Still on cooldown. Updates, nonetheless.

Hello, all!  I swear, I had a rant prepared for today, but...hasn't quite coalesced yet.  Still working on what I want to talk about next and some indies to spotlight.  Either way, I wanted to let people know that I DID survive Animazement.  I debated buying some games, but was poor, so settled for a few movies.  I wanted to get the Guardian Legend for NES, but...again, poor.

Can we get a VC release, Nintendo?  Pleaes?

I sold about 400 dollars worth of my gaming perlers, which is pretty decent, if I do say so.  However, a fair bit of things happened while I was gone, so I just want to post a few updates about gaming, then I'll hopefully be back into regular update mode next week.  First, while Animazement was going on, we finally have the release of the Retron 5 by Hyperkin...the delays and price hikes have made many people skeptical, but as far as clone consoles go, it seems PRETTY DAMN IMPRESSIVE.  Save states, built in cheats, and almost 10 different systems that are playable(NES, Famicom, SNES, Super Famicom, Sega Genesis, Sega Megadrive Japan version, Game boy, Game boy color, and GBA.)  Gamespot did a much more comprehensive review than I could, seeing as I don't have one because, poor.  Check that out here.

It ain't perfect, but it is pretty damn cool.

Zeboyd games, one of my previous creator spotlights, has started up the Kickstarter Report again and I couldn't be more thrilled, as they have showcased some truly interesting kickstarter ideas.  Extra Credits recently finished an inspiring examination of how video games could be used as educational tools.  And Dark Souls 2 continues to be awesome, thanks to lore enthusiasts like Vaati.

Also, right after I returned home from my convention, an artist and graphic designer I know showed me something awesome.

A billion points to people who actually get this reference.

She's an artist, pokemon enthusiast, and overall awesome person.  Goes by the tag Aquarius Magick.  Check her stuff out, if you're interested.

That's all for me.  I'm still cooling down from working over 30 hours last weekend, yes still, shut up, I'm tired.  I'll also be heading out to New York in two weeks, so this might be a light month for me in terms of updates, but I don't intend to abandon this blog by any means, so...just be patient, alright?

Thinking next week we talk about either Legend of Iya or Neverending Nightmares and their creators.  We'll see...

Diminutive Diatribes: Hardware Laments and The Future of Old Games...

Guys, gonna be honest, I am just dead this weekend.  I've worked myself too hard, taken a huge exam on Saturday, and been going through a lot of stress and emotional whosits and whatsits.  So...sadly, no creator spotlight this week.  I did write up a little something for you all though, so enjoy.  Fingers crossed we get back to our regularly scheduled program next week.

Diminutive Diatribes: Hardware Laments and The Future of Old Games...

            It's fair to say that nostalgia is a big thing in video gaming.  The resurgence of the 16-bit and 8-bit pixel art style in video games, chiptunes, emulation, virtual console, everything points to the fact that we have an infatuation with games from our past.  And this can be for various reasons.  Sometimes it's purely rose tinted glasses, where a bad game felt good because we played it when we were younger and needed it as an outlet.  Sometimes it really was very polished, because with the limited memory of the 8 and 16-bit eras, you had to have a focused, polished game, because there were no patches and you wanted to build brand loyalty.  However, I've often asked the question, what happens to our old games as time goes on?

What happens to our old games when there is no one to play or love them?

            Now, since nostalgia is popular, software itself is not necessarily something to be afraid of losing.  Clone consoles of the NES or SNES are available, right now, to play original or reproduction copies of old games.  Software that was originally only built to run on DOS is being retooled by GOG so that even a Windows 7 machine can run Math Blaster or King's Quest.  We have an almost infinite number of roms for emulation software available, ostensibly, for free on the internet.  So, that part of old gaming will actually never die.  It will be around in some form or another for as long as our digital age lasts.  However, there are some things that...concern me.

They save as many games as they can, but even GOG can't do everything.

            Has anyone ever watched the Angry Video Game Nerd and seen him have to fiddle with the Atari 2600 or the Magnavox Odyssey or the Action Max?  Those games have hardware components that make them nearly impossible to play on a traditional LCD flat screen television.  The display is off and the games with them seldom work properly...you need an old CRT television, which is what the machines were originally designed to work on.  These games are, for all intents and purposes, doomed to fall prey to the march of progress, where sooner or later the components that are necessary for them to work will simply no longer exist.  CRTs will be phased out or replacement parts, like the cable box for the Odyssey, will no longer be made.  For me...that's kind of scary.  And not just because of old gaming either.

When the Angry Video Game Nerd reviewed Pong Consoles, the game was the machine...so if the machine was broken, you were flat out of luck.  That's what scares me about our modern games...

            In the modern era, hardware has become a big seller of games, not just on graphical prowess, but on the promise of a new experience.  The Wii, Playstation Move, and Microsoft's Kinect all act upon the idea of motion controls.  While we're in the present era, few people have given any thought to whether or not these games, good or bad, will ever be unplayable because we will be unable to find the component parts needed to make them work or properly emulate said component parts on another platform, like a PC.  However, this is a very real concern that people need to be aware of.

A huge misstep, in my opinion.

            With the axing of backwards compatibility in the Playstation 4 and Xbox One era of gaming, this leaves a number of games in limbo.  For example, many early games on the PS3 used the sixaxis motion controls of the proprietary Playstation controllers to create key features in their games, such as Ratchet and Clank Future's tornado weapon, which was controlled by tilting the controller, Lair's dragon flying which functioned in the same way, or a personal favorite of mine, Folklore, which used the tilting of the controller to rip souls out of enemies.  Tell me, what happens when the PS3 becomes an antique in say, 20 years, and all the sixaxis controllers are broken?  Folklore would be left in the dust bin, unplayable because we lack the proprietary software.

To pull out the soul, you must tilt it into the proper alignment with the sixaxis controller in Folklore.  What happens when there are no more sixaxis controllers?

            So, I want people to take a minute and think about all the hardware gimmicks being pushed down our throats.  We bemoan many of them but at the same time, if we have any games amongst those that we like, we could be out of luck when the hardware stops working.  Think about how difficult it is for an emulation program to run a rom.  It basically copies the hardware settings on a PC that existed for the said console and maps the controls to the keyboard or a USB controller.  Relatively simple.  However, how can you tell a PC to handle gyroscopic motion controls?  How can you tell a PC to recognize a slash or a swipe with the controller for Dragon Quest Swords?  How do you tell a PC to tilt this way or that in a game?  This is harder, because the only real way to simulate it, at present, is with hardware, either the proprietary hardware or a similar cloned version.  Even if we don't like some of the hardware tricks, like the 3DS's 3d...this may be the only generation which gets to experience them.  I'd say treasure the unique experiences and try to preserve them, because for lots of gaming, the future is hardware failure and abandonment, avoiding complete oblivion only through the graces of youtube and wikipedia.

Don't take it for granted.  When it's gone, it might never come back.

            I don't have an answer for this problem other than be aware and try to preserve so that if we ever need to make a clone console or whatever, we can, but I also don't want to end this on such a downer.  The idea that swathes of games could be lost to the future because they are tied to a special piece of hardware that no one makes anymore is terribly sad...however, some savy gamers are trying to find ways around it.

            Software is a versatile thing and many hackers and programmers try to work around issues that the hardware had.  This can be shown through the creation of clone consoles and the like, but also with certain special projects online.  The BS Legend of Zelda project is an excellent example of this.  The BS Legend of Zelda games were three titles, technically four but let's not get into that, released only in Japan for the Satellaview, an add-on to the Super Famicom.  The Satellaview was a great example of a hardware system that we couldn't carry into the future, because it relied on satellite broadcasts for the games to work.  Orchestral music, game data, and live voices would be transmitted via the satellites and arrive at your console.  However, when service for the Satellaview cancelled and the satellites stopped transmitting, many games on it were thought either lost to time or to the few savy collectors who made back ups on blank cartridges.  Some savy hackers, however, managed to find the code for the Legend of Zelda games on Satellaview and repair the missing code, putting in a soundtrack for the music and adding cues to make up for the voices.  It's now available, online, right here.  And BS Zelda wasn't the only one.  Other games, like the fantastic Radical Dreamers were also saved through the use of the internet.

On the left, we have the NES Zelda, on the right the BS Legend of Zelda from Satellaview.  So glad this was saved ^_^

            Hope isn't dead yet for old games that rely on hardware.  As we advance into the future, some hackers or programmers realize the value of certain control schemes and can create mods or whole programs to simulate them.  The Logitech USB controller, for example, has a special program which not only lets you customize controls for PC games, even ones without controllers support, but can also simulate mouse movement with the analogue sticks.  If that is possible, perhaps even motion control could one day be simulated in our USB controllers.  Perhaps...

A miracle worker.  I've even played point and click games on this...

            While the thought of Folklore vanishing forever makes me sad, hope isn't lost.  If enough people remember and like a game and there are those who like it enough to try and fix it for the future, like the BS Zelda crew, then even hardware failures might not be the death of certain games.  We can keep them alive.

            However, the future isn't written.  We don't know if any of these hypothetical hackers will make it so we can emulate motion controls or make clone consoles of the Wii or 360 years and years down the line...and even if they could, will they?  Will they care?  So, I say take pleasure in the new experiences offered by new hardware...cause they won't be here forever.  Remember them.  Treasure them.  And try to keep their legacy alive, because I don't want us, as gamers, to lose any part of our history.  It's all valuable, even the bad parts.

What he said.

            The future isn't hopeless.  It's waiting for us to create...so we should try and create one worth living in.  A future where hardware laments don't exist, and old games are just as new as the day they were released, 30-50 years previously.

For video game lovers...PERLERS!

Hey all.  No new editorial today, because I'm engaged in one of my other hobbies.  Selling out.  I kid, I kid, but one of my big time hobbies is perling.  Thusly, I've opened a store to sell my perlers.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RealmofPerlers

What is perling?  Well, you use multi-colored beads on spiked pads, iron them together, and you can create some cool images, like these:

Anyway, I started up a shop to sell some of these awesome perlers, because...well, I've got too many and I'm about to be laid off of my job.  Got a talent?  Try and make some money off of it.  So, please excuse me for selling out just a tad.  I'm trying to create voices that are talking about my shop...even if they're all mine, hehe.

Promise, next week I will have another editorial.  Till then, give my store a look.

Month of Characters: Top 10 Heroes I Wish I Were

Sometimes in games, we have power fantasies about the heroes we're playing.  We wish we could be him because he's so cool or we want to be strong like that one...it's escapist entertainment, so this is only normal.  For me though, I kind of respect certain heroes because I enjoy hearing their stories.  I don't want their stories to be my own.  However, other heroes I really wish I could be, just because their lives and their persona really gel with my own.  So, for those interested in power fantasy, here are the top 10 heroes I wish I could be.  Needless to say, there will be spoilers

SPOILER WARNING!!!

Kain (Legacy of Kain Series)

I love Kain.  He's a different kind of vampire who could just as easily be a villain instead of a hero, but his actions are carefully calculated to be of net gain to not only himself, but to the world.  Kain is arrogant, but wisely so.  He has enough power, wisdom, and foresight to allow himself to be a little confident.  What I love most about Kain is how Shakespearean he can be.  He is masterful with his language and very dramatic, using his words to great effect in both his musings and in arguing to justify his actions.  Having lived for thousands of years, he proves his intelligence not just through cunning but through philosophy, as he often waxes on what a king should do, condemn himself to death for the good of the world and in doing so destroy his race, or live, rule an empire in a dying world, and quietly await the end.  Kain believes that while fate may normally be immutable, there is always a better way, having long since set into motion a plan to cheat fate.  Kain is a vampiric messiah as well, being forever at odds with a being who aims to keep the world in an ignorant spiral of death and decay for his own profit.  Kain also never lies.  He can be cruel and wicked at times, as needs demand, but Kain will never go back on his word.  Those who betray him are damned by their own treachery, as Kain is still noble, at his core.  I wish I could be as commanding, confident, and intelligent as Kain.  Only someone truly amazing could aim to cheat fate and have both the courage and the audacity to move forward without hesitation.  Plus, he's a vampire.  That doesn't sparkle.  Bonus.

The Vampire has lived for countless ages.  He can afford arrogance, for it is juxtaposed by his cunning, his strength, and his drive.  Fate is his plaything.

Demi-Fiend (Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne)

The Demi-Fiend is an avatar for the human players in Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.  He has his own look and powers and what have you, but he is mostly silent and his choices are made by the players.  Get used to those in this list.  So, why did I pick him?  Well, the Demi-Fiend is an amazing character.  He is caught up in the destruction and rebirth of the world and gets trapped in the inbetween world, partway between recreation, where a mysterious child implants a magatama, a demon worm, in him, transforming the normal school boy into a half human, half demon warrior.  His skin is grey and covered in pulsating tattoos and his eyes glow golden.  Only his shape even resembles human anymore.  Along with his new look, the Demi-Fiend is given new powers, such as breathing fire, causing great bursts of wind or ice to appear and the ability to heal and revive his friends.  Speaking of friends, the Demi-Fiend also gains the ability to talk to demons and by bargaining, begging, or threatening them, he can recruit them to fight for him.  This character would be amazing to be, for his insane level of power, quirky demon friends, and all the crazy sights he sees.  The Demi-Fiend travels around a Japan turned upside down by the end of the world, seeing its natural beauty turned horrific and fantastical.  An apartment complex turned into a demon prison?  Check.  A shopping mall inhabited by demons?  Check.  A palace to an unholy demon god?  Double check.  And all along the way the Demi-Fiend is hounded by fiends, monsters hunting him as a way of proving their mettle.  These include the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the whore of Babylon, and the trumpeter, among many others.  Once defeated, they can even serve the Demi-Fiend.  What I love perhaps most about the Demi-Fiend is he personifies choice.  With the world ended, he is given the choice of supporting some differing philosophies of how the world should be reborn, such as a world for each of us, survival of the fittest, or elitism.  Or, he can reject all these reasons and save the old world, recreating it just as it was before the cataclysm.  For all these reasons and more, I would love to be the Demi-Fiend.  Master of demons, who walks between two worlds, the chooser of destiny, he is the wild card planted in the middle of a battle between angels and demons.

The Halfbreed shows true power.  Not through strength or cunning, but through choice.  He holds the power to guide the world into a new age...or free it from its hidden oppressor. 

Dark Souls Hero (Dark Souls)

This is kinda cheating, if you think about it, but I like Dark Souls alot.  The fact that they let you make your own hero shouldn't be any room for its disqualification, because the reason I wish I was a hero in Dark Souls is based more around the world than the character.  First, there is the immortality.  Heroes in Dark Souls are undead and will always be reborn at a bonfire when they die.  While others may go insane, turn hollow, and attack people, as the hero, that will never happen to me.  Plus, I get to wield all sorts of amazing powers, from slinging spell bolts, tossing fireballs, and hurling lightning spears to healing myself, turning invisible, and casting clouds of poison out in front of me.  Perhaps the most attractive thing about Dark Souls though is it makes you feel like a hero.  Players face insurmountable odds, like dragons, gargoyles, giant demons, huge wolves, undead monsters, cursed spider women, etc. and these things can be many times our size.  But, the immortality, coupled with a few tricks discovered through experimentation, means we can inevitably find a way to win.  Nothing inflates your ego more than taking down a giant iron golem even after it's whooped your ass several times.  There are lots of beautiful places to visit and cool weapons to wield in Dark Souls.  It's kind of a fantasy for all of us who wish we could be Stallone or any other action hero.  In Dark Souls, we can be powerful.  It would be a lonely existence, but Dark Souls is a game about personal betterment and striving.  You can find friends if you so desire, but the goal is self improvement and making a choice to either cling to the past or move on to the future, and all the risks that entails.  Being a hero with all that power, all that potential, and immortality?  Sign me up!

The Undead face the world in abject despair, bereft of all hope...yet still they continue onwards.  Cursed with everlasting life, forever bound by pain, they will fell dragons and bring the gods low to find their destiny.

Link (LoZ Twilight Princess)

This might seem sort of like an odd choice, considering that Link is kind of another avatar for players, wears a green skirt, and spends alot of the game cleaning up a giant mess.  But Link is so much more than that, in my opinion.  Link is almost an adult, physically fit and attractive, has his own horse, and is gifted with lots of friends as a support group.  When twilight engulfs the land, rather than becoming a monster or being rendered helpless, he turns into a powerful wolf and meets Midna.  And right there are some huge reasons to want to be Link.  The wolf form is cool, but Midna really sells it.  Snarky and sarcastic, but also tender, helpful, and even vulnerable.  Midna's a friend like you seldom ever get in a Zelda game and I'd love to have a chance to be there for her.  But that aside, you also get a ton of cool tools to play with, from iron boots that magnetize to steel walls, to a skateboard like cog, to a rod which allows you to give life to ancient statues.  Link's amazingly versatile and also a master swordsman.  There's also the beautiful land of Hyrule to explore, with snow mountains for snow boarding, rivers for rafting, farms and mountains for sight seeing, and a bustling castle town, full of fun places to visit, like Agatha's bug palace, the local bar, and even a real life haunted house.  Games abound as well, such as hook shotting around a cage to collect rupees or holding onto a chicken as you use it to glide onto a platform.  Let's not forget that Link also gets to meet amazing people.  How many of you can say that you've sumo wrestled a goron or had hot pumpkin soup with a yeti?  Not many, I can bet.  Link himself is a great guy too, doing everything he can to help out his friends, especially Midna, since her kingdom was taken from her.  Who wouldn't want to be him?  A great world to explore, fun toys to play with, neat people to meet, and the best little side kick ever?  Yes, please!

The Hero never fights alone.  It is for his friends that he fights and it is his friends who give him the strength to battle.  The world is always more fun to explore with company.

Frederick Chopin (Eternal Sonata)

Eternal Sonata was an interesting title for featuring Frederick Francois Chopin in a fantasy dream world, which he created as he lay dying.  And honestly...that's kinda what I love about Frederick.  He knows who he is and where he is, but goes along with the dream anyway, since he has nothing else to do.  He sees amazing sights, meets people, makes friends, and shares his piano music with the world.  And when the time comes, he must fight his friends to give their world substance as he loses his hold on life.  In death, he is able to save one of his friends, Polka, and offer a brilliant epitaph in the form of his piano playing and words that postulate that life is what you make of it, just as a flower can be named for something depressing or something uplifting.  It is all about perception.  Frederick as a character doesn't go through much growth or leave too much of an impression, but I'd love to be him and explore the crazy, musical world he spends his last moments in.  His sacrifice and piano playing are especially moving and often I wish I could see the world as he came to.  Even in death, he found something beautiful worth believing in.  So beautiful, he asked the question, "Which of my worlds is real and which is truly the dream?"

The Dreamer revels in his fantasy.  Though he know the sun will rise and his dream fade, he clings to it...for it is beautiful and more real than any truth he could find in the world we know.

Hero (Dragon Quest 8)

Another hero who you have to give a name to.  I probably am cheating, seeing as a ton of these entries are silent protagonists, but the Hero of Dragon Quest 8 is someone I really wish I could be.  In a world where death basically means going back to the last church you stayed at with half your money, the Dragon Quest universe is just fun.  I'd be strong enough to fight monsters, but I might be too busy laughing as the Hero.  The monsters in this world are so smiley and happy and goofy.  Hero also loves and is loved by a cursed princess, who when cured is a knockout, and Hero frequently makes reliable friends.  He converts a bandit to be his vassal and cures a lecherous knight of his philandering ways...to a degree.  He's kind hearted and honest, loves his friends, his lord, his lady, and his pet mouse.  He's immune to curses of any kind and has supernatural powers...and he's also a dragon.  Did I forget to mention that?  The Hero is a bastard child born of a tryst between a female dragon and a prince.  He holds dragon's blood in his veins and is also a member of royalty.  Is there any reason to not want to be this guy?  Friends, safety, a beautiful world to explore, royalty, cool abilities...the Hero is someone I'd love to be.  And on top of all that, he's a great guy too.

The Knight holds the heart of a dragon and the soul of a saint, forever seeking sanctuary and solace for his lord and lady.  He does so with a smile and without need of thanks, for he is justice itself.

Rudy Roughknight (Wild Arms)

Rudy was one of my first big RPG characters and I loved his soft spoken demeanor, his skill with guns, called ARMS in the series, and how he did what was right, even if it meant that he was going to be ostracized or suffer for it.  It very much felt like Rudy and I were kindred.  Then it turned out Rudy was a cyborg.  So much for that.  Rudy, despite his differences, is beloved by his friends and plays the part of a true wild west gun slinging hero.  Perhaps one of the best scenes for me in the game is where he cuts off his own arm to prevent himself and his friends from being pulled into a death trap.  And this is how he's revealed to be a cyborg.  Rather than being freaked out, his friends pull out all the stops to find someone to help fix him and even the girl who liked him before still cares for him after knowing.  For being so somber and quiet, but so moving, strong, and stoic, I wish I could be Rudy.  I wish I could be a gun slinging hero with my friends close by my side.  Rudy was the outcast who was chased away for his power.  But despite that, he always held hope.  He went back and saved the people who hurt him, showing them what a true hero was, and when the final guardian of the world, the dragon Zephyr, the west wind of hope, was trapped, it was Rudy's artificial heart which saved him.  If I had even a fraction of Rudy's strength and hope, I could rule this world.  But I wouldn't.  Cause Rudy wouldn't.

The Gunslinger is ostracized for his beliefs and feared for his power.  Yet he never loses his pride or his principles.  His aim is sharp, his heart strong, and his spirit as free as the wind.

Adol Christian (Ys Series)

Adol Christian, or Adol the Red as he is sometimes called is quite possibly the ultimate adventurer.  He's saved the world eight times and each time he does, it seems like there's a beautiful maiden waiting for him to settle down and be her beloved.  But each time, Adol continues exploring, looking for new vistas to see and new challenges to face.  And a good thing to, since he's one of the few swordsmen who not only routinely battles gods and monsters seeking to destroy whole countries or the world, but who is also genuinely likable.  Despite being ruggedly attractive, Adol never comes off as a cheat or a player and there's an air of tragedy to his departing those who love him.  But part of his journey is knowing he can always come back to visit.  I'd love to be Adol.  Skilled with both blade and mind, a kind hearted soul, handsome to the point of ridiculousness, has an amazing roster of friends who will always look out for him, and gifted with wanderlust, which guarantees adventures for him for the foreseeable future, Adol Christian is the kind of wandering swordsman we all dreamed we could be since we were kids.  I adore Adol because he does all the things I'd want to do if I could just sling a sword on my back and head towards the horizon.

The Adventurer's greatest weakness is his wanderlust.  Forever seeking new quests and people to save, he is never still and always on the move.  Those he leaves behind mourn for his departure, but the adventure continues...and some day, he shall return.

Hyakkimaru (Blood Will Tell)

This is actually kind of an odd choice, all things considered.  Hyakkimaru has lived a terrible life, with his father selling his organs to demons before he was born.  He would have died as a babe if an advanced herbalist had not healed him, given him a new body, and installed weapons in his limbs to go hunt the demons who took his organs.  Hyakkimaru is the kind of bad ass we all wish we could be.  He's a Japanese samurai, in feudal era Japan, with detachable arms which hide blades, a machinegun in his elbow, a rocket launcher in his leg, and on top of all that, he's a master swordsman in his own right.  He takes down demons every day, some the size of mountains, and doesn't even blink.  What's more, though, is that Hyakkimaru is always experiencing new things.  His life starts out bad, but when he gets his eyes back, he sees the world for the first time.  When he gets his nose or ears, he can hear and smell.  When he gets his vocal cords, he marvels at the sounds he can make.  His life is always getting better.  Coupled with a rapscallion named Dororo who keeps him honest, Hyakkimaru is an interesting twist on the samurai archetype and one I wish I could be.  Also, interesting note, Dororo is actually a girl and full grown by the time the game ends.  What can a world weary samurai and his friend for years, now a full grown woman, do together, I wonder?

The Cripple is born without hope or a future.  His weakness shall become his strength as he plods forward against the tides of destiny.  He shall protect the weak and fight for his lost youth.  He shall be a samurai.

Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

Kingdom Hearts is a whimsical little series, where the magical world of Disney works hand in hand with the grittier, more mature Final Fantasy series.  At the heart of Kingdom Hearts is Sora.  This kid is like an adventurer's dream.  He grew up on a tropical island most of his life with his best friends, sought out adventure in a bigger world, and was gifted with the power to wield the Keyblade, the greatest weapon of all.  He is the bridge between worlds for other characters, a pure hearted, honest youth who's greatest goal is to save his friends, and despite all this, is one helluva fighter.  Whether soaring through space in a gummi ship or exploring the sands of the desert outside of Agrabah, Sora is like all our childhood dreams, fostered by movies and imagination, rolled together.  Partnered with the comedic pair of Donald Duck and Goofy, Sora is prepared for any situation, no matter how grim, because he knows he can count on his allies.  To the point where even if it goes against their mission, Donald and Goofy refuse to abandon their friend.  Sora's also extremely powerful, shown to not only be nimble enough to dodge around large enemies and use their strength and smaller foes to his advantage, but also strong enough to cleave through whole buildings with his Keyblade.  Face it, at one point in life we all wish we could pal around with the Disney gang and later on, gamers often wish they could meet the Final Fantasy crowd.  Sora gets to do all this and more.  To a child of any age seeking adventure, he's a dream come true.

The Keymaster holds the ultimate weapon.  He wields the key to the hearts of worlds.  He unlocks the hearts of his friends.  He restores the hearts of the fallen.  The true power he wields is kindness.

            And these are the power fantasies of a simple gamer.  Many of us wish to visit strange new worlds or take to the road with sword in hand and a song in our heart, but society has changed from the medieval settings or the wild west archetypes we see in movies.  You really can't get anywhere in the world without identification, money, and connections...it's not possible to really go wandering, as these heroes do.  Which is why they're so precious to me and why I'd like to be them.  I've lived my life vicariously through these heroes and would love a chance to see their worlds first hand.  If nothing else, these heroes and their worlds are just fun.  They're worth exploring more than once.  To me, that's the sign of a great game and a great character.  Someone we want to be in a world we can't help but revisit.

Month of Characters Continued: Top 10 Villains I Love to Hate

A good villain is one who is both intimidating, yet admirable to a degree.  Not admirable in that you want to be like them, but you can respect their power, or their motives, or they are relatable, in that you find something about them in yourself.  These villains are ones we love because we hate them.  They are the perfect opposing force for our heroes.  And here's a tribute to the 10 villains I love to hate the most.  Needless to say, there will be spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING!!!

Kefka (Final Fantasy 6)

I bet everyone knew this was coming.  Kefka, the psychotic clown.  Of course he makes the list.  There's something undeniably scary, but also silly about Kefka.  Despite wielding immense magical power, he never really does much with his life besides kill.  And normally, this would be horrific, but he's so gleeful and childlike at times that it's hard to chastise him.  Kefka laughs and rhymes and makes terrible jokes and is garbed in harlequin's makeup.  Despite being a truly evil villain, he's one of the silliest characters in all of Final Fantasy.  What makes Kefka more intimidating, however, is that despite being silly and childish, he's ruthlessly clever, cunning, and unconstrained by morals.  He'll poison an entire population just for fun, kill his master to serve his ambition, and all the while seem like an unassuming fool.  Kefka literally becomes a god halfway through Final Fantasy 6, merging with the three mystic forces that created the world to take full control over them and become a god of magic.  The world is turned inside out and Kefka watches it burn with unprecedented glee.  For all his malice, though, Kefka seems like he's lacking.  He finds no use or purpose in life and so wants to end all of it.  Nihilism at its core.  Even becoming a god didn't cure him of it.  While he is maliciously evil, Kefka has a kind of charm to him, with his horrific acts juxtaposed by his crazy personality and clown-like appearance.  Also, while most villains seek to control or destroy the world but are always thwarted, Kefka managed to do both and was only stopped years after he'd become a god.  Perhaps what is most interesting is that Kefka's death is almost like a middle finger to the heroes, as all their magic is now useless without him, the god of magic.  If they want to live, he's forcing them to do it the hard way.  For how irredeemably evil, yet undeniably fun and funny he is, Kefka remains a favorite of mine even years after I first saw his goofy face and heard him proclaim "You son of a submariner!"

The fool dances to his own tune, creating and destroying in equal measure.  He is totally self involved, unaware that all his sound and fury ultimately signify nothing.

Sephiroth (Final Fantasy 7)

I know some people are going to roll their eyes at this inclusion, but hear me out.  You see, when I first played Final Fantasy 7 in 1996, Sephiroth wasn't the overpowered, momma's boy, bishounen that he eventually became thanks to media overexposure and what not over the years.  My first encounter with Sephiroth was when I had escaped the prison in Shinra tower and discovered that all hell had broken loose.  The tower was decimated, countless guards were dead, and the president of Shinra had been impaled on a sword.  I went in with about four guys and had to sneak, battle, and work my way up to the top, but one guy utterly destroyed the place.  For a little bit, I was actually scared.  Sephiroth created an atmosphere around him throughout much of the game that made him scary, because chaos and death were always on his heels.  He goes to Nibleheim?  Town is burned to the ground and almost everyone dies.  Follow him to the Ancient City?  One of your team permanently dies.  What impressed me the most, however, was the Midgar Zloom.  It's a giant snake that's easily ten times your size and which can casually annihilate your party when they first meet it.  When the party cross the Midgar Zloom's marsh via chocobo, they see a Zloom impaled upon a giant tree trunk by Sephiroth, as if it were nothing.  That is power, cruelty, and terror.  Sure, he's had a bit too much exposure lately, but Sephiroth was true fear for a while, creating an atmosphere more in line with survival horror than a JRPG.  That's one of the reasons I still love him.

The devil spreads death and chaos wherever he goes.  He is fear made manifest and his cruelty extends to all things, good or evil.

One man did all this.  No...not a man.  A monster.

Grahf (Xenogears)

Words do not describe the sheer oddity or the sheer terror that Grahf inspires.  Grahf is, in a nutshell, a split personality of an ancestor of our hero, Fei Fong Wong, that became a parasitic psychic entity after he lost his most cherished friend and lover.  This entity became obsessed with power and would frequently body snatch those close to his reincarnated self, as his body and spirit had died, but this facet of his personality lived on.  Grahf seeks ultimate power for the purpose of destruction, reducing all those around him to ash.  Yet, he is also a cautionary tale about how absolute power corrupts and will ultimately destroy us.  Grahf is constantly watching Fei Fong Wong in Xenogears for the purpose of using him, as he is another reincarnation of Grahf's previous form and Grahf believes Fei will lead him to the ultimate power he seeks.  Fei, possessing a similarly destructive split personality, is both at odds with and subservient to Grahf, as his evil persona, ID, was trained and manipulated by Grahf from childhood to adulthood.  Perhaps Grahf's most signature trait is that he possesses the ability to give others extraordinary power.  Power that is so intense that it will literally burn them out, leaving them naught but a withered husk of their former selves.  The real kicker?  Grahf needs a body for his persona to attach to and when he makes his final stand against Fei, it's revealed that the body he took was that of Fei's father.  Grahf has no redeeming qualities, but is interesting for his aesthetic, resembling something like Darth Vader if he were more dramatic and monstrous, and for his situation, being a psychic entity which has walked the earth for centuries seeking the power to purify it in flames.  While a bit one note at times, Grahf is an interesting look at just how out there a villain can be while still being taken seriously.  In spite of his odd back story, Grahf stands tall as a villain, acting as both the catalyst for Fei to overcome his own weakness and as a cautionary tale of how power and loss can corrupt even the best of us.

The seeker is forever in search of power, freely giving or taking with no regards for those hurt in his quest.  This power will consume him and all the world.  Knowing this, he continues on, for he has nothing left to protect.  Only things to destroy.

Kato (Shadow Hearts: Covenant)

In a game series full of tragedy, where the bad endings are frequently canon, Kato appears as a most unlikely villain.  A special forces agent for Japan at the turn of the 19th century, Kato has unlucky metaphorically stamped on his forehead.  He lost the woman he loved due to internal fighting and betrayal and became jaded about his own weakness, especially after seeing his friend Yuri Hyuga defying fate.  So, Kato did what many men in the series did and set about trying to change his destiny.  He used forbidden necromantic documents to revive the woman he loved in an artificial body, though she held no memories, created artificial super soldiers, and tried to make Japan strong by enslaving a biblical demon from Europe.  Yuri and his friends had to stop him, but Yuri and Kato understood one another, both having lost their true loves.  Yuri had to stop Kato because he knew what would happen if that power ran amok.  And Kato tried anyway, out of love.  In the end, Kato lost his love a second time and tried to change fate directly, meddling with time itself, in order to settle things.  However, even as he and Yuri squared off, there were no hard feelings.  They both knew that there was no turning back.  And that's why I like Kato.  Honorable, true to his friends and his convictions, and a romantic at heart.  He started the Shadow Hearts series as a weak incidental character but improved himself and made himself strong.  All for the sake of love.  Kato is the perfect sympathetic villain, as you both feel sorry for him but cannot allow him to continue, for the greater good.  Over the course of the game, players even get a chance to control Kato's super soldiers and work with him, endearing him to the audience, despite his goals, and his introduction was early enough that the players probably didn't see him as becoming the main villain, even though it makes perfect sense when he does.  It seems as if Kato is meant to suffer, but his drive is a force to be reckoned with.

The soldier is supposed to work for the betterment of his country.  Must he then sacrifice all he holds dear to achieve this?  Or shall he defy fate for a chance at happiness and redemption?

Lezard Valeth (Valkyrie Profile series)

There has never been a more obnoxious, arrogant, and hilarious bastard in Midgard or Asgard than Lezard Valeth.  He's a sorcerer with immense natural talent, an inquisitive mind, and no moral qualms about furthering his research.  He's Shakespearean in his wording and loves to analyze and argue points.  He's charming, despite being a tad insane, and he's madly in love with the warrior goddess Lenneth Valkyrie, who he's trying to build a mortal body for.  Lezard, despite being really, REALLY, evil, is too silly, crazy, powerful, and...human, to dislike.  In fact, to further his goals of attaining his love, he actually helps save her from death by putting her into one of the artificial bodies he made.  Later, he warps back in time to try and kill Odin, lord of the gods, and usurp his position.  And he does it with ease.  Coupled with all that, Lezard possesses the philosopher's stone and was the only human not under the protection of Lenneth Valkyrie to survive the end of the world, Ragnarok.  Even if his schemes are evil, horrific, or morally questionable, there's always a sense of fun with him.  Lezard is both respected by his colleagues and victims, but also the butt of many jokes, as a classmate of his frequently teases him and calls him a freak with a lolita complex despite his immense power.  Perhaps what's scariest about Lezard, however, is that even though he has a fun loving, inquisitive, and enjoyable demeanor, he can be ruthlessly cunning and totally amoral.  When he warped into the past, he lied and hid his true nature to become an apprentice to three sorcerers and got close to another Valkyrie named Silmeria.  No one suspected a thing until he was already ruling Asgard.  He also outright admits that the majority of his plan to take control of Asgard and alter history was just to lure Lenneth into a situation where he could control her.  It is only through the intervention of the other Valkyrie and their allies that he is stopped.  However, even if he is a villain, Lezard is just fun.  He laughs frequently, tells lewd jokes, and just enjoys life, even if he's the only one having fun at the time.  What's not to love about Lezard Valeth?

The magician revels in knowledge and power, feeling no sacrifice is too great or compromise too unlikely for the sake of his experiment.

Galcian (Skies of Arcadia)

Galcian is a fascinating villain for all his nuances.  He's the leader of an evil empire's airship armada, skilled with a blade to the point where he's almost untouchable, stealthy enough to manipulate his empress and his enemies while cunning enough to appear on the level to both, and surprisingly loyal to his comrades, all things considered.  Even those he turns on, he treats with some degree of honor and respect.  Galcian once had to kill an old friend of his for letting a group of sky pirates escape him and they fought.  Galcian won, but warned the guards to take care of the body, for it was worth far more than any of them.  His most trusted assistant, Ramirez, held the key to ultimate power in his body and would have sacrificed his life so that Galcian could remove it.  Instead, Galcian found another way, in order to spare the life of his associate.  Nothing seems to phase Galcian, as he is prepared for all outcomes in a battle, even if it is a loss.  The single time he shows any manner of shock is right before his death, and that was likely due to the way he died.  Galcian shows no favoritism to allies and only respects those who are useful, which is quite refreshing as one of the minor villains of Skies of Arcadia is a snobby, but incompetent, aristocrat who acts as an airship captain.  He lies and cheats his way into the army's top brass and frequently makes excuses, but Galcian doesn't take any of it and disciplines and demotes him regardless.  Even though he acts without remorse, Galcian's vision of the world is almost one people can get behind, with his armada acting as a police force.  People would be welcome to live in peace and without fear so long as they obeyed his will.  True, it would be totalitarian, but compared to the empire he would be replacing, it'd be much more desirable.  Galcian's ambitions are to destroy his corrupt empire and conquer the world for his own sake.  And he believes he can do it.  Everyone believes he can do it.  That's what makes him so dangerous.  And, to top it off, he has a beautiful woman for a girlfriend who also commands a battalion of airships for him.  Bonus.

The emperor holds dominion over all he surveys.  Strong, just, confident and utterly ruthless, his greatest flaw is putting his ambition before his heart. 

Gannondorf (LoZ Twilight Princess)

With Gannondorf, I'm kind of being selfish, because he's not a well rounded villain, a well spoken villain, or even a very deep villain.  But I admire his power and his aesthetic.  Gannondorf is gifted with the Triforce of power, because he desires power over all things and this strength of his is what allowed him to reach out from beyond the Twilight realms and corrupt the false king, Zant, thus starting the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess proper.  He is able to control others, turn into a giant beast, summon a horse and riders to support him and when facing a monster formed of ancient and destructive twilight magic, Gannondorf shrugs it off and crushes its head.  Gannondorf is not very nuanced, but his power makes him pretty bad ass.  And it's not just that he has power which makes him cool, but rather, the way in which he uses it.  For example, he could fight Link head to head, but instead amuses himself using Zelda as his puppet and fighting through her.  Or, as a show of irony, uses the sword which impaled him as his personal weapon.  Even if few words pass Gannondorf's lips, it's plain to see that there's something's going on behind those cold eyes.  Apart from that, Gannondorf just looks like a conquering king, with his tied back dreadlocks almost forming a crown, his pitch black armor, and his ability to ride and fight on a horse.  Gannondorf, to me, also wins this spot for his role in Super Smash Brothers Melee and Brawl, where his obscene power is enough to punch people beyond the realm of the screen and kill them with very little effort.  He takes skill to use, but he is a fun villain to have on my list.  Gannondorf is power and style, all wrapped up in a nice little package.

The usurper is power made manifest.  Nothing can stop him.  Not royalty, not sages, not death.  He turns his pain into power and fights without fear.

Xehanort: All Incarnations (Kingdom Hearts series)

I find something positively enchanting about all incarnations of this Kingdom Hearts villain.  Despite his role as ultimate evil, a greedy, selfish incarnation of how a good power can be turned wicked, Xehanort remains pretty engaging as a character, in my opinion.  In the first Kingdom Hearts game he is a very dramatic, almost Shakespearean figure, using his words and his mere presence, which at that time was without physical form, to manipulate Riku, best friend to our hero, Sora, before ultimately possessing him.  Xehanort only evolves from there, going from a shadow of his former self to a being gifted with power over the darkness in hearts, which grants him near limitless strength, as all hearts contain at least some darkness.  He uses this power to continue his pursuit of knowledge and the ultimate heart, Kingdom Hearts.  Even after his defeat, he lingers within Riku, tempting him with offers of power but also helping the boy to grow into his own.  After all is settled in Kingdom Hearts 2, the prequel story, Birth by Sleep, reveals the truth of Xehanort.  A grim, jaded old man who despite his frail appearance is one of the strongest Keyblade masters to ever live.  His search for the truth of the heart and for knowledge led him to become cunning and deceptive, so that he could corrupt and manipulate a youth named Terra before stealing his body.  Xehanort is interesting because while he will not hesitate to manipulate, corrupt, fight, or lie to achieve his ends, he is a scholarly individual, musing on the nature of good and evil, light and darkness, right and wrong, and constantly seeks knowledge for his goals.  He's revealed to not be entirely heartless either, such as when he managed to aid Riku and encourage him, or when after hurting his own apprentice, he returned him to the islands he grew up on so the apprentice could rest.  While his plans can be a bit too elaborate at times, he's interesting for his scholarly pursuits and because there are shades of a time when he was actually a warrior for the light, before his obsession and fear surrounding death and heartlessness jaded him.

The scholar quests for answers within the darkness.  He cares not for those hurt by his goals, he cares only for truth.  No act is too cruel, no betrayal too great, so long as he finds answers.

There was a time when the scholar sought answers in the light.  However it blinded him and he became jaded.  Thus, he turned to the dark.  The scholar is corrupted, but wise.  Demonic, but not without a human heart.  He is selfish, but shades of a hero remain.

Creator (Aquaria)

Children are selfish.  Children act without thinking.  Children are almost always sure they are right.  And the Creator in Aquaria is a millenia old child.  Formed when a child falls from a city in the sky into the ocean and merges with a god-like power, the Creator is one of the most despicable, but also tragic villains I've ever met.  He lost his home and his mother and spent his eternal life trying to recreate her under the sea.  And each time he failed to make her "Perfect" he destroyed the civilization that had been created by his "mother."  This means the Creator of Aquaria has singlehandedly committed genocide almost 12 times, sparing only the mother figures, usually, out of some misguided form of love.  He hounds Naija, the hero of Aquaria, throughout the game, constantly seeking her mother, Mia, his "perfect" creation.  And yet, in the end, he was just a child given power he never wanted.  He only desired to return home and be with his mother.  And when Naija defeats him, his final request is that she sing him to sleep with the lullaby of his mother.  The Creator is an interesting look at both the psychology of a child and how gods can be very much like children.  You see, children only develop ideas of right and wrong after a certain age when their brains become advanced enough to understand morality.  But the Creator never seemed to understand what was wrong with his actions, following the logic of, "I created it, it is mine, I can do with it what I please."  This draws a nice parallel to other gods in myth and religion because while they always act like they are right, they can at times be petulant children.  They will punish their creations on a whim and call it just because they are the ones who made them.  They lack basic ideas of morality or willfully ignore them for their own pleasure.  The Creator is an interesting look at how pathetic a god can be when brought low...and also how tragic they can be, since despite his power, the Creator could never have what he truly wanted.  He only found peace when Naija sang him to sleep.

The child thinks himself a god.  He sees no consequences of creation and no wrongs in destruction.  Without a guiding hand, he will continue to spread misery until it engulfs him entirely.

Creator (Final Fantasy Legend)

The Creator from Final Fantasy Legend was something of a tossup, since I only had 9 villains who absolutely had to make the list.  But, let's just say that the Creator is kind of beautiful in shock value, symbolism, and in how his actions affect the players.  You see, in Final Fantasy Legend, heroes must climb a tower that reaches into the sky, fighting fiends and monsters on each floor they arrive on and seeing all manner of sights, from an ocean world, to a cloud kingdom, to a dystopian nightmare.  However, when they get high enough, they fight Ashura, who offers to give them worlds of their own to rule.  When they refuse and beat Ashura, they are deposited back in the first world and, with no further fiends above them, reach the top of the tower, where it is revealed that the entire tower and the worlds below are merely a game for the Creator, the god of the world.  In essence, he created the tower, Ashura, and the worlds as a game, creating everything for the purpose of entertainment.  He was amused by the heroes efforts to reach paradise, at the top of the tower, and watched them every step of the way.  He is the designer of this world...a game designer.  The Creator sees nothing wrong with what he's done, since to him the characters are little more than bits of data, but the heroes are horrified at having their lives and the lives of their friends manipulated by this callous god.  So, they defeat him and are presented with an opportunity to see behind the Creator's door, to enter his world, a place none have ever seen, possibly the paradise they have been seeking.  And they choose to go home instead.  Even if their world was just a game, it had become something real to them.  I love this villain because you never saw it coming, but it kinda makes sense in a metaphysical way.  His actions and thoughts likely mirror our own, making both designer and player kind of the villain here, but it also shows that constantly moving forward isn't the only way.  Sometimes, when the adventure is done, it's nice to return home and spin your stories around a campfire.
 

The god sees all the world as a game.  For his own amusement, people fight and die.  However, is is only when the god is brought low that he realizes his folly.  The world is far more than just a game.

 And those were the greatest villains I've discovered.  They each have something special about them which endears them to the audience, which is important, but are also unapologetic about their actions which seek to hurt countless innocent lives.  It makes sense for the heroes to stop them, no matter how charming they may be.  And in my opinion, that's what makes a good villain.  They are likeable, even understandable, but also unapologetically evil, doing either malicious or selfish acts for their own personal gain.  They aren't evil because "Wooooooo the plot needs a bad guy!" they're evil because it serves their needs.  That's understandable.  That's human.  And that's scary.