As it gets closer and closer to the release of the game, Square Enix continues to show promise, even more so with more updates, fantastic features and much more just to grab all fans and draw them into the world of Kingdom Hearts.

Get Into Reality

When we say “Get Into Reality”, we specifically meant about the new feature, Reality Shift, sequences where the game becomes a comic book. In order to activate the Reality Shift, the A and X button must be pressed at the same time. The type of Reality Shift you do depends on what world you are currently residing in. Also, Nomura had stated in his interview about the Free Flow Action system continually being adjusted and debugged several times.

New Worlds

With Sorcery of Symphony being the 6th world for all players to explore, the last world to appear in the game will be announced. There are to be seven worlds that have to be “awaken” in order to complete the game. Mickey will also appear in this world along with the terrorism Chernabog and the Magic Brooms. This world will also follow Mickey’s time when he was going through his trials of becoming a keyblade master.

Dream Eaters

Since the Dream Eaters will replace Donald and Goofy as party members, they will be able to give Sora and Riku new abilities and aid in combat. As an added bonus, their colors can be customized. The Dream Eaters will also be influenced by the emotions of the characters, another system that Nomura had stated in his interview.

Other Information

As stated in Nomura’s interviews, Organization XIII will be back but will also reveal as to what the members has been doing during certain time periods but also to show Xehanort’s perspective of the whole situation, revealing that all of the members have retained their human forms.

Release Date

The dates that Kingdom Hearts: 3D Will be released on March, 29 while North America and the other countries will receive the games later on this year.

Continue to stay in tune for the many dazzlintg experiences of Kingdom Hearts 3D. We will make sure to get the news to you!

The Tokyo Game Show is only a few weeks away and we can’t help but speculate over what Square-Enix has coming for us.

We already know that Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, thanks to the fact that its already 40% complete, and Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be coming in 2012 but what hasn’t been revealed are the release dates of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Volume 2 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Could we finally hear word of Versus XIII or see a demo? One can only hope.

What unannounced games could we see in Japan’s highlight video game event? One game comes to mind, and that is the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Collection. Time and time again, Nomura has been quoted to want to celebrate Kingdom Hearts’ 10th Anniversary and in the Famitsu magazine, he has told the press that they were creating “HD Tests.” Wouldn’t it be the perfect time to release a trailer for one of the most wanted franchises to be re-released on PlayStation 3? We, at KHPlanet, can’t wait to hear more about it! Another game would be the infamous Dragon Quest X, which was confirmed to release on the Wii but with the Wii U just around the corner, it would be difficult for the game to sell units. Expect a trailer for the next epic adventure in the Dragon Quest series!

Tokyo Game Show 2011 is sure to be a fantastic event brimmed with new reveals, demos and release dates. We may want Nier 2, or Dragon Quest X or even Kingdom Hearts 3 but who knows? We may see something that surprises us! The Tokyo Game Show of 2011 begins on 15th September 2011 until the 18th. Check KHPlanet for updates during the big three days of Japanese Gaming!

What do you want to see from Tokyo in a few weeks time? Post on the forums!

Click Sora to get to the Response Thread!

In the KHPlanet community, we are getting close to banging our heads on the wall because of the long wait for Kingdom Hearts 3. So, I will be your gaming doctor and give you a prescription of Nier and Final Fantasy XIII.

Nier (PS3, 360)

• Nier takes place in a post apocalyptic world. You are taken into a Zelda-esque adventure in the eyes of Nier, the main character (or whatever you call your character in the beginning of the game) and he tries to save his daughter, Yonah, from a curse called the Black Scrawl. This curse turns people into beings called the Shades, much like Heartless in the Kingdom Hearts series. With the help of your friends, Kaine and the wise talking book, Grimoire Weiss, you set off on an adventure to save the cursed girl. However, the plot is not as simple as it seems, which will be left for you to enjoy. No spoilers here!
• This game is simply a bloody version of Kingdom Hearts with slight differences. In your arsenal are various spells given to you by Grimoire Weiss and a sword. Later on, the player will unlock more weapons and spells, keeping the gamer hooked until the very end. Tactics are a key asset to the games’ boss battles and you will have to mix spells and weapons to find a way to defeat the enemy. Nier, besides, its simple control scheme plays well and will keep the player hooked for a long time. In my playthrough, it took 40 hours to beat the game with all the extra missions and unlockables.
• The game is very cheap so pick it up!
• A written review of Nier will be posted shortly after this post!

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360)

• In Final Fantasy XIII, the world of Cocoon is the center piece of a dramatic story with rivaling sides; man vs magic. Very much like medieval times in England, magic is seen as a curse for the people of Cocoon. It starts to spread and in a spiraling tornado of events, these six heroes (Hope, Lightning, Vanille, Fang, Sazh and Snow) are corrupted with what they call, the Mark. From there, they receive a mission or otherwise called “Focus” in the game and if they do not succeed, they will turn into monsters called the L’Cieth. The story is well told with beautiful cut scenes and any Kingdom Hearts fan would enjoy the deep storyline, Final Fantasy XIII has to offer.
• The game play for some is a very controversial subject but after a long play through, FFXIII becomes very enjoyable. Final Fantasy XIII has the same formula as its predecessors with a turn based system. However, the new “paradigm shift” tactic of the game adds a fresh new twist to the already enjoyable franchise. Some may say it restricts you on the player’s choice of attacks but the new “paradigm” system gives the game a strategic feel giving particular characters the role of Medic or Commando (Warrior), for example. The new twist helps the casual, core and even the hardcore gamer to  jump right in without the hassle of assigning your characters commands to fulfil if Lightning, for example, plummets down to 100 HP. Final Fantasy XIII also has challenging boss battles which are sometimes frustrating but feel satisfying once they are defeated.
• There are many bonus missions after you finish the game, including the Faultwarren Trials.
• Once the player grinds through the first 10 hours of game play as the characters progress with various techniques and spells, the player will begin to love this game just like the other Final Fantasies in the franchise. Have patience and you will be awarded!

Still Not Satisfied ?

If these do not cure your Kingdom Hearts cravings then here’s some more great games to tuck into!

• Okami (Wii, PS2)
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
• Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
• Dragon Age: Origins (PS3, PC, 360)
• Dragon Age 2 (PS3, PC, 360)
• Borderlands (PS3, 360)

Pictures from:

NIER confirmed…. (2010, January 7th). Retrieved April 2011, from PSU: http://www.psu.com/NIER-confirmed-for-a-spring-2010-release–a008491-p0.php

Video Game Central. (n.d.). Final Fantasy XIII. Retrieved 2011, from Video Game Central: http://www.video-game-central.com/ps3-final-fantasy-13.html

For as easily as I can blindly love a game and ignore its faults, there are simply some instances in a story or within the midst of gameplay where I stop and realize, wow, that was just stupid. Regardless of my affection for the Kingdom Hearts series and the magic it has delivered, there was an instance within Kingdom Hearts II that upset me greatly and after discussing it with several other gamers, I realized I wasn’t the only one both confused and annoyed by this moment.

Kairi is Not a Keyblade Master

Near the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts II, once Kairi, Riku and Sora have been reunited and prepare to take on the final Organization members, Kairi receives a keyblade and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with this miraculous gift. While this is a video game, I have a degree in film studies and learned how to critique and analyze storytelling effectively and to me, this feels like a copout. Giving Kairi a weapon that was created and welded specifically by the chosen ‘keyblade master,’ as seen in the fact that when others pick up Sora’s keyblade, it vanishes and goes back to his hand, it makes me ask suddenly, why is she so special now? Kairi was already found out to be one of the Seven Princesses and that I never had a problem with, but that doesn’t make her a keyblade master out of nowhere! In fact, from a story point of view, it makes it look like they were trying to boost Kairi’s popularity with gamers and make her role more useful in the story, which it can’t be argued, wasn’t very critical to the plot of the second game.

Why it Works for Riku and Not Kairi

Unlike Kairi, who was safe, fine and otherwise just a normal girl once she was rescued in game one, Riku continued to be important to the Kingdom Hearts story, as he is basically a mirror of Sora, should he have chosen the darkness instead of the light. It made sense that Riku should obtain a weapon similar in use and appearance, as he was in the beginning, Sora’s number one enemy. While in the soon to be released game, Birth By Sleep, which features three new characters known as keyblade apprentices, may explain why multiple keyblade wielders can exist more than the current games do; it does not currently explain Kairi’s sudden keyblade.

Non-Essential to the Game’s Climax

She literally received the weapon in order to aid her friends but as we can all recall, did nothing in the final scenes. Despite her appearance at the location and clearly holding a weapon, she is ignored. Riku is instead put on the team, allowing gamers to once again battle with a character whom has proven his worth time and time again throughout the second story within Chain of Memories. This is the crux of the problem with Kairi receiving a keyblade. Not only is she not a chosen master, but she is given the item merely to give her an excuse to be in another world and nothing more. If this were a wise decision on behalf of the storytellers, then both Riku and Kairi would have been put on Sora’s team, but that never happened.

Emphasis Taken Off Sora

Instead of writing in a good scene which allows us to accept Kairi’s presence and reunion with her friends, the keyblade thrown at her without just cause actually makes Sora’s less important and this is upsetting, as he is the hero of the game. Forcing her importance when it is clearly uncalled for makes me instinctually want to repel her character, which is a shame. As a gamer, I shouldn’t want to dislike one character in replace of another, but that’s what I feel has happened for a lot of players. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of grief for this article, as there are some hardcore Kairi fans out there, but my opinion still stands firm as to Kairi’s keyblade being completely uncalled for.

I distinctly remember, back in high school, our French class was doing a project to learn how to write and pronounce family members and we were asked to make a family tree with these titles. Since we had been allowed to use any sorts of pictures, one girl, and probably one of the only other people in that tiny, tiny school to be intrigued by the new Kingdom Hearts game, used a screenshot of Axel in her project. This was early into the official announcement of the second game, several years before its actual release. The picture of Axel still had Japanese subtitles on it and all I could think was: who is this guy!?

Accepting a New Character Isn’t Always Easy

Since the debut of Chain of Memories, and most certainly Kingdom Hearts II, fans have been intrigued, delighted, even obsessed with the Organization XIII member, Axel. What exactly is his appeal to gamers? His curious appearance, the bad boy attitude, the deadly weapons, or maybe his mysterious background? I’ve thought about this and came to the conclusion within just a few short minutes that it must be all of the above. This assortment of attributes Axel came parading in with are ideal traits for a new role-playing character to be accepted into an already begun story.

A Humanized Antagonist

It’s no question to anyone who has completed their playing of Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days that Axel is not only an important icon in the birth and progress of the plot, but he is also key in the emotional stability of the main protagonists, that being both Sora and Roxas. Axel’s layers create a well thought-out and complex man, someone who isn’t in the Organization just because. Before the release of 358, it was quite obvious throughout Sora’s meetings with the redhead that the member hid frustration and fear for the safety of his friend, Roxas. This makes him appeal to the gaming audience because a character who is essentially supposed to be our antagonist now shows hints of humanity and suffering that we can relate to and understand. Now that we have attached to him emotionally, we become intrigued by his mysterious life and how he came to be.

Drawn to the Flame

In regards to his appearance, Axel embodies all aspects of fire, an element that is both beautiful and powerful. He has weapons that radiate fire on top of their already deadly appearance. His red and spiky hair causes him to stand out from every other member of the Organization and its inability to be kept under control appears to be much like his attitude. Axel does what he pleases, despite the ramifications from his superiors, although for as much as his bad boy personality is used to get him out of sticky situations and jobs he wants to take on, it’s also used as a guard to hide behind. There has always been an appeal to viewers, or in this case gamers, of the lone wolf’s hard, outer shell being slowly dismantled to show off a more gentle person. In these regards, that would be the meeting of Axel and Roxas.

A Great Addition to Kingdom Hearts

Axel is a very well balanced character with enough of that unique twist and mysteriousness that grabs at RPG players. With his dangerous appearance and brash personality coupled with a kind nature hidden deep inside, it’s no surprise that he should be one of the more popular characters introduced after Kingdom Hearts I.

Nothing like having a private invite party for the fans and that’s exactly what Square Enix did on the 2nd and 3rd August 2008. The two day event was filled to the brim with announcements, trailers and playable demos, which for many die hard fans was a welcome release of both information and dates regarding some of Square Enix’s most anticipated games.

As expected the event focused heavily on both Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts but other titles such as Sigma Harmonics and The 3rd Birthday (Parasite Eve III) were also there.

So lets take a look at the release dates for the Kingdom Hearts games which despite being tentative are still a good indication of when these games might be available for release.

The dates mentioned are of course for Japan only so when and whether these games will be released outside of Japan still remains a mystery. In fact whether Coded will even be released in the West seems quite doubtful as unlike Japan where mobile gaming is quite popular, the west is still very far behind. 

For more information and articles surrounding the event be sure to check out some of the other sites such as IGN, GameSpot and KHInsider which have more details on the actual games, stories and trailers that were presented at the event. We’ll keep you posted on any major updates.