Toriko! So I got the Last Guardian for Christmas, and man what a journey it was, I won't spoil it but I'll at least talk about some features of the game and reflecting on the themes it touches on, namely this game is centered on the friendship between this boy and a mythical Dog/Cat/Bird creature called Trico(Toriko in Japanese). But anyway, this game is quite unique compared to the other games from the same game developer, Ico and Shadow of the Colussus. I usually never cry with movies and video games but damn this game had me sobbing at the end, but it's very much worth playing through, it is one of the most emotional,engaging games I ever played.

The Last Guardian almost never came to fruition and it took 3 years of development, with another 6 years in development hel. Mmost of it actually was mostly attributed to developing Trico's AI which I have to say is incredible, it's almost life like, and Trico thinks on his own, so getting him to do something for you sometimes takes some patience and takes communication and understanding for him to get what you wanna do and you have to pay attention him, his body language, and what he does which can help you in the game. But seeing all this and the connection the boy and Trico develop I thought was awesome,and personally involved myself in it, and it effected me greatly. In any game I played I never felt so connected to a character, especially one that would make me cry, ever. But Trico was very well done by the developers, they are quirks here and there but by a large, Trico would remind many people of their pets, he's very much the closest thing I've seen in a video game of a simulated animal, one that can think and feel, and having individuality. As with Trico, working with an animal takes patience, and you have to form a bond, a connection with that animal, a mutual understand across the species and language barrier. You know each other long enough and you go from frustrating acqaintances to best friends. And I think the frustrating part to gamers is the very reason why I loved this game, making a connection with Trico was a great experience and this game quickly became among my favorites, I'm normally playing war games mostly FPS and strategy(with the exception of soccer games), but this is definitely refreshing and made me admit I'm more emotional than I thought I was.



This then made me think of the human relationship with the animal world. Like wolves(who later become dogs) have to be the greatest alliance with the animal world humanity has ever made, when humans were hunting and gathering, it took that one person who's not overly distracted with the internal politics of the tribe or survival to actually reach out and connect with this animal that's often feared and make a vital ally that would help them hunt and better their survival for the both of them, forging a bond that still continues today, a 30,000 year(minimum) friendship. And really if people actually pay attention to animals there's a lot less of a divide that some philosophical and religious theories want us to believe.

For more information on the Human-Animal connection you can refer to my previous journal here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/74013

This makes me think back in my anthropology class, on the first week, we debated, what traits are unique to humans compared to animals? We had several suggestions such as play and other things which turn out to be wrong, in reality animals have many things in common with us the difference only in degree, the only things humans really have unique to them is abstract thought and language(for example, the idea of time is unique to humans), and the ability to utilize energy(ie make fire).

They are also human traits that animals have to such as: sexual infidelity(look up crows/ravens for an example), compassion, dignity, forbearance(for offspring), gentleness, indulgence(for offspring), long suffering(for offspring), protectiveness of offspring, self-sacrifice for offspring, tenderness, toleration and yearning for freedom(in Guatemala for example the quetzal bird is typically never put in captivity due to the fact they die soon after).(Source: Appendix III, Beast by Moussaieff Masson)

Still there's a ton of information on this topic and they are several theories around it, but a lot of scientists today are finding out things that people who are familiar with animals often already know, it's just proven without a doubt now. :P

Here's an educational video on animal perception and understanding humans.