Yes and no. She's a Princess of Heart *and* a keyblade wielder. Theoretically that should make her like a wildly powered-up version of Ventus when she's well-trained, and it definitely makes her central to KH3's prospective plot.
As far as actually doing stuff, she did very little(cue that damn manga post) at first. She's a princess of light which we're told is powerful but we've never actually seen what that entails outside of being a soul battery and hugging people back to normal, so she was more or less a Macguffin for KH1. In the other games prior to 2 she's replaced with characters who move the plot along with their own actions (memory editing and working as a temp for the organization to mess with Sora/Roxas) and the princesses of light become a "break this glass in case we need them" for the villains. She starts becoming an active member in KH2 in ways that don't really have anything to do with her princess of light power. So yeah she should be extremely powerful by KH3 but her importance varies wildly from game to game.
Riku and Kairi are sort of a "show vs tell" deal with Riku being the show and Kairi being the tell.
Finishing up 0.2 right now. It's fun, but I'm not a big fan of the boss design at all at least outside of one specific boss fight.
Edit: Okay, so here's my spoiler free impressions of 0.2 & DDD. I'm not really touching story stuff in this writeup, just gameplay stuff mostly.
Dream Drop Distance HD
- Looks phenomenal. I honestly think it's a bit more pleasing aesthetically than 0.2. I did appreciate the depth that playing in 3D brought to some of the worlds on 3DS, but I think this looks just as good, if not better. (The Grid in particular looks amazing.)
- 60 fps is the best thing to happen to this series. So many boss fights in the 3DS version are terrible (and in the case of the Traverse Town gauntlet during Sora's revist there, straight up busted, especially on higher difficulties) to play because of the frame drops. Inversely, those same boss fights are actually enjoyable thanks to the stable 60fps performance. Wargoyle in particular is a big improvement.
- The Reality Shifts are actually pretty cleverly implemented onto a standard controller scheme. The Code Breaker reality shift in particular is reworked pretty nicely. (There's a button associated with each command displayed; You have to press it in time to register the command)
- I was really hoping for the ability to scroll through commands with the shoulder buttons like in BBS HD, but you can't, as the other shoulder buttons snap you into the new sub menus for linking with your Dream Eaters/swapping them out mid-battle. I understand the decision, but it would have been nice. On the upside, having three command slots visible instead of two is nice.
- The standard 99 save slots are back! Should make keeping saves to re-fight certain bosses (like Ansem) way easier.
- The loading is really snappy. Should bode well for 1.5 and 2.5.
0.2 - A Fragmentary Passage -
- The character models are immensely improved from its initial E3 showing. I still prefer the original artstyle, but the game itself definitely looks good. It runs with an unlocked framerate on PS4 Pro, with it hitting 60 in some circumstances. Interestingly enough, despite there being drops when shit on screen gets hectic, I've never seen it drop lower than 30. Maybe I haven't tried enough stuff out yet, though.
- Adding on to the above, the environments look really nice. The last playable portion of the game in particular looks really neat.
- Command Styles being activated through the Situation Command system is great. You don't have to worry about accidentally activating a command style like in Birth by Sleep. I like that there's different magic finishers depending on what type of magic you used beforehand.
- All actions (including item use) can be done in the air. I'm glad that was retained from Dream Drop Distance.
- The boss design is... iffy. Darksides and
Copy Aqua
are pretty great, with the latter easily being one of the better boss fights to come from the Osaka team. But pretty much everything involving the giant rolling swarms of heartless end up being kind of a clusterfuck. They can stunlock you pretty easily and take you down to 1HP just as quick as an optional boss can, and while there is an obvious tell that they're about to attack, the camera has such a hard time keeping up that you'll likely be blasted from offscreen before you can even properly defend yourself.
The final, giant swarm you fight with Mickey
may very well be one of the worst boss fights in the series, right up there with Mysterious Figure and Ruler of the Sky from Days. The very last portion of the fight is just... I don't even know. There's long periods of time during that portion where if you're not mashing square to dodge MF-style, you're getting hit by god knows how many projectiles. The boss can't be targeted during this phase, so you just have to run or get hit. This wouldn't be a huge issue it wasn't for the fact that they nerfed the cartwheel. There's a noticeable pause between cartwheels now, and overall, it seems to have a few less i-frames. On top of that, Aqua's mobility is pretty garbage outside of the iffy cartwheel, so 99% of the time, you pretty much have to sit there and watch yourself get hit over and over and hope that a) Mickey heals you or b) you have the MP to cast Curaga before being killed. Maybe I'm not approaching the battle the right way, but it seems like there's no rhyme or reason to how the fight is designed. It's literal chaos for the sake of chaos.
- Despite using KH2's combat, the game itself feels a little more like Birth by Sleep than KH2. Aqua still homes in on the closest enemy when attacking a locked on enemy (Though considering the way some of the bosses are designed, that's probably for the best) and she still feels a little floaty compared to KH2 Sora. None of the above is necessarily a bad thing, though. On the flip side, when you cast magic while in motion, you retain your momentum just like in KH2, which is nice.
- The new heartless designs are neat. There's a water based one that I'm particularly fond of, if only for how cool it's attacks look.
- Magic looks really, really cool. Thundaga and it's finisher looks not too far off from how Thunder spells look in Final Fantasy XV, complete with charred/electrified ground for a few seconds after.
Overall, it's enjoyable. There are a few things concerning me regarding the combat in 0.2 and what that means for KH3 (I really, really hope those heartless swarms get either reworked or just stay out of KH3 altogether) but it's still an enjoyable experience all around. Probably not going to touch this on Critical or with Exp Zero though. I think I'm enjoying DDD HD a little more, though.
- The boss design is... iffy. pretty much everything involving the giant rolling swarms of heartless end up being kind of a clusterfuck. They can stunlock you pretty easily and take you down to 1HP just as quick as an optional boss can, and while there is an obvious tell that they're about to attack, the camera has such a hard time keeping up that you'll likely be blasted from offscreen before you can even properly defend yourself.
The final, giant swarm you fight with Mickey
may very well be one of the worst boss fights in the series, right up there with Mysterious Figure and Ruler of the Sky from Days. The very last portion of the fight is just... I don't even know. There's long periods of time during that portion where if you're not mashing square to dodge MF-style, you're getting hit by god knows how many projectiles. The boss can't be targeted during this phase, so you just have to run or get hit. This wouldn't be a huge issue it wasn't for the fact that they nerfed the cartwheel. There's a noticeable pause between cartwheels now, and overall, it seems to have a few less i-frames. On top of that, Aqua's mobility is pretty garbage outside of the iffy cartwheel, so 99% of the time, you pretty much have to sit there and watch yourself get hit over and over and hope that a) Mickey heals you or b) you have the MP to cast Curaga before being killed. Maybe I'm not approaching the battle the right way, but it seems like there's no rhyme or reason to how the fight is designed. It's literal chaos for the sake of chaos.
Overall, it's enjoyable. There are a few things concerning me regarding the combat in 0.2 and what that means for KH3 (I really, really hope those heartless swarms get either reworked or just stay out of KH3 altogether) but it's still an enjoyable experience all around. Probably not going to touch this on Critical or with Exp Zero though. I think I'm enjoying DDD HD a little more, though.
You're not approaching the battle wrong at all. I wasn't sure if the game just wasn't balanced on Proud, but that boss battle is absolute bullshit. I was really enjoying the game until the final battle. Because Aqua is so slow, you're unable to escape the tornado attack aside from using block or dodging while circle strafing, which only works to dodge maybe one or two attacks in a row. The attack when it blasts you into the air is ridiculous, because when air dashing, you're not really certain of whether you're going to a safe spot or not. I felt that a lot of the boss battle was just luck. The other thing that is all luck is when the prompt for the cinematic attack comes up. If it's too early in the fight, it will not assist you in victory at all, because you need to have some of that damage carry over into the second part of the fight. I was unlucky enough that, the time when I actually beat the boss, the prompt never popped. That's just stupid...
Did you play on Proud, and did you die much? I thought I was a competent KH player, and I died... probably more than I've ever died fighting a video game boss (more than in Dark Souls or King of Fighters or something, even). Perhaps I just had very bad luck, but I felt that I was playing well.
Yeah, I played on Proud, and I think the only other Proud Mode I died as much in was Dream Drop Distance.
I've been playing Bloodborne for the first time as a new player to Souls games for the past two or so months and I think I've died less there than I did with that 0.2 boss fight. It's ridiculous.
Edit: Here's one musical oddity: Riku's side of Monstro in DDD HD actually uses the 1.5 version of A Very Smasll Wish as it's field theme. For whatever reason though, the Monstrous Monstro battle theme is still the PS2 arrangement. Weird.
Is it supposed to be implied that Xehanort is just an apprentice of an apprentice of an apprentice (and so on) of Luxu, who is the apprentice of the Master of Masters?
and in the end, was there actually no traitor? The Foreteller's roles were just created to build suspicion between so that they're pretty much all traitors in their own way as just a ploy set in place by the Master of Masters so the Book of Prophecies could come true?
AND.....is the Master of Masters supposed to be truly evil? I mean by giving one of the Foreteller's the role of sending their keyblade wielders to the Realm of Light (the dandelions), isn't that a good thing to have future protection?
Is it supposed to be implied that Xehanort is just an apprentice of an apprentice of an apprentice (and so on) of Luxu, who is the apprentice of the Master of Masters?
and in the end, was there actually no traitor? The Foreteller's roles were just created to build suspicion between so that they're pretty much all traitors in their own way as just a ploy set in place by the Master of Masters so the Book of Prophecies could come true?
AND.....is the Master of Masters supposed to be truly evil? I mean by giving one of the Foreteller's the role of sending their keyblade wielders to the Realm of Light (the dandelions), isn't that a good thing to have future protection?
I increasingly suspect that a lot of the [chi] related material is all about setting a mythology up for the post-KH3 games.
Like, no way Nomura hasn't already started thinking about a post-Xehanort KH, and no way his insanely short attention span hasn't caused him to get super interested in exploring KH4 stuff before he's even finished KH3.
Yup. And we can kiss this story goodbye cause the pile of shit [chi] is building is not looking good at all. I don't know what happened to Nomura some where between Days and Dream Drop Distance, but he has gone full hollywood with his desire to always be 2-3 games ahead of what he is currently working on.
Yup. And we can kiss this story goodbye cause the pile of shit [chi] is building is not looking good at all. I don't know what happened to Nomura some where between Days and Dream Drop Distance, but he has gone full hollywood with his desire to always be 2-3 games ahead of what he is currently working on.
I mean, yes and no. Nomura's also demonstrably a big fan of giving us all of the super unimportant shit first and making it seem like what's important.
Main thing I think is sort of dumb is when he
started giving everyone those black anti-darkness raincoats that supposedly Apprentice Xehanort invented, even if the people wearing them are from much earlier in the timeline
I mean, yes and no. Nomura's also demonstrably a big fan of giving us all of the super unimportant shit first and making it seem like what's important.
Main thing I think is sort of dumb is when he
started giving everyone those black anti-darkness raincoats that supposedly Apprentice Xehanort invented, even if the people wearing them are from much earlier in the timeline
Yup. And we can kiss this story goodbye cause the pile of shit [chi] is building is not looking good at all. I don't know what happened to Nomura some where between Days and Dream Drop Distance, but he has gone full hollywood with his desire to always be 2-3 games ahead of what he is currently working on.
Umm. Nomura started to build up the larger overarching storyline already around Chain of Memories & KHII's development. Even if a lot of the nitty gritty details were obviously thought out later on, we already knew in CoM that the Org XIII (or, rather, Xemnas) had some other agenda at Castle Oblivion than just manipulating Sora to their side that was further hinted at in KHII Final Mix & Days and then fully revealed in BBS. The content of the message in the bottle at the end of KHII was already figured out (at least roughly) at that time. He obviously started to create the idea of Master Xehanort around that time as well, considering the backstory of fake Ansem (+ Xemnas) in KHII and some tidbits in CoM. The Keyblade War is another thing mentioned in KHII that is only now being expanded upon.
And of course Nomura has ideas for KHIV already thought up. He's implied as much years ago, how he's got plans for things past the current Xehanort Saga. Doesn't really hurt to have some plans & build-up for that already in place at this point, at least so long as he has a decently epic & proper end to the Xehanort Saga in KHIII
Umm. Nomura started to build up the larger overarching storyline already around Chain of Memories & KHII's development. Even if a lot of the nitty gritty details were obviously thought out later on, we already knew in CoM that the Org XIII had some other agenda at Castle Oblivion than just manipulating Sora to their side that was further hinted at in KHII Final Mix & Days and then fully revealed in BBS. The content of the message in the bottle at the end of KHII was already figured out (at least roughly) at that time. He obviously started to create the idea of Master Xehanort around that time as well, considering the backstory of fake Ansem (+ Xemnas) in KHII and some tidbits in CoM. The Keyblade War is another thing mentioned in KHII that is only now being expanded upon.
And of course Nomura has ideas for KHIV already thought up. He's implied as much years ago, how he's got plans for things past the current Xehanort Saga. Doesn't really hurt to have some plans & build-up for that already in place at this point, at least so long as he has a decently epic & proper end to the Xehanort Saga in KHIII
Yep. I think KH3 is definitely going to involve a major KH-universe status quo shift for sure (in the sense that when it's done, the KH universe will be really fully populated with KH-original characters who aren't asleep/trapped/et cetera, and in the sense that some of the KH-original worlds will likely be quite different) but it'll also help open the door to further storylines exploring the chi stuff.
Curious to see if the Dragon Nobody ever reenters the story, given that it seemingly originally had story ties to BBS (see also armored Xehanort). Maybe those ideas have been permanently discarded.
I'm also curious to see if KH3 gets a new enemy type and/or whether we'll see any Nobodies, Unversed, or Dream Eaters in it.
The heartless hoard fight where you first meet Mickey and he partners up with you that got me. There's barely any breaks to dodge the swarm, even using Aquas guard/shield has to be timed perfectly otherwise you'll die. Took me like 10 attempts to finally beat it on proud. The final one I didn't have too much trouble with minus that final phase with the tornado which was really annoying. I adapted to its pattern fairly quickly and finished on the 3rd attempt, we'll see how it is on critical though.
/
Proud Mode felt about the same for me as it did for DDD, a step up and about as difficult as Critical was in earlier games. It makes me excited to replay them on Critical though, I love a challenge.
Also (0.2 boss spoilers)
Aquas mirror boss battle and 0.2's version of her theme was so fantastic, such a fun boss battle with a chilling theme
I increasingly suspect that a lot of the [chi] related material is all about setting a mythology up for the post-KH3 games.
Like, no way Nomura hasn't already started thinking about a post-Xehanort KH, and no way his insanely short attention span hasn't caused him to get super interested in exploring KH4 stuff before he's even finished KH3.
I'd prefer it didn't honestly. Keep the Chi stuff to Chi alone, keep it its own thing.
But yeah I fear it's building up to that and we may not get proper closure until post-KH3. I'd much prefer he kept the post-Xehanort saga separate and its own thing, rather than try to forshadow it now other than in something like a secret ending or secret boss like we usually get. Also backcover spoilers:
The eye being the Master of Masters eye means he'll probably comeback, but who knows if it'll be in KH3 or after it, probably the latter
Seven if you're playing on the pro I wanted to ask does DDDHD have Letterbox mode style borders when you play it? They seem to be a thing on the original model, and i'm wondering if it's because the game's running at 900p on the original so they can keep it at 60fps or if it's just a regular thing.
they don't have to do it every game, there comes a point where it feels a bit silly, especially with how many installments Kingdom Hearts has, but what can you do. Nomura's gonna be Nomura and explain it no matter what you do
I dunno why but in Metroid it feels more natural to me personally, rather than just coming up with an excuse because they have to.
Seven if you're playing on the pro I wanted to ask does DDDHD have Letterbox mode style borders when you play it? They seem to be a thing on the original model, and i'm wondering if it's because the game's running at 900p on the original so they can keep it at 60fps or if it's just a regular thing.
Seven if you're playing on the pro I wanted to ask does DDDHD have Letterbox mode style borders when you play it? They seem to be a thing on the original model, and i'm wondering if it's because the game's running at 900p on the original so they can keep it at 60fps or if it's just a regular thing.
It sucks because BBSHD didn't have this afaik.I don't mind it, but
they don't have to do it every game, there comes a point where it feels a bit silly, especially with how many installments Kingdom Hearts has, but what can you do. Nomura's gonna be Nomura and explain it no matter what you do
I dunno why but in Metroid it feels more natural to me personally, rather than just coming up with an excuse because they have to.
I despise data Luxord, and only because his defeat is determined by winning that bullshit mini game. I actually succeeded by accident; I thought I had pressed it on X.
I got data Marluxia too, which is probably my favorite XIII fight, but I'm still garbage at it. He just happened to teleport into my explosion combo finisher for the win.
I think because the excuses they use in Metroid are more believable. It's a lot easier to believe 'Samus got blown up or involved in a crash, so now she doesn't have the Varia suit' rather than 'Sora
lost all his memories going through a magical castle or almost fell into a coma in a dream world'
You don't understand. Releasing it 2 weeks later is a brilliant marketing strategy. After people have played RE7 in VR and nearly died of heart attack the customers will get a refund on that game and wanna get some jolly Disney game to try and make them forget.
So will KH1.5+2.5 for sure not allow the transfer of saves from the PS3 version?
KH is my favorite franchise, but I suspect I'm not even close to as into it as some people here are; I'd rather not start all the games over again already. I'd like to continue my progress.
So will KH1.5+2.5 for sure not allow the transfer of saves from the PS3 version?
KH is my favorite franchise, but I suspect I'm not even close to as into it as some people here are; I'd rather not start all the games over again already. I'd like to continue my progress.
I remember when Birth by Sleep came out. I was on YouTube watching something completely unrelated and in the related videos was 'Birth by Sleep ENDING' with the thumbnail being Vanitas' face.
I remember when Birth by Sleep came out. I was on YouTube watching something completely unrelated and in the related videos was 'Birth by Sleep ENDING' with the thumbnail being Vanitas' face.
Seven if you're playing on the pro I wanted to ask does DDDHD have Letterbox mode style borders when you play it? They seem to be a thing on the original model, and i'm wondering if it's because the game's running at 900p on the original so they can keep it at 60fps or if it's just a regular thing.
There's no letterboxing in DDDHD from what I tell on the Pro. Seems to be full 1080p.
This is really turning out to be one of the nore interesting Pro game cases. I wonder if anyone a little more tech savvy (DF, maybe?) will do an analysis somewhere down the line after the international release.
I think because the excuses they use in Metroid are more believable. It's a lot easier to believe 'Samus got blown up or involved in a crash, so now she doesn't have the Varia suit' rather than 'Sora
lost all his memories going through a magical castle or almost fell into a coma in a dream world'
I though Chain of Memories had a decent explanation. Sora, Donald & Goofy losing their memories and their abilities made sense since the whole game revolves around memory tampering. The newest excuse does seem kinda contrived, though.
It's Disney. What did you expect? I mean, look at who they grabbed for KH1 way back then. Disney has always been interesting in getting good talent for these, moreso now than ever.
----
It's bothersome that after all this time, there's still not a better answer to "what's Kingdom Hearts?" that "big ass heart shaped moon". Yes, they say it's the "heart of all worlds" and "darkness"
It's bothersome that after all this time, there's still not a better answer to "what's Kingdom Hearts?" that "big ass heart shaped moon". Yes, they say it's the "heart of all worlds" and "darkness"
It's Disney. What did you expect? I mean, look at who they grabbed for KH1 way back then. Disney has always been interesting in getting good talent for these, moreso now than ever.
It's Disney. What did you expect? I mean, look at who they grabbed for KH1 way back then. Disney has always been interesting in getting good talent for these, moreso now than ever.
----
It's bothersome that after all this time, there's still not a better answer to "what's Kingdom Hearts?" that "big ass heart shaped moon". Yes, they say it's the "heart of all worlds" and "darkness"
(1) I would absolutely not be surprised to see Kingdom Hearts be the final dungeon in KH3
(2) as with KH1, I expect that Xehanort is incorrect about what Kingdom Hearts actually is
IMO, I think Chi's entire purpose is to set up Luxu and Master of Master's as the future main antagonists when we're finished with Xehanort. Master of Masters interestingly enough seems to be the god of the KH Universe or something.
I'd be pretty shocked if they do more than lip service to [chi] in KH3 in setting up the next arc. The game already has the weight of six previous games worth of lore weighing on it; the last thing needed is the Book of Prophecies and the Foretellers thrown in the mix. That being said, I would love to fight the Foretellers as Bonus Bosses a la KHFM Unknown/BBS Stranger/KH2 Data Battles.
I'd be pretty shocked if they do more than lip service to [chi] in KH3 in setting up the next arc. The game already has the weight of six previous games worth of lore weighing on it; the last thing needed is the Book of Prophecies and the Foretellers thrown in the mix. That being said, I would love to fight the Foretellers as Bonus Bosses a la KHFM Unknown/BBS Stranger/KH2 Data Battles.
That's an interesting side thing I haven't seen anyone mention the Foretellers as bonus bosses. Now that would be cool. Nd I guess the master of masters
Honestly, KH2's basic human enemy design framework gives them their own combos/combo finishers, air combos, recovery/counter moves, stun/critical values, et cetera, such that in theory it ought to be totally possible with a small amount of effort to make nearly all of them into fully realized playable characters just like roxas/mickey/riku/sora/brave sora/wisdom sora/limit sora/master sora/final sora were (presumably with their more special moves being moved to the magic shortcuts as seen with Riku and Limit Form).
I'd really love to see KH3 make that happen in a sort of multiplayer arena mode - legacy playable characters and human-sized bosses from the whole series would be really really fun and a lot of the design work is basically already done.
It'd also be great fun to have the Foretellers in there too, sure.
Done right, the basic combat design ideas of KH2FM allow for all kinds of expansion and multiplayer; for player vs player stuff you'd mainly want to get rid of unbalanced things like Sora's super-fast air recovery/counter and Reflect (these are totally fine in single-player, obviously - it's intentional and good for Sora to have some trump cards up his sleeve).
Is it supposed to be implied that Xehanort is just an apprentice of an apprentice of an apprentice (and so on) of Luxu, who is the apprentice of the Master of Masters?
and in the end, was there actually no traitor? The Foreteller's roles were just created to build suspicion between so that they're pretty much all traitors in their own way as just a ploy set in place by the Master of Masters so the Book of Prophecies could come true?
AND.....is the Master of Masters supposed to be truly evil? I mean by giving one of the Foreteller's the role of sending their keyblade wielders to the Realm of Light (the dandelions), isn't that a good thing to have future protection?
Yes, it seems like Luxu and his line of apprentices stayed out of the Keyblade War. So that's how we have keybalse wielders today as they come from that branch.
The idea is that the traitor was the Master of Masters and he set them all up by thinking that he wasn't including himself in the group when it was said there was a traitor among them. He did play them though.
I think the MoM is just supposed to be a selfish troll not really a sadist. More uncaring than malevolent.
That's what i'd hope for, or the Master of Masters. That Chi
Final battle where you vs the union leaders in the form of data battles like KH2 Final Mix would be great (though separately and not one after the other)
Honestly, KH2's basic human enemy design framework gives them their own combos/combo finishers, air combos, recovery/counter moves, stun/critical values, et cetera, such that in theory it ought to be totally possible with a small amount of effort to make nearly all of them into fully realized playable characters just like roxas/mickey/riku/sora/brave sora/wisdom sora/limit sora/master sora/final sora were (presumably with their more special moves being moved to the magic shortcuts as seen with Riku and Limit Form).
I'd really love to see KH3 make that happen in a sort of multiplayer arena mode - legacy playable characters and human-sized bosses from the whole series would be really really fun and a lot of the design work is basically already done.
It'd also be great fun to have the Foretellers in there too, sure.
Done right, the basic combat design ideas of KH2FM allow for all kinds of expansion and multiplayer; for player vs player stuff you'd mainly want to get rid of unbalanced things like Sora's super-fast air recovery/counter and Reflect (these are totally fine in single-player, obviously - it's intentional and good for Sora to have some trump cards up his sleeve).
