Words Of Wisdom on 13 April 2008
| Final-Fan said: The reason I put "backstory" into quotes is that it's not actually backstory, but by the time we see him as the game's primary baddie we have already seen a lot of him; we have that history of him, even if we don't know much from the time before the opening credits. He isn't as developed as Terra or Cyan or Relm or a lot of the other characters but there is development, or at least advancement. I get the feeling you won't be happy until you see an outline of how he got from (presumably) normal baby to fucking psycho. I actually misspoke earlier; when I played through the game it didn't seem to me that he started out as "completely loony tunes". It seemed to me that he started out as a power-hungry sadist, somewhat insane but not unable to function in society (given that the society gave him an outlet for his homicidal tendencies), progressing to more like the Joker, unable to contain his lust for carnage, and finally getting to live out his awful dreams with the powers of a god. Unless I'm misremembering (and you've replayed the game a lot more recently than I have) there's not ZERO character development. By the way, what does BBEG mean? Sorry if you mentioned it earlier but I just skimmed all your posts in this thread and didn't spot it offhand. One-liners? Are you sure you're not exaggerating? I remember extensive dialogue. He talks a lot about himself and his plans, even if it's pretty much monomaniacal rants about destroying people or things (and, eventually, about destroying everyone and everything). I'm sorry, please make up your mind on whether optional quests are valid story elements. And didn't you say he is the one who is responsible for the World of Ruin? Every instance you see of suffering and hardship as a result of that planetary disaster (and almost all the places you run into are to some degree devastated) is a result of his actions. Kefka has more character development in the course of the game IMO than the Joker gets, although it's been a decade since I watched BTAS extensively and I never read the comics. Sure, we get more true backstory on the Joker, detailing his past and "origin", but after he shows up as the Joker how much does he really change? At all? Do you like Kefka more now that you know all about his past? |
BBEG means "Big Bad Evil Girl/Guy." Final bosses or highly significant arch-enemies qualify for the title. ^_^
About the one-liners, I'm definitely exaggerating... to a point. In the end it comes down to those were the only things memorable about him which isnt' a good thing.
Again, whatever his actions were, they never did anything for me. I was less angry with him for creating WoR than I was annoyed that I couldn't just put a sword in him and move on to a more interesting villain.
As far as character development outside the game, I don't much care. If it's not in the game, it's not really canon to me and it shouldn't be weighed in the game's value. ^_^
