Summer Of Kingdom Hearts – Part 5 – Birth By Sleep Final Mix Review

I’ve been blessed over my time with The Outerhaven to not have played games where I felt “compelled to finish them” even though I didn’t want to. The only times I’ve felt “compelled to finish” is because I usually WANT to know the ending to a game so I can give a full analysis in my reviews. For my “Summer of Kingdom Hearts” series, I’ve been happy to finish each title and reflect on my experiences with them. However, that feeling is about to end in this Birth By Sleep Final Mix Review.

If you recall my review of KH2 Final Mix (apologies for calling it Final Remix!), you’ll recall I said it was the “high point” in the series. I even noted on a recent episode of the Nintendo Entertainment Podcast that I felt the series should’ve ended with it. After playing Birth By Sleep for the first time, I feel more justified in saying that. The game was not very fun, and there were multiple times I wanted to quit on principle alone.

If you didn’t know, Birth By Sleep is a prequel to everything that came before it, detailing the adventures of Aqua, Terra and Ventus as they unintentionally set into motion everything that has happened up to now. For the first time, you play as the three characters individually, and embark on similar yet different tales that weave together at key points and reveal how certain things came to pass.

At times, this was enjoyable to see unfold. For example, through them, we went to all-new worlds in the series, including the homes of Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and even got to see the early parts of Stitch’s story! Plus, because the three stories were told at “different times,” we got to view each world at different times and sequences, requiring you to play all three to understand how everything went down.

Easily one of the highlights of the game was the voice acting and sound design. Even with some bad actors (looking at you, Terra!), hearing the voices of Mark Hamill, Leonard Nimoy, and others coming together to tell this prequel tale was fun. Just as important, the background music for the game’s worlds was delightful. You’ll find yourself humming to them long after you stop playing, which I think is very fun.

Without a doubt, the biggest change to the game is the battle system. Birth By Sleep was made for the PSP before being transferred to consoles, so I guess they wanted to try something different. The problem was that they tried too hard, and things got incredibly convoluted very quickly.

Case in point, instead of having attacks on the ground and in the air and then learning new techniques as you go, you now have a “Command Deck.” You have a set of attacks you can program to your character, and then you level them up for a time and then swap them out with others you think might be better for your character. Once you use one of these Commands, they need time to recharge, so you have to be smart when using them.

While I don’t mind tactical gameplay, as I loved Chain of Memories back on the GBA, the way that this game did it frustrated me to no end. Why? Simply put, the more I struggled in the game the more I felt the game wanted me to play ITS way, instead of finding a way that best suited me. And then, I found out later that by using ‘certain abilities’ you could become overpowered very quickly, which is not right at all!

It didn’t help that when I noted to my NEP co-host Scott my struggles, he asked me about the “Melding System.” When I noted I didn’t use it, as the game didn’t realize emphasize a need to, he nervously laughed and stated I NEEDED to use it to better get through the game. I beat all three stories without melding once, and that kind of indicates how it wasn’t needed despite it being “so important” to boost stats and get new abilities. Again, the tutorial didn’t emphasize that I SHOULD do it, merely that I COULD do it. And it was easy to forget when considering everything else I had to remember in combat.

For example, each character had a special ranged attack that I barely used because in the heat of combat…I forgot it was there! Plus, there was the “special gauges” that would unlock special transformations and attacks for a short time, and then…there were the D-Links! These allowed you to borrow power from other characters and gain a new set of Commands until the D-Link gauge ran out.

When you’re fighting bosses and swarms of enemies called Unversed, it really gets annoying to try and remember all of this and then use it effectively. The reason I enjoyed Kingdom Hearts 2’s gameplay was that while it was repetitive, there were simple things that made it special, like the Limit Commands, the various Drive forms that Sora can use, the Summons, and so on. Those ADDED to your gameplay style without making everything feel too bogged down. Yet here, everything felt bogged down, and I felt like I was truly grinding through the game versus making my way through each world.

That lead to another issue with this game: the difficulty. There were times I was getting mobbed by Unversed and getting killed repeatedly despite being at a high level. In Olympus Coliseum, there are challenges with sometimes ridiculous time limits that I chose to skip for a time until I leveled up much higher than I needed to…and then it wasn’t a challenge anymore. The worst part was the boss fights. They were so difficult at times that I likened them to Dark Souls, which is not a comparison you should make in Kingdom Hearts until you’re on the highest difficulty levels, not the basic ones!

I was screaming in anger at some of the bull crap attacks and abilities that characters like Vanitas and Xehanort had and wondering how I could beat them. I even looked up guides to see how others did it to try and get another clue! My keyboard and mouse were getting spammed with commands to dodge because that was the easiest way to win…and it wasn’t easy in the slightest.

Sadly, my Birth By Sleep Final Mix Review isn’t going to get anymore positive. The reason being that the stories of Aqua, Terra and Ventus may START as something unique, but then it falls into prequelitis rather quickly and refuses to slow down. The game tries to connect itself to everything that’s happened after, and it doesn’t need to! It detracts from the core of the storyline more than once, and that leads to another key frustration: the characters.

While Aqua’s story is, to me, the best of the bunch, Terra’s and Ventus’ are frustrating to get through because they are terribly plotted, acted, and make no sense at times. For example, Terra is the “prototype” to Riku, as he struggles with the darkness. Unlike Riku, it’s not compelling in the slightest, because he’s being duped every step of the way and doesn’t seem to care. Riku was at least wise to know not to trust Maleficent, and wasn’t afraid of the darkness from the start. As for Ventus, they tried to separate him from Roxas and Sora…but then did everything to make it clear he WAS both…even though he came before both of them…so make that make sense.

It also doesn’t help that the game’s “secret episode,” which you unlock by being all three storylines (and keeping the save data!) is only used to further continue the prequel-style story and then tease the numerous games that came after. If you can’t stand on your own two feet, then what’s the point.

There are other things I could nitpick at here, but I think I’ve made my point clear. If Kingdom Hearts 2 was the peak of the series so far in this collection, then my Birth By Sleep Final Mix Review shows that this is the low point of the playable games. They tried to do too much instead of truly building on what the last main entry did. That wasn’t smart, and it showed.

Next up? Re: Coded! Sometimes tells me it won’t take long to get through…