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Magic in role-playing games provide fans with inspiration and excitement upon seeing a power burst onto a cinema scene. It is the concept that one can tap into a source of energy that derives from the elements of nature, God, tribal rituals, demons. Magic's allure comes from the foundation of what invokes it, whether it be a strong deity or the soul of an individual's alignment to the supernatural. Magic's evoking of dark forces, elements, and the imagination is what stimulates players through the thought of possessing abilities beyond a mortal man.
Shin Megami Tensei series and the Wild Arms series offers RPG fans a dose of supernatural dark forces. The spin-off series of Shin Megami Tensei series, known as Persona, pits the protagonists in a modern setting where satanic rituals and unknown experiments shake the world's stability through the use of magic. Magic in the Persona franchise comes in the form of demons that are called upon by characters in order to fight with them in battle. The ability to summon a monster differs from each game, but the overall presence of magic remains. The demons take the form of deities, from numerous mythologies, and their skills zap the foes that stand in their way.
Protagonists in Persona 3, for example, go to a high school where they secretly form a group in order to fight an encroaching menace that many people are unaware of. The presentation of a demon that evokes powers that are dark, but are used for good, coincides with the idea of duality and the opposing forces that make up the polar opposites. Powers of light and dark from entities such as Helel and Satan are demons that can be summoned in Persona 3 that emphasize the concept of magic, which intrigues and fascinates audiences in wanting to know how the idea of magic is so empowering.
The Wild Arms franchise expresses magic through the use of Guardians as well as the power of demonic beasts. The Guardians symbolize the elements of nature: earth, wind, air, fire, and water. They serve to protect the degenerating world of Filgaia, which is often caused by an ancient war or the pollution that the humans bring onto the barren wastelands. Wild Arms 3 demonstrates the use of magic through the experimentation of a group of scientists that desired to create a system that would help to regenerate the planet. But the efforts of the group become depicted as a corruptive act as the revitalization of a planet's life force is jeopardized by using the very energy that the people are trying to save. It is a contradictory notion that the characters incorporate into their ideals in order to portray themselves as self-righteous heroes, but in the grand scheme of things, it makes powers like magic appear dangerous, unstable, and even an abomination.
A person could argue that many RPGs use magic that expresses both good and evil in order to separate the villains from the saviors. It is true that many main characters posses techniques that are light or heavenly based in order to follow the conventions of what makes a hero and an evildoer. Yet the presence and creation of magic as a device to fulfill gamers with a sense of godlike abilities serves as a contributing factor that evokes the wonder of the imagination.
Imagination is what spawns new ideas, which gives birth to more thoughts that relate back to the foundation of what was originally created. Magic is an offspring of the ideas that generate a notion of obtaining abilities that exceed human potential and capabilities. Having the player fight against a powerful foe, requiring divine assistance, changes the genre through every game by how magic intertwines with the gamer and the characters.
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