Nazism in The Last Story

    

Not so different, you and I. Zangurak picture: Behind the Voice Actors Hitler picture: BBC

The relatively harsh Treaty of Versailles forced post-World War I Germany to pay enormous reparations, cede much of its territory, and drastically decrease the size of its army. These terms, combined with all the normal costs of post-war reconstruction, left the German people eager for someone who would fix their problems, regardless of the morality of the solutions. In came Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi Party), who were all too willing to give the people what they wanted.

The story of Nazi Germany is not altogether different from the story of the Gurak in The Last Story. After losing a war with the humans, the Gurak were forced onto a harsh continent of lava and stone, a shadow of their former power. Then, Zangurak appeared, and united all the Gurak for the first time in history with his power and charisma.

Just as Hitler blamed the Jews and other groups for all of Germany's problems, Zangurak fostered hatred for the humans among his people. Hitler had his concentration camps full of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and others, and Zangurak had his mines full of human slave workers.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but the idea of Nazi mysticism also has parallels with Zangurak's obsession with the power of the Outsider.

The banter between Zangurak and player character Zael during their final battle (Credit: YouTube user omegaevolution) sums up Zangurak's moving rhetoric and his semi-justified quest for power after years of oppression by the humans (start video around 2:30). Just as the Allies might have prevented World War II had they adopted Woodrow Wilson's policy of forgiveness, the humans might have spared many lives from both species had they worked harder to repair relations with the Gurak.

Knights in the Nightmare Analysis 2: Destined for Brutality

An adorable witch's last words.

Wisp, you are a heartless b*****d.

As peachy as restoring the kingdom sounds (see my last post on Knights in the Nightmare), ultimately, the Wisp is a floating ball of light devoid of any apparent personality. Yes, the game later reveals that the Wisp (spoiler alert!) is in fact King Wilmgard's soul, but this is not reflected in the dialogue. The Wisp blankly listens to things being said, offering no opinion. It can hear the souls of the kingdom's dead knights, prepare them for battle, and even sacrifice them to strengthen others, but it cannot hold a conversation with them.

The Wisp's lack of thought translates into a total lack of agency for the player. Oh, there's plenty of choice - different items to use, and knights to train - but these actions are all done for the purpose of killing. Knights takes a step back from the moral choices of Mass Effect and Bioshock, deliberately placing the player in a situation where their only power is to destroy, perhaps akin to Hotline Miami. While his subjects lauded him with praise, Wilmgard is seen as a tyrant by the Mehse and Tiamat peoples, and this aspect of his personality becomes his defining characteristic as the brutal Wisp.

Mass Effect: Terribly difficult moral choices.

Knights: See a general? KILL.

The player has two duties as the Wisp: restoring order to the kingdom as its former king, and maintaining dimensional boundaries as the divinely-appointed Arbitrator. I remember feeling this sense of purpose while playing, which added to the visceral thrill of butchering traitors and sending demons back to where they came from.

But then, the game takes a different direction: it sends the player off to the western lands in search of Wilmgard's body. Here, you encounter the disheveled, sometimes-undead Mehse people, whose lives have become defined by their oppression by Wilmgard's kingdom. The game offers no chance to make amends - instead, you must plough through every Mehse who stands in your way. During one instance in particular, the happy victory music seemed unsettlingly out-of-place as I watched a little Mehse witch I had just defeated take her final breaths. Suddenly, I didn't feel so good about my senseless slaughter of the aforementioned traitors.

The fate of the Tiamats doesn't look good either, considering they're keeping Wilmgard's own body away from him (and thus sealing their doom).

The game even taunts the player, posing scathing questions about how far they will go to take back their kingdom. These are made all the more meaningful by the fact that even in-game, the Wisp can offer no reply.

Knights in the Nightmare Analysis 1: Decay and Restoration

(From Destructoid)

 Often cited as an under-appreciated gem, Knights in the Nightmare turned heads with its daring combination of bullet-hell and strategy elements. Often glossed over, however, are its impeccable atmosphere and themes, which perfectly complement the gameplay. (I haven't finished the game yet, but I'm on Scene 40 of approximately 46, so I think I can give a justified opinion.) (Also, spoilers ahead.)

Richard Terrell notes the prevalence of decay in his somewhat harsh, but well-written analysis of Knights' game design. Specifically, he mentions features like weapon degradation and the gradual loss of "Time" by attacking and getting hit by enemy attacks.

Decay is also an important aspect of Knights' story. Images of King Wilmgard in all his glory are presented after certain battles, showing the king speaking with all the grace of a just ruler, and insisting to his advisers that he must see the people, and put their needs first. It is this idealized version of the past which slowly decays both as the story progresses, and as the player learns more about Wilmgard.

As Cardinal Capehorn and his allies unfurl their claws, people mysteriously disappear. Monsters attack seemingly at random. The king and his retinue are regularly sent from the castle to deal with rumours of unrest. Ultimately, Law becomes Chaos (as reflected by the phase changes in the battle system), and by the time the murdered Wilmgard reawakens as the Wisp, Aventheim Castle has been taken over by the freaking King of the Underworld, and it seems like nearly everyone is dead.

Enter: King Wilmgard, Restorer of Aventheim

This is where the theme of restoration comes into play. Every scene, the player clears another area of monsters, or kills one of the bigger baddies. Each recruitment of a knight's soul is treated as a special moment, with some truly uplifting music to mark the occasion. Slowly, with the divine power of the Arbitrator, the Wisp is restoring the kingdom to its previous state, pushing away the darkness and filling it with light...

...but only up to a point. A pretty important point, I might add. While the state of the kingdom starts at rock-bottom and only improves, the player's opinion of Wilmgard starts pretty high and only decreases. This man may have been a great warrior and leader, but he was easily duped by Capehorn, and his parenting skills of Nordich leave much to be desired (spoiled brat!). Worst of all, however, is how he deals with other races, and his extremely narrow approach to diplomacy (read: violence).

More on that in my next post...

Exploring Games' Artistic and Literary Merit

Game reviews are incredibly useful resources, as well as interesting testimonials. However, they can also be quite shallow, dodging spoilers and sticking to elements that the greatest common denominator will care about.

I wish to go beyond simply reviewing games. Indeed, I wish to analyze games from an artistic, almost literary point of view, for many modern video games approach the depth of a great painting or novel - people are just unwilling to look at them from this perspective.

Furthermore, I intend to steer away from obvious examples of artistry in gaming, like Journey or Braid, and instead focus on the art inherent in games not designed to be as such.

This blog is not for everyone, but for those who try to look at games from the eyes of a scholar, as well as those of a player, you may have found a kindred spirit.