Yk I know Quark is a trash capitalist but, at least where I am in my first watch of DS9 (Season 3, episode 3 – House of Quark) he has a LOT of really really interesting character traits and moments. And, in my person theory so far, does a lot to redeem the race that was entirely comic relief and annoyance in TNG.
Like, he’s pretty much always willing to debase himself for a deal, but he actually does have a really high sense of dignity. When he’s calling Sisko out for disrespecting the Ferengi in S2x26 The Jem’Hadar he points to the ways that Humans don’t treat the Ferengi well but he also comments that despite their cunning, and their tendency towards deceit, the Ferengi are not violent people. They don’t enslave others, they don’t fight interstellar wars, they don’t colonize. They are in fact better or potentially more moral than the other races in this context. The Ferangi may double cross you, but they won’t physically harm you.
And in House of Quark like, yeah he’s really scared about what’s going on but when he demands to see the financial records, his voice is even and serious. He really demonstrates how he is a clever and thoughtful person. AND he solves the problem by manipulating his understanding of Klingon honor to survive a battle he couldn’t win. In The Maquis he OUT LOGICS a Vulcan by using a Ferengi concept of value to advocate for peace (and sets up a pretty clear reason as to why Ferengi largely don’t get involved in wars, they don’t try to make peace “more expensive” than it needs to be).
And I think some of this has to do with the fact that Ferangi seem to have a SHOCKINGLY well developed sense of forgiveness, and Quark is no exception. In Move Along Home, he is terrified. He thinks he might have to send his friends to their deaths (once again proving his has no stomach for violence). But as soon as it turns out to be a game? No problem! All is forgiven, let’s see if we can make a deal. In The Grand Nagus Rom tries to KILL him, and he’s forgiven in a heartbeat. I guess that is what allows them to not be violent, they have their very specific codes and you can double cross people within it but that’s the nature of the beast. They don’t hold onto grudges or blame.
I’ve had these screenshots sitting in my drafts for a minute. Not sure of my intent, but at the very least it’s an interesting contrast.
The first screenshot is Mega Man Legends on the PlayStation from 1997 (1998 outside Japan), and the second is from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998). I don’t think either screenshot is from the original hardware, or at least not as the games would have appeared on CRT televisions of the time.
As contemporaries, it’s fair to compare them as action-adventure games in which a player radiates out from a central hub to explore the world and its dungeons. Mega Man had a more robust customization system for its weaponry and the dungeon designs are fairly generalized to accommodate a broad array of weapons and tools, whereas Ocarina continues the series legacy of specialized dungeons designed around specific items. Mega Man also has a more boxy aesthetic to its characters and world, while Ocarina is more naturalistic in its palette and geometry. In terms of animation, Ocarina has nothing on the expressive anime-inspired characters faces from Mega Man, perhaps the most memorable aspect of the performances in that game. The main knock against Mega Man Legends is that its camera is based on the PlayStation original controller without analog sticks, and so movement and camera control is stiff and not as pleasant as the Nintendo 64′s camera experiences (or later PlayStation games that utilized the DualShock controller).
But the strongest feeling here is unexpected joy. I rented Mega Man Legends from Blockbuster Video three times before I finally bought it. I can’t say what compelled me to initially rent it (perhaps just a spotlight in a game magazine and a general interest in Capcom’s work at the time), but as I played through it and then kept going until I explored every nook and cranny, I realized this was a game that could fulfill what was missing as someone who hadn’t owned Nintendo’s SNES and Nintendo 64 until many years later. I was just not getting these Zelda and Mario experiences that so many raved about, and so I looked for surrogates. Mega Man Legends unexpectedly filled that role and then far exceeded my expectations. It’s a game of light-hearted adventure, pirates, and robots, but also explores themes of legacy and the expectations of previous generations on those who must make lives of what was left behind. It has so many fun character moments and part of the joy is just getting to know the inhabitants of Kattelox Island as they struggle to “eke out a living on the small patches of land that remain above the sea.” It’s Waterworld, it’s robots, it’s anime. There’s so much there.
Capcom produced a sequel and a side game starring the anti-hero Tron Bonne, then dropped it for years. There was a brief attempt to pick up the cliffhanger ending from Mega Man Legends 2 with a third game, but the project died when the series director left Capcom and there’s little hope of seeing any more games in the series. The good news is that the three main games in the series are available digitally for PS Vita and PS3 through the PS Classics label on the PSN store. All worth checking out!
The Al-Bustan Ensemble played a concert at University of Notre Dame some years ago. It’s a real treat and a chance to learn more about the Arabic musical tradition.
