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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Feb 2, 2019 5:20:03 GMT
Ok, I’ve barely played the game so far, but already I’ve reached a title card reading “Kingdom Hearts II.9.” 2.9!!! For God’s sakes, Square...
Anyway, looking good so far.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Feb 7, 2019 2:42:08 GMT
Okay, so I finished Olympus, and that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. The game’s playing fantastically. It’s gone full blown Dragon Ball this time around, with Sora pulling off wall runs and insane magic stunts, and the combat playing like a cool fusion of II and Birth by Sleep. And the boss battles are so massive and fun. Eventually I’m expecting the game to succumb to the usual convoluted storytelling, but I’m having a ton of fun so far.
Still, “II.9,” why, Square?
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Feb 12, 2019 1:38:37 GMT
Toy Story world is incredibly fun, if repetitive due to the sheer size and length of it.
The cutscenes in this game are unbearably long. Metal Gear Solid looks humble by comparison, because the scenes in this game not only are long (what takes 8 minutes to play out could be cut down to 2), but they are constant. To the point I was audibly asking “when do I get to play?” It’s more of the usual KH nonsense, which at this point is in one ear and out the other. Why can’t I just swing my sword key with Buzz and Woody?
But to make up for it, the gameplay and combat are absolutely stunning so far. I’m having a ton of fun with the variety of attacks I have, with certain keyblades possessing unique power-ups to make the battles flashier. There’s one that turns into double blasters, and one that turns into a giant rocket hammer. And there’s been some great level specific gimmicks so far, with me going Pacific Rim and boarding these mech toys to beat up enemies. I can also use reaction commands based on Disney’s theme park attractions, that are beautiful to watch play out, and incredibly fun to mess around with. That’s without mentioning some of the mini-games I have available to try, like one where I get to cook new food with Remy (dubbed here as “Little-Chef”), which requires me to find ingredients in different worlds, and the dishes provide me with special boosters.
So I’m having a blast playing it, but it’s also frustrating me.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Feb 18, 2019 4:29:10 GMT
Tangled-Land is amazing, though because of one specific area that requires Rapunzel’s long hair to swing from platform to platform, that section becomes unplayable after her hair is cut.
Monsters, Inc land is also great, but after a while, it’s environments can get repetitive.
Next up is Arendelle.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Mar 7, 2019 2:57:28 GMT
The Pirates of the Caribbean world is the single greatest level in Kingdom Hearts history. I would pay to see Square Enix make this into its very own game (minus the inexplicable hunt for the crabs).
And one other criticism with this game, if you haven’t seen the films these levels are matched to (the Caribbean one is specifically recreating At World’s End), you will be totally lost. It basically assumes you’ve seen these movies and have context, and doesn’t even try to feel coherent as their own self-contained stories, something prior games did much better. The only levels so far independent of that trapping are Toy Story and Monsters, Inc., and even the Monsters world is a direct sequel to the movie.
But holy crap, is this game still ridiculously fun to play. Being able to sail a ship across the Caribbean, fire on ships captained by the Heartless, and make landfall discovering treasure on new islands is all kinds of incredible. At least it’s better than Sea of Thieves.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Mar 16, 2019 21:29:25 GMT
Finally. It took a month and a half, but I finally finished this game. And things got EPIC! The final bosses where the world got all Doctor Strange twisty-turny on us, the epic choir when laying the final blow, the ending that made me tear up a couple of times, it’s so good, you guys! Could have been much simpler leading up to it than it was, but it tied up loose ends pretty satisfyingly.
Well, mostly. This was supposed to answer all my questions, and yet it just raised others! Can we not have a definitive, self-contained ending in this series? Or if we have to have sequel bait, can it be kept separate, and not worm it’s way into the main story? Must everything be so complex?
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Mar 17, 2019 21:38:29 GMT
The more I reflect on this game, though, the more the story is absolutely preposterous. And I really started to lose it over Master Xehanort. So his whole motivation this whole series was to restore balance to the worlds, that the light had given in to the darkness, and thrown the order out of whack, so he insisted on using Kingdom Hearts to wipe the slate clean, and let the world’s begin anew.
BULLSHIT! This character has been the REASON for all of this! He caved into his own darkness, terrorized his original pupils with cruelty, coerced a student to kill Master Eraqus, created the Heartless, terrorized several Keyblade masters over the years, abused time travel (just go with it) to bring evil past versions of himself into the mix, killed several prominent characters without any sense of remorse, AND LOOKS LIKE THE MOST EVIL MOTHERFUCKER ON THE PLANET!
And yet, nah, he was just a good guy with misguided intentions. He’s totally cool, you guys. You just don’t get to see that often.
Im sorry, but no. This villain didn’t deserve redemption. He didn’t earn it. That is an infuriating cop out. Game’s still good, but this series peaked after KH2.
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