Birth by Sleep by DawninmyheartWhy am I excited about BBS?
Let me count the ways:
First, it is part of a series over which I obsess.
Second, it looks to be better than Days.
Third, Axel - via Lea - will again be in the limelight,
But do not forget about his friend Isa,
Whose nobody clung to the moonlight.
Fourth, Zack Fair will appear,
Wearing his smile that is not so rare
And bringing his friends courage and cheer.
Fifth, I hope to learn more of the Heartless
And that troublesome Organization XIII -
For mysteries surround them in excess.
Sixth, Deep Space promises to be great,
Considering I have a fondness for Lilo and Stitch,
And it will definitely be worth the wait.
Seventh, Terra caught my eye from the beginning -
I can't wait to play his story,
But I wonder why I never see him grinning.
Eighth, the gameplay looks fun,
With all the new summons and buttons -
In my opinion, it'll be second to none.
Why am I excited about Birth by Sleep?
In the end, I look forward to everything about it.
With the game on the way, I'll definitely lose sleep.
The Clock is counting down, bit by bit.
My Kingdom Hearts Experience... by Ray Z.
Bastian and Atreyu did it in Fantasia, Luke and Han did it on Endor, Peter and Nathan Petrelli did it on Kirby Plaza, and Frodo and Sam did it in Middle Earth... In my lifetime there had been very few epic stories that have meant something to me, very few that have affected my life and left me inspired. One day I came across a video game that at first I thought was the worst idea in the history of video games. My idea of good did not include the Final Fantasy games or the World of Disney, but after a few months of coercing I finally caved and bought "Kingdom Hearts". At first I had my doubts because it took so long to get to the first Disney world but once I got going and began visiting the worlds, making friends, and closing the keyholes man I was hooked, it was the most fun I'd had playing a game in quite some time.
After seeing (and not really understanding at the time) the cool ending, I decided to look into future Kingdom Hearts titles, fortunately I found out Kingdom Hearts 2 was a month or so away! I was stoked to hear this awesome news; I was even more taken back when the clerk told me that they had released a game that bridged the first and second games. So right then and there I bought a GBA and a copy of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memoires. Sadly the excitement did not last long as I didn't enjoy the control system and getting through the game was tedious, long story short someone stole my GBA with the game in it and I never got to finish it.
A few short weeks later, Kingdom Hearts 2 finally came out... I loved it! I played that game day and night and when I came to the part where Sora, Riku, and Kairi reunited; the scene just blew me away, like all the movies I had mentioned earlier. So I finally got to the part where everyone is standing in front of the door to the final fight with Xemnas and I stopped playing. I had then realized that there was much more to this story I wasn't seeing, so much that I had missed by just looking on the surface.
I then began to learn as much as I could about the stories of all 3 games, asking questions, and coming up with theories... some which I got right and some wrong. After learning as much about the story, plot, and characters as I could, I was addicted. I felt an excitement like never before, I dug out my copies of KH and KH2 and I decided to start all over again and do things right this time. So now knowing the back story, having a new mindset, and a renewed sense of adventure, I delved into the games once again. This time around felt so different than the first time, I was once again blown away by the Epic tale unfolding in front of me...
Sometime later: I had just finished playing KH (meaning doing all the side quests and getting as much as I could out of it) when I heard that the United States was getting a PS2 version of Chain of Memories! No freaking way! So Christmas came and there is was my loving wife had gotten me a copy as soon as I mentioned it. So I buckled down and played the game and was left in awe by the graphics and by both Sora's and Riku's time in Castle Oblivion. I felt like I got way more than I expected from the game, so much that I got over the fact that I still was not a fan of the control system (hahaha). So after finally seeing the endings to Sora and Riku's stories, I had moved onto KH2 once again, this time it being more spectacular than before, now knowing more about Sora, Riku, Kairi, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Organization XIII, etc. I once again came to the end of the game and once again could not bear to fight the last fight... it's as if I was afraid for this story to end...
When I heard in 2009 we would be getting a new installment to the saga (which I now began calling it seeing as how it had become so epic to me...) I couldn't wait! When I researched further and found out the plot was about Roxas's time with Organization XIII I was in nerd heaven! So I broke out the previous games and played them in order which now had become customary at this point. I totally drooled over this chapter of the Kingdom Hearts tale because I had always been left with wanting more when it came to Roxas's history with the organization. This is about the time when more news had began coming out about Birth By Sleep, and when I heard there would be ties to the prequel, I watched out for anything that would seem out of the norm. As I got to the end I saw that short bit where Xigbar saw Xion as Ventus, I was left speechless yet again, and knew I could not wait for "Birth By Sleep" patiently enough. I once again (as was my tradition) reached the end of KH2 and you guessed it, I couldn't do it again...
Now For the reason why I'm writing this in the first place... why am I excited about Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep? Because I feel like this saga is a part of my own history, like I am part of it and in some strange way it's my destiny to experience these stories to the fullest. I feel in my heart that I can finally put my fears to rest now knowing that there is a solid beginning and knowing now that the saga goes on beyond KH2 and into Coded. So if you ask this obsessed fanatic... I'm excited to see what secrets the history and future Kingdom Hearts has in store for me. I love this series; I love it so much I named my son Roxas! Thank you for taking the time to read this, I look forward to fighting and defeating Xemnas sometime this fall... Wish me luck!
