Should have remade KHX. It's weird how both Star Wars and KH have this massive war with ramifications that echo through the rest of the franchise, only for said Wars to be kind of a huge whiff.
Could someone please help me understand the ultimania books?
I see that some games have final mix versions, revised editions, alpha versions, and then there's also a 'memorial' book...?
I'm interested in all of the books except perhaps Coded but I wouldn't want to purchase the same book twice if I could help it.
Say if I wanted to just have the art, would the memorial book suffice?
Thanks in advance
[KH1] Ultimania Revised Edition is a reprint that includes FM content.
KH2FM+ Ultimania covers KH2FM and Re:Chain of Memories.
KH Series Ultimania Alpha is a recap of KH1 and CoM with some promo stuff for KH2. IMO the only thing worthwhile in it are the KH1 motion reference sketches by an unnamed artist on the dev team, like these:
Memorial Ultimania is meant to serve as a quick recap of the games prior to KH3. Includes general info about the story, characters and worlds. It has almost all of the promotional artwork that's been released over the years, storyboards and clean character and enemy concepts. However, it is missing a lot of world artwork, sketches and diagrams for various enemies, weapons and props.
Have they said whether or not they're going to release a physical copy of 3 that includes the Remind stuff on disc? Like a Game of the Year edition?
Thank you very much. This helps a lot! So it sounds like if I want the full package, I'd have to get BBS, DDD, and Days as well
In the years between II and III I've read so many of these Ultimania interviews that I don't really know where game information ends and magazine information begins.
Next year, probaby getting a release date next month at Jump Festa or somethin.
Next year, probaby getting a release date next month at Jump Festa or somethin.
Good luck.Really hoping it's a KHII to KHIIFM leap in quality. I enjoyed KHII, but KHIIFM is such an incredible improvement.
I'll just be happy to see or hear of the Radiant Garden crew. (Squall, Yuffie et co.). Everything else is literally way back in second place.
Ironically one thing that sorta annoys me is that it kinda wasn't bad enough. Not really even bad. With something like RE6 that I borderline hate I could easily let the whole series go. KH3 had and has potential and is more frustrating as a result.I went into the game with some pretty low expectations, so that's probably why there's more about the game I like than there is I hate. (And there's definitely stuff about the game I hate.)
I don't think any game in the series is going to ever disappoint me the way vanilla KH2 did. I almost quit the series for good off of that shit.
One ironic thing is that KH2 feels much more like an ending to a story than KH3 lol.
Oh, completely. III is just II's ending with more ingredients.One ironic thing is that KH2 feels much more like an ending to a story than KH3 lol.
Well, the latest story update reaffirms my belief that Ava killed Strelitzia and planted Brain in her place.
We're 2/4 of these updates Nomura hyped up, and I feel like they've both delivered. Looking forward to the next one~
I just bought a 4K ultra HD tv so I wouldn't mind HDR being patched in now 🤓
Yeah; I think the *problems* with KH3 (gamebreaking RNG-based -za keyblade/accessory abilities, bad summons, no hub world or midgame story dump, shit pacing, boss fights are bad) are a lot harder to fix, but the basic concept of the combat (when you pare it down to KH2 + grand magic + neat team-up abilities) is an extremely solid and enjoyable one.Vanilla KH3 shares a lot of those issues but has the distinction of being more fun to engage with on a mechanical level right off the bat as opposed to having to wait for a Final Mix as well as actually decently designed worlds, so that puts it over vanilla KH2 for me.
So the ReMind trailer has
-FF characters
-Expanded ending
-Playable Kairi
-Explorable Scala
-Superbosses
I believe that covers... every criticism of the game besides combat balance.
Well, the Luxor/ Braig scene is new and in a Disney World, maybe that's a sign of things to come.Pretty much. The only things people would likely want to be addressed are a Coliseum and a Sephiroth fight. Other stuff like pacing or Disney stuff is obviously too complicated to tackle.
I never expected them to even put half of what's in Re:Mind into the Re:Mind so I'm pleased.
DDD is one of the most controversial games in the series, good luck.So I just beat BBS for the first time and figure this is as good a place as any to share my thoughts, since I don't really feel it warrants a thread. (Also sorry in advance this is such a wall of text, I had a lot of thoughts lol.)
The game was..... not awful, but not great, either? I think I expected it to be a lot better cuz I feel like I always hear people praising it (although maybe that's DDD I'm thinking of? I would always get the two mixed up), but in the end it was all around a much lesser experience than the other KH games for me. Well, its combat was loads better than Chain of Memories lol, but I was much more attached to the characters and intrigued by the story in CoM so it made it easier to get through. I'd actually started BBS once a couple years ago, made it as far as Toon World on Terra, and just got so bored with it I set it down and forgot to go back. Finally managed to push through this time, though, phew!
The combat system isn't as intuitive to me as the other games, it felt slower and I think there was just so much going on that I often felt overwhelmed by all the mechanics and it took me a long while to finally get the hang of it. Like links, for example, I'm pretty sure the only time I ever used those my entire playthrough was for a quick emergency heal and back. My brain was already too full just trying to keep an eye on the battle and enemies, what my commands were currently on, and keeping primed to pull out my shotlock lol.
I got pretty good at it by the end, though. And I managed to play it through on critical! Think it's the first time I've done a KH game on that mode, but I didn't wanna deal with all the damn stickers to get the secret ending stuff lol.
I will say, despite the game not feeling as intuitive for me, it still had a pretty good balance of difficulty. It never felt too easy, and when the blessed zero graviga+thundaga combo did annihilate everything it just felt like moments of OP awesomeness to breath a little between the harder stretches of game. That's something I really appreciate about the KH games, and BBS kept in line with that.
Storywise, I really liked all the characters introduced, and I can see where there's a pretty deep, heartfelt story there somewhere, but it felt so dumbed down and simplified. Like they wrote out a decently complex plot line and then boiled it down to the barest essentials possible. And I totally know that's probably more due to it being a handheld game than anything else, but I still wish there was just a liittttleee more there.
Also, the disney worlds were absolutely atrocious. They're pretty much the reason why I dropped it my first attempt. They are the most generic, rinse and repeat, kiddie-learning-to-read-their-first-book level of writing I have ever seen. And I know the disney stories in KH are never something to write home about, but good lord did this game take it to a whole new level. I imagine this wasn't nearly as awful on the psp, cuz there's something about playing a game on a small handheld that makes you expect less?? But jesus christ, I basically zoned out and browsed ERA during every disney scene lol.
I will say, despite its short comings, I did really like the three separate timelines and how it all wove together. It was maybe a little annoying seeing some of the scenes thrice, but for the most part it was pretty good about keeping each character fresh, and getting to piece together the story was fun. Having to start over with levels and skills each time felt awful though lol. Like god damn it, I finally got all the coolest abilities and feel super OP, and now you're ripping that away from me?? Rude!!
Anyway, not sure what the drill is with spoilers here? There probably are none, but spoiler-tagging my story specific thoughts below just in case.
First off, I am so pissed that I already knew Terra was Xehanort. I actually had no idea until this past year or so, too! But then I happened to be talking about KH2 with a friend who had never played the series, and for whatever reason the topic of young Xehanort came up and so I tried to google the painting from 2 to show her.... aND FUCKING FIGURES, eight damn years of managing to avoid spoilers, and someone had to go and make a GRAPH showing Xehanort, Terra, and Xemnas that was just... right there... and impossible for my eyes not to see... gargh! I shoulda known better! 😂
But it's a shame, cuz I think that reveal would have blown my god damn mind if I hadn't known. It was really well done in the game. Really makes me wish I had managed to persevere the first time I tried to play it.
Vanitas having Sora's face also would have been a nice surprise, but that's been all over the KH3 trailers so was kinda unavoidable to know lol. I remember the suddenly Sora bullshit in 358/2 Days during the final boss did completely explode my head, though. There is something about an evil Sora (esp his evil head on someone else's body 😂) that is so god damn freaky and wrong looking. Like everything about his design is so sweet and boyish and pure.... seeing his model on someone evil just feels like an act against nature lol. So hey, kudos for the unnerving creepy af factor being nailed!
The extra lore added to the world is both cool and dumb af. Like I really enjoyed the stuff that directly linked back to KH1 & 2 (such as the young main games trio), and seeing the Org members before they were part of the Organization, and how Xehanort/Xemnas got planted into that role. And the idea of a keyblade war sounds cool, but actually thinking on it and why the fuck Xehanort wants it to happen again is just ??? ???? ???? God why are villains always written with such god awful, absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable motivations lol. And don't even get me started on X-blade. Ooohhh my god.
Also that Xehanort darkness-scarred Eraqus' face while practically preaching Hail Darkness and the dude still let him come back to be involved with his students again later lol. God, I love KH, but it sure can be dumb as friggin' rocks at times ffffft.
Lastly, I will say the secret episode was legit great. Like the fighting stuff was whatever, but the cut scenes! It both simultaneously gave me a shit ton of feels over all the scenes with the KH1/2 characters, while also making me smh and laugh over how ridiculous and the most kingdom hearts fucking bullshit ever it was lol. So dramatic and mysterious! 😂
Tbh I started writing up these thoughts while the credits for the main game played, and after finishing the secret episode I actually think it makes the game end on a stronger note. It made me happy to see the old characters again, and see how it's all connected, and of course it pulled that KH bullshit that makes you feel excited and hooked for the next installment lol. So I guess... main game is not bad but a little meh but secret ending stuff pulls it up to an overall more enjoyable experience.
Also, wrapping this up, I just wanna say it's funny looking back on when BBS was first announced. I had started to fall off the KH train by then (which is why it's taken me almost 10 years to finally get around to playing it jfkldas), but I still vaguely recall the cool CGI trailers and the keyblade graveyard stuff. And I distinctly remember there was a phase for a while where people thought Ventus was gonna be a girl. God, I'd been so good at avoiding spoilers for the game, that I wasn't even fully sure myself which it was gonna be when I finally gave the game a go. 😂
I didn't have much of an impression for what BBS was gonna be like.. but it was definitely way different than whatever the hell I vaguely had in mind way back when.
I look forward to whenever I get around to tackling DDD next. I'll make it to KHII eventually!