Election Year/Dream Houses, Part Two

Yes, yes. I'm talking politics in my Star Ocean blog. I know. How dare I!

Actually, I'm not going to be promoting any real candidate in this. I'm more or less interested in discussing the mechanics of Star Ocean's politics, and, yes, Star Ocean has politics. The Last Hope brings it to light.

Here's what I understand about politics in the Star Ocean universe:

For those on Earth, there are still elections. That much is evident towards the end of the game and at the end of the game. When the Eldarians lose their home and the remaining survivors show up to Earth, rather than try to prove the innocence of the SRF and launching an investigation into the matter, the U.S.T.A. denounces that such an organization exists on the planet. In Kenny's flashback scene over the disintegration of the S.R.F., Deputy Director Shimada explains that, because an election year is coming up, he's doing what needs to be done for the short term vs. the long term, so he ultimately doesn't look bad in the eyes of the general populace. (It's something I've noted all politicians do, regardless of political associations.) Never mind that, at the time the elections are coming around, the world is still in a state of turmoil. Also, if we think elections are nasty now, could you imagine what they'd be like in a post-apocalyptic world like the setting for The Last Hope?

Knowing that there is an electoral system in place on Earth, it makes me wonder what kind of political parties have arisen out of the ashes of World War III? I won't say the Republican and Democrat parties we in the U.S. currently know would even be around by the time a third World War has ended. (Just because the parties wouldn't exist doesn't mean the U.S. would automatically become a dictatorship or monarchy. It simply suggests that ideologies and political priorities have shifted into something different. Case in point: back in the 1930s, there was the Federalist party. It no longer exists yet we still have a democratic system of voting for government offices.)

Of course, to me, it's very interesting to think about how politics can change when they never seem to in real life. :)

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Dream Houses, Part Two - Maria Traydor

I thought I'd written this before . . . went looking for it to be sure . . . and I didn't find it. It's weird to me because I know I wrote it.

Anyway, in regards to what kind of a home I think Maria Traydor would want for herself, I don't feel it would be something very . . . elaborate. Despite how I feel about her character, she, in my opinion, would be the kind of person who would want something not necessarily simple but it wouldn't be overly grand, either. In fact, I don't even think Maria would own a house but rather an apartment.

It would be a very large apartment as well, white and zen in appearance. (This would come from training with Mirage and  Cliff.) She'd be the kind of person to have bonsai plants in her home as well as a few bookshelves filled with books. Everything would have a place in her apartment, which would have a single bedroom and a single bathroom, both not too terribly large but not too terribly small, either. After living on a ship for a long time, Maria would want something that would remind her of what she considered home but a little more spacious than her private quarters on The Diplo.

I realize that this is short, but Maria does strike me as someone who'd like to keep things simple and very zen. Her apartment would have possessions - photos of the members of Quark (especially Mirage and Cliff), the books by her favorite authors on her favorite subjects, the plants that would indicate she's a somewhat patient person, and furniture - and it would be her escape from a very hectic and emotionally turbulent world.

I don't think Maria would be very big on entertaining and partying the way most people in their late teens, early twenties would be. Her home would certainly reflect that.

What do fellow fans think?