jbmasta

I've only seen Gravity Falls, but there is a lot to recommend about it. The mystery is solid and stands up well on rewatching the show, lots of things that in hindsight were foreshadowing later developments. The characters are great, even if I think Dipper got a raw deal due to Mabel a few too many times. The comedy is spot on and the supporting cast is memorable without being overbearing. The villains are also very well written and performed, with Bill being one of the nastiest antagonists to grace fiction. If there's anything disappointing it's that Wendy never received a focus episode exploring her own life, the storylines she was a big part in revolved around the adventures of the twins or Dipper's crush on her. The episode The Society of the Blind Eye does present an interesting angle that was ultimately never explored.

I'm up to Leechgrave for Days. Any advice?

While it takes some getting used to, the panel system in 358/2 Days is definitely an interesting way to do magic, items and inventory management. It also tests your tetris skills. The flying mechanic is great across a larger area than just the deck of the Jolly Roger, and would have been really fun to see implemented in Birth by Sleep's Neverland. It's a pretty solid flying mechanic too, especially for the DS. Also, finally beat the Infernal Engine after dying a few times.

One of my favorite things about 358/2 Days is the mentorship role Phil takes on for Roxas.

It's a tie between Demyx and Luxord for me. Demyx has a non-existent work ethic like he's trying to be Wally from Dilbert, and Luxord seems to have some kind of honour. Whatever keyblade legacy they represent I really want to know.

The Caribbean. Sailing the Leviathan, exploring Port Royal and swimming, it'd be so much fun in VR.

I was wondering, does Sora know Pete and Maleficent are still alive and kicking after last seeing them face a tide of Heartless in the Castle That Never Was?

Most people go for Vulpes because Ava is the closest thing to a main character good guy in Back Cover.

101 Dalmatians. Dog form for the protagonist, Horace and Jasper as mini-bosses and Cruella as the world boss. Anyone willing to carve up puppies in the name of fashion has got to harbor a lot of darkness within them. Imagine the Cruella de Vil song done for a field or battle theme, like Castle of Dreams using Bippity Boppity Boo or Toybox using You've Got a Friend in Me. We haven't seen a quadruped form since lion cub Sora in Kingdom Hearts 2 Pridelands. Jungle Book was going to be in Birth by Sleep, there are maps in the game data, but I think there was some legal dispute over the voice of King Louie or something. He's definitely absent in The Jungle Book 2. I believe that when Jungle Book was scrapped that's when Neverland was brought in because both worlds have the same feel and the gorilla looking Unversed feel like they were designed for a Jungle Book themed world.

No mention of Tron Uprising? Cyrus was creepy AF, and a great villain.A deeper part of the backstory than a standard villain of the week type character and more interesting than another fight against Tesla. Cyrus made it personal for Beck and dealt his reputation as the Renegade a serious blow. It would have been very interesting to see his role in the show beyond season 1, presenting three major groups active and against each other in Argon City (Beck and Tron, the Occupation and Cyrus). Dyson deserves mention as well. CLU is definitely interesting because despite the perception of AI going rogue in science fiction media (SkyNet from the Terminator franchise is a prime example) this is the exact opposite of what CLU does. In Legacy and the media leading up to it (the Betrayal graphic novel and Evolution videogame) what CLU does is directly following his programming as set by Flynn, but Flynn never gave CLU the capacity to adapt to new paramaters around the endgoal of perfection, nor realise that perfection is unobtainable. While Flynn does adapt to new factors, specifically the emergence of the ISOs, CLU sees them as bugs in the system and seeks to eliminate them as per his instructions because the vision he's following never imagined the ISO factor.

I got the DS version maybe a year and a half ago, and recently the Switch version was on sale for a good price so I got that. The soundtrack is definitely a highlight and makes grinding a lot more fun. Being able to replay story missions is a good feature, one I'd like to see in Kingdom Hearts.

And the narrative is first person POV from the player's Chirithy, so it always refers to the player character as You. Only the initial Wonderland is included as far as Disney worlds go, with the rest being Daybreak Town missions going up the the introduction of the Dandelions in the Keyblade Graveyard.

It's a mobile game, pay to win conditions are part of it. Hopefully it won't have the mystery grab bag that Union X has, which is technically gambling.

Disney have been sensitive to how their product impacts their image, most notably with the really race sensitive (or insenstive depending on how you see it) stuff. Fantasia's Pastoral Symphony segment had a character removed iirc in later printings, Song of the South is pretty much persona non grata and the American Indians are entirely absent outside of the original animated movie (Return to Neverland and the Neverland in Birth by Sleep feature their camp, but the chief, Tiger Lily and others are entirely absent). On its own merits Pocahontas is a good movie, just ignore the sequel, but the current political climate isn't going to be receptive.

It's not my preferred format for presenting new lore, since even though people upload the new content it's still frustrating when it's locked behind what can be tricky mobile game levels.

Pocahontas could definitely be seen as, for lack of a better word, problematic in terms of cultural depiction and how that depiction has aged. Dream Drop Distance was also going to have Sora revisit Space Paranoids while Riku visited the Grid. You can see this in how little Sora's story ties into the Tron Legacy storyline until the Rinzler boss fight.

The new names sound a bit Norse to me.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how 0.2 is adapted.

Knowing the reputation for content milling click bait that We Got This Covered has, and the lack of any other verifiable or reliable sources, I'm not giving this any attention. In theory it's a move I can get behind, as the cross promotion would benefit the games and the Disney+ platform (provided people don't do a Mandalorian and spam free trials or only subscribe for the period there are new episodes).

What's the best story obtained Keyblade in each game? Disqualifying Ultima Weapon because the only game you don't get it through side quests (the Mirage Arena in Birth by Sleep) or synthesis is Dream Drop Distance, and even then it's in the post-game and obtained by beating only the secret boss. This is for Keyblades obtained only through completing the story and not farming synthesis materials or doing side content.

I'm replaying Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix and once again have hit a roadbock at Roxas in the World That Never Was. Any advice on best Keyblade, abilities and strategies, as well as abilities to unequip and what strategies don't work? I'm playing on Proud, around level 52.

For a fifteen year old who spent the last year sleeping and before that was known for napping he’s in good shape. Atlantica is also the only world Sora doesn’t have his crown necklace. He even has it in Pride Lands despite there being no way to produce such things there. Sora has the line in Under the Sea “Darlin’ it’s better, down where it’s wetter, take it from me” and he opens his arms out like he’s showing himself off.

No spoilers for Onward! It’s not even out until next month for me because of when school holidays are on. Sleeping Beauty was done for Birth by Sleep and never had a sequel. Even if a follow up storyline was done, where could it go? Maleficent is done and Aurora has her happy ending. Even though the BbS version of the story does spare Maleficent, she had to live because she’s in the games later in the chronology. A weakness of the early Birth by Sleep worlds was that the villains apart from Maleficent didn’t have the power to act as a Kingdom Hearts boss. Terra and Aqua both had the same boss in Dwarf Woodlands, and Lucifer was only a threat to Ven because the boy was the size of a mouse (and the Unversed scaled down to the same size).

I was picking up KH2 last night and decided to do Atlantica. Wasn't too bad actually, and pretty much breezed through the songs (HJO has a great singing voice). What I did notice was how much it stands out that they reused Atlantica Sora's character model from Kingdom Hearts 1 and put Kingdom Hearts 2 Sora's head on, which is a noticeable thing when you look closely.

Moana has such amazing potential as a Kingdom Hearts world. Using wayfinding to navigate the ocean and exploring different islands, much like the naval exploration aspect of the Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts 3. Maui would be a great party member, and his Hook is made to be the basis of a Keyblade design. Using Polynesian mythology as the basis of bosses, storyline and monsters (boss fight with Tamatoa in Lalotai anyone?) is so obvious. Even just the story of the film matches the first Kingdom Hearts so well, a native of a tropical island yearning to travel beyond yet only achieving it when their home is in danger, accompanied by a magic user they are initially argumentative with despite becoming close and transporting a heart in order to restore it to its home. In doing so they fix the wrongs made by a well-intentioned by rash individual. A world set after Toy Story 4 has a lot of potential. Exploring a fairground while the size of a toy, and Bo Peep as a party member. The idea of bringing people and toys together fits the theme of connecting hearts. If the character visiting is Riku, Roxas or another of the Guardians of Light, the theme of where to go next that Woody experienced in Toy Story 4 would be relevant. You're at a crossroads point, do you stay where you are despite questioning your purpose or take up new opportunity? The worldbuilding of Frozen II opens up so much for a potential KH world. The themes of balance and righting wrongs feels so Final Fantasy, and fits into Kingdom Hearts so well (Riku reconciling the darkness within him for example). If the spirits are corrupted somehow, Sora having to fight them to free them from the corruption makes for ready made boss and mini-boss fights. Climbing the Earth Trolls like the Rock Titan battle in KH3 Olympus would be epic and Elsa as a party member. How about riding the Nokk?