Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 7, 2003 % 5 ' .v ^ ; ' |v v 4 fell ^ CONTACT US v THEY SAID IT mu 1 U U ARTHUR C. CLARKE: “Any sufficiently Story ideas? Questions? Comments? advanced technology is indistinguishable E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ’ from magic.” The arrival of a new ‘Final Fantasy' installment online has glued RPG fans to their keyboards and controllers — in the 11th game of the series, the action goes global as the virtual empire expands to the World Wide Web BY CAITLIN COKER ^^IIK GAMECOCK Liz Leeper, a fourth-year elec trical engineering student, is on a series of missions that will ulti mately save the world. Joined by international alliances forged over the World Wide Web, Leeper gal livants cross the nations of Vana’diel under the persona of Hyzenthlay, a red mage of the Tarutaru race. She fulfills mis sions for a greater good; one such mission involves killing the mon sters responsible for the food shortages at the zoo. “Final Fantasy,” a series of role playing games, or RPGs, allows players to become characters in ^ this virtual realm and venture ^^hrough an animated fantasy ^^vorld. “Final Fantasy” through “Final Fantasy X” feature com pletely different characters and conflicts. This past Tuesday, Squaresoft released “Final Fantasy XI,” to the mass delight of gamers every where. Each successive “Final Fantasy” game has expanded on its predecessors, and “Final Fantasy XI” is no exception. It is the first “Final Fantasy” game to be played completely online.' This type of game is known as a MMORPG, or a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game; two other examples are “Everquest” and “Asheron’s CaU.” Unlike previous “Final Fantasy” games, “Final Fantasy XI” gives its players a choice of characters to play as and allows them to decide in which part of the world they wish to begin their quest. Five races interact in the world of Vana’diel: ordinary Humes, pointy-eared Elvaans, childlike Tarutarus, feline Mithras and hulking Galkas. The different types of beings are set apart by their unique faces, hair color, body sizes and jobs. After a character is named, he is ready to build his skills. He must defeat monsters to gain pow er and make conquests for his na tion of choice. Real people, sitting behind their computers or PlayStation 2s, com pose the other major characters in the game. Also, the game is avail able all over the world, and no lan guage barrier exists — A party of gamers can be oceans or merely blocks apart. Leeper has noticed that instead of the game isolating her from friends, it has actually brought them together. Her social group can travel together in the game, sharing the joys of gardening, chocobo-riding and fishing. She can also chat with them and trade for hard-to-get items. “It’s a great way to hang out with friends,” says Leeper. “We get online, and we are in the same town.” At the same time, MMORPGs are infamous for being life-con suming. Leeper played the game for 30 hours in a five days. Entire lives are constructed and main tained in these universes — After . all, why return to the real world when you can wield a giant sword in a virtual one? The beginning of the game ac tually includes a warning that re minds players to put things in con text: The world of “Final Fantasy XI” is fake, and players are ad vised not to forget about their fam ilies or jobs. The switch to online gameplay exacts both positive and negative social effects, and it will undoubt edly alter the popularity of the lat est “Final Fantasy” installment as well. The shift from personal quest to interactive experience not only connects players, but it changes the scenario. The series’ conventions have undergone a major shift since go ing worldwide — the loss of a plot line. Since there is no set charac ter or journey, the story reveals it self as one plays, depending on whom the character interacts with. Some gamers specifically en joyed the “Final Fantasy” series for its in-depth storylines. Steven Schmidt, a first-year pharmacy student, was disheart- . ened upon discovering that the plot of “Final Fantasy XI” is not as structured as those of other “Final Fantasy” titles. “I am disappointed; Squaresoft usually has a high standard for their plots,” said Schmidt. The game boasts great popular ity in Japan, but only time will tell how it will fare in the States. Clearly, those who play the game hope it will catch on with others as well because the more human gamers that play, the more char acters there are to interact with. Leeper remains confident that “Final Fantasy XI” has a winning formula: “’Final Fantasy’ is a clas sic. And people like online games, too.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com MOVIE REVIEW 'Revolutions’requires thought “THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS” ***** out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY SHAWN ROURK THE GAMECOCK And then all the machines were broken and all the humans lived •happily ever after. f Well, not exactly. “The Matrix Revolutions,” the third and supposedly final install ment in the Matrix trilogy, is an exhausting thrill ride from the movie’s opening scene to its cli mactic ending. Although the film provides the perfect ending to the trilogy, it re quires audiences to actually think about the plot rather than have it fed it to them, which may leave some viewers a little perturbed. The movie picks up right where “Reloaded” left off — the hero and the protagonist lying in a coma two feet away from each other. The film also answers a lot of the ques tions that lingered after the second film’s huge cliff-hanger ending. And, of course, there are spe cial effects — lots and lots of spe l^ial effects. It has so many, in fact, ^Riat critics have blasted the film for its complete lack of plot. Oh, contraire. The movie has a clear plot. It sticks to the same format that has made the series popular in the first place. The characteristic religious references and symbolism are again scattered throughout the screen play. The love story between Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) is also resolved during the movie, and although they may look like two sticks trying to kiss on screen at some points, the audience gets the point. The affection can in deed be felt even though Reeves is no Leonardo DiCaprio when it comes to romance. One major hang up that will un doubtedly perplex much of the viewing public, however, is the Wachowski Brothers’ storytelling. A good bit of the bad press that has been generated about the movie concerns the fact that the enig matic Wachowski Brothers do not completely lay the plot out for peo ple. Yet, the beauty of the film is that most of the siory requires in terpretation. The movie was made to make the viewer think; it gives viewers the necessary information and ex pects them to infer the rest. The film could get easily bogged down in the explanation of all the little nuances of the Matrix — but it doesn’t. The Wachowskis cut that out of the film and instead keep the story flowing smoothly. There are only two problems with the final movie. The first is that to fully understand what hap pens in between “Reloaded” and “Revolutions,” one has to have beaten the video game “Enter the Matrix,” which follows the stories of many of the sub-characters, specifically Niobi (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Ghost (Anthony Wong). The other issue with “Revolutions” is the lack of screen time for Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) — and the many Smiths — in the movie. As one of the best, funniest characters in the film, he does not make nearly enough ap pearances. But the appearances he does make do not let the audience, down. In all, viewers will certainly be satisfied with the Matrix trilogy’s final installment — so long as they are not afraid of actually having to think about the implications of the film’s plot long after they leave the theater. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Special effects abound in “The Matrix Revolutions” as Neo and company return to the big screen for a third and final time. Local film festival focuses on Native American culture, issues BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK The Nickelodeon Theatre is bringing 12 Native American made productions to the big screen, sponsored by Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of South Carolina. The feature films focus on Native American issues from the sub ject’s perspective as part of the sixth-annual Native American Film Festival. Instead of presenting the tainted Hollywood view of “Indians,” the Nickelodeon Theatre has brought together a diverse collection of films, from fictional features to documen taries, that share a common thread — they all involve the work of Native American movie industry professionals. “The Girl Who Married a Ghost” opens the festival this evening. Combining the typical audience-engaging elements of love and revenge, the film chron icles a daughter’s estrangement from her father, the chief, after she becomes enamored with an attractive shaman. The unfold ing events send his cherished daughter to the land of the dead. This is indeed the stuff that epic movies are made of. The local premiere of the Hallmark miniseries “Dream keeper” takes place Saturday as part of the festival. The story connects two men, young and old, on one long car ride. The grandfather is a tribal story teller, and the 17-year-old is a street-gang member — they could not be at more different points in their lives. Yet, through his tales, the grandfa ther attempts to convey the im portance of tradition to the mod ern, wayward youth. The series will air on ABC at the end of December. The festival also attempts to capture the uncommon and the controversial on screen. Sunday has been dubbed Arts (Sun)Day and will feature three shorter works that focus on music (“Until the Eagle Falls”), dance (“The World of Native American Dance”) and storytelling (“Vis-a vis: Native Tongues”). Monday evening’s schedule takes a more serious turn as the theater screens a series of issue-con fronting films that reflect current concerns within the Native American community such as the preservation of culture and the environment. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s films center on the equally compelling issue of “de tribalism” — the conflict between tradition and assimilation, trib al identity and the American mainstream. Offering audiences an intrigu ing view into an often-misrepre sented world, the Native American Film Festival strives to both entertain and educate during its five-day run. Native American culture enters the spot light and moviemaking talent comes into focus during the Nickelodeon Theatre’s cultural ly aware series of screenings. Take in a film and take on a dif ferent America. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com