|
GBL337's Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
|
| [January 11, 2007 02:39:04 AM]
|
Remember what I said about posting once I got Final Form? Well, here I am posting...in commemoration of my acquisition of perhaps the most beautifully kill-tastic form Sora possesses in his enchanted clothing, I'll focus my attention on Drive Forms, not necessarily a critical element of the plot of the game, but a shining hallmark of the newly revamped battle engine.
In a nutshell, the Drive forms, special states of being Sora enters once his drive gauge has maxed out (and I'll talk about the cheater's way to do that darn quickly) where he sacrifices (thank GOD!) either Donald, Goofy, or both, and instantly acquires a new ability list and increased stats based on which character was sacrificed (Valor Form, a melee-based form with combo and strength as its focus, sacrifices Goofy, for example). Now that I've summarize essentially what it is, allow me to recount to you my experience with its effect on my gameplay experience.
The reason I attempt to level up Drive forms in the first place is NOT to just experience the kill-fest when I "kick into" a form--there is an associating skill that the normal Sora obtains that ends up making the Organization XIII battles a great deal easier. High Jump, Quick Run, Aerial Dodge and Glide are all incredibly useful functions (and they end up being practically required to beat the newly strengthened Sephiroth, whom I am working on as we speak) and I had to go through the rule-specific means of leveling each form to acquire them...
It's annoying, to say the least, and as much as I love the sense of accomplishment of getting these leveled up, I think the leveling system was too annoying to register as "fun"...it was a chore, to be honest. The most fun I had while leveling was getting Final Form in the first place. For those of you who have not yet gotten this form, here's what you do--during the Xigbar fight, whittle down 2.5 health bars (at least 2, preferably halfway down the 3rd) and make sure you have disabled Donald's Cure abilities and equipped auto-Master...let him kick your butt to the point where you have the option of auto-master as a reaction command...USE IT. Instead of going into Master Form, you'll flash for longer and voila! You are the proud owner of the coveted Final Form! That was a genius move, making it nearly hidden in the game, giving a definitely pleasant surprise for using different strategies than one would normally use in a game. It also unlocks 2 more drive gauges in each of the other forms, and best yet, NO ANTI FORM PENALTY!!!!!!
That is perhaps the dumbest move Squenix made in the Forms--adding the Anti-Form. It is a death sentence in most boss battles, and is nothing more than fanservice for those who remember Shadow-Sora from the first game. It is triggered by overusing a single drive form (can we say "leveling"?) and will waste your much-needed drive gauge. Perhaps vets of the game enjoy the surprise, but when I am attempting to max out High Jump, I don't want to have to re-collect Drive Orbs because Sora decided to go all wannabe-Heartless on me. I really hope the other drive forms stay in KHIII but anti-form gets left in the dust.
There, enough said about my hatred of anti-form. On to the storyline.
In a word--AWESOME.
The storyline is the major draw for writers like myself in a videogame, and if the storyline stinks, I'll more often than not throw the game to the wayside, no matter how incredible the gameplay is. I like a conflict with richness and surprise, and KHII gave me just that. The implementation of the Nobody into the Heartless Saga makes logical sense, and gives a heartstring pull or 2...hundred when one realizes that the "enemies" in the game, with the exception of Manse---not gonna bring up THAT anagram of Xemnas' name...
Yes, each character had a role to play in the game (though most were killed off in KH: Chain of Memories for the GBA) in underscoring the nature of the "Heart" and its importance to a being's means to existing. It explores the true nature of the Light/Dark complex and proves that Black and White are rarely absolute...there's a heckuvalot of gray area.
As an element in the game, it provides with more enemies to fight and more skilled/powerful/interesting bosses...c'mon, Demyx, despite the timed doppelgangers, was just plain fun to fight...I was humming "Mullet Maaaaaan" the whole battle!
It also provides a glimpse into Sora's true nature, as HIS Nobody (as a result of his decision to release his and Kairi's heart in KH) Roxas acts as a second protagonist and his search to exist completely, and the fact that he is a part of Sora...big points to Squenix for providing another interesting element, if a bit overblown (We did NOT need 6 days of tutorial!!!) of the story...it was what counteracted the Disneyland (pardon the pun) feel of the worlds. It drove the conflict and provided emotional attachment to the characters and made me WANT to continue playing the game.
Still haven't finished the game completely, so I'll save more of my worthless ranting (and analysis of Reaction commands) until I beat Xemnas, at least. I mean, right now I'm just leveling.
add a comment 
|
| [January 8, 2007 04:05:46 PM]
|
I just entered the 30-hour mark for playing this game (which, incidentally, I started 2 days ago...do the math people) and to be honest, I was not expecting the level of refinement this game had.
I had played Kingdom Hearts 1 for the express purpose of being able to understand this one, at the behest of my good friend. (and she is one of those people who enjoys watching Axel and Roxas do fun stuff in the back room)
I'm going to quote her on this one and say "Imagine all of the problems of KHI fixed and all the good parts of it added onto" but with an adjustment: to be honest, the role of the worlds, at least so far, is underwhelming. It really does give an amusement park feel in spots, as other bloggers on here have mentioned, but it is an easily ignorable flaw, as the sheer size and interactivity of the worlds ballooned in comparison.
A good example of this, is by far Halloween Town. As a fan of the Nightmare Before Christmas, I am a harsh critic of the world when used in other things, and in KHI, I was angered by how pathetically developed it was in it. Someone in Squenix must have felt the same, because the design has improved, with a few annoyances (Why couldn't they have improved the soundtrack for the world? They were playing "This is Halloween" in Christmas Town!)but otherwise, it was so much better and thus more enjoyable for a fan.
The crowning glory for this game is the battle system...I'd like to say this to Squenix--THANK YOU! Going from the claustrophobic camera and the insufferably annoying obstacles that were Goofy and Donald in KHI, they now have a comfortably airy camera enabling more intelligent decisions mid-battle to -gasp- intelligent comrades-in-arms...Goofy will do his decent techniques mroe often and Donald will actually heal you without you begging the screen while fighting Ansem!
My favorite element of the new battle system were the drive forms...that was definitely a creative way to add spice to fighting and leveling, and it is a much better goal to achieve than a certain cricket's journal.......
I'll add to all of this, plus a few other elements later...I haven't unlocked the fabled Final Form yet, and once I do, I think that'll be when I think I'll post as well...the storyline deserves its own entry.
read comments (1)  -
add a comment
|
|
|
 |
GBL337's Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
|
|
Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Monday 8 January, 2007
|
|
