Clannad: Tomoyo Path

 Well THAT was an emotional trip. Clannad. The game that can make the most hardened warrior sob in their blankies. Well I can't say that Tomoyos route is an exception.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I started this route quite a while ago, and only just now finished it because for some reason I had it in my head that I would not enjoy this route. I had it wrong. Tomoyos story is touching and heart warming and leaves nothing to be desired.
The romantic aspects of it happen rather suddenly to be honest. One moment we were friends having lunch the next we were kissing. She comes to my home every morning to fetch me and drag me to school on time. My best friend and I are famous for being late and she is insistent that we come on time.

There is humor interlaced into the story, as she has a slight obsession with beating my best friend up, and a huge part of her plot is her abusing him for being an annoying prick.

The depth of the story comes when Tomoyo admits to you that she comes from a broken family where everyone is cold and unloving towards one another. They are family in name only, and she seeks the ability to smile and feel joy with her little brother. A little brother that because he was so miserable at his families lack of love tried to kill himself. She wants his first day at highschool to be a truely happy one with no tears, and is striving to be the student body councilor in hopes of saving the Sakura tree lane that they have to travel to on the way to school.  The feelings that flow through my body as I relate to her sadness at her family being cold and Tomoya(the main character)s equal sadness at the lack of his families love.  On a personal note my partner and I are both not close to our families. Events have happened that have left both of us feeling cold and alone in this world and like Tomoyo and Tomoya we realized that happiness and family is about the people who make up your family who are even just friends. Not the people who raised you.

The most heart wrenching part of this story for me is when Tomoya starts feeling depression over the fact he is stagnating and Tomoyo is popular and going to succeed his utter dispair at the fact and knowledge that she will graduate and leave him behind and that everyone will leave him behind took me to the moment when I was 18 and all my friends left. My best friend Ali was going to school and so was Janna, but there was a moment when Ali's parents divorced and the one thing I thought would stay constant. Ali's little brother Evan, left with her mother to Missouri. I was left feeling utterly abandoned and alone in life. I made terrible decisions trying to cure that sadness. Unlike my life, Tomoyo comes back and tells Tomoya that being without him was not worth the success to her and that she loved him. They end up back together.

 Before I play the next route on Clannad I think I will venture on to Tomoyo After and play my way through it at least once. Wish me luck. I am looking forward to the hentai elements that Clannad lacks and Tomoyo After offers :-p

Disgaea:Hour of Darkness (yes, spoilers)

So the game I most recently took part in and beat was Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on my PSP. I really did NOT want to play this. At all. I am not a fan of TRPGs, and this looked like another dull TRPG. But my roomate talked me into playing it. By telling me I had to. Over. And OVER. AND OVER. So I finally picked it up and worked my way though the game.

To start, the plot. I loved this games plot. I thought it was going to be campy, but it actually surprised me with its depth. I really need to start trusting my roomates taste in games. He has amazing taste in games. If he tells me I will like a game I normally do. This is just another prime example of this truth. 

The characters are all rounded and grow, and the humor is just a mask over much darker themes. As someone who just lost her Father, this game held lots of themes of parent loss and dealing with becoming despite adversity. Many tears were shed when the red moon rose. I want to cosplay as a Prinny now. As someone who has attempted suicide... I relate to them!

Most suprisingly awesome character? Jennifer! Sure she dresses like a beach bimbo, but don't let her looks fool you! This character is probably the most interesting one in the game. Despite living her life as a side-kick. Jennifer is a brilliant girl. She is confident and true to herself and reflects a human worthy of praise. Again all the adoption themes really got to me, but I enjoyed her growth and revelations. It is hilarious that she is working for a moronic man when her IQ is out of this atmosphere.

Gameplay wise, this game was a grind fest. But I found after crazy power leveling Laharl and a few mages (admittedly I handed the PSP to my roomate and had him do it for me because there is something broken in that man that makes it so he does not hate power leveling). Walking around Terra Earth/Fire/Ice ing as well as Dimension Slashing my enemies I rarely had any trouble at all. Admittedly in this way I cheated.

 The end game pissed me the hell off(the normal ending) it really was just not fair. MAJOR SPOILERS: When Laharl cried his line about abandonment and his mother to Flonne I actually had to poker face the intense meh that made me feel. My roomate wanted me to react so I refused, but man on man do I relate as someone who has been abandoned by just about everyone I have ever cared about.  The good ending is much more fun. I love flonnes change.

Overall: 4/5 for this game. It was good. But not the best. It is no Persona 3!