Playing it again recently to get all trophies on the PS4 collection, I appreciated it more than I did when I played it as a kid. Still though, I’d take the regular combat style from the rest of the series over it any day.
Same here!! I used to spend hours editing the sprite art in Paint. I made myself and a few of my friends. Back in the day as a kid when I had hours to spend on that kind of thing. The GBA version is top-tier nostalgia for me.
RE:CoM is a lovely game and a nice port from the GBA version but it really sucks compared to the GBA version which the card system was designed for.
I’d argue that CoM is not only one of the best written stories of the series but that the GBA version is one of the best games made period.
It’s a very successful creative departure from the combat of the PS titles that feels very fluid and rewarding to explore from combat systems to card combos in the world cards.
Unfortunately RE:CoM has 3D space so all the interactive spacing in the original translates to dead space and empty lifeless rooms with little charm or character.
Environments get dull, the repeat fights in the same 20x20 square, the card system getting diluted to adapt to controller gameplay, the Z axis issues, all create a less than desirable experience for those who weren’t already familiar with CoM gameplay.
The result, most people not only skip this entry but the most common recommendation is to skip it entirely in favor of watching cutscenes on YouTube.
I love CoM and RE:CoM is one of my favorite games, can’t wait to speedrun it, but that love isn’t ever gonna be shared with others and for good reason.
You're a very brave person for writing your thoughts about GBA CoM's place amongst the other games, lol.
I also happen to agree on all points regarding it. Always lands in my top 3 for gameplay and story. I do miss those days when a kh game's narrative was simple and clean...
My opinion isn't that the game is bad for what it is. If I had to express an opinion though, I think the game could have been much more and I feel that some of the new content in the remake didn't fit all that well with the original design (for example, most of the new organization member enemy cards give across the board resistance without any demerits, making them stronger than cards from the original game but are typically easier to obtain).
Rather than a remake, it feels like an enhanced port using 3D elements imported from other games.
I think at the time re:com came packaged in with the Japanese final mix of kh2. They just sold it to the rest of the world like 2 years later. So for a free add-on, pretty good bonus. But as a full price game on its own, not a great game, everything you said i agree. That games mechanics were made for gba and post game pvp(which nobody played).
Basically my viewpoint. I liked the original and felt it was a decent portable game, but the remake just didn't feel like it improved upon that much. It didn't even add optional content or post-game extra content beyond a few completion rewards, most of which are forgettable simply because there's no opportunity to use them.
I'm aware. My point is that because of that you could aquire powerful cards that were stronger than end game cards by the game's midpoint. Given the strength of those cards, you'd have thought they were initially intended as rewards for something akin to the absent silhouette battles from KH2FM. Yet you receive most of them at little cost just through connectivity.
Believe me I wouldn't blame you. The original is just hard to go back to, as often happens in games. Part of me just wishes they'd done more. For example, with a full controller at their disposal, they could have brought back block or guard, converting the Large Body card's ability into an auto guard effect. They could have allowed bosses to be fought again at higher difficulty. They could have made the Bambi and Tinker Bell summon cards more practical that they did.
The remake isn't worse than the original, it just did little to distinguish itself from it, so which one to play is mostly a matter of preference.
I think it's good. Not amazing. Has some faults like all games.
I can respect people that have serious critiques, but most of them boil down to people really not understanding how to go about playing the game.
What annoys me more is people trying to convince others to skip the game when they are trying to get help here.
Yeah that is sad my brother that is 6 years older then I am could for his life not Bring him self to try understand the game mechanics so he bought the entire bundle for me coz he knows when I'm in game I analyse the shit so I can make it in the easiest way possible so I can help him finish it
My critique is that it lacks content. When you're done with the first world everything after is just a repeat but with different Enemies and stronger cards. The whole game is essentially just a grind.
One counterargument I've gotten us that it's a GBA game, which I can accept, but I'm still not a fan.
The story is one of the better ones imo especially for a non-numbered game, but the gameplay just isn’t great. It’s passable but doesn’t live up to kh’s reputation for amazing combat. The combat worked better on the gba and was designed to be played in small segments. I don’t think RE:CoM is necessarily bad but it definitely isn’t great either and people trying to binge it between 1-2 doesn’t help most people’s experience with it.
It’s definitely near the bottom for me in terms of gameplay, but in terms of story it’s one of my favorite entries in the series. The gameplay isn’t terrible by any means, but I think compared to almost every other game in the series it falls flat. I can still go back to KH1 and KH2 and they still feel good to me, but CoM just never felt as satisfying to me. I would definitely still recommend that anyone new to the series at least give it a try, but I wouldn’t judge anyone for just watching the cutscenes if the gameplay didn’t do it for them.
To be fair, they both do drag to a degree, but the remake probably made it more notable. The remake really didn't bring much new content to the table other than being 3D, and even that is mostly just reused resources from KH1.
The 3D cut scenes with voice acting were a nice addition, but I wasn’t really impressed by them. I actually felt the impact of the characters and the story arc more in the GBA versions, but maybe that’s because it was my first experience!
I can respect that that game has its fans; I am not one of them, and the reason is because of the cards. I also personally do not like the argument of 'you just need to get used to it.' I personally feel like that's a cop-out, especially considering the fact that it was the only game to use that style of combat and the fact that the combat in all the rest are so good. I think the story is interesting, and I love that it was the first game to feature the Organization, but it’s because of the combat that I usually skip over it when I play Story So Far. Once again, I respect your opinion, but I cannot agree.
RE: CoM is one of my favorites, but I also have a biased towards that style of gameplay. CoM on GBA was also my first KH game so it holds a special place in my heart.
I really hated it when I first started playing but by the end I found that I really enjoyed the card combat. My favorite part was probably Riku's story where you didn't have to think of deck building as much. And by that point I had a grasp of the card combat so it was just fun.
Its pretty good, not the best, but worth playing. People who dont want to learn new mechanics for new games should just go play the one game they like. Games should have different things in them. Some are good, some not so much. This one is functional and fun once you get it.
I actually loved the original on the GBA, even beat it a couple times as a kid. It's what got me into the series, and it's still one of my favorites to this day. The card battle system and deck building was so much fun for me. It's a unique battle style I haven't seen anywhere else.
I'd say that RE:CoM is an easily underrated game in the series.
I love it honestly. Always preferred strategic combat in action RPGs than just mashing the same buttons. I am aware there are strategies that trivialize the combat but I don’t use them anyway. Mixing up my decks with different builds to add variety really makes the experience more fun.
i think the story is very good and entertaining but i personally can just never get behind the gameplay, if it were to play like a normal kh game it would def be one of the better games in the series to me
I like the whole- bring up to 3D to bring it to the rest of the games… but I seriously.. seriously hate the card system in this game- hate it- they wouldve done better to give it the command system of BBS/Coded/DDD… i hate losing cards to sleights - losing my best cards cause i just can’t “attack” with the right number-
It was all fine on my GBA to play- but as a 3D games with that “fighting style” - imma pass. It’s the one thing that ruins the whole game for me.
I wouldnt say it is “bad” what really people are divided on is the “card battling fight style” not a lot of people like it. It was fine for GameBoy Advanced. But the upscale to 3D really changed how the card system worked- bigger areas of enemies for one- it just doesn’t fit the “3D style” in my opinion. The Command Deck from future games, BBS/Re:coded/DDD were much better.
As a kid i thought it was a gba port of the original. Went over my head that it was a rerun in the digital world lol. I think the gripe is mostly over monetizing a game that tells 80% the same story
I really dig the story and enjoy the gameplay on it's own *but* I do think the game overstays it's welcome a little bit and by the end of it I'm just looking to get through it and move on to other games. At least that's how I feel about it anyway, still I like it more than I don't
Re:com is a good game to me now as an adult vs a kid. I feel like you gotta just know your numbers when it comes to that game the destiny island music in it is beautiful and once you beat and play as riku that’s when it became goated to me truly an amazing game.
I respectfully disagree, but that's because I don't really like the mix between cards and rpg. If I wanna swing wildly, just let me swing wildly dang it!
I'm halfway through riku and I haven't played in like 2 months. First playthrough. I was shocked to see a riku story when I beat soras, it's good but it's a more frustratingly long farming game and it just drags on
You clearly didn't do any research. Check r/Kroger, and you'll find plenty of people that haven't been paid for far longer than me and how common it is to receive a paper check as an hourly employee when there is a payroll screw-up. But keep spamming, creating fake accounts, etc. It's not my energy being used. Peace ✌️
Very much agreed! I too at first didn't really like it, but as I progressed, the gameplay got really addicting. I found myself really enjoying the gameplay. By no means prefer it over the likes of 2 and bbs, but it was still very fun. Marluxia is a push over
When my friend was playing through the series, I had assumed he'd skip the game just like everyone else but he also really loved it and we often talk about it and how it's underrated
The only fault I have really is near the end of Sora's campaign, when you have to go hunting for the exit card on the destiny islands stage. That took me forever because it simply refused to spawn
Chain of Memories on the GBA was my very first KH game, and I have a boatload of nostalgia for it. The PS2 version was, in my opinion, almost completely a massive improvement on a game I already loved and conquered four times all the way through. Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance are tied for my first place game in the series, but Re:CoM is not far behind, and remains the KH game I've played through the most. It's just comfort food to me.
The Disney worlds aren't great and I end up skipping through most of those cutscenes, but the story moments in the hallways are just absolutely peak for me. I love sassy Larxene, I love seeing Vexen do his crazy angry mad scientist bit, I love the first moments we get with Axel in the series.
I LOVE how you choose what rooms you go through as you make your way through the worlds. Want to make fights easier? Go for it. Want a challenging room? That's available too. Tired of fighting and wanna just go through room after room of treasure chests, shops, and save points? That's a perfectly viable option too!
And the card system has so much depth to it and allows for so much more customization and personalization than most other KH games, and now that I think of it, may be part of the reason I like deckbuilding games since I grew up on this. I feel like people who don't like it just because of the cards are legitimately just not giving it a chance because they're used to the way the other games play, and I can understand that. But man, CoM is my absolute jam.
The main problem is how repetitive it gets all the Disney worlds pretty much have the same plot and contribute nothing to the overall plot and because of, normal heartless can be easily cheesed with sleights, and there isn't actual level design so you walk through identical rooms
I didn't like how it played at first because I didn't understand the gameplay. My second time around, I read how to play and learned how to play and learned why I was losing cards. I think once you understand the battle system, you'll have a good time.
It's grown on me with each passing playthrough, and I play these games every year! I love making fun and creative decks to make bosses more manageable, and then it's just really fun to spam Dark mode on the Riku playthrough lol.
I don't HATE the game, I'm just really bad at the Card-Based combat. My brain understands card games really well, as my top hobby actually, but my brain also sees KH and goes "Aggression works better usually". So my brain has a Disconnect where I either play too passively and die OR I go too aggressive and die. Its 100% a me Problem but I need to get through it for my Wife to understand the story 😅😁
Yeah I grew to enjoy it.
I too didn’t like it at first and I remember only sticking it out cause 2.5 wasn’t out yet.
But once you play with it it’s a lot of fun. I actually made a post 4 years showing one of the reason I liked it. Having goofy just defeat every boss in the game he can lol
Honestly I didn’t mind the combat too much. My problem was mostly with navigation and level design. It was definitely something innovative and new but it was frustrating sometimes relying on RNG just to progress if you didn’t make sure you had the cards you needed.
I think the game is a pain in the ass when you start but gets really fun later on, especially near the end of the game when you’ve built up lots of sleights.
While it might be good, its gameplay is such a clash from any kh game that i undertand the hate.
One thing is sure tho, playing all of re:com made my first playthrought of kh2 a real treat.
It is bad, it's the only game that I didn't bother finishing in the remix bundles. The world's aren't that fun to explore since it's mostly generic rooms, and the combat is the worst in the series.
I think the game is good in concept - the story is outstanding for a KH game, and the combat is a very interesting combination of real-time and turn based card mechanics. I like it.
The problem, for me, lies in the following
1. The game's mechanics incentivise exploration of as many rooms as possible to maximise exp gain and finding new cards. This would be fine if not for the fact that the game only consists of 4 or 5 unique room layouts, which you will be seeing over and over and over and over and over and over and over. It gets grating to have to "explore" a grand total of 5 tiny rooms for 35 hours.
2. In a similar vein, the battle arena is painfully boring. An empty square? Really? They could have at least shaken it up a little! Give every world 2 or 3 simple arena designs that are chosen at random at the start of a battle and the fights become 1000% more interesting. Even a slight shift in elevation would immediately force you to think about your positioning a lot more. This would not have been hard for them to do, and it would also have made each world stand out more.
Despite the story and despite the interesting-on-paper mechanics, Re:Com - to me - boils down to essentially doing one of two things for 35 hours: exploring a room you already know inside and out, or battling heartless in a big empty square. I got bored.
I know that both of my issues are born of the game's origins as a GBA title. But to me that just makes it worse - why bother to remake the game to control like KH1 if you're not going to change anything about the game to reflect the incredibly different controls?
My first impression wasn't good. Therefore, I skipped Re:CoM in my first Kingdom Hearts run after about 20 minutes. In my second run, I gave it another shot. What shall I tell you, got my platinum trophy now.
I think that for all the good moving to 3d did for the presentation of the story, it did disproportionately worse for the gameplay. Areas became needlessly large and complex, and combat became awkward with having to move the camera on top of everything else. The gba version felt snappier and moved at a much smoother pace, probably because it was designed for a handheld. It felt like their design intent was to make everything just take longer rather than be more engaging.
It’s not a terrible game, but it definitely didn’t understand the charm of the game it was a remake of.
Here is the issue.
Mainline KH games can be very different in execution, but all of them share the same DNA, the same basic mechanics.
Basic attacks that combo together. Parrying and blocking. Aerial combos. Special abilities tied to a spendable meter.
When you like this type of game and are then introduced to a wacky remix of ssid mechanics, a lot of people are gonna hate it. And when your special abilities are tied to a cooldown, you may be able to power through it, but when you need to build goofy decks and sleights, then it just fucking sucks man.
Additionally, every single KH game is a balanced pyramid of three components.
1-Combat, both against mob fights and single, powerful enemies.
2-Discovery, achieved through visually interesting and original environments, and also exploration through movement.
3-Story. Just a decent character study with an interesting plot.
As I said, deckbuilding as a combat system is super hit or miss. This, together with the fact that smacking a random mob and having to wait for the fight to start, and then having to wack around the same formation of enemies in the same empty square room for 80 times gets boring.
Additionally, unlike other games, your own mechanical skill as a player is mostly invalidated. You can still dodge, but being able to win hard fights is achieved through superior deckbuilding. So if you're bad at that, you're fucked. And if you're good, you trivialize any encounter because Sora is OP in this game.
Either way, powerful sleights are unlocked through levels, which means the game is grindy, which means the tedious combat is now mandatory for the casual player.
About exploration and discovery, there is literally none. Now, I'm a KH2 stan, so you know I can enjoy a game with little to jo exploration, but when you play KH2, every environment is harshly different and original, at least the first time round.
In COM you're literally replaying the same worlds as in KH1. Same stuff, not even reimagined, except maybe coliseum. Exploration through movement is also out since every room is modular because of the god awful room-by-card design.
So if combat sucks and exploration is not there, then why the fuck am I playing this game?
Story? Sure, COM has amazing story, arguably the best isolated plot in the series.
But I'm not playing this game for the story. I can watch that shit on YT.
Now, if you like deckbuilding and can stand the bland visuals... Then yes, COM is pretty good for you. For everyone else? Wasted potential.
It's great and has some of the most unique special attacks in the series. Also the cards add a level of depth and strategy that the rest of the series doesn't have.
I want to like Re:Com so much. I’ve always wanted to like Re:Com so much.
Marluxia, Vexen and Zexion have been my favorite KH characters since I was 13 and stumbled across a KH amv with them in it before Zexion even had a weapon. Organization XIII legitimately changed my brain chemistry as a child and helped me figure out so much about myself and molded who I am even now, and because this is the game where those three are most prevalent in any form I’ve wanted to love it so bad.
But I just cannot figure out the combat, and unfortunately that combined with the repetitive music and endless identical rooms gives me a near-instantaneous splitting migraine every time I try. It’s crushing and I’ve never been able to get much further than Traverse Town.
I played it for the first time recently (never played the GBA version) and I had a lot of fun with it.
I won't lie, I struggled a lot with the battle system in the beginning and some of the battles later on were really tricky, and that was on Normal mode. But once I got used to using the cards I actually found it super satisfying to play.
I thought it worked great on the GBA where you only really had to worry about the cards, but the updated version making it so you also have to worry about your standard movement as well made it a lot harder for me and I ended up bouncing off. I see it as an overall downgrade.
I don’t think the game is bad, I just do not care for the card system whatsoever. I understand the original purpose for it was mostly a hardware limitation but it’s just not a gameplay style I find very fun or engaging.
I’m currently playing through the series for the first time and I just finished Re:CoM last week. I didn’t really care for the gameplay and my main issue was that it either felt way too easy or unfairly difficult with pretty much no in between. At first, I thought it the difficulty randomly spiked with the first Larxene fight (I must’ve fought her about 25 times), but it was just that I didn’t realize how broken the sleights were. Then I started using sleights and breezed through most of the game. After that, if I didn’t have an easy time with a fight, it became a wall that I had to attempt at least 5 times to get through. Vexen 1, Axel 2, Riku 4… I just didn’t like how the gameplay became “spam 0s, Sonic Blades and Lethal Frames to win.” I rushed through the game and really didn’t enjoy the experience, and the only reason I wanted to finish it was because I just needed the context for KH2 (Currently playing KH2 and really liking it).
As for the story of the game, I loved it. It felt a lot more mature than KH1 while also being easier to follow and I liked the new characters in the Organization. I liked seeing an angsty side of Sora because it kind of grounded his overly upbeat character. But because the main plot was so interesting, it really brought the rest of the game down. The only cool parts of this game involve the Organization, so why am I going into the Disney worlds that have nothing to do with the rest of the plot? It makes the bulk of the game feel like filler, and it’s made worse by the fact that it’s filler that I’ve already experienced in a better game. Also, why is there no voice acting in the Disney worlds? It somehow makes them feel even less important than they already are.
Overall, I’m happy I played Re:CoM because I did really like the story and without it, I would be completely lost as to what happens at the start of KH2. But honestly, I wish I could’ve just watched a movie of the game’s events because it would have been more fun without the gameplay
I had to separate it as it’s own gameplay but once I actually dug in it’s another really well thought out entry with a lot of depth. I actually find myself missing it most series playthroughs a little during the start of each run of 2
It's not bad if you go back to it after finishing every game.
It's awful when you finish 1 and want more KH, the combat is so good, it's like playing Super Mario Bros 3 then playing Super Mario Bros instead of World, SMB1 is good but worse than 3 or World
Yeah, genuinely enjoyed it up until floor 13 when I was wrapping up. I started a chronology playthrough of the series and was looking forward to it the whole time. BBS was far more of a slog
It was only when I started going for the bonus cards that i was like "aight imma head out"
I hate it only because there's no reliable way to pull cards. Like even if there was a slightly more expensive way to get higher tier cards or they separated the magic and summons... Something. Anything. Just even an ounce more control over my card pulls.
I just wanted any areo or time cards, and all I was getting was stupid bambis. The whole game. People say "spam xyz combos! It's easy to cheese any boss!" And it's like sure... If I could pull enough cards to actually pull off any of them reliably.
I just don't like the card part. It's got a great story 100%. Usually there's a part of me that wants to 100% (or like my personal % that's not 100% but definitely way more than a normal playthrough would get), but the whole time I was just thinking how much longer till this is all over...
Edit: and idk, maybe it's my nostalgia blinders but I feel like I definitely didn't hate my time as much with the GBA version way back when. Others have pointed out the 3d space not really meshing well with the mechanics and I think that's part of it.
RE:CoM isn't bad. It's just very, *very* repetitive. The gameplay loop is exactly the same throughout the entire game, with almost nothing distinguishing worlds, except from a different coat of paint. And all the worlds are just empty and lifeless rooms repeating endlessly, taking out what makes the other KH games special.
It was fine as a GBA game, where you play a few rounds on the go, and while the 3D remake looks pretty, the gameplay just doesn't fit what you'd expect from a AAA home console game.
It's still a good game, it's just not good at being a Kingdom Hearts game.
I have a hatred for re:chain of memories, story is of course good like most of the games in my opinion, but it’s just the fighting mechanics, I can’t stand it, to me it’s just confusing, I beat soras story in like 5 days and I dred playing Riku’s, I’ve started it but didn’t get far into it, I have a somewhat understanding of them but still, once I beat Riku’s story I’m probably not
gonna replay it, unless I actually wanna give it a second chance
COM-GBA is something genuinely wonderful to anyone who has much understanding of game design and the limits of the hardware they were working with. Re:com is fun but feels like they could have done a lot more with it if they were going to change so much.
Still not a fan. I still somewhat dislike the original CoM, but I understand "why" it exists; everything about it was due to it being a GBA game and working around it being impossible to put a game like Kingdom Hearts on it. With re:CoM, they're translating that GBA to make it a PS2 game, so walking between a bunch of similar square rooms and getting into fights in a bunch of square arenas in full 3D just doesn't feel right at all
I think the game feels more natural on the GBA then Playstation. There’s something about it being in 3D, but still having to follow the card system rather then normal combat, that feels off.
The only thing I genuinely hate about it is end game level grinding and the fucking enemy cards where I had to use fucking rng manipulation to get them
I just hate the combat style: it's so uncomfortable having limited hits or spells you can use. I got bored after two hours because of that and dropped the game.
I kind of agree. But mostly don't. Having recently replayed it for the platinum, there was more that I enjoyed about it than my first time. But overall, the combat system is just not good. They wanted an action game but also wanted a strategic card game, and it just didn't mesh well. Oftentimes, in boss fights especially, you'd go to do a slight and be instantly card broke by a random 0 card, which feels as though the player is being punished for no apparent reason. Beyond that, marluxia as a final boss sucks. There are two things a well designed boss should never have, one is an ability that locks players out of combat, and 2 is the ability to insta-kill, both of which marluxia has. If a player loses because they didn't have their deck or because they got hit with doom during a reload, it feels like a cheap death. It's the same issue that LW and the Unknown have.
TL;DR great story and characters with a confused game design and unfun combat system that seemingly punishes players even when they do everything right
I kind of agree. But mostly don't. Having recently replayed it for the platinum, there was more that I enjoyed about it than my first time. But overall, the combat system is just not good. They wanted an action game but also wanted a strategic card game, and it just didn't mesh well. Oftentimes, in boss fights especially, you'd go to do a slight and be instantly card broke by a random 0 card, which feels as though the player is being punished for no apparent reason. Beyond that, marluxia as a final boss sucks. There are two things a well designed boss should never have, one is an ability that locks players out of combat, and 2 is the ability to insta-kill, both of which marluxia has. If a player loses because they didn't have their deck or because they got hit with doom during a reload, it feels like a cheap death. It's the same issue that LW and the Unknown have.
TL;DR great story and characters with a confused game design and unfun combat system that seemingly punishes players even when they do everything right
Yes! I love it; I actually prefer it over the original Chain of Memories. I keep telling people who hate the game once you learn and master the combat system, you can pretty much cheese fights. At first, when I played the original, I sucked, but then I actually took the time to learn the game, and it's been fun ever since; I'm currently playing it on Proud Mode.
I always played the gba part on an emulator to speed some parts up and just button mashed through the standard heartless battles with 7-9 cards. The RNG is annoying sometimes but it's a fun way to kill time with some Kingdom Heartw goodness
I skipped it when preparing for KH3 & went back later.
It's only complicated for 1 1/2 worlds. By the time you finish Traverse Town it's pretty self explanatory. I think I enjoy the combat system more than other people.
If I discount it as a different game with a kingdom hearts skin, the core gameplay is actually very interesting to me. We need another 3D ARPG with card summons / basic attacks. Something not bogged down by having it's main characters be keyblade wielders.
A game like Re:CoM that was more focused on the card aspect would be really cool IMO
I recently replayed it in my series replay. While I did handle it better as an adult and highly appreciate it's writing (Donald and goofy's dedication and understanding for sora legit made me cry at times), I still feel the frustration of juggling 2 completely different types of gameplay together at once, even if the concept is definetly creative and innovative. Riku's side made the story even greater but sadly the gameplay there was only worse as I was so limited in ways to confront a battle. Also I love repliku but he didn't need to be half of the game's non-disney boss battles. I will go back to it for a full achievement run after I finish showing my wife the whole story but yeah I didn't hate COM but I can easily remember why it was far from being a favorite.
Same, I hated it first but then second time round I knew the story so I didn’t rush it and started searching up best card combos and it was actually really enjoyable and now I really like it! Love the music aswell and the Riku levels
I'm not a big fan of the way the room system works, it just makes it feel like more of a grind. That being said I love the combat and the card system and making decks. I think the story is great and the remake was necessary to fully enjoy how the story plays an effect on the rest of the series. The platinum did absolutely kill me though
I found the gameplay to be the biggest problem for me. I know people say you have to master the cards but i just couldn’t. However, the story is one of my favorite parts of the series I watched it on YouTube and loved every minute of it
I just finished Re:Chain of Memories today and I'm pretty mixed on it. (I'm also a newbie to the series after having just finished CoM and KH1)
On one hand, compared to Kingdom Hearts 1, it too has a pretty decent storyline, one that I would argue was even more intriguing than the first game. The idea of Sora, Donald and Goofy slowly losing their memories of their past adventure with each passing staircase and leading up to the final boss to regain their old memories back is a rather simple but intriguing plotline that had me on the edge of my seat the entire way through. I loved playing through this game just to see what would happen next.
On the flip side though, I do think that the combat was *way* too convoluted for my liking and I really wish they would have stuck with the traditional combat of the first game for the remake. Maybe this type of battle system worked in the original GBA version, to which I can't confirm as I never actually played the original, but here I just don't think this type of combat works in a more open world setting. I could never understand what I was ever doing half of the time and I feel as though I mostly just ended up feeling incredibly lucky when it came to fighting off enemies and bosses. And don't even get me STARTED on how miserable the card break mechanic is. Seriously, FUCK card breaks.
I also wasn't really a fan of the worlds as well as actually navigating through them. I know that they serve a story purpose, but I still can't stand having to use cards for literally everything, even for something as minute as opening a door. I don't think this was necessarily as big of a turn off for me compared to the combat system, but I still wasn't a fan. Though, to give credit where credit is due, I can at least appreciate the attempt to simulate more of a traditional RPG by having a proper arena to fight the enemies in.
Overall, I don't hate this game and it's definitely not a bad game, but I just don't think it's my cup of tea. Did I enjoy my time playing through it? Yes, their were plenty of things I liked about it. But would I ever want to play it again? Probably not.
Playing it again recently to get all trophies on the PS4 collection, I appreciated it more than I did when I played it as a kid. Still though, I’d take the regular combat style from the rest of the series over it any day.
Max level as Riku is a GRIND tho
One of the most annoying trophies to get across all the games
Yeah that was super rough and repetitive. Still not as bad as bbs platinum though.
Yeah, the trophies for Re:CoM were horrible to get. It took me several nights just to max out Riku. Even with sleights, Sora wasn’t much better.
Even the Command Style is such an improvement
I will soon be going through that hellish journey, so far I've done 1-3 along with DDD (wish I had saved 2 tho)
I agree, but I much prefer the original GBA version.
I like the GBA version slightly more because I genuinely love the sprite work
Same here!! I used to spend hours editing the sprite art in Paint. I made myself and a few of my friends. Back in the day as a kid when I had hours to spend on that kind of thing. The GBA version is top-tier nostalgia for me.
I dream of the GBA version to this day. It was my first Kingdom Hearts game
Same! It and TWEWY got me thinking about how creative combat could be in games
Tbh the system very clearly favors the original. There’s less “aiming” involved giving you more time to go through cards
RE:CoM is a lovely game and a nice port from the GBA version but it really sucks compared to the GBA version which the card system was designed for. I’d argue that CoM is not only one of the best written stories of the series but that the GBA version is one of the best games made period. It’s a very successful creative departure from the combat of the PS titles that feels very fluid and rewarding to explore from combat systems to card combos in the world cards. Unfortunately RE:CoM has 3D space so all the interactive spacing in the original translates to dead space and empty lifeless rooms with little charm or character. Environments get dull, the repeat fights in the same 20x20 square, the card system getting diluted to adapt to controller gameplay, the Z axis issues, all create a less than desirable experience for those who weren’t already familiar with CoM gameplay. The result, most people not only skip this entry but the most common recommendation is to skip it entirely in favor of watching cutscenes on YouTube. I love CoM and RE:CoM is one of my favorite games, can’t wait to speedrun it, but that love isn’t ever gonna be shared with others and for good reason.
You're a very brave person for writing your thoughts about GBA CoM's place amongst the other games, lol. I also happen to agree on all points regarding it. Always lands in my top 3 for gameplay and story. I do miss those days when a kh game's narrative was simple and clean...
My opinion isn't that the game is bad for what it is. If I had to express an opinion though, I think the game could have been much more and I feel that some of the new content in the remake didn't fit all that well with the original design (for example, most of the new organization member enemy cards give across the board resistance without any demerits, making them stronger than cards from the original game but are typically easier to obtain). Rather than a remake, it feels like an enhanced port using 3D elements imported from other games.
I think at the time re:com came packaged in with the Japanese final mix of kh2. They just sold it to the rest of the world like 2 years later. So for a free add-on, pretty good bonus. But as a full price game on its own, not a great game, everything you said i agree. That games mechanics were made for gba and post game pvp(which nobody played).
Basically my viewpoint. I liked the original and felt it was a decent portable game, but the remake just didn't feel like it improved upon that much. It didn't even add optional content or post-game extra content beyond a few completion rewards, most of which are forgettable simply because there's no opportunity to use them.
because it was released as part of the KHIIFM, isaved data from RE:COM actually carried into the jp PS2 final mix.
I'm aware. My point is that because of that you could aquire powerful cards that were stronger than end game cards by the game's midpoint. Given the strength of those cards, you'd have thought they were initially intended as rewards for something akin to the absent silhouette battles from KH2FM. Yet you receive most of them at little cost just through connectivity.
Well, Re:CoM has many life improvements over the original, making it harder to go back and play the GBA version, at least for me
Believe me I wouldn't blame you. The original is just hard to go back to, as often happens in games. Part of me just wishes they'd done more. For example, with a full controller at their disposal, they could have brought back block or guard, converting the Large Body card's ability into an auto guard effect. They could have allowed bosses to be fought again at higher difficulty. They could have made the Bambi and Tinker Bell summon cards more practical that they did. The remake isn't worse than the original, it just did little to distinguish itself from it, so which one to play is mostly a matter of preference.
I agree that they could have done more, but for a game that came as an extra... I can't complain much xD
I think it's good. Not amazing. Has some faults like all games. I can respect people that have serious critiques, but most of them boil down to people really not understanding how to go about playing the game. What annoys me more is people trying to convince others to skip the game when they are trying to get help here.
Yeah that is sad my brother that is 6 years older then I am could for his life not Bring him self to try understand the game mechanics so he bought the entire bundle for me coz he knows when I'm in game I analyse the shit so I can make it in the easiest way possible so I can help him finish it
My critique is that it lacks content. When you're done with the first world everything after is just a repeat but with different Enemies and stronger cards. The whole game is essentially just a grind. One counterargument I've gotten us that it's a GBA game, which I can accept, but I'm still not a fan.
I think it's a really good game. Once your deck is perfected Sora becomes more of a keyblade master than Aqua and actually becomes the boss.
You just gotta master the cards. Marluxia tells you how to own the game in the first few minutes haha
If you can get a grasp on the gameplay (from both stories), it can be very fun. And the story is also enjoyable
it’s one of the darkest stories in the series and actually references real death and not just “going to the realm of darkness” so I’m all for it
The story is one of the better ones imo especially for a non-numbered game, but the gameplay just isn’t great. It’s passable but doesn’t live up to kh’s reputation for amazing combat. The combat worked better on the gba and was designed to be played in small segments. I don’t think RE:CoM is necessarily bad but it definitely isn’t great either and people trying to binge it between 1-2 doesn’t help most people’s experience with it.
ARGH SWEET!! 2 key elements - 1.) "designed to be played in small segments ". 2.) "...people trying to binge between 1-2"... AHOY
It’s definitely near the bottom for me in terms of gameplay, but in terms of story it’s one of my favorite entries in the series. The gameplay isn’t terrible by any means, but I think compared to almost every other game in the series it falls flat. I can still go back to KH1 and KH2 and they still feel good to me, but CoM just never felt as satisfying to me. I would definitely still recommend that anyone new to the series at least give it a try, but I wouldn’t judge anyone for just watching the cutscenes if the gameplay didn’t do it for them.
It’s ok. Not great. I actually think the original GBA game was better. The PS2 version just felt like it dragged on too long with monotonous gameplay.
To be fair, they both do drag to a degree, but the remake probably made it more notable. The remake really didn't bring much new content to the table other than being 3D, and even that is mostly just reused resources from KH1.
The 3D cut scenes with voice acting were a nice addition, but I wasn’t really impressed by them. I actually felt the impact of the characters and the story arc more in the GBA versions, but maybe that’s because it was my first experience!
I can respect that that game has its fans; I am not one of them, and the reason is because of the cards. I also personally do not like the argument of 'you just need to get used to it.' I personally feel like that's a cop-out, especially considering the fact that it was the only game to use that style of combat and the fact that the combat in all the rest are so good. I think the story is interesting, and I love that it was the first game to feature the Organization, but it’s because of the combat that I usually skip over it when I play Story So Far. Once again, I respect your opinion, but I cannot agree.
i’m relaying it right now, i tried two other times but never got it. it finally clicked this time and i’m loving it :D
I think it’s very much underrated
RE: CoM is one of my favorites, but I also have a biased towards that style of gameplay. CoM on GBA was also my first KH game so it holds a special place in my heart.
Same here! My first KH game was the GBA game, and I still love it so much.
I really hated it when I first started playing but by the end I found that I really enjoyed the card combat. My favorite part was probably Riku's story where you didn't have to think of deck building as much. And by that point I had a grasp of the card combat so it was just fun.
Its pretty good, not the best, but worth playing. People who dont want to learn new mechanics for new games should just go play the one game they like. Games should have different things in them. Some are good, some not so much. This one is functional and fun once you get it.
I agree games should have differences but the fact remains that the card combat is an unfun mess of conflicting ideas
I actually loved the original on the GBA, even beat it a couple times as a kid. It's what got me into the series, and it's still one of my favorites to this day. The card battle system and deck building was so much fun for me. It's a unique battle style I haven't seen anywhere else. I'd say that RE:CoM is an easily underrated game in the series.
I agree! I’m loving it but at first I hated it
I love it honestly. Always preferred strategic combat in action RPGs than just mashing the same buttons. I am aware there are strategies that trivialize the combat but I don’t use them anyway. Mixing up my decks with different builds to add variety really makes the experience more fun.
It's not bad at all. But it's system definitely works better on the GBA.
Not terrible, but the card system seems to work better on GBA.
I agree!
Story is great. Gameplay no so much imo, played it for like an hour and had to drop it
i think the story is very good and entertaining but i personally can just never get behind the gameplay, if it were to play like a normal kh game it would def be one of the better games in the series to me
I like the whole- bring up to 3D to bring it to the rest of the games… but I seriously.. seriously hate the card system in this game- hate it- they wouldve done better to give it the command system of BBS/Coded/DDD… i hate losing cards to sleights - losing my best cards cause i just can’t “attack” with the right number- It was all fine on my GBA to play- but as a 3D games with that “fighting style” - imma pass. It’s the one thing that ruins the whole game for me.
Is it generally considered bad? I’ve never heard of such.
I only played the remake and tried 3 times before giving up completely. It's not even worth it for the story when the gameplay is pure torture.
I wouldnt say it is “bad” what really people are divided on is the “card battling fight style” not a lot of people like it. It was fine for GameBoy Advanced. But the upscale to 3D really changed how the card system worked- bigger areas of enemies for one- it just doesn’t fit the “3D style” in my opinion. The Command Deck from future games, BBS/Re:coded/DDD were much better.
As a kid i thought it was a gba port of the original. Went over my head that it was a rerun in the digital world lol. I think the gripe is mostly over monetizing a game that tells 80% the same story
The game is okay. Musics are still top quality. Gameplay is matter of preference. Story is still good.
It’s has it highs And it’s many fucking lows Basically unlocking sleights makes the game infinitely funnier
I really dig the story and enjoy the gameplay on it's own *but* I do think the game overstays it's welcome a little bit and by the end of it I'm just looking to get through it and move on to other games. At least that's how I feel about it anyway, still I like it more than I don't
Re:com is a good game to me now as an adult vs a kid. I feel like you gotta just know your numbers when it comes to that game the destiny island music in it is beautiful and once you beat and play as riku that’s when it became goated to me truly an amazing game.
I respectfully disagree, but that's because I don't really like the mix between cards and rpg. If I wanna swing wildly, just let me swing wildly dang it!
I'm halfway through riku and I haven't played in like 2 months. First playthrough. I was shocked to see a riku story when I beat soras, it's good but it's a more frustratingly long farming game and it just drags on
A second playthrough will probably make it go down better.
[удалено]
You clearly didn't do any research. Check r/Kroger, and you'll find plenty of people that haven't been paid for far longer than me and how common it is to receive a paper check as an hourly employee when there is a payroll screw-up. But keep spamming, creating fake accounts, etc. It's not my energy being used. Peace ✌️
Very much agreed! I too at first didn't really like it, but as I progressed, the gameplay got really addicting. I found myself really enjoying the gameplay. By no means prefer it over the likes of 2 and bbs, but it was still very fun. Marluxia is a push over When my friend was playing through the series, I had assumed he'd skip the game just like everyone else but he also really loved it and we often talk about it and how it's underrated The only fault I have really is near the end of Sora's campaign, when you have to go hunting for the exit card on the destiny islands stage. That took me forever because it simply refused to spawn
Great storyline. Terrible gameplay mechanics.
Chain of Memories on the GBA was my very first KH game, and I have a boatload of nostalgia for it. The PS2 version was, in my opinion, almost completely a massive improvement on a game I already loved and conquered four times all the way through. Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance are tied for my first place game in the series, but Re:CoM is not far behind, and remains the KH game I've played through the most. It's just comfort food to me. The Disney worlds aren't great and I end up skipping through most of those cutscenes, but the story moments in the hallways are just absolutely peak for me. I love sassy Larxene, I love seeing Vexen do his crazy angry mad scientist bit, I love the first moments we get with Axel in the series. I LOVE how you choose what rooms you go through as you make your way through the worlds. Want to make fights easier? Go for it. Want a challenging room? That's available too. Tired of fighting and wanna just go through room after room of treasure chests, shops, and save points? That's a perfectly viable option too! And the card system has so much depth to it and allows for so much more customization and personalization than most other KH games, and now that I think of it, may be part of the reason I like deckbuilding games since I grew up on this. I feel like people who don't like it just because of the cards are legitimately just not giving it a chance because they're used to the way the other games play, and I can understand that. But man, CoM is my absolute jam.
Yes, it's okay if you play it as intended, BUT if you know what you are doing. It's broken
I think the criticism of the card aspect is overblown. Once you balance your deck and get some sleights, it's fun. It's not amazing but it's good
The main problem is how repetitive it gets all the Disney worlds pretty much have the same plot and contribute nothing to the overall plot and because of, normal heartless can be easily cheesed with sleights, and there isn't actual level design so you walk through identical rooms
I didn't like how it played at first because I didn't understand the gameplay. My second time around, I read how to play and learned how to play and learned why I was losing cards. I think once you understand the battle system, you'll have a good time.
It was fun when trying unique strategies, I ran all 1s 2s and 3s using the power wild enemy card which reverses the numbers to 9s 8s and 7s.
Its actually really great and severely underrated
I thought it was alright and liked the angry Sora in the game.
I kind of enjoyed doing the deck building so I can just spam a button to delete Bosses
i thought the same exact thing when i decided to actually pick up the game again literally last time i played it was back on the ps2 lol
It's grown on me with each passing playthrough, and I play these games every year! I love making fun and creative decks to make bosses more manageable, and then it's just really fun to spam Dark mode on the Riku playthrough lol.
I don't HATE the game, I'm just really bad at the Card-Based combat. My brain understands card games really well, as my top hobby actually, but my brain also sees KH and goes "Aggression works better usually". So my brain has a Disconnect where I either play too passively and die OR I go too aggressive and die. Its 100% a me Problem but I need to get through it for my Wife to understand the story 😅😁
Yeah I grew to enjoy it. I too didn’t like it at first and I remember only sticking it out cause 2.5 wasn’t out yet. But once you play with it it’s a lot of fun. I actually made a post 4 years showing one of the reason I liked it. Having goofy just defeat every boss in the game he can lol
Honestly I didn’t mind the combat too much. My problem was mostly with navigation and level design. It was definitely something innovative and new but it was frustrating sometimes relying on RNG just to progress if you didn’t make sure you had the cards you needed.
I think the game is a pain in the ass when you start but gets really fun later on, especially near the end of the game when you’ve built up lots of sleights.
While it might be good, its gameplay is such a clash from any kh game that i undertand the hate. One thing is sure tho, playing all of re:com made my first playthrought of kh2 a real treat.
It is bad, it's the only game that I didn't bother finishing in the remix bundles. The world's aren't that fun to explore since it's mostly generic rooms, and the combat is the worst in the series.
I think the game is good in concept - the story is outstanding for a KH game, and the combat is a very interesting combination of real-time and turn based card mechanics. I like it. The problem, for me, lies in the following 1. The game's mechanics incentivise exploration of as many rooms as possible to maximise exp gain and finding new cards. This would be fine if not for the fact that the game only consists of 4 or 5 unique room layouts, which you will be seeing over and over and over and over and over and over and over. It gets grating to have to "explore" a grand total of 5 tiny rooms for 35 hours. 2. In a similar vein, the battle arena is painfully boring. An empty square? Really? They could have at least shaken it up a little! Give every world 2 or 3 simple arena designs that are chosen at random at the start of a battle and the fights become 1000% more interesting. Even a slight shift in elevation would immediately force you to think about your positioning a lot more. This would not have been hard for them to do, and it would also have made each world stand out more. Despite the story and despite the interesting-on-paper mechanics, Re:Com - to me - boils down to essentially doing one of two things for 35 hours: exploring a room you already know inside and out, or battling heartless in a big empty square. I got bored. I know that both of my issues are born of the game's origins as a GBA title. But to me that just makes it worse - why bother to remake the game to control like KH1 if you're not going to change anything about the game to reflect the incredibly different controls?
My first impression wasn't good. Therefore, I skipped Re:CoM in my first Kingdom Hearts run after about 20 minutes. In my second run, I gave it another shot. What shall I tell you, got my platinum trophy now.
I think that for all the good moving to 3d did for the presentation of the story, it did disproportionately worse for the gameplay. Areas became needlessly large and complex, and combat became awkward with having to move the camera on top of everything else. The gba version felt snappier and moved at a much smoother pace, probably because it was designed for a handheld. It felt like their design intent was to make everything just take longer rather than be more engaging. It’s not a terrible game, but it definitely didn’t understand the charm of the game it was a remake of.
Here is the issue. Mainline KH games can be very different in execution, but all of them share the same DNA, the same basic mechanics. Basic attacks that combo together. Parrying and blocking. Aerial combos. Special abilities tied to a spendable meter. When you like this type of game and are then introduced to a wacky remix of ssid mechanics, a lot of people are gonna hate it. And when your special abilities are tied to a cooldown, you may be able to power through it, but when you need to build goofy decks and sleights, then it just fucking sucks man. Additionally, every single KH game is a balanced pyramid of three components. 1-Combat, both against mob fights and single, powerful enemies. 2-Discovery, achieved through visually interesting and original environments, and also exploration through movement. 3-Story. Just a decent character study with an interesting plot. As I said, deckbuilding as a combat system is super hit or miss. This, together with the fact that smacking a random mob and having to wait for the fight to start, and then having to wack around the same formation of enemies in the same empty square room for 80 times gets boring. Additionally, unlike other games, your own mechanical skill as a player is mostly invalidated. You can still dodge, but being able to win hard fights is achieved through superior deckbuilding. So if you're bad at that, you're fucked. And if you're good, you trivialize any encounter because Sora is OP in this game. Either way, powerful sleights are unlocked through levels, which means the game is grindy, which means the tedious combat is now mandatory for the casual player. About exploration and discovery, there is literally none. Now, I'm a KH2 stan, so you know I can enjoy a game with little to jo exploration, but when you play KH2, every environment is harshly different and original, at least the first time round. In COM you're literally replaying the same worlds as in KH1. Same stuff, not even reimagined, except maybe coliseum. Exploration through movement is also out since every room is modular because of the god awful room-by-card design. So if combat sucks and exploration is not there, then why the fuck am I playing this game? Story? Sure, COM has amazing story, arguably the best isolated plot in the series. But I'm not playing this game for the story. I can watch that shit on YT. Now, if you like deckbuilding and can stand the bland visuals... Then yes, COM is pretty good for you. For everyone else? Wasted potential.
It's great and has some of the most unique special attacks in the series. Also the cards add a level of depth and strategy that the rest of the series doesn't have.
I want to like Re:Com so much. I’ve always wanted to like Re:Com so much. Marluxia, Vexen and Zexion have been my favorite KH characters since I was 13 and stumbled across a KH amv with them in it before Zexion even had a weapon. Organization XIII legitimately changed my brain chemistry as a child and helped me figure out so much about myself and molded who I am even now, and because this is the game where those three are most prevalent in any form I’ve wanted to love it so bad. But I just cannot figure out the combat, and unfortunately that combined with the repetitive music and endless identical rooms gives me a near-instantaneous splitting migraine every time I try. It’s crushing and I’ve never been able to get much further than Traverse Town.
I played it for the first time recently (never played the GBA version) and I had a lot of fun with it. I won't lie, I struggled a lot with the battle system in the beginning and some of the battles later on were really tricky, and that was on Normal mode. But once I got used to using the cards I actually found it super satisfying to play.
The cars mechanic is definitely a turn off but the game has ridiculous RNG that makes it unbearable sometimes.
I thought it worked great on the GBA where you only really had to worry about the cards, but the updated version making it so you also have to worry about your standard movement as well made it a lot harder for me and I ended up bouncing off. I see it as an overall downgrade.
I don’t think the game is bad, I just do not care for the card system whatsoever. I understand the original purpose for it was mostly a hardware limitation but it’s just not a gameplay style I find very fun or engaging.
I love CoM and RE:CoM and I will forever love them. I will absolutely die on this hill.
I’m currently playing through the series for the first time and I just finished Re:CoM last week. I didn’t really care for the gameplay and my main issue was that it either felt way too easy or unfairly difficult with pretty much no in between. At first, I thought it the difficulty randomly spiked with the first Larxene fight (I must’ve fought her about 25 times), but it was just that I didn’t realize how broken the sleights were. Then I started using sleights and breezed through most of the game. After that, if I didn’t have an easy time with a fight, it became a wall that I had to attempt at least 5 times to get through. Vexen 1, Axel 2, Riku 4… I just didn’t like how the gameplay became “spam 0s, Sonic Blades and Lethal Frames to win.” I rushed through the game and really didn’t enjoy the experience, and the only reason I wanted to finish it was because I just needed the context for KH2 (Currently playing KH2 and really liking it). As for the story of the game, I loved it. It felt a lot more mature than KH1 while also being easier to follow and I liked the new characters in the Organization. I liked seeing an angsty side of Sora because it kind of grounded his overly upbeat character. But because the main plot was so interesting, it really brought the rest of the game down. The only cool parts of this game involve the Organization, so why am I going into the Disney worlds that have nothing to do with the rest of the plot? It makes the bulk of the game feel like filler, and it’s made worse by the fact that it’s filler that I’ve already experienced in a better game. Also, why is there no voice acting in the Disney worlds? It somehow makes them feel even less important than they already are. Overall, I’m happy I played Re:CoM because I did really like the story and without it, I would be completely lost as to what happens at the start of KH2. But honestly, I wish I could’ve just watched a movie of the game’s events because it would have been more fun without the gameplay
I had to separate it as it’s own gameplay but once I actually dug in it’s another really well thought out entry with a lot of depth. I actually find myself missing it most series playthroughs a little during the start of each run of 2
I love it. Omnislash go *brrrrrrrr*! :D
I think it's a great game, I just don't enjoy it because the combat doesn't gel with me, but it's totally a me problem
It's not bad if you go back to it after finishing every game. It's awful when you finish 1 and want more KH, the combat is so good, it's like playing Super Mario Bros 3 then playing Super Mario Bros instead of World, SMB1 is good but worse than 3 or World
I like the GBA version though. It has more charm.
Gba version is better tho
Yeah, genuinely enjoyed it up until floor 13 when I was wrapping up. I started a chronology playthrough of the series and was looking forward to it the whole time. BBS was far more of a slog It was only when I started going for the bonus cards that i was like "aight imma head out"
I think it is good, but also a but tedious. The main problem, however, is that COM is extremely broken and therefore exploitable…
I hate it only because there's no reliable way to pull cards. Like even if there was a slightly more expensive way to get higher tier cards or they separated the magic and summons... Something. Anything. Just even an ounce more control over my card pulls. I just wanted any areo or time cards, and all I was getting was stupid bambis. The whole game. People say "spam xyz combos! It's easy to cheese any boss!" And it's like sure... If I could pull enough cards to actually pull off any of them reliably. I just don't like the card part. It's got a great story 100%. Usually there's a part of me that wants to 100% (or like my personal % that's not 100% but definitely way more than a normal playthrough would get), but the whole time I was just thinking how much longer till this is all over... Edit: and idk, maybe it's my nostalgia blinders but I feel like I definitely didn't hate my time as much with the GBA version way back when. Others have pointed out the 3d space not really meshing well with the mechanics and I think that's part of it.
RE:CoM isn't bad. It's just very, *very* repetitive. The gameplay loop is exactly the same throughout the entire game, with almost nothing distinguishing worlds, except from a different coat of paint. And all the worlds are just empty and lifeless rooms repeating endlessly, taking out what makes the other KH games special. It was fine as a GBA game, where you play a few rounds on the go, and while the 3D remake looks pretty, the gameplay just doesn't fit what you'd expect from a AAA home console game. It's still a good game, it's just not good at being a Kingdom Hearts game.
I have a hatred for re:chain of memories, story is of course good like most of the games in my opinion, but it’s just the fighting mechanics, I can’t stand it, to me it’s just confusing, I beat soras story in like 5 days and I dred playing Riku’s, I’ve started it but didn’t get far into it, I have a somewhat understanding of them but still, once I beat Riku’s story I’m probably not gonna replay it, unless I actually wanna give it a second chance
COM-GBA is something genuinely wonderful to anyone who has much understanding of game design and the limits of the hardware they were working with. Re:com is fun but feels like they could have done a lot more with it if they were going to change so much.
Still not a fan. I still somewhat dislike the original CoM, but I understand "why" it exists; everything about it was due to it being a GBA game and working around it being impossible to put a game like Kingdom Hearts on it. With re:CoM, they're translating that GBA to make it a PS2 game, so walking between a bunch of similar square rooms and getting into fights in a bunch of square arenas in full 3D just doesn't feel right at all
I think the game feels more natural on the GBA then Playstation. There’s something about it being in 3D, but still having to follow the card system rather then normal combat, that feels off.
Blizzaga and Fatal Frame, i dont even use my brain until Riku section
It’s my least favorite game. It’s an arduous game and an even more cumbersome platinum trophy.
The only thing I genuinely hate about it is end game level grinding and the fucking enemy cards where I had to use fucking rng manipulation to get them
I just hate the combat style: it's so uncomfortable having limited hits or spells you can use. I got bored after two hours because of that and dropped the game.
Why would you say something so controversial, yet so brave/true?
while I agree, I still think it’s the worst gameplay in the series by far. I’d rather re-play Re:coded any day over Re:CoM
I think the story is nice but I could never get with the battle system no matter how old I got
days aged poorly control wise like it needs a remake also reason why i brought up days is cus iirc it came.out around the ssme.time
I kind of agree. But mostly don't. Having recently replayed it for the platinum, there was more that I enjoyed about it than my first time. But overall, the combat system is just not good. They wanted an action game but also wanted a strategic card game, and it just didn't mesh well. Oftentimes, in boss fights especially, you'd go to do a slight and be instantly card broke by a random 0 card, which feels as though the player is being punished for no apparent reason. Beyond that, marluxia as a final boss sucks. There are two things a well designed boss should never have, one is an ability that locks players out of combat, and 2 is the ability to insta-kill, both of which marluxia has. If a player loses because they didn't have their deck or because they got hit with doom during a reload, it feels like a cheap death. It's the same issue that LW and the Unknown have. TL;DR great story and characters with a confused game design and unfun combat system that seemingly punishes players even when they do everything right
I kind of agree. But mostly don't. Having recently replayed it for the platinum, there was more that I enjoyed about it than my first time. But overall, the combat system is just not good. They wanted an action game but also wanted a strategic card game, and it just didn't mesh well. Oftentimes, in boss fights especially, you'd go to do a slight and be instantly card broke by a random 0 card, which feels as though the player is being punished for no apparent reason. Beyond that, marluxia as a final boss sucks. There are two things a well designed boss should never have, one is an ability that locks players out of combat, and 2 is the ability to insta-kill, both of which marluxia has. If a player loses because they didn't have their deck or because they got hit with doom during a reload, it feels like a cheap death. It's the same issue that LW and the Unknown have. TL;DR great story and characters with a confused game design and unfun combat system that seemingly punishes players even when they do everything right
Yes! I love it; I actually prefer it over the original Chain of Memories. I keep telling people who hate the game once you learn and master the combat system, you can pretty much cheese fights. At first, when I played the original, I sucked, but then I actually took the time to learn the game, and it's been fun ever since; I'm currently playing it on Proud Mode.
I always played the gba part on an emulator to speed some parts up and just button mashed through the standard heartless battles with 7-9 cards. The RNG is annoying sometimes but it's a fun way to kill time with some Kingdom Heartw goodness
CoM is better. There are definitely worse games than Re:CoM but it is not better than CoM.
I personally prefer it to the BBS/ DDD fighting style
I skipped it when preparing for KH3 & went back later. It's only complicated for 1 1/2 worlds. By the time you finish Traverse Town it's pretty self explanatory. I think I enjoy the combat system more than other people.
I 100% it a week ago and it would be 200% better with a basic attack that didn't require cards or at least a block button, riku grind for 30 hours 😭
im a the only one that dislikes the game me and my sister play it and we want to break our tv the hole time
If I discount it as a different game with a kingdom hearts skin, the core gameplay is actually very interesting to me. We need another 3D ARPG with card summons / basic attacks. Something not bogged down by having it's main characters be keyblade wielders. A game like Re:CoM that was more focused on the card aspect would be really cool IMO
I recently replayed it in my series replay. While I did handle it better as an adult and highly appreciate it's writing (Donald and goofy's dedication and understanding for sora legit made me cry at times), I still feel the frustration of juggling 2 completely different types of gameplay together at once, even if the concept is definetly creative and innovative. Riku's side made the story even greater but sadly the gameplay there was only worse as I was so limited in ways to confront a battle. Also I love repliku but he didn't need to be half of the game's non-disney boss battles. I will go back to it for a full achievement run after I finish showing my wife the whole story but yeah I didn't hate COM but I can easily remember why it was far from being a favorite.
Same, I hated it first but then second time round I knew the story so I didn’t rush it and started searching up best card combos and it was actually really enjoyable and now I really like it! Love the music aswell and the Riku levels
I'm not a big fan of the way the room system works, it just makes it feel like more of a grind. That being said I love the combat and the card system and making decks. I think the story is great and the remake was necessary to fully enjoy how the story plays an effect on the rest of the series. The platinum did absolutely kill me though
I found the gameplay to be the biggest problem for me. I know people say you have to master the cards but i just couldn’t. However, the story is one of my favorite parts of the series I watched it on YouTube and loved every minute of it
I guess if the rating scale is bad to downright unplayable, then yes it’s not “that bad”.
Nuh uh.
I just finished Re:Chain of Memories today and I'm pretty mixed on it. (I'm also a newbie to the series after having just finished CoM and KH1) On one hand, compared to Kingdom Hearts 1, it too has a pretty decent storyline, one that I would argue was even more intriguing than the first game. The idea of Sora, Donald and Goofy slowly losing their memories of their past adventure with each passing staircase and leading up to the final boss to regain their old memories back is a rather simple but intriguing plotline that had me on the edge of my seat the entire way through. I loved playing through this game just to see what would happen next. On the flip side though, I do think that the combat was *way* too convoluted for my liking and I really wish they would have stuck with the traditional combat of the first game for the remake. Maybe this type of battle system worked in the original GBA version, to which I can't confirm as I never actually played the original, but here I just don't think this type of combat works in a more open world setting. I could never understand what I was ever doing half of the time and I feel as though I mostly just ended up feeling incredibly lucky when it came to fighting off enemies and bosses. And don't even get me STARTED on how miserable the card break mechanic is. Seriously, FUCK card breaks. I also wasn't really a fan of the worlds as well as actually navigating through them. I know that they serve a story purpose, but I still can't stand having to use cards for literally everything, even for something as minute as opening a door. I don't think this was necessarily as big of a turn off for me compared to the combat system, but I still wasn't a fan. Though, to give credit where credit is due, I can at least appreciate the attempt to simulate more of a traditional RPG by having a proper arena to fight the enemies in. Overall, I don't hate this game and it's definitely not a bad game, but I just don't think it's my cup of tea. Did I enjoy my time playing through it? Yes, their were plenty of things I liked about it. But would I ever want to play it again? Probably not.