#^ IN LINEAR TIME. technically i'm 5 days late

[cloudsthatglowinthenightsky]

heard i missed a day specifically for making terrible comics... decided no i didn't. enjoy :3

[super-kristuff]

Day two of Kingdom Hearts 3 live-blogging. Just finished the world for Tangled, and it was a very different experience. Without the strong unintentional sexual tension between Buzz and Woody, we find ourselves with the equally strong but much creepier sexual tension between Rapunzel and Flynn.

Like, I think there are a lot of reasons why Buzz and Woody's relationship is honestly well constructed as a standalone experience in kh3, and I'm a bit disappointed that Tangled seems to retreat to the more traditional KH story motif of "the movie but Sora is there". The Toy Story world wasn't modeled after any movie, and so, the story could focus on the character development and even include Sora as a driving force for that development. The Tangled world keeps the transition from introducing Flynn as an untrustworthy outlaw to Flynn and Rapunzel getting together, but like, Flynn is entirely absent for most of the story?

Playing through the world was a bit anticlimactic at the moment, but looking back, I think it was an intentional attempt to highlight Rapunzel's character. The story elements were much smaller: Rapunzel discovering dandelions, Rapunzel asking you to fetch some birds by slowly sneaking up to them, Rapunzel making a rainbow in a pond. But like, although it's not as action driven as fighting giant mechs, I think it is more subtle appreciation for the details of the world and how we can interact with them. I think it's rare to see games exploring this kind of space, and OH HEY Flynn doesn't do shit during any of it. Like, I think you can talk to him, and he says the bog-standard, "We should get to the castle!" quest pointer stuff.

My point being that game is built around Rapunzel and emphasizing the unique joy she finds in the world around her, and Flynn gets no character development until they need to shove him into the position of love-interest. Idk. Maybe I'm reading into this too much. Maybe it's fine for Flynn to a cardboard cutout of the Prince in Shining Armor purely to fill that role in Rapunzel's journey? Like, I also want to explicitly state the game makes some innuendos at the end and makes sure to bring up that Rapunzel is 18, and like, I just found that whole facet creepy.

I also wanted to talk about level design here because it was another element that detracted from the experience. Like, one of my absolute favorite elements of KH is it's puzzle-box level design. I think Alice in Wonderland is an iconic example of how KH1 manages to use and reuse space in a level. I think the tea-room has 5? 6 entrances? It's big, small, upside-down. You're on the table, above the ceiling, in the fireplace. It's fun and enjoyable to become familiar with a space and discover that the solution to a puzzle required you to enter the room from a different perspective.

KH3 seems to abandon that philosophy entirely. It's levels are complex, but often-times, just large enough that you can't get a grasp on how all the pieces go together. And, I'm not sure you're supposed to? The game takes its Line-Attraction-Gift shop philosophy quite literally. I've revisited Hercules' world, and although it felt more like classic KH, it was also extremely linear? The levels just don't fold in on themselves except in the most obvious of ways.

I don't know. In short, Tangled was a fun experience, but not as flashy as Toy Story. But, it's not trying to be flashy, which is its greatest strength. I'm a bit worried that KH3 is married to its design philosophy, but I'm also hoping we'll see original KH worlds with more creative level design. (Traverse Town, Hollow Basion, etc) (I'm also hoping there is more to Twilight Town? Like, it is literally a crime that the world is technically one area. It is also a crime that they removed skateboarding from TT.)

Anywho, it's late here. Goodnight.