So...Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a thing.
I'm not happy with it. I’m sorry, but I don’t appreciate this game one bit.
Let me tell you a story of when I was in my high school art class. I was a budding cartoonist at this time, and I had so many ideas in my head. I have a written-down collection of ideas from since then about what I would make in the future. One of my ideas was something that I called “The Saddest Story.” No joke. Rest one-hundred-percent assured that I look back on the initial concept of this in total discomfort. The story centered around an underground society of anthros who have to deal with the works. They deal with inner demons, financial woes, unfulfilled ambitions, intolerance, death, bada bing. I thankfully am either planning to scrap the whole thing or tweak it majorly so it doesn’t come off as if Grave of the Fireflies and Barefoot Gen had...whatever offspring it would have that would desperately need to be put out of its misery. I think now it’s taken the shape plot-wise, including a much-needed name change, of an underground society of anthros fed up with a government profiting off peoples’ despair, and everyone all shares the dream of repopulating the surface world that was doomed by war. They’re ready to fight tooth and nail against this government, no pun intended, for it. The noirish aesthetics will be restricted to simply just that, kinda like Big O.
Around this time, I had another idea for a cartoon in mind. I called it "Star Reachers." "Star Reachers" drew heavy influence from Tekkaman Blade. There were two characters that would have been featured. They would've both been thirteen-years-old. There was Corian, a member of a humanoid canine-like species who were kinda inspired by ancient Greece except with advanced technology. There was another character whose origins I also look back on in total discomfort. Her name was Zoe, and she was...extreme. She would go out of her way to demonize Corian, his people, and their non-religious beliefs at every opportunity. Zoe was a fundamentalist with a capital F. She was a homosapien, too. My thought process was, growing up closeted, that people needed to learn that there are others out there who will hate you for who your are, especially nowadays, not later or even soon, but immediately. Thank God I wised up. Zoe was drastically recreated as basically the reincarnation of Maat, the Egyptian personification of law and order, I believe. Zoe is now the type of character that presents the argument of "the word of law, right or wrong," and even she would secretly have internal conflict with this.
The turn of tone for "The Saddest Story" was inspired the most by Armored Core. Armored Core basically centers around mega-corporations fighting for control of the economy, and they’ve hired “Ravens,” with the titular mechs that they pilot, to do the dirty work. The main antagonists of Armored Core 2, I believe, the one I have the most vivid memory of, were a group of rogue Ravens called the “Frighteners” who’re all fed up with the corporate wars. Leos Klein, the main villain, goes to the extreme so much that, like Char Aznable, he sought to drop Phobos onto Mars where the wars were all taking place.
The point I am trying to make is that there was a time where I was indeed just as gratuitous has whoever wrote Fuga...but I’ve grown out of it.
What if I said that I had an idea for a furry action series similar to Gundam Wing and G Gundam? The plot is that the nations of a planet not too far away from our solar system, have been fighting each other over their own rights to self-reliance. It’s not about that in terms of the right to dominate others, but to lead themselves individually. The Alliance is fractured, trying to keep them all together in the name of unity. A movement is born wherein mechs are brought in to resolve the quarreling between the nations that already have started fighting. The tone is not grim whatsoever even when the main villain, a militarist-styled villain who quickly manages to take over several nations to form his own superpower, comes about. It’s here when everyone finally starts banding together to stop this guy and his plans of resurrecting an ancient weapon. Now it suddenly sounds like a lighter and softer Gundam 00 when you think about it. Another wonderful piece of media I took inspiration from was Kid Icarus Uprising.
Anyway, back to Fuga.
I don’t appreciate it. I’m turned off by it. I’m kinda offended, to be honest.
Children forced to participate in a war, the eldest is twelve while the youngest is four. Soul-devouring weaponry being powered by said child soldiers. Nazi-like army targeting a specific race. Bigotry and genocide. Eleven-year-old character being the stereotype of a "noble bigot." One enemy is a self-hating cat who cheerfully joins in on the genocide of his people. Nine-year-old is forced to commit suicide if you, granted, don’t play your cards right. Twelve-year-old goes on a killing spree judging from a hidden cutscene if I understand correctly. Angst, angst, angst. These characters would all have PTSD for life if this were played one-hundred-percent realistically. Oh, and rated T for teen.
I don’t care for the payoff because darkness-induced audience apathy had set in the moment the story was previewed.
I’m sorry, I hate it. I don't believe this is how you “explore darkness.” This isn’t how you “break taboos.”
That's the problem with today's media. They use buzzwords like 'dark,' 'edgy,' 'depressing,' 'angsty,' 'provocative,' 'tense,' 'dramatic,' 'emotional,' 'tragic,' and a whole treasure trove of others just to make a cheap buck. Last time I checked, the tone of something was just a perception, not a selling point, and when you turn that perception into the selling point, then the ideas you are trying to present may as well be completely moot. Besides that, it's not whatsoever intriguing when you swear off boundaries like that; it's off-putting and disturbing.
Fuga may as well be Oscar-bait for furries. It's glurge incarnate. It's another maggot on the corpse that is "the sign o' the times" wherein demand for darker, edgier, grittier material has skyrocketed and hence dominated entertainment.
And, no, turn-based RPGs are not my cup of tea. I feel that I don't have to actively consume certain media to be a fan.
No further puns intended, but I'm probably making a mountain out of a mole hill. I've been invalidated on Reddit and AO3 hundreds of times. What inspired me to make this rant the most was the hope that people could come together, talk about this sort of thing, and build something better for the future.
Topic: Fuga Rant (Read 3589 times)