Before I begin my diatribe, please understand something about me first. I am a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. The original game was pretty much what pushed me from casually playing videogames to becoming a hardcore gamer, particularly in the realm of RPGs. I love the franchise so much that I completed the Chain of Memories installment on the GBA (of which I’m told I’m one of five people to suffer through this game), I imported the Japanese version of the same game just to buy the game again when it was released State-side, and I bought and played Kingdom Hearts 2 as well as the imported Final Mix. So when word first got out about 358/2 Days, I was one pumped little KH fangirl.

I really liked Roxas’ character in KH2, so I was excited to get to play his side of the story. However, instead of loving every minute of it like I did with the other games, I’ve been utterly bored. Roxas’ character barely has any personality. This Xion chick is annoying as hell, and I can’t wait until she dies off (that’s not a spoiler, people, she wasn’t in KH2). What’s up with all these missions that are exactly the same? You either gather hearts, take care of some nasty boss, shoot globs, ambush the Emerald Serenade, collect emblems, take the occasional endurance test or perform a bit of recon. That’s it, rinse and repeat for 93 missions. And this panel system…where have I seen this before and didn’t I hate it then? Oh yes! It was in Chain of Memories!

My utter dislike of the game made me wonder if I was alone. I went to various gaming sites, and they all loved it. Even Nintendo Power gave it a 9. I soon got Ryan’s review across my desk to edit, and dammit if HE didn’t love it as well!

What am I missing? Am I the only one who doesn’t see the originality in the panel system? Am I the only one who thinks that it’s a beating? Does no one see how boring the story is? Does no one else see how repetitive the missions are? All I can think is that this game is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII but with half the story and a similar set-up to Chain of Memories. At least in Crisis Core I had a choice whether to complete all 300 of the overly repetitive missions. And no, I didn’t finish all those either. Why? BECAUSE IT GOT BORING. I suppose you could say that I have a choice here as well, because you can advance the story without playing all the missions, but then Roxas is nowhere near leveled up enough to continue. That’s not exactly a choice.

I am still playing the game, in that I’m level grinding through Challenges and the Mission Mode (Gee, I get to play those same levels all over again? Lucky me!) for a few minutes a day, because I just can’t leave a KH game unfinished. I keep hearing that the ending will make it all worth it, but I have to wonder if any ending is worth 30+ hours of this torture.

I just hope I don’t have a similar experience with Birth by Sleep. Otherwise, I’ll curl up into a fetal position while hugging my KH PS2 games and sobbing.