Penis balloon... from the Paris casino/hotel in Las Vegs.
East Wenatchee Goodwill, which I am impressed with because they charge $1 each for records while all the GWs in my area charge $4 (unless otherwise labelled higher, never lower) no matter what they are.
Ah, Luca. Souvenirs, smarmy announcers and "color guys," “This tournament is sponsored by Yevon,” church officials making rousing speeches: nowhere is the psychological correlation between public sporting events and organized religion more blatantly spoofed.
[HD Luca FMV: FFWikia]. There's a lot of the city we never get to visit. Hey, is there someone parasailing off to the left?
I love Luca. It’s goofy, brash, and it has so many classic sports tropes. If you follow any real-world sport, you've run into homer announcers and fans, you know how certain teams have certain narratives as if they're different archetypes in a story, and you've seen all the hype and merchandising and commercial and social activity that’s built up around a simple game like a city around an ancient desert trading post. I am a fan of organized sports (baseball), but I appreciate the whole ludicrous tribal and totemistic activity as an anthropologist might, even while cheering “my boys” and vicariously winning or losing through them.
But hey, in FFX, at least blitzball teams aren’t all guys!
…oh, wow, the details in that pub in Luca square are a lot easier to see; I hadn’t spotted that tapestry in the back depicting a siren (?) holding a blitzball. There's team posters everywhere, even on those giant phallic (surprise, surprise) balloons during the arrival FMV that is a subtle homage to the opening of FFIX. Think Vivi’s somewhere in the crowd? This is also the first place we've seen Guado and other Ronso besides Kimahri.
[FFWikia, from a little later in the game. I think the Tumblr uploader is losing some of the detail; check out the full-sized screencap. Those honeycomb things are actually the original concept art for a blitzball].
So anyway, the players debark, and I swear this could be ESPN fawning over the Sox and Yankees as if there’s no other teams in the league. Tidus distinguishes himself by magnifying his big mouth with a psychedelic megaphone conveniently left out for him. He proceeds to taunt the Goers like a loon, complete with maniacal laugther. Wakka *facepalm*. Tidus, do you realize that you’re acting just like your dad with the boasting and all? (Yuna giggles; maybe she’s thinking the same thing.) The Aurochs are excited to get any sort of publicity, even “this team has gone from bad to crazy” publicity.
[source: senpai gamer review]
Ack. The music pulling into Luca was great; it was like a Distant Worlds full-orchestra version of the original soundtrack. Most of the running-around-Luca music is fine, but they’ve added some Swing de Chocobo style trumpets at one point that don't work for me.
Maester Mika is here, and everybody’s gotta see the old coot who's led "Yevon" for fifty years. His ship is suitably impressive, although those dark purple-maroon sails are also ominous. Mika is welcomed with fanfare and drums. I wanna know more about the animal-like musicians with their instruments apparently fused to their bodies: we never do learn much about them, although X-2 hints that they may be akin to Shinto nature spirits (think of Spirited Away).
We have our first glimpse of Seymour, and his fans will be pleased with his HD model. He proceeds Mika, who introduces him as a new maester replacing his father Jyscal. Seymour makes political noises about harmonious human-Guado relations, and I will never not think of guano. Seymour shrugs to the crowd, as if dismissing the pomp and ceremony, as Mika leaves: is it meant to be a subtle sign of disrespect? There is a dramatic exchange of looks between him and Yuna, which Tidus notices and bristles at. Another sign that summoners are visually recognizable in some way, or else Seymour has done some research and knows how to recognize Yuna by her green and blue eyes.
Seymour’s voice is vaguely smarmy in the English dub. I find his original Japanese voice far more likable, charismatic, honest-sounding, soft-spoken and almost humble. I find it easier to understand why Yuna would be overwhelmed by that Seymour, once you get past the inhuman anatomy and the robe bolted to his nipples with large gold studs.
Scene change.
Aww. When Tidus enters the Aurochs' locker room, everybody sags. Nobody loves him! The Aurochs discuss past losses, clearly a great way to boost morale before the tournament. I liked their musical Besaid accent, but wonder why Gatta and Luzzu don’t have it. Also, Keepa's deep adult voice contrasts oddly with the Goer ladies' assessment of him as a "cute boy" yesterday.
Wakka prances in exuberantly; the Aurochs have been seeded so they have one less chance to stink it up. Then Lulu and Yuna barge RIGHT INTO THE LOCKER ROOM (well, it is a different culture). Yuna wants to drag Tidus off because “someone saw Sir Auron in a cafe!” Wakka is the feeblest coach ever and lets Tidus go after only a meek protest, even though the game is imminent. For some reason, the tournament, his star player wandering off, and Lulu in the locker room staring at him has Wakka rather tense. Tidus' "you're stiff man" pep talk, getting Wakka to grunt and do heavy breathing, cannot fail to trigger snickers from anyone with a puerile sense of humor.
It doesn't help that Wakka's trying to impress Lulu. He told Tidus that he could never replace Chappu, but every one of his "damns" seems to be an outburst about Lulu, directly or indirectly: including when she mentioned losing her parents. I don't think Wakka's response to that was just a general expression of helpless anger at Sin. It seemed personal. I am pretty sure he's harboring unrequited feelings for her all the way through FFX, although I'm more skeptical about the reverse. Having her standing there in the locker room has got to be making Wakka very nervous, even if most blitz teams seem to be co-ed (but not the Aurochs, which is an odd exception, if you think about it).
So anyway, it’s time to leave and go running all over a city in the middle of a major festival right before the big game. What could possibly go wrong?
___
[~ Auronlu's FFX Liveblog]
Note: as you can tell, I'm coming back and cleaning up my liveblog before posting. I'm jotting down thoughts raw on an iPad as I'm playing, which means typos galore.
During cleanup, I'm hunting for a few online screencaps by other people, since I don't think there's a way to do it on the PS3-- is there? -- without a video capture card of some sort.
