Board 8 > Smash inspired me to replay Kingdom Hearts

(+) Yeah! (+)

Re:CoM isnt the best but as previously stated you can breeze through 90% of Soras story with a deck consisting of just Firaga and Blizzaga. That works for nearly all random encounters prior to floor 13.

You can jump to KH2 or watch the Re:CoM cutscenes first.

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ok I started CoM and finished the first floor and the achievement popped

i guess this shouldnt be surprising since its not exactly the selling point of the collection, but only like 7% of players finished the first floor. For comparison, like 10% of players finished KH1,

Im curious to see how hard these numbers drop as I progress. Will beating CoM be more or less rare than beating Sephiroth in KH1?

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Re:Com isn't that bad, I thought it was better than the GBA version at least.

I got the platinum for every Kingdom Hearts game and Re:CoM was the rarest one, takes a lot of grinding to get all the cards you need for 100% completion.

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Not to mention leveling Riku to 99 takes about 6.5 hours after youve done everything else.

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Not to mention the difficulty trophies not stacking in the original PS3 1.5 release so you have to play Sora and Riku 3 times each.

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Finished floor 5. Achievement for that was like 4%

i dont dislike the game? But I dont feel like I fully get how to do it well. Especially when Im in a boss fight and the boss uses sleights, its hard to do action stuff while also tracking the number Im supposed to beat to break their stuff and then also remembering where my stuff with the right number is in the card list.
And the Disney levels feel pretty repetitive having just played KH1. Exact same music, basically the same exact little plot with some minor change to make it about memories being lost...

Im gonna keep going for now, but I dunno if Ill make it all the way through the Riku stuff

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oh and its kinda funny how much older Sora sounds even though this is happening like five minutes after the end of KH1. Basically adult HJO sounds wrong coming out of that same Sora model.

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MoogleKupo141 posted...

oh and its kinda funny how much older Sora sounds even though this is happening like five minutes after the end of KH1. Basically adult HJO sounds wrong coming out of that same Sora model.

100% agree with this. And yeah, the levels can feel a bit repetitive. When CoM came out back in the day, I didnt have a PS2 yet, so I was thrilled to be playing a Kingdom Hearts game. Now playing back to back in this compilation, and with the game in 3D

Rikus campaign is actually really fast to complete. You can beat it on any difficult without needing additional grinding at all if you just fight most enemy encounters as you navigate the floors.

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CoM is definitely repetitive feeling with the levels, and yea Re:CoM was made after KH2 weirdly enough so older sounding Sora is what we got. It was first part of KH2 Final Mix+ for Japan and then came out as a separate release here in 2008 I believe, at least I think I remember getting it in 2008. Which was wild, because I had no idea it was going to be a thing and I walk into one of the old media stores by me and see some new Kingdom Hearts PS2 game on display and go "holy shit they remade Chain of Memories?!?!"

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MoogleKupo141 posted...

Basically adult HJO sounds wrong coming out of that same Sora model.

Oh it doesn't stop here either. Half the series uses KH1 model Sora.

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MoogleKupo141 posted...

Especially when Im in a boss fight and the boss uses sleights, its hard to do action stuff while also tracking the number Im supposed to beat to break their stuff and then also remembering where my stuff with the right number is in the card list.

You can press a button to get to you Reload card instantly, and I like keeping a few zeros just behind it for easy access. I just try to save 0s for breaking enemy sleights unless they obviously used something with a small sum.

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finished Soras story

i dunno, the battles feel mindless but also occasionally frantic in a bad way when I need to scroll off my planned stuff to get to cure or whatever

but also its weirdly compelling. Ill start up Rikus side and see how it goes. Dont really want to commit to the long ass Roxas intro segment in KH2 yet

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Sometimes the simplicity of Riku's mode is refreshing, othertimes a lot more repetitive and boring.

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The novelty of playing as Riku when I was 12 was enough to carry the whole mode for me

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its moving pretty quickly and all the non-boss fights are mindless enough that I can halfway watch tv while Im playing it, so Im almost finished. Taking a break now, but I Just got done with Destiny Islands so Ill probably finish it up later tonight.

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ok beat the riku side

boy they talk a lot about smelling each other and darkness

and itll never not be funny that Mickey Mouse is this legendary hero and figure of reverence. Riku constantly calling him your majesty is just so silly.

but I like it. The absurdity of the Disney stuff is part of its charm.

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into KH2 now. Trying critical mode.

boy this moves fast when you get past the Roxas part. Hit like four different locations within an hour.
also they load you up with classic Disney characters which i really enjoy. Petes the best, honestly his presence in the game probably boosts it .5 points in my mental rating.

got beat up by a door in Beasts Castle but then Mickey showed up to save me which is a mechanic I did not remember at all.

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KH2 so good, still the best game in the series and probably a top 5 of all time for me.

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Damn you flew through CoM and now currently 2 lol. Have you ever played critical? How's it going for you?

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never did critical. I dont think Ive played KH2 since the first time I beat it back when it came out.

im managing ok so far, but its still super early

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Like KH1, KH2 can be a bit harder early on then get easy for a while until endgame outside of a few specific fights.

I always found I needed to grind out some levels to get through Olympus Coliseum and Deep Jungle, then Id have minimal trouble all the way through to Hollow Bastion.

Its easier to die in Beasts Castle than numerous later worlds.

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right after posting I started playing by again and totally died a bunch of times in a row in Beasts Castle lol

i think its an extra problem right now because my lack of abilities that I had during KH1 (specifically dodge rolling) is throwing me off.

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Gotta block.

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I realized I should probably have actual armor that gives me defense so I went back to hollow bastion to buy one and then also realized the combat level for Mulan world is lower than Beasts Castle so I went there

and that went better. Beat Shan-Yu first try, now Ill head back to Beast.

its pretty funny that back in KH1 they were insistent that Keyblade wielders shouldnt interfere with other worlds, now Sora is inserting himself into a war on the side of imperial China.
I guess maybe thats why there were no actual Huns other than Shan-Yu... turns it into just a Heartless issue instead of something more complicated geopolitically.

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in the same way Timeless River makes Sora, Donald, and Goofy look old-timey, Port Royal should make them look realistic. Sora should look like HJO, Goofy and Donald like an actual dog and duck

also they should turn into furniture in Beasts Castle

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Gwarsh

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Tron is ticklish


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Nearing the end now. Probably got a lot of time grinding and fighting optional bosses ahead of me, but plot wise Im basically done. Just fought Xemnas for the first time.

Im really surprised by how much this is holding up for me. I figured fifteenish years later and fifteenish years older, this game about teens hanging out with Disney characters wouldnt hit the same for me... but its still working.
Sometimes random dudes go on talking about hearts in cutscenes that go on too long, but mostly its great and compelling.

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Yeah, KH2 is still awesome.

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The concept of kh is still awesome

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The gameplay is still some of the best I've ever played. Just feels so fluid and responsive.

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MoogleKupo141 posted...

Sometimes random dudes go on talking about hearts in cutscenes that go on too long

This is also the same as in 2004

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MoogleKupo141 posted...

but mostly its great and compelling.

idk man I don't see how everyone just forgives how Axel was utilized...dude changes his motivations/alignment offscreen like twice

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pjbasis posted...

idk man I don't see how everyone just forgives how Axel was utilized...dude changes his motivations/alignment offscreen like twice

there definitely was a bit there where I was confused about what he was up to. I thought he rescued Kairi then later hes apologizing about kidnapping her or something, its a little muddled

speaking of Axel: I beat Axel and Vexens data rematches. Tried Demyx a few times too but got mad at it when there were 99 water clones to kill in 30 seconds. Also beat Sephiroth.

also extremely did not beat the keyblade armor guy.

now Im grinding out the last ten level ups before I go back to boss fighting


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pjbasis posted...

idk man I don't see how everyone just forgives how Axel was utilized...dude changes his motivations/alignment offscreen like twice

he's a charming guy and they try to give you that Ocelot vibe of "you can't tell whose side he's REALLY on" so I didn't think about it too much

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I always thought of Xigbar as the Revolver Ocelot of Kingdom Hearts, though more in the sense of being the minion who seems to know more than he's letting on, and has his own agenda. Then at the end of KH3, it turns out he was the mastermind behind everything.

His death scene is also one of the lamest things ever. There's no narrative reason why a suicide attack is necessary there especially in a game with the 1000 heartless battle. It just makes me feel painfully aware of the hand of the author just not knowing what to do with the character and writing him out before the final world.

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LeonhartFour posted...

he's a charming guy and they try to give you that Ocelot vibe of "you can't tell whose side he's REALLY on" so I didn't think about it too much

This is why he's awesome in Com, but it feels like there's very little payoff in 2. The Roxas reveal/connection in the beginning is nice, but in retrospect it's the ending to the Days story more than setting up 2 at all. (Since roxas isnt a character in kh2 proper at all either!)

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I feel like Axel's role in KH2 is just to establish his relationship with Roxas more than anything.

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pjbasis posted...

His death scene is also one of the lamest things ever. There's no narrative reason why a suicide attack is necessary there especially in a game with the 1000 heartless battle. It just makes me feel painfully aware of the hand of the author just not knowing what to do with the character and writing him out before the final world.

that sort of thing always make me mad

like Im winning some fight and then it ends with a cutscene like oh no, they keep coming! Theres too many of them!

no theres not. I could kill an infinite amount of these jabronis.

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I mean to be fair in the cutscene there's randomly like 500 nobodies surrounding them. Also Sora doesn't look overwhelmed it's more Axel just wanting to die I think.

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it is done

100% filled Jiminys journal. I am a keyblade master

not sure what Ill go for next. Considering BBS since its in this same collection, but also considering DDD because I never played it but also maybe its not good?

I dunno, maybe Ill stop neglecting Metroid Dread and take a break from KH for a while

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I think DDD is when the plot went from "sometimes confusing" to "completely bonkers, WTF is going on" for me personally.

I have a better grasp on it now but DDD really turns up the crazy.

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You should definitely go BBS before DDD.

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Aw, Underleveled closed his topic and gave up :(

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pjbasis posted...

You should definitely go BBS before DDD.

Yeah, this.

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pjbasis posted...

You should definitely go BBS before DDD.

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the thing about BBS is Im not sure Im gonna play it at all. I already played it probably 3ish years ago on a PSP and didnt love it.

but maybe Im in a different, more KH-positive brain zone now than I was then, so Im halfway tempted to try again

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It's shorter or at least feels shorter than most games in the series at least.

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It's probably a different experience in the collection since it's on console and the Final Mix version. I enjoyed it a lot, can't decide if it's my second or third favourite in the series.

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