Friday, May 27, 2011
The Lost Odyssey Giveaway!
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Games: So I’m playing Lost Odyssey and nobody could be more surprised than I am that I’m really, really enjoying it. In fact, I'm having such a good time with it that I thought I should share the love. I haven't done a giveaway here at Coffeecola for quite some time, so this seemed to me to be the perfect opportunity to rectify that.
So, want to win a free copy of Lost Odyssey for the 360? It's easy. Here's what you have to do:
Leave a comment here at the blog and tell me what the most emotional scene you've ever seen in an RPG was.
It can be a JRPG, a WRPG, or an RPG of any kind, I'm not being choosy here. The most important thing is tell me the game, tell me what scene it was, and tell me why it had an effect on you. That's it!
I'll accept entries for a week or so (or until people stop posting) and then I'll take all of the names, put them in a hat, and let my son choose one. If your name is the one he chooses…
A WINNER IS YOU!
Free game, free shipping, and a guaranteed good time. Interested? Get to posting!
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Posts
This one's easy for me: Phantasy Star II - the death of Nei. Nei was my Aeris.
"Really? You mean she's not coming back?"
Phantasy Star II is probably the first game in which I ever got properly attached to characters at all, and the difficulty that I encountered in trying to replace her in my party underscored the shock I felt at her departure.
Oh man, this was definitely a tough choice for me, but I'm going to have to go with the scene during the ending of Final Fantasy VIII, in which Laguna is looking at Raine's headstone, and they kind of bring that particular storyline to its conclusion.
The reason this stands out so prominently for me is that, between the music swelling at the right moment (of course) and Laguna's surprisingly well crafted facial expressions (the game came out in I think 1998, so this is saying quite a bit for its time), as soon as the camera showed the headstone, I completely lost it and started bawling. Again, this was 1998, so I was about 13, but I can't even pretend my age had a whole lot to do with it. That game was criticized really heavily both for its plot and mechanics, and while it isn't my favorite title in the series, the story really stuck with me emotionally.
Perhaps it's my undeniable weakness for love stories. Who knows. I will say, however, that by contrast, the story of Final Fantasy VII did nothing for me emotionally. It was a great game, though not my favorite in the series, but Final Fantasy VIII had a lot more emotion to it, a lot like the standard set by Final Fantasy VI years before.
And now I'm rambling!
Since I won your last contest, I honestly don't expect you to send me anything, but I would like to share my moment with you.
Mahkia and I had a discussion on emotional links in RPGs and I've come to the conclusion the reason I don't have many is because many western RPGs are about a character you design, instead of being particularly story-driven to specific characters. This trend is slowly being bucked with titles like Mass Effect, but games like Fallout and the Elder Scrolls series still carry it. That being said, my emotional moment came from Fallout 3 and is kinda silly.
*SPOILERS*
At the end of Fallout 3, where you must decide to enter the radiation chamber or send the Brotherhood of Steel person, I was kinda upset. Not because I didn't want to go in myself, or send her.. but because they completely wrecked the Jefferson memorial to build the water purifier. It made me sad to see that destruction, because I really admire Thomas Jefferson. Cheesy, I know!
Definitely nei's death in phantasy star 2. I was like 14or so when i played it n it was the first time i had a char truly die off in a game. Was kind of an awakening.
I tried to fight the urge to post again, and of course I'm not trying to toss my name in the hat more than once, but Mike's comment made me almost regret not posting Alys' death in Phantasy Star IV as my most emotional moment.
I was about 8 or 9 when I played that game, and I was completely blown away by Alys' awesomeness. She was strong, cynical, she didn't take guff from anyone, and I was completely inspired by her.
What happened to her was completely unfair, and while I couldn't give two craps about Aeris' death in Final Fantasy VII later on, I actually stopped playing Phantasy Star IV for awhile after losing Alys, because I just didn't see how the game could possibly be fun anymore.
It was, though.
Well, 2 of my most emotional videogame moments came from Lost Odyssey, but that would be kind of spoiler-tastic to write about here. Instead I'll write about another emotional moment of mine.
Of course, it comes from Shining Force 2 (warning, full of spoilers for a game from 1994). About a quarter of the way through the game you meet a character named Oddler. When you meet him he is blind, near death, and being chased by a group of demons. The town mayor is afraid of keeping him in town because of that last point, and so he tagged along with me. Now, the game has this trick where you can tell if a character will be playable because their entire name will be in caps. Oddler's name wasn't in caps, which made me very intrigued as to wy he was joining me. And though dozens of characters are recruited throughout the game, he is one of only two (at this point in the game) that is seen following your character as you move around the world map and in towns. Because he's following you everywhere, he'll occasionally chime in during conversations, and quickly became a lovable and mysterious addition to my party.
At the game's halfway point I met a retired demon named Creed. It's a long story, but suffice it to say that since Creed was "retired" he was basically a good guy now. As I was leaving Creed's mansion he announced that Oddler was going to stay behind with him. "Yes!" I thought. "Creed's going to train him or something and Oddler will come back later with his name in all caps and he'll join me." It was sad to leave Oddler behind, but the thought of him joining me again made it all seem worthwhile.
A bit later in the game one of the bosses makes reference to his commander, Lord Odd Eye. My 8 year old brain didn't connect all of the dots, but that name sounded strangely familiar. Even one of the characters in the game mentions that the name sounded familiar. But no, it couldn't be...
And sure enough, it was. One of the final bosses to the game was Lord Odd Eye, formerly known as Oddler and second in command to the King of the Devils. It turns out that when I had first found him, he was suffering from amnesia and the demons chasing him were merely trying to bring him home. Creed had restored his memories, and though he respected me from the time we had spent together, he had a duty to his king to fight me.
Now, earlier in the game there was an enemy who switched sides and joined me right in the middle of a battle, so I hoped, I prayed, that something similar would happen with Odd Eye now. But it wasn't meant to be, and in the end I had to kill him. I was devastated. I turned off the game. I started a new save file, and played up to the point where Oddler leaves at Creed's mansion about 3 times before finally continuing on and finishing the game.
I later found out that Sega had made a prequel game called Shining Force: The Final Conflict on Game Gear where Odd Eye actually joins your party for a while. The game never released outside of Japan, and I will never forgive Sega for that.
(oh yeah, and I'm not actually entering to win Lost Odyssey, just felt like sharing)
Well, I'd love to share my moment, but I don't know if you'd be willing to ship the game to Australia if I won... But I'll share, regardless!
So, most people are talking about tear-jerking, heart-wrenching emotional moments, but for me the most emotional scene for me in a game was actually due to intense fear more than anything else (and it wasn't in a horror game!).
The first RPG I ever played was FFVII, when I was maybe 10 or so. I was always a really squeamish kid, and FFVII's weird plot kind of kept me on edge, but I was obsessed with playing on (kind of like watching a train wreck). The part when Sephiroth breaks Jenova out of Shinra and you have to follow the blood trail through the building was absolutely terrifying for me! It was so intense. Though you didn't actually see Sephiroth in action, you know from the music and the setting just how powerful and sinister he was, and that mesmerized me as a kid. I didn't want to keep going, but I did, none the less.
One scene that had a major emotional connection with me was the End Game of Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinestrals on the SNES.
*SPOILERS*
It's been a while since I've played the game, but after a massive JRPG quest to find and subdue the genocidal, god-like Sinestrals, your heroes finally track them down to their floating island in the sky. As the heroes go forth to do battle with Sinestrals one last time, they discover that the only way to destroy the island and finally kill the Sinestrals is to sacrifice themselves.
As such, the two main leads (husband and wife, who have a child back home), head into the island and use the last of their life to destroy the 3 crystals that keep the island intact. And with their last bit of strength, they destroy the final crystal and die, taking the Sinestrals down with them.
During the ending, the player sees these two intertwining balls of light fly over the overworld, interspersed with melancholy music and shots of life going on for those that survived. The game ends with the balls of light materializing in the couple's house, seeing their baby one last time before they fly off to the afterlife.
Lufia 2 is one of my favorite games on the SNES, and it was one of the first I ever played that took character death so seriously. The ending is just beautifully handled and fitting. For the same reason, I'd put in an honorable mention for Terranigma on the SNES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2aPYMY-EA