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Gaming Backlog Side Quest: Kingdom Hearts Re:Visited - A Fragmentary Retrospective (Part 1)

So it's only my second blog post in this backlog series, and I'm already veering off-course from what I originally thought it was going to be lol. Basically I want these KH Re:Visited posts to be a way for me to look back on how I got into this series while I share it with a friend of mine: @plzdonthitmewithyourcar. I think both fans of the series and people with <1% knowledge about this funky ass series should be able to enjoy the post though.

(Start of backstory) My introduction to Kingdom Hearts was very unconventional; I essentially stumbled across a volume of the manga while browsing my local library as a kid:

So to my naive self, I assumed that this was the first volume of the whole series, and the "II" of the logo was lost on me (cuz I was a 11 year old lmao). I knew nothing about it, and the cover stood out to me so I decided to take it home and give it a read.

My introduction to the series consisted of what I think is still my favorite false-start to a game I've played. I fully went into this book, and by extension the KH series thinking that it was all about this young teen named Roxas and his friends living in Twilight Town slowly discovering a series of odd events relating to strange creatures called "Nobodies"; Enough to say that by the end of the first volume the rug got pulled out from under me as I was introduced to the true protagonist of the series, Donald, and Goofy: the first truly Disney characters (which also took me aback because I didn't know that the Square Enix x Disney crossover was so literal)

So with that first volume consumed and my pre-teen mind absolutely blown, I voraciously looked for anything else I could consume about the series. (End of backstory)

So now that I'm introducing a dear friend of mine to the series, I've decided to essentially follow the same path that I went on when I was learning the series while introducing them. I've only played the opening of KH2 with them, before we have now switched over to KH1. I'm very pleased that the opening still has the same charm that captured me years ago. The pleasant coziness and simplicity of Twilight Town, contrasted to the feeling of ominous foreshadowing when the supernatural elements begin to become more present and Roxas is forced to confront the answers to the questions he's been asking himself.

Game cinematics are sick AF, gameplay holds up so well (looking at you KH1), and the writing is very recognizably that charming yet unnatural approach to character-driven story.

Some of the things that I hadn't appreciated as much on my first playthrough was the interactions with Seifer, and how Hayner was essentially behind-the-scenes rallying people in the town to help figure out what was going on with Roxas and all the strange events that were beginning to show up around their quiet town. I think noticing interactions like those made me appreciate even more the tragic story of Roxas.

So yeah, this series is really special to me, and I'm really glad to be able to share it with people and blog about it. :)

To follow up on what my friend @fru1tycak3 is talking about here as well. I found the online system to be a bit obtuse in it's presentation (though I am fully willing to admit that I am used to the MH4U and MHRise systems), it felt difficult to form a party and then start the environment link so we could play in the same instance and, y'know, hunt together. Besides getting actually connected, the servers would DC us every so often (understandable, it is a massively popular beta that's open to the public and is available for free), but while we were hunting it felt pretty smooth.

There's a lot to love about the beta that I think points towards a really ambitious and well-crafted final product: The story actually had me really intrigued and I went to watch Secret Sleepover Society's stream VOD (plugging some creators that I love) after I played so I could refresh myself on the minutia of the setup. As a player that started with MH3U and MH4U I'm not used to the plot taking center stage for what felt like a pretty holistic start to the experience. I'm used to you being a random shmuck that is in the right place at the right time before you get encountered with something that the dialogue box tells me I can help with, and away I go. The way that monsters feel like they react to your actions is really tight; for instance I was playing Bow while with fru1ty and whenever I landed a big shot the monster would sometimes switch focus for a moment to me before going back to focus on fru1ty's Charge Blade assault, then switch back to me after he'd put pressure on the shield. Really great communication and enemy design there. I also can't get over how much I love the Seikrets, I'm a big bird fan so go figure, Capcom did a great job of making locomotion feel organic as well as very aesthetically integrated to the world you find yourself in.

Some of the things I hope to see either confirmed before release, or adjusted/added in the final games: 1) I hope the way the game handles draw distance rendering is reworked or adjusted so that we don't have super high rez models popping into the far distant horizon, or low poly getting up in my grill because the game prioritized something else for a reason unknown. 2) I would love to have online functionality explained more thoroughly as a player coming from the "portable" series. 3) BRING BACK PRANCE GESTURE, PLEASE ;^;

I've been playing Wilds with a friend (@mintyfreshka), and I have some thoughts about it:

To get it out of the way, I do think the *beta is poorly optimized for average gaming setups. It's probably due to a poor or broken LOD system; but the extravagant fidelity of simulation for the ecosystems doesn't help either. 30-40 average frames on a relatively modern system is not worth $100 CND to me. Lowering the settings has drastic changes to the picture and feel that anything lower than medium or high really cheapens the whole thing.

*it's going to release like that anyway

Despite all that, it's still really good. Like, willing to stomach bad optimization good. The general presentation rides the line of fidelity and stylization well. The gameplay was fluid; focus mode with the wound system feels like a culmination of various weapon mechanics now unified under a common system.

The stars of the demo, the new monsters, are neat spins on common wyvern archetypes. Especially Rey Dau, as I have no clue how capcom is going to make fighting a Rathalos match the gravitas that the Glassing Wyven brought to the table. Like, it's just cooler than the king and queen in Rise/Sunbreak despite them being equally lethal to your average hunter.

I'm excited to wait a few months after launch for Capcom to sort their shit out, then get it. On sale.

Shakespearean Seinfeld episode like:

"He thoued me, Jerry."

"He thoued you?"

"He thoued me!"

Scout tf2 is the epitome of character design because he can be used to represent literally any underwhelming skinny white dude ever