naut

@rjejr "I didn't really like 2 as much as one, and I think the lead protagonist was one of the reasons why"

Not trying to sling accusations because maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but if you think Roxas is the lead protagonist of KH2 then you've only played KH2 for about 2 hours or less. The lead protagonist of KH2 is Sora — You only play as Roxas for the first couple hours.

Also the ".5's" and such are only confusing if you pretend they are lol. The games have been remade into HD releases, that's what I'm trying to tell you. The collections are called "1.5" and "2.5" respectively. All they are are HD collection packs. One has one half of the games, the other has the other half of the games. Very simple. So all you need to do is buy two disks and you instantly have every game in series thus far. Not complicated whatsoever.

@rjejr It's not as bad as you think. And they're good games so who cares. If you want to get the story the "quick way" you could just pick up 1.5 HD Remix and 2.5 HD Remix. Buying those two packages will net you KH1, KH2, Re:CoM, and BBS — With Days and Coded being relegated to cutscene collections. Then you pick up 2.8 this Winter and you're good to go. Most KH games are usually only a little over 30 hours — So playing four of them basically amounts to like one Persona game. So it's not really a big deal at all. Plus they're amazing.

While I do think Days is 100% worth playing, some people may not be able to stomach going back to a standard DS game, so I guess there isn't that much shame in doing the HD cutscenes in 1.5 — I just love Days lol.

Also in reference to @Riririn, I'd play through them in release order. So the only change I'd make to his list is swapping the position of KH2 and Days.

@Riririn @rjejr You really need to play them all to fully understand the story. Days in incredibly important as well as CoM. The only one that you could just read a summary on is Coded. It's not so great.

@Napples Lol the group of people like you who whine about the non-numerical releases are the casual fans that no one cares about. Every game in the KH series (save maybe Coded) is a high-quality title with amazing story and character development. People who refuse to bother with them and just scream, "I WANT MUH MICKEY AND MUH HEARTLESS KILLIN ON MUH CONSOLE AND I WANT IT NAO" probably don't even have a clue about the story or characters which is essentially the core of KH.

@rjejr Can't speak for you on which games you like/don't like, but KH3 is a wrap-up to the story. Nomura said he may possibly make other KH games in the future, but they'll be pretty dissociated with the "Sora & Co." story-line (aka The Xehanort Saga).

Looking amazing! Back Cover looks like a darn movie!

@ScreamAimFire99 Since when is having a single-player campaign a requirement in order to be good? The game isn't designed to be an SP experience. If they stuffed one in it would be clunky, makeshift, and dull. It'd be like saying League and Dota suck because they have no singe player, even though no one in their right mind would ever want to play against bots for 10 hours.

Excellent review! Definitely the best shooter I've played in a looong time.

@LordRedwood24 Yeah I'd say the PC is a superior multiplayer gaming platform in essentially every other imaginable aspect but yeah — Hacking is a problem for sure. A lot of companies have it under control pretty well, though, it seems. Valve, Blizzard, Riot, etc.

@artemisthemp Don't really fear that. More like the hackers in Dark Souls 3 on PC that can actually purposely bug others' stats out and get them VAC-banned.

Love it! Only worry I would have is the occasional false accusation, but I'm sure there's a way to plead your case in cases like that.

"Chewbacker."

Good stuff! Glad to see the canon issue answered clearly--Sad to see they're still dodging the "family friendly" issue. Anyone can see that they've gone soft in their writing over the years. Probably at the whim of Sony wanting the series to sell to more "families."

Awesome vid. Maybe I'll actually have to try these games sometime!

@get2sammyb I feel like discussing why it was cut is discussing the topic at hand lol.

@get2sammyb Nothing wrong with what he said. The SJW movement is a real thing and it's detriment to the industry is just as real. This is a super minor thing, but it wouldn't be surprising if the reason it was cut was because they were terrified of possible outrage over a simple joke.

Again, not saying the cut actually matters, just saying it sucks that devs feel like they can't have any fun without the risk of being shredded to pieces by SJWs.

I've really liked it so far! To be fair, I'm a sucker for RPG elements.

@DominicanGlory Except that it's completely snarky and prejudiced — Not objective whatsoever. Other than that, yeah it's fine.

That's some real fine objective, non-prejudiced journalism right there!

There's been extensive coverage of this game and two betas. I think anyone who's interested in the game should know at this point whether it's for them or not. If you really need the numerical stamp of approval from a critic at this point to make your decision, I feel like that's pretty sheep-y.

It's a balance. In RPGs, especially, if you just fast travel everywhere sometimes you can become under-leveled because you've just skipped all the potential EXP. But if you ask me, games typically go a pretty good job of making fast-travel points a matter of convenience and not a way to miss content.

I hate Xenoblade Chronicles X (seriously, go play the original) but I have to admit that fast travel is done pretty nicely in there. You have to actually travel on foot to set up the probes that allow you to fast travel, and once you do that you also get information on what secret areas or extra missions might be around the area. Because of that, you always kind of know what there is to do around and area, and thus fast traveling hither and yon doesn't really feel like too big a risk.

I noticed too, in the beta for The Division, that yes--You can fast travel from point to point, or even to a player. But that map also shows all the events and side-quests taking place around the area. So generally, you can see before you fast travel whether walking to a point would be a profitable experience or a general waste of time.

Different games have different answers to the question, I feel.

Americans — No love.

I hope so! It's been forever since I've been hyped for a shooter!

All they need to do is have dual audio. Problem solved, quality ensured.

@ShogunRok As I recall, they never once used the term "episodic." They said "multiple entries" which is a perfectly normal thing to say when speaking of sequels. >_< Episodic was a term coined by the gaming press--Particularly Kotaku from what I saw.

I felt like this was pretty obvious from the start. Don't understand why people flipped.

Next gen, boyyyyyy

Good review — Never could get into the original Spyro. Maybe 2 or 3 would be more to my liking.

Agreed. I like a good open-world romp every once in a while--But more often then not, I just like a good, solid sense of progression. With backlogs as big as they are these days, it's hard to shred through piles of enormous, open-world titles.

Instead of making a parody of 90s-era shooters, I wish someone would make a really nice, high-quality 90s-era-style shooter.

Gold.

Shame the port is lazy, but I'd rather play the game on PS4 just for the sake of convenience. By the time I get around to this game, I'm sure it'll be cheaper on PS4 than it is now anyway.

@themcnoisy I used to play League for hours on end--But ever since I started working full time and got on a fixed schedule, I spend more of my free time playing Smash/single-player and tend to only play League on my days off.

@kyleforrester87 Smash Bros.? Never--League, yeah probably.

@kyleforrester87 I see what you're saying. It's just that I play Smash Bros. semi-competitively, and I like to play a decent bit of League of Legends as well. Throw in the single-player backlog and Destiny just doesn't fit.

@kyleforrester87 Really? When I played Destiny at launch for about 3 months, I found it impossible to play less than a hour-and-a-half/two hours. There's a lot of stuff to do. It's basically an MMO.

Don't really have the time to invest in the game, in general, unfortunately. Kind of one of those titles that, in order to get the most out of it, you have to dedicate all your playtime to. And there's just other stuff I'd rather play.

No idea what you're talking about--The PS4 has the worst UI of any major console in history. Lining up every icon in a straight line is the stupidest design choice I've ever seen. In any case, Sony needs to hire this guy and release an update.

ASADA-SAN

Haters can hate all day long — There's no way you can't be hyped after seeing this.

This looks super neat. I'm always down for local co-op games to play with my friends.

Think I'll pass judging off of the technical issues and questionable mechanics. Great review though!

@EyeDeeNO76 It's not games like that that are the popular ones. It's one built ground-up for the everyday smartphone-game consumer. I'm currently living in Japan, and I can tell you that the Japanese eat smartphone games up. One of the biggest ones right now is "School Idol Project," the LoveLive! game. It's a rhythm game, so all you need is some earbuds and a pair of thumbs--Perfect for the train or the bus, right?

You get these cards that allow you to add better girls to your group, but you can pay to up your chances of getting them, etc. etc. — A friend of mine told me he knows people who have spent hundreds on that game, just to get rare cards.

It sucks. It sucks to see people settling for that kind of stuff when there's phenomenal portable platforms available like the 3DS and Vita — I strut my stuff out and about wherever I go with both. All hope isn't lost, though. Basically everyone here has a 3DS, despite smartphone fever--Just yesterday I played Smash Bros. on 3DS with three other guys on a train.

Traditional gaming still lives. The mobile gaming market is just a tumor that needs to die.

If they can get that frame rate under control, I'll be happy. That was my biggest gripe with the demo. Wayyyyy too choppy.

@get2sammyb "intriguing but a teensy bit cheesy, we thought"

"We" as in "Sammy Barker." You're in the minority, bud.

I'd grab it for $20, methinks.

I'm a stickler for physical copies, but I do buy tons of digital stuff due to discounts. I mean, heck. If you're going to give me a 70% discount on a title, of course I'm going to snap it up--Digital or not.

@ToddlerNaruto I personally don't understand that decision because 99% of English dubs are absolutely atrocious. If you want to miss out on great games because you can't read subs that's your loss.

It's awful. The big dude sounds like Donkey Kong and the why in the heck would you give the others normal western dialect and then give the guy with the glasses an (terribad) English accent.

Just...Please. No. The issue is, no past FF game has had dual audio so I don't have high hopes that we'll get it. Even though, of course, there's no excuse to leave it out.

@Godsire- I did some research, and you are right in the sense that 2&3 were never "remastered." The GCN release of the first game is full remake, and 2&3 are direct ports. But all I was trying to imply, as I said in comment #17, was that all three games were released for the GCN--Which they were. Instead of being a snarky jerk and saying I "wasn't even close to correct," you might have just educated me and said that "Only the first game is a remake, the other two are ports."

Actually, you were incorrect as well since you stated that "The other two RE games on GC were RE Zero & RE4." Even though 2&3 are ports, they are still games released on GCN, and are part of the library--In addition to Zero and RE4.

@DrJoeystein @Godsire- Yup! All three games were released for the Gamecube!