Dark Road ► Thoughts on Dark Road (NO SPOILERS)

[U.N. Owen]

Eraqus was extremely fun. He seriously reads like a character Drake Bell would play. I honestly want this to be voice acted because I can easily imagine his dialogue read by Drake, more than his dialogue in III.

 

[darknessofheart]

I really hope they flesh out the students' relationship with Odin more because his introduction just made it seem like he gave them a mission with limited information; it seemed pretty reckless unless it's part of something larger which is probably the case in typical KH lore.

I also like Xehanort is really a victim of his future self; his escape from Destiny Islands, his etched path, the emblem heartless, they are all a result of his future incarnations. I'm sure that many of the following events will also be partially staged by Ansem to make his younger self easier to accept the darkness.

This begs the question though; was there ever an original timeline not altered by Xehanort? How would Xehanort come to be if not for the manipulations of his future self?

 

[Happyfunshineman]

I’ve been keeping auto battle on for this mission where you need to defeat 50 heartless in Wonderland. I’m now at 1205 heartless defeated. I wonder how long I can keep this going.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I’ve been keeping auto battle on for this mission where you need to defeat 50 heartless in Wonderland. I’m now at 1205 heartless defeated. I wonder how long I can keep this going.

I mean, if you want to finish the monthly missions in time, it won't hurt to leave it run for awhile. But also keep in mind the refreshing Mission 20 have tasks like "defeat x500 heartless in Agrabah"

 

[GreyouTT]

The actual card gameplay is a great idea. It's Flick Rush combined with CoM and X, and it feels like the perfect formula for a smart phone KH.

I don't like that it's built around grinding and idling though. It sucks the fun out of it, and the fact that I can't actually explore the worlds makes it worse. Plus the wait time between quests is pretty much needless padding. I get they want to make level ups mean something, but I think you can have that by just making EXP work like every other game and capping your level until the next set of quests. But since the game is the way it is, level ups get really (and unnecessarily) spaced out.

Basically the Idle part of the game bogs everything else down and hurts what could be a really damn fun game, which is a shame.


Story is also really good as well btw. But again, because of the idling, it gets brought to a crawl and bogged down.

 

[Happyfunshineman]

I’m thinking in the future I might just watch the cutscenes online like I’ve been doing for X. This is just a bit too mindless for me to want to stick with it.

I really like the what we got from the story so far. It feels like the team put a lot of work into these scenes.

Looking forward to future chapters!

 

[Absent]

So if the game plays itself why waste space on your mobile? What else does DR offer? I get it, everyone plays video games differently but the whole point of games are playing them. Is this a gacha thing? Pokemon Masters(gacha) also has Auto mode but that mode was designed for the item grinding stages not so much events and bosses.

 

[Heartkeeper]

I find the game extremely boring, pales in comparison to what Union X is. Such a shame this story has to be told in a game like this.

 

[SuperSaiyanSora]

I like the story a lot, and I think the combat is just like what I theorized in the past -- a fast turn-based KH game, but right now it's too barebones for the potential to really shine. I think once more updates roll out with more cards and a lot more to do, it'll be something special. The quests are super grindy, and it definitely feels like a slog to get through, so it's almost as if the game demands you to use Auto Mode... Which definitely helps in terms of levelling up, but you never want a game to give you the incentive for it to play itself.

The story also needs to be updated more often, and if not, there has to be enough for it to justify monthly releases. Union X's two or three-minute cutscenes aren't cutting it, and this is exactly why the player base drops so drastically. There's no incentive to play besides the story, and the story is either "Let's see what Player is doing in this Disney world today!" or "Okay, so here's some really important KH lore going forward... And we're gonna give it to you in breadcrumbs, because this makes us money and we gotta justify keeping you on here a bit longer."

Seriously, the X era of KH storytelling is really well done and if people had more of a reason to care about the story, nobody would be saying Nomura is such a trash writer all the time lol, this is some of his best work and it's in a mobile game that's met with wide exasperation from fans all around. I guarantee you, put this on a console and give it the UE4 treatment and you'd see just how popular Union X would get. And if they can get Disney to sign off on an MMORPG Kingdom Hearts format, that's going to make TONS of money for Square, look at how well FFXIV does. And that game alone kept the FF franchise afloat for years.

I'm still optimistic, but there's a lot to be desired and just like UX, the redeeming qualities are in the story itself. The fact that Eraqus is literally Carlos from Magic School Bus alone makes me want to see how this unfolds, and I'm being serious when I say that. I really like how they're characterizing the kids so far and I look forward to seeing how the dynamic plays out in further updates.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

It's a terrible game with an awesome story. There are no filler cutscenes, everything feels directly lore related.

 

[the red monster]

There are no filler cutscenes, everything feels directly lore related.

Sadly i don't think this is gonna age well

 

[ShardofTruth]

I really hoped for more Scala ad Caelum exploration but there is no exploration at all.
They also removed every bit of storytelling that happenend outside of cinematic cutscenes, Wonderland unlocks without a single comment.
I get that they wanted to offer a different experience than KHUX already provided but making the gameplay even more streamlined with even less customization and without any form of multiplayer interaction feels really odd, especially when every other cow clicker I know will also play itself when you don't have the game open.

Really I found the game a lot more engaging than UX, both can play themselves but this one if I play it I can actually balance out some strategy which I haven't been able to do in UX for a very long time.

But that's how UX was in the beginning too. Rememeber the Minnie medal for healing, the Esuna ability from Jiminy and the copy status ability from Namine? In the beginning you needed strategy to survive and actual deck building with different Keyblades, at least until the multi-booster medals appeared. DR will be the same eventually, probably sooner than later.

 

[zander1995]

As someone who played Union Cross (then Unchained X) from day one, the grind is exactly the same as it was back then. It was just hidden more because there were some big roadblocks with the early game bosses.

Card battles are less about deck building currently because playing specific attacks is currently more important. Once there are a few dozen cards in the gacha, it'll be more about strategizing.

So far the game's about 6/10 for me, ruined by mobage trends despite the fun battle system.

Edit: Also magic attacks are really good btw. Each enemy has specific weaknesses which is nice.

Edit 2: They really should make it so you get an enemy's card after killing x amount of them.

 

[edrian24]

It's kinda fun when you actually play missions but i am not a big fan of idle games. tho i hope when they add more cards that there will be more strategy and less auto down the heartless.

 

[Cumguardian69]

Ok, finally reached Lv17 last night. Some neat observations:

•I haven't looked at other player stats to confirm this, but Xenahort seems to be a MAGIC based keyblader.

•Auto Battle does not recognize Protect or Potion as viable battle options, which makes progression in 2 star literally impossible beyond ~11 heartless, and it also casts Cure as soon as it is available which is a terrible option esp when xenahott is poisoned.

•Wasting turns on using Shell is...a waste. Magic Boost is significantly better than Shell.

•Casting spells is so much better than Attack except against say Wozards.

•Auto Battle on 1star Wonderland nets more BP than 1star Agrabah, and it's impossible to die at lv17.

•Leveling curve is ridiculous in this game, doesn't feel like KH at all.

•The fact that the game is built around Charms even at Lv25 is ridiculous. Really reinforces the *mobileshit* in "Mobileshit fremium gacha".

 

[zander1995]

Ok, finally reached Lv17 last night. Some neat observations:
[snip].

I'm at level 19, and the grind is realllll. Hard to save up jewels when you gotta use them on keys just to level up and do the decent BP content.

It doesn't actually cast cure as soon as it's available. It always checks for a (edit: triple) special attack move first, unless you have a blue trio. But it does always override regular attack cards.

Spells are great.

The difficulty jump from 1 star Wonderland to 2 star Wonderland is ridiculous.

It's honestly better to not use your charms and just restart anytime you die. Same amount of BP without having to waste charms, though you do have to be a little more active instead of just letting the game run.

Edit: Also BP gain seems a bit off? Sometimes when I do key quests, i get 14000, other times i get 23000/24000. It's not based on only doing trios, so maybe it depends on the rarity of the card you use to defeat them?

Edit 2: I can now leave my phone on auto in agrabah 2 without dying. it is extremely satisfying.

 

[mouflon]

Edit: Also BP gain seems a bit off? Sometimes when I do key quests, i get 14000, other times i get 23000/24000. It's not based on only doing trios, so maybe it depends on the rarity of the card you use to defeat them?

It depends on how many Gold Tricholomas spawn. The Tricholomas give 10000 BP each whereas the Gift Shadows only give 1000 each. The last enemy is always a Gold Tricholoma so you always get at least 14000. Or do you mean it varies even between those numbers? Like, sometimes 14000, sometimes 15000?

 

[zander1995]

It depends on how many Gold Tricholomas spawn. The Tricholomas give 10000 BP each whereas the Gift Shadows only give 1000 each. The last enemy is always a Gold Tricholoma so you always get at least 14000. Or do you mean it varies even between those numbers? Like, sometimes 14000, sometimes 15000?

Ah, I didn't realize it was related to the specific heartless you fight. I assumed the amount you got was based on your tactics more than just RNG.

Also finally hit level 21! Whoo. Now I have nothing to do but grind endlessly to get Darkside. (I have only just hit 12500 heartless slain)

 

[Cumguardian69]

Oh I just learned something....KHDR really needs a background auto-battle mode. Because the game basically plays itself, there is no reason why the game doesn't LITERALLY play itself. I spent 2 hours grinding lv1 wonderfulland, I got around 11k BP. So if I need 79kBP to level up, that's around 8 hours I gotta spend with my phone ON, battery being used, phone heating up, all just to grind BP without spending jewels/RWM. That isn't cool, SQEX.

 

[zander1995]

I have reached level 22, and have killed 20000 enemies.
I have regrets.