#little mermaid riku my beloved!!!!!

[apple-pecan]

Kingdom Hearts (2002)

for as long as the internet has been around, people have been bitching about video games. it's hard to imagine now, but back when kingdom hearts was first announced, people were both confused and outraged. it's admittedly a bizarre premise: it's a final fantasy action rpg, but with... disney characters. is this some sort of out of season april fool's joke? kingdom hearts, very much like wind waker, became the laughingstock of the internet... until the day it came out and promptly shut everyone up.

KH's infamously batshit overarching plot is actually not too bad in this game; sora and his best friends riku and kairi want nothing more than to see other worlds outside their tiny little island. be careful what you wish for though cuz evil shadowy creatures called heartless might invade your island and fucking BLOW IT UP!!!! at least sora has a cool looking key sword thing now. after the fall of destiny islands, sora is stranded in traverse town. he vows to find riku and kairi and try to find a way to restore his home. also donald and goofy are there too and the three team up, with them now ALSO looking for disney castle's king (guess who). along the way, riku shows that he has never seen a disney movie and manages to get duped by the villain of sleeping beauty, and now he's basically the edgy rival character. and there's this guy named ansem going around doing stuff. uh oh. so yeah, still a bit convoluted, but it's refreshingly straightforward compared to literally any of it's sequels.

the combat? i like it a lot, actually. as mentioned before it's an action rpg where you play as sora, swing your giant key around to battle the heartless, and use magic. it would get boring and repetitive after awhile, but there's like a bajillion abilities you can learn, either new actions or passives, which keep things fresh the whole way through. stuff like parrying attacks and being invulnerable when you cast healing spells, and many, many others. there's even cryptic choices you make at the beginning of the game where you can prioritize strength, defense, or magic, (changing your starting stats and the rewards for leveling up) and then choose one of the other two to give up. dont be like 9 year old me and take the sword and give up the shield. just. dont. it's no dark souls when it comes to having hundreds of builds, but it does reward repeat playthroughs with all the options you can give yourself.

the combat is good fun, but the level design and platforming needed some work, and this is where the game aged the worst. some levels like the tarzan one are really confusing if you're first playing the game, and whenever sora has to make a series of jumps, i fear for my life. i guess you could say they're more open and ripe for exploration than in kh2, which are usually pretty linear areas that are hard to get lost in. of note in the hall of shame is the little mermaid level, which is a water level, and all the baggage that comes with it. not only that but all the areas look the fucking same, it's not clear how to progress, and there's a grating MIDI of under the sea playing almost the entire fucking time. MAKE IT STOP!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! other than that though the stages are pretty fun, i like the nightmare before christmas level and hollow bastion the most.

the music, done by yoko shimomura of street fighter 2 and super mario rpg fame, is quite good. the title track "dearly beloved" is a short but somber and effective piano piece that's there to let you know that this isn't your grandma's disney interactive game. and if that doesn't cue you in that something's up, "destati", the loud, omnious choir music that plays in the tutorial area, totally wont terrify you if you were an 8 year old disney lover who just wanted to have a fun happy time with mickey mouse. not that I was that kid or anything... "kairi" is a gorgeous little song that keeps being remixed over the course of the game, sounding more emotional each time. and the boss themes are epic as fuck, namely "forze del male" which will play as you get your pathetic ass handed to you by riku ninety times in a row gOD DAMMIT RIKU STOP FUCKING USING THAT DBZ TELEPORTING SLASH MOVE.

they can't all be winners though; "traverse town" is iconic at this point, sure, but at the end of the day it's still a 30 second loop you have to hear over and over AND OVER AGAIN. and there's the aforementioned "under the sea" midi. at least traverse town's battle theme "hand in hand" goes fucking hard tho. and of course, there's non-binary icon hikaru utada's "simple and clean". enough said. really. actually no WHEN YOU WALK AAAAAWAY YOU DONT HEAR MEEEEEE SAY PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGOD FUCKING DAMMIT NOW IT'S GONNA BE IN MY HEAD FOR THE NEXT EIGHT HOURS.

this review has gone on way too long so ill just wrap it up by saying kingdom hearts is one of the best action RPGS on the PS2 (and in general, really) and is an inspirational tale of how despite a premise for something being a hard sell, sometimes if you let them cook, they can come up with something truly magical. unless your game takes 8 years to make, but is named after an obscure tiny toons character, is a hero shooter 5 years after everyone collectively got sick of them, and gets shut down after a week after twelve people buy it. hahaaaaa, topical!

9/10

NOTE: the superboss kurt zisa is named after a guy who won a contest before the US version of the game came out. i thought it was just some name they came up with willy nilly but no, there's an actual guy in this country named kurt zisa. imagine if i won that contest instead! ooooooh watch out for the ultra scary and powerful secret boss... apple pecan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! squeak :3

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

soriku little mermaid thread part 9

(Part 8)

Part 9: Dream Drop Distance

This brings us to the Ursula fight from the beginning of Dream Drop Distance.

Ursula turns her new power against Ariel, and when Eric comes to her defense (which results in the deaths of Ursula’s pet eels RIP), Ursula does her thing.

Y’know, getting humongous. Creating a storm. Trapping Sora and Riku in a vortex.

Oops did I say Sora and Riku? I meant Eric and Ariel.

LMAO Because it’s basically, basically, the very first DDD fight. Smh.

And like. Imagine. I can imagine someone going “well sora and riku fight ursula bc kh always recreates disney fights” BUT BRUH WHY WAS IT THIS FIGHT. Sure, none of that tutorial/intro made sense without context but. Sora and Riku literally reenact the fucking climax of the little mermaid and just? That’s it?? They just pass out and go to Traverse next? This fucking blatant ass parallel is just here—a parallel to a movie where one character has to figure out who’s the one he loves and who’s the clone, because his memory of the one he loves is kinda fucky—and it goes completely unaddressed and unutilized within DDD itself. I guess they just scrapped the idea, and kept Ursula because “water villain”. Why am I even writing this bullshit, what am I even doing here? 🤣

I’m wondering who saves who, is what I’m doing.

Because Eric is technically the one who kills Ursula and saves Ariel. Could Sora end up being the one who saves Riku somehow? (once Sora isn’t fucking trapped in crystal ig) I think it’d make sense in part. Ariel was the one fighting for Eric throughout the whole movie, so now that Eric knows who Ariel is, who his true love is, it’s his turn to fight for her and prove himself and his love.

Like how Riku has saved Sora, well, twice in terms of waking Sora up (and I’m assuming he’ll wake Sora a third time). Maybe it could be Sora's turn soon. This part of the parallel just has me thinking.

(Part 10)

[baohouse]

The Bittersweet Music of Kingdom Hearts

I’m just getting back from Hollywood (Los Angeles) for a Kingdom Hearts Orchestra concert. I’m still reeling from the emotion pouring from the event, and I’m writing to express where it comes from. It’s such a complex feeling of both delight and sorrow.

Kingdom Hearts is a video game directed by Tetsuya Nomura, which follows the journey of Sora through a universe that contains multiple worlds pulled from Disney films, such as Agrabah of Aladdin, Atlantica from The Little Mermaid, or Neverland with Peter Pan. Sora's quest is to uncover the origin of darkness and to prevent its corruption from destroying the worlds. He bears a key-shaped weapon called a Keyblade that is used to lock the gates from which darkness spews forth. There are a lot of themes surrounding hearts (and the light and darkness contained within it), memories, raison d'être (reason for living), friendship, and awakening. It's an interesting tale that merits being among the collection of folktales spanning the Disney films, and so successful it has been that it has spawned multiple sequels and prequels.

The musical composer, Yoko Shimomura met and Tetsuya initially met and began their collaboration together in Los Angeles. Her style is influenced by Beethoven, Chopin, and Ravel, though I'm not a musical critic to make a faithful analysis. What I can say is that classical music has been a staple in my life, from the aforementioned 19th-century classical composers, to modern day Kitarō, Nobuo Uetmatsu, and Joe Hisaishi.

The story of Kingdom Hearts, through Yoko's music, sets up an environment of wonderment as you're exploring the world of Disney, as well as sorrow as you're bearing witness to the characters who must toil through their ordeals. How can I convey what I mean about sorrow?

Yoko has a few songs that are themes to the characters themselves, such as Xion, a girl who is part of the mysterious Organization XIII who are plotting to take advantage of the darkness consuming the worlds in order to assert their own dominance over it. In this universe, the darkness can be split into two camps: the Heartless, beings born from the darkness within people's hearts. And their counterpart are the Nobodies, bodies whose heart was taken from them, and who yearn to be whole again by regaining a heart.

Xion, along with the rest of Organization XIII, is a Nobody. She and two of her comrades, Roxas and Axel, try to fill the void of lacking a heart by becoming friends, despite not knowing what friendship really feels like or what it really means (since they have no hearts). As time goes on, Xion uncovers the truth about her origin; she is not a typical Nobody born from a real person whose heart was stolen. Instead, she is an artificial Nobody, a Puppet, designed to absorb the powers of other beings. Organization XIII intended her to copy Roxas' power as an experiment. But it is soon revealed that she not only absorbs and copies powers, but is inadvertently sapping the life essence of Roxas, her best friend. If she continues to live, Roxas will eventually cease to exist. She has to make a fatal decision on which of the two should live: herself, or her best friend. Thus Xion's Theme plays out in a gentle fashion, exuding her warmth and kindness. But there is an element to the melody which plays out in a gentle sadness, reflecting the dilemma she faces. Her life is not one of joy, but rather one of overwhelming desire to cherish her friends, even if it costs her life. "Is it that I'm not supposed to exist?" she laments.

The Other Promise is the theme for Roxas, Xion's best friend whom she sacrifices herself to protect. The song has elements of torrential emotion that signifies the unease he feels of being a Nobody and not having memories of his "past life". When he is told that his "past life", the real person, Sora, needs be whole again by having Roxas disappear and re-merge into Sora, Roxas retaliates, "No! My heart belongs to me!" It reminds me of the many times I hear parents telling their children they found them in the trash bin and adopted them, which sounds like a cruel joke at times. If you're someone who has been told that you are not wanted, or that you shouldn't exist, is it wrong to rebel and assert your right to exist? Especially after you've fought and formed your own memories, identity, and even friends, as Roxas asks, "How could you even say such a thing... even if it were true?" The song conveys this lingering unease, a desire to exist, while knowing that his existence means someone else, in this case Sora, cannot.

The song Dearly Beloved plays out like a lullaby of a sweet dream. When I first heard this song, it reminded me of the struggle of hiking up Half Dome in Yosemite; a constant pace for an ever-rising crescendo, a reminder of that every step is a small movement towards a destiny on the horizon. And each step isn't taken lightly; it's an ongoing struggle from giving up. This is a the journey of Sora, in a sense; he is separated from his two best friends after being pulled in through the door of darkness, Riku and Kairi, going through world after world in search for them, holding on to only hints and clues that they are alive and okay. Maybe it strikes a chord within me because there is a distance I feel with my best friends where I hang on only to tweets and status updates as hints to their well being.

I think the world of Kingdom Hearts plays with the various themes in such poignant way, that it is an expected drama for what I originally thought was a game geared for young children. And perhaps for kids (or adults with young hearts), some of the themes and realizations could very well be tearjerking; they grapple with ideas for which there is not a clear right or wrong answer (of course, there are also very clear good and bad guys in the mix).

There's a scene in which Sora finds one of his best friends, Kairi, who is in a deep slumber, but is unable to wake up because a part of her heart is missing. Sora realizes that the missing piece of Kairi's heart actually resides in his own heart, and so he unlocks his heart to release that piece of her heart so it can rejoin her. The scene is probably the metaphor I would choose for myself after having listened to the orchestra concert; a pouring of emotion that was previously locked away for months, if not years, in the slumber within the midst of day-to-day work. I think the music of Kingdom Hearts speaks in a language that resonates. And what's more amazing, I think, is all the people present at the concert understood that language too.

P.S. Yes, I cried.

[jenkinsgames-blog]

Sound Inspiration Research

In this post I’ll be investigating and discussing video game soundtracks that have inspired me throughout the last term’s project. Although in a previous evaluation I decided that I wouldn’t have enough time to create the music for my game, I had still looked into the following so decided to get this research down for future use, but also because these pieces of music inspired the general narrative and genre of my game long before I’d even thought about what music to use.

Kingdom Hearts

The Kingdom Hearts series is made up of many games that have the player walk through the winding and confusing timeline of the series. Our main protagonist is Sora, but in other games the player also takes control of characters such as Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Roxas, and Riku. The narrative of the series is very long and complicated so I’ll skip trying to explain it in full, but the games take place in a universe where Final Fantasy and Disney characters live among each other in separate worlds through which the player character explores and battles enemies. Each Disney world features characters from different classic movies, and shows parts of those movies stories; these worlds in Kingdom Hearts are full of beautiful and brilliant orchestra pieces that are played constantly in the background, each unique to the film the world is representing. For example, when in the The Little Mermaid world, Atlantica, a version of “Under the Sea” plays. The reason that this inspires me is that the pieces are so beautifully written and fit the worlds really well, which is something that I really wanted to achieve in my own game/ interactive graphic novel. This inspired me to want to have a piece of music for each character’s death, and in my GDD I wrote, for example, that Daniel (my nerdy character) would have a retro 8-bit style piece playing over the artwork of his death to represent his personality. 

Professor Layton

The Professor Layton games on the Nintendo DS have very similar soundtracks, consisting of pieces written with percussion and string instruments, and also a lot of piano. The music in these games could even be described as sinister and chaotic, building tension throughout the mystery puzzle games. However, there are also a lot of calmer pieces for the more relaxed parts of the games. This series’ soundtrack has inspired me in this project because it’s one that I have fond memories of from when I was a child, really building the tension when I was unable to solve a puzzle - making me not only more frustrated at times, but also relaxing me when I needed it simply because of how beautiful the music actually was. Creating music like this would be a massive achievement considering the genre I have developed my narrative and visuals for is also a mystery. I would have liked to have had similar pieces play throughout the game, looping when the player character was in certain rooms. 

Majora’s Mask

As a massive fan of the The Legend of Zelda games, I knew that at one point or another throughout the course I was going to take a look at one of the games I really loved as a kid for inspiration. It just so happened that when I was looking for music that would inspire me this project, Majora’s Mask came to mind. Although having some very light-hearted and uplifting pieces in the game like the music that plays in Clock Town, the game also features some darker pieces too, which isn’t surprising considering that many fans believe that the entire narrative of the classic game is a metaphor for the beloved protagonist Link’s death. One piece that particularly stands out to me is the Marsh Land music. It sounds incredibly tinny and discomforting, causing the player to feel on-edge. The Majora’s Mask soundtrack inspires me with my project because it is extremely memorable because of it’s beauty and ability to set the tone of each part of the game - this is something that I could only dream to achieve, especially considering the supposed hidden nature of this game being quite disturbing, where my game is just extremely gory and graphic.

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

more little mermaid spam! take cover

so i watched the little mermaid for that DDD soriku parallel but got more than i bargained for lmao here’s a bit of my random screaming:

We get Ariel as dawn. Or light in the darkness lol. When Eric first sees her, the clouds part and the sun shines right behind Ariel, shining on them both.

i thought it was funny how Ariel fell in love with Eric at first sight, and never lost sight of her love for him.

Whereas Eric, he fell for Ariel instantly, too. But he lost sight of it because of outside circumstances and his own confusion.

The way Sora has always loved Riku, but doesn’t realize that he is IN love with him. Because he’s only ever seen straight romances, and we know Sora is also confused about love.

The way Ariel’s dad is like “He’s a human! You’re a mermaid!” and when Ariel doesn’t listen, he destroys the statue of Eric, like—

The fact that there’s a statue of Eric at all is just 👀

“We represent someone who can help you. Someone who can make all your dreams come true. Just imagine…you and your prince. Together forever.”

If anything, Ariel turning to Ursula’s witchcraft for freedom to be with her true love is more reminiscent of kh1 Riku but 🤷🏽‍♀️

Ariel and Eric, on a tour of the kingdom. GIMME THE SORIKU DATES. RN.

And just—dude. Eric keeps playing Ariel’s song to the ocean, hoping she’ll find him. He’s calling out to her, with their song.

…..are you kidding meeeee

And RIGHT when Eric is about to choose Ariel anyway, and forget about his “mystery maiden”, the fuckingg Ariel-clone pops up. An Ariel lookalike, with Ariel’s voice.

Now Eric is with the wrong person, and they’re planning to marry at sunset.

…Like Sora keeps on ending up with the wrong person, especially now with Yozora.

Ariel gets back her voice, which lets Eric finally recognize her.

And i’m just here thinking about Sora’s memoriesss like—

“You’re the one. It was you all the time.”

Hhhhh—

Ariel falling to Ursula’s curse the moment the sun sets—and Eric chasing after her: “I lost her once. I’m not gonna lose her again.”

The ddd ursula fight—eric and ariel fighting giant ursula in a storm, soriku doing the exact same thing in the beginning of ddd, um???

“So much for true love!”

And the way Ariel can finally reunite with Eric, at sunriseeeee againnnn whyyyyy

lmao and we get the wedding with the big rainbow scene LOL this was great 🤣 im seeing soriku everywhere help 😭😭😭

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

soriku little mermaid thread part 8

(Part 7)

Part 8: When will you learn that your actions have consequences

[Actual footage of me @ my phone]

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I'M TELLING YOU. RIKU GAME IS THE LITTLE MERMAID IN DISGUISE.

So turns out Eric is about to marry Ursula. *gag*

Now, I know Vanessa is Ursula, but I also said that Ursula is MoM, and Vanessa is Yozora. And like, who knows how the fuck either of these characters are related to Unreality, much less to each other, but my crack idea is that Yozora is MoM’s oc. Or pawn, whatever lol. But even if they aren’t somehow connected (doubt it), they’re both still looking to be two “antagonists” or at least, y’know. Outside forces. Basically, I’m not implying they’re the same person lol (but I’m standing by my OC crack idea)

So Eric and Vanessa’s wedding ship leaves without Ariel and she is sufferingggggg

obligatory tear screenshots because imagine we see riku cry—

After learning Vanessa is Ursula in disguise, Ariel chases after the boat to stop the wedding.

“...before the sun sets on the third day.”

Hmm.

that’s not me being dramatic btw, Ursula’s line literally echoes in the movie lmao

We cut to the wedding for a moment, and the only dialogue we hear is “Dearly beloved—” before the scene changes 👀

There’s a typical Disney scene where the animals help the princess, during which Vanessa’s necklace snaps and shatters at Ariel’s feet. Her voice rises out of the necklace and returns to Ariel.

She regains her lost voice at sunset.

The spell over Eric also breaks. And now that Ariel’s voice is in the right place, Eric realizes that Ariel, and the girl who saved him—whom Eric has been in love with from the start—, are the same person.

S—Sora. If he regains his lost memories—I—No words.

“You’re the one. It was you all the time.”

It was Riku the whole time.

When Sora finally realizes—

It’s too late. Ursula’s spell has run its course, the sun has set, and it’s time for Ariel to make good on the contract she signed for the spell.

So this is a role swap, I’d say, of Sora and Riku’s presumed roles? Riku is the one who pays the price this time.

For Ariel, the price is however the heck Ursula plans to use her to target King Triton. But like I mentioned before, Ursula isn’t out to get Ariel herself. Ursula is just using Ariel as a means to an end. To take King Triton’s power.

“Poor little princess. It’s not you I’m after. I’ve a much bigger fish to (fry).”

For Riku—🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ If it ends up being MoM who’s trying to use Riku to defeat darkness, who knows what he’s planning.

Ursula uses Ariel to force King Triton to surrender himself in Ariel’s place, and Ursula takes his crown, and his power.

“The daughter of the great sea king is a very precious commodity. But, I might be willing to make an exchange.”

I don’t necessarily think Riku himself would be literally getting exchanged somehow lol, it’s just interesting to me.

Meanwhile, Eric is chasing after Ariel to save her.

“I lost her once. I’m not gonna lose her again.”

lookin at u, sora

(Part 9)

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

soriku little mermaid thread part 5

(Part 4)

Part 5: Sora is Eric

All of the Sora speculation. All of it. ...Most of it. A bit.

So I’ve been saying Sora is Eric this whole time, and ya I take it for granted since, if Riku is Ariel, naturally Sora is Eric.

But there’s the thing about Eric that drives me nuts, which I’ve already talked about, being that Eric doesn’t know WHO saved him.

To Eric’s knowledge, he was rescued by some random girl. Who he saw at the center of a bright light. Who’s song he heard. And actually, that reminds me of Sora hearing this ringing sound when he called out to Riku's light in the tunnel in Kh3. Anyway.

Eric, who is at the shore bordering his palace, is playing a recorder or some shit (idk wind instruments). Eric is at the shore, and he is playing Ariel’s song.

He is playing her song, that she sang to him.

“That voice. I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve looked everywhere, Max. Where could she be?”

Eric is calling out. To the girl who saved him. With her song.

So I think of Sora. Crystallized. I’ve posted several of my Crystal Sora thoughts, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned this as much.

Which is that I want Sora to be calling out, with his and Riku’s song. Or the other way around. Or both.

It’s part of what has me thinking about the Dearly Beloved that plays at the end of the secret episode. How the full version—both parts—play if Sora defeats Yozora, but only one part, Riku’s, plays if Sora loses and gets crystallized. Yeah obviously it’s its own thing unrelated to my little mermaid bs, but i love wondering how I could incorporate it into the parallel.

Like, I love to think, what if while Sora’s asleep, and dreaming, he’s subconsciously calling out with the song. To the unknown person who saved him, or just calling out in general and hoping for a response like how Eric plays the song to the beach, to the water, perhaps hoping the girl he’s looking for will hear him and find him. (and that’s why i go batshit for “I Wonder” from Sleeping Beauty)

It’s also funny to me that Eric fell for Ariel instantly, too, but because of the circumstances, he doesn’t realize Ariel is the person he’s in love with, specifically.

Kinda like how Sora loves Riku but doesn’t really realize it yet.

And we’re finally here. Eric finds Ariel. (the dog led him to her, sora and pluto parallel smh)

I always have to quote the dialogue when Eric and Ariel meet because this was one of the first things that hit me about this parallel.

“You seem very familiar to me. Have we met?”

Ariel nods.

“We have met. I knew it! You’re the one! The one I’ve been looking for! What’s your name?”

Ariel can’t answer, because she lost her voice.

“What’s wrong? What is it? You can’t speak? Oh. Oh, then you couldn’t be who I thought.”

…

I’m.

Like. When I post about Sora dreaming shit in order to figure out his fucking feelings—and I say “maybe he dreams of a mystery person”, y’know, maybe the person who saved him, who Sora doesn’t know the identity of.

Like if he had this whole type of interaction, where he “meets” the person, but because the key memory of who it was is lost, Sora wouldn’t be able to know who it is right away.

And finally I get to the fucking, crux, of this parallel. Sora has that person right in front of him. He is this fucking close, but this one missing memory blinds him to the truth. (CoM, istg—)

And this is part of why Recoded infuriates me. Because, Lost Memories.

Which is like an extension of CoM. True Memories.

“Try too hard to remember, and your memory might lie to you.”

“The memory is gone, but the feeling’s still there! With the right trigger, I’m sure it would all come back.”

I hate. Everything.

(Part 6)