A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine the game that truly made me a fan of RPGs (more than likely I’m not the only one), “Final Fantasy VII”
Not Every Good Intention is Based in Purity (“Final Fantasy VII”)
During the 1997 fall season of explaining why I “needed” a Playstation to make my Christmas special, I had a chance to pick up a copy of “Game Informer” magazine that featured a complete, spoiler-filled walkthrough of Squaresoft’s latest role-playing game entitled “Final Fantasy VII”. In reading the magazine article for this game I didn’t own, I exposed my fragile little mind to a genre of gaming I truly didn’t know existed because my local video stores either didn’t have role playing games available to rent or they were always rented out. Even though the marketing and magazines had made a significant initial impact on me, when I planned a Playstation-centric Christmas list that year, my mind had completely forgotten about “Final Fantasy VII” (shame on me, I know).
It would take a year of playing games ranging from epic (“Tekken 3”, “Twisted Metal 2”, “WCW vs. The World”) to terrible (“Mortal Kombat Mythologies”, “Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi”, “Bubsy 3D”) and the opening of a video store not three minutes away from my house (in driving time) before “Final Fantasy VII” popped onto my radar again. Coming from school not long after the “Video 2000” store’s opening did I have a chance to rent “Final Fantasy VII”. For the next couple of days, I spent as much time as I could playing this wondrous game before having to return it; declaring to myself if there could only be one present under the Christmas tree for me that year (1998), “Final Fantasy VII” would be that present. And thankfully it was meant to be. One of the first characters the player is introduced to is a brazen man of darker complexion looking like Mr. T on steroids (or an even bigger Mr. Curtis Hughes if his current depiction from the “Final Fantasy VII” remake pictures are anything to go by), talking like Samuel L. Jackson, and having the greatest built-in weapon ever seen in a “Final Fantasy” game thus far by the name of Barret Wallace.
First impressions of Barret are not the most endearing as the leader of rebellion group Avalanche is a man who will do anything to take down Shinra even if it means those who work for the corporation die in a fiery death caused by his subordinates explosive capabilities. But sometimes first impressions aren’t a great judge of character. Returning to his home base alongside recent Avalanche recruit and lead protagonist Cloud, Barret is warmly greeted by a child claiming to be his daughter; though she looks nothing like him. It takes at least another dozen or so hours for the player to discover the truth in regards to Barret’s relation to this girl – Marlene – and how his reasoning for fighting against Shinra wasn’t purely based in simply trying to save the planet. Before Barret needed a gun grafted to his arm and had the foulest mouth possible (until you meet Cid), he was a simple miner in the town of Corel. Shinra wanted to turn Corel into a Mako reactor site – an idea Barret advocated until he realized it would mean the end of their home as they knew it. The ruthless Shinra wanted to strip Corel clean of not only Mako, but also the people who opposed them including Marlene’s real father Dyne and Barret’s family. Surviving the attack that should’ve killed him while protecting little Marlene, Barret’s sole purpose became to avenge the death of Dyne by killing anything & anyone associated with Shinra under the guise of trying to save the planet. Though Barret’s intentions of protecting Marlene were noble, the truth is Barret’s righteous goals were based around revenge and slaughtering potential innocent people who had nothing to do with what happened in Corel all those years ago. Barret eventually learns the error of ways and rectifies his thinking, but Barret’s initial reason for fighting Shinra is a reminder that not every good intention is based in purity. But that doesn’t mean every good intention can’t involve someone with the nickname “Spiky”.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Final Fantasy VII” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
