Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+ - 2nd DVD + COM DEMO "IMPRESSION"

[Helo]

Hey everyone,

We all know that KH2: FM is coming with RE: Chain of Memories on a seperate disc, but did you know that the 2nd disc has other bonuses as well? It has yet to be announced what exactly will be on the extra disc other than RE: Chain of Memories... What do you think it will have? (Trailers, interviews, behind the scenes recordings, etc.)

Source: www.kh2.co.uk

I apolgize if this has been posted before, it's that I looked all over an it seemed like no one did.

Also 1Up was at TGS and they played the COM demo here is there impression.....

Square Enix's strategy of milking the almighty hell out of successful games has become a mainstay of their Japanese releases; just about every Final Fantasy since Final Fantasy VII has been given the "International" treatment -- that is, a tweaked rerelease that offers a director's cut experience with bonus cinemas and other goodies for faithful fans willing to drop another 8000 yen for the privilege. These reissues have steadily been growing more elaborate, with Final Fantasy X-2 's International + Last Mission edition offering extra gameplay content and Dress Sphere costumes in addition to the usual expanded story content.

But Kingdom Hearts Final Mix+ leaves them all in the dust, offering not only a revamped version of Kingdom Hearts 2 but a remake of GBA spin-off Chain of Memories as well. It just might be the first-ever GBA-to-PS2 port, and it's no mere shovelware job; the remake, appropriately entitled re:Chain of Memories, features fully-3D graphics and significant gameplay tweaks. We had the opportunity to give it a try at Tokyo Game Show, and it's definitely an ambitious take on the concept of repackaged software... but it does display a few rough spots.

The playable demo offered three different segments to choose from: a romp through Traverse Town, a run through the Coliseum and a battle against Hades -- all of which have been brought over faithfully from the original version of the game.

In fact, despite the new graphics, re:Chain is very much the spin-off rather than a standard Kingdom Hearts title. The rooms that comprise the game world are tiny boxes full of enemies, but the swarms of Heartless can't be fought off normally. Instead, making contact with them changes the scene to a battle screen, where Sora has to defeat a set number of enemies that appear in two or three waves. These sequences look like standard KH fare, but they don't play like it.

Sora's actions aren't determined by the choice of button -- there's only one attack key -- but rather by cards. By collecting and equipping cards, Sora expands his battle repertoire, as every single action (even swinging the Keyblade) is enabled by the current card selection. The current hand can be scrolled through by tapping the L and R triggers, offering a variety of commands including physical attacks, offensive spells, curative magic and even character summons. Each time a card is used it vanishes from the current hand and can only be restored by shuffling the deck. This is done by selecting the "empty" card and mashing the Circle button, and each reshuffle requires more effort to complete.

The result seems a little awkward; the battle engine is completely 3D rather than the top-down fixed perspective of the GBA version, and it's much harder to keep track of enemy placement. Whereas it used to be a simple matter to avoid foes and scroll through cards or reshuffle in safety, now it's much riskier as enemies can attack more easily from off-camera -- meaning players are likely to take far more damage as a result. This camera issue also extends to outside of battles, since it's more difficult to avoid contact with the Heartless when the camera angle obscures their locations. To make things even more uncomfortable, the exploration scene camera is set at a fixed angle -- a low, tight angle that makes it difficult to see entire sections of each room.

Meanwhile, the Hades encounter stands as the least frustrating portion of the demo; since the focus is entirely on a single foe rather than a dozen tiny enemies who can dart in and out of camera range, the card-based design was far less troublesome.

Cards also play the same non-battle role as before, allowing the creation of new areas by permanently sacrificing specific cards. Cards are slightly easier to come by now, since many objects in each environment are destructible and often give up cards along with experience and health drops.

While it needs a little work, re:Chain of Memories definitely has potential. And while Square Enix hasn't released any of its previous revised hits (whether by choice or by Sony CEA dictate), there's enough "new" here that a U.S. release seems like a no-brainer.

Source: www.1up.com

............Again, sorry if all of this is OLD news!!!

^_^///

[AngelofAdvent]

Sweet. Only if it was confirmed for International relese. (hopefully it will be soon though)

[Little_Red]

Awesome! All we can do is hope they release it here in the US

[freedom31]

thats just nice SE better make an international release or we can just hope hope HOPE

[Little_Red]

Maybe a subbed interview with Tetsuya Nomura telling about how the Kingdom Hearts unvierse is going. Maybe even hopefully explaining some of the meanings we've seen in the Secret Ending of KH2...but I doubt that because Nomura likes to speak in code, and keeps many things under wraps.

[Lord Dante]

Iv got the feeling the Japannies are going 2 be a bunch of D*I*C*Ks and not make a international release. I strongly feel it.

[Brutal]

Maybe most things the movie special features have, interviews, credits, etc.