Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories Retrospective

[kuraudoVII]

Geh, I forgot how much of a pain it was to try to get the enemy cards in this game.

I don't think I ever recall using anything other than boss cards, and even then I use those very rarely. The only ones I ever got a use out of were Jafar, Maleficent and Roxas, now that I think about it.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Ohh, enemy cards. I almost never used those because I either forgot that they existed or how to bring them up in my selection. The only times I really used 'em were when I got very desperate in bossfights much later on in the game.

 

[Rael_Oblivion]

I don't recall ever using enemy cards because it was always a pain to try and remember how long they lasted and I didn't want to get dependent on them.

 

[Blackdrazon]

I'm glad this is so sad but universal. I only ever really use enemy cards to gain an elemental resistence, Jafar and most importantly Oogie Boogie (especially in R/R). And I still can't help but feel like I'm only really using my deck at half potential.

 

[kuraudoVII]

I'm glad this is so sad but universal. I only ever really use enemy cards to gain an elemental resistence, Jafar and most importantly Oogie Boogie (especially in R/R). And I still can't help but feel like I'm only really using my deck at half potential.

TBH, the Disney cards were usually only used in the Reverse/Rebirth mode since there was no card penalty in that mode anyways.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Heh, that reminds me... you're gonna have a hard time coming up with anything interesting to talk about in regards to the world rooms in Reverse/Rebirth, since they're more or less copy/pastes with Riku instead of Sora and even LESS plot than usual.

I swear, everyone always praises CoM for its superior storytelling and characterization. I agree to an extent, but damn if all the stuff in between each plot-progressing cutscene doesn't feel like dull filler at times.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Heh, that reminds me... you're gonna have a hard time coming up with anything interesting to talk about in regards to the world rooms in Reverse/Rebirth, since they're more or less copy/pastes with Riku instead of Sora and even LESS plot than usual.

I'm going to be very interested in seeing how he handles that. The floors containing the second set of world cards is by far the worst in that regard for Riku since there is literally nothing and no one that interacts with him directly until the final card is used up and Lexeaus barges in.

I swear, everyone always praises CoM for its superior storytelling and characterization. I agree to an extent, but damn if all the stuff in between each plot-progressing cutscene doesn't feel like dull filler at times.

That is literally the biggest thing that holds Chain of Memories' story back.

 

[Divine Past]

Heh, that reminds me... you're gonna have a hard time coming up with anything interesting to talk about in regards to the world rooms in Reverse/Rebirth, since they're more or less copy/pastes with Riku instead of Sora and even LESS plot than usual.

I swear, everyone always praises CoM for its superior storytelling and characterization. I agree to an extent, but damn if all the stuff in between each plot-progressing cutscene doesn't feel like dull filler at times.

It wouldn't be KH tradition if the disney worlds weren't full of filler.

 

[dlppictures]

Guess I am in the minority when it comes to Enemy Cards.
I love to use them, sure they are free for Riku so I can use them there practically penaltyless, but even for Sora I always make sure to have the following Enemy Cards: Vexen, Marluxia, Neoshadow, Oogie Boogie, (and post game) Lexaeus to quickly finish Heartless batches.

I lost my cartridge for the GBA version shortly after 100% it,which broke my heart, but I clearly remember having three Neoshadow Enemy Cards in my deck as well as two Megalixers.
When a battle started, mook or boss, I would start out by playing my first Neoshadow, then use up all the cards in my deck and reload manually then use my second Neoshadow, waste my deck again, if the battle was still not finished I would use my first Megalixer and the use my last Neoshadow. Then I would start using my other Enemy cards. Usually Marluxia first for double the amount of sleights.

Even though I only had the game for just under a year before I lost it, to this day GBA Chain of Memories is still my favourite GBA game, and I sorely miss it...
I have several times tried to recreate my GBA deck in Re:CoM, but that game has just never given me the same kind of satisfaction, forcing me to give up after having collected 2 Neoshadows.



The more I think of this game, the more my old feeling of letdown with KHII after the awesomeness that was CoM comes back to me. I guess that is what happens when you start to remember something about a game centered around memories lol.

 

[Muke]

Are you gonna do Days or II after CoM? :3

 

[Blackdrazon]

Next up is KHII - I'm going in NA release order (the episodic release of coded and the Japan-only release of KHX makes things janky, so I'm going with the release dates of Re:coded and KHuX instead). The Days retrospective isn't even first drafted yet, I'm on... hrm... Day 299.

 

[Muke]

Next up is KHII - I'm going in NA release order (the episodic release of coded and the Japan-only release of KHX makes things janky, so I'm going with the release dates of Re:coded and KHuX instead). The Days retrospective isn't even first drafted yet, I'm on... hrm... Day 299.

Oh, okay then! Thank you for replying, and good luck. :3

 

[Rolands]

That was certainly a...grotesque entry. Gets you thinking at least, I like it.

 

[BlackOsprey]

I don't know how you do it, but you make me love the story more and more with each retrospect. There's so much that's making me think, "Whoa, I never saw it that way before, but now that you mentioned it..." And even if things like repressed childhood memories aren't actually what was going on in the end, that doesn't mean the story can't imply such themes or even explore them a bit.

Heh. CoM has one wonderfully messed-up story, doesn't it? Too bad that the gameplay doesn't hold up half as well.

 

[Blackdrazon]

CoM's narrative red herring is one of the best I've ever seen. The only one I can think of that does better is from *violent coughing*, where both the false and real facts of the plot merge thematically to contribute to an even more evolved finale that stems from both. Meanwhile CoM is using its red herring to 1) thematically support the true plot thread, and 2) to provide a distinct narrative about deception itself.

I personally consider the former narrative to be microscopically stronger than CoM's, but that's going to be subjective from player to player. As for the former, anyone who sticks with me can join me in looking at it in an upcoming, non-KH retrospective.

I had a response to you about CoM's gameplay, but I liked it so much I think I'm going to insert somewhere during the R/R retrospective.

 

[ShardofTruth]

I finally cought up again and it's really intriguing, especially the ghost theory and the three levels of exposition, I never thought about it this way.
As for the enemy cards: Jafar is always my favorite, you can use two whole sleights of Ars Arcanum on bosses that are normaly broken almost immediatly. Besides Lethal Frame this sleight is one of the most useful to bring down the health points of any boss fast and doesn't cost much. Using even stronger Keyblade cards it's even possible on Proud to half the HP of Marluxia's Third Form before it even used a single attack.

 

[Elysium]

The only enemy card I ever use is Oogie. Even when I tried to use enemy cards, I'd always end up forgetting about them. Trickmaster in re:CoM doesn't bother me--but the 3-stage battle in re:Coded was just cruel.

 

[kuraudoVII]

I never once thought about the ghost theory at all. You'd think a thirteen year old would be able to at least think that she was someone who was dead all along, but nope. I just thought that she was just a memory of an old friend who was whisked away to another world somewhat similarly to how Kairi was. I had a weird thought process at age thirteen.

Come to think of it, I was also suspicious as to whether we were playing the real Riku in Reverse/Rebirth, too...

 

[Blackdrazon]

When I first went into R/R, like the very first time, I assumed we would actually be playing as Riku Replica, because it seemed at the end of the game like they were planning on making him a more substantial character. I wasn't really shaken from that conviction until the two Rikus outright faced off, even Vexen didn't convince me at first.

I was kind of let down that we wouldn't have any epic Riku vs Sora fights from Riku's perspective... and still haven't, come to think of it.

 

[Dandelion]

When I first went into R/R, like the very first time, I assumed we would actually be playing as Riku Replica, because it seemed at the end of the game like they were planning on making him a more substantial character. I wasn't really shaken from that conviction until the two Rikus outright faced off, even Vexen didn't convince me at first.

I was kind of let down that we wouldn't have any epic Riku vs Sora fights from Riku's perspective... and still haven't, come to think of it.

The last boss of Dream drop distance?