Kingdom Hearts re:Coded

[NotitsMan]

I'm not sure how many of you guys around here have actually played this game yet, if you even plan to at all, but whatever. Full speed ahead!

I just picked up this game a little while ago, and I have to say that going in with very low expectations, I'm pretty impressed with it so far! I'm very happy to see that the command deck and its awesome moves seem to be becoming a staple of the series, and command melding has been refined a little bit to make it even deeper than it already was. The gameplay is incredibly varied compared to what I was expecting; I just got through Olympus Coliseum, and decided I wanted to tackle the thirty layer challenge and get my hands on the sweet rewards.

Anyone else played it and have any thoughts?

[Ethan]

OMG I'm so glad someone else thinks the same.

I basically went into Re:coded like "OK, cool, more story, I love Kingdom Hearts story, I love Kingdom Hearts in general, so I'll be picking this up, they've made improvements from coded so it should be more fun." However just as you say, my total expectations were fairly low.

And then I played it and was kind of blown away at how fun it actually was. Not to mention long, I think I beat it in around 60 hours. This is of course on Critical and with a little bit of play with the Avatar Menu, and doing Tag Mode and then those levels to get new items for my avatar and such. Just impressed, really impressed, totally exceeded my expectations.

[Jake]

"OK, cool, more story, I love Kingdom Hearts story

There's so much wrong with this sentence. I don't even know where to begin. I haven't played this yet, but I've been playing BBS and while I'm enjoying it, I can tell you the story isn't one of the reasons. In fact, it's not even close to being one of the reasons. The entire KH plot can go get fucked. :aldo:

[Ethan]

Why though?

[NotitsMan]

You make me feel like a little wuss for playing it on Proud Mode.

And I gotta say, the leveling system is superb and creative. The level of customization you can get out of it is still a little staggering to me. The cheats and abilities are a nice touch, as well as being able to tailor Sora to exactly what you want him to be. Not to mention that I'm already up to my neck in interesting stuff to do and I just now got done with Olympus Coliseum. It's just really obvious to me that this is a heartfelt effort, and way way more than a port of the original coded.

I haven't played this yet, but I've been playing BBS and while I'm enjoying it, I can tell you the story isn't one of the reasons. In fact, it's not even close to being one of the reasons. The entire KH plot can go get fucked. :aldo:

I know the story is hokey myself, but I really just can't help loving it. There's something pure about it that draws me in. And, as long as I'm on the subject of story, for some reason, though the story of Re:coded is nothing special, I'm finding it a lot more digestible than I found BbS's storyline to be. Probably has something to do with it not being split into three parts.

[Jake]

Why though?

Convoluted cheese-fest. Light, dark, friendship. You can stand it. But I can't. I'd rather just pretend the plot doesn't exist because it may as well not. :wtf:

[Dora]

I have to say that I do quite like KH's story now. Mindfuck it may be at times. :aldo:

[Ethan]

You make me feel like a little wuss for playing it on Proud Mode.

Pussy.


And I gotta say, the leveling system is superb and creative. The level of customization you can get out of it is still a little staggering to me. The cheats and abilities are a nice touch, as well as being able to tailor Sora to exactly what you want him to be. Not to mention that I'm already up to my neck in interesting stuff to do and I just now got done with Olympus Coliseum. It's just really obvious to me that this is a heartfelt effort, and way way more than a port of the original coded.

I LOVE the Stat Matrix xD It's honestly really clever and yeah the game is wayyyy more than just a port.

So it is cheesy sometimes, but big deal? Cheesier movies or games get more respect sometimes and most of the themes of KH really sit well with me. I dunno, it's not for everyone I guess.

[Oracle]

Gonna buy it, sounds like a fun game.


(Whenever I find my DS, that is. Which means not for a while.)

[Mike]

I'll admit, this discussion going on in here is making me slightly more intrigued in buying this game...

But the KH part's just making it damn impossible for me.

[Dora]

My mum hid my sister's DS and forgot where she put it.
I'm not playing this anytime soon. :/

[mokaloka]

Convoluted cheese-fest. Light, dark, friendship. You can stand it. But I can't. I'd rather just pretend the plot doesn't exist because it may as well not. :wtf:And that's part of the charm the themes are light hearted and simple.^_^

[Agent Dunham]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-kingdom-hearts/709197

I said to Ethan on Facebook, the game just sounds cheap. Like something a Chinese company specialising in knockoffs would put out.

Bring on your "derp cellphone port" and "double derp DS restrictions" defences, this is just woeful. And that Stat Matrix thing has to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen, for a series that can look quite pretty at times.

[NotitsMan]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-kingdom-hearts/709197

I said to Ethan on Facebook, the game just sounds cheap. Like something a Chinese company specialising in knockoffs would put out.

Bring on your "derp cellphone port" and "double derp DS restrictions" defences, this is just woeful. And that Stat Matrix thing has to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen, for a series that can look quite pretty at times.

Personally, I don't feel that it needs either of those defenses. Like I said before, there's a hell of a lot of meat to the game, the storyline is cohesive enough to be liked, if cheesy, and the combat system remains fun and deep if you choose to get into it, with plenty of challenges and side-quests. I never found the stat matrix to be that ugly, either. It's just a cartoony motherboard. Though I'll admit the rest of the game isn't all that stunning looking, it's definitely an improvement on 358/2 Days, and has never been poor enough to make me cringe.

[Ramenzilla]

I don't have a DS so I can't play it! but I don't understand why they keep making handheld spin-offs, what's the point? (oh right, making money, gotcha)...although I did enjoy Birth by Sleep...but that introduced new characters and all that junk that will propel the third game forward...hopefully.

[Jake]

And that's part of the charm the themes are light hearted and simple.^_^

There's a fine line between light hearted and simple being charming or nauseating. KH crosses that line.

[Mike]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-kingdom-hearts/709197

I said to Ethan on Facebook, the game just sounds cheap. Like something a Chinese company specialising in knockoffs would put out.

Bring on your "derp cellphone port" and "double derp DS restrictions" defences, this is just woeful. And that Stat Matrix thing has to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen, for a series that can look quite pretty at times.

I watched the trailer just to see what this is about...

I think I threw up in my mouth a little. :aldo:

[Dora]

I hereby reevaluate my previous post to,
"I'm not playing this."

Now where did I put my Chain of Memories cartridge..?

[Falsate]

Is the Stat Matrix like T3B DNA Board+BBS Melding? If it is, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Jake]

I watched the trailer just to see what this is about...

I think I threw up in my mouth a little. :aldo:

This. Overall, I just wasn't feeling the game at all. I don't think I'll waste my time. And while I'm at it, another reason I hate KH's plot with a passion is all the angst, angst, drama, angst, drama, drama. Did I mention drama and angst? The sad thing is it expects me to take it all seriously. Although according to the review, this one isn't as angst filled. But it most likely still has a healthy dose I'm sure. And the platforming looks particularly awful. Okay, I'm done bitching now. :wtf:

[Ethan]

Is the Stat Matrix like T3B DNA Board+BBS Melding? If it is, I wouldn't be surprised.

You have a circuit board type thing, and place chips into sockets, the chips are typical things like HP+2, LVL+1, Strength+3. You start at a CPU and once the chips are all connected to another CPU the chips placed between the two CPU's double in power. The chips can connect to other things like ability nodes and Cheat Devices (which are actually really cool).

BbS's command melding comes into play for abilities but it's slightly different and completely seperate from the Stat Matrix. Every command only has 1 bar you need to fill and then you can meld it with something. Melding results in something like Cure Lvl.1 all the way to 99 until it's mastered. You can also get "Overspec" which results in a substantial lvl increase for the command you create and or it could result in 1 of 3 benefits.

[C] which increases the amount your "Overclock guage" goes up with a hit of the command. [R] which speeds up reload time, and [CR] which is obviously just both.


EDIT

Also, I didn't bother to watch that Gametrailer review of Re:coded, but now that I have. If we're talking about cheap, some of the things they said in the review were low, cheap blows.

And this game is definitely longer than 15 hours, I would honestly say that I'm really good when it comes to Kingdom Hearts and as I said, while I did play with the Avatar Menu a little, and played this game on Critical (the highest difficulty setting) this game took AT LEAST 40 hours.

Also, I really love when video reviews knock certain aspects of a game and blame controls or camera or whatnot, and back this claim up by someone playing, and struggling, but in all honesty, the person playing is just utter shit at said game, as they do in this review.

It's funny too that they keep on reiterating the fact that if you're a veteran of the series you probably won't like it, yet I feel the veterans of the series, myself included, are probably the ones that would enjoy it the most.

Another thing to consider is that Re:coded's main point in my eyes? Let fans outside of Japan play coded, and I will honestly tell you, I wanted to play it for it's story. Yet instead of just porting it, they added a shit ton of extra's and revamped entire systems.

[NotitsMan]

It's funny too that they keep on reiterating the fact that if you're a veteran of the series you probably won't like it, yet I feel the veterans of the series, myself included, are probably the ones that would enjoy it the most.

Another thing to consider is that Re:coded's main point in my eyes? Let fans outside of Japan play coded, and I will honestly tell you, I wanted to play it for it's story. Yet instead of just porting it, they added a shit ton of extra's and revamped entire systems.

Yeah, as someone who's played every game that's come out in North America, I have to say that I'm really enjoying re:Coded. Guess that makes two 'veterans' of the series. This still feels to me like a fully fledged game, not some cheap knock-off. The effort they put into it is really evident. The game is far from perfect, but at this stage I'd say a good solid 'B' is a pretty fair grade.

Of course, it's not really that hard to fish up a bad review for anything.

[Ethan]

Yeah, as someone who's played every game that's come out in North America, I have to say that I'm really enjoying re:Coded. Guess that makes two 'veterans' of the series. This still feels to me like a fully fledged game, not some cheap knock-off. The effort they put into it is really evident. The game is far from perfect, but at this stage I'd say a good solid 'B' is a pretty fair grade.

Of course, it's not really that hard to fish up a bad review for anything.

It's like yeah, that's get someone to play the game like utter crap, record them, and then put it in our video review to make the game look worse then it is. I honestly think that's something this review is guilty of.

[Jake]

It's funny too that they keep on reiterating the fact that if you're a veteran of the series you probably won't like it, yet I feel the veterans of the series, myself included, are probably the ones that would enjoy it the most.


Every time they said that in the review I honestly thought, "Well, Ethan's a slut for KH and he likes it." :aldo:

[NotitsMan]

I do have to say though. The platforming in that game is so atrocious it should be criminal.

[Ethan]

OK, the Blox that damage you can be a bitch, and the magnet and bouncy ones can be a bit annoying, but it's not as bad as they make it out to be

[NotitsMan]

The automatic jumping and camera issues just make platforming such a hassle! Not that that matters too much as the game ISN'T A PLATFORMER. Do you ever get glide? Because that makes KH platforming ten times more bearable at least.

[Ethan]

The automatic jumping and camera issues just make platforming such a hassle! Not that that matters too much as the game ISN'T A PLATFORMER. Do you ever get glide? Because that makes KH platforming ten times more bearable at least.

As soon as I had access to the Config I changes shit up. I hadn't even played before, hadn't seen what things were like but I can tell you this, I changed the way you move the camera and I turned off auto jump just the way the game made them sound made me want to change them before even seeing what they were like. I can't vouch for glide yet though.