Spoilahs

It was a cold, drizzly Tuesday night…. I was home sick with the swine flu….

The newest Organization-based Kingdom Hearts game was beaten by yours truly at 6:45 p.m. on the 13th of October at the brink of the apocalypse.

Time for Lord Windsor’s review.

Plot
Classically, I must first speak of the game’s plot. This game (henceforth called Days) has a different structure from the previous three KH games. Whilst the others focused on Sora or Riku traversing from world to world, solving the catastrophes of each, and then advancing to the next set of worlds, Days revolves around the idea of Roxas going out on a mission each day, and afterwards he would return to his home world of The Castle That Never Was. I’ve heard a lot of people criticize the lack of Disney in this game because there IS a lack of Disney plot: the Disney worlds and characters are around for only the purpose of being throwbacks to Sora. And I like that. The Disney aspect has always been the worst part of KH games for me~

The game follows a really tight pattern: every day, Saïx gives Roxas his mission (sometimes he partners with another Org member), and Roxas will go do it. Afterwards, he’ll go sit on the clock tower and eat ice cream with Axel and Xion. This happens every. day. A lot of players grew really bored of this routine, but I personally enjoyed it because throughout all 350 days, you notice the subtle changes between the personalities and relationships between the three of them on the clock tower. Not to mention, they have some pretty badass conversations. Like that one about love. And girls’ buttons.

It takes a little while for the plot to kind of set off (like 120-ish days) but it’s immediately interesting -especially- if you weren’t already spoiled for this game. The mystery is what Xion and Roxas are. And Riku makes a lot of awesome cameos. The ending was really touching, even if Roxas’ big fat teardrop was a little obnoxious. I really wanted them to include the scene from KH2 Final Mix where Axel and Roxas say goodbye on the clock tower and -Axel- lets out a big fat teardrop, but….. no. :C

Overall: 4.5/5

Characters
The characters were basically the selling point for this game. I’m a big Organization XIII fan, so it was more than epic to be able to chill and talk to the other Org members in the castle. The dialogue was hilarious, especially Xigbar, Demyx, and Axel’s. There was a ton of characterization for members they didn’t touch on too much in KH2. Sadly, the guys who were in Chain of Memories were only around for the tutorial days, so not much happened with them. I would’ve liked more Larxene…

Roxas: Do I need a reason to like him as a protagonist more than Sora? It’s just kind of a given. You see a lighter side of Roxas in this game as opposed to in the beginning of KH2. He’s portrayed as being young and naïve (like Sora, I guess) and kind of over-emotional. FORESHADOWING. But everyone already knows he has a heart so whatever. By the end of the game, he’s so close to Xion, he gets a little weirdly obsessive over her, and I just said “Roxas, honey. She’s basically a robotic man. Let it go.” Good thing Axel found her off-button, as was displayed in one FMV. On that note…

Xion: She’s not a Mary Sue. And because she IS a Mary Sue at the beginning of the game, she has a very good reason for being one (the whole robotic man thing). First and foremost, her theme song is epic and her battle song is almost as epic. Secondly, I wish they would tell the voice actors how to pronounce her name because Axel, Roxas, and Riku and say it differently. I just had to get those things off my chest.

If Roxas is ever portrayed as an idiot, just turn your head and look at Xion. I guess Xemnas forget to give her common sense. Oh I am cruel. Some people see Xion as a cockblock. I agree. Although Akuroku shall never be canon, it’s still a lovely thing to fantasize over. Xion is crazy, literally, and that makes her pretty cool. The fact that everyone sees her differently when they look at her is really interesting, especially since Xigbar sees her as VEN. Which is fucking awesome.

Axel: Gawd, I loved Axel in this game. With each new game including Axel, I love him a little bit more. His character arc in this game is beautiful if you read into it enough. He starts off a cold, emotionless nobody, but as he spends more time with Roxas and Xion (and with Sora in Castle Oblivion, as he talks about), you notice that he grows more emotional and slightly more selfless. I’m realizing right now that this game really is all about character development and progression… Huh. Also, Axel is really hot.

Everyone else was cool too, but I don’t think there was anyone else who had character development in this game. We saw very little of Riku, even if he made a huge impression every time he came on screen, so that was saddening, Riku being my second favorite KH character. Saix was boring as hell, as usual. Xemnas was hilariously treated like the Godfather. Xaldin was incredibly sour towards Roxas. Luxord made a poker reference in every single one of his lines. Xigbar was awesome - I looked forward to recon missions with his commentary. And his little nicknaming habit… as well as the fact that Demyx was upset that Xiggy wouldn’t give HIM a nickname. Demyx was a little bitch, but in a funny way. (Also, wow, in the manga, they kinda touch a lot. Even in the game, Xigbar and Demyx are always together.) Aaaaaand yeah.

Overall: 5/5

Gameplay
The boring category. The panel method was innovative and easy, but the leveling-up style was kind of weird. After about halfway through the game, I got this epic keyblade (Leviathan, I think?) and I never changed it once~ C: With that keyblade, Roxas was an epic fighter, and he lost a lot of that clunkiness that made his less desireable than Sora in KH2.

This game was really easy. I had trouble on two bosses, surprisingly not the two final bosses! It was that stupid Leechgrave in Halloween Town, and that huge metal large body thing in the Agrabah lamp chamber. Speaking of those metal large bodies, Worst. Fucking. Heartless. Ever. I didn’t even bother with any of them, they were just pointless. Xion was a pretty epic final boss, and I -did- have some trouble on a few of her forms, but the nice thing was that if you died, you didn’t have to completely start over: it would just take you to the beginning of that form. The Riku fight was amaaazing, but it was more of a cinematic thing than an actual boss fight. WHY DO YOU HAVE THE KEYBLADE? SHUT UP. Pew pew pew!!!!!!!!

Overall: 3.5/5

I would completely recommend this game, even if you’re not a big Org XIII fan. Dr. Tot and I were talking and realized that while this game may not bring much new stuff to the table, the great part is that it goes into greater detail on a lot of things that we already kind of knew about. That’s why it’s thrilling~

358/2 Days: 4.5/5