Hey everyone! As you may or may not know, I have been at E3 2016 representing KH13.com to cover anything and everything Kingdom Hearts-related at the event. I had the opportunity to play the Kingdom Hearts 0.2 -A Fragmentary Passage- and I would like to fill you in on everything I learned while playing the demo. Enjoy!
- The first thing to mention is the look - the frame rate wasn't precisely 60fps but it was somewhat close, so expect something close to or exactly 60 fps in the final product.
The HUD:
- There is no command deck, so we are back to the command menu from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II.
- The Focus meter is confirmed to fuel Shotlock commands (which have obviously made a return).
- The shortcut menu has multiple pages, and they can be used for spells and items. You seamlessly switch between shortcut pages with the D-Pad.
- MP Charge is back (if you run out of MP, it automatically charges back to full).
Gameplay:
- Combat is very fluid and fast-paced. The combat is not floaty or clunky like it was in Birth by Sleep.
- Magic Spell Combos are back. If you perform the same magic spell multiple times in a row, there will be a "finisher" magic spell that is stronger than the base spell.
- Flowmotion is in 0.2 and as far as I can tell, the only way to trigger it is to cast Blizzaga near the ground, which leaves a stream of ice on the ground, and jumping on it triggers Flowmotion.
- The "parkour" movement is triggered without pressing any buttons. There will be a group of sparkles on surfaces where this parkour action can be performed (such as the rock wall Sora runs up in the Kingdom Hearts III gameplay trailer).
- Spellweaver has returned and triggers randomly, much like it did in Birth by Sleep. However, once it has been triggered, there is a 30 second timer that starts, and you can activate Spellweaver at any time in that 30 second time frame. Also, when Spellweaver activates, Aqua's Keyblade will glow.
Miscellaneous:
- The Shadow heartless turn into actual shadows when they crawl into the ground and avoid attacks, as opposed to becoming flattened, 2D versions of themselves crawling around the floor.
- In the trailer, you could see that Aqua can target/lock onto lamp posts. They can be attacked to get HP/MP/Focus orbs, but they cannot be destroyed.
- The section of 0.2 that the demo consisted of was very vertical. There were a lot of spaces you could jump up to/climb up to.
- Aqua will grab ledges when she doesn't quite make the jump.
Cons:
- The camera worked brilliantly for the most part, but there were times where locking onto an enemy completely destroyed the camera angle and I couldn't see anything.
- There are too many lamp posts, so when trying to lock onto an enemy, I locked onto lamp posts instead very often.
- The frame rate not being 60fps is a negative thing since we learned that Dream Drop Distance will be in 60fps.
Overall, the demo was great. It was a good length (about 15 minutes) and I was very happy with the combat. There are obviously things to fix and fine-tune, but I am very happy with it. It looked absolutely gorgeous, and I'm very excited for you all to play it.
If you have any questions about things I did not mention here, leave them in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them!
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