Am I crazy or are there Metaphorical Messages in Videogames/Media?

The one game that immediately comes to mind first is Final Fantasy VII.

To fill in some story for those who are unfamiliar, Final Fantasy VII was the only Final Fantasy with a realistic Dark Future Vibe, it came out in 1997.

Introduction Scene:


Notice as the scene begins, its pointed up at the stars, and when it zooms out on the city, you see a movie being advertised "loveless" (as in a loveless world). The storyline of the game starts off with the Main Character and his crew of "terrorists", their group is called AVALANCHE. The storyline is about how this mega-Corporation (The Shinra Corporation) that has completely taken control of the world's energy and Military Resources is killing the planet. The whole world is utterly dependent on a form of energy called "Mako Energy" which is basically like Oil in our world, used to make everything.

The catch though is that this MAKO energy drains the lifeblood of the planet when it's used, causing life around the area where Mako Reactors are set up to become dead and lifeless. In the Very beginning of the game, you blow up one of these reactors in the biggest city (there are 8 reactors).



After this you wander through the slums of this city you find that there are checkpoints and electronic counter-measures everywhere.


After getting out of the city, you explore the world and stumble into cosmo canyon, where this old dude explains to you about the planets, and how all life energy is connected, etc.



The flower girl in the scenes is a character named Aries, she is the last of a people called the Cetra, who came to this planet long ago in ships and colonized. Eventually the Cetra lost their technology and the remaining Cetra on the planet were called "The Ancients". Aries is the last true ancient (ancients can speak to the planet and channel its energy). Sephiroth, the character that kills Aries is basically genetically engineered by the Shinra Corporation to be an ancient, but...he has problems.

This is Sephiroth and his mom reuniting:


This is Sephiroth killing Aries:


After Aries's death, the game escalates to the point where a meteor is heading for the planet (impending doom):

Rocket launching to destroy the Meteor:


After that attempt fails, some other stuff happens but ultimately sephiroth is defeated. And the life energy of everybody on the planet stops the meteor. After this point, Mako energy does not work anymore.


After the credits roll:


I guess my main point is that this game kind of mirrors our current world a lot more than it did in 1997. I almost get this premonition type vibe to it. I haven't had the time to play many videogames lately, but I remember playing this when I was young, and then played it again recently and was kind of speechless. This game seriously made me cry. Almost any game made today has almost no emotional impact. Just my thoughts!

While it is strange, and does hold a lot of impact, I will be the FIRST to admit......THAT THIS GAME IS INCREDIBLE.

Seriously though, i'm starting a new game tonight, just to see how much adds up.

final fantasy 7 is awesome, good story line.

Everything that has a story has messages in it, if it didn't there would be no story and no one would be able to connect with it.

the real conspiracy is the fact that FF7 cost 190$ now, i went through 3 copys myself

Smart thread! S&F'ed.
But there is only one thing I disagree with.

Almost any game made today has almost no emotional impact.

I totally disagree with that! There are tons of games with emotional impact nowadays. For instance, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has a big emotional impact. Curiously it also deals with one of the biggest threads facing the world today. The rise of PMCs. Private Military Companies running for the sole purpose of profit and expansion of power. Scary?

Originally posted by Jepic
Smart thread! S&F'ed.

But there is only one thing I disagree with.

Almost any game made today has almost no emotional impact.

I totally disagree with that! There are tons of games with emotional impact nowadays. For instance, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has a big emotional impact. Curiously it also deals with one of the biggest threads facing the world today. The rise of PMCs. Private Military Companies running for the sole purpose of profit and expansion of power. Scary?

edit on 8-4-2011 by Jepic because: had to correct a grammatical error and add information.

You are right, it was a bit rash for me to say that, but I guess I would say that games have gotten a lot more complicated so its easier to lose the message, I guess that's where I was going. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a huge exception! Metal Gear Solid 2 was my favorite though (Fission Mailed)

Originally posted by Section69
Almost any game made today has almost no emotional impact.

im fairly sure the difference is between american and japanese companys. japanese companys try to get an awesome story and characters you wont forget, like an anime. american companys give us action and gore at a fast pace

Final Fantasy games have a lot of imagination put into them, I LOVE FF 6 7 8 9 and 10.

I don't think the story means anything too mysterious, except the fact that things become a reality from our imagination, such as new ideas and inventions, so there's bound to be connections to our world in deep stories like this.

Anyway here's a weird new trailer of a MMO game that I'm sure conspiracy theory people would love haha.

Originally posted by gougitousakusha
the real conspiracy is the fact that FF7 cost 190$ now, i went through 3 copys myself

I think its because everybody kept their copy even though there were millions.

Originally posted by Jepic
Smart thread! S&F'ed.

But there is only one thing I disagree with.

Almost any game made today has almost no emotional impact.

I totally disagree with that! There are tons of games with emotional impact nowadays. For instance, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has a big emotional impact. Curiously it also deals with one of the biggest threads facing the world today. The rise of PMCs. Private Military Companies running for the sole purpose of profit and expansion of power. Scary?

edit on 8-4-2011 by Jepic because: had to correct a grammatical error and add information.

I also love the nanotechnology parts of the game, who knows what they can do with nanotechnology in the future! :O

reply to post by gougitousakusha


No conspiracy Final fantasy VII is a classic

Originally posted by Section69

You are right, it was a bit rash for me to say that, but I guess I would say that games have gotten a lot more complicated so its easier to lose the message, I guess that's where I was going. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a huge exception! Metal Gear Solid 2 was my favorite though (Fission Mailed)

Did you play MGS3? That was pretty emotional. Amazing game.

ALso in Metal gear 4 not only does it deal with PMC's . But also maybe the truth of how the global economy is now run. Called the "war time economy" I think they explanied it that there always needs to be some type of skirmish or proxy war to keep the economy going.. It is interesting if you think about the current events that are now going.

Side note if I could meet any video game producer it would probably have to be Hideo Kojima from ofcourse the metal gear series.

1997 you were talking about DARPA in a video game who does that/??

Did you play MGS3? That was pretty emotional. Amazing game.

reply to post by _Phoenix_


I mean it was good but the story line was ahrd to follow I know it was back in the 60's but it was hard to correlate the stories. But the gameplay was fun and the bosses were fun. especially the sniper battle with the END. (you know you don;t have to do his boss battle you can just snipe while he is in his wheelchair.)

Originally posted by _Phoenix_

Originally posted by Section69

You are right, it was a bit rash for me to say that, but I guess I would say that games have gotten a lot more complicated so its easier to lose the message, I guess that's where I was going. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a huge exception! Metal Gear Solid 2 was my favorite though (Fission Mailed)

Did you play MGS3? That was pretty emotional. Amazing game.

3 was good. I thought the story of 4 was good too, but the interface was a bit complex.

I loved that the Metal Gear Solid games are full of conspiracies (believable too).

reply to post by Section69

but I guess I would say that games have gotten a lot more complicated so its easier to lose the message,

I don't agree with that neither. There were always two major fronts in the video-games industry. On one side you have the Japanese front and on the other you have the American front. Both of these are in a sense polar opposites. American producers put less philosophy into the story while Japanese producers put more philosophy into the story. How come? I'd say it has to do with each culture's background. The level of sensitivity in all aspects of society is far greater in Japan than in America. You have proof in the history books. Japan was once and still is to a degree quite isolationist.

You can say that the level of sensitivity also translates into the audience. The American audience has come to enjoy games more focused on gameplay while the Japanese audience enjoys games more focused on story.

With that said. For me there is a time for both games. At times I want some complexity to my game, and then there are times where I just want to blow things up.

Boy if we begin with Metal Gear Solid 2... I still remember putting that CD in... I remember being in awe at the scale of the gameplay and story. It was amazing! I didn't get to finish the whole game though... But there is always some chance to put some time on that in the future. If the S hasn't H T F by then...

reply to post by _Phoenix_


Tell me about that. I believe you can do anything with nanotechnology. It's fascinating technology!

Originally posted by Jepic
reply to post by Section69

 

but I guess I would say that games have gotten a lot more complicated so its easier to lose the message,

I don't agree with that neither. There were always two major fronts in the video-games industry. On one side you have the Japanese front and on the other you have the American front. Both of these are in a sense polar opposites. American producers put less philosophy into the story while Japanese producers put more philosophy into the story. How come? I'd say it has to do with each culture's background. The level of sensitivity in all aspects of society is far greater in Japan than in America. You have proof in the history books. Japan was once and still is to a degree quite isolationist.

You can say that the level of sensitivity also translates into the audience. The American audience has come to enjoy games more focused on gameplay while the Japanese audience enjoys games more focused on story.

With that said. For me there is a time for both games. At times I want some complexity to my game, and then there are times where I just want to blow things up.

Boy if we begin with Metal Gear Solid 2... I still remember putting that CD in... I remember being in awe at the scale of the gameplay and story. It was amazing! I didn't get to finish the whole game though... But there is always some chance to put some time on that in the future. If the S hasn't H T F by then...

I stand corrected. In any case, I love playing games that make me think about the world seriously (philosophically). I guess that's why FF7 clicked so much with me hehe.

Assassins creed is full of conspiracy stuff. It's great. I can't wait for the final one, I just hope the world doesn't end before they release it.
That Secret world trailer is interesting. What could "11 days are missing" mean?

I must be the only one here so far who never liked any of the Metal Gear or Final Fantasy games.

Assassin's Creed though, now those are some conspiracy filled games.