Skyward Sword was seemingly made by people who either don’t play videogames or who presume that their audience has never touched a game before.  Players rarely get more than a few moments of gameplay before having the game stop everything and provide redundant gameplay tips, plot exposition, item descriptions, and environmental exposition.  Even at the final 15 minutes of this 40+ hour game, intense combat would be interrupted so that the game can tell me all about the bone fragment I picked up dozens of times before.  From start to finish, I felt as if the game designers were treating me like some kind of moron.  This isn’t a game-breaking issue, but the constant interruptions over miniscule things gets to be a test of anybody’s patience.

It is unfortunate that the constant interruption is so overbearing in Skyward Sword, because at its core, this is a stellar game even by Zelda standards.  While being as formulaic as ever, this iteration of the franchise features some of the best dungeon designs of the series.  The puzzles, long a staple of the series, sport a much more organic feel this time around and stray far away from the tropes that Zelda games have long held to in the past- there is not a single “light these torches” style puzzle to be had.

One aspect where Skyward Sword pushed the series forward is in the depth of its characterization.  I am no fan of the silent protagonist (they come off as creepy when they exist in a world where everyone speaks normally), nor do I support the repeated decision to exclude voice acting in any and all Zelda games.  That said, with the limitations of spoken dialogue and a “creepy” mute protagonist, the characters in this iteration of Zelda are far more realized than ever before.  Link, Zelda, and the limited supporting cast (save for the main villain, who is little more than a mere anime trope) are fleshed out in a manner that has made me actually interested in these characters.  I might say that the art direction and facial expression are the primary reasons for this, but I feel the reality may be more due to the fact that more time is spent defining these characters than in previous games.  Unfortunately, the insistence of Nintendo to employ outdated storytelling techniques hinders these characters to reach their full potential in the minds and hearts of the audience.  Had Skyward Sword had actual voice acting rather than pantomime puppets, this narrative would have been something truly special indeed.  Maybe next time…

I don’t regret my time with Skyward Sword, but if Nintendo doesn’t step things up in the future and acknowledge the creative advancements made in videogame narrative from the last 15 years, then I will not be partaking in the next Zelda release.  The richness of the Zelda series has what it takes to shine as brightly as it once did, but as a triumph of modern game design.  All it takes is for someone at Nintendo to be as brave as their plucky protagonist and take that chance.

I maintain an all-too-lengthy list of “essential” games that I have yet to play through, and of all the games on that list, Chrono Trigger was always the most blatant. So, after years of procrastination and two false starts (thanks in part to the load times on the PS1 version), I finally played through what is easily one of the most universally beloved games of all time. Considering that I had not been compelled to progress further than the first 3 hours of the game on my previous attempts, and that JRPGs are not exactly known for aging well, my expectations were tempered. 25 hours later, and having achieved the “best” ending and completing all sidequest content, I can finally understand why there is such a devoted following for this game. Best of all, that didn’t require me to quantify my experience by considering the game in the context of 1995 gaming- Chrono Trigger stands on its own even to this day. In fact, I would go so far to say that the tropes the JRPG genre has developed since have actually diminished these types of games in many respects.

The most blatant thing I noticed about Chrono Trigger was that this game truly feels like it has “heart”. Every aspect from graphics, music, design, and story all exude a level of care that indicate a development team that cared about what they were working on- this was no “factory” developed title. The characters, while perhaps a bit one-dimensional, all exude a charm that makes them genuinely likable. This endearing simplicity and charm highlights something profound about narrative mediums: sometimes complexity and deep, gritty characters do the overall work a disservice.

Part of me regrets not experiencing Chrono Trigger back in 1995, but then part of me is glad I got to look at it for the first time in a much later context to truly appreciate its timelessness. My cynicism regarding the quality of the game turned out to be unfounded, and Chrono Trigger really does deserve the fondness it enjoys amongst fans of the medium.

This story about the would-be Islamic terrorist from Massachusetts can be a jumping-on point to the topic of moderate religion vs. fundamentalist religion.  First of all, props to the Mosque for their expulsion of Rezwan Ferdaus due to his dangerous fundamentalism.  This place of worship also deserves kudos for the inclusive and peaceful policies of which Mr. Ferdaus was upset with.

However, the one take-away that all too few will bring from these types of stories is arguably the most important: The religious beliefs of people like Rezwan Ferdaus are on more solid scriptural footing than those of the moderates who disapprove of their actions and beliefs.  This is hardly a Muslim-only situation as the same can be said of the Westboro Baptist Church (who are actually tame compared to what the Bible actually says what should be done to gays) and others.

And this is where the real conundrum lies.  We count on the humanity and decency of moderate and liberal religious leaders to rein in extremism.  Unfortunately, these leaders are ultimately hypocrites- a very good thing in terms of benefit to society, but the fact remains that they are ultimately disobeying and diluting the essence of their scripture.  Rather than abandon the aspects of these texts that are archaic and dangerous, they avoid these parts all together or come up with interpretive excuses for why they are no longer valid.  If they abandoned the texts, then they would effectively cease to be Muslims, Christians, or whatever they claim to be. The end result is that they simply perpetuate the proliferation of scripture that will invariably find its way into the minds of the “true” believers.  And these fundamentalists will have the upper-hand on one crucial point: that they are following the laws of their deity more closely than the moderates.

The economic chaos erupting from the recent downgrade of the US credit rating is a stark reminder of the state of affairs American politics has cloistered itself into.  Democrats and Republicans are so intensely committed to their partisanship that neither side gives a damn about the collateral damage their little political war causes.  The collateral damage in this case being the American, and by extension the World, economy.  These players were so afraid of losing face in the eyes of their equally partisan “fans” (AKA the American voter), that any prospect of compromise or common ground became unpalatable- even though the only practical solutions required such cooperation.  Such is the foolishness of a government on its last legs.  Read the rest of this entry »