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 a game that showed how someone shouldn’t wait to tell a loved one their innermost feelings, “Final Fantasy IX”.
Give Someone Their Roses When They Can Still Smell Them
“Final Fantasy IX” found itself in a very interesting position not only in the numbered entries of the franchise as it moved closer to the double digits it was never meant to reach, but also due to its release schedule during the tail-end of gaming’s fifth generation. Following the success of “Final Fantasy VII”, SquareSoft dove deeper into creating a futuristic, though realistically-based world sporting teens and young adults attempting to save the universe with “Final Fantasy VIII”.
“VIII’s” story created much discussion over the years including how it influenced the minds behind the franchise to avoid the pitfalls of going against what made the original entries so endearing. Instead of taking the next logical step forward in an aesthetic presentation for “Final Fantasy IX” that would follow the design choices of its most recent predecessors, the developers wanted to harken back to a time when the setting was medieval in nature; the world ran on the power of crystals; characters were rather deformed and had less humanistic traits. “Final Fantasy IX” was meant to be a love-letter to the past, as well as a potential eye-opening experience for those gamers who only got into the franchise during the PlayStation era.
The cast of colorful characters with boisterous personalities like Zidane and Steiner were visually challenged by the likes of Garnet and Vivi – two protagonists yearning for more in life, yet unable to comprehend their true purpose in the world. On the opposite end of the spectrum in comparison to everyone’s favorite black mage and rogue princess was a dragoon named Freya Crescent. Freya hailed from the city of Burmecia – a walled-off area showered with constant rain due to its location in the northwestern part of the Mist Continent.
Beyond her obvious unique appearance (the Burmecians were anthropomorphic rats), Freya’s story quickly demonstrated her ability in combat that afforded her the opportunity to be a dragon knight for her people (also being the first playable female dragon knight in the franchise’s history). At the age of seventeen, Freya abandoned her duties to Burmecia in search for love. Freya’s quest wasn’t some arbitrary mission. No – in fact the intended culmination of her journey centered on fellow dragon knight and long-missing Burmecian Sir Fratley.
Fratley bravely entered the battlefield during their respective youths in hopes of pushing back the unexplainable onslaught of Queen Brahne (Garnet’s mother) much to the distress of his admirer. The true tragedy for Freya was her inability to express her affection and genuine love for Sir Fratley though they obviously cared for one another beyond simply being fellow warriors. Freya’s refusal to admit her feelings wasn’t necessarily out of sheer shyness, but not wanting to distract someone going to war. Sir Fratley had to be focused on the task at hand; not distracted by budding love if he were to return – that’s what Freya believed at least. But Fratley didn’t return.
Freya waited for months and, eventually, set out to find him for herself as the rumors of him still waging war across the continents to protect his homeland grew more profound. Then it happened – the day the two reunited once more. Sailing out of the sky like only a dragoon would, Fratley saved Freya and her allies from another of Queen Brahne’s soldiers. During a moment of unity and reflection, Freya discovered the man she loved no longer knew her.
Through tear-soaked eyes, Freya pleaded with Fratley to quit antagonizing her with these statements about having amnesia; but this was reality and Sir Fratley’s truth. Freya, being the knight that she was especially in the moment when her people were on the verge of another grand war (not to mention Garnet being injured), ignored her personal disappointment in an effort to help so many others. Freya didn’t forget what she wanted the most: to show and tell Sir Fratley he truest feelings for him.
The game’s ending provided a glimpse into the possibility of Freya accomplishing her goal and Fratley, maybe, even gaining some portion of his old memories. Freya’s journey provides an example that telling someone how you feel about them, be it romantically, as friends, or how much you simply appreciate their contributions to your life, should be done as soon as you can so they too can understand how important they are to someone who cares so much for them.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing the “Final Fantasy IX” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.