replayed this a while ago but w/e, here's some scattered notes from then:

- don't mind the simple combat system so much (I'm a ys-enjoyer) and I def appreciate the modifiable combos. i like the systems too! think the synergy btwn mp / drive forms / limits and how it restricts your ability to heal is neat

- don't like how much of the combat boils down to abusing limits / summons / reaction commands to deal damage while invulnerable. the former two are particularly egregious thanks to the amount of (nearly) free damage they put out, and when you throw magnet in the mix, most of its encounters become basically nothing. sticks out enough that it's hard for me to understand the appeal when some fans list this as their favorite action game. genuinely curious to know if there's aspects that I'm missing or not considering here

- reactions and limits can be fun tho.. rly love the bit of spectacle at the end w the lasers that I won't describe since this isn't spoiler tagged, but its length is so amazing

- locking movement options behind drive forms was a silly decision and I'd maybe encourage PC playerz to download the mod that unlocks them all from the start, albeit it can supposedly softlock you so be careful... a better mod would unlock each option when you receive its corresponding form. frankly tho, if you're capable of making a simple web search they do not take nearly as much time to grind out as some suggest

- a take on the command menu I saw is that it's basically "realtime atb" and that skillful play is about being able to quickly navigate the menus. for what though, idk. didn't find enough of the magic useful to have to go into them ever, beyond the four slots you can allocate to in the shortcut menu. i'm probably wrong here

- it takes a while for the 1-on-1 fights to get going. have to assume it's for kids first, but I wasn't vibing with the combat until demyx (pt 2), who's about maybe halfway through @ ~20 hours. the few absent silhouettes placed before him seemed to be too early relative to my level at the time of finding each

- boss highlights were: twilight thorn, shadow stalker (& dark thorn), oogie boogie, demyx, xaldin, the experiment, roxas, saix, the blue haired guy

- the intro really is the single narrative highlight. features a better cast than dorky sora and his dorky friends (except for donald and goofy, because they are my friends). funny that the bits immediately after address sora not knowing what an education is as well as him having hit puberty

- fuck port royal

- why is that mickey mouse bullshit in critical mode. kept triggering it on accident. "sora, my turn!" die

- also, since I'm not going to put down anything for kh1, the simple and clean cue when sora breaks off from kairi at the end kicks so much ass. could not stop laughing

- soz to the gummi-heads but PC playerz can also skip the gummi segments (change offset to 0x56454E): https://github.com/S0nzero/KHPCSpeedrunTools/blob/main/2FMMods/scripts/2fmNoGummi.lua

amazing vibes, great story mode, no I will not be progressing very far in the ranks because I can't be assed to determine whether I should sidestep left or right for a few specific moves per character in a """3D""" fighting game or figuring out fucking throw break flowcharts and this heat smash +12 on block shit is just,, give me a break man. been seriously fun for me otherwise since it broke a longtime friend into fighting games but it's very very hard to take seriously. might be a casual but whatever, sf6 is also there and way more engaging

skipped to endgame raiding with these new jumpstart servers. game's presumably dying hard, so they're giving new/returning players stuff valued somewhere around $30-50 (having quickly glanced at its ingame store). there's some rly neat raid design here, unfortunately stuck in a game structured to make you not only hate playing it but ur fellow man.. you at least can ignore that (sort of) if you can get some friends together for this one occasion

it's fun to see amazon repeatedly acknowledge how bad the situation is. i feel for them a bit -- fixing it would require reengineering almost the entire game, which is not at all in their control. all they can do is reapply the same few mitigation tactics they have, which are increasingly becoming desperate

might be sacrilege to jsr folks but I've never really cared for hideki naganuma (or his music hehe). fortunately the tracks here are varied enough and not outright trying to crib his style, in part because a good chunk of them were not made for the game. can't say as much for its visuals, which, just from the menus alone I can get that you guys like designer's republic (me too!) but y2k is so worn out that I'd like to see something go beyond just replicating it. weirdly has a very late barebones pc port feel to it that I find kind of charming. game's fine too I guess