CORFAISUS'S PROFILE

I thought we had to submit our reviews by Monday the 14th, not Friday the 11th (being accepted is a whole different ballgame). Now only three of my four reviews will have made the submission deadline.

author=lonestarsuperlunimary
No I think I like girls and I'm scared of what my parents are going to think.

Parents can be like that. I once had a conversation where one of mine looked me in the eye worryingly and asked me if I was gay. I think it was because I spent so much time talking about being sympathetic to the plights of the LGBT and they thought it was one of those "well a friend of mine such and such" moments.

It's going to be a thing most parents are going to be concerned about because they want to raise children that will keep the family alive, and a part of that is having children of their own. They remember the overwhelming sense of joy they had in their hearts holding you in their arms when you were born and they want that for you as well. Even if they're okay with you being gay, that's still something they'll have to adjust to because of how big of an influence it has on their dreams for you.

Of course if they're religious it's going to be extremely dangerous coming out to them because I think we all know where that can lead and I think it's safe to say no one here wants that sort of heart ache for you. If you plan on telling them, make sure you wait until you have a back-up plan ready, and that includes having a friend who can let you stay with them.

The biggest question is why did she have to die? And I don't mean this in a mopey way, just for complete transparency. Spoiler alert for the end of Final Fantasy 7, but even with Holy coming in to save the world from Meteor, it actually gave Meteor strength and it wasn't until the Lifestream decided to take a piss all over the world that there was any hope of the world one day being semi-inhabitable again, hence why at the end of the game when it's like "100 years later", the place is still a mess but there's grass sprouting up around the ruins of Midgar so that's an improvement.

It's like all they wanted was for a big shocking maybe-death like in the prequel (which I've already stated my problems with), but with other people meeting their end by "Sephiroth's" Masamune (the president of Shin-Ra* was honestly more disturbing because "he" left it stuck in his back), they didn't need Aerithhhhhhhhhhhhhh *steam valve broke* to bite it, too.

*It's funny, because I went to Google the president of Shinra to make sure it was the same character I was thinking about and found this. Internet, you funny.

Get ready to BATTLE!

You know what I liked about Final Fantasy 9? It tackled a lot of issues in a smart and out-of-your-face way. "You're Not Alone" is clearly about managing mental illness (namely depression) through a support system while the variety of humanoid animals displays a world promoting diversity. Quina disarms gender roles while his wedding to Vivi (which is held in equal regard to Zidane and Garnet's) shines a positive light on love of all kinds. Garland's abusive fatherhood toward Zidane, Kuja and the Genomes is given proper airtime and shows the destructive nature of PTSD (Kuja hearing Garland's voice after his death), while forgiveness and the common decency which is owed to all peoples regardless of upbringing is shown in Zidane going back for the dying Kuja.

All of this in a world that's bright and colorful as opposed to the more serious palette/graphical decisions of 6-8, which had shocking aspects in their own right (Celes' suicide attempt*) but came off more as the destruction of Aldoran in Star Wars in that the amount in which it would disrupt the viewer's sense of comfort varies heavily depending on the person and their ability to sympathize with a character they barely know. Aeris' death was the only moment that truly stood out of the three and that was because she was a character of faith and selfless devotion who was struck down by an unyielding antagonist after hours of getting to know her as a human being. Watching her lifeless body drift into the abyss of the fountain in the Forgotten Capital is a genuinely saddening experience in itself, even without seeing the other characters in mourning (Cloud's saying that she'll never smile again is especially piercing).

* I don't agree with how this is portrayed as it's a hopelessness due to circumstance (a character that's otherwise not driven to take their life) instead of an inner struggle for self-worth (as seen in Zidane's nature as a weapon and the implication that he and the rest of the world would actually be better off with him dead). What this says is that this final decision might just be based on waking up on the wrong side of the bed as opposed to something that requires actual and continuous support to prevent (friends who see this person as special even if they only see themselves as carbon copies of everyone else and easily replaced).