Call It What You Will

He says he loves you, and you believe him. He says no one will ever be able to love you like he does, and you believe him. You love him. Truly, deeply, wholeheartedly and a good helping of other sincerity-infused adverbs.

He demands exclusivity, which is fair, I’ll grant. He is your provider, your refuge. What would you be without him?

Yet criticism is out of the question because, obviously, he’s perfect. You learn to dismiss any misgivings or questions people have about him because they don’t know him like you do. What you have is special. It can’t be explained to outsiders, because they don’t see what you see, how wonderful and radiant he is. What basis would they even have to criticise? He chose you, and you chose him! To hell with scoffers, right?

How conveniently you ignore the fact that he takes credit, or rather you give him credit, for the things you achieve. You work hard and achieve them because he enables you to. Or because he somehow curried favour with those who may have given you a push. It’s never him directly, but in your mind it’s always him ultimately.

How conveniently you ignore the fact that everything that ever goes wrong is your fault, even when you can’t say how. When you really need him to step up, he does not; and it’s because of something you did, or failed to do.

He is in control of you, and you are essentially aware of it, because he tells you he can take care of you better than you can. And you believe him. He prefers you be friends only with people who explicitly approve of him. He would like you to put in a good word to those who are indifferent to or wary of him; or, failing that, cut them off. You trust him, so you go along with it.

Let’s face it: it is reprehensible, and I am sure you have felt the frustration of seeing someone dear to you stay in, and even vehemently defend, such an arrangement. I am sure you have felt the powerlessness that comes with not doing anything about it because you don’t have the right to interfere with expressed wishes, nor the ability to make your dear one see what is obvious to you.

A relationship? No, that’s not what this is, unless you mean it in the loosest sense, the way my fingers have a “relationship” with the keys they strike as I type. This isn’t a relationship. This isn’t love, and if you insist it is, I can’t have much respect for him, the one discussed above.

And I think our only point of disagreement here is that I make no exception for the divine.

Final Fantasy XV: A Tentative Review

Final Fantasy XV came out on November 29th last year, after ten long years in development. I have yet to own a copy, but I had the pleasure of playing the opening chapters… after the not-so-pleasure of having the story completely spoiled for me. Couldn’t be avoided; November was ages ago.

The game is brilliant. In my opinion, the gameplay is nearly as rich as that of FFVII, the characters are more compelling and relatable than those of FFIX, the story is more intriguing than that of FFX, and it is thematically more thought-provoking than FFXII. In short, it is the best entry in the series, as far as I’m concerned.

One of the working titles was Goth Swordsmen in a Convertible.

However, it is also obviously incomplete. This is a common occurrence in the video game industry these days: a game is in development, consuming resources for the corporate overlords who want a swift return on investment, so they set a release date developers must meet at all costs. This sucks, because not only do they have to cut content, but also, the publishers get to double-dip: if a gamer were to acquire all the patches and DLC as they come out, he or she typically would end up shelling out twice or thrice the amount a complete game usually costs.

Those of us wise to the practice have chosen to always wait at least a year before acquiring new games. Usually by then, an “Ultimate Edition” or a “Definitive Edition” or a “Game of the Year” edition has hit the shelves at normal cost, with all extra content available. The price: I now have premature, intimate knowledge of the plot of a game I do not own yet.

The cut content and rushed release date have undeniable consequences on the plot. The game offers a great story where six more months of development could have meant an amazing one. As things stand, there are many loose ends and unanswered questions.

If you only knew what she's looking at...

Lunafreya should have been made a guest party member in Accordo, possibly exploring the isles with Noctis on a few quests to wake the Hydraean. Originally conceived as a foil for Noctis (note the contrast in character design), she is more than just his love interest: she is the Oracle of Eos, a mantle heavy with meaning and responsibility in the story especially as pertains to the journey of the prophesied king of light. Her journey is almost worth a game of its own, and the cost to her body and psyche is definitely worth exploring in more detail than a few short cut-scenes. I mean, we are supposed to care for her, but the story gives us little reason to, and because so much of her content was cut, she is reduced to yet another stoic woman whose actions and tragic fate serve only as motivation for Noctis. I mean, we could have had another character like Oerba Yun Fang: someone with her own motivation, a distinct personality, charisma, and so on. They did her wrong. So wrong...

The same holds true for Ravus, Lunafreya's older brother and perhaps the most regrettably underdeveloped secondary villain in the history of video games. His heel-face turn could have used a heavy dose of foreshadowing, preferably via a series of escalating confrontations with Noctis, and through exploring his relationships with Luna and Niflheim officials like Iedolaus, Verstael, Aranea and Ardyn.

And oh, Ardyn... Would that we had known more about the origin of his curse, and of his assumed identity. For this is the kind of Final Fantasy villain that I love: Kefka's madness, Sephiroth's poise, Vayne's cunning, Seymour's nihilism, all rolled into one. All he misses is a proper backstory.

But, as stated before, this story is great nonetheless. And coupled with a very clever gameplay and the most stunning visuals in the history of the series, Final Fantasy XV is a tremendously satisfying experience. The set pieces are of such breathtaking scale and beauty that just remembering them makes me feel a part of that world. Nothing quite prepares your jaw, for instance, for the vertiginous drop it experiences the first time each Astral lends you a hand in battle.

And don't let me get started on the music. All pieces of the score fit their allotted scenes, each note has its place, and the grandeur of the composition sets this soundtrack head and shoulder above the rest, without even factoring in the incredible rendition of Stand By Me by Florence + The Machine. 

I will be waiting a while longer to sink my teeth into this title. The one-year mark is only a few months off, and even if a complete edition is not released, I can at least hope for a slightly lower purchase price. Then I can truly lose myself into this saga and the hundreds of hours of deliciously entertaining content it offers, like any Final Fantasy entry worth its salt should. I really look forward to it.

Note: All images property of Square-Enix