cygna_hime (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cygna_hime) wrote2019-07-21 04:51 pm
cygna_hime) wrote2019-07-21 04:51 pm
Entry tags:
FFX Again And Still
Up next: the Djose Highroad!
This is the first time Kimahri's spoken on screen, I believe. He's finally warming up to Tidus.
"If we worry, she tries harder." Oh, Yuna...There's such a thing as too much stiff upper lip, you know. Your friends are here to support you.
It's kind of hard to figure out Auron's plan. I mean, he clearly wants what eventually happens to happen, but I'm not sure how he intends it to come to pass. I suspect he's winging it. He wants Tidus to have time to process the whole Sin-Jecht thing, but he doesn't want Yuna to know. And he could blow the whole thing wide open at any time but chooses not to. He wants it to have maximum impact - and of course, he wants them to destroy the system, not just give up on the pilgrimage. He's got a lot going on, and frankly I don't think he's as in control as he wants to appear.
Still don't know how Lucil, Elma, and Clasko managed to survive the front lines. "Decimated" is too mild a word for what happened.
Lucil is feeling just the way Kinoc wanted her to feel: like she did something wrong and is being punished for it. He must have been worried about her: she's got a lot of charisma, that elusive "leadership quality".
Poor Gatta :C I know I'm responsible for this.
And here's Isaaru! I must note that he does not stay to help out with the wounded. He's nicer than Dona, but I'm not sure he's better. His admiration for Braska must grate on Auron, given that it's based entirely on the Yevonite party line, which has very little to do with the real person Braska was. (Forever mad that we never learn the name of Yuna's mother, she's been so thoroughly erased.)
A line that really hits me hard is a random NPC monk: "Oh, my...We are out of funeral shrouds." It's just - so small, but illustrates so much. So many have died that they don't even have the resources to care for the dead.
Who are these summoners who've been rescue-kidnapped already? There's no one in the Summoners' Sanctum when we get there but Dona and Isaaru. I guess we should just assume they're there and Tidus didn't notice.
No one brings their eight-year-old brother on a Death Quest if there's anyone to leave him with. At least, I hope they don't.
I'm quite fond of this Cloister. This one, I never forget a step.
Dona sure found a way around the Mi'ihen roadblock fast. I love this scene w/Barthello crushing on Auron hardcore. Dona does not approve. Meanwhile, Wakka and Lulu team up to issue Sick Burns (TM).
Barthello: I swear, I'll never wash this hand again!
Dona: Please! Touch me with that hand, and I'll remove it.
I love them. I mean, Dona's a professional Mean Girl, but you know. Fondness isn't rational.
Gatta, I also hope we meet again someday, but with Dark Valefor blocking the way into Besaid Village in the late game, who knows? I'll be sure to look you up when I backtrack for Jecht Spheres, though.
Poor Yuna, forcing herself to run on not nearly enough sleep. I know what that's like. (Actually, I don't function well when my sleep gets cockeyed. She's young and resilient.)
Once again, the party acts like everything's normal, because the alternative is curling up in a ball and crying, and once you start that in Spira you'll never stop.
You know, I may have misjudged Lucil just now. She is, after all, resolved to bring the Chocobo Knights back from the brink of destruction. I suspect it feels like something she can do, when there's so much she can't. She doesn't think small, even when she's dispirited.
Spiran ecology count: a bunch of little monkeys that hop about and follow Tidus around.
What are Biran and Yenke doing this far south, anyway? They can't be just here to follow Kimahri around and make fun of him, or "warn" him about the disappearing summoners. Maybe they're doing something for Elder Kelk? Either as a maester or as a Ronso leader.
They have a lot of cultural rules saying you can't help your friends with their problems, especially between cultures/races. I guess it's to let people keep their cultural practices, but still, it seems like it keeps people from helping each other. Maybe that's why.
I love Belgemine's voice. That low voice is my favorite kind of voice for women. Interesting she knows what happened at Operation Mi'ihen. Maybe the dead communicate a lot, or maybe she was hanging around physically getting gossip (and possibly testing Isaaru on his way down the road). Notably she does not wait around for Dona just behind us.
Once again, Grand Summon + Energy Blast = close but uncomplicated victory.
It's about now that it becomes really obvious that something's off - that the rest of the party gets quiet and awkward when Tidus talks about coming back. I don't know that any of them are intending to outlive Yuna by very long.
Spiran ecology count: shoopuf, which by the cube-square law should be having some serious troubles walking on land. There's a reason large, plankton-eating mammals on Earth are aquatic.
"Shoopuf shook, Yuna fall in water. Shoopuf scoop up Yuna with long nose. Yuna jump in three more times for fun." I love this snapshot of reckless baby Yuna! And poor teen Kimahri, trying to keep her out of trouble.
Auron makes it sound so simple that Jecht quit drinking after drunkenly attacking a shoopuf, but I bet it wasn't. Habits are hard to break, and drinking is notorious that way. Of course, not having spare cash for booze probably helped.
Easy for Lucil to say they'll ford the river elsewhere; she gets to ride the chocobo. Poor Clasko (and Elma, but she's too gay to complain) has to run along beside it.
Wakka, judging by Yuna's story, I don't think shoopufs are a "boy" thing. If she's not halfway to jumping in the water again, it's because she's a summoner, not because she's a girl. (I guess she does get to go in the water, after all...)
The river must be very deep to conceal that entire huge-looking city. I admit that bridge city was not a great idea, but like, a readily-available source of water is where you put cities. I mean, they haven't given up on Venice yet.
Okay machina: entertainment. Not okay: self-defense. "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"...and giant world-killing god whales. It's a fear I can understand, but...think of all the ways technology could, does, help people. Maybe with magic you don't need assistive technology, but white mages don't seem that common. There's a balance to be struck. ...Not that we on Earth are any better.
Wakka is that racist relative who no one is quite willing to start a fight with, even though that's the only way they'll learn (at least to keep their mouths shut). Really, Lulu, you're willing to call Wakka out over everything else, and you can't make him shut up for Yuna's sake. Tidus is the only one willing to say anything, and it's just enough to make Wakka stop talking about it, not to challenge his beliefs.
I love Rikku, but I do not love the way the camera lingers on her fifteen-year-old butt. Yes, she's digital, but c'mon, man, do you gotta be so horny literally all of the time? It bothers me more than the focus on Lulu's breasts, because at least Lulu is nominally an adult.
The spiral pupils are fascinating but make no sense. That is not how eyes work!
For someone who hates the Al Bhed, Wakka sure doesn't know even the visual stereotypes of the race. Or Tidus completely failing at concealing what he almost said.
This game passes the Bechdel Test! Which is quite impressive considering the male POV character, honestly. It's still hard to find main-character f/f ships tho, given that Yuna is either biologically related or foster-related to the other two female party members. (Not that being biologically related stopped X-2 from going there in het flavor.) (And yes, I know she's not genetically related to Lulu, but I just. Sisterzoned.)
Auron is probably just glad to have someone else on Team Iconoclasm. The more people, the greater chance one of them can get Yuna to change her mind.
Moving into Guadosalam, Tromell completely fails to not be creepy. Unctuous, is the word.
Aw, Yuma, don't complain about Old Guado. It's important to hang on to your linguistic heritage! I have a lot of Feelings and Opinions about that.
"You sure you don't have something against Yevon?" Tidus, buddy, you don't know a tenth of it.
Seymour gives this whole spiel about how Yuna's name means her father wanted her to be like Yunalesca, but we know it's not true. Braska wanted Yuna to live whatever life made her happy. He certainly didn't name her hoping she would become a summoner. But that doesn't fit into the narrative Seymour is trying to push onto Yuna.
The metaphysics of the Farplane are weird - it's both a real and an unreal place, a place the living can physically visit but also the realm of the dead. In X-2 we go in and there are fiends there, which doesn't entirely make sense. It's Magic Okay.
The image of it, all the flowers, is beautiful, though.
I have a lot of angry/hurt emotions about "getting along isn't enough", which pretty much boil down to: as a dubiously-romantic asexual who still longs for a life partner, it kind of really sucks to be told that what I have to offer isn't even close to enough. You know? Attraction is great and all, but is that really the only thing that matters? I don't think so. So I'd rather think Lulu is protesting too much than believe that a partner isn't enough.
It's...something that Yuna, looking at her mom who gave up her entire life for a forbidden love, decides that she has to consider what everyone else wants in her personal life. Her mother certainly wouldn't tell her that. I doubt her father would either.
To Yuna, "accepted death while she was still alive" is a compliment. In Spira, it means she wouldn't have become a fiend. It's highly valued. But to Tidus, it brings back memories of her spiraling into depression. Personally, I'm with Tidus: as a person with depression, it's vital that I not accept death.
Auron is even more curt than usual because, this close to the Farplane and while Yuna is performing a Sending, he's on the knife edge of simply ceasing to exist. Fortunately he's stubborn as shit. (A technical term.)
I got Rikku cutscene this time, probably due to spending so much effort on not getting Lulu over Yuna. (Also, talking to Rikku again confirms that the teens of the party are considered adults, more or less, by Spiran standards. Gotta have kids quick before Sin gets you!)
Yuna's not a convincing liar if you know her, but if she refuses to tell the truth just because you know she's lying, what's there to do?
...Wait, if Wantz's sister went on pilgrimage seven years ago, was Braska's Calm only a couple years? The math doesn't really work out. The scene still touches my heart, though. I've only seen it once or twice before. I didn't even know the extra Farplane scenes existed! (If you don't know, there are a couple if you come back after hitting the Thunder Plains, and another couple after Zanarkand/getting Yojimbo.)
I'm going to end there for now. Next up: the Thunder Plains and Macalania!
This is the first time Kimahri's spoken on screen, I believe. He's finally warming up to Tidus.
"If we worry, she tries harder." Oh, Yuna...There's such a thing as too much stiff upper lip, you know. Your friends are here to support you.
It's kind of hard to figure out Auron's plan. I mean, he clearly wants what eventually happens to happen, but I'm not sure how he intends it to come to pass. I suspect he's winging it. He wants Tidus to have time to process the whole Sin-Jecht thing, but he doesn't want Yuna to know. And he could blow the whole thing wide open at any time but chooses not to. He wants it to have maximum impact - and of course, he wants them to destroy the system, not just give up on the pilgrimage. He's got a lot going on, and frankly I don't think he's as in control as he wants to appear.
Still don't know how Lucil, Elma, and Clasko managed to survive the front lines. "Decimated" is too mild a word for what happened.
Lucil is feeling just the way Kinoc wanted her to feel: like she did something wrong and is being punished for it. He must have been worried about her: she's got a lot of charisma, that elusive "leadership quality".
Poor Gatta :C I know I'm responsible for this.
And here's Isaaru! I must note that he does not stay to help out with the wounded. He's nicer than Dona, but I'm not sure he's better. His admiration for Braska must grate on Auron, given that it's based entirely on the Yevonite party line, which has very little to do with the real person Braska was. (Forever mad that we never learn the name of Yuna's mother, she's been so thoroughly erased.)
A line that really hits me hard is a random NPC monk: "Oh, my...We are out of funeral shrouds." It's just - so small, but illustrates so much. So many have died that they don't even have the resources to care for the dead.
Who are these summoners who've been rescue-kidnapped already? There's no one in the Summoners' Sanctum when we get there but Dona and Isaaru. I guess we should just assume they're there and Tidus didn't notice.
No one brings their eight-year-old brother on a Death Quest if there's anyone to leave him with. At least, I hope they don't.
I'm quite fond of this Cloister. This one, I never forget a step.
Dona sure found a way around the Mi'ihen roadblock fast. I love this scene w/Barthello crushing on Auron hardcore. Dona does not approve. Meanwhile, Wakka and Lulu team up to issue Sick Burns (TM).
Barthello: I swear, I'll never wash this hand again!
Dona: Please! Touch me with that hand, and I'll remove it.
I love them. I mean, Dona's a professional Mean Girl, but you know. Fondness isn't rational.
Gatta, I also hope we meet again someday, but with Dark Valefor blocking the way into Besaid Village in the late game, who knows? I'll be sure to look you up when I backtrack for Jecht Spheres, though.
Poor Yuna, forcing herself to run on not nearly enough sleep. I know what that's like. (Actually, I don't function well when my sleep gets cockeyed. She's young and resilient.)
Once again, the party acts like everything's normal, because the alternative is curling up in a ball and crying, and once you start that in Spira you'll never stop.
You know, I may have misjudged Lucil just now. She is, after all, resolved to bring the Chocobo Knights back from the brink of destruction. I suspect it feels like something she can do, when there's so much she can't. She doesn't think small, even when she's dispirited.
Spiran ecology count: a bunch of little monkeys that hop about and follow Tidus around.
What are Biran and Yenke doing this far south, anyway? They can't be just here to follow Kimahri around and make fun of him, or "warn" him about the disappearing summoners. Maybe they're doing something for Elder Kelk? Either as a maester or as a Ronso leader.
They have a lot of cultural rules saying you can't help your friends with their problems, especially between cultures/races. I guess it's to let people keep their cultural practices, but still, it seems like it keeps people from helping each other. Maybe that's why.
I love Belgemine's voice. That low voice is my favorite kind of voice for women. Interesting she knows what happened at Operation Mi'ihen. Maybe the dead communicate a lot, or maybe she was hanging around physically getting gossip (and possibly testing Isaaru on his way down the road). Notably she does not wait around for Dona just behind us.
Once again, Grand Summon + Energy Blast = close but uncomplicated victory.
It's about now that it becomes really obvious that something's off - that the rest of the party gets quiet and awkward when Tidus talks about coming back. I don't know that any of them are intending to outlive Yuna by very long.
Spiran ecology count: shoopuf, which by the cube-square law should be having some serious troubles walking on land. There's a reason large, plankton-eating mammals on Earth are aquatic.
"Shoopuf shook, Yuna fall in water. Shoopuf scoop up Yuna with long nose. Yuna jump in three more times for fun." I love this snapshot of reckless baby Yuna! And poor teen Kimahri, trying to keep her out of trouble.
Auron makes it sound so simple that Jecht quit drinking after drunkenly attacking a shoopuf, but I bet it wasn't. Habits are hard to break, and drinking is notorious that way. Of course, not having spare cash for booze probably helped.
Easy for Lucil to say they'll ford the river elsewhere; she gets to ride the chocobo. Poor Clasko (and Elma, but she's too gay to complain) has to run along beside it.
Wakka, judging by Yuna's story, I don't think shoopufs are a "boy" thing. If she's not halfway to jumping in the water again, it's because she's a summoner, not because she's a girl. (I guess she does get to go in the water, after all...)
The river must be very deep to conceal that entire huge-looking city. I admit that bridge city was not a great idea, but like, a readily-available source of water is where you put cities. I mean, they haven't given up on Venice yet.
Okay machina: entertainment. Not okay: self-defense. "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"...and giant world-killing god whales. It's a fear I can understand, but...think of all the ways technology could, does, help people. Maybe with magic you don't need assistive technology, but white mages don't seem that common. There's a balance to be struck. ...Not that we on Earth are any better.
Wakka is that racist relative who no one is quite willing to start a fight with, even though that's the only way they'll learn (at least to keep their mouths shut). Really, Lulu, you're willing to call Wakka out over everything else, and you can't make him shut up for Yuna's sake. Tidus is the only one willing to say anything, and it's just enough to make Wakka stop talking about it, not to challenge his beliefs.
I love Rikku, but I do not love the way the camera lingers on her fifteen-year-old butt. Yes, she's digital, but c'mon, man, do you gotta be so horny literally all of the time? It bothers me more than the focus on Lulu's breasts, because at least Lulu is nominally an adult.
The spiral pupils are fascinating but make no sense. That is not how eyes work!
For someone who hates the Al Bhed, Wakka sure doesn't know even the visual stereotypes of the race. Or Tidus completely failing at concealing what he almost said.
This game passes the Bechdel Test! Which is quite impressive considering the male POV character, honestly. It's still hard to find main-character f/f ships tho, given that Yuna is either biologically related or foster-related to the other two female party members. (Not that being biologically related stopped X-2 from going there in het flavor.) (And yes, I know she's not genetically related to Lulu, but I just. Sisterzoned.)
Auron is probably just glad to have someone else on Team Iconoclasm. The more people, the greater chance one of them can get Yuna to change her mind.
Moving into Guadosalam, Tromell completely fails to not be creepy. Unctuous, is the word.
Aw, Yuma, don't complain about Old Guado. It's important to hang on to your linguistic heritage! I have a lot of Feelings and Opinions about that.
"You sure you don't have something against Yevon?" Tidus, buddy, you don't know a tenth of it.
Seymour gives this whole spiel about how Yuna's name means her father wanted her to be like Yunalesca, but we know it's not true. Braska wanted Yuna to live whatever life made her happy. He certainly didn't name her hoping she would become a summoner. But that doesn't fit into the narrative Seymour is trying to push onto Yuna.
The metaphysics of the Farplane are weird - it's both a real and an unreal place, a place the living can physically visit but also the realm of the dead. In X-2 we go in and there are fiends there, which doesn't entirely make sense. It's Magic Okay.
The image of it, all the flowers, is beautiful, though.
I have a lot of angry/hurt emotions about "getting along isn't enough", which pretty much boil down to: as a dubiously-romantic asexual who still longs for a life partner, it kind of really sucks to be told that what I have to offer isn't even close to enough. You know? Attraction is great and all, but is that really the only thing that matters? I don't think so. So I'd rather think Lulu is protesting too much than believe that a partner isn't enough.
It's...something that Yuna, looking at her mom who gave up her entire life for a forbidden love, decides that she has to consider what everyone else wants in her personal life. Her mother certainly wouldn't tell her that. I doubt her father would either.
To Yuna, "accepted death while she was still alive" is a compliment. In Spira, it means she wouldn't have become a fiend. It's highly valued. But to Tidus, it brings back memories of her spiraling into depression. Personally, I'm with Tidus: as a person with depression, it's vital that I not accept death.
Auron is even more curt than usual because, this close to the Farplane and while Yuna is performing a Sending, he's on the knife edge of simply ceasing to exist. Fortunately he's stubborn as shit. (A technical term.)
I got Rikku cutscene this time, probably due to spending so much effort on not getting Lulu over Yuna. (Also, talking to Rikku again confirms that the teens of the party are considered adults, more or less, by Spiran standards. Gotta have kids quick before Sin gets you!)
Yuna's not a convincing liar if you know her, but if she refuses to tell the truth just because you know she's lying, what's there to do?
...Wait, if Wantz's sister went on pilgrimage seven years ago, was Braska's Calm only a couple years? The math doesn't really work out. The scene still touches my heart, though. I've only seen it once or twice before. I didn't even know the extra Farplane scenes existed! (If you don't know, there are a couple if you come back after hitting the Thunder Plains, and another couple after Zanarkand/getting Yojimbo.)
I'm going to end there for now. Next up: the Thunder Plains and Macalania!