thatkingdomheartsguy 153 Posted July 28, 2016 I wanted to talk about this for awhile; get my thoughts out on these forums, and maybe we can get some good discussion going. This is regarding the three main characters of Birth by Sleep: Terra, Aqua, and Ven. I don't like them. Not in the sense that they're "annoying characters" or in context of the game they're bad; it's literally because I don't think Square did a good job on establishing their personalities, characteristics, and most importantly, the character relationships between the three of them. When we compare them to the original trio Sora, Riku, and Kairi, they just seem...bland and boring. Terra is a teenage boy with a lust for Darkness inside his heart. Okay, so what's next? We basically know nothing about him aside from that. He goes to a world, becomes a villain (usually due to stupid decisions), learns his mistake, then becomes a villain again in the next world. It's unbelievably frustrating. Ventus is the youngest of the trio, and boring as hell. He acts somewhat similarly to Sora, but just less...interesting. Sora had specific traits and qualities that made him somewhat unique amongst others, even if his personality is the typical cliche "naive happy-go-lucky child". Ventus is basically a slightly diminished version of Sora's personality...with nothing else. The only thing of significance that's related to him is Vanitas, and even then, that doesn't stop him from being forgettable. Aqua is perhaps the most level headed out of the three, but honestly she doesn't have many interesting traits either. Ironically though (despite her awful voice acting in the English version), she is probably the most interesting out of the three (that's not saying much though) as she's the only one with a logical mind, and has a motivation behind her actions as she's trying to lookout for Terra and Ven, being the only Keyblade Master of the three. That being said, I can deal with these problems. However, what I do have grudge against is the relationship between the three. Their dialogue is awkward, and their friendship just doesn't seem very legitimate. The game attempts to prove their friendship at the beginning by showing them interacting for a few minutes and having a few sparring matches. The problem is that it really doesn't show me anything or give me any clue that they may be friends. They try to make up for this lack of character development by adding it on later on in the form of flashbacks, but that doesn't show me anything either. It just seems that the game is trying to desperately tell you that they're friends, even if they don't seem to act like so. You can't do that. You can't just tell me, "these people are friends" and expect me to believe that. People said the ending of BBS was depressing and sad. For me, I didn't feel anything. I didn't connect with these people throughout the game. The game told me they were friends, alright, but that's not enough for me. You have to SHOW me that they are friends with each other, that they care about each other, and show me HOW their character interaction/development strengthens their friendship. Just telling me "these three people are friends" is not enough, because if I don't see it in the way they act, I won't give a *** about their characters. Terra is left only with his lingering sentiment in the form of an armor. Aqua is stuck in the realm of darkness. Ven lost his heart and is likely to not wake up for a very long time. So what? I don't care. I don't care about these characters at all. The game attempts to build this weak friendship, and expects me to care about their tragic fates and sacrifices, but in the end, all I see are three characters meeting a tragic end. And that isn't enough for me. Perhaps a perfect example of what character development between friends should be like is actually 358/2 Days. Say what you want about the repetitive story and gameplay; the bond formed between Roxas, Axel, and Xion was unbelievably well done. You can tell they were friends. You can tell they cared about each other a great amount, even thought they supposedly can't feel. The game does so well in conveying that sense of friendship to you that you genuinely cared about them. Why do many people say Xion's death is the saddest scene in the series? It's because you formed a strong connection with the idea that those three are friends, so you genuinely felt sad when Xion dies in front of Roxas's eyes. This matters in a game where friendship is such a heavy theme. It was almost vital that BBS nails this bond between their three main characters, because that's what makes the story intriguing and captivating. Unfortunately, the way they presented the characters were poorly done, and they just didn't spend enough time on the three character's relations with each other until they progressed the plot. That is where BBS's story falls; it attempts to build a friendship, rushes it and fails, then attempts to get you to care about the characters that you know little to nothing about. 7 Dave, Fates Chance XIII, Mirr0rVS13 and 4 others reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The 13th Kenpachi 4,279 Posted July 28, 2016 I agree, the only good characters were Aqua, MX, Vanitas and Braig. Ven, Eraqus and Terra are awful characters. The game forces you to think they are all best friends and have some super special bond, but we've barely seen them hang out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RikuFangirl2008 1,368 Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) Well, I mean it's was all about bonds and they are friends. And yeah they do seem "far apart" and haven't even hang out like Roxas, Axel, and Xion. But I do feel the type of emotions when hearing the dialogue. Things were in the way between them. Terra and Aqua were out putting a stop to the Unversed despite one is in one world and the other is in a different world. And when Aqua visited worlds that Terra traveled, she was also keeping tabs on Terra (following what Eraqus told her in secret). Ventus went after Terra just to warn him about Vanitas, and he wasn't suppose to leave but he's has the power to forge out the X-blade. Something Xehanort wants.... It's like when I said: "Things were in the way between them". It's like comparing to the real world around us. We all have friends we have met in our lives, and haven't seen them in years. They are busy with things that are in the way, just like us. We all are spread out doing things. Some friends are very close to us, and we might've grew some bonds when we are out with them. Even with our own brothers and sisters (siblings). Just like I've been very close with my brother in the past, but when he's out in the Navy, he's out there and I'm still in the states. Temporary, I only feel lonely when I have the house to myself, and my dad is out at his job. Just like the bonds that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus shared and make them strong in tough situations, we might've done the same, but only when negative things brings us down. Edited July 28, 2016 by RikuFangirl2008 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fates Chance XIII 307 Posted July 28, 2016 THIS!! SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT! Don't get me wrong I liked BBS, it was fun, it had its moments, game play was fun but the characters always just got in the way. One of the reasons I liked Days so much was because of the main characters. Despite lack luster game play and graphics, I eagerly worked through them to get to those story bits. I wanted, needed to know what would happen, would everything g be ok, would Axel and roxas stop fighting, would xion come back, would they ever get to the beach. I had to know, because I cared. BBS was kind the opposite. I liked the game play and graphics more and the moments when we went back to the story I just sort of tolerated. I was invested in the story, sure, but more so for the lore and the it being another puzzle piece to the series. I was more excited when we got to see Sora, Riku, Kairi, Lea and Isa even the Organization XIII members than when I found out major plot point of the main characters story. If this is the case in any game where the main draw is the STORY then something has gone terribly terribly wrong. If we break it down a little further, BBS and Days have one of the same overarching themes: Dying friendships. Days does it alot better but essentially the two stories are about a group of friends falling apart and desperately trying to keep it together. In Days, your heart just tears when you see things like Xion raising her Keyblade to Roxas after they've been looking for her. You feel so helpless when and sad and confused when Xion starts to drift away. You feel such joy in those first moments of their friendship that when things fall apart you hurt as much as the characters do. But that's only because those characters had a solid foundation from which to launch this dying friendships story. BBS just... doesnt. There's a lot of telling not showing. Eraqu TELLS Terra he is like a son to himake, that Terra is obsessed with power. Aqua TELLS us how great friends they all are, that nothing can drive them apart. And so on and so on. There are genuine moments, like Aqua wish to the stars that they be together always, Eraqus death was a heart jerker, Aqua diving into the realm of darkness Terranort from the realm of darkness at the end those were good. And you can see where the writers were trying to establish this friendship, they just did it very poorly. It is the job of the story writer to convince us that the characters have a relationship, not come out and say it and shove it in our face. Subtly, treating your audience like they can think and see for themselves the relationship is so much more powerful. That scene when Xion disappears in Roxas arms, and she leaves behind a shell. Roxas says nothing, he looks like he is in disbelief watching her disappear into the sky. He looks at the shell, and when he touches it, a memory of Xion happy and smiling at their usual spot flashes through his mind. It's not said, but you know that that was all Roxas wanted, was to see a smile on her face again, to have her and Axel be happy and together in their usual spot. He thinks of what was and what can now never be again. He sobs, and tear roll down his face. He says her name, maybe to convince himself that she was real that he still remembers her. And the screen fades to black. Compare that to Aqua saving Terranort when he falls into the RoD. He stabs himself, you see panic in Aqua eyes as she watches him fall into unconsciousNess and sink into a dark hole. She runs, she jumps, she dives. That's a good moment but what's next is just ok. She tells us how if she doesn't make it back before the portal closes they will both be lost. (something we can already guess from what we know. She is stating the obvious.) She takes off her armour, send Terra flying and sinks into the darkness giving her apology to Ven. It may be the voice actor but it doesn't sound right to me. The way she says it is to cheerful . This is a SAD, SAD moment. She should sound sad. Maybe get choked up or something. Maybe zoom out, so and have her say that line as she watches the portal close as she sinks. Or zoom in and see her face be sad as she looks down at her defeat, of her being trapped now. She's not convincing. Was it meant to be ironic? A laugh so you don't cry sort of thing. This moment was to be our Xion death moment. The defeat, the failure of our main characters goal. And it failed spectacularly at conveying that in my book. You can't just throw in sad scenes and expect them to resonate if you don't make us care that this sad thing has happened! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thatkingdomheartsguy 153 Posted July 28, 2016 Well, I mean it's was all about bonds and they are friends. And yeah they do seem "far apart" and haven't even hang out like Roxas, Axel, and Xion. But I do feel the type of emotions when hearing the dialogue. Things were in the way between them. Terra and Aqua were out putting a stop to the Unversed despite one is in one world and the other is in a different world. And when Aqua visited worlds that Terra traveled, she was also keeping tabs on Terra (following what Eraqus told her in secret). Ventus went after Terra just to warn him about Vanitas, and he wasn't suppose to leave but he's has the power to forge out the X-blade. Something Xehanort wants.... It's like when I said: "Things were in the way between them". It's like comparing to the real world around us. We all have friends we have met in our lives, and haven't seen them in years. They are busy with things that are in the way, just like us. We all are spread out doing things. Some friends are very close to us, and we might've grew some bonds when we are out with them. Even with our own brothers and sisters (siblings). Just like I've been very close with my brother in the past, but when he's out in the Navy, he's out there and I'm still in the states. Temporary, I only feel lonely when I have the house to myself, and my dad is out at his job. Just like the bonds that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus shared and make them strong in tough situations, we might've done the same, but only when negative things brings us down. Obviously it's opinionated whether you felt sadness or not for their tragic endings, and I'm not entitled to challenge your opinion. My point is, whatever BBS has done with the friendships of the three, they could've made it infinitely more convincing. Sure, there were a lot of obstacles between them, and they didn't have much to work with. But the game could've at least emphasized more on the three being genuine friends by focusing a little more on it; at least that would've made things more convincing. My problem is that all the game has done that shows us they're friends is straight up say it. That's not enough. You can't expect me to believe if they're friends unless you SHOW me that they're friends. Telling me isn't enough. I went into the game not caring about what happened to each of the characters because I just didn't develop a connection to them like I had for Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Axel, etc. Show me they're friends. Show me in the way they interact. Show me in the way they talk, the way they act. Show me that they genuinely care about each other, don't just tell me "I care about you" because if you don't sound convincing, I don't care. It's not real. My problem is not the way that the game splits them apart. I'd be totally fine with that if they game had convinced me if they're friends; in fact, that would've made the story more intriguing because it would've been more tragic, and I would've liked to know what happens next. However, when all they show us is a couple of sparring matches between them+awkward dialogue, I would not have known they were good friends at all if the game didn't straight up tell me. Anyways I'm kinda ranting now. I guess my point is that the game should've emphasized more on their friendship and less on them meeting tragic ends, because friendship is a prerequisite for their tragic ends to actually be, well, tragic. If I genuinely cared about the three friends, the ending would've torn me apart. It would've been painful, I would've felt the sadness, and that is what makes a story so good. However if they don't establish a strong connection between the three, I don't care about the ending. All I see are three people meeting depressing fates, and that's not enough for me to care about it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dracozombie 4,554 Posted July 29, 2016 When you get down to it, KH in general has a habit of people supposedly being close friends not bothering to talk things out. Even Roxas/Axel/Xion, imo the most solid trio that actually feel like friends besides Sora/Donald/Goofy, wind up falling apart because of a lack of communication (though at least it's because there are awful truths involved). I like TAV but I honestly prefer seeing them in fanfiction and fanart rather than the actual games, where their friendship is condensed into the first few minutes and then they spend the rest of the game separated and getting into fights -- not really a lot of friendship going on there. And while we're on the subject of Ventus, he is honestly one of my least favorite characters, but only because we already have Sora and Roxas -- I don't really need someone who's essentially a blend of both. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Way2Dawn 80 Posted July 31, 2016 I wanted to talk about this for awhile; get my thoughts out on these forums, and maybe we can get some good discussion going. This is regarding the three main characters of Birth by Sleep: Terra, Aqua, and Ven. I don't like them. Not in the sense that they're "annoying characters" or in context of the game they're bad; it's literally because I don't think Square did a good job on establishing their personalities, characteristics, and most importantly, the character relationships between the three of them. When we compare them to the original trio Sora, Riku, and Kairi, they just seem...bland and boring. Terra is a teenage boy with a lust for Darkness inside his heart. Okay, so what's next? We basically know nothing about him aside from that. He goes to a world, becomes a villain (usually due to stupid decisions), learns his mistake, then becomes a villain again in the next world. It's unbelievably frustrating. Ventus is the youngest of the trio, and boring as hell. He acts somewhat similarly to Sora, but just less...interesting. Sora had specific traits and qualities that made him somewhat unique amongst others, even if his personality is the typical cliche "naive happy-go-lucky child". Ventus is basically a slightly diminished version of Sora's personality...with nothing else. The only thing of significance that's related to him is Vanitas, and even then, that doesn't stop him from being forgettable. Aqua is perhaps the most level headed out of the three, but honestly she doesn't have many interesting traits either. Ironically though (despite her awful voice acting in the English version), she is probably the most interesting out of the three (that's not saying much though) as she's the only one with a logical mind, and has a motivation behind her actions as she's trying to lookout for Terra and Ven, being the only Keyblade Master of the three. That being said, I can deal with these problems. However, what I do have grudge against is the relationship between the three. Their dialogue is awkward, and their friendship just doesn't seem very legitimate. The game attempts to prove their friendship at the beginning by showing them interacting for a few minutes and having a few sparring matches. The problem is that it really doesn't show me anything or give me any clue that they may be friends. They try to make up for this lack of character development by adding it on later on in the form of flashbacks, but that doesn't show me anything either. It just seems that the game is trying to desperately tell you that they're friends, even if they don't seem to act like so. You can't do that. You can't just tell me, "these people are friends" and expect me to believe that. People said the ending of BBS was depressing and sad. For me, I didn't feel anything. I didn't connect with these people throughout the game. The game told me they were friends, alright, but that's not enough for me. You have to SHOW me that they are friends with each other, that they care about each other, and show me HOW their character interaction/development strengthens their friendship. Just telling me "these three people are friends" is not enough, because if I don't see it in the way they act, I won't give a *** about their characters. Terra is left only with his lingering sentiment in the form of an armor. Aqua is stuck in the realm of darkness. Ven lost his heart and is likely to not wake up for a very long time. So what? I don't care. I don't care about these characters at all. The game attempts to build this weak friendship, and expects me to care about their tragic fates and sacrifices, but in the end, all I see are three characters meeting a tragic end. And that isn't enough for me. Perhaps a perfect example of what character development between friends should be like is actually 358/2 Days. Say what you want about the repetitive story and gameplay; the bond formed between Roxas, Axel, and Xion was unbelievably well done. You can tell they were friends. You can tell they cared about each other a great amount, even thought they supposedly can't feel. The game does so well in conveying that sense of friendship to you that you genuinely cared about them. Why do many people say Xion's death is the saddest scene in the series? It's because you formed a strong connection with the idea that those three are friends, so you genuinely felt sad when Xion dies in front of Roxas's eyes. This matters in a game where friendship is such a heavy theme. It was almost vital that BBS nails this bond between their three main characters, because that's what makes the story intriguing and captivating. Unfortunately, the way they presented the characters were poorly done, and they just didn't spend enough time on the three character's relations with each other until they progressed the plot. That is where BBS's story falls; it attempts to build a friendship, rushes it and fails, then attempts to get you to care about the characters that you know little to nothing about. I feel as if I need to comment on this because BBS is by far my favorite title of the series, not only because the combat and gameplay was fun and creative (its a little floaty, who cares?) and I could spend hours on end melding commands like theyre going out of style, I think you have it all wrong. I dont want to discredit your opinion, everyones entitled to it, but you posted because you wanted a discussion, so allow me to offer a rebuttal. This might get long, so buckle up. You've been warned! (There will be a TL;DR dont worry!) TL;DR -Character Development is a Strength of this title IMO, you realize it while theyre separated -This type of development is common across the titles -They did a great job with such limited space while other friendships developed over multiple titles/Scenes -Aquas voice is AMAZING! I think they did a great job showing off their friendship regardless of how much time they spent together. This is the first point, it is hard to compare their friendship to other characters due to the lack of screen time. All the other friendships we are meant to believe exist outside of TAV have been shown to us far more and besides Xion, span across multiple titles. Of course Roxas, Axel and Xion's friendship was clear, but we had to sit atop the clock tower 50 times eating ice cream to realize this, and it still didnt really blossom until toward the end of the game. But even before that we received development. While people gripe constantly about how useless the prologue to KHII was, I believe it wasn't, because we got the first glimpse of Axel and Roxas' friendship, where you could literally feel the pain Axel felt trying to save his best friend who had forgotten about him, and how much anger he felt when he finally gave up and saw his friendship as dead and a lost cause. And this progression spilled into Days and DDD, as well as more flashbacks in KHII, which accounts to 3 games of development. And before we get into Sora, Riku and Kairi, was the development of their friendship really much different than how it was handled in KH1. That game started off with a short sequence in which 3 friends were building a raft, theyd have some interaction and sprinkle in a little competition. Then there is conflict, they are separated, which leads to more conflict throughout the meat of the game until Riku take the keyblade, Sora basically says Donald and Goofy are his real friends (and Kairi too I guess) and Sora stabs himself in the heart. While along the way, you meet up with Riku and only find more conflict. It isn't really until the end of your first visit to Hollow Bastion that you feel how close these 3 actually are, and that too is spread into other games (CoM, KHII, Coded, DDD). When you add Kairi into the mix, you dont really see a lot of screen time with her (She only appears in 2 games if you dont count memories/mirages and the Secret ending to DDD) but you still believe she is just as much a part of the group as the other 2. Ill wrap this up, I promise: Terra, Aqua and Ven. These 3 actually fit different roles than the other groups of friends. I understand what you mean, that it is difficult to realize their friendship based off of some awkward flashbacks and a short beginning sequence, but this game forces you to read between the lines and actually does a good job of developing their friendship while they are separated. The whole reason Ven sets out on his adventure is because he cares about Terra and wants to help him, Terra goes alone because he doesn't want anything bad to happen to Ven, and Aqua (why do people hate her voice acting so much? Willa did a great job!) sets out, not only because Eraqus asked her to, but because she wanted to make sure Terra knew he didn't have to walk this path alone. Throughout their journeys, the do meet up and find conflict (just like every other friend group) and this leads to more growth, much like Sora and Riku in KH1. When told that Terra is responsible for Eraqus' fall, Aqua is almost sent into a state of rage toward Yen Sid because she can't understand how he would make such a claim. It is the little things you have to pay attention to, the game isn't going to come outright and say "These three are friends, deal with it!". You actually see it as the game goes on. Ven runs at Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard, and Terra immediately to take care of it for him so he isnt harmed. Aqua leaping to catch a frozen Ven and shooting a barrier to protect Terra. Not to mention, the pain they felt when Ven said "Put and end to me" Sure Terra seems a little much like Riku, he's supposed to. Maybe Aqua could show a little more emotion, thats not her character. Of course Ven is a little boring, he came into the group as a blank slate (how many days did we have to get through before Roxas could put together a sentence?). Id rather have it this way than having yet another Trio with the same roles. And we are supposed to realize all this in 1 title. Its easy to understand character development if you have played all 7 games, and while others were able to develop over multiple titles, I think they did a great job of building up this friendship with the limited space they had, and (hopefully) 0.2 A Fragmentary Package (IGN LOL) will build upon this and give us an even better understanding heading into KH3. Whew, talk about an essay. I feel like I am in college again! Sorry if this seems all over the place. Writing isnt my forte Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thatkingdomheartsguy 153 Posted August 1, 2016 (edited) I feel as if I need to comment on this because BBS is by far my favorite title of the series, not only because the combat and gameplay was fun and creative (its a little floaty, who cares?) and I could spend hours on end melding commands like theyre going out of style, I think you have it all wrong. I dont want to discredit your opinion, everyones entitled to it, but you posted because you wanted a discussion, so allow me to offer a rebuttal. This might get long, so buckle up. You've been warned! (There will be a TL;DR dont worry!) Hey cool, I'm always up for some discussion. It's interesting to see other people's view points, especially if they disagree. I think they did a great job showing off their friendship regardless of how much time they spent together. This is the first point, it is hard to compare their friendship to other characters due to the lack of screen time. All the other friendships we are meant to believe exist outside of TAV have been shown to us far more and besides Xion, span across multiple titles. Of course Roxas, Axel and Xion's friendship was clear, but we had to sit atop the clock tower 50 times eating ice cream to realize this, and it still didnt really blossom until toward the end of the game. But even before that we received development. While people gripe constantly about how useless the prologue to KHII was, I believe it wasn't, because we got the first glimpse of Axel and Roxas' friendship, where you could literally feel the pain Axel felt trying to save his best friend who had forgotten about him, and how much anger he felt when he finally gave up and saw his friendship as dead and a lost cause. And this progression spilled into Days and DDD, as well as more flashbacks in KHII, which accounts to 3 games of development. And before we get into Sora, Riku and Kairi, was the development of their friendship really much different than how it was handled in KH1. That game started off with a short sequence in which 3 friends were building a raft, theyd have some interaction and sprinkle in a little competition. Then there is conflict, they are separated, which leads to more conflict throughout the meat of the game until Riku take the keyblade, Sora basically says Donald and Goofy are his real friends (and Kairi too I guess) and Sora stabs himself in the heart. While along the way, you meet up with Riku and only find more conflict. It isn't really until the end of your first visit to Hollow Bastion that you feel how close these 3 actually are, and that too is spread into other games (CoM, KHII, Coded, DDD). When you add Kairi into the mix, you dont really see a lot of screen time with her (She only appears in 2 games if you dont count memories/mirages and the Secret ending to DDD) but you still believe she is just as much a part of the group as the other 2. I agree; it is difficult to compare their friendships with other trios, especially since it was just one game. However this could've been an obvious sign for Square, telling them that one game is not enough. For a game that so heavily emphasizes on the three character's friendship (perhaps more than any other KH game so far INCLUDING 1, that's really saying something), the connection just seemed so much weaker than necessary. Honestly I would rather have Square break the story of BBS into several games if necessary, as to really strengthen the key (no pun intended) point of the game. That being said, I do understand why it would be difficult to fit everything into a single game. I still stand by my point however; it still could've been done infinitely better. KH1 did a great job between Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and even Sora, Riku, and Kairi seemed somewhat believable (even if it wasn't the strongest evidence they were friends, you can still believe they were based off the way they acted.) BBS just didn't seem to do that. Ill wrap this up, I promise: Terra, Aqua and Ven. These 3 actually fit different roles than the other groups of friends. I understand what you mean, that it is difficult to realize their friendship based off of some awkward flashbacks and a short beginning sequence, but this game forces you to read between the lines and actually does a good job of developing their friendship while they are separated. The whole reason Ven sets out on his adventure is because he cares about Terra and wants to help him, Terra goes alone because he doesn't want anything bad to happen to Ven, and Aqua (why do people hate her voice acting so much? Willa did a great job!) sets out, not only because Eraqus asked her to, but because she wanted to make sure Terra knew he didn't have to walk this path alone. Throughout their journeys, the do meet up and find conflict (just like every other friend group) and this leads to more growth, much like Sora and Riku in KH1. When told that Terra is responsible for Eraqus' fall, Aqua is almost sent into a state of rage toward Yen Sid because she can't understand how he would make such a claim. It is the little things you have to pay attention to, the game isn't going to come outright and say "These three are friends, deal with it!". You actually see it as the game goes on. Ven runs at Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard, and Terra immediately to take care of it for him so he isnt harmed. Aqua leaping to catch a frozen Ven and shooting a barrier to protect Terra. Yeah but see, that's the thing! The game doesn't spend enough time on their initial friendship before it tries to jump into its long-winded process of supposed "character development". The problem is, how can I see character development when I can't even understand the first three characters to begin with? Sure, we learn a little more, but what little "character development" we see is literally obsoleted by the fact that we don't know anything about them to begin with. They demonstrate certain tidbits throughout the game that they care about each other, but that's not enough; I need to know why. Here's my problem: the game tells you almost nothing about these characters and starts off doing a bad job of introducing them as genuine friends. Then, they rush forward to force some character development and show that these characters care about each other. That's the problem; they're rushing it too much. You can't show me their awkward dialogue and moments, and then tell me "oh, we actually care a lot about each other." Nothing fits in and it doesn't make sense. In comparison to something like KH1, we KNOW that Sora and Riku are best friends at the beginning, which is why we understand Sora's genuine concern for Riku and Kairi. BBS basically does nothing to show they were friends at the beginning, just people who kinda knows each other. And then, the game attempts to fix that mistake by getting them to "care" for each other, when in actuality, I don't know anything about the three or their relationships, so it just makes the supposed "care" they felt for each other feel really fake. So basically what I'm trying to say is that for a game that focuses so much on its "tragic end" due to the "separation of three friends", they really should've emphasized more on the friendship part. Had it been any other type of ending, I would've been perfectly fine with the way they portrayed the three friends. However, because their goal was to achieve that specific type of ending, they NEEDED to perfect the three characters, which they didn't. The friendship between the three should've been just as good as the one between Roxas, Axel, and Xion in 358/2 Days if they truly wanted the ending to have an impact. The ending of BBS should've been the saddest ending in the entire series, but for me, I barely felt anything. That's the main issue I have; the tragic ending that wasn't really tragic, because of character development issues. So tl;dr: -Started off with bad and weak character relations and personality -Attempted to fix this by bringing in clues mid-game that they were friends -All this achieved is a feeling of rushed story and illegitimate friendships -They needed to confirm they were friends at the beginning of the game, and develop MORE on that throughout the game -With a tragic ending like BBS was supposed to have, they had to nail the friendship between the three, which they didn't. Whew, that took awhile. Hopefully got my points down, I'm not a great writer either hah Edited August 1, 2016 by thatkingdomheartsguy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake 1,488 Posted August 1, 2016 Aqua is perhaps the most level headed out of the three, but honestly she doesn't have many interesting traits either. Ironically though (despite her awful voice acting in the English version), she is probably the most interesting out of the three (that's not saying much though) as she's the only one with a logical mind, and has a motivation behind her actions as she's trying to lookout for Terra and Ven, being the only Keyblade Master of the three. Stabbed Willa Holland right in the back, haha. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeartlessAqua 38 Posted August 1, 2016 (edited) Honestly, BBS is the worst game in the series when it comes to characterization and dialogue. BBS can establish relationships and show us some character/narrative development, but it can't flesh them out or make them feel all that real. The problem isn't that they don't spend enough onscreen time together. I think they spend plenty of time together. The problem is that whenever they are on the same screen, their interactions are so robotic and awkwardly-written, and created solely for the sake of moving the plot, so you don't get much out of it. At best, they act like high school kids in a badly-written play. At worst, they act like machines which are programmed to think of each other as friends without really understanding friendship as a real human would. The only characters who really felt natural and lively were the three villains, MX, Vanitas, and Braig. I guess it's because villains are always in the know and are allowed to do things more awesomely and charismatically than heroes typically. Aqua sometimes generates realistic feelings and a sense of true love though. She can be surprisingly, realistically emotive during more dramatic moments. I guess because she was written to be like a mom. But everyone else in this game, including the Disney movie characters, talk and behave in ways which would confound a human being in real life. Very little life and logic. Just a lot of strange script-reading. Edited August 1, 2016 by HeartlessAqua Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kirabook 2 Posted August 8, 2016 The biggest problem Birth by Sleep had is: Being on the PSP Birth by Sleep is my favorite KH game (and Aqua is my fav character) and part of this is because I find their friendship and progression believable based on the limitations of the game and knowing that there was more to this story than what was told. (This is probably rambling, but I have a lot of feelings about this) The System: Birth by Sleep was originally being developed on the PS2 and was switched to PSP. I think this severely crippled the game in length and gameplay in general. I love the gameplay, but maybe all the problems people had with it wouldn't have existed if it were properly developed for the PS2. How many more cutscenes and backstory could we have gotten? How many more team battles like in Radiant Garden could have happened? Maybe we could have gotten some NPCs and made worlds less empty? Etc etc. Birth by Sleep needed more stuff, but I'm not sure a PSP could handle all that stuff. It couldn't even handle capes. ---------------------------- Their Friendship: Their friendship is established in the first few cutscenes of the game AND it's important to remember that this is a sequel, so it relies heavily of friendships that already exist in earlier games. A: The first scene where Aqua catches Ven napping on the cliff side looking at the stars establishes that like Sora, Ven is a big of an air head and will fall asleep anywhere. Aqua is pictured as a caring figure who worries that Ven isn't taking care of himself AND she goes out of her way to lie to Ven about where he's from. Ven eventually asks Aqua a question, and in comes Terra who speaks over Aqua. He then teases Ven saying Ven is like a star (a common trope in this game is Ven being pictured like a star/shooting star) They get into a petty fight and then Aqua comments they're like brothers (in a very cringey way I admit, this is the only voice acting moment of Aqua's that I don't like. Ha) B: This is supposed to resemble and be the opposite of the scene where Kairi finds Sora napping on the beach. While Sora is a lot like Ven, falling asleep anywhere and having strange dreams. Aqua resembles Kairi cause she seems to enjoy startling Ven, but unlike Kairi, she gently rubs his head and insists he should have brought a blanket, where Kairi whacked Sora on the head and told him he was still dreaming. Next, Riku comes in calling both Kairi and Sora lazy bums cause they weren't helping him build the raft. Kairi then says they should race to the raft and Sora and Riku barely hesitate before deciding to compete with each other (which is still a continuous trope between them through the series) Based on just this scene alone, I understood that they were trying to tell me these characters resemble Sora, Kairi, and Riku, but they are not the same. Terra is not as competitive against his friends, Aqua is more gentle than Kairi, and Ven is not as confident as Sora (Ven doesn't look convinced by Aqua telling him his dream was just a dream, Sora didn't seem to care much afterwards) I took that cue and accepted it just like I accepted Sora, Kairi, and Riku being close friends in KH1 before we even learned much about them. I didn't need an entire game of sitting on a clock tower and eating ice cream to understand that they were friends. The flashbacks were enough. It established that Terra and Aqua spend much of their time training with and encouraging Ven. Ven went from a living zombie who broke down and fell into a coma after being asked a few questions to a spunky energetic cinnamon roll. These three didn't just live on the same island down the street from each other. They lived in the same castle, had the same teacher, trained together, and although not shown, clearly did almost everything together. Terra and Aqua basically raised an 11-year-old zombie Ven to a fully active 15-year-old Ven. While I do love The Sims, I don't need to experience every waking moment of their friendship and lives to understand or be convinced. ---------------------------- Prologue Syndrome and Character Development: Birth by Sleep had a LOT to cover. Certain things had to happen in that game for the future games to make sense. They had to explain Aqua's disappearance and Xemnas being in possession of her armor. They had to explain Terra's eyes changing color and his armor still in the keyblade graveyard and his hatred towards Xehanort. They had to explain Ven's existence and why he looked like Roxas, or vice versa. Again, I believe the PSP is the cause for such a condensed version of what BbS could have been, or what I believe it was intended to be. This created situations where the conversations and interactions ended up being awkward or forced. This could have been helped if they hadn't created a situation where all three characters were required to visit all three worlds. This way, worlds for certain characters could have been longer and more thought out with other worlds being optional just for the sake of prizes and extra items. This also really hurt making their character development flow correctly. Because the three were split up due to trying to have every character visit every world and each story was trying not to spoil the others, their character development is really hard to spot or, they never really developed at all (because their stories are not yet done) Terra's development of course, was centered around darkness and what that meant for him. Eraqus drilled into Terra and Aqua that darkness was always bad and the 'correct' path was one of light. This made Terra insecure and that insecurity only increased the darkness inside of him. This problem only increased as the game went along, just as Xehanort planned. Terra never got his chance to develop, and his realizations that "Aqua and Master Eraqus were right" was still wrong. Ven never truly developed on screen because the story wasn't technically about him. His role was to become stronger, not to change as a person. If anything, Ven only became more attached to Terra and Aqua and were intent on protecting them. (In other words, Ven has always been a cinnamon roll) Like Sora, his main problem was being too naive and just jumping into danger. Aqua, arguable the 'main character' of Birth by Sleep, developed the most out of the three. Aqua started off much like Eraqus, believing the only path was light and darkness can only be used for evil. While Aqua has not come to the conclusion that darkness can be used for good (like Riku), it's clear that she doesn't see people who happen to have darkness, like Terra, as evil, just that they must gain control and not just let loose. I believe this will be an ongoing growth of her character, she is the change Eraqus never got to realize and now she carries his will and burden. ---------------------------- The Conflict Between Friends: Terra was also a huge problem. They wanted him to appear to be bad, but not actually be a bad person who does sketchy things on purpose. Unlike Riku, they wanted Terra to be on the good side the whole time. This created an awkward situation. Aqua says she's seen Terra do terrible things without actually seeing anything at all, only hearing second and third hand information. While Ven blindly dismisses all that information, Aqua can't help but start to doubt him just like Master Eraqus. Just one example, the one that bugs me the most: They didn't do a proper job of expressing the conflict between Aqua and Terra. They made Aqua seem like she was abandoning Terra. This is partially because of the differences between Riku and Terra. Take Riku for example. In KH1 in Neverland, Riku basically told Sora that he embraced the darkness and would use it to get what he wants. In that moment, Sora was able to tell Riku "YOU'RE STUPID" (literally). Obviously Sora didn't tell RIku this because he hated him. He felt his friend was stupid and he was worried. Aqua didn't get to have a "YOU'RE STUPID" moment because Terra never embraced the darkness like that, nor did he ever intentionally do something that can be considered bad. While people should have read Aqua's doubt as worrying about her friend going down a "YOU'RE STUPID" path, it was read more like she completely believed everything she heard sketchy second hand and no longer trusted him. The solution to this should have been Aqua seeing Terra do something sketchy first hand, they should have allowed her to see Terra striking Braig (a royal guard of Radiant Garden) and Xehanort reassuring him about darkness. They should have allowed Aqua to see "Terra" taking Aurora's heart. Small things like that would have made that moment in Radiant Garden much better and Aqua's feelings (disbelief, worry, even some apprehension) more clear. Another solution could have been allowing Terra and Riku to be more similar and having Terra try using darkness on purpose and do sketchy things on purpose, but they clearly wanted Terra to be his own guy, not just a duplicate. Another conflict that could have been done better is between Ven and Vanitas. Ven could have easily taken the role of expressing how close the trio was, and he sort of did since he had the most flashbacks. Vanitas was able to feel Ven's emotions and bonds. Vanitas was even able to affect Ven's memories. don't think it should have all been done in flashbacks, flashbacks aren't the solution to everything. But Ven expressing more concern and anxiety from more taunts from Vanitas throughout the game could have helped. ---------------------------- Translation Issues?: I've watched and played BbS quite a few times now. Some things they decide to change is odd and makes the situation odd. For example, the only scene where I cringed at Aqua's VA, the "You two are like brothers! HAHAHA" That scene would have been better as a joke where Aqua mentions "You're fighting like you're siblings" and Terra continues to tease Ven about it, causing Aqua to laugh and then the others. Or, Aqua's "You two are like brothers!" and Aqua laughs at them and they both see how ridiculous they're being and go sit by her because they are indeed ridiculous. Something to that affect. I say this for ENGLISH, because the japanese version of this scene probably read completely differently than its english counterpart. ---------------------------- BbS was not the only one!Lastly.... Birth by Sleep was supposed to be 2 games. We were supposed to see much more of Aqua and maybe even of "Terra" as Terranort. It's something we'll never see now, only a piece of it in 0.2 Fragmentary Passage. BbSV2 could have easily expanded on the characters better, especially since it seems all these worlds Aqua is visiting hold fragments of her own memories in them. ---------------------------- In conclusion, it's still my favorite game of the series, probably because I see what they were going for, even if it didn't make it into the final game. I am convinced by their friendship, just like I was convinced by Sora, Riku, and Kairi. I want nothing but for them to be reunited. It's not perfectly written, but I don't think it's badly written either. Just another game that suffers from not enough space. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thatkingdomheartsguy 153 Posted August 8, 2016 Their friendship is established in the first few cutscenes of the game AND it's important to remember that this is a sequel, so it relies heavily of friendships that already exist in earlier games. A: The first scene where Aqua catches Ven napping on the cliff side looking at the stars establishes that like Sora, Ven is a big of an air head and will fall asleep anywhere. Aqua is pictured as a caring figure who worries that Ven isn't taking care of himself AND she goes out of her way to lie to Ven about where he's from. Ven eventually asks Aqua a question, and in comes Terra who speaks over Aqua. He then teases Ven saying Ven is like a star (a common trope in this game is Ven being pictured like a star/shooting star) They get into a petty fight and then Aqua comments they're like brothers (in a very cringey way I admit, this is the only voice acting moment of Aqua's that I don't like. Ha) B: This is supposed to resemble and be the opposite of the scene where Kairi finds Sora napping on the beach. While Sora is a lot like Ven, falling asleep anywhere and having strange dreams. Aqua resembles Kairi cause she seems to enjoy startling Ven, but unlike Kairi, she gently rubs his head and insists he should have brought a blanket, where Kairi whacked Sora on the head and told him he was still dreaming. Next, Riku comes in calling both Kairi and Sora lazy bums cause they weren't helping him build the raft. Kairi then says they should race to the raft and Sora and Riku barely hesitate before deciding to compete with each other (which is still a continuous trope between them through the series) Based on just this scene alone, I understood that they were trying to tell me these characters resemble Sora, Kairi, and Riku, but they are not the same. Terra is not as competitive against his friends, Aqua is more gentle than Kairi, and Ven is not as confident as Sora (Ven doesn't look convinced by Aqua telling him his dream was just a dream, Sora didn't seem to care much afterwards) I took that cue and accepted it just like I accepted Sora, Kairi, and Riku being close friends in KH1 before we even learned much about them. I didn't need an entire game of sitting on a clock tower and eating ice cream to understand that they were friends. The flashbacks were enough. It established that Terra and Aqua spend much of their time training with and encouraging Ven. Ven went from a living zombie who broke down and fell into a coma after being asked a few questions to a spunky energetic cinnamon roll. These three didn't just live on the same island down the street from each other. They lived in the same castle, had the same teacher, trained together, and although not shown, clearly did almost everything together. Terra and Aqua basically raised an 11-year-old zombie Ven to a fully active 15-year-old Ven. While I do love The Sims, I don't need to experience every waking moment of their friendship and lives to understand or be convinced. So I had two primary problems with this type of character development. Firstly is that KH1 did NOT do a good job of establishing a super powerful friendship between Sora, Riku, and Kairi; that is one of it's only flaws in terms of story. Luckily for KH1, most of the motivation behind the story is translated to Sora's friendship between Donald and Goofy, which is undoubtedly the most powerful trio of friends in the series. So in that aspect, yes, KH1 did an incredible job to set up for future games. The thing with BBS is that it attempts to copy KH1's attempts at creating friendship between the beginning three characters and ends up making the same mistake, but even worse. I understand that Sora, Riku, and Kairi were friends in KH1 because of the way they interacted, the way they teased each other, had competitions; it all seems natural. You can't expect me to simplly believe the same for BBS just from one scene that's similar. I get it, the game is trying to tell me "THESE THREE ARE FRIENDS" by showing you a direct reference to the first trio of friends, but that's not enough. I see what you said, but all you mentioned above is the game desperately trying to tell you that they're friends. They live together? Sure they must be good friends. Scene similar to KH1? Must be friends. They had all these sparring matches? Yep, they're friends. And then you see them interact, and I personally just cannot come to believe they're actually friends. Simple flashbacks and references are not enough. You need to show me how they interact and joke and tease each other, because those are the signs of friendship. There's a huge difference between understanding the game telling you their friends, and realizing the game showing you their friends. You're right; you don't need a day-by-day play of their everyday activities to show that their friends like 358 did. However, what BBS did was not enough. Think to other sources; how do movies establish friendship? Do they spend hours just on the way some people interact? No, they show that the characters care about each other through the way they interact, or how they communicate or maybe tease each other. That's why Aqua is perhaps the most well developed character in the game, because she actually kind of shows these traits. Not enough for me to care about them at the end, but still shows these charactersitics of friendship and a leader. Here's my problem. The game blatantly tells you their friends (like the scene you describe) except they don't actually show the same thing. That's like two characters in a movie telling you "Hey! We're friends!" and then goes off on some crazy tragic adventure. That wouldn't matter, because I wouldn't even care about the two characters. This is what BBS does to you; they give obvious hints that these three are friends, but doesn't show you much friendship between them. They then excpect you to be sad about everyone dying. That's not enough, and thats not sad. Prologue Syndrome and Character Development: Birth by Sleep had a LOT to cover. Certain things had to happen in that game for the future games to make sense. They had to explain Aqua's disappearance and Xemnas being in possession of her armor. They had to explain Terra's eyes changing color and his armor still in the keyblade graveyard and his hatred towards Xehanort. They had to explain Ven's existence and why he looked like Roxas, or vice versa. Again, I believe the PSP is the cause for such a condensed version of what BbS could have been, or what I believe it was intended to be. This created situations where the conversations and interactions ended up being awkward or forced. This could have been helped if they hadn't created a situation where all three characters were required to visit all three worlds. This way, worlds for certain characters could have been longer and more thought out with other worlds being optional just for the sake of prizes and extra items. This also really hurt making their character development flow correctly. Because the three were split up due to trying to have every character visit every world and each story was trying not to spoil the others, their character development is really hard to spot or, they never really developed at all (because their stories are not yet done) Terra's development of course, was centered around darkness and what that meant for him. Eraqus drilled into Terra and Aqua that darkness was always bad and the 'correct' path was one of light. This made Terra insecure and that insecurity only increased the darkness inside of him. This problem only increased as the game went along, just as Xehanort planned. Terra never got his chance to develop, and his realizations that "Aqua and Master Eraqus were right" was still wrong. Ven never truly developed on screen because the story wasn't technically about him. His role was to become stronger, not to change as a person. If anything, Ven only became more attached to Terra and Aqua and were intent on protecting them. (In other words, Ven has always been a cinnamon roll) Like Sora, his main problem was being too naive and just jumping into danger. Aqua, arguable the 'main character' of Birth by Sleep, developed the most out of the three. Aqua started off much like Eraqus, believing the only path was light and darkness can only be used for evil. While Aqua has not come to the conclusion that darkness can be used for good (like Riku), it's clear that she doesn't see people who happen to have darkness, like Terra, as evil, just that they must gain control and not just let loose. I believe this will be an ongoing growth of her character, she is the change Eraqus never got to realize and now she carries his will and burden. Here's my problem: Birth by Sleep has an incredible sign of Prequel Syndrome. What that means is that it tries to go wayy to in-depth into the lore of Kingdom Hearts when it really isn't necessary, and it just makes things unnecessarily complicated. 2FM is also somewhat at fault for this for setting the game up to be that way, but BBS really expanded on it. We didn't need an entire story of the Keyblade War. We didn't need all this backstory of the Keyblade, the original X-Blade, the unversed, and all this other nonsense. In KH1, we were told that the Keyblade is a legend, and myth said that it brought ruin and destruction, while another myth cliams that it brings light and creation. That's all we needed. I don't think anyone minded that the Keyblade was a mythical weapon, because that keeps its air of mystery to us viewers. BBS chose to bring out the smallest details, and now, the Keyblade doesn't seem special anymore. So yeah, what I'm basically trying to say is (tl;dr): -Flashbacks/References are not enough to establish friendship. That's the game telling you friendship, not them SHOWING you. There's a huge difference, and it matters in a game this focused on friendship. -BBS had Prequel Syndrome which means it explains a bunch of unnecessary plot points that just makes the plot unnecessarily more complicated. That being said, other games are at fault for this too, so I can't necessarily blame BBS completely. Then again, BBS did act as the first "prequel" in the KH universe so it set precedent for future KH games to have similar issues of Prequel Syndrome. (cough cough chi) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kirabook 2 Posted August 9, 2016 (edited) So I had two primary problems with this type of character development. Firstly is that KH1 did NOT do a good job of establishing a super powerful friendship between Sora, Riku, and Kairi; that is one of it's only flaws in terms of story. Luckily for KH1, most of the motivation behind the story is translated to Sora's friendship between Donald and Goofy, which is undoubtedly the most powerful trio of friends in the series. So in that aspect, yes, KH1 did an incredible job to set up for future games. The thing with BBS is that it attempts to copy KH1's attempts at creating friendship between the beginning three characters and ends up making the same mistake, but even worse. I understand that Sora, Riku, and Kairi were friends in KH1 because of the way they interacted, the way they teased each other, had competitions; it all seems natural. You can't expect me to simplly believe the same for BBS just from one scene that's similar. I get it, the game is trying to tell me "THESE THREE ARE FRIENDS" by showing you a direct reference to the first trio of friends, but that's not enough. I see what you said, but all you mentioned above is the game desperately trying to tell you that they're friends. They live together? Sure they must be good friends. Scene similar to KH1? Must be friends. They had all these sparring matches? Yep, they're friends. And then you see them interact, and I personally just cannot come to believe they're actually friends. Simple flashbacks and references are not enough. You need to show me how they interact and joke and tease each other, because those are the signs of friendship. There's a huge difference between understanding the game telling you their friends, and realizing the game showing you their friends. You're right; you don't need a day-by-day play of their everyday activities to show that their friends like 358 did. However, what BBS did was not enough. Think to other sources; how do movies establish friendship? Do they spend hours just on the way some people interact? No, they show that the characters care about each other through the way they interact, or how they communicate or maybe tease each other. That's why Aqua is perhaps the most well developed character in the game, because she actually kind of shows these traits. Not enough for me to care about them at the end, but still shows these charactersitics of friendship and a leader. Here's my problem. The game blatantly tells you their friends (like the scene you describe) except they don't actually show the same thing. That's like two characters in a movie telling you "Hey! We're friends!" and then goes off on some crazy tragic adventure. That wouldn't matter, because I wouldn't even care about the two characters. This is what BBS does to you; they give obvious hints that these three are friends, but doesn't show you much friendship between them. They then excpect you to be sad about everyone dying. That's not enough, and thats not sad. Here's my problem: Birth by Sleep has an incredible sign of Prequel Syndrome. What that means is that it tries to go wayy to in-depth into the lore of Kingdom Hearts when it really isn't necessary, and it just makes things unnecessarily complicated. 2FM is also somewhat at fault for this for setting the game up to be that way, but BBS really expanded on it. We didn't need an entire story of the Keyblade War. We didn't need all this backstory of the Keyblade, the original X-Blade, the unversed, and all this other nonsense. In KH1, we were told that the Keyblade is a legend, and myth said that it brought ruin and destruction, while another myth cliams that it brings light and creation. That's all we needed. I don't think anyone minded that the Keyblade was a mythical weapon, because that keeps its air of mystery to us viewers. BBS chose to bring out the smallest details, and now, the Keyblade doesn't seem special anymore. So yeah, what I'm basically trying to say is (tl;dr): -Flashbacks/References are not enough to establish friendship. That's the game telling you friendship, not them SHOWING you. There's a huge difference, and it matters in a game this focused on friendship. -BBS had Prequel Syndrome which means it explains a bunch of unnecessary plot points that just makes the plot unnecessarily more complicated. That being said, other games are at fault for this too, so I can't necessarily blame BBS completely. Then again, BBS did act as the first "prequel" in the KH universe so it set precedent for future KH games to have similar issues of Prequel Syndrome. (cough cough chi) You're basically reaffirming the fact that you prefer a day-to-day type friendship on screen rather than an implied or pre-set one. Sora, Donald, and Goofy are the same as Roxas, Axel, and Xion. We play through their friendship developing almost every day rather than exploring a friendship that has already been established prior to the game start such as SRK or TAV. The point of KH1 wasn't to establish a powerful unbreakable friendship in the very beginning. It was meant to establish that those characters are close friends, but it had to be tested. Sora, Kairi, and Riku passed the test in the end (after x amount of games) and were able to fix their mistakes (too much competition, possibly liking the same girl, Riku selfishly sacrificing many people just so he could have an adventure, etc). Aqua, Terra, and Ven did not pass the test, or rather, they have not gotten the same opportunities as Sora, Kairi, and Riku have. Yet. I think they did plenty enough to establish their friendship (as I already explained, though I forgot the mention the significance of the charms and the paopu fruit). Aqua's charms, their awkward laughing and the spot where they decide to chill often, training together, growing up together, implying they are a family (Ven's, "He said to take two grown ups" was actually "He said to take my parents" in Japanese), Aqua and Terra ruffling Ven's hair at some point, Terra's wooden keyblade, Ven's sacrifice, Aqua's sacrifice, Terra still thinking of Aqua and Ven a decade later in his empty suit, Ven literally running away just for an opportunity to talk to Terra, Aqua's constant inner monologues about the two, etc etc. They've done plenty of things that isn't someone saying "We're friends!" to show or imply their friendship when day-to-day living or fighting together everyday wasn't an option. Unfortunately for this trio, the point of the game was to break their seemingly fragile relationships and turn them against each other. Again, I think that plot point could have been done much better so that the characters didn't seem fickle, but the point got across. Despite being close friends, practically siblings, there were still some underlying issues that Xehanort was able to manipulate and keep the three apart. ----------------------------------------- And I don't think they expect you to be sad about everyone dying because only one person died. Master Eraqus. My feelings on Master Eraqus are mixed, I feel he got too little screentime and was not referenced enough throughout the game. Obviously Terra thought very highly of him and unknowingly helped kill him. Do I feel for Terra in that case? Yeah. I definitely feel for him that he walked right into Xehanort's trap and got his body and heart stolen and has yet to be seen again. Do I feel for Ven, who we saw get ripped into two, nearly left for dead, adopted and taken care of by Terra and Aqua only to have to sacrifice himself to protect them? Yeah. He is a sad cinnamon roll and seeing that he and Sora are so intrinsically attached makes me even more feelsy. Do I feel for Aqua, who had to fight her two friends? Who had to take the ruins of the home she grew up in and make a tomb for Ven, and who fell to darkness trying to prevent Terra from being "lost forever"? Most definitely. I feel bad that she made so many mistakes while dealing with Terra (like Eraqus), but in the end she still decided to save his life without a second thought. ----------------------------------------- As for the prequel syndrome, that's the word I meant to use, not prologue. Wonder where that came from... Anyway, I don't mind that they try to explore the lore. I am a lore junky and as long as it isn't too out there or stupid, I will accept it. Personally, I don't really like the design of the [chi]blade and I wish it were something that looked more natural, but I digress. Whatever is happening with [Chi] right now is probably meant to add in stuff they can use for new sagas after Xehanort's saga is over. I'd rather they do that instead of having another [Chi] like game to explain yet another saga. I don't care about the keyblade being 'special' or any of that crap. Yes, KH1 may have implied that, but as of KH2, it's obvious that that is not the case. BbS was not the first game that introduced the idea of more wielders or even that there was a war. It was KH2. That said, I don't want EVERYONE to have a keyblade, but out of the hundreds of characters so far, only a small portion of them can wield one. That is 'special' enough. The lore of KH is still quite vague, even if we are given specific details such as how to open KH and how to summon the [chi]blade, we'll probably never be told where the [chi]blade comes from other than that it's just naturally occuring or a force of nature. Heck, we're this far in the series and they still haven't decided to explain what exactly Kingdom Hearts is other than a mass of hearts with power. It might seem like BbS and [chi] are trying to give us all the answers, but both games only produce more questions than answers, and I like it that way. Edited August 9, 2016 by kirabook Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iscreamer1 100 Posted October 13, 2016 You know, I think I felt the same, not having any empathy towards the characters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites