Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
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Product Description
In KINGDOM HEARTS, Sora turned the Keyblade on himself in order to release Kairi’s heart, but his heart was also released in the process. This brought about the creation of Roxas, Sora’s Nobody. Roxas has no recollection of his previous life, which is unusual for a Nobody. He joins Organization XIII and slowly begins to discover the truth behind his existence and the Organization itself. He meets and befriends the fourteenth member of the Organization, who also has no recollection of her past. What will Roxas see during his time in the Organization? What is the connection between him, Sora, and the fourteenth member? And what becomes of them? Dive into the heart of the KINGDOM HEARTS story lines biggest secrets.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Reviews
Here is a game that could have been so much better than it is. Even so, it makes an entertaining, if lesser chapter into the Kingdom Hearts Series.
First the good. The game controls great. Clever use of shortcuts makes magic casting a breeze and the action for better or worse in primarily controlled by mashing on the A button, occasionally using B and Y to jump and block/roll respectively. The fighting is good for what it is, but mostly it is a bit simplistic.
Sadly the whole game is a bit simplistic. It is clear the developers wanted to focus on graphics and story. What they wound up with is a game that looks almost as good as its PS2 counterparts. The story on the other hand is a bit muddled and what starts out as a cute bromance turns into a constant irritation. My god, I don’t care about them eating icecream for the 85th day in a row.
Also missing from the game is any bit of exploration. The worlds are depressingly simple and small, generally consisting of a few large rooms or spaces with few more caves/rooms opening up later in your missions. That brings me to the other big problem with the game which is the mission structure. Simply put, it is not nearly as fun as just a regular Kingdom Hearts game. 85% of the missions boil down to either kill a bunch of Heartless or kill one specific Heartless. It begins to drag with a flustering amount of sameness. Every once in a while you will come across an exploration mission which generally involves running around until a question mark pops up over Roxas’s hear and you press A. There are also a few missions that you have to follow a character, which are about as dumb as they sound.
The characters from Disney and other Square series are pushed to the backburner here as well, it is mostly about Organization XIII and run parallel to the events of Chain of Memories.
The final problem with the game, as alluded to by other reviewers is the panel system, which seems to be an odd combination of a card game, the materia system from Final Fantasy VII and Diablo’s loot system. You can place different panels into your inventory to do basically anything including learn moves and magic. The most irritating panel could be the level up panel. This is certainly the first game where you have to equip a level up. You get to make irritating decisions such as “Do I level up or take ‘cure’ into the battle” Do I want more casts of fire or to have the ability to block. It seems some things, such as new tactics and level ups should be automatic. I guess it adds in a new strategy to the game, but mostly I find it irritating.
That all being said, if you can look past the irritants, there is a lot of fun to be had here, especially for those who are already fans (for those that haven’t played KH before, good luck following the story). This one is for the fans only.
This is going to be a bare bones review, because I’m only on Day 23.
The graphics are spectacular, especially for Nintendo. Nintendo has never been known for their graphics (always pixelated and basic) – but the improbable is possible when you mix Squeenix and Nintendo. They’ve managed to combine the best of both worlds, artistry and technique. Tetsuya Nomura’s brainchild has been unleashed on the DS in such magnificent fashion. You know this game is something only HE could have created. Everything from the music down to the sound you hear when you’re trying to select something that you’re unable to at that time mimics Kingdom hearts 1 and 2. How they managed this feat, I don’t know. When you look at Chain of memories for the Gameboy Advance, it was NOTHING compared to this. It was just a failed attempt at an original game. 358/2 Is NOTHING like Chain of memories for the GBA (i hated CoM and the card system). This is a game unto itself. A game that delves into the history of the organization, and more specifically Roxas. This takes place before, during, and after Chain of memories.
if you’ve never played KH before, then go ahead and play the first one. After that, it’s up to you which you choose to play next. I would leave KH2 for last that way you’ll have a better understanding. It’s like a book with many volumes. They should be read in order, no?
So far my only 2 negs. about the game would be;
1)NOT ENOUGH VOICE ACTING. HAI QUINTON FLYNN I PAID MONEY TO HEAR YOU AS AXEL, kthnx.
Seriously. I’m all for reading, especially since there’s some in KH 1 and 2 (less in 2) but I want to HEAR the cutscenes not read them. That is reminiscent of Chain of memories. I suppose they had to though, to keep the file size smaller.
2) I’m not too fond of the panels. Setting it up and all, it’s a learning experience and with a learning experience comes a learning curve. I’m sure ill get used to it, but so far, eh.
Well that’s it. I’ll edit this as i go through the game.
First of all, let me start by saying that this is my favorite game in the Kingdom Hearts saga. It was definitely worth the wait. Being a hard core KH fan myself, I made sure to by the game the day it came out and I wasn’t disappointed. I played everyday after school, unable to put the game down for longer than I had to.
Length: I completed the game in 30 hours on Standard Mode, which is a pretty average completion time for a Square title game. And as Square does with most of their games, they made sure to leave plenty of extras after the game is over to tackle if you want more. I’m currently working on unlocking the Hidden Reports.
Graphics/Sound: I have to say I’m impressed. While the majority of the game’s story is spent reading (which is to be expected from a DS game), the high graphic cutscenes are absolutely stunning, easily matching those of a PS2 game. No small achievement for a DS game. The lower quality cutscenes are a bit pixely, but aren’t all DS games? As far as sound goes, this will make for another unforgettable soundtrack by Square. Also the voice acting is wonderful. My only disappointment was that it was limited to the high quality cutscenes and simple `hahas’, `hmms’ and other similar sounds before text.
Gameplay: A tiny step down from KH II, it was still fun and the KH style carried surprisingly well over to the DS. I’ll admit I was a bit worried that, being on another hand-held system, it might end up being a bit too much like KH CoM, which, while fun, I didn’t care for the Card System. But my concern quickly faded as I got past the initial tutorial in the game.
The idea of the panel system looked a bit confusing at first, but I quickly caught on. Similar to KH II, it allows you to make shortcuts during battle to different spells and items. I’ve heard some complaint over the fact that you only get limited slots, but personally, I think it adds a nice challenge to the game, and it’s not like the slot setup you choose is permanent; you get the opportunity to rearrange your slots before every mission.
Which brings me to the Missions. This is perfectly believable for the story the game follows. While some missions are a bit repetitive, you usually have the option to skip over them and take on the missions that are different. I’d say about 60% of missions are optional. Also, I’m sure veteran KH fans will enjoy embarking on missions with their favorite Organization XIII members. The only missions I really didn’t care for were recon missions, which consisted of working your way through each world and clicking on different locations to gather info on the area.
Mission Mode: This allows you to replay previous missions that you’ve played in the game using any character you’d like. You start off having only the members of Organization XIII to choose as your player, but you can unlock more as you get farther into the game’s story.
Story: This is the reason Days is my favorite KH game. Yes, even though the game comes with a booklet that explains what happened in previous games, and the majority of the game requires no previous KH knowledge, I think new KH players might be a bit lost. But then, it is a sequel. I’m sure anyone who jumped into the middle of the Harry Potter series would be confused as well. I, however, having played all the other KH games, followed the story easily.
There are plenty of moments where I found myself laughing out loud, but there were more moments where I found myself fighting back tears. Days is, in my opinion, the most heart wrenching addition in the KH series. Also, being a fan of Organization XIII, I had endless delight at seeing my favorite characters going about their daily routines. The story takes place shortly before, during, and after the events of Chain of Memories.
So, to quickly summarize, I’m sure previous KH fans will enjoy this newest installment to the KH story, and new KH players – though they may get a bit lost at times – will enjoy the game as well. I highly recommend this delightful game.
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