kingdom hearts birth by sleep: climbin' in your worlds, time splicin' your unversed up
After 60 hours of playtime over about two and a half weeks, I have finally beaten Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. Which means I've now beaten all the Kingdom Hearts games released so far in the span of a year, starting with 358/2 Days last April, Chain of Memories in September, II in October, Re:coded in January/February, I in February, and now Birth By Sleep in February/March. Unfortunately because my access to next-gen consoles will be very limited so I doubt I'll be able to play any future games in the series. But hey, that's what I thought about Birth By Sleep and I ended up being able to play it, so who knows. (There's always Youtube.)
Anyway. I went in to Birth By Sleep already somewhat familiar with it, having watched a playthrough of it on a live stream when it came out (and having watched all the cutscenes as soon as the game came out in Japan a year ago), so I knew what to expect story-wise. I like the story a lot, although of course it's not perfect. There's definitely more a focus on plot than character, and I think maybe the story could have benefited from a little more characterization. Take Terra for example; although I liked the whole thing with him having this affinity with the darkness that caused Master Xehanort to be able to merge with him, I feel like more could have been explained why he was so susceptible to the darkness. But maybe that's me liking deep characterization too much. I still liked the story, though.
In terms of gameplay, the game is awesome. I'm sure I mentioned this in my Re:coded post, but the command system is a thing of brilliance. Re:coded is a bit of an improvement over BBS in that combining commands is a bit easier because you'll always know what you get beforehand and get a chance to try it out before combining commands permanently. BBS had a wider selection of commands, though, and there was no limit to how many powerful commands you could use unlike in Re:coded when you have your matrix percentage that keeps you from loading up with super powerful commands. Anyway, the command deck is definitely my favorite battle system in the Kingdom Hearts series so far. So many cool combat options without worrying about MP usage like in the previous games (well, not Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days, but whatever).
Another thing that is brilliant: the secret ending. Yeah, the bit with everyone saying Sora's name could be construed as cheesy, but I absolutely love how it ties the aftermath of BBS in with the later games of the series. Like when Ansem the Wise is talking about Sora and how he saved them all and then going to post-KHII Sora, Riku, and Kairi... I dunno, it kind of had a whole "everything coming together" feel to it so now Sora can go save Terra, Ven, and Aqua and put an end to Xehanort once and for all. I guess it's kind of like the "Across the Sea" episode of Lost in which we get a glimpse of the past in order to show how the evil came to be and that kind of sets things up for the future. Heck, after playing the first KH game recently I've come to realize that the Kingdom Hearts series is a lot like Lost in that it starts out relatively simple but still awesome and ends up being kind of ridiculously convoluted. Like if you tried to explain to someone not familiar with KH who the overall villain was: "Well, in the first game there's this guy Ansem, but then in the second game you find out that that Ansem was really the Heartless of this guy Xehanort, but then you find out in Birth By Sleep that the guy you thought was Xehanort is actually a fusion of Terra and Master Xehanort." And explaining everyone connected to Sora is just as convoluted: "So there's this kid Sora, and he stabbed himself in the heart to save his friend Kairi because her heart was inside him, but by doing so he created a Nobody named Roxas. And then Sora had to be put into hibernation to repair his memory after going into Castle Oblivion, and some of his leftover memories went into this replica named Xion, who had to be destroyed in order for Sora to wake up again. Oh and Sora also has the heart of a kid named Ven inside him, and that's why Roxas looks like Ven because Roxas was born out of Ven's heart or something like that." Seriously. Who ever thought a Disney/Square crossover could get so convoluted?
Anyway, ultimately what I like about Birth By Sleep is that it's such an easy game to break, and I like games that are like that (explains why I like FFVIII so much). I think the main game breaker in this is the Command Board, which I have a slight addiction to. The Command Board and command melding are to BBS just as Triple Triad and item/magic refining are to FFVIII, except BBS is even better because even if you lose on the Command Board you still win the benefits, i.e. leveling up your commands and obtaining new commands. I really only did a lot of command boarding in the first half of the game, however (well, except with Terra because I was still working out how to level everything up most efficiently at that point), because once you get a lot of commands it gets kind of annoying waiting for the one you want to show up in your command cards, plus the higher-level commands level up pretty slowly on the Command Board, so with Ven and Aqua after Radiant Garden or so I switched to just grinding with the commands I wanted equipped. Oh and another great game breaker was EXP Walker, which with Ven and Aqua I got before even going to Radiant Garden (with Terra I didn't get it until Deep Space because I wasn't as experienced with the whole command melding process). And I guess I might as well put one more minor complaint here while I'm talking about gameplay mechanics among the three characters: it was somewhat annoying to have spent so long leveling up one character only to have to start back at level one with the next character. Plus the fact that there were some things you had to do with all three characters (like the Trinity Armor fight in Radiant Garden, all the platforming in Disney Town, the initial Keyblade Graveyard scenes, and all the sidequest stuff like treasure/sticker collection and the Mirage Arena) was a little tedious. But again, minor complaint here. At least by the time you did everything the third time around you pretty much knew how to do it.
More stuff, broken down into the usual categories.
Favorite character (story): Aqua, who's probably one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts characters overall because she's probably the most competent/has the most sense out of her trio and is pretty kickass as well. Also Braig, because of course he's the human version of Xigbar except more plot-relevant this time around.
Favorite character (gameplay): Hmm, this is quite difficult, as I liked playing with all three of the characters. I think I'd have to go with Ven, though, simply because he's the most balanced of everyone. Terra has the strength and defense, but is lacking in the more powerful magic commands, whereas Aqua can get wicked powerful magic but can't take a hit at all. Ven, though, has the best of both worlds. (I also died the least on his story, which is a plus, and really the only reason I died the one time that I did was because I couldn't rotate the analog stick fast enough o_o)
Favorite location: Radiant Garden, probably, because I love pretty much any variation on Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden. This game's version was just so... magical, though. Makes me wish we could have run into younger versions of some of the Final Fantasy characters there, but apparently that had to be cut for time/plot relevance. Whatever, I have my own headcanon regarding some of the FF character's lives there.
Favorite method of totally annihilating enemies: Two words: Time Splicer. That command equals destruction to almost any enemy that I come across... well, except for the first form of Terranort in the Final Episode, on whom it totally fails, and enemies that teleport a lot like Braig and the Mimic Master. But everyone else? Total carnage. I actually managed to one-shot Vanitas with it in the last fight in Ven's story. Other bosses that fell victim to being one-shotted by it were Zack and Captain Hook, mainly because they're susceptible to Stop which gives them no chance to survive Time Splicer. Unfortunately, Terra can't use that command, but he has enough brute strength to make up for ti. Barring Time Splicer, however, I also liked Freeze Raid (my most used command across all three stories, according to my battle report) which I used with Ven and Aqua, and Thundaga Shot which I used with Aqua. And for Terra... gah, what commands did I use a lot for Terra? It feels like forever since I played as him. Dark Haze was pretty good, if I remember correctly. And in general, I liked Zero Graviga and/or Magnega for wiping out large groups of enemies. (When I wasn't Time Splicing, that is.)
Character with the best lines: Hmm, well, I think Braig definitely qualifies with his laid-back, to-the-point dialogue like "I mean, what's a little scratch on my face, all things considered. I'm just glad he didn't steal my heart like Princess Whatever-It-Was. That'd ruin my week for sure." Also Master Xehanort because of the hamminess that emanates from him. At least we know where "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness" gets it from.
Favorite music: This is probably my favorite soundtrack overall from the Kingdom Hearts series. Aqua's theme and Ven's theme are great character pieces, and "Tears of the Light" is awesome dramatic music. The battle music in this game, however, is truly epic. I love all three of Vanitas's battle themes ("Enter the Darkness," "Unbreakable Chains," and "Enter the Void"), and "Dismiss" (the Final Episode boss theme) is awesome too. "Dark Impetus," the Mysterious Figure's battle theme, definitely takes the cake here in terms of complete epicness (it's actually the ringtone for my phone right now lol). And from the tracks added for the Final Mix version, "Master, Tell Me the Truth" and "Forze dell'Oscurita" are awesome too.
Level I finished the game: 40 for Terra, 45 for Ven, and 43 for Aqua. I did a ton of level grinding at various points of the game, especially with Ven and Aqua because I was more familiar with things by that point. I guess I should also mention that I was playing on proud mode, so I wanted to keep ahead of the game a little to ensure that nothing would totally kick my ass. The only things that kicked my ass, really, were the Wheel Master in Terra's story (because I was underleveled, and once I gained a few levels he was easy) and Braig also in Terra's story (because I didn't understand that pretty much all your damage had to come from blocking, and once I figured that out things went a lot smoother). The end of Aqua's story, especially Terranort in the Final Episode, was challenging just because Aqua can't take hits very well, but I think I only died twice overall (once on Venitas and once on Terranort).
I might go back to it later on just to try out the bonus bosses, although I get the feeling that's not going to go well because I kind of suck at being consistent in my blocking abilities and I don't really have the patience for fights where you can't just run in and spam attacks/commands. It'll probably be a while before I do a complete replay, if I do one at all, only because it's my roommate's PSP that I'm using and I don't want to be using it all the time. If/when I do, though, I'm definitely going try a critical mode run with Ven, just because his story was the easiest for me and it would be interesting to challenge myself. It'll probably lead to even more level grinding, though. I am totally not a challenge gamer--I'm more of a see-how-much-you-can-break-the-game gamer. Level 1 critical run? Never going to happen. Ever. I don't know how people do it.
Anyway. I went in to Birth By Sleep already somewhat familiar with it, having watched a playthrough of it on a live stream when it came out (and having watched all the cutscenes as soon as the game came out in Japan a year ago), so I knew what to expect story-wise. I like the story a lot, although of course it's not perfect. There's definitely more a focus on plot than character, and I think maybe the story could have benefited from a little more characterization. Take Terra for example; although I liked the whole thing with him having this affinity with the darkness that caused Master Xehanort to be able to merge with him, I feel like more could have been explained why he was so susceptible to the darkness. But maybe that's me liking deep characterization too much. I still liked the story, though.
In terms of gameplay, the game is awesome. I'm sure I mentioned this in my Re:coded post, but the command system is a thing of brilliance. Re:coded is a bit of an improvement over BBS in that combining commands is a bit easier because you'll always know what you get beforehand and get a chance to try it out before combining commands permanently. BBS had a wider selection of commands, though, and there was no limit to how many powerful commands you could use unlike in Re:coded when you have your matrix percentage that keeps you from loading up with super powerful commands. Anyway, the command deck is definitely my favorite battle system in the Kingdom Hearts series so far. So many cool combat options without worrying about MP usage like in the previous games (well, not Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days, but whatever).
Another thing that is brilliant: the secret ending. Yeah, the bit with everyone saying Sora's name could be construed as cheesy, but I absolutely love how it ties the aftermath of BBS in with the later games of the series. Like when Ansem the Wise is talking about Sora and how he saved them all and then going to post-KHII Sora, Riku, and Kairi... I dunno, it kind of had a whole "everything coming together" feel to it so now Sora can go save Terra, Ven, and Aqua and put an end to Xehanort once and for all. I guess it's kind of like the "Across the Sea" episode of Lost in which we get a glimpse of the past in order to show how the evil came to be and that kind of sets things up for the future. Heck, after playing the first KH game recently I've come to realize that the Kingdom Hearts series is a lot like Lost in that it starts out relatively simple but still awesome and ends up being kind of ridiculously convoluted. Like if you tried to explain to someone not familiar with KH who the overall villain was: "Well, in the first game there's this guy Ansem, but then in the second game you find out that that Ansem was really the Heartless of this guy Xehanort, but then you find out in Birth By Sleep that the guy you thought was Xehanort is actually a fusion of Terra and Master Xehanort." And explaining everyone connected to Sora is just as convoluted: "So there's this kid Sora, and he stabbed himself in the heart to save his friend Kairi because her heart was inside him, but by doing so he created a Nobody named Roxas. And then Sora had to be put into hibernation to repair his memory after going into Castle Oblivion, and some of his leftover memories went into this replica named Xion, who had to be destroyed in order for Sora to wake up again. Oh and Sora also has the heart of a kid named Ven inside him, and that's why Roxas looks like Ven because Roxas was born out of Ven's heart or something like that." Seriously. Who ever thought a Disney/Square crossover could get so convoluted?
Anyway, ultimately what I like about Birth By Sleep is that it's such an easy game to break, and I like games that are like that (explains why I like FFVIII so much). I think the main game breaker in this is the Command Board, which I have a slight addiction to. The Command Board and command melding are to BBS just as Triple Triad and item/magic refining are to FFVIII, except BBS is even better because even if you lose on the Command Board you still win the benefits, i.e. leveling up your commands and obtaining new commands. I really only did a lot of command boarding in the first half of the game, however (well, except with Terra because I was still working out how to level everything up most efficiently at that point), because once you get a lot of commands it gets kind of annoying waiting for the one you want to show up in your command cards, plus the higher-level commands level up pretty slowly on the Command Board, so with Ven and Aqua after Radiant Garden or so I switched to just grinding with the commands I wanted equipped. Oh and another great game breaker was EXP Walker, which with Ven and Aqua I got before even going to Radiant Garden (with Terra I didn't get it until Deep Space because I wasn't as experienced with the whole command melding process). And I guess I might as well put one more minor complaint here while I'm talking about gameplay mechanics among the three characters: it was somewhat annoying to have spent so long leveling up one character only to have to start back at level one with the next character. Plus the fact that there were some things you had to do with all three characters (like the Trinity Armor fight in Radiant Garden, all the platforming in Disney Town, the initial Keyblade Graveyard scenes, and all the sidequest stuff like treasure/sticker collection and the Mirage Arena) was a little tedious. But again, minor complaint here. At least by the time you did everything the third time around you pretty much knew how to do it.
More stuff, broken down into the usual categories.
Favorite character (story): Aqua, who's probably one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts characters overall because she's probably the most competent/has the most sense out of her trio and is pretty kickass as well. Also Braig, because of course he's the human version of Xigbar except more plot-relevant this time around.
Favorite character (gameplay): Hmm, this is quite difficult, as I liked playing with all three of the characters. I think I'd have to go with Ven, though, simply because he's the most balanced of everyone. Terra has the strength and defense, but is lacking in the more powerful magic commands, whereas Aqua can get wicked powerful magic but can't take a hit at all. Ven, though, has the best of both worlds. (I also died the least on his story, which is a plus, and really the only reason I died the one time that I did was because I couldn't rotate the analog stick fast enough o_o)
Favorite location: Radiant Garden, probably, because I love pretty much any variation on Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden. This game's version was just so... magical, though. Makes me wish we could have run into younger versions of some of the Final Fantasy characters there, but apparently that had to be cut for time/plot relevance. Whatever, I have my own headcanon regarding some of the FF character's lives there.
Favorite method of totally annihilating enemies: Two words: Time Splicer. That command equals destruction to almost any enemy that I come across... well, except for the first form of Terranort in the Final Episode, on whom it totally fails, and enemies that teleport a lot like Braig and the Mimic Master. But everyone else? Total carnage. I actually managed to one-shot Vanitas with it in the last fight in Ven's story. Other bosses that fell victim to being one-shotted by it were Zack and Captain Hook, mainly because they're susceptible to Stop which gives them no chance to survive Time Splicer. Unfortunately, Terra can't use that command, but he has enough brute strength to make up for ti. Barring Time Splicer, however, I also liked Freeze Raid (my most used command across all three stories, according to my battle report) which I used with Ven and Aqua, and Thundaga Shot which I used with Aqua. And for Terra... gah, what commands did I use a lot for Terra? It feels like forever since I played as him. Dark Haze was pretty good, if I remember correctly. And in general, I liked Zero Graviga and/or Magnega for wiping out large groups of enemies. (When I wasn't Time Splicing, that is.)
Character with the best lines: Hmm, well, I think Braig definitely qualifies with his laid-back, to-the-point dialogue like "I mean, what's a little scratch on my face, all things considered. I'm just glad he didn't steal my heart like Princess Whatever-It-Was. That'd ruin my week for sure." Also Master Xehanort because of the hamminess that emanates from him. At least we know where "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness" gets it from.
Favorite music: This is probably my favorite soundtrack overall from the Kingdom Hearts series. Aqua's theme and Ven's theme are great character pieces, and "Tears of the Light" is awesome dramatic music. The battle music in this game, however, is truly epic. I love all three of Vanitas's battle themes ("Enter the Darkness," "Unbreakable Chains," and "Enter the Void"), and "Dismiss" (the Final Episode boss theme) is awesome too. "Dark Impetus," the Mysterious Figure's battle theme, definitely takes the cake here in terms of complete epicness (it's actually the ringtone for my phone right now lol). And from the tracks added for the Final Mix version, "Master, Tell Me the Truth" and "Forze dell'Oscurita" are awesome too.
Level I finished the game: 40 for Terra, 45 for Ven, and 43 for Aqua. I did a ton of level grinding at various points of the game, especially with Ven and Aqua because I was more familiar with things by that point. I guess I should also mention that I was playing on proud mode, so I wanted to keep ahead of the game a little to ensure that nothing would totally kick my ass. The only things that kicked my ass, really, were the Wheel Master in Terra's story (because I was underleveled, and once I gained a few levels he was easy) and Braig also in Terra's story (because I didn't understand that pretty much all your damage had to come from blocking, and once I figured that out things went a lot smoother). The end of Aqua's story, especially Terranort in the Final Episode, was challenging just because Aqua can't take hits very well, but I think I only died twice overall (once on Venitas and once on Terranort).
I might go back to it later on just to try out the bonus bosses, although I get the feeling that's not going to go well because I kind of suck at being consistent in my blocking abilities and I don't really have the patience for fights where you can't just run in and spam attacks/commands. It'll probably be a while before I do a complete replay, if I do one at all, only because it's my roommate's PSP that I'm using and I don't want to be using it all the time. If/when I do, though, I'm definitely going try a critical mode run with Ven, just because his story was the easiest for me and it would be interesting to challenge myself. It'll probably lead to even more level grinding, though. I am totally not a challenge gamer--I'm more of a see-how-much-you-can-break-the-game gamer. Level 1 critical run? Never going to happen. Ever. I don't know how people do it.