Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Final Mix HD Remix

Finished "playing" Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3)

Hours: ~3

King Mickey and his trusty subordinates try to figure out a strange, new message in Jiminy's first journal by digitizing it into the datascape, or as Maleficent calls it "date escape".

But they can't travel the datascape so they create data-Sora to explore the worlds within the journal, which are now suddenly filled with computer bugs and glitches, including the Heartless which data-Sora must fight.

6/10 – The story for this game is confusing and only half of it is necessary in my opinion. Heck, even the characters themselves are confused about the whole thing. But you can tell the game knows that and tries really hard to simplify it for you, albeit not a so simple and clean task to be honest. I still don't understand if all the stories that Jiminy wrote were actually restored as words on his journal. However, watching this without having to play the game helped me understand it a little better. I now know what the "hurt" is and where it's coming from. It all makes perfect sense. There's a reason why this "game" was bundled with KH2, and especially KHBbS. Still, I might have to review the story again. Maybe by playing the game again in the future I'll pay closer attention. I actually enjoyed the Nintendo DS game, it's just the story that's hard to grasp.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD Remix

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3) on 12/12/2015.

Hours: ~65

Three keyblade wielder apprentices see their friendship split up in the dawn of a new era of darkness. In trying to find each other again they travel to different worlds where they meet new friends and eventually learn of a most foul betrayal that might separate their hearts for eternity.

100/10 – This is my favorite video game in the world. It’s story directly prequels that of Kingdom Hearts. And it’s quite the emotional one. And this Final Mix version only makes it even more so. I really love the battle pace of this game. It’s faster compared to the first Kingdom Hearts installment. The soundtrack is extraordinarily beautiful… naturally. I think something that’s been really heavy in Kingdom Hearts is item synthesis. In this game you also have that aspect in form of ability synthesis. By leveling up and combining them, you end up with sweeter ones.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix HD Remix

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3, 2014) on 6/26/2015.

Hours: ~100

After defeating Ansem and Marluxia, Sora, Donald and Goofy must now face off against the rest of Organization XIII as they invade countless other worlds. Along the way Sora makes new friends, reunites with old ones and meets someone who might be closer than he thinks.

9/10 – Absolutely amazing game with a colorful cast of characters and a complex, deep storyline that is just deliciously right up my Alley to Between. Sorry...

Although this is the first time I play KH2 Final Mix, it is also technically my second KH2 playthrough. So this time around I noticed something called Bonus Levels. Not sure if it's a Final Mix feature or not, but apparently every time you defeat a boss that level goes up instead of you gaining experience points. An interesting concept. And although I was only able to reach Bonus Level 59, apparently it caps at 60.

Now, having played in Critical Mode however, I found myself struggling to unlock the secret ending known as "Birth by Sleep", as defeating the Organization XIII members' data is quite the challenge. After spending a tiresome amount of time defeating Vexen and Xigbar, Zexion finally managed to deplete any motivation I had left to continue the task. And with Lingering Will breathing on my neck every step of the way, I felt even less motivated. But hey, doing the Mushroom Organization minigames was fun!