[5/30/08] Re: Chain of Memories - Overview

[Devia Eleven]

Published by: Square Electronic Arts (US)

Developed by: Square / Disney Interactive Studios

Genre: Action RPG

Number of Players: 1

Release Date:

US: Japan only (bonus re-release)

Japan: December 26, 2002

Europe: TBA

 

This time, I will only be covering Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories, and not Kingom Hearts II: Final Mix +.

 

Re: Chain of Memories, is the 3-dimensional version of Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories that was originally released for the Gameboy Advance. This game is the second disc featured in the 2 disc set, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. As far as I have played, nothing has been changed from the original to the PS2 port. However, due to the fact that the game was only released in Japan, all of the voices and as well as the text are in Japanese. This isn't really a major problem for a person who knows Kingdom Hearts. Playing around in the menus will help you learn what is which, and therefore language isn't needed at a certain point. However, you will not be able to understand the cut scenes, the only way to figure out what the characters are saying, is to visit KH-Vids.net, they have all of the cutscenes with English subtitles.

 

Diving into the game, this is a game that takes place right after the ending of Kingdom Hearts 1. Sora and Riku are both trapped in Castle Oblivion, and neither of them know of the whereabouts of each other. In the Castle, Sora and Riku and as well as Donald and Goofy has lost all of their memories, throughout the game you are trying to re-gain them. Sora will encounter numerous Organization XIII members, and will have to battle if out for the winner 2 times per character, you will even have to fight a Riku Replica, and throughout the game Sora thinks that the Replica is actually the real Riku. So, the game's battle system consists of cards. The system in particular has it's ups and downs, but it is mostly balanced. There are 3 types of cards, Attack cards, Summon Cards, Magic and Health cards. Each card has a number on it, and when selected, it will perform whatever drawing or symbol is labeled on that card.

 

Your opponent also has a deck of cards to fight with, he/she/it can also attack with cards. Now obviously the person who chooses the lowest card will get their card rejected, (Card Broken), and the character who threw out the highest card number, will attack instead. Each card has a number 0-9, 0 can deflect and Card Break any card, however, any card can break a 0 card. So depending on when you throw out a 0 card, you will get different results. Two cards of the same number will cancel out each other. You can combine three different cards, and the cards' numbers will add up and will create one large number, this is a great method of Card Breaking your opponent. Combined cards aren't necessarily stronger in attack power, but they do trigger certain moves. These moves are called Sleights, you and your opponent, (mostly bosses), have sleights to use. Combining certain numbers will trigger different sleights though, and sometimes when you level up, you can learn different sleights. Sleights can consist of a mixture of different cards, (for example, you can mix a Magic card, with a Summon and an Attack card, and initiate a sleight). Combining three of the same summons, will throw out that summon but the summon's attack power will be much greater. If you combine cards, and that certain combination of cards does not trigger a sleight, then they will just be used individually but in one sequence.

 

If you run out of cards, you can reload the deck by holding down a button on the certain card slot in the deck that has a number on it. The number on that blank card can be 1-3, depending on the number, determines how long you will need to hold down the button for your cards to reload. The numbers equal one second, and the more you reload the deck the longer you will need to hold down the button to reload the deck. During this reload, you are left completely defenseless, so taking three seconds without getting hit is an arduous task. Even bosses have to reload their cards as well, this also leaves them completely open which gives you an advantage. Each time you level up, you will be given three different ways of becoming stronger. There will be three choices, 1 being HP increase, 2 being CP increase, and 3 being learning a new sleight. CP is how many points your deck has, each card has a certain amount of points, and if you want to expand your deck capacity, you will need to increase your CP points. HP is self explanatory, and the sleight has already been explained. Also, if one of your cards are broken, they will not re-appear if you reload your deck.

 

 

 

 

This is the only Kingdom Hearts game where you will have to fight by yourself, but in essence you do still have you friends along side you, they will just be cards instead of fleshy existences. You cannot increase your attack power, and there is no Magic capacity. Your magic all lies within the cards, and the only limit there is, is when your Magic cards run out. It's the same with Summons and Attacks. You will also learn certain abilities, such as high jump and glide. I might be missing other things because I cannot read anything in the menus. And of course you have your Jiminie's Journal, which is basically a diary for Sora's adventure. In each world you go to, there will be individual rooms. Some have 1-3 different doors in each room. To open doors, you need to use cards. These cards are gained from killing enemies. Each door requires certain cards to be opened. These cards are different from the ones that are used in battle. These cards are red, blue, and green, and all have different numbers. The doors will tell you, if they want any number under 7, or any number over 1, only red 1s, etc. It always varies. Some will require a special card that have special symbols on them. These cards are yellow, and they trigger story events, and boss fights.

 

Some cards will also have certain symbols on them, and when you use them, the door of which you walk into can be different as opposed to basic door that lies within. You can insert a Moogle card, and when you open the door, there will be a Moogle, and no enemies will be around. Moogles in this game allow you to buy cards with Moogle points. Moogle points will be gained in battles, and in rooms of worlds. Hitting an object in a world extract different things, like health blobs, cards, or Moogle points. Hitting an enemy in a world will make them dizzy, and if you touch them you will go into battle. Going into battle with enemy while dizzy will have them dizzy in battle, and they will be paralyzed for a short while until you hit them. Some also sleep, and some can be knocked out if you throw boxes or barrels at them. There is at least one save point in each world, and you can choose whether or not you want to fight an enemy, because you can avoid walking or running into them.

 

Well anyways, let me go ahead and wrap this up. Re: Kingdom Hearts has the same graphics as Kingdom Hearts I & II, that is to be expected. In the end, you can play as Riku, but his story is a bit different. It's basically the same mumbo jumbo this time around, But if you are looking for an English version, you will have to resort to playing the GBA port. There is actually a translation patch coming out for the PS2 port but it is still in development. If you are wondering on how I was able to play an import, I backed up the original, and used Swap Magic to play the backup. So if you really want to play this game, either get a copy from someone else, or just plain out buy it.

 

I give this game a B overall.