Fynn
is an EoFF Hero and/or Heroine
Radical Dreamer

Yeah that's definitely an issue. I also feel this is the game where the Disney/Pixar involvement got a bit too heavy handed as well. Like I just finished the Frozen world, and I don't really know what to make of it. Like the writing and design choices feel very... calculated I guess. Granted, this may have to do with the fact I'm not a fan of Frozen. Like it's a good film, well animated, but a wee bit overrated. You know it's bad when I got more excited when Larxene showed up.

I think what really hurts the world is that they follow the plot to a tee but have Sora and co. bounce around the whole cast so you never really feel any attachment to anyone. It's not like previous worlds where you really get to hang out with the characters. It's likely why the Tangled world feels so much better since you're with Rapunzel and Eugene for like 90% of the world making them really endearing. Pirates is next, so we'll see if the world lives up to the hype but I've got to comb Frozen world for the rest of the treasure and Lucky emblems first.

I have also finally come around to the Gummi ship segments. I still find controlling the ship is a bit more awkward than I would like but I'd still take it over the Gummi section from KH1. It's still not as fun as KHII's version though. My last playthrough of the game made remember how much I really loved the Gummi sections in that game.

I'm also getting more breadcrumbs of plot here and as usual I get something I love and wonder why the series hates giving it to me. Got a fun sequence with the old members of Organization XIII discussing why they are all back and finally getting the banter and character interactions I really wanted more of in 358/2. Larxene is such a fun alpha bitch and I love the fact that her an Marluxia are still plotting together. Her Nobodies are a pain as well Not quite as annoying as Demyx or Xemnas' troops but certainly one of the rare enemy types in this game that makes it's presence known fairly quickly when they show up in a group.

I also just realized I'm probably going to have to go back to Monther's Inc world to grind Unverse for the Synthesis shop since it's the only known place for the Sinister series of materials. Ugh... I'm like both happy and annoyed the synthesis shop is back. I'm also annoyed that I have to keep the Toy Story Keyblade on me at all times because it has Lucky Strike as an innate skill. Really wished the Kingdom Key had gotten that skill instead. The Monster's Inc keyblade is way more fun to play with and has about the same stats but not as useful skill for mob battles.

So far the biggest issue with the overall plot is not so much the fact it's just a slow build up to a battle the series has been teasing since BbS, but really how much potential is being squandered here. One of the main reasons my interest in this entry took a dive besides 3D was the fact the game focused solely on Sora when this was meant to be the game to finally bring back all the other characters we've grown to love in the past fifteen years. Like there is a painfully brief moment early in the game where you get to use Riku and while he's not as mechanically as interesting as Sora is, it was still taste of something I was hoping to see with this entry and that was finally being able to really play as all these cool characters the series has made over time.

Honestly the supporting cast in this game have been terribly underutilized. Riku and Mickey are just kind of dicking around after their first foray into the Realm of Darkness went south, and I love how these two managed to find a way in and out, yet Aqua has been stuck for ten years. Kairi, Lea, and Aqua have all been one scene wonders so far and I only have three more Disney worlds to explore. Telling me this is really not going to actually start until I finish San Fransokyo.

There's also a silly plot line about needing to find bodies for all the hearts locked away in Sora, but with the exception of Xion, I don't exactly understand why Roxas or Namine need to go through this considering their Sombodies were still walking about while they were physically active. Where did their original bodies come from? I mean at least the TOXIII's reasons for needing the program makes a little more sense because 3D stated the time travel rules makes it impossible for them all to be there at once physically and borrowing their hearts to place in replicas would potentially avoid a time paradox in case they physically killed one of them.

It's the main problem here is that the plot has the cast dealing with problems that felt like they were created for this game to drag this out, while simultaneously shooting itself in the foot by keeping the game focused solely on Sora and not wanting to give the rest of the cast any meaningful screen time or utilize their characters better. Hell one of the new arbitrary rules the game introduced alone gives a better justification for why Sora should be exploring worlds since he could be searching for the new Princesses of Hearts.

Another issue is with Maleficent and Pete's subplot, which flat out ignores what happened in 3D (them trying to get the Data on all the world's Sora has explored) and now they're looking for the Black Box that is suppose to be with Luxu. I know KHUX explains all of this but again, wished the game did a better job of keeping the player up to speed on what's going on in other titles. I mean it's not like the entire opening of the game wasn't just the ending to A Fragmentary Passage re-used. They could have done a short remade scene from the ones in UX. It's just a bit aggravating.

Yeah, but the point is to see how they do it, though once again, I feel the plot is over complicating the process by ignoring it's own flimsy cosmology. Granted, it's to bring back a plot element from CoM and 358/2 but I still feel like this is more of the writing staff trying to make one off elements feel more important than initially planned to be. The real humor in all of this is that Xehanort's group isn't even trying to hide their intentions and are blatantly helping Sora and his group to figure out what they need to do in order to help them. It's kind of laughable really.

It's been a bit more subtle now that I'm knee deep in Disney worlds. Toy Story world was cute but kind of a shaggy dog story when it comes down to it. The Verum Rex thing was a bit... awkward and I don't think Yazora is as appealing as Noctis was from the vXIII trailers but whatever. For having five party members active at all times, this world was a hassle due to the Mecha toys that will wreck you if you don't commandeer one ASAP. They did a great job capturing the films though and I appreciate the scale of the world from the eyes of a toy. With that said, it was the world that has overstayed it's welcome the most and seemed to drag in a lot of places. I managed to find like 90% of all the treasure and Lucky Emblems with no help just because of all the backtracking and vague instructions on where to go next.

On the other hand, Tangled world was a complete joy and Rapunzel is likely my favorite character so far from the Disney side of things. Her world went by super fast and I still managed to find most of the item stuff on my first go. It has a lot of cute moments and I'm fanboying over a few select scenes they kept from the film I was not expecting. It also seemed to be the world that really tried to show off the beauty of the games graphics the most. Very scenic world. I also gained the Flowmotion wall jump ability back in this world. It is called Superjump in this game.

The Keyblades also get more and more ridiculously overpowered with each new one I gain. Toy Story's Keyblade transforms into a massive hammer that functions like a more user friendly version of the Berserk hammers from KHII and it can even transform into a drill weapon, but honestly, nothing lives long enough from using the hammer for me to see it. The one from tangled transforms into a staff that summons energy copies of Sora and fires beams everywhere. It's fully charged deathblow has Sora transform it into a massive tower that proceeds to nuke the entire screen. Maybe not useful for a boss, but certainly useful for mobs. I also learned that there is a third tier skill attached to the Kingdom Key and Starlight Key. Both share the first two skills so Stun Impact and Sonic Blade. The OG key's third tier skill is Ars Arcanum while Starlight uses an areas of effect Holy spell that I'm pretty sure was a counter move used in KHUX.

I also always forget how much I love Marluxia. He is just a treat even if he is a bit more muted than he was in CoM. I also appreciate that the game is going to show us what the other member's Nobody guards are like. In fact I prefer fighting the Nobodies because they tend to take more of a beating and often have better means of no selling Sora forcing you to be less mash X to win against them. I do miss Situational commands though even if they were completely broken.

The plot has been a bit of a slow grind at the moment. Like you get a bunch of stuff between worlds but it's all just the a slow buildup for the lat 3/4ths of the game. I'm actually laughing because the game doesn't even give Sora a reason to explore the new set of worlds. No Lanes of Light, or locking keyholes or nothing. He's just derping around until he can regain his old abilities. Which is not a bad reason mind you, I just appreciate the fact we're not given some cosmological nonsense that is never going to amount to anything relevant in the plot.

Been a bit slow going through KHIII, part of it is just my OCD requiring I find all the treasure and Lucky Emblems in a world. Really annoying for Hercules world because the Gummi Phone doesn't even unlock until after you leave. There was also a few minigame/sidequest dealios unlocking after I returned so I hit them all up.

The other issue is that my next world is Toy Story world and I really just don't care for the franchise. I'm sure I'll change my mind once I dive into it. I did have to take out a boss in the Gummi ship section before evne getting there. The GS sections are still a bit awkward. I think the biggest issue is that the ship's mobility is awful but the camera is independent and fast, so it doesn't take much to screw yourself by convincing yourself the ship is moving in the direction of the camera when it's still trying to mid turn. I don't really understand why the camera isn't just glued to the back of the ship like in previous installments. Like combat is treated as on map encounters that engaging in sends you to a whole new screen with different controls. So it's not exactly like there are a lot of environmental hazards that require you to be aware of your surroundings at all time. It's really been the most awkward part of the game so far. I'm waiting for it to click.

I have come around to the style/formchanges. Seemed like a weird gimmick when I first heard of it, but finally playing it has eased my concerns about it. It's a nice evolution on the Style systems from BbS. Shotlocks are nice as well, but I'm really terrible at remembering I have them just like I did in BbS. I think the two things I'm the happiest about is finally getting an air block after nine games. Because somehow Sora can leap 50ft. into the air and sky walk while slicing building in half with a blunt instrument but being able to defend himself in mid-air was breaking physics too much.

The other nice thing here is the new way Keyblades work in this game. They brought back a lot of elements from KHII but thankfully resolved the biggest issues that hampered all of the ideas in that game for me. Keyblades have support skills again but now that you can equip up to three at one time, and have the ability to raise their stats, you're no longer required add artificial difficulty to the game but using less optimal keyblades just so you can get more XP or item drops. Likewise you don't need to go to the menu screen to switch out a less effective weapon for a better one. So combat is a lot smoother. The style change on the OG Kingdom Keyblade is also amusing because instead of giving you some new weapon, it simply expands Sora's moveset to a watered down version of himself from KHII including a lot of the finishers. A nice shout out. The Starlight keyblade uses a slightly modified version but is essentially the same as the default one. I also like the fact that Shotlocks are tied to your keyblades instead of being a separate thing. Gives me one less thing to collect. Also flowmotion is back but severely neutered, mainly they kep the combat sid eof it but you can no longer use it to really get around areas like in 3D so now the movement abilities will likely be useful again. I find it amusing that the game fixes the brokenness of a lot of mechanics from the spin-off titles, but... doesn't bother addressing the main issues from KHII's combat which is how easy the combat feels and button mashy the controls are.

Storywise, it has not been too bad, I think the most surprisingly good thing coming out of it so far is that Sora might actually get some real character development he's been lacking since CoM. 3D may have set up the most narmtastic final battle in gaming, but it at least finally gave Sora some real internal conflict he's needing to work past so that's been a real treat. He's not quite Pollyanna his way out of his problems like he did in KHII and 3D. Other than that, it's still too early to make any real opinions. I do think it has the weakest opening to a KH game so far, mainly because it rehashes the ending of A Fragmentary Passage with one little exception I wasn't expecting. It made me long for the openings of the first two numbered entries.

No just the base game. I'll see how I feel towards the end before picking it up. I did get the Starlight Keyblade from UX though.

KHIII is weird... Like it feels like the sequel to KHII but pulls a Suikoden V and manages to cram in every popular game mechanic from previous entries into the title. I was not exactly expecting Dream Eaters to reappear for instance. The core gameplay is definitely KHII but it feels a bit more muted, which is fine since the game is crammed with gimmicky elements. I may have to remove Attractions in the menu because in addition to being overpowered as hell, they are a bit ridiculous and way too convenient. What bugs me the most about them is that they are a bit like the transforming summons in XIII in that there is absolutely no explanation for them. In fact a lot of Sora's abilities don't have in story explanantiosn for them such as Formchange or Shotlocks, which are abilities only the Wayfarer Trio know but no one has explained to Sora. I guess he cribbed them from the battle with the Lingering Sentiment but this reeks of MGSIV nonsense where Snake explained he always knew CQC he just never wanted to use it before.

The two things that have bugged me the most so far with the game is that the Disney character voices seem off for a few people. Mickey specifically, but Uncle Scrooge as well though I know he has a new VA since his original had passed between BbS and this entry. Mickey doesn't have an excuse since it should be the same VA from the last couple of entries post-358/2. It was also incredibly weird that Phil from Hercules world appears but never speaks despite him being the chattiest character from his film barring Hades himself.

The other sore spot is the Gummi Ship sequence. I get what they were going for but holy hell are the controls a bit too much like a flight simulator for my taste. Thank god the battle sections borrow it's design a bit more from KHII's sequence but I feel this just seals the deal on the fact the Gummi sections should have been dropped.

So far my favorite new Disney character cameo has been Remy from Ratatouille, but of course I've only been to two worlds so far and both are from previous entries. I am a little disappointed one of them was scaled down so badly, but I imagine it's due to being a hub world. I'm just irked because it's one of my favorite worlds in the series and the first part of the game that hit me hard with nostalgia vibes.

Sorry it's just what happened after I started playing the games back to back instead of pausing for several years between installments. Granted, I still have a lot of issues with KHII's overall design and I find it disappointing that KHII's battle system really doesn't shine outside of optional bosses. There are still a lot of problems with the gameplay like Drive Forms and Summons. The appeal of the Command Deck was that it fixed the issue with the menu based abilities from KH1 which were hardly optimal in that game. In fact the biggest issue I am having with 0.2 is going back to having to scroll through a magic menu in the middle of combat and the game not being intuitive enough with it's controls to make it easy to cast magic while in midair. I feel the only saving grace has been the fact that you only have access to four spells and get double flight near the beginning of the game. If we add three or more spells it's going to get a bit dicey.

The issue I was having with command style is that it trivializes too much random combat but then falls a bit apart when you fight bosses. This is especially noticeable in 3D where bosses seem to have better defenses against commands and the game wiped out a lot of invincibility frames so you can't cheese them like in BbS. The biggest learning curve with the final boss gauntlets in 3D was re-learning to not rely on commands and instead stick to pure combos and healing since it gave you more leeway to dodge and not trade blows from bosses that rarely flinch from getting hit while attacking and prevented you from getting stun locked by their own combos since every final boss had at least one attack that could decimate your health to nothing since it's impossible to get out of their combo attack once you get hit by it. It was weird, I was fighting bosses more like I would in KHII by the end instead of BbS.

It's honestly not been that hard of a transition for me surprisingly enough. I hate to admit it, but after replaying the series again, I'm starting to come around to the KHII fanboys. It was more jarring going from KHII to BbS than it was to transition from 3D to AFP. It helps that KHII is super fluid compared to BbS which was something I got more adjusted to the longer I played. I still wish SE had put a bit more polish into making the game as fluid as 3D was. I mean at the end of the day, KHII and BbS are both super easy but KHIIFM's post/endgame content let's the combat shine more whereas BbS' sort of makes it more apparent how unbalanced the Command Deck mechanics really were. Helps that 3D offers a far more balanced approach to it since it's really difficult to build a team that will cover all of the combat support skills so you're always sacrificing something.

Okay, so thankfully 3D answered my Sora question. Forgot they finally tried to tie the Princesses of Heart back into the plot after neglecting it for... five games not counting re-releases. The game still leaves abad taste in my mouth but I feel I've reached the final stage of grief of and accept it for all of it's lunacy.

Now I'm playing Fragmentary Passage, and it's is certainly living up to its reputation as a glorified demo for KHIII. Relatively short (I'm fairly sure I'm at the final area) most of the gameplay is a bit on the basic side. No real customization. Lots of repetitive mini-objectives to make you dive back into it. Plot is interesting and would likely be a bit soul crushing if I had played through it all after finishing BbS Final Mix. I just acquired Mickey as a party member and as per usual with Mickey, he's a total bad ass that is making this game a bit easier. Helps that he's good with healing despite the game relying on KHII rules.