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King of all Hearts

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  1. Beginner. It's not that I couldn't do it on standard or even proud, but I always go in order. I've done that for every game.
  2. It should. I made a review of the game a week ago. However, I couldn't copy and paste that review for some reason, so I started from scratch and gave it a score of 8.5 instead of 8.75.
  3. Kingdom Hearts. If you are into JRPGs, then chances are you have heard about this 10 year old series. This unlikely crossover of Final Fantasy and Disney has given us six games and one remake. Now that Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is out and I beat the entrie game, I can give decent impressions. First there is the story. Dream Drop Distance, which I'll call 3D, happens after the events of Recoded where Riku and Sora must take a test to become Keyblade Masters since Master Xehanort is returning. They will go through seven sleeping worlds and unlock their keyholes. If you have played the first few Kingdom Hearts games, things are not what they seem. I expected this to occur and thought I'd be able to guess most of the plot. Turns out I was dead wrong. There are so many plot twists, especially in the last world, that make several plot breaking revelations, I'd have thought this really was Kingdom Hearts III. (I also think Sosuke Aizen has found his match for the most well thought out plan from a Japanese villian ever) Not only that, it will literally make you rethink everything that has every happened and will answer that which has been changed, while still leaving answers for what I hope with 110% of my being will lead us to Kingdom Hearts III which I hope will also make its way onto the Xbox 360 or if not at least the Wii U. That being said, the plot is very confusing, especially if you haven't played the other games. (But the momento section helps alleviate this). People and reviewers have said that all the games' plots are confusing, but I never had a problem understanding it. I never played Chain of Memories or even knew it existed until after Kingdom Hearts II (I didn't get into the series until II came out in Japan) and I still understood all that happened. But this game's plot had me racing to the wikis to fully understand what had occured. As for the gameplay, I found that it combined the best of all the games and the added flowmotion made it the greatest gameplay of the series... But then came the drop gauge and boy was I annoyed. If you have the correct items this may not be a problem, but if you don't keep them there for the rest of the game by sacrificing one command slot, then when you come to boss it can all fall apart. See, since Sora and Riku are in two seperate realities of a world, you have a limited amount of time between the two and when the drop gauge depleates, you switch between the two. This wouldn't be quite a problem if the great gameplay wasn't so asorbing that you forget about the whole thing, but when it does come and you are in a boss battle and drop, you have to start the battle over again from the beginning making for some frusuating experiences. (Yes! I'm talking about you Xemnas!) Luckily, it doesn't make gameplay the worst of the series (For me, that goes to Chain of Memories), but it's a part that's good in theory, but horrible in execution. Let's not forget the dream eaters. This was a great addition for me and gave much more strategy then II ever did. The dive mode is also much better then the gummi ship. Also, the second to last boss is fairly challenging, dare I say the hardest non-opitional boss in the series. As for the graphics, I was amazed and overwhelmed by the greatness of them. If Super Mario 64 DS made me happy about the graphical capability of the DS, then 3D made me happy about the graphical capability of the 3DS. There is so much more fluid CG motions of all the characters faces then any of the other games and the texture like faces are few and far between. Basically, I can't imagine Kingdom Hearts looking better. (And this coming from a handheld!) Finally, there is the audio. Yoko Shinomura-san has outdone herself yet again. I wasn't that impressed for most of the new songss, but the old songs are the best ones and the remixes are stunning. (Try hearing the beggining of Xemnas' Boss Battle theme and you will undoubtably agree with me) There's also another remix of Dearly Beloved, which is every bit of unique from the others as it should be. As for the theme song, if I have to hear some form of Hikari/Simple and Clean or Passion/Sanctuary ever again, I may just explode. The acting is also truly marvelous. It isn't perfect, since this is a handheld, but its better then most handheld acting. All original characters, except Ansem the Wise, reprise their original voice actors. The characters of The World Ends with You appear fully voiced by the actors that spoke limited lines in the original game, except for Rhyme, but her replacement sounds great and similar to the type of voice her original actor Kate Higgins has. The only problem is Joshua. It's not that his voice sounds bad, its just it doesn't sound as sarcastic as his dialoge should sound. As for the Disney Voices, most of the originals reprise their roles, but those who don't, either because the voice actor died, retired or had no room in their schedule to voice, have suitable replacements. For example, Jim Cummings sounds so much like Tony Jay's Frollo that its chilling. There is some times where the dialouge take pauses when it shouldn't. ("Now's the time...*Pause*... we settle the score is an early example) So my impressions of the game make Kingdom Hearts 3D an excellent addition to the Kingdom Hearts mythos and makes me even more excited for the inevitable Kingdom Hearts III. It is far from perfect with the most confusing story so far and the drop gauge being the big culprits. There's also the old problems like the camera control and the lock-on in here too. If I were to rate this game like a professional review, I would give the story a 7/10, the gameplay an 8/10, the graphics a 10/10 and the audio a 9/10 to make it an 8.5/10 kind of game.
  4. Got it three days ago. Just beat Ansem SoD.
  5. Saw him in Note Dame as Riku and then Pranksters paradise as Sora. Beat him in two tries.
  6. If you want to read it, here it is. http://kh13.com/forum/topic/38454-minor-spoilers-review-of-kingdom-heartsdream-drop-distance/
  7. I thought it was a great review. I made my own review too. I gave it an 8.75, but 9.25 is reasonable.
  8. Hey there! King of all Hearts here. I may be new to the forum, but that doesn't belittle the fact that I am an avid KH fan. Heck, I got the PSP just to get Kingdom Hearts BBS! That being said, my love for the series won't blind me from the several flaws this game has as I write this review. So without furthur ado, I present to you my review of Kingdom Hearts 3D since I was lucky enough to obtain one from the Nintendo World Event on Saturday and have played it till the end. (Just finished it an hour ago) Story What is there to say about Kingdom Hearts' story? For one thing it has been able to blend Final Fantasy elements and Disney elements almost flawlessly, while telling a very intricate plot. But the intricate plot is where KH can falter. Kingdom Hearts 3D starts where Re: coded left off, where Master Yen Sid asks Sora and Riku to take the Mark of Mastery exam in order to combat the return of Master Xehanort now that both his Heartless and Nobody have been vanquished. Now unlinke the test back in BBS, Sora and Riku must go through seven different sleeping worlds that haven't been freed since Kingdom Hearts I. If they can get back alive while unlocking the seven keyholes, then they can be considered full fledged Keyblade Masters. There journey will take them through the old yet new Traverse Town, and Disney worlds based on the Hunchback of Notre Dome and Tron Legacy among others. Before I get to the negatives of the plot, lets go through the positives. First, the mix of the best of both worlds is still in full display and each world follows its story well. Usually, Sora follows the movie while Riku follows an alternate reality of sorts (The sole exception being the Tron Legacy world) The second positve is that the story on display here will turn the Kingdom Hearts world on its head and brings forth the most shocking of revelations near the end. Now this is where the problems come in. The story is very convoluted as it tries to bring all plot points from previous games together and yes, this does lead to several retcons along the way. Without spoiling too much, there is time travel added to the mix, so even your vast knowledge of all things Kingdom Hearts can't save you here. It is by no means as complicated as say, Metal Gear Solid's story, but it shows. Secondly, you need to understand everything about all the other games (Not as much for Recoded, but it does help) in order to fully appreciate everything. The memento system introduced helps soften the blow, but there are some points still missing. Gameplay What is there to say about the gameplay that hasn't been already said. Yes, there is a camera problem and lock ons can sometimes lock on to the wrong thing. Yes, most of the worlds are lifeless and dull. And yes, there is alot of button mashing. However, there are several gameplay mechanics added here that help brighten the experience. First is the Flowmotion system, which is argulably the greatest gamplay mechanic to every be introduced period! Using flowmotion, you can bounce of of walls, swirl around poles and throw big baddies, all the while doing major damage to enemies. This along with the Command system from BBS returning, makes the problem with the button mashing non-existant. It does not however, fix the lock on problem nor does it help the camera problem (Although it could have been much worse) All in all flowmotion makes gameplay fun and not repetitive, while making the lifeless worlds not a lifeless. You also must go between worlds in a area called Dive Mode, where you fall down a long path while dodging obstacles and gathering items needed to get the next world. There's even a few boss battles here. Then there are the Dream Eaters. See, becuase these worlds are sleeping, Heartless and Nobodies can't reach them, but new threat in the form of Dream Eaters called Nightmares appear. However, there are also good Dream Eaters called Spirits that fill in your party members. You can have two out at a time and a third in reserve. By defeating enemies, you can gains parts to make new and more powerful Dream Eaters and by using a BBS Command Board style minigame and another Chain of Memories card like minigame known as Flick Rush, you can level up Dream Eaters and subsequently yourself. You can also pet them in a Nintendogs-esque way thanks to the Augmented Reality system. Sora and Riku can also combine with these Spirits when the pink bar under them is filled. Sora will go ontop of them and bash through enemies while Riku combines with them to make powerful Command style like combos. This makes gameplay even more fun. But that's not all, there is also Reality Shift, where by performing a certain action, near a certain place at a certain time, you can do more damage. (Ie. Traverse Town allows you to take barrels and fling them at enemies while a world based on the not well known Three Musketeers shows you a comic where you must do something your asked of) And then there's the drop gauge. Basically in order for you to keep track of two different stories, you will switch between Sora and Riku after a certain amount of time. There is no avoiding this and there isn't much time to react when it is whittling away. There are some items to stop this, but that's it. Now this sounds good in theory, but not in execution. There are times where you can drop when you're in a mission and when you come back you may forget what that mission was. You can switch back immediately, but you are rewarded for staying all the way, so doing so is ill advised, especially when you get to the last few bosses. Speaking of bosses, the drop gauge works there too, so you may find yourself dropping at a boss battle just when you are about to beat the boss and when you come back, his HP is all the way up. (Oh, the anxiety it caused during Sora's last boss battle! Aghhhhhhhh!) Graphics Here is the part of the game that is flawless. While it won't make your jaw drop, all the worlds are full of color and alot of the facial expression are fluid and crisp (Even more so then previous games). This says alot considering this is a handheld system. All the Dream Eaters are very colorful and feel like you are part of a colorful painting. Even the lifeless worlds have enough background as to not be a distraction. The 3D is also used perfectly with some of the Boss attacks jumping out of the screen and some of the first person viewing on some cutscenes as well as the Dive mode showing real depth. Audio The Audio, as with most Kingdom Hearts games, is excellent. Composed by Yoko Shimomura and BBS' Takeharu Ishimoto and Square's Tsuyoshi Sekito, it continues to awe and inspire with songs that always fit the mood, whether it is the situation at hand or the world you are in. There are alot of old themes in here, but there are plenty of new ones and you'll be happy to know, the old songs are the best songs. Then there is the voice acting which is pretty incredible considering its a handheld game too. You'll be happy to know that most of the original character reprise their roles here. There are also the characters from The World Ends with You (Suberashi Sekai in Japan) added into the game that replace the usual Final Fantasy ones. Most of the voice actors that did their characters return as well (The exception being Rhyme, but her new one sounds earily similar to Kate Higgens, think Sakura from Naruto and Saber from Fate/Stay Night). While all actors perform there roles well, Joshua's actor is the odd ball. Its not that his voice sounds bad, its just he has alot of sarcastic dialouge and his actor doesn't sound sarcastic. For the new disney charcters, some of their original actors return, but many are replaced by new ones (This is especially true for Tron Legacy for the same reason the Pirates of the Carribean actors couldn't reprise their roles in Kingdom Hearts II). As for their replacements, (This includes all characters) they all sound very much like the originals. (You'd be surprised that Frollo's actor is dead and that he is voiced by someone diferent) Finally, there also comes a time where dialouge can seem blocky, (Pauses are taken where they shouldn't be) but those are few and far between. Conclusion Wow! That was one long review! Overall, Kingdom Hearts 3D is an excellent addition to the Kingdom Hearts mythos and one that will keep you wanting the inevitable Kingdom Hearts III. Despite the usual problems: convoluted story and some bad gameplay choices and some new ones: the Drop Gauge, there are enough positives to outweigh the negatives and you won't find a better 3DS game. Take a look on the KH Wiki if you need clarification and if you want, I can make reviews on the other Kingdom Hearts game and others. Story: 7/10 Gameplay: 8/10 Graphics: 10/10 Audio: 10/10 Overall: 8.75 (That's what you get when you add all together and get the percent. I'm not rounding to 9.0. Deal with it!)
  9. This is what happens if you release a game in Europe before North America. All hell breaks loose.
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