{"id":33990,"date":"2016-09-08T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=33990"},"modified":"2021-02-19T02:26:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T07:26:25","slug":"final-fantasy-x-part-12-bikanel-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=33990","title":{"rendered":"Final Fantasy X Part 12: Bikanel Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Guado catch up with Yuna and her friends at Lake Macalania and give us another boss fight. It’s the same lake where we fought the Al Bhed tank earlier<\/a>. How many earth-shaking boss fights can one frozen lake withstand?<\/p>\n

(Spoiler: One<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ice. How Does It Work?<\/h3>\n

This is a SUPER wide shot. Our heroes are just tiny little figures at the bottom of the image.<\/div>
This is a SUPER wide shot. Our heroes are just tiny little figures at the bottom of the image.<\/div><\/p>\n

Well, it’s called a lake, but looks more like a pond. It’s about half the size of a football pitch. I bring this up because at the end of the fight, the boss punches a hole in the lake and everyone falls through. They plummet a long way, but nobody seems to get hurt for some reason. And despite the small size of the lake, when we get to the bottom we find ourselves in an open space the size of a couple of stadiums.<\/p>\n

Look Shamus, this is Final Fantasy. Sometimes spaces are, you know, stylized<\/i>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Okay, but the space under the lake is larger than the lake itself. And the space under the lake is hollow. Like, usually a frozen lake is ice floating on top of water, but this is a roof of ice over a vast stretch of nothingness with no visible means of support.<\/p>\n

The FANTASY part means this is a world with magic, Shamus. And you’re going to complain about an ice roof?<\/b><\/p>\n

In fact, it kind of looks like the ice is holding up the massive TEMPLE, which is now looming overhead.<\/p>\n

It’s Final FANTASY, Shamus. What part of this is confusing you?<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah I get that, but there’s water here at the bottom and it’s only ankle deep. And it’s not frozen, even though this should be colder than the ice overhead.<\/p>\n

FINAL. FRICKIN. FANTASY.<\/b><\/p>\n

And Sin is down here with everyone else. Under the lake. Under the water. Which is shown to be ankle-deep.<\/p>\n

Yeah okay. I’m having trouble picturing how that’s supposed to work.<\/b><\/p>\n

Like, how did Sin even GET here?<\/p>\n

Okay. Fine. You made your point. Jerk.<\/b><\/p>\n

Time to Regroup<\/h3>\n

There's a LOT of fog in this scene, so I've tampered with the color and contrast in these screenshots to make it clearer for people who haven't played the game.<\/div>
There's a LOT of fog in this scene, so I've tampered with the color and contrast in these screenshots to make it clearer for people who haven't played the game.<\/div><\/p>\n

I make fun of the goings-on under Lake Nonsense, but the writer knows what’s important right now. This scene is here so our characters can have a quiet moment to process everything that’s happened. They’ve been reunited with Yuna, killed a Maester, and been branded traitors. Wakka is now a traitor to the religion he’s clung to his entire life. Yuna has to face the fact that her plan failed. Tidus has to process yet another load of stuff that he didn’t know. Auron has to pep-talk the kids into remembering what’s important and getting them back on task.<\/p>\n

Yuna sort of half-justifies her harebrained plan to marry Seymour in exchange for… whatever it is she thought they could do to bring him to justice. She apologizes and everyone is on the same page again.<\/p>\n

One of the mistakes of the latter Mass Effect games is that far too many major revelations and turns happened without the characters stopping to properly discuss them. Shepard died, and there was never a moment like this one where everyone gathered together to express their views about what happened, give their opinions on what they want to do next, and address the various audience questions about how it happened and what it means.<\/p>\n

In a storytelling sense, it makes it feel like characters don’t notice how big the changes are. Moments that should be poignant or revelatory end up feeling like a bunch of random noise. <\/p>\n

Your plan to marry a murderer in exchange for getting him to confess didn't pan out? Man, who could have seen THAT one coming?<\/div>
Your plan to marry a murderer in exchange for getting him to confess didn't pan out? Man, who could have seen THAT one coming?<\/div><\/p>\n

When Yuna admits her plan wasn’t very good, we understand that the writer doesn’t expect us to believe this was a great plan. Blame for the mistake is placed on the character, where it belongs. It makes Yuna more interesting by showing the lengths she’s willing to go to in order to protect her friends from “her” problems. We understand that she’s not stupidWell, not by the standards of this world, anyway.<\/span>, she’s simply driven, a little naive, and protective of her friends. This character detail will become crucial when it comes to the moment of truth at the end of her pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

Compare this to when Shepard has to use the Reaper technology to go through the Omega-4 relay in Mass Effect 2<\/a>. She’s risking the life of the entire crew by going through a magic door that has killed everyone who has ever tried to use it. There’s no moment where she says, “This is a terrible gamble. I hate that my friends have to take this risk with me, but it’s what I have to do to save the day.” There isn’t a meeting with all the characters where each of them says something insightful, funny, poignant, or revelatory about the risk they’re all about to take. When they make it to the other side, Shepard doesn’t exclaim, “I can’t believe that worked!”<\/p>\n

I point this out not to beat up on poor Mass Effect again. I’m pointing it out because when a writer does their job, we often don’t notice. This little scene under Lake Nonsense doesn’t explain any of the ridiculous geography at work here, but it serves the important purpose of synchronizing the audience with the characters so we can understand why people are doing the things they’re doing. <\/p>\n

Yes, this is a shot of gargantuan Sin, which is supposedly somehow lurking under the same water the party is standing in. This is literally impossible for about a dozen different reasons and I have no idea what the writer or set designer were thinking.<\/div>
Yes, this is a shot of gargantuan Sin, which is supposedly somehow lurking under the same water the party is standing in. This is literally impossible for about a dozen different reasons and I have no idea what the writer or set designer were thinking.<\/div><\/p>\n

It turns out that while the party is having their big reunion mope, Sin is lurking under the water. There’s music coming from the temple. People are singing the Hymn of the Fayth. That song seems to be playing 24\/7 at all the temples. Jecht LOVED that song, and it seems that hearing it makes Sin docile. Or if not docile, then just LESS mass-murder-y. This is the setup for Chekhov’s Hymn<\/a>, which will become important at the end of the game.<\/p>\n

The writer seems to be aware of just how inexplicable this whole lake scenario is, so to escape they push the red button labeled “Sin shows up and magically transports our hero to another part of the world for purposes of plot convenience.” Again. <\/p>\n

And so we magically appear on…<\/p>\n

Bikanel Island<\/h3>\n

Lulu you ditz, how is THAT supposed to work? Won't you all end up waiting for each other forever? SOMEONE has to move.<\/div>
Lulu you ditz, how is THAT supposed to work? Won't you all end up waiting for each other forever? SOMEONE has to move.<\/div><\/p>\n

Everyone appears, alone, in a strange desert. After some messing around the party reunites. Except for Yuna, who is missing again. Rikku reveals that the Al Bhed probably kidnapped her again. This is the third<\/b> time they’ve kidnapped her. By this point she should probably start paying them rent.<\/p>\n

Rikku offers to lead the party to the Al Bhed home city, which they have imaginatively named “Home”.<\/p>\n

When they arrive at Home, they find the place is under attack by Yevon. It’s not clear why this attack is happening now. Maybe Operation Mi’ihen<\/a> was done in order to get the Al Bhed to commit their best troops and weapons, softening them up for this knockout punch. Or maybe Yevon magically knows Yuna is here and Seymour is still trying to recapture her. <\/p>\n

I'm sure I don't have to tell you how flammable metal and sand are.<\/div>
I'm sure I don't have to tell you how flammable metal and sand are.<\/div><\/p>\n

The party storms the city and they find the cells where the Al Bhed have been keeping the summoners prisoner to keep them from going on their pilgrimage. But Yuna isn’t here. She was, but then the Yevonites kidnapped her, even though she was already kidnapped at the time<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Who does she think she is? Princess Peach?<\/p>\n

Some questions have been forming in the Blitzball-addled mind of Tidus. Finally the light comes on and he asks, “Why do the Al Bhed keep kidnapping summoners?” Rikku breaks the news to him that all pilgrimages inevitably end in martyrdom. He takes it about as well as you’d expect.<\/p>\n

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.<\/div>
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.<\/div><\/p>\n

Summoners Isaaru and Donna are here, having been captured by the Al Bhed. They argue in their defense, saying that, basically, it’s their choice<\/i> if they want to martyr themselves. <\/p>\n

It’s a pivotal scene, because a lot of earlier moments didn’t make sense until now. This twist hasn’t been pulled out of thin air. You can go back and replay every previous conversation and they all hold up – and are even improved by – this new information. This storyteller knows that a “plot twist” isn’t just an excuse to re-write part of the world, it’s a payoff<\/i> to something you’ve already written<\/em>. <\/p>\n

I actually really like this scene. It’s moving to see Tidus looking stricken, shouting, “Why didn’t I know?!” At the others. It shows just how out of his depth he is. It also shows that the other members of the party haven’t really been taking him as seriously as they probably should have. He’s an official guardian for Yuna, but nobody told him the things a guardian ought to know. <\/p>\n

They say they weren’t trying to deceive him, it’s just that talking about Yuna’s death is hard and nobody wanted to say it. But if any of them thought Tidus was really important, they probably would have sucked it up and told him.<\/p>\n

Another interesting character wrinkle is that this is one of the things Yuna liked about him. She liked<\/em> that he didn’t know. He was having fun on the journey because he had no idea he was escorting her to her death, and his oblivious enthusiasm was actually comforting to her. She likes being surrounded by joy. <\/p>\n

Auron, as always, is silent. This moment had to come eventually. None of this matters to him and his plans.<\/p>\n

I’d like the scene a little more if it was more transformative – if Tidus acted a little more serious and grown up from here on. But if anything, he’s more brash and irresponsible going forward. <\/p>\n

Still, this is a pivotal moment in the story. Tidus (and thus the audience) are finally let in on the first Big Secret. And they’re very likely they’ll assume it’s THE Big Secret, which means the next one will be yet another gut-punch.<\/p>\n

A Circle of Secrets<\/h3>\n

I admit that comparing Final Fantasy X and Mass Effect is a little strange. They’re different stories with radically different tones, from different genres, with a different approach to gameplay and player empowerment. A story beat or character that works in one might be disastrous in the other. Even so, it’s sometimes useful to make the comparison because it illustrates the different ways these stories are constructed.<\/p>\n

In Final Fantasy X, Yuna is the group leader and the character with the most agency. Tidus is the audience POV character. Auron is the only characterOn the protagonist side.<\/span> who sees the big picture. In Mass Effect 1, all three of these attributes are embodied in Commander Shepard. <\/p>\n

In Mass Effect 1, a lot of the companion characters are just an extension of Shepard and her quest. They believe what she believes, and their goals align with hers. There’s one moment where this stops being true, and it instantly becomes a point of conflict. When Wrex and Shepard disagree on what to do about Saren’s base, the story must stop until their difference is resolved. The vast majority of conversations take the form of one-one-one chats between Shepard and one of her crew.<\/p>\n

Apparently Wakka knows overall less than TIDUS.<\/div>
Apparently Wakka knows overall less than TIDUS.<\/div><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Final Fantasy X Yuna is basically herding cats, and most conversations are group conversations. There are multiple compartmentalized secrets within the party, and these secrets all contribute to the ongoing tension between the characters and inform their individual character arcs. <\/p>\n

Wakka’s distrust of Al Bhed prompts tension within the group because it causes everyone to keep Rikku’s heritage a secret from him. This tension escalates when he says ignorant things about the Al Bhed in front of her. Everyone has to either endure his tirade, or tell him the truth and face the fallout. <\/p>\n

Once he knows the truth, the conflict moves from external to internal. Once Wakka knows that one of his friends and loyal allies is an Al Bhed, it becomes that much harder for him to cling to the teachings that insist that Rikku and her people are somehow contributing to the ongoing problems of SpiraAside from the kidnappings, which everyone sort of takes in stride.<\/span>. And once he sees the followers of Yevon slaughtering the Al Bhed, it becomes even harder for him to resolve this image with what he’s been taught. We in the audience can see this conflict is building, and we’re powerless to do anything about it. We can see that sooner or later, Wakka is going to have to choose between his faith and his friends.<\/p>\n

I’m not saying this conflict makes Final Fantasy X “better” than Mass Effect, but it is an illustration of the kind of drama you can’t do with a player-controlled protagonist. If Commander Shepard was running Yuna’s party, we would (quite reasonably) insist that the writers allow us to call Wakka out on his bullshit, possibly with the “Renegade” option to side with him. We wouldn’t accept taking no action in the face of a serious interpersonal conflict simmering away right in the middle of the group. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guado catch up with Yuna and her friends at Lake Macalania and give us another boss fight. It’s the same lake where we fought the Al Bhed tank earlier. How many earth-shaking boss fights can one frozen lake withstand? (Spoiler: One.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[612],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retrospectives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51862,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33990\/revisions\/51862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}