My Aika Village Experience

[JustAWeavile]

Aika Village is well known for being a scary, creepy dream town. But I wasn't going to take someone else's word for it, I wanted to visit Aika myself. So let's begin.Soon after arriving, I saw the town's creator. Of course her name and text is in Japanese.There are many of these statue fountains all around. This town's water bill must be a nightmare! The 4 a.m. music playing outdoors adds to the creepy atmosphere. But when I saw the first house, I naturally had to go check it out. Three mannequins were inside, with one seemingly a child celebrating a birthday. "I hope one of my presents is a face! There was a back room, but it was blocked off so you couldn't enter. So I went up the stairs, which led to a child's room. A doll sat on the floor, next to some drawings of a seemingly happy family. Other toys and dolls were spread around the room. I noticed that the town only has one bridge. So to explore, you basically have to make a clockwise circle around the entire town. Some people speculate that this represents a timeline, with each of the four houses telling a story in sequence. In the northeast corner of town, I found a mitten lying on the ground. Who could this belong to? After crossing the bridge, I came to an area that was littered with pitfall seeds, but also had lots of tasty goodies scattered around. I found chocolate cake, fortune cookies, lollipops, and more. I couldn't resist them. Delicious! I then entered the second house. The main room was a maze of Japanese exit signs and stools. I felt conflicted; I didn't know whether to leave or sit down. Upstairs, the room was made to look like the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were standing there, next to an apple and a serpent. "Mmm, forbidden fruit." Downstairs, there was a scene where a dozen dolls were seated for a meal. I don't know about you, but I think these dolls just look creepy. Of particular interest, one of the dolls had an axe hidden behind her back. When I went back outside, I came across a dead forest, filled with rotten trees and weeds everywhere. And what spooky town would be complete without a graveyard and a zombie? Oh wait, that's just Shari. Over at the police station, the lost and found was filled with beehives. I don't quite understand how that fits in. They don't allow you to have bees in here.
I then continued on to the third house, where I saw the creepiest scene yet. Between bookcases, an evil doll was sitting there with an axe. The room was actually a maze. The back room had paper everywhere. A book with a four-leaf clover was encased in the center of the room. I guess Aika Village hasn't gone digital yet.Upstairs, there was a scene straight out of Poltergeist: a girl sitting in front of the TV, which only displays snow and static. They're coming...
In the basement, a doll sits in front of an empty cradle. The bed nearby has an outline of a body, as if somebody died in the bed.Back outside, things are looking worse. Among the dead trees and weeds are tires and trash. As I enter the fourth and final house, I see that the disarray isn't limited to the outdoors. Items are strewn all across the floor.

In the back room, a doll with an axe is fenced in with a girl, as mystic statues look on. It seems that the doll has the girl trapped, with no way to escape. Upstairs is the final room. This is the same room as seen in the first house. But now, the doll has an axe, and the drawings of the happy memories have been scribbled out...particularly the girl, as seen in the center picture. Also of note, the dolls which were facing forward in the first house are now facing the wall.Did the evil doll kill the girl? Well, someone is buried in the northwest corner of town. Down on the beach, there is a gravestone, with flowers, cake, and candy left behind. On another part of the beach, a pair of red shoes has been left behind at the water's edge. I also visited some of the animals' houses. I noticed they also had these dolls in their houses. That might not be such a wise decision.
Clearly a lot of time was spent making this a great, creepy dream town. Anyone who's interested in the Dream Suite at all should check out Aika Village at least once. Do you have any theories about this town? If so, visit this and leave your theory below. Dream address is 2600 0218 7298

 

[Sonny Resetti]

Meh. It seemed lame to me

 

[thatawkwardkid]

Too bad you didn't go to the back room in the second house. Also, Aika Village was fun at first because it was a pretty clever idea to make a horror town with mazes and a story, but now it's boring. Not to mention, loads of other people made horror towns and a few other people made clever, fun towns.

 

[pika62221]

I think Chuggaconroy or whatever his name is did a video of it back on Halloween. He had the translations too- knowing Japanese myself, he was correct, so he either knew it, or he looked it up beforehand, because he talked about previously going there before he recorded the video. Anyway, it's rather interesting different people's take on it, and I do want to point out that this was created by a Japanese player- she was interviewed about it last year I think, maybe this year. Anyway, she said she's not revealing the entire message, that it's kind of up to interpretation, so that means she put in some kind of Easter Eggs, but also, I notice quite a bit of Japanese culture in this game. Like not just with the suicide with the shoes by the water, but the way people in Japan are if they're depressed are kind of closeted, unlike America where we have shrinks on every corner practically. It looks to me like someone lost someone close to them, and a spirit enchanted a doll, either by the daughter wanting to grieve her lost mother whose soul encompassed that doll, or that the father killed everyone, then killed himself. At least by it being up for interpretation, there are no wrong answers!

 

[FireNinja1]

Aika was very boring IMO even with those tiny parts of symbolism. Not that it wasn't lacking or anything, but I just felt like the maze sort of thing just wasn't my kind of thing.