GS:DD recap

[rozzlynn]

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - 12 hours in on one file, 8 hours in another.

So, you don't get different text at Kaocho, Passaj or the outskirts of Ayuthay if you've been to either of the others first. Baghi doesn't even say hi to Amiti if you stop by Passaj before heading back to Kaocho for the Sol Mask. And you can't get into the Ouroboros without the Sand Prince, so you can't try using the Tree Flute to grab the mask before meeting Paithos - that could've been fun, otherwise. Not that the game isn't fun as it is, but c'mon... :P

When Ku-Embra and Ku-Tsung came up, it was like, "Oh, right, they're the ones we'll have to fight. That makes more sense; they'd actually be trying to stop us, not test us or whatever." And when it got around to their boss battle, it was the sort of comedy fight where the 'joke' is that the characters are cartoonish, rather than the kind of nice, dark humour present in the rest of the script, but gameplay-wise it was a nice little mini-challenge compared to the rest so far, though I might have been a little over-levelled.

On the first visit to Passaj, nice cutscene between the kids at the peak. They noticed that they were being pushed from A to B in the Konpa ruins - good to see they have eyes and ears. I got a bit more behind their pov from that point on. Rief's fascinated excitement about ungrounded possibilities speaks well of his resilience, considering the circumstances, and manages to make him seem both slightly young, and like he's taking after Kraden. Can't wait to see how he gets on with his mother, how much time he spends home and what he's learned from her too, and it'll be cool to find out who the father is; the context so far doesn't even support many wild guesses besides Mia/Kraden.

Interesting to see Karis coming up with the ideas at the Alchemy Forge; it looks like Rief's good at problem-solving in a theory way, Karis is good at it in a practical way, and Matthew's the sort of leader who handles logistics and keeps an eye on everyone in battle to help the group achieve its goals, rather than the sort who tries to decide alone what those goals should be. And Tyrell is there to... uh, moan at Karis and occasionally upset or impress the people the group meets by speaking without thinking. I can't think too badly of him for getting a bit stressed out on a journey like that, but I do hope we get a bit of character development; he really looks weak next to Rief. There isn't even anything shippy about it when he argues with Karis; it's more like a brother putting down his sister out of habit. Still, it's good to see her handling it with maturity.

The talks in Passaj before getting the Tree Flute managed to be shorter than they could have been; not exactly boring, though, as the "you must achieve great things as descendants of the Jenei" attitude from most of the local NPCs in this game's cutscenes is a nice change from those in games 1 and 2 - "We can't ask these children to help!" and "Passing through, are you? Okay. Thanks. Bye."

Ayuthay was the best part so far - beautiful and atmospheric before you even get beyond the outer corridors. Amiti made a pretty good first impression, taking our side from the start and chatting about the beauty of the world out of pure enthusiasm and sweetness. :D

When King Paithos started going on about how his sister Veriti hadn't miraculously conceived Amiti all by herself through her wonderful magical powers, I thought for a moment that we were going to get a confession of incest. (Only took me a moment to remember that it's a 12-rated game.) Kinda sweet that Amiti thought he was Jesus. :3 I'd have started thinking Sheba/Amiti there, if it were possible for those two to meet each other at the same age. The mystery Adept story was pretty cool; there really is more plot this game. Sounds like the father has to be Alex, since Piers wouldn't be so secretive, and it'd be way too big a waste to use this as the introduction for some random new NPC. While it's kind of understandable that Amiti got so upset, it feels like there's plenty for him to be excited about soon enough. I mean, that line, "If I'm not my mother's miracle, what am I?" - there'd be no loss of love in the realisation that being made from two people rather than one is twice the miracle.

Exploring the palace and the temple after draining the Barai pond was pretty fun; not the hugest or most maze-like of levels yet, but it's getting more involving than the early areas, and it's all so pretty. :P It was slightly disappointing that Amiti didn't join the party and fight during that part, but it wasn't much of a surprise given that lady's warning that we'd better not let him get so much as scratched. Good to see that the people really do dote on him like Baghi said. It's certainly not hard to see why. :3 The note in the chest that used to contain the Luna Mask was a good idea - must have kept the kids from getting too discouraged by the first few floors.

Pretty cool that the Insight Glass went to Amiti - after Paithos was all "we have nothing to offer, a vanished stranger did everything, we know nothing, alas your mother is dead", we certainly needed something to cut back on the, er, pathos. If the Glass needed someone with naturally keen insight who could use water Psynergy, then it suddenly makes a lot of sense that a Mercury Adept and a woman called Veriti would have a child. If the characters knew that it would be needed... I only hope that wasn't the sole reason the two of them got together. Paith called it a fling, but he seems a bit out of the loop on the whole grand plan. He's really selling short his side of the family, too, by acting as if Amiti inherited all the qualities he needed to be a destined hero from his father. I could understand it if a guy called Paithos decided not to believe in nominative determinism, but if he knew his sister, he'd know which of her best qualities Amiti had inherited, and he shouldn't underestimate the effect of a good upbringing on a kid's temperament.

I really hope Veriti is one of those 'dead' parent figures who shows up alive later on and imparts valuable training and invaluable wisdom to their overjoyed and/or ambivalent offspring, but dead mothers are one of the few kinds of characters who tend to stay dead... :( Still, between that and the flashback option, there's a chance we'll get to see what Veriti's truly like. And in the meantime, Amiti's off with his friends. Guess the names aren't getting any more subtle, but those two make up for it by being pretty cool anyway. And Paith has his nickname, at least.

Kinda surprising that only one NPC in the whole of Ayuthay actually sounded proud that one of their own people would be shaping the region's destiny. Paith probably would have been happier about it if his dear little nephew hadn't been the one to get involved. Bit of a contrast there with Alex's treatment of his... (checks Wikipedia...) first cousins once removed. And Rief and Amiti are second cousins? I wonder when they'll find out.

So, according to the mysterious voice, the wielder of the Insight Glass is supposed to prevent the return of Alchemy. The vortexes drain Psynergy, there's a devastating one every few years, and they're linked to the machines that the antagonists appeared not to want the party to find out about in the Konpa Ruins. Looks like someone might be trying to use the vortexes to delay the return of Alchemy to the land, to keep it from precipitating Weyard's destruction? Alex and his group have spent a long time trying to bring about the return of Alchemy, so either they're trying to delay it only until the right time, or they're not exactly the ones behind the machines, or the group as a whole is working in one direction while certain individual(s) within it are working in another, and they either have more/older prophecy on their side or they're working on a way around it. Guess we're going to run into them again once we get the cloud passage started up; it'll be good to get a few more hints, and to see where the plot's going next; the whole 'spread fresh water across this part of the continent and re-establish communications with the north' sidequest seemed far more important and interesting than the 'grab a feather for a jetpack' plot - there's a reason the fetch quests and the long term goals are usually the other way around. U.U

It'll be good to catch up with Nowell, too; the lack of girls in the party is starting to get to me. With five team members, I've gotta switch Karis out every so often to raise their levels evenly, but it's not so fun when the party's all one gender, feels a bit gray and drab somehow. (I haven't yet had the opportunity to figure out whether all-female parties in video games also feel inherently less interesting than mixed ones; way to go, mainstream RPG gender equality. :/ Gotta find more good games with female leads; most of the ones on my to-play list don't seem geared that way. Lightning-Fang-Vanille works pretty well in FFXIII, but there are so many different strategies to try out in all the endless, plotless monster fights, I've been switching the team around too much to get used to any one setup. Apparenty, Terra won't even be playable for large swathes of FFVI, though she's been pretty cool so far; don't know how the other player characters will stack up.) There isn't really any one character I'd want to switch out permanently; they all have some interesting Psynergy, especially with so many Djinn around already. Spent a while looking at their spinning 3D character models in the Status screen; I love Rief and Amiti's outfits. Wish I could see that kind of view of Amiti's original gear too; looked like there was some lovely gold embroidery or metal work or whatever it was. Guess there'll be official art of both designs. :3

Did a little bit of training on the way back to Passai, but saved outside of town. Wonder which of the antagonists are going to show up next. Wo might catch up with events sooner rather than later, with Chalis involved. I sensed a bit of a Chalis/Meisa vibe at Kaocho Palace (first ship?), but I'd be surprised if that went anywhere.

...And I caved and went looking for official art on the Nintendo site. Kinda regretting the spoilers, especially the glimpses of main characters who haven't joined the party yet, especially as Nowell didn't appear to be among them. :/

Chalis' outfit - that really is a heart shaped hole cut out of her tunic. How daft. All the leathery bits are nice, and I love her hair, but I can't see how that outfit could work from the side. Or in motion. Or from any angle, really.

Blados... is barely worth mentioning. Worse design than Agatio. Menardi and Saturos' outfits were so elegant. Where did it all go wrong? ;.;

And Alex has gone and named himself after a Pokemon.

I'm all for meaningful names, but when it reaches the point where they all start to sound more like meanings than names... On the plus side, that tunic really is gorgeous. See, that's how you do heart-shaped details around the chest. And how you layer. If Chalis borrowed a pair of that sort of style of trousers, bet she'd look great. (Similar style to Amiti's; nice touch.) He looks a bit more grim than in his last official art, but still fairly showy. And his design is still all about the flowing curves, compared to Felix's straight lines and square corners. :3

Ah, I'm kinda feeling like I want to push on with krhp, even though I haven't finished GS3. I've already written more of chapter 12 than chapter 11. It's kinda hard to write from anyone's pov besides Alex's or Isaac's for long. Those two are so straightforward and focused. I feel like I've kinda gotten the hang of that story's versions of Mia and Felix; compared to them, I can relate more to Sheba's motivations, but less to her mannerisms. Gotta get on with the Ilyana-centric Fire Emblem plotbunny once I've finished krhp; that's another voice that should come easily. Not a bad thing that there's plenty to be getting on with, but I wanna do it all at once. #.#