Life Lessons: Persona 4

Video games are at their best when they teach us things about ourselves or about the world, when they make us take a moment of introspection to realize things about ourselves and how we fit into the world. There are only a handful of games that have made a lasting impression on me that lasts over years, and even fewer games that I can say helped motivate me through traumatic periods in my life. Let me tell you why Persona 4 practically changed my life. Just a warning like usual, I will be spoiling some aspects of Persona 4.

Persona 4: Golden released in November of 2012, I purchased the game around Christmas of that year. I didn't get to playing it until a couple months later though. At this time I was living with a girl I'd been dating for about a year and a half, I was going through a lot financially and emotionally. It certainly didn't help that I'd pretty much lost contact with every single friend I had. In January I was "dumped" so to speak, it was one of those you wake up one day and suddenly everything is different things. I ended up having to move back with my parents after this as I couldn't afford a place of my own.  Needless to say I became morbidly depressed, I was alone and I had no one to talk to no one to spend time with. My relationship with my family has been decidedly rocky over the years.

I was floundering in every sense. I stopped going to college and hadn't been back in two years, I wasn't making much at my job and had no love for it, and wasn't really doing anything worthwhile honestly. But I did have lots of free time on my hands, but games weren't really doing it for me.

I talked about video game fatigue before, and because of my emotional state I couldn't spend more than 30 minutes on any given game I tried. Then I decided that I wanted something to do during breaks at work and on the go and such. Persona 3 was already a personal favorite of mine that I had played the previous summer, and I decided to pop in Persona 4 for a go. What I found next was an incredible experience of friendship, facing your inner demons, and facing down life and fate.

Persona 4 casts you as the protagonist who you name(he'd later become known as Yu Narukami). He is a voiceless hero who's answers you decide, although he does develop more of a personality than many mute protagonists. Yu is on his way to the small rural town of Inaba in Japan, he's from the big city but will be staying with his uncle Dojima for a year as his parents are out of the country. Yu begins attending school at Inaba High. There he begins to make friends, like the clumsy Yosuke, or the meat lover Chie. The plot begins to develop as a girl named Saki(who Yosuke has a crush on) is found murdered one morning. Rumors of something called the "Midnight Channel" begin popping up. Every night at midnight this channel runs on TV so the rumor goes, and if your face appears on the TV you wind up dead the next day. This is going to be a jump, but at some point Yu and Yosuke find out that they can enter the TV and go to "another world".

With this basic setup the main characters form the "Investigation Team" to solve the mystery of the murders that are happening in Inaba. In the TV world each of the party members awakens to the mysterious power of Persona. Another self that grants them the power to fight the forces of evil called shadows. This is a very very brief description of the plot setup of Persona 4, but the essentials to know at least.

Now we get to the point that Persona 4 really drew me in. The first few hours of the game deal with setting up the scenario and introducing the characters as they begin to become friends. The moment that I knew I'd found something special was the first time Yu and Yosuke enter the TV world. Here the group finds a recreation of a convenience store in Inaba. Inside Yosuke finds a note from the now dead Saki, saying how much of a pain in the ass Yosuke was and how much disdain she had for him.

This is when a shadow version of Yosuke appears making fun of him, what a blubbery baby he is and how he's actually the one who thinks everything is a pain in the ass. The shadow claims to be Yosuke himself, but when he rejects that notion the shadow turns into a giant monster that attacks the party as a boss battle occurs.

Once the dust clears and the boss is defeated, Yosuke has to come to grips with the situation. He has to realize that this shadow version of himself, was really talking about the parts of himself and the thoughts that he didn't want to admit. Only by accepting those things as a part of him, something he needs to embrace, can he finally be rid of the shadow.With these words Yosuke accepts the shadow, "I knew it wasn't lying......but I didn't want to admit it." he goes further saying " Dammit..... It hurts to face yourself....". Once Yosuke finally realizes this the shadow is vanquished and he awakens to the power of Persona inside him. This one scene encapsulates what Persona 4 is as an experience in many ways. The themes of facing yourself, embracing your shortcomings to realize your full potential are all on display here through Yosuke.

This same difficult realization happens with every party member in the game. Chie has to face her tomboyish nature and judgement at not being feminine enough. Naoto faces the fact of her father wanting a boy, through which she alters her appearance to be more manly and ambiguous going into the family business of being a detective. Teddie has to face the question of his existence, and why he even lives in the first place. Kanji has perhaps the most impactful realization, as he struggles to accept his sexuality and the fact that he doesn't like girls. Although his story is a tad downplayed in the English version, this realization still holds true for Kanji.

The Persona series also puts an emphasis on building relationships with characters in the came through something called social links. The games are split into two parts, the every day school life and the dungeon crawling shadow fighting gameplay. During the every day life parts you have opportunities to bond with characters and find out more about them, raising these social links. Many of these stories are incredibly impactful, like the nurse in Persona 4 that takes "advantage" of Yu as he works nights at a hospital doing janitorial work. By the end of this social link, the nurse leaves for good leaving a note for Yu detailing her wish to retain her youth.

Her entire fling with Yu, had been out of a desperate need for her to not accept her age and feel like she still had a future ahead of her. By maxing these social links, your character becomes more powerful. Even past that, obtaining multiple social links becomes necessary for making it to the true endings of the games, and in the case of Persona 3 actually saving the world.

Persona 4 does an incredible job of building a sense of cammaraderie, because you make choices as Yu, as a player you feel like you've become a part of this group of friends. Never before have I played a game where I felt like I knew the characters so well, not even in Persona 3. Besides the TV world, saving the world stuff, these are normal high schoolers.

They all have every day problems, Yukiko has to help run her family's inn something she has very mixed feeling about. Kanji loves his mother, but because of his tough guy act yells at her and calls her things like an old bat all the time. They go to school festivals together, take trips to the beach together, get food at the local shop, and hang out at the department store Junes. Over 60 hours of gameplay, the Investigation Team really becomes a tight-knit group of friends that you feel a part of as the player. It's the strongest cast of characters I've ever encountered in a game, and I truly mean that. Even the main villain has a motivation for the murders,  that's deeper than you'd expect. And of course the "villain" ends up not really being the main villain at all.

People love the Persona games for their mix of every day life, and world saving fantasy action. Persona 4 so far is the pinnacle of that. Every story in this game is meaningful, every character intensely interesting. The sports team you join, the music club, everyone has a story to tell. An incredibly human story.

At a time when my life was a wreck and I had lost my way, Persona 4 taught me something. Before I had blamed my breakup entirely on the other person, playing the victim. The themes of Persona 4 taught me to take a step back, realize there were things about myself I didn't want to admit, that I didn't want to face. I had to accept those things, realize I was to blame for things, that I had things to work on about myself and the bad parts were just as much of me as the good. I began to accept myself a little bit more, and even began to come to grips with who I was as a person.

On top of this Persona 4 and the series taught me another thing. I had said earlier I lost all contact with my friends, seeing the cast of Persona 4 become such a loving group of friends really hit close to home. I remembered the group of friends I used to get together with every Friday night and play games. I realized something important, that I still think is true. One of the most important things in life if not the most important is the bonds you form with other people. That's where life really becomes valuable, when you can make connections with others and share experiences.

There's so many people out there, and every single one of them has a story and something to share. I still struggle with keeping in touch with people, but I make efforts now to keep up with others. Even just making conversation with strangers is still making a connection, forging some kind of bond. There's so much entertainment out there that's wonderful, but one of the most valuable thing you can ever have in your life is the experiences and memories you create with other people. Don't ever forget that.

Persona 4 literally changed the way I approach life, and helped me think more positively. Something I never in a million years expected a game to do. Video games can teach us about ourselves, about the world. There are many great experiences out there in gaming, and Persona 4 helped me realize everything that a game can be.

 I keep the soundtrack on my phone to listen to when I'm feeling down, it give me a feeling of warmth that I really can't describe. I'm glad that we've received spin-offs of Persona 4 as well. When I played Arena and just recently started Dancing All Night, it felt like I was seeing friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I built such a strong connection with these characters, that every chance I have to come back to them is welcome.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Persona 4 is one one of the most important games ever made, and is a great example of how video games can teach us about ourselves. To end, I'm going to leave you with a couple songs from Persona 4, and I'll put in a couple comments from people on the video. I hope you can learn something from video games too, different games will mean different things to people, but we can all find an experience to learn form.

"As someone who is scared of whats in store for the future this song fits my life."

In response to this comment- "Que sera sera freind. Day by day reach out to your truth whatever that may be and where ever it may take you :)"

"As a senior in high school this song resonates deep with me. Its gonna be tough to say goodbye to my friends."

"Whenever I play persona games, can't stop I've been playing 154hrs on persona 4 golden and 200+hrs on persona 3. Just wish the game never ends. And I cry every time I finish playing the game."

"I'm not gonna lie I cried when I beat this game. It was like I was saying goodbye to good friends"

"No matter what your Shadow says, you're still yourself. Never forget that."

Expanding My Horizons

Salutations one and all. I wanted to take a moment and let everyone know about some special things happening in the future for me. I've recently signed on as a writer with two new outlets. I'd like to tell everyone about these, and hope that you'll take a look and follow my work. In addition, this certainly doesn't mean an end to Optional Analysis. This blog may just change a little bit. Let's go through these in order.

Twinfinite.net- First up, is the gaming site Twinfinite. Maybe some of you have heard of it in the past. I'm not on-board with the site as a reporter/writer. Much of what I'm doing will be news based, but Twinfinite is special because of their feature approach to gaming. If you haven't checked out the site already, I would recommend it. Twinfinite is all about keeping things fun and interesting, highlighting positivity within the realm of gaming. They have original video content, and a special category called Featurama. I'm really looking forward to working with them.

Metrosphere- The Metrosphere is the literary and arts magazine for the university I attend, Metropolitan State University of Denver. This will be a bit of a different focus for me, but I'm excited about what I can do with it. My work here of course is going to be focusing on the arts. I'll be attending events throughout the school year and writing about them, as well as I'll be profiling a lot of individuals. For the magazine itself I'll be covering professors at the university and online with the blog I'll be starting a series I like to call "People of the City". In this series I'll be interviewing and profiling people around the city of Denver. Everyone and everyone, the point of this is going to be to illuminate the people that make up the city. Highlight the vast array of things happening, and how easy it is for all of us to overlook others.

Optional Analysis- Yep, this blog is still going strong. However, it may slow down if I'm being completely honest. Of course at this point it's become a much more critical and thoughtful platform and it will remain so. I'm going to make an effort to post my commentary on something at least twice a month, and because I'm an official member of the games press again I may be highlighting some interesting upcoming games on here as well. Things that might normally not make their way to the big headlines, but one's that I feel deserve a chance in the spotlight. These could be anything: indie games, AAA, kickstarted games, mobile games, anything.

It's a lot going on admittedly, and I'm going to be swamped for the foreseeable future. But for anyone who want's to join me in everything I really look forward to it. There's a lot to talk about and dissect within gaming and I hope everyone helps me on that fascinating journey.

20 Years Later, Chrono Trigger Amazes Me

For as many games as I've played, I have a few glaring holes in my game history. I've only played two Megaman games, I didn't play Metal Gear Solid until I was 18, and one of the biggest gaps for me is how little I've played Chrono Trigger.

After I experienced Final Fantasy 7 when I was seven, the series quickly became my absolute favorite. The games of Squaresoft and eventually Square Enix at large also made their way to me, and I found a love of JRPGs. It's strange then that Chrono Trigger conspicuously went under my radar, especially considering that it's sequel Chrono Cross was a game that I played when it released. Either way though, I didn't end up playing Trigger until its release on the Nintendo DS in 2008.

At this point, I didn't find myself drawn in by the experience. I was in a mindset that it had to be like Final Fantasy for me to enjoy it, and Chrono Trigger was just different enough to put me off of it a bit. Another compounding factor in this was Chrono himself as the silent protagonist. I thought I wanted more "character", and this was before I realized how strong of characterization a silent protagonist can actually have.

Long story short I never finished the game, even though I played over 50% of it. This isn't to say I hated Chrono Trigger or anything, it just didn't keep me involved. After last weeks episode of Playing with Perspective where we talked about Chrono Trigger, I found myself inspired to pick the game up again to try and complete it. This time around I'm finding myself enjoying it much more, for a multitude of reasons. As I've matured, I've come to appreciate games much more instead of being in that mindset where they have to be one way or another.

One part of Chrono Trigger has really stood out to me so far though. A part I had completely forgotten about somehow, but one that is a fascinating commentary on player choice and consequence. Chrono Trigger opens with you attending the Millennial Fair, happening to run into a young girl named Marle. You're able to spend time at the fair and do some odd activities like racing, fighting a giant robot, collecting points, and finding random items. As the story progresses Chrono finds himself on trial for kidnapping Marle who turns out to be the princess.

Here Chrono is put on the spot and forced to defend himself as citizens from the fair get called in to testify against Chronos "character."This includes people testifying on things Chrono has done, that can be different depending on what you did during the Millennial Fair. In my play through, I found a sandwich sitting on a shop that of course I ate. I also talked to a little girl who was looking for her cat, but was too busy playing games and getting on with the story to bother with it. It's still an amazing turn when the game throws these things back in your face. It completely destroys the status quo that we've come to expect with typically JRPGs.

This is when something amazing happens with the game, because it belays your expectations here you come to think more seriously about choices and your actions in the rest of the game. Here is when Chrono as a silent protagonist really becomes you. As a player you see your choices directly effecting a character in the game, and now suddenly it feels like your more of a part of this world.

Chrono Trigger made an absolutely brilliant decision when it put this reactive scene in. Although the outcome of the trial is the same no matter what, by putting this design choice in the game, it gets the player that much more involved in its story and events. Anytime a game can do this in an effective way, you really see the pay off. We should use this instance in Chrono Trigger as an example of reactive design. This is something that a lot of Telltale games do well too.

I'm hoping that I can make the push to finally finish Chrono Trigger this time, and I feel confident that I can. I find myself much more involved with the story and characters this time. The trial scene was one of those instances that just lept out at me, as a wonderful design choice. Chrono Trigger is certainly a wonderful gem that I wish I hadn't missed.

Experiencing Video Game Fatigue

Sometimes there is some truth to having too much of a good thing. This applies to anything that you like or enjoy, and sometimes because of life events you just experience burnout.This has happened to me personally at various points in my life, and it happened again recently.

As much passion as we hold for video games, and as much enjoyment as we get out of playing games, sometimes it' just too much. Video game fatigue can hold especially true in today's ecosystem, because of the hugely flooded market we have. There's so many games to choose from, that sometimes it can just become overwhelming as you look at your 'pile of shame' twenty games high.

For as much effort I put into this career of becoming a video game journalist, I don't get all that much to to actually play games. With school, a full-time job, a second part-time job, research for a radio show, and my own personal research my life is a blur of business. Not to mention the struggle I have to keep any kind of healthy social life. With this fact in mind, I found solace in The Witcher 3. As a lot of people who might associate with me know, I sunk myself into the game and found utter joy in analyzing it as much as I could. However, some time after beating it I found out the mistake I made.

Sinking yourself wholesale into a game can be a dangerous proposition, you spend countless hours pouring over the games systems, lore, story and whatever else you might be invested in. In my example, I had so utterly sunk myself into The Witcher investing over 150 hours, playing it on every spare chance I had. Upon completion of the game, I felt lost. For almost two months I had played The Witcher, it was my go-to game whenever I had that rare chance of down-time.

Of course there is a caveat to this fact in the truth that the whole time I was playing the Witcher I was escaping from issues in my life. A myriad of issues had assaulted me this summer, from sick and dying family members to confidence and identity issues. The Witcher 3 was the game I needed at this point, a grand fantasy adventure that I could really get invested in, but it also led to my most recent bout of burnout.

Video games as a medium are different than other forms of entertainment. It takes a commitment on the players part, and in one way or another each of us has to take the time to put ourselves in the game and push through the narrative or our character/avatars development. Whatever game it might be, it requires that the player takes and incredibly active role in pushing the experience along. As we know, games have a level of interactivity that other things do not, and when you do a lot of one thing it can become exhausting.

In my case, I had been too involved with games both with playing as well as writing about them. It's important that we all remember there are other things we enjoy doing besides playing games, I know that's hard when you have very little time to relax and games are your favorite past-time in that event. But remember, that sometimes all you need to do is take a break.

There's a second side to this story though, something I wanted to point out that pulled me back into my passion for games. Although this burnout wasn't the worst I've experienced the same thing held true. A few years back, I went through a sudden unexpected breakup with someone I had been living with for a while, needless to say it crushed me. Now I don't want to dwell on this, but the fact is that this even along with others led me to my longest hiatus I had ever had with video games, to the point that I didn't play one game for over six months.

Obviously this was a big blow for me, as it also caused my writing to slow to a sluggish pace considering I had taken some time off of school a while before. Finally I made the push though, going back to college I wanted something to do in between classes. So I popped my copy of Persona 4 Golden into my Vita that I had purchased months before, and my interest became completely renewed. Person 4 would become one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the most influential for my way of thinking. After playing P4, I found a niche that completely drew me in with the indie game scene. Fast forward to now and that very thing is exactly what pulled me out of my most recent slump.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this at this point, but just last week I finally played The Unfinished Swan and Journey for the first time. I know I should probably be mocked in the street for this, but somehow these experiences eluded me since their release. The point though is that at a time when no game could hold my interest for more than 20 minutes, I found myself getting completely pulled in by these beautiful emotionally impactful games. Leap-frogging from this I played Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and found myself getting hooked by the disgustingly addictive Rocket League.

What this all boils down to, is the fact that video games are at a wonderful place right now. Although I found myself getting completely fatigued by games, the fact that I was able to play a huge expansive experience like The Witcher 3 then turn around and be just as engaged by an artistic three hour experience like Journey shows the wonderful diversity that games have right now. There really is something for everyone at the moment, and if you don't have time to sink into this hobby there are alternatives for you as well. Games that have bite sized chunks in the indie scene among other things are easily accessible for a fairly cheap point of entry. The face of gaming is diverse and colorful, and there are engaging experiences around every corner. Even the unexpected can be incredible surprises, I certainly didn't expect something like Rocket League to come along and completely blow my mind. With my interest and attention span getting renewed, I've also been able to hop back into the Assassins Creed series, which I've had a hell of a time playing for over a year.

The point to remember here is that there's a wonderful breadth of experiences available to all of us, and don't be afraid to drop something for a lighter experience if you need. Conversely, don't feel bad if you can't find it in you to focus on any one game, or any games at all for an amount of time. Even if you take six months or more off, it doesn't mean that you're passion or interest in games has faded or left. It's important for all of us to take a break, especially with a medium that requires such a high level of interaction from us. Video games aren't at their best when they let us forget our lives, theyre at their best when they remind us what we love and enjoy about life, and when they teach us things about how we think and feel. Sometimes, the time just isn't right for us to find this experience, so we can wait until it is.

Playing with Perspective meets Movie Hash

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd put a quick blurb out about a great experience tonight. For those of you who might listen (I hope you do) , my radio show Playing with Perspective is on every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30- 7:30 PM Mountain daily time.

We had a great collaboration with another show on air called Movie Hash. There's a lot of talk about the incredibly groan worth movie Pixels, and you can get some of our full thoughts. Then Nick joins us on our show to talk about movies based on games, and games based on movies. Take a listen!

https://soundcloud.com/playing-with-perspective/season-2-sidequest-playing-with-perspective-meets-movie-hash

https://soundcloud.com/playing-with-perspective/season-2-episode-16-watch-your-games

If you want to listen in to the show, listen at the link below.

http://mymetmedia.com/listen/

Otherwise, you can catch up on Soundcloud where the episodes get posted immediately afterward.

Cheers,
Hayes

One Single Line of Dialogue Highlights the Best Part of The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 is a massive sweeping fantasy tale, that spanned over 150 hours for me to complete. I recently finished the game, and was very surprised by one fact. There was one thing that had more of an impact on me than anything else in the game, one thing that tied up Geralts journey as a character. We'll get to the specific line in a bit, but first we need to cover the relationship that Geralt and Ciri hold. I will warn you that significant spoilers on the end of the Witcher 3 lie ahead, so read on at your own peril.

Through much of the story of Witcher 3 Geralt spends his time on the trail of Ciri, a young woman that is basically a daughter to him. As such, you spend most of the game one step behind trying to piece together the path that Ciri took while also playing the elusive young woman herself at a few different points. This is the driving force behind Geralt in the game, although there's much more going on within the world Geralt's only worry is the safety and well being of Ciri.

With this fact in mind, it actually altered some of the choices I made through the story. For example, there's one plot-line in the city of Novigrad that has you hunting down a crime lord named Whoreson Junior. During the process of all this you find out what a terrible person Whoreson is, a person who enjoys sexually torturing women to death. You also find out that during the time Ciri interacted with him, he may have done something to harm her. While none of this is confirmed, the fatherly love that Geralt holds for Ciri prompted me to immediately end the life of Whoreson Junior.

It was a knee jerk reaction that I had in an instant because of the thought of what the man might have done to another character. This man needed to be gone from the world of The Witcher 3. It's not exactly commonplace that a game has this strong of an emotional response from me, and I was amazed with The Witcher 3 when it happened multiple times. As much as I'd love to go on and on about all the emotionally impactful parts, the point I have here is to highlight the incredible job Witcher 3 does with the father daughter bond of Geralt and Ciri.

Once you finally find Ciri and bring her back from The Isle of Mists, you begin the final stretch of the game. After the huge event of the Battle of Kaer Morhen, Geralt gets some quality time with Ciri as they mourn over the loss of a friend. Over the next few quests and plot lines, Geralt has five different choices regarding Ciri thrust upon him. The girl is having an incredibly hard time coping with everything and there are multiple occasions where Geralt gets to decide how to deal with Ciri. This can result in a warm fatherly approach, versus a cold disapproving father approach. For example, let me show you the snowball fight scene. This is moment where Ciri is frustrated and unsure of what to do next and how to do it. With the positive choice you get an incredibly heartwarming scene where Geralt tries to cheer Ciri up in the only way he knows how. Just watch.

Another scene involves Ciri upset with being deceived by the elf Avalla'ch, once again you can see the unique relationship held between the two and even more so the father, mother, daughter relationship the two hold with Yennefer of Vengerberg. Again it's easier to just show you; 

These two choices, and the three others involving Ciri decide the strength of her resolve at the end, as well as the chances for her to survive which leads to one of three major endings for you. I hope this can highlight the intense loving relationship that the two have. After all, Geralt spends 50-60 hours of the game merely on the hunt for Ciri, putting up with countless headaches and problems in order to find her. The way Geralt feels about her, shines through in both the dialogue choices as well as his facial expressions. The interesting thing is, that this holds true whether you pick the warmer or colder option on how to deal with her.

The two ways of dealing with Ciri create very different experiences for the player and a very different interpretation of the relationship between the two. The colder way gives you an impression of a Geralt that cares for Ciri deeply, but has no idea how to treat her like a father and feels uncomfortable with that fact. Feeling detached from the child he used to know, he feels disappointed with some of the brashness that Ciri approaches situations with and wants to ensure that she gains the skills and knowledge she'll need to survive. On the flip side, the warmer approach denotes a Geralt that sees a Ciri who has taken completely after him, and knows how to be the father figure that she needs as her real father was never there. Both approaches are valid, and both develop an incredibly deep but different relationship between Geralt and Ciri. 

Now that we've covered that, we can fast forward to the ending of the game. After the final conflict with the Wild Hunt, events find you at a tower where the cold winds of another world are blowing in threatening to drown the world in a giant freezing storm. At this point Ciri explains that because of the power of her elder blood she's the only one that can save the world from this fate. This realization is a huge shock to Geralt and something that has a huge impact on him, as you see his emotions get thrown into a state of chaos. It's in this moment that you have a dialogue choice as Ciri is preparing to enter the portal to the other world. This choice is where Geralt desperately says, " Don't do this... to me. Please. Not now." It's at this moment that we realize, Geralt isn't the main character of this story. He's a supporting one. Here's the ending in full, note that this is the ultimate 'good' ending. With the happiest story tones wrapping up here. Each ending of The Witcher 3 I feel does some good things in their own way, but I may go into that another time. 

Ultimately the choice in the end is Ciri's, and it's up to you as Geralt to support Ciri on her path how you can. But in this moment, you see a usually emotionally toned back Geralt break. His daughter is leaving, possibly going to her death and everything he's done will be for naught. After all, it's not the fate of the warring countries or the lives of non-humans that Geralt is truly invested in during this journey, it's the life of his daughter who is the single most important thing in his life. The time he spent with her was a reminder of the love that he held for her. 

This single line of dialogue ties up the relationship between Geralt and Ciri no matter what approach you took to dealing with her. Like I said earlier, it's an important moment of clarity for the player in which we realize that we've merely been someone on a quest, on the trail of the real main character of this plot. Which can explain a lot about the pacing of The Witcher 3. Of course, I don't want anyone to think this is a bad thing. It's an incredible moment, one where we realize the powerlessness that we have as players at the end. Yes we found Ciri. Yes we altered the course of the war. Yes we defeated The Wild Hunt. But in the end, we are powerless to stop the most important person to our character from leaving to her possible death. You do have an impact on the outcome of course, but this is in how you build your relationship with Ciri, how you treat her as she struggles to figure out how she deals with the fate she's been dealt. In that moment, you see Geralt become emotionally broken and powerless, with even Ciri stating " What would you know about saving the world? You're just a Witcher." 

Herein lies the beauty of some of the final moments of The Witcher 3, and what I believe to be one of the finest parent-child relationships in any game I've played. It builds up the level of care and love Geralt has through Ciri throughout the game, illustrating the lengths he goes to in order to ensure her safety. Then it yanks the rug out from under you, and reminds you that Ciri is her own woman and you don't get to decide what she does no matter how much you might want to. In a game that so intimately features player choice, it's a stark reminder that as players and as people we don't always have control over what others do, even when those people are important to us and our characters.  

The Inexcusable Thing Batman Arkham Knight Does

Arkham Knight is the latest in big budget, highly awaited AAA releases this year. It's released to mostly critical praise across the board. I myself finished the game last week, and very much enjoyed it overall. In terms of storytelling it's easily my favorite of the Arkham series. However, there's one serious serious issue I had with the game. One inexcusable thing I can't look past, and honestly I'm amazed that more people aren't upset about this factor. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Arkham Knight, although admittedly those Bat-tank sections were a little rough.

The main reason that I play video games, that I've always played games is to experience the storytelling that only video games can give me. Admittedly, it's a little hard for me to justify purchasing a game where the focal point is multiplayer. I love seeing storytelling in games evolve, and the different ways that we can experience that story. Whether it's the subtle storytelling of Bloodborne or the text-heavy storytelling of a Final Fantasy game.

Not to keep you in suspense of the point of this article any longer, as much as I like the story of Arkham Knight, it does something inexcusable by blocking off the true ending of the game with collectibles.

The true ending of Arkham Knight has a pretty important plot point related to the end of the game. Without spoiling anything, it adds an extra wrinkle into the ending that could change your perception, and is pretty enjoyable to boot. With that said, it's incredibly disappointing that so much time grinding away on Riddler trophies has to be spent to see the whole story. Now I know what people say, by the game blocking the ending off it gives you more incentive to see the ending and is able to make your experience even longer. Unfortunately, Arkham Knight is a prime example of over-development. Adding too much content to your game that doesn't really contribute to the overall message.

Now I'm fine with the Riddler Trophies being in Arkham Knight, I think they can be a fun diversion for someone wanting to find all 243 of them. I cannot stand the idea that an important part of the story is sealed off behind optional objectives in the game. In my opinion this has the potential to stop a lot of players from finishing the game out, and seeing the full message that the entire story provides. Indeed a lot of players may not even realizing what they're missing out on because they just don't make it to the end. This holds especially true for a game like Batman, which is such a high profile release that many people that have minimal experience with games will play it.

Herein lies the integral problem that upsets me. The fact that you can be restricted from seeing the full picture of a games story, by completing menial tasks. It is true that many of the side quests hold meaningful story content though. But this doesn't excuse what I think is a horribly poor design choice on Rocksteady's part. In this sense the ending can become much less meaningful, as people flock to YouTube to watch it instead of making their way to the end. Which makes sense as Arkham Knight isn't necessarily a short game, a lot of people may not be willing to put in the time or have the ability to put in the time to do everything and see the secret ending.

Another problem arises here, with the player getting a sense of invalidation of everything they've done to complete the game. When you spend twenty hours beating the story of Arkham Knight, and expect to get a satisfying ending you don't want to "beat the game" and then be told you have to do a ton of extracurricular activities to see the whole picture. For some players I imagine, this could lend a sense of feeling less accomplished for what they have done in the game already.

As much as I enjoyed Arkham Knight as an overall package, the design choice of locking the ending away just doesn't sit well with me. So much so, that I feel I had to say something about it. I can see why a developer may do it, in an effort to provide players with more content and elongate the experience they have. However, I feel that many players like myself may feel a bit upset at this fact. At this point in my life I don't have a lot of time to play video games, and when I choose a game that I want to invest my time in there's a hope that when I put forth the effort to finish the story I can see the whole picture and get the full message that game wants to impart. By no means did the ending being blocked, totally ruin my experience with the game but sadly it did put a bit of a damper on my exuberance upon completing the game itself.