My obsession with not wanting to age had led me to grip onto my past very tightly in different aspects of my life. One of my favourite past times is gaming and has been since I can remember. Recently I began to think about games that embodied my childhood and helped me to pass away every available second I ever had. Now 12 years has passed and I decided to purchase Prince of Persia in a neat trilogy format with the hopes that revisiting the game would help me sort of… reminisce on a much simpler time. The Prince’s superb agility and the unique story lines kept me entertained for hours and I wanted to know if now, at 19 years old, whether I would feel the same thrill as I did when I was 8. Sands of Time was always my favourite with Two Thrones coming in close second so I decided to give it another shot.
Of course, the Prince didn’t welcome me with as warm a welcome as I remembered. On the contrary he seemed much more stubborn and mastering the art of controlling him was a task in which I had great difficulty. Even after I had dominated my Prince thus being able to wall run without him running up the walls and jumping backwards into an abyss of spikes, I had then forgotten the unforgiving, relentless and persistent enemies who actually ended up ‘playing me’.
Yet this article is not about the brutal blades or how knackered my R1 button has become but in fact it will take a much more bitchy turn as we explore one of the worst companions ever created by man.
PRESS START *paused*
“Shall I go on…? Then I shall continue.”
The emergence of deuteragonists has come about more than ever recently. In most games it is done without any faults such as in The Last of Us, where Ellie is everything I ever dreamed a companion to ever be. However, I can’t be completely harsh with the Prince and his lady friend, we are looking back a good few years now and the development has been astounding. Yet, I cannot forgive Ubisoft for adding in such a painful, annoying and useless character as Farah.
Her abilities are worthless. Yes, granted she has a bow (that can only weaken not even kill the enemies for christ sake) but I could count on one hand how many times she has saved me, whilst I have been playing, from near death. The majority of the time the AI is so poor that she stands there aiming her bow but not actually recognising anything to shoot. What is the point of having a companion who cannot help the main protagonist? Her bow is ultimately useless and most of the time I ended up bailing HER out of trouble. The usual Damsel in Distress phrase “help me” was prominent and is very common among most gaming. This just then eliminates the independence she is given by having a bow and puts her right back in the ‘helpless woman’ barrel that the likes of Princess Peach and Krystal, from Star Fox Adventures,are thrown into.
I always think to myself that there must be some unspoken rule somewhere that states ‘All characters must have some romantic involvement at some point during the game.’ The Prince ultimately falls in love with Farah. Why? I have no idea. If it were me I would be running in the opposite direction to that bitch however it seems there HAD to be love and that’s how it panned out. I suppose this leads up to the ending yet it is unimaginative and clichéd. It just doesn’t seem right within the story and made me switch off very quickly. One minute the Prince is discussing how he is going to get out of the mess he has created, thus giving the player their final objective, and then all of a sudden he is talking about marrying her?? I’m sorry but they hardly even knew each other and now the Prince has turned into some love sick puppy rather than the hero that he should be portrayed as. The objective subconsciously changes so that now the player is fighting to protect Farah thanks to this new found love. To me it appeared out of place within the bigger story and the game then became predictable but… I might just be heartless.
Farah is given some perks such as being skinny enough to get through tiny cracks; the Prince even remarks “You’re a skinny little thing!” .Now I don’t want to be a party pooper but this type of character design gives a very negative view to girls regarding self image. No one has to be skinny to sort of maybe help the Prince a little bit when she feels like it, as is the case with Farah. A heroine can be any shape or size or gender or race and I feel very strongly about this. Farah is very gender stereotyped and although her sari is described as being “functional” by ‘Prince of Persia wiki’ there is obviously still a certain amount of sex appeal that is being pushed for its target audience.
Farah’s main use within the story comes when she ‘sacrifices’ herself to save the Prince but because her character was so damn annoying throughout, I had no sympathy or emotional attachment towards her or the event at all. This plot device is then used to cause the Prince to become stronger and have the ability to massacre the abundance of sand monsters throughout which is, in my opinion, a ridiculous and farfetched idea that lacks any real substance.
This one ‘heroic’ act in the story does not make up for the countless wasted hours beforehand where she is incapable of helping at all. Yes, she may pull a few switches but in the grand scheme of things she is powerless to help the Prince at all. She offers no advice or help to the Prince, in fact she merely complains and argues with him thus becoming what seems like something akin to a nagging wife. Her attire is supposed to be “functional” and yet she doesn’t do anything that would constitute “manoeuvring difficult terrain”. On the contrary, she complains that she cannot complete the task and has to find a different way. Her repetitive remarks to the Prince are infuriating and as a player make you feel stupid and pressured. She is always dependant on the Prince saying “Now how do I get through” – she is portrayed as helpless and incapable of getting out of trouble which is a continuing gender stereotype amongst women in gaming even now. When she does give advice it is always vague and never points the player in the right direction OR anything close to it which can become frustrating and the majority of the time I just want to mute her and her unhelpful retorts. Farah’s bossy nature increasingly makes me want to stab her and although obviously a conscious choice during her (likelyman-made) character development, it seems a little unnecessary. The Prince does state “She orders me around as if I were her servant” which is exactly how I felt as a player.
All these rubbish and annoying traits she possesses build up until eventually I am screaming at the television that she should “Shut the fuck up you whore”.. and that’s a direct quote. The Prince is the reason I continue to play but it is irritating when his heroism is questioned and he is seen to falter under her ‘beauty’. If she had any real use within the game I would have no issue but her lack of purpose and her personality makes it hard to tolerate her. She reminds me of so many girls I went to school with and I don’t keep in touch with them for a very good reason. I’m staying Farah-way from the companions of games gone by.
leftwriteb 