Gaming With God: Overcoming Our Demons

The latest RPG I have been playing through has been Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World.

I just reviewed this game over at Geeks Under Grace, so since it’s fresh I decided to write about the two main characters, Emil and Marta. They are the focus of the game, while the main characters from the original Tales Of Symphonia play side roles to help you complete the journey. Emil, though, struggles with a split personality and it’s actually pretty violent. When he is in battle, he goes into Ratatosk Mode, which is where the power of Lord Ratatosk helps Emil fight (the point of the game is to revive Ratatosk and restore balance to the world).

More Than One Emil

Emil has a hard time with this though, because not only does he forget everything that happened while he’s in this mode, his split personality is violent and rude to his friends. When he returns back to himself, he has to apologize and try to figure out what was going on and why his other “self” was acting that way. Marta, who has a huge crush on Emil, gets along just fine with Emil’s normal self but when he transforms, this “other” Emil messes up everything.79-23A78

Emil is the perfect example of, ironically, someone who is double minded. Not only does he have a split personality, but you will see his lack of decision making cause problems for the party and the adventure. He is either afraid to do something or he isn’t sure, so then the other Emil comes in at times to make the decision for him.

James 1:6-8

6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

People are often divided between God and the world, as the Apostle James states, and they can’t decide who to serve. It’s either they want to sin or do what they want to do and disobey God’s laws, or do His will, which at times isn’t what we want to do (though it always leads to the best outcome). Emil is the same; he wants to do the right thing, but he can’t decide. You then see this other Emil come in and make a decision that Emil didn’t want to make, but his hesitation caused it to happen.

Do you see yourself in a similar position as Emil? Are you not following God’s will for your life, because you want to do it your own way? You might not be sure what to do, but when you seek His face through prayer, reading the bible, and asking for wisdom from a spiritual authority in your life (pastor, elder, someone with more years as a believer than yourself), you will get the answer.

Making The Right Choice

Psalm 27:8

8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”

    And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”

God wants to help us make the right decision, not be led astray by other voices. I’m not saying you hear voices in your head (though some people do, and that’s demonic, but we can leave that for another post!), but maybe it’s a bad influence in your life or just a lack of decision. We need to be good stewards of our lives and the choices that God has given us to make, filter them through His word, and choose life over death so we can live and prosper.

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Deuteronomy 30:19

19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

Emil finally makes some choices to straighten things out with himself, but many mistakes could have been avoided along the way. Throughout your day, see what it is you need to do, and if you’re not sure what to do, pray and ask God. Don’t be afraid to ask you’re Heavenly Father for an answer; He is always available to you. Unlike Emil, we have access through Christ to Heaven. God is there for us and wants to help us overcome our obstacles and live a good life while we are here.

Samuru
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8 thoughts on “Gaming With God: Overcoming Our Demons”

  1. I haven’t played this game yet, but I needed to hear that message today. I recently recommitted my life to God, and the verse you posted from James was what I needed to hear. Thank you for writing these lovely posts 🙂

  2. Aww man, when I beat this game and saw the concept arts, there is a shot of prototype designs for Emil & Marta. I LOVE those damn concept art designs, really ticks me off they were never used, it might have made the game more….bearable.

  3. Eh, is it wrong that I liked Ratatosk Mode Emil better than regular Emil? 🙂 I liked the growth shown by each version, but I think I could sympathize with RME better. They seem to represent two extremes of dealing with a situation badly, being passive and cowardly or being aggressive and careless. I tend to be more on the latter side. I enjoyed the scenes where RME learns the power within his aggression won’t solve everything and struggles with figuring out how to fix the things his anger damaged. Also, the scene where Marta accepts RME was really touching to me. He went through a lot of change as well in the game and ended up being very different from the violent person he was in the beginning.

    1. Totally agree with what your saying! You played through the entire game Hansha?

      Yeah, I did like that part too, the character development between Marta/Emil is amazing, that to me was the highlight of the whole game, even the plot. To see him grow from some annoying kid to mature later on is great, and many lessons can be learned from it 🙂

      Thanks for enjoying the post!

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