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veinsfullofstars · 2 months

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So, I got to experience Kirby & the Amazing Mirror recently, and, while I wouldn't call it an absolute favorite, there's a lot about it that I find fascinating - the non-linear Metroidvania-eqsue design of the levels (unique for the series), the subtle hints of worldbuilding in the background art (gorgeous, btw), the introduction of one of my current favorite characters in the series (*meme-points at DMK in the distance*), the music (but that’s a given), etc. In many ways, it feels quite standout from other games in the series up to that point… though, in many others, it feels like it could've used something more, y'know? There’s a sense of underutilization in places, a repetitiveness in all the backtracking and boss encounters, even an emptiness to this strange new world we’re exploring. I'm wondering what might've been done to make the game feel more full and vibrant, to give the player more of a sense of curiosity as they explore and run around.

Now, I’m not a game designer by any means, and I have no idea if any of what I’m about to propose would be practical in either execution or the time frame the original dev team had to work with, but… it’s just fun to conceptualize sometimes, y’know? We’re playing in the space, flexing those “what if” muscles. Besides, you never know what it might spark in someone who could make something like this a reality. And, there’s little I love more than inspiring creativity.

So, hear me out (and warning for full game spoilers for KatAM and minor spoilers for the Kirby series as a whole).

Progressive Copy Abilities: So, like I said, the world is very Metroidvania-inspired in structure, right? Lots of winding corridors, interconnected paths, and secret areas, with an emphasis on backtracking to reach new places. What if the game also had a kind of progressive upgrade system used in conjunction with that structure, where you search for and acquire “keys” that open up new areas and grant access to even more abilities? It could take the place of the Spray Paint collectable, giving it more purpose beyond just cosmetics and more incentive for the player to actually seek them out and use them in the overworld. We’ve already seen something like this before in the form of Deluxe Copy Abilities from KSS, where Kirby cannot gain abilities from enemies but must instead find them hidden throughout the levels, able to switch between them at will once acquired. In KatAM, this could make backtracking feel more interesting by giving the player something they’d want to return to, wondering what secrets might lie behind ability-locked zones (similar to K64, though without the worry of losing a certain ability and having to leave the level to get it back thanks to permanent upgrades). It could also get the player to utilize the four Kirbys in more creative ways throughout the world, giving each one a specific ability and using different combinations of them to solve puzzles, bypass barriers, or defeat bosses. You could even tie the reason for this change in mechanics into the worldbuilding. For example, maybe the magical properties of the Mirror World differ to those of Popstar, affecting or even nullifying Kirby’s own inherent abilities as a result (think KatFL’s Mouthful Mode, KCC’s Kirby Ball mode, or even the scrapped Kagero Mansion concept from KSS), or maybe it could be a more significant way to show how DMK separating Kirby into four has diminished his powers, effectively “Metroiding” him as it were.

Amateur Cartography: The maps in KatAM are very big and very simplistic. It can be hard to find one’s way around all those convoluted branches and segments to get to the next area or secret. The ability to take notes in some way would be a great help. Due to hardware limitations, it might not be as intuitive as, say, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass where you can actually write on the maps, but just the option to add things like colored pins or symbol stamps as little reminders to return to points of interest would be of great help (not to mention reduce time spent needlessly running around in circles trying to find one specific room).

Counterpart Characterization: I personally like the limited cutscenes and lack of dialogue in KatAM, as it allows story to be conveyed more though what the player observes and intuits rather than what they are told is occurring. That said, I wish we got to see more of that in character moments. Despite their prominence in the opening and ending narrations, both Shadow Kirby and Dark Meta Knight appear very rarely throughout the main bulk of the game outside of brief glimpses in the overworld or in late-game boss battles respectively, giving us very little to go on as to their personalities and their roles in the world they reside in. (Not to say there’s nothing there; we’ve seen SK’s timid nature in how he hides and runs from the Kirbys, and that - though mischievous - he still seems to want to help by the food items he drops; we’ve also seen DMK’s penchant for dishonor and subterfuge in disguising himself as Meta Knight. Just a little bit of animation flourish to convey so much about them, even if it’s only implied.) Now imagine if the player could stumble upon them more throughout their travels, perhaps glimpsing them between screen transitions or wandering about in inaccessible places (think the Batamon from KDL3 or the SA-X from Metroid Fusion). What if we observe them attending to their own tasks alongside our heroes - idling, searching, spying on the Kirbys, or even interacting with enemies or each other? What if DMK makes more attempts to hinder the Kirbys in the overworld, blocking pathways with Copy Ability locks or mini-bosses? What if SK does more to help the Kirbys the further into their journey they go (his own skepticism of the newcomers softening as he sees them actually trying to help)?

Worldbuilding: Like most worlds portrayed in Kirby games, the Mirror World is vast and diverse, not unlike the lighter world it reflects. There’s already a lot of very good subtle worldbuilding in the background art and level design of KatAM - like the strange labs under Moonlight Mansion, the sunken ship at the bottom of Olive Ocean, the decrepit basement under Carrot Castle, etc. - but it all feels a bit… underdeveloped. Not very indicative of either what this world was like before Dark Mind’s invasion (claimed to be “peaceful” in the opening cutscene but not much else) or how his corruption is actually affecting it. Maybe I’m spoiled by newer games like KatFL going out of their way to flesh out their lore, but I just wish there were more thematic elements shared between locations for players to pick up on, especially given how connected everything is vis-à-vis the Mirror Doors. I want to know more about this place, how it differs from Popstar, how its denizens thrive and survive within it, even how SK and DMK - supposedly created by the Dimension Mirror itself not long after its corruption - view it in their roles as possibly opposing guardians.

Boss/Mini-Boss Battles: This is more of a personal gripe, but I’ve never been a huge fan of repeat boss encounters. I understand the reasons for them existing - work smarter, not harder being one of them, I imagine - but it’s hard to miss the way it diminishes the impact of the fight when it’s the same Mr. Frosty or Batafire in different locations. In my onion, a boss fight (even a mini one) should feel special, the build-up to reach them tense and exciting, the actual battle unique from others the player has faced before. It could be as simple as removing extra mini-bosses and condensing the area rather than padding the game out with too many. Or you could give the extra ones palette swaps designed to fit the areas they’re found in (possibly even changing their typing as well). Or you could even include an additional element or mechanic to the battle itself to keep things interesting (like how Master Hand becomes Master Hand & Crazy Hand in the second encounter). And, to add with the previous paragraph about worldbuilding, perhaps bosses could be made even more unique by having the mirror shards they guard corrupt them in some fashion, their sprite work visibly altered (a dark aura? a reflective sheen? pieces of mirror floating around them?), their attacks and expressions more aggressive until you defeat them.

Meta Knightmare Reflected: Now, this might be a bit of a stretch, but - having played through the Magolor Epilogue - I can’t help but wonder what a KatAM side-mode featuring Meta Knight might be like. Perhaps it could take place inside the shattered Dimension Mirror parallel to events of the main game (think Meta Knightmare from KNiDL or Meta Knightmare Returns from KPR, except this could feasibly occur within canon). It could feature shorter runs through similar/remixed levels from the main game (like in the final chase sequence where the Kirbys run through single rooms from different parts of the Mirror World to get to Dark Mind) with a higher difficulty and a more chaotic structure due to Dark Mind’s corruption and the Mirror’s broken state. Not only would this give him a little more agency and characterization while he’s in “fridged” mode, but this could also be a good way to explain how MK acquired Master when he was supposedly trapped, adding a goal alongside simply trying to find a way out of the Mirror. He could even encounter DMK while he’s in there for even more drama and characterization, the knight and his dark doppelgänger locked in a tense battle for his freedom and the safety of the Mirror World.

Phew, okay, I think that’s about all I’ve got. Did that all make sense? It came from a very stream-of-consciousness-y place, so I hope I managed to sort it into something at least a little coherent. Again, this might all be impractical or slapdash or against the point of the original game, but I haven’t really been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it and needed to get the thoughts out somewhere. I dunno, what do you guys think? Anything you would add to this list? Or anything you would change? Or do you like KatAM just fine as is? Feel free to discuss, I’d love to hear what you all have to say on the matter.

#veins rambles #veins in dream land #kirby series #kirby #kirby & the amazing mirror #KatAM #K&tAM #game design #game concepting #(by someone who is chronically *not* a game designer)#headcanon

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spaceangst · 1 year

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the vacker legacy and their golden boy: fitz vacker

welcome to my new psychoanalyzing kotlc characters series! i thought i’d start with fitz because this particular reread of the series has brought up some interesting facets in his character i had previously overlooked. i’ll try to keep this objective (focusing on canon and what shannon has written) but i’ll also include some of my personal opinions about him in a separate section at the end, to keep my bias out of it.

(apologies for how long these are going to get, i’m having a little too much fun with them!)

now.

fitzroy avery vacker.

it’s no secret that sophie is infatuated with him from the moment she meets him. but that’s sophie. this is about fitz (and while i do mention the love triangle situation and how it develops, it’s not really about the ships - that deserves it’s own moment to shine.) it’s also important to remember that the series is from sophie’s perspective. this is an unreliable narrator, and it shows us fitz through sophie’s eyes, but also through the other character’s eyes.

from the start, we’re told that fitz is the golden boy, the youngest telepath to manifest in the elven world and an incredibly powerful one at that. he grows up as a part of the vacker family, which is quite possibly the most powerful family in the lost cities, regardless of who the councillors are. all the elves grow up with money, but fitz grows up with status. what sets him apart from biana is how this status evolves between the two of them as the vacker legacy itself unravels.

in the first book, fitz is, from a writer’s standpoint, boring. he’s too perfect, never making mistakes, and busy being handsome and smart. obviously, given that the series is from sophie’s point of view, it makes sense that her gateway to the world remain untainted, regardless of her feelings for him. where we really start to get to know fitz is in exile. we get to see that perfection shatter entirely, and as a writer, it’s beautiful. fitz is ugly when he’s mad, shouting and screaming and blaming everyone but himself - outwardly. it’s no secret that he thinks highly of himself as the golden boy of the vacker family, and it’s hard to imagine that he doesn’t place some of the blame on himself for not being his dad’s first choice - or being able to fix alden.

still, his anger is a remarkable facet of his personality - and just what makes him a great foil to keefe. we’ve all seen his temper flare up in exile, blaming sophie for the memory break going wrong.

fitz isn’t used to things going wrong - as i’ve mentioned in other posts, he’s a creature of perfection of habit. he’s used to being the best, and while he admires sophie’s powers and her strength, that doesn’t mean he necessarily knows how to accept it with grace. in other words, he’s never been second best.

despite all the kids being young, fitz is the oldest of sophie’s group at the time. and his reaction shows his age, but not his maturity. he’s quick to blame and reacts without thinking - his anger brings out parts of him that he normally doesn’t reach for. fitz is always the one who prefers plans and thinking things out, and rarely do we see him like this. as a reader, it’s easy to hate him for this reaction - because we know that it’s not sophie’s fault. and the rational fitz is supposed to know that too - and he does.

kind of.

fitz’s greatest weakness as a character is that he doesn’t grow from this outburst. it’s not the first, and it’s not the last either. he’s a prideful guy - and with reason, he has a lot to be proud of. he’s not the best at apologizing either - it’s a cycle, where he gets mad, has an outburst, and apologizes with gifts to fix things.

this wouldn’t be such a big deal, i mean all of us have different love languages, right? but there’s a constant in the people he gets mad at (neverseen and related villains regardless. that’s justified anger, even at alvar, although that’s a little more complicated) and it’s:

1. sophie 2. keefe 3. dex

starting from the last, but not the least, dex. even after it’s revealed in (i believe) lodestar, that dex used to eat alone in his alchemy sessions and the vackers weren’t necessarily the nicest to him, snobby over their status in the elven world etc., we see him get mad at dex for hesitating over the situation with alvar. it’s particularly interesting, considering we never really see fitz bond with dex, just dex tell sophie that he’s going to be nicer to the vackers now that he understands them better. this is apparent to be a little more one sided in their interactions, and it gets worse with the reveal that alvar has “forgotten” his memories. fitz is ready to condemn him, but when dex isn’t, it upsets him.

remember, alvar was a part of the group that kidnapped and tortured sophie and dex. his supposed crush and his friend. and yet, both of the victims are feeling a little more kind hearted than fitz, who is alvar’s brother, yes, but it’s also been made clear that he isn’t as close to alvar as biana is. and yet.

as for keefe, his reasons for hating keefe make sense. and they don’t. if anything, he should be able to understand where keefe is coming from, especially since he *does* seem to be aware of keefe’s feelings for sophie. and despite the fact that they’re supposed to be best friends, he’s the least sympathetic to keefe’s situation. he’s betrayed, of course, they all are, and he’s angry about it, because of course he is. that’s normal - and it all adds up. where things get weird is when we realize that fitz doesn’t know that much about keefe. sophie’s the first one up to his house and keefe even says he doesn’t bring friends home, but it’s clear that he’s never talked about it with fitz.

fitz also has a tendency to not take keefe seriously, which the other characters all do an extent, but they know when to take him seriously and when to not. but fitz misses a lot of keefe’s growth and he still sees keefe as this weird kid that skipped a grade and likes to play pranks. keefe’s a shell of the person fitz knows at this point, and this is something they both need to come to terms with.

fitz’s pride comes into the picture here, manifesting as willful ignorance. he doesn’t know about keefe’s situation because, quite frankly? he didn’t want to sympathize with dex either. he’s a proud guy and this is GOOD characterization but. he kind of looks like a jerk.

in regards to sophie, these scenes sum up both how he feels about her and why i think they’re not good together:

i’ve talked a little about fitz and perfection and why he sees sophie as perfect even though it feels like he shouldn’t - and i don’t want to rehash all that so i’ll leave a little link to some thoughts i had regarding a scene in stellarlune, so you can check it out here. warning: stellarlune spoilers. the non spoiler version here: fitz craves perfection. his world was always perfect, and so was he. he’s the golden boy, after all, isn’t he?

what makes it so hard to have sympathy for him, after all i am an eldest daughter in an indian family with gifted kid burnout and a queer identity crisis - i know pressure lol it’s all i’ve ever known - is that he simply can not let go. he expects that painful level of perfection from himself, and it’s sad that they can’t have a little fun with the chandelier incident. he thinks that sophie would expect that kind of perfection from him, and for that reason, he thinks the problem is his levitating.

obviously lol, it’s not, but the boy but he also expects that kind of perfection from others, and thinks that others ALSO want that perfection, as seen in how he handles the news that sophie has found out who her genetic mother is.

more on THAT later. i doubt i’ll be able to stay objective on that scene so i’m saving it for the end of this little piece. (which is not as little as i was hoping, but if the people are interested, i could do a part two where i answer questions instead of just winging it!)

the second scene’s literally from the next page, but his pride and focus on perfection converge in on telepathy. sophie’s better than him, and there’s this undertone that this bothers him. he’s losing - and perfection always wins. here it is again - sophie’s ridiculously strong mental barriers. the point of trust.

part of the reason the sophitz relationship was doomed to fail from the start is the emphasis fitz places on their abilities. but we’re cognates is a cry for the little boy who wants his place back as the best, and sophie is his return to greatness. it’s not a bad thing when done right, but fitz can’t see past that. his sense of trust is misconstrued and believes it means sharing everything, never mind the fact that sophie’s a part of a rebel organization with thoughts planted in her head that could change the world. literally. the black swan planted them there.

(is the humor helping? i feel like we’ve been bashing fitz a bit for his lack of growth and i would apologize because i do think he’s a valuable character and a well written one at that, but a bit unlikeable when it comes down to it.)

he’s had his trust broken and people have hidden things from him, but in the grand scheme of things, alvar’s betrayal is the one that cuts him the most deeply. keefe’s hurts, sure, but i could argue it’s for love triangle related reasons, more than their supposed friendship instead. (i will, actually. that’s a part of the love triangle analysis - and if you think this is long...) but nothing is really earth shattering in the sense that it deeply warps his sense of identity. he’s been hurt a lot, and he’s a traumatized kid, but he reacts with less maturity than his younger sister - and a lot of the other (younger) characters at times, which can be frustrating to see when the solution is right there.

and here we are. the most painful scene for me to read - and i haven’t even gotten around to rereading legacy yet. so. legacy spoilers ahead.

this is my warning - i’m not cutting fitz as much slack for these scenes even if i understand where he’s coming from. he’s wrong. it’s as simple as that, and i *will* explain why, but if you still believe sophie and fitz should have ended up together and plan on reminding me of that, i respect you, but please just stop reading here.

for context, this is right after sophie finds out that oralie is her genetic mom and fitz is waiting at havenfield and tries to guess why she’s so upset. or that she’s figured out who her parents are. it becomes apparent shortly that even he doesn’t know which he’s doing.

“I get why you’re not ready to talk about it YET.”

this is supposed to be a small sentence to show how understanding he is, and it would be, if it wasn’t for the glaring YET at the end. he still expects sophie to talk about the subject sometime, and with him. but it’s weird that he’d be so relieved about it - considering how UPSET sophie is at the moment.

i tried, you guys, i really did. did i mention i was a hardcore sophitz shipper when i first started the series? only the first three books were out and i was in middle school minding my own business and even got through exile mad at fitz but hopeful.

it was my second readthrough before neverseen dropped that had me, you know, rethinking things. and now, at 19 (yeah okay that makes me sound old but you know the books have been out for a while now so), it’s easy to see why. sophitz is every little kid’s dream come true. your crush likes you back and it’s all as magical as you thought it would be. except it isn’t, because we tend to only see the good in people we like. sokeefe is the slow burn because it takes time to build up to a relationship and it’s not going to how you think it will.

I DIGRESS. this next excerpt is where i get really upset because fitz just does not listen. he pushes and he pushes and he pushes and god, you would think he’d get it.

things he gets points for: not lashing out at her immediately and holding back on his anger

things he does not get points for: well, you’ve read the scene too, right?

sophie says it best: he. just. wasn’t. listening.

and he also takes it upon himself to decide for her, who it is, even though sophie is clearly so very painfully obviously distressed. i mean, for anyone in his position, this is a major jerk move, but you know, it’s fitz, so he’s going to keep it perfect.

and just when we think he’s finally understood, just as i was thinking he’s getting better at reading situations, he brings up the matchmaking thing.

y’all, he acts like her not being matchmakable is a problem for both of them, even though it technically doesn’t affect her the way it affects him. she’s said it herself, that she has reservations about the whole thing, and it’s not even something she considers her future to be.

“you don’t want it either - you know you don’t.”

they might both be telepaths, but fitz projects himself onto sophie a lot because of that. it gets worse after they become cognates because it’s an even greater honor and they’re doing it together.

but they’re not the same. nowhere near it. it’s this scene that made me realize that fitz hasn’t been seeing sophie - he’s been seeing her potential and everything she could be, and that’s why he’s so fixated on the matchmaking lists. of course, matching with the most powerful elf the lost cities has ever known would restore his family name. it would be perfect, really, the most powerful elf and the second most powerful telepath the lost cities have ever known, matched together.

i could say more about him claiming that sophie’s privacy is less important than her future, as if the two aren’t one in the same, but i’d like to overlook that and pretend it’s just his entitlement and his view of matchmaking as the be all end all creeping in and nothing more.

so.

that was a lie.

“I… don’t think you’ve thought this through. But of course you haven’t. It’s late. You’ve had a long day with lots of huge stuff. So… can we just agree to not make any decisions right now?”

the way he’s so sure she hasn’t thought this through is a double edged sword. not only does it show a kind of possessive edge over her, where he’s constantly speaking for her and OVER her, it also shows us how he’s convinced it’s still about him.

fitz. my buddy. my man. listen to the girl.

he doesn’t bother giving her reasoning a chance and steamrolls ahead with his own, which we know sophie hates anyone doing. i mean, look at her argument with keefe in nightfall - she’s not going to stand for people speaking over her or for her. she doesn’t want their protection.

what’s wrong with this scene is that fitz writes off everything sophie is feeling and saying, and the key word here is ruin.

ruin.

instead of being understanding to sophie’s upbringing and her unique situation, he can’t look past his own return of the king (a lotr reference, shannon would you be proud even if i’m slandering your character?) to elven society. in fact, it says a lot that he sees her as the vacker redemption arc even when sophie herself has mentioned - to us and to HIM - that she doesn’t feel like she fits in with elven society but only if she plays by his rules.

(feels a little like objectification, ngl, and that doesn’t sit right with me.)

he’s blinded by his status, his pride, and perfection, and that, right there, is his biggest downfall.

not the conclusion gif i was looking for but y’all this is long enough let me keep this brief.

(HAHA YOU THOUGHT i am incapable of being brief)

fitz is an incredibly consistent character when we get down to it, and he’s not as complex-ified as the other characters are. well, not the way the other characters are. biana’s arc is about improving as a person and getting stronger, dex’s is about overcoming internalized prejudice, keefe’s is about chosen family and trauma, etc. fitz’s character arc is almost backwards - from a writing standpoint, this would be a really cool villain origin story. not that fitz is a villain, but over time, rather than his character becoming a better person, he starts out perfect until that perfection crumbles and we get to see the perfectionist that so desperately craves a return to his old normal, with everyone in this new normal. he’s trying so hard to fit into old clothes, outgrown shoes, and slip back into his old memories.

as a love interest, no. i could go further about his “interest” in linh being driven by her same power, but i have no doubt that matchmaking would still be of great interest to him, so i’ll leave it at that.

I DONT HATE FITZ. not as a person, nor as a character. i don’t see him as the most likable, but you guys, he’s not a villain. he’s a teenage boy who needs to work through his issues before he gets anywhere near sophie, but he’s been through a lot so i’m trying to cut him some slack. he’s an incredible asset to the kotlc team and his need for a plan tends to keep them from getting themselves in more trouble. he’s helped sophie improve her abilities vastly, and indirectly, pushed her to become better. quite literally, the story would not exist without him. we need fitz as a character because he makes the story what it is, but as an individual i just think we wouldn’t get along.

-k

(any questions are appreciated and i would love to have some canon discourse! i know in the quest for more diversity in the kotlc characters, discourse tends towards that, understandably, but i do believe there’s a lot to be uncovered in canon and i would love to talk about it more! yes, more than 3,219+ words about it LOL)

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