Xion - Mary Sue?Now that I've finally beaten the game for myself, I can safely give this charming little game a proper review. Doubtless, anyone who's played, is in the process of playing, or is thinking about playing the latest Kingdom Hearts game has heard all kinds of nasty rumors about it - number one being, of course, "Xion is a Mary Sue." The first thing I'm going to do is refute that one, based on what I saw for myself.
For one thing, I can
understand why people have affectionately dubbed her "Xarmy". Yes, she has fight scenes with Riku and Axel. Yes, she eats ice cream on the clock tower with Axel and Roxas practically every day. Yes, she's number 14 in the Organization, and is a girl. And yes, she does have a dramatic and heartbreaking death scene, which includes her fading in Roxas' arms. But.
Aerith had an equally dramatic death scene in Final Fantasy VII, after which she was grieved over for a very long time by Cloud. Kairi is best friends with Riku and Sora, and shows affection towards Sora (how many times have we heard from various characters how "special" she is to the keyblade master?") Not only that, she too weilds a keyblade.
And I don't see anyone slapping the Mary Sue label on them.
I think this just goes to show that, sadly, it's the female characters that are overlooked and treated as the "annoying" and "useless" parts of the games they're in. They play an important role too, people. Just cause they're not hot Squenix guys doesn't mean they're any less important. xD
Now, as for her relationship with Roxas, I thought it was incredibly sweet and adorable. Normally I'm against pairing characters, but those two showed a lot of chemistry...which anyone could see from watching the various cutscenes of Roxas looking for or worrying about his new friend. This is probably what makes most people throw the Sue label at Xion - the fact that she's cared for by a canon character. Well, what's wrong with that? Doesn't Cloud care about Tifa? Didn't Zack and Aerith have a similar relationship in Crisis Core? And again, why aren't these people calling Aerith or Tifa "Sues"? How do you define a Sue, exactly? It's just a degrading label thrown onto female characters that are paired with canon ones nowadays.
And as for her death, it was entirely neccessary to the story, and a part that I thought was very noble and self-sacrificing of Xion. She did what she had to for the good of everyone - if she hadn't, we never would have had a KH2, now would we? Roxas cared about her and I respect that, as all of you should. C:
The StoryNow, moving on to the actual story. It WASN'T centered on Roxas, as I'd thought it would be -it was centered on him, Xion, and Axel put together. The game goes through the "Days" fashion, and with every few missions you complete, more of the story is revealed. The story is mainly about these three's friendship, which I thought was a great concept to base the game on. It made me feel that much more sympathy for the incomplete beings known as Nobodies, espescially for Roxas, since I finally got to understand why he left the Organization in the first place. (Yes, he wanted answers about the keyblade, but there's alot more to it than that.) Xion's origins are explained, and the Organization's sinister plot to use her in order to duplicate Sora's power and keep him from ever waking up. Overall, a story of friendship, belonging, and sacrifice - a heartwarming but tragic combination that is so typical of Square Enix, yet it never gets old.
GameplayThe game's mechanics are simple: every ability, spell, and item you have is called a "panel." You have to select those panels according to your liking and out them on a grid in order to use them. So instead of gaining levels and abilities automatically, you get to pick and choose which ones you want. Pretty easy to use. There is a single moogle found in the castle that you can use to synthesize new weapons, called "gear" in this game, or items and accessories. Fighting Heartless on the DS is a lot like fghting them on a PS2. The command screen is exactly the same - it felt like my PS2 had shrunk onto a smaller screen. The only problem with this is that you have to use the stylus to control the camera, which can get annoying after you've grown accustomed to having the camera adjust automatically for you in the other three KH games.
The multiplayer mode I haven't tried yet (no one to play with D: ) so I can't say much about it, but I can say that the cutscenes throughout the game were amazing. It looked like they were ripped straight from a PS2...I didn't know a DS was capable of graphics that gorgeous.
The difficulty of the final bosses, Xion and Riku (you don't fight them together, don't worry xD) - well, was as easy and dissapointing as fighting Xemnas was in KH2. Here you are at the end of the game, itching for a good fight that you can be proud of beating, and it turns out to be dead easy...which was both irritating and relieving at the same time. I really wanted to see that ending cutscene.
OverallIn summary, 358/2 Days was a cute and entertaining story which was amazingly fun to play through. It was great to get new dialogue from the Organization members, particularly Roxas, Demyx and Axel. I LOVED that their personalities expanded so much more. The gameplay is a simple, more customizable version of the original KH and KH2, and worked very well on the DS. Awesome cutscenes, tragic plot - Square Enix games usually don't dissapoint their fans.
The point I'm trying to make here, I suppose, is that you can't knock a game until you try it. Don't listen to all the "Mary Sue" horror stories and let them talk you out of playing this game - play it and decide for yourself. You'll be surprised at how well developed of a character Xion is. She's a great new character, not a Sue created from the mind of a fourteen year old. And who wouldn't want to play Kingdom Hearts on the DS? It's a whole new experience that any KH fan should try, and besides, you skip this game and you're missing out on a good chunk of the story of the KH series. Even Ven from the upcoming Birth By Sleep makes an appearance...now THAT should have you interested.
Don't let other's opinions get to you, 358/2 Days is a game you won't want to miss out on. And that's the truth.
1. I'm alive.
2. I'm in college (and love it.)
3. I have a job (even if it's not a joy...it pays.)
4. I've got my own room.
5. I've got a supportive, awesome family.
6. I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do.
7. I'm getting better at making friends.
8. I'm finally finding out who I really am.
9. The new Kingdom Hearts game is out!! 8D
10. I have morals and values and I stick by them.
11. I know that just because everyone else is doing it...doesn't mean it will make you happy, too.
12. I'm not afraid to do what I know I have to do.
13. It's the weekend!
14. I know what love is really supposed to be, and not what the world says it is.
15. I've finally started to accept myself for just the way I am.
16. I know what true beauty is.
17. I know how to get the most out of my time (college wil do that to you...)
18. I know why I'm here and where I'm going.
19. I'm finally learning how to forgive - both myself and others.
20. I can go to the mall and not spend all my money (about time!)
21. I've figured out why I wasn't happy before now!
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