At long last, we discover why Zael wants to be a knight. His village had none protecting it and so was razed in the most recent war. Zael wants to be a knight to prevent that from happening to other villages in the future (I guess). There's not much to make the reason stand out, but I'm glad that a reason beyond their coolness has been given.
As you may've guessed, tonight saw some more The Last Story action. Chapter six has proven longer than those that came before, but we cut the game off just before chapter seven's start. At least, it would make sense for the next scene to be the opening for a new chapter.
At any rate, the latest Final Fantasy games have been called "Final Hallway," and I'm beginning to see why (Though Sakaguchi, The Last Story's director, is less and less involved with that series). There aren't a whole lot of branching paths nor is there much exploring in The Last Story. Everything's quite linear, with some of the game's areas offering treasure to those willing to look around an otherwise innocent corner. But for the most part you just march forward from battle to battle. Though the battles can be spectacular.
Aside from glitching out the fight with the Terracor, the game's battles have been pretty engrossing so far. The glitch seems to have emerged from bouncing the armoured beast into the wrong corner at the wrong time - it got stuck, the sound effect for its rolling played on loop, and the beast somehow emanated a damage-inflicting force-field around itself. It looked as though it could still be damaged, but Mirania and Lowell's attack spells worked at the beast slowly. After a reset (followed by a couple game over screens (Zael's slash seems to require sight of the target, something the game's camera is not always keen on giving you), the beast was no more, Zael and Dagran's old friend Zoran was taken out, and the quest we were on was completed.
The game really puts its streamlined play to good use, making for a very quick-to-play RPG. So much streamlining might have a negative effect on character development, though.
Somehow I'm not convinced that Zael is as young and inexperienced as he's depicted, he just doesn't look it. Were he a sprite, doing things like looming over the previously rescued Lisa when the option "Touch her" is chosen after the scene where the two discuss lucky stars, might be endearing or even charming. But with a full 3D figure the same gesture just comes off as weird and laughable.
This incident left me wondering: Is The Last Story's visual style out of sync with its cutscenes/characters' style?
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