Rinoa/Ultimecia article

Prufrock

Just found this one day and thought it would make for a nice read. I know we've all heard this before but its nice to have all the arguements in one place. Good article. Enjoy.

http://www.rpgamer.com/editor/2005/q2/041805gm.html

Retr0gamer

I've read those theories before and there's plenty of holes in them and they really are looking into it too deeply. I think the only thing we can truly say about FFVIII's plot is that it's a load of crap.

Mr. K

I dunno, I kinda like those theories! It's not like we're gonna get any real answers at this stage, so theories are as good as anything.

Mr. K

This article was highlighted on Kotaku today, interesting stuff: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/70336-remembering-the-orphan-final-fantasy-viii/

Retr0gamer

I've read the article and the whole thing isn't held together at all. It seems to say that the game might seem badly written but if you read into it it actually isn't. The hard truth is that the games story and writing is, without exaggeration, silly and bad. It's another case that if you look into things hard enough you'll find a way to support any theory. This is also backed up by what Kazushige Nojima has said about FFVIII. He was asked by squaresoft to write a story that would increase the mainsteam audience of the game and include the new female demograph that had flocked to the series. He decided to make the theme of the game love and has said himself he wanted to write a cheesey love story in the same vein as Titanic that had a huge impact at the time.

Here's my favourite bit:

At one point, Squall’s party reaches the site of a recent battle, and one of his traveling companions casually drops a bombshell on everyone else: they’re all orphans of the previous world war and grew up at the same orphanage, but their memories of their time together have been erased by the Guardian Forces. The childhood friends that Squall can only dimly recall are in fact his new companions for this mission.

It’s a terrific, resonant metaphor: the experience of warfare stole their childhood innocence and is slowly turning them into soldiers who have no purpose except the next battle. More than that, it’s a commentary on how the responsibilities and pressures of adulthood can cause us to forget who we once were. Anyone who has ever rediscovered a childhood memento and found old memories flooding back can sympathize with characters who are amazed at how much they’ve forgotten.

The article give praise to the most ridiculous plot device and deus ex machina used in the game, and there's plenty to choose from. A terrific, resonant metaphor? Ballocks. From what I've heard the japanese text is equally as pants. The article seems to go back on itself at the end as well

nix

At one point, Squall’s party reaches the site of a recent battle, and one of his traveling companions casually drops a bombshell on everyone else: they’re all orphans of the previous world war and grew up at the same orphanage, but their memories of their time together have been erased by the Guardian Forces. The childhood friends that Squall can only dimly recall are in fact his new companions for this mission.

I havent played through the game since i first played through it which was the first week of the official release over here. It was at this part above the story began to fail if i recall, its as though the guy who was writing the story got fired and some other yahoo took over and then just took the piss with the story.

I have given every interpritation of the story a read and as retro says its all still full of plot holes and falls flat on its face. I guess thats what happens when you touch off time travel

chopperbyrne

nix wrote: »

I havent played through the game since i first played through it which was the first week of the official release over here. It was at this part above the story began to fail if i recall, its as though the guy who was writing the story got fired and some other yahoo took over and then just took the piss with the story.

I have given every interpritation of the story a read and as retro says its all still full of plot holes and falls flat on its face. I guess thats what happens when you touch off time travel

They had hinted at GFs causing people problems already in the game, but yes, it was a terrible plot device and is the start of the story falling apart.

The whole first disc is brilliant though.

YoungPayters

but at the end of the day, isnt thats what so great about JRPG's, the bruttally ridiculous and often hilarious story lines, the almost random assortment of words that are meant to be sentences (especially with the lesser known titles that didnt do much in the way of localisation). I personally cant really remember much about the end of the game, a long time since i last played it, but what I do remember was laughing when they all find out that they were all orphans!
Makes me laugh writing about it now

Retr0gamer

Yep the translation and localisation of FFVIII was particularly bad. My favourite line to laugh at was the on of the bad guys said as a threat ' S'up Squall, Fuijin gonna treat you, ok? '. I was shaking with laughter not fear.

Still I much prefer a good storyline in my JRPGs and while most of them are rehashes of the usual anime cliche some do break the mould. Shin Megami Tensei has always been very dark and clever with it's storytelling and Persona cleverly mixes symbolism with it's high school setting. Even squaresoft can come up with some good storylines as can be seen for Vagrant Story and Front Mission 5.