Because this is my first post on this forum, the first thing I will say is, Hello I am Obsolete Critic, not Obsolete because I own the latest systems (I do because my Xbox died frequently,and I hated to always replace it, the Wii is fun), but rather, I don't necessarily own the latest games or DLC.
My take on 358/2 days (after playing for thirty minutes and watching the rest of the cutscenes on the internet), believe me when I say it, but I really like Kingdom Hearts, a lot. KH1 was my very first PS2 game, and for PS2 it is one of my favorites of all time.
I didn't like KH2 as much due to both an underdeveloped plot (it had a beginning, a middle, and an end...Literally) and it was too easy (we all know it was fanboys). The biggest reason why I felt I was disappointed with it, was that I had this expectation that it would be amazing, and it wasn't, chain of memories set everything up, and chain of memories was a damn good GBA game in its own right. When I got the finished product in my hand, I was ultimately dissapointed, The english dub kinda felt a bit off, Kairi sounded more like a whining corny teenager, not to mention they changed the voice for Ansem (I do accept the fact that Haley Joel Osment grew older). That whole bit about Organization XIII felt really weak, it felt underdeveloped, and the Final Boss was a joke, he was too easy. I could go on and on about how KH2 was a dissapointment.
Making a game out of the most underdeveloped part of the KH franchise is a good idea right? To Days credit, the story is actually somewhat interesting, and gives some backstory on the KH franchise. However, you need to have played the previous games to even understand what is going on, it doesn't do a good job of welcoming newcomers to the franchise. At the end, the ending is exactly as you (the hardcore fan), would expect it. I would have rather had a story that asked the 'what if' you beat Riku, and challenged the Organization, even if it wasn't in the continuity, it would have been interesting. I mean, Sora could do it, and very easily at that, why do they repeat that Roxas can't, it kind of bugs me. The story, to me, felt more like a teaser to Birth by Sleep that anything else..
To be honest, I haven't played through the entire game, just the first thirty minutes, I have seen all teh story though. What really annoyed me was that all the worlds were recycled from KH2, and they don't look as good. The graphics, are irratible to look at, I am not against 2-D sprites, and I really loved the 2-D sprites from COM, so why don't they use them here. Sure, there are PS2 level cutscenes, but if you look closely (I have watched them all), most of them were recycled from Final Mix and KH2. The 3-D ingame models look ugly, and while it is better than most stuff on the DS, it would have been nice to see something that doesn't have so many jagged edges.
I didn't like the gameplay, I found it to be incredibly boring, simplified, and recycled. It just felt like I played this game before, and that this was some kind of simplified clone. I didn't like it, that's why I played for thirty minutes, that's why I returned it to Blockbuster, and that's why I watched the rest of the story on the internet. I think that 358 Days over 2 is the weakest game in the franchise, out of all the ones I have played (KH1+2+COM) it will be enjoyable to fans of the series (besides me), it isn't a bad game, it just isn't good enough to keep my interest for more than thirty minutes of my time.
