After three years of waiting, kept up to news and scans, watched video gameplays, watched the commercial during a couple of my favorite TV shows on ABC Family, I finally got my copy of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (after I had to deal with some stupid traffic and drivers that just don't know how to drive fast. Seriously they shouldn't even be on the freeway 
)
Ahem... anyway, so I played only 3-4 hours of the game (and purposely missed my favorite soap), and all I can say was yes... it was totally worth the wait.
Last night, in prep of Birth by Sleep, I battled Xemnas to watch the secret ending. Now playing it feels like I didn't have to wonder about that secret ending anymore, cuz the game is fresh out of that scene (y'know it!)
Gameplay:
Okay, let's just get to the point here: Birth by Sleep is like all Kingdom Hearts games (no doubt). But its new gameplay style, along with the Command Board, Mirage Arena, and all other fresh and developed content makes the game totally fresh, like playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time.
Once I left the Land of Departure with Terra, I didn't hesitate to try out the Command Board. Nomura said that he dreamed of creating his own board game and hoped to make it fresh, unique and fun to play. And he did it! I enjoyed playing the Board game for the first time and ended up powering-up six command cards to high heaven! Sweet! So those people who think Command Board is boring, PLAY IT AGAIN! (cough G4TV cough!)
Characters:
Last time I played Terra was at E3 2010. Now, I feel like I've been playing with Terra for as long as I could remember. To the extent that he now moves pretty fast for me, instead of heavily. So to anyone who's playing Terra first, he's not that bad of a character once you get the hang of it. Playing with Ven is like playing with Sora (same speed, agility, prowess) he's the total package. Aqua moves kinda like Ven but very smoothly. Her technique however are quite complex. So it should take me a while to get adjusted with her.
Graphics and Speed:
The graphic is SO not like Dissidia. Y'know... all sharp and little beauty (thank God!)
You still can see the magic that is the Kingdom Hearts graphics and it's GOR-GEOUS!
Data Install makes the game speed quite faster than all other installments. At first I didn't installed the Data Install, because I was on traffic and I didn't mind waiting like 30-40 seconds loading times (no, really about 30-40 seconds of waiting without it). With Data Install however, loading times is cut down 20 seconds, so instead of 30-40 sec it's like 5-10, so it's pretty fast. I would highly recommend it.
So where am I now, storywise?
I just left Land of Departure with Terra. I am ready to tackle on Ven and once he leaves Land of Departure also, I will tackle Aqua. I'll be using my old save data of course to switch the cast of characters and create new save data separately for all three characters. My plan here is to finish one world with Terra, Ven and Aqua; and then move on to their next respective world with the same order of characters (I know. Crazy right?) My difficulty? Proud Mode. (ouch!)
Overall?!
This game was worth waiting. It's still early for me to give it a grade, because I haven't progressed through the story yet... aw, who am I kidding! I'll give this game a 10!
Thus ends my original review for Birth by Sleep. Now, if only I could get my annoying brother off my TV so that I can record my gameplay
)Ahem... anyway, so I played only 3-4 hours of the game (and purposely missed my favorite soap), and all I can say was yes... it was totally worth the wait.
Last night, in prep of Birth by Sleep, I battled Xemnas to watch the secret ending. Now playing it feels like I didn't have to wonder about that secret ending anymore, cuz the game is fresh out of that scene (y'know it!)
Gameplay:
Okay, let's just get to the point here: Birth by Sleep is like all Kingdom Hearts games (no doubt). But its new gameplay style, along with the Command Board, Mirage Arena, and all other fresh and developed content makes the game totally fresh, like playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time.
Once I left the Land of Departure with Terra, I didn't hesitate to try out the Command Board. Nomura said that he dreamed of creating his own board game and hoped to make it fresh, unique and fun to play. And he did it! I enjoyed playing the Board game for the first time and ended up powering-up six command cards to high heaven! Sweet! So those people who think Command Board is boring, PLAY IT AGAIN! (cough G4TV cough!)
Characters:
Last time I played Terra was at E3 2010. Now, I feel like I've been playing with Terra for as long as I could remember. To the extent that he now moves pretty fast for me, instead of heavily. So to anyone who's playing Terra first, he's not that bad of a character once you get the hang of it. Playing with Ven is like playing with Sora (same speed, agility, prowess) he's the total package. Aqua moves kinda like Ven but very smoothly. Her technique however are quite complex. So it should take me a while to get adjusted with her.
Graphics and Speed:
The graphic is SO not like Dissidia. Y'know... all sharp and little beauty (thank God!)
You still can see the magic that is the Kingdom Hearts graphics and it's GOR-GEOUS!
Data Install makes the game speed quite faster than all other installments. At first I didn't installed the Data Install, because I was on traffic and I didn't mind waiting like 30-40 seconds loading times (no, really about 30-40 seconds of waiting without it). With Data Install however, loading times is cut down 20 seconds, so instead of 30-40 sec it's like 5-10, so it's pretty fast. I would highly recommend it.
So where am I now, storywise?
I just left Land of Departure with Terra. I am ready to tackle on Ven and once he leaves Land of Departure also, I will tackle Aqua. I'll be using my old save data of course to switch the cast of characters and create new save data separately for all three characters. My plan here is to finish one world with Terra, Ven and Aqua; and then move on to their next respective world with the same order of characters (I know. Crazy right?) My difficulty? Proud Mode. (ouch!)
Overall?!
This game was worth waiting. It's still early for me to give it a grade, because I haven't progressed through the story yet... aw, who am I kidding! I'll give this game a 10!
Thus ends my original review for Birth by Sleep. Now, if only I could get my annoying brother off my TV so that I can record my gameplay
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