Wednesday, February 17, 2010

On Video Games and the Eternal Question

On Monday, Adam Heine asked me several video game questions. As video games are mentioned in my blog header, I am of course obliged to answer them.

Favorite RPG?

As it stands right now, the title for my favorite role-playing video game of all time has to go to Final Fantasy IX. The reason for this is several-fold. 1) I think the interaction between Zidane, the main male character, and Garnet, the main female character, is absolutely hysterical. Their dance toward romance reminds me of the byplay between Moriah and Nicolai. 2) The visuals in this final iteration of FF on the PSOne are just fantastic. I particularly love the scene at the end when thousands of silver dragons fly toward the hero's airship. You think the dragons are going to kill them all, but then every fecking airship in existence swoops in to save the day. 3) Zidane entertains me.

Memorable video game moment?

The ending sequence of Dragon Age:Origins. Awesome visual of a magical explosion of power. And it has some cool heroics to boot.

Mario or Luigi?

Luigi all the way. The poor guy doesn't get all the love he should. Especially when his shorter brother is the only one getting the girl.

6 comments:

Stephanie Thornton said...

I always liked Yoshi better than Mario or Luigi. :)

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Fun post, Matt! It made me smile as I imagined my son saying things like this in a few more years. :-)

Susan R. Mills said...

I agree...go Luigi!

L. T. Host said...

Iunno. I had a soft spot for Mario. He seems kinda helpless, poor chap... always leaping into chasms and being eaten by plants, and chasing a princess around.

Adam Heine said...

Nice. I always wished I could have played the later FF games, but we always had a Nintendo. When Square jumped ship to Sony, it made me cry a little.

And I didn't want to sway you, but I'm Team Luigi too. He risks his life for his brother's girl, and he gets nothing. That's loyalty!

dolorah said...

Dude; where's the link for the music for Dragon Age? I googled it, but only come up with an advertisement for the game itself.

I don't play these video games myself, but I adore the music and trailers. I've watched advertisements for the games, and was excited and told my kids it was the next fantasy movie we were going to see. Then they tell me its the newest $60 game they want me to buy for them and my heart sinks.

I can't get a character to jump, let alone take two steps forward - or back - in the game environment. But I enjoy listening to my kids tell me what they like. Weirdly enough, they almost always like the female characters best. I don't know if it is the character Garnet; but just last night my 11 year old was telling me that the female heroine in Final Fantasy 9 was his favorite character of all time. Ahhem; I have boys. Four of them. My only daughter thinks video games are a waste of energy.

But, I see creative potential in their constant playing. Plus, its netted me some of the most fantastic music I've ever heard! My love for Enya probably came from the Final Fantasy soundtrack, though I tell my friends it's because of the LOTR sound tracks. Somehow, everyone forgets her BOOK OF DAYS song is associated with the movies FAR AND AWAY, TITANIC, and several video games.

I can't seeem to get the hang of playing video games; but I certainly understand the fascination.

And for the record: Mario. Definitely Mario. But only if we're talking original Nintendo.

............dhole