I've been replaying the series chronologically. Haven't made it too far. (I'm about to finish KHFM). There are aspects from each title I would keep and aspects I would leave or am glad they got rid of. I'll add to it as I complete games.
Let's get in to it.
BBS
Keep:
variety in magic. I like how it's not just the basic spells. There's various types of the elemental spells and then there's the mini and slow and the mines (while arguably OP, they do offer some crowd control. Using MP instead of reloading could help fix the OP though). Mine square + magnet was a great combo.
Lose:
Bad story telling. It wasn't terrible, but it was forced. Especially when aqua said she had seen what terra had done. I played as terra and hadn't seen what he had done that was so bad (yes there was the aurora's heart thing, but he was manipulated). There was a lot of filler too. Especially with aqua, who wasn't too story relevant until the end.
0.2
Keep:
The way the magic works so fluidly. And the magic finishing -ja (-za) spells. I'm good with situation commands for the finishing spells. The level design was also pretty good, no load screens, fairly open world and large, but not awkwardly scaled like DDD (where Sora felt scaled differently in Traverse Town that he did in KH).
Lose:
The terrible restrictions of critical mode. No orbs. Everyone needs to know that enemies and environment do not drop orbs. Low on HP, MP, or focus, items or save points are the only way to go. Oh. And a 3 (or was it 2?) item limit in battle. That's a tad ridiculous. I'm playing KHFM and can hold 8 I think. Sometimes that isn't even enough. Just saying, if you're going to limit items, don't take away orbs.
KH
Keep: (there's a decent amount)
Disney worlds that are story relevant. I don't think I need to expand on that one.
Collectibles. More specifically, collectibles that require you to retread and look. Trinities, puppies torn pages, post cards, all of it. It works. The puppies are great because it's a Disney themed collectible. Exactly what should be in this kind of game. KH2FM tried to rectify this, but didn't do it as well. Stickers and mushrooms, but not as rewarding or story tied. (Vanilla KH2 didn't have any collectibles if I remember correctly). I also like how you aren't just handed all the magic upgrades. I made it to Chernibog and used aero, and noticed it wasn't deflecting projectiles like I remembered it doing, and wasn't doing damage either. If you don't talk to the princesses, you don't get firaga.
Level design and platforming. I really like this. 0.2 does a good job with bigger, but KH shines with its use of effective platforming. Take the scale and connectivity of 0.2 combined with the platforming and puzzles from KH1. Puzzles are another thing that need to come back. I mean puzzles as in the actual puzzles to get a door to open, but also the things that you only get by exploring and trying things in the environment.
That brings me to interactive environment. Pull the doorbell 3 times, hit the fan, search the bookcase. These are all great ways to keep it all relevant.
Lose:
Ridiculous difficulty spike. I'm trying to retread and find things I missed before finishing the game. Every wold is just about annoying with the amount of heartless and difficulty. Wanna put some more difficult heartless? Fine. Don't put 3 waves 10 elemental heartless and 3 or 4 wizards followed by 3 large bodies and 4 dark balls. That's just overkill for the sake of overkill. I clear one portion of a room, take two steps, and have to do it all over again. It's obnoxious.
This difficulty spike also puts heartless in weird places. Why are the Aladdin heartless in monstro? I can understand if purebloods are in weird places, but wouldn't the atlantica heartless make more sense in monstro?
Like I said, I'll be adding more as I complete the games. Don't expect some regular updates. Haha. Feel free to leave your keep and lose lists
Let's get in to it.
BBS
Keep:
variety in magic. I like how it's not just the basic spells. There's various types of the elemental spells and then there's the mini and slow and the mines (while arguably OP, they do offer some crowd control. Using MP instead of reloading could help fix the OP though). Mine square + magnet was a great combo.
Lose:
Bad story telling. It wasn't terrible, but it was forced. Especially when aqua said she had seen what terra had done. I played as terra and hadn't seen what he had done that was so bad (yes there was the aurora's heart thing, but he was manipulated). There was a lot of filler too. Especially with aqua, who wasn't too story relevant until the end.
0.2
Keep:
The way the magic works so fluidly. And the magic finishing -ja (-za) spells. I'm good with situation commands for the finishing spells. The level design was also pretty good, no load screens, fairly open world and large, but not awkwardly scaled like DDD (where Sora felt scaled differently in Traverse Town that he did in KH).
Lose:
The terrible restrictions of critical mode. No orbs. Everyone needs to know that enemies and environment do not drop orbs. Low on HP, MP, or focus, items or save points are the only way to go. Oh. And a 3 (or was it 2?) item limit in battle. That's a tad ridiculous. I'm playing KHFM and can hold 8 I think. Sometimes that isn't even enough. Just saying, if you're going to limit items, don't take away orbs.
KH
Keep: (there's a decent amount)
Disney worlds that are story relevant. I don't think I need to expand on that one.
Collectibles. More specifically, collectibles that require you to retread and look. Trinities, puppies torn pages, post cards, all of it. It works. The puppies are great because it's a Disney themed collectible. Exactly what should be in this kind of game. KH2FM tried to rectify this, but didn't do it as well. Stickers and mushrooms, but not as rewarding or story tied. (Vanilla KH2 didn't have any collectibles if I remember correctly). I also like how you aren't just handed all the magic upgrades. I made it to Chernibog and used aero, and noticed it wasn't deflecting projectiles like I remembered it doing, and wasn't doing damage either. If you don't talk to the princesses, you don't get firaga.
Level design and platforming. I really like this. 0.2 does a good job with bigger, but KH shines with its use of effective platforming. Take the scale and connectivity of 0.2 combined with the platforming and puzzles from KH1. Puzzles are another thing that need to come back. I mean puzzles as in the actual puzzles to get a door to open, but also the things that you only get by exploring and trying things in the environment.
That brings me to interactive environment. Pull the doorbell 3 times, hit the fan, search the bookcase. These are all great ways to keep it all relevant.
Lose:
Ridiculous difficulty spike. I'm trying to retread and find things I missed before finishing the game. Every wold is just about annoying with the amount of heartless and difficulty. Wanna put some more difficult heartless? Fine. Don't put 3 waves 10 elemental heartless and 3 or 4 wizards followed by 3 large bodies and 4 dark balls. That's just overkill for the sake of overkill. I clear one portion of a room, take two steps, and have to do it all over again. It's obnoxious.
This difficulty spike also puts heartless in weird places. Why are the Aladdin heartless in monstro? I can understand if purebloods are in weird places, but wouldn't the atlantica heartless make more sense in monstro?
Like I said, I'll be adding more as I complete the games. Don't expect some regular updates. Haha. Feel free to leave your keep and lose lists
