The worldwide-side

   Good evening to all. I realize I've been absent for the past few months but you see, that's the thing with inspiration. It's never there when you need it. In an attempt to overcome this writer's block, I thought I would share a few things that have occurred to me, when comparing real life to fiction (and more specifically, TV drama).
   Within this fictional series I lost myself in the past few days there was a group of people that liked to call each other "friends", "family", or more than that, and most of them were rich and wealthy. These people spend their days petting petty schemes against one another in order to overthrow one another. Or it was their own wicked sense of protection towards their loved ones. But eventually, some how some way (usually one person with a handy smartphone being at the right place at the right time), the truth would get out, everyone would get hurt and then they would start all over again.
   To these people, blackmail had become a sort of communication. I remember a scene in which a mother locked her daughter in a room with one of the "less fortunate" kids which she had humiliated in the past. The mother told her daughter that she would not unlock the door until she had made amends with the girl. Instead of actually apologizing, the daughter chose to dig up a photo from high-school depicting the girl in a fat dress and threatened to post it online unless the girl had admitted that everything had been settled between them. Forgive me but in my book, that shows twisted behavior even for a fictional character.
   But the fictional characters aren't my point here. Heck, it's a TV series, they could've put a dinosaur in the school and it still wouldn't matter. What matters is the correlations between those fictional characters and our real world. 
   While the series was in it's progress, I couldn't help but notice a pattern: people lied, the truth would come out, people got hurt, people would swear not to make the same mistakes, people lied, etc... I started to think that there was something wrong with them. But there isn't. Who amongst us hasn't said a lie today? Even a less harmful one? And how many of those lies were actually to save our own skin compared to the ones said to protect other people's feelings?
   I've never really given it much consideration until now but that's probably what they mean with the phrase "childish innosense". Since when we are young we have not yet learned how to lie. It's not a natural human instinct, and so it takes time to perfect the art. For some more than for others. Until a child enters society and learns that in order to survive he will have to learn how to lie as well. And the less gifted one is at the "performing" arts, the less chances he has of surviving within that society.
   Speaking of early societies, there was another pattern I picked up on while watching the series. Well, actually this wasn't so much a pattern as it was a social behavior by the characters that I have found in almost every social group I have been involved in. But, in order for the comparison to work, I will make a personal example with the largest social group I have been involved in myself.
   Now, within every cast, there is a protagonist, sometimes two. In this case the protagonist was a young teenage girl that was born and raised spoiled, heir to one of the most wealthy families in her city and admired even by her own peers (which were also spoiled little girls). This young girl (and eventually her best friend) became the nucleus around which her school, her family and her friends circled around. Simply because everyone envied her (or wanted her in their bed). Of course the girl herself was sweet as honey, but if anyone ever tried to hurt her feelings (be it her -so called- b.f.f. or even her own mother) she wouldn't hesitate to use her power to destroy them.
   This social behavior isn't a first though. Not in a series, not even in real life. Back in my high-school years, as I recall, there was a girl with long blonde hair all happy and cheerful. And she was popular with the boys (in and out of the school, but that's irrelevant). Eventually she had a whole group of girls that became her "besties". But she was the center. She was school class president. 
   I've noticed that even in minor groups. If one person decides against going somewhere, suddenly no one else wants to go. There is always a glue that sticks everyone else together, no matter how big or small the group maybe and mo matter the reason one might have for sticking with that glue. Whether it's jealousy or to get to something or to someone, everyone always has their reasons. But really, what is it that defines the "glue" within a group? What is it that defines "popular"? 

Requiem of a dream team

   Hello to all. Tonight Barcelona FC suffered a heavy loss to their bitter rivals Real Madrid 1-3 at the Camp Nou Stadium. This was but one of their disappointing performances this month, as earlier they were subject to a 2-0 surprise defeat at the hands of AC Milan in Italy, for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

   Barcelona have had their fair share of troubles this season. Manager Tito Vilanova has been forced to leave the team behind because of his heart condition quite a few times. Tonight was one of them. As good as an assistant as he may be, Jordi Rooura was not hired to coach the main team by himself, yet he has had to do this for almost half a year. Yet, despite all this, the staff at FCB remain faithful to Vilanova and await his recovery.
   All this just comes to show that no matter what players are on a team (Messi has won 4 Balon D'or, Iniesta was voted as Best Footballer in Europe) and how long these players have been playing together, if there's no one there to guide them, it's pretty much a lost cause. Sure, Barca may be close to yer another Championship, but their primary goal, the Champions League, is almost too far gone for them to reach for it. And Real Madrid just gave them yet another bitter lesson.
   Near the end of last season, when Pep Guardiola announced his resignation from the club, there were people saying that it was the end of Barca's era. That neither Vilanova, nor anyone else would be able to fill the gap left by "Pepe". This "prophecy" seems to be true.

   Barca under Guardiola were nearly unstoppable. They had no "good" or "bad" nights. It was obvious that every game for them was more than just work, or an obligation. It was fun! They were a group of kids enjoying their football. And that paid off in the pitch. They knew how to play, they knew how and when to pass or shoot. It made no difference who had the ball. Ok, maybe Messi, Xavi and Iniesta made some difference, but for the rest it was the same. Players like Busquets, Pique, Adriano, Pedro, Bojan, Tello, Thiago and many others were able to flourish under Guardiola's wing. All because he had made a good enviroment for them.
   These players knew each other practically from 8 years old. And Guardiola had also grown up in La Macia, Barcelona's training camp, so he knew all about how the kids were taught. Which is yet another reason that Cesc Fabregas was able to fit in so well with the rest of the team after his return to Barca in 2011.
   Unfortunately, it's nearly the end of this era. Guardiola was just the beginning. Xavi and Puyol are both getting older and aren't able to keep up the pace, Abidal's health problems don't allow him to play professional football as much as he would've wanted to and there will be more players coming in, year after year, to replace the old ones.
   We should all be thankful in the end that these people were at the right place at the right time and created the best team to ever grace the football fields with it's presence. Because, if the older generations had Santos of Carlos Alberto, Pele and the rest, our generation had Barcelona of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and so many others...  

PlayStation 4: innovation at it's best!

   Hello everyone. Today I'm here after a 2 1/2 live-stream session with Sony in which there was a big announcement. The PlayStation 4. The good people at Sony talked about the new machine's capabilities, it's innovations, it's controller and they topped it off by letting some of the most famous game developers announce their plans and future titles for this new work of art. There was just one thing missing from this big gathering; the console itself.
   While many are arguing "why would Sony make such a big hype for the PS4 and then not show it to the public?", the answer is simple. Good marketing! For the same exact reason that the company wouldn't confirm until a few minutes a go that it was indeed the PS4 they were going to announce on the 20th of February. To keep the people interested.
   But, wouldn't showing the console keep people just as interested? Indeed it would, but this also allows the company to draw feedback from the people's reactions. Were they satisfied with the look of the controller? Does it need modifications? If that needs modifications then, does the console as a whole as well? There's no need to be hasty here and the people in Sony are aware of this. There's no need to throw away a 5 year effort just because they were anxious to show it off a little early to the public. The proper time will come. And the people will respond.

  Some of it's capabilities are astounding. It has two processors, so you are now able to play a game the minute you purchase it from the PlayStation Network and while it's downloading on your PS4. It has cloud capabilities and so, let's say for instance you're playing a game and are stuck in a difficult level. One of your online friends can take control of your character and clear the path for you. On the downside there's no backsupport on games from previous consoles, but the idea was thrown out that there might be a day when all the games can be played through cloud streaming so that all CD/DVD-ROMs will become nothing but a memory.
   The controller itself has some magnificent updates from it's predecessor, the PS3's DualShock 3. This DualShock 4 has an earphone jack, a touchpad and, most importantly, a "share" button. This "share" button allows you to instantly upload any part of your game to your social network while you continue playing. And another thing. When you're done playing all you have to do is press the "PS" button on the controller and that sets it on stand-by mode. When you're ready to go again, all you have to do is press the button. No loading times, no disc insertions, none of that. This console is all about easy access.

   The PS Network is looking at a few changes as well. Players are going to have their own profiles now (something like Facebook) and depending on their choices on games from the Network, the console will begin to "recognize" them. Which means that it'll give recommendations by itself to the player and notify him if something new pops up that interests him. For example, let's say that a player likes Sonic The Hedgehog. So much so, that he's downloaded Sonic 2, 4 Episode 1, and Sonic Adventure. As soon as Sonic Racing is released or any similar Sonic title, the player will be informed the minute he enters the Network.

   The PS4 games aren't only available to the PS4. Through a similar feature that is available to us already, the Remote Play, all PS4 games will be playable on the PS Vita. That way players are not limited to their gaming experience while playing at home.

   These are only a few of the capabilities this new piece of equipment has. Someone else demonstrated how he used the PS Move controller to create an entire city! The rest will be revealed in the coming weeks since there's still a good ten months until it's release. And let's not forget E3 of course.
   But, are these new capabilities really such an improvement? No longer will we have to have someone sitting next to us to be able to play with them but, isn't that the joy in it? The social interaction? During this presentation there was only one image on my mind. Children (or even adults) locked up in their rooms holding controllers, talking to their friends through their PS4's. More and more is it becoming a frightening reality that having fun is now a solitary procedure. And this new technological miracle is one more big step in that direction. Brought to you by Sony...

"Love" spelled backwards is "Evil" (with an "oh")...

   Sitting in my room for the last night, since tomorrow I'll be moving once again and it'll probably take about a month to have a solid internet connection, I decided I should bid it farewell with one final post. It seems appropriate after all, since this was the room my blog was originally born in. And I don't know how many readers I have or I will have, but this is one more milestone in my life and when yet another door closes for the last time, so will that chapter with it.
   So, what is the topic of this final post (final from this room, let's not be misunderstood! There will be plenty more to come, I assure you.)? I have been pondering recently about the thin line between love and hatred. What is it that could lead people to do vicious things? What's the difference between those impulses and the ones that make us do things for other people? Is it really just as simple as "our feelings got hurt"?
   Let's take a look at love first. When someone is in love, or lives a life that is surrounded by love in general, he tends to be caring about others, unselfish, sometimes a little spoiled but a good person all around. Sure, one might argue that if these people are smothered by love they might eventually begin to take other people for granted, but if they grow up with the right principles or if people care about them enough, they eventually get it right. These people are usually fun to be around.
   What about people that grew up neglected, not truly knowing what love is? Not having a parental arm to lean on when things got tough? Well, these people are forced to mature faster and figure out life's answers for themselves. They tend to be harder to approach, but eventually it could be that these people grow to be successful. Since they're forced from a young age to fend for themselves, they become survivors of life and learn all it's tricks. So, in the long run, a lot of these people might actually work a lot and have a good life in their adulthood. Sure, they may be a little closed-up emotionally, but it's these people that are true with their feelings, since they rarely open up to others because they're afraid of losing them.
   And what would happen if the two were intertwined? If, for instance, a person that never knew love in his life and was always snubbed and put to the side eventually found a person or a few people that truly love him for who he is and nothing else? And vice versa: if someone who grew being smothered with love, only to have it all ripped away from him and realize that no one really cares about him at all.
   Well, the first circumstance is a bit complicated. For a person that never knew positive feelings to have to deal with a whole bunch of them all at once is overwhelming. That person could push the people away at first with his character, even unbeknownst to him. But, eventually he learns to cope with his inner turmoil and becomes easier to deal with over time.
   The second situation is known as true despair. It's very difficult for a person that has known love to embrace his loneliness. It can very easily turn to hate. This is the situation that gives rise to criminals. A person that is caught up in loneliness latches onto anything he can find, good or bad. The more he stays in solitude, the more he begins to despise other people that have what he doesn't: happiness. He becomes less and less sociable until eventually he either shuts everyone out or gets shut out by everyone. And being alone all of a sudden can lead down very dark paths.
   Now, obviously, no one is totally alone. But most of us take others for granted. Like, in that last case, people will rarely take their family into account, considering that family is always there. Although others didn't even have that when they were young. Others don't have mothers, others have no fathers, and so on. But, if a person that grew up being loved and then ended up having that love taken away from him, he wouldn't stop to think about the people in his life. Just his own deprived-of-love self. But, if someone that had known little love in his life and ended up losing it, he would consider the rest of the people in his life, so that they don't go through what he went through.
   I'm not sure if I'm making a whole lot of sense here, but what my point is, with the way things are in this day and age, love is doing more damage than good. Spoiling people, smothering them, then making them depressed and even bad. People that never experienced a lot of love are better off in the long run since they have less emotional attachments and are more focused on their goals. And despite how awful it sounds, without love there would be better people.   

A different look at Pi's Life

   Hello everyone. How are you all doing? I hope this new year has been progressing rather well for all of you, and although a few bumps along the way are inevitable, I do hope everyone is on their way to accomplishing whatever goal they may have for their lives.
   Moving on, I would like to write today about a piece of art that inspired me. Both positively and negatively. About a film that many people have been talking about these days and that seemed to come out of nowhere to give people new hope on life and new aspect on religion. I am talking about Mr Ang Lee's masterpiece, "The Life Of Pi".
   I made sure I had the perfect setting to watch it. It was 3 o'clock in the morning, all the lights were off and I would have no interruptions. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into since I didn't really enjoy "Slumdog Millionaire" and I was under the impression that this was going to be another film like that. I didn't even see the trailer but what I did know is that this film received a few Golden Globe awards and good critics, so I figured that since people where going to be talking about it, I may as well get it out of the way...
   Now this is what we call a *SPOILER ALERT*. For anyone who hasn't seen the film and would like to keep the experience new for themselves, I would recommend you skip to the final paragraph. I am about to go into details of what goes on in this film and I know how annoying it can be to watch a movie knowing what will happen next.
   The movie starts in quite a funny way, without even a hint of what's to follow. We have an author who's trying to find a compelling story and so someone recommends he goes to find Mr. Pi so that he can tell him the story of his friend Richard Parker. The potential author goes to Mr. Pi's house, they have dinner and so the story of Pi's life begins.
   Saying that he was named because of his father's love for pools is one thing, but having all the kids mock him in school because his actual name was Piscine (it sounds like "pissin'" when you say it in french) is another. I mean, the parents never stopped to think what they were doing to the poor kid? So, in order to avoid further mockery the kid called himself "Pi" from the greek mathematical term π which is a neverending number to which he remembered all the digits! As if anyone could do that!
   And if that wasn't bad enough, the kid became enchanted with all religions! Despite his father's warnings that "Religion is a very dark place", young Pi was a faithful hindu-muslim-christian, by the time he was 12! And as he told the author, later in his life he even taught seminars on Judaism. Yeah sure, why not? No one's getting offended by this, go for it Hollywood, get as many Gods in there as you can! See how many people you can make angry and how many lawsuits you end up with! (And this coming from an atheist!)
   So, because of financial problems, Pi's family is forced to leave India and move to Canada. Pi must've been 16 or 17 at the time. Pi's father owned some animals at a nearby zoo. He had arranged to take those animals and sell them to a Canadian zoo, taking care of them as well so that he could provide for his family. Pi, of course, was not ok with this since he had found himself a little girlfriend, but daddy's orders are obsolete in these cases. And during the trip (they went by boat because how else are you supposed to carry a bunch of animals across an ocean), Pi came to embrace the fact that his life was just beginning. With a little help from his mother of course.
   It took many days and many nights to cross the ocean. During one of these nights, Pi woke up to a massive thunderstorm. Pi tried to wake up his older brother (did I fail to mention he had a two-year-older brother? my bad..) so they could see the storm together, but all he got was a reply of "Don't tempt the forces of nature, Pi!". Always curious though, Pi climbed out on deck to see the rain and the massive waves hitting the boat. And his excitement swiftly turned to horror when he noticed the crew of the ship getting washed off-board by those waves.
   Noticing that something's wrong, Pi tried to reach his family. But it was already too late. The room they were all resting in was underwater, and the boat itself was quickly sinking. Pi rushed outside to get help but instead he was put on a safety vessel (one of those smaller boats) along with a zebra that jumped on board and a pissed off hyena. Pi, having nowhere else to go and drifting away from the boat that his family was on, grabbed on to the edge of his little boat and mourned for the loss of his family.
   Now this is where the really good stuff began. You would think that with just an Indian and a bunch of animals stranded in the ocean you really couldn't have much of a movie, but Pi began to learn how to survive, even find food, and eventually make friends with a wild tiger named... Richard Parker. Yes, I know, what the hell?
   Some beautiful nighttime scenery, amazing music, the courage of a boy, his willpower not to give up no matter how many odds were against him and the way he put his life lessons to use, the communication between human and beast and how they become meaningless in the face of desperation, all this is what made a truly amazing film. I think that there wasn't even a single person, nor will there be, that didn't feel a little sad when they saw Richard Parker get off that boat at the end of the journey.
   All the religion-gibberish was stuff this movie could've left out. It was already a great story, why ruin it with beliefs and morals and Gods? I suppose at the end of the day it was a story about survival. Whatever keeps someone going, whether it's a deity of a sort, or another person or just their own willpower, what matters is that they find what they need to make them reach into that hidden strength that's inside them. We all have it. We just don't know it. This movie is proof of it.  

Further analysis of women in today's society

   Hello everyone! In this post I would like to go back and further analyze one of the topics that I recently went into. I have had some further time to process the matter, along with an addition of a few things that have made me want to dwelve deeper into it's substance. The matter at hand is women's career opportunities and their lives in general.
   I recently came across an article written by a woman who was deeply involved in U.S. politics. When I say deeply, I mean she went from teaching to Universities all the way to becoming a secretary to senator Clinton. It was a very long article mind you, but what really glued me to it was the fact that she stated that, in her early career, she was the one spurring women on to pursue careers as prosperous as men's. She would give lectures about how women "could have it all". A career and a family. But, after going to D.C. she would speak to other women who had to eventually make choices. Either follow the dream of a career or sacrifice the dream so they could be with their families.
   The author herself was having trouble since she had two young boys of her own. They were practically growing up with their father, as she could only be with them on weekends or on holidays and she was starting to see the difficulties of trying to juggle too many things at once. She was beginning to realize that what she had been giving lectures about sometimes can't be done. There truly is a time when a woman must choose.
   And letting children grow up without one of their parents is an issue which I personally think I have addressed enough in previous posts. They begin to develop trust issues with their parents at first and then find it difficult to open up to others, eventually making all the wrong choices in life. So, a mother's love is irreplaceable for a child, especially at a young age.
   But does all this necessarily mean that women can't afford to have careers? Well, there are a lot of women who have had a lot of success on a professional level and quite a respectable household. But still, that doesn't mean that they were always around when their children were in need of them. That doesn't mean that some foster parent or nanny wasn't there looking after the children most of the time, because the mother was simply too busy. But there's simply no right choice in this situation. These women owe it not only to themselves, but to women of previous generations that didn't have the same opportunities, to pursue as bigger a career as possible.
   Which brings me to my other topic. The continuing exploitation of women, to their own consent. Recently I happened to be one of the many spectators of the 70th Golden Globe Awards. Many Hollywood stars were present and many were awarded for their contributions to the movie and tv-series making industry. Among them was a young girl. A girl by the name of Lena Dunham. She was awarded Golden Globe for Best Performance In A Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Actress) and the show which she herself created was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Series (Musical or Comedy). Quite an admirable feat for a first-timer.
   So, this of course turned my attention to the brand new series. It's only in it's second season and it's already an award winner, it should be pretty good, I thought to myself. Well, I didn't get a chance to watch it. After a few minutes I was forced to turn it off. The high level of nudity (even in unnecessary scenes), vulgarity and rawness of this show immediately made me want to turn it off. Supposedly it's goal was to depict the "hardships of a girl's life" and how they look at things such as sex, work and their relationships with other people.
   I suppose it has a bit of Sex and the City in it, but without the glamour and sprinkles. But, why would anyone promote this, much less give an award to something like this? This is not even good enough to be porn, it just imitates real life sex, with all it's uncomfortableness. Why would someone lower the bar not only for women, but for the world in general by giving awards to this? 
   Sure, I totally get where this show is coming from. The world needs to see itself through a woman's eyes. Women have a lot of problems and this show is a fun way to address them. But it could've been done in a much more tasteful way. In a way that protects women, rather than exposing them. Instead of watching two girls talking about their sex lives while being naked in the bathtub and eating cupcakes, I dunno, maybe they could be out in the living room!
   Call me old fashioned but, as I stated in a previous post, there were women who fought and died so they could be taken seriously. So they could be given opportunities equal to those of men out in the business world. And so they could be viewed as more than just house-cleaners and sex-objects. It's proving to be quite a task, as some women are finding out, but continuously throwing to waste what their ancestors fought so hard to obtain, that isn't a solution either.
 

Final... Art

   Good day! I would like to begin this article by congratulating a few people on an incredible document. Some people from all over the world and from different fan-sites put in a whole lot of time and effort into something they really love and created a great thing. The one thing they all had in common: their love for the Final Fantasy saga. I took notice of it through the good people at Final Fantasy Network. (http://www.finalfantasy.net/misc/celebrating-25-years-final-fantasybrunofficial-celebration-emagazine/#comments)
   While reading this incredible 129-page document, my eyes opened up to some amazing facts. Facts that I never even thought about while previously playing through these epics. I myself have only played through VI to XIII of the main series and so those are the ones I can speak of. Never had I realized this before but, Final Fantasy has truly influenced an entire generation's way of thinking. Whether it comes to politics, religion, or important life lessons such as the loss of loved ones, this game taught us all a lot while we were still at a young age. Let's take a closer look.
   I will begin with the numerically first of the titles I had the pleasure of playing through. And, even though I was engulfed in the world of FF VI quite recently, I must say it was enticing, despite it being in 16-bit sprites. The most shocking scenes in this whole story was when the villain, Kefka, decided to kill an entire nation by poisoning it's water supply. And the second was when one of the heroes, General Celes, deprived of all hope since the planet had crumbled into oblivion and she didn't know the whereabouts of her comrades, decided to end her own life. There were other moments as well, but just through these two it is obvious that the main concept of this title was the loss of hope.
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   Then there was VII. Instant classic, for some the best game that ever graced the series, the cries for a remake have been endless. What this game's story had was never seen or heard of before, especially for a video game. This game tackled issues such as environmentalism, what goes on behind the scenes in politics, combining science and magic, and it even went so far as to address psychological issues. The main character, Cloud, had actually created a persona of himself based on past experiences of his deceased friend Zack. Cloud was subject to a matter of experiments that he did not have memory of and because of this, he sometimes didn't have control of his own actions. The saddest moment in this game was when Cloud's nemesis Sephiroth impaled Aerith, a young flower girl Cloud had met in the slums. The reason for this became apparent quite a while later in the game's story.

   Final Fantasy VIII seemed to have more of a "high-school musical" theme at first, except the high-school was actually training students to go to war instead of being able to become useful members of society. Still, you could see how they got along with each other and that was what this addition to the series tried to address. How teenagers fail to communicate what they're truly feeling, how heavy burdens can be when trying to take them on alone and how opening up to others can really help you out. Other important issues in this game were tyranny and the effects of time-travel.

   It may have seemed to be a bit of a return to the classics with the release of FF IX one year later, but that wasn't the case. Handling issues such as the effects of a monarchy, being overindulgent with power, and being full of philosophy about life, the colorful creatures of this title had many things to teach and even more to be taught. The way this story went from serious, to humorous, to action-packed, all in a fully Shakespearean England environment was truly a marvel to the sore eyes. Players have returned to this title time and time again, just to get a taste of how things used to be.

   Final Fantasy X was the first step in the next generation. Better graphics, better sound that included voices for the characters, a lot of neat stuff was added to the series. What wasn't lost though was the fact that the series continued to talk about important life matters. FF X went into a sort of sensitive area. Religion. According to this title, people followed a certain religion blindly. Because it was they're only hope for salvation. Only a few dared to question it and they were excommunicated and treated as outcasts. The people at the head of this religion (known as Maesters) were the only ones that knew the truth. But, in their words, hope was the only thing that was left for the people. Take away their hope and they have nothing. A certain someone arrived from 1000 years in the past. He had a fresh outlook on things and questioned them. Why should this be like this and not like that? Did you ever stop to think that you could do things another way and not just blindly follow whatever they tell you? Eventually, this young man's outlook on things is what ended up saving an entire planet from it's fate. His name was Tidus. But, what that game taught us is that we should be able to question things for our selves before choosing to follow them.

    Moving on to XII (I didn't play XI), politics found it's way back into the games. A lot of VII's dirty, behind-the-scenes, tricks along with IX's corruption of power theme was found here, along with a bit of a new theme. Family affairs in politics and in business in general. Whether it was House Solidor's indecisiveness as to which of the two brothers was best suited to lead the Archadian Empire after Emperor Gramis's resignation, or ex-judge magister's Balthier good-gone-bad relationship with his father after he, the highly profound scientist Cid became obsessed with the manufacture of nethicite, this addition to the series always spoke of some broken family, one way or another. It always seemed that these characters were looking for a missing part in their life. Yet another new theme here was revenge and it's consequences. Lady Ashe of Dalmasca desires revenge upon the Archadian Empire for the death of her father and husband during the war that enslaved her dukedom, but to claim it she knows that it would only bring more hardship to her people. So after a lot of inner turmoil, she decides against it. The voices for this title where quite excellent, British royalty standards!

   Nowadays a new epic is reaching it's conclusion, with the FF XIII trilogy. The issues at hand on this latest addition to the series are challenging one's fate, making your own destiny and how we could all be part of an even bigger plan. It was something in between politics and religion, since at the head of the human society wad a god-like entity that provided them with everything they needed -including sunlight! In the second part of this three-parter, XIII-2, the theme was how far would you go for your loved one and hope. The frailty of the human race was also addressed here, as was the time-space issue. F.e. how could a person's actions in one time and place affect the future of another time and place. And what could be done to set things right, if there was anything that could be done at all.

   So, there you have it. A series full of life lessons with each new chapter that is brought to us. Whether it is how people play on the dirty field of politics, or which other way they decide to use the people (religion), Final Fantasy has taught this generation that not only is it alright to ask questions, but sometimes it can be vital! Also, handling matters such as death, loneliness, loss of hope, making the best out of the small happy moments of life is another thing this series has always had a knack for. Delivering a few good laughs when appropriate, full of action-packed battling, this series always had a great way of story-telling that took your breath away every time you got to that next chapter. A little taste of what I mean is just below... And, despite all of this, the best is yet to come!