jbmasta

A kabuki theme definitely, since Yokai wears a kabuki mask in the movie. Since costuming is used to indicate emotion, that might open up Unversed, since they're literally negative emotions made manifest.

That mask reminds me of Oni. They'd be a really cool concept for a Kingdom Hearts enemy, shadowy demons. They work perfectly for character designs. In Teen Wolf they were associated with the Nogitsune, a creature who was a master of stealing someone's identity and playing mindgames with them. That's definitely something Kingdom Hearts has done with Ansem SOD, taunting Riku throughout the Reverse/Rebirth campaign in Chain of Memories.

Still the most interesting of the wonders and potential for data manipulation. Re:coded explores the relationship between data versions and Hearts, with fascinating insights and potential.

And between when Riku gives Sora's shadow autonomy and Sora reclaiming it (clever nod to the original Peter Pan movie), Sora doesn't cast a shadow at all.

A one appearance wonder I'd like to have seen more done with is Shadow Roxas. He's one of the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, but he comes for one pretty easy fight and goes without any fanfare.

Don't forget the Dark Hide from the Birth by Sleep secret episode. There's a complete list here: https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Heartless

I do have to say, the Stitch D-Link fully levelled is excellent for maxing out techniques because he has the Double CP ability. Combine that with the Seacoast stretch of Neverland, that's great for grinding. Better than Twister Valley because you can reset the Unversed by walking out of and back into the area.

Regular combat I have no trouble with. It's when the combat is shaken up, like the final phase of the Ventus vs Vanitas final boss fight, or the requirement to proceed is a minigame (damn you Disneytown) that I have more difficulty. Especially Ice Cream Beat. At least the final phase of the Terra vs Terranort fight you retain everything but D-Links.

Sora doesn't have as much of a character arc as other characters like Riku do. You can put KH1 Sora and KH3 Sora next to each other and see a lot hasn't changed in terms of personality. Whereas you compare other characters at their start and where they are at the point we last see them there's a lot more development. There's little of the entitled fifteen year old who wanted to escape Destiny Islands in Riku by the end of Dream Drop Distance.

Birth by Sleep has Command Melding, which is so utterly broken. If you know what you're doing you can have an endgame ready command deck before you even get to Radiant Garden, with a lot of abilities unlocked. Playing Command Board makes obtaining and levelling up even simpler. It wasn't even nerfed for the PS3/PS4 port like Flow Motion was for Dream Drop Distance HD. At least Dream Drop Distance makes you level up Dream Eaters or wait for techniques to be available through chests or item drops before you can buy them. While Flow Motion is powerful, it doesn't have i frames so spamming it isn't without some degree of risk, especially against bosses.

Xaldin was already at Beast's Castle on Organisation business anyway, manipulating Beast. Sora just walked in on the operation while Xaldin was there. Xaldin's interest was piqued long before Sora woke up, he was intrigued about Beast and at one point spent days at the castle putting events into motion with Roxas discovering him there. While Xemnas didn't have affection per say for the other members, he was pragmatic and not outright sadistic. He showed them enough perceived respect to keep them loyal and unquestioning but definitely not pride or affection. The other Nobodies in the Organisation were always a means to an end, and he knew how best to play them. He even knew that some would turn traitor and sent Axel to uncover their plots and deal with them. What Xemnas didn't factor in was the impact Axel, Roxas and Xion would have on each other, and by tasking Axel to take Roxas under his wing wound up being hoist by his own petard. What makes it even better is that what made Axel want to properly be friends with Roxas was seeing Sora at Castle Oblivion. So Nice Job Fixing It Xemnas.

Certainly it gets to the point where you have to ask what is there beyond a jumping on point for new players. 1.5 and 2.5 was the first time the Final Mixes for 1, 2 and Birth by Sleep were available outside of Japan in any legal capacity (as well as bringing them and Re:Chain of Memories to the PS3) not to mention the cinematics for 358/2 Days and re:coded, 1.5+2.5 ported this to the PS4 as well as fixing some performance issues present in the PS3 compilations and bringing in theatre mode for Kingdom Hearts 1 and an extended scene for 358/2 Days. 2.8 has the HD port of Dream Drop Distance, 0.2 for the first time, as well as an original movie in Back Cover. It also represents the franchise unifying on the same consoles and overcoming the issue of having to own a PS2, GBA, DS, PSP and 3DS to get the whole story. Fair enough that The Story So Far compiled everything on 1.5+2.5 and 2.8 so people could catch up with the story in preparation for Kingdom Hearts 3. But All In One is just taking the image from the Re:mind PlayStation theme, adding in covers from previous game covers for the picture frames and slapping that on a box with four discs inside without adding any new or extra content. With the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Re:mind come and gone the hype isn't there like it has been, and Square are focusing their promotion on Final Fantasy VII Remake due out in April. At the very least this package should have included Re:mind as well to sweeten the deal, perhaps for people who have only played Kingdom Hearts 3 and want to try the whole series, or some other exclusive to tempt people to part with their money.

It would have been better to package Re:mind in with Kingdom Hearts 3 here. While the artwork is nice I'm not going for this since I've got 1.5+2.5, 2.8 and 3 (with Re:mind), and neither this nor Story So Far offer anything new in terms of content. A Switch compilation would at least offer the games on a system they've not been on yet. If Square want maximum temptation then add something new rather than the same material compiled and repackaged, like a soundtrack disc. We haven't even got an official soundtrack release for 3.

And let's face it, the villains are often very memorable. Except for what's his face from Pocahontas. It's a shame we've lost Eartha Kitt, as an Yzma prequel story would have been fabulous.

Do you lot thing there'll be Disney worlds featured in this? Showing Disney worlds but with a focus on the villains might be an interesting angle, not filler as much as the UX Disney worlds are, and showing us more of the Disney villains outside of the movie narratives. We might finally get the coachman from Pinocchio.

You need to download an extra patch from the Playstation store, like how you get Theatre Mode for 1 in the 1.5+2.5 collection (which means Kingdom Hearts 1 on 1.5+2.5 and Story So Far is the only game you can access all the cutscenes, including the postgame cutscenes like Xemnas, without having to complete the game). Play through the scene where Xion approaches Roxas that last time and the extended scene will play out.

And it's the first worlds for Ventus and Aqua as well, so you don't have access to as many techniques or opportunities to grind as you do with Terra.

None of the Birth by Sleep escort missions are fun.