Stats87 said:
Are you seriously criticizing the story of FFIV? It was made in 1991 and at the time the story was as good as it got. It was arguably the first RPG to have actual character development and the moral evolution of Cecil and Kain is huge chunk of the game. FF7 was confusing and overcomplicated? I strongly disagree. I also think you're missing the point of a plot twist, your criticism is the entire point of a plot twist. It's supposed to turn the story upside down and make what you thought was real, no longer true. Hence the word "twist". Example: "Darth Vader killed your father" >>>>> "Darth Vader is your Father". I guess Star Wars: The Last Hope sucks because it was all a lie. FF8, your criticizing the game for having too many things go on, but that is a terrible reason. Are stories not allowed to be about something and have a love story at the same time? I guess Spiderman is stupid because he likes Mary Jane, or Superman is dumb because he loves Lois and wants to stop Lex Luther as well. Stories have a central objective, but often the best stories have sub-plots that help drive the story as a whole. FFX-2 was a cash-in and a fan service, what do you expect? FFXII - Your rant on this game is just stupid. You're picking apart the plot and trying to discredit it through attempts at humor. I guess Star Wars sucks because it has some robotic nimrod in a Dominatrix outfit being given orders by an ugly hunchback. Lord of the Rings is dumb because the central protagonist with hairy feet teams up with some short disgruntled fatass, an androgynous marksman, a geezer and a guy who needs a haircut. You're critcizing the character design, but that's what Fantasy is As for the part about "Political", generally when games involve Government, they get the political tag. Is it a story about Politics? No it isn't. However, it is a story that uses Politics to further the story. Part of your problem is you look at stories only on the surface and don't look deeper into what they're actually trying to say. What the story is about, is not the same as what the story is trying to say. |
Your counter arguments are very weak. I have to ask have you ever read a book in your life? You swallow all those attempts at plot like they were some sort of Shakespeare or Dostoievski books. I can enjoy simple and cliche plots like those in DQ, Lufia or some Tales series. Modern FF games on the other hand are pretentious. Like modernist art where you crap on a golden plate and call it art.
FF7 got annoying plot twists. Your Stars Wars example is pretty stupid. Vader and Luke relation doesn`t affect Last Hope story at all, it makes sense when you watch the movie. A bad plot twist would be something like Alderaan was not destroyed, the Death Star destroyed a Alderaan from the future. The tusken raiders led by Jar Jar Binks descendant from the future used a device to transport the Alderaan from the future and fool Vader. That is a perfect example of no one saw it coming plot twist. It is random, there is no hint in the story and a convenient character is introduced to make it sound reasonable. Look at FF 7 plot: Cloud memories are fake, Tifa conveniently remember things wrong, Sepiroth who was a very rational character turns into a madman. Explain me why he don`t even realize who his parents are? Why he thinks he is some sort of true descendant from the planet (Cetra) when his parents are human and Jenova is not even a Cetra? Why important plot events like Lucrecia experiment are learned through a very short sidequest? Those things are never explained in a reasoble manner they just present them and hope you get it.
FF 8 problem isn`t too many things, it is lack of focus. You start out as some mercenary, then you fight against an evil country/empire, then you must assassinate an evil sorceress, the you die, then you wake up in prison and is alive. then you defeat the evil sorceress but learn she was the one who created you and all your party members like her own sons and convenietly you forgot all about it, then your friends try get you and Rinoa together, the evil sorceress spirit manifest in her, then you must go to the moon to kill the sorceress, then you have a date into a Alien (the movie) like ship and finally you kill the sorceress so that Squall can overcame his gay urges for Seifer and experience his first kiss with Rinoa. It may be oversimplificating, but that is the problem with bad plots, they are told in a way you never see the whole picture just the small bits. As for the movie examples, they are retarded. Superman and Spiderman don`t spend 20-30% of their screen time discussing their relationships. Every character save for Rinoa and Squall are forgotten after the first disc. Almost every charater development after that point is about the two getting closer. It get pretty annoying, there is no time for flirting, you must save the world. When did Spiderman put Mary Jane above NY safety? In the comics and cartoons they break up several times because Parker is always late.
FF 12 is crap just face it. I was not trying to be funny, not at all. The fact that you think I was trying to make a joke is funny, I was just describing the game. Out of all the 6 characters only 3 got reasons to fight. The other 3 are just in for the ride. So you think that a princess without a kingdom would fight against an entire empire with random people trying to loot her castle? Basch, Fran and Balthier can fight why would the princess choose random orphans that got no reason or experience to help her? The clothes are extravagant and ridiculous. Everyone save for Balthier is either semi naked or using urban culture fashionable acessories. That doesn`t help against the monsters. You may use the strawman argument and say that it is a fantasy game, fantasy settings, it doesn`t need to be realistic yadda yadda yadda. However the game is set to be the most realistic FF so far. It is pretty lame that you spend most of your time hunting for magic rocks to destroy the evil empire when they go as far as to make a detailed setting for the world. Your Star Wars and LoR analogies are lame. Why don`t you attack the plot and dress code like I did? Why talk about side characters and not the main ones? Since when fat, old, ugly, deformed and strange haircut are ridiculous characteristics for fictional characters? Hairy Feet and androgyouns match the races the characters belong to. If those guys were semi naked and dressed in skin tight leather then you would have a point. Political the way you use it is political in the loose sense. Every game made by men is political in this sense. If you wanna see a example of political focused plot game play The Bully or Fire Emblem series.
That last part made me a little angry. I can`t look beyond the surface? It is more like you are too busy worshiping SE to accept valid criticism. Do you really think those games had some sort of deep lesson to teach. They are a bunch of cliches made with a certain demographic in mind. Someone write a scenario and then SE just add things to suit their fans tastes (that is why some characters usually have little to no importance to the plot). Did you know Tifa was not in the original FF 7? Guesswhy they added her? Squaresoft though she was a good character to reach the target audience (read geeks). Vaan was not the main character into the initial stages of FF 12. He wasn`t even a character. SE added him because the fans seem to love pretty boys with feminine looks. Why does the girls in FF 12 dress like hookers? Because that is what fans love. If you really think there is a deep message in the games feel free to tell me. The best I can think of is that FF 7 tell us that to save the nature. Ironically everything important in the game is made with use of eletricity or materia.
Satan said:
"You are for ever angry, all you care about is intelligence, but I repeat again that I would give away all this superstellar life, all the ranks and honours, simply to be transformed into the soul of a merchant's wife weighing eighteen stone and set candles at God's shrine."
