I bought Tales of the Abyss quite awhile ago and have yet to finish it. It’s not that I dislike it, in fact I enjoy a many of the characters (which is rare for me in a JRPG). The trouble I have with it is its complexity. I played through Tales of Symphonia with regular ease and understood most of what was going on but with Tales of the Abyss I don’t have a damn clue what is going on. Something about fonons and all these other names that characters say all the time but they are meaningless to me.
And it’s not like I’m just trying to wing past the game. I play games for their story more than I do anything else and even when I hunker down and focus on this game I’m still left wondering what is going on.
As I sat at my computer working on one of my oldest stories, trying to making it sharper and better with thoughts and notes I had gotten from a mentor of mine, it silly revelation (if you can even call it that) sort of struck my mind and now I’m here typing this. So here it goes.
”Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
-Matthew 7:13-14 New International Version
Okay, totally out of context but I think this can set up a good picture for what I’m trying to aim at. While shallow stories are not very satisfying, neither are bloated stories. As an audience we want to think but we don’t want to have to study for the story. Does that make sense?
For example, Star Wars. The movie, even though it takes on the sci-fi future (okay technically a long time ago…but stay with me) we are still able to understand it. We aren’t bogged down by the crazy ideas and gadgets it poses. In fact I think it is because of its simplicity that so many people like it. Lets review some of its facets to see where the simplicity lies:
Jedi’s are like knights. The Empire is like colonial Britian (hence why all the commanders are British 
The force is like magic mixed with buddhism. All we need to know about Chewbacca is he’ll rip your arms right out of your sockets if he’s pissed…nough said. Tell me you can’t find a seedy bar like the one Luke and Ben find in A New Hope some miles from your house. Maybe their aren’t aliens there but I’m sure they’re just as colourful.
Where the simplicity of Star Wars excels the most are the names given to their technological advances. Forget made up names that make people confused. How about Death Star (a star that induces death). X-Wing (a space ship in…you guessed it, the shame of an X). Lightsaber (a saber made of light). Star Destroyer (this ship we’ll seriously mess your shit up). The Dark Side and the Light Side.
See how easy it is to use what we know and give it a twist so your audience doesn’t get lost. Now I don’t mean to rag on Star Trek (especially since I hear the new movie is what the new Star Wars movies should have been) but I’m no trekkie. Unlike Star Wars, Star Trek relies heavily on several gimmicks that people just don’t understand. Even more so with stories like Dune or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Again, this is not to say these stories are bad, because they aren’t, they just aren’t accessible to as many people. Don’t you want your story to be understood? If not, what’s the point?
So lets look at two games that implement the polar opposites of each other, though both created by Squaresoft (since more people have played those games).
The Narrow Road
Kingdom Hearts. When I first heard of Kingdom Hearts I thought it was the worst idea ever. Final fantasy anime like characters together with Disney characters? That’s the worst idea ever, maybe even worse than Jimmy Fallon taking over Late Night. But oh how I was wrong. The game is incredibly accessible to both younger kids and older gamers. Take that in for a second…how often does that EVER happen? Almost never. But by the use of simple mechanics and characters we all know (Disney and Final Fantasy characters) they successfully, despite all reason, created a great game. The game is moving and deep…and yet…and yet I have no idea what is going on…but I don’t really care.
The game has simple messages in it. Friendship, dark vs light, envy, etc. We’ve all been taught these specific topics through stories since we were kids. However Kingdom Hearts does begin to drift into the Squaresoft pitfall of being too complex to follow. We aren’t given the steps we need to fully understand what we need in the story. But Kingdom Hearts simplicity luckily overshadows this and I don’t find myself really caring too deeply about the stuff I don’t understand. I simply enjoy the core of the story. Now on the flip side is…
The Wide Road
Final Fantasy VII. The RPG classic that nobody wants to hear about anymore but won’t go away. The game was incredibly well put together (especially the use of 3D art and such) but the story was…well it was hard to connect with. I’m sure there are those who deeply studied the story and understand what Jenovah is, how Cloud and Sephiroth are connected, and all the other crazy antics that go on. Now Final Fantasy VII does a decent job at engaging the player but certainly not as far as Kingdom Hearts. The last third of the game I had no idea vague idea at what was going on, and I knew from others that I needed to kill Sephiroth, so whatever got me to that end point was great. But if you asked me who Cloud really is and why Sephiroth goes all nutty…well I couldn’t answer you because I haven no idea. I wanted to know. Sephiroth is considered an amazing villain and I wanted to know why…to tell you the truth I was somewhat disappointed.
Need further proof that FFVII goes beyond the boundaries of audience comprehension? Ever watched Final Fantasy: Advent Children. AMAZING graphics, I mean their cg work makes the US look like we’re stuck in the black and white days of Betty Boop. And the fight scenes…words can’t describe but its where I wish more games and movies took their action to. But I dare you to make sense of that movie. I’ve talked with friends who played FFVII too and they have no idea what is going on. Would you have liked the movie without the beautiful cg and fight scenes? My guess is probably not.
And that’s okay. Sometimes I feel like writers keep the audience at a distance because they don’t want us to fully grasp the story. If we did we might start to realize things aren’t adding up. Anybody ever watch the television show Lost? Ingeniously planned story or sporadicly pick of the hat? I think only the ending will let us know…and I would bet money the majority will be disappointed by the ending.
So if you’ve made it this far, what am I trying to say? I’m trying to show you (the writer) that the more of your story that has parrallels wrapped in what the audience knows now, the easier it will be for them to swallow down your story.
