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Gram

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- Xion is in a similar position to the Riku Replica of Chain of Memories, but unlike him, she is unaware that she was artificially created, and the path she finally chooses is completely different.

Nomura: The Riku Replica was modelled on Riku. With Xion, she becomes like the Kairi of Sora's memories. But rather than saying she was initially created to imitate something, it's more like she was a special case, born primarily to absorb Roxas' powers and evolve. It was intended right from the beginning of development that Xion and Roxas would eventually fight, but we had wondered about how to depict the conflict with Xion that would lead to this.At first I came up with the plot that would go like that of the Riku Replica, where Xion would insist that she was the real person and fight with Roxas. But many of the staff were of the opinion that Xion should stay as a nice girl, so when we were changing the scenario I rewrote it into its current form.


Came across this while combing through interviews (oh yes I'm that bored) and then I wondered would anyone have preferred it if Nomura had stuck with his original plot?
Would it have felt to much of a rehash of repliku for you?
Would you have preferred xion eventually went down this route?
Do you think it's better as is, her staying a nice girl like the staff insisted?

I personally, being less than satisfied of days for a number of reasons, would've liked to see how Nomura's original plot panned out. Sure it might not have been all that different save the ending but given my value of the current story I wouldn't mind seeing how it could've turned out.

What about anyone else?
 

Solo

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I'm not sure if I would have preferred the original plan. I don't mind Xion, but if she had gone down the Repliku avenue, I would probably have minded her because her development would have certainly been unoriginal and lacking, and she would have been no different from Repliku in almost every aspect.

After all, I personally think that her characterisation leaned toward the Mary Sue side (a completely new character who practically was an amalgamation of Sora's and Roxas' virtues? Yes, they explained the circumstances surrounding her coming-into-be, but come on). While I don't think Mary Sues are irreparable, they do need a sheer amount of unique development so that they can take a turn toward becoming a better character.

Of course, it's all just my opinion.
 

Ruran

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I think I would have preferred this a little better. With Xion, they turn the martyrhood up to eleven and it got tiring after a while. Also, I find something off putting about the staff being adament that Xion remain pure and nice to the detriment of fleshing out her personality. While I don't consider Xion a "Mary Sue" it's instances like these I can see why people feel that she is one.

It's been a while since I played Days, but recall one of the issues that I had with it was that Xion's character "looped" creating a faux sense of development. That is, her character development extended a very short amount but they repeatedly had her go through conflicts that just placed her back at square one. A lot of the problems she had were do to a lack of communication that steamed from "not wanting to bother her friends" because she was so pure, kind, and sacrificial, she tried to carry the burden on her own.

Bah!

Nomura needs to not listen to his staff and peers sometimes. I can't recall off the top of my head, but I think there's been another instance or two like this.

At first, I thought the same thing about the similarities to Repliku, butt then I considered that the madness could be an inherent issue with all replicas. With that, I could chalk it up to world building.
 

Antifa Lockhart

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The term Mary Sue has so many definitions now that it doesn't even mean anything anymore, these days if anyone has a problem with a female character then that character gets called a Mary Sue. Self-insert? Mary Sue. Weak female? Mary Sue. Constructed for the male gaze? Mary Sue.

I think it would have been interesting if Xion had some kind of parallel with Repliku. Or some sort of edge.
Imagine a Xion who was told to shadow Larxene for a while?
 

blksabbath74

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Personally, I am fine with how they did it, although it was a bit too much like Roxas' own sacrifice to complete Sora, so that bugs me.

If they went the Repliku route, I would want a more or less perfect copy of Roxas himself, and for that character to be built as an anti-Roxas, in a completely different story than Xion.

It annoys me slightly that the Xion/Roxas situation mirros the Roxas/Sora situation so closely, but no, I don't feel that the story would have been helped tremendously by turning her into a rabid Old Yellar that needed to be put down, so to speak.
 

Zettaflare

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Mary Sue, what is that anyway?


I think it would have been interesting in Nomura would have gone that route. It would have made the climax of Days that much more powerful and meaningful. Can you imagine how intense the fight between Xion and Roxas would have been if Xion was driven insane due to finding out the truth about herself?
 

Sephiroth0812

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All in all I have to say that both variants are not really that great, as either way Xion and her "story" is just a rehash/copy of a plot we already had during the series.

The plot we got in the end turned her into a copy of Roxas' story and issues from the KH 2 Prologue on a bigger scale, while Nomura's proposed way turns her into a cheap imitation of Repliku and his story.

Looking at this basis, I can actually understand why some fans say that Xion's introduction and inclusion to the series was unneeded and superfluous, because from a sole character-plot viewpoint it is.

 

Gram

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All in all I have to say that both
Looking at this basis, I can actually understand why some fans say that Xion's introduction and inclusion to the series was unneeded and superfluous, because from a sole character-plot viewpoint it is.


If I remember right didnt Coded and days only come to be simply because nintendo wanted a kh game and cause disney or square wanted a phone game?
With that in mind its very easy to see and get why both would feel like filler or pointless. (since to an extent they are)

There was subtle important messages in both yes, like things growing hearts, but such facts are also covered an out right confirmed in DDD so what little introduced in days and coded kinda feels unneeded adding to the filler feel.
 
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Oracle Spockanort

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If I remember right didnt Coded and days only come to be simply because nintendo wanted a kh game and cause disney or square wanted a phone game?
With that in mind its very easy to see and get why both would feel like filler or pointless. (since to an extent they are)

There was subtle important messages in both yes, like things growing hearts, but such facts are also covered an out right confirmed in DDD so what little introduced in days and coded kinda feels unneeded adding to the filler feel.

Days, yes. Coded? No. Nomura nor Tabata had any plans for coded until that one drunken dinner night/drunken brainstorming session.
 

LightUpTheSky452

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I prefer it the way it is now. The other way would have felt too much like a rehash, and I like that Xion brought an anti-villain role into the series. I think that was needed much like Elsa was a nice twist on the Disney clichés. She would have felt very flat and one-dimensional otherwise.

As it stands, Xion is my favorite girl in the series. And to me, she's one of the most interesting and well developed characters in it (especially for the girls), and seeing as how KH is very low on the female count, it would have been too bad if she'd gone down the Larxene route. Probably would have looked bad, too. And actually... the whole thing would have had shades of Naminé's story in CoM, too.

Plus, as Nomura said: it explains nicely why Roxas left the Organization, and felt so hurt and betrayed by them. It adds a lot more substance to the "nobody would miss me" line and things like that, so I personally think they went in the right direction with this. Otherwise there could have been some unfortunate implications about their stance on female characters (even moreso than there is now).

She was also a nice first hint to the idea that anyone/anything can grow a heart.

(And Xion is totes one of the only things that gives us hints about what Kairi might be like, so that was definitely needed. -shot-)
 

Elysium

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The term Mary Sue has so many definitions now that it doesn't even mean anything anymore, these days if anyone has a problem with a female character then that character gets called a Mary Sue. Self-insert? Mary Sue. Weak female? Mary Sue. Constructed for the male gaze? Mary Sue.

I agree, I've heard that term be bandied about so much that I hate it now.

Tbh, I prefer the way it turned out. I liked the fact that Roxas and Xion ended up having a relationship first, instead of being adversarial from the beginning like Sora and Repliku.
 

kuraudoVII

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The term Mary Sue has so many definitions now that it doesn't even mean anything anymore, these days if anyone has a problem with a female character then that character gets called a Mary Sue. Self-insert? Mary Sue. Weak female? Mary Sue. Constructed for the male gaze? Mary Sue.

I think it would have been interesting if Xion had some kind of parallel with Repliku. Or some sort of edge.
Imagine a Xion who was told to shadow Larxene for a while?

I would have liked to have some form of parallel with Repliku myself. At the very least, it would have been interesting if the more Xion learned of her true nature, the more that she might have suffered some form of actual madness. The plot could have been more interesting from there.

Also, completely agree about the Mary Sue trope. It has about as much meaning as the trope Deconstruction does now...

blksabbath74 said:
Personally, I am fine with how they did it, although it was a bit too much like Roxas' own sacrifice to complete Sora, so that bugs me.

Yeah, one of Days' biggest problems was that it didn't bring that much new to the table aside from the subtle hints about anything growing a heart, as Xion demonstrated. The other was that they had no proper way to dispose of Xion from everyone's memories aside from what they put in the game.
 

Antar

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I actually prefer the version they used. The whole "nice girl" version of her end made it more emotional, in my opinion.
 

Antifa Lockhart

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Though Xion is NOT the first case shown in the series of heart-growing. Namine Roxas and Axel show the first hints of it in KH2 and especially final mix.

"I've been thinking about it, and Namine said the same thing. Roxas, are you really sure you don't have a heart?"
 
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kuraudoVII

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I liked the fact that they had an original female protagonist who was NOT wearing a groin-length skirt.

Yeah, that was one of my problems in regards to Kairi's outfit in II.

Though Xion is NOT the first case show in the series of heart-growing. Namine Roxas and Axel show the first hints of it in KH2 and especially final mix.

"I've been thinking about it, and Namine said the same thing. Roxas, are you really sure you don't have a heart?"

True, true. She was by no means the first. I think the reason many, myself somewhat included, mention this a lot is because it was one of the more interesting developments in Days. In II as well as it's re-release, it was one of many plot points in a game that, for some, was more memorable, at least compared to Days. Days' plot points were more subtle and sparse, so people are going to gravitate to mentioning that nugget for Days since there isn't much major plot developments compared to others such as Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance.
 

blksabbath74

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Yeah, that was one of my problems in regards to Kairi's outfit in II.

That and the fact that it has 3 freaking zippers!!! If you unzip them all, you'll never get that dress back together. I don't mind the steampunky look they were going for, but that was a swing an a miss...

Nomura must have some sort of zipper fetish.
 

Gram

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Nomura must have some sort of zipper fetish.

Dont forget belts and straps:
images


but mostly belts:

Lulu.jpg

kh-squall.jpg
 
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