Poll of the Day > KH Birth by Sleep kinda sucks

(+) Yeah! (+)

Being Not-Sora blows

blows CHONKS
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It's not a good game, but really not for the reason. That battle system has some serious issues that are just not present in previous KH games.

Edit: Also the way the story is split up is nonsensical and makes an already over complicated and bloated story even harder to follow.
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Eh, it's better than Dream Drop Distance imo.
And some people prefer it over the likes of Days, Coded, or CoM.

The villains are easily the best thing about the game though.

I love the basic structure of the game, but the actual combat just feels so badly wonked out it's a constant detriment to the experience. The command system, rather than encouraging diverse playstyles like you'd expect from something so heavily customizable, encourages spamming the single most powerful moves over and over. Fighting the hardest bosses feels less like you've gotten good at the game and more like you're abusing a bunch of cheap exploits, with no alternative strategies apparent.

And while the story certainly has heart to it and has some great moments, it suffers bad from prequelitis with frequent callbacks to the prior games where they really weren't necessary. They act less as a cool callback and more as a distraction, with importance being stressed on elements that don't fit well into Birth By Sleep's self-contained narrative. It tries to be its own story while also trying to be "the big grand incredible revelation of every single question you've ever had about Kingdom Hearts ever" and those two goals conflict. Not to mention most of the questions really didn't need answering, making the attempts at answering them feel pretty hollow. Why does Castle Oblivion have to have such a super-specific origin story? Why can't it just be a spooky magic castle made by spooky magic bad guys?
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I really. really. wish they had just made regular numbered console games instead of getting into all this handheld nonsense.

I mean, handhelds wouldve been fine if they kept the same gameplay as the two main games, but no, they had to add in gimmicky shit like cards, and panels, and Pokmon knockoffs.

I just hope they dont fuck up KHIII.
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This game should have been on PS3.

They skipped that console entirely.

Someone summarize the plot

FinalFantasyVII posted...

Someone summarize the plot

darkness
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Terra was easier to pull to the dark side than Anakin and the fire mutant from X-Men 2

Man, this doesn't bode well for me. I'm playing through the series before III comes out and I'm on KHII right now and not enjoying it. There's a fucking cutscene every other room. It's like the MGS4 of KH so far.

It was alright, but all of the handheld games have a lot of issues holding them back. I'm hoping 3 surpasses 2 gameplay-wise.
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honestly if you dont like 2 the series probably just isnt for you because thats pretty much the quintessential kingdom hearts game
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Nightengale posted...

honestly if you dont like 2 the series probably just isnt for you because thats pretty much the quintessential kingdom hearts game

Noooo.
See, cause I liked KH, CoM, and 358/2 Days. But II has really turned me off just because of the frequency of cutscenes. The gameplay is a blast and Drives are fun as hell, but holy shit, I don't need Yen Sid telling me what Nobodies are for 10 minutes straight.

There was always something about the combat that felt off.
I was nowhere near as good in BbS as I was in KH2. I could never put my finger on it but I really struggled with some of the boss fights.

i never played bbs until the remastered version on PS4 came out. i know it was originally a PSP game but in remastered form it almost felt like its hardware limitations were amplified. way more empty corridors and such. and the combat is just weird

aqua being a primary magic user was an interesting take but it still didn't quite feel right
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I remember enjoying the game a ton on PSP, though it had faults.

That said, I haven't played it since my UMD for bbs broke (the plastic cover caved in. Making the game useless as it can't spin properly) and while I hace the collection on PS4, I was replaying KHII and have shelved it for other games for a while (I've played every KH so I'm not in any real rush).

I do want to play BBS again.
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knivesX2004 posted...

There was always something about the combat that felt off.
I was nowhere near as good in BbS as I was in KH2. I could never put my finger on it but I really struggled with some of the boss fights.

Thats because there really isnt a strategy for boss fights. They basically keep attacking and give you little windows of opportunity to launch a combo at them every now and then. And because none of the bosses get knocked away when you hit them (seriously wtf?), you get punished... for punishing them.

Like, KH2 has really effective revenge values for all of its bosses so you could figure out when to attack and whatever. BBS just has them attacking whenever the fuck they want.

Also, the commands that are OP for regular encounters are the commands thatll get you killed VERY quickly during bosses because, again, they dont flinch or get knocked back. I still need to finish that game so I can do Aquas bonus storyline too.
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knivesX2004 posted...

There was always something about the combat that felt off.
I was nowhere near as good in BbS as I was in KH2. I could never put my finger on it but I really struggled with some of the boss fights.

Because when they designed the KH2 battle system, they knew what they were doing. Each boss has a "revenge" value. The more you hit them, the higher the value rises until it hits a threshold, then they'll counter you. In BbS, there's no such system. Enemies can just break your combos with no rhyme or reason, at any time. They'll just do it.
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They are also ultra bland

Nobodies were very distinct from Heartless.

Unversed are lame as can be

quigonzel posted...

Ah, the post-game stuff is a lot of fun to do. The Organization data battles are worth price of admission.

That's good to hear. I had to shelf KH's post-game to get the other ones finished and I know that was a pretty barebones post-game, so it sounds like KHII's will be pretty awesome.

FinalFantasyVII posted...

This game should have been on PS3.

They skipped that console entirely.

Someone summarize the plot

It was!!! It's called KH2.5 Final Mix for the PS3 and KH1.5 + 2.5 FM for the PS4!
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They all kind of suck though?

thebestestbest posted...

They all kind of suck though?

Nah bro. KH2 is one of the most refined action JRPGs ever made, and Final Mix+ only made it even better
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KH, CoM, and KH2 are excellent games.

Birth By Sleep is ultra stupid and trivial because they pretty much tell you what happens before hand.