Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Happy Hallow's Eve! Weird having it on a Sunday, but we get a Saturday Christmas to balance it out. I miss the national cosplaying aspect, but I don't have the will and/or the drive to dress up for myself (no social live). We still get candy, but I'm not too big a candy guy. Sugar weirds me out after a while. *le sigh*

Lots of busy doing nothing, lately. New games, lotsa movies, cathing up on thousands of deviations, sketching on random pieces of paper... You know, lots of nothin'.

Continuing on blathering on about things nobody but myself cares, I've played the heck outta Birth by Sleep, doing all but completing the Journal to 100% since we all know what that's like. I've finally tried most-if-not everything, however, and (barring my hatred of how Nomura handles the Final Mixes) I have come to the conclusion that it's time to faux-review it, and [spoiler] it ties with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + as the top titles in the series.

Without further ado, let's get started.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep had a challenge the moment it was announced: it was a prequel. Prequels are always a tricky lot; on one hand, you've got a chance to 'start fresh', so to speak. It's a chance to gather newcomers in without any prior knowledge and hopefully suck them in enough for them to become fans and play/buy the rest of the series. And for the existing fanbase returning that made the franchise popular to begin with, you've got to make it engaging enough to appease the never-quite-pleased fanbase with a relevant and worthwhile installment.

For what it's worth, I believe Nomura succeeded on both accounts. That said, I'm also not a highly-picky person compared to the fanbase. I love those guys, I really do. Fans are what keeps franchises going, for better or for worse. But gosh, a good 85% of them seem to not have all masts flying when they speak. Moving on...

First and foremost is the narrative. I've always been more of a gameplay > story kinda gamer, having grown up almost exclusively on Nintendo platforms. However, I do play a few franchises for their stories, paraticularly Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear. What can I say, I get attatched to characters rather easily and will stick through thick and thin to see what happens to 'em. This is no exception.

Birth by Sleep takes place a decade before the original title (and eight years real-time). It features mostly-new characters, filling in much-needed backstory on how the KH universe operated before Sora's world-hopping days. For the veterans, there are quite a few familiar faces, wonderful experiences in new Disney worlds, and the series' best localization and writing.

It's a tale told by the three main protagonists, continuing the series' much-loved trios - a likable, spiky-haired youth [Ventus], the older friend with a decision to make [Terra], and a girl [Aqua]. They essentially give the game three types of play: the Speedy, the Powerhouse, and the Magician. Each has their own scenarios, meeting up with each other at times, each with their own experiences and motives. As per series tradition, Terra is looking for someone (this case a mentor and his deciple), while Ven runs away chasing Terra, with Aqua to check up on both.

It's a lot more interesting, obviously. Each character gets to focus on a specific part of the mythos: the duality of Darkness and Light, the existential moments of being, and deciding to belive things can be set right again. Each story is dotted with the usual Disney fair, mostly new in this installment, with the individual Worlds having distinctly more purpose to the overarching plot than previous titles. This leads to a sense of brisk progress and purpose, expanding on Days' focus on overall character interactions. The result is a very satisfying tale that unravels just as much as it dangles, which isn't as bad as it sounds.

I was able to correctly guess the fate of one character, half of the fate of another, and was completely stumped by the other. While incomplete individually, the fantastic ending hints at a much grander future in store for the current story arc. While the fans bemoan the lack of a gorgeous FMV secret ending (or, as most forget, a very pretty concept video), it brought a tear to my sentimental soul that maybe, just maybe, their hurting will be mended when he returns to end it.

Being on the PSP, it was able to be the most impressive-looking title on the handheld. The presentation is comparable to it's PS2 predecessors, which is quite a feat. The soundtrack is the best yet, with gorgeous motiffs and excellent remixes of older mainstays (Neverland wins again for Disney battle theme third time running). The voice acting is top-notch as usual, with Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy -depicted to the right as the elderly BAMF, solidifying his status as an awesome villain- as opposing badasses; you really can't go wrong with such a Star Wars/Trek combo.

Though it's a technical marvel of a game, you can tell it's pushing the PSP to its breaking point. I highly recommend to everyone the full 800mb+ Data Install for a stress-free experience. The loading times with over half it's disc content can get lengthy, with the scratchy whirl of the UMD a common occurance, and I can only imagine them without. I've heard it loads mid-battle, which would be discombobulating for anyone. It burns through your battery life, but the game practically demands it.

The game also boasts the most addicting battle system of the series. A streamlined version of Chain of Memories' Card system, the Deck Commands are equipable abilities, items, and magic which can be chosen and executed in a simple button press that require cooldown times between uses. Commands can be mixed together in the title's form of Synthesis and is essential to obtaining the most coveted abilities, as well as the traditional secondary abilities, like extra HP, quicker reloads, and other stat-boosting benefits.

Like Days, it relieves the use of an MP meter, and encourages players on all difficulties (rather, forces us Critical players for leveling the playing fields with the two superbosses in our much-wanted difficulty spike) to experiment with various combinations. It even reimagines Summons and even includes a crowd clearer/limit break of sorts with it's seperate gauge, similar to KHII's Drive Meter. It even randomizes timed-button presses for more advanced moves, in a commendable attempt to do away with the "mash attack to win" strategy popularized by KHII's otherwise excellent battle system. It's an addicting and wonderful battle system, and I hope they merge this with KHII's controls and ease of use for my ideal battle system.

It's an excellent game, the second reason I bought a PSP half a decade after it's release, and one I would recommend to players new and old. As a fan, it blew away my expectations in both gameplay and story. It delivered on revealing a significant amount of the past, tied up some loose threads, clarified past mysteries, and set up an intriguing future for the series.

Birth by Sleep holds as much weight as a numbered title, effectively being Kingdom Hearts 0 by Word of God. It's sad, as half the fanbase only wishes for Kingdom Hearts III to be released and refuse to play the three gaiden titles. Joke'll be on them like it was for those who passed on Chain of Memories when the plot picks up after events you chose not to play!

Non-Kingdom Hearts posts coming, I swear! I got them outta my system until January (when the Final Mix of this title releases in Japan and Re:coded gets released internationally), so expect a retroactive franchise review coming up on a certain Rare duo from two generations past.

I'm using a blog to review games... Man, I'm a boring person.

Metroid: Other M

It's been a great three weeks for gaming, huh? Metroid one week, Halo in another, and they both sandwhich a Kingdom Hearts. While I'm not a Halo fan, the friends claim it was very good, as do the glowing reviews.

While they came out a week apart from each other, I received Other M on a Tuesday followed the next day by BBS. Amazon shipped Other M from a couple of States away, while Kingdom Hearts shipped 30 minutes from my house. Funny world, I know. I'll obviously talk about Other M this time, with Kingdom Hearts soon after.

Ah, Other M. As a Metroid fan since Super Metroid, this was quite a shock to see such an action-oriented take on the Metroid series. While the Prime games leaned towards the action slant, specifically Corruption, the exploration element was always present with superb level design that really showed off Retro Studios' talent. Now we've ditched the first-person perspective for the classic run-and-gun platforming the series was known for, now with extra focus on gunning.

While Retro went on to make the soon-to-be-released Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game I have high hopes for, Nintendo brought in Team Ninja of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden fame to help shape this newest installment. The new blood definitely has a presence, as the game's new mechanics are a test in reflex and pattern recognition, with some of that old school Nintendo Hard game play thrown in.

It's a game where the simple enemies will bat you around to next Tuesday if you're not alert and/or quick enough. Almost as if to emphasize the new focus on action, enemies no longer drop ammo or health, forcing you to dodge and shoot, which is very satisfying once you get the hang of it. While the Prime Trilogy was amazing, it's nice to see Samus doing her thing again, flipping around enemies whilst retaliating in a flurry of colorful explosions that fill the screen. It also gives a sense of speed that first-person can't effectively portray - she's quite agile, and the redesigned art style accentuates with a shark, sleek look reminiscent of Metroid Fusion for the GBA.



In fact, in many ways this is the spiritual sequel to 2002's hand held gem. The game takes place on The Bottle Ship, which is a research facility with varying Sectors - the usual lava, ice, jungle levels - to add variety like Fusion's research station. It's a more story-centric title than Fusion and the entire series as a whole, and also shares it's predecessor's linearity. Fusion used a computer to effectively lock you out of areas that didn't pertain to your mission at hand, cutting the exploration a bit. Despite these 'shortcomings' to the Metroid formula, I didn't have a problem with Fusion. It was a different take, yes, but it was still Metroid in it's pick-ups, game flow, and spot-on controls.

This is all played with the Wiimote held sideways like an NES controller for most of the title, with you pointing at the screen to enter a pivoting first-person mode to fire missiles (the only way you can in this iteration) and to scan the occasional pick-up, story-centric element. This simplification felt very retro in practice, though some minor and/or major problems in certain situations.

I, for one, didn't have any trouble switching from first to third-person during intense battles, since the game implements a slick slo-mo effect to give you a small chance to aim a missile square at a foe, then a quick covering of the Wiimote's sensor and a quick press of the + Pad will enable you to dodge away before retaliation. It's very much a case-by-case on how adept you will be at the act, to be sure. There are also storyline sections where the game zooms into Samus' visor for you to fixate on a particular point of interest to continue the cutscene. While I didn't have any trouble with these (I managed to run across them due to my own curiosity as well, I suppose), I've seen two friends have a bit of trouble during these instances, making for definite game-breaking moments, though I was lucky enough not to be bogged down by them.

It's also a visual and aural delight. The pre-rendered cutscenes are definitely impressive, surely adding to the game's dual-layered status, and it's nice to see a Nintendo game fully embrace voice-acting (looking at you, Skyward Sword). The score during cutscenes (also very impressive-looking for being in-engine) is an orchestral delight, while there aren't that many 'iconic' ambient music like previous titles, leaning more towards mostly-metallic or energetic in crowded fight-scenes and larger enemies. The presentation is a benchmark for Wii titles, along with Galaxy 2 as the highmarks of the system, definitely. It surprisingly holds up pretty well with some 360 and PS3 titles, making it both an impressive feat as well as proof at how little developers have tried with the Wii's horsepower.

And now I hit the point that divides most gamers: the story.



There's been so much said on Other M's narrative that I can't add anything but my own opinions at this point. A quick search around the Internet will reveal mostly-negative opinions on the depition of the character and the story, while you'll occasionally find those who defend it with arguably-canon and some scientific proof. Which side of the fence you fall on is yours. Is the game being sexist, depicting Samus Aran as such? Or is this how the director always envisioned her, and the sudden injection of story after 25 years of almost-complete silence a shock to everyone's personal depiction of the character?

Speaking for myself, I'm not terribly bothered by her depiction (surprise, surprise). I was somewhat familiar with the Metroid manga, which depicts her antics before the games proper, and the characterization there is very similar to the Other M's, so no surprise there. It also didn't shock me that she had a lot of pent-up frustrations and problems, such as seeing Adam Malkovich as a father-figure, growing up with him as her CO when she served under him in the Galactic Federation Army. Many saw this as daddy-issues and they'd be correct, since she barely had time with one. Guess I'm full of sympathy.

Maybe part of that was the dialogue and/or Japanese way of storytelling the title posesses, which honestly doesn't bother me since I loved Final Fantasy XIII. I definitely see where people find fault, but that was the unique presentation Other M chose. Another point of contention was Samus' voice. Most hate it, naturally. I found it similar to a Sarah Conner vibe, as her disinterested, monotously delivered running narration throughout the game, giving a spelled-out window into her mind. All these seem to pale in comparison to the seemingly-biggest point of discussion.

Slight spoiler-warning.

There's a particular scene in which Samus, freezing up at the sight of her arch-nemesis Ridley (in a fantastic appearance, may I add), thinks back to her frightened 3 year-old self when she first encountered Ridley when he promptly killed her parents, snaps out of her daze after the fall of a comrade and proceeds to fight the again-resurrected Space Pirate Commander.

Why didn't she shoot? Why did she freeze up? I took this one as her thinking his death was absolute, with Zebes being obliterated, leaving no chance of the creature appearing again, and his sudden appearance rocking her to her core. It also backs up the PTSD argument that is brought up by those with knowledge of the manga, which I agree with. When shown to an expert and one suffering from the disorder, they claimed it was a very accurate depiction of PTSD, but lots of peole still call BS on it, thinking she should've "just gotten over it" by this point in her career. She froze up before in the manga, prompting a comment of PTSD, and I believe the game was slyly referencing it, since the manga is almost certainly canon, endorsed by Nintendo itself. However, to the detractor's credit, it wasn't brought up in any previous game and there was absolutely no build-up to it, lending to it's seemingly-out-of-the-blue occurance.

In conclusion, the story elements didn't bother me in the slightest. I enjoyed the gameplay despite it's inherent flaws (feeling like a simpler Fusion), I would definitely recommend the game, especially to Metroid fans to know their opinion, but I wouldn't recommend a buy until they had tried it out do to it's established love it or hate it status. A solid 4/5 were I to rate it numerically.

I now part with a tasty gift:

The obligatory Zero Suit Samus pic.

You knew it was coming.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Whelp, I finally beat Super Mario Galaxy 2, aka my favorite main Mario game!
Now for impressions!

Contrary to first impressions, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is indeed much more than a mere expansion pack. It's more akin to the real Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels over here) in that it uses the same engine and premise as it's predecessor, yet runs over with creative ideas that especially challenge those who enjoyed the first.

The sequel obviously doesn't have that 'wow' factor the first had, such as when you first shot out of a Launch Star into the depths of space, but it constantly outdoes itself in level design and ideas. Yoshi was a much-welcomed addition, getting a much more expansive role than he did in Sunshine in that he's most definitely not water-soluble and now regains use of his elastic tongue. It's used in very creative instances and uses the Wiimote's pointer control in a manner I can't imagine can be done any better. Of particular note is the innate instinct to catch a Bullet Bill, hold it for a few moments while you reposition yourself out of harm's way, and then the big payoff of firing the living projectile into a canon, eliminating the chance of it firing more.

Galaxy 2 is brimming with such instances, big and small, that prove that the Big N can pull out all the stops when it wants to. Nintendo's first-party efforts always showcase a level of polish that most companies wish they could pull off, and Galaxy is a shining example of the company's talent focusing solely on gameplay. There's no big plot beyond the usual damsel in destress the series is known for; there's no reason for it. It plays almost as a retelling of the first game, starting very similarly and ending in a (much more) satisfying bout with Bowser. It's also more difficult than the first, which was a slight blemish on that otherwise superb game.

But the difficulty never gets in the way of the fun. The game offers tips and even an auto-pilot similar to last year's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but the help is easily ignored if it's not needed (or wanted, for veterans such as myself) just like NSMBW. I pride myself on my Mario skills, and only ever encountered three Game Overs in the entire game, and they were all on the last Galaxy's Comet challenge. More on that shortly.

While most will just get to the end and call it a day, the Mario elite will be rewarded for their diligence. The game plainly showcases it's 120 Stars, divided into normal play Stars and Comet Stars gotten through the acquisition of a Comet Medal in each Galaxy. These are generally more challenging, though not impossible. It's after the main 120 are gotten that the game outshines it's predecessor's end-game effort.

Instead of playing as Luigi for the same 120, the game throws in Green Comets that yield Green Stars in each Galaxy, matching their normal Stars' appearance. These extra 120 Green Stars are hidden throughout each Galaxy, usually in out-of-the-way and/or hard-to-reach places. It was a real treat to hunt through each Galaxy again. I like to think of it as Nintendo's way of acknowledging us obsessive Mario fans by giving us a chance to put our skills to the test. Many of these Emerald celestrial bodies require a nuanced jump, a carefully-timed mid-air shake, or sometimes a leap of faith, though in the end it's all worth it.

Getting all 240 Stars unlocks the Grandmaster Galaxy, a compilation of gimmicks from the entire game in a showcase of true muscle memory. The main Galaxy is a good enough challenge, but it's the Comet that puts this one over the top. Called The Perfect Run, it requires a player to go through the Galaxy's obstacle courses without checkpoints and with only one health. Took me three Game Overs (haven't heard that classic tune in a while, lemme tell you!) to get it right, but I got it after around 25 times. Yes, I counted.

How hard it is, you ask? Well, IGN happens to have a skilled player at the reigns. While he chickens out (most likely for time) at the end by taking out only the necessary enemies, the point's clear. Have a look:

I absolutely love this game, and was an excellent way to get through the summer. It ranks above the first Galaxy simply due to it's unbridled fun, which I thought couldn't be topped. I'd be amiss to neglect the music: an orchestrated mix of nostalgia and sweeping fanfare, easily one of the best soundtracks Nintendo's ever produced.

The graphics build slightly upon the already-impressive engine the first game used, which means it looks gorgeous. It takes a presentation like this to wonder why everyone is so focused and spoiled on HD graphics when 720 and 1080p are just a resolution. Pixels pale in comparison to solid art design, and Galaxy 2 is by no means bad-looking, this coming from a guy who plays it on a 52" 1080p LCD LG widescreen. I love efforts like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII on my neighboring PS3 like the next guy, but it's proof that the Wii can give out an impressive performance when given the chance.

It's my favorite game this year, possibly this generation, and it's the most fun I've had this generation, matched only by it's predecessor.

If you love gaming, do yourself a favor and play Super Mario Galaxy 2.

You'd be doing yourself a disservice otherwise.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Yeah, every big fan of gaming should see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It was a big love letter to gamers and was a real treat for the eyes and ears. Plus, I dug the insane way it presented itself, zooming back and forth between pop-ups and sound effects, complete with visible THWAK's and PUNCHes.

I went in with only the first volume's knowledge and the random pages posted online years before I realized it was actually a comic book series and not some random webcomic, but it was enjoyable regardless. Pretty sure it's faithful, as per reactions of a friend of mine at our midnight screening, so every gamer can find something worthwhile.

Thinking about getting the game based on it on PSN. Looks a lot like an homage to River City Ransom...
And now I feel old.

Just got around to actually preordering Metroid: Other M and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Dunno why I waited so long to do so, but it's high-time I ordered them. Originally I was opting for the GameStop offer of a 16-page art book and I almost jumped on the free one-night shipping window they had back in June, but I went for Amazon's $20-off your next purchase incentive. Same with BbS, with it's $10 perk.

That's 30 bucks off a new game (which is half-off or more!) that'll go to whatever big-name title is next this packed Fall season. It's best to use those savings on a newer title to get it sooner, cheaper and save the older titles for that magic $20 and under pricetag. Amazon's been a great friend in my gaming needs, with their free shipping (if done by them) and tax-free purchases (also through a legal loophole). It's literally saved me hundreds throughout the years. Besides, who doesn't love the feeling of opening up a new box with a goodie inside? I know I do!

Currently in my Fall movie marathon, the one that basically consists of every film series we want to see, haven't seen in a while, or just want to watch again that isn't a Disney-associated flick. The Disney films happen in the Spring, right before our Memorial Weekend trip to the parks, since our Disney collection is expansive enough that they alone form a marathon that lasts for months.

I organize them by release date, the earliest being Fiddler on the Roof from 1971 and currently have it set to end with this year's How to Train Your Dragon and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The reason for the out-of-order Harry Potter flick is that I have Order of the Pheonix postponed to match the Blu-ray releases of Year's 3 and 4's Ultimate Editions, which I'll receive around the last week of October, and the entire marathon's planned to end on November 17, the night before I line up to the midnight premiere of Deathly Hallows, Part I. See, I occasionally have a method to my madness.

How I came up with the idea for these marathons stemmed way back almost a decade ago, when VHSs were just starting to get dethroned by DVDs back in '01. We'd eventually get a DVD player before the Holiday of '01, but by then we'd amassed a pretty respectible collection of tapes, many being Disney fare to entertain our young minds. It was in a copy of the now-defunct Disney Magazine that I noticed a poster of sorts being offered. It had a lot of Disney movies being showcased, around 45 of them if I recall correctly.

I realized soon afterwards that the majority of the promoted films was what is known to the Disney elite as the Disney Animated Features Canon, basically those animated films that were produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios for the purpose of claiming a film as "Walt Disney Pictures Xth full-length feature film" for advertising purposes (thanks, Wiki!). The numbering system worked, and is convenient and still used today. It begins with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and consists of 49 currently-released films ending with The Princess and the Frog, with three more currently announced and in production. While called canon, they obviously have little to do with each other plot-wise outside of the fact that Disney produced them all.

While the poster at the time included the Pixar films up to Monsters, Inc. or Finding Nemo (don't quite remember), I realized that we owned a majority of those films. So, using up a homework-free afternoon, I shuffled through our collection and found out we did in fact have most of them. We were missing only the packaged budget films from during World War II, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, and the Sleepy Hollow latter half of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

All things considered, we still had thirty-six and a half films of the main canon, enough for a good three weeks of family get-together-around-the-television time. It worked out that time, so the next time we got around to it I included the Pixar films. By the third year (2003), DVDs were the standard and we were slowly gathering the DVDs of Atlantis-onward and collecting the reissued DVD editions of the prior 40 films. Quality on many of the tapes were beginning to wear thin, so the upgrade in format was appreciated, especially due to the picture clarity gap the two formats had between them. It took a better part of a decade, but we will finally own all the Disney canon in disk form once we buy the 25th anniversary edition of The Black Cauldron (definitely the black sheep in past viewings) when it's released in a few months and when we finally get around to buying The Princess and the Frog. Heard it's good, but I wouldn't know yet.

Nowadays, the entire canon is accompanied by disk-only Pixar films (I refuse to watch those films on anything but Blu-Ray now, since my inner videophile is now spoiled on the clarity those films deserve - release Finding Nemo and The Incredibles on Blu-ray already!), Studio Ghibli films we own such as Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away, live-action/animated hybrids like So Dear to My Heart, James and the Giant Peach, and Enchanted (I include Who Framed Roger Rabbit depending on the company; half the family doesn't appreciate/care for the brilliant film), select DisneyToon and direct-to-video releases (such as The Tigger Movie, Return to Neverland, and sometimes concede to other sequels I like such as the Aladdin and Lion King sequels; othertimes, my arm gets twisted for one of the multitude of others that fall under that typical "Disney sequelitis" that most of us really don't care for and to which I politely step out of the room for), and some select live-action flicks they've done, such as the fun Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, National Treasure, some standalone films like Mr. Holland's Opus, Old Yeller, the first Santa Clause, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the like.

The list is pretty impressive now, since it's basically our entire Disney collection, which is why it's regulated to the first half of the year following anywhere immediately after the Holidays to as late as Valentine's to try to recapture that happy spirit I start to miss after everyone realizes they don't have to pretend to be happy. The exception this year for including Pirates is that it looks phenominal in 1080p - so much so I had to include it for kicks.

Generally, we average a film a day, though I usually pair a shorter animated film like An American Tail with a heftier one like Empire of the Sun to lengthen the evening; or to alternatively lighten up a darker one such as Schindler's List with a lighter affair like We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story so we're not completely depressed that evening.

It's been difficult to get the entire family to watch with us (sometimes me!) this year, though. We've been cleaning houses for the past year and the moving and dusting of items takes its toll when they're covered in dust, so I've watched half of these films alone this year, but it should get better the closer we get to the Holidays, with Thanksgiving typically the time when the rest of the family comes down and we play board/video games and watch movies for the heck of it.

I should also draw more, but I honestly haven't been that inspired since my B-Day. Drew a couple of things on my Cintiq, but it's honestly all crap. Picked up a piece of paper and actually came out with my best drawing in months. Maybe it was the feeling of real paper and pencil that jogged some ancient 7th Grade part of my brain... Who knows.

My, I do believe I've rambled for far too long about absolutely nothing yet again.

Such a boring person..!

July Heat-Influenced Golden Sun

Woo, refund on iPhone 4 bumpers... Yay?

I kid, I don't have a problem with the 'death-grip' the "less than 1%" of us who own the phone are having. My calls've been perfectly fine. Reception goes off and on in my house, but it's always been like that here, so I'll hafta see as I go places, but so far no big deal. Nice to get our $60 back on those over-priced rubber liners. (Seriously, 30 bucks each? How much does it take to make that, Apple? *sigh*)

But enough on relevant topics! Let's rewind back to last generation: '01 and '03.

The game series in question?Yep, ever since the ethnic-clensing of my bedroom took place over Memorial Weekend, the power cord to my micro (you know, the last model of GBA? Yeah, I don't blame you) has been uncovered with my copy of the original Golden Sun inside. To beat the heat of our non-curtained living room with the consoles, I've been reliving one of my more fondly-remembered RPGs. Now a faux review/retrospect!



The series would've been that classic Super NES RPG you remember playing as a kid next to other greats like Sword of Mana, Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, among the countless others back in the heydays of the JRPG. The story's simple: you control a group of Adepts, those who can harness the four elements of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury (Earth, Fire, Wind and Water respectively) with your powers of Psynergy. Your job in the first game is to prevent the Elemental Lighthouses across the world from being lit and reawakening Alchemy to the world of Weyard. However, in the second game, The Lost Age, a perspective shift occurs and you now control the surviving memebers of the very team you tried to stop in the first game and now have to find a way to light the remaining Lighthouses.

The games play out in a very 90s role-playing fashion: you have a team of four main playable characters, each allied with one of the main elements, you fight enemies in speedy turn-based combat to level up which earns you money for various items and equipment, cross an overworld to get to various destinations, collecting Djinn (elemental creatures that boost your powers/change your classes) all while going through a very well-written story filled with hundreds of NPCs to help immerse yourself into the world.

Any fan of the SNES' RPGs will feel right at home with Golden Sun's familiar yet deep system. I myself play with the mono-elemental system of battling (allying each Djinni to their respective Adept - Venus go to the Venus Adepts, etc.). I realize I'm getting about a third of the combat system, but I'm simple like that and I got through the same just fine. The series can be played however you see fit, and is even non-linear in sections to accomodate all forms of playstyles.

I'm glad the series is as beloved as it is, with fans like myself eagerly awaiting the third title coming out this year for DS. Part of the charm of the original two GBA games was it's presentation. The games looked amazing for being on the then-new Game Boy Advance and showcased some of the handheld's most impressive visuals. The battles were quick, enhanced with the rotating camera angle during battles, with amazing shows of particle effects which were phenominal on my rootbeer-tinged Glacier GBA. The summon Catastrophe in particular is the most impressive in-game feat I've seen the GBA output outside of some impressive use of FMVs (albeit compressed, yet no less impressive on the small GBA cartridges).

The soundtrack was a wonderfully 'orchestrated' score that definitely stood out in the GBA's time. Headphones were a regular must for me as I hummed along with the classic-sounding pieces. The sound effects were classic 16-32 bit bleeps and screeches that helped aided the lost-in-time RPG series.

Of particular note was the ability to transfer your characters' complete stats from Golden Sun to The Lost Age for the time when your old party met your new one, to form a super 8-member party of elemental fury. It was also necessary to fully experience the sequel's full content, as all Djinn are needed to unlock the Superboss and optional dungeon he's housed in (the reward being an obscenely powerful summon whose only practical use is for two-player battling/boasting rights and could save you in the final boss fight). It's an appreciated feature, though I don't think it'll be used for the third game, but you never know.

Now I'm off to play summore.

iPhone 4 is Mine!

Man, it's great having a working phone again~

I absolutely adore this phone - it's the best one I've ever messed with. Granted, prolly part of my enthusiasm comes from me having upgraded from the very first iPhone (you know, that Edge-only one that was impressive three years ago?), but it only makes the upgrade the more sweeter. Multitasking's proving a godsend (they don't all reload! I have a little more patience for Safari now), the camera/video is darn impressive (5 megapixel with flash and 720p 30fps!), the screen is the most gorgeous I've ever seen (pixels are only evident if you're desperately looking for them; or on an old app, but that's not the phone's fault), and it's SOOOO much faster than I'm used to.

Between me and my circle of friends, we all have access to the popular smartphones: the iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, we've all had chances to play with them all. But I gotta say, the iPhone's agreed with me the most. I can't stand physical Qwerty keyboards, since I have sausage fingers :'( , the touchscreen's the best I've ever touched (insert cheap laugh), and it does everything I need it to do. Apps I get are all free bar one exception, and they're mostly casual games and specific apps that relate to my interests.

5 Stars, the iPhone 4 is for me. Mainly cuz my phone's awesome again and I can actually make calls and do stuff on it.

---

Wanted to talk about E3 and the excitement it gathered in me (with useless commentary by myself), but I don't have anything to add. E3 gets me hyped, I'm happy with Nintendo's line-up, good year for games.

Now a random fact:

Sad when your phone's network is quicker than your house's Wi-Fi.
:P

iPhone 4

I'm very content with the pre-order of my 32 gig iPhone 4! Sadly, White isn't available until later this summer, so I'll hafta settle with Black.

I love my ol' first iPhone, but he's been showing his age lately. The Wi-Fi capability lost around Halloween (which upped the bill with all the data usage), the charge not lasting as much as it used to (normal after two years), the case coming apart near the bottom, the buttons taking a real firm press to register, and the dropped calls. Oh, the dropped calls...

But it's okay! I'll have the best phone again after two years! Add to that E3 with Nintendo and Sony's conferences later today, this makes for a good, if a bit rocky, start to an eventful tech-centric week. I was online at 1 A.M. when the Apple Store went live with the phone, but the connection problems were horrendous. I just finished placing the order on AT&T's website half an hour ago. Yay for early adoptors! I'll save the E3 blog till Friday when we have all the info.

Picture unrelated.

I think it's time we blow this scene.

Why is Cowboy Bebop so damn good?

Seriously, no anime - let alone television show - has ever made me wish every episode was a film unto itself. It's everything anyone could ever want in a show: beautiful animation, truly human characters, outstanding music, and nobody I know who's seen the show can say a word bad about it.

Just popped in the three main CDs - Cowboy Bebop, No Disk, and Blue - and the moment Tank! started up, I was again swept away in that wonderful universe of Japanese-made American music.

Go ahead: fall in love with Yoko Kanno's untouchable talent: http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jCJZEFIto

Man, I really need to organize my thoughts better next time. That just a wall of text...

To redeem myself slightly, this time it's more coherent:
Woo! It just got confirmed earlier today on SE's European Twitter account, and they've stated that Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is to be released Internationally for the DS, like it logically would be based on the graphics and general gameplay of the original cell phone game. While it's not the bundled-with-Birth by Sleep deal I hoped it would, I have no problems with it being on DS, since it's a better option than if it were on a cellphone. Glad to see Squeenix understands the North American (and, evidenced by the source, the International) market. It was a matter of many a discussion of how this episodic title would get an overseas release, since it was the only title of the three Gaiden games not to have been announced Internationally.

It's also safe to assume that this is indeed one of the two titles Nomura mentioned would be revealed and released before Kingdom Hearts III is properly announced (and worked on after Versus XIII, which many an unformed person neglects to research).

Details on if Re:coded will be a retail game (I sincerely hope so!) or an episodic download via DSiWare is unclear at this point, but it seems unlikely that it's a download-only title, as it would easily alienate other DS owners.

---

I'm generally optimistic on entertainment I enjoy until proven otherwise, and the fanbase is doing a decent job of trying to convince everyone that both Days and Coded are/were disappointments, and that Sleep is the only title worth getting. Being relatively unspoiled of the details of Coded aside from a hint at it's ending and Sleep's entire scenario and outcomes, I can understand how an uninformed fan would be persuaded and/or told-off at their uninformed opinions of a game they've yet to play/witness. However, our optimism for Re:coded is being shot at by the Japanese adoptors (and those willing to spoil themselves) and have confirmed now
if indeed the two (now) Nintendo DS KH titles are "filler" games.

Perhaps they are and can be supported by many a knowledgible fan, but I'm going to ignore their negativity and criticisms - as valid as they may be - and accept everything series' director Nomura throws at us. While the KH fanbase has a roller-coaster relationship with me - from the constant bitching of plotholes and instances of deus ex machina, to Mary Sues and wasted plots - all with varying degrees of pickiness, I've enjoyed their thoughts on the franchise, mainly concerning the mysteries the titles constantly throw at us. If they had it their way, it seems the only titles worth playing are KH, the parts of CoM and KHII that concerns the Organization, and BbS, and to completely throw away the rest of CoM and KHII as the aforementioned deus ex machinas, the fanfiction that is Days, and the filler that is Coded.

I have to respectfully ignore their dismissal, since they're choosing to ignore material they all think is unimportant. The truth of the matter is that since this is Nomura's plot, and he's largely making stuff up as he goes, what aspects of the franchise are important are whatever he deems they are. He chose Sora's sacrifice in KH to be important enough to base the next three titles around that one instant. That affected the entirely of Days' outcome, the latter half of CoM, and as such completely shaped KHII's plot. Whatever he decided to add into BbS and Coded is whatever he decided to implement from past games' mysteries, and all new material that the fanbase will surely find fault with. This is the man's baby - allow him to do what he wants with it.

I've been down this route too often, and I've said the same things then as I do now: you may not agree with the decisions that a series takes, but you don't have much of a choice. Some of us enjoy the stories this series has told, and just accept them, since we can't do anything but bitch and moan about how his series doesn't conform to our wants and wishes. Being a video game series, our input only legitimately affects the gameplay, as the series has done a decent job of addressing past issues as humanly as possible.

While it's fine that you haven't and won't accept them, it's fine to bring up such points when you're elaborating on your opinion. It's not very acceptable to try and convince everyone else that what they like is wrong and pass off your opinion as fact, since that's goes against the basic principles of an oinion. Agreeing to disagree is perfectly fine, but don't force your own opinion as fact, since it affects absolutely nothing of the overall plot in the slightest. We can't have an end-all hindsight of the franchise's plot as a whole until the series is all over and done with. Until then, our bickering doesn't affect the overall plot in any significant way. As such, having such negativity in the fanbase is unfortunate when the discussions are about how much something is going to suck seems to outweigh the genuine optimism and positives of the games.

---

With the release of Days last Fall, Sleep out this September and Re:Coded to be released by the end of the year, the Gaiden titles will finally be out for all Kingdom Hearts fans a short year after Japan received them!

Again, this will be cleared up next week, and I'm just glad it's confirmed and that it seems we're getting Final Mix versions for two new games as our first and only options, which is always a good sign.

Yay for E3~

Kingdom Hearts re:Retconning

I apologize in advance, for this entry's another rant on Kingdom Hearts (specifically the fanbase), but they're really getting to me in a time of otherwise pre-E3 speculatory bliss.


<(^^<)


Kingdom Hearts. It's such an interesting concept, featuring two of my most cherished companies' babies, meshing into a colorful, moody, and varied franchise. As such, it's attracted a massive and very dedicated fanbase spanning young children to old jaded gamers and both groups' parents.


I myself got a taste of the original on the PlayStation 2 back in the summer of '04, I believe. It was a fun game, but I only played around for around 20 minutes in a world I wasn't familiar with (which turned out to be Hollow Bastion, an original world created for the series) with a boy I wasn't familiar with but who looked like a young brown-haired Cloud from VII assisted by two Disney characters in what I recognized as Nomura's clothing style. It was a fun hack-and-slash, especially being a genre I'm not too facinated in, my forte being Zelda-like adventures, Mario-esque platformers and JRPGs (yeah, I'm a member of the old-minded folk who enjoy turn-based gameplay), but I enjoyed it as brief as my experience was.


It was next year, in the Spring of '05 I believe, that I got to borrow Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance. I got to fully complete both stories and enjoy the story with what little knowledge of the first title I could remember. I wasn't going to look up the necessary information the internet would've provided for a synopsis of a game (series, at that point I suppose) I fully intended to play whenever I got a PS2 of my own. I enjoyed it, found the card-based combat interesting, if a bit cramp-enducing for the hour+ long sessions I typically do for games, handheld or not, and was excited to see a new character at the end of the second story campaign as everyone else.


Sadly, I wouldn't get to experience Kingdom Hearts 2 at all for another three years. Nobody I knew had a PS2 for me to borrow, and when they did nobody possessed Kingdom Hearts II, a game that the fans made seem took forever in appearing, when it only took three years. Not bad for a AAA-title from two giant companies, considering CoM wasn't initially going to be made at all. KHII's one-year time-skip was going to be left unexplained until a poll revealed children would buy a Kingdom Hearts game for the GBA, so it was created to set up KHII.


Fast-forward to 2008.

It was an exciting year for me. I had decided to get a PS2 Slim and finally buy titles from those franchises that didn't typically grace my Nintendo 64, Gamecube, and Wii. With the console came Final Fantasies VII-XII (substituting XI with X-2; laugh all you want, I enjoyed the game and I wasn't about to buy an MMO without my own personal angel whose kisses tasted of flan) and Kingdom Hearts I and II (CoM would be bought later that summer for completionists' sake before ReCoM was announced for US release). I received the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection a short time later as a B-Day present.


Of all the games I'd gotten and tested out, Kingdom Hearts looked to be the one I'd complete first. It was a charming game and it was my chance to get caught-up with a series I had a feeling I'd fully enjoy. Over the course of a month, I'd beaten both main Kingdom Hearts games and eager to buy the middle installment in what I considered a trilogy. I then moved on to complete that new Metal Gear box set in preparation for my next big game.


Bear with me, there's more relevance to this:


Of course the big game that year for me was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots How could it not be? It was Solid Snake's final hurrah after 20 years of the franchise and a decade after I'd originally played the first Metal Gear Solid on another borrowed PlayStation. It was my most-anticipated game after the previous Fall's Super Mario Galaxy, and I had to buy it. Luckily enough, they released an amazing MGS4 PS3 bundle: an 80 gig backwards-compatible PS3, the then-new DualShock 3, and MGS4 for a ridiculous price. The buy was a no-brainer: I got a new system to complement all the new games I'd gotten just over three months beforehand.

I'd decided to get that PS3 then and there for it's future potential. We'd all seen Final Fantasy XIII showcased in fantastic trailer form, Metal Gear Solid 4 was enough of a system-seller for me to come on board, and I was eager for that inevitable Kingdom Hearts III that the secret ending for KHII teased.

But wait! I'd gotten a laptop as a High School graduation present back in '07! Why not use it to see what the fanbase and others think about the series?


What an experience.

I first learned that the two main installments had gotten an expanded reissue over in Japan dubbed a Final Mix, with an International release nowhere in sight. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix was released literally months after the US release, which prompted unhappy reactions from my otherwise cheery self. Why hadn't they just delayed the International copies to add in those extra features (Keyblades, enemies, cutscenes) into all editions to promote a fair worldwide release?


While I do understand why FM was created and sold (literally three months) after the International version (our versions had extras that the Japanese themselves didn't get, but typically get in a reissued International release only in Japan anyway), why couldn't we all get the same product? It seems like some titles use the Japanese release as a testing ground of sorts, then use the feedback received to tune it up and release it worldwide, then reissue the world-wide title to Japanese gamers as an International release that Squeenix is fond of doing.


That didn't sit too well with me. However, I was told it was only a minor tweaking of the game itself, with only small weapon and item additions and only three extra cutscenes that elaborated the original's story a bit. What hit me the most was the addition of an extra Superboss that was exclusive to the Final Mix release: Unknown. This was easily the toughest enemy in the game, demoting Sephiroth to merely a powerful adversary, by no means a push-over, but not compared to this new guy.

Unknown could use lightsabers(!) in various ways, create force-fields made of blue energy, and could explode into a glowing ball of laser beams, and had an attack that continuously drained your health, scrambling your Commands until you selected one of the slots to "release" yourself. Truly a frentic boss fight.


Why did this bug me so much? Not only was Final Mix a rebalancing of the original game, it also serves as a canological update to the series, revealing more mysteries and hinting at future titles (sometimes at the risk of retconning, hence this journal's title, but I'll get to that in due time). This Superboss in that black coat? Yeah, his outfit is identical to the ones at the original secret ending to Kingdom Hearts. This enemy was added to build hype for a sequel, which was proven when the first title was a resounding success.

They even use footage from the Final Mix in later games, expecting the International audience to understand where it comes from (as minor as it is). Yes, they're more for the hardcore fans to endlessly speculate while we await future titles that will surely reveal the mysteries we talk about, while proposing new ones. It's not too major, but it irked me. I forgave it, then researched more.


Then I found out that a year earlier in '07, the Japanese had gotten Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix +. What did this consist of, you ask? Not only was it another rebalancing of KHII, it added a ton of end-game objectives to give you a reason to play beyond the ending: a "Critical" difficulty setting (which the game needed - KHII is too easy for the average gamer), added more cutscenes to elaborate fuzzier elements of the plot as well as forshadowing future games, added an entirely new end-game area, including 20 more Boss fights that require end-game stats to defeat, more hints at the three armored knights in the secret ending, and a full-on 3D remake of Chain of Memories in the form of Re:Chain of Memories, complete with fully-voiced story-centric cutscenes and links to KHII in the form of controls and unlockables.


You're killin' me, Squeenix.


FM+ was an unforgivable mistake. This was much more than FM was: this was the game they should've released in the first place. It's just a more complete game.


Why do I have such opinions? I own all three Final Mix games imported from Japan using my PS2 which I soft-modded. The first Final Mix was unfortunate but not a deal-breaker. Not releasing Final Mix + is such a sidestepping of a pothole to fall off a bridge scenario.


To be fair, the fanbase is right to bitch and moan about this. Squeenix has had no plans to release both Final Mixes internationally despite the demand for it. Granted, this is most likely due to the efforts to translate the games and reissue the games isn't worth the effort in doing so. We want what is essentially just that: a reissuing of '02 and '07 PS2 games. The fanbase doesn't score points in starting up rumors that the FMs are going to be released anytime soon. The only FM we ever got was ReCoM, and that was only for North American gamers back in '08. The pain was slightly easier to bear that year when I got it and enjoyed it. Don't touch the Japanese ReCoM when I've got a translated one, you know?


Now here's the main issue: retconning.


Retconning is usually an annoying thing, since fans of a series - particularly of such a story-driven franchise - look to continuity to base their speculations on mysteries before they're unraveled to help make the down-time between releases that much more bearable.

When it comes to these enhanced reissues/remakes for this series, the fanbase goes nuts, in both a good and bad way.

Allow me to clarify one thing before I get started: I don't mind fanbases in general. If I don't want to know anything, I don't consult them. They don't actively ask for my opinion, since mine is mostly likely covered by someone else. Fanbases are fun things for those who enjoy a particular work. You can share your opinion, hear others' and maybe come to understand something you didn't see before on your own. Everybody wins, you can enjoy the hype, speculate, and have fun with your series with others. With the Internet, it's even easier, though there are drawbacks, some of which can start rants.


Now I'll begin the rant.



To me, Kingdom Hearts has a fine line between an elaboration and a full-on retcon of events.
I'll organize this by game to make it simpler and to not spoil too much.


Kingdom Hearts
This is the first title, and like most franchise-starters, most of the series' constants and base mechanics originate from this first installment. There's not much going plot-hole wise unless you delve really deep into the story. Most of the questions that arise (namely the ending) are more in spirit with the title: using faith that it'll all end up okay. You can forgive the title in it being a major experiment and nobody had any idea this was a huge hit on Squeenix and Disney's hands.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
The additions to the first enhanced reissue are minimal. Some elaboration was made on Riku's involvement in three cutscenes, basically on where he was during two key events and his thoughts on the matter, though they weren't essential. Minor additions were made to a few scenes, showcasing the bond between the three main human protagonists Sora, Riku and Kairi.
The most important additions were the ones pertaining to the then-green lit sequel. The Unknown fight was a preview of the new series antagonists that would be seen in the sequels, fan-favorite Organization XIII. The battle in particular is pivital to setting up the entirety of a later Gaiden (side) game, so it's exclusion from the original release was unfortunate, but the die-hard fans know of it's placement and importance. It also replaces the original secret ending with a much more elaborate one. The scene that's depicted represents an almost exact (albeit stylized) vision of the ending of said-Gaiden game.
Not too bad of an offender, but it still offends.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Being the next title not originally made to exist meant that the game had to be created to set up the next "propor" title. The plot was half a retelling of the original KH and half jumping-off point for KHII.
The game's worlds are memories of series protagonist Sora's encounters in the previous title, and as such the actuall events in most of the returning worlds aren't of too much consequence. The game occurs in original world Castle Oblivion, a locale with more importance than originally stated. With memories playing an important part in the plot, many saw new character Namine as a Mary Sue (much to my distain). Her existence was well justified in my opinion, with her intrusion in Sora's memories well within reason, her ability made perfect sense, and the reason for her importance would be made clear in the next title.
The actual meat of the plot came from the game's cutscenes in the Castle itself. The Organization made it's first formal appearance here, and with it dropped the series' tone a few notches towards what would become a series staple. Who would've thought a Disney property, seemingly aimed towards a younger crowd, would contain a plot full of existential moments? Well, it happened, and it started here. The Organization was a threatening group in black coats, messing with the protagonists in an effective matter. By the end of the game, things had to be set right, resulting in the loss of memory of most of the events that occured in the game, setting the stage clearly for Kingdom Hearts II.
Nit-picks could be used for the character additions and darker, less Disney-centric plot, but it added a near-universal shift in tone that everyone seemed to embrace. We all knew the game was a set-up the moment you hit the game's hidden second scenario and made it to the end, forshadowing many events that would be clarified in KHII.

Kingdom Hearts II
As far as I can tell, this is the most popular and well-liked game in the series, and not without reason. This was the sequel everyone wanted, and mostly received. More worlds, bigger scope, tighter and smoother combat, varied battle options, and the promise of an experience like no other. In many ways it succeeded, yet a fanbase sees all the negatives in the form of what they didn't get and wanted.
The game, taking place approximately a year after the first game, starts off with a completely new character (hinted at the end of CoM) named Roxas, with no explanation whatsoever. The first two hours deal heavily with this new character (in what has to be one of the longest tutorials I've ever had to sit through, the only saving grace for me was the plot - and a character introduced in the hidden scenario of CoM voiced by Christopher Lee - that hooked me into trying to guess what was happening before being told), giving series newcomers a character who relates to all the weirdness mirroring the player's own and giving KH fans a reason to pay attention and piece together the missing pieces of plot.
The game eventually grants the player control of Sora for the remainder of the game, filling in the majority of what you needed to know from the year-long gap in plot. The battle to protect the worlds from Darkness needed the Keyblade's Chosen One yet again, the rest of Organization XIII was introduced and matters with them mostly concluded, with the plot growing exponentionally with some elements best explained to newcomers with a dreaded PowerPoint presentation.
The fanbase mainly had problems with how it was shown that by the end of the game, the series had a possible grand total of seven Keyblade weilders. "They practically gave away Keyblades!", many would say. I was always of the assumption that the ability to weild a Keyblade had more to do than just a strong heart and will, but that's yet to be established at this point. I don't mind multiple Keyblade users, since it's been stated that Sora's the "Key that connects everything" and I'm all for others with the mystical weapon. Besides, it's foolish to think that so few exist. In the first game, Sora, Riku and King Mickey were shown to weild the weapon, and it made sense using fringe logic: all the characters were shown to be powerful enough to warrent such a weapon. The only one that took me by surprise was the one suddenly given to Kairi, to which we've still been given no elaboration, but I'm holding out on that one.
Of other note was the secret ending that shows three armored knights each brandishing their own Keyblades in a deserted wasteland full of discarded Keyblades. This was the usual concept ending in hopes for an idea for a sequel, and it worked brilliantly for speculation and bitchiness.
Other plotholes mentioned were those mainly dealing with the Organization. The remaining seven members weren't all as characterized as the first six introduced in CoM were, and only one member's background out of all thirteen was elaborated enough to sate the fanbase.
The ending also had lots of speculation in regards to characters' whereabouts, such as to the two Disney villains' ultimate outcome, the remnants of the enemy forces, etc. It wasn't anything major, but it's these vague types of outcomes that keep us fans guessing up until it's revealed. Overall, this one actually ended on a happy note compared to the first title's and seemingly wrapped up the main story as far as I was concerned. Sure, a few things still bugged me but there was another game coming! I could wait.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix +
Re:Chain of Memories, remake of the GBA game, had a few additions that were completely new, such as a plothole of sorts that's been around since the series began: Where the heck was Pluto this entire time? Well, according to Sora's memories of the first world where he met Donald and Goofy, Pluto was with the two Disney characters until he found Sora, then heard something (presumably Mickey's whistle), then ran off, never to be seen until the ending of the game. It seemed to point out Pluto's absense as a big deal, and I'm always glad the bit Disney characters get some screentime like Jiminy did during CoM. Other additions was a weapon reveal (of which was noted to be of some importance; what exactly wasn't elaborated, but I'm keeping my eye open), some obvious forshadowing (or maybe that's because we knew exactly what we were lookking for this time around), and some minor scenario changes.
As for Kingdom Hearts II, it added many little tweaks and scenarios. Extra scenes that showed the actions of Organization members, secondary characters, and minor scenario explanations were appreciated.
Of particular note were the additions relating to the three armored Keyblade knights. The canological update included an additional secret movie, continuing where the first left off and revealing the character designs of the three knight, confirmed by series director as Terra, Aqua and Ven, as well as two new antagonists, Master Xehanort and an unnamed masked man, each brandishing a Keyblade. The video was called "Birth by Sleep" and was stated to take place about a decade before the first game. Each warrior got a connection inserted into the game in some form. The series' most difficult Superboss, Lingering Sentiment, is cloaked in Terra's armor, leading many including myself to speculate that we know exactly what became of this character. The female, Aqua, was a bit more abstract as to her whereabouts. A flashback was included mid-way through the game that dealt with KHII's Big Bad going into a secret room, the Chamber of Repose, to talk to her armor and Keyblade, addressing her as "friend". This helped elaborate on Castle Oblivion's importance to the Organization. The youngest warrior, Ven, looks identical to Roxas, being the most baffling case. This character couldn't have existed a decade prior due to events explained in-game, so his case is the drive for the game shown in "Birth by Sleep".

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Oh gosh, where to begin...
This was the game for the Organization fans, and our first true example of a Gaiden game. Sure, you could claim CoM wasn't exactly a main title as well, but it had one thing going for it that Days didn't. Frankly, it was the diving board into KHII, introducing the very antagonists that would become the protagonists in Days. You'd be hard-pressed trying to justify Days' importance to that of CoM's.
No matter the justification, it was an interquel, taking place between all three previous games, from a pivotal moment in KH, to flying by CoM, then leading directly into KHII. It was to showcase the year missing from the main plot by using the point of view of Roxas. It used a mission-based structure, following Squeenix's previous mission-based effort Final Fantasy VII -Crisis Core-.
While the fanbase thought it was the Organization game they'd been clamoring for, it was revealed that the big draw for the title (and indeed the plot) was the inclusion of a fourteenth member of Organization XIII. You can imagine the number that did for those crying "RETCON!!!" at the top of their lungs. She was seen first and foremost by most literary snobs as the epitome of a "Mary Sue", created as fanwank to annoy the crap out of the established fanbase and to debase all yaoi thoughts half the fanbase has on series faves Roxas and Axel. Or so many claim.
Many also think the story is akin to that of bad fanfiction, with the plot mostly focuses around the mysterious Number XIV who looks suspiciously like female protagonist Kairi, when she logically shouldn't, and how she was a major reason for Roxas' actions leading into KHII. I don't think that way, personally. To defend that they had an idea about this character, I point towards a scene late into Roxas' prologue in KHII. He looks around a room at the many pictures that debunked Mary Sue Namine has drawn. One of them features what is unquestionably Roxas and Axel facing two other cloaked figures. It's pointed out in the cutscene for around 5 seconds - more than a lingering glance, IMO - and has the distinctive hairstyles of the fan fave Organization members. If I were to guess, this is the basis of Riku and Xion's involvement in Days, when they have a differing of views. I dunno, seems they had planned something out in advance and never got to show the scene until later. Maybe I'm grasping at straws? Nobody seems to point out and/or remember the picture in question, but that was one of the lingering questions that was never specified and to my knowledge has yet to be.
I had no problem with Days' plot. It was a very simple plot of friendship between three characters. Granted, it wasn't the Organization game everyone wanted, but it was a very decent effort, and one of the best games on the DS. To me, it plays like a middleground between KH and KHII, with simplified controls but with added features like slightly varied combos and a very customizable combat/inventory system. To many it was a disappointment that retcons many moments, such as shoe-horning in Xion's involvement to justify Roxas' actions, the pussification of Roxas and Axel, from rebellious badass of the former to an ice cream loving naive flowerchild too slow for his own good and then became the emo we now see him as, and the murderous, triple-crossing motherfrakker demoted to a whimpy do-gooder that sacrifices himself unecessarily.
While I wouldn't go so far as to agree with those statements, those're the common complaints I read when I drop in to lurk on forums. I enjoyed the game, from Roxas' simple beginnings (with his first week mysteriously ommitted from the game) as a naive child with a Key for a weapon, to learning the basics of the emotions he shouldn't have, to having feelings of joy, anger, and sadness at events involving his friends, just to lose it all from the very Organization he's involved in that he eventually culminates in his rebellious attack in search for answers.
I also enjoy the hints for BbS, particularly the takeover plot from two specific Organization members and their past history, to Ven's cameo appearance, to the feeling that Xion is gone but not forgotten.
Oh well, can't please everyone, especially an unsatisfied fanbase.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
The newest game in the series, to be released Stateside on September 7 for the PlayStation Portable, has been out in Japan since January, and this is the time when I have to stop getting involved with the fanbase that can spoil the newest revelations if you're not careful enough. As such, I haven't spoiled myself on too much, since you can't avoid everything when looking up information to translated guides on the Final Mix games, but the two things I was spoiled on I had actually guessed correctly (yay for me!), so it wasn't so much a spoiler as it was a confirmation of my awesome speculation. Otherwise, I'm completely in the dark as to what happens to all the new characters in the game, the nature of the Unversed (the new enemies, though an English interview with Nomura said they were manifestations of negative thought or to some such degree), and how it's major mysteries are answered.
Dubbed Episode 0 by Nomura, I hope people realize that he created the game with the ambition of a numbered title, and by Episode 0 I know he means it. It's the prequel that I've been waiting for, to answer questions and set up the future of the series while still hinting at new stuff. I love this series as it plays around with it's world, granting you access to new discoveries along the way, while still dangling that carrot of "what's this, a hint?" to keep you going.
As such, I didn't keep track much of the fanbase's reactions for BbS, since I don't wish to spoil myself, especially now more than ever. I want to experience the game's surprises as the creators intended me to (confirmations not withstanding), so I can't say much more on this except one thing:

Letter to fanbase:

I understand we didn't get the game as soon as we all wanted it, but chill out for a second. They've confirmed we're getting extras that the original game didn't have, such as a Critical mode, an extra Superboss, more Keyblades, more cutscenes, more extras, more everything. I'm not quite sure to what extent these extras cover, but it seems to me like we're getting a Final Mix-calibur issue as our only one. If this is the case, let's just wait out these eight extra months in peace and comfort that we're getting some substantial extras. A Critical Mode on par with FM+'s is worth it in my book. I'd've waited an extra year to get Final Mix + as our first edition of KHII, but that would've been my loss/wait.

Let's chill out and stop complaining about our late Summer release. Oh, and to clarify: September 7th is still technically Summer. You're going by what everyone else is, which is the "I'll be in school then so it's not Summer" mentality. Let's not argue about this anymore - it's a Summer release, albeit a late Summer, but still a Summer release. Summer.

Summer~!

Sincerely, An Annoyed Fan

Kingdom Hearts Recoded
Awrite, I'm just being a hype-eating fan on this one. For all we know, this could very well be Kingdom Hearts coded, the third/first Gaiden game that Japan got on cellphones in episodic format. Jiminy Cricket's new voice actor, Phil Snyder (successor to Jiminy's previous VA, the great Eddie Caroll), revealed that his first work as the famous cricket was "Kingdom Hearts Recoded", though he doesn't know much more than that, so we're all in the dark right now. I'm just going to assume this is a sort of English port. This is all seculation at this point, so I'm not going to add any fuel by claiming I'm right, cuz nobody knows at this point.
I hope that it'll be bundled with BbS somehow, but this is me being wishful.
In real news, Nomura claimed they're working on three games (he claims he worded it as working on two games, none of them KHIII, but we seriously think he's just covering his backside on this one), with one being aimed particularly for the NA audience, and I'm getting the feeling this is it.
Plotwise, I actually know the basics and roughly how it relates to BbS, but not in the specifics. If we are getting coded, I'd appreciate it since that means they're not holding all the stuff in Japan. Not much I can say on this one.

But who knows? The other thing you can't avoid is this Kingdom Hearts Reconnect, which is what I assume is the secret ending of BbS, but I'm not probing too much into the matter. So while I'm not too sure what this Reconnect is, I do know many think it's a new game. There hasn't been any new games officially announced, so what the hey. I'll be caught up the week of September 7th, so then I'll be an informed person.

All in all, I don't think the series has too many retcons, though I can certainly see how one can see it as such. I'm of the train of thought that since it deliberately leaves events vague, it gives the series the time it wants to fully unveil its secrets, what we see as plotholes in the moment, and their future connections. I believe the series is good at giving us a hint at an event or character, then elaborating when the time comes, leaving behind a bit more mystery to figure out before a future title brings it up. It keeps us all speculating, giving us more talk at the watercooler, just as Nomura intended.

Right now, I can't think of a decent example of a blatant retcon. Were I arguing with someone, I guess they'd bring up Xion, since she's the most accessible candidate for the retcon many claim Days is. I don't get that impression. Without her, it becomes difficult for me to assume that Roxas went almost a full year of Organization life. Yes, it was established that Axel was his only friend during that time, but the retcon would probably apply to how the series manages to cover for characters that didn't appear in a previous title. While I can certainly see this as a viable option, I don't hold that too much against them, especially if they make the scenarios and backstories work, which the series has done an excellent job of. I have no problems with any character, and while I wish a few were in the spotlight more like Jiminy and Pluto have gotten recently, a little more like Days' simple scenes of Sea-Salt ice cream at the Twilight Town clock tower would do well to give simple characterization to the bit players. The three kids that Roxas hung out with in Twilight Town during KHII's opening, while as confusing as it was, the chemistry between the four was enough to fall into it's elaborate tutorial and get to like the gang, which made it even more sad when it turned out the way it did.

Again, I think there's a fine line between retcon and clever elaboration. It just depends on what you choose to digest. Being critical of every little thing is par for the course for a fanbase, but then they start falling into unpleasable fanbase territory. At that point it becomes a chore for me to read for opinions when the majority of them are all about negativity and how they could've done it better. I thought a fanbase should enjoy the positives along with the negatives. While I know I'm being a bit black and white, it gets tiring seeing what the Internet does to people's enthusiasm, whittling it down to a fine pitchfork of negative energy that they use to mob optimists of their hope, creating a generation of jaded, wanna-be critics that suck the life out of.. well, life.

A little optimism is nice, guys!

I apologize again for the wordiness and block of text. I can't figure out how to space this with pictures to make it less of a chore, but then it screws up the order of this thing. Oh wells, I'll get back to drawing abstract things. Disneyland did a great job of inspiration (so does people-watching!).

Woo for E3 next week!!!
:D

Memorial Weekend '10

Woo!

Haven't been for almost two years!!! I know, ridiculous! Hopefully I can get inspiration while at the Parks and actually get into drawing again. It's been a massive art-block for the past year and a half.

Wish me luck!

Pay Thy Hip Bard

There will always be a lie in believe, an over in lover, an end in friends, an us in trust, and an if in life.

And there's an anagram in Pay Thy Hip Bard (to me)!

:D

Thought on Avatar

It was gorgeous. Best looking film I've ever witnessed. I had to see it on principle for the visuals alone - no shame in admitting that, since you couldn't discuss this flick without the mention. Not quite the end-all for CGI like the hype was trying to aim me towards, but certainly the best I've seen for sheer clarity and consistant detail, specifically in the backgrounds.

Remember a decade back when you saw Episode I and was completely blown away? It was kinda like that. Great experience, so much fun.

Nothing more to say, really. Wasn't a bad film at all, wished I could've seen it in IMAX-3D. Seriously considering that eventual extra-filled BD release.