There is such a book, you know. I saw it in Borders Midvalley the last time I was there, but I had my hands full of books and my wallet just couldn't hold the weight. But nonetheless, I did notice over the years that two of my interests actually do go together sometimes.
Now, fans of the series would probably know that the storyline for any of the game are pretty good. I personally have played and completed Final Fantasy 2,3,4,7,9,Tactics. I couldn't finish 8 because I found it boring, and couldn't finish 10 because it was too complicated for the little time I had to play it. So I'm playing 13 now.
Thus far, one recurring theme in Final Fantasy is that of crystals. I must say, the creators have some fascination with crystals. They have been in every Final Fantasy that I have played, and there is a Final Fantasy Crystal or something.
Never mind that, the role of crystals in FF varies. Sometimes, as in FF3, it assumes the role of something like a God. Other times, it is a form of power-giver, as in FF7. The balancing act comes in most of the time, with Light and Darkness being the two components that must be balanced. And of course, the protagonists are always born in times of darkness, and must balance out with the power of light.
So what does all these have to do with philosophy? I shall take Final Fantasy 7 as my base, since I am most familiar with it (hope I am not wrong anywhere).
Thus far, the ideas behind the universe of FF7 is, in my opinion, the best developed. The world of 7 is that there is a planet, and the planet itself is alive, proven by the presence of the 'Lifestream'. What is the Lifestream? It is an immaterial river, flowing with energy that gives life to materials i.e. bringing living objects from the soil etc. When a living being dies, it returns to the lifestream and rejoins the 'One', which is sort of like a river.
The story in a nutshell, goes along the tones of an alien being and a nutcase who wants to control the planet, to further their own ambition. The protagonist fights of course, and is helped by the Lifestream when things get really thorny (yes, the antagonist brought an entire Meteor down on the planet. Thorny indeed).
The whole idea behind the Lifestream is interesting in itself. It is not unique, indeed we have the carbon cycle in our high school text book that speaks of such cycles; the difference being that it points to carbon rather than life. But since carbon is so intimately connected to life as we know it, it serves as a pretty good analogy.
And besides, anyone heard of reincarnation? No, not resurrection, reincarnation. That is, returning as a living being the next life round. The Lifestream resembles such a philosophy, of life after death; without even necessarily being the same life. I think this is a Buddhist belief, might be Hindu as well (I'm not sure, with cultural and influences being exchanged all the time). And Nietzsche himself believed in recurrence, where life is a loop.
Now, I'm playing FF13 and less than a quarter-way through, and already I'm feeling that the undertones of the story is vastly different from its predecessors. Why do I say so? For starters, the story itself began halfway, with flashbacks to explain how shit happened in the beginning. Which was confusing initially because I forgot to turn on subtitles and they were throwing fantastic jargons. So despite them speaking English, I couldn't understand shit. That has been fixed however, I think I got the general idea now. But I haven't finished the game as of yet so I can't say I understand the whole story. But from what little I've thought about it, the current FF deals more with... hmm.. how should I put it?
I wonder if God politics work. But anyway, some form of higher beings are at work, and the humans are running along listening to what they are saying. 'Our world is better, the other world is filthy'. Sounds like some elements of psychological warfare, and indeed the characters themselves question over and over again about what are they supposed to do.
Some parts are cliche'd, but overall despite the sometimes annoying dubs, I have nothing to complain about the game - yet (ok maybe the confusing part and the tad slow story development). And this is turning into a game review, I'll try to avoid that. And question they do, the whole exercise sounds a little like the romantic movement.
In case you do not know what the romantics are, its not necessarily about romance. Romantics like Rosseau believe that knowledge is unnecessary. What is of greatest virtue is the passion in you, the raw emotions that you possess. Tragedy and forbidden loves are celebrated, and passionate violence are glorified. Who doesn't love a story about a man seeking vengeance after his love is killed? Those are commonplace in our media nowadays (Punisher anyone? oops that is not too recent is it). And seeing it applied subtly in FF13, I think its for drama effects. So far so good though.
One contention I have is that many heroes of stories question morality, whether killing is justified in whatever circumstances that abound. But usually throughout the story you as the character would be running around killing wild creatures, because they are monsters. Perhaps it is for gaming purposes, the training and reward regime that most games still offer. Nonetheless, it brings a funny irony where you question about killing people but you run around on a monster/wild creature killing rampage for money, experience and body parts to upgrade your weapon.
And yes, given a chance I would buy the book. I forgot who wrote it, but I remember it is not cheap.
PS: Oh right, Borders is bankrupt.
