Little Details

[Senorctenophore]

    As I've mentioned in a couple other places in this forum, some of my favorite parts of Aquaria are all the little touches: Ekkrit and the purple Bevy fish that follow you around; Naija's giggles and cries of delight at the world around her; her Princess fantasy in the Mithalas throne room; the neat little biological details like the Isopod-parasite fish and the Upside-down Jellyfish.   
   We've talked a lot about our favorite big aspects of Aquaria-- favorite songs, favorite moments, thoughts on the Veil and Li, the theme and ending, etc.  But now I'd like to know what everybody's favorite little details are.

As some further examples, here's some more details I really like:

1.) The Dragonfish in the Abyss.  At first they look like pretty fearsome enemies with their scary, dead eyes, big, ol' teeth, and the way they circle around you like they're coming in for the kill.  But if you hold still, they'll just swim around you without actually attacking.  It was at that point I realized that they weren't vicious monsters, they were just curious little fangly-fishies.  Now the Anglerfish on the other hand...

2.)  The Basket Starfish poking out of the rocks in the Abyss (what can I say-- I'm a big marine biology nut)

3. SPOILER WARNING:  The fact that the fourth "puppet form" of the Creator appears to be a possessed/mutated Li (I wonder what the significance of that is-- was it the Creator trying to corrupt the one thing Naija loves?  Or was something more sinister going on...)

[Aristobulus]

The little touches really were one of the reasons this game entranced me so much - it helped give the game so much life. As you mention, I think my favorite small touches would just be how Naija actually reacts to the world around her - she gasps at surprising things, laughs at things she finds amusing, and even changes facial expressions and what not to match. I even like her evil sounding laugh when you start dominating things in Energy form.

Of course the best "small touch" along that line, if you still consider it so, is just how Naija and Li will embrace if they idle near eachother for a few seconds.

[Senorctenophore]

Really?  No one else wants to talk about their favorite little touches?  Aw man, you guys are breaking my heart!

[Aërendyll]

Just like Aristobulus, I like the reactions Naija has to her environment. It's very rare to see that in games and it's been very well done in Aquaria.  Her reactions to making a lot of Sea Loafs is also one of the things I never get tired of.

Another thing would be the rays of sunlight that you see in the game. I've always had a weakness for those and they really add to the atmosphere if you ask me.

Also, that fish-I-don't-know-the-name-of somewhere in Open Waters (near the home cave, middle right of the map, I think) that always greets you and plays around. That one always cheers me up. :3

I enjoy a lot of the more hidden areas as well. Like the forest fairy cave in Kelp Forest and a certain hidden cave in the Abyss holding two very peculiar, unique-looking fish...

[Sindhi]

I think you mean Ekkrit (the names are in the graphics files; if you view them by thumbnail then you can find them and see the name). I love him; he lets Naija ride him for awhile and then goes over to the side and bumps her off. A little detail I love is the whale-like sounds he makes. I used him twice to cross into the veil before I got beast form, and once you find the transport turtle you are good to go. I had more trouble with the Mithalas guy than the jelly boss. Ekkrit is like some prehistoric dolphinesque creature that reminds us that we are here to play. So many games are about killing; Aquaria tells me that while life may be scary and hard, there is magic along the way if you can see it.

[Alphasoldier]

Honestly the first time I saw Ekkrit I ran and shot him. >_> I mean shit, look at those fangs on his head, how does that not look dangerous?

[Aristobulus]

Honestly the first time I saw Ekkrit I ran and shot him. >_> I mean shit, look at those fangs on his head, how does that not look dangerous?

If you have a pet out, doesn't it also attack him automatically?

[Sindhi]

Aristobulus, I guess you can disable your pet if it's a problem...  I didn't even notice the pet was shooting at Ekkrit when I took the screenshot... (thanks to Yogoda for suggesting PicPick by the way: so cool for screenshots) and those "fangs" I guess I think of as a kind of prehistoric lantern jaw sort of thing; if they were fangs I would expect them to be more pointy and white. They and the ripples in the jaw seem more gummy than toothy. And yes, Alpha, I shot him the first time too. I shot pretty much everything the first time. under the "better safe than sorry" rule. Then I browsed and searched in the forum and found info about riding Ekkrit kinda like a seahorse and also several ways of using him (with trial and error) to get up through the current to the Veil. When I first was playing there were lots of threads with great info and people actually read them, unlike now when there are new threads for every question, even ones answered in previous threads. I like this thread; lots of good responses, thank you senorctenophore!

Another little detail I like is the grey-green and purple gramophone-like plants who hang with the bright pink mushroom-flowers and sing when Naija does, an octave lower; her garden Greek chorus... and the fact that those little wavy white jellies (and the tiny krill-like fish that also glow) follow Naija around like imprinted ducklings... and how you can spin and shoot by pressing "r", handy when you are trying to kill the red octopus (for tough cakes) and he's just squirted you with ink...by the way, I saw what the upside-down jellies look like in real life; cool, I didn't realize they were real on this planet...

[Aristobulus]

I wasn't saying it was a problem, I was actually asking. I honestly don't remember if the pets shoot him or not. :V

If they do, that's a reason a player might panic and be even more likely to think Ekkrit is an enemy.

[Alphasoldier]

I'm fairly sure the pets don't attack Ekkrit and other neutral creatures, if they did the little blaster would've already aimed at Ekkrit in that screenshot. I believe they once did though, pre-patchings.

And I suppose I could name a FEW little things, I like how the flexibility works in this game and how they added effects to the tiles; wavy, interactive, ghostlike and the lot.
I like it how it zooms in on Naija when the camera's still, the emotions on her face... they're all little things that just make the game a bit better but just wasn't possible in games like Metroid, Ecco and other games people say Aquaria looks alike. It's I think the biggest reason as to why this game is better than all of those, and as a hardcore Metroid fan, that's quite something of me to say... >_> ....if I may say so myself. <_<

[Sindhi]

You're right, Alpha, the pets don't kill neutral creatures... and Aquaria is my favorite game, period.

Oh, I love killing the big grey grouper in home waters that is always stealing Naija's food and swallows her if she gets in the way; I love how he shrinks down to a tiny grouper and then pops out of existence, and I think "Take that, you big bully!"

 I love how you can go in and out of the Song cave until you have 8 bowls of turtle soup and 8 chunks of turtle (As you might surmise, I am a food stocker and like to have 8 of everything when I go up against a boss; that, and I love to cook in real life, and have toyed with the idea of creating new recipes for our mod even though it would affect the main game recipes of course), or in and out of the little side cave in the kelp forest



 killing the sea dragon over and over and harvesting leaf produce (you can get quite a few special bulbs that way to make arcane poultices, and enough leaves to populate a tree); it seems deliberate that the game has many little ways of helping the devious and creative player to triumph. I think I might have been a pirate in another life...

[Alphasoldier]

You know what I think after seeing your posts every time, Sindhi? That you should've made a blog about your gameplay with Aquaria, I bet you'd be awesome at it. I know that your current posts make me want to read more anyway. x3
Also Y'arr!~

[GMMan]

Hey, wasn't the Ekkrit an achievement? Hmm, it's about time I should finish the game, but I can't because my parents don't like video games. They weren't amused with Osmos and Machinarium (not intellectual and time wasting), but they can play Microsoft Hearts over and over (which I think is crap).

Whatever, I'll try to improve the game engine, so that I'm at least involved. I've made a patch for demo loading and saving (found in the mailing list archives, for those who aren't subscribed), which could prove to be something useful for modders.

[Sindhi]

To Alpha: Hey, thank you for your kind words. I have no time to do a blog, or the desire, but I promise I will get back to work on the Magic mod; it is mostly getting Yogoda back to doing the hard part, creating new animation for our bosses. He is gracefully backing out of the other game stuff he's been doing for the last six months and we will be back at work on that soonish.

More little details: one of the the first things I loved was the home cave with those bright pink mushroom-flowers; the idea of rolling around in their lush petals was a sweet thought.



Imagine a room in your house where you could do that, or a doorway to a little garden where you live, like in the movie Finding Neverland when James Barrie's wife opens the door to her bedroom and it's a bedroom and then he opens the door to his and it's a lush green park with trees. The power of the imagination!!! And pirates again.

And I love when you right-click on Naija in her bedroom and she and Li curl up and sleep, although I don't get why they put their hands over their faces...

[Alphasoldier]

"Microsoft Hearts" is just a card game... obviously. It's also very known where I live though I'm not sure if it's as known in other countries.
Also riding Ekkrit for (half?) a minute gives you an achievement on steam, yes.

As for another (not-so) small thing... is that you can actually skip something in the game, something that's actual content, that gives you new gameplay. In most games you either need to get everything and go by everything or they make it optional but don't give you NEWER abilities. Some would say it's silly to let people decide if they would want something that could give you a richer experience in game but I think that the ability to choose is just nice.


Oh and Sindhi, wouldn't you cover your face when you'd want to sleep and there's light constantly everywhere?