However, Aerith has unique text and animations post death (for example, after the snowboarding ride), and then there's the Sephiroth glove/Aerith's postion controversy...
Long story short, for such a critical scene, it was sloppily animated.
Which is why some people think, it was actually later.
See, there is this background scene in the game's code.
If you access it with a cheating device, there are no character models, no pathways to walk on, no dialogue but there IS Aerith's theme, which plays at her death. (With that being said, a small part of it is used briefly by the game during the Northern Cave sequence, and the Northern Cave sequence uses a similar background)
So, using the deleted dialogue, the death sloppiness, and the scene, some people think her death was actually supposed to happen early in Disk 2 rather than disk one.
It would also explain why Sephiroth kills her by jumping down. If you think about it, there are other ways for him to kill her, this doesn't make as much sense.
However, in this scene, Sephiroth is sleeping/dead in the Materia in the tree root on top of the image. (this is in the official scene too)
((Also, not sure why this is different from the final image, but I didn't pay that much attention to the background))
Sephiroth wakes up after Cloud gives him the materia
and then Cloud and Tifa fall into the Lifestream.
But, if Aerith's death WAS supposed to happen in disk 2 (as her unique dialogue hints) then when Sephiroth woke up, he would have jumped down to kill her. It might fix the gloves/no gloves controversy and would give an explanation for why he chose that method to kill her instead of something a bit more normal... like stabbing her in the chest.
As it stands, this is all mostly speculation, yes talked about in the FF7citadel, but it is something to think about.
So, I finished the game. I semi rushed through it. (Basically, I kept a list nearby that had all the audiodiary and other background info locations. That way I wouldn't really have to search.) And... Because of a mindscrewy ending, I'm still digesting it. ((I'm also trying to figure out if it makes less or more sense then the idea of Timetravel in Kingdom Hearts. The only time Time Travel really works is in Doctor Who... and Back to the Future.))
Anyway, the big twist in the end is Colmstock IS Booker from an alternate time line, and Elizabeth is actually Anna, his daughter, which he kind of sold. Also, Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite are "What If's" of eachother and there will ALWAYS be "A man, a city, and a lighthouse."
Part of the reason why I love Bioshock 1 is how much we learn about the city. There are 127 Audio Diaries. These Diaries, when not found in random boxes, are often linked to one another, the city, and are found next to the people's corpses or in significant areas. (In most circumstances.) While the focus of Bioshock Infinite shifted from the city to the people, they never felt as connected. All the dimension hopping left several questions unanswered, (and made a few things more confusing) And yet it still feels brilliant.
The city is not the focus, I get that, but in Bioshock we connected to the city through the people. Through the audio diaries. Through exploring homes.
Which, that's actually my main issue with Infinite. Our inability to explore. Many of the shops were blocked, the differences between the universes were not explored (Seriously, I want to find out a bit more about the old universes and what happened? What about Earth1 Daisy?) I'm not saying the universe had to lack gravity but... we never really found out the differences. And, I wanted to do that. I wanted to look more into each store, how would they differ? In Bioshock 1 we got to visit many stores, and they were drastically different. There were a lot of stores, and they could be different, but those were only in a few levels.
((That being said, Finktown and Lutece Labs/Memorial Gardens was glorious. But I wish other areas got that much detail))
So, in the end, my main issue was the lack of background detail. It didn't help that battles were set up to move you along instead of letting you evaluate things. The battles rushed you through when I wanted to explore. I was almost livid when a Mandatory Finkton fight kept me from listening to everyone talking. I actually RESET so I could hear what people said. It was fascinating. And I did NOT need fights all the way through the levels.
Yes, Bioshock did regularly spawn enemies, but as long as you did the initial clear out, you were usually okay. There were a lot of flagged enemy encounters and it was...distracting. I could not look at the lack of detail when I was in a firefight. The firefights had much more enemies then a Bioshock fight and, as a result, I was just tired and wanted to move on when I was finished, rather than interested in exploring.
In addition, the Vox Populi threads were dropped. Yes, there was no more reason (and I understand that) But they never really dove into how it got started. We have the fact the founders are gigantic racists and Daisy was wrongly accused of murder, but other than that, we have nothing. I want to know more, I want to know about her lieutenants, I want to know how Daisy Prime would react compared to Daisy world 3, What happened in World 2 before and after you left?
We don't know. And this is prime world building areas.
While I honestly liked the game, I feel like we were cheated out of some of it. We were cheated out of what made Columbia, Columbia. We don't know more of the ins and outs. We don't know of the random friendships, complaints about the Sander Cohen characters for stealing apprentices, we follow a female soldier throughout the game through the audio diaries, and then she just disappears!
We don't have all those little and random bits and pieces of locations and character knowledge that make the first game so wonderful. The game is still great, but it's one step short of amazing.
So, bowing in the Japanese Culture has a lot of meaning. The angle, how long you do it, the rank of the person, it all denotes different things.
Actually, Sony got into trouble after the PSN Hacking scandal because they did not bow for a full minute. ((And I can't find that now. Here, have some info on bowing: it's a good primer))
Okay, now that that is out of the way... this should give you some idea on Sora's bow.
While English has "Grovel like a dog" or somewhat similar in our vocabulary, it does not do justice to this scene. Due to the length and the position of him being on his hands and knees, Sora is putting himself so below Saix he has effectively declared Saix to be his master. He has (Possibly figuratively) Given up his freedom to be with Kairi.
So I just found this trailer today (which is why the post is late) and I AM looking forward to the game, But, well, I have a problem.
There are a total of seven characters shown in the trailer. Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-man, Sandman, Abomination, Fury, and Coulson (Who does not sound like Clark Gregg, which is odd)
And there are no girls in it.
Maria Hill could have taken Coulson's role there (Possibly, Sharon Carter is another.) Spider-man may have more of a mainstream draw then Jessie/Spider-woman but she could have shown up. Pepper has the alternate identity as "Rescue" And she focuses on clean up and saving random citizens, why couldn't she be in the background? (Please note that when she got her armor, she insisted on no weapons of any sort. So, I understand why she's not in a pure "Gameplay" trailer.) And no hints of Amora watching? Then there's Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers who currently has her own run on the comics, is leading the Avengers, and has gotten praise from everyone for her story, the writing, her character, and her costume. Not to mention Black Widow was one of the first characters announced.
I know Wolverine, Thor, and Deadpool didn't show up either, but the Marvel Comics do have a lot of popular female heroes. Why couldn't any show up?
This is another game I have to beat. Seriously, the last dungeon is incredibly confusing but the game itself is really good. It's a great JRPG that has all of the basic forms but is drastically different from Final Fantasy and WildARMS. (I need to talk more about this and WildARMS though...)
When a game has as long of a development cycle for Elizabeth, we can see how she evolves. From
This:
To This:
To the end result, this:
In addition, We also watch her evolve with her powers.
She started off as telekinesis:
then she grows more powerful by creating things out of thin air:
Later on, they introduce the tear idea, but have it include allies and the horse scene. (Neither of which happen in game)
And then her in the final game, where tears are to an alternate reality, but are in black and white. (No gameplay due to spoilers)
It's interesting to see how much has changed. The tears are a nice touch, and help make the game more interesting. The telekinesis version probably comes from the "Techie vs luddites" version of the game which was scrapped for not being interesting enough. It is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure you can extend the idea throughout the game. You could put in elements of notoriously depressing Cyberpunk, but there shouldn't have been much in 1912 US.
The tears themselves are more interesting. While they accomplish the same fact as the "Creation from their air" Aspect of Elizabeth's powers, it instead gives her a distinct otherwordly (Literally) quality. Especially because not everything from Columbia that exists in that world is from that world. It also turns her from a "Mysterious Waif" (think Namine from Kingdom Hearts) to a expertly limited powerhouse. Instead of explaining why Elizabeth can't summon thunderclouds each time you get into a fight, they basically just say "She's accessing an alternate reality where there was a water puddle there and nothing else." Which does make more sense, especially with a comment early on where she explains most realities she looks into are the same as our own, with very minor exceptions. (One example she gives is the cup has coffee instead of tea.)
Some of the realities do lead to interesting complications. (for example, a plot important building has a freight hook in it in an alternate reality. It could be in a different place, or the building may not exist.) but the idea gives a definite shape, control, and limit to her powers and prevents excessive wondering about why things aren't there and keeps the game from breaking wide open.
(In all seriousness, if you could access a reality where you could summon Subject Delta, Eleanor Lamb, and Jack Ryan at the same time, you would. The game would have to come up with an idea why you couldn't and... yeah.)
So, as I head off to finish the game and deal with, er, the subtle and excessive foreshadowing. (Seriously, I checked the Bioshock Wiki on what I thought was a minor character only to read a rather spoilery sentence. ugh.) I leave you with watching how our Elizabeth grew up.
A job, a cold, and Bioshock Infinite have kept me from doing a proper post today, but no worries!
Here are my upcoming plans. This will take place over time.
1) Finish Bioshock Infinite. At the very least before I deliberately spoil myself. (Hooray Red Box! And Adorable Elizabeth!)
2) Buy Silent Hill off of the PSN. Survival Horror isn't my genre, but I'll give it a try and then I have something new and interesting to talk about!
3) If that works, buy Resident Evil off of the PSN. (same as above)
4) Get Metal Gear Solid anyway (Yes, I will have many things to talk about)
5) Get... quite a few games from the 3DS Virtual Console. I know I have some "Wiiware" games, some Kirby, some Legend of Zelda, and a few others on my wish list.
6) at some point, get more 3DS proper games.
So, with that (and a job to actually do it!) set up, I hope to be able to talk more in the upcoming months. I also need to actually beat FF7 (Stupid Sephiroth saving glitch), Legend of Zelda spirit tracks (I'm having trouble in the final train section) Final Fantasy 4 (Yeah, this one is my fault, I think.) And a few others. So, I have stuff lined up, mostly.
In the mean time, here is some OCremix from Silent Hill.
I LOVE Haunted Mansion and Phantom Manor. The sights, the sounds, the scares that can get you year after year... Admittedly, Disney does refresh the rides (For example, track Madam Leota when she appeared to the most recent update. She hovers now!)
Anyway, getting back on point. The reason why the ride still works is because the scares are classics. They always have enough punch to get you each time, you feel happily unnerved at the end, and even when they repeat you still enjoy it.
That's how Luigi's Mansion works. (Ignoring the several parallels and nods to the mansion itself. Yes, Japan has a Haunted Mansion, it's the same as the Disneyworld one) The scares are built to creep you out and to repeat. It has it's jump scares, the dancing ghosts, the ones which only appear when you face away, and those twins. Those creepy twins.
Actually, it may be because it's inspired BY the Haunted Mansion.
(the Japanase and Walt Disney World are virtually identical. The main difference is that the Ghost Host speaks in Japanese instead of English.)
One of the most obvious links is Madam Claravoya to Madam Leota. Aside from their name, they are both Crystal ball hoisting Gypsies. More importantly, they are the first obvious and friendly ghost in each mansion. Madam Claravoya wants to help you. She offers to help and does not struggle after she finds Mario for you. (Okay, she struggles a little.) Madam Leota is the first ghost to appear in The Haunted Mansion. Everything up to this point has been effects in the environment. She is the first to actually appear as a ghost, and she does not harm you. Instead, she kicks off the party!
Next up is the eternal debate... the hanging Luigi glitch.
Simply stated, the debate is over if Luigi's Shadow is intended to appear like that, or if it's a simple glitch. If it's a glitch, it would explain the E rating when that shouldn't really be E. However, it's noticeable and has turned up in almost every copy. Anyway, if we assume hanging Luigi is canon (and I did when I first saw it) It would draw correlations to the Ghost Host. He appears in the opening as a hanging body (this is late game though) Also appears in a lightning flash, and hints that suicide is the only real way to escape the mansion. The Boos could be threatening Luigi this is the only way for him to escape.
Once you hit the ballroom in the Mansion, you find the dancing ghosts where women lead the men. This happens in a ballroom. The same happens in Luigi's Mansion, a pair of dancing ghosts are found in a ballroom.
Our first bit of in game weirdness is the talking paintings that threaten you. One of the first things you see in the Mansion is Gracey's portrait changing and then the room with the stretching portraits. (though the Host narrates there, where the talking paintings take over the Host's duties.)
And then there is a piano player in the conservatory. Okay, that would be generally assumed, but she's playing a very famous Mario song in a Mario game on a piano.
In the Haunted Mansion, we have an pianist whom we can't see in the conservatory and a organist in the ballroom which we can see. Both are playing versions of the Haunted Mansion theme.
Admittedly, there are some more iffy proofs, such as Luigi being the only mortal in the graveyard, and how there may be a pet cemetary in both, and there's NO Bride character in Luigi's Mansion while she's one of the most adapted one in the Haunted Mansion. (We have "Emily" of the beating Heart and Candle, "Melanie" from Phantom Manor, "Priscilla" who was the first one, Elizabeth from the movie and most recently Constance Hatchaway the Black Widow Bride)
I was torn. Today's April Fools day, and I was NOT going to fall for something like last time. (In my defense, part of the proof was that not the normal translator "Translated" the page. I do not go to that site, so I didn't know it.) So, I'm just going to post.my own thing. But, should I prank the music or do it honestly?
I did Ducktales' main theme because it's good and it's licensed, not what I normally do for Musical Monday.
So, sing along, especially as the game is coming back.
