Medium, Genre, and Format: game, sci-fi fantasy, digital, analog, and bootleg.
Year Released: 1998
Is it long, medium, or short?: long. (56 hours average, ~80 hours completionist, the lets play linked is approx. 88 hours)
It is for kids, teens, or adults only? Teens and adults.
A cool quote from the work: "It's okay not to feel `whole'. Even if you feel only partly complete, if you repeat that enough, it'll eventually be `whole'. A part... is better than zero."
Blurb: A cult-classic extremely plotty JRPG about a amnesiac guy named Fei Fong Wong, who journeys across the world with some other folks to overthrow the fascist government, and in the process uncovers the secrets of their world and things about his past. Also there are giant robots.
Why is it worth your time?: Ok so this is a bit of a spoiler but Fei has DID canonically. Really not sure how to sell it as a plural game without saying this. Now its portrayal is deeply DEEPLY dated to 1998 Japan's understanding of it, but for its time its startlingly accurate and sympathetic. The depiction in the game matches the understanding of the time quite well, its just that time was 1998.
They really made an attempt at depicting dissociation through a visual medium, and the dynamic between Fei's alters is well developed. Its not amazing, its got SO many flaws in accuracy and unfortunate tropes, and its definitely not aged the best in many ways, but we did enjoy it quite a bit.
If you want a historical look at something that has a Very Robust plot -by that we mean lots and lots of lore-heavy cutscenes- and a plural character that has their plurality focused on, its beloved for a reason. One just has to keep in mind its from 1998 and everything about it is incredibly dated to that; from the gameplay to the portrayal of plurality and mental illness to the tackling of a variety of other subjects.
Please note this game is well known for being wildly dark and having a complicated and often confusing plot. The plot requires your full attention to make sense, and even then it can be confusing to many people. Its not for everyone but we personally enjoyed it and thought it wasnt as confusing as a lot of people find it.
Content Warnings: This includes spoilers. There are so many content warnings and they dont play around. Strobing and flashing lights even in unskippable cutscenes, mass death including that of named characters and children on multiple occasions, genocide (both threatened and carried out), heavy focus given to child abuse (physical, medical, and emotional, includes gaslighting) as well as a brief mention of CSA by priests, emotional domestic abuse and manipulation towards a man by a woman, stalking and government surveillance, fascism and everything that brings- there are very strong allusions to nazis with the antagonists and its not an accident, medical experimentation(on children and adults), torture(of children and adults), caste system, alcohol(some important characters are very heavy drinkers), nonconsensual drug use (and consensual drug use), gore and body horror, mind control, cannibalism (both unknowing and intentional, institutional), references to a past nuclear war, crucifixion and LOTS of religious symbolism, aftermath of a church shooting is shown, several off-camera sex scenes, mental breakdowns on screen, dissociation shown on screen and described, violent superpowered alter, integration treated as inherently necessary (but wanted by the system), fictional racism, a character mentions having considered underage sex work in the past, neutral to bittersweet ending.
Accessibility Notes: Physical copies for the ps1 are rare and expensive due to being out of print, but it may be bought on the ps vita/ps3 eshop and there are lets plays available on youtube. Linked lets play is a no commentary run: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMHR2xnx8VCrRvNrgh10j0eq5UQFvM_WC It isnt a completionist run, but shows the full main plot. A lets play is the recommended option as the gameplay has aged considerably and its on an old system.
Misc. Notes (if any): Its also worth noting that some of the director's later works also feature plurality, and are more accurate to the experience indicating that the portrayals flaws were more due to the times than views towards plurals.
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Date: 2022-10-31 01:09 am (UTC)Creator/s: Square, Directed by Tetsuya Takahashi
Medium, Genre, and Format: game, sci-fi fantasy, digital, analog, and bootleg.
Year Released: 1998
Is it long, medium, or short?: long. (56 hours average, ~80 hours completionist, the lets play linked is approx. 88 hours)
It is for kids, teens, or adults only? Teens and adults.
A cool quote from the work: "It's okay not to feel `whole'. Even if you feel only partly complete, if you repeat that enough, it'll eventually be `whole'. A part... is better than zero."
Blurb: A cult-classic extremely plotty JRPG about a amnesiac guy named Fei Fong Wong, who journeys across the world with some other folks to overthrow the fascist government, and in the process uncovers the secrets of their world and things about his past. Also there are giant robots.
Why is it worth your time?: Ok so this is a bit of a spoiler but Fei has DID canonically. Really not sure how to sell it as a plural game without saying this. Now its portrayal is deeply DEEPLY dated to 1998 Japan's understanding of it, but for its time its startlingly accurate and sympathetic. The depiction in the game matches the understanding of the time quite well, its just that time was 1998.
They really made an attempt at depicting dissociation through a visual medium, and the dynamic between Fei's alters is well developed. Its not amazing, its got SO many flaws in accuracy and unfortunate tropes, and its definitely not aged the best in many ways, but we did enjoy it quite a bit.
If you want a historical look at something that has a Very Robust plot -by that we mean lots and lots of lore-heavy cutscenes- and a plural character that has their plurality focused on, its beloved for a reason. One just has to keep in mind its from 1998 and everything about it is incredibly dated to that; from the gameplay to the portrayal of plurality and mental illness to the tackling of a variety of other subjects.
Please note this game is well known for being wildly dark and having a complicated and often confusing plot. The plot requires your full attention to make sense, and even then it can be confusing to many people. Its not for everyone but we personally enjoyed it and thought it wasnt as confusing as a lot of people find it.
Plural Tags: memory work, fusion/integration, otherworld, children, mpd/did, enmity
Content Warnings: This includes spoilers. There are so many content warnings and they dont play around.
Strobing and flashing lights even in unskippable cutscenes, mass death including that of named characters and children on multiple occasions, genocide (both threatened and carried out), heavy focus given to child abuse (physical, medical, and emotional, includes gaslighting) as well as a brief mention of CSA by priests, emotional domestic abuse and manipulation towards a man by a woman, stalking and government surveillance, fascism and everything that brings- there are very strong allusions to nazis with the antagonists and its not an accident, medical experimentation(on children and adults), torture(of children and adults), caste system, alcohol(some important characters are very heavy drinkers), nonconsensual drug use (and consensual drug use), gore and body horror, mind control, cannibalism (both unknowing and intentional, institutional), references to a past nuclear war, crucifixion and LOTS of religious symbolism, aftermath of a church shooting is shown, several off-camera sex scenes, mental breakdowns on screen, dissociation shown on screen and described, violent superpowered alter, integration treated as inherently necessary (but wanted by the system), fictional racism, a character mentions having considered underage sex work in the past, neutral to bittersweet ending.
Accessibility Notes: Physical copies for the ps1 are rare and expensive due to being out of print, but it may be bought on the ps vita/ps3 eshop and there are lets plays available on youtube. Linked lets play is a no commentary run: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMHR2xnx8VCrRvNrgh10j0eq5UQFvM_WC It isnt a completionist run, but shows the full main plot.
A lets play is the recommended option as the gameplay has aged considerably and its on an old system.
Misc. Notes (if any): Its also worth noting that some of the director's later works also feature plurality, and are more accurate to the experience indicating that the portrayals flaws were more due to the times than views towards plurals.