The announcement of HD 1.5 ReMIX in September 2012 was one of the most exciting announcements of all time for me. At first I thought it was a joke but then I saw the website announcing it. I quickly posted a news article about it and then sent urgent messages to the offline DChiuch as I was about to go out.
The reason this announcement excited me so much was multiple reasons. The main one however, was the fact Re:Chain of Memories would finally be released in Australia & Europe and even in the unlikely chance it wouldn't I could always import it since most PS3 games are region free. The other reasons were Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and 358/2 Days would finally be in a good resolution and I wouldn't have to play that boring, ugly game anymore. While I enjoyed it greatly in 2009-2011. But I could no longer enjoy it on the DS, in fact I wasn't enjoying DS games other than Pokemon at that point anyway. And it was another reason why the PlayStation 3 was the most powerful video game console on the market at the time.
I played them in story order: KHFM, Re:CoM and then 358/2 Days.
I completed Kingdom Hearts Final Mix on Final Mix mode without using any continues. I was annoyed at times by the way Sora's eyes looked with the new character model. I was also annoyed when the subtitles changed style and position. I didn't care which way they were out of the two, as long as it was consistent across the entire game. Summon as the fourth slot and reaction commands being added were nice touches. While it is understandably a lot of work for a HD remaster, I would have loved a Theatre Mode. Unknown, Sephiroth, Ice Titan, Phantom and Kurt Zisa proved easy fights despite how hard some people made Unknown out to be. Unknown only took me one attempt. After I completed the game I changed the camera to manual and noticed in an instant how much better it is. The only thing that really grinds my gears about the game is the Gummiship or Gummishit missions.
Now onto Re:Chain of Memories. The game was everything I thought it was and more. I loved it. I played through it on Standard mode. My only "challenge" was when I reached Vexen #2. At this point in the game, I wasn't even using sleights. Once I actually started using them the boss battles became even easier and I steamrolled through the game. I defeated Riku Replica, Larxene, Axel and Marluxia without any problems. Riku's was even easier, I only had trouble with Riku Replica #6 and Ansem. But it didn't take me long to defeat even them. Re:Chain of Memories was a very enjoyable game. Collecting all the Heartless cards and leveling up Riku are going to be so painful. The mini-games suck.
And finally 358/2 Days. I thoroughly enjoyed the cutscenes, the only parts that let it down were the countless amounts of "Ice Cream" scenes and the text based scenes other than that I loved it. Very happy that they didn't remake it, and not just because of the fact it would have taken a long time.
The PS3 themes are a nice touch, my favourite is Re:Chain of Memories'.
The issues I've detailed above help bring this HD collection down. I am not looking forward to finishing those Gummiship missions, collecting the Heartless cards or leveling up Riku. And I would have so loved a Theatre Mode for KHFM. But despite all these the HD collection turns out great. The games look amazing, and the other additions/improvements made are so unheard of for a HD collection.
The almost certain HD 2.5 ReMIX will be a bigger deal though, the additions they made in KH2FM were much larger in scale to KHFM's given the fact they added over 60 new cutscenes, 20 new boss battles, 12 new mini-games, better graphics, more cutscenes with voice acting and a Theatre Mode holding almost 600 cutscenes despite missing a fair chunk is impressive. And the fact I've never played Birth by Sleep excites me to play what we assume is Birth by Sleep Final Mix. Re:coded will also finally be presented in the perfect way.
The announcement of HD 1.5 ReMIX in September 2012 was one of the most exciting announcements of all time for me. At first I thought it was a joke but then I saw the website announcing it. I quickly posted a news article about it and then sent urgent messages to the offline DChiuch as I was about to go out.
The reason this announcement excited me so much was multiple reasons. The main one however, was the fact Re:Chain of Memories would finally be released in Australia & Europe and even in the unlikely chance it wouldn't I could always import it since most PS3 games are region free. The other reasons were Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and 358/2 Days would finally be in a good resolution and I wouldn't have to play that boring, ugly game anymore. While I enjoyed it greatly in 2009-2011. But I could no longer enjoy it on the DS, in fact I wasn't enjoying DS games other than Pokemon at that point anyway. And it was another reason why the PlayStation 3 was the most powerful video game console on the market at the time.
I played them in story order: KHFM, Re:CoM and then 358/2 Days.
I completed Kingdom Hearts Final Mix on Final Mix mode without using any continues. I was annoyed at times by the way Sora's eyes looked with the new character model. I was also annoyed when the subtitles changed style and position. I didn't care which way they were out of the two, as long as it was consistent across the entire game. Summon as the fourth slot and reaction commands being added were nice touches. While it is understandably a lot of work for a HD remaster, I would have loved a Theatre Mode. Unknown, Sephiroth, Ice Titan, Phantom and Kurt Zisa proved easy fights despite how hard some people made Unknown out to be. Unknown only took me one attempt. After I completed the game I changed the camera to manual and noticed in an instant how much better it is. The only thing that really grinds my gears about the game is the Gummiship or Gummishit missions.
Now onto Re:Chain of Memories. The game was everything I thought it was and more. I loved it. I played through it on Standard mode. My only "challenge" was when I reached Vexen #2. At this point in the game, I wasn't even using sleights. Once I actually started using them the boss battles became even easier and I steamrolled through the game. I defeated Riku Replica, Larxene, Axel and Marluxia without any problems. Riku's was even easier, I only had trouble with Riku Replica #6 and Ansem. But it didn't take me long to defeat even them. Re:Chain of Memories was a very enjoyable game. Collecting all the Heartless cards and leveling up Riku are going to be so painful. The mini-games suck.
And finally 358/2 Days. I thoroughly enjoyed the cutscenes, the only parts that let it down were the countless amounts of "Ice Cream" scenes and the text based scenes other than that I loved it. Very happy that they didn't remake it, and not just because of the fact it would have taken a long time.
The PS3 themes are a nice touch, my favourite is Re:Chain of Memories'.
The issues I've detailed above help bring this HD collection down. I am not looking forward to finishing those Gummiship missions, collecting the Heartless cards or leveling up Riku. And I would have so loved a Theatre Mode for KHFM. But despite all these the HD collection turns out great. The games look amazing, and the other additions/improvements made are so unheard of for a HD collection.
The almost certain HD 2.5 ReMIX will be a bigger deal though, the additions they made in KH2FM were much larger in scale to KHFM's given the fact they added over 60 new cutscenes, 20 new boss battles, 12 new mini-games, better graphics, more cutscenes with voice acting and a Theatre Mode holding almost 600 cutscenes despite missing a fair chunk is impressive. And the fact I've never played Birth by Sleep excites me to play what we assume is Birth by Sleep Final Mix. Re:coded will also finally be presented in the perfect way.
8/10