Coming of age. This is a massive game, and the entirety of its run-time is used for this theme. In the beginning, only one single island exists, it is bliss, it is utopia. It is childhood. There is nothing more to discover or to learn but what you find in your immediate family. Your family is caring and loves you, and life is good. You haven't seen any hardship, and you have a blissful life, with childhood friends and a well-respected father. But isn't that boring? Isn't there more to discover? Dad doesn't let us go fishing with him, he doesn't think we can be any useful. But the world is vast, surely it cannot be the only island in existence, wouldn't it be great to see what's out there? And to be more than the great fisherman's cute son?
Off you go on a huge journey, discovering that there used to be a very different world in the past with many islands. We discover we can travel through time and revive the other islands of the world in the past and bringing them to the present. Each island presents a lesson to the naive, childish main character. Difficult conflicts where neither side is wrong, conflicts that cannot be solved, conflicts where one side is irreparably damaged and cannot be saved no matter the intentions, stories of sacrifice, stories of betrayal, of unwavering courage in the face of hardship. Each island is a punch in the gut for our naive, childish hero, he's doing his best, he is saving people, but there are just some things that are outside your control, the world, as it seems, is not an utopia.
But from loss and hardship, from difficult decisions to witnessing tragedy, our main character, who in this entry is truly our naive, childish real life self before we played this game, is growing up, is learning, is becoming more mature. We learn about how the crimes of the past can be uncomfortable truths that people want to ignore and misrepresent. We learn how important faith can be a community, even to their own peril, and how quickly faith can also fade away. We learn about how much courage a pioneer needs to have. We learn about how to move on from the loss of a family member and that life goes on. And as we learn more and more vocations, as we unlock advanced vocations and eventually expert vocations, as we become Gladiators, Sages and Heroes, as we save more and more islands and win the respect of our beloved Maribel as well as the the people of our island, we are no longer the naive, weak child who follows the prince around and who lives in the shadow of our overwhelmingly strong father. We, me the player and my video game alter-ego, are growing up, we are becoming an adult, we are becoming our own man. Dad will surely take us fishing with him soon.
Off you go on a huge journey, discovering that there used to be a very different world in the past with many islands. We discover we can travel through time and revive the other islands of the world in the past and bringing them to the present. Each island presents a lesson to the naive, childish main character. Difficult conflicts where neither side is wrong, conflicts that cannot be solved, conflicts where one side is irreparably damaged and cannot be saved no matter the intentions, stories of sacrifice, stories of betrayal, of unwavering courage in the face of hardship. Each island is a punch in the gut for our naive, childish hero, he's doing his best, he is saving people, but there are just some things that are outside your control, the world, as it seems, is not an utopia.
But from loss and hardship, from difficult decisions to witnessing tragedy, our main character, who in this entry is truly our naive, childish real life self before we played this game, is growing up, is learning, is becoming more mature. We learn about how the crimes of the past can be uncomfortable truths that people want to ignore and misrepresent. We learn how important faith can be a community, even to their own peril, and how quickly faith can also fade away. We learn about how much courage a pioneer needs to have. We learn about how to move on from the loss of a family member and that life goes on. And as we learn more and more vocations, as we unlock advanced vocations and eventually expert vocations, as we become Gladiators, Sages and Heroes, as we save more and more islands and win the respect of our beloved Maribel as well as the the people of our island, we are no longer the naive, weak child who follows the prince around and who lives in the shadow of our overwhelmingly strong father. We, me the player and my video game alter-ego, are growing up, we are becoming an adult, we are becoming our own man. Dad will surely take us fishing with him soon.