[This is a spinoff continuation of a previous article.]
So we’ve uncovered the mildly insidious, but mostly innocuous true nature of friendship. We have especially established how valuable validation is in our lives. Next up, I would like to touch upon the nature of personal storytelling in our lives, and what function it plays in providing us comfort.
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[For Mature Audiences Only, Absolutely No Exceptions]
My name is Christopher, but I insisted that everyone call me Chris. I just liked to keep things simple. You can call me Chris too.
According to children’s movies and a slew of Japanese video games, the “power of friendship” is the single greatest force in the universe. Explanation for why that’s the case is seldom given though. Today, I would like to offer up some thoughts on the value of friendship, especially why it makes you and me look a little desperate.
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In a lot of ways, Dragon Age: Inquisition was Bioware’s second chance at making Mass Effect 3. Both games task you with uniting the world/galaxy to combat a common threat, and both games are the third entry in series packed to the gills with history and player choices. The problem is that a whole lot of people hated Mass Effect 3. Its ending, as well as other elements of its design, alienated or at least disappointed many series fans, especially considering that Mass Effect 2 was so acclaimed that comparisons to The Empire Strikes Back were made. Dragon Age: Inquisition was Bioware’s opportunity to show they still had what it takes to put out a high quality AAA release. And they mostly succeeded.
[No Spoilers Ahead]
[Please Note: This review only covers the single-player component of the game.]
“So, you gonna kill me now?”
“Man, I really don’t want to. But you’ve seen my face.”
“The longer we talk, the more I see your face.”
“Yeah, you’d definitely pick me out of a lineup now.”
“I’m near-sighted. So if the line is far away, then maybe not.”
“You probably have glasses though.”
“Old glasses. I need a new prescription.”
It was a real pickle. Donovan White had not planned on robbing Jesus Santos’s home while Jesus was still awake, and Jesus Santos had not planned on being awake while Donovan White robbed him. But there they were in the kitchen together. The cookie in Jesus’s hand had gone soggy from being dunked in milk and not getting eaten in a timely manner afterward. It was in mid-dunk that Jesus had first noticed Donovan.
Donovan had been in the adjacent room, sizing up Jesus’s living room furniture with visible disappointment. It looked like oak up close, which for a near-sighted person like Jesus was good enough, but Donovan could tell it was fake. Imitation oak did not pawn as well as actual oak. Donovan had pawned enough imitation oak to know that. One of these days, he was going to rob someone who could afford actual oak.
The Super Nintendo was home to any number of masterpieces. Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI, and Earthbound are merely the first few to come to mind. As a kid in elementary school, one of my favorites was Illusion of Gaia. It was one of a rare few games that I felt the need to play over again periodically, and eventually, I realized the game was my all-time favorite, even ahead of Chrono Trigger and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. It was a game that just resonated with me on a very profound, very nerdy level.
As an adult, a while back, I decided to revisit that view. The result was a lengthy critical analysis of the game, covering every aspect of its design and execution. What did I discover? And is it still my favorite video game? Read on, dear viewer, if you want to read the most intricate dissection ever written about a video game that no average person has ever heard of.
Allow me to take a minute to explain why sharing your insights with the world is a waste of time, and why I’m an idiot for sharing this with you.
To start, I am going to reference a quote. I usually find it pretentious to see literary quotes thrown into articles, but by doing so here, I will help to prove my overall point: Read more
Misery gets a bad rap. It is The Godfather Part III of human emotions. Given the choice between misery and literally anything else, misery will lose. This is an unfair and near-sighted bias. Let’s take a moment to talk about the sunny side of misery.
John Friscia 