I haven't commented here in about ten thousand billion years, the perils of switching to Dreamwidths and plurks and tumblrs and such, but I do still look in fairly regularly because darn it if you don't always have such entertaining posts. The one you made recently concerning interpretations (and what does or does not qualify as a misrepresentation) was really great, and I almost commented but thought 'it's been a long time, that might be awkward!', and then you mentioned that you're playing Radiant Historia and THAT'S exciting because I personally think it's a really charming game with a lot of great features, and now THIS post and fine, darn it, I will leave a comment.
My comment is this! I completely agree with regards to that dissonance between gameplay and narrative (ludonarrative dissonance is a term I will have to remember!), and it's something I've looked at when replaying Final Fantasy games. Back in Final Fantasy VII, when you defeat a human enemy they just fade out in that red polygon haze the same way that any monster enemy would. But I think it's specifically from VIII onwards that it starts to get more ambiguous, with both human and monster units having animations consistent with falling down, collapsing, or. you know. otherwise dying.
It's not always clear exactly what that means for the humans, though! But it's definitely worth noting that in Final Fantasy X, when you defeat Guado while fleeing the Macalania Temple and such, your enemies are depicted as falling down and then fading from the field. No pyreflies are shown, which I absolutely take to mean that you are defeating these humanoids rather than outright killing them. It's not particularly hard to imagine the cast of Final Fantasy VIII killing Galbadian soldiers and such, being mercenaries and so forth, but I'd be inclined to believe leniency of the Final Fantasy IX cast as well, particularly when it comes to fighting Alexandrian soldiers and the like. But who knows! I do not remember the particulars of XIII to try and make a guess there, alas...
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My comment is this! I completely agree with regards to that dissonance between gameplay and narrative (ludonarrative dissonance is a term I will have to remember!), and it's something I've looked at when replaying Final Fantasy games. Back in Final Fantasy VII, when you defeat a human enemy they just fade out in that red polygon haze the same way that any monster enemy would. But I think it's specifically from VIII onwards that it starts to get more ambiguous, with both human and monster units having animations consistent with falling down, collapsing, or. you know. otherwise dying.
It's not always clear exactly what that means for the humans, though! But it's definitely worth noting that in Final Fantasy X, when you defeat Guado while fleeing the Macalania Temple and such, your enemies are depicted as falling down and then fading from the field. No pyreflies are shown, which I absolutely take to mean that you are defeating these humanoids rather than outright killing them. It's not particularly hard to imagine the cast of Final Fantasy VIII killing Galbadian soldiers and such, being mercenaries and so forth, but I'd be inclined to believe leniency of the Final Fantasy IX cast as well, particularly when it comes to fighting Alexandrian soldiers and the like. But who knows! I do not remember the particulars of XIII to try and make a guess there, alas...
ANYWAY, I HOPE YOU ARE WELL, THAT IS MY COMMENT.