I'm finally completely through with 0.2 and feel like sharing a bit of my thoughts towards the entirety of 2.8. I didn't completely finish 3D yet, but since I already did that years ago and it's the only "old" content of the game, I don't see the need to, either.
Since there is one thread dedicated on the gameplay feedback and one on the story, but this covers both, I figured I'd just make a new thread. If it belongs somewhere else that I missed, feel free to put it there. <3
Oh, and obviously this is gonna be full of spoilers.
Since there is one thread dedicated on the gameplay feedback and one on the story, but this covers both, I figured I'd just make a new thread. If it belongs somewhere else that I missed, feel free to put it there. <3
Oh, and obviously this is gonna be full of spoilers.
Spoiler ShowI started the game by watching Back Cover, expecting the movie to at least give me some new answers to all the questions Chi and Unchained Chi raised. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, I got disappointed. The movie is not only too short, but also rarely gives any information on anything.
I didn't exactly like any of the foretellers, because I think their attitude is rather childish. "Hm, if we continue on gathering massive lux, what we don't want to happen will happen. Hah, let's just go on!" and all that bull. I kinda wanted Aced to beat some sanity into those other idiots' heads, but then again he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed either. I really disliked all of them.
The most interesting scenes were the ones we've already seen like a million times in trailers and the opening cinematic etc. It also has the famous Kingdom Hearts problem: Where are the fucking NPCs? The whole city of Daybreak Town looks entirely dead for most of the movie!
Why don't we get at least an idea of who or at least WHAT the traitor is supposed to be? Why do I feel like the whole movie didn't give me any new information? I'm so disappointed at this point.
I wouldn't say that I entirely disliked the whole movie, but I feel like they just stopped making it when it actually got interesting. Almost every question is left unanswered and watching it felt...unnecessary.
After this gigantic disappointment, I went on to 0.2. First of all, the graphics are amazing. Not only the improved character models, but the whole environments overall. I thoroughly enjoyed the view, can't deny that.
The gameplay started off...well, I'd say okay. I still felt some of the old vibes left in it, but it definitely improved a lot over BBS and 3D. The keyblade actually felt useful again, yet at the same time using magic or shotlocks had some big advantages as well without being the "only way to go". That was great. Finally no overpowered super-command like Balloon that basically carries you through the whole game, or a worthless keyblade that you are considered dumb for using. It was well-balanced for most of the time.
And yes, of course 3D was beatable without Balloon just as BBS was without Thunder Surge, but if it takes me like 12 hits to defeat a low-level enemy out of 15 in a world instead of using one command to finish them off, I kinda don't see the reason to go the less rewarding way out of the two.
Speaking of rewarding: The boss-fights. I'd devide them into "humanoid" and "heartless".
The humanoid-battles were awesome. Revenge value, a learnable attack pattern that rewards you for learning the boss fight by letting you punish them for their attacks...it was very well done and reminded me of the data battles in KH2. I still have to get a hang of some of the stuff, but I always feel like I learn something new whenever I fight them. That's what I want KH3 to be like.
But then there are the heartless-bosses...
Look, what can I say? I enjoy playing Kingdom Hearts a lot, even special challenges like going level 1 on critical or playing with certain restrictions. I enjoy it as long as I see the game reward me for learning stuff like the attack pattern of a boss, how to stagger them the longest or which attacks prevent them from attacking at all.
What I don't like are bosses who are fucking cunts and only exists so I spend 60 euros on a new playstation controller because I destroyed the old one.
While the demon towers and the darksides were still pretty much okay yet not as overwhelming as the humanoid fights, and the first phase of the demon tide was also manageable, I completely lost my sanity in the second phase of it. Who the hell working at Square Enix thought this was a good idea?
1. When it turns red while Aqua is just about to use her finisher, you're basically screwed unless you get lucky. It can attack you super fast and deal a massive amount of damage, forcing you to use Curaga on higher difficulties no matter what.
2. The openings are not only too rare and too short most of the time, but also super boring. You don't get an opening for a good parry or for blocking in the right moment. You get them for dodge-rolling until it turns back to black. Am I the only one who doesn't see the fun in that? They basically repeated BBS's main problem of "dodge-roll until vulnerable, lol. Might take three minutes" and thought it was a good idea? I just don't understand this.
3. The "desperation move". Are you kidding me? The whole concept of those balls coming out of the earth is completely luck-based. They might never hit you, they might do it all the time. You cannot learn it, you do not get any reward for fighting against it over it over. It just sucks infinitely.
I wouldn't say I'm a bad player but this fight just fucked me up. It was no fun at all and I hope they never repeat this in KH3.
I don't feel like saying much about the music - it's Shimomura, it's great as always, I liked both the new as well as the old tracks, everything fit well enough.
On to the story.
It starts off nicely, I guess. Promising even. Even though I was a bit confused by some things Aqua said like "cats and dogs who were just sleeping, living the day" or stuff like that, most of her remembering the old times felt pretty much okay to me. The only problem was that trying to make me feel her pain by showing BBS-scenes did nothing for me but remind me of scenes like the "weirdest brothers" one. And the only thing sad about those is the cringe.
I liked the idea of a phantom of herself trying to get Aqua to surrender the fight although it also felt a bit hollow. They could've dived into that just a bit more, but it was okay.
Following Terra and Ventus's phantoms right after that was a bit weird, because it felt to me as if Aqua had just regained her sanity a minute before that, and now she goes "I don't care if I fall into the darkness! I miss them!" Uh yeah but you know that if you fall deeper and deeper into the darkness, you'll never see them again. You just defeated your own reflection trying to bring you down, you should be over this now, for at least a while.
From there on, things went kinda...bad for me.
Be it this whole conversation about Ven's whereabouts, the fact that there is no transition between Aqua being taken by the darkside and then meeting Mickey, OR THE FACT THAT I MISS THE AWESOME SCENE IN WHICH THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. It had kind of an unfinished feeling to me.
The worst was the ending after the final boss though. Don't get me wrong, it got me hyped somewhat, but at the same time everything was completely underwhelming. They KKH just lying there behind THE door (THEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DOOOOOOOOOOR), Riku not noticing what's going on around him at all or Aqua being carried away by the demon tide and the door shutting dramatically, it was all cringeworthy to me and kinda killed my joy for the game's story a bit.
All of this being said, I think that 0.2 is meant to be unfinished gameplay-wise, as a method to give us players the chance to say what we want to improve in KH3. I'm completely okay with that, because it's only 2-4 hours long anyways and this is the best way to ask players what they want and what they don't.
But story-wise, I'm a bit disappointed and underwhelmed. I expected more and at this point I just cannot believe that basically the first thing Kairi says to Riku after she FINALLY appears after such a long time is a comparison to Sora. Just w o w, Square. I'm amazed I expected more than that. Also lol at the game yet again giving Riku kind of the most interesting screen time (except for Aqua, but that is quite obvious).
To add a bit about 3D:
YAY AT CUTE ANIMALS IN HD!!!! That is all.
Okay, kidding...
YAY AT 1 SECOND OF VANITAS IN HD!
OK I'LL STOP.
I still have the same issues I've always had with 3D: Story takes forever to git gud, Sora is 3dumb5me and I waste way too much time on petting useless dream eaters instead of getting useful ones, because most of the useful ones aren't as cute. Also the gameplay-problem. Balloon is overpowered, the rest is unbearably boring. I'm okay with the way they used the touchpad although I kinda expected just a bit more. I hope KH3 won't have the camera as far away from the character as 3D does.
Other than that, I guess I'm okay with the game so far. Haven't finished it yet. Platinum seems to be a bit underwhelming, but that's okay for a change. Re:Com and BBS were time-consuming enough for a life-time.