...well, that planned return to the blogosphere went swimmingly, didn't it?
Hey there folks. I know I said that I'd be returning to regular blogging in earnest from last month, and that was initially my intention, but I ended up getting diverted from that plan for a couple of reasons. One of them was family related, and while I can't go into any great detail on that front, I can at least say that everyone is okay and things have calmed down a little. The other reason for my silence is that I've been cooking up a very special something for all of you...
If you read my previous blog - and given the resounding indifference it was met with, I'm guessing that very few (if any) of you fall into that category - you may recall that one of my intentions was to dip my toes back into the serial blogging format that I came to be known for following such lengthy endeavours as Enduring Final Fantasy VII and A Month in Skyrim. For the last couple of months I've been toying with potential concepts for a new series. I had a few half-developed ideas, but nothing I felt like I could really commit to in a way that would entertain an audience.
Then, last month, everything fell into place.
The spark struck as I was watching one of the multiple trailers for Kingdom Hearts III released during E3. I have a complicated relationship with Tetsuya Nomura's Disney-fied action RPG franchise, one that I've previously documented in blog form here. The bottom line is, it's a series that I still have a lot of reverence for, and would like to further my experience with. To that end, I've picked up copies of both Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue on PlayStation 4, with the intention of playing through the whole series in the run-up to the release of Kingdom Hearts III. I figured I was going to have plenty of time to work my way through the whole saga, but while watching the aforementioned trailer, I was hit by something very unexpected - a concrete release date.
That's right folks - Kingdom Hearts III is scheduled for release on January 29th 2019. That gives me just under seven months to get to grips with the whole franchise in preparation for the end of Sora's epic adventure. So, I thought, why not document the whole journey in blog form for folks on the internet to read about? Ladies and gentlemen of Giant Bomb, I give you:
The Keyblade Chronicles is a project that I originally conceived back in 2015, but ended up postponing after burning out attempting three back-to-back playthroughs of the original Kingdom Hearts that year. Now that I've had some distance from it I feel ready to jump back in and experience the entire series. While three years may have passed, and the prospective journey has become a little longer, my intention remains the same - to play (almost) every game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise in release order, within the six-and-a-half months standing between the present day and the proposed release date of Kingdom Hearts III. Every week, most likely on a Monday, given the way my work and social schedules are aligned, I'll post a blog summarising my thoughts and feelings on various aspects of the games and the series as a whole up to that point. I'll be diving deep on gameplay, mechanics, characters, worlds, music and story in a way that's likely to be comparable to my previous blognum opus, Enduring Final Fantasy VII.
The order of play will be as follows:
1. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
The game that started it all, and the one that I have fondest enduring memories of. Kingdom Hearts follows Sora, an unassuming boy from a backwater island, who is thrust into an epic battle between Light and Darkness. Wielding the mysterious Keyblade, Sora journeys to many worlds in search of his lost friends Riku and Kairi, accompanied by Donald and Goofy as they seek their missing King. Unsurprisingly, the first game in the series establishes many of the franchise's mainstay features including real-time action combat, world-hopping exploration, and an overarching story centred on themes of friendship and strength of heart. While I'm most familiar with the original PlayStation 2 release, for the purpose of this series I'll be playing the Final Mix version included as part of HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX on the PS4.
Episode List:
- Parts 01-05 (Intro to Destiny Islands)
- Parts 06-09 (Traverse Town to Olympus Coliseum)
- Parts 10-13 (Deep Jungle to Phil Cup)
- Parts 14-17 (Agrabah to Monstro)
- Parts 18-?? (Coming soon...)
2. Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Considered by many to be a spin-off game at the time of its release, Chain of Memories is very much a full-fledged Kingdom Hearts adventure that serves to bridge the story between the original game and its numbered sequel. Utilising a card-based combat system unique to this instalment, Chain of Memories follows Sora as he ventures deep into Castle Oblivion and confronts the mysterious Organization XIII for the first time. Originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004, the game was remade entirely in the Kingdom Hearts II engine and released on the PS2 with the new 'Re:Chain of Memories' subtitle in 2008. Unfortunately that release was exclusive to Japan and America, meaning this 3D remake didn't come to Europe until 2013, when it was jazzed up to high definition and included in the HD I.5 ReMIX collection. While I own the GBA original, I'll be playing Re:Chain of Memories as part of HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX on PS4 for this feature.
3. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
This is where things are going to start getting interesting. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006, Kingdom Hearts II documents Sora's continued battle against the Heartless and Organization XIII. I've played through Kingdom Hearts II a grand total of once, largely due to never being able to bring myself to slog through that intro sequence again. Consequently, my memories of it aren't as vivid as those I have of the first game. I do recall this game feeling a lot more fluid and fun to play thanks to a myriad of refinements and new mechanics, but I also recall the story being kind of a jumbled mess - probably not helped by the fact I didn't play Chain of Memories before leaping in. The Keyblade Chronicles will mark my first full playthrough of the Final Mix version of the game, included within HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX on the PS4, and I'm looking forward to experiencing all the extra content added to this definitive version.
4. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Released in 2009 for the Nintendo DS, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (pronounced "three-five-eight-days-over-two") is the fourth game in the series, the third to release on a different platform, and the first to bear one of those unwieldy subtitles that the series has become so well known for. Another interquel, 358/2 Days begins near the end of the original Kingdom Hearts and runs right up to the start of Kingdom Hearts II. It explores the full backstory of Roxas, the protagonist of KHII's much-maligned Prologue chapter, and sheds a bit more light on the motives and machinations of Organization XIII. This is the first of many games on this list that I've never played before, and so represents the start of my incredibly deep planned descent into the full Kingdom Hearts canon. Since the HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX collection on PS4 only represents 358/2 Days as a cut-scene movie, I'll be dusting off my old DS to experience this one in a playable format.
5. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix
Perhaps the game I'm most looking forward to playing as part of this endeavour. Birth by Sleep is another misrepresented "spin-off" title that actually serves to further flesh out the franchise's extended universe. Released in 2010 on the PlayStation Portable (taking the series to five different games across four different platforms), Birth by Sleep is set ten years before the events of the original Kingdom Hearts and follows the exploits of three young Keyblade masters named Ventus, Terra and Aqua as they set the wheels in motion for the events of the entire franchise. Held in the same high esteem as the two main console instalments by many of the series' most devoted fans, this feels like the piece of the puzzle that I most regret missing on its original release. Thankfully the HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX collection on PS4 gives me a chance to experience it in glorious high definition on my first go round, not to mention including a bunch of Final Mix content previously unreleased for a Western audience.
6. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
Originally released as a Japan-only mobile phone game in 2008 under the name Kingdom Hearts: Coded, this black sheep of the Kingdom Hearts franchise was remade from the ground up for the Nintendo DS and released as Re:Coded in 2011. My knowledge of this game is sketchy at best, but I believe it's set shortly after the events of Kingdom Hearts II and features a digital version of Sora trying to recover fragments of Jiminy's lost journals. Not the most highly-revered entry in the series by any means, even many purists would argue that the cut-scene movie included with the HD I.5 & II.5 ReMIX collection on PS4 provides you with everything you need to know without subjecting you to the frustration of actually playing it. To those people, I say they're missing the point of this feature - much like 358/2 Days, I'll be playing the DS release of this one in order to report back on the full experience.
7. Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD
Here is where my journey would have ended had I pursued it all the way to completion back in 2015. Originally released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is comparable to Chain of Memories - an interquel released on a handheld with the intention of bridging the gap between two main-line console entries (in this case, Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III). I've done my best to avoid spoilers while researching for this series, but I gather that Dream Drop Distance focuses on both Sora and Riku as they prepare for some kind of Keyblade mastery exam, and features a much-praised FlowMotion traversal system that makes exploration and combat even more fast-paced and exciting. Since originally conceiving the Keyblade Chronicles, Dream Drop Distance has seen an HD release (dropping the '3D' from its moniker in the process) as part of the HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue collection on PS4, and it's that version I'll be playing for this feature.
8. Kingdom Hearts Χ Back Cover
The release of HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue also brings two whole new pieces of Kingdom Hearts content to consume in preparation for Kingdom Hearts III, the first being Χ Back Cover. Based on events from the mobile game Kingdom Hearts: Unchained Key, or Union Cross, or KHUX, whatever they're calling it at the moment, Χ Back Cover is a cut-scene movie that serves to fill in more gaps in the overarching Kingdom Hearts lore by backpedalling over a hundred years into the past. Persistent mobile games really aren't my thing, so while I have zero intention of playing KHUX, for this feature I'm hoping that this movie will tell me all I need to know in preparation for the final chapter in Sora's story.
9. Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage
The final piece of HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue's confusingly-named puzzle is the even more confusingly named Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage. As the name seems to suggest, I believe this is a bite-sized chunk of Kingdom Hearts content that serves two purposes. First, to wrap up some perceived loose ends in the story of the original release of Birth by Sleep in preparation for Kingdom Hearts III. And second, to give all of us eager beavers a taste of the gameplay we can expect from Kingdom Hearts III when it releases. I guess I'll find out exactly what it is when I eventually get around to playing it.
And finally...
10. Kingdom Hearts III
The game that all of this is leading up to. The game that should (and hopefully will) bring Sora's lengthy journey to its intended conclusion. Given this entire endeavour is born from the intention of being ready to play Kingdom Hearts III when it finally releases, it would be remiss of me not to include it here. I'll be playing the PlayStation 4 version of Kingdom Hearts III when it comes out, and you can be sure that I'll be documenting every single facet of my playthrough to provide the Keyblade Chronicles with the dénouement it will no doubt deserve. Recent trailers suggest Sora, Donald and Goofy will be exploring new worlds based on Tangled, Frozen, Toy Story and Monsters Inc., as well as returning to established franchise mainstays including Olympus Coliseum, Port Royal, and Twilight Town. This is what it's all leading up to, and I am pretty darn excited about it. Whether I'll still be excited on January 29th remains to be seen...
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And thus, the Keyblade Chronicles is born anew. It's going to be a really interesting and exciting journey, in some cases revisiting games that I haven't played for a long time, and in many cases experiencing titles that I've never played before, all in service of being ready for a thing that I'm not even sure is for me any more. I hope you'll bundle into my Gummi ship and come along for the ride - I promise I'll do my utmost to make it as entertaining as possible. You can expect the first entry, covering the first sections of the original Kingdom Hearts, to arrive a week on Monday, on the 23rd July. Until then, thanks very much for reading. Take care folks, and I'll see you around.
Daniel
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Currently playing - Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (PS4)
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