Fanning the fire

My first memory got me thinking about exactly what defines my ambitions and talents.

It's distorted (like most memories are) and its a mash up between the feel of a wax coat I hated but was forced to wear whenever in fresh air. And the fact of knowing that Cartoon Network was channel 52 on cable and that's the only channel number I ever knew or watched on cable. My childhood was defined by a place I used to go to often; called Library Gardens close to where I lived, Cartoon Network was something I watched daily because I loved stories, in fact I remember copying the blurbs of video cases to paper to understand all these long words that were so important they had to be on the box. Unaware at the time they were just a small summary and mostly lists of movies the voice actors had worked on before the current.

The last massive thing to influence me creatively as a child was easily the N64's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The more I speak to people about it, the more they recall their first time playing it like they were recalling the first time they had sex. I remember being at a friend's house (this is the Zelda recollection not the sex one) and he was playing what I now know to be the dungeon inside the Deku (Elder) Tree, which happens to be the first level. I remember in vivid detail him getting from the middle of the dungeon to the end and it took ages and was engrossing to watch because it was something I'd never seen before, a 3d fantasy game that took my interest (the things I take interest in, even then, were rare and had to have a certain quality or I dismissed them. At that young age I didn't have this explanation for it, I was just labeled a picky child).

But seeing this game really made me want it, I remember having gone to I think it was Argos and they had those set ups where you can play a game right there and then, and I remember just pleading to have it bought for me. I don't remember when I first got it, but I do remember my stubborn pickyness was thought to be 'special needs' in the school I was in, and because of this I was bought a strategy guide for the game, which I found then and now incredibly insulting to my intelligence and instead of reading it I kept it for when school bored me then I'd take it out and read the parts I already knew to myself instead of reading about whatever thing I refused to be reading at the time. Reminiscing does make me amusingly aware that my stubbornness was not only fully present at that age but instead of people trying to engage with me, I was just write off as special needs. That as a standard of teaching children really irks me, even now.

But back to the point, Ocarina of Time was the first game that I played and was in awe of the story as well as the game, it was this tight package of creative visuals, amazing storytelling and great pacing. It's still my second favourite video game of all time, the first being the sequel to this game which was MUCH MUCH darker.

I can't imagine what life would be like if I wasn't exposed to these games, I mean I would obviously have an interest in story but it was a really a flicker that was fanned into a cyclone of fire by Zelda, it could have easily been extinguished. I could be someone completely different, I could probably have been brainwashed in the various religious schools I attended (my gut wretches at the thought) or I could have grown up to be what a friend regarded to be the devil's work: an estate agent. I'm glad my early childhood was like this otherwise I'd probably be a lesser opinionated prick and more of a naive fool. I prefer the former.