This post is going to be about loss. So... you may want to skip this one. Also, spoiler alert for Final Fantasy VII, FF X , FF X-2 and Mother 3. I don't really know where I'm going with this one but ... bear with me on this if you're coming along.
I'm pretty sensitive, as you may or may not know. It doesn't really take much to move me, in films, in books and in video games.
I remember the first time I actually cried to a video game.
I was playing through Final Fantasy VII, pwning doods with my party. Aeris was my favorite character. She was sweet, and kind and had that mysterious background. She was clearly kind of in love with Cloud but she wasn't sure why. And then Sephiroth came and ganked her. No questions asked. The stabbing scene didn't really get to me as much as watching her body float to the bottom of the sea. My heart wrenches even now, thinking back on it. I've only played through the game completely once. I'm not sure if I'd have the same deep reaction as I did that time but, I'm sure it'll still effect me emotionally.
It takes good writing to make good, believable characters. Sometimes it doesn't have to take much to get attached to this character or that. I think the game did a good job of attaching you to this character. It made her death that much more poignant.
There have been other games, and other tears, like at the end of Final Fantasy X. Another story of love... and loss. Even though at some point it becomes clear what Tidus has to do, and even if he is a little whiney man, one still feels extremely saddened at his passing, because of the relationship that has developed in between him and Yuna. This undying love is something that carries Yuna into Final Fantasy X-2.
I guess in the types of video games I love to play, there is this revolving theme of falling in love, and losing that love. Call me a romantic. ;)
I've been watching a playthrough of Mother 3, which never got released in the America for several reasons. I'm not really that far into watching it, so I imagine there's going to be more sadness in store for me.
The story begins with you meeting the twins Lucas and Claus, their mother Hinawa and her father, Alec. They live in a quaint, mountainous region on an island. Everything is nice. Hinawa and her children have spent some time with her dad, but now they are on their way back home. She writes a letter to her husband Flint, saying how much fun it had been up at her father's place, and how she wished he was there, and that next time, he should ask the neighbors to keep an eye on the sheep that keeps him busy so that they could have family time together. She sends this by pidgeon.
The scene changes, and we're in Tazmily, the family's hometown. Flint is done with his workday, and is settling down when he finds out that the forest outside their town is on fire. After some traveling and rescuing, he returns home to find the letter his wife wrote and then we realize that she and the boys are very late from coming back (it's less than a day's walk from her father's house to Tazmily).
After finding some things (trying to not spoil it too much), they find his boys, who were in the river. And a little while later, one of the townsfolk finds Hinawa, dead, with a tooth of a Drago in her heart. This news hits Flint hard. So much so that he starts attacking people in his depressed rage. He has to be knocked out and locked up in order to calm him down.
This scene... hit me so. very hard. Though it's never explicitly said in game, it's clear that Hinawa risked her life to save her children, and paid the ultimate price for it. Is there anything or anyone you would die for? As I look at Lapis, I have to nod and say yes.
The other reason that this scenario hit me hard because.. of the reaction of Flint to her death. It's quite true that no one mourns in the same ways. Some feel super depressed, some make jokes to feel better. And some... some lash out. It was clear that they loved each other very, very much. And now that she was gone, Flint went into a rage. It's so sad.
I'm pretty sure this is setting the stage for the rest of the game. This one act of selflessness (Hinawa's sacrifice) will set things in motion unto the end of the game. And... this is only an hour into it.
It's no reason it never got put out over here (The version I'm watching is a fan translation).
Sigh. Next time, loss from my life... tune in next time, kiddoes.
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