Yes, I’m Seriously Doing This
“Stop playing video games, why don’t you go read a book instead?” I’ve heard this said on countless occasions to other people (as well as myself). As if a book is so much more fulfilling than a video game…
But then again, video games are very new and people tend view them with simplicity, so no one could think of them as possibly being fulfilling. When a person thinks of video games they may think of something colorful and simple like the Mario Brothers, or a puzzle game like Tetris (which is at least revered as being a mental challenge). But still, with many people without true video game experiences, video games are seen as another way to waste time, especially for the inept or for children. But movies were once treated the same way and are now considered and even studied as films, and video games have been heading in this direction.
“Are you serious?” may be your likely mental response, and yes, I am. To show how they have come this far, it is easiest and most effective to look at the game that revolutionized gaming, Final Fantasy VII. With its interactivity that created a true bond with the characters, character development, and a strong story line, Final Fantasy VII showed that video games have evolved into a deeper, more intellectual medium of entertainment.
Final Fantasy VII incorporated, as I mentioned, character development, as well as a an interactive bond with them, and a strong story line. You play in a near futuristic world as Cloud Strife, the mysterious protagonist who rarely speaks, but still has everyone’s trust. He is an ex-Soldier of the Shinra Corporation, a mega-corporation which harvests the life force of the planet to achieve political and military greatness and is the de-facto government based in the city of Midgar. He joins forces with members of the rebel group AVALANCHE, with characters such as Barret Wallace and child-hood friend Tifa Lockheart. Many other characters soon join your anti-Shinra party; Aeris Gainsborough who has been chased all of her life by a secret operatives sect of Shinra, the Turks, Red XIII who is a wise lion-like creature who was experimented on by Shinra scientists, Vincent Valentine, a former Turk who was resurrected as an immortal, Cid Highwind, a man with astronaut dreams crushed by Shinra, Cait Sith, a prophetic robotic cat riding a giant mechanical doll of a moogle (think of something like pikachu or a furby), and Yuffie Kisagari, a ninja and materia (orbs that represent magic) thief from a feudal-Japan-inspired town. It is hard to simply sum up these characters, because you learn about them so much through the dialogues you read and play through and from watching cinematics. As the party goes into attacking Shinra, they come across another anti-Shinra figure, Sephiroth, who was part of Soldier with Cloud, and you learn Soldier was more than just an army, it was an army created by Shinra from working with the genes of Jenova, an alien-like but man-made-through-science “mother.” Sephiroth develops as the true antagonist, and he also understands the reason Shinra was interested in Aeris: she is in possession of the white materia, which serves mostly as the MacGuffin, but seems to service as the materia of the world and its life force. It’s not too important for me get into the story too much further, but it is important to realize this is much more you would expect from a video game.
Now just because it is more serious than other games, isn’t saying much. But Final Fantasy VII equals the level of story and character development found in a book, if not exceeding it, since you have full interaction with the world and are immersed in the characters. But then again, just having a story doesn’t make something significant literary wise.
One aspect of the great literatures of history is their ability to incorporate and respond to real world issues in a different, but effective and parallel, light; Final Fantasy VII does just that. For a game created in 1997, it eagerly addresses issues still going on today, such as world pollution and “being green” by saving the planet from harm. Your initial foe is the mega-corporation Shinra, harvesting the life-force of the planet. There’s also the presence of the hippie-like, anti-Shinra town of Cosmo Canyon, visually similar to a Native Indian camp but with developed astrological technology, where the people are attuned to nature and strive for the planets well being. Sure, U.S. companies haven’t gone so far as directly harvesting the life force of the planet, but we all became aware of the dangers of industry and energy production and creation methods over time, and corporations were forced to treat the planet more respectfully. Final Fantasy VII creates a literary depth by mirroring modern times in addressing issues of planet health.
Another controversial issue reflected on is the mysteriousness and the secret actions of larger companies, especially the government. Aeris Gainsborough, as I mentioned, has been chased all of her life for unknown reasons to her by a Shinra Special Operations Department called the Turks. It is a secret sect of the government that works solely towards its missions, assigned by the Shinra president to be more concerned with the safety and development of the nation, not the individual people. The Turks are allude to USSR KGB and U.S. CIA. They even have their own little theme song in the game when they appear, which sounds like a Cold War era arms factory with a twist of noir with its night-like, jazzy bass lines and finger-snaps (I’ll simply add as a side-note that Final Fantasy VII also included a historic, original, orchestral but electronically produced soundtrack, moving beyond the blips and bleeps of now-retro gaming).
Sure, you could still say that this reflection of real world events isn’t enough to bring video games into a respected light. Someone could exaggerate the allusions of Mario Brothers, representing the poverty and disrespect of the working class, which is so poor it has to go around chasing coins on the sign, and so disrespected that you have to avoid violent mutant turtles and destroy dinosaur men just to get a peck on the cheek from the princess. But Final Fantasy VII realistically alludes to real life, with the story you’re immersed in and the significance of these events to the characters, and eventually once you’ve been drawn in enough, to you.
Final Fantasy VII develops a truly emotional and revolutionary experience. The story becomes more significant to you because you are the one moving the characters, using them to fight, engaging in their dialogues, and seeing and making events unfold. Final Fantasy VII also includes the moment generally revered as “the most emotional moment in gaming history.” Now, I don’t want to spoil it because it involves a shock, (which of course wouldn’t mean much anyway if you aren’t immersed in the story, but if you ever were to, it would take away its impact) but it is equivalent to Leslie Burke’s death in Bridge to Terabithia and Romeo’s in Romeo and Juliet, or the discovery of the protagonist in The Sixth Sense. The shock in the story led some players even to tears; if a video game is able to create emotional attachment (not addiction), surely they are evolving literary wise.
Final Fantasy VII was not the first game to use a story, but it was the game to revolutionize the depth of games with its story. Games now hire many writers, and are all based upon a real story; no more days where games are just shoot this, explore that, etc. Even the more simple action-based games, like Gears of War, develop a story and its own universe; much like how action movies do at least some effort to create a story (even if it isn’t always the greatest).
Sadly despite my attempts, I don’t think I can entirely persuade you that games have evolved more than you would think depth wise, just as it is difficult to explain the thrills of a roller-coaster or the sight of the Niagara Falls. You really would need to play a game (and also be willing to submit yourself to it as you would a film or book) that represents the great potential of video games to rival books and films, and Final Fantasy VII is the best sample. You will be shocked at the depth and experience a game had from eleven years ago, during the era of Super NES, but still it has also evolved much further since then with games over the years and recent ones like Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, Assassin’s Creed, and Halo, which are worth looking into.
