I'm sure beneath the surface and past my departure point there's a pretty good game here with an interesting story that builds the world outside of Sora, but my GOD. I actively felt myself losing brainpower playing through this game.

It's clearly held back by the platform it was initially released on, with boring, empty worlds that toss enemies at you non-stop for no reason. I want some liveliness and fun combat scenarios in these worlds, but the least interesting thing you could throw at a player is a completely flat open plane where enemies spawn to make you mash X and occasionally triangle what feels like every 5 steps.

While I dropped off of this one pretty early, I already know I would've gotten annoyed with the abundant amount of new mechanics introduced in this one, alongside the fact that I need to play through the game 3 times? I hate when games do that, man, it's so annoying.

I can see some sort of value in this one, but it's covered in rust and gunk that I don't want to clean off.

When I’m in an annoying piece of shit competition and my opponent is this guy. 😱😱😱

Remember that sick CGI teaser at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 that shows off this crazy battle with people in armor we’ve never seen before?? Whoa!! Wouldn’t it be cool to watch it 3 more fucking times?

I’ve been mulling over this one because I did a 100% playthrough of it and I honestly couldn’t tell whether or not I simply do not like this game or if I would just find it mediocre had I not twisted my own asshole doing all of the optional content. While I do love Kingdom Hearts as a series, I am also a realist, and thinking about it long enough has made me come to the conclusion that no actually, I think I just don’t really like this game. It really just comes down to what I get the most enjoyment out of Kingdom Hearts from: a rather heartwarming plot about friends who will go to the ends of the Earth for each other, a decently fun combat system, and challenges that are arguably the better content. Like some of the other handheld counterparts of this series, Birth by Sleep fulfills aspect 1 and never delivers on aspect 2 or 3 for its entire runtime. Had I not 100%’d this, I am genuinely of the belief that I would still find it rather mediocre. All story spoilers and story critiques will be hidden inside of a hyperlink near the end, so don’t worry about that.

So, the story begins….

For the unaware, this is not a game that follows the likes of Sora and his two cannon fodder companions, but is instead a prequel that features three entirely new characters. Each one follows the same exact timeline, just in different perspectives. A tragic story about three friends who get taken advantage of, fighting tooth and nail to keep each other safe. (Wait, we've heard this one before..) With the way it’s set up, it encourages you to play as Terra first. I have a general issue with all of this, but it’s for spoiler talk later. For the sake of structuring this review the best way that I can, let’s just entertain Square’s desires and play as what would be considered to be a sentient boulder with legs first. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, Terra blows ass. He’s incredibly strong, but also incredibly slow and bulky, with the worst dodge out of the three characters. There is nothing better than dashing in a straight line and getting eviscerated because the non-cancellable animation is longer than the dodge’s i-frame window. This is something that is manageable through some defense abilities and practice, but he never ever feels great to play because of it. Therefore, it’s kind of like trudging through mud.

Part of me wonders if Terra gets significantly more flack than deserved simply because the game doesn’t really do him any favors when it comes to it’s overall mechanics either. You see, we can’t just learn abilities and finishers through leveling up, like it is in the other games. Naw, we have to make it different! We have to make it a fucking chore. We’re going to attach those abilities to your command attacks, which you have to craft, but we’re never going to tell you the recipe for any of them. Then once you figure that shit out, or use Google (who cares), now you have to level those commands to max level in order to use the ability without having the command in your deck. You want a new finisher? We’re not gonna tell you how to get that shit either. Select one that you already own and either walk around for thousands of steps, kill 800+ or so enemies, or collect thousands of dollars. Fuck you, we’re not gonna tell you which one is which. Oh, but you can’t grind for two of these at the same time, oh no, you can only grind for them if they’re in the same bracket. Meaning that you may have to kill 800 enemies, and then grind for thousands of dollars for two separate finishers. While you sit and figure this out on your own, getting blasted over and over again until you finally get your hands on Leaf Bracer. Yeah, you’re probably going to despise Terra as a character while you’re forced to learn the gymnasium ropes that this game forces you to climb up. Floaty combat be damned.

Birth by Sleep apologists will tell you, “just google the recipes and grind for everything you need right from the get go. There’s no reason to complain if you’re not even trying, forehead.” SHUT UP. Even if you have the foresight to do this, all of that goes straight out the window the moment you realize that the plot for each character is like 5 minutes long. You’re in some worlds for maybe two cutscenes tops, fight a boss, watch a 20 minute movie in-between, and then all of a sudden you’re in the final world at the last save point and you still don’t even have anywhere close to half of the abilities or commands. You can get through this entire thing without obtaining life altering abilities like Second Chance, something I would consider to be a staple of every Kingdom Hearts game. Genuinely when are you supposed to grind any of this out without knowing ahead of time, if not after their story? I’m sorry, but this is fundamentally dog water at its core, only exacerbated even more on a completionist playthrough. It means you’ll be playing what feels like 10% story content, backloaded by 90% command grinding and Mirage Arena. You finish Terra’s story and watch a fully complete Credits segment. After all of that is said and done, no matter the percentage you’re going for, it almost ends up not mattering at all because..

Now you have to do it all over again..

Yes, once you’re done with Terra you’ll move onto Ventus; a much more nimble character, but with the defenses of wet paper towels. There are only minimal differences between the three: different finishers, different attacks, different movement, but that’s about it. Just know that both Ventus and Aqua are leagues above Terra’s tortoise gameplay. With how the Birth by Sleep save system works, you lose all of your progress and get sent back to 0 when starting the next character’s playthrough. Clap those cymbals together, you idiot. But, a-ha!, this time you understand that the rug will be pulled out from under you and preparation can be done to mitigate some of that playtime you suffered through before. You’ve learned the way of the Birth by Sleep ability system, but have you mastered the art of the mini-game? Since each playthrough is the same thing minus the controlled character, that means you’ll be doing everything three times over. Fruitball (fucking kill me), Rumble Racing (please perish), and Ice Cream Beat for starters. If I had to rank them I’d go in reverse order of what I just said. I think Ice Cream Beat gets a lot of heat for no reason, but I think that’s because some people can’t admit that they’re just bad at rhythm games. Dunked on. The other two though, bury them in a ditch. If there’s one thing I cannot stand in a video game, it’s a racing segment in a game where racing isn’t the main gameplay mechanic. You might as well torture me instead. Fruitball is the shittiest version of tennis/soccer ever crafted by man. If those aren’t enough for you, don’t worry, we have Command Board at home. I really, really hope you like Monopoly because you’re going to play an absolute metric ton of it.

Oh, Command Board. With 7 boards available, you’ll be mercilessly sent to what feels like being stuck in traffic while you roll Mario Party dice through a board of pain and misery. It is essentially Monopoly without the landlords, only mitigated by the fact that it has the ability to level up some of your commands and ends by passing “Go” once you hit the money cap. It is, however, still entirely RNG based and God help you if you’re unlucky. Is it an easy way to obtain some good commands early? Sure. But, is it fun? No. No, it is not. Not only are you expected to win all 7 boards with all three characters, you’re also expected to win them again in the Mirage Arena. That is 42 games of Command Board, provided you win every time and grab the few commands that are only obtainable from them in one go. I don’t mention this a lot because it’s almost never relevant, but I do stream the games that I review. Some people went AFK while I was playing Command Board, just to come back while still playing a different Command Board hours later. There are people out there who think this game is just a Kingdom Hearts themed board game.

And look, I love me some Yoko Shimomura music as much as the next guy, but something about the Birth by Sleep OST just grinds my gears. I think it has something to do with the fact that the songs have incredibly short loops, meaning that you’ll be hearing the most brain rot music on repeat for fucking hours. I think the Castle of Dreams theme is used to train MKUltra Sleeper Agents because this will make me instantly go rogue the second I hear this shit again unprompted. Make no mistake though, there are absolute bangers when it counts the most. Specifically, Vanitas’s theme opens up the fucking mosh pit every time it comes on. I just wish that was carried over across the whole soundtrack in the same way it does for most of the series. Kingdom Hearts does not have the greatest level designs, but the music at least lifts a lot of that up. In Birth by Sleep, the worlds are at an all-time empty. There is not a single person living in them, which means most areas are GIGANTIC rooms of nothing but endless waves of the most gimmicky Unversed. Keep in mind that this was a PSP game originally. I never owned a PSP so I wouldn’t know how the hardware worked, but even in remastered form they didn’t bother to add anything to the backgrounds in order to make the worlds actually feel like worlds. It makes scenes in the Coliseum utterly hilarious because there’s audiences losing their fucking minds while the camera pans to the side showing you that there are actually zero people sitting in the stands.

Oh? You’ve finished the story and grinded out all of your little mini-games again? You’ve done the Mirage Arena gauntlet and collected all of your little finishers. You watched your second batch of the same exact Credits segment? Well, good news!!

Now you have to do it all over again..

You’ve finally made it to the last character, Aqua. The woman of the group. The magical girl boss babe that can do no wrong, equipped with magic spells that will split all the enemy’s assholes wide open. Well, for the most part. (More spoiler talk later.) This is something that should be a worthy reward for the gamers who have stuck it out this long, but at this point you’ve been playing the game for so long, doing the same shit, that you just want to be done with it. If you’ve made it this far in the review, you’re probably wondering why I’ve stuck with a 100% playthrough if it clearly wasn’t an enjoyable experience. The thing is, I replay KH1 and KH2 to 100% completion for fun, so it’s not really something I just chose to do out of the blue. Sure, synthesis grinding in those games are a pain in the ass but leveling up to high degrees so that you even have a chance at fighting the data bosses is where I think the real entertainment in those games lie. They’re a worthy challenge for gamers who are looking to get their shit rocked by them. I’m here to tell you right now that this is not the case for this game.

First off, the command melding can net you some pretty cool and flashy attacks that’ll wipe the floor with most enemies. If only they didn’t take ages to set up and granted you i-frames. Birth by Sleep seems to really love non-cancellable animations that will either leave you murdered or leave you waiting for an attack to end even after everything is already dead. The amount of time spent waiting for Rhythm Mixer to end should be its own calculated stat on the end screen. Unfortunately, this means that even after working towards getting cool shit like Tornado or Transcendance, you’ll likely never get to actually use them where it matters since bosses will not allow you to pull that shit in their fights, let alone the regular enemies. I would have loved to kill Xehanort with the break dancing attack, but no, you get knocked out of using it the 9/10 times you try. Therefore, you’re more likely to just strap on the tried and true command deck that everyone and their mom uses. 4 Thunder Surges with 4 Curagas. Thunder Surge is the most powerful attack with the highest radius of damage while also providing you with i-frames across a long distance. It’s broken, and gives you zero reason to diversify with anything else. You’ll be needing that deck anyways, since it’s one of the only ways to defeat the shittiest boss to ever be created.

After getting this far, I was pretty set in just calling this a boring trip full of chores and monotony but that was before finally unlocking the optional bosses as a reward for making all three of my children as powerful as possible. The two in the Mirage Arena are fine. Completely manageable fights where typical pattern memorization is the key to winning. But, and I say this with minimal exaggeration, you would have way more fun getting run over by a truck than you would if you were to fight either of the other two. The first one would be spoiled by saying their name so just call him Idiot McGee, I don’t know. He’s got a health bar as short as an ant, compensated by the fact that he immediately assaults and one shots you by ignoring your abilities and teleporting away whenever you try to land an attack of your own. He also copies your spells and uses them himself, meaning that curing yourself is off the table unless you want to deal with him healing himself to pay it back. It’s hard as balls and you’d think this would be a worthy challenge. Except for the fact that he’s programmed with sand for a brain and completely loses it the second you hide behind one of the giant rocks on the battlefield. It’s almost like he has object permanence and thinks you’ve literally disappeared from battle. So guess what, use that to your advantage and you’ve effectively cheesed him. Riveting stuff for a late-game addition. Now get ready for a genuine challenge, but for all the wrong reasons: Mysterious Figure. I would not even send the most annoying FromSoft fans this guy's way.

The last thing on the agenda is to kill Mysterious Figure, probably the worst boss I have ever encountered in.. gaming. He is no Lingering Will, that’s for sure. Why fight a guy that will test your abilities and skill level when you can just get your shit fucked up by an RNG simulator instead? This dude’s rocking a moveset of like 15 attacks, all used completely randomly with almost zero tells. He can break out of all of your combos, throw you into the air, split himself into 5 copies that can all attack you with different spells, turn himself invisible, drop a meteor on your head, mega-flare, stab you with never-ending spears, and hit you with a tornado that makes you drop all of your commands on the ground. Worst of all, he has a Doom spell that will end the fight instantaneously if you can’t mash the X button at the same speed as a Master Mode CPU of Mario Party. This dude is FUCKED, and he can eat shit. Sure, he’s challenging but it’s literally only because he is poorly designed in a game where the combat is watered down for PSP play. You want to know what you get for beating this guy? A keyblade that sucks worse than the last one, and pointlessly unusable for Terra/Ventus since you’ve just completed the game with them by defeating him. Jesus fucking Christ. And you get to do it 3 glorious times. This is the culmination of why I don’t like this game because none of it is a worthy challenge. It’s not fun.

Provided you finished everything and didn’t accidentally save over your save files like a bingus, you’re getting sent straight to the finale, but not until after you’ve watched the same full Credits segment for the 3rd time. They really want you to know who worked on this game. Play your cards right and watch the credits AGAIN, you’ll also get an extra, extra bonus epilogue episode after that episode. (It's unlocked by either 100%ing the game, beating it on critical mode, or killing an asinine amount of enemies.) This game is never-ending.

Spoiler discussion for plot and characters in this link here. Click at your own discretion.

And that’s that. Birth by Sleep is probably one of the most important games out of the entire series as it was their first attempt at building the world outside of Sora’s shenanigans. There are dire consequences here, but at the end of the day it just serves as more backstory for characters who will always be treated much more respectfully (unless they're Kairi.) It’s a game that is filled to the brim with tedious segments and annoying combat, where the important battles are incredibly anticlimactic and the optional ones are utter horseshit. Play it normally for the plot, but definitely do not 100% it.

I am finally simple and clean. (I have showered.)

sem guia de melding é INJOGAVEL
Blitz Quick Blitz Slot Edge O 90
Blitz Barrier Surge Wishing Edge P 90
Blitz Stun Edge Slot Edge K 90
Meteor Crash Blitz Quake N 100
Meteor Crash Fire Strike Brutal Blast D 100
Magic Hour Blitz Zero Graviga O 90
Magic Hour Barrier Surge Aeroga N 90
Fire Dash Sliding Dash Fire D 100
Fire Dash Sliding Dash Fira C 100
Fire Dash Confusion Strike Fire D 100
Dark Haze Fire Dash Zero Gravira D 100
Dark Haze Fire Dash Blackout A 100
Dark Haze Fire Surge Zero Gravity C 100
Sonic Blade Blitz Dark Haze D 90
Sonic Blade Blitz Air Slide N 90
Sonic Blade Fire Dash Thunder Surge K 90
Chaos Blade Dark Haze Sonic Blade B 90
Zantetsuken Dark Haze Stopga B 80
Zantetsuken Sonic Blade Stopga F 80
Strike Raid Quick Blitz Sliding Dash O 100
Freeze Raid Strike Raid Blizzara I 100
Freeze Raid Blizzard Edge Binding Strike K 100
Treasure Raid Strike Raid Slot Edge O 100
Treasure Raid Slot Edge Magnet D 100
Treasure Raid Slot Edge Magnera K 100
Spark Raid Freeze Raid Magnega J 100
Spark Raid Treasure Raid Magnega N 100
Spark Raid Thunder Surge Dodge Roll P 20
Spark Raid Thundaga Dodge Roll L 20
Spark Raid Dodge Roll Stun Block L 20
Wind Raid Freeze Raid Aeroga B 100
Wind Raid Treasure Raid Aeroga F 100
Fire Surge Fire Dash Ignite D 100
Fire Surge Fire Strike Fira A 100
Fire Surge Confusion Strike Fira O 100
Fire Surge Binding Strike Fira K 100
Barrier Surge Fire Dash Barrier D 100
Barrier Surge Stun Edge Barrier K 100
Thunder Surge Fire Dash Thundara D 100
Thunder Surge Freeze Raid Thundara G 100
Thunder Surge Stun Edge Thundara I 100
Thunder Surge Confusion Strike Thundara I 95
Aerial Slam Fire Dash High Jump A 100
Aerial Slam Fire Surge Aero D 100
Aerial Slam Fire Strike Aerora C 90
Ars Solum Dark Haze Sonic Blade B 20
Ars Solum Dark Haze Stopga B 20
Ars Solum Sonic Blade Stopga F 20
Ars Solum Sliding Dash Thunder K 5
Ars Solum Strike Raid Thunder L 5
Ars Solum Strike Raid Thundara K 5
Ars Solum Confusion Strike Thundara I 5
Ars Arcanum Blitz Aerial Slam F 100
Ars Arcanum Quick Blitz Slot Edge O 10
Ars Arcanum Fire Strike Aerora C 10
Ars Arcanum Quick Blitz Blizzard G 5
Ars Arcanum Quick Blitz Blizzara H 5
Ars Arcanum Sliding Dash Blizzard E 5
Ars Arcanum Sliding Dash Blizzara G 5
Ars Arcanum Poison Edge Cura P 5
Ars Arcanum Blizzard Edge Cura G 5
Time Splicer Aerial Slam Stopga F 100
Time Splicer Stopga Barrier C 20
Time Splicer Barrier Surge Wishing Edge P 10
Time Splicer Stun Edge Slot Edge K 10
Poison Edge Quick Blitz Poison O 95
Poison Edge Sliding Dash Poison K 95
Poison Edge Strike Raid Poison D 95
Wishing Edge Strike Raid Barrier Surge O 100
Wishing Edge Barrier Surge Stun Edge K 100
Wishing Edge Stun Edge Binding Strike J 100
Blizzard Edge Quick Blitz Blizzard G 95
Blizzard Edge Quick Blitz Blizzara H 95
Blizzard Edge Sliding Dash Blizzard E 95
Blizzard Edge Sliding Dash Blizzara G 95
Stun Edge Sliding Dash Thunder K 95
Stun Edge Strike Raid Thunder L 95
Stun Edge Strike Raid Thundara K 95
Slot Edge Wishing Edge Cure O 100
Slot Edge Poison Edge Cura P 95
Slot Edge Blizzard Edge Cura G 95
Slot Edge Curaga Renewal Block N 90
Slot Edge Curaga Focus Block P 90
Slot Edge Curaga Renewal Barrier N 90
Slot Edge Curaga Focus Barrier P 90
Fire Strike Poison Edge Fira D 100
Fire Strike Wishing Edge Ignite A 100
Fire Strike Stun Edge Fire K 100
Confusion Strike Quick Blitz Confuse O 100
Confusion Strike Sliding Dash Zero Gravity K 100
Confusion Strike Strike Raid Confuse G 100
Binding Strike Quick Blitz Bind K 100
Binding Strike Strike Raid Bind O 100
Binding Strike Stun Edge Zero Gravity I 100
Brutal Blast Stun Edge Mine Shield O 70
Brutal Blast Binding Strike Mine Square L 70
Tornado Strike Confusion Strike Aeroga G 100
Tornado Strike Binding Strike Aeroga F 100
Magnet Spiral Binding Strike Collision Magnet K 100
Magnet Spiral Binding Strike Magnega J 100
Magnet Spiral Quick Blitz Magnera K 20
Magnet Spiral Stun Edge Magnera L 20
Magnet Spiral Zero Gravira Magnet I 20
Windcutter Binding Strike Aeroga F 100
Windcutter Confusion Strike Aeroga G 100
Limit Storm Brutal Blast Confusion Strike G 100
Limit Storm Brutal Blast Binding Strike D 100
Salvation Wind Raid Curaga N 100
Collision Magnet Quick Blitz Magnera K 80
Collision Magnet Stun Edge Magnera L 80
Collision Magnet Zero Gravira Magnet I 80
Geo Impact Brutal Blast Brutal Blast N 70
Sacrifice Dark Haze Warp B 100
Sacrifice Poison Edge Warp D 100
Break Time Curaga Renewal Block N 10
Break Time Curaga Renewal Barrier N 10
Break Time Curaga Focus Block P 10
Break Time Curaga Focus Barrier P 10
Magic Commands

Command 1st Ingredient 2nd Ingredient Type Used By
%
Fira Fire Dash Fire D 100
Fira Fire Strike Fire D 100
Fira Fire Fire A 100
Fira Fire Ignite C 100
Firaga Fire Dash Fira D 90
Firaga Fire Fira A 90
Firaga Fira Fira B 90
Dark Firaga Dark Haze Firaga D 100
Dark Firaga Firaga Blackout B 100
Fission Firaga Fira Aeroga A 80
Fission Firaga Firaga Aerora A 80
Fission Firaga Firaga Aeroga B 80
Triple Firaga Fira Firaga A 95
Triple Firaga Blitz Firaga D 90
Triple Firaga Firaga Firaga B 90
Crawling Fire Firaga Slow A 80
Crawling Fire Firaga Stopra D 80
Crawling Fire Firaga Stopga B 80
Blizzara Strike Raid Blizzard G 100
Blizzara Blizzard Edge Blizzard G 100
Blizzara Blizzard Blizzard E 100
Blizzara Blizzard Aero H 100
Blizzaga Blizzard Edge Blizzara G 100
Blizzaga Blizzard Blizzara E 100
Blizzaga Blizzara Blizzara F 100
Triple Blizzaga Blitz Blizzaga G 100
Triple Blizzaga Blizzara Blizzaga E 100
Triple Blizzaga Blizzaga Blizzaga F 100
Thundara Stun Edge Thunder K 100
Thundara Thunder Thunder I 100
Thundara Zero Gravity Magnet L 100
Thundaga Binding Strike Thundara K 90
Thundaga Thunder Thundara I 90
Thundaga Thundara Thundara J 90
Thundaga Shot Strike Raid Thundaga I 85
Thundaga Shot Freeze Raid Thundaga E 85
Thundaga Shot Firaga Thundaga A 85
Cura Thunder Cure I 100
Cura Cure Cure M 100
Cura Cure Aero O 100
Curaga Cure Cura M 100
Curaga Cura Cura N 100
Mine Shield Fira Zero Gravity A 100
Mine Shield Fira Block C 100
Mine Shield Ignite Stop D 100
Mine Shield Stopra Block M 100
Mine Square Fira Stop A 100
Mine Square Fira Barrier C 100
Mine Square Aerora Ignite D 100
Mine Square Stopra Barrier M 100
Seeker Mine Mine Shield Mine Square B 100
Seeker Mine Mine Shield Magnega C 100
Seeker Mine Mine Square Magnega D 100
Zero Gravira Thunder Zero Gravity I 90
Zero Gravira Zero Gravity Zero Gravity M 90
Zero Gravira Magnet Aero P 90
Zero Graviga Thundara Zero Gravira I 80
Zero Graviga Zero Gravity Zero Gravira M 80
Zero Graviga Zero Gravira Zero Gravira N 80
Magnera Stun Edge Magnet K 100
Magnera Thunder Magnet I 100
Magnera Magnet Magnet M 100
Magnega Magnet Magnera I 100
Magnega Magnera Magnera J 100
Munny Magnet Wishing Edge Magnera K 100
Munny Magnet Thundara Magnera I 100
Energy Magnet Cure Magnera M 100
Energy Magnet Cura Magnera N 100
D-Link Magnet Zero Gravira Magnera L 100
D-Link Magnet Magnera Stopra I 100
Aerora Quick Blitz Aero G 95
Aerora Thunder Aero I 95
Aerora Aero Aero E 95
Aeroga Quick Blitz Aerora O 90
Aeroga Aero Aerora M 90
Aeroga Aerora Aerora N 90
Warp Thundara Zero Gravira I 20
Warp Zero Gravity Zero Gravira M 20
Warp Zero Gravira Zero Gravira N 20
Warp Thunder Zero Gravity I 10
Warp Magnet Aero P 10
Warp Zero Gravity Zero Gravity M 10
Faith Wind Raid Break Time N 100
Deep Freeze Freeze Raid Blizzaga G 100
Deep Freeze Binding Strike Blizzaga H 100
Deep Freeze Blizzaga Triple Blizzaga F 100
Glacier Blizzaga Deep Freeze E 100
Glacier Triple Blizzaga Deep Freeze F 100
Ice Barrage Blizzaga Mine Shield F 100
Ice Barrage Blizzaga Mine Square H 100
Firaga Burst Fira Aeroga A 20
Firaga Burst Firaga Aerora A 20
Firaga Burst Firaga Aeroga B 20
Firaga Burst Firaga Slow A 20
Firaga Burst Firaga Stopra D 20
Firaga Burst Firaga Stopga B 20
Raging Storm Fission Firaga Firaga Burst B 100
Raging Storm Blitz Firaga D 10
Raging Storm Fire Dash Fira D 10
Raging Storm Fire Surge Cartwheel C 10
Raging Storm Fire Fira A 10
Raging Storm Fira Fira B 10
Raging Storm Fira Firaga A 10
Raging Storm Firaga Firaga B 10
Mega Flare Fission Firaga Crawling Fire B 100
Quake Brutal Blast Zero Graviga B 90
Quake Brutal Blast Magnega C 90
Quake Stun Edge Mine Shield O 30
Quake Binding Strike Mine Square L 30
Quake Brutal Blast Brutal Blast N 30
Meteor Geo Impact Quake B 100
Meteor Brutal Blast Zero Graviga B 10
Meteor Brutal Blast Magnega C 10
Tornado Magnega Aeroga N 100
Tornado Quick Blitz Aerora O 10
Tornado Aero Aerora M 10
Tornado Aerora Aerora N 10
Tornado Quick Blitz Aero G 5
Tornado Thunder Aero I 5
Tornado Aero Aero E 5
Transcendence Magnet Spiral Zero Graviga J 100
Mini Magnera Warp N 100
Mini Magnega Magnega J 100
Mini Magnega Bind I 100
Blackout Zero Gravity Confuse M 100
Blackout Zero Gravira Confuse N 100
Blackout Zero Gravira Poison P 100
Ignite Fire Bind A 100
Ignite Fira Bind C 100
Stopra Slow Slow L 100
Stopra Slow Stop K 100
Stopra Stop Stop I 100
Stopga Stop Stopra I 100
Stopga Stopra Stopra J 100
Action Commands

Command 1st Ingredient 2nd Ingredient Type Used By
%
Homing Slide Sliding Dash Magnera P 100
Homing Slide Sliding Dash Air Slide C 100
Homing Slide Magnet Air Slide L 100
Thunder Roll Thunder Surge Dodge Roll P 80
Thunder Roll Thundaga Dodge Roll L 80
Thunder Roll Stun Block Dodge Roll L 80
Firewheel Firaga Cartwheel B 100
Firewheel Fission Firaga Cartwheel B 100
Firewheel Fire Surge Cartwheel C 90
Ice Slide Blizzard Edge Air Slide F 100
Ice Slide Blizzaga Air Slide H 100
Fire Glide Fire Surge Glide C 100
Fire Glide Firaga Glide B 100
Renewal Block Curaga Block P 100
Renewal Block Esuna Block C 100
Stun Block Stun Edge Block L 100
Stun Block Thundaga Block I 100
Poison Block Poison Edge Block H 80
Poison Block Poison Block P 80
Renewal Barrier Curaga Barrier P 100
Renewal Barrier Esuna Barrier N 100
Confuse Barrier Confusion Strike Barrier C 100
Confuse Barrier Confuse Barrier L 100
Stop Barrier Stopga Barrier C 80
Payback Fang Sliding Dash Counter Hammer P 100
Payback Raid Sliding Dash Strike Raid P 100
Payback Surge Sliding Dash Fire Surge C 100
Payback Surge Sliding Dash Thunder Surge L 100
Shotlock Commands

Command 1st Ingredient 2nd Ingredient Type Used By
%
Lightning Ray Blitz Dark Haze - 10
Lightning Ray Blitz Air Slide - 10
Lightning Ray Fire Dash Thunder Surge - 10
Lightning Ray Binding Strike Thundara - 10
Lightning Ray Thunder Thundara - 10
Lightning Ray Thundara Thundara - 10
Lightning Ray Aeroga Barrier Surge - 10
Meteor Shower Strike Raid Thundaga - 15
Meteor Shower Freeze Raid Thundaga - 15
Meteor Shower Firaga Thundaga - 15
Meteor Shower Blitz Zero Graviga - 10
Bio Barrage Poison Edge Block - 20
Bio Barrage Poison Block - 20
Bio Barrage Quick Blitz Poison - 5
Bio Barrage Sliding Dash Poison - 5
Bio Barrage Strike Raid Poison - 5

I like Birth By Sleep a lot. It is among my favorite of the Kingdom Hearts games. The story is a bit more coherent than normal and the combat is fun and expressive.

Being set in the past with a limited amount of characters really helps this game's story. This is a good introduction to Aqua, Ventus, and Terra, but it also lets us see some other characters earlier in their lives, so that is cool. The story is straightforward and predictable, and some of the character decisions are pretty asinine, but it mostly makes sense and lacks most of the trash that causes KH 1, 2, and 3 to be incomprehensible. Aqua is everyone's favorite character for a reason, and I like seeing the version of her here that isn't all traumatized by spending 100 years in the darkness dimension or whatever.
The game does suffer a bit for having all three characters go through the same worlds, even though they play different, some of the bosses mix things up, and it is interesting to see the story from three different perspectives.

Gameplay in Birth By Sleep takes a bit to wrap your head around, but once I got the hang of how commands work, I found the system to be super fun to exploit. The basic gameplay of setting up your command deck to put you into the form you want is very satisfying and it feels great once you get things working the way you want. I really enjoyed that each character pushes you in a different direction, favoring different forms and commands.
Melding is great. I love being able to improve my abilities directly like this and the addition of commands granting you abilities you can discover and permanently unlock (Final Fantasy IX!?) is really rewarding.
By the end of each character's story, when you have the most powerful commands unlocked, it can get a bit repetitive, however. It is never worse than combat often is in this game though, and the form changes let you opt into different gameplay pretty easily, if you want to.

Birth By Sleep is a really great game. Possibly my favorite in the series. If you want a solid action game with some cool systems, check it out!

(played in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix)