Bah. (Second impressions of FFX-2)
May. 6th, 2006 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auronluI'm finally stumbling across some glimmers of depth and plot at the beginning of Chapter 3, but UGH, ugh, ugh, the world is totally populated by annoying, arrogant, political, greedy, and/or asinine characters.
I much prefer less realistic games where one's opponents tend to be dastardly, malevolent, evil, and/or so inhuman that they stomp people like bugs.
I don't really like the Gullwings when they're being the Gullwings. I'm not really sure I like Nooj. I know LeBlanc and friends need to be dropped off a cliff. So do all the opportunists taking advantage of Zanarkand and the Calm Lands. My old buddy Rin... oh, Rin, I liked you, but I always had the feeling you weren't just gouging us to make a quick gil, you actually were supporting your own people! Isaaru's even stranger.
And...um... Lulu?
I know you don't wanna risk being zapped by a flan or something while you're pregnant, but could you please sneak out and zap that horrid Beclam person? He looks like Yojimbo, just to make matters worse. I don'tk now why, but those bird-masks creep the heck out of me.
At least Buddy's cool. My brief glimpse of Baralai before we beat the snot out of him made him seem like a good fellow (I'm a sucker for good voices). I just want to kill Brother. A lot.
I sense there will be enough plot to satisfy me sooner or later, but unfortunately it promises to include a lot of politics. Politics in RL annoys me enough without having to face it in a game. If I want it, I just have to turn on the news, drop by my local online community, or faculty lounge. Babylon 5 is the only fictional game, series, or story whose politics I found interesting.
I much prefer less realistic games where one's opponents tend to be dastardly, malevolent, evil, and/or so inhuman that they stomp people like bugs.
I don't really like the Gullwings when they're being the Gullwings. I'm not really sure I like Nooj. I know LeBlanc and friends need to be dropped off a cliff. So do all the opportunists taking advantage of Zanarkand and the Calm Lands. My old buddy Rin... oh, Rin, I liked you, but I always had the feeling you weren't just gouging us to make a quick gil, you actually were supporting your own people! Isaaru's even stranger.
And...um... Lulu?
I know you don't wanna risk being zapped by a flan or something while you're pregnant, but could you please sneak out and zap that horrid Beclam person? He looks like Yojimbo, just to make matters worse. I don'tk now why, but those bird-masks creep the heck out of me.
At least Buddy's cool. My brief glimpse of Baralai before we beat the snot out of him made him seem like a good fellow (I'm a sucker for good voices). I just want to kill Brother. A lot.
I sense there will be enough plot to satisfy me sooner or later, but unfortunately it promises to include a lot of politics. Politics in RL annoys me enough without having to face it in a game. If I want it, I just have to turn on the news, drop by my local online community, or faculty lounge. Babylon 5 is the only fictional game, series, or story whose politics I found interesting.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 08:09 pm (UTC)The things I love are Frodo's courage (especially his confrontation at the Fords of Bruinen), the interactions between him and Sam in dire circumstances, Faramir's despair in trying to do the right thing, the bittersweet fading of the Elves and the loss of beautiful things, the epic destruction of Gondolin (I adore Book of Lost Tales 2), the romance of Beren and Lúthien, the selflessness of Finrod Felagund, the last march of the Ents, the songs and poetry, Éowyn's face-off with the Nazgûl, Gandalf's spark of humor and quick temper, the rich history of the world, the wonder of the Valar, the magic of the Elves, Aragorn's kindness and sternness and nobility and roguishness...
See any parallels with X? I really am attracted to the individual characters, the history of a world, and feelings of beauty and loss and tragedy and people enduring against insane odds. And love.
I found the Scouring of the Shire uncomfortable, and the Elf/Dwarf conflicts sad and difficult to handle. Thingol's idiot feuding with the Dwarves is not one of my favorite moments in history, any more than the painful, painful Kinslayings of the First Age. Beren thrusting his hand into the Wolf's maw to save Tinúviel, Frodo choosing to go on alone to Mordor to spare his friends, or Faramir's "Alas for Boromir" speech were far more powerful to me.
The myths that appeal to me are those that deal with tragedy, courage, hope, wonder, beauty, magic, loss, letting go, sacrifice, compassion, service to others, death, despair, and love. Best of all if we get to know and care about the people and the places affected by or enacting or enduring these events.