This review will mainly focus on the new additions that were brought to Final Mix.

But first, a quick feeling about my overall thoughts on the base game. It's grand.

Okay, with II Final Mix, like in Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix, the enemies have gotten their color palettes changed, but you do get used to it after a few playthroughs, so it isn't a huge deal.

Some minor additions first up are additional cutscenes, you get to fight Roxas in The World That Never Was, some unnoticeable things behind the hood, like Drive Form gauge regeneration speed, some time limit changes, etc.

One of the major additions for Final Mix is a new group of Heartless called the Mushroom XIII, which are the mushroom enemies within the first game. These enemies give you certain criteria to beat them. If you get below that threshold, you do have a chance to get helpful items from them, but still its not the thing that would get them to be finished. These offer nice strategy mixups for each one, and you do get good rewards as well from them, and after doing them all.

Another major addition for Final Mix was a new area in Radiant Garden added called the Cavern of Remembrance. This adds a great deal of challenge to the game with new stronger versions of enemies you've faced before and new traversal challenges, which do require you to essentially, have all of your Drive Forms maxed out to unlock all of those abilities to get further into the Cavern. At the end of this area, you unlock rematches with each Organization XIII member. They are now stronger, add additional attacks to their arsenal, and new strategies as well. These are great because of the added challenge, but you can also do them in any order, which helps you out if you're having trouble with one of the bosses you can just go to another boss.

But, they aren't all unlocked if you haven't done a handful of fights before, called the Absent Silhouette battles, another addition for Final Mix. These fights are the Organization members who perished in Chain of Memories and are a good ease to the rematches as they are challenging, but not too bad if you're at a good level.

One of the last major additions is one boss called the Lingering Will. This boss fight is popularly one of the toughest boss fights in the entire series, but it also ties so freaking well to the overall story coming up in the series.

Gameplay additions include a new Drive Form and a new difficulty mode.

You do get a new Drive Form as well which ties into the first game, the Limit Form. This form allows you to use various attack abilities from the first game like Ars Arcanum, Strike Raid, Sonic Blade, etc. Sora's clothes also change to reference the first game too which is a nice hint. This is a great addition since it gives you some more Drive Form variety, and this one does not use any Party Members. Helpful!

The difficulty mode is the infamous Critical Mode. Lots of pain and struggle if you want that extra challenge. A nice little addition to the game if you so desire!

So, overall Final Mix adds some great new challenges to the base game, great new boss battles, but also some great additional context around certain characters too. This is the definitive version of Kingdom Hearts II.

Played on a 3DS
Difficulty: Proud Mode
Replay, but I haven't played it since it came out

358/2 Days has a great story of friendship with the three main characters: Roxas, Axel, and Xion. The interactions of the three with the organization members are interesting and tense. Some members gel well in the beginning, but eventually start to cross each other with varying hopes and goals. The added context of have played Kingdom Hearts 3 makes some of these moments even that more heart-wrenching and emotional, in good and sad ways.

The game does a great job at setting stuff up for Kingdom Hearts 2, but also gives some great context for Chain of Memories and the relationship that Xigbar and Ven have in Birth by Sleep.

The only issue is with gameplay being okay. You slash with your keyblade and the bosses are a cool spectacle, but some of them can just be beaten with the strategy of hit, dodge or block, and hit some more. This gets better during the ending stretch of the game, but at that point you're almost done with the game that you wish they had some better bosses sprinkled in.

The enemies in general are nice color palette swaps of enemies, but are pretty lackluster in general. Nothing too special about them. You have some that shoot at you to transport you to their spot, or if you hit them in a certain spot, they disappear and spawn a short distance away. But nothing too crazy overall.

The Panel system of the game is an interesting concept to figure out what to focus on in your playstyle. It makes you choose specific things and eventually introduces skills that take up multiple panels to make them stronger, or you can just keep the one panel for that skill. A nice balance I would say in that regard.

Proud Mode feels like a good balance of difficulty for the game. A nice balance of challenging at the spots that are supposed to be, but good enough to survive the other parts.

Overall, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, is a solid entry in the series! It makes you really, really care about the trio of this game. Definitely could be better in gameplay, but the bosses were fun to gaze upon.

When Kingdom Hearts Re:coded came out, I was in the latter peak in my Kingdom Hearts high school fandom. It was a bit waning, but I still wanted to play each entry. I remember playing Re:coded in a newly moved into house with fond memories still today. This series has meant a lot to me as I age throughout years, no matter how many spurts of a break I have had.

First off, the story does make sense in the grand scheme of things if you try to understand it in a simpler way. A book is corrupted leaving mysterious messages and Sora needs to go fix it. Through that lens, the game's story mixed in with a loose retelling of Kingdom Hearts 1, is mostly a breeze of sorts.

BUT! When you get to Castle Oblivion, the story culminates in some good thematic questions posed to this digital version of Sora. Even if he is just a digital incarnation of Sora. Would Sora be willing to carry a substantial amount of a hurt in his heart? Which, connects well to the original corrupted message. "Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it." Sets up some grand moments in the future of the series.

The story can be confusing at some points, but it is a decent story to setup the series moving forward. Now, that could also be a negative. This spin-off is just a story that can be glossed over since some could assume that Sora would be willing to do anything for people he's connected with, but this added context for Mickey and Sora is really grand!

Unlike 358/2 Days, the gameplay is good too! Though to get this out of the way, performance does get framey when there are lots of enemies in one area at once. The Stat Matrix is a grand mix of strategy since you can adjust what difficulty you play on in a breeze, you can adjust enemy item drop rates but at the cost of Sora's health, and a few others in here, while still leveling up and getting stronger. This entire circuit board motif makes you choose where you put certain chips you obtain, so that if they are connected by two Main CPU-like things, that certain chip's effect will double! It's a great type of puzzle-reward building!

Another gameplay element is the Command Matrix which is spun-off from Birth by Sleep. I do really love this style of commands compared to 358/2 Days direction. You get more experimentation with varying abilities making you try out different things you normally wouldn't try.

Overall gameplay does have some of the same feelings of 358/2 Days: hit, dodge, block, and fight some more. But at least in Re:coded, the developers did experiment with different genres in the game like 2D platforming, turn-based RPG, and some stealth inspired portions as well. So that is definitely a welcome addition! But really, who doesn't love hitting things with a Keyblade?!

The worlds are essentially all taken from Kingdom Hearts 1, minus Castle Oblivion. Which in this case, would be the fourth time playing some of these exact areas. So that isn't great at all. Some of them do offer different things compared to previous games, but it still is roughly the same area that you explored. In 358/2 Days, Neverland's trip is based off the surrounding Isles and not just Captain Hook's ship. However, in Re:coded there isn't much like that this time around. So that is a knock against that area of the game.

As a whole, Re:coded is a good time. The story isn't as substantial as 358/2 Days, or Chain of Memories, but it still offers some nice context. The gameplay is quite good, especially for a DS game! I do wish the worlds were more diverse from the series' history, but it does make sense in regards to being in Jiminy's Journal from the first game. If you are a new Kingdom Hearts fan, I'm not sure if this would be for you at first, but I do recommend it!

This game has lived rent-free in my head for the past week as I have been going through it, and, having finished, I hope it never leaves. A lot of people have already written about what makes this game a masterpiece, so I’m just gonna bullet point random thoughts about why this game is one of my favorite games of all time:

I got the “In Water” ending, and I would have been satisfied if the game stopped after 3 different scenes. I’m so glad it continued until the very end. Maybe the best final hour in any game.

As someone who has been dealing with death and terminal illness hands on for the past 3+ months, I think this is the best interpretation I’ve seen about the grief held by loved ones (especially those choosing hospice or acting as patient surrogate in DNR decision making).

Actually a well-written examination of abuse that in (brief) instances empowers the victim while also remaining true to the ramifications of the act. Idk how so many games since have continued to fail in this regard.

The voice acting could not have been more perfect for this game, and I won’t have anyone tell me otherwise.

My favorite video game score of all time.

Some of the best sound design of any game I have ever played.

The fog.

Captive in a dark cabin;
No death, no chance to escape
Until I turned the tables
On my sadistic captor I learned to hate.

Yet, that world crumbled away,
And I began to see truth.
Passion for playing the game -
T'was showmanship all along, and not abuse.

Surprised by how much I grew
to love this game, front to end,
narrative truly grabbed me,
as once loathed opponents transformed into friends.

"The Dynamics of Design, Verisimilitude, and Anachronism in the Video Game 'Hollow Knight': A critical examination of Cacophony and Sanctimony in Achieving Narrative Dynamism."

ABSTRACT
Hollow knight is a badass game. It didn’t just pull me out of my gaming slump, it pulled me by the collar and threw me onto the subway tracks. But the subway tracks were abandoned so I explored the tunnels and it turns out there’s a whole area down here behind a hidden wall I only found by shooting a fireball at a bee and hitting behind it. This is all metaphorical. The research methodology used in this study is a qualitative analysis of the selected media forms, including critical textual analysis and thematic analysis.

Lost your attention? Sorry I’ll stop doing the fancy word essay gimmick. I know you’re not here for that. Let's be real; I’m the realest reviewer on backloggd. That’s why you always come to me. That’s why you read my reviews. That’s why every time I meet a fan in public and they ask me for my autograph, they also tell me I am the reviewer they wait for until they play a game. It’s been 6 years since Hollow Knight came out and unfortunately I’ve been keeping my fans waiting for way too long. But worry no longer, Elksters. You can finally stop telling people that you haven’t played hollow knight because you’re waiting for the Elkmane review. It’s here. And I permit you to play it. Go ahead! If you haven’t already. But you probably haven’t, cause you all listened to me when I said don’t play games I haven’t tested and approved, right? You know why I do what I do? I taste test these games and warn of poison. You elksters are the kings and queens and rulers and I am the poison tester jester. You haven’t played it yet? Good! But I hope you finish it soon because I’m gonna go in depth and there's gonna be some spoilers.

So … it’s been a while since I've done a proper ass review. Hm. I guess we can start with how every good thing in the universe starts.

A lot of people ask me… stupid fucking questions. A lot of people think that … what I say in a review. Or what I talk about in a review. That I actually… do in real life. Or that I believe in it. Or if I say that… I wish that fangirl bug you rescue and bring to Dirtmouth had a more indepth romance path… I actually want them to do it, or that I believe in it. Well shit. If you believe that… then I’ll kill you. You know why? Because I freaking love the gameplay! I love the gameplay!

The gameplay is very nice. It’s 2D and you can move around and attack and stuff. Yada yada. But every action game is made or broken with its healing system. That's why Dark Souls is the GOAT and Skyrim sucks dicks. What do I think of hollow knight’s healing system? I think it’s good. It’s a little forgiving, especially with certain charms equipped like the shape of Unn and quick soul or whatever it’s called but it’s fine because some bosses can be very unforgiving. The whole battle can be trying to not get hit until you stagger or get them to do the one move you need so you have enough time to get off 1 heart of healing. It’s a super cool system that is also balanced by the magic system which draws off the same soul. I do think there's a problem with the extra soul canisters taking a second to reload and go into your main, usable soul canister. There’s also a second of input delay after you finish healing so it’s hard to pull off last millisecond jumps. But that’s probably all about balance. If they took it out it would probably be unbalanced. Who knows.

The nail combat is also great. It feels nice and some charms can make your nail faster or longer. But overall it’s basic. Nothing wrong with it I guess. It’s like urinating. It’s simple and you get used to it so you never realize how practical and easy to pick up and use it is. There’s a parry system that sometimes makes me feel super cool. I also got into some areas early by hitting the nail downward on an object and getting height. Nail arts though. Those kinda feel tacked on and I barely used them. But the real appeal of the combat isn’t really mastering parry timing or some shit. It’s no sekiro. You don’t really need physical reaction time mastery much. You just need to know the enemies and their moves and how to move in the air. And the more upgrades you get the easier the combat gets, but man the enemies get harder too don’t they? Some of the top tier bosses are so hard and you literally die within seconds. Then you keep practicing and doing it over and over til you know all the moves and how to dodge em so it's just a matter of doing the right dodges at the right time and hitting when they’re open. So much variation and so many different moves for these dudes it’s very fun and sometimes catches me off guard in new areas seeing new enemies.

I’m always on my guard while exploring but at the same time exploring can be a relaxing time cause you can get soul and heal up. Doin some cool traversal. The platforming aint bad for the most part considering platforming is the worst part of any game it’s in. Except the white castle place I could reasonably do any of the platforming without issue. Jumping and dashing and super dashing and shit. Made even funner by hitting your sword downwards. There were some creative platforming areas, like hitting the long metal worms to stay afloat etc. I loved how there was never a time in the game when I was lost because I could just go in one direction absentmindedly and just explore shit cause there's always gonna be something in that direction. And then as you keep getting more and more shit like more jumps and stuff in normal metroidvania fashion but there's so much cool stuff that u find by backtracking.


Now, I wanna take a quick detour to discuss something. The song Music Box by Eminem on relapse is a beautiful track. And yet, oxymoronically, the lyrics are gruesome and describe various murders and cannibalistic acts as well as name-dropping JonBenét Ramsey. Yet it’s hauntingly beautiful. It invokes a sense of familiarity, of love, of nostalgia, and it can clearly be seen within the eerie yet comforting chorus. If I may; it goes a little something like this; “when the lights are off, i see the girls asleep, I hear my music box playing a song for me, though we’re worlds apart, you mean the world to me, so when you call i will answer” Punctuated repeatedly with Marshall repeating the title of the song over the chorus at haphazard intervals. Look closely at the imagery presented within the verse. “Lights are off, girls asleep” Evokes thoughts of seeing your daughter and/or wife asleep, late at night. Which could be seen in that way or, geniusly, perhaps through the eyes of a serial killer. And it follows with “music box i hear it calling me” A music box could be a sentimental or melancholy gift. Often associated with love and family. This song’s genius use of contrast helps so well with the horror atmosphere. And it follows; “though we’re worlds apart, you mean the world to me” fully going in on the love aspect. Everyone’s had a long distance relationship and everyone knows how it feels to want to hug the person you love so much but the best you can do is send a gif with a cartoon bear that says “SENDING VIRTUAL HUG” which isn’t nearly as nice for either party. “So when you call I will answer” and he finishes out the chorus by reminding his long distance girlfriend that he will accept the discord call instantly whenever she calls. But another interpretation could be that the music box and the girl calling are two opposing forces: if we look at it through an eminemian lens, the music box could be metaphysically symbolizing the music industry. The girls could symbolize the 38 daughters that guy has. So much meaning, symbolism, interpretation, and thought packed into one single tiny little chorus on a bonus track most will miss. Why? Because he’s the greatest musical artist of all time. Pusha T’s up there too but Eminem is awesomer IMO.


Now, how can we apply this lens to Hollow Knight? We cannot. Thank you for reading.









BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, March 10). Eminem. Wikipedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem

just a little bit too much "smashing head in2 wall" stuff and id be happy if i never fought no eyes again but overall its a hype and fun experience. The new bosses were really really hype and the boss refight hall is a great idea. Theres no way im doing that pantheon with every boss in the game back to back. I already theoretically beat it just out of order and one at a time during the course of the rest of my playthru

im gonna rereview hollow knight with all the completion and secret ending stuff and give it the thorough, overwritten 50 page review that the game truly deserves. Keep an eye out for that!!!!!!!!

One of the most criminally underrated and underappreciated gaming gems of the 6th generation of video games. Level 5's magnum opus that deserved all the adulation and praise that Ni No Kuni received... if you look up the term: "pure fun", it should display a picture of this game.

There were so many different gameplay systems that were expanded and improved upon from the first game. And they didn't stop there! Introducing an incredible array of new, ambitious ideas and additions to the gameplay variety, such as: improved dungeon exploration, weapon upgrades - with a tighter focus with there being only 1 melee/1 range weapon for the 2 main characters: Max and Monica, Ridepod customization, monster collection, town-building (and jumping back and forth in time to see what your town becomes in the future), recruiting townspeople to move into the places you build, Spheda (golf mini-game), fishing, fish raising/racing, and the photography/invention mechanic.

This game constantly keeps things fresh by having no shortage of things to do. With the absolutely gorgeous and timeless cel-shaded graphics, it all comes together perfectly. Level-5 put their entire heart and soul into making this masterpiece.

I'll always look back on this game with great memories, whether it be playing it for hours by myself back in middle school, or introducing it to my cousin when he was younger and us passing the controller back and forth. The only thing that saddens me when thinking back to this game, is that we never were given a Dark Cloud 3... after 20+ long years, and 3 console generations, I would have loved to see this franchise continue to grow and evolve from here. Alas, we shall never see it happen.. :(