To Do?

Well, there is only one thing to do and that is continue plugging away at the Top Ten Epic battles article. It's due the 7th. :D

The problem isn't writing the article itself because to be honest, "Epic" is actually a bit relative. The problem is the order. Like I said before, #1 was decided AGES ago. This isn't true with the others. I'll probably decide the order based on the overall "glory" of the battle. Because "Top Ten Epic Battles" was originally "The Most Glorious Battles".

Oh, and the less tedious the battle, the higher on the list.

Even then, this is a "Your Milage May Vary" sort of thing, just like with every other top ten out there. LOL!

Anyway, hope you're having a great 4th of July weekend!

Dissidia and The Top Five things I could do without in Kingdom Hearts

I've been playing Final Fantasy: Dissidia lately, and I still sometimes wish for a Kingdom Hearts one.

Axel vs. Roxas all over again. Or, Axel vs. Riku, Sora, Kairi, whatever. Xigbar vs. Whoever.

I personally would keep the Disney characters, but use original story lines rather than rehashed Disney stories.

This leads to a TOP FIVE that has been sitting on the "To Do" list for AGES!

THE TOP FIVE THINGS I COULD DO WITHOUT IN KINGDOM HEARTS!

Five: That Gummi Ship.

This isn't true in Kingdom Hearts 2, but it's true in the first one. One of the things I dreaded MOST in Kingdom Hearts was riding the Gummi Ship. Awkward, hard to control, and space invaders without the charm. No fun. Did not want.


Four: Rehashed Disney story lines

I wasn't bothered by the Disney characters, but one of the faults in Kingdom Hearts 2 was that it seemed like the worlds were thinly veiled advertisements for the movies. Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Aladdin was especially guilty of this. It did somewhat happen in the first one, but not quite on the same scale as Kingdom Hearts 2. Maybe because the first one were classics that a younger crowd might have forgotten? Or maybe, it happened to have a more original set of story lines? Hmmm...

Anyway, the second one just felt less original, and that's one of the flaws in Kingdom Hearts 2. At least Tron felt original. One of the reasons why I LOVED that level.


THREE: Damned cards in Chain of Memories

Want to know why I bitch so much about Vexen and the bosses? Because part of what makes them insanely difficult is the CARD SYSTEM. Sure, it's creative, but the bosses ALWAYS had better cards, higher numbers, and more zero cards. No matter how much I ground levels/cards, the bosses ALWAYS had more. I LIKE challenge! I honestly do! However, there's challenging and then there's put the Shin Megami Tensei series to shame. Harder than hard indeed.


TWO: Keyblades, Keyblades EVERYWHERE! Like assholes, EVERYONE HAS ONE.

In the first Kingdom Hearts, only Sora had a Keyblade. I was under the impression that it was a unique weapon for a certain kind of warrior. In Kingdom Hearts 2? THE WORLD has one. I'm sure Birth By Sleep is like this too. Oh, 358/2 certainly is. Am I missing something here? Why does every major player on the good side HAVE ONE? It's not the end of the world, but I don't think it was meant to be all that common.


ONE: The Power of THREE is getting OLD FOR ME!!

Sora, Riku, Kairi
Roxas, Namine, Axel
Roxas, Xion, Axel
Terra, Aqua, Ventus
Zexion, Vexen, Lexaeus
Marluxia, Larxene, Axel
Axel, Demyx, Roxas(Just kidding)

The ironic thing is that I do love threesomes as it's a decent balance between too many people and too few, but the Kingdom Hearts series seems almost obsessed with it. Next thing you know, the Charmed sisters will be joining the series!

And, that'll do for now!

Top Five Favorite Disney Characters

These aren't in any particular order since my feelings can change at any time, but these five are the Disney characters that have always stood out the most in Kingdom Hearts.

5. Ariel--Red haired mermaid from Atlanticia. In the first Kingdom Hearts, she is VERY useful as a companion since she is fast and powerful. Of course, it's expected that she be strong since the ocean is a harsh place. She's also adorably curious, spirited, and radically different from the "other" little Mermaid she was based on. Sure, she's from DISNEY, but still, the actual story is depressing.

4. Peter Pan--Flies, is powerful, useful, etc, etc, etc. Sure, he'll never grow up and tends to be on the simplistic side, but he's a well-rounded hero.

3. Mickey Mouse--I don't care much for the "King Mickey" thing, but he's been helpful in a lot of ways, ESPECIALLY in Chain of Memories. Had it not been for his card, I might not have been able to beat many of the CoM bosses. Now, if only his card would show up during the second Vexen fight...

2. Mini Mouse--DO NO UNDERESTIMATE HER. Her "faith" attack can wipe out any Heartless it goes near. Even though she doesn't appear much in the series, she's still quite a prominent character in her own right.

1. Goofy--Doi. Seems like he's dumb as dirt and yet has an awful lot of insight. I don't have to say anything about his prowess as one of Sora's "sidekicks".

And that's about it. I like some of the other Disney characters just fine, but they didn't stand out as much. I also don't count the Disney villains, but I'm kind of "meh" about Maleficient anyway.

Top Five reasons why Demyx is so popular!

I just thought of this when I paid yet another visit to TV Tropes. Someone there mentioned that Demyx was basically treated as a one note character in 358/2, and because of that, couldn't understand why he is so popular(Demyx has always rivaled Axel and Roxas in terms of popularity). I can tell you why. I can give you five reasons why. Easily, in fact.

Top Five Reasons why Demyx is SOOO popular.

1. He's cute. Yes, he is very cute. Fandom can be pretty shallow, and nine times out of ten, an underdeveloped good-looking character trumps a developed not so good looking one. The mullet helps a lot too.

2. Plays the sitar/stringed instruments and has a rock star image about him. Fandom loves this.

3. He is expressive. This is one of the reasons why he stands out in Organization 13. He and Axel are considered the most emotional of Org 13. Not bad for those who "lack hearts"(that depends on what you mean by "heart" though). He's either a damned good actor or he really does have a greater range of emotions that most of Org 13. Fandom eats this for breakfast.

4. He is far less evil that other Organization members. The way he "fades" hints this because he fades into light. No one else in Org 13 does. At least not that I recall. Whatever the case, he's different. Fandom likes different.

5. Those who provide comic relief are often very popular, especially IF THEY'RE CUTE. It helps that it's widely believed that there's more to him than you think. More fan fodder.

See? Easy.

Top Five "Lame Ducks" in Kingdom Hearts(both 1 and 2)

A "Lame Duck" is a game term that pretty much means that the battle proved to be a whole lot easier than you thought it would be. It usually applies to Final Battles, but not always. The Original Kingdom Hearts only had one, so I decided to go with one and two. Yea, KH2 had quite a few more lame ducks, but to be honest, not that many. Anyway, here are my Top Five Lame Ducks(Chain of Memories doesn't count since I have yet to play it and Remix doesn't count either):

Five:

Axel

Yea, I know I should be fair given that the first Axel fight is so early in the game, but I really expected him to be Hell on Earth no matter when he's encountered. In this battle, he wasn't. However, just from fighting this battle, it's pretty obvious that he CAN fight, and I seriously doubt he'd be a lame duck in Chain of Memories. If it's any consolation, the second fight with Roxas was NO Lame Duck.

Four:

SteamBoat Pete 2

For someone who is Maleficent's right hand man, you'd think he'd be much harder, but no. Still, his battles were fun, and the only ones in black/white. I also think it's interesting to note that he's a giant cat and is a river person. I thought cats hated water. Guess he was the exception.

Three:

Ansem(all of it)

Since Youtube users divided the videos, I decided not to bother with linking all the vids here. It's an unforgettable battle anyway, so it's not like no one has an idea of what I'm talking about. Anyway, I will say that Ansem's fights were among the most exciting in ALL of Kingdom Hearts, and actually, in all of my gaming history. However, I beat it all ON ONE SHOT. Doesn't that kind of tell you something? And it's not like I'm a powergamer either. I usually have a lot of difficulty with "Bosses" because I'm almost always underleveled. Heh.

Two:

Saix

Yes, Saix. I know that some people had a hard time with him, but I wasn't one of them. If I had any difficulty, it was only because Sora would turn into Anti-Sora if I ever tried to use a "form". Bah. Beyond that? One of the easiest bosses ever. Intense sure, but he he turned out to be a whole lot of nothing, kind of like the number one.

One:

Xemnas

Epic battle, wonderful Riku, intense as hell, loooooong, but ultimately easy. The only time I had any trouble was when you had to control Riku. In fact, I actually lost at that point. Still, the reason why he's number one is because he proved much easier than he should have been, especially in the first part. It just went too well for it to be anything but a "Lame Duck". A damn good looking duck, but lame anyway. In fact, I think the game creators claimed that in the Remix 2 they would make him more difficult because the fans were saying that he was too easy. I don't think anyone has ever claimed that Xemnas was hard. Bet he was hard in the first Remix. Heh.

Top Five Most painfully difficult battles in Kingdom Hearts

Think Kingdom Hearts 2 is hard? HAH! You have no idea! Actually, you would if you played the first one! For me, the first Kingdom Hearts was easy on some parts, but unbearably difficult in others. Quite naturally, the unforgettable battles proved to be the most difficult, with the exception of Ansem. Anyway, here is the Top five most painfully difficult battles in Kingdom Hearts. Optional battles don't count.


Five:

Leon and Yuffie --I envy the person who managed to beat these two in less than two minutes. I'm sure it was easy for some people, but not to me. See, Yuffie wasn't the problem, Leon, on the other hand, was. He had some painful attacks. I'm really not sure if this particular battle was optional, because I think much of Olympus was, but I remember having to do it, so it's here.

Four:

Oogie Boogie -- The second part of the fight proved pathetically easy, but the first part? Hah. No. HARD! Have to hand it to Oingo Boingo though(yea, that's what I tend to call him), his battles have always been rather different than the norm. This particular battle has you spinning on a wheel, and the you have to jump on a platform to get to him and hit him. Sounds easy, except it's not. The timing has to be perfect, and while you're on the wheel, you get to deal with Oogie's traps and other beasties. I had a hard time with this one because my timing was off pretty often. Bah.

Three:

Maleficent -- Her dragon form proved easy, but the first form didn't. While her patterns were straightforward enough, but her spells were painful and hard to dodge. Plus, her rock platform moved around a lot and that made it hard for me to hit her.

Two:

Chernabog -- This boss proved to be one of the biggest nightmares EVER! I never suspected a fight like this and neither did Sora from the looks of it. I thought he'd be easy since he never moved, but he never had to. It's interesting to note that his arm movements while casting a fire spell are quite similar to Axel's. Coincidence? Yea, probably so. Anyway, what made this fight so painful was that while Chernabog spelt out his hit area, to get to it proved difficult thanks to his many fire/wind spells. Add that to the Three Stooges' flying all over the place, and you ended up with a battle where you easily lost control. However, I will say this this battled provided a most satisfying defeat.

One:

Riku 2, aka Grass Skirt Riku -- At first, I had no problems with him, but the more I hit him, the more powerful he became. It didn't help that he sped up too! GAH! The gliding Sora did was nice, but it proved ineffective. In fact, just about everything I did proved ineffective. I'd rather not discuss how many times it took for me to beat him. In fact, the less said, the better.

And that's another "Top Five Down". Yay! Maybe next time the Lame Ducks will be next!

Top Five most PAINFULLY DIFFICULT BATTLES in Kingdom Hearts 2

Yes, just like the title says. Not from the Final Mix, mind you, because I don't have a copy, but from the original version. Generally, KH2 was an easy game. Anytime I had any trouble, it was because of my own stupidity rather than genuine difficulty, but that doesn't change the fact that some of the battles were downright painful. So, here are the top Five most hairpulling, frustrating, AAAAAGH-inducing battles in Kingdom Hearts 2. For the record, I'm not including the optional boss fights, like Sephiroth.

Five:

MCP and Sark--I thought it was the "Hostile Program", but I guess not. Suck, I mean Sark(I've actually called him ballsack in the past), is pathetically easy, so he's not the problem. Not even when he's 34219598 feet tall. The problem is the MCP itself. You have to defeat Sark first and then break through the walls to even get near the MCP. Worse yet, if you're too late in breaking a wall or Sark wakes up, you have to start the whole cycle again. Not to mention that MCP's attacks can be very damaging.

Four:

Luxord. Yes, Luxord. You can stop laughing now. What made him so hard was that it took a lot of getting used to. Only Demyx was this unique. Actually, Luxord's was probably the most unique, and hard for me. The problem was turning into a die, timing, knowing which buttons to push, and god help you if you got them wrong. Worse yet, when you think you're close to beating him, you're not, so it's all the more painful when you DO lose. Gah.


Three:

Demyx. Over on Portal of Evil, someone was wondering "When did Kingdom Hearts 2 get so hard"? He was referring to Demyx, also known as "Gay Water Man". Others on POE also complained about him. His water clones, ESPECIALLY in the second summoning, the bubbles that never seem to miss, the fact that he's fast, and hard to catch make him one of the most difficult major KH2 battles EVER!!!!!!!!!!1111 Some people will tell you that he was easy. Yea, right. They were either overleveled, lucky, or lying through their teeth because they couldn't stand the fact that they were getting their asses handed to them by a goofy sitar player. It took me two times to beat him, which isn't much, but I still had a hard time with him, just like a whole lot of people did.

Two:

Xaldin. I dreaded fighting him. I knew he'd be hard because more people complained about him than about anyone else. Yea, I can see why. Still, I did better against him than I thought I ever would, but it helped that I was fairly high level at the time. On the first try, Mickey appeared, and I got my ass handed to me. On the second try, I didn't even need Mickey, and beat him. Yay. Doesn't change the fact that he is damned hard thanks to being able to summon a dragon to blow on you. Garh.

ONE:

Xigbar. I went into this battle thinking that I'd have an easy time. WRONG. Xigbar was HELL ON EARTH!!! AAAGH! It took me around seven times to beat him, AND I had to take time to level up before I even stood a chance. I also had to switch keyblades. The problem with Xigbar is that it's easy to lose patience and try to run into him. HE USED GUNS. You do the math hurrr. Even when being patient, Xigbar can do a great deal of damage, is hard to get to, and is even worse when you're close to beating him. So, he has the honor of being THE MOST PAINFULLY DIFFICULT FIGHT IN KH2!!!!! Not many people complain about him, but I'm one of them and just thinking about it give me a headache.

Next up: Most painfully difficult battles in KH1.

Top Five

When reading through the Gamefaqs KH2 Boss faq to look at the list of bosses, I found that trying to get FIVE proved quite difficult. Nearly all of the battles were easy and if I ever had a hard time, it was usually my own arrogance(HUUR! I don't need to heal, I am a GODDESS!!!!!) or careless stupidity that cost me the fight. Or, in the case of Luxord, it had a lot to do with not being used to the kind of battle I was up against(then again, he should count among the top five).

So, I held off posting the list tonight because I only have Three, and last time I checked, that wasn't five. Expect it tomorrow, or don't. Whatever. To be honest, I'm thinking of putting "Hostile Program" as part of the five because that one comes to mind, so will have to see.

It's interesting to note that the most difficult battles DIDN'T have the intensity that others did. Just thought I should throw that out.

The first Kingdom Hearts, however, is a no-brainer, but that one will come later. That goes for the "lame duck" list too.