I spend my Sunday afternoons away from debate in relaxation. If someone contacts me on those days, it’d better be important. I often listen to MP3s and get in some gaming at the same time and today, I started a long goal of mine and began fighting Yiazmat in Final Fantasy XII.
Yes. I said began.
Why do I say began? Because this is the ultimate bonus boss in the game that has 50,000,000 hit points. (Yes. I counted the number of zeros. It is 50 million hit points.) This is not a boss that usually falls in one setting and I put the game on pause to go get some ice cream as usual on Sunday. I might not finish it tonight and might finish it tomorrow night. Now someone can walk away and save and his hit points will remain the same, but I’ve heard he does some healing stuff and I don’t want to risk it.
And some of you are thinking, “Geez. You’ve told us a lot about your gaming experience. Is this a change of the nature of the blog from being about theology and apologetics to being about your adventures in video games?”
If you think that, shame on you.
My roommate is also a Final Fantasy buff and I’ve told him the law that I have noticed for most games which includes Final Fantasy. The deadliness of a boss monster is in direct proportion to the bigness of that monster and the ugliness of that monster. If you come across a creature in a game that is big and ugly, brace yourself. You’re in for a tough battle.
Yiazmat is not the biggest and toughest boss to ever appear in a Final Fantasy game though. The biggest one of all was in Final Fantasy X. (At the time of this blog, this is true as far as I know.) In that case, the party even has to go inside this creature and defeat it from within and there is a whole labyrinth and a practical city inside of this monster.
Interestingly, I didn’t have a Playstation 2 when this game came out and it was one of the reasons I got it. I still read gaming magazines and had to stop when I saw a story about Final Fantasy X so I could see what it would be about.
I had to read what I read twice to make sure I read it right.
The game involves a character named Tidus who is a champion of a sport called Blitzball in his town. However, his town is demolished when a mindless and destroying force bent on destruction comes through leaving everything in ruins. This force is called Sin.
Yes. I’m not kidding. It’s Sin.
Now if anyone wants to see how big and ugly this thing is, either go to YouTube or go to Google Images and type in something like Final Fantasy X Sin. Throughout the game, various bosses are fought that are seen as SinSpawn. These are little pieces of Sin, which still dwarf the main characters. All of them are, of course, ugly.
It makes me wonder.
When we consider Christ, Christ is goodness incarnate and he is a beautiful figure. I’m not saying that Christ was a Fabio walking around Judea, but he is seen to us today as a figure of beauty simply because of his character and many of us today would see him as a beautiful figure.
What would sin look like if it took form?
Characters who see Sin in Final Fantasy X are ready to take up arms and destroy it. The whole game is about the attempt to get rid of Sin, which when it happens from time to time, leaves a period that is known as the Calm, but Sin always returns. Now I disagree with how Sin is dealt with in the game, but it’s interesting how many times the word “atonement” shows up and how there are helpers in the game and each is called a “fayth.” (For you spelling nazis, that’s how it’s spelled in the game.)
We sometimes see sin in our lives as cute and innocent. Have you ever wondered what would happen if it was personified? Do you think it would be something cute? Would it not be hideous and evil? Would it not meet the criteria of a Final Fantasy boss in being big and ugly, which means it does some serious damage?
What would you do if you could see your Sin?
Would you take up a sword and fight?
Or would you instead shake hands and treat it like an old friend.
I leave that question to you and I think you know the implications to be drawn depending on how you answer.
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