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Bravely Default, Part One
Feb. 23rd, 2015 08:22 amI rage quit this game last night.
I was about halfway through Chapter 8 (the last segment of the story). After fighting the Fire Temple boss for the fifth time and reviving the Fire Crystal for the fifth time, I noticed that the playtime clock had hit 90 hours. I know I'm close to the end, but this amount of backtracking and repetitiveness is uncalled for.
I spent the past three days playing through all of the parallel worlds while watching Hannibal and Louie, and my frustration with the game made me hate both shows. It made me hate the books I was reading, the people I was emailing, the fic drabble I was writing, and even my dog, who is six pounds of adorable fluff and should not be hated by anyone.
In other words, my frustration with the game seeped over into the rest of my life. In the game, you do the same shit over and over and never get anywhere. This sort of fruitless repetition is accompanied by a nagging sense of waste, like, why am I still devoting my valuable time to this nonsense. The feeling was so intense that it made me seriously doubt the validity of anything I do in my life.
I understand what's going on from a narrative perspective. I also understand what's going on from the perspective of gameplay-as-narrative: the frustration the player feels is deliberate on the part of the game designers. That doesn't make it any more pleasant.
If the game is a critique of gaming - the player is a mindless puppet manipulated into wasting time and effort to save a world that doesn't need saving - then you know what, I get it. I get it, I got it, and I put the fucking game cartridge back in its box.
I'll probably go back and finish Bravely Default during a long plane ride I have to take towards the end of next month. Or not. Either way.
Next up is Skyward Sword!
I was about halfway through Chapter 8 (the last segment of the story). After fighting the Fire Temple boss for the fifth time and reviving the Fire Crystal for the fifth time, I noticed that the playtime clock had hit 90 hours. I know I'm close to the end, but this amount of backtracking and repetitiveness is uncalled for.
I spent the past three days playing through all of the parallel worlds while watching Hannibal and Louie, and my frustration with the game made me hate both shows. It made me hate the books I was reading, the people I was emailing, the fic drabble I was writing, and even my dog, who is six pounds of adorable fluff and should not be hated by anyone.
In other words, my frustration with the game seeped over into the rest of my life. In the game, you do the same shit over and over and never get anywhere. This sort of fruitless repetition is accompanied by a nagging sense of waste, like, why am I still devoting my valuable time to this nonsense. The feeling was so intense that it made me seriously doubt the validity of anything I do in my life.
I understand what's going on from a narrative perspective. I also understand what's going on from the perspective of gameplay-as-narrative: the frustration the player feels is deliberate on the part of the game designers. That doesn't make it any more pleasant.
If the game is a critique of gaming - the player is a mindless puppet manipulated into wasting time and effort to save a world that doesn't need saving - then you know what, I get it. I get it, I got it, and I put the fucking game cartridge back in its box.
I'll probably go back and finish Bravely Default during a long plane ride I have to take towards the end of next month. Or not. Either way.
Next up is Skyward Sword!
