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Ori and the Will of the wisps Thoughts *spoilers*
5 years ago
The long awaited sequel to Ori and the blind forest just came out last week. I am a huge fan of the first game, I have played through it many times now , both the original and definitive edition. It is one of my favorite platformers to date. It is so rare to get such a tight set of controls for such a fast game that feels so rewarding these days. I am a big fan of games that are "Fast and Demanding." Some games that I am really into are Ninja Gaiden, Megaman X/zero, Zone of the Enders, metal gear rising, and Killer Instinct. I love games that are fast and Ori falls into that category demanding a certain level of quickness to everything. The first game had one of my all time favorite moments ever, the Water escape sequence. I must have died like 40 times on it but the music, the pace, the whole moment resonated such a passion in me that I never felt frustrated. And the feeling you get when you final finish it, it is beyond words. Truly amazing.
The sequel is everything I hoped for, it is just as fast if not more so. There are weapons now, adding a whole new mechanic to the gameplay. Boss fights are more then just escape/survive sequences. You feel truly one with the character by the end. Ori and the will of the wisps I dare say tops the original in every-way. There is even a sequence that fulfills that same feeling I got with the water escape in the first. I find myself listening to the soundtrack as I type this and it just fills me with such passion. The team behind these games have left something on the gaming world that will stand the test of time. It is not just a beautiful world/story but gameplay that is lasting. Much like playing through a classic mario platformer I can find myself going back to these games whenever that craving hits. Hardly a " one and done" type that to many games fall into these days. So, the reason I am writing this journal is to help process my feelings with the whole experience.
****** SPOILERS******
I could be getting the terms or names wrong in all this as I am still fresh off finishing it, so forgive me. I also refer to ori as a "They" since the game designers came out and said that the gender is up for interpretation. Personally I like to picture ori as male, but that isn't for me to decide. For those of you that have beaten the game by now you know the full story. Ori is trying to save their friend Ku, the baby owl. By the end they do, but it is at a cost. Ori becomes the new tree of lite. I felt so sad watching the ending, seeing ori as a tree and not getting to interact with their friends. I cried when it was said and done, walked away feeling satisfied and yet empty at the same time. The more I dwell on it the more I didn't want to see Ori go away like that. I realize that it is a cycle and this is how ori began in the first game, a leaf fallen from the tree. But it just made me feel so sad, especially when you take into account Shriek as a character. Shriek didn't get a chance for redemption in this. The first game the owl villain was given a chance for redemption at the end, it felt like everything tied together nice and neat by the end. This time around, I thought for sure the villain was going to sacrifice herself for the little owl Ku, it seemed like the game was building up to that. An owl that only wanted to belong but was different finally realizes in the end that she can belong by helping out the people of this land and the owl she killed. I was positive that Shriek was going to come in after the final battle and take Ori's place , somehow defying the lore of the games world and merging with the light to be the new tree. But she didn't, she went off to a very sad lonely death with the remains of where she began.
Now, I dont hate the ending that the game designers came up with at all. It truly is touching and is going to be something people talk about for years to come. I often think that I get to emotionally attached to fictional characters these days. The loss I have gone through in life cant be helping with this. I know Ori technically doesn't die in the end and will go on in reincarnations, but I still feel like this whole thing with Shriek was a missed opportunity. If it had gone the way I was picturing man it would have been perfect. Ori could have spent the time with the ones they deem family. They could have flown with Ku properly, but alas. I am selfish and I really wanted it to end with Ori still being Ori. I find myself really thinking about it to much. It is one of my personality faults I suppose. To most it is just a game with a great story that they will love, cry and move on from. But for me, I dont know....I will get over it as I always do, but I write this to see if I was the only one feeling this way.
I do not know what I will do in terms of fan art for this game. I have always wanted to draw Ori, but I couldn't bring myself to do porn of them because the first one was so sweet and pure. Normally that wouldn't stop me cause I am a perv, but Ori felt like something special. This new game has me all confused, its almost like I want to rebel against the way the end made me feel. I want to draw porn as a coping mechanism......ugh I dont know. Anyway sorry for the LONG rant, thank you to anyone that took the time to read it all. Believe me when I say both games are masterpieces and you need to play them anyway you can.
Thank you everyone as always for the tremendous support, I really do mean it :)
The sequel is everything I hoped for, it is just as fast if not more so. There are weapons now, adding a whole new mechanic to the gameplay. Boss fights are more then just escape/survive sequences. You feel truly one with the character by the end. Ori and the will of the wisps I dare say tops the original in every-way. There is even a sequence that fulfills that same feeling I got with the water escape in the first. I find myself listening to the soundtrack as I type this and it just fills me with such passion. The team behind these games have left something on the gaming world that will stand the test of time. It is not just a beautiful world/story but gameplay that is lasting. Much like playing through a classic mario platformer I can find myself going back to these games whenever that craving hits. Hardly a " one and done" type that to many games fall into these days. So, the reason I am writing this journal is to help process my feelings with the whole experience.
****** SPOILERS******
I could be getting the terms or names wrong in all this as I am still fresh off finishing it, so forgive me. I also refer to ori as a "They" since the game designers came out and said that the gender is up for interpretation. Personally I like to picture ori as male, but that isn't for me to decide. For those of you that have beaten the game by now you know the full story. Ori is trying to save their friend Ku, the baby owl. By the end they do, but it is at a cost. Ori becomes the new tree of lite. I felt so sad watching the ending, seeing ori as a tree and not getting to interact with their friends. I cried when it was said and done, walked away feeling satisfied and yet empty at the same time. The more I dwell on it the more I didn't want to see Ori go away like that. I realize that it is a cycle and this is how ori began in the first game, a leaf fallen from the tree. But it just made me feel so sad, especially when you take into account Shriek as a character. Shriek didn't get a chance for redemption in this. The first game the owl villain was given a chance for redemption at the end, it felt like everything tied together nice and neat by the end. This time around, I thought for sure the villain was going to sacrifice herself for the little owl Ku, it seemed like the game was building up to that. An owl that only wanted to belong but was different finally realizes in the end that she can belong by helping out the people of this land and the owl she killed. I was positive that Shriek was going to come in after the final battle and take Ori's place , somehow defying the lore of the games world and merging with the light to be the new tree. But she didn't, she went off to a very sad lonely death with the remains of where she began.
Now, I dont hate the ending that the game designers came up with at all. It truly is touching and is going to be something people talk about for years to come. I often think that I get to emotionally attached to fictional characters these days. The loss I have gone through in life cant be helping with this. I know Ori technically doesn't die in the end and will go on in reincarnations, but I still feel like this whole thing with Shriek was a missed opportunity. If it had gone the way I was picturing man it would have been perfect. Ori could have spent the time with the ones they deem family. They could have flown with Ku properly, but alas. I am selfish and I really wanted it to end with Ori still being Ori. I find myself really thinking about it to much. It is one of my personality faults I suppose. To most it is just a game with a great story that they will love, cry and move on from. But for me, I dont know....I will get over it as I always do, but I write this to see if I was the only one feeling this way.
I do not know what I will do in terms of fan art for this game. I have always wanted to draw Ori, but I couldn't bring myself to do porn of them because the first one was so sweet and pure. Normally that wouldn't stop me cause I am a perv, but Ori felt like something special. This new game has me all confused, its almost like I want to rebel against the way the end made me feel. I want to draw porn as a coping mechanism......ugh I dont know. Anyway sorry for the LONG rant, thank you to anyone that took the time to read it all. Believe me when I say both games are masterpieces and you need to play them anyway you can.
Thank you everyone as always for the tremendous support, I really do mean it :)
I don't think Shriek actually dies. Sure it might look that way, but we really didn't see her die in the end, to compare it with Ku's death. It could mean that she just wants to spend time with her family and might rethink her actions. Though if it's confirmed in some way, then I accept if my theory is wrong. I guess I just don't want to see Shriek die that way.
I too felt that same way, that somehow Shriek might gain redemption. But when I saw how aggressive she was I knew that it wouldn't be so. I also have to agree, this one tugged upon my heart strings even more than the first did, the big moments being when Ku got attacked and we found her limp on the ground, Ori's sacrifice at the end when he became the next spirit tree (I literally said "Moon Studios, don't you dare do this. Don't leave Ori"), but probably the one that hit me most was surprisingly one of the side missions where you go to check on a Moki's family only to find them stone from the Decay. You return the item there back to the Moki and he LEAVES the safety of the hub to go back to his family, when you go back to that hut, he too has become stone with his family (I'm actually choking up a lil bit typing that >w<). Aside from the heavily emotional moments there we also very suspenseful moments like the worm escape in the ruins, I will say I loved the twist to the Windmill (even though i KNEW it was a Ginsu Tree remake X3). All in all, at the end of the game you can not only see but FEEL the strain and exhaustion Ori is going through as you literally crawl to the end. The merging scene was a very close second emotion wise for me ;w; Already I am SO eager for the next chapter of the game, to see what our loveable spirit's descendant is going to be like.
**END SPOILER**
For those that haven't played the game, DEFINATELY give it a play sometime, both of them. The lore, story and music are simply phenomenal in both composition and execution <3
The 2nd game was even more beautiful than the first visually and the music was everything I could ask for. I loved the characters, loved the fluidity of the gameplay, the new mechanics, the battling, the escape scenes, the ability system, everything. But the ending broke my heart. I don't know exactly what it was that destroyed me about it, but I felt like it shouldn't have happened. It was SO sudden. Absolutely, I feel selfish as well because of how much I cling to ori, but part of me justifies that feeling. There were multiple reasons for me not liking the ending as much as others. For one, the trailers leading up to the game really emphasized (or led us to believe) that the game was all about Ku. The trailer showed how the owls died and how, just like gumo, she was the last. I really wanted there to be some closure to this. I wanted her to find other owls. I felt like she didn't get as much time in the game; just the intro and then a few minutes when you find her. Besides understanding that she couldn't fly due to her wing, there wasn't any progression of her and her character in the game which left me feeling like I wanted to know so much more about her and wished so much better for her fate. Shriek? Oy.... I sobbed when she crawled to her parents bones. I just don't get how they left her like that. The narrator (now we know, is ori) says that she chose darkness, but I don't think she was presented with any kindness at all. Ori pretty much just kicks her butt multiple times. There was no opportunity to offer her kindness and she doesn't get to interact with Naru and Gumo in any way for there to be a similar transformation as happened with Kuro. She deserved love and acceptance.
Another part that bugged me is how the story seemed to change, even if slightly, from game 1 and 2. In game 1, the whole story is confusing until you start to dig into it and discover that there are light creatures and dark creatures and generally they never mix. It was the light from the tree that killed Kuros babies and so, you enter game 2 wondering how Ku managed to survive or what challenges she faced living with creatures of light, such as ori. Their interaction as light and dark creatures, now siblings, could have been a great tale, if we saw any of it. And in game 2, the concept of their differences in light/dark creatures was just... gone? It wasn't at all mentioned or brought up. I thought it might be referenced in the battle with Mora, but it was very vague as to why she was good while the wolf and the other monsters were bad.
Another thing that got to me was just how many sad things happen in this game, and unlike the first game where there was a moral lesson to be had for all the outcomes, it was just like adding in sad thing after sad thing after sad thing. When the moki found out his family was dead and said he was going home and I went back to the hut to see where he was... it hurt really bad. I wish that I could have had a chance to stop him.
I admit, I had theories when I first saw the trailer for Wotw about how ori who was supposed to be just an innocent light creature, would venture out into the realm of the creatures of dark, in order to help ku find a place to belong, and more owls. I felt like the game might be about him being this light warrior who chooses to fight for the dark because he understood that balance is super important, especially since the trees burst of light in game 1 was an excessive expression of light that caused so much calamity in the world. I thought it would primarily be about ku.
I just find myself wishing a lot of different outcomes. I find myself wondering why he's referred to as the last remaining spirit, when there are lots back where he came from. Why he brought all the wisps back together just to find out that they were already dead. Why he progresses as a character and learns so much and grows up and develops as an actual living character with personality and empathy and makes all these new friends - just to die. It was a very rough ending.
I also thought Shriek might have come around to be the one to take Sier's light so I was admittedly slightly disappointed as you described. I wish Ori could have seen his family again too. I'm not sure I like that he became a tree. It's kind of okay I guess, but he's no longer such an interactive creature. I get the sense he can still talk to them all, as you can talk to the spirit tree in the first game. So story-wise, I agree with you completely.
Gameplay though: How incredible was it?! Everything was so tight just like you said. The weapons were awesome. I mainly used the light-weight sword and the heavy hammer. I don't usually like slow weapons but that one was so satisfying! Especially with the annoying gnats that spin up and fly straight at you. So good to time a hammer blow just right and smash them right before they hit you.
I revisited the first game briefly and wow... They really stepped up the artwork! It's more detailed, everything has a smoother frame rate.
The music... How could it be possibly better than game 1? I'd say it was just as good! The whole experience was wonderfully polished and I'm giving the game a 9.5/10. I wish the story had been just that little different, but overall I think it was excellent. I'm glad what you said here was what I was thinking!
I loved that the game added in a variety by giving us some boss fights. Funnily enough I accidentally cheesed the Shriek fight. I had the Deflect shard on me and Shriek had this one attack where she was on the side of the screen shooting out projectiles in a cone. I jumped her way to get some hits in but I deflected over half of her shots back getting her HP down so fast I didn't know what happened lol. Also I kinda... liked how Shriek didn't just turn good because you kick her ass. Her whole life was rejection and the writers did a good job keeping the character fully consistent. Kuro was just an anguished mother that snapped out of her grief when she saw an egg was intact and she sacrificed to protect it. Speaking of Ku, it sucks she had so little gameplay. Was neat controlling them together even if for a moment.
I don't know what the trigger is for it, but I saw 2 different versions of credits. One had an image in the background, the other was all black. The all black one had different doodles inbetween, and one showed some Moki playing with two Ori-like spirits. Make of it what you will aside from the whole cycle of life thing. Which brings me to one part of the ending that... made me think. The line saying "It was the will of the Wisps". Does it mean Ori did not really want to throw their current life away but did it because they were pushed to it? The willow was all "nah I'm old you do it" and Ori just did it. I dunno...
ART! Imma be real with you. I drew one SFW and one NSFW pic with my Celebi and Ori (female of course). Both after completing the first game. Both Celebi and Ori are tied to forests so it fit in my head :P and I will draw them together again both naughty and clean because I love the character of Ori and that's how I express it :P Can't wait to see what/if you come up with something!
I think the Shriek part were done well. If she got a redemption either by taking Oris place or saving Niwen the ending wouldve been very similar to the first game. And while im pretty sure few would mind that i appriciate it being different.
The only think that truly breaks me about this ending is that it seems we wont see another game with Ori, Gumo, Naru and Ku together.
*from reading the spoiler section*
I must say that I feel a small bit sad on how it's handled, especially on cycles. If you want to make art do as you wish, as long as you enjoyed making it.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts <3
if you notice, the main tree on the main screen is a massive forshadow, its not the first tree nor the great willow, its ori's...pretty cool when I realised. Something was always off about it in my mind but never made the connection till the end