Simply Brilliant

The beautiful princess from Final Fantasy.

posted by PapaT @ 2:02 PM 0 comments

Playing Final Fantasy as a Family

We have been trying something different as a family lately. Sometimes, as I have already described, we will read a book together as a family. Recently my 16-year-old son suggested that we try something different. Instead of a book, he wondered if we could play a computer game as a family. His choice was Final Fantasy VII (I think). He said that it is basically an interactive video story with time out where you battle some denizens of the mist.

We decided to give it a try. Here is how it works. The family gathers in the family room. Half the kids lay on the floor against cushions and under blankets. The rest of us are on the couches and chairs. One child uses the controller to control the characters in the game, one of us reads the dialogue that comes up as text on the screen, and the rest just sit and watch and enjoy the story and the graphics as well as help make the decisions. The game allows us to name most of the characters. So, one by one, as we meet new characters, we have been giving them our names. For instance, “Daddy” (me) is the noble knight who has sworn to protect the princess (he is a little too noble and drives everyone nuts although he is good in a fight). My eight-year-old Clory is the princess. My four-year-old Jory is the main character. Mom is a Moogle, and so forth. These names actually pop up on the screen in the dialogue and the kids are delighted to see themselves on screen.

The whole experiment has been going very well. I do all the reading and try to make consistent voices for each character (Books on Tape won’t be hiring me any time soon I’m afraid). The storyline really is fun and we have a lot of autonomy. We can wander about anywhere and talk to any characters happening by. The movie scene cutouts have that Final Fantasy glory and beauty. I love them. It will probably take quite some time before we finish because I am always too tired to play long in the evenings since we start so late (after taekwondo workouts). I am enjoying the whole experiment very much.

posted by PapaT @ 1:51 PM 0 comments