Better Worlds

How do you explore a world where satellites can capture an image of nearly anything from miles above the surface of the Earth? How do you adventure on a planet rife with unknown diseases and poisons liable to kill you in seconds with no known remedies? How do defeat that fickle boss, Boredom? The answer to all three of these questions is, arguably, you don’t. And because you don’t, you pick up a controller and you play a video game.

The fact is, if our own world were more interesting, or we were more capable and able to explore it, none of us would probably play games (aside from the laziest of the lazy). If I could walk into a warzone and mow people down with an assault rifle and bear no consequences for those actions, you can bet I would. If there were dragons to slay and I had extra lives, I’d slay them (with righteousness!). Unfortunately, we can’t do the things in reality that video games allow. In some ways video games fulfill all of our fantasies. How much money would you make creating the first virtual, likelife girlfriend? You could buy both heaven and earth.

For now, however, we are stuck here, on Earth, bored and in need of an escape. This escape comes in the form of travel to other worlds, better worlds some might say. It is my intent with this article to examine a world I’ve been to. A world I’ve loved. A world I didn’t really want to leave and often revisit purely for nostalgia. So walk with me and maybe we can share a memory or two. Maybe we can point at one another’s footprints and say, “Yes. I stood there.”

The World of Balance / The World of Ruin

Anyone who knows me even a little knows my love of Final Fantasy 6. It’s always going to be my favorite game. I won’t go into why. It doesn’t matter. It just is. And part of the reason it is so bloody good is the world in which it’s set. If you haven’t played it, I’m going to spoil the mid-game meltdown for you. In short, halfway through the game the bad guy, a clownish character called Kefka, wins. He takes the power, he breaks the world, and he becomes a god. You don’t see this in any other game.

The world before the breaking is called The World of Balance. The game itself is set on an unnamed planet. Nowadays we have Ivalice and Vana’diel for our Final Fantasies, but not back then. The name wasn’t important so much as your experience. The World of Balance was a varied and beautiful place. You could find lush forests, bright deserts, and mountain ranges galore. Oddly enough, there was a beauty to these places even via the worldmap. The sprite based textures portrayed more to the eye than many fully cinematic vistas do even today. The cities held a mixture of steampunk and old world charm. The castles ranged from simplistic, rough fortresses, to mobile, sand-tunneling war machines. And everywhere you went, things were just a little different. The world wasn’t rustic enough that people from Narshe had no idea that people from Vector existed, but there seemed to be a common thread running through everything because of the influence of the Empire. At the same time, each town, each area, retained its individuality. Jidoor’s people were haughty and self-indulgent with a very Baroque sense of style, whereas the people of South Figaro were more mercantile and simple in their tastes. Thamasa retained a feudalistic style reminiscent of ancient Japan. And there were no cities, in that game or any other, that even closely resembled the thief-ridden oddity that was Zozo. When Final Fantasy 6 originally released, RPGs rarely, if ever, had this variation in style and flavor.

But what made it a better world? Was there some reason I returned to so very often? The story was phenomenal, the characters charming to a fault, and the gameplay and customization surprisingly engaging. But it had to be more than the sum of its parts to truly bring me back time and again. It takes more to make a player want to step through that screen.

As mentioned before, midway through the game, everything is turned on its head when Kefka wins and literally brings the apocalypse. Now we’re standing amidst nearly ten continents and a handful of islands, all shattered into obscurity and mourning. All mourning. This is a world changed in more than fundamental ways. You have some cities completely wiped from the map, others in ruins, and strange places popping up where before nothing existed. This dystopic landscape, by all rights, should have been less interesting, more depressing, and a worse place to be. Yet it wasn’t. If anything, this is the landscape I would choose to dwell in were I given the choice. Yes, it’s bleak, it’s full of despair, and it serves as a gigantic reminder that you, in fact, lost. It’s also full of possibility. The World of Ruin represents a place in need of repair, and while the opposition might seem overwhelming, after roaming around in this barren landscape for even a few minutes, you get the feeling that you can make things right. Being in that world you suddenly feel important, not just another treasure hunter or king or general. Now you’re a savior. And really, that’s what you set out to be from the very beginning of any RPG, isn’t it?

If you’ve played Final Fantasy 6, then walk with me a bit. Walk with me through Phoenix Cave, a dungeon that forces you to use nearly the entire roster of characters, powered up or no. A cave housing the promise of rebirth and a young thief’s hope.

Walk with me through Kefka’s Tower, a conglomerate of trash and debris full of evil and death. A madman and a god waiting for you at the top, astride his monument to non-existence. Follow me through the Ancient Castle, once proud and mighty, now mere ruins and ghosts…and memories. A place where war ripped lives apart, and yet love still found an anchor.

Jump down into the maw of the Zone Eater with me and let’s look for the strangest character I’ve yet to encounter in my RPG travels. A near-mute, a mimic, with a very odd home. And the Opera House. Words don’t do the Opera House a proper memorial. When Kefka destroyed the Opera House, I knew I could never forgive him.

These places and more made up this World of Balance and this World of Ruin. It was a world I often returned to, for all its flaws. It never needed flashy graphics or voice acting to draw me in and make me want to be a part of it. It just needed to be what it was. And you know…I think I just might return again. See you there.