I did indeed finish up Kingdom Hearts II on Friday, as I had hoped that I would, yay! The final battle was both more and less ridiculous than the final battle in the first Kingdom Hearts. I wouldn't have thought that was possible, but apparently I was wrong about that. Overall, I think I would give the game a C ++ or a B -. It is really somewhere in between there. Honestly, I think if there hadn't been so many cut scenes, and if they hadn't, all of them, been so long, I would have enjoyed this game a lot more.
The general plot of this game was kind of interesting, actually. A quick refresher of the back story:
In the first game, Sora's world is destroyed by the Heartless, and he is separated from his friends Riku and Kairi, so embarks on a quest to find them. The Powers That Be decided that he is a Chosen One of some sort, and the only person who can stop the darkness, so he is granted the ability to wield the Keyblade, which releases the hearts stolen by the Heartless as they destroy worlds. He teams up with Donald and Goofy, who are searching for King Mickey (who is also trying to stop the Heartless and restore the worlds they have already destroyed). Together, the three seal off many worlds infiltrated by the Heartless (using the Keyblade), saving those worlds from destruction. There are also seven princesses (of which Kairi is one) who are being kidnapped by the Disney villains because their hearts combined can unlock a door which leads to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds (I think). Possessing Kingdom Hearts means great power, which all villains are after. So, Sora stops the villains, saves Kairi, and finds Riku and Mickey, only to be separated from them at the last moment, in the act of sealing the darkness away.
In Kingdom Hearts II we learn that when a very strong-willed person becomes a Heartless another kind of entity, known as a Nobody, is created from the body left behind by that person. These Nobodies are under the control of Organization XIII, a group of alpha-Nobodies who want to gain control of Kingdom Hearts so that they can be granted hearts of their own and therefore become real people, not shadows. Sora knows that Kairi has been safely returned home, but he is still seeking out Riku (and Mickey). In his search, he keeps running into Nobodies and Organization XIII, who have begun using the Heartless to attract the attention of the wielder of the Keyblade. They are harvesting the hearts released when Sora kills Heartless with the Keyblade, attempting to create their own Kingdom Hearts. So Sora must go from world to world, trying to find a trace of Riku, and fighting off Heartless and Nobodies, and the members of Organization XIII, eventually realizing he must defeat Organization XIII on their own ground--which he does with the help of Riku, Kairi, and Mickey, who he, Donald, and Goofy do find in their travels.
I am probably not explaining it that well, there was a lot going on here. Maleficent and Pete were running around too, but I am still not quite certain what their endgame was. I think they may be leaving that for the next game. As I said, a pretty good basis for the plot, but I am not sure it was executed all that well. I feel like the story and the game play were actually two separate elements. The game play didn't seem to further the story along. It just moved you from point A to point B so you could get to the next cut scene. Even on the world map, when there was something new to do on a world you had already visited, the verbiage they used was "New episode available!" In a truly good story-based video game, the story needs be integrated into the game play itself, not a separate entity, at least in my opinion.
So, that's the story aspect of the game. Now, how about the actual game play? Hmm. I felt like this game was a little schizophrenic. It is as if the game designers were trying out several different ideas that really would have been better suited to be in several different games. Maybe there would have been a better way to get them to work with each other, but if so, they did not nail the formula in KH II, I can tell you that. It was just all over the place.
Some of the ideas were "upgrades" to the gaming system in the first game, tweaks here and there to how you could access items and magic and summons. They also added in "reaction commands" which meant that you pressed a certain button at a specific time when you got the right indicator on the screen. For many enemies, the only way to beat them was using reaction commands, and I feel like that takes some of the fun out of it. There is no developing and playing with your own set of skills, be it certain magical attacks or weapon combos, or limit commands. The limit commands were interesting, you could get skills used in conjunction with the other members of your team. My favorite was Donald's "comet" command, which would allow you to surround your enemy with fireworks that did lots of damage, and was also fun to look at.
There were a few puzzle-solving points in the game, which were okay, but seemed to be awkwardly placed. There was also the Little Mermaid level, which was entirely just about teaching you to hit buttons at the right time. You were helping Sebastian and Ariel put together the musical, and so had to sit through lots of random songs, hitting buttons at the right time in order to get past the level (kind of like Guitar Hero, but nowhere near as fun). It was weird and random and really had no place in this game.
As far as the actual combat goes, I don't even know where to start on that one. As I said, most enemies had specific reaction commands, and that was the only way to defeat them. The actual difficulty level of each enemy seemed to vary widely, and not in a way proportional to your experience level or how far along in the game the enemy appeared. There was, for every non-standard Heartless or Nobody a "trick" for how to defeat them. This was more puzzle-solving I guess, but less overt. Once the trick was figured out, it was usually just a matter of patience to defeat the enemy, but as someone who prefers to just run in an wale on things with my sword, I did not really enjoy this kind of combat at all. Also, the actual in-game reaction time was really skewed by all of the special commands and actions, so it was kind of hard to tell at any given point whether or not I was actually in control of my character. An "information" bar was added at the top of the screen with hints or instructions about your objective scrolling by. When it wasn't as distracting as all get out, it was usually information that was painfully obvious. I know this game was probably designed for a younger demographic than me, but I am pretty sure younger gamers are way better at this stuff than I am. They probably don't like being spoon-fed either.
I think the big problem was that there was just so much stuff on the screen you had to keep an eye on aside from your character and his foe. I never knew where to look. If I was paying attention to the actual fighting, I missed crucial information from the scroll bar, or didn't see when a reaction command became available. If I tried to read the scroll bar, I totally got my butt kicked while I was looking the other way. If I kept my eyes on the command box, then I missed moments when I should have been blocking and got more damage than I would have otherwise taken. It just felt like a no-win situation. In many cases, when the battle ended, I was sitting there looking at the screen with no idea what had just happened. I can only look at so many things at once, and this game wanted me to be looking at two more at least at any given time.
I don't know how much of the engine for this game is based on the Final Fantasy series, but I suspect a lot. I am wondering though, how players of FF would stack this game up against their franchise. I find myself hoping that the problems with KH simply arise from the designers trying to take the FF engine and gear it towards a younger demographic while trying to make multiple Disney stories fit into their already kind of contrived plot line. Maybe when they are making up their own world it feels more cohesive. My husband has asked me to give Final Fantasy VI a try, he says that is considered the definitive entry in the series. So after I play that maybe I'll have a clearer view of what went wrong with KH, or if I am just not cut out to play in that pool.
Either way, my copies of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II will be going along to be traded in the next time I visit my local Gamestop.
I started Star Wars: The Force Unleashed this weekend and already feel much more in my element. Maybe I am just a PC RPG gamer and I needed KH to make me see it. Also, the graphics on this thing are freaking fantastic. Wow.
Showing posts with label Kingdom Hearts II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingdom Hearts II. Show all posts
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wrapping It Up
Despite a few bumps in the road, I feel like I've gotten a decent bit done this week. I started it out with two goals (partly because I like to set goals and partly to give me something to focus on other than the fact that my husband has been out of town and won't be back until Monday). They were:
1. Finish the crochet project I was working on.
2. Finish playing Kingdom Hearts II
I finished the jacket Wednesday evening, and must say I am extremely pleased with the results.
Pattern: Essential Jacket by Lion Brand (Size Large)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Violet (6 Skeins)
Hook: I
The pattern was pretty easy, actually. It is all half-double crochet with raglan shaping on the back and front pieces as well as the sleeves. I could see myself making this again, possibly for a gift if I decide I love someone that much. My only real beef with it at all is that I would have preferred the pattern to be a little bit more spelled out in a few places. Mostly for the two front pieces--we are given the pattern for one half of the front and at one point told to "continue as for the back," but it was a little unclear to me exactly which stitch pattern I should be following there, I would have liked more explicit steps for that bit. Also, for the other half, the pattern just says to "make another just like the first but reverse the shaping." That was easy enough, but only if I was paying attention. I could see where it would be very possible to just be working along and not realize you've made two identical pieces in error, rather than mirror images. But it all came out right in the end, so I am not complaining too much.
Yesterday, I started my Doctor Who scarf. My first knitting project, the slippers, helped me work on the challenge of using two strands at once, as well as changing up the stitches throughout the pattern for design and shaping purposes. This scarf will give me a chance to practice changing colors. I have already completed my first color stripe (it was a very short one) and changed colors once. It was a little tricky (mostly because I had a toddler crawling all over me trying to alternately steal my yarn and needles) but seems to have turned out well. This will be a long-haul project (it is a dang long scarf), I fear, but very very good practice. As an added bonus, when I cast on and started knitting, I actually remembered how to do both and didn't have to look at my reference book until it was time to change colors, huzzah!
As for my second goal of the week. Well, as it stands now, I have just gotten to the last save point before the final battle. I am pretty confident that I can finish the game today. So that's on track.
In fact, realizing how well I am doing on my self-set goals, I decided yesterday to add a third.
3. Finish reading Good Omens.
Depending on how long it takes me to finish my game, I might actually be able to pull this one off tonight, since I am just rolling into the big climax of the book. Worst case scenario, I finish it tomorrow. Either way, I am a happy Cori.
All in all, I'd say I did good this week. I even took my daughter to the park yesterday to play for a bit with a friend (the weather has gotten gorgeous again), and today after music class, we are going to pay a brief visit at the zoo. My mother-in-law is coming out to do that with us, so I am looking forward to getting to visit with her as well as with my penguins and Komodo dragons.
While I head off to do that, why don't you check out this week's installment of Gronk? It is, as always, awesome-sauce. Katie is back next Friday (yay!) and will have a full week of guest strips leading up to her return, so that's pretty spiffy. Enjoy! Happy weekend!
1. Finish the crochet project I was working on.
2. Finish playing Kingdom Hearts II
I finished the jacket Wednesday evening, and must say I am extremely pleased with the results.
 |
| Cotton Jacket by Cori 2011. |
Pattern: Essential Jacket by Lion Brand (Size Large)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Violet (6 Skeins)
Hook: I
The pattern was pretty easy, actually. It is all half-double crochet with raglan shaping on the back and front pieces as well as the sleeves. I could see myself making this again, possibly for a gift if I decide I love someone that much. My only real beef with it at all is that I would have preferred the pattern to be a little bit more spelled out in a few places. Mostly for the two front pieces--we are given the pattern for one half of the front and at one point told to "continue as for the back," but it was a little unclear to me exactly which stitch pattern I should be following there, I would have liked more explicit steps for that bit. Also, for the other half, the pattern just says to "make another just like the first but reverse the shaping." That was easy enough, but only if I was paying attention. I could see where it would be very possible to just be working along and not realize you've made two identical pieces in error, rather than mirror images. But it all came out right in the end, so I am not complaining too much.
Yesterday, I started my Doctor Who scarf. My first knitting project, the slippers, helped me work on the challenge of using two strands at once, as well as changing up the stitches throughout the pattern for design and shaping purposes. This scarf will give me a chance to practice changing colors. I have already completed my first color stripe (it was a very short one) and changed colors once. It was a little tricky (mostly because I had a toddler crawling all over me trying to alternately steal my yarn and needles) but seems to have turned out well. This will be a long-haul project (it is a dang long scarf), I fear, but very very good practice. As an added bonus, when I cast on and started knitting, I actually remembered how to do both and didn't have to look at my reference book until it was time to change colors, huzzah!
As for my second goal of the week. Well, as it stands now, I have just gotten to the last save point before the final battle. I am pretty confident that I can finish the game today. So that's on track.
In fact, realizing how well I am doing on my self-set goals, I decided yesterday to add a third.
3. Finish reading Good Omens.
Depending on how long it takes me to finish my game, I might actually be able to pull this one off tonight, since I am just rolling into the big climax of the book. Worst case scenario, I finish it tomorrow. Either way, I am a happy Cori.
All in all, I'd say I did good this week. I even took my daughter to the park yesterday to play for a bit with a friend (the weather has gotten gorgeous again), and today after music class, we are going to pay a brief visit at the zoo. My mother-in-law is coming out to do that with us, so I am looking forward to getting to visit with her as well as with my penguins and Komodo dragons.
While I head off to do that, why don't you check out this week's installment of Gronk? It is, as always, awesome-sauce. Katie is back next Friday (yay!) and will have a full week of guest strips leading up to her return, so that's pretty spiffy. Enjoy! Happy weekend!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Got Myself a Carrot
Heh. At the very end of last year, I sat down and went through all of the console video games we have here at home, sorting them into several piles: Played (Keep), Played (Trade In), Mini-Games or Party Games, Want to Play, No Interest. I let Hubby know that he needs to go through the Trade In and No Interest piles soon and pull out anything he wants to keep before I take the rest to Game Stop. The Want to Play pile is fairly substantial. We have games for several different consoles--Playstation, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and Wii (we have a PS2 and a Wii system, which between them will play all of those games).
Then I went through my Amazon wish list and made a list of the games on there that I really want to actually get and play through (the RPGs), as opposed to the party games and mini-games that I would like to have but am not that serious about. I then checked my open orders to see what games I have already preordered. I also pulled out a few of Hubby's PC games that I want to or that he would like me to play and noted the PC games I have played that I would like to play again.
Then, I sat down and made myself a Game Plan. I listed out all of the games I would like to play and tried to figure out a good order for them. I did my best to balance out PC games with console games, estimate how long it usually takes me to play a game so I could figure out where to put the preordered games (which I will want to play as soon as they come out in most cases), and find good places to stick in the replays (some of which I might want to do before sequels come out). I wrote the list down on a piece of notebook paper and placed it in the back of my desk calendar for handy reference.
I fully acknowledge that this Game Plan is just a guide that I am sure will be subject to some rearranging. For one thing, I started it thinking it would be my plan for 2011, but I somehow doubt I am going to make it through even half of these games this year. For another, a certain Star Wars MMORPG that I will not name here is supposed to go live sometime this year. Once that does it is going to wreak havoc on my other game playing for sure. I just didn't expect to be messing with the Game Plan so darn soon.
As you know, I am currently playing Kingdom Hearts II, which is the second game on my list, since I started with the game I was playing at the time I made the list. The next game on the list is Epic Mickey, which my super awesome sister got me for Christmas. But. I don't think I can do it. For one thing, once I finish KHII, I am going to be a little burnt out on the console gaming, as well as on Disney, for a bit. For another, my silly self went and treated myself to The Force Unleashed when I was purchasing something entirely unrelated on Amazon but realized I had a little bit of extra expendable cash at the time. So The Force Unleashed has been sitting on my computer tower for the last week, just patiently radiating awesomeness and calling to me every time I sit down to check my email or write my blog. As this was a "to buy" game at the time I made my list, it is way way far down there, but I think it is going to be next. Heck, I even went ahead and installed it this weekend, I couldn't help myself.
I think I am about 2/3 of the way through KHII, maybe a little less, it is really hard to tell. I did have to finally crack a peek at a few walkthroughs in order to figure out how to beat a required mini-game involving light cycles in the Tron level and then again to beat one of the circle of bad guys that I finally defeated yesterday. I might have scrolled through the list of worlds just to get an idea of how far I was, and found out that even though there are pretty much no new worlds left, I still have to visit each of them again for another boss fight, and a few of them multiple times still. Sigh. Though I will admit the game is starting to get a bit more engaging, at least. Still, I have been slogging through this game. Part of it, I will admit, is because I have pretty much given up my evening gaming sessions. But it wasn't exactly hard. I suspect other games will make this decision much more challenging to adhere to. Usually when I am playing a game I tend to get really sucked in, and I want to play it every minute possible, because I can't wait to see what is next. Even with the first game, which I had played most of already, I was driven to keep going.
But with The Force Unleashed waiting oh so patiently on my desktop, I now have the motivation to plow through this thing. Maybe that's all I've been needing all along.
Then I went through my Amazon wish list and made a list of the games on there that I really want to actually get and play through (the RPGs), as opposed to the party games and mini-games that I would like to have but am not that serious about. I then checked my open orders to see what games I have already preordered. I also pulled out a few of Hubby's PC games that I want to or that he would like me to play and noted the PC games I have played that I would like to play again.
Then, I sat down and made myself a Game Plan. I listed out all of the games I would like to play and tried to figure out a good order for them. I did my best to balance out PC games with console games, estimate how long it usually takes me to play a game so I could figure out where to put the preordered games (which I will want to play as soon as they come out in most cases), and find good places to stick in the replays (some of which I might want to do before sequels come out). I wrote the list down on a piece of notebook paper and placed it in the back of my desk calendar for handy reference.
I fully acknowledge that this Game Plan is just a guide that I am sure will be subject to some rearranging. For one thing, I started it thinking it would be my plan for 2011, but I somehow doubt I am going to make it through even half of these games this year. For another, a certain Star Wars MMORPG that I will not name here is supposed to go live sometime this year. Once that does it is going to wreak havoc on my other game playing for sure. I just didn't expect to be messing with the Game Plan so darn soon.
As you know, I am currently playing Kingdom Hearts II, which is the second game on my list, since I started with the game I was playing at the time I made the list. The next game on the list is Epic Mickey, which my super awesome sister got me for Christmas. But. I don't think I can do it. For one thing, once I finish KHII, I am going to be a little burnt out on the console gaming, as well as on Disney, for a bit. For another, my silly self went and treated myself to The Force Unleashed when I was purchasing something entirely unrelated on Amazon but realized I had a little bit of extra expendable cash at the time. So The Force Unleashed has been sitting on my computer tower for the last week, just patiently radiating awesomeness and calling to me every time I sit down to check my email or write my blog. As this was a "to buy" game at the time I made my list, it is way way far down there, but I think it is going to be next. Heck, I even went ahead and installed it this weekend, I couldn't help myself.
I think I am about 2/3 of the way through KHII, maybe a little less, it is really hard to tell. I did have to finally crack a peek at a few walkthroughs in order to figure out how to beat a required mini-game involving light cycles in the Tron level and then again to beat one of the circle of bad guys that I finally defeated yesterday. I might have scrolled through the list of worlds just to get an idea of how far I was, and found out that even though there are pretty much no new worlds left, I still have to visit each of them again for another boss fight, and a few of them multiple times still. Sigh. Though I will admit the game is starting to get a bit more engaging, at least. Still, I have been slogging through this game. Part of it, I will admit, is because I have pretty much given up my evening gaming sessions. But it wasn't exactly hard. I suspect other games will make this decision much more challenging to adhere to. Usually when I am playing a game I tend to get really sucked in, and I want to play it every minute possible, because I can't wait to see what is next. Even with the first game, which I had played most of already, I was driven to keep going.
But with The Force Unleashed waiting oh so patiently on my desktop, I now have the motivation to plow through this thing. Maybe that's all I've been needing all along.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A Bit Disappointing
I have known since I eagerly purchased my copy of Kingdom Hearts II years ago that this game featured a level based on Pirates of the Caribbean. The creators, it seemed, decided to upgrade their pirates from those found in Peter Pan to those found sailing aboard the Black Pearl. Being a huge fan of that particular franchise, I was pretty excited about this level. When a Gummi course opened up to the level that was clearly the PoC world, I was doing a little happy dance in anticipation.
That joy lasted for all of about five minutes after I started the level. The whole thing was just a huge letdown, except for the game play element itself, actually. Normally, I would say nothing else but the game play really matters, but there is so precious little of it in this game, and it is so broken up by cut scenes, that any enjoyment I got out of it was quickly and effectively rendered moot as soon as a "scene" had been played through.
The cut scenes in this level (named Port Royal, even though it is only one of three locations you visit in this world) are particularly tortuous. Because PoC was a live-action movie rather than a cartoon or CG film, the game designers chose to change up the graphic style of the game for that level--but just for the environment and the characters belonging in that level. This was just jarring all around. Sora and his pals, as well as Pete (the assistant to the Big Bad of the game) and the heartless are all still very cartoony, while running around in CG surroundings that look like nothing so much as a bad attempt at CG claymation. The cursed pirates looked pretty cool, I will grant them that, but the models of the characters from the film (Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa) were just close enough to be distracting in their inaccuracy. If they got the appearance mostly down, they didn't get the body language right, or the manners of speech (and don't get me started on the terrible job the voice-actors did trying to impersonate the original actors). Everything was just off in a way that I found extremely annoying.
I will take a brief aside to say that this is actually the second level where the game designers decided to change up the graphics style. The first is a sub-level of the Disney Castle called Timeless River, which is a level set back in the original Steamboat Willie cartoon. The level was all in black and white and they explained the different graphic style by pointing out that the characters had actually gone back in time and that's why everything looked different. Sora, Donald, and Goofy even got redesigns to fit into the old-timey look and feel of the place. It was weird, but the annoyance factor was only mild, and was greatly mitigated by the fact that the change was mandated (or at least explained) by the game's story. Also, for sitting through the level you are awarded the most awesome keyblade I've yet come across in the game. That goes a long way toward making it better. Port Royal has none of that.
The bad models and voice-acting were only exacerbated by the numerous and very very long cut scenes littered throughout the level. Many of them were straight up reenactments of scenes out of the movie. But the timing and tone and the way in which people said their lines was all just off and it was so frustrating! Also, the designers clearly failed to secure the rights to the score to the PoC movie, which is understandable, I am sure that would have been costly, but the music they put in its place was just horribly chosen. None of it fit what was going on in the scenes at the time. None of it. If they couldn't have gotten the original actors to voice some of the characters, or at least secured the original audio track from the film to use for the dialogue in the cut scenes, I feel the game would have been much better served for them to limit the amount of dialogue and just use word balloons when there was a lot of talking to be done. Word balloons are just as common as actual spoken dialogue throughout this game, and it wouldn't have stood out had they gone that route.
Sigh. All in all, I have to say that this whole game has just been a big disappointment so far. I mentioned earlier that the story itself is actually pretty interesting, and I stand by that, but it is not enough to carry the whole game. I feel like the design team was told, "Kingdom Hearts was a smash! The games for the portable systems went over well too, make a sequel for the console, quick!" Only, they didn't want to make more of the same, so they tried out a bunch of different things and tried to shoehorn them all into one game under the guise of being part of the franchise, and it just doesn't fit well together.
The more I play this game, the less I want to play it. I am going to finish it, because when I stopped working full time I made a deal with myself that I would get better about finishing projects that I start, be they video games, craft projects, writing projects, or what have you. There are bits of it that are truly enjoyable--some of them are the bits that clearly follow through from the first game and are just basic improvements upon the original system, others are interesting new characters or story elements they've added. I am trying to cling to those bits to get me through to the end. Maybe if I treat it like a treasure hunt (much like my character is hunting for treasure chests in each of the worlds he visits) it will look a little brighter.
That joy lasted for all of about five minutes after I started the level. The whole thing was just a huge letdown, except for the game play element itself, actually. Normally, I would say nothing else but the game play really matters, but there is so precious little of it in this game, and it is so broken up by cut scenes, that any enjoyment I got out of it was quickly and effectively rendered moot as soon as a "scene" had been played through.
The cut scenes in this level (named Port Royal, even though it is only one of three locations you visit in this world) are particularly tortuous. Because PoC was a live-action movie rather than a cartoon or CG film, the game designers chose to change up the graphic style of the game for that level--but just for the environment and the characters belonging in that level. This was just jarring all around. Sora and his pals, as well as Pete (the assistant to the Big Bad of the game) and the heartless are all still very cartoony, while running around in CG surroundings that look like nothing so much as a bad attempt at CG claymation. The cursed pirates looked pretty cool, I will grant them that, but the models of the characters from the film (Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa) were just close enough to be distracting in their inaccuracy. If they got the appearance mostly down, they didn't get the body language right, or the manners of speech (and don't get me started on the terrible job the voice-actors did trying to impersonate the original actors). Everything was just off in a way that I found extremely annoying.
I will take a brief aside to say that this is actually the second level where the game designers decided to change up the graphics style. The first is a sub-level of the Disney Castle called Timeless River, which is a level set back in the original Steamboat Willie cartoon. The level was all in black and white and they explained the different graphic style by pointing out that the characters had actually gone back in time and that's why everything looked different. Sora, Donald, and Goofy even got redesigns to fit into the old-timey look and feel of the place. It was weird, but the annoyance factor was only mild, and was greatly mitigated by the fact that the change was mandated (or at least explained) by the game's story. Also, for sitting through the level you are awarded the most awesome keyblade I've yet come across in the game. That goes a long way toward making it better. Port Royal has none of that.
The bad models and voice-acting were only exacerbated by the numerous and very very long cut scenes littered throughout the level. Many of them were straight up reenactments of scenes out of the movie. But the timing and tone and the way in which people said their lines was all just off and it was so frustrating! Also, the designers clearly failed to secure the rights to the score to the PoC movie, which is understandable, I am sure that would have been costly, but the music they put in its place was just horribly chosen. None of it fit what was going on in the scenes at the time. None of it. If they couldn't have gotten the original actors to voice some of the characters, or at least secured the original audio track from the film to use for the dialogue in the cut scenes, I feel the game would have been much better served for them to limit the amount of dialogue and just use word balloons when there was a lot of talking to be done. Word balloons are just as common as actual spoken dialogue throughout this game, and it wouldn't have stood out had they gone that route.
Sigh. All in all, I have to say that this whole game has just been a big disappointment so far. I mentioned earlier that the story itself is actually pretty interesting, and I stand by that, but it is not enough to carry the whole game. I feel like the design team was told, "Kingdom Hearts was a smash! The games for the portable systems went over well too, make a sequel for the console, quick!" Only, they didn't want to make more of the same, so they tried out a bunch of different things and tried to shoehorn them all into one game under the guise of being part of the franchise, and it just doesn't fit well together.
The more I play this game, the less I want to play it. I am going to finish it, because when I stopped working full time I made a deal with myself that I would get better about finishing projects that I start, be they video games, craft projects, writing projects, or what have you. There are bits of it that are truly enjoyable--some of them are the bits that clearly follow through from the first game and are just basic improvements upon the original system, others are interesting new characters or story elements they've added. I am trying to cling to those bits to get me through to the end. Maybe if I treat it like a treasure hunt (much like my character is hunting for treasure chests in each of the worlds he visits) it will look a little brighter.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Progress Report
So just a few quick things for you today and then I'll let you be on your way to your weekend. Which hopefully will be warmer than the one we're expecting. Stupid incoming cold front. Sigh. Bring on the idiocy on the roads. I don't think I want to leave my house again until the temperatures warm up once more. But I digress.
So, I have made it through the first week of the new year pretty well I think. I am working on my goals at a good (and hopefully sustainable) pace. While I have actually mostly been enjoying Kingdom Hearts II very much (still haven't cracked a walkthrough, go me), I have been keeping my playtime short. Thankfully this game, unlike, say, Mass Effect, does not have the crack-cocaine addictiveness factor going for it. I've been playing for forty minutes to two hours during nap time in the afternoons each day, but have been passing on the evening gaming session for other pursuits.
I have two observations (not quite complaints) about the game so far. The first is that whoever designed this game was really, really in love with the new graphics technology that became available between the development of the first and second games. It is cut scene-o-rama around here. I almost feel like the game is too focused on the story. It's a neat story, don't get me wrong, but there's not nearly the amount of running around and exploring each area that there was in the last game. Not yet, at least. Also, every freaking time you walk from one room to another, there is a pause for a "title card" of what new room or area you have entered. It is bloody distracting and it interrupts my gaming flow. Sigh. Sorry, sorry, not complaining, really. The other observation is that the combat system seems to be at odds with itself, even more so in this game than in the first. I don't think it is necessarily a bad idea to have combat in real time--where you can't pause the action while you are trying to heal yourself or decide your next move--but the way this system is designed, you have to constantly be watching the list of actions down in one corner of the screen in order to know what actions are available to you and when. I can either pay attention to the foe I am fighting with, and try to hit him, or I can watch the corner of the screen and wait for commands to become available. I cannot do both at the same time. It leaves for slightly unfufilling battles, and I am often left at the end wondering what the heck just happened because I didn't actually see any of it. It just seems to me like it is the kind of thing that would make more sense if you could issue out a few commands or pause to decide what your next move will be and which enemy you will use it against. Again, I have been spoiled by Bioware, I suppose. But still. I do really like that they have managed to make even the worlds or people you've seen before seem fresh and incorporate their story into the new adventure. That's pretty cool.
Those other pursuits I mentioned I'd been doing in the evenings? Reading. I had forgotten how much I love reading before bed--just a chapter or two. I finished the book I had been working on earlier in the week and Tuesday or Wednesday got started on the final installment in the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss. So far, so good. I will probably do a writeup of that once I finish reading it. I am very curious to see how this tale wraps up. I suspect it may be a slightly open-ended ending though, since I believe Traviss was originally contracted to write a few more books in the series before The Powers That Be axed it in favor of something else.
Lastly, I finally started my first knitting project yesterday. I took a few days off after the organization frenzy and then played around a little bit practicing the knit and purl stitches before actually starting. The project I am working on (a pair of slippers) is a wonderfully simple pattern, and perfect for a beginner, despite the slight challenge added by working with two strands of yarn at once. But I made good progress yesterday and look forward to maybe getting one of the pair finished (or close to at least) this weekend. I do have to make a run out today to buy some longer needles, though. Last year when I was first getting ready to teach myself to knit, I bought some basic, inexpensive starter needles in a variety of sizes. I never planned to use these needles long-term, just until I figured out which sizes I would realistically need for the specific types of projects I mostly want to work on. As with when I was building my store of quality crochet hooks, my plan is to buy the special needles I need as I buy the yarn for projects. The needles I am working on right now would be fine, except that they are only 5" long double-pointed needles, which is about an inch too short. I probably could work on three needles in the round, but that is beyond me right now, I think, so today I go in quest of 7" needles. I was nervously eying my project yesterday wondering how on earth I was going to move it to new needles when I get them when it dawned on me that I can just knit it off the current short needle onto the longer one. Duh. There is definitely going to be a learning curve here folks, but I am still excited. Also, yesterday I ordered the yarn for what will be my second knitting project--the Doctor Who scarf. Yay!
So with that I bid you adieu and wish you a happy and warm weekend! Have a great one!
Don't forget to swing by Gronk and check out this week's strip while you're playing on the internet though! It actually went up on Wednesday, but I forgot to link to it. We've got another guest strip, a beautiful pin-up piece this time. Enjoy!
Update: There was a new guest Gronk today as well, it just went up late! Here you go, enjoy!
So, I have made it through the first week of the new year pretty well I think. I am working on my goals at a good (and hopefully sustainable) pace. While I have actually mostly been enjoying Kingdom Hearts II very much (still haven't cracked a walkthrough, go me), I have been keeping my playtime short. Thankfully this game, unlike, say, Mass Effect, does not have the crack-cocaine addictiveness factor going for it. I've been playing for forty minutes to two hours during nap time in the afternoons each day, but have been passing on the evening gaming session for other pursuits.
I have two observations (not quite complaints) about the game so far. The first is that whoever designed this game was really, really in love with the new graphics technology that became available between the development of the first and second games. It is cut scene-o-rama around here. I almost feel like the game is too focused on the story. It's a neat story, don't get me wrong, but there's not nearly the amount of running around and exploring each area that there was in the last game. Not yet, at least. Also, every freaking time you walk from one room to another, there is a pause for a "title card" of what new room or area you have entered. It is bloody distracting and it interrupts my gaming flow. Sigh. Sorry, sorry, not complaining, really. The other observation is that the combat system seems to be at odds with itself, even more so in this game than in the first. I don't think it is necessarily a bad idea to have combat in real time--where you can't pause the action while you are trying to heal yourself or decide your next move--but the way this system is designed, you have to constantly be watching the list of actions down in one corner of the screen in order to know what actions are available to you and when. I can either pay attention to the foe I am fighting with, and try to hit him, or I can watch the corner of the screen and wait for commands to become available. I cannot do both at the same time. It leaves for slightly unfufilling battles, and I am often left at the end wondering what the heck just happened because I didn't actually see any of it. It just seems to me like it is the kind of thing that would make more sense if you could issue out a few commands or pause to decide what your next move will be and which enemy you will use it against. Again, I have been spoiled by Bioware, I suppose. But still. I do really like that they have managed to make even the worlds or people you've seen before seem fresh and incorporate their story into the new adventure. That's pretty cool.
Those other pursuits I mentioned I'd been doing in the evenings? Reading. I had forgotten how much I love reading before bed--just a chapter or two. I finished the book I had been working on earlier in the week and Tuesday or Wednesday got started on the final installment in the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss. So far, so good. I will probably do a writeup of that once I finish reading it. I am very curious to see how this tale wraps up. I suspect it may be a slightly open-ended ending though, since I believe Traviss was originally contracted to write a few more books in the series before The Powers That Be axed it in favor of something else.
Lastly, I finally started my first knitting project yesterday. I took a few days off after the organization frenzy and then played around a little bit practicing the knit and purl stitches before actually starting. The project I am working on (a pair of slippers) is a wonderfully simple pattern, and perfect for a beginner, despite the slight challenge added by working with two strands of yarn at once. But I made good progress yesterday and look forward to maybe getting one of the pair finished (or close to at least) this weekend. I do have to make a run out today to buy some longer needles, though. Last year when I was first getting ready to teach myself to knit, I bought some basic, inexpensive starter needles in a variety of sizes. I never planned to use these needles long-term, just until I figured out which sizes I would realistically need for the specific types of projects I mostly want to work on. As with when I was building my store of quality crochet hooks, my plan is to buy the special needles I need as I buy the yarn for projects. The needles I am working on right now would be fine, except that they are only 5" long double-pointed needles, which is about an inch too short. I probably could work on three needles in the round, but that is beyond me right now, I think, so today I go in quest of 7" needles. I was nervously eying my project yesterday wondering how on earth I was going to move it to new needles when I get them when it dawned on me that I can just knit it off the current short needle onto the longer one. Duh. There is definitely going to be a learning curve here folks, but I am still excited. Also, yesterday I ordered the yarn for what will be my second knitting project--the Doctor Who scarf. Yay!
So with that I bid you adieu and wish you a happy and warm weekend! Have a great one!
Don't forget to swing by Gronk and check out this week's strip while you're playing on the internet though! It actually went up on Wednesday, but I forgot to link to it. We've got another guest strip, a beautiful pin-up piece this time. Enjoy!
Update: There was a new guest Gronk today as well, it just went up late! Here you go, enjoy!
Monday, January 3, 2011
All in All I'd Say It's a Good Start
Well, despite my daughter deciding to kick off 2011 by waking up several times in the night on New Year's Eve/Morning screaming her head off and all but inconsolable (she is in the process of cutting three very large teeth), so far this year has gotten off to a pretty good start, I'd say.
Saturday was just plain awesome. I hung out with my husband and daughter all day long, which is actually a much rarer event than you might expect, given Hubby's normally busy schedule. We finished off watching the first season of Stargate Atlantis together (we've been working on that for a while now), I finally started in on watching my season four Bones DVDs (I got them for my birthday back in August), and, there was something else...what was it? Oh, yeah. My alma matter, TCU, WON THE FRAKKING ROSE BOWL!!!!!!! Dude. I am not a football person. I seriously only watch two football games a year (and as someone who lives in Texas, I promise you, that takes some dedication), but even I can tell you that was a GREAT game. So yeah, heck of a way to ring in the new year.
Yesterday was a pretty nice day as well. I realized that I definitely need/prefer to go to the earlier of the two available services at our church (they started offering a later service in November), despite the fact that it means I have to get up early. Going to the later service has just had me dragging. So. Did that, and then had another day of hanging out with my family. Hubby mostly napped on the couch while I played with Baby Girl and watched some more Bones. I also watched the first episode of the new season of Primeval on my DVR and enjoyed it quite a bit. I am so so glad that show has come back. Good times.
Lest you think all I did was laze about and watch television (though I did do quite a bit of that), I also got in some good "puttering." I finally, finally, pulled out all of my yarn and went through and cataloged my stash, then put it all on my Ravelry account. I also pulled out all of the kits I have yarn for (crochet and knitting) as well as making a list of the other patterns I have that I want to make in the coming year and put those in my Ravelry queue. I will definitely work my way through the patterns/kits I have the yarn for first, and then start moving on to the others. While I was going through my stash I also at long last took the time to go through a stack of vintage patterns my mother-in-law had given me earlier in the year. Most of them are for crocheting with thread, which I might want to try at some point, but while looking through them I also found the pattern for the blanket she has at her house that I have been admiring for years. Yay! As it is a rose motif, I told my husband that if the Frogs won the Rose Bowl (we were watching the game at the time) I was going to make the blanket this year and make the roses purple. So. Yes. That will be happening. Sweet! Right now I am just dithering over the decision of whether or not to start my first attempted knitting project or my crocheted sweater first. I think I may go with the knitting because it is a pair of slippers and darned if I don't just really need a good pair of slippers right now. So I will hopefully get started on that this week. I am sure you will hear much about it.
I haven't said much about Kingdom Hearts II yet, but that is mostly because I was still slogging through the beginning of the game, which was incredibly slow (I kid you not--I was five hours of playing time into the game before I got to the title sequence). I am (mostly) enjoying it so far, I think the story is an intriguing one. I was chagrined to find that even though the designers seem to have lessened the amount of time you have to spend in the Gummi Ship (yay!), they managed to make the time you do spend in it about three times as obnoxious as it was in the first game. Sigh. Also, I ran into this new addition yesterday called the "morale gauge" that was giving me some problems and is a huge pain in the rear-end. But other than that, I am having fun with it overall. I feel the strong urge to brag about the fact that I have thus far not once cracked open a walkthrough either. I have a few bookmarked, just in case, but I am gonna see how far I can get before I break my resolve.
I made the first steps on the path toward achieving a few of my goals for the year as well. For the "read more books" goal, I have made the executive decision (then told it with my husband and am now sharing it with you so that I have people to hold me to it) that since I am getting up early on Sunday mornings again, I will just rule Saturday nights a non-game-playing night. I can read a chapter or two of my book instead of wittering away hours on my game. It's a baby step, sure, but a step all the same.
I made some slightly bigger strides toward my writing goal yesterday though. I've started giving some serious thought to the story I will be researching/starting this year. I spent a large part of the evening bouncing ideas off of my husband last night to see how crazy any of it sounded. I have definitely decided that this one will be straight up science fiction, not fantasy, which is a break from my normal MO. This also means, flat out, NO MAGIC. This is gonna be a challenge for me, but I think I can do it. Sadly it also means no dragons, but I will find a way to make sure they are represented in the story, never you fear. *cough*spaceships*cough*
So I would say I am pretty pleased with how my first weekend of 2011 went. I hope each of you are as satisfied with the new year thus far, and if not, I sincerely hope that things start to look up for you soon!
Oh! And before I forget, I did manage to finish my cowl on Thursday. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, even though it was not as I expected. I think if I made it again, I would half the width of the circle and double the length of the tube. But still, it is super warm and cozy and I love how the colors came out.
Pattern: Vintage Cascade Cowl by Lion Brand
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in various shades (I used remnants from other projects).
Hook: J
Saturday was just plain awesome. I hung out with my husband and daughter all day long, which is actually a much rarer event than you might expect, given Hubby's normally busy schedule. We finished off watching the first season of Stargate Atlantis together (we've been working on that for a while now), I finally started in on watching my season four Bones DVDs (I got them for my birthday back in August), and, there was something else...what was it? Oh, yeah. My alma matter, TCU, WON THE FRAKKING ROSE BOWL!!!!!!! Dude. I am not a football person. I seriously only watch two football games a year (and as someone who lives in Texas, I promise you, that takes some dedication), but even I can tell you that was a GREAT game. So yeah, heck of a way to ring in the new year.
Yesterday was a pretty nice day as well. I realized that I definitely need/prefer to go to the earlier of the two available services at our church (they started offering a later service in November), despite the fact that it means I have to get up early. Going to the later service has just had me dragging. So. Did that, and then had another day of hanging out with my family. Hubby mostly napped on the couch while I played with Baby Girl and watched some more Bones. I also watched the first episode of the new season of Primeval on my DVR and enjoyed it quite a bit. I am so so glad that show has come back. Good times.
Lest you think all I did was laze about and watch television (though I did do quite a bit of that), I also got in some good "puttering." I finally, finally, pulled out all of my yarn and went through and cataloged my stash, then put it all on my Ravelry account. I also pulled out all of the kits I have yarn for (crochet and knitting) as well as making a list of the other patterns I have that I want to make in the coming year and put those in my Ravelry queue. I will definitely work my way through the patterns/kits I have the yarn for first, and then start moving on to the others. While I was going through my stash I also at long last took the time to go through a stack of vintage patterns my mother-in-law had given me earlier in the year. Most of them are for crocheting with thread, which I might want to try at some point, but while looking through them I also found the pattern for the blanket she has at her house that I have been admiring for years. Yay! As it is a rose motif, I told my husband that if the Frogs won the Rose Bowl (we were watching the game at the time) I was going to make the blanket this year and make the roses purple. So. Yes. That will be happening. Sweet! Right now I am just dithering over the decision of whether or not to start my first attempted knitting project or my crocheted sweater first. I think I may go with the knitting because it is a pair of slippers and darned if I don't just really need a good pair of slippers right now. So I will hopefully get started on that this week. I am sure you will hear much about it.
I haven't said much about Kingdom Hearts II yet, but that is mostly because I was still slogging through the beginning of the game, which was incredibly slow (I kid you not--I was five hours of playing time into the game before I got to the title sequence). I am (mostly) enjoying it so far, I think the story is an intriguing one. I was chagrined to find that even though the designers seem to have lessened the amount of time you have to spend in the Gummi Ship (yay!), they managed to make the time you do spend in it about three times as obnoxious as it was in the first game. Sigh. Also, I ran into this new addition yesterday called the "morale gauge" that was giving me some problems and is a huge pain in the rear-end. But other than that, I am having fun with it overall. I feel the strong urge to brag about the fact that I have thus far not once cracked open a walkthrough either. I have a few bookmarked, just in case, but I am gonna see how far I can get before I break my resolve.
I made the first steps on the path toward achieving a few of my goals for the year as well. For the "read more books" goal, I have made the executive decision (then told it with my husband and am now sharing it with you so that I have people to hold me to it) that since I am getting up early on Sunday mornings again, I will just rule Saturday nights a non-game-playing night. I can read a chapter or two of my book instead of wittering away hours on my game. It's a baby step, sure, but a step all the same.
I made some slightly bigger strides toward my writing goal yesterday though. I've started giving some serious thought to the story I will be researching/starting this year. I spent a large part of the evening bouncing ideas off of my husband last night to see how crazy any of it sounded. I have definitely decided that this one will be straight up science fiction, not fantasy, which is a break from my normal MO. This also means, flat out, NO MAGIC. This is gonna be a challenge for me, but I think I can do it. Sadly it also means no dragons, but I will find a way to make sure they are represented in the story, never you fear. *cough*spaceships*cough*
So I would say I am pretty pleased with how my first weekend of 2011 went. I hope each of you are as satisfied with the new year thus far, and if not, I sincerely hope that things start to look up for you soon!
Oh! And before I forget, I did manage to finish my cowl on Thursday. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, even though it was not as I expected. I think if I made it again, I would half the width of the circle and double the length of the tube. But still, it is super warm and cozy and I love how the colors came out.
 |
| Cori's Cowl by Cori 2010. |
 |
| This is how the pattern photo suggests it be worn. |
 |
| Though I like wearing it as a hood to keep my ears warm too! |
Pattern: Vintage Cascade Cowl by Lion Brand
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in various shades (I used remnants from other projects).
Hook: J
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Final Thoughts on Kingdom Hearts
I didn't get around to mentioning this in yesterday's post (went off on a little rant there, sorry folks), but I wrapped up Boxing Day by finishing Kingdom Hearts! That was an excellent, excellent way to finish up the holiday weekend, let me tell you. Today I am going to dive right into Kingdom Hearts II, but before I get that underway, I thought I would share a few of my final thoughts on the first KH with you guys.
Be warned, today's posts will contain spoilers for the story of the game.
First off, I know I griped about this game a lot while I was playing. I am sure many of you wondered why I even kept it up. Well, those of you that don't have first-hand experience of my stubborn nature, at any rate. But I think the primary reason that this game was so frustrating for me was that at its basic core, the concept of this game is truly awesome. The execution of that concept, however, was frequently flawed. Running into those flaws so often managed to just take me right out of the joy of the game, and those were the moments I tended to focus on afterward when I was thinking and talking about KH. The secondary reason was that I had played most of the game (poorly) before this attempt. So I was running over old ground. While my real-life game playing ability has leveled up considerably since my last stab at KH, that actually only presented a new crop of problems for me this time around. Certainly, some of the things I had issues with previously were no longer an issue and I was able to deal with the in-game challenges much more easily. But the flip-side of that coin is those flaws in execution that I was talking about earlier. They stand out so much more obviously to me now that I actually have some idea of what I am doing, and have also played some really, truly, excellently designed and executed games (*cough* Bioware *cough*). Once I hit new territory, however, and got to the points in the game that I had never played, I will admit that I started having a lot more fun playing. My obsession was no longer a drive to conquer this challenge that has beaten me for so long, but simply excitement to play the game and find out what happens next.
I wish I could say I was able to make 100 % completion of the game, but that would be a lie, and a laughable one at that. I did find all 99 of the dalmatian puppies though, as well as complete the other two requirements to unlock the secret "ending" after the game credits. I am fairly certain I will not be playing the game again though. I have finished it, finally, and I am done. I am glad I played it, but it is not the kind of game, for me, that drives me to seek out more. Perhaps it once did, because that is definitely why I own KH II, but no more. My own playing style and choices have certainly evolved. I'm not saying I am better than KH, but it is no longer the kind of game that gets in my brain and stays there, begging for a replay or the next installment of the franchise. It is not a true RPG to me, and I think that seems to be more what I lean toward these days.
Despite this, I am kind of excited about jumping in to the sequel. I was reading the game booklet yesterday a little bit on my way to visit our family and some of what I read gives me hope that a lot of the issues that drove me nuts in the first game were addressed in the second. I'll have to get in and actually start playing to find out, but my fingers are crossed.
There are three final things about KH I want to address.
First, while the story driving the game was actually a pretty interesting one, I felt that the way it was wrapped up at the end of the game made no sense whatsoever. I don't know if this was me being so tired I didn't pay close enough attention during the cut scenes and so missed some vital piece of information, or if it was a bad translation from the original concept script (the game was largely designed in Japan), or if it was just a poorly executed story finale. Okay, this is the part that is about to get all spoilery. Highlight the blocked text to read if you aren't concerned about spoilers, otherwise, you can just skip it.
I guess my point here is that I feel like either I totally missed some fundamental groundwork that explained all of those things that happened at the end, or nothing was actually set up throughout the game to explain why those things happened the way they did. If that is the case, then that is a huge flaw in the game design. That's all I am saying. Hopefully, some of these questions get answered in KH II, but I am not actually holding my breath.
The second thing I want to address is the system of magic. I was talking this over with my husband last night and I am actually glad I picked magic as my focus in the game, rather than strength, even though I still proceeded to hack and slash my way through most of the battles. This is because it allowed me to use the iterations of "cure" to heal myself and my party. I also really liked the gravity and fire spells, and those are the three I had equipped to my magic shortcuts. But. I feel like the system of magic for this game had so much potential that was just wasted. For instance, the summons. I chose magic as my focus this time around planning to use the summons a lot more, but I used them maybe twice in the whole game. Why? Because the process of summoning a character is so clunky it is almost counter-intuitive. While in the middle of battle, you have to stop and stand still (while remaining completely vulnerable to your enemies) and scroll down to the "magic" menu listing, then scroll down that listing to "summon," and then scroll down yet another listing to choose the character you want to summon. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. I mentioned that you get three shortcut buttons for magic, but you learn a whole lot of spells, some of which are pretty useful, or, in some cases, required in certain battles. You can still use them even if they aren't set up for a shortcut, but you have to go through that scroll and choose thing every time you want to use that spell. It just takes too long and is too many buttons to press for a game where the combat is in real-time. You can change your shortcut items whenever you want, of course, except for when you are in the middle of a battle and have just figured out which particular spells you need for said battle, at which point you cannot access the menu at all.
I have some hopes that this is a little better in the next game, from the booklet it seems like it might be. Fingers crossed. I am just sad that such a potentially cool system got in the way of itself so easily and made itself too big a pain to actually use while playing.
The third and final thing I want to address is the items. As I mentioned, you can't access your menu, and therefore your item inventory, when you are in the middle of a battle. That means you've only got access to what is in your personal stock, which is, at most, six or seven items. Those items can be accessed during battle, but only by stopping what you are doing, standing still (while remaining vulnerable) and scrolling the command list to items, then scrolling the items list to choose the one you want to use, and then usually scrolling a third list to choose which member of your party you want to use the item for. It is just crazy. Thankfully, as I mentioned before, I had enough magic points by the end of the game that I could just cure myself (or other party members) magically with a shortcut button, rather than have to scroll around trying to select a potion. Also, while Donald and Goofy can hold more items than you can, they use them automatically and run out much more frequently, which means as soon as any battle is over, you need to be sure to restock them so they can help you out the next time you get into a tight jam. You could have 30 Megalixirs (the instant complete-cure potion) in your stock, but if all of your party is out, then you are still gonna die. Also, the really useful items like Tents and Cottages can only be used from the menu, and usually, where I would have wanted to (and been able to) use one, I had found a save point, which automatically restored my full health and magic points. So those items, while awesome, were kind of redundant. But once again, the tidbits I have gleamed from the KH II booklet give me hope that this has been improved in the next game.
So really, that's it, my thoughts on the first KH game. I am glad I played it. I am glad it's over. I am glad I found all of the puppies. I mean really, those poor puppies, crammed three into a chest and left strewn all over multiple worlds. I am looking forward to the new game because it is just that, new. To me at least. I am hoping it will be a lot more fun. We shall see though, we shall see.
Be warned, today's posts will contain spoilers for the story of the game.
First off, I know I griped about this game a lot while I was playing. I am sure many of you wondered why I even kept it up. Well, those of you that don't have first-hand experience of my stubborn nature, at any rate. But I think the primary reason that this game was so frustrating for me was that at its basic core, the concept of this game is truly awesome. The execution of that concept, however, was frequently flawed. Running into those flaws so often managed to just take me right out of the joy of the game, and those were the moments I tended to focus on afterward when I was thinking and talking about KH. The secondary reason was that I had played most of the game (poorly) before this attempt. So I was running over old ground. While my real-life game playing ability has leveled up considerably since my last stab at KH, that actually only presented a new crop of problems for me this time around. Certainly, some of the things I had issues with previously were no longer an issue and I was able to deal with the in-game challenges much more easily. But the flip-side of that coin is those flaws in execution that I was talking about earlier. They stand out so much more obviously to me now that I actually have some idea of what I am doing, and have also played some really, truly, excellently designed and executed games (*cough* Bioware *cough*). Once I hit new territory, however, and got to the points in the game that I had never played, I will admit that I started having a lot more fun playing. My obsession was no longer a drive to conquer this challenge that has beaten me for so long, but simply excitement to play the game and find out what happens next.
I wish I could say I was able to make 100 % completion of the game, but that would be a lie, and a laughable one at that. I did find all 99 of the dalmatian puppies though, as well as complete the other two requirements to unlock the secret "ending" after the game credits. I am fairly certain I will not be playing the game again though. I have finished it, finally, and I am done. I am glad I played it, but it is not the kind of game, for me, that drives me to seek out more. Perhaps it once did, because that is definitely why I own KH II, but no more. My own playing style and choices have certainly evolved. I'm not saying I am better than KH, but it is no longer the kind of game that gets in my brain and stays there, begging for a replay or the next installment of the franchise. It is not a true RPG to me, and I think that seems to be more what I lean toward these days.
Despite this, I am kind of excited about jumping in to the sequel. I was reading the game booklet yesterday a little bit on my way to visit our family and some of what I read gives me hope that a lot of the issues that drove me nuts in the first game were addressed in the second. I'll have to get in and actually start playing to find out, but my fingers are crossed.
There are three final things about KH I want to address.
First, while the story driving the game was actually a pretty interesting one, I felt that the way it was wrapped up at the end of the game made no sense whatsoever. I don't know if this was me being so tired I didn't pay close enough attention during the cut scenes and so missed some vital piece of information, or if it was a bad translation from the original concept script (the game was largely designed in Japan), or if it was just a poorly executed story finale. Okay, this is the part that is about to get all spoilery. Highlight the blocked text to read if you aren't concerned about spoilers, otherwise, you can just skip it.
Once the princesses and Kairi have been saved, the story kind of seemed to go off the rails. At this point the keyholes to all of the worlds we have visited have been closed. What did make sense: Sora still wants/needs to find Riku, and hopefully save him from the darkness; Donald and Goofy still need to find King Mickey; now that we know from all of the assembled reports that Ansem is actually the bad guy, we should probably find him and stop him from destroying more worlds; stopping Ansem might actually restore all of the worlds that have already been destroyed. Okay, good. All of that seems like proper motivation to move forward, certainly. So, we track down Ansem at "the end of the world," and beat him down, along with the weird crazy Heartless beast he rode in on. Cool. Then, there's one big final door, that seems to lead into...some weird darkness that has a whole bunch of Heartless spawning inside? Okay, um, I guess that makes sense. This is Ansem's handiwork after all. But we're having a hard time shutting the door, and we aren't trying to use the keyblade. I guess it doesn't work in this scenario? Then, oh hey, it's Riku! He's there behind the door, helping us! And so is King Mickey! WTF? Where did he come from? Where has he been all freaking game long to just suddenly pop up out of the middle of the Heartless, spouting about light, and it's okay to leave him and Riku behind the door. It seems to me the only real reason to leave Riku and Mickey behind this door is to give us a plot for the sequel. Because Riku, Sora, and Mickey have a big long conversation through the wide open door that at any point Riku and Mickey could have run through and then everyone could have shut it from the outside. But whatever. No, we're just gonna leave them in there to fight all of the Heartless, even though we have been looking for them both all game long. Now there's a door to the light we're supposed to find. Apparently, Ansem thought Kingdom Hearts were darkness, because all hearts start in the darkness or something, but Sora says he knows Kingdom Hearts are light. Wait, what? Sigh. Oh, and there's Kairi, suddenly at the end of the world, even though we left her back in Traverse Town, without a Gummi Ship, so how did she get here? And why, if she is here, does she get sent back to Destiny Islands when the worlds are restored and Sora doesn't? I am so so so confused. Sigh.
I guess my point here is that I feel like either I totally missed some fundamental groundwork that explained all of those things that happened at the end, or nothing was actually set up throughout the game to explain why those things happened the way they did. If that is the case, then that is a huge flaw in the game design. That's all I am saying. Hopefully, some of these questions get answered in KH II, but I am not actually holding my breath.
The second thing I want to address is the system of magic. I was talking this over with my husband last night and I am actually glad I picked magic as my focus in the game, rather than strength, even though I still proceeded to hack and slash my way through most of the battles. This is because it allowed me to use the iterations of "cure" to heal myself and my party. I also really liked the gravity and fire spells, and those are the three I had equipped to my magic shortcuts. But. I feel like the system of magic for this game had so much potential that was just wasted. For instance, the summons. I chose magic as my focus this time around planning to use the summons a lot more, but I used them maybe twice in the whole game. Why? Because the process of summoning a character is so clunky it is almost counter-intuitive. While in the middle of battle, you have to stop and stand still (while remaining completely vulnerable to your enemies) and scroll down to the "magic" menu listing, then scroll down that listing to "summon," and then scroll down yet another listing to choose the character you want to summon. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. I mentioned that you get three shortcut buttons for magic, but you learn a whole lot of spells, some of which are pretty useful, or, in some cases, required in certain battles. You can still use them even if they aren't set up for a shortcut, but you have to go through that scroll and choose thing every time you want to use that spell. It just takes too long and is too many buttons to press for a game where the combat is in real-time. You can change your shortcut items whenever you want, of course, except for when you are in the middle of a battle and have just figured out which particular spells you need for said battle, at which point you cannot access the menu at all.
I have some hopes that this is a little better in the next game, from the booklet it seems like it might be. Fingers crossed. I am just sad that such a potentially cool system got in the way of itself so easily and made itself too big a pain to actually use while playing.
The third and final thing I want to address is the items. As I mentioned, you can't access your menu, and therefore your item inventory, when you are in the middle of a battle. That means you've only got access to what is in your personal stock, which is, at most, six or seven items. Those items can be accessed during battle, but only by stopping what you are doing, standing still (while remaining vulnerable) and scrolling the command list to items, then scrolling the items list to choose the one you want to use, and then usually scrolling a third list to choose which member of your party you want to use the item for. It is just crazy. Thankfully, as I mentioned before, I had enough magic points by the end of the game that I could just cure myself (or other party members) magically with a shortcut button, rather than have to scroll around trying to select a potion. Also, while Donald and Goofy can hold more items than you can, they use them automatically and run out much more frequently, which means as soon as any battle is over, you need to be sure to restock them so they can help you out the next time you get into a tight jam. You could have 30 Megalixirs (the instant complete-cure potion) in your stock, but if all of your party is out, then you are still gonna die. Also, the really useful items like Tents and Cottages can only be used from the menu, and usually, where I would have wanted to (and been able to) use one, I had found a save point, which automatically restored my full health and magic points. So those items, while awesome, were kind of redundant. But once again, the tidbits I have gleamed from the KH II booklet give me hope that this has been improved in the next game.
So really, that's it, my thoughts on the first KH game. I am glad I played it. I am glad it's over. I am glad I found all of the puppies. I mean really, those poor puppies, crammed three into a chest and left strewn all over multiple worlds. I am looking forward to the new game because it is just that, new. To me at least. I am hoping it will be a lot more fun. We shall see though, we shall see.
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