My top games of the decade!

Well, folks, it's the first day of 2020 which means it's time to reflect on the past. Well, in truth, I would have had this published yesterday except I had to work a full day and I am a certified Old Person(TM) which means I was asleep by 10pm.

That's all beside the point. There have been some truly amazing games released since 2010 and I wanted to discuss my top 10 choices (in no particular order), and encourage you to check them out yourselves. This post will feature 5 out of the 10 (if only because it took forever to write up and this post got lengthy)! There will be two additional posts, one with the rest of my tops and then another for honorable mentions.

To begin the list, Pokemon SoulSilver released in 2010. The only reason I'm excluding HeartGold is I've never played that version, but I know it's just as good (I mean, it has Ho-Oh guys!)

I remember quite fondly all of my friends buying this game as soon as it was released while I begged my mom to buy it for me for Easter. Even waiting a day was excruciating, but I did end up receiving it! 

Before SoulSilver (hereafter referred to as "SS" for my own convenience) was released, my favorite Pokemon game of all time was Pokemon Crystal, which was released in December 2000. Generation 2 of the Pokemon games, in general, remains my favorite of all time. The postgame is fantastic! And basically all of my praises for gen 2 (and Crystal, specifically) apply to SS.

SoulSilver took a classic game and really brought it to life for new fans 10 years later. The graphics are gorgeous, and I remember my friends and I losing our minds over the fact that all of the towns had unique songs (in the generation 2 games, themes were reused for some of the towns). Not to mention, the post-game. Once you beat the Elite 4 in SS, as was the case in Gold/Silver/Crystal, you get access to the entirety of the Kanto region. This was great in the original games because it tied gen 1 and 2 together to hit on the nostalgia of fans. It was even better 10 years later in SS because the fans that had played Red/Blue/Yellow by that point really felt the nostalgia of returning to Kanto.

My favorite part of SS, though, is absolutely the feature of having a buddy Pokemon follow you.

This is a feature that disappeared for quite a while until reappearing in Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee in 2018. While I don't know how popular this feature was with fans in general, I know it was popular with my group of friends. It really made the game feel more alive. Probably because I had the benefit of playing Pokemon as soon as I learned to read, I have always felt a strong connection with Pokemon. I grew up playing the games, collecting the cards, and watching the anime. I had such a strong imagination as a child that I would pretend, on long car rides, that my Rapidash was running alongside the car. So, you can imagine how much I loved this feature 13ish years later. I was even more thrilled about it in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. You can ride Rapidash, guys! But we're not talking about that.

I loved this feature, I thought it was sweet and cool. It also allowed you to know how much your Pokemon liked you, which made it easier to know when certain evolutions would happen. Also, they could pick up items for you! It was very fun. 

While incredibly rare these days when buying the game secondhand, when the game was new it came with something called a Pokewalker. It allowed you to choose a Pokemon of yours to take around and walk with you in various locations featured in the walker. It also allowed you to catch Pokemon, some of which were exclusive to that feature. 

Walking with Pikachu in the Pokewalker

Battling a Pokemon in the Pokewalker

It was definitely a way to encourage players to get some exercise, kind of a precursor to the mobile game Pokemon Go and the Pokeball Plus that was released with Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. It was a unique idea and I remember people everywhere (especially at my high school), walking around with the walker clipped to their waistband and playing with it in class. Obviously, I loved it, especially since it reminded me of one of my favorite childhood items, the Pokemon Pikachu/Pocket Pikachu:

Pokemon Pikachu, a Tamagotchi-like game featuring our favorite electric mouse!

This was basically just Tamagotchi but with Pikachu but I feel pretty certain that it inspired the idea of the Pokewalker. 

SS managed to improve upon the original gen 2 games by actually including the Safari Zone again. In Gold/Silver/Crystal, you'd find upon reaching Fuchsia that the Safari Zone had moved out of the area so it was no longer accessible which was a disappointment to anyone who loved/hated going through it in Red/Blue/Yellow. Not to mention, you had customization options to basically build your own Safari Zone and customize which Pokemon would appear based on the options you had set. 

Even though it's difficult to find anything more than the cartridge for sale these days, I would highly encourage you to seek it out if you can. The graphics are nice and the extra features like walking with your buddy are great. I wouldn't say the ability to use the Pokewalker makes or breaks the game, it's just a fun extra if you can manage to find it for cheap. While Silver/Gold/Crystal are available on virtual console for purchase, I think SS/HG are a much improved version of those, especially if you are a new player who is used to the ability of running, which gens 1 and 2 do not have. Trust me, it makes a huge difference when you go back and have to walk everywhere.

Next up is The Last of Us, released in 2013. 

Man, this game, what a game. To start off, this game messes you right up. Playing through the prologue never fails to be upsetting. As far as this list goes, this is definitely one of the tops in terms of story. It doesn't just have a great story, though, it has excellent gameplay as well. I love this game because, by the end of it, it really makes you think. Well, I can't speak for you, but it did make me think. I've never met a person who's played it where we haven't had some type of discussion about the moral dilemma at the end. It's really interesting because it's one of the few games I've played where that type of discussion is warranted. Obviously, you can debate any plot point in a game, but I feel this is one where you are obligated to stand on one of side of the fence.

Now, the game play. As I learned from playing another game in this list, sometimes it's just kind of fun to fight and shoot people in video games. It's especially fun when you can successfully do it with stealth. That is the one issue of this game, though. It's entirely stealth. You can get away with shooting your way out, but you're going to have trouble if you never stealth. While this game does have several difficulties (the easiest one lending you the greatest chance of going out guns blazing) to make things easier, if you hate stealth you just may not enjoy the game. As I said, there is an easy mode, but if you find sneaking especially stressful, this may not be the game for you.

This game is interesting to me because it transcends a few genres. It's obviously action/adventure, but there is a hint of horror to it too. For one, the horror of having the government take over completely, the horror of monstrous creatures attempting to either eat you alive or just bite you and leave you with a death sentence of a disease. Then, there's the horror of desperate people doing desperate things or people taking advantage. One of the most horrifying moments to me were the sexual predator vibes given off by an antagonist named David in the midpoint of the game. It makes you deeply empathetic to Ellie's character but, if you're a survivor, you may find it triggering. I did then and I still kind of do now.

But the game also has such lovely light hearted moments. For example, when Ellie and Joel ride a horse through an abandoned university where lab monkeys are walking around, freely. And an even later point where you follow Ellie as she chases a herd of giraffes. This game is just beautiful. It's one of the games I can easily consider art. The emotions it puts you through is like no other. 

A moment of reprieve for Joel and Ellie

However, nothing in this world is perfect, so let's talk about that. One of the biggest criticisms I have of this game is the lack of POC, especially as main characters. Ellie, Joel and Tess are all white. Joel's friend that you meet up with later is also white (though he's also revealed to be gay, which is a nice little addition). Marlene is a black woman and she is very important. It's cool that she's the leader of the Firefly faction because you don't get to see many leaders that are women, let alone black women, in games. However, because we don't see her a whole lot in game, and the moments when we do see her are very serious, she seems sort of flat as a character and falls into the trope of being a strong, stoic black woman who doesn't need anyone. We do later meet up with two black characters, Henry and his younger brother Sam, who are well rounded characters. Often times, if you move fast enough, you can see unique dialogue or scenes, such as Ellie and Sam playing darts in an abandoned house which is nice. However, the two of them end up dying. By the end of the game, Marlene is killed in cold blood as well. In the end, only two white characters are alive (I mean, presumably other character like Joel's brother are also alive, but we end up with just Ellie and Joel). That doesn't send the best message. I do appreciate that Joel is a semi-complicated character (though he also falls into the trope of the stoic mild aged bearded dude with lots of guns who guns people down, but he does have a bit more character than that), but it isn't great that we only end up with two white characters being at the end. I am very excited for the sequel, but I strongly hope there are more black and characters of color in general who are important and don't just... die. Like, maybe some of them could at least escape to happy lives?  

Honorable mention because I'm trying not to include more than one game from a series, but this is DLC so it's only cheating a little, right? The Last of Us: Left Behind which is DLC for the main game that was released on Valentine's Day in 2014, which I remember being so key because of one of the strongest moments in the game. This DLC was so incredibly important because, first off, you get to see Ellie's backstory and what made her who she is in the main game. You also get to meet her bestie, Riley, who is Ellie's best friend and partner in crime. The two balance each other out nicely. As seen in the main game, Ellie is a somewhat lighthearted jokester while Riley tends to be more serious but the two manage to have fun in the mall they creep into and play around together.

As mentioned previously, there is a key moment where Riley and Ellie are having a heated argument that turns into them kissing. This was almost immediately divisive in the community with people arguing that "kids" (though Ellie and Riley are teens) can't figure out if they're gay or straight and Naughty Dog was pushing an agenda. Obviously, to those of us in the LGBTQIA community, this was an incredible moment. Seeing yourself represented in a video game is truly something else. When I was a child, I was lucky to play as a female character or see one featured in a game who wasn't a damsel in distress, let alone a gay or trans character who is not played off as a shitty joke (looking at you, Birdo). It's just a brief moment that is never discussed in game and, being The Last of Us, there is a tragic ending to the dlc, which could be seen as a "bury your gays" trope but I did appreciate the effort to make the community be seen, even if it was only for a moment. 

Ellie and Riley

On that note, this game isn't free of criticism or problems, of course it isn't. For example, as I mentioned, Riley is more of the serious, stoic character to balance out Ellie's bubbliness which isn't a problem in and of itself, but there is a common trope of the strong black woman who doesn't need anyone, who's serious, etc., Although Riley has her lighthearted moments, you can see that she does fall into the trope a bit. Though she is better off than Marlene who, possibly because of the part she plays in the main game, is never afforded a chance to be anything but a serious, strong woman. 

"Recently" (within the past few years) The Last of Us has been remastered to include the Left Behind dlc with it, and this is obviously the version I encourage you buy. Both stories and games are fantastic. As I said, the story makes you think and I find the gameplay enjoyable. The graphics are truly fantastic and there are some breathtaking scenes. And, finally, the music. This was the first time I ever had to buy a video game's OST. Gustavo Santaolalla is a fantastic musician who composed a truly breathtaking score for both games that just set the solemness and beauty and intensity so well. This comes with the following list of caveats though: if you hate stealth, can't handle gore (oh, there is definitely gore in this game), can't handle a lot of death, can't handle killing characters that look like real humans (because you kill a lot of infected but you also definitely kill a lot of realistic-looking humans), and you can't handle suicide or subtext of sexual assault, then you may want to avoid The Last of Us.

Our next game on the list is Splatoon 2, released in 2017.

Splatoon 2 is the sequel to the first game in the series, Splatoon, released for the Wii U in 2015. It's a shooter that completely changes everything you thought you knew about shooters. As this is a game aimed at children, most of the guns/weapons in the game, are cartoonish and plastic-looking. Honestly, I find the designs of the guns in both Splatoon games way cooler than anything I've ever seen in CS: GO for example. You don't even need ammo! All you have to do is shoot, run, etc depending on your weapon choice and hide in your ink to refill your ammo. It's great. 

Splatoon 2 has improved upon the first game by including even more competitive modes than the first game. There are three different types of modes for Splatoon 2. There is Turf War, where your team tries to cover more ground with your ink than the opposing team. It's the most simple of the modes, and is for people who want to be competitive but without the high stakes that the ranked modes have. Then, there is ranked mode which has a rotation of several modes within it. Once is Rainmaker, where your team tries to land the titular rainmaker into the opposing team's pedestal. The next is Tower Control, where your team tries to push a tower across the entire map to the goal on the opposing team's side. The next is Clam Blitz, where your team collects clams that you then throw into your opponent's basket; whoever lands the most clams in the basket wins. Finally, there is Splat Zones, where you and your opponents fight over either one or two zones and attempt to control it with your ink color. Whoever holds the zone(s) the longest, wins. As you can see, Splatoon 2 offers a lot of variety and is even beginning to rise up in the ranks of e-sports, which is excellent to see.

I will briefly mention that, while these ended in 2019, Splatoon 2, like its predecessor, including an additional online feature called Splatfest. This meant that every month or so, you would choose a side offered to you in the plaza. A past Splatfest was Pancakes vs Waffles (tragically, Waffles won). Once you chose your side, there would be a 24 hour turf war where the teams would battle it out and a winner would be chosen based on which team won the most matches and which team was the most popular. This is no longer a feature, however, but we will no doubt see it again when Splatoon 3 inevitably releases in the future.

Online stuff aside, there is also a hefty story mode where you go through various courses where you platform and fight enemies. Your goal is to make it to the end of each course and rescue the zap fish. It's very fun, and, when I played the first Splatoon, I had pretty bad internet so single player mode was my whole life in that game. They have definitely improved upon the original's single player. The story is super enjoyable, the courses are fun and sometimes even really challenging. Unlike the first game, this one also features paid DLC (called the Octoling Expansion) which adds an additional single player campaign where you play as an Octoling (which were enemies in the first Splatoon that most players became obsessed about having them be playable) who has lost their memories and must journey through a weird subway, stopping at various courses so you can escape to the surface. I find this single player campaign even more enjoyable than the standard single player because of the variety. Unlike the standard single player, the courses aren't just platforming and fighting your way to the finish line. They each feature different requirements to win. Some are battling enemies, some are making it to the end point with limited ink, and some are fun little things like shoot out this pile of boxes to match the shape on the left. It's just fun and when I don't feel like battling seriously online, I'll play the Octoling Expansion courses again. Not to mention that the very final battle of this mode is so super fun, and the music is great! The thing about Splatoon games is that the music manages to be great even though it's not in any type of known language. The beats are great and do a good job at getting you pumped, just like in the original.

Honestly, I don't have any caveats about this game. There's no voice chat really (unless you download a separate app, which I haven't done) so the game mostly manages to be non-toxic and enjoyable. The competitive modes are super fun especially if you're in the mood to be competitive. The single player is enjoyable. I don't know if I'd advise the game to people who don't have Nintendo Online (the subscription you must buy to play any Switch game online), even though there's two whole single player campaigns, I feel like the Splatoon games are best enjoyed when you can take part in all parts of the game.

Off the Hook Duo, Marina and Pearl

Unlike the first game, it's nice to see that our two idols are not both light skinned (although I feel pretty certain that the idols in the first game are meant to be Japanese, even though the race in the game are inklings... you understand, skin color tends to inform people subconsciously of other things anyway), there is a dark skinned idol in this game, which was very exciting for me to see when I first played the game. 

I would strongly suggest this game for anyone who is even remotely interested in shooters, and I feel like it's definitely a much nicer fit for younger kids than say, Fortnite, which can have kind of toxic people/experiences.

Next up is easily one of my favorite Legend of Zelda games, Breath of the Wild released in 2017. 

There is so much to love about this game. I love how different it feels from any other game, I love the new features (why is cooking so enjoyable? Is it the jingle?) I love trying (and failing) to climb all the way up a cliffside, only to fail and pout when I run out of stamina and fall down. To me, this game is so unique. 

There were many a criticism hurled at this game re: the lack of dungeons. However, I find I don't miss the formulaic nature of past dungeons much. I enjoy going to shrines and solving puzzles. One of the things I learned from this game is just how much I enjoy puzzles in my games! Who knew? And the dungeons that are present in this game are expansive, unique, and like puzzles on a larger scale than the small shrines. 

In other words, gameplay wise I find this game so much fun. It's definitely one of the most enjoyable Zelda games in recent history. It doesn't bother me that most weapons and shields break after a number of uses because there are so many weapons in this game that you'll likely find your inventory overflowing with them. Besides, is there anything more satisfying than throwing a sword that's about to break at a Bokoblin's face? Honestly, I even joy the shock and scare of running through a field only to hear the creeping music of a Guardian approaching me. I find that the open world suits Zelda quite well. There's always been a bit of an exploration aspect in the series but Breath of the Wild turns it up to 11. It's possible that I find this game so enjoyable because it reminds me a lot of another game in my top 10 that will be featured in the next installment of this post. 

I appreciate that you can go anywhere in the game (even Hyrule Castle, though you'll probably not fair well at the very beginning) if you are willing to try or arm yourself. For example, you can encounter a snowy mountain pretty early on and you can definitely manage to scale it if you use cooking to your advantage. Another aspect of the gameplay that I enjoy is the use of clothing. No, really. Ocarina of Time featured things like the Goron's Tunic that made it possible to actually get into Death Mountain without catching on fire, and there are clothing items in Breath of the Wild that allow you to explore certain inaccessible towns, too. For example, to enter the Gerudo's town you need to look like a Gerudo. Morally, this is pretty questionable both in the game and possibly in real life (truthfully, I haven't heard much about it discussed), but it's a unique idea. There are even masks you can wear to blend in with certain enemies.

As always, this game knocks it out of the park with story. You learn that Zelda, naturally, needs help concerning a certain demon king in Hyrule Castle but to be strong enough to help her, you must secure the four ancient Divine Beasts in order to weaken Ganon enough to beat him. That's where the four dungeons come into play. As this game is newer than others on the list, I'll try not spoil, but I found the story of Princess Zelda and the four champions who once were at the helms of these beasts both compelling and sad. 

I don't have much in the way of caveats for this one, either, happily. I do hope and wish that we can one day achieve a true Legend of Zelda game where Zelda isn't forced to be rescued at some point. I mean, Zelda as Shiek is what attracted me to this series in the first place. Some day, maybe it can be a reality where Zelda saves Link and the graphics and gameplay aren't horrendous! Another one of my favorite things about this game is one of the champions, Urbosa, isn't your general super skinny female character. She has abs! And curves! And a real personality! By comparison, the other female champion, Mipha, is slim and shy which is fine but also there's something to be said that the slim female character has to be reserved while the curvier one is full of attitude. 

I found this game and its characters very compelling. I will say, however, that there is so much to see, do, and conquer that I acquired Gamer Fatigue(TM) and took a really long break before eventually finishing the game off. That might just be the completionist in me, though. If you have played Zelda games in the past and enjoyed them, I'd highly encourage trying this one out! It's different, but I think you'll find the differences improve the game, not diminish the series. Maybe one of my bigger complains is that I found the music pretty lackluster. In so many of the past games, I have loved the songs and I probably have a favorite from each game. Midna's Lament remains one of my favorite video game songs ever. I couldn't name a single song for you in Breath of the Wild. If you're a big amiibo collector (especially of the Zelda variety), you'll probably get a little extra enjoyment out of this game! I'd highly recommend any gaming fan, whether you've played a previous Zelda title or not, pick this game up. There are references to other games, and obviously Link/Zelda/Ganon are central characters in the series, but you don't need any prior Zelda knowledge to enjoy it. It's available on both the Wii U and the Switch which is a bonus if you haven't taken the dive on a Switch yet. And, side note, there is also a good chunk of paid DLC available for this game including an extra intense dungeon and an additional story to play through.

To close out this blog post, let's go with something a little more chill. 

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was released in 2012 and is probably the game on this list that I have played the most this decade!

If you don't know anything about the series, Animal Crossing is a simulation game where you (inexplicably) are the only human living in a village/town/city full of animal neighbors. It came to the States in 2002 on the Gamecube. It's a very chill series where you live out your days talking to your neighbors, fish, and catch bugs. That's the game. It's hard to explain the appeal behind this series except sometimes it's nice to just sit back and relax in a game that is just... nice. New Leaf, specifically, has gotten me through some of the most difficult times in my life, so I extra appreciate it.

This game is different from the rest of the series in that you are the mayor of your town which means you get to make cool decisions like do you want an ordinance where everyone plants flowers and there's never trash? And do you need to build Stonehenge right in front of your house? Well, as the mayor, you can choose to do those things! Not to mention there's a cool additional feature where you can convince campers visiting your town to move in. 

I hope you like the Christmas-y design of my room!

This game is truly great for relaxing. One of my favorite parts of any Animal Crossing game is buying furniture and designing a house. This one makes it easier by giving you the option to create 3 additional characters in addition to your mayor character, so you can do themed houses or just fit all of your favorite furniture in different themed rooms. I especially love to collect all the furniture from each of the holidays in the game and dedicating a space for them.

If you love completing games, this game is even better for you! There's a museum in the town that requires you to catch all insects, bugs, underwater creatures, fossils and buy all art pieces from a shady dealer. It can be kind of difficult to fill out the fossil and art exhibits specifically but it's definitely do-able and, since this is a game where you want to take it easy, there's no need to rush yourself into completing everything as fast as possible. 

You can find this game pretty cheap now and I recommend it for a nice, relaxing time. It's even better if you have friends that play it or you think might enjoy it! There's a lot of fun to be had playing New Leaf co-op.

Well, folks, that's it for the first 5 games. The next 5, which are some of my top favorite games of all time, will be released over the weekend. Let me know what you thought of these games! Or if you're going to look into any of them. 

Until next time!

Palutena Joins the Fight!

Official picture of Palutena in SSB4 taken from NOA's Twitter

Today at the very end of their E3 presentation, Nintendo announced that Palutena would be joining the roster in Super Smash Bros for the 3ds and Wii U.

Needless to say, I am MORE than pleased. I joked during the presentation that maybe a new Kid Icarus game would be announced, but this is even better. After I finished Kid Icarus: Uprising (which I will someday review), I was hoping that Palutena would be added to the roster, fed, in part, by a certain part of the game where Palutena fights someone. However, it was just a hope, and I figured it was beyond my wildest dreams. With such a cast of characters, I assumed that, if anyone was picked, it would not be Palutena, and probably not even a female character.

Palutena is the third female character (fourth, if you include the female villager) announced for the roster. (Rosalina from the Super Mario Galaxy series and the Wii Fit Trainer from Wii Fit are the other new additions.)

While Zero Suit Samus was added to the roster in Super Smash Bros Brawl, the roster has not seen such an influx in female characters since Melee. There is now (including Female/Male Wii Fit Trainer and Female/Male Villager and excluding Pokémon and Sheik) a ratio of [male:female] 20:8, which, will not great, is still exceptional, considering that I did not expect any new female characters to be announced after Rosalina. 

I am so excited for the new Super Smash Bros and I cannot wait to try out Palutena. 

Super Smash Bros will be released for the Nintendo 3DS October 3 of this year and for the Wii U with a specific date still TBA at some point in holiday 2014. 

You can visit the official (US) website Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3DS here.
 

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.

The Witch's House 1.07 is now out!

A week ago, VGPerson (translator of Ib, The Crooked Man, Mad Father, etc.,) announced on her tumblr that, after a year, Fummy has updated The Witch's House. 

The most notable aspect of this new version is a new, obscure ending. From VGPerson's tumblr:

Notable changes:
- Many of the area tiles and some other graphics are redone.
- Viola has little animations for just about everything now - opening doors, grabbing items, pushing things, etc.
- Some chases are allegedly easier, but it all seems about the same to me.
- The room with the woman statue was changed very slightly, but it all works out the same way.
- The poison room has the bottle and the Skull Soldier book out in the open, rather than hidden in shelves.
- Fummy removed the number lock puzzle several versions ago, but I finally complied with that change, since… I dunno, it was more annoying not to.
- I made some very minor translation fixes and changes.

Apparently, the new ending is not easy to find, to the point that even Fummy has not made note of it in the readme to make it even more obscure! I am very excited; The Witch's House is my second favorite RPG Maker game (which, I believe, I have made note of in the past) and if you have not played it before, I highly recommend playing it now.

In fact, it's a perfect game for October!

I plan to play through it tonight and write a review at some point in the next week. Stay tuned!

You can download The Witch's House here.

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster to Show a Masterful Remaster of Sound

Yesterday, the Playstation Youtube channel posted a video showcasing Final Fantasy X HD Remaster's improvements on graphics, but also sound. The video first features clips from the original Final fantasy X and then Final Fantasy X HD Remaster. The difference is quite clear, in every single way possible.

The remaster is looking to be a beautiful improvement of the already beautiful original. I absolutely cannot wait to see the finished product.

Is Naminé just another damsel in distress?

I have mentioned in the past that Naminé from the very popular Kingdom Hearts series is my favorite character. As you have no doubt noticed, I am in the habit of dissecting things, analyzing every minute detail that I can. Naturally, I have done the same with my favorite characters, especially Naminé.

Kingdom Hearts is not a series with simple characters. In fact, it is not a simple series at all. It is chock full of lore and terms used in our every day that have completely different meanings in the context of the series. Case in point, the term "Nobody" refers to a class of creatures/people who are "shells" of who they once were. A Nobody is born when a person loses their heart, but they are just a shell of that person, meaning they have no emotions and no memories. At the very least, that is true of most Nobodies, but not of the most notable ones in the game, including Naminé.

Naminé is the Nobody of the main protagonist, Sora, as well as another main character, Kairi. The "how" is a little complicated, and, as that is not what this post is about, I will save it for perhaps another time. Naminé was first introduced in the second game of the series, Chain of Memories for the Gameboy Advance. She has since reappeared in every game in the series since (even Birth by Sleep, if you can believe it). She is one of the most unique Nobodies because she has powers that allow her to manipulate the memories of Sora, his memories and those who are connected to him.

In Chain of Memories, she is absolutely, undoubtedly a damsel in distress. She is used by the main antagonist of the game, Marluxia, to mess with Sora's memories, causing him to forget things about his past and replace other things in his memory. It is both clear that she dislikes following orders but also that she is a lonely girl, only used by the others in Castle Oblivion and rarely interacting with them at all. Marluxia has her replace the most important person to Sora with herself so that he is under the illusion that they are great childhood friends and he has to rescue her.

Though still manipulating her, Axel comes to her when no one else is around and convinces her to set things right. Naminé jumps at the opportunity and meets with Sora to tell him that she has been lying to him all along and that, in doing so, he has forgotten who has most important to him, right down to the lucky charm he received in the first game. Sora looks at the star shape charm and finds that she is telling the truth when it retains its familiar shape.

At the climax of the game, Naminé is kidnapped by Marluxia, who senses an upcoming conflict between himself and Axel. He pulls her out as a trump card to either stop Axel from killing him and also to anger Sora into defeating Axel. She is not only a damsel in this case, she is literally being used as an object to up the conflict between three men. Even though he knows Naminé is not who he thought she was, Sora is still angered and fights Axel in order to get at Marluxia, who still has Naminé. Marluxia orders Naminé to erase Sora's memory completely so that she, and Marluxia, can have complete control over Sora and the Keyblade. She, of course, refuses, even though Marluxia threatens her. Even when Sora tells her to do it, she refuses. This would have been a good opportunity for her to hit Marluxia in the stomach or something (she's at the perfect height for it!) but, instead, she has to be saved again. This, at least, shows how much she has developed as a character throughout the game, no longer passively taking orders from Marluxia.

After Sora defeats Marluxia, Naminé tells Sora and the others that she can fix their memories, but they have to forget about her and the events that transpired in Castle Oblivion. Sora, of course, chooses to regain his lost memories.

"Who needs false memories, right?"

(In Re: CoM, her voice actress does a lovely job of making her voice tremble.) Chain of Memories ends with Sora and the others "going to sleep" while Naminé repairs their memories for a year. The script has flipped just a bit in that Naminé tells them that she will "take care of them" which is obviously different from the game's dynamic up until this point. And she does do just that, dutifully watching over Sora and fixing his memories.

In 358/2 Days, Naminé is having trouble actually fixing Sora's memories because of Xion, who is regaining Sora's memories instead. When Xion comes to meet her, she doesn't force Xion into giving the memories back, even though she promised to fix Sora. She talks her through what she wants to do. Naminé has evidently grown quite a bit from her experiences in Chain of Memories, and her helping Xion is the first of what she comes to do a lot for the rest of her time in the games she appears in.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Naminé meets Roxas and seems to always show up when he needs help. As I mentioned above, Naminé is completely different from how she was in her first game, saving and helping others instead of being saved herself. She saves Roxas from fading and she tells him the truth about who he really is, which gets her into a lot of trouble with DiZ. DiZ is sort of the Marluxia of Kingdom Hearts II for Naminé. DiZ orders Naminé around and, even though she is fixing Sora's memories because she wants to, the way DiZ treats her is similar to the way Marluxia treated her, only even harsher. This time, she is in no way a damsel, and she is in control of her own agency.

Naminé goes against DiZ's orders by saving Roxas and making him question who he really is. Even though no one wants her to, she tells Roxas who he truly is, which results into trouble for her. She comforts Roxas about his fate, completely sure that they will meet once again. Shortly after, Naminé is sort of put into the position of a damsel once again. After DiZ separates her from Roxas, he orders Riku to kill her but, of course, the two are friends in some sense of the word, so he frees her to go wherever she wants, and she is in control of her agency again.

Naminé is not seen from or heard from until the end of the game when Kairi is kidnapped and imprisoned. She frees Kairi, and the two escape together, running as Naminé fades in and out of existence. They are confronted, and the two prepare to fight until Riku takes care of their enemy for them. Sure that Kairi is safe, Naminé disappears again. She is seen for the last time (until the ending), summoning a portal for everyone to escape the crumbling the castle. She reunites with Kairi, no longer alone.

In my mind, by the end of Kingdom Hearts II, Naminé deserves to be called a hero. She has progressed from being a damsel in her first appearance, to helping and saving others repeatedly. She is no longer "just a damsel." She is a complete character with complete development. Not to mention, even when she is a damsel in Chain of Memories, she still shows herself to be much more. Throughout the game, she learns to put her own selfishness and fear behind her in order to be honest with Sora and undo the damage she has caused. She is no longer afraid to stand up to her oppressors, even when she is confronted with their violence. This is a theme that runs for the rest of her appearances, standing up to the people who want to control her and doing what she wants to, for the good. Truth be told, I find her to be an inspiring character. She is a character I enjoy because she serves more of a purpose than just being a damsel, used to attract a male character.

While Aqua is clearly the most independent female character in the series and is strong, she is strong in different ways from Naminé, In fact, I would argue that every major female character in the Kingdom Hearts series has some type of strength that differs from the other characters. The reason Naminé sticks with me so much is because she is a character I have enjoyed since I was relatively young, so she will always have the greatest impression on me. I am happy that she develops past her relationship with Sora, even though so much of what she does has to do with him in some way, and that she develops meaningful relationships with other characters, not to mention gaining the strength, on her own, to save others.

She is certainly not "just another damsel in distress."