All Our ______, Gone?

[rionaleonhart]

In taking breaks from revision for the overly-weighted Literature exam that looms like a great terrifying monster in front of the summer holidays (all these lectures on postmodernism and I swear I still don't know what it means), I have started a new game of Kingdom Hearts II. Here are some thoughts on replaying the ridiculously long introduction!


KINGDOM HEARTS II: WHAT DID YOU DO TO SETZER? I don't remember the 'Setzer is a stereotypical vain dishonourable silver-haired villain' part of Final Fantasy VI! I have no idea why I didn't complain about his portrayal the first time I played the game!

(I do have a certain fondness for Hip Young Seifer and his posse, though. The Seifer of Final Fantasy VIII would probably run the Kingdom Hearts development team through if he knew how he'd been portrayed, but he is just so ridiculous that I can't dislike him. And he keeps his Final Fantasy VIII battle stance! Also, Young Fujin is terribly cute.

Something to ponder: in the Kingdom Hearts universe, where did Leon and Hip Young Seifer's scars come from?)


Hip Young Seifer: Why does looking at you always tick me off?
Roxas: I don't know. Maybe it's destiny?

Roxas, are you - are you flirting with Hip Young Seifer? Because I think Hip Young Seifer has made it fairly clear that he would not be interested in a relationship with you.

Actually, I'm quite interested in the relationship between Team Roxas and Team Hip Young Seifer. They insult each other and grumble about each other and fight, and yet the two groups seem to have an odd sort of friendship, or at least a potential friendship. Perhaps it's just the way Seifer keeps turning up to say HEY, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU GUYS but I just came over to say hi.

('That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers' is still one of my favourite videogame lines ever. Oh, Hip Young Seifer.)



I am so, so charmed by the friendship between Roxas, Hayner, Pence and Olette. THEY ARE SO CUTE. They share everything! They fight and Roxas is upset and then they speak before the Struggle and Roxas realises that Hayner still loves him! Hayner catches Roxas' wrist to keep him from running onto the train tracks and says 'Um, you'll get hurt' and it is so adorable and so sad and oh, Roxas and his friends and my heart.


The introduction of Kingdom Hearts II takes even longer than I remembered, and I remember it taking a really freaking long time.

It is also much, much sadder than I remembered. Oh, Roxas! Roxas and his friends, who love him and whom he loves and who were never truly a part of his life! Roxas slowly losing his mind and his identity! It is so tragic!

And then, as if that's not enough, there's the story of Axel and Roxas. ROXAS IS ALREADY LOSING ONE SET OF FRIENDS, BUT DON'T THINK SQUARE IS GOING TO STOP THERE. And then there's the little 'Nobody would miss me.' 'That's not true. I would' flashback scene, and oh. Who says Nobodies can't feel emotions?

(I could barely cope when Sora woke up and saw Donald and Goofy and started happily gambolling around with them. SORA. A GUY JUST LOST HIS FRIENDS AND HIS IDENTITY AND HIS ENTIRE LIFE TO WAKE YOU UP. I KNOW YOU DON'T KNOW THAT, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE SKIPPING HAPPILY AROUND.)


Something I didn't notice on my first playthrough: when you're running around in the white mansion room, the floor is so highly polished that everything in the room is reflected in it.

Except Roxas.

STOP BREAKING MY HEART, ROXAS.

Comments

[misskass.livejournal.com]

Ugh, ridiculously long intro is long. I love Roxas and everything, but jeez his intro is long. Though now you're making me want to play, and that's not good. D= I remember being all sad for Roxas and his friends, and especially Namine, being kept and called a witch and having to invent herself in people's minds... bneaufhafk. I don't have time to be playing this game!

Hip Young Seifer kind of annoyed me, if I recall correctly. Though it has been I while, I didn't like him a great deal at all. Old Cranky Seifer is a much better character. But Hip Young Seifer does have the charming trait of, as you mentioned, turning up just to say that he hates Team Roxas, instead of avoiding him completely. xD

[rionaleonhart]

The introduction frustrates me, because it takes for ever and very little actually happens and the cutscene-to-gameplay ratio is ridiculous even for a person who likes cutscenes, but then it's over and all I can think is 'NOOOOO, ROXAS IS GONE. Come back, Roxas! I didn't mean what I said! I want to see the twenty-seventh day in Twilight Town!'

I do prefer the Seifer of Final Fantasy VIII, but there is something quite endearing about Hip Young Seifer. HE HAD UNDENIABLE PROOF THAT HE TOTALLY OWNED US LAMERS.

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

all these lectures on postmodernism and I swear I still don't know what it means

I had to write an essay on po-mo in history. My tutor asked permission to show it to everybody else because she thought it was that good.

I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT I WAS SAYING IN THE ESSAY. I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT PO-MO IS. All I know is I hate it and it smells.

[rionaleonhart]

NOBODY KNOWS WHAT POSTMODERNISM IS. In one of the lectures towards the end of the course (English Literature 1919-Present, in which 'postmodernism', whatever it is, is apparently quite important), the lecturer said, 'So, who can actually define what postmodernism is?'

Not one student raised a hand.

(EDIT: this was actually a 'who knows what this term means?' survey, rather than a 'who will volunteer to explain it?' question, in which case the lack of response would be less surprising.)

I was rather hoping he would go on to define postmodernism, but apparently not.

Congratulations on having the tutor show it around, though! Those are some impressive bullshitting skills you have.

[thrennion.livejournal.com]

Postmodernism = Weird For The Sake Of Weird, according to Moe From The Simpsons.
On a more serious note, the Very Short Introduction on Postmodernism is incredibly good. They're very small books but incredibly useful. Published by the OUP. I bought the one on Po-Mo along with the introductions to Feminism and Poststructuralism (which I have even less of an idea about than Postmodernism) the other day, and they're REALLY GOOD. I recommend them to you heartily.

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you! I don't know whether I'll have time to track down the Very Short Introduction before my exam, but I'll bear it in mind for the next time I have no idea what my lecturers are going on about.

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

I attempted to start a new KHII game recently-ish, and then I remembered that I hate this introduction. I do not remember any of these little character details because I just go so frustrated with the tedium of the gameplay.

I think something that annoys me massively about KHII - and FF games in general, actually - is that it's just so needlessly complicated plot-wise. I don't have the attention span for all that. I loved the simplicity of the first Kingdom Hearts. It was this wonderfully old-fashioned fantasy romp! Adolescent love and betrayal! PLUS DISNEY!!!1 That was amazing to me. And then KHII seemed to make everything so VAST. I couldn't keep up with it. I don't think I ever really got a good grasp on what that game was about, even after I finished it.

Maybe I just really fail at gaming.

*ambles back to the Zelda corner*

[rionaleonhart]

The introduction is terribly tedious, but now that I've finished it I am already looking back on it with fondness. Poor, poor Roxas. I am sorry you could not simply have continued having boring adventures with your adorable friends, Roxas, but that wouldn't have been much of a game.

I think you have a good point about the second game's needlessly complicated plot. Half the reason I'm replaying it is in the hope that the game will actually make sense to me this time.

[aestivalis]

I just had a more-or-less three hour introduction sequence for Persona 4. Unlike Kingdom Hearts II, however, you... really, REALLY don't do anything. You get to make a few dialogue choices that effect nothing, you get to walk from the living room to your bedroom ~twice~, and at one point you get to do a tutorial battle which you can not lose and consists of three rounds. It was infuriating.

That said, now the game has actually started moving, perfectly enjoyable! But man, opening sequence. Man.

The twilight gang are absolutely precious, I really love them. They are all such utter sweethearts. Actually, all the twilight kids. THAT BEING SAID, YOU CAN START SEEING ~ ♥ PETE ♥ ~ NOW. Send him my adoration. Man, I need to get a new Maleficent/Pete icon, my fandom is being grossly ignored.

As for Setzer... what an absolute waste of a great character >:

[rionaleonhart]

My goodness, that opening sequence sounds dreadful. Never again shall I complain about the opening of Kingdom Hearts II. And I assume it didn't have any adorable Twilight Town kids to soften the blow, either. (They are such sweethearts! THEY BREAK TROPHIES INTO PIECES SO THEY CAN SHARE THEM. THEY FORGIVE ROXAS HIS BOUTS OF INSANITY.)

I shall give Pete a wave for you!

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

"all these lectures on postmodernism and I swear I still don't know what it means"

Ugh, postmodernism. Give me books with an actual plot any day of the week! Postmodernism with its stream of consciousness and characters who sit around thinking and talking about stuff can go away a lot.

"Perhaps it's just the way Seifer keeps turning up to say HEY, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU GUYS but I just came over to say hi."

Y'mean like he does with Squall? And then goes on about destiny and stuff? I think that might just be Seifer's way of flirting with people.

Also, I have beaten the Elite Four and Gary in Pokemon Red! I feel very accomplished.

[rionaleonhart]

I thought the stream of consciousness was just modernism, rather than postmodernism. OH, I DON'T KNOW. I hate whatever git decided to name the movements 'modernism' and 'postmodernism'. FIRSTLY: THEY ARE STUPID NAMES, BECAUSE THE AGE IN WHICH THESE MOVEMENTS TOOK PLACE IS NOT ALWAYS GOING TO BE THE MODERN AGE. ALSO, YOU'VE BASICALLY LOCKED YOURSELF INTO CALLING ALL FUTURE MOVEMENTS 'POSTPOSTMODERNISM' AND 'POSTPOSTPOSTMODERNISM'. SECONDLY: THE NAMES ARE SO SIMILAR THAT I GET THEM CONFUSED ALL THE TIME.

Y'mean like he does with Squall? And then goes on about destiny and stuff? I think that might just be Seifer's way of flirting with people.

Ahahaha, quite possibly! (I may actually have found myself 'shipping Seifer/Hayner a little, with their weird 'I VIOLENTLY DISLIKE YOU, LET'S HANG OUT' dynamic. There is a part of me that wants to write it. That's another to add to the list of Things I Really Shouldn't Be Doing Until My Exams Are Over.)

Congratulations! You are now a Pokémon master! (It always annoyed me that nobody but Professor Oak ever congratulated you on it. You'd think your mum would mention it, at least.)

[hold-onhope.livejournal.com]

Roxas. I spent about an hour of the introduction going 'WHEN WILL THIS END?! I want Sora!' and then, predictably, by the time Sora was back I wanted more of Roxas.

I never finished KH2 - I got to that part near the end where they're, I dunno, flying around in something and trying to destroy an even bigger flying something? I am not very helpful, sorry. But the point is I couldn't beat it, and so I decided to give it a rest for a while and now I've forgotten what was even going on. Must be time to start a new game, then! And er, finish it this time. (Somehow I've managed to stay spoiler-free regarding the end of the game, yay!)

[rionaleonhart]

I ENCOURAGE REPLAYING KINGDOM HEARTS II. And you should post about it as you do so! Just bear Roxas' eventual fate in mind when you are playing through the introduction, and then you will be far too busy crying to be bored.

[timydamonkey.livejournal.com]

I've never played the Kingdom Hearts games, and this is primarily for 2 reasons:

1. I have yet to find a Disney character who I actually like and doesn't make me want to run away.

2. I've heard some bizarre things about the non-Disney characters characterisation. (Also, Squall's name is Squall! Don't tell me otherwise.)

Somehow despite all of this I'm pretty sure I've read a few fics featuring Axel and Roxas (though not Sora, for some odd reason).

Now I kind of just want to play the beginning...

On the other hand, you should try playing Rogue Galaxy and you'll probably feel better with Kingdom Hearts 2. It's especially irksome when you want to save.

"Ah, a save point, I'll just go and get that-"
A cutscene ensues. It lasts for TEN MINUTES.
"...okay, but now I can save-"
After taking another step forward, another cutscene ensues that leads to a cutscene chain that lasts a ridiculous amount of time.
"I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SLEEPING HALF AN HOUR AGO!"

I swear...

[rionaleonhart]

YOU SHOULD PLAY THE KINGDOM HEARTS GAMES. They do indeed do some strange things to the non-Disney characters' characterisation, but they are so charming and lovely and fun!

Apart from the opening of the second game, which, as you may have gathered from this entry, is charming and lovely and heartbreaking (and also really tedious. BUT MOSTLY HEARTBREAKING).

Seriously, the Kingdom Hearts games are a joy to play, and I'd definitely recommend that you at least give them a go. (This, of course, is when I start nudging you towards Amazon. You can buy the first game used for seven pounds!)

[mad-lemming-89.livejournal.com]

Omg, the opening! I restarted KH2 in the Easter holidays and forgot how long the intro was! 5 hours! 5 bloody hours!!! And yet, despite how annoyed I was getting with it by the end, I still wanted to cry when Roxas finally stopped existing. T^T

I think the annoying thing about KH2 is that they just assume that everyone's bought a Gameboy Advance and has played Chain of Memories to understand who the hell Namine and Organisation XIII are and how Sora, Donald and Goofy came to be where they start. Luckily I've played it so I kinda knew what was going on, -ish, but my little brother was totally lost.

Also, I don't know if you've gotten to the end yet, but Axel and Roxas' final scene together BREAKS MY HEART. I cry at it, every time! WHY MUST YOU BE SO HEARTBREAKING, ROXAS???

[rionaleonhart]

And yet, despite how annoyed I was getting with it by the end, I still wanted to cry when Roxas finally stopped existing.

Yes! I was becoming immensely frustrated, thinking 'all right, surely it can't have been this long', and then I found myself outside Sora's room and I just did not want to make Roxas go through that door.

Oh, Chain of Memories. I did play that game, but all I really remember is that Larxene was pretty awesome and it confused me a lot, so I'm not entirely certain of how helpful it was when I was playing Kingdom Hearts II.

I have finished Kingdom Hearts II, but I cannot actually remember Axel and Roxas' final scene, so that's more heartbreak to look forward to.

[kadrin.livejournal.com]

Who says Nobodies can't feel emotions?

Yen Sid. And he gives no evidence or cites to support his claim. My paranoid conspiracy theory is that he just wanted them dead (for reasons of "working with master on evil plan, trying to destroy just about everything", which are pretty good reasons) and decided to indulge in a little Dehumanise Our Opponents in order to get the tiny ball of spiky-haired optimism to co-operate.

Seriously, emotions are subjective. If the Nobodies think they feel emotion they probably do.

[rionaleonhart]

I really hate the fact that you have to kill them. I just can't believe that they don't have emotions! LOOK AT ROXAS. OR AXEL. OR NAMINÉ. Oh, Sora, why are you so ready to believe Yen Sid's lies?

I also hated myself a bit just for playing through the introduction, when everything I did made things a little bit worse for Roxas and I knew exactly where it was going. Kingdom Hearts, you are supposed to be a happy game! You are not supposed to fill me with self-loathing!

(I recently saw someone commenting on the fact that the Nobody graveyard room is called 'Proof of Existence' because Nobodies don't leave bodies behind when they die; the panels in that room are the only evidence that they ever were. I found this most upsetting.)

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Everything I know about Kingdom Hearts, I learned from your journal. I keep picturing Roxas as a tiny and anime version of Richard Hammond (er, tinier and more anime). Which just makes this whole thing incredibly sad.

[rionaleonhart]

Here is a picture of poor little Roxas for you. He does not look entirely unlike a tinier and more anime version of Richard Hammond.

(His story is so sad! So sad!)

[bouncywild.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm quite interested in the relationship between Team Roxas and Team Hip Young Seifer.

I read "TEAM ROCKET" and now we're back to where we always end up: POKEMON.

[rionaleonhart]

I would love to see how Team Rocket and Team Hip Young Seifer would get along. That would be amazing. What if Team Rocket got to Seifer in Final Fantasy VIII before Edea did? HURRY, SQUALL AND COMPANY: YOU HAVE TO SAVE THE POKÉMON.

[bouncywild.livejournal.com]

Something I didn't notice on my first playthrough: when you're running around in the white mansion room, the floor is so highly polished that everything in the room is reflected in it.

Except Roxas.

I DON'T REMEMBER THAT AND NOW IT'LL BE THE FIRST THING I NOTICE AND I'LL BLOODY WELL CRY MORE NOW. CURSES!

[saaski-moql.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's just the way Seifer keeps turning up to say HEY, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU GUYS but I just came over to say hi.

That sort of needs to be icon-d.

[rionaleonhart]

I would sort of love to see Seifer's gittish-yet-adorable neediness in icon form.

[trollopfop.livejournal.com]

KH!Setzer annoyed the hell out of me. That's... NOT SETZER. Hip Young Seifer is so cute, though! I want to scritch him.

One of these days, I'll have to write an epic KH/Whoniverse crossover. BECAUSE JACK HARKNESS IS TOTALLY A NOBODY. HE JUST REFUSED TO JOIN THE CREEPY CLUB THAT WAS ORGANIZATION XIII BECAUSE DIDN'T HE GO THROUGH THIS WITH THE TIME AGENCY ALREADY? ALSO, THE DRESS CODE SUCKS.

THIS MAKES ALL THE SENSE.

That, and GUMMITARDIS. It would be glorious.

I am so epically sad for Roxas, though. Poor Roxas. He can hang out with John Smith wherever alternate versions of people go after they give up their existences so the Destined Heroes can return to kick ass. Fuck you, heroes. I liked your alternates better.

(I firmly believe that Nobodies can have emotions. They just don't come as easily. People can argue all they like about how Roxas and Namine are special because of how they were created, but no one can explain Axel. Who is totally the Nobody of Reno from FF7, just like Demyx is the Nobody of Agent J from Elite Beat Agents, and you cannot convince me otherwise.)

[rionaleonhart]

My goodness, Jack Harkness is a Nobody. I am now envisioning a branch of Torchwood consisting of Jack, Roxas, Demyx and Axel. It is a good mental image.

(Your icon, by the way, is amazing.)

I firmly believe that Nobodies can have emotions.

YES. I become distressed when people say 'oh, it's just a ruse'. FIRSTLY: DON'T LISTEN TO YEN SID. HE STARES AND HE SMIRKS AT INAPPROPRIATE MOMENTS AND HE IS OBVIOUSLY EVIL. Secondly: after Roxas says 'nobody would miss me', Axel says 'that's not true, I would' when he is already out of earshot! Even had Roxas heard him, they are both Nobodies! What purpose would an emotional façade serve in such a situation?

IN CONCLUSION, YEN SID IS A LIAR AND A GIT.