Duke Reivier's Grand Game Emporium

 Fiction is, in essence, distortions of reality, in service of conveying specific messages and narratives to an audience. It is little surprise then, that many works share tropes, ideas and even similar incidents. What is surprising, however, is when considerable similarities are found among works that look nothing alike. And so, we come to our topic here. Frankly, I was quite surprised to discover this, as, despite To the Moon borrowing some trappings of a JRPG, it clearly tries to be something else entirely, with its focus on its melodramatic relationship drama between a man and his autistic wife...huh, does it really? A commonly overlooked aspect of Johnny is his backstory. Specifically, the bit where he was jealous over his sibling, and then, post accidental fratricide, got brainwashed to act exactly like him, forever leaving his "true self" behind. "But it isn't a major part of his story!" you might think. That's simply not true. The brainwashing was wh...

 Ogre Battle 64 is a niche within a niche. It was a game made for a largely unpopular system, and belonging to a genre that, for its high ambitions, was never particularly popular. It is no surprise then, that people have largely glossed over a lot of its aspects, despite it having done some remarkable things. While its execution is lacking in many aspects, especially when we focus on its storytelling, it still has quite a lot of interest here. One such aspect is the character of General Godeslas. Initially presented as merely a rather stern, disapproving superior, Godeslas undergoes a fairly remarkable transformation into someone more humane and a bit tragic even as the story progresses. Note that, by its very nature, this study will involve spoilers for the game. Avoid reading any further if you wish to avoid them. Background Godeslas starts as, and remains, the general of the southern part of Palatinus. Of late, the state has been facing rebellions in that area. The protagonist ...