I've been catching up with the retrospective and it's really a pleasure to read. I especially like all those references to other games and series, never heard of Darkened Skye though, is it really good? It looks a bit like Drakan (minus the dragon) from screenshots.
Darkened Skye is... fascinating. The dialogue is cheesy (often bad), the combat is so-so, and the platforming is atrocious (and then they ask you to do
stuff like this). Honestly it feels not unlike a PSX action platformer with only a few refinements, despite being the same age as KH1 (maybe this is just the Linda Larkin connection talking, but the gameplay reminds me of
Nasira's Revenge).
But then you hit the licensing connection, and you start wonder wow, how on earth did
this happen? A licensed candy game about a dark, cheesily comedic fantasy world? And despite the general mediocrity of the controls, no licensed food game has any right to be this good. What are we comparing it to? Cool Spot was from a different era. The Burger King games, maybe? The devs just refused to go down making a trite licensed product, and the whole thing warps back to admirable. I don't know how Mars, Inc let them get away with it, but having worked in licensed games I have to respect their gumption and results.
I also like how you're pointing out the advantages of choosing the Dream Rod out more and more, even though you were very adamant in saying that the sword option is always the best option at the beginning.:wink:
I always choose the staff because I can synthesize another Power Boost to get more strength but this extra magic point, that is so important for the magic mechanics, will forever be gone. If you equip the Diamond Dust Keyblade on top you can destroy enemies like you're Aqua on speed, Magic (especially vita/vitra/vigra) is seriously broken in Kingdom Hearts.
Haha, the Dream Rod becomes more and more valuable in the late-game. Kingdom Hearts games traditionally have a weird, camel-like difficulty curve if you consider the late-game challenges to be part of the curve: one hump near the beginning (traditionally before you get Cure) and one hump in the 80% range. Having played Rod extensively in the past, I had no trouble with Kurt Zisa or of course Phantom, but Sword? Forget about it. It's funny how that works. At least Sword players can close the MP gap with synthesis, but Rod players will always be a little behind on sheer hitting power, which can be trouble against bosses like Ansem, depending on your level.
I also agree about Hollow Bastion, I still get shivers when the Sora arrives in the world for the first time, the logo is shown, the music begins to play and the castle is shown in the distance (they did the same with The World That Never Was and it works there perfectly too). This is by far my favorite world in Kingdom Hearts and I'm still unsure to this day if Radiant Garden is really a fair trade.
It's just unforgettable. One of my
favourite remixes is from there, too!
I'm also not that fond of the the gummi missions myself but on the other hand what could SquareEnix do to make this section more interesting? Since the rewards are only more gummi blocks, I always felt that this expansion was only made for people who like this mode and not the rest of the players.
You're right, and I can't offer any other fixes than I already have (a "gummi mission mode" feature where Monstro is disabled and Sora automatically takes the right paths). And I am glad that they made the prizes nothing but gummis. This happens in KH2 a few times as well, where my draft says something like: "This FM+ fix isn't great, but what else could they have done?" Kingdom Hearts takes surprisingly well to revision, but the Final Mix format comes too late in the process to make the big fixes!
Maybe I can help you with the screenshots of the Unknown, if I can find my savegames for the original Final Mix but I'm not able to take photos/videos with my PS3 either.
I'd appreciate it if you find a way! But you're right, there isn't any easy way to take PS3 screenshots either (I tried during my retrospective playthrough). If you can get the shots, PM me, but no pressure or rush. If you can't, that's fine too, I'm much more happy with the entry now that it has the RickyC screenshots.