Previously on "My Favorite Games": Go read it. Why do you want me to tell you about it here? Here, here's a link. Now go...come back when you're done? Yay? Good.
Welcome to Part II of my Kingdom Hearts special. This time will be focusing on the upgraded PS2 version of Kingdom Hears: Chain of Memories.
Getting Re: Chain of Memories was what sparked my resurgent interest in the games at the beginning of my sabbatical. Having played the original Game Boy Advance version only a few times, I had very little exposure to the game, but I knew I wanted to play it as part of the collection, so I knew what was going on fully in KH2.
Just so we're clear, there will be spoilers for the original Kingdom Hearts game as it's hard to talk about this game without talking about the events of the first game. If you haven't played it...scurry off and find a copy. Go now...I'll be here when you've beat it.
Chain of Memories' story picks up exactly where Kingdom Hearts left off, with our three heroes, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, running off after Pluto, who has a message from the King. In the Game Boy Advance, this scene pushed the processor to the limits of its capabilities in doing a full FMV sequence leading up to the beginning of the game. Re: CoM does this as well, but it follows the opening credits, recapping the events of the previous game backed by a re-mix of Simple and Clean.
Organization XIII...er...XII
Then the real game begins, and you encounter Organization XIII for the first time (not counting Final Mix, as it wasn't released in the States)...though, shouldn't they be Organization XII at this time...nevermind. Time is sort of relative in the in between KH and KH2 at this point. Anyways, this is Marluxia, the lord of Castle Oblivion and number XI in the Organization. Not much to say, as he's your traditional bad guy, who only keeps up his side of allegiances as long as it's beneficial for him, and always in search of power...and he's pink.
Basically, his plan is to use Sora, because of his ability to use the Keyblade, to take control of the Organization due to the rivalry that's sprung up between the junior and senior members. He recruits Larxene, Axel, who is a complete badass, and by far my favorite character thus far in the series and I really want to know more about Lea, to see if he's just as cool or not, and Namine, the nobody of Kairi's created alongside Roxas, when Sora freed Kairi's heart from his own during KH.
Also at the castle are Vexen, Zexion, and Lexaeus, all three senior members of the Organization who are assigned to work with Marluxia, though wish to stop him. Being the evil doers that they are, attempt to use Riku, and their second attempt at a replica, the Riku Replica, to defeat him, and stop Sora.
The game is split into two parts. The first you play as Sora, being constantly manipulated to lose his memories and fall under the control of Marluxia, by way of Namine's powers. However, this isn't part of the game isn't about him, or Namine, or even his quest to "save" her. No, this side is about Axel, specifically the beginning of his rebellion from the order, and his constant playing of both sides to get what he wants, which seems to be Roxas to stay around forever, though, as I said before, Axel's never been clear as why he's there or what he wants.
Part two is about Riku, specifically, seeking redemption for the things he did in KH and a way to use the powers of darkness he gained in it for good. This story is the best of the three plotlines (if you really want to count Sora's quest up the castle as a plotline).
Throughout KH, Riku became a prime example of the fallen hero, trying to gain power to take care of those he loved, falling into darkness the more he did so. In CoM, it's about him beginning his quest for redemption that would take him the next three games to really attain (and in case you hadn't figured it out, yes, Riku is my second favorite character in the series after Axel, so I really like the fact that this game is about the two of them).
As the story progresses on both ends, Axel betrays the Organization members present at the castle, going so far as to incinerate Vexen when he tried to kill Sora. His reasoning for this was that it went against the Organization's orders, however, we don't know how much of this actually had to do with keeping Roxas safe, as the whereabouts of a Nobodies heartless and original forms have been kept pretty unknown up until now (we know nobodies are needed to remake the original form, as is the case with Sora and Roxas).
Meanwhile, Riku is haunted by Ansem/Xehanhort's Heartless to fall back into the darkness and let him take control once more, but he is saved by the King, who is able to accompany him as part of his heart.
Sora, meanwhile, is simply using this game as filler for his character in between KH and KH2, has no real growth in the game, and is pretty much just a set piece to move along the plot. The game ends setting up a lot of major plot points for KH2 and 358/2 Days, which I'll go into slightly when I get into more with the story of KH2 (note, when trying to find the key shot leading into KH2 from Riku's tale's end, you can find a lot of slash art...it's really scary, so please other fangirls, kinda pull back on this...please? What's more is I still didn't find one).
Graphically, the game looks almost identical to KH and KH2 with the graphical upgrade of KH2 actually going a bit further, slightly. The game looks almost exactly like the second game, save for the new interface sometimes littering across the screen.
Also, all of the music is from KH, save for the remix of Simple and Clean and the Twilight Town and Castle Oblivion themes. The first theme is actually the one that was first used in KH2, and not an update of either the original GBA one or a recut of it. It works just as the rest of the themes in the game work, in that they are just copies of the original world themes.
On to the reason most don't like this game: the gameplay. THIS. GAME. IS. HARD! That's all there is to it. If you're used to playing KH on Hard, or KH2 on Proud, heh heh, prepare to get your ass handed to you on Normal. I have not yet played the game through on Proud difficulty, and I'm actually scared to as how much of a pain in the ass it was.
Dealing with the cards is like playing the card game War when your six years old. The higher card wins, most of the time. There are ways around that, like in War, there are rules, like if the two cards played are doubles, that can cancel out the play, or change the play into something new altogether.
Timing is key in this game, and if you learn to get really good at it here, you can wipe the floor with nearly every boss in KH2, including Sephiroth, with ease. Point in fact, the only boss I really had trouble with was Xenmas, after playing this game, and that's because on Proud Mode, you have to be able to mash keys like a pro.
The fact that cards break bother me, especially when you run out of cards altogether. Luckily sleights are there to help you kick ass, but it's still not the easiest thing to do. Once you get Ars Arcanum and Blitz, you can set up your deck to own, but it's still a pain until you get to that point.
And then there's Riku's gameplay. Riku, rather than have a deck he can work with as he pleases instead has a deck that's specific to the area he's in. As such, he's forced to rely on Dark Points (DP) and channel his dark powers to become Dark Riku and use dark versions of his sleights.
Yeah, that was me trying to see how many times I could use dark in a sentence.
So let me know what you think. Was KH: Re: Chain of Memories as good as I think? Have you played it, or did you only play the GBA version? Were there noticeable differences between the two, besides graphics and music quality, that I left out? Let me know.
Also, check tomorrow for the final part of the Kingdom Hearts series. KH2 is coming, and unless a DS with 358/2 Days lands out of the sky, it will probably wrap up the series for now. However, if you've got a good blog talking about it...please, let me know, and I'll make sure to link you in.
-Sara
p.s. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH SLASH ABOUT SORA AND RIKU?!? Seriously, is this just a way to recapture the Cloud/Sephiroth from the nineties? C'mon, why?!?
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