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Do you want to face the truth? Nobody does. That's why everyting called entertainment is false from beginning to end. RPGs are no exeption and that's how we want it. I for one cannot speak truth. But I can give my own vision. Care to see trough my eyes? Care to see a blasphemous betrayal aginst RPGs? Care to make me regret giving off my e-mail adress? Read on, then. If not, live happy.
What if RPGs were like real life? (Total opposite of What if real life was like RPGs, with opposite results. Yeah, i'm writing a piece of hell after all...) Well, as far as realism goes, they are already realistic enough. It always improves without commitment from all of us unless we work for Sqaresoft... But the genre of RPG is more reaslistic than we care to admit. Admit is the word, because everything is twisted, deformed and made tasteless (read: most meaningful parts censored) to fit our concept of "entertainment", meaning that in the end, you an I assume the role of the bloodiest killers without realizing it! That's right, heroes are bloody killers of the worst type. I know I speak of blasphemy, so to put oil on fire, i'll delve into Heroes (a.k.a. the role you and I assume while playing).
It begins with violence, as always. Most of the time, it begins when the heroes see their families (or family figures) getting slaugtered by killers. What do they do? They isolate themselves, forging hatred against an enemy they can't reach. They also remember the worst parts and they say their hometown was destroyed by demons. And so, they spent all of their remaining childhood killing bugs, plants, boars, deers, and all non-human [1] living thing on range. Nobody stop them, for this frenzy is called "training". It means that we most often assume the role of deranged and enraged children old enough to hold weapons, but sometimes not old enough to drink alcohol, meaning they only have weapons as toys and fighting as hobby. And they already hold dangerous weapons! [2] (And people wonder why heroes are misfits!)
Grown up heroes are as bad as they could get. They all join together because the strongest of them beated them down and spared their lives to look good. [3] Again, it is called training, most of the time. What are they doing together? They fight! They strike monsters! So many of them. They need money. [4] They need also need to intimidate everyone around. They can't go to which dungeon because adventurer guild owns it? If they bide their impultions, they can get away with permission with money(from horridly hacked bodies of monsters) of by filling menial chores [5]. If that doesn't work, you and I know well that the place will be destroyed shortly.
Finally, after roaming the whole world and getting tired, the heroes give in to the manipulation of governments. That's right, no goverment would tolerate people who are against their established order. So, they maniulate the heroes by telling them that the final ennemy is the one who ordered the onslaught of their families (and since they're at it, the ennemy is the cause of all the world's pain and axiety). So the heroes go on their bloodiest rampage ever! And it ends up with the hallucination that they are fighting One Wigned Angel right in the sky! They live happily everafter as drooling vegetables because the intensive intake of Potions (drugs) combined with Magic (mental training with innhuman effort) destroyed their brains.
[1] Or so we are told. Firing off arrows at anything that moves... Casting fire spells in the woods... Killing boars with bare fists... Going berserk and hunt deers with a sword... and succeed in slicing their throat!? It's only a kid, but it's already a death machine! You don't believe me? Have you ever tried removing your equipment in the early stages of a RPG and fight on weaponless? Play in a forest setting, and describe what you do.
[2] Sometimes, it's simply a sword carved out of wood which causes nasty wounds with its relative sharpness and wood shards (wielded in a crazy spinning attack!). At other times, it's something as tall and heavy as the wielder who swings it with astonishing ease. It could even be an experimental bayonet where gun powder explodes from the charger in the face of the target while recieving a slashing blow! Talk about deranged people!
[3] Did Cloud need to beat Aeris up to get her join? No need to! A 50m drop trough the roof of the chruch did the work! Hey come on! He could've killed her, had he landed on her. How did he survive? Well, he was still in an adrenaline rush from fighting Air Buster(President Shinra is more humane than you think. He sent a robot instead of a whole unit of soldiers as a sacrifice to ensure his escape from your encounter!). Adrenaline gives necessary boosts of strengh at critical moments to survive. Aeris didn't look scared, didn't she? She is wise, she won't show her fear in any situation, thus avoiding the risk of being the next target of violence. And let me tell you, I'd be scared by a guy carrying a sharp sword as big as you, who manages to defend himself against machine guns with a bronze bangle and not only content to survive a 50m fall, stands on his feet as if nothing happened. Aeris is part of the heroes, but is no match for Cloud.
[4] Heroes daily life: They made it through the woods without rations, armed with deadly swords, bows, magic, arrive to a town. They heal their wounds in one night only because they always go unconscious before getting seriously injured, feinging death by controlling their conscious state, thus saving the trouble of hospital. They wake up early and go to the drug store. Depending on what is accessible, they hoard up everyting they can get. What do they get? Potions (painkiller and vitamins?), Stimulants (Phoenix Down a.k.a. Reviver is a trademark name, of course. It is a drug that wakes you up instantly, killing pain and helps revitalize the body), serums of all sorts (antidotes, eye drops, etc...). Fighting is all they do, so their legendary item management made believe they carry their whole stock in their pockets. If enough money remains, they go for the weapon store or blacksmith, and buy stronger weapons and armor. They finish their business with the locals, then leave.
[5]Somtimes, it involves the death of a designated ennemy. Heroes are professional assassins, don't forget it! Was said ennemy a demon? A monster with intellige? Who cares? All is killed after the passage of heroes! They can say whatever they want, while witnesses are too scared to speak the truth. The local were already resigned to the fate of being oppressed, but now they are stuck with heroes, who effortlessly killed the previous threat. Did they make any mistakes? (Like injuring/killing innocent bystanders with a stray arrow or lightning spell?) No, of course. All witness, if any, agree that.
-"The heroes went in the caves screaming "Demons! Demons!", you say? Well... um... i-it's because there really WERE demons in that hideout! That's right, our local criminals gave up their souls to Satan, didn't you know that? We got saved by heroes! Holy warriors of God, I tell you!" -Witness, newly half paralyzed for unknown resons...
Conclusion in a note: I am a fan of RPGs, as unbelievable as it gets after an Ed like this. But when one comes to understand violence and how it is the key of domination, one is bound to link it to his/her own disenchantment about everything s/he sees. So I hammered shocking realism in general concepts we see in RPGs and used violence to get your attention, so I could expose my point. I understand that it is an outrage to fabulous masterpieces, as they are a piece of reality in a twisted shape fitted gracefully in our minds with lots of work and talent behind them, but I can't apologize for that.
from Claude-Alexandre Cormier-Trudeau, RPG fan who mastered written english trough the constant reading of dialogues of the FF series and other RPGs as translations kept improving. (Yep, school sucks! Read whatever you want, not what you've been told to read!)
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