Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Kingdom Hearts Dark Road Isn’t What I Expected

 Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jul 012020
 

(But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.)

When I learned we were getting a Kingdom Hearts prequel about Xehanort, I was excited. When I saw it was a mobile game, I was much less excited. Nevertheless, I decided to give Kingdom Hearts Dark Road a try once it came out.

I hoped it would be more like a traditional game than KHUX, despite being a standalone game within the same app, preferably without the filler that eventually drove me away. I was prepared for it to be the same sort of gacha experience dragged down by all the mobile trappings.

But Kingdom Hearts Dark Road isn’t quite what I expected at all.

It’s largely an idle game, because although you can manually fight using the card-based combat system (and should, for tougher battles), Dark Road is really designed for you to set it on auto-battle and just leave it run while you do other things. You’ll need to grind a lot to earn enough BP to level up, and you get missions in between story quests that ask you to defeat a large number of Heartless before you can move on.

Everything else is fairly streamlined, as well. There is a gacha system to get more cards, and any duplicate cards you get automatically fuse with your current copy to boost its power. In addition to earning BP to level up, you also get automatic stat boosts from fighting new enemies and getting new cards, and the game rewards you with jewels, gacha tickets, and other prizes for completing certain goals (which usually means defeating a set number of enemies).

Dark Road has an episodic story, and currently only Episode 1 is available. I enjoyed the handful of cutscenes presented here, but the new characters didn’t add much to the story so far (especially since who you add to your party doesn’t seem to affect much).

However, the episode ends with quite a gut punch, so I’m curious to see where the story goes next.

Right now, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road doesn’t have a lot going for it. However, as someone who does not enjoy playing mobile games, I kinda appreciate that this one doesn’t require much playing.

New Final Fantasy VII Remake Trailer, Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road Announced

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Jan 312020
 

A new Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer came out today, and it’s pretty awesome.

The new trailer includes a lot of stuff.

It shows the flashback conversation between Cloud and Tifa, several new scenes of crossdressing Cloud (they must know fans have been anxious about that), another scene with the new character Roche, and a confrontation between Cloud and Sephiroth.

All of these scenes look fantastic. I’m not sure how they’ll work in the new stuff with Sephiroth, but it has the potential to be interesting if they handle it well. I’ve also been concerned about how Roche will fit into the story, but he doesn’t seem bad in the trailer.

The trailer also gives us our first look at Reeve, Scarlet, Palmer, Red XIII, and Hojo.

They all look great, too. Seeing each new character was a delight. I’ve been especially looking forward to seeing what the remake would do with Hojo, and I’m pleased. He looks great!

Great in a Hojo sort of way, that is.

Finally, the trailer features what appears to be a battle against Jenova, confirming that there have been some definite story changes. Some fans have pointed out that Red XIII doesn’t appear in the party window even when he’s seen on-screen in battle scenes in this trailer, so he might not be a full party member in the first Remake game.

For Midgar to become a full-length game, they pretty much had to change some story details, so while it could potentially feel off compared to the original, I’m optimistic that they’ve made good decisions about how to handle these elements.

The entire trailer left me feeling more excited than ever for the Final Fantasy VII Remake, and I only wish it was still coming out in March instead of April 10.

Moving on to Kingdom Hearts, the official name for the Xehanort mobile game has now been revealed as Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road. (I was so close with my “Dark Fall” guess.) I’d hoped we would get more information about the game right away, but we’ll have to wait until mid-February for more details.

I’m still holding out hope that despite being mobile, Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road won’t be a gacha game.

So, how do you feel about the newest Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer? What do you think of Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road? Share all your thoughts in the comments!

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