By Lahna Greene, GUG Contributor
This article was edited to Geeks Under Grace standards, and the personal opinions of this author are not necessarily that of Geeks Under Grace.
Memorable lines don’t just come from TV shows, books, and movies, but also video games. When I was in my twenties, I chewed through dozens of RPG games for their engaging stories and fun action combat styles. While some of the writing fell flat, one game sticks out in my mind.
Skies of Arcadia—a game about air pirates with heavy themes of overcoming odds and valuing friends and family above all else.
From it comes one of the most memorable lines in any game I’ve ever played: “Impossible is just a word to let people feel good about themselves when they quit.” — Vyse, (sketch above).
The sketch is of the main character, Vyse, and he’s the one who delivers that line. It’s a bit clunky and wishy washy without context, but at that particular scene, I was engrossed to an obsessive level.
Picture this: Vyse and his friends have infiltrated the impoverished area of an evil empire. A rescue mission to liberate his father’s crew before they’re executed. While hiding out in a dank inn, Marco, a bratty homeless boy, informs them of a path into the colosseum through the sewers. However, Marco initially intended to spy on Vyse and sell the info to the palace guards. Out of safety, one of Vyse’s crew members suggests killing Marco to make sure he can’t spoil their rescue mission.
Nonetheless, when Marco tells Vyse to go ahead and kill him, that only the rats would miss him, Vyse stares at him. He sees this kid for more than just a stinky pile of rags looking to make a buck. He stares straight into the kid’s potential and lets him go.
The next day, when Vyse and crew are ankle deep in sludge, with brain-sucking monsters lurking in the sewer shadows, Marco shows up and begs Vyse not to break into the colosseum. Marco then tells Vyse that foiling the execution is impossible: that the guards will kill him like they did Marco’s parents.
This scene makes you care for this messed up kid. And then Vyse delivers his line.
“Impossible is just a word to let people feel good about themselves when they quit.”
In other words, “impossible” is a cop-out. Vyse doesn’t believe in the impossible, that one line changes Marco’s life. Fifteen years later, here I am, silly me after I played the game, still thinking of this one line.
It becomes a reocurring theme. Nothing irks Vyse more than seeing people give up on their dreams. Often, he pulls people back from the precipice and reminds them what it means to truly live.
I love characters like Vyse. Though he faces incredible adversity throughout the game, he’s the glue that keeps the despair at bay for his entire crew. The one time he wavers, when a situation appears hopeless, his crew uses the strength he’s poured into them and pulls him out of his funk.
When I write characters, I love for them to have this type of drive toward their goal. Even when they fail, they eventually dust themselves off and push ahead with a new plan. If they give up, claiming their journey was impossible, the story dies. No one wants to read about a character who abandons all their hope at the story’s end.
The same can be said with life. As long as a desire is strong enough to drive us, we all need to keep moving forward. At those weak moments, we have to rely on others to pull us back up. No one can do life as well on their own. The stories that inspire me to keep on moving through the muck of life are the ones I love the most. Vyse is the kind of character who believes in himself, his friends, and even other people’s hidden potential
Perhaps I will play through Skies of Arcadia again, just to relive all the amazing moments and enviable bonds. Will it hit me the same as it did back then? Who knows.
Keep on smilin’!