Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

[Strange Cookie]

I like it! Though the gameplay and presentation is pretty much unchanged since KH2, it still works, and Freeflow is a pretty neat addition.

 

I've heard pretty bad stuff about the Drop-mechanism, but it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Shame there aren't as many worlds I would have like, but it doesn't break the game. And it's nice to see the cast of TWEWY again.

[Hero-of-Time]

25 hours in and the credits have rolled. I'm blown away just how good the game was. I loved every second of it and for me it's the best of the series.

 

 

I probably could have finished it yesterday but I wanted to make sure I got the secret message at the end of the game, so I had to do a bit of grinding so I could unlock the necessary stuff for said message.

 

There are a bunch of trophies in the game that you can unlock by doing various tasks. You need to unlock at least 7 of these if playing on standard mode or 5 if playing on proud mode.

 

After the last boss you need to answer 3 questions. The answers needed are along the lines of...

 

If I had lost something important

An important friend

To take back what is important

 

With this done during the end credits you have to guide Sora through the credits themselves. Just hit all of the gold letters to spell Secret Message Unlocked and that should do it. This will give you a secret movie to watch.

 

 

I guess we will be able to play as Kairi in the next game. I wondered where she was in this game and sure enough she pops up in the secret movie as the 7th warrior of light. I guess it's gonna be 1 warrior of light for each of the princesses then, but then wasn't Kairi was one of the 7 princesses. I suppose she will have to take care of herself.

 

 

With me levelling up as I was doing various tasks for the secret movie I brushed aside the last boss with very little effort. I don't think I was in any danger of dying at any point during the fight. Prepare to sit for a while as the last cutscenes are on for ages, I loved them all though so it was good viewing for me.

 

I LOVED that Axel/Lea came in and saved the day. It was kinda expected as it was hinted at during the course of the game that he was off training to be a keyblade wielder, but it was still awesome to see.

 

I'm loving the fact that it's hinted at that Ven, Aqua, Terra, Roxas and Xion could make a return. All those that are locked away in Soras heart could finally be unleashed in the next game.

 

 

It's been a real joy to play, even more so seeing as there are no guides out yet. Not that I got stuck, but I went around searching for the treasure chests yesterday as Riku, as you get to a point in the game where the drop meter goes for a period of time. This made it easier to look for stuff but it took me ages without any guide to help me. I have the official guide on preorder but it's not out till next week. I may as well cancel it. Luckily I was able to find out the requirements for the secret ending, thanks to those who already played it on import.

 

I'm looking forward to what people on here think of the game, especially those who aren't familiar with the series. S-E do a good job filling in the gaps but it really does help in you have played the previous games in the series.

 

Bring on KHIII!

[Magnus]

I want to know how long it took for S.C.G to have no idea what was going on.

[Tales]

Finished the game today, in 25 hours or so. Very good game, although I still likes Birth by Sleep a tiny bit better.

 

About the secret ending

 

For a second I thought they were going super mysterious and not reveal who it was, but luckily they did. Never would have guessed it was Kairi. Happy about it though, really hope she is playable in Kingdom Hearts III, which better be the next game!

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Finished the game today, in 25 hours or so. Very good game, although I still likes Birth by Sleep a tiny bit better.

 

About the secret ending

 

For a second I thought they were going super mysterious and not reveal who it was, but luckily they did. Never would have guessed it was Kairi. Happy about it though, really hope she is playable in Kingdom Hearts III, which better be the next game!

 

Yeah, loved that it was her. I was also worried that they were gonna leave it on a cliffhanger. Did you read my spoilers from I finished it? I mentioned how Kairi was one of the 7 princesses in the first game yet she is now a keyblade weilder as well. Does she have to protect herself in the next game?

 

[Tales]

Yeah I know remember that vaguely from the first game. But maybe it isn't her(although I hope it is) Axel/Lea got a keyblade too, remember. But as I said I hope it's Kairi, I'm sure she is capable of taking of herself!

[Hero-of-Time]

Yeah I know remember that vaguely from the first game. But maybe it isn't her(although I hope it is) Axel/Lea got a keyblade too, remember. But as I said I hope it's Kairi, I'm sure she is capable of taking of herself!

 

Who do you think the 7 warriors of light are? I assume they are Sora, Mickey, Riku, Ven, Aqua, Terra and then either Kairi or Lea.

 

Loved that they brought Lea/Axel back. He's easily one of my favourite characters from the series.

 

[Tales]

I think Axel/Lea will replace Ven. Isn't he gone forever now that he is a part of Sora?

 

Never really cared that much about Axel, his line is so stupid :p

 

[-Dem0-]

[Magnus]

I really can't take the whole "friendship conquers all" thing that Kingdom Hearts likes so much seriously when Sora tells every person he meets that they're his friend.

 

I'm starting to wonder if he's a bit slow in the head.

 

It's pretty contrived how the only way to get the power to awaken sleeping hearts is by finding keyholes and awakening seven sleeping worlds.

 

Well, really there are only six worlds, since one world gets two keyholes for some reason to save on development time.

 

How does Yen Sid even know that it'll work? Like, has anyone saved all of the sleeping worlds before? And what happens if someone else needs this power? Sorry, the worlds have already been saved. Maybe you'll get lucky and another seven six worlds will fall asleep at some point!

 

Anyway, the funniest moment was near the end. Yen Sid sends both Sora and Riku on a quest to become keyblade masters if they save the sleeping worlds. And they both do (though Riku only does so within Sora's dreams, but apparently dreams within dreams still count and I guess it was all a dream to begin with so whatever). And then when it's time to give them their Mark of Mastery, Yen Sid is all, "well, you both did exactly what I told you to do, but Riku did something completely unrelated, so only he passed."

 

Talk about grading on a curve. :p

 

I think Axel/Lea will replace Ven. Isn't he gone forever now that he is a part of Sora?

I think his heart is sleeping within Sora until it has had time to heal itself and is ready to rejoin his body. Something stupid like that, anyway.

 

Anyway, being dead or not existing anymore doesn't seem to stop anyone from returning in Kingdom Hearts. See also: Naminé, Roxas and Xion. Actually, most dead characters seem to find some way to return.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I think Axel/Lea will replace Ven. Isn't he gone forever now that he is a part of Sora?

 

Never really cared that much about Axel, his line is so stupid :p

 

How can you not like him?

*shakes angry fist*

[Mr-Paul]

Did many people pick this up then? Doesn't seem like it from the amount of activity in this thread.

 

Missed out getting it on launch due to being at the Olympics all day every day, still looking to get it though! I enjoyed the demos I played, does it do a good enough job of catching up on story @Hero\-of\-Time or should I read up first????

[Magnus]

does it do a good enough job of catching up on story

There are (text) summaries of the previous games that unlock as you go through the game, but you'll probably still be confused if you haven't played the other games.

 

Well, chances are you'll be confused even if you have played the previous games.

 

You'll get the gist of what's going on, anyway, and the summaries will fill you in on the most important plot points. Don't worry if you're not sure what's going on. That's normal.

[Hero-of-Time]

I enjoyed the demos I played, does it do a good enough job of catching up on story @Hero\-of\-Time or should I read up first????

 

What Magnus said is pretty much spot on. You will probably enjoy it a lot more if you have played the other games as certain characters make a return and the story will make a bit more sense. The game does do a nice job of filling in the gaps though, so hopefully anyone who hasn't played the other games can get something out of it.

[Gentleben]

Just a heads up you can now buy Kingdom Hearts AR Cards from the Stars Catalogue @ 250 stars.

[Hero-of-Time]

I never used the ones I got free, never mind spending my points getting new ones.

[Ganepark32]

Picked this up Thursday passed and have put in just over 9 hours so far (completed Traverse Town, Notre Dame and The Grid and have done Riku's mission in Prankster's Paradise), so time for some thoughts from me.

 

I'm enjoying the game but perhaps a little less than I was when I booted it up for the first time. The addition of reality breaks (although I haven't used them all that often so far) and the flow motion system have alleviated most of the tedium of the battles. I say that because it has made taking out the dream eaters and bosses a bit easy as you can simply keep rolling into walls or lampposts. Perhaps a cool down on this may have keep the difficulty up. Still good fun, though, bouncing off walls or grinding rails and taking things out with ease.

 

Not too fond of the Drop mechanic. Yeah, the drop decelerators give you some added time but it tends to cut out at the most inopportune of times. I suppose they wanted to have everything as a single campaign running in parallel rather than as 3 separate entities like in BBS (even though you could play through them in any order).

 

Story-wise, kind of just washed over me so far/not really been paying a huge amount of attention to it. Something about being sent back to Destiny Islands prior to the first game in a dream and having to unlock the sleeping worlds or something like that I'm sure it'll all coalesce at some point and make sense. The Chronicles are helpful in filling in the background, as I never did finish 1 or 2, didn't play either Chain of Memories or Birth by Sleep and have only finished 358/2 Days :/.

 

Little disappointed in The Grid, though. Looked great (as does the whole game so far in general) but would have liked to hear some of the actual Tron Legacy soundtrack in there as the normal KH fare didn't really work with what was happening at times, particular the end of Riku's mission there. Wouldn't have been too hard to get a few tracks licensed for use would it.

 

So yeah, enjoying it so far but ever so slightly losing its 'lustre' if you will. Will continue to plow through the game, no doubt finishing it up by the end of the week as the last bit of gaming of the summer for me and probably the last thing I'll play on the 3DS as I'm looking to sell it once done with the game.

[Ganepark32]

And finished! Just under 20 hours on the clock. Probably could have done with spending a bit more time levelling as the last couple of bosses were a bit on the difficult side to beat but got there in the end and that's all that matters really.

 

The drop mechanic did start to grate quite a bit in the last 2 worlds, particularly the Fantasia world on Riku's side of things. Interesting mechanic to try and keep things running in parallel but perhaps a bit more refinement is needed if they're going to use it again in the next game to stop it from dropping you out at key moments, such as in the middle of a boss battle

 

Despite that though, really enjoyed it in the end. Can only really fairly compare it to 358/2 Days as that's the only one I've managed to finish up till now but DDD is clearly magnitudes better than that one. Loved the flowmotion, even if it did make the enemies in most of the world fodder that could be brushed aside easily. That should definitely stay next time around.

 

And loved the ending there and some of the revelations that came out.

 

Ansem the Wise suggesting that Sora may be able to bring back Ventus and Xion was an interesting one, as well as Roxas. The former is clearly going to be one of the 7 warriors, along with Sora, Riku, Mickey, Aqua and Lea with Kairi or Roxas taking up that last place perhaps.

 

Which begs the question of where Xion will fit in. Xehanort still needs a 12th vessel to get his 13 warriors of darkness and I could see Xion being the twist there, coming up against Kairi if she is a warrior of light.

 

Who knows. To me, it seems like there could be more than 7 keyblade wielders in KH3 (assuming that there'll be a twist with Terra managing to get free/being saved as a vessel from Xehanort or something).

 

 

Anyway, roll on KH3. I'd hope for some KH related news as TGS (HD remakes of the 1 and 2 would be nice) but I guess it'll probably be quite some time before we hear anything about the next game.