darkSpyro

Kairi I think is kinda overrated. She's not terrible or anything but she doesn't really do a whole lot and unlike with Riku, I don't think we ever get to see what Sora's friendship was like with her before KH1. We never really see the build up to their friendship in KH1, so the very obvious eventual pairing of the two is gonna feel real forced for me, even if Kairi gets to do more in KHIII, which she will because she is one of the Seven Guardians of Light. And no, that isn't a "I ship SoraxRiku" thing, I just think how determined he can be to find Riku and what not feels much more justified than the same thing with Kairi, especially since he did kinda neglect Riku in KH1, which was partly what fueled Riku's siding with Maleficent (she did maniupulate him a bit and exaggerate things, but Sora did genuinely seem to care more about Kairi in that game). And then in Re:CoM, he straight up becomes a brat over her and acts like a complete asshole towards Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, when they get worried over how obsessively he was chasing Naminé (although he's doing it over Naminé, Naminé tampered with his memories to replace all memories of Kairi with herself - so while Sora is having an outburst "over Naminé", he's really having it over Kairi - if his three 3 Disney friends showed this worry over his obsessiveness if his memories of Kairi weren't tampered and he was under the impression he was saving her, he still would have acted in the same, disrespectful manner. And those obsessive feelings for Naminé were really for Kairi). So in all honestly, I think Kairi is a bit of a Mary Sue who has forced importance in the series. I would like her more if her friendship with Sora was better built up to, and if BBS was released before KHII (because in KHII, her having a Keyblade feels like an ass pull - BBS explains it and does it well and it makes sense, but because KHII came out years prior to KHII, it essentially means the writers just wanted to Kairi to have a Keyblade to force more importance on her, and they didn't have an explanation in mind back then. It was basically fan service that they had to come up with an explanation for later). You could argue the same for Sora having a Keyblade, as that wasn't fully explained in KH1, but we were at least shown that he was never supposed to have one in that game and we got HALF of the explanation as to why he did get it. Kairi however, in KHII, was someone who was rightfully supposed to have a Keyblade, but that's not explained in KHII at all so it's a complete ass pull for fan service.

Xion is great, and I feel like she encompasses what Kairi SHOULD have been from the beginning. She's essentially Kairi done right. Her friendship with Roxas and Axel is well built up to, and we get to see her struggle with the Keyblade at first due to certain factors involving Roxas (which was a nice, roundabout way of her being trained up with the Keyblade before being able to properly use it), even though she has a fake one. She's also not portrayed as a perfect princess either (meanwhile, Kairi's is literally one of the Seven Princesses of Heart, meaning she has a heart made of pure light and literally cannot do evil or bad things unless she were to be put under mind control or something), she is the genuine cause of a lot of conflict in the story (both from her merely existing and from her choices and actions that weren't always the best), but she is trying so hard to do the right thing and to protect her friends, and even carry out her duties in the Organisation, and to be her own person and not a puppet. In the end, she does what was ultimately the "right" thing, which required sacrificing herself, but even that wasn't perfect, as this had a terrible effect on Roxas going forward, and well, everyone forgot about her existence.

Naminé is my personal favourite though, I adore her. She may not have as much objectively as Xion, but I just really connected with her and I find her story the most relatable. I also think she had a well built up friendship with Sora by the end of Re:CoM and I thought she had a really lovely chemistry with him, and as a result, I actually ship the two. I think Sora was a really good influence on her and she just really needed someone like him in her life. She did a lot of bad and was forced into it, but she did admit to Sora that she partly was OK with tampering with his memories for a while as it made her feel loved, even though she knew it was wrong. I thought it was very brave of her to admit to that, even though she didn't need to, she could have just said she was forced to do it (which was the only reason she did it in the first place) and Sora would have been willing to help her without feeling like she did any wrong. I also like how she stood up to Larxene in order to protect Sora despite knowing she couldn't actually fight back. She also saves Riku's life in his story. I also honestly find her to be one of the most tragic characters in the series, she was basically used as a slave from birth and was completely lonely, and when she finally does find some friends she really likes, they are forced to forget about her for the greater good and for the sake of their integrity. The scene where Naminé informs Sora about how he has a choice to abandon his old memories and keep living on with his memories of her and Castle Oblivion, or abandon his new ones of Naminé and have his old ones restored by her, is one of the most powerful and sad scenes in the series for me, despite it's simplicity. You can see how upset she is when Sora answers with "I want my old memories back". She expected that answer, but she was hoping he wouldn't say that. When he gives his answer, Naminé's shoulders jolt up and she reclines her neck in for a second, which I think is one of the best uses of body language in all of the cinematics in KH. You really feel for how sad she is to hear that in that moment, that it pierced her right in the "heart" (???), because she was clearly developing feelings for Sora. It's one of the only times in a gaming cutscene where I've legit said aloud "AWWWW, THE POOR THING" and I continued to have that feeling all throughout the ending of Re:CoM. And of course, after Re:CoM, things just go down hill for her. She has to be the bearer of bad news for Xion and Roxas because she can't finish putting together Sora's memories without them becoming part of Sora again, she is used and abused by DiZ/Ansem the Wise, who had every intention of killing her when she was finished fixing Sora's memories (even though Sora himself never would have condoned that, especially since he left himself with a clue as to who she was for when he wakes up), and she eventually has to go back to become one with Kairi because she's Kairi's Nobody. I know Re:coded is basically all about Sora trying to figure out what "Thank Naminé" in Jiminy's Journal means, but I haven't played BBS (I only did Ven's story a few years ago), Re:coded, and DDD yet, so I don't know if things get better for her or if they at least are hinted to by KHIII. In any case, she's one of my favourite characters and I really feel for her, I hope she gets a happy ending.

Also Naminé is totally a teenage Rosalina in terms of design so that helps too. :3

Sonic Shuffle was a fun game compared to some of the other party games going about. Heck it was probably the better out most of the Sonic spin-offs. I honestly seen more people get mad over Mario Party (because that 1 star deal), than I do see people trying to make a good point on why Sonic Shuffle was "a bad game". Sure compared to Adventure it may had some odd graphics (It was made around the time adventure was made. Give it a break on that), the story was well generic, and the controls were a little weird on some games. But it was still more fun than quite a bit of the other Sonic games. Honestly if you fixed the story with a different moral, fixed the graphics, and put the game on different platforms. It probably would be more of a seller than some other games.

Okamiden isn't the best game of the Okami series. To be honest here, I don't think Okami needed a sequel. Like a sequel could be interesting to the series, if done right. That said, I think Okamiden was half good and half bad. I like the fact it was on a better platform for the brush techniques (DS), but I feel like it could be better. Half of your partners start as annoying or literally are annoying. The graphics are a little strange, such as I can't see some of the enemies. Also I wonder, who's bright idea was it to give your partner the literal smallest amount of health? Who's bright idea was it for a game over, when you partner loses all of their health? Who's bright idea was it to give King Kury the multiply move?! Like he wasn't hard enough as it is. Oh and not mention he goes for your partner (the most annoying one I found so far) who has the lowest health ever known to video gaming history! Honestly. Why can't I have a upgrade option on my partner's health?! Or a upgrade option on my ****? Not to mention the time gap... It only took place 9 months after Okami... How the hell did Susano have a son that can already walk and talk, when it takes 9 months for a child to be born?! Unless Kushi was pregnant during Okami, I don't see how that is possible. Or better yet unless she had the child before Okami happened. Honestly I just don't get it! At least you can grow attached to some of the characters in the game over time, it's just odd that they start off as completely annoying half of the time. Or maybe that's just me not liking small kids sometimes. Honestly, is it trying to say that small kids are annoying from start?