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Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance: A Dream Team With Terrible Pacing

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Feb 132017
 

With Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue now available, I set out on the next part of my Kingdom Hearts journey by playing Dream Drop Distance HD.

(Dream Drop Distance was originally made for the 3DS, and then remastered as part of the 2.8 collection for the PS4.)

I have mixed feelings about this game. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot. It’s worth playing, especially for the sake of the story. I just can’t help but feel that it could have been presented better.

Gameplay

First, it has a lot of new gameplay mechanics. Combat uses a Command Menu system similar to that in Birth By Sleep, but you also have party member monsters called Dream Eaters, which you get by crafting them out of dream pieces.

Dream Eaters gain levels along with you, but you’ll also want to earn Link Points (LP) to use on each Dream Eater’s ability board, which will give you new abilities and commands. You can also increase their LP, along with their experience and affinity, but playing games with them and petting them. Oh, and some paths on their boards won’t unlock until their disposition changes. Dispositions change random when you pet and feed them. You can also link with them during combat for special attacks, although how you do this depends on whether you’re playing as Sora or Riku.

Sora and Riku are both playable characters, but instead of following them through separate playthroughs like the protagonist’s of Birth By Sleep, you’ll swap between them whenever your Drop Gauge runs out. When that happens, you can spend the Drop Points you earned to give bonuses to the character you’re switching to. It’s possible to slow down the depletion of your Drop Gauge.

The first time you visit a world, you’ll have to Dive into it. Diving is a bit like flying the gummi ship, except less fun (and I don’t like the gummi ship). Fortunately, it doesn’t happen too often.

But wait, we’re not done with gameplay mechanics yet! “Flowmotion” lets you grind on rails, spin around poles, bounce off walls, and send certain large enemies flying. Then there are Reality Shifts, special systems that work differently in each world, from using barrels as a catapult to performing a rhythm mini-game.

Finally, there’s an optional mini-game called Flick Rush, which pits teams of Dream Eaters against each other in a card-based battle system.

Once you get into the game, all of this feels less overwhelming, but it still feels like Dream Drop Distance got unnecessarily complicated with its mechanics. But that can be forgiven. I play games for the story, anyway…

Story

Dream Drop Distance actually has a pretty interesting story, but it’s hindered by terrible pacing.

Bad pacing, but wonderful characters. Oh yes.
When I said “dream team,” I didn’t mean the heroes.

It begins in media res, which isn’t a problem on its own, but instead of a single flashback to explain everything, it spreads out the setup across multiple flashbacks.

Not only does this leave you confused for a while, but the game’s premise involves Sora and Riku entering the Sleeping Worlds, which are more or less the dreams of worlds that fell into darkness and weren’t fully restored. Sleeping Worlds are confusing enough as it is, and the spread out explanation makes it work.

(Personally, I think this plot would be better without the Sleeping Worlds at all.)

Anyway, that’s the start. What about the middle?

The middle of the game is filled with Disney worlds, some thematic connections, and… not a lot of plot. Now, Kingdom Hearts games usually save their major plot points for the end, but the non-Disney storytelling in Dream Drop Distance tends to come in two forms:

  1. The rest of the cast at Yen Sid’s tower realizing something has gone wrong.
  2. Kingdom Hearts villains appearing to make cryptic comments and then leave.

I have no objections to random Ansem teasing.

It felt a bit like the villains weren’t actually doing anything, they just wanted to tease the protagonists.

I’m not necessarily against this. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. But the unclear plot direction throughout the middle of the game makes it all the more jarring when you reach the end…

…AND ALL THE PLOT HAPPENS!

Dream Drop Distance feels like the writers realized the entire plot was a bunch of plot twists, so they crammed it all into the end.

Now, I love the villains. I love listening to them monologue about their evil plans. I just wish I had a little more time to process everything before they moved on to the next plot point.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, available for the 3DS (on its own) and PS4 (as part of Kingdom Hearts 2.8) is a fun game. The plot goes in some crazy directions that I personally find fantastic, and I loved the ending.

And yet, I can’t call it a great Kingdom Hearts game, despite featuring almost all of my favorite characters. If the pacing was a little different, it would make all the difference in the world…

What are your thoughts on Dream Drop Distance?

Don’t Forget to Get Sora in World of Final Fantasy

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Jan 272017
 

When Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue came out on January 24, Sora became available as a Champion in World of Final Fantasy.

He’s only available for a limited time, however, so make sure you download the free DLC before March 31.

Even though World of Final Fantasy has a DLC section you can access from the main menu, Sora doesn’t actually appear there. Instead, you’ll need to find him on the PlayStation Store, either by going directly to the page or searching.

(I searched for “Sora” and it came up right away.)

Once you download and install the DLC, start up World of Final Fantasy to get Sora’s Champion medal.

If you don’t have the game yet, you can still download the DLC before March 31 to have Sora if and when you decide to get World of Final Fantasy.

Not only is it cool to have Sora in World of Final Fantasy, but he also seems like a pretty good Champion. His attack, Ragnarok, inflicts magical light damage against a single enemy, bypassing defense, and also casts regen on the party.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t get any lines during the summons, much like Sephiroth. Unlike Sephiroth, however, you can fast-forward through the animation if you want.

Are you going to get Sora for World of Final Fantasy? Remember, you have until March 31!

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days: Worth Playing (Even if You’ve Seen the Movie)

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Dec 262016
 

Although I’d already watched the movie included in the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix, I decided to play through the actual Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days myself.

I’m glad I did. Although the movie covers all the major plot points, it skips some important scenes, as well as a lot of character interactions that helped me connect more to the plot.

In fact, although the movie got me a little teary-eyed, the emotional impact was much stronger when I played the game myself.

358/2 Days tells the story of Roxas’s time in Organization XIII and his friendship with Axel, and the fourteenth member, Xion.

Its gameplay is similar to that of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, with one major difference. Your weapon, spells, items, skills, and even levels and inventory space all must be equipped through a panel system. As you progress, you unlock more panel slots.

Panels come in different shapes, and more powerful ones take up more room, which forces you to manage your panels carefully to take what you want into battle. It’s similar to the inventory system in Resident Evil 4 or the way you equip powers in Kid Icarus: Uprising.

I actually really liked the panel system! It’s the sort of inventory management I find fun, unlike what another certain game did.

The other major difference from the rest of the series is that the passage of time is measured through days, and you take on a new mission each day. Sometimes you only have one, while other days give you a list of missions to pick from. Some advance the story, but others are optional.

You can do all of them if you want, but you can skip the optional ones and continue the story if you prefer. All missions can be replayed at any time.

Unfortunately, the missions can get a little repetitive and tedious. A handful of gameplay quirks bugged me, as well:

  • Most missions let you choose whether to RTC (return to the castle) after you complete your objective, so you can continue to search for treasure chests and such. A few do not, and don’t warn you beforehand.
  • Some Heartless disappear once they get too far from their starting point. Very annoying if you almost defeated them, because they have full health when they reappear.
  • There are a few annoying stealth sections. (This might not count, since I just dislike stealth.)

But I mainly play these games for their stories and characters, and that’s where 358/2 Days won me over. Although I would have liked to see more of certain Organization members, the game is filled with entertaining character interactions and funny moments.

On second thought, is this funny or terrifying?

The plot itself is divisive. Some fans love it. Others hate it. I enjoyed it. It’s very different from other Kingdom Hearts plots, but I like its sense of mystery… and the foreboding atmosphere as the story draws closer to its inescapable conclusion.

One of the best parts is being able to talk to members of the Organization each day in the Grey Area before you get your missions. Not only does this provide opportunities for funny dialogue and help with characterization, it also builds up the atmosphere.

(On a side note, if 358/2 Days ever gets a remake, I want to be able to explore the castle as a full hub area.)

Talking to the other members in the Grey Area gives the castle a homey feeling… which makes it that much more uncomfortable when things go bad.

And that brings me to a common criticism I’d like to address.

Click for major 358/2 Days spoilers
I’ve seen a lot of people criticize the plot for having Roxas leave the Organization because of a girl. Is that really what he did?

Xemnas ordered Axel to bring Xion back in any condition, as long as she was still functional. The loudest objection came from Xaldin… who thought she should be destroyed instead.

Roxas realized the other members of the Organization would use or destroy Xion without a second thought. They didn’t view her as a person, and he had to remember the earlier incidents: everyone’s confusion over why he was upset when he thought Axel was dead, and Saix’s scorn over his concern for Xion when she was unconscious.

If they killed Xion, they’d wonder why he was upset. And most wouldn’t feel any worse if he was the one to be destroyed instead.

(He even has PROOF of how little he matters to them, since Saix set up a trap earlier intending for either him or Xion to kill the other.)

After the truth about Xion is revealed, Roxas becomes disillusioned with the Organization. On one mission, he questions why the Organization’s goals even matter to him. He wonders why he still returns to the castle when there’s no one there who cares about him.

Later, he starts questioning if he’s even human, or if he’s a Replica like Xion. If the Organization lied about her, they could have lied about anything.

When Axel refuses to tell him his origins, that just emphasizes to him that he can’t trust anyone, not even Axel. And it makes him feel even more that no one in the Organization cares about him.

Roxas didn’t leave Organization XIII “because of a girl.” He left because their treatment of that girl made him realize that they were cold, manipulative liars who would use him as a tool and discard him when he was no longer useful.

Thanks to the character interactions, I felt the transformation, and that made it much easier to empathize with Roxas’s motivations than from the movie alone.

The Disney worlds also contribute to the plot in thematic ways, particularly as Roxas learns more about friendship. And of course, there’s the conversation between him and Xion about how the Beast defends his own castle, but if someone attacked the Castle That Never Was, they’d be the ones to fight, not Xemnas.

(Also, it’s impressive that although DiZ only has a handful of lines in the entire game, he uses each of those lines to make himself as unlikable as possible.)

And although most fans say Birth By Sleep is the darkest Kingdom Hearts game, I think 358/2 Days is. Sure, the early parts are lighthearted… but it takes the disturbing themes from Roxas’s prologue in Kingdom Hearts 2 and makes them ten times stronger.

Now, I haven’t said much about Mission Mode, where you can play as any Organization member, and that’s because I played only a little of it. It was fun trying out the different characters, but I didn’t enjoy it enough to keep playing through missions as them.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days isn’t a perfect game, but it was enjoyable. I had fun with it, and I’m glad I decided to play through it myself.

Buy Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days from Amazon
Buy Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days from Play-Asia

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