Birth By Sleep - Quickie Review

[Nique]

Playing birth by sleep via component hookup to my tv cause I was tired of tiny screens by the time I was done with Kingdom Hearts and the numbery days.

The Good:
-Graphics just as good as the main series, if not slightly better. Looks real good on the HD tv, even with the letterbox format. :)

-Familiar controls makes jumping right in easy. :D

-Mark Hamil & Leonard Nemoy on mic. Awesome. Bret Iwan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Iwan) ain't half bad either :dance:

The Bad:
-Levels are way too quick :raise:

-Even MORE obtuse storytelling than the last game in the series and what seems like horrible script editing. Characters awknowledge or accept things with hardly any dialog or sense, lot's of vague motivation and pregnant pauses :mad:

-Lackluster voice acting for 2 of the 3 playable characters, hit or miss for the rest of the cast :(

The 'WTF is this?':
-Keyblades can fly? :confused:

-Abilities are confusing. They cramed weird versions of the 'card' systems from the last two handheld titles into what was supposed to be a more traditional kingdom hearts game. There's like 3 or more different categories for ability growth plus you can combine abilities to make ???? :wtf:

-Useless online-play 'arena' looks dumb. I don't like it :crossarms:

-No Heartless or Nobodies. Instead you fight yet another set of monsters called 'Unversed ':argh:

[Kim]

I love the ending.

By which I mean I hate the ending.

Which is why I love it.

[Nique]

Which is why I love it.

Do you love it when your lowest expectations are met?

[Kim]

Just got my hands on the game. Love the gameplay. However...

"My name's Lea. Got it memorized?" FUCK YOU NOMURA YOU FUCKING HACK OF A WRITER YOU ARE THE TITE KUBO OF VIDEO GAMES

Let me explain why this pisses me off so much, because I'm sure there are people who will either defend it or just not get it. Axel first appeared in Chain of Memories, and only used the phrase "Got it memorized?" once or twice as far as I can remember. It made sense in Chain of Memories, because the entire point of Castle Oblivion was that it made you forget everything. The phrase alluded to that, and to the general theme of memory that everything kept coming back to.

In every game since CoM, Axel will not stop fucking saying that dumbass phrase. It makes no sense outside of his conversations with Sora in Castle Oblivion. There's no purpose and no meaning. It worked in CoM, but a simple phrase like that doesn't work without context, and it has had no context whatsoever since CoM. Combine that with the fact that Axel shoves that stupid fucking question into every other sentence, and you've got yourself a moronic catchphrase that becomes increasingly annoying every time it's repeated.

EDIT: "After all, we're friends now. Get it memorized." AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH

[mudah.swf]

This game fucking owns because;

a)It's constantly rewarding the player with something or other and the command melding system makes it easy to get powerful spells and attacks fast and makes levelling almost painless since you can level your attacks up quickly and rebuy anything you create. Plus the command style system means that you never have to look at the same attacks all the time for too long and rewards the player for paying attention to their decks and bothering to level up their abilities.

b)There's an awful lot of content for the completionists. Super stupid optional bosses, arena fights, minigames, treasure, abilities to find and keyblades to get.

c)You can surf on a motherfucking keyblade.

[Kim]

Captain Justice is THE BEST THING.

[mudah.swf]

He is your worst enemy or greatest friend in the Command Board. Also Pete's D-Link lets you run Unversed over in a car eventually, while doing squealing donuts all over the area.

[Nique]

Man I must not be playing this game right becuase I didn't use the D-link hardly at all. I've only played through Ven's story and I'm half way through Terra's though so I guess I will play around with it a bit more.

My name's Lea. Got it memorized?"

lol.

[Kim]

D-Links are awesome. Seriously. Mickey's gives you double experience while using it if you upgrade it.

[Nique]

Speaking of, WTF does the friendship ability 'Fireworks', do?

[Kim]

I dunno. I don't have it yet.

If I had to guess I'd say it's just a bigass magic attack.

[Viridis]

Speaking of, WTF does the friendship ability 'Fireworks', do?
Did some looking:
"Launch fireworks to celebrate.
You might just be glad you did."When used, the next time you receive damage it will be seven points. Only used in the Mirage Arena during multiplayer

[Kim]

That's underwhelming.

[Nique]

Huh.

Ok so after completing Ventus' story, I wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what exactly Vanitas is supposed to be? He clearly isn't a heartless or a nobody, and I don't quite get the whole 'Unversed' thing except that he generates them and controls them

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Seriously, I ruined this myself via TvTropes long ago, anyone else wanting to keep it a secret avert your virgin eyes and cursors

Dead serious.

Alrighty, here goes.

According to the Site that Shall Not Be Linked, Vanitas is an evil clone created from the darkness in Ventus' heart. He can command the Unversed because he IS the Unversed; it's sort of like a hive mind. Also, a little bit of every Unversed that gets killed goes back to him and boosts his own strength.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Huh.

Ok so after completing Ventus' story, I wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what exactly Vanitas is supposed to be? He clearly isn't a heartless or a nobody, and I don't quite get the whole 'Unversed' thing except that he generates them and controls them
Apparently the Unversed are simply creatures of Darkness. Unlike the Heartless and Nobodies, these things are literally born from nothing. They are things that shouldn't exist. They are also the result of Ven's Dark powers going out of control.

(why do I understand this so well?)

And Vanitas is the other half of Ven's Soul. He was separated from him when Xananort tried to create the X Blade and failed. The point of Van fighting Ven was to getting him strong enough so that when they rejoin. They'll create the X Blade. Which can summon and control Kingdom Hearts (which is basically their God).

EDIT:

Seriously, I ruined this myself via TvTropes long ago, anyone else wanting to keep it a secret avert your virgin eyes and cursors

Dead serious.

Alrighty, here goes.

According to the Site that Shall Not Be Linked, Vanitas is an evil clone created from the darkness in Ventus' heart. He can command the Unversed because he IS the Unversed; it's sort of like a hive mind. Also, a little bit of every Unversed that gets killed goes back to him and boosts his own strength.
Nevermind...

[Ryong]

Having played the game on Proud mode and finished it with all three characters:

While I dislike having to play through the game thrice it's kinda fun to watch the plot come together. The game needed more combat intersections between the characters instead of a single boss. The game was fun, but there were things I disliked, such as:

- Fuck you Zack, stop teleporting to where I am and killing me.
- Aqua, stop dealing 1 damage to everything until you're level 10.
- That experiment critter boss thing from Deep Space is just an ass on Proud mode.
- Maleficent can insta-kill you with green fire on Proud mode. I do not understand why.
- STOP DASHING XEHANORT!TERRA, I WANT TO HIT YOU.

The amount of duel battles in the game is pretty good, but the fact that there's only two where bullshit doesn't happen - first Zack fight, Master Eraqus fight - it's kinda tiring. And by bullshit I mean Zack's "teleport-and-kill-your-ass" move or Vanitas countering your counter-counters.

The plot is a mixed bag of explaining questions and creating more of them, but overall the ratio is better for explaining.

[Fifthfiend]

Quickie review of the story summary of Birth By Sleep found on Wikipedia.org:

Hey, remember how Kingdom Hearts was actually good for one whole entire game, before the plot crawled up its own ass and died?

[Nique]

I...

Yeah :(

[Kim]

Nomura has a clonecest fetish like crazy.

It's the only explanation.

[Nique]

...fetish like crazy.

Welllllll...

Vanitas is Ventus' 'evil Kirk', then they combine back into regular Ventus, who combine with a young Sora. Sora un-combines and turns into Sora and Roxas who is basically Ventus. Also Sora is cloned and turns into Xion. Xion combines again into Sora, Roxas combines again into Sora. Sora is possessed by something like 4 or 5 different people here...

Did I miss anything?

[Kim]

The part where they all have sex.

[Grimpond]

Even on critical mode this game was too easy. I mean even maleficent only took me like, 4 tries

[Kim]

Does anyone know what ever happened to Organization XIII's heartless? I mean, it's not relevant this specific game, I don't think, but I don't believe that's ever been answered and I'm curious if there is an answer or what.

[Fusionman]

Well this is slightly related to the topic. Since Ansem and Xemnas were killed by Sora Xenahort is officially back. Last I checked can't Xenahort control Heartless? If so he could make Sora kill the Organization's Heartless.

[Nique]

Even on critical mode this game was too easy. I mean even maleficent only took me like, 4 tries

...

...

You goddam liar.

Does anyone know what ever happened to Organization XIII's heartless? I mean, it's not relevant this specific game, I don't think, but I don't believe that's ever been answered and I'm curious if there is an answer or what.

'member when Sora became a heart-guy? His heartless was just a little shadow monster. I'm guessing that if you're 'weak' hearted you get turned into a heartless and a nobody, but if you are strong you get turned into a human form of one or the other, and if you're awesome then both your heartless and nobody remain in human form.

Well this is slightly related to the topic. Since Ansem and Xemnas were killed by Sora Xenahort is officially back. Last I checked can't Xenahort control Heartless? If so he could make Sora kill the Organization's Heartless.

After being turned into a heartless (and even having a heartless form in KH2) and then re-combobulating it up with his Nobody etc, Sora should pretty much be a demi-god. of course they'll nerf him for the next game, but whatevers.

[Kim]

Are you telling me Ansem is the only awesome character in Kingdom Hearts?

I just want to see Heartless Braig. Is that so bad?

[mudah.swf]

Nerf Sora? In a series where you get screen-filling attacks and can eventually murderize the shit out of rooms of enemies in a minute or two? Blasphemy.

[Kim]

Finally got to the part where the plot starts devouring itself.

Also just barely realized that Xehanort is Gendo Ikari. The goatee should have tipped me off, but where are his glasses?

EDIT: Xehanort Report 10 actually does a pretty ace job of humanizing Xehanort. I mean, he's still an evil bastard, but I really liked how that report portrayed him.

[Grimpond]

...

...

You goddam liar.




Whateverz, she was easy once I got the circle and fire-dodging down after the third try

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Nerf Sora? In a series where you get screen-filling attacks and can eventually murderize the shit out of rooms of enemies in a minute or two? Blasphemy.

God I love final form.

[Nique]

Finally got to the part where the plot starts devouring itself.

To me it's a mess from the get-go, so I'm kind of curious which point you're referring to at this point. And also, yeah the reports are basically the best part of the storytelling in these games.

[Kim]

To me it's a mess from the get-go, so I'm kind of curious which point you're referring to at this point. And also, yeah the reports are basically the best part of the storytelling in these games.

I started with Ventus, whereas most everyone else seemed to start with Terra, so maybe there's a lot of dumb in Terra's that I haven't seen, but for the most part it works in that basic jRPG plot sorta way.

Anywho, the point where the plot starts to go very blegh is when the whole kyeblade thing gets brought into it and it's all downhill for Ven's plot from there.

Aqua's plot works so far, ignoring the especially stupid scene with Kairi I just had.

[Fifthfiend]

Welllllll...

Vanitas is Ventus' 'evil Kirk', then they combine back into regular Ventus, who combine with a young Sora. Sora un-combines and turns into Sora and Roxas who is basically Ventus. Also Sora is cloned and turns into Xion. Xion combines again into Sora, Roxas combines again into Sora. Sora is possessed by something like 4 or 5 different people here...

Did I miss anything?

The part where they all have sex.

I doubt sex is even a part of it, I think it's one of those fetishes that is so pure that all of these people being turned into each other and combined into themselves and divided from each other and combined into each other again is like, for the guy writing this shit this is like the pinnacle of eroticism; mere sex is far too cheap and unfulfilling to hold his attention.

[Donomni]

Anywho, the point where the plot starts to go very blegh is when the whole kyeblade thing gets brought into it and it's all downhill for Ven's plot from there.

Chiblade. Like the greek letter. :crossarms:

I still can't believe Nomura used AN EVIL SORA CLONE OMG as the final boss for Ven. I mean, that's pretty close to being as dumb as that one scene in Numbery Doo Boogaloo.

Aqua's plot works so far, ignoring the especially stupid scene with Kairi I just had.

I don't mind it that much, although they could've made why Kairi can use a Keyblade less... I dunno, blink-and-you'll-miss-it?

[Kim]

Chiblade. Like the greek letter. :crossarms:

Subtitles when Xehanort was explaining it said "Kye". :crossarms: :crossarms: :crossarms:

I don't mind it that much, although they could've made why Kairi can use a Keyblade less... I dunno, blink-and-you'll-miss-it?My main problem was the storytime/legend nonsense as she was leaving.

[Ryong]

Honestly, the parts of the game that I just ignored because they were so overwhelmingly stupid all involved Sora, Kairi or Riku. They're 5 they shouldn't talk like that.

[Darth SS]

I want to like Kingdom Hearts more than I do, I want to say it's the greatest video game series of all time, I really do. But this would completely ignore how unbelievably ass backwards and confusing the plot of these fuckers have. There's like...18 assholes that can wield keyblades now? After such a big deal was made in KH1 about Sora having a keyblade?

Y'know what's really impressive to me though? I think there's been 5 Kingdom Hearts games now, and I don't think there has been a bad one made yet. THAT is impressive.

[Kim]

Numbery Days was pretty bad.

[Nique]

It had a lot going for it though. Multiplayer was a good decision (although I have never been able to try it). The version of the 'deck' system they used was interesting, although selecting commands was pretty awkward.

[Kim]

It had good parts but several good parts do not always add up to a good whole.

[Darth SS]

It had good parts but several good parts do not always add up to a good whole.

What are you talking about, Sunchip-pickle-ice cream-turkey-sandwiches are the BEST.

[Nique]

Dude ice cream is like the only thing in that sandwhich I wouldn't want.

[Ryong]

Multiplayer in Numbery Days had the flaw of needing lots of people to play because individually you did a lot less damage than in the normal game - as to balance newbies and pros - so yeah. I liked that I could go around as dual-wielding cloak-wearing Roxas killing things, though.

[Kim]

Almost finished with Terra's story. The Mirage Arena is actually pretty solid as a grinding area I've noticed.

[Donomni]

Subtitles when Xehanort was explaining it said "Kye". :crossarms: :crossarms: :crossarms:

That's what I get for not re-watching cutscenes and using TVTropes! :crossarms::crossarms::crossarms::crossarms:

My main problem was the storytime/legend nonsense as she was leaving.

It's the same story that grandma told in the first Kingdom Hearts. I'm not entirely certain why it's there, but meh.

[Kim]

Game beaten! Bonus ending get!

- Sora's ridiculousness increases tenfold. He cries for people he doesn't really know because of an event he knows nothing about.

- Shotlock becomes a go to move far too easily during difficult boss fights. Combine it with the ability that gives you more focus when you take damage and you'll almost spend more time using shotlocks than not.

- The origin of Castle Oblivion is nonsense on so many levels.

- I guess it's confirmed that KH3 is going to be about Sora rescuing Ven, Terra, and Aqua. How he intends to save Terra is anyone's guess, seeing as he's killed his body, but like that would stop Kingdom Hearts from doing something, right?

- Whafuck with the keyblades coming out of nowhere to rescue Aqua.

Bonus Cutscene - SORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASO RA

[Nique]

I read all of your spoilers and yet they spoil nothing for me. That is what the storytelling is like in this game.