FF10 HD: So...I played through the rest of Makalania a while ago, stopped when I got to Bikanel due to time reasons, sat on my ass then finally picked it up against nearly a month later. I need to stop being lazy with this game! So I rewatched the scene I was struggling to remember just in case right before this.
So the team falls under the ice, so Tidus' reaction? More or less what he does all other times: Talk to everyone! Auron gives him advice and Tidus has an immature impatient reaction of "oh boy a lecture!" This is more Tidus trying to act cool and making an ass of himself more than anything else...not whining...yes, I have to emphasize it's not whining.
Wakka has an existential crisis because "OMG I AM NOW A HERETIC HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!?" Tidus is quick to remind Wakka to not blame Rikku because she's in the exact same situation and "BLAME THE AL BHED!" solves nothing. Rikku, by contrast, is taking the situation pretty well and is more curious how everyone else is doing. This somehow leads to Rikku insinuating "we could totally date when I'm older!" Ok, what it really was is a talk about maturity and how Lulu is all grown up, but the way Tidus backs off and changes the subject to asking Kimhari how to get off, yeah, pretty sure we're suppose to assume Rikku was going for that double entendre.
By the way, this sequence is more painful in retrospect. Why? Because in FF10-2, Rikku is 2 years older, and clearly acts way less mature. One thing I am noticing is that for all of Rikku being clearly the youngest member on the team, and despite the sequence, she's actually fairly mature for her age. Oh sure, she has those teen moments, but the way she composes herself in serious moments, talks about real life issues, etc., she's actually pretty grounded in reality. It makes her FF10-2 self, who basically exists to be a pure slap-stick parody laugh to contrast Paine that much more painful, because "let's compromise one of Rikku's more subtle qualities just to emphasize LET'S PART GIRLS WHEE!!! OH NO THIS IS DISASTERIRRIFIC!"
Anyway, that tangent aside, Rikku notices the change in subject (see? She's not an idiot in this game! GOD DAMN IT FF10-2!), and Kimhari finds a way to answer both Tidus and Rikku at the same time:
"We climb. Only those who try become."
How convenient that speaking literally and metaphorically manages to work here! I guess what I get out of this is...Rikku climbed the latter of maturity, then fell off it and fell into the basement between FF10 and FF10-2. One problem with this scene is FF10 sort of spells out what Kimhari is saying by Tidus mansplaining it to Rikku, but whatever. Kimhari ends with "I think Rikku should stay Rikku" so this is totally a "Be happy with yourself!" after school special. What I'm reading from this is if the Gagazet Ronso didn't all get nearly genocided by Seymour by the end of the game, Kimhari wouldn't have become Chief and instead would have created his own special educational TV series for kids: "Kimhari and Friends"
In the end, Rikku gets angry at this, and Tidus laughs it off. This is actually neat because it shows a good sense of cast chemistry, with Tidus being able to laugh at his friends...again, as usual, Tidus is very good at dealing with bad situations, and staying positive, despite what many think. Rikku obviously is too, considering she's more angry at the "HEY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN"T BE LIKE LULU!?" and not the "WE'RE DOOMED!!!!" situation. Wakka gets angry at this. Way to spoil the moment Wakka!
Then Yuna wakes up, explains her motivations which were pretty clear to the player at this point but good to establish the party members understand. Auron tells Yuna to stop worrying, it's in the past, and move on (Rikku complaining that Auron is being a little too mean); Auron is just concerned with the pilgrimage, even stating that if heresy is the price to pay to finish the pilgrimage, then so be it. Naturally, the team is surprised by Auron's statements, but this line is important because it shows where Auron's loyalties lie, or at least finally implies it:
He doesn't care about Yevon or any of this. He just cares that Sin dies and believes the Final Aeon is the only method (at least, so we're to believe here; replays you know Auron has ulterior motives.) It's clear he was siding with Yevon because why make them your enemy? We all want the same thing, better Yevon support you than try to kill you. Here Auron establishes that if it's a choice between Heretics on a Pilgrimage or Loyally Following Yevon, always go with the former!
Wakka goes on about circular reasoning here. First says he wants no part of it, and to ATONE FOR SINS! Then says he never liked Maester Seymour anyway, so hey, not bad that they killed him I think he's implying...then states fighting Bevelle makes no sense. I have to wonder if there's a slight translation mix up here though. I'm wondering if when Wakka said "It's not like I ever liked Maester Seymour anyway", he meant to say "I'll admit I was never a fan of Maester Seymour, but still, this is wrong!" The way he words it, it almost sounds like "I don't like Seymour" was a way of justifying his actions but it just doesn't mesh 100% here. I dunno, but in short, Wakka's being Wakka.
Then Yuna says "off to Bevelle, we'll speak to Maester Mika about Seymour." Hey look! Yuna's taking charge, just like she's suppose to, and even better, she made this decision entirely on her own and even justifies the reason for it. It's not just "Let's go to bevelle because that's the next part on the world map!" I mostly just bring this up because a lot of people forget that Yuna is the leader of the group, not Tidus, and this is just a prime example of Yuna playing that part. It's worth reminding that despite Tidus being the PoV character, the only real decisions he makes are pretty much "What can I do to help Yuna?" and the like situations. Yuna's the one controlling the team, being the summoner and all that.
Then a bit of fun cast chemistry happens! Auron calls himself the troublemaker, Tidus just bounces off that and teases Auron about it, Rikku joins in, and Auron reciprocates "I never asked you to follow me" with a slight facetious tone and Tidus goes "well, that's what friends are for!" Cute to see the team poke fun at Auron, mostly, because it almost never happens, and Auron retorting in a way that is both in character but also in-line with the teasing.
Then the Hum of the Fayth scene occurs, mostly just being the moment where Tidus finally realizes Zanarkand and Spira have some connection. He also gets a little annoyed Auron eavesdropped, understandably so because it's embarrassing, but Auron did justify it saying it made him nostalgic for Spira, and it wasn't because "what the hell is he doing?" Also it's when Tidus finally has proof that Sin = Link between Zanarkand and Spira; seems he expected that to be the case, but still hoped it wasn't it, but after Auron's Non-response, he just stopped trying to fool himself. I'll repeat myself; Tidus may not be a genius, but he's not an idiot either, he's very average in intelligence, so I'm more convinced he would expect the Sin connection given how he got the Spira, and the "proof" was more "any hope that he could be wrong just got flushed down the toilet."
So...more character work right? NOPE! RANDOM SIN OUT OF NOWHERE BEWARE THE TOXINS!!! Ok, this is like the last time the Toxins get brought up and might be the only instance to support they really exist, as Tidus does go into a hazy moment. On the otherhand, why would he see Jecht's thoughts and why would Jecht's thoughts disappear as soon as Tidus says "You're Sin now." Basically, yeah, not Toxins, Jecht using mystical Sin bullshit powers to cause a psychic link between him and Tidus, and was showing him his own dreams and yo know what? Fuck it, WE GOT CACTUARS TO SLAY!
So Bikanel, Tidus ends up alone, rejoins with the others pretty fast. Auron and Lulu mostly just meet up uneventfully, Kimhari's insistent on trudging along to find Yuna, though sort of directionless, but hey, at least he's trying to do something about it. Wakka's sitting around moping about how life sucks and how he fails as a guardian. Then we have Rikku who adds a glimmer of hope to the team, by stating this is where the Al Bhed live, so they're not completely lost, and chances are Yuna's safe at Home. Wakka of course tries to blame Rikku, the others tell him to shut up and move on.
CUE LONG GAMEPLAY SEGMENT WITH LOTS OF PLOT! I'd show an 80s Montage of Bikanel Island stuff, but I don't think it exists and my video editting skills are not good enough. And yes, there would be Wakka doing sit ups.
At Home, it's under attack! This is a segment where Rikku acts 100% serious from start to finish, a rare instance mostly because Rikku's character is very much a "team cheerleader" so she's got to be optimistic, so it's hard to find in-character moments for her to take this stance. Luckily, Home is one such instance that Rikku being serious with no strings attached is completely understandable, so it's good they actually took advantage of this. Anyway, team doesn't know what's going on, Wakka again tries to label the blame entirely on the Al Bhed saying they deserve it. After some discussion, you find that Yevon and the Guado attacked Home looking for Yuna.
One could argue this is a plothole, as "how would Yevon know of the Al Bhed's hidden home?" Rikku just had a whole "DON'T TELL ANYONE, OK?" moment, with Wakka being all upset about this, but whatever, it's almost like Wakka hates Al Bhed or something! A few arguments I can think of to explain this:
-Yevon always knew where Home was, they just never bothered to take action because the Al Bhed were behaving, and let them think they were hidden to give a false sense of security. They were only kidnapping Summoners recently, and there was no proof linking it to the Al Bhed until very recently at Macalania. Now that they know this, Yevon has an excuse to attack the Al Bhed head on. Why not kill them before and cut out the only people using Machina? Well, not everyone hates the Al Bhed; there are plenty of people in Spira who, not liking the Al Bhed methods, still view them as people. Proof of this is of course how the Al Bhed are allowed to play Blitz Ball with the others, so clearly there is some level of acceptance in Spira among the general populace. If Yevon were to attack the Al Bhed with no legitimate excuse, things could get ugly, fast, and with a giant death whale flying around...well, one could say Sin's next attack would be blamed on "YOU ATTACKED THE AL BHED!" spun against Yevon quickly, POLITICAL BREAK DOWN!
-Yevon merely followed the bread crumbs. The game specifies it's the Guado, who were in Macalania at the time. Now, following the river and all that, very possible they traced it down to Bikanel Island, and saw hints of the Al Bhed there, and just came to the conclusion "SHE'S THERE!" How they got there before the team? Well, if you watch, you see Garudas and such flying around, so the Guado probably just jumped on birds and flew towards it.
It's still debatably a plot hole, but one that could probably be explained, I guess. The game never does cover how the Guado/Yevon found Home in any event, when it's suppose to be hidden.
BACK TO THE STORY THOUGH!
The big thing that happens here is Rikku exposits some of the Al Bhed's past after Wakka notes how Home is basically fucked. Now what's interesting is why would Wakka care about Home and be the one to say that? It suggests that Wakka, being right there and seeing the Al Bhed being murdered left and right and the building collapsing, is finally understanding that the Al Bhed are people just like everyone else, and starting to feel bad about it himself. Combine this with how his faith in Yevon has shaken and how they're the ones who staged the attack, it makes sense that Wakka would have this reaction instead of "This is what you guys deserved!" Rikku simply explains how the Al Bhed have been screwed by Sin in the same way as everyone else, and she starts to break down crying. In a nice little attention to detail, it's Wakka who acts as the sleeve for Rikku to cry into, which unfortunately isn't much of a moment because it's off to the side and they're quick into the "we must go!" thing.
After discussing the Summoner kidnappings, Tidus goes "well, Guardians just do their jobs and the Summoner is safe!" Then awkward silence, and Tidus finally starts to get a hint. Then the big reveal by Rikku happens moments later, and Tidus goes on his whole crying fest, feeling betrayed, and that he's been an idiot all along, etc. Everyone else seems to agree with Tidus that "Summoners dying aren't good" except Donna and Isaaru, the other Summoners, who assure Tidus that part of becoming a Summoner is being resolved to make that sacrifice for everyone.
Now before someone says "Well duh Yuna was going to die from the Final Aeon, it's obvious!", that's not true at all. The game doesn't really throw many strong hints that Yuna is going to die as a result of the pilgrimage; I don't think they even state that "Braska is dead" anywhere. We just know that Jecht disappeared, Auron came back, and there's no mention of what happened to Braska one way or another; if nothing else, that at least hints his fate is known and since he's nowhere to be found, probably dead. Additionally, and this is something so many people seem to forget about fictional characters:
They are not genre savvy. They don't know the cliches and tropes that affect them, that's kind of why they're part of the story. It's fiction, but to the characters, you need to remember they're treating this as reality. So it doesn't matter how obvious it is to the player, the question is "how obvious would it be to someone who is thinking this is real life and story conventions won't apply?" This isn't a 4th wall breaking comedy, it's drama. You don't assume a Hollywood ending to tragedies in real life where everyone comes out a-ok, you don't assume that the ruler of a country is really planning to unleash a cosmic horror on the world in an attempt for world dominat-...ok, that's a bad example.
In the end, it makes perfect sense for Tidus to have been completely in the dark. He knows nothing of Spira, "obvious genre conventions" don't apply to fictional character knowledge, and why does everyone else know but he doesn't? Well gee, it's almost everyone else grew up in Spira and was taught the obvious lore, and lived with that their entire lives. It's almost like the WHOLE POINT of the character is that he DOESN'T know anything, thus being a proxy for the player that the characters can explain things to. When all is said and done, Tidus' reaction is completely understandable here. A total mental break down and everything; everything he was glorifying just took a huge negative turn.
Oh, Isaaru and Donna both state that the Al Bhed deserve a sending for protecting them. From what I gather, this scene further highlights that the main issue with Al Bhed is that they sacrificed all the benefits granted by Yevon due to their blasphemous ways, such as sending, aide by the Crusaders, etc., but they're not considered horrible people. It's just a case of "If you follow Yevon, Yevon will protect you" and the Al Bhed chose not to. Giving the a sending is of course the summoners' way of saying "Thank you for your sacrifice"; Isaaru even says something along the lines of "they deserve at least this much." No, this isn't really anything new, more just further emphasizing that Al Bhed are not viewed as "bad people" so much as just aren't part of Yevon.
So Tidus takes his anger out on Cid next, mostly demanding to find Yuna, Cid and Tidus argue a bit with Tidus ultimately saying "SHE WON'T DIE" and Cid going "remember those words." I think this part just emphasizes why the Al Bhed took action recently and not sometime earlier:
It's entirely Yuna. Remember that Cid and Yuna are family, so it makes sense that Cid would finally care about the Summoners dying and take action. Yes, it could be argued a selfish position, but it's based on an emotional context. He wasn't acting out of idiocy is my point. This was discussed a while back that the Al Bhed were being morons preventing the Summoner pilgrimages because this is the only known way to stop Sin and they're preventing it. I think the way Cid talks about Yuna specifically suggests that it's not summoners he's worried about, it's Yuna; he doesn't want Yuna to die. So why go the Summoner route? Probably as a smokescreen; by stating "we're preventing all pilgrimages!" it makes sense to send multiple Al Bhed out to do it, but saying "We're protecting my niece!" does sound selfish.
So with Home being blown up, the Al Bhed are upset, THEN WAKKA TO THE RESCUE!
"Hey cheer up, it's like Happy Festival Fireworks, ya!?"
Yeah, that'll do it, thanks a lot Wakka. Let's be fair; Wakka's heart was in the right place. He was trying to put a positive spin on it for purposes of cheering Rikku up, going with a "But man, wasn't that explosion so cool looking!?" The problem of course is Wakka's an idiot, so he completely drops the ball on this one. And just to make things clear, Wakka being an idiot isn't a bad thing, as that's how the character was written intentionally; just see Lulu's constant "Wakka shut up" statements early game and the way he responds to anything that Tidus and Rikku second guess him on.
And that's more or less where I ended. Tidus did have a major whine moment here...except technically, "whining" is unjustified complaining and considering what Tidus just learned, I wouldn't call his outburst unreasonable. In fact, no one is even telling Tidus he overreacted; the character's responses seem to imply they actually understand what he's going through, as there was no way he was mentally prepared for such a reveal.
