Merilly

Couldn't agree more. I love Sora but it's a bit unfair that he is getting so many Bring Arts and PAKs while so many other characters have yet to receive even one decent figure. >_<

I'm also still waiting on the Ven and Terra PAKs to go with my Aqua... I think KH is big enough to produce more characters, especially those who are popular. It might even be a good idea to give licenses to other good Japanese companies instead of having yet another shabby Diamond Select figure line. =_= Disney is so prone to do that somehow.

Not yet. Her facial features creep me out a bit because most of the other characters are our standard of normal. ^^' But I think I'll give it a try once it comes out on DVD.

I'm usually not so fond of these adaptions because they often fail to capture the charme of their source material to a lack of understanding, but it can also be done right with enough innovation that honors the source as something equal to other genres.

I always despised the idea of Pokemon getting a live-action movie or series, but I now think they may have chosen the right game to base it off on without trying to be too serious, too childish or too disrespectful. It seems they're treating this with care while still making it available to an older audience and not taking it too earnestly or as so much better than the source.

I'm happy for those who want it! I'm more interested in the story expansion myself but I can understand why people would want the challenge.

Exactly. Stores all over Europe are allowed to and usually we aren't exactly the favored part of the world in terms of games. From what the employee told me, the permit came from Square Enix Europe themselves, so I don't see an issue to make that a worldwide thing.

While I am happy I got my copy today (or yesterday here), I don't really get why they don't just greenlight it for all retailers. GameStop Germany received permission and it's a part of an international chain, I don't really see what's so problematic. It can't be marketing as initially assumed since they wouldn't have allowed it to be sold then...

At this point they should just get it over with...

I'm suffering with you... The last days are stretching on like chewing gum but eventually, we'll also be done with that.

8 more days, a little more than a week. It's not worth it to ruin the experience for that for sure. Though we have to be careful with the leakers trying to compete against each other for a fleeting moment of attention and with more and more people getting the game early.

If critical is even available from the start...

But that's not a difficulty I'll start with. I like my first experience to be a balanced one without too much frustration, especially because the game appears a little more difficult than usual if I take the demo into account. I want to have a relaxed and fun time, so standard all the way for the first playthrough.

Though you are free to choose your own of course. There's nothing wrong with wanting a challenge right of the bat, I just prefer to experience the story first without too many interruptions to that.

Stay strong! 9 more days to go. Always remember that we waited years so 9 days are nothing in comparison.

Everyone is free to decide to watch these leaks, indulge in discussion, etc over them. I couldn't care less if they do that in their own little corner. Of course there's no denying that the way the copies were received is not acceptable but it's true that people are overreacting to this in particular when people buy stolen goods all the time, sometimes without even knowing it, and there's no huge blow-up over that if it's not KH.

It is still illegal and I'm not condoning whatsoever but in terms of leaks in general, no matter the source, I'd be fine if only people were fair enough to stay in their spoiler corner and maybe not post it on Youtube before release. Of course they aren't and that's why it's problematic. There's no reason to share it on Youtube with diliberately spoiling thumbnails and titles.

As you said, I'm kinda sick about this whole debate of who is a true KH fan and what makes them true. There is no true or false fan since by a most simplistic definition a fan is someone who likes the series, regardless how he acts toward other fans. No one can strip anyone off the title of fan because of them doing something that person deems unworthy of a fan by their own established standards. Quite frankly, what they believe makes a true fan doesn't matter and this elitist thinking is terrible, especially when they alleviate themselves above others by giving themselves the right to determine who's worthy of being called a true fan.

It's deplorable to force spoilers on those who do not wish to see them. Not gonna justify that. But I also believe that witchhunt some people keep doing with threats to a leaker's life, joke or not, are just as illegal, if not more, and not funny. Legal action could be taken against anyone commencing to hunt people down, insult them or post death threats. Just because this is the internet doesn't mean everything can be said without consequences and attaching an edited photo with Sora holding a gun, while fairly harmless on its own, becomes a death threat by law if it's below a caption addressing a person.

Sorry for derailing your status like this, Zeldablade. You did absolutely nothing wrong and I support your helpful advice to keep the fanbase safe. I'm glad you weren't exposed too much to leaks and could avoid them in time and also warned others about them again since they've begun flooding the internet excessively now.

I feel you... It's really getting worse by the day. I've never considered myself endangered to be exposed to leaks to such a degree since I'm not even the most active and did a lot of precautionary measurements, but seeing that it even happens to those who've not done much to invite it makes me nervous...

I don't want to go dark this early to be honest. I can't really afford it right now but staying on the subscription page is probably the best option for Youtube.

I think that would be good, especially with how he's been built up in the last two years, especially through Back Cover. Also, Nomura stated in an intergiew that he won't appear in KH3. That was oddly specific to just limit it to KH3, considering we already know KH will continue.

Though I'd also enjoy a version where he's not exactly evil but something in-between and the main antagonist is actually extremely focused on the supremancy of light. That could also result in interesting interactions since light was often depicted as the good side and it might put a different perspective on it while also creating some conflict between those who had closer ties to darkness than others.

Sure it is and I'm not saying the next title will have fewer surprises. It's just that people tend to be a little more excited for the final of a saga, be it a book, TV/movie series, games, etc. because it's the conclusion and what everything so far leads to.

I'm sure the next games will still have the excitement of a KH title but subjectively, it feels like games such as DDD and 0.2 did not have the same amount of hype. Which doesn't mean they'll be worse games, I'm just talking about the visible excitement of the fans as a whole.

Another factor is that the sequel will probably already focus on something else and we don't have the same built-up and knowledge as we have prior to KH3. Which likely adds to the excitement.

I don't think it's impossible either. 2 worlds are less likely but 1 is still within reason. They could potentially show more than 1 too in a really long trailer, but I'd be fine if it's just one more. I mean, it's just wishful thinking at this point but as you said, it's not entirely out of the question either. But I consider it good that people's expectation have decreased a little and that they've started to accept the possibility that this might be it.

I kinda wanna see something from the hand-drawn era and not another Pixar movie though. Nothing against Pixar but there's no need to use up all the suitable movies in one game. A returning world would also be fine as long as it has another color scheme.

It's not something which completely upsets me but it is kinda noticeable, especially in close-ups and I preferred how the eyes had more plasticity in the 0.2 opening. It's not a deal breaker at all but subjectively, they put a little less attention on the fine details. The eyes are especially important to me since they carry emotion and especially Sora's eyes look exceptionally flat in some shots, probably due to too little reflections, lighting and the iris being too prominently encircled by a black border. They're also a little too round from this side view.

Yeah, it's not terrible but I wonder why they decided on that. It's a subjective thing but the eyes looked much more expressive in 0.2 and a lot more focus was put on them since they are important to get emotion across. They just appeared to be more alive? 

That would be absolutely fine by me. 60 FPS aren't really important to me as long as the game runs smoothly most of the time. Since I play on consoles a lot, 30 FPS is more common on the older ones anyway. Some frame drops are to be expected but that's neglectable in my opinion.

Btw, Happy Birthday since it's already the 9th here.

I hope so too but you're right, it would be no big deal if they had to postpone it.

On mine too. Though it is still a tentative schedule, so they could potentially change it last minute.

It would be nice to see, though I understand it's as you said... They want to show it off in the most advantageous way possible. Though to be honest, I won't upgrade to a Pro either way because it's still expensive and I have a working PS4.

However, it may be a good thing for those who have neither yet and are trying to decide if it's worth it or are debating to upgrade in the near future.

Though I'd be fine with it if it works like 0.2. While the game wasn't smooth sailing all around, I did not experience any major frame rate issues. The only thing I'm worried about is a potential input lag persisting, though it seems like that's more of a general problem.

The Ultimanias contain a few snippeta here and there in the interviews and I'm sure those can be found online and translated. However, most information is worded really ambiguously and often in the form of questions so we sometimes don't exactly know.

Other than that, most Ultimanias are basically guides which contain no exceptionally important information but tell you where to find what, enemy stats and the like. They also contain character info and sketches, etc.

I'd personally search for the interviews. I'm sure most of them are either fully translated or at least have a summary/abridged version.

I think a lot of people are under the impression that everything needs to be highly original to be good and that cliché tropes are to be avoided, but they often forget that there's reason these themes became so well-known in the first place. People like them and can relate to them and even though they're not new, a lot of them will still be well received in the end if they occur. Especially if they fit into the narrative. It will forever not be funny when a character is prompted to remove all weapons and spends the entire evening emptying their pockets. Or similar tropes.

That's always a bit hard to predict since I feel like there's a lot of luck involved to become a popular author. Considering what is popular, I don't think it's always good, creative writing, though that's only my opinion. I'm not too fond of Harry Potter, Twilight and the like since their main characters are really dull and Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu. It's not always the story which bothers me but also character portrayal and general writing style. For example, I enjoy reading about emotions. I don't need elaborate descriptions of environments like Jane Austen tends to do. That's what my imagination is for, unless it's vital. These works all are world-driven and don't focus much on actual emotion. My readers actually like my style because I focus a lot on the psychological aspect. But that's always a matter of taste.

I also don't think characters need to evolve drastically unless there's reason to. If a character is balanced from the start, there's no need to force a development through tragic events. That's what I like about Sora for example. He virtually stayed mostly the same. He became a bit more snarky, but he's still the happy-go-lucky type who cares about everyone, but most of all his close friends.

I don't mind We all have phrases or words we tend to use more often than others. I've actually gotten used to seeing it from you and immediately connect it to you when I see it, regardless of actually seeing your name.

From what I can deduce, it sounds like a good concept. It's not too original to feel foreign to readers and only appeal to a small niche but original enough to stand out among other works.

I don't have something against extreme originality, it's just hard to relate to at times. Cliché concepts are often belittled quite a bit although there's a reason there are common tropes. They are well-liked and not too strange and hard to understand. It's what you make of it that makes the difference.

I also enjoy that it seems to be more set on the actual forging of the blade and not wielding it (though that's of course the part that usually comes after if it's not ceremonial.) That's the original part that makes it different from other fantasy novels. Depending on how it's thought through, fhat can be a very interesting concept to explore.

I think fanfictions are a good method of writing, especially for practice but also for fun. You don't have to create a whole setting and lots of characters on your own if you don't want to. Admittedly, I don't read that much KH fanfiction since I'm so invested in the series. It may sound odd, but the more invested I am, the more reluctant I am to write or read about it. Probably because I don't want to disturb the canon too much? I don't even know why.

To some degree, I don't even mind it if it doesn't disturb the overall experience. I agree that KH1 wasn't the most child-friendly, considering 8 year-old me put it on hold for a while after I couldn't get through Wonderland well enough.

But the newer games are rated a bit differently and nowadays, there're so many guides available everywhere that it's done a little bit extremely. Of course KH isn't the only game which does it, but it makes a difference if the game tells me I need to go this way or that, or explicitly makes everything glow to show me the way. Though the glow doesn't even do that. It just tells you that you can run up that wall. Which should be known at some point since it feels like you can run up almost any flat surface.

I'm just bothered they have to indicate something that seems to pertain to anything with such an outageously noticeable effect since it's anything but subtle and really disturbing with all the sparkly effects which are already present.

This type of hand-holding is an abomination, like people can't figure out on their own anymore what to do. That's like telling you how to solve a puzzle without letting you try on your own. And it's such a simple mechanic too. I know Flow Motion also had objects stand out to show where you could hang onto at times because it wouldn't have been that clear, and even then it was subtle and mostly present ahen you used it, but otherwise people knew what they could use after the introduction.

I know I'm ranting but this type of flashing really aggravates my eye migraines. My eyes can't deal with such an overwhelming information very well if it's a constant factor.

Wah, can you give a summary what it'll be about?  And good luck with that!

I mainly write for other people and only fanfiction because I'm otherwise too lazy. I'm not a good writer nor do I aspire to be one. 

Yeah, though to be honest, I find every DLC pertaining to story questionable. It would really make me angry for KH3 for example. Not because I don't recognize the work that went into it but rather that I fins it inexcusable to cut content in the form of story to include even more mini games. Apart from my fundamental dislike for them as a whole, they serve little to no purpose except for prolonging the game. I'm fine with a few since they're also common practice but KH3 has so many that I'm beginning to wonder if they didn't focus too much on those and running out of space lead to them cutting actual content.

Just for a brief overview, we have 100 Acre Woods as a whole world dedicated to them, then there's probably at least one more in each of the Disney worlds at the very least, the gumi ship can also be considered a mini game and to top it all off, there are an abundance of Classic Kingdom mini games. I feel that's a little too much, especially those which are mandatory, because they cheaply prolong a game. If there's some understandable context I can overlook them, I just don't know why we need an entire world then. I'd rather trade them for some cutscenes showing the characters bonding or little spars between them.

Though to come back to the main issue, I think it's balance that matters for DLCs. It's better if there aren't any at all but I can also understand the need since game development has become more costly and not any easier. It just depends on what is offered. For example, I wouldn't mind a multiplayer mode being added as a DLC since one of the directions always suffer. Either the multiplayer or singleplayer campaigns. But with a DLC, they have enough time to work on this once the game is done.

Thank you for the encouraging words The long break impeded my style quite a bit but I'll probably just need to get into it again. Compared to my other chapters, it's a little worse but I'm at least almost done now. Then I can perhaps change a few things here and there ans adjust some of the more boring syntax issues.