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KHI note ... regarding hippos.
Aug. 11th, 2006 11:47 am(Will be posted over on Tpop site once their servers stop acting up, hence the first paragraph, since I know most of you know that lived in Africa.)
Many of you on this site don't know that I lived in Tanzania as a kid. My dad was a grad student in wildlife science, and so he moved us to the Serengeti National Park for two years while he did field biology there and gathered data for his dissertation.
What this has to do with a video game is that having lived in East Africa, where there are real hippos and real hippo pools, and knowing a lot about hippos, means that I know they are dangerous creatures. Way cool, nifty to see ... but you do not mess with hippos. Hippos kill more people than lions in East Africa. Our favorite hippo-pool had a cliff over it, where we'd drive the Land Rover and park to watch the hippos. Since it was up on a cliff, the hippos couldn't get out of the pool, go all the way around the edges of the pool, and climb up the road to the top without us seeing them, so it was reasonably safe. As safe as you get in the bush. We knew better than to get out of the car on the other side of the pool, though, because hippos are deceptively fast.
So the bit in the Kindom Hearts I game where you actually swim through hippo pools? Scares the bejeezus out of me, every time. It doesn't matter that it's animated and the hippos are big pink balloons that bob up and down that you can jump on. There's just something in the back of my brain that says: hippo pools=bad mojo.
(...and since I'm still in the middle of the game, no spoilers please. :D I've hit the big cut scene after the boss fight in the jungle and after you go behind the waterfall, but I haven't gone any further.)
Many of you on this site don't know that I lived in Tanzania as a kid. My dad was a grad student in wildlife science, and so he moved us to the Serengeti National Park for two years while he did field biology there and gathered data for his dissertation.
What this has to do with a video game is that having lived in East Africa, where there are real hippos and real hippo pools, and knowing a lot about hippos, means that I know they are dangerous creatures. Way cool, nifty to see ... but you do not mess with hippos. Hippos kill more people than lions in East Africa. Our favorite hippo-pool had a cliff over it, where we'd drive the Land Rover and park to watch the hippos. Since it was up on a cliff, the hippos couldn't get out of the pool, go all the way around the edges of the pool, and climb up the road to the top without us seeing them, so it was reasonably safe. As safe as you get in the bush. We knew better than to get out of the car on the other side of the pool, though, because hippos are deceptively fast.
So the bit in the Kindom Hearts I game where you actually swim through hippo pools? Scares the bejeezus out of me, every time. It doesn't matter that it's animated and the hippos are big pink balloons that bob up and down that you can jump on. There's just something in the back of my brain that says: hippo pools=bad mojo.
(...and since I'm still in the middle of the game, no spoilers please. :D I've hit the big cut scene after the boss fight in the jungle and after you go behind the waterfall, but I haven't gone any further.)
