sincere: DGM: Lenalee's back to the viewer ([odin-oswald/gwendolyn] the light of you)
Kay ([personal profile] sincere) wrote2008-07-30 02:24 pm

Odin Sphere, fin

So the happy ending is pretty bad, but the bad ending is definitely worse.

Ingway/Mercedes is really cute, but it's -- I don't know if I can take it very seriously as a ship. I mean, she's like. Twelve. But twelve with a crush on an older boy! But Ingway was so very, very unhappy in the Ingway vs Mercedes scenes, I really felt terrible for him. ...but at the same time, I feel like we got much more closure with him there than we did in the "good" ending, where she just sort of trips over his corpse.

I thought Ingway was kind of a dick, when he wasn't a frog, but the Armageddon scenes have completely redeemed him for me. What a tragic character he cuts.

The Onyx vs Oswald battle scenes were horrific. Even worse than the Gallon vs Cornelius scene. Oh my god, it's just deeply horrible in so many ways.

I find myself thinking of Onyx and Gwendolyn as having a very... Phantom of the Opera thing. "I'm a monster. You like that other guy more than me. BUT YOU'RE AN IMPURE WHORE. YOU'RE NASTY. I'm sorry baby I didn't mean to say those bad things." He really, really loves her, but he's really, really confused and creepy and stalkerish and has a bad temper and doesn't like her husband. Anyway, the Onyx vs Gwendolyn scenes were striking.

I hated Melvin and felt gypped about not getting to kill him personally. Oswald's story presents an interesting dual perspective on himself. He's so... tender and emo with Gwendolyn, and so short and disinterested with everyone else. XD He's like, "Yeah, I'm the dark knight whose soul was eaten. Wanna die? I'll fight you." But his attitude makes a lot of sense now, and I liked his twists.

I literally laughed with delight when I found out Oswald was Cornelius's cousin. It was just -- perfect. I mean, we heard the story about Cornelius's uncle as a cautionary tale, never brought up again, but it was perfect. Beautiful foreshadowing, Odin Sphere.

Everything about King Valentine is horrifying.

Oh, and brief confusion. So, is Alice's grandfather, who wrote those books, supposed to be descended from Oswald and Gwendolyn, or is he a survivor? It seems that his A) having written the books, and B) having apparently been present before Mercedes's death, if you're going by the timeline-what-timeline bonus scene at the end of the credits, indicates that he couldn't have been a descendant. I don't get it.

Where's my final star?? I have every scene! WTF is this nonsense. Wheel of Fate, give me a star!!

In conclusion: A++ would play again absolutely gorgeous amazing game, I highly recommend it to everyone, providing you are playing on Easy mode, and investing in a GameShark.

[identity profile] v-voltaire.livejournal.com 2008-07-30 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
To get the extra special ending, you not only have to unlock all the scenes, you have to play through the final book in the right order again. On the plus side, you get to see Valentine not be a dick for once.
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[identity profile] kay-willow.livejournal.com 2008-07-31 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
I saw that! I'm pretty sure! Cornelius and Velvet become human again like a thousand years later, right? B, but the book isn't "done" yet! I don't have a star. I will cry. :\

Also dlkfjsdlfkj I hate the Cauldron.

[identity profile] nadriel.livejournal.com 2008-07-30 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm, if/when I have available shiny moneys again, I may have to investigate this one- it's been a while since my last decent CRPG...
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[identity profile] kay-willow.livejournal.com 2008-07-31 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
It's actually a PS2 RPG, not to ruin your groove. It's a very old-school game -- everything is gorgeous hand-painted 2D sidescrolling stuff, but it really works it. The plot and the characters are very nifty.

But rocks fall, everyone dies. Just as a warning.

[identity profile] abrogate-nadir.livejournal.com 2008-07-30 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I recently got this game (skipped over the spoilers, dun worry). I'm on Gwendoline's story, fighting the Fairy Queen. Holy shit, this game is hard, seriously. But I've also fallen in love with it already.
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[identity profile] kay-willow.livejournal.com 2008-07-31 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
So hard wtf why. It's funny, because they say "Easy Mode: This mode is for people who want to enjoy the game." And they're not kidding. I played on Normal mode through Gwen's whole story, but after that I had to switch to Easy, and even then, I couldn't make it through Mercedes's story without needing to cheat. That's about halfway through the game. So I totally advocate GameSharks. XD

But it's so beautiful and the plot is so cool. Gwendolyn in the Fire Shrine~ ♥ She's still my favorite, for some reason.

[identity profile] abrogate-nadir.livejournal.com 2008-07-31 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I switched to easy on Gwendoline's and I still had a hell of a time against the Queen of the Dead, namely because she totally cheats by summoning enough monsters to cause lag. Rgh.

I'm at Cornelius now. His spinning sword jazz seems to kick a lot of rump.

[identity profile] madfnorder.livejournal.com 2008-07-31 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I Suffered through Beat Normal Mode, back in the day. Required some back-leveling, absurd amounts of alchemy and inventory juggling, and lots and lots of Eggs on Toast. It mostly was a question of persistence! Also cursing.

[identity profile] madfnorder.livejournal.com 2008-07-31 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
And you can always try HEROIC MODE, where your HP is set to Level 1 and never goes up!
oneill: Gatekeepers 21 - Isuzu Ayane reaches into her coat, her glasses gleaming menacingly (Default)

[personal profile] oneill 2008-08-01 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
*g* When you get to the "fin" screen after the credits, you have to let it sit there without touching anything until it proceeds to the omake chapter.
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[identity profile] kay-willow.livejournal.com 2008-08-01 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
I've already seen the bonus scene at the end of the credits. XD With the merchant. I've also seen the good ending, and the scene where Cornelius and Velvet become human again. So I don't know why the book still hates me.
oneill: Gatekeepers 21 - Isuzu Ayane reaches into her coat, her glasses gleaming menacingly (Default)

[personal profile] oneill 2008-08-01 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
Buh? Dude, am I glad I didn't get that glitch--would've eaten my little completionist soul. XD;
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[identity profile] kay-willow.livejournal.com 2008-08-01 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
My one last hope is to play Armageddon over in the correct order and watch straight through to the end of the merchant scene, in the hopes that watching all the scenes consecutively will make it realize I finished the damn book. >E

[identity profile] v-voltaire.livejournal.com 2008-08-01 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I like Mercedes and Ingway as a couple mainly because they both helped each other become a better person. Ingway gave Mercedes help and the occasional kick in the butt that turned her into a good queen, and Mercedes gave Ingway something to try to live for and live up to. Helping her, selfish as it initially was, was probably the One Good Thing Ingway did in his life.

Anyway, I said I like Mercedes and Ingway as a couple, but it's really obvious that they've built up an idealized version of each other in their heads. If they weren't tree and dead, respectively, at the end, I'm kind of curious about how they'd end up reconciling Mercedes' image of her kind (if persnickety) frog advisor with Ingway's self-loathing self-image.

Actually, isn't that kind of an ongoing theme in Odin Sphere? The whole "love the ideal" and general relationships built on lies? I mean, seriously, couldn't Oswald have eventually told Gwendolyn that there was no love spell? (Or would that have hurt her more?) And Onyx wishing to have the idea of being with Gwendolyn without the complication of having her be awake? And so on.

Anyway. Love the game and all its messed up melodrama.