Friday Morning Blues

I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to be had in this life.

However, they say the best things in life are free. So where's my handout of life-changing awesomeness?

Meh.

One-line philosophy is written by those that have a cruel sense of humour and an immense joy of schadenfraude.

Fuck you.

Oh, an update.

I haven't been able to sit down and think about things that I have wanted to say on this particular channel of informational dissemination, considering that I am rather caught up in that pesky thing known as real life. Be it as it may, I owe it to myself to at least scribble down a few random thoughts as an ode to my ego and the embodiment of my over-inflated sense of self.

As it is, I am at a rather interesting crossroad this semester. It is the week where you either make a good semester great, or make a bad semester awful. Choices, decisions, gambles, risks, considerations, second-guesses. Take the road less traveled? Screw you Robert Foster, for your chancy philosophical poetic musings.

Before I get completely side-tracked, it is imperative on my part to note that I am actually in the midst of trying to repair a relatively okay semester, to make it into a good one. Why? I have been slacking. The sheer amount of activities has caught up to me. The gym workouts, the football training, the futsal, the assignments, the debate sessions, matches, work.. It's all getting a bit much. I come home every day absolutely knackered, and have rarely gone to sleep past 1 am anymore, which is an astounding achievement in itself.

Curiously enough, my videogaming has hardly suffered, as I have actually been able to budget my time for it much better than I thought I would. When I tell myself "Ok, time to stop", I actually DO. Unless of course there's a plot twist.. Or an unexpected loss.. Or there's a new area to explore.. Oh, you get the idea.

The fact of the matter is that I am tired. Really, really, REALLY tired. I'm slow to get up in the mornings, and I'm usually asleep before my head hits the pillow. The only thing keeping me afloat is my PS3 (I love you baby! Thank you thank you thank you girlinstiletto ;) ) and the joy it brings.

I should just graduate as soon as possible, and go work for a videogames company. Anyone know how I can get in touch with Crytek, or Sony Worldwide Studios?

Indiscretion and Inundation.

I just wanted you to know something.

I love you.

Thank you for forgiving me for everything that I have ever done.

24 inches, HDMI, 1080p, RM 600. I heart You, Technology.

Only in Malaysia. Maybe. Who cares.

Technology rocks.

That library again.

So here I am again. Curiously enough, it's actually pretty quiet today. I guess people have finally caught on to the idea that Gossip Girl is best reserved for the screen, and not real life. Then again, what would I know? (Talk about making assumptions, and drawing parallels that make no sense)

As it is though, I find myself with little to do at the moment, other than to count down the minutes to the next appointment I have, which is supposed to be in a little under 2 hours time. I could eat (again), but I wouldn't want those recent hours being put into the gym and football training to go to waste simply because I am bored.

I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII a lot lately. Way more than any person (other than a fellow gamer) would consider healthy or nomal, and I have paid for it with a lack of sleep. It is simply too addictive. I'll be coming up with part two of my review on it soon, which will cover the deliciously intricate battle system, which is by far one of the biggest reasons to actually play it.

I am unabashedly in love with Lightning, and Vanille. Serah is taken (gasp, I know) so perhaps I should stay away from pining for her too much. Having said that though, maybe it would be unhealthy to begin with, to even suggest any sort of emtoional attachment with what amounts to be a punch of polygons on a disc, being pushed out on to a screen. Then again, the same could be said of people that develop attachments to movie or book characters, entities that merely exist in a medium of entertainment, and not in real life.

It puzzles me why there are human beings that seek to rubbish the videogame culture, implying that it is nothing more than sad childish escapism, when the same could be said of other entertainment options (Roger Ebert, I'm looking at you). If you were, on average, to watch a movie three times a week, be it in the cinema or at home, assuming that a movie is generally two hours long, then that means you use up 6 hours just sitting there and watching. And this is better than picking up a video game and using your brain to outwit the AI and exercising your fingers to do your will?

For those of you that consider videogames to be merely child's play, then please, pick up a copy of FFXIII, or God Of War 3, or Metal Gear Solid 4, or Uncharted 2, and tell me that your brain doesn't HURT trying to figure out everything; that the stories being told are not legitimate attempts at not just entertainment, but discussions on morality, ethics, love, life, philosophy and history; that the underlying genius of being a game developer lies in not merely making a world for us to play in, but making us feel like we are active participants in something greater than ourselves.

Let's not kid ourselves. None of us will become Luke Skywalker, and have the opportunity to blow up a moon-sized battle station. None of us will become Jack Sparrow, and be able to survive seemingly impossible odds just by swigging rum and making it up as we go along. None of us will become Batman, with huge amounts of money and martial arts skills that would give Bruce Lee a run for his money.

But in a video game, we can. It is one of the few, if not the only, way to be able to experience euphoria on an epic scale, to have an inkling of what it feels like to save lives, to experience new adventures, to challenge societal norms. In short, we can change the world.

Is that childish? Is that a sign of immaturity? To go up and beyond our normal selves, to become guardians of the virutal universe, to go beyond what we could possibly do in the mundane reality that we all share?

I am not advocating an existence that ignores reality. Far from it. I am advocating an existence that has its reality augmented by not just the tangibility of the physical realm, but the lessons and experience that mediums of entertainment can offer us.

Go play a game.  A proper one. Experience it at its most intense, and fullest. I guarantee you will learn something new about yourself, and how you view the world.

Seriously, what is up with this library?

Final Fantasy XIII. Part 1 : Overview

 
So where do I start?

Final Fantasy is a game of extremes, but also compromises. It is a bastion of JRPG conventions, yet a willing executioner of its most highly-regarded traditions. It is chock full of flair, but also conservatism. An amalgamation of brilliance, interspersed with unmissable flaws. It is, in essence, a conflict of loyalty, progressiveness, and dare I say it, Japan VS North America.

The game has been gracing storefronts since December 17th 2009 (Japanese) and March 9th 2010 (English version), and to date has sold nearly 3 million units in less than 3 months of sales. Square Enix have said that it is the fastest selling Final Fantasy in its history. But does commercial success translate to critical acclaim?

This is where the picture gets slightly murkier.



 On the surface, if you are new to the universe (or should I say, multi-verse) of Final Fantasy, this game is a thoroughly amazing advertisement for the creativity, innovation and genius of game developers, particularly the team behind this iteration; Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshitaka Amano, Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama, Toshiro Tsuchida and others.

Yet if you are a long-time follower of the series (as I am, since the days of FF7, 13 years ago), then this game could end up being a shock. A real big shock. In fact, it could be traumatic. JRPGs, should they follow the lead established by FFXIII, will never be the same again. But enough philosophical dithering. What of the game itself?

Final Fantasy XIII is set in the world of Pulse, and the massive twin world that floats above it, known as Cocoon. Cocoon is in essence a floating planet that is above Pulse's surface, and was created and maintained by the game universe's most powerful entities, the fal'Cie (pronounced fal-see). Humans that live on Cocoon are watched over by Cocoon's fal'Cie creators, and administered by a human government called the Sanctum. They live in constant fear of anything related to the world below, Pulse, due to transgressions committed by Pulse's fal'Cie and armies in years gone by.

Into this setting comes our protagonist, a strong-willed and battle hardened former sergeant of the Sanctum Guardian Corps, Lightning. She is joined on her journey by 5 other protagonists - Snow, a small-time rebellion leader of the group called NORA; Hope, a teenage boy driven by grief and despair, Vanille, a red-head with nary a care in the world; Sazh, a man with a quirky personality and wit; and Fang, a woman with mysterious motivations of her own. Another major, but non-playable, character, is Lightning's sister, Serah, who is engaged to Snow, creating  another set of complications.

They are all joined together after being branded / cursed l'Cie (luh-see) by Pulse fal'Cie, meaning that they have to accomplish a 'Focus' or mission assigned to them by that particular fal'Cie, or risk a fate worse than they could ever imagine.

(L-R, Front) Fang, Serah, Hope

(L-R, Rear) Lightning, Sazh, Snow, Vanille

The first thing that anyone and everyone needs to know about FFXIII, is this : this game is incredibly linear. It is the one thing more than anything else that has nerdrage (that's an actual word) on fan forums boiling over to previously unimaginable levels, coupled with the loss of other JRPG staples, such as towns, a world map, mana points (MP) and traditional levelling up mechanics (EXP, AP).

You level up in this game by defeating enemies and gaining CP (Crystogen Points) which are spent on activating nodes in Crystarium that correspond to attributes or skills. It is very similar to FFX's Sphere Board, although it does not have as much freedom. There are no shops as such, as many things are done through Save Points, such as purchasing new weapons & items, selling unwanted items, and weapon upgrading. Items you collect as battle drops (loot) can be used to upgrade your weapons, which gain RPG-esque characteristics and can be leveled up.

The loss of so many traditional JRPG elements renders Final Fantasy XIII as a radical departure from the series, yet what it excels at enhances its claims as a true guardian of the Final Fantasy name. It is indeed, a game of extremes and compromises.

And what does it excel at? The magnificent execution of its Battle System.

Part 2 : Battle System (coming soon)

I think it's fair to say...

... that I am in love.

And with more than one girl at a time.

Lightning

Serah

Vanille

Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshitaka Amano, what are you trying to do to me?!

A more in-depth look at Final Fantasy XIII will follow.. Once I get all these rather interesting fantasies out of the way.