What time is it?

I'm really not a fan of where I currently stand in life. I have a crummy job, making crummy wages, and I'm not really going anywhere. After a talk with my brother; he gave me quite a different, and inspiring point of view. He told me that this was actually a positive thing, as I have no ties. This is true, I really don't have anything tying me down here, besides the lease on my apartment, but, that's going to go up early next year. The end goal for me is to become a video game journalist. Whether that be for Kotaku, Revision3 games, Game Informer, Giant Bomb, or any other site that I admire. I just have to become a video game journalist. No better time than the present as they say.



I'm not saying that I'll be moving out to Los Angeles, San Fansisco or anywhere like that as soon as my lease goes up next year, but on the other hand... what's holding me back? Money, well that's one thing, but is it really enough, or something that is worth putting in my way just because I don't want to go into debt? But I feel like Bilbo Baggins. WOAH! LITERARY REFERENCE!

It's true, though. I live comfortably in my hobbit hole and make comments about my neighbors behind their back because I've got it so good, and I am much more civilized than they are. Though, this is not the life for me. I need that call to adventure. I need a kindly old wizard to cross my doorstep and take me on the adventure of my lifetime.

Being my mind the one that it is, and working the way that it does. My mind went straight to video games.

I feel like most adventure type of games don't exactly establish this call to action and adventure. Generally it's already been established that you're, the main character of the game, is already well established as some kind of adventurer/ some kind of badass. I never get that feel of normalcy. Generally, players are thrown into the thick of it right from the get go. Except for one game in particular.....

That's right Zelda. The Legend of Zelda is very close to my heart, so there is a great deal of bias, however I also haven't really played that many other adventure or RPG games that I could really get into. Generally a LoZ game starts off with Link just living life. It's nothing interesting, but it's comfortable. Life is good. He's got a roof over his head. Sometimes, he even has a job that keeps him busy and out of trouble. Then suddenly, there is that call for action. That one thing that seems to come out of nowhere, that upsets the balance and the state of normalcy.

If this is all sounding familiar, it's because it's the tried and true method of the heros journey tale.



Did you watch it? Good.

The Hero with a Thousand faces is the basic breakdown of the heros tale that we all know and love. Link is the quintessential hero of video games, and of heroism. He's not the only one. Sora of Kingdom Hearts, The Kid From Bastion, Alexandra Rovias of Eternal Darkness, Jade of Beyond Good and Evil and many more. Though, these games don't establish that sense of comfort that the hero is ripped from by the call to adventure.

That contrast between the state of normalcy, and the grand epicness of adventure is what can really drive home the sense of adventure. I'm reminded of Red Dead Redemption; where, towards the end of the game, John Marston has completed his mission that was beset upon him by the government and was given his state of normalcy back to him. This moment in the game is beautiful. John Marston, throughout the game had always talked of his family and his ranch that he wanted to get back to after he was done. True to their word, the government gave John back his family and his land, just as he wanted, so that he can get back to what was normal. I didn't mind playing through this part of the game. It was kind of relaxing to have all of this nonviolence. I was happy to see John and his wife reunited and to see the way that he looked at her even though she was yelling at him to get some menial task or another done. I enjoyed the state of normalcy.

This contrast can be used quite effectively, if used properly. It's not a bad thing to be thrown into the middle of things, but it certainly makes clear what it is exactly that you're fighting for when you go on your adventure.

P.S.

I know that normalcy is not what the beginning of this post was about, but my life isn't being overrun by monsters or general evilness, that I need to fight for it. I need to fight for change so that I can make my state of normalcy something worth fighting for.