Best friendships in gaming

Friendship. It plays a great part in society by binding people together to make the best of life to the fullest while having somebody close to talk to... which can also include dancing and crashing to the floor after going crazy over which piece of cake is who's. Gaming. It's the medium that has involved simple tappings of the controller to an increased variety of designs from settings to the characters and of course, the gameplay. It is also why I'm here on this site talking to you now. Not to mention the purpose of this site in the first place and you'd be wrong to think that has quick access to food Youtube channels.

However in recent years, in some ways it has replaced movies with it's own version blockbuster values and books with it's own interconnecting style of storylining which can be problematic for both of the 2 categories but that's not why I'm here. I'm here because both friendship and gaming have married in a sense. I don't mean anything by wedding bells or free cake but how they've merged in to something for which many, is the basis of generating a great storyline which will have the inevitable fate of securing a neat ending.

I like many of you, have recognised how important this can be for the storylines of games and this perspective is something that I have seen throughout my life of gaming and it's difficult to pin point a certain friendship that has seemed very unique or had an impact on me and much of the community which explains many reasons for online discussions.

So without further ado, here's a few of my most favourite friendships in gaming, starting with a latest game I have played... or rather watched.

Kingdom Hearts: Roxas, Xion and Axel

The first instances of playing Kingdom Hearts was that I was growing to like Sora, Riku and Kairi... and Donald, Goofy and Mickey but I had no idea they would be topped when the developers began in introduce brand new storylines and characters. Each with their perspective on the universe they inhabited and their purpose and I was hoping to see more from the Roxas character we were introduced to only briefly in the second game... if you classify brief as an hour of the game compared to about 30 of the rest.

Then we were delivered with the game Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days which I am aiming to buy once I get my hands on the 3DS but thankfully, the new Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix was able to provide us with a few scenes which would last about 3 hours of so it was great that I had my Popcorn at the ready. It was at that moment that I was really beginning to regret not buying a 3DS and that only furthered on as I watched the cutscenes more and more with a feeling that I missed out on the game but was grateful they incorporated the whole bunch of scenes in to the Remix version. It's really no doubt why. The story of Roxas, Xion and Axel was developed with such detail that it was easily able to compete with my favourite characters of the series... to an extent where they would be replaced.

Roxas and Xion were built up as characters and in a way, so too was Axel especially with soundtrack bringing the characters together as well as the player. Now I won't spoil anything so don't worry so to put in other words, they were more like best friends that always had each other even though there were many differences and wacky plotlines designed to terrify the best they could out of the mainstream gamers.

What I enjoyed most out of the storyline was that despite the ups and downs of the characters, it seemed like it just fitted the realistic tone of many friendships. I say some! This enabled the storyline to work efficiently whilst using the friendship as a purpose for the game. In fact, it's a purpose for much of the series. I mean it's no Bruce Wayne film filled with the every day light tones vanquished. Quite the opposite, in fact the Kingdom Hearts series does represent a theme of both light and dark. Light in the sense that it is just full of Disney characters and whatnot with high emotions delivered mostly at the beginning of each game with many of the characters buying Ice Cream but the dark aspect plays when there's the foreshadowing of the series and in my opinion, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was able to deliver that well. I just wonder how they're gonna feel playing the game! The whole series could turn out to be a fantasy of escaping the Organisation! Although it probably wouldn't be a great turn around considering all the hard work would have been for nothing.

So basically I still need to buy the full game but the movie (I'm serious in terms of the remix) was a great addition to the series. I suppose it just encourages us to buy a 3DS. In my case, that's working.

Infamous: Cole and Zeke

One of my favourite series and it's no reason why I have a soft spot for the franchise considering it was one of my first open world games (that I was able to play), is a superhero/villain series during a time where I was pretty crazy about all the characters and superpowers and of course, it has Jason Statham!

Now the friendship, every single one has it's own unique perspectives and Infamous heads down that direction where the first scenes are basically accompanied by both Cole and Zeke and it's really difficult to separate them from their daily Pizza takeaways.

A character by the name of Cole Macgrath who looks like the guy in the Assassin's Creed 3 E3 trailer, is a bike courier with no huge plans in life apart from being with remaining with his best friends, Zeke and Trish and Zeke on the other hand is the kind of guy who will talk non-stop about conspiracy theories racing around and when the latest episode of Looney Tunes is on. So the awesome type of friend.

It is much different from the 3 characters from Kingdom Hearts that I mentioned since their older lives determined how long they had been best friends possibly since the dawn of time and it's easy to see that they don't seem to talk about anyone else other than Trish. With Kingdom Hearts, it appeared that there was a reason why everyone was pretty mysterious in terms of personality and closure but with Infamous, I couldn't help but feel like it was slightly darker since they were more based on Humanity. Without the 3 of them, it's unclear where they would go. However just like Kingdom Hearts, there is one unique perspective that really makes it unique from several other franchises and even real life and that is the desperation for superpowers. Zeke is easily seen as a sidekick considering the powers Cole obtains and it's really this points that alter the events of the game. This is aside from his specs to which he could easily reflect as a deadly Solar beam.

What is the most interesting is how this this unfolds in to the later storylines and how their differences are set aside and how their friendship collides and when your a citizen with the closest thing to a superpower is being able to tilt your ears, you want to get out of the way of a Conduit. Without spoiling anything, it really seemed difficult to carry on the storyline in both ways considering the state of the plot but I can agree that it was a neat choice to make with continuing the particular story and without the choice Sucker Punch made, we would never have been able to understand how their friendship adapted. As you can see, there was more emphasis on emotion in Infamous 2.

It's no doubt that there was a distinct improvement from the original game since the sequel was able to involve the closer friendship of the characters regardless whether you've chosen Cole to save the lives of many or allow him to go on a rampage. The most significance of this though was towards the ending where there was a huge amount of foreshadowing and the friendship would soon include part of that where the choice Cole takes, really creates a big personal toll. I advise you not to watch this video unless you've completed the endings to Infamous 2 already or are a spoiler lover. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

As you can see, this was a pretty hard choice for many including myself but many did what was necessary to see the full ending scene... and of course the trophy. Overall, it really summed up the events of their friendship and was really told through both endings. There was no other character to watch over the other in either ending. It was simply best friends commenting about what they are and a huge difference from the original game endings since there was more of a lighter touch. The atmosphere of loneliness seemed to fade away a little but remained in some context especially with the good ending. SPOILERS FINISH!!!

Now the next series is somewhat linked towards Infamous considering that the 3 big developers at the time which comprised of Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog and now in particular, Insomniac Games, were pretty much in high competition. In other words, they were at war!

Ratchet and Clank: ... Ratchet and Clank

One of the biggest franchises of the time of the new millennium. The series swayed along with the Playstation 2 console in full blast as being a top exclusives series with many varieties of creativity induce in the form of planetary settings and species. Not to mention the crazy weapons capable of turning all vicious enemies in to Turkeys which is okay seeing as they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Space.

This was a level up from Spyro the Dragon with a new companion in a more dynamic variety of settings. A Lombax (which is really a canine Humanoid species that you don't want to anger) on a backwater planet known as Ratchet who dreams of travelling the vastness of Space and a robot companion from the local Robot Factory who has knowledge from beyond the stars known as XJ-0461 which is possibly only a small part of his real name but no matter. He is given the name of Clank to reduce the time of screenwriting. Once their destinies collide, it's really their lucky day to venture in the unknown which most of the time refers to arriving to the most beautiful planets full of monsters which make for perfect target practice.

Added with the humour of the series including the titles such as R&C: In to the Nether Regions, their friendship becomes more closer where they'll be the usual icon of a furball and lunch box (I'm not referring to a console of any kind) with sarcastic speeches to all their enemies to friendship hugs that seem to tug on even the strong hearted of players.

There's just one other matter or rather 2 in the way... Jak and Daxter who were pretty much competing with Ratchet and Clank through the ages even though the developers like to deny that but there's a reason why I didn't pick Jak and Daxter as one of my most favourite friendships in gaming. They're no doubt really cool and make a fun team and aim to look out for one another. Plus the story in my opinion is more interconnected rather than the Ratchet and Clank series which appears to be more standalone up until the Ratchet and Clank Future sub series. That kinda makes me regret worrying about not being able to play R&C 3 before the second installment but they were still great games especially the memories of Going Commando... It's not what you think.

However that was really the problem with both of the series. Even by the Future series, I still believed that the J&D storyline was pretty hard to top but at the same time R&C focused on it's own emotion which was emphasised between the 2 characters in it's own storyline. When looking at J&D, the series does have it's moments but it's more based on a really cool style of dark themes while still remaining creativity but many times when considering their friendship, Jak seems more focused on the mission rather than when Daxter is counting up the quantity of girls he can date so there wasn't much to bring the characters together.

Both great series in their own rights but they had specific qualities that brought a great difference between them. As we skip away in to the void of Space, we find another space faring series.

Mass Effect: Everyone!

Mass Effect is just one of the many RPGs out there which doesn't really involve many rocket propelled grenade launchers but instead the freedom of many choices throughout the galaxy which would create dire consequences later on in the series... until of course Mass Effect 3 showed up.

However aside from the rantings about the problems of the series, Mass Effect has recently been regarded as one of the top franchises out there for role playing gamers. It is certainly a journey beyond the stars with the wide variety of characters involving their powers all the way to their personalities. What is the most interesting thing is that Bioware put great effort in to making these characters feel alive in the universe they lived in who responded to particular situations depending on their attitudes and feelings at the time, each with their own unique speeches and reactions.

Like many RPGs out there, it's clear to see that there is much freedom in the game, especially when it involves Shepard's squad members and with freedom comes more opportunities... and great responsibility. Say you made a character and didn't want to really talk to a character but prefer to talk to someone else, then you can do that! Not many games give you the ability to take that option! I'm not saying every game should do that since in that case, we might as well run the series and that could limit what the original developers want to do.

What was very cool though was that you could give characters chances through a whole complicated system of choices to factor in. One day you might hate them but the next, you might see a perspective that is slightly less dark and cruel but at the same time, it was your option. You could take whoever you wanted in the field and if you didn't talk to some people, it kinda feels like indirect unfriendliness towards that character which the player is morphing themselves. In the end, the choices you made could secure your best friends safety... or result in a failure and the ultimate consequence becoming the characters which you hated. It was what made the game replayable and why I had about 50 playthroughs... at least.

Every person you could talk to would have their own unique traits so that being said, they would develop their own friendship with Commander Shepard especially concerning that Shepard could alter the conversation in many other ways. Even with minor characters, it seems like you have the choice to get along with them. If not, just avoid them if you wish or pick a renegade option to throw pie in their face or something.

So overall, I can see why people enjoyed Mass Effect 3 more than me since it seemed to tie up all these friendship patterns even if it didn't go very well. Although the issues were that many of these friendship choices became too linear and it was kinda hard to end the game when you're trying to look for a character that was forced in to a cameo role.

Now on to my final point. I understand that as gamers and as people, we will enjoy many varieties of characters and personalities and when characters merge as a friendship, they bond to become like a new entity in which they will reflect.

Assassin's Creed: Ezio and Leonardo

Aside from the fact that this is the Assassin's Creed franchise we're talking about, that's not the particular reason why I decided to include it within this list. There have been a few friendships that could have been we adapted on, such Altair and Malik which could have really been more interesting provided we got a more direct sequel and Ratonhnhake:ton and Kanen'to:kon's friendship which could have got more screentime... and Aveline's but just in Assassin's Creed 2, there was already the fascinating friendship of Ezio and Leonardo which really didn't need an extra game in my opinion.

When playing the game for the first time, I was getting exited to seeing yet another one of the many historical celebrities and I was just waiting for the point to meet the guy in order to test all his latest gadgets although we never really got to see the 15th century version of the video game console.

Upon meeting the award winning inventor, I knew from then on that a friendship would emerge even though at the time, it just seemed like a mission for picking up boxes. I din't look on any of the spoilers but even after the events at the beginning of the game that changed Ezio's life forever, it seemed like Leonardo was the first to talk to in case of an emergency even if his rocket propelled grenade launchers weren't exactly in their best condition for defense. Even though he was already a family friend, Leonardo always reminded me of a somewhat father figure. I know that's the wrong word so I'll rephrase that to someone who would watch over Ezio during the events of the game.

It's clear to see that a lot of the game is focused on a huge variety of characters which is what made Assassin's Creed 2 more unique from it's predecessor and in fact, much of the series. However, it's very prominent that Ezio and Leonardo take up a large proportion of the cutscenes and set of events all the way towards the end of the game. even though Ezio has made many close friends and allies, the truest friend goes to Leonardo who has really been at the starting point of not Ezio's biological life but his new Assassin life. His destiny and it's no wonder why they tend to travel together to visit the sights and create new devices to assassinate more enemies. You could say that Leonardo had the brains out of the two (which would explain a lot in the plural sense) and it was great to see him return yet again in the sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood with his Metal Gear reference but what was saddening was that there was no epilogue between the two characters, nor was there for that matter for many of the characters but I did learn something from their friendship. It's really what made Assassin's Creed 2 just like friendship made Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. I mean without Leonardo or if you didn't really like the 2 characters, we might not enjoy the game as much when playing it from time to time.

So what can we see from the games in the past few years? We have had more unique friendships even in a mainstream world where there are few interesting stories around, friendships both unique and significant for a game or a series continues to prevail and it's obvious that we will only see many more of these storylines.

I know that I've only talked about a few friendships and I know I've missed many like Final Fantasy VII with Cloud and Zack and Atelier Escha and Loggy and many of the other friendships around but I wanted to show this as a possible start to a new blog series especially since this is Christmas Eve and I didn't want one of mikeerik's detailed blogs to leave a raw taste during Christmas Day... nor have I played much of Final Fantasy. (Dodges arrows)

Maybe I should also write a MyIGN friendship blog too. Although if I was talking about myself, I would pretty much have to mention all my followers.

So I would probably have to talk about the best friendships within the MyIGN community... I'm not making this an easier am I?

So what's your favourite friendships in gaming?

I understand that it is Christmas Day and I will be arriving with yet another fun filled blog but if I don't see many of you tomorrow, Merry Christmas!!! I envy you if you live in a place stuffed full of snow.

So thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed.