The (de?)evolution of Final Fantasy - Part III

Earlier today we went over the 32 bit Fantasies, and it came to light that 2 out of the 3 titles were really solid, whereas one was rather mediocre despite having the more complex (and unlikable) characters of the three. This brings us to Final Fantasy X. This Final Fantasy has incredibly interesting characters and a solid, fleshed out story featuring interesting protagonists. Featuring a cool mentor character (who happens to be undead), a wannabe sports star, a summoner torn between duty and life and love, and your hero trying to live up to his father's legacy who is torn from his world and is suddenly forced to decide between going back home or saving the world, the story in FFX is one that focuses on human sacrifice, human nature, the struggle of humanity vs nature, control by religion, and a duality of realities. The battle system which allows active switching of characters is also solid. What keeps this game from possibly being one of the greatest Final Fantasies of all time is the 'feel' of the game. The game world feels more linear than the previous fantasies, and in a full chronology of the design of the Final Fantasy worlds this would be the game to point at which led to the disaster that was the full linearity of Final Fantasy 13. However overall, FF X was solid, and in my mind it does represent a leap in quality. While subjectively it is not the best game we have covered so far (in my mind that would be a tie between 6 and 7), objectively it does improve over the others so much because of technology that we can consider it the superior title. 

Young Adult Gaming?

YOUNG ADULT GAMING?!?!

Young adult literature is kind of a big deal. Steadily rising in popularity since the mid 90s and reaching massive appeal with JK Rowling's Harry Potter series, young adult fiction has become one of the best selling genres (broadly defined) to date. Young adult fiction is often characterized by exploring multiple themes in a single book, having memorable characters, and using clever writing that makes for intriguing reading experiences. Furthermore, the major themes explored in young adult fiction are those specially relevant to people in their mid to late teens, but that are also pertinent to people of all ages. These include issues of identity, sexual discovery, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, family struggles, bullying, friendship, and love - among others. But what does any of this have to do with gaming? Well, I thought it might be interesting to ask ourselves if there is a videogame equivalent to young adult fiction, so let's do that: can games be young adult fiction?