AlterSephith
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Babbling about random interests.
Babbling about random interests.
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This review contains spoilers
KH2 is the perfect follow up to everything presented in the stories of KH1 and RECOM.
The story of this game is amazing and had me interested the whole way through. They really got to utilise more of their original characters this time with the Organisation and Roxas and his group. The Twilight Town section at the beginning is such a good introduction to the game and I loved Roxas and his character a lot.
The Disney worlds were far more interesting this time and felt like they had a bit more importance in the overall story with the Organisations involvements.
KH2 expands on its main cast of characters excellently. Sora and Riku are such a great pair of characters and their chemistry together is fantastic. The supporting cast were always fun to have around and I really liked how involved they were especially with segments like Hollow Bastions swarm of Heartless.
Roxas’ character is probably my favourite in this game with Axel being close behind. Roxas’ story of wanting to fight against the fact he is Soras Nobody as he is his own person yet eventually accepting Sora as his other half is a really strong arc for his character. Even if we don’t get to see him much outside of the beginning, how he ties into the ending part of the game was amazing. Considering 358 has a lot to do with him I’m sure his character will get fleshed out even more.
Xemnas as a primary villain this time is much more compelling than KH1 Ansem was. The Nobodies in general are such a cool idea for characters that mirror that of the Heartless and the People that the Nobodies are from. Having this set of characters that reflect their counterpart in some way just without a heart is a great story point and sets up a perfect groundwork for these characters to differ from their counterparts. Having the likes of Xemnas chasing after not just some kind of power but the ability to have feelings even if it’s that of rage and anger is a lot more compelling than making him a god complex type of character.
The Nobodies are also interesting in that they may actually have hearts after all but just fragmented versions as the actions of Axel and Roxas would stem from someone who has a heart. Axel says himself that he’s “enjoying this” in COM showing that the ability to feel is still there.
The combat was leagues better than KH1, taking the base from KH1 and making it flow a lot smoother with quicker movements and combos never got dull. The introduction to Reaction Commands and the Drive forms were such an amazing addition to the combat. Enemy encounters felt unique as the majority of enemies had a Reaction Command which were all different depending on the enemy you are fighting.
Magic definitely felt that it had better utility in this game but I personally didn’t use too many offensive spells as my main key blades were physical based but it didn’t take away from anything in the combat, it’s more on me to make use of the magic more.
The limits and summons were a great way to mix up the gameplay with the different party members in each world. I know summons were in KH1 as well but they felt a lot more useful and fun in this games combat.
The boss fights in this game are for the most part so much fun to fight and managed to strike a good balance between the cinematics of the fight with the Reaction commands and the fights themselves. The highlights were obviously the Organisation fights and the final boss segment was such an amazing spectacle. Even some of the heartless fights I enjoyed as well especially some of their designs.
Gumi ship was the Gumi ship. It felt a lot more involved this time but I’m still indifferent on it. It’s nice that the game gives you pre made ships incrementally so people don’t feel the need to upgrade the base one.
Square Enix games typically will have fantastic soundtracks and KH2 is among some of the best music in a Square title I’ve heard. Every track perfectly fits the feel and mood of the area or situation you’re in and boasts some amazing boss themes. All the Organisation themes especially the Roxas fight were amazing and that latter track is probably one of my favourites in the whole game.
KH2 is a fantastic sequel and everything I expected and wanted from this series. I only hope that the highs of this games story, characters and combat continue into the rest of the series.
10/10
The story of this game is amazing and had me interested the whole way through. They really got to utilise more of their original characters this time with the Organisation and Roxas and his group. The Twilight Town section at the beginning is such a good introduction to the game and I loved Roxas and his character a lot.
The Disney worlds were far more interesting this time and felt like they had a bit more importance in the overall story with the Organisations involvements.
KH2 expands on its main cast of characters excellently. Sora and Riku are such a great pair of characters and their chemistry together is fantastic. The supporting cast were always fun to have around and I really liked how involved they were especially with segments like Hollow Bastions swarm of Heartless.
Roxas’ character is probably my favourite in this game with Axel being close behind. Roxas’ story of wanting to fight against the fact he is Soras Nobody as he is his own person yet eventually accepting Sora as his other half is a really strong arc for his character. Even if we don’t get to see him much outside of the beginning, how he ties into the ending part of the game was amazing. Considering 358 has a lot to do with him I’m sure his character will get fleshed out even more.
Xemnas as a primary villain this time is much more compelling than KH1 Ansem was. The Nobodies in general are such a cool idea for characters that mirror that of the Heartless and the People that the Nobodies are from. Having this set of characters that reflect their counterpart in some way just without a heart is a great story point and sets up a perfect groundwork for these characters to differ from their counterparts. Having the likes of Xemnas chasing after not just some kind of power but the ability to have feelings even if it’s that of rage and anger is a lot more compelling than making him a god complex type of character.
The Nobodies are also interesting in that they may actually have hearts after all but just fragmented versions as the actions of Axel and Roxas would stem from someone who has a heart. Axel says himself that he’s “enjoying this” in COM showing that the ability to feel is still there.
The combat was leagues better than KH1, taking the base from KH1 and making it flow a lot smoother with quicker movements and combos never got dull. The introduction to Reaction Commands and the Drive forms were such an amazing addition to the combat. Enemy encounters felt unique as the majority of enemies had a Reaction Command which were all different depending on the enemy you are fighting.
Magic definitely felt that it had better utility in this game but I personally didn’t use too many offensive spells as my main key blades were physical based but it didn’t take away from anything in the combat, it’s more on me to make use of the magic more.
The limits and summons were a great way to mix up the gameplay with the different party members in each world. I know summons were in KH1 as well but they felt a lot more useful and fun in this games combat.
The boss fights in this game are for the most part so much fun to fight and managed to strike a good balance between the cinematics of the fight with the Reaction commands and the fights themselves. The highlights were obviously the Organisation fights and the final boss segment was such an amazing spectacle. Even some of the heartless fights I enjoyed as well especially some of their designs.
Gumi ship was the Gumi ship. It felt a lot more involved this time but I’m still indifferent on it. It’s nice that the game gives you pre made ships incrementally so people don’t feel the need to upgrade the base one.
Square Enix games typically will have fantastic soundtracks and KH2 is among some of the best music in a Square title I’ve heard. Every track perfectly fits the feel and mood of the area or situation you’re in and boasts some amazing boss themes. All the Organisation themes especially the Roxas fight were amazing and that latter track is probably one of my favourites in the whole game.
KH2 is a fantastic sequel and everything I expected and wanted from this series. I only hope that the highs of this games story, characters and combat continue into the rest of the series.
10/10
Monster Hunter Rise feels like the core ideas and mechanics of the game are there and great but get held back massively by being a port of a switch game. Throughout this review I will be comparing to MHW quite a bit as that was the last MH game I played and is apart of the same gen.
Firstly the story of this game was incredibly bare bones. The flagship monster for this game appears for one cutscene and proceeds to die in roughly 15 minutes in a quest not too long after. Magnamalo as a monster is cool and I enjoyed his fight but the build up is non existent and ends way too soon. In comparison to a monster like Nergigante who you repel twice and has enough build up to make him feel like a threat, Magnamalo falls flat hard and it’s a real shame considering how good of a design he has.
Rest of the story follows a pretty similar problem. The rampage never really felt developed on and the appearance and problems Ibushi causes is glossed over and done with very quickly. Narwas even worse for it as you don’t even get to see the resonance as it happens off screen. It all just feels very empty and not enough moment to moment story sections to make me care for the main threats of the game. Once again however design wise the serpents are stunning and their fights are alright but that’s all they’ve got going.
Due to the story being lacklustre the characters suffer also. Despite them being named this time around they don’t get the time to do much or have anything going for them. Even though I thought the characters in world were just okay, they still had the opportunity to interact more because of how the story is structured. Rise doesn’t really give the characters or monsters this chance making the game boil down to just doing hunts with no real link between them excluding the urgent quests. Even then those urgent quests feel quite disconnected and are just like normal hunts.
Like with MHW however, the story for these games is not the primary reason I play these games. I love the lore of the monsters and the world that the games take place in but the actual story I’m fine with being just okay like MHWs. Typically I do like having some kind of strong structure or continuity connecting the quests like MHW but where this game shines the most is in its gameplay.
Rise’s gameplay is incredibly fun. I think the switch skills and move set swapping system was such a good addition to the game and allows for attuning your weapon to whatever you prefer or need. All of these skills don’t get outclassed by their counterpart as each have a specific use that can only be accomplished by using these skills. The Palamutes (mounts) are amazing additions and I’m glad they are going to add something similar to Wilds. Having a mount you can use to freely and quickly traverse the map is great and was needed a lot in MHW.
However this game feels a lot less weighty and impactful with its gameplay as the sound effects and visual effects like screen shake and hit stop aren’t as heavy makes it feel like I’m hitting the monster with a twig at times. The impact is still there for stuff like the hammer and greatsword but unlike MHW where every action felt like there was huge weight behind it, Rise sacrifices that for speedier gameplay which some might prefer.
Visuals are never something I complain about especially since the switch has limited capability but they are obviously lower detail. For the most part this lower detail didn’t bother me as its art style was still incredibly strong and some of the new monsters looked fantastic.
The area design is what I really think this game gets set back by from it being a switch game. Once again in comparison to MHW, there is severely less interaction with the monsters, you and the environment. The areas feel a lot more basic and don’t have these small things that can make hunts unique just off the environment alone. The best example I have is Diablos in MHW and Rise. In MHW I was in the middle of fighting two other monster above this section of desert that solely exists for Diablos to emerge from and engulf the other monsters into it whereas in Rise Diabolos is just another monster in the desert and the environment has nothing unique to interact with.
This was such a huge thing for me in MHW as it was everywhere: the flood taking Rathalos down a cliff, Boulders that can be dropped on monsters, the volcanic eruptions in Elders Recess, The ice crags falling and limiting movement, tons of more examples that made the hunts unpredictable at times and this doesn’t even include certain monsters who will purposely intervene in your fight. None of this was present in Rise and it was a massive shame.
Music as always is brilliant and I really don’t need to comment much on it since this review is long enough. Fits the style of the game and sounds fantastic.
Overall the game is great to put on and get a few hunts in. With small maps and much more favourable options for the hunter it’s easy to hunt a few things and be done within the hour, something that was probably intentional with it being a switch game. MHR doesn’t come without its limitations but I’m still interested to see what Sunbreak has as these games love to save their best for the DLC.
7/10
Firstly the story of this game was incredibly bare bones. The flagship monster for this game appears for one cutscene and proceeds to die in roughly 15 minutes in a quest not too long after. Magnamalo as a monster is cool and I enjoyed his fight but the build up is non existent and ends way too soon. In comparison to a monster like Nergigante who you repel twice and has enough build up to make him feel like a threat, Magnamalo falls flat hard and it’s a real shame considering how good of a design he has.
Rest of the story follows a pretty similar problem. The rampage never really felt developed on and the appearance and problems Ibushi causes is glossed over and done with very quickly. Narwas even worse for it as you don’t even get to see the resonance as it happens off screen. It all just feels very empty and not enough moment to moment story sections to make me care for the main threats of the game. Once again however design wise the serpents are stunning and their fights are alright but that’s all they’ve got going.
Due to the story being lacklustre the characters suffer also. Despite them being named this time around they don’t get the time to do much or have anything going for them. Even though I thought the characters in world were just okay, they still had the opportunity to interact more because of how the story is structured. Rise doesn’t really give the characters or monsters this chance making the game boil down to just doing hunts with no real link between them excluding the urgent quests. Even then those urgent quests feel quite disconnected and are just like normal hunts.
Like with MHW however, the story for these games is not the primary reason I play these games. I love the lore of the monsters and the world that the games take place in but the actual story I’m fine with being just okay like MHWs. Typically I do like having some kind of strong structure or continuity connecting the quests like MHW but where this game shines the most is in its gameplay.
Rise’s gameplay is incredibly fun. I think the switch skills and move set swapping system was such a good addition to the game and allows for attuning your weapon to whatever you prefer or need. All of these skills don’t get outclassed by their counterpart as each have a specific use that can only be accomplished by using these skills. The Palamutes (mounts) are amazing additions and I’m glad they are going to add something similar to Wilds. Having a mount you can use to freely and quickly traverse the map is great and was needed a lot in MHW.
However this game feels a lot less weighty and impactful with its gameplay as the sound effects and visual effects like screen shake and hit stop aren’t as heavy makes it feel like I’m hitting the monster with a twig at times. The impact is still there for stuff like the hammer and greatsword but unlike MHW where every action felt like there was huge weight behind it, Rise sacrifices that for speedier gameplay which some might prefer.
Visuals are never something I complain about especially since the switch has limited capability but they are obviously lower detail. For the most part this lower detail didn’t bother me as its art style was still incredibly strong and some of the new monsters looked fantastic.
The area design is what I really think this game gets set back by from it being a switch game. Once again in comparison to MHW, there is severely less interaction with the monsters, you and the environment. The areas feel a lot more basic and don’t have these small things that can make hunts unique just off the environment alone. The best example I have is Diablos in MHW and Rise. In MHW I was in the middle of fighting two other monster above this section of desert that solely exists for Diablos to emerge from and engulf the other monsters into it whereas in Rise Diabolos is just another monster in the desert and the environment has nothing unique to interact with.
This was such a huge thing for me in MHW as it was everywhere: the flood taking Rathalos down a cliff, Boulders that can be dropped on monsters, the volcanic eruptions in Elders Recess, The ice crags falling and limiting movement, tons of more examples that made the hunts unpredictable at times and this doesn’t even include certain monsters who will purposely intervene in your fight. None of this was present in Rise and it was a massive shame.
Music as always is brilliant and I really don’t need to comment much on it since this review is long enough. Fits the style of the game and sounds fantastic.
Overall the game is great to put on and get a few hunts in. With small maps and much more favourable options for the hunter it’s easy to hunt a few things and be done within the hour, something that was probably intentional with it being a switch game. MHR doesn’t come without its limitations but I’m still interested to see what Sunbreak has as these games love to save their best for the DLC.
7/10
I really wanted to enjoy this game and gave it several chances throughout my short time playing it but it really didn’t click well with me.
Taking the already decent combat from KH1 and grinding the entire flow of it to a halt with several mechanics you need to micromanage was horrible to try and play. The card mechanics could have been a cool idea as Square Enix have done good card games before but having to juggle what cards your opponents use, sifting through 20 plus cards just to get to the right ones and worry about the spacing of you and your opponents attacks in real time was to much layered on at once.
The combat just feels very restrictive and doesn’t flow well at all. The game also doesn’t do itself any favours since you can choose which world you want to go to first. This may end up meaning you pick one that you are way too under levelled for and end up needing to either reload a save because the boss has jumped up to 3 health bars or grind it out for several hours, both of which I wasn’t willing to do.
It’s not like I picked a late game world considering I based it off what worlds you go to in KH1 first so I chose Wonderland. Speaking of the Disney worlds near all of their story’s in this game are rehashed plot lines from KH1 with the addition of characters going “damn I don’t remember you but you’re called Sora” and that’s about it.
There was potential to have a cool setting with the Disney worlds becoming distorted and merging in their presentation to represent Soras memories being changed but the Disney worlds ended up not serving much purpose and only the Kingdom Hearts original worlds mattered in this game.
I have to preface that because I really couldn’t enjoy this gameplay I did watch all the cutscenes for the game as I am aware it is crucial to know these details for KH2 and a story summary didn’t really cut it.
This game gets any rating at all because of its story. It’s a really strong set up towards KH2 and all the new characters they introduced are extremely interesting and unique. Organisation XIII is a great group of villains so far and was what this series needed after KH1. As much as the Disney worlds are and feel like fun side adventures for the characters to go on the main crux of what makes these games interesting so far is the main cast and story that they have going on so an introduction to a primary villain group is welcome.
After trying to play this game I can see why it’s so polarising but if you really can’t stand its gameplay like me then I highly recommend watching the cutscenes, they only amount to 3 hours so it’s a much better use of your time than trying to slog through this game for 25.
4/10
Taking the already decent combat from KH1 and grinding the entire flow of it to a halt with several mechanics you need to micromanage was horrible to try and play. The card mechanics could have been a cool idea as Square Enix have done good card games before but having to juggle what cards your opponents use, sifting through 20 plus cards just to get to the right ones and worry about the spacing of you and your opponents attacks in real time was to much layered on at once.
The combat just feels very restrictive and doesn’t flow well at all. The game also doesn’t do itself any favours since you can choose which world you want to go to first. This may end up meaning you pick one that you are way too under levelled for and end up needing to either reload a save because the boss has jumped up to 3 health bars or grind it out for several hours, both of which I wasn’t willing to do.
It’s not like I picked a late game world considering I based it off what worlds you go to in KH1 first so I chose Wonderland. Speaking of the Disney worlds near all of their story’s in this game are rehashed plot lines from KH1 with the addition of characters going “damn I don’t remember you but you’re called Sora” and that’s about it.
There was potential to have a cool setting with the Disney worlds becoming distorted and merging in their presentation to represent Soras memories being changed but the Disney worlds ended up not serving much purpose and only the Kingdom Hearts original worlds mattered in this game.
I have to preface that because I really couldn’t enjoy this gameplay I did watch all the cutscenes for the game as I am aware it is crucial to know these details for KH2 and a story summary didn’t really cut it.
This game gets any rating at all because of its story. It’s a really strong set up towards KH2 and all the new characters they introduced are extremely interesting and unique. Organisation XIII is a great group of villains so far and was what this series needed after KH1. As much as the Disney worlds are and feel like fun side adventures for the characters to go on the main crux of what makes these games interesting so far is the main cast and story that they have going on so an introduction to a primary villain group is welcome.
After trying to play this game I can see why it’s so polarising but if you really can’t stand its gameplay like me then I highly recommend watching the cutscenes, they only amount to 3 hours so it’s a much better use of your time than trying to slog through this game for 25.
4/10