Whelp, the fourth installment -fifth if yer picky- of the Kingdom Hearts series has been released. Of course, I refer to the International release (for I like my games to be in English for immersion and clarity, thank you very much). I recently completed it (in that I beat the story and unlocked all the secret characters - 100% completion will be the replay value I work on when I'm bored) and I bring my thoughts after 4 days with Days!Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days may be the newest title after the main trilogy of games (said trilogy being Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II), but it's also the start of a gaiden (side-story) trilogy of sorts. While the main trilogy features titular character Sora, the new trilogy of games involve and star other characters and are meant to tide the fans over until the next "main" installment, of which most assume will be KHIII, but Word of God isn't even sure on that - score another point on the gentle mind-screw that is Kingdom Hearts.
Anyway, Days is the first internationally released gaiden game. While it doesn't introduce new worlds, it reveals some of the inner-workings of Organization XIII, the main antagonists of ReCoM and KHII, and with them insight into their darker secrets. Following the character Roxas, you're presented with his day-to-day life in the Organization, hence some elaboration on the obnoxious title. The story essencially covers the events during the last third of the original Kingdom Hearts after a certain important scene, elaborates the events that occured behind-the-scenes in Re:Chain of Memories, and right into the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II, which take 358 days to unfold.
One thing the series is creative with is how they "restart" the game for logical progression. KH was the first game, so that was understandable. ReCoM had the character's memories basically swiped and played by different rules altogether, so that was interesting. KHII had them awaken from cold storage and had a more evolved version of the combat, showing growth in battle ability, so we let that slide. Now Days has you controlling Roxas, who was the false protagonist controlled during KHII's 2-hour tutorial. Since Day 1 is the character's creation and stated that he is a special being, he starts off with no memories and mannerisms akin to that of a zombie. Just musing on something many think about in series that like to wipe the slate clean for gameplay purposes (Zelda's a great candidate in the direct-sequels and Metroid gets flack up the ying-yang for this).
For a DS game, Days is very impressive. The presentation is typical Squeenix, which means it's top-notch. It looks pretty and sounds as good as a PlayStation-era game like Metal Gear Solid (as in the use of pixels on flat polygons. How one receives the game is dependant on their thoughts on the series as a whole. I've described the game as a "charming button-masher" and that's pretty much my bare-bones feeling of the games. You'll hear comments on how you can pretty much march into a room and mash the attack button, win, and can repeat the process throughout the entire game. In actuality, that's not entirely false - I'd be lying if I said my strategy wasn't rushing into Heartless and causing as much harm with my giant key as I can muster, since I'm not a huge fan of magic due to my conservation of it for health purposes, since using items aren't exactly using your innate gaming skills in my honest opinion. However, I always play the games on Proud mode, which makes a bit of difference.
Proud mode in this case greatly increases the attack power of all the enemies. As such, you have to learn to actually dodge, block, and reflect attacks. KH was Nintendo Hard on Proud, and was notable in some cases for being a tad too difficult for the target audience. That game could serve your ass on a platter of your own pride and make your work for the check. ReCoM was difficult on Proud due to the enemies having waaay more powerful cards, bordering on the unfair at times unless you had lots of 9s and 0s to counter them (clarification: the game was ruled literally by cards, making a real-time mix of action and war) along with the powerful attacks, along with the multitasking required to handle the cards and the enemies. KHII was okay on Proud. There were enemies that required some skill in defense to avoid getting killed by combo/cheap attack, but once you got Explosion and learned to master Reflect, you don't need much else aside from button-mashing ability. KHII was made with the intent on fixing the first game's major annoyances, and one was apparently difficulty, which was disappointing when the game added a Beginner mode (which is really made for those who've never played an action game - EVER - before, since I saw my cousin play it on Beginner; it was... embarassingly easy).
Days addresses the ease of KHII's Proud with it's own, which can be Nintendo Hard if you're not equipped correctly. The ability system in Days, the Panel system, is modeled after Tetris-like panels that fit onto a max of three grids, with different weapons, abilities, items, and magic using up a certain amount of slots. It forces you to think about which abilities and equipment you bring into the missions, due to the limitations on Magic and Items in the assignments. It's a great way to individualize when you go into the multiplayer and try the other unique and eccentric Organization members (plus some secret characters) so that everyone is different, while also allows one way to play as any character without grinding them for multiplayer, which is very fun with a like-minded friend and a big draw for the game.
Of course, the story itself is good. [clarification: I am much more accepting in terms of characters and plot. I grew up on the Nintendo philosophy of storytelling - just enough to get to playing a game is a-okay by me. Save the princess? Got it. Yes, I realize that Kingdom Hearts kinda thrives on its story by this point. In fact, the characters and story is primarily the driving force behind me loving the series. Sure, the combat's addicting and it's satisfying to have an enemy explode into health balls, munny clumps, magic bubbles, EXP gems, and whatever, but it's the characters I love that are behind the gameplay. I realize I'm very forgiving when it comes to plot, which annoys many people, my friends and family included. I'll cling on to one aspect I find redeeming and cling to it and say 'I love it!', much to others' dismay. As such, I shall not be complaining about who are supposedly Mary Sues and the like, because you can find out rants on the subject by other, more passionate people who actually take it all to heart. I accept every character how they are, strengths, faults and all, and it doesn't detract from the overall experience for me. I play KH for the story propelling my Keyblade-smashing experience. If you have a problem with the story, I can see where you're coming from, but it won't stop me from enjoying it. I found the story a simple, sweet and touching tale of a doomed-by-canon friendship. If you disagree, then we agree to disagree. I shall not dwell on this matter any longer.)
As with each new game, the Kingdom Hearts series is developing a very very complex world that could be a bit difficult for newcomers to grasp. Seriously, it will take a PowerPoint presentation to explain the difference about the main antagonist (I actually had to use pieces of food to elaborate on the Big Bad's multiple beings of self, from his Somebody to his Nobody to his Heartless - fans know exactly what I'm talking about) by the time this series runs the villain's complete course. However, the game tries to make itself accessible to even newcomers. While it does a respectable job of trying to do such, it's still a bit much for one game to completely fill in the details of three other games-worth of story, which gets more complex as it progresses. I'd recommend newcomers play through the first trilogy before tackling this behind-the-scenes installment, for the very synopsis of the game obviously spoils the others, particularly ReCoM and KHII. But the choice is yours.
It plays very much like the first game, in which it's more ground-based and less flashy than KHII. Take that comment how you will; I feel the first game had a very good "game" behind it, hence how it was grounded. KHII was an evolution of that, but it's more loose in the fact that I spend over half the combat in the air and the other quarter spamming the Reaction Command, which is a glorified Quicktime Event of sorts, and we all know QTE are not and will never be true gameplay, right? Right. Yes, they're impressive, but they don't take any timing to execute, which would've been a more logical choice on such powerful moves. But again, those be my own comments on the systems. They're all fun to me, just I have them ranked. (BTW, I loved how ReCoM used a card system: actually made you think along with spamming attack.)
All in all, it's not a perfect game, but it's a damn good one. The only real downside to the game has been noted by most everyone: the repetition can get to some. You go about all previously-explored worlds with a few new areas, but they aren't substantial enough nor used nearly as often as they prolly should've, but it made me relieved that they at least attempted to add some different areas to mostly-identical areas. Ironically, the use of the same areas and music draws the sense of familiarity that sets into you a comfort that you're playing a handheld version of a full-fledged KH game in terms of basic gameplay and story, though your mileage will definitely vary on that statement. To it's credit, the monotous nature of the Missions does reinforce the repetitive and simple life Roxas was living. Makes me feel sorry for the kid.
Many are disappointed that we're getting three "side" games instead of KHIII, asking what's taking so long. Many are in a fit over the fact we're getting three handheld titles instead of a console game. Most of these 'fans' are just ignorant of the fact the KH team is working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII (have been since they showed it off almost 5 years ago) and has these three games to keep us happy.
But, as we all know, "fans are clingy, complaining dip-shits who will never, ever be greatful for any consession you make. The sooner you shut out their tremulous voices, the happier you'll be for it."
I kid. Not all fans are crazy, right? Some are like me - we take it as they give it. It's not our series; what they do with Kingdom Hearts is their own decision. If you don't like it, then don't support them by buying them, though many others still will. You also don't have to like everything about a game and instead see the positives that outweigh the negatives, but maybe that's asking too much.
Ah well, I enjoyed it. Good story to tide me over until Birth By Sleep next year.
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Venture Bros. is back next week!
:D
:D
