Gaming and Real Life

by Mike Lenzo 

I recently read Mr. Leung's rather condescending editorial on everyone who hated the ending of Final Fantasy VII or who thought that Final Fantasy Tactics contained a hostile tone towards organized religion. His rather campy solution for it was for Square to no longer release console RPGs in the United States, a very interesting solution to his problem, which seems to be that he is annoyed because not everyone looks at gaming in the same light as he does.

Mr. Leung draws the analogy that video games can be broken down to the same level as playing Snakes and Ladders or tag, and that the ultimate pleasure we receive from them is in the journey, but not the ending. In many ways, he is right, but so very wrong. A roleplaying game is much more than a mere "game." It is an experience, one that captivates someone just as much as a good novel or an epic movie does. What is it that usually distinguishes good stories in each media from bad? Good endings. If the ending of a movie or novel is bad or anticlimactic, a bad taste will be left in the mouth of the viewer or reader. What one remembers most from such experiences are the endings. "Yeah, it was good until the end, and that sucked." How many times has one heard that from friends about a movie or novel?

Final Fantasy VII was a letdown to me in many ways, not the least of which was the ending. Anyone who has read my editorial "An Attack on the Ending of FFVII" knows that I criticize not just the ending, but the entire latter half of the plot and the whole of character development within. Indeed, the more and more I learn about good writing and characterization, the less and less I think of Square's "masterpiece." I sincerely hope that Final Fantasy VIII has a different set of writers than those in FFVII. To leave so many characters undeveloped and create a generic, mediocre villain that is nothing more than some kind of faceless cypher is an insult to all the fans of Square.

Mr. Leung suggests that we ignore the endings to all games, regardless of whether or not they are satisfactory. Besides being a ridiculous statement, he goes on to say that if we cannot do so, we are deserving of the ridicule of the Japanese people. Am I the only one to wonder why so many feel the need to somehow impress the Japanese people, to somehow erase the stigma from the name of America? I'm sorry, but to tell you the truth, I could care less what the Japanese people think of me. If a Japanese company refuses to release a video game in the United States because our people are too "unintelligent" to play it, then that is, quite frankly, to the loss of the Japanese corporation. The loss of potential revenue and brand awareness should make such corporations rethink their marketing and give stockholders cause for pause, but in the end I could care less. I have always maintained that the stockholders in Square should look very closely at it's release policies. I've never understood why a corporation would willingly throw away money, which is what Square has done many times in the past.

In the end, simple truths come out. Mr. Leung reiterates that we are simply playing video games. And he is right, we're playing games. Games which are slowly becoming a media that is edging closer and closer to novels and movies in storytelling ability. To stunt the growth of such media by not criticizing it is a shame and a waste, for only through criticism can a media grow. I would rather criticize Square a thousand times than to have another piece of mediocre writing dropped at us like Final Fantasy VII was.