At Milan Games Week 2016, held from October 14th to October 16th, attendees were able to play through the Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD demo. Two sources, GamerClick and Sora's Dream, captured a significant amount of footage from this event. This is the first time we have been able to see a great deal of footage from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD, as
GamerClick's footage, which was uploaded to their Facebook page, focused on Riku, showcasing the included Dive Mode segment, cutscenes from The Grid, and the lightcycle minigame. GamerClick's footage foregoes any field or battle gameplay within any of the included environments.
Sora's Dream, meanwhile, captured footage of Sora in Traverse Town, Riku's aforementioned Dive Mode segment, and footage of Riku within the field of The Grid. The Reality Shift mechanic was also shown briefly during the Traverse Town footage.
Sora's Dream also gave their impressions of the demo. They noted that Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- was not present at the venue, unlike all previous playable demos of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. Additionally, the Drop Gauge appears to be entirely unchanged from the original version of Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance, giving a definitive answer to a question that many have had since the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue's TGS 2016 trailer.
Interestingly, Reality Shift seems to use the analog sticks to control its trajectory, rather than using the PlayStation 4's touchpad in order to mimic the design of the Nintendo 3DS version of the game. It is worth noting, however, that only one Reality Shift example (Traverse Town) is available, so it is unknown if the analog-focused design choice is applicable to the rest of the game's Reality Shifts. Finally, Flowmotion's speed, jump height, and responsiveness all seem to have been re-balanced to suit this new version of the game.
In addition to gameplay impressions, Sora's Dream also gave their thoughts on the game's graphical fidelity. They said that while textures have been touched up to a significant extent compared to the Nintendo 3DS version, model quality has not received the same level of treatment. Citing a poor amount of polygons, they referred to the models as "too sharp", a problem which also plagues Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD.
You can read the full article here, but keep in mind that Sora's Dream is an Italian Kingdom Hearts fansite, and that translation may be necessary.
What are your thoughts on this footage, as well as Sora's Dream's impressions of the demo? Let us know in the comments!
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