Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix

[sj33]

SquareEnix continues its run of avoiding releasing Kingdom Hearts 3 by releasing filler titles. This time, it's not even a new game, but instead a HD re-release of the original Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix (an enhanced edition of the original game) and Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories (a HD remake of the PS2 remake of the GBA game). It also comes with a HD video recap of the 358/2 Days DS game. I believe this will be the first ever English release of the Final Mix edition (when it is released in the west, that it). One small difference is that the original Final Mix had the English voices thrown in place of the Japanese voices, whereas this version replaces the Japanese voices.

These are chronologically the first two games in the series, so if you've never played the series, this is a good place to start. Don't be put off my the Disney side of things - the game manages to strike a balance between Final Fantasy-esque emotiveness (without being too serious and up it's own arse like Final Fantasy can be) and Disney-style light-heartedness. It's a rather decent series of action RPGs that are a darn sight better than the recent Final Fantasy games.

As for the HD conversions themselves, there's little to say - they are perfect. Runs in 1080p on my machine, but it might be 720p upscaled (I can't really tell, which itself says a lot). All the FMV footage is also in HD, and everything is in widescreen. A locked 30fps, too. Most of the textures appear to be the same, though some thing that might have looked blocky have been touched up (the stained-glass floor in the initial tutorial area, for example).

Very little is new here. There are some minor command and camera tweaks to bring the game more in line with later games in the series (most obviously the ability to use the right analogue stick to control the camera), and some of the character models have been replaced with ones from Dream Drop Distance. However, fans of the series will have no complaints with what is on offer. I guess this is what we should expect from the forthcoming Final Fantasy X HD port, which is generally just a very good jod, what a HD up-resolution release should be.

[sj33]

Giving this a quick bump because the game is being released in the UK this week,

[Dogg Thang]

Had forgotten about it. No news on it getting a Vita version?

[sj33]

Not yet. Strange, because you'd think there would be a massive amount of overlap between the porting work of this and FFX.

[saturn-gamer]

This is a great HD upscale but the game itself isn't that great. I enjoyed it on Ps2 although I had lots of issues with it. And while I like it more on Ps3 due to some needed improvements such as the camera control and shortcut buttons for magic attacks, its obvious that the platform gameplay is ropey, the combat isn't that good and the gummi ship parts are tedious. The worlds are rather small, especially for todays standard.

But its a reasonably fun game with some great production values.

[PaTaito]

This runs at full 1080p...can easily tell on my panny st50.

Very surprised that nowhere online seems to mention this!?

Lovely game...minus the awful jerky jumping sections.

[PaTaito]

One small difference is that the original Final Mix had the English voices thrown in place of the Japanese voices, whereas this version replaces the Japanese voices.

ughhh...?

Do you mean the english voices were dropped from the original final mix?

[sj33]

The original Japanese Final Mix editions on the PS2 had English voices. This is because they were essentially the equivalent to the 'International Editions' from the Final Fantasy series. The original Final Mix editions were never released in the west, of course.

This is the first time that the Final Mix edition has been released in the west, but they have switched the voices back to the original voices. The Japanese PS3 Final Mix HD has Japanese voices only. I assume the reverse applies to the western version.

[saturn-gamer]

I'd rather have the English versions of Donald and Goofy anyway.

[saturn-gamer]

50 hours later and I completely rinsed the first game. Final Mix stuff is great and a good incentive to actually prepare for Sephiroth et al since they hold rewards (and trophies, yes). I'm now walking around with One Winged Angel keyblade just to show the worlds I beat that fella. There is also the Final Mix exclusive boss, at the Chapel. Useless reward though.

Its a great HD port, as its superior to the Ps2 version in every way possible. This is sadly not always the case with those HD upscales after all. Heck, KH is even 1080p or very close to it.

Now busy with CoM. Its... interesting. I sort of like the card based gameplay, it adds thought and planning which is quite the opposite of the first game. But the way the game advances is rather minimal, ofcourse due to the source material being GBA.

[sj33]

The game actually has a few minor fixes that were introduced in KH2 such as rejiggled action commands and utilising the right analogue stick for the camera rather than the shoulder buttons. It has a few small refinements over the PS2 Final Mix game.

I'm not the biggest fan of the card system used in CoM. I don't think I'm alone in arranging my deck in a way that emulates the regular KH system as closely as possible. It's an interesting idea, but complicates a system that already worked very well. Still, plot-wise it leads into KH2 very well so really should be played.