Hello. Today I'm doing another blog on Bastion, because that game is seriously amazing. Obviously there are gonna be a lot of spoilers, so if you're interested I highly recommended. He king it out on Playstation, PC, or iOS.

The narrative says so much about human civilization. The Caelondians came east and invaded another people's land, fought with them, and attempted to obliterate them. No side is without fault, Ven, an Ura, set the device that created the Calamity to backfire, destroying the entire continent. After the damage from the Calamity was done, Zulf still convinced his people to attack the Bastion for no reason other than hatred towards Caelondia. There's so much hatred and racism. This game speaks about what would happen if we let hate and war and greed go to far. We already have a Calamity, nuclear weapons are just as capable at destroying a people as the Calamity, and with an equal chance for worldwide destruction. It tells a story that is a vibrant colorful adventure, but shows us where our ways will lead us if we do not become better.

The ending of the game is very interesting. The Bastion was meant to be a safe haven for all the people of Caelondia, but was not finished before the Calamity, leaving it the size of a small island. However the main functions of the Bastion, were completed. In the game, an Ura you bring back to the Bastion named Zulf finds Ven's journal and learns that the Calamity was a Caelondian attempt at the destruction of the Ura. He breaks the Monument in the Bastion, and sets off to find what's left of his people. To restore the Monument and set things right the Kid has to find energy crystals called Shards. When he's about to reach the last shard, Zulf tells him that what's left of the Ura is assaulting the Bastion. The Kid beats them back, but not before they've severely damaged the Bastion. Another shard is needed to complete it. The Kid carves a path of destruction through the Ura, fighting as hard as he can to retrieve the last shard. Necessity forces him to nearly complete what the Calamity was built to do. When he finally does, there are two things left between him and his way back to the Bastion. The first, is Zulf, lying nearly dead in the snow. It's at this point in the game that you are presented with two options, you can abandon your weapon and try to save Zulf, or you can keep your weapon and leave him to die in the snow. He's betrayed you, but you know it's the right decision to save him. The second thing between you and the way back to the Bastion, is a veritable army of Ura. You slowly plod towards the skyway that will take you back, with Zulf on your shoulders. Bullets and crossbow bolts assail you from every direction from the Ura soldiers. You know you aren't gonna make it, but you keep pushing. All of a sudden they just.. Stop. They spare your and Zulf's life. With you're last strength, you ride the skyway with Zulf back to the Bastion.

With the last shard the Kid completes the Bastion. The Monument is ready. It descends down inside the Bastion and creates a staircase down to it. It has two functions, and Rucks and Zia want the Kid to decide which to do. You can use the Bastion to reverse time to before the Calamity occurred. All the death and destruction the Calamity caused, and that the Kid has done, will be undone. The only thing is, there's no way to know whether or not the Calamity will occur again. There's no way to test a machine that rewinds time for everyone. On the other hand, you can shatter the cores and shards that power the Monument, creating an immense amount of energy that makes it so that they can fly the Bastion, wherever they wanted, indefinitely. Sometimes the easy decision, is not the right one. It would be easy to choose Restoration. Easy to undo all the death and pain and absolve yourself of all blame. But to do so would be restoring a society rapt with greed, racism, and hatred. Who knows if doing so would even stop the Calamity? The right decision is Evacuation. Destroy the cores, fly the Bastion and instead of trying to erase the mistakes of your people, work to seek redemption. Work to make something out of this shattered world.

There's my narrative and moral analysis conclusion on Bastion. The week after the next, I'll write about my own ideas for a continuation of the story post-Evacuation. Bye.


- By Ashton