I played both games in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 2.8 collection, starting with Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage on PS4 at the Tokyo Game Show. And if that's not its real name, well, fuck, I tried (kind of).
My demo started me at midnight, except no, time suddenly jumped forward five hours. Striking clock cogs around the area turned the clock back by an hour, which for some reason also repaired the road quite a bit. I…guess the road fell apart over a period of five hours? This road appeared my only way to The Fuck Out of Town, leading to a castle in the distance, where I wanted to go because castle.
The intro cutscene was unskippable, which is problematic in a demo but maybe not for one's first play through a game. It's just that, at TGS, I like to trim the fat. I figure I can watch footage of this shit later and get the cutscenes, but when my hands are on it, I want as much control time as possible, you know?
I will take what is mine.
Abilities were handed out gradually, because Square Enix like to treat everyone like a first-timer, even at trade shows and even with sequels, but hey. Still. Many of Aqua's classic skills were back, including Shot Lock and numerous magic spells. She handled much like she did in the original Birth by Sleep, which is fine, because that's the best Kingdom Hearts game in every way.
Different fighting styles have returned. With Magic Wish, I was able to stick my blade out and spin around with the speed of a lawn mower and all the ferocity of a bigger, stronger lawn mower. Gears. Cogs. Fuck 'em up. I will take what is mine.
Of course, it looked gorgeous. Details on the stones, the wood, and everything else looked fitting to the current generation, rather than looking like it should have been a PS3 game. Because PS3 games are gross and we never liked them, right? But yeah, since time and space were frozen — because fuck time and space, I will take what is mine — that means shattered remnants of buildings were frozen in the air. Eerie sights like a fountain whose water is unmoving or stones from crumbling buildings suspended in mid air mixed well with the low lighting, giving 0.2 all the atmosphere a game could want.
During some movements, Aqua's sudden speed make her look janky as fuck. That was my only beef with control or presentation. Something just felt off at times. Like running was fine, but then as soon as she'd jump, whoa, it was like the animation moved too quickly or… I dunno, maybe this was part of their time skip thing. Come to think of it, she reminded me of Tracer in Overwatch, the way she'd move during some of those jumps.
I never noticed that the top over Aqua's outfit is a little more sheet than the bottom. Thanks, PlayStation 4.
Oh wait I forgot to talk about Dream Drop Distance HD:
It has all the awkward control of the 3DS game, but now with PS3 graphics and a PS4 price tag. Wow!
