On Feb. 8th, I completed my third Advanced Manual speech for Toastmasters at CSUSB entitled, “The Last Guardian.” The purpose of the speech was about what is the moral of the story.
The Last Guardian is a videogame that was almost 10 years in the making, and suffered numerous delays. The game was announced in 2009 for the PlayStation 3, but it eventually released Dec. 2016 for the PlayStation 4.
When the game was released, I blogged about my experience with it and how it became my favorite game of 2016. You can check out my blog here: http://www.calmandstrong.net/apps/blog/show/44328520-the-last-guardian-a-tale-of-boy-and-beast-
I chose to do this specific speech about The Last Guardian because I found myself constantly reminiscing about the overall atmosphere of the game and how emotionally invested I was in the two characters: The Boy and Trico.
The main character is a nameless boy who wakes up in a cave with a mystical creature who looks like a cross-breed between a dog, cat and bird named Trico. The two characters must work together to flee a castle-like environment, and solve puzzles.
I played an accolades trailer video displaying the awards The Last Guardian recieved and it showed gameplay interactions between the Boy and Trico to give the audience a visual and better understanding of what the game is about.
You can check out The Last Guardian Accolades Trailer video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzQsmhp9Auw
The game is also reflective of who you are as a person. From my experience, the game played on a few of my emotions. For instance, the game put me in situations where I, as the Boy had to be caring, compassionate and patient towards Trico.
I spoke about a gameplay example that I experienced when I entered a new environment with Trico, and I thought I figured out how to solve the puzzle. I gave Trico commands to jump on a ledge and he wouldn’t budge.
After being frustrated with the beast, I decided to let him take the lead and he knew where to go. Once I climbed on Trico’s back, he jumped to another ledge that I didn’t think he could reach, and I crawled on top of his head to get a better vantage point. I saw there was a hole in the wall, which led me to a lever that opened a gate and Trico walked past me and we progressed together.
I explained there were many moments like this throughout the game that made me reflect about the type of person I am deep down inside. The game helped me realize that I’m not always right all the time, and I should be open enough to let others take the lead.
I concluded my speech by saying, “So the moral of the story is the Boy and Trico of The Last Guardian taught me the true power of loyalty, friendship and companionship.
I my opinion, I performed my speech well, but I’ve done better in the past. I think the audience got the moral of the story and understood what I was talking about.
The feedback I got was also mostly positive.
For example, the audience liked how I used the PlayStation game controller to demonstrate my frustration with Trico when he wouldn’t listen to my commands, they liked the video I showed and some never heard of The Last Guardian, but now they are interesting in playing it.
My evaluator said my speech was good, but I didn’t talk about much of the story. For example, why was the Boy and Tico in a cave together? Why do they need each other to escape this castle-like environment? Why were they forced to be together in the first place?
I purposely left out these details and did my best to tell the moral of the story of The Last Guardian without giving spoilers because the game has only been on the market for a little over two months. Once I got feedback that some of the audience were interested in playing the game. It was a good choice that I didn’t go deeper into spoiler territory.
I also really enjoyed the way the game unfolded, and I thought the pacing was about perfect, slowly giving the player a little backstory about the Boy and Trico as the game progressed. I feel those interested in playing The Last Guardian should go in open-minded and spoiler free because it is an unforgettable experience.
* SRL Networks (Skunk Radio Live) just ended their social media campaign to help advertise CalmandStrong on their social media pages and so far in just one week, I received:
• Facebook: 153 Likes,1 Love Reactions and 4 Shares: 158 • Twitter: 71 Love and 6 Retweet Reactions: 77
* Also, be on the lookout for the results about my audition for SLR Networks.
Disclaimer…
I do not own any content from the image displayed of The Last Guardian.
No Copyright Intended. All image and video content is copyright to their respective owners. All content is property of Sony Interactive Entertainment, SCE Japan Studio and developed by genDESIGN.
The Last Guardian Accolades Trailer courtesy of PlayStation from Youtube.com.
The Last Guardian - Accolades Trailer. Perf. genDesign. www.YouTube.com. PlayStation, 12 Dec. 2016. Web. 9 Feb. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzQsmhp9Auw