Kingdom Hearts

[Dracos]

Well, I've been meaning to get my thoughts down on this game.  A hybrid RPG product produced by two of the greatest in their own industries: Squaresoft of Japan and Disney.  A great deal of controversy and rumor surrounded this game through all stages of development.  No one, save the producers themselves, truly had any idea what was going to come from these strange bed fellows.  A lot of people made their decision on this game well before it actually came out, either good or bad... but I think the game comes across as quite surprising given the two forces engaged in it's creation.

My first impression upon starting this game up was approval.  They started on a very strong note with a beautiful and symbolic FMV introduction.  It is a pity this ends up being the high point of graphics for the entire game as the real game graphic quality was below what should be expected from such media giants.  While some graphics, particularly the clothes on the hero, were of the fine design and high quality one expects from Squaresoft given their recent productions...  The majority of graphics was on par with Sonic Adventure from the Dreamcast.  The facial movements felt particularly sloppy.  Additionally a particularly notable flaw was the contrasts they used.  Throughout the entire game it was entirely too hard to see.  If you don't have a good lighting setup around your tv, this game will painfully strain your eyes in trying to figure out what is going on.  The bigger the tv the less this problem is noticable, but it still existed when I tried it on 27'' tvs.  Perhaps for those with big screen tvs it won't be so bad, but you'll still probably notice the lack of effective use of contrast to make the game easier to see.

Next up we have the musical score which overall could have been beefed up all around.  It has a very solid main number, Simple and Clean, but outside of that the music came across as fairly lackluster with a few tunes just going straight over into inappropriate for the scene.  A LOT of the drama in this game was shattered by poor musical score choice.  Probably the worst was Under the Sea musical score being played in the Little Mermaid stage... which wasn't appropriate for any point in that stage.

The background storyline for this game was a fairly solid fantasy tale...  weakened considerably on every single instance of trying to put squaresoft characters and disney characters into it.  The sheer amount of effort they put to twisting Disney characters into sidekick roles, breaking old stories to provide disney worlds to work with, etc...  just spoiled a vast majority of the game.  It's was quite disappointing to see this wretched display of hackwork plotting.  The amount of time they spent to really make sure the stories blended well was disappointing.

The only saving grace really behind this game was the battle system.  Overall solidly built, though lacking some polish that would have made it really spectactular, it was the most enjoyable part of the game.  It's quite obvious that the entire game was built with the battle system in mind.... with the exception of the flying bits, which was quite annoying as the failed to really develop good aerial combat design.  Nevertheless, this was the best part of the game, particularly slashing one's way through the collisium to the sadistic platinum match at the end.

Albeit, this revolution around the battle system was also a handicap as a majority of the puzzles in this game could be reduced to nothing more than jump or switch puzzles.  If you enjoy a challenging and intriguing dungeon scheme, this game isn't going to provide one.

As a whole the game is solidly built but nothing special.  The story design has potential but it wasn't actualized in this game.  The graphics and sound could be whole orders of magnitude better than they were.  All in all, it plays as if it was a rushed job with an emphasis on fanservice.  Fun if you don't have much better to do, but there are a lot of better games out there.

Fearless Leader

[Dracos]

Bumping this up.

Fearless Leader

[kpjam]

Adding my two bits.

Good game.  Not great though.  One of the things that I think hurt it was its cross-breed audience.  Square's audience is late teens early twenties, while Disney is Disney.  I like Disney and I'm old.  Unfortunately, I think they never decided who they were going after, and that's a problem.

The battle system is more than good, it's actually excellent.  Fun, easy to manage, and it makes sense.

I do disagree with Drac on one thing:  The openeing sequence wasn't anything special.  It was special for a game, but it was too cliched and easy.

Anyway, as one of the people who said 'nay' to this game before playing, I'd recommend it now.  It's a mid-level RPG.  One of the things it does well is give veterans things to do outside the main quest while leaving the main object challenging but not really difficult (the hidden boss in Agrobar was quite the challenge for me).  I consider myself an average gamer and I had no problems finishing the main story, and I enjoyed it.  I think you will too.

[Anastasia]

Sorry, I haven't played KH.

*Goes to twiddle his thumbs*

[Dracos]

KP:

Okay, true, the opening scene wasn't anything special.  But... that doesn't change the fact that it's still a nice solid opening lead in.  I can ignore the lack of creativity and simply enjoy a good opening movie to start things off.  I more commented on it though as it was sadly the high point of animation through the game.

The battle system is very good, but as I said, it could use polish.  It had notably problems with aerial combat that made it both look and feel awkward.  Having both guard and roll junctioned to the same button wasn't a terribly good idea in my opinion either.

But regardless of those relatively minor flaws, the battle system was the shining star of this game.  If it hadn't been as good as it was the game probably would have been a good deal more irritating.

Fearless Leader

[RykoAngel]

I played this a while back...

Pluses:
Combat - Never a dull moment, and the whole system was mostly well put-together.  I agree with Dracos on putting both Dodge and Gaurd on the same button though.

Graphics - Alright, they're not the greatest.  However, they do exactly what they set out to accomplish, which is to make it look like a Disney cartoon.

Halloween Town - This goes in it's own section as the most stylish level I've ever seen.  I love TNBC, and I was estatic when it was put into the game.

Storytelling - Disney's magic shows here.  This game has the unbelievable ability to bring you in and make you scream to know what happens next.  Kudos!

Minuses:
Combat - Yes, this was on the Plus side.  It's the menu system that hurts it... Or rather, the time it takes for someone to use a potion in battle.  I don't know if this could've been done any better, but it's bad nonetheless.

Camera - This has to be one of the worst cameras I've ever seen.  I can't tell you how many times I misjudged or mistimed a jump because of this crap.

Overall, discounting the above flaws, with some minor ones, I had a TON of fun with this game, and would reccommend it to anyone that wants an RPG that'll draw you in like no other.

A Ryko Novella "Longer Than Most Reviews" Review... Thank You for your attention.