You’ve kind of made me want to dust off my copy of GBA CoM. The thing is I just noticed I have two save files on each character, none of which is of a finished game, but each guy has a save file that’s near the end. Don’t know, maybe I should rush them for the clear data, then replay I and then CoM from scratch properly, with all the extra cards
I can't help but always feel like Kingdom Hearts is like this, just imagine this being Nomura. In CoM news, I finished Halloween Town, which turned out to be a great leveling spot, though I've learned to really hate the flower heartless cause the little bastards love to throw out high numbered cards to break me out of combos since my deck still has a few low level cards. Oddly enough, the story of this world really segues nicely into the events of the sixth floor and the first fight with Larxene. I always remember her being a handful, and then I get to the fight and it's much worse than I remember. Took a few tries but finally bested her. I think they gave her a new attack as well, but it's been ages since I last played so I probably just forgot. I kind of forgot she's a pain because she's a long range fighter. Doesn't help that trying to break her cards sometimes involves waiting for her attack animation to start which is a pain when she's summoning lightning which comes out fast and can stun lock you. With her down, I can tackle the next set of worlds. Will probably go Atlantica, Neverland, 100 Acre Woods, and finally Hollow Bastion. I should also start being able to find Room of Rewards cards, so I'll need to backtrack to the lower worlds to grab those prizes as well. With that said, I don't want to linger too long, and hope to start Riku's part in a few days.
Yeah, and judging by what I know about III, I think it stays vague, though there is yet another function it plays apparently. Honestly though? I don’t mind. I enjoy that there’s an element to this cosmology that is kind of beyond comprehension in universe. And even the people who want to use KH in some way shape or form don’t feally know but just have a strong hunch that X thing will work - but then it kinda does but not really? It’s great
Well you're welcome? The PuPu one only bothers me because I'm pretty sure he was just trolling me the whole time. It did broaden my horizon on the fact that the nature of KH has never really been made clear at all.
The discussions are one of the best parts of being a KH fan though I don’t think I’ve mentioned how happy I am that you and I can talk at length about KH again yet
Yeah, I don't really remember too many people dissing BbS outside of it being for the PSP and not KHIII. I still feel like part of this change up really has to do with the change in gamer culture, and the fact that KHII's stronger action game elements caught onto the speedrunner/skill challenge run community that Twitch has made popular. It's interesting how shifts in gaming trends can change the opinion of a title. Wonder if that community might bring up FFXII's standing with the fanbase. Yeah, just watch this exchange between Data Roxas and Data Sora. You can tell Jesse loves playing Roxas and he gives it his all when he gets to play him. As for the old discussions on KH2, all I ever remember is that long ass thread between PuPu and myself debating the nature of Kingdom Hearts and how he was wrong about there being two of them in KH2. Ugh... so many wasted evenings on that discussion.
Honestly, I’ve always enjoyed Jesse McCartney’s performance as Roxas, but I have heard he’s better than ever in re:coded HD. He doesn’t really have spoken lines aside from some grunts in the game proper though And yeah, totally agreed on all counts. I think there’s always the added stigma of “this is a spinoff” or “lol psp”, as if only big consoles can have good games on them. While it’s understandable how in the past people would just ignore these entries because they’re on different systems, now they’re all in one place and you’d think people would appreciate them more. But alas, the stigma remains. Tbh though I still remember the days when discussions on this very forum took place that debated whether or not KHII really is an even better sequel because some people didn’t like some of the changes. Not a single person had a bad thing to say when BBS came out though. It just really goes to show how much sensibilities change - or how big a difference a FinalMix can make.
I feel you need to have a love-hate relationship with Kingdom Hearts to enjoy it. I'd be kind of concerned if I met a fan who loved it unconditionally and felt every entry was perfect. Once you start getting more of your abilities, Days starts to fall more into place. It's a bit like KH1 where you start off incredibly underwhelming but end game you're kind of a death machine. I was watching a vid where they did the Data Sora vs. Data Roxas fight and the two things that struck me the most is how good of an actor Roxas VA is, and how they basically ripped the sprites and move sets of Roxas from Days. Even his light attacks are just his final limit break. It does feel weird that BbS was once hailed as one of the better entries and now it seems like it's been getting an unnecessary beating as of late. I don't deny it's still regarded highly, but it kind of feels like one of the safest entries to take pot shots at that isn't one of the more loathed entries like all of the Nintendo handheld ones. I don't think even HK1 gets as much criticism as BbS does from the YouTube feeds I've listened to. Course it's probably because it falls into the classic NES defense where the game started it all so everyone understands it hasn't aged as well but it's amusing watching people still act like it's just as good as some of the later entries in terms of gameplay.
I think Jiminy does show up in III, but yeah, I think CoM is the only game where he really has such a major role. Even in coded he isn’t that important, despite the fact that his journal is important. Glad you’re having fun either way! Meanwhile, I’m cheating on my break from games a bit and coming back to Days. One thing that strikes me as I jump back in after coded is just how slow the game feels in comparison! I mean, I’ll get used to it, but I never noticed how dynamic coded was until I went back to this. And yeah, vids like this gives me hope that those insanely nitpicky hot takes that have been spreading like wildfire recently are just a vocal minority and to a of people still genuinely enjoy BBS and the like. Although she’s also in the camp that loves II the most and really doesn’t like CoM, I like that she’s really positive about the series as a whole (though she does have her frustrations with it, as she has a whole vid on her KH love-hate relationship)
I think it goes along with the shift in KHII from "stupid fun" to "serious hardcore business". I kind of feel like whenever someone spewd out that KHII has the best battle system, it needs an asterisk attached to it with a note on the bottom that say "if you play it on Critical Mode, which is the only mode you should play you pansy ass newb". It was something I noticed from the glowing review by KingK where he admits that he never really understood how intricate the system was until he finally started playing it on harder difficulties. Granted I don't feel it's wrong for a system depth to be hidden away in harder difficulties, but I would point out that KHII's mechanics are still a bit lopsided. I'll probably tackle it on Proud and leave Critical for another time. In CoM news, I've almost finished the first half of the worlds. I'm on the sixth floor getting ready to tackle Halloween Town before I have to have my first fight with Larxene. I kind of forgot how tough the Coliseum was in this game since Cloud and Hades both introduce you to the proper flow of boss combat and teach you quickly that you need to separate the Zero card to the back of your deck build for easy access. My deck could be better, but I'm surprised how much I'm using Simba. He's such a good opener attack for battles, I'm almost tempted to try my luck and see if I can get another decent numbered one in a draw, but I'm kind of waiting to reach higher floors before really expending my Moogle Points. I actually maxed out my map cards already by accident. for some reason the game just loves to hand me Calm Bounty cards. I'll probably spend a few in the next area, especially since I believe this is the first world o offer two rewards for Calm Bounty rooms. Even then, getting more Pumpkinhead Keyblade cards won't hurt. In terms of the plot, I always forget how goofy this game is, and how much of a larger role Jiminy Cricket gets in this game compared to the console titles. I mean it makes sense he doesn't appear in 358/2 and BbS but after coded, has he even made another appearance? Nothing wrong with this of course, just something interesting to note. It has been interesting going back through this game with the Days story knowledge. It definitely gives this game a more complete feel now that I'm at this point. The video was cute, got me looking forward to BbS Final Mix.
