This could be preparation for this title becoming more compatible for the upcoming PlayStation 5, or it could just simply be bug fixes.

What do you think these fixes are? Let us know in the comments below!

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Additionally, according to the store page, this game will have a 28.79 GB file size. How do you feel about Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue making its debut onto Xbox?

Credit to Miraculous Maku for the tip!

UPDATE: It has come to our attention that the North American release date for this title is set for February 18th, 2020 whereas the Australian release is set for February 17th, 2020.

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I just got done playing 0.2 and one thing that really stood out to me was that Mickey knew Riku and Sora’s names and that Riku knew he had to help close the door to Kingdom Hearts. If I remember correctly In KH1 there was no mention of Mickey knowing of Riku and Sora, except for the mention of the “key” but still there was never a specific name and I don’t really remember the specifics on why Riku knew he had to help with the door to darkness. So my question is how does Mickey know their names in 0.2 and how does Riku know to close the DTD

(Birth By Sleep 0.2 and KH1 timeline) He wants to try and find out how did Mickey knew about Sora and Riku have been helping him the whole time. Scene takes place when Aqua and Mickey entered a broken Destiny Islands and when Mickey asked "what were the boys names?"Aqua mentioned Sora and Riku, Then Mickey knew that Sora and Riku have been helping him.

Was it to just advance the plot or would have been Yensid updating him telling him what to do or something else missing? I know KH1 was the first game and hasnt been thought of these. So lets try to brainstorm about it. Thanks

I have just completed my run of all KH games on the PS4 (1.5+2.5, and 2.8). I had a big issue with 0.2 and Back Cover, which involves Frame Rate / Lag / Stuttering, whatever you want to call it. Sorry, I'm not a technical person so I do apologize if my use of terms is incorrect. What I experienced during 0.2 was jumpy camera movements, and slow down of frame rates during certain moments, for example when switching to Spellweaver Style Change. Another example would be if I would leave Aqua standing in one place, and rotate the camera around her with the Right Analog Stick, I would see jumpiness in the camera, it would never be fluid. Unable to complete a full rotation without some sort of jumpiness. Even just running, the camera would jump after a period of following behind Aqua during running. In terms of cut scenes, I would notice some serious dips in fluidity -- whatever you want to call it, frame rate drops or stuttering, it just looked awful. And as other people mentioned, incredibly jumpy even during the end credits scroll. While not as bad during watching Back Cover, it was certainly noticeable there as well. ... I do want to mention that I had absolutely no problems whatsoever during DDDHD. I also had no problems whatsoever on 1.5+2.5.  I also want to mention that I've played other games such as Star Wars Battlefront 2 , Destiny, COD, Etc. that use modern graphics, and have never experienced anything like this.  This leads me to believe this is an issue with just 0.2 and Back Cover, and not necessarily an issue with my PS4.

As far as tech specs: I am using a regular 500 GB PS4 (not a Pro or a Slim) and I bought it new a little over 2 years ago. I keep it in good condition and in a well ventilated area. My copy of the game is a disc copy. If there were any patches or anything I assume those have all been installed, because my PS4 always installs those automatically for games when they come out.

I am posting here because this forum has helped me out in the past when I posted here. Even though I've finished the game, it left me bothered and if I could ever fix the issue I may even replay it. More importantly, I'm concerned about KH3. I would not be able to enjoy KH3 if the gameplay and cutscenes are this bad....

I have done extensive research online, and while I see posts about this same issue, I have yet to find any real solutions. The one solution I have heard is to move the game to an external hard drive. I have yet to try this because I don't have an external hard drive that is compatible with the PS4. I am wondering if there are any other solutions? Is this just how the game is? Do these issues exist on the PS4 Pro, and if they don't, do I need a PS4 Pro to enjoy KH3 when it comes out?

Thank you so much for reading and replying! Hoping to figure this out one way or another!

Well, not like that today, I got onto 3D, and my save file was gone!

This was odd, as I had done more than one session on it!

So, I decided to do 0.2 BBS, guess what? The SAME thing happened.

I was FURIOUS at how Square and Disney let me down like this! And I'd gotten a great distance as well.

Can somebody PLEASE tell me how I can recover these files?

SOLVED - The reason was is because I forgot I made another PSN account due to my other one having the wrong email.

Things I don't like are

• The camera: Well it is a good camera ir reacts to late when I want to turn around compared to the other games and well other series I play, most of you probably didn't notice it  but I just do (not trying to be that guy or anything) it probably just has to do with the background and fram rates so I can forgive this and it's easily fixable. If it isn't changed ooh well it's not a big worry for me:)
• Today I just encountered some glitches or bugs how over you want to call it. Devils wave was flying around me and Mickey doing nothing for 15 minutes I destroyed 3 health bars before it acted.
• When I walk around Mickey I basicly push him, he doesn't move at all unlike I had with Donald and Goofy in KH2 Mickey seems not to notice what I am doing. I hope we get a FF15 reaction from him like ''cut that out'' ''are you lost?'' for example you know I do hope we get that with Donald and Goofy but do not focus to much on it either. FF15 got really boring to me when they stop talking.
• The fight patern of Devils wave isn't that hard to figure out, the heartless you fight in beast castle that becomes the ball room hahahah that is still funny! showed me many different things.
• The frame rate: This mostly has to do with the surrounding because there are many different things in it and it's so big. Sometimes I just stand there and I see the pixels flying all over the screen
• Mickey's and Goofy's facial animations, Mickey looks kinda like a doll and some of reactions like to miss fram rates, Goofy just feels like missing things in his face. Donald looks to me normall of all the Disney characters in the game.
• Mickey kinda seems useless in fights
• Aqua running... Looks freaking weird like and she is sooooo fast but mostly because how big the maps are.

But the rest is good and these aren't big at all, most other problems have been solved and I think KH3 is on the right path here guys and girls.

12:08

Well to be honest he makes some points to me I don't agree with everything though

The artwork on them, titled "BOND", "AIR", and "COMING" was first used for special acrylic stands that were originally pre-order bonuses for whoever in Japan pre-ordered a physical copy of Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and were later made available for the public to purchase on the Square Enix E-Store.

Now, this artwork is being featured on three different mugs and three different bags. You can pre-order the BOND mug here, the AIR mug here, and the COMING mug here. You can also pre-order the BOND bag here, the AIR bag here, and the COMING bag here.

You can view photos of the mugs and bags in the gallery below:

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The Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue acrylic stands are now available for pre-order on the North American store. They cost $19.99 USD, and are in full color.

The acrylic stands 'COMING', 'AIR', and 'BOND' were available exclusively in Japan for some time as a pre-order bonus for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and also in limited stock at Amazon Japan. However, they were not in full color.

These acrylic stands are scheduled for a End of June 2017 release. You can check out pics of AIR, COMING, and BOND below!

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Now if you remember from back cover, The master of master states that he will disappear eventually so he gives all of his apprentices each a different role for some unknown reason. now if you think about it, "why" did the master disappear? did he have to hide while the war transpired? did he kill himself or was he just destined to die? i don't believe any of these ideas are true, because if you remember in the cutscene "case of aced" the master tells aced "I dont know if I'm going to disappear or not" its anyones guess right now". i believe this might actually be true, because if he doesn't know if he will disappear or not, why would he think that? did he do something that could make him disappear? or did he do something that could make him disappear from "existence"? the only thing that i can think of is that he is a time traveler like young Xehanort. lets say he was a time traveler, and he did something in the past that would make his "existence" disappear. now i have no idea what he would have down to change the past to make his existence gone forever but this does explain why the master gave Luxu his keyblade, he wanted to pass his keyblade onto Luxu and then to the many other masters after him, Xehanort included, to keep himself sorta alive since he was probably gonna disappear (which i guess he did). nomoura even stated in a interview that the master will not be appearing in kh3, so this could explain that. now the question is, who would this master be? that i can't figure out, but i have a hunch. although, this would contradict all that iv'e said but i'll say it anyway. lets say the master is Braig. well not exactly Braig, but his early incarnation of braig, (yes were bringing the incarnation of the foretellers theory into this) although if this is true, braig shouldn't be in the present so yeah this is probably wrong. but braig is the only character that i can think of who could be the master, but it is probably just a brand new character. now i had another idea, but i just forgot what it was sorry. but you can give me some ideas on this theory, i'd love to hear your thoughts.

Square Enix members will be able to purchase the calendar for 400 points, up to two per person can be ordered from here.

The images included in the calendar are from the following games:

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue

Dragon Quest XI

Final Fantasy XIV

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

NieR: Automata

Strikers

Dragon Quest X

Dissidia Final Fantasy

Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 3 Professional

Saga Scarlet Grace Displacement

Million Arthur

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival

Credit to @aibo_ac7 for the tip!

UPDATE: A photo was taken of the page of the school calendar that features Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. View the photo, provided by @re12300120 on Twitter, below:

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I'm desperate.

and to be perfectly fair, they're spot on on this one. 

On KHDDDHD:

30fps on cutscenes and 60fps on gameplay is fine and all, but while absent in actual gameplay, frame pacing issues are definitely there on cutscenes. Some people may be fine with this, but for others, its not. And this should not be present, at all...

On KHBBS0.2AFP:

Unfortunately, the issue does not stop there. A Fragmentary Passage, while keeping its goal of 30fps on Base (and Launch) PS4 and an unlocked framerate on the Pro, suffers from horrible frame pacing all throughout the game, making the experience less than optimal. We're having another de ja vu moment of FFXV at launch where frame pacing issues have plagued the game.

I, for one, am hoping that either this gets patched, OR this issue is resolved by the time 1.5+2.5 comes out. What are your thoughts, sound off below!

Additionally, Dengeki PlayStation interviewed Kingdom Hearts series composer Yoko Shimomura, speaking with her about her involvement in the game's soundtrack.

Translations for the spread and interview will be posted as soon as they are available. Images from the spread and interview can be found below.

Update#1

The interview has now been translated thanks to @goldpanner. You can view it below.

> The Master's theme song takes a previously unexplored route!

 

—Ms Shimomura, in KH2.8 we are able to listen to new music you worked on for KH0.2 and KHBC, aren't we.

Ms Yoko Shimomura (hereon shortened): There were fewer new pieces compared to before, but I did do some.

 

— Ms Shimomura, you were also in charge of new songs for FFXV. Was it extremely hectic with the jobs overlapping?

Shimomura: I started the brunt of the work on KH2.8 after work on FFXV was basically finished, so it didn't get to the point of biting off more than I could chew. There was a period where I was very busy, though.

 

—We could really feel the Shimomura magic in the pieces that play during KHBC and the last boss battle in KH0.2.

Shimomura: Thank you! Every one of the new tracks passed the harsh inspection of Mr Tetsu (KH series director Tetsuya Nomura). When the wind orchestra performance in Tokyo had just finished, just as I was about to head to the after party, I got a scary call from Mr Tetsu about a track… The memories…

 

—Among the new pieces, are there any that particularly left an impression on you?

Shimomura: There is one absolutely amazing track! It's a piece that takes a route never before done in the KH series, and the piano adlib is amazing.

 

—In which specific scene does the music appear?

Shimomura: It's the music that plays during a scene in KHBC where the Master of Masters is speaking to Luxu. It's the Master's theme song, and it's actually a much longer track, but only one part plays during the cutscene. The feedback I got the first time I made and and sent for review a theme for the Master was, "This piece itself is good so we will use it somewhere else, but this isn't how the Master's theme should go." It was a piece I finished after a long and gruelling battle.

 

—The theme for the final boss battle of KH0.2 is so fiery, listening to it really pumps you up.

Shimomura: When making battle music, I pay attention to setting things in a balanced way that pumps you up without making you sick of it or hurting your ears. I can't let the song sound like I'm shoving how cool I think it is in your face. That's self-complacency. But having said that, I can't let it feel like I'm holding myself back, either, so it is pretty hard. And, I have to be pumped up myself first before I can make music that pumps people up, and that mental control is another way battle music is difficult. By the way, the final boss battle music was an arrangement done for me by another individual, so there are two versions recorded.

 

—For previous HD remasters, you arranged the music of KH Final Mix and KHII Final Mix for HD. Did you arrange any pieces for KHDDD?

Shimomura: It is the exact same soundtrack from the original KHDDD. It has to do with hardware; back in the days of KH1 and KH2 the soundtrack played from a built-in sound generator. The sound quality is no good when you re-listen now, so I had to arrange them to fit KH1.5 and KH2.5. KH Birth by Sleep onward uses streaming, where the recorded source audio is inserted, so the HD versions don't need anything in particular to be processed. Thinking back on the old days, I used to compose for KH1 and KH2 on the PS2 while planning how the music would be set and played in the system memory, and things like that.

 

>I want you to taste the visceral experience of the game at the concert

 

—Please tell us once more your impressions on First Breath, the wind orchestra concert held last August.

Shimomura: I myself was in the brass band in high school, so the wind orchestra gave me all the emotions! All the pleasant thoughts I heard from those who attended after the First Breath performance are a special memory too.

 

—It's surprising that there hadn't been one until then.

Shimomura: I'd wanted to do a KH concert for a long time, and there'd been talk of doing it many times, but nothing ever came to fruition. KH is a huge title, so settling upon doing it is only the first of many hurdles to clear. When planning began, I was already able to see so many hurdles that I wondered if it'd be impossible after all, but as things moved forward I found I was clearing them surprisingly easily. But that absolutely wasn't because of me, it was because everyone around me was working so hard.

 

—The orchestra concert world tour is going to have its first performance in Tokyo, then make the rounds across each country, right?

Shimomura: The first performance being in Japan was on my firm request. According to the pro instrumentalists, most orchestra concert tours so far have begun overseas. But KH is a game created in Japan, so I thought that if we are going to have a concert then we have to start from Japan. Fulfilling my wish, two concerts were planned right away, and I couldn't have been happier. Then I heard that the orchestra was going to play at the Tokyo International Forum (Tokyo performance), and then have a world tour after that: the surprises kept coming!

 

—As the very first orchestra concert for KH, we're sure the fans are paying very keen attention.

Shimomura: Performing at the Tokyo International Forum is an enormous pressure, and I did wonder what on earth we'd do if the tickets didn't sell (laughs). To my great gratitude, we ended up in the unprecedented situation of deciding to do an encore show before tickets were even open for booking, so I am endlessly thankful for the reaction from the fans.

 

—It will be interesting to see how the fans overseas respond, won't it?

Shimomura: Overseas they tend to give energetic and straightforward reactions, so I'm looking forward to it. People respond very differently in different countries, even just within Asia. For example, my strong impression is that they tend to show big reactions in China, while in Taiwan, if I had to I'd say they give a quieter impression like us Japanese. I think this is just the nation's personality, so I would love for those who are able to attend the Japanese performance to not worry about standing ovations and simply enjoy themselves. We will be visiting seven countries including Japan, so I am really looking forward to what sorts of reactions I'll get to see in each place!

 

—How is preparation for the orchestra concert?

Shimomura: We are working our butts off to get ready for the opening show in March. Aside from one part the setlist is entirely different from First Breath, so I'm hoping even those who joined us for First Breath will have a lot of fun too!

 

—What did you focus on when thinking up the setlist?

Shimomura: This is true of any concert, but I picked music with the thought that I wanted to give the listeners the visceral feelings of playing the games. There were also things to consider from the angle of the order of performance, like, this piece sounds better on wind, or we absolutely have to do this one with the orchestra. On top of taking all those sorts of things into account, I like to be able to bring out a drama-like vibe in the concert as a whole. That's a point I focused a lot on with both First Breath and this orchestra.

 

—Was Mr. Nomura also involved in choosing the music?

Shimoura: I chose the music and created a setlist, which Mr. Tetsu checked for me, and then I'd listen to his requests and give my own opinions. That's the general flow of how we decided things. Since Mr. Tetsu and I both chose music with the same line of thinking—that we wanted to make our fans happy—I am confident in the setlist I have for you all. By the way, Mr. Tetsu had said he wanted the wind orchestra and the orchestra concert to have a "two in one" configuration. Mr. Tetsu is also the supervisor of the movie that is going to play in the hall, so please look forward to that.

 

—Is Mr. Nomura also planning to surprise us with his own performance, like he did at the First Breath concert?

Shimomura: I'm not sure about that (laughs). We were very, very much obliged to the pianist for letting him use their seat… Besides, all the pieces this time are pretty hard (laughs).

 

—A message for the fans, please!

Shimomura: My long-time dream is coming true: we are finally able to hold the first independent Kingdom Hearts orchestra concert. It's thanks to fifteen years of support from the fans that we are even able to do something like this, so we are preparing something that will be able to repay you with everything we have. Giving the fans a great time was my top priority while making the setlist and arranging the music, so let's savour the moments together on the day!

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I have normal PS4

It would be nice if Hayden returned, but if this is going to be Kairi's voice from now on I don't mind it. I feel Alyson has improved.

First let's address the 'Zolephant' in the room. People have different opinions on the game whether it was worth the price they paid. In the UK the cheapest you could get the standard edition was for £36.99 where as the limited edition for the pin which I received was £41.99 from Amazon UK (should have been £44.99 but I got a small discount through being a prime member.) So I was paying £5 for just the pin alone which I honestly didn't mind as that was my choice. So if we take the standard edition do I believe the game was worth £36.99? Well I like to base this on my overall playtime of each game. Back Cover was 1 hour long but as for DDD HD it took me 22:41 to clear on Proud mode. As for 0.2 BBS I played it through multiple times to 100% complete the objectives. My first play through on proud took me 04:56 then I completed the objectives on beginner for 08:56. I then did a deathless run on standard at 01:22 (skipping cutscenes). Then finally I completed the game on critical at 08:02. So all together it took me 22:36. I also over saved a file of 3 hours where I was just exploring the dark realm. So taking all this into account my play through totals 25:36 which is actually longer than my DDD time! So I think, in my opinion, the price for the standard edition is about right but I could possibly have a preference for it to maybe be £5 less but nevertheless it seems a decent price for me based on my time with the game and this isn't taking into account all the extra game content of DDD to complete the journal and trophies which I haven't touched yet. So it possibly is the correct price.

Moving on! The great aspects of DDD include the transition and care Osaka have made into putting the game on to one screen. The mechanics are simple and easy to use by either using your analog stick for reality shifts and to play with your Dream Eaters or the mapping of a certain mechanic to a button on the controller. The gameplay is fast and energetic and it runs so smoothly which I feel was essential to achieve with the flashiness of battles and flowmotion. The game looked the most bright and colourful in the franchise so far and it was great to see the cutscenes in clear HD. It was also great they pulled the camera back greatly from the 3DS version for my vision in battles and traversing the world space. This felt a very careful, well crafted and successful port to the PS4. It all felt smooth, crisp and well executed. As for the bad... I found next to nothing wrong that hindered the experience. I would just say as most pointed out with the 3DS version that the worlds felt barren with no NPC's and just continuous hack and slash gameplay in different settings, with the worlds being pure filler story wise. However that has been the case since KH2 so I can't really complain. I found no issues with the gameplay.

As for 0.2 BBS the great aspects included seeing an KH environment on the PS4 for the first time and even though it was called the Dark Realm the worlds looked absolutely beautiful. The enemies we're varied and challenging with much improved AI and it was nice to see physics truly being implemented in KH for the first time. Such as sliding down hills or exploding a water based enemy with fire and seeing the water spray all over. I thought it was a cool idea for the Darkside punch to actually stun you for a few moments when he hits the ground. Even the little Shadows have much more detail and actually make a shadow in the ground when moving. These little details truly show what KH can do on current consoles which we have waited for a long time. I didn't expect them to add a secret boss which was super challenging on all difficulties and was a great addition. There is great replay value with the objectives and makes the gameplay have more meaning as you are actually destroying enemies to reach a specific requirement. Also little objectives like 'watch a meteor shower' make the gameplay at times light hearted, fun and quirky. It was great to finally have Mickey in your party after so long and he actually heals you. (take note Donald) The evolution of magic looked extremely fierce and it was a great mechanic to have situation commands you could choose to activate. It again feels as though it gives the gameplay deeper meaning as you're actually aiming for a specific requirement to execute in battle. The wayfinder command was also satisfying during the Devil's Tide final battle and Yoko Shimomura's excellent new battle theme made this a great experience. I also liked how Aqua could sprint around the map to get to places quicker. The gameplay overall felt very satisfying to play and I can't wait for more in KH3. The story was worth telling and didn't feel like filler at all and I understand why Nomura said it this may have ruined KH3's tempo. Because Aqua can't transform her Keyblade like Sora the gameplay would feel too separate in KH3 until we unlock the attraction flow and Keyblade transformations. So people may compare this to KH2's prologue it was the perfect idea to keep this section separate. It gives Aqua more of the limelight and importance. As for the bad even though the free running mechanic is great and Aqua can grab on to ledges, the platforming at times still did feel slightly out of place. For instance at some points you would need to use double flight and a burst of speed to get to an area but the area sometimes felt too close and you would burst past the platform missing it. Or sometimes the platforming didn't feel a quick natural thing to accomplish as the areas felt misplaced for the height or length of your jump. I felt as though it slowed down the pacing of the gameplay at times but free running has solved the majority of this and is a great idea to try and make this better. Also Aqua, Ven, Terra and Mickey's character models in the dark realm look on point but I'm sure most have noted that the character models in the mysterious tower apart from Sora, Donald and Goofy do not look that great and they need work for KH3. But Nomura knows this so I'm not too concerned. Because the graphic style is a massive change to what we're used to I think it's fantastic they've let us play with these these improvements and graphical style now. So instead of playing KH3 for the first few hours thinking this all feels strange we will now all be familiar with this new rendition. Overall I was very impressed with the quality of this prologue.

Looking at x Back Cover the graphics we're beautiful and I very much approve this new style for KH3. If they're aiming for this quality of cutscenes in KH3 then I can't wait! Ray Chase gives a great performance and a fun personality to the Master being quirky but at times serious giving him much mystery. The best looking character model in my opinion was Ephemer and I liked Michael Johnston as his voice actor. The action, fighting and confrontation scenes we're exciting and engaging to watch. The foretellers individual personalities come across well especially Aced with his deep forceful tone, he was my favourite. I also liked how it showed the foretellers individual motives and interaction with each other. It was nice to see Chirithy make a small appearance with a suitable voice to match. Also massive shout out again to Yoko Shimomura for the new Back Cover Dearly Beloved which reinforces how talented she is after countless renditions of this theme. The movie and character movements felt very fluid and decently paced. Okay, the bad. Some of the voice acting at time felt flat especially Gula's. I understand they have all different personalities but I felt more emphasis could have been put into what he was saying at times, not every time, but sometimes he sounded rather flat. The locations they used we're okay but they could have shown more environments in Daybreak Town rather than what we've just seen in the game. It felt like it kept cutting from the house, to the Masters study, to the bridge and it felt very safe and tamed. I would have like to have seen a new location than what we've seen in the game. As for the story I would have liked it to have been longer but it is what it is. I think the beginning section of where it flashes through the moments in the mobile game to advertise Unchained x is far too long at 03:30secs and it's not the greatest introduction. As for the story's contents at the end of the day it needed to be told to set up KH3 but based on the enjoyment, as a form of media, the movie is not satisfying which is a huge factor and leaves us with more questions. This was advertised as "who's the traitor?" some people say it wasn't but that was the main selling point of this movie from the very beginning and it doesn't answer that. I'll give it credit the movie answers some decent plot points but it leaves me feeling half empty. I understand they're telling the story they want to tell but it wasn't satisfying. Even if they just showed 30 minutes of filler action scenes with the foretellers fighting it may have made me feel more satisfied. So taking all this into account I would give the film a 5/10.

Lastly I love the option that you can now turn off the subtitles for all the games which I was hoping for in KH3 as I can now actually watch and appreciate the beauty of the cutscenes instead of indirectly concentrating on reading the text. Overall Kingdom Hearts 2.8 was a fun and impressive prologue with 0.2 BBS easing my concerns for the final quality of KH3.

So those are all my thoughts and opinions on the game. I would like to know some of yours too so let me know! Thanks guys!