'What's Going On?' 'Kingdom Hearts.'
I'm still introducing Tem to the Kingdom Hearts series! We've finished Kingdom Hearts II and watched the PlayFrame Let's Play of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, as it's tricky to gather around a DS for communal play.
The notes in this entry mostly relate to Kingdom Hearts II, because our reaction to 358/2 Days was mainly just inarticulately being sad. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is one of the saddest videogames ever made, and certainly the saddest videogame ever set in a universe in which Donald Duck is a wizard. I think 358/2 Days still holds the trophy for the hardest I have ever cried at a videogame, although Life Is Strange 2 gave it a run for its money.
So let's talk about Kingdom Hearts II, an easier game to handle, although frankly I cannot handle sage advice coming from a tortoise with Goofy's face.
Tem was very unhappy about Sora tickling Tron by typing on the keyboard. 'Riona, you've got to stop showing me fetish porn.'
The Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts II adds a tricky fight against Roxas with sad music playing ('The Other Promise'), and then some sad cutscenes, because everything about Roxas is sad.
'I'm so sad about Roxas,' Tem said. 'Oh, my God, Riona, have you made me care about Kingdom Hearts? It's a stupid series of games with Disney characters! Donald Duck is there!'
(Days, you will be unsurprised to hear, made Tem considerably sadder about Roxas.)
Tem referred to Riku as 'my boy' and was then troubled by the level of investment that this implied. I think it's difficult to experience Kingdom Hearts without obtaining at least one boy.
Every time I play Kingdom Hearts II, I'm astonished anew by how romantic the end-of-game interactions between Sora and Riku are. I'm very struck by the way they quietly accept that they may never see anyone else again. Characters being isolated together is one of my absolute favourite things in fiction.
Tem, summarising Kingdom Hearts: 'Everything is confusing, except when it's sad. Sometimes it's both. But it's never not one of those things.'
The notes in this entry mostly relate to Kingdom Hearts II, because our reaction to 358/2 Days was mainly just inarticulately being sad. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is one of the saddest videogames ever made, and certainly the saddest videogame ever set in a universe in which Donald Duck is a wizard. I think 358/2 Days still holds the trophy for the hardest I have ever cried at a videogame, although Life Is Strange 2 gave it a run for its money.
So let's talk about Kingdom Hearts II, an easier game to handle, although frankly I cannot handle sage advice coming from a tortoise with Goofy's face.
Tem was very unhappy about Sora tickling Tron by typing on the keyboard. 'Riona, you've got to stop showing me fetish porn.'
The Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts II adds a tricky fight against Roxas with sad music playing ('The Other Promise'), and then some sad cutscenes, because everything about Roxas is sad.
'I'm so sad about Roxas,' Tem said. 'Oh, my God, Riona, have you made me care about Kingdom Hearts? It's a stupid series of games with Disney characters! Donald Duck is there!'
(Days, you will be unsurprised to hear, made Tem considerably sadder about Roxas.)
Tem referred to Riku as 'my boy' and was then troubled by the level of investment that this implied. I think it's difficult to experience Kingdom Hearts without obtaining at least one boy.
Every time I play Kingdom Hearts II, I'm astonished anew by how romantic the end-of-game interactions between Sora and Riku are. I'm very struck by the way they quietly accept that they may never see anyone else again. Characters being isolated together is one of my absolute favourite things in fiction.
Tem, summarising Kingdom Hearts: 'Everything is confusing, except when it's sad. Sometimes it's both. But it's never not one of those things.'