anime10121

Finished KH3D on Proud mode with secret ending in check and all I can say is WOW! No spoilers here at all:) This game's story is much like that of the first, in that it places much more emphasis on the Disney stories than the overarching plot, that is until you get close to the end, then it throws more plot at you than Allen Iverson could handle in his prime (and trust me when I say, that's a good thing)! The last world in this game feels MORE epic than the last battle with Xemnas in KH2 and what happens in the Keyblade Graveyard at the end of Birth By Sleep. There is just SO much that happens and it kinda overwhelms you, but when you think about it, in terms of the rules the series has established over its 10 year run, it all makes sense. I swear people may talk about this series being "convoluted", but if you actually play the games and pay attention, its not that hard to understand (in fact it's really easy). While I still think the combat was more fluid in Birth by Sleep, it's still fun as ever here. The Reality Shifts are a really nice addition to the battle system, and I find them much more fun and useful than the Shotlocks were in BBS. Flow motion while looking almost impossibly hard to handle, becomes easier and easier as you play the game and figure out how it works! What I will say though is payback raid/shot is a little unresponsive sometimes and that the Once More/Second Chance combo doesnt work quite as well in this game than it does in all the games prior (you can die if another combo is started at the right time even with once more equipped). Its also funny that I found NUMEROUS instances where the game actually makes fun of the series for "taking so long to write the sequel" to the next main game You have to listen for them, but the way some of the characters said the things they said, it cant be anything but Square making fun of themselves, and its quite funny I'm telling you though, BE prepared when you get to the final world, as it is just beyond amazing, not to say the others aren't, but even as a fan of both Square and Disney, the main story of KH is simply fantastic and a lot of times, touching. The final world has so much in it, it almost seems like the whole thing was planned to be this vast when they came out with the first game! Sadly I had been spoiled of a couple of the things that happened in game involving 2 characters, but its good to know that there was still a lot more to the game than those two (relatively big spoilers). On the matter of the only 3 negative reviews it seems to have on Metacritic, they shouldn't even be listed IMO, because EACH one of them (when you read them) say the gameplay is fun, and works well, but that "the stories to hard to understand when some of them had admitted to not even playing all the main games (not the series fault, although blame can be placed on Square for making the games too spread out on too many consoles), or that its a good game, but since its not KH3 on a console, so its a crappy side game. It all just seems incredibly whiny and un-professional, while I can understand the 70's because even if I find the series great, it may not be as awesome to me as it is to others, but the 60, 50 and 40 are complete bull, if this game is a 5-10 or below average, then I'd like to see what they call good game's because they must be godly. This game (according to each of them) plays well and has no glitches, so it seems weird to me that they seem to pan the game so much While the game isn't quite as "new" an experience as Birth by Sleep was,as a prequel to Kingdom Hearts 3, this game does EVERYTHING it needs to do to establish itself as a main entry in the series and set's the series up for the inevitable big number 3. It actually introduces so many things that need to be taken care of, I have a hard time believing ALL of it can be done in the third and last entry in the Xehanort saga. If you like KH at all, I guarantee you'll love this game! This game has really gotten me hyped for the conclusion to the Xehanort saga (KH3), and I cant wait to see how Sora amongst others save all those people who are "hurting"!

Yeah but there in lies another problem of course we, the "main" fans can wait but think about it, its already been 6 years since KH2 and will probably be 10 by the time KH3 ever comes out (if it indeed comes out for console like every one hopes it will). People get older and as they get older, other responsibilities start taking up their time, so Square is already losing some of its audience as the years go on. And as game budgets grow with new technological advancements i.e. new consoles, it will be harder to justify making it with a brand new engine on a console, especially considering sales of the series have been on the decline lately (KH3D selling half of what BBS did in its opening week and quickly disappearing off software charts in Japan).

Honestly I just want the game, and I would LOVE for it to be on Luminous, but that would put the game far out of reach (at least 3-6 more years). If they actually finished Vs. they would have the technical know-how from already working with the engine and would be able to release it much faster. Plus it wouldnt be there first game on a new engine, so they would have the experience necessary to make the game the best it could be!

true, but they have been REALLY lazy when making trailers for 3D compared to previous games. In previous entries that epic 9 min. trailer would have been translated with battle scenes too.Every trailer they've showed for the english version thus far have been EXTREMELY short with very little in the way of voiced scenes, new gameplay, or even new music. I mean nearly every trailer they've released so far has the music from the middle of the "special" trailer. They used to work much harder at making their trailers shine

You cant port an engine from a PSP game or a PS2 game to ps3 (that I'm aware of) The architecture isnt fit to work with the HD consoles. And the thing with Luminous Engine, is that they have yet to properly even finish that engine yet. If I recall reading somewhere (sorry cant remember the source), Square said Luminous wouldnt probably be finished until later this year, and that the first game to actually USE it would be a few years off. Luminous has been showcased, but they still havent actually finished it yet, they said it wouldnt be finished until later on this year. It may be scalable but until its actually ready to develop a game on, thats still a moot point. They'd still have to get used to using that engine which would take a crap load of time. And while Unreal Engine 3 is a simple engine to work with, I can GUARANTEE you, it is NOT the engine you want for KH3. First, it doesnt have the color pallette for a KH game (before you suggest Mirrors Edge, I'd suggest you to compare the way it uses color to the way KH does it), second, it is not "fluid" in the way that KH has become (barring the first game) and third, they already tried UE3 with The Last Remnant, and that game (while the concept was pretty good) was a technical mess. KH may not be know for having much in the way of "technical features" (and by that you're probably referring to gameplay mechanics) but it is a fluid, glitch free, fast action RPG with lots of effects and "sparkle" pervading every action. I think that may be a bit much for Unreal to handle while not looking like a flip book. Unreal does have great games, but they are usually more slow moving, or tight fighting affairs. I have yet to see an Unreal game that does action well (DmC may change that, but again from whats been shown, it isnt as fast paced as the previous entries).

Why does this seem like itll be the longest two weeks EVER

Nah THIS was the best english trailer:P

But that is exactly the problem, Versus XIII is said to use the same engine as the mythical KH3. So if they couldnt get that game to run properly on it, KH3 would basically have to start over from scratch with a brand new engine, which would cost MORE money that I doubt Square would be willing to give Nomura if his team already failed once.

He wasn't a director (like Nomura, Toriyama, or Tabata), he was basically a the head of Eidos' technology team i.e. he's pretty much guaranteed to know nothing about Kingdom Hearts' development. Edit: Oh and Nomura has no where near as much pull as people seem to think. In the end he's just a director/character designer, and his "promises" can easily be broken by Square's higher staff/board. I mean he also promised us a Final Fantasy like no other with Versus XIII, and if it truly is cancelled, look where that promise got us... nowhere.

Oh and to those cheering saying that vs. cancellation means we may get KH3 faster, you do realize that versus was to be used as the template for KH3, and that if they couldn't get Vs. to work right on consoles, the likelihood of KH3 making it to consoles will be severely dashed. I mean, if they failed once with Vs. XIII, whose to say that Square will give Nomura the money/ time to try again with KH3 when the first attempt failed.

Its not yet a fact, its a sourceless rumor that Kotaku probably made up (since there has been no news on the game in 18 months) to get hits.

You're right I had forgotten about TWEWY, Valkyrie Chronicles, and Demons Souls which all have garnered critical acclaim! Maybe Im just seeing a lot more of the negative than I should be, because we dont get many JRPGS released in the west anymore.

Oh my mistake, thanks for correcting me on that:) But my point still stands that ever since the start of the 7th gen with the 360, JRPG's haven't been getting fair treatment in comparison to other genres. While I think Audrey's review itself was nice, the score she awarded the game doesnt reflect what she actually said about the game. And I dont see how a complaint about the story being "convoluted" can be listed as a negative thing if you havent played the others. Of course a sequential story will seem hard to understand if you haven't played all the chapters. Its like reading Harry Potter's first two books, skipping 4 of the books, and then reading the last couple and saying Harry Potter is "hard to get" when its your fault for not reading all the books. KH plot makes perfect sense, if you've played the games. And her only other complaint about the camera/platforming? I'd rather have a small amount of trouble moving the camera than have games that are nigh impossible to finish because the game plays like a flip book (like some other games that need not be named and garner high praise on every release). But alas, none of that really matters to me in the long run anyway, because I buy games that I want and just read reviews for general information/opinions on games. If I were to trust reviews, I would have never played the gem called Nier that was released a couple years ago

When I say Gen, I mean Generation of Consoles. The PS2, DreamCast, Xbox, Gamecube, PSP, and DS were the 6th generation of consoles. The PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, and Vita are part of the 7th gen. What I was saying is that during the 6th gen of consoles, Jrpgs were generally rated just as fairly as any other genre, but since the start of this gen (with the 360's release), reviewers have been lambasting every JRPG series for not changing, or changing too much (while many other genre's that are now popular in the west have the same issues). Rarely do you see a Jrpg this gen get rated a "9" or a "10", in fact I dont think ANY have.

Yeah but I think you missed the part where I said THIS GEN (not getting an attitude or anything, just pointing out that this generation reviewers have been EXTREMELY unfair in their reviews to JRPGs)

Didnt you know, JRPGs cant get 9's or higher this gen. They are all games unworthy of 9's that refuse to evolve, so says most reviewers.

Why do I get the feeling that this is just speculation on the dudes part? I mean a new console Kingdom Hearts hasnt even been announced yet, and hes just casually announcing that Kingdom Hearts uses Crystal Tools? I just dont think that this is just something that Square would announce like that, especially in an interview to a relatively small fan site:(

Any spoilers? Is it safe to read/watch, unlike that crappy interview they printed earlier?

Terra's Lingering Sentiment from KH2 FM! Even at level 99 I still had to do extra stuff to beat him (strength/defense buffs). Also Xehanort's armor from BBS final mix. Eraqus' armor was a joke but Xehanort (shivers) every time I hear that theme song I think of death:( Finally beat him with Aqua (and only Aqua) though!

Who did they get to write this, they obviously dont care much for KH? God it seems like there was more complaining and crying in this "preview" than anything else. This is why I pay no mind to western reviewers/previewers when it comes to Japanese games, other than Nintendo games which are unanimously praised (and I find generally find boring), western journalist rail on Japanese games for providing "more of the same" while the biggest games in the west (including Nintendo games) do just the same. Sorry for the rant Thanks for the scans, at least the images look great:) Edit: Oh and Spin off? Ima need for these people to look that word up in the dictionary, because all these people claiming the handheld games are "spin offs" just because they dont have a number in the title, need to learn what Spinoff means (breathes heavily).

Sticking with the retail version. I need MAH box/book/cartridge!!! Although its good that they have an alternative for those that like digital titles:P

Do it on the original File because ANY thing you do on the Final Episode can NOT be carried over to your original game. I made the mistake of leveling to like lvl 70 something with Aqua on the Final Episode (because you get a tad bit more experience) to fight the mysterious figure, only to find out you could only fight the MF on the regular save.

Done and done! ps She's GORGEOUS:)

NA is supposed to get the OST too, they've just been extremely vague on when it will release.

Sad thing is, he is VERY serious. Hopefully its just been slow because its release is technically still almost 2 months away and next month SENA will throw out a marketing blitz for the game, but somehow I doubt it. SquareNA seems much more interested in hyping/marketing their western releases like Heroes of Ruin, Hitman, and Sleeping Dogs. Kingdom Hearts and Theatrythm (even though I'm not interested in Theatrythm) seem to be getting the cold shoulder and so are many of SE JP's other titles (Bravely Default, Type 0, Versus XIII, FFXIV, DQX).