Unpopular Opinions About Chain of Memories

[ReverofEnola]

Unpopular Opinions regarding Chain of Memories. One of the KH games that I honestly consider one of the best.

[video=youtube;l_pUo334xVo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_pUo334xVo[/video]

 

[Veevee]

Haven't seen the video, but I agree. Re:CoM was one of the best games. The dialogue was sharp, on-point and interesting while the characters and their animations told a lot about the characters by themselves that later games decided to just put in words. And I like the battle system, it certainly was interesting and personally, I also found it to be fun. In terms of story, dialogue and inner consistency, I'd consider this the best entry in the franchise.

 

[Infamita]

Loved the storytelling in re:com.

Was a shame that they made the gameplay so repetitive - had the potential to be one of the best Kingdom Hearts games.

 

[redcrown]

Good story and animation from Re:com, but the cutscene pacing was absurdly and painfully slow, even if it had great dialog going on. The pacing leeches into the voice acting a lot of the time, making it sound pretty dead often, just barely enough to keep your attention.

The biggest criticism though is of course the card system, the repetitive empty worlds, and Riku's side having a lack of world stories from his true memories of KH1.

It would have been cool to see his side of the story from the original game and his gradual downfall to darkness, but no; the writing team didn't even bother to make a flashback and pulled some cop out of "your darkness is obstructing your memories" bull. I mean hell, it would have been nice to see him interact with and sass the other Disney villains at the very least.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

CoM was a solid game and one of the best written ones.

Re:CoM is an inferior version, with polished looks but awful 2D mechanics into a 3D game.

 

[The_Echo]

Re:CoM is an inferior version, with polished looks but awful 2D mechanics into a 3D game.

I disagree. Re:CoM is a largely identical experience, and one I prefer playing thanks to improved controls and extra content.
Whether GBA or Re: is "better" largely comes down to personal opinion. They're both solid games and you wouldn't be missing out by picking one over another.

But Re:Reverse/Rebirth is objectively better.

 

[Not Ienzo]

I think Org XIII were best portrayed in this game, personally.

And like others, I really think the worlds are way too repetitive for their own good but at least everything else in Castle Oblivion kept me hooked.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

I disagree. Re:CoM is a largely identical experience, and one I prefer playing thanks to improved controls and extra content.
Whether GBA or Re: is "better" largely comes down to personal opinion. They're both solid games and you wouldn't be missing out by picking one over another.

But Re:Reverse/Rebirth is objectively better.

Improved? Really?
Donald's magic, along many other attacks, now border on useless because there is depth to take into account but they just didn't. Anything that fires into a straight line but doesn't track will hardly hit anything unless you're all up in the emey's face. Similar inconsistencies can be found in using Dodge Roll for the same reasons. At times it work, at times it doesn't.
It takes literal dozens of minutes to clear a single room if you set medium/large amount of enemies and don't have Megaflare, because between animations and movements everything takes longer. And that should be obvious, GBA fights will always be faster than ps2-3 fights, but then adjustments should've been made. Like, less rooms, or more exp. Something else than up to 40 minutes per room.
That also definitely didn't help appreciating the Disney worlds better. Not only they were filler, they were long drawn-out filler.

Like, none of these things is a game-breaker, sure, but they're there. Whereas I can't think of a single element that was improved from the GBA, at best they were on par.

Honestly, it's been a shared sentiment between many runners and fans that GBA CoM is the best one to play when it comes to performance, while that Re offers better aestethics and a bonus boss fight.
Because, again, they just translated a 2D game in 3D. And it even makes sense that they did: Re was made by Team Osaka, and they didn't make the original CoM themselves.

 

[The_Echo]

Improved? Really?
Donald's magic, along many other attacks, now border on useless because there is depth to take into account but they just didn't. Anything that fires into a straight line but doesn't track will hardly hit anything unless you're all up in the emey's face. Similar inconsistencies can be found in using Dodge Roll for the same reasons. At times it work, at times it doesn't.

Try... aiming better. That's all I really have to say about that.

It takes literal dozens of minutes to clear a single room if you set medium/large amount of enemies and don't have Megaflare, because between animations and movements everything takes longer. And that should be obvious, GBA fights will always be faster than ps2-3 fights, but then adjustments should've been made. Like, less rooms, or more exp. Something else than up to 40 minutes per room.
That also definitely didn't help appreciating the Disney worlds better. Not only they were filler, they were long drawn-out filler.

If you're taking 40 minutes to clear even a Castle Oblivion Teeming Darkness, you are doing something horribly, horribly wrong.

I didn't say Re:CoM was improved, by the way. I said the controls were improved.
Like the rest of the post says, I don't believe that they are different enough to matter. Which one is "better" comes down to personal preference.

 

[ReverofEnola]

Improved? Really?
Donald's magic, along many other attacks, now border on useless because there is depth to take into account but they just didn't. Anything that fires into a straight line but doesn't track will hardly hit anything unless you're all up in the emey's face. Similar inconsistencies can be found in using Dodge Roll for the same reasons. At times it work, at times it doesn't.
It takes literal dozens of minutes to clear a single room if you set medium/large amount of enemies and don't have Megaflare, because between animations and movements everything takes longer. And that should be obvious, GBA fights will always be faster than ps2-3 fights, but then adjustments should've been made. Like, less rooms, or more exp. Something else than up to 40 minutes per room.
That also definitely didn't help appreciating the Disney worlds better. Not only they were filler, they were long drawn-out filler.

Like, none of these things is a game-breaker, sure, but they're there. Whereas I can't think of a single element that was improved from the GBA, at best they were on par.

Honestly, it's been a shared sentiment between many runners and fans that GBA CoM is the best one to play when it comes to performance, while that Re offers better aestethics and a bonus boss fight.
Because, again, they just translated a 2D game in 3D. And it even makes sense that they did: Re was made by Team Osaka, and they didn't make the original CoM themselves.

There technically are game-breaking moves in the remake in the form of the new sleight: "Lethal Frame" and the fact that the Jafar Card can now be used with sleights (thus making ARS really overpowered).

Also somewhat off-topic: Isn't Re:CoM a bit spoilery than the original due to it coming out AFTER KH2 (but at the same time as KH2FM)? And since it came out after it has that whole hindsight thing going for it.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Try... aiming better. That's all I really have to say about that.

If you're taking 40 minutes to clear even a Castle Oblivion Teeming Darkness, you are doing something horribly, horribly wrong.

I didn't say Re:CoM was improved, by the way. I said the controls were improved.
Like the rest of the post says, I don't believe that they are different enough to matter. Which one is "better" comes down to personal preference.

Ah, the good old "be better at it" that invalidates every argument about bad elements in a videogame. That's like saying "be better at dodging and using mines" in a BbS boss fight: I can do that. That doesn't make the battle itself any less bad.
It's not the player's job to correct every single game mistake.
I'm doing nothing but creating rooms with lots of Heartless so that the bosses wouldn't kick my stuff and then eliminating them with combos and tricks until I get Megaflare. If that's horribly wrong man I did not understand the first thing about this videogame. And it takes a lot. Enough for me to lose interest in keep playing because I have to do the same thing 7-8 times more on the latest floors.

The controls aren't improved: they just switched on a new mode that made them less good. I controlled GBA Sora much better, once again because I didn't have to deal with ill-placed depth perception and GBA-thought speeds and mechanics in a much larger environment (by the way: did I mention that on Re even just having to "get" the experience is tedious?)
Heck, I did not make any direct comparison, but I swear that even Sora moves slower that he should. But this last thing is my own impression.

Also somewhat off-topic: Isn't Re:CoM a bit spoilery than the original due to it coming out AFTER KH2 (but at the same time as KH2FM)? And since it came out after it has that whole hindsight thing going for it.

If I'm not mistaken, the Re version has more Roxas in the credit scenes at the end of the two story modes, right? I think I'm remembering that right.
If that so, then yes. It was indeed a bit more spoilery, since Roxas in KH II was supposed to be this "oh my God who is this I've never seen him before."
With Re, it was like you already knew he was going to be the next character.

 

[DarkGrey Heroine]

__CoM on the GBA looks prettier and more likeable than ReCoM. Yeah, I'm an old-school pixel-lover in this case, I'll take the GBA CoM's sprites and animations anytime instead of ReCoM's dull 3D-transition-from-2D. ReCoM's adaptation lacks the emotions IN the visuals to me.

__in CoM's Reverse Rebirth, the last Repliku fight is harder than the final Ansem fight. At least that's how it was for me.

 

[The_Echo]

Ah, the good old "be better at it" that invalidates every argument about bad elements in a videogame. That's like saying "be better at dodging and using mines" in a BbS boss fight: I can do that. That doesn't make the battle itself any less bad.
It's not the player's job to correct every single game mistake.

All I'm saying is that I've never had a problem hitting enemies with my attacks in Re:CoM.
Somehow an attack which moves in 3D space doesn't account for depth. Whatever that actually means.
Your complaint is that you aren't able to hit enemies with attacks that don't home, unless you're very close.
But you are able to, because I have and do on a regular basis with little to no issue; so little, that I've never even considered such a complaint to be possible.
I've seen a lot of criticisms of Re:CoM, some less valid than others, but none so baffling as this.

I'm not telling you to aim better as a means of deflection. I'm telling you to aim better because clearly, you need to.

The controls aren't improved:

Full 3D movement controls better than four-way isometric movement, yes.
A dedicated dodge button is better than double-tapping a movement direction, yes.
Being able to stack cards and trigger Sleights with only one button is better than simultaneously tapping L and R, yes.

I didn't have to deal with ill-placed depth perception

I still don't know what you mean by this, but I have a strong feeling this problem is endemic to you.

 

[Final_Key]

The new 3d system was awkward sure but I quickly got used to it, I don't understand teh complaints

 

[drumstickwielder]

It takes literal dozens of minutes to clear a single room if you set medium/large amount of enemies and don't have Megaflare, because between animations and movements everything takes longer. And that should be obvious, GBA fights will always be faster than ps2-3 fights, but then adjustments should've been made. Like, less rooms, or more exp. Something else than up to 40 minutes per room.

This game is so easy to cheese. Once you get sonic blade you just set up your deck with four or five with an elixir plus whatever else you want in there and you clear enemies really fast. The only thing this doesn't work as well on is flying enemies. The last time I played this I cleared a whole floor in about an hour. I don't want to bash on you but it honestly sounds like you didn't grasp the simplicity of the combat system.

 

[kaseykockroach]

I admittedly prefer the original Game Boy Advance version, but that's just because I love the adorable sprites. I found its graphics to be more appealing than Re:Com's, but I appreciate that they actually made the effort to remake the game anyhow.
Re:Com has some pretty poor voice direction though.