Merilly

Couldn't agree more. I love Sora but it's a bit unfair that he is getting so many Bring Arts and PAKs while so many other characters have yet to receive even one decent figure. >_< I'm also still waiting on the Ven and Terra PAKs to go with my Aqua... I think KH is big enough to produce more characters, especially those who are popular. It might even be a good idea to give licenses to other good Japanese companies instead of having yet another shabby Diamond Select figure line. =_= Disney is so prone to do that somehow.

Not yet. Her facial features creep me out a bit because most of the other characters are our standard of normal. ^^' But I think I'll give it a try once it comes out on DVD. I'm usually not so fond of these adaptions because they often fail to capture the charme of their source material to a lack of understanding, but it can also be done right with enough innovation that honors the source as something equal to other genres. I always despised the idea of Pokemon getting a live-action movie or series, but I now think they may have chosen the right game to base it off on without trying to be too serious, too childish or too disrespectful. It seems they're treating this with care while still making it available to an older audience and not taking it too earnestly or as so much better than the source.

Detective Pikachu might actually become a case of a movie being so hilariously bad that it's good again. I think it's hard to take a live-action movie of Pokemon seriously, especially with how terrifying/weird some of them look. However, if they take that to their advantage and actually don't try to be serious about it, it can still be a great and fun movie. Movies like Sharknado were successful because they were so badly done you had to laugh. But that wasn't the only reason because there are many movies like that and they're just bad. The reason Sharknado was actually enjoyable to me was that you could feel that all parties involved did not take it seriously but rather just as it is: a bad movie with a ridiculous plot and fairly bad CGI. And that makes it good because the moment you feel that, it becomes a parody of itself without trying to be mean or being upset about the fact that it will never be a truly profound piece of art. If Detective Pikachu does it right, it can also do it like Deadpool. (And not because Ryan Reynolds is also Pikachu's voice actor. This different, a bit less child-friendly image of a caffeine addicted Pikachu is refreshing rather than trying to copy a game.) Let's be real. Live-action movies based on an anime or games with an anime-esque look have rarely ever worked out, apart from romance dramas perhaps. Having Pokemon, the epitome of child-friendly, translated into such a setting would likely be off-putting if they attempted that with a serious mindset. The best they can do to appeal to adults (which make up a considerable amount of Pokemon fans even if Nintendo tries to ignore that at times), is to be aware that some of this just looks ridiculous in a realistic style and act on that. And it seems like they actually did that so far. I think there's a reason Detective Pikachu was chosen and not one of the main games or even a movie/the anime series. It's a spin-off with arguably a less grand fanbase while still having a story to follow and the potential to make it adequate for both adults and children. I think I will actually watch it with the expectation that it will be a horrible movie but also with the potential to be a great horrible movie. And if not, I will at least have seen around an hour or so of a fluffy Pikachu with a Deadpool voice.

I'm happy for those who want it! I'm more interested in the story expansion myself but I can understand why people would want the challenge.

The concert in Cologne is already sold out... The tickets weren't nearly as swiftly gone the last two times. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few tickets left. I'm happy that it's that popular because the other concerts were already beautiful. >_< Ah, I'm so excited. I got my tickets today and can't wait to go with my friends!

Finally they started the regular sale of the tickets for the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World of Tres in Germany, 4 days after it was originally meant to take place. I unfortunately missed the pre-sale due to a hospital stay with zero internet connectivity and gosh, that was nerve-wrecking this time after it was sold out so fast the first time. First the seats I had selected were not available anymore and then there was allegedly an error with my credit card which caused me to have to do the whole thing again. Fortunately, it worked this time around and they accepted it. >_< So yeah, Cologne here my three friends and I come! I'm excited and thrilled to be able to go again.

This won't contain any spoilers, but after finishing KH3, I really don't know what all this negative fuss was about. I was expecting them to do something horrendous which would tear apart our entire conception of Kingdom Hearts but got nothing that bad. KH3 has flaws. Tons of them, just like every other game. There are quite a few things I personally would have done differently, paced in a different manner or excluded in favor of more story (like minigames), but for me, it was not nearly as atrocious as some people claim it to be. Of course people can continue to believe that. It's their opinion after all and I can't tell anyone how to experience a game or how to deal with their expectations. We had a long time to envision how the perfect game would be for us. And KH3 doesn't come close to what I imagined. But it is still Kingdom Hearts in every way by doing that. It's not much different than any of the other titles in that regard. Even KH2 had tons of complaints when it came out. The prologue, people complaining about mashing triangle too much and beating enemies without actually doing something, having so many cutscenes that you sometimes couldn't take one step, the Disney worlds being too detached from the overall plot way too often, etc. People tend to forget that they complained a lot about KH2 too when it came out. Despite not having a lot of expectations. KH3 could have never lived up to the hype without being 200 hours long. And even then it wouldn't have been perfect for all of us because we all wanted different things and focused on different aspects of a game, be it gameplay, story, graphics, etc. KH3 isn't what I wanted and I can't glorify my gripes to make it such. Certain aspects bug me and others were just downright not explainable. However, it also had a lot of good things. I laughed so much. More like in any other KH title. I still got some things I wanted. What was shown was good, even if it could have been more. In some aspects it was even more than I could have asked for. All in all, it just falls in line with the rest of the franchise as not making it more dramatic than KH actually ever was. And for that, I am actually glad. More than anything, I am sad to see this saga go. It isn't as bad as a final goodbye to a franchise since it was confirmed to continue way before its release, but it's close. It has been 5 1/2 years since its announcement. Times where this site blew up from every little bit of information given. That time was wrought with so many emotions. For now, we have to bid this farewell. Maybe until the next DLC or the next game. Maybe the wait won't be as long next time now that they somewhat have the engine under control. But I'll look forward to doing it again all over with all of the excitement, worries, happiness and fears.

I don't think this is a spoiler, but I recommend watching/reading the two most recent story updates from the Japanese KHUx. A dialogue in the prologue makes much more sense when you've seen it. It's not absolutely vital for the understanding but I can imagine that any question less is welcomed and you won't have to guess anything. If that's a spoiler, I'm sorry. >_<

Exactly. Stores all over Europe are allowed to and usually we aren't exactly the favored part of the world in terms of games. From what the employee told me, the permit came from Square Enix Europe themselves, so I don't see an issue to make that a worldwide thing.

While I am happy I got my copy today (or yesterday here), I don't really get why they don't just greenlight it for all retailers. GameStop Germany received permission and it's a part of an international chain, I don't really see what's so problematic. It can't be marketing as initially assumed since they wouldn't have allowed it to be sold then... At this point they should just get it over with...

Just got the call from my GameStop that they're allowed to sell KH3 from today onward so I can pick up my pre-order. So if anyone lives in Germany and doesn't want to wait: They have the game.

More and more leaks... I'm just going to browse incognito from now on. I don't think I've gotten too spoiled since it was one sentence out of context where I'm not even sure it's from the game or just some video title so it's still good. Clearing the watch history didn't work out for me, probably because I've subscribed to content creators which post KH stuff even when I haven't watched a video in weeks and clicked a lot of cat videos and the like. And I don't want to remove my subscriptions for that. But incognito mode works fairly well. I have to turn it on again from time to time but it does work. One more week. Come one, time, run faster. =_=

I'm suffering with you... The last days are stretching on like chewing gum but eventually, we'll also be done with that. 8 more days, a little more than a week. It's not worth it to ruin the experience for that for sure. Though we have to be careful with the leakers trying to compete against each other for a fleeting moment of attention and with more and more people getting the game early.

If critical is even available from the start... But that's not a difficulty I'll start with. I like my first experience to be a balanced one without too much frustration, especially because the game appears a little more difficult than usual if I take the demo into account. I want to have a relaxed and fun time, so standard all the way for the first playthrough. Though you are free to choose your own of course. There's nothing wrong with wanting a challenge right of the bat, I just prefer to experience the story first without too many interruptions to that.

Stay strong! 9 more days to go. Always remember that we waited years so 9 days are nothing in comparison.