I just want to eat with them. I want to sit around a campfire and talk. I want to run around and explore and spout witty one-liners and grab their hands just in time so they don’t fall off of a cliff. I mean, fighting is cool too, but combat…
It’s combat. It’s cool but it’s combat. I’ve been doing that for years.
But friends. Friends are complicated.
Here we have a game that makes me feel less lonely for a change.
Because games can be lonely, can’t they? Not all the time, but often, right?
I don’t care about the ending to Final Fantasy XV. Not yet. I don’t know enough about the story to care. But those moments, those little bits of nonessential interaction. Those are enough motivation for me. I will fight for those. I will fight for the chance to play in an arcade or ride a chocobo or sit around a fire.
Maybe I’m just a lonely guy. Actually, no “maybe.” I know I am. I have a few friends and I care about them deeply. That’s why this hits me so hard. There’s just something that makes me think that the designers of FFXV understand the importance of moments like those. I don’t think I need crazy combat systems or magic spells or summons, although I’m sure that they’ll be in there. I just want to speed down an unknown road with three dudes who have my back, whether we’re fighting monsters or pushing the car because it’s out of gas.
Perhaps I’m just being hopeful and projecting my feelings into the knowledge-gaps of a yet unreleased game. Actually, no “perhaps.” I know I am. But I like how the trailer made me feel. Even if the game doesn’t deliver on the hopes I have, at the very least it made me think about the friends I do have. And for that, I am thankful.
The Player 3 Blog 