Thinky Thoughts about Roleplaying in Final Fantasy

[auronlu]

Much food for thought has come out of moogle_university's year-long replay of Final Fantasy games. (And much more hilarious MST3King during our playthrough posts).

I've been archiving my recaps and discussions from my Dreamwidth journal, where I originally post them, onto my own website. You may have seen my earlier, incoherent post on DW about roleplaying in Final Fantasy. There were some good comments/feedback on that initial post.

I've developed it further in a more coherent "thinky thoughts" essay posted here:

"The Greatest Stories I Ever Lived": Roleplaying in Final Fantasy

Enjoy!

(And, if you like it, please share it with other gamers, because it really applies to video games in general.)


Who are "you"?

Comments

[cumuluscastle]

It's interesting, because Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect and the Elder Scrolls are a bit more open to imagination, I think. The storyline can still be fairly linear, but you do get to customize your character more.

I've really been enjoying the Bioware Mass Effect and Dragon Age style character as well for the ability you have to make choices that (somewhat) impact how other characters interact with your character and how the ending plays out. It's almost too bad in a way that I played DA:O first, because I felt the choices were much more open than the three basic options the other iterations of these games give you. Nevertheless . . . One of my favourite things to do is to avoid fighting by using the intimidate or persuade options. There's something that feels so subversive about that!

[sathari]

That is an awesome essay! I just love the historical context, about what and "RPG" meant in a tabletop context.