(Music from Final Fantasy X Soundtrack)
Here the main characters have just made the next step in the journey dictated by the religious leaders and the religious leaders have come to capture the main characters for treason. The act of so called treason (not visible here) had actually been self-defense, but because the main characters were not doing exactly what the religious leaders were wanting, they were arrested, put on trial, and became exiles.
Here the main characters have just made the next step in the journey dictated by the religious leaders and the religious leaders have come to capture the main characters for treason. The act of so called treason (not visible here) had actually been self-defense, but because the main characters were not doing exactly what the religious leaders were wanting, they were arrested, put on trial, and became exiles.
Look! What gun is this?
Triggers whispers underground
And joy above ground.
The Religious are Sensitive
The controversy surrounding video games is usually related to violence, but with Final Fantasy X, it is the lack of violent response to the game that has me curious. This game makes many allusions to and remixes various religions from our world to tell a story. But in a world where a YouTube video ("Innocence of Muslims") can spark such outrage as can be heard across the world (Frank, 2013), where the use of a Cathedral in a shooting video game can cause enough of an upset to cause the video game to be recalled and rewritten("Cathedral Row over Video War Game," 2007), and where other uses (or misuses) of religious icons and imagery has led to other outcries ("Lessons We Learned From Hitman2," 2002, Radsch, 2013), Final Fantasy X seems to only receive praise.
According to IGN (The News & Features Team, 2006), GameRevolution (Osborn, 2013), and ComplexGaming (Jones, Vincent, & Hester, 2012)—among others, the Final Fantasy franchise is one of the top fifteen game franchises. Of the games in this franchise, Final Fantasy X is among the top five by many standards (IGN staff, 2009; GamesRadar Staff, 2014; "Ranking The Final Fantasy Series," 2009). IGN rated it a 9.5 ("Final Fantasy X"), Metacritic rated it a 92 ("Final Fantasy X for PlayStation 2 Reviews - Metacritic"), and Gamespot users rated it a 9.3 (Kasavin). And VGChartz ("Game Database") reports that Final Fantasy X is the second best-selling Final Fantasy game worldwide . Also, as a kind of salute to its popularity, SquareEnix is releasing a remastered version of Final Fantasy X and its sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, later this year.
This led me to a Burning Question of "What did Final Fantasy X do right to keep fans from being offended?" which has the underlying questions of, "Where is the line of offense (not necessarily religious offense)?" and "How do I avoid it/replicate Final Fantasy X's success?"
References
Barthes, Roland, and Geoff Dyer. (2010). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang. Print.
Cathedral Row over Video War Game. (Sept. 6, 2007). BBC News. BBC Retrieved on Feb. 28 2014 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6736809.stm
Derrida, Jacques. (1976). Of Grammatology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP. Print.
Final Fantasy X. IGN. Retrieved on Mar. 11, 2014 from http://www.ign.com/games/final-fantasy-x/ps2-14008
Final Fantasy X for PlayStation 2 Reviews - Metacritic. Final Fantasy X for PlayStation 2 Reviews - Metacritic. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/final-fantasy-x
Frank, Priscilla. (De. 25, 2013). "The 10 Most Unorthodox Artistic Depictions Of Jesus." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Retrieved on Feb. 28, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/25/jesus-art_n_4475749.html
Game Database. Best Selling Video Games, Game Sales, Million Sellers, Top Selling. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?page=1
GameRadar Staff. (Feb. 21, 2014). The 25 Best Final Fantasy Games. GameRadar. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-best-final-fantasy-games/
Horvath, Bryan. FINAL FANTASY X. Christian Answers Network [Home] • Multilingual Answers, Reviews, Ministry Resources, and More! • ChristianAnswers.Net. Films for Christ. Retrieved on Feb. 28, 2014 from http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/games/2002/finalfantasy10.html
IGN Staff. (Dec. 29, 2009). Ranking the Final Fantasy Series. IGN. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/12/29/ranking-the-final-fantasy-series
Jones, Elton, Brittany Vincent, and Larry Hester. (Sept. 25, 2012). The 50 Best Video Game Franchises. Complex Gaming. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.complex.com/video-games/2012/09/the-50-best-video-game-franchises/final-fantasy
Kasavin, Greg. GameSpot. GameSpot. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/final-fantasy-x-review/1900-2832771/
Lessons We Learned From Hitman2. (Dec. 3, 2002) Spotlight - Sikhe.com. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.sikhsentinel.com/sikhsentinel0212/sikhe-hitman2outcome.htm
Mariae, Miles. (Aug. 16, 2010). Catholic Video Gamers: Review of FFX. Catholic Video Gamers: Review of FFX. Blogger.com. Retrieved on Feb. 27 2014 from http://catholicvideogamers.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-of-ffx.html
Medina, AC. (June 2, 2010). Religion in Final Fantasy X. The Escapist. Retrieved on Feb. 28, 2014 from http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.198919-Religion-in-Final-Fantasy-X
Osborn, Alex. (Apr. 22, 2013). 7 Best Video Game Franchises Of All Time. Game Revolution RSS. CraveOnline Media, LLC. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/7-best-video-game-franchises-of-all-time
The News & Features Team. (Dec. 2006). The Top 25 Videogame Franchises. IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/12/05/the-top-25-videogame-franchises?page=5
Radsch, Courtney C. (Feb. 11, 2013). Egypt to Ban YouTube for a Month in Response to 'Innocence of Muslims.' The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Retrieved on Feb. 28, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/courtney-c-radsch/egypt-to-ban-youtube-for-_b_2656697.html
Ranking The Final Fantasy Series. (Nov. 2, 2011). Www.GameInformer.com. Retrieved on Feb. 27, 2014 from http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/12/02/ranking-the-final-fantasy-series.aspx?PostPageIndex=5
The above image is my emblem for the aporia (or problem that I cannot solve) I have with Final Fantasy X (FFX). In this scene, the main characters have just made the next step in their journey, which is dictated by theocratic leaders, when the leaders and their soldiers arrive to arrest them for treason. One of the reasons that I chose this image is that it is a trace or "mark of the absence of a presence," (Derrida, 1976). It represents how I expected Christian gamers to react to FFX, after I had played the game, because of my (teenage) interpretation of the game. However, as said above, this is not how they reacted. Most made notes about the elements that the church might disagree with, but almost none said that the game should be avoided altogether or should cause outrage (Horvath; Mariae, 2010; Medina, 2010). Therefore, this image traces the actual reaction of the Christian gamer as well as the violent response I had expected from the Christian community.
The above reasons for choosing this image are based on studium, or namable meanings that can be shared; however, the mystory calls for us to also observe the punctums. Punctums are part of what Roland Barthes (2010) calls the obtuse meaning. These meanings are personal and cause emotional stinging or pricking. Within this image, I have two punctums. The first is that the camera that produced this image puts me among the crusaders/soldiers which suggests that I was among those who caused the girl in white to become unresponsive. This was my rightful place during my first experience of the game, but I regret having been here as I have come to see this game much more differently since then. My second punctum is that, of the girl's allies, only two (the guy holding the girl, and the girl in the warm colored clothing) to three (the man in red) are positioned in a way to suggest that they actually care about the unconscious girl's condition. The remaining three allies seemed more concerned with waiting for the order to fight which suggests an equal but opposite blindness to that of the soldiers. As a supporter of the game, I dislike the sort of supporters who are like the blind three almost as much as the soldiers.
Ominous
Problem
Choose a site with an aporia. Treat the site like an oracle, and while taking photos of this site that document the mood, be asking the site a burning question you have. Then choose an image that emblemizes the aporia.
