Gambler'sApprentice

My favorite heroes are the ones who are capable of planning and setting traps for their enemies. But Terra isn't going to get the advantage on Master Xehanort when he has less experience, less knowledge, and less he can sacrafice. For Terra to win he has to protect his friends and stop Xehanort, for Xehanort to win he has to make a X-Blade. He can destroy all the worlds in his quest, and he'll still win, while Terra still has to have something left to protect. I have no doubt Terra will take advantage of any weakness he can find, or that he will do anything in his power to stop Xehanort, but still, he is a comparatively inexperienced youth who doesn't even have control over his body.

Add to what you will, beat all bosses in Anti-Form.

One would assume it's no different then being a master of anything else, until they become Keybalde Masters they're still learning how to use the Keyblade. Not to mention pre-Keyblade war when there were more than 3 keyblade wielders at a time, it meant you could go to other worlds and had rights to explore and study etc. Finally only Masters can take apprentices, if they think the world needs Keyblade wielders to keep it safe they want to learn t be Masters so they can train new ones.

Insight yes, but really none of the characters seem to have a grasp for Xehanort's plannin potential. Yen Sid (who seems to be the brains of the Keyblade group) was basically shocked throughout all of 3Ds as to Xhanort's scheming. I figure Terra can bring in information as to everything Xehanort has been up to, and what his plans are if he's freed.

@Ammish To put it simply, I believe Kingdom Hearts 358 Days/2 is one of the strongest in the series, and does more than any other game to show us what the series can become. The first complaint was regarding the mission structure. First when you consider the difference between Roxas and Sora in this game and Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II the structure makes sense. Early in the KH I & II Sora learns the worlds are in danger, and he needs to put an end to this. In contrast, Roxas comes into being and is told the Organization needs him to hit heartless with emblems. Sora has an emotional reason behind his actions, he seeks to protect his friends and save the worlds. Roxas is a newly born individual, whose only knowledge of life at the beginning is that he needs to fight Heartless because other people told him to. His missions are generally repetitive, because from the point of view of the Organization his greatest asset is not his individuality, but rather his weapon (as is witnessed by the Replica Project, designed to give the ever greater control over the wielder of the Keyblade, even if it meant losing Roxas). This means in the console games Sora is deciding what to do based on what will best help his friends in each world. He will fight the Heartless until he finds a way to keep his friends safe, whether by sealing the keyhole the Heartless are after, fighting whatever is summoning them, or even removing their greatest threat. This leads to a sytem of smaller stories in world, culminating to a climactic boss battle, and a scene where Sora says goodbye confident his friends are safe. Meanwhile Roxas has decisions made for him by people who are calculating the best return on their investment, they want the most Heartless possible, without putting the Keyblade out of their reach. This means they will test him (breaking jars, collecting emblems), remove elements that deter the most efficient growth of Heartless (shadow blobs, investigation of the Halloween Town Heartless disappearance), and foreknowledge of the area (reconnaissance missions). They don't care if Roxas is given repetitive missions, they care that Kingdom Hearts nears completion. The bonus missions give extra challenge, and make most things easier, but are not necessary if a certain of effort is put forth to learn the best approach to one's goal before hand and prepare appropriately. Regarding the bosses there were three ways to go about fighting them. One was to attack them relatively constantly, 'chiseling their HP very slowly', the next was to wait for the point in time when they would be weakened or exposed and one could clear substantial portions of their HP at a time, and the final method was to become vastly overpower your magic, and use whichever spell was most effective against them. The first method is the most unsatisfying and difficult, because it requires you to spend much more time in combat then was intended. The second required one to look in the index of Heartless to find out what the weakness was, and exploit it, a safer and generally more satisfying approach, the best in fact. The third required a great deal of patience as one had to over level oneself, but led to great satisfaction as you succeeded in beating bosses with two well-placed spells. None of this is to say that the Heartless did not have vast amounts of HP, or impressive Defense, both are true. Rather at certain points one could do vast amounts of damage, complaints to the contrary would imply that these were never discovered. In the brief tribute given to what is believed to be a small number of well-done portions, I should merely like to say that as Re:Coded came afterwords dismissing any attribute of Days on the grounds any subsequent game has it is illogical in the extreme. Also while the multiplayer system in Birth by Sleep is unquestionably better developed, it lacks in three key areas, first for those individuals who are fans of the Organization members, it gives a chance to play as them, secondly in Birth by Sleep one has three main characters, one who focuses on strength (Terra), one who focuses on speed (Ventus), and one who focuses on magic (Aqua). While there is a certain amount of diversity one can have within these sections, it is limited. Meanwhile each of the Organization members relies on a different style. Xigbar relies on a ranged attack system, while Saïx focuses on dealing critical damage, and some, such as Luxord can focus in any area they choose. Finally while Birth by Sleep has three multiplayer styles. A board game, co-op coliseum-style matches, and versus. Days is the only game so far that gives a multiplayer option that allows general goals, where you don't simply fight repeated waves of enemies until you reach a boss, but go out, as a team, to explore the world. The greatest divergence seems to be in the subject of plot. The plot is the entire point of Days, the missions reflect, the gameplay reflects it, the plot defines the game, and understandably disliking the game's plot would lead to disliking the game itself. And therefore this is the area of greatest importance. I can excuse the claim that the game was mostly self-contained when it came out. It focused entirely on characters we had no reason to expect to come back. A tragic game, but not one that could be argued as integral to the plot of the Kingdom Hearts games, as they were not yet known to be the Xehanort Saga. The entire scene in which Roxas is holding onto the one person he views as a friend, having left his entire life behind, fade away and cease to exist, to be denied even the right to remember her, is one of, if not the, most emotional scenes in the entire game. When he asks, 'Who else will I have ice cream with?' he is asking who else can be his friend, for as far as he is concerned Axel has betrayed them, this is the one person he has left, his one friend, and the saddest part is the closest he can come to defining friendship is the person he shares Ice Cream with. Contrast to Sora who in every game is almost always surrounded by friends, whose 'friends are my power!', and Roxas, betrayed by one friend, and having to watch the other erased from existence even in memory. @Noctunal Melody Having already discussed the missions above, I will just say the following. Yes, Neverland is terrible, and the best things about it for me are you don't have to visit it until much later in the game, and Luxord is your most common companion. The Organization is not under-developed. They are not fully understood, there is a world of difference. This game is almost entirely from Roxas' perspective, there are a few cutscenes which the player is treated to, and the secret reports, but both of these show how strongly developed the characters are. Everyone has some identity they project, and Roxas is only going to see more of who they are if they let him. We see Demyx as an under-achieving slacker who foists his missions on others because that's who he chooses to be, but also to some extent he would much rather sit around doing work. Larxene is a sadistic freak for much simpler reasons. If you take away a persons ability to feel guilt or empathy why wouldn't they act in a way that reflects this. She can be cruel and sick and twisted, because it desn't influence her. It's just a way to get people to do things. That being said she isn't cruel or sadistic to Roxas, in mission she just doesn't really care about him. She doesn't need to be cruel, he'll do it no matter what. As for why Luxord likes gambling, that would require a game focusing on the Gambler of Fate, which while I would greatly enjoy, I doubt all of those individuals who eagerly await Kingdom Hearts III would be happy if Nomura postponed it any further, especially for a game so unlikely to be vital to the plot. But other characters also give information that one can use to gather information about them. Xaldin for instance is not much for romance, he has a passionate hatred for it in fact. Something that intense is not just him thinking love makes people stupid, something happened to him, most likely becoming a Nobody allowed him to reevaluate Dilan's life, and he saw he had been manipulated by someone he loved. As for the planning of the conspiracy, yes I would have loved to have seen it, but unless they came up with the plan in about two weeks it's impossible for that to occur without destroying the timeline. Furthermore You never have all the Organization members in the lobby at once, Xemnas doesn't even appear more than a dozen times in the game. Yes it would be nice to explore the castle, but again, the point is Roxas has a repetive life. He goes to the lobby, gets a mission from Saix, hits some stuff with his Keyblade, might have ice cream, and then goes to bed. I will admit I'd have loved more development for the Organization members, but without going to the formation of the Organization it's not going to happen, Roxas was a mere tool in the eyes of the Organization, and the individuals simply saw him as a child. They are all teaching him lessons each time they 'tag along' Xion was not erased to prevent conflict for Kingdom Hearts II, she is a vital character who tragically ceases to exist, in a sacrifice for a boy she's never met. One might as well claim Master Xehanort was just tossed into Birth by Sleep because the needed a villain. By the time Roxas is fighting Riku he has to struggle to remember that she even existed, and he's just fed up with all the lies and secrets. He has reason to believe Riku knows why he can wield the Keyblade, why would he ask him about Xion? He wasn't even intending to fight him, he was going to free Kingdom Hearts for Xion. Xion isn't in Deep Dive, and since basically all it told us was Nobodies There's going to be an awesome battle between a blindfolded Riku and a mysterious hooded individual who wield Oathkeeper and Oblivion she didn't shove herself in anywhere. There wasn't actually any plot. Admittedly Riku's statement is weak, and the best interpretation is you kicked his but in combat, and then he fought you as Ansem. Essentially one fight, and not really much ambiguity for him to argue about what he said being true 'from a certain point of view'm sorry, if you only have one friend and you don't get to even keep the memories you would treasure of them, of the perfect day you said you would remember forever, how in the bloody hell is that not a tragedy? The reason Xion is so often the subject of the Journal entries, is that she is the catalyst in the game. Without her existence Roxas and Axel would have met up for Ice cream after most every mission, and he'd fight Heartless, Xemnas would unite with Kingdom Hearts, He'd filll the Nobodies with Darkness Merge with the Princesses of Heart and Form a X-Blade for Master Xehanort. Furthermore he hs a bond for Xion, they are younger Nobodies, with no memory of who they were, both wielders of Keyblades, both mysteriously black out, and both have a connection to Sora. And Axel doesn't have fainting spells, so less concern needs to be spent on her behalf. Roxas feels protective, let's face it Axel can handle himself, Xion can drop unconscious in mid-battle. Roxas gets mad and snappish at people when they threaten his friendship, and he believes running away does less to jeopardize a friendship then beating the person up and taking them where they don't want to go. Add to which Ven is a lot more emotionally mature then Roxas, I would expect him to be more reasonable. Lea/Axel changes the most through the series, but slowly. In BBS he's a kid with a sense of fun ready to get up to Shenanigans. By CoM we see him as a clever and strong fighter, who will play either side in the hope of winning, but he'll take the side that promises him sfety. In Days we see him as an ally of Saïx as he seeks a heart he's willing to manipulate anybody. Saïx realizes the usefulness of having Roxas on ther side so he has Axel make 'friends' with him. Unfortunately for Saïx, Axel begins to actually care about Roxas and Xion, and decides an actual friendship beats Saïx's repeated reminders about thier former friendship. But in the end he values his life over that friendship. In KHII having to lose Roxas he decides to help Sora, because some of his friend is till there. In 3Ds we see that he's now willing to do anything to get his friend back, as Lea wielder of a Keyblade. He's willing to do anything for ths friendship that reminded him what it was like to have a heart. And he really did care about Roxas, the last week of Days shows that very well, he just never said anything until it was to late. Finally during the events of Days the Organization probably thought they sent Roxas on missions, he collected hearts, bonded with Axel, got fed up for whatever reason (they didn't seem to make the connection about Roxas being mad about Xion, so they probably just hocked it up to the whims of the heart) fought Riku, lost, and was abducted by DiZ. Basically exactly what happened without Xion. Kingdom Hearts 358 Days/2 is a tragedy in the truest sense of the word, three friends brought together to further Xemnas' plans find some happiness, only to break apart from betrayal, deception, and death. The worlds owe their survival to one individual whose closest friends could not say who she is because she sacrificed even that. It follows the life of Roxas as he struggles to protect his friends, without success. And in the end we aren't even given hope it can be undone.

Kurt Zisa, because he's the only boss to stop you from using magic. The Phantom's biggest concern was having enough ethers and noticing when the clock stopped, Sephiroth kept you on your toes, but having elixirs easily adressed the problem, and the titans were just a simple pattern. I downgrade a bunch of my abilities to fight the Rock Titan because I'd get more hits in that way.

It should stay on a hand held system, if for no other reason then multiplayer, and the fact that with the games already on 5 systems 6 if you want to separate the FM versions) But moving it to the 3DS would address the game's biggest flaw, terrible, terrible graphics.

Organization had 3 goals, each one more secret then the last. The goal everyone in the Organization is told is that they are trying to regain their hearts. The Second goal was to unite Xemnas with Kingdom Hearts making him super freaking powerful. This was known by Xemnas and probably Xigbar. Unlikely for Saix, since throughout the games he keeps whining about how he doesn't have a heart and then throws tantrums. The Third goal was to create 13 empty vessels to placee darkness into, to form a X-Blade. Nobody in the Organization knew this from what we can tell. 2 flaws in that, first YMX explained he would have to return to his own time, in order for him to become MX, integrity of the time-line and all that, secondly he explains how he'll forget all this. He might be able to deliver a message to Xemnas, but Xemnas isn't interested in reviving Master Xehanort, he's interested in merging with Kingdom Hearts. It would bring about the same thing, but it's not his goal.

I'd rather we just skip the formalities.

Terra is an extremely capable warrior, and I have no doubt he deserves the title Keyblade master. But he doesn't have the mental strength to come up with an intricate web of revenge, and even if he did Master Xehanort has shown an ability to have almost every situation covered, if he felt Terra a threat I'm sure he'd take over a new body and eliminate the threat. The best that Terra can do is survive and observe.

They sort of addressed Riku's Absence during Kingdom Hearts, he met our brown robed-friend (coded), was swallowed by the darkness or whatnot and got a room in Hollow Bastion (Chain of Memories) and did... things, mostly looking for Kairi (Kingdom Hearts) and stare dramatically off clock towers (coded). But his missing time from the end of CoM to the end of Days seems important, since all we know is he was wandering around being a pain for the Organization, and finding out he needed a blindfold to not turn into Ansem Seeker of Darkness. Then he disappears for most of KHII, and again there is much knowledge as to what he's doing, aside from giving memory boxes to Sora. There's not even an indication of messing with the Organization. Mickey's missing time is basically just what journey he was taking that mirrored Sora's closely enough to get the Keyblade for the Realm of Darkness, and end up outside the Door to Darkness as SoD was opening it. Most importantly we need to know if they know where Aqua is, otherwise we will have some extreme trouble in freeing Ven, and as for now we have no idea what's going on with Ta=erra, having been taken ver, losing his memories, split into a Heartless and Nobody, recombining, and last we saw still under Xehanort's control.

Similar, and probably intentionally so. The coded version makes sense, I mean Data-Sora goes and debugs a program from the inside, however with coded's message about growing hearts it could also be seen as a version of what Riku would do.

I thought it was there to show the connection to both the reports (numbered using standard numerals) and the Orginization (numbered using roman numerals) but with 3Ds it could be a reference to our New Orginization buddies, Xigbar and Saix, our old & new Keyblade wielders (Lea & Roxas) and the all important Khi. As much as I love Luxord, I don't see him becoming a major player in future games.

I was rather hoping for Sora to say something along the lines of, "I'm sorry, I should not have killed the Nobodies on the grounds I didn't think they had hearts when there was no need to. Those individuals have every right to exist.' Followed by some questioning as to whether or not he should have a right to wield the Keyblade. Unfortunately all we got was 'Roxas has a right to exist, and now that Axel isn't a Nobody and he just saved me, I guess I'll let him too.' ¬_¬

It's pretty short, but it's concentrated, it doesn't have anything that doesn't seem necessary to the plot. However after having finished it it's a long way to 100% completion, especially without a Coliseum/Mirage Arena equivalent.

1) No, I'm saying all comics that have been allowed to have multiple writers have stupid comics, ones where Batman decides to just shoot everybody, and Superman tortures Jimmy Olsen. Since Schumacer can't stay faithful to one comic, I'm worried how well he can stay true to one in which there is already a danger of him using one in which Superman is being a terrible, or stupid, or even just dreadfully out of character. 2) Creators can make good characters, but they may not be the intended character. If he makes Superman a fascinating character, but without that good-natured simplicity (as in moral simplicity, not mental) it may be an interesting character, but it's less Superman. 3) I'm not expecting all the villains in one movie, especially one in which they're going for realistic. I wouldn't expect Killer Croc in Nolan's Batman, or Gorilla Grod in this Superman. But Superman's back-story alone is rather un-realistic. Nolan's Batman couldn't exist in the same universe as the Justice League because those characters can't live as close to reality as he can. So trying to do that seems a bad idea. 4) Yes, the DC Trinity Justice (Batman), Hope (Superman), and Truth (Wonder Woman). The difference between having someone being your hero bringing you hope, and a savior is largely a matter of intensity. Since that was effectively all the trailer showed, it at least appears that's going to be more savior than hero. 5) This is in no way a final analysis. This is me speculating off what is basically a teaser trailer. I totally admit that. For me personally I take trailers as a challenge, rather like Riddler leaving clues I have to solve before he finishes his end goal, I need to try and predict what the director is going to do before it's released. But I only do it for movies and games I actually care about. I want a good Superman movie, and I think this could be it. While I have doubts about Schumacher's ability, especially with the long line of terribly stupid Superman movies, but I trust Nolan. Yes the trailer seemed to be like OMG Superman will save us like Jesus, but the trailer couldn't actually say anything about the plot. Really my biggest concern is how realistically they are going to play this, because Superman isn't realistic, which is fine, reality is bloody inconvenient, but to take a super-realistic approach would either cripple Superman, which would be boring, make the superpowers ridiculously out-of-place, or have him depend on advanced Kryptonian technology, which would make him Batman.

I feel we had too many Dream Eaters and too few abilities, and while I dislike the Dream Eaters and the game forcing me to spend time with them, if there were other ones with new abilities (specifically DP related ones) I'd be glad to have them.

I've talked about this for a while with my fellow KH players, and we definately see it as a likely sign for KH III, Tetsuya Nomura is quite malicious enough to have a different less obvious meaning, and so we're holding out hope for an actual confirmation without any evasive answering.

Donald seemed rather worse than that to me, he was rather prone to cast the exact wrong spell all the friggin' time, and then die. It was really bad in Re:CoM in which I would summon him against, say casting 3x Firaga on a room full of Red Nocturnes. Especially when I was on my last bit of health. I didn't much like him in any of the games honestly, and sometimes just de-equipped all his magic except cure.