In which I babble over video games
Because I'm paranoid, I'll preface this with a spoiler non-warning: No plot details about KH: 358/2 Days follow, but general comment on the game's premise as well as vague discussion of Kingdom Hearts II does. If you've played the prologue of KH II, you're good.
Oh, Kingdom Hearts. How do you do this to me? You're a beautifully artistic, stylish set of games, but it's not like you're insanely deep; you have bizarrely convoluted plots that are done no favors by your attempts to frame babbling about memories and hearts and blahdiblah into a pseudo-scientific context; and, let's face it, your light side/dark side schtick is wading in the shallow end of the symbolism swimming pool.
And yet.
I still found myself getting kind of weepy during my lunch hour yesterday, when I beat Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. (Thank goodness for cubicle walls.) I didn't actually cry, but that's because I'm fairly tear-deficient when it comes to media entertainment; I have to work up to a good cry, and video game endings aren't usually long enough. Anyway. As Days is the tale of Roxas between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, and one of the three main characters is a girl who does not appear in KH II, it should surprise no one that it doesn't have a 100% happy ending. Actually, the game as a whole is fairly melancholy. I loved it like candy.
And the thing is, it makes KH II make so much more sense! I was talking to kawree about it, and she likes the whole out-of-order thing, but I don't so much. I wish I did. But frankly, I don't know why they didn't just release this one before KH II. (That's a lie. I know two reasons for it: 1) They hadn't figured out all the deets of what Roxas actually did during the year and 2) $$$. I will say that they did an impressive job of matching up the context of Days with the flashback cutscenes from KH II.)
See, the first time I tried KH II, I hadn't played Chain of Memories. As you can imagine, it was a total clusterfuck. Who the fuck was this Roxas guy? Yes, by the time I finished the prologue, I understood the Roxas-Sora connection, but I was pretty unmoved. Later on, I played KH II after playing some of CoM and reading all the info on the rest, and it went better-I understood what was going on-but I still didn't really care. See, it's one thing for a character to be confronted by a mysterious past that he doesn't remember. That's an interesting setup. But when we don't know the mysterious past, either?
Sure, I felt a smidgen of sympathy as his world crumbled around him, but it wasn't enough. First impressions count, and the one for Roxas said he was a normal kid with a funky past; it was hard for me to buy that he was all funky past. Clearly he and Axel had had this epic bromance, and it was very sad that Axel's friend didn't remember him at all, but we knew shit-all about it. We were told instead of shown, and I couldn't quite feel it-I could only sort of imagine I did. (If I wanted to get really pretentiously meta, I'd say this was on purpose to parallel the inability of a Nobody to truly feel, and only remember what it was like to feel. But it wasn't and I don't so I won't.)
Now? Shit yes, now I feel for Roxas. I don't actually care that much about Sora now, especially since Roxas got the raw deal here; he was "incomplete" this and "without a heart" that without Sora, but Sora seemed to be doing okay without him, and Roxas is the one who loses his identity. (I, uh. May produce fic to rectify this in my mind.) I actually get what his purpose in the series is, and why I should give a damn about him and his friendships. It's really interesting to me that the fandom took such a shine to Axel and Roxas and their relationship without knowing anything about what it was actually like. What, did they just invent their own stuff to fill in the gaps? (It's fandom. Of course they did.) I started playing KH II again last night, and it is sadder. It reminds me of how I felt watching the original Star Wars trilogy right after finishing the prequels, except Days is good.
This very wordy lj entry aside, I figure I'm screwed when it comes to fic, since I have no desire to read about Axel and Roxas boning each other. If anyone has gen/friendship recs, though, I'd love 'em, along with anything about Riku/and King Mickey. (Now there's another bromance I dig. Riku had a rough year, didn't he? Although he did get to be Badass McHottie von Mysteriousdude, which is not such a bad gig.)
I think my next DS game will be something more realistic, though. Like a courtroom drama about a gay prosecutor. Yeah, that's the stuff.
Oh, Kingdom Hearts. How do you do this to me? You're a beautifully artistic, stylish set of games, but it's not like you're insanely deep; you have bizarrely convoluted plots that are done no favors by your attempts to frame babbling about memories and hearts and blahdiblah into a pseudo-scientific context; and, let's face it, your light side/dark side schtick is wading in the shallow end of the symbolism swimming pool.
And yet.
I still found myself getting kind of weepy during my lunch hour yesterday, when I beat Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. (Thank goodness for cubicle walls.) I didn't actually cry, but that's because I'm fairly tear-deficient when it comes to media entertainment; I have to work up to a good cry, and video game endings aren't usually long enough. Anyway. As Days is the tale of Roxas between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, and one of the three main characters is a girl who does not appear in KH II, it should surprise no one that it doesn't have a 100% happy ending. Actually, the game as a whole is fairly melancholy. I loved it like candy.
And the thing is, it makes KH II make so much more sense! I was talking to kawree about it, and she likes the whole out-of-order thing, but I don't so much. I wish I did. But frankly, I don't know why they didn't just release this one before KH II. (That's a lie. I know two reasons for it: 1) They hadn't figured out all the deets of what Roxas actually did during the year and 2) $$$. I will say that they did an impressive job of matching up the context of Days with the flashback cutscenes from KH II.)
See, the first time I tried KH II, I hadn't played Chain of Memories. As you can imagine, it was a total clusterfuck. Who the fuck was this Roxas guy? Yes, by the time I finished the prologue, I understood the Roxas-Sora connection, but I was pretty unmoved. Later on, I played KH II after playing some of CoM and reading all the info on the rest, and it went better-I understood what was going on-but I still didn't really care. See, it's one thing for a character to be confronted by a mysterious past that he doesn't remember. That's an interesting setup. But when we don't know the mysterious past, either?
Sure, I felt a smidgen of sympathy as his world crumbled around him, but it wasn't enough. First impressions count, and the one for Roxas said he was a normal kid with a funky past; it was hard for me to buy that he was all funky past. Clearly he and Axel had had this epic bromance, and it was very sad that Axel's friend didn't remember him at all, but we knew shit-all about it. We were told instead of shown, and I couldn't quite feel it-I could only sort of imagine I did. (If I wanted to get really pretentiously meta, I'd say this was on purpose to parallel the inability of a Nobody to truly feel, and only remember what it was like to feel. But it wasn't and I don't so I won't.)
Now? Shit yes, now I feel for Roxas. I don't actually care that much about Sora now, especially since Roxas got the raw deal here; he was "incomplete" this and "without a heart" that without Sora, but Sora seemed to be doing okay without him, and Roxas is the one who loses his identity. (I, uh. May produce fic to rectify this in my mind.) I actually get what his purpose in the series is, and why I should give a damn about him and his friendships. It's really interesting to me that the fandom took such a shine to Axel and Roxas and their relationship without knowing anything about what it was actually like. What, did they just invent their own stuff to fill in the gaps? (It's fandom. Of course they did.) I started playing KH II again last night, and it is sadder. It reminds me of how I felt watching the original Star Wars trilogy right after finishing the prequels, except Days is good.
This very wordy lj entry aside, I figure I'm screwed when it comes to fic, since I have no desire to read about Axel and Roxas boning each other. If anyone has gen/friendship recs, though, I'd love 'em, along with anything about Riku/and King Mickey. (Now there's another bromance I dig. Riku had a rough year, didn't he? Although he did get to be Badass McHottie von Mysteriousdude, which is not such a bad gig.)
I think my next DS game will be something more realistic, though. Like a courtroom drama about a gay prosecutor. Yeah, that's the stuff.