Kingdom Hearts ReChain of Memories
To Lose Is To Find, To Find Is To Lose
If the first Kingdom Hearts used Disney’s pop-sensationalism as a vehicle to explore childhood’s waning years onto reality’s construct, (Re:) Chain Of Memories continues this leyline via remembrance - be they incorporeal fabrications or unresolved conflicts deeply rooted from past regrets. The tight interweaving of the original movie plots and the game’s own - this time centering around the enigmatic residence Castle Oblivion - is back, now centered on ruminations about self and ideation of ‘memories’. Some of them, such as Nightmare Before Christmas, Olympus, and even Hollow Bastion’s incorporation of Beauty & The Beast, skewer a bit closer to their original sources (be it the movie or fairy tail), which heightens the fragmentation of Sora’s mindscape, as well as the average Disney fan’s understanding of these stories to begin with. Reverse/Rebirth twisting this implementation on Riku’s end is great as well, due to his story role prior leaving so little of his imprints behind from his immature rationale of growth and need for “strength” fracturing his ground of what’s within his viewpoints. A lot of talk has been about the Castle Oblivion cutscenes, but there’s little nuggets within the in-betweens that it’s a shame these pillars holding the strength of the story aren’t largely acknowledged - especially in regards to the mechanics.
KH1 infused Final Fantasy’s ATB system within a full-range 3D space, allowing for menu-reactive counterplays and animation/time intuition for effectively downing enemies. Conversely, although Nomura has mentioned FF5 as a reference point, Re:COM’s battle system instead reminded me of the first three Mana entries’ ATB variation — the “short”/”medium” bar is represented through single-card usage, while three-decked Sleights are analogous to “filled” bars or Seiken Densetsu 3’s magic attacks. The Tech mechanic from before is even personified, with Breaks being the new retaliation method of these one-throw card or Sleight card slams, amped higher since now enemies are able to do the same unto you, not unlike how FF and Mana handles time-based maneuvers regarding statuses and/or ticking windups. Perhaps that wasn’t the intent, but thinking this did help onboard me to the new direction all the same. With cards being a manifestation of Sora’s, and later Riku’s, combat prowess, it translates to a majority of fights having multiple deck interactions, each of them able to retaliate against fight designs in compelling ways.
The rerelease with Re: also means that, instead of a 2D hallway design, these battles are now within a polygonal space separate from the overworld, which in turn means new ways of both utilizing spacing and forward momentum from your attacks, and internalizing tells to dodge roll out of danger more effectively.
At :57, there's a tight window where the player can dodge roll out of Vexen's Freeze. There are many similar movement techs within an enemy's attack kit - Vexen has another by using Glide to bypass most, if not all of the Ice Needles
Any qualms I would still have with battles are actually addressed - or at least, ameliorated - from R/R too: the early game slog before can now be blitzed through, since the game trusts your skill to play with its full deck at word go; the aforementioned emptiness of Disney plots for Riku is, again, explicitly stated to be a direct result of his disconnections, and therefore means it’s far easier to blitz through these retreads since you’re “aware” of what will happen for him; Breaks and Sleights are emphasized further, shuffled up cards in each world transition and the D-Form system instilling aggression and quick-fleeted decisions now more than ever.
While not the first time a Square title interconnects the nature of ‘draws’ and memory re:collection, this exercise of growth for our two soon-to-be teens, so different yet so similar, is fascinatingly intriguing. Sora’s naivete yet proud optimism shining through even when he unknowingly-then-knowingly becomes cognizant of how he’s being toyed with, and Riku’s inner turmoil about whether or not he’s even seen worthy of redemption because of his rashness and headstrong desire to ‘grow up’ are as compelling now as they were on the Advance or PS2. Essentially, this is one of the best Bleach experiences ever.
