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Kingdom Hearts III - Critical mode/NG+ update coming tomorrow [update: now live]
- Thread starter Xenosaga
- Start date
Nope you'll start doing chip damage early on unless you grind a few levels, use food, or upgrade your keyblade. Why Osaka team can't figure out how to do damage is beyond me. Lv1 runs are not good specifically because of this.
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They give you gameplay features to avoid chip damage, it's not that they can't figure out how to do damage. In KH2FM, you don't have to worry about damage but you have to level up forms if you don't want Sora to move like a piece of wood. In KH3, you get cool abilities from the start, so Sora's mobility is awesome but you have to increase your damage outpot on a level 1 run if you don't want battles to drag for too long. Different strokes for different folks.
This is what frustrates me the most about the online sentiment towards this game. They give you tools and mechanics that work in concert with each other. It's designed to be played with the food and the keyblade upgrades. If you aren't using the damage boost mechanics they give you, it's not their fault that you're doing "chip damage". At a certain point I think people might have to just conclude that the game loop might not be their cup of tea and that that doesn't make it bad or objectively poorly done.
So you'll stop doing chip damage if you play the game right?
I think the annoyance comes from the fact that, in a 2FM Crit run, you could play 'naked' basically and still be able to win any fight in a decent amount of time without the game statistically gimping you if you were good enough, whereas with all these new systems in place, doing the same is far more tedious without engaging in the other systems, which are also tedious.
Basically, it removes part of the skill-based nature of a low level run in favor of adding more tedium.
At least, in spanish, the item description says that you obtain it by getting all the lucky emblems from all the worlds. I dont think it does something, its more like a proof for this achievement. ( In the other thread there are some images where, if you complete the game on Critical, you get another of those items but with silver colour.
DOnt get me wrong, I don't have a problem with having to use the mechanics of the game, but it would be nice to be able to do a lv1 run and not feel like I have to do extra side things to make it bearable. I'm no KH2FM purist, I like the Critical mode in KH3 as is, but Lv1 crit in KH3 is a pain, and an outright annoyance. Doing chip damage, when you don't have the ingredients necessary to upgrade at just about the very start of the game is bad design. The damage floor of the game is just way to high way to early.
It's not bad, but its definitely exposing some of the really terrible enemy/encounter design in the game.
Boss fights are generally pretty good, though. I'd say it's best experienced with New Game+.
Boss fights are generally pretty good, though. I'd say it's best experienced with New Game+.
Yeah its definitely better but a bunch of enemies don't have readable attacks and the sheer amount of enemies is a problem. You just can't keep up with them all and they WILL hit you off screen.
I don't know, I can't really agree with the previous statements. I'm loving mob fights so far (currently in Monstropolis) because they feel very challenging without being cheap. The amount of enemies on screen is counterbalanced by Sora's high agility and mobility and by the different tools you have at your disposal (and the best tricks you can use are not so obvious). Aero + Buzz saw and Ralph are always great to deal with more enemies at once (especially the latter as you can paralyze enemies). Dancing around between enemies and taking down the ones with powerful ranged attacks has been the key to success.
So far it's definitely my favourite Critical mode in the series, but I can't speak for a level 1 run yet.
So far it's definitely my favourite Critical mode in the series, but I can't speak for a level 1 run yet.
Btw what else carries over in NG+? Does journal progress carry? Lucky emblems?
Fuuuuck. KH2 Critical was peak glass cannon game design.
Are you using Hero's Origin? Counter Shield trivializes that fight (and 90% of the game, actually).
Ugh, that just killed all my desire to even bother playing.
Pretty sure shield/Guardian is still the best option as per usual. I went for the one that gave slightly more mp for the first choice. Critical usually does a buunch of damage anyway so an extra spell cast seemed more useful than a potentially negligible amount of health
Nice to get some confirmation on what I was thinking on doing.
Wasn't sure if having a bit more hp mattered vs. getting more mp to cast more magic. And I guess Guardian should be the one for earlier access to Second chance and Once more I presume. Thanks!
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It's largely balanced around bringing in all the Keyblades with new game plus, so I wouldn't recommend it.
You don't need to cook, so you don't have to bother with it if you don't want to. Critical can be pretty brutal at first especially if you don't have much experience with KH games. If you're ready to die a lot in the first segments of the game until you get the hang of the gameplay and git gud, go for it.
You do still get to that point in KHIII Critical as well, where you can deal out a great amount of damage but also it's really easy to be KOd in, like, 2-3 hits in a lot of situations.
Maybe try a lvl 1/low-level Proud run. The No Exp skill is there for a reason.
Proud Level 1 seems like the middle ground here. I played that difficulty first, and it's prepped me for Critical Mode pretty well (barring the few bosses that have been slightly tweaked). Biggest issue though is that you have awful, awful damage. Fights take forever if you don't know what you're doing, there's also one boss where you can lose if you don't kill the boss quickly.
I did try Proud with some level capping. A "Level 10" run didn't work because you run into the same problem again (low damage), I assume this is the result of level scaling (between you and the boss you're fighting). I did have way more fun when I just started capping myself when things got too easy.
I think that Proud Level 1 NG+ could be potentially be the best middle ground, maybe. Critical Mode is vastly improved by all the extra keyblades, and I think the same could apply to Proud too (I also think that having the lategame Keyblades with better stats from the start could alleviate the damage problem). While it's not guaranteed to be the right option (though I plan to test this myself after clearing Critical NG+) and you'd still have to play through the first game at least once, that mode could potentially be the sweetspot IMO.
Just gonna mention that aside from the damage problem, Proud Level 1 does still get Glass Cannon-y on certain bosses.
I probably won't have time to finish the game anyway so it feels like I should give this mode a shot if it's going to be my sole experience.
It's not the difficulty I'm looking for just the experience. Crit mode sounds more fun on paper compared to the impressions of regular gameplay.