Let’s s begin today’s post with a slap on the hand. A little goal for this year was to return to the consistent pace of four or more posts per month. Made it almost halfway but May is likely to break the trend. On the upside I have been using that time wisely with the new job and wrapping up some big pop-culture conquests. Case in point; I managed to wrap up the whole Kingdom Hearts sage at last. Hard to stress just how much of a relief that was after years of set-backs. So today let’s talk about the most recent chapter of the franchise along with some thoughts on the series as a whole.
The final piece of the puzzle is the rhythm game spin-off Melody of Memory which plays out like something of a victory lap for the series. The game actually starts off with zero explanation for what’s going on with an opening FMV recap with accompanying rhythm game-play that you initially fumble through before getting tossed out into the game’s main map and working your way through one soundtrack at a time divided by worlds and stage types.
Stages are dived into several varieties such as battles, boss battles, and memory dives though in reality there’s just two takes on the game-play with bosses and dives playing largely the same. Regular battle levels make up the vast majority however with your chosen team of 3 characters running ahead while you time your prompts with the music to make them attack, use special abilities, jump, glide, all that jazz. There are multiple difficulties to choose from plus the game provides a numerical rating for how challenging a particular song is on each difficulty. Adding to that is how each song has three missions that provide different stars to unlock further portions of the campaign. Having little missions may not sound like the biggest deal but for long-term playing it makes the experience a lot more involving. As I was going through the world tour mode that was my first encouragement to try higher difficulties in order to get those precious stars. Casual players won’t have to pay a ton of attention to this as, save for a couple choke points, the main story can largely be gotten through by just finishing songs on beginner. For those who want to unlock all the tracks however they’re gonna need to step their game up.
As you play through different portions of the campaign you’ll be interrupted by scenes of Kairi retelling the entirety of Sara's adventures. Little context is given to any of this until the very end of the game when like 30-40 minutes of story is thrown at the audience in order to put pieces in place for the next era of the series. We learn of a deeper connection between Kairi and Xehanort, get some hints about the girl Lea and Isa talked about in part 3, and learn a little of what’s to come. Personally I got geeked about all of this and am stoked to see what comes from the concept of alternate realities and the upcoming visit to the city of Quadratum. It’s all quite mad but I wouldn’t have Kingdom Hearts any other way.
While I mostly enjoyed my time with Melody of Memory a few cracks started to show during the endgame. For whatever reason the majority of the Kingdom Hearts III soundtrack is skipped over, with often a single memory dive track as the only selection for an entire world. These tracks can be really lame too such as how Frozen has the dreadful Let It Go but not the wonderful exploration music. Even stuff you’d think would be a shoe-in is oddly missing. How is that we have multiple takes on Simple and Clean and My Sanctuary but not My Fears? Then there’s other oddball missing elements like none of the Pirates tunes. The endgame is also where you’re likely to notice the sever imbalance of stage types. There’s easily over a hundred battle stages with only like 5 bosses, and maybe twenty memory dives. And while I appreciate the dedication to their being no DLC it means these oversights will never be corrected.
Odd endgame aside I found Melody of Memory to largely be a fun and breezy way to ease from one era of the series to the next. Sure I was missing some songs and wished there were more options for customizing parties but as someone who generally isn’t huge on rhythm games there was a lot of fun to be had here. Most of that comes down to a nice difficulty structure, the added variety of stage types, and the unique ways in which the game-play elements mix together. It may not be the absolute best the series has to offer but I can think of much worse ways to spend ones time.
The final question is whether it was worth taking the time to play through such a big series? The answer is absolutely yes! There are no doubt installments that rub me the wrong way, and it sorta stinks that actually playing through Days and Re:coaded requires hunting down DS copies but the sheer amount of fun and memorable moments scattered throughout these titles marks some of the brightest spots in gaming. Taking the time to go through each one further enhances the dramatic peaks and valleys of the massive storytelling so you end up caring that much more when characters return or depart. It makes the level of engagement so much more meaningful that if the next title were to drop today I’d be right in front of the boob tube plunging away. For those of you out there with the time who don’t take themselves too seriously and enjoy wild, outlandish storytelling go pick up these games. Even the first one for as old as it is holds up marvelously.
To wrap things up let’s do a quick personal ranking of the series.
Out of contention due to me only having experience video versions: 358/2 Days, Re:coaded, X. One day I’ll nab original copies of these to experience them in full. For now it seems wrong to try and rank them based on story alone.
Re: Chain of Memories: Big surprise here, right? This stain on my KH play-through still requires me to tackle it in full. At this current point in life a card-game/dungeon crawl still doesn’t gel with me.
Melody of Memory: A fun little diversion with a huge ending. Far from a shining entry but still good fun.
0.2 A Fragmentary Passage: An odd curio with an annoying final boss that remains entertaining thanks to unique environments and a deeper glimpse into Aqua’s plight.
Kingdom Hearts 2: Perhaps I might mend my relationship with part 2 on a return trip. For now I still hold grudges against the sloppy driveform leveling and wildly inconsistent difficulty.
Dream Drop Distance: 3-D is such a weird entry on both game-play and storytelling fronts that it can’t help but be a memorable adventure. Some of the additions like drops can stay with this one while others like flow-motion hopefully get integrated even further than they did with part 3.
Kingdom Hearts: The original is still damn near the best thanks to the pure energy a company fully embracing a wild concept. The game-play may not be as refined as later entries but the overall quest is hard to top.
Birth by Sleep: What it lacks in world selection BBS more than makes up for with game-play. Mixing and matching commands together is crazy addicting which propels the player along through the tragic prequel tale.
Kingdom Hearts 3: Come at me naysayers. I didn’t think it possible but part 3 manages to encapsulate so much of what makes the series worthwhile into such a clean and well-made package that’s just a constant joy to play. The worlds are huge, variety is nice but not forced, challenge is quite reasonable, and the ending is just gravy.
And with that done I’ve returned to other gaming endeavors such as completing the Trine series and yet another Ys adventure. I’m starting to get that pull that drags me toward different series I’ve yet to indulge in. Maybe it’s time for Atelier or Legend of Heroes? You all let me know if you’ve got any suggestions for my next big gaming conquest. As for tonight I’ve got some grocery shopping lined up as there’s a frightening lack of masala sauce around here.
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