Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix

released on Jan 20, 2011

An expanded game of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

The Final Mix gives you more challenges and the chance to hear the English voices. The game is based on the upgraded US version, with more boss battles, game modes and even more mini-games. Think you've already become the ultimate Key Blade Master? Think again. The game contains secret episodes that you can unlock, and in the single player mode, you'll meet the mysterious man, see what secrets he'll reveal about the powerful Kingdom Hearts. Controls and the D-Link are updated, so its easier to use and you can collect stickers on your journey. There are 9 more missions for you to clear and new challenging bosses in the multi-mode. These bosses aren't just the lord of the world, they could be the world themselves. Now you can battle the whale that swallowed Pinocchio's ship. Kingdom Hearts is being born again, pick up your key blade and set off on your journey once again.


Released on

Genres

RPG


More Info on IGDB


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Believe it or not, I'm not exactly a Kingdom Hearts fan. Years ago, I wanted to know if there were any good action games on PSP, and I ended up here. This game technically serves as the first one in the series' timeline, even if it's somewhat revelatory to plot points in the already existing KH games. And hey, three characters to choose from! This will in no way backfire spectacularly. To expedite my writing process and keep myself sane, I've got a format going this time. For each character, it'll go: character's gameplay style, non-specific gameplay mechanic, character's story summary. Capisce?

-----VENTUS-----

Ventus is a perky kid. He holds his keyblade backhanded, and he can't seem to keep his feet on the ground. Grounded combos are difficult to pull off, if even possible to begin with. His floaty nature gives him a real tendency to whiff his attacks. A finishing attack like "air flair" does a ton of damage, if it even connects to begin with.

The command deck takes a page out of TWEWY's book, allowing for full freedom of what abilities you have on hand at any time. You can make decks filled with your ideal string of attacks, or you can keep swapping mastered abilities out for ones with low experience, constantly keeping your playstyle fresh. There's no MP, the only things stopping you from spamming the same commands repeatedly are your deck size and command reload speed. Using specific types of commands will also shift you into a command style, a more powerful form with unique normal attacks. When mastered, you can even fuse commands together to make stronger commands, along with attaching crystals to get passive abilities. I do wish there was a way to know which abilities you'll fuse (outside of a guide), because several of these are very necessary for basic survival. Do not try to engage bosses without skills like Second Chance, Once More, or Leaf Bracer. You're gonna have a bad time.

After witnessing his friends' Keyblade Master exams, a strange masked boy taunts Ventus with the idea that his friends are going to leave him behind someday. With no memories to his name aside from the time he's spent with Aqua and Terra, Ventus flies the coop, in search of what worlds await out there. Out there he meets the newest member of the public domain, gets tickets to Disneyland, and learns that Xehanort wants to make him into a weapon with a very stupid name (it's pronounced "keyblade", but spelled "X-blade", thanks Nomura)!

And then the game asks you to do it again.

-----TERRA-----

Terra focuses on brute force more than anything else. Big broad swings with pretty long animations, at least comparatively. I'd welcome the more grounded combat if Terra didn't have such stiff mobility. He has miserable end lag after landing, dodging, atacking, skills, pretty much anything, if I'm being honest. His moveset is fine for normal enemies, but most bosses tear him apart like a dog chomping on a chew toy. I found the best way to use Terra was to get into a command style as soon as possible. Anything's better than his standard moveset, but if all else fails, you could always just shoot your enemies instead.

The shotlock is such a busted mechanic. It's like bringing a firing squad to a sword duel. It's awkward to use in the moment, holding down L+R to bring up a reticle that roots you in place isn't ideal. If your shotlock command is a high enough level though, this is completely negligible! Max out your lock-on, fire, hit the QTEs (if there are any), and watch the enemy's health bar m e l t. Most normal bosses can be felled with two or three fully charged shotlocks. It's a genuine strategy you can fall back on if you're just sick of the game, something I felt strongly while playing as Terra.

Terra is so fucking funny to me, dude. I'm sure they wanted him to come off as naive, but the way he immediately meets and puts trust into the villain of nearly every world he visits is just hilarious. The way Xehanort encourages Terra to embrace the darkness is cool and all, love watching that asshole being a charismatic manipulator, especially to such a lost puppy searching for validation. Poor guy just wanted the power to protect his friends, no matter the cost.

And then the game asks you to do it AGAIN.

-----AQUA-----

Aqua earned her Mark of Mastery in the game's opening for good reason: she's the best character in the whole damn game! Magic is her strong suit, but her melee attacks are quick and connect very easily. Throw in an easily spammble cartwheel dodge roll, and this girl's actually got a full kit going. The devs had to have done this on purpose, considering you also play as Aqua in the final/secret episodes.

Oh yea, d-links are a thing, I forgor. I didn't use a single one during Aqua's portion of the game, that's how forgettable and worthless they are as a mechanic. Each one replaces your current deck with a predetermined one, and automatically shifts you into a command style based on that character, complete with a unique finisher. The most lucrative thing you can use the D-Links as is a single free Megalixr per fight, and even then I constantly forgot to use them.

For most of her plot's runtime, Aqua's on cleanup crew. She usually arrives in a world in time to finish the story arc, sometimes even after the fact. It serves as a nice bit of finality as you head into the real meat of Aqua's story, the final/secret episodes. That aside, playing Aqua first would probably be really weird and kinda boring, not gonna lie. Not too much happens on her end until the story is reaching its climax. Pete gets sent to the shadow realm.

AND THEN THE GAME ASKS YOU TO- oh wait no, we're actually pretty much done here.

I think viewing a story from multiple characters' perspectives and seeing how events overlap is cool as hell, and Birth By Sleep's story succeeds on that front. The problem arises when the actual game comes into play. Each character gets their own unique bosses to contend with, but you spend each character's story running through the exact same rooms, fighting the exact same enemies in the exact same worlds, and there's no real getting around that. It has pretty good presentation for a PSP game, but ends up being one of those unfortunate cases where the longer you're exposed to something, the more flaws you end up noticing.

On a positive note, I like the world choices in this game. Deep Space feels like a particularly inspired choice (Lilo and Stitch is so good dude), and Neverland always made for a fun finale at the end of each playthrough. Yoko Shimomura hasn't let me down yet, and her distinct composition style continues to entrance me. Personal favorites include:

-Neverland's Scherzo
-Future Masters
-The Tumbling

Anyways, Birth By Sleep? More like birth my sleep. I need a nap. Wake me when Kingdom Hearts gets good.

Everyone’s a fucking idiot in this game

Square for real thought to themselves that remastering a

aqua mate thank u --- combat dude... why did every fight take 7 hours ffs... i kinda fw the story here tho slyly

Probably the best story in the series