Between the Lines- Stardew Valley's Joja Company

There is no politics involved here; only the cold, hard facts. If you are pro-capitalism, this blog entry will challenge your beliefs and make you wholly uncomfortable. You have been warned.

Stardew Valley is one of the most relaxing games I'v ever played. It's bright, cheery, soothing, and of course, fun. But a bone of contention among the fandom, and gamers as a whole, lays in the game's criticism of capitalism via the Joja Company. The game presents Joja as a soulless, greedy megacorp that has its hands in the pockets of both government as well as local economies. I'm not here to argue that this presentation is fair; I'm here to present the real life inspirations for this company.

Between the Lines- The Kalekka Incident of Suikoden 1

"The ends justify the means." Ever heard that phrase used before? It's the notion that WHAT you do doesn't matter, only that it gets results. It's a call to clear your conscience of the blood on your hands if you've brought peace. But another haunting quote is "nothing ever ends." What good is a peace attained by blood if that peace doesn't last? Is it really worth killing innocents if it'll bring 10 years of peace? What if it doesn't even get you that ten years? This is one of those conundrums presented (albeit subtly) by the game Suikoden 1. 

Between the Lines- Fallout 4 and Nuclear Apocalypse Media

I've been playing Fallout 4 since Christmas, and let me tell you that I am addicted.As I played the game, however, I couldn't help noticing the very many elements it had in common with other media I had seen regarding nuclear weaponry. As I kept playing, I kept making mental notes about these similitudes, and what kind of message a gamer could take away from the game.

Between the Lines- Kalikori Village from Star Wars: The Old Republic

So you should know, I am officially addicted to BioWare's MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. I am not just a video game fan, I am also a Star Wars nerd, though I admit not enough of a nerd to bother with the Expanded Universe, as I simply don't have access to the novels, or comic books, etc. But still, I am a fan. Today, however, I want to explore a particular element in the game, a very, very specific setting. This is a look at Kalikori Village.

Kalikori Village is a tiny village located on the planet Tython, the beginner world for the Jedi classes that most players leave behind by the time they are levels 9 to 11. In gameplay terms, the village serves as a mission hub for players levels five to nine. This is the place where you can spend Planetary Commendations, a special type of currency that can only be obtained by passing missions or killing specific enemies, on special, top notch armor that serve you well until you reach about level 13. You can also buy regular weapons and armors, some medicines, and the village serves as a central hub for the planet, as it's a crossroad between the Jedi Temple, the Flesh Raider Territory (a place with weak enemies but lots of missions) and the Ruins of Kaleth (the second to last territory on Tython, and the home of the sole mission that requires more than one person to beat in the planet). 

But what concerns us is the Lore. Kalikori Village is a village of Twi'leks, a race of aliens from the planet Ryloth. The village was founded by several Twi'leks who fled Ryloth because of religious persecution, The Twi'leks petitioned the Galactic Republic to allow them to settle into the planet Tython, a beautiful world of lush greenery, tall mountains, and clean water. But the Republic refused to grant them this permission, because the planet itself was only just recently re-discovered. Tython, you see, was the birthplace of the Force Users, the people who used the Force. The planet was being used by the Jedi Order as their new Headquarters at the time, mostly because, unlike the Twi'leks, they could claim ancestry to the planet (the Jedi Order could trace its beginnings to the planet, after all). Regardless, the Twi'leks still landed on the planet and made their settlement, without the permission or the protection of the Republic.

A Twi'lek male. You can tell it's a male because female Twi'leks don't have ears, they have mounds on the side of their heads where ears would be. Males have ears, though. Image from Wookiepedia, originally uploaded by user Ruthles Xero.

Between the Lines- The Al Bhed of Final Fantasy X and X-2

I was going to dedicate this post to analyzing the Al Bhed language of Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2, but then I started looking at the Al Bhed themselves, and I found myself fascinated by this fictional tribe of peoples. What is it they represent in the grand scheme of Final Fantasy 10? What parallels exist between this tribe and anything in Real Life?

Ajanouha uh dra vmuun!