Mickey
2633 Reviews liked by Mickey
A fun side effect of writing about games, even on an amateur level, is that one ends up reflecting and researching on games a bit deeper and thus getting to know more about them than if they just hop from game to game. I originally planned to open this review by talking about the early days of the DS and PSP, how despite the DS being the best selling (and arguably best) portable in history, the two portables being presented in 2004 left audiences puzzled as to what Nintendo was thinking, and why anyone would want that quirky thing instead of the much slicker PSP. That's because I believed that to be the cause for Konami opting to play it safe and make the first DS Castlevania a sequel -- an assumption which proved incorrect.
No, Iga was pretty much sold on the DS from the start, and Aria of Sorrow's great sales on a Nintendo platform sealed the deal on the DS as the host for the next portable entry in the Castlevania series. As for why make a direct sequel, in particular, that is owed to Iga knowing that he and his team had accomplished something special with Aria, both in terms of storyline and gameplay. Iga truly loves the soul system from that game, and that would become even more evident years later, with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but I digress.
As a direct sequel to Aria, Dawn of Sorrow might get criticised for being a rethreading of known ground, but the fact of the matter is, it's rethreading some damn solid ground. Most of what I mention in my Aria of Sorrow review applies to its sequel as well, from the robust gameplay systems to the beautiful sprite art. There are some areas in which Dawn attempts to stand out from its prequel, some of which are successful, some of which, not so much.
Immediately apparent from the cover of the game is that the art style for character art was changed, moving away from Ayami Kojima's (gorgeous) character portraits to... somewhat generic anime art. This change is said to be a result of demographics, with portable gamers being mainly children and, as such, it making sense to use character art that appealed more to that age group. Unfortunately, none of us happened to be in the room when that decision was taken to loudly point out that Aria was a success among that very demographic and that aging down the brand identity so suddenly might be a bad idea, so this is what we got stuck with.
It's not that the character art is terrible -- it reminds me of Rondo, which also used anime art and is still widely beloved by the fanbase -- but Dawn is trying to tell a story from a handicapped position and nailing the gothic horror vibes right from the cover would have helped its case by a lot. See, the position of a sequel to a work that was never written in a way to have one is a difficult one: the big twists have already happened and characters have experienced their respective growths, so what do we work with to make a new story?
(Incidentally, Dawn opens by spoiling the big twist in Aria, so absolutely play Aria first if you can.)
What immediately springs to mind are those Disney direct-to-VHS sequels that were mostly pretty forgettable, when not antithetical to the original work, as that's absolutely the vibe one gets when one mischievous gang of troublemakers shows up in the opening in Dawn to oppose Soma and his crew. The generic cartoon aesthetic makes for a poor first impression even though the storyline is actually quite competent and, for a game ostensibly marketed at children, it shows some rather dark imagery.
The idea is that, with Dracula being forever gone, a cult forms from people that desire a new Dark Lord, and a few of its head figures step forward as candidates to fill the power vacuula. They decide to have a go at Soma, attacking him and his girlfriend when the two are hanging out in town, and our boy doesn't take too kindly to that, setting out in pursuit of the group, pulling the whole crew from Aria in with him. What follows is a metroidvania romp just like Aria, which has Soma claiming monsters' souls as he brings down the Dark Lord wannabes.
Where Dawn successfully improves on Aria is in quality of life features as well as better tuning. On the former front, Soma can now use two different equipment sets that can be swapped at the press of the X button, a very welcome feature as it switching souls without entering the menu, thus letting the player adapt to each situation faster. The game also makes good use of the DS's top screen, displaying either the castle map or a screen with Soma's and enemy's stats. While having the map always visible is a godsend in this genre, having enemy info readily available is great when farming souls, as it does exactly the same thing the gadget from the Advance Collection does in Aria.
As for tuning, weapons have been rebalanced, emphasizing their variety. There's even a system through which, by imbuing weapons with certain souls, they can be upgraded, a nice addition that unfortunately ends up underutilized due to the rarity of some of the souls it requires. Having a use for excess souls, however, is a nice thought, and again I point to Bloodstained as the unofficial successor to Dawn, with Iga further refining this idea in that game.
Incidentally, while Aria already had souls that powered up with their count, Dawn brings this feature to the forefront explicitly calling it the Soul Level -- this is also a key feature in Bloodstained, where it exists for all souls-- uh, all shards. Souls have also been retooled in Dawn: while a lot of them are reskins from those from Aria, there are a handful of interesting new additions to the roster, and the player can expect to work with different toolsets than the ones the prequel gives. Of note is that late game souls are absolutely stacked, making them really gratifying to use.
And they have to be, because the best part of Dawn is its extremely challenging bosses. Aria's were great, but Dawn takes it to a new level: every boss is a unique enemy with a carefully crafted moveset, and their hits are extremely punishing. Even when spamming items, playing sloppily ultimately ends up in Soma getting overwhelmed, so instead, the player is expected to learn each tell and carefully avoid each attack. The magic seal mechanic is the cherry on top, forcing the player to remain vigilant for the prompt while adding flavor to finishing off the boss.
(Admittedly, if playing on an emulator, magic seals are an absolutely cursed mechanic, practically serving as an accidental form of anti-piracy . In that case, use the mod that removes them from the game.)
But is it better than Aria? Probably not: it will never be able to count on the simplicity and novelty factor that that game presented. However, even if it doesn't surpass its predecessor, it is a thoroughly enjoyable game that proudly stands at its prequel's side. Fans of Aria willing to look past a horrid first impression will find themselves a fiercely challenging game that brings back many of the original's boons.
No, Iga was pretty much sold on the DS from the start, and Aria of Sorrow's great sales on a Nintendo platform sealed the deal on the DS as the host for the next portable entry in the Castlevania series. As for why make a direct sequel, in particular, that is owed to Iga knowing that he and his team had accomplished something special with Aria, both in terms of storyline and gameplay. Iga truly loves the soul system from that game, and that would become even more evident years later, with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but I digress.
As a direct sequel to Aria, Dawn of Sorrow might get criticised for being a rethreading of known ground, but the fact of the matter is, it's rethreading some damn solid ground. Most of what I mention in my Aria of Sorrow review applies to its sequel as well, from the robust gameplay systems to the beautiful sprite art. There are some areas in which Dawn attempts to stand out from its prequel, some of which are successful, some of which, not so much.
Immediately apparent from the cover of the game is that the art style for character art was changed, moving away from Ayami Kojima's (gorgeous) character portraits to... somewhat generic anime art. This change is said to be a result of demographics, with portable gamers being mainly children and, as such, it making sense to use character art that appealed more to that age group. Unfortunately, none of us happened to be in the room when that decision was taken to loudly point out that Aria was a success among that very demographic and that aging down the brand identity so suddenly might be a bad idea, so this is what we got stuck with.
It's not that the character art is terrible -- it reminds me of Rondo, which also used anime art and is still widely beloved by the fanbase -- but Dawn is trying to tell a story from a handicapped position and nailing the gothic horror vibes right from the cover would have helped its case by a lot. See, the position of a sequel to a work that was never written in a way to have one is a difficult one: the big twists have already happened and characters have experienced their respective growths, so what do we work with to make a new story?
(Incidentally, Dawn opens by spoiling the big twist in Aria, so absolutely play Aria first if you can.)
What immediately springs to mind are those Disney direct-to-VHS sequels that were mostly pretty forgettable, when not antithetical to the original work, as that's absolutely the vibe one gets when one mischievous gang of troublemakers shows up in the opening in Dawn to oppose Soma and his crew. The generic cartoon aesthetic makes for a poor first impression even though the storyline is actually quite competent and, for a game ostensibly marketed at children, it shows some rather dark imagery.
The idea is that, with Dracula being forever gone, a cult forms from people that desire a new Dark Lord, and a few of its head figures step forward as candidates to fill the power vacuula. They decide to have a go at Soma, attacking him and his girlfriend when the two are hanging out in town, and our boy doesn't take too kindly to that, setting out in pursuit of the group, pulling the whole crew from Aria in with him. What follows is a metroidvania romp just like Aria, which has Soma claiming monsters' souls as he brings down the Dark Lord wannabes.
Where Dawn successfully improves on Aria is in quality of life features as well as better tuning. On the former front, Soma can now use two different equipment sets that can be swapped at the press of the X button, a very welcome feature as it switching souls without entering the menu, thus letting the player adapt to each situation faster. The game also makes good use of the DS's top screen, displaying either the castle map or a screen with Soma's and enemy's stats. While having the map always visible is a godsend in this genre, having enemy info readily available is great when farming souls, as it does exactly the same thing the gadget from the Advance Collection does in Aria.
As for tuning, weapons have been rebalanced, emphasizing their variety. There's even a system through which, by imbuing weapons with certain souls, they can be upgraded, a nice addition that unfortunately ends up underutilized due to the rarity of some of the souls it requires. Having a use for excess souls, however, is a nice thought, and again I point to Bloodstained as the unofficial successor to Dawn, with Iga further refining this idea in that game.
Incidentally, while Aria already had souls that powered up with their count, Dawn brings this feature to the forefront explicitly calling it the Soul Level -- this is also a key feature in Bloodstained, where it exists for all souls-- uh, all shards. Souls have also been retooled in Dawn: while a lot of them are reskins from those from Aria, there are a handful of interesting new additions to the roster, and the player can expect to work with different toolsets than the ones the prequel gives. Of note is that late game souls are absolutely stacked, making them really gratifying to use.
And they have to be, because the best part of Dawn is its extremely challenging bosses. Aria's were great, but Dawn takes it to a new level: every boss is a unique enemy with a carefully crafted moveset, and their hits are extremely punishing. Even when spamming items, playing sloppily ultimately ends up in Soma getting overwhelmed, so instead, the player is expected to learn each tell and carefully avoid each attack. The magic seal mechanic is the cherry on top, forcing the player to remain vigilant for the prompt while adding flavor to finishing off the boss.
(Admittedly, if playing on an emulator, magic seals are an absolutely cursed mechanic, practically serving as an accidental form of anti-piracy . In that case, use the mod that removes them from the game.)
But is it better than Aria? Probably not: it will never be able to count on the simplicity and novelty factor that that game presented. However, even if it doesn't surpass its predecessor, it is a thoroughly enjoyable game that proudly stands at its prequel's side. Fans of Aria willing to look past a horrid first impression will find themselves a fiercely challenging game that brings back many of the original's boons.
OTXO
2023
Like plenty of other people, I assume, I decided to try out OTXO after watching Raycevick's video that showered it with praise. Hotline Miami is one of my favorite games, and favorite game series, of all time, so a Hotline Miami inspired game felt right up my alley. I was looking forward to endlessly playing this for months on end if it was as good as Raycevick made it sound. However, while I understand most of the praise being given to this game, I ultimately just can't agree with it. It sacrifices so much of what made Hotline Miami work in service of its roguelike design that it ends up completely losing what made Hotline Miami so special in the first place.
I'll start of by pointing out what I liked about the game. The art style is pretty interesting, it's not the most unique style I've ever seen, but it gives the game a decently firm sense of identity. I also liked the general feel of the game, while I think it misses the mark of what Hotline Miami was aspiring to by quite a lot, it still manages to create a great combat loop, one that I would have loved a lot more if I wasn't constantly thinking about Hotline Miami while I was playing it.
Okay, now to get onto my big problem with the game.
Something that Raycevick forgot to mention (or maybe purposely didn't mention) while he was talking about Hotline Miami in his video was the importance of the quick restart. When you die in Hotline Miami, you just press a single button and you're thrown immeidtlay back in the fray with no loading screen. You just have to start at the beginning of the floor you died on. I firmly believe that this mechanic is the single most important aspect of Hotline Miami; it's what ties everything else together.
Hotline Miami is a game about aggression. reaction, and memorization. You're encouraged to run through the levels as fast as you can, obliterating anyone in front of you with whatever you have on you. And if you die? So what? Hit the restart button and get right back into it! The more you play, the more you'll memorize the layout of the buildings, the paths of the bots, and the reactions those bots will have. Once you get really good at the game, you can just blow through a level without even having to stop. Even those crazy levels in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number with ridiculously large areas become bearable once you remember death just means a quick restart. You're supposed to be a train going at ridiculously high speeds, and when you get into that conductor seat, there's really nothing else like it.
This is why the game is designed the way it is. Why enemies kill you in one hit, why you kill them in one hit, why enemies don't react to the carnage around them when you're using a silenced gun, and why enemies might not react to you if you're behind an ajar door. Every single thing is designed to make you be as fast and aggressive as possible, and it all starts with that quick restart.
Without that, you just wouldn't have Hotline Miami anymore.
And this is my biggest problem with OTXO.
Since OTXO is a roguelike that forces you to start at the very beginning of the game upon death, the game can't treat death as lightly as Hotline Miami. If the player could just die in one hit and be forced to go back to the beginning, it would be a miserable experience. And so, the game tips the scales in the player's favor in a more explicit manor than Hotline Miami does. It gives you way more health than the enemies, an insta-kill melee attack, and a bullet-time-like ability. And all of these are outside of the roguelike upgrades you can get!
But that's not all! Without the quick restart, the game also can't ask players to memorize layouts or enemy patterns, that would get far too frustrating far too quickly. So, it makes up for that by relying on procedurally generating level layouts, aside from the bosses who seem to all be the same as far as I can tell.
All of these shifts combined result in a game that is basically the exact opposite of Hotline Miami in a painfully frustrating way.
The level design gets so boring and tedious after only a few runs, bullet-time feels like a crutch to overly aid the player, enemies feel random and indistinct, and worst of all, the game doesn't feel fast.
Okay sure, it does feel fast, but not Hotline Miami fast. I'm not charging through these rooms obliterating everything I see as fast as I can for the thrill of it; I'm slowing bashing down doors and killing a few random dudes by going into slow-mo and trying to go quick so I can make more money to buy upgrades that are actually a little useful. Not only does it not feel quite like Hotline Miami, it feels like its in a completely different ballpark.
Also now that I mentioned it, I have to talk about the money system which reward you more money the faster you are. Hotline Miami also had an external reward for going fast, but that was just a high score and ranking system, it only mattered to the people who wanted to get A+ rankings. That way, people who were more timid could still play the game and get through it by doing the bare minimum. But in OTXO if you aren't fast, you're never going to get past the first floor, and that's something I just find aggravating.
There's also a few other issues I have, like how the story tries to be convoluted and unclear like Hotline Miami but fails to understand why Hotline Miami did that, and how you have to spend the money used for upgrades to unlock new weapons and trinkets which I find excessively annoying, but I don't think those complaints are all that important. My big problem is with the game's refusal to understand what made Hotline Miami work all while trying to "enhance" it.
Overall, I don't think OTXO is a bad game, but I don't think its a particularly great game either. It it was trying to be its own thing and had a visual style and gameplay that didn't just invoke Hotline Miami, I might have loved it. But as it is right now, I just can't recommend it to anyone that's coming to it in hopes of getting that same rush they got from playing Hotline Miami for the first time. If you want to play something that invokes the same sense of speed while having unique gameplay, please play Katana Zero instead. Or hell, just download the free community made levels in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. To me, there's just no real reason to play OTXO if you're a huge Hotline Miami fan like I am, and that's a damn shame.
The soundtrack is really good though.
I'll start of by pointing out what I liked about the game. The art style is pretty interesting, it's not the most unique style I've ever seen, but it gives the game a decently firm sense of identity. I also liked the general feel of the game, while I think it misses the mark of what Hotline Miami was aspiring to by quite a lot, it still manages to create a great combat loop, one that I would have loved a lot more if I wasn't constantly thinking about Hotline Miami while I was playing it.
Okay, now to get onto my big problem with the game.
Something that Raycevick forgot to mention (or maybe purposely didn't mention) while he was talking about Hotline Miami in his video was the importance of the quick restart. When you die in Hotline Miami, you just press a single button and you're thrown immeidtlay back in the fray with no loading screen. You just have to start at the beginning of the floor you died on. I firmly believe that this mechanic is the single most important aspect of Hotline Miami; it's what ties everything else together.
Hotline Miami is a game about aggression. reaction, and memorization. You're encouraged to run through the levels as fast as you can, obliterating anyone in front of you with whatever you have on you. And if you die? So what? Hit the restart button and get right back into it! The more you play, the more you'll memorize the layout of the buildings, the paths of the bots, and the reactions those bots will have. Once you get really good at the game, you can just blow through a level without even having to stop. Even those crazy levels in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number with ridiculously large areas become bearable once you remember death just means a quick restart. You're supposed to be a train going at ridiculously high speeds, and when you get into that conductor seat, there's really nothing else like it.
This is why the game is designed the way it is. Why enemies kill you in one hit, why you kill them in one hit, why enemies don't react to the carnage around them when you're using a silenced gun, and why enemies might not react to you if you're behind an ajar door. Every single thing is designed to make you be as fast and aggressive as possible, and it all starts with that quick restart.
Without that, you just wouldn't have Hotline Miami anymore.
And this is my biggest problem with OTXO.
Since OTXO is a roguelike that forces you to start at the very beginning of the game upon death, the game can't treat death as lightly as Hotline Miami. If the player could just die in one hit and be forced to go back to the beginning, it would be a miserable experience. And so, the game tips the scales in the player's favor in a more explicit manor than Hotline Miami does. It gives you way more health than the enemies, an insta-kill melee attack, and a bullet-time-like ability. And all of these are outside of the roguelike upgrades you can get!
But that's not all! Without the quick restart, the game also can't ask players to memorize layouts or enemy patterns, that would get far too frustrating far too quickly. So, it makes up for that by relying on procedurally generating level layouts, aside from the bosses who seem to all be the same as far as I can tell.
All of these shifts combined result in a game that is basically the exact opposite of Hotline Miami in a painfully frustrating way.
The level design gets so boring and tedious after only a few runs, bullet-time feels like a crutch to overly aid the player, enemies feel random and indistinct, and worst of all, the game doesn't feel fast.
Okay sure, it does feel fast, but not Hotline Miami fast. I'm not charging through these rooms obliterating everything I see as fast as I can for the thrill of it; I'm slowing bashing down doors and killing a few random dudes by going into slow-mo and trying to go quick so I can make more money to buy upgrades that are actually a little useful. Not only does it not feel quite like Hotline Miami, it feels like its in a completely different ballpark.
Also now that I mentioned it, I have to talk about the money system which reward you more money the faster you are. Hotline Miami also had an external reward for going fast, but that was just a high score and ranking system, it only mattered to the people who wanted to get A+ rankings. That way, people who were more timid could still play the game and get through it by doing the bare minimum. But in OTXO if you aren't fast, you're never going to get past the first floor, and that's something I just find aggravating.
There's also a few other issues I have, like how the story tries to be convoluted and unclear like Hotline Miami but fails to understand why Hotline Miami did that, and how you have to spend the money used for upgrades to unlock new weapons and trinkets which I find excessively annoying, but I don't think those complaints are all that important. My big problem is with the game's refusal to understand what made Hotline Miami work all while trying to "enhance" it.
Overall, I don't think OTXO is a bad game, but I don't think its a particularly great game either. It it was trying to be its own thing and had a visual style and gameplay that didn't just invoke Hotline Miami, I might have loved it. But as it is right now, I just can't recommend it to anyone that's coming to it in hopes of getting that same rush they got from playing Hotline Miami for the first time. If you want to play something that invokes the same sense of speed while having unique gameplay, please play Katana Zero instead. Or hell, just download the free community made levels in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. To me, there's just no real reason to play OTXO if you're a huge Hotline Miami fan like I am, and that's a damn shame.
The soundtrack is really good though.
When I hear people saying how Sunbreak isn't Monster Hunter I always check for two things, and usually at least one of them checks out:
1) They're World fans
2) They "used to play Freedom Unite back in the day with their good ol' PSP"
Don't fall for the common accusations, Sunbreak is the absolute pinnacle of Monster Hunter combat, paired with one of the best monster rosters in the series: you've got Astalos, Primalzeno, Gore Magala, Lucent Narga and many other stupid good fights to learn and get your new hat out of.
A thing I usually criticize about Iceborne is the sets balancing: you want to do GS? Fatalis. CB? Fatalis. DB which are literally elemental killing machines? Fatalis, elemental sucks ASS in that game. Pair those weapons with a full Fatalis armor (or one AT Velk piece if you fancy) and slot in the decos you just grinded 100+ tempered Teostra for and you're good to go!
Now here, things are different: any weapon has so many possibilities, in terms of both elemental and raw damage and skills you want to implement to your playstyle. Berserker, Strife, Blood Rite, Buildup Boost; you name them, they got them.
My very reasons for it not being 5 stars are bond to the fact the expansion starts VERY slowly, like 3 stars worth of missions are mostly boring fights you already did with a fire/blast variation of a newcomer you fought in base Rise BUT the second you slay that damn Astalos the game just starts to ramp up and it NEVER STOPS.
My other reason is the fact once you get to the endgame it gets a bit disorienting for all the stuff it introduces you, so it takes a while to understand that + it slows down quite a bit because the real juicy stuff starts after you reach MR100, with Scorned Magnamalo and the Risen fights which are just that good and challenging!
Man I love this game, what a wonderful life-ruining experience.
1) They're World fans
2) They "used to play Freedom Unite back in the day with their good ol' PSP"
Don't fall for the common accusations, Sunbreak is the absolute pinnacle of Monster Hunter combat, paired with one of the best monster rosters in the series: you've got Astalos, Primalzeno, Gore Magala, Lucent Narga and many other stupid good fights to learn and get your new hat out of.
A thing I usually criticize about Iceborne is the sets balancing: you want to do GS? Fatalis. CB? Fatalis. DB which are literally elemental killing machines? Fatalis, elemental sucks ASS in that game. Pair those weapons with a full Fatalis armor (or one AT Velk piece if you fancy) and slot in the decos you just grinded 100+ tempered Teostra for and you're good to go!
Now here, things are different: any weapon has so many possibilities, in terms of both elemental and raw damage and skills you want to implement to your playstyle. Berserker, Strife, Blood Rite, Buildup Boost; you name them, they got them.
My very reasons for it not being 5 stars are bond to the fact the expansion starts VERY slowly, like 3 stars worth of missions are mostly boring fights you already did with a fire/blast variation of a newcomer you fought in base Rise BUT the second you slay that damn Astalos the game just starts to ramp up and it NEVER STOPS.
My other reason is the fact once you get to the endgame it gets a bit disorienting for all the stuff it introduces you, so it takes a while to understand that + it slows down quite a bit because the real juicy stuff starts after you reach MR100, with Scorned Magnamalo and the Risen fights which are just that good and challenging!
Man I love this game, what a wonderful life-ruining experience.
It's hard to come up with words to describe how good Neo World Ends With You is.
It's stylish, it's unique, it takes risks both in gameplay decisions(controlling 6 characters at once is actually crazy) and in the story(time travel powers tend to be a red flag if you like your characters to be rational) and it nails it every single time. I hadn't been so engrossed in a JRPG, or even a game in general, since Persona 5 Royal.
It's stylish, it's unique, it takes risks both in gameplay decisions(controlling 6 characters at once is actually crazy) and in the story(time travel powers tend to be a red flag if you like your characters to be rational) and it nails it every single time. I hadn't been so engrossed in a JRPG, or even a game in general, since Persona 5 Royal.
Helldivers 2
2024
This game is really fucking fun if you can get past the infrequent crashes and mild (but still annoying) bugs.
*Granted you have a group of 3-4 ppl willing to play
*Granted you have a group of 3-4 ppl willing to play
Persona 3 FES
2007
(Played this to prepare for reload) Amazing game, amazing story. While it has its flaws such as the pacing in the first 10ish hours, after it picks up it really gets going. Social links are also very meh with exceptions like the Sun and Devil, I didnt care to do like half of them except to get the persona abilities. Took off half a star because nozomi is in this game.
Live A Live
2022
Live A Live is a lost gem from the past, more specifically from the Super Nintendo era. In its time it didn't sell well, so Square Soft chose to consider it as a failure and leave this game in oblivion, a totally undeserved fate... or so it was until it was unexpectedly and miraculously brought back with this magnificent remake.
I don't like to use the term "ahead of its time" but in this case, Live A Live was.
I think we all know Kirby Super Star for SNES, a game that distinguished itself from the rest by having the caption "8 Games in one!". I always thought it had a very good design, because in an era where games were getting longer and longer to finish (something that happens even today with games that last longer than they should to finish), having a game that is divided into small games with different gimmicks and themes each one sounds like a pretty fresh and striking idea, because you never get tired of one in specific for the short duration they have. Well, what if I tell you that Square Soft did exactly the same thing 2 years before Kirby Super Star, but for JRPGs with Live A Live.
This game is exactly about that, in base, you have 7 short stories, each one with different elements in its gameplay and theme, each one with its own protagonist, and each one set in a different time era, so you have the typical ones, as can be the prehistory, the present and the future, but you also have unique scenarios like the ninjas, the Chinese imperial era or the old west. Something to highlight of this game, is that in 1994 RPGs did not really vary much from the same medieval setting, but Live A Live presented with a lot of different scenarios that make parody, reference and tribute to all kinds of works such as movies, anime, maga and even other video games.
Something that all chapters of the game share is the combat system, which moves away from the traditional turn-based system to develop the battles in a grid in which both our opponents and ourselves can move to execute all kinds of attacks. This game simplifies things a bit, because as such there are no MPs, you are free to use the character's skills at no cost, you can use them whenever you want and however you want, from the weakest and most ineffective kick, to the most destructive attack. I have to say that it's quite easy to understand and has a simplistic approach so that even the most novice can enjoy it, and overall I think it's a brilliant combat system, because each battle feels like a different puzzle, which although simple, is satisfying to complete.
You'll be thinking that the premise is quite similar to Octopath Traveler, but even though they have the same concept, the way they approach it differs a lot. While in Octopath Traveler the stories had to have more or less the same quality, length and structure, in this game it is quite the opposite, as all the stories are made to be different from each other, both in quality and length, as each one wants to achieve something different, and that is exactly what makes it special. Each of the stories is well written, but what in my opinion really makes them shine, is that they use mechanics from the game itself to really make you feel involved in the stories. Live A Live is one of those games that really takes advantage of the unique medium that video games are to give you a narrative and experience that would only be possible in a video game itself. And that's something to point out, because you can't say the same about other games that came out around the same time, or even many that come out today.
This remake is fantastic, because although the original experience is still great, all the improvements that are included in this version are too good. For starters, similar to what happened with Final Fantasy VI, the characters now look like their sprites in the battles when they are walking around the map, and not only that, but all the pixel art was redone based on the originals, but giving them more colors and detail, and more importantly, a lot of new and detailed animations were added both pixel art and CG that give a little more life to this game. The graphic style of Octopath Travler was used for this remake, but even so, both games look very different, because while in Octopath Traveler the scenarios have a lot of details and realistic effects, and the textures had a pixel art look to give it that retro effect, in Live A Live its use is more measured and the pixel art of the characters is much more expressive, pixel art textures are still used for the environments, but in a more subtle way, which gives a cleaner and more concise look. I still don't know if I prefer how Octopath Traveler or Live A Live looks, but I like that even though both games are made with "HD-2D" graphics, the art style feels distinct enough to give Live A Live a unique feel and identity.
In the original Live A Live sometimes knowing where to go could be very ambiguous, that's why one addition I appreciated was the radar, which tells you which areas you have already explored and where to go to continue in the story, and it's a great addition because in case you prefer a more original experience you can always disable it (the game itself mentions it when you start the game). The radar is something original from Octopath Traveler, however, something I didn't like about its implementation in this game is that to disable it you need to go to the settings menu instead of being able to do it by simply pressing the R1 button, as you could in Octopath Traveler. I say this because the radar is sometimes redundant and I prefer to disable it to immerse myself more in the game. I only recommend it in the near future and far future stories, as sometimes it's ambiguous to know what to do next (although they also added a couple of dialogs that mitigate this), in all other stories it's not so necessary (unless you're really lost).
Speaking of the soundtrack, I think Yoko Shimomura's work for this game has become my favorite from her, both for the quality of the pieces and the variety of them. Normally in Kingdom Hearts all the songs have a similar style, but here all the songs vary in style to better stick to the era they try to represent, I give as an example these two songs, which precisely contrast how different they can be despite having been composed by the same person (Clash in China) (The Wilds). Frankly, I loved the whole soundtrack of this game, has become one of my favorites. The team that was in charge of making the arrangements did a magnificent job.
I've already talked about how Live A Live pays tribute to other media, and to top it all off, after finishing the 7 main stories, you unlock a secret chapter that pays tribute to the JRPG genre itself and the game that started it all: the first Dragon Quest. The story and the setting are more or less the same, a silent hero (which I recommend to put your name hehe ...), which must rescue his beloved princess of the fearsome dragon lord, I mean, lord of the dark, so to achieve such a feat you must go through the same steps of the hero before you to defeat the villain of this story. And I say no more, for this is a game that is best when you play it without spoilers, and especially in this chapter, for knowing absolutely nothing about the latter other than the initial plot is what makes it even better. (I wasn't sure about even mentioning this part of the game, but given that the average review on this site makes even bigger spoilers, and even the trailers themselves do, I figured it would be appropriate to do so).
Conclusion
It was all the idea of Takashi Tokita, the original director of Live A Live, who prior to this game had already worked on Final Fantasy IV and later was one of the directors of Chrono Trigger (which now playing this game, I can notice a lot of the influence his direction had). You can tell that at the time it was a game made by a development team with a lot of passion and dedication, and fortunately the same can be said of this remake.
And I have nothing to say other than that I highly recommend playing this game. I played it without many expectations really, but after finishing it, I can only say that I'm very sorry I didn't give it a chance earlier. Live A Live is a masterpiece not only of the genre, but of video games.
Frankly, it has become one of my favorite games of all time, maybe in this review I didn't explain many of the reasons why, but that was to avoid spoilers, because it really is a game that should be played by everyone.
I don't like to use the term "ahead of its time" but in this case, Live A Live was.
I think we all know Kirby Super Star for SNES, a game that distinguished itself from the rest by having the caption "8 Games in one!". I always thought it had a very good design, because in an era where games were getting longer and longer to finish (something that happens even today with games that last longer than they should to finish), having a game that is divided into small games with different gimmicks and themes each one sounds like a pretty fresh and striking idea, because you never get tired of one in specific for the short duration they have. Well, what if I tell you that Square Soft did exactly the same thing 2 years before Kirby Super Star, but for JRPGs with Live A Live.
This game is exactly about that, in base, you have 7 short stories, each one with different elements in its gameplay and theme, each one with its own protagonist, and each one set in a different time era, so you have the typical ones, as can be the prehistory, the present and the future, but you also have unique scenarios like the ninjas, the Chinese imperial era or the old west. Something to highlight of this game, is that in 1994 RPGs did not really vary much from the same medieval setting, but Live A Live presented with a lot of different scenarios that make parody, reference and tribute to all kinds of works such as movies, anime, maga and even other video games.
Something that all chapters of the game share is the combat system, which moves away from the traditional turn-based system to develop the battles in a grid in which both our opponents and ourselves can move to execute all kinds of attacks. This game simplifies things a bit, because as such there are no MPs, you are free to use the character's skills at no cost, you can use them whenever you want and however you want, from the weakest and most ineffective kick, to the most destructive attack. I have to say that it's quite easy to understand and has a simplistic approach so that even the most novice can enjoy it, and overall I think it's a brilliant combat system, because each battle feels like a different puzzle, which although simple, is satisfying to complete.
You'll be thinking that the premise is quite similar to Octopath Traveler, but even though they have the same concept, the way they approach it differs a lot. While in Octopath Traveler the stories had to have more or less the same quality, length and structure, in this game it is quite the opposite, as all the stories are made to be different from each other, both in quality and length, as each one wants to achieve something different, and that is exactly what makes it special. Each of the stories is well written, but what in my opinion really makes them shine, is that they use mechanics from the game itself to really make you feel involved in the stories. Live A Live is one of those games that really takes advantage of the unique medium that video games are to give you a narrative and experience that would only be possible in a video game itself. And that's something to point out, because you can't say the same about other games that came out around the same time, or even many that come out today.
This remake is fantastic, because although the original experience is still great, all the improvements that are included in this version are too good. For starters, similar to what happened with Final Fantasy VI, the characters now look like their sprites in the battles when they are walking around the map, and not only that, but all the pixel art was redone based on the originals, but giving them more colors and detail, and more importantly, a lot of new and detailed animations were added both pixel art and CG that give a little more life to this game. The graphic style of Octopath Travler was used for this remake, but even so, both games look very different, because while in Octopath Traveler the scenarios have a lot of details and realistic effects, and the textures had a pixel art look to give it that retro effect, in Live A Live its use is more measured and the pixel art of the characters is much more expressive, pixel art textures are still used for the environments, but in a more subtle way, which gives a cleaner and more concise look. I still don't know if I prefer how Octopath Traveler or Live A Live looks, but I like that even though both games are made with "HD-2D" graphics, the art style feels distinct enough to give Live A Live a unique feel and identity.
In the original Live A Live sometimes knowing where to go could be very ambiguous, that's why one addition I appreciated was the radar, which tells you which areas you have already explored and where to go to continue in the story, and it's a great addition because in case you prefer a more original experience you can always disable it (the game itself mentions it when you start the game). The radar is something original from Octopath Traveler, however, something I didn't like about its implementation in this game is that to disable it you need to go to the settings menu instead of being able to do it by simply pressing the R1 button, as you could in Octopath Traveler. I say this because the radar is sometimes redundant and I prefer to disable it to immerse myself more in the game. I only recommend it in the near future and far future stories, as sometimes it's ambiguous to know what to do next (although they also added a couple of dialogs that mitigate this), in all other stories it's not so necessary (unless you're really lost).
Speaking of the soundtrack, I think Yoko Shimomura's work for this game has become my favorite from her, both for the quality of the pieces and the variety of them. Normally in Kingdom Hearts all the songs have a similar style, but here all the songs vary in style to better stick to the era they try to represent, I give as an example these two songs, which precisely contrast how different they can be despite having been composed by the same person (Clash in China) (The Wilds). Frankly, I loved the whole soundtrack of this game, has become one of my favorites. The team that was in charge of making the arrangements did a magnificent job.
I've already talked about how Live A Live pays tribute to other media, and to top it all off, after finishing the 7 main stories, you unlock a secret chapter that pays tribute to the JRPG genre itself and the game that started it all: the first Dragon Quest. The story and the setting are more or less the same, a silent hero (which I recommend to put your name hehe ...), which must rescue his beloved princess of the fearsome dragon lord, I mean, lord of the dark, so to achieve such a feat you must go through the same steps of the hero before you to defeat the villain of this story. And I say no more, for this is a game that is best when you play it without spoilers, and especially in this chapter, for knowing absolutely nothing about the latter other than the initial plot is what makes it even better. (I wasn't sure about even mentioning this part of the game, but given that the average review on this site makes even bigger spoilers, and even the trailers themselves do, I figured it would be appropriate to do so).
Conclusion
It was all the idea of Takashi Tokita, the original director of Live A Live, who prior to this game had already worked on Final Fantasy IV and later was one of the directors of Chrono Trigger (which now playing this game, I can notice a lot of the influence his direction had). You can tell that at the time it was a game made by a development team with a lot of passion and dedication, and fortunately the same can be said of this remake.
And I have nothing to say other than that I highly recommend playing this game. I played it without many expectations really, but after finishing it, I can only say that I'm very sorry I didn't give it a chance earlier. Live A Live is a masterpiece not only of the genre, but of video games.
Frankly, it has become one of my favorite games of all time, maybe in this review I didn't explain many of the reasons why, but that was to avoid spoilers, because it really is a game that should be played by everyone.
Yakuza Kiwami
2016
Well, that certainly was a Yakuza game.
I don't know, I've got a complicated relationship with these games. They're some of the most repetitive, padded out games out there, but they have this special charm that is irresistible to me. So I keep playing. I keep mashing. I keep running around Kamurocho. I keep beating Majima up. Then I mash some more.
The story this time around wasn't as good as the one in Yakuza 0, but it was pretty good, especially with the added (in 0) context of Kiryu's and Nishiki's relationship prior to the events of Kiwami. A simple story with some nice twists and pretty good character moments, but really not as compelling as its prequel.
I don't engage with side content in Yakuza. Maybe that's a mistake, but the substories I did play are bland and repetitive. And there's too many of them.
Ultimately, when I was not being assaulted by the numerous stupid gun-wielding thugs and bosses, I enjoyed my time with Kiwami. On to Kiwami 2!
I'm gonna be so sick of this series when I'm done with this marathon...
I don't know, I've got a complicated relationship with these games. They're some of the most repetitive, padded out games out there, but they have this special charm that is irresistible to me. So I keep playing. I keep mashing. I keep running around Kamurocho. I keep beating Majima up. Then I mash some more.
The story this time around wasn't as good as the one in Yakuza 0, but it was pretty good, especially with the added (in 0) context of Kiryu's and Nishiki's relationship prior to the events of Kiwami. A simple story with some nice twists and pretty good character moments, but really not as compelling as its prequel.
I don't engage with side content in Yakuza. Maybe that's a mistake, but the substories I did play are bland and repetitive. And there's too many of them.
Ultimately, when I was not being assaulted by the numerous stupid gun-wielding thugs and bosses, I enjoyed my time with Kiwami. On to Kiwami 2!
I'm gonna be so sick of this series when I'm done with this marathon...
The mecha game about the egyptian robots with massive fucking cocks is actually really good. I had it on the PS2 when I was a teenager but never beat it, and decided on a whim to get it and finish it on PC, and I’m glad I did.
Gameplay is extremely fun and snappy even if simple
Story is your average mecha anime compressed into an action game. Voice acting and parts of the script in general are god awful but its par for the course
One of the few mecha games I could genuinely recommend to someone.
This is a remastered version for the PC and I think it’s really good (though it helps that the PS2 original was a technical masterpiece just like everything Kojima’s team puts out (reminder, PRODUCED by Hideo Kojima)). Don’t have a VR headset to try out the VR mode even though I wanted to puke so much.
Gameplay is extremely fun and snappy even if simple
Story is your average mecha anime compressed into an action game. Voice acting and parts of the script in general are god awful but its par for the course
One of the few mecha games I could genuinely recommend to someone.
This is a remastered version for the PC and I think it’s really good (though it helps that the PS2 original was a technical masterpiece just like everything Kojima’s team puts out (reminder, PRODUCED by Hideo Kojima)). Don’t have a VR headset to try out the VR mode even though I wanted to puke so much.
Let Horii cook with the remake
Final Fantasy VIII
1999
I hate that stupid fucking pussy ass song that all the shippers squeal over. Why couldn’t they get real music like Metallica?
No More Heroes
2007
Goichi Shoulda made an actually good game
This review contains spoilers
Here we are again.. reliving a story we once knew.
Let me start off by saying Final Fantasy 7 Trilogy is beginning to become something interesting and exciting, as a long loving fan of the original game, it came at no surprise that a lot of people would be turned off by the thought of remake not being a 1 to 1 make of the game. After such had been released to the public and people took remake for what it is the picture was being set and things were about to change for a beloved FF7 world, in a good way I would say. CBU1 knew that a lot was depending on this trilogy, they couldn't mess up this story and everything was depending on the integrity of what they produced in the past.
Before I get into the details of the game that people are fighting over and expecting the worse from the it all, I would love to speak about everything to do with the combat. Combat was one of the fundamentals I believed was almost near perfect in remake with minor defects (air combat). Coming into rebirth with the addition of Air Combat, Synergy Abilities, Ally abilities that use no gauge and are STRONG. It was the one thing that was going to sell this game if it was not the story and that's the combat. Rebirths combat is an improvement at an extreme level and we still have one more game to go, who knows whats possible. Maybe we will have advent children level fighting and the whole party can take part against are fight to save the world.
Character development and voice acting was at the top of its level in this game, characters that i believed fell a little flat in remake had their attempt to bring it back in rebirth and they did exactly that. The development on Barret and his story with Dyne and having to relive his trauma in the temple of the ancients. Yuffie being the bubbly and annoying materia stealer that she is, her personality excels in this game compared to what was given to us in the DLC. She can be annoying at times but thats truly who yuffie is, as cloud once said on that elevator 'can you just shut up'. Red XII, or must say my beloved Nanaki. Boy or boy do I love this damn rat dog in this game, while it was expected for this game to give the backstory to everyone. Nanaki's story sticks out to me especially from the OG and Rebirth with the extension of how he acts around bugenhagen and the party, I enjoyed the hidden aspect of Red speaking in his younger voice towards aerith in earlier parts of the game and it being given off as someone random... once again them giving their nods to people who have played through the original. Cait sith, what can i say about this little robot cat? He was actually great. For a lot of people cait sith was hated and seen as pointless in the original game when it came to choosing him to fight with or even in choices of story but with the way I felt towards him in the original i wanted to try to give him a new thought of care and at first i still didn't like him, especially when the betrayal came which they handled alot better than the original, however that point when cait comes back and trys to have the party forgive him and show that he cares about them, there was a new found love that had grown inside me for him and im glad that came to happen for a character that i had previously not shown much care towards.
Even for things when it comes to character dialogue and conversations during set pieces, the relationship between different characters that don't involve Cloud, Red & Barret, Tifa & Aerith, Aerith & Red, Yuffie & Barret. All the bonding moments around the world builds more love and care for these people that you're going to spend so much time with.
Now i believe these next few characters deserve a new paragraph. I want to start off specifically with the two characters who are unplayable in this game, Vincent and Cid. For those that were upset with them being unplayable, i was indeed upset when it was announced before the game came out but after completing this game i couldn't even care and im even more excited to see what is done coming into Part 3, Cid was charming and still had a new flair to him. I don't really have much that comes to mind on Cid since he was primarily the man to fly the tiny bronco, there will obviously be more from him due Part3. Now onto Vincent, at points i almost thought i was going to control him however they did a lot more with Vincent in terms of implementing him into side quests & the main story, almost in the same way they incorporated yuffie into the story, with good amounts of humour and the hilarious moments of him trying to speak while being muffled inside his coffin, the genuine excitement of finally seeing vincent on screen and being the loner that he is it was good to finally be able to see the whole gang together.
Tifa Lockhart, with the addition of the new social mechanic where you're able to build bonds with characters it was quite enjoyable to have the control of who you're able to control and speak to in such manner. People who have played through the original and know of all FF7 material it is known that tifa is the one to save cloud with his delusion and its the ever ending eluding of that happening throughout this entire game. It continues to be prominent all the till credits roll. She is the pillar of bringing cloud back and she does just that as much as she can throughout the game. With of course the development of her not believing cloud because of the Nibelheim incident, the growth between Cloud & Tifa goes in a direction that i think we all expected it too and will continue to go in Part 3.
Cloud Strife, boy or boy cloud. its a homecoming. What a unbelievable way to make clouds mental illness, this game has made cloud schizophrenic. This isn't just mako poisoning anymore or him thinking he's someone else, this is genuinely a new point and approach to his mental illness and its something im scared but excited about, but this is a feeling I've been very much used to throughout this entire trilogy so far, Within the original game from the point of the Nibelheim flashback we know that cloud begins to lose himself to his mental illness and that becomes a problem for the party. With the approach that was taken in Rebirth, i was genuinely scared for anyone that stood in Clouds way. The influence of sephiroth and mental battle in this game is unbelievable, the constant reminder that every time those headaches begin something good dosen't come out of it. From points where cloud is quite literally spilling blood infront of his friends or him acting like sephiroth dodging bullets and slaughtering a whole platoon of shinra soldiers. Cloud is in a dark place right now, the trauma is building more and more and every moment seems to be getting worse the more Cloud is on screen. Big love to Cody Christian on his voice acting for Cloud, i genuinely had chills when it came to him speaking in that almost sephiroth/monotone talk. The presentation of cloud being someone completely different was done in a way i couldn't have expected but im thrilled to be experiencing.
Zack, im so sorry you had to relive having your heart broken to pieces for something that isn't your fault, he deserves all happiness in the world. And after all this he still cares and is selfless for others risking his life to protect them. No one deserved you zack
Aerith Gainsborough, alot of us were scared, alot of us are still scared. But let us embrace for what is to come, for what remake setup it seemed to be evident that aerith knew of things that she shouldn't know of, almost in the same that way that sephiroth's presentation was during remake. We knew that Sephiroth in remake was coming from Advent Children but what we didn't know is where Aerith gained any of the memories from. Throughout parts of remake aerith touched Red & Marlene and it showed no major plot points towards it, going into Rebirth it all began to make sense and things were starting to get out of control in things that we didn't expect. Aerith is 100% the staple of this game in which she has always been and im glad they stuck to that, She is constantly throughout the whole game giving hints and eluding to fate that is yet to come, From the point of her singing in the gold saucer it was set in stone that she was not going to make it at the end of this game. Cloud for what its worth with his poor mind pays no attention to any of it but for the viewer of this story, Aerith is trying her hardest to tell cloud and the viewer there is nothing thats going to stop what you know happening in this story so you must enjoy these moments and not feel bad for what will happen.
Onto the world of FF7, what we had all been wanting since the beginning. This game does everything for its world and it shows, this is what we all wanted. This is what i had been waiting for the most, remake was beautiful and Midgar was something i loved going through but for almost everyone when it came to the original the minute you stepped foot into the over-world the overall pacing of the game and the exploration that you experienced when it came to go visiting new places was beautiful, Rebirth keeps that exact feeling but for me amplifies it. Maybe that's because im able to see the game at a fidelity that's not the same as almost 30 years ago. It was hard to keep myself at not crying at every theme that played when going to a new area the music, the environments, the effort that went into making these places feel alive and full of life, this was nothing but amazing. Every zone held equally the same amount of effort and care and im sure as hell wondering what exactly could be done to push this even further going into Part 3.
I would love to point out as well when it came to NPCs the level of detail was a lot better than what was presented in Remake. It was evident that the only thing to be cared about in remake was everything centric around the story, going into Rebirth the team showed to put effort into all the things that lacked inside Remake. Side Quests, NPCs, Content outside of the story was nothing but amplified. Thank you SE for the amazing amount of black representation and effort into how everyone looks, Hairstyles and presentation, they did amazing.
As a mentioned before, the music. They had said 400 songs in a previous presentation before the games release and i didn't very much find that believable, was the game going to just have reused songs with the addition of what is new in remake? Yes. But its not the same, every song you believed was a reuse of what was in remake gained a new motiff, gained a new instrument, gained a new approach to the song that was different but somehow better than what was previously produced, Every song had a feeling inside it that i cannot explain. Once again amazing work towards to those behind the music of every FF game its something that is always evident for any game that comes out of SE, the music is always going to be some of the strongest parts of the game.
BOSS FIGHTS!!! WOW WOW WOW, Some of returning fights that got a touch of love and improvement from what it previously was, Some new faces too. Overall the amount of boss fights in this game and the way they're all constructed was nothing but fun, there genuinely wasn't a fight that i found irritating, annoying or down-right hard. I did get my ass beat quite alot of times when it came to doing the hard mode against fights that I believed we're easier when going through my first playthrough on Dynamic mode.
Onto something that I believe we all need to talk about and most likely what you're all wanting to read. The story.
I want to start off by saying, i like everything that this story has done. For alot of people right now going through the story, whether its someone watching or someone playing there is mixed reactions to what the ending sequence has come to. Going into rebirth, like many others we was ready to find out whether or not the death of Aerith will still happen. From start to finish the agenda of that happening is being pushed CONSISTENTLY especially when you get to the final set of chapters of the game it becomes more prominent. I was happily on the train of her still dying and im glad they stuck with it, the team behind the game know that they can't toy with the story to much to the point where people hate it for what it is. Everything leading up to that moment i believe was handled well, the usage of the PS5 triggers was probably some of the best choice for a moment like that. But let me not reminisce on those moments, lets talk about everything that happens after that. After which of course Aerith passes away and the world starts to go a little crazy with the whispers and it gives us a sort of hope that Aerith is alive, im still very much in acceptance that she is dead and won't know until the third game, what i did love from everything that happened with Aerith's death is the amplification it gave to Cloud's craziness which directly links into Cloud even worse in the final parts of the story but this time Cloud is quite literally the same as he is in Advent Children where he is the only one to see/sense Aerith. I don't believe aerith has cheated death or survived, maybe in a different timeline but im happily believing she's dead whether its a different timeline or not the main timeline that the game is following is what we should all follow on the basis if its not alive in this, its not alive anywhere else. The end of part 3 may have the same ending of Advent Children in which Zack & Aerith walk into the light after everything. The ending is messy i will say that, but its messy in a way that if a few scenes were taken out of swapped it would allow for a better development going into the 3rd game.
I wish they committed fully to an Aerith death scene or not. Doing both just emotionally jacked with me because now we have Cloud who thinks she’s alive with a team who thinks she’s dead, and he’s just oblivious. It also hurts so much that in chapter 13 and 14 he was pretty much a total asshole—especially to Tifa which really hurt after seeing their intimate scene on their date—and he never really fully owned it or made amends. Speaks volumes to the teams ability to love and forgive and accept him. And I understand why he was being that way. Sephiroth was hard fucking with his mind and using him, so it wasn’t fully Cloud. My first problem was going in hoping for a happy-ish ending but knew that wasn’t going to happen. What I got instead just hurts.
The same thing that happened with the Remake ending is happening with Rebirth, for those who genuinely love the story and want to know what happens will spend their next 3-4 years being psychopaths and building theories of nothing until we get actual information, others will have the same reaction to what they did with remake in which they hate it and say that it doesn't make sense and compare it to Kingdom Hearts. For people to always resort to Nomura being the butt of the joke whenever it comes to time travel has always been my least favourite thing to see, the approach of Rebirth with the culmination of CBU1 shouldn't be put all on Nomura's head because of him being Creative Director and i believe the way this story has been reimagined has been done in a way I've been happy experiencing and most likely many others.
I disagree that this game was written poorly. If you don’t like multiverse stuff, I can see it being considered poorly written. I don’t mind it, and the way they did it I thought was very good. The character development was phenomenal. Writing wise I do think Aerith’s end was just a lack of full commitment, and playing too much the “make everyone happy” thing. In one sense, it’s a great ending meaning it guts you and leaves you confused and frustrated and hopeful all at once. I did not come away from that ending unamused or outright angry only. In another sense, the ending just makes me hate Cloud for being a dick and insensitive. Again I understand why, I don’t need commenters ripping my post to shreds, just emotionally processing this game lol.
They delivered on the game, they delivered on the story and setup thoughts and speculations for the 3rd game as they did with the 1st, it is expected to be confused. All of us were confused when it came to the ending of remake and where the story will go and that exact moment is being relived through the ending of rebirth. Genuinely excited for what Part 3 holds, if done correctly and amplified for what this game has done in many ways it may end up as my favourite of the trilogy and one of the best reimagines of a story to be retold in a new era.
What I've noticed and find fascinating is the anger people show, but I don't think they understand why they are angry, the emotion they are feeling from the game is the frustration with how all that build up and they still failed. How the story is playing just like a 3 Act Play, this being their low point. It sucks for a story to end like that but you need the darkest moments in order for those brighter moments to shine and have more meaning.
The Finale has the potential to leave a big impact because the direness of the situation is in such a state that when the heroes are able to overcome it, and it's deserved, it will feel that much more rewarding to have been apart of that journey. Let us all rejoice for 4 years with theories until we get news on Part 3
No Promises Await At Journey's End.
Let me start off by saying Final Fantasy 7 Trilogy is beginning to become something interesting and exciting, as a long loving fan of the original game, it came at no surprise that a lot of people would be turned off by the thought of remake not being a 1 to 1 make of the game. After such had been released to the public and people took remake for what it is the picture was being set and things were about to change for a beloved FF7 world, in a good way I would say. CBU1 knew that a lot was depending on this trilogy, they couldn't mess up this story and everything was depending on the integrity of what they produced in the past.
Before I get into the details of the game that people are fighting over and expecting the worse from the it all, I would love to speak about everything to do with the combat. Combat was one of the fundamentals I believed was almost near perfect in remake with minor defects (air combat). Coming into rebirth with the addition of Air Combat, Synergy Abilities, Ally abilities that use no gauge and are STRONG. It was the one thing that was going to sell this game if it was not the story and that's the combat. Rebirths combat is an improvement at an extreme level and we still have one more game to go, who knows whats possible. Maybe we will have advent children level fighting and the whole party can take part against are fight to save the world.
Character development and voice acting was at the top of its level in this game, characters that i believed fell a little flat in remake had their attempt to bring it back in rebirth and they did exactly that. The development on Barret and his story with Dyne and having to relive his trauma in the temple of the ancients. Yuffie being the bubbly and annoying materia stealer that she is, her personality excels in this game compared to what was given to us in the DLC. She can be annoying at times but thats truly who yuffie is, as cloud once said on that elevator 'can you just shut up'. Red XII, or must say my beloved Nanaki. Boy or boy do I love this damn rat dog in this game, while it was expected for this game to give the backstory to everyone. Nanaki's story sticks out to me especially from the OG and Rebirth with the extension of how he acts around bugenhagen and the party, I enjoyed the hidden aspect of Red speaking in his younger voice towards aerith in earlier parts of the game and it being given off as someone random... once again them giving their nods to people who have played through the original. Cait sith, what can i say about this little robot cat? He was actually great. For a lot of people cait sith was hated and seen as pointless in the original game when it came to choosing him to fight with or even in choices of story but with the way I felt towards him in the original i wanted to try to give him a new thought of care and at first i still didn't like him, especially when the betrayal came which they handled alot better than the original, however that point when cait comes back and trys to have the party forgive him and show that he cares about them, there was a new found love that had grown inside me for him and im glad that came to happen for a character that i had previously not shown much care towards.
Even for things when it comes to character dialogue and conversations during set pieces, the relationship between different characters that don't involve Cloud, Red & Barret, Tifa & Aerith, Aerith & Red, Yuffie & Barret. All the bonding moments around the world builds more love and care for these people that you're going to spend so much time with.
Now i believe these next few characters deserve a new paragraph. I want to start off specifically with the two characters who are unplayable in this game, Vincent and Cid. For those that were upset with them being unplayable, i was indeed upset when it was announced before the game came out but after completing this game i couldn't even care and im even more excited to see what is done coming into Part 3, Cid was charming and still had a new flair to him. I don't really have much that comes to mind on Cid since he was primarily the man to fly the tiny bronco, there will obviously be more from him due Part3. Now onto Vincent, at points i almost thought i was going to control him however they did a lot more with Vincent in terms of implementing him into side quests & the main story, almost in the same way they incorporated yuffie into the story, with good amounts of humour and the hilarious moments of him trying to speak while being muffled inside his coffin, the genuine excitement of finally seeing vincent on screen and being the loner that he is it was good to finally be able to see the whole gang together.
Tifa Lockhart, with the addition of the new social mechanic where you're able to build bonds with characters it was quite enjoyable to have the control of who you're able to control and speak to in such manner. People who have played through the original and know of all FF7 material it is known that tifa is the one to save cloud with his delusion and its the ever ending eluding of that happening throughout this entire game. It continues to be prominent all the till credits roll. She is the pillar of bringing cloud back and she does just that as much as she can throughout the game. With of course the development of her not believing cloud because of the Nibelheim incident, the growth between Cloud & Tifa goes in a direction that i think we all expected it too and will continue to go in Part 3.
Cloud Strife, boy or boy cloud. its a homecoming. What a unbelievable way to make clouds mental illness, this game has made cloud schizophrenic. This isn't just mako poisoning anymore or him thinking he's someone else, this is genuinely a new point and approach to his mental illness and its something im scared but excited about, but this is a feeling I've been very much used to throughout this entire trilogy so far, Within the original game from the point of the Nibelheim flashback we know that cloud begins to lose himself to his mental illness and that becomes a problem for the party. With the approach that was taken in Rebirth, i was genuinely scared for anyone that stood in Clouds way. The influence of sephiroth and mental battle in this game is unbelievable, the constant reminder that every time those headaches begin something good dosen't come out of it. From points where cloud is quite literally spilling blood infront of his friends or him acting like sephiroth dodging bullets and slaughtering a whole platoon of shinra soldiers. Cloud is in a dark place right now, the trauma is building more and more and every moment seems to be getting worse the more Cloud is on screen. Big love to Cody Christian on his voice acting for Cloud, i genuinely had chills when it came to him speaking in that almost sephiroth/monotone talk. The presentation of cloud being someone completely different was done in a way i couldn't have expected but im thrilled to be experiencing.
Zack, im so sorry you had to relive having your heart broken to pieces for something that isn't your fault, he deserves all happiness in the world. And after all this he still cares and is selfless for others risking his life to protect them. No one deserved you zack
Aerith Gainsborough, alot of us were scared, alot of us are still scared. But let us embrace for what is to come, for what remake setup it seemed to be evident that aerith knew of things that she shouldn't know of, almost in the same that way that sephiroth's presentation was during remake. We knew that Sephiroth in remake was coming from Advent Children but what we didn't know is where Aerith gained any of the memories from. Throughout parts of remake aerith touched Red & Marlene and it showed no major plot points towards it, going into Rebirth it all began to make sense and things were starting to get out of control in things that we didn't expect. Aerith is 100% the staple of this game in which she has always been and im glad they stuck to that, She is constantly throughout the whole game giving hints and eluding to fate that is yet to come, From the point of her singing in the gold saucer it was set in stone that she was not going to make it at the end of this game. Cloud for what its worth with his poor mind pays no attention to any of it but for the viewer of this story, Aerith is trying her hardest to tell cloud and the viewer there is nothing thats going to stop what you know happening in this story so you must enjoy these moments and not feel bad for what will happen.
Onto the world of FF7, what we had all been wanting since the beginning. This game does everything for its world and it shows, this is what we all wanted. This is what i had been waiting for the most, remake was beautiful and Midgar was something i loved going through but for almost everyone when it came to the original the minute you stepped foot into the over-world the overall pacing of the game and the exploration that you experienced when it came to go visiting new places was beautiful, Rebirth keeps that exact feeling but for me amplifies it. Maybe that's because im able to see the game at a fidelity that's not the same as almost 30 years ago. It was hard to keep myself at not crying at every theme that played when going to a new area the music, the environments, the effort that went into making these places feel alive and full of life, this was nothing but amazing. Every zone held equally the same amount of effort and care and im sure as hell wondering what exactly could be done to push this even further going into Part 3.
I would love to point out as well when it came to NPCs the level of detail was a lot better than what was presented in Remake. It was evident that the only thing to be cared about in remake was everything centric around the story, going into Rebirth the team showed to put effort into all the things that lacked inside Remake. Side Quests, NPCs, Content outside of the story was nothing but amplified. Thank you SE for the amazing amount of black representation and effort into how everyone looks, Hairstyles and presentation, they did amazing.
As a mentioned before, the music. They had said 400 songs in a previous presentation before the games release and i didn't very much find that believable, was the game going to just have reused songs with the addition of what is new in remake? Yes. But its not the same, every song you believed was a reuse of what was in remake gained a new motiff, gained a new instrument, gained a new approach to the song that was different but somehow better than what was previously produced, Every song had a feeling inside it that i cannot explain. Once again amazing work towards to those behind the music of every FF game its something that is always evident for any game that comes out of SE, the music is always going to be some of the strongest parts of the game.
BOSS FIGHTS!!! WOW WOW WOW, Some of returning fights that got a touch of love and improvement from what it previously was, Some new faces too. Overall the amount of boss fights in this game and the way they're all constructed was nothing but fun, there genuinely wasn't a fight that i found irritating, annoying or down-right hard. I did get my ass beat quite alot of times when it came to doing the hard mode against fights that I believed we're easier when going through my first playthrough on Dynamic mode.
Onto something that I believe we all need to talk about and most likely what you're all wanting to read. The story.
I want to start off by saying, i like everything that this story has done. For alot of people right now going through the story, whether its someone watching or someone playing there is mixed reactions to what the ending sequence has come to. Going into rebirth, like many others we was ready to find out whether or not the death of Aerith will still happen. From start to finish the agenda of that happening is being pushed CONSISTENTLY especially when you get to the final set of chapters of the game it becomes more prominent. I was happily on the train of her still dying and im glad they stuck with it, the team behind the game know that they can't toy with the story to much to the point where people hate it for what it is. Everything leading up to that moment i believe was handled well, the usage of the PS5 triggers was probably some of the best choice for a moment like that. But let me not reminisce on those moments, lets talk about everything that happens after that. After which of course Aerith passes away and the world starts to go a little crazy with the whispers and it gives us a sort of hope that Aerith is alive, im still very much in acceptance that she is dead and won't know until the third game, what i did love from everything that happened with Aerith's death is the amplification it gave to Cloud's craziness which directly links into Cloud even worse in the final parts of the story but this time Cloud is quite literally the same as he is in Advent Children where he is the only one to see/sense Aerith. I don't believe aerith has cheated death or survived, maybe in a different timeline but im happily believing she's dead whether its a different timeline or not the main timeline that the game is following is what we should all follow on the basis if its not alive in this, its not alive anywhere else. The end of part 3 may have the same ending of Advent Children in which Zack & Aerith walk into the light after everything. The ending is messy i will say that, but its messy in a way that if a few scenes were taken out of swapped it would allow for a better development going into the 3rd game.
I wish they committed fully to an Aerith death scene or not. Doing both just emotionally jacked with me because now we have Cloud who thinks she’s alive with a team who thinks she’s dead, and he’s just oblivious. It also hurts so much that in chapter 13 and 14 he was pretty much a total asshole—especially to Tifa which really hurt after seeing their intimate scene on their date—and he never really fully owned it or made amends. Speaks volumes to the teams ability to love and forgive and accept him. And I understand why he was being that way. Sephiroth was hard fucking with his mind and using him, so it wasn’t fully Cloud. My first problem was going in hoping for a happy-ish ending but knew that wasn’t going to happen. What I got instead just hurts.
The same thing that happened with the Remake ending is happening with Rebirth, for those who genuinely love the story and want to know what happens will spend their next 3-4 years being psychopaths and building theories of nothing until we get actual information, others will have the same reaction to what they did with remake in which they hate it and say that it doesn't make sense and compare it to Kingdom Hearts. For people to always resort to Nomura being the butt of the joke whenever it comes to time travel has always been my least favourite thing to see, the approach of Rebirth with the culmination of CBU1 shouldn't be put all on Nomura's head because of him being Creative Director and i believe the way this story has been reimagined has been done in a way I've been happy experiencing and most likely many others.
I disagree that this game was written poorly. If you don’t like multiverse stuff, I can see it being considered poorly written. I don’t mind it, and the way they did it I thought was very good. The character development was phenomenal. Writing wise I do think Aerith’s end was just a lack of full commitment, and playing too much the “make everyone happy” thing. In one sense, it’s a great ending meaning it guts you and leaves you confused and frustrated and hopeful all at once. I did not come away from that ending unamused or outright angry only. In another sense, the ending just makes me hate Cloud for being a dick and insensitive. Again I understand why, I don’t need commenters ripping my post to shreds, just emotionally processing this game lol.
They delivered on the game, they delivered on the story and setup thoughts and speculations for the 3rd game as they did with the 1st, it is expected to be confused. All of us were confused when it came to the ending of remake and where the story will go and that exact moment is being relived through the ending of rebirth. Genuinely excited for what Part 3 holds, if done correctly and amplified for what this game has done in many ways it may end up as my favourite of the trilogy and one of the best reimagines of a story to be retold in a new era.
What I've noticed and find fascinating is the anger people show, but I don't think they understand why they are angry, the emotion they are feeling from the game is the frustration with how all that build up and they still failed. How the story is playing just like a 3 Act Play, this being their low point. It sucks for a story to end like that but you need the darkest moments in order for those brighter moments to shine and have more meaning.
The Finale has the potential to leave a big impact because the direness of the situation is in such a state that when the heroes are able to overcome it, and it's deserved, it will feel that much more rewarding to have been apart of that journey. Let us all rejoice for 4 years with theories until we get news on Part 3
No Promises Await At Journey's End.
Kingdom Hearts III
2019
The truth is that I really enjoyed KH3 and I loved playing it at the same level I enjoyed KH1 and KH2. However, it is not at all up to par in terms of plot, and in my opinion, neither in terms of gameplay, as the approach they wanted to give to the game just does not end up pleasing me at all. I dare to say that they are a disappointment in some ways, but not entirely. However, Kingdom Hearts III is still tremendously fun and enjoyable, it has very high production values, and to be honest, I'm really glad I played KH3 despite how angry and disappointed I was at times, I'm glad to have finally given closure to that very convoluted story.
KH3 pretty much starts where DDD ends, which means that Sora failed his exam to become a Keyblade master, and to top it off, he's also lost all his strength to the point of being "in theory" the weakest version of Sora to date. So the story will be about Sora exploring, once again, Disney worlds to try to regain his powers and thus be able to rescue Ventus and Aqua. For starters, what I don't like at all about this premise is that there's really no real reason to visit Disney worlds, unlike KH1 and KH2 where there was, where for example you traveled to protect something and got involved in the story and with the characters of said world, instead, in KH3 you simply visit them to have a new biome to explore inspired by the Disney world in question and that's it, and worst of all is that in worlds like Frozen, Tangled or Pirates of the Caribbean, Sora or the Organization are not even important, they are just there for decoration to highlight a super compressed version of the original movie. The only reason you visit these worlds is to see some scenes recreated in Unreal Engine 4 and nothing else, as I'm not exaggerating when I say that literally Sora or the Organization have no relevance whatsoever, which makes it feel like filler as there is no real apparent reason to visit these worlds. Sora is supposed to be on an important mission to save the universe, but instead he's going to waste time to try to follow Elsa and watch her sing "Let it Go" and then get thrown off a mountain like 4 times "so he doesn't disrupt the original story order of the movie". What a bullshit justification. Thankfully worlds like Toy Story, Monsters Inc. or Big Hero 6 do have a new story to tell that involves Sora and the Organization in one way or another, which I liked.
Anyway, speaking of the main story, I don't want to do spoilers, but it's super wasted. Anyone could say "all KH stories are just as bad", and I might partially agree on that, but it's just that here they go overboard with how bad it is. There are a bunch of subplots that come out of nowhere and promise interesting development, but come to nothing and are discarded in pursuit of a super simple solution, there are also a bunch of characters that aren't well utilized, there are a bunch of scenes that have poor execution, and overall, nothing makes sense anymore. While there are a few fan-service scenes that I did enjoy, for the most part I was disappointed that KH3 instead of being a story evolution for the series, it's a big step backwards.
The world of KH has never looked as beautiful as it does in this game, although everything has a cartoon style, the quality of the models, textures, lighting and everything, I'm impressed by how close it comes to looking like CGI cinematics in some occasions where it was really the game running. Also, it's the first game not counting remasters to run at 60FPS which makes the movement in general feel so much more fluid and polished than any of the previous ones, it's just very satisfying to look at. The music is also great, although I feel like most of the pieces were reused songs, as the OST is made up of orchestrated versions or remixes of songs from previous games, still, overall I quite liked the OST and the new tunes as well as the returning ones are very good.
Despite the problems I have with some Disney worlds as I explained earlier, it was great to explore these worlds. I loved every single visit you make to the worlds, now they are not just made up of small interconnected rooms, but now they feel like large areas that we can explore at our leisure thanks to the return of KH3D's flow-motion, but now improved and a bit more balanced so as not to break the levels. Also, thanks to there being a lot of variety in terms of gameplay in each of the worlds, there are sections that have mechanics that are never repeated anywhere else, like being able to ride a Mecha in the Toy Story world for example, among other mini-games. I'm simply blown away by how varied it is, which makes the game too entertaining no matter where you look at it.
Lastly, I will talk about the combat system of this game where I have a lot of mixed feelings. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, as polished and varied as the combat system is, it feels like a simplified version of KH2's combat system, since now everything boils down to pressing a single button to attack, while in KH2 the fights against enemies required you to use the X, triangle and even square buttons to generate and connect combos, here it doesn't. There are no reaction commands that you could activate with some enemies, instead now with triangle you now trigger "attractions", which consist of a 0PM consuming cinematic in which you are invulnerable and cause a lot of damage to all enemies, and yes, it looks very cool and all, but it makes everything feel over-simplified and like it's being played on autopilot, reduced to being a visual spectacle instead of a challenging and challenging combat that depends on the player's skill. Fortunately you can disable these "attractions", relegating the triangle button to activate the other actions that may arise, such as other team attack sequences or to activate forms. Speaking of the forms, I loved this aspect of KH3, as each Keyblade has its own unique form that you can activate once you've done a certain amount of attacks, it's similar to KH2's forms, but here it's much more varied and each form feels very different from the others, and what I like the most is that this game allows you to equip 3 Keyblades that you can exchange in the middle of a fight by just pressing left or right on the D-Pad, which allows you to reach a form, but when you exchange Keyblades you can reserve that form for another time in that mode. Also, thanks to the worlds being bigger now, there are a larger amount of enemies and it's pretty cool to be able to travel long distances by targeting an enemy with R1 and pressing square to reach them in an instant, it makes Sora's movement in KH3 feel very nimble and fluid.
Unfortunately I made the mistake of playing in Critical Mode, which I did because that's how I played the other KHs as well back in the day the first time I played them, and also because I had heard that this game was very easy even in Proud Mode, but wow, things in Critical Mode are just too complicated and difficult, everything kills you in one hit or two, even to your teammates, and the worst thing is that since the scenarios are now so big, an enemy can come out of nowhere and hit you from behind or they can shoot projectiles that you don't even know they were coming at you because said enemy wasn't in your field of vision, things that result in an instant Game Over. Despite everything, with a lot of patience and dedication, I managed to finish the game in Critical Mode, although I do not recommend it at all, as you can tell that the game was not intended for that mode, although in the end it was a good challenge to overcome and quite satisfying for how it made me master and appreciate each of the boss battles, making the gameplay of this game shine more in a certain way.
Conclusion
Despite all the problems I have with Kingdom Hearts III, I can't deny that it's a pretty entertaining and fun game, and it's an evolution in some aspects of what had been seen in the PS2/PSP/3DS games thanks to being developed for a more modern console like the PS4. Anyway, although the combat is very polished and could be the best in this series, due to the approach they wanted to give it, it feels like a super limited version of KH2's combat, which makes me not end up loving it, and as for the story, this one was worse than a disappointment, that although it may be my fault for having taken it seriously, I will continue to maintain that the story is horrible if we compare it with previous games in this same series.
I finally gave a conclusion to the Kingdom Hearts story by playing this game... and it's also clear to me if I really want to keep playing these games or if they are not for me anymore.
KH3 pretty much starts where DDD ends, which means that Sora failed his exam to become a Keyblade master, and to top it off, he's also lost all his strength to the point of being "in theory" the weakest version of Sora to date. So the story will be about Sora exploring, once again, Disney worlds to try to regain his powers and thus be able to rescue Ventus and Aqua. For starters, what I don't like at all about this premise is that there's really no real reason to visit Disney worlds, unlike KH1 and KH2 where there was, where for example you traveled to protect something and got involved in the story and with the characters of said world, instead, in KH3 you simply visit them to have a new biome to explore inspired by the Disney world in question and that's it, and worst of all is that in worlds like Frozen, Tangled or Pirates of the Caribbean, Sora or the Organization are not even important, they are just there for decoration to highlight a super compressed version of the original movie. The only reason you visit these worlds is to see some scenes recreated in Unreal Engine 4 and nothing else, as I'm not exaggerating when I say that literally Sora or the Organization have no relevance whatsoever, which makes it feel like filler as there is no real apparent reason to visit these worlds. Sora is supposed to be on an important mission to save the universe, but instead he's going to waste time to try to follow Elsa and watch her sing "Let it Go" and then get thrown off a mountain like 4 times "so he doesn't disrupt the original story order of the movie". What a bullshit justification. Thankfully worlds like Toy Story, Monsters Inc. or Big Hero 6 do have a new story to tell that involves Sora and the Organization in one way or another, which I liked.
Anyway, speaking of the main story, I don't want to do spoilers, but it's super wasted. Anyone could say "all KH stories are just as bad", and I might partially agree on that, but it's just that here they go overboard with how bad it is. There are a bunch of subplots that come out of nowhere and promise interesting development, but come to nothing and are discarded in pursuit of a super simple solution, there are also a bunch of characters that aren't well utilized, there are a bunch of scenes that have poor execution, and overall, nothing makes sense anymore. While there are a few fan-service scenes that I did enjoy, for the most part I was disappointed that KH3 instead of being a story evolution for the series, it's a big step backwards.
The world of KH has never looked as beautiful as it does in this game, although everything has a cartoon style, the quality of the models, textures, lighting and everything, I'm impressed by how close it comes to looking like CGI cinematics in some occasions where it was really the game running. Also, it's the first game not counting remasters to run at 60FPS which makes the movement in general feel so much more fluid and polished than any of the previous ones, it's just very satisfying to look at. The music is also great, although I feel like most of the pieces were reused songs, as the OST is made up of orchestrated versions or remixes of songs from previous games, still, overall I quite liked the OST and the new tunes as well as the returning ones are very good.
Despite the problems I have with some Disney worlds as I explained earlier, it was great to explore these worlds. I loved every single visit you make to the worlds, now they are not just made up of small interconnected rooms, but now they feel like large areas that we can explore at our leisure thanks to the return of KH3D's flow-motion, but now improved and a bit more balanced so as not to break the levels. Also, thanks to there being a lot of variety in terms of gameplay in each of the worlds, there are sections that have mechanics that are never repeated anywhere else, like being able to ride a Mecha in the Toy Story world for example, among other mini-games. I'm simply blown away by how varied it is, which makes the game too entertaining no matter where you look at it.
Lastly, I will talk about the combat system of this game where I have a lot of mixed feelings. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, as polished and varied as the combat system is, it feels like a simplified version of KH2's combat system, since now everything boils down to pressing a single button to attack, while in KH2 the fights against enemies required you to use the X, triangle and even square buttons to generate and connect combos, here it doesn't. There are no reaction commands that you could activate with some enemies, instead now with triangle you now trigger "attractions", which consist of a 0PM consuming cinematic in which you are invulnerable and cause a lot of damage to all enemies, and yes, it looks very cool and all, but it makes everything feel over-simplified and like it's being played on autopilot, reduced to being a visual spectacle instead of a challenging and challenging combat that depends on the player's skill. Fortunately you can disable these "attractions", relegating the triangle button to activate the other actions that may arise, such as other team attack sequences or to activate forms. Speaking of the forms, I loved this aspect of KH3, as each Keyblade has its own unique form that you can activate once you've done a certain amount of attacks, it's similar to KH2's forms, but here it's much more varied and each form feels very different from the others, and what I like the most is that this game allows you to equip 3 Keyblades that you can exchange in the middle of a fight by just pressing left or right on the D-Pad, which allows you to reach a form, but when you exchange Keyblades you can reserve that form for another time in that mode. Also, thanks to the worlds being bigger now, there are a larger amount of enemies and it's pretty cool to be able to travel long distances by targeting an enemy with R1 and pressing square to reach them in an instant, it makes Sora's movement in KH3 feel very nimble and fluid.
Unfortunately I made the mistake of playing in Critical Mode, which I did because that's how I played the other KHs as well back in the day the first time I played them, and also because I had heard that this game was very easy even in Proud Mode, but wow, things in Critical Mode are just too complicated and difficult, everything kills you in one hit or two, even to your teammates, and the worst thing is that since the scenarios are now so big, an enemy can come out of nowhere and hit you from behind or they can shoot projectiles that you don't even know they were coming at you because said enemy wasn't in your field of vision, things that result in an instant Game Over. Despite everything, with a lot of patience and dedication, I managed to finish the game in Critical Mode, although I do not recommend it at all, as you can tell that the game was not intended for that mode, although in the end it was a good challenge to overcome and quite satisfying for how it made me master and appreciate each of the boss battles, making the gameplay of this game shine more in a certain way.
Conclusion
Despite all the problems I have with Kingdom Hearts III, I can't deny that it's a pretty entertaining and fun game, and it's an evolution in some aspects of what had been seen in the PS2/PSP/3DS games thanks to being developed for a more modern console like the PS4. Anyway, although the combat is very polished and could be the best in this series, due to the approach they wanted to give it, it feels like a super limited version of KH2's combat, which makes me not end up loving it, and as for the story, this one was worse than a disappointment, that although it may be my fault for having taken it seriously, I will continue to maintain that the story is horrible if we compare it with previous games in this same series.
I finally gave a conclusion to the Kingdom Hearts story by playing this game... and it's also clear to me if I really want to keep playing these games or if they are not for me anymore.