NA version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin had features cut dropped for localization

When the PSP port of Persona 2: Innocent Sin was announced earlier this year, Andriasang unveiled a few new features added specifically to the port, including the Climax Theatre, complete with new subquests and the ability to download extra missions and create your own quests.

Sound kind of cool? Well, the subquests are still there, but Atlus removed the DLC and mission creation from the North American localization and neglected to tell anyone. The official explanation can be found at Atlus' forums, which includes these quotes:

"As has been the case with other similar games and their custom content features, a number of challenges—technical and otherwise—prevented the inclusion of the basic creation/customization functionality within the Climax Theatre for the North American release of Persona 2: Innocent Sin for PSP System."

"And, before people ask, no, we really can't go into the "why"s and "what happened"s here, but it was not a decision made lightly, and it was not a case of something being removed just because we're the Big Bad Publisher that hates fun."

"The only thing I want to add here is that this [quest creation being in the NA version] isn't true. At no point from the NA announcement to the release was the Quest Creation aspect mentioned in any press releases, Faithful blasts, or website updates."

This does little to clarify the matter. Functionally, it's probably not all that big of a deal, because many players probably wouldn't have used it anyway. (I know I wouldn't.) It's certainly nothing approaching the Snow Queen quest from the original Persona, which was a huge part of the game and was hacked out of the original English PSOne release, but included properly in the PSP version. As noted by them, technically the quest creation was never announced as being part of the NA version, but Atlus should probably realize that a good number of their fans read import blogs like Siliconera and Andriasang, heard about it there, and assumed that it would make it in (like the forum poster that brought up this issue!) But the biggest concern is that Atlus USA did nothing to say contrary up front, thereby committing the sin of omission. It's a no-win situation if they can't include it, but they preferred to go the skeezy route by letting people buy it and find it missing, rather than deal with a minor fan uprising before release and having them swear off purchasing it (though they likely still would've bought it anyway.)

It's especially frustrating in this particular case. Anyone with a bit of internet savvy can either hack their PSP or download ePSXe, patch an ISO and play the fan translated version of P2:IS for free. While this is technically illegal (unless you own the original Japanese PSOne disc), the availability of such an option should, in theory, have given Atlus an incentive to make any products superior to what you could download off the 'net. (And with less loading times, too!) Adding extra features is a good way to do this - silently removing them because fans should be grateful that they're getting it in the first place is not only disrespectful to their consumers but actually a little bit ignorant to the reality of the gaming world.

This hasn't been the first time this generation that this has happened. The DS port of Nippon Ichi's Rhapsody initially had a few extra scenarios taken from the later games, which were advertised on the English web site and would've been the first time English gamers would've gotten to play them. These were removed for the NA release and the web site quitely updated to remove those particular features. NISA was called out on it and eventually apologized. A similar thing happened with Yakuza 3 and its removal of its hostess bar simulation segments and other minigames, which caused something of a shitstorm. This was discovered before release, and Sega admitted to it, sparking calls for a boycott. That didn't work, which was actually good, because the sales were enough to convince the company to localize the sequel, albeit without any stupid cuts this time. The English DS version of Dragon Quest IV was inexplicably missing its party talk function, though it was included in the releases of V and VI. But the only real way for companies to stop this crap is to call them out on it, and here we are.
<center><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/p2psp/p2psp-1.png"></center><br /> <br /> When the PSP port of Persona 2: Innocent Sin was announced earlier this year, <a href="http://andriasang.com/comuii/">Andriasang</a> unveiled a few new features added specifically to the port, including the Climax Theatre, complete with new subquests and the ability to download extra missions and create your own quests. <br /> <br /> Sound kind of cool? Well, the subquests are still there, but Atlus removed the DLC and mission creation from the North American localization and neglected to tell anyone. The official explanation can be found at <a href="http://www.atlus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9578">Atlus' forums</a>, which includes these quotes:<br /> <br /> <i>"As has been the case with other similar games and their custom content features, a number of challenges—technical and otherwise—prevented the inclusion of the basic creation/customization functionality within the Climax Theatre for the North American release of Persona 2: Innocent Sin for PSP System."</i><br /> <br /> <i>"And, before people ask, no, we really can't go into the "why"s and "what happened"s here, but it was not a decision made lightly, and it was not a case of something being removed just because we're the Big Bad Publisher that hates fun."</i><br /> <br /> <i>"The only thing I want to add here is that this [quest creation being in the NA version] isn't true. At no point from the NA announcement to the release was the Quest Creation aspect mentioned in any press releases, Faithful blasts, or website updates."</i><br /> <br /> This does little to clarify the matter. Functionally, it's probably not all that big of a deal, because many players probably wouldn't have used it anyway. (I know I wouldn't.) It's certainly nothing approaching the Snow Queen quest from the original Persona, which was a huge part of the game and was hacked out of the original English PSOne release, but included properly in the PSP version. As noted by them, technically the quest creation was never announced as being part of the NA version, but Atlus should probably realize that a good number of their fans read import blogs like <a href="http://www.siliconera.com">Siliconera</a> and <a href="http://andriasang.com">Andriasang</a>, heard about it there, and assumed that it would make it in (like the <a href="http://hg101.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=games&action=display&thread=8446&page=1">forum poster</a> that brought up this issue!) But the biggest concern is that Atlus USA did nothing to say contrary up front, thereby committing the sin of omission. It's a no-win situation if they can't include it, but they preferred to go the skeezy route by letting people buy it and find it missing, rather than deal with a minor fan uprising before release and having them swear off purchasing it (though they likely still would've bought it anyway.) <br /> <br /> It's especially frustrating in this particular case. Anyone with a bit of internet savvy can either hack their PSP or download ePSXe, patch an ISO and play the fan translated version of P2:IS for free. While this is technically illegal (unless you own the original Japanese PSOne disc), the availability of such an option should, in theory, have given Atlus an incentive to make any products superior to what you could download off the 'net. (And with less loading times, too!) Adding extra features is a good way to do this - silently removing them because fans should be grateful that they're getting it in the first place is not only disrespectful to their consumers but actually a little bit ignorant to the reality of the gaming world. <br /> <br /> This hasn't been the first time this generation that this has happened. The DS port of Nippon Ichi's Rhapsody initially had a few extra scenarios taken from the later games, which were advertised on the English web site and would've been the first time English gamers would've gotten to play them. These were removed for the NA release and the web site quitely updated to remove those particular features. NISA was called out on it and eventually apologized. A similar thing happened with Yakuza 3 and its removal of its hostess bar simulation segments and other minigames, which caused something of a <a href="http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2010/03/dont-buy-yakuza-3.html">shitstorm</a>. This was discovered before release, and Sega admitted to it, sparking calls for a boycott. That didn't work, which was actually good, because the sales were enough to convince the company to localize the sequel, albeit without any stupid cuts this time. The English DS version of Dragon Quest IV was inexplicably missing its party talk function, though it was included in the releases of V and VI. But the only real way for companies to stop this crap is to call them out on it, and here we are.

Final Fantasy VI

Today, a guest article written by Sergei Servianov, on what Final Fantasy VI meant for the youth of the time, and the fantastic musical scores that accompanied it.
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There’s a lot of argument regarding the nature of games writing, with some readers craving something deeper than arbitrary scores and pseudo-objectiveness, and others decrying any attempts at floral prose. Some like hard-hitting investigative features such as those by EDGE and GamesTM, and others want something deeply personal.

Well, whatever. I’m not about to argue with where writing should go.

This article was recently posted by my good friend Sergei Servianov on The Gamer’s Quarter forums, and I felt it needed greater exposure. I’m sure different people will appreciate it for different reasons, or possibly not all, but several points made it really resonate with me.

Sergei talks about how videogames of this calibre occupied a unique time, before the internet and improved means of distribution enabled greater choice with regards to various entertainment and artistic mediums. Speaking with generations prior to mine, it was only in adulthood when they came to appreciate more artistic things – their youth was occupied by sports, cheap comics, simplified children’s books and lousy TV. For the generation who grew up with games such as Final Fantasy VI though, it granted access to artistic worlds of thought and melancholy storylines which, for the time being, had no equivalent for teenagers. (though I fully expect a whole wave of rebuttals to this statement)

I also relish any piece of writing which is brave enough to criticise Final Fantasy VII, which for me was a bloated and overrated mistake which influenced far too many developers, ruining a lot of potentially good future games in the process.

While the fabled last issue of The Gamer’s Quarter exists only in the minds of its writers, even if you never followed the publication this eulogy is well worth reading for anyone who appreciates the 16-bit era.


---

Preaching the Truth from the Edge of Kefka's Tower: A Hymn to Final Fantasy VI

By Sergei Servianov

Whenever I think back to my wasted youth, I can't help feeling a tang of bitterness at not having had my fair share of sex and adventure. There wasn't much of that going on in my teenage years; nothing at all, actually, if we're talking about sex. There was a lot of shame in those days and that makes me want to curse the RPGs.

I want to curse them, but I can't quite bring myself to do so. I'm listening to the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack right now and realize that you can't quite argue with something this good. Sex is one of the few things that makes life worth living, I love fucking... Even so, you can't refute Final Fantasy VI , because the argument that it presents is unimpeachable. Yes, of course, the cool guy faction in my crania sniggers at this, they're mocking me as I write. But they are wrong. They know all too well about what can satisfy the body and the steps that need to be taken to make it so. But they are the enemy and will always be the enemy. Cool is the enemy of all that is good in this world. Cool will never understand the beautiful and runs from the truths of this cold, dark universe like a cockroach running from light. I'll ally with the cool to get laid, but that's as far as my allegiance will ever go.
Final Fantasy VI is pure refutation, an argument in 32-meg form against the vileness of this world. There are few artifacts of our generation that have withstood the test of time as well as Square's Super Famicom masterpiece. I can't imagine a single twelve-year-old of my generation with any soul at all smirking at it. It's way too serious a work for that to happen. It was something that millions of people would play and declare allegiance to. And it deserved all of it. One of the few videogames that did or does.


Where else could we have found such art? Movies? Well, the Americans of my day didn't have Miyazaki's stuff on file, so that was out. The Disney films seemed pretty profound in those years, but they haven't aged well. I have a hard time justifying my obsession for the Lion King back then. Music? There was no proper music for those who hungered for more. Classical music, you say? Well, classical music was boring and didn't talk about anything that we wanted. There was something cheesy about it, too. It didn't seem serious at all. Comics? We didn't have manga back then and the stuff that we did have was beneath contempt.

No, it was in videogames and in videogames alone that we could've found our arguments.

You just couldn't help but love those characters. They were better than most of the people you went to school with. They probably still are. They had honor and meant what they said. And their wonderful personal themes, composed by Nobuo Uemastsu at the height of his power, were something that you hoped you would have for yourself one day. I know now that that's impossible, but how great it is to imagine walking into a bar and hearing Shadow's reedy music playing in your head, drowning out the shitty rap that's trying it's best to make the bar seem like the “decadent club scene” from a bad American action movie.

Yes, THAT music, it's hard to write about it now because so many horrible people have expressed their appreciation of it. Yet, that's its strength and the strength of Final Fantasy VI as a whole. It is impervious to either praise or criticism. It merely sets up its argument, presents you with the greatest graphics, music, and story that you'd seen, heard, or read up to that time and asks you if you still want to continue on in the real world; a reverse Matrix.

Many a twelve-year-old heard that call, but few followed it wholeheartedly, boarded that Phantom Forrest train. Many more than was to be expected, though. I'm pretty sure that if you were to gather all the true believers in a single place then you could easily get a Tienanmen Square crowd scene going. I can imagine it now. Hordes of plump and skinny losers of all races, howling like mad, whacking the chained unbelievers on their way to the Gulag of the Cool with their FF VI cartridges, while a grinning “ice teeth” Hironobu Sakaguchi – Mao Suit, liberation cap – waves to them from the castle walls.

Though daydreams don't get you far in this world, so let's recall the characters, for our sake and theirs.

Make no mistake about it. They are still beyond you and will always be. If one can imagine a life as blissful and attractive as Setzer's, I'd like to hear it, lounging around a floating casino, taking his share of sex and drugs without a hint of nagging puritanism. As lame as it may look right now, that man was our libertine, our Byron. Then there's Shadow, a ninja loner, the idealized self-image of every boy that went through high school uncool, whose touching story of woe was presented with a minimalism that was ignored by RPG creators then and now. And like all good things, he was doomed to perish. You could never quite save Shadow, no matter how you may have wanted to. Or what about Edgar, who dresses like like a mix of a decadent 19th prince and a modern CEO, part chainsaw murderer, part ladies man. Kefka, while somewhat overrated as a villain, has many moments of delight as well, having the most fun of any JPRG character in history. Gleefully committing mass murder; an angel/ clown / punk rocker hybrid firing lasers from his trash tower. Yes, Square really sent in the clowns there and the clowns were scary. In fact, Kefka, despite being the villain, steals so many scenes, gets so many great lines – recall him laughing at your party during the final battle, calling them a bunch of walking self-help cliches – that you can tell that the creators' hearts were in the right place. It's no coincidence that Kefka's Tower is greatest piece of music on a soundtrack famed for great work. I don't know if it's scary or not that the appeal of Kefka is much more real to me now than as a child.
And then there were the set pieces. There are so many to recall that you can open up any random save from a copy of the game bought from a Japanese “recycle shop” and be assured of stumbling upon something wonderful. The big Moogle battle, the type of thing you kept in your head while playing Magic: the Gathering as a teenager, stuffed animals whacking werewolves on the head with maces. The struggle on the Floating Continent, with that great scene of Kefka kicking the Old Man of the Empire offstage like a bag of rancid garbage, followed by Shadow playing a lethal game of WMD goddess statue chess with our favorite clown.

Sadly, the same things cannot be said for many of the RPGs that came after it. Genius though it may be, Final Fantasy VI has given rise to many a false prophet ( though the critics rightly place the blame on the massive success of the game's Playstation sequel). The most offensive example of this is Xenogears: the pitiful banner of the most pathetic nerds of this Earth. It's so puerile that talking about it feels dirty and unsporting, like making fun of a cripple. It's just depressing to think about and that's that. It's not so much a game as the sad story of Hitler's Germany branded onto a CD: so much talent, so much great music and art wasted in the service of a laughable ideology, an insipid narrative.

Many other works have faired better. Persona 4 comes to mind, even though it's FF VI's direct opposite. It celebrates the cool, sneers at the nerds, and goes out of its way to glorify those loathsome high school days. As a counter-argument it works much better than I could have expected. Its music is poppy tunefulness compared to Final Fantasy's neo-romantic nobility, its story a big Yay !! for this world and its people. It's the closest that we've come in the Japanese RPG genre to “maturity.”

Make no mistake, I'm not mocking it. I love the game dearly, it's the only modern game that I can stomach playing these days. Though its worldview will most probably never inch out the one that Final Fantasy has instilled in me. I also have the utmost contempt for the perfunctoriness of its villain. It's a sad state of affairs that the game makers of today don't even bother making a halfway decent counter-argument against our world, won't even make the villain fun. The heroes' argument in Persona 4 boils down to the same thing that the popular kids prove wordlessly every day at school, “We're cooler and totally have more friends than you, loser.” A very bad way to cap off a game that had a lot of good in it.

The saddest thing is that we still don't have the vocabulary – nay, the poetry – to celebrate Final Fantasy VI properly. Most of the praise that this profound little anti-Earth has gotten is as clumsy as its criticism. The words aren't here yet, but we're coming close... they're somewhere, to be sure, stashed away in the brain of some basement-inhabiting uber-dweeb romantic, waiting for the right moment to emerge. Final Fantasy VI is like Lovecraft's Old Ones, bidding its time, influencing the aesthetics of the world in ways we can't – perhaps, won't live to – ever see.
The War of the Magi has never really stopped and Final Fantasy VI will no doubt continue its unseen jihad, unnoticed and unheard until our blessed day of reckoning. When the silly works of today will be nothing more than a footnote in the Final Fantasy-era of art history.



<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yKqoljFez0dw44srrzJ1-CjMOgwje0ksITOcQo38cxWJb4llVNb3Avz8gaKk0zLIw50TxG3FaDcgYIa9e94k6mmP6dyBuCb3cGK8pc9YVqYuMcC7yJzhq4KIYCkdaYIZP9ZyusXmcAs/s1600-h/HEAD.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193738089499682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yKqoljFez0dw44srrzJ1-CjMOgwje0ksITOcQo38cxWJb4llVNb3Avz8gaKk0zLIw50TxG3FaDcgYIa9e94k6mmP6dyBuCb3cGK8pc9YVqYuMcC7yJzhq4KIYCkdaYIZP9ZyusXmcAs/s400/HEAD.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 289px;" /></a>Today, a guest article written by Sergei Servianov, on what Final Fantasy VI meant for the youth of the time, and the fantastic musical scores that accompanied it.<br />.<br />.<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost">There’s a lot of argument regarding the nature of games writing, with some readers craving something deeper than arbitrary scores and pseudo-objectiveness, and others decrying any attempts at floral prose. Some like hard-hitting investigative features such as those by EDGE and GamesTM, and others want something deeply personal.<br /><br />Well, whatever. I’m not about to argue with where writing should go.<br /><br />This article was <a href="http://www.gamersquarter.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2374">recently posted</a> by my good friend Sergei Servianov on The Gamer’s Quarter forums, and I felt it needed greater exposure. I’m sure different people will appreciate it for different reasons, or possibly not all, but several points made it really resonate with me.<br /><br />Sergei talks about how videogames of this calibre occupied a unique time, before the internet and improved means of distribution enabled greater choice with regards to various entertainment and artistic mediums. Speaking with generations prior to mine, it was only in adulthood when they came to appreciate more artistic things – their youth was occupied by sports, cheap comics, simplified children’s books and lousy TV. For the generation who grew up with games such as Final Fantasy VI though, it granted access to artistic worlds of thought and melancholy storylines which, for the time being, had no equivalent for teenagers. (though I fully expect a whole wave of rebuttals to this statement)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvDDHotNYQRSGub_rGVtQSHa_f8-a8N4LxQ2Fl1NoxbtLXOXWhn5GmtJfi1f_jgSzlF5O7vcQZpmALOGR9RvoEa2UnZ6etP1l7ihhXCY6cWcg62_yNzmfUWlUh2H68bRRX-s2BDfOk7Pk/s1600-h/25-21.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193572305899730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvDDHotNYQRSGub_rGVtQSHa_f8-a8N4LxQ2Fl1NoxbtLXOXWhn5GmtJfi1f_jgSzlF5O7vcQZpmALOGR9RvoEa2UnZ6etP1l7ihhXCY6cWcg62_yNzmfUWlUh2H68bRRX-s2BDfOk7Pk/s400/25-21.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 227px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">I also relish any piece of writing which is brave enough to criticise Final Fantasy VII, which for me was a bloated and overrated mistake which influenced far too many developers, ruining a lot of potentially good future games in the process.<br /><br />While the fabled last issue of The Gamer’s Quarter exists only in the minds of its writers, even if you never followed the publication this eulogy is well worth reading for anyone who appreciates the 16-bit era.<br /><br /><br />---<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Preaching the Truth from the Edge of Kefka's Tower: A Hymn to Final Fantasy VI </span></span><br /><br />By Sergei Servianov<br /><br />Whenever I think back to my wasted youth, I can't help feeling a tang of bitterness at not having had my fair share of sex and adventure. There wasn't much of that going on in my teenage years; nothing at all, actually, if we're talking about sex. There was a lot of shame in those days and that makes me want to curse the RPGs.<br /><br />I want to curse them, but I can't quite bring myself to do so. I'm listening to the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack right now and realize that you can't quite argue with something this good. Sex is one of the few things that makes life worth living, I love fucking... Even so, you can't refute Final Fantasy VI , because the argument that it presents is unimpeachable. Yes, of course, the cool guy faction in my crania sniggers at this, they're mocking me as I write. But they are wrong. They know all too well about what can satisfy the body and the steps that need to be taken to make it so. But they are the enemy and will always be the enemy. Cool is the enemy of all that is good in this world. Cool will never understand the beautiful and runs from the truths of this cold, dark universe like a cockroach running from light. I'll ally with the cool to get laid, but that's as far as my allegiance will ever go.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YZiEO-7SonNfs2lqfsWZ4FzUxROrHgm-D5znnTM3FCXDyOHwX_u8AZiIsi8b-LB8dKDPFyCNiclRdr0WX6J7D6rQ-WRVnMwxij218QzsUA1KmVKX79Xau5Itd-6cljm3FKrtCgsUPxg/s1600-h/ff6_85.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193737778686658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YZiEO-7SonNfs2lqfsWZ4FzUxROrHgm-D5znnTM3FCXDyOHwX_u8AZiIsi8b-LB8dKDPFyCNiclRdr0WX6J7D6rQ-WRVnMwxij218QzsUA1KmVKX79Xau5Itd-6cljm3FKrtCgsUPxg/s400/ff6_85.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 400px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">Final Fantasy VI is pure refutation, an argument in 32-meg form against the vileness of this world. There are few artifacts of our generation that have withstood the test of time as well as Square's Super Famicom masterpiece. I can't imagine a single twelve-year-old of my generation with any soul at all smirking at it. It's way too serious a work for that to happen. It was something that millions of people would play and declare allegiance to. And it deserved all of it. One of the few videogames that did or does.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxcWvuFewx79MKHtsy5qEgBQhyphenhyphenAThj9ibZAeXikwi4KUgTFQ13ifmLkHOduZk3n2yCv-tKxZJ8E-6En5k3ZpNFc_wsak2axIJeVj1GpWIxl0lwrI3iFeVtq_J0PinleLmLDBjqiMpck3s/s1600-h/ff6_80.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193730670356658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxcWvuFewx79MKHtsy5qEgBQhyphenhyphenAThj9ibZAeXikwi4KUgTFQ13ifmLkHOduZk3n2yCv-tKxZJ8E-6En5k3ZpNFc_wsak2axIJeVj1GpWIxl0lwrI3iFeVtq_J0PinleLmLDBjqiMpck3s/s400/ff6_80.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 333px;" /></a><br /><span class="fullpost">Where else could we have found such art? Movies? Well, the Americans of my day didn't have Miyazaki's stuff on file, so that was out. The Disney films seemed pretty profound in those years, but they haven't aged well. I have a hard time justifying my obsession for the Lion King back then. Music? There was no proper music for those who hungered for more. Classical music, you say? Well, classical music was boring and didn't talk about anything that we wanted. There was something cheesy about it, too. It didn't seem serious at all. Comics? We didn't have manga back then and the stuff that we did have was beneath contempt.<br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost">No, it was in videogames and in videogames alone that we could've found our arguments.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLVVf7S1rRJLqf2fvRVZvM2jXtxfZ-ZUAMw7mR3g8bVmDGYV-g-x5Br0yCLN6SlEbKwaQ2fMEzAYR4TJg2H0942dhgvnaF_eVrnA2kuBkXc4WlLeeTihtAl1Ect3zr2CM5paF3Eowy4A/s1600-h/03-83.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193350470864674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLVVf7S1rRJLqf2fvRVZvM2jXtxfZ-ZUAMw7mR3g8bVmDGYV-g-x5Br0yCLN6SlEbKwaQ2fMEzAYR4TJg2H0942dhgvnaF_eVrnA2kuBkXc4WlLeeTihtAl1Ect3zr2CM5paF3Eowy4A/s400/03-83.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 300px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">You just couldn't help but love those characters. They were better than most of the people you went to school with. They probably still are. They had honor and meant what they said. And their wonderful personal themes, composed by Nobuo Uemastsu at the height of his power, were something that you hoped you would have for yourself one day. I know now that that's impossible, but how great it is to imagine walking into a bar and hearing Shadow's reedy music playing in your head, drowning out the shitty rap that's trying it's best to make the bar seem like the “decadent club scene” from a bad American action movie.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpCTFZFYIInjX4ZI06u9AHfrczY4Y5TSlUYmnG3QOttLNeE1HUOUq6B6wzuVh0Fb_mKvsGrYm2STUFFIvLGjXapGHIZBSAoVQHRvI3xuNmOgSVkl-Xxu9SNWcIOMeXwOfdOBKiM9Yh9o/s1600-h/09-47.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193357000199170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpCTFZFYIInjX4ZI06u9AHfrczY4Y5TSlUYmnG3QOttLNeE1HUOUq6B6wzuVh0Fb_mKvsGrYm2STUFFIvLGjXapGHIZBSAoVQHRvI3xuNmOgSVkl-Xxu9SNWcIOMeXwOfdOBKiM9Yh9o/s400/09-47.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 386px; height: 300px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">Yes, THAT music, it's hard to write about it now because so many horrible people have expressed their appreciation of it. Yet, that's its strength and the strength of Final Fantasy VI as a whole. It is impervious to either praise or criticism. It merely sets up its argument, presents you with the greatest graphics, music, and story that you'd seen, heard, or read up to that time and asks you if you still want to continue on in the real world; a reverse Matrix.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho6tDyjFZLfiOi6n8QJVzI8nfI-NyObykLHGwm2vU3VKzbasrnQJcVOF8GI8nXKKPI92Ca78YKikYwPVa_1bmFaQrtaz3I-AIVoiU6XOR_2MveRlefJWQTvnFvfD8Gy2XZ_5cAysVSGBs/s1600-h/14-45.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193363813332994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho6tDyjFZLfiOi6n8QJVzI8nfI-NyObykLHGwm2vU3VKzbasrnQJcVOF8GI8nXKKPI92Ca78YKikYwPVa_1bmFaQrtaz3I-AIVoiU6XOR_2MveRlefJWQTvnFvfD8Gy2XZ_5cAysVSGBs/s400/14-45.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 269px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">Many a twelve-year-old heard that call, but few followed it wholeheartedly, boarded that Phantom Forrest train. Many more than was to be expected, though. I'm pretty sure that if you were to gather all the true believers in a single place then you could easily get a Tienanmen Square crowd scene going. I can imagine it now. Hordes of plump and skinny losers of all races, howling like mad, whacking the chained unbelievers on their way to the Gulag of the Cool with their FF VI cartridges, while a grinning “ice teeth” Hironobu Sakaguchi – Mao Suit, liberation cap – waves to them from the castle walls.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEG0-QUTCe_x9xJWtsd8OuNLWROIH3bmHARVxIJCmfi-yP6VZwslvGH2k906MHTQoPavIz81HdPmDY4UakzUCfdeRbuyc8qz5AnSYRGcWRrwdkbrYBkrRz5wt7OXI4D06jnG2_j8uNNFo/s1600-h/41-3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193579037370146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEG0-QUTCe_x9xJWtsd8OuNLWROIH3bmHARVxIJCmfi-yP6VZwslvGH2k906MHTQoPavIz81HdPmDY4UakzUCfdeRbuyc8qz5AnSYRGcWRrwdkbrYBkrRz5wt7OXI4D06jnG2_j8uNNFo/s400/41-3.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 383px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">Though daydreams don't get you far in this world, so let's recall the characters, for our sake and theirs.<br /><br />Make no mistake about it. They are still beyond you and will always be. If one can imagine a life as blissful and attractive as Setzer's, I'd like to hear it, lounging around a floating casino, taking his share of sex and drugs without a hint of nagging puritanism. As lame as it may look right now, that man was our libertine, our Byron. Then there's Shadow, a ninja loner, the idealized self-image of every boy that went through high school uncool, whose touching story of woe was presented with a minimalism that was ignored by RPG creators then and now. And like all good things, he was doomed to perish. You could never quite save Shadow, no matter how you may have wanted to. Or what about Edgar, who dresses like like a mix of a decadent 19th prince and a modern CEO, part chainsaw murderer, part ladies man. Kefka, while somewhat overrated as a villain, has many moments of delight as well, having the most fun of any JPRG character in history. Gleefully committing mass murder; an angel/ clown / punk rocker hybrid firing lasers from his trash tower. Yes, Square really sent in the clowns there and the clowns were scary. In fact, Kefka, despite being the villain, steals so many scenes, gets so many great lines – recall him laughing at your party during the final battle, calling them a bunch of walking self-help cliches – that you can tell that the creators' hearts were in the right place. It's no coincidence that Kefka's Tower is greatest piece of music on a soundtrack famed for great work. I don't know if it's scary or not that the appeal of Kefka is much more real to me now than as a child.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNZx9z5fym8H1RJNK31h5nxKnb4ugwbpo8t89qvhOCK2I7ANyCaF3BJGJ_g8vWPKVCzpLyJIFOam1lwBJaid2EXDCgFrxBe3Js8RkHnKRpyhWmxk913idkvxt-nsLl8txnheLg68pT_s/s1600-h/16-36.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193372656084818" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNZx9z5fym8H1RJNK31h5nxKnb4ugwbpo8t89qvhOCK2I7ANyCaF3BJGJ_g8vWPKVCzpLyJIFOam1lwBJaid2EXDCgFrxBe3Js8RkHnKRpyhWmxk913idkvxt-nsLl8txnheLg68pT_s/s400/16-36.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 237px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">And then there were the set pieces. There are so many to recall that you can open up any random save from a copy of the game bought from a Japanese “recycle shop” and be assured of stumbling upon something wonderful. The big Moogle battle, the type of thing you kept in your head while playing Magic: the Gathering as a teenager, stuffed animals whacking werewolves on the head with maces. The struggle on the Floating Continent, with that great scene of Kefka kicking the Old Man of the Empire offstage like a bag of rancid garbage, followed by Shadow playing a lethal game of WMD goddess statue chess with our favorite clown.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwWqsLT2QoNL-vMd-wAaWAvGwxyqUpQNG3dn8PeRaiXeQdTUG26B7O5hW35CEqCVOFlON0FYq-qImjQTgn7Qcaqm_xbLpNxKBoiUVZR-wF8GDBMKi8ie1TA8D-_RCUa04MvwwnEJVFfs/s1600-h/ff6_62.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193583199868754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwWqsLT2QoNL-vMd-wAaWAvGwxyqUpQNG3dn8PeRaiXeQdTUG26B7O5hW35CEqCVOFlON0FYq-qImjQTgn7Qcaqm_xbLpNxKBoiUVZR-wF8GDBMKi8ie1TA8D-_RCUa04MvwwnEJVFfs/s400/ff6_62.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 400px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">Sadly, the same things cannot be said for many of the RPGs that came after it. Genius though it may be, Final Fantasy VI has given rise to many a false prophet ( though the critics rightly place the blame on the massive success of the game's Playstation sequel). The most offensive example of this is Xenogears: the pitiful banner of the most pathetic nerds of this Earth. It's so puerile that talking about it feels dirty and unsporting, like making fun of a cripple. It's just depressing to think about and that's that. It's not so much a game as the sad story of Hitler's Germany branded onto a CD: so much talent, so much great music and art wasted in the service of a laughable ideology, an insipid narrative.<br /><br />Many other works have faired better. Persona 4 comes to mind, even though it's FF VI's direct opposite. It celebrates the cool, sneers at the nerds, and goes out of its way to glorify those loathsome high school days. As a counter-argument it works much better than I could have expected. Its music is poppy tunefulness compared to Final Fantasy's neo-romantic nobility, its story a big Yay !! for this world and its people. It's the closest that we've come in the Japanese RPG genre to “maturity.”<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRAIi0ZijcQq0OKcZHloDTg52p_ijJx7UCMLHxyOQN4IZXYF_EPIPeB-bnApbnEnMINC6ZAAM0Nt0JYsj_jMkZsXhyphenhyphenTST0UxA1ngY8Fo3AZ8ARuuWSA23VTpWrW_uml1s1K8CjaxJ7O8/s1600-h/ff6_50.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193583095510674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRAIi0ZijcQq0OKcZHloDTg52p_ijJx7UCMLHxyOQN4IZXYF_EPIPeB-bnApbnEnMINC6ZAAM0Nt0JYsj_jMkZsXhyphenhyphenTST0UxA1ngY8Fo3AZ8ARuuWSA23VTpWrW_uml1s1K8CjaxJ7O8/s400/ff6_50.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 400px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">Make no mistake, I'm not mocking it. I love the game dearly, it's the only modern game that I can stomach playing these days. Though its worldview will most probably never inch out the one that Final Fantasy has instilled in me. I also have the utmost contempt for the perfunctoriness of its villain. It's a sad state of affairs that the game makers of today don't even bother making a halfway decent counter-argument against our world, won't even make the villain fun. The heroes' argument in Persona 4 boils down to the same thing that the popular kids prove wordlessly every day at school, “We're cooler and totally have more friends than you, loser.” A very bad way to cap off a game that had a lot of good in it.<br /><br />The saddest thing is that we still don't have the vocabulary – nay, the poetry – to celebrate Final Fantasy VI properly. Most of the praise that this profound little anti-Earth has gotten is as clumsy as its criticism. The words aren't here yet, but we're coming close... they're somewhere, to be sure, stashed away in the brain of some basement-inhabiting uber-dweeb romantic, waiting for the right moment to emerge. Final Fantasy VI is like Lovecraft's Old Ones, bidding its time, influencing the aesthetics of the world in ways we can't – perhaps, won't live to – ever see.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwp2zvf7U5hEOV27sozN0nSwvYV3pIboQv5QPrHHwiI2rH2TGTOR-DiQI7FunatQC1OOWhp1kQbEW3kWSvnm9HpEsfaVIy67pCRIcx2i9tX_qQUqLnBtEiUJFLTLJWzZXGYkJUIuqqUxc/s1600-h/21-25.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193569476305602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwp2zvf7U5hEOV27sozN0nSwvYV3pIboQv5QPrHHwiI2rH2TGTOR-DiQI7FunatQC1OOWhp1kQbEW3kWSvnm9HpEsfaVIy67pCRIcx2i9tX_qQUqLnBtEiUJFLTLJWzZXGYkJUIuqqUxc/s400/21-25.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 400px;" /></a><span class="fullpost">The War of the Magi has never really stopped and Final Fantasy VI will no doubt continue its unseen jihad, unnoticed and unheard until our blessed day of reckoning. When the silly works of today will be nothing more than a footnote in the Final Fantasy-era of art history.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWEXeT9F6lIq5ZEGf0cZJ_4urYh9PrqMECXy6jiZk0ilCO-5Y4-669cUSit6JYkUWuIZsW784t7x6dUAP703zKXnJw6BQuL8NWVyp1vLyhsHaHHI4j4JYqrtole_a3bcoP92fkU0DwSk/s1600-h/11-63.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439193356397625122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWEXeT9F6lIq5ZEGf0cZJ_4urYh9PrqMECXy6jiZk0ilCO-5Y4-669cUSit6JYkUWuIZsW784t7x6dUAP703zKXnJw6BQuL8NWVyp1vLyhsHaHHI4j4JYqrtole_a3bcoP92fkU0DwSk/s400/11-63.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 285px;" /></a><br /></span>