flowersforone:

vivisucre:

Serious meta

I love Final Fantasy XII and one more reason I’ve found during my new game is how politically engaged it actually is. I will get in a serious mood with this meta.

Final fantasy XII is a Japanese game, created by Japanese people. And here you have a whole city (almost a kingdom), Nabudis, completely wiped of the map by one single blast. An entire population killed, erased in a second. It’s hard not to compare it to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nabradia becomes Deadlands, infertile lands, infected by the myst, the same way radiations can infect land, food, water and people. In the game we have to fight zombies, who are canonically previous inhabitants of the city.

[spoilers ahead] One great approach of the game is how Vayne, the “villain” of the game may be right, wanting to get rid of “Gods” and let human beings be free.

However, his lust for the stones is wrong. The stones are the equivalent of a nuclear weapon. If we think about it, if we think of our own real world, Ashe’s choice is vital, decisive, and it really is a point of no return.

She has the equivalent of a nuclear weapon in her hands, and she decides not to use it.

There’s also some mirroring of Cold War era politics. The invasion of Nabradia is basically a proxy war between Arcadia and Rozzaria because the manga  reveals that Vayne purposely provoked a civil war (between people who wanted remain allied with Dalmasca thus staying neutral, and those who wanted to ally with Rozzaria). Thus having a legitimate excuse to invade, and that would provoke Rozzaria to send troops and aide to the faction they supported. 

Another example of a sort of proxy war are the events leading to the final battle, where the Rozzarians assisting the Bhujerban Resistance invade Archadian airspace, leading him to deploy The Bahamut as a show of force. 

Vayne’s modus operandi heavily resembles realpolitik, where every political and diplomatic action taken is based on the current circumstances, rather than a specific and precise ideology. Like if a country supported a cruel dictator, because it lead to stability and it would stop the latter from allying with their enemy. For him morals and ideology don’t matter, just results. 

Add in a Cuban missile crisis parallel, and a magic space race and you have the Cold War but with magick.