Ascension - The New Advertisement on the Main Page
 

Not sure if this has been noticed already or not, but I thought I'd bring it up here... since it kind of concerns us rabid Final Fantasy fans and all, and since the link IS on the main page of this site.

You've all probably seen the new advertisements that Brian has put up on the site by now - not sure if anyone has really clicked on them at all or not, but, just for the hell of it, I do. I recently clicked on the Ascension ad to find out what it was all about.

Turns out it's a book that stays true to the typical sci-fi plot - "order" versus "chaos" and lots of revolution and death going on. Standard fun, really. Always one for a good read, I went into the Characters section for a closer look... I encourage everyone else to do the same. When you do, you'll find something, or somethings, of peculiar note about the characters. About 50% of them share a name with a Squaresoft character.

I counted about five or six Squaresoft references in the two character pages alone. Two or three I could understand, but five? Take a look: Kain not included, since that's a biblical reference (though it's supposed to be spelled "Cain"), there's, count 'em, five references: Chere, Cyan, Atma, Cecil, and Baron. It was the Cecil born in Baron that really takes the cake for me - it's such an obvious Final Fantasy IV reference that I couldn't help but balk.

Now, I'm not sure if there's enough material here for Squaresoft to file a lawsuit, and, even if there was, I'm not sure that I, were I Squaresoft, would actually sue the author. Still, I find the man pushing the borders of the Fair Use Clause that 8-bit runs itself under - the man is selling another's content for the sake of turning a profit.

That seems to me to be more than a little illegal.

Now, it's entirely possible that I'm wrong, and that all of these names are somehow linked together in a way non-Squaresoft-ish. For all I know, Cecil could be some Norse or Gaelic Knight who actually DID herald from the Kingdom of Baron. But I ran a check on google, which seems to know everything, and couldn't find a thing.

Oh, yeah - I decided to throw this into the discussion forum to see if anyone wants to defend the author, though I don't believe it's likely. Please try to be civil. ^o^

EDIT: Just realized that I quite accidentally put this in the 8-bit strip forum. Apologies.

I checked that out by chance myself, I'm always checking out possible publishers, and I noticed a few Square references (Now you know that you aren't crazy). The first one that caught my eye was in the “passages” section when it talked about a woman from the town of Truce. Truce was the name of the main town in the year 1000 from Crono Trigger (another Square game!).

So no one can use the name "Luke" because it was in Star Wars?

Well, no, but putting Luke, Leia, and Han in the same book is pushing things.

I never insinuated that anything was wrong with it. In fact, I love the references. The final fantasy games are, in my humble opinion, the defining works of art of their genre. Yes, art. They passed through the bonds of video games to address advanced issues such as suicide, teenage pregnancy, pain, love, love loss, illegitimate children, etc etc in a mature and beautiful manner. And don't get me started on the music scores. I believe that Square has made games of such high quality that they deserve to be referenced in literature the same as an epic poem or anything else (as long as it isn't plagiarism).
Rant over.

Dang
 

I can seem to see it. must be my dang pop-up killer. that thing is more useless than helpful, but my dad locks it with a password and I'm powerless without an administrator account.
Could someone post a link to it?

Sure, no problem with that, Ghost, except that Square (Square-Enix, now) is a company that created these icons, and we have to respect that. Unlike the Ancient Greeks, Square-Enix is still around, and, thus, ought to be attributed for it's creations.

I'm not saying that the author's use of these names is in itself bad - I'm saying that the fact that he's given no credit to Squaresoft anywhere on his site or, apparently, in his book is somewhat low.

But is it wrong to draw inspiration and to keep a few of the original names as a tribute? Case in point "A Prayer for Owen Meany" using Hester Prynn as a character.

I can't say I've read it... but the author ought to give Hawthorne due credit for the inspiration.