Platypus of Truth

I finished the Steam port of SquareEnix's Final Fantasy III . It took me a year, and having to go all the way back to the start to relearn the job system, but I did it. Final Fantasy III  is a role player's RPG. The job system makes the characters much more customize-able than other early titles in the series and the lack of save points in dungeons make proper supply and strategy non-negotiable. All-in-all, it's the most difficult classic role playing game that I've encountered -no wonder it took so long to hit the U.S. market. That said, however, what would have been a disadvantage when I was a kid is now a major selling point of the game. Final Fantasy III  requires and rewards thought and care as players delve into its lushly imagined world -and a delightful world it is! The tone is light and upbeat with its Funkopop-like animation and sense of high adventure, but without the kiddieness of a Secret of Mana (though it also should be noted that there are no moments...

Major Connecticut hero, minor video game character Places can become ways of seeing things, but things can also become ways of seeing places.  I discussed this in regard to books in the previous post , but today I'd like to take a moment and extend the concept to video games. Games can also be a way of seeing.  In fact, we should expect this since video and computer games are primarily a visual medium.  An abnormally frosty morning in North Houston can be transformed for a group of teenage boys just by playing the first notes of the Skyrim theme.  Eyes light up, slack faces crack into a smile, and immediately their imaginations begin to spin.  The chill frost and bleak landscape they were complaining about a minute ago is transformed into a wide world of adventure with a wilderness of dragons.  In my youth, games like Secret of Mana   and The Legend of Zelda   colored the way I saw my surroundings.  Exploring the woods, or canoeing, o...

Why do we love to explore? I've played Squaresoft's "Secret of Mana" through more times than I care to count.  As I've stated earlier, it has sentimental value to me.  In the final analysis, however, sentimental value only goes so far.  So why do I keep playing. It's a fair question.  Look at the map.  You'll see that the world of "Secret of Mana" is no where near as complex as that of "Final Fantasy III."   In addition, the English dialog is simple to the point of being facile; though, from what I hear, that's not the translator's fault.  The whole look of the game is brightly colored and rather on the "cutesy" side.  The only place where it really measures up to the Final Fantasy series is in the soundtrack which is beautiful and moving, especially considering the primitive tools they had to work with.  All that said, I still love this game. So what's so great about "Secret of Mana?"  In two wo...

Secret of Mana Did I waste time on video games as a kid? No. When I was growing up, there was always plenty else to do. I walked in the woods, made movies with my friends, painted miniatures, and went to youth group, among other things. I had good friends and there was a lot to do growing up in rural southern Connecticut. So what was the lure of video games? In my family, and in my circle of friends, video games were a social sport. We picked hard and detailed games to play that encouraged cooperation and creative problem solving. The first thing my brother and I ever did together (I mean really together) was to beat "Secret of Mana." My sister used to sit and watch, and occasionally got in on the action as well. That memory will stick with me till the day I die. I have so many memories of sitting in the basement and penning a map, or slogging through a guidebook as my friends and I tried to crack a particularly tough puzzle. There were the soda ceremonies m...