The Dying Dream.

I came across something this weekend that nearly made me cry. This website pulled my heart strings like Slash standing outside a chapel in the desert. The content of this site is a video game theory concerning one of the monuments of my childhood memories, Final Fantasy VIII.  My heart string of fond memories quivers at the thought of this game.

The theory itself is an interpretation of the events, dialogue, and imagery of the game. It takes the characters' motives and personalities into consideration, and it provides a logical conclusion to a game with an abstract ending. I think video games are our generation's literature, and as the medium progresses, so will the intricacy of the stories. Naturally, seeing FFVIII being treated like literature made my heart string of hope and optimism resonate passionately. Ok, I'll stop with the cheesy metaphors.

In a nutshell, the fantastic events after the first disc actually take place in Squall's mind during his dying moments. The events are a projections of his hopes, desires, and of questions he wants answered. Rahul Choudhury and Diedra Rater, the people who came up with this theory offer a lot of evidence to uphold their views. Even if you disagree, it is worth checking out.

Another aspect of this that I find really exciting is the comments section. Currently, there are 459 comments on the page. The conversations taking place are pretty intense, and both sides (those that agree and those that disagree) offer logical arguments. There are a few trolls, but that is to be expected. Overall, this theory is stimulating intellectual discussion in the gaming community, and it is fostering the critical analysis of video games.

in case you missed the hyper link, http://squallsdead.com/