The Final Rest - Steele
The Final Rest
"The Final Rest." This is the name of the original Kingdom Hearts final area to save and set your abilities, equipment, and items before facing off against the final three Ansem gauntlets in front of you. The room comes after a tough and enduring four wave heartless grind and is a buffer for the player to catch their breath before the end. The room is tight, cramped, and small with only a save point and the door out occupying it. It is made clear what is ahead and how you can return. And of course once the game finishes, there is no area to explore or relish in your victory--instead you are taken back to the final rest to do it all over again. That is where most people's Kingdom Hearts saves exist in that room most likely never touched again after they roll the credits...so what a ripe place for exploration.
The New Shape of Hangoutitude
On Thursday, Alex and I commandeered a classroom with whiteboardable walls and hunkered down for a multi-hour narrative meeting. We were going to finally settle on what the arc of the game would be for our spring showcase. Starting where most things start, we started at the beginning. In typical JRPG fashion, we wanted to make the opening as bright and sunny as possible to juxtapose the dark twist that would be coming for Wysteria and her friends; however, we weren't sure if this arc would really be grasping at where hangoutitude is found most. So we flipped it and decided to go from the end. Our thesis advisor has a classic saying of "if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly" which boils down to take your idea the furthest it can go and then pull back. So we decided to plop Wysteria in the very final room of the game, where the player has to face the point of no return. A final room with all their friends wishing them well and a door that prompts if they are ready to move on and live everything behind. We start in media res but never explore what comes before. The player has the freedom to explore the final room and the ending state of the town and decide if they are going to finally complete all those side-quests they have been putting off...finish up all those character arcs and NPCs stories that they had been putting off until the end. We hope to try and demo the final room and character dialogue and choices to see if this is a compelling direction to go as we believe in these moments this is where hangoutitude shines most via the knowing loss of it.
Final Rooms
In part of this devlog, I also did some research on final rooms and areas right before the point of no return in other JRPGs. While the original Kingdom Hearts Final Rest is probably the room that sticks with me most, I actually think Kingdom Hearts II final area before the final boss rush is a closer experience we will try and emulate. The key distinction here is that your party members and others have unique dialogue about the end that you can go and talk to them about. It conveys more of a hangoutitude feeling than the eerie loneliness of Kingdom Hearts I final room.
Xenoblade Chronicles I final room also sticks out for it is in the Cathedral on Prison Island and is simply named the "Corridor of Silence." Here it is just your party and a text prompt to an elevator asking if you are ready to go on; I remember really even wondering if it was the end as it is not made as clear in KHI or KHII's example and other JRPGS. (Also sorry Alex I know you will read this and have not finished XBC1 yet).
