風雨来記4
FUURAIKI 4
A SMALL BACKGROUND HISTORY ON THE GIFU PREFECTURE
The Gifu Prefecture, the seventh largest prefecture of Japan, is located right in its heart, a land that wears scars of it’s once intense past as being the centre of Japan often led it to be where decisive battles would wager for as far as history can go before the unification of the country, whereas Oda Nobunaga set his foot down and name it the Gifu Prefecture that we more or less know today.
THE WONDERS OF COMPUTER AND GEOGRAPHICAL DATA !
On this note, do you wish to know one of my favourite videogames ever ? Why is it, of course, Google Maps ! (More specifically, Street View.)
Some of you may think I’ve gone mad, as Google Maps is not exactly a videogame but some of you may immediately understand what I mean by this seemingly odd statement of mine. . . (Although, I think that a lot more people know what I mean by this, especially with things such as Geoguessr.)
When I find myself bored at my internships or my long days of class, I open Google Maps and just open street view and click on a random place around the world and just explore whatever I clicked on. I’m quite fond of using the date feature as well, to see how it once looked like before. It's a rather surreal experience and even a little frightening to me, atleast. But I think that as someone who doesn’t really enjoy going outside much, or even has the funds to travel, Street View feels like a perfect remplacement for all of my personal problems with traveling.
But there are games that capitalise on using geographical data to give you the closest feel to traveling around the world, games such as Euro Truck Simulator and this one that I personally recently fell in love with, Fuuraiki 4.
The game is rather self-explanatory, but it succeeds in doing its formula in a way that’s very heartfelt and touching to me? I could even say almost nostalgic, but to me, I’m not a very nostalgic person, I quite loathe nostalgia and I find it almost poisonous, but I guess this feeling is reminiscent of “nostalgia”.
This game is set in the Gifu Prefecture, as you’re about to go on holiday for Summer on your motorcycle with the brief meetings of some anime girls along the way to really flourish that experience in its own weird way, but holy fuck this game is beautiful, or should I say that the geographical scenery and data it uses from the Gifu Prefecture absolutely brings out everything about it, the 360° camera feels like it handpicked everything about it in it’s most unwashed, most magnificent state, it consistently plucked out the best weather and conditions for it to feel like the best holidays you’ve had- Even if you’re unable to go on holidays due to expenses, situations or work, this game feels like it’s there and really wishes to throw you in.
I unironically wish that more games could be made in the style of the Fuuraiki series but worldwide- It’d be so cool if we could get a Fuuraiki-ish game for a lot of countries around the world, especially with the hefty conditions of travelling.
But either way, every scenery of Fuuraiki 4 is so incredibly verdant and beautiful- The characters and story itself, while additional, are surprisingly satisfying and adds a lot more weight to your personal vacation in the Prefecture of Gifu.
Eitherway, the verdant horizons of this world are so incredibly beautiful, and this is one of the most wonderful detox experiences for me personally that I could play. I find it quite difficult to exactly add much more onto this game, as a lot of it is just as it seems, but I do think that there is a certain beauty and mystique in this game that people should seriously think of giving themselves a chance towards. Every shot of this game is wondrous, the clouds are almost like cotton, the sky is of a most beautiful blue, and the small villages that you walk by give such a bright aspect to the region I could have never imagined before. The soundtrack is also very relaxing and while I wouldn’t say is anything triumphant, does add a lot more onto its “vibe”, which is always good!
(though, insanely inspiring geography.. waow…)
(but really though. we really do need more games like fuuraiki but for like. every country ever i think. it’d be awesome <333333)