Chrono Cross: further thoughts
Dec. 30th, 2008 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cmdr_zoomI've been watching someone else's playthrough on youtube, and it's made me realize some things.
1. When you're not playing it yourself, the essential tedium of JRPGs really becomes apparent. The video series I've been watching leaves out most of the random wandering encounters, but even still, the miniboss fights seem endless, and most just involve the same moves over and over. The grind is more fun when you're in it, but what a lot of time...
2. This game never misses a chance to remind you that Humans Are Bastards. Every non-human character you encounter accuses you of senseless killing, despoiling the planet and ruining habitats, greed and selfishness, etc etc ... and many of the human NPCs have thoughtful "maybe we DO suck" monologues. I realize that the situation on the planet of CC (and CT) is a bit different than ours, what with the influence of Lavos (wasn't Lavos manipulating all life forms, though?), but after a while it becomes tremendously wearying and preachy. I think if I actually had to sit through 30+ hours of this, I'd want to go out and kill a baby seal out of pure spite.
3. I really don't see any completely satisfactory way out of the Serge-Kid-Leena triangle, which is unfortunate. I know, sometimes these things happen, but Skies of Arcadia managed it... (see below)
4. Also, while I understand that Balthasar's first loyalty is to his princess, was it really necessary to kill off all the heroes of the first game and/or eradicate their timeline as part of his plan to rescue her? How ironic that their undoing comes not from "the revenge of the future we eliminated", but someone they thought of as an ally. Did he ever consider enlisting their aid? I played that game, I know their spirits, and I believe that if offered a chance to save Schala they'd jump at it - just as they set out to save the world after viewing a recording of something that would happen long after they were gone, and refused to accept Crono's death as observed fact. That they aren't allowed to is either an uncoded loose end (original flavor) or a deliberately unwinnable block put in to preserve the sequel (DS remake).
On a purely meta level, I suppose that undoing "happily ever after" is necessary to have a sequel at all, but... it still really rubs me raw.
A couple of the above points, combined with someone's comment over on TV Tropes, made me realize that in some ways, Skies of Arcadia is the Anti-CC, just as Final Fantasy IX was something of an antidote to the dark and broody games that immediately preceded it. And I loved Skies, much as I loved CT (and FF9). Those of you who know my tastes in tabletop RPGs will be not all surprised that I prefer bold, optimistic fantasy adventure to wallowing in uncertainty and angst and helplessness. (A shame, then, that my current RL situation is the latter.)
So I guess what I'm saying is that, at least right now, I choose not to endure (further) tedium and being told that I (a white male human) am responsible for all the world's ills, and that the accomplishments I once took pride in don't really matter, all in the name of entertainment. I've got that, thanks.
1. When you're not playing it yourself, the essential tedium of JRPGs really becomes apparent. The video series I've been watching leaves out most of the random wandering encounters, but even still, the miniboss fights seem endless, and most just involve the same moves over and over. The grind is more fun when you're in it, but what a lot of time...
2. This game never misses a chance to remind you that Humans Are Bastards. Every non-human character you encounter accuses you of senseless killing, despoiling the planet and ruining habitats, greed and selfishness, etc etc ... and many of the human NPCs have thoughtful "maybe we DO suck" monologues. I realize that the situation on the planet of CC (and CT) is a bit different than ours, what with the influence of Lavos (wasn't Lavos manipulating all life forms, though?), but after a while it becomes tremendously wearying and preachy. I think if I actually had to sit through 30+ hours of this, I'd want to go out and kill a baby seal out of pure spite.
3. I really don't see any completely satisfactory way out of the Serge-Kid-Leena triangle, which is unfortunate. I know, sometimes these things happen, but Skies of Arcadia managed it... (see below)
4. Also, while I understand that Balthasar's first loyalty is to his princess, was it really necessary to kill off all the heroes of the first game and/or eradicate their timeline as part of his plan to rescue her? How ironic that their undoing comes not from "the revenge of the future we eliminated", but someone they thought of as an ally. Did he ever consider enlisting their aid? I played that game, I know their spirits, and I believe that if offered a chance to save Schala they'd jump at it - just as they set out to save the world after viewing a recording of something that would happen long after they were gone, and refused to accept Crono's death as observed fact. That they aren't allowed to is either an uncoded loose end (original flavor) or a deliberately unwinnable block put in to preserve the sequel (DS remake).
On a purely meta level, I suppose that undoing "happily ever after" is necessary to have a sequel at all, but... it still really rubs me raw.
A couple of the above points, combined with someone's comment over on TV Tropes, made me realize that in some ways, Skies of Arcadia is the Anti-CC, just as Final Fantasy IX was something of an antidote to the dark and broody games that immediately preceded it. And I loved Skies, much as I loved CT (and FF9). Those of you who know my tastes in tabletop RPGs will be not all surprised that I prefer bold, optimistic fantasy adventure to wallowing in uncertainty and angst and helplessness. (A shame, then, that my current RL situation is the latter.)
So I guess what I'm saying is that, at least right now, I choose not to endure (further) tedium and being told that I (a white male human) am responsible for all the world's ills, and that the accomplishments I once took pride in don't really matter, all in the name of entertainment. I've got that, thanks.
