This is the part of the game I was
talking about in that early
Looking Back article I've mentioned a time or two.
Now, since I'm writing about it with it
fairly fresh in my mind this time instead of after not having played
it in several months, if not years, I find that I was somewhat in
error when I wrote that piece. The gist of what I was getting at
still rings true, but I'll count this as something of an amendment to
the original article.
When I started up this time, I had some
idea of where I was supposed to be, but given the way the camera
works in this game, actually getting to what's left of Trabia Garden
can be a bit of a challenge. Granted, it was not for nothing, as I
did wind up having plenty of time to stock up on magic, get some new
cards, items, and abilities for the Guardian Forces I've got, and
even a new bit of Blue Magic for Quistis.
One thing I like about the Origins
rerelease of the first two Final Fantasy games is that it gives us a
chance to change the zoom on the map, which really would have come in
handy. Part of the reason I had so much time to get all that stuff
is because I was kind of lost because I was having trouble reading
the map right.
Once we got there, Selphie naturally
wanted to go right in at the first possible place and moment to do
so. After all, she's got friends in there, some of whom might be
pretty close ones. She goes running off to the main courtyard to
catch up with some of them, while the rest of the party, including
the ones who weren't active party members, follow a ways behind.
When they find Selphie again, she tells them that she wants to talk
to her friends and that they should wait for her on the old
basketball court.
As one would expect, Trabia Garden's
all busted up from the missile attack, so part of what Selphie's
doing is making sure everybody's OK. While the others wait, they get
to chit-chatting about how it sucks that they couldn't have stopped
the missiles from hitting here, too. Rinoa says she's starting to
have second thoughts about what she's doing now that she knows what
fighting and war are really all about. Just then, Selphie shows back
up and says she wants to kick the Sorceress's ass for what's going
on. Rinoa admits she doesn't understand how that is and is unsure if
she can continue.
Squall tries to tell her that she's
stronger than she may think, because Rinoa was the leader of the only
resistance cell in Timber that had bothered to try doing anything
while the other cells just talked about it. The guy does make a good
point, for a change.
Thing is, though, Irvine's the talker
in this game, and he's got this little speech to give about how he
believes in predestination, and it's all fate that the six of them
specifically are the ones who will defeat the Sorceress. He starts
his story by talking about being in an orphanage at the age of four
or so and how he was always trying to impress one or two of the
little girls there. Turns out that the little girls were Selphie and
Quistis, who instantly point out that he could have brought this up
at any time before. Hell, he probably wouldn't have had to make that
much of an effort to do it, given the ease with which the memories
started coming back once Irvine actually started his story.
Basically, this part of the story is
about how not only Irvine, Selphie and Quistis grew up at this
orphanage, but so did Zell, Squall and Seifer, although Seifer's
working for the Sorceress now. When they get all that hashed out,
they realize that they all remember who the Matron at the orphanage
was, too. Her name? Edea Kramer.
I wish I could say this was a surprise,
but it really wasn't that much. Sure, we might not have known that
Edea was the head gal at the orphanage, but we knew she was the
sorceress, and also Cid's wife and co-founder of the Garden system to
boot. The only reason we didn't know about the orphanage thing until
now is because, well, this is the first we've heard of the orphanage.
As the conversation progresses, they
realize that using the Guardian Forces kinda-sorta swiss cheeses
their memories, which is why Irvine's the only one who could remember
much about the orphanage business until he brought it up. Worse yet
is that the five orphans in the party now also know they're going to
have to take out their mother figure if they want to save the world.
Their decision is about the only one
they could have made and still held on to any semblance of the game
as it has been this far, so regardless of if it's predestination or
free will, they're committed to the course of using Guardian Forces
and eventually killing their childhood nanny.
One thing I will admit I did get wrong
in my 2009 piece is the part where I at least implied that the party
was going to look for Edea to get hugs from her. Turns out, that's
not exactly the case. They're actually trying to find the orphanage
so they can maybe find clues there as to what's really going on.
There's something about this part of
the game that just puts me out of it, doesn't sit well with me.
Maybe this is the first game I've ever played that's got a part
that's meant to make me think like this. If that's what the goal
was, then mission accomplished, I suppose, though perhaps not in the
way the developers had intended.
The best way to explain this is to say
that in the course of writing this chapter, I skimmed through my
Facebook friends to see how many high school friends and classmates
I've got friended. It seemed like somewhere in the area of
two-thirds of the ones I could find quick have ultimately not moved
any further away from our home town than I have, which means that I
could potentially run into them and talk about the old days. Hell, I
even work with with one of them, a fellow named Derrick, at my day
job. Pretty much the same shift an everything. I bet if we got to
shooting the shit for ten minutes, one of us would wind up mentioning
something from high school. For example, that I was in the business
club my senior year and was involved with a handful of related fund
raisers.
My point here is that we're people. We
talk to one another. We remember things. If we're going to assume
that the same applies to the characters in this game, I have to
wonder why we needed all of this as a big, sudden exposition dump a
third of the way into the game when these characters have had ample
time to flap their gums at one another and bring some of it up that
way instead.
I think part of the reason I've had
trouble going on from here is that the game just gives the player too
much plot at once, and that's a little off-putting for me. What I'm
going to do from here is try a few of the side quests and make a
video about why I usually wind up giving up here or not long after.
That should be along soon, when I'm not doing this at 2:30 in the
morning. So, until then, stay safe, keep gaming, have fun, and
DFTBA!
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