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long spoilery thoughts
So I've been playing ~Odin Sphere~ and it makes me feel strange inside. Let's go over this game character by character point by point!
Odin, who I have no words for other than he makes this game for me so so so so hard asflkjaslkjfsaljasl-- (Strange fact: while Japanese voice acting finds it odd to lose to a child, the American text translation finds it odd to lose to a girl. Stop being sexist, US)
The embers of his heart, who goes to lava pits for healin', hasn't actually been fought against so far probably because he's too chill to be involved in world politics, nice chest there Mr Shirts Are For Pussies, and ok he's just hot. I have also been recently warming up to Gwendolyn/Onyx, which probably helps.
One of these puns is not like the others.
THE POOKAS especially that girl Pooka from Cornelius' book
Hindel in all his ten seconds of glory
...Belial is fine. No actually Belial is more than fine, Belial is a condensed package of tragic determination and suffering and makes my heart bleed. It's not nice to have your thoughts and emotions and self manipulated, children (now tell that to Gwendolyn)
Ingway has no shirt on, he can stay
Okay okay, he has a good enough sense of humour to laugh at himself even if he is a cocky bastard, let's see what the story has in store for him. Though I'm very very confused as to why he is still alive (apparently) because as far as I can see he's gotten two (implied) death scenes already. That's weird!
Gwendolyn: she's got her valiance that shines through at times (Cornelius' chapter most of all), and it's beautiful how her interactions with Oswald seem to defy gender conventions, but she feels like a puppet. While she seemingly takes an active role throughout her story, it feels like she never actually takes any moves of her own? First she got Griselda's revenge, then it was all about the love of her father (which was portrayed in a pretty pathetic light, and I liked that because it was an unusual motivation and it was shown to be anything but healthy), and finally about the love of her husband. That last point is what really bothers me the most, because it seems to me that the game is trying to say that being brainwashed into loving someone is somehow a positive thing? There should be more to this, but I've been through several pretty fantastical scenarios in my head of how and why Gwendolyn seemingly comes to love Oswald and they all make me feel very uncomfortable. Then again, the last phrase in her book, "There's no way their love could be an illusion", looks pretty foreboding, or is it just wishful thinking on my part?
Things that I like: fundamentally I don't find anything wrong with Gwendolyn herself, it's just that the way her book is constructed turns me off in a spectacular way.
Cornelius: pretty cool, but storyline disappointments again. Thinking on it, this is a character that "growing into a king" sort of storyline would have fit better. Or he could have become a full-time Pooka freedom fighter instead of doing it only occasionally whenever there are coins to be save from being thrown into volcanoes and so on. The thing with Velvet wasn't the smartest move either, as far as storytelling is concerned. Way to turn an unnecessary conflict into the main component of the book! Perhaps they were hoping players would feel engaged but personally I just found it annoying. Yes, you are a bunny. Now tell your girlfriend outright instead of angsting about it over half of your screentime.
Things that I like: a good person, again. Just... could have been used more effectively.
Mercedes: oh, it's this story again, where we need to have the rightful king to lead a nation because it's their bloodright.
It's tricky to do a story where someone with previously little influence grows into leadership. The two ways I can see it could be done is either by having them show potential early on and then have them grow out of their limitations (lack of self-confidence etc.), or by just having them have enough experience over time (like, years) so that they can attain that power. I failed to see either of these two things in Mercedes' story, or even any sort of real growing-up, so by the time she was leading troops into battle I was... pretty confused. Did I miss something? It really feels like someone just replaced Mercedes with her little cousin Sedecrem between chapters five and six and nobody noticed. Okay, she had helped a few people out of like... sewers and stuff before that...
Also, just kiss the frog already, it has saved your life like seven times and you have a bagful of antidotes ready if something goes wrong, it's not that difficult.
Things that I like: completely unnecessary frog drama aside, nothing wrong with her as a person, but her story didn't really strike a chord with me.
Melvin: oh, it's this story again, where we have a manipulative relative of a king with actual political knowledge and power but they need to be evil, because otherwise they could be a ruler and then what would we do with the actual royal family? Put them out of power? What, now you are just being ridiculous, this is a fairytale, birthright is everything and only princes and princesses can be beautiful and righteous. My anti-royalist bitterness, let me show you it.
Still, we could have a worthwhile story with him in Oswald's book, what with the interesting and potentially touching inter-racial adoption thing going o-- oh who am I kidding.
Oswald: just finished his prologue, but I like what I see so far: stupidest pose ever for his Darrrrk Form which is hilarious, easy to play with (YES THIS IS A PLUS FOR THE CHARACTER), I like his complete trust in his father figure, a trust which will shatter him in three chapters, tops. But I fear that in a chapter or two he's going to fall so completely in love at first sight with Gwendolyn and god why why why.
Things that I like: HE'S HILARIOUS (look at me angst I have a separate sprite for broodingly looking away from the camera raarrrr) and also the whole Gwendolyn thing (aside from the ~love at first sight~ part) was, from his perspective, completely heartbreaking. Oh how he wants her but she doesn't want him, it's only a spell, it's not true, it's cruel to her, let me die let me dieee. Oh but then everything is suddenly okay, surely their love cannot be an illusion and god why.
Velvet: actually no opinion on her yet other than that I'm quite looking forward to her book in which instead of fighting there's going to be a lot of getting kidnapped and also hugging bunnies. Or at least this is what I have concluded from what we've seen of her so far
Wagner: >:(
Elfaria: SHOULDER PADS OF THE GODS
Brigan: PUBIC HAIR OF GLORY
Odette: BOOBS OF POWER
Levanthan: CROWN OF +10 LAVABALL POTENCY which are like hairballs only on fire
The late king of Valentine jesus what a douche
- everything about the graphics
- everything about the music
- intertwining stories (which could have been done better, but could also have been done much, much worse)
- pretty much the same as above, but inter-reference. There was this country see, now it's gone. Let's review this and other facts from a multitude of perspectives. <-- THIS IS LOVELY
- world mythology (this is the place where dead humans come to rest, fairies have no place here! / and thus as I die I release my true name and become one with the ~universe~ / 'tis better to fall in glory than to rot in degrading servitude (marriage) / magical coins is that cool or what / ORIGIN. OF FIRE. DUUUUDE)
- world history (dwarf kingdom, unicorn fairy alliance, odin's misadventures as a young chap etc etc etc)
- every single town and mountain and forest but especially Titania because decrepit Medieval metropolis with latino guitars in the background and jester-looking shopkeepers who probably steal all your money while you're looking away ahhhhhhhhh
I guess the problem with this game is that it is 95% fighting, watching things grow and occasionally visiting a restaurant while only 5% is left for plot, which in turn is spent mostly on monologuing about whether she can love me in such a form, I must know! Instead of focusing on the world mythology or the political plotting, which would have been possible to develop in such a limited time, they chose to focus on the characters instead. Which doesn't really work because really, getting the scope of someone's personal journey into adulthood!! while also setting a stage for worldwide tragedy is impossible. And wait, sometimes they're not even focusing on the characters but their love lives and what why.
As an aside, this game has made me realize that being difficult to please is a pain and I'd really like to read or watch something that doesn't badtouch my discomfort and/or rage buttons right away. Any safe recommendations?
[edit]
....
Characters I like so far (but this is subject to change at any moment):
Odin, who I have no words for other than he makes this game for me so so so so hard asflkjaslkjfsaljasl-- (Strange fact: while Japanese voice acting finds it odd to lose to a child, the American text translation finds it odd to lose to a girl. Stop being sexist, US)
The embers of his heart, who goes to lava pits for healin', hasn't actually been fought against so far probably because he's too chill to be involved in world politics, nice chest there Mr Shirts Are For Pussies, and ok he's just hot. I have also been recently warming up to Gwendolyn/Onyx, which probably helps.
One of these puns is not like the others.
THE POOKAS especially that girl Pooka from Cornelius' book
Hindel in all his ten seconds of glory
...Belial is fine. No actually Belial is more than fine, Belial is a condensed package of tragic determination and suffering and makes my heart bleed. It's not nice to have your thoughts and emotions and self manipulated, children (now tell that to Gwendolyn)
Ingway has no shirt on, he can stay
Okay okay, he has a good enough sense of humour to laugh at himself even if he is a cocky bastard, let's see what the story has in store for him. Though I'm very very confused as to why he is still alive (apparently) because as far as I can see he's gotten two (implied) death scenes already. That's weird!
Characters I am confused by (in a bad way (moderately subject to change when new things come to light)):
Gwendolyn: she's got her valiance that shines through at times (Cornelius' chapter most of all), and it's beautiful how her interactions with Oswald seem to defy gender conventions, but she feels like a puppet. While she seemingly takes an active role throughout her story, it feels like she never actually takes any moves of her own? First she got Griselda's revenge, then it was all about the love of her father (which was portrayed in a pretty pathetic light, and I liked that because it was an unusual motivation and it was shown to be anything but healthy), and finally about the love of her husband. That last point is what really bothers me the most, because it seems to me that the game is trying to say that being brainwashed into loving someone is somehow a positive thing? There should be more to this, but I've been through several pretty fantastical scenarios in my head of how and why Gwendolyn seemingly comes to love Oswald and they all make me feel very uncomfortable. Then again, the last phrase in her book, "There's no way their love could be an illusion", looks pretty foreboding, or is it just wishful thinking on my part?
Things that I like: fundamentally I don't find anything wrong with Gwendolyn herself, it's just that the way her book is constructed turns me off in a spectacular way.
Cornelius: pretty cool, but storyline disappointments again. Thinking on it, this is a character that "growing into a king" sort of storyline would have fit better. Or he could have become a full-time Pooka freedom fighter instead of doing it only occasionally whenever there are coins to be save from being thrown into volcanoes and so on. The thing with Velvet wasn't the smartest move either, as far as storytelling is concerned. Way to turn an unnecessary conflict into the main component of the book! Perhaps they were hoping players would feel engaged but personally I just found it annoying. Yes, you are a bunny. Now tell your girlfriend outright instead of angsting about it over half of your screentime.
Things that I like: a good person, again. Just... could have been used more effectively.
Mercedes: oh, it's this story again, where we need to have the rightful king to lead a nation because it's their bloodright.
It's tricky to do a story where someone with previously little influence grows into leadership. The two ways I can see it could be done is either by having them show potential early on and then have them grow out of their limitations (lack of self-confidence etc.), or by just having them have enough experience over time (like, years) so that they can attain that power. I failed to see either of these two things in Mercedes' story, or even any sort of real growing-up, so by the time she was leading troops into battle I was... pretty confused. Did I miss something? It really feels like someone just replaced Mercedes with her little cousin Sedecrem between chapters five and six and nobody noticed. Okay, she had helped a few people out of like... sewers and stuff before that...
Also, just kiss the frog already, it has saved your life like seven times and you have a bagful of antidotes ready if something goes wrong, it's not that difficult.
Things that I like: completely unnecessary frog drama aside, nothing wrong with her as a person, but her story didn't really strike a chord with me.
Melvin: oh, it's this story again, where we have a manipulative relative of a king with actual political knowledge and power but they need to be evil, because otherwise they could be a ruler and then what would we do with the actual royal family? Put them out of power? What, now you are just being ridiculous, this is a fairytale, birthright is everything and only princes and princesses can be beautiful and righteous. My anti-royalist bitterness, let me show you it.
Still, we could have a worthwhile story with him in Oswald's book, what with the interesting and potentially touching inter-racial adoption thing going o-- oh who am I kidding.
Oswald: just finished his prologue, but I like what I see so far: stupidest pose ever for his Darrrrk Form which is hilarious, easy to play with (YES THIS IS A PLUS FOR THE CHARACTER), I like his complete trust in his father figure, a trust which will shatter him in three chapters, tops. But I fear that in a chapter or two he's going to fall so completely in love at first sight with Gwendolyn and god why why why.
Things that I like: HE'S HILARIOUS (look at me angst I have a separate sprite for broodingly looking away from the camera raarrrr) and also the whole Gwendolyn thing (aside from the ~love at first sight~ part) was, from his perspective, completely heartbreaking. Oh how he wants her but she doesn't want him, it's only a spell, it's not true, it's cruel to her, let me die let me dieee. Oh but then everything is suddenly okay, surely their love cannot be an illusion and god why.
Velvet: actually no opinion on her yet other than that I'm quite looking forward to her book in which instead of fighting there's going to be a lot of getting kidnapped and also hugging bunnies. Or at least this is what I have concluded from what we've seen of her so far
Wagner: >:(
Characters that don't move me either way but are worth a mention:
Elfaria: SHOULDER PADS OF THE GODS
Brigan: PUBIC HAIR OF GLORY
Odette: BOOBS OF POWER
Levanthan: CROWN OF +10 LAVABALL POTENCY which are like hairballs only on fire
The late king of Valentine jesus what a douche
Things I love love love:
- everything about the graphics
- everything about the music
- intertwining stories (which could have been done better, but could also have been done much, much worse)
- pretty much the same as above, but inter-reference. There was this country see, now it's gone. Let's review this and other facts from a multitude of perspectives. <-- THIS IS LOVELY
- world mythology (this is the place where dead humans come to rest, fairies have no place here! / and thus as I die I release my true name and become one with the ~universe~ / 'tis better to fall in glory than to rot in degrading servitude (marriage) / magical coins is that cool or what / ORIGIN. OF FIRE. DUUUUDE)
- world history (dwarf kingdom, unicorn fairy alliance, odin's misadventures as a young chap etc etc etc)
- every single town and mountain and forest but especially Titania because decrepit Medieval metropolis with latino guitars in the background and jester-looking shopkeepers who probably steal all your money while you're looking away ahhhhhhhhh
I guess the problem with this game is that it is 95% fighting, watching things grow and occasionally visiting a restaurant while only 5% is left for plot, which in turn is spent mostly on monologuing about whether she can love me in such a form, I must know! Instead of focusing on the world mythology or the political plotting, which would have been possible to develop in such a limited time, they chose to focus on the characters instead. Which doesn't really work because really, getting the scope of someone's personal journey into adulthood!! while also setting a stage for worldwide tragedy is impossible. And wait, sometimes they're not even focusing on the characters but their love lives and what why.
As an aside, this game has made me realize that being difficult to please is a pain and I'd really like to read or watch something that doesn't badtouch my discomfort and/or rage buttons right away. Any safe recommendations?
[edit]
....
no subject
Other than that, I haven't been reading/watching anything lately. :/
no subject
and character names, draw heavily from medieval Germanic influenceDefinitely seems worth a look at least, wonder if it's available anywhere anymore...