Operation Backlog Completion 2026
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.

Jun 172020
 

Since we have a break from Not-E3 coverage, I was all set to finish up my Persona 4 Golden review for today’s blog post, but the last two days had too much exciting news for that!

So instead we’re going to talk about yesterday’s Kingdom Hearts announcements and today’s Pokémon announcements.

A few days ago, a mysterious logo for Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory was found in the website for Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road. This led to a lot of debate about what it would be. Were we finally getting a Kingdom Hearts rhythm game? Would it be about the Master of Masters? Was it the long-awaited Kairi game?

How about potentially all three?

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a rhythm game due out for the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch later this year, but it also appears to feature a story focused on Kairi, including a confrontation with a man in a black coat. A lot of people think it might be the Master of Masters, especially since the acronym for the game is MoM.

I’m not entirely convinced it’s him, but I’m incredibly excited for Melody of Memory.

And if you’re annoyed the rhythm game has what appears to be critical story content… this is Kingdom Hearts. Even an actual concert contained story details; of course the rhythm game will.

Next, Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road, the upcoming mobile game about Xehanort, will be out on June 22. I saw one report that it’s a global release date, but I’m not sure if that’s been confirmed. Either way, I’m ready to give this game a chance, mobile or not.

A new Dark Road trailer accompanied the news.

But something even more intriguing that came out of the Kingdom Hearts news is the possibility that there are two more unknown Kingdom Hearts projects to be announced.

See, Square Enix also released a “Kingdom Hearts 2020” trailer, highlighting the year’s Kingdom Hearts projects, and a screen just a few seconds in shows “Kingdom Hearts series 2nd phase.” Underneath this heading are the logos for the Re:Mind DLC, Dark Road, and Melody of Memory… with two blank slots alongside them.

This suggests there are currently two more Kingdom Hearts projects in the works in addition to Dark Road and Melody of Memory. Whatever they are, I can’t wait to find out more.

Now let’s move on to Pokémon. There was a “Pokémon Presents” digital event this morning, which I skipped because I’d gotten the impression it would be all about the DLC for Sword and Shield (which I still haven’t played or even bought). Much to my surprise, when I got online, I learned they’d announced a new Pokémon Snap for the Switch!

And… that’s literally what it’s called. “New Pokémon Snap.”

I never played the original Pokémon Snap, although I watched a playthrough of it. It was a missed opportunity not making Pokémon Snap for Wii U, but I’m interested in playing this nevertheless.

They also announced a puzzle cafe management game for mobile devices and Switch called Pokémon Café Mix, and a mobile game called Pokémon Smile that will encourage kids to brush their teeth.

More news is coming on June 24, with a “big project” teased.

So there you have it, lots of big announcements for Kingdom Hearts and Pokémon this week, with even more news coming for both! Are you excited for any of these games?

Mar 272020
 

After Kingdom Hearts III’s Re:Mind DLC launched in late January, one thing about its reception became very clear.

Players who had no interest in fighting superbosses often criticized the DLC as not having enough content, while players who enjoyed superbosses generally found the DLC to be fantastic.

Now I’ve finally finished playing Re:Mind in its entirety.

The DLC is divided into three major parts: the Re:Mind story scenario, the Limit Cut, and the Secret Episode.

(Plus the Data Greeting feature, which lets you pose characters to set up your own scenes for a ton of creative potential. I messed around with that for a while, although I was disappointed that some of my favorite characters like Vexen weren’t available for it.)

Each unlocks after the previous one, so you begin with Re:Mind. The start of the scenario is a little bland, since it largely retreads the final part of the game, with new context and content.

I enjoyed the changes to the cutscenes, but it is a bit repetitive. After that, however, things become more interesting, as Re:Mind gets into new content and lets you finally explore that certain area in Kingdom Hearts III that felt like it should have been an explorable world. The latter half of the Re:Mind scenario has some pretty cool moments, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I took my time exploring, and so that part took me about 5 hours.

Then I unlocked the Limit Cut episode and realized that not only were the superbosses a good portion of the DLC’s content, but I would also need to fight them if I wanted to see all of its story.

The first boss I attempted immediately destroyed me. I was tempted to call it quits there and look up the cutscenes online or even play through the main game again to use the newly-added EZ Codes to make the fights easier (the DLC also added Pro Codes, which make fights harder), but after waiting so long for Re:Mind and finally experiencing a Kingdom Hearts game when it came out instead of years later, I decided to give the fights an honest try.

And so I leveled up until I hit level 99 and started fighting the Limit Cut bosses. It’s strange, but while each boss has its own pattern and style for you to learn, I also felt like I had to learn how to fight superbosses at all. I’d never beaten a Kingdom Hearts superboss before, and they all felt impossible at the start, but there was a certain point where it clicked and I understood how to learn the fights.

Countless deaths and hours later, I’d defeated all of the Limit Cut bosses and unlocked the Secret Episode, which presented me with the most challenging boss I’ve ever faced.

I don’t want to think about how many hours I spent on that fight. Certainly more than 10. I’d sit down in the evenings and fight for an hour or two, dying over and over but slowly learning how to deal with each attack and gradually getting better, until I finally won.

As for the story, I’m confused about everything, but I’m ready to ride this wild ride to the end and see where Nomura is taking us in the next Kingdom Hearts saga.

Re:Mind left me with some satisfying story moments, many hours of death entertainment, and a sense of accomplishment from beating all of those fights. I’m one of the people who found Re:Mind to be an excellent conclusion for Kingdom Hearts III.