Overview
Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] was announced at the Tokyo Game Show in 2012 alongside Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix for Playstation 3 when it was known as Kingdom Hearts for PC Browser. The game is developed by Success Corp. who have developed several different Browser games in the past. While the Browser version lasted from 2013-2016 and was released only in Japan, a remake titled Unchained χ was released for iOS & Android and was released in North America on April 7th, 2016. The game takes place during the first Keyblade War mentioned during Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance, and features a character created by the player who joins one of five unions tasked with guarding Book of Prophecies, which is said to foretell what will happen in the future. The art style features a similar art style as Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and the Avatars in Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded.
Gameplay
The game features the action-RPG gameplay players have been accustomed to in the Kingdom Hearts series combined with cards (medals in Unchained χ). Players will be able to, for the first time in the series, create their own character to play as. As per usual for the series, players will be able to visit various Disney worlds fighting the Heartless.
Game Modes
A brand new world named Daybreak Town serves as the hub for the game but certain missions also take place there as well. In Daybreak Town you can obtain and receive rewards from daily, weekly, and monthly quests. From there you can also depart to quests in the following worlds:
Story quests allow the player to experience the story of the game. It follows a Keyblade wielder in the time leading up to the Keyblade war, as well as after it.
Proud Mode story quests are also available which provide a higher challenge through more difficult enemies, a limitation to a pre-selected Keyblade, and requirements for which medals can use their special attacks.
Union Cross is the multiplayer mode which has players working together to clear out an area and eventually defeat a boss. This mode includes a "cross board" where points earned in the mode can be spent to earn rewards. The maps and rewards offered change periodically.
The Coliseum mode offers players a chance to face off against each other, either though PvE via a leaderboard or PvP directly against each other. The PvE section offers a multi tiered tournament against enemies where progression grants the player points to spend on a Coliseum board, rewards for each tier defeated up to tier 15, and rewards based on their place on the leaderboard at the end of the month. The PvP section offers players several chances a day to fight against other players setups. Rewards can be received based on points gained through the mode as well as position on the leaderboard at the end of the month. All tournaments and leaderboards for Coliseum mode are reset at the end of each month.
Special Quests provide useful materials and medals, although most are locked to all but VIP players. Event Quests have limited availability and usually offer special rewards.
Raid Boss Quests appear when a certain amount of enemies are defeated, or when certain other requirements are met. There are several different raid bosses, which raid quest is received depends on which quest was in progress when the raid requirements were met. Each time a raid boss is defeated and it's level increases. Instead of only having one chance to defeat a raid boss, a player has unlimited chances within a certain time frame. Other members of a player's party can also help them defeat the boss through asynchronous battles. All raid boss levels are reset to 1 at the end of each month.
Medals
Medals are the main means of attack in Union Cross. They can be attained from quests or the game's shop. Up to five medals can be equipped to a keyblade, as well as one more to the player's spirit pet. The player can also equip a friend medal either from any player, or a party member if they are a part of one. Aside from battle medals there are several other types of medals including munny medals, exp medals, cost medals, and skill medals.
Battle medals have two main groups, upright or reversed. Within those groups they are divided further into the power, speed, and magic archetypes. Each battle medal has statistics for it's strength, defense, cost, damage multiplier, required gauges for special attack, and SP attack bonus percentage. Each medal also has a unique special attack, which increases the medal's attack power as well as the possibility of doing more damage in certain situations, providing buffs and debuffs, or refilling Health or SP. However, most Special Attacks cost SP and are unavailable should the SP meter be too low.
Medals can be leveled up by fusing other medals with them. Most medals provide a small boost, but exp medals give a much larger one. Once they reach max level, the medals can be evolved using evolution medals. The lowest evolution tier of medals is 1 star, and currently the highest tier is 7 star. Medals can also be given skills by fusing them with either another medal with that skill or a skill medal, and be given traits by fusing them with either another of the same medal or a trait medal intended to give that specific medal a trait.
One of the most important aspects of a medal is it's SP attack bonus, as that gives the medal a huge power boost. To unlock a medal's SP attack bonus, 5 pips shown on the same screen as the medal's statistics must be filled. One pip can be filled by fusing either another of the same medal, a trait medal meant to give that specific medal a trait, or a Fantasia Mickey B medal. Once the five pips are filled, fusing one more time in the same way that would provide a pip will unlock the medal's SP attack bonus with a random percentage. That percentage can be raised to a random amount by fusing another medal that would provide a pip, or by one percent by fusing a magic mirror medal.
Keyblades and Spirits
Each Keyblade has different multipliers for the different types and archetypes of medals equipped to them. Keyblades can be upgraded using upgrade materials found during quests or received from boards. Upgrading a Keyblade increases it's multipliers as well as it's SP. The multipliers of the Keyblades can be increased further by equipping 7 star medals to the Keyblade's subslots. The Keyblades currently in the game are:
- Starlight
- Treasure Trove
- Lady Luck
- Three Wishes
- Olympia
- Divine Rose
- Moogle O' Glory
- Sleeping Lion
- Counterpoint
- Stroke of Midnight
- Fenrir
- Darkgnaw
- Missing Ache
- Fairy Stars
- Diamond Dust
The player's spirit pet also offers a boost to the medal equipped to it, although it is the same regardless of type or archetype. This boost can be raised by equipping medals to the spirit's gear slots.
Avatar Boards
Avatar Boards provide costumes, increased health, increased max Keyblade cost, and increased max AP to the player. More Avatar Boards unlock as the player levels up, and the rewards from the Boards are obtained by spending Avatar Coins. Avatar Coins are obtained through leveling up, as well as rewards for other activities.
Party System
Players of Kingdom Hearts Union Cross can join or create parties, which provide several benefits.
- weekly and monthly quests are only available when in a party
- party members can assist with one another's Raid quests
- party members use each other's medals as friend medals
- the chat function is available only when in a party
Business Model
The game is basically free-to-play but players can purchase additional jewels, the premium currency of the game. There is also a VIP status players can achieve for a weekly price. It provides premium missions as well as more chances at PvP per day and a discounted bundle of jewels.
By pre-ordering the first edition of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, players will receive the following items for free:
- Card: Sora (R+) (Used for battling)
- 20,000 Munny (Can be used for synthesis, etc.)
- Card Draw 4,000 Points (Points that can be exchanged in the game)
In addition to those items if they pre-order Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix from Square Enix's e-Store, these are the free items they will also receive:
- Card: Riku (R+) (Used for battling)
- Potion x10 (Restore the ability to take action)
- Ether x10 (Restore your strength needed to fight a boss)
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