Leaping Across the Spaces Between Us: On Relationships in Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian
Of course it was frustrating, not being perfectly understood by Trico. Wondering if I was making sense to him, and if he’d be willing to do what I wanted him to do. It was a negotiation. Somewhere in the space between him and me, we met. We may not have understood each other perfectly, but we understood each other enough. The imperfection of our understanding was part of the cost of having any understanding at all. This is the way it is. That perfect, seamless understanding, that deeper understanding that games so often try to offer us is a myth. Because my connection with Trico was not like this, because it was an imperfect negotiation in which I felt that the two of us were always hoping for some sense of mutual understanding that was not guaranteed to us, it felt real, and being with him, petting him, caring for him, was meaningful to me.
New for Feminist Frequency, my piece on Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, and how taking care of my friend’s cat gives me the gift of making me feel like my love is worth something. Read it here.

For more writing by me on Final Fantasy XV, also check out my previous post Derust: On Speedrunning, Writing, Final Fantasy XV and the Search for Revelation.
Notes
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justsuha said: Women in the game are treated (as if it wasn’t problematic sans Luna’s mistreatment scenes already) “Torture woman” trope was going to be used to generate reactions. Extremely poor job on their part. -2
justsuha said: Since this is on feminist frequency, other than the long development cycle and being intended for a previous gen console, the focus on bonds and relationships between main characters, both games have strong themes of angst. The last guardian managed to avoid bad tropes whereas final fantasy xv was heavily edited due to scenes where Luna is subjected to mistreatment by many imperials. According to the development team had they kept the story as is there would be criticism in regards to the way -1
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