I’m sure you’ve heard of Ultraman right? The famous tokusatsu series in Japan featuring an alien hero that fuses with a human to transform into a giant facing off against the monster of the week. But if you were expecting the same giant vs giant battles here you might be a bit disappointed.

First off the Netflix show is an anime that is actually based on a manga of the same name that acts a somewhat modernized sequel set in an alternate universe taking place after the original Ultraman. Ever since he was child Shinjiro Hayata was special. He’s stronger than regular humans, more durable and can even leap over large distances. When trying to save some schoolgirls from being accosted from delinquents he accidently breaks the leg of one them just by grabbing it.

Lamenting about his lack of control he is soon attacked by a mysterious Ultraman-like figure called Bemular. But Shinjiro is saved by his father Shin Hayata, who has the same power he has. There Shinjiro learns the truth, that his father was the original Ultraman. After Shinjiro is given an Ultraman-esque suit and drives Bemular away he is recruited into the Scientific Special Search Party (SSSP) where he goes out and hunts down dangerous aliens hiding within human society.

Now the first thing you’ll notice about this anime is that it’s all in CG. Now that alone isn’t a bad thing but it does make the human characters look a bit odd.

The Ultraman suit though looks much nicer in comparison. A more modern armored design in comparison to the classic spandex look.

The fight scenes are pretty good and well choreographed though there’s a heavy emphasis on using slo-mo to make the fights more dramatic. The motion-capture actors did a real good job with the fight scenes.

But in my opinion the biggest drawback in this anime is the absence of giant monster fights. Now to be fair the manga this is based on does not have any giant monster fights in it either but it is still quite disappointing as that was one of the draws of the Ultraman series, seeing Ultraman and the giant monster of the week duke it out with Ultraman having the time-limit restriction.

Another big drawback is seeing the human characters move around at an inconsistent frame-rate during normal scenes. Sometimes it’ll be around 20-30 fps, other times it might be slightly higher. It’s not that bad during the action scenes but it can make the whole show look really jarring and difficult to look at times.

Overall I’d give it a 7 out of 10. The fight scenes are great and the Ultraman suits and some of the aliens look good but the lack of giant on giant battles, some questionable character models and jarring frame-rate during none action scenes do detract from the experience slightly. If you are a fan of Ultraman you might want to check this out. It’s currently available on Netflix with 13 episodes.

Just yesterday on April 1st Capcom released a free update to Devil May Cry 5, the fan-favourite Bloody Palace mode.

Originally conceived in Devil May Cry 2 Bloody Palace is a survival mode where you go through a series of stages fighting waves of enemies as you try to reach the end under a time limit that increases as you defeat enemies. If you defeat all the enemies in one wave without taking damage you can get even more time back. The better you perform the more red orbs you can obtain. On certain floors you will encounter bosses from the main game that will truly test you.

In this game you select one of the three playable characters as they go through the gauntlet facing the various enemies and bosses along the way. Each wave will get subsequently tougher and more challenging. One of the best things in this mode is being able to fight all the bosses with one of the three characters such as fighting Goliath as Dante or King Cerberus as Nero or V. If you manage to complete Bloody Palace you’ll get a special unlock.

One of the newest features this mode has over previous iterations is the option to suspend your progress once you clear a stage of enemies, allowing you to take a break and resume where you left off. You can also practice certain stages to warm up whether to help clear the stage or try out different tactics to maximise efficiency.

Devil May Cry 5 is now out for PS4, Xbox ONE and PC through Steam.

Nero’s Devil Breakers give him a range of offensive, defensive and even support options and learning how to use each of them and when is key to using Nero well.

One of the two Devil Breakers you get early in the game is the Overture. It’s a rather simple Devil Breaker that allows Nero to give out am electric blast at short range. This can make short work of weaker enemies and does a decent amount of damage to stronger enemies and bosses. It’s Break Age shoots out an explosive bomb that you can stack up to three times and detonate with a shot of Blue Rose.

The other one Gerbera gives Nero the ability to shoot a weak shockwave like attack if idle or allow Nero to go airborne at an angle when moving or in the air. This can be helpful early on to dodge enemy attacks. Nero can also send enemies up in the air if he uses it close to them. It has two Break Ages one in midair and one in the ground. On the ground the Gerbera will shoot a powerful concentrated beam that Nero can direct while the other shoots out several beams that reflect off surfaces and other enemies making it incredibly useful indoors or close-quarters.

After beating the first real boss of the game Goliath you get access to two more Devil Breakers. First is my personal favourite Punch Line. It’s a Devil Breaker that launches itself towards enemies and keep them in hitstun or suspended in midair to lengthen your combo or keep nearby enemies from attacking you.

In addition when its on its way back to you if you hold the button down you can ride it like a surfboard and traverse certain areas or attack enemies in a stylish flamboyant manner.

Helter Skelter is the other Devil Breaker you get and this allows Nero to use an arm outfitted with a powerful drill to smash through enemy defenses. With its Break Age you can turn into a powerful drill tornado. This is perfect for taking out enemies with strong defenses.

Stay tuned for the next post for a break down of the other Devil Breakers.

After more than 10 years since the original release of Devil May Cry 4 Capcom has finally continued the story of the Sons of Sparda instead of continuing the story of the ill-fated reboot. Does the game live up to fan expectations or has Devil May Cry series lost its luster?

Taking place a few years after Devil May Cry 4, Devil May Cry 5 stars Nero, Dante and a new character V as they fight to defeat the new demon King Urizen. That’s right in this new entry you play as not one, not two but three characters that you’ll be switching to through the course of the game. There are even some missions where you’ll get to choose who to bring with you.  And each character brings something different to the table with different strengths and weaknesses.

Nero plays mostly like he does in Devil May Cry 4 but he the biggest change he has is a set of prosthetic arms called Devil Breakers. In Devil May Cry 4 Nero was often criticised for not having as a varied moveset compared to Dante but thanks to the Devil Breakers Nero has a lot of fun tools to mess around with at his disposal while still keeping him accessible to newcomers. Unlike the Devil Bringer though Devil Breakers are a expendable resource and if Nero gets hit while he’s using one it’ll be destroyed. Luckily you can buy more Devil Breakers in the shop or scattered around the level.

One arm even lets Nero ride on it like a surfboard.

Dante meanwhile plays mostly like he did in Devil May Cry 4 with the ability to switch styles and weapons on the fly to create devastating combos. However in this game you can customise how many guns and melee weapons before or during a mission at the shop menu. So if you prefered how Dante handled in Devil May Cry 3 when he was limited to 2 melee weapons and 2 guns you can do it here. But just like in Devil May Cry 4 compared to Nero Dante has a much steeper learning curve and the weapons and guns you can get only amplify that.

The mysterious and enigmatic V however has a completely different gameplay style. Unlike Dante and Nero where you’ll be up close and personal with the enemy V instead summons 2 demonic familiars to aid him in combat and traversal. But his familiars cannot actually kill off the enemy demons, that part is up to V. Thus with V you have you weaken your opponents from afar and then get up close to finish them off.

The characters animate well and the combat feels incredibly satisfying no matter who you use, whether you’re smacking around demons with Nero’s Devil Breakers, stylishly chopping waves of enemies with a variety of weapons and combos as Dante or going in for the kill after using your familiars as V  I felt that all three characters helped to keep the fresh and entertaining all the way through its 10-16 hour long campaign and of course like all previous Devil May Cry games one can’t help but hunt for the ever-elusive S rank that gets harder to attain the harder the difficulty. The game can be tough at times but it’s never impossible.

At Devil Hunter mode (Normal) getting one or more these isn’t too hard to do, at least early on.

Although the story has never been the main focus in Devil May Cry this latest entry has probably the most story cutscenes in the series and characters will even reference past games either through story dialogue or through in-game banter.

One of the main concerns longtime fans had was the issue of microtransactions, especially when it was announced early on that players could get more Red Orbs through the use of real-life currency. After playing through the campaign from start to finish on Devil Hunter mode (i.e Normal) I can safely say that this is not the case. Red Orbs are plentiful and if you play well enough you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting them. Besides you can always go to a previous stage and farm Red Orbs there before going to the next one or turn on auto-assist to aid you if you’re not used to action games.

Get gud and you won’t have to see this screen so often.

While the action is great there are some problems with it, mainly the camera. The game no longer uses the fixed camera perspective used since the first game. Now players can move the camera around freely but there will be times where the camera doesn’t quite keep track of the player getting stuck behind enemies or obstacles in the room.

The game also does not have at the moment of this writing a Bloody Palace mode. For those of you unfamiliar with the Devil May Cry series Bloody Palace is basically a sort of Survival mode where you are pitted against wave of enemies as you try to go as high as you can. However it will be added as a free update post-launch but the fact that its not available from the get-go is a bit of a letdown.

Overall Devil May Cry 5 is a brilliant return to form for the great Devil May Cry series. Capcom has done a fantastic job in creating one of the best action games out there. If you are a fan of Devil May Cry or action games in general you owe it to yourself to buy this game now. I give a 10 out of 10. Devil May Cry 5 is available now for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

*On a side note, for an extra $10 I got the deluxe edition of the game which comes with a few features like additional Devil Breakers for Nero, a weapon skin for Dante and most hilarious of all in development live action cutscenes to replace some of the standard in game cutscenes and trust me when I say seeing those cutscenes was worth the price, though I don’t recommend using them on a first playthrough.

**Screenshots taken from my PS4 using the Share function

The latest Marvel movie was the subject of much controversy due to SJW issues and before the movie even came out it got blasted in reviews by angry fans . But is the movie itself actually any good? SJWs would give this film a 10/10 while others would give it a 1/10. For me I did not think the movie deserved any of those ratings and here’s why.

Chronologically the movie takes place after Captain America The First Avenger. Vers of the Kree Spaceforce crashes on Earth after a fight with the Skrulls and she needs to find a light-space device to prevent the Skrull from using it. However while in Earth Vers will uncover her hidden past and the truth behind the war behind the Skrull and the Kree.

As an origin story the movie does a good job introducing its lead character Vers who would later become Captain Marvel. She’s a strong female lead but she also has some emotional moments that make her feel human like her impulsiveness and her hot-headedness but also her empathy and compassion as well as her desire to do the right thing. She also has great chemistry on-screen with Nick Fury.

One of the movie’s strong points is the CG and the special effects. As this is a prequel Nick Fury is portrayed as a younger man who still has both of his eyes. Thanks to the CG Nick Fury looks like he’s younger and not a 70 year old man. Explosions and energy blasts have a nice kick to them and you can feel the power that Captain Marvel has onscreen.

But I have a few problems with the movie, none of them related to the SJW controversy. First of all while the movie is well-told, there is nothing surprising about it. Though, comic book fans might get a peeved at one the big reveals in the movie. What I found most surprising was something involving what could be called the best cat in cinema.

In addition I felt as if the main villain in the movie like in most Marvel movies lacked anything special about him. He really doesn’t do much and is just forgettable as the likes of the villain in Antman and the Wasp and Doctor Strange the Caedius guy .

As a movie Captain Marvel was quite enjoyable with a few good laughs and some good action sequences but it isn’t anything mindblowingly spectacular either. It’s not as bad as the haters claim it to be but it’s not as good as the defenders say as well. That’s why my score for Captain Marvel is a 7 out of 10. It’s above average and its nowhere near as bad or as good as some people say it is. But don’t take my word, make your own judgement and watch the movie yourself.

Captain Marvel is now playing in Cinemas worldwide.

DOA 6 is finally here and though it still retains the over-the-top fanservice at its core Dead or Alive 6 is a top-notch fighting game. The fighting is fast and fluid as always with deep mechanics underneath its over-the-top fanservice.

You have strikes, holds and throws each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Strikes comprise of punches and kicks that can be stringed together to form combos. You can break a combo with a successful hold and deal great damage in return though if you time it wrongly or use the incorrect hold you will leave yourself open to attack or to a throw.

The game boasts a wide variety of characters each with their own quirks. Ninjas like Kasumi and Ayame are fast and have moves that are difficult to counter whereas grapplers like Bass and Bayman can use multi-combo throws that deal a great amount of damage.

One of the new features in this game is the Fatal Rush where with a tap of a single button you can perform a quick devastating combo that can only be broken with a break hold. If you have some meter built up you’ll perform a powerful Break Blow that can damage certain outfits and inflict facial damage on the opponent. It may sound overpowered but it’s actually balanced quite well. Break holds can also be used to counter moves that can’t be countered though it doesn’t do much damage and you can’t KO with it.

Stages in this game also have their own hazards with some causing the opposing player to fall down another level and receive a good amount of damage while others lock them in place and leave them open to more combos.

The netcode is quite good as well, provided you get an opponent with a good connection. There’s not much lag and you can even tell if someone is using Wifi or direct connection. Overall the online play is an improvement over the previous one but as of this writing there are only ranked matches available. Casual Lobby matches will be available in a later patch

Unfortunately the English voice acting and story still sucks. Just navigating the story menu and trying to make sense of the chronology is an exercise in frustration. It’s rather forgettable and not really worth the effort of doing unless you want to get certain titles and unlockables in the Library.

The game also does not have tag battles, a series staple since the second game. Though this may be patched later on it could also end up being paid content. I wouldn’t put it pass Koei Tecmo to do that considering they’ve done similar things in Dynasty Warriors, with character unique weapons in 9 being the latest example.

Another issue I have is with unlocking costumes. Now in previous games you simply play different modes and unlock the costumes for the character you picked. Here you unlock parts of a costume and once you have enough parts you can purchase the costume with the in-game currency. The problem here is that some costumes require up to 1000 parts to unlock for purchase. In addition the costume parts are obtained at random, meaning you can be farming parts for characters you don’t even use simply through playing the game with your favorite character.

But by far my biggest complaint is the same problem the previous DOA game had; it’s ludicrous pricing for the Season Pass. The base game which I bought for PS4 cost around SGD80+ while the Deluxe Edition with some extra Deluxe costumes costs around SGD100+. The Season Pass 1 available now? SGD120+. That’s right the Season Pass costs more than the game itself. Koei Tecmo clearly did not learn their lesson the last time and they continue to churn out these ridiculously overcharged microtransactions. For comparison the Season Pass 1 for  FighterZ was about SGD40 with the second one around SGD30.

Despite all this, Dead or Alive 6 is still a very fun and solid fighting game that’s fast and fluid, easily competing with the likes of Tekken. While the exclusion of Tag Battles and the ridiculous Season Pass pricing can be a downside the core fighting itself is plenty of fun. I give the game an 8 out of 10. DOA 6 is available now for PS4, PC and Xbox One.

In case the title wasn’t descriptive enough this post is going to go into heavy, heavy spoiler territory going into great detail about the story of the game as well as its conclusion. If you haven’t finished the game yet and don’t want to be spoiled DO. NOT. READ. THIS. POST. This is your only warning.

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Still here? Not going to back out? Alright then, let’s head straight into SpoilerTown.

In my previous post talking about Kingdom Hearts 3 I mentioned how the story had a really bad execution and poor pacing. But there was one thing I did like, in that this game gives closure to character arcs that began in previous games and those characters get a happy ending.

The Bbs crew are reunited, Roxas and Xion are back and are good friends with Lea, the Twilight Town gang and Isa and Namine has a new lease on life along with most of the former surviving Organisation XIII members from KH 2 and Chain of Memories. All that’s missing is a nice romantic scene with Sora and Kairi, a nice romantic kiss in Destiny Islands as the Sun goes down.

But of course since Kingdom Hearts prints money, naturally we can’t have everyone have a happy ending. Sora and Kairi are sitting on the Paopu Tree watching the sunset with each other but just before the ending ends with what you expect to be a kiss Kairi sheds a tear and Sora just… vanishes. As if he never existed in the first place.

Because Square Enix just wants to keep that Kingdom Hearts money going.

That’s right, to no one’s surprise Kingdom Hearts 3 is not the final game in the series, though it is the final chapter of the Xehanort saga that began all the way back in the first game which came out all the way back in 2002. So it took 17 years just for Tetsuya Nomura to tell the story of one saga and with a new Kingdom Hearts game teased at the epilogue and secret ending who knows how long it’ll take for a new game to roll out. Maybe Kingdom Hearts will take the Assassin’s Creed route and not release another numbered title again, who knows.

But what I do know is that the story is MAJOR letdown. Granted I wasn’t expecting much from the story but the execution in this game is just plain BAD.

The main plot doesn’t get rolling until you finish the last Disney world. Before this Sora and co. journeyed across different worlds hoping to recover the power of waking and make sure Organization XIII doesn’t cause too much trouble while Riku and King Mickey are off in the Realm of Darkness to save Aqua and Kairi and Lea are undergoing training at Radiant Garden.

Sora and co. are informed by Chip and Dale that they lost contact with King Mickey and Riku and Sora wants to head out to the Realm of Darkness to save them. But the only reason King Mickey and Riku could get to the Dark Realm is because Mickey has a Keyblade of Darkness that we saw him retrieve near the end of Kingdom Hearts 0.2.

So they go to the Realm of Darkness where the find the Master’s Defender Keyblade, the one that Aqua left behind in the Realm of Light after helping King Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. Apparently it only just appeared there? I know time flows differently in the Realm of Darkness that’s why Aqua hasn’t aged a day since 0.2 but why wasn’t that Keyblade there after Sora and Riku first returned at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2? It wasn’t even hidden or anything it was just laying there on the sand. He somehow opens the door to the Realm of Darkness with and ventures alone to save Mickey, Riku and Aqua.

After Riku fights off the Dark Tide Sora comes in and fights the possessed Aqua. Naturally he saves her brings her back to the Realm of Light. Immediately after that they go right to Castle Oblivion and wake up Ventus.

I’ve got a few problems with this part. Nothing major really just a nitpick. At the end of Birth by Sleep Aqua leaves behind her Keyblade Armor and her original Keyblade at Radiant Garden after saving Terra’s body from falling into the Realm of Darkness. And yet there is no attempt at picking up either of them. Hell, it could’ve led to a cool scene where we see Sora, Riku, Kairi and Lea decked out in Keyblade Armors of their own. It could’ve even led to some funny scenes with Aqua preferring to use her Keyblade Glider as opposed to the Gummiship.

Anyway at Castle Oblivion Aqua uses the Master’s Defender to transform Castle Oblivion back to its original state the Land of Departure. Now you’d expect Aqua to inform Sora what this place is, that it was the world she and her friends lived in while they trained under their Master Eraqus to be Keyblade Masters. But nope, none of that. Just a linear corridor (with a save point thankfully) that leads to where Ventus sleeps, the throne room where Aqua and Terra once dueled for their Mark of Mastery (naturally this isn’t told to Sora as part of some light banter or exposition).

Of course, before they can wake up Ventus up Vanitas shows up to try and take his body. Naturally best girl is having none of that and after erecting a barrier around them to protect Ventus and prevent Sora and his friends from helping out because Aqua don’t need no man to fight her battles! She’s a strong independent woMAN.

That is until she gets the idiot ball (something that will be passed around quite often during the scenes leading to the climax) and gets knocked out by Vanitas to prevent the barrier from breaking and keep Ventus safe. Prompting Sora with his Jesus-kun powers he spent the whole game trying to regain but never actually lost to wake up Ventus and have him break through the barrier, save Aqua and fend off Vanitas. Having bit more than he can chew Vanitas decides to retreat knowing they will meet again.

In the Mysterious Tower the group congratulate each other and old friends reunite, with best guy Axel/Lea getting some nice witty dialogue topping off with Jiminy Cricket telling them to catch up with the Gummiphones.

A few more cutscenes play out. In Destiny Islands Sora and Kairi share Paopu fruits with each other, Riku has a conversation with his other self or rather the heart of his replica (it happened the first time they were in the Realm of Darkness to look for Aqua after his Way to Dawn Keyblade broke), Ventus and Aqua have a moment at the Mysterious Tower while Axel/Lea has ice-cream on his lonesome in Twilight Town until Saix/Isa shows up and they chat for a bit like old friends.

Afterwards we head to the Keyblade Graveyard for the fated encounter. This was the last place Aqua, Ventus and Terra were together and where the three of them along with Mickey fought against Master Xehanort, Vanitas and Braig to stop the x-Blade from forming. None of them comment on this however or are even told where the world got its name from.

After defeating more than a 1000 Heartless in a scenario similar to the one in Kingdom Hearts 2 the heroes race off and we see some of the WORST cutscenes in the game. We find the 13th vessel, Terra in Xehanort’s body brought from the past. Ventus goes to him but Aqua stops him knowing that the Terra before them is not their friend. He summons Master Xehanort’s Keyblade and without a moment’s notice kills/ takes out Ventus in one blow.

Now you expect the group or at the very least Aqua to go into murderous vengeful rage but instead they do nothing but stand there shocked. They don’t even bother trying to heal Ventus or see if he’s ok, nope he’s old cold and most definitely dead. Soon a swarm of Heartless appear and Aqua seeing this goes into PTSD and just… gives up, not even having the strength to avenge her friend. She’s quickly overcome by the swarm and so are the others. Hell Axel’s the only who even tried to defend himself but he got knocked out too.

In a rare move Donald pulls off a powerful spell that eliminates both Terra-Xehanort and the swarm of Heartless but kills him too. But it’s in vain, as more Heartless swarm in overtaking the group. After everyone else except Sora and Riku are taken out, Sora literally breaks down in tears. Riku tries in vain to protect him but he too is overcome and its not long before Sora too is plunged into darkness

And just like the prophecy foretold, light will expire and darkness will prevail.

The End… except it isn’t. First off this particular cutscene was particularly bad in how stupid everyone acts. They don’t even try to avenge Ventus or try to fight back against the Heartless horde. Instead they just up and give up like pansies. But it gets worse… much worse.

Thanks to being Jesus-kun Sora with the help of Kairi was able to retain his sense of self in the afterlife and after picking up the pieces of himself goes off to save his friends before their hearts are brought to the darkness by the universe’s version of the Grim Reaper, a special Heartless known as a Lich. But of course even though he Jesus-kun, Sora is warned by the young Xehanort of the ramifications of such abuse of his Jesus-kun powers in a cryptic fashion before vanishing. How he got there in the first place though is anyone’s guess.

After saving everyone and reuniting with Kairi they all return to just before they met Terra-Xehanort. Once more they charge in and once more Ventus tries to approach his lost friend and just like like time Aqua stops him. Heck even the dialogue is the same in this scene, which is weird because if they’ve already done this why would they go through the same motions again, right?

That is until Terra-Xehanort charges in to strike Ventus down once more, only this time he is stopped with the other problem I have.

With the power of Keyblade wielders of the distant past (with usernames from the Kingdom Hearts mobile game) Sora fends off the darkness. Of course even more Heartless appear and hope seems to be lost once more until Master Yen Sid arrives and the aid of Donald and Goofy fend off the Heartless while Sora and crew go after Xehanort and his cronies.

Here there are 2 phases. First you help Riku take down a replica of himself and Xigbar and then help Mickey fight off Marluxia, Luxord and Larxenne. After those fights are done you then help Aqua and Ventus take down Vanitas and Terra-Xehanort, again Lingering Will is completely absent and then fight Saix and Xion with Axel and Kairi.

First let’s talk about the Marluxia, Luxord and Larxenne fight. You fight all three of them at once with Mickey though sometime during the fight Luxord traps Mickey inside a card similar to what he did before his boss fight in 2 with the rest of Sora’s companions. Luxord is much easier to fight in this game. After capturing Mickey he will hide himself inside one of his cards and you need to attack the right card. You can tell which card this is by seeing which card behaves suspiciously, like if its shaking around.

After you beat him a small cutscene plays and you have Luxord having a small heart-to-heart with Sora, which makes no sense since the games does not at any point give any context for why he would be so buddy with his enemy. This will be a problem with the rest of the boss fights except for Saix’s one as his is a bit more justifiable thanks to an earlier cutscene with him and Axel where they talked like old friends about the past.

In Marluxia’s case he thanks Sora as he begins to remember his sense of self and Larxenne goes out with a teasing smile at the end. These two characters will be further explored in the Kingdom Hearts mobile game, which by the way is going to be pretty important in future installments as some of the cutscenes in the game that hint at future titles allude to the mobile game, especially the epilogue.

When defeating the other Riku the Riku replica’s heart inside Riku goes out and forces the possessed Riku replica out of his vessel for Namine to use which she does in the ending and reunites with everyone in Destiny Islands. As for Xigbar he falls off a cliff after saying he wanted to wield a Keyblade.

Now for the Terra-Xehanort and Vanitas fight honestly it would’ve made more sense if the Lingering Will squared off against Terra-Xehanort one-on-one while Aqua and Ventus take on Vanitas together. We could’ve even had a segment where we control the Lingering Will complete with some of the abilities he had during his optional boss fight.

But no we have none of that as Jesus-kun aids Aqua and Ventus in their fight against the two foes. While we’re at it I have to ask: How is Vanitas here? At the end of Ventus’s campaign in Birth By Sleep Ventus shattered the x-blade and by extension his own heart which caused him to go into sleep in the first place and for Vanitas to disappear as he is the dark half of Ventus.

And for that matter the fact that Terra-Xehanort’s Heartless Guardian is really Terra. Does that mean that Ansem’s Heartless Guardian is also Terra? When Terra’s captive heart inside the Guardian took back his body what happened to Ansem’s Guardian? Did it disappear as well or did he still keep it? If he kept it does that mean that it also has Terra’s heart?

In the fight against Saix and Xion we aid Kairi and Lea in battle and we finally get to see Kairi strut her stuff in combat and not be a damsel in distress… except she still is midway through the fight after beating Xion for a bit. After Xion’s memories are somehow restored and she returns to fight for the light Xemnas kidnaps Kairi in front of them. The group just stood there as Xemnas spirits Kairi away to use her as a sacrifice to awaken the x-blade. Mind you this happens just after Roxas returns as well having been restored due to having a connection and using a replica Demyx smuggled to Radiant Garden.

And another thing: why was Xion on Xehanort’s side in the first place? It is established in Dream Drop Distance and in this game that Xion’s heart is inside of Sora but the Organization was able to bring her back sans her memory so does she still need her heart?  But how did they remember her in first place? At the end of 358/2 Days when Roxas defeats her everyone including Roxas, Riku and Axel lost their memories of her, though in 3 Axel does have brief glimpses of her in some cutscenes.

Anyway with Xion and Roxas taking over for Kairi and Lea respectively Saix is defeated and he has a heart-to-heart with Axel promising to meet up and restore their friendship, which they do in the ending.

After all this is finished Sora regroups with Riku and Mickey and they face off against Young Xehanort, Ansem and Xemnas. When Ansem and Xemnas are defeated they too have a heart-to-heart with the heroes with Riku admitting that he’ll miss Ansem (you know the guy who tempted him to give into darkness and who bodyjacked him) and Xemnas complimenting the heroes on their strength of heart.

The only one who doesn’t get a heart-to-heart is Young Xehanort who just goes out returning to his time and basically giving Sora the metaphorical middle finger as he tells him his time is up.

So finally Sora, Riku and Kairi approach Master Xehanort who awaits them atop a cliff surrounded by a number of keys. He shows them Kairi and shatters her right in front of them forming the final key needed to form the x-blade. The only one who responds is Sora who understandably attacks Master Xehanort in rage but is flung away thanks to the power of the x-blade. Riku and Mickey attempt to attack as well but they too are unsuccessful.

With x-blade in hand Master Xehanort ascends to Kingdom Hearts but the heroes have one last plan; trap Master Xehanort in a portal and finish him off there. Naturally Sora with his Jesus-kun powers volunteers himself to stop Master Xehanort. With Goofy and Donald in tow the trio chase Master Xehanort to a world called Scala Ad Caelum.

After a climatic battle that ended with yet again another demonstration of Sora’s Jesus-kun powers whereby he overpowers Master Xehanort’s most powerful attack through the power of friendship it turns out Master Xehanort had noble(ish) intentions. Turns out he wanted to get Kingdom Hearts to reset the world and create a world of pure light free of darkness.

He even goes out with a peaceful smile with his old friend Master Eraqus, his old friend he scarred and murdered in Birth By Sleep. Eraqus just forgives his old friend like that and after saying his goodbyes to his students he goes to the afterlife with him. After that everyone returns back to the Keyblade Graveyard and although the threat of Master Xehanort had ended Kairi was still missing. Sora resolves to use his Jesus-kun powers to save her though Mickey warns he may never come back. And though he succeeds as I described earlier about the ending he disappears soon after.

Of course that wasn’t truly the end. After the ending and the credits finish  we are treated to an epilogue that was added post-launch as we cut back to the Keyblade Graveyard where Master Xehanort’s Keyblade is picked up by a cloaked figure. Shortly after 4 mysterious figures appear from thin air. The hooded figure is none other than Xigbar who is actually one of the Master of Masters’ apprentices Luxu who had been given a special task as shown in the Back Cover movie.

As for the 4 figures they are the Lost Masters who are none other than the 4 Foretellers from the mobile game. That’s right the plot points from the mobile game are going to play a big role in the upcoming games as well. Luxu tells them that Ava has probably completed her mission as well and briefs the Lost Masters on what has transpired. Meanwhile Maleficient and Pete observe them briefly having found the Black Box they had been searching for the entire game.

Throughout the entire game Maleficient and Pete are looking for the Black Box which may hold the Book of Prophecies that foretell the future given to the Master of Masters’ disciples. With the book Maleficient control all worlds and become Mistress of all things but that’s the only thing she and Pete do in the whole game. They only interact with heroes once in the whole game the rest of the time they’re just looking for the box, though they may play bigger roles in upcoming games.

Just like every other Kingdom Hearts game we have a secret ending that teases a future instalment. In this one we are shown Sora waking up in a world similar to the Shibuya in The World Ends With You, another Square Enix whose characters appeared in Dream Drop Distance. Riku also wakes up in this world presumably to bring Sora back. Up on one of the buildings Yozora from the short Aurem Rex commercial shown in the Toy Story world is seen looking down observing the city while a hooded figure heavily-implied to be the Master of Masters judging from his body languages and the fact that he is the only cloaked figure to not be unmasked is seen making a box shape and then a heart shape on the moon.

This game while being the final one in the Xehanort saga teases heavily plot points that would play a part either in the ongoing mobile game or in future titles. Apart from the mystery of the Black Box, the reappearance of the Lost Masters and Sora’s disappearance we have a mysterious girl that was the motive for Isa and Lea to join Ansem the Wise as apprentices and the subject for his experiments, who is implied to be a Keyblade wielder as in one of the secret reports she is stated to say “May your heart be your guiding key” a line that originated from the Master of Masters and used by various Keyblade wielders suggesting that it could be Ava or maybe even Skuld from the mobile game.

We also have the reveal that Demyx, Larxenne, Marluxia and Luxord were brought back to the Organization as they hold an ancient Keyblade legacy within them, something that surprises them as they have no memories of that time. In the mobile game we see Marluxia and Larxenne’s original selves Lauriam and Elrena as members of the Dandelion a group of Keyblade wielders formed after the aftermath of the Keyblade War. I suspect that we’ll see a storyline involving Luxord and Demyx’s original selves as well in a future update as they too may hold a connection to the Dandelions.

There’s also Luxord’s card that he passes to Sora before fading, saying it could be very important. And perhaps it is, maybe as the reason why Sora woke up in that world to begin with.

Who knows how many games it will take to solve these mysteries though it is possible that some of these questions may be answered in DLC as Nomura has stated once in an interview that they are interested in post-launch DLC but that there will be no season pass or final mix version (we’ll see about that though, after all Final Fantasy XV got the Royal Edition).

The main problem I have with the story is all the ass-pulls and last minute plot reveals that the game throws at you not to mention the stupid Deus Ex Machina thing where they come back from before everyone kicked the bucket.

That entire segment where Sora ends up in the afterlife and uses his Jesus-kun powers to fix everything is just incredibly stupid and didn’t even need to be there. Sora’s disappearance could just be chalked up to using his power to bring Kairi back in exchange for his soul and now Riku has to save him. The fact that Lingering Will was in it for just one scene brings into question the whole point of his existence and most damning of all the sheer idiocy some of the main cast whereby only Sora shows some level of competence.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait another 10 years or so before we get the continuation of the story but in the meanwhile I bet Square Enix will milk that mobile game for all its worth and explain some of the plot points there.

Sources:
https://www.vgr.com/kingdom-hearts-3-will-have-dlc-but-no-season-pass-or-final-mix/

*Kingdom Hearts 3 screenshots taken from my PS4 copy of the game through the Share function.

Kingdom Hearts 2 came out on the PS2 more than ten years ago and ever since we had nothing but side games for a variety of handheld games along with a mobile game for Android and iOS. But to most fans these were nothing more than appetizers for Kingdom Hearts 3 which would not even be seen until 2013 when it was announced on E3 of that year.

Of course that didn’t stop people from creating covers such as this one from khinsider:

The game is also not really that long. On my first playthrough I finished the game in under 26 hours. Granted I didn’t really try farming for collectables so if you are the type to collect things you may find yourself taking a much longer time than I did.

I remember the old Ragnarok Online or RO for short. I played the beta on a Malay server way back in the early 2000s. It was one of the earliest MMOs I played with my cousins anytime we went to the cybercafe when we weren’t playing Counter Strike.

It had an appealing art style with anime-esque sprites and a job system that allowed you to get to higher job classes once you reached the job level limit.

Unfortunately I didn’t really go far in the game, the furthest I went was turning my red-haired character into a Swordsman in Izlude, one of the towns in the game. Once the game exited beta and went to a subscription model I dropped it completely though my cousins continued to play long after.

My interest in the game never really wavered though and after a couple of years around 2010 to be precise I briefly jumped back into RO through one of many private servers and then much later through Steam as it was free to play on the platform.

My time in the private server was cut short though due to a bug in the game that occured after receiving a gift from another player. I was playing a female character this time and someone gifted me an item. I accepted but then the game went haywire and I could never login with that character ever again, the game would be stuck in the loading screen.

As for the Steam one, the time it took to level up was way too long, which was one of the reasons I decided to pick a private server in the first place as those usually have far better EXP gains and levelling up was incredibly easy. Even the job progression in those was easy as you bypassed the job progression quest. Just talk to the NPC in the town of Prontera and boom you got your new job class. In classic RO after reaching Job Level 10 you would go to one of the towns and complete a specific quest to become the class you wanted.

Though the game was quite popular it had quite a few problems. One of which was the limited customisation which made characters all look the same as the only options one had for customisation were simply hair colour, hair style, what head accessories they could wear and what job class they would eventually take when reaching Job Level 10, though this was a problem many MMOs of the time had.

Although a sequel for the game called Ragnarok Online 2 was released in 2012 it didn’t quite have the appeal the original had. I watched my cousin play it once and I was immediately turned off by how… generic it looked with none of the charm the original did .

Fast forward to today and now we can find emulations or ports of the original Ragnarok Online on Android. These games have the same sprites the original game had but with some slight differences gameplay wise in order to fit to mobile.

But we’re talking about a Ragnarok Online made from the ground up for mobile with a new graphical style but retaining much of what made the original so special, Ragnarok M Eternal Love.

Ragnarok Online M was released globally quite recently on Android and iOS, January 9th of this year in fact though it was released late last year in South East Asia and even earlier in Japan and Korea. The setting is just like the original game. You play as an adventurer in the world of Rune-Midgard going through various adventures and fulfilling the many quests given by the NPCs. You start out as a mere Novice but you’ll soon get the option to change to a more one of 6 specialised jobs: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant, Cleric, Mage and Archer with further job paths available once you max out the initial class.

You move around by tapping the screen or by holding it to make a virtual pad appear and use that to move around, You have hotkeys visible on the bottom right of the screen with other menus accessible through various icons on the top right. There’s a minimap that can be enlarged by tapping below just below the various menu icons and there’s a chat on the bottom left and Player HP and Mana on the top left. At the very bottom of the screen on the left is the Base Level progress bar and on the right is the Job Level progress bar.

This game was built with mobile in mind and thus there is an option to automate combat. There’s a button just above the hotkeys that will allow you to set what available enemies to auto attack or even auto attack any visible enemy. This makes grinding or farming certain enemies to complete quests incredibly easy to do as you can just set the enemy to auto attack and leave the game alone while focusing on other things such as work.

The game also has a photo mode that allows you to take pictures in game. The camera will go into a third person view and you can rotate and zoom the camera or have your character pose before taking a picture. It may sound like a trivial mechanic but some quests require you to take photos of certain landmarks. In addition if you take a photo with enemies nearby you can unlock more information on them such as what items they may drop. It is also used to increase your adventurer level which will unlock certain perks the higher it is.

When first creating your character the customisation options are a bit limited. You can choose your character’s gender, their hairstyle and hair color. As you progress through the game however you can unlock additional hairstyles for your character as well as various accessories to change your character’s appearance. However just like the original game expect to see plenty of look-alikes in the game.

Like many other free-to-play games there are of course microtransactions that offer various benefits. While they are not necessary for casual play if you’re planning to maximise your playtime you may be inclined to buy these microtransactions. These range from being able buy additional zenny (the game’s usual currency system for buying items and equipment), getting premium services that can increase your EXP gain and even buying a special currency called Big Cat Coin to get various benefits such as being able to change your character name. There is also a gacha system inside the game where you can roll using special vouchers or the Big Cat Coin in order to get special equipment

The game’s biggest flaw however is the camera. There is no way to rotate the camera in game and this can make exploration and combat quite tricky at times. I once had to refer to a youtube video just to complete a quest because I couldn’t find the item I was looking for. Turns out there was an obscure path that was incredibly difficult to see. If I had the option to move the camera like you could in the original RO this wouldn’t have been a problem. Another time a piece of the map obscured an enemy and if it weren’t for the auto-attack I would not have been able to kill it.

If you like the original game there’s a high chance you will fall in love with Ragnarok M. It has the same charm the original did and it even has the same music as well such as the iconic theme of Prontera. It’s a great game to play on the go and the auto-combat function makes grinding a non-issue. The game available for iOS and Android free-to-play, microtransactions available.

References:
https://talonro.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/231060/Ragnarok_Online_2/

Images of RO and RO2 taken from google.
Images of Ragnarok M taken from my iPhone 6s Plus