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Found 25 results

  1. A wallpaper I made to celebrate the release of 1.5+2.5 on ps4, as well as to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the series.

    © David Sobozenski

  2. Kats Seventh

    15th Anniversary

    dA : http://fav.me/db4iuiy
  3. Hi everyone, i was curious on if anybody who has played the JP version of the upcoming kh 1.5 + 2.5 collection for ps4 has any blocked scenes? i know 0.2 on the 2.8 collection was blocked after mickey, but i wanted to know because i am planning on recording a playthrough on all the games and just wanted to know ahead of time. i mainly stream from my ps4 but i do own an elgato 60hd so i could use that.
  4. I'm new to the forums and sorry if this has already been answered before, but since 2.8 is already available for pre-order through the PS Store does this means 1.5 + 2.5 will also have a digital release too? I can't find any official confirmation and SE hasn't replied to my support ticket yet regarding that question, due to a long story I can't buy physical copies anymore so since now its like mandatory for every PS4 game to get a digital release and since like I said 2.8 is coming digitally too then I assume the same thing will apply to the other collections? I heard there were some problems regarding Utada Hikaru's songs which prevented the first two collections to get a digital release on PS3, but I guess they fixed that now? And well I must say that KH recently introduced me to both Final Fantasy and Disney's worlds, I was never interested on them but for some reason I always wanted to try the KH franchise but never could. So after I heard the first two collections were coming to PS4 and in order to familiarize myself with the characters and worlds I decided to buy some FF games (7 and X-X2 only at the moment) and watch many Disney movies, and I must say I've been missing a lot because they are really great!
  5. I drew a picture of Namine! I'm happy with how it came out though I still want to get so much better! I can't help but feel bad for Namine. I wonder how she'll be involved in the next game. http://soulscore.deviantart.com/art/Memory-of-Namine-648825442
  6. Hey all. Just a quick query I've been thinking about for a while now, curious to know what everyone else's view on it is. When the remasters for PS3 were first announced, I was super excited about it (as many of you were as well, I'm sure). I never had a chance to play the Final Mix versions, plus the addition of trophies was very appealing (bit of a trophy addict) so it was a definite purchase for me. So, when I saw that they were being bundled together again and made for the PS4, I wasn't too sure what to think. On one hand, Kingdom Hearts is my favourite game series (hell, it's just one of my favourite things ever) and the collector in me says it's a no-brainer that I should get it so there's not something missing from my collection (which would bother the ol' mild OCD). On the other hand, the attempting-adult in me says that I don't want to waste my money for what is essentially the exact same thing that I've already got. To be honest, I'll probably cave in and get it anyway. That and 2.8 are what I'll be needing for the final waiting period for KH3. Would be good to hear other's thoughts on the matter! Thanks
  7. Okay as most of us know arleady, (and for those who don't: What are you wating for!?) A new Secret Ending was added to the HD cutscenes of Re:coded in 2.5 and there are some dissenting opinions on who one of the characters is. This scene takes place between the end of Re:coded and the beginning of 3D, as you can see by the presence of Lea and Isa and the fact that Ienzo is an adult. Now I want your opinions, is the person talking to Young Xehanort in this scene a time-displaced Braig from near the end of or sometime shortly after BbS or a reconstructed Xigbar after being being defeated in KH2? Some say it's Xigbar because it doesn't make sense for there to be two of the same character. Others say it's Braig because time travel. What about you? Personally, I'm in camp Braig. Not only does he have shorter hair with no streaks but even his face is younger here than it is in KH2 and 3D. If he was reconfigured, he should still have the same amount of age on his face. PS, Sorry if this has been postedbefore, but I don't think it's ever been a poll.
  8. I wanted to talk about this for awhile; get my thoughts out on these forums, and maybe we can get some good discussion going. This is regarding the three main characters of Birth by Sleep: Terra, Aqua, and Ven. I don't like them. Not in the sense that they're "annoying characters" or in context of the game they're bad; it's literally because I don't think Square did a good job on establishing their personalities, characteristics, and most importantly, the character relationships between the three of them. When we compare them to the original trio Sora, Riku, and Kairi, they just seem...bland and boring. Terra is a teenage boy with a lust for Darkness inside his heart. Okay, so what's next? We basically know nothing about him aside from that. He goes to a world, becomes a villain (usually due to stupid decisions), learns his mistake, then becomes a villain again in the next world. It's unbelievably frustrating. Ventus is the youngest of the trio, and boring as hell. He acts somewhat similarly to Sora, but just less...interesting. Sora had specific traits and qualities that made him somewhat unique amongst others, even if his personality is the typical cliche "naive happy-go-lucky child". Ventus is basically a slightly diminished version of Sora's personality...with nothing else. The only thing of significance that's related to him is Vanitas, and even then, that doesn't stop him from being forgettable. Aqua is perhaps the most level headed out of the three, but honestly she doesn't have many interesting traits either. Ironically though (despite her awful voice acting in the English version), she is probably the most interesting out of the three (that's not saying much though) as she's the only one with a logical mind, and has a motivation behind her actions as she's trying to lookout for Terra and Ven, being the only Keyblade Master of the three. That being said, I can deal with these problems. However, what I do have grudge against is the relationship between the three. Their dialogue is awkward, and their friendship just doesn't seem very legitimate. The game attempts to prove their friendship at the beginning by showing them interacting for a few minutes and having a few sparring matches. The problem is that it really doesn't show me anything or give me any clue that they may be friends. They try to make up for this lack of character development by adding it on later on in the form of flashbacks, but that doesn't show me anything either. It just seems that the game is trying to desperately tell you that they're friends, even if they don't seem to act like so. You can't do that. You can't just tell me, "these people are friends" and expect me to believe that. People said the ending of BBS was depressing and sad. For me, I didn't feel anything. I didn't connect with these people throughout the game. The game told me they were friends, alright, but that's not enough for me. You have to SHOW me that they are friends with each other, that they care about each other, and show me HOW their character interaction/development strengthens their friendship. Just telling me "these three people are friends" is not enough, because if I don't see it in the way they act, I won't give a *** about their characters. Terra is left only with his lingering sentiment in the form of an armor. Aqua is stuck in the realm of darkness. Ven lost his heart and is likely to not wake up for a very long time. So what? I don't care. I don't care about these characters at all. The game attempts to build this weak friendship, and expects me to care about their tragic fates and sacrifices, but in the end, all I see are three characters meeting a tragic end. And that isn't enough for me. Perhaps a perfect example of what character development between friends should be like is actually 358/2 Days. Say what you want about the repetitive story and gameplay; the bond formed between Roxas, Axel, and Xion was unbelievably well done. You can tell they were friends. You can tell they cared about each other a great amount, even thought they supposedly can't feel. The game does so well in conveying that sense of friendship to you that you genuinely cared about them. Why do many people say Xion's death is the saddest scene in the series? It's because you formed a strong connection with the idea that those three are friends, so you genuinely felt sad when Xion dies in front of Roxas's eyes. This matters in a game where friendship is such a heavy theme. It was almost vital that BBS nails this bond between their three main characters, because that's what makes the story intriguing and captivating. Unfortunately, the way they presented the characters were poorly done, and they just didn't spend enough time on the three character's relations with each other until they progressed the plot. That is where BBS's story falls; it attempts to build a friendship, rushes it and fails, then attempts to get you to care about the characters that you know little to nothing about.
  9. I feel like you all have your priorities wrong. If you try and defend the HD ReMixes and their issues, you are wrong. It is not an opinion of whether the game is good or bad. It is a fact that these problems exist, and that they show what happens if you rush Square and/or they get lazy. Don't do that to KH3. When people say "I disagree because I have never encountered any of these (glitches) (freezes) (crashes) that you mentioned," do you realize how poor of an argument that is? "Wow, I've never seen this happen before so it must NEVER happen right?" It's really when you say that to yourself is when you see how absurd and ridiculous your own words mean. I don't care if you've never seen a crash in 2.5 before, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's not a disc problem; it exists on every disc. Go Limit Form in the Xemnas 1 fight at the beginning and then revert after he puts the orb draining move on you. 9 times out of 10, your game will crash, which is absolutely unacceptable because that is an IN-GAME MECHANIC that should never result in something like a game crash. Summon Bambi in Monstro chambers and walk around in 1.5; the game will crash. Idle too long in a start menu; the game will crash. Random and consistent pause lags at the beginning of fights in 2.5; unbearably long loadtimes, most apparent in 2.5 (1.5 also has long load times but is often looked over due to the newly added cutscene skips). These are all real issues that exist. It doesn't matter if you've run into them 10 times or none, it doesn't matter if it doesn't affect you the slightest; the fact that they exist and CAN affect a player's experience is proof that it's an issue from Square's horrible porting and laziness. Please don't defend Square for making these errors. The Final Xemnas fight in 2.5 is not one time thing or a disc thing. It basically tells me that Square did not bother testing that fight (or even the entire game) at all, because if they did, there is no way they would miss something as obvious as that. It literally makes the fight on higher difficulties impossible without the use of spamming Limits for invincibility. You won't get anything from defending Square on these issues. So for a moment, just put down your fanboy/girl-ism and stop pretending Square has been doing a great job so far, because if you do, they'll do the same "great job" for KH3 and make it terrible and filled with bugs and glitches. Constructive criticism is never a bad thing; just because the game is part of your favorite series does not mean it is perfect. KH2FM (PS2) is my favorite game of all time in my favorite series of all time. Does that mean it's perfect? Not at all; it's filled with issues actually. So don't be so stubborn with the other games. Be accepting of the mistakes and problems it has, and work to have Square fix them. I just wanted to get that little bit out there. Thanks for reading
  10. I'm one of THOSE people. Yeah, you know, the one that everyone hates and calls a pointless pessimist and hates your negativity, and your criticism, etc etc etc I just can't be optimistic for KH3. Am I excited for it? I suppose, but will I think it will be an incredible, mindblowing, "best KH game" yet? Absolutely not. I have my reasons for being pessimistic. Firstly is because I've always been sort of a pessimist; for example, I would expect an F on a test and get a C back and feel not as bad; opposedly, those who expect an A and get a C back feel awful. Secondly is because of the usual "Osaka Team" ramble, which I'm sure most people are aware by now. Even after seeing 0.2 gameplay, closer analyzing lead me to realize some very bad signs in the gameplay, which, if it carries over to KH3, can potentially...suck. Thirdly is because I think DDD ruined the story beyond repair, and not even KH3 will be able to fix it. Time Travel...what were you thinking Nomura? I hate when people go like "Oh wow, KH3 is going to be perfect just because it's KH3" because you don't know that. Using the fact that "it's KH3" to justify the game is good is ridiculous. This is also the crap that leads to massive, complete disappointment if the game comes out and it's glitchy, unbalanced, and sucks. Now can I justify that it will suck? No, I can't. However, I think it won't be as good as people say it will be. I also think it won't live up to its hype. Then, I get told, "if you aren't 'excited' for KH3, you're not a true KH fan." So why should I even bother being a fan then, if that requirement is needed to be a "true fan"? To absolutely love every game Square makes even if it is plagued with issues and glitchiness? I'm not optimistic about the game because of the signs Osaka Team has shown. I'm not going to be optimistic. So stop trying to make me an optimist, because I'm not. That doesn't mean I hate KH at all; it just means I want to see my favorite game series do better than it recently has. I fell in love with KH1 and KH2, but it's pretty much been downhill from there. So hopefully, you can see where my pessimism comes from. I get told after the 0.2 gameplay released, "Look at that! There's no way KH3 will suck now, the gameplay is incredible!" Once again, a completely blatant and ridiculous claim. A few minutes of 0.2 gameplay will show you nothing about the insight of KH3. It will not "prove" the game is good. People who say 0.2 gameplay is amazing is looking at the surface again. It's literally BBS all over again. People loved BBS at first, but recently, it's been getting a bit more attention to the issues it had. Why did people love BBS so much at first? Because it was flashy and fun to play around with the combat. It looked cool. It's the same thing with 0.2. The graphics are pretty incredible in comparison to the previous KH games. The spells and attacks all look super awesome, and even physical combos seem a bit better than the ones in BBS and DDD. That doesn't prove anything though. You might get a super overpowered attack that completely negates everything else you have in the game. There might be glitchiness, freezes, crashes. There might be horrible boss AI that is designed after horrible in-game mechanics. You don't know any of this yet, so assuming 0.2 proves KH3 will be incredible is such a ludicrous claim that I can't possible comprehend how these people are reasoning this behind their heads. So what if KH3 comes out inevitably, and it's an actual good game? People will probably yell at my face, tell me that "you were wrong and a dumbass for having low expectations." They can say what they want. I'll be stoked obviously; I still want KH3 to do well. That being said, if it does turn out to be a bad game, none of us are benefiting from this. However, I'll have this extra cushion that I've prepared in my mind, that tells me, you knew this was gonna happen. You shouldn't ever expect so much. KH3 is overhyped. People are in love with it even though we've seen little to nothing of it. I don't see much glimmer of hope. I have no reason to be optimistic. Insult me, call me names, exclude me, hate me; do whatever you want. However, you will never change my opinion on this subject, so stop trying.
  11. As in least favorite to favorite KH games. I wouldn't count the HD Remasters as separate games, even though they do have a few more bugs in comparison to the original, they're basically the same thing. For me personally, it would go something like this: 1. Dream Drop Distance - stupidly complex story, repetitive gameplay, bad balancing, bad AI, disappointing set up to KH3 2. 358/2 Days - had high expectations but story turned out to be repetitive day-by-day event of 3 characters instead of entire Org XIII. Also gameplay was clunky. 3. BBS - similar to DDD but slightly better, and story was acceptable. It still has its gameplay issues like DDD though. 4. Re:Coded - only KH game imo to have made the Command Deck system correctly, but story was boring and insignificant. Also the autoscroller stages were boring. 5. CoM/ReCoM - I liked the card system, story was well done, but the room system got repetitive after a few floors. Love the addition of Reverse Rebirth though. 6. KH1 - the purest KH game, simple and raw gameplay, excellent story+incorporation of Disney. 7. KH2 - the best gameplay in the series, decent story, super fun and replayable I don't have unchained X in there because it's a mobile game, and I played it for about a month before I got the entire gimmick down and stopped playing. I don't know, something about it just doesn't make it seem like an actual Kingdom Hearts game and I just sorta drifted away from it. Also curious cuz my opinion is kind of unpopular. I guarantee some people are ready to flame me right now for putting BBS below ReCoded, but I have my reasons. It'd be cool to see all of your opinions though
  12. Sephiroth was a little harder this time around because I didn't have aerial finish equipped. I still had to have on Ability Ring and Skill Ring equipped, so I could have on combo boost. I tried many times to do this without accessories and Sephiroth becomes way too erratic if I didn't have them on. For some reason combo boost keys him down a little. I probably has something to do with the scaling. For those of you who keep saying that he's easier on Proud Mode than he is on Critical Mode, no he's not. Most people fight him at much higher levels than level 34. His patterns are more erratic and you do less damage to him at low levels on Proud Mode. Fight him at a low level then try saying that he's easier on Proud Mode. You have to know how to fight him and have very good timing and very good reflexes for this. Restrictions: Proud Mode Level 34 No Damage No Hit No Armor No Strength/Magic Boosting Accessories No Stat Boosters No Limit No HP Items No MP Items Growth Skills LV2 or lower only No Reflega Spam No Horizontal Slash Must do before Twilight Town Visit 3 No Beginning Game Magic Boost No Looping the Third Phase No Aerial Finish Skills Used: Guard Slide Dash Explosion Aerial Spiral Counter Guard High Jump LV2 Quick Run LV1 Aerial Spiral LV2 Scan Combo Plus Combo Boost
  13. Hi. I'm new to these forums. And I can't believe how long it took for me to find such an amazing thing exists on the interwebz. A place where you can talk all you want about Kingdom Hearts? Sounds like dream heaven. And so with that, I will start my long intro/rant thing. Probably gonna type this up over a few days, just because it's gonna be a looong post (and hopefully not too boring). So what exactly did I want to do for my first post ever? Make a review. Not just any short and crappy review; a review on every single KH game that I've played. So as you might expect, y'all who are reading this are in for a long one. Another incentive is because I've literally had people **** on my opinion before because they think *insert KH game* is the best, and apparently I'm the devil for not liking it or something. But hey, that's the internet for you, so I guess there's not much I can do about that. Therefore, I've chosen a forum full of people with the same nerdy addiction as I do to talk about these games Now keep in mind many of these things are heavily opinion based, so feel free to comment on your own opinions. For simplicity, let's go in chronological release date order (or something close to that, I don't remember the exact release dates for all the games). Also for simplicity, I'll be considering all Final Mixes and their original counterparts as one game, so if I say KH2, I'm also referring to KH2FM (PS2). However, I will be having a separate section for Remakes/HD Remasters (i.e. ReCoM, 1.5, 2.5). So yeah. Let's start. I guess. KH1 Hey look at that, I used bold and underlined font for organization. I am officially better at organization than 90% of the internet So yeah, going first with the game that started it all. The game that got me into this series, and perhaps even gaming in general. And it's pretty clear to see why; it's a good game. I think the most charming part about this game for me is the story and nostalgia. The story was so simplistic, yet you feel so involved in the Disney Worlds that it's as if you're actually in them, interacting with all your favorite Disney childhood characters. Combined with nostalgia, it makes this game unforgettable. And I'd say lots of people would agree with me. The gameplay is simplistic, but it shows that you don't need complicated game mechanics for a game to be good. Many people refer to this game as a button masher, and in some way, it was. However, it wasn't the "mash one button for senseless destruction" kind of button masher, but more so "mash one button carefully with strategy (or at least some degree of it)". The game was difficult. Exceptionally difficult as a child, and even now, it's not easy to go through the thing on Proud Mode. Yet, you learn stuff as you go on, and conquering fights always has this odd feeling of satisfaction to it. Remember Riku 2? Remember Dragon Maleficent? We've all failed those fights so many times as a kid that we've literally memorized the cutscenes. I remember jumping out of my chair and freaking out when I finally beat Riku 2 (despite having to grind several weeks to beat him). And something about that feeling of happiness and accomplishment will never leave me, which is perhaps why I love this game so much. So KH1 isn't flawless, and it does receive a fair amount of criticism from others, especially people who've just played it for their first times in the 1.5 HD Remaster. And it is completely understandable why too: the story pacing, looking at it now, is pretty bad. They throw you in the game, you know absolutely nothing, then you learn a little bit about who you are but everything is still really vague. Then you learn little to nothing for 20 hours of gameplay until you reach Hollow Bastion, where they just dump the story at you. So much story. And then you have some emotional scenes, get even more story, and then you reach the end of the game where it feels kind of rushed. Suddenly, Kingdom Hearts! Wait...what was Kingdom Hearts again? The game fails to explain to you clearly, and it leaves many questions unanswered. King Mickey makes his only debut in the final scene of the game, and it happens all so fast that when the credits roll around, many people are left confused and wondering what the **** just happened. Gameplay isn't perfect either, but this part is a bit more opinionated. Some may despise the button mashing feel the game has, but I for one love it and the feeling of senseless destruction you can have when you're overpowered. There's also strategy involved in it too; mashing X will not get you through the game on Proud Mode. World design is pretty wonky *cough cough Agrabah cough cough* and controls can be a LITTLE bit clumsy feeling (lol Atlantica). So I can see why these things can turn people away from the game. However, for me, this will always be a favorite of mine purely because of the fact that it was such a nostalgic factor in my childhood that even now, I'll never forget the fun I had playing through Kingdom Hearts 1. KHCoM/KHReCoM I'm gunna combine these two into one section, but I'll be talking about them separately (sort of): So firstly, GBA CoM. The fact that this is a handheld game turns people away from it. I've seen way to many people say "I never played original CoM because it was on the gameboy". However, if you haven't played it, I'd suggest giving it a try; especially if you've played and enjoyed ReCoM, because it is similar, but at the same time, different from ReCoM. Believe it or not, I like the original GBA CoM better than ReCoM, and I'll get to that in a bit. The general public's view of the Chain of Memories games are negative. People in general despise the new "card system", saying it was bad or poorly implemented, and that attacking things were too difficult in comparison to KH1. Yet, I've seen the same people complain about KH1 being a button masher. Wtf guys? Make up your damn mind. I liked the Chain of Memories games. Actually, I enjoyed them so much that I'd say it's on par with how much I like KH1. I loved the new card system; it gave the battle system a strategy and you needed legitimate skill to plan out your every move, unlike KH1 which had a more button mashing type of feeling. Some people don't like this type of gameplay, and that's completely fine. I for one, love the fact that you have your own choice of different attacks and cards. Mashing X will not get you through this game; instead, you must learn to strategize. That's another genius part about the CoM series: how they teach you to use your resources. I have to admit, this is easily the best game in the series in terms of how they introduce you to the card system. Every player starts off confused, but once you get past that stage, you start learning an unbelievable amount about how you can manipulate the cards to your advantage. And it's not like the game tells you everything; but the fights and enemies are designed in such ways that you're pretty much forced to figure out a way to go through the game as efficiently as possible for you. The story is very well done too, and the pacing was far better than KH1. After every floor, you learn a bit more about what the mystery of Castle Oblivion is, and as you near the end, the information comes a bit more rapidly. It was very well distributed, and made story enthusiasts keep wanting to play the game to find out what happens. So I've addressed the pros, now to move on to the cons: The gameplay does get somewhat repetitive, I'll give it that. For the most part, it's "go through rooms, get key cards, and progress on with story." Therefore, there's not much replay value in it. However, it's still fun to play once in a while. There are also balancing issues in ReCoM. In CoM on the GBA, sleights were powerful and used, but there was no one sleight that can overshadow everything. In ReCoM, there are quite a few overpowered chosen slights that will basically make other sleights obsolete, i.e. Lethal Frame, Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanum, Firaga/Blizzaga, etc. This argument however, can be countered with the fact that abilities like Sonic Blade and Lethal Frame can only be obtained mid-late game, so you can't exactly abuse their powers. Plus, bosses technically had the ability to break your cards too, so these weren't always the best choice (maybe except for Lethal Frame). There's also the possiblity to restrict yourself from using such overpowered abilities, as that won't make the game unplayable, just slightly harder (unfortunately, this is something you'll see in recent KH games that I'll get into.) So yeah, that's my view on the CoM series. I enjoy GBA CoM a bit more just because of the slightly more balanced gameplay, which means that I can actually attack bosses with different strategy instead of being forced to spam Lethal Frame over and over again. KH2 Oh boy, here we go. The Kingdom Hearts game that got the lowest score from IGN out of all the KH games they've reviewed. Buut it's IGN, and that means that we don't listen to them. KH2 Vanilla may be mediocre, but boy oh boy, KH2FM is by far, and I mean BY FAR, the best Kingdom Hearts game that we have, and probably will ever have. (No seriously, if KH3 tops this, I'll be very very impressed, but I'm not counting on it.) People liked KH2 for the most part, but some people also seemed to hate it. Looking at the game technically, it is the best designed game in the series. The balancing in KH2FM is almost perfect, and the combat is beautiful, fluid, and just fun to play (although that last part is an opinion lol). The post-game is by far the best in the entire series, and I don't think anyone can really argue against that. It's just such a masterpiece of a game, and makes you wish that all other KH games could be like this. That being said, it does have its flaws. No game is perfect, and KH2 is no different. But yeah, let's delve into the nitty gritty details of this game and see what exactly makes it so good and loved by many people. Storywise, the game does fine. It's not the most intriguing story in the series, nor is it the most well paced (although considerably better than KH1). It's story, in my opinion, is sort of in the middle. However, it does wrap up everything nicely in the end, and it also introduces my favorite enemies in the series so far, which are the Nobodies. Also, Organization XIII is sick, and no other villain will top these groups of villains for me. But hey, that's my opinion, so many people may differ. I don't have much else to say for story. It's good, but not amazing. What makes this game for me is the gameplay, which is also, the most important part of any game. Let's start off with the combat options. By the end of the game, you are given a TON of different options: Attack, 6 Magic spells, healing items, 4(5 in FM) Drive forms, 4 Summons, and a TON of Limits. There are so many options to choose from, and the types of combos you can pull of is endless. Not only that, but there are also physical combo modifiers as Abilities, allowing you to enhance your combos even more. Don't like the normal combo? Time a press of Square the finish with the ability "Finishing Leap" equipped, and you'll create a shockwave that will send enemies spiraling into the air. Jump up and press some more Square with "Horizontal Slash" and you can slash the enemies rapidly, dealing enormous damage, then ending your combo with several finishers completely obliterating the foe. ...sorry, I may have gotten a little bit carried away there. But you can see that you have a ton of options with just physical attacks alone. When combined with Magic, Summons, Drives, and Limits, you are basically given this endless array of options that you can choose from for the best situation. This is done even better in the FM version since they added new finishers and abilities, as well as Limit Form (which I'm gonna mention, is soooo good). The gameplay is balanced. You'll notice I said something about unbalanced gameplay for ReCoM; meaning, some sleights are so good that it overshadows other attacks because of their power, making these other attacks completely obsolete and useless. In KH2, Square has perfected this system of balancing. No attack, out of ANY of the options you have, are extremely overpowered and can work for every situation. Every single attack has a form of use, whether it's for taking care of a mob of enemies, or just a single boss, or a giant Heartless that appeared out of nowhere. The closest thing to OP in this game is Reflega, and even then, you obtain it at the dead end of the game, and it spamming it will not guarantee a win for any fight. Boss AI complexity is at its culmination in this game for the series. You might've heard of these things called "Revenge Value" or "Flinch Count" before. These things are essentially in-game counters to force the boss to behave in a certain way. It provides a form of strategy; the bosses cannot be infinitely stunned (for the most part), and spamming one attack will not net you a win. The boss retaliates according to these in-game counters, and reacting accordingly is part of the strategy. That's what makes this game's bosses so satisfying to beat. Say you come across an exceptionally difficult boss; you get completely destroyed the first time around. However, the more you attempt it, the more you learn about it, and as the more you learn about, the more you see how the boss works and retaliates to certain combos, and how many hits it takes for the boss to retaliate, etc. To an experienced player like me, this is unbelievably intricate and makes the game so much more fun to me. I know how bosses work, so a lot of the strategy comes from me doing certain combos, then reacting accordingly to avoid getting punished. The fluid style of gameplay helps this a lot, and all this stuff just mashes up into a big ball of amazingness and fun. I cannot emphasize enough how enjoyable it is to refight the Data Organization members in the Cavern of Remembrance; the reaction speed that I need, and the amount of strategy put into the fight is almost absurd, and I love every second of it. There are flaws for this game too, don't get me wrong. So far, I've been basically fan-gasming over the game and ranting about how amazing it is, but I'll also address the flaws. The exploration factor of KH1 is completely gone; worlds are flat and linear. They sort of make this up in the Cavern of Remembrance in the FM version (which is also my favorite area in the game), but the fact remains that the main story worlds lost a lot of their exploration to it, which may be disappointing to some. Some also say the game is too easy, although I'd beg to differ on that. You have the option to challenge yourself, and I've known absolutely no one who has every played KH2FM Critical Mode Level 1 say it was easy, even the most experienced of players. The thing is, once you dive into the small details and really get to understand this game, you start realizing how much though Square Enix had put into this game, that they will never do for any other KH game after this one. Let's just hope KH3 has just as much thought put into it. To be completely honest, if KH3 can even come close to getting to the level of intricacy in KH2, I'll be very satisfied with my product. For now though, KH2FM is by far my favorite game in the series....no...of all time. KH 358/2 Days Having not played this game for quite a while, I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Days is, for the most part, praised for its emotional story, but crapped on for its boring and repetitive gameplay. After playing the fluid gameplay of KH2, I have to say, I agree with most of the people. The story is nice, but also badly paced. The middle of the game is filled with repetition, which is also reflected in the gameplay. "Roxas does mission. He finishes. He eats ice cream with Axel and Xion." That's like 60% of the game right there, explained in a few sentences. It does give us a nice view of the bond Roxas created with Axel and Xion, but otherwise, it felt boring and repetitive. The gameplay is very repetitive. Select mission, do mission (which is always very similar to each other), finish. Repeat. The combat options are nowhere near as intricate as KH2, although it is a DS game so I can't expect as much as KH2. However, I did think the Panel system was a pretty cool idea, even if it was a bit annoying that you had to take up space inside the panels just to level up. Days kind of pisses me off. The game had such an amazing amount of potential behind it, but the way they made it just doesn't make it a fun game. Just think of the potential this game had; you're literally playing as the villains, and you get to see what exactly happened within the Organization. It would answer all your questions about the Organization in KH2, and you would see how Axel and Roxas became friends, and it would be a blast and an amazing game. And the game does that...to a degree. It does well in explaining the events of KH2, but the other Organization members felt like side characters opposed to actual characters that was involved in the story. In the end, you really don't learn much about the Organization aside from Roxas, Axel, and Xion, and it makes the whole game's potential feel wasted. KHBBS Birth by Sleep is loved by so many people. It is definitely ranked, by most, as one of their top KH games. The first time I played through BBS, I loved it. It felt so fun, all the different combat options, even if I had no idea what I was melding at the time. The Command Styles were like pseudo KH2 Drive Forms, and there were so many options that I couldn't hate them. And yet....something seemed off. The second playthrough of the game felt significantly less exciting for me. The game begins to feel repetitive, even boring... And then I played through Critical Mode, and the game just turned outright tedious. I barely finished that playthrough before I decided to never play the game again. What happened? What happened to this game that I thought may be competition for KH2 on my first playthrough, what exactly made me get tired of it so much more quickly than KH2? Well let's start off from the story. The story of BBS acts as a prequel to KH1, 10-11 years before the events of KH1 occurred. There are 3 main characters: Terra, Aqua, and Ven. The issue with these main characters are that...they aren't exciting. Perhaps its because I've stuck with Sora for so long, but I didn't have an issue with accepting Roxas as a good pseudo-main character; mainly because he had so much backstory and was a genuinely interesting character. Yet, I just can't seem to get myself to LIKE even one of the main characters in BBS. Aqua is a girl. A Keyblade master. Nothing more to it. Ventus is a boy, whose darkness comes in the being of Vanitas, and that he's somehow a chain between the legendary X-Blade. That's it, no deeper backstory or emotions. Terra, by far the most interesting, is nothing but a young lad that has darkness lingering in his heart. He's gullible, and eager. That's all we know about them. Compared to Sora, who we learn as the boy from Destiny Islands, chosen by the keyblade, with a personality of eagerness and courage, powerful, a true hero, happy, and all these other personalities, these 3 characters seem significantly more mundane. They don't feel like they're in the story at all, they're just sort of...there. For the story to work. The story also begins introducing ideas of previous Keyblade Wielders. Its really at this point that the idea of "wielding a keyblade" started to bother me in the direction it was going. I've seen people make this analogy before, and I'm gonna try to connect it here. Ever watched Dragon Ball Z? The Super Saiyan was a legend passed down milleniums. Goku manages to ascend to this level, this supposed legendary status that grants the Saiyan who obtains it an unbelievable amount of power, and the only supposed reason for his ascension was because of his unique peaceful personality and his compassion, added with his anger of losing a friend. This makes him special, and different from the other coldblooded and murderous Saiyans. It gives him this status, of being the only one who is able to achieve this, thus making Goku special. It makes the main character so much more intriguing, and really brings them to life. And then, as the show went on, more and more people began being able to transform into this "Super Saiyan". By the end of the Buu Saga, you see 7 year old kids transforming into one when having a sparring match with their mothers. And it sucks. It makes this supposed "legend" not very legendary, and makes the main character seem...normal. Granted, in DBZ, Goku does surpass everyone even more with even more absurd transformations "beyond" the level of a Super Saiyan, but I'm not gonna get too much in detail about that. After all, we're talking Kingdom Hearts here. So this BBS section has gone on for a long time and I haven't even began on story, so I should probably hurry this up a bit. Simply put; BBS did the same thing as DBZ with the Super Saiyan thing, except this time with Keyblades. In KH1, I loved playing as Sora because of the fact that he was special; he was a Keyblade wielder, the only one in the world with the power to vanquish the Darkness. And yet, in BBS, we discover Sora isn't special at all. There are literally thousands of other Keyblade wielders, that may or may not have done even greater deeds than Sora has. He's no one, just a normal one in thousands of others. This ruins my image of Sora's character, and makes me despise BBS for bringing something like this in. So those aren't all my issues with the story, but it's the general idea. The fact that characters are boring and uninspired, and the fact that it messes up my image of Sora, the main character I actually (used to) liked, just makes me hate the story of BBS. I will give it this though; even though I don't like the direction it took, it does act as a decent explanation of what happened before the main story of KH1 and KH2, and why everything happened the way it did. MOVING ON TO GAMEPLAY: So remember those balancing issues in ReCoM that I said KH2 has fixed and almost mastered? Well, they screwed it up again for BBS, and even worse this time. The reason why I felt the game got more and more boring the more I played it was because that I realized there were certain commands that were so good, that there was no use for using any other ones. The notable ones are: Thunder/Fire Surge, Magnet, Mine Square, Ignite, Sleep. That's all you need to beat the game. No fancy big commands that take up 2 slots; why would you bother making those when something cheaper, easier to make and find, is better in almost every way possible? Using the argument of "just don't use these commands" is a bad argument because the game offers you these options, therefore expects you to use it. What's more, is the fact that the game turns UNPLAYABLE on difficulties like LV1 Critical Mode without these commands. It's like the game is edging you on to spam these certain commands, just to make the gameplay more repetitive and boring. The reason why ReCoM doesn't suffer from the same problem is the fact that the game is playable with restrictions; opposedly, BBS turns impossibly tedious and difficulty without these overpowered commmands. The more I play this game, the more boring it gets, because of the fact that I'm just repeating the same actions over and over and over again, just to avoid dying on higher difficulties. Underneath all these types of commands that you can create and use, only few are useful for actual gameplay. The game gives you a false impression of how much combat option you have, and that, to say the least, kind of annoys me. Just a bit. Complex AI from KH2 is completely gone. Bosses randomly retaliate for no reason. Vanitas, one of the most infamous for this issue, is a stupid fight. Why? The fight goes like this: hit once-twice, dodge. Wait for opening, hit once or twice, dodge. Wow, what a fun boss that's so innovative. There is no strategy involved; you can't even learn from experience because the entire fight is completely random. That's just one example of the AI complexity being gone, but you can see how majorly it affects the gameplay. The fights went from strategic and adrenaline rushing to a clusterf*** of attack a few times, dodge, attack a few times, dodge....and all this makes you want to use these overpowered commands even more, just to end the fight quickly so you don't need to sit through this reptitious bull****. BBS makes me angry as you can see (lol), because, like Days, its combat system and story had so much potential, which was wasted in a badly designed and messy Command Deck. Unfortunately, the Command Deck doesn't stop here...a few other KH games after BBS seems to have also fallen in love with this system. KHRe:Coded I've actually never played Re:Coded before. Yeah I know, I know, there's gonna be thousands of people at my house's front door the next day burning my house down, "YOUR NOT A TRUE KINGDOM HEARTS FAN, HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF ONE OF US?!?!??!?!" In all seriousness though, because I haven't played the game, I can't exactly judge it. However, from what I've heard, Re:Coded actually does the best job with the Command Deck in any KH game we've seen so far; it's far more balanced than the other KH games with the Command System, and actually has some interesting Commands. The story is the story, and yes, I know its insignificant and has little to nothing to contribute to the actual lore of Kingdom Hearts itself. Sooo that's that. Nothing more to say, as I can't exactly judge for myself. Maybe one day I'll get my hands on this game and play it, and then I can make a final judgement about how much I like/hate the game. For now though, I'm gonna keep silent. KHDDD Ohhhh boy. Dream Drop Distance. This game is a woozy, I'll tell you that. It also happens to be my least favorite Kingdom Hearts game! WOO! Basically, imagine all the issues I have with BBS. Then add "Confusing and stupidly complex story", "screwing up my image of Sora even more", "even WORSE balancing issues than BBS", and "even WORSE Boss AI than BBS", and you have Dream Drop Distance on a silver platter. I'll try to make this brief, as I explained most of my issues with the Command Deck I had in the BBS section. STORY! Time travel. Why why why why why. WHY OSAKA. WHY WOULD YOU INCLUDE TIME TRAVEL. Time travel was NEVER hinted at before in any games, so therefore, its a great element to add to the story right? No Osaka, it makes it seem like you're desperately grasping on to an idea just to extend the story even more. The complexity of the story in DDD is absurd, and even I, as a seasoned KH player who has played MOST of the games in the series multiple times, barely understand what's going on. There are plotholes, inconsistencies, and nothing makes sense. The story worsens my image of Sora further. So it turns out he isn't a Keyblade master after all. HAH. I've been playing as a joke the entire series? Thanks Osaka, really appreciate it. So according to DDD logic, you need to take the "Mark of Mastery" exam to become a "true Keyblade Master". Otherwise you're just a wielder. And anyone can be a wielder, as shown by the thousands in BBS. Oh yeah, also Lea is a Keyblade Wielder now. WTF?! Sora conquered thousands of obstacles, saved the world multiple times, defeated thousands of Heartless, took down an ENTIRE ORGANIZATION of powerful Nobodies, and now you're telling me that he has to take a Mark of Mastery exam to be truely qualified? Must I remind you that Aqua became a Keyblade Master by attacking balls? This is absolutely ridiculous, and it reduces Sora to nothing but a normal person. And why would I want to play as a normal character with no unique characteristics anymore? It's like they turned the "special-heroic Sora" from KH1 to a "BBS character", and that angers me to no end. Oh yeah, you know what else was never before mentioned in any games? Organization XIII had hearts. It was all a LIE. I'm not gonna even go into detail on that one, I think it's pretty self explanatory. GAMEPLAY! Balloon Balloon Balloon. No enemy can withstand it. No command is better. No combat option is better. Level 1 Critical is impossible without Balloon. Good game design Osaka, take BBS and make it even worse. Didn't think that was possible. Bosses all have brick wall now, meaning they cannot be staggered. They're like a chunk of rock, just sitting there taking damage and attacking. This prompts you to use Balloon even more, because Balloon is like one of two commands in the entire game that has a high stagger rate. It's as if Osaka team was like "hey, lets create the game in such way that everything revolves around this one move, and that if you don't have it, then lol have fun dying." IT. DOESN'T. MAKE. THE. GAME. GOOD. *By Osaka, I'm referring to Osaka Team, aka the team in Square Enix that created ReCoM, BBS, DDD, and the HDRemixes. I also affectionately call them as "Downfall of KH-Team". I get a bit emotional when talking about DDD, because it pisses me off so much. So apologies for the anger, let's move on now shall we? KH1.5 HD ReMix KH1 is relatively unchanged, aside from the addition of EXP Zero in Proud Mode, which, as the name suggests, you don't gain any EXP with the thing equipped. This makes it possible to do a Level 1 playthrough of the game, and it is quite challenging, but also somewhat tedious as bosses can take a very long time to beat. It's pretty obvious to see that KH1 was clearly not designed around having to play at Level 1 (unlike KH2). Also KH1 has cutscene skips now, so that's awesome. ReCoM is unchanged too I believe, so nothing much to say there. Days cinematics was cool, although I wish they included some fight scenes in there. Luckily, they fix this in the 2.5 version of Re:Coded. One thing that does bother some people however, is the stability of the game. In the JP version of KH1.5, 1FMHD is very prone to crashing. This isn't a disc problem like some people claim it to be; it happens in all copies of the game. It's pretty obnoxious to most people, especially if they made a lot of progress without saving. All this is a result of poor porting and just carelessness/laziness from Osaka Team. KH2.5 HD ReMix 2FM has finally been released in America, and now every gets to experience the full glory of this wonderful game. Unfortunately, the game is plagued with crashes, glitches, bad loading, bugs, and instability. Sure, they're minor issues, and most likely won't interfere with most people's view of the game, but it still does take away from the full experience that KH2FM gave to players. Flaws, however minor, are flaws nonetheless, and can be fixed through testing and not-being-careless. Once again, lazy porting from Osaka Team. I really wish they weren't in charge of KH3.... BBSHD retains its issues that the original PSP had, but it is an upgrade in graphics and controls are significantly better and more responsive. They also buffed EXP Zero in the game; due to complaints about Level 1 chip damage in BBS PSP, the HD version now has some hidden properties of EXP Zero, like in KH1. For example, certain combo attacks deal more damage with EXP Zero equipped. However, they did go a little bit overboard; to the point where certain attacks are so powerful that not even Beginner Mode can top it. If you've never seen Peter Pan D-Link's Swordbill finisher, look it up right now. It's pretty ridiculous. Overall, I like it way better than the PSP, but that doesn't eliminate its issues. Re:Coded movie was nice, and had some nice cinematics. Cool addition. KH2.8 HD ReMix One can only hope they at least attempt to fix the issues with DDD. And don't make it worse. If they nerf Balloon but don't do anything else, that'll make the game impossible to play on Level 1 and make it even worse. KH3! In my wildest dreams, this game tops KH2FM. But alas, only time will tell. And FINALLY, I am done. This is literally the longest post ever (I better get a world record for this); I was not expecting this to go on for so long, but here we are. I spent approximately 4 hours on it. Hope you guys have a fun read (or not because it's so long). Let me know of your opinions. With that, I need some sleep and rest for my fingers, peace ~
  14. After playing through Terra's story for the third time (second on 2.5) I find myself wondering. We where told in KH2 that a person is made up of 3 things, heart, body and soul. where does "will" play into that? Clearly its a separate entity from any of those, as Lingering Will is able to operate autonomously after Xehanort invaded Terra's heart and took over his body and soul.We can also assume that Lingering Sentiment is a similar entity, a being made up of something Vanitas left behind. "Will" is also mentioned in regards to Nobodies. So I'm wondering, what role does the "will" play in a complete person? Also, did anyone else encounter a KH2 style Reaction Command sequence in the battle between Terra and Master Xehanort? Because this is the first time it's ever happened to me. Oops, I just realized I put this under 1.5 rather than 2.5, could a mod move it for me please?
  15. I've always had this sort of thought in the back of my head. I chose KH2 as the game for this topic since I figured the idea of just "best KH players" would be way too broad to really figure out (I mean for crying out loud there are probably over 20 games in the series if we count remakes/final mixes). KH2's my favorite KH game, and probably one of the most popularly played out there too, so I figured KH2 would be a good game to compare. This is also probably because KH2 is the most "skill-required" KH game in the series and also has the most complex mechanics, so it would be an excellent way of seeing who truly is "the best". (also pls don't argue with me on the mechanics of KH2 being un-complex compared to other KH games, because I can prove you wrong in every way...and plus, this discussion really isn't about that so I'd rather not get off-topic) Kingdom Hearts 2 isn't really a competitive game; not like games like Smash of course. So it is reasonably difficult to keep track of who's "the best" Kingdom Hearts 2 player ever, especially since everyone interprets "best KH2 player" differently, unlike Melee where there's an obvious group of top players. Soooo I've decided to make a topic on this for discussion: Who would you consider the BEST KH2 player in the world? Or if there's more than one, who are they? So just as a point of reference, when I say "best", I really just mean those who have so much experience in KH2 that they are able to accomplish feats "casual players" can't necessarily do (i.e. beat the game on Level 1 with restrictions, complete understanding of game mechanics and uses it to their advantages, playing through the game as fast as possible, etc.) Also I don't want popularity to be a factor; there are some pretty good KH2 players out there with a lot of potential as "the best" but they're not really well known because...well they just aren't. SO if you do know someone who is a god at KH2 but isn't really as well known as some of the bigger KH people, then list them down. The more the merrier One last thing: I'm referring specifically to GAMEPLAY skill, not knowledge of lore. If it was knowledge of the story, I'd have included all KH games, but for now I'm mainly interested in gameplay of KH2 specifically. So don't come listing some crazy dude who memorized every single line in every single cutscene in the entire KH series or something But yeah that's all I've got to say. Would be interesting to see some of your opinions on this
  16. Hey guys, this is gonna be my first post on this forum so bear with me here Anyways, I always wanted a way to address this to the Kingdom Hearts community since I love its games so much, so I figured, what better way to do this than to post to a Kingdom Hearts forum? Anyways rant time (this is gonna be long, so apologies beforehand): So KH2. For some reason, it receives a lot of hate from fans. People have called it the worst game in the series, and IGN rated it the lowest out of any KH game (although to be fair, no one takes IGN seriously). Either way, it still kind of bothers me. I understand the whole "everyone has their own opinion" thing, and it's absolutely fine that you don't like KH2; the thing that bothers me are the reasons people use to back their opinion up. So I guess I'll just go through KH2's aspects one at a time, so this is turning more into a review at this point I suppose: Story - It's completely understandable that people don't enjoy KH2's story as much as KH1; it sort of shifts away from the whole "Disney character interaction" and focuses more on the whole "overall story" of Kingdom Hearts. I don't find this to be bothersome, but I do understand if people don't like this story as much as some of the other games. Nevertheless; as important as story is, we still want to look at the core element of every game: the gameplay. Gameplay - Why do people hate the gameplay? Well here's a couple of the most common reasons I see: -Too much button mashing -Too many cutscenes interrupting pacing of gameplay -Too easy (which is apparently due to button mashing) -Boring beginning game -Not much exploration -Reaction Commands make the game way too easy Okay so from those few points I compiled, I will say that some of them are very true. However.... -Too much button mashing: Okay so this one is completely false. Anyone who says KH2 is a button masher either played on Beginner Mode or was extremely overleveled throughout the entire game. Here's an idea: try playing on Proud or Critical, or if you're really up to it, go on Level 1. I'd like to see you try and mash X and beat the game. Guess what? It's not gonna happen. As a matter of fact, you'd get completely destroyed. -Too many cutscenes interrupting pacing of gameplay: I will admit this one has some point to it. KH2 has a lot of cutscenes...a lot. And I see why this may turn people away from the game. However, I will also say that they added in a cutscene skip option after KH1....so if you really don't care about the story, then skip away. -Too easy: Once again, KH2 is not an easy game just because you were level 50 in the first visit of Beast's Castle on Beginner mode. Guys. They give you an option to choose a difficulty at the very beginning. If you find Beginner or Standard too easy, go Proud or Critical. It's understandable if you find Critical easy; those who are experts at the game do (notably some speedrunners/no damage challengers). However, the difference is if you were that good at the game, you wouldn't call it "easy" or a "button masher" because you would understand the concept that not everyone is as skilled as the game as you were. I think this argument out of all of them bothers me the most; when people call KH2 easy, I'm just like "hey why don't you play the game on LV1 Critical and then tell me if it's easy or not." -Boring beginning game: I can't argue with this one; the Roxas section in KH2 was boring. Sure, first time playthrough it was interesting and it acted as a pretty good way to get used to the controls, but everytime after that, you were just trying to rush and get to the fun part of the game where you play as Sora. Plus, Roxas sucks as a character in combat. As intriguing as his character may be in terms of story, his basic three hit combos are weak and pretty crappy compared to Sora's attacks. -Not much exploration: This one is sort of an opinionated argument. Personally I actually don't mind if the game is too linear, but I understand some others do want the "exploration" part, especially after the exploration factor that most loved in KH1. So understandable, but I don't think it's a reason to hate the game. In addition, the Final Mix/HD ReMIX version added post-game dungeon Cavern of Remembrance that you can explore your life away since it's such a huge area. In fact, that area sort of reminds me of KH1's exploration; only much more fun, especially if you have all growth abilities equipped. -Reaction Commands make the game way too easy: Uh what? Since when did Reaction Commands make the game easy? People's main argument supporting this is something along the lines of "you use reaction commands every fight, giving you invincibility frames and easy damage to a boss". True...but that by no means makes the game easy. You get some damage in. But you can't spam it for infinity invicibility (minus Limits if you count those...but even those can't last forever), and you're not gonna beat the game with pure reaction commands. There's literally only one fight in the entire game that I can think of that abuses Reaction Commands, and that is the 1 thousand Heartless battle. Even then, if you're playing on Critical Mode and Level 1, that fight is still terrifying and you can still die at any time. So this argument of "RCs making game too easy" is a complete lie. So I realize this post has gone on for way too long and probably no one will read this, but I just wanted to get this out of my system tonight. Gonna finish up on why I think KH2 is the best Kingdom Hearts game by far: It's addicting. I know, it's an opinion, but I'll back this up. We have a variety of options to choose from, and I think what really pulls me in is the fact that these many options that you can choose from all have usages. As useless as you may believe Summons to be in KH2, they're really not. Ever tried Stitch who infinitely restores MP so you can spam magic? Or maybe Chicken Little who draws in enemies from far away and stuns them with his firecrackers as well as dealing minor damage so you can go in for the kill. It's amazing how useful summons can be, so try them out before you insult them for how useless they are. Besides that, we also have a ton of other options: 6 Magic spells, a ton of Limits, 5 Drive Forms, a bunch of new abilities and combo modifiers that change up your combos, etc. They did an excellent job with balancing; though not perfect (aka Reflect being overpowered), it's definitely the best they've done in any KH game so far. Before you flame me, I have proof: KH1 has too little combat choices to really compete, ReCoM had Lethal Frame which was insane on almost all bosses, BBS had easy to get commands like Ignite/Mine Square/Surges that annihilate enemies, ReCoded was ReCoded (lol), and DDD had Balloon, the most overpowered command to come into existence ever. Soooo I think KH2 takes the cake on this one. And before you argue that this doesn't really matter, think of it like this: If you had a choice between using 20 fancy attacks each with their use or 2-3 overpowered attacks that you just spam to kill everything, which one would you choose? I don't know about you guys, but I'd definitely pick the 20 attacks. I wanted to cover this topic, just because not many KH players know about this: complex AI. To be specific, invisible in-game counters that depict how bosses retaliate or attack (i.e. Revenge Value, Action Count, Flinch Count). These are quite complicated so I'm not gonna bother explaining too much, but I will give a brief overview. Have you ever wondered why spamming Horizontal Slash on Sephiroth will eventually force him to teleport out and retaliate? That's because you've struck his Revenge Value, forcing him to retaliate to your attacks. These things keep bosses from being combo-ed forever, and also adds a lot of depth to the gameplay; by analyzing Revenge Value and how bosses respond to you attacks, you can make up your own strategy to defeat them (this is especially prominent on harder difficulties like Critical Mode). No other KH game has a system like this; the closest is probably KH1 which had a minor and simplistic system for countering on certain bosses. I'm pretty much done with my rant now, and if you actually read all this, congrats Now keep in mind that this is all my opinion, but I did indeed back it up with reason. If you disagree with anything, feel free to let me know and why, because I would love to hear some of your opinions out there. Now that I'm done, I think I'll be off... (Also did I mention that KH2 has a kickass post-game? Mushrooms, Cavern, Data Org, Terra...so many things to do!)
  17. I FINALL DID IT!! i've been having some much trouble with him this might seem like a big deal to many of you guys but to me this is the hardest thing i've done and beaten in the game, it was so tense during his last few bars of health i had no potions or ethers left i was just running around dodeging and hoping he wouldn't do his grab move on me but once i defeated him the feels were real (now i just have to defeat the other org members, i hate you Larxene and Marluxia) also i don't know if this is the general opinion but i think First Xemnas is 100 times harder then Final Xemnas, Final Xemnas moves are easy to predict but if fail to dodge he will punish you HARD but First Xemnas i can never predict what move he'll make especially when he walks slowly towards you. After a few tries i figured out a stratergy which made predicting what move he'll make a lot easier but he is still way harder then Final Xemnas IMO Also if anyone wants to know i was level 83 on standard mode (because i'm a casual)
  18. As some of us may be aware of the recent 2.9 "leak" which actually ended up being a hoax, it was rather disappointing to me. Of course it was all speculation as to what would be in it, but I'm pretty sure we all thought it was going to be a collection of previous titles. Then I started thinking about it. I'm pretty sure Square is a lot further into development then we might think. Could it be possible they are working on/planning to work on a port of 1.5 and 2.5 for a KH3 Collector's Edition? It would sure make a lot more sense than releasing a standalone port, whereas some fans may have already bought the PS3 versions. For me, I don't own a PS3 to play 1.5 and 2.5. I'm sure I'm not the only Kingdom Hearts fan looking forward to KH3 that doesn't. A collector's edition might actually be a good idea on their part due to this. It was just a thought thats been pondering me for a while and I wanted to see what you guys think of it. If they are working on a Collectors Edition, let's just hope it's not a "cinematic" collection of previous titles. Gross.
  19. In the beginning of KH2 we are given two chances to pick a weapon of our choice. The first time, with the struggle bats, I chose the hand guarded struggle bat(defense+1). Great. Then, I come to Roxas' dive to heart and am given a choice between a Shield, Sword, and Wand. Shield for protection, Sword for might/strength(im blanking on the term that was used), and Wand for wisdom and intellect. The guides I have looked at say that choosing one of these gives an advantage or plus in defense, strength, or magic. Others say it's what decides the order of abilities we learn as we level up(I don't doubt that). However, when I chose the shield and got the power of the guardian (um, YES please), I checked my stats and they went from (stats as of after I chose the hand guarded struggle bat-defense+1) strength 5, magic 6, defense 3; to Strength 5, Magic 7, Defense 3. Can anyone explain why my magic went up if I chose the shield that grants the guardian/defense level up/strategy, without leveling up(after choosing Roxas is still only level 1) Granted, perhaps I remembered my stats wrong. Either way my question is relevant all the same. I hate to fret about stats and such, but I chose Critical Mode...I want to make sure that choosing the same "genre" weapon doesn't either not give us a possible boost that we might get if we chose say Hand guard(+1 defense) and then Sword(+1 strength). Thank you for your insights! If you have clarifying questions feel free to ask:)
  20. Some of you may be questioning this already, but hear me out. You all know that being a committed fan, or at least a fan who wants to be committed, of Kingdom Hearts (before the release of 1.5 and 2.5 HD ReMix) needed to jump through a lot of hurdles to follow the franchise. The original started off on the Playstation 2, then it jumped to the Gameboy with COM, then back to the Playstation 2 with KH2, and then it jumped to both the DS, PSP, and 3DS for Days, then BBS, then Re:Coded, and finally DDD, respectively. That would mean you have needed to play seven games on five different consoles, and depending on your financial situation, that might be a bit of a hassle. I mean, really, if you were the richest people alive back then, you'd still need to pay quite a pretty penny to get all this stuff, especially brand new. Obviously, we don't have that problem anymore. We have the 1.5 and 2.5 HD ReMixes. Granted, it's not perfect, considering that Days and Re:Coded aren't playable and DDD is being heavily debated on if it'll get a remaster or not, but for now, it stays on 3DS. So now you only need three games on two different consoles. A much better deal, right? Right. That is until KH3 was announced to be on Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Now, I'm not complaining, because I think at this point, KH3 can benefit a lot from being on current-gen consoles and whatnot. However, I think we as fans still deserve a little commendation. Why do I say that? Because Playstation Now exists. Playstation Now, if you don't know, is a currently-being-tested streaming services that allows Playstation users to stream games (if I remember correctly, I could be wrong) that were originally released for Playstation 3, Playstation 2, and the original Playstation. In that scenario: I think it would make sense if, maybe around the time that KH3 does come around (in about twenty years or so), that the two HD ReMixes will be available to purchase through PS Now. That why you could play those as well as KH3 all on one console, that being the PS4. I know there are a lot of problems with this idea: First off, PS Now is sort of iffy with some people right now. To be fair, it's still being worked on so we should at least try to put our best foot forward with it. Also, there's the issue of cheating out Xbox fans, considering KH3 will also be available for Xbox One and yet there are no Xbox 360 releases for the HD ReMixes. Plus, DDD is still up in the air in terms of re-releasing that game as well. The only argument I could honestly pose to those problems would be: well, sorry, but tough luck. I mean, unless Microsoft cares enough about their gamers not getting the full KH experience or if somehow, DDD is allowed to be re-released on current-gen consoles other than the Wii U without sparking even more debate, there's nothing you can really do about it. But that's not the point. My point is that we have a way, for the most part and definitely more of a way than we've ever had before, to play the entire KH franchise without shifting through another console cycle. So why not go for it? What harm could it really do? Leave your thoughts below.
  21. So I've been on this site for a long time, but I never really made an account, and one day I got bored and worked up the courage, and well, here I am. I'd just like your opinions on a challenge run I drafted for both Birth by Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts 2. Please tell me if I should add or subtract anything, or just keep it the same! Challenge run KH2FM: -Critical Mode -Kingddom Key only -Unequip any party healing abilities -No Limits -No Limit Form (unless grinding toward obtaining dodge roll.) -No growth abilities (except dodge roll) -No reflect -All rules apply until the final boss is killed, anything afterword is considered to be endgame material, and endgame rules are subject to change. Challenge run BBSFM: -Critical Mode -Original keyblade only, exp. Earthshaker, Rainfell, Wayward Wind. -Only use abilities that coincide with characters element. Terra = earth, Ventus = air, Aqua = water. Rule subject to change if not plausible. -Only two Cure spells per character -No counters -All rules apply until the final boss is killed, anything afterword is considered to be endgame material, and endgame rules are subject to change.
  22. I'm having a hard time deciding if I want 2.5 or Majora's Mask 3d. I have about 40 dollars. 2.5 is coming in a few days, but a friend promised me that he will let me borrow his copy of the game, but I may have to wait a few weeks before that even happens. Majora's Mask 3d has been confirmed to come out in the spring of next year, which is sort of a long time to wait, but it may be worth it because nintendo said that they changed up some boss fights in the game so it's another reason for me to save up the 40 dollars and wait until Majora's Mask 3d to come out.
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