24th April 2010, 12:40 AM
Firstly, I agree that "it's a dream" is done well when it's the entire point of the story. The reason "it's a dream" is a cop out ending most of the time isn't that it's a dream, it's that it is inconsequential! It's saying all that the character went through didn't happen. When you're talking about Link's Awakening, it's all a dream, and yet it all mattered. In the end he woke up a slumbering god, and this mysterious island created in the real world by his dream disappeared, leaving Link tossed into a barren ocean with the wreckage of his ship.
I also agree with GR. Mario stories are like Looney Toons stories. They're there to have fun with. Mario needed at least one "dream world" story. Sometimes things get a little heavy, but all in all, Mario's stories are supposed to be an enjoyable ride. Sometimes you still get good characterization, in the same way that sometimes Looney Toons does good characterization, but it's not meant to be overly analyzed.
And I'd say they relate to each other. Saying the story of Mario 2's ending was a copout for being a dream, in other words saying it was all of no consequence, is stupid because it's ALWAYS of no consequence. Every game is it's own little narrative. Like Looney Toons, their whole situation changes every single game. Reality itself is in flux, if you will. Sometimes Bowser has kids, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes the Mushroom Kingdom has 7 different kings, and sometimes it's just "Princess" Peach, and with Peach, you know you're never ever going to see her parents, and you don't care. It would be like asking how Yosemite Sam runs a fortress or ship all by himself, or how Pete ever got to run a steamboat when he treats everyone he meets like garbage.
More to the point, the it's a dream thing is EXACLTY like Link's Awakening, because the entire game TELLS you it's a dream from the start, and just like Link's Awakening, it's a dream world they're stuck inside due to Wart trying to take over a dream land.
Heck no one complains about Kirby's games all taking place in Dreamland. No one complains that all of those games are "just a dream".
I also agree with GR. Mario stories are like Looney Toons stories. They're there to have fun with. Mario needed at least one "dream world" story. Sometimes things get a little heavy, but all in all, Mario's stories are supposed to be an enjoyable ride. Sometimes you still get good characterization, in the same way that sometimes Looney Toons does good characterization, but it's not meant to be overly analyzed.
And I'd say they relate to each other. Saying the story of Mario 2's ending was a copout for being a dream, in other words saying it was all of no consequence, is stupid because it's ALWAYS of no consequence. Every game is it's own little narrative. Like Looney Toons, their whole situation changes every single game. Reality itself is in flux, if you will. Sometimes Bowser has kids, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes the Mushroom Kingdom has 7 different kings, and sometimes it's just "Princess" Peach, and with Peach, you know you're never ever going to see her parents, and you don't care. It would be like asking how Yosemite Sam runs a fortress or ship all by himself, or how Pete ever got to run a steamboat when he treats everyone he meets like garbage.
More to the point, the it's a dream thing is EXACLTY like Link's Awakening, because the entire game TELLS you it's a dream from the start, and just like Link's Awakening, it's a dream world they're stuck inside due to Wart trying to take over a dream land.
Heck no one complains about Kirby's games all taking place in Dreamland. No one complains that all of those games are "just a dream".
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)