Tuesday, June 25, 2002

I recently finished Final Fantasy X. This game is a creation of such art, truth and beauty that it would be a crime not to play it. I'll post a more complete review to Paradox World Reviews.

Doug had played ChronoCross, and I had played Final Fantasy IX. A little ways into FFX, I realized with a start that there were adults in it. Auron and Lulu pegged my adult meter, and none of the characters in previous Square Soft offerings had done so.

And then I had to ask, what makes them adults? There is more to it than fully developed physiques and deep voices. More to it than backstories reaching further into the past than the other characters' and having continued past losses.

I spent a while with the question, and I think the essential aspects of Auron and Lulu's adulthood are these: they are competent and knowlegeable, and they lend themselves to a cause more important than themselves -- that is, they have chosen a responsibility and they carry it out.

I can imagine you with your eyebrows raised asking "she's looking for adulthood in a video game?!!"

If our art doesn't show us adulthood, how will we learn to value it in our lives?