Final Fantasy X Quiz Four

[rynling]

(1) What is an "empathy game"?

(2) What specific person attempts to abduct Yuna as she's crossing the Moonflow?

(3) Why does Yuna kill Seymour?

(4) Draw ze shoopuf?

*

If I had to pick a point in Final Fantasy X where the story starts to go off the rails, it's definitely around Guadosalam, and I don't have answers to many of the questions that arise during this segment of the game. What are pyreflies? What is the Farplane? What exactly does Seymour show the party (on his own personal holodeck??) when he proposes to Yuna?

So instead of diving into Tumblr-level meta I had my students draw a shoopuf, warning them in advance that this would be a thing they would be expected to do. Not everyone got it exactly right, but that didn't really matter to me. They’re good dogs Brent.

Comments

[flonnebonne]

1) I don't know!
2) I don't know!
3) ...I can't remember exactly, but I think it's because she finds out he killed his own father?
4) Um, I think it kind of looks like a brontosaurus crossed with an elephant?

[rynling]

It's actually Rikku who tries to kidnap Yuna at this point! The player learns this during the infamous "Rikku strips off her wetsuit" cutscene.

Your answer to the "Why does Yuna try to kill Seymour" question is correct! I would have also accepted "because he attacks her with murderous intent."

An empathy game is a game (usually a short "art" game) that attempts to engender empathy in the player regarding a specific experience or positionality.

This is a good example that takes about ten to fifteen minutes to play:
http://ncase.me/cos/

This is a good article to use for reference:
https://killscreen.com/articles/the-problem-with-empathy-games/

[flonnebonne]

Oh right, I think the wetsuit scene kind of blanked out everything else in my mind!

Hm! Interesting. I see the problem with ending it at that, but I see the potential of using a game like this as a starting point at least.

Do you by any chance know of any empathy games that would be appropriate for teenagers, especially kids whose first language is not English? I did a bit of googling and didn't find anything right off the bat. The one you linked is probably too arty for my group.

[rynling]

My class was very engaged with Coming Out Simulator, and I got some strong responses afterwards. It's a problematic text but definitely a good starting point for discussion of how video games enable subjective identification... among other things.

I'm not sure if you would call it a "classic" in the genre of empathy games, but Zoe Quinn's Depression Quest is frequently referenced. To be honest though, I find it a bit tedious, and there might be too much text for non-native speakers, but it's a free browser game, so at least it's accessible.

Emily Is Away is another relatively well known empathy game, and I find it much more interesting and relatable, but this could just be because I'm old enough to have actual memories of AOL Instant Messenger.

There are bunch of cool little free games, many of which might be classified as empathy games, profiled here: https://365tinygames.tumblr.com/

One of the games I showed my own students is this one:
https://365tinygames.tumblr.com/post/157056653990/41-and-i-made-sure-to-hold-your-head-sideways

....in any case, the wetsuit scene turned out to be not as bad as I remembered it. The sense I came away with during this playthrough was more along the lines of "vague faceless scary thing in an unknown world from the beginning of the game takes off its mask and turns out to be an actual person." I don't like it that Rikku is characterized by how she reflects Tidus's character development and growing understanding and acceptance of his situation, but Rikku is pretty cute, so I'll let it slide.

[flonnebonne]

I've heard of Depression Quest! But yeah, too much text.

I think the students might like the retro-ness of Emily is Away...or that could just be me speaking. Anyway, I think that one might be a good one for my low-level students.

and i made sure to hold your head sideways looks VERY cool--thanks for that rec.

Hm, maybe I'll look into actually making these kinds of games, so the students can explain their own experiences. It seems like there are more and more tools that allow you to make games without any coding skills whatsoever.


I had the exact same experience with the wetsuit scene being not as bad as I remembered the second time around! I think I was mainly impressed by how likable Rikku is, despite her character type (genki young thang) being one that I usually don't like too much when Square does it. She's cute but not...over-the-top. And her genuine care for Yuna comes through.