230: Get the Hell Out Of Dodge

[The Cake Is Annoying]

Beginning areas usually suck and drain lots of replay out of the game. I'm looking at you Taris.

+1.
I don't enjoy replaying KOTOR for the same reason I don't enjoy playing FF7. It feels like breaking out of a prison. But replaying the game? Its like asking for solitary confinement. I'm not that much of a masochist. And the second time around, the feel of everything being on rails makes it even drearier.

I'll say this for MMORPGs, at least you might talk to someone new, some new experience. For all the idiocy of many of the users in them, there's always the moments of new, original stimuli.

 

[F1ak3r]

I really enjoy these articles of yours, Brendan Main. Keep up the good work.

 

[ReverseEngineered]

This is a similar feeling I had with Fallout 3.

Spoiler: Spoiler: Describes the plot of the first half of the game.

You start the game in what seems to be paradise, but you quickly learn that you're living in a prison, a hell hole. The only thing there that you have any attachment to -- your father -- leaves without word and forces you to leave too. Now you are left to your own devices, wandering around a world that is barren and brutish. Most people don't want to talk to you, and several want to kill you. There is lots to explore, but little to see, and most people are too flat and uninteresting to really make a connection with. For hours, it seems that everything is a huge, empty world with no promise at all. Hardly the thing you care to save.

Then eventually you find your father and feel that you've finally found your place again. Your dad's enthusiasm is infectious and you are happy to follow his lead and work for his pride. But just as you start to feel at home again, he's dead and you are left out in the world on your own again.

This is where I quit. I was back where I started, with no motivation to save the world I was in. Perhaps this is what BioWare intended: the feeling of helplessness and disinterest in your own world. Surely this is what their inhabitants felt like. The only reason to go on was to give yourself something to do. There was no motivation to save the world, no point to reaching the goal: the inhabitants, like the player, continued on because they had nothing better to do.

But unlike the inhabitants of that barren wasteland, I had my own goals that were worth accomplishing. There were other games to play and friends to see. So I set the game aside on the shelf.

It's a great game. I'm happy to have purchased the collector's edition and I enjoyed playing it, but I would never finish it, because after having discovered what the game was about, there was nothing left to enjoy. Sure, there were challenges to overcome and an interesting story to unfold, but I had been so convinced of the pointlessness of saving this barren world that I had no interest in seeing it saved.

The narrative was excellent. Perhaps too good. In the process of making me believe the hopelessness of the world, I too felt no desire to see it through.

 

[SamODJ]

I loved Midgar, strangely, but didn't notice until I had finished the game once or twice. It seems to take up such a massive portion of what I recall when I think about Final Fantasy 7. In particular, the lead up to the climax where you assault the Shin-ra building: the one on one fight with Rufus, as well as the FMV of Cloud acquiring the bike, were real standouts.

Midgar seems like a pretty brave step for the start of a JRPG. I think in some ways it actually gave quite a western portrayal of a city. Come to think of it, the styling of Midgar reminds me a fair bit of some of the design of Final Fantasy 6, although this may simply be due to some of the more industrial themes involved.

 

[Atheist.]

You forgot to add

Spoiler

And then Aeris dies.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

whinny'snip

If you have to ask...its over your head...

Oh and crisis core sucks BTW no wonder its stuck on the crappy PSP!

Nothing substantial to say, so you stoop to insults and attacks. Oh, I do love the internet.
In order...

(your first comment) I know what it's about. I'm just saying, there's no POINT. It offers nothing new other than someone's opinion and a lot of flowery writing.

(your second comment) I have no end of rants about the PSP (why doesn't it project holograms? Why?), the DS (two small screens is pussing out: they should have made a 17" one with a subwoofer...) and pretty much every other game system out there, but you know what? I'm too lazy to build such a device or program games for it, so I'm going to let companies like Nintendo and Sony do that for me.

And lastly, if you think Crisis Core sucks, then I guess it's just over your head....

 

[Bellerophone]

What a brilliant article! Final Fantasy VII is one of those games that is truly art. There's an energy around that game that keeps drawing people back in.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

whinny'snip

If you have to ask...its over your head...

Oh and crisis core sucks BTW no wonder its stuck on the crappy PSP!

Nothing substantial to say, so you stoop to insults and attacks. Oh, I do love the internet.
In order...

(your first comment) I know what it's about. I'm just saying, there's no POINT. It offers nothing new other than someone's opinion and a lot of flowery writing.

(your second comment) I have no end of rants about the PSP (why doesn't it project holograms? Why?), the DS (two small screens is pussing out: they should have made a 17" one with a subwoofer...) and pretty much every other game system out there, but you know what? I'm too lazy to build such a device or program games for it, so I'm going to let companies like Nintendo and Sony do that for me.

And lastly, if you think Crisis Core sucks, then I guess it's just over your head....

Being grammatically correct dose not equate to being substantial, dial back the trying to hard hate/cynicism a tad and you might enjoy it more, tho I guess all that modern gaming has decayed and warped what you are suppose to by cynical about.....*rolls eyes*....

 

[Tequila Shot]

I looked at the Midgar level at an opposite view too. The nihilist atmosphere and Orwellian structure appealed to me greatly (though that could be my adoration for George Orwell and Dostoyevsky). Compared to lingering, confusing story that is the outcome of the Sepheroth chase portion of the game, the beginning was much more coherant and accessible plot wise.

Note: Everyone in gaming has to admit it's hard to make a consistent, sensible plot that lasts 60 hours! The plots in games that are best reviewed, (Uncharted 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Monkey Island), usually have 10-20 hours in the main story. Plots like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy are bound to confusing plot holes or have slow parts in the plot

This is why it's hard to see a good plot in a book or movie like Grapes of Wrath or The Godfather and say, "Why don't game writers make plots like these?"
Books and movies have linear stories and have no impact from you controlling the characters; Metal Gear Solid borrows most from cinematic techniques with long character development and story building, wether you like that or not is your taste.

Sorry for going off topic, but I believe wether you like Final Fantasy VII or not relies heavily on how much you care for a plot. Personally, I always appreciated a good story which why I hold games like Metal Gear Solid and Bioshock very high and, unlike most gamers I talk to, ffvii wasn't my first RPG. Odd enough, that would be FFX. Weird huh? X my favorite FF but I think that's understandable with it being my first.

 

[AgentNein]

It's funny because (while I was and still am a fan of FF7) I thought that the only part of FF7 that really, truly nailed solid the themes and atmosphere of the game, was Midgar.

I'll frequently go back to FF7 if only to play through Midgar, and stop right after the motorcycle escape at the end.

 

[GermanQR]

What a beautifully written piece. Videogames can be art. Videogame writing can be poetry.

You've got a new fan here.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I looked at the Midgar level at an opposite view too. The nihilist atmosphere and Orwellian structure appealed to me greatly (though that could be my adoration for George Orwell and Dostoyevsky). Compared to lingering, confusing story that is the outcome of the Sepheroth chase portion of the game, the beginning was much more coherant and accessible plot wise.

Note: Everyone in gaming has to admit it's hard to make a consistent, sensible plot that lasts 60 hours! The plots in games that are best reviewed, (Uncharted 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Monkey Island), usually have 10-20 hours in the main story. Plots like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy are bound to confusing plot holes or have slow parts in the plot

This is why it's hard to see a good plot in a book or movie like Grapes of Wrath or The Godfather and say, "Why don't game writers make plots like these?"
Books and movies have linear stories and have no impact from you controlling the characters; Metal Gear Solid borrows most from cinematic techniques with long character development and story building, wether you like that or not is your taste.

Sorry for going off topic, but I believe wether you like Final Fantasy VII or not relies heavily on how much you care for a plot. Personally, I always appreciated a good story which why I hold games like Metal Gear Solid and Bioshock very high and, unlike most gamers I talk to, ffvii wasn't my first RPG. Odd enough, that would be FFX. Weird huh? X my favorite FF but I think that's understandable with it being my first.

I think FF4 and FF6 has the best story FF7 is abit all over the place FF8 the story centers more around the characters but is not that well grounded at times,FF 9 is...well....simple and spastic at times. FFX is better but annoys me as much as 8's I mean its like the main hero like his father befor him come from dream land to save the real world thats a chaotic dream of an over sized island eating fish.... its almost like Links awaking on acid made by FF fan girls....oh wait that's FFX2..... FF12 well..... its like a mix 8,9 and 10.....only with anything awesome tossed out becuse its too cool for our pretentious selfs.........

it seems I am ranting again ><

 

[gamegod25]

To be honest I never played FF VIII, but like Yahtzee I don't play games that "get better later on". I can understand the message but messages should never get in the way of gameplay.

 

[ZaCloud]

@ the author:
What the hell was the point of this article, anyway? I didn't need the opening chapter of FF7 recounted through someone's emo-glasses for me, and I certainly didn't need this guy pooh-poohing what was a beautiful, satisfying gaming experience for me and a lot of other players.
(snip)
So please, english major, appreciate the city and its chapter for what it is: damn good writing and solid, beautiful design.

Uhhhh... he WAS appreciating it for what it was. He was going into the depths of emotion the whole place can bring out in the player. Even you went into detail there, and that's the exact same thing. He was just giving a flavor going with the theme that it starts off in a dark place, then went into detail as to just how WELL DONE that darkness was. How Midgar has such character as a city, that it makes you CARE about what's going on.

That's not emo, and it's the OPPOSITE of pooh-poohing. He started off writing in a way that I, in fact, got ticked off at too... I was like "What?! He's gonna insult Midgar?! I LOVED Midgar!" So I started reading... and it became a bait-and-switch. Rather than complaining, it praised, just displaying how much we as humans often tolerate emotional stories and come out feeling fulfilled and satisfied. It put into words WHY so many of us loved Midgar, just in a way we probably never thought about.

Sorry, but if you DON'T feel for a deep story like that, then you're missing out on the depths that life has to offer. He wrote thoughtfully enough that it's CLEAR (if you actually read) that he doesn't look at ALL of life that way. It was just the flavor he chose for this article, and one of many perspectives for Midgar. He didn't hate Midgar, he appreciated it in loving detail.

I found it to be enjoyable, and could relate to it fully by the end. My eyes even teared up. Every month or so, it seems like folks find new ways in which this game had a LOT of thought put into how it was paced and structured. It's why so many of us still love it after so long.

Thanks for the great read, Mr. Main. It really gave me one more layer to add to my ever-thick love of this game. It may have started off like a complaint article, but... I see what you did thar.

 

[Dhatz]

these experiences are worth a million, only the best games can give meaning to certain stuff. weapons in CODMW2 are just a bunch of samey suff that varies in accuracy or rate of fire, and no weapon feels magically better than any other. Yet games like GTA IV present you with city full of crap cars, and story shows how awesome in the Infernus or the staggering rarity of meeting a SuperGT(but this is later spawned parked on a certain place), this kinda feels like the bulletproof hummer from GTA III. Having these cars makes you not wanting to care about all supercars in GTA IV having the same maximum speed.

 

[Tequila Shot]

Actually, I'll have to completely agree with you there. As much as I love FFX, there's no getting around Tidus being a BAD character. Bubbly, simple, and idiotic; the only thing that stemmed his stink for me was how much I loved the supporting characters especially Auron (as you could probably tell by my avatar =} ). To be honest, I've never finished playing FF6!
Before everyone throws plasma grenades at me, I know it's considered to have the best plot in FF history, but when your young, you're very impressionable so even if I play FF6 know (which I know I should!) it probably won't have the same impact that FFX did have on me when I was a kid; regardless wether FF6 has a better plot, characters, and game play.

Know what I mean?

 

[RicoTheSaboteur]

I very distinctively remember being extremely disappointed when playing the game for the first time and leaving Midgar. Not because I enjoyed being in the grim city, but because that game that was so original, so unlike any of the Final Fantasy games I played before (namely IV, V and VI), suddenly fell back to the classic structure of the franchise. A world map. Damn.

The game proved later to still have some originalities up its sleeves, but more than being in awe at the potential size of the game world, more than feeling liberated by going from the grey city to the lush nature, leaving Midgar, I felt that my amazing 32-bit game shrank to 16-bit.

 

[DanDeFool]

I remember when I first started playing FFVII, at first I thought Midgar was all there was. I thought my party would spend the entire game inside the city.

(Edit: Though I did start getting a little suspicious when I was 10+ hours into the game and hadn't seen a single weapon upgrade for Cloud.)

When I first stepped out of the city, instead of being happy to escape that urban disaster, I found myself feeling a little anxious. I thought, "We're leaving behind that huge, vast city ALREADY?! Why? There's so much to do there! So much still to explore! And we're running away from the Shinra Corporation! We still have seven more mako reactors to blow up!"

Little did I know that I would soon have to explore an entire world, upon which Midgar was little more than a mouldering concrete zit. Still, throughout most of the rest of the game I found myself looking forward to the day in which I would return to that dark city and finish what I started.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

If you have to ask...its over your head...its about the depth of of the midgar section of FF7 and some nostalgia whoring and possible lament over they don;t make them like they use to.

A nostalgia whore! That's a bit better than an emo-english major. Looks like I'm moving up in the world!

Which is good. Papa needs that thirtieth black turtleneck like gangbusters.

You ain't an Emo English Major OR a Nostalgia whore unless you got a BERET to go with that. *snaps fingers*