I was going through a bit of a personal crisis where I felt like I had screwed up my entire life. I thought I was going to school in the wrong place and for the wrong major and I thought I had picked the wrong job and done a lot of wrong things and I just felt terrible. It wasn’t a particularly happy time in my life, and what’s worse is that this funk went on for weeks.
But you know what finally lifted me out of that phase?
Final Fantasy 6.
I replayed Final Fantasy 6 and so many characters in that game were dealing with the past and by the end pretty much all of them had learned some vital lesson and moved on. I identified with Cyan’s story in particular, and you would not believe the catharsis that was battling the monster that personified his personal demons. After that game something amazing happened. Suddenly I wasn’t feeling too bad about myself anymore. I mean, Locke and the gang had to deal with family members dying and a psychotic clown trying to take over the world. How impossible could my own problems be?
It wasn’t the first time video games had inspired me. I played Zelda: Ocarina of Time during a rough patch in my high school years when I was moving to a new school and I was scared as heck. But look, it’s Link, with the Triforce of Courage. It’s hard to articulate exactly how a pointy-eared kid in a green tunic who never talked became a personal hero to me at the time, but the fact is that he did.
Sometimes the “are video games art?” argument gets tossed around various forums and blogs. I’m probably not the best person to ask regarding the question, since I’m that girl who looks at a well-designed chair and declares it a piece of artwork.
I can say, though, that video games have uplifted me, inspired me, and touched my heart in a variety of ways, and I’m not afraid to admit it.
And, ya know, that sort of legacy is not too shabby for any type of entertainment.
Very well-put, imo. People seem far too willing to give TV the same kinda credit that you give video games – but they’d be the same to scoff at the idea that video games can be anything more than “mindless entertainment”.
I find ’em inspiring, too. I cannot brain so that is all you’re getting from me todaaay.
Man. I could start getting ready for school… or I could boot up FF6.
Decisions. Decisions indeed…
That’s FF3 to us Yanks. 🙂
But it’s way too confusing to call it FF3.
FF3/6! The best Final Fantasy! <3
FF6 is indeed a good game. My favorite is still 8, though.. Squall/Rinoa is so fuckin’ cute. Plus, I mean, they have a spaceship shaped like a dragon. Sure, Squall is a bit dumb sometimes and I really wanna slap some sense into him occasionally, but his stupid heroics (like when he jumps off the palace to chase down Edea, leading to Big Boss FIght #1) and how adorable the two of them ae more than make up for it.
I never finished 3/6, but beat 7-10.
i still own and occasionally play 7,8,9,10, 10-2, 12, and recently bought 13
I never could get into tactics tho.
8 was good, i liked the junction system, 7 was probably the most fun till blitzball came out with 10. the jury is still out on 13, haven’t gotten very far yet.
@vespers i agree squall does some dumb things, but the storyline is great.
3/6 and 7 are, in my opinion, the best FFs there are. 13 is fun, but there is NO exploration at all. It’s maps on rails straight through, with the occasional obvious offshoot on the map where a chest is. ‘Hey there is a dead end here, and there has been nothing else on the map at all, nothing could be over there…’
Maybe that changes in the last Chapter or two, but I was nearly done with the game when I got bored and angry that I wasn’t running around a world map. No grinding good, no exploration, bad.
Okay, so I know this post is, like, a month old, but I always knew that game was magical.
And look what it did for you. =D
….I may or may not be mildly or compulsively obsessed with this game.