The GWJ JRPG Club 2018 - Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix

I’ve gotten distracted by a few other things, but I fully intend to return before this session is up.

Hanging out in Agrabah. Just chilling

I'm struggling to want to play Chain of Memories, though I haven't given it much more time since my last post (hoping more people start on it soon to push me along). Otherwise, I may just watch one of those condensed summary movies on YouTube. Apparently, Chain of Memories has some pretty important plot points required if you have any hope of understanding KH2

It's not necessarily bad, but it's very odd having the combat system change so dramatically but...Not at all? It's really hard to put into words.

A_Unicycle wrote:

I'm struggling to want to play Chain of Memories, though I haven't given it much more time since my last post (hoping more people start on it soon to push me along). Otherwise, I may just watch one of those condensed summary movies on YouTube. Apparently, Chain of Memories has some pretty important plot points required if you have any hope of understanding KH2

It's not necessarily bad, but it's very odd having the combat system change so dramatically but...Not at all? It's really hard to put into words.

I'm not playing through this one, but I've played through KH and KH2 before -- but none of the other games. The more I read about and talk about the series, the more it seems like your point applies to everything: there are so many layers of plot, false idenities, and multiple timelines, that it seems like you need to play everything, and then be prepared to go deep down the rabbit hole, to hope to understand what's going on in the series. It really makes me wonder if I'll play KH3 when it comes out, or if I'll play any of the KH games again.

A_Unicycle wrote:

I'm struggling to want to play Chain of Memories....

It's not necessarily bad, but it's very odd having the combat system change so dramatically but...Not at all? It's really hard to put into words.

This sums me up too.

I'm about 4 worlds into CoM and I'm not disliking it but the combat, which if anything is even more central this time, just isn't quite clicking with me. Leave everything else as it is and take out the card element of the combat and I feel like I would be loving this.

Currently doing a little bit of grinding, but I should be putting this game, and the card game, in the ground by month's end. How's everyone else coming along?

I'm focused on Shin Megami Tensei IV at the moment, and will likely need the rest of September to finish that. I'm hopeful that I can get this going in the back three months. A bit will depend on what the next game is, and what the CRPG game is.

I'm still early on in Memories.

I picked up both Last of Us and Horizon in one of the recent sales so those have been taking my attention. Once I am done with Horizon I will jump back in.

Is anyone still playing this? Haven't seen a post in a few weeks.

I'm thinking about selling off my copies of KH1 and KH2 and getting KH 1.5+2.5 Remix, in which case I might hop in with a late start.

LastSurprise wrote:

Is anyone still playing this? Haven't seen a post in a few weeks.

I'm thinking about selling off my copies of KH1 and KH2 and getting KH 1.5+2.5 Remix, in which case I might hop in with a late start.

I'm still working on SMT IV, probably for just a bit more. With the timing as it is, I'm going to wait and see what gets picked for both the JRPG and CRPG clubs this time around. If the new club games are ones I want to play and on the longer side, then I'll probably hop over this.

Also, I'll play the CRPG Club game no matter what gets picked, but if the new JRPG game doesn't grab me, then I think I'll play this one instead.

Short answer: I'll know in a few days.

Maybe it'll be me and you again, finishing up a game 3 months late!

I have mixed feelings about KH. A couple months ago I went to Otakon and sat in on a panel where they tried to summarize the story so far, and it was such a mess that I thought trying to learn what was going on before KH3 is a totally lost cause. On the other hand, I had so much damn fun playing KH back in college.

My play through kinda has fallen by the wayside, I gave it solid 4 hours and it didn't grab me one bit. Which is sad as I bought this game at least 3 times now.

Fastmav347 wrote:

My play through kinda has fallen by the wayside, I gave it solid 4 hours and it didn't grab me one bit. Which is sad as I bought this game at least 3 times now.

I have played through the first game several times and have enjoyed it. Chain of Memories was barely tolerable as a Gameboy Advance game and I do not find it fun at all in the Remix version.

I've been playing it and am about halfway through. I haven't given it as much time as would otherwise since MHW has been pretty much ruling my world. I will likely end up beating the whole package before the year is through to meet the 6-month stretch, but it is highly unlikely that I'll be able to before the end of September.

I just can't force myself to play Chain of Memories when I have so many other, fantastic games to play.

I really, want to understand the full story and move onto KH2, so I keep telling myself I'll try...But no luck.

A_Unicycle wrote:

I just can't force myself to play Chain of Memories when I have so many other, fantastic games to play.

I really, want to understand the full story and move onto KH2, so I keep telling myself I'll try...But no luck.

In order to understand KH2 and get all leading up to it, you definitely need more than just KH 1.5. I know I didn't have the time and patience to do the full run of all the content, so I read the "cliff notes" as it were... After i had already played part of KH2 and was thoroughly confused. After I read the cliff notes, well, I was still very confused. Hence, why I'll never play KH2 again; bad storytelling and horrid plotting, even compared to it's predecessor.

I have played all of the KH games except for the 3DS one and the 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue or whatever it was called and I have no idea what is going on. I thought KH2 had better controls and combat, better Gummi ship and decent worlds (except for the Atlantica world-ugh) which is why I liked that game. The story--meh, but there are some pretty cut scenes.

Well, I got Remix this evening, so I'm late to the party, but I'm in! (And, I saw my post further up on the page questioning whether I ever would play the KH series again, which is kind of funny). I'll probably start things up this weekend.

I've played and finished the PS2 versions of KH1 and KH2, as well as 358/2 Days, so I'm not coming into this blind. But any advice about things that are different with the remastered versions? I remember someone mention the speed of level progression.

Well, I started this up yesterday evening after acquiring getting KH 1.5 + 2.5 HD Remix. It's weird to think of how long ago I played this. I think I first played and finished it in 2002, when I was in college, then replayed it sometime after that (8-10 years ago, probably). I just entered Wonderland. Here are some random thoughts, in no particular order:

  • I'm not a trophy completionist by any means, but out of curiosity, I checked the trophies before starting. The first non-hidden trophy told me I needed to beat the game without changing my equipment. F*** that. Guess I won't be getting a platinum!
  • Some parts of the HD Remix look really good and crisp, even today. The stained-glass panels showing Aurora and Belle, during Sora's dream at the beginning of the game, were bright, distinct, and gorgeous. I also felt like the battle with Darkside held up well.
  • On the other hand, some of the graphics clearly have not aged well -- talking animations in particular. And the game definitely falls into an uncanny valley when it focuses too clearly on a character's face. They look like weird dolls and their eyes have no depth.
  • Sora has a mom who calls him for dinner? I had completely forgotten that.
  • I didn't hate the gummy ship at the time, though I felt the gummy garage was an exercise in frustration. Having played KH 2, those gummy levels are so much better than the levels in KH 1.
  • Why does Sora jump with both feet planted evenly when he's running, rather than springing forward from one foot? This is a weirdly specific thing to bother me, but it does.
  • The game still feels like it controls pretty well. My muscle memory definitely includes all of the jump upgrades that Sora acquires by the end of the game, though.
  • It feels good and nostalgic to hear all these voice actors again. What's up, Haley Joel Osment?
  • KH gets to the point so much faster than KH2. Within the first hour or so, I've already met Donald and Goofy, and seen Minnie, Daisy, Chip & Dale, and a handful of Final Fantasy characters. It definitely does not suffer from the problems seen in Kingdom Hearts 2 and highlighted in this spot-on critique:

Whew! I have dived in and am really enjoying taking another trip through Kingdom Hearts. The game is kind of like a warm blanket of nostalgia! I just made my first foray into the Hundred Acre Wood (love!) and flew to Agrabah. I also finally got the Scan ability -- the game felt so weird, at first, without seeing enemy health bars (I was late getting this because I decided to play with my journey starting at night).

I don't remember the order or all the worlds, so I'm definitely rediscovering some aspects of this game. But one thing I remember is that the high jump is coming soon:

Spoiler:

in Monstro, specifically.

LastSurprise wrote:

Whew! I have dived in and am really enjoying taking another trip through Kingdom Hearts. The game is kind of like a warm blanket of nostalgia! I just made my first foray into the Hundred Acre Wood (love!) and flew to Agrabah. I also finally got the Scan ability -- the game felt so weird, at first, without seeing enemy health bars (I was late getting this because I decided to play with my journey starting at night).

I don't remember the order or all the worlds, so I'm definitely rediscovering some aspects of this game. But one thing I remember is that the high jump is coming soon:

Spoiler:

in Monstro, specifically.

I'm so tempted to join you in this, but with Divinity likely 100 hours for me and DQ7 likely 100 hours plus, I think I'm going to hop over this one. I'll be reading along though!

I'm back into chain of memories again. I'm about 7 floors in and starting to get into the rhythm of the game. Unfortunately this feels like a huge drop off from KH1.

I'm fairly comfortable with the card combat system now, but I'm not at a point where all combat outside bosses is just spamming the same deck/move over and over again. In a game with so much combat, and so little reward (ie. no loot outside cards) not having to create/tweak decks for specific enemies or worlds makes the whole thing feel like a little too mindless grindy.

Boss fights of the other hand continue to be quite enjoyable and challenging. Nearly all of them have required me to at least make a change to my deck, if not create a custom one altogether, and really engage with the card break mechanic, rather than just spamming combos.

Story so far have been a bit letdown too. I don't hate the idea of memory loss (if I did I would not play many RPG's) and it's interesting to see it following a story we have already experienced, rather than a simple way for the hero and player to start of at the same point. But I'm not a fan of the retconning. I think the biggest problem with the plot/story is that the overarching narrative is unfolding at a snails pace, and everything inside each world is so very shallow.

So far, the whole thing has a strong feeling of padding and re-use of assets to justify a full game for content that probably would now be delivered as a 3-4 hour DLC for KH1.

I'm going to keep going for the time being but when I find a cheap copy of DQ7 or Divinity I am likely to jump over to them.

Mentioned this in the DQ VII thread but I am giving up in this. The game just never clicked with me and every game session felt tedious. This is the second time I have given this game a real shot and I think it is just not for me.

Well, this weekend I finished up Atlantica. I was hoping to get through the next world too, but I'll take it. Atlantica was a fun diversion but I'm happy that Sora can stand and run again.

Neverland is done! I passed over Halloween town, and need to loop back to it before I take on Hollow Bastion.

I love how relatively compact this game is compared to other, current JRPGs. I have a good feeling about finishing this one by the end of the month, leaving me two months for Chain of Memories.

LastSurprise wrote:

I love how relatively compact this game is compared to other, current JRPGs.

I really appreciated that too.

I think it manages to have a very nice balance of spending a decent amount time in each world, which is a huge part of the games appeal, without unnecessarily padding everything out.

For the most part, I'd agree, but I feel it could be streamlined a bit better. Without a guide, I found myself spending a lot of time in each world just figuring out where to go. I think I could have shaved off 2-4 hours off my playtime if it guided the player a bit more.

Otherwise, yeah! That's a good point. There's a lot of variety, and reaching a new world always felt great

A_Unicycle wrote:

For the most part, I'd agree, but I feel it could be streamlined a bit better. Without a guide, I found myself spending a lot of time in each world just figuring out where to go. I think I could have shaved off 2-4 hours off my playtime if it guided the player a bit more.

I think that's a very fair criticism too.

I ended up consulting a guide very quickly each time I felt lost. Playing with no guide at all would really have detracted from the experience.

I'm still plodding through Memories, but I'm starting to reach my end point I think. I'm at about level 10 (just finished Neverland) and it's starting to feel like a chain of rather frustrating boss battles, in a combat system I'm not sold on, with tiny fragments of story.

If I track down a reasonably priced copy of DQ7 I think that will be the end.

Cronox wrote:
A_Unicycle wrote:

For the most part, I'd agree, but I feel it could be streamlined a bit better. Without a guide, I found myself spending a lot of time in each world just figuring out where to go. I think I could have shaved off 2-4 hours off my playtime if it guided the player a bit more.

I think that's a very fair criticism too.

I ended up consulting a guide very quickly each time I felt lost. Playing with no guide at all would really have detracted from the experience.

I'm still plodding through Memories, but I'm starting to reach my end point I think. I'm at about level 10 (just finished Neverland) and it's starting to feel like a chain of rather frustrating boss battles, in a combat system I'm not sold on, with tiny fragments of story.

If I track down a reasonably priced copy of DQ7 I think that will be the end.

I think those are totally fair criticisms. This game relies a lot on entering particular areas to trigger cut scenes, and in some places it's just really unclear where you're supposed to go. I didn't have that problem in Traverse Town this time around, but I think that was partially due to reading this thread and learning about other people's experiences.

The place where I got lost the most, and felt like the game was the least clear about where to go next, was the Deep Jungle. That place just seemed like a maze, and the need to swing around on vines to find your way through did not help (nor did I find that fun -- it's like the game designers thought something belonged there, but didn't take the time to make it any good).

Anyway, a day home sick gave me a bunch of extra time for this and Hollow Knight today, so I finished Halloween Town and the Hercules Cup. There's plenty that I could go back and collect, but I think I'm going to do that in one fell swoop after Hollow Bastion, which I hope to finish this weekend.

Replaying the game, I am remembering that the treatments of many Final Fantasy characters struck me as odd. Why did the developers decide to make Hollow Bastion the Final Fantasy world, when almost all of the games are set in different worlds? I get the desire to have a world where Ansem resides, but it doesn't seem like it is necessary for him to be the ruler of all Final Fantasy.

Also, some of the treatments of the Final Fantasy characters seem odd. Why are any of them on Destiny Islands -- and why the specific combination of Wakka (who makes the most sense), Tidus (who probably shouldn't be anywhere, unless the game had a specific world for Spira or Zanarkand), and Selphie? Then in KH 2, why treat Yuna, Rikku, and Payne as these weird fairies?

Hey everyone,

bobbywatson and I have taken a look through this thread it seems like no one is really enjoying Kingdom Hearts re:Chain of Memories. Some people have dropped out of the challenge altogether, and some people have said they're committed to finishing it out. But either way, it sounds like a slog and, and also like no one is really sticking with CoM because they actually want to play it. We don't think this club should be about forcing yourself to stomach a bad game, and everyone who finishes Kingdom Hearts Final Mix is already finishing a game with a solid 25-hour run-time.

Accordingly, we've made an executive decision: we are no longer requiring completion of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix (so, Chain of Memories is not required). Instead, this quarter's game is just Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. You need only complete that to level up.

Hopefully no one is disappointed by this. If you've been working on Chain of Memories and feel upset that we've moved the goalposts, please let me or bobbywatson know. We're happy to hear feedback.

Based on my review of the thread, I've made the following list of people who have said they were going to play through this game, and the people who I've confirmed to have completed it. If you are playing along, or if you have completed it, please let us know.

Players:
A_Unicycle
Chronox
LastSurprise
merphle
Hockosi
brokenclavicle
Godzilla Blitz
Wembley
Fastman347
drdoak
benign1
Chimalli
sometimesdee

Finished Kingdom Hearts Final Mix:
Chronox
A_Unicycle