Go Fish ! (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories)

 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a game directed by Tetsuya Nomura and it’s the second instalment of the Kingdom Heart series, it was released for the Game Boy Advance in November of 2004 in Japan and December of the same year in America. Its story focuses on… uhm… I forgot what it was about !!

I do wonder how many people played Kingdom Hearts 2 and throughout the story realized that another game had taken place in between them and remnants of it’s story actually linger on it, that’s Chain of Memories that was released on the GBA of all places at the time, which is interesting, why this exclusive of the ps2 end up having a sequel in a Nintendo Console ? I didn’t look up the actual reason but I can reason that it has to do with limited resources and time to make something that is smaller in concept then to focus on the bigger game that was KH2 and whatever Square was up with at the time ! but in relation to ownership I will assume that Square hold the rights to KH and they can do whatever they want to with, and that’s why after this the remaining games were released on multiple platforms for the dismay of the pockets of its fans !! For all intents in purposes I played this game in the GBA Emulator, why ? because I like Pixeled games and I like GBA games, even If I never own a GBA myself !!

The game begins where the previous ended, with Sora Donal and Goofy in the road of uncertainty following Pluto, where they end up in Castle Oblivion where some Clocked person present itself and warn them that what they want are in this castle but the further they go there Memories are gonna be erased ! and here we are presented with the main mechanics of this game, instead of just pressing buttons and letting attacks dish out you expend cards to attack and cast magic and such ! Each attack you make consumes a card of value that goes from 0 to 9, enemies also attack in the same manner and when a value of a card is bigger or equal the attack will be interrupted, or cardbreak as the game called, the card 0 is an universal breaker, using it can break any attack of any value, but it also can be easily be broken by any other card as well, those are the most valuable cards in the deck. You can also combine cards to do an attack of 3 hits of bigger value or use a special attack called Sleight, if the criteria of each Sleight are met, like having a value of 16 with 3 of the same type of card.

Sora is alone in combat in this game so his friends come in card form as well, they randomly drop in the field of battle from time to time, those cards can also be combined to have a special move be combined, Sleight also reduce the number of cards you have in each battle, each sleight use will take the first card from the combination from the deck, so you can end with no cards if you use that too much, there are always also ways to regain them back, with item cards, some will restore this lost cards, but item card can be used only once per battle as well. As you progress through the game you receive more cards like Magic and summon cards, that let you summon the character that were the previous summons from the last game to help, different then Donald and Goofy this are always with. It’s not a hard system to get, honestly, at first you can just mash your way through everything and you win, but later on things get really tough !! and then you learned how Sleight is important and 0 cards as well.

Which time you level up you have to choose between level up between Sora HP or his CP, that counts for Cards Points or choose a to learn a new Sleigh. CP is needed to build your deck, each card has a CP amount that needs to be placed in the deck, higher value cards also have a higher number of CP, so you can’t just build a deck with any card you have to choose between each of them that you actually need. Sleight can be learned through level up but some appear when Sora has reached a certain level as well, other sleight are received through the story and as rewards from chests rooms, which get us to the next set of cards that compose the game. 

To progress to the game you need to create rooms, and you created each room using Map Cards, you receive them at the end of each battle, there are the red cards that influence the enemies on the room, like having them being normal or having weak card value or higher card value, Green influence on your stats, having Sora cards be of higher value or do more damage from attacks card or magic cards, Blue cards alter the room from having a reward chest there, having a Moogle shop, this were you get more cards, talking to one of then awards with you a set of new cards for free, you can buy set of cards with Moggle Points, you get does by hitting objects in the map, like crates and barrels and some others and also jumping in them, Moggle points are little red orbs that emerge from this places, you can farm for those by enter and retiring rooms as well, hitting those places also may give a random card or hp healing orbs. Aside from rewards and Moogle shops Blue cards offer the option to create a save point as well. This card also have value that go from 0 to 9 and each door need a specific value card to create a room, a door may ask for number above 5, so cards above that number can be used to create the room, the value 0 can be used any of this parameters, unless it ask for a specific value, like a door asking for a card equal to the value of 5 will only open to card of that value !! This of course can generate some frustration since everything is random and you may not have the card and have to grind for hours to get it !! and can happen at the end game as well !!

Each floor is based on the memories that Sora had in the previous game, so each floor is somewhat of a recreation of the events of the previous game, starting in Traverse Town where you receive the initial tutorial of the game, how each level progress is the same you receive an Key of Beginnings Card when enter each floor and you proceed to find the room where that can be used, then you receive a Key To Guidance Card and then you find the next room where that can be used and you finally receive a Key to Truth Card where a boss fight happens, win the boss fight and after cutscene you are placed automatically in the exit of the world floor to the in between floor where a scene happens or a boss fight may happen, each of this mandatory door of course along side the card they demand need to be used in conjunction with the normal map cards you have, some may ask for a large amount that may use any number card to zero it, like 30 red cards, so only red card values can be used to eliminate that criteria. Each floor has a reward room that requires a Key to reward card as well some specific maps cards as well, but the key to rewards can only be obtained when you reach the middle of the game.

Boss fights in this game at first can be pretty easy, since most of them work like puzzle you have to eliminated on thing to them attack the boss, other can be a pain in the ass, like the fight with Hades, that is one the early bosses that can combine cards and he has a bunch of high number cards, I had a pretty terrible time fighting him and some points at the end of the game, you reach a point when whatever you do seems to be breakable and you can never get a hit in it’s kinda bullshit, but also I been playing it wrong for a really long while before getting there, the last couple of bosses are also really hard as well. Bosses also turn into cards when between, each one with a special effect, like given more power of defense for a period of turns, 

So Sora and his friends enter the castle and progress through its floors and we are introduced to members of the Organization 13, even though the number is not actually ever spoken, they only reveal as the organization, very generic honestly, Here we meet with Axel (Don’t forget his name), Larxene, Vexen and Marluxia, through the story Sora also meets with Riku again, but this Riku end up being a clone created by Vexen to be weapon against the other member, Turns out Marluxia and the others where planning to control Sora to use him to stage an uprise in this organization, by using the Powers of the Girl Namine, that can manipulate and erase Memories, little by little she as been erasing you protagonist Memories and replacing herself in Sora Memory in place of Kaire. After completing all the world of the previous game Sora gain a card for a new World from Vexen, for Twilight Town, yes Twilight Town show up here first and the mansion as well, In here Sora fight with Vexen in front of the Mansion, Vexen is then Killed by Axel since he was against the uprising and was about to tell Sora some truths, yeah in this game they somewhat mentions stuff about being Nobodies, Namine of hand mentions being the another version of Kaire as well.

Further up from there Sora goes to Destiny Island where he learns about Namine and what really happens, In between that Axel frees Namine and reveal himself as the real traitor to his companions, Sora fights the Clone Riku once more and it’s here that all these boss fights get really hairy !! After defeating him he confronts Larxene and refuses to be a puppet in their hands and swears that he will protect Namine even if she has been manipulating him from the start. With Larxane defeated they progress to the upper Floor to confront the remaining Members of the organization, Axel and Marluxia, that are caught in a fight between themself, Sora is somewhat forced to confront Axel, this being kinda the hardest fight in the game, and then Marluxia, his first form being a very standard boss fight like the others, but his second form the usual FF monstrosity form boss, the difference is that he can only be attacked in a brief window when his attacks are cardbreak making for a very extensive fight. 

With Marluxia defeated Namine is free, but the only problem is that the memories of Sora and his friends are still broken, to restore them Namine says she needs time but also means that all that happen in Castle Oblivion will be forgotten including her, Sora is and his friend are put in Sleep pods where they will remain until their memories are restored, before that Jimmy Cricket ( That has been with them this entire time and I never mention him once I think in the previous review, and he probably have more scene in this game more then the other as well) says that he will Write “Thank Namine” in his Log as the final part of his registry before he goes in with Sora in the sleep pod where he will remain until Kingdom Hearts 2. But that's one part of this game, beating the game once Libaret the Reverse/Rebirth mode where you play as Riku, the Real Riku.

Riku starts his journey in the empty, talking with an unknown voice to accept the darkness, he is then transported to the Basement of Castle Oblivion and receives a card for Hallow Bastion where his story starts. Riku works different them Sora, first and fore most he cannot build his own deck card, cards are selected to him by random depending on the floor he is, he also can’t use magic or summon cards, he only have one type of attacks card, but when level him up you can also increase his attack power, if available much like Sleight they appear by specific levels. Later on Riku receives an Dark Mode, a kinda of Devil Trigger, he gets more powerful and he can only use his sleights in this form, to trigger this form you need to accumulate DP points, up to 30 to activate that gain by taking damage or by breaking cards, what ward points is the differential between the number of the cards break that are added, so using combination of cards deal more numbers of DP, this Dark mode also last for the amount of a separate DP point that Riku has, this can be level up as well, you can lose this DP points by card break and taking damage. 

Upon going through Hollow Bastion, Riku his confronted by Ansem, or at least of Ansem that remains in Riku, Ansem tries once more to take control of Riku but it’s stopped by his Majesty of this universe, Mickey Mouse the sage !! it’s funny how Riku keeps calling him his majesty even though he barely heard about him in the last game !! Mickey accompanies Riku through his journey in castle Obilivion, he works much like Donald and Goofy, randomly dropping in battle, Mickey Cards when used, Damage enemies and heal Riku and reset his deck of cards, I may have not mentioned before but Sora Needs to recharge his deck of Cards when all are used, each recharge add one more turn of recharge when used, Riku doesn’t need to recharge ! Also Mickey is the only way that Riku can heal his health, him and the Oogie Boogie Card, There is a point at the end where his card is unavailable for two floors and the game gets really hairy there.

Riku progression is also faster them Sora, not only he moves faster but there is less running around trough floor, he only needs to get to the boss room, fight the boss and the leave for the next floor, the important rooms are always marked on the map and you can tell where the exit, it’s the room with no other connection in the opposite side of the map where you start, Riku also have less green and Blue cards to work with. The level Floors are the same even if distributed in almost reverse order that Sora receives them.

With Riku you see another part of the Story and meet With other members of the Organization, Zexion and Laxeus, that together with Vexen are fully aware of the plan that Marluxia has, they decide to use Riku the same way as Marluxia intend to use Sora, Vexen meets with Riku and from their Fight uses the data to create Riku's Clone. Later on when Riku Clones is subdued and brainwashed by Namine, Laxeus confronted Riku and losses, his death release a large of amount of Darkness that almost let Ansem take control of Riku, Mickey stop that from happening by confronting Ansem. Riku proceeds but at the point he senses that a large powerful presence has been eliminated Zexion appears in front of him to confirm that Sora had Defeat Marluxia, he gives him the Destiny Island Card where he needs to confront his darkness. This is where you supposed to Fight Zexion but up to his point he didn’t actually an weapon apparently, the devs haven’t figured out here and won’t have until the re-release of KH2 and the Remake of this game where he Finally get his weapon, which is weird because is such a huge time frame between them, and even in the Vanilla Version his weapon was not figured out, it’s funny how Some elements of this series are very realized and other are not !! 

Instead of Fighting Zexion, Riku fights the Darkside boss fight that Sora fights as well in this level. Upon defeating the Darkside Riku is confronted by Sora and falls once more in his own Darkness, But a vision of Kaire helps him in accepting his dark powers to himself, he is brought to his balance of being where he sees through Zexion Illusion and attacks him. Zexion Flees and is eliminated by Clone Riku and Axel. Moving to the last Floors Riku meets with the Real Mickey Mouse, where he given a card that will change him, the card for Twilight Town, upon entering he meets the voice he heard when he woke in the empty, that Voice reveal to him as Diz, that question if Riku will follow the Dark path or the Light path. In this floor Riku as a final confrontation with his clone here he come out victorious and his clone perishes, Finally he meets with Namine alongside Sora in the Sleep pod, Namine  offers an option to hold out Ansem from emerging in Riku for the price of all his memories being erased, Riku denies the offer and decided to Fight Ansem on his own, he also figures it out that she was the Kaire in his vision. Moving to the last Floor Diz gives him the last card where he will face off against Ansem. Mickey Offend mentions knowing Ansem, something that is more explored in the next game.

Riku and Mickey together battle with Ansem, that serves as the last boss in Riku route,  different then them the last form of Marluxia he doesn't need to be cardbroken to be attack, his fight is harder none the less, his stand blockers every third or second attack, and he is always attacking and counter attacking, he released this bolt of lighting at the very beginning of the fight and that is almost undodgeable, I kinda beef through this fight last health bar, Riku Dark mode combo leaves enemies stunned for a while so you can kinda just mad rush attacks trough until you get damage enough to lose this mode. With Ansem defeated Riku is finally in Control of his darkness, he and Mickey leave the castle (while Using the robe of the Organization, what gives, where do they even get does ?!! they handed it for free for everyone at the reception when they level !!?) And they meet with Diz on a Crossroads, where he questions what path Riku will choose, he chooses the middle the road of Twilight to dawn !!

As mentioned before This game got a remake that has released alongside with the improved Version of KH2, the Final Mix version and later on the reaming collection of this games for the playstation, I don’t intend of playing that version since I finished this one, but I saw some of the game play and it’s the same with some changes and additions, even so I move on to next one, the one I had already in this series !!