Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2011-01-24 05:00 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2011-01-24 05:00 pm
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Day 357 Is, Appropriately Enough, Called 'Tears'.
So. I finished Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
I have never cried so much at a videogame before. At the beginning of that final gameplay sequence, in the World That Never Was, in the pouring rain, I had to pause and dry my face so I could see the screen properly.
That mission in Hallowe'en Town? When you're going through the town, and there are no Heartless anywhere, and it all feels a little bit wrong, and then you go into the graveyard and a gigantic demonic Heartless attacks you and halfway into the fight BAM, SURPRISE, YOU'VE BEEN FIGHTING XION THIS WHOLE TIME?
Oh my God. I nearly gasped aloud. I had to put the DS down and freak out for a moment. Rarely has a twist hit me harder.
And then there was the very-nearly-the-ending where you fight Xion and you know it's Xion, and the final sequence where you're in the air above Twilight Town and KINGDOM HEARTS I DO NOT WANT TO BEAT MY FRIEND TO DEATH WHILST PRETTY MUSIC PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND. I REALLY, REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO THAT. (Just listening to the music again is twisting my insides. Seriously, battle music is making me sob.)
And how Roxas is already forgetting who she was when she's dying in his arms, oh. ('Who are you... again? It's weird. I feel like I'm forgetting something really important' was the point at which I began to perform my impression of a waterfall.) And the fact that Axel wasn't even there when she died, and the way you see her fade out of Roxas's memories of the clock tower. And the fact that Roxas and Axel parted on such bad terms, even though Axel never stopped caring about him. And Roxas shouting that he has to find Sora, he has to get Xion back, he has to get his life back, but we've played Kingdom Hearts II and we know that it's hopeless, it'll never happen.
Does it appear to be raining where you are? It's not rain; it's just my tears.
Oh, Roxas. Roxas. He was already the most tragic character in the history of videogames from the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II alone, and now this game has made him twenty times more tragic.
When I bought 358/2 Days, I thought it was just going to be a bit of fun. I never suspected that it would be so good, or that I would become so emotionally invested, or that it would shove a Keyblade straight through my heart.
Highly, highly recommended to anyone with a DS.
I have never cried so much at a videogame before. At the beginning of that final gameplay sequence, in the World That Never Was, in the pouring rain, I had to pause and dry my face so I could see the screen properly.
That mission in Hallowe'en Town? When you're going through the town, and there are no Heartless anywhere, and it all feels a little bit wrong, and then you go into the graveyard and a gigantic demonic Heartless attacks you and halfway into the fight BAM, SURPRISE, YOU'VE BEEN FIGHTING XION THIS WHOLE TIME?
Oh my God. I nearly gasped aloud. I had to put the DS down and freak out for a moment. Rarely has a twist hit me harder.
And then there was the very-nearly-the-ending where you fight Xion and you know it's Xion, and the final sequence where you're in the air above Twilight Town and KINGDOM HEARTS I DO NOT WANT TO BEAT MY FRIEND TO DEATH WHILST PRETTY MUSIC PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND. I REALLY, REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO THAT. (Just listening to the music again is twisting my insides. Seriously, battle music is making me sob.)
And how Roxas is already forgetting who she was when she's dying in his arms, oh. ('Who are you... again? It's weird. I feel like I'm forgetting something really important' was the point at which I began to perform my impression of a waterfall.) And the fact that Axel wasn't even there when she died, and the way you see her fade out of Roxas's memories of the clock tower. And the fact that Roxas and Axel parted on such bad terms, even though Axel never stopped caring about him. And Roxas shouting that he has to find Sora, he has to get Xion back, he has to get his life back, but we've played Kingdom Hearts II and we know that it's hopeless, it'll never happen.
Does it appear to be raining where you are? It's not rain; it's just my tears.
Oh, Roxas. Roxas. He was already the most tragic character in the history of videogames from the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II alone, and now this game has made him twenty times more tragic.
When I bought 358/2 Days, I thought it was just going to be a bit of fun. I never suspected that it would be so good, or that I would become so emotionally invested, or that it would shove a Keyblade straight through my heart.
Highly, highly recommended to anyone with a DS.
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So now I can ask what you made of this crazy cutscene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGe6NjRB2Vg&feature=related
(I couldn't find the cutscene on its own in English, but it's the beginning of that video). That was the biggest WTF I ever did!
I quite liked Xion. I was sceptical at the random addition of a new member, but it does kinda tie into KH canon, and she's not exactly a Mary Sue (despite her being called one by some parts of the fandom).
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(I was quite fond of Xion as well! She didn't have a great deal of personality, but, er, I suppose that was sort of the point. (Oh, dear, Kingdom Hearts fandom. I remember that the treatment of Kairi was appalling back when I was reading Sora/Riku; is Xion similarly demonised? On one level, the way Xion faded from the memories of Roxas and Axel seemed almost like a comment on the tendency of fandoms to erase characters they don't like.))
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MAYBE THEY ARE ALL ONE PERSON WITH MPD
...I got nuthin'.
Kairi is still treated appallingly. She's generally a total bitch in fandom. (That high school fic I talked about recently didn't feature much Kairi for various reasons, but it had a really good portrayal of her - and Namine - as... not being psychotic. Though it did basically have all the girls in the school (all non-canon) as one character squealing fangirl known as the Girl Entity or something like that. Played very well for laughs. Brilliant story.)
As for Xion... some people like her, which is good! Others just seem happy that she disappeared and so don't write her into anything. Others also make her become psychotic. Some make her become a big Axel/Roxas fangirl. I think that's mostly it.
I think some people just dislike her for interrupting their Roxas/Axel time, though, so...
I typically like the girls in Kingdom Hearts though. I love that of all people to be pretty sadistic, it seems to be Larxene. Again, though, in fandom, that turns into bitchyness (well, fair dos, the game does say she has a sharp tongue) but no danger.
I was very impressed with the game too though. Birth By Sleep is also fun, and has lots of new worlds for a change.
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It really is a very good game.
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Poor Roxas. Poor Axel. Poor Xion.
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I know you've read the script, but have you seen the cutscene of Xion's disintegration yet? A LOVELY GIFT FOR YOU. THE GIFT OF TEARS.
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I'm almost tempted to do an ice cream shop fic, but I'd probably just making reality collapse around them and all turn out to be some heartbreaking illusion or something. Which kind of defeats the point of the ice cream shop.
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And by the world, I mean me, and possibly you.
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(Can you think of a plausible reason why Roxas's life and mind might fall apart a third time, leading him to discover that the happy ending with his friends was just an illusion?)
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I'm now on Day 74. WHY HAVEN'T I GONE ON A MISSION WITH LUXORD YET, GAME? AXEL IS LOVELY, AND SO IS MARLUXIA. AND XION. And Xigbar although he was a bit useless.
I WANT TO GO ON A MISSION WITH
DERREN'S NOBODYLUXORD ALREADY.no subject
Do tell me more of your gameplay adventures!
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Also I'm running out of room! I only have three empty panels for hi-potions because the rest are full of levels and magic and abilities!
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I also have a tendency to get way too attached to my Pokemon, but at least none of them die.
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I become ridiculously attached to my Pokémon, too. It's awful when your save data gets wiped or corrupted.
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HERE SAD TEARFUL RIONA, HAVE A CHEERUP.
Yes I can name all the references. Shhh.
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Regarding the cheerup: I didn't know there was going to be a musical! This is really exciting and also unlikely to make me weep a million tears. Thank you for bringing this delightful video to my attention!
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As a child, I actually rewrote the ending to Frankenstein. This is the sort of person I am.
I'm glad to be of service! Apparently it was already released somewhere, because the full version appears to be on youtube. I haven't watched it, but it is there.
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That song. THAT SONG.
Yoko Shinomura is a genius. Nobuo who? Just kidding. Love me some Uematsu.
But seriously. There is just SO MUCH captured in that song. So much fear and desperation and pain, so much chaos and peril and heartwrenching loss, and through it all, there is a current of such inevitability, the culmination of the inherent tragedy written into Xion's very cellular structure from the second she was 'born.' The song is her voice, saying "I was never meant to be. This life we shared was always going to end, one way or another. But though I cannot change my Fate, I can choose my ending. I can choose how I go, and why. And I choose friendship. I choose trust. I choose... you, Roxas."
The music is Xion's strength and acceptance of her fate, coupled with Roxas's struggle. Because Roxas's fight is not against Xion-- it is against Fate itself, which has doomed him and everything he loves from the very beginning.
And we know how that fight ends. It is inevitable. It was always inevitable-- for the both of them.
*/fangushing*
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You are right about everything, and this entire comment is lovely and so sad (particularly as I'm reading it whilst actually listening to the song). But I have to confess that I cracked up at 'I choose... you, Roxas', because I am genetically programmed to associate that phrase with Pokémon. I choose you, Roxas! Use Dark Void!
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