An Extract from My Newest Writing Project

An extract of what I started in November. It's only a first draft but I'm slowly getting into writing again! Good times!

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     Such arguments were common in the three months after Alexander’s capture. Striker was feeling lost and alone while Matt was nursing his damaged pride and resentment at having been cast aside by both Alexander and the Emissaries for the task of raising an army. Twist, as ever, was in the middle of them, acting more like Alexander than either one of them. Their mentor and role model, the one who should have been guiding them in all matters of the Flux for a long time to come, was gone; taken by the Flux Hunters at the same time as his sister, Julia.

     Dropping the photo to the floor, Striker stalked from the room, trying to suppress the emotions the arguments brought to the surface. Learning to read the echoes left in the Flux at times of intense emotional stress often pass unnoticed by Fluxlings. The more sensitive ones could feel some of the emotions from the echoes but during his journey, Striker learned to tune into those echoes and let them play out in his mind.

     It was tricky at first but once attuned it became be hard to block them out. That was one echo Striker did not want to relive.

     Back in the hall, another wave of the Flux passed through him. Instinctively, Striker turned to follow it and found himself staring at the front door. Hovering between him and the door was another wave of Flux forming into another humanoid shape. The purple outline showed it to be another echo of Striker and the wave of emotion flooded into him once more.

     An overwhelming sense of loneliness and sorrow identified it as the moment he left the safe house to begin his travels. There were no words here as the echo stood motionless before the door.

     It was the uncertainty of his decision to leave that was holding him back. Striker remembered this clearly. Time had shown him he wasn’t ready and the longer he stayed, the more frustrated he became. He had to stretch his wings and learn more about the Flux and what he could do with it. He desperately wanted Twist and Matt to go with him but Matt would call him a coward for running away. Twist wouldn’t, but the disappointment in her eyes would be there. Striker knew that for a fact.

     A creak from above spurred the echo into motion. It opened the door, which didn’t actually move in reality, stepped through and quietly closed it behind him.

    That should have been the end of it but the Flux was still invading his mind. The sense of loss grew and there was an edge of fear too. It was from his echo because Striker knew that he had instantly become preoccupied with where to go and how to get there.

     “Goodbye…”

     The word took him by surprise and he turned around again to follow the Flux to its source. Ignoring the kitchen, Striker turns to look up the stairs and sees the echo dissipate into the air again. It was a yellow outline. It was Twist. She was awake when he left. Was she waiting for him to ask her to join him? Or was she hoping he wouldn’t leave?

     The third question hit him even harder; did he even want to know the answer?

     As if on autopilot, Striker climbed the stairs to the first floor and stood on the landing with his eyes closed. He willed for another echo to manifest, or even replay the one he had just seen but the house remained still. Opening his eyes he could see all the doors on this level were closed bar the study and the bathroom. A part of him wanted to knock on Twist’s door, just in case she was still there but he picked up no trace of her Flux other than the echo.

     After a step towards the stairs to the second floor he stopped and turned to face the study. The door was slightly ajar but the dust on the floor told him the door hadn’t moved in months, maybe longer.

The Final Fantasy XIII series

I make no secret of my love of the Final Fantasy series. As far as RPG games go, it is one of the best series I’ve played. Some stand out more than others, with VII and VIII being my favourite titles despite their age. Part of it is nostalgia but it is more that even now, with games two generations later, they are still fun and challenging to play. The story in each is also a lot more involved and easier for me to get into than some of the other titles in the series. Like many fans, I’m hopeful for a remake of FFVII but nothing definitive has been confirmed. The closest thing I remember seeing was that it would possibly happen if a current collection of Final Fantasy could hit the same numbers and popularity as VII. Since we are still dealing with Final Fantasy XIII, and will be for some time, I thought I’d take a look at what has come from this instalment so far, and what is yet to come.

Final Fantasy XIII looked, as you may expect, exceptional. The detail and visual aspects of the game are brilliant, delivering an immersive experience into a completely new world. The progress that has been made since FFVII’s (now very basic) graphics is a big factor to the success of the series. Unfortunately, for me, that’s the only truly enjoyable thing I can say about the first title in XIII’s universe.

One of the things I have always loved about the Final Fantasy series is the freedom to wander away from the story and explore, complete quests and min-games. This wasn’t an option in XIII until much later in the game, and while there were things to do later on, there was a lot of grinding to do if you wanted to have a chance of being successful before completing the story. In this way, it was reminiscent of X. I also was not a fan of controlling only one character, although this has been happening slowly since XII. The AI did not do what I wanted it to do most of the time, and it took a lot of effort for me to stick it through and complete the game.

The sequel was a lot better. Final Fantasy XIII-2’s visual quality was still there, if not vastly improved. It utilised the style of the XIII universe and kept it consistent while still looking fantastic. Unfortunately, you still had control of only one character and there were only two playable characters at all! The third member of your party is a monster that you can switch in and out of depending on the battle and your opponent. It gave a little more control of your paradigms but still had you focus on one character.

The biggest improvement was the freedom of the game. Rather than taking place in world at one time, there are various locations to explore in different time periods. Your actions in one can affect another and at times, if you fail or make the wrong choice, you will have to reset that location and do it again. You can also visit different places in the order you want, however these locations are small and linear in themselves. It is an improvement but still lacking in the complete freedom I loved from the earlier games. Most characters return at some point but your search to find Lightning is the theme of the game. The Coliseum has downloadable enemies to keep you advancing and unlocking new monsters and items for your party. Grinding still plays an important role in this game if you want to go off in your own direction.

The third title for the XIII universe is Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. If you haven’t, take a look at the official website for a few bits of interesting information. One piece says Lightning is THE playable character. Does this mean she is alone throughout the whole game? No party? That would make sense with an evolved combat system in keeping with what we’ve seen so far. With her being in the title, we know she’s important but I like choosing my characters, not being forced to one. This game is not a sequel to the other two games. Its set 300 years in the future and we’ve been told there are real world time elements to come, and more rumours about social media links. This is interesting if it’s true but after looking at the short trailer, I’m left thinking this is Final Fantasy meets Assassin’s Creed. Am I excited by this? Not particularly, but it could be decent. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII wasn’t a bad game, but limited in what they did with it. Tomb Raider meets Final Fantasy in an uninspiring idea. To see the trailer, click here.

Finally I come to Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I have been interested in this game for a few years now. When I learned of its involved in the XIII universe before playing XIII, I wasn’t overly bothered. My disinterest continued even after playing XIII until I came across some information saying that while it would follow the XIII mythos, it was not going to be like XIII. This gave me hope.

The game has fallen into dispute about what is happening, with very few official announcements being released other than the game “still being in development.” That’s great and all, but six years on, I’d like a bit more, right? There are rumours that resources have been folded into another project, and we don’t know if that’s staff, game material or what. With the lack of announcements, it is entirely possible the game will fade into nothing, but I think it’s more likely to appear in another series if not in the XIII universe.

All the talk of something new and the few details we’ve seen lead me to believe the game will be something new, regardless of what series it comes with. This could be a strange marketing plan that will come to fruition somewhere in the future. All I know is, besides a possible VII remake and the Kingdom Hearts HD Collection, Versus is a game that I really want to see finished and play.

Stephen King's The Dark Tower series

It took me four years to read seven books that I can honestly say are the best fantasy books I have ever read. I probably would have gotten through them much sooner but I had university and work to contend with at the same time. These books are incredible and go beyond themselves in ways I couldn’t have imagined before I opened the first one. I’m talking about Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series and the only regret I have is that it took me so long to read them all and that I waited so long before starting. For me, they go beyond Tolkien and Pratchett and that’s saying something, as they have been my biggest influences for fantasy stories to date.

There are seven books in the series, with an eighth story more recently and more short stories besides this. My next goal is to find all of these and read them to get a better understanding about the series before reading them again. The seven books in this series are: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of The Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Wolves of The Calla, Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower.

It’s not as simple as that, though. After finishing each book, it is easy to see that King’s other works tie in to this universe he has created for The Dark Tower series. There are names, phrases and characters in his earlier works that all make appearances or are referred to throughout the series and the consistency in which this is done is staggering. If you read his other stories first, you won’t even notice them, never mind the importance they hold for this series. After reaching them throughout the series, you can’t help but wonder at the amount of thought and planning that must have gone into these points. It links everything King has done to this one series.

The books follow Roland, the last Gunslinger, on his quest to reach the Dark Tower. He encounters many people and finds his own followers that become his family. We are told of his long journey before we join him but the passage of time is complicated in Roland’s world. It is impossible to predict and at times, seems to have no meaning to the story whatsoever. This is hard to accept as everything we do is governed by time and its logical flow.

We change worlds too. We see worlds and time periods we can recognise, regardless of our age. Thanks to the digital era we live in, it is not hard to find out about what life was like in the past and diehard fans will look into what King shows us. At no point are we ever told if the characters come into contact with our world. There are important worlds and others with little bearing on the story but the reader will take from it what they want. If they want to believe that one of these worlds is our own, it has no bearing on the course of the story.

King takes the time to give us enough history of the world and Roland’s past to make us really feel for him. He is a cold and calculating character who is capable of warm emotions but his quest has taken its toll on him. We keep our distance form him as a reader because we can’t accept such a cold hero. Even when he first starts to show some humanity, we are wary. A glimpse into his past gives us an understanding of why he is who is he, and it’s easier to accept what comes next in the story.

If you a fan of stories where everything works out and there are plenty of happy endings, this may not be for you. There is plenty of happiness in this story, but there is an equal amount of hardship. Chapters end on dark notes in a world that is uninspiring and where it seems everything is against you. In a way, it is. Reaching the end of the story is just one step to understanding what King has created.

In all honesty, I found the ending to the series devastating. It was not what I expected at all, but on reflection, is the only ending that could have worked for such an epic story. I won’t spoil it at all but I was angry, upset and I even felt a little cheated when I first finished the story. Thinking back on all the books, on everything I learned about the universe King created, there was no other way to do it that would do it justice. I feel like I should have seen it coming, but that’s what makes this story so fantastic. Just because you think something should happen doesn’t make it so. This isn’t a story that bows down to convention or the demands of the reader. It is King’s story and he has written it masterfully. There is no other way to describe it.

If you are a fan of any kind of fantasy books, then this is an epic tale that isn’t to be missed. Ever.