07-28-2010, 04:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-28-2010, 04:26 PM by PrettyNier.)
there is a difference between a matter of individual growth and the theme of a work as a whole.
the temple imploding was "necessary" for embellishing the point that the materia was incredibly dangerous and they legitimately tried to prevent people from getting ahold of it; they wanted to associate it with great sacrifice and they wanted to punish those who were vain enough to want to acquire it for personal gain. it was as much a statement about human nature and the theme of the game as it was a "plot device" or trap. it was only circumvented because of cait siths sacrifice, and because of the foolish actions of cloud and his group.
cait sith sacrificing himself was about redeeming and establishing cait siths character as - plot-wise, anyway - a little bit more than just an obnoxious stuffed puppet. the ramifications of the event are revisited later on in the game. it actually has ramifications.
its not a matter of "convenience" because it has no technical or superficial ulterior motive: yangs absence was desired for additional characters, but cait sith does not become absent, and the events that came about through it occur not because "thats the way its supposed to be": none of it was forced. the temple didn't have to be the materia in order for the game to progress. the temple was the materia, and cait sith sacrificed himself, because it deals with the themes of the game on both an individual and long-term level.
no; the event is not the peak of artistic writing or meaning or anything of the sort. but to say it is "basically the same" as what happened with yang, or with numerous other characters in FF4, is incredibly disingenuous.
the temple imploding was "necessary" for embellishing the point that the materia was incredibly dangerous and they legitimately tried to prevent people from getting ahold of it; they wanted to associate it with great sacrifice and they wanted to punish those who were vain enough to want to acquire it for personal gain. it was as much a statement about human nature and the theme of the game as it was a "plot device" or trap. it was only circumvented because of cait siths sacrifice, and because of the foolish actions of cloud and his group.
cait sith sacrificing himself was about redeeming and establishing cait siths character as - plot-wise, anyway - a little bit more than just an obnoxious stuffed puppet. the ramifications of the event are revisited later on in the game. it actually has ramifications.
its not a matter of "convenience" because it has no technical or superficial ulterior motive: yangs absence was desired for additional characters, but cait sith does not become absent, and the events that came about through it occur not because "thats the way its supposed to be": none of it was forced. the temple didn't have to be the materia in order for the game to progress. the temple was the materia, and cait sith sacrificed himself, because it deals with the themes of the game on both an individual and long-term level.
no; the event is not the peak of artistic writing or meaning or anything of the sort. but to say it is "basically the same" as what happened with yang, or with numerous other characters in FF4, is incredibly disingenuous.