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kjorteoOri and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition is the best Lilo and Stitch/Super Meat Boy/Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest crossover fanfic I've ever-- wait hold on let me start that again.
So, once upon a time in IM,xyzzysqrl sent me this recommendation:
"As far as I know, you enjoy:
Difficult platformers.
Nonlinear Metroidvania style games.
Cute things.
Crying.
Have you seen this game?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/387290/Ori_and_the_Blind_Forest_Definitive_Edition/"
Never let it be said that Sqrl doesn't know exactly how to pitch a game to me.
Ori and the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania-style action platformer that the developers themselves claim was inspired by Super Meat Boy, which I can maybe sort of see in the gameplay. Death comes fast and frequently if you're not careful, but is cheap and relatively painless. You can save almost wherever you want (there are unlockable tech tree abilities specifically to facilitate this) and the death/reload/respawn process is quick and seamless.
The main difference, of course, is that Super Meat Boy is pure carnage played for laughs, whereas Ori's violence is more bloodless and its presentation is that of a more serious and stunningly beautiful game. That trailer should give you a good idea of what this game both looks and sounds like, but I'll also add the Sorrow Pass theme because it's my personal favorite. Definitely get a version that includes the soundtrack if you get this.
Anyway, you play asUnico Ori, and adorable little fluffball with a huge and loving heart and the power to bring light to the darkness, tragically orphaned and put through increasingly intense levels of DOES NOT DESERVE THIS. At first glance the basic plot is almost comparable to an early ZZT purple keys collectathon--the forest is in ruins because the elements need to be restored, do the chain of [Go to area A to find the mystic Thing that unlocks the door to the temple in area B, clear out the inner temple proper which is big enough in its own right to count as area C] a total of three times and restore the three elements and you're done. However, oversimplifying it to this extent does a gross disservice to the emotional impact of the plot in the fine-details level and the characters living through it. Sqrl managed to cry for every single cutscene in the game, and while I didn't quite hit perfect 100% cry completion the way she did, boy I sure got punched in the heart by a lot of them anyway.
Exploration is controlled through a combination of hard and soft gates--things like the door to the temple (or almost any locked door, really) are more or less impassable barriers until the plot lets you through, but there are also collectibles and even entire areas that open up as you gain new powers. The latter is almost just like any Metroidvania, only (with one or two exceptions) rather than needing a new beam or missile or other sort of offensive weapon to blast through a wall, it's mostly just treacherous high jumps that require Ori to get increasingly more mobile in the air, like some kind of speedy high-flying luchador. The game has a very good learning curve and pace to distributing its enhancements, though, so you never really feel overwhelmed by all the moves you're expected to keep track of, even as you go through a series of triple jump-glide-air dash-fire an energy ball and ricochet off your own shot-air dash (again, because the ricochet resets all your jump options) shenanigans near the end.
I have very spoileriffic thoughts about this game which I will hide below the warning, but for now, suffice it to say that this is an exceptional top quality product. Everything from graphics and sound to gameplay are all finely tuned and outstanding, and if Sqrl's recommendation sounds as good to you as it did to me, then definitely check it out. Also check out Sqrl's review when she beat it, which can be found here.
UNMARKED SPOILERS BELOW:
I think the real meaning of this game clicked for me shortly after the flashback with Kuro's chicks (AKA my "what the fuck Sein, are you sure we're the good guys??" moment), where Ori had another near-miss encounter hiding from Kuro, whom the tree narrator described as "blinded by hate."
That's what this game is about. This game is a parable about never ending revenge cycles.
The spirit tree leaf that eventually became Ori blew off in a bad storm, and sometime later, the tree lit the sky to call out and find the missing Ori. This backfired catastrophically; not only did Naru recognize the light as an "oh no, hide" sign from her upbringing and thus keep Ori hidden as well, but the light killed Kuro's chicks, which set Kuro off against the tree in revenge.
Then Kuro destroyed basically the entire forest by attacking the tree. The winds disappeared, the water went bad, food became scarce. Kuro only meant to kill the tree because it killed her chicks, but that also ended up killing Naru (the kindest, sweetest, did-not-deserve-this-est figure in the entire game except maybe Ori) along with Gumo's entire civilization.
Either Ori or Gumo very easily could have gone after Kuro to avenge their losses, and then maybe Kuro's one surviving chick could have gone after them to avenge Kuro. I'm going to hurt you because you hurt me because my people hurt you because your people hurt us. An eye for an eye leaves the whole forest blind.
That's not what happens, though.
Ori brings the power of light to the darkness, and Sein weaponizes that literal concept by being your light beam against an entire forest full of more darkness-themed monsters than a Kingdom Hearts game, but Ori's real power is to break the cycle of hate. That's why the finale is Naru's love for the Disney-Deathed Ori (along with a conveniently timed fire threatening her last surviving chick) snapping Kuro out of her fury. The Achievement for that scene is even called "Love."
And that's a hell of a message for a "Collect the three keys to restore the three temples" plot structure.
So, once upon a time in IM,
xyzzysqrl sent me this recommendation:"As far as I know, you enjoy:
Difficult platformers.
Nonlinear Metroidvania style games.
Cute things.
Crying.
Have you seen this game?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/387290/Ori_and_the_Blind_Forest_Definitive_Edition/"
Never let it be said that Sqrl doesn't know exactly how to pitch a game to me.
Ori and the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania-style action platformer that the developers themselves claim was inspired by Super Meat Boy, which I can maybe sort of see in the gameplay. Death comes fast and frequently if you're not careful, but is cheap and relatively painless. You can save almost wherever you want (there are unlockable tech tree abilities specifically to facilitate this) and the death/reload/respawn process is quick and seamless.
The main difference, of course, is that Super Meat Boy is pure carnage played for laughs, whereas Ori's violence is more bloodless and its presentation is that of a more serious and stunningly beautiful game. That trailer should give you a good idea of what this game both looks and sounds like, but I'll also add the Sorrow Pass theme because it's my personal favorite. Definitely get a version that includes the soundtrack if you get this.
Anyway, you play as
Exploration is controlled through a combination of hard and soft gates--things like the door to the temple (or almost any locked door, really) are more or less impassable barriers until the plot lets you through, but there are also collectibles and even entire areas that open up as you gain new powers. The latter is almost just like any Metroidvania, only (with one or two exceptions) rather than needing a new beam or missile or other sort of offensive weapon to blast through a wall, it's mostly just treacherous high jumps that require Ori to get increasingly more mobile in the air, like some kind of speedy high-flying luchador. The game has a very good learning curve and pace to distributing its enhancements, though, so you never really feel overwhelmed by all the moves you're expected to keep track of, even as you go through a series of triple jump-glide-air dash-fire an energy ball and ricochet off your own shot-air dash (again, because the ricochet resets all your jump options) shenanigans near the end.
I have very spoileriffic thoughts about this game which I will hide below the warning, but for now, suffice it to say that this is an exceptional top quality product. Everything from graphics and sound to gameplay are all finely tuned and outstanding, and if Sqrl's recommendation sounds as good to you as it did to me, then definitely check it out. Also check out Sqrl's review when she beat it, which can be found here.
UNMARKED SPOILERS BELOW:
I think the real meaning of this game clicked for me shortly after the flashback with Kuro's chicks (AKA my "what the fuck Sein, are you sure we're the good guys??" moment), where Ori had another near-miss encounter hiding from Kuro, whom the tree narrator described as "blinded by hate."
That's what this game is about. This game is a parable about never ending revenge cycles.
The spirit tree leaf that eventually became Ori blew off in a bad storm, and sometime later, the tree lit the sky to call out and find the missing Ori. This backfired catastrophically; not only did Naru recognize the light as an "oh no, hide" sign from her upbringing and thus keep Ori hidden as well, but the light killed Kuro's chicks, which set Kuro off against the tree in revenge.
Then Kuro destroyed basically the entire forest by attacking the tree. The winds disappeared, the water went bad, food became scarce. Kuro only meant to kill the tree because it killed her chicks, but that also ended up killing Naru (the kindest, sweetest, did-not-deserve-this-est figure in the entire game except maybe Ori) along with Gumo's entire civilization.
Either Ori or Gumo very easily could have gone after Kuro to avenge their losses, and then maybe Kuro's one surviving chick could have gone after them to avenge Kuro. I'm going to hurt you because you hurt me because my people hurt you because your people hurt us. An eye for an eye leaves the whole forest blind.
That's not what happens, though.
Ori brings the power of light to the darkness, and Sein weaponizes that literal concept by being your light beam against an entire forest full of more darkness-themed monsters than a Kingdom Hearts game, but Ori's real power is to break the cycle of hate. That's why the finale is Naru's love for the Disney-Deathed Ori (along with a conveniently timed fire threatening her last surviving chick) snapping Kuro out of her fury. The Achievement for that scene is even called "Love."
And that's a hell of a message for a "Collect the three keys to restore the three temples" plot structure.