Kingdom Hearts 3: Review

Even though I never got into any of the Kingdom Hearts game outside of the console entries, I, like many other fans in the same boat, attempted to straggle off to YouTube to make sense of all the convolutions that took place prior to the third console game.

Although I'm a great lover of storytelling, I find that I just don't care about the large cast of characters plaguing this one. What started as a light-hearted story with a nice touch of darkness just isn't engaging. It's not a game that grew up with fans of my generation. The Disney-esque dialogue, while charming in the first two, was absolutely tedious in this one and after a while, I found myself skipping the slow-paced though gorgeous cut scenes because... I just don't give a fuck about the story. They repeat the concepts of sleeping and waking, of hearts and lack thereof, of replicas and heartless and nobodies and Organizations... To the point where I didn't care to keep up. Sora has two or three other people squatting rent-free in his heart. We've got the Sora/Roxas/Ventus deal with Riku being the playground of the Names villains that span time and don't fucking die, then Kairi is training by sitting on logs and pining over Naminé and Sora while Axel broods over being reduced to a boring side character. I can't bring myself to care about Ventus, Terra and Aqua, who are more palette swapped originals. Vanitas is probably the most interesting. Also, the fucking black box deal. Just don't care.

I'm a fan of complex fantasies, but this is just in the same vein as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball when a climax of power and realization is erased by losing memories and another new bad guy. Complexity is moot if you just don't care about any of the characters. So in terms of dialogue and story, this game fails for me. I skip those cutscenes, those many, many cutscenes more often than I watch them.

However...

The battle system and gameplay itself is stellar. While the chains can stutter at times and Sora doesn't always respond right away to my button mashing, the transitions between the myriad abilities are beautiful and I find the button presses to be more engaging and rewarding. I love the minigames and the seek style missions. The Classic Kingdom game section is a fun distraction even. What the game lacks in engaging me with the cutscenes, it really makes up for in actual gameplay. I love the mazes and the rewards for being curious. Like Final Fantasy XV, I find that the beauty and play style distracts from what I'm not getting from the story.

Again, I find games like Witcher 3 and Skyrim are just more appealing. Humor is great, but I find that certain entertainment pulls it off with more sincerity and skill. Japanese writing used to deliver that for me but nowadays, I'm finding more effective writing elsewhere. I also find I've developed a preference for effective meshing of gameplay and story. Uncharted is a series that has a way of making me feel as if I'm more involved, even when the cinematics take over. I don't play games to be held hostage in cutscenes so I appreciate it when writers understand the strengths of interactive media and make it worthwhile.

Going back to KH, I still find the world designs charming in this one. I love the whimsical ship battles even though swimming and flying the Gummy Ship somehow got worse over time. I also find Sora doesn't always redirect well during a chain where he finishes off an enemy and ends up swatting at the air rather than soft locking onto an enemy that's literally right in front of him. Swatting at a wall, no matter how beautiful, is a minor annoyance.

I still suggest that you go ahead and play this one. Following the story isn't necessary. The game itself often guides you past the cutscenes so you needn't force yourself to watch on the chance you'll miss what you're supposed to be doing. I haven't yet finished it, but there's a big chance I won't be going for Platinum. The requirements seem to verge into the tedious side of achievement with little reward. It's definitely worth playing, even if completion isn't on the menu.

Dragon Quest XI: Review

Because I tend to play the long game, additions to this blog are always few and far between. This also means I've scoured the game inside and out and, in this rare case, I also Platinumed this bitch on my PS4.

First, I'll get the bad out of the way, since you don't dump 120 hours into a game you hate, the bad clearly didn't override the experience. The dialogue, as is the case with a lot of JRPGs, is corny. Even for a game that is clearly infested with puns, this is an annoyance. All attempts to be dramatic or emotional fell flat for me. Then there is the 'post game' division. It's hard not to spoil their attempt to be mysterious, but let's just say this is a three part game. Three, not two. You can sandwich unavoidable ending credits after part two all you want, but the story isn't concluded by far and there's enough of the plot unresolved and hours to play that it's not really fooling anyone. However, I can't say I was that enchanted by the story at all, even as a nostalgic player of the series. Last, I'll throw this in: the battles letting you move your characters around doesn't fool anyone into it feeling less like turn-based battle and it's actually a pretty pointless mechanic. It doesn't really make much of a difference in enemy accuracy and later in the game, it's completely redundant.

Okay, one more gripe. The main character's design was dorky. The brown bob cut though. I almost always made sure he was in one of those fashion armory that disguised his default design. 

That being said, where gameplay is concerned, it's very solid. Jumping and movement wasn't clunky. I had zero incidents of glitchy movement, no getting trapped in walls, no slipping into areas I'm not supposed to be. I like that they took advantage of the map to block certain areas, to let me explore openly but strategize how to return to areas after the big bads blocked roads and opened new areas. The level and map design was well-done and the fast travel was limited but effective. I enjoyed the side quests. They were varied enough to be interesting with the most challenging being to kill an enemy with a specific Pep power or combo. The animations were skippable, which is always a plus.

Now, as for the Pep and crafting systems. The Pep one can be a bit tedious, but does come in handy here and there. It seems like there are more afflictions that limit your ability to use anything, even with accessories equipped, that make it even more difficult to work with the Pep timing. While your hero eventually gets Pep Up, your party is reduced to acquiring Pep Pips to get there. As for crafting, the little forge recipes aren't as abundant as I'd like and some are just a pain in the ass to get the materials for. You acquire skills that can make your blows more effective, but the five star ones are still sketchy as hell to not 'fail' at, let alone level up, even when maxed out. This is yet another game that uses systems either mindnumbingly simple or bafflingly impossible, but then I got spoiled with Dragon Age's more rewarding take on crafting.

I found this game to be well worth the time, even though I like to see more depth in my fantasy titles. The predictability of the story was high, but I wasn't expecting gymnastics in the story telling. It's a light hearted game that is at least worth whatever you paid for it. Give this one a try if you're an RPG fan that doesn't need the action element! However, I find Witcher 3 to be the best choice for those action lovers.