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Stupid Plot Devices in Gaming

January 15, 2010 in Blog comments 4

Most games aren't exactly known for their deep and meaningful storylines, but every now and then a game will include such a ridiculous plot device you can't help but cringe. Damnlag.com names the stupidest plot devices in gaming...

A few weeks back I received the best Final Fantasy news I had heard in a long time. No, it wasn't some new announcement about Final Fantasy XIII. Truth be told, I'm a bit apathetic about Square Enix's latest state of the art opus. My bit of excitement came from the discovery that Final Fantasy VIII would be hitting the North American PlayStation store.

Suffice it to say that I downloaded the game the day it was released, and have since been enjoying it on my PSP, a necessity considering my wife's recent commandeering of my PS3. God how I love this game. Granted, the first few hours are slow and the battle system isn't most people's favorite, but something about Squall's four disc transformation from a surly emo to a bright eyed lover just strikes home with me. Except for one part.

The orphanage scene is of course the moment in the game wherein our heroes discover that they in fact were all once denizens of the same house for stray children. The player immediately wonders, why hasn't this come up until now? Well, of course, because they all plum forgot!
Miss Razz via damnlag.com »
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  • 0
    reaver11 Jan 16, 10
    FFVIII didn't leave me thinking "wtf?" as much as MGS2 did the first time. Then I was like "wtf!?"

    But after about 200 playthroughs it finally sunk in..."ooohhhhhh! it all makes sense now...but wtf?!"
  • 0
    Mishtram Jan 16, 10
    LOL. When I first started gaming, it was with epically long games with horrible graphics BUILT around awesome dialogue and plot as a result. I've played literally months in the Baldur's Gate II world as a result.

    Every so often, I play a truly horrible game for plot. The Bard's Tale, for example... =P Nothing says fun like deciding if a girl likes you to be an ass or if they want you to be a sweetie with a 50/50 chance of being right after fighting for hours to even get to the point of having a chance to make the decision...
    • 0
      Euphoric Jan 16, 10
      I've been meaning to try Bards Tale for that exact reason Mish. One day when we are both old and retired, and games have progressed to alternate realities induced by brain chips, we should pull out our archaic PCs and have a Shadows of Amn session.
  • 0
    Miss Razz Jan 16, 10
    quote
    What really makes this scene so utterly frustrating though, is that our protagonists status as childhood chums barely factors into the rest of the game. In the least it doesn't make enough of a difference for it to be necessary.
    I never really thought about it, but that's a good point. The fact that the FFVIII characters all came from the same orphanage isn't an important plot point. The game would essentially be the same without it. Heh. I wonder why Squee decided to go down that route.

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