The intro to Kingdom Hearts' big PSP debut, Birth By Sleep, is making the rounds, and we've uploaded the footage for your own viewing amusement. Featuring a remix of the game's rather splendid main theme, and more spiky-haired angst than you can shake a stick at, there is no denying that this is Kingdom Hearts, through and through.
Expect more overuse of the words "heart" and "darkness" along with wonderfully pretentious lines such as, "Perhaps I am nothing. Or perhaps I am everything." I love me some Kingdom Hearts, but boy, do I hate whoever writes some of that dialogue.
Anyway, this is a video that you can watch with your face, so go do that.
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I'm pretty excited. It's practically a guilty pleasure, but I'm really interested in what the plot's going to reveal about several mysteries in the KH universe. These openings always do a great job of suggesting ideas, and I can see several intentional parallels with elements in KH1 and KH2's openings. I just wish this game was deemed worthy of its own opening song, because as much as I like "Hikari/Simple and Clean," it's been used in KH1 and Chain of Memories, and "Passion/Sanctuary" was used in KH2 and KH 358/2 Days, so I thought it was time for such a major new chapter to get its own song.
@NECROS
In a week or so, I'll have my Kingdom Hearts PSP-3000, so I'll tell you how it is. ^_^ I already know some of the plot points and such, and let me just tell you, it like literally explains EVERYTHING. With that said, in regards to our mini-conversation about 358/2 Days, I found the gameplay was a bit lacking like you said, but the story was pretty well fleshed out if you ask me. =D
Itri12: Jim only reviews games that are given to him, because he never buys anything, and is just a bad as the pirates he hates so much. So, unless he gets a "review" copy, you ain't gonna see shit.
I was still irritated that the entire plot of 358/2 Days felt inconsequential once the bit about "forgetting certain memories" (all I'll say) took effect at the end. I thought it would expand on Roxas's days in Organization XIII with more depth, but they did nothing interesting with it - the one scene of Axel and Roxas in Twilight Town that gets shown in KH2 was stretched out into a million days of people eating ice cream. The "revelations" were so minor that they barely needed to be stated. Compared to fellow interquel Chain of Memories, the plot was threadbare and rehashed, showing stuff you probably could infer yourself.
That being said, I've heard Birth by Sleep is full of cool revelations, so I'm doing my best to avoid any spoilers before we get it here, part of the reason I want it NOW!
Well no shit. I wouldn't buy a game I had no interest in for the sake of reviewing. He might not even have a DS. So buying a new console and a game just for a review is pointless and not his job.
@Square Enix
Please make a PS2 (or even better... a PS3) port so I can play this. I'm sure you know that few people have this fabled portable console and the PS2 is more than capable.
Jim buys games all the time if they don't send him a review copy. I remember him saying "shit, now I need to buy Bayonetta tomorrow morning since my copy didn't come" on his Twitter just recently.
He gets paid, you know!
Also, I'm not 100% certain, but I think he has access to a DS, given that he talked a bit about playing 358/2 on a recent Podtoid: hence my question above.
KH2 has much better gameplay and far more depth. All of the games are pretty equally up their own ass. The DS game is pretty bad. But from what I've played of this one, it's awesome.
@NECROS
I totally see where you're coming from feeling the plot was inconsequential and all, as I found only the very beginning and like the last 15 - 20 missions are where the plot was really developed. One of the things I REALLY liked about it though was the scene with Axel and Saix discussing the "past" shall we say. That was cool. The "good" parts were explaining Axel and Roxas' friendship, and how everything fell together for Kingdom Hearts II.
I've (un)fortunately already read some spoilers and such for Birth by Sleep and such, and if you only like know the character names and such (in other words, been paying attention to any news, but not going too in-depth), AVOID the spoilers and such. I was way too far in to go back, but story and plot wise, you'll be VERY happy with this one . . . whenever it comes out for North America.
That's funny, I just finished the 358/2 days on my DS, and I have to say: man I'm disappointed. Just the 3 last hours of the game that are really good. I still don't know what kept me playing that game for 24 hours...
Ahhh Hell NO!!!. You did not just compare kh to twilight. I can see where you draw the lines... but i will not let you destroy my nostalgic memories of the game with your blasphemy. Take it back and say that in kh2, the reason sora runs past a hot matured kairi to hug riku is because sora tripped....
I like that the series has been around long enough to establish certain motifs (i.e. falling, the friend turned antagonist holding out their hand, etc.) Like Jim said, it's very Kingdom Hearts.
I believe there's already an english remix. It's been around since KH1, albeit in a slightly different form, just as how the Japanese version of Simple and Clean is different from the English version. Here's a Youtube video featuring the song.
@jettpack: Kingdom Hearts is the Twilight of the video game industry?
Since when was kingdom hearts overloaded with that sexual but no sex content infamous in Twilight? And when has kingdom hearts involved vampires and werewolves?
Trust me, I get that KH isn't the greatest game ever and that a lot of people put it high up on their levels of appreciation, but that's because the game is a fun ride and experience, not because it's a giant cocktease. I do not think it's the greatest thing evar myself, but damn it I love the game.
That being said... resisting reading spoilers will be a struggle for me. Being that everyone is saying that this isn't the giant let down that the DS title was... As a pretty big fan of the game, I'm going to try and avoid spoiling it... As best as I can.
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Contest:
11:30 AM on 01.11.2010
| 
WHAT IS THIS ICE CREAM?
IT IS KINGDOM HEARTS. EAT UP.
kingdom hearts2 was very disappointing to me when it did all those things i just mentioned.
i may never buy another kh game now.
In a week or so, I'll have my Kingdom Hearts PSP-3000, so I'll tell you how it is. ^_^ I already know some of the plot points and such, and let me just tell you, it like literally explains EVERYTHING. With that said, in regards to our mini-conversation about 358/2 Days, I found the gameplay was a bit lacking like you said, but the story was pretty well fleshed out if you ask me. =D
Rage.
I was still irritated that the entire plot of 358/2 Days felt inconsequential once the bit about "forgetting certain memories" (all I'll say) took effect at the end. I thought it would expand on Roxas's days in Organization XIII with more depth, but they did nothing interesting with it - the one scene of Axel and Roxas in Twilight Town that gets shown in KH2 was stretched out into a million days of people eating ice cream. The "revelations" were so minor that they barely needed to be stated. Compared to fellow interquel Chain of Memories, the plot was threadbare and rehashed, showing stuff you probably could infer yourself.
That being said, I've heard Birth by Sleep is full of cool revelations, so I'm doing my best to avoid any spoilers before we get it here, part of the reason I want it NOW!
Well no shit. I wouldn't buy a game I had no interest in for the sake of reviewing. He might not even have a DS. So buying a new console and a game just for a review is pointless and not his job.
@Square Enix
Please make a PS2 (or even better... a PS3) port so I can play this. I'm sure you know that few people have this fabled portable console and the PS2 is more than capable.
He gets paid, you know!
Also, I'm not 100% certain, but I think he has access to a DS, given that he talked a bit about playing 358/2 on a recent Podtoid: hence my question above.
KH2 has much better gameplay and far more depth. All of the games are pretty equally up their own ass. The DS game is pretty bad. But from what I've played of this one, it's awesome.
Agreed.
but that is just my opinion, not everyone's
I totally see where you're coming from feeling the plot was inconsequential and all, as I found only the very beginning and like the last 15 - 20 missions are where the plot was really developed. One of the things I REALLY liked about it though was the scene with Axel and Saix discussing the "past" shall we say. That was cool. The "good" parts were explaining Axel and Roxas' friendship, and how everything fell together for Kingdom Hearts II.
I've (un)fortunately already read some spoilers and such for Birth by Sleep and such, and if you only like know the character names and such (in other words, been paying attention to any news, but not going too in-depth), AVOID the spoilers and such. I was way too far in to go back, but story and plot wise, you'll be VERY happy with this one . . . whenever it comes out for North America.
Ahhh Hell NO!!!. You did not just compare kh to twilight. I can see where you draw the lines... but i will not let you destroy my nostalgic memories of the game with your blasphemy. Take it back and say that in kh2, the reason sora runs past a hot matured kairi to hug riku is because sora tripped....
I believe there's already an english remix. It's been around since KH1, albeit in a slightly different form, just as how the Japanese version of Simple and Clean is different from the English version. Here's a Youtube video featuring the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4jopNmoNn0
Since when was kingdom hearts overloaded with that sexual but no sex content infamous in Twilight? And when has kingdom hearts involved vampires and werewolves?
Trust me, I get that KH isn't the greatest game ever and that a lot of people put it high up on their levels of appreciation, but that's because the game is a fun ride and experience, not because it's a giant cocktease. I do not think it's the greatest thing evar myself, but damn it I love the game.
That being said... resisting reading spoilers will be a struggle for me. Being that everyone is saying that this isn't the giant let down that the DS title was... As a pretty big fan of the game, I'm going to try and avoid spoiling it... As best as I can.