Since I finished Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, via the Kingdom Hearts
2.5 HD ReMIX, it is only natural that I go on to the other playable
game in the collection. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep came out
during an interesting period in the history of the franchise. During
this phase, there was no sign whatsoever of the appearance of another
main-series game. In order to serve the duel purposes of expanding on
the franchise lore, and to capitalize on its popularity, Square-Enix
kept releasing side games. Despite their status as side stories, many
of these games tied quite strongly into the main plotline seen in the
numbered entries. Games like Birth by Sleep on the PSP and Dream Drop
Distance on the 3DS, among others, are some of the games I am
referring to.
Though originally a mere PSP game, Birth by Sleep is still
considered to be a very important game in the franchise. So important
that, combined with its status as a prequel, gives it the common
nickname of “Kingdom Hearts 0”. Not it only does it give context
to what Sora and company need to do in the eventual Kingdom Hearts 3,
but it explains many of the plot elements from previous games, and
how they are woven together. Questions like “How did Kairi make it
to the Destiny Islands?” and “Why was Riku the keyblade's chosen
one?” are answered in the narrative of Birth by Sleep.
And on that subject, the narrative is also interesting for how it
compares to other stories in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. It is told
from the perspective of three different characters: Terra, Ventus,
and Aqua. The three of them begin the narrative as close friends,
training in the Land of Departure to become Keyblade Masters. Through
circumstances out of their control, they each find themselves
investigating the appearance of a mysterious new group of monsters,
collectively referred to as the Unversed. Each of them set out
separately to look into the phenomena, and each of them have their
own perspective on the events at hand. The only way to fully
understand the plot is by playing each character's campaign from
start to finish, then the Final Episode afterward.
Which transitions nicely into one of my biggest problems with the
story. Though I really like the way the story is told, and I find the
concept of playing the same story from multiple perspectives
interesting, the plot strongly hinges on the fact that the three main
characters do not speak to each other. Without spoiling the events of
Birth by Sleep, the villain's grand master plan relies heavily on the
characters simply not telling each other about dangers they are
already aware of. If at any point in the game where the characters
meet up with each other, they just said “Let's stop to review what
we've learned so far,” the villain would not be able to gain any
headway whatsoever. Had they simply compared notes, none of them
would have been caught off guard by what occurs in the finale. Even
when the group realizes what is coming, they still opt to let it
happen.
That aside, having three different playable characters is an overall
boon for the game. Since each character has a different playstyle,
the game naturally varies the gameplay just by forcing the player to
play through each campaign to get the full story. Terra, while slow,
is the heaviest hitter in terms of physical damage. His exclusive
moves tend to lean towards the Earth and Darkness elements and
powerful physical strikes. On the other hand, Ventus takes a more
balanced approach with regards to physical and magical attacks, with
a larger focus on speed. Lastly, Aqua is in the middle of the guys in
terms of speed, but she is easily the best at magic. Though the
campaigns can be technically played in any order, it is most
recommended that Terra goes first, followed be Ventus, leaving Aqua
for last. This is because Terra's lack of defensive/evasive options
makes him significantly less fun to play than the others.
Furthermore, the plot seems written with this order in mind, as they
seem to visit the various Disney worlds in this order.
One of the more clever things they did was have each character visit
the same worlds as the other characters. However, they all visit the
same world at different times. As a result, each world's plot, like
the plot of the overall game, can only be fully completed by going
through it with each character. Generally speaking, Terra tends to
visit worlds first. As the dark-hero of the three, he often gets
hoodwinked into working with/for the villain of a given world. Ventus
tends to follow after him, helping to clean up the resulting mess.
Aqua then shows up last to tie-up loose ends. Some worlds follow a
slightly different pattern, but that order is true for most of them.
This gives off a very natural sense of progression with each world's
writing. And each scenario tends to more naturally tie into the
themes of the main story and/or the friendship between the three
leads, which fixes a major problem I had with Kingdom Hearts 2.
On top of that, when there will occasionally be scenes where
multiple playable characters are present. However, the player will
only witness the part of the scene that the character they are
playing as saw. Meaning that even when re-watching a scene from a new
character's point-of-view, there will be a new take on it, which is a
very nice touch that can be easy to overlook. Each campaign is also
only about 10 to 15 hours long, so combined the game will last about
30 to 45 hours for story completion, depending on what difficulty it
is being played on. This is about the length of a typical Kingdom
Hearts game, so the developers managed to avoid the common trap of
allowing multiple campaigns to artificially lengthen the game. On top
of that, the three characters develop separately, so what one does
with one character will have no effect on the other two. Overall, the
presentation is excellent, and the game is very well paced as a
result of splitting up the plot between three heroes.
The game also plays very well. Despite originally being on the PSP,
it feels like a full-fledged Kingdom Hearts title. As one would
expect, fights occur in real-time. The big twist with Birth by Sleep
is that skills and spells do not cost MP to perform. Due to the
memory limitations of the PSP, the game utilized a Command Deck
system. Players could set up to 8 commands in their deck to be used
at will. After using a command, there is a cooldown period before it
can be used again. New commands can be acquired as enemy drops and in
treasure chests. Old commands can also be fused into new ones. This
allows players to better customize their character's layout and
skillset.
The other new addition is the Shotlock system. Along with the
commands, each character can also equip one of many possible
“Shotlocks”. Then can then use this command to lock-on many
targets at once, and shoot a volley of projectiles at all of them.
The player character is also invincible during a Shotlock's
execution, so it has defensive purposes as well. Though many of the
bonus bosses have moves to reduce their effectiveness, shotlocks are
a mechanic I found frequent use for across my entire run of the game.
Now that that 2.5 HD ReMIX has placed it on the PS3, the game
controls better than it ever has. Since a PS3 controller, unlike a
PSP, actually has a right analog stick, direct control of the camera
is now possible beyond simply locking-on to targets. Another addition
to the controls is that the L2 and R2 buttons, which are again not
present on a PSP, can be used as an alternative to the directional
buttons for scrolling through commands, making it easier to scroll
through the Command Deck while moving. Furthermore, all of the Final
Mix content, like the Secret Episode unlocked after playing through
all three campaigns and beating the Final Episode, is included as
well. Along, with the Secret Episode, the addition of Critical Mode,
the equivalent of Super Hard mode in other games, allows skilled
players to replay the game with a new challenge.
The other well-known pieces of new bonus content are contained
within the aspect of the game that was significantly worsened by the
HD ReMIX. One of the biggest feature touted in the PSP release of
Birth by Sleep was the Mirage Arena. In this location, players could
join up with others, via Ad-Hoc connection, and either work together
to complete arena missions, or compete against one another in combat
or one of the minigames. The bonus bosses, Armor of the Master,
Monstro, and No Heart, are additional co-op missions that were
included in the Final Mix.
The PS3 version of Birth by Sleep: Final Mix made some changes to
Mirage Arena. Because the designers wanted to divert more resources
towards developing Kingdom Hearts 3, they opted to not even try to
get online multiplayer working in the 2.5 ReMIX. In fact, there is no
multiplayer included whatsoever. Mirage Arena is now a 100% Single
Player experience. As a consumer who purchased the collection, along
with a friend, partially in order to play Birth by Sleep online with
other players, this came as a supreme disappointment. In fact, it
pretty much erased any desire I had to fight the bonus bosses. I
understand the reasoning behind the decision, but I cannot deny that
what once felt like a major feature being reduced to an afterthought
really hurts the game in a big way, especially since much of the game
was structured around its presence.
Despite this glaring omission, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep HD
Final Mix is a wonderful addition to the 2.5 ReMIX. Though I would
recommend purchase of the 1.5 HD ReMIX first, Birth by Sleep does
serve as a pretty good entry point for the franchise, as it takes
place before any other game in the series. Along with Kingdom Hearts
2 Final Mix, and the ability to watch Re: Coded without actually
having to play that terrible game, the $40 price tag is easily
justified for series fans. The two collections combined contain every
single game released in the franchise aside from Dream Drop Distance.
As a result, they are a great way for people trying to play catch-up
to get the most bang out of their buck.
