FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE (LOVE BETWEEN FRIENDS)
Also for: Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox One
I'm baffled at the amount of enthusiasm some people express regarding Kingdom Hearts. To me, these stories come across as banal and utterly nonsensical, with any semblence of drama completely chewed up by an abundance of hogwash dialogue. As the
cinematics roll I repeatedly zone out, my attention drifting away towards more
absorbing matters like watching my newly painted wall dry. The prequel Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
is no exception, although some regard it as the most important game of the
franchise in terms of lore. Yeah, like Star Wars episodes 1-3 were the
most important, because the original trilogy (episodes 4-6) was so confusing,
right?
With constant, obscure references to previous games, ones that themselves had
boundless cross-references and confusing storylines, this narrative is now
just a rambling mess. Birth by Sleep tells a convoluted tale about the struggle between light and darkness. One might think it'd be simple enough to follow, but mixing it up with time-travel plots and a tangle of characters with connected identities makes it nigh impossible. It feels like a kid making up a story as he tells it.
It's about a
close-knit trio of friends who grow up together in the Land of Departure,
a big castle in a large universe of distant worlds and shooting stars. They
train under the supervision of keyblade master Eraqus (an anagram of 'Square',
of developer Square Enix fame), hoping to one day become keyblade
masters themselves.
As the story begins, the brooding lad Terra (voiced by Jason Dohring)
and the bland lass Aqua (Willa Holland) learn they are finally ready to
take their final exam. The third one and youngest, Ventus (Jesse McCartney), cheers them on from the sideline, still waiting for the chance to prove
his worth. Aqua performs commendably and is promoted to keyblade master.
Terra, on the other hand, is beset by a brief bout of darkness and
consequently fails the test. Instead of celebrating Aqua's success, everyone
seems concerned about Terra, trying to console him in every way.
Nothing gets through to him, however, and before having a chance to clear the
air, the three must go their separate ways. Surges of darkness have appeared
in different worlds across the universe. Eraqus (Mark Hamill) sends
Terra and Aqua to investigate. Ventus is worried about Terra's looming
darkness, and chases off after him to set him straight. All the while, the
conniving Master Xehanort (Leonard Nimoy) watches the events unfold
with an ominous look in his eyes.
The journey takes Terra, Ventus and Aqua to different Disney-themed worlds
where they rescue different Disney-princesses, like Snow White and Cinderella,
and eradicate the darkness. The monsters this time around are called the
Unversed, which means they've got a new design and possibly some profound lore
significance, if you care about that. King Mickey Mouse (Bret Iwan) has
an important supporting role, but Donald and Goofy only get cameos.
This story has the potential to get emotional, but with one single scene of
happiness before the breakdown, we get too little time to get acquainted with
the trio to mourn the loss of their friendship. The writing leans too much on
clichés, and the lacklustre voice acting brings no sympathies for their
causes. All of them have flatlined personalities. I get that this is
basically a story for a younger audience, and cannot rely too much on
subtleties. But surely it can use cutscenes for something other than just have
people explaining the plot or blurt out their feelings?
The music is good as always, but not enough so to give the substandard writing
the benefit of the doubt. And the visuals are imaginative and colorful,
particularly the monster design, but not enough so to distract from the dull
geometrical setup of the landscapes you visit. Some of the bosses are great,
with one particular favorite - from a visual standpoint - being the fight
against a magical mirror.
As for the gameplay, it's the familiar Kingdom Hearts third-person
action-RPG. Dozens of distractions, like mini-games and different
collectibles, should leave no-one craving more variation. One major thing sets
it apart, and it's a good one - the command deck, which is so good it almost
redeems the horrendous writing. You learn new skills and spells by obtaining
them from chests, shops or fallen enemies. By equipping them in your command
deck you level them up automatically each time you fight. After a certain threshold you can
combine two of them to forge more powerful skills, and even sprinkle an extra
ability on top, like increased hit points or improved looting.
This addictive levelling mechanic alone kept me going for the entire first
playthrough. Before mixing them together, it's impossible to know what the end product will be. It incentivices you to try out all your abilities, even ones you don't care
for, because who knows what combat skills they might produce? Also, by trying
out different attack combinations you might unlock powerful new finishers or
ranged shotlock commands. You can also magically link up with distant
companions to obtain temporary new abilities. The options are endless.
This tug-of-war between bad story and good gameplay unfortunately ends with
the bad side winning. Early on the game makes it clear that you need to play
the game three times, once for each character, to get the full scope of the
story. And yet, the game treats each one as a full-blown playthrough, with end
credits and all. One playthrough would've been enough, two is one too many,
and three feels like three too many. The gameplay runs out of steam long
before the story loop fizzles out.
If you play as intended, you visit the same worlds thrice, albeit in a
slightly different order, level up the the same skills from scratch and
experience the same storyline through a slightly new perspective. This is
not Rashomon. It could easily have been told in a single playthrough. To be fair, each
character fights mostly unique bosses and visits a few unique locations in
each world. But the experience is like hearing a live band playing the same
song three times consecutively.
Ultimately, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep demonstrates the pitfalls of
elevating your story too high to stick the crash landing. Because of the failed, pretentious air acrobatics the nosedive hurts all the more. Kingdom
Hearts still has tons of fans around the world, which probably means that you
needed to belong to a certain, narrow age span upon first contact with the
saga to enjoy it.
To everyone else, only the gameplay challenges remains, and to action-RPG fans
I could actually recommend a single-character playthrough. It's sufficiently
good, and if you desire the full story afterwards, just watch a quick
YouTube-recap. However, my time with it will be forever marred by playing
through it as intended, bereft of dozens of hours I could have spent more
creatively. I wonder if the wallpaint's dried yet?
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