The Legend of Zelda and the Symphony of the Goddesses

Last night, I took Logan to the Symphony of the Goddesses show put on by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. It was a Legend of Zelda-themed show that played music from a whole bunch of the games, accompanied by a cool video of game clips that corresponded to the songs. It was an absolutely fantastic show, and he was as thrilled about it as I could have hoped.

Image from zelda-symphony.com

Unfortunately, though understandably, recording and pictures of the show weren't allowed, so I can't share any of the actual performance with you, but I do want to talk about how it made me feel about games.

Watching those clips of various Zelda games (many of which I haven't played -- lose 50 nerd points) reminded me how inspiring games can be. An orchestra was playing pieces from the games, which a LOT of people went to go listen to. And many, many more people are fans of the Zelda series than just the ones who were at the show.

Why? Because Zelda (and when I say "Zelda" I'm referring to the franchise as a whole, not one specific game) is the epitome of what we love about games. It's a classic story of good vs. evil where we know good will prevail because we have as many lives as we need in order to complete the game. We are given a worthy mission -- go save the world from darkness and also rescue this super-cool princess. We're set in a world that is fun to explore and has a lot to see and discover besides just the parts that are fundamental to the plot.

In other words, we're given a clear purpose and the means to achieve that purpose -- something I think we all crave in our day-to-day lives.

Image from fatratgaming.com

Going to see the show made Logan decide to replay the series and I think I might just join him. Stay tuned for gaming updates and blogs about over-thinking the symbols and messages in games!

I'll leave you with this video about Ocarina of Time, which is hilarious: