Another rough day of a rough month in a rough year, so I wanna unwind by pretending to be literally anywhere else than here. (That usually does the trick.) To this avail I've gone and cherry picked three fictional world spaces from video games (That's right, no cheaty movie entries this time) in order to determine both the positives and negatives one might have to endure from moving there. Obviously, another important stipulation to remind everyone of is the fact that this thought-experiment is only valid when we put ourselves in the shoes of the everyday nobodies who go about their everyday, rather than the superpowered heroes of those stories. That way we're judging the worlds from the merits they offer rather than for the abilities of the hero.
That being said, there isn't much to really say about the 'hero' of No Man's Sky, and that's because everybody in that universe is just as insignificant as the next man. NMS' universe consists of several galaxies worth of random and ultimately purposeless planets that all seem to follow the rough shape of our own Milky Way. (Not being an astrologist I cannot attest to whether or not Galaxies could feasibly look any other way, but I find myself dubious.) On those worlds, or around them, consist a surprisingly small number of alien races with rather recognisable characteristics to them. You have the machine species known as the Korvax, who are scientific and logical; the bird-like Gek who are avaricious and mercantile; and the Mammalian Vy'keen who believe in honour and combat. Amidst them are those known as the Travellers and the Anomalies who appear to be a collection of humanoid species of different shapes and sizes that are all struck with the inexplicable urge to travel.
Most of NMS' society exist as small outposts in space stations in most systems or as literal nomads in huts on random planets. All they seem to do all day is buy and trade items in order to sustain themselves whilst going about a seemingly meaningless existence. That was threatened, however, by the arrival of the Sentinels; mysterious robots that infest planets through wormholes and appear to attack those who harvest precious supplies or whom disturb long abandoned resource depots. No body can quite determine what it was that built these machines, only that they poise a mild nuisance in everybody's day-to-day and makes life just that tiny bit more difficult. (Unless you provoke them, that is, in which case you're in for a titanic world of pain.)
On the up side, NMS is the ultimate freedom fantasy where literally nothing you do has any consequence apart from death. Everybody lives as their own boss and nobody feels inclined to work or provide for families or any of that nonsense. Life is all about the adventure, baby! Folk live their lives flying from station to station trading ship parts, upgrading their tech modules, pawning off minerals and just generally doing sweet FA. As far as a slacker's dream goes, NMS's universe is perfect. And the best part? You'll spend most of your days completely out of harms way due to the fact that sentinels only really attack those who annoy them first and no one posses the personal drive to do anything as drastic as: 'commit a crime'. I suppose this could be looked upon as a utopia from some perspective.
Now for the negatives; you live without any purpose in a life inexplicably devoid of even the most basic amount of structure. There is no infrastructure, no government, no central ruling powers, no gods, no familial units, no ambition and no end in sight. Everyday you have to explore in order to gather the resources to survive and none of that comes freely. It's as though you got stranded on a desert island which took you years of scrounging and persevering to escape from only to find out that everywhere else in the world is a desert island too. You won't be fighting killer robots too much, but you will be fighting starvation and suffocation from birth to death. (What a life to live.)
Having recently picked it up again, I was surprised to find out that I hadn't yet judged Dragon Age's Thedas in this list, which is crazy to think about knowing how much I love that world. Firstly, I feel it's important for folk to know that Bioware agonised over what to call the Dragon Age setting so much that they opened up a thread to the public for ideas, before realising that they had their name in the title of the thread the whole time. (because THEDAS is THE Dragon Age Setting. Neat, huh?) And secondly, I love this world because it's customs are made to reflect our own in a medieval mirror such to the point where ever major continent to based off of a European country. Ferelden is England, Orlais is France, Antiva is Spain and Par Vollen is... Soviet Russia? (I haven't figured all of them out yet.) However, this is still a world of magic, demons and monsters; just to keep things interesting.
Unfortunately, things aren't all sunshine and rainbows over in the land of Thedas and the world has been in a cycle of world ending threats for the crime of threatening the throne of god. (At least, that's how the story goes. It sounds like allegory at first, but one of the bigger later villains claims to have actually done the deed, so who knows?) As a result, a dark and foul race known as the Darkspawn were called upon the land led by a godly Dragon known as the Archdemon. They pillaged the land in hopes of killing all things, only to be barely stopped by the Grey Wardens. (An order of specialised militiamen) The rest of the Dragon gods live buried underground, and the remaining Darkspawn are down there too, digging in order to find and awaken their next war king. Every time this has resulted in a Blight which has cost the life of thousands, and that is a fear hanging over everyone in this world. (And I haven't even got to the positive yet)
One the good side of the news, you live in a fantasy world that has all the trappings one would expect from such an environment. There is magic, underground dwarfs, recently enslaved city elves, annoying Dalish elves, werewolves- Wait, I should focus on positives. Healthcare has taken leaps and bounds due to alchemy which can feasibly cure any wound, personal defence isn't frowned upon so you keep a knife in your shoe (is that a good thing?) and the lands around you are unmuddied by huge choking industrial cities because they don't exist yet. You can live in the familiar marshes and fields of Ferelden or the decadent halls of Val Royeaux in Orlais, never once feeling too far from the home you left.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of negatives to consider too. Sure you have magic, but you better not be unfortunate enough to be born with a proficiency for it, otherwise you'll find yourself incarcerated by the overly-religious fascist government known as the Chantry. The streets are lousy with creatures and bandits that are happy to kill you dead for looking in their general direction, the means at your disposal are bound to be barely liveable given the wealth disparity and general xenophobia mixed with group infighting means you'll have to pretty much be on your toes anywhere. All that pales in comparison to the fact that at any point a Grey Warden could show up at your door with a summons and automatically conscript you to their army for fighting off the Darkspawn. (A thankless job that invariably leads to a early, painful death.) So perhaps consider somewhere else for the vacation.
Like Final Fantasy 7's Gaia, for example. A particularly relevant video game world in today's day and age given the recent console exclusive. And it's a famous world in it's own right due to the way how it manages to be one giant environmental-PSA without being overly explicit. Don't believe me? Take a look at the place: you have the giant industrial city of Midgar with it's choking air of pollution causing a perpetual night over the land (actually, I think you see light in the remake so I guess they changed that) This place is bought and paid for by the tyrannical SHINRA organisation who seek to starve the world of MAKO energy, which is the physical manifestation of the planet's life-stream. Essentially Gaia is a world who's sole defining characteristic, the endlessly iconic city of Midgar, is singlehandedly destroying all the world's natural resources and causing a very real end of the world. (Eat your heart out, Ferngully.)
Of course, Gaia is much bigger than the steamy-cyberpunk city of Midgar. In fact a great many number of villages and towns dot her plains, all of which are frequented by everyday folk doing their best to get by and not be too intimidated when SHINRA come to kick down their doors cause I guess they own everywhere at this point. Things start to get a little worse for the people of Gaia, however, once AVALANCHE start causing trouble all over the world, prompting SHINRA to become full-on dictators. Soon their machinations set in motion an 'end of world' event, wherein giant godly death monsters known as 'Weapons' start tearing up the countryside. Then there's this meteor, and a one winged angel, and let's just say it's a miracle that the planet is still standing by the time AVALANCHE disband.
On the positives for living on Gaia, you'll be living in a functioning society of folk who are always in work, because SHINRA have a placing for everybody! (Try to ignore how dystopian that sounds for this section.) Magic exists, and summoning + Materia means that everyday nobodies can gain temporary magic abilities. (Meaning you'll no longer have to pay for the gas bill, you can heat your food up by hand!) Plus, you'll be living in a world with those adorable bird-horses; the Chocobo's, who are the perfect best friends for anyone. I would never personally get a traditional house pet but I would adopt one of those guys in a heartbeat, just as soon as I figure out how to ride one...
Now for the bummer end of the argument, and this one is a bit of a doozy. So sure, you live in a world of crazy advancements but you do so in abject poverty along with everybody else. Materia have the potential to change your life, but they are insanely expensive and all controlled by SHINRA who certainly don't want them getting in the grubby mitts of their workers. No one location is really completely safe and there's a decent chance you'll find yourself as collateral damage in one of AVALANCHE's 'freedom strikes' because those guys tend to act without ever really considering the consequences. Remember when they flattened a whole eighth of the city? Wonder how many of those casualties were SHINRA?(Actually all of them, probably, as SHINRA are the biggest employees on the planet, but you know what I'm getting at.) On the off chance you survive all that, don't celebrate yet. Sephiroth will bring chaos to all the globe and it's only a matter of time before the calm peaceful life you've built for yourself comes crashing down spectacularly.
You know, coming to wrap this up I've come to the realisation that I'm much better at pointing out the flaws in these theoretical vacations then I am at picking up the positives. I suppose it makes sense; afterall, what the hell do I know about what makes for a fulfilling life. (What does anyone know?) Either way, I've counted through three more worlds for your consideration and have a special themed version of this blog for next time. I honestly think this is probably my favourite series going right now so I'll keep riding it until I either run out of steam or have as many entries in it as there are Final Fantasy games. Which shouldn't be too hard seeing as how there are only... 32 not including spin-offs or mobile titles?! (Maybe not that many...)
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