OOOH! I hope this is true!

From: http://khisign.tumblr.com/post/31894926957/tgs-2012-coverage

September 19, 6:11 PM PST - KINGDOM HEARTS 1.5 HD Remix Announced for Playstation 3! (Contains KINGDOM HEARTS FINAL MIX, KINGDOM HEARTS Re:Chain of Memories, and KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days)

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I forgot about Tokyo Game show. I knew it was in September, but I didn't know when. Guess it was this weekend. I've never played the Final Mix, STILL haven't fully completed COM:RE OR 358/2, but this pack would give me good opportunity to do so.

Assuming, of course, that it gets past Japan. Probably will this time since the latter two games were released in the NA.

OHHHHHH!!!! 10th Anniversary of Kingdom Hearts! Didn't even realize that! LOL!

Re: CHAIN OF MEMORIES

1. I have to be honest here. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it now: there are VERY few Final Fantasy characters that I care about in Kingdom Hearts. Sora is talking with Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka while I'm just sitting around like "Oh okay. Fight Heartless now." Seems to be a common occurance in the fandom unless it's Leon, Cloud, and Sephiroth. Auron is fairly popular too, but not like those three.

2. Why hello there, giant ass Heartless. How do you do? Darkside, is it? Good. Now I am going to kick your BACKSIDE. Good-Bye.

3. The scene between Sora and Namine is, quite naturally, very touching. Poor Namine, she obviously wanted Sora for herself due to her lonliness, but she knew it was wrong to play with his memories the way she did. It's not entirely her fault given that she was held captive by Org13, but I don't blame her for feeling culpable. Ah! There's Kairi! Hello!

And so ends Destiny Islands. Next up: Castle of Oblivion and Reoccuring Riku Replica. Honestly, he sure is relentless!

Re: Chain of Memories commentary: Vexen is VEXING

Took long enough, huh? Like, many many MOONS. But, with 358/2 just beginning, I figured, why not come back to this. It's time to catch up a wee bit! :D Comments will be numbered because it's easier that way. Then again, I've always done that.

1. I can't really stress this enough, but there is a reason why Vexen is 1. That one Boss on TV Tropes and 2. On my Top Ten Epic battles list. GRAGH. A lovely battle though. Vexen is a delight to watch in combat. All that lovely white and blue. Eh, they should have sent a poet.

2. Nice Vexen card.

3. Put Riku back? Apparently, he's a toy.

4. HOLY Balls! Axel! Honestly, this was much better than in the Japanese version, but I still feel like the GBA COM was the best one. Axel was MUCH more brutal in that version. "Now you can say I don't respect my elders!" Slice, dice, julienne Vexen! This doesn't happen in this version, but LORDY "Good-bye" and the WAY he said it knocked the Japanese version out of the ballpark! Axel looked like he wanted to BBQ Vexen. BAHAHAHHA!!

5. I can't believe Larxene EVER questioned Axel's, well, anything really. ERrrrr...she keeps "laying hands" on him and he keeps looking like he wants to KILL HER. Larxene: It'll be like child's play with the three of us.Axel: No, just me.

6. And heeeeeere's Riku! Or, his replica with fabricated memories. Not that Sora knows that. Either way, Riku is FIERCE in combat.

7. How can two people have the same memory? Well, if they were in the same place at the same time... . Oh yea, ask Namine. I'm sure she'll help. :D Oh no...Sora!? Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread, boy!

8. Oh no. Namine is alone with Axel, and yea, he knows what buttons to push. We know you're ENJOYING this, meanie! "This'll be a hell of a show", indeed. "Something else"? I'm not so sure about that one. ;)

9. I never thought about it until now, but isn't Sora the victim of gaslighting? Messing with his memories, giving misinformation,misleading him, tricking him? When I first saw/played this game, I never even thought of such a term. Interesting that it comesup NOW. Gaslighting is a pretty evil thing to do to someone, ORG 13. Eh, like they care.

10. Grindfest at Destiny Islands. Hooray!

Hopefully, I'll come up with some better commentary later. I'm a bit rusty with this game! :)

Who will eat ice-cream with me?

Yanno, I don't recall posting the recipe for Sea Salt Ice cream, so here it is:

Sea Salt Ice Cream

Or, at least, ONE of the recipes. I'm sure there are others out there. Here's the modded version(this person used peppermint, splenda, and cool whip instead of vanilla, sugar, and heavy cream):

Peppermint Sea Salt Ice Cream

Both recipes are quite good. I know the first one is fairly popular at food.com!

I could have sworn I posted something like this about 100 years ago...

What possessed me to post this? Sometime this decade, I'll be catching up to the rest of the fandom. If I find that I can't get past Vexen, then I'll just use a Let's Play or something, and then start on 358/2.

Despite Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Tales of the Abyss, RE:COM and 358/2 have been "skulking around", so to speak.

Axel and Saix

Though I haven't played BBS or 358/2 just yet, it didn't take much for me to find that those two did INDEED have a history together(TV Tropes kind of helped a bit there if the info given was reliable). It simply made sense to me. They were bitter enemies in KH2 and people like that usually started out as friends or even lovers. Not always, obviously, but it's pretty common. I call them the "Heavenly Bodies from Hell" and it looks like I was right. I prefer Axel with Demyx and Roxas, but I always did have Axel/Saix as sort of a "tugboat" relationship.

Only problem is that I'm WAY behind everyone else in the fandom, so I can't say much more because I don't want to spoil myself. I guess dealing RE: COM is inevitable since it's necessary to play that one first before going anywhere near 358/2 or BBS. So, wait for a very long awaited update. Good thing I don't have much of a concept of time because I know it's been awhile since I've played Re: COM.

According to Axel...

Red is the most dominant color in the sunset sky. I don't think this video agrees:



Then again, who'd argue with Axel? Lol!

Am tempted to finally go ahead and start 358/2 since it's over a year old, but I just get the impression that COM should be played/viewed first. Other games have taken "first", but KH still looms in my mind. Must be the blog. Lol! Hopefully, I will finally get past Vexen and Re: COM commentary can finally resume after how many ages? AHAHH!

"That One Boss"....Chain of Memories

So, I was looking at TV Tropes again and found that in the original Chain of Memories, "That one boss" is different than what I thought. I actually thought it was Vexen. It certainly IS/was to me, but it turns out that it's:

Captain Hook(I didn't have much of a problem with this one, but in the GBA version, it looks like he was much harder). Honestly, though, EVERY boss so far in Re:COM is that one boss, except Larxene and Axel.

and

Riku Replica. No surprise there. He's said to be even harder in Riku's story.

No wonder I've been stalling for so long. Playing through other games doesn't help any. Lol!

"Now, Sora! Naminé! Riku! Marluxia! Larxene! It's about time you gave me one hell of a show!"

Eh, not right now. *snerk*

Vexen

Vexen fights beautifully, and it wouldn't surprise me if he were some sort of figure skater. Still, I'm one of the few who is having trouble with him. I even had difficulty in the first incarnation. I guess he's supposed to be that way to make the next scene all the more cathartic. Heh. Kind of like Battle of 1000 Heartless, but much, MUCH nastier. HEEE! I will always prefer the Skies of Memory version though because it's even harsher than in the remake! Hah!

Star Ocean 2 has eaten me now, and this game is one of the most addictive games--EVER. It makes Kingdom Hearts look like tea. So, that's one of the reasons why the latest on my gameplay for Re:Chain of Memories has been so sparse.

I have not touched 358/2 and don't intend to for quite some time. I could always play it while the PSP is charging, but I've never done well with "juggling games".

Hopefully, I'll be able to defeat 2nd Vexen shortly. The key to Chain of Memories: RE is to NOT give up.

No Comebacks (possible spoilers)

Still taking a little hiatus with Chain of Memories thanks to Shadow Hearts: From the New World, but as an intermission, there is something I'd like to mention before I start up again:

"No Comebacks".

I actually thought of it a couple years ago in "Skies of Memory" after Axel told Marluxia that "You can't take it back". Worked even better towards the end of the game when he shot it all back at Marluxia, "You DID say to eliminate all traitors! I always obey orders!"

Again, "No Comebacks. There are no comebacks in assassination."

So, why am I talking about this? Because "No Comebacks" is a Frederick Forsyth short story about a Corsican assassin and how he goes about doing what he is hired to do. What makes the story so memorable is that it's a taste of just how good Forsyth is at showing the reader how assassins, spies, soldiers, agents, etc DO their jobs. He does this in ALL his novels/short stores. What makes "No Comebacks" stand out is the cruel irony near the end. Someone hires the Corsican to kill a rival(husband of the woman he loves), and quite simply, the job is done. The cruel irony comes when Mr. Someone's beloved walks into the room after the rival is killed. I don't think I need to say what happens after that. When Mr. Someone discovers this, he is, of course, horrified, but the Corsican says, "There are no comebacks in assassination".

That's the gist of it. The story itself is MUCH better than I described. So, what does this have to do with Axel? Two things:

1. Axel IS an assassin. That's his job in the Organization.
2. The cruel irony of the "killing all traitors" being used against Marluxia AND, by extension, Larxene.

Yea, "You can't take it back".

No Comebacks.

Heh. I need to read that story again sometime.

Twlight Town *possible spoilers*

Just did little more than a whole lot of fighting. Not a very long level and introduced cards that basically said "anything can happen". Yea, sure did too. Lots of Heartless, but that also meant more XP and Moogle Points. I will be needing both for what is to come. Here's a hint: He's harder the second time around. *cries*


In the Organization scenes, my opinion hasn't really changed. I will always love how Marluxia put the fear of God in Vexen. So much for "elders" hahah.

As for Axel, he's great as usual.

"No comebacks in assassination".

I'll get to THAT soon enough.

RE:COM NeverLand not owned by Micheal Jackson

Neverland is one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts worlds for two reasons:

1. It's generally a very easy, to the point area. IIRC, in Kingdom Hearts, it was nothing more than the ship and Big Ben.

2. YOU FLY!!!

Just that in Chain of Memories the "Glide" ability is pretty much pointless and useless. So much for that. Neverland itself is confined to the ship. Peter Pan doesn't act like himself here. I know he's childish since he doesn't want to grow up, but when Wendy wants to stay in London, he totally freaks out and basically abandons her. I don't remember this happening in Kingdom Hearts. I guess I'm losing my memories. Hurhuhrhur. He comes around later though, obviously.


Captain Hook is refreshingly easy because it only took two times to beat him rather than 49337307435327491 times. He's fast and has a lot of zero/strong cards, but he's manageable. Thank God.

Vexen "YOU OWE ME SEVEN QUID YA PRICK"#4 in the Organization is not. Gamefaqs will say that he is, but it's easy to write stuff down and give advice. For someone like me, following said advice is always hard to do in games like this. Eventually, I end up breaking his zero cards and attacking from there while trying to bypass his shield. Combos are necessary, and I simply don't give up. I don't know how many times it took to beat him, but it takes far more than an hour.

Worse yet, I get to do it again in Twilight Town. HOORAY!

Re: COM Hollow Atlanticia *possible spoilers*

I honestly don't remember seeing Belle and Beast anywhere in Kingdom Hearts, except towards the end where all the Princesses of Heart are kept prisoner. Still, it was a nice touch with poor Belle trying to push Beast away in order to protect him. Kind of reminds me of what happened in the movie Stella.

I didn't expect the Dragon since I really believed that it would just be Maleficent floating on a rock. I guess COM decided to show some mercy because Floating Maleficent was hell on Earth to fight in Kingdom Hearts. The Dragon was only difficult because I had the same problem I always had--RAN OUT OF CARDS! You can't fight the bosses without doing COMBOS! :/ The platform helped a little bit.

Riku Replica was an unpleasant surprise. Harder the second time around, of course, but he would have been difficult even if I had an infinite amount of cards.

Atlanticia had a simple, basic version of the story. Ariel steals the trident to save Flounder from Ursula. That's it. She's useful as always. As for Ursula, she's only hard because I always ran out of cards before finally being able to win. Bleagh. Will have to to more card changes to stand a chance. Fire has proven to be the most useful spell in the game so far.

I don't have much to say about Axel and Namine. Huurr...Heart...lol! No wonder Namine was a bit peeved. Just that Axel looked very pained--something that didn't show too well on YouTube. Beyond that? No changes in opinion. Axel is still a glorious asshole. *smile*

RE: COM Alice in Monstro Acre Wood *possible spoilers*

Alice in Wonderland lacked the drink this/get big and flower puzzle crap, so the stage itself was generally fine and without any incident. The boss monster, on the other hand.

*sigh* I can see why the reviewers said what they did about Chain of Memories. One of the biggest complaints was that everything else was relatively easy, but the Boss monsters were just damned near impossible thanks to the card system. Alice in Wonderland's Boss was generally EASY in Kingdom Hearts, but here? There was nothing that could have helped you except "Keep trying" and "Don't Give up". Even the Mickey Ears weren't much help. I ended up using Fire Boost/Ice Boost and concentrating on using Magic rather than just physical attacks. Lots of healing too. All of that eventually worked after a bunch of "I WAS SO CLOSE!" battles.

I loved how Alice played on the Queen's unwillingness to admit an fault. Oh, she never forgets anything at all, so yea, she gave the order for them to eliminate the Heartless. Sometimes it's so easy...yea, if you try too hard to remember, your memories may lie to you. Thank you, Cheshire Cat.

The opinions of Axel and Larxene haven't changed at all, so nothing needs to be said there. Axel sounds a little different though. Like, more sinister and quiet than the Japanese version.

Monstro ended up being the last of the first bunch. I HATED this stage in Kingdom Hearts, and didn't like it much now. The one difference is that the Cage Boss proved slightly easier than the previous bosses, but I almost lost. Thank god for magic and strong attacks. Friend/Mickey cards are nice too. No other boss existed in Monstro. Why should there be when you get to fight Larxene next?

I don't have anything to say about the Cutscene because I already talked about it in previous posts.

As for the Battle? Put it this way, if she's the easiest of the Castle Oblivion Org members, then I can't wait to see how the rest of them are. I lost to her a few times because in order to fight her, you need to make sure you don't run out of cards. You also need to make sure that you aren't gobbling spicy chicken soup and nearly fainting from sudden heart palpitations. Ugh.

Anyway, Dumbo proved very helpful and so did boosted fire magic and healing. I'd say that it took less times to beat her than those in Olympus, Halloweentown, and Alice in Wonderland.

Vexen's VA is no dud, so that's good. My TV proved better than YouTube because I saw how Axel basically glared holes into Larxene. Lol!

100 Acre woods was next. I dreaded this level in ALL of Kingdom Hearts and Chain is memories is no exception. There's nothing insanely difficult about this place, and is sort of an Oasis from the constant fighting, but it can be annoying too. I generally viewed it as interrupting the main story. The games were generally fun though. I ended up with a lot of powerful cards/items/abilities from this level in COM, so it turned out quite nicely.

Except for dealing with Riku Replica. Buur. Oddly enough, he didn't prove as difficult as I thought. I lost, at first. He hit me RIGHT before I could cure myself. I won the second time around. I didn't think I'd get off that easily because of my rather awful memories of dealing with Riku in Kingdom Hearts. Good thing I did.

Worlds after 100 Wood are Atlanticia, Hollow Bastion, and Neverland(one of my favorites).

Re; Chain of Memories: Olympus Wonderland

*possible spoilers*

Cloud was NO FUN. No fun at all. :( Hades was next to impossible. I never recalled Hades being this difficult in KH2! GAH! They both had one thing in common: YOU HAD BETTER USE COMBOS ON EVERYTHING YOU DO WHILE HOPING THAT YOU DO NOT LOSE ALL YOUR CARDS. Otherwise, you're screwed.

Hades was the hardest so far. I can't wait for the other major battles.

Anyway, here's something Sora said to Cloud:

"Sometimes the tiniest thing can make you remember stuff your forgot years ago."

Heh. Certainly is true, unless you have Alzheimer's. Heh.

Wonderland is so far proving to be the easiest stage. Never thought that would be possible. Then again, it was the among the first places Sora went to in Kingdom Hearts.

Wait and see, I guess. I really shouldn't have a problem in this stage though. Right.

Re: COM commentary-Argabah/Olympus

*possible spoilers*


Argabah just seemed like a rehash of the previous Kingdom Hearts. I guess it's either laziness or proof that Sora has already lost quite a bit of his memories. Nothing like beating Jafar doing an air split. Heh.

Larxene has a good English voice. Beyond that? The only other man to retain his feelings after losing his Heart? Ansem, right? Xemnas? Er, I think theories are still being thrown around about this, but I haven't looked.

Olympus is proving to be more than just a proving ground/arena, but I've barely started this one. Looks like Sora will be taking on a memory challenged Cloud. Loads of fun.

Re: COM commentary 2--Halloween Boogaloo

*possible spoilers*

Halloween Town proved as Nightmarish as the movie it was based on. Geez. One way that Oingo Boinngo(Oogie Boogie) always stood out was that his fights were dice/game based(like Luxord, only without cards). While he can be fairly difficult, I do end up beating him without too much trouble. This time? Oh no. This was a fight that followed Murphy's Law--ANYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG WILL GO WRONG. Boy, did it ever.

First attempt--Just plain couldn't get to him. Was able to heal just fine, but couldn't get any attacks on Oingo Boingo. Eventually ran of cards and was killed. I know you can replenish cards, but combos prevent that from happening. It also never occured to me to use ALL THREE decks rather than one. Duuur.

Second Attempt--FINALLY could get to him for some damage, but see the first attempt.

Third Attempt--Green Mickey Mouse ear cards made things MUCH easier and I finally got him. Phew.

And now, and interesting quote from Jack Skellington:

"Fear and Doubt are signs of a strong heart. They push your heart to strike out in new directions, take chances. Without them, your zest for life might fade...as for your taste for fear. And believe me, that would really ruin my fun."

Heh.

And, of course, Sora doesn't drink the Dr's Potion. If he did, I'm sure the game would have been over right there.

Am now at Argabah.

1st: RE: Chain of Memories

I played through until Axel. Took me a little over three hours, but this is because I tend to take breaks, and I was taking my time getting used to the card system.

It does indeed take a lot of getting used to, and I can see why people complained. However, it's not the nightmare that others might make it out to be. I found that instead of JUST DOING it instead of trying to think about what to do with the cards proved quite effective. Beyond the cards, it's not much different than the usual Kingdom Hearts battles.


The English voice for Marluxia is SMEX.

I didn't even know the world cards existed. In fact, it never occurred to me that you COULD go to different world, even though they are just illusions coming from Sora. I only knew of the Castle Oblivion stuff. I never noticed anything else. Youtube showed mostly Organization 13 stuff. At least that's what I looked for.

Quinton Flynn does fine as Axel, as usual. In fact, Axel is pretty much one of his defining roles and one of the best he's done.

"Hello" beat the hell out of "Yo!" But, I will always loved "BOO!" "Got it memorized" has gotten OLD, so I hope I won't be hearing it often in RE: COM.

And speaking of Axel, he just never holds still. LOL. In combat, he was easy, but I know better than to assume he stays that way.

I haven't gotten farther than that. Most of it was me just going up levels and fighting Heartless. I learned the hard way what it's like to be unprepared for major battles.

Old Commentary for Reverse/Rebirth

This is unfinished, which is okay now given the NA release.

1. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/reverserebirth-battles.html

2. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/reverserebirth-subbbed-yay.html

3. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/05/basement-8910.html

4. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2008/04/re-com-basement-dweller-floor-7.html

5. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2008/04/remake-com-reverse-rebirth-basement-6.html

6. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2008/04/reverse-rebirth-basement-5-4.html

And that's it for any old commentary for "Skies of Memory" or the translations for Re: COM. I've been dragging this because of another "Hearts" game--Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Now that I've beaten it(on Bastille Day, hooray), I can finally concentrate on Re: COM.

Old COM commentary NOT 100 years old

I don't opinions changed much here since this was 2 years ago(feels like many years though). They're the Japanese version since I still have yet to look at English versions. Go figure. These are from Sora's Side and the one that's "complete". Reverse/Rebirth will follow anytime from tomorrow to seven days from now.

1. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/03/for-some-people-kh2-final-mix-came-out.html

2. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/03/slowly-climbing-up.html

3. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/03/floor-fourfivesixhere-comes-larxene.html

4. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/03/floor-seven.html

5. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/chapter-8riku-replicafloor-9.html

6. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/chapter-ten.html

7. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/floor-11.html

8. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/this-is-oh-waitwrong-title.html

9. Huurr little extra: http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/okay-here-is-graphic.html

10. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/destiny-islands.html

11. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/13th-floor.html

12. http://inaheart.blogspot.com/2007/04/close-to-end-of-soras-story-and-boy-is.html

Old Commentary for Skies of memory

Before I FINALLY get started on the COM: RE, I'll be posting my old commentary for Skies of Memory. This is from a hundred years ago, so opinions might have changed a bit, but I doubt it. WATCH OUT FOR ANY SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED COM or seen skies of memory. Then again, if you're concerned about that, then this post can easily be ignored. Heh. Anyway:

1. Like I said before, I LIKE Larxene. She's certainly not that dumb, and I like her savage playfulness. It's cute.

2. Oh Axel, you're fucking beautiful. Way to make Vexen beg. Gorgeous. However, I think that if Axel wanted to lead the Organization(I doubt he ever did, but you never know with him), he'd rather be the ONLY one to do it(it's painfully obvious that he's very dominant). Not share power with two of those who are obviously younger than he is and lower in Org Rank. Of course Axel has it in him to kill Vexen and god knows who else(except for Demyx/Roxas, of course). I don't know why that was questioned.

3. Speaking of younger, I think Marluxia is the youngest in the group(yea, I think Larxene is older), and yet he rules the Castle. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

4. Did I mention that Axel was beautiful? But I do agree with him about Namine. She COULD do something. I mean, for fuck's sake, she could at least try. One thing though, I don't think it was necessary to beat people in the head about how Axel is playing all sides. I think it was obvious. Course Axel is very animated, so I'm not too surprised that he acted the way he did. I just think it would have been better if he just took a couple steps and then smiled. Eh, that's probably not an "Axelism" though. That's something Demyx or someone much colder would do, imo.

5. I think Namine is way too hard on herself though. Of course she should accept some of the responsability, but she was used by EVERYONE. There's only so much one could do in a situation like that.

6. Yowza, Larxene sure loves to talk. I'm surrpised Axel didn't shut HER up. Then again, I'm sure her explaining everything suited him just fine.

7. Hmm...even here, ORG members are getting screwed with barely any screentime. Yea, it's more than what SOME got in KH2(well, going from what I've heard), but I do think that things seem to be happening all too quickly. Geez, am I THAT spoiled with 60+ hour games? Heh.

8. What I love is the half-truths that come out of darling Axel's mouth. Namine technically turned, but it was because of HIM. As for Zexion, he HAS to be aware that Axel can't be trusted. And I'd rather not know what Marluxia did with Namine when he approached her.

9. "I always follow orders, Marluxia". Yea, the hell you do, Axel. I love how he twists things. Seems Marluxia holds his own against him though. Course I think the talk about disloyality is both ironic and could easily show the dichotomy of Axel himself. Fire is treacherous, but it can also be described as loyal(the sun is always there for you. At least until it goes nova and destroyed everything. Heh). Do I think he's loyal to the Organization? Fuck no, but I think it's obvious that he's capable of fierce loyalty. Or rather being the sort who will never leave you. Or, if you want to get scary, never let you go.

10. I think Axel is aware that Roxas came from Sora, but I can't be sure.

11. Five bucks says Zexion is killed by Axel. Yet I don't seem to mind because I don't think any Org member in the Castle is any better than the other. Course it doesn't help that I couldn't give a shit about Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion. I'll thrown in Saix too while I'm at it.