Serious plot issues with DS now that I've completed it

DevNall · Post by **DevNall** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:34 am

I'm pretty sure she had a childhood as Luna.

Angelalex242 · Post by **Angelalex242** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:51 am

By the time she's Luna, it's too late, from an SSSC perspective. A therapist wouldn't help. This is a therapist trying to convince her she doesn't need to kick the bucket for humanity to be happy.

Post by **Alunissage** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:03 am

If she's really portrayed as that weakened in DS, then the game really should be excised from the series. I had the distinct impression in SSSC that she was more concerned with humans being stronger by being on their own instead of the spiritual equivalent of living with their mom all their lives. It wasn't about her needing to step down for her own sake. And in EBC, she definitely looked authoritative and mature as the people appeal to her, and she's pragmatic enough to do what needs to be done, and then act as a leader for the people to Lunar...it doesn't jive with the idea of her being young and <strike>Lucia-stupid</strike> naive in DS. She's an adult, and she wants her children to grow up and be adults too, rather than perpetual teenagers.

Angelalex242 · Post by **Angelalex242** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:51 am

...Ya know...

I wonder if I suddenly and accidentally hit on Ghaleon's motivation...

What if he thought like that?

What if he saw her as, among other things, needlessly committing suicide and in desperate need of some therapy...which he, Ghaleon, might be able to provide...

Either that, or you're right, and Ghaleon is a spiritual momma's boy...or like a 25 year old who can't or won't get a job and still lives with mom. Of course, by this train of thought, Ghaleon then proceeds to force mom at gunpoint to let him keep staying at home...

Anyways, DS Lucia/Althena seems QUITE young and stupid, and exhibits none of the real maturity you're trying to get at. Weakened overall...from taking hits, to not figuring out 'Hey, Ignatius might POSSIBLY be evil' to pulling an EBC Lucia and taking a hit for Jian, which she failed to survive, then going on about how fighting doesn't solve anything. It's almost like Althena/Lucia got the same ideology as those people who think you couldn't keep score in children's soccer games because it might hurt somebody's self esteem.

Mychael216 · Post by **Mychael216** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:00 pm

Angelalex242 wrote:Althena...doesn't seem to do a whole lot after she brings humanity to the Blue Star, unless she's being controlled by someone else. She just hangs out up there in her tower and...does nothing. Except hang out with the Dragonmaster if there is one.

I kinda wish there were a game where we see Althena when she's still quite happy to help humanity with whatever they need help with. She can't ALWAYS have had this 'I suck, humans would be better off without me' mentality. ...Ya know, SSSC may never have happened if Althena had just had a therapist to teach her about self esteem.

Maybe a game where your Dragonmaster character can actually summon Althena to do cool stuff...either for plot purposes, or even just for the hell of it.

So basically you want to see a game when everyone was living on the Blue Star? Because, I think when Zophar crippled the Blue Star was when Althena began having these "I suck" thoughts. Perhaps she was in denial that she wasn't able to do more to protect the Blue Star.

DaWrestla · Post by **DaWrestla** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:12 pm

I'm also thinking that your (Alun, Angela) qualms with a weak/young Althena can be soundly explained with the whole "not fully Althena" theory.

Post by **Alunissage** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:29 pm

Hm, maybe so. If she's still stuck in fifteen-year-old mode, or however old Lucia is supposed to be, the whole thing will be overwhelming and she'll likely just want to go back to being what she remembers being. Though Lucia as Lucia seemed like she'd be able to tell when someone was a bad egg...then again, I haven't played enough in English to make that judgment; I've only just gotten Gab in the party. But I guess if you're lost and lonely and made to dress up in this weird getup -- which rather resembles Lucia's normal clothes, I don't know why I didn't think of that before -- you might want "the goddess" to disappear because you want your old life back and all the nasty stuff to just go away.

Luna's personality seemed to stick in SSSC, when after Alex got there and she was no longer trying to blast him away, she was Luna, not Althena, or at least mostly. She seems young and childlike there.

Mychael216 · Post by **Mychael216** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:38 pm

Another thing to all of the people complaining about the Pink and Blue haired differences:

If Althena is a goddess, wouldn't she be able to change her hair color at will? I mean, she's apparently able to become a human at will so... yeah.

DaWrestla · Post by **DaWrestla** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:47 pm

If Althena is a goddess, wouldn't she be able to change her hair color at will? I mean, she's apparently able to become a human at will so... yeah.

Touche', touche'. Though, for continuity's sake I still would have liked to have seen blue hair. However, like I said before, at least in the US release they showed the pre-DS Althena with the proper hair color and proper attire.

Post by **Alunissage** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:08 pm

The point isn't about whether or not she can change her appearance. It's that there's already continuity established with her looking the same at two instances some great amount of time apart. It makes no sense for her to decide to change something and then change back to the first thing. If she hadn't been shown looking exactly the same in that Blue Star flashback and the first screen of DS, then it wouldn't be so strange for her to be dressed completely differently in DS. Since she is, though, and with different-colored hair, the implication is that she's not fully herself -- if it had been intended to just be a redesign of her overall character entirely, then she wouldn't have had the original design in the opening.

Just to make that second point, her original design from TSS is my avatar. When I saw her in the EB recording, which was essentially the same as in the remakes (she holds her shawl differently, but that's it), it looked a bit strange, but I chalked it up to some time passing since the portrait in the Goddess Tower from which my avatar is taken to when the recording was made. But since the same design was used both in SSSC and in the flashback in EBC, it was clear that that was now the look of Althena, and DS's opening reinforces that. The pink hair in the Japanese opening was very incongruous, and was fixed in the US release; the changed design seen later in the game seems to be significant to the plot.

DaWrestla · Post by **DaWrestla** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:36 pm

Bravo, Alun. *clap* *clap* Bravo.

Well said.

Now, if only in the US release they hadn't screwed other things up (like the names and Rufus' specie, etc.)

Lunar Threads

Serious plot issues with DS now that I've completed it

Who is online