Wadanohara & The Great Blue Sea: A lovely trip to the deepest part of the sea

Art by Mogeko

Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea is an RPG maker adventure game made by Deep Sea Prisoner (AKA Mogeko). It has horror elements, especially late in the game.

If you do not do well with gore or shocking scenes, you are going to have a bad time late in the game during a specific scene. Also, tw for sexual assault. Possible warning for what seemed to me like suicide in one of the endings (if it is, it's subtle, and definitely not graphic; you don't see or hear much). If you are here for a full discussion of the game, skip the technical stuff and scroll down.

Mogeko says this game is for all ages, and that may be true of the beginning but by late game it is more appropriate for older teens, maybe 14 or 15. The game is about 6-7 hours, definitely one of the longest RPG Maker games I have ever played.

The story of Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea is that a young sea witch, Wadanohara, is returning to her home sea for the first time in a while. However, on her way home, she runs into an old friend, Samekichi, who repeatedly tries to fight her and her party of familiars to scare them off. Once she's home, she finds out from the princess that there have been attacks from another kingdom because someone has messed up the barrier meant to protect their kingdom and Wadanohara is the only one who can fix it. Along the way, Wadanohara and her familiars find out that appearances are deceiving and there is a traitor in their midst...

This game really surprised me. I meant to play The Gray Garden before this one but, after a bad day, I decided to give this one a shot since I knew nothing about it. It looked cute, so I thought it would be nice for stress relief. I didn't expect to fall in love with it, but I did. I have not had such strong affection for an RPG Maker game, or any game to be honest, since Ib. Yes, I think it is that good. I got sucked in and played for long periods. Once I was at the climax, I just blew right through to the end. 

Characters. First off, there are many female characters, which I always love and appreciate. Also, everyone is Japanese (they all have Japanese names). There are two characters who do not go by cis man or cis woman: Tarako and Sheep.

On Tarako, this is what vgperson had to say:

"Tarako, though, I initially thought was referred to as a boy in their bio, as it says おとこのこ. However, this is sneakier than it appears - it could be 男の子, boy, or 男の娘 - which I believe would make Tarako a trans girl."

I'll discuss Wadanohara's character in greater detail in my more spoilery thoughts on the game below, but although she is predominantly the "happy girl" character, she definitely has more depth than that, which I liked. Though, there's nothing wrong with having a character who is just happy, especially when bad things happen. I really liked Fukami's character. I liked that he was the only one to notice Wadanohara hide her true feelings and looked out for her the most. He has some of the best character development in the game, being selfish in the beginning, which you may not see until you look at the bonus scenes, but he has, in my opinion, evolved by the end of the game into a more selfless character.

Samekichi was kind of a cool character, I also liked to see how he "changed" by the end of the game. There was an element I did not like, and that was the "you're the only one I care about, Wadanohara" line. That type of line is usually for characters who are extremely possessive, which I'm not a fan of.  It's also a cliched line, but Samekichi was a good character overall.  Memoca was a cute character, I liked that she had different personality -- she was quick to anger, but playful and caring, and childlike. Chlomaki was a fun character, I enjoyed her interactions with her own familiar and I wish we had seen more of them. Unfortunately, Dolphi got the worst end of the deal. She didn't have much of a personality. I mean, she was a bit of a crybaby and scaredy cat but she shared too many traits with Memoca (caring, likes drawing, playful). There are way too many characters to discuss, but most of them left good impressions.

Gameplay is a pretty standard RPG Maker affair. Use the arrow keys to move, enter will interact with stuff, and the escape or x button will open the menu and such. This is an RPG Maker game with actual battle elements. But, as Vgperson notes on their website, the RPG elements definitely take a backseat to the story. The battles are not terribly difficult, and I never struggled with a regular enemy or boss. There are more than enough enemies for you to grind up on, but I made it to level 34 by end game and I was probably extremely overpowered.

Not much to say about graphics since I never know what a creator adds or just uses since I don't generally use RPG Maker. The sprites are, however, adorable. And Mogeko's art is always adorable and lovely. Throughout the game, as with, say, The Sandman made by Uri, there will interposed art during cut scenes, which is a nice touch. Even nicer is that some of them are animated. Generally, this is just a slight change in facial expression, but it is a nice touch nonetheless. One of my favorite things, graphic-wise, about the game was how looking in the mirror during different points in the game would result in different art of Wadanohara. Sometimes, it was just an outfit change, sometimes an expression change. I highly recommend doing it, especially during the gory scene late in the game...

Adorable. Art by Mogeko.

I do not believe Mogeko did any of the music themselves, but the choice of music is great. The title music is very recognizable, I'd probably rate it higher than Ib's. There is a nice variety of instruments and the music is always appropriate for the scene.

As far as replay value goes, there is not a whole lot. For beating the game, you will get to keep your levels and items in the new file but that is it. After beating the game, you will also have access to a bonus room with character bios, extra scenes, the art from the cutscenes, etc., I believe that is a norm for Mogeko's games. Also, for clearing the game, you will get a password you can use to open the Bonus file found in the game's folder. This will give you a url to view illustrations and comics; some spoil plot elements of the game and some don't. Vgperson translated the comics, so I'll put a link down below. There are different endings but you get them all in one go. You need not do anything special -- that is generally awarded for the bad endings. (There are 2 bad endings, and 3 normal endings... even if they seem more "bad" than "normal.") 

Now then, about the game's story. If you are familiar with the anime in question, you may know what I mean when I say this game definitely reminded me of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It starts off as a cute, sort of slice of life (though, in Wadanohara's case, with a bit more magic) story with an adorable main character, then it gets dark. I think I like Wadanohara's story better, in this case, because it definitely has a happier ending (in the true end) than Madoka Magica did.

Wadanohara goes through quite a lot (I say that as an understatement) but she remains upbeat and hopeful throughout. I enjoyed that she was still, despite her being a sweet girl her predominant personality trait, a well rounded character. She had concerns and worries that she hid from everyone because she did not want them to worry.

I was also surprised to see who the traitor was. Mogeko really hid it well and did not give away any hints. Though, I don't know, perhaps you will get it your first time through! I have mixed feelings about Wadanohara's assault, however. Spoilers!

I think that it is important to have assault in stories -- when tastefully done -- because then no one is pretending such things never happen. They do happen with too much frequency, it's a fact of the real world. Every single one of Mogeko's games (Mogeko's Castle, Wadanohara, The Gray Garden) deal with assault in some matter, with Mogeko's Castle the most overt. I am a little wary that every single one of their games has assault, especially, in the case of The Gray Garden and Wadanohara, sweet little girls, but I will not pass judgement on that because I don't know anything about Mogeko, of course. It is interesting that each of the games take place in a fantasy setting where assault happens.

In Wadanohara's case specifically, I both like and dislike the way assault was handled. I dislike that the perpetrator basically got away with it (and it happens twice, as far as I can tell), and I dislike that you never get a real chance to take them down. I would say that I dislike that it basically happens because of a power struggle between two siblings, where the one who committed the assault wants to hurt their sibling by taking away/hurting the person they love (Wadanohara). I think it's somewhat realistic since assault and rape in the real world is about dominance and power, and it may not even be about the victim, so I do not hate it as much as I originally did. I also like that the effects for Wadanohara are realistic. She doesn't remember the assault (the game gives a reason for it that I don't love) and when she does remember, it is an extremely traumatic experience. That is when the goriest sequence of the game takes place. It's fitting that she isn't mysteriously okay with what happened; she has to work through it.

As I mentioned, it happens twice in the game. The first time, you'll be aware of it, but I believe it's more than fair to say that it takes place in the first ending, too. Again, it's traumatic -- so much so that Wadanohara ceases being who she once was, which is haunting.

I do have a bit of an issue with Wadanohara's age which is: I have no idea what her age is supposed to be. By the end of the game, she does look a bit older, her hair is much longer which would signify that she has aged, but I have no idea how old any of the male characters are and, considering the 3 main male characters have some type of feelings towards Wadanohara, it is a bit distressing, but that is all I will say about that.

I found the ending a little unsatisfying, mostly the final boss; I hoped that, at least in the true end, you would get the chance to do more with them. The true ending is really sweet, and I think that there is definitely some good character development happening in the game. At the same time, there were some things I could not get on board with, like a gameplay mechanic where one of the armor pieces is a ball gag. I know it is a joke, but considering that Wadanohara is likely underage and Memoca and Dolphi are both childlike, I found it in bad taste. Also, while there were many characters, it feels like a lot of them weren't fleshed out completely or their stories did not get told in too much detail. I liked the different story "arcs," if you will, but I do feel like the game was so focused on two of them that one of the most important plot points in the game -- the story of the two princesses -- suffered, which is a shame because I would have liked to see how that was resolved.

Overall, a great game with a compelling story. I fell in love with the main canon couple by the end. I hope that this game has a sequel, I think that it could be possible considering there are whole other worlds, including a witch one that is not shown much.

Plot: Wonderful. Fun characters and an interesting story.
Graphics: Pretty average, but I do like Mogeko's artwork in the cutscenes!
Sound/music: I thought the music fit the game and mood aptly.
Difficulty: A pretty easy game overall. I never lost to any enemies, but I did die in several of the chase scenes. Those can be challenging.
Ability to replay: Not much of an incentive there, unfortunately! You could, but nothing really changes. Though, if you miss the bad ends, that could be an incentive.
LGBTQIA+ Representation: Nothing overt. To be honest, there is a scene where Dolphi is scared and asks to hold Wadanohara's hand, and Memoca says something like "Aren't you clever?" so there could be a reading there for Memoca, but likely not. This is not like the Gray Garden. However, there are two characters whose genders are purposely unknown, which I would take to mean they do not conform to the gender binary, which I do like. Is it representation? I am not sure, and that is not my call.

Download the (English translation) game! 
Original site. You might want to check this out, there is some artwork and comics.
Translated comics. Contains spoilers for the game, check at your own risk!

The Witch's House: An RPG Maker game where curiosity kills the cat

The Witch's House is a free horror RPG maker game created by Fummy and translated into English by VGPerson. It was originally released last October and has recently received an update. I have decided to finish this review just in time for Halloween, which would be as good a time as any to play it in the dark with headphones.

This is one of my absolute favorite RPG Maker games and is, in fact, my second favorite. I do not want to say that it's "under appreciated" or anything like that, but I do think it is overlooked because, at its surface, it looks only like one big jumpscare game.  Not to say that the game does not rely on jumpscares to frighten the player because it does. However, there is definitely a story here, and it will slap you in the face by the end of the game. It is just that the story is not overt. 

The Witch's House is available only for PC (Windows version 2000, XP, Vista, or 7). I do not know if it works on Windows 8 as I use Windows 7 but feel free to leave a comment if you know!

A few technical things before I launch into the full review. This game is pretty gory as far as such things can be in RPG maker. Death scenes can be graphically violent (ex, you can get stabbed, lose your head, etc). For that reason, I recommend the player be maybe fourteen or so (although Fummy says twelve and up). Children should definitely not play this game.  As I already said, there are a LOT of jumpscares. If you are easily prone to being scared, or have any sort of heart condition, I do not recommend this game, as the scares can surprise you and the chase scenes can be very stressful. There is one point later in the game where the scares will keep coming and coming, and that is a definite point where, if you are faint of heart, you are going to have a bad time.

Allow me to admit that when The Witch's House was first translated (into English), I had pretty high expectations after playing through Ib. Ib was scary... sort of (the current version, which is different from the one I played a year ago, is scarier), but The Witch's House was a terrifying, heart-pounding adventure, full of jumpscares and surprises. The game also had a tendency to punish the player for following instinct and curiosity. What I've learned from the game is that if a puzzle seems simple, I have probably done it incorrectly. 

The controls are pretty straightforward, standard RPG maker fare. Arrow keys to move, escape key to access the menu (which allows you to use your items and even load from a save file, which is nice), shift to run (one of the most important controls in the game), enter to confirm or interact. Those are the basics, but there are a couple of alternate keys you can use for them as well (listed in the readme). If you have played a previous version of The Witch's House, your save files should carry over.

The story of The Witch's House… well, it is not very clear until the end and, even then, depending on how you play and which ending you get, you may not get the full effect. You awaken as a teenage girl named Viola in the middle of the forest. Viola slashes down a patch of roses and discovers herself in a strange house that tries to kill her. As you progress, you will find many diaries left by a girl named Ellen which hold some back story on the apparent owner of the house. Along the way, Viola is helped along by a black cat who will tell her very little. To escape the murderous house, Viola must find something to destroy the roses blocking her path out of the forest. She is left only with one clue, a note that reads, "Come to my room."

Let's discuss the characters of the game! The truth is, there are not many characters. There are only three main characters that are present in the game. Viola is the main and player character. She is a thirteen year old girl who gets lost in a forest on the way to see a friend. There is also The Cat who is a black cat that Viola meets in the forest. He follows her into the mysterious house and acts as a save point. He does not have a lot of dialogue. The final character is The Witch, who seems to own the mysterious house Viola unknowingly wanders into. You learn about The Witch through various diaries strewn about the house. 

The Witch's House is a puzzle based horror game, meaning that puzzles must be solved to progress (á la Ib). Every puzzle has notes on the walls that hint at what must be done to solve the puzzle. The puzzles in this game are unique and enjoyable. I love that the puzzle (and game) mechanics play with one's expectations. One of my favorite puzzles in the game is the mirror room puzzle, where you must mirror objects in two rooms (incidentally, Mad Father, another RPG maker game, ended up doing something similar). The solutions to some of the puzzles rely on cruelty and gore, which is why I put a warning at the beginning of the post. Make no mistake, these puzzles can be difficult, but a good difficult!

It is important to note that upon completing certain puzzles, the player will be chased by some type of creature, which must be evaded (usually by leaving or entering a new room). If, at any time, the creature catches Viola, it's game over. Chase scenes are usually hinted by a sound or an object changing (breaking, closing, etc.,) These chase scenes tend to be the reason why I classify the puzzles as difficult. Even if you know that they are coming, if you get stuck or something, you will have to restart from your last save point.

As I mentioned in the introduction, the game punishes the player for following instinct. The best example of this is the very first puzzle of the game. Spoilers for the first puzzle, highlight if you do not mind it being spoiled: There is a dark room with a stain in the center and a note on the north wall. During my first playthrough, I thought I could walk straight to the note and, as soon as I tried, the walls closed in and killed me. That was when I knew that I was going to love this game. I love how the puzzles are never as simple as they may seem. 

The difficulty of The Witch's House is somewhat difficult to place. I would say it is anything from average to difficult. For a first time player, it is going to be challenging because the chases can come as a surprise and cause instant death. For this reason, I recommend saving often during the first time playing. Solving a puzzle incorrectly can also sometimes be instant death. Using items incorrectly or using them period can, you guessed it, also cause instant death. There are many ways to die in this game is what I am saying, and if you do not know the triggers, then the game can be incredibly difficult. (Even if you do know the triggers, it is still pretty easy to die.)

The music used in The Witch’s House is very good, and I do like it a lot. The problem is, I think, that often the sounds fade into the background. There is a lot of good, atmospheric music, but it is not until I listen to the files separately that I realizes just how great everything is. Not to say there are no memorable songs in the game; there certainly are. The title theme, the music box song(s), and the piano music stuck with me the first time I heard them. The chase music is likewise excellent, it really gets your heart going and adds to the fear and anxiety of the situation.

The graphics in the original were not, in my opinion, too special. The original had a couple of unique animations but nothing terribly special. Fummy added a mess of new animations in 1.07 including door opening animations, object moving animations, and more. It is all subtle, but I think it adds a unique, cute factor that the game was previously lacking. The graphics have also been cleaned up a lot in 1.07, which I will go over in detail in a separate post, but the graphics are very clean looking. Some of the textures have also been switched out, for the better. One of my favorite examples:

The no-distraction hallway

Some very minor complaints I have are about the instructions, which I feel are a bit strange. In the opening of the game, the player does not find out the instructions until after walking around to get the first key item. By that point, the player would have had to figure out the controls. However, this problem is easily solved because the controls are listed in the Readme, which is important to read before playing a game anyway.  Very similar to this, the player can read a book in the library about how to open doors, which is a good idea but, by that point, the player would have had to know this already. I do admit that it could be a good thing to remember from that point onward, however. My complaints about the game, as you can see, are pretty minor. Not a lot sticks out to me as bad, and I clearly love a lot about this game.

I think this game also has a pretty high replay value. There is so much to see in this game, even just subtle changes. Things that I did not notice when I first played I found when replaying it recently. If you backtrack or explore an area after completing a puzzle, things will change and there will be different text. Be sure to explore at your own risk, however, as certain areas you return to may kill you. By backtracking after completing a puzzle, there are a lot of subtle changes, including subtle horror. One of my favorite "subtle scares" happens if you return to the mirror puzzle room later in the game and interact with the frog.

The The Witch’s House has about “four” different endings. Really, there are two real endings, a secret ending, and an "addendum."

•     The first, or the easiest ending, is achieved by escaping from the house after the final "battle."
•     The more difficult ending is the “true” ending where you must grab a secret item before escaping from the house. This changes the first ending dramatically and makes the entire game all the more horrifying in hindsight.
•     The "addendum" to the endings is the most difficult to achieve. To get this ending, you must not save or talk to the black cat throughout the entire game with one exception. Slight spoilers in how to get this: In the no distractions hallway, if you  have not spoken to the black cat, you can talk to it here and look at the books, diaries, and notes which give the player much background information about the game and your player character.  This addendum really comes into play at the end of the game, right before the “final boss.” If you talk to the cat before this room, you gain even more knowledge about the cat, the house, and the player character. I do not recommend going for this addendum during your first play through unless you are very confident as you are not allowed to save and if you get killed at any point (easy enough to accomplish), you will have to restart the entire game.
•     The newest ending that came to be in version 1.07 is such a secret that Fummy does not even acknowledge its existence. To get the ending, wait on the first screen without doing anything for an hour (the window must be your active window as well!) Ultimately, this ending is not, in my opinion, really worth it. I will be discussing it in detail in my post about the new version of the game. At its surface, it seems like a pointless ending, but once you examine the meta of it, it makes much more sense.

The Witch's House is not a long game; it takes about an hour or so to complete (of course, depending on how much you look around and not taking into account deaths and all) though Fummy estimates in the readme two to three hours, so I suppose it just depends on the player!

Over all, I would say The Witch's House is neutral on the feminist front. You do play as a female character, but you never interact with the other female character. In only one ending of the game does the game technically, in my opinion, pass the Bechdel Test. I suppose in most instances of the game, it does sort of pass the Bechdel Test, but only in one ending is it obvious. Major spoilers for the game: You actually do interact with the other female character, Ellen, in the true ending (the stuff that happens in the bedroom is not really interacting) but it is not positive, and the relationship is not a good one. Ellen taunts Viola, but... I wouldn't say this takes away from whether or not the game is feminist friendly, to be honest. It is difficult to say if there is any queer representation because there is no romantic subplot. I will not make a call on racial representation, and here is why. I try not to ever, as a white person, make calls on anime/manga character. For more reading on this subject, I recommend this article.


The game is definitely not anti-feminist, and I do love that you get to play as a female character because that feels like such a rare opportunity still in this day and age, but it does not do much that makes it feminist. However, I think it is a safe choice for any feminists or anyone who is concerned about offensive content (I mean, there is the whole cruelty and death stuff, but).

Overall, I would rate the game about a 3.5. Here's the final breakdown:
Plot: Four stars. I love the story and the characters, but most of the story is subtle and does not come into play until the end of the game.
Graphics: Three and a half, I suppose. Nothing too special. There are some unique animations.
Sound/music: Three. Not a whole lot of variety in the songs and the songs tend to sort of fade into the background in most cases.
Difficulty: Probably about a four. The game can be incredibly difficult, especially when going for the no-save "addendum" ending.
Ability to replay: Three. You probably only need to replay the game twice to achieve all of the endings. There are a lot of subtle details to witness, but those don't necessarily require replaying the game, especially if you are not interested in such things.

I do truly love and enjoy this game. It is certainly my second favorite RPG maker game for its unique (horrifying) puzzles, story, and over all gameplay mechanics. I think it is a really strong game and the "true" ending is one of the best endings I have ever seen in any video game.

You can download the English version of The Witch's House here.

The original (Japanese) website is here. If you go to this website, you'll see that Fummy is going to be releasing a book based on Ellen's story, a prequel to The Witch's House.

Revisting Final Fantasy X

Official logo of the remasters

With Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster being released at some point this year, I thought I would take the opportunity to write about Final Fantasy X. This is somewhat of a review, and somewhat of an opinion piece.

Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy game I ever played, so it stands out to me in ways that other games in the series never will. This is also a game that really revolutionized the entire Final Fantasy franchise, though it may be difficult to believe today!

This was the first game in the series to have a direct sequel, for better or for worse, setting a precedent for the series today. It was also the first game in the franchise to feature voice acting and "real-time facial expressions" (as quoted from the game's box). Of course, the expressions can look a bit laughable today, and the voice acting may seem a little uninspired, but we would not have what we do in Final Fantasy games today if it were not for Final Fantasy X.

For those of you who have never played the game, it is about Tidus, who is a famous athlete from a city called Zanarkand, who finds himself in another world where his city is nothing but ruins. He joins a summoner, Yuna, and her guardians as they go on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin, the main antagonist of the game. Sin is a gigantic creature that causes tragedy everywhere it ventures, leaving numerous causalities and damages in its wake. The goal of a summoner is to venture from temple to temple around Spira and pray, gaining creatures called aeons that can be summoned to fight, until they reach Zanarkand where they gain the Final Aeon, which is needed to defeat Sin. The thing about Sin is that it never goes away for good and always returns after ten years.

This is a game that has an overall serious atmosphere, and there are very few silly moments throughout the game, which is appropriate for a game that deals with a lot of death. Seriously, there is so much death in this game. It is also an emotional game with many emotional moments that are portrayed at least decently. As I mention below, there is one specific moment that stands out to me as the facial expressions doing a wonderful job, and every character faces one of their own personal tragedies that they need to move past. The ending of this game is one of the most bittersweet I have ever said in a game, and it is widely known as a tearjerker, which is likely why a direct sequel was created.

The method of leveling up is rather unique in that there is a sphere grid, a gigantic grid full of HP, MP, strength, etc., increases and abilities. At its heart, the sphere grid system is like any other RPG. Characters gain experience from defeating enemies and bosses, thus gaining levels. Where it differs is the way the game chooses to use the level ups. Instead of gaining more magic, health, and abilities with each level, the player must navigate the sphere grid to gain those things. It makes the game strategic and allows the player to turn the character into whatever they would like. Kimahri is an obvious example. While every other character has their own section on the sphere grid, Kimahri has maybe one area and, from there, the player can take him wherever they want. They can make him into a white or black mage, or they can prioritize strength by having him go into Auron's section. This can be done with any character, but the player must do this with Kimahri.

I would say that the difficulty of the game is relatively high, once you reach a certain point. I would argue that the game is at least challenging throughout, but once you reach Mt. Gagazet, every boss is at an insane difficulty level for the rest of the game. At least, that is the point where I used to always find myself having difficulty. The truth is that the game does not necessarily get impossibly difficult, but it truly requires the player to strategize more from there on. The boss on Mt. Gagazet is one that would always give me trouble because I never strategized correctly (also, I used to run away from many encounters, but that is a story for another time).
For the record, this post is going to contain some spoilers in my discussion of the characters, so gloss over those parts if you've not played.

Final Fantasy X is both Tidus and Yuna's story as it is about Yuna's journey as a summoner, but it also about Tidus learning about Spira, befriending others, and learning the truth about himself and his father.

I have never played or seen a Final Fantasy game that does not have memorable characters (especially in the case of Final Fantasy VII), and this is no exception. Not to mention that each and every character is completely fleshed out and has a story of their own. All of the main characters face a tragedy during the game, and it is interesting to see how they change or overcome their grief along the way.

The ladies in this game are excellent. Rikku is an Al Bhed, a despised race in Spira, and the racist of the group is unaware of this, leading to some drama later, which provides some interesting plot and character development. She is Yuna's cousin, and she is very supportive. She joins the group after attempting to kidnap Yuna, an effort to stop her from completing the pilgrimage, but ultimately decides it is better to be with her cousin and try to develop a plan to make her end the pilgrimage along the way. Even though it goes against her heart and her beliefs, she journeys with Yuna until the end, even when Yuna refuses to give up her pilgrimage. Rikku understands and backs her up, even though it makes her upset. She is a peppy, upbeat character who has her serious, thought-provoking moments.

Lulu is the oldest of the girls and grew up as an orphan with Yuna. For this reason, the two of them are very close, and very much like sisters. Lulu is one of the most serious characters of the group, and she holds immediate contempt for Tidus, suspicious of his strange actions and lack of knowledge of Spira. As time goes on, she warms up to Tidus, explaining things about the world to him, but still does not want him near Yuna, more or less because she knows both characters have feelings for each other and it would only end in sadness. It is revealed later in the game that Lulu has been on two previous pilgrimages and holds a lot of guilt over something that occurred on one of her pilgrimages. She does look out for all of the younger characters (meaning everyone in the group but Auron and Kimahri), and especially looks out for Wakka and asks Tidus to try to be understanding. She is a really wonderful character.

Yuna is a summoner who is considerate, quiet, and serious. Most of what she thinks about she does not speak of aloud. As the daughter of Braska, the last summoner to defeat Sin, she has big shoes to fill. She is a brave and determined character, knowing full well from a young age that defeating Sin means death. Later in the game, when she casts aside her religion, she continues to journey as a summoner, despite the fact that she is hated around Spira. Most of what the player knows about Yuna comes from Tidus' narration, which is a bit problematic, but she is a fantastic character who gets even more expansion in Final Fantasy X-2 (along with Rikku)!

Though some of the music is reused a little too much, most of the music used in the game is very good. "To Zanarkand," and "The Via Purifico" are two of the most memorable songs of the game. "To Zanarkand" certainly captures the entire atmosphere of the game. I have always said that if you want to show someone who has never played the game what the game is like in just a song, show them 'To Zanarkand.'

We can all laugh as much as we want about the facial expressions, but there are some moments where the expressions are particularly good. If you have not played,   will try not to spoil this too much, but the best example of character expression in the game takes place during the second portion of the final battle. In fact, I may just make this its own post, but Yuna's expressions change very clearly to show how distressed and upset she is about what she has to do. It is really touching and allows the player to connect with her even more; Yuna gets a lot of that in the endgame, which I appreciate. As I said, I will probably just expand on this more in a different post. Just know that it is a really touching, emotional thing to watch.


The game can last about as long as you want. I would estimate that just the main story would take maybe about forty-five hours or so, but there is a lot of sidequests that can be done. The sidequest to get the celestial (aka, ultimate) weapons can take a while if you want to get all of the weapons, and it may still take a while depending on which weapons you want. Many of the sidequests tend to reward you with both the celestial weapons and other items, which is convenient. The Monster Arena sidequest alone can take a while to finish, and that is including reaching high enough levels to actually fight the monsters.

Final Fantasy X has no shortage of things you can do, and it has a lot of heart.

The only thing that disappoints me about the game is the amount fan service present. This is problematic for many reasons, including that these moments often take away from these strong female characters (Yuna, Lulu, and Rikku) by turning them into objects for the audience's pleasure. The most clear cut case is when Tidus stumbles upon Rikku, who has washed up on the shore.

Image courtesy of ffshrine.org

Rikku gets up as Tidus stumbles upon her and takes off her suit. The audience is "treated" to a scene of her, dripping wet, slowly unzipping her suit and stripping it off. The FMV sequence depicted above is especially gross when you consider that Rikku is only fifteen in Final Fantasy X (for reference, Lulu is twenty-two and Yuna is seventeen).

Soapboxinggeek also describes this problem of objectification in the game. She says that, while she enjoys the game overall,  "What I didn’t like was being treated to an animation of Lulu’s jiggly boobs during the victory fanfare.  She was an intelligent, talented and levelheaded character. But her character design featured a skintight dress made of leather belts, and a fur collar which left bare shoulders and lent itself to ample cleavage. The other two female characters, Yuna and Rikku, had arguably less sexualized outfits, but I was still forced to endure FMVs of a sweaty Yuna fainting from exhaustion, and a closeup of a dripping wet Rikku unzipping her skintight waterproof body suit. I can only presume that Square-Enix (or Squaresoft as it was known then) were staffed by mature adults, and that they were aware that the Final Fantasy series has a strong female fanbase. So why were only the women given sexualized introductions (and victory poses)?"

She details a huge problem in the game (and video games in general). While the female characters are objectified (a problem in itself), the men do not suffer from this problem at all. (Note, I am not saying that male characters should be sexualized as well, but if female characters are being sexualized, then it should be "equal," and male characters should be as well. What I would really like to see is no sexualization whatsoever.) The creators made these female characters into wonderful, well-rounded characters but decided to take them down a peg by objectifying them. The purpose of Lulu's victory pose seems to be a "reward" for the player winning a battle.

I would not necessarily say these sequences ruin the game for me because I still love and enjoy it very much, but they make me dread the times when I know I am about to watch one of the girls being turned into an object for the audience's "pleasure." It detracts from the overall playing experience, which is unfair. 

Final Fantasy X is a great game over all, but it is also problematic. Nonetheless, it will always remain one of my favorite video games and I cannot wait for Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster to be released. On a final note, the remaster will be of the International version, meaning, if you lived in or played the North American version, you will now be treated to the Dark Aeon fights as well.

You can find soapboxinggeek's post about being a female gamer here.
I definitely suggest reading it. It is very eye opening and informative, particularly if you do not identify as female or are not aware of the problems afflicting female gamers in the video game industry.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PS3) is available for pre-order on Amazon.

The Last of Us: A game of survival in an apocalyptic world

The Last of Us is a survival horror game released only for the Playstation 3 as of June 14, 2013. This is a cool game, which is why I'm writing about it, but I'm not writing a review; I just want to make a small post about it.

The game features a character named Joel, a man who lives in a world teeming with infected and dangerous bandits, who is on an escort mission to take a foul-mouthed teenager named Ellie across the United States to a resistance group called the Fireflies. The game features Joel surviving in an apocalyptic world, fighting against the "Infected," people who have been turned to monsters by a disease, as well as humans who have turned violent to survive in the upside down world.

The game is interesting and good for many reasons. It has certainly subverted my expectations a few times where I expected one thing to be the norm only to have the game destroy whatever I expected. The beginning of the game (i.e. everything before opening credits) is a pretty good representation of this.

There is literally an armory of weapons to choose from. I was amazed by the sheer amount of weapons that can be used. One of the coolest ones that I did not expect to see is a normal bow. The large amount of weapons really helps because supplies are generally sparse, so it is not unlikely to have little to no ammo on one weapon, and a bit more on another. Having so much to choose from means that there will always be something to fight with.

The game, however, does require a lot of stealth, which has to be one of my least favorite parts of any video game. Stealth is a big part of the game. For that reason, I will be watching at least one playthrough for the game on Youtube because I'd like to see how it plays out. I just happen to be poor at stealth and dislike it a lot. Nonetheless, I like that stealth is in the game. It seems only to make sense given that the setting is in a post-apocalyptic world and, if that were a realistic situation, it would be necessary to sneak around humans and zombie-like creatures, if one could get away with it.

On the whole, I think the game is realistic to what a post-apocalyptic world would be, and that is why I like it quite a bit (also why I am still going back and forth on whether or not I should play it completely). The characters are all fleshed out at least a bit, which is always a nice thing to see in games. The plot in general is also just plain interesting.

As I mentioned, Ellie is a foulmouthed character and, again, this is a survival horror taking place in the post-apocalyptic world. As such, this game is rated M for Mature, for the language and, of course, the violence. Do not play this game if you are sensitive to violence.

 I would highly recommend this game because it is one of the better examples of a post-apocalyptic setting, in my opinion. If you are not a stealth person, this one may not be for you, just keep in mind that the more weapons you have, the more you may be able to get away with fighting more than sneaking (though, I think playing much of the game that way would be impossible given scarcity of items and whatnot).

Special side note: Joel is voiced by Troy Baker, whose voice you may recognize immediately as Booker DeWitt's from Bioshock Infinite. Ellie is voiced by Ashley Johnson, who played one of my favorite characters, Terra, from Teen Titans. 

You can find the game's website here: http://www.thelastofus.com/

You should be able to purchase it wherever games are sold. In fact, the website has a list of where you can buy the game. Just remember that it is exclusively for the PS3!

*On another note, I have not yet seen enough of the game to determine if it is "female friendly," so to speak, though there have been a few female characters so far, including the leader of the Fireflies, Marlene, Tess, and, of course, Ellie. I would say it is doing at least somewhat well on the friendly front so far.

Something so obvious that I cannot believe I forgot to add it, yet I did. The graphics in this game are absolutely beautiful. Some shots are so breathtaking. Many of the city shots look wonderful. Really, so far, there is nothing to complain about in the graphics department. This game is extremely polished.

Let's discuss: Kya

I'm  in the midst of writing a review for the Playstation 2 platformer Kya: Dark Lineage, but I wanted to look at some aspects of the game before publishing it, so I'm putting it on hold for now. One of my (many) goals of this blog is to look at characters (and/or video games) to determine if they're "female-friendly," since that is something that has always been important to me as a gamer and as a woman. As such, I thought I would give a little preview of Kya, the protagonist of Kya: Dark Lineage, before publishing the game's review.

At one point in my adolescence, I decided that fully developed female characters were important to me. I suppose this came about after playing games and seeing games with many cool male characters/protagonists and female characters that... left more to be desired. When my best friend first showed me Kya: Dark Lineage, I think Kya being female really added to my love of the game.

Kya is an admirable character. She is a young woman (her age is never stated, though she is probably in her mid-to-late teens) who is strong and determined, if not a little stubborn. She lives with her half-brother, Frank, and, presumably, a mother the audience never sees. The game starts off with Kya investigating a strange noise in her house, only to find Frank messing around in a secret room neither of them knew about. While exploring the mysterious room, Frank accidentally knocks over something that causes Kya and Frank to be launched into another world. Upon waking, Kya finds herself surrounded by strange creatures and no Frank. The creatures, Nativs, take her back to their city, teach her about the antagonist of the world, Brazul, and teach her how to fight Brazul's minions so she can rescue Frank.

First, it might serve as a good idea to discuss Kya's design. Kya is not, exactly, oversexualized in the way that many female characters tend to be, but she wears attire that would probably not be acceptable for a male. 

Kya in the Roots (image from IGN)

Kya wears a midriff shirt, which is pretty forgivable considering how sexualized female characters normally are though, it is worth mentioning, Frank would not be wearing such a thing if he were the protagonist. The only reason it's all that forgivable on the part of the designers is because she's female. Midriff aside, Kya's design is pretty-okay. Her body size is a little too small, her waist is certainly too small to be healthy or realistic, but, it's something I can more or less overlook because Kya has a strong personality.

I feel the need to mention this, because I've noticed it too many times in video games, anime, and other media forms: fan service. I can't recall any clear fan service moments, certainly nothing outrageous like having her take a dip in a spring while she's on her mission (I'm looking at you, Final Fantasy X-2). It seems a silly thing to mention but it's important (to me) because so many character designers decide to throw in fan service when female characters are involved.

Kya is a strong character who doesn't allow the fact that she's human stop her from braving dangerous wastelands, volcanic islands, or monsterous dogs that devour everything whole. While her reasoning for going after Brazul is, at first, to help the Nativs and personal in that she wants to rescue her brother, by the end of the game, it becomes personal on a much closer level: she wants to go after Brazul to stop his plans and get her revenge. Her revenge for what, you ask? That would be too much of a spoiler, so you'll have to play the game yourself.

I enjoyed the fact that Kya is a character with her own goals and a real personality. She is, at first, upset about what has happened to her and her brother and worries about Frank's life, but then she "toughens up." She learns how to fight and she braves the strange new world in order to accomplish her goals. I also enjoyed the fact that they added more to her personality than "concerned about brother, must save brother." While that is by no means a bad goal, it doesn't make much of a character. There are times where Kya is downright stubborn, determined to fight the Wolfen and destroy Brazul even though she's only a weak human, and times where she is downright human: when she is afraid for Frank's life, when she loses trust in an ally, etc.,

It's worth mentioning that Kya is also the only female character in the entire game. All of the Nativs that speak are male and, since all of the Nativs have a similar body shape, presumably every Nativ is male. How they procreate now and how they did in the past is a mystery to fans, though I have heard many... interesting theories.

All in all, Kya is a bad ass character who also happens to be female. More female characters could learn a thing or two from her. While Kya isn't my favorite female character, or the strongest, she deserves to be mentioned as a solid female character. There is more to be desired from her in terms of design and character development though, perhaps, if Kya fans had gotten the sequel to the game, there could have been all of that and more.

(Be on the look out for that Kya: Dark Lineage review. It will probably be finished by the end of the week.)