jbmasta

Pre-ordered and annual leave approved, in just under 16 hours I'll be playing this!

Heroes' Gathering is one I'll listen to when on a casual stroll during a beautiful day.

These would be great to have in English

It's out now!

Of course, it's tomorrow!

Everyone should play TWEWY to experience the music. Slashing, sliding and tapping at Noise while banging tunes go on in the background.

The one consistently amazing thing about Kingdom Hearts is the music. From the opening of Simple and Clean on every bar of music is never less than greatness. Ice Cream Beat does challenge this though.

Days trio for sure, but it's great to see Dream Drop Riku get representation (it's my favorite look for Riku with KH3 Riku a close second) and Komory Bat is always going to raise a smile.

While I voted for until the end of December (factoring in people who get the game for Christmas) a month is pretty good for a no-spoiler policy. Might want to amend the first line to being when the game is first released though, since New Zealand gets to play it first due to midnight time zones (and I'm using annual leave to play it right on midnight).

The Labyrinth is one of the better things about Arendelle. The spires making use of the airstep is satisfying, and it feels good knowing to to get around. It's nice change from the snowy mountain.

Not to mention the re:coded commands also play out differently in the Coliseum Labyrinth, a really fun feature in of itself. Honestly, if re:coded is the worst game then it's up against really stiff competition. It's one I'm looking forward to replaying.

re:coded also has the most balanced command deck because it's harder to cheese your way through to getting the top tier commands. The command panel system is a lot of fun, in part because you can calibrate things like prize drops and difficulty within the game. Not to mention you can replay each world too no matter how far you progress past it. If you carry over a Ryu Dragon from an old Dream Drop Distance save you can get Superglide once you can first change your team.

I'd like to see Keyblade Gliders and Keyblade Armour return in some form, explored as either gameplay and/or lore. It'd be cool if maybe post-game or once you've completed a world you can explore it using the Glider, a useful way to backtrack to specific areas and have items and areas available only when the world's main story is done. Sora has definitely earned these upgrades as well.

Captain America

What's surprised you most when playing through any of the games in the series? Gameplay wise, not storywise. For me, doing Terra's story on Proud in Birth by Sleep and one-shotting Peter Pan with a shotlock.

It does share maps with Sorcerer's Tower from Birth by Sleep, so calling it a recurring world is a grey area.

Out of these Birth by Sleep Aqua is my least favorite. We're told she, Terra and Ventus are inseparable but the main story strives to prove that when there are other option this trio doesn't hold together well and it's in large part to Aqua, in how she follows the strong anti-Darkness creed of Eraqus and how she treats Ventus and Terra. In Radiant Garden she pushes both of them away, admitting to spying on Terra and not treating him like an equal. When talking to Scrooge she says she's looking for a boy when she's trying to track down Terra, when it'd be more apt to describe him as a young man. Then she talks down to Ven like he's a little boy (granted, his whole life is only four years as far as he's concerned and only involves three other people), telling him to go home when anyone who has spent time around kids will tell you that makes them more determined to do the opposite. She could have suggested they stick together so she can at least keep an eye on him. Then there's what she says at the Keyblade Graveyard. Terra admits he has a problem and wants to atone for killing Eraqus. The right thing to do would be to assure him that he would get help and support. So what does Aqua do? She gets all high and mighty like she's never met a recovering addict. Then she talks down to Ven again, not taking him seriously when he's asking them to mercy kill him. Honestly, she's ready to believe Maleficent about Terra when she's grown up with him! Did she just superglue the idiot ball on that morning?

Just finish Birth by Sleep on Critical Mode. Not the most challenging Critical Mode (KH2 and KH3 seem to have the best Crit Modes).

As numerous worlds have made multiple appearances in the series, a few have gotten different music you can explore the world to. Out of these worlds, which of the field themes is better? For example, The World That Never Was has Sacred Moon in KH2 and Sacred Distance in Dream Drop Distance, the latter of which I'm more partial to because of my memories of traversing the Contorted City and Riku's journey through The Castle That Never Was. Of course some worlds like Agrabah and Halloweentown keep the same music (although Christmastown could be counted as a region of the Halloweentown world).

KH1 Cave of Wonders is a good place to explore because the different rooms and levels make you learn the configuration, and there are genuine platforming bits. The underground caverns where you swim between rooms for example. KH2 Cave of Wonders is so linear, one of the rooms serving only to provide a save point after you've done the story mini-game in there.

The passage of time in Birth by Sleep is weird. Terra's done his first ring by the time he meets up with Aqua when she begins her first world at Castle of Dreams, yet he visits Yen Sid and has a chat with Xehanort in the time it takes Aqua to do her three worlds. Destiny Islands is bad for this, where Terra and Aqua seem to visit on the sunset of different days (when Terra visits Sora seems to be rushing Riku because they need to get to the main island), and Ventus arrives during the day after this. No wonder Xehanort looks ancient and older than Eraqus even though both are around the same age.

Less than a week to go!

Yes. It's clear with On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales that Disney don't have anything left in tank with this franchise, and rebooting the franchise inevitably means rehashing the original movie and/or trilogy, or doing new stories. The problem with the former is that it's been done within the last twenty years, and the latter, well, see movies 4 and 5. Recasting Jack, ahem, Captain Jack Sparrow, would also alienate some of the fanbase.

At least people can now stream playthroughs of 0.2 without resorting to a capture card.

That's the Zolophant link, right?