Japanese Culture

I have often bemoaned the current blend of Japanese culture which is so prevalent in video games, particularly the Japanese ones.  Now don't get me wrong I love Final Fantasy VII.  But since then I have been increasingly baffled by their culture.  Next was FF8 with it's main character who had less charisma than a brick wall.  I watched Princess Mononoke which wasn't... awful.  Then I watched Steamboy which was.  And somewhere in the middle was Howl's Moving Castle.  Then I was surprised by Spirited Away, finally a Alice in Wonderland story that made sense.  Then there was the miss-paced Ponyo.

 And I tried, honestly I did.  I watched anime, Cowboy Bebop was great and I naively thought it would all be like that.  But then Full Metal Alchemist are you kidding me?

So any way this video manages to capture just about everything in Japanese culture that I dislike.  Things which are so hard to put into words.


One thing I can put into words is Japan's strange need to promote environmentalism.  Which is also featured in the video.  It's like a dead horse they keep beating.  Sure we shouldn't destroy the environment but I can't help feeling a little like Mr. Burns.

"Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she's losing. Well I say, hard cheese."    — CM Burns.

Team Tifa

I'm Team Tifa.  It has taken me a long time to come to this decsision.  I used to be Team Aeris big time but well, she's dead.

And as cool as necrophilia is, it's a one way street.  Cloud and Tifa deserve better than that.

And for that matter Aeris deserves better.  But hey she's got Zack.  They can be dead together.  

Or maybe it's more like this, I'm not to sure what the afterlife is like.

Videogame Valentine Vixens

Isn't alliteration fun.

I warn yee, ahead there be spoilers.
Arr.

With it being Valentines and all I thought it would be fun to write a little something for all the video game girls who have set my heart a flutter over the years. And so with out further ado...

Rikku and Yuffie.

I mention these two together because they very similar. Their both thieves, both are spunky, conniving, scheming, thieving, quirky vixens that I can't help but love.








My Favorite Rikku Moments
Its hard to pin point just one moment. But the ones I think I like the most is whenever she just starts yelling in Al Bed and acting all indignant.

My favorite Yuffie Moments
When I first met Yuffie I fell for her. Her cuteness, her conniving, the way she kept talking to herself after the group had moved on. And that adorable little "cha cha cha" arm movement. In short she stole my materia and my heart.


Aya Brea

Who brings a gun to the opera? Detective Aya Brea that's who

Not every New York cop can look hot in formal attire and have a rhyming name. If that weren't impressive enough she battles genetic monsters with grit, savvy, and general hotness.

When picking the girls for this post I tried not to focus on just looks, which is why you wont see Lara Croft on this list. I wanted to highlight the female video game heroines that had evoked an emotional response and weren't just eye candy. (Not that I'm saying anything against Lara, I haven't played any tomb raider games that's all. So I couldn't form any kind of connection with her. If you have that's great leave me a comment about it.) But Aya comes close to foiling that attempt.

I like her... why? Well she is very nice to look at. But I think there is more than that. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It's been years since I played Parasite Eve but even now she stirs something in me. And I'm not just talking about the obvious. I think what I love about her is she manages to pull off a look that is powerful yet vulnerable at the same time.


Farah
(Do you know how hard it is to find a good Sands of Time Farah picture. After a ten minute google image search this was the best I could get. Ten minutes!)
Sure the Empress of Time might have bigger breasts but Farah has more character.

What was refreshing about the Prince and Farah's relationship is that we got to watch it unfold from its beginnings which started out on very unequal terms. Farah is the captured daughter of a conquered maharajah. But as she and the Prince are thrust into terrible situations a bond is slowly formed, it strengthens and blossoms into love. Aside for shooting me occasionally (and her AI was a lot better than most) she was helpful in combat. Never afraid to speak her mind or take action into her own hands I can easily see why the Prince fell for her. As he would talk to himself about her I found my self feeling the same way. I loved her in the library as she starts reading some poetry while the Prince is trying to solve a puzzle.

I couldn't help but enter first person view and just stare at her. Not to ogle her, but to bask in her radiance. And maybe ogle a little bit. The dialogue exchanges that occurred because of that are quite memorable to me. Early in the game I'd sit and stare until she'd call me on it. Later she'd stare back and comment on my eyes. And while she got the color wrong I... oh yeah it was the Prince not me she was talking to. Oh so easy to forget.

Now true she did sleep with the Prince to trick him out of his dagger, (hmm, something Freudian about that sentence.) I can't really fault her for doing it. The Prince had already let out the sands once, and then failed to recapture them because he couldn't get over his trust issues with her. She was just trying to do what needed to be done.

It broke my heart at the conclusion of the the game that she didn't even know who I was anymore. The next two games did little to console my heart ache, story wise I prefer to think they never happened.


Nariko and Kai

Another duo, this time from the same game. One of the best games ever made too.

Favorite Nariko Moments
Although she'd probably kill me as soon as look at me I can't help but be entranced by Nariko. She reminds me of a tigress. Fierce, beautiful, and deadly.

She goes through the extreme emotions of fearing her father, to hating him, to forgiving him. Her unique path of the warrior was an experience unlike anything I have ever witnessed. I watched as she took up the Heavenly Sword out of desperation even though she knew it meant her doom. Through the course of her wielding it she was transformed not just physically but spiritually as well. She selflessly risks her life to save her captured tribesmen. They in turn curse her, blaming her for their misfortunes. Beyond all that she doesn't just defeat and enemy warlord that threatened her tribe but she teaches and leads them to a truer understanding of themselves. That Fate is not in the hands of Gods or prophecy, but that each person must choose their path and in so doing they affect the world.

Favorite Kai Moments
Kai is a mentally unstable girl with a skill for using the crossbow and appetite for eating worms. She suffered the loss of her entire tribe and witnessed the murder of her mother. A girl like that in our society would be treated with therapy and would possibly be institutionalized. Nariko's tribe gave her a weapon and told her to kill people.

I'd love to play "Twing Twang" with her, provided I'm not the target (and with Kai you never know.) I fell in Love with Kai during the rescue of Nariko's father. When she was shooting down bad guys. When she missed one and she said to herself "Silly Kai. Must try harder." I guess I have a thing for girls that talk to themselves.

The raw emotion as she throws the sword to Nariko in the arena even while running for her life from what has got to be the biggest fear in her life is unparalleled. When she finally kills Flying Fox I cheered with tears in my eyes.


Tifa and Aeris

My favorite videogame of all time is Final Fantasy VII. Aeris and Tifa have something to do with that.

Favorite Tifa Moments
The Slap fight with Scarlet was epic!

As if I need to say more but there is so much more to say. Tifa tends bar, is killer good at Martial arts, is member of a terrorist organization, and is the quintessential girl next door.

Why does unrequited love pull at our heartstrings so much? I don't know. But Tifa tugs away till it hurts (who, talk about double entendres.) In some way's Tifa kinda reminds me of General Lee. I know that's an awkward comparison to make but let me explain. Even though Lee lost the Civil War he still came out as sympathetic figure. Many people admire him for his tactics and consider him a hero and a true southern gentleman. Tifa lost Clouds heart but the fans are just crazy for her, and with good reason.

For someone who can pack a nuke into a punch Tifa is a very sensitive person.

To be honest I wasn't favoring Tifa for most of the game. I leaned more towards Aeris. But then the scene with Tifa and Cloud under the Airship changed my mind. I'm not sure why. It was like I saw Tifa for the first time. A beautiful, vulnerable, and caring individual. She loved Cloud so much I ached for her. So now I can't pick between to two of them.

Favorite Aeris Moments
It is a rare woman that will help a man cross dress so that they can sneak into a brothel and rescue her romantic rival. Aeris is this type of woman. A woman who will still sell flowers in the middle of a terrorist attack. A woman who pays for bodyguard service with dates. A woman pursued by all and who ultimately sacrifices herself to save the world. How can you not love a woman like that.

When she died my world fell apart. I went into mourning for a month. I couldn't play game it hurt to much. But I knew that Aeris would want me to continue. In the corner of my heart where I keep a place for videogames the softest spot is reserved for Aeris.

Ah if only they were real. But who am i kidding, if they were they'd be just as unattainable as they are now.

Now this whole post is not about spending all my time fantasizing over fictional women. These characters have made an impact on me emotionally. The same way characters from a book, movie, or TV show could. They all taught me a little something about the human condition and I value that.

So Happy Valentines Day.

Anyway these have been my picks for favorite videogame valentines. What are yours and why?

Games that I thought were going to be better than they were

The Bouncer.

I remember getting all goose pimply about this game. It was one of the first that was going to be on the PS2. And it was made by Squaresoft. A company which at that time in my life I would have sworn to you that everyone that worked there also walked on water. (I am fortunately no no longer that naive.) But at that time I was of the opinion that Squaresoft could do no wrong. Plus the graphics looked more amazing than anything I had ever seen. And so help me I am a bit of a sucker for cool looking costumes no mater how unrealistic they may be. Not many real bouncers would wear a dog collar with a huge chain and cross on it. It'd be to easy for someone they were supposed to "bounce" to grab hold of it in a scuffle and choke them, or literally lead them around by the neck.

I look back at it now and think it more than just a little bit silly. Of course hind sight is twenty twenty. But I played the game and... well it was a mediocre beat 'em up game at best. Now this is just my opinion. As with all these games I'm going to mention in this post. Just because I was disappointed by them doesn't mean that you can't like them. Every one is different, with different tastes. I won't begrudge you yours if you don't begrudge me mine. Next up.

Metal Gear Solid 2.

This game was a landmark event for me. With it came the great split between myself and eastern culture. Up until this point I had regarded the ability of Japanese story tellers, through the medium of video games, to be superior to anything that the west had to offer. This game put an end to that. Now I don't know what exactly happened. For example I loved, and still do love Final Fantasy VII. The same goes for Metal Gear Solid. But something happened, either with me or with the Japanese culture, and the schism occurred.

Why didn't I like this game. Partly because MSG was such a great game and this sequel comes off as such a pale, poor, pathetic imitation of it's predecessors greatness. One point of contention is the supplantation the wonderful character Solid Snake, by a inferior whiner named Raiden. As I understand it Raiden did quite well in Japan, but not so much in the U.S. I think this is where the cultures begins to clash. Effeminate men seem to be very cool in Japan, where as in American we prefer tough guys as our hero's. I won't speak negatively of the preferences of others but when you market a game it's wise to consider your audience. This character switch (and it's Snake on the cover for crying out loud, and he's hardly in the game) was very unsettling. Every five minutes of game play I kept wondering when Raiden was going to disappear so that I could go back to playing as Snake.

But I think the major issue here was that the first game crafted a great story. The sequel was all puff. It was trying to imitate what it did in the first game. I used to ask how had Hideo Kojima messed up MSG2, but as more and more Metal Gear games came out I came to realize that Metal Gear Solid was the fluke. Kojima had some how managed to make one really good game, maybe it was luck or something, but I have been nothing but disappointed with the rest of the series.

Final Fantasy VIII.

In my ignorance and innocence of youth I thought that this was going to be a actual sequel to FFVII. I kept expect them to announce Cloud as a character. When it finally sunk in that this was not going to happen I still expected aspects of what made FFVII so good to be retuning. 'Surely,' I thought to myself, 'they will be bringing back the Materia system. It was so ingenious, inventive, and intuitive, that they wouldn't get rid of it after just one game... right?...' Well I was wrong. Then I played the demo. It was boring, the draw system was lame, everything seemed clunky. Where FFVII was smooth and slick, it was slow and rough. I can't say enough bad things about this game, and yes I played it all the way to the end. Eighty hours of my life I'm never going to get back. I'm going to have a whole post about how much I detested this game. I mention it here because I was looking forward to it and it disappointed me.

Rise of the Argonauts.

I was super stoked for this game. It looked like the graphics were good. The makers had promised that the story was going to be a main focus and that combat would be smooth. Plus they were going to give me a chance to worship Athena. Like an actually chance (in a small geeky way) to do her will, and to praise her over the other gods. (I have a geek crush on Athena so sue me.) Well the game came out got luke warm reviews so I didn't even bother. If a game doesn't get an eight or better from Gamespot.com it isn't worth my time. There are a few exceptions, but none of those scored less than a seven.

So those are the games that ached my heart on account of their suckyness, what disappointments have you had to endure?