Vicarious Gaming 101: Elaine is terrified….and kind of hungry.

Japanese RPGs and I do not get along.  Our relationship is sort of like a couple who breaks up and then gets back together a week later.  I always intend to try and play a JRPG because I hear amazing things about the stories or the character development.  Inevitably what happens is I get an hour in and I either get frustrated with waiting for my turn to hit someone (I mean really, who waits until it is their turn for violence?) or I get overwhelmed with the vast amount of crap I have to manage at every turn.  I then run off crying and banish the game back into my shelf.  A few months later I decide I want to try again and the cycle repeats itself.  

This time I decided to do things differently.  I have at my disposal a friend who loves JRPGs in a completely unhealthy way, so my thought was to have her play the game while I watch. This gives me the satisfaction of the characters and story without the extraordinary pressure of actually having to play the game.  For a few moments I reveled in my brilliance, and then I had Leah start playing Final Fantasy X while I watched.

Our first session netted us about 3 hours of time in the game.  I was absolutely astonished with how long it took the game to even get to any sort of battle tutorial.  I mean, we were like a full hour in before tutorial time.  I was also surprised by just how violent Tidus makes me, but that may be another discussion for another blog.  Watching Leah play FFX for these three hours was the most enjoyable experience I’ve ever had with an RPG.  I felt no stress, and having played the game before, she is an expert at equipping gear and making leveling decisions in a way that didn’t feel sluggish or take away from my story experience.  Essentially, I get to chill and watch a pretty movie while she worries about which element needs to be used on which monster and which characters should be in battle at any given time.

We are going to continue our trek through FFX in this way and we’ll both be dropping blogs about feelings through this experience.  I for one support my new RPG overlord.