Video games have existed for over thirty years, and despite their ability to thrive alongside other forms of entertainment, they're often lambasted in the media. It's rare that a positive story is told about video games, because unscrupulous politicians and lawmakers like to have easy scapegoats in case one of their plans goes awry. Why are video games such an easy target? Because they are still misunderstood by the majority of the general population.

I'm not going to claim that video games are the cure-all for our world's problems, or that they're a strictly positive medium, but I would like to share a way in which one particular title helped me through a difficult time. The item of discussion is a virtual odyssey that helped me realize that I wasn't alone with the particular struggles I was facing. Some of you may be surprised at what this title is, since it was produced by relatively new company, and was most famous for its load times and random battles. This experience that captivated me like no other game of this console generation is none other than Lost Odyssey.

Some of you may have heard of this title that was produced by the creator of Final Fantasy I through X: Hironobu Sakaguchi. Shortly after Square and Enix merged following the disastrous Final Fantasy movie, Sakaguchi-san was pressured to leave the company. The exact reasons for his departure aren't entirely clear, but that's not what matters. What's most important is that Sakaguchi-san didn't let this tragic end to his occupation get to him. Instead, he developed a company called Mistwalker that would go on to produce two Xbox 360 titles.

One of these was stylized after Dragon Quest, but unfortunately, it didn't meet with much success. Despite featuring Akira Toriyama (the main artist of Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball Z) and Nobuo Uematsu (the composer of Final Fantasy 1 through 10), Blue Dragon met with little fanfare on the system that was known primarily for its First-Person Shooters

Even though Blue Dragon didn't perform well at retail, Sakaguchi-san pressed on. He continued work on a title called Lost Odyssey, that many regard as the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy X. After having played Lost Odyssey, it was obvious that it was influenced by his previous works to some degree--but calling it a Final Fantasy imitator is like calling a Twinkie a one hundred dollar cake--they're simply incomparable.

I'm not trying to say that Final Fantasy is bad--I'm actually a big fan of the series, but Lost Odyssey took Role Playing Games in an entirely new direction (at least when it comes to storytelling). Many gamers would argue that most current generation RPGs are a far cry from being mature titles, and I can't say that I disagree. The majority of current-gen RPGs seem to focus on minor gameplay gimmicks or action-packed battle systems, as opposed to the amazing artwork, music, and stories that RPGs used to be known for. It really is a shame that relatively few developers of RPGs have carried on the legacy of games like Final Fantasy X, but Mistwalker can safely count itself in that camp.

Despite featuring random battles and noticeable load times, Mistwalker's Lost Odyssey is the best time I've had with a video game this console generation. I hate random battles as much as the next guy, but they were relatively infrequent, and the solid combat system more than made up for this oversight. However, it wasn't the strategic battles that had my hands glued to my 360 controller--it was the moving storyline, the epic scope of the journey, the relatable characters, and the beautiful music.

Perhaps there are a few stories that I've enjoyed more, but rarely have I been so moved by a video game. I was instantly able to relate to the immortal main character known as Kaim, who wandered the Earth in search of his purpose.

Like me, Kaim is a fairly quiet man who is constantly trapped in thought. More often than not, he relives his past through memories, but he also ponders his future. Kaim cares about others, but he's also always questioning his own existence. He often wonders what his purpose is, and why he was tasked with walking the Earth for eternity.

When I was younger, I would have wondered what Kaim had to complain about. I can imagine my younger self thinking, "Come on dude, you're immortal! You get to live forever. You can do anything! I'll gladly take that "burden" off of your hands." Through playing Lost Odyssey, I discovered that being immortal is not only a blessing--it's a curse.

Throughout history, humans have always searched for ways to beat their mortality. In one of humanity's oldest texts, the mythical Mesopotamian king, Gilgamesh, grapples with his mortal nature. He has the same fears that other humans do despite his powers, and doesn't want to believe that his life will eventually expire.

Likewise, ancient Chinese emperors tried to cheat death. Even though they never truly succeeded, they brought all their possessions along with them in their vast mausoleums in the hopes that they'd be able to take everything with them to the afterlife.

Death is obviously terribly tragic for people all around the world. I've witnessed people die myself, and I've seen it take a harsh toll on various families. Regardless of whether one's death is through natural causes, warfare, cancer, or gang violence, it's something that we all eventually succumb to. As a result, most of us think that being immortal would be a blessing. Lost Odyssey makes a great case for why this isn't entirely true in its thirty-two short stories penned by a professional novelist.

These thirty-two stories are beautiful expositions that play an important role in fleshing out the immortal being known as Kaim. Clearly, a sixty-hour game isn't enough to cover over a thousand years of living, so these short stories are a useful tool to describe a few of the many events Kaim witnessed during his eternal life.

Before describing what these stories meant to me, it's important to describe my circumstances as I was playing Lost Odyssey over a year ago.

When I purchased Lost Odyssey, I was a twenty-three year old who was nearing his college graduation. During college, I changed from a student who was apathetic towards school, to someone who spent most of my waking hours learning. In high school, I found it difficult to care when I was in a system that seemed more concerned with popularity and prestige than actual learning, but college was different.

In college, I made an effort to be someone. I was tired of being one of the worst students in my class. I had transferred from a fairly poor middle school to a middle to upper class high school, and as a result, I was behind many of the other students. My science background was pitiful, and I'd missed basic elements of Algebra that were necessary to truly understand advanced math.

I was also a poor writer in comparison to most other students. It was difficult being around students who got perfect scores on their SAT, so I mostly did the assigned work and didn't openly engage the material.

When I graduated from high school, I decided that I needed to change. During my first term at the University of Oregon, I approached my courses in a similar manner as I did in high school, but I didn't get very far. I was struggling with my third year Japanese course that I shouldn't have been placed in and one of my business courses along with my job at a restaurant, so  decided that I needed to find a solution. I chose to completely neglect my social life (which was in part due to my criminal roommate), and I hit the books whenever I wasn't working.

I completely neglected video games for a couple terms, and went to relatively few parties (except when they came to me at 5:00am on Tuesdays thanks to the neighbors). Instead, I focused on earning enough money to buy a car and getting the best grades possible. I had given up on my high school dream of being a game designer or journalist (partly due to my former best friend backing out), so instead, I focused on business.

To be honest, I never saw myself as a businessman, but I chose to major in business for these three reasons: pressure from other people, I saw it as my only avenue to gain power and change the world, and I wanted to prove that I could be somebody to people who doubted me.

Well, after three years of hard work, I did enormously well in all my business and economics courses. I excelled at difficult accounting and economics courses that most people couldn't stomach--but it didn't make me happy. Thoughts like: "Am I doing the right thing?" would constantly plague me, so I never felt good about myself. I was also influenced by seeing the wealth and corruption around me at academic institutions and corporations, while dealing with the opposite end of the spectrum at my jobs.

Growing up, I spent most of my time with people of low income or lower-middle class backgrounds, and this continued at work. Through jobs like being a dishwasher, cook, janitor, and painter, I met numerous people who were down on their luck. Some of these people were some of the nicest folks I'd ever met, while some were downright mean. Of course I didn't like the jerks, but I felt bad for people who had to work three crappy jobs to survive in the terrible Oregon economy.

I worked with people who were homeless, people who'd grown up in ghettos, and people who'd even been to prison. Some of those folks were far nicer than many of the students and professors I'd met in college, and I just felt a level of realness when discussing things with them that I couldn't find anywhere else. Still, it was a bit lonely since I had no outlet to discuss my academic interests or interest in video games, so I tried to find that in school.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but that didn't stop me from trying to change. My experiences at work, my younger years of being picked on, and my experiences in general courses such as 'Intro to Islam' made me want to change the world. Before this, I'd foolishly hoped that I could work my way up the corporate ladder in the business world and change many of the negative aspects of our society, but I soon realized that these efforts were futile. There definitely was value  in learning financial accounting and corporate finance, but I realized that these weren't for me. I could have gone with economics, which I particularly enjoyed, but I decided that it was time for a change.

Towards the end of my third year in my accounting major, I realized that maybe I shouldn't have given up on my childhood dream of being a game designer. I thought about taking up computer science at an in-state university to accomplish this goal, since I couldn't afford to go to a school that focused specifically on game design. While pondering my options, I had gone through a few paid internship interviews. I was recommended for certain positions by some of my accounting professors, but I had no idea what to say when interviewing with firms with strange names like Pricewaterhouse Coopers and KPMG.

These public accounting firms didn't really interest me, and I don't think I interested them, so I decided to apply for a corporate banking internship with one of the nation's leading banks. After three months of waiting, I was finally offered a position where I'd sell financial products to Chief Financial Officers, but I turned it down. It was then that I decided to go to Oregon State (home of the Beavers) and pursue a Computer Science degree. I realized that this could take three more years, but I'd never know if I was cut out for it unless I tried.

So, after a summer of painting, I moved to an apartment in Corvallis. There, I enrolled in several math, science, and general education classes that I'd need to take. I was able to take one computer science course, but I didn't really get into the program until a term later. I excelled in my math classes (a subject I used to be terrible at), due to studying the entire summer after work, but the computer science classes were difficult for me. I received high marks in my first class, but my second class seemed geared towards people who'd already been programming in Java for a few years, so I quickly fell behind and had to withdraw.

I decided to move back to my hometown and regroup. My new battle plan would be to major in subjects I'd always wanted to study. By that time, there were numerous fields that interested me, but I'd always loved History, Religious Studies, and Economics above everything else, so I decided to go with those three. Unfortunately, one year didn't give me enough time to major in all of them, so I pursued a major in History, and minored in the other two.

During my last three terms (well four, if I'm counting a short, but intense summer session), I wrote countless papers and read dozens of books, but it was generally quite enjoyable. I didn't particularly  like taking essay tests (due to my slow handwriting), but it was rare that I didn't enjoy one of the numerous history and religious texts I devoured. This wealth of information I gained during my final year of college was not only enjoyable to consume, but it served a practical purpose--it vastly improved my writing skills.

Even though reading countless history books was generally an enjoyable experience, it didn't quash my worries. I was generally still isolated (besides the occasional casual acquaintance), I was still dealing with serious health issues I'd been trying to resolve for years, and I needed to figure out my future.

As I stated earlier, I  enjoyed studying history, but I also wanted more balance in my life. I wanted to learn as much about the world as I possibly could for my personal knowledge, and to benefit humanity, but none of this would do any good if my life lacked balance.

Also, I had a goal in mind that I've not yet mentioned--I dreamed of working for EGM. For years, I'd enjoyed analyzing and discussing games in online communities, so I wanted a way to put my knowledge to good use. I knew that journalism would be a more accepted major, but I didn't have four years to burn, and I believed that my history background was equally valuable, so I'd planned on giving it a shot.

However, I didn't want this dream to collapse like my other plans, so it was rare when I was in a calm state. My numerous physical health conditions exacerbated this problem, and I was constantly in a state of pain--so much so that I could barely function anymore.

With my career uncertainties, serious health issues that numerous doctors couldn't resolve, and struggles with the past that wouldn't seem to disappear, my last two terms of college were a living hell.

Something that helped me cope during this difficult time was the game Lost Odyssey. I already briefly described this lengthy RPG, but now that I explored the basics of my twenty-three year old situation and what led up to it, I'll examine how Lost Odyssey comforted me during this time when my anxiety had reached new heights.

In 2008, Kaim's journey felt like a perfect representation of my life. His immortality was not the blessing people imagined it to be--it was a curse. Sure, it had its perks--I mean who wouldn't want to see what no one else could? But that didn't change the pain and suffering that Kaim experienced.

Kaim had to endlessly wander the Earth, watching countless people die before him--being powerless to stop it all. He had to watch the horrors of the world--the inhuman atrocities that were committed, time and time again. Occasionally, he was able to witness positive change, but he also had to see humankind tear itself apart.

This pain would never cease, because he didn't know why he was granted eternal life and what his purpose was. All around him, people would die that he'd befriend, so there was never anything permanent. The world would constantly change, and the people who inhabited it would always disappear no matter what Kaim's actions were.

Now, I haven't wandered the Earth endlessly like Kaim, but I am still searching for my purpose. While, I was playing Lost Odyssey, I was thinking of how to create the best life for myself, and what I could do for the world. Since I had a passion for video games and helping other people, I thought that it'd be in my interest to write about them for a living. But I also debated joining an organization such as the Peace Corps. or Teach For America. My final available option was to be a History professor, but reading about the terrible atrocities committed by various peoples over the past few thousand years in numerous textbooks emotionally drained me. Also, I didn't want to be the property of a university--I wanted to use my history knowledge to benefit the world.

Journeying with Kaim made me feel like I wasn't alone for once. In my day to day life, I was surrounded with people who always appeared to be confident with everything they did, so I felt alienated. I wasn't one of those people who knew what my purpose was (or how to go about achieving my goals anyway), so Kaim's struggles helped me realize that there are other intelligent people out there going through similar trials.

Kaim's search for his purpose wasn't the only thing about Lost Odyssey that I found relatable--I also appreciated his stories involving humanity's ability to change, the horrors of warfare, and the covering up of genocide. A particularly moving tale detailed Kaim's experience as a prison guard.

He had just signed on to guard a prison in a town that recently had a failed coup d'état. This juvenile prison held children who were considered the dregs of society. They were referred to as 'losers', and it was believed that these people could never change. These children were imprisoned for minor crimes such as shop lifting, and they were subjected to brutal treatment. As a result, some of these children died of starvation and illnesses.

Kaim disagreed with his hirer that these children couldn't change. He was told to leave them locked up if another revolution threatened the city, but he decided to disobey his orders and let them escape due to a fire that was ravaging the prison. In return for letting them escape death at the hands of roaring flames, he asked the children to return, so they could finish their sentence and prove to society that they could change. Towards the end of the story, you discover that these children saved portions of the populace that were trapped by a fire, and forty years later, one even started a revolution to overthrow the dictatorship. This proved Kaim's point that people really could change, even if they were "losers".

I've always believed in people's ability to change, so this story was special to me. While at one of my jobs as a janitor, I worked with someone who had gone to prison when he was younger for assault and burglary, but by the time I met him, he'd turned into a nice guy who cared about other people and raising his children. This guy who barely had enough money for himself even offered to let me borrow money when I didn't get my paycheck on time. Events like this continually remind me that change is usually possible (even if it seems unlikely).

Another one of Lost Odyssey's stories covers the brutal nature of warfare. In this tale, a storyteller personally witnesses battles between two armies, then returns home and turns these conflicts into stories of heroes and bravery.

For example, if the storyteller witnessed someone who panicked on the front lines and bolted in fear, he'd tell the village people that the cowardly soldier was a hero who fought bravely against innumerable odds. The storyteller would constantly embellish stories in part because he liked the art of telling a tale, but also because soldiers were breathing down his neck that would cut his tongue out if he uttered a "treasonous" word.

Eventually, the storyteller describes to Kaim how he learned the art of storytelling. While in a bar, he bumped into a man that he knew as a child, and remembered that his mom taught him the art of storytelling. When the storyteller spoke with the boy, the young lad mentioned that he'd joined the military in part because of his wonderful stories. He even claimed that most village boys were interested in fighting because of the storyteller's amazing tails of heroism. The storyteller then grew cold, and later asked Kaim to protect the boy in his place.

At the end of the story, he comes clean and describes to the townspeople how their children really died in battle. The gory details horrify them, and the soldiers decide to silence the man, but his moving speech changes the future direction of the country.

Once again, I could relate to this story, because I have similar opinions when it comes to warfare. Governments and various media outlets often choose to only glorify warfare, and make all military actions seem heroic, even though the life of a soldier is far from glamorous. Also, they often fail to point out that more civilians die from war than the actual combatants. That's not to say that some actions in war aren't heroic, but as any sane soldier who's seen combat can attest--killing others never feels good.

A final story that I'd like to discuss details a genocide that occurred over one hundred years before the tale was written. An archaeologist is on a journey with Kaim to discover what really occurred at this now uninhabited island. Unfortunately, not much was known about the genocide that occurred other than the fact that the archaeologist's nation had previous wiped the indigenous people off the map. Kaim later details what really occurred from his own experience on the island, and describes the haunting elegy that could still be heard there.

This story is made much more meaningful with the chanting that accompanies it. I was particularly affected by it, because it brought to mind the horrendous events that have occurred throughout history that are often covered up.  This tale made me think of the genocide of Native Americans in North and South America by the British, Americans, Spanish, and Portuguese; it also brought to mind the massacre of the Aborigines, and it made me think of the Germans and Japanese who tried to cover up the terrible atrocities they'd committed against Jews, Chinese, and Koreans in World War II.

As you can probably tell, many of these stories were sad, but there was also the occasional positive story that equally impacted me. With so many great stories involving realistic events such as small towns' suspicion of outsiders and cyclical conflicts born out of never-ending hatred, there wasn't a single moment where I wasn't impacted by this amazing title.

There are so many other aspects of Lost Odyssey that I enjoyed such as the amazing music, beautiful cinematics, stunning artwork, and involving gameplay, but I was definitely most influenced by the characters and their stories. They were made even more impactful due to the addition of realistic sound effects and the gorgeous East-Asian music that accompanied them.

Lost Odyssey's amazing writing may not have entirely changed my life, but I finally felt like there was something I could relate to. I found it hard to relate with most people in college who seemed solely concerned with drinking enormous quantities of booze and smoking endless blunts, so it was refreshing playing a game developed by people with similar viewpoints to my own. Clearly, the author of the short stories was quite compassionate about the world, and felt similarly to me regarding the stupidity of warfare and blind patriotism. It's unfortunate that this mature RPG wasn't as successful as the most recent Final Fantasy titles, because it has more than twice the heart. When I'm at the next difficult point in my life, I hope I'll once again encounter a game featuring a story with Lost Odyssey's level of depth and passion. Until then, I'll be enmeshed in Lost Odyssey's dreams.