Dream Sequence: Nostalgic Video Games

Violet was dreaming again, but this time it wasn't of her time with her husband. Instead, this time she was a bit younger.

It was finally summer break, no more annoying exams and preparing for college! Violet always worked hard enough during the school year to apply for scholarships, so summertime was a time strictly for relaxing. Well, she did still have a job down at the local breakfast cafe to worry about, but she was otherwise free to relax and play her favorite video game: La Pucelle: Tactics.

The game had been a bit obscure, even when it was more popular. However, now that people had already moved on from the PlayStation 2, it was even more unknown than it had been before. However, Violet had bittersweet memories of it and she had always wanted to beat the game.

She had originally been bought the game by her uncle as a tenth birthday present and she had tried to beat it the next summer. However, things hadn't gone as planned and she only barely managed to scratch the surface of what the game had to offer. According to her grandmother, her grandfather had ended up playing the game while she was back home with her parents. Since the game had been left at their house, it wasn't exactly a big deal, but it had inspired her to try playing it again as both a way to enjoy an old favorite and to feel connected to her now-deceased grandfather.

Violet had even prepared for today with quite a bit of effort. She had taken some of the money she had earned from working and gone out and bought some grape soda, her favorite regional potato chips that her grandfather had always enjoyed, and some store-brand sugar cookies. As she tended to be an honor student who never caused trouble, her parents never complained about her playing video games either, so she'd have the whole day all to herself.

Completing the old video gamey feel, Violet even had an older box TV model. It still had color, but the screen wasn't that big and she had to pile a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor to lean back against just so she could be closer to the screen. Then her snacks were set up nearby on a short cooler so they'd still be within arms reach, but she'd be less liable to spill her soda on the floor. Her mother might have been lenient about having food in her room, but she'd hardly hear the end of it if she spilled it everywhere.

As the game's intro screen booted up, Violet was met with the familiar sight of a large medieval-style castle town followed by church-like stained glass windows that depicted a story. This story was one very similar to the ones told in the light novels Violet also tended to enjoy, especially later on when she grew into an adult. Some dark and evil entity would descend down into the masses and wreak havoc and destruction, but there was always a hero or heroine who would represent the gods or goddess of that world that was destined to save the day.

After the intro screen finished playing out, Violet was prompted to select her save, so she did so. By this point, she had actually already invested more than a hundred hours into the game and had easily gotten past the halfway point. Still, she had quite a bit of fondness for the characters and even had a small crush on the male protagonist of the story, Croix.

The initial party was made up of the heroine of the series, Alouette, the protagonist, Prier, and Prier's younger brother, Culotte. The trio had met in a church where Alouette had played the role of Prier and Culotte's teacher. La Pucelle was actually the name of the demon-hunting group for the holy church and they were responsible for going out and fighting [Monsters] and demons whether it be in dungeon-like environments or out in the wilds.

They, eventually, end up meeting Croix who is considered to be a freelance demon hunter, at the time, but later joins their group and the La Pucelle organization. This happens after the main trio visit a sight that Culotte notes looks just like where his and Prier's parents were buried. When a strange "lady" appears and tries to sneak attack Culotte, Croix comes in shooting his gun and exposing the bad guy for what they are.

His character had a very "hot shot" attitude and he was decked out in a trench coat, pirate-esque boots, and shades. Admittedly, his character was pretty cool, but that wasn't enough to steal Violet's attention right away. In fact, it wasn't until much later in the story that she started to get excited every time his character showed up on screen and had an active part in the story.

Most of the game was a top-down turn-based RPG and the characters weren't nearly as detailed as they were in the cut-scenes where the story was brought to life. There were even voiceovers with each of the characters being given their own personality. It really made the game something special since the characters felt a lot more real than other games where they didn't pay for voice actors.

It likely helped that Croix's attacks also just seemed cooler than some of the other characters. He was the only one with a gun in the entire lineup. Prier used a baton that she used to beat her enemies into submission while her brother, Culotte, tended to have attacks that involved things like throwing mushrooms at the enemy. Of course, the heroine, Alouette, was very much a holy maiden-type who would call down divine judgment on the [Monsters] and demons. Which, while interesting enough, still somehow didn't measure up to the badassery that was Croix.

Of course, the characters themselves weren't the only thing that Violet enjoyed about playing the game. It was also quite fun to see the different environments and discover what types of [Monsters] each would bring with it. There was even the opportunity to tame [Monsters] and use them as part of your team. You could slowly level them up and unlock new abilities for them, making it so there was always plenty of excitement to look forward to.

Sadly, as much as Violet wanted to continue to sleep and dream, she eventually ended up waking up. While she had once had all day to spend playing video games, she no longer had such luxuries. It would seem someone had made it to the second floor and the dungeon didn't seem to like it very much.