Just got 1.5 HD Remix for PS3. Getting ready to start it, but I want to see what difficulty mode you recommend. I'm late 20s and have been playing games of all genres my entire life. However, I've never enjoyed super grueling games. Basically, will normal difficulty be too easy or just right?
You probably won't mind going into the harder difficulty for KH1. It's worth noting that KH1 (but not Re:CoM) contains content that you can unlock in different ways based on the game's difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the less you have to do to unlock the content, as a means of compensating you for the general higher difficulty.
I would definitely not play Re:Chain of Memories on hard until you've played the game at least once. The game is very different from the rest of the series, and it takes a while to get used to. Heck there's probably not any shame in playing it on Easy - you might want to go through the tutorial and think about how things are going.
Also, is there anything you really wish you had known when you first started, menu stuff or little techniques that are never explained, or anything really (except for spoilers please)?
A few mechanics that happen in the opening few minutes of the game are never explained in-game. Please play the game yourself to experience them, but I'll leave this post to explain what they're about in case you want to read it later. You'll know when. I'm going to put them behind spoiler tags if they're nagging at you - don't worry, there are no narrative spoilers in here, it's purely about mechanics.
Very early in the game, you're going to be presented with some choices: these are two steps in a hidden character creation segment.
First, you'll be presented with a Sword, Shield and Rod, and will be asked to take one and give up another. The item you take will give you higher stats in the category you selected, while the item you drop will lower your stats in that category. Sword gives you hitting power, Shield gives you defence and Rod gives you magic. A number of other factors are also affected here, but in less predictable ways.
The item you take will also affect when you gain Abilities via level up (the item you drop has no effect on your abilities). Taking Sword will give you combat skills earlier in the game, taking Rod will give you magic skills, and taking Shield gives you miscellaneous abilities. You can't technically lock yourself out of any abilities, but they are shunted off to Level 90+ where you may never see them!
It can be very hard to decide what you want to prioritize without having played the game, but pull on your experience with other action games and hope for the best!
You will be asked a number of questions in this step. The answer to your questions is actually used to determine the EXP required to level up. If the game says you will "leave at Noon" after finishing the questions, that means your character will level up normally. If it says you will "leave at Dawn," that means your character will level up quickly until Level 50, and level up slowly from there on out. If it says you will "Leave at Night," that means your character will level up slowly until Level 50, and then quickly from there on out.
If you play the game on the highest difficulty, you'll be given an Ability called "EXP Zero" while playing. This is purely for people who want to challenge themselves by beating the game at Level 1 - you can safely ignore it.
The game has a few early missable items and story events. Just be thorough - there aren't that many, thankfully. The series learned its lesson after KH1 and basically never did that again, so you don't need to worry about that in any later games.
Once you control teammates,
change their AI for the love of Walt Disney or they will use all their Items and MP the moment a fight starts! Unfortunately, the game won't
let you change their AI for a little while, but the moment it does...!
As for Re:CoM... if you're having trouble in Re:CoM, please feel free to come back to the forums and ask for help. I'd gladly help you right now, but the game takes a while to get used to and you wouldn't know what I'm talking about until you've been behind the wheel for a few hours.
I wouldn't recommend you play the "movie" copy of 358/2 Days that's on the 1.5 collection. It's there because that's where the game takes place in chronological order, but 358/2 Days (the game) was actually released after Kingdom Hearts 2. If you're enjoying the series, please hold off on Days or you'll get some spoilers for KH2!