Ponderings and updates.
Catching up!
I saw some nifty preview videos so I decided to see what this game was about. Thankfully some people had uploaded HD quality vids of the game's story, and after watching those I gotta say I'm happy I didn't consider buying it. Not only because the game is surprisingly short (about 6 hours at most) but also because the constant QTEs would've prevented me from actually paying attention to the action and story. I know the QTEs make it look more cinematic and epic, but still that was a horrible design idea. Also, why is it that they only have a couple of regular mob battles before you face bosses? This game is practically nothing but glorious boss battles. A shame, really.
Now to the positive side of the game. The story. Yes, I know it's cliched and has narmy moments, but I generally enjoy these sorts of tragic revenge stories where the hero tries to avenge the deaths of his loved ones and overcome betrayal by his friends. Basically the story's about Asura, one of the half-god generals who protect humanity against evil monsters who want to wipe out all life. When the threat is subdued (for now), Asura's general comrades betray him, kill his wife and kidnap his daughter to fuel up a soul-sucking machine. They also kill off Asura and send him to Naraka, the world's equivalent of Hell (yes, the whole game is full of buddhist and hinduist mythology, deal with it). Asura's not willing to die, however, and he returns to earth 12,000 years later to have his revenge. He gets killed a couple of times after that but returns stronger and beats the collective asses of the other generals (who are now calling themselves gods and kill humans to fuel up their machine for a lofty goal) in a very satisfying manner.
It's a generic anime story, basically, but it's told well for the most part, delivering a mostly satisfying experience full of emotional ups and downs as it should be. Although most of the game consists of testosterone laden battles of manhood, it does have nice quieter and even funny moments (the hot spring episode is hilarious even though it's really juvenile thanks to all the boob and sake gags). One particular episode is heartwrenching when Asura witnesses the death of a special person, which is truly a player punch (and the following battle has very sad music playing in the background). It's thus somewhat weird that you'll actually end up fighting against only four of the seven bosses; a wasted opportunity if you ask me. The game's anime style is not only limited to the characters but also the format itself: the game is divided into chapters with openings and endings and to-be-continued prhases as well as sneak peeks of following episodes. It's like watching TV, really.
Despite a lot of criticism, I thought the English dub sounded quite good, the actors managing to deliver lovely and agonized performances for their respective characters. Much of the dialogue is over the top but still nice (after all, I'm probably one of the few people who tolerated the Star Wars prequel dialogue). The true ending is somewhat predictable (saw that twist coming) but it's still an annoying cliffhanger.
The boss battles themselves are for the most part fun and varied. The "shut their mouth" option is quite funny: basically you initiate the attack while the villain is ranting about his or her motives. Too bad I haven't seen any videos where the players would actually let the villains finish the taunts. It'd be nice to see how long they keep babbling until they shut up.
The two boss battles that ended up being the most memorable were the ones with Yasha (basically your worthy rival with a cool western music theme song) and Augus (your battle-hungry mentor whom you fight on the moon and whose leitmotif is actually taken from Dvorak's New World symphony!). The Augus battle in particular has such a high testosterone level that it's ridiculous in a good way. I haven't seen as over the top battles like these since Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Me gusta.
Overall, the game is a better experience when watched as a long movie than as a game; those constant QTEs would make my eyes pop out if I had to keep focusing on them while playing.
As a semi-funny sidenote, the battle between Asura and Yasha actually reminded me of a battle between Refan and Zarnagon at tGA, particularly their line exchange ASURA: "Who do you think you are?" YASHA: "God." I wish I get to RP Zarny more in the future; he has potential as a complex antagonist, and delivering such classic badass lines never ceases to be amusing.
And now a little bit about a phoenix called tGA. I've always found it somewhat interesting how every time tGA becomes quieter, it always rises up as a phoenix or at least lingers in not quite dead state... which is all the better because it allows the story to continue (and consequently for me to keep developing a few characters just to see where I'll end up taking them). ^_^
Three guys joined in a rather short span of time (one of them is actually Dragon444, a lot more mature than before... oh how the years pass, right?), and two of them started posting quite regularly, which suddenly kickstarted the 10th chapter again and even forced me to post 11th chapter so that 10 wouldn't have too many pages. Of course this also "sadly" means that I ended up RPing Razoul a lot more than I intended. Originally it was just to give him some character development with Tallonlorean's Rain character (thanks to their lovely risque romance subplot) and to kick the crap out of Edward Cullen NPC. With the appearance of two brand new characters, however, things took a turn in an interesting direction. First of all, one character made a deal with frickin' Drishnek (a lich sorcerer who is not to be messed with), which allowed us to try a little bizarre scene of eating garlic soup in Alent's dark catacombs right next to a cultivated field of bioluminescent Dread Garlic of Mind Control (yes, really!).
Fastforward a bit, and Razoul and a couple of other NPCs ended up joining forces with the two new characters, which in turn allowed me to actually tie up a somewhat loose plot point as well as introduce a bit more about the Illunii elf culture as well as hopefully expand on the Sinlarine stuff as well as demon machinations behind the scenes (and lots of red herrings, of course). I always wanted to see more of Ax's kin from the Sinlarine side, and this recent necromancer development is the perfect means to try out the whole "speaker of the dead" routine which the Sinlarine are good at. Too bad I don't dare to RP anyone else's characters that much; otherwise it would've been nice to include Ax in this little sideplot just to see her reactions to fellow Sinlarine wanderers.
I also had fun crafting a nifty ambiguous prophecy which can be interpreted in many ways. As many people know, I love trying my hand at foreshadowing, sometimes succeed better, sometimes not. Here's the prophecy in question:
When the fallen son of the Sky Home rises again,
A new daughter of the Sky Home accompanies him.
When the old shadow gains a form and a purpose,
A new shadow emerges from the light to watch over the dead.
When the blood of the cursed family is spilled,
Chaos stands triumphant at the crossroads.
Behold! This heralds the end of the Crimson Dawn!
Right now the story is actually focused on this lil' adventure subplot with Razoul as one of the main characters. This means no Ax, no Khalid, no Marcus, no Richelieu, no Leon, zip. It's kind of interesting to explore some NPCs' way of thinking, but it also means the main plot gets sidetracked because I don't want to RP others' characters except when it's absolutely necessary (as is the case with Nesa at the moment). That's also the reason why I'm unsure whether to RP Glaurung while she's in Vaetris's captivity, because I don't really want to step on Nic's toes with that one. Sometimes the safest route is to just let others' plots stay as they are until they return to RP those plot points.
I do need to talk with Nic a bit about Ax's reactions to Refan's defection, though, because hopefully the story will reach a point where Refan will return to Alent (under different circumstances, of course), and I'm thinking of making him finally confront Ax about his feelings for her. That kind of pivotal scene definitely requires some input from Nic, though, because I'm not sure how Ax would act during this creepy and somewhat tragic reunion. Thankfully there's always AIM, MSN and Facebook to deal with this issue, though: social media can be really helpful in things like this. =)
At least one of the new guys ended up in tGA thanks to my extensive promotion through tGA's TVTropes page. Yes, I know that page still needs a helluva lot of work in not only the character section but also the main page, links to other trope pages as well as the crowning moments of awesome/funny/heartwarming/tearjerker/references pages, but I have so much else to do that I hardly have time to keep the page let alone the wiki updated for now although I do my best. I've also been posting at the rpg_promo community here in LJ just in case someone gets hooked (unlikely, but we did have Charli800 join up from there before so it's worth a shot...).
Wherever the story takes us in the end, I do hope that I'll get to write more about Ronove, Refan, Ferron and the Master of the Totenkopfs although I've also had fun with the current plot which includes political schemes, elven schemers, Faerfolc curses, master thieves, Jeremiah Seneron, a Sinlarine necromancer (would be fun if Ax met her; perhaps she could be from the same tribe Ax's mother was from?), deceiving and defiling demons (from Vaetris's and Nina's hordes, respectively) and vengeful ghosts. I have already such dastardly and heartwrenching scenes in mind (which originally began as ideas for the novel I've been working on, but I'd like to test those ideas at tGA first to see how they work... that's how I originally used Refan in the RP too although his origins were quite different).
I know I've been saying this a lot of times, but I just like complex, sympathetic yet ambiguous antagonists such as Ronove so much because you have a wide variety of emotions you can work with. I also hope to bring back some of his former goofiness eventually, but that depends on what happens in the story, of course. I wouldn't mind seeing the invasion of Alent too (I actually had a nice opening post in mind already) but let's wait and see what happens.
Also, after reading a few TVTropes pages, I noticed such a lovely exchange that I really want to give it some villain eventually when a hero confronts them.
HERO: "And take your whorish wife with you to hell, you villainous scum!"
VILLAIN: "Insult my wife again, and I'll send you there to wait for us."
Seriously, that is badass and heartwarming at the same time. Even evil has loved ones, after all, like tGA characters Belial and Antigonus proved (well, I suppose they're ambiguous examples but I like to think of them as sort of antivillains or even antiheroes in a way). Speaking of which, wouldn't it be hilarious if I hooked up Adela and Antigonus. I'd have a logical in-universe reason for doing so, and that might give both of them some depth and humanize them as villains. And I really wanna write a true villainous couple (who are very much in love, not just manipulating each other for shits and giggles). Depending on Dignified Pauper's story in Alent I might actually do just that and get good ol' Antigonus involved in Razoul's group shenanigans. So many story possibilities...
Kingdom Hearts 3D trailer is neat. Before I go into detail, I'll let some fans speak on my behalf for a bit (to understand the context, remember that the trailer came out on Valentine's Day):
"No one is a virgin this Valentine's Day because Square has mindf***ed us all, and with each progressive trailer Nomura gets to the next base... WITH OUR MINDS!!!"
"Game's slogan is 'light falls into darkness, darkness becomes light', and the box art portrays a rising Riku and a falling Sora whom Mickey is desperately trying to catch."
Yep, some heavy shit will hit the fan once KH3D (Dream Drop Distance is such a funny yet awesome title) comes out. If you fear spoilers and haven't seen the trailer, read no further, because EPIC STUFF COMING UP (and some speculation).
But first, my two favourite quotes from the trailer:
SORA: (about the Keyblade) "This is the light that drives back the darkness, the key to everyone's smiles!" (cue epic music)
XEMNAS: (to Sora) "The memories and emotions you've had until now... can you really say they all originally came from you?"
The trailer is incredibly complex and interesting although I'm not sure if some of the crazy reveals are because of the dream world aspect or because serious shiz is going on. Either way, what we know now for sure is that the Organization XIII comes back although as their original selves (and with their nobodies' memories). Whether this means we'll see all of them remains to be seen, but I was very happy to see Zexion (one of my fave Org members) as older!Ienzo again. Axel's going to rescue Sora and seems to have a standoff with Maleficent. I wonder if we'll see Isa (Saix's somebody) at some point too.
The world choices are interesting indeed. First, frickin' Fantasia (and Chernabog is back, bitches). How they'll make the separate Fantasia arcs work in the game remains to be seen but it seems a nifty possibility for some musical goodness. It was neat seeing Mickey in his Sorcerer's Apprentice clothes directing magic blasts. The Hunchback of Notre Dame world makes an appearance at long last, and hopefully they won't screw too much with Frollo (even if the trailer seems to imply something of the sort). Tron: Legacy was a delightful surprise too, although I wonder how they're going to introduce the Flynns because KH2's Tron world was quite different from the films' world in that Kevin Flynn was never involved in the computer's creation. The biggest surprise, however, is definitely a world based on Mickey's The Three Musketeers. That's such an awesome tribute to Disney DTV animation, and it's lovely seeing the MickeyDonaldGoofy gang together as sword-wielding maniacs. And the Beagle Boys are there, heck yeah! And you fight a Dream Eater T-Rex during the film's memorable carriage chase! Whee!
But now we get to the biggest mindfuck of the game: Sora and Riku will be facing at least FOUR incarnations of Xehanort. Ansem SoD (KH1 villain), Xemnas (KH2 villain), Old Xehanort aka Baldinort (KH BBS villain) and Young Xehanort aka Bishienort (KH BBS secret boss), the latter probably having the biggest impact because he's shown the most in the trailer. Oh, and it appears Vanitas will show up too (perhaps because the dream aspect allows him to be resurrected?) at least in his human form and possibly as the Vivi-like gloweye person wearing the Orgy cloak (unless that's Sora's Heartless, which would be cool considering what happened in KH Coded where SHeartless played a big antagonist role). Braig will show up, too, possibly in as antagonistic role as in KH BBS (which cleverly explained why Xigbar had Nr. 2 position in Orgy despite playing a minor role in KH2). Still, Old Xehanort will apparently be leading this cadre of his other selves as pointed out by Mickey's line in the trailer.
The cool scene is when Young Xehanort appears before Sora, and a number of cloaked Orgy-like figures appear next to him. Are all of these different Xehanorts? Does the mystery group include Braig and possibly other still evil Somebodies of the Orgy members (Marluxia etc)? Then there's the scene where Mickey and Riku try to save Sora in the Orgy throne room before they're stopped by Xemnas and Ansem SoD (Xehanort's Heartless) while Baldinort watches and smirks. Fans are going to rage about this or love it because of that. I always wondered how Xemnas and Ansem SoD would interact considering their different personalities.
But the big, hidden implication? Xemnas's mindfuck speech to Sora implies that perhaps Ventus's, Roxas's, Xion's (who'll make an appearance, btw), Kairi's and whoever else's emotions have left an impression on Sora's heart. How much of Sora is actually Sora in the end? The KH BBS revelations showed that Ventus had a big part in Sora's past, and their hearts are deeply connected (which explains Roxas's look). Also, the cover shows Sora falling, and the clip in the trailer shows a glimpse of an apparently unconscious Sora sitting on the Organization throne. Do the Xehanorts plan to extract his heart, to turn him into the Heartless (or unleash Sora's Heartless to recreate the events of KH Coded which Nomura has alluded to?). Is this glowy-eyed cloaked organization guy (Vivi lookalike) seen at the end of the trailer actually the fallen Sora? Something bad must happen to him during the game, and I wonder what it'll be. "Light falls into darkness, darkness becomes light", indeed.
I look forward to seeing where this game's plot takes us. It's apparent it'll lead directly into KH3. However, I wonder how Nomura will cram the story elements into KH3. He can't just follow the CoM formula with KH2, or can he? This game already seems to have a bigger impact than CoM did on KH2, but the trailers could be misleading. Let's see what happens.
And here are some random-ish videos which I've enjoyed and a quick breakdown of 'em. Because I feel like it, baby.
Here's the Oscar winning short animated film from this year. It's such a lovely tribute to books and the effects they have on us, so I as a certified bookworm just had to share it. Watch and gasp in awe (it might be confusing at first but by the end of the twist you'll understand what it means). It'll be worth your while. =)
Vegeta's funniest moments in DBZ Abridged. I can proudly claim I hadn't watched a single episode of DBZ until I saw the abridged series, but boy did the abridged thingie really turn into an amusing show. I just like the interaction between the villains and the heroes and the downright batshit jokes which they pull out (and some top notch amateur acting). Vegeta's over the top evilness is just so funny to watch (particularly when he's been outwitted and he realizes it), and the clip above points out some of his most memorable moments. If those won't make you laugh, nothing will. "...he took the dragon ball."
Witcher 2 new opening. Yep, that's the opening for W2 Enhanced Edition, which we who bought the previous version get for free. Although I like the badassery Letho does in that detailed vid, I also can't help but think that it kinda ruins the surprise later on in the game when you realize what Letho's been up to. I would've preferred him staying in the shadows until that epic reveal moment like in vanilla version of the game, but oh well. Perhaps this badass intro will lure in new players into the Witcher's world and learn that Letho is one of the more complex antagonists out there (not gonna spoil it if you haven't played the game, but it's worth checking out).
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu opening song with nice clips from the show. I haven't seen this spinoff or the actual series it spun off of yet, but after seeing this, I might give it a try. There's just something nice about the awkward possible romance (heavy emphasis on possible) between a spunky schoolgirl and a soldier who's supposed to protect her but has no idea how to act among highschoolers because he only knows how to fight in wars. Although I usually don't like these types of pop songs, there's something about this song and its lyrics which just scream "beauty" to me. I don't know why, but if I had to explain the concept of "summer" with music, this song would sum it up pretty well because it brings back memories of summers past with friends at beaches, streets and such. Kind of nostalgic, really, and I definitely like the sweet lyrics, too. ^_^
The Wonders of Disney, a tribute to Disney's animated canon. This is a pretty cool video which is one of the best tributes to Disney's lengthy history. Even with the recent, sad news of Glen Keane (one of Disney's top animators who brought the likes of Ariel and Rapunzel to life among others), this video cheers me up. The only downside to the vid really is that there should've been a few more clips of some of the more recent Disney films (Meet the Robinsons in particular) but at least every Disney canon film is represented in the vid, so I'm fine and doozy. =)
Oh right, and the Academy Award for Best Original Score went to a fantastic score. Go, Artist! I need to watch this film in cinemas.
Still have a lot of other stuff to write about such as Legend of Korra, The Egyptian, Aquarion Evol and Arkham City among other things, but that'll have to wait for now.
Yours,
Mikko
I saw some nifty preview videos so I decided to see what this game was about. Thankfully some people had uploaded HD quality vids of the game's story, and after watching those I gotta say I'm happy I didn't consider buying it. Not only because the game is surprisingly short (about 6 hours at most) but also because the constant QTEs would've prevented me from actually paying attention to the action and story. I know the QTEs make it look more cinematic and epic, but still that was a horrible design idea. Also, why is it that they only have a couple of regular mob battles before you face bosses? This game is practically nothing but glorious boss battles. A shame, really.
Now to the positive side of the game. The story. Yes, I know it's cliched and has narmy moments, but I generally enjoy these sorts of tragic revenge stories where the hero tries to avenge the deaths of his loved ones and overcome betrayal by his friends. Basically the story's about Asura, one of the half-god generals who protect humanity against evil monsters who want to wipe out all life. When the threat is subdued (for now), Asura's general comrades betray him, kill his wife and kidnap his daughter to fuel up a soul-sucking machine. They also kill off Asura and send him to Naraka, the world's equivalent of Hell (yes, the whole game is full of buddhist and hinduist mythology, deal with it). Asura's not willing to die, however, and he returns to earth 12,000 years later to have his revenge. He gets killed a couple of times after that but returns stronger and beats the collective asses of the other generals (who are now calling themselves gods and kill humans to fuel up their machine for a lofty goal) in a very satisfying manner.
It's a generic anime story, basically, but it's told well for the most part, delivering a mostly satisfying experience full of emotional ups and downs as it should be. Although most of the game consists of testosterone laden battles of manhood, it does have nice quieter and even funny moments (the hot spring episode is hilarious even though it's really juvenile thanks to all the boob and sake gags). One particular episode is heartwrenching when Asura witnesses the death of a special person, which is truly a player punch (and the following battle has very sad music playing in the background). It's thus somewhat weird that you'll actually end up fighting against only four of the seven bosses; a wasted opportunity if you ask me. The game's anime style is not only limited to the characters but also the format itself: the game is divided into chapters with openings and endings and to-be-continued prhases as well as sneak peeks of following episodes. It's like watching TV, really.
Despite a lot of criticism, I thought the English dub sounded quite good, the actors managing to deliver lovely and agonized performances for their respective characters. Much of the dialogue is over the top but still nice (after all, I'm probably one of the few people who tolerated the Star Wars prequel dialogue). The true ending is somewhat predictable (saw that twist coming) but it's still an annoying cliffhanger.
The boss battles themselves are for the most part fun and varied. The "shut their mouth" option is quite funny: basically you initiate the attack while the villain is ranting about his or her motives. Too bad I haven't seen any videos where the players would actually let the villains finish the taunts. It'd be nice to see how long they keep babbling until they shut up.
The two boss battles that ended up being the most memorable were the ones with Yasha (basically your worthy rival with a cool western music theme song) and Augus (your battle-hungry mentor whom you fight on the moon and whose leitmotif is actually taken from Dvorak's New World symphony!). The Augus battle in particular has such a high testosterone level that it's ridiculous in a good way. I haven't seen as over the top battles like these since Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Me gusta.
Overall, the game is a better experience when watched as a long movie than as a game; those constant QTEs would make my eyes pop out if I had to keep focusing on them while playing.
As a semi-funny sidenote, the battle between Asura and Yasha actually reminded me of a battle between Refan and Zarnagon at tGA, particularly their line exchange ASURA: "Who do you think you are?" YASHA: "God." I wish I get to RP Zarny more in the future; he has potential as a complex antagonist, and delivering such classic badass lines never ceases to be amusing.
And now a little bit about a phoenix called tGA. I've always found it somewhat interesting how every time tGA becomes quieter, it always rises up as a phoenix or at least lingers in not quite dead state... which is all the better because it allows the story to continue (and consequently for me to keep developing a few characters just to see where I'll end up taking them). ^_^
Three guys joined in a rather short span of time (one of them is actually Dragon444, a lot more mature than before... oh how the years pass, right?), and two of them started posting quite regularly, which suddenly kickstarted the 10th chapter again and even forced me to post 11th chapter so that 10 wouldn't have too many pages. Of course this also "sadly" means that I ended up RPing Razoul a lot more than I intended. Originally it was just to give him some character development with Tallonlorean's Rain character (thanks to their lovely risque romance subplot) and to kick the crap out of Edward Cullen NPC. With the appearance of two brand new characters, however, things took a turn in an interesting direction. First of all, one character made a deal with frickin' Drishnek (a lich sorcerer who is not to be messed with), which allowed us to try a little bizarre scene of eating garlic soup in Alent's dark catacombs right next to a cultivated field of bioluminescent Dread Garlic of Mind Control (yes, really!).
Fastforward a bit, and Razoul and a couple of other NPCs ended up joining forces with the two new characters, which in turn allowed me to actually tie up a somewhat loose plot point as well as introduce a bit more about the Illunii elf culture as well as hopefully expand on the Sinlarine stuff as well as demon machinations behind the scenes (and lots of red herrings, of course). I always wanted to see more of Ax's kin from the Sinlarine side, and this recent necromancer development is the perfect means to try out the whole "speaker of the dead" routine which the Sinlarine are good at. Too bad I don't dare to RP anyone else's characters that much; otherwise it would've been nice to include Ax in this little sideplot just to see her reactions to fellow Sinlarine wanderers.
I also had fun crafting a nifty ambiguous prophecy which can be interpreted in many ways. As many people know, I love trying my hand at foreshadowing, sometimes succeed better, sometimes not. Here's the prophecy in question:
When the fallen son of the Sky Home rises again,
A new daughter of the Sky Home accompanies him.
When the old shadow gains a form and a purpose,
A new shadow emerges from the light to watch over the dead.
When the blood of the cursed family is spilled,
Chaos stands triumphant at the crossroads.
Behold! This heralds the end of the Crimson Dawn!
Right now the story is actually focused on this lil' adventure subplot with Razoul as one of the main characters. This means no Ax, no Khalid, no Marcus, no Richelieu, no Leon, zip. It's kind of interesting to explore some NPCs' way of thinking, but it also means the main plot gets sidetracked because I don't want to RP others' characters except when it's absolutely necessary (as is the case with Nesa at the moment). That's also the reason why I'm unsure whether to RP Glaurung while she's in Vaetris's captivity, because I don't really want to step on Nic's toes with that one. Sometimes the safest route is to just let others' plots stay as they are until they return to RP those plot points.
I do need to talk with Nic a bit about Ax's reactions to Refan's defection, though, because hopefully the story will reach a point where Refan will return to Alent (under different circumstances, of course), and I'm thinking of making him finally confront Ax about his feelings for her. That kind of pivotal scene definitely requires some input from Nic, though, because I'm not sure how Ax would act during this creepy and somewhat tragic reunion. Thankfully there's always AIM, MSN and Facebook to deal with this issue, though: social media can be really helpful in things like this. =)
At least one of the new guys ended up in tGA thanks to my extensive promotion through tGA's TVTropes page. Yes, I know that page still needs a helluva lot of work in not only the character section but also the main page, links to other trope pages as well as the crowning moments of awesome/funny/heartwarming/tearjerker/references pages, but I have so much else to do that I hardly have time to keep the page let alone the wiki updated for now although I do my best. I've also been posting at the rpg_promo community here in LJ just in case someone gets hooked (unlikely, but we did have Charli800 join up from there before so it's worth a shot...).
Wherever the story takes us in the end, I do hope that I'll get to write more about Ronove, Refan, Ferron and the Master of the Totenkopfs although I've also had fun with the current plot which includes political schemes, elven schemers, Faerfolc curses, master thieves, Jeremiah Seneron, a Sinlarine necromancer (would be fun if Ax met her; perhaps she could be from the same tribe Ax's mother was from?), deceiving and defiling demons (from Vaetris's and Nina's hordes, respectively) and vengeful ghosts. I have already such dastardly and heartwrenching scenes in mind (which originally began as ideas for the novel I've been working on, but I'd like to test those ideas at tGA first to see how they work... that's how I originally used Refan in the RP too although his origins were quite different).
I know I've been saying this a lot of times, but I just like complex, sympathetic yet ambiguous antagonists such as Ronove so much because you have a wide variety of emotions you can work with. I also hope to bring back some of his former goofiness eventually, but that depends on what happens in the story, of course. I wouldn't mind seeing the invasion of Alent too (I actually had a nice opening post in mind already) but let's wait and see what happens.
Also, after reading a few TVTropes pages, I noticed such a lovely exchange that I really want to give it some villain eventually when a hero confronts them.
HERO: "And take your whorish wife with you to hell, you villainous scum!"
VILLAIN: "Insult my wife again, and I'll send you there to wait for us."
Seriously, that is badass and heartwarming at the same time. Even evil has loved ones, after all, like tGA characters Belial and Antigonus proved (well, I suppose they're ambiguous examples but I like to think of them as sort of antivillains or even antiheroes in a way). Speaking of which, wouldn't it be hilarious if I hooked up Adela and Antigonus. I'd have a logical in-universe reason for doing so, and that might give both of them some depth and humanize them as villains. And I really wanna write a true villainous couple (who are very much in love, not just manipulating each other for shits and giggles). Depending on Dignified Pauper's story in Alent I might actually do just that and get good ol' Antigonus involved in Razoul's group shenanigans. So many story possibilities...
Kingdom Hearts 3D trailer is neat. Before I go into detail, I'll let some fans speak on my behalf for a bit (to understand the context, remember that the trailer came out on Valentine's Day):
"No one is a virgin this Valentine's Day because Square has mindf***ed us all, and with each progressive trailer Nomura gets to the next base... WITH OUR MINDS!!!"
"Game's slogan is 'light falls into darkness, darkness becomes light', and the box art portrays a rising Riku and a falling Sora whom Mickey is desperately trying to catch."
Yep, some heavy shit will hit the fan once KH3D (Dream Drop Distance is such a funny yet awesome title) comes out. If you fear spoilers and haven't seen the trailer, read no further, because EPIC STUFF COMING UP (and some speculation).
But first, my two favourite quotes from the trailer:
SORA: (about the Keyblade) "This is the light that drives back the darkness, the key to everyone's smiles!" (cue epic music)
XEMNAS: (to Sora) "The memories and emotions you've had until now... can you really say they all originally came from you?"
The trailer is incredibly complex and interesting although I'm not sure if some of the crazy reveals are because of the dream world aspect or because serious shiz is going on. Either way, what we know now for sure is that the Organization XIII comes back although as their original selves (and with their nobodies' memories). Whether this means we'll see all of them remains to be seen, but I was very happy to see Zexion (one of my fave Org members) as older!Ienzo again. Axel's going to rescue Sora and seems to have a standoff with Maleficent. I wonder if we'll see Isa (Saix's somebody) at some point too.
The world choices are interesting indeed. First, frickin' Fantasia (and Chernabog is back, bitches). How they'll make the separate Fantasia arcs work in the game remains to be seen but it seems a nifty possibility for some musical goodness. It was neat seeing Mickey in his Sorcerer's Apprentice clothes directing magic blasts. The Hunchback of Notre Dame world makes an appearance at long last, and hopefully they won't screw too much with Frollo (even if the trailer seems to imply something of the sort). Tron: Legacy was a delightful surprise too, although I wonder how they're going to introduce the Flynns because KH2's Tron world was quite different from the films' world in that Kevin Flynn was never involved in the computer's creation. The biggest surprise, however, is definitely a world based on Mickey's The Three Musketeers. That's such an awesome tribute to Disney DTV animation, and it's lovely seeing the MickeyDonaldGoofy gang together as sword-wielding maniacs. And the Beagle Boys are there, heck yeah! And you fight a Dream Eater T-Rex during the film's memorable carriage chase! Whee!
But now we get to the biggest mindfuck of the game: Sora and Riku will be facing at least FOUR incarnations of Xehanort. Ansem SoD (KH1 villain), Xemnas (KH2 villain), Old Xehanort aka Baldinort (KH BBS villain) and Young Xehanort aka Bishienort (KH BBS secret boss), the latter probably having the biggest impact because he's shown the most in the trailer. Oh, and it appears Vanitas will show up too (perhaps because the dream aspect allows him to be resurrected?) at least in his human form and possibly as the Vivi-like gloweye person wearing the Orgy cloak (unless that's Sora's Heartless, which would be cool considering what happened in KH Coded where SHeartless played a big antagonist role). Braig will show up, too, possibly in as antagonistic role as in KH BBS (which cleverly explained why Xigbar had Nr. 2 position in Orgy despite playing a minor role in KH2). Still, Old Xehanort will apparently be leading this cadre of his other selves as pointed out by Mickey's line in the trailer.
The cool scene is when Young Xehanort appears before Sora, and a number of cloaked Orgy-like figures appear next to him. Are all of these different Xehanorts? Does the mystery group include Braig and possibly other still evil Somebodies of the Orgy members (Marluxia etc)? Then there's the scene where Mickey and Riku try to save Sora in the Orgy throne room before they're stopped by Xemnas and Ansem SoD (Xehanort's Heartless) while Baldinort watches and smirks. Fans are going to rage about this or love it because of that. I always wondered how Xemnas and Ansem SoD would interact considering their different personalities.
But the big, hidden implication? Xemnas's mindfuck speech to Sora implies that perhaps Ventus's, Roxas's, Xion's (who'll make an appearance, btw), Kairi's and whoever else's emotions have left an impression on Sora's heart. How much of Sora is actually Sora in the end? The KH BBS revelations showed that Ventus had a big part in Sora's past, and their hearts are deeply connected (which explains Roxas's look). Also, the cover shows Sora falling, and the clip in the trailer shows a glimpse of an apparently unconscious Sora sitting on the Organization throne. Do the Xehanorts plan to extract his heart, to turn him into the Heartless (or unleash Sora's Heartless to recreate the events of KH Coded which Nomura has alluded to?). Is this glowy-eyed cloaked organization guy (Vivi lookalike) seen at the end of the trailer actually the fallen Sora? Something bad must happen to him during the game, and I wonder what it'll be. "Light falls into darkness, darkness becomes light", indeed.
I look forward to seeing where this game's plot takes us. It's apparent it'll lead directly into KH3. However, I wonder how Nomura will cram the story elements into KH3. He can't just follow the CoM formula with KH2, or can he? This game already seems to have a bigger impact than CoM did on KH2, but the trailers could be misleading. Let's see what happens.
And here are some random-ish videos which I've enjoyed and a quick breakdown of 'em. Because I feel like it, baby.
Here's the Oscar winning short animated film from this year. It's such a lovely tribute to books and the effects they have on us, so I as a certified bookworm just had to share it. Watch and gasp in awe (it might be confusing at first but by the end of the twist you'll understand what it means). It'll be worth your while. =)
Vegeta's funniest moments in DBZ Abridged. I can proudly claim I hadn't watched a single episode of DBZ until I saw the abridged series, but boy did the abridged thingie really turn into an amusing show. I just like the interaction between the villains and the heroes and the downright batshit jokes which they pull out (and some top notch amateur acting). Vegeta's over the top evilness is just so funny to watch (particularly when he's been outwitted and he realizes it), and the clip above points out some of his most memorable moments. If those won't make you laugh, nothing will. "...he took the dragon ball."
Witcher 2 new opening. Yep, that's the opening for W2 Enhanced Edition, which we who bought the previous version get for free. Although I like the badassery Letho does in that detailed vid, I also can't help but think that it kinda ruins the surprise later on in the game when you realize what Letho's been up to. I would've preferred him staying in the shadows until that epic reveal moment like in vanilla version of the game, but oh well. Perhaps this badass intro will lure in new players into the Witcher's world and learn that Letho is one of the more complex antagonists out there (not gonna spoil it if you haven't played the game, but it's worth checking out).
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu opening song with nice clips from the show. I haven't seen this spinoff or the actual series it spun off of yet, but after seeing this, I might give it a try. There's just something nice about the awkward possible romance (heavy emphasis on possible) between a spunky schoolgirl and a soldier who's supposed to protect her but has no idea how to act among highschoolers because he only knows how to fight in wars. Although I usually don't like these types of pop songs, there's something about this song and its lyrics which just scream "beauty" to me. I don't know why, but if I had to explain the concept of "summer" with music, this song would sum it up pretty well because it brings back memories of summers past with friends at beaches, streets and such. Kind of nostalgic, really, and I definitely like the sweet lyrics, too. ^_^
The Wonders of Disney, a tribute to Disney's animated canon. This is a pretty cool video which is one of the best tributes to Disney's lengthy history. Even with the recent, sad news of Glen Keane (one of Disney's top animators who brought the likes of Ariel and Rapunzel to life among others), this video cheers me up. The only downside to the vid really is that there should've been a few more clips of some of the more recent Disney films (Meet the Robinsons in particular) but at least every Disney canon film is represented in the vid, so I'm fine and doozy. =)
Oh right, and the Academy Award for Best Original Score went to a fantastic score. Go, Artist! I need to watch this film in cinemas.
Still have a lot of other stuff to write about such as Legend of Korra, The Egyptian, Aquarion Evol and Arkham City among other things, but that'll have to wait for now.
Yours,
Mikko