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Steampunk Platypus Part V


It's done.  It took fifteen years, but it's done.  I have finally finished Final Fantasy III.  Not exactly big news, but there you have it.  As I've been working my way through this SNES classic, I've tried to put down my thoughts about why this video game has done so well over the years.  After finishing FFIII, I have some final thoughts to share.

Kefka, the villain of the story, reminds me of nothing so much as Heath Ledger's Joker.  He is the clown who gets the "joke" of modernity: the world is utterly meaningless, yet humans run around acting as if there's some point to life.  Infused with the god-like power of magic (an obvious analog for technology in the game) Kefka seeks to share the joke with the rest of humanity by slowly destroying the world.  Against this assault of nihilistic fury, the protagonists find strength to resist in the community that they have created.  Together, they challenge Kefka's nihilistic project by asserting that they have created their own reasons for living.  The two points of view are, of course, irreconcilable and an all-mighty knock-down-drag-out ensues with all twelve principle characters taking on Kefka as Lucifer on a lovecraftianly-blasphemous multi-story throne complete with an organ fugue.

You couldn't ask for a more gen x/mosaic storyline.  It's all here; nihilism, angst, created community, radical authenticity, and existentialism.  Final Fantasy III is the perfect mass-market post-modern icon.  That's ultimately why it keeps selling.

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