Game Finished In 2024 #21:

Double Marathon #6

Shocking! Game widely regarded as a classic is in fact really good!

I had spoken about Yakuza Kiwami 2 being a sequel that improves everything but honestly this is the true example of that. After the scrappy start of KH1, and the weird diversion of COM, KH2 represents a series that has well and truly found its identity. While I praised KH1 for having a true attempt at a genre mishmash, KH2 feels much more like its own animal, taking what worked best in KH1 while also trimming a lot of what didn't. The combat has been well and truly refined, with plenty of additions and changes that overall make for a significantly better experience. Improvements line the game down to even the UI, which now changes in display depending on what world you're in, something that can only be described with the word "Soul". You also now have the ability to see where you're going at any time, what treasure chests you have opened, and more, which greatly improves QOL. When I say everything is improved from KH1 I well and truly mean it. Perhaps the only thing KH1 does better is platforming, which is vastly reduced in KH2.

The more things change, however, the more they stay the same. Again, what made KH1 good is refined. Gummi Ship segments, which were previously in the realm of "serviceable", are now real ass shmup segments. My only wish would be that these segments had more reason to replay them, as you do not get anything besides more Gummi Ship stuff from doing them. The Gummi Ship, of course, serves to transport you between worlds, and those worlds certainly deliver. The experience of going between worlds is largely the same as in KH1, with a lot of the linearity remained intact. However, the world quality has skyrocketed. Not only do the best old worlds return in improved ways, new worlds are introduced that use excellent themes and follow up with worlds represented by characters who lacked one in KH1. Port Royal, Timeless River, and Space Paranoids are all special highlights. You also visit each world twice in order to finish the game, which results in a well paced game, just over 30 hours by my playtime.

The combat refinements truly shine fighting the enemies and bosses of each world. The gimmicks have been severely reduced, and the ones that remain are significantly more interactive. In fact, you can argue one of the main aspects of combat is a gimmick now. Reaction Commands are essentially QTEs that most enemies and bosses have that let you deal extra damage to them with correct timing. Certainly most of them lean more cinematic than interactive, but when the cinematics are this fucking cool I think that's fine, actually. Every Keyblade has a unique ability attached which helps a lot in making them stand out, though statlines still exist enough to mean you probably won't be dragging the Kingdom Key to the end of the game. Builds are still easy to make, and your choice at the start still has an impact but it's lessened. I went with magic again, and the new MP mechanics took a fair bit to get used to but mostly worked in the end. I do wish the recharge state was a bit quicker but otherwise it was fine.

The biggest addition to the combat is Drive Forms, which are temporary super modes Sora can access when he has the meter to. This meter also lets you use summons, which for reasons I will get into meant I did not use summons at all. The forms introduce multiple new movesets, with unique abilities, and are all fun to use. Unfortunately, there's a couple of wrinkles that bring the system down for me. You need to level up the forms to get more out of them, which sounds fine on paper until the requirements for leveling each form come into play, and all of them except Valor, which is just doing a lot of hits, depend on you having knowledge of when you'll get an opportunity to level them that you simply do not have on a first playthrough. Recovering Drive gauge is just annoying enough that I felt incentivized to save it, but I often regretted not using it when I thought it was safe to save, and regretting not saving it when I thought it was safe to use it. Not helping matters is Anti Form, which is specifically a negative form you invoke by using forms too much. This tends to come out at horrible times, and does not count towards leveling any form, rendering the time you spent building meter irrelevant. I do not inherently mind the idea of a form like this, but paired with how finicky and annoying leveling is it was just unpleasant most of the time. This is by far my biggest flaw with the game.

Plotwise, the game takes some interesting turns from KH1 and I guess COM too. The setting expands more, the characters are fleshed out and new ones are added, and it tells a good story overall. I was kind of surprised and even a bit disappointed at just how inessential COM was. Because Sora forgot everything that happened in that game, it kind of only matters in the sense that it explains where half of Organization 13 went and why the game opens like it does. Except, because Sora forgot all of it, or wasn't there for it in Riku's case, anything that matters is directly explained to him already. I do enjoy Organization 13's presence overall in the plot, as the villains in KH1 felt a fair bit less defined.

KH2 is what happens when a bold idea like KH1 is allowed to succeed and iterate upon itself. It does new interesting things, refines the solid core, and rightfully earns its classic status.

Game Finished In 2024 #20:

Double Marathon #5

A common thread in basically all forms of media is the sequel that wholly and totally improves on the already good original. Albums like Meteora, movies like The Raid 2, and of course, games like Yakuza 2 all take a great foundation and iterate on it thoroughly with the increased confidence the success of the original had.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is, naturally, a sequel to Yakuza Kiwami, and therefore is a remake of Yakuza 2. The improvements are everywhere, many of which are facilitated by the new Dragon Engine, which won't be seen again until Yakuza 6 by my play order. The game looks notably better than 0/Kiwami and performs kinda worse [at least, the PS4 version does, as there isn't a PS5 version. I know the PC version is capable of 60fps which, hilariously, breaks the pissing minigame.], a trade off I found myself adapting to. Overall, the gameplay is a strong improvement over Kiwami 1. Kiryu has canonically fully mastered his original fighting style and is therefore back to having one style as opposed to 0/Kiwami's multiple. This too was easy to adjust to, and the focus on one style meant this is most likely the best he's played so far. As much as I liked styles, they did have some issues in implementation, such as uneven distribution of Heat Actions. This also means Kiryu does not need to grind anything to unlock his abilities besides good old fashioned EXP. Well, except that EXP now comes in five flavors, and unlocks are determined by combinations of them. This is actually a really good system, and I enjoyed it a lot, especially due to how it interacts with food EXP mechanics. Certain meals give more EXP in different areas, so what you prioritize changes a lot as you progress. You also gain EXP from substories and completion list rewards, and I found myself swimming in so much of it that I was able to get very high stats very quickly.

Sadly, no need to grind Kiryu's old style also means Majima is no longer Everywhere. Luckily, he's not out of a job, as he got the Majima Saga, a short [and I do mean SHORT, my runtime was about an hour and a half. I think I spent more time on substories.] romp showing what Majima was up to between 1 and 2. This wasn't necessary information, as indeed it's a Kiwami addition, but it ties an absolutely wonderful bow on Majima's arc from 0, which alone makes it worth it. Weirdly, it's unlocked in pieces though, and it doesn't really make sense why. I played it once I had unlocked all three chapters just to save myself the back and forth. I wish there was more to it, admittedly, because Majima very quickly became one of my favorite characters behind Ichiban, and more of him is never bad, but it is good enough for what it is and what it sets out to do.

Yakuza 2's original plotline is great as well. It follows up from 1 excellently, introducing multiple new characters that are written well and strengthening the arcs of returning characters. Kiryu especially goes through a LOT in this game, getting a true love interest with a surprisingly well handled arc, and strengthening his fatherly [uncle-y?] relationship with Haruka. Ryuji Goda really steals the show, too, as a villain with a powerful presence and a personal code of honor. I am not immune to the noble demon archetype. The typical Yakuza twists and turns are all excellently handled, too, as they're interwoven wonderfully. The finale gets a BIT excessive about it, but it sticks the landing well enough to be forgiven. I think I still prefer 0's plot overall, but it is quite close. Kamurocho is as much of a character as anyone else in Yakuza, too, and it has changed in many ways. It's quite a feeling starting to learn how the city lives and breathes, and developing personal routes for traversing it. It's extremely rare, even in alleged open world games, to see this level of care and detail put into the world that the game is built around, and every second is wonderful. Sotenbori is also a... new? addition. It was absent in Kiwami 1 due to it not existing in the original game, but 2 was technically the first place it was introduced in. I say technically as if you've played 0 before this you are intimately familiar with Sotenbori already. There was also a third area from the PS2 version that was cut, but considering I didn't even notice I do not think it seemed very important to begin with.

Kiwami 2 does most everything right, besides a couple of smaller gripes, and successfully modernizes the game for a new generation.

Game Dropped In 2024 #1:

Double Marathon #4

I don't usually review dropped games but this one has enough to talk about, I think. Chain of Memories is a very weird game. For one, it's weird to have the direct followup to your game be on a completely different system, going from a 3D console to a 2D handheld. KH is arguably more of a handheld series than a console series at this point by sheer volume, but the later games that came out on handhelds were at least capable of 3D in a way the GBA wasn't. For two, the game completely changes the core gameplay of KH1 in a lot of ways. Primarily, this manifests in the game being a deckbuilder. Nowadays, the word "deckbuilder" is preceded by the word "roguelike" so often that it's easy to forget that devs can [AND SHOULD] make deckbuilders that are not roguelikes, even if I do like games like Slay the Spire from time to time. There's a fundamental appeal to the humble card game that can be wonderfully translated into games, if done right. Unfortunately, Chain of Memories is not done right.

I chose to go with the GBA version for a number of reasons, such as an interest in seeing how they got a KH game to fit on a GBA, to which the answer is "with excellent spritework and a couple concessions to control". The primary reason, though, was repeated accounts from people who's opinions I trust that the remake, Re:Chain of Memories, was a notably worse experience. As it turns out, choosing GBA COM was basically just choosing a shorter knife to get stabbed with. Part of me does want to give Re:COM a shot sometime, as it is a part of the collection I own and will be playing the rest of the games on, but the thought of a notably worse experience than this is frankly harrowing.

Chain of Memories starts off literally immediately after the post credits scene of KH1. The directness of the sequel astounded even me. I won't speak too hard on the story on account of not having finished it, but I know the basic outline. In short, Sora, Donald, and Goofy go to a fucked up amnesia castle that turns all of their memories into cards and meet some of the members of Organization 13, who will become prominent players later in the series. The card thing is important as that becomes the basis for Literally Everything in the game. Instead of a normal attack button, you use the currently selected card on a hotbar of sorts, which can be a keyblade swing, a spell or summon, or an item. You can do something resembling a combo by using three keyblade cards in a row, but that's about it for depth. If you want a more advanced technique, you have to use Sleights, which are combinations of cards. This has a major drawback, though, as the first card you input in the combination is unusable for the rest of the fight. With how long fights can be, I found this highly discouraging. A downgrade from KH1 was somewhat expected due to the change in format, but unfortunately, it does not get better.

Every card has a value from 0 to 9, and the attacks of the Heartless also have these values. Very simply, bigger number beats smaller number. If a number beats another number, that attack is negated, which applies both ways. There is no reason to use cards that aren't 9s besides the fact the game is very stubborn about giving them to you. 0 value cards are the one exception to this, as they are considered trump cards that can beat any card, but only if they are played as a counter to another card. If this system sounds like it has any strategy to it, it does not. Spamming high value cards is only stopped by your ability to carry them, as they take up more space in your deck and are harder to get. If you try using lower value cards, you will find it very hard to use them without sneaking them into a Sleight. Getting cards in general is a pain, too. You get a few freebies by progressing normally but if you want more cards you have to rely on drops, OR buying them in shops. The rate at which you get currency without grinding is honestly kind of shameful, and after about an hour of grinding I still did not find myself with a particularly enjoyable to use deck. The basic systems are just not fun to engage with, and there's not nearly enough progression. And all of this is only about half of the game's problems.

Because this is the fucked up amnesia castle, you get to select the order you go through the worlds. All the worlds from KH1 return, except Deep Jungle, as Tarzan was gunned down in the jungles of Africa by a rival drug cartel. Or rights issues. Unlike KH1, there is basically no difference between any given world, as they all follow the exact same structure of going to the four rooms that advance the plot in the same specific order every time. The only mode of progression you engage in is through, yet again, cards. Every fight drops cards, and in order to open each door in a world you have to put in a card that meets the requirements. Each card affects the room, such as what kinds of enemies you fight, or if there will be a shop. If you do not have a card with the requirements, you have to grind it out. This is actually what got me to drop the game, at the last selectable world before the tail end of the game started. I had to grind out a specific card to progress and just decided to stop. The concept is interesting, perhaps, but likely would have been better suited in a format that is more conducive to it. Ironically, despite my interest in a deckbuilder that is not a roguelike, a roguelike might have been a better format.

COM is a dud in a way that especially disappoints me. I can't even be particularly sympathetic to the challenges of getting an ARPG on the GBA when games like Mega Man Battle Network and Summon Night Swordcraft Story were perfectly capable in this regard. The devs are capable of better, too. I have never been able to get into TWEWY but that game at least is well designed in ways I can respect that this one simply isn't. It somehow manages to both be too simple and too complicated in entirely different ways. Perhaps I did end up missing something, but I have the feeling if I missed anything it was some unreasonable cheese strategy you can do if you grind enough. Hey, anything to avoid engaging with this combat normally, am I right?