Alright, so instead of trying to do all of the technical stuff from the ground up, they're using a more template approach? I'm actually very happy with that news. At least the game's important aspects, like its writing, can be focused on more. I looked up a video showcasing Unreal 4's capabilities and I'm really impressed, so this is all actually better news than I had expected. Thanks.
I'm not even going to pretend to know or not, but is that engine switch...better for a more cinematic experience? Or will the animations be fluid? Like what does that actually mean for the less savvy of us?
I understand the idea of the text file being too small to even worry about, but the latter half of your answer clarified why they'd leave the extra work in there. I guess I see the problem of removing unused data now as like uninstalling a mod mid-way throughout your save; one tiny script change can mess everything up. That's actually been something I've wondered about for a while, so thanks for answering that.
Totally agree with what you said about Terra's voice. I felt like when there wasn't much emotional demand from him, the voice acting wasn't nearly as powerful, but I thought that was actually fitting since he's a far more emotional character. Terra was the perfect example of giving into those dark emotions that gets you possessed by old baldy. For me, his role didn't really call for the normal-toned sequences, so I only paid attention when he let his anger or resentment get the best of him, and, like you said, he did an excellent job at doing so. The only reason why I mention Xion is because I didn't ever play the actual game, only watched the 358/2 Days movie. So I suppose my expectations were for superb voice acting from all parts since Square presented it like an actual movie experience but ehh. I didn't get behind the emptiness in her voice because I felt as if her, Axel, Roxas, and Namine's whole purpose is to show the emotional aspects of Nobodies and it just threw me off to get a more empty voice when her dialogue was pretty emotional at times. I'll agree that Aqua's voice was very endearing, but it seemed to stay that way throughout the course of the game, so at times it felt forced and off. Like even in the Realm of Darkness she keeps up the same voice that was affectionately lecturing Ventus at the game's beginning. It worked extremely well in the scenes where her voice needed to be endearing, but she never seemed to get away from that.
Still off-topic, I feel like Xion's may have grown on me by the end but I feel like I noticed it more because she was always talking with Axel and Roxas, who both have excellent voice acting in my opinion, like some of the best in the series. I felt like Aqua's was lacking too, and it never grew on me, but I never had a problem with Terra's, though I know a lot of people did. Back on-topic, why is it that Square keeps leaving bits of data in every Kingdom Hearts game that shouldn't be there? I find it extremely interesting, especially with how much The Jungle Book was developed in Birth By Sleep and then the Toy Story summons and all, but with the English text it seems like it's just taking up disc space, which I know is comically minor to mention, but why'd leave those undeveloped aspects of the game hidden like that? Weren't there DDD models in Birth By Sleep Final Mix, too?
You mean English with text only, right?
I thought her voice acting was a bit off in Re: Chain of Memories, I guess now I know why. Speaking of which, am I the only person who finds Xion's English voice acting to be really unconvincing?
Exactly the same here, I can wait a little longer to see those scenes in English. Namine didn't though? Is the voice actor someone else from the series or someone new entirely?
I distinctly remember reading somewhere that Maleficent made Soul Eater and gave it to Riku. I really don't feel like looking for the interview, and there's no point to, since I'm agreeing with you. It's strange that this conversation became about this subject in particular. Sora used a toy sword before he got the Kingdom Key, doesn't give the toy sword any significance at all, except for that great scene in Kingdom Hearts when Riku tosses it to Sora like he's nothing, that was great. And spoiler I guess, but at the end of DDD, Axel gets a keyblade himself, yet nobody assumes his weapons became said keyblade. Just because it's Riku and has an eye thing on it, doesn't mean that Soul Eater has any more significance than Luxord's cards.
I honestly feel like Saix' character has been drawn out too long. I loved his ambiguity in Kingdom Hearts II because it felt like he was in control of his own plans/destiny, rather than listening to the higher-ups. But now it's like he's just a puppet.
Well, wasn't it sort of confirmed in Dream Drop Distance that Saix was one of them? A physical indicator of a 'Xehanort clone' is the orange eyes and pointy ears, right? Saix was sitting at the gathering of Xehanorts in DDD, so I assumed he was one of them. Unless of course you mean another Xehanort besides Saix, which in that case would probably suggest Sora since Braig did attempt to lead him astray through DDD. And Saix isn't significant enough, in my opinion, to base a secret move off of, so if you've got to rule out Young Xehanort saying Sora or Saix, I'd say Sora. That formula's been done before in Deep Dive/the intro of Kingdom Hearts II. "Do you remember your true name?" "My name is..." Kairi (brilliantly) out of nowhere, "Sora." So I mean, it's not like Nomura hasn't done the Sora thing before. In all honesty I don't even see the significance of this secret ending at all, and usually I'd freak out about a new one, but this really has nothing new to offer, really. And the graphics aren't even good, smh. The "Key to Return Hearts" as opposed to Master Xehanort's OP Keyblade that can steal hearts? I guess that'd make sense.
I don't entirely agree that Kingdom Hearts would just be another Final Fantasy. Just because Square develops it, doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be just another Final Fantasy. Square develops a ridiculous spectrum of games. I've recently started playing Threads of Fate and I thought it was going to be like Final Fantasy with real-time gameplay, but it surprised me by having a totally different feel to it. For anyone else who has played it, I've started as Mint and her character and the way she basically talks to the gamer amazes me. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep reminds me of Threads of Fate obviously because you can choose to play as VTA, whereas in Threads of Fate you've got the same option, minus the other playable character...which may be better than Kingdom Hearts, honestly. I feel like Birth By Sleep could have been a lot better if Aqua hadn't been playable and more focus was centered on Terra and Ventus' stories, but I digress. My point is, just because Square developed Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, doesn't mean that Kingdom Hearts inherently has to just be another Final Fantasy title without Disney. If anything, I feel like it'd be more like their other games; Threads of Fate obviously is what I'm referring to due to its less serious tone that Kingdom Hearts seem to share, even the ability to play two different stories that overlap, not just being able to control different members of your party, like in Final Fantasy. Rue and Mint's stories are completely different but overlap, like how Ventus and Terra's had the potential to be if not for Ventus' needless Disney worlds...which seemed to be most of what his story was. Rue and Mint could easily be Riku and Sora. I don't know, I just see similarities between Kingdom Hearts and Square's other games too much to just conclude that Kingdom Hearts would just be another Final Fantasy game.
Crisis Core was a masterpiece; he definitely has a solid resume to be the directer then.
Thank God.
I'd love it if Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood could be a part of Kingdom Hearts, but it's way too mature and graphic, but if they toned it down and reduced the complexity of the plot then it'd be awesome. Aside from that, I would love to see Naruto and Sora together, same as with Sasuke and Riku. It could be about Sasuke surrendering his heart to darkness and then Riku gets him out of it through sharing his own experience, assuming this is Kingdom Hearts III we're talking about and hopefully Riku plays and ever-present role in it, like a constant option as a party member I suppose.
I have to agree with this one. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix' Critical Mode is, in my opinion, the most challenging Kingdom Hearts game. I never chose the shield so you can imagine how hard it was for me to play it. Critical Mode and Cavern of Remembrance together, along with the data fights, are far more difficult than End of the World and the bosses therein. Kingdom Hearts Proud vs Critical Mode, there would be some debating there, but overall I still feel like Critical Mode is more punishing, if not just by a small amount more. I just finished Kingdom Hearts Final Mix on Proud and once you get to around level 50-60, the game eventually stops being so challenging at its end, but Critical Mode halves your health and doubles the damage taken, so even a higher level on that will still end you more than in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, at least from my experience. So I'd say overall Critical Mode is slightly more challenging than Proud on Kingdom Hearts, and if not just slightly more, than just equally as difficult. I don't know about that, the boss battles in Kingdom Hearts II are pretty fast-paced, especially the data fights. Organization members are more relentless than a lot of the Kingdom Hearts bosses, in my opinion. Xigbar, Xaldin, Xemnas, Saix, Roxas, even some of the Disney bosses. One thing nobody is saying is the difference of difficulty in the Gummi Ship. I don't really recall which one is harder, but Kingdom Hearts II's Gummi Ship was 1,000 times better. It was faster, visually impressive too, and so, so much more fun. I'd actually replay the Gummi Ship missions in Kingdom Hearts II just because of how much entertainment I got out of them. I never replayed the Gummi Ship missions in Kingdom Hearts unless I had to, to go back to another world. So that's something to consider, I guess.
I feel like Kingdom Hearts III's finale would be great though if we went into the untouched and non-artificial Kingdom Hearts, rather than the man-made ones we've experienced so far. It'd be nice to even get a little taste of it and then revisit it in the next like defining game, like Kingdom Hearts VI (trilogy then trilogy)
I think that the Kingdom Hearts original worlds should outnumber the Disney ones at this point, because there the most crucial parts of the games actually unfold, but the Disney world gems that are there do make some of the games even better. The Nightmare Before Christmas is always awesome, or Halloween Town I guess. Then I enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean world. Actually, Kingdom Hearts II handled most, if not all, of the Disney worlds really well, to the point where they don't seem like subplots anymore and one can actually get immersed in them. But all the games other than that kind of fall short, honestly. Kingdom Hearts did really well with Neverland, though. But then again crucial parts of the game happened there as well. Maybe not crucial, but some great Riku/Sora scenes.
That's the best idea I've heard so far ^. It'd be far more interesting to have a side story and the Ultima Weapon have significance to it in the Kingdom Hearts universe, rather than just a weapon. I personally think it'd be awesome if the Ultima Weapon would almost be like a drive-form, where you could give up your party members or MP bar.
It's great to see that they're putting much more effort and care into this HD ReMix. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix was stunning in HD from the first collection, but Re: Chain of Memories was definitely lacking that careful attention. It's far more evident through these scans that Birth By Sleep is receiving a lot more attention than Re: Chain of Memories had.
