.I'm not surprised at the 9.3 rating this game has because unfortunately the power of Enix's fanatics is a powerful thing .It has been my experience with games (Final Fantasy) that have Enix's name slapped on it is AUTOMATICALLY given a high rating no matter how abysmal the actually contents are. The thing with Enix's walking dollar signs is Enix's games=high scores automatically to them,but Enix here's one person who isn't under your spell.
Plot: Friends Sora(14) Kairi(14) and Riku(15) live on Destiny Islands. Riku bored of their home tells them they should build a raft and sail off on it to see other worlds. Their plans are dashed when a storm brews that night and their home is swallowed up by darkness. Sora is saved by a mysterious weapon called a keyblade. Riku.Kairi disappear in darkness. Sora sets of with Donald and Goofy to find their king(Mickey) who has also gone missing and his friends. Game is your basic light vs. dark story, and clichéd as those stories are they can be done beautifully in the hands of competent people with loads of imagination. This game had so much potential that it makes me want to weep that it wasn't realized. First, the story should have not had Disney or Final Fantasy anywhere near it. Should have been an entirely original light vs dark ,original characters, worlds story with different companies behind the helm. Having Disney in it already handicapped it because Disney=Kiddie and with kiddie having a deep mature storyline is already thrown out the window. Enix should not have been near it because Character Development and Story are not their strong suits and this game was NO exception. All the worlds you visit with the exception of 3 are Disney and mostly all of them have nothing to do with the main plot. Fortunately the main plot picks up,but unfortunately it's the 3rd world(Neverland) to the end of the game. It's like Enix/Disney forgot they were suppose to be telling a STORY and then when they finally do remember you are literally at the end. You know those things used to tell a story, CUTSCENES, yea that. Well good luck trying to find them. This game had so few cut- scenes to the point of being ridiculous. Sadly the few cut- scenes you do get pertaining to the main story will leave you going ? The story of this game is so convulsed that when you finally get to the so-called climatic cutscene your left feeling WHAT THAT'S IT?!! Wait this story made NO COHESIVE sense and the game is ENDING?! It HAS to be more to flesh out the story and characters!!! Sadly there isn't. Hence my feeling of wanting to weep for what this game COULD have been.
Characters:Sora is likable because his innocence make him endearing. Unfortunately that's all you get from him He's innocent and...? From the manual it says Kairi is one of the main characters and yet all her cutscenes combined would barely scrap 30 minutes. I get she loss her heart but what about the scenes before she loss her heart or after she got it back. WHERE WAS THE DEEP CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?! NOT JUST FOR HER BUT FOR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS?!! I mean Kairi(And six other people) play a pivotal role in the games main plot and all I get from her in the manner of character development is 30 minutes COMBINED?! The other six even less. If I had to say anyone got any DEEP character development no matter how minimal it would be Riku. I liked him(I don't know why)He had a huge chip on his shoulder where his attitude was concerned, he was jealous of Sora and he was a bit to fascinated with darkness. From what I gathered from the ending a man who's obsessed with darkness named Ansem is the REAL villain of the game and yet despite a one minute cameo appearance at the beginning you see nor hear from him until the END. Instead we get 5 minute cameos from Disney villains and Disney Maleificent who seemed to be the REAL villain of the game until she dies in the second to last world and then Ansem decides he wants to finally make another appearance. Battle System: LOVED IT. Real time. No boring turn-based. Battles were actually fun..to a point. Not only did Enix/Disney seem to think that Story and Character Development should be as minimal and confusing as possible,but also thought that Hard=Fun. NO! Take out fun and replace with boring and frustrating then they would have got it right. With me when dieing from a boss starts reaching 6, 7 going on to the double digits I get frustrated then when I have to level up to INSANE levels just to finally beat them I get bored and when I get bored I eventually stop playing. Battling can only take you so far. If you are like me and get games for the STORY rather than GAMEPLAY then having emphasis on gameplay by making the bosses near impossible to beat to the point that you CAN'T go on with the story you start to hate the game. Something to ponder Enix.
Music: HATED almost every song and not because Disney. I would have hated it had they came from ANYONE. Eargrating plain and simple.Had to mute for the majority of the game. I just couldn't take it. The only music that doesn't make you feel like your ears are bleeding is Simple and Clean, the worlds Hallow Bastion and the End of the World. I'll like to think that none of the songs that I actually could stomach are not Disney by mere coincidence.
Visuals: Nice/Bad. Would have loved to actually HEAR the wonderful voice talent(when they actually got to speak that is)instead of READING it.
Plot: Friends Sora(14) Kairi(14) and Riku(15) live on Destiny Islands. Riku bored of their home tells them they should build a raft and sail off on it to see other worlds. Their plans are dashed when a storm brews that night and their home is swallowed up by darkness. Sora is saved by a mysterious weapon called a keyblade. Riku.Kairi disappear in darkness. Sora sets of with Donald and Goofy to find their king(Mickey) who has also gone missing and his friends. Game is your basic light vs. dark story, and clichéd as those stories are they can be done beautifully in the hands of competent people with loads of imagination. This game had so much potential that it makes me want to weep that it wasn't realized. First, the story should have not had Disney or Final Fantasy anywhere near it. Should have been an entirely original light vs dark ,original characters, worlds story with different companies behind the helm. Having Disney in it already handicapped it because Disney=Kiddie and with kiddie having a deep mature storyline is already thrown out the window. Enix should not have been near it because Character Development and Story are not their strong suits and this game was NO exception. All the worlds you visit with the exception of 3 are Disney and mostly all of them have nothing to do with the main plot. Fortunately the main plot picks up,but unfortunately it's the 3rd world(Neverland) to the end of the game. It's like Enix/Disney forgot they were suppose to be telling a STORY and then when they finally do remember you are literally at the end. You know those things used to tell a story, CUTSCENES, yea that. Well good luck trying to find them. This game had so few cut- scenes to the point of being ridiculous. Sadly the few cut- scenes you do get pertaining to the main story will leave you going ? The story of this game is so convulsed that when you finally get to the so-called climatic cutscene your left feeling WHAT THAT'S IT?!! Wait this story made NO COHESIVE sense and the game is ENDING?! It HAS to be more to flesh out the story and characters!!! Sadly there isn't. Hence my feeling of wanting to weep for what this game COULD have been.
Characters:Sora is likable because his innocence make him endearing. Unfortunately that's all you get from him He's innocent and...? From the manual it says Kairi is one of the main characters and yet all her cutscenes combined would barely scrap 30 minutes. I get she loss her heart but what about the scenes before she loss her heart or after she got it back. WHERE WAS THE DEEP CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?! NOT JUST FOR HER BUT FOR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS?!! I mean Kairi(And six other people) play a pivotal role in the games main plot and all I get from her in the manner of character development is 30 minutes COMBINED?! The other six even less. If I had to say anyone got any DEEP character development no matter how minimal it would be Riku. I liked him(I don't know why)He had a huge chip on his shoulder where his attitude was concerned, he was jealous of Sora and he was a bit to fascinated with darkness. From what I gathered from the ending a man who's obsessed with darkness named Ansem is the REAL villain of the game and yet despite a one minute cameo appearance at the beginning you see nor hear from him until the END. Instead we get 5 minute cameos from Disney villains and Disney Maleificent who seemed to be the REAL villain of the game until she dies in the second to last world and then Ansem decides he wants to finally make another appearance. Battle System: LOVED IT. Real time. No boring turn-based. Battles were actually fun..to a point. Not only did Enix/Disney seem to think that Story and Character Development should be as minimal and confusing as possible,but also thought that Hard=Fun. NO! Take out fun and replace with boring and frustrating then they would have got it right. With me when dieing from a boss starts reaching 6, 7 going on to the double digits I get frustrated then when I have to level up to INSANE levels just to finally beat them I get bored and when I get bored I eventually stop playing. Battling can only take you so far. If you are like me and get games for the STORY rather than GAMEPLAY then having emphasis on gameplay by making the bosses near impossible to beat to the point that you CAN'T go on with the story you start to hate the game. Something to ponder Enix.
Music: HATED almost every song and not because Disney. I would have hated it had they came from ANYONE. Eargrating plain and simple.Had to mute for the majority of the game. I just couldn't take it. The only music that doesn't make you feel like your ears are bleeding is Simple and Clean, the worlds Hallow Bastion and the End of the World. I'll like to think that none of the songs that I actually could stomach are not Disney by mere coincidence.
Visuals: Nice/Bad. Would have loved to actually HEAR the wonderful voice talent(when they actually got to speak that is)instead of READING it.